Swim

Monday (yesterday) is turning into my unofficial rest day now.

Today I went swimming, with no real plan, and as I started and found myself in a good position in LA Fitness next to the wall, I decided to see how long I could keep going.

I alternated 10 lengths (15M each) of crawl and breast stroke. Instead of stopping for a breather between the sets, I just kept going. The 2nd set of crawl, and the 3rd set, were quite challenging, but suddenly I found I was up to 60 lengths and tried another 10 of crawl. Surprisingly, they were the easiest yet of the session, and I completed them easily. Time to go back to work so I stopped. I wonder why my swimming was better at the end, when it should have been worse.

I think the 1050M total was completed in around 25 minutes. Very pleased with this performance, I don't think I've ever swum this far before.

Equipment

Bought some wrist weights in John Lewis today. 0.5Kg each. I've read that this might be good strength training when running.

Bike

My cycling has been suffering recently. Finally got out today and really struggled to find any pace.

Dist - 45.91km
Time - 1:47:59
avg - ~25.52km/h

this is really poor. It was quite cold, but not as bad as I've been out in before, and there was a light breeze.

Run

I've decided that long runs are now necessary. I want to work up having a run of around 2 hours every weekend, probably Saturdays. There are many reasons for this, according to a book I bought today coincidentally (The Runner's World Complete Book of Running, exclusive to WH Smiths apparently), but the main one is to build stamina for ironman distances. I'm also hopeful that the 5K and 10K races I do will seem easier if I'm used to running much further.

So today I did a new route. It's like the reservoir run, but the circle is extended up to Poyle. Rough measurements say it is 6.5 miles. Took my MP3 player, and ran slowly, watching my heartrate.

Distance - 6.5 miles
Time - 55:49 minutes
Average HR - 151 bpm
Kcal - 667

Enjoyed it actually, though had to keep crossing the road quite a lot to make sure I was on the pavement and not in the road.

Swim

LA Fitness 15M pool this afternon.

Did 40 lengths in groups of 10, had a break, then another 10 lengths. 750M altogether.

Run

Didn't really want to go for a run this evening when I got home from work. Cold and dark and even a hint of a light drizzle.

However, took my torch and flashing armband and did the clockwise reservoir route of about 4.5 miles. Trying to do my long runs at a more moderate pace, so did it in about 40 minutes.

Row/Bike/swim

Still at the hotel this morning, so did a bit of rowing for 5 minutes warmup, then 25 minutes on the exercise bikes. Setting wasn't adjustable, and it was pretty hard going. Swam quite a few lengths afterwards - maybe 400M again.

Row/Run/Swim

Went to a hotel (Dolphin Hotel) for the weekend and had a session in the fitness suite.

Rowed for 10 minutes.
Ran 5K in around 29 minutes on the treadmill.
Swam about 400M in the pool, though slowly, with lots of breaks.

Row/Cycle

La Fitness again this afternoon.
Changed the usual row to a set 2000M distance. Completed it in around 9 minutes 30.

Wanted to run again, but decided that as I haven't been on a bike in a long time, I should try that.

Set the bike to a up and down hill course for 25 minutes and varied the difficulty from 3-5 (very easy really).

Monitored my heartrate at a fairly steady 135-140, and my cadence at 90-95. Cycled something like 11.5K

Pleased with my recovery. By the time I reached the changing room I wasn't tired at all.

Swim

My cold has finally gone and so I headed back to the pool at LA Fitness. One lane was roped off for a swimming lesson which is really annoying as it is small enought there already.

But there were only 3 of us swimming so we just about coped.

I did 4 lots of 10 lengths of 15M (600M) . Only took short breaks to clear my goggles. I seem to be fairly consistently doing 150M in about 5 minutes. A 1500M swim like, say, the Windsor Triathlon, at that rate would take me 50 minutes. That's not very impressive really, but I think it's a realistic aim.

Need new goggles actually, and new prescription ones too as the plastic holding the strap is broken on my others. I'm using cheap goggles with half their strap broken actually.

Row/Run

Back in LA Fitness this afternoon. 10 minutes rowing to warm up, 125 calories.

Set the treadmill for 5K and started running at 10.5 going up to 11.5. Around 26.45 minutes and 364 calories.

Row/Run

My cold is right up in my head, and my sinus's are puffy and making my face red. (hey, that rhymes). I feel terrible and am not sleeping well.

But would a bit of exercise really make me feel any worse? Unlikely. And it might even help.

Did 10 minutes on the rowing machine as a warmup at LA Fitness. (120 cals)

Set the treadmill to 5K and gradually moved speed up from 10 - 11 km/h. 1% gradient, with a small hill of 4% for a couple of minutes. Completed the 5K in 28 minutes.

A stint in the sauna and steamroom afterwards really raised my temperature, but I don't think it has cleared my head at all. Not feeling any worse though :-)

Run

The kids have been ill, and I feel a cold coming on, so I decided tonight to get one more good run in before it takes hold.

Dressed up warm, took my new Nike flashing armband and a torch, and headed clockwise round the reservoir route at about 7pm.

Trying to not get too breathless, my time was just over 40 minutes. (40:10).

Coming back into my road, my left knee started to hurt a little. This is unusual, and probably symptomatic of me doing two 5 mile runs close together - my knee usually only hurts afterwards :-)

Swim

Went to LA Fitness and did 20 lengths, then a break, then another 10 lengths of the 15M pool.

There were too many people today, and also, last week when I went swimming and did a lot more lengths I strained my back, so was trying to take it easy today.

Run

Bought a new armband to wear in the dark recently at Niketown and put it to the test in Richmond Park on the traditional Wednesday night run with Carol and Jonathan. The flashing strip is really bright.

Felt really strong tonight for a change, and hardly noticed the one big hill climb.

The time of 40:27 was pretty fast too.