Post by cobbie on Dec 4, 2006 16:43:25 GMT
Well, this is a long post, though for once not my own doing…
We start back on Saturday 25th Nov!!
Saturday – Club swim and a tough 90 minute workout with a pyramid for the main set. All in yards:
4 x 25 off 30s, 4 x 50 off 60s, 4 x 100 off 1:45, 4 x 200 off 3:30 and then back down. The slightly altered catch I’ve been trying is definitely working, did the 50s in 38-40s, 100s in 1:20-22 and 200s in 2:50-52. Previously, would have expected to do 50s in about 40s so nice to see some faster times and certainly 100s in 1:45 don’t seem hard any more.
Sunday – Threshold turbo brick and a big step up in power from 278 to 297W (my new 103% FTP). Managed the turbo without any problems but my legs were definitely heavier on the run. Started to get a stitch half way so eased off a bit for the last 3 miles and was surprised to be only 35s slower than last time with avg HR 5 beats lower – 5.7 miles, 41:55. So, week 6 of the programme successfully finished.
Tired after this but a hearty pub lunch with the family sorted me out.
Monday – Legs felt OK so decided dive into the dreaded aerobic power turbo, all 2hrs 10 mins of it and I think a new turbo duration record for me – not sure if that is
or 
. 4 x 25 mins @ 250W so 1hr 40 mins @ 86% FTP - the last set, not surprisingly was really hard work and I struggled to keep the power output steady.
Shrek 2 kept me going…not sure what to do next week as we’ve lent out our Wallace and Gromit DVD and I can’t remember who to
.
Just for Dre ;D:
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – No
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – NO
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – NO!
Continue for a bit…
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – YES
Donkey – Really?
Shrek – NO
Tuesday – Rest day today. Parents headed off home in the morning so some peace in the Cobbie household whilst I got to grips with the temp TT (thanks Elastigirl). My folks are both getting on now so we just did a couple of short trips at the weekend with not much walking about. Anyway good to see them and managed to fit in training whilst they had their afternoon naps...aaah.
With no future for the temp site, everybody is just having a real laugh, feels like being on holiday.
Wednesday – Have had to switch the rest of the week around a bit as I’m going to do the Liverpool & District XC on Saturday afternoon.
Ended up being very busy as I had an interview in Wrexham with a recruitment consultant and lunch with Lynn beforehand which was really nice. Through to the shortlist too, though I’ve been on too many of those to get very excited about it.
So, did the turbo brick in the morning. The power target stepped up again and required a real effort – 106% FTP, 308W for a total of 20 mins of intervals. I think with the benefit of hindsight that the reason I ran well off this in the first half of the programme is because my FTP recovered close to my April level pretty quickly and so the power targets were relatively straightforward to achieve. Today I took the run steadily all the way and was 35s slower again than Sunday, though this was really all down to a very long wee break en route as the effort level was the same.
Club swim in the evening was a steady 2200 yards. One of those days where I didn’t feel like I was swimming well at all but made it through OK.
Thursday – Impromptu rest day as my mate Kevin got married to his long-time OH today. He took time out from radiotherapy for this and is about to start a second round of chemo. He’s starting to struggle to get around now but I can only hope that if I ever find myself in a similar situation I’m able to face it with the same degree of fortitude and positivity.
The reception was a family only affair so went for a pub lunch with a couple of mates, where we proceeded to drink the afternoon away – oops. Thankfully we saw sense at about 8pm and went home otherwise Friday might have been a bit yuk.
Friday – Long ride today and fortunately not too hung over. Went east through some of the Cheshire villages so undulating rather than hilly and for the first time outdoors really felt more powerful than before starting on the turbo programme. New gloves worked a treat but need to use them in the wet really to be sure they’re ideal. 39 miles in total.
In the evening we had a friends reception for the happy couple where I demonstrated my ability to learn nothing from Thursday and drank far too much red wine, oh dear.
Saturday – Properly hung over and still felt like rubbish by the time I set off for the XC at Arrowe Park for the 3pm start; three 2 mile laps of very heavy going on a parkland type course. Felt OK on the warm-up and picked up places steadily on the first lap after making a careful start but the wheels came off a bit half way through the second lap as I got a bad stitch. Lost about 10-15 places until I recovered with just over half a lap to go and picked a few people off towards the end. Amazingly was 50th / 132 which was actually a better position than the last race where I felt like I ran better. 40:15 for 6 miles wasn’t bad either given the conditions and my sorry state.
Couldn’t face more drink so gave the tri club bash a miss for a quiet evening with Lynn and a trip to the flicks to see “Starter for 10” – very enjoyable.
Sunday – Quiet walk with Lynn along the canal in the morning followed by Christmas tree erection. Lynn did the decorating whilst I went off to do my Lactate Development turbo. Was still feeling the effects of running on Sat so expected a hard time, not surprising as this was the hardest of this type of session to date; 6 x 9 mins @ 100% FTP (291W). As I’ve found on a few occasions though, once I got through the first set, things got more straightforward until the last one where fatigue started to bite. In total the session was 1hr 31mins of hard work.
Missed out on my second swim this week so my total time of 9.5 hrs was a bit down on the last couple despite 7 hours on the bike.
Monday – Woke to find that the shed roof has partially blown off after stormy weather last night. So, any thoughts of long turbo sessions were halted and it was out with the ladder, hammer and nails. Thankfully, I had some spare felt and so things are now reasonably weatherproof again. Need to redo the whole thing in proper plywood next spring.
Phew
We start back on Saturday 25th Nov!!
Saturday – Club swim and a tough 90 minute workout with a pyramid for the main set. All in yards:
4 x 25 off 30s, 4 x 50 off 60s, 4 x 100 off 1:45, 4 x 200 off 3:30 and then back down. The slightly altered catch I’ve been trying is definitely working, did the 50s in 38-40s, 100s in 1:20-22 and 200s in 2:50-52. Previously, would have expected to do 50s in about 40s so nice to see some faster times and certainly 100s in 1:45 don’t seem hard any more.
Sunday – Threshold turbo brick and a big step up in power from 278 to 297W (my new 103% FTP). Managed the turbo without any problems but my legs were definitely heavier on the run. Started to get a stitch half way so eased off a bit for the last 3 miles and was surprised to be only 35s slower than last time with avg HR 5 beats lower – 5.7 miles, 41:55. So, week 6 of the programme successfully finished.
Tired after this but a hearty pub lunch with the family sorted me out.
Monday – Legs felt OK so decided dive into the dreaded aerobic power turbo, all 2hrs 10 mins of it and I think a new turbo duration record for me – not sure if that is
or 
. 4 x 25 mins @ 250W so 1hr 40 mins @ 86% FTP - the last set, not surprisingly was really hard work and I struggled to keep the power output steady.Shrek 2 kept me going…not sure what to do next week as we’ve lent out our Wallace and Gromit DVD and I can’t remember who to
.Just for Dre ;D:
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – No
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – NO
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – NO!
Continue for a bit…
Donkey – Are we there yet?
Shrek – YES
Donkey – Really?
Shrek – NO
Tuesday – Rest day today. Parents headed off home in the morning so some peace in the Cobbie household whilst I got to grips with the temp TT (thanks Elastigirl). My folks are both getting on now so we just did a couple of short trips at the weekend with not much walking about. Anyway good to see them and managed to fit in training whilst they had their afternoon naps...aaah.
With no future for the temp site, everybody is just having a real laugh, feels like being on holiday.
Wednesday – Have had to switch the rest of the week around a bit as I’m going to do the Liverpool & District XC on Saturday afternoon.
Ended up being very busy as I had an interview in Wrexham with a recruitment consultant and lunch with Lynn beforehand which was really nice. Through to the shortlist too, though I’ve been on too many of those to get very excited about it.
So, did the turbo brick in the morning. The power target stepped up again and required a real effort – 106% FTP, 308W for a total of 20 mins of intervals. I think with the benefit of hindsight that the reason I ran well off this in the first half of the programme is because my FTP recovered close to my April level pretty quickly and so the power targets were relatively straightforward to achieve. Today I took the run steadily all the way and was 35s slower again than Sunday, though this was really all down to a very long wee break en route as the effort level was the same.
Club swim in the evening was a steady 2200 yards. One of those days where I didn’t feel like I was swimming well at all but made it through OK.
Thursday – Impromptu rest day as my mate Kevin got married to his long-time OH today. He took time out from radiotherapy for this and is about to start a second round of chemo. He’s starting to struggle to get around now but I can only hope that if I ever find myself in a similar situation I’m able to face it with the same degree of fortitude and positivity.
The reception was a family only affair so went for a pub lunch with a couple of mates, where we proceeded to drink the afternoon away – oops. Thankfully we saw sense at about 8pm and went home otherwise Friday might have been a bit yuk.
Friday – Long ride today and fortunately not too hung over. Went east through some of the Cheshire villages so undulating rather than hilly and for the first time outdoors really felt more powerful than before starting on the turbo programme. New gloves worked a treat but need to use them in the wet really to be sure they’re ideal. 39 miles in total.
In the evening we had a friends reception for the happy couple where I demonstrated my ability to learn nothing from Thursday and drank far too much red wine, oh dear
.Saturday – Properly hung over and still felt like rubbish by the time I set off for the XC at Arrowe Park for the 3pm start; three 2 mile laps of very heavy going on a parkland type course. Felt OK on the warm-up and picked up places steadily on the first lap after making a careful start but the wheels came off a bit half way through the second lap as I got a bad stitch. Lost about 10-15 places until I recovered with just over half a lap to go and picked a few people off towards the end. Amazingly was 50th / 132 which was actually a better position than the last race where I felt like I ran better. 40:15 for 6 miles wasn’t bad either given the conditions and my sorry state.
Couldn’t face more drink so gave the tri club bash a miss for a quiet evening with Lynn and a trip to the flicks to see “Starter for 10” – very enjoyable.
Sunday – Quiet walk with Lynn along the canal in the morning followed by Christmas tree erection. Lynn did the decorating whilst I went off to do my Lactate Development turbo. Was still feeling the effects of running on Sat so expected a hard time, not surprising as this was the hardest of this type of session to date; 6 x 9 mins @ 100% FTP (291W). As I’ve found on a few occasions though, once I got through the first set, things got more straightforward until the last one where fatigue started to bite. In total the session was 1hr 31mins of hard work.
Missed out on my second swim this week so my total time of 9.5 hrs was a bit down on the last couple despite 7 hours on the bike.
Monday – Woke to find that the shed roof has partially blown off after stormy weather last night. So, any thoughts of long turbo sessions were halted and it was out with the ladder, hammer and nails. Thankfully, I had some spare felt and so things are now reasonably weatherproof again. Need to redo the whole thing in proper plywood next spring.
Phew