Timanfaya Dreaming

[Mr. Cleetus]

[quote="IronGirl"]before the Walsh Pb's have to come out.

[quote="Mr. Cleetus"][quote="IronGirl"]before the Walsh Pb's have to come out.

[Mr. Cleetus]

Thanks for the book tip, I'll have a look.

Some of the downhillers are insane. I usually think I am pretty good until I get in some of the bigger races! At some point I think there is only so much that is skill and the rest is just fearlessness. One small thing could bring pretty horrible disaster the way some go down. Fearlessness has never been a strong point if mine.

We have a regular harriers/cross-country season during the winter here, but I havent done it in a few years. We have some fantastic mountain running races which I really enjoy though. The Mountain Running World Champs were in downtown Wellington a few years ago and we have no shortage of nasty and steep technical climbing. There is a whole range of things from sub 1hr kinda races to 7hr things locally and if you travel further in the country there is some pretty amazing stuff. As you might be able to tell, I find these some of the most enjoyable races I do.

[IronGirl]

Mr Cleetus: There is something very satisfying about running in the hills.

Monday 55 minute run

Brockhampton loop, with 8 x 90sec hill reps in the middle
A bit tired after first day back at work after half term. Felt much better after it though, glad I dragged myself out.

This is my hill, you can just see the road at the bottom. It's the only section of road in this loop, the rest of it is cross country. It starts off gently and gets steeper as you go up.

[IronGirl]

Tuesday Rest Day

Had a meeting in Birmingham today, took 2 hours to get there and 2 hours back.

[Mr. Cleetus]

That looks like a great spot for running!

I hate it when work gets in the way of training.

[IronGirl]

Wednesday 45 min cross country run

Fartlek over fields, around Bringsty Common and back over fields.
Mr Ironman was out for the first time after his cold, so we had fun pushing each other all the way round. A much better day today.

[IronGirl]

thursday 1 hour session in Gym

Finally got into the gym to start a winter programme of weights.
Did a very mixed circuit including squats, leg press, lat pull downs, bench press, military press, biceps and abs. Low weights 3 sets of 10. It's going to take a few weeks to adapt to this, before starting anything more serious. The legs are not so bad, but the upper body is seriously weak.

Realised from this that I need to get this going and keep it going over winter and probably on into next year. I think it's going to make a difference to my power to weight ratio and also strenthening fixators has got to be a good thing.

The gym I use is great. My neighbours are farmers and the gym is in one of their barns. Their son is into body building and the gym has lots of free weights, no pot plants, only a couple of rather cracked mirrors and very loud music. What I call a proper gym!

[IronGirl]

Friday 90min Run

Steady pace around Bringsty and Brockhampton & back over fields.
Rain for the 1st half and then it got dark faster than expected, so back over fields in the dark. No head torch.... Ooops! But still a good way to start the weekend.

Mmm if this rain carries on we'll need water wings for the cyclocross on Sunday!

[IronGirl]

Saturday 2 hour hilly bike

Little Mountain Time Trial Route.
A bit of a head wind on the way home, but actual time still 1:59
compared with last weeks 1:58

[IronGirl]

Sunday 90 minute run

Missed cross as Mr I was still getting over his cold and I couldn't be bothered to drive to Wolverhampton on my own.

Set out to do a shortish temo run and did 10 min warm up, 20 min hard and 10 min cool down. At this point Mr I (who had trotting along behind with the dog) declared that he was better and was going to do another hour. So being me I just joined in. Result 90 minutes in total.

Weekly Evaluationl for Base 1 Week 2

Yes it's very early to be starting a program at the start of November, but my first important race is the first week in March. So just enough time to squeeze in 2 base periods and 2 speed periods before then.
Some of the duathlon guys are talking about a double periodisation for next year. 1 leading up to the qualifiers in the spring and other before Edinburgh. That would work well for me, as I would be doing the Half Ironman off the 2nd lot of base and May/June is a nice time in the UK to get big road miles in on the bike.

Weekly Totals
Run 4 hours 40
Bike 2 hour
Gym 1 hour
Total 7 hours 40 min

3 things to improve:
This does not look like much / Missed 1 days training due to work
Increase Overall total / milage on bike. Not relishing my commute along the dark lanes of Herefordshire, so the rack will have to come out!
Start swimming

3 positives
Good balance in run program (Endurance, tempo and hills)
A solid 2 hour bike
Started weights program

[Mr. Cleetus]

too bad for the race! Are there other cross races in your plan?

[quote="IronGirl"]
This does not look like much

[IronGirl]

Monday 65 minute run

Brockhampton loop with 10 x 90 sec hill reps.
Tough old session, mentally tired from teaching, but physically good and managed to push the heart rate. Good session and rest day tomorrow.

[IronGirl]

[quote="Mr. Cleetus"]too bad for the race! Are there other cross races in your plan?

[Mr. Cleetus]

What's up with the chiropractor? Do you have back issues?

I can imagine the trailquest would be fun. We have some mtb orienteering here but I have never done any. I'm not sure how big it is here. I've really gotta work on my mtb skills! I've never done any true adventure racing either, just some long trail runs that somehow get called adventure racing because of the gear required, self-support and that you'd be in trouble if you got hurt badly cuz you are pretty remote. True adventure racing somehow seems interesting, but it also just seems like sleep-deprivation too! I've got a friend who has raced at a high-level around the globe and it's been interesting to hear his stories. But I think it might make me cry!! My normal sunday running group did a 9hr run thru the mtns this past weekend, which I happily missed, but that sort of stuff would be the closest thing for me. You?