140.6 deep breaths...

mloc123

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

I remember wanting that machine too.

Just had a look through this site, http://www.toysperiod.com/lego-town-theme-sets-c-21_24.html?page=7 and have spotted my old airport, police station and fire station.

But this... http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7745-1 This is the one I'll be sneaking out of my parents house next time I'm home. Epic piece of kit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmcD1Tbmq3w

1985.. that bits worrying. Still, smiling the rest of the day.

Oh, and good work on the training!

Showing your age now I had: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=4551-1

RacoonQueen

The Lego police station was awesome, my brother had that and a fort. The fort was ace.

shotgunmcos

Swim
Took an extended lunchbreak to get over to the pool. It was busy and the quietest lane had 4 swimming in a group behind each other. The session was straight forward...
500m warm up with 6*50 hard sandwiched between 2 easy 100s.
2 sets of 3*400 easy, medium and hard. 30 seconds recovery after the reps. The 400s came in on 6:54, 6:33, 6:12, 6:51, 6:32, 6:08
200 breaststroke cool down.

The 4s were not great. The easy ones felt ok but the medium effort felt hard and the hard ones then felt all out. I had to overtake the 4 in the lane all at once which required a hard 50 in the middle of the hard 400. Coach has set my critical swim spped at 1:32/100 so its positive that I could hold that on the final rep. I was wrecked after it. 3.100m total

Turbo
Turbo later in the evening was a disaster. It was an hour at 85% FTP with a 30 second surge every 5 minutes. I decided to to push the surges hard. I hit 500+watts for the first few and then pushed one to a max of 669w. They were taking too much out of me and the steady FTP effort in between was getting harder and harder to hold. By 40 mins I was wrecked and just dropped it to 70% FTP to the end.

Stayed up late putting the lego test car together. Gave it a black frame instead of red which looks cool. Woke up rather groggy as a result.

Long Bike
Its been a long time since I was out on the road. I met up with 2 other lads, strong IM bikers. It was p!ssing out of the heavens and windy. After an hour the guys were heading to do some climbing but my legs had already had enough. There was just no juice and I had used whatever I had. Hills would have toasted me completely with another hour left to cyle home. I just turned back and headed home. I felt like getting off the bike and ringing for a lift at times. I felt unfit and heavy but mostly unfit. I know time in the saddle will improve things but its depressing when I compare my aerobic fitness to 12 months ago. I'd have eaten up the hills and lead the charge home. 2 good guys to bike with though who are both training for Austria too so I must make the effort to hook up more. 2.5 hours put down though and its the first long bike in the books for this round. It was also the last session of the year as I went for a deep tissue rub afterward and spent most of it wincing and biting my fist.
77km at 30.4kmh average, heart rate 140 average, much more into the headwind http://connect.garmin.com/activity/137684321

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I would be happy with a 2.5hr long bike to start off with especially after you have been away from the long rides for a while.

shotgunmcos

Woohoo, my first time bidding on ebay and I secured this It came down to the wire too so happy am I. Again how sad I am but I care not.

Hello 2012

I didn't make it to the 5 mile race on New Years Day as shotgunjunior was down with an ear infection, bless him. So, we spent a quality day of playing cards, lego, playstation, jokes etc while the rain pelted off the windows. I did get out later in the evening for a run when he fell asleep.

So, goals for the year. As previously stated its all about the sub10. I've entered 2 IMs to give me 2 attempts at it. I believe I've got what it takes. Last year I put the work in but didn't execute on the day. This year I doubt very much that I can get the same work in. The best I can expect is to get into the same shape for Austria that I was in 6 months ago and simply execute a proper plan correctly. I'm not getting ahead of myself either just because I came so close last year. Anything under the 10 hours will do.

Apart from that the 'B' goals are...
-PB at the Limerick half Marathon: current best 1:25:58
-PB over a random 10k and 5k race: current bst 38:09 and 18:11
-Run a 10 mile race and then PB that result at Caherdavin :rolleyes:
-Long swim event, ideally 10k (This is my marathon for the year)
-An IMRA race or 2 - Just 'cause I have the shoes
-A Duathlon
-A Sprint Tri that I haven't done already
-Sub 40 off the bike in an Olympic Tri :cool:
-Cycle the Ballyhouras trails
-Beat JB at Barcelona
-Throw a Javelin

The New Year's resolution
-Stretch every single day

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

shotgunmcos wrote: »

-Beat JB at Barcelona

You will now be referred to as the "other guy" when i am out training. Best of luck with the targets for the year and cool car:)

pgibbo

Branson Limited Greengrocer wrote: »

You will now be referred to as the "other guy" when i am out training.

That's way too polite JB. Spill the bean and tell us what you'll really be calling him

Nice to hear it's still a sub 10 log Mike. Nice goals. Best of luck for the forthcoming season.

--amadeus--

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Woohoo, my first time bidding on ebay and I secured this It came down to the wire too so happy am I. Again how sad I am but I care not.

Poor Caz. What I think is especially cruel is waiting until you have set up home together before you unleashed your plastic brick fetish on her. Evil if you ask me.

But good luck with all the (non-Lego) goals and please be sure and clarify which kind of brick session you'll be writing about in advance (b'dum tish!)

shotgunmcos

--amadeus-- wrote: »

please be sure and clarify which kind of brick session you'll be writing about in advance (b'dum tish!)

sure

Brick session: Bike/Run - no lego was harmed in the making of this
The turbo:
20 min warm up
20 min sweet spot including surges
2 min easy
20 min sweet spot including surges slightly harder than first rep
8 min easy

The transition run:
I was out the door straight away, well, once I wriggled my sweaty body into a dry l/s top. Immediately the wind and rain hit me and I went from roasting to chilly in seconds. That can't be good for you! It was a straightforward half hour with a pick up for a hard last 5 minutes. I felt pretty good. It felt like an solid Olympic distance kind a brick. Solid bike and gnarly run

I'm not as fit as I'd like to be though and the heart rate tells that story. I hit a max of 173 on the turbo which is red zone and it never dropped below 160 on the run. The run pace was not a good return for that effort either. It was a good quality workout overall and I'll give it more respect from now on by fuelling properly during the day and not doing any junk runs at lunchtime. I only did a half arsed stretch though just to keep in touch with the NY resolution because I was hungry.

Swim Squad
I had a bit of a wrestle with the snooze button but won out in the end and got myself to the pool. I must have had a demeanour like bear woken from hibernation too early as I was asked twice if I was ok! The set:
800 various warm up stuff
5 sets of 150/100/50
10*50 kick with fins and board
4* 100 moderate/50 hard
200 backstroke swim down
3,600m total. I felt good and my nemesis swam on my feet for a change

insinkerator

I came home on my lunch break to do some stretching and rolling, inspired by your NY resolution.. Any chance you could give an insight into what you do? I managed to fill the best part of a half hour, but it would be interesting to hear what someone who knows what they are doing does. Especially seeing how vital you stressed stretching and yoga time was, leading up to Roth

Dory Dory

Out of curiosity, what was your run pace in that brick?

shotgunmcos

insinkerator wrote: »

Any chance you could give an insight into what you do? I managed to fill the best part of a half hour,

Sure thing. Half an hour eh. Some options I'd use starting with most intense

A)10 mins skipping rope, 50 push ups, 50 sit ups and a 6 minute plank (1 min front, move to side plank with opposite arm and leg raised for a minute on each side, 1 minute supermans and back to front plank for a minute (its tough) , 10 mins stretching mainly ITB and hamstrings (focus on you flexibility weakness)

10-15 Yoga sun salutations. I love these and do a 14-16 sequence version including a praying warrior, tree and eagle poses. Here is a site to get the basics in a demo format http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/yogapractice/sunsalutation.asp

C) 20 mins long slow stretches that physio showed me to get deep into glut, hip, ITB and hamstrings followed by 10 mins rolling

Dory Dory wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what was your run pace in that brick?

First 25 mins easy 4:35/km or in old money 7:22 per mile, last 5 mins hard in 3:50/km or 6:10 per mile

shotgunmcos

Wow I posted at lunchtime yesterday at this log had to be resurrected from page 4 :eek: Right, on with training then...

Easy Run
I was meant to meet a friend to jog up to a pan flat industrial estate to time him doing a run test. The weather put that off. I kitted up and headed out for a short 'easy' run anyway. The first 2km were mostly into the strong gusty wind and involved 2 hills. I was nearly blown backwards. I had no hat on either so I had brain freeze within minutes from the heavy rain too. With the wind behind you it almost felt calm and the gusts shoved you you along. Other runners spotted en route? 3 more lunatics. 2 lads in full high vis etc muscling through it and another lads in shorts :eek: shelling out a lively pace and making it look easy. Overall the wind prevailed and the RPE required to run 'easy' was more than I anticipated.
7.35km in 34:11, pace 4:39 heart rate 151
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138943269

Core/Yoga
I suppose since I was asked I'll log my core stuff. This was an hour of various bits.
- 5 set of 10 push ups and 10 varies ab exercises all done painfully slowly
- A 6 minute plank, 2 min front, 1 min left star, 1 min right star, 1 min supermans and a min front again. I was sweating plenty after this.
- 5 16 sequence yoga sun salutatuions again done very slowly
- stretching

The Christmas belly had me losing balance on the star planks and supermans :rolleyes:

Swim session
300 warm up easy
2 sets of 4*400 race starts with 30 sec recovery.
Each set as
100 hard 300 steady
200 hard 200 steady
300 hard 100 steady
400 hard
I just tried to hold CSS (critical swim speed) on the hard bits and this proved to be hard enough. I couldn't hold it after the 200 on the second set and swam the last 400 easy. I just ran out of steam this morning. I felt very sleepy getting up. Its a good set though and I plan to revisit it. 200 backstroke cool down inhaling water
3,700m total

shotgunmcos

For the first time in months I have some consistency going on this week. Now, not to jinx it...

Easy lunchtime run
I'm going to use these runs to guauge base fitness improvement, if any develops. The route is usually the same , route A and a slight longer slight tougher but more interesting route B. Both achievable with transition from suit and shower in an hour total. Today was the shorter route A. It was actually a lovely mild and sunny day apart from the persistant heavy wind. I'm applying a 155 HR cap to these easy runs. My hamstring is feeling a little better with the attention its getting.
Overall 8.2km in 37:43, pace 4:36, heart rate 151.

Turbo - Tempo
This was a straight hour at an aerobic tempo. At times I found a lovely rhythm and a symbiotic push and pull on the pedals. At times too I had to focus hard to maintain the pace. I held a steady 88% FTP until it began to pinch with 10 minutes to go. To keep myself in the game I pushed the last 15 seconds of each of the last 10 mins to FTP. Solid session put down but I want the cardiac drift to improve.
Overall 1:00 at 283w, average heart rate 150, max 167.

shotgunmcos

Swim Squad
It was the usual Friday speedy stuff.
Long warm up: 200, 4*100 and 6*25 fast/25 easy
Main set: 6*150 off 2:30 + 8*50 max off 1:30 in on 36-38 secs
Endurance: 200/150/100/50
Cool down: 200 easy
3,200m total

I felt a little ropey this morning. A poor night's sleep with a heavy mind. Depite this I felt good in the belly of the session. The 150s were fast and furious and close to my CSS. The 50s max then toasted me and I struggled from there. Granted I was suffering anyway in behind the fish due to the pace and with my nemesis a few places back. I still felt I had to work that bit harder for the pace and faded on the endurance set. Usually I am strong through these sessions. I put it down to having no carbs wth my dinner last night.

I had done a solid turbo with a 500ml milky recovery shake afterwards. Later on dinner was a Tuna Steak with Salad. I'd usually have potatoes and veg but it was late and went for the quicker option of a dressed rocket, yellow pepper, peri tomatoes,cucumber, pine nuts, red onion and pumkin seed salad. The Tuna steak was meaty and filling and the salad crunch and tasty so I ddn't miss the carbs then. I missed them 2k into the swim this morning though!

Dory Dory

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Swim Squad
It was the usual Friday speedy stuff.
Long warm up: 200, 4*100 and 6*25 fast/25 easy
Main set: 6*150 off 2:30 + 8*50 max off 1:30 in on 36-38 secs
Endurance: 200/150/100/50
Cool down: 200 easy
3,200m total

I felt a little ropey this morning. A poor night's sleep with a heavy mind. Depite this I felt good in the belly of the session. The 150s were fast and furious and close to my CSS. The 50s max then toasted me and I struggled from there. Granted I was suffering anyway in behind the fish due to the pace and with my nemesis a few places back. I still felt I had to work that bit harder for the pace and faded on the endurance set. Usually I am strong through these sessions. I put it down to having no carbs wth my dinner last night.

I had done a solid turbo with a 500ml milky recovery shake afterwards. Later on dinner was a Tuna Steak with Salad. I'd usually have potatoes and veg but it was late and went for the quicker option of a dressed rocket, yellow pepper, peri tomatoes,cucumber, pine nuts, red onion and pumkin seed salad. The Tuna steak was meaty and filling and the salad crunch and tasty so I ddn't miss the carbs then. I missed them 2k into the swim this morning though!

I definitely need to work on my diet more. I'm still eating crap from the holidays (thank god that's almost all gone), but I also need to focus more on the right foods and less on the things that I like such as mass quantities of chocolate and espresso chocolate chip ice cream served in a rather large mug at approximately 9 o'clock every night.

pgibbo

shotgunmcos wrote: »

I had done a solid turbo with a 500ml milky recovery shake afterwards. Later on dinner was a Tuna Steak with Salad. I'd usually have potatoes and veg but it was late and went for the quicker option of a dressed rocket, yellow pepper, peri tomatoes,cucumber, pine nuts, red onion and pumkin seed salad. The Tuna steak was meaty and filling and the salad crunch and tasty so I ddn't miss the carbs then. I missed them 2k into the swim this morning though!

Some white carbs within an hour of the turbo session would have really helped the recovery and also the morning swim. Cracking swimming all the same!!! *JEALOUS*

I see today that Matt Molloy clocked 25:21 for a 2k TT. Savage stuff altogether! :eek:

catweazle

pgibbo wrote: »

I see today that Matt Molloy clocked 25:21 for a 2k TT. Savage stuff altogether! :eek:

I cant think of any discipline where 25.21 for 2k is impressive is there a 0 missing

pgibbo

catweazle wrote: »

I cant think of any discipline where 25.21 for 2k is impressive is there a 0 missing

So you can swim 2000m in 25mins????? :rolleyes:

catweazle

pgibbo wrote: »

So you can swim 2000m in 25mins????? :rolleyes:

Apoligies mental block - kept seeing it in my head as an Olympic distance time (which is still good but not top class)

shotgunmcos

Dory Dory wrote: »

I definitely need to work on my diet more.

You and me both then. I'm starting to get back on the right track. Breakfast today for example was a bowl full of meusili, raisinins, chopped hazelnuts, chopped strawberries, red grapes, banana and blueberries. It was delicious. Then I went and had a chocolate bounty bar with my tea at lunch! Its Friday though and Fridays for me are eat what you want days.. although everyday for the last few weeks has been that :rolleyes:

pgibbo wrote: »

Some white carbs within an hour of the turbo session would have really helped the recovery and also the morning swim. Cracking swimming all the same!!! *JEALOUS*

I see today that Matt Molloy clocked 25:21 for a 2k TT. Savage stuff altogether! :eek:

Yeah i actually meant to have a peanut butter and jam sambo afterwards but got distracted.

MM is an uber swimmer alright and that bodes well for his sub 50 swim start at Roth this year :cool:

El Director

Nice swimming shotgun. Hard not to compare, my 150's are off 2:50 and coming in on around 2:30, you are off 2:30. My fast 50's are 43/44 sec. I've a long way to go, it must be great though to have others push you in the lane though.

shotgunmcos

Long progression run
The conditions have much improved out there eh? Only a breeze in comparison to the rest of the week. It was chilly though. I basically covered the Limerick half marathon route. It was a progression run run as:
30 mins easy
30 mins steady
30 mins tempo
15 mins recovery
Its my first long run of the news year and longest since Berlin too. On the steady segment I knew it was going to be tough for 2 reasons. Very low mileage the last couple of months and no consistency with long runs. The easy bit felt fine. I increased the pace on a short hill so my heart rate shot up. I was more concerned about my hamstring though and happily it didn't tighten up as much. I build the pace to a tempo on the hour. It was just 3 hour marathon pace but it felt like tempo and I had to work pretty hard to maintain it. It was on the last 7 km of the course too, the hardest section by far. I was happy to hit 90 mins and cool down. Again its not where I'd like to be and I suppose I have to dog a few of the out until the fitness improves. At least its done.
Overall 23.34km in 1:45, pace 4:30, heart rate 151 avg, 174 max (hill)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/139647433

El Director wrote: »

Nice swimming shotgun. Hard not to compare, my 150's are off 2:50 and coming in on around 2:30, you are off 2:30. My fast 50's are 43/44 sec. I've a long way to go, it must be great though to have others push you in the lane though.

Don't worry El D. I was off 1:50 for 150s not so long ago.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

How is hr/effort comparing on the 4:15s compared to peak run fitness last year?

shotgunmcos

Branson Limited Greengrocer wrote: »

How is hr/effort comparing on the 4:15s compared to peak run fitness last year?

Peak run fitness last year at Conn http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78609552
I was at 4:15s comfortably at low 160s HR but more importantly the RPE was no more than 4-5 for the first half. The 7km 4:15s segment of tonights long run was high 160s to low 170s and RPE was 7-8. I was anything but comfortable

Answer: quite a gulf

insinkerator

I had a look at that link for the yoga you left. May as well not have bothered. Basing off the attempt I made at the sun worship thing (?), I have the flexibilty of a steel rod.

Have you decided what duathlon you are going to do?

shotgunmcos

Long Bike n' run
I was out with a mate who had 3*20 mins planned. He is a very strong biker and has a good block of IM training done over the winter. There wasn't a hope I could hang with him and I didn't. We pedalled side by side chatting for an hour into a much reduced wind. Then he belted off. I sat 10m back in a sort of paceline position and held the pace for 15 minutes before giving up the ghost. My heart rate had hit 167 and the Coach's instructions were to keep the spin steady. I reined it back and Did most of the next 2 hours alone. The middle hour over rolling hills was taxing both the physical economy and my motivation. I took a swig of HTFU from my bottle though and pushed through to reward myself with a tailwind home. My mate caught up with me as I was cooling down. He had done his pieces and then chased me down :eek: I remember being that fit 12 months ago Overall I was pleased to progress a little from last week, not that that is saying much. Everything ached though when I got off the bike. My shoulders and neck were stiff as I rode a lot with them hunched up. I kept having to remind myself to relax my arms and shoulders. My hammers and gluts were very tight and quads tired.
Overall 3 hours at 30.8kmh, avg heart rate 143, incline 240m, 92.19km
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/139907789

I decided to do a short run off the bike just to embed the aching feeling. My legs felt like lead to begin with and even at an easy pace didn't loosen out. It was a chore of a run. To be expected though.
Overall 15 minutes at 4:45 pace, heart rate 144, 3.22km
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/139907796

Weekly Summary
It was a decent week overall. Good turbos, a long run and a long bike and the swimming is still going well. The weight is moving in the right direction and although I'm not feeling fit, I do feel like I'm shaking off the 'unfit' if you know what I mean.

IMAT is a serious doubt at the moment. I checked the site and see that I can cut my losses at 50% of the fee up to March so I have time to decide yet. The main reason is the cost. Just too many LIFE things going on right now to even contemplate the logistics. One of the major LIFE things stressing me for a while now was put to bed today but in the process my race plan was crumpled into a ball and tossed in the paper basket. I have to sit down and plan again and I may just have to let go of some preferences.

Squad Swim
I'd been awake most of the night tossing and turning with a heavy mind so knew this was not going to go well. We were all tossed into one lane too so the ability ranged more than usual. I went off 2nd behind the technician and was pleased to hold her feet for the most part. I was swimming mainly at CSS -2 seconds and although it was solid work, my technique didn't fail me. The easy RTs off 3:45/1:50 helped to get it done
Warm up: 800m various
Main set: 5 sets of 200m/3*100m in on 3:00/1:28 respectively
Choice: 50m*6 back stroke with fins for me
Speed: 2*100m all out. I was tired and could only muster a 73, 74
Endurance: 1,000m long easy strokes alone
Total 4,300m

insinkerator wrote: »

I had a look at that link for the yoga you left. May as well not have bothered. Basing off the attempt I made at the sun worship thing (?), I have the flexibilty of a steel rod.

Have you decided what duathlon you are going to do?

Keeping it close to home - Limerick. Keep at the Yoga. Try some of the static balance poses like , tree, eagle, plane etc.. its great for the core. The sun salutations are excellent. I do them once a week and believe me I'm far from flexible myself. The range of motion will bring it along though. Like anything, give it time and if you do the same thing week in week out... expect the same results

Dory Dory

You are a beast....and good crazy. Nice work.

insinkerator

That's some serious cycling! Do you do all your cycling on your TT bike, or do you have a regular roadie too?

I think I might join a local yoga class in a while, just for some proper instruction, I'm just gonna wait till all the New Year's resolutioners/ I got a yoga voucher for Christmas people stop going, as I imagine the classes are jammed at the moment (My run yesterday, on a local riverside path resembled more of an obstacle course than a pathway!)

I was thinking too, of heading up for the Limerick Duathlon, but I just got wind of a 5 mile road race being organised quite literally on my doorstep, so It would be a shame to miss that. You still might see me up there though*.

*Assuming you have eyes in the back of your head that can pick me out miles behind you

shotgunmcos

Easy Run
Nicest evening in ages. Cool, calm and crisp. I just ran down to superwoman's to drop off her meds and then took her dog out for a run. It was his first run ever and he panned out afterwards. If only we could all do that! It was a good run, not loose or bouncy as I wish it was but flowed nonetheless. My cadence had a tendency to get lazy to I focused on that.
Overall 0:58 at 4:35 pace, average heart rate 147, distance 12.64km

insinkerator wrote: »

Do you do all your cycling on your TT bike, or do you have a regular roadie too?

Haven't been on the TT bike since July! I'll get back on it again in a few weeks to get a feel for it before the duathlon. I do all my winter training on my trusty 2008 Giant SCR1.

Tell me about the new year revolutionaries. On one hand the pool was mental this morning. Some very large man managed to punch my wrist from over the rope in the other lane whatever he was up to. Deadened it for a length too. On the other hand it was good to see all the joggers out tonight!