Weeks 1 – 4: Building A Routine - Review

I'm sat here on the train, writing my 1st blog post reviewing my first block of training for Staffs 70.3 and I'm in a funny place with it if I'm honest:

1) Do I think I should have done more.. YES

2) Am I happy with progress - YES & NO

3) Do I need to work harder for the next phase - YES

4) Do I feel guilty about missing the sessions - YES

5) Am I worried about it - NO

6) What do I need to change for the next phase?

Its been a tough 4 weeks on the training committing front, which I knew it was going to be, with working away from my training base and Vicki opening her new sports clinic (www.vickisportsmassage.co.uk - check them out) I knew I was going to be needed elsewhere.

I missed sessions due to both, but then... I didn't have any down time or was I just being lazy as there were times where I just sat on my arse, but i wasn't getting any time out from work or home so it was just good to sit on the sofa in the evenings.

I completed 75% of sessions for the 4 week block, I missed a massive 13 sessions out of 56 in total.

I hadn't got in the pool since November so it was good to get back in the pool, I haven't missed it if I'm honest. I really need to sort out some music to distract me from the monotonous effort of doing a distance session. The watch will do the counting so I can switch off there but I do find it mind numbing when I have to do 40 x 50m.

Ive also invested into Zwift to see how that goes, I normally go down the Trainer road route, but lets go wild and mix things up and go "Zwifting" most of my training buddies are on that so they must be doing something right and now I've got a smart trainer what could possibly go wrong?

Now I'm finishing my term in London in work (hopefully) and my wife's sports clinic is open it leaves more time for training.. I should be able to do more in the next chunk of training, the intensity level goes up so and the start line is getting ever closure so I need to commit.

I've been looking over my sessions and I'm trying to go harder but I'm not competing in Z5 anymore? I ran a hard Llanelli Half marathon and I didn't clock in a PB but I felt good, but I hardly got into Z5, should I be worried or am I just saving something or am I in the "going Long" mode automatically thinking I've got to save something for later? I did reconfigure my HR Zones for the pool/swimming so this should help with a more accurate output going forward. 

Am I worried that I missed 25% of sessions, not not really,, I know its important to clock in the easy sessions to gain that base level fitness and I missed the pool sessions mostly (This is due to limited access to a pool while away with work) but I need to look at getting in the pool more in this training block, and who knows I may even get into the sea but looking at the weather the past 3 weeks perhaps not.. It would be Baltic out there!

I also need to look at my nutrition in and plan better, I've been skipping meals quite abit while away.. well mainly lunch and been powered on coffee and bar with slow release carbs in pass the time to the evening meal, this quick fix has also been powering my evening sessions as I tend to train when I get to the hotel so I know its in the bank but I feel the quality of the session is suffering due to the calorie deficit?

As week 5 now start I need to get some form of lunch into me so I can do a quality session pre-evening meal as the intensity of the sessions has gone up and I cant "wing" it like the earlier weeks in my plan.

WEEK 1 - 4

Total Swim - 6km
Total Bike - 192km
Total Run - 44.3km

What have I liked of the training block - It's always nice to get new kit and I got some new trainers for week 1 (Brooks Adrenaline 18) and I must say they have been great. It was good(ish) to get back in the pool as the last swim was November 2017 so blowing those cobwebs away was great. I still love my pull boy and I HATE kick!

Roll on the next training block..