A passion for running and cycling

metamorphosis

Sounds like something else there.

Enjoy the holidays. It will be chane to freshen up the legs with all the training you have put into the bike.

kennyb3

2nd August

41km today, 24km @ 30.5km/ph and remainder with the oh around clontarf.

nice spin up over howth this morning and good speed

Cycling YTD: 2280 km

kennyb3

3rd August

Had the day off today so made the most of it. 32k cycle followed by a 5k run

Cycled down to howth and up over the head from the sutton side, my favourite loop. actually broke 9 mins for first time (8.55) then went down into the village and climbed up to the steep bit to the right hand side of the church and took a second right and another steep climb. Then just spun nicely home. Half way home i realised i'd lost my sunglasses (only bought them last month for 70e) so was well pissed off with myself. must of fallen out of back pocket somehow.

Averaged 27.5km/ph for the cycle with all the climbing, that steep side really slows you down. was averaging about 32-33 on the flats without too much effort. feeling stronger with every cycle.

Anyway came home couple of minutes changing and ran 22.20 for the 5k. first k was slow, middle k's quick and last k was horrible. have run speed but not endurance. i wasnt pushing at all so was pleased that 2nd real run in 3 months went so well.

Cycling YTD: 2312 km

Running YTD: 371.8 miles / 64 runs (2 races)

El Director

Kenny you're a machine it would seem! That is some cycling, I think your becoming a bit sadistic! Well done on breaking 9 mins, it was coming but great to see concrete improvement.

When is that Swords/Boards TT and where?

kennyb3

El Director wrote: »

Kenny you're a machine it would seem! That is some cycling, I think your becoming a bit sadistic! Well done on breaking 9 mins, it was coming but great to see concrete improvement.

When is that Swords/Boards TT and where?

Ha ha i think one of the reasons i like cycling so much is the amount of punishment involved - mostly mental. doing difficult stuff feels good. Sat was a very hard day in the saddle tho, mainly as i f'ucked up the pacing of it completely.

Thread on cycling forum re boards one - think they ve settled on 18th, unfortunately im away.

The swords hill TT up the nags head is wednesday 25th AFAIK.

Sorry to hear achilles is still at you, but good to see you're getting it looked at. hopefully it wont be too major. Look after yourself, i ve had it before and missed decent periods but i ve always been a slow recoverer.

kennyb3

5th August

Made it out for a 7k run just to do something. Needed to clear the head after work and packing for holidays.

7k @ 4.30 per km

Cant pace myself at all, one minute im running 5mins a km next its 4.10, will take some getting use to again. Ran 4 mins a km for the second last one - not as bad as i thought it would be. Had a stitch towards the end though.


Running YTD: 376.2 miles / 65 runs (2 races)

kennyb3

19th August

Well after 11 days in lake garda magnificent weather and food im finally back. had hoped to go for a cycle yesterday but of course the irish weather intervened. So made do with a 5k run which was done in 23 and half mins. Felt slow and heavy and bit unfit to be honest.

Anyway thankfully the scales say im only up 3lbs (i expected 7-8lbs with all the ice cream, pasta and beer), but i think im in worse shape than that.

Im still kind of undecided as to what future plans are at present, id like to give some tri's a shot but not sure i have the will to put the hours into swimming over the winter so i might leave it another year. Cycling over the winter in ireland is a pain but i plan to go out every saturday with the club and there is a group from swords doing intervals and hill intervals on a tue and thurs so i ll try make as many as i can although i doubt it will be even half of them as it involves a bit of travelling. I hate the turbo but i ll try do what i can on it too.

So i ll try give myself a good base to go back cycling with. Meanwhile i ll keep ticking away running but have no real goals at present. I ll have to just see how things develop really.

Running YTD: 379.3 miles / 66 runs (2 races)

El Director

Hey dude, welcome back. Maybe you could become a duathlon specialist? There are plenty of them from Jan on.

kennyb3

El Director wrote: »

Hey dude, welcome back. Maybe you could become a duathlon specialist? There are plenty of them from Jan on.

It's something i ll definitely give a shot next year. glad to hear your own woes are getting better slowly.

Macanri

Welcome back man. A great break there - warm weather -sun - whats that?

If you can swim anyway at all I can give you a few pointers, maybe meet up in Pormarnock LC over the winter. I am delighted that I tried my hand at the tris and would recommend investing the time in learning to swim properly. It doesn't have to be lots of time just consistent.

If you're spinning up and over Howth next week give me a shout and I'll contact christeb too.

kennyb3

20th August

25km @ 28km/ph. just a nice losener up around howth. saving myself for club spin tomorrow. amazing how out of touch you feel after 2 weeks, just didnt feel fluid and natural at all. made it up howth sub 10 tho which wasnt bad considering.


Cycling YTD: 2337 km

ManFromAtlantis

check out the gaelforce west event. bit late for this year as its on tomorrow.
but cycling/runninng and a bit of kayaking thrown in. perfect for you.

see their website have to say i was impressed. about 2-3000 people take part.

christeb

The duathlons are good but not really "A" class events - they're too short. If you're not mad into just running and not patient enough to swim, I'd definitely focus on the adventure races - GFW and the others. They're big enough to have that marathon "feel" and to dedicate yourself to for a few months training. Hopefully get out for a spin with mac + you soon, although with only 8+ weeks to go to my Mara, I need to start focusing on it....

kennyb3

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

check out the gaelforce west event. bit late for this year as its on tomorrow.
but cycling/runninng and a bit of kayaking thrown in. perfect for you.

see their website have to say i was impressed. about 2-3000 people take part.

yeah worth a look too. TBH after having more of a think about it yesterday i think i ll be focusing on the bike racing predominently and do a few running races over the winter if nothing else to keep the Vo2 max and lactate threshold high.

christeb wrote: »

The duathlons are good but not really "A" class events - they're too short. If you're not mad into just running and not patient enough to swim, I'd definitely focus on the adventure races - GFW and the others. They're big enough to have that marathon "feel" and to dedicate yourself to for a few months training. Hopefully get out for a spin with mac + you soon, although with only 8+ weeks to go to my Mara, I need to start focusing on it....

Yeah like you say the duathlons sound more fun than super serious. The problem with my running only is i constantly pick up injuries so i need to mix it up with something else.

BTW thanks for the text, sorry i never got back to you. Spin sounds good, i ll be catching up in work next week so maybe the following one. Best of luck with the mara training be interested to see how you get on.

kennyb3

21st August

club spin

71km @ 28.6 km/ph.

Turned into a sprint at the end and my legs just didnt have it and got dropped. 2 weeks off and it was like starting from scratch - its mad really. Im sure it will come back quickly though.

Cycling YTD: 2408 km

El Director

Duathlons are indeed fun, I use them as good, race paced, brick sessions. In saying that however, it is a serious sport in it's own right. With a euro and world champs, just like in triathlon, it may be something to aim for (see TI website for details of selection)

Another idea I thought you might like is mountain running. I did 3 IMRA organised races during the winter/spring and loved them! I didn't train specifically for them and when it got hairy I took my time and still did fairly well. IMRA has a winter league, most of the races in Wicklow, a great way to train and see natural beauty. I also feel it helped me getting up those hills on the bike.

kennyb3

24km @ 33km/ph & 24km @ 30km/ph

Im glad to be back alive, came within inches of a serious accident on the roundabout at lusk. guy in an SUV pulled onto it from left when i was going through (admitted himself he just didnt look) nearly took me out of it completely - still clipped me but no major damage. A lucky escape, was quite shaken after but grand now, just a sore elbow.

Cycling YTD: 2456 km

BeepBeep67

kennyb3 wrote: »

24km @ 33km/ph & 24km @ 30km/ph

Im glad to be back alive, came within inches of a serious accident on the roundabout at lusk. guy in an SUV pulled onto it from left when i was going through (admitted himself he just didnt look) nearly took me out of it completely - still clipped me but no major damage. A lucky escape, was quite shaken after but grand now, just a sore elbow.

Cycling YTD: 2456 km

Sh1t, hope the bikes you're ok!

kennyb3

23rd August

Just a nice handy 6k run in 32 and bit mins. Did first 2k with OH then picked it up a little.

Legs feel bit better today than in last few days which was what i was hoping for.

Running YTD: 383 miles / 67 runs (2 races)

metamorphosis

Whats your thoughts on joining a cycling club for the winter. I was onto limerick and they said winter training starts october w/ weekend spins building in distance in prep for racing in march. Worth a join?

kennyb3

ULstudent wrote: »

Whats your thoughts on joining a cycling club for the winter. I was onto limerick and they said winter training starts october w/ weekend spins building in distance in prep for racing in march. Worth a join?

Personally id definitely go for it, winter is when you do all your base cycling training particularly if you want to race next year (which is a good option to have ). It will also help you with duathlons or tri's you want to do. Going on long group spins is great for endurance and most importantly for me a) it takes the boredom of doing 3-4 hours alone b) im more likely to go when its lashing out. In addition you ll prob get to know a few people who can give you tips or you can meet up for spins at other times with.

showry

Jaysus kennyb3, I go away for a couple of months, come back and you've turned into Fabian Cancellara. You're going well on the bike there sham. I'd say we'll be crossing paths in a few races next year by the sounds of it.

kennyb3

showry wrote: »

Jaysus kennyb3, I go away for a couple of months, come back and you've turned into Fabian Cancellara. You're going well on the bike there sham. I'd say we'll be crossing paths in a few races next year by the sounds of it.

cheers showry, i certainly hope so. best of luck with dub in the mean time.

kennyb3

August 24th

Prob my best session cycling to date, with 3 repeats of howth from sutton side.

Plan was to try get the 3 all under 10mins.

Did 9.45, 9.44 and 9.59. Felt it by the 3rd one to say the least. Took my recovery coming back down the hill, which i was super careful and slow on as its not worth taking a risk.

Delighted especially given that it pissed rain for virtually the whole thing, so glad i went out now its done though. sods law though once i get home it starts drying up.


41k @ 27.4km/ph

Cycling YTD: 2497 km

El Director

Great session there dude well done! I must give this hill a go, prob in the spring when I am doing hill repeats again.

Question: I was thinking of doing the Swords CC race tomorrow, its a 3k hill climb, do you know anything about this hill?

I don't want to do anything too tough with the way the achilles is.

kennyb3

El Director wrote: »

Great session there dude well done! I must give this hill a go, prob in the spring when I am doing hill repeats again.

Question: I was thinking of doing the Swords CC race tomorrow, its a 3k hill climb, do you know anything about this hill?

I don't want to do anything too tough with the way the achilles is.

Thanks, if you ever fancy a spin up it in the spring give me a shout.

Re the hill climb there is a thread on the cycling forum re it. Its tough enough in one part but not overly steep. It would be harder than howth from the sutton side, more like the church side but just longer.

TBH if you're worried about the achilles i wouldnt be going climbing as when your thighs get tired no doubt you ll start pulling the pedals more as opposed to pushing them and hurt the achilles. When i started cycling this year it was because of my achilles too and i found climbing made it worse for the above reason. Just my 2c tho.

El Director

Yep you're spot on dude. Decided not to bother with it last night. No hills like that in Budapest after all! Thanks dude.

kennyb3

August 25th

Took a night off to recover as coming down with a cold, was nice to have some extra time at home.

Coming up to busy season in work with tax returns etc and season is over cycling wise so going to ease off for a while and run when i can and cycle when i can - no pressure. Spend some extra time with herself and make more time for friends and family.

Got 3 cycling races in, nearly winning one (bloody puncture), finishing 7th in another and generally acquitting myself well in my first year. The cycling has come on loads and howth hill & racing really helped. Given i only took it back up in may and did no winter training at all i was very surprised, and was well able to keep up with others who had done alot more which is good.

Also did the Tour de Kilkenny and will add the Swords CC sportive to this in late September.

Next year i really hope to come back stronger and get my teeth into some open races and progress through the groups in the club league. Hopefully make group 3 by the end of the year.

metamorphosis

When i was getting over achilles tendonosis i deffo noticed that higher gears or climbing did affect the achilles as i imagine its prob used if you have to mash more rather than just spinning.

El Director

Hope to do the Sportive too man so I might see you there. Well done a solid years cycling so far!