The year of no excuses..

Chartsengrafs

I've decided to start a log to keep myself on my toes..

Background: First race in 2010, sprint in Kilkenny. I learned to swim the previous year via my sometime swim teacher gf. Got around in 1:22 or so. I had been fast-jogging and doing a bit of cycling for a few years before then.

2011: 3 (tri) races. Finished the season early to train for DCM, but a nasty thigh injury a week out cancelled that.

2012: Trained over the winter with the cycling club, did two early season duathlons. However I was in second year of a part time masters so by May knocked training on the head, except for running. PB'd 5k, 5m and 10k.
Did my first HM and did DCM. Had fun, ran hard (by my standards) but really missed triathlon.

So this year I've no excuses and for the first time in a long time I'm not studying in the evenings / weekends. I'll cut to the chase;

Goals: Sprint 1:12, Olympic 2:25.

I aim to do 5 races or so this year, with possibly a 10k and HM at some stage. I've just joined what seems like a great club so it's time to stop talking and try to get a decent year in. Oh, and I'll probably only update once a week or so, can't imagine it'll be too interesting!

Dory Dory

Best of luck to you!!! And don't underestimate what counts as entertaining.

Chartsengrafs

Saturday 19th
Run, 8km, 39 mins, easy pace.
Coming off the back of a cold, took this one handy.

Sunday 20th
Cycle, 1hr 40mins
Wasn't really sure if a club spin was on or not, stayed in on the turbo. Varied the difficulty, need to figure out some workouts, as I don't have a PM. HR was around 165, 180 after some of the harder bits.

Monday 21st
Went to the local pool for a 'masters session' as the next free block was 10pm. Only did about 1km, won't be back. Need to start going in the mornings.

Tuesday 22nd
Run 6.8km
Lunchtime run, started snowing just as I headed out. Did a 6.8km loop in 32 minutes, again not killing myself.

Wednesday 23rd
First club swim. This was great. Mixture of drills and all sort of stuff and a 400m TT. Myself and another newbie lad (who also wouldn't have many swim kms behind him) were told we need to work on our glutes. Basically I have no kick, it's quite shocking really. So had to dodge a few kick drills (was going nowhere). 1900m session was closer to 1600m in my case. Need to work on glutes / grow an arse.

Thursday 24th
Rest, chili con carne and enormous cupcake.

Friday 25th

Run - 12.6km 4.55 min/km 1hr 2 mins

Had a day off and tried to do a nice easy run, keeping km splits in the high 4's but at conversational pace. Worked out fine, hope to stretch the longer run over the coming weeks / months.

Chartsengrafs

Saturday 26th
Cycle- 1hr turbo

Late night Friday but up early for one hour on the turbo. Steady pace with some 10 second sprints.

Sunday 27th

Cycle - 85km or so, club spin.

There was no organised intermediate spin so went out with the non-fast spin. (Was sort of warned against the faster group).
The slower spin was very slow however until around 45/50 km when we split. I actually started getting quite cold, my HR was just too low as the pace was slow. Picked up a bit for the second half but still didn't feel I was working hard enough and still had a few in the group who were struggling. 85km so plenty of distance but we were out a long time. Great bunch and a nice day for it but will see how things play out.

Chartsengrafs

Monday 28th

Swim

200 warmup
5 x 40 kick
400 pull
400 normal / easy
2 x 40 kick
320 cool down.

1600m

Wednesday 30th

Club swim, first time doing recovery drill, all sorts of kick drils, 6-1-6, catchup. Started clicking towards the end but found this very hard!

Thursday 31st

Run

Lunchtime, 7km 32mins, decent pace for lunch and felt good.

Friday 1st

Cycle

Taken away for the weekend and told in no uncertain terms there could be no training. Which was fair enough in this case. Up early for a very 90 minute spin, flet like I was going backwards at times with the wind.

Saturday 2nd Rest

Sunday 3rd

Run. About 2.5 km (!!!)


Decided to so some fast slow stuff, 500m on/off. Didn't want to overdo it so aimed for 4 min/km per 500. 500m slow, then first 2:06, 500 slow, second 2:01. Felt great, hoped to do ten reps, under or close to 2 mins per 500m.

Then... SPLAT!

Went over on the my left ankle (in some sort of hole - I was on the seafront) and landed flat on my front. Cue bad road rash I suppose you'd call it; a slightly sprained ankle and a sprained shoulder. Still can't raise my arm past say 4 o'clock position. Doc says I'm out for the week anyway.

Last week was a low mileage week as it was but really need to get the sessions in. Not happy but nothing I can do about it.

Chartsengrafs

So it seems the initial diagnosis of being 'out for a week' was at best wildly optimistic. A week later I could still barely move my arm and was hobbling around. Sourced and found a damn good physio.

So I've ligament damage in my foot and suspected slight muscle tears in my shoulder / upper arm.
I took two full weeks off but am allowed turbo. Following that I did maybe 5 hours turbo this week, coupled with 20/30 minutes of exercises every day.

Guess it's ironic in a way that my crappily-titled log is coming back to haunt me. Excuses indeed!

On the bright side I can turbo, but I'd say it'll be at least a week before I run again. That's easily what I miss the most. And at least it's only February. On the down side I moved up an AG this week so I've a feeling tomorrow will be a 'rest' day after tonight..

BTH

Sh1t news about the war wounds. Hope you're back in action soon. A couple of weeks bike focus in the meantime will really stand to you come race season.

BTH

Oh, and happy birthday!!

Chartsengrafs

Thanks! And yeah, hope to put in plenty of hours on it next week.

Edit: thanks also for the suggestion, working out well.

BTH

Basster wrote: »

Thanks! And yeah, hope to put in plenty of hours on it next week.

Edit: thanks also for the suggestion, working out well.

I think I made a few suggestions, so which did you go with!

Chartsengrafs

The first one if I remember correctly- Aidan.

Chartsengrafs

Skipping a few weeks as all I was doing was my daily physio exercises, bit of turbo and eventually some 10, 15, 20 minute plods.. Still doing 20/30 mins of physio a day, and have started back jogging.

Saturday 9th March
Bike.
Intended on a nice easy solo spin but bumped into a hard training club mate from the bike club. Went to Blessington, bid him goodbye at that point and came home for 76km. (Garmin was at 38km half way, battery died soon after. Not sure of pace, around 26 km/h perhaps).

Sunday 10th March
Run, 26:30mins, 4:49min pace. Deliberately keeping the distance short.

Marshalled club TT in the morning. Good craic but I froze solid! Still, a lot easier than TT-ing in very windy and occasionally sleety conditions.

Tuesday 12th
Run, 30 mins ,6km, 5:02min/km. Easy pace again. Got a bit lost, as I do sometimes.

Thursday
Run, easy pace at lunch, 30 mins, few laps in Herbert Park. No Garmin with me as it takes ages to get a signal sometimes and I just don't have time to stand around at lunch.

20 km of bike commuting today, and same on Friday.


Saturday 16th March
Run, 45 mins. 9.36km in nice weather. 4:48min pace. Felt hard at times, but probably to be expected. Happy to get this done. Foot felt a bit weird in the last km so finished a bit earlier than planned. Might be able to venture back into the pool this week, which is nice but my running needs an awful lot of work too.

So finally back to it, sort of. Lots of work to do but I'm really not going to stress about it.

Chartsengrafs

Sunday 17th March
Cycle 32km.

Should have stayed in bed. 4 people showed up, it snowed heavily and we did not stay out long. I don't mind the cold but this was nuts.

Monday 18th March

6km run. Tempo 5km 21:14, 4:15 min/km pace, 1 km cool down.

Late night out last night, felt ropey as hell (still do), but wanted to get something done. This is the kind of session I would have skipped a year ago. Felt fine at this pace for the most part, nice to be back doing something a bit quicker. Need to up the mileage all the same.

Chartsengrafs

Last week went well, running feels OK for the most part, longest run back up to 12km, foot is holding up well.
No long spin however, just a few shorter ones.

Physio decided it's time for an MRI though. Bit of a blow after two months but the arm/shoulder still isn't right. Tried a bit of easy swimming Tuesday (first time back) but it wasn't happening, too much pain. Getting the scan done on Friday, hopefully they'll find something. Chances of it being a run / duathlon year increasing by the week.

Chartsengrafs

Crazy week in work last week, couldn't even make the lunch runs.

Friday Cycle 1hr
Turbo, one hour. Made sure I worked hard for the hour.

Saturday Run 45 mins

Hill repeats in the park, one and down, up and down. This was tough but great fun. The sun even came out a while.

Sunday Cycle 1hr 48 mins

Woke up late, headed towards the hills. Up Three Rock or thereabouts, then home. Very slow speed as I went through town, hard to get momentum going

Monday April 1st Run 6km (5km tempo)

4:10 pace, 5km in 20:53, 1km cool down.

Very late night, too much beer. Still, it's the last I'll be doing of that for a while. Made it to the track, solid enough tempo session. Really should look into doing a race soon for the fun.

Chartsengrafs

Trouble getting out of work again, nothing done Tuesday and Wednesday, 40 km commuting on the bike for what that's worth

Thursday April 4th

Run 10 km easy, 49 mins

Left the bike in work and jogged home. Felt very sluggish as I'd been on my backside for 10 hours give or take. Bag on back, but didn't take as long as expected.

Saturday April 6th
Run

Club run session, first time making this as I finally feel I'm OK to do some sessions as the foot's holding up well.
This was fantastic. Sun was out, first time doing a formal run session. I was put in the second group and was one of the stronger two in the group (though a good few were absent due to racing).

Main session was 5 x 800m repeats*, 2:57, 3:00, 2:57, 2:55, 2:52. Felt comfortable enough for the most part (and a few in my group had a go at me for seemingly not working too hard!) Can't wait for Tuesday.

*May have been closer to 750m in practice.

Sunday April 7th
Bike (76 km-ish) and 6/7 minute run off the bike.

Club spin, very few out due to aforementioned races. Good few new faces, somehow ended up leading out the group with a more established member. Easy pace though as there were a few new-ish folks out.
Short transition to run after.

Oh, and got the shoulder MRI last weekend but still no word back from the d@mn doctor to review it.. But unlikely to be swimming any time soon. Daily physio exercises continue. Signed up for a few duathlons though on Friday night.

BTH

Id be more inclined to blame the night out for the small numbers this am.

Good news on the foot. Hopefully the shoulder follows soon.

Chartsengrafs

So it seems my shoulder was indeed fractured. This would explain the discomfort and the slow revovery. It has healed itself however- seemingly it was just a crack. And it has healed itself 'correctly' but the internal swelling etc is still quite bad.
So I'll go back to the physio (who I haven't seen in a while, although I've been doing my daily exercises). It'll be intersteing to see if this news changes the rehabilitation approach.

The information is of little use to me now, but if I had known a few months ago it was fractured, I wouldn't be tormenting myself thinking.. 'maybe it'll be OK next week?'..

Chartsengrafs

Tuesday 9th

Run (1 hour or so)

Club run seesion. Was in the second group again. Main session: we were to do 10 * 200m uphill repeats, but joined the first group for an eleventh. Wasn't looking at the watch but someone said "42 seconds" after the first and "34 seconds" I think after the last one. Stayed to the front of the group for the duration.

Wednesday 10th

Run 6km at 5:00km pace, recovery. 30 mins

Cycled home rather gingerly, 10km and did a slow 6km recovery run. 2 run speed sessions in four days and my legs didn't know what was going on! The 200s took more out of me I suppose because we were almost sprinting and it's a while since I've done that.

Friday

Bike, 67 mins.

10 km cycle home then hopped on the TT bike for the first time ever taking it outside! First time wearing my Christmas bike shoes outside too (they were too pretty to have out in the winter, overshoes or not).

This was lots of fun, couple of laps of the park, but it was getting dark, 37 mins, 18.69 km, 30.3km/h. Pace might have been quicker only for bits of traffic, contra-flow ninja cyclists, the usual park fun.

Saturday 13th

Pre-race very short run (Sportsmans on Sunday) , 5km, 24 mins.
Didn't feel comfortable at all for this, despite the slow pace was happy to get home.

Chartsengrafs

Sunday 14th April

RACE - Sportsmans Duathlon (Race 3)

Race 1 2012 1:00:49 52nd
Race 3 2012 1:01:41 66th

Aim was to go under an hour, plan B was beat last year.

Result:
Race 3 2013 00:59:37 39th

I was happy to do my first race since DCM 2012, it's been a while! Started off a first km in 3:48min/km, quickly realised I needed to slow down a bit.
First 3.2km in 12:51, 4:00 pace

The bike went OK, although it took about 20 seconds to clip in . I was wearing new bike shoes so new cleats, and the 'feel' was very different, I suppose because they weren't worn down. First time racing on the TT bike. Must say I found it very comfortable, probably because I got a proper fit on it. Had slight G.I. issues overnight and they arose with 4km to go on the bike so I had to get off the TT bars.. not a pleasant experience! Pushed through, felt OK though after a while. Would be disappointed if I did this race next year and didn't knock a minute or two off the bike however.

Ran 4:09 pace for the following 3.2km so 13:11. Bit disappointed with both runs, felt tired during them. I know it's because I need to do more longer runs, build my base back up properly. Overall though a pleasant morning and I was happy with how it went.
Recognised a Boardsie in the finishers list afterwards, so expect a report (possibly) from someone at the pointy end of things!

Chartsengrafs

Had a few good runs and a short spin during the week. On Friday I got four wisdom teeth out and I've been drugged to the eyeballs since. I am now a narcoleptic. Strange getting no sessions in over a weekend! Hopefully will get back doing something tomorrow, though I'm a bit worried about stitches popping open. And / or just passing out which keeps happening.

Dory Dory

Just getting caught up on logs....
Congrats on your sub hour.

Chartsengrafs

Found this on my saddle this evening from someone (could be anyone) in my work building. Little do they know I got the train home yesterday mwahahahahaw!

Chartsengrafs

I've neglected this lately so better post a little update.
I'm still not swimming so my focus is on duathlons. Doing 40 mins of physio / weights every day working the shoulders, and I'm seeing slow but continuous improvemens. Might get back in the water in June..?

Tinahely was my most recent race, came in 26th out of 98 or so. Had the wisdom teeth out a fortnight before so I really couldn't train for 7 days (Too drugged up. Attempted a few short runs but HR was through the roof at 5min /km pace!) Had 6 days training coming up to it and my lack of biking cost me. Still, good fun and reasonable result. Mid-pack position in the bag!

I can't really remember the week before last - training was steady but I haven't been updating my personal log.

Saturday 18th
Run, 13km. 4:54 min/km. Felt decent , easy pace.

Sunday
Helped out the at the club race, good fun. Think I saw a few Boardsies but can't be sure.

One hour turbo when I got home but nearly fell asleep (not used to very early starts!)

Monday
Short run off bike home, 6km at 4:27 min/km pace.

Tuesday
Club run session. 400s - my favourite. Led out the second group. Did ten altogether. Started at 1.20 pace (too fast), did the rest in between 1.25 and 1.29, mostly 1.26.

Thursday
35 minute run at lunch, forgot Garmin.

Friday
11km run, 4:54 pace

Saturday
Easy 1 hour spin. Didn't want to overcook it cos I'm doing a short road race today.


Commuted 3 days on the bike for 60km of super high quality commuting miles. To be fair, around 7km each way (of 10km) is pretty uniterrupted so at least I can get some momentum going.

Chartsengrafs

Sunday 25 May

Symantec Blanchardstown 5K road race

As Clogherhead and Rosses Point weren't an option I did this race on Sunday under blue skies. Plan was to get under 19.33, preferably by 20 seconds or so. To do this I wanted to go out fast and hold on...

By the 1km marker the lad beside me asks 'what time is that?'. Look at the watch - didn't start properly. Great. Took this a positive though as I knew we were going at a decent pace and at least I'd be going by feel as opposed to looking at splits and convincing myself to slow down / speed up etc.

Anyway, flat enough course, passed some people on a few drags. Started the watch again at 4km mark (the next sign I saw). Was going at 3.55min/km pace but I knew I had slowed in the last 500m or so.

Made it over the line in 19:09 so a decent PB. That was worth 16th / 253 though about 30/40 of them must have been walking. Plenty of fun runners but the first five were under 15:42 so I've seen worse fields. Back to duathlon hopefully next week.

Chartsengrafs

Felt pretty under the weather in the middle of last week so didn't get a whole lot done. Even getting through the daily physio was a bit of a grind.

Monday- 35 minute run
Tuesday- 40 minute run
Wrecked Wednesday and Thursday (guess I was just sick).
Friday - 35 minute run at lunch and felt a good bit better.

Commuted only two days on the bike for 40km.

Saturday- Was in Kilkenny for the weekend and brought the bike. Did a sort of M-shaped route from the city - Danesfort - Kells -back in - straight out to Callan -back in. Did a few extra kms on the Waterford Road to bring me to 2 hours. Tried to take it easy, managed
56km in 2 hours so averaged 28km/h. Happy with this as I didn't feel I was pushing too hard.

Sunday Run 12.6km 5min/km

Easy run Sunday in the castle park. I've run here a few times, also it forms part of the Tri Kilkenny route so I know it well enough. Some nice bumps, but really felt the heat. Haven't had enough sunny days this year to acclimatise! So an OK end to a dodgy enough week.

Chartsengrafs

I've been doing daily exercises since February now. Originally on my ankle / lower leg (for a month or so) and my shoulder (ongoing). Without going into too much detail the shoulder exercises also take in a lot of core work. 60 second front and side planks have increased gradually to 2 minutes. Weights have gotten heavier and strength has improved. The routine currently takes about 40 minutes a day. Although I find it a grind the benefits are:

- Shoulder improvement (Well that would be the point!)
- Weird niggly lower back discomfort on longer bikes has gone. Probably from all the back stretches
- Weird pain above what I guess you'd call pecs which I very occasionally get running. Gone.
- Calf tightness, general lower leg stiffness. Also gone. This is due to the best fitting runners I have had and copious amounts of calf raises. I was peaking at 60 of these a day. Best exercise ever.
- My skinny arms are starting to look less skinny. OK only I think this, as I've yet to get third party verification.

So in summary core work is good. I know...I'm a bit slow to catch on sometimes.

Chartsengrafs

Tuesday Short Run

Plan was for a 20/25 minute steady run. Biked home, held up in work so ate an enormous bowl of Weetos. Gave it an hour as I'd a few other bits to do, went running after that. Spent the run trying to think about not getting sick. (I need about 2 hours after eating). Did some strides, felt OK. Race next day, hence the short run.


Wednesday Race. Phoenix Park Duathlon

This race takes place close to me so I've wanted to do at least one part of the series. I missed the online sign-up so had to get there early and pay €20 on the evening. But such is the lack of duathlons around I was happy to do this. I signed up for the fast group at 7.10, which was called the 'Elite' group when I arrived.

Times are a bit messed up as the Garmin was set on bike with 9km splits. So
I've a good idea of the pace on the first run, and most of the second as I re-set after the bike. Distances were 2.7km, 12km (three laps), 2.7km, so very short.


Run 1: 9:49.
This started off fast, I did the first km in 3:31min/km so reigned in ever so slightly after that. Was this a fair bit back in the group after the opening km...maybe this 'elite' business wasn't too far off....
Ran the first leg averaging 3:48 min/km as I was averaging this on the watch coming into T1. (Chip time would assume faster but can't vouch for distance)

Bike: 22:01: 32.7 km/h. Again based on chip time, can assume bike was accurate. I used the road instead of TT bike as it was 3 short loops with plenty of S-bends. Definitely lost power on the short straight bit, my TT set up is a lot stronger for that type of riding but I'm sure the road bike suited better on the winding bits.

Run 3: 11:01, I had 3:58 min/km average pace on my watch for the last 2km or so of the 2.7km (as I re-started it at this point).
Felt strong and happy to be running sub 4 mins off the bike, even if it was a short one.

Overall 45 / 323

Happy with how this went though the bike really could have been quicker. It was a lovely warm evening. Cycled to the race from work so it was nice after the warm-down jog being able to cycle the rest of the way home. Pizza, gallons of water then bed.

Chartsengrafs

Thursday 6th Run 32mins at lunch

Didn't have my Garmin for this but the pace was decent. The race from the previous night didn't affect me too much.
Took Friday off, gf wanted to do an easy jog but went for a long walk out by the coast instead.

Saturday 8th Cycle 79km

A friend called me Friday night and said he was hitting the hills Saturday morning and wanted me to come along. He's been doing lots of hill work lately but he still stuggles a bit. Can motor on all day on the flat however.
Went to Sally Gap via Lucan and that road to Blessington, home via Glencree, Rathfarnham, Phoenix Park. Absolutely stunning day, handled the climbing better than expected, stayed in the saddle at all times and went at my own pace.

Sunday 9th 12km easy run

Very warm in the park. 9.5km at 4:48 pace, back to the car for a gallon of water, then 2.5km at 4:54 pace.

Commuted 3 days for 60km total on the bike

Monday
Physio vist, put me through my paces. Happy with shoulder progress so that night...

SWIM!!! Easy 400m, took it in 50s. Bit of pain but overall not too bad. Baby steps..

Tuesday Club Run

Felt a bit run down but glad I went. Session was 200m flat out, recovery, 4 x 800s, then 200m flat out. Hit the 800s between 2:57 and 3:02. I would usually like them to be a bit quicker but I was leading out my group and it's always a bit more difficult I find being pushed as opposed to pulled.

Wednesday
Got 4 hours sleep, had a cough and a tickle in my throat. Couldn't settle. Tried a shot of Paddy at 3am. Gargled some mouthwash I found at 4am. Felt wrecked, took day off.

Thursday Run

7.2 km, 4:30 pace. Half decent pace considering it was lunchtime, traffic etc.

Friday Run

14km, 4:49 pace, 1 hr 7 mins. This went well. Felt good until km 12 when Gavin Noble went by me like a feckin greyhound.


Swim 650m

Another tentative swim, very little pain. Getting there!

Next race in Dunshaughlin 10km next Saturday (my home race). Can't wait. Have been doing little bike work over the past week or two, plan is to up the bike and swim after that. Off to a stag in Sligo now to undo all my week's work

Chartsengrafs

Bike: 40 km commuted for the week, only cycled two days. Main reason being that I was in ribbons with hayfever all week.

Swimming, still tentative enough but slowly getting a bit of a feel for the water agan. Swim fitness is not good though.

Wednesday 750m swim
Sunday 950m swim

Going to keep building slowly, shoulder getting better all the time.

Other than that just some running:

Monday 9.2km at 4:45 or so.
Tuesday Club session. Main set was 300's. Did twelve of these in the fast group. Best was 57 secs, mostly hitting 60 to 61. Good session
Wednesday 32 mins easy at lunch , averaged 4:45 pace.
Thursday 8km run, 2km warm up at 4:48, 2km at 4:42, 2km at 4:31, 2km home at 4:46. Watched the end of the Docklands run, through blurred eyes and big snotty congested face!
Friday bit of bike home, rest day before Dunshaughlin.

Saturday, Dunshaughlin 10k. 39:32 mins
This was my main focus for the past 3 weeks or so. Plan was to stay 3:55 pace. I knew between 39:10 and 39:30 was on. Not enough miles in the legs for 38:XX.
Went to plan, PB'd. This was the most contolled I've ever done this race, wondered at one stage if I was taking it too easy but I had nothing in the tank whatsoever to speed up at the 9km mark. So I guess I paced it OK. Happy with how it went. Stayed in the village that night (Dunsh being the home town), head wasn't the best for the swim on Sunday..

The mother started back doing a bit of jogging a while ago and get 2nd lady O/55 in 53:10! Not bad for 57. The next time some young one in work tells me about ‘running’ a mini marathon in 70 minutes I’ll have to throw that one at them.

Chartsengrafs

Haven't really logged the past three weeks or so but last week consisted of:

Two swims of between 1300m and 1400m. No real issues. Finished physio visits last week too.
3 days bike commute for 60km , and one bike of 55km
3 runs, club session of 600s, 32 minute easy the next day and a steady 10km Saturday morning.

So no big miles, but fairly typical of the previous 3 weeks (with swims increasing in duration). Enough for a sprint or two in the next month, hopefully with swim and bike work increasing.
Back to club swims hopefully this week too.