The week that was, the week ahead.

Right it's Sunday night and that means taking stock...

Review of week 25 (23-04 to 29-04)
Periodisation: Base Recovery Week

'Periodisation' refers to the period of training that I'm in with respect to my annual training plan. This week was essentially the last of my base training; the training you do each winter to train for racing in summer.

Weekly aims were:

1. Single high intensity session for each discipline; all other sessions at recovery intensity.
2. Push hard gears for 10MTT on Wed.
3. Sub 21:00 min for Park Run.
4. Planned number of hours = 10:45

Weekly aims achieved: get in there! Fell slightly short of planned hours (did 10:00) due to missing a swim session on Friday because of being tired due to work.

Physiological stats

Average Weight (kg) in morning: 71.6
Average Heart Rate (bpm) in morning: 41

Before getting up I take a resting heart rate whilst lying in bed. The reason being that an elevated HR (in beats per min) can point towards a potential problem e.g. fatigue, illness, tiredness etc. If it's between 40 and 42 I know I'm good; if it goes up to 50 or 60 I'll know something is up and think about taking it easy or taking day off training.

I also weigh myself (after a trip to loo) to check how dehydrated I am. I reckon my non-dehydrated weight is around 72kg. It's not uncommon for me to weigh less than 71kg of a morning which tells me that I need to get 500-1000ml of fluid in me before getting any serious training done.

Preview of week 26: 30-04 to 06-05
Periodisation: Build 1

Build 1 refers to the beginning of race-specific training. Basically this means a great proportion of my training will be of a higher intensity. The plan is to progressively build up to an 18 hour/wk peak around 2-3 weeks before the Island Games.

Weekly aims:

1. Two high intensity swim sessions (Tues & Sat)
2. High quality run session on track – 4/5 5 min intervals at race pace (Thurs)
3. Easy day Sunday – Peel 2 Douglas Run is on Mon 7th May.
4. Planned number of hours = 13