El Amparo walk

Yesterday we arrived in Icod De Los Vinos on the northern side of Tenerife. After the travelling we walked down to the beach at San Marcos and then struggled back up the hill. That was enough exercise. However  today, after looking around the town I needed a bit of pointless effort.

I planned a route from Icod to El Amparo along a farm track but noted found that it was locked from the the road. I continued the march uphill and just outside El Amparo found a downhill road. Quite soon I met a man moving fruit and asked him if I could walk to Icod. He said that it was possible. Before I moved on he gave me some plums from his basket which was a generous gesture.

A little below the small holdings the path petered out into a stripe of dust but below that some very well made paths were visible above the terraces and so I pushed on.

I started to become concerned that I was approaching the 'wrong side' of the locked gate I'd seen on the ascent as I mapped sought the route on the ground below and it headed directly to it! A few minutes later I knew that to be true and I was stopped in my tracks by a seriously high gate. I contemplated climbing it for only a second and approached a building to beg to belt out. Unfortunately there was no one answering the door, even though a pickup was parked outside.

The route bak uphill, past some snarling dogs and back down the road was not at all appealing and so I chose to take a track past some rather rough looking farm  buildings. I was thrilled to find the path continued towards another road in Icod. I though that at least I'd have a simpler chance at climbing out or asking for help. Even better, there was a steel gate, just afar, leading onto a cul-de-sac.

A bit of Googling once safely back at the hotel revealed that the closed land is part of a state-funded educational centre with a bit of record for under-performing. Perhaps the open gate is a nod to public access?

August 2015 Week 4 Session 1

This swim was hard work. First, it's my third swim in five days and my arms were distinctly tired. Second the pool was moderately busy so I had trouble maintaining my pace. Sometimes I had to slow up, occasionally I made an effort to go past.

The body of the swim was 6x 233m with snorkel for the first half to reinforce technique. The pace for the blocks was reasonable considering that I covered 1400m.

After the sets I did two cooldown lengths. A length of legs only was awful, I barely moved forwards and had to abandon it. It was notable though that my legs were high as I could feel my feet breaking the surface. Then finishing off with arms and legs was even worse. Using the pull buoy is great until you stop; at that point it's as if you're being pulled to the bottom of the pool.

August 2015 Week 3 Session 3

I'm making fair progress through my August swimming programme and this morning I managed to make a reasonable job of increasing the intensity in steps between sets.

Pace is grey and strokes in yellow

For the 4 supersets I managed small, but clear, increases in pace between the supposed slow, medium and fast sets. The slow sets were swum rather too leisurely, I suppose to help make the increase in effort, and that might explain whey the stroke count is higher; really I was being inefficient.

It's interesting that the longer set, completed with a snorkel, is at the fast range of pace. I'm finding that I can focus on catch fairly well when there's no issue with breathing. I suppose the whole idea of the superset is to reinforce good arm positioning and effort and then try to maintain it when breathing is introduced.

For the first 3 supersets I maintained my pace well but for the 4th I was clearly tiring. Very importantly I've recorded a clear increase in pace for these sets over the first 3 weeks of the programme. I hope I'm able to carry on doing that.

Circuits

This evening's circuit session was a refreshing change. Many of the stations were as usual but the inclusion of some single leg deadlifts and descending lunges worked the upper legs very well. Concentric contraction of the hamstrings and gluten and eccentric contraction in the quads should be far more frequent parts of my strength training.

The run there and back went pretty well too showing that I usually have a background of tired legs. Actually, for the first few hundred metres by legs felt very tired, they must have just been asleep and not expecting to run!

August 2015 Week 3 Session 2

Today's swim set was base on increments from 100m to 500m, the same as last week but with shorter rest intervals. Being in a rush, I managed to forget the 'technique focus' element which might explain why I was done in under 50 minutes. The watch mis-recorded 2 lengths across the session but I consider that the errors cancel each other out in the end! The rests were a little shorter than programmed which is fine especially as I was largely able to maintain pace from the beginning to end of the session. The pace was clearly better than last week, although that was after the long run! There is an improvement from Week 1 too.

At the end I did try some kicking whilst lying and noted that with my face down my feet were breaking the water. When I add arm action or move my head it seems that the feet become an anchor. Whilst it's great to zoom along with the pull buoy one day I'll have to try to get the dangling legs organised.

August 2015 Week 2 Session 3 and Week 3 Session 1

At the end of the week I've squeezed in 2 swims so managed a full three! I've accomplished the programme now that the kit list is shorter and consistent between sessions.

In Session 3 I achieved the progression of effort although the first set had the best pace altogether. In today's routine the 200m sets seemed very achievable and I think I'm managing the high elbow fairly well. With the snorkel I think it's now fairly easy and can get a good (for me) pace. Including rightside breathing drops the pace by 10s/100m and I fear that my stroke is a little asymmetric; which I suppose is inevitable.

At the end of the sessions I've done a few lengths without the pull buoy and then my legs feel even heavier than ever before!

I think I'm a little slower than last week but I have done 3 swims in quite close succession within 6 days of a 30 mile run...

August 2015 Week 2 Session 2

Today's set was a sequence of 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m and 500m wrapped in a few technique lengths. I thought I was going along fine but the final figures show that I was going almost 20% slower than last week. This set is supposed to be relaxed and aiming for rhythm rather than  speed but the underlying concept must be to find a nice efficient way of making progress.

My morning resting heart rate has been dropping since Sunday but it is still elevated so clearly still a background of fatigue. At least I've been and done it.