First off I’ll start this blog with how the last one was. I was pretty fed up and grumpy last week. Lack of training, lack of sleep and BIG stress over an exam! Well I didn’t need to worry. I smashed my exams, passed the three practicals and I am just awaiting my theory exam. Wahoo to me and that leads me onto how training has gone this week.
Well put it this way – the training has been ticked off with no more reds this week. Things are going well. The week started with a 2 hour run after I’d had 8 days off training. Thanks Ray! Haha. I completed this workout two weeks prior for the first time and it went great. For those not familiar with the session, it is a great session, but pretty tough! It starts out with an hour at Level II pace, 40 minutes at Level III, 10 minutes at Level IV, then 10 minutes at Level II for a Cool Down (CD). Here is a link to Ray’s blog explaining it on a run.
How to Spice Up Your Long Run
So this week I was hoping to just put in a good solid session and have time on my feet and I succeeded in that. The first hour I felt great doing 9:57 a mile pace with my heart rate controlled. I was so glad to be out with the birds singing! The next 40 minutes I could definitely feel the pace change, but carried on maintaining my form and putting in a good pace in Level III with 9:27 per mile average. By this point I was really feeling it. I tried my best to up it to Level IV, but it just didn’t happen and I failed that interval. So I’ll tackle this demon next week if Ray puts it in as I have unfinished business with it!
Next up was a VO2 Max interval session on the bike! I’ll be honest. I was dreading this session leading up to it. From the post analysis by Ray and what he interpreted from my session it makes it even more true.
I’m taking the positives out of this session. Physically Ray thinks I have the ability to complete these sessions, but mentally I was struggling. I believe this is true, as I probably already failed this session before I had even started it! Positive mental attitude is needed next week!
Then yesterday I had a swim session. What can I say about the swim? To be honest I’ve had three weeks off from swimming so I started the session with one goal – not to drown! The session went pretty well to be honest. I shared the lane with two club swimmers who were flying. Obviously they were doing their own sessions, but wow they were quick! Here is a link to the session Ray prescribed.
The first 4x 100m I did pretty well and was consistent, 1:32, 1:32, 1:35, 1:36. giving me around 30 seconds rest each interval when I added my T plus 20 seconds. Happy days, I’m flying I thought to myself. Come the next set of 100m on T plus 15 I was starting to feel it. The two fast swimmers had done their swim and I had the lane to myself. I just wanted to keep consistent and not lose form. I’m quite happy with how it went. Here are my splits per 100m 1:35, 1:38, 1:40, 1:40, so I didn’t lose too much speed, 8 seconds per 100m compared to my first two sets at the start of the session. I’ll take that. I am now looking forward to a good weekend of training and building into my first triathlon of the season in a few weeks time.
– Mike Catton
Mike is training for some triathlons and half Ironman in 2019. Check in next Monday for his next article about his training journey.
Check out last weeks article:
All his previous articles are stored here:
https://www.coachray.nz/category/client-stories/mikes-middle-distance-magic/