On the 9th day...

8 days of (complete) rest.  No running, no cycling, no swimming, no weight training.  Just a good amount of walking (thanks tube strikes!).  And I'm feeling a lot better.  It's the 9th day since the race where I sorta broke my training cycle and I have almost no muscular aches now (just a little bit in my right glute).  I've slept, eaten lots (oddly lost a little weight), and tried not to get wound up about the lack of training.  There's plenty of time before UK 70.3 - 18 weeks to go, which means 16 weekends of cycling up (and down) hills, plus a spring training camp in 3 weeks time, a little sharpener race in Mallorca in 13 weeks and a couple of little sprints in between to help with the excitement and race practice.  This is fine.

I'm ready to start ramping things up now.

Taking it easy before the decline

I've been getting more and more tired over the last couple of weeks. Two factors: not getting enough sleep; and intense work days.  And it's been having a detrimental effect on my ability to recover from training.  So on Friday morning I woke up with a really sore throat, sore inside my ears and a stuffy feeling in my head.

I thought it'd wear off over the first couple of hours, as those things often do, so I went in to work.  But by 10am it was getting worse and I was getting more and more tired, so I decided to get the important meetings out of the way and head home.  Sacking off my T1 brick training session and crashing out to bed I slept through until 5am, when Mr TOTKat got up for his trek to a far away parkrun.  Within seconds, I was back asleep again until 7am when the daylight lamp and radio woke me again.  I turned off the lamp and fell back asleep one more time until about 8.30am.  And ohboy did I need it.  I really think I needed to take that little break and have a good ol' sleep to avoid the beginnings of sliding towards over training.  Better to pull away from the brink way before I get anywhere near it than not.  I've still got a sore throat this morning, but it's not so bad so I'll train today and try out my spanky new tri suit (2011 Speedo LZR Triathlon Pro suit - don't forget the "UK15" voucher code if you're buying from Wiggle between 13/03/2012 14:00 GMT and 22/03/2012 14:00 GMT).

I tried it on and it's really very tight, and looks good apart from a bit of back fat around the arm holes, but really very light and sounds like a canvas shopping bag!  Can't wait to feel what it's like in the water.
I did also get the 2XU compression tri suit which is fantastically soft and comfortable.  It'd be good to do a couple of time trials with those two on to see if there's a material difference in how I feel when racing in them, in terms of comfort and speed.

Learning some more

Whacked out, flattened, laid low and all that... I have a chest infection and it's knackering.  Short of breath sitting down doing nothing is pretty demoralising.  I napped twice yesterday, woke up dribbling. Snored all night last night and woke up with a cardboard tongue.  My chest aches and coughing is quite violent when it happens.

Still.

I have been doing a lot of lying on the sofa, reading books in between napping and reading articles on training, rest and recovery.  It's hard to be not training, but I fully understand that starting training too soon is actively counter-productive.  Yes, I'll be losing endurance, muscle mass, general fitness etc. while I'm ill but a lot of that is a direct result of the illness itself rather than the lack of exercise.  There is nothing that can be done about it in the slightest.  Training while ill can cause all sorts of problems, right up to and including dropping dead while training due to myocarditis.  So it's pointless.  Better to rest, recover relatively quickly (pushing yourself while ill can prolong recovery) and get back on track later when you're well again.

Hard for me to deal with, mentally, while there's events looming on the horizon; 13th January and 26th February aren't that far away and they both involve things I'm really not very good at... hills.  Tough poop though.  Gotta stack me some more Zs and stay out of the trainers/cycling shoes for a couple more days yet at least.

Small victories. Or "progress".

Since Parkrun on 2nd April, I've run twice (750m tops in each of the first two Thames Turbo Sprint Triathlons).  It didn't go very well either time with my left knee squealing in pain, so I've been working on strengthening my inner quads (Vastus Medialis Obliques) and glutes (pretty much the whole of them) with weighted walking lunges, swiss ball bridges and swiss ball hamstring curls.  I've also been on the ibuprofen and icing my knee (not religiously).

This morning, as there's no other reasonable opportunity before the next Sprint Tri (I'm doing photos for Parkrun next Saturday and some bikey stuff the following week), I ran the Wimbledon Parkrun.  And there was not a hint of a niggle of a whisper of anything from my knee.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nuffin.  Oh and I smashed my PB by 57s :oD  (and went up the WAVA Age Grading from 58.1% to 60.3% - interestingly, looking at the calculator and cross-referencing with my VO2max, I -should- be able to do a 24:08 at my current fitness level, though that's probably on tarmac/paving rather than gravel paths and woodland floor as the Parkrun is).

Icing and Ibuprofen and sitting on my ass for the rest of today and no more running until the next Sprint Tri.  Just in case.  More strength work for my inner quads and butt and I -think- it might be good.  Only time will tell.

Trying to take it easy

It's not easy to take it easy.

With just over 3 weeks to the first sprint triathlon of the season, I'm finding it really hard to be propped up on cushions on the sofa, not allowed to go to the gym or a bike ride (my commuter is in the workshop at the moment pending a verdict on whether the frame is gone as well as the front forks and wheels).  I really want to be building strength and power still before the taper the week before race and I'm running out of time.  I'm running out of 'mental' too.  I hate hate hate not being able to get out and -do- stuff.  I hate feeling helpless and pathetic and emotional.

Still, the drugs appear to be actually working today, though I still can't sit upright for long without a big cushion behind my shoulders, neck and head.  The swelling in my knees looks like it's going down a bit now and the lump on the top of my right knee is much less egg-shaped now.

I know a lot of people who've been through sports injuries and found it frustrating to rest and recover... any hints and tips for me?

Red Nose Day?

Blimey, I hope I get to go home at a reasonable hour today. I've successfuly managed to avoid going to the gym despite temptation, but mostly due to the fact that it's still mentally busy at work. (I just had to explain to a supplier on the phone that we're not doing anything for Red Nose Day because we have utterly no sense of humour at the moment).  Really excited about Sunday's race now... first one of the year.

Oh, and don't forget to get your entries in for my Weight Watchers Vitality Show competition to win tickets and a goody bag!

Tiny bit nervous

I've not been to the gym for a week (mostly work related but slightly illness related).  I've not had a session with a personal trainer since October.  I have a session with my new trainer at 13:30 today and I'm nervous about it.

I have loads of confidence in my new trainer; I've seen him around in the local gym lots and read his bio and he gives off quite an aura of quiet competence.  Will let youse all know how it goes when I get back.  Wish me luck!

Slightly frustrating, but...

If there was a good time to be injured, it's actually now.  With the massive work milestone/deadline this coming weekend, not being able to run or gym or cycle is actually a good thing.  I get the frustration of being injured and unable to exercise all over and done with at a time when, although a healthy break away from work to do something physically hard would be a healthy thing for mind and body, it's just something that has to be dropped and I'd be frustrated by that too.  Two birds with one stone.

Sadly, it has also meant that I've posted back my timing chip for the rescheduled Grim this Saturday.

In  other news, I have a new trainer.  First session scheduled for 23rd and I'm so excited about it.  I can't wait to get stuck in to a new routine and not have to get stressy about constant rescheduling at the last second due to being far too busy at work.

Resting up and Facebook

For once, I'm going to do the right thing and do it properly.  My knee swelled up quite a bit yesterday evening, so I iced it and downed the Ibuprofen and kept it raised.  Today, more of the same and definitely no going to the gym as I'd originally planned.  No cycling to work on Monday, no gym either and none of that on Tuesday.  Just sitting on my arse and keeping it rested so I can get back to stuff quickly rather than struggling for weeks and recovering really slowly.

I've got a lot of races to prepare for this year, so getting injury recovery wrong isn't an option!  More detail on that to follow, but in short it's a buttload of triathlons and a 10K run so far.

In other news, I decided to do the social media thing and create a Facebook page, seeing as everyone else seems to be doing it these days :o)

First gym in a little while

Last time I did any proper exercise was 20th September - an off-piste gym session at the Cornwall Hotel Spa and Estate which had a tiny gym equipped with lots of cardio machines but not so well on the free weights front.  No Smith machine, only a wobbly bar and bar weights up to 5kg to add on.  Still managed a reasonable couple of routines in that gym though, which was nice.

This morning... back to the last routine from my trainer and I was expecting to be weak and pathetic after almost 2 weeks off.  But no :o)  Increased weights on most stuff and added in a couple of extra bits from previous routines as well:-

• Warm up 1km on the rower (L7 04:30)
• Squats - Smith machine (no counter-weight) with Olympic bar plus 15kg - 3x10
• Clean and press - 25kg barbell - 3x10 (A)
• Reverse crunches - bodyweight - 3x15 (A)
• Overhead squat - 3x10 - 12kg ViPR (B)
• Crunch with overhead lift - 3x10 - 12kg ViPR (B)
• Planks on 3x medicine balls - 2x60s
• Pressups on 3x medicine balls - x5
• Squat and swing - 18kg dumbbell - 3x10
• Lunge and horizontal press - 3x10x2 - 10kg ViPR
• Lunge with overhead swing - 3x8x2 - 16kg ViPR
• Cool down on x-trainer - 5 minutes (L7, L6, L4)
• Stretch on the Powerplate.

 RAWR!  Gonna hurt tomorrow :oD

Photos from holiday(s) and some further thoughts later... it's been a bit sorty-outy this weekend so far and I could do with sitting on my arse a little bit.

Catching up with me?

I should throw away the bathroom scales... 2kg heavier than this time last week -isn't- real, but it's got me in a sulk.  I worry that it is real, or at least a bit real and that I am very slowly gaining weight.  Every time I think that, it goes down again after a couple of days.

Having a total rest day today, same as yesterday.  And I'm not cycling next week at all.  2x gyms is the size of it.  It's a short week for us, so.

Something that might be interesting to investigate when we come back from hols is cycle commuting and what other people do.  My gut feel is that I should be able to get 120km tidied away every week as a background level of activity rather than special and extra - it's commuting, not exercise.  But Mr TOTKat reckons that most cycle commuters don't do 30km a day round trips and that actually it's quite a lot.  I can see both sides of that argument, but surely it would become a background thing with time?

I almost called this a rest day...

Cycling to work has become so normal already that I almost entitled this post something related to having a rest day. But hey, I cycled 30km. I didn't go to the gym, but I did cycle 30km. It is a taper week, so I don't feel -so- bad about not doing any weight training, but I'll maybe give in and go tomorrow. It depends if I can fit it in.

Today, I still have that background nausea I get with throat infections, but no sign of an actual infection. Yes my throat is sore (less sore than yesterday, thankfully) and my eyes and ears feel hot (and I have a temperature that's about 0.8C higher than my usual), but there are no typical white sores on my throat, so...

Dinner tonight was my first foray into using quinoa (and yes, that's a slightly exploded poached egg on top of the salmon in the photo *ahem*). I can't say I'm all that impressed. It takes ages to cook, so is less convenient than couscous. It's not easy to cook - you need to simmer it until it absorbs all of the water, the same way you do with some styles of rice and is also a method for couscous on the hob, but it takes 20 minutes! It doesn't even taste great. It's not horrible, but there's none of the nuttiness of couscous. Yeah, I keep comparing it with couscous, but that's where I'm coming from as an alternative. Hey ho. Maybe it'll be good in stews when it gets cold.

*whinge*

Why can't blogs do notifications to commenters? (partly rhetorical question as I can see how complex it would be to make it work without annoying people)

I've started to follow a few more blogs and I do post the odd comment from time to time (not really one for posting comments for the sake of it).   The thing is, I like to see what people say in response to, or to follow up on my comments.  This means I have to rememebr which blogs I commented on, which posts on those blogs and check each one for any updates.  And I really suck at remembering.  WLR forums have the exact same problem (and that's a forum so it really should do that kind of notification, dammit!).

So, if you post something in response to a comment I've made somewhere, don't be offended if I don't follow up.  It's not personal, I probably haven't even seen your response either 'cause I suck!  (OK, so some web journal providers give the journaller the option for notifications like that, but not all and the method is clunky too)

Also... (mm, whinge-tastic today!) My quads, palms and ankles huuuuuurt.  *pathetic*  We put in a reasonable time for the journey Northwards (3 hours 30 for 74km partly urban, partly undulating countryside [600m of climb in total]  and unsurprisingly a bit longer on the way back - 3 hours 50 for the reverse route).  I clocked up 7,200kcals for last week's exercise total and went over 650km so far on my new bike.  This week is taper week.  Today is a rest day.  I need it!

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

Evolving aches

My shoulders are aching in evolving ways throughout the day.  This is new to me for DOMS.  First time in ages I've had a salmon fillet and it's so pretty I had to take a photo...

 
B - Dorset cereals muesli with semi-skimmed milk
S - toasted malt loaf with butter
L - beef chilli with extra mushrooms
S - greek yogurt with fresh mango
S - frappuccino made with 1 scoop MP Max, instant coffee, skimmed milk and ice
S - Mini Babybel, Emmental
D - crisped salmon fillet with couscous, lettuce and Blue Dragon sweet chilli sauce

Exercise - post-race rest day

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1757 1797]
Protein (g)	129.4 (38.5%)
Carbohydrate (g)	176.4 (30.2%)
Fat (g)	59.7 (31.3%)
Fibre (g)	17.3
Fruit & Veg	7.4

Doing well

Second weights session of the week and my groin strain appears totally gone - woo!  So I did my current routine in full and have a bit of DOMS in my legs today, which should be fine for tomorrow as I won't be using my legs all that much.

Weighed in slap bang on target weight today despite being pretty much on maintenance all week and only doing two weights sessions.  So, it hints at when I get back to cycling that I should make sure that I'm eating enough.  Anyhoo, carb loading day today and it's started with a bagel with Marmite *nom*  Feeling really strong and reasonably well rested so far today, though I have a bit of vacuuming to do in a bit and I always go at that really hard, so I'll see how I feel after that ;o)

B - toasted Food Doctor wholemeal seeded bagel, with butter and Marmite
B - banana and strawberries
L -2x Discovery wholemeal tortilla wraps; 1 with houmous and lettuce and one with Waitrose spinach falafel, Philadelphia extra light, tomato relish and lettuce
S - Hovis wholemeal granary bread with mashed banana and Nutella
D - wholemeal pasta with roasted red peppers and chicken breast

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1836 1780]
Protein (g)	90.4 (49.8%)
Carbohydrate (g)	234.2 (20.5%)
Fat (g)	58.0 (29.6%)
Fibre (g)	36.0
Fruit & Veg	6.8

Quick check-in

Unload week is going well.  I feel a whole lot better so far and the 1 full-body weights session I've done since Friday has resulted in some gentle DOMS which is helping to stave off the guilt at not doing much.  Also, I did a body fat check a bit early (not due until Sunday, but given the carb loading on Saturday, that won't work very well) and I'm now under 25%.  Started at 31% in June last year and I'm now 24.9% after a couple of blips around Christmas and then skiing injury.  Yeah, I could have worked harder and got there faster, but I'd rather have done it the way I have done it; slowly and carefully (mostly).

Massage day tomorrow and a second weights session on Friday then the swim on Sunday.  That's it for this week :o)

Over the top and taking it easy

Having had a really hard and tiring week, including sticking to 500kcals under maintenance every day on average, yesterday's marriage blessing day resulted in going well over and feeling rough as hell today.  It was a reasonably early start and a longish day with only one really bad food choice towards the end of the day when we got to the B&B and I had a croissant with ham and lots of cheese.  Very little fruit and veg during the day as well.  The food at the celebrations was lovely and the wine was really nice...

• Roasted tomato and shallot tart with goats cheese and pesto
• Sausages and mash with mixed vegetables and onion gravy
• Banoffee tart with butterscotch sauce and a brandy snap tuile of toffee cream

 The sausages were three different flavours which, I think, were; pork and apple, Lincolnshire, and pure pork.  They were certainly really tasty and the white wine on offer was perfectly able to stand up to the flavours of the sausages, which was really nice.

The ceremony in the morning was in a lovely old church, built in 1215 and was the family church of the Nightingale family.  In the church itself there's a plaque dedicated to Florence Nightingale and the family tomb in the graveyard is where Florence was buried in 1910.  Lots of history and some amazing original friezes on the church walls inside as well as an ancient rifle attached to one of the beams over the choir section of the church which was placed there after it played a part in the accidental shooting of a servant girl in one of the local manor houses.

We actually came home last night rather than stay at the B&B.  Which resulted in me having toast and boiled eggs with tea just before bed.  I'm really not very with it right now and could do with some serious napping this afternoon.  Given that it's the Thames swim next weekend, I have to wind it right back this week and probably aim to go onto maintenance and forget about any body fat loss goals.  I can't do a body fat measurement today seeing as I had some wine yesterday and my hydration levels will be all over the place for at least 24 hours.  More than anything, I need the sleep and not to be trashing my legs completely - I also have a strain in the right side of my groin which I want to be gone by the weekend.  So.  Perhaps only gymming this week, maybe one or two cycling days if any, I don't know.  Problem is... cycling is nicer and faster than going in by tube :o/

Having a bit of a relax

My god I needed a rest today.  That run on Sunday was nice, but a bit of a mistake if I'm honest; 8 days in a row with no rest from exercise is the most I've ever done and my body was telling me to take a break now please.  It was lovely to run with Mr TOTKat while we're both roughly at the same pace level - he'll start running training again soon and be back to being a lot faster than me so I can't keep up any more.  So anyway, rest day very much needed and to round it off, I decided to finish off the chocolate ice-cream that's been lurking in the freezer for weeks.  Mmmm :o) - Available from Ocado for home delivery enjoyment!  It's made with really good ingredients and is by far the nicest chocolate ice-cream I've ever had.

I'm pretty tired due to lack of sleep last night.  It was so hot and humid.  Ick.  So, early to bed tonight and up bright and early for the cycle in to work.

The new southern cycle Superhighway is turning out to be a lot better than the impression the media is giving.  It -isn't- pointless at all!  There are huge swathes of the A3 now that you can sail along through the traffic like a bus on a bus lane.  It -is- better than it was before.  The road surface is so much nicer.  The lane is wide enough for two cyclists abreast easily so overtaking is possible even in heavy traffic and the cars pretty much stay out of the cycle lane as much as they obey traffic lights, which is no more than you can ask and makes a huge difference to the perception of safety.  I have no idea how many cyclists were using that route before, but there are loads using it now and for the most part, people seem confident and happy with the route.  The really great part is being able to avoid Elephant and Castle roundabout going south in the evening rush hour.  That was the only part of the journey I was apprehensive about before I tried the CS7 by-pass of that junction.  8 journeys on the Superhighway so far (including a trip in and back at the weekend) and I'm enjoying it.  Being back on the tube on the way home today was a far less pleasant experience than cycling.  The only thing about cycling in the morning is that it has to be early as my route starts beyond CS7 and that part gets very blocked up beyond about 07:15, so I have to leave by 7am - which gets me in to the office at 07:40, 5 minutes to put my bike away, 10 minutes to shower and change and I'm logged on and ready at 8am.  40-42 minutes to cycle in, 48-50 to get home.  Same route both ways just in different directions.  Go figure.

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, Yeo Valley fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - cold beef chilli with fresh sweet peppers
S - greek yogurt with fresh mango
S -beef jerky
D - prawnychilligarliclimething with couscous, followed by chocolate ice-cream

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1564 1798]
Protein (g)	142.0 (37.5%)
Carbohydrate (g)	161.1 (39.9%)
Fat (g)	37.9 (22.5%)
Fibre (g)	21.1
Fruit & Veg	11.6

Deviation

I did have a sneaky run on Sunday and then yesterday cycled into work, had a weights session during the day and cycled home again.  So, after 8 consecutive days of exercise, I've decided it's a good idea to rest today rather than cycle in, do open water training and cycle home again.  My body is complaining at me.  It doesn't help that Mr TOTKat and I spontaneously went for dinner at our local Italian last night and the 1/2 bottle of wine (or less, I just didn't seem to be able to drink much of it) hit me quite hard again.  I really enjoyed the evening, but made a bad choice with my main course of lasagne.  Nothing wrong with lasagne per se, it was just mostly pasta and not a lot of filling so it was stodgy and heavy.  The scales have been surprisingly kind this morning!

B - MP Total Breakfast with skimmed milk and blueberries
*cycle*
S - greek yogurt with mango and Dorset Cereals fruity muesli
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, celery and chicken breast
S - cottage cheese on 2 oat cakes
S - banana and strawberries
S - fruit, nut and seed bar
*cycle*
D - calamari, lasagne, white wine and a latte

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	2890 2999]
Protein (g)	169.0 (24.4%)
Carbohydrate (g)	291.4 (39.5%)
Fat (g)	88.8 (28.8%)
Fibre (g)	22.5
Fruit & Veg	9.7