In this last week my fitness has continued to improve. Long term consistency is the key and although it is only 3 points my Fitness (blue line) has grown on my Performance Management Chart, but a little and often is more important, especially considering my goals are still a long way off.
Monday
I completed the third session of the 4 Weeks to a Faster 1,500, which involves eight reps of 200 yards building them in sub-sets of 4 (steady, fast, faster, fastest). I did mine in 3:27, 3:15, 3:14, 3:07 then 3:35, 3:24, 3:16 & 3:05.
Tuesday
Although I was planning an hour run, I had a fair bit of work I needed to get done so I ended up cutting the session short and only did 30 minutes.
Wednesday
Quad Crusher II workout on the wind trainer. This is a tough session with solid efforts at Threshold with regular sprints (pink line) and as a result my Heart Rate (red line) continues to creep up over the 15 minute intervals.
Thursday
I repeated the run I had done on Sunday. I aimed to keep it nice and consistent between 262 & 285 Watts. I only managed to keep inzone for 49% of the run. I did this nice and early (catching a good sunrise) and it was very chilly.
Friday
I had a busy day and then when I went to the pool (that is usually empty) it was in use and I wasn’t able to swim. I returned later in the day but only had a limited time to get my swim completed. So I did as much of it as I could fit in which wasn’t much.
Saturday
As with each Saturday I weighed myself and I’ve managed to gain some more weight. It’s not much – just 100g and I’m pleased to report that it represents a loss of 100g of fat and a gain of 200g of muscle. So I’m now sitting at 87.7kg and 17.9% body fat. I didn’t complete any training today as it was a family day with my stepson performing in two separate drama productions.
Sunday
Another hour run today and I repeated the run I did last Sunday (which is the opposite direction to the same run I did on Thursday. This time I managed 64% in zone.
Compared to last week I’ve built my Fitness – measured by Critical Training Load (CTL) – up +3 to 32. With one week of consistent training I’ve nearly rebuilt what I’ve lost over the last three months it has dropped from 31.
My Fatigue – measured using Acute Training Load (ATL) – is up 6 to 47, but it dipped to 42 a couple of times during the week.
My Form – measured using Training Stress Balance (TSB) – has dropped another 3 points down to -11, although it did dip as low as -20 as a result of the fatigue from the Quad Crusher workout.
Here is my PMC for the last three weeks since recommencing writing this blog.
You can see that with my training continuing to pick up this last week my Fitness (blue line) has built up higher, with a corresponding climb in my Fatigue (pink line) with a wee dip on Saturday where I had a rest day. Inverse from my Fatigue my Form (yellow line) has dropped due to the increase in my fatigue.
Here is last weeks post:
Coach Ray’s Sufferings: Consistency Has Been The Key This Week
And all previous Coach Ray’s Sufferings can be found here.