Half Marathon

Day 10: 19/7/13

Just a ride to work to turn the legs over. Keeping things light with 2 days before the half marathon.

Day 11: 20/7/13

Complete rest today. However, not initially intended that way. After a late night, combined with catching up on some sleep I hadn’t left enough time to do a short run. Not ideal with the half marathon tomorrow but a good warm-up in the morning should ensure I don’t feel too lethargic.

Day 12: 21/7/13

Run Melbourne half marathon today and I was reasonably happy with how I ran. I warmed up by riding the 22km into the city. I then jogged about 3km, with some small drills and stretched to get run ready.

Unfortunately, my stomach was feeling a little heavy and bloated which I put down to what I had eaten for breakfast. This held me back somewhat in the first 5 or 6 km but I found some good rhythm eventually and held a consistent 4.35min/km pace for the duration of the run. My finish time was 1 hour 36 minutes. About 7 minutes down on my PB but not having specifically trained for this event, I was more than happy with my effort.

Day 13: 22/7/13

A light 45min spin on the indoor trainer first thing in the morning to flush the legs out and regular stretching throughout the day helped manage the soreness and avoid getting too stiff in the muscles.

Day 14: 23/7/13

I rode to and from work for a total of 45km. I then had a Chiropractic appointment which I like to try and get every two weeks. I was feeling particularly tired after this due to the early start at work and recovering from the weekend. Unfortunately, I had an early shift at work the next day and I was feeling very much in need of a decent 9+ hours sleep to recover fully from the half marathon.

Day 15: 24/7/13

I am struggling today with the early work shift. I did get myself to the pool for a somewhat gentle 3km swim. I didn’t push myself much as not to overdo my tired body. I have conceded to the fact that this entire week of training is a bit of a write off due to the mixture of sleep deprivation and some other things getting in the way. However, it’s far better for me to recognise the obvious signs of being run-down and adjust my training accordingly as pushing too hard in these stressful periods can set me back a long way.

Recently, I did some calculations of my program for the four weeks dating 17^th June to 14^th July. I wanted to see how much of it I had completed. I gauged it in terms of how much total volume in each discipline, in each calendar week, I had completed as opposed to what was planned specifically and completed for each individual day. I was able to then see what disciplines fared better in meeting their expectations and what I had neglected more than others in each 7-day period and then for the entire 4 weeks.

I didn’t just use swim, bike and run. I also had weights strength training, Yoga and core training. Each of these has individual importance of some degree. Currently, doing weights and core strength training has as much importance as the shorter swim, bike and run sessions. Yoga is the one thing that is new but not quite as important as the others so I am more likely to neglect it in order to keep up with the rest but that is certainly not a desired outcome.

The results were very interesting. Only during the third week did I actually reach the total amount that I had programmed for the week in a single discipline. That was in my bike training but it wasn’t done to the exact specifications, although not too far off. Each facet of the schedule has had some form of alteration or missed time/session. I am currently not doing enough to maintain my desired level of training and it frustrates me. There is several things I know I can improve in order to allow more time to complete my scheduled sessions. Those things are very much general leisure activities like watching TV and surfing the internet/checking my Facebook. I MUST change this trend by being more vigilant of my time and scheduling. Of course, there are things that pop up and spending time with my fiancé, doing housework, etc. are not things I want to neglect either. There is more than training to consider.

I feel I’m not the only triathlete out there who thinks about everything I’ve just mentioned. The key is to be fair, honest and considerate.