Holiday training - I

"Remember that you are on holiday; don't rain too much." (Ketil Ola Skjelvan)

Every summer I spend 3-5 weeks in the Bodrum area, a peninsula where the Aegean sea meets the Mediterranean, with a large variety of wonderful beaches. Taking a complete break from training during these holiday weeks has never been an option. However, the type of training has changed quite a bit since last year.

2013 and before

Until last year, my holiday training consisted of about an hour fast open water swimming six days a week. Although my running activity and form improved over the years, and I became a regular Bootcamper since May 2012, I never considered the option of running or strength training during the summer holidays away from home. Mostly because it is simply too hot to run during the day, but also because I love open water swimming and I don't get to swim much otherwise since I am not that fond of swimming pools. Holiday swimming is very motivating, as it feels pretty hard in the beginning but gets easier and faster as the weeks pass by. What I do is to pick two landmarks (or perhaps I should call them sea marks), like two piers about 200 - 300 meters from each other, and do rounds back and forth between them and time my rounds. I always change between front crawl (freestyle) and breaststroke every second round, and I have throughout the years figured out that larger goggles that cover my entire eye area (including eye brows) work the best for me. (Leaking or foggy goggles can ruin the whole swimming experience!)

2014

2014 was when I started training seriously. By the summer of 2014, I had already participated at Bergen City half marathon and Bergen Fjellmaraton, and I had regular personal training sessions with Ketil since March. In addition, Oslo half marathon was coming up in September 2014, as well as Skåla Opp already in August, so I realized that no running could not be an option that summer. I did not want to lose my running form, neither did I want to lose my strength, so I made a plan to continue with both during the summer holidays of 2014. Ketil made a perfect strength training plan for me which was scheduled to last about an hour. The plan was easily dividable into three parts of 20 minutes each: arms and shoulders; abs; legs and butt. I combined this strength training with swimming or running every day, except Sundays. Because of the heat, the running had to be done early in the morning. Frank agreed to join me on the running program, and three days a week we hit the roads at 6:30 in the morning. It was hard to get up, but afterwards it was wonderful. The cool wind, running by the sea, the incredible early morning views and colors... When we got back, we went back to sleep for about an hour after showering and before breakfast. After that, we were as good as new to start a new day; I felt that we got so much out of those days. We also found a steep hill to do some uphill intervals, and this ended up being my weekly routine for four weeks last summer:
Monday: Early morning run 15 km; strength training arms and shoulders 20 min in the afternoon.
Tuesday: 2 km swimming during the day; strength training legs and butt 20 min in the afternoon.
Wednesday: Early morning uphill intervals, about an hour; strength training abs 20 min in the afternoon.
Thursday: 2 km swimming during the day; strength training legs and butt in the afternoon.
Friday: Early morning fartlek (irregular, fun intervals) 10 km, strength training arms and shoulders.
Saturday: 2 km swimming during the day; strength training abs in the afternoon.
Sunday: Rest
I made sure to separate leg and butt training from the days of running, and arms and shoulders training from the days of swimming.

This turned out to be the ultimate holiday training experience. I came back from holidays stronger and faster than before, and I was really happy about the whole program. If you are up to it, I can really recommend it. Getting up early during holidays is scary for most, but you can shower and sleep afterwards, and still reach breakfast at around 10:30; it then feels like you are starting a new day.  It is really a wonderful scheme. I do have early morning training even when I am not on holidays, but the sleeping part makes the whole difference!

2015

Of course, since I was so happy about last year's training program, the initial plan was to repeat it this year, too, but that was before I started my rehab program.  As it became clear that I would not be able to run this summer, and I was eager not to take a break from my HSR training, I decided to find a gym that provided the machines for my HSR exercises. My plan was to do my HSR exercises three times a week, and swim every day in addition (except Sundays - Sundays are always rest days during holidays). During my most depressed time due to zero activity at the beginning of the rehab period, Frank bought me a new sports watch which can be used for swimming as well, to cheer me up. I did not end up going to a swimming pool for alternative training, so I was very excited to finally use my watch for open water swimming at the beginning of this year's holidays.

I found a fancy training studio with all the equipment I need, and Frank and I signed up for a month's subscription. The place worked so well that Frank and I are now going there six days a week, instead of three. Frank still does a run or two out on the road every now and then, but he found that treadmill running also works fine, at least for intervals and speed tests. He is also slowly getting the taste of strength training (I must admit I had a tiny hidden agenda here). Hence this is now my holiday routine so far this year:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: HSR exercises in the morning after a short warmup; 2300 m swimming in the afternoon (fast intervals).

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: Strength training in the morning, mainly arms, shoulders, abs and back, after 30 min variety running on the treadmill; 2300 m swimming in the afternoon (long slow continuous swim).

Sunday: Rest

I am very happy about being able to run again, albeit only on the treadmill and short distance (max 3 km). I try to do variations, like a 10-15 min slow run (8-10 km/h), followed by faster intervals, for example 2 min 12 km/h, 2 min 13 km/h, 2 min 14 km/h, with a minute walking break in between, and then repeat. My injury is all the time noticeable but I can run without limping, which is new since many months. When it comes to the warm up before the HSR exercises, I use the elliptical machine rather than the treadmill, to get a variation (as you can see, variation is a key word). The swimming gives a very nice rehab workout for the hamstrings injury as well. Both during forward crawl and breaststroke, the hamstrings tendon contracts and stretches (in several different ways), and it feels better and better all the time. During the first days of swimming I could feel my injury all the time, whereas now when I swim I am able to forget it completely most of the time.

Summer swimming has a tendency to motivate me to try a triathlon. Last year, as a beginning I wanted to do the Os triathlon, but it was too close to Oslo marathon, and I did not want to lose focus or energy at that point. This year I am actually registered as a participant of Os triathlon (all these plans that were made before the rehab started...) and I feel that my swimming form is becoming pretty decent. I am still not sure whether the running part is doable, but it is a sprint triathlon with only 5 km running, so let's see what negotiations with Ane might bring after the holidays. Right now I am extremely impressed and motivated by the achievements of my friends Janne, Michal and Freddy who recently completed an Ironman race, and Caroline who just won an uphill triathlon.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about my experiences with the new swimming watch! Let me continue next week. By that time perhaps I will have taken a short run out on the roads or on the beach as well, which is the next milestone on the rehab plan.

Stay tuned, and enjoy an active holiday wherever you are!