(Half) Iron Maiden

rainbow kirby

Monday - easy run, 35 minutes ish, 6.06/km average pace. Started this one with himself for company, which was nice Felt pretty good throughout tbh and was glad to get back out and start purging the sins of the weekend!

Tuesday AM - 45 minute spin class. Was hard to shove myself out the door for this, a 6:30am alarm closely followed by hearing the wind roaring outside makes one want to roll back over and snooze! This was a lot better than my last spin class at my gym, the instructor gave much more of a cycling workout and she appeared to have some sort of understanding of training rather than the "fling stuff at them and hope it sticks" approach of the last guy.

rainbow kirby

Tuesday PM - 1 hr ashtanga yoga. I really should do *something* to help with injury prevention, and this seemed like a good idea... Enjoyed the class and am nice and relaxed now

rainbow kirby

Wednesday - 1500m swim, was later than I'd like getting to the pool after work plus I wanted to get home and watch Real Madrid hockeying Liverpool so just did the bare minimum really. Similar session to before - 300 swim, 360 pull, 180 swim, 180 kick, 180 catch-up drill, 300 swim. Happy enough with it, but was glad to be getting out when I did because the teenage club session in the other pool was cancelled which meant a load of teenagers descending on the pool I was in.

Thursday - circuits at the gym with himself. 3 x (8 medicine ball twists, 16 jumping lunges, 10 one-legged squats, 10 hamstring curls with a swiss ball, 10 press-ups, 50 seconds plank, 50 seconds side plank on each side). Falls under the category of "necessary evil" but still glad to get it done.

Forecast looks decent for the weekend, must try to get some good cycling in

Dory Dory

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Wednesday - 1500m swim, was later than I'd like getting to the pool after work plus I wanted to get home and watch Real Madrid hockeying Liverpool so just did the bare minimum really. Similar session to before - 300 swim, 360 pull, 180 swim, 180 kick, 180 catch-up drill, 300 swim. Happy enough with it, but was glad to be getting out when I did because the teenage club session in the other pool was cancelled which meant a load of teenagers descending on the pool I was in.

Thursday - circuits at the gym with himself. 3 x (8 medicine ball twists, 16 jumping lunges, 10 one-legged squats, 10 hamstring curls with a swiss ball, 10 press-ups, 50 seconds plank, 50 seconds side plank on each side). Falls under the category of "necessary evil" but still glad to get it done.

Forecast looks decent for the weekend, must try to get some good cycling in

You did that, and it wasn't even forced VICE punishment!!!

rainbow kirby

Friday - 1,500m swim, same as Wednesday. Pool was lovely and quiet, apart from the absolute muppet who decided to try and swim breaststroke up and down the middle of a lane where four people were already circle swimming! Lucky he didn't get drowned in the deep end for that :pac: Got my swim in early rather than going to the group session later because I have been pretty much summoned to the pub to watch Munster v Saracens with the MRSC crowd. I really hate Sarries so quite happy to shout for Munster this time!

rainbow kirby

Saturday - AM 1 hour easy cycle, 22km done in that time. Bit hungover after beers at the MRSC London branch pub so just sweating out the crap really.

PM - 15 minute run with himself. 2.5km covered. Overdressed a bit and was sweating like a pig by the end. Nice way to spend half time in the Clásico though, pity about the result!

rainbow kirby

Sunday - C group spin with my local cycling club, 46km of north London traffic and Hertfordshire country lanes, with more hills than you can shake a stick at. I don't do enough hills so this is the kind of spin that I need to be doing more often, I'm such a bad cyclist it's not even funny. Home with a bacon sandwich, a nice cup of tea and the Leinster match now though and it feels somewhat well earned

rainbow kirby

Monday - 6km run, 6:27/km average pace. Took it handy but added in a nice few hills at the start. Lovely evening for it, pleasantly warm when I left around 7pm and was perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts.

Tuesday AM - 45 minute spin class. Shouldn't have bothered tbh - the normal instructor was off sick, and the instructor that covered the class teaches like he's never actually ridden a bike before. Lots of stupid upper body moves and even a few that would be likely to cause an injury in anybody bigger than the standard all-female all size 6-12 profile of an early morning class!

rainbow kirby

Wednesday - Swim 1,500m, same workout as the two last week with catch-up drill replaced with side stroke. Was feeling like I wanted to crawl under my desk and fall asleep by the time I left work, so wasn't up for doing a hard session really. Incoming TOTM at fault tbh, but meh. I did feel a bit better after the swim though, and definitely better after seeing CIty dumped out of the League Cup :pac:

Into work this morning and my shiny new runners have arrived, and Start Fitness even managed to get an exact colour match with the free socks. Happy days

rainbow kirby

Rest day Thursday, was feeling a bit crap and tired so just decided to take the chill out option. Went out for a nice walk with himself and ended up at a pub we like. Accidental Camden Pale Ale time.

Friday - group swim. My coach decided to bring her coach to the session - one of these "sweet old lady on the street, battleaxe on the pool deck" types. Tough session but very useful. 2,200m covered in the hour. Had spent the afternoon in work wishing I was out on my bike, it was ridiculously hot in London for late October (23c) and I wanted to be anywhere else but at my desk.

Saturday - 9.4km run, roughly 6:20/km pace (I am a gob****e and forgot that I only had auto-pause set up for cycling activities on Strava...). Quite proud of myself for resisting the urge to buy and eat a load of crap after this one, because I ended it at M&S in Camden Town to get something for the lunch! Absolutely beautiful morning for it - lovely and warm but kicking through fallen leaves at various points. I really do love autumn running.

Sunday AM - 2km treadmill run & strength. I was supposed to go cycling this morning but I looked out the window at 7:30am and it was terrible so I just rolled back over in the bed for another two hours sleep. Finally hauled my fat ass down to the gym at around 11, still in bucketing rain. Did a 2km treadmill warmup @ 5:45/km pace and then hit the weight room. Overhead press, bent over rows, bench press, squats and assisted pullups. Haven't squatted with decent weight for a while, DOMS incoming...

Sunday PM - 6km run. Fairly standard, 6:25/km average pace. Weather had cleared up a bit and this was very pleasant. Legs feeling the aftereffects of squats though, tomorrow may not be pretty :eek:

rainbow kirby

Monday AM - Spin class at the gym, was going fine until some crazy guy came in and started roaring at the instructor and getting quite verbally abusive, then pulled a fire alarm so he could get away. After a bit of standing outside we did get to finish the class, but the instructor was clearly a bit shook up. Probably about 30 minutes of actual effort.

Monday PM - 1,500m swim. 300 swim, 300 pull, 300 kick, 600 swim focusing on the pointers that were mentioned on Friday. Kinda hoping that the water would soothe the squat DOMS from yesterday, didn't quite work...

rainbow kirby

Tuesday - unplanned rest day. Ended up in Wetherspoons for dinner and then curled up on the couch to watch the football. I regret nothing, the Sunday squats had left my legs fecked and I probably shouldn't have run Sunday evening and if any of ye were watching the Arsenal game it was just as manky out as it looked.

Wednesday - legs feeling a lot better so ran this evening, 6km @ 6.21/km average pace. Glad I did, felt really good after. Fireworks going off everywhere for Bonfire Night too

rainbow kirby

Thursday - circuits at the gym with himself. 6 mins rowing to warm up followed by 3 * (5kg medicine ball twists * 10, jumping lunges * 15, one legged squats * 10 each side, hamstring curls * 10, press-ups * 10, 50 secs front plank, 50 secs left side plank, 50 secs right side plank). Did a decent stretch out afterwards too and foam rolled quads, glutes, ITB and hamstrings. Bring the pain :pac:

rainbow kirby

Friday - group swim session. After doing strength work on Thursday night, imagine my delight when the main set was sprints. This was HARD and I was absolutely gassed by the end of it. Woke up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a bus...

Saturday - long-ish run. 11.5km @ 6.25/km average pace. Up to Hampstead Heath and ran some big hills, still feeling the after-effects of yesterday and Thursday and it took some mental gymnastics to get through this one. Glad to get it done though, not sure if I have a group spin tomorrow in my legs but we'll see in the morning...

rainbow kirby

Sunday - 26.5km cycle, 21.5 km/h average pace (skewed by having to come through Camden Town at peak tourist time. F*ck em). Just wanted to spin the legs out really, I didn't manage to get out for the group spin, was wrecked last night and there was no chance of a positive response to a 7:30 alarm so just slept it in and had a short spin myself. Too many Darwin award candidates among the pedestrians at Regent's Park though so just said feck it after a while.

Had a decent walk (around 6km total) in Hampstead Heath with himself in the afternoon once himself got home from work too, may or may not have indulged a bit at Starbucks at the end of it too. *blush*

rainbow kirby

Monday - pre work swim. Pretty much did Kurt's technique session - did 240 swim, 240 kick, 240 pull, 180 finger trail drill, 180 armpit tap drill, 180 catch-up drill (this is actually down as swim in the session, but I don't brain good in the morning...), 240 swim. 1,500m total. Happy enough overall, but was slow to get moving this morning. 6:25 alarm was not exactly greeted with great joy, but I never really regret getting in the water early in the day.

ToTriOrNot

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Monday - pre work swim. Pretty much did Kurt's technique session - did 240 swim, 240 kick, 240 pull, 180 finger trail drill, 180 armpit tap drill, 180 catch-up drill (this is actually down as swim in the session, but I don't brain good in the morning...), 240 swim. 1,500m total. Happy enough overall, but was slow to get moving this morning. 6:25 alarm was not exactly greeted with great joy, but I never really regret getting in the water early in the day.

How long did it take you to do the session? I am planning to do it this afternoon while my eldest is in her class, so I only have a 40 mins window, and a very busy lane, as swimming lanes are busy with the class, and there is only one lane open for lane swimming, otherwise, it's trying to swim with kids all over the open part of the pool.....not fun!!!
Oh, 6:30 alarms are standard here....not out of bed at the time, but need some time to wake up...this morning was 6 am...after a night of multiple interruptions (two little visitors ended up with me in the spare room, daddy is a bit sick, so we left him alone in the big bed.....)..it's going to be a long day!

rainbow kirby

You should have time to do it in the 40 minute window. My distances are a little off compared to what yours will be because my pool is 33 yards/30 metres rather than 25m so I tried to keep the number of lengths relatively consistent (8 length warm-up etc). I cheated a little and used fins for kick, armpit touch drill, finger trail drill and catch-up drill to keep up with the lane speed. I know he suggests using a pull buoy for some of those drills but I'd feel like I was going nowhere if I did that...

The pool near work is like that in terms of kids everywhere after work, it's really a case of be in the water at 7:30am or don't bother. I've been in a lane with 10 others there at 5:30pm before because so much pool space was allocated to children's lessons.

ToTriOrNot

rainbow kirby wrote: »

You should have time to do it in the 40 minute window. My distances are a little off compared to what yours will be because my pool is 33 yards/30 metres rather than 25m so I tried to keep the number of lengths relatively consistent (8 length warm-up etc). I cheated a little and used fins for kick, armpit touch drill, finger trail drill and catch-up drill to keep up with the lane speed. I know he suggests using a pull buoy for some of those drills but I'd feel like I was going nowhere if I did that...

The pool near work is like that in terms of kids everywhere after work, it's really a case of be in the water at 7:30am or don't bother. I've been in a lane with 10 others there at 5:30pm before because so much pool space was allocated to children's lessons.

Oh, i will definitely get the fins for the drills so. Pb and me don't get on, so i'll be like you i'd say!!!
I'll report back later, there is no much to update on my log , but i am hoping to do the swim and a circuits class after today!!!

rainbow kirby

Tuesday - 45 minute spin class. Loads of sprints and high cadence work and I was a big sweaty mess by the end of it, but it was good

RacoonQueen

If you feel like you're going no where with the pull buoy, it's the exact reason why you need to use it, it sounds like all your forward momentum is going from your kick (which I'd be guilty of often) when it should be coming from your arms. Make friends with your pull buoy!

I would have been faster with the PB when I was starting to use it.

rainbow kirby

Tuesday PM - 1 hr ashtanga yoga. Sometimes the body just feels like it needs a good stretchout!

Rest day today I think, I meant to run to work but any resolve quickly evaporated when I heard rain hammering off the windows... also himself is heading back to Ireland tomorrow for a long weekend so I'm planning on a decent training (and sport watching) weekend

rainbow kirby

Thursday - meant to swim this morning but really struggled to get out of the bed. Ran after work anyway, 6km @ 6:25/km average pace, lovely and relaxed. I need to run more, I've been really bad at fitting it in lately and I want to be in reasonably good shape for Reading half in the spring. I've only been getting in 2 a week lately and it just isn't enough.

rainbow kirby

Friday evening - Coached swim session. 500m-ish warmup (mixed swim/pull/kick), then spent the entire session working on tumble turns and jump starts. I managed to bruise both of my heels and the second and third toes on my right food through separate ****ups... I am a bit closer to being able to do a tumble turn now, but still bad and in need of a lot of practice.

Saturday - 70 min easy run. Strava ate my run when it decided to crap itself in the middle of Regent's Park, pace felt fairly consistent with what I've been doing lately so probably somewhere in the 6:20-6:30/km range. I am a bold kirby though and "accidentally" picked up a packet of mince pies in Sainsburys on the way home. :eek:

Dory Dory

What is a jump start?

rainbow kirby

A racing dive into the pool! My coach is from Hong Kong and sometimes uses some strange terminology.

Dory Dory

Ah, got it. Funny, the IM I am doing in 2015 requires an actual jump start (and they tell you it needs to be a jump and not a dive) from a dock, so you had me wondering. :)

rainbow kirby

Sunday - 22km bike. Meant to go for longer, but there is something going on with my rear derailleur. Every time I shift past the 4th rear cog when I'm in the big front ring there is a lot of clicking and random shifting between rings and it can only really be solved by dropping back through the gears to the 3rd cog and then shifting back up. Got frustrated and cut things short after roughly an hour.

Got very cheap tickets for the ATP final later though through work, so that should be good

Oryx

I had that problem - the cable was sticking.

rainbow kirby

Monday - swim. Did the week 1 day 3 session from Kurt Godel's ones, modified to suit a 30m/33yd pool. Did 240 warmup, 4*60 kick, 4*400yd (360m-ish) alternating swim and pullbuoy, 180 cooldown to total off at 2,100m. Good session overall, even if I did feel that my technique was starting to fall off a cliff slightly at the end. Almost gave up on it early though, had a dopey bint in my lane at the start who was alternating between head-up breaststroke and a backstroke that resembled a drowning animal and was screaming at everyone in the lane and calling them rude for being faster than her (she was so slow that even if I gave her a 15m head start I'd still have caught her again by the end of one length), and there was no way in hell she would ever let anyone pass her and an in-lane pass is relatively tough with the narrow lanes at the Kentish Town pool. Ended up calling the lifeguards over, and she was politely asked to either move to the slow lane or leave, and she chose to leave, mercifully. What a wagon.

Tuesday AM - 45 minute spin class. Second crap night's sleep in a row last night meant I wasn't exactly full of joy about a 6:25 alarm for this, but woman'd the fcuk up and did it anyway. Wasn't too bad anyway, lots of sprint intervals and a few decent hillclimbs.