Chasing the Kona dream and a Mai Tai cocktail

shotgunmcos

kennyb3 wrote: »

stuff.... i just dont think i ve ever seen anyone prep for an ironman with so many short sharp races. Recovery cost and jeopardising key sessions is a big consideration.

+1. I gave the duathlons a miss this year and as much as I'd love to give some hillrunning/mountain biking/A3 racing/ARs a go, I won't even pencil them in until after July 10. If I miss entries or whatever no big deal.

I know what it feels like to have a whole new fitness level and be curious as to what your new body can do but 2 duathlons in one weekend sandwiched between 2 Marathons... emmmm

dare2be

If its hills your lookin why not take yourself back up to Carlingford and over through the Cooleys, plent of climbs and rolling hills. Not sure of the gradients but it would be a good test.

Check out the Tain way trail. Not far away either so you could incorporate into your long cycle

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

shotgunmcos wrote: »

JB, have a look at the UKIM course profile
http://www.ironmanuk.com/2011/ironman-uk/race-details/courses/bike-course
I'm sure you have it downloaded already. Ok so best IM specific training practice for hills

a 400ft (121mts) climb followed by a 15-20km mostly dragging upwards to a 600ft (182mts). All in all about half of your 2,400ft of climbing per lap is on those 2 climbs. So, best hill reps in training would be on hills that match the length and/or gradient of those 2 climbs. Neither sprinting up shorter hills nor climbing Slieve Mann simulates either of those (I stand to be corrected by griffin100 as he has actully done it).

So perhaps look to find a 120m hill and do reps of that for one session. Find a 180m hill, another rep session on that (not same day!). If they are less than 20k (ideally rolling) apart than split your reps 50/50 between them

I've basically picked the 2 main hills out of the Roth course and I'll build up to doing no more than 5-6 reps of similar climbs that I can find. These will be specific hill reps and I'll incorporate 1.5 hrs of rollers into my legs before I do the reps too to ensure I'm not shooting up on fresh legs.

Now, for the most part my hill reps will be building towards these hills, eg 12x shorter faster ones etc.... The reps on the IM specific hills will be well thought out key sessions

Cheers Mike i appreciate the comments. I have been studying the UKIM route and i am trying to find similiar hills locally to replicate the UKIM climbs but no joy as of yet. So far the hill repeats i have been doing range from 30m to 70m which are of no use when trying to simulate the two main climbs in UKIM nonetheless they should still help with my climbing ability.

Thanks again as any advice/comments on my training are always welcome.

kennyb3 wrote: »

I'm no expert but do like to read a bit on these things so hope you dont mind me pitching (even tho i ll never do an ironman). I admire the amount of training your doing but just a few thoughts for you:

- Why do 2 duathlons in 1 weekend?

i.e. I get the wanting to be on tired legs but psyhiology says you were only ever going to do worse in the second one. why dishearten yourself? what is the recovery cost of 2 races in 2 days? why spend fees on 2 races, when you could put them to that TT helmet or whatever else. Also what about the time wasted between getting there, signing on, setting up and after? Would another 3-4 hour bike have been better?

- Whats the purpose of doing this bike race (1hr) the weekend?

To improve 1 hour threshold? Again the time cost in driving down and back? Fair enough if you could cycle down and back. Also these are notoriously crashy (esp as its flat fast course and early in the season). what happens if you come off and break your arm and miss 6 weeks? Is sitting in a group beneficial to you?

Hope you dont mind me chipping in, i just dont think i ve ever seen anyone prep for an ironman with so many short sharp races. Recovery cost and jeopardising key sessions is a big consideration.

Some fair points made KB and i appreciate the comments. The initial plan was to race one Duathlon at the weekend but the Sportsman changed their date for some reason and pulled it a week forward. I had already paid up for the two but in reality i should have avoided the one on Sunday. The quality of my LSR that evening was diluted because of it. In terms of recovery i probably had heavy legs for two days because of the weekends racing so my training was impacted by the back to back races.
You have got me thinking on the road race this weekend, afterall i am training for an IM and not a road race. Also a real eye opener on the increased risk of injury and what benefits i would get out of it. I think you have rightly changed my view on this, i might be better served concentrating on my long bike session and possibly join up with Swords CC at Blakes Cross to break up the boredom of a solo ride.
I always have a tendancy to do more races than i should as i enjoy them. In saying that i have no doubt that my DCM injury was brought on by over racing last year. I need to kop the fck on and stick to the IM programme and reduce the number of races i am doing. Even the two marathons is probably not advisable in the middle of an IM programme but for me the first one has given me a huge confidence boost and a revised IM run time!!

shotgunmcos wrote: »

+1. I gave the duathlons a miss this year and as much as I'd love to give some hillrunning/mountain biking/A3 racing/ARs a go, I won't even pencil them in until after July 10. If I miss entries or whatever no big deal.

I know what it feels like to have a whole new fitness level and be curious as to what your new body can do but 2 duathlons in one weekend sandwiched between 2 Marathons... emmmm

There is an element of the highlighted bit alright. I just need to focus on my target race and i can do whatever i want after the 31st July.

dare2be wrote: »

If its hills your lookin why not take yourself back up to Carlingford and over through the Cooleys, plent of climbs and rolling hills. Not sure of the gradients but it would be a good test.

Check out the Tain way trail. Not far away either so you could incorporate into your long cycle

The Cooleys is on the list:)

Ciara07

Fergus McGrath wrote: »

We go out at 8 from lusk and there are a few groups advanced usually tick over at 25-30kph for about 70 km
We would need you to be a member of the club though alternatively swords cc head out from blakes cross from 8.30 on saturday morning
Good luck in your half ironman and hopefully we'll see you at our duathlon series early next year (most likely going to be 3 races)

Great Duathlon last weekend! I'm a beginner and it was my second duathlon (did Naas as a practice the week before), very enjoyable and very well organised. I haven't joined a club yet and am wondering if your club has any evening training sessions or are they all fierce early Saturdays and Sundays..

Fergus McGrath

Ciara07 wrote: »

Great Duathlon last weekend! I'm a beginner and it was my second duathlon (did Naas as a practice the week before), very enjoyable and very well organised. I haven't joined a club yet and am wondering if your club has any evening training sessions or are they all fierce early Saturdays and Sundays..

Hey ciara glad you enjoyed it i think its a great sign people saying they enjoyed it especially with that hill on the run if you look on our website is a list of when & where we train monday evening cycles tuesday evening swims wednesday evenings is run so check out the link and let me know if you have any more questions
Cheers
Fergus
http://www.fingaltri.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=77

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Thursday
Lunchtime Spin
I included 3x5 minute threshold work in today’s session, did not want to overcook it with the LSR planned for later. I think I have found a similar climb profile to mirror the smaller climb in UKIM so I will hit that next week for some repeats. With the good weather it is a joy to be out cycling in it.
Distance: 26.24km & 7km commute
Time: 52:56
Avg speed: 29.7kmph
HR: 146/166

Evening LSR
I was due to do this at silly o clock this morning before work but changed it to this evening instead of a club interval session.
The plan was to run around 5.05/5.10 pace for 35.5km/22 mile. I was feeling great and lashing out the kms close to 5 min pace, i joined up with the club session and done laps of the running track for about and hour and a half. Around the 18km mark I started to get severe stomach cramps and the pace started to drop. Cramps got worse as I headed out onto the road and I ended up puking around 22km and 26km anyone on the Dublin Road into Drogheda last night would have seen a scene similar to The Exorcist:(.
I ended up cutting the run short and headed for home. Straight to bed for a 10 hour sleep (unlike me) and skipped my swim this morning as still not feeling great.
Not sure what the story is as I just had a stomach bug about 3 weeks ago. Perhaps Mrs. JB is trying to poison me and perhaps the salmon fillets i had before my run were laced with rat poison:o
Distance: 29.4km/18.27mile
Time: 2:32:56
Avg pace: 5.12km/8.22mile
HR: 147/164

Aimman

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Thursday
Not sure what the story is as I just had a stomach bug about 3 weeks ago. Perhaps Mrs. JB is trying to poison me and perhaps the salmon fillets i had before my run were laced with rat poison:o

You better avoid the doping committee, you could be done for banned substances. :eek:

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Aimman wrote: »

You better avoid the doping committee, you could be done for banned substances. :eek:

I would say if she was druging me it would not be the perfomance enhancing type more the slow killing type:)
Good luck at the weekend and have a good race!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Swim, gym and recovery run sessions all cancelled today as the tummy is still dodgy. Not going to bother with the road race tomorrow and hopefully the body is up for a long bike session otherwise that will be cancelled aswell.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Saturday
Long Bike/Run off bike
I avoided the Lucan road race and concentrated on my own Long Bike Session. I left the house at 7.30am and met up with Swords CC at 8.30 for 70km of my spin. Chuffed to hit the IM distance on the bike, in reality i am probably a good 4 weeks ahead of where i should be on the plan.
Felt good throughout although the legs did start to tire for the last 10km. I did not realise the lads give it a good lash once they hit the Airport...i was hanging on for dear life:)
Distance: 181km
Time: 6:06:53
Avg Speed: 29.6kpmh
HR: Kids playing hide & seek with the HRM

Transition was a slow one as i needed to get some food and water into the system, at a guess 7 minutes.

Brick Run
Legs felt a bit wobbly to start off but i soon found a steady/slow pace. Just ran up to Olbridge and back to bring the run up to 7km. This brick run from the long bike will be a key session over the coming weeks.
Time: 38:09
Distance: 7km
Pace: 5.27km/8.46mile
No HRM

Pity i did not have the HRM for the stats but i know myself i was well within Z2 and probably Z1 for the run. A good day's work put in!!

shotgunmcos

NICE session there JB and well done hitting the IM distance bike!! What was you bike nutrition like?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

shotgunmcos wrote: »

NICE session there JB and well done hitting the IM distance bike!! What was you bike nutrition like?

It was a bit light if i am being honest should have taken in around 410g CHO but only took in around 340g, essentially 5 hours worth which probably explains the last 10k being a bit of a struggle. At least i have my nutrition plan near nailed, homemade flapjacks are adding a nice filler:)
I routinely need to start setting the garmin to alarm every 20 minutes though as i was drinking/gel/eating probably every 45 minutes which could lead to dips in energy/hydration.
Still pleased to take away the question marks about the IM bike distance. What do you think you will be your longest spin, 7 hour or is there a need?

kennyb3

Great spin there JB thats some distance to be covering. Hope you enjoyed the swords spin, its great for a bit of chat and a good hammer session at the end.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

kennyb3 wrote: »

Great spin there JB thats some distance to be covering. Hope you enjoyed the swords spin, its great for a bit of chat and a good hammer session at the end.

Cheers KB glad i did not do the road race in the end especially after reading about your crash:eek: Yeah the lads seem like a nice bunch and i will probably include a few more sessions with them to mix up my long bike sessions.

shazkea

Glad to see you're taking it easy since Barcelona . Good to meet you and best of luck in London.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Sunday
Early swim whilst the kids splashed about to make up for the missed session on Friday. I just threw in a mixture of 100s/200s and a 500.
Distance: 2500mtrs
Time: 57 mins

Dunboyne 4 miler
I ended up heading down to this with the family and along with 40 other club members which was a massive turnout for us. I was not sure what to expect as i have not run a short race in ages but i thought i should be good to get around in 6.50/7.00 min mile pace and under 28 mins especially after the long bike yesterday.
I headed off at a reasonable pace without paying attention to the garmin, got a shock when i seen the first mile hit in 6:23. I felt good so just continued along at that pace passing out a good few who set off too fast early on. Hit the 2nd and third mile in about 6:33 and 6:35 passing a good few club members and ran the last one in 6:29.
I ended up finishing in 167th out of a 1000 or so and i was the 5th fastest out of the 40 from the club.
Looking at the hr i should/could of pushed much harder instead of a handy Z3 effort:rolleyes:
Distance: 4 mile/6.5km
Time: 26:12
Pace: 4:01km/6:27mile
HR: 169/174...only 85% of max

shazkea wrote: »

Glad to see you're taking it easy since Barcelona . Good to meet you and best of luck in London.

Cheers Shaz thankfully taking it easier next week hopefully i can go a few minutes quicker than Barcelona!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Week 19 Summary
21st Mar - 27th Mar|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|12|18:29|359km
Swimming|3|3.10|8.7km
Cycling|4|10:08|289.7km
Running|5|5:11|60.6km
Conditioning|0|0:00|Strengthening Work/Core - Gym
Other|0|0:00|


Totals so far
15th Nov- 27th Mar|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|220|246:32|4271.3km
Swimming|44|40:53|120.3km
Cycling|66|107:52|3209.9km
Running|89|80:47|880.5km
Conditioning|15|13:30|Strengthening Work - Gym
Other|6|3:30|Swim coaching


A mixed weeks training. Not so happy with how the week started and the midweek LSR was a disaster along with missed sessions on the Friday. Stand out session for the week was the IM bike distance and run off.
Recovery week this week and going to take it easy and put in about 13/14 hours. Need to make a trip to the docs as i have ongoing stomach cramps again which cannot be right, hopefully it is nothing serious.
Only 18 weeks to race week, the time is flying by.

El Director

Well done on the IM bike JB. You are shaping up nicely, hard to believe that you are going for your first triathlon! You seem to have things pretty well nailed down. Getting good advice here too and it was the correct decision re the Lucan GP, instead you put in a monster session and you have now covered the IM bike distance. Rest well this week.

menoscemo

Good run in Dunboyne. I see your fast speed is improving as well as your short speed.
Any plans on doing a 5k any time soon? You'll easily smash 20 minutes by the looks of it.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

El Director wrote: »

Well done on the IM bike JB. You are shaping up nicely, hard to believe that you are going for your first triathlon! You seem to have things pretty well nailed down. Getting good advice here too and it was the correct decision re the Lucan GP, instead you put in a monster session and you have now covered the IM bike distance. Rest well this week.

I don't think i will ever live it down signing up to an IronMan as my first triathlon:) Thankfully i will have a sprint distance and half IM under my belt before it comes around.
I would have loved to do that road race the weekend but when you see what happened to KB it puts you off as i do not want to risk injury or miss training weeks.

menoscemo wrote: »

Good run in Dunboyne. I see your fast speed is improving as well as your short speed.
Any plans on doing a 5k any time soon? You'll easily smash 20 minutes by the looks of it.

Cheers Niall yeah the club sessions on Tuesday & Thursday are bringing some nice improvements and a bit of speed into the legs. No plans to race any short stuff (maybe 1/2 club outings) until after IM although McMillan has me off 20:01 for a 5k time:) and a 3:15 marathon time.
I am toying with the idea of going all out for a good for age time in London (3:09:xx) but i think it would be too big a step with Barcelona only a few weeks ago and the impact it could have on recovery afterwards and my IM training.

shotgunmcos

Nice running in th 4m JB and after that mega brick session the day before! You are in great shape, never mind sub 20, sub 19 more like it for 5k. On London, it will be tempting alright to go for a time but you pushed hard enough in Barca and IMO going deep in London may be counter productive to your main goal?

As for a 3hr spin the day before the GLR, I'll PM you my email address so you can drop me a line. I may be out for a spin myself, it depends on babysitter. .

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Nice running in th 4m JB and after that mega brick session the day before! You are in great shape, never mind sub 20, sub 19 more like it for 5k. On London, it will be tempting alright to go for a time but you pushed hard enough in Barca and IMO going deep in London may be counter productive to your main goal?

As for a 3hr spin the day before the GLR, I'll PM you my email address so you can drop me a line. I may be out for a spin myself, it depends on babysitter. .

Yeah not sure what pace to go off at in London it is a B priority race but i do not want to end up crippled for a week after it. I sent you back an e-mail, cheers.

Monday
Rest Day apart from some bouncing on the trampoline with the kids:rolleyes:

Aimman

Well done on the Dunboyne 4M, great time.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Tuesday
Another forced rest day. Listening to my body as the stomach is still in bits and waiting on test results back.

Wednesday AM
Finally some training to log about!!
Swim Session
Felt a bit better this morning so headed off to the pool for a 3.5k-4k session. I started off with a 300wu then progressed onto 15x100s off 2 mins hitting them mostly in 1.50-1.55. Followed these up with 8x200's off 4 mins hitting them around 3.45-3.50 and then completed 200 breast stroke as a warm down. Felt sickly towards the end:(
Distance: 3600mtrs
Time: 1:20

I will see how the body is later for a run or a cycle.

kennyb3

The mini break could be the best thing to happen you a) to let the body recover and reap the benefits of all the training rather than constant muscle damage b) excellent mentally as you ll be raring to go for the last few months.

Good swim and 4m time.

pgibbo

Nice swim set and 4m race. Some savage cycles too.

Do you think the stomach issues might be connected to the large training volumes? Hopefully it's nothing too serious. As KB said, the mini break will probably stand to you.

You decided on a time for London yet?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Wednesday
Lunchtime Run
Shortish run, started off too fast and pulled it back. Did not feel so good on the run and hr was way off the charts and higher than normal.
Distance: 6.1km
Time: 31:31
Pace: 5.10km
HR: 156/175

Evening hilly cycle
Headed out with one of the DW lads and tackled some hills. **** start to the spin as my front wheel for some reason was loose. I also ended up getting a rear puncture replaced it and the second tube had a hole so had another practice on puncture repair:rolleyes: At least if it happens in my IM race i should be quick enough with them.
Felt much better on the cycle this evening than i did on the run earlier.
Distance: 43.22km
Time: 1:39:59
Avg speed: 25.9kpmh
HR: 142/175

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

kennyb3 wrote: »

The mini break could be the best thing to happen you a) to let the body recover and reap the benefits of all the training rather than constant muscle damage b) excellent mentally as you ll be raring to go for the last few months.

Good swim and 4m time.

Yeah i had planned an easy week this week anyway so feeling poorly on a recovery week worked out well:o Given the fact i am ahead on plan i may revert to a 2 week build/1 drop back week.

pgibbo wrote: »

Nice swim set and 4m race. Some savage cycles too.

Do you think the stomach issues might be connected to the large training volumes? Hopefully it's nothing too serious. As KB said, the mini break will probably stand to you.

You decided on a time for London yet?

I doubt the stomach problems are linked to the training, doc reckons it is probabably some infection/bacteria around the tummy but waiting on results.
Yeah only doing 12/13 hours this week which is a 30% drop off in volume so should feel refreshed and ready to go next week.
Still undecided on a London time but the way things are going a sub 3:15 would be a good time for me. I may do the same as Barca and go out with two pace bands and see how i feel during the race.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Thursday
Club Interval Session
A tough but enjoyable session tonight with the club with no ill effects on the tummy. Starting to run with the fastest group which helps bring you on that bit more.
The plan tonight was a warm up of 1.68km, 850mtrs strides, 3x600mtrs in 2.03, 2.03, 2.02, progressive 4x400mtrs in 1.16, 1.15, 1.14, 1.10:) and a warm down of 1.23km.
Distance: 31.12
Time: 7.21km
Pace: 4.19km/6.58mile
HR: 151/184 95% max

El Director

kennyb3 wrote: »

The mini break could be the best thing to happen you a) to let the body recover and reap the benefits of all the training rather than constant muscle damage b) excellent mentally as you ll be raring to go for the last few months.

Good swim and 4m time.

Nice run session tonight JB, great times too, nice pacing on the 400's.

As KB said there, enforced lay off can actually benefit you in the long term. I should know Happened twice to me last year just 6-8 weeks out form my A races yet when it came to the day itself, I was fresh and rested, and consequently swam/cycle and ran v well.

Said it before but....have to say it again....it's hard to believe that this is your first year at this craic, fair play.