I kicked off the new year with a fair portion of training, as january consisted of 50 hours of activity. Today is the first complete rest day in 36 days..! Last week was scheduled for a lighter recovery week, but as the snow has kept pouring down, there was no leaving the skis unused! Hence this week i skied home from work every day, and last week 4 days out of five. It just is a great deal of fun, plus fantastic all round training for your body and you get to enjoy the nature. We usually do it together with my boss, and nothing beats beating a norwegian on skiis on his home soil :D but this casual after-work skier is a tough nail I can tell you... :) So the last week too the hours stacked up to a bit more than planned, but intensity was kept on the easier side for most part and included some weight work as well. Anyway, this week started a new 3 week building block, but yesterday I felt quite tired on the skiis so today was definitevely time for rest. Tomorrow we're heading out on an easy sunday skitrip with my wife, so starting next week energy levels should be up again.
I have decided to almost certainly not participate in any crosscountry skiing competition this year. I did the Birkebeinerrennet last year, and Finlandiahiihto the year before, which are both fantastic and massive events, and good tests to see your endurance level this time of the year. This year anyhow, I don't see it necessary in that regard, nor am I that a super-enthusiastic (no to mention skilled..) skiier, so I'll just keep on skiing for the training sake of it. One fun detail, I got to have a brief chat with legend Juha Mieto at Finlandiahiihto two years ago and there should be a photo of us in an earlier post :) what a great man. And he's HUGE!! :)
Just watched the Ironman TV- episode from Kalmar last year, nice to get a closer look at the venue I will make my second full distance next summer! It sure is flatter and cooler than Nice where I made my debut, but I sure got the goose bumps and the humbling feeling towards the distance again. We've got a long way to go, but as of now, things are really well on track!
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Saturday, 1 February 2014
Monday, 13 January 2014
Old name lives on
It seems I would have to get my own domain if I wish to re-address the blog permanently. Let's see if I ever bother to do that, so for now the url stays unchanged.
Let's have a brief update on where we are at the moment, and in the near future I'll post some more on my background. The big goal this year is Ironman Kalmar in Sweden. It will be my 2nd full distance after a satisfying debut 2012 at Ironman Nice. It was very much a learning adventure as I at the time still was quite fresh to the sport, and I feel much more confident today, having gained some training routines and knowledge, plus a bunch of olympic- and half-iron races the last season.
One dream got fulfilled last summer at Ironman 70.3 Haugesund, where I had a sub-5 hour performance as I aimed for. With the smallest of margin, 26 seconds though :) . Anyhow, it was my perfect race to date as I had a carefully thought-through game plan which I managed to execute flawlessly, apart from an awful swim. The result came with quite low training volumes and intensity, I think I made up for the lack with a successful peak and taper period. If I learned something from last season, it would be that you can do A LOT with good planning and thoughtful preparation.
We are now naturally in base season, where volumes and intensity are slowly increasing. I have included som weight work as well, which I have not done, at least in a proper manner, for years. It seems to give fast results (should run a test soon to see if it really has), and with an emphasis on leg and core workouts, I hope to see some improvement in bike power and endurance, to be transitioned to a smoother run as well. A stronger core hopefully also helps to maintain proper swim technique, but that is more to learning the technique itself first... my biggest weakness by far, still.
So this week is the third week of a 3+1 block, where ideally you should increase volumes the first three weeks and the last is rest week. Hence the differentiation 3+1. The last two weeks consisted of almost exactly the same hours, 9 in each so the ideal textbook thingie did not work out there but it really is not of big relevance to me, just log the hours needed and listen to your body. That formula seldom fails. Anyhow this week I am aiming for around 14 hours and throwing in some intensity work as well, as motivation is on top and training right now is sinking in really well. Then we have next week to recover with lighter training and muscle maintenance etc.
My goal for Kalmar Ironman is boldly to go as near as possible and preferably, sub 10 hours. I sure have my work cut out for me, so let's keep it going!!
Let's have a brief update on where we are at the moment, and in the near future I'll post some more on my background. The big goal this year is Ironman Kalmar in Sweden. It will be my 2nd full distance after a satisfying debut 2012 at Ironman Nice. It was very much a learning adventure as I at the time still was quite fresh to the sport, and I feel much more confident today, having gained some training routines and knowledge, plus a bunch of olympic- and half-iron races the last season.
One dream got fulfilled last summer at Ironman 70.3 Haugesund, where I had a sub-5 hour performance as I aimed for. With the smallest of margin, 26 seconds though :) . Anyhow, it was my perfect race to date as I had a carefully thought-through game plan which I managed to execute flawlessly, apart from an awful swim. The result came with quite low training volumes and intensity, I think I made up for the lack with a successful peak and taper period. If I learned something from last season, it would be that you can do A LOT with good planning and thoughtful preparation.
We are now naturally in base season, where volumes and intensity are slowly increasing. I have included som weight work as well, which I have not done, at least in a proper manner, for years. It seems to give fast results (should run a test soon to see if it really has), and with an emphasis on leg and core workouts, I hope to see some improvement in bike power and endurance, to be transitioned to a smoother run as well. A stronger core hopefully also helps to maintain proper swim technique, but that is more to learning the technique itself first... my biggest weakness by far, still.
So this week is the third week of a 3+1 block, where ideally you should increase volumes the first three weeks and the last is rest week. Hence the differentiation 3+1. The last two weeks consisted of almost exactly the same hours, 9 in each so the ideal textbook thingie did not work out there but it really is not of big relevance to me, just log the hours needed and listen to your body. That formula seldom fails. Anyhow this week I am aiming for around 14 hours and throwing in some intensity work as well, as motivation is on top and training right now is sinking in really well. Then we have next week to recover with lighter training and muscle maintenance etc.
My goal for Kalmar Ironman is boldly to go as near as possible and preferably, sub 10 hours. I sure have my work cut out for me, so let's keep it going!!
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