140.6 deep breaths...

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

handangeo wrote: »

Thats good as I'm 40, at least I wont have to worry about racing you in my A/G . I'm also a light ass 62kg.

Now that is light!!

So your in my AG aswell mcos i either need to improve drastically or lie about my age if we ever compete in a race:)

Izoard

Keep your eye on the prize!

shotgunmcos

Saturday morning benchmark brick
Bike Summary
I headed at 0615 to meet 3 ex rowers for 3 hours easy. It was very pleasant rolling along chatting and catching up. My quads were not sharp and any little hill was finding them out. I actually had a plan in mind and a nutrition strategy for once. Nothing but a few sips of the SIS PSP22 carb mix for the first hour. I couldn’t have eaten anything as I had gulped back my porridge before I left the house. I heard a little creak which was odd for the PX but then noticed I hadn’t changed the turbo skewer, damn. I met the lads and tightened it and hoped it would hold on. At 2-2.5 hours I at a hefty banana flapjack. I didn’t feel great at all for the first hour warming up but by 3 hours I left the lads and was feeling good. My avg speed up to this point was about 29kmh. I TTed on the old N7 for the next 2 hours feeding on Powerbar bars and a banana. On the first pass back into Limerick the Tri club rolled by on the other side of the road in a large group. I was tempted to jump on but plugged away alone. Once I hit Limerick I decided to head back out the way I came for 45mins. I was now up to 30.5kmh. I was on a mission to hit a statute century, 160kms. It was warm by 4.5hrs and I was heating up in leggings and jacket. I was drinking sparingly too with just 1.5lts for the trip. 4 mins before my turnaround I saw a breakaway group from the Tri club main group belting back into Limerick, 2 mins later the main group passed chasing hard. I turned 2 mins later thankfully. The headwind and constant drags for the last 45mins were taking their toll and I had only just managed to hold onto the 30.5kmh average. I popped a gel, washed it down and pinned my ears back in chase. I caught the main group after 10 mins and took a small breather at the back. I then hit the front and lead the charge after the breakaway. I lost the group for about 20 mins but they reeled me in as I was reeling the breakaway in. My quads were good on flats but struggled on the rollers. I was also out of water at 5hrs with a way to go to get home. I just worked away and cooled down to a spin in the small ring the last 5km home to get the legs ready for a run. I had put down 175.45km with an average hr of 129 and average speed of 31.4kmh. Happy days

Nutrition
2,000cals taken on the bike - Roughly 360cals per hour
3*Powerbar bars which were hard to chew but good energy. 2 vanilla 219cals each, 1 banana 203cals
1*Banana Flapjack which I liked: 390cals
1*banana roughly 110cals
1*PB gel 107cals
1.5lts of water+SIS PSP22 blackcurrant approx 760cals

Run Summary
The balls of my feet were sore getting off the bike so I must look at my cleat position. Apart from that my neck and shoulders were very stiff. I changed into running gear and washed down a gel with lots of water. Overall the transition was 4-5mins. The sun was out and it was good to feel the air on my skin. I felt surprisingly good. I just ran comfortably trying to get my cadence up to speed. The first km was a 4:3x. Too fast. I reined it back in but was still clocking 4:4x’s. I cruised along happily. I knew my quads were tired but the engine was still good. I should probably have taken water and another gel with me but I only planned on being out a half hour. I only felt it on the hill up to my house where my quads really gave out to me. However if it were a flat run and I had water with me and some gels I reckon I could have knocked a few more miles out. 7.53km at 4:42/km pace and heart rate 142. Again, happy days

Overall I’m very pleased with this session. I stuck to a nutrition plan and felt much better running off the bike in comparison to my last attempt to run off a 5hr bike. I really need more water on teh bike though. Getting pretty close to the IM distance on the bike too was a good feeling. I didn’t go over any major climbs but I’m sure they would have been fine with fresh legs. I don’t know how realistic 34kmh will be on the day though, it may be a very big ask. On the run I was really happy to be running comfortably a little quicker than my IM pace but the thought of running another 3 hours was utterly daunting.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Jesus man good session put down there yourself. I mix my water with Zym tablets and it works a treat to keep the cramps away and flavours it a bit. Start making your own flapjacks as they are easy to make. I had two on my long bike session today and they are a nice filler and you get a good boost from them.

BTW what the hell happened for the hr to hit the max of 196, did you cycle up a wall:)

Edit: Down your way pacing for the Limerick Half in May so hit me with some route suggestions, something like a 3hr to keep the legs fresh for the pacing gig.

handangeo

Good work Shotgun - impressive stuff. I managed only 40 miles Sunday am, Av speed 18.5mph, Av H/R 139. Was on the clock for the Mrs and had to be back early. Squeezed in a 5 mile run in the evening 7.45 min mile pace. Happy enough overall but still need to sort out my longer bike rides.

shotgunmcos

Sunday morning easy brick
I reset the time on my phone but it changed forward anyway overnight leaving me 2 hours ahead instead of one. As a result all of my rushing around gobbling cereal and checking tyres was unnecessary! I ended up sipping coffee in full cycling gear watching the news before I left! I hooked up with the Tri club group for their warm up but my legs were in no form for the intended climb and hammer home so I peeled off for home. I was just spinning in the small ring on my roadie. Any bit of a hill was a strain and I had to get out of the saddle for rollers I’d usually attack. I had 2-2.5hrs easy on the plan and did that at hr avg 118. I headed out for a really slow 30mins run afterwards and then fell asleep on the couch for 2 hours. It was a laboured effort. The week has my quads shot. Time 2:43, Dist 65.15km/6km

Weekly numbers, First week of IM training
21-27 March|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|15|23:12|470.38
Swimming|3|3:25|10.7
Cycling|5|12:08|386.98
Running|6|5:24|70.2
Conditioning|1|1:50|Yoga/Core

Last weight check: 167.6lbs/76.2kg
This weight check: 166.4lbs/75.6kg

Monday morning swim group
Didn’t happen!

It was a big week, my biggest ever, but a good one. I made use of the lovely weather and got plenty of cycling done. The midweek long run was good too. I’m mostly pleased with having the day to myself on Saturday and getting a good long brick done. I’ve been maximising every opportunity to get the long bikes done as this presented the biggest challenge to me for the IM journey. The silly o clock long turbo during the winter was the dose of HTFU I required to just get on with it whenever I could. Running is back on track. The 3 week block of 50mpw+ pushed it very fine but backing off has helped and I think I can gradually build some miles in again. I found the fartlek run before work on Thursday to be one of the tougher sessions, the intensity of which toasted my quads.

It’s more of the same this week but a toned/scaled down version. I’ve already missed a session this morning. The alarm went off for a swim but I just turned over and slept until the last possible minute before legging into work. I feel better for the extra sleep though. The opportunities for a long bike over the next few weeks are scarce on the ground so the turbo may have to be considered again boo. The Fink plan or what vaguely resembled the Fink plan is out the window. The only bit of it I’ll hold onto is the 6/1 brick benchmark. I don’t see the need to go over 6 hours on the bike, although I stand to be corrected on that.

I have 4 key workouts to be done at various points over the IM phase.
1) 5:30/0:30 brick – done
2) 6:00/1:00 brick Z1/2 with IM pace inserts
3) 160km/16km IM pace TT
4) 3.8k swim, 5hr bike, 24km run. Long training day with 30-45mins between sessions. Focus is to be out for the day and practice nutrition.

103 days to go...

pgibbo

Animal week dude. I hope you're rolling the sh1t out of those quads.

shotgunmcos

New shoes arrived, the sun is out and I have a flippin' bike session planned for later Yes I could swap it for tomorrow's long run but no doubt the rain will be here tomorrow evening. Anyway, I digress..

The Adidas Response Cushion 19s look just like the Supernova Sequence from last year, but I have to say the Mizuno Wave Rider 14s are lovely to look at. One of the nicer looking running shoes I have now and can't wait to test 'em both out. Ooh which one to run in first, maybe half and half

Yep, pgibbo rolled them out for about 10 mins each and plan to roll them some more tonight. Not as unpleasant as rolling the calves out thankfully!

El Director

Great session on Saturday shotgun, I feel your pain re the quads I am finally going to get around o ordering a roller this week, badly needed.

Re the cleat position, I'm sure you've heard/read before but Friel is a big believer in moving the cleats to a more central position of the foot

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/03/midsole-bike-cleat-running-performance.html

kingQuez

Savage training MCOS, am thinking of updating my log with a few posts to give a view from the other end of the training spectrum

shotgunmcos

Monday evening bone shaking hill reps
Summary
I went for a slightly tougher hill than last week. About 800m and just 3% gradient but the surface made it harder than that. It was in bits and I had to judge carefully when I took my hand off the handlebar to get my water bottle as the bike was bouncing all over the place. After 4 reps I was sick of it but plugged away for 8 more for my sins. Once I got back on the main road it felt so smooth in comparison! Next time I’ll progress onto a tougher hill but a better road. Overall it was a decent workout on a very mild evening. I rolled the quads out until I had tears in my eyes afterwards.

Tuesday morning long swim set.
The plan was simple. 4*1k Z2 off 20 mins. Basically cruise them a little quicker each time. In on 17:40, 17:34, 17:22 and 16:56. Grand workout but boring! It was a busier lane this morning with a local OW swimmer, some local IM heads and a couple of tanned IM heads from Tunney’s club visiting. It was the most polite crowd though, all costing along comfortably trailing each other’s feet at times and generally good pool etiquette

shotgunmcos

Tuesday evening laboured long run
Summary
The plan: 30 mins easy, 20 mins sub 4:30 pace, 20 mins sub 4:15 pace, 30 mins easy
It was a long long day and I was mad to get out in the last of the sunshine this week (according to MetE), however it was gone by the time I laced up the new shoes. To start my legs felt a bit ragged and this progressed to sore by the end. The pace segments were fine in terms of RPE but it was as if I was running on second hand legs. For a finish my calves were cramping and I had a revisit of the quad strain I felt in the recent 10k. I’ve no doubt its a result of doing 3 long runs in the last 11 days but at least I have another 11 days until the next one

Wednesday morning dodging the swim group
For all I got out of this I should have stayed in bed. I was cursing myself for replacing Yoga with such a miserable effort. Lesson learned. I missed the swim on Monday... let it go!!! Instead of the invigorating feeling I get after a good Yoga session I’m just plain wrecked. I’m a Muppet :mad:

I need to impose some kind of cerfew on my eating. A monster bowl of Alpen before bed can't be good. I also need to set some kind of bed time. I'm wrecked most mornings lately.

3 weeks now without chocolate or biscuits :D:D

pgibbo

Try having some form of protein before you go to bed rather than Aplen. It will aid muscle repair too and a smaller portion will have you feeling fuller than a bowl of Alpen or the likes.

As for getting a bed time....change the record

shotgunmcos

pgibbo wrote: »

Try having some form of protein before you go to bed rather than Aplen. It will aid muscle repair too and a smaller portion will have you feeling fuller than a bowl of Alpen or the likes.

As for getting a bed time....change the record

LOL I gotta keep reminding myself or I'll nod off at my desk one of these days!

Its more of a habit thing than hunger thing. I'm one of those guilty as charged emotional eaters Generally Its one of 3 things before bed. cereal, peanut butter and jam on toast, or poached egg on toast... now that the usual vice isn't an option of course. I'm generally self disciplined about most things but I LOVE food. When I make my lunch at night I can't wait to eat it the next day! (how sad is that) There is an interesting segment in Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight where he talks about managing your appetite versus controlling it. He referred to some research on people that get a buzz from the anticipation of what the food tastes like instead of the actual taste when eating it. As such they don't feel that 'high' while or after eating and as such tend to have more insatiable appetites than others.

RacoonQueen

I've still to get around to actually getting into that Matt Fitzgerald book but that is exactly what I do when I'm comtemplating buying chocolate or something just because I know a shop is coming up. I don't even enjoy the taste of chocolate most of the time - and what you said pretty much sums it up for me.

Good training by the way, and god bless you for plugging away on those hill reps. My head seriously struggles with things like that.

shotgunmcos

Wednesday evening zero motivation brick
My motivation was nonexistent for the turbo let alone the hill reps I had planned afterwards. I had to fight with myself just to get on it. Caz was out running so I made a deal with myself to just spin away until she arrived back. It was the coward’s approach. I knew Caz was having shin troubles lately and chances were she would be back early! In fairness she committed to her plan and unknowingly made me see most of my turbo through. I had no intention of running though and started prepping dinner straightaway instead. It turned out we needed some veggies for it so I decided to jog to the shop for them and a paltry 18 minute brick run of sorts. Woeful session...

Thursday morning fartlek run
Nada – didn’t wake up. Another blank for this week! I had been looking forward to the pain and all :rolleyes:

I'm starting to forget what Nutella tastes like and this makes me sad

handangeo

Shotgun - Same for me, another blank this morning. As my daughter says "can't we just put the clocks back the way they were" these dark mornings its a real struggle getting up at 6ish.

Plus I'm away till Sunday on business with no chance to train. Next weeks gonna be big one.

shotgunmcos

Thursday lunchtime tempo run
Summary
My running colleague had a long run planned in the evening so skipped the lunchtime run. It’s usually an easy one for me but since I missed the fartlek in the morning I decided to push it out a bit. A negative split 10k in a shade over 40 mins just keeping the heart rate above base making it a comfortable threshold run. It broke in the Mizuno Wave Rider 14s which felt light and responsive, although a bit tight on my wide feet. I felt pretty good throughout.

Thursday evening Club TT
Summary
Time was pressed to make it out after work so I more or less had to TT the 20k out to the start. It was hard to tell which way the wind was blowing as it seemed to be everywhere. I was dubious about doing the TT. My wisdom tooth has been at me for the last couple of days and probably one of the reasons why I’m struggling to get out of the bed. I arrived in time anyway, sweating under the jacket I wore in case the heavens opened. The TT itself is an out and back 15km with a couple of drags, 3 roundabouts and 2 proper hills in it making it a tough and technical enough course for a TT. The standard is usually good too with tri and cycling heads arriving from Clare and Limerick. I just wanted to post a benchmark as I generally improve as the league goes on. You need 40kmh average which is 22:30 to get into the Elite Category and that would scrape you in to the bottom of the uber biker pile. I have no such lofty ambitions but I’d like to do better than last year’s 7th in the Senior Category and get close to that 40kmh as the summer goes on. My PB on the course is 22:57 from last summer but that was close to peak condition training for the World AG Champs. How is this in anyway related to Roth you may ask? Well, when the evening gets longer I plan to toast the legs on the TT then head up a climb afterwards that mimics one of the Roth climbs and aim to keep my heart rate out of the red!
It was a bit windy so the times were not going to be that quick on the first night. I didn’t start the Garmin until 2km into it missing the 2 fastest kms. I had no problem maintaining 1:30/km pace on the flats but I hoped to improve on the hills over last year. I had one of the Elites off after me (30 second intervals) so I guessed to hold him off I’d have to really work the hills. The plan was to spin up them with the same cadence but lower gears to keep the heart rate steady. The finish to the course is a cruel hill that just burns the last of your legs. Overall I wasn’t caught and had enough juice to limit the slowing down on the last hill to a minimum. No results yet but I gave it an honest effort. Overall 60.25km in 1:40, 36kmh

Friday morning hold on to your horses swim group session
The speed set of the week:
probability of lower legs cramp: high
motivation: good
After a gentle 16*50 warm up we belted into 5 max effort 100s off 3mins. Hit low 1:20s for them with a best of 1:18 but that was flat out. Heavy breathing. Next up 4 200s steady state. No one wanted to lead after the fish so muggings here did the donkey work again. I thought that was it before the Coach called for another 5 hard 100s, no way! I was already wrecked so insisted on the lads who had stuck to my feet for the last 1300m to lead it out. He did a great job dragging us to mid 1:20s before dying spectacularly on the last rep! I don’t often get to swim on feet in this group and it was a whole lot less effort. Hopefully I can find a set of feet swimming 1sec per 100 faster than me in Roth! No cramps and I felt good, although toasted for a finish. Dist 2,700m

mloc123

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Well, when the evening gets longer I plan to toast the legs on the TT then head up a climb afterwards that mimics one of the Roth climbs and aim to keep my heart rate out of the red!

I can't see the point of this at all, dod you intend to ride the start of the bike in Roth well above FTP?

shotgunmcos

@ mloc123 – emm no, it’s just the alternative to belting back in the road with the lads. It’s just a discipline thing for my personality more than anything else, getting used to 10kmh if I have to resort to it on the day.

Weekend training and weekly numbers

Saturday longish turbo
My opportunity for a long bike evaporated so it was 2hrs40 Z1 on the turbo in the evening with 20mins at 93% FTP thrown in at the 2hr mark. It took ages for my legs to wake up but once going they felt ok and the FTP bit was comfortable. I had to make do with that as my long bike of the week.

Sunday morning early build run.
I headed out before the house awoke for 65 mins. It was a sleepy build gradually to sub 4:30 pace for 7k and then sub 4:15 pace for 3k. The legs felt good but lagged a bit on the last hill home. I felt as though I should have been out for a long run but that was already done midweek!
Summary

Sunday evening full of cake rubbish turbo
We had brought the Mother out to afternoon tea at Adare Manor which was nice but I was literally stuffed to the gills with cake. I hopped on the turbo later for a drab easy session on a sugar low...

With no long bike this week and the tapered long run done on Tuesday I felt like I had done nothing this weekend :rolleyes:!!

Weekly numbers - IM Phase week 2 of 12
28-3 April|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|12|17:43|381.27
Swimming|3|3:07|9.2
Cycling|5|9:22|318.02
Running|4|3:59|54.05
Conditioning|--|1:15|Core

weight check week 21: 167.6lbs/76.2kg
weight check week 22: 166.4lbs/75.6kg
weight check week 23: too full of cake will check tomorrow!

Overall I'm not happy with the week. No long bike and it was too up and down for my liking. I struggled to get out of bed all week and 2 out of 3 turbos were junk. I tapered the running a bit and that feels good at least.

96 days to Roth...
22 days to Chocolate...


Monday morning group swim session.
I felt like lead on the warm up and had little focus for the drills. We did some distance per stroke focused 50s and 8 easy 100s afterwards and I found a groove. Hard to describe but I could feel myself levering through the water rather than pulling the catch back to me. Anyway, we were all full of beans and wondering why the Coach was taking it so easy on us until he dished out 4*300m ‘steady’. Steady for the fish in our lane is basically murderous. They don’t seem to get ‘steady’. What made it worse was that we were all to take 40 secs rest between reps so we were all going off different times. I managed to stay on the technician’s feet for the first one and she jumped on mine for the second. In fairness she had put down an 8 hour adventure race at the weekend so it wasn’t like I was magically more efficient! It started to hurt on the 3rd rep and the fish lapped us. We got through a 100 of the last rep before the coach called a halt. I expected him to see our red faces and call a set of sprint 50s but he had mercy and let us cool down however we liked. I opted for some backstroke with fins. Session 3,100m

El Director

Funny dude, a week that you are not happy with is a week that any of us would be extremely happy with! Good to see you are still doing some short stuff, you love TT'ing if you are being honest and enjoy doing them so it's no harm at all. Doing hills when tired, something I know all about now , well imo it will stand to you.

Great going in the pool man, 1:18, I mean its savage stuff. I have a long way to go to my 16 min 1,000m TT :rolleyes:

What race are you doing in Spiddal btw?

shotgunmcos

@El D - I'm doing the sprint in Spiddal, just for the OW practice really. Yes some short bits thrown into the programme for sanity really

Monday evening tapered ‘long run’
Summary
I brought the long run forward to Monday just to get it out of the way. It was only an hour anyway. 15mins easy, 15mins <4:30 pace, 15mins <4:15 pace and 15mins easy. It was pretty windy out and the heavens opened midway to add to the fun. It felt a tad’ laboured, particularly on any kind of hill which is not how I want the legs to feel on Sunday. With the wind it was difficult at time to judge the pace and I ended up doing the 2 pace segments a little sharper than intended. My heart rate was good for it despite the Garmin spiking like mad when I got soaked. My hams and calves felt like wooden planks when stretching afterwards though. I’ll run a bath with Epsom salts this week and stretch lots to loosen the legs for the Connemara Hills.

Tuesday morning long swim which morphed into a TT
3.8k straight. I hadn’t intended a hard effort. On the contrary I cruised the first 1500m at 1:41-1:42/100m pace. I didn’t glance at the clock again until 2.5k and I was just under 42mins. I spent the next few lengths doing sums and figured I was now on 1:39-1:40 pace. I was still comfortable but working for it at this stage. A glance again at 3k and it was just under 50 mins, bang on 1:40 pace average and it was now on to see if I could hold it or better. There were a few others in the lane. Amongst them an uber swimmer with paddles passing me regularly (I’d get about 2 secs worth of a draft off him each time), and a distance OW swimmer I know, doing steady consistent laps. The OW girl had been swimming about 1-2secs per lap slower than me consistently for most of the session so I used her as a mark to push on. The last 800 was done at 1:37-1:38 pace and I hit 62:54 for the 3.8k, avg 1:39/100m, a whopping pb and entirely unexpected! I had checked my dps at the end too and as usual I was taking more strokes per length than when I started (43 vs 36). The difference though is where I’d have been working harder to hold the same pace before; I was working harder and going faster this time. I was breathing hard for a finish but pleased with the swim. All good

El Director

Great swim man. Starting out handy and progressing during the swim is the way to go I think. Well done on a savage iron distance (pool based) PB! And still 3 months to D - Day!

Izoard

Excellent swim - chapeau!

All the best for Conn -I'll be thinking of you guys, over a few cocktails!

tunney

mloc123 wrote: »

I can't see the point of this at all, dod you intend to ride the start of the bike in Roth well above FTP?

There is a relevance of above FTP work - but regular use only in a particular approach to IM training. An approach mcos isn't doing.

tunney

El Director wrote: »

Great swim man. Starting out handy and progressing during the swim is the way to go I think. Well done on a savage iron distance (pool based) PB! And still 3 months to D - Day!

Think that is half the problem - the actualy work isn't meant to start for another 2-3 weeks. I'd not fancy hitting that overtrained.

El Director wrote: »

Funny dude, a week that you are not happy with is a week that any of us would be extremely happy with! Good to see you are still doing some short stuff, you love TT'ing if you are being honest and enjoy doing them so it's no harm at all. Doing hills when tired, something I know all about now , well imo it will stand to you.

It will have an impact on him alright. Recovery? Balance?

I've only dipped in and out of this blog but everytime I do I see quality and important sessions missed due to fatigue or not being able to hit heart rate zones.

I know I had come out with a 9:15 estimate but I'm going to have to revise that upwards, significantly. Sorry mcos I have eluded to similar over email.

shotgunmcos

tunney wrote: »

There is a relevance of above FTP work - but regular use only in a particular approach to IM training. An approach mcos isn't doing.

What is the recommended approach?

tunney wrote: »

Think that is half the problem - the actualy work isn't meant to start for another 2-3 weeks. I'd not fancy hitting that overtrained.

It will have an impact on him alright. Recovery? Balance?

I've only dipped in and out of this blog but everytime I do I see quality and important sessions missed due to fatigue or not being able to hit heart rate zones.

I know I had come out with a 9:15 estimate but I'm going to have to revise that upwards, significantly. Sorry mcos I have eluded to similar over email.

Yes you pop in and out of the blog, point at this and that, criticize and vanish again :rolleyes: You are the experienced IMer here, you have been in Tri for 7-8 years, you have gone 9:51 on your first go. Perhaps you could throw some meat behind the comments if not for my benefit, then for the benefit of those reading the blog. So, you have eluded to the fact that I am not going to go 9:15?! Wow. I'm curious to know what did you based that on in the first place? I'm sh!tting it enough about 9:59 as is...

Just to clear a couple of things up.
The actual work: Emmm Roth is July 10. 13 weeks away. I plan on a 4 week taper, I'm on week 3 of a 12 week build.
Missing sessions due to fatigue: 12 of the last 300 sessions missed and they have predominantly been swims and recovery bikes. That is not so bad? I've pushed to and now understand my stress points, my over reaching points etc... I've gone through the biggest training phase of my life injury free so far too which is nice too. 2 races done, 2 pbs
Recovery and Balance: 3 up 1 down for 5 blocks, 2 up 1 down for 4 blocks then taper. The down weeks are typically 50-60% of the up volume. My weekly planned hours are set. I've overshot it once in 23 weeks and it was by 1 minute! Key sessions pencilled in, then the rest is filler and flexible.

Im self coached and an IM rookie like many others and I'm sure I'm getting plenty wrong. My goals were stated long ago now and I haven't shifted the goalposts on myself or entered a bag of races in excitement.

You could initiate a stoning thread in the main forum titled "The mistakes of MCOS and how he will crash and burn his overtrained self at Roth"

shotgunmcos

Tuesday lunchtime run in a hoody in the wind
Summary
A meeting ran over so I missed my work run buddy so went at my own easy pace. I only had a hoody in the bag so wore that and melted. It was warm out and that coupled with the stiff wind made sections of the loop harder than usual. The weather looks good for the weekend, warm and not windy I think I'll go with the Adidas for it. I was thinking of wearing a cycling jersey to hold gels but after today's run I feel I might roast in it so need a plan B. I scraped myself over the line in 3:58 in 2008 but my fitness is in a different ballpark in 2011 so I aim to be comfortable from start to finish and not walk up that hill!

I had planned an easy bike after work but had things to do. Turbo was not appealing so I figured I'd cook and give the quads a night off. Yoga planned for the morning and I'm looking forward to it after dissing it for a terrible catch up swim last week

4 weeks into Lent and still off the chocolate and biscuits

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Another excellent swim time Mcos and a good confidence builder.
Being another fellow IMer on here i would also be interested in Tunney dispersing some advice to us IM newbies and to go into more detail on why he thinks the training is off. As a reader of the log (albeit complete newbie here) your training seems spot on if not a little over reaching a few weeks back which you knew about and corrected.

shotgunmcos

Right I thought I'd pre-empt the bashing I might get for doing 2 marathons en route to the IM :rolleyes: 2 Marathons up in the next 4 weeks. I wanted to do the Limerick one last year as its on my doorstep but it was on the same day as the Joey Hannon which I had to do for a slot in Budapest. So, I entered the Marathon for 2011. The IM goal was a 2012 goal at the time but due to Life stuff it was brought forward to this year rather than pushed out to 2013. Caz and a friend are doing the Conn Full and I figured since I was going up for the weekend anyway I may as well do it as an extended long run. That plus I have a score to settle with it in that the hell of the west has beaten me twice on my previous 2 attempts in 07 and 08. I have no ambitions to railroad myself for either (thats planned for Berlin). Both are C priorities at best.

Just running up the hell of the west and generally enjoying Conn and a PB in Limerick (currently 3:27) will do nicely.

I feel great today after Yoga this morning and I got over a serious chocolate craving earlier It just so happens to be a down week too so there will be no epic bike on Saturday. At most a couple of easy hours with a buddy spinning small gears. I'm actually quite excited about doing Conn, just because the last 2 Marathons I ran were the pacing gigs at DCM09 and 10. Those were enjoyable but mad busy experiences with the crowds, balloons and roaring motivation all the way around. I'm really looking forward to doing my own thing in relative peace over the beautiful Connemara course on Sunday and it looks as though the sun might be out too