Fortnightly Review - Weeks 21 & 22

Back to my first Club swimming session in over a year. I have managed plenty of swimming over this fortnight and even missing a couple of swims I still did over 8 miles and managed to include a couple of faster reps sessions in that. And that is pretty much the end of the good news for this review. 

From a pure numbers point of view, I also did my mountain bike miles, but a lot of them were on the road, and my overall bike numbers were way short. And I did my run numbers, but only because the target run numbers are way less than the run habit I have built.

In general, the second week of this fortnight has been terrible for my mental health. Walchsee has finally been cancelled officially due to the travel rules around Covid. The race is still happening, it is just illegal for me to travel there under the current Covid traffic light system. No other local races have been announced yet and so I have no idea what I am training for at the minute, other than pure habit. 

My extension work has completely stalled. Nothing has happened for 3 weeks now and the builders don't seem in any rush to make progress. The carpets were due this week but have been delayed by 3 weeks. The blinds were due this week but have been delayed indefinitely. I gave up waiting and have moved my workspace in to my new office as it is close enough to complete and started some work in the garage. In doing those moves I realised that the computer I use as a server is so old it doesn't have wifi and that I didn't install a phone socket to the new office so I have had to leave it in the old office for now.

Also it was the anniversary of our miscarriage. I rode over to the Hazelhead garden of remembrance after work and spent some time there, read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a short poem by King Olav of Sweden, rode home and woke up two days later to the news that the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle, had died. Then the day after that I got told that I am being moved internally at my job, and I only have a week to tidy up what I am doing and write a handover before moving to a job that doesn't exist.

I went to help out my sister when she had car trouble, and someone ran into the back of my car while I was stopped at a junction. 

I decided to let my ridiculous running streak go. It ran from the last Xmas Day I had with my dad to the third anniversary of our miscarriage. That felt like a reasonable stopping point and let me bookend my streak with memorable dates as well. And then having missed a day my whole training regime just fell apart. I only ran 1.4 miles in 3 days, I missed my cycling target for the week, I skipped weights and yoga, ...

Actuals, (Target) - 

Swim 8.9 miles / 13,700 m. (6.3 miles).
Bike 71.0 miles. (79.2 miles). MTB 26.9 miles. (19.8 miles)
Run  miles. (29.7 miles).

0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 15 mins of yoga. 

Cumulative Actual, (Cumulative Target), [Cumulative Stretch] -
S 16.1, (27.8), [29.2],
B 849.1, (784.5), [823.7],  MTB 177.6, (196.1), [205.9],

R 741.6, (543.3), [570.5].

Core         - 23, (22), [33]
Weights    - 23, (22), [33]

Stretching - 22, (22), [33]
Yoga         - 30, (22), [38]. 

Fast run sessions - 9, (>20) 

Junk swim sessions  - 0, (<3).

Fortnightly Review - Weeks 19 & 20

Finally back in the water. I have binged on swimming since I have been allowed back in the pool. It is slow, but it is improving. 11 swims in 2 weeks. Some of them felt like they should be in the 'junk swims' list but for now I am going to just accept that they are basic volume as I try to get back into it. I have already managed to shift my 1,000m time from 18:36 on my first swim to 17:44 by the end of my second week.  

I also used my commutes to the pool to get in some extra time on the mountain bike. The first couple of times I just took the road, but then I have started experimenting with some random trails that require a bit of a detour but get me some basic off-roading practice. I am still spending more time on the turbo than I really want to, but it has become an easy habit due to the minimal prep and the ability to multi-task while I am pedalling.

I did my first run reps session of the year. It was just 3 hill reps, but it was a long, tough hill, and I did them straight on the back off my first swim reps session. I am still running too much. Having gone through 500 days in a row I should have stopped. I still have some SmashRun badges to earn that need me to stay on daily for another 90 days, so for now I am sticking with that. I have moved to their minimum run of 1-mile a day rather than the target I was using myself (5km or 30mins as minimum). This does mean that some days I can cut it right back to just being a 10 minute jog as a warm up or brick instead of doing a 'full' run.

I fell a little behind on weights/core/yoga as my sleep pattern has been a mess and I am struggling for morning sessions before work. 

Actuals, (Target) - 

Swim 7.6 miles / 12,300 m. (6.3 miles).
Bike 81.9 miles. (79.2 miles). MTB 25.3 miles. (19.8 miles)
Run 45.0 miles. (29.7 miles).

0 short core, 0 short light weights and 2 stretching / rollering session. 15 mins of yoga. 

Cumulative Actual, (Cumulative Target), [Cumulative Stretch] -
S 7.6, (21.5), [22.6],
B 778.1, (705.3), [740.4],  MTB 150.7, (156.5), [164.4],

R 707.2, (513.6), [539.2].

Core         - 23, (20), [30]
Weights    - 23, (20), [30]

Stretching - 20, (20), [30]
Yoga         - 29, (20), [35]. 

Fast run sessions - 9, (>20) 

Junk swim sessions  - 0, (<3).

Fortnightly Review - Weeks 17 & 18

Another fortnight with no swimming. But I am booked back in the pool 5 times this coming week. 

I am a little short on bike miles for the fortnight, but that is because I did a lot of them no the mountain bike. I did spend 6 hours on the bike, just the pace suffered as I was off-road and uphill. I am happy enough that this is still trade off to spend more time on the mountain bike is worth it, even though I am missing targets. My accumulated bike miles for the year are still more than 10% ahead after I spent so much of the bad weather on the turbo trainer earlier in the year.

I am still running too much. Not quite double but still over 23 miles too much this fortnight, and none of it was particularly fast either. I did a couple of short runs under the 8-minute mile pace to finish off my SmashRun badge but everything else has just been easy jogging. This coming Friday will be my 500th running day in a row. That feels like a good number to stop at and have a rest day. 

Short on core and weights as well as I have not managed to consistently get morning sessions in before I start work.

Something is wrong with either my general health or my training. Over the last month my resting heart rate has steadily climbed from 43 to 50. That could be a sign of overtraining, but I did less in April than either February or March so I am not sure why that would be showing up now. And I don't feel any more fatigued. It could be just accumulated stress from everything that is going on at the minute, but I don't feel particularly stressed apart from dealing with nonsense at my work and that shouldn't be upping my RHR by 20% from this time in a normal year. 

If it is a cumulative stress issue then I don't expect it to resolve any time soon. Over the next fortnight; I will be back in the pool this coming week, I might be doing a race a week on Wednesday, I restart Club swim training next Monday, I should be finished with my last set of aligners next Friday, my building work should be finished within the next week (although I have a 3 week wait for blinds and carpets), and I am booked for my first vaccine this coming Saturday as well. 

I am only 8 weeks from what should be ETU Walchsee. I am now at the point where the restrictions and rules in place for going too and from Austria to compete are so complex that I am 80% sure that I won't be going. I have booked nothing in terms of travel or accommodation and unless there is a major changes of rules my mid-May I am not likely to go. 

Actuals, (Target) - 

Swim 0 miles / 0 m. (5.8 miles).
Bike 69.8 miles. (79.2 miles). MTB 32.5 miles. (19.8 miles)
Run 52.9 miles. (29.7 miles).

1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 stretching / rollering session. 36 mins of yoga. 

Cumulative Actual, (Cumulative Target), [Cumulative Stretch] -
S 0.0, (15.2), [16.0],
B 696.2, (626.1), [657.4],  MTB 125.4, (156.5), [164.4],

R 662.2, (483.8), [508.0].

Core         - 23, (18), [27]
Weights    - 23, (18), [27]

Stretching - 18, (18), [27]
Yoga         - 28, (18), [32]. 

Fast run sessions - 9, (>16) 

Junk swim sessions  - 0, (<1).