Better Week

I had a much better training week this week. After the mistakes of last week it was good to almost follow the plan this week. I didn't swim as much as I wanted as I only got two sessions in but I'm sort of happy with my stroke now. The energy I'm putting in and the times I am getting are roughly what they were last year at this time and if I get in the pool at least a couple of times a week I should be OK for Sub40 mins. Last year I missed loads of swim sessions near to the race and paid for it! Not going to happen this year.

My running has been fairly good this week. I have learnt now that I always have a bad run if I go out straight from work. Not sure if I need to relax before I go out or I need a bit of fuel or what it is but for the last couple of weeks my Monday run after work has been horrible. No work this Monday so that's not going to happen but I need to play around with the timing/nutrition etc to see why this is.

My Friday night long run was much better this week. Went far too fast last week. This time I set my virtual partner on my Garmin to 6 min/k pace and just tried to keep with him. The run is hilly on the way out and flat on the way back so at the turn I was 33 seconds down. Good news. At least I didn't go out too fast (but I NEVER do!).

I increased the speed a bit along the flat and the time came down very quickly. After a few K I was level and sitting on his shoulder. No words were exchanged. We ran together for a K or so and then I increased the pace and pulled away. I didn't want to get too far in front as I wanted a 6min pace overall but I was soon 38 seconds in front and then for the rest of the run I couldn't slow down enough for him to catch me and I didn't want to walk. Waited at the finish but no-one turned up. He must have gone straight home. I didn't think I'd use the virtual partner runner thingy but it was fun and made the run more interesting.

Tuesday night for me is interval night on the windtrainer. I've adjusted my seat (AGAIN!) and I seem (although it might be psychological) that I'm getting more power to the pedals for a given heart rate. I need a powermeter (Jo!) ... I never thought I'd love the windtrainer but for an hour of intervals I think it's great. It's certainly given me leg muscles I've never had before. Unfortunately Jo hates the muscools so she's unlikely to let me buy anything to increase them :(

I started my Sunday ride with an over the top level of anxiety and trepidation. Last week's ride knocked my confidence a bit. I knew I had made mistakes in the week but quitting after an hour on the bike was not good. Fortunately this weeks ride was much better. I headed for Reid Rd and got in some leg strengthening and muscle building (sorry Jo) climbs.

I like climbing on the bike more than riding on the flat because it keeps me honest and I HAVE to put in the work. There's no way you can slack on the hills. Too easy to dawdle along on the flat but not so on the hills. I managed to do four climbs and got very close to my record. This time's best time was 11:59 (which I was pleased with). Best time is 11:54. Should have worked harder :)

The most pleasing thing about the climbs yesterday was that if you carry out the geeky calculations that I did last year and work out the m/b which is metres travelled for every heart beat (speed in metres per second divided by heart rate in beats per second) the figures have increased significantly ... well by about 0.1m but I'll take anything. That does mean that for every heart beat I am travelling 0.1m further and if I take an average of 130 beats per minute I am travelling a further 13m up the hill for no increased effect on my heart! Sort of. I presume it means my heart muscle has got bigger. At least Jo can't see that one and complain about it's size. There's so many places to go after that line but I'm not going there.

The only (training) downside to the week has been a pain at the top of my left foot after the long run (shoes too tight I think) and a stiff right calf. The right calf is the worry. I'll make sure I warm up really well before any runs this week and NOT go too fast. There's only three weeks till I run the Rarapiro Half marathon as part of a Half Ironman team. Really looking forward to that. Don't want to mess things up leading into it.

It's a long weekend in NZ and the sun is shining so that means only one thing. I need to attack the garden. Our house sit's like a diamond shape in the middle of a rectangle and so unfortunately we have (sort of) FOUR separate gardens. I need to attack No4. Believe it or not the grass is about 3 foot in places. Everything gets too big in the Bay of Plenty. Eh Jo ;)