I had been building up to getting back into some steady training since late August when my Dad passed away. I took some time out to reflect and recover; and now it feels like I’m back and more settled.

This post should probably be called Autumn and Winter training 2023… but as it seems Winter is here, I’ll detail my plans for winter training instead, and summarise what I’ve done in September, October and November to get me here.

I log my training / exercise in a draft email and in Garmin… so I know what I’ve been up to and what impact, if any it’s having on me (positive or negative).

I spent September walking… a lot. I dropped my usual training with only the odd swim / strength or run session. had come away from running mostly, only having downs couple of runs in the last few months.

When I was walking some of it was on my own, but most of it was with good friends who helped me a lot. You know who you are.

I did two 5km swim events in September, did a good 4.5km swim with Judith, a swim in Gourock Outdoor pool and my first swim in Scotstoun to suss things out. More about that later.

In October it was some more walking (115km), although less than September (146km). I eased myself into the gym 2 to 3 times a week, eventually getting past the DOMS and enjoying it. I also gave blood at the start of the month.

A nice week long holiday break to Tenerife allowed me to reset properly – I had a 15m swim up pool and I swam under the stars before sun rise each day… (500-600m)… with Venus and the moon making a welcome appearance. Then I went a walk as the sun came up. And I did 3 workouts that week too.

I walked 25km and swam 10km that week … and balanced it with plenty sun bathing and spending time with my friends and their 5 year old boys. Fun.

Now onto the plan for how I’ll do my training going forward. All of that was building up to me having a good sleep and exercise routine to fit in with work and life.

I always did best with my training when I have an exercise type that I do for each day of the week… so now the weekly plan is as follows:

Mon: Coach / 30 min strength
Tue: 30-60 min Run
Wed: Swim Scotstoun
Thu: 30 min run / 30 min strength
Fri: Swim Bella
Sat: 30-45 min strength
Sun: Swim Tollcross

So it’s 3 strength, 3 swims and 2 runs a week. With options of dropping a day or two if I need rest. I’ll walk at weekends, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays (work).

The reason I needed to scope Scotstoun out was because Bella isn’t open on a Wednesday morning. I can’t swim on a Tues or Thu as I’m working in the office and it’s too tight to do it and get to work, so a Wednesday swim is ideal. And I’m glad I went. The facility has been renovated and it’s a big 10 lane pool.

It doesn’t take much longer for me to get to compared to Bella… maybe an extra 5-10 mins in total. It works well.

I’ve had a good rest from running, and I’ll likely get back to it. But I know from my first run back the other day that I’ll need to do it consistently – at least 2 times a week to get used to it. So I’ll build it simply on a Tuesday and Thursday morning.

I exercise usually between 630-8am… so as said above it means early nights. But with the dark nights and working from home 3/5 days it works well.

There are about 4 weeks left in the year – so I’ll do the above weekly training and see where I get to. I’ve got 2,500m and 3,000m swim sets in my Garmin calendar.

Here’s what I planned in November:
Wc6 Nov – steady training
Wc13 Nov – steady build
Wc20 Nov – steady build
Wc27 Nov – ease off

Here’s what I’ve done:

And here’s my plan for December:

December
Wc4 Dec – steady training
Wc11 Dec – steady build
Wc18 Dec – steady build
Wc25 Dec – rest

By build I mean increasing the weights in strength training, and the distances in swimming and running.

Here’s my plan for next week:

I’m pleased with my swimming totals for the year… a check on Garmin shows I’ll have swum 175,000m by the end of November – with a big increase in the last few moths and good consistency in November.

I’ll get to 175k by Wednesday, then I’ll aim to do the last 25k I’m about 9 swims over December. Swimming on Wednesday and Friday and Sunday mornings.

I’m enjoying my strength training too, and being able to have some runs and a few walks a week, all feels like a good balance.

My sleep has got a lot better, mostly from getting early nights so I’m awake earlier. In bed by 8-9pm, up by 5-6Am to train.

Good sleeps at the weekend and early nights helping.

I’ll have a look at my walking and running totals soon… but swimming and strength training is what’s taken the priority this year, particularly recently, and I’m enjoying both.

Ps. Here’s my swimming cap for December, a present from Nina last yesr.