Tri o shimasho!

just-joe

Monday 21st Jan
Short 5k run on tired legs after long run on Sunday.

Tuesday 22nd Jan
I was away at a conference Monday and Tuesday and didn't manage anything as I was too tired from conferencing/partying to get up on Tuesday morning, and didn't get back til late.

Wednesday 23rd Jan
Up at 5.30am to get an 8k run in. There has been no snow at all lately so I am feeling super lucky and happy about that!
I have begun to dislike Wednesdays a bit as the pool is closed for club swimming. There is another pool in the town but it's currently an ice rink so I'm looking forward to it melting back into a pool!

Currently considering whether it is possible to swim 1500m by May 12th for Yokohama Triathlon.

just-joe

Thursday 24th Jan

Morning - run 6.5k, 35:20. I have improved at the getting up early game, it feels like this is more connected to it being warmer than effective bed times. I would like to run some of the weekday runs a bit quicker but I don't think I could manage it just after getting out of bed.

Evening - swim. Either I made a bit of a breakthrough today or else I just tried harder. But today I had a really good swim. I went in with the goal of doing some drills, and 100m twice. In the end I managed:

warm-up 25m x 6 (2 left breathing, 2 right breathing, 2 bilateral.
50m x 2 (breathing right)
100m x 2 (breathing right)
25 x 6 (2 each of kicking normal, left and right. and swim back with kickboard between legs)

I thought I'd be tired but was absolutely fine. So I kept going, and did
100m x 4



This is by far the most I've swam in a session and was really surprised and happy! I timed my last one and I'm fairly sure it was 2:30. Although I could be wrong as I am short-sighted and don't have vision correcting goggles, lol! That's probably super slow but I'm kinda chuffed anyway!

Dory Dory

Well done on your swimming!!

just-joe

Cheers DoryDory!

I look at the other logs and see how pathetic I still am though so it's good motivation!;)

Friday 25th Jan
Morning - 10k run, 54:14. Planned to go for 12 or 13k but got caught in a storm and got asbolutely soaked. For some reason I have a habit of ignoring the forecast and not putting on rainproof bottoms. Having said that waterproof jackets eventually let water through, and sealskinz too. It's hard to know how much is rainwater and how much is sweat on your feet, but as the shoe is soaked and carrying water you're getting soaked anyway. I'm not sure if I'd recommend sealskinz above plastic bags on your feet.

Afternoon swim - same set as yday pretty much, but I managed 150m first time ever which was cool! Felt like I could go further which is probably a good sign. Although I don't want to get carried away on distance, forget about technique and develop bad habits. So I'm gonna try not to spend every swim session chasing distance. If I can.

just-joe

Sat 26th Jan
Was planning a run but due to absolutely ridiculous weather I put it off til Sunday and did a swim instead. Mainly the same few drills and 4x100m, finished with 200m which was cool. My breathing off the right is now much better than left or bilateral, so I'll have to try not to rely on it and practice the others more.

Sunday 27th Jan
Long run - 30kms, 2:45
Lots of snow yesterday but nice weather this afternoon. When the sun was out from behind the clouds, all the snow made everything white and quite bright. SO I brought some sunglasses and they were perfect for it.
Tried to go out slower and kinda managed, averaging 5:30 pace, but maybe even slower than this would have been better, to get more time on my feet. I walked for a min or two every 6kms, and expected the intervals to get longer, but actually they got shorter (althought a bit more painful) as it went on as I relaxed more and stopped watching the clock.

Was planning to do absoluely nothing afterwards but ended up going to the pool with a friend. This was probably good as I feel a lot more loose and less achy now.

Only one more long run then time to taper for Tokyo!

Izoard

Nice to get a 30km run under your belt - all the best for the marathon!

just-joe

Yup I needed it a lot! Cheers!

just-joe

Monday Jan 28th
Day of rest, felt quite lazy but my legs were a bit sore to do anything about it.

Tuesday Jan 29th
Morning - run, 6.51k, 37:36.
Back to really nice weather and hopefully it stays this way. Clear roads and no wind rain or snow, no complaints! Legs feeling fine too.

Evening - swim
warmed up with 50m x 3, then did kicking and catch up drills 50m each. tried swimming with just fists as i read a couple of places it will give you more of a feel for the water. it made me feel very strange and like i was sinking. Have to keep trying with that one. Then I did 4 x 100m and 2x 200m which all felt great!

just-joe

Wed 30th Jan
Run - 11.74 kms, 1:04.
Blessed with snowless weather this week. Got out early and got this done before work, very happy.

Thur 31st Jan
Run - 6.31kms, 35:40
Swim - doing the same kind of warm-up/couple of drills/swim 100m reps. Which is ok and quite enjoyable but I still need to focus more on technique, and also make a plan for each session, rather than just hopping into the pool with no goal. I have increased the distance to 1000m or so, so that feels good.

Friday 1st Feb
Run - 10kms, 53:38
Finally decided about getting a gps/hrm, went for the garmin 310xt and used it for the first time on Friday. Didn't use hrm just the gps, but it was really nice to not carry the phone around, and have it all there on the wrist. Don't really have a clue how to use it so that's on the list of things to do now too.
Swim - about 1000m.
After watching a few youtube vids I have been trying to get each shoulder out of the water as I reach for a new stroke. And also trying to make the stroke longer, instead of going half way on the pull. I can do 200m no problem and feel like I could manage longer. The 400m TT thread has given me a new goal!

Saturday 2nd
Snowboarding - not really training but if a sport was invented adding snowboarding to triathlon I would definitely sign up for a race.

just-joe

Sunday 3rd Jan
Long run - 32kms, 3:03:36.
Two loops of 14k and 4k extra. Was a tiny bit stiff after snowboarding but no problems at all. Went out with only two tshirts and when the wind started blowing it was very cold. SO after the first loop got a jacket and then it was fine. I'm not sure if I drank before going out, or if I started to drink at 5k (and every 5 after), but I stopped 3 times for the bathroom. Maybe the low temperature and low sweat rate has something to do with it. So I think I'll wait until 10k to drink when it comes to the marathon. On the other hand better to stop for the bathroom than get dehydrated. Lack of energy gel meant I had two snickers bars and this kind of energy jelly, which was fine. I'll try to take a gel on a run before the marathon though cos it is prob better than chocolate. Threw two faster Ks (4:45) for the 22nd and 23rd K to see how it would feel, and it was fine.

So overall a god run, nice confidence boost. Lack of having ran a longer distance at pace makes me a bit nervous but I'll try to get a medium long pace run in before race day, and hopefully it'll be ok. As for race pace I think I'll aim for 5 min Ks at the start, and if possible step it up to 4:45/4:30 if I have it in me for the second half. See how we go.

Took the garmin with me and it made all these graphs and numbers and stuff.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/268927237

just-joe

Monday 4th January
Evening - swim
150m warm-up with 50m breathing left, right and bilateral. Right is so much better than left, I regret not sticking to left all along. I'll have to do a breathing left only session or week to get the feeling for it. Then some drills. Then 3 x 100m, 200m, 3 x 100m, 200m


Tuesday 5th January
Morning - run - 7k
I didn't think I would but I have recovered well from the long runs. Walking or cycling immediately after, and then a few hours later again, seems to help. So the first run back after the long run has been going well. It is great to because doing 7k after the long run at the weekend is a piece of cake.

Evening - same swim session.
I should be doing more drills or technique but don't have much direction. I have been too busy/lazy to find lessons so I'll have to get to it sometime soon.

just-joe

Wednesday 6th Jan
12 morning run, perfect weather, no complaints!

Thursday 7th Jan
Slept in too late to run this morning, but I enjoyed not running almost as much as I enjoy running.

Swim - 1000m. 1 x 100m, 3 x 200m, 1 x 300m. First time to step up to 300m in a row! Felt tough and technique faded a bit, but not too bad. I'm fairly bad the whole way through! Well up for giving 400m a crack sometime soon.

just-joe

I can't see how to edit my own posts up there, to change the dates.

Anyways haven't updated this in ages mostly cos I haven't had much good to write down. I was running and swimming on schedule til last last weekend, when between laziness and a massive amount of snow I didn't get my long run done. Struggled to get out last week with more snow and below freezing temperatures. Finally got out last wednesday I think and then have been ok since.

I wanted to do another 20ishK but as Tokyo Marathon is this weekend, it was too close to do a long run last weekend. I did just 12k on Sunday, will go out a couple of times this week, but nothing big. Hopefully less is more and I'll be fully recovered for running 42k on Sunday!

I'll write a quick report after, and hopefully start taking more care of this log, and get back to a more even training schedule, with some cycling!

pgibbo

Best of luck!

catweazle

just-joe wrote: »

I'll write a quick report after!

A longer one would be preferred!

Good luck with the race

just-joe

Thanks pgibbo, thanks catweazle!

Quick jog today, no iphone no watch just enjoyed running for about 25-30 mins. Glad to say my legs feel ok this week.