Monday
Start the week with cycling, out on the normal loop. I bought some aero bars on the way home from work, and I put them on before the ride. I think it makes me faster. It is one of the faster rides to date and I seem to be a little faster on the downhills. But over a long period of time, they feel quite uncomfortable, squeezing my elbows in and it seems I change gears a lot more than I realized. The are fun to play with though. Several other cyclists look at me strangely ... I think they are just jealous. I complete the loop in 58 minutes 30 seconds with an average moving speed of 20.8 mph.
New Aerobars.
Elbows on the pads.
Hands grasp the ends way out there.
Makes you all "aero"dynamic.
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Tuesday
In the pool Tuesday afternoon and swim a mile and a half. A girl/woman gets into the lane beside me and she is pretty quick. I have a bit of trouble keeping her behind me. I had done about 30 laps before she got in and by 60 she has caught me (gained about 25 yards on me), I hold her even until 70 and then she gets ahead of me but stops. I finish out the 100 and complete them in just under 44 minutes. With the un-timed 2 laps warm-up and 4 lap cool down it is a mile and a half.
Wednesday
Get home from work and map out a 6 mile run, the run length of an Olympic distance triathlon. I try to get through it with moderate pace but don't push myself too hard. I increase speed pretty consistently through the run, with the minutes per mile as follows:
#1: 9:15, #2: 9:04, #3: 8:39, #4: 8:51, #5: 8:40, #6: 8:21, #7: 7:21
The 7th split is only for the last third of a mile that I lamely tried to sprint to the finish. In the end the 6.3 miles ~10km) took 55 minutes and 8 seconds, with an average pace of 8 minute 45 second miles. Not too bad and the furthest I have run thus far.
Thursday
Work in the morning and then up to EA for lunchtime soccer. Good to see a lot of familiar face there. Played for an hour and wore myself out. Was a little upset I forgot the GPS watch. I am sure it would have looked pretty interesting.
Friday: Part 1 - Soccer
Working from home on Fridays is pretty much the norm at the moment, so take the opportunity to get another soccer game in. Remember the GPS watch this time and the results were pretty fun. I was back a lot more than I thought I would be, but obviously only when I has to as it narrows towards the defensive end (lower left). Th long line out and back is me retrieving the ball after a missed shot on our goal. Forward I am all over the place. The attacking goal were a little bit further upper right than the stop and start markers. Th defensive goals were basically in line with where the field narrows towards the bottom left. Play for an hour cover 3.59 miles (5.7km). Fastest speed 15.3 mph (24.6km/h) pretty happy with that!
Map of Soccer Run
Friday: Part 2 - Cycling
After soccer back to work. Once I am finished up out on the bike for the second ride with the aerobars. This time I do the short alpine loop, reverse as it is the first time I am riding it solo and want to set a best time. It is sad I know - this continual desire to always be faster. Thankfully I am faster, and not just faster on this ride but faster than ever. Perhaps these aerobars a worth something after all. I go round the 20.29 miles with a time of 57 minutes 14 seconds. With a moving average of 21.3 mph. It is tough to know how and why I am getting faster. There are a couple of thing, obviously I am (hopefully) getting fitter and better at this. Secondly I have a new bike - so all my times are tainted a little by the bike now being faster than the old, but faster times on the new bike have to be because I am getting better, or thirdly, the aerobars throw another complication into the mix, making me faster without getting better. Also I have no real way to measure how much effort I am actually putting in. But as long as I keep getting faster as I have been it isn't so important. When I stop then I'll need to look at all these things to try to figure out why!
Friday: Part 3 - Swimming
I get home after the ride and realize I have time to get to the pool. So I get myself together and get to the pool. As I start out I debate the wisdom of this move and throughout the swim I am definitely feeling the rest of the days exercise. It has basically been a triathlon in reverse, with generous rest in between. I do the normal now the 100 laps with the 2 lap warm up and 4 lap warm down, swimming a mile and a half, timing the 100 which is about 1.42 miles. I do it in 43:30, which is about the same as Tuesday's swim without any other exercise on the same day slowing me down. This confuses me a little because I didn't feel very quick in the water. Makes me wonder about my lap counting abilities.
Saturday
Out for another game of soccer on Saturday, play for an hour and twenty minutes and cover 4.55 miles (7.32km). Fastest speed of 15.4 mph (24.78 km/h). I am pretty sure that is a fairly short burst. Hmmm, just did some playing with the calculator and discovered 24.78 km/h is 6.883 m/s which means at that pace it would take me over 14 seconds to complete 100 meters ... 3 seconds slower than my best times as a kid. Not as impressed as I was, but I know my quads are still not fully back yet since the surgery, so there might still be some left in me.
The knee feels a little dodgy after and I know why, the 6.3 mile run, an hour of soccer thursday, 3.59 miles over an hour of soccer on Friday plus the 4.55 miles over 1 hour 20 minutes of soccer on Saturday. That is 14.4 miles then the unknown amount on Thursday which is probably about 3.5 miles again (like Friday, same field same amount of time), so about 18 miles of running ... way to much. Got too excited playing soccer again. It does help me to realize why I was so fit and good to run before the ACL tear. I was playing soccer 6 times a week, probably doing around 22 miles.
Sunday
Out for a ride with Lloyd and Jeff, we do a loop that consists of what is the reverse alpine loop with an extra 14 miles up and back on Canada Road. We ride for about 2 hours 20 minutes covering 39 miles. It is fairly relaxed but still well paced. The moving average is 18.1 mph. Nice day with a nice ride. Not much else to report. I am pretty sure we could have all gone a bit quicker - but we keep it nice and social.
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