Holiday training, the first race for yonks and initial watchOS 8 thoughts
Is “yonks” even a word in the US?
Recent Training
I’ve had a varied few weeks of training, interrupted by a holiday in Portugal, followed by ten days quarantine (meaning indoor training only), and then a taper to my first triathlon event for some time.
I just checked the last post I made, and somehow five weeks have passed, so here is a collage of the training during that period - more red (missed sessions) than I like to see, to be honest.
Proof you need a holiday after a holiday.
After a good last week in May, my training plans for the holiday proved to be more ambitious than the reality, which is not surprising. I had taken my Brompton rather than hire a bike - just because I could, and that was a lot of fun, but my running plans faded to nothing, and swimming in the pool and sea were a bit half-hearted.
Still, I got this cool Time Warp video (captured on my GoPro Hero 9 mounted underneath my Wahoo Elemnt Roam on a duo mount) while cycling down the lovely Ludo Trail. TimeWarp is cool (tap/click for the full video)
And along the way, I saw hundreds of these tiny Calling Crabs (or Fiddler Crabs) with one giant claw foraging through the sediment for anything edible.
You can see the stats and route from the ride on Strava if you are interested. And if you are so inclined, you can scroll through that week on Strava and see my sea swims and other attempts at training.
In reality, it was a lovely week away with too much alcohol and lots of sun, one which I was lucky to make since we departed the UK when Portugal was on the “green” travel zone and returned when it was in the “amber” one.
And the proof that I need another holiday now? My Training Today RTT score just bounced along on a low score the whole week - a clear indication that consuming large amounts of gin, wine and beer, together with perhaps not the healthiest food and little exercise, does not a “ready to train” athlete make! Who knew?
Quarantine Training
The fact that Portugal changed from “green” to “amber” on the UK travel list meant that on our return, we had to quarantine for ten days at home. So no outdoor runs, cycling and no swimming, of course.
However, I’m pretty lucky in that I converted our garage to a gym of sorts at the start of last year, just before the lockdown, and I have a decent amount of kit in there:
Plus a bench press and some free weights and kettlebells which my son gets far more use out of than I do.
Apps and entertainment are taken care of with an Apple TV linked to a single HomePod, a projector and a big screen attached to the wall.
The first three items are the ones I use the most, and in particular, I have found the SkiErg is an excellent alternative to swimming for an upper body and core workout. In fact, for these quarantine sessions, my coach assigned swim workout plans, and I just did them as RPE on the SkiErg. That worked pretty well.
For example, this plan created the following log on the SkiErg (click/tap image for the complete record). I initially started using single-arm in a swimming freestyle sort of fashion but switched to using both arms later as it felt like better form and a better workout.
5mins easy warm up
4x60s build 1-4 from 6-9 RPE with 10s Rest Interval
10x4mins@200m effort RPE 7-8 with 20s Rest Interval
5mins easy to finish
The rest of the time was with Zwift on the bike and treadmill. Even though the treadmill has Bluetooth and can connect directly to Zwift for running pace, I typically prefer to use my Stryd connected instead because I get the power data that way.
First Tri in Yonks
Once out of Quarantine, I only had a few days before my first event since the pandemic began. The Bowood House Triathlon. Tapering worked very well according to Training Today scores.
This event is a Sprint Tri (750m swim, 21k bike, 5k run) in the beautiful setting of the Bowood Estate in Wiltshire. I hope to revisit the estate sometime with Steph to walk around the grounds,, take them in properly, and maybe spend a night in the hotel and spa.
I had been feeling nervous about this event. Would I remember what to do in transition - it's been so long? Would I be any good - what sort of goal should I set?
In the end, I set a reasonable target of 1hr 45mins which is slower than I have completed other Sprints by 15-20 mins,, but this was a technical bike and a run that was on gravel and grass with some hilly parts, and T1 includes a 500m run uphill to the transition. Couple that with the fact that this was a training event to get me back in the swing of things; that time felt a nice balance of reasonable and challenging.
In the end, I finished at 1:42:58 which was fine. The swim was a little slower than I would want,, and I forgot to start my watch, so I don’t have a log of the distance, but I suspect I didn’t sight too well on the return leg and probably covered a bit more than 750m.
The bike I was pleased with, and it was a ton of fun! Basically, seven laps of 3k with some technical and sharp turns that required some caution, but on the straights, I felt super fast on my Canyon Speedmax even with some crosswinds hammering the deep rimmed Zipp 808 and 404 wheelset. I averaged >30kph even with that course and averaged a power of 221w.
5k runs are not really my thing - it takes my legs at least that long to warm up, a result I believe of my DVT’s and varicose veins, so I am never really comfortable until about 30mins into a run anyway. But the time wasn’t dreadful.
Transitions were leisurely, though I felt like I was all over the place, so probably need to practice/plan those a bit more. Someone should make a neat transition mat, with markers for where to place everything for people like me.
Overall though, it was pretty enjoyable and has really awoken my desire to do more events ahead of the half ironman distance Hever Guantlet in September
WatchOS 8
While on holiday WWDC happened, and strangely I prioritised sitting in restaurants, going to the beach, and lying by the pool over watching the keynotes and presentations.
But I have been catching up since and here’s what I have noted so far. I will be delving into these in more detail in future newsletters:
Sharing health data with family members - will be great to monitor elderly relatives for example
Background delivery of HealthKit Data - this means apps and complications can display health information more frequently (but still only once per hour for apps, and four times per hour for complications, unless it’s a critical event such as low blood oxygen which is immediate)
Always on display for apps - this is big news for workout apps. Previously when the screen dimmed, third-party apps would blur and you would just see a digitial clock. Now app developers can have a full UI when the display is dimmed.
Region based user notifications - this could be interesting so that an app could for example start a ski-workout automatically from a geofence around the top of the lift. Will be interesting to see what developers come up with.
Bluetooth improvements - Apple Watch can now connect to bluetooth devices and be updated directly from complications. This could be interesting for health monitoring (though again there is the 4 updates per hour limitation so not real-time)
The Radio app has merged with the music app. OK...
There is a new Walking Steadiness feature which will alert you when your walking steadiness has declined and has put you at a high risk of having a fall in the next 12 months.
Siri now reads out you metrics during activities such as distance and pace on a run.
Some commentaters have been a little underwhelmed with these features but I think there are some interesting areas that developers can begin working with. I am going to see if I can dust off my coding cap and try some of them out - if that pans out I’ll write about it in the newsletter.
Anyway stay safe! Any comments let me know using the comment button below, and please do subscribe if you enjoyed this - it’s free and much apprecitated!
Cheers!
Ian
Did see a mat with all the items on it somewhere…don’t remember where though sorry
I'd be interested to see if workout app developers can incorporate the walking steadiness features into useful data for athletes... I'm thinking GCT, L/R balance, vertical oscillation etc. Although it might require carrying your phone with you; and from my experience, even getting accurate cadence data from AW is terrible!