Training Archive: NixonIn the 30 days ending 2008-06-30:
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| S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monday Jun 30 | ||
| Running 1:02:00 [3]12.7 km (4:53 / km) | |
| Attempted to follow JWOC online, unfortunately it's being organised in Sweden which us inevitably led to issues. Fortunately those issues only affected the angry masses of poor English speakers struggling to follow the progress of their nations young stars. People were getting pretty pissed off, which is a bit silly. It seems that the orienteering public now expect live results and commentary at all big race. Which, to be honest, shouldn't be a big problem for Sweden. Back when I was a lad it was pin punching and split times off a casio watch, oh the good old days.
Easy cruise around Arthur's Seat in the evening. Felt average, hills represented a significant obsticle. | ||
Sunday Jun 29 | ||
| Running 1:17:00 [3]18.12 km (4:15 / km) | |
| Some porridge, a couple of cups of coffee and a quick browse of the JWOC website and I'm good to go. Today's mission. A long steady run, something I havn't done in a long time. I need to remember how to run, and I reckon the best way to do that is to go running. Cunning. Set off at a brisk pace, but my watch told me I was going to fast, so I tried to slow down, but that felt slow. So I kept up my brisk pace. | ||
Saturday Jun 28 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Legs still feeling pretty heavy from hills the other day. Was tempted to go for a run anyway, but decided to give it another day and see how they feel. JWOC starts in a few days, which is pretty much the only exciting thing to be happening in my life just now. I've decided to enter The Beast, a 13mile cross-country down south, it's got some proper savage, but short, climbs on above the chalk cliffs. It's on the last day of my fieldwork which is just down the coast, perfect timing. | ||
Friday Jun 27 | ||
| Static Cycling 30:00 [3] | |
| Legs felt really rather heavy in the morning, especially my ITBs. I hope this isn't Coombsitus. Went down the gym and sat on the spinner in the circuit gym to losten off, then my ipod ran out of battery so I had to move onto the punter bikes, but they headphone socket wasn't working, so I had to go down into the sweat-box room. Was going to do an hour, couldn't really be arsed as this room doesn't really do it for me, so stopped after half an hour. Then went for some stretchy time. Then had a sauna, with some dud from Algeria who kept moaning it was too hot. Suck it up son. | ||
| Stretching 30:00 [3] | |
Thursday Jun 26 | ||
| Running 50:00 [3]8 km (6:15 / km) | |
| Hill intervals up the Dry Dam. Tough work, got heart-rate up to 196. I aint done any intense running in a long time, so this hurt. It's OK though, I'm going to do lots more practice. | ||
Wednesday Jun 25 | ||
| Cycling 2:35:00 [3]42.3 mi (3:40 / mi) | |
| ahr:139 max:178 | ||
| A nice steady cruise on the bikecycle, testing the wrist. Couldn't really work out which way the wind was coming from. Planned to head out Penicuik but accidentally turned left and went to Dalkeith. Went over the new bridge over the new A68 extension which isn't built yet but is already on google maps. Hurray. Managed to get told to slow down by an electronic sign going into Musselburgh, 32mph... tut tut. My wrist was OK, out of the saddle was bad, and so was breaking. Probably not a good idea to go mountain biking. Bit of a bummer.
| ||
Tuesday Jun 24 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Rest day, why not? | ||
Monday Jun 23 | ||
| Running 52:00 [3]12.23 km (4:15 / km) | |
| A pacey cruise around Holyrood Park and Hunters Bog. Jogged down from the gym and then did 10km fast-ish (38:59). Felt quite good when running. Calfs tightened big time once I had finished. So I went back to the gym and did some stretchy time. | ||
| Stretching 30:00 [0] | |
| Stretchy time. | ||
Sunday Jun 22 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Could have gone training, but I didn't. Watched some football. Training starts in July. | ||
Saturday Jun 21 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Flew back up to Edinburgh. Experienced the longest wait ever for the airport bus. Got home. Did nothing. | ||
Friday Jun 20 | ||
| Cycling 1:00:00 [3] | |
| Back at Tom's house. a short cruise on mountain bikes around some country lanes. Felt OK. Knee a bit sore, hand pretty wrecked. Probably something to do with stacking it whilst being chased by security after skinny dipping in the pool at La Banta. | ||
Thursday Jun 19 | ||
| Running 20:00 [3]3 km (6:40 / km) | |
| Club La Santa:
Ended up making more bets in the night club, this time it was a running race against Sven. Sven is a legend, he is mates good mates with Stijn Devolder and was in the same team as Tom Boonen and Axel Mercx as a junior. What he isn't, is a runner. Fortunately. The bet was for a full set of his team kit. So after another late one at the night club we went down the track for 8, did the 3km morning jog that Sven had to lead, and then a 400m sprint off. Being a true showman I gave him a cheeky headstart, only to discover he is pretty damn fast. As I struggled to make any ground on him I started to regret my decision, until we hit about 200m and Sven blew up. He is a legend though. | ||
Wednesday Jun 18 | ||
| Triathlong race 53:02 [3] | |
| Club La Santa:
Sprint Triathlon: Swim 400m, Cycle 10miles, Run 5km. A half marathon wasn't the best preparation. Nor was having no breakfast. Who cares. The swim went well, a new PB for 400m, I then set off on the bike like Jan Ullirch, only to discover that I'm not Jan Ullrich. Which is a real shame, because he's good at cycling. Started to fade half way up the hill, but kept it going in the big ring to the top, then cruised down to get ready for the run. Getting off the bike and running after a 10mile TT is a bit wierd, my quads felt very heavy, but they soon loostened off and I got into things. Couldn't quite catch Pete though. Swim 400m: 8:55 (8:45 for the swim, then a little jog to the timing mat) Bike 10 miles: 28:10 (inlcudes both transitions) Run 5km: 15:57 (nae bad for 5km after the swim and bike and a half marathon I tink) Total 53:02 | ||
| C • Nae bad! 1 | ||
| Jogging 20:00 [3] | |
Tuesday Jun 17 | ||
| Running 1:28:00 [3]13.1 mi (6:42 / mi) | |
| Club La Santa:
After slighly less than 3 hours sleep it was time to get up for the half marathon, which had seemed like such a good idea the night before. I was on the drunk/hangover border and really rather wanted to go to bed. A bet is a bet though, and it's only 21 odd kilo's, when you look at it like that it's not really that far. As the gun went I took the front, then man who looked really rather good took off quite slowly. After about 4km I had about 400m on him. We then went up the hill and the gap stayed the same. I then missed the turning and kept going for a good few hundred meters. Not good. Went back and no sign of the man in orange. Luckily I had team support (Tom on a bike), when he came back from servicing Pete I sent him up the road to find the new race leader. He now had about 1km on me. Shit. I tried to move up on him, but this wasn't what my body was really wanting at this time in the morning, and vital systems started to shut down, such as the running system. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. The final 7km was a whole world of pain, but completely worth it. If only to show that half marathons aint really that hard if they can be run off very little running training, very little sleep and a very big hangover. I shalln't be doing one again though. Nor even a 10km. Roads are for cars, man was born to run on the plains. I then slept from 10am to 6pm | ||
| Cycling 1:00:00 [3]15.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
| Shopping Trip | ||
Monday Jun 16 | ||
| Cycling 3:45:00 [3]61.0 mi (3:42 / mi) | |
| Club La Santa:
The name of the game: hill climbs! We took a kind of straight route to the Tabyesco and it's 10km of climbing switchbacks. Awesome. I felt pretty good, so put the hammer down on the last 3km. Pete dropped off, but Tom stuck on my wheel. There was no way I was letting a sprinter stick on my wheel up switchbacks, so I just kept widing it up, relying on the fact that if I was hurting he must be hurting more. He cracked 2 from the end, which was nice as I didn't really want a sprint finish. We then cruised back. And chomped down some serious bread and nutella. In the evening we watched the Green Team Show, which was classic banter. Then went to the nightclub. It would be fair to say that we got quite drunk, by British standards. At some point in the night Tuesdays 07:45 Half Marathon was mentioned, one thing lead to another and bets were made. | ||
Sunday Jun 15 | ||
| Running 55:00 [3]11.5 km (4:47 / km) | |
| ahr:148 | ||
| Club La Santa:
A banter jog along a sandy track by the coast to looseten up, and loosten up I did. Put in a 10 min spurt to see if I had any speed in my legs. The answer was no, I did not have speed in my legs, and this is something I will address in the next few months before the XC season so I don't get dropped big time by fat people. Tha tan lines are coming along nicely. | ||
| Swimming 45:00 [3] | |
| Club La Santa:
Swimming in the olympic pool, did a time-trial over 400m to see how bad I would be for the mini-triathlong. 9 minutes dead, not to fast really. | ||
| Cycling 1:00:00 [3]15.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
| Club La Santa:
A recovery cruise on the bike up to Tinajo to do some shopping. Tom and Pete went out on the organised ride, buy my legs still felt a little sore. All the shops were shut, so I came home empty handed. | ||
| Football 1:30:00 [3] | |
| Club La Santa:
5-a-side football with Pete and some Swedes, inlcuding a 15 year old girl who was pretty much as good as we were. They asked if Scotland has it's own football team. We said no. | ||
Saturday Jun 14 | ||
| Swimming 45:00 [3] | |
| Club La Santa:
Swimming down the olympic pool, about 1500m I guess. Spent a lot of time fannying about with my goggles. I think I lost a lot of weight off my face yesterday. Legs feeling a bit too sore to go cycling today. | ||
| Jogging 38:00 [3]7 km (5:26 / km) | |
| ahr:142 | ||
| Club La Santa:
Legs feeling pretty shitty. Good to get them moving though. I think. | ||
Friday Jun 13 | ||
| Cycling 6:20:00 [3]112.0 mi (3:22 / mi) | |
| Club La Santa:
The Lanzarote is the toughest and one of the biggest Iron-Man competitions in the world. It would have been pretty rude to come here and not go for an epic ride. We did it backwards, which ended up taking the climbs in bigger chunks and taking the headwind in longer straights, but it did mean we did finished with a head wind. Well, that's what we thought anyway. We stopped about 2 hours in for lunch, then headed on for the reast of the course. It was pretty damn sunny and pretty damn hot. Some particuarly awesome team time trialling broke up the hard work on the 90 minutes on a dual carriageway into a headwind. We then started hitting the big climbs, and I started feeling a bit lame. After some coke I felt a bit better and we tackled the switchbacks. Awesome, proper alpine style cycling. It was then mostly down hill back to Club La Banta. I died, so Tom and Pete took big pulls at the front in the headwind, good work lads. A quick dip in the leisure pool afterwards, followed my epic cramp. Max speed: 49.8 mph | ||
Thursday Jun 12 | ||
| Cycling 2:06:00 [3]35.0 mi (3:35 / mi) | |
| Club La Santa:
Flew out uber-early, landing in Lanzarote in glorious sunshine. Met the Club La Santa rep and went out to the bus. There were still a few people to arrive so we waited the only way Brits know, tops off sunbathing: Sun's out, guns out. We then drove across the island in a bus which leaked airconditioning juice everywhere. We got to the sports fortress, got all out shit together, and then headed out for the first session of the week. I was on map duties. We just went for a quick spin today. Past the Firemountains and back home. It was pretty hot and sunny. Saw lots of camels and lots of lava. The roads where smoother than polished marble (not actually true, that would be a bit sketchy to ride on, but they were amazing). Top speed: 48.0 mph Dinner = pasta and ragu sauce | ||
Wednesday Jun 11 | ||
| Running 38:00 [3]9 km (4:13 / km) | |
| ahr:168 | ||
| Flew down to Tom's house in Leicestershire, went for a wee run on country lanes and footpaths. Nothing to report. | ||
Tuesday Jun 10 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Had lots of amazing plans, but was feeling too lazy. Interesting WOC selections it must be said, some very lucky people to be in the team and some very unlucky people not to be in the team. Not to worry though, the next WOC worth winning is in 2010. | ||
| Swimming 45:00 [3] | |
| Went to the Commy with DC. Got in a good amount of lengths in preparation for next week's triathlon. The slow lane was uber-slow, the medium lane was just plane slow, and the fast lane was olympic fast. A bunch of pesky kids were playing with a massive beach ball in the open water. Pesky kids. Met Dr Roger Scrutton, legend. | ||
Sunday Jun 8 | ||
| Jogging 35:00 [3] | |
| ahr:148 max:162 | ||
| Popped down to the CSE, then went for a bit of barefoot round Holyrood Park. Good for the calfs and strengthens your feet, so it does. Then went back for some stretchy time and a sauna.
Attempted to watch Canadian Grand Prix and the French Open at the same time. As I left the F1 Lewis Hamilton was miles in front. When I came back he had crashed in the pit lane. What a tool. | ||
| Stretching 25:00 [0] | |
Saturday Jun 7 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Woke up with a really sore throat. Decided to stay in bed rather than go and do the hill race up in Stirling. Was this the act of the evil daemons of South Bridge??? Probably more to do with the evil daemons of Stereo I'd imagine. Oh well. Gave me a good chance to watch the French Open, Canadian Grand Prix and UEFA Cup. | ||
Friday Jun 6 | ||
| Cycling 2:15:00 [3]39.0 mi (3:27 / mi) | |
| D-Day
Woke up with a slight hangover. By slight I mean raging. Went up to KB for a dissertation meeting. Had some problems as both OCAD and Digimap were being useless. Had some coffee and a nap in the geology museum. Went for a cruise on the bike in the evening, nothing hard, just wanted to keep the legs moving. | ||
Thursday Jun 5 | ||
| Strength & Conditioning 2:00:00 [1] | |
| Went down to the Gym with DT & DC. Pumped some iron, did some core work and then some plyometrics. Followed by a team sauna. No beers today unlike last night. This was followed by dinner, and then the Edinburgh Terror Tour. I used to kind of believe in supernatural stuff, but then I realised what a big pile a balls it was. I stepped into the forbidden circle of death, but seem to have escaped unscathed. I could obviously blame all future bad luck on the evil spirits that have followed me home to haunt me, but I am more of a believer in the fact that we create our own luck (not that there is such a thing as luck). I believe in preparation and coincidences. We then hit Nicol Edwards, Edinburgh's most haunted pub. Had a few beers, got DC a very dirty birthday pint, he downed half, then challenged me to a race with my half empty pint of normal beer. A race I easily one, mainly because DC was laughing, which was mainly because DT had swapped our beers and I downed the dirty one without realising. I shall have my revenge. We then went to one of Edinburgh's classier establishments, Stereo. Badger turned up. A lot of vodka jelly and apple VK's were consumed. Some Irish girl did not apporve of us using straws. But to be honest, I don't really approve of Irish girls so nae bother. We got DC an inflatable sheep. And then stripped him down to his pants outside the club at closing time. The bouncers ran straight over when they saw us wrestling him, upon arrival they whipped out their phones and started videoing the whole thing... classic. A quick visit to the 24hr Scotmid and then to bed. Good times. | ||
Wednesday Jun 4 | ||
| Running 1:00:00 [5]12 km (5:00 / km) | |
| ahr:158 max:199 | ||
| It's been a while since I've done some hard running, so I though I should do some. It's also been a while since I've done my Braids TT, so I though I'd give it a go. Jogging over I felt fine, no heaviness left in the legs from the Harie Holiday. I felt quite good up the hill, slightly minced on the descent, then met a dog on the small path to the carpark. There was no owner in sight, so I walked past, stopped my watch for a bit. Not sure of time loss really, maybe a few seconds, maybe not. Who cares. I felt really good on the long run back to the start. And the result, 17:15. Five seconds faster than before, not bad considering the weekend and the fact that I aint done much running. Still a piss poor time though.
1 Lap TT: 04/06: 17:15 17/04: 17:20 14/03: 17:37 2 Lap Braids XC 2006: 33:54 2004: 34:13 | ||
Tuesday Jun 3 | ||
| Note | |
| (rest day) | ||
| Travelling back to Edinburgh. Had a power nap, then hit the 'net to catch up on what's happening in the rest of the world. | ||
| C • Nethy Bridge House and environs 1 | ||
Monday Jun 2 | ||
| Cycling 45:00 [3]12.0 mi (3:45 / mi) | |
| Harie Holiday:
Had a few hours sleep. Two cups of strong sugary coffee for breakfast. Cleaned up and shipped out. Cruised into Aviemore on the bike. Bought a train ticket, got on the train, got kicked off the train for not reserving my bike, got my money back for my ticket, bought a ticket for the next day, went to the youth hostel, had a pie, fell asleep. It was £2 cheaper to travel the next day and stay at the youth hostel than it was to travel down that day. Odd. The Harie Holiday was absolutely awesome, some seriously good banter, drunken antics and memorable memories. | ||
Sunday Jun 1 | ||
| Running 1:37:00 [3]19.0 mi (5:05 / mi) | |
| ahr:140 max:169 | ||
| Harie Holiday:
Bilson cooked a monster 40 person fry-up. FGM. Had an England (me & WHB) vs. Scotland (Rocky & Scotty Wallace) 4-way pool tournament. It was 2-2 after the one-on-ones, but the flag of St. George was flying high after the doubles, pretty close though, I think it came down to the black. Me and Rocky then took Scotty for an easy 1 hour cruise on paths, which turned into 97 mins with a lot of terrain. Good session though. Nice to be back in some real forests. The rest of the Haries had either hired mountain bikes or gone for a walk up Caringorm. The latter went up the still snow capped mountain in trainers, shorts & t-shirts, without water or food or a map. Classic. They came quite close to becoming an article in the metro. We then had an indoor BBQ, celebrated Svensson's birthday, said thanks and Thanks to the 07/08 committee, Goodluck to the 08/09 committee, and Goodbye to our graduates. A long night of partying followed. Including lots of alcohol, a ceilidh, a club round and boat race in the nearest bar before being thrown straight out, some big cheese, a freshers disco which turned into a Fourgy, streaking, the police, drunken football, swimming in a freezing river which was 50cm deep, another ceilidh (at about 6am), some early morning joggage and not very much sleep. Good times. | ||