Fortnightly Review - Weeks 11 &12

Now that I am out of my big challenges for the start of the year I have managed to reset some of my habits. Instead of running before and after work I am using my morning sessions for yoga and weights/core instead. With no sign of getting back in to the office and shifting to commuting, or getting back in the pool, I have also been sitting on the turbo a lot.

I have realised that I made a mistake when planning my cycling year. I wanted to do about 1/4 of my cycling training on the mountain bike, so without thinking about it I just translated that to 1/4 of my mileage targets. I should have stopped to consider speed in that equation. On a good day, pushing quite hard, on non-technical, non-steep, fire tracks, in good weather, I do about 12 mph on the mountain bike. On a bad day, coasting along while I watch youtube on the turbo I can easily do that pace. Once I get off-road and uphill on the mountain bike versus time outdoors on the road or TT bike that difference looks more like 6mph and 16mph, and then trying to chase targets in terms of miles stops making sense. 

I spent most of this fortnight on the turbo and still came up slightly short on the bike miles as I missed rides on the second weekend. 

I did my entire fortnight of running miles in the first week, and then gain in the second week. And it still felt lazy. After the huge numbers I have been putting up earlier in the year 30 miles feels like a lazy week! 

In non-training news I am now starting to have some worse mental health days. Saturday we went to start clearing my granny's house. As it is now certain that she will never be going home we have started the process of clearing her belongings and putting her house up for sale. On the day I was fine but once I got home the emotional effect kicked in as if she had died. She has owned that house longer than I have been alive, for the three years I worked at the hospital I went there every day for lunch, and I have visited regularly for the 25 years since I have lived back in Aberdeen. It was strange to be emptying out such a large part of my life. 

That coming on top of my relationship problems, the emptiness and loneliness of lockdown, and the amount I hate working from home and my current job, is all combining to become more of a problem. My mental health has been on a bit of a rollercoaster this week with a big down through the weekend. 

Actuals, (Target) - 

Swim 0 miles / 0 m. (0.0 miles).
Bike 65.6 miles. (69.2 miles). MTB 12.0 miles. (17.3 miles)
Run 60.1 miles. (29.7 miles).

5 short core, 5 short light weights and 2 stretching / rollering session. 74 mins of yoga. 

Cumulative Actual, (Cumulative Target), [Cumulative Stretch] -
S 0.0, (0.0), [0.0],
B 471.4, (395.6), [415.4],  MTB 41.8, (98.9), [103.9],

R 488.5, (394.6), [414.3].

Core         - 16, (12), [18]
Weights    - 16, (12), [18]

Stretching - 14, (12), [18]
Yoga         - 19, (12), [24]. 

Fast run sessions - 1, (>12) 

Junk swim sessions  - 0, (<0).

Fortnightly Review - Week 9 & 10

Still no swim miles as the nonsense of lockdown means pools are still closed, and the outdoor temperatures are still nowhere near the range where I might get in the water. 

I am turning the pedals a lot on the turbo trainer but with the nice weather this last weekend I decided to take the road bike outside for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. I had a mechanical about 40 mins in and had to soft-pedal home. Then having fixed that, I went back out and 20 minutes later, snapped the chain. Fortunately within walking distance to the elk shop where they fitted a very expensive new one to allow me to carry on. I did do a massive number of miles this fortnight though. But none on the mountain bike again. 

I finished my February challenges by racking up 217.4 miles of running. Having never done a 50 mile week before, I did 4 in a row. Following up my 50.3 and 52.5 with a 60.9 and 53.4. I backed that off slightly this week but with the lockdown continuing I have nothing else to do but train so am still racking up silly miles. My habit of running before and after work is about all that is keeping me sane at the minute. 

I have missed a bunch of other sessions while the miles have been so high. 

Everything is habit at the minute. There is no thought involved, no planning, no organisation of sessions, just pure habit. That needs to change. From tomorrow I don't have any live challenges to take part in so I am going to try and do something more organised.

Actuals, (Target) - 

Swim 0 miles / 0 m. (0.0 miles).
Bike 129.4 miles. (69.2 miles). MTB 0.0 miles. (17.3 miles)
Run 95.3 miles. (59.9 miles).

0 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 stretching / rollering session. 35 mins of yoga. 

Cumulative Actual, (Cumulative Target), [Cumulative Stretch] -
S 0.0, (0.0), [0.0],
B 405.8, (326.4), [342.7],  MTB 41.8, (81.6), [89.8],

R 428.4, (364.9), [383.1].

Core         - 11, (10), [15]
Weights    - 11, (10), [15]

Stretching - 12, (10), [15]
Yoga         - 14, (10), [21]. 

Fast run sessions - 1, (>10) 

Junk swim sessions  - 0, (<0).