more spinning..

Still floppy after spin class earlier...they're so hard!

Hoping to get back to some normal training this week. But given how congested I've been, i've not done too bad - made the most of not wanting to exert my lungs/breathing by doing a fair bit of core strength and abs work, trying a few new workouts on cycloclub, and getting a better idea of next few months - where the gaps are for training away etc...

Sunday 28th February 10

Cyclospin class no.6 - whole body work out. 67mins

Starts with core warmup - a lighter one than for no.3, then fair bit of trying to stay at same rpm in different gears sitting and standing - at 80rpm, 100rpm, 60rpm, 90rpm. I find standing SO hard for more than 20 secs - even then it's exhausting. I'm doing well, though, at fast pedalling maintaining posture. Had to have a rest off the bike after 50 mins..before finishing. Finishes with some power yoga off the bike.

plan, week of 1st March

Mon 1st - swim - tri pool sesh - 1hr

Tue 2nd - med v. gentle run - Warkworth or Alnmouth - 1 hr ish
- cyclocore circuit 3, cyclospeed abs and active stretch

Thurs 4th - cyclospeed circuits 1,2,3. Cyclozen stretch

Sun 7 - Thrunton Woods? long run. Or Wooler way if anything organised. Or maybe Kielder or Hamsterley, so boys can mtn bike

Glentress Duathlon cancelled

thank goodness! As neither me nor my car were ready for it - nowhere near! Still not clear of cold. Was struggling to listen to my body and not go...

Saturday 27th Feb 10

Off bike spin class 3 warm up
Cyclospeed circuit 4 - the balance and stability one - including the trying to balance on top of the ball - fun!!
Cyclocore - bonus abs
cycloloose in 5

1 hr altogether

gently gently.

Still got cold but less so? Tickly again....decided against a Spin Sesh today - didn't want to exert myself for so long. Did half hour. Lacking energy.

Tuesday 23rd Feb 10

Warmed up with Cyclospin 3 for 10 mins - good for warming up core, I discovered last week..rather than blasting straight into:

Cyclocore circuits 1 and 2, 20mins

Snot alot of training happening..

Fed up of this cold - I've looked after myself and had loads of rest - why hasn't it gone yet? Back from my chest to my nose again. 3 weeks on Wed it'll be since it struck. Guess it's been a chance to try bits of other training I don't normally do - in the house and no strenuous - mostly - apart from the turbo spin the other day..

Saturday 20th Feb
Didn't get to Glentress for mountain biking/running - snowing, car not mended yet so steering's very stiff, tickly chest...

Cyclozen - stretch - with bits of strength thrown in! About 30 mins. Couldn't find dvd flicker - so had to do online - but hadn't let it play ahead so I could avoid buffering pauses - and they were really frustrating and long...so added bits from Strength that came to mind!

Sunday 21st Feb
Cyclozen - Power Yoga - 30mins

back in the saddle..bullwhips and popcorn

Even if only statically, in the living room! That was a hard spin session though - cycloclub's no.3? (I think)(went back to it as it kept getting stuck last time I tried)....'bullwhips and popcorns'. Mind you, they're all pretty hard..and more than a solid hour. This one had 15 mins tough core work first..some stuff I hadn't done before that was a struggle. So the weird terms refer to 2 techniques..can't really describe the bullwhip one...sort of an extension to shoe scrapers but really 'whipping' into it over the top and aiming down to 5 o'clock, before pulling through, using the toes very actively - pointing them down - on the way down, but up on the way back up..there's a techy term for that but I can't remember it..and popcorns are simpler - simply focus all your energy into a straight up fast movement from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock. I was quite good at that one! There were also quite a few standing chunks - which I find really hard. I'm very floppy now and am struggling to get up and down stairs - all my muscle power has been drained.

Sadly, Glentress this weekend is off. 1/ it's snowing quite hard - and that's here - it's usually worse there, especially as you get higher. 2/the steering fluid leak on my car is not yet mended - had hoped it would be today. Which means it takes alot of arm strength to drive - especially any manouevering - didn't fancy that at Glentress itself up those steep bendy fire roads, with 3 mountain bikes on the back. And 3/ I've still got a tickly chest. It's not awful, but I don't want to undo the recovery, as I'm so nearly there.

Friday 19th Feb (1 hr 10mins)

cycloclub spin session no.3, 'bullwhips and popcorn' - 66mins

cyclo cool in 5 (warm down)

emphasis on core strength and technique

not fully wound up - but just enough to start ticking gently!

Tuesday 16th Feb 10

cyclowarm in 5, cyclospeed circuit 4 - stability, advanced abs, cyclocool in 5, cycloloose in 5 (about 1 hr, bit more)

Had intended to do spinning, but still wheezing, so kept it slower and gentler...a chance to experiment, and just keep ticking over too

Actually like the 'speed advanced abs' better than the 'core bonus abs'...and uses the power wheel, one of which I bought the other day. I couldn't roll out very far - but hopefully I'll improve. I didn't do the more strenuous bits that get you breathless (and hence unbalanced - to challenge the core more.
Started to do the 'active stretching (also 'speed') - but got bored as alot of overlap with circuit 4, so decided to see what some of the 'in 5' cooldown/stretch options were like. Have done 'cool' before - designed for as come of bike, so not so good without a bike handy. 'Loose' was better for indoors, using stability ball. Also looked at 'release' - but i need a tube thing - tried using a roll of bin bags! But not long or thick enough.

training weekends..

Just exhausted myself doing strength workout of cyclozen 'fix the back stay in the drops' - doesn't usually tire me...was s'posed to be a gentle re-introduction of exercise. So instead of moving on to stretch section (might attempt later), I've been through my calendar earmarking possible weekends for training away from home. Some coincide with singing events that I could gatecrash parts of too!

Mar 13/14

(Mar 27/28 - Lakes, Skelwith Bridge - bet Ambleside and Coniston)

April 6-8 - Hope Valley, Derbyshire peaks, at sister's

May 1,2,3 Keswick or Helvellyn

May 30, 31, Jun 1 - Hardraw, Yorkshire dales

Jun 26/27
July 3/4

July 25 - Aug 1st - Hardraw, then Derbyshire

And I've arranged to borrow a mountain bike for the long duathlon at Glentress the weekend after next..hoping to go up this weekend or fri and do some training....blinkin' chest'd better be clear by then. Was relieved as didn't want to have to fork out for bike hire at the moment.

Mon 15th Feb 10
cyclozen, 'fix the back stay in the drops' - strength (15mins)

stinker

Struck down with flu Wed 3rd...which became simply a heavy cold...didn't take time off work when probably should have, or maybe it would've cleared by now? Have done NO training (or singing) since then though. It's now reached my chest..so should be in final stages at last...

ok, the date for Wensleydale tri - Sunday 8th August 2010

just got to enter it now...maybe next week...

Have also decided I will do Helvellyn again! There's a few of us from the club going to be doing it, in part encouraged by my efforts last year. So that 5th Sept

My other events this year are:

Glentress Mountain bike duathlon (the long one, as against their short and medium) - 28th feb - I'm going to be way undertrained for that, having had this roten cold. Hoping I'll be well enough for a half term trip to Glentress next weekend with my elder son and his mates..

Galashiels Sprint distance triathlon - Sun 18th April - it'll be my 3rd. Last year the swim had got slower, but the bike and run had improved.

Keswick Mountain Festival triathlon - 23rd May - again, another repeat - but did enjoy this one last year..they introduced a shorter event too this year, but having already done the longer one I stuck with that.

That's it. She says firmly. I'm also tempted by various other events. But I'm trying to resist. Money and time are both limited. I'd really like to do the Castles triathlon...swimming in the sea a Bamburgh, cycling down to Alnwick castle adn running round the castle grounds. Also, would probably have done one of the Ashington based ones - but the timing of them is bad - one clashes with Galashiels, and one was too close to something else...same with the Cleveland Steelman. And the long hard durty - at St Mary's Loch (Selkirk) would have been fun - I did the short hard durty a couple of years ago as my first open water event. But it's the week before Wensley. It's also a relatively expensive year for 'other' hols.

Longer longer term!!............... had this mad idea of wanting to do an Ironman! The main problem is time/energy for training...so I was thinking maybe in 2012? Because my younger son will be old enough to be left for longer by then..he'll be 13 in Sep 2011.

I'd also like to do the Fred Whitton cycle challenge in the Lake District, and the Marmot, in France? Somewhere alps I think! It just sounded good when I heard someone describing it. Not sure when. I'd like to do one of them next year....just so hard to practically organise, and afford..

Round and round - in the dining room - and the footy field..

Mon 1st Feb - swim - tri club pool sesh, 1hr, 8-9pm (1400m)

400m - mostly catchup/warmup (was s'posed to be doing 4 x 100 of 50fs, 50back stroke - but I HATE backstroke. It's taken me long enough to get vaguely proficient at FS, without feeling like I'm drowning - especially when someone goes over the top of me - doing BS!)

2 x (25m FS, 2 mins vertical kick (no arms), 25m sprint)

4 x (100m, 10 secs res, 25m sprint)

4 x 50m finger trail

4 x 50m touching float between legs and end of each stroke


Tuesday 2nd Feb

cyclo spin no.4 'cottage of Wattage' 10.45am, 70mins

Would've done no.3, but it jammed after 15 mins - good job I was letting it run ahead before starting, to avoid buffering delays...these classes are available online for members of 'Cycloclub' - I'm excited because I've only been able to take advantage of them since I got a decent computer. The frusrating thing is that on my last year's membership, I could've downloaded loads of stuff as had a higher level membership (specifically for that reason) - but my computer was never up to it..

It wasn't as hard as doing the yoga spin thing the other day (apart form trying to stay in 'down dog' position for so long!). My legs are flopy now though - but that's partly because I went straight on, more or less to:

run - 'field circuits' - 27mins

As I've not managed to get up to wooler running club on Tues evenings for one reason or another, and therefore missed loads of the winter speed/hill work, I'm aiming to do field circuits once a week. I got a programme from a 'beginners working towards 5k and 10k events...wrote it down 2/3 years ago - and adapted it to do around our local footy field...but have never done more than about 3 sessions. (I'm only using 1 day out of the weekly programme)

today's: 4 x (2 circuits, 1 circuit jog recovery)

I ran the first circuit too fast, so had to do the recovery lap after only one lap...paced myself better for the next 3 lots. Hard!

Planned shape for training weeks, term time til Easter:

Mon - either swim - (tri-pool sesh) (1hr), OR cyclo zen 'fix the back stay in the drops' strength and stretch or cyclocore 'bonus abs' followed by cyclospeed circuit 4, or cyclospeed active stretching and circuit 4.
Probably mostly the swim whilst not going to Wooler on the Tues evenings - which is probably til Easter ish

Tues - cycloclub spin bike session - work through all in order (about 70 - 80 mins)
- run - field circuits - 30mins ish
- (swim if didn't do on the Mon) 1 hr 40-50mins

Wed - rest

Thurs - cyclocore circuits 1,2,3,4 or cyclospeed circuits 1,2,3, cyclocore 4(cooldown) 1hr

Fri - rest

Sat - long hilly run, 10-14 miles, 2 - 3 hrs (or rest)

Sun - rest or run (1,5 -2hrs) if didn't yesterday, or cyclo core bonus abs etc (see Mon) if swimming tomorrow.