So, I have been soul searching a bit about my triathlon, racing, training and sport in general. Very uplifted by the Olympic, but lost a bit of motivation for triathlon. Racing is becoming very expensive, and the rewards for competing for top age group finishes continue to be vouchers for a bike shop that I don't use. And I'm not in the market to race for yet another T-shirt and bag of energy gels and powder drinks and discount vouchers for yet more fitness stores.
Like a lot of experienced and competitive age group racers, the incentive to continue racing I am sure is dwindling a little, as the cost of entering events far outweighs the return for finishing. There is obvious personal satisfaction in finishing a race and there is no denying the rewards for that self belief in having performed well. But to pay over £50 for a pool based triathlon, only 400m swim and a short bike and short run, just seems over the top. Which is why I have not raced a great deal this season. And I do miss it, because one very rarely gets the chance to combine all three sports in one session, and the exhilaration of pushing yourself to the finish knowing you have given it everything. But it's all got so very serious, even in the relatively short time I have been involved in the sport. Bike bling and tri-suit porn seem to the be the order of the day, and if you don't turn up to the race with a massive box of all the kit in the shop then there's something wrong! Calf guards and recovery shakes abound, and if I have to ride past a disc wheel again when I'm out on a leisurely Sunday ride, then something needs to be said!
That aside, I have myself been changing the way I train. I am building upper body strength which will transfer to the pool when I feel like getting back into my swimming. I am doing short intense workouts to work at strength and cardio combined and it is having a very positive effect. I have been back into riding and done some more TTs over the last 3-4 weeks, and my riding is returning to form. I lack the motivation a little to do very long rides, but riding for tempo at 2 hours over the Purbecks is again having a good effect when combining it with a solid turbo session and an easy rollers session. As for running I have not stepped out in anger for 3 weeks now! Unheard of. I love running, but not enough it seems! I will return to that soon, but I'm finding the short workouts are much more enjoyable for the time being. Here's an example of the type of session I have been doing.
Warm up with 5 minutes of:
Burpees, Squats, Press ups, Lunges, Step Ups, Plank, Sit ups, Boxing.
Main Set, endurance:
3 x 40 secs with 20 secs rest.
Deadlift, 60kg
Bench Press, 40kg
Bent Over Row, 40kg
Front Squat, 60kg
Military Press, 30kg
Back Squat, 60kg
5 minutes cool down.
Other Session Example:
Complex
After short 5 min warm
5 sets, 5 reps, 60 secs rest between sets. moderate weight, 60-70% of 1RM
Deadlift
Bent Over Row
High Pulls
Front Squat
Shoulder Press
Back Squat
I also do this above routine as a circuit, moving quickly from deadlift to row to pulls etc, which then counts as one rep.
As you can see, my workouts consist of a lot of compound exercises, but those really are the best ones to work the whole of your body and to develop a strong core and condition the body for swimming biking and running, and most other sports for that matter. I also do use kettlebells a lot, again brilliant for both strength and cardio combined.
It's challenging my body differently and keeping me lean, and easier to do 20-30 minutes solid gym work than pound the pavements for 90 minutes! For anyone wanting to get fit or get lean, short intense workouts are the way forward. My bodyfat has dropped from 11% to 9% over the last 4 weeks, purely down the the fact that I have changed my training and am doing shorter sessions with higher intensity. Strength work promotes muscle growth by firing up your testosterone levels, which then gets your metabolism working and then providing you don't stock up on sugary foods, this will burn off your biggest source of energy, which in the human body is your fat stores!
More info to follow, and I am planning a blog to chart my progress over the next few months. I shall be posting up lots of workouts and nutritional information, and more besides so keep reading to find out more!
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Monday, 23 July 2012
Latest News
Well, how long has it been?! Ages!
Swanage triathlon back in May was my first outing of the year. Training bike and very little in the way of miles, either swimming, biking or running. Weather has been lousy for biking, I have had little time to fit in any running and I have been in a pool about a dozen times in the last 10 months. I have to say I was not at all motivated. But that aside I managed to haul myself round in a reasonable time and finished up 3rd on the day. I was hoping that would spur me on, but no, the weather continued to be rubbish and work commitments have hampered any quality and consistency in the training department. I have stayed fit and healthy but not at all race fit, far from it, as this weekend in Antwerp showed, Ironman 70.3. I had an enjoyable race, and went as hard as I could, but lack of any mileage really showed in that I just didn't have the speed. Endurance, no problem, I kept going strong to the end, but just sooooooo slow. Results here.
http://sport.be.msn.com/antwerpironman/2012/eng/uitslag/
I have done no time trialling this season and I have missed the regular Wednesday evening club 10s, 14s and 25s, which would have kept me riding at race efforts and my legs moving. I have been stuck indoors on the turbo and when I have been out I have had no more than 2 hour rides, once a fortnight. Not enough.
Running has been confined to short hard efforts with little else other than gentle jogs a with work. In other words, for me to go and challenge for top honours in my age group I need to put the work in. Antwerp has done one thing, it's made me decide to get my ass into gear and start putting some work in! I'm strong, but I need some speeeeeeed!
Swanage triathlon back in May was my first outing of the year. Training bike and very little in the way of miles, either swimming, biking or running. Weather has been lousy for biking, I have had little time to fit in any running and I have been in a pool about a dozen times in the last 10 months. I have to say I was not at all motivated. But that aside I managed to haul myself round in a reasonable time and finished up 3rd on the day. I was hoping that would spur me on, but no, the weather continued to be rubbish and work commitments have hampered any quality and consistency in the training department. I have stayed fit and healthy but not at all race fit, far from it, as this weekend in Antwerp showed, Ironman 70.3. I had an enjoyable race, and went as hard as I could, but lack of any mileage really showed in that I just didn't have the speed. Endurance, no problem, I kept going strong to the end, but just sooooooo slow. Results here.
http://sport.be.msn.com/antwerpironman/2012/eng/uitslag/
I have done no time trialling this season and I have missed the regular Wednesday evening club 10s, 14s and 25s, which would have kept me riding at race efforts and my legs moving. I have been stuck indoors on the turbo and when I have been out I have had no more than 2 hour rides, once a fortnight. Not enough.
Running has been confined to short hard efforts with little else other than gentle jogs a with work. In other words, for me to go and challenge for top honours in my age group I need to put the work in. Antwerp has done one thing, it's made me decide to get my ass into gear and start putting some work in! I'm strong, but I need some speeeeeeed!
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Getting back to fitness
Slowly does it, but I was at Forest Fit yesterday and managed to shuffle round and do a little running, a few basic exercises and get the body moving again. Feel very out of shape, but I'm sure that if I be sensible and build slowly over the next 2 weeks I will be able to return to full training sooner rather than later.
First outing on the bike today for an hour of easy riding in the sunshine,. And it will be very very easy, no hard pedalling in big gears, nice easy and light spin, just to see how I'm moving. 10 days now since the op and all seems to be healing very well. Looking forward to getting moving again and giving the heart and lungs something to do!
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
April nearly
Well, April approaches and where am I in this lovely weather? Indoors recovering from a hernia op last week. 7 days in and I'm healing well, but it's slow and I feel a bit ropey as a result of the anaesthetic. I don't react very well to them. So it's slow going but all should be ok for me to slowly get back to some semblance of light exercise by the coming weekend. Will then ease myself back into it so that by the end of April I can really start pushing on for Antwerp 70.3 on 22nd July
That should give me plenty of time to get in good shape. A few training races before then should see me right, and I'm hoping to be fully fit and go well, as I would like to qualify for World Champs in Vegas later in the year. If I can get a10 weeks of consistency from end of April through to 22nd July then I know I can go well. All the endurance I have in the tank should see me right.
Will be such a good feeling to get back on track with a goal and something to aim for and to keep me motivated to put the long hours in, although this time round, I'll be shortening the sessions and upping the intensity, looking for more speed.
More blog posts to come which will help keep me pushing forwards through a slow period of recovery.
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Monday, 5 March 2012
Back!
Where has February gone? Well, dunno, but it's gone and no post!
Been a funny old time of late. MY GP confirmed my suspicions of the last few weeks. I do have an inguinal hernia( groin). Only small but needs an op to fix. Tat's now sorted for near the end of March, and then hopefully a couple of weeks' recovery and I'll be able to 'resume' training. Not that I have been doing a right lot of late.
Running is ok, but any speed work is a no-no, not wanting to strain my hip flexors. So it has had to be gentle jogs and even then I haven;t done that many. I have not been near a swimming pool all year, well, one session on a Wednesday back in January. I do want to get back into swimming and I need to as I must start getting in some preparation for racing this year. Antwerp 70.3 is booked in July, and I want to go there and put in a performance. My cycling on the other hand remains very strong.
On the season's first TT last week I felt pretty rubbish and yet managed to put in a decent time in light of the fact I have hardly done anything other than some strength work and a few turbo efforts. http://blog.sportsmassagebournemouth.co.uk/2012/02/pat-dunn-cc-weymouth-opened-his-account.html
2nd place on the day, not bad. Work in progress and time was 2 seconds slower than the same ride last year, so all in all not a bad morning's work. Legs did not like me the following day, but generally recovery was not bad.
I've been out for 30 miles today, up and down lots of hills and now will look to ride more regular, get some pool time, and run easy when I can to build some base for the harder training to come.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Where has January gone?
Well, 31 days into the New Year already. Just started to get cold. Nice and fresh at Forest Fit last night.
I managed a morning run for 40 minutes. 50 minutes turbo at steady pace. And an hour of Forest Fit, directing operations. Was a great fun session and a good turnout on a very cold evening.
This morning, I did a short strength workout. 20 minutes of deadlifting 60kg, single arm rows with 20kg kettlebell and curls with a 20kg bar. In total, about 60 reps of deadlifts, 60 one arm rows and 30 curls. Enough to get me working hard and prepare for some bigger strength workouts over the next few weeks. Also 10 pull ups on rings thrown in there, 2 at a time. Not my strong point, but it's all work in progress. Turbo bike later and will run out and back to Forest Fit tomorrow.
More biking in the week, as I get back to fitness after a week of cold and rubbish!
Friday, 27 January 2012
Catches up on you
Well, eventually my body succumbed to all the colds and viral infections floating round and a big turbo session frazzled me on Tuesday, leaving my immune system a bit battered and the bugs took refuge in the confines of my nasal and throat cavities!
Food and drink and rest the order of the day, walking to get some fresh air and a gentle jog later and I'll be feeling much better after two rough days.
Training begins in earnest next week, and time to get organised and look at booking some races before they all get sold out!
Monday, 23 January 2012
Monday
Back out on the bike today for 41 miles of good riding on a windy and cold day.
Felt pretty good, a lot of climbing in there, and legs moving pretty well. Nothing outrageous, a nice easy 18mph average, which is alright for a steady ride at this time of year, and I should be able to get another die in tomorrow, albeit a short one. Also back to running tomorrow, and will get out very early morning to run 40 minutes. A week to get my legs moving before I start any concerted run sessions of any note.
Forest Fit at the rugby club tonight. Last week's session was great, we set up a circuit-type session and I had loads of exercises printed up and got small groups working their way round each 'station' with 'fun' stuff in-between, then finished off the session with some sandbag carrying relays, always good fun. More of the same tonight, and thankfully the rain is holding off, let's hope the wind drops a bit. Will take it easy myself as my shoulders are a bit tight.
Now then, something to eat before I get back to work!
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