Kevin's Training Diary of 2024

There are a lot red numbers this fortnight, but the second week has actually been probably my best training week of the year.  The S-curve on my swimming for the year has me cutting miles at this point with half an eye on working on more speed and maybe doing some outdoor swimming. With no major championship to race this year that plan is now obsolete, but I haven't got round to changing it so I am comfortably ahead of that.  I also did a couple of races, neither of them were good, but I did them. Failing to break 12 minutes for 3k the week after struggling to a 42:27 10k is about where I am at the minute. As frustrating as that is. I did manage to get out on the mountain bike more. Which again is mostly pointless now. It was too late for me to ride any better at Balmoral this coming weekend, and I don't have any other confirmed mtb races in my calendar. And then Monday morning I woke up with what seems to be the flu! Actuals, (T arget) -  Swim 5.6  miles / 9,000 m. (4.5 miles)

I am still at a loss with my season. With no A-race this season I still don't really have a plan for the year and I am just mindlessly going out to do basic fitness sessions.  I went to two 'races' this week and took part. But it would be a big stretch to claim that I raced either of them.  The first Krunce hill race of the year my average pace was 11:08 / mile. The conditions account for some of that, but some of it was just me running badly. Then I did Westhill Duathlon. I rode well enough, but both runs were terrible. I was outside 18 minutes for both 4km runs. Based on those runs I am staring down a ~45 minute finish at next weekends TECA 10k. At some point I need to sort out a season plan, at the very least a defence of my Scottish Aquathlon title, but also some sort of qualifying races for next years international series.  Actuals, (T arget) -  Swim 4.8  miles / 8,100 m. (5.6 miles). Bike 57.9 miles. (84.0 miles).   MTB 11.4 miles. (28.0 miles). Run 36.3  miles. (46.2

12 weeks in to the year and my race season is effectively over. Not through any physical injury, but just because I just don't care any more. With the loss of both Worlds (logistics) and Euros (course) from my calendar that basically gutted my season and all of the other races are centered around being ready for those. Actuals, (T arget) -  Swim 5.6  miles / 9,000 m. (5.6 miles). Bike 89.1 miles. (84.0 miles).   MTB 10.1 miles. (28.0 miles). Run 39.6  miles. (46.2  miles). 0 short core,   0   short light weights   and  0  stretching / rollering session.  0  mins of yoga.   Cumulative Actual, (Cumulative Target), [Cumulative Stretch] - S 36.6, (38.6),   [40.5] , B 486.9, (470.0) ,   [493.5] ,     MTB 35.9, (133.3),   [140.0], R 260.6, (273.9),   [287.6 ]. Core         - 12, (10),   [12 ]   Weights    - 8 , (10),   [12] Stretching - 6, (10),   [12] Yoga          - 21, (9),   [10].   Fast run sessions - 7, (10).

So the courses for my Portugal races are out. And they are no longer my races. The video of the mountain bike course has been filmed by someone riding round it on a touring bike. I would get more hills and a rougher surface riding my bike to Lidl. There is no point in me trying to race at that level in what is effectively a draft legal road race where you have to ride a mountain bike. So I am out of those, and that leaves the Aquathlon. It has also changed format to run-swim-run, which I have never done, am not interested in doing, and certainly not interested in spending over £1,000 travelling to. So I am out, and having already decided not to go to Australia for Worlds that leaves me with no International races this year. Given my place at the upper end of my age-group, and the available races, my route back in to next years team and any future International teams looks difficult as well. I lost some time this fortnight to being away, and to some mental health issues. I have also pro

  I have had another solid fortnight, catching up with everything apart from the mountain bike, and even that I have done more than the previous month.  I also managed to get outside on the road bike, which isn't hugely useful from a season perspective, but does mean I won't just be hopping on it for the first time to race it in three weeks time.  On the subject of races, Glasgow Aquathlon is up next weekend and is my first chance to race properly this year. I am not expecting much. I am swimming a lot, but that is not translating to swimming fast, and I seem to have a right achilles issue on top of my bad hip which has caused some visible muscle loss in my right calf. I have had a week to work on that given that it was visible loss in the first place, it is going to take a while to rebuild.  Actuals, (T arget) -  Swim 6.9  miles / 11,050 m. (5.6 miles). Bike 97.2 miles. (84.0 miles).   MTB 21.0 miles. (28.0 miles). Run 48.4  miles. (46.2  miles). 1 short core,   0   short ligh

Despite missing a couple of sessions to fit in other life activities, and a cold affecting week 6, I have managed to put in a very solid set of numbers for this fortnight.  I am very slightly short of run numbers as I took two consecutive days off running before racing the Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships. I don't think I ever ran one of these as a Senior. I did loads as a Junior and even through U-20 and then when I shifted to track I stopped, and since I have been a Master the dates and venues just haven't worked for me. I finished 16th, and I was happy enough with the time. It was within a minute of my PB for that course.  I managed to get the mountain bike out a couple of times and have been consistent about swimming and spin sessions, which is about all I need to be doing at this point in the year, and in this weather. I have entered some other races to start my season as well. Not a lot of them but enough to get me started. I have crossed off the first thing o