Training Week 1

I had planned on starting my new training plan a couple of weeks ago but guess what, somebody gifted me a cold which I luckily managed to get rid of before last Sundays 'bimble'. I can pinpoint the exact time when it was gifted me by some bloke at work who sneezed twice when he was sat opposite me on friday, 3 days later it started but luckily after some intensive cold remedy's it was gone in 3 days. I really am sick of being sick, a sickness that started in September and hasn't really gone away...

Anyway after last Sundays bimble it was time to put into action my training so Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and today I spent an hour in my garage on my turbo. It's so much easier turboing rather than getting out on the road in the cold and dark, just throw on the minimum gear, fire up the ipod and get started, no having to gauge the weather, no having to think of a route, no wondering about layers and lights and no helmet - easy. So with a rough plan of riding in my zone 2 I get started with easy top Z1 / low Z2 working upwards, rough in that I don't intend being exact in my timings in each zone, I just stick the ipod on and when a new track comes on that's my cue to change up/down a cog or speed up or lower my cadence, somewhere between 90 to 100 all the time keeping an eye on my HR.

What I have come to understand over the last year is that I need to listen very closely to my body, a body that has been ravaged by the surgeons knife on far too many occasions and every day decimated by the immunosuppressant drugs necessary to keep my bionicness that keeps me off dialyses and often I ask myself what is someone who has this 'problem' doing riding a bike and not just riding a bike but trying to be competitive as well, sometimes I ask myself what's the point - I will be on dialysis again in a few short years so will lose everything, I was lucky it took me only 3 years from the time of kidney failure to time of transplant (with dialysis thrown in 4 times a day) and that was because I had a 'live' transplant, the next time no live transplant and will be extremely lucky to get a kidney at all.

Anyway I'm getting away from the point now and that point is that I've learnt to vary the intensity of my workouts depending on how I feel and what's on the cycling agenda. For instance this weeks workouts have varied in intensity, Tuesday was an hours worth of mid to high Z2, Wednesday low to mid Z2, Thursday high Z1 to low Z2 and today mindful of tomorrows club ride, low to mid Z2. Reading Joe Friels book (and other training books) he does say that this is what you are supposed to do, listen to your body, don't force a workout on a body that cannot handle it because of illness or tiredness - be intelligent, think about your workout, you don't need to rigidly follow a plan to the letter, vary the workout and lastly as Rick Stern says 'don't be a zone drone'.

Joe Friel has you record your resting HR and use this as guide, if its elevated too much, say over 10 beats over your norm, skip that days workout. Prior to my extended period of poorliness my resting HR was 52 with a best of 48 during the summer. This week on Tuesday I started with a resting HR of 6o, Wed down to 56, Thu down again to 54 and after training 3 days on the trot on Friday it's back up to 60, time for a days rest, Sat morning after the rest it's back down to 54, I'm happy, training intelligently has worked my body and even after just a few days training I'm feeling fitter and the figures agree...