Back riding

Well apart from a weeks holiday at Mt Maunganui late last month, I now been for a half dozen or so rides over the last few weeks.

I've gradually picked up the distances and today rode my longest yet of 21 km, in 64 minutes.

The plan at the moment is to keep riding 3- 4 times a week at least through to early April when we lose our day light savings hour. This is due to be riding after work usually between 6 & 7 pm.

You can follow my training on dailymile which i've also got a link to in the side bar at right.

In need to get back into some strength training also , just a matter of finding time. That will probably need to be an early morning thing as I just can't see where else I would fit that in. Problem there is its difficult to throw weights around in the garage while the rest of the household is sleeping. Will just have to use nice slow movements i guess. There's plenty of exercises where you can just use your own body weight as resistance anyway so there are always options.

Not sure about running yet, still seem to have a niggle in the ankle which would likely flare up again once i started running again.

I'll close with some holiday snaps from beautiful Mt Maunganui.



Sam and I on our way to the summit.


Just started the climb and already worked up a sweat


View from the top


Then its time to relax on the beach - sorry to those suffering under winter snows.

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Winter cross-training plan

With my race season (aka the Xterra) behind me I've had to quickly come up with a new training plan for the next few months as the longer I stay inactive the harder it seems to get back into a training schedule.

So here's the plan;

Its time to dust of the Exercycle which hasn't really been used for a year or so. Minimum two workouts a week. - 45 - 60 minutes

A weekly bike ride on the road - 60 - 90 minutes.

I will also be re-introducing myself to the swimming pool for one or two swim session a week - will alternate IE swim Mon, Fri, Wed, Mon etc etc).

I haven't swam in the last year so it will take a bit if building up to a decent workout. Will build this up to 30-40 minutes over the next month.

Swimming remains one of the most efficient forms of fitness training I know of and even one or two sessions a week combined with the biking I should remain in okay condition.

Still no date in mind for returning to running and with winter nearly here I'm in no rush. I still feel that my heel isn't right and would just play up again after 20 - 30 minutes of running. It still aches even now when I put my running shoes on either for a long walk or just mucking around playing soccer with the boys at the park.

I continue to stretch when I can, though I have not been as disciplined about this as I could be. It's not the most exciting way to pass the time is it?

With any luck time will heal these little niggles and while I continue to swim and bike to maintain some fitness. I'll perhaps pencil in the spring to commence some running again.

I've enjoyed the challenge of mountain biking this summer and I'll hopefully continue with this next summer also. Hopefully though it will be in addition to some running races also as at the end of the day I think I'm a runner at heart. It's running that I still desperately want to be able to do again. More on that later.

Have a good week.

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Last weeks training and something to train for

As per the cross training plan I outlined at the start of January, I've really got stuck in over the last month and clocked up some decent miles on the road, biking that is. As you may have noticed, at the bottom of the side bar on the right I keep a running tally of the mileage I've covered for the year. As you can see it's now up over 100 miles.

Usually I get in four rides a week and last week that consisted of two shorter 35 minute rides during my lunch hour, a longer ride yesterday with another shorter recovery ride today for a total of 36 miles. You can check my training log in the navigation bar at top of the page for a detailed account of the years training, week by week together with links to the rides (and hopefully runs)that I complete.

Each week I'll try and emulate what a normal runners training programme might look like, that is with one hill ride a week, a weekly long ride and a recovery ride (flat easy pace). Not sure about a tempo ride as usually I try to maintain as steady a speed/tempo as I can for the duration of the ride.

As with running it helps to have a goal or perhaps a race to train for and to keep the motivation up where it should be. So with that in mind I'm seriously considering entering the Xterra Rotorua MTB challenge being held on 18th April.

I've never raced before and the only true off road mountain biking I've done has been just muck around stuff with Michelle or the kids. The plan at this stage is to head out to the Woodhill Bike Park at least once a month for a serious MTB ride and I'm confident that the rest of my training can be done on the road. There's plenty of hills around my work to train on so I'm confident that I will be fine on the hills.

In case you missed it, check out the recent posts at the right side bar for a flashback to the 2006 Auckland Half Marathon. There's also a post there on the build up and what led to me starting this running caper.

Have a good week and all the best to Chad's Cardinals in the NFL final today.

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Biking vs Running

As I mentioned in an earliet post, I took my mountain bike into work this week with the intention of leaving it there so I could go for rides during my lunch breaks. It worked well and I went for three rides during the week each of around 30 minutes in duration but still long enough to work up a good sweat, particularly in the hot and humid weather we've been having this last week.

My ride on Friday was the harder of the three rides. I left my office in Newmarket, cut through Newmarket Park and down onto Shore Road, along to Orakei Road , into Ngapipi , past the boatsheds and on to Tamaki Drive. Then it was upto The Strand, past the Tennis Centre and into the Domain. There were a couple of short climbs to this point at Shore Road and again on Ngapipi but the climb from the Tennis Centre straight up into the Domain to the duck ponds was a killer. I eventually got to the top before coasting back around to the Grandstand for a cool down and stretch. Sorry no flash maps today!

So after three rides this week I'm feeling better about potentially just concentrating on my biking for a few months just to give the body a total rest from the stresses of running. The ultimate goal is to get back to running, but if I can't run at the moment then I'm happy to take up biking in the meantime. It gives me just as good a workout and the feeling of challenging myself to improve with each ride is just the same as with running.

This week I'm on leave from Tuedasy to Thursday as Michelle is back at work after her holiday break. I'm planning a trip with the boys up to a local Mountain Bike park for some off road riding.

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Back into my Crosstraining.

Today I made the first tenantive steps back into some cross training. I took my mountain bike into work today and during my lunch break I went for a 30 minute ride.

The sun was out and it was a beautiful hot day and I am in Auckland so it goes without saying there's going to be some hills too.

The ride was just over 5 1/2 miles or 9 km. I enjoyed being back outside doing some exercise. Its been a few months since I've done any but I didn't feel like I was that unfit, though I did have to chop right down to the low gears on some of the hills (I think the hills are a bit steeper over your side of the bridge Andrew!).

I've spent a few days trying to work out how I was going to fit in some exercise and ended up opting for the lunch time rides. I'll just leave my bike at work during the week and ride 3-4 lunch time a weeks. I have also thought about starting swimming again as I've found that to be extremely efficient for building fitness in the past. Once a week should do it.

I'm also starting up my stretching again in the evenings. Though I'm no longer do any Bikram Yoga classes, I basically know all the poses so will include a few of those in my nightly stretching routine. It will be like my private little Yoga session without the oppressive heat.

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