Wednesday Training (Plumstead Runners)

Wednesday night is Plums night.

1.3 mile run from home to Bexleyheath Sports Club.  A quick jog around the cricket pitch to keep warm in the wind then just over 7 miles with the Plums on the road.  Legs felt fairly heavy today after 3 consecutive days of training but felt pretty good generally.

Another good session with the Plums. Looking forward to a well earned rest day on Thursday :)

10 Questions Answered

 My response to Sarah's Dreaming of Footpaths blog, answering 10 questions...

 

What is your absolute favourite meal?

Hmm, tough choice.  

• The ex-wife's Spaghetti Bolognese was pretty special. 
• My Mum's Roast Lamb always hits the spot. 
• A Bacon Sarnie.
• Have only recently discovered humous which seems to be replacing my need for chocolate in the office.

Where is your favourite place to run/work out?

• The North Downs on the bike.  Head out towards Westerham and there's a whole host of biggish hills to ride up and down all day long.  I love my 50 mile Welling to Gravesend & Higham training loop.  Just the right amount of climbing and can do it in 3hrs or there abouts.
• If I'm running, anywhere on the road.  Have to say I'm not a big lover of off-road running.

If you could work in any job, what would it be?

• Something fitness-related.  Always dreamt of being a professional footballer but was never good enough.

What’s been the most satisfying moment in your life so far?

• Seeing my daughter grow up and having a brilliant relationship with her despite the pain of not seeing her on a daily basis.
•  Recovering from my divorce and getting back on my own two feet.
• Losing 5st in coming up 3 yrs and being in the shape of my life at 37.

What is your ultimate fitness goal?

• To run a marathon.  (178 days to go until the Paris Marathon.)
• To be competitive in a triathlon or duathon.
• The ulimate dream is to be an ironman.

If you had an extra two hours a day, every day, what would you fill that time with?

• My daughter.  If I could swap everything to see my daughter every day, I would.  Simple as that. 

What is the nicest thing you have ever done for anybody?

• Have I ever done anything nice for anyone?  Ha.  There's a few things I've done.  Then there's a whole heap of things I shouldnt have done lol.

Everybody has a little OCD about something (I always cross my fingers when I walk under a street sign!) – What’s your ‘thing’?

• I absolutely hate the fact that we've got 6 electric blinds in our office and they are all left at different heights.  I go out of my way to make sure they are always level and in line with each other.  
  

If you could repeat any part of your life again, which part would you choose?

• All of it.  No regrets.

What do you wish you could go back and tell your 15 year old self?

• Always go with what your head tells you, not your heart.
• Dont take up smoking in 6th form and end up smoking for the best part of 10 years.
• Dont put up with any sh*t from anyone.
• Know who your friends are.  The good friends are ones that will stick with you through thick and thin.  Those that f*ck off into the distance not to be seen for dust when you really need them arent worth your time and effort.

 
 

Tuesday Training (30 mile road ride)

Today was my first ride on Hayley, my road bike, since 22/07/2013.

For those that dont know, I was suffering from Patella Tendonitis earlier in the summer, initially caused from misaligned cleats on my Sidi road shoes.  Being the stubborn sod that I am, I thought I could cycle it off.  I couldnt.  I made it worse and it was agony.  Thankfully I was still able to run but cycling was so uncomfortable, almost unbearable, so I stayed off the bike.  Until today.

 


Had to pop into Lloyds Bank on my way out, about half a mile down the road but then I was able to open the legs up a bit after that. Down to Danson Park, through Blendon down to Bexley Village, out on the North Cray Road, up Maidstone Road, down through Swanley Village to Green Street Green before heading back home via Dartford, Belvedere and Abbey Wood

The plan was to take it relatively easy, keep my cadence above 80rpm and to try to ignore my average speed but as most cyclists will know, thats one of the first stats to look at when analysing a ride. I was touching 18mph at Bexley Village on the way out and I was averaging 17.9mph by the time I got back to Abbey Wood but I decided to take my feet off the gas and reel it back in otherwise I would have been seriously blowing in the last mile.

30 miles at an average speed of 17.6mph for a first ride in almost three months is good. I'm pleased with that. I'll need to start increasing my mileage again once I'm happy with the position of my cleats and I'll start increasing the amount of climbing I do as well. The ride was relatively flat today considering the usual climbing I would do on a ride but this was a gentle reintroduction. I'm very pleased to just get out on the bike again and not feel the previous knee niggle. Happy days.

Monday Training (2 x 5km and TRX Session 4)

Monday was probably as bitchy as it gets for me.

I love and hate my job.  The good days are great and the bad days, well...the bad days are a bitch.  Simple as that. 

In the old days, I would have come home and gone straight out on the bike.  Not tonight.  Decided to fuel up on Fish & Chips (the fast food of champions...ahem) then hit the sofa for 30 minutes while trying to decide what to do.  I was intending on a Gym session yesterday afternoon but it never materialised so I thought I ought to hit the Gym tonight instead and what better way to warm up than run there and cool down afterwards by running back.  That would be another 10km in the legs and I'd be on target with my Gym work.  So off I went.

Then it was onto my 4th session of being beasted by the TRX...

TRX:

Cruicifix (3x10)

Shoulder Press (3x10)

Press ups (5x10)

Bicep Curl (3x10)

Tricep Curl (3x10)

Abs:

10 x (10 SB Sit-ups & 10 SB Sit-twists)

(and let me tell you...after the Fish & Chips, I felt every single sit up of the 200!)

Legs:

Leg Press (6 x 6 x 110kg)

Leg Extension (6 x 6 x 55kg)

Then run back home at a slower pace for my cool down...

Not bad for a Monday night. Just about burnt the Fish & Chips off.

Sunday Training (Breakfast run)

I've had Friday and Saturday as rest days this week as I had Izzy staying with me overnigh on Friday evening, so this morning was my first chance to train.

Started from my house, up through Welling and Bexleyheath and down into Crayford, along Bourne Road to Hall Place, Bexley Village, through Blendon to Danson Park and then back to Welling.

8.5 miles on the nose.  Nice and sunny, not overly warm, probably ideal running conditions.  Bumped into fellow Plum Guy in Danson Park running with a blonde (such a smoothie for an oldie!), said a quick hello in passing and ran on.  Really enjoyable run this morning.

 

Thursday Training (TRX Suspension Session 3)

Warm Up

1km Treadmill (4:47; 7:42 min/mile)

TRX

Crucifix (3sets x 10reps) 
Shoulder Press (3sets x 10reps) 
One Armed Press Ups (5sets x 10reps) 
Bicep Curl (3sets x 10reps) 
Tricep Curl (3sets x 10reps)

Abs

10 sets (10 SB Sit Ups + 10 SB Sit Twists)

Legs

Leg Extension (6 sets x 6 reps 50kg)

Cool Down 

4km Treadmill (19:50; 8:00 min/mile)

Got to the Gym a little later than usual tonight, having watched the Spurs game and then spoke to Izzy on the phone just before bedtime.  The Gym was really quiet tonight, strange for a Thursday night.  When I say quiet, I mean a visible lack of people...but with Chandra not about, I swear Kisstory is played a couple of decibels higher ;)

Anyway, was a really good session tonight.  I ran the 1km warm up quicker than usual and I made sure I put in a good effort on the final 4km tonight.  Having checked back through my Garmin records, tonight's 4km was my quickest ever at the end of a session by 21 seconds.  Very pleasing indeed.  It finally feels I'm getting the little speed I did have back again.

Dont know what made me but I jumped on the scales when I got back tonight.  12st 11lbs.  Considering a few weeks ago, I'd slipped the wrong side of 13st (it wasnt a problem as Chandra did warn me this would happen during the muscle building work), this put a smile on my face.  Bearing in mind I only usually weight myself first thing in the morning, I'm intrigued as what I will weight first thing tomorrow. Am particularly interested in what the scales say my body fat composition is, so will study with interest.

Wednesday Training (10k)

Wednesday night is normally Plums night.  Not this week though.  Well not fully anyway.  Another email from the Plums, saying that Bexleyheath Sports Club had been in touch and said there was currently no hot water in the showers due to a technical fault.  So cold showers all round!  Therefore made the decision early on that afternoon that I was going to run from home.  Made more sense really.  I could run 10k, have some dinner and a shower and then jump on the bus down to the club for the monthly meeting.  How's that for a man with limited brains, eh?

So, 10k it was.  Fairly similar route to my Monday run but cut out the loop over at Eltham Park.  Up Welling Way, straight down the A2 to Blackfen, past Bexley Grammar and into Danson Park, pretty much follow the Park Run 5k course around the park but then cut off the last 500m and head back up Danson Cresent to Welling Corner and home.

Was a good run. Felt reasonably good to be honest. I always find it hard to psych myself up to go for a run as soon as I get in the front door after work but it pays dividends sometimes. Comparing the performance to Monday's run, I was a fraction slower but hey, I'd had two days of rest before Monday's effort and I hadnt been at work all day. Little things like that make a difference.

Anyhow, I'm just pleased I seem to be getting some speed back in my legs after the last three months when the knee niggle was restricting everything I was doing. Not any longer and long may this freedom continue.