Training update w/c 27/7/09

Hey everyone, you all good?

A good weeks worth of training this week, although it seems I’ve reached my maximum distance of around 12k. I can’t seem to push any further than that at the moment so I might have to consolidate that distance for a while before increasing the distance of my tempo push session.

Monday – Set out to do 14 k, returned having done 10. I wanted to continue but thought it unwise as I was feeling light headed and craving sugar foods. Completed 10k in 56 mins which is a fairly slow push.

Tuesday – Day off

Wednesday – Had a gym session today. I must admit, I really didn’t want to train because of feeling lethargic, but managed to force myself to go and had a good chest work out.

Thursday – Went to the track and did a horrible 400m on, 300m off  x 5 sets session. I pushed it really hard and tried to be more aggressive on the sprints. Did a couple of kilometres as a warm up so pushed a total of 7km. I also did a couple of 100 metre sprints and felt really good. I tried to time myself and got a time that beats my personal best before I stopped pushing a couple of years ago by a couple of seconds. Sure, it can’t be accurate, but it was a significant difference, and on a softish track. Drove home with a smile!

Friday – Had the privilege of training with Sarah today in Sutton Park. Did a 1 min on, 1 min off session for 5 k.

Sporting my new Oakleys! Did a good job keeping flies out of my eyes!

It’s good to challenge myself with the hilly terrain that Sutton park presents, although it did seem that every sprint was going up hill!  The flies however were a nuisance! When you’re doing 30 kph downhill, you do not want to get a fly in the eye, but luckily for me, I invested in some Oakleys! 

Weekend – Went on a stag do to Liverpool…dressed as a nun…with Martin (the stag) as Father Jack from the T.V. series Father Ted, so needless to say, I did not train on the Saturday, but did get back in time for a really good basketball session on Sunday afternoon! Things are starting to look good for the basketball season ahead!

So that was my week. Many congratulations to Martin who is getting married in a couple of weeks, and good luck to England who are battling away against the Aussies in The Ashes! It looks fairly even in this test so far, oh, wait, hang on, Swann has just bowled Australia’s Captain Ricky Ponting through the gate! Seriously, that was like “sport porn”! Personally, I wouldn’t mind if it rained for the next 2 tests as we are already 1-0 up! Poor sportsmanship I know, but this is The Ashes!

Please look out for a post on creatine next week! Should answer a few questions that people ask me about the use of creatine. I’m going to try and find some references for the post so this could delay it to next week possibly, but hopefully not!

I have spoken to a couple of you this week who said you are really enjoying reading this blog, so I thank you for your kind comments. If anybody thinks there are ways to improve the blog, or there are things that you think are missing, or even at the least want to ask me a question, then please feel free to comment on the blog! Come on now, don’t be shy!

See you next week!

Training update w/c 22/6/09

Hello all! Hope you are well….?

It’s been a good weeks training, albeit a little light on kilometers still, but the sessions I have done have been really good.

Monday – Felt stiff so instead of pushing, I went to the gym and did a strength session.

Tuesday – Did not train. Had to go for an MRI scan on my neck and back…..apparently, it is still there!

Wednesday – Day off

Photo by Sarah at Wyndley

Thursday – Went to the track with Sarah and had a really good interval session. I did 2X3km intervals, 1minute on, 2 minutes off. This absolutely destroyed me…it’s been a long time since  have done this type of session. I can tell you I’ll be doing loads of these over the coming weeks. I finished off with some 120m sprints with a roll round recovery. It seems that Sarah is rapid over shorter distances so beat me on these sprints…..brilliant….something else she beats me at….

 

Being beaten by my girlfiend doesn’t do a lot for my masculinity, but I did enjoy the training session. Having some one there training with you does make the session more enjoyable and more competitive.

Friday – The rain came down so hard, and so fast, I honestly did not think I was going to even get in to Sutton Park because of floods! I got in there eventually and waited for a bit, but it would have been fairly dangerous to train on account of the multiple fjords streaming across the road I so went to the gym instead. I worked the opposite muscles to Monday and did a strength session.

Saturday– After the disappointment of the Lions losing in the last minute of the game against the South Africans, I managed a fairly sombre push through Sutton Park. Only did 6km though….I was being attacked by flies and was struggling to breathe it was that warm and humid.

Sunday– Now this was a good push. I only did a 9km through Sutton Park, but did it in 49 mins which I was really chuffed with. Remember that Sutton Park is really hilly so it slows the times down some what. It wasn’t ideal for pushing either because of the heat and having to slow down for people getting in the way.

Total  – 23km

Good news! I now have my coach back on board! Paul Hunt is an experienced racer who has been on the GB development squad in past years. He was the bloke who introduced me to it, and still to this day, he introduces people of all ages to wheelchair racing in his own free time. Paul has set me up a programme consisting of 3 pushes a week with a bonus push if I’m feeling good. It feels good to be back with him.

Having Paul on board again also signifies that the introduction phase of my return to training is now complete. My training over the next six weeks will step up significantly. I just need to remember to avoid training in the hottest part of the day as we seem to be heading towards a heatwave!

As I’m writing this I’m sure I’ve forgotten to put something in….if I have, and I remember it, I’ll add it later in the week!

Thanks for dropping by…

Training update w/c 15/6/09

OK people, how are you all? Welcome back for another post!

Monday – Went to the track at Wyndley but there was an event on, this led to concerns from Sarah about my organising skills….she may well have a point! Anyway, I decided instead to go in search of some flat smooth tarmac so tried the Banners Gate entrance of Sutton Park. The road was smooth and flat for about 500m but then it became very rough and bumpy. All in all it wasn’t great so finished my session after doubling back a couple  of times to do 5km.

Tuesday – The track was booked all day so decided to do a gym session in the evening. Mikey and Jim joined me and I did a very heavy strength session concentrating on my back and biceps.

Wednesday – I actually managed to get on the track! When I arrived the sun was shining brightly, but the closer I got to the track, the more the cloud cover seemed to get thicker and darker so I was immediately in a race with the weather. After a quick warm up, I set about doing as many 150m sprints as possible before the heavens opened. I managed 8 with a gentle roll round back to the 150 mark as my recovery. One thing I realised after this session was how important concentration is. You see, my 1st few sprints were poor…..very poor actually, because I rushed the warm up and was too busy looking at the weather. Fortunately, I got distracted from the weather by my poor pushing, and started to push much quicker. The last 3 sprints I was very pleased with getting very close to my top speed. I might even try and add some 200 metre sprints in my next track session and see how I get on.

Thursday – Felt very rough Wednesday night so took this day and Friday off. I was thinking of a gym session on the Saturday but Sunday I was training with Sarah through Sutton park so decided to save my energy for what was going to be a tough session.

Sunday – What a session! Sutton Park is always tough for pushing because of the hills, but it is the only local place I can train with Sarah (apart from the track….that’s coming soon). I’m generally quicker than Sarah over a flat route, but Sutton Park makes things a little tougher resulting in a very interesting training session. We decided to do a 10km race….loser having to buy the ice creams! Sarah started off a couple of minutes before me because she was cold and I was messing with my gloves or something, so we would use our GPS devices to tell us who had the quickest time. It was a good push….I climbed well, and got good speeds going down hill. I had to brake occasionally to avoid the odd dog and small child, but as things go for Sutton Park, things went well. I had a really good push and finished in a time of 60 mins 6 seconds. I saw Sarah sitting by the car….she started to walk over to me….I could see she’d ran hard…..surely she couldn’t have posted a better time than mine?……she had done….59 mins 50 seconds…..Sarah had beaten me, meaning I had to buy ice creams! Congratulations to Sarah because this was her first sub 1 hour 10km and on a very hard course too!

So, apart from feeling unwell, forgetting what time the track is booked, failing to find flat smooth tarmac, still having a UTI, the British and Irish Lions losing and getting beaten by Sarah….it was actually not a bad training week and I’m thoroughly looking forward to next weeks training! Also, I get my University results on Monday so there is something else to look forward to!

Well done to Mickey Bushell who broke the world T53 100m record in 14.69 seconds! I think there is still loads more to come from him too!

So, I hope you all have a good week, and I’ll see you all here next time on “Wheels on Fire”!

P.S. You all need to go and see Transformers 2!

Training update w/c 8/6/09

Hello again people….hope you’re all enjoying the weather today?

Well, here is my weekly training update. It’s been a slightly strange week in the fact that sometimes I’ve felt really good, and other times felt really tired and ill. I still seem to have a UTI (urinary tract infection), but seem to be keeping it under control for the time being by drinking loads of water and cranberry juice, and taking vitamin C. Apparently bugs in the urinary tract don’t like the acidity that occurs from taking these substances, so if you’re prone to them, get stuck in.

Monday – I went to a different part of Sutton Park looking for some flat, smooth, straight tarmac. I was informed that just in from one of the gates was about 2km of flat smooth tarmac…..I got excited about the prospect of pushing and holding a high speed. However, on my arrival, I found 1km of smooth tarmac going up the biggest hill I’ve ever seen! That’s an exaggeration to fuel your need for entertainment…..but it was steep and could only hold about 9km/h going up the hill. I promptly turned around and flew down the hill. I didn’t have time to go and find somewhere else to train so pushed it again totalling 4km. I don’t want to mention any names, Clarkey (I know you read this!), but if you think that’s flat, I’m never asking you to come and hang shelves for me!

Tuesday – Went to my usual place in Sutton Park and did about 6km of hill work. The section of tarmac I use has a decline, then an incline in the middle of it…this is useful for 2 purposes. Firstly, the incline will test and improve your strength (which is something I need to improve), and secondly, pushing down the hill improves your ability to push at higher speeds by helping you to increase your arm speed through the push. I wanted to do more but was starting to feel a bit rough and my speed had dropped significantly and I couldn’t work out why, so stopped at the 6km mark.

Wednesday – This was supposed to be a day off but Mickey phoned and said he was training at Coventry in the morning. I couldn’t resist so went to train with him. On my arrival though, I notice a flat tub on my front wheel (an explanation of my fatigue and decreased speed the day before) and being completely unorganised had no spares with me! To the rescue came Mickeys dad Pete Bushell who changed my tub for one of Mickeys. This was a lot of effort, especially as it was Mickeys only spare and needed it back at the end of the session so many thanks to Pete. We did a sprint session consisting of 4×80, 3×100, 2×110, rest, then 2×150 finished by 2×200. Including warm up and recovery laps I pushed around 9km.

Thursday – day off

Friday – Went training with Sarah through Sutton Park. The plan was to race over 10km. I usually have the upper hand over her but when there are hills it kind of evens the playing field. I was suffering by 8.8km, at which point we were passing the car so I stopped there. There are some killer hills in Sutton Park, and with not quite being 100%, it really took it out of me. Sarah on the other hand, even though she was ill with a virus the week before, blasted out a 10k of impressive magnitude….if I had done the whole 10k, It would have been an interesting sprint finish….up a hill…..that I would have lost…..

Saturday – Day off

Sunday – Strength session in the gym spotted by Mike….he was ill with “Man flu” so didn’t train but still came and helped. Thanks Mike!

 So that was my week. I feel I am getting some where having momentarily hit my top speed on the track on the Wednesday. I’m disappointed I didn’t complete the Friday 10k….I need to keep reminding myself that I’m not quite 100% at the moment, but the improvements I’ve noticed with top speeds and the average speed I climbed the hills on Tuesday and Friday give me great encouragement!

A chance for people to contribute now…..wheelchair racers are constantly on the look out for places to train….smooth, flat, straight tarmac (preferably no cars) are the ideals for finding a location to train. Tracks are good, but often slower and more tedious if you’re trying to clock up some miles. If anyone knows of such a location, then please feel free to comment!

Oh, I don’t mean to brag, but I won Clubman of the Year at the WBA FC WBC awards ceremony last night! I’m sure I’ll be able to get a photo from somewhere for you all to enjoy in later posts!

Many thanks to Cresswellwho changed my front tub and helped me alter the footplate on my chair. These things I can do myself, but its awkward to get in the right position sometimes to unscrew stuff….Cress came straight in and replaced the front tub and altered the footrest in minutes!

Well done to the British and Irish Lions who are still unbeaten in South Africa, and all the best for England in the twenty20 cricket later!

Have a good week people!

What a week – training update w/c 18/05/09

Hey people,

Now the title of this post seems to be a little ambiguous…..some of you will think “wow, Ally’s had a good week training!”, while some of you will be thinking “hmmmm, things didn’t go well for Ally this week”.

Unfortunately, those of you thinking the latter would be correct.

I don’t have many bad days…..in fact, hardly ever, so to have a bad week is something I’m unaccustomed to. It started with me having to go to the spinal hospital for a check up procedure. This takes a couple of days….you get there Monday and leave Wednesday morning usually. Firstly, I couldn’t train, which when you’re tying to clock up 30km in the week is frustrating because you’re missing 3 days potential training. Secondly, I cannot explain to you just how bored I got, and thirdly, the procedure itself is not particularly pleasant, however, fairly important.

This procedure detected a potential problem which reminded me that I’m not invincible, and that lowered my mood, then I had to hang around till about 5pm on the Wednesday because the nurses were too busy to show me a couple of things before I could be discharged. Of course on the whole grand scale of things, this in comparison to problems like the wars we are seeing in the world, or famine, is incredibly minor and insignificant, and as I write this I’m starting to feel a little guilty….

Thursday I trained in Wigan with Micky and Steve and also had the pleasure of being on the track with Shelly Woods, although I didn’t really speak to her much because I don’t remember seeing her doing anything less than 30 km/h, which makes it slightly difficult to say “what up?”…….I think she may be bionic. Because we did a sprinting style session I only pushed about 6km.

I then trained Friday and did over 10k through Sutton park up and down the hills – 10.5km 1hour 3 mins

Friday night, I then came down with a dreaded bladder infection or Urinary tract infection…..I was still feeling rough Saturday and so couldn’t train, and Sunday, although feeling loads better, decided not to train to make sure I was better.

So, 16.5km completed this week, no where near what I was aiming for….hopefully next week will be a better week and I’ll hit some where around the 30 km mark….if I don’t, my somewhat bionic and beautiful girlfriend Sarah, will no doubt pummel me in to the ground in our weekly distance challenge….again….

Hopefully next weeks post won’t have a rant at the start…….sorry about that.

 

Peace

Training update w/c 11/05/09

Hello all,

Right, just an update on my training for you,

Monday – strength session in the gym. Its important to remember that I don’t do bodybuilding routines….I lift weights to get stronger, and there’s a very subtle difference. I concentrated on upper back.

Tuesday – did a relaxed 6km through Sutton park with a mate who has challenged me to a 10km race before he goes away. Time was about 38 Min’s….very casual.

Wednesday – rest

Thursday – I had the pleasure of training with a young friend of mine, Mickey Bushell, who won a silver medal in Beijing for the 100m t53. I was invited up to train with him in Wigan, I think because he knew I was looking to start training seriously again. Now he is far quicker and superior to me, but training with him was a T52 called Steve Hoskins. Once again, he was quicker than me, and was far better conditioned than me, as I am just starting again, but it was nice to train with someone my level, and I hope, that in a few months when I’ve put some miles in, that I’ll be able to push him hard in the training sessions!

We did a pyramid sprinting session where we’d sprint 60 meters, roll round to the start, sprint 80, roll round, 100m roll round, 120m, and then do it in reverse. We did 3 sets so did about 10km not including the warm up and starts.

I thoroughly enjoyed the session….even though I could hardly move my arms after! Mickey gave me grief for being soft that I cant possibly repeat on here….

Friday – rest

Saturday – Gym, did a strength session in the morning concentrating on chest muscles

Sunday – was meant to go for a 10km push but the weather was atrocious so went to the gym and did a strength session on shoulders.

 

That was my week in relation to my training. I intend to get rid of one of the rest days but for the time being I need the two, and also, the gym will cut down to probably 1 or 2 sessions a week. Total km pushed = a measly 16…..but that’s alright for my first week back…..next week I’m looking to double that.

 

Should be a bonus update on Friday so check back then!

 

Take it easy!