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140.6 deep breaths...
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Training update: A swim and a couple of enjoyable runs.
Run #1: 4km tempo, 3km easy, 2km tempo
Planned to run with a colleague from work at his half marathon race pace but I got held up getting out of the office giving him a good head start. Conditions were perfect - calm, sunny and a slight chilly breeze. I put the boot down immediately and it took 4km at 3:49 pace to catch him. 3km at 5:05 pace then chatting and recovering before lifting it again to 3:48 pace for the last 1.9km. A good run and the tempo bits felt solid. I had planned some tempo for the weekend so it was nice to get it out of the way
A little tightness in the left hamstring to monitor.
Run #2: Easy run.
I was going to take the evening off but decided to keep Caz company for her midweek medium length run. 1:10 at 5:53 pace, very easy just chatting for the first half hour then letting Caz focus on her effort. Nice evening for a run with lots of runners out and about. Heart rate 123.
Swim: Group session (LC)
The speedy Friday set. I avoided the fast lane like it was shark infested for this session. 3 sets of 600m progressive work of which I lead out the latter 2. Swimming feels good. Hitting 100s on 1:35 comfortable enough albeit off a slightly more lenient RT. I hopped out of the lane for an easy swim down as they did kicking drills.
Run #3: Build run over hills.
A lunchtime run again with 3 laps. 2 sharp hills and one long drag on each loop. It was Z3 work building from 4:16 - 4:01 pace gradually with a cardiac drift from 150 - 164. Conditions again were lovely but a little cooler than the last lunchtime run. Avg hr 154, pace 4:08. Hamstring felt ok but left ankle is stiff for some reason.
Hopefully I'll get out on the bike tomorrow and Sunday then is a toss up between the turbo and a silly am long run. I know which one I'd prefer. All depends on how the body is. Just taking each session as it comes for now and getting back to enjoying training again.0 -
Key bike session: long bike
I'm not getting near the work done that I'd like this week but what matter is I'm hitting the key sessions and discarding the fillers so to speak. So long swim done, long bike done and all going well I'll get some form of long run done this evening. With the earlier light I got out for 8 on the PX yesterday for an hour in the TT position before hooking up with the group. There was just a mild breeze out and the fog had lifted so a relatively calm morning. Generally good work to start with. Next an hour with the group before we hit the hills. My heart rate would drop over 20bpm sitting in the group so I did more than my share at the front to stay working. We took in a good climb of about 4km at a nice gradient that you could push. I left the group at 2.5hrs and after 30 mins finding my way back out of the hills on roads more suitable for mountain bikes I hit the old N7 back to limerick. The stiffer PX frame is a lot less forgiving on gravel and poor roads. I spent the last hour on the bars again but found it much more difficult to hold the position than earlier that morning. 2 of 4 hours in the TT position had my neck and lower back giving out to me, especially my neck. They had loosened up a bit a few minutes after the bike but I clearly have to spend a lot of time on the PX to get used to the position I want to hold for 5-6 hours.
Again I didn't fuel enough. 250g of CHO or approx 900cal was inadequate but I had dried my 2 bottles by 3 hours and I wasn't taking gels without washing them down. Overall I'm pleased with the spin. Avg 32.8kmh for 4hrs is not far off my target IM pace and the sections on my own on the bars were quicker than the group stuff albeit at a slightly higher hr than the average. There is still a lot of work to do but this was encouraging, particularly with the week gone by 0 -
Weekly numbers
28-6 March|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|8|11:32|215.18km
Swimming|3|3:22|10.0
Cycling|2|5:13|173.36
Running|3|2:38|32.44
Conditioning|--|0:20|
12 months ago this may have been an alright week, certainly in my rookie year I'd have been happy with it. However given the scheme of things now its just dismal. 5 session missed in one week! Ok perhaps my body was saying something (even my bike quit on me) and it needed the unscheduled break but I didn't even get the long run in yesterday due to a long day of socialising and having pancake Tuesday on a Sunday. At least I got out for a decent cycle and If I had to pick one session from the lot that would have been it. 2 more weeks of base training left, the latter of which is a recovery week. Then I'll change pattern for the IM phase with the recovery strategy being as important as the key sessions. I'll put this one behind me, onwards and upwards....
Weekly weigh in 76.2kg (+0.3) not surprising, I've been a glutton on top of it all
18 weeks down 18 weeks to go :cool:
Edit: reading the other logs I'd have loved to be trotting around the streets of sunny Barcelona at IM pace this weekend. Some great results from our boards community out there. I look forward to being part of the gang at Berlin now!0 -
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BTW, do you slip into another AG category after today?:)
Enjoy!
Nope, I've another year left in the sprightly 30-34 AGgriffin100 wrote: »Jaysus I hope its not my one:)
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Ah who are you these days if you are not stalking or being stalked by someone!
Oh and interested Amy Wolfe's Valentia Island Tri swim exit photo looks fairly stalkerish, do the court's rules not apply at sea
CW is stalking countless "arch nemesises" or is it arch nemisi, in fact boards folk are a bunch of expert stalkers IMO
BTW CW, correct 0 -
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shotgunmcos wrote: »Oh and interested Amy Wolfe's Valentia Island Tri swim exit photo looks fairly stalkerish, do the court's rules not apply at sea
you see ... at sea ... its difficult to say who was stalking who and if push came to shove Id go with the tried and trusted sea sickness / dizziness excuse.0 -
LOL , a true stalker's repsonse, who? what? where? me?interested wrote: »you see ... at sea ... its difficult to say who was stalking who and if push came to shove Id go with the tried and trusted sea sickness / dizziness excuse. 0 -
Wednesday evening brick session. The hard one.
I’ve plotted 4 brick sessions for my last week of base training. A steady one, a hard one, an easy one and a long one. The aim of this one was to inject some fartlek into the bike and maintain < 4:30 pace for the run. It turned out to be in stark contrast to the steady brick where I found the bike tough and run easy. 1:15 on the turbo with 10*1km fartlek thrown in. Overall I felt good spinning away and the reps were done at a solid 405 watts. It was my first solid turbo in weeks and I just dipped under the hour for 40k in the process
A relaxed enough transition, change of gear and I headed out into the howling wind for 45 mins. I found the run very very tough. 4:30 pace is usually closer to an easy pace but it took on a whole new face this time. My quads were very tired in general and not just from the turbo. I thought it was raining beforehand and had put on leggings and a waterproof jacket. I was roasting! Every km felt like a mile and my chosen hilly route also proved to be biting off more than I could chew. One particular drag of over 1km directly into the wind broke my heart and reduced me to a fews seconds of walking. I passed Caz and her mate out in it too who looked like they were not enjoying it. In fact most runners who were out were grimacing. It was a gnarly wind.
I think I was just low on fuel also. It was Lent day one and I know I’d have had 3-500cals more on board, albeit sh!te. I was low for a finish and walked the last 2 minutes home. My run heart rate afterwards looked more like the tempo run on Monday! It was a good session but took a bit out of me. My ankle is still at me too so I have to ease the running back a bit. Today’s brick plan is an easy one with just a 15 minute easy run.0 -
shotgunmcos wrote: »
I think I was just low on fuel also. It was Lent day one and I know I’d have had 3-500cals more on board, albeit sh!te. I was low for a finish and walked the last 2 minutes home. My run heart rate afterwards looked more like the tempo run on Monday! It was a good session but took a bit out of me. My ankle is still at me too so I have to ease the running back a bit. Today’s brick plan is an easy one with just a 15 minute easy run.
This is a curious one, as I find myself when I'm disciplined, food-wise, that it's much more difficult to get the calories in. No problem with the sit-down meals, but those extra calories you pick up with snacks aren't so easy to get when you have to think about what you are eating, if it takes time to prepare (if it doesn't come from a wrapper). Any plans on how you are going to supplement your calorific intake when the trash has been eliminated? Me, I keep telling myself those Stable Diet flapjacks are good for you because they contain oats (I just ignore the fact that they are 90% butter!) 0 -
Good question and I don't know, is tehe straight answer. I'm also a sucker fro those flapjacks by the way. More fruit and veg anyway. I have a box of cereal at my desk to get over the 3:30-4pm daytime slump. Yeah I do the nuts and fruit some days but itdoesn't cut it for me. 2 breakfasts is the way to go I think. I read a profile of a bunch of athletes in some magazine recently and 2 breakfasts was a common theme. As well as fruit and veg regularly. It seems that energy drinks are another common thing with the PROS. They do allow themselves a treat but in terms of chocolate they might have a few squares, not a few bars! If I get through Lent off the chocolate and biscuits I'll reintroduce them in that fashion, as a treat only and small portions. If I can embed that habit I'll look at other things like switching my beloved Alpen for something with less sugarThis is a curious one, as I find myself when I'm disciplined, food-wise, that it's much more difficult to get the calories in. No problem with the sit-down meals, but those extra calories you pick up with snacks aren't so easy to get when you have to think about what you are eating, if it takes time to prepare (if it doesn't come from a wrapper). Any plans on how you are going to supplement your calorific intake when the trash has been eliminated? Me, I keep telling myself those Stable Diet flapjacks are good for you because they contain oats (I just ignore the fact that they are 90% butter!) Oh and more water, especially at weekends when I'm out and about and don't exactly have a water bottle on my desk to hand. I'm pretty good for making a decent lunch. The evenings are tricky. I'll miss hot chocolate for he next few weeks. But what can you have with Tea instead of a biscuit (thats as satisfying)? 0 -
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Jaysus I'm glad I didn't log on last night with all this talk of nutella or I'd have been rationalising that its a hazelnut spread myself too! :rolleyes:
Thursday lunchtime easy run with work buddy
It was still very windy out but otherwise nice and fresh. We even felt the sun o the back of our legs towards the end. We are both doing the Adare 10k at the weekend so just did 40 mins with a bit at his tempo pace. I enjoyed the run though with a leisurely hr of 133. My ankle is still sore so the 10k is in doubt anyway. It feels like the tendonitis I had on the other foot back in November. It was my first ever 10k back in 2009 and I remember it being a good event so I’ll show up at least. I’ll have a long brick in the legs (hopefully) from the previous day so if I’m not in form for a go at my pb I might just pace my work buddy for his sub 50 attempt.
Thursday evening brick: the easy one
Brick 3 of 4 this week and it was grand. 1:00 easy in the small ring on the turbo watching the news. Less than a minute after which I was out the door for a brisk 4km run. The bike felt effortless at 200w after the last 2 turbos. I didn’t even sweat enough to change tops for the run for once. The run was short and felt ok for the most part. The ankle is still sore and the hill up home took me from comfortable to breathing heavily in 2 minutes. Lots of people out running again, there are a lot of fit girls in Limerick
Friday morning slept through the alarm so missed the swim group.
Just as well really, I wouldn’t have been in the mood for the speedy stuff this morning. I got a little extra kip and finally got down to the pool for some mucking about of my own. As with swimming in general this week… meh its just not firing. I don’t care though, I got the key swim session done and I will be out for a cycle in the morning regardless of ME’s dreary weather forecast. No long run planned this week, I feel like I’m going to have to wing it at Connemara. As long as I run the whole thing I’ll get that monkey off my back...0 -
shotgunmcos wrote: »Jaysus I'm glad I didn't log on last night with all this talk of nutella or I'd have been rationalising that its a hazelnut spread myself too! :rolleyes:
It is! ah no i think the benefit of it is that you add it to brown bread, thereby you're getting a substantialy more filing, lower sugar treat than simply scoffing a twix or snickers 0 -
True true, I actually tried nutella between 2 oatcakes before too and that could be another runner. Or nutella on one oatcake with some banana chopped on top, num num....It is! ah no i think the benefit of it is that you add it to brown bread, thereby you're getting a substantialy more filing, lower sugar treat than simply scoffing a twix or snickers
Anyhoo in training today, I just decided to do none. I had a lunchtime run planned but it was lashing out. I wanted to give the ankle a rest completely so I abandoned a planned short cycle in the evening. The ankle doesn't feel as bad so as long as I get through the long brick tomorrow ok I'll have a go at the Adare 10k on Sunday. I'm far from in peak shape but have a good base winter done so it will be interesting if I can knock on the door of my 38:57 PB? Just chilling now, about to log off and figure out what to have with me tea?0 -
Saturday morning and the spin I'll remember when the going gets tough in 17weeks!
I headed out early to meet a couple of guys, former ex rowing internationals. One is training for IM Nice and the other a Malin to Mizen in 24hrs cycle. 2 strong lads. I stuck a light on the back of my helmet and had, including the big bowl of porridge and sultanas just eaten, approx 1800cal of fuel on board. There was to be no running out of food today! I even had a fiver to stop at a shop to gel some water to refill the bottles for the gels in the last hour. The plan was just energy drink for 1 hour since I had a belly full of porridge. 2 Granola bars and energy drink for the next 1.5 hours. A banana and energy drink for the next hour and then water refill and gels to get me home.
The pace with the lads was casual for the first hour as we took on the first few hills with sleet and wind in our faces. It was hard to look up without glasses on. Next we hit a climb which I had done once before. Its a nice one, 3-4km at about 8% average with some 13%+ ramps. It was snowing on it and the top was under a cloud. It was bloody cold too. I felt good and was very pleased with the spin up. I used my gears well and kept a nice rhythm and noce momentum. An average of 17-18kmh up it is very satisfying actually. Its a good one to practice for Roth. I was waiting for the lads for a few minutes at the top and got cold. The descent is not one you can attack with low visibility as it has some slippy corners and blind bends. I left the lads at the top as they headed off for another spin up it. I decided to hook up with the Tri club group spin at 9am. I was 20 mins away though and it was 08:50. I put the boot down to get there and just caught sight of the second group leaving. I was told the first lot (the fast guys) had left a few minutes earlier. I was in dilemma. Stick with the bigger slower group for a very easy ride or chase after the fast guys for some work. I took off knowing their route. It took 10 mins to catch sight of them and another 10 mins to reel them in. I came off the big ring instantly and spun the legs out. They were tipping away though and with a small group of 6 I wouldn't get much rest before my turn to lead it. As it turned out 3 of them were only interested in hang onto the back so the next few hours was rotated between 4 of us, hence more work than I anticipated :rolleyes:
It was very cold out and although I had a waterproof jacket on my fingers, toes and legs (all covered) were soaked. After 3 hours we took a turn onto a poor road for about 20km with some rollers and this is where I had to work. By 3.5 hours I was really cold and my quads were feeling it. I took a gel but had run out of water to wash it down. By 4 hours we were heading back to Limerick into a headwind and I was frozen stiff. I couldn't flex my fingers and was shivering uncontrolably at times. The pace kept creeping up only to be reined back to keep the group together. It was positively miserable out now with the snow changing to rain. A one point on my turn in front we hit a small hill and I started to fall back. The guys took the piss at first but then realised I was hurting so let me hang on for 20 mins until I turned off for home. I remember being frozen on the bike once over the winter but I wasn't wet, I hadn't done 90 mins of hills and I was only out for 2 hours! I was very conscious of the fact that I had taken no feul on after the gel at 4hrs and despite one of the lads offering me a bar I had just one thought in mind. Get home! I was afraid to shift onto the big ring in case my chain came off. If I had to stop I would have sat down on the road. I even took a leak without stopping or taking my hand off the handlebars, thats how close to quitting my mind was. Still, I managed to not get spat out the back and got home with a very solid 4:48 spin under my belt.
I had originally planned a brick run but it took 5 mins to get my front door open and another 5 mins to take my gear off followed by 20 mins in the shower to get feeling back in my fingers and toes! I jogged the 1km down and back to the shop in my tracksuit to get milk for a recovery shake though so I guess that kinda counts even if it was a rather long transition. I'm pretty happy with 800m of climbing and 31.6kmh average moving speed (I was too cold to press the button to restart the clock at one point!). HR of 136 is a good honest work spin for me too. Overall this is definitely the toughest bike sesion I can remember doing and its one that I will undoubtedly cast my mind back to if the going gets tough at Roth
Time: 5:00
Dist: 140.94km/2km
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72563959
A bit of a long post for a single training session 0 -
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No I didn't have a PM. Test done on the Flow. If I had PM I'd have done it on thatMcos you had a power meter last year?
Didn't know you had one, just curious as to the purpose of an 1hr FTP ride?
I've read about Bill Blacks Hour of Power - and understand the reasoning behind that, but not sure how an hour at FTP, and the recovery cost, fits in?
Just wondering as well - the significant cost of the ride, both in terms of riding very very hard and the conditions, how do you see this impacting your already compromised immune system and endocrine systems?
Purpose? One of my season goals was to break 60mins for a 40kTT. I figured if I could hold 300w for an hour I'd be in with a shot. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055813058&page=31 I'd just come across FTP 5 or 6 weeks beforehand and went about build up to the hour all out. I once read in Matthew Pincent's Autbiography how the British Olympic Rowing team would do one hour FTP type tests on the ergo during the winter at altitude camps. So purpose? Benchmarking, Confidence, Fitness testing.
In terms of the recovery cost etc, well I'm a lot more aware of that now than 6 months or so ago but I'm a fan of the HOP on the turbo, not just the P60 but the variety of session you can devise from the benchmark for an hour of work.
On the compromised immune and endocrine systems? I never suggested either
Yes I've had some 'wobbles' which I will have checked out extensively, but my doc just has me recording symptoms for now. Cheers.
Obviously in IM Base phase I haven't exactly been rocking out killer FTP workouts 0 -
Adare 10k Race and last bits of the week
Details here: Right I obviously wasn’t rested for this with the tough bike yesterday and as such felt a little anxious. Tired quads and of all things, frost bitten finger tips! (Feels strange to type) It didn’t matter as thisrace was of no importance. It was just to do something different than just train and I’d put off a long run earlier in the week with a sore ankle. The ankle was fine by the way. This was my first 10k ever back in 2009 so it was nice to go back and meet all the faces now familiar to me since. In short I’m pleased with a personal best of 38:09, about 50secs off my previous best and 23rd overall. The course is not described as a pb course but its fair with nice rolling hills and enough shelter on a windy day like today. I had no idea what would pan out. The rest of the lads had been doing their usual cross country over the winter and hitting the track for fast stuff so as expected battled it out for savage performances. I went off a bit gung ho as I started too far back and had to jostle my way into some space. The first 3km rolled by in 3:35, 3:42, 3:47 and by then my heart rate was in the mid 170s. I decided to hold it their but the next few hilly kms were 3:50-3:53. At about half way my left quad was really feeling some strain. A young lad I had been hanging onto pulled away over this time too. I thought that if I lost him I would slow down considerably so I fought back a bit with a 3:47. Both quads felt it through 9km though, my slowest of the race in 3:56. At this point I was passed by a guy and the 2nd girl. I contemplated pushing into the 180s but figured it would hurt a lot so I just hung onto the junior. He pushed in the last 500 and I pushed passed again only for him to find another gear. When I turned that last corner I saw 37:5x on the clock but it was too far to get under 38. If I’d known I was that close I may have kicked into that painful place at the end. I only had heart rate on the watch and mid 170s was where I wanted to be. I was tempted alright to look at the time when I was suffering but resisted. I only knew my splits because the watch buzzed every km. I had worked hard and was tired but I finished with sore quads and not injured quads thankfully. It’s a lovely 10k, a loop with no traffic, well marshalled, accurate and a pleasant casual atmosphere to boot.
Last bits of the week: An hour easy recovery turbo at 160 watts and 40 mins yoga with Caz.
Weekly numbers
7-13 March|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|16|19:59|365.88km
Swimming|3|3:19|10.0 :cool:
Cycling|5|9:18|292.44
Running|6|4:57|62.14
Conditioning|2|2:25|Yoga/Core
2nd last week of the base period and some good work put down. Running volume is low due to not having a long run on the programme again. Swimming has been only ok but 3 decent bricks and a hellish long bike in the quads and still a pb over 10k is good. The plan for the last base week is to get a medium length run, long run and 3.8k swim in. Otherwise everything is easy. The legs have to recover properly before I launch into IM training and go back over zico10's sub10 thread.
19 weeks down 17 weeks to go :eek:0 -
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