Training blog - page 9

Day fifty three: Wednesday 29 March 2006

Bike.  Firstly, I received a phone call from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital yesterday advising me that they have an appointment cancellation.  The Orthopaedic nurse asked if I would be able to attend the Day Procedure Unit (DPU) on Thursday 30 March to have the metal rod removed from my arm.  As the rod is a nuisance, I immediately jumped at the chance to take this appointment.  As advised previously, I will be admitted to operating theatre under local anaesthetic.  An incision will be made near the entrance point of the rod, the rod will be removed and I will then have two or three stitches. 

Yesterday, I decided against having a training ride; the main reasons behind this were in regards to the damaged chain.  If the chain snapped, this would lock the rear wheel which would probably cause me to crash.  Would the rear wheel be damaged beyond repair?  Would I be able to get home if the chain succumbed at the half way point in the ride?  Is it worth training with only three gears available to me?  I had a very strong desire to ride; my heart wanted to but my head did not.

Today, I decided to throw caution to the wind a little and cycled 32.49 miles at an average speed of 15.2mph.  I still had only the three lowest gears available to me, I could not stand on the pedals as this would almost certainly have snapped the chain and I also had to be very careful with pedal pressure.  On Friday 31 March, I will have to buy and fit a new chain to the winter training bike.

Overall, I felt very good.  Over the next few weeks, mileage on the road will be increased gradually leading up to mid April, when I will make the decision on which of the two dates will I be riding up the mountains.

Yoga.  This evening, I decided to do some more Yoga; I am really starting to reap the benefits from this particular training method and feel Yoga is superbly complimenting the weight work I do.  This coupled with eventual optimum cardio/aerobic capacity will mean that I will become 

Firstly, I started with breathing exercises, the same two starting drills as usual.  Next, I performed five knee to chest poses, a cobra pose (5 repetitions), a standing forward bend (again 5 repetitions), an upwards legs and arms stretch (5 reps), a bridge pose (5 reps), a head to knee pose (Janusirshasana) (one rep performed per leg).  The penultimate exercises were three neck workouts followed by five eye exercises, with a 30 second rest period in between each.  Finally, to complete today's session, I relaxed into a corpse pose for five minutes.

I am now finding that I know how to perform most exercises without refering to a book.  This means that very shortly I should be able to take on a few more new workouts.

Day fifty four: Thursday 30 March 2006

Rest day.

Day fifty five: Friday 31 March 2006

Gym.  Before reporting on today's session at the gym, an update on the elbow.  Apparently, the metal I refered to as "rods" has a medical name of K-Wires and prior to yesterday's operation, I had two of these.  The second wire requires the opening up of the original seven or eight inch wound and needs to be removed under general anaesthetic.  Providing the remaining K-Wire stays in it's current position, I would be prepared to ride up the mountains with it still in my arm. 

I was called in to the DPU at 2.00pm to be assessed and shortly afterwards, went into theatre where a small incision was made just above the point of the elbow.  About fifteen minutes later the operation had finished.  The surgeon then inserted two traditional stitches in the wound.  These need to be removed in ten days time.  Shortly before leaving, the surgeon advised me to refrain from cycling for one week; for me this is a week too long as I can ill afford further time off the bike. 

I got home and spent the evening assessing what I can now and still can't do.  Overall, I was very pleased with the way the operation went; I certainly have a lot more range of movement in the elbow, and a lot less pain now that the offending metalwork is no longer there to threaten a ripping of the skin just above the elbow tip.

I had no problems with leg presses on this visit, easily pressing 3 sets of 10 reps at 200kg.  There was no change to the following exercises: leg extensions, inner thigh squeezes, outer thigh pushes and 'superman' ball raises.  In regards to pullovers, I managed to do a complete set of 20 reps with a 10kg dumbell.  At the same time, I was very conscious of not pulling the stitches out of my elbow.  Torso twists were unchanged and always will be; I have already reached my June target at this exercise.  I had a slight hamstring niggle, so only managed one set of leg curls at 45kg.  Finally, after the two hip exercises (below) I did calf raises, consisting of 3 sets of 15 reps at 120kg.  These still create a burning sensation around the calf area but perhaps not as intense as a couple of weeks ago.

On a good note, I went up one weight block on both hip flexor raises, where I am now raising 36.2kg per leg (3 sets of 15 reps) and also total hip kickbacks; I have moved up to 52kg at this particular workout.

My next visit to the gym will be on Monday 3 April.  My legs should now be able be able to press 210kg.  Another planned increase is to add another 5lb on inner thigh squeezes.

Day fifty six: Saturday 1 April 2006

Rest day.

Day fifty seven: Sunday 2 April 2006

Bike.  With yesterday a designated rest day, I felt quite fresh today.  I have replaced the worn chain and also the large chainring with a 53 tooth one from my previous winter bike and of course power transfer is a little smoother. However, the jockey wheels on the rear derailleur are excessively worn.  This is still causing the chain to slip a little in certain gears, but with a new chain fitted, the ride quality is better.  As a result, I had a choice of two gears today; either the small or large chainring with the largest sprocket at the rear.  This meant that I rode 45.08 miles today at an average speed of 15.1mph in just one gear; I chose the large chainring with the 27 toothed sprocket (53x27).

Although there were gusty winds today, the intensity of the ride meant I was training mainly in the fat burning zone, although I did encounter a few short sharp hills which warmed up my legs on the large chainring.  I am unable to recall an occasion when I went into oxygen debt (anaerobic).

Over the weekend, I sent my heart rate monitor (HRM) to Polar Electro UK; the wrist unit needs a new battery and whilst there, a general service.  By the time it is returned, the weather should be more settled, so I will be training to various heart rate zones/intensities.  My HRM is capable of downloading exercise data to a PC, which is then transferred onto a graph.  Occasionally, I will be publishing on this website, the graph of a particular ride. 

Hopefully, I will get the requested corporate sponsorship and therefore transfer the HRM onto the Orbea bike.  I will then be able to do a significant amount of hill work, including lung and leg busting hill intervals.  These are crucial in developing cardiovascular and aerobic power for riding up the mountains.

Day fifty eight: Monday 3 April 2006

Gym.  As predicted, I managed to leg press 210kg; the first set of 10 were pressed quite comfortably but my legs started to hurt from the second set onwards.  I will be consolidating with this weight for the next two or three vists.  No change on leg extensions or calf raises.  Another increase saw me squeeze 135lbs with my inner thighs, 5lbs better than before.  No change on outer thigh pushes, leg curls.  I did three sets of 10 reps at tricep pulldowns, no change with 'Superman' ball raises and torso twists.  I continue to improve at pullovers, managing three sets of 10 reps with a 10kg dumbell, against a standard workout of 3 sets of 20 reps.  Finally, hip flexor raises and total hip kickbacks were unchanged.

On the next visit, I will be consolidating on all the current weight loads for every exercise.

Day fifty nine: Tuesday 4 April 2006

Yoga.  Today, I was primarily focused on introducing two or three new poses to the ten or so that I use regularly.

To start, I did several Hatha poses.  Without doing any warm up exercises, I started with a mountain pose (Tadasana), followed by a new exercise; an open angle pose (Upavista Konasana).  Next was a legs up the wall pose (Viparita Karani) then a bridge pose (Setu Bandhasana).  Continuing with the Hatha yoga drills, I went into a downward-facing dog pose (Adho Mukha Savasana) then another new exercise; a spinal twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana).  Shortly afterwards, I performed a tree pose (Vrksasana) on each side.  The final Hatha exercise performed was a Child's pose (Mudhasana).

The second half of this Yoga session was focused on some classic yoga poses.  Firstly, I performed a cobra pose (Bhujangasana) followed by a half locust pose on each leg (Ardha Salabasana).  The penultimate new exercise was a shoulder stand (Sarvangasana) which I semi performed; my legs were not quite at the required 90 degree angle, but with practice I am sure I'll improve on this.  Immediately after this came the final new exercise; a fish pose (Matsyasana).  I had time for one more classic pose, this time the Yogic seal (Yoga mudra).  To complete the session (to enable me to wind down), I settled into a classic corpse pose which I held for approximately three minutes.

I am beginning to see various muscles starting to tone up, muscles which could not possibly be worked at the gym.  Self taught Yoga is working for me and I am looking forward to optimising my breathing efficiency in conjunction with cardiovascular work on the bike.

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