As always, time for a new blog for the new year.
http://kevinmorice2017.blogspot.co.uk
Sunday, 1 January 2017
Annual Review 2016
So the most obvious place to start is with the targets I set for the year way back in January. That complete post can be found here.
The simplest way to look at them is just to cut the final block of targets and colour them accordingly, but that gives an awful lot of red. So I felt it necessary to annotate them.
Ride 2,080 miles.- Actual 2,329 miles.
Run 750 miles. - Actual 781.3 miles.
Also I had a set of stretch targets. As they were intended as stretch targets it is no huge surprise that I didn't get many of them. In fact of the 12 I only managed 1, although there is still a possibility of a roll down place to get to Dusseldorf.
Ride 2,600 miles.
Run 850 miles.
After I started my new job in the town centre I was unable to get out to Knockburn each week for my second swim and for a while that took a direct toll. From the end of June through to mid September I only hit my weekly target once. Once I got settled at work I managed to fit in additional swim sets to get me back on track, but by that point I was over 9 miles down on where I should have been. A binge in the last week of the year brought the numbers back a little closer to respectability, but it has still not been what I wanted.
That has had an almost linear effect on my swim speed as well. Up to June I was getting faster. Not by as much as I hoped or expected, but the improvements were coming and I expect to go through the second half of the season with regular swim PBs. As the sessions fell away so did any semblance of speed and with only one late season attempt each at a 400m and 1500m race it was always going to be tough to hit the times I wanted off a lull in training.
On the positive side, the performance levels have almost linearly improved again as I have increased swimming in the last few weeks of the year and with triple swim sessions on the plan for Q1 next year I should hopefully see the faster times and that elusive sub-12 750m swim.
The bike is mostly a success story. I have smashed my target miles for the year. 12 percent over my planned 2083 miles and half way to my stretch target of 2604 miles. Commuting has put a major chunk on to those numbers as I logged almost 880 miles just cycling to and from my new job. That will make up the bulk of my cycling training in Q1 next year. As the weather turns I hope to get a bit more training effect out of those rides rather than just grinding through the cold.
A relatively disappointing set of time trial performances over the short distances can mostly be explained away by weather, work, proximity to other races and so on.
I did manage my other target of finishing a 25 mile TT. I also managed my first ever Hill climb TT. It was terrible, but I did it. I also averaged over 20 mph for 11 out of my 18 bike races. Discarding the hill climb, a couple of DNFs where I soft-pedalled home and my crash that is effectively 11 of 14 races. Not bad going.
My running plan for this year was always to do less than last year, and to do it a bit faster. I managed both. By the end of March I had logged my first ever sub-40 10k. It took me 25 years to break that barrier. Unfortunately that was a peak for the year. Every race from there seems to have been fairly average. And towards the end of the year, while I have been doing a lot of miles, they have all been at too slow a pace to be really useful.
I also didn't race enough this year. I did plenty of triathlons, and cycling time trials, but nowhere near enough running races. This shows most clearly when looking at my race targets. While I smashed my sub-42 10k by over 2 minutes, I then failed to get anywhere near a second time of sub 42 or sub 19:30 for 5k. Just as perspective, the second half of my 10k PB was run in 19:36.
I am still going to claim it as an overall good year for running but next year I need to do more fast sessions and more races.
I wanted to be on the podium as an over-40 in some local races, and the first few races after my birthday I was first Vet home. And I wanted to take part in an ETU qualifying race and try to qualify to go to the European Sprint Champs in Dusseldorf in 2017. I managed to race at Glasgow, and race fairly well, but I missed out on an automatic spot for Dusseldorf. I could still get an invite if three of the 20 qualifying athletes choose not to go.
The week before Strathclyde I decided to race at Knockburn Aquathlon, just for the race practice. After I had entered, I realised that it was this year's Scottish Championships. I had a poor swim and came out of the water fairly convinced I was out of the medals, and then gave up a fight at the finish. It then turned out that I was third 40-49, and first 40-45 year old, earning me a bronze medal, and qualifying me for the 2017 ETU Champs in Bratislava.
The simplest way to look at them is just to cut the final block of targets and colour them accordingly, but that gives an awful lot of red. So I felt it necessary to annotate them.
Targets by numbers
Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for the 2017 European Sprint Champs.
Swim 104 miles. - Actual 98.6 miles
Swim 104 miles. - Actual 98.6 miles
Swim under 6:15 minutes for 400m. - Actual 7:23 race, 6:31 training.
Swim under 12:15 minutes for 750m. - Actual 12:08.
Swim under 26:15 minutes for 1,500m. - Actual 27:19.
Ride 2,080 miles.- Actual 2,329 miles.
Ride a 10-mile TT in under 26 minutes. - Actual 26:53
Finish a 25-mile TT without getting lost. - Done, but only in 1 hour 14mins 11secs.
Finish a 25-mile TT without getting lost. - Done, but only in 1 hour 14mins 11secs.
Run 750 miles. - Actual 781.3 miles.
Run a 5k in under 19:30 or 10k in under 42 mins. - Actual 10k in 39:47.
Run another 5k in under 19:30 or 10k in under 42 mins. - Actual 5k in 19:41 in only other attempt.
80 Yoga sessions - Actual 83.
80 Yoga sessions - Actual 83.
80 Core and/or weights sessions. - Actual 23.
Stretch Targets
Also I had a set of stretch targets. As they were intended as stretch targets it is no huge surprise that I didn't get many of them. In fact of the 12 I only managed 1, although there is still a possibility of a roll down place to get to Dusseldorf.
Qualify for the GBR Age-group team for the 2017 European Sprint Championships. - TBC
Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for the 2017 European Duathlon Champs.
Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for the 2017 European Duathlon Champs.
Take part in a GBR age-group qualifying race for the 2017 World Standard Champs.
Swim 120 miles.
Swim 120 miles.
Swim under 6:00 minutes for 400m.
Swim under 11:45 minutes for 750m.
Swim under 25:45 for 1,500m.
Ride 2,600 miles.
Ride a 10-mile TT in under 25 minutes.
Ride a 25-mile TT in under 70 minutes.
Ride a 25-mile TT in under 70 minutes.
Run 850 miles.
'Run my age' for 10k. Sub-40 minutes. - Actual 39:47
Things that weren't targets / Others
Qualify for ETU Aquathlon Champs.
Medal at Scottish Aquathlon Champs.
I also picked up a new bike to train on in summer and got a new wetsuit. And two days before Xmas I also picked up a sleek new aero helmet in a sale.
Got married.
And so to the great long text bit where I try to make sense of all of that:
Qualify for ETU Aquathlon Champs.
Medal at Scottish Aquathlon Champs.
I also picked up a new bike to train on in summer and got a new wetsuit. And two days before Xmas I also picked up a sleek new aero helmet in a sale.
Got married.
And so to the great long text bit where I try to make sense of all of that:
Swimming
102 miles in 2015 was a good year, but left me with plenty of room to improve. And I just didn't.
After I started my new job in the town centre I was unable to get out to Knockburn each week for my second swim and for a while that took a direct toll. From the end of June through to mid September I only hit my weekly target once. Once I got settled at work I managed to fit in additional swim sets to get me back on track, but by that point I was over 9 miles down on where I should have been. A binge in the last week of the year brought the numbers back a little closer to respectability, but it has still not been what I wanted.
That has had an almost linear effect on my swim speed as well. Up to June I was getting faster. Not by as much as I hoped or expected, but the improvements were coming and I expect to go through the second half of the season with regular swim PBs. As the sessions fell away so did any semblance of speed and with only one late season attempt each at a 400m and 1500m race it was always going to be tough to hit the times I wanted off a lull in training.
On the positive side, the performance levels have almost linearly improved again as I have increased swimming in the last few weeks of the year and with triple swim sessions on the plan for Q1 next year I should hopefully see the faster times and that elusive sub-12 750m swim.
Biking
The bike is mostly a success story. I have smashed my target miles for the year. 12 percent over my planned 2083 miles and half way to my stretch target of 2604 miles. Commuting has put a major chunk on to those numbers as I logged almost 880 miles just cycling to and from my new job. That will make up the bulk of my cycling training in Q1 next year. As the weather turns I hope to get a bit more training effect out of those rides rather than just grinding through the cold.
A relatively disappointing set of time trial performances over the short distances can mostly be explained away by weather, work, proximity to other races and so on.
I did manage my other target of finishing a 25 mile TT. I also managed my first ever Hill climb TT. It was terrible, but I did it. I also averaged over 20 mph for 11 out of my 18 bike races. Discarding the hill climb, a couple of DNFs where I soft-pedalled home and my crash that is effectively 11 of 14 races. Not bad going.
Running
My running plan for this year was always to do less than last year, and to do it a bit faster. I managed both. By the end of March I had logged my first ever sub-40 10k. It took me 25 years to break that barrier. Unfortunately that was a peak for the year. Every race from there seems to have been fairly average. And towards the end of the year, while I have been doing a lot of miles, they have all been at too slow a pace to be really useful.
I also didn't race enough this year. I did plenty of triathlons, and cycling time trials, but nowhere near enough running races. This shows most clearly when looking at my race targets. While I smashed my sub-42 10k by over 2 minutes, I then failed to get anywhere near a second time of sub 42 or sub 19:30 for 5k. Just as perspective, the second half of my 10k PB was run in 19:36.
I am still going to claim it as an overall good year for running but next year I need to do more fast sessions and more races.
Triathlon
I wanted to be on the podium as an over-40 in some local races, and the first few races after my birthday I was first Vet home. And I wanted to take part in an ETU qualifying race and try to qualify to go to the European Sprint Champs in Dusseldorf in 2017. I managed to race at Glasgow, and race fairly well, but I missed out on an automatic spot for Dusseldorf. I could still get an invite if three of the 20 qualifying athletes choose not to go.
The week before Strathclyde I decided to race at Knockburn Aquathlon, just for the race practice. After I had entered, I realised that it was this year's Scottish Championships. I had a poor swim and came out of the water fairly convinced I was out of the medals, and then gave up a fight at the finish. It then turned out that I was third 40-49, and first 40-45 year old, earning me a bronze medal, and qualifying me for the 2017 ETU Champs in Bratislava.
Others
I started the year with lots of yoga, and was at 60 sessions by mid-May. Then I got lazy and did only another 23 in the rest of the year. I have changed my plans for next year to carry over missed sessions in the hope that will guilt me in to being more consistent.
With the weights and core sessions I just never got going. While I was out of work I did a few, and after doing my Q3 report and realising how many I had missed I did another few weeks of them but way too many missed or ignored. Again my new plan for carrying missed sessions should hopefully improve that for next year.
With the weights and core sessions I just never got going. While I was out of work I did a few, and after doing my Q3 report and realising how many I had missed I did another few weeks of them but way too many missed or ignored. Again my new plan for carrying missed sessions should hopefully improve that for next year.
Training Review - Week 53 - Dec 26 to 31
A nice easy finish to the year as I have comfortably cleared my bike and run targets and left my swim target out of reach. With Dexter visiting I planned to run every second day as I am meant to let him rest on the days between. He has been in good form the last few days though so I took him out on Boxing Day for an easy run.
Tuesday I had planned to give Dexter a rest day, so I did some yoga and went for a swim at ASV. While I won't make my annual target, get past 100 miles or beat last years total, I can still add a couple of miles to bring the numbers up closer to what I really wanted. I can also consistently put in extended swims at sub-20 mins / km. A couple of years ago that was flat out race pace, and now it is a steady swim pace on a tired day.
In the afternoon Dexter decided he didn't want a rest day and dragged me out for a loop around Dyce.
On Wednesday Dexter and I went to Kirkhill in the morning and then I took a trip to Bucksburn for a swim in the afternoon. And Thursday we did a loop around Dyce and then i went to Bucksburn to do a faster swim session.
Friday we went to Kirkhill to run again. We took a slightly longer route this time to ensure that I passed 780 miles for the year, making this my second longest running year ever.
Saturday was a final trip out on the mountain bike, and a final crash for the year. Nowhere near as serious as my TT effort in August but I will have some lovely bruises to start 2017 with.
Short on bike miles this week, but I did get out on the bike and managed a bit more than commuter effort levels.
Target totals - Swim 1.9 miles. Bike 36.4 miles. Run 13.9 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.
Monday - Yoga session 20 mins.
Easy loop with Dexter 3.3 miles in 44 mins.
Tuesday - Yoga session 15 mins.
Swim at ASV 2,150m in 40 mins.
Easy loop with Dexter 3.7 miles in 46 mins.
Stretching and rollering session.
Wednesday - Kirkhill with Dexter 3.8 miles in 48 mins.
Swim at Bucksburn 1,600m in 31 mins.
Swim at Bucksburn 1,600m in 31 mins.
Thursday - Dyce loop with Dexter 3.0 miles in 39 mins.
Swim at Bucksburn 1,000m in 23 mins.
Friday - Kirkhill with Dexter 4.4 miles in 57 mins.
Saturday - MTB at Kirkhill 7.2 miles in 1 hour 13 mins.
Actuals - Swim 2.9 miles (4,750 m). Bike 7.2 miles. Run 18.2 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 35 mins of yoga.
Cumulative (Cumulative target) [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 98.6 (104.2) [119.9],
B 2,329.6 (2,083.5) [2,604.4],
R 781.3 (750.0) [848.7].
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