This weeks training

Saturday 26th September 2009 - Ascent of Sierra del Maigmo (1299m)

This combined two objectives of mine, training for the marathon and climbing all of the descent size mountains in the province of Alicante. The first stage was a 24km ride from my flat, at an altitude of 100m, to 1000m, most of the way up the mountain, it took me about 2hrs. The second was the walk to the summit, it was a fairly easy climb, although I almost lost my footing a couple of times on my way down, it took me 70 minutes. Finally, it was the descent on the bike back home. The descent was good fun, although it would have been more so had I not crashed, thankfully no serious damage to me or the bike, just a few minor cuts and bruises. It took me about 65mins to get back.

48 km on bike, 2 km on foot, in 4hrs 15.

The ascent on bike was fairly steady most of the way, but the last 400m was really tough. For the walk the biggest problem was path-finding in the cloud.

The summit post wasn't the most interesting but its always good to arrive. The amount of cloud cover was a bit of a disappointment too.

I was going along at 50km/h, I had to slow down for a corner, the bike didn't agree so I found myself off the road in some trees. After checking everything over I carried on on my way, only some minor damage to the rear derailleur, bent the bracket that holds it and had to replace it. I went fairly cautiously from then on.

Sunday 27 September - 11k Run

In hindsight this was a bad idea. I wanted to run 15k plus. Given the bumps and bruises I'd picked up the day before I thought I'd give myself as much of the day as possible to recover so went out in the evening. It was going well for the first 5k but, it being near dinner time, I had a fairly unsettled stomach, which led me to stop running after 11k, after a previous stop hiding behind a tree at the side of the ride. Best forgotten.

11k 4:48min/km 53:10

Monday 28 September - 1km Swim

Arrived at the pool wetter than I left after torrential rain left most of the Uni flooded. Was a good swim as hardly anyone was in the pool.

1km 30min/km 30min

Tuesday 29 September - 10.6km Run

My regular 10k lap, was at a good pace, although was probably still feeling the effects of the crash.

10.6km 4:16 /km 45:18

Wednesday 30 September - 20km Bike

A good steady ride, nothing too strenuous, just maintaining a solid rhythm above 20km/h.

20.7km 2:51/km 59:00

Thursday 1 October - Football

Regular 1hr game, did plenty of running, scored one, was a shambles in goal.

Friday 2 October - 20km Bike

This time a 20km lap with a bit of ascent, to be honest it should have been a rest day but I got a new toy, a cadence meter and wanted to try it out.

20.4km 3:14/km 1:06:13

Next week will see my first race for a couple of months, 8.6k on the coast near Altea, should be a good test of where I am at, looking forward to a half-marathon mid-November.