July Training Update

Well July is over, although it felt like October at times due to rain and the cooler temperatures we got during the month, and as I am off on holiday in a couple of weeks I thought I'd try and get July's training update done before the end of August.

I guess one of the highlights of this months progress is the fact that I reached the personal weight loss goal that I set myself in January. As of the last week in July I had lost 5 stone and 2 pounds since the middle of January 2012 and now weigh a little under 12 stone. Yes, I'm actually quite pleased with that result - Its surprising what little things reinforce the change this has had on me, such as finding that I now need to check that a large size shirt isn't actually to big for me (I was a "snug" XXL in January)      

If you have read other posts on the blog you will know that I am working with Simon from Total Cycling Performance in respect of my training programme and that first impressions are that Simon's "Smarter Not Longer" philosophy in respect of the amount of time spent training is paying dividends. I can safely say since I have been working to to the training programme that Simon developed for me that I am stronger and have more endurance on the bike. Climbing is easier, average speed is going up and stamina is definitely improving.



Towards the end of the month I changed my working hours to facilitate being able to utilise Monday mornings solely for training and specifically longer rides on the bike. This in combination with the other changes to my training programme has seen me going up to 3-4 hours in the saddle, with only quick "water the flowers" stops and this type of time in the saddle is now fairly comfortable.      

The introduction of High Intensity Interval training into the programme has been both amusing and excruciatingly sickening. This element of my training programme is probably the one that I look forward to completing each week, quick fire sessions at maximum possible performance, followed by short "recovery periods" (trust me this phrase is an outright misrepresentation of what happens - "contemplation period" would be more accurate as all I seem to be doing is thinking about the next maximum performance session) completed over a 20 minute period can only be described as being hell on earth.

Why are the interval sessions amusing? without fail I always find it amusing that as a 50 year old man with a fairly responsible job, capable of making my own choices in life, that I choose to do this to myself at least twice a week. It's also amusing for the neighbours, because I always have the garage door open with the bike facing onto the drive and twice a week the neighbours can stand on the road or in their front rooms and watch a pixie on a bike torture himself to within 30 seconds of falling off in a heap of vomit and sweat.



So what was the month like in numbers?

32 training sessions completed during the month

Total training time was a little under 32 hours (so a little over an hour a day   on average)

Average heart rate during all training sessions was 129 beats per minute

Average maximum heart during all sessions was 154 beats per minute

13,300 calories burnt as a direct result of training sessions (so just under 4 pounds lost due to exercise completed)

Total weight loss 6.8 pounds

425 miles covered on the bike

As predicted in Junes training update, the amount of weight lost is now slowing up as my nutritional focus switches to a more carbohydrate focused diet to provide much needed energy for training. The bulk of this months weight loss was actually achieved early in July and it took most of the month to lose the last 2 pounds to sneak in under the 12 stone target.

What is interesting is that my body shape is continuing to change and whilst my weight is stabilising at around the 166-167 pound mark I am continuing to inches off of my waist and chest, Simon predicted this would happen - Maybe he knows what he is talking about! :) 

What am I looking forward to this month? Most of all I am looking forward to sitting in an airline seat and not feeling as though somebody allocated me a child's seat.

As always thanks for taking the time to read the Pixies ramblings and hopefully you will be able to find the time to visit the blog again in the future.

Dha weles diwettha

VP 

(Didn't think you were going to learn some Cornish today did you! - it says "see you later" )





      

May Training Update

Well May turned out to be a good training month and a good month for weight loss.

As of last week I now officially weigh 12 stone something, currently weighing in at 180 pounds. In round numbers, this means that I have lost a fraction over 4 stone (58 pounds) since the beginning of the year which is a result I'm quite pleased with.

I was curious to try and find a visualisation of what 58 pounds would look like and found this photo of a pike that weighed in at 60 pounds when it was caught.

What does 58-60 pounds look like?
Imagine carrying something that big around all the time.

I personally find it quite amazing that I was carrying that the equivalent of that pikes weight around on a daily basis at the beginning of the year. No wonder it was hard work trying to do any form of exercise!!  



The effect of this weight loss is really noticeable when I'm training with longer duration sessions for running, rowing and cycling being much easier to achieve.

May's target for total training was to continue to complete 5 hours a week of mixed training consisting of running, rowing and cycling.    

The second half of May was spent pretty much exclusively on the bike with the aim being to get in 5 or 6 sessions on the bike a week, and to gradually build up the duration of sessions and mileage covered. By the end of May, 20 +mile  sessions were coming pretty easy and the pain in the rear end has become much less of a problem. The goal for June is to be completing 30-35 miles a day regularly, 3-4 times a week and to complete a couple of 50 mile rides. 

The end of May was busy at work with quite a few days spent commuting into London for early morning meetings, which meant that early morning training sessions were difficult to fit in which is why the number of sessions completed peaked mid month (see figures below). This was off set to some extent by the fact that the sessions on the bike have been increasing in duration as the month has progressed.

The actual training numbers for May were as follows;

• 30/04 - 06/05: 8 training sessions, total of 5 hours 55 minutes
• 07/05 - 13/05: 8 training sessions, total of 6 hours 44 minutes
• 14/05 - 20/05: 12 training sessions, total of 9 hours 13 minutes
• 21/05 - 27/05: 9 training sessions, total of 7 hours 24 minutes
• 28/05 - 03/06: 7 training sessions, total of 7 hours 53 minutes

All in all, May has been a pretty encouraging month and if my cycling fitness continues to improve throughout the summer at the rate it has improved this month I should stay on course to achieve my target of completing a 100k sportive event by the end of September or early October.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you are able to find the time to come back and check the blog out on a regular basis.

All the best

VP