Big Show's Outlaw Training Log

[Big_Show]

Thursday 24th May

I recently had an unexpected windfall so yesterday I went on a bit of a spending spree. The vast majority of the money's gone safely into my savings account to kick-start my New Bike/Car/Mortgage Fun (all a long way off), but I was in need of some new kit so I took a trip down to Start Cycles & Start Fitness. Nothing much by Ben's standards; a new bike top, light gloves, a couple of running vests, running shorts, tri-shorts, powerbar stuff, but most importantly a good pair of Aqua Sphere goggles. So this morning for the first time in ages I didn't have facial pain throughout my swim (my previous goggles were cheap & crap) and I didn't have massive panda eyes for the first couple of hours at work!

The pool was pretty busy this morning - there's usually a fast guy there at that time of the morning who goes pretty quickly considering the amount of white water and noise he creates all over the place (I think of him as Mr Splashy), but there was also another guy there this morning who frankly looked like a pro - he had massive shoulders, a southern hemisphere accent, made even me look short and barely rippled the water as he moved through it. More killer whale than dolphin.

Anyway, the upshot of that was the fast lane became a properly fast lane, I ended up being king of the busy middle lane, and the slow lane was heaving with people of various speeds who didn't bother arriving at half six on the dot. Sucks to be them.

It also meant that my rest intervals ended up getting cut short by 5-10s pretty often to avoid getting stuck behind a slower swimmer (I find it rude to just assume they'll give way every time without also trying to minimise how often they'll have to); luckily everyone who swims at that time of day is pretty good at giving way when necessary.

My session was BIF #14, and a nice complicated one it seemed too until I started going. The main set was 6x(50+100+150) + 20s rec. between each rep. These went well, although 100s and 200s were slowing down towards the end of the session; I clocked the last couple of sets as 0:45, 1:40 & 2:30 respectively. The pool started emptying after about 7:15 so I had more space to myself after that; unfortunately I had to cut the cool-down short so as not to miss my bus for work, but 3.2k in 65mins works for me. I think tomorrow morning's swim is going to be done with sore, tired shoulders though!

Enough of my rambling. 90min spin tonight. Bring it on.

[md6]

good swimming there buddy. I wish i could enjouy the pool enough to spend any amount of time there myself.

[Big_Show]

good swimming there buddy. I wish i could enjouy the pool enough to spend any amount of time there myself.

I go through phases; at the moment I'm enjoying it. I guess the best thing to do might be to just keep going until you start enjoying it again?

The rest of the day's training was spinning - 31.6 in 1:28:08.

Operation Big Unit: Good work today. Approximately 2000 calorie deficit; can't work out the DQS as I left the Racing Weight book at work but it all seems to have been pretty good quality.

[Big_Show]

Friday 25th May

Before work - BIF #15. Nearky bailed after 500m due to sore shoulders but then decided if I was going to make it to the pool bu 7am on my day off for a shitty little 500m swim. So the main set was:
5x200m + 30s rec.
5x100m + 20s rec.
5x50m + 10s rec.
6x25m + 5s rec.
Total 3.3km - bailed on the last 200m due to cramp. Enjoyed this one - it was nice knowing that the hard work was over half over by the end of the 200s.

Train journey back home 1hr run across random suffolk fields tonight - only did 1hr as this week's long run has been shifted to tomorrow due to Sunday's sportive. Hope it doesn't affect my bike legs too much.

[Big_Show]

Saturday 26th May

Lovely ride in the sun this morning. Suffolk is a lot flatter than Northumberland. 1:29:09 @ 17.8mph average.

Then out for the run - 16.6M in 2:28:06 @ 8:55/mile pace. Did an out and back route within 7 seconds showing the consistent pace I was aiming for.

Now refuelling ahead of tomorrow's sportive. Really lookng forward to it!

[Big_Show]

Sunday 27th May

Norwich 100. Furthest ever bike ride! Pretty similar amount of climbing compared to the Outlaw (~450m compared to ~530m) so it should give me an idea of what to aim for on the big day.

[Big_Show]

Monday 28th May

No training - sat on a train instead. Quite nice to find legs didn't ache.


Tuesday 29th May

BIF#16 before work - ended up getting cut short due to Pool Rage and associated impending massacre.
Main set should have been 3x150m + 20s rec., 4x250m + 30s rec., 3x150m+ 20s rec., 3500m total. Halfway through the 250m efforts a woman I think of as Adidas Cap got into the lane and proceeded to swim slower than those of us already in there, and completely failed to give way at the end of the lane. I ended up stopping and turning round five yards out from the end to get past her once, and other times I messed around with my rest intervals to get some clear water ahead of me. Then someone else got in and started doing the same thing and I sacked off the last 150m effort and most of the cool-down.

That woman really annoys me and all the other regulars - people have talked to her before but she still continues on getting in the way! The rudeness and ignorance of some people...

Still, at least I swam. The consistency is showing in my feel for the water again - everything felt nicer and easier this morning than it has in ages.

[IronMorg]

had the same problem today mate... luckily it was on my cool down but a guy would not give way on the last 4 lengths so I went to overtake him and he closed the gap the twat! So when I was doing my post swim stretches after I made sure it was very difficult for him to turn very childish I know.... but hey ho!

[Big_Show]

I was really tempted to get in their way in return but I also realised I couldn't swim slow enough!

Running club this evening - I led the session again and it went well. Figure-of-eight loop with hard effort down into the Dene, brief recovery under the bridge, hard effort up the hill, recovery across Armstrong bridge, then repeat. Our group did five loops; total session came to 7.9M in 1:06:36 at about 8:26/mile.

Operation Big Unit: tried to make good diet choics over the weekend while I was at home but there was indeed plenty of free booze from my parents. Today I've done well (approx. 1500 calorie deficit, DQS of 15 despite someone bringing in birthday cake for everyone in the office) but tomorrow morning's weigh-in will probably not be an enjoyable experience.

[Big_Show]

Wednesday 30th May

All the free food & booze over the weekend didn't do as much damage a I expected - still managed to lose 0.75lb, so that takes me down to 211.25lbs - lightest I've been since October last year

Going to take extra care this week as a lot of complacency (and cake) is creeping back into my diet. I'm so close now, so I'm laying down a challenge for myself - this time next week I will be under 15 stone!