The "what the hell do I call my training log?" training log...

Dilbert75

Dear Training Log,
Please excuse Dilbert from his 5k recovery run homework for today. He says he didn't have to do it, having spent 5 1/2 hours walking around Fota and then bringing the dog for a walk. I'm sending him out to do a nice long run tomorrow to make up for it.

Yours insincerely,
Dilbert

Big Logger

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Dear Training Log,
Please excuse Dilbert from his 5k recovery run homework for today. He says he didn't have to do it, having spent 5 1/2 hours walking around Fota and then bringing the dog for a walk. I'm sending him out to do a nice long run tomorrow to make up for it.

Yours insincerely,
Dilbert

Dear training log, please improve Dilbert's sense of humour so that he becomes funny.

Yours with great Faith,

Rasher

Dilbert75

My favourite run ever

St. Mullins to Graiguenamanagh and back along the towpath. Mrs D and myself running, the little D's on their bikes. Stopped in Graiguenamanagh for ice-cream and headed back. Total 14.6km in 1.21, 5.34/km, 139bpm avg. Was a nice opportunity to test out my new Platypus too (thanks Aimman for the suggestion), which worked well.

Dilbert75

No running today - 26k cycle instead though. And what a beautiful evening for cycling - nice warm breeze in my face, no matter which way I was heading.

Gavlor

Dilbert75 wrote: »

My favourite run ever

St. Mullins to Graiguenamanagh and back along the towpath. Mrs D and myself running, the little D's on their bikes. Stopped in Graiguenamanagh for ice-cream and headed back. Total 14.6km in 1.21, 5.34/km, 139bpm avg. Was a nice opportunity to test out my new Platypus too (thanks Aimman for the suggestion), which worked well.

Deadly

Dilbert75

Gavlor wrote: »

Deadly

Strongly recommended. You can also do an 18mile (9 each way) to Borris too, which I'll do sooner rather than later (but need to do it while the path is still dry).

Dilbert75

Second last day of my week off work was just as great as the preceding days. Brought Lexi for her shots (that wasn't actually so great - she nearly ate the vet as usual). Brought her for a swim and a walk then to try bribe her to forgive me! Out with the family for the afternoon and home for dinner.

After all that, the temptation to have some wine and put my feet up was pretty significant. But I eventually found the HTFU to get out and do my session. Cycled the 2.6km to the football pitch and did my warmup. Then into 8km at HMP.

Plan was to aim for between 4.10 and 4.20/km and that went swimmingly for the most part. First km was actually a bit quick - under 4.00 - so I trimmed it back a shade. Settled into a nice rhythm of 4.13/km and continued till into the 7th km. HR was still in the 150's and was feeling ok but started getting a cramp in my left lower ribcage. Tried to keep going but ended up having to pause for 20 or 30 seconds. Got going again when the pain eased a bit but wasn't able to recover the lost time. Finished my 8km in 34.32 with an average of 4.19/km and avg HR of 156. So nearly on target and kept my dinner on board, so overall a successful run.

Then I nearly ended up cycling home in the dark as the rechargeable batteries in my front light decided to go from max to min in the space of 10 metres.

Dilbert75

LSR and first dog bite of my running career.

Late session last night plus domestic stuff to get done meant this was going to be a late afternoon run at the earliest. Planned for 1.45 - 2.00 hours and considered doing the last quarter at HMP but then decided to do the whole lot at a relatively calm HR of around 130bpm.

Set out with a half litre of water in my belt and immediately regretted not drinking more before going out - but going through my head was "sippy sippy, not gulpy gulpy, because gulpy gulpy makes pukey pukey" - Elvis Jones reminded the participants in Clontarf HM of this last week.

All was going swimmingly until just after 3k. Then I got to this house on the side of the road whose garden contains several dogs. Normally they bark like mad as I run past and a couple of times I've slowed to a walk to help dispel their interest in eating me. This time, however, two of them came out the gate after me. I stopped & folded my arms and one of them stopped too. The other one, a German Shepherd, kept coming. I was sure he was just going to sniff my leg but I was wrong. He took a shot at me resulting in a warning bite that looks like a graze. Let a roar at them both and they legged it and didn't follow me any further.

Got going again and finished out my 24km in 2.09 - avg pace 5.24/km, avg HR 133 bpm. Ran out of water about 6 or 7km from home so it was a struggle from there. Passed the same house on the way home and the dogs came tearing out to bark at me again but this time stayed in their garden thankfully.

Steroo

Ouch .. Always fear this was gonna happen me aftermath close encounters... I'd call in and talk to the owner ( when no dogs about!)

career_move

What a bast@rd! :mad: Next time bring a weapon!!

Dilbert75

Steroo wrote: »

I'd call in and talk to the owner ( when no dogs about!)

I did consider this but decided, on account of the types of vehicles in the driveway (if you know what I mean), that the only likely outcomes would be me getting bullied out the door and the poor dog getting a (or another) beating for acting out on his fears that were probably caused by how he was treated in the past. In future I'll cross the road before I get to this house.

Gavlor

Dilbert75 wrote: »

I did consider this but decided, on account of the types of vehicles in the driveway (if you know what I mean), that the only likely outcomes would be me getting bullied out the door and the poor dog getting a (or another) beating for acting out on his fears that were probably caused by how he was treated in the past. In future I'll cross the road before I get to this house.

That's pretty deep man!

Runchick

I stopped running one of my favourite routes because of an aggressive dog, and I also don't think talking to the owners would help :rolleyes: Sorry it actually bit you, I remember being told to squirt water at attacking dogs, haven't done this myself, I tend to put the foot down and keep going praying the bloody thing doesn't follow :mad:

Dilbert75

Thought afterwards about whether I should have squirted water at him but I really didn't expect him to bite (I was stationary and dogs normally only go for things that move) and besides my water supply was limited and precious!

Dilbert75

Unspectacular 5.5k done in 31.14, avg 5.43/km, avg HR 122bpm. Legs felt a lot more dead than I'd expected before I set out. Glad of a step-back week.

Dilbert75

Well that damped the dust down...

What a change in a week. Downpour all day and no change tonight. No matter - session time.

4.04km warm-up in 22.17, avg pace 5.31/km, avg HR 121.

10x400 with 1 min standing between - 400m splits were:
1.23, 1.25, 1.23, 1.26, 1.26, 1.27, 1.28, 1.27, 1.29 & 1.28

I'm a bit disappointed to see the times were a little more inconsistent than they felt - though it's probably more to do with getting good starts than anything. And there was a woman walking her car keys around the track too, so I had to overtake her several times.

Home in torrential rain - 3.1km at about 5.30/km but lap memory was full so last 2.1km weren't recorded No need to worry about chafing - clothes were stuck to me - and unfortunately my far-from-sixpack gut was all-too-obvious.

Total distance anyway was 11.1km.

Dilbert75

7.74km in 44.20 - avg pace 5.43/km, avg HR 124bpm. Nothing special except a flash of lightning as I turned to come down my road. The 25-35mm of rain expected tonight hasn't started yet though.

As an aside, some of you might be interested in this:
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/abd.pain.html

blockic

Dilbert75 wrote: »

7.74km in 44.20 - avg pace 5.43/km, avg HR 124bpm. Nothing special except a flash of lightning as I turned to come down my road. The 25-35mm of rain expected tonight hasn't started yet though.

As an aside, some of you might be interested in this:
http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/abd.pain.html

:eek: Serious lightening outside here now!

Dilbert75

We had a few nice bright flashes but it seems to have passed over us pretty quickly.

blockic

Dilbert75 wrote: »

We had a few nice bright flashes but it seems to have passed over us pretty quickly.

Electricity gone!! Hardcore stuff here!

Dilbert75

LMAO

tomred1N

Dilbert75 wrote: »

LMAO

My real life you know you're a runner when.......... you buy a walk behind Lawnmower to cut over a half acre lawn cause you cant justify sitting on ur arse doing it. great decision at the time :rolleyes:.........now i'm sh!t sick of walking behind it:)

Dilbert75

Didn't run on Thursday, Friday or Saturday - work is mental at the moment and I'm feeling quite tired so I decided to forego the mileage and save my energy for today.

So today I bucked the trend and did an adventure race. I understand there's actually a ban on discussing any events by this organiser on Boards so suffice to say I really enjoyed my first and stick to reporting how I did, which I don't think contravenes that ban.

It consisted of a 10km mountain run, 19km on the bike and a 300m river run & obstacle course. The first 4km of the run was up, up, up. It's the most consistently steep run I've ever done and a hell of a way to test endurance. I was keeping an eye on the HR throughout and slowing / walking when it started hitting late 160's / early 170's. It was early in the day to be wearing myself out. Near the top everyone was walking. Once over the top, the terrain was probably worse and I was pretty conservative at the risk of twisting or breaking an ankle. People were flaking past me though and I just let them off. Total run distance was 10.76km - details as follows:

km|avg pace|avg HR|ascent|descent
1|5.51|161|76|8
2|6.26|165|96|12
3|6.43|166|89|29
4|10.06|163|131|5
5|5.25|152|3|86
6|7.04|154|48|50
7|5.20|161|37|60
8|5.07|154|3|57
9|4.22|157|6|75
10|4.46|153|6|95
10.76|4.49|161|11|50

On to the cycle then. If you're only interested in running stop here - I'm not going to create a training log in the adventure sports/tri forum for one event.:eek:

Planned to be 19km - measured as 20.67km. Roads were mostly fine, apart from about 1.5km of lunar-grade surface (couldn't call it a road) which I (and most people) elected to walk rather than risk a puncture or a fall. Had a heavy rain shower around this time but nothing towards what landed as I was descending the Shay Elliot climb - not sure if it was hail or large rain into my face. Hadn't prepared in advance and was still on the top bars when the descent came and it was too dangerous to try move down then. Ended up with cramps in my shoulders from trying to hold the brakes on from the top - less leverage than down the bottom. There's a hump-back bridge at the bottom which we'd been warned to take handy so I slowed down a lot for that - decided to drop then and immediately got a wobble on that both I and the guy behind me thought was curtains for me. Got away with it.:eek: Max speed of the cycle was 49.2km/hr - had it not been wet on the main descent it would have been higher I reckon.

km|avg speed|avg HR|ascent|descent
1-5|15.8|149|143|77
6-10|23.2|142|71|126
11-15|10.9|145|221|15
16-20|28.0|135|28|246
20-20.67|11.7|140|8|26

300m river run and obstacle course was good fun and not nearly as cold as I'd expected. Was glad to finish in 33rd position of around 70 starters.

Great craic - the next one looks like even better fun.

blockic

Adventure races, cycling...GET OUT!!

Dilbert75

blockic wrote: »

Adventure races, cycling...GET OUT!!

I'll tell Gavlor on you...

Besides you should be more worried about surviving this week as a Cork man in cat land!

ncmc

That sounds like a great race C, nice to mix things up a bit and try something different.

blockic

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Besides you should be more worried about surviving this week as a Cork man in cat land!

4 years of pain and for yesterday, it was worth it! Some sore losers around the office this morning!

Dilbert75

blockic wrote: »

4 years of pain and for yesterday, it was worth it! Some sore losers around the office this morning!

Well in fairness if wearing a Cork jersey wasn't a bit insensitive to their disappointment then changing your ringtone to The Banks and then calling yourself repeatedly was surely a bit harsh...

Dilbert75

Unspectacular 6.76km in 39.34, avg pace 5.50/km, avg HR 124bpm. Bit creaky after yesterday but the run seems to have helped.

Only other thing of note is that I've now broken the magical 1609.344km barrier that the imperially-measured among you seem to find so fascinating. Prefer round numbers myself!

Dilbert75

Less than 3 weeks to the Clonmel half so I figure I should be a bit rigorous about sticking to my own plan till then, rather than trying to mix in some Meno plan and keep up with the marathon group.

So tonight was session night - 4x1600 at HMP with 1 min pauses. Started & finished with 3.2km warm-up / cool down. Used a road that's marked for 1600m so just went from one mark to the other.

1.6km times were
8.36 & 8.17
6.27
6.27
6.35
6.29
8.36 & 9.15

A little bit faster than planned but sure no harm. All was completed to the constant amusement of a bunch of men and kids who were comfortably sitting on the bridge fishing from the river.