I’ve finished my week off, so it’s time to get back into regular sessions. I had an alright swim at lunchtime. Was still feeling a bit tired after the weddings at the weekend, so I skipped the last 400m of the session, as did everyone else for some reason.

400 FS
4 * 100 IM on 1:45 (1:33)
400 Pull
6 * 50 on 50
4 * 50 on 45
300 FS
8 * 50 as {
    2 on 60,
    2 on 55,
    2 on 50,
    2 on 45 }
200 FS
Total: 2600m

Got home and went out for a run. Couldn’t find my HRM so just decided to run at a comfortable pace and see what happened. I ran the 3.35km in 18:20, which is about 1:40 faster than usual but I still felt reasonably comfortable. I was also supposed to cycle yesterday but left the bike at home so we could go grovery shopping on the way home from work.

S: 2600m – R: 3.35km

Did another ride around Centennial on the way home yesterday. Three laps, nice and easy. I timed them this time and averaged around 7:42 (29.42km/h) which is a little quicker than the last time I recorded a time. It was pretty windy, though since it’s an almost circular loop you’d expect the wind to cancel itself out.

Felt pretty good in the pool this afternoon as well. Our coach didn’t show up, so I ended up choosing what the session would comprise. Nobody complained outright, apart from chancing their arms to see if they could make me give them an easy session.

100/200/300 FS, 30s rest
6 * 200 FS on 3:30 (2:52)
4 * {
    100 IM on 1:45 (1:31)
    100 FS on 2:00 (1:35) }
8 * 50 FS as {
    2 on 45,
    2 on 50,
    2 on 55,
    2 on 60 }
Total: 3000m

I’m pretty tired now though. On a positive note, I’ve now racked up five consecutive weeks of decent training, and next week is a rest week as I’ll be in Canberra, so I’m looking forward to the extra sleep ;-)

S: 6000m – B: 56km – R: 11.9km – W: 1 session

A bit to catch up on here. Yesterday morning saw me hit the gym for another weights session and a short warm-up run, then last night it was off to the local park for another short run. I felt pretty good and ran a consistent pace (4:46, 5:04, 5:06, 5:07), only bumping up against my HR limit once so I was happy with that. It’s hard to know whether I’m adapting to the regular running, or whether it’s just being relatively fresh at the start of the week.

Today’s swim session went pretty well too. I felt great for the second half of the session, so I put on my paddles and managed to get down to 1:17 on the last 100 without too much effort.

400 FS
2 * 8 * 50 FS as {
    2 on 60,
    2 on 55,
    2 on 50,
    2 on 45 }
8 * 100 FS on 1:45 (1:27)
8 * 100 FS on 1:45 (1:25 → 1:17)
200 Pull
Total: 3000m

I’m off to Centennial Park to attempt my first long run this evening. It’s only 7km, but I reckon it’s more interesting to do 2 laps of Centennial Park versus the 9 laps of my local park I’d need to complete the same distance.

S: 3000m – B: 28km – R: 4.9km – W: 1 session

Since Ty and Andrew were supposed to be coming up from Canberra today (since postponed until tomorrow) I decided to ride in to work and do a couple of laps of Centennial Park on the way, leave the bike in work and then cycle home tomorrow. This would mean that instead of having Thursday as my rest day, I’d have from Wednesday lunchtime until Thursday evening which wouldn’t be ideal, but wouldn’t be too bad either.

I rode down by Bondi, then up Bondi Road, entered Centennial Park via the Queen’s Park gates, then did two laps, exited on to Moore Park Road and proceeded in to town. My legs were a bit dead after the heavy weights yesterday morning and the longer than usual run yesterday evening, but once my HR had calmed down after the hill at the bottom of Bondi Road all was well. Total distance: 23.8km, Average HR: 138, Average Speed: 25.2km/h.

The lunchtime swim was supposed to be little more than a chance to stretch out the stiffness from yesterday’s weights but our coach decided to throw in some 100s on 1:35, about 15secs faster than we normally do them, probably because some of the slower swimmers weren’t here today. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be though.

400 warm up
4 * 100 FS on 1:45 (1:72)
4 * 100 IM on 1:30 (1:32)
2 * 8 * 50 as {
    2 on 60,
    2 on 55,
    2 on 50
    2 on 45}
400 Pull (6:10)
4 * 100 FS on 1:35 (1:25)
100 cool down
Total: 2900m

Anyway, now that the Canberra lads have decided not to come to Sydney until tomorrow after all, I can cycle home tonight and possibly go for a short run, depending on how my legs feel. It also means that I have tomorrow completely off too! Whew!

S: 2900m – B: 23.8km – R: 6.6km – W: 1 session

Went along to the swim session yesterday only to discover that our coach had decided to introduce heart-rate based training. In order for thsi to work we needed to know our maximum HR, so we had to do a 100m sprint and take our pulse afterwards. I managed 190, off a 1:05 100m Free. Only 12 seconds slower than my best ;-)

I’m not going to bother with the HR stuff, as I can swim 1:30/100m pace on a HR around 125bpm, but upping that to 150bpm only takes me to 1:25 pace, so it’s not really worth the extra effort, especially since I’ll be down around 1:25 pace in a couple of weeks anyway.

400 FS warm up
100 Sprint – 1:05 (HR: 190)
4 * 100 FS on 1:50
3 * 200 FS on 3:30
3 * 100 FS on 1:50
2 * 200 FS on 3:30
2 * 100 FS on 1:50
Total: 2400m

I cycled home as well, then went straight out for a run. I was only doing four laps of the park this time, for a total of 3.2km, again at a nice and relaxed pace. I can feel it in my legs this morning though, particularly the bottom of my calves. Still, today’s my day off, so I should be fine tomorrow.

S: 4900m – B: 30km – R: 9km – W: 1 session

Back from Canberra now, so I can get back into a proper week’s training schedule. Cycled in to work via the ferry, then hit the pool for my lunchtime swim session. Felt good throughout.

400 FS
4 * 100 IM on 1:45 (1:31)
400 Pull
8 * 50 FS on 50 (:45)
4 * 100 Pull on 1:45 (1:30)
10 * 50 FS on 50 (:43)
Total: 2500m

I’ve spent 20 years breathing almost exclusively to my right, so I’ve been working on breathing to my left over the last two weeks,in order to balance up my stroke a bit more. It felt pretty weird at first, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. My stroke still feels a little awkward while breathing left, but I’m fine-tuning it all the time. I’m limiting myself to 2500m per session at the moment so as to leave me enough energy for cycling and running. Last year I was doing too much swimming and not enough of the other two, hence the artificial limit for the moment.

I cycled home yesterday evening, which was rocket fast as I had the wind behind me.

S: 2500m – B: 15km

I’m down in Canberra this week and work is pretty busy, so I haven’t been posting much. Nonetheless, the exercise regime has continued as follows:

Monday: 3km run.

Tuesday AM: 1.6km run, Weights + 1km swim.

Tuesday PM: 3.4km run

Thursday AM: 2km swim

My achilles are a bit sore after the running, but I took yesterday off so I’ll be ready to get another run in when I get back to the hotel this evening.

S: 3000m – R: 8km – W: 1 session

Yesterday’s pool sessions was a bit better than Monday’s. It felt a little easier, though my IM times are about 10secs slower than a few months ago, so there’s a long way to go yet. I’ve decided (after 20 odd years of swimming) to start breathing to my left as much as possible, in order to balance out my stroke a bit and I can feel myself developing the loping style indicative of a strong bias to one side.

2 * {
    150 FS
    2 * 100 Rev. IM
    2 * 50 BC }
12 * 50 FS as {
    4 on 55
    4 on 50
    4 on 45 }
6 * 100 IM on 2:00 (1:37)
2 * 200 FS
Total: 2500m

S: 4500m – B: 15km – R: 1.6km – W: 1 session

There has been a ban on exercise in place since we came back from NZ in order to allow the Irish entrants in Fat Club: This Time It’s Personal (TTIP) to fly home and get organised. The ban expired this morning, so it was time to hop on the bike in to work. Since I had a few ferry trips remaining on my pass, I decided to use them up and cruise the harbour, leaving the cycling until the way home.

It was a beautiful winter’s morning, with a low sun on a glassy harbour, and I couldn’t help thinking what a wonderful way it is to start the morning, so I’m going to do it all the time (well on the three days per week I’m going to cycle) and save the cycling for the evening. I’ll need to add in some laps around Centennial Park on the way home to make up for it, but I reckon it’s worth it. I’ll have to bring the camera along one morning and take a few snaps, to drive home my point and convince any skeptics!

Anyway, it was also time to get back in the pool at lunch-time and that was interesting. Stroke felt good, though I was tired pretty quickly. It will take me two weeks to get back into it, so I pulled the plug after 2km today.

200 FS warm up
4 * {50K/100FS}
400 Pull
300 Choice
8 * 50 FS as {
    2 on 60
    2 on 55
    2 on 50
    2 on 45}
100 swim down
Total: 2000m

S: 2000m

Commuted to work on the bike today and I remembered to go for a swim as well. Quite uneventful. Felt reasonably OK given that I was still a bit stiff from weights yesterday.

800 FS
5 * 100 IM on 1:50 (1:32)
10 * 50 FS {
    4 @ 60
    4 @ 55
    2 @ 50 }
5 * 100 Rev. IM on 2:00 (1:34)
10 * 50 FS {
    4 @ 60
    4 @ 55
    2 @ 50 }
Total: 2800m

Only a weights session tomorrow and then it’s snow time! Dave’s arriving from Ireland tomorrow morning, then himself, Tom and myself are heading down to the snow on Friday.

S: 2800m – B: 52.6km – R: 2.5km – W: 1 session

Rode in and out of work on Wednesday, including a few laps of the park. This time I was on my own, rather than riding at the back of a bunch and it required a bit more effort for a bit less speed. Did a weights session yesterday which went pretty well, and preceded it with a 2.5km warm-up run. This afternoon it was time for a swim which didn’t go too well. I just felt really sluggish and couldn’t get any feel for the water and just got quite tired quite quickly. It’s probably a combination of not being in the water for the previous three weeks, going to the Friday session instead of Monday (fresh after the weekend) and being a bit stiff after weights yesterday.

100 BC/ 200 FS/ 100 BC
3 * 200 FS on 2:50 (2:45)
4 * 50 FS on 60 (45)
3 * 50 FS on 55 (45)
3 * 50 FS on 50 (45)
400 FS on 6:00 (5:55)
300 Swim Down
Total: 2200m

S: 2200m – B: 45.2km – R: 2.5km – W: 2 sessions

Got up this morning to do some training on my indoor trainer. I had spent last week playing around with it and making a few adjustments to my cleat positions, so I was ready for a straight training ride today. I was aiming for 30 minutes to start off with, so after a 10min warm-up I started doing a few one-legged cycling drills.

The basic idea is to cycle with one leg (obviously), which sounds a lot easier than it actually is. It’s amazing how tired your leg becomes when you have to lift it over the top of the pedal cycle, so my original intention of doing 5mins on each leg got rapidly downgraded to 2 * 1min each. I guess I’ll have to build that up slowly. In case you’re wondering, the reason you’d do these drills in the first place is to teach you to lift your leg at the bottom of the pedal stroke. This means that the opposite leg, which is on the down stroke, now has less work to do, leading to a more effficient pedal stroke and a faster cyclist. I completed the session with another 10mins steady cycling.

Lunchtime swim: did the whole session as pull, since my foot is still annoying me.

200 FS Warm Up
8 * 50 on 1:00 (40)
4 * 50 Catch on 1:00 (45)
5 * {
    100 Catch on 2:00 (1:35)
    100 FS on 2:00 (1:24) }
200 Cool Down
Total: 2000m

Wk11: S: 2000m – B: 15km – W: 1 session

Got out of bed to celebrate my birthday with a run – 3.2km around the local park in 19:45 which is a bit slower than normal as I was feeling a bit sluggish. Weighed in at 88.3kg @ 17.5% fat which means I’ve put on a bit of muscle over the last few weeks. The gym is paying off ;-)

Hit the pool for a swim at lunch, so I can now relax with a few beers this evening.

400 FS
100 IM
2 * 100 Form
2 * {
    50 K/ 100 Pull/ 200 FS on 6:15
    100 Form on 2:00 }
3 * {
    200 FS on 3:20
    100 8FS/8BC on 1:50
    25Easy/25Med/25Easy/25Sprint on 1:40 }
Total: 2800m
(skipped the first 200m of last set)

Wk10: S: 2800m – R: 3.2km

Weighed in at 87.8kg this morning, so I hope it’s because I’m bulking up due to weights and not due to eating, though after all the farewell meals for Ed last week in Canberra I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it was the latter.

Was wandering around the house this morning getting organised for work when something twinged in my foot. Not sure what caused it, but something (a tendon maybe) near the middle metatarsal suddenly hurt quite a bit and didn’t like me pointing my toes. There goes running for a day or two. Decided to go to my lunchtime swim after all, but just did pull for the whole session, not kicking at all. Wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t bother recording the details of the session – 2700m of pull, broken up in various ways.

Should hopefully be able to do weights in the morning.

wk9: S: 2700m

Weighed in at 87.5kg this morning – not doing enough exercise it would seem. It was pretty chilly this morning as I was leaving for work, so I’ll have to get some lightweight winter cycling gear.

Got back into the pool at lunch for a much needed swim. It was just me and one other guy, so plenty of room. Went fairly well, though I got a stitch half way through so had to sit our a few hundred metres.

200 FS, 30s rest
200 25L/25R, 30s rest
200 50K/50FS, 30s rest
200 50FS/50BC
4 * 400 on 6:25
    1st 4 strokes BF, last 25 K
    5:53, 5:57, 5:41, 5:48
200 FS easy
100 IM, 100 BC, 100 FS on 2:00
Total: 2900m

Wk6: S: 2900m

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

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

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

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

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