I felt a bit dizzy after the sunday's workout (the swim, see previous post), and that continued to monday and tuesday. Finally on Wednesday I had to stay home from work as I had some fever and was reeeeaaallllyyyyy tired. And that continued through Thursday and Friday.
Well. In hindsight, I guess all this could a bit be expected. On Monday my wife called me, as she had been to the doctor and they had found out she had mycoplasma. We don't know how long she's had it, but it is supposed to be the kind of germ that doesn't go off easily. She had been feeling a bit tired for a while (she also trains, she's going to participate a 70.3 in June so she needs to :D) and couldn't kind of shake it off after two weeks, so we decided it was time to see a fycisist. A funny thing is that, when she was leaving the office for the doc-appointment, her co-worker said her:"you know, all these athletes are always having this wierd mycoplasma thingie that keeps them a bit tired etc. Maybe you have that?" And my wife was thinking that "yeah, right I don't think so", and guess what (well, you don't need to anymore as I said it already), that's what she had. And a sinus infection, which is apparently quite common partner there.
As said, I got the info of my better half having the myco, and she also got the anibiotics etc. for that, and decided I'd need to see a doctor also (myco is highly contagious, so the odds were that I had it too). So I got a time for Thursday to go to the lab and see if I have it too. But I was not at the office on Thursday so I had to reschedule (the office is 56 kms away and the doc is there too so...). So I still don't know if this my whatever is actually myco or not. I'll see that on Monday I hope.
Anyway, training after last Sunday has not happened. And as always, now as I'm getting a bit better I'm starting to get bad conscious about it. Some little guy wearing lycra and tank-top in my head is telling me that if I'm able to walk, I should do some training. Or a long ride. Or a marathon. Or... So as I'm still a bit weak, I too often budge for this little guy and start training too early. And the flu or whatever sticks for even more time. But this time, yesterday, I think I tricked the lycra-leprechaun. First I started to recollect that in some discussions with my wife we had talked about housekeeping being a low-intensity workout (especially vacuuming). And then I started to think that now as I'm recovering from this sickness, I need a low-int workout. So instead of doing a full training ride indoors, I vacuumed the house (45 minutes). And trust me, in this fitness it was well enough.
Now, as I write, the wifee is actually having a morning ride (it's Saturday 7:15 am here) on the trainer and watching the Graham Norton Show, so she's getting better. I'm still a bit lethargic, but I think that today's cookie-baking, christmas-shopping and christmas-pie making with the whole family will recover me fully so I could actually do something tomorrow trainingwise. But let's see...
Friday, December 13, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Swimming for change
Yesterday was interesting. It was the first sunday after August that I did not have to wake up at 7:00 to go and run the "swim technique for adults" course at the local pool. This, however did not mean that I'd spend my day out of the local swimming hall. Quite the contrary, I had a meeting with a local triathlete team and gave them some tools on how to improve the technique, talked with them on how their cycling club and the swim-club I represent could co-operate more, went back home to fetch my daughter to her swim training session, and then ended up training in the pool for 1,5 hours (without lunch = last kick session got halved). A nice day, but tiring.
For starting your swim-training, I can really recommend Sheila Taormina's training pack, the one with water-resistant "pages". It akes the thinking away from the preparations for the training, just jump in the pool and follow Sheila's pre-set sets. And trust me, those training sets are enough :)
Lets see if I'm ready for some trainer-ride today even if yesterday was a bit taxing...
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Mobile thought burst
A first try-out with the mobile editor, maybe this could serve as a quicker way to put the messages and thoughts forward...
Today I've been thinking a lot on how to proceed with all the arrangements already now. I have decided that we'll go to Eidford with a mobilehome (truck), probably rented, but everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING else is still quite foggy. I'll need some good long rides, runs and skii... ...how is that supposed to be said? A skiing training session, how do you call it? A ski? Well, whatever, as said, I'm expecting the long steady training sessions to bring me some ideas on all the other stuff (gearing, equipment, own support to name a few). They have before, and they will this time too :)
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Preparations started, also trained a bit
A month later I might be able to write some sensible text, but I will not force it, so from this point on, the resposibility lies on you, dear reader :)
Since the day I received the announcement I've been pretty much training. Mostly trainer-rides and runs, but also some swimming. I'm now eagerly awaiting for the snow to come, the skis are awaiting in the shed to be abused hard :D Last winter I did a couple of really good 3-hour ski-trips (and ofcourse plenty of shorter-ones), and I really fell in love again to the classic-style CX-skiing. It is a really good way to keep your whole body in shape and get some fresh air and even real speed under your skin every once-in-a-while (assuming you have good steep hills nearby).
I am still in the belief that I will be the first Finn to ever participate Norseman, and I've tried to think if that could be something that would have even marketable value. This is still in really early stage, but some thoughts about what I could actually provide as a value for a sponsor I already have. That'll need some serious thinking though, and probably some analysis also through the Lean startup model for which I use Leanstack.
I have also started to activate my network. I have some contacts through which I could get some support on getting my training tweaked so that I'll actually be able to do the distance (and I mean distance in wider sense, both horizontal, vertical and mental level). I've also contacted the local cycling-clubs triathlon-team, and will be joining them ASAP as I can get my calendar fitting their training schedule.
And, if I'm bold enough, I also have a connection to the national cycling-triathlon magazine, so maybe that could also be a possibility here. However I still need to keep my feet on the ground and concentrate on the training and keep all the other stuff as add-on and not the other way around.
Since the day I received the announcement I've been pretty much training. Mostly trainer-rides and runs, but also some swimming. I'm now eagerly awaiting for the snow to come, the skis are awaiting in the shed to be abused hard :D Last winter I did a couple of really good 3-hour ski-trips (and ofcourse plenty of shorter-ones), and I really fell in love again to the classic-style CX-skiing. It is a really good way to keep your whole body in shape and get some fresh air and even real speed under your skin every once-in-a-while (assuming you have good steep hills nearby).
I am still in the belief that I will be the first Finn to ever participate Norseman, and I've tried to think if that could be something that would have even marketable value. This is still in really early stage, but some thoughts about what I could actually provide as a value for a sponsor I already have. That'll need some serious thinking though, and probably some analysis also through the Lean startup model for which I use Leanstack.
I have also started to activate my network. I have some contacts through which I could get some support on getting my training tweaked so that I'll actually be able to do the distance (and I mean distance in wider sense, both horizontal, vertical and mental level). I've also contacted the local cycling-clubs triathlon-team, and will be joining them ASAP as I can get my calendar fitting their training schedule.
And, if I'm bold enough, I also have a connection to the national cycling-triathlon magazine, so maybe that could also be a possibility here. However I still need to keep my feet on the ground and concentrate on the training and keep all the other stuff as add-on and not the other way around.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Got the slot? Got the slot. GOT THE SLOT!!!
I guess the subject says it all. Today at 6:22PM EET my life changed for good (well ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but at least now it feels like it). The mail from the NXTri staff arrived. And I couldn't open it. But then I had to.
And I started to read... "We are happy to announce you that..."
...what, why are they happy, what, WHAT!!! (my brain did not function properly at that point, nor does it now)...
Then I continued..."announce you that you have secured a slot in the 2014 Isklar....
....Secured what, what have I secured, secure, what secure, what!!??
... a slot?
... a place in the starting line...
And finally it started to get into my concious...
I've gotten a slot there!
Noooo.... Can't be...
YES!!! It be. Me got a slot. a slottee. Jiihaaa!!!
Ok, I'll continue with some more, no less idiotic writing in couple of days. When I can.
And I started to read... "We are happy to announce you that..."
...what, why are they happy, what, WHAT!!! (my brain did not function properly at that point, nor does it now)...
Then I continued..."announce you that you have secured a slot in the 2014 Isklar....
....Secured what, what have I secured, secure, what secure, what!!??
... a slot?
... a place in the starting line...
And finally it started to get into my concious...
I've gotten a slot there!
Noooo.... Can't be...
YES!!! It be. Me got a slot. a slottee. Jiihaaa!!!
Ok, I'll continue with some more, no less idiotic writing in couple of days. When I can.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Four day training-spree
As a long-distance consecuence from a polar fitness-test I did with my RCX-5 training computer, this week I ended up in cycling on thursday, running on friday, cycling on saturday and running & swimmin today (sunday). And still, I feel quite fine now :o
It all started on the fitness-test on October 5th (the basic test the polar does, you just lie 5 minutes on your back and the watch does something and provides you with a result afterwards). I felt quite ok, had rested a couple of days, and thought "hey, now is a good time to do the test, it's been a while since I've done it earlier...". I do it every once in a while, as it provides some feedback on the development of my fitness level other than "Hmm, feels like this run was a bit easier than previously".
Ok. So I did the test. Earlier result was 56 (it's sort of an estimate of the VoMax of the person under the test), which was ok. I hoped for 57 or even 58, but was not sure as I didn't have a clue on how the training had actually effected. Well. The result was 68. SIXTY EIGHT! I've never had that even then when I was training for the half IM, and then I was Really in shape!
So, I thought, some things have been working if this is real, so I should be happy. And I was. Until I realised it had consecuences to the training-load measurement that monitors the cumulative load of the sessions you download to your account in Polar personal trainer -pages. Ha ha. Suddenly the sessions I did had a much smaller effect and created much less load than they had earlier. One-hour trainer ride meant earlier that the "load cauge" in my personal pages recommended me having a day off or at least train on much lower level of intensity to not to overload my body. Not any more. The every-other-day trainings I had done earlier started to look like piece-of cake stuff that doesn't get me anywhere. Just small peaks in the load that I'd recover pretty quickly from.
And this started to bother me. Maybe also because, to be honest, that's what I had felt too. The every-other-day training was nice and good, but maybe unconciously I had already come to the same conclusion. But it was irritating to need the machine to tell you so before you realise it really. Grrr.
So come the last thursday, when I felt REALLY lethargic. In the evening my wife came back home from her evening run and asked if I was going to do the trainer ride I had talked about. I really didn't want to, but looked like I had to as I had talked about it already earlier like it was something important... So I did the thursday's one-hour trainer ride. And I checked out it into the Polar pages, checked the training-load page, and it said "it is ok to do another session tomorrow". And something clicked in my head. I thought: "F*ck, let's see if I can get it to rise so that it recommends a rest day at some point". And decided to have a run on friday. And had, here's the summary. The ride was quite mellow, but this was not so much. I ran with the "natural rhytm", did not pay so much attention on the HR or other indicators (other than how it felt in the body). Still, the load-indicator was happy to say "it is ok to train next day". AAAARGH.
After my wife got back from her morning long-run (and I had vacuumed the house) I went for a bike-ride. A 100-minute ride with an average of 32 km/h was maaaaybe a bit hard. But I did it anyway. Now, the cumulative load indicator said:" you can train tomorrow, but high intensity is not recommended". !!I was getting somewhere!! Today, after the swim-session I held for the adult-class, I went for the final run with one of the swimmers. Finally, after the download, the load-indicator recommended a really low-intensity training (which I see as a recovery-session) or a day off. I had won!!!!
Ha ha. Won what? Or who? My body? The load-gauge?
Yes. No. So it actually took this blog for me to realise that this might have been a bit of an idiotic endeavour. On the other hand, now I know that my body can take more load than earlier without serious results, so I know I need to tweak my training a bit now. Maybe I also will :o
Tomorrow or on tuesday the latest the results from the NXTri lottery are announced, let's see how that goes and how it affects my training plans for the near-future and a bit further. But I'll get back to that when I get the result...
It all started on the fitness-test on October 5th (the basic test the polar does, you just lie 5 minutes on your back and the watch does something and provides you with a result afterwards). I felt quite ok, had rested a couple of days, and thought "hey, now is a good time to do the test, it's been a while since I've done it earlier...". I do it every once in a while, as it provides some feedback on the development of my fitness level other than "Hmm, feels like this run was a bit easier than previously".
Ok. So I did the test. Earlier result was 56 (it's sort of an estimate of the VoMax of the person under the test), which was ok. I hoped for 57 or even 58, but was not sure as I didn't have a clue on how the training had actually effected. Well. The result was 68. SIXTY EIGHT! I've never had that even then when I was training for the half IM, and then I was Really in shape!
So, I thought, some things have been working if this is real, so I should be happy. And I was. Until I realised it had consecuences to the training-load measurement that monitors the cumulative load of the sessions you download to your account in Polar personal trainer -pages. Ha ha. Suddenly the sessions I did had a much smaller effect and created much less load than they had earlier. One-hour trainer ride meant earlier that the "load cauge" in my personal pages recommended me having a day off or at least train on much lower level of intensity to not to overload my body. Not any more. The every-other-day trainings I had done earlier started to look like piece-of cake stuff that doesn't get me anywhere. Just small peaks in the load that I'd recover pretty quickly from.
And this started to bother me. Maybe also because, to be honest, that's what I had felt too. The every-other-day training was nice and good, but maybe unconciously I had already come to the same conclusion. But it was irritating to need the machine to tell you so before you realise it really. Grrr.
So come the last thursday, when I felt REALLY lethargic. In the evening my wife came back home from her evening run and asked if I was going to do the trainer ride I had talked about. I really didn't want to, but looked like I had to as I had talked about it already earlier like it was something important... So I did the thursday's one-hour trainer ride. And I checked out it into the Polar pages, checked the training-load page, and it said "it is ok to do another session tomorrow". And something clicked in my head. I thought: "F*ck, let's see if I can get it to rise so that it recommends a rest day at some point". And decided to have a run on friday. And had, here's the summary. The ride was quite mellow, but this was not so much. I ran with the "natural rhytm", did not pay so much attention on the HR or other indicators (other than how it felt in the body). Still, the load-indicator was happy to say "it is ok to train next day". AAAARGH.
After my wife got back from her morning long-run (and I had vacuumed the house) I went for a bike-ride. A 100-minute ride with an average of 32 km/h was maaaaybe a bit hard. But I did it anyway. Now, the cumulative load indicator said:" you can train tomorrow, but high intensity is not recommended". !!I was getting somewhere!! Today, after the swim-session I held for the adult-class, I went for the final run with one of the swimmers. Finally, after the download, the load-indicator recommended a really low-intensity training (which I see as a recovery-session) or a day off. I had won!!!!
Ha ha. Won what? Or who? My body? The load-gauge?
Yes. No. So it actually took this blog for me to realise that this might have been a bit of an idiotic endeavour. On the other hand, now I know that my body can take more load than earlier without serious results, so I know I need to tweak my training a bit now. Maybe I also will :o
Tomorrow or on tuesday the latest the results from the NXTri lottery are announced, let's see how that goes and how it affects my training plans for the near-future and a bit further. But I'll get back to that when I get the result...
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Post registration, pre lottery
So, the registration for the 2014 NXTRi opened, and then it closed. A short week. And I was there in the midst of those pain-addicts, registering to the lottery already on monday. And of course I couldn't do it the first time. And not the second. Or the third. And then the frustration came and I contacted the NXTri people to find out if the problem was me, or something else. Well, guess what. The problem was... ....me. Or actually my PC, which was not mine, but my employer's. And the Firefox there is, let's say, a bit (old? outdated? obsolete?), erm, limited edition. So it did not function properly with the active sheets in the registration form. Gladly I also have the IE on the same computer, and that worked well. So I'm in. For the lottery I mean.
Ok, in the hind-sight, I might have had a bit of a hidden agenda when contacting the arranging party representatives. I mean, I, almost accidentally, of course, did go through all the previous race results, and did not find any Finnish names there. So, to my knowledge, I would be the first Finn to do the race if I got the slot. Somehow this information also creeped into the mail-exchange I had with the organizers with a question of maybe getting a special treatment because of that fact. I don't know how, but it just sneaked in there. It might be that the people on the other end of that exchange had gotten similar kind of inquiries from some other people also, as the response was really discreet, and with a bit of humour in it also. Something like this: "Don't worry, we provide the same special treatment to everybody, good luck with the lottery!" So that was it. But I had to try!
Another thing related to me possibly being the first Finn there was that I had to keep my mouth pretty much shut from summer to this moment (at least within certain groups of people). I wouldn't have liked competition there wouldn't I. Guess how many times I almost blurped out what I was planning on doing, realising what I was doing, and then rerouting my talk on-the-go to not to let the truth out. Like "Yeah, I'm also going to take part in at least one marathon and a couple of bike-endurance events next summer to prepare for the... ...erm the local open water swim races nearby (what the hell do those have to do with the swim...?).
After realising that I might end up empty handed also with the NXTri participation, as I mentioned already in my earlier blog, I decided to enroll to a local ironman-distance race (sorry, this is in finnish). I have not done that yet, but will if I don't get the slot in Norway. Another REALLY interesting race is something called "Ö till Ö" in the Stockholm archipelago, where they run and swim for 75 kms (10 km swim total, 65 km run). The idea is to run through the islands and swim between them. THIS IS SOMETHING WE'LL DO WITH THE WIFEE AT SOMEPOINT ANYHOW. I got so hyped about this when I got the link from a colleague of mine, and as I showed it to my wife, she got also hyped about it. REALLY hyped. As we are both the type of diesel-engines that can go on and on for no end, but may have some challenge with keeping the speed, having a full day for the 75 kms suites us quite well. At least we think so. But let's see. If I get the slot in the Norway, It'll be too close with the "otillo", as we named it already. And perhaps also the local IM distance race is too close, I don't know...
PResently it looks like I have less than a week to the moment where I either crap my pants as I understand that I really need to start to train to get ready for the Norway (i.e. I get the slot), or I don't, and then I need to replan the 2014 season totally. Which one is more scary??
We'll see that in a week.
Ok, in the hind-sight, I might have had a bit of a hidden agenda when contacting the arranging party representatives. I mean, I, almost accidentally, of course, did go through all the previous race results, and did not find any Finnish names there. So, to my knowledge, I would be the first Finn to do the race if I got the slot. Somehow this information also creeped into the mail-exchange I had with the organizers with a question of maybe getting a special treatment because of that fact. I don't know how, but it just sneaked in there. It might be that the people on the other end of that exchange had gotten similar kind of inquiries from some other people also, as the response was really discreet, and with a bit of humour in it also. Something like this: "Don't worry, we provide the same special treatment to everybody, good luck with the lottery!" So that was it. But I had to try!
Another thing related to me possibly being the first Finn there was that I had to keep my mouth pretty much shut from summer to this moment (at least within certain groups of people). I wouldn't have liked competition there wouldn't I. Guess how many times I almost blurped out what I was planning on doing, realising what I was doing, and then rerouting my talk on-the-go to not to let the truth out. Like "Yeah, I'm also going to take part in at least one marathon and a couple of bike-endurance events next summer to prepare for the... ...erm the local open water swim races nearby (what the hell do those have to do with the swim...?).
After realising that I might end up empty handed also with the NXTri participation, as I mentioned already in my earlier blog, I decided to enroll to a local ironman-distance race (sorry, this is in finnish). I have not done that yet, but will if I don't get the slot in Norway. Another REALLY interesting race is something called "Ö till Ö" in the Stockholm archipelago, where they run and swim for 75 kms (10 km swim total, 65 km run). The idea is to run through the islands and swim between them. THIS IS SOMETHING WE'LL DO WITH THE WIFEE AT SOMEPOINT ANYHOW. I got so hyped about this when I got the link from a colleague of mine, and as I showed it to my wife, she got also hyped about it. REALLY hyped. As we are both the type of diesel-engines that can go on and on for no end, but may have some challenge with keeping the speed, having a full day for the 75 kms suites us quite well. At least we think so. But let's see. If I get the slot in the Norway, It'll be too close with the "otillo", as we named it already. And perhaps also the local IM distance race is too close, I don't know...
PResently it looks like I have less than a week to the moment where I either crap my pants as I understand that I really need to start to train to get ready for the Norway (i.e. I get the slot), or I don't, and then I need to replan the 2014 season totally. Which one is more scary??
We'll see that in a week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)