Cav's Group - Closed (Page 8)

Hi Team hope you are all well. As I can see from some of the notes you'll see the UK is gripped by a real cold snap at the moment, cant recall it being so bad to be honest. A ten minute car journey took me 90 mins on Friday evening, it was carnage, no signs of a let up either. Obviously having a real impact on training, also my knee is not in good shap, looks like I may need medical attention, doing some stretches to see how that goes and take it from there. Still able to swim and have been focussing on the pool, not been able to get to the gym a couple of times as the roads have been to bad. Hows everyone feeling?

Must admit, not had a good week. Started well motivated and had a good session at the gym. A combination of pack ice/snow on the paths, gym and pool closed and child care with the school being closed has meant I haven`t done anything else. Also fell off my " eat sensible" diet as well. Don`t feel I will be ready for my first 5k race in 3 weeks. Motivation pretty low !!

The week in review-
* Insanely cold here too.  Today starts our BIG warm-up.  It's supposed to be *16F.  But right now the winds are raging and I'm not feeling like running. 
* Running- didn't happen.  Could still happen.  Probably won't.
* Work- sucks.  We're nearing the end of the semester and I'm swamped with papers to grade.
* Swim, bike, and strength training went well this week.  I like the strength routine my husband put together for this phase of my training plan. 

Next week- 7 hours total
Monday- swim 45 (am); run 30 (pm)
Tuesday- bike 20, weights 30 (am)
Wednesday- swim 45 (am)
Thursday- run 15, yoga 40- going to try out the early am yoga class
Friday- bike 60 (am)
Saturday- bike (75 (trainer), 30 strength
Sunday- run 30
I really don't want to start 2-a-days yet, but it seems like the only way right now.  Might have to get up even earlier to be get a full hour in the morning at the gym.  Gah!

Chris motivation at this time of year is tough, all seems fantastic on new years day but in our case, dark nights and mornings, snow and ice, sub zero temperatures is enough to test the motivation of even the most focussed athlete. You already know you can run 5k, the thaw looks like its on its way, raining here now which means you should be able to get out again. Just think of how you'll feel when you cross the finish line mate, that'll keep you going...

Come on team lets show Chris we are right behind him

QUOTE]Chris motivation at this time of year is tough, all seems fantastic on new years day but in our case, dark nights and mornings, snow and ice, sub zero temperatures is enough to test the motivation of even the most focussed athlete. You already know you can run 5k, the thaw looks like its on its way, raining here now which means you should be able to get out again. Just think of how you'll feel when you cross the finish line mate, that'll keep you going...

Come on team lets show Chris we are right behind him

Chris, I "bold"ed the emphasis in Cav's reply. You can do it, just keep at it. It will be your first 5K race, so time will not be a limiting factor for you and you know you can finish the race. Whatever training you can do from this point on will be the icing on cake and you will finish it, which is your main objective right now. So what more is there to feel "ready", it is just mental at this point. Don't feel down.

Oscar, I think you should start from the bottom again. You have not done any running or biking for a month (at least) and you are recovering from illness. So, I would not hurry things if I were you.

Stavros, how do you use the plan? I looked at it just now and it gives only some training minutes. It does not say anything about your tempo/pace. It says that your long run should be done at an easy pace but there is no information about the short run. What tempo do you use HR wise or RPE wise in your short run?

And one more question: there is 3 running sessions in the weekly program. Are you using the 2x balanced sprint program or are you doing 2 sessions because of the weather conditions?

Summary of last two weeks' training:
I have completed my first two weeks of my "base 1" period. According to the annual plan I prepared in October, I had to do 10 hours in week 1 and 11,5 hours in week 2. The weekly hours were derived from my annual training hours which I guessed at 500. My "Maximum Strength" phase of strength portion would be finished after 3rd week of base 1.

But though I had the time to train that many hours my body was not up to it. Here are my reasons:
1) Though this year it is not very cold here, it rains a lot which makes biking difficult.
2) Days are short, so it hinders training somewhat. Early morning and lunch break sessions can have only so many hours.
3) Strength sessions really tires me. I need some off time after them which I have not if I try to hit this kind of hours.

So, I just revised my annual plan with 400 annual hours. Maybe I can use more hours once the days are longer but I am not sure. I also am dropping out of MS phase of strength. I will do one or two sessions of calisthenics at home from now on, as my "Strength Maintenance" phase. I will continue doing 3 (I may try 4 weekly) swim sessions and 3 weekly runs, one of which will be longer (90-100 minutes). My main plan for cycling will be only Sunday group rides for now. If I feel tired I will try some easy indoor spinning as a recovery session instead of running. Once the days are longer I use my bike for commuting and there will be opportunity enough to ride.

This is the essence of my revised annual plan. I would really like to hear your comments.

Last question first: I'm using the 3x plan, but the weather (and a broken bike) is messing that up a little.
As for my tempo, on the short runs I generally try to push a bit harder (RPE zone 6 according to this chart, zone 7 for last 2mins if I can).

Thanks for the answers Stavros. I think the tempo is just fine for the short run then. Wish your bike a speedy recovery and wish you a better weather conditions.

Chris,

      We all fall OFF the wagon my friend! The key is to get right back up and get back on the right track. After gaining and losing over 350 pounds with 7 pregnancies, I KNOW how tough it can be. Think positive and that will help!!

Tammy

Snow, snow and more snow. Can somebody explain "Global Warming" to me please..........

Just visit Ankara, Turkey. We have seen snow here just once this season and it was all of 1 cm deep!!! It rains a lot, but normally we should have seen lots of snow by now.

Finally felt good enough to start cardio again.  Did 6 miles on the bike today, had a little trouble with the breathing but still felt strong.  Finally on my way.

Excellent, Oscar!  Glad you're feeling better. 

Weekend plans, anyone?  Nothing much here.  Big gym day tomorrow, then I have to hunker down and grade a truckload of papers for school.  I have Monday off, but I'll probably go in to school anyway and get my exams written and sent to the copy center. 

run tomorrow morning, football all weekend.  My chargers and saints are playing this weekend.  hiking camelback on monday.  1500ft elevation gain in 1.2 miles. 

Excuse season is over!

I was in Los Angeles for the holidays, I was sick, I got bitten by a spider and was immobilized (true, happened last week).

Excuse season is over. Time to get on the plan, do my heart rate setting workouts, and just get my heart rate up.

was it the brown recluse.  My wife got bitten by that one, and she couldn't do anything for a couple of days because of the poison.

Oh wow!  Spider bites are awful!  I'm really scared of spiders.  <shudder> 

Went out for a birthday party last night and tried to run this morning after a fair few too many drinks

To be honest, the run this morning went a lot better than expected and averaged just under 10mins/mile (though I did have to slow right down for a couple of minutes near the end).

On the up side, my bike is finally fixed! Will be good to get back on it after 2 weeks absence!

Good to hear you're getting back out again

I don't know if you guys saw this on one of the other pages, but it's a great article about hip strength and running injuries.  I've had countless running injuries and I am willing to try anything.  Today I will start doing the six exercises in the article and will continue to do them for two weeks as the article suggests.  It's worth a try and a lot cheaper than physical therapy.  I'll let you know how it goes. 
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18359&PageNum=1

Tammy, your meal before run should be ok. Equally important is what you eat just before running, during your run and after your run. Your runs are usually about 30-35 minutes (at least that is what I see from your logs). Since these are not very long runs you may skip just before, and during run nutrition and make do with water. For your long runs (which is over 1 hour) you may take some high glycemic index food just before (at most 10 minutes) your run. This may be some special sports drink which should not bother you during your run. During your running you can again use a sports drink. After your workout (at most 30 minutes after it), and this does not matter if your workout was short or long, you can use some fruits or the like. Some mineral water also should be helpful.

At least these are what I do and what is written in books. Personally I cannot eat or drink during my runs (logistics problem: I do not like carrying anything with me while running). But I do the rest of what I have written.

As a side note, I should ask if you are doing stretching after your runs. I always stretch my quadriceps and calves which do the most of the work.

All said, with time you will not feel so tired. Your energy level will be improved with continued training.

It was a long-winded reply, hope this helps.