Here goes...again!

RacoonQueen

All the cool people come off their bikes more than normal people. Even when they're not clipped in. :pac:

I fall running so you can imagine how much of a mess I am clipped into the bike.:)

Bally8

RacoonQueen wrote: »

All the cool people come off their bikes more than normal people. Even when they're not clipped in. :pac:

I fall running so you can imagine how much of a mess I am clipped into the bike.:)

Ha ha thanks for that RQ, my sister says I should take it as a sign to stop cycling:eek: No way that's going to happen!

Murraythree

Bally8 wrote: »

..my sister says I should take it as a sign to stop cycling!

Don't give up. I found the turbo trainer a great help for practicing clipping in and out. When I started with the cycling shoes I would do a session specifically where I would practice this maybe 20/30 times. Am sure it will all come good.

Nules10

Bally8 you are doing brill. I am sure once you do the transitions once you will fly it after that. I am getting excited for you now

Bally8

Sat 31st Dec - Last run of 2011. 2.5 miles on treadmill. Wanted to do more but I have a rotten head cold so just wasnt able for it. 480.28 miles total for the year. Not good but better then last year so I'll take it. Injury is what's stopped me, not lack of motivation so hopefully once I stop getting injured I might actually start racking up the miles

Bally8

Bally8 wrote: »

So here are my aims for 2011:
1. Stay injury-free all year (this would be a miracle when you take my past 3 years of constant injuries into consideration)
2. No more wossie walking breaks in my runs.
3. I want to do as many races as possible- maybe 1 a month if possible.
4. Get out on the bike more.
5. Complete the Connemara Adventure Challenge.
6. Maybe if Im still in one piece- the Dublin marathon.

I set the above goals for myself at the start of the year. Didnt really meet many of them but I gave it a go.

1. Staying injury-free - Got as far as July, acute planter fasicia injury which came upon me all of a sudden in a 4 mile race. Fastest run ever, couldnt walk after- ended up in A&E! Im just about recovered now. Still not allowed any long distance running for the foreseeable future.
2. Walk breaks - Woohoo, this one I have achieved!
3. One race per month - Managed this one for 7 months till I got the injury.
4. Get out on the bike more - Tick!! Out on the bike more often then I run now:)
5. Connemara Adventure Challenge - Nope, didnt do it.
6. DCM - I was 6 weeks into the training when my injury occured so no marathon for me:(



So for 2012...
Again staying injury free is my biggest wish for the year. Now that I'm cycling and swimming as well as working on the root cause of all the bother Im feeling much more positive about this year.

Besides that my goals for 2012 include completing a few sprint triathlons, adventure races with my OH and as many short road races as I can fit in to my training schedule. Im looking at the year as a base training year to improve my strength and speed in all disciplines and then have 2013 as a year where I really go for things and maybe progress from a back of the pack plodder to a mid-pack jogger:D

shazkea

Best of luck with the targets for 2012 A. Hopefully we'll manage to stay injury free :rolleyes:

Bally8

Jan 1st 2012
I spent the first half of today eating mountains of food. Carmel for breakfast, big steak dinner, girdleburster pie for dessert, sweets, chocolate etc. Went on facebook to see some of the girls (RQ and rachel) getting PB's in a race and was shamed into getting off my rotund ass and running. 3.5 miles on the treadmill 35minutes. Didnt want to start the year making excuses not to exercise so Im glad I didnt let lazy Anita win.

Happy New year everyone:)

Nules10

Happy new yr bally8. Best of luck with the targets for 2012 I have no doubt you will do them

Bally8

Mon 2nd Jan
What a day! I'm wrecked. We started off with out first hill/mountain running session for the Connemara Adventure Challange. Up Millenium Hill through the sleet and snow. Yippie I finally got to run in snow this winter:) but ouch hailstones hurt!!! I took off a little over enthuastically so and didnt account for the cold or how high up we were so had to walk pretty soon. On the way back down from the summit Mr.Bally8 felt a pull on his achilles so we decided to walk back to car instead of running. No point in him getting injured again on our first trail run. Not counting it on the 1000 mile challenge cos it was mostly walking in the end.

After lunch we did a few different things with our new boxing stuff. I held the pads while he did 1 min of boxing, then we swapped over and I got to beat the crap out of him. Great fun:) great work out for my arms too. We swapped over a few times and then did some work with the punching bag. I really liked it, kicked it around a bit too- I can really see myself using it after a stressful day at work!

Next a bit of skipping then on to the treadmill for 31 minutes. 3.15 miles in total. Happy with that- 3 days running in a row and no pain in the arch:) woohoo. 22 minutes of the stretching and strength exercises that my physio recommended I do 3-4 times a week. I've only managed them 3 or 4 times in the last month but it's part of my new years resolution to get into the habit of doing them at least 3 times per week.

Spent the evening cleaning the house, sorting clothes washes, cooking dinner and preparing stuff for my first day in my new job tomorrow. I'm fit for bed now:)

diddleyland

Best of luck in 2012 looking forward to comparing logs this year

by the way i have fallen over running on numerous occasions and stay far away from bikes everytime i've been on one i've fallen off!!!! last time did a tour of inismore and i ended up with stiches on my nose!!!!

my balance is obiviously not great!!!!

i'm sure once you get thru the first tri you'll be grand:)

RacoonQueen

I fell over my own foot the other day and nearly smashed my head into a wall. I regained my composure and continued running. Reckon I pulled off the ''I'm cool'' look pretty well.

DigiJem

Jeez bally8 you packed a lot in today, I'm tired just reading it Good luck tomorrow with the new job.

Nules10

DigiJem wrote: »

Jeez bally8 you packed a lot in today, I'm tired just reading it Good luck tomorrow with the new job.

+1 good luck tomorrow

claralara

You're absolutely gunning it these days B8. Great stuff . What date is the Tri again? Best of luck today, hope it all goes well

Bally8

Thanks a mill guys, the support is definitely helping- especially the falling stories- keep em coming, makes me fell less clumsy:)

claralara wrote: »

What date is the Tri again? Best of luck today, hope it all goes well

I'm planning on doing Tri Laois claralara, that's supposed to be on the 7th April but might be moved now.

First day in Roscrea went well. It's going to be hectic- working 2.5 days in Shannon and 2.5 in Roscrea but hey I'm up for the challenge.

Only had a half day today so when I got home,Mr.Bally8 and I decided to have our second hill running training session of 2012. After 30 mins of mainly up, up,up we turned for home and even though I expected it all to be down hill we somehow managed to go up some more:). Really enjoyable session. It was our first time in Coum Woods. It's only 5 minutes from our house and seems to have miles of trails. I'm really looking forward to exploring some more. We did more walking than running though. Which is exactly what we should be doing at this stage of our adventure race training.

Bally8

Wed 4th Jan
850m swim. Happy with how it went today. Still swallowing half the pool, still cant go more then a length without having to stop to get my breath back but I can see minor improvements. As I've said before my aim is to be able to do 750m (sprint distance in triathlon) in 30 min max. This is because I think the different waves start every half hour and I dont want to be slowing all the waves down while I struggle up and down the pool on my own while the rest are all gone off on the bike:o

So I decided to time the 30 lengths today. It took me 38 minutes- that's shockingly slow I know- embarrassingly so but I suppose its a mark for me to measure my progress over the next few months. I know I can get that down to under the 30 minutes. If I can stop taking a break after every length it will come down heaps I'd say. Just need to learn how to swim properly:)

Dory Dory

Today it might be one length at a time, then two, and then you'll be cruising along like the big fish!

shazkea

Hopefully going to start back swimming myself at the w-end but haven't swam in years . Did you follow a plan starting back?

Bally8

shazkea wrote: »

Hopefully going to start back swimming myself at the w-end but haven't swam in years . Did you follow a plan starting back?

No shaz, for the first few swims I just tried to get my confidence back in the pool- it had been years since I swam too, so I went up and down doing my own version of the breast stroke. Realised very quickly that I needed to learn the front crawl so I did 6 weeks of improver swim lessons. After that I went to 2 swim stroke sessions with the tri club where they look at what you are doing and give you tips to improve. I've been working on that since. The plan for January is to really try and concentrate on the swimming. What I've learned so far is that you need to be going at least 3 times a week to see improvements. That's my plan for January anyway.

Bally8

Thursday 5th Jan
Have a very special visitor* staying for a few days so I have been concentrating on spending as much time with her as possible. Thought I wouldnt have time to do any exercise today but I managed to sneak a 40 minute treadmill run in. 4.22 miles varing the speed from 6mph to 7 mph. Felt great.



*My daughter has been living in Cork since the summer and is home for the first time in nearly 5 months:D:D:D

Bally8

Jeez I just spent ages writing u what I've been doing in the last week since I updated and then I got logged out and it was gone:mad:

So now this is the short and sweet version -

Saturday 6th Jan - Stroke work swim session with the club. I had a 30 minute one-on-one with the coach. He has demoted me to widths as he thinks my kick is just awful. The worst he as ever seen really- says its working as an anti-propellent to my arms:o So now I have to do different drills at the wall- back to beginner stuff:o:o, floating to get my heels up to where they should be, kicking at the wall and most exciting- standing at the wall and moving my leg back and forward for a bit:). I dont mind at all as I really want to sort my swimming out, so if its back to basics for now that's what I'll do. Not good for my standings in the SBR challenge though!

4.72 mile forest trail walk/run with hubby and horse-dog. Love it up there, so glad we discovered it.

Sunday 7th Jan - 27.35 km cycle to Ballycomon, via Nenagh- managed to stay on bike the whole time- yippie! Cycled up Port hill at the end - its a New Years resolution, I want to do it once a week as its a killer hill and feels great to get to the top.
3.22 mile run on treadmill after, slight niggle in my right shin. 15 minutes stretching after- another resolution, I really have to make sure to incoperate much more in my training.

Monday 9th Jan - 33 minute run on treadmill - 3.42 miles, still niggly pains in my right leg.

Tuesday 10th Jan - Club turbo session. A tough 60 minute session. Lots of sprints and then some big gear work. 4 laps of the track after.

Wednesday 11th Jan - Swim at work. I usually have to spend most of this time supervising and hanging around with the girls but today I managed to squeeze in 20 lengths.
4.8 mile run on treadmill after work. I really cant wait for the evenings to get bright so I can get back out on the road to run.

Thursday 12th January - 1 hr 15 minute club turbo session. Wow was I sweaty. 2 laps of track after.

Friday 13th January - Rest day- I'm exhausted!How do you people work full time? First week of my new working life down- 2 jobs and training is tough to manage.

Bally8

Saturday 14th Jan - Club cycle. I havent been on one of these in weeks- I was avoiding them cos I'm still so scared of falling off the bike! But I knew I had to get back out there so off I went. There were a few new people and I was happy to see that once I got over the terror of cycling through a busy Nenagh town I was finding it easy to stay on the pace. It was an easy enough cycle and I made it back to my car without incident - 25.35 miles in 1:38 ish.

I felt really fresh and it was only 11am so I decided 'what the heck' and took off again on my own. I followed the 20k cycle route for the North Tipp Sprint. As this is now going to be my first race it was great to cyle the route to get an idea of what will lie ahead of me on the day. It is an 10k out and then turn back route. Going out was tough, there are a few drags but coming back to Nenagh was brilliant, so fast! Took me 31 minutes to get to the turnaround in Toomevara and 20 minutes to get back to the start. 51 minutes in total for the 20k. I think I will have no problem improving that and hope to get closer to 45 minutes on race day:D

After lunch I went for my first road run this year. I've been doing all my runs on the treadmill recently so knew it was important to get back out on the road and see how my injured foot is doing. Delighted to report all felt great. I didnt want to push it so ended up doing 3.8 miles in 38 minutes exactly. Much much nicer than the treadmll.

25 minutes of my stretches after.

Sunday 15th January
27.84km cycle with Mr.Bally8. Again scared of falling but I think Im getting a bit more confident and managed to stay upright or the whole cycle again:D. Finished the cycle with that big Portroe Hill climb. Felt easier this week, maybe it was because I was more focused on getting past the crowd of people outside the community hall than the hell which was the hill! My neighbours think I'm crazy enough already- I'm the blow in from Shannon who spent months running around the roads and now I'm out cycling torture hill!

littlebug

well done on the run Bally8. You're flying with the cycling. Making me want to get my own bike out now

RacoonQueen

Good training A, was going to say to you to get out in morning weekday traffic in the city and cycle behind someone who is slower than you and clipping in and unclipping won't be a bother to you. It's either that or ripping your foot out of the shoe.

I'm woeful with cleats, anywhere I cycle to includes a commute out in traffic before I can get a free run and you're constantly unclipping.

I ran into railings yesterday, told you, complete clutz. Never cycle near me if we do the same race. :pac:

Micilin Muc

That's some good cycling on Saturday, 20km in 51 minutes after a 40km club cycle!

Bally8

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Never cycle near me if we do the same race. :pac:

Ha ha that would be hilarious, we would go down in a heap, knock half the field out :D

claralara

Great stuff again this weekend missus

Bally8

Mon 16th Jan
Treadmill run after work- 3.24 miles in 30 minutes. Added in some intervals. Managed to run at 8.5 mph twice for 30 seconds. That's the fastest I've ever ran on the treadmill so was chuffed at that. 10 minutes stretching after.

Tuesday 17th Jan
Group turbo session. My christmas present arrived today- a replacement turbo for the one Mr.bally8 broke. So finally I dont have to borrow a club turbo anymore. Great session- I felt strong and didnt have to fake it at any stage:D. I sweat more than I ever had before but while a few people around me said they were dying I was actually fine. Sessions like this are rare but soooo good, that feeling where you feel on top of the world.
2 quick laps of the track after - its great to see they are doing up the toilets and stuff at the Nenagh track. It's great to have a facility like this in Nenagh, its a pity that its so basic and was going into such disrepair.


Wednesday 18th Jan
Swim at work. I didnt get much of a chance to do my own thing today. The girls were very chatty as was the lifeguard so we spent a lot of time floating round. But every now and then I told them to go practice their kick and while they were doing that I got into my own lane and practiced keeping my kick high in the water for a few lengths. 250m total

I had planned to run for 30 minutes tonight but I'm exhausted. Spent 3 hours driving today (will have to do this every Wednesday from now on) and I still have a load of stuff to do for work before I have an early night tonight. I feel sick with guilt for missing the run. I have issues!!!

Nules10

Bally8 wrote: »

Mon 16th Jan
I feel sick with guilt for missing the run. I have issues!!!

:D Yes you do
Great sessions you are doing at the moment bally8