Monday I did some studying and a bit of work in the garden during the afternoon, then went to swimming at night. Most of the set was pretty good but I was trying to push the reps to 6 min / 400m pace and not getting close. The last 100m rep was close at 6:08 but nothing else got inside 6:40 pace. Two weeks till Alford and I still need to find another gear.
Tuesday and Wednesday were both limited by other commitments so all I managed each day was a run round Dyce. The ankle I turned last week is still not right but it is fine as long as I keep it level. My hamstrings were still feeling tight from last week's long run so I got on the roller. It was pretty painful but does seem to have helped.
Whatever is wrong with my left knee is not getting any better, nor is it getting any worse. Unless that is the cause of the tight hamstrings as they try to protect the knee. It only hurts when I run, and even that is intermittent. I am going to ignore it again for a while and hope it gets better.
On Wednesday evening I finished another online course, on Nutrition and Macronutrients this time. This one might actually be useful for training if I tried to apply it but I doubt I can tear myself away from my current diet. More practically it leaves me armed with the knowledge to argue coherently with Paleo dieters, protein shakers and their ilk. Nutrition and Micronutrients starts in September so I expect to be armed for the likes of vitamin supplementers, glucosamine swallowers and Freelee the banana girl.
Tuesday evening I received my final certificate for my Math in Sport* course from Notre Dame which I completed a couple of weeks ago. I also passed the certificate level for "Quality in Engineering and Management" with two weeks to go, so everything I score from now will just be grade improvements. Obviously I haven't learned from how overloaded I have been with courses lately so I signed up for a new one on "Oil Country Tubular Goods" starting now. Then I went to sign on to another on "Running Pipe in Oil and Gas Wells" which starts the day "QEM" finishes. These two should at least keep some of the work side of my brain active.
Thursday was too nice a day to stay inside. So my plan to rest my dodgy knee was thrown out. I did my light weights session in the morning and then went out for a jog before lunch.
Friday I decided to lay off the knee but I did yoga and core sessions. I was invited out to swim at Knockburn in the evening but decided the rest was a better idea for my knee.
Saturday I still had some swim distance to get in. I should really be trying to get in fast short sessions before Alford but anything I do now is unlikely to really make a difference over 400m. Instead I decided to start on work that will help for Huntly and next year.
In my targets I have an optional 5k swim. Since it looks likely that I will miss my 400m swim target I am going to go after that one instead. Before going into that I need to get a few other long swims in. So this week I decided to ride to the pool and do a 40 minute steady swim with a view to doing a couple of longer swims between Alford and Huntly and then a solo 5k somewhere in Q4. I set off planning to go about 2,000m in 40 mins in a lane that had all to myself. At the 600m mark I got tapped by the lifeguard who made me move lanes as there was a club session due to start in my lane. That cost me about a minute and moved me into a lane where there was other traffic that maybe cost me another 30 seconds. From there I got a nice clean swim to the end though. I stopped as the clock hit 40 minutes, having passed through 2,100m. With 90 seconds lost I could maybe have been close to 2,200m. Feeling comfortable, almost 10% ahead of my plan, and on a pace that would take me to 5k in 1hr 31mins, despite being in the long course pool again. Happy days.
Sunday was less good. I went out for a group ride with a plan to cut off early and do 45 miles. Every time the quicklink in my chain came round it was causing the gears to skip. For the first few miles this went from frustrating to annoying. Every skip was resulting in a jolt to my left knee and by 7 miles in it was obvious I wasn't going to manage 45. After being dropped from the group on a short climb they waited till I caught up and I told them to go on without me. Then I stopped and tried to fix the problem. There was nothing I could do to fix it at the roadside so I had no option but to pick a short route and pedal back. That turned out to be a slog into a headwind with my knee getting stabbed every third revolution by the skipping gears.
Another week that should have been much better. Scraping over the run and swim targets doesn't make up for all the rest this week. Especially since all of the running was just hobbling round the block on my bad knee. Saturday's long swim was the only real highlight of the whole week.
This is also the first week that I have started to feel depressed about being out of work. It hasn't really bothered me until now but seems to have caught up. In particular on the painful ride home on Sunday. I can't justify buying a new bike until I get a new job and the training bike I have now is reaching the age where it needs a major overhaul of parts, which I can't afford either. My knee is now seriously limiting my training but I can't afford the physio trip to get it checked out. My general condition is that I need a massage, which I can't afford. I have already been skipping outdoor swimming miles because it is cheaper to pay for a trip to the pool than the fuel to Knockburn. My interview on Wednesday wasn't particularly promising, and the lack of other jobs to apply for in the last few weeks are not helping either.
The counter in my phone says I did only 43206 steps this week. That is the lowest total I have done since I started using it in March 2014.
Target totals - Swim 2.4 miles. Bike 35.0 miles. Run 12.0 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 60 mins of yoga.
Monday - Swim with TPT 2,100m in 55 mins.
Tuesday - Jog 3.6 miles in 32 mins.
Wednesday - Run 3.8 miles in 30 mins.
Stretching session.
Easy run 5.1 miles in 41 mins.
Friday - Yoga session 22 mins.
Core session.
Saturday - Ride to ASV 5.4 miles in 21 mins.
Swim 2,100 in 40mins.
Ride from ASV 5.6 miles in 22 mins.
Sunday - Ride 15.7 miles in 62 mins.
Actuals - Swim 2.6 miles (4,200m). Bike 26.7 miles. Run 12.5 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 22 mins of yoga.
Cumulative (Original cumulative target) [New cumulative target]
S 69.7 (63.6) [68.6],
B 1676.0 (1419.3) [1611.4],
R 539.1 (430.3) [518.4].
*Dear Americans,
The abbreviation of Mathematics is Maths, not Math!
Yours gratefully,
The English language.
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