Hi Jon, I sent you an email on Tuesday re coaching. Did you receive it?
Hi Pete - Yes, but have been ill all week…just beginning to catch up now…
Sorry to hear that. Hope you’re on the mend.
1 Like
Just had my grievance upheld …
13 weeks leave this year now… I have had excess for four years or more that has grown and grown.
It’s not all bad being old… but it is mostly!
11 Likes
Wow, that’s good news, you can almost have all of summer off!
Guessing they won’t give you the cash instead.
He said 13 weeks not 13 minutes 
2 Likes
I remember working in a kitchen, when the Head Chef came up and said ‘Oi cornflour-head (his nickname for me), about your day off next week….’
Just as I started to explain which day I wanted he said ‘you ain’t got one’ and walked off cackling loudly.
Enjoy you 13 weeks 
4 Likes
Only if I leave.
If I get 3 days xod ( exchange of duties ) day shifts for nights my next shift as of Monday morning is the 6 th of June !
Lol
The summer has hardly any shifts too, they have recruited a load of newbies there paying me off before they all leave in the first 6 months, sad but true.
Overtime is easy to get so I should earn a few quid this year
5 Likes
I remember working in a Kitchen when I was 17/18, my head chef was an utter tool as well.
I’ve been given some resistance bands. I’d like to do some strength work with them. Can anyone recommend a good book or internet resource that will help me put together some kind of sensible regime?
Thank you
3 Likes
Found this for you @Pete 
exercises look reasonable to me.
How To Train For Swimming At Home Pt. 2 | Band & Swim Chord Training Exercises - YouTube
3 Likes
What’s the collective view on HRM training zones? The Tri Strength book suggests base training as a mix of 65-75% and 75-85% effort - he calls this Zone 1 and Zone 2. I read ‘The Compleat Idiots guide to HRM Training’ a few years ago and it recommended <70% for most sessions (supplemented with hard training above 85%).
Below 70% feels easy, like recovery. 75-85% is work.
I’d appreciate any pointers.
proper can of worms right there.
Its a mine field, but as a general rule, and not wanting to get into a fight…
80/20. 80% easy, 20% hard.
Don’t get too hung up on the exact HR numbers as unless you get prober lab tested, its guesswork.
MAF says 180 minus your age plus 5 if your not carrying an injury. So for a 50 year old, that’s 135bmp.
Each method has issues, so sometimes its best to just do 80% easy. ( easy means easy ) and 20% hard… The mistake people make is doing the easy to hard, and the hard to easy…
A couple of BPM either way makes no difference. Just get the base miles in to start with and find some time for strength work along the way…
4 Likes
You’ll probably get a lot of different answers, I used to try and keep easy stuff easy but was probably guilty of going too fast more often than not, but HR is difficult if you are running on hills.
Although hard efforts tended to be aimed at a pace running wise for me, e.g. 10k pace, 5k pace rather than HR levels and I’d try and get the paces using the Jack Daniels table.
These days I just do what I want or feel like, and back off if I’m feeling tired. Probably why I don’t really get anywhere!
5 Likes
Currently with running I’m doing 100% slow, and 100% of it feels hard 
Some people talk about easy runs but I never met one yet. Sitting poolside drinking Pina colada, that’s easy. Running? No.
11 Likes
you and me both…
3 Likes
Thanks for the replies - I figured it was worth asking on here as you’ve all presumably had to think about this issue already.
I like the ‘easy means easy’ mantra.
A few years back I was doing my best Parkrun times off the back of one, quite hard, midweek run and 6 daily walks with the dog.
1 Like
I think too many people end up in the grey zone where you aren’t really training because you aren’t challenging yourself and then struggle to go hard enough when you should because of fatigue.
But a hard parkrun or equivalent session once a week and maybe something similar on the bike generally helps me get back to where I was.
I suspect PB’s now are unlikely without a lot of dedication or losing weight.
5 Likes
I’ve found the longer I’m away from hard sessions, the harder it is to get back to them. Distance can be regained a lot easier than speed these days (relatively).
I’d struggle for a 23min 5km right now.
6 Likes
This was the subject of one of the longest and most useful TriTalk discussions back in the old days … it might have even been kicked off by @AndyS ?
And the above is the issue really; easy not easy enough and hard not hard enough.
This is where technology can really help … although you need different tech for riding (power) and running (HR).
I recall in my pre-Tri days, my best ever 10km was off the back of getting my wife running and doing more 10min/mile pace runs. Prior to that, I realised I was doing too many hard sessions and not recovering enough.
7 Likes