Outlaw Half Training – Week 8 done – boom!

Bit late with this weeks round up so I’ll try to keep it short and sweet. Hit a few brick walls in some respects, but also made a massive breakthrough as well.

Turbo with GreenlightPT on Monday had the usual mix of hard cycling and some transistion training. I can now run with my bike – it’s not as hard as it looks and will be trying it out at a triathlon in the near future. We also did some dismount practice – I realised very quickly that my confidence on the bike is severely lacking – I’m ok riding but getting on and off at speed I really struggle with – so much so that I now have bike homework – scooting on my pedals!

Swimming on Wednesday was a solid session – I don’t feel I’m getting any quicker, but I am getting stronger and can maintain a good pace throughout when others are dropping off so I’m hoping that is a good sign and will help with the 1.9km swim that starts the Outlaw Half off. I’m getting into the habit of a second swim session a week now and I’m hoping this will start to pay dividends too. Others seem to be swimming a lot more than me but in the scheme of things I’m getting by on two sessions a week and when you think the swim is only a fraction of the full 70.3 distance I think that’s enough.

My ‘boom’ moment this week was my tempo run on Thursday – as week 8 was a recovery week there were no intervals, just a zone 4 6km run. My running club regular route is a 4 mile loop and a great gauge of where I’m at. Four weeks ago I ran my equal fastest time on this route but still felt there was a bit more in the tank so this week, I went for it. I was helped by the fact there were a few of the quicker runners there so I hung onto them for the first mile and settled in. I knocked 1m 30 off my time of four weeks ago and ran every mile at exactly the same pace – to the second! Boom! I’m so pleased my running is back on track – after what seems a lifetime of niggles and injuries I’m hoping I’ve turned a corner and can get back to a decent level of running as I always felt I’ve never quite fulfilled what I can actually do in running terms – I know I’m never going to be as quick as I was as a teenager but I’d like to think I can knock out a few PBs this year. I’ve got a few targets in mind, some of which I’ve shared as it’s a good way to motivate yourself to achieve it, but there are a couple more lurking that I’ll have a pop at, at some point – but all can wait till Outlaw is over.

I had a reasonable ride at the weekend. The weather was lovely so my new bike came out to play – unfortunately it didn’t sound to clever so after 10 miles of pootling and trying to rectify the problem I just decided to ignore the annoying chain noise and get stuck in. My planned 24 miles turned into 34 – oops! It’s such a nice ride – I just need some more decent weather and we’ll be back out again soon! I rounded off the week with a short/long run – only 7 miles but was nice and steady and in the early morning glorious sunshine.

Almost half way in the plan now and from this point a lot of the really hard work starts. Hopefully the first eight weeks have given me a good enough base to build on. My swimming is getting stronger, my bike is ticking over and my running is coming on a treat – just need to learn how to put it all together (and scoot on my pedals)!

Outlaw Half Training – Week 7 done – getting it together

A good solid week of training was achieved this week and I managed to tick every session on the plan off, although not quite gold star material as I only ran four of the five intervals I should have on Thursday (the fourth was so bad, I gave it up as a bad job!).

The week started well with a good turbo session with the GreenlightPT crew. We started with a killer of a pyramid session followed by a brick set. I was quite pleased with my running off the bike – considering I’d run 12 miles the day before the legs moved quite well so they’re definitely getting used to trauma of running straight after a ride. I followed the session with an easy 3km run which was a good way to run off the previous days run and the pain I’d just put them through.

Swimming on Wednesday was good – feel like I’m getting my swimming mojo back again after a bit of a lull – felt strong throughout the session and am relieved that the pain I had in my shoulder is lessening as the weeks go on. Can only assume it didn’t like the increase in training and introduction of core work!

As I mentioned earlier, my interval session on Thursday was not 100% successful. As with last week I had to do the intervals up and down the A5 which is not ideal. It’s difficult to get any sort of a rhythm going as you’re either running uphill, downhill, crossing a road or turning around. I’ll be pleased when the lighter nights return so I can go and use a great 1km straight we have just outside our village – could have been designed for interval work.

I finally managed to get my second swim of the week in on Friday morning – I hadn’t been able to try the endurance session yet so gave it a go and was quite pleased with the outcome – all reps in under time and without too much effort expelled – it did help having two bloke ironman training hanging off my feet as it forced me to keep an even pace which is no bad thing.

With the MK Half on Sunday I only had a reasonably short bike ride to do (50km) on Saturday so tagged along with my father in law and brother in law en route to some hill training – thankfully I got to turn around before they hit the bigger hills although I was faced with my other nemesis on the way home – the wind! Made my planned fun ride home a long slog – not perfect preparation for a race the next day but hey, that’s what training is all about!

The MK Half marathon on Sunday was great – I’ll save the details for a race report but in the scheme of things, after a swim on Friday, a ride on Saturday I was more than pleased with my performance on Sunday. I ended up only around two and a half minutes off my PB and to be honest, it was only my lack of long runs (2 x 10 miles and 1 12 mile) that undid me in the end but still early days – plenty more running to come…

Outlaw Half Training – Week 6 done – up and running

After a pretty much non-existent week of training last week, things are picking up again. I’ve still got my cold (I never have one of those few day colds that others seem to have) but it’s not on my chest so pushing on with the training!

Back into the turbo session with GreenlightPT on Monday. It was a great brick session with reps on the bike followed by runs round the block. My first foray into brick training this year and the legs weren’t sure what had hit them – especially as one of the reps involved a running parachute! It must have given various passers-by a giggle. But it got me working up a sweat so must have been doing some good.

Swimming on Wednesday was hard – it looked so simple on the board, two of everything – unfortunately there was also a x4 and brackets involved…but I finished the set in one piece and my shoulder held together…

I ran my first set of intervals in about a year on Thursday. Not quite on target pace, but considering I had to do them up and down the A5 (not flat and junctions to cross) was pretty pleased with the outcome. Consistent pace throughout and definitely room for improvement. Haven’t been able to run that fast comfortably for years if I’m honest so feeling pretty chuffed with myself and really looking forward to getting the running part of my training underway properly. I just need to remember to look after my legs – stretching and rolling…

Life got in the way on Friday with a poorly little boy and a husband away with work so unfortunatetly my second swim session was canned. I hoped to make it up on Sunday evening but just never happened, just need to make my next swim session better to make up for it.

The weekend was probably my biggest yet in total distance covered.  Not my biggest ride but was the largest bike/run combination over two days. I didn’t go out with my usual group on Saturday morning. It was quite icy, even at 9am and as I don’t do ice (ever) a mile out of my village I chickened out and came home. I eventually ventured out at around 10:30 and had a pootle around the lanes. It’s always tough out on your own, the miles seem to take so long to stack up and you never travel as fast. I was quite grateful to ride for about 10 miles with a fellow cyclist who I’d caught up. We had a nice chat which made the miles go past quicker, even though the speed wasn’t so hot. After I left him in Fringford I pushed hard for  few miles to make up some time and was quite pleased with what I could do – the lack of headwind did make a difference! for the second week in a row I avoided a cafe stop, but as a result did need to stop to take a gel. I need to start to take on food a bit more on the go as it wont do the bike split much good to be stopping for tea and toast.

Sunday was a long run – I had a target of 12 miles on the plan and the DLRR club run was an hour or 2 hours 20 mins – I needed a bit in between that so ran five miles on my own and then ran an hour with the club. It was great to be back running with the guys again and I quite surprised myself as how quickly my running has come back together. With the MK Half next week it could be an interesting race. It is just a training run, and I don’t think I’m in PB shape but sometimes once you get going you feel it’s there – I’ve got my game plan worked out for a conservative start and finish strong, but I’m terrible as sticking to my preconceived plans…so roll on next Sunday.