More Training Equipment and Apps

A solid 42hrs of training for me in April - here’s more of what I use

This April I’ve managed to fit in a solid 42 hours of training which is great. I can put some of that down to more free time now that pretty much - scratch that - all of my meetings for work are via video calls.

As an aside I’ve been using a awkwardly named, but excellent app called mmhmm for those calls, it lets you stay on screen as you share presentations or apps, has nice video and image backgrounds you can customise, and supports using a green screen which I picked up for this very app. It’s still not quite perfect enough to stand up to particularly close examination from nerdy participants (I was called out by one) and convince them that I am sitting in a beautiful breezy lounge by the coast, but I think if I shave my head to avoid the blurry, wavy hair that could improve.

This Weeks Training

Here’s my Training Peaks record for this week:

Just missed that optional Yoga on Monday which was a rest day 😔

You’ll also notice that I am now syncing my macro nutrients and calories to TP each day - I am doing this via MyFitnessPal in an effort to ensure I am getting a decent balance of protein/fat/carbs. I’m not a massive fan of that app and it’s obsession with tracking calories but I do want to ensure I am fuelling well for the 10-12 hours of exercise a week I am now doing and to share that with Ade (my coach). If you are interested my full diary is here: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/IanBlackburn65 (I am vegan by the way). I’d be interested in any comments from nutritionists 😉

I was asked by one subscriber why I am logging walks, and I checked with Ade if he felt it was valuable for him to see. He was. Primarily this is so he gets an holistic view of my condition. We also use an app we have developed together called Training Today (this is the RTT value you will see in the note on Sunday) which looks at your underlying HRV records captured from Apple Watch and provides a simple gauge reflecting your readiness to train for that day. We plan to make that data easier to share with coaches in an upcoming release.

The Sunday ride, which was meant to be 2 hours easy ride, turned into me taking a spin around the Hever Gauntlet Triathlon course I am doing in September. It’s only 30mins drive from me, and is about 2hrs for a single loop (the event is 2 loops) so I thought I’d give it a go. It was actually quite a bit lumpier than I remember it when I did it in 2015, but overall I was pleased with how it felt on the Canyon Speedmax, especially on the climbs. Power output was about the same as when I did that event in 2015, which is promising because I would hope to push harder in the event, and have built my capability at least a bit (please) in the meantime.

I’m also very pleased with my swimming pace which is on par with what it was over a year ago, even though there has been no swimming in lockdown. It hasn’t taken long to feel back in form, though there is still room for much improvement I’m sure. TP is terrible at showing swim logs, so is Strava, so I prefer to use SportTracks.Mobi for this (for example: https://sporttracks.mobi/activity/28112335 which is data taken directly from the Apple Watch Workouts app swim log, then exported via Healthfit)

More Equipment

Following on from last weeks newsletter I kept spotting additional equipment I hadn’t mentioned, yes I know, I have too much stuff. Here’s a bit more of it.

Theragun Elite

I had an earlier version of the Theragun but this current model is a big improvement in terms of quality and how quiet it is - no longer do I need to go into the garage to use it for fear of disturbing everyone in the house. They also have a useful (though a bit buggy) app that guides you through a session, together with a rather pointless Apple Watch app.

I primarily use it for warming my muscles before a run, and for recovery after everything. I have varicose veins resulting from two DVT’s some time ago, which means my calf’s can be quite sore sometimes after cycling and running, but a 10min session on the Theragun does wonders for me. Great for my shoulders post swimming too.

I have the Elite model, though in hindsight the cheaper Prime would be just as good for me - it has the same motor and Bluetooth features, and in fact I struggle to find the difference apart from colour, number of attachments (I only ever use the dampener and standard ball), and bag. I read somewhere about the Elite being able to hold more pressure for longer, but I never have it on full power and never for long in one spot.

Wahoo Headwind

I picked this one up fairly recently after struggling to adjust my fan while on the Kickr Bike in the garage. It can connect to your heart rate or Kickr Speed and then adjust the fan accordingly. The HR one clearly makes most sense for indoor training unless you are trying to recreate that feeling of chilling your bollocks off on a long decent.

Unfortunately Headwind won’t work directly with Apple Watch so you need to use HeartBeatz or a separate HR band (I actually have an old TickrFit band I use in the garage). After that you set you min and max HR and the fan adjust automatically depending on how hard you are working - on full blast it is a very effective fan too, I love it.

Bontrager XXX Wavecel Helmet

I add this one since I’m pretty sure it saved me from serious concussion and injury when I had an accident hitting a pothole in a flooded road in January. I have to be particular careful about head injuries since I take an anticoagulant (warfarin) because of a blood protein disorder, so I’m more at risk of internal bleeding.

This helmet did the job on that day (I had a CT scan and was clear of bleeding) and is no doubt in part due to the WaveCel technology. Bontrager have made crazy statements about how much it is better than the competition, which seems a bit dodgy (and not just to me), but at the very least I feel WaveCel or a helmet with MIPS is essential for me.

So since I liked the fit and the aero of this helmet so I replaced it with the same model in Yellow.

However, since getting the Speedmax, I have realised that it may not be ideal for riding on the aero bars since it comes quite low on my forehead and with my current glasses didn’t give me great visibility. For the moment I’m blaming the frame on the glasses so have ordered these Rapha Frameless Glasses to see if that fixes it.

That’s it for this week - any comments let me know via a comment or you can contact me on Ian@theAppleWatchTriathlete.com or @IanBlackburn.

Cheers

Ian