Week 19 - The Week in Review

"Concentrate on the process and the outcome will look after itself."  

This week was back on the wagon.

Back into the pool this week and some consistent training. The week leading into Christmas is not always a good one for consistency in anyone's books but I was sure going to try and start this campaign off on the right foot.

Monday:
Core was the session to see me off into this campaign. Rather fitting start considering that it WAS one of my most dreaded sessions. But I have decided to embrace these sessions and have begun to change my mindset.
The session includes using both resistance tubes and body weight to develop my core strength and stability.
The format of the session is firstly made up of 15 x 50sec (with 10sec rest) exercises using the resistance tubes. These exercises mainly work the abs and obliques and of course both left and right sides. The use of the tubes gives the session a bit of variety and spices the session up.
The next 15min are working through 5 x 50sec (with 10sec rest) exercises repeating them 3 times = 15min. These include; prone hold, push ups, squat, bicycle crunches, and leg raises.
Then for the last 15min I repeat the 1st resistance tube set again.
Between these 15min sets I had a 3min recovery.
I set myself a challenging session 1st up but I believe if I consistently work at this workout twice each week I definitely think that it will help me in achieving the goals I have set down.

The evening was spent on the massage table mainly working on the legs and loosening the lower back.

Tuesday:
Ah....yes...Tuesday.....
Got on the bike and rode to the run session...trying to get extra km in the legs with the bike where I can, even if it is only to and from other training sessions.
The day started with some run efforts on a sports field. A good intense session and certainly got a few 'bugs' out of the system.
The body felt good, a few niggles associated with the upper hamstrings still, but this I believe is related to my back and will just need to be managed through massage, stretching and physio.
After riding home, I did a quick 15min resistant tube workout.

In the evening it was one of many session in the pool for the week. Was in early and did 750m before squad begun. Total distance for the swim session was 3.5km.

Wednesday:
The morning was a easy ride on the bike, keeping it flat and easy. Total 60km in about 2hr15m.

Back in the pool for the evening, for a 2.7km swim session.

Thursday:
Thursday was AM and PM sessions in the pool.
The AM session consisted of a 'shoulder' busting workout with 20 x 100m with 5 pushups at the end of each 100m.
For the first workout of this type for this IM campaign I was reasonably satisfied...the shoulders were struggling to push out the 5th push up after the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th 100m.

The PM session was another character building session. This being the 4th session of the week the arms were becoming a little more fatigued but there was a strong willingness to power through and make it a good week in the pool for the 1st week of the 2011 IM Campaign.
This session was a total of 3.1km which included getting in early and doing 400m of kick with fins. I have also decided to work more on improving my kick.

Friday: (Christmas Eve)
The morning was back in the pool. A solid 3.5km endurance set. The arms were working hard throughout the session and it was definitely obvious that the arms were lacking some of that muscular endurance type strength as towards the end of the session the times for the 100m were getting a little slower....not by much but was noticeable....baby sets here! Also thinking it might help with the hamstring and back management.

PM session was 30min of core strength and stability with the resistant tubes,

Saturday: (Christmas Day)
Merry Christmas....a well earned break from the training to celebrate Christmas with family.

PM session was to work off all those extra calories with a 60min run (11km) - hard work considering the lazy morning that was had. The HR at time was sitting above the 200bpm for extended periods of time but it was a enjoyable run, particularly with the rain.

Sunday: (Boxing Day)
A miserable day.....torrential rain all day.
Spent 2hrs on the wind trainer......should of painted a wall and watched it dry!!!
Legs were feeling good, it was only a easy spin.

Weekly Stats:
Swim: 14.8km (5h20m)
Cycle: 80.7km (5hr00m)
Run: 17.4km (1hr45m)
Core: 1hr45min
Maintenance: 1hr00m