I have a programme

Finally, I have a programme from my coach, coachJez.  It feels funny calling him a coach because he feels more like just a trainer to me.  We've been working together for 6 months on my swimming with a little bit of gym work here and there so I don't feel coached, only trained.

Anyhoo.  Over the winter he was talking about 'next year' this and 'next year' that and when January came and no programme was forthcoming, I started to get worried.  I have some pretty big goals this year and I do not want to screw this up.  So I pushed and I finally got a programme.

At the moment, it's 21 sessions to fit in over a month and I'll get the next set after that's done and the results assessed (no idea how that will happen as there's really only one measurement point and that's a 1500m swimming time trial).  Thing is, I've already been doing a higher training volume of 10-11 hours a week and this, even with fitting in 7 sessions in 1 week, only sums up to 7 hours with almost no running to speak of - one 30 minute hill reps session!  I'd been doing days with 2 sessions in a day, e.g. one gym or swim then a run in the evening, or a gym or bike then a swim in the evening.  Now, it's one session per day and the Training Peaks widgets agree that my fitness is dropping off!

See the blue line above, it usually drops off a bit during the week and picks up at the longer sessions at the weekend, but the last 7 days has been a downwards trickle with almost no pickup at the weekend.  So, I'm going to supplement next week's training schedule:-

Barbican running track

...with a long, slow run during the week at some point.  I also have a bit of a problem with doing mid-week multi-brick sessions - see Thursday for: bike 15 minutes, run 2k, repeat 4 times - in that I can't use a treadmill, so I can't do it in the gym so I can't do it other than at the weekend and even then it's a bit sucky.  If it were a shorter session, I could do it at the Barbican Virgin Active as it has a running track.  So, I talked to coachJez about that and he had forgotten about my inability to use treadmills and said he took it on board for the next section of the programme.  In the mean time, what I may do is try that 90 minute brick session at Barbican after work; but it depends on work as to whether that will happen or not.

We'll see.  And so next week probably looks like this:-

The bottom step

Apparently I can swim now, so now the actual training can begin.  I can't wait!  How perverse is it to have done a load of work and be so pleased to be at the start of the actual work?  :oD

Learning the hard way - Part I

Some lessons I seem to learn only if I learn the hard way.  This is one of them.  Or, in fact, three of them.

Having undertaken very very low levels of training all year, in fact ever, I raced a few races and didn't do terribly badly.  Fared well in my age category, improved a little and then the season ended.  My pathetic levels of training dropped off to pretty much nothing at all.  I went on holiday and got a bit tubby.  I came back.

With no races to keep me interested, no goals in place, no plans or thoughts other than the distant mountains next year, I was in a wilderness.  So I forgot how little I'd been doing before, forgot that I'd been doing almost nothing for a couple of months and threw myself into an ill-considered 'base training' plan.  I forgot that my endurance levels were never really that great and that my power wasn't ever that great and my technique is nowhere (though improving significantly in swimming over the last couple of months).  For example, I worked out that I'd run six times in August, the last month of the racing season for me; then twice in September - and one of those was a half marathon; and once in October.  This is really bad.

Last week, I did 2x runs, 2x swims, 2x strength sessions and a cross-training session with Jez.  I had one rest day.  6 hours training from pretty much nothing.

This week, I started back cycling to work again... Monday 30km, Tuesday 30km and a planned swimming session with Jez.  Wednesday strength session, Thursday cycle and swim.  Friday strength session.  Saturday rest/Parkrun/  Sunday long slow run.

Monday felt great.   Tuesday morning was a less pleasant ride to work and then I got to my session with Jez.  I was mentally already not feeling very up for it and, thinking about it, I was already about 1200kcals in deficit for the day (how I got there I'll explain later) and with a hormonally abnormal state (for me) due to trying out being on the pill again (another post for another day).  And I did a few lengths to warm up before the session.  Felt OKish, a bit more whacked after each pair of lengths than usual but nothing to make me really worried.  Then we started training.  And I was increasingly getting wound up about how out of breath(!) and prickly (you know that hot, prickling sensation you get in your muscles when you do a lot of low weight repetitions for a while... that) I was feeling after each drill.  Eventually Jez stopped the session and we chatted a bit.  He basically said 'Stop getting so wound up about going so hard with cardio now.  It's wrecking your training and it's achieving nothing.  Now is not the time for this stuff, now is the time for strength and conditioning.  Rest at the weekend.  Stay in Zone 1 otherwise.  Now it the time for catching Zs as much as you can."  So I ate my banana and cycled home.  I tried to keep it trundly, but I got angry a couple of times as car drivers tried to kill me and/or got stroppy that a bicycle dared be on the road and that ended up with a bit of high heart rate towards the end.  I got in to the house and fell apart a bit.

We were supposed to be having cottage pie for dinner, but ohgod I didn't feel like it by the time I got in, plus MrTOTKat was working late and not back yet.  So I got pizza in.  *ding* once the potato wedges had hit my stomach, I started to feel a whole lot better.  Slowing down to munch through the pizza, I did the calorie calculations for the day and it turned out that by the time I hit my swimming session, I had about 1200kcals to take in to maintain the activity I'd already done that day.  The banana I had afterwards just about put back what I'd taken out during the swim and by the time I got home on my bike, I was another 400 under where I should be for the day.  1600kcals in deficit by the time I got home and -of course- I was going to be feeling awful!  I don't deal with deficit very well (cranky, tired, wobbly and if I don't make up most of the deficit I start to lay down fat and put on weight!).

So there we are.  Three enormous mistakes.   Three lessons to learn, not just one.

A - too much too soon from nothing is BAD
B - underfuelling within a day is BAD (physically AND MENTALLY)
C - now is the time for long, boring, gentle cardio, not thrashing it on the commute to work

A and B are quite easy to deal with, C... less so if I want to cycle to work.

Makey-uppy

I ran out of routine again so had to cobble something together.  I can't really afford to have two trainers at the moment and while I'm trying out a swimming coach I can't therefore have a gym trainer too.

• warm up on the cross-trainer
• weighted Bulgarian split squats
• kettlebell swings - superset A
• pressups - superset A
• jerks - superset B
• leg raises and lowers - superset B
• assisted pull-ups - 3 grips; wide over, narrow under, ring
• squats

My arms and shoulders are pretty knackered, so I'm expecting some  good ol' DOMS tomorrow.

I really wanted to do one of those Bodyrock.tv routines, but they look rather like I would want to try them somewhere private once or twice before prancing about in public...

Two race weekend

Work has been crazy.  I've over-indulged and not done much (any) training.

We had an open water swim session on Sunday, set up by the Virgin Active London Triathlon organisation, but run by NOWCA (a really great organisation who have noticed that open water swimming is really taking off but there are problems around it in terms of finding safe places to swim and safe ways to organise swims and are looking to regulate things - founded by Martin Allen and the infamous Rick Kiddle (truly lovely guy, great coach, great athlete)).  The idea with the Virgin sponsorship of the triathlon is to expand the sport even more, bring it to more first timers and these open water swim training sessions are designed to help people get to grips with the differences and techniques associated and gain confidence in open water.

I don't pretend to be an expert at open water swimming, but I do (so far) seem to be not totally shite at it and I've had no problems with confidence or the rather physical nature of the mass starts you often hear about.  So I was there mostly to pick up any tips and keep Mr TOTKat company.  I enjoyed myself, got a little bit competitive and the group we were in weren't shrinking violets (though all rather British about physical contact in the water - heh, they'll learn soon enough :o)) which added to my enjoyment.  The end of the session was a bit of fun as we all raced to the bank to get out and strip off our wetsuits first, as was the challenge, to find when we decided to stand in the water to wade the last few feet, we were all more than waist deep in a soup of thick silt and mud and needed to get a lot closer to the bank before really trying to stand up and wade out.  Mmmm, sludgey!

Then on Sunday I had a hard session with Geoff the Awesome, who gave me a nicely confidence boosting workout of more old-school weight training where I still failed to really get the snatch technique even remotely right, but came away feeling worked really hard which I've really missed.  After that, we had roast chicken and drank waaaaay more than is a good idea for a Sunday night.

Monday, no exercise - planned no gym as I'd gymmed the day before, but I was supposed to cycle to work and decided it was a bad idea in the morning given the amount I'd had the night before.  Tuesday, no exercise - we were out for dinner, so I wasn't going to cycle in and leave my bike at work - I hate doing that.  And we went for dinner.  And drank waaaay too much again.  Today, no exercise.  I had no gym kit with me but thought I might get a swim in today; work denied me that due to being insanely busy.

So.  I have a race on Saturday - Shock Absorber Women's Triathlon - and one on Sunday - Clapham Common 10K.  And I really can't go to the gym on Friday as that would be foolish the day before a race.   The plan is to cycle and gym tomorrow and rest on Friday before the races.  Sub-optimal, but I don't want a whole 7 days with no resistance training at all.

Fun with Geoff

Injured and not really feeling up for it, I pootled gently to the gym on my bike and had a little, gentle warm up on the cross-trainer until my session was due to start. And Geoff was keen to make sure my knee was OK with everything we did today so asked straight off the bat if rowing was going to be fine, then he did this to me...

• 4x500m row; 02:10, 02:05, 02:00 and 01:55
• 3x10 pull ups (no rest); wide over, narrow under, side (45kg assist)
• 3x5 pull ups (no rest); wide over, narrow under, side (40kg assist)
• 2x10 dips (40kg assist)
• 1x5 dips (35kg assist)
• 3x20 bar-bell core rotations*- bare bar, bar with 2.5kg, bar with 5kg
• 2x20 bar-bell core rotations* - elbow locked in and bar with 5kg
• 2x20 one-arm presses with bar-bell*- bar with 5kg
• 3x10 cleans; bare Olympic bar, bar with 5kg, bar with 10kg
• 3x10 jerks; bare Olympic bar, bar with 5kg, bar with 10kg
• 3x10 quick drops; bare Olympic bar, bar with 5kg, bar with 10kg#
• 1x20 fast presses; bare Olympic bar

* - one end of the bar on the floor, pivoting on that.
# - I didn't manage the 10kg ones as I had a mental block on jumping about with a bar with weights on it behind my neck

And it was good and I felt great. It wasn't the routine Geoff had originally planned, but it was fun nonetheless and kept the impact and stress off my duff knee. A nice little pootle home in the sun to watch some cycling and then the boat race.

My trainer is an actual star!

I finally got around to looking up my personal trainer on the Internets... and it turns out that he's ranked world #2 for 400m in the 50-59 category.  I mean, I knew he was good, but... cor!

And he's utterly utterly ripped...

So, what better inspiration on a day where I'm eating a ton of Ibuprofen, using ice-packs and keeping off my legs, to sign up for ANOTHER RACE!  Hah!

Yes, I just signed up for Run To The Beat which falls right at the end of the race calendar.  A half marathon, sponsored by Nike, with loads of music...

Brave or silly

My calves are in paaaaaaaain still!  From Saturday's session with Geoff!  I can't work out what exactly killed them, but Oh Boy!  So the really clever thing to do, quite clearly, was to cycle to work and back yesterday and have a fun session in the gym today doing some of the things from Saturday's session (with no harness, no Bulgarian bags and a much smaller gym during the week, it cramps the style somewhat with some of the more flamboyant things Geoff gets me doing).

Tell you what, my shoulders look silly in the mirror when I'm doing those kettlebell squats.  And I managed to do 10, 8, 7 nose-to-floor pressups on my feet rather than knees :o)  I'm pretty sure those "Perfect Pushup" handle things are why I couldn't do them on Saturday.

GREAT workout - RAAAAAAR!!*^£%@!*!YSF(*!!

Geoff did it again and I feel fabulous!

• Stretches and warm-up on the TRX
• 10 x3 narrow, under-hand grip pull-ups (with resistance band) - superset
• 10 x3 wider, over-hand grip pull-ups (with resistance band) - superset
• 10 x3, deep, nose-to-floor press-ups (had to do these on my knees 'cause I'm a girly wuss!) using "Perfect Pushup" handles which are wobbly and horrible to use
• 2x attempted rollouts with a rollout wheel wheel (fail due to back pain)
• 15s x3 with 15s rest in between, high-knee sprints against a harness
• 10 x3 jumping squats against a harness
• 10 x3 bear crawls against a harness
• 10 x3 x2 Bulgarian bag rotating swings - superset
• 20 x3 Single-arm kettlebell swings (alternating arms - 16kg kettlebell) - superset
• 10 x3 Kettlebell squats (2x16kg kettlebells) 
• 10 x3 x2 kettlebell rows in the plank position (8kg 12kg 12kg)
• 4x kettlebell crawls (8kg 12kg 12kg 12kg - 3 forwards, 1 backwards)
• stretching and complaining

 Apart from feeling pretty down about the rubbish pressups (I knew mine weren't anywhere deep enough before, but it's another thing being faced with the reality of it) it was a good workout and I utterly loved the bear and kettlebell crawls.  My Bulgarian bag swings are -much- better than they were first time, but I still can't get my hips in to it.  I think it'd be easier if I went a bit heavier.

*sigh*

Well, I got to the gym once so far this week.

Once.

Not impressed.

Still, I have a session with Geoff tomorrow, which will make it twice this week and I know Geoff will push me hard.

FUN!

My second session with my new trainer was a total doozey again!  I feel GREAT!

Little warm up on the TRX straps and then into some real explosive training with some Bulgarian Sacks (I used the 12kg ones after getting to grips with the technique with the 8kg one).  Which I had to look up when I got home as I've not come across those before.  Some more kettlebell work and interval training with a harness (sprinting on the spot against the resistance of it and doing burpees against it) and bungee rope and a skipping rope.  Utterly thrashed and burned a gazillion kcals and I really really enjoyed myself!  Next session in 4 weeks and in the mean time there are some things I can play with in the gym by myself.

New routine

More for my own memory as my trainer's handwriting is almost as bad as mine ;o)

• Squat and swing with 10kg (like a kettlebell swing) - 2x10
• core pendulum swings (lying on the floor, legs up, swing legs/rotate hips) - 2x10 each side
• Lunge with single arm swing opposite arm to knee (same side arm and leg working, 4kg dumbbell) - 2x10 each side
• clean and press 15kg barbell (use box) - 2x10
• reverse lunge with row (cable machine) 12.5kg - 2x12 SUPERSET
• side plank with row (4kg dumbbell) hold 3s each- 2x10 SUPERSET
• 3x 30s sprints on cross-trainer (L6, 60s recovery)
• warm down 5 minutes and stretch

I suspect most of the 2x10 will turn into 3x10 over time and quite quickly.

Teensy bit ded

New routine day yesterday with the trainer.  And it's a killer.  I won't get the printed version 'til I'm back from hols, but we ran through it yesterday and ohboy!  Somewhat optimistically, I also ran part-way home; consequently, this morning, my legs are saying "hello!" to me a lot.  And my arms.  And my abs.

I ended up 760kcals under maintenance yesterday, up to and including dinner.  So I just -had- to have some cheese and biscuits for supper to get things to a less silly level.  It was a total hardship I can tell you!  :oD

No exercise today as it's a rest day and probably none tomorrow, but I have to run out to the shops at lunchtime to get more base layers for skiing, cause the weather is looking a little chilly for where we're going *cough*

Wednesday:-

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, celery, cherry tomatoes, capers, chicken breast
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk
S - beef jerky
S - 4x nut, seed and raisin biscuits (no added anything horrible except soya lecithin)
*run*
D - beef chilli with sweet potato and carrot mash
S - oat cakes with stilton

Exercise - 61 minutes gym, 29 minutes running

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1703 2465]
Protein (g)	165.2 (39.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	166.8 (37.6%)
Fat (g)	41.1 (22.2%)
Fibre (g)	23.9
Fruit & Veg	12.7

No trainer session

Today was supposed to include a catch-up session with my trainer, but the poor dear dislocated his finger and broke a bit of it as well and is still trying to get it x-rayed.  I bumped into him on the way out of the gym, looking all strapped up but very chirpy (he's just like that all the time, I think) despite having spent 5 hours in the local A&E waiting for an x-ray that still hasn't happened!  Anyhoo, I had a gym session anyway, by myself.  Which was kinda good as I was apprehensive about today's session and what it might entail.  I did increase one thing in today's session; I upped the reverse crunches to 3x15 interleaved with the Swiss Ball jackknives.

Tonight is my night in this week and I've got some lovely beef chilli with softened courgette ribbons, shredded onion and toasted pine nuts on the side to eat while I read "Men's Fitness".  Lots of fitnessy people I follow have said it's good, so I thought I'd give it a try this month seeing as there's a freebie with it as well.  Let's see, shall we?

Oh!  And we has kitchen scales again!  Muuuch better.  I didn't realise quite how much I rely on them for most meals until the old ones broke.  It was quite unnerving, guessing stuff, though some measures could be approximated using tablespoons, cups and mls.  It's just not the same as weighing though!

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, fruit compote and a sprinkle of grape nuts
S - Dorset Cereals bar; 3 berries and cherries
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, pomegranate seeds, celery, capers, cherry tomatoes, chicken fillet and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
S - banana
D - beef chilli with courgette, onion and pine nuts
S - chunk of ciabatta with stilton (NOM!)

Exercise - 53 minute gym (HRmax - 184, HRavg - 159)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1736 2218
Protein (g)	150.6
Carbohydrate (g)	178.1
Fat (g)	46.7
Fruit & Veg	15.2

Time to top-up the form

My trainer grabbed me (metaphorically) in the gym as I was heading out and reminded me it'd been 3 weeks since our first session, so it's time to hook up and see where things are at. Quick chat about the fact that I can now do 3x10 jack-knives on the Swiss Ball now and he was pleased with that seeing as I couldn't even do 1 when he tried to get me doing them in that first session. Anyhoo, he seems to espouse the "lots of reps with lower weights to 'tone'" idea as he mentioned he was in a cutting phase for summer and donig just that. But, you know what? I'm not pooh-poohing it at him because he's stacked, a sprinter and ohboy does he have definition so whetever he's doing is working just fine for him. I will just steer him away from that kind of thing for me :o)

B - greek yogurt, 1 scoop, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - 9 bar (freebie, nom!)
L - salad: spinach, sweet pepper, celery, pomegranate seeds and leftover roasted pheasant
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk (much better than water!)
S - a pear
D - curry out somewhere with a beer or 3

Exercise - gym (HRmx 183 HRavg 158)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc exercise)	2386
Protein (g)	170.4 (28.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	162.8 (25.7%)
Fat (g)	93.1 (35.3%)
Alcohol (g)	34.8 (10.3)
Fruit & Veg	6.0

Good gym

Apart from the skinny little diva who showed up in microscopic gym shorts (Abercrombie and Fitch dontchyaknow!), a teeny vest, trainers and no bra; and proceeded to spend 10 minutes in front of the mirrors, making sure her baseball cap was on perfectly before throwing gym equipment around because it was in her way (though she could barely lift much of it, so hah!) and then struggling to do some puny hanging bent-leg raises. It was veeeeery difficult resisting laughing at her. Yeah it's good that she's actually in the gym doing some resistance training, but the -attitude-!

Me, I burned off a very respectable 499kcals in 52 minutes whilst being careful with my leg. I kept the weight lower on the lunges and leg curls and made sure to warm up gently first. For the first time, I managed 10 pressups in a row with no rests in between and I've changed my planks to be straight arm planks - mmmm, much harder! :o) Shame I ran out of time, 'cause it'd be nice to have done 3 sets of 10 pressups rather than just the one. Ohwell. Rest day tomorrow (and using the foam roller for 15 minuts at home, following Rachel Cosgrove's foam rolling exercises/stretches to get the kinks out of my legs and shoulders, might squeeze in some pressups there too) and then new trainer on Friday!

Nice eggy salad for lunch today (shown here in unmixed state - I like my eggs to sit on top so they don't go mushy during the morning):-


This is becoming one of my favourite evening meals; lightly smoked salmon fillets are so incredibly flavoursome:-



B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad - spinach, tomato, capers, walnuts, 2 boiled eggs and lemon juice
S - a pear and a mini Babybel Light
S - beef jerky
D - salmon fillet with couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - slice of banana and raisin malt loaf

Exercise - 52 minutes gym (HRmax 184 HRavg 158)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1800 2231]
Protein (g)	157.7 (36%)
Carbohydrate (g)	164.6 (35.2%)
Fat (g)	56.1 (28.8%)
Fruit & Veg	8.0

Potential new trainer

Michael is a sprinter. Michael is built like a small brick privy. Michael likes the idea that I want to lift heavy and be able to do pull ups. However, Michael seems to be a little hung up on lifting heavy will make me bulk up (which it won't unless I eat protein for England and take hormone supplements) and, as he's a runner, a little hung up on cardio too (but I've told him that I don't do treadmills as I get sea-sick afterwards). But still, he'll have a new routine for me for next Monday and we'll run through it together. He does get that I'm competitive, driven and don't really need/want someone standing over me for motivation. I think he might be a good replacement for the trainer I had before. We'll see next week.

We'll also see how I've done in the Virgin Active UK Challenge taster competition. The competition ends today, the draw for the bike happens next week and the results of who was fastest woman and fastest man will be announced. *fingers crossed* I was still in the lead on Monday this week! I don't really care about the prize, I just want to win a competition that involves physical prowess, dammit!

Today went like this...

For brekkie, I decided to try coconut and chocolate with my yogurt and blueberries:



Not as tasty as I'd hoped, so I won't be doing that again.

And for dinner, a trusty beef chilli with shaved courgette, sliced onion and some toasted pine nuts sprinkled in:


Nom, as usual!

Exercise - 50 minutes weights (HRmax 184, HRavg 161)

B - Greek yogurt with 1 scoop chocolate whey, desiccated coconut and frozen blueberries
S - Dorset Cereals, 3 Berries and Cherries bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop whey in skimmed milk
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, tomatoes, spring onions, capers, prawns and lemon juice
S - tangerines
S - carrot and caramelised onion houmous
S - mini Babybel Light
D - beef chilli with courgette, onion and toasted pine nuts

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1644 2210]
Protein (g)	139.0 (34.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	129.4 (29.8%)
Fat (g)	64.0 (35.4%)
Fruit & Veg	15.4

*beam*

Body fat down another 0.8% to 26.3% I wasn't sure it'd be more than tiny drop this time because I'd let go a bit on the food front, so I'm really really pleased with this drop. *happy dance*

I also have the full data from when I started with my trainer; all the measurements, weights and fat % for the last 5 months... graphs to follow.