9th to 15 December - Getting into the coaching groove

The first session of this week was a swim, but instead of the usual stuff that I make up I was given a proper structured workout by Laura.  Main emphasis was on utilising the 1k TT pace set in the previous week.  I was a bit off the mark on a couple of the reps but it was a good workout nonetheless.  In the evening it was over to the track, the main change was moving up from 4x400's to 3x600, it was then the usual 4x200, 4x100.  The 600s were tough but I was able to remain on target with the times.
Tuesday was a session I don't want to repeat too frequently, I was over at coach Andy's place to do a CP30 test on the turbo.  For the technical description on what this means you can have a look here  http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/quick-guide-to-setting-zones.html  for the athletes version, its 30mins of pain as you ride as hard as you can maintain, only to find the coach changing the gear and making it harder still near the end.  It was a really tough thing to do, but we got a good base for my threshold and I can now start to work to this in my future workouts.  We also sat down an looked at my HR from the 2.4k track run to use that as a base for running thresholds.
Wednesday morning was a short an easy zone 1 run.  I can't recall ever running at such an easy pace before, which shows that I clearly wasn't recovering when I thought I was, this is why a coach is such a good idea.
Wednesday evening was a swim session with Andy and his coaching partner Chris Standidge ( a very accomplished age grouper).  We focussed on a few areas to determine aspects of our stroke that need correction.  For me I need to straighten my arm more on entry as my elbow is dropping.
Thursday mornings swim was a declining distance ladder set interspersed with 50m kicks.  Idea was to swim these as 1000T pace, but I was trying to focus on stroke correction so I was missing on a few of the reps, but effort level was on the nail so happy overall with the session.
In the evening was circuits, and thankfully it wasn't as bad as the previous weeks, though still tough enough.
I was certainly glad of the day off on Friday.
Saturday evening was the Petzl Nightrunner 10k race at Delamere forest.  This is run in the dark around the forest with a headtorch.  I ran within myself for about the first 7k, pushing but not at threshold, saving this for the final 3k which included an ascent of Pale Hill, which I am pleased to say I managed to run in its entirety, followed by a fast descent to the finish.  Overall time was 55:24  http://www.thenightrunner.com/downloads/delamerenightrun.pdf

It was a good event and it was great running around the mere and looking back to see all the little lights in a line.

Sunday was a long steady ride zones 1 - 2.  I managed to cover just over 40 miles in 2:43 which was slightly over the required 2:30 I had been tasked with.  It was at least dry, but quite windy and at times you could feel yourself drifting as the wind whipped across the fields.  There were plenty of cyclists out making the most of the dry conditions.  I was also doing the ride in a 'fasted' state by only drinking water and not eating before I went out so I could maximise fat burn and to teach my body to rely more on fat as a fuel.  Overall a good ride.