At least it not a cold winter morning ergo LSD...

MCOS

Down to the Track for some speedwork at 7 this morning. It was dark, wet and breezy so wasn't sure what to expect from this new session.

3.2k warm up easy.

800m*4 with 2 minutes recovery
2'58"
2'48"
2'52"
2'53"

3.2k cool down easy

It felt like a good session but the reps were tough going. The last one in particular had me fighting really hard. Maybe need some food in me before this kind of session or drink something isotonic between reps hmmm...

showry

Were were your lap times consistent?
I tend to do the first one too fast and then die a death on the second, could be 82 secs followed by 94 secs,
I was wondering if I should try and keep the first one steadier or am I just going to calf on the second one anyway.

MCOS

Hi showry. I didn't record lap splits but I did glance at the last one and it was about 84/89 and that one had my weakest finish. I'd say I was generally consistant though with the last 200 slower than the first 200. Definitely not a 10+ second gap. I generally focused on a steady middle 400. I find that if I can get to 600 I only have a bend and a straight left!

MCOS

Cycling 60km about 35 of it with a group. Average speed 27.4 km/h

Really tough ride. Horrible cold, windy, wet day. Got blown all all over the place on the dual carriage-way so someone decided to shorten the spin and do a 'hill'. 6 miles of an incline later and I was having the experience of going down a mountain on a road bike... scary stuff! Lost most of the group on the climb and was pretty happy to hang in there again. A couple of short hills on the route home alone though were very hard work. Calves began to cramp too. Ok so now Its not just running. I suffer from cramps in the pool, running and on the bike! I wonder if it is my diet or flexibility?

MCOS

Cross Training

10 minutes ergo 1'52.4"/500m @23spm. Set the pace boat at 1'50 and was well ahead of it up to 8' and then eased off as I was struggling and it was just the warm up.

Resistance
Body weight dips on the treadmill, 5,5,5,5
Chin ups narrow grip, 10,8,6,4
Standing shoulder press 16kg db, 10,8,5,4
Chest Press 70kg, 8,6,6
Recovery was poor on these exercises, dips and chins were new exercises and really tired the arms.

45 minutes spinning class. Couldn't push or put on much resistance as legs were tired from yesterday. Didn't bother with core as I just wanted to get home. Unimpressive workout really.

MCOS

Suprised myself today in the pool! Felt awful this morning, couldn't get out of bed and arms were stiff from yesterday so skipped the long swim this morning. I decided I'd redeem myself by having a go at one of my monthly objectives at lunchtime, a timed 1.5k swim.

1,500m timed in local 20m pool. 28'58" :eek: I had to look at the watch a few times and then wonder if I counted the laps right but yep a HUGE personal best for me. The goal was to have a crack at 30 minutes! I knew at 1k it was well on as I was working hard. As I tired and shortened I just pointed my fingers every stroke and focused on length. I'm actually quite shocked! Glad I waited until I had woken up today

MarieC

Wow that is savage going!!! Well done to you! That must be a great confidence booster so

MCOS

Club swim session.

100m*6 warm up
25m*12 drills
150m*7 off RT

1,950m total

Felt good, the fast swimmers still amaze me though. One guy was cruising a backstroke and flying past me! One of these days I'll complete the warm up!

MCOS

Swim at the Arena 50m pool.

3,000m swim before work. Just missed a monthly objective of doing it in sub 65' (If I hadn't stopped to fix my goggles I would have ). I was glad to finish it though and happy with swimming endurance progress. Strokes were shorter than usual I think because I was tired. Another sign I was tired was that I kept drifting under the rope!

pgibbo

MCOS wrote: »

Suprised myself today in the pool! Felt awful this morning, couldn't get out of bed and arms were stiff from yesterday so skipped the long swim this morning. I decided I'd redeem myself by having a go at one of my monthly objectives at lunchtime, a timed 1.5k swim.

1,500m timed in local 20m pool. 28'58" :eek: I had to look at the watch a few times and then wonder if I counted the laps right but yep a HUGE personal best for me. The goal was to have a crack at 30 minutes! I knew at 1k it was well on as I was working hard. As I tired and shortened I just pointed my fingers every stroke and focused on length. I'm actually quite shocked! Glad I waited until I had woken up today

Great stuff MCOS. You are really going at it hammer and thongs. You'll fly through your first tri at this rate. :cool:

MCOS

Wanted to do a speed session but the track was icy so...

6 miles on the treadmill watching people doing laps of the pool.
3 at 8' pace and 3 at 6'58" pace.
45 mins + some core

Sosa

Great dedication MCOS ...hope you reach your goals.

MCOS

Down to the track after work yesterday for some speed work. It was freeeezing out brrr

3.2k warm up at 7'50 pace

400m*8 with 75" rest
85"
80"
80"
80"
81"
83"
82"
82"

3.2k cool down easy

Tough session on a slippy track!

MCOS

Swim today at the Arena 50m pool

6*200m on 5 min blocks

3'46", 3'51", 3'51", 3'51", 3'43", 3'53"

Not really switched on this morning. Weekend was spent drinking and eating crap.

MCOS

Cross Training

Warm up 10 minutes rowing ergo at 1'49.8"/500m 24 spm

Resistance
Body Weight Dips 10,8,6,4
Chin Ups 10,8,6,4
Shoulder press 16kg db 10,6,6,4
Bench Press 60kg 5,5
Seated row 120kg 8,8

20 minutes Bike ergo at 32km/h
2 miles treadmill at 7'30"/mile

Core
Planks and sit ups

Arms wrecked after chin ups again. Straight onto the treadmill after the bike and took a mile to shake it off and find a rhythm. It wasn't an easy 2 miles!

MCOS

Swim 2,000m steady state. Practiced bi-lateral breathing and trying to catch the water. The amount of props the swimmers bring with them in the morning is fascinating, snorkels, leg ties, flippers, hand paddles, floats, clips and other things I have no idea what the purpose of them is

pgibbo

Hi MCOS,
Just curious on your training plan - do you design it yourself? Is the tri club or a coach tailoring it to your needs? Also, do you take many rest days or do you do active rest days? Cheers.

MCOS

Hi pgibbo, I design my plan myself. The only Tri Club sessions I make it to are a wed night swim and the Club bike every second sunday. I have a lot of other commitments during the week and at the weekend too. Shame because there is a great interval coached running session at UL track every tuesday that I attended a couple of times before college kicked in. I plan a program at the start of each month and set some monthly objectives such as lowering a swim distance time or doing a decent brick session. So my December sessions are like this all but 2 are early morning before work

Mon
Interval swim am
Cross Training - a few weights, short brick and core pm

Tue
LSD swim (36 hours between this and next session = rest) am

Wed
Technical swim with Club pm

Thu
Easy run or hoping to put lights on bike and do a moderate session (if I get out of bed! If I don't its just a rest day) am

Fri
Intervals run on Track am

Sat
LSD run am

Sun
Group Bike 60-80k or Solo 40k+4m run am or pm for the later

The monthly objectives are to get swim reps all under 3'48", 800m track reps all under 2'54" and to do a good first run/bike brick

MCOS

Swim session with the club last night.

50m*9 various warm up
25m*12 drills
100m*5 off 2'05"
100m*6 off 2'10"

Felt good. I had plenty in the tank for the reps

MCOS

3,000m swim at steady state
4 miles treadmill at 7'30"/mile

Using Joe Friel to build myself an 18 week program from start of January up to my first Triathlon in May. 8 base weeks, 8 build weeks and 2 speed weeks, an easy week in every block of four. Also posted an entry to the Ballycotton 10 so hopefully I get in there.

MCOS

Interval session down at the Track

3.2k warm up

800m*4 with 2 minutes recovery
2'53"
2'52"
2'51"
2'53"

3.2k cool down

Found these reps very tough tonight.

MCOS

Cycling 70km about 50 of it with a group. Avg speed 29.9km/h

It was cold but a lovely morning for anything outdoors. Found the pace ok until we hit a short tough hill towards the end. I was at the head of the group and suddenly everyone shot past me up the hill?! Didn't know what happened really but re-attached myself soon afterwards and finished the spin. Apart from that strange 5 minutes it was an enjoyable spin. Some cliclking sound coming from the bike though that I need to check out

MCOS

As I said in the main Forum, I'll post my working programme up to my First Olympic Triathlon next May. The programme PART 1 is designed by myself and considers the Club training, Joe Friel, a bias towards swimming (as this is my weak point) and more speed running than base as I consider myself to have a decent base after doing the DM this year. Its 18 weeks up to the Joey Hannon. I intend to be in good shape for this first event (the North Tipp Sprint is just a maybe to get warmed up) and I don't know if I got into Ballycotton.

I'll complete parts 2 and 3 after the race calender is out and I learn more about training in between triathlon events. In PART 2 I'll be biking lots of hills and OW swimming when I can. PART 3 will be building up the endurance for the 1/2 IM. PART 4 will be a crash diet of 6 weeks running only to get into running shape for the DMO9 and I'll complete that prgramme later in the year.

Overall its an ambitious programme for me given my schedule outside of training. I'm approaching it like this. If I complete 85-90% of the total volume I'll still be in good shape for May. I can definitely do 6-7 sessions a week, 8 is making life very busy, 9 is a balancing act and 10 is well just one week really so I'll suffer the arguments that week! If I miss a session, I miss it and move on. Rest days are Rest days.

I'm open to any suggestions or thoughts?

Thanks

MCOS

Cross Training last night

10 minutes ergo at 1'49.2"/500m 23/24 spm

Resistance
Chin ups full hang 10, 6, 6, 4
Full body dips 10,8,6,4
Shoulder Press 16kg db 6,5,5,5
Bench Press 60kg 8,6,5,5
Squats 70kg 10,8,6,4 (squat jumps between each set)

3 miles on treadmill at 8'/mile

Core
Planks and sit ups

Found the weights tough. Its been over 3 years since I've done squats!
Legs were like jelly on the run. Overall I wasn't 100% so taking today off

tunney

MCOS wrote: »

more speed running than base as I consider myself to have a decent base after doing the DM this year.

What time did you do in DCM?

MCOS

3'27' Why?

nortal

MCOS,

I have been following your progress on training, like you i had trained for the DM, and would LOVE to do some tri - especially longer distance ones maybe up to half IM. Unsure if i have the time to start doing them this year because of work etc, so i may run and either swim/cycle. have you noticed more improvment in running from swimming training or cycling?

tunney

MCOS wrote: »

3'27' Why?

Because the act of completely the DCM does not necessarily mean a "good base" and I would have suggested some changes to your training plan if the time wasn't indicitive of a solid base.

MCOS

nortal wrote: »

MCOS,

I have been following your progress on training, like you i had trained for the DM, and would LOVE to do some tri - especially longer distance ones maybe up to half IM. Unsure if i have the time to start doing them this year because of work etc, so i may run and either swim/cycle. have you noticed more improvment in running from swimming training or cycling?

Hi nortal. Firstly on the time. If you really want to do it then you can make the time somewhere. It could mean sacrificing other activities. Just believe that you can make it happen. I work a normal job, go to college, single parent (pick my son up after work every friday and have him for the weekend), normal OH, friends and family demands etc.. I have to adapt my training schedule to balance things and it means that I train alone most mornings before work. I'm also learning to cut out junk sessions and focus on quality of training. Each session has a purpose. This is why I decided to create a longer range program for myself. I'm not saying I have great discipline but it is something I am learning to have. The challenge for me is to achieve the goals in my plan without upsetting the balance in my life too much and if that means I have to go out and do an lsr at stupid o clock then I just do it. That was a bit long winded but I hope you get my point;)

Secondly I didn't cycle up to the DM. My brand new bike was sitting in a room lonely. I did swim once or twice a week though and I think this helped me stay injury free. It also gave me variety and kept me interested through the horrid taper! I've been on the bike a couple of times since and I'm loving it. There is a LOT to learn about cycling and there is a good bunch over in the Cycling forum that are very helpful too. I have no doubt that cycling will improve the running as 2 hours on the bike feels just as good as a 10 mile run. I literally decided that I wanted to do triathlons at the end of the summer and time was a big factor for me too. Go for it!

MCOS

tunney wrote: »

Because the act of completely the DCM does not necessarily mean a "good base" and I would have suggested some changes to your training plan if the time wasn't indicitive of a solid base.

So what time is indicative of a good base? What suggestions would you have made? The fact that I have planned a couple of 4k swims is mad considering I never dreamed I could swim that distance 12 months ago!