Doing it, not just talking about it!

Hi,
I'm still here
More than two years since the crash (in which I badly broke my shoulder), I am mostly "back to normal".
Or course, I am still in my 50s, so I have the issues from that ;-)

Anyway, while a basic test of fitness might be something like a Cooper Test (run one mile in twelve minutes - and, no, it isn't very hard), a better test of my current ability might be just how far can I run.

So I did.
Two days ago -  and here it is on Strava (at top of post)

How Well Am I Recovering From The Crash?

Power figures from my Tacx trainer.
The first bar is before my crash, the second is afterwards.
Of course, I bought the trainer in the first place because I was having back problems,
so BOTH sets of figures are down on my "fit" state :-)
Also you can see various extimated typical power levels for athletes of various descriptions.

So there you have it.
A bit of "hard data", rather than just me saying this or that,
I did my first 60 minutes seeion since the crash earlier today.
A Hi-Lo session, with 60 seconds at about 200w, then a 4 minute recovery at about 90W, then repeat until six intervals have been done.

Bizarrely, this Hi-Lo caused my 60 minute power to actually be a tad higher than before the crash!

My arm was a bit sore at the end of the 60 minutes. I still can't take the weight properly with it, so I variously rest it on the bars and hold the elbow on the other side to take the weight of my arm off my shoulder.
And yet I still scored more on the 60 minute test than before my crash!


Progress indeed!

So, onwards and upwards!

Review of 2016

Mixed results for the year!

I brought up my Garmin Connect summary today for the last 12 months.
It tells a fine story of how my year went.
There is some more mileage not shown here, because I don't usually record the short bike commute I do to work and back.
Plus I am crosstraining with some running for much of the year, as well as some "Strength" workouts, so this is just the cycling, but it demonstrates the year rather well.

Anyway, onto the graphic.
Respectable February and March. A few longer rides. I remember a cold ride to Oxford in February, :-)
Then I got in my first "metric century" in March.
the end of March also brought news of the success of the diet that my local health clinic had advised me to go on.
At Easter I went away with high hopes for a vacation of superb training, but returned exhausted and ill :-(
April didn't go well :-(
May brought a new bike, which I then adapted a little to suit me.
June saw me concentrating on aero, weight, and riding in the local charity sportive, knocking an hour of last's years finishing time, and moving up the finishers' list from about 400th out of 500 to 200th out of 500. Moving up 200 places in a year, and knocking a hour off - wow, that was the highlight of the year!

But ...
I hurt my knee in the sportive on the final hill ...
So July and August sees me taking it easy to recover a bit.
By late August I was having back problems, and by September I was having to take time off work to deal with them. Struggling on like a Spartan just wasn't doing it any more, and I knew I just couldn't go on like this. So for the first time in seven years, I rang the boss and said I won't be in.

In September, I bought a turbo trainer, because the experts recommend walking and cycling for general back problems.
October and November show me using the trainer, and my mileage slowly going up again.
Indeed, by November I was good enough to go out on an "exploring" ride along the local canal path and a couple nearer to where I live, showcasing the local cycle infrastructure, warts and all.

The mileage dropped off in December because I only got 9 days cycling in.
On December the 9th, I crashed, breaking my shoulder blade, and getting a free lunch in the local hospital for a week (and a titanium plate fitted in my shoulder)


And that brings 2016 to a close.
Stepping back from it being me, and just looking at it in general terms, I could suggest that "over-enthusiasm" played a part in my breaks in training.
I was probably trying to do too much at Easter, and ended up doing less than I would normally do if I hadn't tried to do the extra!
Similarly, the crash happened on an insignificant minor back road wher I should have been cycling slower - the main "training" part of the ride was the category 3 hill I had climbed a little while before, so I should have been taking it easy on what was, essentially just a loop back to take me to the road home.

Having said all that, overall, it was a good year, and the stand out point was that charity sportive in June!

Taking a Rest Day

Today's entry from my training plan. the description says it all!
(I use Training Peaks, premium, by the way)

No trainer time.
That's what my plan for today says.
Back to the same point I make again and again.
Correct Training + Correct Rest = Fitness Improvement.

Do you think Team Sky train hard 7 days a week?
Do you think Olympic athletes train hard 7 days a week?
(If you don't know the answer to this rhetorical question I suggest you research the matter!)

Am I just demotivated?
A "quitter"?

Far from it.
I'm itching to train today.
I am having to hold myself back.
And that is what folks without coaches need to do - hold themselves back sometimes.
A coach would tell you to have a day off.
But I gotta tell myself.
Even though I am on a "good roll".
Things are going well.
I pushed myself close to the limit without going over 4 times last week.
Two more days of shorter, slightly faster, sessions.
I trained well.

And that is why I am having a rest day.
Indeed, that is why it is on my calendar.
It was going to be yesterday, but I have a big day tomorrow (real life, and all that!), so it made sense to train yesterday, and take the break for today, then I will be fresh for tomorrow.

So, by all means, have a bit of flexibility in Rest Days.
I do.
Just don't miss them out entirely!

My 2017 Training Plan

A training plan, showing periodization targeted to produce peak performance on two specific dates in the year.

Above you can see a generic outlibe for an Annual Training Plan.
It uses "periodisation" - the most important rule of training. The idea is apparently a rather old one, with even the Ancient Greek sportsmen dividing their year up into three periods - preparation, competition, rest. Even the Greeks knew that there was no point being at your best in the "off-season" if you were past your best by the days of the actual competitions!

No good doing well in that optional minor event if you are too tired/injured to do well in the events that matter to you. Indeed, many professional athletes deliberately enter minor competitions, not to get easy wins, but as part of their training, and the minor competition is completed as a workout exercise, and to develop technique and tactics ready for the "big" events.
For example, in 2015, I rode the local 100 km (62 mile) charity sportive as an event in it's own right, but also as final training for the charity London to Brighton ride (the biggest longer-distance cycling event in the country), which happened a few weeks later. Both events also acted as training for the 232km (145 mile) "Randonneur" ride I did about 6 weeks later.

And that is the point of periodisation - to make your "best" period of fitness/ability coincide with your "competitions".