How hard can it be, eh?

Izoard

MCOS wrote: »

So cool that we have 3 IM logs running here!! You going to do the IM as the caped crusader?!!

Ehh, no...I'll be slow enough as it is - although I have full respect for the guy who did Eireman Half in similar garb (and his side-kick, the Centurion...). Not sure how he would have handled the swim though!

What's your plan for next year?

MCOS

Izoard wrote: »

Ehh, no...I'll be slow enough as it is - although I have full respect for the guy who did Eireman Half in similar garb (and his side-kick, the Centurion...). Not sure how he would have handled the swim though!

What's your plan for next year?

General improvement really, a couple of races in mind but yet to create the plan. I might throw up a log if I can get my head around it.

RedB

Lifted this from the Limerick Tri Site - might be of interest to you given the duration -

This is the first in a series of turbo trainer sessions from http://www.wheelworxbikes.com/


Turbo session Cadence and Drills Week 1

Total Riding time 65 mins

Warm up 10 mins easy at 70% Heart rate in low gears.

Right leg pedalling only for 60 revs in a medium gear, concentrate on pedalling smoothly

1 min easy

Left leg pedal only 60 revs in a medium gear, concentrate on pedalling smoothly

3 mins easy

5 mins high cadence 90-100 (fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

3 mins high cadence 100-110 (fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

2 mins high cadence 120 plus rpm(fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

3 min easy

5 mins high cadence 90-100 (fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

3 mins high cadence 100-110 (fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

2 mins high cadence 120 plus rpm(fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

3 min easy

5 mins high cadence 90-100 (fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

3 mins high cadence 100-110 (fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

2 mins high cadence 120 plus rpm(fast pedaling speed) Medium gear

Right leg pedalling only for 60 revs in a medium gear, concentrate on pedalling smoothly

1 min easy

Left leg pedal only 60 revs in a medium gear, concentrate on pedalling smoothly

Warm down 10 mins easy.

Turbo Trainer specials here http://www.wheelworxbikes.com/index.php?....ff59d3c5fce2b86

Izoard

RedB wrote: »

Lifted this from the Limerick Tri Site - might be of interest to you given the duration -


Right leg pedalling only for 60 revs in a medium gear, concentrate on pedalling smoothly

Cheers...will certainly have a crack at these (although I hate one-leg drill stuff:-)

Izoard

Friday: Good swim session with the club, although 7 to a lane in a 20 metre pool is a bit painful.

Saturday: Managed to get 2 5-year-olds well on their way to a non-stabilised bike set up...result!

Sunday: First session on the turbo...you really forget how unforgiving it is.

5 min warm up
9 * 2min hard
8 * 2 min easy
1 min warm down
40 min total
HR:
Z1: 3 28
Z2: 15 43
Z3: 11 46
Z4: 8 53

Really felt it!

MCOS

Izoard wrote: »

...although 7 to a lane in a 20 metre pool is a bit painful.
!

Yikes, I have visions of what it might be like to kick off the wall there

Izoard

A trip to Moscow this week meant little in the way of training, but some cracking food!

Not a very tri-training friendly city....cat weather, complete gridlock and crazeee drivers.

Anyways, hopped into the pool at lunchtime...

I had one session with a swim coach back in April, who had given me some times for training blocks.
She had me down to do 500 sets on 12min (11min swim/ 1min rest), but I thought I'd try to push it a little bit.

Went for 4 * 500m @ 11min. This had me doing 10m 40/10m 50 with only 10-20 sec break, but I was happy to get through it with more or less linear times for each block.

First time doing 2km in the pool for a long time!

ultraman1

Izoard wrote: »

!
.
She had me down to do 500 sets on 12min (11min swim/ 1min rest),

!

is a set a lenght ....

Izoard

ultraman1 wrote: »

is a set a lenght ....

Sorry...a set of 500m..missed an "m" there somewhere...

Izoard

Nice day for a run....

11km @ 4m 53 per km.
Ave HR 162

First reasonable run under 5min per km for a good while:-)

Izoard

Rocked up to the pool last night, only to find the club session had been cancelled.

Highly motivated, I put in a hard 30 mins.....in the sauna:)

Most enjoyable....

Came home to find the bike and turbo strewn across the deck:mad:

The set up is banned from the house, unless I'm actually on it, so leaving it on the deck with a cover is the least painful alternative.

Damn weather!

Oryx

Banned from the house? Oh dear. My dining room is now a gym. Benefit of being the woman of the house, I suppose.

And yeah. Bloody weather!

Izoard

Oryx wrote: »

Banned from the house? Oh dear. My dining room is now a gym. Benefit of being the woman of the house, I suppose.

And yeah. Bloody weather!

Ahh, if I was the woman of the house, it would be a lot more tri-friendly, but then again, she knows what she is doing.

Spent the day with Asimonov whose taper for Florence is still higher than one of my peak marathon weeks.

I also noticed he carefully avoided the Avoca pecan pie & cheesecake combo that was on offer.

Probably explains why he's looking at sub-3 and I'm doing marathons in a cape:)

Anyways, jumped on the turbo when I got home for 52 mins of a Z2 spin through X-Factor.

Mrs. I was chuffed with the cut of Mariah Carey....one of my first loves:D

Izoard

Hit the gym on Monday morning to try to ease myself back into a limited weights and core-stregthening routine.

Took it very easy, but have been unbelievably sore ever since.

I'm aiming for 3 times a week, if possible, but I'll need to plough through a few more sessions to get back into "normality".

Just goes to show, how a few months out can bring you right back to the beginning.

Between travel and the above, I did nothing since, but decided to introduce my weary carcass to the pool at lunch time.

Struggled with my 4 * 500m on 11mins each. For one block I was actually over by 10 secs, but managed to pull it back on the 4th block...not quite the steady pace i was looking for (10m 30/10m 52/11m 10/10m 42)!

Weekend of excess ahead, so unlikely to be troubling any of the sports gear until Monday!

RedB

Izoard wrote: »

Weekend of excess ahead, so unlikely to be troubling any of the sports gear until Monday!

Damn, that IM training is tough .

Similar plan myself so can't talk :rolleyes:. Sometimes you just gotta live a little!

Izoard

True enough, a combo of past pupil's dinner, college night out and the South Africa game ensured a less than healthy weekend.:)

Hit the gym this morning for some weights and core work. Dropped the weight and upped the reps, but I will slowly switch back to my 3*12 sets with higher weights, once my arms have stopped crying in pain!

Lunchtime, went for my usual run out to the Merrion Gates, but the tide was out, so was able to do 5km out of 11km on the beach.

Was hoping to keep under the 5min per km barrier, but struggled through some of the wetter beach spots (and a bunch of red lights!), so had to make do with 5 09 per km, average.
Ave HR @ 160 is improving, but still high.

Was planning a slow turbo session this evening, but one of the small people is being invested as a beaver, and in Top Trumps, Beaver always tops Turbo:)

Izoard

The beavers ran out of steam by 9pm, so was able to do an easy hour on the turbo (Z1 10mins Z2 50mins), while re-living the Grand Slam odessy on RTE...

Today, tested my 11min-500m blocks in the pool by trying a "quick" 1km. Dismal failure @ 22min 20, with all the fall off in the 2nd 500m.

I could blame the errant breaststroker who appeared after 10mins, but I won't:)

Izoard

My swim yesterday was still annoying me, so I decided to re-try, but as punishment, try to keep the time on 33min for 1,500m rather than 22min for 1,000m.

Clear pool (no breaststrokers!) + motivation = 32min 12:)

Was pushing it, but felt I could have maintained 11min for another 500m.

Very happy with that...only 1 sec off my pool PB for 1,500!

RedB

Well done. Good hussle.

MCOS

Well done! Must have felt wicked to smash your session target like that!

Aim 1,000m at 2:12/100m pace
Did 1,500m at 2:08/100m pace

For the runners following your log, that is akin to heading out for a 5k tempo run and actually doing 5miles at an even faster clip!

Nice one Izoard

asimonov

MCOS wrote: »

For the runners following your log, that is akin to heading out for a 5k tempo run and actually doing 5miles at an even faster clip!

Nice one Izoard

now it makes sense, good work Izoard.

catweazle

Great swimming Izoard, did you time it into splits of 500 or just the lot in one go. Might try and push mine up to 1000 with no breaks i am getting too fond of the sly stolen minute at the 500m point

Izoard

Thanks guys...(MCOS...nice translation of what I was trying to say:))

catweazle, for the 1,500m today, it was all in one go. The swim coach (one time session) gave me a plan to do blocks of 500m in 11m + 1 min rest, building to 4km or so.
The blocks would then switch to 1km and 2km, for a 6km session total:o

I can't see myself ever doing 6km in a session...4km in one go will be the holy grail for me. Did 2.5km non-stop a few months ago, but boredom got me in the end.

I look forward to these shorter "faster" sessions as a break from the inevitable 160-length borefests...

Izoard

Shower has been banjaxed at work for the last couple of days, so didn't make it out for a run.

Headed to the pool and did 2km straight. Left my watch behind, but it felt good. Was caning the last 12 or so lengths, as the pressure was building up in the goggles...by the end, my eyeballs were out on sticks!


Various Christmas gatherings and a trip to Riyadh (which should help in the de-tox process) most of next week, means very limited exertion for the next week...

Izoard

Survived the trip to Riyadh, but my planned core exercise routine got lost in a sea of lebanese food!

Anyways, today:

2.5km w/u
11 x 100m sprint
11 x 100m recovery
2.5km w/d

Now, if you read MCOS' log, you'll be thinking "handy swim session", but I can assure you, I was running all the way:)

RedB

Izoard wrote: »

Survived the trip to Riyadh, but my planned core exercise routine got lost in a sea of lebanese food!

Anyways, today:

2.5km w/u
11 x 100m sprint
11 x 100m recovery
2.5km w/d

Now, if you read MCOS' log, you'll be thinking "handy swim session", but I can assure you, I was running all the way:)

Well done. I had to read it slowly and think about it to check that it was running you were doing. Tough session. That lebanese food must be very good for ya

MCOS

Yeah I thought it was a swim set when I read it first.. wouldn't put it past you IM guys doing 6-7km swim sessions

RedB

I was thinking about your speed sessions in the context of IM training and came across the attached IM article lifted from the Lim Tri Club website in which the writer suggests leaving them out in preference to focussing on endurance work. Don't mean to mess with your plan but thought you might be interested in the article anyway.

Izoard

RedB wrote: »

I was thinking about your speed sessions in the context of IM training and came across the attached IM article lifted from the Lim Tri Club website in which the writer suggests leaving them out in preference to focussing on endurance work. Don't mean to mess with your plan but thought you might be interested in the article anyway.

Hey Red..the article is bang on, and has absolutely been my strategy in my training up until now for marathon/HIM/W200 etc...

At the moment, I'm just kind of messing around enjoying the freedom!

Izoard

Another weekend sacrificed on the altar of Real Life!

Headed to the pool at lunchtime to see where I was for 2,500m - straight.

Was expecting to be some way off my 55min target (5* 500m @ 11min), but pleasantly surprised to come in under (54m 57sec).

Blocks:
500m - 10' 42
1,000m - 11' 10
1,500m - 11' 11
2,000m 11' 07
2,500m 10' 45

That distance equals as far as I've swam in one go, but knocked 2min 50sec off my PB, so very happy!

MCOS

Good stuff on the swim pb!

RedB

Happy New Year Izoard,

Looking forward to reading more of your log in 2010. All the best.

Izoard

Thanks Red, all the best to you and all the fellow Boardsies for 2010.

Purposely did nothing for the past couple of weeks, with family and work all going full tilt.

Hopped on the turbo for the first time last night for a 60min Z2/Z3 spin.

Just starting to fill in the spreadsheet for the base element of Fink's Intermediate Plan, as today is the offical start.

Feeling the fear now...:-)

Izoard

Another hour on the turbo today, but decided to push a bit a harder than yesterday:

03/01
Z1 4min 47sec
Z2 42min 01sec
Z3 12min 11sec
Z4 39 sec

04/01
Z1 25 sec
Z2 10min 48sec
Z3 21min 09sec
Z4 27min 37sec

MCOS

Izoard wrote: »

Another hour on the turbo today, but decided to push a bit a harder than yesterday:

03/01
Z1 4min 47sec
Z2 42min 01sec
Z3 12min 11sec
Z4 39 sec

04/01
Z1 25 sec
Z2 10min 48sec
Z3 21min 09sec
Z4 27min 37sec

half an hour in Z4 ouch! I'd say the sweat was dripping onto little icy pools on the playhouse floor

Oryx

'a bit harder' he says. Lol. I do five mins at that level so far . Well done Izoard... Good luck with 2010.

Izoard

A few bonus days in Heathrow, meant little extra activity this week. Definite sense of rising panic with the lack of sessions...

Spent a chunk of yesterday messing on a snowboard with the kids in Bushy Park...we'll look back fondly when all this is gone!

A mate texted me to say he was doing a 10-miler in Marlay Park this morning. I presumed he'd cancel, given it was chucking it down this am, but he's not the type, so ended up with a very tough, but enjoyable hike through the deepening snow.

16.37km in 1hr 32.
AHR: 166 (Z3)
MHR: 177 (Z4)

Izoard

The gym decided to re-open it's doors this morning, so a strength & core session beckoned.
I generally have an hour, so below is about as much as I can fit in, but I'd welcome any suggestions to mix it up!

Weights
3 x 12 DB Chest Press
3 x 12 Assisted chin ups
3 x 12 curls
3 x 12 Assisted bar dips
3 x 12 triceps
3 x 12 DB shulder press
3 x 12 squats (oly bar)

Core:
20 x standard crunch
20 x knee-up crunch
20 x oblique crunch (20 each side)
20 x side plank dips (20 each side)
20 x oblique leg extensions (one side crunch - 20 each)
20 x supermans (20 each side)
20 x bridge leg lift (20 each side)
20 x push ups
20 x bicycle crunch

MCOS

Izoard wrote: »

The gym decided to re-open it's doors this morning, so a strength & core session beckoned.
I generally have an hour, so below is about as much as I can fit in, but I'd welcome any suggestions to mix it up!

Weights
3 x 12 DB Chest Press
3 x 12 Assisted chin ups
3 x 12 curls
3 x 12 Assisted bar dips
3 x 12 triceps
3 x 12 DB shulder press
3 x 12 squats (oly bar)

Core:
20 x standard crunch
20 x knee-up crunch
20 x oblique crunch (20 each side)
20 x side plank dips (20 each side)
20 x oblique leg extensions (one side crunch - 20 each)
20 x supermans (20 each side)
20 x bridge leg lift (20 each side)
20 x push ups
20 x bicycle crunch

The dips and tricep ext are both kinda similar so I'd take one out*. I'd also take out the squats and focus on legs another day. so 2 exercises out and increase reps to 20

The core routine looks good, a variation could be slower/holding. Instead of 20 reps (I find that if I use reps on core routines I tend to focus on getting 20 done rather than doing them right) hold the exercise eg plank/superman for 30sec. You can always make them harder too. Take your knees off the foor for your supermans and you will suddenly feel your 'core'

Also, keep elbows tucked in by your side on push ups

Oh and change knee up crunch to leg raises - raise both legs and let one drop to the floor but not touching the floor, bring leg back up and let other one drop. After 10 slow versions of this you will feel this right across your hip flexor and lower abs (the soft bit every guy has)

*the 'core' push up hits the triceps anyway

Izoard

MCOS wrote: »

The dips and tricep ext are both kinda similar so I'd take one out*. I'd also take out the squats and focus on legs another day. so 2 exercises out and increase reps to 20

Cheers...I'm aiming for 2 weights/core sessions pw, so would you suggest 2 x the session above (with modifications) or an alternate legs session?

MCOS

yep 2 weight sessions def 2 different workouts

1. chest/shoulders/arms + the harder version of your core workout
2. legs/back + the easier version of your core workout

Izoard

I go AWOL for a while and end up on page 5:)

Great to see a couple more IM logs in the meantime though!

Was away in the US for two weeks, so aside from a couple of days snowboarding and a bit of core work, not much to report.

Since I've been back, I've been looking at the training program with less and less enthusiasm (1 legged turbo session, anyone...) and getting more and more freaked out by the whole thing.

At the end of the day, the Ironman is a journey and if you don't enjoy how you get there, you won't arrive.

Real life is such that there are weeks at a stretch where I can do very little, so having a daily plan just doesn't work.

In that regard, I'm bining the current plan and going to concentrate on the simple logic of 1 long session in each discipline per week, with small increments per week. These are sacrosanct, but anything else (and I will get other stuff done) will be a bonus.

Will probably mean an hour longer on the course, but hey, better value for money!

Anyways, enough navel gazing....

Tuesday: 11km run @ 54mins
Wed; 2km swim continuous @ 45 48(10m 59/11m 40/11m 55/11m 12, for each 500m)

Slow, but reasonably happy given I have not been doing anything in the last 3 weeks.

RedB

Good to see you're back Izoard.

Nice run/swim numbers for a guy just off a big trip. Don't sweat the training, just get your long sessions in as you say. You have the base endurance so enjoy the IM journey.

RedB

More of the 'less is more' stuff attached. I see you're down for the Connemarathon .

Izoard

Cheers Red,

The "Golden Rules of your First IM" that you posted previously, is well thumbed at this stage.

Yes, down for Connemara and W200...without intermediate goals, I just wouldn't get around to the training.

Not many of us doing the full from around here...appears that the Ultra is the way to go this year:)

First double session today in quite a while:

12km run @ 57min
40min Turbo @ Z2
Nasty foot cramp on the turbo had me yelping in pain, so binned the last 20 mins....

Izoard

A quick 1/2 hour tidy up in the garden, turned into an epic, prepare-a-site-for-a-shed afternoon, so my planned 90 min run was sidelined.

I'm always amazed at the negotiating skills of my OH:)

So, that left a chilly night run or a crack at the turbo - Turbo for an hour @ Z2 won out with "Best stages of the Tour" for company.

Whatever your views on the main protaganists, it makes great viewing.

I'll have a crack at the run in the morning....

Izoard

16.25km run this morning in 1hr 20ish...

Week summary in Fink-speak:

Gym 0 min
Swim 71 min
Bike 305 min (I'm including the bike commute here as well...)
Run 198 min

Week on the road this week, so options will be very limited.

Izoard

A trip to Johannesburg blew a big hole in the week, but got back in the saddle today with 2km in the pool in 45 flat (pretty even splits, despite the breast strokers...).

Also did an hour on the turbo (Z2/Z3), but forcing myself onto the bars for the vast majority of it.

However, I have this odd situation where the saddle pressure on the bike while on the turbo ensures a numb eh, groin area. This gets pretty uncomfortable, but bizarrely, this doesn't happen when on the road.

Maybe the boredom on the turbo has the mind focusing on the negative...

shotgunmcos

Izoard wrote: »

However, I have this odd situation where the saddle pressure on the bike while on the turbo ensures a numb eh, groin area. This gets pretty uncomfortable, but bizarrely, this doesn't happen when on the road.
...

Me too. Its because you are more or less in the one position on the saddle for the whole session, whereas on the road you are shifting your weight about the saddle, sitting up, taking your butt off, looking around etc... all helping the blood flow. If you sit on your thumb for an hour that will go numb too

Izoard

shotgunmcos wrote: »

If you sit on your thumb for an hour that will go numb too

Will try this later..purely in the interest of research:)

England v Wales or a 20.5km yesterday evening?

Surprisingly, the run won out, albeit in a tardy 1hr 50....

The HRM on the 310xt has gone all quiet on me. I guess it has to be the battery on the monitor as the watch just isn't picking it up.