Wednesday 14 March 2018

Snow, Stetsons & Socialising

The last three weeks have been eventful to say the least! The week after the Wokingham half marathon was a mixed bag. I had to shuffle my training sessions around a lot to allow for work and a weekend with the children. As such my "recovery run" became a 10 mile "comfortable run" which I nailed - felt really strong and had some good pace. It all fell apart a bit after that mind you. I had a sports massage on Wednesday and also a review of my training plan with coach Ellie. We discussed the outcome of the race and how I felt about it, what was coming up in the weeks ahead and as such my training plan has been tweaked and a couple more events signed up to (for training purposes only).
Two hours of ice skating for a child's birthday treat... better than a long run?
I routinely shift longer sessions planned for the weekend, to during the week. This isn't because I necessarily have more time but there are chunks of time where I'm not working and I'd rather train then than take time away from Dean and the kids on the weekend, so this is something that is changing in my plan. I also struggle with going outside on my bike. I freak out. I don't know where to go, worry about traffic and a number of other things, so turbo sessions are becoming more structured and I've signed up to a sportive and some social rides.

Monday 19th - Rest day
Tuesday 20th - 10 mile comfortable run
Wednesday 21st - Rest day (skipped track session)
Thursday 22nd - Swim & bike intervals
Friday 23rd - 2h bike ride & Tri club swim session
Saturday 24th - parkrun
Sunday 25th - Rest day (skipped bike intervals)

Reading with the cat
The week of the 26th was the week of the Beast from the East, with snow that caused a fair amount of upheaval. The beginning of the week was fairly straightforward, swims, cycles and so on all completed but several sessions got cancelled due to the snow and I felt unnecessarily guilty about that. Out of my control but I hated missing sessions when I had the energy to do something. I switched track for strength work (which I don't do nearly enough of) and my rest day on Thursday coincided with the snow laying thicker on the ground and the organisations I freelance for deciding to cancel all classes. It was like having a mini holiday! I read, caught up on some admin and drank copious amounts of tea. I completed my turbo session on Friday but got a notification later afternoon that the triathlon club swim session was cancelled as the sports centre was closing early, by which point I couldn't get to any pool to do any kind of swim, and there was no hope of fitting it in at the weekend!
Strength and stretching kit
Dean and I joined some friends on Saturday for a snowy run in the forest, punctuated by walking breaks, photo stops and much chatter. I know full well neither of us would have gone out on our own on the roads or in the woods and having committed to meet up with others meant we couldn't back out. And a snow mile is worth at least 1.5 road miles right?
Monday 26th - Swim
Tuesday 27th - 1h15 bike & 20 minute run
Wednesday 28th - Strength training (track session cancelled)
Thursday 1st - Rest day
Friday 2nd - Bike intervals (swim session cancelled)
Saturday 3rd - 11.5 mile comfortable run
Sunday 4th - 2h bike intervals
Breakfast at Carluccios

Last week was a great week training wise. I knew I was spending the weekend at the C2C country music festival at the O2 with acts starting around 10:30am on Saturday and Sunday and so would only have time for shorter sessions early morning. I'd discussed this with Ellie previously and she had adjusted things accordingly. For the first time in I can't remember how long, I completed every training session last week, getting up early on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to fit in my training. Not all went according to plan... I couldn't hit the heart rate zones in one ride, cadence monitors failed and a swim had to be cut short, but all in all I was really pleased.
I had another session with the osteopath who reassured me that my posture is improving and I have been more diligent with my stretches since. I found time to meet up with friends for lunch and breakfast and booked a flotation session for a few weeks time. I drank too many cocktails at the festival and ate out more times that I was truly comfortable with and have had a string of very late nights but all in all a good week and weekend.
Sunday's early morning run
Monday 5th - Swim
Tuesday 6th - 1h bike ride
Wednesday 7th - track session (fartleks), osteopath
Thursday 8th - 1h bike ride
Friday 9th - Swim
Saturday 10th - parkrun
Sunday 11th - 1h negative split run
Lattes with a friend. Poncy lattes. They were very good.
This weekend I'm doing the Finchley 20 on Sunday, provided we don't get the rumoured snow to disrupt things. I'm going to use the event to practise my marathon pace and nutrition strategy. I'm feeling quietly confident at the moment!

How did the snow disrupt your training if at all? Did you accept the time off or find alternative things to do?

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