I didn't die.
I did get a good two mouthfuls of Thames water, but I seem to be not ill (yet - bit of a sore throat, but hey). No training, due to general arseness of lack of faith in being able to push my body at the moment. So.
We were hit by different organisation this year and, quite frankly, not so good. Queueing was a farce and lots of people almost (and probably did) miss their wave. We almost did, after queueing for registration and finding the timing chip queue was massive... I just queue jumped the entire chip queue as I found someone had been fast-tracked in front of me in the registration queue only to find out had the same start time as us.
I lost Mr TOTKat at registration and panicked that I had no money to pay for the bag transport, but it turned out it was included in entry anyway. Dumping my bag off, I realised I'd not lubricated the neck of my wet-suit so was going to have to take the hit of a potential awful neck rawness at the end. I trotted off to the start, to find there was only 7-8 minutes to the wave kick-off and I was still not completely in my wet suit. Thankfully the guy who was fast tracked offered and helped me zip up and I reciprocated.
We'd both missed race briefing and having heard race organisation grumblings, were given a re-run of the briefing and Mr TOTKat showed up with seconds to spare before we plopped in to the water to paddle to the start. I was rude and shoved my way to the front and waited for the hooter to start us off.
Long and boring swimming happened. With a bit of a melee at the start, I had no problem holding my position and not wavering from it whether it meant getting a smack on the head/arm/back/face/legs/body or giving one. Breathing every two and cursing the race briefing that said the yellow buoys were every 800m (there were 5 in a 3.65km race, none at the start and an orange one at the end, go figure) it was basically extremely boring this time around. Visibility was rubbish, but then it's a silty river, so what do you expect? Put on a bit of a spurt of speed once at about 2.25km in and then again at about 3.2km and was helped out onto the ramp at the end. Wobbled up the ramp and then cursed that the timing mat for the end of the race was quite a way along from where you get out. Cursed even more when I saw Mr TOTKat picking up his bag, 45s ahead of me.
To be fair, he's trained for this event and I haven't. So well done him. A whole 10 minutes quicker than he was last year, which is 12.5% faster! (me, I was 3 minutes faster than last year, which isn't awful but not unexpected due to being generally fitter anyway)
No sore neck, no chafing at all from the wetsuit. AND my lovely 2XU swimming compression top did a fabulous job as I'm not utterly crippled today and can easily raise my arms above my head. Result!
Showing posts with label Thames. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thames. Show all posts
Monday, 18 July 2011
Friday, 20 August 2010
Letting out the leash a little
Good ride yesterday; 38 minutes in to the office and 42 minutes or so back (I forgot to turn off my HRM when I got back so I'm guessing there). Thighs were still a bit sore so decided not to gym today after all. So this week has been only 2x weights sessions, which I'd normally fix by going to the gym at the weekend to top it up to 3x, but given there's about 140km cycling to do, I'm not gymming.
I've been being quite lax with food and drink this week - nothing really bad, all under maintenance until today. Today has, so far, included a shop-bought lunch for the first time in months and a cupcake (strawberry one from EAT, see dodgy photo:o))... there's dinner out later and a couple of beers (not too many as it's an earlyish start in the morning and a lot of miles to cover) so I'll be well over maintenance today, but then I'm calling it carb loading for the long ride :o) It'll be interesting to see how many kcals I earn on the trip; I'm guessing 1,500-1,800 each way depending on how long it takes.
There are planned pit-stops on the way and I fully expect to be in excess on balance by the end of the week. Oh, and it's taper week next week:-
Monday - rest & recover from cycling
Tuesday - rest or cycle
Wednesday - PT session "fun" session (i.e. not doing routine)
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest or cycle
Saturday - rest or gentle run
Sunday - rest
Monday - final TTT
There are planned pit-stops on the way and I fully expect to be in excess on balance by the end of the week. Oh, and it's taper week next week:-
Monday - rest & recover from cycling
Tuesday - rest or cycle
Wednesday - PT session "fun" session (i.e. not doing routine)
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest or cycle
Saturday - rest or gentle run
Sunday - rest
Monday - final TTT
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
How to tackle this?
A couple of weeks ago, I threw myself into cycling into work. I ended up 800kcals under maintenance for the week and putting on 1kg (well, probably not really, but that's what the scales said). Yes, I get that when I eat more, it weighs more and thus I will weigh more on balance the first week I eat lots more. So, ignoring that effect when I'm doing it this time, I still have problems around eating.
Today I cycle into work and home again. I will not be going to the gym. The cycling gives me an extra 700-800kcals or so for the day. I -should- eat at least half of those kcals, but I -think- that I actually need to eat all of them and not aim for any loss target kcals as my body doesn't deal with that very well and starts to retain water etc. I'll be cycling at least 3 times this week, so it's not mad extra work (90km in total, oh arse, and an extra 21-49km on Saturday) but I feel I need to pretty much ignore this week as it's straight after an event, so I'm a bit heavy anyway and there's lots of extra exercise which will throw my body out as well. I'll aim for "on or under maintenance kcals" each day this week, but definitely not "at or below loss kcals". Then re-assess next week when things should have settled down a bit. Of course, then I have only 1 week of normal exercise (3x weights and 2-4x cycling and 0-1 swims) before I have to taper for the final Thames Turbo Triathlon, so it may not be a fair trial or learning.
Anyone else gone through a significant increase in exercise output? How did you manage your nutrition and what effects did you see?
Today I cycle into work and home again. I will not be going to the gym. The cycling gives me an extra 700-800kcals or so for the day. I -should- eat at least half of those kcals, but I -think- that I actually need to eat all of them and not aim for any loss target kcals as my body doesn't deal with that very well and starts to retain water etc. I'll be cycling at least 3 times this week, so it's not mad extra work (90km in total, oh arse, and an extra 21-49km on Saturday) but I feel I need to pretty much ignore this week as it's straight after an event, so I'm a bit heavy anyway and there's lots of extra exercise which will throw my body out as well. I'll aim for "on or under maintenance kcals" each day this week, but definitely not "at or below loss kcals". Then re-assess next week when things should have settled down a bit. Of course, then I have only 1 week of normal exercise (3x weights and 2-4x cycling and 0-1 swims) before I have to taper for the final Thames Turbo Triathlon, so it may not be a fair trial or learning.
Anyone else gone through a significant increase in exercise output? How did you manage your nutrition and what effects did you see?
Monday, 2 August 2010
Nokia Thames Swim race report
We rose earlyish, 7am, and had a fortifying breakfast - I had malt loaf with Nutella on it and a mug of tea. Arrived at Kingston; me, Mr TOTKat and Mr TOTKat's mum; parked the car and headed for the ferry which would take us to the race start. We got to the jetty at about 08:05 and the next ferry wasn't to leave until 08:30, which was a bit annoying but not too bad really. The ferry ambled us towards Hampton Court at what was almost certainly more than 4 knots (tsk!) and we got a good look at the swim course. The half-way buoy seemed a bit closer to the end than it should have been and there seemed to be not all that many large buoys in evidence.
The ferry dropped us off near the race start which was a pretty nice facility of marquees in a field off to one side of the river. Race registration was pretty tight in terms of identification and chipping etc. and we didn't have long before Mr TOTKat was due to start so I queued for the loo with Mt TOTKat's mum while he got ready and was whisked off to the start. Mr TOTKat's race start time was 20 minutes before mine, having put in an estimated race time of 01:20 where I'd put in an estimate of 01:10. I was not long after called up to the race start and had to fight my way into my wetsuit with assistance from Mr TOTKat's mum before leaving her with our kit bag to meet us at the finish, 2.25 miles further down the river. (In hindsight, we should have used the kit bag transport service, but hey, you live and learn.)
Near to the race start, there was a holding area where each wave of swimmers were gathered and penned in together before the race chips were checked to verify they worked and matched up with the number on your chest and swimming cap. Then it was into the water, over to the buoys marking the race start for briefing and photos and a 5 minute wait (in deep water, as in you can't touch the bottom) before the off for my wave. Lots of photos and a hooter honk later and 100 of us in yellow cap wave were off.
A very thrashy start with lots of people jostling past me, where I'd made my way to the front for the start, only to be overtaken by me a few minutes later when they found they'd gone off too fast and had to slow down a bit. Falling into a rhythm quite quickly meant very very slight hyperventilation all the way through the swim as I ended up breathing every 2 strokes (it was quite cold and the wetsuit, while very very well fitting, did restrict my shoulder movement which meant more effort per stroke required than usual all contributing to more breathing required) where every 3 would be better but I can't do bi-lateral breathing at the moment (need to practice). There was a surprising amount of jostling all the way through the swim, mostly people coming in from the sides of the route where they'd gone off course a bit; the water is extremely murky so you can't see a thing about where you are in the river without doing proper sighting ahead of you. I managed to get away with very little sighting as I do swim pretty straight without it. There were a few times when you could see the bottom as it was so close, close enough to scrape your hands on a a few times even.
Not much water got taken on board until well after the half way marker, which came soooo much later than I expected it. Half way came and went and the yellow wave started to pass some of the white and green waves before us and the odd pink one. And then came Raven's Ait - in theory almost the finish. Except it's aaaages away from the finish when you're swimming at around 1.6 knots. And that's when I first took on some water - the course narrows around the left side of Raven's Ait and lots of swimmers get close together and create a lot of splash. Then there were lots of pleasure boats between there and the finish, raising wake and causing a couple more mouthfuls of Thames sludge. At this point I got bad cramp in my left ankle. I do suffer with cramp in my feet a lot, which is pretty tolerable, but when it goes into my ankle it's extremely painful and causes a bad spasm so my foot goes club. I knew I was a good 10 minutes from the end, so my only real option was to speed up, despite creating quite some drag with my left foot being at a funny angle. I switched stroke to a more efficient, slightly more effort catch which zoomed me quickly past people who'd been level with me for the last few minutes, really picking up the pace.
The finish eventually hove into view and the race marshall with a megaphone was shouting something utterly inaudible when you're in the water with a swimming cap on. Thankfully I heard during the race briefing that we had to go around the final Nokia buoy before heading for shore and the exit. So I aimed for the buoy, got close enough to it and aimed for shore, having problems seeing how far it was away I broke into breast stroke for the first time all day and slowed down quite badly until I heard the marshalls telling me to mind the step on the exit. I saw two girls in front of me on the exit ramp, on their hands and knees and thought "blimey, I know it was tiring, but seriously..." and then I stepped out with some help from a marshall. Only to almost fall over through incredible disorientation and balance loss. I staggered, weaved and wobbled my way up the ramp and around to where there were people handing out Lucozade Light and actually took some despite not liking Lucozade at all. The disorientation and lack of balance was incredible and thankfully I saw Mr TOTKat quite soon and found somewhere to fall on my arse and sit down for quite a bit to get over the dizziness.
It took a while to find Mr TOTKat's mum in the crowds, but thankfully we'd been given a race finishers' t-shirt to put on which helped stop Mr TOTKat from getting too cold in his tri-suit where I was still quite warm in my wetsuit. We dried and de-mudded our feet, put some clothes on over our swimming suits, had a protein shake and a fruit&nut bar before heading home in the car, to get showered and some much needed tea.
Watch time put my race at 01:16:11 and the official timing was 01:15:55. - 34th in my age and sex category. Fastest woman overall was Keri-ann Payne (Olympic 10km open water gold medallist) at 00:47:50, "only" 28 minutes faster than me, so that was pretty pleasing. The overall winner was Michael Adams at 00:42:33.
The ferry dropped us off near the race start which was a pretty nice facility of marquees in a field off to one side of the river. Race registration was pretty tight in terms of identification and chipping etc. and we didn't have long before Mr TOTKat was due to start so I queued for the loo with Mt TOTKat's mum while he got ready and was whisked off to the start. Mr TOTKat's race start time was 20 minutes before mine, having put in an estimated race time of 01:20 where I'd put in an estimate of 01:10. I was not long after called up to the race start and had to fight my way into my wetsuit with assistance from Mr TOTKat's mum before leaving her with our kit bag to meet us at the finish, 2.25 miles further down the river. (In hindsight, we should have used the kit bag transport service, but hey, you live and learn.)
Near to the race start, there was a holding area where each wave of swimmers were gathered and penned in together before the race chips were checked to verify they worked and matched up with the number on your chest and swimming cap. Then it was into the water, over to the buoys marking the race start for briefing and photos and a 5 minute wait (in deep water, as in you can't touch the bottom) before the off for my wave. Lots of photos and a hooter honk later and 100 of us in yellow cap wave were off.
A very thrashy start with lots of people jostling past me, where I'd made my way to the front for the start, only to be overtaken by me a few minutes later when they found they'd gone off too fast and had to slow down a bit. Falling into a rhythm quite quickly meant very very slight hyperventilation all the way through the swim as I ended up breathing every 2 strokes (it was quite cold and the wetsuit, while very very well fitting, did restrict my shoulder movement which meant more effort per stroke required than usual all contributing to more breathing required) where every 3 would be better but I can't do bi-lateral breathing at the moment (need to practice). There was a surprising amount of jostling all the way through the swim, mostly people coming in from the sides of the route where they'd gone off course a bit; the water is extremely murky so you can't see a thing about where you are in the river without doing proper sighting ahead of you. I managed to get away with very little sighting as I do swim pretty straight without it. There were a few times when you could see the bottom as it was so close, close enough to scrape your hands on a a few times even.
Not much water got taken on board until well after the half way marker, which came soooo much later than I expected it. Half way came and went and the yellow wave started to pass some of the white and green waves before us and the odd pink one. And then came Raven's Ait - in theory almost the finish. Except it's aaaages away from the finish when you're swimming at around 1.6 knots. And that's when I first took on some water - the course narrows around the left side of Raven's Ait and lots of swimmers get close together and create a lot of splash. Then there were lots of pleasure boats between there and the finish, raising wake and causing a couple more mouthfuls of Thames sludge. At this point I got bad cramp in my left ankle. I do suffer with cramp in my feet a lot, which is pretty tolerable, but when it goes into my ankle it's extremely painful and causes a bad spasm so my foot goes club. I knew I was a good 10 minutes from the end, so my only real option was to speed up, despite creating quite some drag with my left foot being at a funny angle. I switched stroke to a more efficient, slightly more effort catch which zoomed me quickly past people who'd been level with me for the last few minutes, really picking up the pace.
The finish eventually hove into view and the race marshall with a megaphone was shouting something utterly inaudible when you're in the water with a swimming cap on. Thankfully I heard during the race briefing that we had to go around the final Nokia buoy before heading for shore and the exit. So I aimed for the buoy, got close enough to it and aimed for shore, having problems seeing how far it was away I broke into breast stroke for the first time all day and slowed down quite badly until I heard the marshalls telling me to mind the step on the exit. I saw two girls in front of me on the exit ramp, on their hands and knees and thought "blimey, I know it was tiring, but seriously..." and then I stepped out with some help from a marshall. Only to almost fall over through incredible disorientation and balance loss. I staggered, weaved and wobbled my way up the ramp and around to where there were people handing out Lucozade Light and actually took some despite not liking Lucozade at all. The disorientation and lack of balance was incredible and thankfully I saw Mr TOTKat quite soon and found somewhere to fall on my arse and sit down for quite a bit to get over the dizziness.
It took a while to find Mr TOTKat's mum in the crowds, but thankfully we'd been given a race finishers' t-shirt to put on which helped stop Mr TOTKat from getting too cold in his tri-suit where I was still quite warm in my wetsuit. We dried and de-mudded our feet, put some clothes on over our swimming suits, had a protein shake and a fruit&nut bar before heading home in the car, to get showered and some much needed tea.
Watch time put my race at 01:16:11 and the official timing was 01:15:55. - 34th in my age and sex category. Fastest woman overall was Keri-ann Payne (Olympic 10km open water gold medallist) at 00:47:50, "only" 28 minutes faster than me, so that was pretty pleasing. The overall winner was Michael Adams at 00:42:33.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Weekly roundup and sensible planning
This week was a complete mess, as you can see. If I'm going to cycle this much, I have to work out how to sort out my nutrition to match it properly.
Last week:-
Exercise count: 10
Exercise time: 07:41
Exercise kcals: 4,408
Kcals difference from loss for the week: +2594
Kcals difference from maintenance for the week: -906
(+ is excess vs. quota, - is deficit below quota)
Since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise count: 312
Exercise time: 212h
Exercise kcals: 115,881
What's weird is that my lovely blue M&S silk&linen dress was pretty loose yesterday even though the scales are saying "umm... you're eating less than you're expending are you? really?". I can't do a body fat measurement to see if there's something else going on because I'm retaining water like a so-and-so today. Everything is just totally in flux, too many changes at once, I need to look after myself in order to take part in the Thames swim next Sunday, and I need to re-think how I approach the next 5 weeks.
So.
Next week I'm focussing on the Thames swim on Sunday. This means the following:-
Last week:-
Exercise count: 10
Exercise time: 07:41
Exercise kcals: 4,408
Kcals difference from loss for the week: +2594
Kcals difference from maintenance for the week: -906
(+ is excess vs. quota, - is deficit below quota)
| Day | Quota | Exercise | Total | Consumed | Difference | Difference for Week | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 1285 | 1214 | 2499 | 2890 | 391 | 391 | |
| Tue | 1289 | 1289 | 1564 | 275 | 666 | ||
| Wed | 1296 | 1155 | 2451 | 2147 | -304 | 362 | |
| Thu | 1295 | 733 | 2028 | 2018 | -10 | 352 | |
| Fri | 1292 | 762 | 2054 | 1959 | -94 | 258 | |
| Sat | 1285 | 1285 | 3318 | 2033 | 2291 | ||
| Sun | 1296 | 1296 | 1599 | 303 | 2594 | ||
| Total | 9038 | 3864 | 12902 | 15496 | 2594 | ||
Since 15th June 2009:-
Exercise count: 312
Exercise time: 212h
Exercise kcals: 115,881
What's weird is that my lovely blue M&S silk&linen dress was pretty loose yesterday even though the scales are saying "umm... you're eating less than you're expending are you? really?". I can't do a body fat measurement to see if there's something else going on because I'm retaining water like a so-and-so today. Everything is just totally in flux, too many changes at once, I need to look after myself in order to take part in the Thames swim next Sunday, and I need to re-think how I approach the next 5 weeks.
So.
Next week I'm focussing on the Thames swim on Sunday. This means the following:-
- winding back the cycling to probably zero (over 100km in a week is a bit much right now)
- -IF- my groin feels OK on Monday I'll do a weights session
- on Tuesday, I shall take the 3rd open water training session
- -IF- my groin feels OK on Wednesday, I'll do a weights session
- I have a deep tissue massage on Thursday at which I shall ask for focus on my thighs
- -IF- my groin feels OK on Friday, I'll do a weights session
- I will aim for roughly maintenance kcals throughout the week
- I will carb load on Saturday, which -will- involve going over maintenance kcals for that day
- I will enjoy late lunch out on Sunday after the Nokia Thames swim in the morning
- I will be 1lb heavier on Sunday and Monday than I am on Friday, mostly due to carb loading
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Achey knee and a bit delicate
Feeling a tiny bit delicate after Mr TOTKat's birthday celebrations last night. A couple more beers than I'm used to so rubbish quality sleep and quite tired today. Gentle day today, day off work and I should be right as rain tomorrow.
Yesterday. The race!
5am start was a bit harder than last time. No idea why but it just felt ickier. Thus followed a catalogue of small errors that could have made lots of dents in my race performance...
First off, last time I had fruity malt loaf with peanut butter for breakfast which worked really well; this time I had yogurt with fruit compote, muesli and chopped banana. I had real trouble eating it and it didn't feel nice in my stomach at all. Error number two was, er, number twos related. I suddenly needed to go with less than 10 minutes to go before the start of the race and we were in the first wave of swimmers so I didn't have long. Queue of 7 people for 2 loos! Argh! Got all flustered trying to get my tri-suit back on again so it took ages (the zip is up the back and goes through the "ladies support" section elastication so it's really hard to do up) and I ended up trotting back to where Mr TOTKat was waiting for the start of the race with only about 30s to spare before ditching our warm clothes for the swim.
The swim felt vile again; I think I just don't fare well swimming from cold and first thing in the morning. I got overtaken once which was really downheartening especially given that I had to wait at the side of the pool for a good 20s for the overtaker to actually do the overtake and then she didn't whizz off ahead of me, so I just ended up with a bit of a draft for the last 4 lengths.
A little trot to transition and my bike where Mr TOTKat was almost ready to go off (he was race #16 and I was #17 so we were very close together) and I made errors number #3 and #4; I put my running/cycling top with my race numbers pinned to it on backwards so had to tear it off again, lost two pins from the front number by doing that, and jam it back on the right way around after finding one of the pins that had pinged off and pinning both back in place. I lost a good minute or so there. *sigh* Then I put on my helmet and did it up, decided not to bother with socks, jammed my trainers on and grabbed my cycling gloves to put on whilst running out to the cycle start. Mistake #5 there. Of course you can't put gloves on whilst wheeling a bike and trying to run a bit! So I ended up with them wedged under my palms against the handlebars which meant that gear changes and braking were impeded and tricky.
I then spent the next few minutes of the cycling deciding to try to stuff them down my top (mistake #6). Hah. My tri-suit goes quite high and I'm not stable enough on the bike to take hands off the bars (so yes, I can't signal at the moment). So the next few minutes were spent mostly thinking about what to do with my damned gloves rather than concentrating on cycling quickly. I eventually decided to lose them. Left hand, easy, just lift it up a bit and let the glove drop. Right hand... well, less easy as I didn't want the glove to drop into my chain or wheel and foul it up so I had to get my hand down to the middle of the handlebars whilst not losing the glove, get the other hand close on the bars, pass the glove to my left hand, move my right one back to where it should be, similarly the left and then drop the glove somewhere safe. Faff! Wasted thinking and effort and speed! Still, once they were gone I could actually concentrate on cycling.
The rest of the cycle was pretty sore-butt-making as the roads aren't in great condition and this new bike is a lot stiffer and less forgiving. And the last 6km it got quite windy, which dropped my average speed from 28km/h down to 23km/h. So, overall a very disappointing cycle. But the run...
...started as usual with legs made of puffed lead, or so it feels. It took a few minutes for them to loosen up and feel normal(ish). As I rounded a corner where you can see the start of the run join up with the circuits, I saw Mr TOTKat heading for the half-way mark of the run. Disheartening as all hell as it meant he was 15 minutes ahead of me and I was expecting to be only 10 minutes behind. Still, the kids helping out the marshalls were really encouraging and spurred me on a bit and I even managed a sprint finish right at the end :o) Watch time 01:34:21 so with up to 7 minutes to cut off that time for the non-racing portion I was well in for hitting or even beating my target time of 01:30 for the race.
Official results: 01:28:32 beating my last race time by exactly 6 minutes and 30 seconds! I did improve on the swim+transition by 1 minute and 13 seconds, despite the faffery with the backwards top and re-pinning my number. I improved on the bike time by less than I'd hoped (2 minutes 26 seconds) but the really pleasing part was the run+transition improvement of 2 minutes 51 seconds! Very very pleased with that improvement indeed; a whole 9% :oD Overall 7% improvement in the race time and exactly 1000kcals burned.
Yesterday. The race!
5am start was a bit harder than last time. No idea why but it just felt ickier. Thus followed a catalogue of small errors that could have made lots of dents in my race performance...
First off, last time I had fruity malt loaf with peanut butter for breakfast which worked really well; this time I had yogurt with fruit compote, muesli and chopped banana. I had real trouble eating it and it didn't feel nice in my stomach at all. Error number two was, er, number twos related. I suddenly needed to go with less than 10 minutes to go before the start of the race and we were in the first wave of swimmers so I didn't have long. Queue of 7 people for 2 loos! Argh! Got all flustered trying to get my tri-suit back on again so it took ages (the zip is up the back and goes through the "ladies support" section elastication so it's really hard to do up) and I ended up trotting back to where Mr TOTKat was waiting for the start of the race with only about 30s to spare before ditching our warm clothes for the swim.
The swim felt vile again; I think I just don't fare well swimming from cold and first thing in the morning. I got overtaken once which was really downheartening especially given that I had to wait at the side of the pool for a good 20s for the overtaker to actually do the overtake and then she didn't whizz off ahead of me, so I just ended up with a bit of a draft for the last 4 lengths.
The rest of the cycle was pretty sore-butt-making as the roads aren't in great condition and this new bike is a lot stiffer and less forgiving. And the last 6km it got quite windy, which dropped my average speed from 28km/h down to 23km/h. So, overall a very disappointing cycle. But the run...
Official results: 01:28:32 beating my last race time by exactly 6 minutes and 30 seconds! I did improve on the swim+transition by 1 minute and 13 seconds, despite the faffery with the backwards top and re-pinning my number. I improved on the bike time by less than I'd hoped (2 minutes 26 seconds) but the really pleasing part was the run+transition improvement of 2 minutes 51 seconds! Very very pleased with that improvement indeed; a whole 9% :oD Overall 7% improvement in the race time and exactly 1000kcals burned.
Monday, 31 May 2010
Good race
...more later, but looking at a race time in the 01:29s I hope, given a watch time of 01:34 including up to 7 minutes non-racing. *anticipating official results*
Friday, 28 May 2010
Cor!
Good gymmage today! I upped my clean and press to 17.5kg and cleared all 3x 10 reps. :o) I was feeling so good after the routine I thought I'd try an assisted pull-up and managed one with only 10kg assist which is far and away the best performance ever. I reckon had I tried it at the start, I would probably have managed one with no assist, through sheer bloody-mindedness.
The routine is now:-
I also tried the Nakd Pecan Pie bar today and that was pretty much as nice as the Cashew Cookie, so both are very much recommended and fill a little afternoon snack place in the overall scheduling quite nicely. So thanks loads to Laura for those!
Kangaroo steak for dinner..
Very mild flavour, probably because it is sooooo lean. Juicy, cooked rare like this. Very nice. Will eat again :o)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and Grape Nuts
S - banana
L - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, celery, sweet peppers, pomegranate seeds, cucumber, chicken breast
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
S - MP beef jerky
S - carrot and Waitrose houmous
D - kangaroo steak, roasted sweet peppers, couscous, peas and sweetcorn
Exercise 53 minutes gym
The routine is now:-
- 1km warm up on the rower at L7
- squat and swing - 12kg dumbbell - 3x10 SUPERSET A
- pendulum swings - bodyweight - 3x10x2 SUPERSET A
- lunge with cable rows - 12.5kg - 3x10 SUPERSET B
- side plank with rows - 4kg dumbbell - 3x10x2 SUPERSET B
- lunge with crossed-arm raise/swing to knee - 4kg dumbbell - 3x10x2
- clean and press - 17.5kg bar bell - 3x10
- planks - 3x60s (60s recovery)
- 3x 30s sprints (>200rpm on L6 on the cross trainer) with 60s recovery
- 5 minutes cool-down and stretch
I also tried the Nakd Pecan Pie bar today and that was pretty much as nice as the Cashew Cookie, so both are very much recommended and fill a little afternoon snack place in the overall scheduling quite nicely. So thanks loads to Laura for those!
Kangaroo steak for dinner..
Very mild flavour, probably because it is sooooo lean. Juicy, cooked rare like this. Very nice. Will eat again :o)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and Grape Nuts
S - banana
L - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, celery, sweet peppers, pomegranate seeds, cucumber, chicken breast
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
S - MP beef jerky
S - carrot and Waitrose houmous
D - kangaroo steak, roasted sweet peppers, couscous, peas and sweetcorn
Exercise 53 minutes gym
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1689 2203] |
| Protein (g) | 173.9 (42.2%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 162.3 (36.9%) |
| Fat (g) | 38.4 (21.0%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 10.9 |
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Envigorated - and an incredible milestone
Today marks 4 years since I took the decision to lose weight and turn my health around. 4 years on and I'm still maintaining a 30kg weight loss (which took 6 months to effect purely through diet change and calorie deficit), having had a little hiccup part way through when my scales stopped working properly and I put on a good half stone. That was worked off again and I've been working on lowering my body fat %, taken up running and got back into swimming. I've done my first 10km running race (2 minutes faster than I wanted to do it), my first sprint triathlon (10 minutes faster than I wanted to do it; and 2 more tris to come through the year), done a 5km swim for charity (in less than 2 hours despite no training) and signed up for a 2 mile swim down the Thames later in the summer. I've come a long way and am still moving forward. I may well be very hard on myself most of the time, but I have done well and continue to do so. So it calls for a little celebration. Dinner out tonight!
Despite still aching quite a bit, I went to the gym with Mr TOTKat this morning. And I really went for it. Full body weights session with a good 15 minutes cardio at the end. I feel great! Mr TOTKat's trainer even commented on my walking lunges with kettlebells, which was pleasing! My thighs ought to calm down a bit by the morning too. :o)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, maca root and some Dorset Cereals fruity muesli
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk with water (we ran out of milk!)
L - sandwich; Sainsburys wholemeal crusty roll with ham, Philadelphia and lettuce
S - cottage cheese with pineapple and maca root
D - hot smoked salmon with beetroot and watercress, duck breast with pureed cauliflower and spinach and a portobello mushroom, chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce, champagne, dessert wine and coffee with Amaretto
Exercise - 65 minutes gym
Despite still aching quite a bit, I went to the gym with Mr TOTKat this morning. And I really went for it. Full body weights session with a good 15 minutes cardio at the end. I feel great! Mr TOTKat's trainer even commented on my walking lunges with kettlebells, which was pleasing! My thighs ought to calm down a bit by the morning too. :o)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, maca root and some Dorset Cereals fruity muesli
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk with water (we ran out of milk!)
L - sandwich; Sainsburys wholemeal crusty roll with ham, Philadelphia and lettuce
S - cottage cheese with pineapple and maca root
D - hot smoked salmon with beetroot and watercress, duck breast with pureed cauliflower and spinach and a portobello mushroom, chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce, champagne, dessert wine and coffee with Amaretto
Exercise - 65 minutes gym
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 2570 2303] |
| Protein (g) | 159.2 (25.9%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 234.4 (35.8%) |
| Fat (g) | 67.5 (24.7%) |
| Alcohol (g) | 47.6 (13.6%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 6.6 |
Thursday, 6 May 2010
OMG DOMS WTFBBQ!
Ow.
Blimey.
2 months off weight training and I knew there'd be a bit of payback the day after my first session back, but... OW! My thighs are horrible today! And my abs a bit. And shoulders. And triceps. Still. At least it won't be this bad after the next session.
Thanks to a tipoff from someone at work, I'm signed up for some Thames swimming fun in August. From Hampton Court to Raven's Ait (3,218m), there will be 1000 swimmers thrashing about for an hour or so each, in waves of 100 setting off every 10 minutes in the Nokia Thames Swim.
B - Fage greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries, flaked almonds and maca root
S - banana and Oatland nut, seed and raisin clusters
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, celery, capers, pomegranate seeds and chicken breast
S - carrot and Waitrose houmous
S - MP beef jerky
D - Waitrose pork and plum tomato sausages with mashed butternut squash
Exercise - rest day
Blimey.
2 months off weight training and I knew there'd be a bit of payback the day after my first session back, but... OW! My thighs are horrible today! And my abs a bit. And shoulders. And triceps. Still. At least it won't be this bad after the next session.
Thanks to a tipoff from someone at work, I'm signed up for some Thames swimming fun in August. From Hampton Court to Raven's Ait (3,218m), there will be 1000 swimmers thrashing about for an hour or so each, in waves of 100 setting off every 10 minutes in the Nokia Thames Swim.
B - Fage greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries, flaked almonds and maca root
S - banana and Oatland nut, seed and raisin clusters
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, celery, capers, pomegranate seeds and chicken breast
S - carrot and Waitrose houmous
S - MP beef jerky
D - Waitrose pork and plum tomato sausages with mashed butternut squash
Exercise - rest day
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1660 1792] |
| Protein (g) | 142.2 (35.2%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 141.4 (32.8%) |
| Fat (g) | 57.5 (32%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 11.8 |
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Tri photos
So there is photographic evidence of my triathlon attempt:-
Looking a touch porky there, but that's after 2 months away from the gym and an extra kg fat going on. So, not too hard to fix, should take about a month back in the gym again. But still, not the prettiest sight.
It was my first proper gym session today, since before we went skiing and it was a touch hard. I had to drop the reps on some things and I missed out the jacknife on the Swiss Ball completely:-
- Warm up on the rower; 1km at L7 (took 04:30!)
- Dual arm lateral pulls; 2x 12.5kg, 3x10
- Walking lunges; 16kg kettlebell, 3x18
- Squat and clean to shoulder press; 9kg dumbbell, 3x16
- Reverse flye; 1kg on Kinesis, 3x10
- Dips; 3x12 (superset with below)
- Planks; 3x60s (superset with above)
- Reverse crunch; 3x12
- Bicep curls; 2x7kg, 3x8
- Cool down on the cross-trainer; 10 minutes at L7
Mm, tuna fishcakes with roasted veggies and a spoon of chilli sauce for dinner:-
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, fruit compote and grape nuts
S - banana
S - Dorset Cereals bar; 3 berries and cherries
L - salad; Tesco Alfresco salad (lettuce, carrot and pepper), prawns and cherry tomatoes
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in skimmed milk
S - 2x mini Babybel
S - beef jerky
D - tuna fishcakes with roasted veg (parsnips, sweet pepper, courgette) followed by Tims Dairy yogurt (toffee)
Exercise - 52 minutes gym
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1717 2205] |
| Protein (g) | 182.3 (43.6%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 178.3 (40%) |
| Fat (g) | 30.4 (16.4%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 14.2 |
Monday, 3 May 2010
04:50 shouldn't exist
...but it did this morning. I woke up 10 minutes before the radio came on and that was it. Up, breakfast, pack the car and out.
We got to the pool early so there was no registration queue, but it was -cold-. 6°C and a biting wind. Shivering and prepared we waited to start, I was race number 50; nice and low and as it turned out exactly in the right place for my swim time. I overtook the swimmer in front and that was it for the swim. My transition time was, however, shockingly bad. I glanced at my watch and it said 00:08:4x so I thought I was doing OK, but apparently there was some kind of time warp and by the time I hit the bike start timer I was at 00:12:17 (how!?) And then there was the cycle. I got overtaken. A lot. By much MUCH nicer bikes than mine. And then there was the headwind. Urgh! But still, headwind on the way out on the bike stage meant tailwind on the way back. Right? Hah. No. The headwind on the way back was -worse-! And the ruts and potholes! I won't be able to sit -or- walk tomorrow! Still, I actually overtook someone (#28 on a rubbish bike pretty much like mine :o)). The last few km of the ride and the clouds decided to open and re-wet all of us who'd almost dried out by now.
Back in from the bike stage (passing poor Mr TOTKat who hadn't even started his swim yet, being in the "second fast wave", who cheered me on and yelled encouragement xxx) and I looked at my watch again; 01:11:xx Argh! NO -way- was I going to hit 01:45:xx at this rate (or so I thought). I was a bit wobbly and weak such that I had real trouble lifting my bike back onto the rack. Bleh! Anyway! Off out for the run and I felt like the whole front my my body was rigid; every single muscle tense and I couldn't un-tense them. And my legs weren't mine and I couldn't really feel my muscles like I normally can. My stride was phenomenally short and I was pretty sure I was staring a 40 minute 5km run in the face at that point. The good point was that my feet felt suddenly a lot warmer and the sun had peeped out from behind the clouds. And then I saw #53, who I'd overtaken and been overtaken by a few times on the ride... and that was it; I wanted to catch her.
Thankfully, with the run being flat, being a bit knackered already from swimming and cycling was less of a problem than it could have been (all of my runs near home usually have a hill or two in them so a flat run is pure luxury). 2km into the run and I saw #28 ahead of me! How? Eh, quite clearly her bike to run transition was -much- faster than mine. Still, she looked catchable and by 3km I had passed her. Yay! 4km passed and the final bends ahead and I wasn't feeling -too- awful. A wave and a "nice shades!" from a tiny marshall was all I needed to throw myself across the line, stop my watch timer and inwardly be very very pleased for a moment that it said 01:41:17 -including- the (up to) 7 minutes "free" transition from bike to run.
Thereafter it was a cold trot back to transition to grab the tea flask and some clothes and then wait for Mr. TOTKat to finish. Every single person who came over the line as I was waiting commented on the wind during the ride. "That wind!" "How could it be a headwind in both directions?" "Very very sapping!" Cuddles, quick chat with a Thames Turbo friend and then back home for tea and bacon sarnies.
And the provisional results are up (thanks to Mr Thames Turbo for pointing it out and well done on a super speedy PB!) and my official finish was in 01:35:02. Which is incredible, given my huge lack of training; 1 bike ride in the last 12 months, 4 runs since January 1st, 6 swims (including Swimathon); and my heavy, cheap bike. I am, despite appearance, quite pleased. Carb loading worked well, there was no "bonk" and I felt, more or less, fine all the way 'round.
We got to the pool early so there was no registration queue, but it was -cold-. 6°C and a biting wind. Shivering and prepared we waited to start, I was race number 50; nice and low and as it turned out exactly in the right place for my swim time. I overtook the swimmer in front and that was it for the swim. My transition time was, however, shockingly bad. I glanced at my watch and it said 00:08:4x so I thought I was doing OK, but apparently there was some kind of time warp and by the time I hit the bike start timer I was at 00:12:17 (how!?) And then there was the cycle. I got overtaken. A lot. By much MUCH nicer bikes than mine. And then there was the headwind. Urgh! But still, headwind on the way out on the bike stage meant tailwind on the way back. Right? Hah. No. The headwind on the way back was -worse-! And the ruts and potholes! I won't be able to sit -or- walk tomorrow! Still, I actually overtook someone (#28 on a rubbish bike pretty much like mine :o)). The last few km of the ride and the clouds decided to open and re-wet all of us who'd almost dried out by now.
Back in from the bike stage (passing poor Mr TOTKat who hadn't even started his swim yet, being in the "second fast wave", who cheered me on and yelled encouragement xxx) and I looked at my watch again; 01:11:xx Argh! NO -way- was I going to hit 01:45:xx at this rate (or so I thought). I was a bit wobbly and weak such that I had real trouble lifting my bike back onto the rack. Bleh! Anyway! Off out for the run and I felt like the whole front my my body was rigid; every single muscle tense and I couldn't un-tense them. And my legs weren't mine and I couldn't really feel my muscles like I normally can. My stride was phenomenally short and I was pretty sure I was staring a 40 minute 5km run in the face at that point. The good point was that my feet felt suddenly a lot warmer and the sun had peeped out from behind the clouds. And then I saw #53, who I'd overtaken and been overtaken by a few times on the ride... and that was it; I wanted to catch her.
Thankfully, with the run being flat, being a bit knackered already from swimming and cycling was less of a problem than it could have been (all of my runs near home usually have a hill or two in them so a flat run is pure luxury). 2km into the run and I saw #28 ahead of me! How? Eh, quite clearly her bike to run transition was -much- faster than mine. Still, she looked catchable and by 3km I had passed her. Yay! 4km passed and the final bends ahead and I wasn't feeling -too- awful. A wave and a "nice shades!" from a tiny marshall was all I needed to throw myself across the line, stop my watch timer and inwardly be very very pleased for a moment that it said 01:41:17 -including- the (up to) 7 minutes "free" transition from bike to run.
Thereafter it was a cold trot back to transition to grab the tea flask and some clothes and then wait for Mr. TOTKat to finish. Every single person who came over the line as I was waiting commented on the wind during the ride. "That wind!" "How could it be a headwind in both directions?" "Very very sapping!" Cuddles, quick chat with a Thames Turbo friend and then back home for tea and bacon sarnies.
And the provisional results are up (thanks to Mr Thames Turbo for pointing it out and well done on a super speedy PB!) and my official finish was in 01:35:02. Which is incredible, given my huge lack of training; 1 bike ride in the last 12 months, 4 runs since January 1st, 6 swims (including Swimathon); and my heavy, cheap bike. I am, despite appearance, quite pleased. Carb loading worked well, there was no "bonk" and I felt, more or less, fine all the way 'round.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Norty!
Oh I -was- naughty today.
I got home from work, got changed and went for a run! Physio said last time I saw her that I wasn't to run (I honestly think she thinks my butt hurts a lot more than it does, despite me insisting that I'm only "aware" of it and that there is no actual pain any more at all). I was supposed to see her last Thursday, but we had to postpone to this Thursday. I can't wait another week to start running (or not) in advance of the second Thames Turbo sprint triathlon on bank holiday Monday so I absolutely had to run today.
And it was fine. 4.073km in 00:22:15; that's 10.91 kilometres per hour! Fastest I've ever run! And everything feels fine; well, OK, my legs are a bit achey still from Sunday but that's another matter.
And I'm back on track with the macro-nutrients today as well :o)
I had a very pretty breakfast of the usual greek yogurt with bits in this morning:-
And a slightly indulgent dinner of beef chilli with couscous and veg with grated cheese on top:-
Little bit under for today, and low on (good) fat, so might have to find another snack later... maybe involving peanut butter.
...OK, so it ended up being a mini Babybel and some pistachios :o)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, fruit compote and grape nuts
S -"lunchies" - apricot and yogurt bar
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, spring onions, capers and chicken breast
S - carrot and houmous
S -beef jerky
*run*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn with grated organic cheddar
S - Mini Babybel and pistachios
Exercise - 22 minutes run (HRmax 188, HRavg 182)
I got home from work, got changed and went for a run! Physio said last time I saw her that I wasn't to run (I honestly think she thinks my butt hurts a lot more than it does, despite me insisting that I'm only "aware" of it and that there is no actual pain any more at all). I was supposed to see her last Thursday, but we had to postpone to this Thursday. I can't wait another week to start running (or not) in advance of the second Thames Turbo sprint triathlon on bank holiday Monday so I absolutely had to run today.
And it was fine. 4.073km in 00:22:15; that's 10.91 kilometres per hour! Fastest I've ever run! And everything feels fine; well, OK, my legs are a bit achey still from Sunday but that's another matter.
And I'm back on track with the macro-nutrients today as well :o)
I had a very pretty breakfast of the usual greek yogurt with bits in this morning:-
And a slightly indulgent dinner of beef chilli with couscous and veg with grated cheese on top:-
Little bit under for today, and low on (good) fat, so might have to find another snack later... maybe involving peanut butter.
...OK, so it ended up being a mini Babybel and some pistachios :o)
B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, fruit compote and grape nuts
S -"lunchies" - apricot and yogurt bar
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, spring onions, capers and chicken breast
S - carrot and houmous
S -beef jerky
*run*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk
D - beef chilli with couscous, peas and sweetcorn with grated organic cheddar
S - Mini Babybel and pistachios
Exercise - 22 minutes run (HRmax 188, HRavg 182)
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 2012 2023] |
| Protein (g) | 184.8 (37.5%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 164.0 (31.2%) |
| Fat (g) | 68.7 (31.3%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 10.6 |
Friday, 9 April 2010
Slightly torpedoed
I have a stinking cold (my first for nearly three years now!). My ribs ache and I got naff all sleep. I am filling tissues at a rate of knots. Obviously my 1600m training swim planned for today is right off the cards; I can barely breathe whilst sat still, never mind face down in water whilst exerting myself.
Sod.
The physio also found a really sore bit higher up my back this morning that she was surprised she hadn't found previously. So she worked on that a bit and said still to lay off the running. *sigh* Thames Turbo Sprint Triathlon #2 is in just over 3 weeks time now. I need to do something soon otherwise that will be off the cards too!
B - muesli with banana and semi-skimmed milk
S - 2x mini Babybel Light
L - chicken breast and lettuce in a wholemeal pitta with baked beans
S - Dorset Cereals bar - 3 berries and cherries
D - breaded prawns, followed by mash-topped fish pie and broccoli
Sod.
The physio also found a really sore bit higher up my back this morning that she was surprised she hadn't found previously. So she worked on that a bit and said still to lay off the running. *sigh* Thames Turbo Sprint Triathlon #2 is in just over 3 weeks time now. I need to do something soon otherwise that will be off the cards too!
B - muesli with banana and semi-skimmed milk
S - 2x mini Babybel Light
L - chicken breast and lettuce in a wholemeal pitta with baked beans
S - Dorset Cereals bar - 3 berries and cherries
D - breaded prawns, followed by mash-topped fish pie and broccoli
| Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise) | 1818 1797] |
| Protein (g) | 121.5 (27.7%) |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 191.5 (40.9%) |
| Fat (g) | 61.5 (31.5%) |
| Fruit & Veg | 5.8 |
Monday, 4 January 2010
Oosp!
We appear to have signed up to the whole Thames Turbo Triathlon series for 2010. 4, sprint triathlons (426m swim, 21km bike ride, 5km run) on bank holiday mondays throughout the year, starting on Easter Monday at 7am. It'll be the bike ride that kills my time.
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