The training plan

So the last few weeks a couple things have happened. Non training related was my first dirt bike in a long time. That wasn't too bad. I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. We spent the night in the bush camping. I woke up to ice on everything but a great looking day. Was fun getting back out there and it looks like I will be out there again this weekend.

On the training front I spent last week just keeping fit and working with the physio on my foot issue. She has decided that I should get some orthotics to help with some rolling that I do while running. I also drop my hip on the left side as I run so I will need to strengthen that up as well. Apart from all that I have been rolling, taping, stretching and exercising as she requested.

Over the weekend I dropped in to see my coach and talk about the plan. We discussed all my races coming up and my goals. With that he has created my first couple of weeks of my real plan so it has officially started again. So far so good. I also received my plan from the gym's PT. I will try to keep up the gym work a bit more this time. I just need to make it part of my schedule and it should work out. The only issue I see so right now is the 4:30am start to get to the gym while it is so cold outside. Not fun but that's ok.

I also did my first outside ride in a long time on the weekend. It was just short of 50km and it hurt more than I wanted but I got through it. The body just needs to get used to it again.

Pre training plan days

This week has been an easy week. I got to have a long weekend so that's always nice. But what else has happened. Well I went to see a physio on Friday. While she did not know what was actually going on with my foot issue we have decided to treat it like plantar fasciitis. She taped the foot up which seemed to help a bit so maybe we are on the right path. I have another appointment to see her today so we will see what is said about that. For now I am not allowed to run.

With that news I have been swimming and doing a lot of riding on the new trainer. Its not bad. Hurts like you would not believe as you don't get any real coasting time as you do on the road but I guess that's a good thing. If I keep it up I might be a stronger rider yet. It was always hard to get motivated to be on a stationary bike but so far this new trainer has help. On the IM training front I am still waiting for the plan to be done. I know it is underway as we have entered in events we wish to do etc. I am still deciding on a couple yet. Guess it all depends on money and time. Apart from that I have had a couple of weeks with a personal trainer thanks to my gym. Its just the free program that you get when you join. The guy seems good. First week was a fitness and mechanics type of session. Nothing to hard but annoying enough. This week he showed me a bunch of things that would be in the plan he is making. It really smashed me. I might be able to swim, bike and run ok but I just can't lift. I would say I lift like a girl but I am sure there are a lot of girls that would lift better than me. Guess I will try to keep up with that this year also and hope that it helps.

One cool thing that happened. Well I think its cool as I didn't know what to do with all my stuff otherwise was I got all my IM NZ stuff framed. Well its back now and I think it worked out pretty sweet.

So that's my NZ one. Now I need to do Port Mac next year and get another one made up.

1st week of winter

So its been a slow week. Just keeping fit as much as I can. I haven't done a lot of stuff. A swim and run is mostly what I have done. Although I have a new toy. I found a Wahoo Kickr on ebay.

Sure its kind of hard to see in my bad image but its a nice trainer. So this weekend I picked it up and started playing around with software. Firstly it was created for apple in mind. So being an android person there are not as many apps available. But I believe recently they changed some things that allowed more people to write applications on a wide range of platforms which means that while apple has that market share there are more applications coming to compete.

After needing to use the Wahoo app to set it up I then started playing with whatever people suggested. Using an old ANT+ dongle I had from my old Garmin watch I could then connect an old PC to the kickr and have it control the resistance. It makes for a tough ride. Unfortunately I could only find one program that would allow me to trial the video training feature. That was kind of fun. I did mess up and selected riding around San Fran. Those streets are tough so it makes it hard to look at the shops go by remembering where you have been when your struggling up the hills. Near the top I remember thinking how much easier it was going up that hill on the tram. haha

Well I believe that I have decided on the application to use. BKool make what seems to be a nice product. You can easily import gpx tracks from your previous rides and it will make a virtual 3d track from it. Or if you are really keen you can use video and GPS to create a video track. I have already uploaded a couple of gpx files of old rides to see how it works and although I could only see the map and elevation not the 3d world it did make riding a trainer more interesting. So I will probably pay for that subscription so I can use the 3d side of things.

On the coach side of things I have found one. It actually wasn't the guy I was thinking of last week. I had a friend Mike who raced NZ with me. Well since he has had to give up running because of knee issues he said if I am looking for a coach then he is happy to do it. He used to coach me when I first started. He didn't coach me for the NZ IM as he was competing and didn't have time. So I know what he is like and it should work out well.

So now I just wait for the first plan to hit my Dropbox and we will be off.