I’ve had a bit of a cold lately, it’s nothing too bad just a sore throat, headache and bunged up a bit, but considering what happened last time I exercised whilst ill I’ve been taking it easy.
Last time I ended up getting pericarditis and spending several days on the cardiac ward at Bronglais Hospital. A good enough incentive not to do the same again but doing nothing is next to impossible. I haven’t been swimming or to circuits and I’ve missed out on a night MTB ride, but I mist admit to having done a couple of fairly easy Turbo Trainer sessions. I’m sure the odd recovery style session on the Turbo Trainer can’t do me too much harm. I hope not anyway.
Hopefully the cold will clear up soon so that I can get back into some training ready for the Mawddach Goldrush. Otherwise I’m going to be struggling to get round.
Only one month to go until the Mawddach Goldrush so I thought I’d better get some longer rides in. That was the plan for Saturday, but the surf was going off so I had to go for a surf at Ynyslas first. The surf turned out to be pretty much as good as it gets here, but I still had a ride to do so I was soon out of the sea and heading off for the hills.
The Mawddach Goldrush is a 3 lap race with each lap being about 10 miles in length. According to my GPS readings from last year (where I did a single lap as part of a team) the climb involved in that 10 miles was 1185 feet. So, the total for all 3 laps should be around 30 miles with 3500 or so feet of climbing.
My route today went from the sea along the flat roads across Borth Bog to Tre-Ddol. A nice 4 mile warm up and then straight up the beast of a climb behind Tre-Ddol. It is always a struggle but my legs felt tired today so I was pleased to even make it up without having to get off my bike. It really is quite steep mind you, just take a look at the topography on the graph below and the steepness of that first hill.
Today's Training Ride
After the initial climb I headed off towards Artists Valley and as you can see it leveled off for a while before I had what is essentially a 6 mile climb up through Artist’s Valley. This is always quite a slog and today was no different. The conditions however were perfect, no wind, not too warm, sunny and with great views down the valley to the Dyfi Estuary. I eventually made it to the top and then headed off down the MX trails towards the mines and then along some more MX trails through the forest to the Nant y Moch road. From here I looped back up once again to the high point above Angler’s Retreat before dropping back down into Artists Valley via ‘Al’s Descent ‘ which was riding really well. The bottom part of the descent wasn’t great though as it had been pretty cut up by recent forestry work.
I then carried on down through Artists Valley. With 20 miles under by tyres I was now beginning to feel pretty tired so even the small climbs up through the woods were pretty hard. Thankfully though from here on it was just a matter of two little climbs and then a descent back to the flat roads to the sea. The final 4 miles along the flat were OK, but I was certainly glad that I didn’t have another hill to climb.
The total distance was 28 miles with 3108 feet of climbing. Not quite as far or as much climbing as the Mawddach Goldrush and quite a lot of it was on the road so I’m still going to be struggling this time next month. Hopefully a couple more longish rides will get me in better shape for it though.
Back at home after a bath and some dinner and my legs are pretty tired, my knee hurts and my back is sore. I think I’ll take it easy tomorrow, but with only 1 month left I need to get some training in!
MTB Event
Exercise is a funny thing. Some of us hate it, some of us can’t get enough of it. It’ll soon be the New Year and people all over will be making plans to do more of it. If your New Year’s Resolution is to get fit, what’s the secret and how do you stick with it?
You really need to make a habit of it. We all know what its like, the first couple of sessions feel horrible and hard work, but the next few actually start feeling good as you get used to it and start improving. After 6 or 7 sessions though you hit a plateau and the excitement and enjoyment start to wane. You then miss a session because its raining, you have a cold or some other commitment gets in the way. You then do a couple more sessions but something else comes along and you miss another, then another and before you know it you are back doing nothing again.
So what do you do to make sure you stick at it?
Make a Plan.
Having a plan of action can help.
Rather than just going out for a run or a swim when you feel like it, sit down, work out your weekly routine and decide when you can fit some training sessions in. Maybe a lunchtime swim a couple of times a week, or cycle to work instead of driving. Once it’s written down and becomes part of your weekly routine it is easier to stick to it.
Better still, tell others of your plan, post it on your blog, publicise it on Facebook, tell us here. The more people that know of your plans, the more encouraged you’ll be to stick to them.
Keep a Diary
Keep a record of what you actually do. There are loads of software applications out there that will help you with this and chart your progress. Not only does it allow you to see if you have been keeping to your plan, but you can see improvements as they happen which will help with motivation.
Couple this with a GPS and Heart Rate Monitor and you can have a really interesting and fun way of analysing your performances. I have written review of Training Software for Macs and you can now even get apps for your iPhone that will do much of this. Keep fit and geek out at the same time!
Train with Others – Join a Club
Training with others has to be the best way to keep you motivated. If you aren’t feeling like an exercise session today, the fact that you’ve made arrangements to meet someone else and would let them down if you didn’t turn up will get you out there. Once you’ve done it you’ll be glad that you did.
Joining a club that meets every week at set times is also a good way to start making a habit of exercise. This goes back to ‘making a plan’ and having set times each week where you do certain types of training. Being part of a club is also a great excuse for a bit of socialising. Being around others who train regularly will encourage you to get out more. Their enthusiasm for sport will rub of on you. The added motivation of a bit of competition is also a great aid to spurring you on to do a little more.
Award Yourself
Award yourself with a meal out or something else nice if you stick to your plans and achieve your goals. Maybe a new pair of running shoes or something new for your bike. The award acts as an incentive for sticking with your plans and the new toy encourages you to get out there more.
Spice it up
Variety is the spice of life, so keep yourself motivated by spicing it up a bit. Instead of running your usual routes, head off to the hills, the woods, the beach or somewhere new for a run. Encourage others out to join you. Try some interval training or something a little different now and then.
Running Event
Enter an Event
There’s nothing like having a specific event to train for to focus the mind and make you get out there. There are countless numbers of running events, triathlons, duathlons, mountain biking events and much more to choose from. Most are inexpensive to enter and make for a great weekend away. Look through the listings, choose something you’d like to do, get together with some friends and enter. You won’t regret it.
If you do these things and manage to stick with it, before you know it your training sessions won’t just be a few random runs or swims, but you’ll have a structured training program and most importantly it will become a habit.
Habits are difficult to break so making a habit of exercise is a good thing. Just make sure it doesn’t become an obsession!
With Christmas coming and lots of food, drink and relaxing planned, I thought I should at least try to be good in the run up and get some training in. I haven’t done too badly this year. As well as keeping up with the mountain biking I’ve also got a Turbo Trainer that I now use as often as possible and have also started swimming again.
In comparison to what I used to do when I was younger, its a very small amount, but it is something, so that’s better than nothing. I did have a couple of hospital visits during the year though so I’m not feeling as though I’m quite back up to speed yet and feel as though I need to do more to get to where I want to be.
So, I’ve been working on it this week.
Sunday.
Sunday’s exercise was a Mountain Bike Ride at Nant yr Arian. I started off with a fast circuit of the Pendam Trail at race pace, pretty much as hard as I could go. Conditions were good, but I only managed a slightly disappointing time of 40:45, over 3 minutes slower than my personal best of 37:22 back in June of this year.
I then had a ride and a bit of an explore out towards Nant y Moch at a nice easy pace with Dan. As you can see from the Heart Rate graph, I was trying pretty hard on the circuit around Pendam with my heart rate between 85-93% of maximum for 48% of the time and above 93% for 26% of the time.
Sundays MTB Session
Monday.
A fairly easy 50 minutes on the turbo trainer today using one of the ‘Aerobic Endurance’ workouts from Tacx. A gradual increase in intensity but with my heart rate peaking at 147bpm which is less than 85%.
Aerobic Endurance Turbo Trainer Session
Tuesday
Turbo Session at lunchtime. I had planned to do a relatively easy one but at the last minute decided to change my mind and do a long 20 minute warm up followed by a 1 minute interval session comprising 7 reps of:
- 1 min @ 360 Watts
- 1 min @ 100 Watts
Unfortunately there was no way I could do this, and only managed 5 reps. Maybe I wasn’t up to it today, or maybe I should stick to 340 Watts for now. Here’s the heart rate trace to show the pain!
1 minute Interval Session
In the evening I went to the ’swimfit’ class at the university where we had a moderate session with quite a few sprints and some messing around with the bungees at the end.
Wednesday
I had planned both a swim and a night ride, but I had a bit of a cold and I ended up setting up my new iMac instead. For some reason I find such things really sressful and wanted to get it as close to completion as possible before going to bed so didn’t have any time for training.
Thursday
First session today was on the Turbo Trainer and a session I made up myself. After a warm up I did six 4 minute reps, where I started at 80RPM and increased my cadence by 5RPM every 30 seconds up to 115RPM. The first one was with the slope set to -3 and I increased this for each rep. (-3, -2, -1, 0, +1 & +2). Basically the session got harder and harder but there was a bit of rest whilst the RPM was low.
Thursday's Workout
As you can see from the Heart Rate graph the intensity ramped up throughout the session.
I then went for a swim. Nothing too mad here, just some 100m Individual Medleys and some 100m swims, but I felt better for doing it.
Friday
I’d hoped to have a turbo trainer session today, but time and other commitments conspired against me.
Saturday
I was in Bristol for the weekend so had planned a nice ride with Brad, Matt, Dan and Pete. Bard was too hungover so it was just me Matt, Pete and Dan. Unfortunately my bike wasn’t playing so I had to go on Matts Kona Stinky. Not only does it weigh a tonne but it isn’t exactly set up for cross-country use. Needless to say it was a slogf, but I made it around and didn’t let any of the hills beat me.
As you can see though, the initial climb was hard work!
Overall, not a bad week and I even think I’m beginning to lose some weight. Just in time to put it all back on over Christmas!
Don’t worry, I don’t intend to post these everyday as I’m sure you’ll get bored of them soon – if not already. However, I’m enjpying doing them and I like the heart rate graphs I produce in a strange, ‘heart-rate artwork’ kind of way. Of course, if you enjoy these posts or are trying to do the same workouts yourself then post a comment and let me know and I’ll keep them coming.
Todays workout was a little longer at an hour with some hard intervals in the middle. I did an extended warm up:
- 5 mins @ 120 Watts
- 5 mins @ 180 Watts
- 5 mins @ 240 Watts
- 5 mins @ 120 Watts
Then started the intervals where I did:
- 7 x 45 secs @ 400 Watts followed by 3:15 @ 100 Watts
I had intended to do 1 minute at the high power output and 4 mins easy, but couldn’t quite last for a minute at 400 Watts. My legs just died at around 45 seconds each time so I adjusted both the length of the hard effort and the rest effort. As you can image, it was pretty tough, but I have something to aim for with these.
I then extended the workout to an hour with:
- 8 mins @ 200 Watts
- 4 mins @ 120 Watts
Here’s the heart rate output which shows that I was at least trying!
Todays Heart Rate 'Artwork' - Click to enlarge
I’m feeling a little fitter at last so thought I would have a go at a proper interval session on the turbo trainer this morning.
I had some sample workouts from Jon following my various fitness tests and lab rat sessions at the Sports and Exercise Science Department in the University so had something to aim for. The calibration between the machines at the labs and my Tacx Flow Turbo Trainer isn’t perfect so I made some adjustments to the sessions and gave it a go.
The first of the sessions was to do 1 minute hard followed by 1 minute recovery. The hard efforts were supposed to be at 390 Watts based on my Critical Power Output and the recovery was at 100 Watts. I didn’t think I’d be able to do that on my turbo trainer so adjusted it so that the hard efforts were at 320 Watts.
The first of the 7 hard efforts felt quite difficult, number 2 and 3 felt OK, number 4 started to hurt a little, number 5 was hard, but I was getting close to the end, number 6 was really hard (and I hated Jon while I was doing it) but there was only 1 more to go. Number 7 was difficult but as it was the last one felt OK. I probably could up the wattage a little, I’m not sure if I could do it at 350 Watts but I might give it a go next time. Cadence was kept at around 100 RPM throughout.
Looking at my heart rate for the session though it was pretty much perfect. The hard efforts all peaked at between 85% and 90% of my maximum Heart Rate and recovery was steady.
As you can see from the graph below, the first repetition, although it felt hard only got my heart rate up to 146bpm, then this gradually increased throughout the set.
- 154bpm for rep 2,
- 155bpm for set 3,
- 156bpm for set 4,
- 159bpm for set 5,
- 165bpm for set 6 and
- 162bpm for set 7.
The graph is almost pretty!
Interval Session Heart Rate
Back on Track
Well, I’m finally feeling as though its time to get back on track and start training again. It’s taken a while as it has been over 2 months since I was in hospital and I’m still not feeling 100%, but I can take it no more. I just need to get out on my bike and back in the pool swimming before my muscles waste away completely.
I went out for an easy ride around the Dragons Back Trail at Coed y Brenin with Andrew a couple of weekends ago. I’ve had one or two goes on the turbo trainer, and last night I did a night ride with the Ystwyth MTB guys. None of it was easy, but I coped and didn’t actually do too badly considering I hadn’t been on a bike for a while.
So, now it’s time to start training properly again.
One thing I have noticed is an interesting pattern in my maximum heart rate. Before I went into hospital with pericarditis the first time, my maximum heart rate on a ride was usually around 180bpm. Whilst in hospital the first time my heart rate was really low. Then, after I’d recovered and was back out on the bike my maximum heart rate was still quite low, usually around 170bpm despite trying just as hard as before.
I then went back into hospital and have had two months off, and my maximum heart rate seems to be back up where it was prior to my first hospital visit. 181bpm on the Dragons Back ride, 177bpm on a turbo trainer session and 185bpm last night. Maybe there was still some inflammation around my heart during the time between my two hospital visits, and maybe the 2 months off has let that go down so that things are back to normal…. Lets hope so.
Garmin Forerunner 310XT
It isn’t available yet, but the new Garmin Foreunner 310Xt looks like an intersting bit of kit. I have a few GPS devices already and love my Garmin Foreunner 305, this just take it to another level, being more rugged and waterproof.
Finally, a GPS-enabled training device that isn’t afraid of the water. The rugged Forerunner 310XT is the triathlete’s indispensable training tool — a GPS-enabled, swim-proof trainer that tracks bike and run data and sends it wirelessly to your computer. This multi-sport device has up to 20 hours of battery life, tracks distance, pace and heart rate (optional), and goes from wrist to bike in seconds.
Could be good for swimming and windsurfing, as well as biking and other sports, and I may have to get my hands on one when it comes out. It seems to have most the features of the Forerunner 305, including the useful Virtual Training Partner. It is also slighter lighter, has a better battery life, is ANT power meter compatible, has wireless syncing capabilities and of course is properly waterproof. The Heart Rate Monitor appears to be an optional extra with this one though and it doesn’t appear to be able to store routes. This last omission seems a little od as the routes are used to allow the Virtual Training Partner to work , but otherwise it looks like a great piece of kit.
The Mountain Biking trails at Nant yr Arian have been riding really well these last few days thanks to the hot, dry weather. The puddles have all dried up, the surfaces are hard packed, fast and predictable so I decided that it was a good time to try to break my record around the Pendam Trail.
It’s only a short trail at just over 6 miles and my record stood at 38 minutes 51 seconds. I didn’t have this record breaking route recorded in my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS system, but I did have a slower attempt from a few days ago which took me just over 41 minutes. So, I loaded this up and used that as my Virtual Training Partner to see if I could beat myself.
Trouble was, on that particualr day I’d started out pretty easy, then halfway around decided that I felt good and was doing a fairly respectable time so picked up the pace quite a bit. This meant that today as I was going for a record I would start out fast but then come the end would porbably start struggling just as my virtual training partner picked up his pace. It could prove painful!
I got up at 5am and was up at Pendam for around 5.30am just as the sun was peeping out from behind the mountains. I thought an early start would be my best bet as the temperature would be more comfortable. I did a quick warm up around the Hippity Hop section and then off I went.
The first couple of bits of single track were a little tricky as I kept getting blinded by the sun flashing in out out between the trees, but by the time I got to the first climb I was already about 0.1 miles up on my ‘partner’. The first climb wasn’t easy though as I just don’t think my legs were quite ready for it and a longer warm-up would probably have been useful. Not to worry I was still ahead at the top of the climb and headed off into the woods again. I gained quite a bit of time on the singletrack sections down to the Visitor Centre and was 0.4 miles ahead by the time I got there. Things were looking good, but this is where it would start to get hard.
The next little climb was also tough as my legs still weren’t quite awake and I lost a little bit of time but soon caught that up again on the Italian Job. I was now 0.5 miles ahead and my training partner was about to speed up. I kept on pushing and did well not to lose too much time around the lake and then I was onto the final climb. I know that I had pushed hard here last time so had to go for it so as not to lose out. I did lose a little bit of time on this last climb but then went for it down the Hippity Hops to catch up.
In the end I finished 0.61 miles ahead of my ‘training partner’ in a new record time of 37 minutes and 21 seconds. A whole 1 minute 30 seconds faster than my previous best time. My average speed was 10.2 mph, my average heart rate was 149 bpm and maximum was 166 bpm.
I will take a while to beat that again though. Conditions were perfect and I had no excuses, but I shall record that run in my GPS and use it to try to beat myself sometime in the future.
Pendam Trail. Topo, heart rate and speed trace
I’d planned to go for a ride on my own yesterday anbd as i’d been singing the praises of my Garmin Forerunner 305 and some of the features on it I thought I should put the Virtual Training Partner feature to the test.
I hadn’t used this particular feature before which allows you to record a particular course and then race yourself around the course next time you do it. Whilst doing so the Garmin Forerunner will tell you how far you have to go to the end, how far ahead or behind your time you are, as well as all of the normal readings such as speed, time, distance, heart rate etc etc.
I headed off to ClimachX with my Mountain Bike and started my first lap of the Trail. The weather was perfect, still quite cool as it was early in the morning, but gorgeously sunny. The trails were still wet though. I didn’t go too hard as I was intending to go around a second time, but I was feeling good and did keep up a nice steady pace that wasn’t too shabby. My first lap was completed in a time of 58 mins 22 seconds, which isn’t bad for me and probably only the second time I’ve been under the hour (My best ever until this point was 56 mins 58 seconds).
I had rest in the car park for a while which gave me time to save the route I’d just done as a ‘Course’ which I could then use to compare against my next attempt at the trail. I got chatting to Ian as well and we decided to head off around the course again. I pressed the ‘Do Course’ button and off we went.
I’m never too good at getting going again once I’ve stopped and halfway up the first climb my Garmin was showing me that I was 100 feet behind my previous attempt. By the time I’d got to the top of the hill though I was 100 feet ahead and that’s when the challenge started. It’s really good, because once you’re ahead you just don’t want to drop back behind your virtual training partner so it provides a really good incentive to keep pushing a little harder. I was winning so there was no time to stop!
After the first two bits of singletrack I was up to around 300 feet ahead, and then by the halfway point I was around 0.15 miles ahead. My legs were beginning to feel it now though but I only had 4 miles or so left to go so had to keep pushing on. Just before the last singletrack climb I was just over .3 miles ahead, but this dropped back down to about 0.15 miles ahead at the top of the final descent. Only one thing for it, I was going to have to go for it on the descent. It worked, at the bottom I was still ahead and I even went hard down the last bit of fire0road and into the car park.
Stopped the watch and I’d beaten my Virtual Training Partner by 0.45 miles.. I was the winner! My actual time was 56 mins 17 seconds as well which was a record for me.
All in all it is a great training feature. I need to tweak what I can see on the screen at a glance as I’d like to be able to see the distance to the end, the time that I’m ahead or behind, my heart rate and total time but the screens are customisable so that should be easy to do. I also don’t think I’d use it if I was dropping too far behind myself. It’s all well and good to use it as a tool to motivate yourself, but if you’re having a bad day and are being beaten by your virtual training partner then it will only make you feel worse. At least, that’s the case for me. Other people well well find the opposite is true but I tend to try harder when I’m going well and just give up a bit if I’ve no chance of winning! Probably not quite the right attitude but its just the way I am.
If you have Garmin Forerunner or one of their other devices with a Virtual Training Partner feature, give it a go.
