Tag: week 28

Week 29 – Punctures aplenty

As last week was a really bad one for running, I decided to get going on some intervals early this week, so did a late evening 6x1km interval session.  I was running 1km slightly uphill at about 4:05 then 1km slight downhill at about 3:35 pace.  It wasn't too bad really, the weather was much cooler and I felt like I could go on.  It was 14km total at about 4:40/km average.

Tuesday I ended up doing nothing, I forget now why, I guess I was tired, but who knows!

On Wednesday I got up at 6am and ran my 10,5km route at 4:57/km pace.  In the evening I cycled to Nieder-Olm and it wasn't crazily full for once, so I got 3000m in before heading home.  It was a good session with the pool gradually getting emptier as time passed as I got there about 90 mins before it closed.

Thursday I stupidly went for a run in the evening after eating quite late after work.  That meant that my stomach was all over the place, but I got through it anyway, even if it was very slow at 5:17/km for 10.5km.

Friday: I knew that I had a lot of cycling left to do if I would do my 300km for the week, so I cycled 75km on my road bike in the evening.  It was really nice and at a decent clip too.  I attacked the Muy de Dittlesheim which was fun too, 1min at full power.  I got back feeling good and ready for my real long ride on Saturday.

So as prep on Saturday, I found a GPS online and downloaded it.  I wanted to go to Odenwald so found a 80km route from Mainz into the Odenwald.  Apparently I didn't check that it was for Road bikes, and I spend a lot of time on quite questionable paths, but usually it was ok.  It was slow going though, so my average was just over 25km/h.  I got to Zell and the road I was supposed to take was closed, and I had 85km+ on the clock already, so I turned for home.  I didn't want to mess around too much, so headed straight for Darmstadt, from where it would be an easy 40-45km home.  I saw a sign saying it was 7km to Darmstadt, then a left turn saying 10km to darmstadt, so I continued on the shorter route.  After about 1km the road ended at a motorway, with a bike route going on through a forest.  I took the bike route, but it was a bad one, very bumpy and lots of sharp stones everywhere.  Sure enough, I got a puncture after 1 or 2km.  I stopped and changed the tyre, but that went again a few hundred jaw breaking metres later, leaving me in the middle of no where.  I decided I had to push my bike to the nearest town, Roßdorf, and hope there was a train station there.  It turned out there wasn't one, but I could take a bus to Darmstradt, then a train to Mainz and Tram home 🙁  I had at least cycled 120km, so it wasn't a dead loss, though it was a lot of effort and 2 inner tubes and my cleats ruined.

On Sunday I had to ride again to get 300km in, so I rode 54km early on.  My planned run was chucked and I cycled to the pool later for another 3km swim.  I needed another 20km to get to 300km, so in the rain, I cycled an extended route home, ending with 302km for the week!

Running: 35.1km (1261,1km YTD)
Cycling 302km (4979,3km YTD)
Swimming 6km (99,85km YTD)

(The nearly forgotten heatwave of) Week 28

I didn't get around to writing last weekend, as work has been busy.  So here is a quick update of the last 2 weeks as best as I can remember them.

So the day after the Worms triathlon was boiling hot, the start of a heat wave.  I decided I would go swimming in Nieder-Olm in the evening, except that is was a) too warm water and b) jammed with people swimming anywhere but straight ahead.  I only swam 2k before chucking it as I was getting too annoyed by people swimming across me and not being able to swim at a proper pace.  I cycled to and from the pool (extended ride through Sörgenloch on the way home) for 30km extra riding.

On Tuesday it was too hot to run, so I cycled after work.  It was just a 90min ride but I got through my 2 bottles and was thirsty at the end! Usually they are pretty much untouched for rides under 2h.  Average speed was a tick over 30km/h on the road bike for 45km, I couldn't be bothered to switch the power meter over, but I planned to soon. Though it was hot, I blasted up Harxheim for my best time ever, when the wind is friendly I will set a real time up there and get higher on the KOM list.

On Wednesday it was another 35degree day, so I planed to get up at 6am to run, but when the alarm went, I was too tired and slept another hour.  I went to the pool in my lunch break (as I had to stay at work until 10pm) it was so full that I went to the indoor pool and did 2100m before heading back to work.  On Thursday I dragged myself out of bed at 6am, but it was still 26 degrees when I ran!  It was fairly standard at 4:59/km for 10.5km, I did that again on Friday, when it was just as hot again.

On Saturday I was behind the 8ball and wanted to go for a long long ride, but it was 40 degrees and sunny all day.  I finally went out for a ride in the evening, but only did 75km at a slow 26km/h.  I was getting through bottles like it was going out of fashion, stopping to fill up at a questionable well in Partenheim!  It really wasn't a good one for me, but better than nothing I guess.

Sunday was Frankfurt Ironman day, so I met Jochen and cycled to watch how the pros do it!  The ride wasn't hard, but the temperature was still crazy.  It was about 45km there and a bit less back.  I also cycled to the Nieder-Olm pool for another short swim in the evening, even though it was too full again, and the normally crystal clear water was milky white, apparently due to sun cream not dissolving in the water!.

Not a good training week, but with the weather as it was, I couldn't do much more 🙁

Running 21,2km (1226km YTD)
Cycling 262km (4677,3km YTD)
Swimming 6.1km (93,85km YTD)