Big Show's Outlaw Training Log

[Big_Show]

Didn't make it out for my brick session last night - some stuff came up both at work and in real life that I had to sort out and in the end I ran out of time.

Thursday 31st May

Today has started off with a swim: BIF session#17 - straight 3500m swim. Very pleased with the result - 1:06:20 (a PB over that distance) which would put me on for a 1:12 swim at the Outlaw, and that's without allowing for the wetsuit effect!

[Big_Show]

The rest of Thursday: Spinning after work - 34.6k in 1:28:18. Finished off with some really heavy gear stuff, loved it.

Diet went a bit to pot after tea - I'm blaming my flatmates and my lowered willpower when knackered and hungry, but a boatload of ice cream was consumed. Still managed a deficit of ~1000 calories for the day mind, but the DQS will be right down there

[chappers]

someone with more knowledge may disagree but with 1 month to go so I wouldn't worry too much about diet at this stage, just do what's sensible and feels right. I think the trick is to not carry on eating the same volume (but keep quality high) when the taper starts. I found it very hard to get out of the habit though.

you must be getting very excited now

[Big_Show]

someone with more knowledge may disagree but with 1 month to go so I wouldn't worry too much about diet at this stage, just do what's sensible and feels right. I think the trick is to not carry on eating the same volume (but keep quality high) when the taper starts. I found it very hard to get out of the habit though.

I know, I basically left it way too late to start knuckling down with my nutrition and weight. I could have had it all sorted months ago if I'd paid more attention and been stricter. Right now it's gradually dropping off at about 1lb per week; I just think that if I can get myself under 15 stone and stay there until race day it'll be a massive psychological boost for me. That's only a couple of pounds more to get rid of and carefully keep off during the taper period.

you must be getting very excited now

Very! One month today - really looking forward to it! Just over one week of hard work left before the taper begins and I start panicking because it feels like I'm not doing enough training...

[Big_Show]

Friday 1st June

Slept through my alarms and so missed this morning's swim. Was annoyed, but handily I was able to pop over at lunchtime to sort of make up for it.

Decided to do 1500m concentrating on form, but then the pace picked up and I went with it - ended up with a 1500m PB of 25:50! Pretty sure I didn't miscount the number of lengths, but it fits in with yesterday's 3.5k PB so I'm taking it! And with one month until the Outlaw that's given me some much-needed swim confidence.

Run tonight. Bring it!

[Big_Show]

The run went well - 11.7M in 1:35:20 @ 8:09/mile pace. Felt like I was going a lot slower than that until I worked out the pace when I got home.

Saturday 2nd June

No training today. After an appalling night's sleep last night (noisy neighbours, different set to the usual ones - I really hate living in a Tyneside flat at times ) I woke up feeling hungover and with absolutely no motivation to train whatsoever. Actually took until mid-afternoon to stop feeling rough; decided to knock all the weekend's training back by a day and miss out Tuesday's swim instead for the rest day. Might as well make the most of the long weekend after all! So the extent of today's training has been sitting on the sofa playing various computer games and reading magazines.

And also sat looking at ideas for training programmes for after the Outlaw. Got some fun ideas from it all.

[Big_Show]

Sunday 3rd June

Woke up to a lack of motivation but luckily a mate had agreed to join me for at least the first half of the ride. Set off, got to his house, listened to the excuse shouted down from his bedroom window (apparently it was a very good single malt) and set off for a solo bike ride as per usual for this training programme.

Wind, hills, blah blah blah. Quick stop halfway to refill water bottles - definitely working better with the electrolyte tablets in it, even if it doesn't taste particularly good. And Kev, please note no mars bars were dropped in the course of this long ride

Straight out on the run - no attempts at glory, just plodded round trying to ignore the smells coming from the BBQs of those sould hardy enough to carry on despite the complete lack of blue sky. 7.0M in 1:02:07 @ 8:51/mile average.

Had a bit of a stumble off a kerb near the end and my right knee/calf/ankle are all pretty sore from it. Thankfully the injuries I've had over the last were on the other leg, but if it's not feeling 100% tomorrow I'll bin the long run and do another bike ride instead. No way I'm going to risk knacking myself with just four weeks to go!

WIth half they year now gone I thought I'd have a look on Endo and see how my training compares to last year. A quick skim shows the differences in the volume, if nothing else:

Running: 93.32hrs (66.36% of 2011)
Road cycling: 93.87hrs (173.26% of 2011!!!)
Turbo/Spinning: 47.38hrs (58.34% OF 2011)
Swiming: 36.66hrs (82.49% of 2011)

Slight difference...

[Jack Hughes]

Yep a very _slight_ difference

[Big_Show]

The rest of Sunday was pretty interesting; a mate's just bought the Triathlete's Training Bible and asked me to go through the weight's session with him. I declined, but when a bribe of whisky was mooted I changed my mind. Somehow ended up doing the AA session with him:
5min warm-up on cross-trainer
3x20 reps with 1min recoveries of all the following:
Leg press
Standing bent-arm lat pulldown
Box step-ups (20reps for each leg)
Bench press
Seated row
Calf raises
Abdominal twist
Then also a go on the assisted pull-up/tricep dip machine. My upper-body strength really is appalling!

Then whisky.

Monday 4th June

Decided not to risk the run and headed out on the bike instead. Made my way up the coast to Morpeth and then across to Capheaton, then back down through Stamfordham. Nice undulating roads, hardly any traffic until I started heading back into the city. 58.85M in 2:23:52 @ 17.3mph average. Lovely day for it.

[Big_Show]

Tuesday 5th June

Marshalled a race last night then went to the pub so ended up having a nice lie-in this morning (not a regular occurence for me, got out of bed at 10am and felt like half the day was gone!) then hit the pool for a swim at lunchtime.

BIF #13 - main set 5x400m + 45s rec., 3500m total. DOMS in me chest from Sunday's impromptu gym session - won't be doing that again until after the race!

Also got a bit of DOMS in my thighs - possibly the abductors? - so I'm refraining from running for another day. Probably a good idea anyway after jarring my leg on Sunday; back to it with tomorrow evening's brick session.