Saturday, July 28, 2007

25km Trail Run &... a swim session

Days to Australian Ironman 2008 - 253
Days to GC Half Ironman 2007 - 64


Program

AM: Glasshouse trail run 25km. Keep heart rate under 155 for duration of run. Practice taking fluids and food during run.

PM: Swim Session

Personal Data

Weight: 84.4kg

Sleep: 7hrs

Mood: Little tired but good

Food Intake Summary: 4-5L of water, chicken roll, garlic bread

Today's Journal
It was again another early rise and up to Beerburrum for the 25km trail run in the Matthew Flinders Tour.

Race Report - 25km Trail Run (Glasshouse Mts.)

The mood going into the race was reasonable, it got better over the drive up to beerburrum. The race started at 7.30am. The morning was cool and fine, but not as cold as it had been. The goal of the race today was to keep the heart rate under 155bpm and practice with hydration and food over the 25km. For the race I used the 4 bottle fuel belt (2 with sports drink and 2 with water). I also had 3 Hammer Gel with me. The strategy for today was to strictly drink every 15min and to have a gel 15min prior to the race and then at about the 50min mark of the race (about halfway through the race) This worked out well. One of the adjustments to this would mabe have 2 gels throughout the race 1 @ the 45min mark and then another @ the 90min mark. In Hydrating every 15min I could feel the pick up in performace after the intake of fluid.

The part of the race involved going partly up Beerburrum Mt, a nice little warm up. Of course things that go up must come down. From the 2km to about 10km the trail was relatively flat with some gradual hills/gradients. From about 12km mark there was a fair steep gradient, at one part it was about a 6.5% gradient for about 300m. This was a good challenge, but one where the gradient got the better of me.

At about the 16km mark the course became less taxing on the body. At about 3km from the finish the was a hill that was another challenge, firtsly it was a hill and secondly it had a lot of loose golf ball size rocks over its surface making it a little uneasy under foot.

The 25km was completed in 2hrs and 3 minutes, I was very pleased with this effort. I did a 15min stretch after finishing the race. The legs and feet were quite sore. The feet took a bit of a battering but when you are running over such terrain you should expect this.

The PM session was in the pool, to say that I was struggling would be and understatement. However, there is a a goal to be achieved and going back to bed was not an option. In fact the swim session helped in the recover of my legs, but I still struggled throughout the session in terms of overall energy.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Wednesday's Sessions

Days to Australian Ironman 2008 - 256
Days to GC Half Ironman 2007 - 67
Program
AM: 30 min spin w/u; 5 x 6 min in 53/12-14 along flat sitting up with 3 min rec & 15 min w/d
PM: Swim Session
Personal Data
Weight: 84.3kg
Sleep: 7.5hrs
Mood: Good
Food Intake Summary: Fruit, 2 x Sml Garlic Bread, 1x Spinich Cannoelloni, 2 x 600ml water

Today's Journal
Up and going early again leaving home and travelling down to Sandgate for the bike session. Conditions were very good. No wind and it seems to be warming up a little...only just. Due to time constraints had to reduce the warm up to 10 min and warm down to 5 min.

Session Evaluation

AM Session: Coming shortly

PM Session: Coming shortly

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Enviro Training Day (ETD)

Days to Australian Ironman 2008 - 257
Days to GC Half Ironman 2007 - 68
Program
AM: Ride Session: 60 mins in 39/16-19 @ 95-105 cadence and 70-75% max hr.
PM: Run Session: 30 mins @ 70% max hr followed by 8 x 50m strides and 15 min stretch

Today's Journal
Its been a while since I've been on the blog...slack really. Well I am into the 3rd week of the Coomer Half Ironman Campaign and would like to be more regularly blogging than I have been....so it is going to happen and I am planning to back date a number of days to get a better picture of hoe the preparation is progressing.

Today's session and many like it are going to be labelled as Enviro Training Days (ETD)..Why you ask?....well it is a day of training that involves travelling around without the car...pretty cool huh....At least its a day without adding to the greenhouse gases.

The morning session involved a 2hr ride before work, head out on my usual out and back course. I woke up with a little dampness around and at first was apprehensive in venturing out but...as Mark would say its about the 'big picture'. This preparation is now serious so its means getting out and training in all conditions...good mental, physical and conditioning preparation. The conditions that I may ride in may not be always ideal...blue sky...no wind...etc. This was one of these mornings, wet and cold....in fact at times dam miserable, but I persevered.

Rode home to complete the ETD this was a 40min ride home. In all spent about 2.5 hours and 64km on the bike today.

Got home and within 10min was off on my run session...The 30min run was around the usual hill circuit and then completed the 8 x 50m strides in a local park.

Session Evaluation:

AM Session: Thought the legs would be a little less responsive than they were, so was happy with the way I have recovered from the weekend. The wet and cold conditions were a good experience to endure, there were a couple of things that were learnt, mainly, needing to look at the options of glasses (I was wearing ones with clear lenses) as the rain was making visibility very difficult at times. The traffic on the way home was manic to say the least.

PM Session: I began to really feel the legs during the initial part of the session; however, once the session progressed and I got into a rhythm, things improved. A little bit of a niggle in the right knee; however, nothing of real concern. Feet are still getting use to the new shoes, top of left foot still feeling a little bruised.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Day of Rest

Days to Australian Ironman 2008 - 275
Days to GC Half Ironman 2007 - 87
Program
AM: Rest
PM: Rest

Today's Journal
A well earned rest after a reasonably hard week of training.