Workout – W37 (Sep 13th – Sep 19th)

Well, it was a better week than the last two ones. I did four sport sessions, two times swimming, one running, and one cycling. The ideal week would be six sessions in total, with two of each sport, and one resting day. But, anyway, I think I’m back on track after the last month where I’ve been lazier.

These are my workouts for the past week:

• Monday 13th: Resting

Rest day, for not special motive.

• Tuesday 14th: Running – 8.18 km – 47 min – 5:46 min/km

I was a little hasty, and I didn’t want to get very tired today (I ran at 7:30), so I did a little less than the last times. Good feelings, I didn’t run as fast as I could, but ended quite proud with this run.

• Wednesday 15th: Swimming – 2.0 km – 1h 04 min

First time in the pool after 2 weeks (or practically third time in the last month), so I didn’t feel very good. I got tired pretty soon, and the rest of the workout wasn’t as productive because of this. Anyway, I managed to do 2000m, combining series of 50 and 100 m. Most of them to crawl, but about 500m in backstroke and breaststroke.

• Thursday 16th: Resting

I did want to go to the swimming pool today instead of Friday, but finally I didn’t go, so I decided to rest finally.

• Friday 17th: Swimming – 2.8 km – 1h 24 min

I felt very good this day. 500m crawl as warm up. I’m starting to swim more important distances without stopping, which is a good sign. After that, I did series of 100m, crawl, backstroke and breaststroke, and some series of 50m crawl at a faster speed. To finish the workout I swam again 500m crawl. That’s great, because I was tired after 2300m, but anyway I was able to swim the last 500m without stopping.

• Saturday 18th: Resting

Some sleeping is good occasionally.

• Sunday 19th: Cycling – 38.30 km – 2h 31 min

Good cycling day. It was cold at the start, even if I started at 9:30 today, and the sun was shining. I think I need to wear more clothes, because I’m not comfortable with the cold, specially, cycling downhill. The route was to La Reigada, from an altitude of 7m, to about 530m, and back. I felt very good, with good legs, and after the workout I wasn’t very tired.

Total week 37:  Swimming: 4.8 km – Cycling: 38.30 km – Running: 8.18 km

Next week I’ll try to improve further in the swimming pool, and run two times a week (probably Monday and Thursday). Let’s see if the periostitis doesn’t return even doing these two running sessions.

Workout – W35 (Aug 30th – Sep 5th)

It wasn’t a very productive week in my sport workouts. After the 7 days of the week, I did one session for each sport (swimming, mountain bike and running). I have not started well September, even if I still have many time for sport, it will be more difficult from day 14, when I begin the Master classes. Also, the weather is starting to get worse and that means it will be harder to do routes with the bike.

These are my workouts for the past week:

• Monday 30th: Resting

Well, after the weekend with party in this part of the world, I needed a day more of resting. I did some pending errands, and no sport.

• Tuesday 31th: Running 10.53 km – 1h 02 min – 5:56 min/km

There you have it, my first 10 km running. I’m beginning to get some reliability while running, and although I run only once a week, I already can do something interesting. It could seem a small step for many people, but it’s a big step for me. I am proud of myself

Other interesting information: I run again for asphalt, yes it is harder (and can be worse for injuries), but in the place where I live (and run) it is funnier because you can do different routes, have beautiful landscapes, etc. Here it is difficult to find a good place for running with a softer track (and near home). Also, like the previous week I had some knee pain, but it disappeared the next day too.

• Wednesday 1st: Swimming – 2000 m – 1h 20 min

I was back to the pool after some weeks without serious swimming, and obviously it was a bit complicated. It was difficult to breath after some meters, and, you know, little oxygen in muscles means high heart rate and it means low performance. At the end, I swam 2000 m, not bad at all in these conditions. I used my Swedish goggles for the first time, I need fix it perfectly because now it hurts a bit, but I know that I will find the right fit with a bit of practice.

• Thursday 2nd: Resting

I had to be in home for some stuff, so I couldn’t do any sport today.

• Friday 3rd: Resting

I got up for going to the pool, but I didn’t feel very good, so I went to the bed again. I was a bit dizzy all day, and feeling weird. Who knows why.

• Saturday 4th: Resting

I was better than the day before, but I didn’t do any sport anyway.

• Sunday 5th: Mountain Biking – 27.44 km – 2 h 21 min

After the weird last days, I got up early and I began to pedal. I did a route that I have done previously some times, to the Gorfolí mountain. You know, asphalt road at the start of the route, then the climbing is full of sand and stones, and the final part again is asphalt.

The weather was changing during the morning and while at the start I found a dense fog (and it was very cold and wet), when I began to climb the mountain the sun was shining, and it was hot finally.

Total week 35:  Swimming: 2.0 km – Cycling: 27.44 km – Running: 10.53 km

Although the next week I have to do some administrative tasks (it will be a couple of mornings), I hope that at the end it will be a better week than this one, and I can continue improving my physical shape.

Workouts – W32-W33-W34

Here are the workouts I’ve had over the past three weeks. I haven’t been explaining it every week because I’ve been traveling for a few days, I have been a bit disconnected, and some laziness was present too.

But hey, better late than never, even in a summarized way and without explaining in detail each workout, only some key data when it happened.

These are my workouts for the week 32. The weekend I was travelling, so little action.

• Monday 9th: Resting

• Tuesday 10th:  2500 m – 1h 30 min – Swimming + 19.99 km – 1h 20 min – Cycling

Double session. The cycling part wasn’t very hard itself but having done it after the swim, it was a bit complicated. I got some pain in my right knee doing the breaststroke kick, it almost doesn’t bother during normal activities, but I can’t swim breaststroke with the normal kick.

• Wednesday 11th: 2500 m – 1h 30 min – Swimming

• Thursday 12th: 2500 m -1h 30 min – Swimming

• Friday 13 th: Resting

• Saturday 14th: Resting

• Sunday 15th: Resting

Total week 32:  Swimming: 7.5 km – Cycling: 19.99 km – Running: 0 km

These are my workouts for the week 33. In the place where I have been is really hot all day, so the workouts are very short. But at least I was a bit active. Also, I got about 1 kg of weight during this week.

• Monday 16th: 1.94km – 16 min – Running

Yeah, very easy workout. The excuse is that my brother-in-law was with me and it was his first time.

• Tuesday 17th: 2.78km – 16 min – Running  + 11.70 km – 1h 28 min – Cycling

Easy workouts too. But I biked with a bike similar to the one in the photo. Cool eh?

• Wednesday 18th: 4.68 km – 28 min – Running

No periostitis even running three days in a row. I know that the first two days it was short runs, but something is something.

• Thursday 19th: Resting

• Friday 20th: 1400 m – 55 min – Swimming

• Saturday 21th: Resting

• Sunday 22th: I was to the swimming pool to play mainly, and I didn’t do any workout, but I took some times for some distances. For example, I did 1:45 in 100m breaststroke, it is not a bad time considering the few workouts that I have had. Not knee pain today.

Total week 33:  Swimming: 1.4 km – Cycling: 11.70 km – Running: 9.40 km

These are my workouts for the week 34. The swimming pool is closed until September 1th so no-swimming until then. I’m doing some weightlifting with my arms to gain some strength when I swim again.

• Monday 23th: Resting

• Tuesday 24th: Resting

• Wednesday 25th: 8.91 km – 54 min – Running

Well, it has been my longest run ever. I thought in running about 45 minutes, but finally I changed the route, and then I kept running until the end of the route. The pace was good for me, 6:06 min/km. Later, resting, I had some pain in both knees, I think they were a bit overcharged, because the pain was over the next day. The periostitis didn’t appear, good thing after this long run, hopefully it won’t appear again. My legs are more muscled than before, and my weight is lower too. Also, now I only run about 1 day a week, it can be a determinant factor. I will be running more days every week when the weather will be worse and it will be difficult go with the bike, so let’s see if then the periostitis is back or is over forever.

• Thursday 26th: 39.32 km -2h 40 min – Cycling

It has been my longest run with the bike. I climbed La Reigada, good roads except the last kilometers of the climb. I had good sensations, even after my longest run from yesterday. The knee pain was almost over, and practically I didn’t note anything during the way.

• Friday 27th: 14.46 km – 56 min – Cycling

It was a very windy day, and it was very difficult to move forward with the bike, so I did a simpler route than planned. Something is better than nothing.

• Saturday 28th: Resting

• Sunday 29th: Resting

Total week 34:  Swimming: 0 m – Cycling: 53.78 km – Running: 8.91 km

Next week I will return to the normal routine with biking, swimming and running. Let’s see how it goes.

Workout – W31

Week in which I have done swimming again after so many years, thinking now I should have done some amateur swimming during these years and not quitting completely. Actually I really enjoy swimming, and even when you are exhausted after a swim, it is like a recuperative session in which you feel like new, with more vitality.

These are my workouts for the past week:

• Monday: 1000 m – 1h – Swimming

Well, after 10 years without swimming more or less seriously, today I have done it again. I have been to the pool sometimes in the last 10 years but never to swim, just to have fun with friends, and at most I did about 100 m in total in all this years.

I have done series of 50 m, stopping to rest between them, I still can not do many more meters without stopping, and I preferred to do more total distance with good rests, rather than do 200 m continuously, and be unable to move my arms more time. The feelings were pretty good, and finally I have done more meters than I had thought. In these series of 50 m, the first 25 meters I felt pretty comfortable and I could check the technique, in the second 25 m, I was only trying to raise my arms because they weighed a lot, and I could hardly with them and let them fall like a dead weight. But this is normal, and I know that in a few days I will be able to do better things. Most series have been in crawl, but I did some in backstroke, and some also in breaststroke. I felt particularly good swimming backstroke.

Talking about the kick, though I have stronger legs than the arms at the moment, I failed to be consistent with them, and there were times when I did a pretty good kicking, but at other times it was practically nothing. Breathing I felt better than I expected, I can do 25 m almost without breathing, which is a pleasant surprise.

On the other hand, the goggles I bought are really bad, and I am going to buy some Swedish goggles when I can, even if at first it takes time getting used to them, I know that eventually will be the best.

In summary, it has not been bad for the first day after so many years (and especially, taking into account that have been very unhealthy years).

• Tuesday: 29.34 km – 2h 45 min – Mountain Biking

The day dawned cloudy but it was opening, and eventually I had enough sun and hot most of the route. It did not affect me very much, just the water you lose with the hot (as sweat). I went to Gorfolí again, this time I climbed until the antennas (higher point). I went very well, perfectly controlling the pulse and breathing, so I had not to stop at any time because of this, my body is starting to take shape. Although I had soreness in the arms because of the swimming yesterday, practically it did not bother me on the bike.

The fact that this route I am doing now to go to Gorfolí is very interesting because it has the first part with nice roads and a couple of long climbs but widespread, then the final climb is a way with soil and stones, which becomes hard, but quite bearable. The last part of the route is almost all downhill or flat, good to recover.

• Wednesday: 1500 m – 1h 12 min – Swimming

Another day of swimming. I had enough stiffness in the arms, which complicates a little the mobility and technique these early days. The distance was not bad, 1500 m, which have been about 1200 m in crawl and 300 m backstrocke and breaststroke. It was in series of 50 m, except for the first 100 m that were continuous.

My feelings were a bit like the first day, the first 25 m of each series have been quite acceptable, taking care of the technique, but the last 25 I was happy to reach the wall and the arms had almost no strength to push the water. But I hope that eventually I will improve, and as I get better of the soreness of the first days, sure I can do better than now.

• Thursday: Resting

• Friday: 2000 m – 1h 19 min – Swimming

Much better today, almost no soreness in the arms, bringing the total meters more than the previous days doing just a little more time. I did most series of 50 m, but I also did about 500 m in series of 100 m. The distribution of strokes was about 1500 m in crawl, and the rest backstroke and breaststroke. Today I brought a watch to check the time of some of the series I have done, and yes, the times are pretty bad, as expected, the most important data it is that I did better times swimming breaststroke than backstroke, that means that my awesome breaststroke technique is perfectly, and when I can do all the meters with a stable force, I can do more interesting times.

• Saturday: 4.42 km – 35 min – Running

Running day. In principle, the periostitis do not bother me very much now, so running a day a week I do not think that it can reappear, and may be useful to further strengthen those muscles and have less problems in the future. The feelings I had were mixed, soon to start, I had some discomfort in the legs, and thought it was shin splints again, but it passed and I have not had any more trouble. When I was more time running, I had some discomfort in a knee and ankle, so I stopped running. I have not had any more trouble since that moment. At the end I ran 35 minutes at a lower pace than other times, and if not for these small pains I would have gone a little longer.

• Sunday: Resting

Many beers mean a bad hangover the next day, so you can not do very much.

Total week 31:  Swimming: 4.5 km – Cycling: 29.34 km – Running: 4.42 km

The next week I expect to do further progress in swimming, which is the sport that I will devote more time now. I expect to do three sessions during the week and in the weekend I will be on vacation, but I expect to do at least another swim workout there. I have planned going for a run one day, and the rest of the days I will bike. I could even do a double session, for example, swimming, then bike on the same day.

September is very close yet, I will have less time, so I have to improve in sports as much as possible now.