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140.6 deep breaths...
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Wednesday pm: Brick session
The Plan
Turbo 80mins including 2*(2mins@ 260w, 280w, 300w, 320w, 240w), Run easy 30 mins
Actual
Same as the plan.
The bike felt fine, I love the 2 min steps
Half way through the 3rd step it starts to bite but you know it’s just 1 min of that step to go, then you hit step 4 and hold on for just 2 mins at about your threshold before you drop for an easy 2 mins. If I was aiming for standard distance as my main goal I’d build it up to 5 or 6 sets but for this session it was just a way to break up the monotony of Z1. Overall 252w, cadence 95, hr 129 (all Z1 except for steps). I didn’t bother with the hrm for the run and reined it right back in. The pace was just over 5min kms and I just jogged along happily on a cold crisp clear night. I didn’t want to aggravate the lungs as the inhaler is wrecking my head, having to gargle water after every use :rolleyes:
Time: 1:50 + stretch
Dist: 49.4km/5.95km
Thursday pm: Z2 lunchtime run
This was a very enjoyable brisk trot around the city, taking in the people’s park, the quays and d’Island. Pace 4:15/km, hr 148. I was surprised with the numbers here.
Time: 0:40
Dist: 9.4km
Thursday pm: Long Turbo
I had a hell of a day in work and was actually looking forward to this session to let off steam gradually. I had left the bike set up from the previous evening for once just to save time. I got home to find the back wheel flat :mad: I inflated to the usual pressure, listened for any sound and hopped on once satisfied. The first 2 hours passed by ok except for having to get off and re-inflate a couple of times when I noticed the output dropping for a sustained cadence. Obviously a slow puncture but it was driving me mad so I set the TT bike up on it for the first time. Caz shovelled a few spoons of fresh pasta into my mouth while I fumed and changed bikes. The Taxc monitor just doesn’t fit anywhere convenient on the TT rig! The PX instantly felt alien. The last time I was on it was at the worlds in Budapest in September and its set up pretty aggressively. I dropped to the bars for only 20 mins before I heated up and my heart rate rose. It will take some time to get used to that position again. By now I had watched the news and the sporting years featuring an interesting documentary on Eamonn Coughlan. Man, he was some runner. At this stage I also had 8 jaffa cakes and a nutri grains elevenses on board. The 3rd hour was patchy; I took a couple of quick breathers to give my back a break from the lower position of the PX. The last hour was once again mental torture. Caz put on the 9 O’Clock news since she arrives in later than me. I had already caught it at 6 so I really struggled with motivation for a while! As the last half hour approached I decided to do a 10min climb and 6min descent to distract myself, it was the only time I’d been out of base zone. In fact I spent 2:25 in Z1, 1:25 in Z2 and 0:10 in Z3. Overall 241w, cadence 93, heart rate 131. While it was mentally very tough, my legs didn’t feel so bad afterwards. I was hungry though. I should have eaten more during the day, especially since I had run at lunchtime. I lost 3kg weight on this session (I weighed myself before and after) but I only took on 1.5l of water and a little lucozade sport. I need to drink more on the bike. Happy just to get it done mid week
Time: 4:00
Dist: 141.2km
Friday am: Group swim session (LC)
The question on my mind was fast lane or middle lane?
I went with the fast one. The warm up was 20*50m with 25m of each hard.
Next up 6*100m at LTHR off 3mins. Basically flat out. Yikes. I PB’d the first effort in 1:17 :eek:, then 1:18, 1:18, 1:20, 1:22, 1:24. I was breathing every 4 on the way out and every 2 on the way back but lost my rhythm with fatigue on the last 2. Still, it was essentially the fastest I’ve ever gone in the long course. I think the Coach was having a laugh when he called for more LT stuff after 4*150m steady. I got out after the 150s as my legs were dangerously close to seizing up at all angles. Sure enough as I took an early shower I saw them all flake off on sprints. The answer to my question? After a big turbo forget the fast lane, forget the middle lane... Get into the slow lane! And if the Coach is feeling the need for speed get out and join the breast stroking lane!
Time: 0:50
Dist: 2,200m0 -
Well done on the long turbo, I don't know how you do it
and it's great to have it done for the weekend. Well done also on the 1:17/100m :eek: thats something else. I saw that programme on Eamonn Coughlan too, it's a great watch, see rte player if anybody missed it, great viewing. 0 -
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I'm not one to swear much but f**k f**k f**k I slept through my alarm this morning missing my only window for a long run today. There goes the easy Sunday morning lie in... sigh
Jealous of everyone out there running or cycling on this beautiful morning... 0 -
shotgunmcos wrote: »I'm not one to swear much but f**k f**k f**k I slept through my alarm this morning missing my only window for a long run today. There goes the easy Sunday morning lie in... sigh Jealous of everyone out there running or cycling on this beautiful morning...
Hate that. At what stage did you leave us in the waterford half ?? I remember 2-3 going away. Your very close to hte 3 based on your training. You should have great endurance so hopefully. Is it 5 weeks time ??0 -
village runner wrote: »Hate that. At what stage did you leave us in the waterford half ?? I remember 2-3 going away. Your very close to hte 3 based on your training. You should have great endurance so hopefully. Is it 5 weeks time ??
Hey VR if I had know I had a boardsie pacing me I'd have introduced myself I sat on your shoulders until a couple of mins before the 5 mile mark. I said "cheers for the lift boys" and pushed on. I was wearing a blue beanie and was the first to leave the group after it had settled. Well done on another good pacing job by the way.
Yeah Sub3 is one of my main objectives this year. Before xmas I would have considered it a long shot, a real stretch. However I surprised myself at the Waterford half and have more faith now. I'm sure the increased mileage and few kgs lost are significant contributing factors. The Marthon is a different beast to the half though. My aim is to do it at Berlin in September. I'll have 10 weeks after the IM and I'm hoping the base from that programme plus a couple of months specific sub3 type training will set me up for a decent crack at it. Not sure what you are referring to that is in 5 weeks time
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Sunday am: Z1/2 LSR
I swapped my phone to one of those touch screen ones yesterday so I couldn’t find the snooze button when the alarm went off at 6am. I wasn’t passing up the last window of the week to do the LSR so I just got up immediately for a change. I usually head straight out the door but I hung around for a little while until my bowels gave the all clear. It was a sluggish start but my heart rate was low so I didn’t bother looking at the pace again. I didn’t care what it was as long as I hit at least 30km in my base zones. After half an hour my cadence had sharpened up and I was cruising along happily. If it wasn’t such a calm and peaceful morning, I’d have missed the tunes but I had both the country and city roads to myself most of the time. After the rural section I veered off my usual route and tracked the faded green lines on the road left over from the GLR last year. They took me on a nice tour of the city with a couple of evil but short hills thrown in. The garmin was buzzing every km and the few times I looked down it showed 4:3x. I would immediately assume I was running too hard but my heart rate told me otherwise. In fact I spent the first hour in Z1. Overall I really enjoyed this run as it felt like I had the roads to myself. I took in a bit of the riverbank too which always soothes me. I started to feel it just after the 2 hour mark. My legs were feeling a heavy week and I felt a bit thirsty (I had only had yoghurt, half a nutri grain and a glass of water before I left). I ended up doing a few minutes more than I planned but getting 20 miles in early in the morning has a nice satisfying ring to it I don’t think I could push out a Marathon at this pace with no fuel but a decent breakfast, fresher legs and some water and gels along the way at least would do it. Pace 4:33/km, heart rate 146. Solid session. Longest run I've done in ages.
Time: 2:28 + stretching
Dist: 32.56km
I have a very short super light turbo to do to spin out the legs but I have a dinner to prep for a posse arriving early this afternoon. It looks doubtful I'll get it in...0 -
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Sunday pm: easy turbo
Just spinning out the legs at 150w. Thought I wouldn't get to it after a long afternoon of eating and drinking, however Caz went out for a run so I hopped on to finish out a heavy week.
Time: 0:40
Dist: 16km
Weekly numbers
24-30 Jan|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|14|19:36|350.24km
Swimming|4|4:18|12.9
Cycling|4|7:00|244.1
Running|6|7:08|93.24
Conditioning|--|1:10|Stretch/Core
Easily my biggest week of training ever. Im still spending as much time running as I am cycling but that is due to it being my main limiter. Plus I'm just running off the bike more often. When the wether improves and the days get longer I'll bring the bike into focus more. I was feeling tired by Friday this week and didn't quite have the energy for a run after collecting shotgun junior. I think this is about the limit in hours I can put in weekly, not that they will all be like this. I do find I am recovering quickly from session. I have switched to the high5 chocolate recovery shake which is lighter and tastes a bit better that the PSP22 version. I was glad to tick off the 2 key sessions, the long midweek turbo and the long early morning weeknd run. The 100m swim pb was a nice little bonus in a very busy week. The posse I had around for dinner commented on my weight loss. I started 2011 at 77.4kg and regularly get on the scale under 76 these days. My diet is a bit of a eat everything diet. I need to sip water more regularly and get a little more sleep. My chest has improved also and I'm using the inhaler less, although not out of the woods yet. The milder weather will help that too. Week 13 down, 23 to go 0 -
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shotgunmcos wrote: »[
I got on the scales this morning and to my shock I'm the lowest I have ever been :eek:
You must have been one heavy baby:D 0 -
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Wednesday pm: run & bike
The Plan
1:20 Z1/2 Turbo with 2*10min block of steps + 0:40 Z2 run
Actual
0:38 Z2 run + 1:20 easy turbo
For some reason I just wasn't in the mood for doing a run off the bike and having to change into dry gear etc.. So I did the run first on a loop I knew that takes roughly 40mins at a decent base clip. I didn't look at the watch until I finished it too, concentrating more on RPE. I pressed it a bit to keep the cadence sharp but I found my will to be lazy. It was a strange run. In parts it felt good and I was gliding, then other times I felt ragged and laboured. I had eaten a cereal bar shortly beforehand and it was repeating on me though. I had skins on my calves as they have been feeling tight lately. Despite wearing them all day walking around, they fell down around my ankles 5 mins into the run :rolleyes: Well, one at a time. For about 5 mins I was running along with one calf covered, I don't know what I must have looked like. I knew the run was brisk and when I checked the watch sure enough, avg 4:13/km pace. I expected the heart rate to be in Z3 and sure enough 154 avg was a sign I was going too hard. However, it turned out that the Garmin was spiking like mad for 10 mins and my avg hr for the last half hour was 149! Thats more like it The turbo was a pretty uneventful session, apart from Caz arriving in from her run and feeding me salt n viniger crisps! I backed off the intensity completely on the turbo and abandoned the idea of step sets. I did find that the usual gear was a bit harder work after the run though. Overall it wasn't a bad session but both my quads and calves are feeling the training load and needed lots of stretching. There were loads of people out running, great to see.
Time: 1:58 + stretch
Dist: 9.12km/44km0 -
Thursday pm: Easy lunchtime run
Conditions were pretty gnarly, but ‘fresh’ at the same time. The heavens were about to burst open so I hope I would get back to the office before a drowning ensued. In fact I was very tempted to speed up as I felt the first drops on my cheek. Thankfully I held off and so did the elements! It was a very pleasant run actually and my marathon pace, 4:54/km, of 2 years ago felt effortless, particularly when I had the stiff wind on my back. Heart rate for this was 135 avg and it didn’t take much out of me.
Time: 0:51
Dist: 10.37km
Thursday pm: Turbo FTP session
In contrast to the easy enjoyable run earlier, I struggled with this and it felt like hell. I had a tough day at the office and it was after 7 when I got home. I was not in the mood for a long turbo nor did I have the energy for one. Instead I sent a hopeful text to a potential babysitter for a weekend spin and brought Sundays FTP session to the fore.
The Plan
1:30 including 3*15mins at 90% FTP
Actual
1:30 including 2*15mins at 90% FTP
I did the first 30 mins steady but it felt heavy. I even checked the calibration before hand and changed it from +4 back to 0. I was only holding my usual steady 240w but it was requiring a higher RPE. Into the first rep. Hold 280w for 15mins. I usually enjoy this kind of pain as it’s that sweet spot below ATHR that you can feel real time benefit from it a way. My heart rate was still sitting in Z2 but my quads were not pleased about it. I dropped to 220w region for the 5 mins active rest when I’d usually just return to steady state. Into the second rep. Halfway through I was feeling it, my legs were screaming. Stubbornly I pushed on and got it done but on the 5 mins easy again I thought to myself. “This is too much too soon. It’s still base training for f*&k sake Shotgun. You are going to be too tired for key sessions. Back off!!” I returned to the steady state 240w but while I’d normally hold it for a couple of hours I struggled to finish out the last 20 mins. I had raised the cadence for the first 10secs of each of the last 20 mins to 110 just to stay on it. There was no way I would have got through a 3rd rep without destroying myself let alone 3-4 hours on the thing. It was general fatigue too to be honest
Time: 1:30
Dist: 55.7km
Friday am: Group swim session (LC)
I decided to drop down a lane again as there was a speed session planned and I knew I’d overdo it trying to hang onto the fish. I got through the usual warm up but was found out early into the main set and shoved up the front.
The mains set started tamely with 2 sets of 200/3*100 of RTs 5-10secs slower than the fast lane. Then it was into the lactate stuff…
200m/2*100m/4*50m/200m all max effort off 6/3/1:30 respectively, 100m easy after the first 200 within the 6mins allotted.
In on 2:56/1:24/1:24/38/38/38/40/3:09
The last 200 really hurt and I held off just a tad so as not to lose control of my stroke. Safe to say there was lots of heavy breathing going on. I’m happy enough with the splits given the terrible session the previous evening. 300m backstroke cool down.
Time: 1:00
Dist: 2,900m
Here's hoping a babysitter comes through as I'd happily trade 2 hours out in the elements this weekend for 4 hours on the turbo 0 -
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Saturday pm: LSR
With the week that was in it I opted for a 4 lap urban route that passed my house. I anticipated not having the gas or the will for being 10 miles from home and beaten. Omens were not good. I was full of cake from shotgunjunior’s birthday party earlier in the day, it was positively miserable out and my legs were anything but fresh. Thankfully the wind had calmed substantially and passing other runners injected some vibe. I had originally planned a hillier rural route but it was too late, too wet and too dark for it. Instead I double backed over a hill I don’t like on lap 1 and 3. The first 2 laps passed easily enough, nothing special. My garmin battery was running out and promptly died when I made an emergency pitstop at home before lap 3. I started to feel it on lap 3 but overall it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated. I think breaking 20 miles into 4*5ish mile loops breaks it down into manageable chunks so it never seemed that far from home. Overall pace 4:38/km, hr 148 (possibly higher as laps 2 and 3 were on RPE only). I felt as though my cadence was sluggish but when I checked it on the 2 hour mark it was still 88. Thats ok. A decent core session afterwards left me feeling a whole lot more positive and upbeat than I started
Time: 2:31 + 0:20 core
Dist: 32.52km
Jackyback here are those 2 reports you requested, 2 key races with simple but costly mistakes!
HOTW 2009 report rookie year
Budapest World AG 2010 report
BS secured so hoping to get out for an 80k or so myselfEl Director wrote: »Well done man on pushing through with the sessions and not missing any though sounds like you could do with a day off. Hope the BS comes through and ya....flipping posters are a nightmare! 0 -
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Sunday am: Medium Brick, key session.
Bike: Baby sitter came through so I got out with the lads for a spin. It was wet and windy but the rain more or less held off. The pace for the first 2 hours was pedestrian. We had a couple of newbies with us so we were looking after them. I did much more than my fair share on front especially on hills and into headwinds to pull it along. It was the only time I’d get my heart rate working. On the steepest hill, I doubled back over it and caught up with the group again just to get some hill practice. My chain came off twice so that was a little more work catching up. The first 2 hours passed at an average of about 25kmh, albeit it was hilly and windy. I pushed on for the last hour to get some work done and that was the last I saw of the group. I had a certain window to get the session in and with less than an hour of it left it was a tossup between adding another hill to the bike or doing a run off it. I opted for the transition run. By the time I put the bike up on the car rack I had brought the avg speed up to 28.1kmh and spent most of the last hour in Z2 for an avg hr of 135. Not quite as long a bike as I wanted but hey, a heck of a lot more enjoyable than hours on the turbo!
Run: After a pretty efficient and quick change of shoes I headed out straight onto a nice long hill. My lower back felt the bike but loosened out soon enough. The first km showed 4:22, too quick. My quads were a little tired but the legs were turning over, transitioning well. I thought I had reined it back when the terrain levelled out but a 4:12 indicated otherwise. My heart rate was in Z2 but high Z2, avg 154. I just maintained the rhythm my legs had chosen to settle at and worked away. I’m not sure just how long I could keep going but finished the session relatively comfortably, which was good. The run pace of 4:19/km was a bit quick for the purpose of it, but I’ll work on the control when the bikes get longer.
Time: 3:00/0:30 + 0:30 core/yoga later
Dist: 84.45km/6.95km
Weekly numbers
31-6 Feb|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|14|18:17|288.48km
Swimming|4|4:14|13.1
Cycling|3|5:50|184.15
Running|6|6:53|91.23
Conditioning|1|1:20|Stretch/Core/Yoga
Another solid enough week but I felt more tired throughout. The only missed session was the recovery bike after the LSR, I just couldn't face the turbo again. The running is still going well as is the swimming. The bike also feels good, however I'm not getting the miles in I'd like to be. The group I'd like to head out with at the weekend go out longer and faster so I'm hoping to hook up with them for a benchmark session next weekend. There should be a posse of IM heads doing their own thing come the spring so I'll have an eye on those sessions. Dropping back to the middle lane on some morning swims is helping things with the bigger volume the last 2 weeks. I am thinking about splitting the key sessions (long run, long bike) up as the DF model of doing em both on the weekend is taxing on the body. This heavy block is going well so hopefully I can put down another good week and then get the most I can out of the recovery week in terms of revitalising the energy systems. Week 14 down, 22 to go 0 -
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