Training Plan - Week 27 - Jun 29 to July 5

I am planning to do the Deeside 25 mile Time Trial on Tuesday. This wasn't on my plan but since things went wrong at the 18 I feel like I should do this one now to make up for it. No expectations, it is probably out of my range to really race it so it will mostly be a long TT position training session. 

The rest of the week is fairly standard. 

The water at Knockburn seems to be much colder at the minute, hopefully a couple of sunny days will change that before Wednesday. If not I may go to ASV and do a pool session instead. 

Last week of being 38.



Monday - Easy run?
Core session.
Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Yoga session.
DTCC 25-mile TT.

Wednesday - Run reps.
Longer swim at Knockburn. 5 laps.
Weights and core sessions.

Thursday - Kintore Thursday session.
Stretching session.

Friday - Long run.
Yoga session.
Stretching session.

Saturday - Easy run.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday - Lite.

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.

Training Review - Week 26 - June 22 to 28

Monday started badly. I went to sign on in the morning and then planned to run home from that. I really struggled to run and when I hit a point that was uphill and into the wind I decided to bail out at half distance and get a lift home instead. Without really understanding why I was so exhausted I decided to still go swimming in the evening. Whatever the problem was in the morning was gone by evening. The session included 8 x 200m reps and I put every single one of them in faster than Saturday's race pace. 

Tuesday I had an interview in the afternoon so I went out in the morning for a longer run. Planned to be nice and steady but somehow it turned into an accidental Kenyan Progression type run. 

Wednesday I decided not to run during the day and took the time to catch up on some courses instead. Then in the evening I went out for a swim at Knockburn. I planned 4 or 5 laps but the water was ridiculously cold and I just managed 2 before I had to get out. Even those two were nearly 15 mins each instead of the usual 13.

Thursday I woke up feeling like someone had sandpapered my eyeballs and kicked me around like a football for a couple of hours. I tried some stretching but it was clear I wasn't going to manage a proper session today. Instead we went for a walk at Scotty hill. Felt a lot better by the time we got back so I did a yoga session after dinner and some light weights in the evening. 

Friday I went out for a run in the morning. I felt quite good so I decided to go to the park and do my reps session. About 100m into the first rep that felt like a bad plan. I am still feeling pretty empty. It is unlikely that the blood donation is still affecting me, and my mental health seems to be much improved. So that leaves me with hay fever and overtraining as the most likely culprits. 

Saturday I felt like a lazy day but the sun was out and it was too nice to waste the day. I did a short core session before breakfast and then went out for an easy run along the railway line again. Similar route to Tuesday but slightly more evenly paced. Then I did some light weights in the afternoon between bouts of housework and studying.

Sunday I went out with the Kintore group, planning to do 40 miles. Wasn't really paying attention to where I should turn off though and I ended up going too far out before I turned and doing 48 miles. Was going pretty well for the first half in the group, then struggled into the headwind on my own on the way back. Further confirmation that I am not going to do Aberfeldy Half this year. 

Slightly short on swimming this week due to the cold at Knockburn, and still missing some of the cosmetic sessions. Way over on running miles again, but more sensibly arranged with two long runs and a reps session in this week, so that is definitely an improvement in how I am getting them. Biking was then almost the opposite. All crammed in to a single session, and slower than I should be going because that session was too long. 


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 -  Jog 3.3 miles in 29 mins. 
Swim with TPT 2,100m in 52 mins. 

Tuesday - Run 6.3 miles in 50 mins.

Wednesday - Swim at Knockburn, 2 laps (1,500m) in 30 mins. 

Thursday - Stretching session.
Walk at Scolty.
Yoga session 17 mins.

Friday - Run 3.5 miles in 28 mins.

Saturday - Core session
Easy run 6.3 miles in 51mins.
Light weights session.

Sunday - Kintore ride 48.3 miles in 3 hours 23mins. 

Actuals - Swim 2.2 miles (3,600 m). Bike 48.3 miles. Run 19.4 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 17 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target)
S 48.8 (44.4) , B 1331.5 (1139.3), R 431.2 (343.1). 

Training Plan - Week 26 - June 22 to 28

No races this week. And checking my calendar I have no races for the next 5 weeks. This should give me a chance to do a properly structured training block rather than just a week by week approach. 

No work plans yet either. I might have last weeks interview if it is rescheduled, not holding my breath as they seem to be taking a while to sort themselves out.

I have to go and sign-on on Monday so I plan to run back from that. I have put two swim and two bike sessions in and a whole load of running. I have plenty of free time and my online courses can all be shuffled around so I should be getting out and doing at least one thing every day.

The weather forecast for this week is all over the place. If it does give me a really good day somewhere I might revamp the plan and just go out for a long solo day on the bike. 


Monday - Long run.
Core session.
Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Easy run.
Yoga session.

Wednesday - Run reps.
Longer swim at Knockburn. 5 laps.
Weights and core sessions.

Thursday - Kintore Thursday session.
Stretching session.

Friday - Long run.
Yoga session.
Stretching session.

Saturday - Easy run.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday - Lite.

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.

Training Review - Week 25 - June 15 to 21

Monday I started with a run. I have been slacking on fast reps sessions the last few weeks so I decided to do reps first this week. I went round to the park and did 5 of the short (600m) laps. Still struggling to recover so I moved the rest from the normal 1 minute to 90 seconds so that I could keep the speed of the reps closer to normal pace. 

In the evening I went to swimming. I was 'okay' for most of the session but started to run out of gas near the end. The session included 2x200m flat out reps near the end which I did in 3:09 and 3:19. I can convince myself to just write off the second one as I was basically exhausted. In order to break 6 minutes on Saturday I am going to have to find another 9 seconds on the fast rep and then keep that going. With the suit, cap, race adrenaline, someone to draft, another 5 days of recovery from blood donation and a rest day beforehand, the 9 seconds should be easy to find. Holding that faster pace for a another 3 minutes should also be possible. I really do fancy my chances of sneaking under the 6 minute mark.

Having completed two online courses last week I started 2 new ones this week. I also dropped a couple where they were boring or bad quality. The two new ones I am going to reference here as they are relevant. They are MAT150x Math in Sport from Notre Dame, and Nutr101x Nutrition and Health Part 1: Macronutrients and Overnutrition from Wageningen University, both from www.edx.org.

Tuesday I had to go in for a meeting at the Job Centre in the morning. They still call themselves the Job Centre despite being in absolutely no way, shape or form helpful or even capable of helping you get a new job. They should really be renamed the benefit police. Anyway, they used up my whole morning so I did some yoga and stretching in the afternoon before doing the Deeside Time Trial in the evening. 

I warmed up well and started the race well and pushed past the first junction and along to the roundabout. I thought I was meant to turn here but there was no sign and no Marshall and the standard rule is that if there is no sign and no Marshall, you go straight on. I should have read the course map more closely beforehand. I decided to wait for the guy behind me, but after a minute he still wasn't in sight so I thought maybe I had already missed a turn somewhere, maybe I should have gone left at the Kirkton of Skene turn? I have already wasted a minute sitting here. If I turn missed the turn already my race is over, if I turn left here and that is a shortcut then I am cheating and my race is over, so I went straight on. 

I didn't push on though, I still couldn't convince myself I had made the right choice so I decided to just settle in slowly and roll along until someone caught up to me, and then I could follow them round for a training ride. Another mile, and 2 more unmarshalled roundabouts later and no sign of anyone catching me I knew that I was going to end up at busy road junctions that couldn't possibly be on the route so I decided to quit and head back. Not passing anyone on my way back to the first roundabout confirmed that I was definitely on the wrong route somewhere. After I crossed the roundabout I saw the guys from 8 and 9 minutes behind as they approached the roundabout and took the left.  

I pedalled back to the start to tell them there was a missing Marshall, and then to the finish timers to tell them and to have them mark me down as DNF. Then I dropped off my number and timing chip and headed home. 

Then I went out for an annoyed run round the block. 

This was another health setback. I felt that I had recovered well from my problems at the start of the month and I was pretty much back to 'normal'. But as I was waiting at the roundabout and increasingly afterwards when I was on the wrong course, I was getting stressed and feeling really isolated. I managed to get back to the car and home without having a full panic attack and I managed to force myself straight out to run afterwards rather than letting it box me into the house again this time. 

Wednesday I had to go into town in the morning for a job fayre, so I decided to take the opportunity go to ASV for a swim as well. That went pretty terribly as I tried to work on a couple of things for the weekend and ended up going massively slower instead of faster. Being a shorter session than a couple of laps at Knockburn also means is going to leave me under my target for swimming this week. 

Thursday I went through to Elgin, partly in prep for racing on Saturday at Forres and also to get a short, fast running training session in and do some coaching. I jogged down to the Club session and did some coaching of Junior sprinters. Then I took a longer route home to get in a bit of a run for the day. 

Friday I had a bit of a lie in. Unfamiliar bed meant that I hadn't slept well and my back and shoulder were aching a bit. I Started the morning with a stretching and rolling session and then I went straight into a full hour of yoga. Feeling much better after those I decided to go out for a very easy and nostalgic jog around the Quarrelwood forrest behind my parents house. When I got back I got the Veet out and did my legs. However I race at Forres it won't be for lack of good preparation the day before. 

Saturday was Forres Triathlon so it will get a report to itself, here.

Sunday morning I went out to Knockburn to watch and Marshall at the Scottish Sprint Triathlon Champs. I was planning a couple of hours on the bike in the afternoon but the weather turned and it was too wet to risk riding in. Instead I went out for an easy recovery run round the block. When I got I did my short arm weights session. 

For the week I am a bit underwhelmed. I have run a lot, and I had a decent race at Forres. In turn I missed a lot of swim distance, and I was way short on bike miles after the race screw up on Tuesday evening and not cycling on Sunday.

For the year I am still so far ahead of target that they are meaningless. Two weeks till I rewrite those.


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 -  Run reps 5 x 600m (90 sec recovery) 3.7 miles in 32 mins.
Swim 1,400m in 55 mins.

Tuesday - Yoga 25 mins.
Stretching.
Not the Deeside 18-mile TT. 8.2 miles in 30mins.
Run 4.5 miles in 34 mins.

Wednesday - Swim at ASV 1,000m in 24 mins. 

Thursday - Warm up and coaching Junior sprinters 2.6 miles in 72 mins.
Easy run 3.6 miles in 27 mins.

Friday - Stretching and rolling.
Yoga 60mins.
Easy job 3.1 miles in 29 mins. 

Saturday - Yoga 30 mins.
Forres Novice Triathlon
Swim 400m in 6:42 (plus 50m warm-up)
Bike 8.5 miles 24:35   
Run 2.3 miles 15:40

Sunday - Easy jog 3.7 miles in 31 mins. 

Actuals - Swim 1.8 miles (2,850 m). Bike 16.7 miles. Run 23.5 miles.  short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 115 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Cumulative target)
S 46.0 (37.2) , B 1283.2 (1034.3), R 411.8 (307.1). 

Race Report - Forres Triathlon

Full results are: here. 


I started the morning with a yoga session. I specifically did this session to try and ease off my back and hips as much as I could. I also made sure to take the roller with me to the race, planning to do a bit of rollering during my warm-up. Neither helped with a tightness in my right hip that had appeared overnight. 

I headed to the race fairly early so that I could get a decent space in transition. Much too early as it turned out. I was the third person to rack my bike, and the other two were event organisers who were out putting signs on the course. 

I was off in the third heat of three. It was a fairly stacked heat. A GB International Junior girl who set up next to me and checked her transition run through three times, a GB International Vet Lady who I know is a better swimmer and runner than me, (and was the only other non-teenager!), the kid who has won it for the last 5 years, his pal who I mistook for him at the start, a serious looking kid in a Dundee Uni Athletics top, the kid that beat me in the Hurdles at Inverness a couple of weeks ago, a junior in a swim club training top ... and a handful of others that all looked too good to be in my heat.

I was off first in my swim lane but within a couple of lengths I felt pretty terrible. By the time I reached 75m I got a tap on the foot from the girl from the swim club, she had started 5 seconds behind me but was already wanting past. She was too small so I got no draft off her and she just eased away from me. By the time I got to 150m the hurdler from 10 seconds behind her wanted past as well. He was going too quick to hang on to as well. (Turns out both of them went very close to my target time). 

I glanced at the watch at the 200m mark and I was at 3:08, which isn't what I hoped for, but still left me plenty of scope for a 400m swim PB. I really started to drag from there though. Length splits drop from 22/23 secs out to 25/26. I eventually dragged myself out of the water in about 6:40. 40 seconds slower than what I declared, and even 30 slower than what I thought was likely. 

I am really disappointed with the time. The official time to the timing mats was 6:53, slightly faster than last year but the Garmin time with just the swim itself was closer to 6:39, which was actually slower than last year. And it wasn't like I hadn't worked hard. I was completely out of breath as I toddled to transition.

First transition was pretty clean and tidy but not very quick. Faster than last year though, so at least it was moving in the right direction. A handful of the faster swimmers were out on the bike, and everyone else from my heat was at least into transition by this point.

Out onto the bike and there were four of us together and trying to shuffle around each other without drafting, GB Vet, swim girl and a young guy with bright red hair. It took me about a mile to recover from the swim but once we got onto a faster section I started to pull away from the girls but the guy was a bit ahead of me. I finally recognised him from before as the kid who was wearing the Dundee Uni Athletics top so I figured he was possibly in my age group and could probably handle himself on the run. So I had to put some time into him on the bike. I closed up behind him just as we approached the dangerous left hander, then I took a rear wheel slide round that and got much too close to an oncoming car. I held it, nearly wet myself, then got straight back into my TT position and went past him. 

Then there is a bumpy bit of road that is really difficult to TT along because of the way if rattles the bike. Just as I came off my TT bars to handle that there is a left-hander, and a cameraman who obviously didn't allow for how far you need to lean a TT bike in to the apex to take a corner. I hope he got as much of a scare as I did, I guarantee he felt the breeze as I swooshed past him a lot closer than I want to admit. Here is the photo he took, and a link to their website: www.activnorth.com.

About two-thirds of the way round the course there is a double back section at a roundabout. As I approached it I passed the leader coming the other way, with second and third close behind him. I checked the watch and then went round the roundabout. I passed the oncoming Dundee Uni guy within seconds of coming off the roundabout, having hardly put any time into him. I figured at this point I was within 90 seconds of the leading trio. Last years winner, his pal and the GB Junior. I still hadn't put much into Dundee Uni, but from here the course really suited me and in the last 2 miles I managed to make about 30 seconds on him. I even managed to get out of my shoes on the bike while still keeping the pace up. Dismount was a bit slower than I would have liked but wasn't bad.

Quick check of the watch, I know I have hammered last years bike time, and must have gone close to the fastest time by anyone last year. It turns out I was 5 seconds under last years fastest time, nearly 2 minutes quicker than my own time from last year but the kid that wins had gone another 15 seconds faster than that, and his pal almost a minute quicker. I am still happy with my bike time. 

Into T2 was good. I racked my bike, remembered my helmet, right shoe on, left shoe - cramp - try left shoe again - cramp - third time? - ok, shoe is on but left hip is twitching. And out the other end of transition, just as Dundee Uni arrived at the entry.

My plan was to go hard to this point and then see what was left. Turned out to be not-a-lot. I have been running well lately but I knew I was going to be struggling at this one. I gave what I had but I was just empty. Dundee Uni came past me before the first mile and went scooting off into the distance in no time. Then I started catching back markers from the slower heats. I knew I was well clear of anyone else from my heat but last year I lost a place to someone from an earlier heat who had a great bike-run, so I knew I had to keep pushing all the way through.

I ended up running 15:40. Almost exactly what I had predicted and within a few seconds of my previous attempts at this course. Enough to hold on to my 5th spot overall. Dundee Uni did turn out to be a Senior, so I was 2nd Senior. So despite going 2 minutes faster than last year I still ended up in exactly the same position. Less prizes this year though, so winners only, and no snazzy little trophy to stack alongside the one from last year. 

Overall I am happy enough. I am disappointed with the swim time, and that lost minute probably cost me the chance to get more involved in a race with GB Junior and maybe get far enough out of sight of Dundee Uni that he might have chased less hard. Happy about most of the bike, but climbs still need work and I should have had smoother effort levels in some parts. 

Race Preview - Forres Novice Triathlon

Previous relevant blogs:
2014 Race Preview
2014 Race Report
2014 Full results

Bearing in mind that they were done on mountain bike courses rather than the current road bike course the following are only partly relevant, but still interesting in terms of development.
2013 Race Report
2012 Race Report


From reading all of those I seem to come out of Forres every year with a slower swim time than I expect going in. At least this time that won't come as a surprise. I have declared 6:00 mins for a 400m swim but I would have to have a perfect day to get that. My current PB is 6:25 from Alford, but that has more turns in it than a standard race. My current 25m pool PB is 6:37* from last year's Forres Novice. I have already gone very close to that during normal training swims in the middle of much longer sessions. 

Year on year I have taken my Forres Swim time from 7:29 to 7:01 to 6:37, so it isn't unreasonable to think that another year of improvements will have brought me close to 6 mins. I suspect it is going to come down to how long I can keep tumble turning when I am trying to thrash along at full sprint pace. At Mondays pool session I managed a 200m rep in 3:09. With a load of race tricks to add on top of that I think I should go through in under 3 mins. Whether I can back that up with a second 200m is still up for grabs.

I can be slicker through T1. There are a couple of seconds to save here.

On the bike I only have last year to compare against as the previous races were on a different bike course. I took 26 minutes to get round. The fastest time was 24:40 so it doesn't look like there is much for me to gain here. But it is a less than 8 mile course which is not hilly or difficult for handling, so I should be looking at a 20mph average or better on the bike, unless the weather intervenes. That would mean coming in inside 24 minutes. 

Based on what I have been doing for TT races lately I should be managing that. The Deeside TT on Tuesday night should have given me an idea of how hard I can push on the bike during a race that lasts just under an hour. Instead I am going to have to rely on my 10-mile TT data and the idea that I can't work quite that hard on the bike, and still be able to run, but without any idea of how much less to push. 

I doubt I can save much in T2. I could make T2 worse if I decide not to wear socks in T1. 

The run is the same as it has been for the last 3 years. My times have always been somewhere in the 15-minute bracket. That is still likely to come out about the same. If I can find a run at the 6 min/mile pace that I would need to colck a faster time then that is a sign that I haven't worked hard enough on the swim and bike. 

From last year's top-7, only myself and the kid that wins it each year is on the current entry list. He is now 18, which may still keep him out of my age-group. If he hasn't improved much then he should give me a good target as he is a slightly better swimmer and was a slightly better cyclist, so if I can get close to him by T2 I will be really pleased. I do then expect him to run away from me though. The race is only half full and they will take entries on the day so the field could get much tougher yet. 


*The official result of 6:59 includes getting out of the water and out across the car park to the timing mats.

Training Plan - Week 25 - Jun 15 to 21

Back to racing this week. Forres Novice is one of my favourite races. Partly because it is really short, and partly because I normally finish towards the top of the field. This year it is one of two chances I get to put in a fast 400m swim time. 

Also I am going to do Deeside 18-mile Time Trial on Tuesday night. As with last week I am going to take this one more as a course recce for next year and a chance to work on my handicap numbers for future races. 

I have built the rest of the week around those two but there are several flexible sessions to sort as I see how I feel through the week. The Great Inverurie Bike Ride is an option for Sunday if I dont fancy the Kintore Sunday ride. Either of those could drop out depending on how I feel after racing Saturday. 

Thursday I may go through to Elgin and do a junior track session or I may stay here and do the Kintore cycling session. 

I also have a few other things to fit around this week. Dental check up, meeting at the dole office, job fayre, interview... None of them particularly major but all of them just make it slightly more complex to fit everything in.


Monday - Run.
Core session.
Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Deeside Thistle 18-mile Time Trial. 
Yoga session.

Wednesday - Run.
Longer swim at Knockburn. 4 laps.
Weights and core sessions.

Thursday - Kintore Thursday session.
or Track session.
Stretching session.

Friday - Rest day.
Yoga session.
Stretching session.

Saturday - Forres Novice Triathlon.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday - Lite.
or Great Inverurie Bike Ride.

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.