A long way down - IM South Africa 2013

Izoard

Been off the grid for a while, so time to get back in the saddle.

IM ZA - April 14 2013, with Donadea 50km as a warm up.

Actually, a bit of a relief to sign up for it - I know this will be my last for a while, as kids sport coaching has largely wiped out weekend training, so just looking to enjoy it.

For those that aren't familiar with my history, a re-cap...

Usual busy life...
4 kids
1 fantastic wife
1 job that has me on a plane to various 3rd world countries on an ongoing basis
2 dogs

Races:
3 Long Distance Tri (IMCH 2010 12.07, Roth 2011 11.30, Abu Dhabi LD 2012 9.30)
6 HIM
16 marathons (PB 3.26, back in '05)
2 Ultras

Similar to Abu Dhabi, pretty much all the bike training will be done on a turbo, so will be massively undercooked, but how hard can it be, eh?:)

catweazle

Ah splendid negotiations as always Izoard

griffin100

****e, I'd better get my arse in gear for 2013

Best of luck with this Fergal, a nice short lead in time!!

pgibbo

Fair play. I don't know how you manage it with such a busy schedule but kudos!!! :cool:

Kurt Godel

Looking forward to this log, your logs are always a decent read. I'll be fighting you for the wooden spoon in Donadea 50k.

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Looking forward to this log, your logs are always a decent read. I'll be fighting you for the wooden spoon in Donadea 50k.

Ahh, there will be plenty behind us - I'm undefeated over 50km vs RQ for starters..:)

Izoard

Nothing like the rising panic of signing up for an event, to get your ar$e in gear...

First real outing in the runners since DCM, a nice 17km @ 5.10 pace - still upright, so all is well.

RacoonQueen

Izoard wrote: »

Ahh, there will be plenty behind us - I'm undefeated over 50km vs RQ for starters..:)

Oh fighting talk. Anto, I need an entry.

You know I faked those stomach cramps to give you a chance old man.

Izoard

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Oh fighting talk. Anto, I need an entry.

You know I faked those stomach cramps to give you a chance old man.

When you are explaining, you are loosing.

Anto, do the right thing and give her an entry....

RacoonQueen

Jaysus, sounds like a smackdown. You'll have to nab me an entry now and then let your legs do the talking!

handangeo

Got permission again I see to go long!!

Dory Dory

I missed any mention of your epic jump roping in that opening post. ;)

shotgunmcos

Cool. Good to have you back. I'll follow with interest. See you at Donadea

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

I missed any mention of your epic jump roping in that opening post. ;)

Ehh, yeah - I went off the reservation when yourself and Oryx were handing out painful challenges.

In fairness, I did try the skipping, but the relentless mocking from the small people, eventually took it's toll.

As for Oryx's core stuff - I got a stomach muscle cramp after about 2 minutes, that is still easing out.

I'm too old for this stuff....

Izoard

So, we went down to the National Guide Dog Centre in Cork during the week to say goodbye to our original foster puppy before she was matched up with a blind person.

Turns out, with only a week left on her training, she suffered a major auto-immune virus, and so had to be taken out of the programme.

With a car full of caring females, there was only 1 outcome, so we ended coming back to Dublin with 2 dogs (one being our current foster puppy).

So, I headed to Bushy Park this morning with 2 hyper lab-retrievers, but we all survived a 9km run along the trails, including a brief swim in the Dodder (I opted out of that portion...although I probably should have jumped in - no doubt it was the next torture challenge from either Dory or Oryx...).

Was never a fan of running with dogs, but I'm slowly coming around...

Dory Dory

Izoard!!! You train guide dogs??? Seriously impressed with that. Over the years, we have taken care of many guide dogs in training (hubby is a vet) and all I can say is it takes a very unselfish person/family to commit so much time (I think 2 years?) and so much discipline and so much love with the understanding that when it's time, you have to let that bundle of fur go. You rock in my world.

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

Izoard!!! You train guide dogs??? Seriously impressed with that. Over the years, we have taken care of many guide dogs in training (hubby is a vet) and all I can say is it takes a very unselfish person/family to commit so much time (I think 2 years?) and so much discipline and so much love with the understanding that when it's time, you have to let that bundle of fur go. You rock in my world.

Thanks for the beatification, Dory...:)

We were lucky that puppy #2 arrived before puppy #1 headed off to her planned working life, so the kids got a shiny new puppy and easily "forgot" about the other dog on the way out.

The fickleness of kids, eh?

Izoard

Haven't refreshed my pool times for various distances in a long time, so decided that 22m30 for 1km (:eek:) set back in '08 looked particularly soft:)

Sure enough, lowered this down to 20m 08, despite the appearance of a breast-stroker in the lane, midway through the test - definitely cost me the 8 seconds, though!

Plenty more ridiculously poor TT times to amend over the coming weeks...

RacoonQueen

*NOTE TO SELF: Do a sub 20 1k time trial...*

Izoard

RacoonQueen wrote: »

*NOTE TO SELF: Do a sub 20 1k time trial...*

You were probably that breast-stroker, messing up my TT...

Izoard

400m TT today, to set some realistic set times - 7m 33s.

Feeling good about that until I stumbled into mcos' marathon training log - 4 x 400m off 7min, in the middle of a larger set, ranging from 6.30-6.42...:eek:

Kurt Godel

Izoard wrote: »

400m TT today, to set some realistic set times - 7m 33s.

Feeling good about that until I stumbled into mcos' marathon training log - 4 x 400m off 7min, in the middle of a larger set, ranging from 6.30-6.42...:eek:

Yeah he'd disgust you all right with those times. Think of them as targets. 7:33 isn't too bad a yardstick to build on.

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Yeah he'd disgust you all right with those times. Think of them as targets. 7:33 isn't too bad a yardstick to build on.

In a further 2-fingered salute to us mere mortals, I see he's since dropped those times to 6.06-6.12 for 4 x 400m...

Kurt Godel

Izoard wrote: »

In a further 2-fingered salute to us mere mortals, I see he's since dropped those times to 6.06-6.12 for 4 x 400m...

The benefits of training with a faster group. Unbelievable progress. Do you swim alone Izoard?

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

The benefits of training with a faster group. Unbelievable progress. Do you swim alone Izoard?

Current lifestyle means that all training is alone:( - once this IM project is out of the way, I look forward to re-engaging with society via a more inclusive pursuit!

Izoard

A forced, 2-week hiatus from the pool, means that I can avoid the runners no longer - although nothing like the fear of a 50k'er in Feb to start to focus the mind.

Will look to start the long runs next week, but the 17km today was a reasonable effort.

ultraman1

Izoard wrote: »

When you are explaining, you are loosing.

Anto, do the right thing and give her an entry....

even if she pays the 200quid late entry fee,she would have to go sub 3 to beat you with the IAU age grading criteria,,and her recent 17 minute 4k wouldnt even get her in before the 5hr cut off:p

Izoard

Managed to round out 2012 averaging 10 hours per week training (including commuting).

This wasn't too bad, given I sat around and drank beer most of the "summer", but it is indicative of the time available to me these days...

The last 10 days of 2012, turned out to be the busiest, work-wise so that put a serious dent in Christmas - good news, is that I managed to avoid the extra half stone I usually collect around this time, bad news was that my sneaky plan to creep up the 2012 SBR, with a monster final week, came to nothing.

Anyways, Donadea is coming up fast - I'll be nervously looking at the start list to see if anyone will be challenging Kurt and myself for the "lantern rouge".

Kurt Godel

Izoard wrote: »

Anyways, Donadea is coming up fast - I'll be nervously looking at the start list to see if anyone will be challenging Kurt and myself for the "lantern rouge".

Sorry Izoard, but I'm looking at my training schedule and I can't see any reason to fit an ultra distance in. If I'm there at all I'll be cycling behind you with a sweeping brush shouting "Dépêchez-vous garçon graisse!"

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Sorry Izoard, but I'm looking at my training schedule and I can't see any reason to fit an ultra distance in. If I'm there at all I'll be cycling behind you with a sweeping brush shouting "Dépêchez-vous garçon graisse!"

Insults alway sound better in French...

For a man who dropped into DCM 24 hours bfore the start, I think you are now applying too much logic and reason to your training schedule:)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Izoard wrote: »

Insults alway sound better in French...

For a man who dropped into DCM 24 hours bfore the start, I think you are now applying too much logic and reason to your training schedule:)

He went with a 3 week training plan for DCM surely 4 weeks would work for Donadea. He still has that previous 3 week training block in the legs....the stamina will still be there:D