Chasing the Kona dream and a Mai Tai cocktail

liamo123

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Yeah Liamo doing Barca again and cannot wait. Sub 3 is the plan....gulp:)

Nice one.... I love that marathon and will hopefully go back in 2013... Sub 3 all the way (once its not too bloody warm :eek:)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Monday
30-40min easy run
Nothing, did not get back from London until 10:30pm and whilst i briefly considered it the bed, sleep and common sense prevailed over the running.

Tuesday
Due for a 50min tempo run today but putting it back until tomorrow as i am knackered tired in the office today. I was due to replace with an easy run at lunchtime but a work call just before lunch put that out of the question. Just an easy run and/or bike tonight and a good sleep to reset the clock.

Not a such a good start to my training week:o

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Tuesday
Easy run
Finally got out for a run. I felt sluggish throughout the run and hr was elevated and just bordering out of easy zone into steady. Turns out i was coming down with something:(
Time: 35:06
Distance: 7.38kms
Pace: 4.45km
HR: 155 inc spikes

Easy 1hr turbo
You think i would have seen the tell tale signs from above. An hour easy which felt harder than easy. On the lower end of my easy power zones but again felt sluggish.
Time: 60mins
Distance: 29.58kms
Power: 166
Cad: 91
HR: 139

3 out of the 4 kids at home in bed with high temps and feeling unwell. Only i am nuts busy in work i would be joining them. Normally i try and train through when feeling under the weather but sense prevailed after a quick discussion with coach. I hate missing sessions but need to know when to let go. Hopefully i will be back at it soon enough, i was due a recovery week so may pull it forward to this week.
At least some good news weight is now down to 67.5kgs so i may still make my desired race weight for Barca which is on in 60days:eek:

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Day 3 of no training and i am starting to crack up. I have put in some sleeping hours the last few days, literally coming in from work and hitting the bed with all the other sick patients in the house. Today is the first morning when my eyes and head are not sore to touch:). Hopefully i will get something easy in over the weekend but very much play it by ear. Thankfully whatever i have has stayed from throat upwards so not in the chest which could delay getting back into it.
I actually listed sickness as one of my limiters last year and even though i am eating well, taking vits, echinecea, manuka the end game is with a house full of kids with two of them at school going age i am going to be susceptible to picking up bugs and infections:o More or less a weeks training down the toilet but in the grand scheme of things it should not halt progress too much.

El Director

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Day 3 of no training and i am starting to crack up. I have put in some sleeping hours the last few days, literally coming in from work and hitting the bed with all the other sick patients in the house. Today is the first morning when my eyes and head are not sore to touch:). Hopefully i will get something easy in over the weekend but very much play it by ear. Thankfully whatever i have has stayed from throat upwards so not in the chest which could delay getting back into it.
I actually listed sickness as one of my limiters last year and even though i am eating well, taking vits, echinecea, manuka the end game is with a house full of kids with two of them at school going age i am going to be susceptible to picking up bugs and infections:o More or less a weeks training down the toilet but in the grand scheme of things it should not halt progress too much.

You'll be fine dude, even the pro's get sick and it is better now than a week or two out. I think you are right to stop training and allow your body to use it's energy to get you better and not be side tracked with training. Come Monday you will probably feel a lot better.

Dory Dory

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Day 3 of no training and i am starting to crack up. I have put in some sleeping hours the last few days, literally coming in from work and hitting the bed with all the other sick patients in the house. Today is the first morning when my eyes and head are not sore to touch:). Hopefully i will get something easy in over the weekend but very much play it by ear. Thankfully whatever i have has stayed from throat upwards so not in the chest which could delay getting back into it.
I actually listed sickness as one of my limiters last year and even though i am eating well, taking vits, echinecea, manuka the end game is with a house full of kids with two of them at school going age i am going to be susceptible to picking up bugs and infections:o More or less a weeks training down the toilet but in the grand scheme of things it should not halt progress too much.

Um, write this off as a recovery week - weren't you due one anyway?? Seriously, you'll be fine. Loads of time yet. Back in the saddle before you know it!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Friday PM
Torchlit short/easy tester run
Just a short one around Oldbridge to see how the body felt after the few days away from it. Nice to be out running again even if baltic cold. Felt alright, not fantastic but alright. I will see how i feel in the morning before deciding on an easy spin.
Time:23:39
Distance: 4.74kms
Pace: 4:59km
HR: 156 (hrm very spikey)

Dory Dory wrote: »

Um, write this off as a recovery week - weren't you due one anyway?? Seriously, you'll be fine. Loads of time yet. Back in the saddle before you know it!

Yes Dory recovery week called forward to this week and hopefully back with gusto next week as i have a number of key sessions to tick off.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Saturday
1hr 45min Easy Bike
Just an easy one to see how i got on. HR/Power/RPE relationship seemed to be off for the first 30-40mins but soon settled after to what i would expect for what was an easy ride. I had to stop and adjust the back wheel as it was slightly rubbing off the P2 frame for some reason.
Legs felt very fresh and the last half hour was at 200watts but still well within easy zone. Happy to be back at it.
Time: 1:41:48
Distance: 49.54kms
Power: AP 185watts / NP 190watts
Cadence: 82
HR: 144

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Sunday
1hr run
I had originally planned to go for 90mins but was getting soaked through so called it early after an hour. Hilly enough route.
Time: 57:48
Distance: 12.31kms
Pace: 4.41km/7.33mile
HR: 154

2500mtr swim session
First time in the pool this week, done a session the coach originally had set for me on Friday. WU 300sw,200p,100k, main set was 5x(100PT,100p steady, 100sw fast) + 15s. 100p steady all in around 1:45 to 1:53 and 100 fast in 1:44 to 1:51. Then 4x50 fast in 48,47,47,51 (died on the last one a little and lost form), 200 back crawl as cool down.
Time: 55mins
Distance: 2500mtrs

No real need for a weekly summary this week:rolleyes: Still somehow managed to get 5.5hrs in for the week. Looking forward to next week.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Monday
Lunchtime Swim - 2400mtrs
Hit the snooze button for the early morning swim (tut tut) so headed for the pool at lunchtime instead. I found the session tough enough and really had to focus towards the end on form. Need to get some of my lost swim fitness back!!
Session was WU of 200sw,200p,4x50k, then some sculling work as 4x50fs and 4x50ms. Main set was 2x200sw steady, 4x100p steady, 8x50 alt sw/p mod hard effort with 200 bc as cool down.
The 200sw steady came in on 3:46 and 3:50 with 4x100p steady all in around 1:45 to 1:49. the 8x50 mod hard were all in between 48 and 51....it was on these that form started to drop a little but as someone mentioned in the log i need to make every stroke, every length of the pool count.
I so want to be a decent swimmer this year, pain in my ass bringing up the rear on the swimming front but its so bloody hard to make progress not that that will stop me from trying.
Time: 55mins
Distance: 2400mtrs

PM - 45min easy run
Bloody freezing out tonight. I can feel a bit of run sharpness has been lost from last week as i was at the upper end of easy zone and in fact into steady on the hill home for a pace that should be off less.
I was hating the first 2kms of the run for some reason and then started enjoying it more and more as the run went on. Looking for a big running week this week as i want to gradually start building the mileage up in the next few weeks to peak around 90-100km a week in preparation for Barca.
Time: 45:54
Distance: 9.7kms
Pace: 4:44km
HR: 154

RacoonQueen

Is it 8 weeks now to Barca? How is your training planned now until the big day - will you be concentrating on the running and pulling back on swim and bike?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Is it 8 weeks now to Barca? How is your training planned now until the big day - will you be concentrating on the running and pulling back on swim and bike?

Yeah 8 weeks and its creeping up fast. Next few weeks is continued run focus just building on the tempo and interval work and specific MP work in the long runs whilst building the long run distance. Plan would be continue to maintain swim and bike as i cannot afford to let either slip but certainly there will be a drop in volume for both areas as i taper towards Barca.
This will be the last time i target a marathon whilst training for an Ironman, i think to get the best possible result in a marathon it really needs to be the sole focus with no other training distractions.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Tuesday
Tempo Run - WU, 50mins @ PMP (or just below), CD
Well the running form returned sooner than expected. Today was a progression from the last tempo run from 2 weeks ago up to 50mins. It was the usual easy wu of 5mins and into 5min builds as 30sec build/30sec easy.
I set off and after 10 minutes i realised two things, 1)my hrm was not registering with the watch so i messed around with it but to no avail, this happened for a few minutes last night on the easy run so perhaps batteries are dead and 2)I was running really well and the avg pace was coming up as 4:05km pace.
I notice my form when running for a steady effort is really good, engaging the core and running tall whilst keeping a nice fresh cadence of 94 for most of it. I stuck with the pace for what felt like a steady and controlled effort. Even though i was running into a mild headwind for 30mins of the tempo i was just feeling really good with each stride and in fact i was feeling stronger as the tempo effort progressed.
Really happy with this one, i think it will help mentally on the day knowing i can knock out 50mins at near 10sec per km quicker pace than required.....central governer and all that!!!
Tempo effort was 50mins - 12.15kms - 4.06km/6:35mile - low to mid steady effort
Time: 1:07:14
Distance: 15.89km
Pace: 4.14km/7.49mile
steady effort

BTH

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

....a nice fresh cadence of 94.....

Thats some impressive running, but this figure is ridiculous.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Thats some impressive running, but this figure is ridiculous.

As in

BTH

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

As in

It's impressively high. Ridiculously so. My run cadence seems to average about 86/87 and El Director has declared his jealously of this as his seems to hover around the 79/80 mark. He is taller than me though. I wonder if it's a height thing? Unless you're going to tell me you're also a 6footer+.

tunney

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Thats some impressive running, but this figure is ridiculous.

Why?

A nice short stride has been shown to be more efficient than a long one over long distances. Particularly when running off the bike. Plus its recommended to run at a similar cadence to what you ride at for IM athletes.

Also 94spm isn't high really. I did 40 minutes easy at lunch, average cadence 92rpm, and thats a slow 4:40 per km. All my runs would be over 90spm, pacey runs over 95spm. When in form high 90s. Given most running coaches recommend 90spm I don't see why 94spm is a big deal especially as its his self selected natural cadence.

Mr Friel on run cadence

To do this count every time a runner’s right foot strikes the road for 20 seconds and then multiply by three. The Kenyans are running at a cadence of 94 to 98 even late in a long race such as a marathon. The others generally have a cadence of 90 to 94.

Count your cadence the next time you are out for a run. If you’re like most age group triathletes it will be in the range of 76 to 86. And the slower an age grouper runs the lower their cadence becomes. Elite runners tend to keep their cadence about the same even when running slowly. They’ve trained their nervous systems to fire at a set rate which isn’t appreciably altered by pace.

Besides reducing vertical oscillation, running with a higher cadence means the foot spends less time in contact with the ground. That means running faster. Until your foot comes off the ground you aren’t going any place. It’s like an anchor.

Keep that cadence up Jackyback

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

It's impressively high. Ridiculously so. My run cadence seems to average about 86/87 and El Director has declared his jealously of this as his seems to hover around the 79/80 mark. He is taller than me though. I wonder if it's a height thing? Unless you're going to tell me you're also a 6footer+.

Ah right, for me easy running would be 88 to 90 and i would increase as the effort increases. Unfortuneatly not a 6footer and a bit of a short ass at 5ft 8, i have been working on shortening my stride a little in the last few months and seem to be pushing off more mid to fore foot as a result as in the past i was over striding my short little legs and heel striking a lot:).

BTH

@tunney I've read articles before on run cadence so I am familiar with a lot of that. I certainly wasn't having a go, although I can see how it could have been interpreted like that. I suppose I was only commenting as I find it difficult to hit a cadence of 90, despite having a relatively short stride and midfoot strike. It's also something my coach has asked me to work on.

I also believe I've read somewhere that taller runners will have a slightly lower cadence which makes a certain amount of sense if you think about it. I've worked a lot on my stride this last six months, shortening it and working on a midfoot strike. While I havent focused solely on cadence, I dont recall ever averaging greater than 90 on a run, and when I did get close it felt more like I was shuffling along rather than running. Now, I'm no giant myself, but i have 5 inchs (ooh'er) on jackyback which may be part of the reason for the large difference in our cadence.

One more point. You both say that your cadence will be higher for faster runs. I dont see this same trend. 5km at Christmas I averaged 87 @3:47pace. Easy run last week avg cadence was 87 @4:58pace. I seem to be stuck in that 86/87 figure no matter how fast I run!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

@tunney I've read articles before on run cadence so I am familiar with a lot of that. I certainly wasn't having a go, although I can see how it could have been interpreted like that. I suppose I was only commenting as I find it difficult to hit a cadence of 90, despite having a relatively short stride and midfoot strike. It's also something my coach has asked me to work on.

I also believe I've read somewhere that taller runners will have a slightly lower cadence which makes a certain amount of sense if you think about it. I've worked a lot on my stride this last six months, shortening it and working on a midfoot strike. While I havent focused solely on cadence, I dont recall ever averaging greater than 90 on a run, and when I did get close it felt more like I was shuffling along rather than running. Now, I'm no giant myself, but i have 5 inchs (ooh'er) on jackyback which may be part of the reason for the large difference in our cadence.

One more point. You both say that your cadence will be higher for faster runs. I dont see this same trend. 5km at Christmas I averaged 87 @3:47pace. Easy run last week avg cadence was 87 @4:58pace. I seem to be stuck in that 86/87 figure no matter how fast I run!

87 must be your natural cadence, perhaps you stride out more when going faster without knowing it. Some run cadence drills in the middle of an easy run might help from time to time. Laughed at the 5inches bit:p

pgibbo

Do I recall you saying you did a Chi Running course BTH? Cathrina advocates 92 or so cadence and uses the seiko metronome to train it. Perhaps you should try that?

Personally I never keep track of cadence. Maybe it's time I did!

Nice run btw JB. Nice pace for the tempo run. Good to see you back on the horse.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

[/B]1hr easy/recovery turbo[/B]
Just an easy one spinning out the legs from todays run and it was an opportunity to catch up on some saved tv shows. Dialed in the effort @ 60% ftp and kept it close enough to that.
Time: 60mins
Distance: 28.1kms
Power: 169watts
Cad: 92

Bed early tonight as early swim tomorrow and a tough turbo tomorrow evening with 2x20mins @ 100% ftp to contend with.

El Director

Funnily enough I've been doing a bit of research on this today, this is what I found...

This, this and this

I find this topic interesting because it gives me hope. I'm not exactly the slowest runner ever but obviously I have loads of room for improvement and my lazy 79/80spm is certainly something I can work on.

BTH

pgibbo wrote: »

Do I recall you saying you did a Chi Running course BTH? Cathrina advocates 92 or so cadence and uses the seiko metronome to train it. Perhaps you should try that?

Personally I never keep track of cadence. Maybe it's time I did!

Nice run btw JB. Nice pace for the tempo run. Good to see you back on the horse.

Yeah PG, I did a chi course in December. She did mention that the optimum cadence was in and around 90 alright. I suppose I've been concentrating on getting the gait and form part of it right. I have a habit of striking more on my forefoot than midfoot and my body position was all wrong, almost to the point of leaning back, which when viewed on her video looked ridiculous and uncomfortable. Progress has been made on that front, so I'll start looking at increasing the cadence now as well. I have the garmin footpod so the watch can tell me when I need to up the cadence without having to splash out on more stuff!!

@ElD, those links are pretty much the Chi Running course teachings. Seeing a video yourself running will immediately show you what you're doing wrong.


Now Jackyback, I'll give you your thread back. Some great work going on..

El Director

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

@ElD, those links are pretty much the Chi Running course teachings. Seeing a video yourself running will immediately show you what you're doing wrong

Very true and my running form has come along very well since I did the course too in Oct 2010, I still have a lot to work on however.

Good luck with that session tonight JB

menoscemo

After reading all this Cadence thing I decided to check mine on the run home last night and recorded a 92-94 while running at recovery pace (8.40/mile or 5.25/km for you tri heads).
It must be something about us shortarses JB just needing a higher cadence to keep up. (Mind you, if you're 5'8 then I'm 5'10 :pac:).

shotgunmcos

2 discussions going on here and in DP's log that could be threads in the Mainsubforum!

I too struggle a bit with cadence. Naturally a lazy 84-86, takes real concentration to go 88 and I swaet like a pig pushing 90

Have fun with the 2*20 @ 100% FTP tonight JB.. thats a toughie

FWIW I'm 181cm

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

menoscemo wrote: »

It must be something about us shortarses JB just needing a higher cadence to keep up. (Mind you, if you're 5'8 then I'm 5'10 :pac:).

I was rounding up;) 172cm - 5ft 7.7inches:) but 5ft 8 sounds better!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Wednesday
24002800mtr swim session
Excellent session and finished it strong. Sculling & ripple drills went well as 4x50fs, 4x50ms and 4x50ripple. The 2x200p steady technique wise felt very good and i carried it into the 3x100s which felt effortless. I clocked a 41 on the last fast 4x50 which is a pb but it was all power and probably looked awful. It was a working lane with 4 lads in it 2 of which i know do IM's so i was working it well to stay on feet and not get lapped by the one fish in the lane.
I had a few minutes to kill before needing to get out so done another 2x200p focussing on each part of the stroke. The happiest i have been with a swim session in a while and enjoyed it.
Time: 1:05
Distance: 2800mtrs

Tough Turbo - 10min wu/2x20min @ FTP with 10min easy in between
Got the dinner, homework and kids sorted before jumping on. Started off the 10min wu and the legs felt a bit dead but heck lets get on it i thought. Into the first FTP effort and a few things occured to me, i was pedalling squares, stitch in my side (too short a gap from dinner perhaps) not in the zone to suffer and i was struggling to hit my FTP numbers no matter how much i tried. I had to stop/start several times for a breather and was getting frustrated. I got to 16mins and stupidly realised i had not recalibrated the power meter after the wu as it sometimes is 30/40 watts out with the temp fluctuations indoors on the turbo.
A quick zero/recalib and then into the 10mins easy. Launched into the second one with gusto and straight away it felt more like threshold should feel like.....hurty but just about manageable. I must have been trying to push 320/330 on the first one:rolleyes:
Really got in the zone on this one and found a nice metronomic rhythm. Got to 20mins and decided to roll it on to 25mins to make up for the first botched 20min effort although the last few minutes was a real struggle but managed to eek up the average and bring it to 293watts on the second one as i was hitting over 300watts (ftp is 284watts).
Shaky as hell getting off but had a quick recovery drink and protein shake after it and felt better straight away. Thats 2 out of the 5 quality sessions done for the week...thank fvk thats over with as its a tough session, coach must have been laughing as he prescribed it last week:)
Time: 1:06:05
Distance: 43.2kms
Avg speed: 39.2kmph
Power: AP 254watts / NP 265watts (278watts first effort & 293watts second effort)
Cadence: 76
HR: 152 (158 & 159 for ftp efforts) new battery in the hrm but this felt closer to my threshold hr of 170 as it felt much tougher

A good days work put down and bloody wrecked now, easy run and cycle tomorrow to recover.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Time to feed the inner stats nerd in me. Decent months work put in bar the last half week i lost to sickness. Below shows stats and breakdown for the month......saves me typing it:)