Budapest, Hungary Sept 8-12

stevie_b

i've noticed that some of my best swims have been when i've made a point of not trying to push it from the start. In the past i've often left the pool feeling disappointed as a result of trying too hard - you know when you say to yourself ''right, i'm going to go and hammer this 2000m'', and then you end up gasping for air after about 300m with a technique similar to that of a labrador!

shotgunmcos

Cheers stevie_b yeah getting a rhythm first and getting a feel for what the body is of form for helps. Have a swim tt tonight so I'll take this approach.

Last night: Run, 15.5km at 7:49/mile pace. Running around teh city which is hillier than it looks actually. Easy for 8 mins and then a surge for a bit, repeat patterm Average hr for the session was 149. The stamina was noticeably absent after 50 mins. Cooold but dry out. Calves tight so spent lots of time stretching them.
This morning: Run, 15.8km at 7:17/mile pace. I like distance in metric but still rather pace in miles, maybe I'll convert totally to metric one of teh days. Early morning run this on the riverbank with a couple of the quick lads. Their 'easy' run had me gasping after an hour so I eased off for the last 10 mins or so. Average hr 160. Nice run on a cold morning on the bank, tried to focus on cadence from time to time. Noticed my cadence was much slower than the other lads, when I matched theirs I moved faster but heart rate also soared. Calves really tightened in the last 2km to the point where they hurt now walking around. I'm going to order a foam roller today. A case of need one now. Good to get some running done but calves have taken the brunt. Swim tt tonight, I forsee cramps kicking off the wall. I'll take a good long stretch again after work.

pgibbo

I got a foam roller as a Christmas present. I find it very good, but find the ITB pain unreal when rolling them out.

I've also found that AIS stretching first thing in the morning has helped my flexibility also. Only takes 10mins but personally I have foud it good. I've gotten lazy for the last couple of weeks and have noticed a regression. Must haul ass out of bed earlier and get back in to the habit of doing it each morning.

Good luck with the TT tonight.

DustyBin

Nice going on the back to back runs MCOS - but pulling ahead of me by 0.1km on the S/C/R challenge? - that's just not fair
I'm hoping you've a weekend of swimming & cycling planned;)

Must be frustrating as hell the last couple of weeks for you with the running, but that is savage training you're laying down

griffin100

As I came up to zone 4 though the left shoulder hurt a bit. perhaps I was over extending but it made me realise that I had abandoned technique since 1100m and was now swimming quite poorly. Hit 1500m in 27:03, just 1 second outside my pb but actually attempting to bring the pace up I ended up shortening the stroke and getting messy (opening fingers, lifting head, pulling too hard at catch and washing the water etc..) and so I was probably better off maintaining the cruising long stroke I had at the start. The lane was busy and I reckon I had to overtake 1-2 times per length so that didn't help. Swam the last 500m easy. Plenty in the tank though to lower that pb in the near future.

Its reassuring for people like me to see that we're not the only ones who can loose technique when pushing hard or when tired - it also happens to the fast guys - although mine tends to go a lot sooner than 1,110m:)

shotgunmcos

Tri Club swim TT: 750m in 12:05 avg pace 1:36/100m personal best. Pretty chuffed with this.
I had established my target swim pace for 1500m by sept at the start of the log to be 25mins or 1:40/100m, so I was aiming for 13mins at least and secretely hoping for 12:30 which would be on that pace. I was also apprehensive about cramping as the calves were sore from back to back runs. I had rubbed some stuff on them that Caz gave me, she's a pharmacist so it had to be good! Normally I'd go off like a bat out of hell but I was more cautious this time as it was longer than the last 400m TT before christmas. I was working hard but kept focusing on form so the lengths passed quickly. 2 others in the lane which I lead out. I thought there may be a collision at one point when all 3 of us reached the wall together but it was all very polite indeed and we all had good swims. I know when I'm hurting because I start breathing every two strokes but I managed to reign it back to bilateral each time which kept me relaxed. Finally, a good session! Did 150m to warm up and 100m to cool down. I passed on the swim session this morning and opted for extra sleep and a full irish breakfast instead

interested

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Tri Club swim TT: 750m in 12:05 avg pace 1:36/100m personal best.

chapeau !

Izoard

1.36 per 100m over 750m? Insane!

Could be leisurely 50m for me:)

showry

nice one MCOS, must be something in the water

pgibbo

Great stuff MCOS. That's savage swimming. Nice to see the lengths paying off. No doubt it was pretty tasty fry up this morning too! Nice choice of reward! :cool:

shotgunmcos

Last night: 1 hour turbo steady in zone 2, avg hr 125 avg watts 212
This morning: 2 hours turbo steady zone 2-3, avg hr 132 avg watts 225

Session plans were much more eventful but calves still sore so kept away from any sort of intensity and just spun at about 100 cadence doing some single leg focus herer and there. Watchee ice age with my son on it this morning and it felt weird to be sweating buckets and laughing out loud at times. The movie was short though so to stay focused I surged for 20 revs at the start of each of the last 30 mins.

catweazle

Nice swimming I vaguely remember you mentioning on your old blog that you dont do tumble turns either, very impressive to keep that sort of 100m pace over 750m

stevie_b

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Last night: 1 hour turbo steady in zone 2, avg hr 125 avg watts 212
This morning: 2 hours turbo steady zone 2-3, avg hr 132 avg watts 225

what weight (kg) are you as a matter of interest? (just to get an idea of effort)

shotgunmcos

I knew it was going to be a busy day today so opted for an early morning lsr. A romantic valentines night meant not getting shut eye until 2am, out then at 5.30am for the run. Starting the 'no-snooze button for lent' pledge early while I was at it. 1hr20 run building in stages up to an hour and then bringing the heart rate back down. After 10 mins easy warm up it was 20 mins at 150hr and avg pace 7:10/mile, feeling pretty sprightly for some reason I thought. Next up to 160hr for 20 mins and avg pace 6:49/mile. Final build to 170hr for 10mins and pace dropped to 6:25/mile before gradually bringing the heart rate back to zone 2 and gentle 9+ mins for the last mile. Altogether 17.2km at 7:24/mile average pace, keeping it neck in neck with Dusty on the challenge (just coincidentally I might add). The garmin really does give incredible breakdown of every aspect of every km in every little detail so I'm looking forward to actually using it for a race. Ran through an industrial estate and around suburbia and didn't pass another soul until about 6:30am (another jogger out early). There was a mild fog and it was otherwise a chilly but fresh morning.

There was a good feeling about this run. My calf niggles held off for an hour and after the post run stretch were not as sore as the last 2 weeks. I had compression socks on and wore them for the day too and also applied deep heat. I was also happy that I kept a decent stride and ran on the mid-fore foot region for the entire duration. Progress. The pace was good for the target zones. Not a fully fresh run but much better than I've been running recently

@stevie_b hovering around 78kg at the moment mate, well prior to this weekend anyway (eating crap like its the end of the world as lent approaches!)

shotgunmcos

Swim session.
16*50m warm up
100m*8 neg split off 1:50
150*4 0ff 2:50
200m*2 off 3:50
100m*4 neg split off 1:50.
Lead out pace was quick and I was tired so this was a 'get through it' session. Stroke felt short no matter what I focused on so session was more work than usual. 3,000m Didn't hit the snooze button this morning so I was early for once...

shotgunmcos

14.2km at avg 7:38/mile pace.
Mostly easy but 3 tough tempo reps in there with 3 min rests. 10 min warm up easy then into it. 7min reps at 6:12/6:15/6:19 pace respectively. The last one did have a drag that slowed the pace a little. I didn't achieve target heart rates on the reps but was below target pace so not too bad. About 30 mins easy recovery jog at 8:37 pace but right calf really started to hurt so it didn't feel like much of a recovery. The niggle did show at the start of the run but really hindered me in the last 20 mins. Hmmm. Feels better after a stretch and rolling it out at the moment. No more intensity this week so hopefully easy sessions will allow it rest up a bit. Cool how the Garmin buzzes and lights up when the rep is up and rest on. Every km is broken down to pace/distance/hr/averages/time and distance in each zone etc... Getting to know the gadget now and its starting to feel like a good investement.

shotgunmcos

Ahh lunchtime run again... second time doing this and it actually a really enjoyable way to break up the day. Same route as last week in and around the parks and quays of inner Limerick City. Cold but sunny day. 8.4km total at about 7:45/mile so a tad quicker than last weeks run. All lower right leg not feeling great, shin, achilles, calf all giving out. The Garmin is slow to pick up the satellite for the first km out of work and tried to convince me I did it in about a minute and a half. I also noticed it doesn't like one little section of the park where I seem to be running on top of the trees that overhang the old wall. There are also more hills in Limerick than you would think, short snappy ones. Average heart rate was 142 which is also better than last week. Not too bad getting changed, run, changed, wash basin, head under dryer, make cup of tea and back to desk in just under an hour. Swallowed back 2 wraps with chicken, rocket, spinach, red pesto, cheese and salad cream and spilled almost none on my keyboard. All good

shotgunmcos

.. and I'm off chocolate, biscuits, snooze-button and wrinkly shirts!

I don't know how I slept last night with the amount of crap I ate but got a few hours anyway. Maybe the short turbo helped

Last night: 30mins turbo spinning at 100 in zone 3 but pushing the cadence to 120 for 10 seconds every minute... turned into a bit of a workout in that I would have had to work hard to do another 30mins of it. Average watts 246. Stretched the calves out afterwards

This morning: Swim session
16*50m with fins warm up with some superman kicking
4*300m off 5:40
2*200m off 3:40
3*100m off 1:50
3*(100m easy/2*50m hard)
100m breast stroke cool down
3,400m

Held the RTs comfortably until we got to the 200s and then I was working hard to make them. Felt like I was swimming well at times, conscious of body roll and doing so from the hips rather than the shoulders.

pgibbo

Great swimming. How long were you in the pool for that session? I was in for an hour this morning and only managed 1700m.

Sounds like you've turned a corner with the running. Good stuff. :cool:

shotgunmcos

pgibbo wrote: »

Great swimming. How long were you in the pool for that session? I was in for an hour this morning and only managed 1700m.

Sounds like you've turned a corner with the running. Good stuff. :cool:

Thanks. Depends on what you are doing really pgibbo. On a technique only session I might only do 1500m max in an hour. This morning session was pretty much all work with little rest and took a bit over 70mins.

I don't know about turning the corner on the running yet but getting there hopefully. Duathlon on Sunday and better run splits will surely be a good sign.

shotgunmcos

Last night: Turbo 60mins. Wasn't really in the mood for it beinghonest but got on with it. After a warm up 5*2min reps build (about 275 watts for 1min and 335watts for 1min) 1min rests. Although I barely hit 80% hr on the last rep it took the wind out of my sail and the rest of the session with slow revs big gear work was just muck.. no interest and no energy.

This morning: Out for a run with the fast lads. 13.3km at 7:34/mile average pace. Average hr 150. I struggled on this more than last week. Supposed to be steady pace and surging for a minute evert 5 mins. After a 10 min warm up the 'steady' pace was hovering around 7:05/mile and the surging pace 5:20/mile.. way too hot for me this morning in general I lasted about 6 reps and was dying after 20secs of the fast bits. I trailed off and got lost in the fog on the riverbank getting back to the carpark. The last 3km was a lonely, reluctant woeful shuffling jog. I was wrecked. Don't know what going on with me. It had all the ingredients of being a super run, quick guys to run with, crisp fog on the riverbank... I have a LOT of work to do with running before September!

El Director

Very interesting reading, you are certainly on your way to a great performance in Budapest! I hope to join you there too!

shotgunmcos

Tea just aint cutting it but I had one with breakfast anyway, it just didn't fill the gap that hot chocolate would have on this chilly morning. I've developed a head cold also so I yearn for comfort food. Some people lose their appetites if not feeling great, I tend to eat my way out of a cold. Thankfully there have been no major temptations so far. The usual suspects, girls in work leaving chocolates on my desk, Caz bringing chocolate around for tea, loose change in the pocket at the shop have not materialised. This evening however, I have to avoid the biscuit isle doing shopping and its a training rest day and night off cooking also making it a little harder to distract myself from the easy options. The crunchie is still in the fridge untouched... If I can get over the traps of the weekend I might be ok... here's hoping anyway:)

Swim tech session last night involving
arms by side kick - my least favourit drill, rotating to breath difficult
single arm catch up - I tend to sink on cath up drillls
catch up with pullbuoy - again sinking with every stroke
catch up with board - Coach pointed out my right hand drifting out, it was more pronounced with the board so easier to see for me
watching hand through full stroke - interesting one to 'feel' the stroke
5min kick test - horrible horrible test
swimming with fists closed -concentrating on forearms pulling
breast stroke/backstroke cool down
1,250m and I gulped way too much pool water

mloc123

shotgunmcos wrote: »

I tend to eat my way out of a cold.

snap

catweazle

shotgunmcos wrote: »

girls in work leaving chocolates on my desk

??????

shotgunmcos

catweazle wrote: »

??????

They tend to wonder around shops at lunch and spot deals on boxes of chocolates or cakes etc... and then distribute in the office when they get back. Aldi across the road is mostly responsible :rolleyes:

shotgunmcos

Friday: Rest Day - completely off.
Saturday: Took the TT bike for test ride for an hour spinning on the lower ring. Recce'd the duathlon course. Bike feels fast and legs felt good also. Got pedal removed at LBS and now have the bike complete. Horrible wintery, cold, showery dirty day to take a new bike out in.
Steady easy run with Caz in the evening and the calves felt fine. Rolled them out and stretched.
Sunday: Duathlon in the morning. Improved by a minute on 2 weeks ago. Comparison below. I was feeling pretty relaxed. All gear was checked the day before and there were no worrying niggles or mechanical adjustments to think about.
run 1 according to the Garmin (which I remembered to set up in multisport mode and press the lap button on the mats) was a 20 second improvement on 2 weeks ago and averaged 5:58/mile pace for the 3.6km. The hr was in zone 5 and that brought me into T1 in about 15th. No too bad, couldn't ask for more really as I haven't trained enough at paces better than that. T1 was 30secs and I fumbled with the helmet clasp as usual. The new Tri shoes (Shimano Tr51) are brilliant. Comfy, spacious, very light and stay open nice and wide so the feet slip in quickly upon mounting... helping the transition to bike to be quite efficient.

I got stuck straight into the bike and passed a couple in the first km while my hr was still in zone 5. The position felt good and low and I was reeling in the next guy slowly. I found that the area of work for me on the bike is inclines. I just don't hold my momentum on them and get caught and passed. Magnify this for significant climbs. However I was very pleased with the flat speed and had a pretty good bike averaging 36.6kmh with most of the outward leg uphill and into a slight headwind. It was cold and the lungs were well open. Average hr dropped to 168 for the bike and I got back to T2 in 5th. The bike split was a 33 second improvement which I was pleased with as I was targetting a quick one. T2 was a slow 36secs as I racked the bike on the wrong rack and couldn't find my shoes.

run 2 was a 30sec improvement but at an average of 6:45/mile pace it was just too sluggish. I was passed 8 times and I just couldn't get the legs to turnover any faster. The average hr dropped to 164 which is the lower end of zone 4 for running for me. In truth after being passed the first few times I knew I didn't have it in the running legs to chase anyone down. I finished in 13th but it was a better race than 2 weeks ago with all round improvement so I'm not bothered by the result. Perhaps I could have killed myself to stay in the top 10 on the second run but its February and I knew I had lots of time to work on running which is the glaringly obvious weak link, I wasn't in the mood to push myself over the edge just yet. Overall I enjoyed the event which is important to me. 2 weeks ago I was so disappointed with myself and just made an injury worse by pushing too hard. I made a promise to myself that I will enjoy racing and most of all listen to my body. A sure fire way of getting de-motivated and losing interest in your goal is to ignore your body and push it when it doesn't want to be pushed. Yesterday I listened and feel better today as a result

Duathlon #1 53:53 run 1 13:40 t1 00:30 bike 23:50 t2 00:30 run 2 15:32
Duathlon #2 52:48 run 1 13:20 t1 00:30 bike 23:17 t2 00:36 run 2 15:02 (according to Garmin, results not in yet)

2 hour hike up a snowy mountain afterwards with Caz which I really enjoyed despite being rather tough work after the morning. Real temptation with a chocolate cake being brought to a group gathering roast dinner. I made do with a delicious juicy pear, as good as it was though I would have traded for the chocolate in a heart beat! Day 6 of lent and its still good, the pledge that is.... 40 more days to go :cool:

No training this morning.. thought about a swim last night but sleep was a more appealing option.

DustyBin

Jaysus that's a fair performance on the bike!
I really struggle to get my hr going on the bike - must be too lazy

Congrats on your overall better performance too

How you finding the whole snooze button thing? - I'm out, failed on Sat morning

pgibbo

Nice to see the improvements coming. Fair play. That's savage biking. Very envious!

Abhainn

Good man. I wasn't too worried about your performance in race one.
Its good experience. No point in peaking in February anyway!