Officeman to Ironman

Izoard

Carb wrote: »

Regarding motivation/enthusiasm/burnout, I think the fact that I've registered for Connemara has given that added lift, and when I actually get on to the training schedule, I'll be able to schedule some races to coincide.

Yep...in the same boat myself...have signed up for Conn and the W200 as intermediate goals.
I'll also try to tag on 1 oly tri before the IM.
With so much else going on, unless i have an event in the headlights, someting will always trump the training...

Carb

Sick all weekend. I'm starting to feel a bit better today. If only I could stop shivering.

Definitely wasn't ready for going back to the pool this morning and it is closed tomorrow because of the strike. Another two days off will have me back on my feet hopefully.

MCOS

Take it easy Carb, chesty stuff is so hard to shake off but you have to be stubborn about it. Do you use a HRM, if so perhaps take a jog instead of swim and if the hr is higher than usual you may not be well yet.

Carb

Finally got back to the pool this morning but didn't stay long. Got a couple of hundred metres done to ease myself back into things. It was enough to make me feel better without feeling like a workout. There's some after effects left on my chest from been sick, but getting much better. One or two easy runs should sort it out.

RedB

Carb wrote: »

Finally got back to the pool this morning but didn't stay long. Got a couple of hundred metres done to ease myself back into things.quote]

Good to see you getting back into it. Hope you continue to feel better.
Have you managed to stick with the alt breathing? Are you able to maintain it over much distance?

Carb

RedB wrote: »

Good to see you getting back into it. Hope you continue to feel better.

Have you managed to stick with the alt breathing? Are you able to maintain it over much distance?

I'm persevering with it. I can't say it's really holiding me back, although I probably lose my shape somewhat on my weaker side. I can't cover any worthwhile distance no matter what way I breathe but it's improving. I easily catch my breath now apart from the odd mishap. From reading, the issue is more to do with holding my breath (build up of CO2), so I'm trying to concentrate on breathing out. I approached it this way this morning and I think it helped.

Carb

Went for a very slow 2.5 miles in 23 mins last night. There's still a bit of a rattle on my chest but nothing too bad. It just caused a little bit of coughing.

Went to the pool this morning and did the same as yesterday. I'd be lying if I said this was my intention. I keep bottling out of the full lengths issue, I know my chest isn't 100% yet, and for the past while, the slow lane has been infuriatingly busy. There were 6 between the 2 slow lanes,whilst there was only 1 in each of the other lanes. Then when I was leaving there was only one person between the two slow lanes and thre in the pool althogether. Wouldn't be so much of an issue if I wasn't swimming half lengths only.

Carb

Met the famous Tunney this morning for a pool session. Nice guy.

There were two major benefits to this morning. Firstly, in the swimming lessons, I'm probably the strongest of the group, so I'm not open to major criticisms as I'm where the instructor wants us to be. Secondly, most of what we do is based on half lengths so the issue of everything going to sh*t after 15/20 meters is not addressed. I got some very useful tips on my body position/breathing/what I'm doing as I tire etc which will give me something to work on next week. It is also obvious that the swimming full lengths issue is a mental rather than physical one.

Many thanks for your time Tunney. It was much appreciated.

pgibbo

Good to see you sounding more positive Carb. Advice from tunney and others on here is great. I can only imagine that meeting them and having some face time is invaluable. Lucky you! have a good weekend

Carb

Pool this morning. Did another couple of hundred meters, but more importantly, I finally bit the bullet and did some full lengths also. I did 4 in total, and it took a substantial recovery between them. I'll aim for 6 the next day. Should become a little easier when the mild sense of panic that develops as the floor drops, eases off.

Carb

Really want to pick things up a gear this week as marathon fun is due to start next week. So far, so good. 7.5 mile run last night in 60 mins. 3 laps of 2.5 miles in 21, 20 and 19 mins. Very frosty and I would have appreciated gloves and a hat for the first couple of miles but warmed up after that. Swimming lesson this afternoon and hope to get back on the turbo this evening with some stretching afterwards.

Currently studying the 2010 calender to try and pick what events I want to do.

Carb

Swimming lessons are relatively uneventful at this stage. No crticisms on the front crawl, breaststroke is massively improved (arm action anyway), and the back stroke is quite poor which reflects my shoulder flexibility and my general lack of interest in this stroke. Done a full length front crawl at the end easy enough. I guess it's a little bit like starting to run and resisting the urge to stop for a breather when it's no longer necessary.

Got back on the turbo last night. Did 40 mins keeping my HR at about 140. Nothing scientific about it other than it feels like a sustainable level to keep at. I seem to have a naturally low cadence so I need to work on this. It takes a focused effort once I go past low 70s, although I did manage to get up to 110 close to end. I didn't stay at that level for too long though. Not comfortable on the bike either as indicated by a higher HR when on the bars. I moved the saddle back a little a while ago which makes me more comfortabe over the pedals, but too far away from the handlebars. I need a shorter stem. Followed the session up with 15 mins of stretching.

Skipped the pool this morning as my throat has been irritated since the pool yesterday and I have a little DOMS. No point starting a session where all I was going to be thing about was getting out.

I need to put a little thought into my diet. Weight isn't falling off rapidly (not that I want it to) although I've lost about 5lbs over the past couple of weeks and I am consistenly under 11 stone now. Hungers pains at 7 in the morning are probably a good indication I'm not eating as much as I need, especially with the running mileage about to ramp up.

Finally, it's probably been noticed that the gym doesn't get a mention anymore. In order to progress my swimming, I've been trying to get to the pool 4 mornings a week which left only one for the gym. The gym needs to be replaced by a threadmill session for the marathon training schedule so it's simply a case of not enough time for it.

Izoard

Carb wrote: »

Currently studying the 2010 calender to try and pick what events I want to do.

Took a quick look at this today, but am struggling to find an Olympic within striking distance of Dublin, before mid July.:(

Obviously Athy is an option, but the mention of 4,000 people on that course is mental!

catweazle

As a matter of interest Carb from someone who can only do poor attempts at breaststroke or backstroke, whats the thinking behind learning all three, is it just for yourself and your own benefit or is the teacher insisting on all three. I assumed until reading your post today that you were just concentraing on front crawl

colblimp

Carb, what a great log! I'm having exactly the same swim problem as you - I get out of breath after 2 lengths and have to take a break to get my breath back. Frustrating isn't the word!

Catweasle, when I took swimming lessons, the teacher made us do 3 strokes every lesson, no choice in the matter. I presume that's how the teachers are taught as Carb seems to be doing the same sort of thing as I did.

Carb

Izoard wrote: »

Took a quick look at this today, but am struggling to find an Olympic within striking distance of Dublin, before mid July.:(

Obviously Athy is an option, but the mention of 4,000 people on that course is mental!

Yeah, Olympic distance seems more popular towards the end of the summer. I'm concentrating on those closer to home also (sprint and olynmpic), but they all seem to come two at a time one week after the other. I'm considering the Crooked Lake sprint for my debut as it's convenient and early in the season. After that the Muckno sprint is my local in mid July. I'll also consider any of the sprints in Blackrock, Clogherhead, Carlingford (could be Olympic) depending on when they fall. From an Olympic distance point of view, for me Lough Neagh and Mullaghmore fit into my calender but they're not exactly a short hop down the rod. I don't think I'd like the sort of numbers in Athy either, especially not this year. Maybe in 2011 if I wanted to experience that sort of crowd before an ironman.

When's you're ironman on. Are you doing Austria?

Catweasle wrote:

As a matter of interest Carb from someone who can only do poor attempts at breaststroke or backstroke, whats the thinking behind learning all three, is it just for yourself and your own benefit or is the teacher insisting on all three. I assumed until reading your post today that you were just concentraing on front crawl

As Colblimp said, it's the joys of group swimming lessons. Joe Friels book does recommed mixing it up a bit anyway for muscular balance and it feels like a good workout for the upper chest and shoulders. That said, I'm a long way off worrying about muscular balance and I don't think I'll be doing too much of it once the lessons end, at least not until my front crawl is at a good level.

Colblimp wrote:

Carb, what a great log! I'm having exactly the same swim problem as you - I get out of breath after 2 lengths and have to take a break to get my breath back. Frustrating isn't the word!

Thanks Colblimp. Since the the day I started, I've often heard the phrase "it will just click". For me it hasn't clicked yet, although fingers crossed, it's not far away. At the moment I can't do two lengths back to back so you're ahead of me there. The plan is to build up the number of individual lengths I do in a session, perhaps 20, then switch my attention to doing them in groups of two. At that point I'll take more control over my recovery between each set, ie. actually timing my recovery and reducing it over time. It works in my head, but reality could be different.

What sort of swimming are you doing at the moment, number of sessions etc.?

Carb

4 hours sleeps so still very tired, a thumping headache and a mountain of work to get done, so unfortunately I didn't make it to the pool this morning either. I've put in a lot of effort here over the past month or two, so I won't worry too much about it.

Returning to the disaster that was last night. I had planned for 7.5 miles, and perhaps 10. I even considered going on the 10 mile loop so I'd have no choice but thankfully chose to stay on the 2.5 mile loop. I was a bit sore going out but once I got warmed up I was fine, and for the first lap I was surprisingly comfortable. At the end of first mile on the second lap I started to get indications that all was not well, vision a little blurry, loss of running form, sweating heavily, thinking about all the things I was going to eat. Half a mile later it was over and had to face a one mile walk home over hills.

I feckin bonked after 4 miles running, it has to be a record:D. Thank god I didn't do the 10 mile loop or I would have been 4/5 miles from home. When I did get home I ate a chinese, a glass of milk, 2 apples, a cup of coffee, 2 jaffa cakes an half a litre of water.

I knew I hadn't ate as well as normal yesterday. Some days the dinner at work can be very skimpy, and I had snacked on little during the day. It's an issue that I need to deal with immediately given that my running is scheduled to ramp up significantly from next week. I feel fine today and all the DOMS is gone but it was a valuable lesson that need to be learned.

colblimp

Carb wrote: »

Thanks Colblimp. Since the the day I started, I've often heard the phrase "it will just click". For me it hasn't clicked yet, although fingers crossed, it's not far away. At the moment I can't do two lengths back to back so you're ahead of me there. The plan is to build up the number of individual lengths I do in a session, perhaps 20, then switch my attention to doing them in groups of two. At that point I'll take more control over my recovery between each set, ie. actually timing my recovery and reducing it over time. It works in my head, but reality could be different.

What sort of swimming are you doing at the moment, number of sessions etc.?

The pool I go to has only just re-opened after almost 2 weeks because of the floods so this morning was my first morning back. I just got in the pool and thought to myself JFDI! So I took it nice and slow, concentrating on my stroke, rotating so I could stretch as far as possible and then making sure my hands touched my hips at the end of the stroke.

I couldn't manage 2 lengths back to back today, but I did 10 lengths all told with a rest in-between each one. I also did a bit of sculling on my back and some pool running so all in all it wasn't a bad session. I'll be aiming to swim 3 times a week starting from next week and I'm looking into one-to-one coaching so I can find out how bad my stroke really is!

alfalad

Great log so keep up the hard work! Where do you swim by the way?

dario28

colblimp wrote: »

The pool I go to has only just re-opened after almost 2 weeks because of the floods so this morning was my first morning back. I just got in the pool and thought to myself JFDI! So I took it nice and slow, concentrating on my stroke, rotating so I could stretch as far as possible and then making sure my hands touched my hips at the end of the stroke.

I couldn't manage 2 lengths back to back today, but I did 10 lengths all told with a rest in-between each one. I also did a bit of sculling on my back and some pool running so all in all it wasn't a bad session. I'll be aiming to swim 3 times a week starting from next week and I'm looking into one-to-one coaching so I can find out how bad my stroke really is!

Im in same boat , can go to pool and swim 40/50 lentghs no bother but need to rest for couple of seconds in between each one - its hard to keep going I think i need someone to push me more

Its fooking addictive though , im addicted to strokes and counting other peoples that look like they have a good technique. The misses is getting slightly worried !

catweazle

Dario see Redb's log for OH problems with training, I think you will be joining us soon in trying to find cunning ways to keep out of trouble

dario28

catweazle wrote: »

Dario see Redb's log for OH problems with training, I think you will be joining us soon in trying to find cunning ways to keep out of trouble

can ya link me please - like the link to redb's log

Also if anyone else is a swimtard - its my word for the level of swimming im at and wants to train in TF Coolock thats where I go to drink my bi-weekly dose of chlorinated water !

RedB

catweazle wrote: »

Dario see Redb's log for OH problems with training, I think you will be joining us soon in trying to find cunning ways to keep out of trouble

They're not problems - they're challanges!!!!:)

RedB

dario28 wrote: »

can ya link me please - like the link to redb's log

Also if anyone else is a swimtard - its my word for the level of swimming im at and wants to train in TF Coolock thats where I go to drink my bi-weekly dose of chlorinated water !

Some vision LOL.

I've the Thousand Mile Single Step log hiding on page 2 at the moment until I report back on my lunchtime swim. I think its the following that he's referring to.

RedB wrote: »

Red, Red, Red.......you'd think you'd have learned by now.

Well, my cunning plan of joining a gym in December took a slight twist last night as I cheerfully announced my intention to Mrs B to kick off my swimming training today with the 7am sessions at UL 3 days a week. Obviously there's a thin line between saying too much and saying too little. Hmmmmm.

To say it didn't go down well might be overstating it and it didn't quite get to a full and frank exchange of views but lets just say that the details of the plan have changed slightly and I've now signed up with another gym for December where I can squeeze in a lunchtime swim (Say nothing catweazle ). On mature reflection, ahem, I would be better getting some face time in the water before mixing it up with the big boys and girls in UL and perhaps there'll be lessons in the New Year that I can sign up for if I behave myself its convenient. Suffice to say that I'm back from the lunchtime swim and its a better solution for everyone :rolleyes:. Now to squeeze in the lunchtime runs on alternative days!

Oh yeah, it turns out that the rescheduled Ballycotton 10 now clashes with the w'end after Mrs B's birthday and that I will actually be taking her away that particular weekend (Huh ). In fairness, I did then suggest that east cork, ballymaloe or.. eh...ballycotton were ideal venues at that time of the year but no joy. It was a bad time to bring up the issue of doing the Limerick Marathon in conjunction with changing the Connemarthon to a Half so of course I suggested it and I then had a hard job trying to convince her that I wasn't taking the mickey by suggesting I ruin a family bank holiday weekend. I don't remember saying it quite like that but that's what she heard. I have a lot to learn about communication!

Now I'm sure anyone reading this is wondering what the heck any of that has to do with training and why is it in a training log. But the reason its there my friends is to remind you and me that we're not just operating in a vacuum and everbodys plans need to dovetail or .......(you fill in the blanks):). Enough said for the time being.

catweazle

Link below Dario, just remember she will be ok for a while as she will thinks its only a phase and sure isnt it better than him heading off to the pub she will be telling her friends but it will build gradually, from her getting slightly worried about all the training you are doing, to eventually open resentment. So be cute keep the training on the down low with the missus!!

I am as bad though, there is a guy in my pool that is an Irish masters swimmer, he is banging out 6-7k every day at what I think is superhuman pace. I will stay on the treadmill watching him in the pool for much longer than i normally would.

Can be amusing sometimes you see the poor newcomer to the pool getting into the same lane with him, he immediately ups the pace to full whack and the wave he pulls up going by them leaves them coughing and spluttering. They are not long switching to another lane.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055722386

Carb

alfalad wrote: »

Great log so keep up the hard work! Where do you swim by the way?

Thanks alfalad. I do my splashing in Trinity. I go first thing in the morning at about 7, so it's generally quiet enough. Generally I'm getting 3 morning sessions and one lesson at lunch time. I will be going 4 times a week once the lessons end. I don't really go past 45 mins as I need to get to work but it won't be an issue until I'm capable of longer sessions.

dario28

Carb wrote: »

Thanks alfalad. I do my splashing in Trinity. I go first thing in the morning at about 7, so it's generally quiet enough. Generally I'm getting 3 morning sessions and one lesson at lunch time. I will be going 4 times a week once the lessons end. I don't really go past 45 mins as I need to get to work but it won't be an issue until I'm capable of longer sessions.

How much is a swim session there ?

Carb

Thankfully, no disputes with the Mrs. here yet, well apart from the financial aspects of all the bits and pieces I've been buying but I can justify that as it's suppose to be my cigarette money. I'd been getting up at 5 in the morning for work for the past 2.5 years so it makes no difference to her if I get up earlier to go swimming. In the evenings I don't do anything until the kids are in bed and the soaps are on, so there is really little impact. I take the weekends as they come.

That said, a couple of months ago, she did say to me "I admire your commitment" when getting up at 5am for a cycle one Sunday, but I haven't heard that since. I think it's more a case of she thinks I'm nuts at this stage.:D Fits in with Catweasle's description of thinking it was only a phase. It would have to ba a very long phase to justify €1800 on a bike.

Carb

dario28 wrote: »

How much is a swim session there ?

Membership. They had a number of public place availble in August and I jumped in as it was convenient to work. €390 for the year plus joining fee.

I see they're actually available to the public again from yesterday.

DustyBin

Carb wrote: »

I feckin bonked after 4 miles running, it has to be a record:D. Thank god I didn't do the 10 mile loop or I would have been 4/5 miles from home. When I did get home I ate a chinese, a glass of milk, 2 apples, a cup of coffee, 2 jaffa cakes an half a litre of water.

I knew I hadn't ate as well as normal yesterday. Some days the dinner at work can be very skimpy, and I had snacked on little during the day. It's an issue that I need to deal with immediately given that my running is scheduled to ramp up significantly from next week. I feel fine today and all the DOMS is gone but it was a valuable lesson that need to be learned.

Hey Carb
I'd something similar yesterday, went out for a 5k run with MRs DB, planned to follow up with a flat out 5k on my own after - but didn't happen. Coming to the end of the first 5k I started to feel a bit bit out of it, and just finished up with the easy 5k. Same problem - no fuel. Went for a run at the time I would normally get my dinner and it had been too long since lunch - I suppose I just have to learn from it.
Although I'd regular enough do 9 or 10k before breakfast, I guess it's a different animal after a full day at work?
Another run planned tonight with Mrs DB, bringing dinner forward by an hour instead.