more running...

Apologies for the lack of updates - it turns out that doing a sneaky update on work time is fine, until things get busy at work!

So I've been keeping up with the interval running that I've been doing - I'm surprised at my perseverance... but doing the same/similar things is getting a bit dull, especially as I can feel it getting easier, so the plan is to try to mix it up more.

I've also been trying to challenge myself on my regular bike commute to work, staying in more difficult gears for longer, just to keep everything working hard.

So tonight I'm being very brave and joining in the pod session that Leo's running for the team. Here's hoping my bubble isn't burst completely as to my fitness levels! Crossing fingers now. Nerves are better than getting bored, right? Right.

Running..

The weather has been a bit poor for riding so I ran yesterday and today.

Yesterday:

Today:

Stanley beach run

On Saturday morning I was lucky enough to be enjoying the sunshine and getting the legs moving on Stanley beach- before the nasty weather set in. No throws, though, so bring on Wednesday! I'm enjoying the feeling of being able to keep up with the best of them on a Wednesday night. It's so satisfying to see progress!

Updates...!

Ok I have been a bit slack on the training blog, but I'm losing motivation due to there being not many contributors!

Anyhow:

Friday - Supposed to be a rest day but a friend who was going overseas invited me to go for a ride so did an easy 33km roll on the bike track.

Saturday - Spent an hour in the mud on my mountain bike. Great fun and so good to be on the mountain bike again. Yay Hobart.

Sunday - 2 hours of training in the morning. 2 hours of indoor in the evening. Haven't played indoor for ages and it was quite fun. Shockingly small attendance though. I remember when we used to fill both stadiums, not just one court :(

Monday - Not much happening today - I can't make it to Monsters training. Will likely get my upper body workout done.

Trail run

Windy today but quite nice in the bush. Legs were not very punished this week (no Pods!) so felt good. I realised half way through that I had a meeting at 1pm so had to rush back.

Bonnet Hill

A lunchtime favourite at the moment. Warm enough that the roads were dry, which was nice.

Morning Run

I did an undulating Ulladulla run this morning, 6.5km. Pretty slow, but I got up, got out, and did it.

More of that to come.

Lunch run...

Felt pretty good today. A couple of solid weeks with a slightly lighter load over the past few days seems to have done a good job.

Monday ride..

It looked lovely outside... it wasn't. Quite wet.

painless Monday run

After an awesome training session on Sunday morning, and two hours of indoor ultimate on Sunday evening, I had every expectation of feeling a little sore and sorry today. To my surprise, I was feeling so good that I took myself off for another lunchtime fartlek (thanks, Jase!) running session.

Is anyone else noticing a reduction in the time that it takes the body to recover? It's quite exciting/ revolutionary for me...!

Friday arvo spin

For some odd reason my boss gave me the afternoon off. So, despite being my rest day, I decided to finish off my riding quota for the week with a spin out to Granton and back. Generally an easy ride due to being quite flat however the wind is always a factor. Thankfully it was a headwind on the way out and a tail wind to bring me home.

Now I get to sleep in tomorrow instead of riding, which means I can stay up and watch Le Tour! Winning.

Thursday core strength

What a gorgeous day today! I thought I'd celebrate by using my lunch half-hour to head outside to a quiet corner of the utas cricket nets and do my made-up core strength work.

A mix of push ups, planks, sit ups, side planks, and various other crunches and things that I've stolen from past gym sessions. I keep being reminded just how much the core comes into all the throwing movements that we use for ultimate, so I'm trying to make it work for me.

The blue sky above and the sunshine beaming down made it (virtually) painless. Yay!

Lunch Ride - Mt Nelson

Absolutely stunning weather for a ride. Nicest day we have had in SO long. I am loving being warm. Swapping my ride/run days was the right choice.

Despite my fatigue I still managed to have a decent ride up to the signal station. It was lovely up there.

Hobart weather is stunning today. So nice to be warm! #pic

A photo posted by Jason de Puit (@jasedepuit) on Jul 22, 2015 at 8:44pm PDT

Pod Session

Completed another Pod session last night along with Leo, Dahlia, Claudia and Timothy. This one was agility and sprint focused. So we did about 20 min work on the agility ladder and then a series of sprints:

2 sets of:

6 X 60m

4 X 40m

2 X 20m

We then moved into focused throwing but were a bit interrupted by the teams playing Advanced League requiring some pickups.

Overall a good session, and nice to do some sprint work. Certainly not feeling it as much as I was after the plyometric session but there's more of that to come!

Trainer Session - So Slow

It appears that I have finally made it to the tail end of the utterly miserable cold/sinus infection that has been plaguing me for two weeks. I decided to celebrate tonight with a very slow spin on my trainer.

It did not feel great and as you can see my HR shot up pretty quickly despite the fact that I was riding 10km/h slower than I normally do but that is to be expected.

I have a race coming up in a few weeks so I will focus on recovery and hopefully get back to where I was post cold fairly quickly and then back to the ultimate. 

Trail Run - Slow

Today I was scheduled to do some riding but the weather was a bit poor so I opted for a run instead. I'll ride tomorrow.

It seems I am pretty buckled from our Pod session on Monday. I am stiff and sore all over. As such I was pretty slow on the run. Despite that we're doing another session tonight ... 0_o

Tuesday lunchtime running

Monday I opted for the complimentary staff yoga class (thanks utas!) as a recovery option from Sunday - I could feel the muscles in my throwing arm (and opposite side) from my concerted efforts at improving my backhand before Sunday's training session.

So today I was happy to get back out and into my intervals. I'm finding that it helps the mental side of things if I try to conceptualise and compartmentalise the faster running sections - I'm happier to run the distance if I'm thinking to myself "this is the same as running with a player from the stack to the endzone," or "this would be like running as part of the fence". Mind over matter, as they say!

Morning Run

Squeezed in a run between meetings. Certainly feeling the effects of yesterday.

Monday Night Training

2.5 hours of ultimate-specific training tonight. Safe to say I am quite tired now.

We started with a bit of a warm up and then moved into some hucking practise. From memory it was about 18 backhands then 18 forehands - maybe more. We then moved into a Pod session as follows:

1 - Plyometrics - about 20 minutes of various leg-work. I reckon we did about 10-15 different exercises. Lots of jumping, lunging and twisting. This was quite tough as there were lots of unusual movements (for me) but all very relevant for ultimate. I'm really happy to do some of this work.

2 - Sprints - 6 X 60m sprints at varying intensities.

3 - Throwing - 110 throws including high release, regular release, low release, inside out, outside in on both sides. Then some hammers.

By that stage the rest of the Monsters crew (+ others) had turned up so we moved into team training with some cutting drills which progressed to focusing on break-throws. Then a triangle drill with a number of variations.

After that we played 4-a-side for about 40 minutes.

I think my legs are going to be struggling a bit on tomorrow's run.

Bonnet Hill

Lunch ride to Bonnet hill. Nice tailwind on the way out, which meant a headwind for the journey home. Overall it was nice to ride with the temperature in double digits.

Richmond Ride

Rode to Richmond for a jam donut and a coffee. It was hard, and cold. I missed my target of an average speed of 30km/h but I'm ok with that for now :)

lunchtime interval running

It's thanks to the power of the blog that I found to motivation to run today - so thank you guys for getting it happening.

My (extremely un-scientific) intervals consist of different sections around the edge of the uni AFL oval - from the light-post to the cricket nets, from the nets to the edge of the goal-posts, from the goals to the next light-post, to the edge of the club-rooms, to the big tree, etc etc.

I've been alternating jogging and properly running between sections, joining sections together to make longer fast(er) runs, and allowing myself a walking break for 20 breaths here and there. Being a luddite and a cheapskate means no fancy strava maps for me. Probably a good thing, as they'd just show a tiny oval anyway...

Apart from the improvements in fitness which I'm sure I can see already, what I hope to achieve from this is a greater sense of confidence - feeling like I can rightfully set foot on the oval, rather than like I'm some sort of impostor. I'm counting on this happening with time, but if anyone out there has some words of encouragement, I'd love to hear them. Thanks team!

Trail Running

Went for a trail run in my lunch break:

 

Why trail running? For starters, it is running - which is very useful for ultimate! However trail running also has a few other benefits:

• The nature of trails is that they typically involve more elevation:
• It is harder on your muscles to push up hill. This trail involves some steep sections and some stairs.
• On the way down, you're working out your stabilisation muscles a lot more than a flat run.
• The uneven nature of the trail provides even more stabilisation training.
• It is interesting and pretty!

Living in Hobart has some negatives, like being cold and dark in winter! So you should take advantage of some of the positives, like how close you are to the bush and various nature trails that are really nice at this time of year!

Trail running for lunch. #pic

A photo posted by Jason de Puit (@jasedepuit) on Jul 15, 2015 at 8:13pm PDT

Tomorrow is a rest day... and I don't have any plans for this evening but I might do some stretching or core work.

When you are too sick to do cardio

kunanyi Ultimate Blog 1.0

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