Involuntary week off...

I had to go away last week for a few days to Marbella in Spain at the Andalucia hotel and was ordered to drink copious amounts of alcohol by my hosts, bummer! For those that know me well, will be aware that i don't do drinking very well. Anyway it was a great few days and also nice to take a bit of a break away from training.

I went back to training tonight and went for a good ride in the blustery weather we having at present, my times were way down but then i never trained in 60mph head winds.

I did some Co2 tables when i got back which went surprisingly well and i got through them with ease. Tomorrow will bring another similar days training and hopefully convert into a good pool session on Wednesday?

Max Attempts vs. Performance

Well, i thought i would try lots of max attempts in the hope of boosting my times back to where they should be but after doing a nice 5min 30sec STA, i went to the pool and it didn't go great. I used the same breath up as i did the day before and i gave up at 4min 30sec! I did place a 1min 40sec FRC hold before my last one but it just didn't work.

I have read before that max attempts should only be done once a week but i thought i would give it a try two days in a row and i felt tired. I'm going to try two or three max attempts next week in dry training to give it a bit more time but not the day before i train wet.

Dynamic session went o.k, again only 100mtrs but working on my turns which were really poor last week. This week they had improved.

5mins 30sec..Getting Back on Track.

The last weeks training has gone well, plenty of cycling, dry statics and tables with good results. One of the main things I'm doing is getting back to what worked for me last year and earlier this year. I have also just started max attempts which i'm going into everyday! (started today)

Breath up's were all 2/4/2 and i extended them each time to delay the build up of Co2...

2/4/2 breathing for 2mins (hold for 2min 30sec) no contractions
1min rest NTB
2/4/2 breathing for 3mins (hold for 3min 15sec) 2 contractions
1min rest NTB
2/4/2 breathing for 4mins (hold for 3min 30sec) 2 contractions
1min rest NTB
2/4/2 breathing for 5mins (hold for 5min 30sec) 27 contractions 8 packs

Whole exercise took just less than 32mins from beginning to end. I was really happy with the results and tomorrow I'm off to the pool to do the same, i might put in one FRC hold at the end before the last one to see what happens.

Tonights Pool Results

I only targeted myself with a 5min static and a 100mtr dynamic tonight which i carried off with no problems. I went back to doing things the way i used to and tonight was the beginning of getting back on track.

I'm not going to see immediate results from this but I'm sure in a month or so i will be back on the right track and tonight's performance was better than the last few weeks.

Static sessions went like this...
2min breath up no goggles with snorkel - 1min 50sec hold (no contractions)
2min breath up no goggles with snorkel - 2min 03sec hold (no contractions)
2min breath up no goggles with snorkel - 1min 19sec hold (no contractions) FRV HOLD
2min breath up no goggles with snorkel - 1min 36sec hold (no contractions) FRV HOLD
2min breath up 2/4/2 (face out of water) 3min hold (no contractions)
2min breath up 2/4/2 (face out of water) 3min 15sec hold (no contractions)
3min breath up 2/4/2 (face out of water) 5min hold (30 contractions)

The last hold felt a little ruff after 18 contractions and i packed slightly too much on the last hold which caused some discomfort for the first few minutes, overall i was fairly happy.

Dynamic was o.k but my turns were awful. I just couldn't get any of them right over the 100mtrs in covered. I then went into practicing my turns and again i found my legs and mono-fin flapping about out of the water! It felt very awkward and not at all smooth. Again i have to weight myself correctly now i am using the Foor Suit. Practice Practice Practice!!

Good Week...

A good week training so far, I've been doing the Co2 tables everyday and always following up with a crazy tables.

Bike stats were...
Ave Sp - 16mph
Dist - 4.99miles
Time - 18min 38sec
Max Sp - 22.3mph

All in all a good solid week getting back to some basics, into the pool tomorrow, I'm going back to some serious warm up holds and FRC warm up's.

Back to tables Back to basics...

Last night when i got home i had a good read through my blog and although I've never been a lover of tables i realised that my times and performances were always better after doing them. Sounds obvious i know but with that in mind i thought i would go back to some hard work on Co2 tables.

I went for a ride on my bike which went great, really enjoying my new route and i also put on a tri-athlete bar which i found helped massively on the straights, i could really get my head down and bring the speed up.

Bike stats were..
Ave Sp : 16.1mph (fastest yet)
Dist : 4.97miles
Time : 18.31sec
Max Sp : 22.3mph

I've totalled up 15 hours on my bike this year and covered 202 miles

As soon as i got home i went straight into Co2 tables and then straight into a 4min crazy table after. It felt good and i took 3mins of contractions on the crazy table which should put me back on track if i carry on. I did 2min 30sec holds (not 50% of PB but i will work up to this) and i also knew i wanted to do the crazy table at the end. Contractions started at 45sec on the crazy table as you start with empty lungs then i had one or two little sips of air every 15secs all the way up to 4mins until i was fully packed. Not my best but a good start.

Felt great after, i will carry on like this till the end of the year and get back in the pool next week.

Brick Wall......

My training tree has produced very little fruit over the past couple of months. I've tried changing things around, I've listened to all sorts of people, their advice and none have worked, in fact i have gone backwards!

Over the past couple of weeks i have even invested in some pranayama private lessons and done some pretty intense yoga lessons with a great guy called Paul, and whilst i understand the reasoning behind these techniques i have found no use for them at all apart from being a little more relaxed than i usually feel before a hold or dive.

For those that know me any type of this kind of training is laughable but i had to give it a try and it's not for me. Many people swear by it and make great gains with it and fair play to them. I'm more about physical gains, numbers and results. We are all born with the same body, internal organs etc we just have to work at it to be good. Some lucky people make it happen by strength of mind, others like myself have to work at it. After all Co2 is Co2 no matter what i do to my mind it's always going to build up and I'm going to have to deal with it.

I am changing things around as of next week and cracking on with what i know best, after all it got me 6mins 20sec STA and 133mtrs in DYN this year, i also won my first competition and ranked No1 in the UK in dynamic and No3 (same time as No1 but penalty points added) in static this year, my first year, so it must be working some how.

The main aim is to gain a higher base level of performance before year end and then go into 2010 at that level and build on it till April for a competition. Clarity in thinking is everything and over the past couple of months I've been as confused as a doorman with no one to punch!