Monday 21 April 2014

Week 3 of 26


With a rest day on Monday, my first workout was on Tuesday. Can you believe it? It actually snowed, in the middle of April! Luckily I scheduled a swim session, main set - 10 x 100, 500 steady, 5 x 200, 500 steady. Was feeling a bit tired and had shorter rests than usual for the same intervals.

The next day, the weather warmed up a bit and most the snow from the day before began to melt. But it was still pretty cold when I did my ride in the afternoon, I could barely feel my fingers and toes. The same 60km ride to Thorndale but few minutes slower than last week.

Thursday it warmed up nicely and I did a 12km run at Springbank. Decided to bring out the Saucony Fastwitch's again, to test them out as they would be racing choice for Forest City half marathon next weekend. What a difference lightweight racers make and I went another 20 seconds quicker than last week.

Friday was Easter public holiday. I could have rode longer but I only did a 75km ride to Lakeside and back. My wife asked why didn't I schedule a 6 hour ride... gosh, she's even tougher than my coach! The skies were a bit gloomy but luckily the rain held back. In the afternoon, I did a swim session, main set was pyramid swim 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100.

Saturday I squeezed in a 110km ride before leaving for Markham to visit my wife's cousins for the weekend. I rode to Southwold and it was headwind on the return journey all the way. My legs were pretty shattered. A roadie tried to hitch a ride. Usually I don't mind but I wasn't in best of moods so I slammed on the gas to drop him off. I paid for it later though... it was a long stroll all the way home.

We spent the night in Markham. Had a late steamboat dinner with plenty of good food and dessert. We were going horseback riding on Sunday morning. Initially I wanted to run 20km but I was only able to squeeze in 16km, just to round up my total weekly mileage to 280km. Felt tired on the way out but after the turnaround, somehow I had an extra gear and was able to run hard all the way home.
Li-Ann after her ride. Her horse was more obedient than mine.
Li-Ann's cousin - Sara and myself. Apparently her horse has a crush on mine.
Week 3 stats:

Swim 7.0km (1 hour 58 minutes)
Bike 245.4 (8 hours 9 minutes)
Run 28.1km (2 hours 4 minutes)
err... horseback riding (50 minutes)??? My bum feels so much more sore compared to cycling, so I reckon this should count! Hahaha

6 comments:

CheapRunnerMike said...

Yes, I would believe snow in April...seems there's always at least one snow day every April around here. I had a lunch run scheduled and didn't pack my warm clothes...oops. Should have done a swim session instead like you!
Love that you dropped the roadie haha...good luck at FCRR this weekend, I'll keep an eye out for you!

Kevin Siah said...

Thanks Mike! Yes, would keep a look out for you too! All the best! Who knows, we may get to race in snow hahaha

Steve Morgan said...

Kevin, not sure how familiar you are with the IM Malaysia swim course, but just curious if you'd recommend a swim skin for the event?

Kevin Siah said...

Hey Steve, with the tropical climate, it would definitely be a non wetsuit swim. If you have swimskin already, by all means do use it. I haven't used one before but I just got myself one, so I'm looking forward to racing with it.

There can be sea lice in the water at times. Their stings are not too bad but can be annoying and depending on if you have any allergies, they can affect your swim significantly. A swimskin may provide more protection, but there are still areas on your body which are not covered. I recommend some sunscreen and/or vaseline to give more protection for the non covered areas.

s said...

Kevin, thanks for the input on the swim skin. Also, congrats on your recent HM time - very impressive. By the I have to laugh at your posts regarding training in the cool Canadian winter/spring weather. I'm training in a challenging climate as well. The high last Saturday here in Saudi was 40 degrees C and it only gets hotter. Enjoy that cool weather.

Kevin Siah said...

Thanks Steve!