How has December Been?

So it has been awhile since the Movember Run. I've taken this month off from putting on events and from competing. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy in the world of athletics though.

I started the month with some clear fitness goals, as December is usually the start of my base training for next season. Knowing that the Holidays will likely get in the way (oh what fun!) of a strict schedule, I opt instead of overall numbers.

My swimming for the month has been about increased effort in the pool. I still don't have a ton of time to get to the pool often, but I can get there twice a week. Last month I work on building up some distance again and got back to 2000m swims, which work for my available time. I have also opted for 2 different workouts with, as I mentioned, increased effort.

Swim set one if a classic Swim, Kick, Pull. I do 100m intervals of each with 10 seconds rest until I hit 2000m. The swim is obvious, the kick is designed to help work on body position and proper kick technique of using those glutes. I also use fins to help strengthen my ankles somewhat and get some flexibility in them. The pull is done using a pull buoy and is designed to help me work on a better arm movement, while not worrying as much on body position. Set two is a 1000m warmup with pull buoy and about just below race pace effort followed by 10x100 on 10 second rest of swim. This is my speed work and has been showing a lot of promise with my average pace hanging well below 2:00min/100m. For me that is a great improvement.

My cycling has been mostly commuting, though I have hit the trainer for a few basement sessions of 1.5 hours. Perfect for Olympic distance training. My focus has been on heart rate training but for Christmas I got a nice Wahoo Fitness sensor which also allows me to track my cadence as well. Since switching to time trialing   I have found my cadence to be a lot lower than when I used to just race bikes. This is probably holding me back a little, so a winter of high cadence work may just be what the doctor ordered!

Running, I set a goal of 4 runs a week with a minimum of 30 km a week. That doesn't seem like much, but again, getting out around the Holidays isn't always easy. My local running group has, however, pout out a Christmas Marathon challenge. Run a marathon's worth of distance from Christmas Eve until New Years Eve. So I took up the change and currently have about 3 km to go. I even managed a nice long run in shorts on Boxing Day for 19 km.

Otherwise, I have been doing some great things in physio and while seeing my new Chiropractor Alan. My shoulder is coming along great and hasn't been hurt yet with my swimming (I am very cautious of that).

With the new year will also come speed skating. Oh where to fit it all in! I'll do my yearly, By the Numbers post soon but there is still some year left, so it will have to wait. I hope you all have been enjoying this great month.