Red shoes retired

I bought a pair of size 44 RocLite 295s in the hope that they wouldn't aggravate my right ankle as much as the size 45 pair. After 76km I came to the conclusion that really they were too tight and were squeezing the bones of my foot together on the right and hitting my toe nail on the left. Although Inov-8 claim that they are the same fitting as the obsolete 315s I believe that they are narrower as I was satisfied with 315s in a size 44.

After seeing that used running shoes struggle to reach £5 on eBay it seemed wise to give them to the local charity shop so someone can get use from them.

I think I have to accept that my already-wide feet are getting wider... and that red shoes don't suit me!

April 2016 Week 4 Session 1

I arrived at the pool feeling slightly overfill from breakfast and rather lethargic as I'd driven there rather than walked (I had a parcel to collect...). The warm-up was the slowest in ages which isn't all that surprising and each length felt hard work I could feel the tiredness in my legs from yesterday's run and they seemed more 'sink' than usual.

Anyway, once I got started on the main routine with the pull buoy things felt better. The watch and I managed to lose count a few times so I ended up doing a few extra lengths. My pacing was good although it is surprising how varied my strokes per length figures are in view of the regular pace.

Some of the higher stroke counts are related to adjusting to other swimmers in the pool and also just moving my arms differently to ease muscle tiredness. I can tell I've improved since week 1 as the first time I did this set I struggled to finish whereas today I pulled out some extra power to overtake someone - that was recorded at a sub 2:00min/100m pace!

Generally a satisfactory outcome considering that this has been a hard week of swimming (and running).

Four swims this week, a record distance

Stanage edge of control

The last time that I ran along Stanage Edge I twisted my ankle which fortunately healed uneventfully. I'm still having trouble with my right ankle which is now an issue that's persisted over a year and I think that this makes me a bit unsteady, this raising the prospect of damage elsewhere. Anyway, with a bit of care today's run was uneventful.

The new Stanage pole  has been set into a cast iron base which is very impressive and worthy of Sheffield's industrial heritage.

As this was a long slow run I was very cautious with my heart rate and the data show that I controlled that very well.

Towards the end of the run I tired quite noticeably and even a Chocolate Chip Clif Bar was unable to give me more energy. This is the longest run I've done in many months so it was bound to be hard work especially as Stanage and Burbage edges are both hard work due to the uneven terrain. My pacing was therefore nothing like as well controlled with marked decline through the run!

It must have been hot weather too. I tend to put between 500m and 750ml in the drinking bladder with an electrolyte tablet and even after a number of sips I return wit most of it. Today I don't recall being  especially thirsty but noticed near home that I'd run out of water, either that or the pipe was kinked.  As I tidied up my kit it was evident that I'd drunk the volume I'd taken.

My right ankle was also rather tiresome as there is distinct soreness in the peroneus longus. I feel its the lower end of the muscle rather than the tendon so hopefully nothing too serious. It's a few weeks until my next physio appointment so I'll have to see if a combination of rollering, massage and ankle loosening exercises can do something to it.

April 2016 Week 3 Session 3

I couldn't expect any records today after 2 hours exercise yesterday. The Spike set is hard work and I faded through the session so that my last 'fast' set was at th average pace for the whole session. However the first two 'fast' sets were at a pace of 1:57min/100m and 2:01min/100m respectively so the 2:00min threshold is being chipped away.

Short sets of high effort are clearly at a faster pace

On the whole I managed to be 8s/100m faster on the 'fast' sets than 'slow' throughout the session which shows that I was making an effort. Reviewing the data I noticed that I'd missed a couple of the sets...

April 2016 Week 3 Session 2

I managed to keep count of the sets today and so completed session 2 correctly. I'd hoped that the 'fast' lengths would be faster than 2:00min/100m but the best I managed was 2:01min/100m pace for a single length. Really I couldn't have expected more as it's quite a long routine and I have to keep going for over an hour. This isn't an 8 minute time trial! Even on the last fast length I managed 2:06min/100m pace which is a few seconds better than last week - and after greater distance.

SWOLF against swims

Just to look at longitudinal gains I've plotted SWOLF for the last 100 swims and there's a clear downwards gradient. The early sessions had fins and all sorts of things to disturb consistency and there are short pools and other oddments that I've not bothered to edit out.  Certainly over the last 50 events almost all swims have been with the pull buoy and if anything this is where the pattern is clearest.

Are you training for an ironman?

This was surprise question for me as I left the pool feeling very weary. The questioner was half my age and a little bit faster although he seemed to take more breaks. He claimed to have done 100 lengths but I'd only done a few more than that and was going more consistently. Anyway I assured him that I wasn't, just learning really.

The long session was hard today and although I'd hoped to go a bit faster I ended on the same average speed for the last set that I did in Week 2. I was clearly faster throughout than in Week 1 with a good warm up pace. Perhaps only managing one swim last week has spoilt my consistency? I was thinking that a few months (28th January 2016) ago I was thrilled to beat the 5:30min barrier for the warm up 200m whereas now I'm eyeing up 5:00min. The last few sessions have been less than 5:10min so it's looking feasible to be broken within this 12 week programme.

Reasonably consistent pacing

Going slow

This morning's run brings the week's total to just over 30km which is still feeling a struggle after my enforced break early in 2016. I focussed on a gentle approach and watched my heart rate quite closely which is shown by the data.

 I was succesful in my plan to have maximum heart rate of around 140bpm and walked a number of the steeper ascents. Of course the result of this attention was a slow run, actually the slowest I've ever done this particular loop.

It's notable that in 2013 I was quite a bit faster. I don't think this was due to being 3 years younger or better fitness, more that I wasn't so aware training zone. I'll bet that I worked hard on that run, it was the first time I'd done the 'Blacka half' and I took a day off work to do it. I wasn't wearing the heart rate monitor, and didn't document how I felt, so we'll never know!