Friday, April 30, 2010

This is it !

Well I can't believe that 4 months have passed - I remember the first training session that Max set all the way back on 1st January 2010 - its been a long and also a short 4 months if you know what I mean?

I am so excited for this race and have set myself a huge stretch goal of 4hrs 45mins - to achieve this time I need the race of my life and everything to go to plan so we will see what happens, the good news is that they have gone back to wave starts from one mass start and changed the bike course from 3 laps to 2 laps which should hopefully spread the field out, unlike previous years where the bike was really congested.

I've enjoyed the last 4 months and the online support from all you guys - its really helped and made me laugh and cry as we have shared our training and lives with each other - you all rock :)

Anyway, last session completed this morning feel great and off to pack and get ready to travel to Busselton today.

Will post race report on Sunday when I get home, although will be texting Max my result on Saturday.

Jane


We

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Rest Day & slight illness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so today (Thursday) is my rest day and all week I haven't been able to work out whether I am coming down with something or not - is it in my mind because I'm tapering or is there something really wrong because I'm tapering????

So off to my fabulous naturopath this morning and I have a bacterial infection in my sinus - should be ok for the race on Saturday though - have some herbal remedy stuff to take - he said I may feel under the weather later today or tomorrow but should be ok for Saturday - phew!!!

Last post tomorrow morning before we travel down to Busselton for the race, if you want check out the race website http://www.busseltonhalf.com/

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Taper Week

Tuesday was Helen @ 70% - 3 x 400m run 21 x KB swings 12 x pull ups used 8kg KB and small orange powerband for the pull ups, time was 12mins 02secs

Weds was 8 x 200m run at 75% - thought my times were a bit out but remeasured the course and realised I was stopping at the wrong crack in the pavement and ran about 20m more so feel happier about my times now.

I have a massage booked for this afternoon as well as a new yoga class tonight - I'm trying an Astanga yoga course with my husband for the next 12 weeks (although my phsyio is not happy about this as he doesn't want me to stretch so I have to be careful)

Tomorrow Thursday is a rest day so next posting will be Friday !!!! can't believe that the race is nearly here very excited

Monday, April 26, 2010

Lazy Monday

Today I just had 5 x 3 back squats at 70% normal weight - I chose 40kg this was very easy and I was really pleased with my form on the squats.

That's it for training today and its also a public holiday so a nice long weekend too :)

I've started getting all my kit etc together for the trip down south and have planned my meals so that I take everything I need I also have a couple of friends coming to watch the race too which I've only just found out so that was a nice surprise too.

Definitely in countdown mode - only 5 more sleeps!!!!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Short & Sweet Session today

Swapped a session I missed earlier in the week, which was

50 x 20kg thrusters for time stopping on every min for 4 x burpees

I finished in 2mins 59 secs and decided to do another set of 4 x burpees so finished in 3mins 16secs

That's it for today and then this week is a big taper week leading into the half ironman next Saturday - am really looking forward to this race and know that I am in really good shape to hit my target time which I have set myself of 4hrs 45mins - providing everything goes to plan I should be able to finish in this time

I have a number of people here who are really interested to see how I perform given the unorthodox nature of the training that I have been doing, myself included - a big thanks to Max for the training program and support I know I am ready :)

Great Ride

Saturday I went for a ride round the river with my cycling buddies, I actually rode with 5 other guys who will be in the same team for the cycle races this winter.

We had a great ride and I felt and rode really strongly its give me a great confidence boost for next weekend, especially as my legs were suffering from the Cindy squats the day before.

Am still suffering with a bit of muscle soreness today, but will be doing my CF session later today

Friday, April 23, 2010

Getting back on track

I've had a much better morning today :)

Am feeling good, backside is so much better after being bashed by the physio, had a great swim set this morning in my new race suit - after a short warm up we swam 19 x 100 on 1.50 turn round aiming for 1.34/1.36 - I managed to swim these all on the right pace so was really happy - I did draft most of them as I caught the guy in front so that really helped.

Then I went straight home and did Cindy (still in my race suit) managed 18 rounds which I am pleased with as I could feel the swim in my arms which affected my pull ups and definitely the press ups.

Looking forward to tomorrow - I'm riding round the river with my cycling buddies who have reminded me that I haven't been out with them all year and now that the team cycle races have started I need to make an appearance. I'm actually really looking forward to this :)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Great bike - bad backside!

This morning I had bike intervals of 3/5/7/7/5/3 mins with 3mins recovery (I took the rest down to 2mins)

I was very happy with how I felt on the bike - strong - and with the distance covered in each interval (my pace) so very pleased

Backside not so good, saw the physio this afternoon where we worked out the reason why my backside had started to play up again this week - it was the yoga - I forgot he told me not to stretch!!!!! I thought because I didn't have any pain I was fixed - I was wrong - he reminded me that as I have a tendonitis issue that this takes weeks to heal and I need to help it along - so was bashed about by massage and accupunture needles.

Tonight I was supposed to do Cindy but I'm still feeling a bit bashed up so have decided not to do this session tonight - I will do it in the morning after swimming.

Also I'm really looking forward to my swim session in the morning I get to try out my new race suit which I won as a prize in the race I did in January but have only just got around to claiming

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

An off day today :(

Following on from how I felt yesterday - today was a bit of an off day

Had a 10km Run TT this morning, I knew it would not be good, so I focused on visualising myself running at the 1/2 ironman in a couple of weeks and aimed to run at the pace that I wanted t run there, time wise this was good for a 1/2 marathon but crap for a 10km.

My hamstrings and glutes played up again today, after seeming to be better over the last week and a half - this made the run very unpleasant, I so want to be able to run without any pain

2nd WOD I did at lunchtime which was 5 x 5 DL - again this was hard work, mainly because my glutes and hamstrings were definitely restricting me and I am disappointed with the weight lifted - I nearly gave up after 3 sets - in fact I was walking out of the garage when I told myself "to toughen up princess" and went back and did the last 2 sets - I lifted 60/65/67.5/70/72.5kg - I would have liked to lift 75 & 77.5kg but it was not happening today

Here's hoping tomorrow is better, I'm back at the physio tomorrow & was feeling really positive about the body until the last couple of days - I need to keep my spirit up and a positive attitude as my race is only 10 days away and I know I am in shape to break 5hrs

Drafting is the way to go (in the swim)

So Tuesday morning I had my squad swim we did 3000m as 200/400/600/800/1000 with drills and swimming - the final 1000m was swum continuously with drafting.

I got to draft the whole swim and it was so easy, I finished in 16mins 30s which is an average of 1.38 per 100m and I hardly looked like I had been swimming the guys in the front were definitely suffering - a timely reminder that I need to draft in the race next week.

2nd WOD was 300 x squats for time, didn't do this, ended up having not such a good day and was really, really not in the mood for this :(

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

I forgot the burpees!

Today was 10 x 200m with 1min rest penalty 5 x burpees for each rep not within .02

My times were a bit all over the place and I think I ran short (I forgot which line in the road was my 200m point!!!) also I cut the rest to 45s as this was in my lunchbreak and I had to get back for a meeting.

Anyway, when I got home I forgot about the burpees and just went and did a stretch - opps!

PM I decided it would probably be a good idea to go to yoga so I took myself off to Bikram Yoga and had a good class and a great stretch.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Weekend Training

Saturday
WOD was 3 x 5 DL (45kg) 10 box jumps 500m row - managed to complete this in under 10mins (forgot the actual time its written in the garage!) - found the rowing tough today and my times were not that great, DL were fine, box jumps tough as normal, but getting better

Sunday
Had an 85km team cycle race - I got put in a different team as we had lots of new riders but they were way too slow for me, so I ended up being on the front for most of the ride and being told to "ease up" all the time - I really wanted to push on, but couldn't as I kept dropping the rest of the team, I did though feel fantastically strong even into the wind and my nutrition seemed to work really well.

Less than 2 wks now to my half ironman - here's to feeling as strong there as I did today

Friday, April 16, 2010

Feeling Fresh :)

So after my rest day yesterday and the massage the day before I am feeling pretty fresh.

Squad swim this morning was really good, main set was

5 x 100m
4 x 25m
3 x 100m

I managed to swim all the 100's on 1.34 - 1.36 again I'm working on trying to be relaxed (like in my running) and it does seem to be paying off.

3 x thru of 200m broken with 10sec rest as follows
100m 10sec rest
50m 10sec rest
50m finish
Total swim time excluding rest was 3mins / 2.59mins / 2.38mins with fins

2nd WOD was 3 x 500m row box jumps press ups 21/15/9 - completed this in 11mins 5secs going from rowing to box jumps was tough but the press ups were good

Thursday, April 15, 2010

WOD x 2 then Massage - ahh!

So this morning did what should have been Mondays WOD 4 x 1 mile with 8min rest.

Ran 1.716meters (accurately measured well fairly accurate) & this is the same course that I did this session on in January, so 110m over a mile, but close enough

Ran 7.31 / 7.10 / 7.04 / 7.04 was really happy with this, as apart from the first rep when I was kind of feeling my way, I tried to run really relaxed and it seemed to work and I know I could have run another rep and hit the same time (in fact I wished I had now!) This is an improvement on January where I got slower with each rep.

2nd WOD I did about an hour after this session 3 x 30m walking lunges 10 burpees 25 situps - lunges hurt after the run, burpees ok'ish and situps were tough, finished in 6mins 43secs

Then early afternoon had a sports massage followed by a day of rest on Thursday (today)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Another Good Day Training

Still working on swapped round sessions so this morning was squad swim total 2900m with a combination of drills / swim with longer intervals, swam well and felt good, body a little sore from the squats / thrusters but the swim helped to work this out.

Had to do the 2nd WOD at lunchtime as I was out in the evening, really did not want to do this 5 x 500m row & 400m run - but I went home and got into the session, actually started enjoying it strangely enough and beat my time from January even with a tired body managed 22mins 5secs - 15secs faster

Looking forward to tomorrow - 2 x sessions followed by a massage and a rest day - lovely :)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Swapped Training

This morning was supposed to be 4 x 1 mile with 8min rest but after the weekend at the NLP course I was too tired to do this session justice so I decided to swap days.

I chose Weds and did a 5km run TT managed 21.37 felt good, butt still hurt but nothing like on Saturday or perhaps my focus was different today? AND I ran the fastest 5km that I have this year by 15secs so a very good start to the day :)

PM was 21/15/9 20kg thrusters + dips - I used my rings with an orange powerband for the dips to make it harder - completed this in 6mins dead!!!

Thrusters were good, could have gone heavier, dips were hard after the thrusters broke these into 7/7/7 & 5/5/5 & 5/4

weekend training and NLP Course

Friday training
AM was squad swim, really good session today and I swam well, arms were a little tired but nothing like the swim on Tuesday

main set was
4 x 25m on 30s 1 x fast 1 x easy
6 x 50m on 60s 1 x fast 1 x easy
5 x 100m on 2min 1 x fast 1 x easy (I swam 1.32 fast / 1.40 easy)

4 x 25m on 30s all fast
6 x 50m on 60s all fast
5 x 100m on 2min on 1.36 pace

I held the pace on every rep so was really pleased with this swim set

PM was 3 x rounds of 30kg DL 21/15/9 run 400m situps for 9/15/21 managed this in 9mins 43secs

Sat training I swapped was supposed to do 10km Run TT but my backside was not in a good place so ended up doing just 6km, but I decided to visualise myself running the 1/2 marathon in my race and that I was running the pace I wanted to run there and I felt really good (except for the tightness in my butt - I hope this gets resolved in the next 3 wks!!!!)

Sun was 5 x 7 back squats managed to do 42.5 / 45 / 47.7 / 50 / 52.5kg I did a couple of warm up sets and I probably could have gone heavier but I was a little off focus with the NLP weekend.

Had a good weekend with the NLP stuff - long days and lots of stuff to take in but overall it was really good and I'm glad that I did it

Friday, April 9, 2010

Feeling Stronger but times out

AM was 4 x 5km bike intervals with 1min recovery - I felt really, really strong on the bike, but the times didn't reflect how I felt - was a little disappointed with the times but I did feel really good on the bike so that is what I will take from this session.

PM was 5 burpees / 10 press ups / 500m row AMRAP in 20mins - physio was not keen on me doing burpees (honestly!) so I changed these to box jumps on 18" box, managed to complete 6 rounds 5 box jumps / 10 push ups / 180m row

Was really pleased with this workout, the rowing was hard as my legs were a little tired from the bike intervals, I tried to do jump up & jump down for the box jumps and managed this for 3-4 continuous reps the others being singles and the press ups were fab - all on my toes, with great depth and I felt strong

Physio happy with the way my body is going, things are definitely improving, I'm not 100% yet, but I am heading that way, only 3 wks to go now to my half ironman so should be enough time to get my body fixed!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Back to Yoga

Given all the issues I have been having with my body lately and the fact that my half ironman is less than 4 wks away I thought it was probably a good idea to go back to yoga as this seemed to really help my body before.

so went to early class this morning at 6am - first thing I noticed was how much stronger I was feeling in the postures - the flexibility left a lot to be desired (which I expected) but overall I'm still a whole lot more flexible than 95% of the class - this is down to my "bendy genes" and my previous life as a gymnast :)

This evening I had a 15min run TT managed to run 3.41km for an average of 4.28p/km warmed up before with CFWU butt hurt as soon as I started running but thankfully it was not as restrictive as when I tried to run the 1/2 marathon, back to the physio tomorrow - hopefully a bit more treatment + my self treatment will get it right in time for my race

Deadlift PB :)

AM was squad swim session we did 1000 / 800 / 600 / 400 / 200 alternating with moderate swimming, drills, drafting - pretty good session and good to get some long swims in.

My arms were tired, left arm came back to life pretty quickly but right arm was tired for the whole swim set!

PM was 7 x 1 DL - was aiming for a PB as when I last did this in March my body was suffering from the loss of core stability so I really struggled

I managed to lift 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 87.5kg and more importantly every lift I felt strong and was able to hold the weight in the upright position really well before lowering so very very pleased with this :)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Easter Training

Good Friday was an ocean swim session run as a handicap so the slower swimmers first and faster swimmers last first to cross the line gets an easter egg :)

I swam 29mins 30secs which was a bit slow, think we may have swam a bit more than 1.6km but I had a good swim and managed to draft for most of the swim.

Later on I had 3 x 40reps of 12kg KB swings / situps / squats - 12mins 14secs - body still not right and this was a bit tough on the body

Easter Saturday I did 10 - 1 reps of burpees / squats / situps - 7mins 3secs - burpees were much better than they have been, good depth on the squats could have been faster though, and situps were ok'ish

Easter Sunday was 5km run TT - was not sure how my body would react to this given the last run I had - went out positive butt started to tighten up within the 1st km, but I focused on relaxing the muscles, this was a tough run for me but I didn't give up - it was my slowest 5km TT since January at 22mins 28secs :(

Easter Monday was a planned 80km Bike TT - I ended up just doing 40km as my husband wanted to go out and the 80km TT would have taken the morning as it was an organised event so I changed this to a 40km TT which I could do from home and keep everyone happy - managed 1hr 20mins which is around the time I last did this, but I felt much stronger this time, still got some issues with the muscles in my butt tightening up but I don't think it restricted me too much

Looking forward to going back to yoga this week as I think this will really help

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Catch up on posting training sessions

After my run effort, my body had lots of muscle soreness in my legs and I had another WOD to do in the evening,

PM WOD was 5 x DL (60kg) / 10 x burpees / 15 x squats AMRAP in 15mins

Happy with the DL's in particular as 60kg used to be the most I could lift and I did 45 of them in this WOD, burpees leave a lot to be desired I seem to be going backwards with them lately, the squats were really hard work as my legs had lots of muscle soreness - managed 8 full rounds + 5 DLs

Thursday WOD was Fran 21/15/9 thrusters & pull ups, chose 32.5kg for the thrusters - I last did this in Feb with 30kg where my training diary shows that I really struggled with the weight and this time I managed more continuous reps than last time - this took me 12mins and Feb took me 11mins but happy with this as the weight was 2.5kg more & my legs were really sore

Looking forward to the long weekends training and having a bit more free time