My training has been fairly consistent lately, so I’m happy to write a bit about it.
My main focus now is to keep going and keep healthy. I’m no longer interested in competition, although i may become a little competitive at times!
Cycling is the main activity, with 3 rides programmed each week. Lately that has been happening regularly and I can feel the results building up. Now I’m a bit older than when I was competitive, I notice how quickly any fitness seems to disappear when I have a break. It only takes a week off to need a good three weeks to get the condition back again!
the old 7 speed cluster on my bike
Each ride is about 30-40 kms at 27-28 kms/hr speed. Nothing too hard really, except for the occasional hill. When my regular riding partner is absent, I do often do repeat hill climbs on a nearby slope. At 4kms long it is a good workout, with a steady build up to a couple of steep pitches that put me in my low gear and near maximum heart rate.
Speaking of which, I’ve recently been putting the heart rate monitor back on, after a few years of not bothering. It seems harder to get the intensity up to push my heart rate to the levels I used to. Now 160+ seems about the limit. I took it up to 165 on the hill climb the other day. Perhaps more practice at the intensive stuff will help? I still remember as a teenager taking it past 200 on the ECG machine at the ANU. That was pre AIS days and the set up was the only one in Canberra. Ah, those were the days…
You can follow my cycling training on Daily Mile, an online training diary. There’s a widget on the sidebar below the tag cloud.
My other formal training is weights at the “Club Sky” gymnasium. Club Sky is the name we give the weights machine and free weights we have out in the back yard. Clearly it is under the sky, and the weights are painted a lovely sky blue colour! Some of the local gyms are named after colours, so this is our little play on the idea.
I like the set up. Nothing too fancy, clean or pretentious. I always liked the old Police Citizens club gym we used to use in the early eighties. Boxing rings, punching bags, rusty weights, no machines, except a “Smith Machine” which is not a machine in the modern sense of things, but a specialised piece of lifting gear.
old rusty weights in "Club Sky"
I do two or three sessions a week. Sometimes a full body session, and sometimes I split the routine. The current split is chest/shoulders/triceps one day, back/shoulders/biceps the other. I’m building maximum weight at the moment, but will cycle that with a period of intense, full body sessions when things feel like they are plateauing. I’m pretty comfortable with my weights routines now, having been doing it for the best part of 30 years now. (wow, that sounds like a long time!) The intense session is something I established recently to get maximum benefit from minimum time. 12 supersets, with 1 minute for each, a 1 minute break after 4 sets, to change gear around and all over in 14 minutes. Super set back and chest, shoulders, then triceps and biceps. I’ll do a separate blog on this when I start doing them again. They completely knacker you, but it’s over quick!
Other exercise and activity is informal and just involves playing sport with the kids, work in the garden, and getting out of the house and doing things. I prefer to be outside if there is no work to do, or blogs to write.
My goal is to keep going. Missing a few sessions or even weeks, is not a great stress as I know I will get back and keep going again. Usually, a break sees me keener and ready to get back into things again with more focus. These activities have become such a routine over the last 10 years that I don’t really notice them, until I wonder why I feel so good that day, or don’t feel right, somehow, because I have missed a session.
I’ll post some specific articles on training theory and details soon. And maybe more pics?
Brian.