Virtual Park Run Saturday

Another day, another trot on the treadmill. I took part in one of the Zwift virtual park runs - or run in the park as they call them so as not to step on any toes, so to speak. I went at it pretty workmanlike and upped the pace little by little throughout. I still have next to bugger all speed but I'm making small gains week by week - especially now there's sod all else to do. If I'm honest though, I could get used to being a hermit. After all this is over, in 12 months time, I might look into buying a cave in the hills...

After the run I made a start on the bike training plan. I've decided to follow the 2016 Zwift Academy plan as it's about 4 months worth of training sessions. Today's was just over the hour and didn't feel too difficult, which fitted pretty well with having already had a run. I'm sure the effort level will pick up though.

Got My Fix...

Finally made it to Friday and my neighbours fix - phew. And what better way to get that fix than with six 1km pace ramps on the treadmill. I increased the top end slightly from last weeks session.I'm aiming to use this and the hill reps as my key sessions over the coming weeks. Mixing in with that I'm going to try and follow one of the structured training plans on Zwift for both running and cycling in order to build a bit more structure to things. I'm thinking I've got quite a bit of time to fill over the next few months...

Getting the Shakes...

So we're midway through the week and it's been two days since I've had my fix. Not sure I'm going to make it to Friday....

Neighbours deprivation aside, I completed some decent training today. I finished the tour on two wheels with a stage 4 race. A 21km burn up but I actually took it pretty easy really, with a few efforts here and there. A sort of fartlek session but on a bike. Hang on, I guess there's no reason why the 'speed play' can't be applied to any type of exercise, not just running, so I redact the 'but on a bike' comment. Anyway. after the bike and with a few hours gap, I ran a repeat of last weeks hill reps. Eight 250m reps at 10%.  The left ham is still a bit sore but oddly it felt less sore when I was running than when I was walking. Look to increase the reps next week...

Things Just Got Serious...

They've only gone and started rationing Neighbours! It's now only showing Monday and Friday. Not sure I'm going to get through this....

Completed stage 3 of the Tour this evening on the bike. Didn't tread the boards as my left ham is a little sore. Back on it tomorrow hopefully. It was a good group ride. Got in with a group of ten or so and we rode pretty solidly. The group broke apart on the climb up the volcano before coming back together again on the descent. It was then a solid push through to the line with a decent sprint to finish. 23km. 

Solid Days Workout

I'm going to be fitter than ever after this pandemic runs its course. My seventh day of running in a row followed by a pretty hard effort on the bike. The run was a 30 minute steady effort, stage 2 of the Tour of Watopia. The bike, 40 minutes later, was also stage 2 of the ToW and I worked pretty hard throughout. I could feel my legs burn at points during the 30km ride. I wasn't racing it, just group riding but I didn't want to get dropped - which threatened here and there. Feeling pretty knackered now. Almost certain to be a full rest day - from training at least, still gotta got to work of course.

A Run With Mo

My sixth run in a row was a group run. The largest field of treadmill trotters, some 450+ of us from all over the globe, that I've run with on #Zwift so far. Have to admit that I didn't see much of Mo. I could see his leader beacon at the start line but apart from that he sped into the far distance...

I was feeling it in my legs from the previous five days of running but nothing was aching or sore so I;m happy I'm not over doing it. Today's distance was 6.4km. Not sure what tomorrow's training will be. A run? More likely a ride as I cleaned the chain yesterday - it was pretty filthy - and the near silence of a clean cassette is extremely satisfying.

All T-Rex'ed up and ready to go in the start pen...

Fifth Run In A Row

Hill reps tonight. Been a while and it was a good work out. Eight 250m efforts at 10% elevation with the same as recovery. Despite only being 250m it was quite hard to sustain - and there's nowhere to hide on the treadmill. I almost stood down at six but quite quickly, during the recovery, manned up to complete the full set. Felt good to have stuck with it. And now we're into the weekend and the big question where to run. Will it be Yorkshire? London? Richmond. Ooh the suspense....

They Weren't Too Bad...

So after a decent pair of workouts tonight I had a crack at doing something with lost packet of quinoa. Quinoa and bean burritos.... and to be fair they weren't too bad considering they were fully vegan - which is just as well as I have another two day's potions heading to the freezer.

Back to the training. I hit the bike straight after work. The commute was pretty light... from the upstairs office down to the gym. I plumped for the short sharp stage 5 Tour of Watopia race. 17km and mostly flat. I was towards the back for most of the race, in a group of five. Into the final short, sharp climb, I blasted off the front to win the internal battle of the five. The reverse volcano - not to be confused with the reverse cowgirl, that's something entirely different - suits my style with that short climb within 600-700m of the finish.

I then had about 90 minutes to recover ahead of stage 5 of the tour on foot. Not a race, just a 30 minute group run, with about 150 of us treading the boards. Let's be honest I was never going to be gunning it, started slowly and nudged the pace up little by little. I finished reasonably strongly. Could probably have pushed it a bit harder but I didn't want to risk over doing it. I've more training planned for tomorrow to make it five in a row.

Third Day In A Row

Over to the other side of the world tonight, to the private virtual island that is #Zwift's Watopia. I increased the pacing slightly and edged out the distance to 7km. I'm aiming to run five days back to back for the first time in a goodly while. I won't be overdoing it though as the pace is all very steady but I aim to slowly increase pace and distance over the coming weeks and months - now that I'm not going to be able to make my return to the mountains for, I sadly suspect, at least several months if not  quite a bit longer. Unprecedented times...

Virtual Globe Trotting

A short run in Innsbruck yesterday. Today I was over to New York for a couple of laps of Central Park's Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir. Only 6k at a modest pace but every little helps. I'm being sensible, keeping myself pretty isolated in case I'm needed more front line in the battle to keep water coming out the taps because it's almost certain we're far from the peak. Ending on a more positive note, where will it be for tomorrow's run...

Starting To Feel More Like It Again

After feeling somewhat knackered last week, I'm starting to get back into it - albeit slowly. A virtual bike session yesterday and a virtual run today. Didn't set anything overly taxing and it went by a bit too easily so I shall increasing the effort levels...

A Zwift Disaster

I battled through the traffic to get home to resume the Tour of Watopia on Zwift - wasn't actually that much of a battle. Having missed both ride and run stage 2 of the event, I was keen to resume and had the bike stage 3 planned for tonight. Cue a Zwift outage. Servers were offline. Disaster! Anyway, I was keen to get back on the training after having taken a few days off to allow my sore legs to recover from Sunday so did a manual 30 minute session. I pushed pretty hard and got a bit of burn in the legs but nothing too crazy. Hopefully the servers will be back up for tomorrow but it's still going to leave me with another stage to catch up... 

Not The Bath HM Half Marathon

In light of the increasing COVID-19 threat, I decided not to head to Bath despite it still being on. I suspect there will be quite a few others who made the same call. So instead I headed into the heart of the forest for a solo run following the Forest spring HM route. It was raining. It was cold but I'd collected my sponsorship for WaterAid and today was the day so a half marathon I 'ran'.

It started okay. I wasn't exactly setting the world alight but I was jogging along okay. Through 5k I started to feel a pain in my right hip. By 6k it was hindering me. I didn't want to wreck myself but equally hell would have to freeze over before we see the day when I don't finish a race I start - even if it was a self imposed virtual race. It was a pretty uncomfortable final 15k, stop, start, stop, start but I finished.

Easy Run

Still been feeling a bit off these last few days - no, definitely not Covid-19 before you ask. Add in a pinch of tiredness and I've skipped a few days training. No big deal as I'm on the ease down anyway but was aiming a run yesterday - which I managed today instead. Easy pace. The 6.4k of stage one of the Tour of Watopia complete. Not scheduling in anything in the plan before Sunday but likely be doing a very very gentle something at some point before then.