The Continuing Adventures of Catweazle

catweazle

If you want to read stories of high ranking finishes, massive improvements in PB's, disciplined diet and structured training you need to take your business elsewhere to other triathlon logs but if epic blowouts, failed targets, haphazard training and detailed battles with other mid packers are your thing read on!

Last years log is here so hopefully this year I am moving onwards and up. This years challenge is the same as last year, my target is the Humbert Challenge 1/2 Ironman

I liked this race so much last year that I am happy enough to make it my focus again this year. The race report is here

This year I am hoping to make a big dent into that time and I am targeting sub 5.30. My worst split is always the bike so I have done around 1000k on the turbo over the winter months. Nearly all done in big gears and low cadence as I cant go up hills to save my life. Nature and educational dvds have been swiftly dumped and I am halfway through season 3 of The Wire. My goal at the Humbert is too come off the bike in around the same time as last year, maybe just under 3 hours but to have running legs this time and get in under 2 hours on the run.

After much soul searching I am not doing the Connemarathon this year, I felt I gradually went downhill after Connemara and my early stage of the season would be too run focused again, so maybe if I am still enjoying my training I will look at an Autumn marathon. I have 2 just under 8k circuits from the house which I try and do one most days and I will do the long runs on the saturday, decent ride on sunday mornings with a small brick after. Swimming sessions isn't as easy as it was last year, I work mainly from home now so while it is great for lunchtime runs and evening turbo sessions the pool isn't as near anymore so its an early morning start three times a week to get back to the house for 9. I am using Interested plans for swimming, i would hope to get huge benefit from these. I think I was guilty of doing junk miles last year in the pool, while I could swim forever I never made any real improvement in my times. I am coming out of the pool exhausted these days doing way less distance per session than last year so that must be a good thing.

My other main plan this year is too race less - come the summer last year I was nearly out every second weekend. So I was either resting up preparing for a race or recovering after it. It cost me a fortune as well between the race entry and travel. In both the Marathon and 1/2 Ironman I blew up big time, maybe it was or wasn't a factor but I will play close attention to getting some type of nutrition strategy together this year.

Plans are very tentative with wedding season still to be finalised but hoping for these key races

Feb - The two local clubs Predator and Tri Lakes are doing Duathlons over the next month or so, I think theres 5 in all so I hope to do 2. I am put off this weekend as some of the route is off road, the recommendation is to use MTBs and I don't want to risk my road bike on that.

March - Craughwell 10 mile (2010 - 75.20). This might be the hardest one to beat as I had so much running done for Connemara, and I was at my lowest weightwise (tapering doesnt suit my weight). To add to the mix i am over in London to meet friends and don't get back to the day before. But I would be delighted if I could dip under 75 minutes

April - ???

May - More than likely the Spiddal Triathlon, not sure if I will go for the Sprint or Olympic. I started last year with the Joey Hannon Olympic and it was a shock to the system so maybe a gentle opening with a Sprint

June - Hell of the West, its over a month away from the Humbert so maybe use it as a hard training session before the taper. It gets such good reports I would like to give it a go. I would also like to do one big cycle so maybe The Tour de Burren or Wicklow 200 (I want the 90k distance to be far less intimidating than it was last year)

July - Achill Half Marathon, we have the use of a house up there usually so it is always on the calendar for me. Its a great race anyways. I am unsure whether to go Hells Belles or not in this, I didnt last year to save myself for the Humbert and it didn't seem to work on the run in the Humbert. I think I will go for it this year, maybe even do a bike beforehand and leave it as the last major training session, Humbert isn't on for another 3 weeks.

July - Humbert Challenge

August - ???

September - ???

Thats it for me so, plans a little woozy but they will come together closer to the season start

Main targets are (some soft but milestones anyways)

Current 5k - 20.57 / 2011 (sub 20)
Current 10k - 45.01 / 2011 43.xx
Current 10m - 75.20 / 2011 (sub 75)
Current 1/2 M - 1.44.49 / 2011 1.39.xx
Current Mar - 4.19 / 2011 (sub 4)
Humbert 6.17.54 / 2011 (sub 5.30)

In triathlons its harder to call times depending on weather etc but I would hope to get into the top 25% of certainly all Sprint and maybe Olympic races I do. The longer you go the better the triathlete in my opinion (Top 25% in Swinford last year would have been sub 5.15 so that's out)

Other objectives is of course to renew my battles with my fellow mid packer arch nemesis's, so along with The School Friend, The Club Mate, The GAA friend, the strong cyclist and the Frenchie I have added two new ones to the list "The Gaeilgeoir" who may well be my most powerful foe yet and a new untested nemesis mysteriously known as "The Chiropracter".

Training is going well so far, I need to get in more swimming but already this month I will have done more than a third of what I did in total on the bike last year so its a good start

Macanri

Great stuff CW, well laid out plans and objectives.

Looking forward to reading all about these battles with the arch nemeisisis's... there's plenty of them on the list!

Great training on all fronts so far by the sounds of things, keep up the good work.

All the best, Mac.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Best of luck this year CW, I will be keeping a close eye on the log. Enjoyed reading the race report from last years 1/2 ironman.

littlebug

Best of luck against the new nemeses Catweazle:D.

ronanmac

Welcome back, glad to see that you've been flushed out finally with a new training log! I have to say that I'm extremely disappointed with my nickname, presuming indeed that I am The Gaeilgeoir. I was hoping for something much cooler like The Smiling Assassin, or even Conamara Killer would have done...

Our initial showdown will probably be Spiddal, I'd say I'll go for the sprint myself to start things off. Well done on all the recent bike work. You might want to slow down a bit with the training though, you don't want to wear yourself out too soon . Just some helpful nemesis to nemesis advice!

catweazle

Well I better at least spell your name right anyways, and I called Mrs C who is a primary school teacher in to spell it for me. Those poor kids.

You are as well off with the sprint, you have loads of time till Galway 70.3 and one of your first open water swims this year will be a 1500m swim in Spiddal harbour which is not a gentle introduction.

Most of the big guns will do the Olympic as well so we will get hopefully an artificial high placing in the sprint for a good confidence builder

Izoard

catweazle wrote: »

If you want to read stories of high ranking finishes, massive improvements in PB's, disciplined diet and structured training you need to take your business elsewhere to other triathlon logs but if epic blowouts, failed targets, haphazard training and detailed battles with other mid packers are your thing read on!

Excellent, at last, a like minded soul amongst the big dogs:)

Great to see you back in the saddle!

catweazle

Loads of juggling this weekend but still wasn't able to fit in a long run.

Saturday was 2 hours on the turbo, I was hoping to do a short brick run after it but decided a long walk with MrsC was the safer option. I found the walk harder, Mrs C power walks away and its just in between either a slow trot or a full on walking stride for me as I have shorter legs than her, as it was on a busy main road I went for the power walk. Calves were killing me half way through it, so I am putting it down for 5k as it was over an hour and a half of pain.

Sunday was the clubs duathlon - I had pencilled in the long run for after as theres a nice route out by the Coast in Oranmore which I dont get to do often. It was a mtb route, I dont have a mountain bike so I didnt race and put on the high viz instead, the look of pain on their faces as they ran by made me thank god I didnt have one. January is too early for that type of punishment.

Again coming straight home after was the wiser move so after doing a few jobs I went up for another 2 hours on the turbo...........I would have much preferred the long run today though as it was a lovely crisp day!

griffin100

Great, a tri log without reference to wattage, lactate thresholds and 6hr night time turbo sessions. Its time we plodders took the training logs back, might even start a new one myself :pac:

pgibbo

Welcome back to the logs CW.

I don't know about you, but it took a while before I warmed up after helping out at the Duathlon yesterday.

Best of luck with your goals and battles. :cool:

catweazle

pgibbo wrote: »

I don't know about you, but it took a while before I warmed up after helping out at the Duathlon yesterday.

Nah I was toasting nicely yesterday, I had all the run clothes underneath for the long run I never went on. My marshaling skills are legendary at this stage anyways, I am so authoritive in a high vis they had me on two junctions, run and then cycle junction and then back to the run again a 1/2 mile apart, so with all the clothes on I was overheating running between them, might have been a nicer score than standing in the one spot freezing for an hour alright though now that I think of it

griffin100 wrote: »

Great, a tri log without reference to wattage, lactate thresholds and 6hr night time turbo sessions. Its time we plodders took the training logs back, might even start a new one myself :pac:

They are starting to come back I see Redb has a log started up as well, although we lost him for a while as he got very scientific about his Dublin Marathon run, tempo runs and whatnot

Are you still injured or are you back in for the Conn Ultra?

mloc123

griffin100 wrote: »

Great, a tri log without reference to wattage, lactate thresholds and 6hr night time turbo sessions. Its time we plodders took the training logs back, might even start a new one myself :pac:

I dunno, I'd love to see a few HIM/IM logs with actual wattage figures

catweazle

mloc123 wrote: »

I dunno, I'd love to see a few HIM/IM logs with actual wattage figures

It wont be from me mloc, I am broke so if I am buying any new kit this year it will be shiny new wheels and not a powermeter

Although I took your advice and I have ordered that Polar strap you recommended so the odd HR rate might sneak back into this log when I get up and running

RedB

catweazle wrote: »

They are starting to come back I see Redb has a log started up as well, although we lost him for a while as he got very scientific about his Dublin Marathon run, tempo runs and whatnot

While I could 'talk the talk', unfortunately I had to 'walk the walk' (literally) when it came to Triathlons. This year I'm hoping to finish one without walking!

catweazle wrote: »

if epic blowouts, failed targets, haphazard training and detailed battles with other mid packers are your thing read on!

Oh yeah baby, bring it on!

catweazle wrote: »

May - More than likely the Spiddal Triathlon, not sure if I will go for the Sprint or Olympic. I started last year with the Joey Hannon Olympic and it was a shock to the system so maybe a gentle opening with a Sprint

June - Hell of the West, its over a month away from the Humbert so maybe use it as a hard training session before the taper. It gets such good reports I would like to give it a go. I would also like to do one big cycle so maybe The Tour de Burren or Wicklow 200 (I want the 90k distance to be far less intimidating than it was last year)

Other objectives is of course to renew my battles with my fellow mid packer arch nemesis's, so along with The School Friend, The Club Mate, The GAA friend, the strong cyclist and the Frenchie I have added two new ones to the list "The Gaeilgeoir" who may well be my most powerful foe yet and a new untested nemesis mysteriously known as "The Chiropracter".

Any room for aspiring mid-packers in any of these epic battles? Half thinking of Spiddal myself as I spent a year there in '91 and sure, HOTW is an old friend of mine at this stage :cool:. Watch out for the run there, it'll give you Connemarathon-HOTW flashbacks . Now if I could only manage to run it instead of walking it :rolleyes:

Best of luck with the training and the log. I'll be reading with lots of interest

catweazle

RedB wrote: »

Any room for aspiring mid-packers in any of these epic battles? Half thinking of Spiddal myself as I spent a year there in '91 and sure, HOTW is an old friend of mine at this stage :cool:.

Give me a while to come up with a decent arch nemesis name for you, judging by Ronanmacs disappointment with what I thought was a nice Batman arch foe name, I will need to up my game.

Maybe not though..............you Limerick/Munster lads have no imagination Mushy, Bull, Rog, Axle, Claw, Gaillimh

mloc123

catweazle wrote: »

It wont be from me mloc, I am broke so if I am buying any new kit this year it will be shiny new wheels and not a powermeter

Although I took your advice and I have ordered that Polar strap you recommended so the odd HR rate might sneak back into this log when I get up and running

The best €14 I have spent in a long time, so much nicer than the Garmin and with the added bonus that it works

RedB

catweazle wrote: »

Give me a while to come up with a decent arch nemesis name for you, judging by Ronanmacs disappointment with what I thought was a nice Batman arch foe name, I will need to up my game.

Maybe not though..............you Limerick/Munster lads have no imagination Mushy, Bull, Rog, Axle, Claw, Gaillimh

That's why 'RedB' will do nicely!
The only panto villain thing I could probably bring to the story is my perfect "He's behind you!!" impression

catweazle

Got out today for the the lunchtime run around the local route, had decided to go with the new David Guetta CD so I was trotting along at a decent pace. The watch vibrates after mile 1 and it was 7.14 for the mile, I was feeling good, hadn't ran since friday so I said I would keep going. Came in for 4.6 miles at an average pace of 7.27 (34.20). First time I have ran fast I would say since October, while I wouldn't say it was comfortable I had a bit more in me. Not another 5.3 miles at that pace for Craughwell but I am getting there.

Went up for just over an hour on the turbo this evening, beginning to wean myself back down on the tri bars, its improving I got 2 x 20 minutes before my back started giving out although it made my TV viewing a little bit more difficult. Had to hit playback to confirm that was Deputy Commissioner Rawls in the gay bar :eek:

shotgunmcos

Cheers for throwing up another log CW, you are putting in good work dude. Best of luck with the season, I'll be following with interest

catweazle

Reasonably happy with this months totals!

Cycle = 735k: Most of this has been in big gears and low cadence. No real scientific tests or data just pedaling away. I did just over 2000k in total last year so I am delighted I held myself to working on it this year so far. I don't know if it will do me any good, but I suppose we will find out come the summer. This month I will start doing some faster work with a lot of it down on the tri bars. I remember my first race in Joey Hannon last year I didnt practice the position and I was struggling to hold it for more than half the race.

Run = 179k: Mostly built up of 8k runs around the neighborhood and one LSR at the weekend with the max being 10 miles so far. Last year I probably did more running in January but all at very slow paces as per Hal Higdons wishes. This year instead of trotting around in 10 minute miles, the easy runs have all been at 8.30 pace. I have no trouble holding these but start to feel the pace when I dip under 8. However its getting easier all the time and I hope to do at least one run a week that puts me out of my comfort zone

Swim = 14.7k: Having started off well its now almost two weeks since I last swam which is the longest in years, just as I was starting to feel my swim fitness coming back. I didn't really have much chance though so I am not beating myself up too much about it. I am back in the pool tomorrow as long as I get up. I have a nasty 2 x 400 and 6 x 75 in the middle of it so it will be a struggle.

This months plan will again be heavy enough, particularly in running, I have Craughwell coming up in March so I want to get the distances up. I have a weeks skiing holiday coming up at the end of the month with about fifteen lads so it will be more of a piss up than anything else. Its hard for us to justify to the missus a lads holiday to Ibiza at our age so skiing covers all the angles I am looking forward to it I have never gone before.

ronanmac

Some totals already, Catweazle, particularly on the bike. Yikes!

catweazle

Yesterday just a slow run around the local 8k route, I was going to do a turbo session but Wednesday was a triple threat day so I took it easy!

Wednesday AM: 1600m pool swim, I struggled this morning the long break bit me in the ass. The session wasn't too taxing at least, the sheet called for a 2 x 400 off 9.35 which isn't difficult but my stroke was poor and I was tired all the way through it. The 6 x 75 after was a bit of a novelty, 25m breathe every 3 strokes, 25m breathe every 5 and 25m breathe every 7. I had never done something like that before. Nearly drowned when I started to breathe out from the first stroke on the 7, I was out of air and I had only 5 stokes in so after that whether it was right or wrong I held my breaths on the 7 strokes till I had done the 5th stroke, my stroke rate increased as well to try and get them in before I could breathe

Lunchtime Run: I had made up my mind to try some interval running, so I hoped for 5 x 1k off 4 minutes and then jogging for .5k over my 8k loop. The first one went fine 3.43 but I paid for that one on the second just hanging on to get in at 3.59. The head then said feck this and I trotted along for the rest of it, shame and guilt made me do one more at the end which I came in on 3.54. So only 3 x 1k in the end, a lot of work to do

Evening Turbo: Season 3 of The Wire almost over and a great end to the penultimate episode. Like a fool earlier in the week clearing space in the laptop I deleted Limewire as its more or less useless now, I forgot the folder that had my files was called Limewire so all music, and Series one of Heroes and 27 now deleted......sssss****e! I have series 4 of the Wire safe but I was going to mix it up a bit. Anyways Tri Bars are beginning to become comfortable now on the 20 minute x 2s so I will go up to 25 minutes intervals now

On a side note the mother in law asked me did I lose weight tonight

Nice one, I am down from 87 to 82 since the xmas, Mrs C thinks I am worse than her on the scales. The weekday discipline as regards **** food seems to be working

Abhainn

Catweazle good to see you back with achievable goals for 2011.
Tri burgh Olympic on June 4th is well considering. A beaut of a course.
I'm sure they will get the sea swim distance correct this year

catweazle

Well the week of plenty of running hasn't happened yet, I am not going out in that wind.

Thursday: Backed off the run at lunchtime and then went up on the turbo instead, I was half happy to as I wanted to see Season 3's end to the Wire. I had to take a work phone call at 5.30 which lasted over an hour so I didnt bother going up again.

Friday AM: Swim in the morning, I have yet to sleep in for one yet. Nothing too hard in this one 6 x 200 in the middle of it off 4.35, held this fairly comfortably. Swam a 3.57 for the last 200. The swimming is coming back a little bit. That is the 1500m sessions over with so on to the 2300m session plan for next week

Friday Lunch: A cock up with Wire Season 4 meant I was forced to watch a Sunday Times Documentary on Alien Galaxies. This really didn't hold my attention so I decided to go down on the tri-bars for 30 minutes building up the resistance in a half assed pyramid session. I was happy enough at the end of it, pushed hard on it. I might introduce some music soon for the harder sessions

Friday Evening: Found a DVD in the room that I have been meaning to watch for a long time. Padraig Harrington just after winning the Open in 2007, had made a promise beforehand to play Westport for charity the following tuesday. Typical of the man he turned up. I have played Westport a good bit so it was most enjoyable watching him shoot I think -4 for 12 holes off the back tees. Taking on shots over trees and inlets that I could only dream about, it gives you a true indication of how good these guys are when you have played the course yourself. He then did a questions and answers session afterwards in the Clubhouse. I cant think of anyone in Sports that I have more admiration for! Anyways the turbo session was grand, all big gear low cadence.

Wind still howling outside hopefully it will die down tomorrow for a decent run.

El Director

Just spotted your log CW and delighted to see it! You certainly seem to mean business this year. Though you speak of "blowouts, failed targets, haphazard training..." I sense a steely determination in you words and you seem very focused on what needs to to be done and indeed have already started (c.750k in the saddle...on the turbo....in big gears :eek:)

The swimming seems very focused too and you seem to be very sensible re the amount of racing you will do this year, being fresh on the big day is such a great advantage. Although, I still intend in doing a fair bit of racing again this year but shhh, haven't mentioned it yet in my log I will see you in Spiddal, entered the olympic this week. Alas no HOTW for me as it clashes with the euro's Great race.

Well done so far man keep it up and who knows a top 25% finish in Swinford may be on the cards after all.

catweazle

A decent weekends training for me!

Saturday Afternoon: I should have got Sky+ years ago, it gives me much more flexibility around training so household jobs done and safe in the knowledge that the 6 nations games were being recorded I went off a nice run around Renvyle Woods out near Oranmore, this is a lovely route, through the park, down by the coast with some lovely houses and out and around an old castle. Did 2 laps of just under 10k. I had no real plan besides keeping it easy, later during the run I decided I would do a 1/2 marathon in just under 2 hours. It was absolutely drilling down with rain so by the time I was doing the 2nd lap I was soaked and my clothes were hanging off me, so I called it a day at 19k rather than doing one more lap of Renvyle park. 1.49.20, I think it was around 5.40 pace I wasnt so happy to come home to a powercut but at least I got the awful dirge of Ireland v Italy before it went. Christ they were lucky, I still think they could win a grand slam this year though my confidence is badly shaken!

Sunday Afternoon: Up in the office tomorrow so I will sort out my Season 4 of the Wire so I went with another documentary called Earth. A BBC production so it was much better than the freebies with the Sunday Times.

So 75k alternating between 10 minutes easy and then 20 minutes down on Tri Bars with easy enough resistance. I think I can stay down on the bars for a good while now if I needed to. A half assed brick run followed after (you cant just barrel past Mrs C on the way out so assurances I wouldn't be long and I was on dinner duty was needed to appease her). After a shaky first k I ran on well, averaging 5.12 pace with a last 4.53 thrown in at the end, it felt pretty easy.

catweazle

Monday Lunchtime: My first swim in my old gym in Castlebar in a long time. They are decent enough in there so they dont mind me popping in the odd time. One of the girls who works there is learning to swim as she wants to race the Humbert this year, she was in the pool beside me today she has come on a ton since I last saw her before xmas. I wanted to do a 400 TT before I started the 2300m swim program. I was reasonably happy with it, came in on 7.38, still slower than last year but better than the 8 flat I did in early January. Total 1000m

Monday Evening: I did the first session in the 2300m program. 200WU, 8 x 50 Kick, 8 x 100 off 2.25, 8 x 75 swim and kick on back alternates and 200 WD. I find the kicks tough but I was happy enough with the 8 x 100 came in just under 2 minutes in all of them. Total 2000m

Its getting very frustrating building my swim fitness back, its looking like I wont be able to swim again till friday, I have a 12 x 100 off 2.15 in session 2 that will be tough for me to hold and I would like to do it on Wednesday. At the start of the year the swim plan was Monday, wednesday and fridays but work and family are nailing me again this week.

catweazle

Work kept me away from any training on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thursday AM: I managed a sneaky swim in the pool yesterday, I was supposed to do 2600m as down in the plan, but with all the leg kicking I just hadn't the time to get it done. A school class coming in doing water aerobics was the final nail in the coffin as I was stuck in one lane with two breast-stokers, so I headed in early. 1500m

Thursday Lunch: My usual 8k run, was tired doing this as I hadn't ran since sunday.

Friday AM: Got the session in this morning. Tough session 12 x 50 off 1.00 which is more or less flat out for me. 12 x 100 kick/left arm/right arm/swim. The legs were on fire by the end of it. 8 x 50 off 55 seconds - I wasn't able to hold these times and started to drift up to 1 min+ intervals. Happy enough though as I got through it in one piece, last month I had to mix and match these sessions to finish them, was late getting to work though. I need to start factoring in the length of time that certain drills like kicking add on to my session. 2600m

Hoping to go for a long run later, I have a meeting in town after lunch so all going well I might hit the prom after. There is the local clubs duathlon this weekend, I am not too bothered about doing them but in fairness they have gone to the effort to set these races up so I think I need to show my face at one or two of them. I wont be taking it too seriously so I am hoping to have a long run today and long bike tomorrow. I am hoping to get Mrs C out for a few drinks on saturday night as well so sundays race report wont be too exciting

kennyb3

Somehow missed this log up until now. Great work last month.

You definitely need to get out of your head you dont like hills, its a total mental battle getting up them. When i started cycling i told myself i loved them and now i relish them when they come along. Not because im particularly fast up them either its just a good test in my head. Dont want to be over personal in this regard, but could you lose a few pounds? weight is everything on hills.

Anyway keep up the good work, major kudos on the bike km's put down in Jan. Signed up now so will be keeping a look in

catweazle

Dont want to be over personal in this regard, but could you lose a few pounds? weight is everything on hills.

Cheers Kenny,

Ya I could lose a few pounds most definitely, I think the lowest I was is around 78ks for Connemarathon last year. If I could get down to 75k I would be delighted. I am 81 now so I am on the right track

Ya I need to embrace the pain more when i see a hill rather than reducing down the gears for any small hump in front of me. Hoping to have the bike as a strength this year so plenty of work needed

catweazle

Friday PM: Well the long run didn't happen, the meeting went way over what I thought it would take so I only got out around the local route just before it got dark. Went at a just under sub 5k pace to wake the legs up a bit for sunday 8k

Saturday Am: I am too fond of the lie in on Saturdays, I need to start earlier to get away with the full session. The plan was a 90k turbo and the local 8k route after. It ended up being cut short........only a 60k cycle after brother in law arrives over with timber. The wife has gradually accepted the necessity for a run straight after the bike but the brother in law certainly wouldn't be as understanding.

So for tomorrows duathlon I will probably be a little fresher than I planned going into it. I was going to buy pedal cages for the event but never got off my ass about it. I only have a pair of proper bike shoes so I expect my transition times will kill me tomorrow. Not too concerned about the running but I would like to feel mentally that the bike has come on a bit after all the work over the winter.....albeit none of it at a fast pace! So I dont want loads of people going by me on the bike which is what usually happens.

catweazle

A lovely day today in the West so after a feeling of impending dread all week I was looking forward to todays Duathlon. Kudos to the two clubs Predator and Tri Lakes for organising these series of races, 10 euros for 6 races is a bargain in this day and age.

There was a big turn out today and there was some tasty entrants at the sharp end of things, Grealish, Marrey and Geraghty were all here and the last series winner, a young lad with a Craughwell AC singlet who was a stunning runner was also here.

Only the one nemesis here, The Gaeilgeoir (Ronanmac) and I wasnt expecting to be anywhere close to him, without the inconvenience of a swim he would be up at the front of this. However surprise surprise I managed to pick up a few more potential rivals before the end of the race

I want expecting much from my run, but I was gunning for a serious attempt at a strong cycle its always been my worst discipline so I was eager to see if the work I had put in over the winter would reap some reward.

Off we went and I set out at 4 minute pace, the group got strung out very quickly, The Gaeilgeoir wasnt too far ahead of me at this early stage so he was showing some discipline on his run in the early stages. One of the Tri Lakes guys was maybe twenty metres ahead of me, I was a bit put off by this as I am usually a little faster than him but I was blowing hard anyways. Their was a big bunch behind me running at around 4.30 pace so I decided I would just try and keep ahead of them. Ks were 4.01/4.22/4.18/4.21

Just before the turnaround the guy from Craughwell and some other guy had forged ahead of Grealish and Geraghty was another 20 metres behind Mairtin. Marrey and the Gaeilgeoir and a few others were behind them. One lad made a break from the group and went by me, I got to the Transition area ahead of the main bunch and then proceeded to have a disaster of a transition, I always seem to have trouble getting my helmet clasp in place. I then start to panic and try and clasp it and then put it over my head....which I should know doesnt work as I have tried and failed many times in doing this. Lost over a minute trying to get this on, I need to calm down a bit when attempting this. Got out to hear our Club director commenting on how slow my transition was with a big grin on his face

Anyways here we go, the slow transition had me just behind "The Carpetbagger" who was a better biker than me so it would be a good test straight away. The first thing I noticed was that I flew off out of the traps, straight down on the bars and overtook a big pile of the main bunch that came out ahead of me in transition. The second thing I noticed was that it was hurting just as much as any other time I was on the bike however I seemed to be able to live with the pain better than I normally do. After another minute or two I overtook one of my club mates, now this got me excited he had always a better bike than me. He hung on behind me for a few minutes but I began to draw away and lost him on the long straights.

On I went and there was clear road in front of me, I eventually saw a guy ahead took me a long time to reel him in but I got him around half way, got around another lad shortly after that. My cadence wasnt great I was pushing too big a gear all the way through it but I didnt care too much as I was passing people, there was a Tri Lakes suit ahead of me, which I hoped was the guy that had been ahead of me on the run, if I caught him after giving him a 2 minute start it would be a huge boost, got him near the end of the bike and I was delighted, he usually was a 2 minute better biker than me last year.

Transition 2 came and the Tri Lakes guy flew by me before I had even my shoes off, I realised then he must have used pedal cages, makes sense as I didnt think I could be that much quicker on the bike than him. I am going to provisionally put him in as "The Banker" at least for this series

The 2nd run wasnt very exciting early on I was making no time back on him and there was no-one too close behind me, the Brick was terrible which I was expecting as I had pushed so hard on the bike so it was short baby steps for a good while. Grealish came by in front with Geraghty and Marrey behind him, Ronanmac was in 6th place (which he held) so he is going great.

At the turnaround, the guy that had passed me on the run was flying behind me and the club mate was close as well, this got my ass in gear again as I was coasting and the legs had freed up a bit so I was able to go quicker on the run home. I was gradually catching one of the club mates in front another guy who would be quicker than me last year, I got passed by one guy who was behind me for a while and I ran out of time to catch the last club mate. 4.53/4.47/4.26/4.19

Heart Rate Average = 142
Max Heart Rate = 173

All in all I am happy enough, the cycle gave me great encouragement, thats the first time I have never been passed out on the bike, if they give me splits later I will post them but there was no timing chips in these races and my Garmin wasnt set up right on multisport. On another note, I got fed up of my spiking heart rate on the Garmin so I got the Polar strap that Mloc recommended, worked a treat and the leather strap is great as they don't slip down at all

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Well done CW, it shows the hard work on the bike over Winter is paying off.

kennyb3

Great stuff CW - just goes to show you get back what you put in. All you need now is a few bricks to sort out that first km off the bike.

Any link to that HRM?

ronanmac

Fair play again, Catweazle, nice to see you in Caherlistrane. I notice your average heart rate is substantially lower than mine for that race, 142 as opposed to 168. Am new to this heart rate craic but it seems a big difference. What gives, you reckon?

catweazle

ronanmac wrote: »

Fair play again, Catweazle, nice to see you in Caherlistrane. I notice your average heart rate is substantially lower than mine for that race, 142 as opposed to 168. Am new to this heart rate craic but it seems a big difference. What gives, you reckon?

Probably means that I am a lazy bastard and didn't give it 100%! I wasn't really near anyone on the 2nd run and didn't push myself accordingly. The two lomg transitions would have brought the average down as well.I wouldnt worry too much, Macanris average HR seems to be always in the 160's as well and it certainly doesnt effect his running times

You need to go hell for leather over a 5k distance and see what your max heart rate is. I can only get mine up to 193 I think, whereas Macanris can get well over 200. So maybe you can get it over 200 as well

Wear it to bed somenight and you will get your resting heart rate, you can then input that and your max into the watch and it will give you your 5 training zones. Although I know shotguns has revised his zones slightly from the watch.

Just realised I didnt turn off my garmin for a few minutes after, so don't read anything into that HR average I had, it probably was similar to yours after all

shotgunmcos

Good work at the duathlon CW, you are certainly putting the work in and its paying off.

littlebug

I've been living in a bubble these past few weeks. If I'd known there was a duathlon in Caherlistrane on sunday I'd have gone over to cheer you and your arch nemesis on.

catweazle

littlebug wrote: »

I've been living in a bubble these past few weeks. If I'd known there was a duathlon in Caherlistrane on sunday I'd have gone over to cheer you and your arch nemesis on.

Ronanmac has a picture of us up on his log so you will recognize us for the next one, bring the dog and you can run up Knockma after

El Director

Excellent stuff CW, the bike work is really paying off and as that second run progressed you were getting faster. You must have finished fairly high up the order too. I will be doing the Ballinrobe one on the 5th of March I hope so I might see you there.

catweazle

El Director wrote: »

Excellent stuff CW, the bike work is really paying off and as that second run progressed you were getting faster. You must have finished fairly high up the order too. I will be doing the Ballinrobe one on the 5th of March I hope so I might see you there.

Afraid not big man, will only be back from skiing that day. That might be a good one I saw Padraig Marrey handing out flyers for it the last day. I might do this weekends one in Clarinbridge, our club manager is on to race it me as I have done my stint as a marshal already

pgibbo

Fair play on Sunday CW. Looks like I missed a cracking event.

Macanri

Well done in the duathlon CW. A good bike and a good run off it too. The training has paid off there. And it only early days, so I'ld say you'll be flying it over the summer.

catweazle wrote: »

Probably means that I am a lazy bastard and didn't give it 100%! I wasn't really near anyone on the 2nd run and didn't push myself accordingly. The two lomg transitions would have brought the average down as well.I wouldnt worry too much, Macanris average HR seems to be always in the 160's as well and it certainly doesnt effect his running times

You need to go hell for leather over a 5k distance and see what your max heart rate is. I can only get mine up to 193 I think, whereas Macanris can get well over 200. So maybe you can get it over 200 as well

Wear it to bed somenight and you will get your resting heart rate, you can then input that and your max into the watch and it will give you your 5 training zones. Although I know shotguns has revised his zones slightly from the watch.

Just realised I didnt turn off my garmin for a few minutes after, so don't read anything into that HR average I had, it probably was similar to yours after all

Re the HR, My HR avg for easy runs is normally just below 160, for tempo sessions and intervals it would be in the high 170s. For short races 2 to 5 miles it would be nid to high 180s; the max HR in these races frequently caps at 200. 201 is the highest I have recorded, the 220s I put down to jumps/gliches in the HRM reading! I hope so anyway. My marathon pace is looking like around 172 to 176.

catweazle

Macanri wrote: »

My marathon pace is looking like around 172 to 176.

For the entire Marathon :eek:

If my HR hits high 160's I knows I am living on borrowed time

ronanmac

catweazle wrote: »

Probably means that I am a lazy bastard and didn't give it 100%! I wasn't really near anyone on the 2nd run and didn't push myself accordingly. The two lomg transitions would have brought the average down as well.I wouldnt worry too much, Macanris average HR seems to be always in the 160's as well and it certainly doesnt effect his running times

You need to go hell for leather over a 5k distance and see what your max heart rate is. I can only get mine up to 193 I think, whereas Macanris can get well over 200. So maybe you can get it over 200 as well

Wear it to bed somenight and you will get your resting heart rate, you can then input that and your max into the watch and it will give you your 5 training zones. Although I know shotguns has revised his zones slightly from the watch.

Just realised I didnt turn off my garmin for a few minutes after, so don't read anything into that HR average I had, it probably was similar to yours after all

Yeah, I'll have to keep an eye on this HR mullarkey. I notice that for the Tuam 8k, my average was 178. I haven't figured out my max yet, must suffer a test first, but RHR is 47 (RHR test much easier than max test )

catweazle

I am getting all my swimming sessions in these days but now what I knew would happen now that I have the bike off the turbo for sundays duathlon it has stayed in the back seat of the car since. Tomorrow I need to get on my bike again!

AM Monday swim: An absolute ballbuster with about 550m of kickboard in the plan, with one session being 8 x 50. These used to be done with fins and they were a doddle but without the fins I am close to heart failure: Total 2400m

Monday Lunch Run: A very slow and stiff run, more some type of recovery run than anything else. Feeling the effects of this morning and the duathlon yesterday on the legs

Tuesday: Nothing

AM Wednesday Swim: I am starting to hold the times prescribed in the plan so this is encouraging, swim fitness is coming Total:2300m

Wednesday Lunch Run: With the day off yesterday due to work, I thought I would try and go at a decent pace today, so 7.4k at 4.38 pace. I found this tough and am hoping the swim this morning had an effect, there is no way I will hold another 8.6k at this stage to get under 75 minutes in Craughwell otherwise. I am relaxed enough about Craughwell anyways, better to be running well in July than March

interested

'close to heart failure' - sounds about right

Just think though,
how many times do you push your HR to MAX or within 10% of MAX when running or biking and how many times do you do it when swimming ?

Macanri

catweazle wrote: »

For the entire Marathon :eek:

If my HR hits high 160's I knows I am living on borrowed time

My Av HR for the Waterford Half was 176. So maybe it won't be this high for it all. Prob more like 172 or so for most of it, which is in and around what my avg HR was for the PMP runs. Once I start running in the mid 180s I know I'm on borrowed time.

Good to see your swimming going well too. Your in a good training place right now, eh.

catweazle

Thursday Lunchtime Run: After a tough run yesterday, I took it easy today. Seemed easier today HR nice and low so pushed the pace up to 5.00 min pace. Stayed at this pace comfortably for the 7.4 local route. I finally realised I had some kind of shuffle function on the iphone, when you shook it it changed song which was driving me nuts for months. So after finally googling my problem I got to listen to the full playlist of BT's "These Hopeful Machines" played properly for once. Great album for running. 8k

Thursday Evening Turbo: Supposed to do an hour but only could fit in 30 minutes, did 5 minutes easy 5 minutes hard by 3

Morning Swim I see contains another 8 x 50 kick....damn you Interested :rolleyes:

catweazle

Friday AM: Morning swim, main set consisted of 8 x 50 kickboard followed by 8 x 50 catch up off 1.10. The 8 x 100 off 2.15 after was a pleasure after the first two drills. Again I held the times comfortably. I will retest myself on 50 and 100m pbs as well as the standard 400 after I have finished this plan. Total 2000m

Friday Lunchtime: This was supposed to be an interval session but it was pouring rain and I knew my legs weren't up for it. I need to go harder i think on tuesday and thursdays which are swim days off. So struggled to a 7.4k x 5.15 loop. Total 8k

Saturday AM: For once I was up bright and early and had all the jobs done by 10. My plan was a long brick today. This went haywire with work issues which kept me till 1. After a cross group email from the club about members not attending the duathlons I said I better go out tomorrow and race again. However I am very concerned about my lack of long runs in relation to Craughwell next month so I had to use one of my * banker jobs and hoovered all the upstairs carpets. So only an hour turbo but a 20k run in after down the prom done at 5.27 pace. Found the run ok, HR started going up near the end but it was high 130s for most of it so I was happy enough. Bike 30k Run 20k

Going out for dinner with Mrs C tonight as last weeks was cancelled and meeting a few friends after so I am not going to cause trouble by taking it easy and mentioning racing tomorrow, so tomorrows race will be a slog but I wont be expecting anything from it

*a job that will give me the free pass for any training I want to do, the danger here is that it will be added to the weekend rotation list so it cant be produced often

catweazle

The day awoke to a slight hangover....not too bad in fairness and my mood improved instantly when I opened the curtains. After hearing a strong wind rattling the letterbox all morning I was pleased that it was at least a nice day out albeit breezy.

I am guessing there was about 30ish people racing today. None of the big names from last week but plenty of high level guys. Said hello to Ronanmac and his mate Setanta and got the gear ready.

Run 1
As soon as we headed out I wasn't feeling the love, legs felt heavy, it was a lovely run through a narrow path through a forest so it was very spread out and I was towards the back. I was running within myself at this stage and I saw the club mate who I had gone by in the bike last week was up ahead. I picked it up a little and then stayed at his pace for a while behind him and then he spotted me and called me up for a chat - he was taking it easy and was going to try and hammer the bike and 2nd run which suited me fine so we slowed and were chatting away at a comfortable enough pace, I was delighted to hear he is doing The Humbert again this year so that will be good competition for me. He was over thirty minutes ahead of me last year.
Splits 4.47/4.45/4.51/4.50 AHR=151

Got to the transition area in decent enough shape and then he just left me for dead in transition, I couldn't believe how quick he was compared to me. I am really going to have to work on them this year. Transition 1.34

Bike
The bike I found much harder than last week, more technical with a few speedbumps and a trip through Clarinbridge with a nasty headwind. This didnt start as well as last week, I was immediately overtaken by one of the Tri Lakes Guys, I tried to hang on but I could never get back to him. I started to pass a few myself at this stage and caught a good few over the bike course, I nearly went into the back of a jeep going through Clarinbridge who stopped suddenly at a zebra crossing.

Going down the first hill i realised I wasnt in the big ring so I picked it up a bit then. Was chasing for ages trying to catch a Predator singlet in front of me but it wasn't the club mate when I went past. Unlike last week there was plenty of changing gears as I didnt seem to have the power to drive though the rolling hills. Got a few more near the end and then a guy I had just overtaken got by me again just coming into transition. I was very impressed with his bunny hopping of the speed ramps. I am happy enough definitely not as fast as last week but it was over 30k an hour at least.
Bike 16k 31.30 = 30.3k average AHR=146

Transition 2 = 1.04 (lost a few places again here)

Run 2
The inevitable brick again here but the four lads directly in front of me were looking much worse for wear than I was. Went by one straight away and then put a bit of a spurt in to get past the 2nd guy before we hit the trails. I then caught up to the other two guys and with no-one else in sight after them I slowed and had a chat with them. One of them......the guy who went by me just coming in off the bike was a walking advert for Amphibian King so I confidently inquired was he on boards. He was indeed Amphkingwest so I had a chat with him for a few minutes about Galway 70.3 which he was doing. After a minute or two i pushed on, nearly home now and turning a corner I saw a new guy coming up fast behind me. I had to push the pace up for the last 500 metres to keep him away and I rolled in at around 1.10.49 for the race. Splits 4.57/4.53/4.50/4.35 AHR=155

I have no idea about the positions this week but with no uber bikers there this week Peadar Harvey ran the legs off everyone again

Thats it for a few weeks as regards duathlons, with the skiing next saturday I was hoping for a very heavy training week but it doesnt look like thats going to happen. I will be on the road a good bit for work next week