Midweek Miles.

The weather is slowly starting to annoy me. If it’s not rain, it’s snow (both of which I can deal with to be fair) but those mixed with constant wind and frost/ice is the annoying part. Needless to say, I’m still trying to put in some decent sessions, I just like to rant about it now and again.

Wednesday was as usual, interval run training. The snow threatened all afternoon, but thankfully held off just with enough time for us to finish our set. Colin had yet again planned a ‘toughie’, it seems 400s are the bread and butter of interval training. Norwegian 200s or 400s or whatever distance it is, were mentioned once again, Decky and I have yet to nail it on head as to what part is the Norwegian, we think it’s the 1^st 100m or maybe it’s the 1^st 200m. I will confirm this 1 day 😉 Lol lol

The hour went in fairly quickly, as well and the ice, which brought an end to the running, last thing we needed was an injury. I finished off with a 15 min core workout, short and sweet but it done the trick.

Thursday seen loads more snow and wind, mixed with as usual rain/sleet. Luckily enough it was just a roller session on the bike for me. Tunes on and volume up, my kitchen was like a nightclub. Hard intervals really aren’t fun, but if I expect results in the summer, there really isn’t any other answer is there? haha I finished my hour with an average of 20mph, not too shabby!

Friday AM and the alarm went off at 5:40 for a swim set. Seriously hard to get out of bed, but it must be done. Friday is just my endurance set, so there’s nothing to crazy going on. Katherine and Barry also made the early swim, so I at least had some company. The water was soso cold, coldest I’ve ever felt it in the pool, Katherine is for wearing her wetsuit next time lol. We managed 2.5K in just under an hour, pleasing for sure. I think what got us through, was the thought of getting out of the cold water, that, or the thought of breakfast when we were done 😉

My mid week hours built up not too bad in the end. I will top that up later too, as I’ll be taking a core session for the Tri club. Busy times, but sure I love it. 🙂

Aaron

Heavy, Bloated & Old! ;)

Having not ran, or in fact, trained at all since Saturday’s park run, I was eager as ever to get my Asics on, and get out there. The past few days had been fairly busy, and to top that off, it was my birthday on Tuesday.

So, not only were my legs going to be recovering from the park run, I also had to deal with the effects of loads of food, even more cake than you can imagine, and the fact I had now left my youthful years, and joined the 30 club. Not cool at all I’ll have you know!  I was feeling heavy, bloated, and old! haha.

It was wet and windy last night, but nothing would do me, but to get out and get at it. I don’t mind the rain if I’m honest, there’s something quite refreshing about it which is cool. The wind is a different matter, it knocks you back a good 20 seconds per mile, which is annoying to say the least.

As I was leaving Roe Valley Leisure Centre where I was starting from, I saw 2 of my mates, Archie and Merv, I asked them to join me, but of course I got a million and 1 excuses haha. Only joking lads, valid reasons they were aye 😉

On mile 1 I took it steady as usual, feeling 100%.

Mile 2 was straight into the wind which was tough, I was totally soaked by now too.

Miles 3 & 4 were just ok, legs certainly still heavy from Saturdays race I presumed, or was it the amount of cake I had the day before? Or even worse, was this the effect of being 30??? I hope not haha

Miles 5 & 6 seemed to drag, and the last 0.20 to complete the 10K, was done with a good wee burst as I always do at the end of my runs.

All in all, I got my 10K finished with an average of 8:03 min/mile pace. Soaked, and battered with the wind, happy enough though, as it was just a run out, and wasn’t really geared towards anything. I popped into the gym afterwards, gave my legs a good stretch, using the V-plate, and a play around on the foam roller, fun times eh?! 🙂

Aaron

A Round Up Of My Weeks Training.

I’ve had a decent week as far as training is concerned. On Monday I went for a 4 mile run in Limavady, with some core in the gym straight afterwards. I felt really good and my pace was an average of 7 min 5 seconds a mile. I need to thank my mate Lee for the loan of his Garmin, I left mine at my backside at home, but not to worry! Lee usually runs 6 min mile pace, so the watch must have thought it was a recovery run he was on haha

Tuesday was a bit mad, as you know I signed up for Ironman Barcelona with my training buddies ‘the MAMILs’. Of course this made Tuesdays swim session interesting, we could barely swim for the chat of Barca this, and Barca that. We were like school kids on the day of signing up for a school holiday! LOL

The swim was decent in the end, getting back into it wasn’t as bad as I thought. We managed the usual warm up, few drills, fins and paddle work, and a good main set, around 2K in total.

On Thursday, on my way home from work, the sun was shining and I thought it was too good not to take the Kuota out for a spin. Quickly on with my cycling gear before I changed my mind then. haha. I went for a flat easy spin around the bridges with an extra loop added of Myroe. From mine, this route is 22 miles exactly, I felt really good, and managed an average speed of 18.3 mph. Very pleased with that considering I’ve done little cycling since July.

This afternoon, I’ve just completed my 2^nd week at Yoga. Something I always considered doing but never bit the bullet to actually go and do it. But that’s changed and I’m really enjoying it, the stretches and poses are helping for sure. Hopefully if I keep at it, it will help me a lot for next season.

My final training for the week will be tomorrow morning, I haven’t run a 5K race in 6 weeks, so I’m going to race at ‘Parkrun’ Derry and see if there has been any progression as far as finding my speeds concerned. Time will tell I guess, here’s hoping.

Aaron

Importance Of Rest And Recovery.

There are times when the best workout, is no workout. No matter what level of athlete we are (or claim to be) 😉 we all need rest and recovery at some point, and this should always be an important part of our training plan. Also an important thing to remember is, the harder we train, the more rest we need.

We can also read into things too much at times, sometimes the best thing we can do, is listen to our bodies. If you feel you’re struggling with 1 days rest after a tough session, you may need more! Remember we are all individuals, and just because our training partner feels fine to go again, doesn’t mean we must do the same. On the other side, if you’re feeling good the day after a session, don’t force the rest, active recovery is also good. Our bodies will tell us what it needs and when it needs it, the big problem is, we usually don’t listen to the warnings!

Over training is hard to accept at times, if we do have a small blip, we tend to think it’s because of our effort, we all believe we should/can go harder and better. The reality of it is, we’re doing too much, and more rest will be more beneficial for us. This is tough for us tri-athletes to accept. A runner can take a rest day, and know that the following day they are back in action, whereas a tri-athlete thinks, oh, a rest day, sure a pool session will be fine, or a wee spin on the bike will be grand, here’s the mistake in which we are all guilty of.

Just take a think on what we put our bodies through on a run for example. Pounding the roads puts our muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and bones under serious strain. Without the proper warm ups, cool downs, rest etc we are just asking for trouble.

I came across this in an article which I believe is worth reading, 10 tips on helping/speeding up recovery:

1. Replace Fluids. You lose a lot of fluid during exercise and ideally, you should be replacing it during exercise, but filling up after exercise is an easy way to boost your recovery. Water supports every metabolic function and nutrient transfer in the body and having plenty of water will improve every bodily function. Adequate fluid replacement is even more important for endurance athletes who lose large amounts of water during hours of sweating.
2. Eat Properly. After depleting your energy stores with exercise, you need to refuel if you expect your body to recover, repair tissues, get stronger and be ready for the next challenge. This is even more important if you are performing endurance exercise day after day or trying to build muscle. Ideally, you should try to eat within 60 minutes of the end of your workout and make sure you include some high-quality protein and complex carbohydrate.
3. Stretch. After a tough workout, consider gentle stretching. This is a simple and fast way to help your muscles recover.
4. Rest. Time is one of the best ways to recover (or heal) from just about any illness or injury and this also works after a hard workout. Your body has an amazing capacity to take care of itself if you allow it some time. Resting and waiting after a hard workout allows the repair and recovery process to happen at a natural pace. It’s not the only thing you can or should do to promote recovery, but sometimes doing nothing is the easiest thing to do.
5. Perform Active Recovery. Easy, gentle movement improves circulation which helps promote nutrient and waste product transport throughout the body. In theory, this helps the muscles repair and refuel faster.
6. Have a Massage. Massage feels good and improves circulation while allowing you to fully relax. You can also try self-massage and Foam Roller Exercises for Easing Tight Muscles and avoid the heavy sports massage price tag.
7. Take an Ice Bath. Some athletes swear by ice baths, ice massage or contrast water therapy (alternating hot and cold showers) to recover faster, reduce muscle soreness and prevent injury. The theory behind this method is that by repeatedly constricting and dilating blood vessels helps remove (or flush out) waste products in the tissues. Limited research has found some benefits of contrast water therapy at reducing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

How to use contrast water therapy: While taking your post-exercise shower, alternate 2 minutes of hot water with 30 seconds of cold water. Repeat four times with a minute of moderate temperatures between each hot-cold spray. If you happen to have a spa with hot and cold tubs available, you can take a plunge in each for the same time.

8. Get High Quality Sleep. While you sleep, amazing things are taking place in your body. Optimal sleep is essential for anyone who exercises regularly. During sleep, your body produces Growth Hormone (GH) which is largely responsible for tissue growth and repair.
9. Avoid Overtraining. One simple way to recovery faster is by designing a smart workout routine in the first place. Excessive exercise, heavy training at every session or a lack of rest days will limit your fitness gains from exercise and undermine your recovery efforts.
10. Use Visualization, Imagery and Meditation. Adding a mental practice to your workout routine can be a huge benefit for any athlete. Spending time practicing mental rehearsal or following a mindfulness meditation program can help process a calm, clear attitude and reduce anxiety and reactivity. Getting familiar with how your mind works, how thoughts can bounce around, and how you don’t need to attach to any of them, is a wonderful way for an athlete to recover both mentally and physically. Additionally, practicing positive self-talk can help change the ongoing dialogue in your head. Consider using both types of mental practice during your recovery days.

 

 

Give your body the attention and care it deserves, and remember every single athlete does this too, you won’t lose out to them by taking time off. Use your rest days to reflect on your training, what you’ve done, where you’re going with it, and appreciate how far you’ve come. It’s always going to be worth it when you cross the finish line…..

Aaron

Treadmills Are So Boring.

Again, I confirmed my hatred towards treadmills yesterday. As always, when I have an evening shift in the Leisure Centre, it’s a mad rush going from my full time job, to my part time job. Especially as I always push my time frame while trying to squeeze in a quick run.

I got to work with 40 minutes to spare so I knew I had time for a 5K fartlek session. Weather was ridiculous as usual, the wind would have blown you over. So I nipped into the gym and jumped on a treadmill. Get on, get it done and get started work for 5pm was my line of thought.

Fair enough, I started well and it was grand, but it wasn’t long till I realised how annoying and boring running on a treadmill actually is. Even when I went for my fast parts of the fartlek section it didn’t even feel right. Never the less, it got the job done.

Note to self, grow a set and face the wind in future. Haha

Aaron

Enthusiasm Verses weather

Another typically busy day in the life of Aaron Steele. Working in my full time job from 7:30am – 12 noon in Derry/Londonderry, and later working in Roe Valley Leisure Centre in Limavady, on my casual job from 3pm – 10:30pm. Resulting in a small daylight window of opportunity, to get my Kuota out for a spin. Eager to get a quick blast for even just an hour excited me, as it’s not often I get the chance for a midweek cycle as it’s always dark by the time I’m home.

On the phone around 11am to my mate Gerard, I told him of my little plan for a quick cycle, he laughed and said I was nuts, ‘it’s snowing like mad you ejit’, was his reply. Now Gerard lives in the hills, so I thought, yea that’s with you, but in Ballykelly at sea level, I’ll be 100%. Of course by 12 when I was leaving work the sky darkened, I thought nooo, please no! I was really looking forward to it, the snow started and it actually started to lay. I rang him back, ‘Gerard, I think you could be right, its mad out there, and with the wind to go with it, I think I’ll hit the gym instead’.

Further down the road I got, the snow stopped, sky lightened, and again, my head was saying, yes Aaron, maybe it’s back on. Get the bike out straight away and get it over and done with, before the weather takes a turn for the worst again.

Home, sorted a quick and handy snack, looked out the window, and low and behold, darkest set in, snow had started. Head wrecked trying weigh up my options, real cycle verses gym cycle! Sensible wins, and for once I made the wise decision. No point taking the chance and potentially falling off, getting injured and ruining my bike, or even worse, ruining my season before it even begins.

Off to the gym then, as usual a few mates were in and a little catch up was had. Set up my bike, got the music channel on in front of me and started to pedal. An hour cycle with some weights and core was my plan, cycling in the gym really is boring no matter how hard you try to mix it up. Never the less, it was a good session, and happy with a great strength workout to finish off. I use the gym at work, at the Leisure Centre, so I was able to train right up until my shift start time, handy eh?

Just got to see it out till 10:30pm, bit of a crazy nonstop day, but there’s nothing else for it! Work hard, play harder 🙂

Aaron

Tuesdays Gym/Swim Double

Having neglected my core and back I knew I’d have to double up last night. The thought of sitting in the tuck position on my bike, for 6.5 or 7 hours during my Ironman, means I’m going to need a good core and a very strong back.

Swim as usual was a 9pm start. So I thought, let’s get in early and hit the gym for 45 minutes before hand. The plan was dead lifts, seated row, swiss ball back extensions, weighted abdominal curls and finish off with a variety of sit ups, crunches, V-ups etc etc.

As Chris and Shane were also coming swimming, I thought I’d give them a text about meeting in the gym 1st. Both give me excuses and didn’t join me, swim was enough for them 😉

My gym session went very well, banged out my reps, and the sets sound passed by. It was time to hit the pool.

Into the pool good and sharp, got about 12 lengths done before our session started which I was happy with, like to get a few done early and get warmed up properly. The weather has been awful of late, and today saw a good snow fall. With most of our MAMIL group living in higher ground, they had too much snow to even attempt the roads down to Limavady. Our swim lane was quiet enough due to this, we did miss the banter with them I must say. Just means when we next meet up, it will be a double dose of slagging, banter and ‘craic’. Haha

Warm up completed, followed by a little speed work to get our heart rate up. Missing a few weeks swimming due to being sick and holidays definitely showed with me. It’s funny how quickly your pace drops and technique fades a little. I ploughed on non the less. Lots of drill sets were next, such as catch up, fists, left/right arm, kicks, head up, pull buoy etc etc. Then to finish with a strength and power set, using hand paddles and flippers. This was tough going, legs were burning and my shoulders were screaming out for help! Haha

Little cool down and we were done, I reckon 110 lengths (2750m) in total was achieved, very happy with this and it’s 2hours training in the bank. Good stuff, now let’s hope this snow clears today, as I’ve a run planned for tonight. 😉

Aaron

Active Recovery

Saturday afternoon was time for some active recovery. I had 7 hours clocked up during the week, and to put another massive session in would go above the required hours for this early stage of my plan.

I had arranged to meet Alan, a fellow MAMIL for a swim. Alan was keen to get an extra session in, and it tied in well his kids having swimming lessons at the same time. Win win situation I guess. Nice and steady done the trick, gentle warm up and a few short and easy sprints while making sure to keep our stroke as smooth as possible. It’s amazing how a little company makes the time fly in, our 45 minute session was complete in no time at all. Cheers Alan.

To be honest, Alan and I are both only apprentice MAMILs, The group name stands for Middle Aged Men In Lycra. With us being the 2 youngest in the group, we have actually a good few years to go before we truly fall into the MAMIL category like the rest of them ole boys haha 😉

My 2nd 45 minute recovery session was supposed to be a gentle bike ride. With the weather being as horrendous as ever, I decided to head to the gym, and do a little spin instead. Perfect timing, as the footie was on the big screens just as I went in, yet another win win situation eh? 🙂

Time certainly flew in and my 1hr 30min active recovery was complete, all in HR Zone 2. Exactly what was required for today. Happy days.

Aaron

Lunch Time Swim Session

Friday was upon us as quickly as ever, with my plans for cycling and running at the weekend, meant Friday’s plan was a swim session. Working in the gym in the evening, meaning my only opportunity for a swim was to be at lunch time.  I had arranged to meet ‘Big Gerard’ at Roe Valley Leisure Centre for 12:15pm. He was late as usual, and also brought along ‘Big Mervyn’ to join us. Happy days, though this did mean a tough session was in store for us.

I had about 1150m completed by the time they even got there. But once the 3 of us got together it was time for some drill sets and speed work. Thanks to Mervyn for keeping us on our toes, it sure was a great session. Once 2500m were up for me my time had also ran out. It was time for a shower, get some food and start my shift in the gym. Hard to beat getting another great session done and dusted, good work lads. 😉

Aaron

Swim, Spin And Banter

Friday afternoon came around pretty fast, as the wee day off for New Years Day meant a short week. So with another weekend approaching, thoughts of big training sessions were in my head as always. Texts sent and texts received, before I knew it there were 5 of us champing at the bit to get a swim session done early in the evening. Darrel, Shane, Ciaran, Chris and myself.

First and foremost I would like to mention big Shane here, he was never early for any sessions in 2013 and low and behold he was the 1^st man in the pool this evening, fingers crossed he keeps this up. Another surprise was Darrel, 2 sessions in 1 week, waow 😉 haha

Warm up complete nice and steady as always, then it was lengths, lengths and more lengths. Sets of sprints, 50m and 100m were planned. That suited me down to the ground as my swimming feels pretty good at the minute, and being the youngest in the group I can get carried away very easily. Thankfully I can rely on the slightly older members of the gang to keep me focused and in check, making sure I get my drill sets complete as well, thanks Ciaran.

Once we hit the 2K mark it was time to get out, Shane and myself then had a quick change and into the gym for an hour cycle on the spin bikes. Side by side, cycling away, chatting as usual. Talking about training, training plans, race plans and of course every other rubbish bit of gossip we could muster up between us, Shane also talked a lot about a chicken fillet burger, Haha! ‘Craic’ was good and before we knew it the hour was up, 20 mile complete. Cheers for the company Shane and well done to everyone on yet another great session.

Aaron