Week 10

This is the final week of the base phase, one third of the training plan has been ticked off. Or, to look at it the other way, two thirds left.

Monday's rest day was a bit of anti-climax following on from the great time we had on the weekend. but at least it's a short week as we're going away on rugby tour this weekend. Yes, under 7s rugby tour; it's gonna be all about overdosing on Ribena.

The scenes from the Boston Marathon are horrific, my thoughts and wishes go to all those that have been affected. It's a sad day, a sad day indeed. At the time of writing there have been 3 reported deaths. No-one should ever leave their house in the morning to go to a race and not come back.

Tuesday's swim felt good, the main set was 1 x 300m, 3 x 200m, 1 x 300m. I felt strong through the set, I'd even go as far as saying I enjoyed it.

It was great to run in the sun on Tuesday evening, I'm really happy in the way my running is progressing; running at sub 5 minute kilometres on this 60 minute lumpy run.

Wednesday morning was back to the gym with a row followed by a strength and core session. All felt good, particularly in the leg work, which seems to be making some gains.

Despite it being an easy Z1 spin, I really didn't feel the love for Wednesday's turbo session. It really seemed to drag, I was so please when it was all done and dusted and i could get off my bike.

I did a 2,500m swim time trail on Thursday morning, the time was 53:25. This is 21 seconds down on my last time trial; whilst I accept this is a marginal difference, I'm disappointed that the perceived gains do not appear to be materialising.

The disappointment of this morning's swim was wiped away with the pace achieved on the post turbo run. 45 minutes on the turbo was followed by 30 minutes of hilly running.

The weekend started on Friday, as I'd taken the day off in readiness for the rugby tour. But that didn't mean my training would be interrupted.

I packed the boys off to school and went for a great 13km 66 minute run. Then it was back home to pack the car, pick up the boys and head west.

The great thing about West Wales, when I say great I mean unfortunate. But the terrain was perfect preparation for the hills at Ironman Wales. The ride on Saturday consisted of 1,244m of climbing over 72.5km. Despite the ride having 8 category 4 climbs, I didn't find it arduous; even with the additional hydration on Friday night.

I fair quantity of re-hydration followed the ride and the evening consisted of fancy dress (obligatory photo shown below)

An all day session meant that I was not looking forward to getting up for Sunday's 90 minute run. But i was determined to be back for the rugby on the beach. So I was up and out by 8am, and once again climbing those damn hills. 

A good hard session, but the injury to my calf re-occurred. I am convinced that it is now time I invested in some calf guards.

Of course the rest of the day involved a beer or two, this was a rugby tour after all.

Summary of Week 10

Activity	Actual Time	Planned Time	Variance +/-	Percentage
Swim	1:54	2:00	-0:06	15%
Bike	5:26	5:00	+0.26	43%
Run	4:06	4:00	+0:06	33%
Other	1:06	0:45	+0:21	9%
Total	12:32	11:45	+0:47

A very good week's training, capped off with a great ride in a beautiful part of the country.

Cumulative Summary

Activity	Actual Time	Planned Time	Variance +/-	Percentage
Swim	21:30	20:00	+1:30	22%
Bike	35:14	34:15	+0.59	36%
Run	30:50	30:45	+0:05	31%
Other	10:38	7:30	+3:08	11%
Total	98:12	92:30	+5:42

Base training is now finished, and job done. I feel ready to take it up a level