I got some good training in yesterday. Did weights in the morning to make up for missing the session on Monday, only to confirm that I really don’t like doing weights in the morning. It just feels wrong. Couple that with the fact that I had to step up from 1 set of 30 reps to 2 × 25 and my enthusiasm levels were even lower. Doesn’t look like I’ll have much of a choice seeing as how swimming and weights have to clash on one day a week otherwise, so might as well make it early in the week and get it over with.

Went for a run last night, and then again this morning. 3 laps of the park (2.5km) each time. Average lap time of 4:40, meaing 10.7kmh at a HR of 145.

Wk3: S: 3100m – R: 5km – W: 1 session

Just finished my one and only swim out of the week and it went much better than last week. However, I had intended doing weights this afternoon but that will have to go on hold until tomorrow morning as I’m drained after the swim session. On Friday it was the other way around, so it looks like I won’t be able to swim and lift on the same day without one the quality of one the sessions being sufficiently compromised as to make it largely worthless. Will go for a run instead.

3 * {
    50 FS/50 Catch/50 1-Arm/5 0FS
    100 K
    200 FS }
3 * {
    100 IM on 2:00
    100 IM on 2:00
    100 BC on 2:00}
8 * 100 FS on 1:40 (1:23)
4 * 50 FS easy on 1:00
Total: 3100m

Wk3: S: 3100m

I got the speed sensor set up on my MTB yesterday so I took it up to the park to measure my run lap. Turns out it’s 840m, so my average run speed works out at 11km/h, and I’ll have to revise the distances for last week.

Got up this morning, and while Jacqui went off to her exercise class, I went for my last run of the week. Felt pretty good, so did 4 laps this time instead of 2, for a total time of 20mins and approximately 3.6km.

There was a film crew at Diamond Bay who seemed to be filming a Toyota commercial. There was a Kluger and a RAV4 parked right at the cliff edge and a couple of guys with surfboards around, so it will be interesting to see what the final result comes out as.

WK2: S: 100m – R: 7.2km – W: 3 sessions

Made it to the gym this morning just after 7am. It took longer to warm up than going in the evening, and seemed to be a bit harder to lift than it was on Wednesday. Whether that’s due to the time, or the fact that it’s my third gym session of the week I couldn’t say. Had a big feed afterwards to keep my energy up for the lunch-time swim…

200 warm up
2 * {100 K/200 FS} on 5:30
200 swim down
Total: 1000m

…which didn’t go to well. I’d eaten too much for breakfast (who knew pasta would take 4 hours to digest?) so was a bit bloated. Couple that with the fact that my arms were exhausted after the morning’s weights session and I decided to call it quits after a km.

WK2: S: 1000m – R: 3.6km – W: 3 sessions

Last week, at the start of Fitness Phase 2, I decided that I’d try getting up earlier in the morning so I’d have more time to do stuff. After about 10.30pm there’s nothing interesting on TV (apart from Lateline maybe) so there’s not much point staying up. I figured that I’d start getting up at 6 and go to bed around 10.30 and see how that worked out.

The plan was to do some exercise in the morning before going in to work, but I’ve been a bit knackered so I usually just go straight in to work, arriving around 7am. It sounds crazy, but the plus side is that I can clock off around 4pm, exercise then instead and still be home at a reasonable hour.

It’s all been working out well so far, and I’m slowly getting used to crawling out of bed at that hour. This morning was the first time I managed to do some morning exercise as I went for my short run again. I put the iPod Shuffle on the arm-band and off I went. It’s pretty nice being out and about at that hour, with the sun low in the sky and some classical music for company. There’s a surprising number of people around as well, with lots of chicks doing their power-walking and a group of dog owners chatting while their pets ran around barking at each other. I could get used to this.

Oh yeah, the run was the same as Tuesday. About 10mins, 2 laps, average lap time of 4:45. I’ll take the MTB out tonight to measure the loop if I get time.

Wk 2: R: 3.2km – W: 2 sessions

I haven’t done any running for ages, so I decided that it was about time I got back into it. Went for a short run around the park last night after work, and seeing as how I’m so crap at it I decided to limit myself to 10mins or so and build up from there. The intention is to get three 10min runs in this week, and then increase by about 5mins per week from there. I did just over two laps of the park at an average time of 4m 50s.

I’ve no idea how long a lap of the park is, so I decided to time a lap of the marked rugby pitch, then find out what the dimensions of a rugby pitch are and work my speed out from that (nerd)! So, doing all the calcuations gives me a run speed of 11.25km/h, and 1 lap distance of 900m. Given that rugby dimensions are not set in stone, and that I used the maximum, my speed is probably a little slower, but I’ll get my bike computer set up on my MTB and use that to figure the distance out once and for all.

Week 2: R: 1.8km – W: 1 session

Weighed in at 86.4kg yesterday morning.

Skipped the lunch time swim to meet an old collegaue who i hadn’t seen for quite a while, but went to the gym after work. The weights program I am doing is divided into four 4-week segments. I’m in the first of these segments at the mometn, which calls for light weights and lots of reps as follows:

Low weights, minimal strain – 30 reps of:

Squats

Lat Pulldown

Knee Extension

Hamstring Curl

Bent-arm Pulldown

Bench Press

Bicep Curl

Core

Calf Raise

Seated Row

Dips (machine)

Tricep Extension

The idea behind the low weight/minimal strain approach is that your muscles respond to work much quicker than your joints & connective tissues, leading to an imbalance and hence greater potential for injury. To combat this, a slow build-up is appropriate before increasing the weights and decreasing the reps in the later segments of the program. This segment is the ‘adaptation’ phase, where you’re not really doing any significant lifting, just getting your body used to the idea.

I usually precede the weights with a 10min row as a warm-up too, gradually getting faster as the clock counts down.

Week 2: W: 1 session

Just back from a good swim session at lunch. Felt a bit tired, but not as bad as on Monday, so managed to finish the session quite comfortably. Was a little bit stiff after weights yesterday but no ill effects apart from that.

400 warm up
200 IM
4 * 400 FS, last 50 BC on 6:10 (5:55)
4 * {
    100 FS on 1:40
    100 IM on 1:40 }
100 swim down
Total: 3100m

Week 1: S: 4800m – W: 2 sessions

Joined the gym at Cook & Phillip yesterday and did my first session. I plan on taking it pretty easy for the first few weeks, just to get used to doing weights again without killing myself. Will write more on my intended program later.

Week 1: S: 1700m – W: 1

The lunch-time pool session didn’t go too well. Felt really sluggish half way through and just thoroughly exhausted, so decided to finish up early as I’d like to do some regular exercise this week rather than killing myself on the first day!

400 warm up
4 * {50 K/100 P/100 FS} on 4:40
200 FS on 3:20
100 FS warm down
Total: 1700m

On a more positive note, I’ve decided to join the gym at Cook & Phillip as it will only cost me an extra $20 per month over and above the cost of swim squad, rather than an extra $80pm for somewhere like Fitness First.

Week 1: S: 1700m

Right, today marks the start of Phase 2 of the weight-loss/fitness program. Weighed in this morning at 86.7kg, showing a dangerous tendency to creep back up towards 90!

Update: 18.6% BF as well…

Myself and Becs have been talking of doing the Spit Bridge to Manly walk for ages, and yeterday we finally got around to it. Jacqui, Rachel and Nicki came along as well, so it was me and the chicks. We elected to start from Becs’ place in Mosman, which added annother 4km to the distance, giving us a 14km total. It was an easy enough walk, with a couple of muddy bits as a result of the recent tain, though in fairness the weather was a bit confused. We had to wait a bit until the rain stopped before setting off, there were occasional showers en route yet in other parts it was roasting. About 1km out of Manly I could see the storm clouds advancing across the harbour, with a demarcating rain line on the sea, so we finished with some power walking and reached the safety of a cafe without getting soaked.

I rang Graham to get him to come down for some lunch as I hadn’t seen him for ages. As it turned out it was his birthday as well, so he brought along some wine and the two of us spent the next few hours getting trashed. Probably not the best recovery from a monster walk, but who cares! My hips are killing me today though, so I probably should have done some streatching. On a brighter note, Becs is keen to get involved in some Adventure Racing with me, so all I need is to round up one more team member and choose an upcoming event to get involved in.

I brought Jacqui’s camera along and busied myself taking snaps along the route as the girls nattered away. I’d never seen the harbour from that side before, which was a major motivation for doing the walk in the first place, so it made sense to document it a bit. I’ll get the film developed during the week and upload some photos.

Got back in the pool today for the first time in three weeks. James, the new fast guy from the UK, had managed to get food poisoning which had left him bed-ridden and unable to eat for almost the last two weeks, which was a blessing in disguise for me as he’s now the same speed as me (for the moment anyway).

400 warm up
2 * {
    100 Single Arm FS
    100 Catch
    100 Single Arm BF
    100 Free/Back }
2 * 400 FS on 6:15 (5:45)
3 * 200 FS on 3:15 (2:50)
100 warm down
Total: 2700m

S: 2700m

Had a good week down in Canberra last week. Matt had organised a work golf day for Friday, so we hit the driving range on Tuesday night to get some practice in. Wednesday night saw myself & Paul bring Daniel out for his first MTB ride, which he enjoyed immensely. I got a puncture right at the end, so had to walk home as, while I had a spare tube, it was for my old bike and didn’t have the right valve to fit through the hole in the rim. Even though Daniel walked with me it still took ages as we wandered the meandering back streets of Canberra in the pitch black. We made it eventually.

I bought new tubes on Thursday, then ended up riding around Majura for 2.5hrs on my own which was great fun. I was bloody exhausted at the end, so a kangarro steak washed down with few Belgian beers in Debacle worked a treat. Friday was the golf day and after getting off to a shocking start with an 11 on the first hole I settled down into relatively normal play, finishing up with a 57 for the 9 holes. Myself and Tom have decided to get some regular driving range practice and round of golf in this year, having hardly played at all last year.

B: 55km (MTB)

Got some good cycling in yesterday. Cycled in and out of work, then met up with a few Transitions people for a couple of laps of Centennial Park. Kept a pretty good pace going and arrived home pretty tired.

Just got back from sqim squad and things are definitely getting tougher. The new fast guy, James, was joined by his equally fast girlfriend, Vicki, so the pace is not going to slow down at all. Turns out they both went to the World Masters Games in Itlay last year ;-)

400 warm up
3 * 400 FS on 6:25 (5:40)
200 FS
2 * {
    2 * 100 IM on 2:00 (1:25)
    2 * 100 BC/FS on 1:45 (1:28)
    2 * 100 FS on 1:40 (1:21)
    2 * 100 FS on 1:30 (1:22) }
Total: 3400m

Also cycled 15km in and out of work.

S: 5800m – B: 49km

Got back in the pool at lunch after 10 days off sick. I can still feel the remnants of the cold, with the spark gone from the session. There were two new guys who showed up today, both of whom are faster than me, so that will help push me along in future. The full session was 3600m, but I was exhausted after 2400m and I want to try and go for a jog this eveninf, so I called it quits.

400 warm up
5 * 200 Pull on 3:10 (2:50)
200 BC on 4:00
2 * {
    2 * 100 IM on 1:50 (1:30)
    1 * 100 BC on 1:50 (1:33)
    1 * 100 FS on 1:40 (1:25) }
Total: 2400m

S: 2400m

Myself, Kevin, Niall and Billy went up to the Blue Mountains for a bit of mountain bike riding yesterday. I left home at 7.25 and cycled up to Niall’s, got the bikes in the car, waited for Kev to arrive and then left in convoy for Newtown to pick up Billy. After messing around for a bit in the warren of streets that is Newtown, we finally got on the road and drove straight to Blackheath.

As Billy hadn’t been MTBing before we had chosen to do two shorter routes, rather than one long one. It also helped that none of us had been on these rides before. The first of the two was a 14km out-and-back to Hanging Rock (pictured above). As you can see from the picture, the rock (on the right) has almost separated from the main land mass, on the left. There’s a one metre jump to get across onto the rock, which you’d think would be piss easy. However, there’s really only one place to cross, and as you stand there contemplating the jump, about 1.5 metres to your right is a looong drop into the valley below. Basically, if you screw up the jump, you’d probably have time to ring someone and deliver a parting message before you hit the valley floor. It’s amazing how this fact managed to change the perspective on what should be a walk in the park.

You have to walk down a steep track to get to the jump point, and on the way down I was thinking to myself “I’m just going to walk up to it and do it”. However, as I approached the edge, and started noticing the drop my legs started to get the wobbles! It’s quite funny really as it’s obviously your subconcious’s way of saying ’you’re going to kill yourself’. After a bit of hesitation, we all made the jump and hung around for a bit to admire the view before jumping back onto the ‘mainland’ and climbing back up the track to our bikes. Everyone was a little hyper from the adrenaline rush which made the steep climb a little easier. Rode back the car, had some food and then headed for Faulconbridge.

This was another out-and-back route, this time 8km each way, ending in another spectacular lookout. There were no jumps required, just a 270^o view of heavily wooded valleys with a river running through the one at our feet. I keep meaning to bring my camera/video on these trips, but in the early morning rush I usually forget it. Yesterday was one day when I definitely regretted not having it, though I suspect we’ll end up doing those rides again.

PS: I downloaded the photo above from the web, so that’s not one of us sitting right out at the edge. Maybe next time!

S: 6600m – B: 88km (30km MTB) – 2 weights/core

Feeling a bit tired now, but got a good day’s exercise in. Cycled in to work via New South Head Road, but the bloody hill through King’s Cross almost killed me; HR peaked at 177. I could have gone through the tunnel but I figured that it’s probably not the safest place to cycle through in rush hour traffic.

The lunchtime swim session was another distance oriented one which was cool. Felt a bit better today than I did on Wednesday, so I reckon I’ve managed to shake off the cold before it got established. However my legs were cramping up again towards the end of the session, so I’ll have to figure out what that’s about. It’s not dehydration, so all I can think of is that it may be caused by me not stretching my legs after riding in in the morning. Something to remember for next week then.

400 warm up
4 * 400 FS on 6:30 (5:39)
3 * 100 BC on 2:00 (1:45)
3 * 100 IM on 2:00 (1:27)
6 * 100 FS on 1:40 (1:25)
200 warm down
Total: 3400m

Cycled home via Centennial Park and did some core/weights stuff when I got home. Going to get some ice-cream now ;-)

S: 6600m – B: 58km – 2 * weights/core

Yesterday’s lunchtime swim was a bit of a welcome surprise in that we did some 400s and 200s instead of the usual raft of 100s & 50s. While chatting to the coach afterwards he mentioned that he was going to try to do more distance work in future which I’m very happy about. Unfortunately, I felt very sluggish during the whole session which I figured was the beginnings of a cold caught from Jacqui. Sure enough, she woke up sick this morning and I wasn’t feeling great either.

400 warm up
2 * 400 Pull on 6:20 (5:50)
5 * 200 FS on 3:15 (2:51)
3 * 100 FS on 1.35/1:30/1:30
3 * 100 BC on 1:55 (1:45)
2 * 100 FS on 1:50
200 warm down
Total: 3200m

I cycled in and out of work as well, doing a couple of laps of Centennial Park on the way home for a total of 30.7km, then did a weights/core session when I got home.

S: 3200m – B: 30.7km – 1 weights/core