Easing back in

Very gentle hour on the turbo trainer today. Enough effort to give myself a work out without putting too much stress on my muscles. Pain is always and indicator of overdoing it. I know some people want pain because it builds muscle, however, it's not good to rip them to shreds. I'm in a recovery phase at the moment. Being gentle on yourself and having a nice steady workout, that doesn't hurt can assist with recovery. I also added some creatine to my water. That stuff is brilliant. It really takes the aches out of your muscles, so hopefully, later this week I'll be able to get another 70k ride in.

Recovery is part of training

Taking advice from some of my old training gurus from the UK. A big part of your training is recovery and if you don't take time out after heavy training (or even heaps of moderate training) your regime can become counter productive. 

Soooo I took a day off today. It's unlikely after 18 hours of training over two weeks, I'll be ready to smash out anything hard. Athletes train in cycles and week three tends to be the take it easy week. That's what I intend to do.

Ouch!!

Gotta lay of cycling for a bit. 300ks now in two weeks, 200ks in the space of 5 days at one point, and my quads are suffering.

Today's 20ks is the last for a few days.

Timing is important

My aim is to do 150ks on the bike every week. Your mileage total varies, however, depending on what day it is. After yesterdays ride, my weekly total was at 207ks, 'cos I did 75ks last Tuesday and did a further 125ks through the. That's now down to 137ks 'cos a week has now elapsed since I did the 75ks. Pretty pleased with myself though 'cos it's years since I've totalled that amount in less than 7 days.

Bloomin' peeing it down at the mo so it's 20ks on the Turbo trainer today.

Shall I shan't I - nah!!

Okay, after yesterday's 50ks I thought I'd put my legs through less toil today and did 20ks. I surprisingly felt strong considering the amount of fitness I've been doing. I got to the top of the climb at 10k turning point and thought, I could make this a 30k and go further. Was getting late though so my plans were halted by daylight left.

I feel like I'm eating like a pig and giving into temptation to ice cream - which I shouldn't 'cos those are quick calories. I totalled them, though, and I am burning more than I'm putting in.

Hills are your friend

I read on a blog today, when cycling, hills are your friend. So, as I was pookling up the 650 meters worth of climb, I kept in mind, this friend is shaping my butt and thighs. It was a good motivator. Normally when I'm going up hills, it's all about getting to the top. The mindset helped me stay in the moment more and make me focus on how climbing was helping me improve my fitness, rather than the usual, 'Am I there yet?'

Day 10

Got my workout out of the way early. It's a good plan 'cos I tend to spend the day fixating on it if I don't. I did a 2k swim which was a bit harder today due to clicky shoulders.

New music

If it wasn't for Spotify I don't think I would get on the Turbo Trainer. What I notice is the faster the music, the faster I pedal. Music really motivates you and takes away the boredom.

Stretchy

Another turbo session. Guess it's easy when the bike is sitting there ready to be hopped on. Kind of thinking, though, need to do something else.

I've not noticed any physical changes as yet. Maybe that's because I've been keeping up the fitness all year and the old bod takes longer to respond to having greater physical demands put on it. One thing I did notice today was greater flexibility. Still in my cycling shoes, I was able to touch the floor while stretching the hamstrings. Hopefully that means my joints will cope better next time I go for a longer ride,

The easy

Now I've upped the ante, I need to think about the impact of all this on my body. I still haven't lost 10kgs, so I still have a lot of excess body fat sitting on my joints. That means sore neck, sore hips and sore knees. The massage was well-deserved although it was not the type of massage the smiling lady on the cover of the spa pamphlet was getting. Oh no. It was a dig in with your elbows on very sore parts of your body.

I finished this week's regime with a moderate 45 minute spin. That puts me at about 850kms to go to reach my 1000km target.

The Biggy

I haven't done a long bike ride since Taupo. Today was the day. I was a little nervous because last time I did the ride, my neck got stiff and it made climbing Ararimu Hill impossible at the end.

Today was fine although my joints are now reminding me that stretching and core conditioning are very important.

Interesting, I had a peek back on last year's blog. I'm heaps fitter this time round. Day 6 was a 50 minute walk last year. This year it's a 75k bike ride. No way would I have managed 75ks on the bike last year.

Going Strong

To say I've done 5 hardish sessions, I'm not suffering at all. Legs are a tinsy bit achy following yesterday's pump but I didn't notice it while I was on the Turbo Trainer today. I class an hour on the turbo as 20ks so my tote is 60km. Going for the biggy tomorrow, 75ks.

I've not been paying much attention to diet which I need to start doing if I'm going to get 10kgs off. Haven't weighed myself either, so haven't got a clue whether it's having an effect. Manana!!

Day 4

I'm calling this post Day 4 because it's day 4. Did my first Bodypump class in ages and found it remarkably easy considering it's a new release and meant to be a killer. Didn't crank up the weights too much 'cos I'm kitesurfing tomorrow and need to save my legs for a longer bike ride.

Much more motivated today. Managed to get out of bed in time to get to the early morning class. Putting your gear out the night before definitely helps.

Never too late!

Scorching day and the dread of dehydration lingers on my mind. I'm like, I don't want to train in this heat. It's day 3 and I'm thinking I'm gonna fail already.

I've upped the ante this year. Walks don't count and the minimum exercise time is 45 minutes. Motivation today was lacking. None-the-less, I did 50 minutes on the turbo trainer and once I got into it, as always, it wasn't the chore I anticipated it would be.

Setting your stall out in increments is always a good strategy on the days you can't be bothered. Getting dressed straight into your cycling gear is a good start. Next step is to put the bike into the trainer. One small step to actually getting on the flipping thing and peddling. Best fun, I guess was setting up the playlist on Spotify to listen to whilst training. It took me 'til 20:19, but I did it.

Grinding the pedals

Oh boy. Today was a struggle. I'm pretty sure I had one of these days last year but it wasn't day 2!!! Tiredness certainly caught up with me I by 1pm I was in Migraine City. I'm guessing it was a combination of still winding down from work and recovering from a bit too much end of term drinking. Determined, however, I dragged myself out and had a 20k pookle on the bike. Of course, when I got back, having revitalised myself, I felt like doing more. Ah well, save it for tomorrow.

I've set myself a target of 1000ks on the bike over the hols. 980ks to go.

Back to the Treadmill.

It's hard to believe it's been a year since I did my 41 days of fitness. In case you didn't read last year's blog, over the summer hols I aimed to exercise everyday for between 30 and 60 minutes and eat sensibly. That meant doing anything from walking, to a hilly bike ride or hard core gym session, and cutting out foods with added sugar. I didn't count calories or get on the scales each day, just noted the physical changes and feeling of well-being. It kick-started a fitness journey. This time last year I never thought I'd do the Taupo Round the Lake Challenge in less than 3hrs 30!!!

It wasn't just about competing in bike races. There were loads of other benefits, like being fit enough to last more than three hours on the ski slopes. For me that's what life is about. Being able to do the things you enjoy and have an active lifestyle.

This year's gonna be badass. I'm aiming to train harder and do more this year with a few goals in mind. I want to master kite surfing this summer and that does require a decent fitness level. I also want to get next year's Round the Lake time down to 3hrs. Sounds a lot but it only needs me to increase my speed by 3kph. Losing 10kgs would be the most effective way of getting my speed and endurance up. It would also decrease the physical strain on my joints, which I've got to confess, slows me down more than muscle fatigue.

Added into the regime has to be an element of looking after your body, so I need to Keep a strong core and minimise the aches and pains. Lucky I found myself a good masseur.

Today I got off to a good start with a 2000m swim. Hope I can keep it up!!