Progression...

It's all about progress this week. Apart from being a vital 'principle of training' progression is something we all desire throughout our life. Take a look at Evie, yep the sides of her cot are off and she has progressed to a proper bed. It didn't make a jot of difference to her sleep patterns though. Still up at 4.30am, then she went in to Ellie's bedroom at 7am.

I have progressed nicely this week. My ear is definitely on the mend and I would be very surprised if the infection hasn't gone (will find out on Tuesday when I visit the hospital for a check up). My hearing is still strange, but until the perforation mends this will be the case. Anyway it is giving me plenty of opportunity for some selective hearing around the house!!!!

I have ridden the bike every day for 1 hour on the turbo. Sessions have been nice and steady, keeping my heart rate between 135bpm and 155bpm (70 to 80% HR Max) It has been great to get back into exercising and training. In the last 4 weeks, courtesy of the sickness bug and my ear troubles I have trained on just 4 days! That is the most inactive I have been for a long, long, long time. Over the next few weeks I will be able to see how much fitness I have retained. I have been really pleased with my 7 sessions this week, feeling good on the bike and recovering fine from day to day. My riding has been on the race bike so I have been tweaking with the position. I think I am getting pretty close to being comfortable and being aero. A few photographs revealed I have an upper back shape that Quasimodo would die for, however my position is looking pretty good. I intend to keep the race bike on the turbo and add in a couple of additional bike sessions focusing on riding in the race position and riding some hard intervals. The interval sessions are going to be important if I am going to maximise the next 11 weeks before Lanzarote.

The past couple of seasons I have trained 'steady' from day 1 to race day, with the odd really long day, and odd high intensity race thrown in for good measure. Given my start to the year I really need to maximise my build up to Lanzarote, this brings me back to the idea of progression. What I feel I need to do is start to target specific weekly sessions that really aim to progress my performance. The current terminology is a 'break through session' (BT session) These sessions have been neglected in the past, but I think they are really important now. This is something I will be giving some thought to over the next couple of weeks once I feel my base conditioning is back.

The rest of the week has been really good. Holidays are a great perk to being a teacher and this 1/2 term (since I didn't make Tuscon) has enabled me to spend some quality time with Sarah, Ellie and Evie. We went up to Newcastle for the back end of the week to see Sarah's Mum and Dad. It's always very relaxing up there with Sarah's Mum taking over children duties. Thanks Elieen, the break is really appreciated. Me and Sarah made it out to dinner and then to the cinema. Slumdog Millionairre, the reviews have been cracking, and quite rightly so. It was one of the best films I have seen for a long time, a very entertaining and thought provoking 120 minutes. We also managed a couple of DVD's. Like Minds was an interesting film, something very different and worth a view. The Weatherman wasn't a master piece, but I like Nicholas Cage and he made it entertaining.

Today we had a picnic to the woods, where Ellie and Evie kept me busy doing 'Daddy assisted jumps' (who needs to lift weights) I then made everybody laugh, (I even managed a laugh once I'd got past my angry stage) when I knocked my soup all over my lap, of course it was tomato soup, it went everywhere!!!

It's back to normality for me this week. It's been a really disrupted 1/2 term at work, the weather causing cancellations to sports fixtures and my health issues. I am really looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. As a Brucey bonus it's now light at 7am until at least 5.30, so I can probably pack away the bike lights for my ride to and from work, yipee. Is Spring just around the corner? of course it is. One things certain, progression of the seasons happens every single year. Have a great week...