2024 Training Log- Part 5

Playing as I write this- Massive Attack- Protection. The album, not the single. My favourite album of theirs.

So last week was a disaster. If you read last week’s blog you’ll remember I said I had hay fever. Well, I didn’t, I had a bad cold and a throat thing. I missed almost the entire week’s training. I got some lifting done in the gym but nothing startling. Instead, I sniffed and coughed my way through the week and ended up only training on Saturday afternoon.

The net result is that I’ve got 4 full weeks training until the Masters Europeans in Barcelona. It’ll be a compressed training schedule. On the plus side, I feel good. More or less injury free, and more or less fit. I could just do with some high quality rounds which I’ll get in the next few weeks to tighten up.

So here’s the training week in brief- Monday, lifting, Tuesday sick, Wednesday lifting, Thursday lifting, and Friday recovery. I know what some of you are going to say about me going to the gym to lift with a cold. Yeah, I was that guy BUT the gym I go to is really empty. I can hide in a corner and clean the kit after me.

Oh wait something dramatic did happen to me. On Thursday morning I was finishing out my session with some skull crushers with a 30kg dumbbell and I nearly got my skull crushed.

I was lying flat on an adjustable bench, and this one goes decline as well as incline, and next thing it gave way and dropped into the decline position. I was mid rep, dumbbell over my face. I managed to not let the bell land on my kisser and then sort of slid off the bench ungracefully. One woman saw it and came over to see if I was okay. I was grand, just felt like a tool.

Saturday

My new Polar Verity is amazing. Under the armpit, no catches to release, unintrusive. It gives great data with no signal drop. You can see the data below and then I’ll explain the session.

1100kcal+ seems high still. I’ve no great reason to doubt it, but I just can’t see the energy consumption being that high. I don’t know why, but intuitively I can’t imagine that incredible amount of energy burning. However, to be safe, I’ve upped my pre and post training nutrition, specifically with more fast sugars pre-training.

This one is more interesting compared to the same session last week. The heart rate pattern looks basically the same at the peaks, but I spent almost 10 minutes MORE in zone 5 this week than last week. I would attribute that to being ill during the week. I felt more fatigued during the session also, and in scrambles I felt I had one good effort before feeling bushed. That’ll improve as the weeks go on and when I’m fully recovered.

Hard to notice from this chart, but there are less valleys in this session than in last week’s. This probably means I wasn’t recovering from maximum efforts in the round, and between rounds. I felt that at the later rounds on Saturday. It felt like the rest periods were very short, and I wasn’t fully turned around after the minute’s recovery.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in that from a “How does sickness effect my training” point of view. If you’re not, grand, sod off and read something else.

Thoughts of the week-

“How you train is how you fight”- old adage said by just about everyone. But you know what, that counts more for your mind than for your body. Having that positive attitude in training and pushing the thoughts of quitting out of your mind when you’re in the weeds is a huge part of it.

I’m a pig for this. I was missing the training during the week, and when I got back in on Saturday, I found myself in a scramble that sucked the life out of me. I lost it, I lost position, and he passed my guard. I loved it, not losing the battle, but the scrap. I’m a pig for that. I love it when it’s tough. And I know another pig as soon as he walks in the room.

But, I’m feeling my age a little. Slowing down. It’s okay, it happens, I’m at peace with it. I’m just making a note.

Non-Training Thoughts of the Week

Your happiness is inversely proportionate to the amount of time spent on a screen of any kind. Had a week of sitting down and watching my phone, laptop, or TV. What a life wasted that would be. Couldn’t wait to get back to doing anything but.

I thought I couldn’t get faster at drumming (see the slowing down thing above), but turns out, I can. I’ll never be my 18 year old self but you know what, I’m faster than I was last year.

That’s it, why are you still reading? Have you nothing better to do?