West to East

aficionado

After lurching on the training logs here for the past year or so Ive decided to start my own.
Not much background in sports except for some GAA as a child but wasn't very good at it.

Started running in the summer of 2010 and 12 months later completed my first marathon in
Connemara 2011 in 3.34.
Usual story of getting injured before it (shin splits) so took up triathlon and completed Dublin City Olympic August the same year in 2.54. Joined a Dublin running club and concentrated on running after than and finished the year with the Waterford half marathon in 1.28.

In May last year 2012 moved to Shenzhen, China to work with an Irish company and training took a huge hit.

Cycling is life or death here, pollution makes running toxic and swimming pools are packed with no lanes and end up being disorganized chaos.

Got myself a set of rollers and a bike, became a 5.30 am runner and treated the swimming like an obstacle course and got back on track. Races were few and far between in South Asia so needed a big on the keep motivated!

Signed up for the Ironamn 70.3 in Taiwan in November and completed it in 5.14 and 9th in my age group (25-29)

Back to running after that and signed up for the Hong Kong marathon for Feb 2013. Got a stress fracture a couple of weeks before it and had to pull out.

Was very disappointed as I wanted to have another crack at the marathon. Signed up for Singapore marathon in June so thats were Im at now.

After that I will hopefully do Chal ledge Phuket 70.3 in December this year. Aspirations to go longer but Im not ready to commit to the extra training needed.

Motivation had really been lacking the past few weeks and figured Id start a log to help and keep me honest.

Hope you enjoy the ramblings!

Trig1

Welcome to the training logs Aficionado.. trying to train there sounds like mayhem especially in a pool with no lanes :eek:! good luck with the log

Dory Dory

Best to you!!

aficionado

Monday 25th: Track Session

12 months since my last track session!

Bit of background, Last weekend a mate from work and myself decided after a few too many beers to set up a running club,
Shenzhen Athletics 深圳竞技 !
Sent a few emails around work and to the local GAA and Rugby mailing list to gauge interest and got good reception. Most people interested have never done a 5k before but there is one or two Sub 3 marathon guys who will also be joining / helping.

Heard of a 400m track on a football pitch than can be used for free so sussed it out last night.

Pros: Its free, Its relatively new, 50 m pool on the premises, well light up

Cons: PACKED, Literally bumped into somebody every lap, most people were walking, one kid was rollerblading and there was a old granny trailing her shopping trolly.

We're gonna use it for the first official session and if its not working will try to find another that is paid. For a city that has very very few runners or parks there is quite alot of running tracks, however they are all pretty much in schools and not too keen about letting people use it.

As I mentioned first session in over 12 months, Garmin decided to die at the weekend so no idea of times, did 5 x 800 and felt was banjaxed after every one.

Just nice to be back on the track !

aficionado

Bailed on a planned cross training session Tues morning. Was just tired and lazy poor excuse.

Ran 13 miles this morning, felt good, didnt have a watch or timer but think I came in around 1.45

Hopefully after a few weeks on the track I can knock 5-8 min off that

aficionado

Thursday did 6 miles / 40 min on the dreadmill,
Mixed it up with half mile fast 1 mile easy.

Friday did nothing and Saturday a long run of 19 miles.
I wanted to get a long run in early in my plan so I could it would be easier to do the rest of them when the humidity hits in May.

Still no watch so unsure of paces or time think it was around the 2.45 mark. Legs were shattered afterwards.
I got a shin splints in my left leg while training for my first and only marathon 2 years ago. They put me out of action for 3 weeks before it.

Now Im getting the same symtoms in my right leg!! Really worried about this and not sure how to proceed,
Last time I didn't know what they were and kept running until I could barely walk!

Finding a decent physio wont be easy in Shenzhen, Sunday I did some cross training and a 90 min thai massage.

Lots of self massaging and shin splint related stretches after, Track session planned tonight, lets see how that goes.

Apart from that, Last week was ok millage wise.

41 in total, 50 min cross training.

No Swimming or cycling though....

PGF

aficionado wrote: »

Cycling is life or death here, pollution makes running toxic and swimming pools are packed with no lanes and end up being disorganized chaos.

Got myself a set of rollers and a bike, became a 5.30 am runner and treated the swimming like an obstacle course and got back on track. Races were few and far between in South Asia so needed a big on the keep motivated!

There's actually a great tri scene in China. I did a few races while I was living there. If there's no club in Shenzhen you should give the Shanghai guys an email. They should be able to get you entered in the races and point you in the right direction (http://www.shtriclub.com).

I'd say forget about the Ironman / Challenge races. There's way better value to be had locally. Check out http://www.weihaitriathlon.com/2013/AN/. Excellent race. Closed roads. Brilliant location. I'd did the double Olympic in 2011. I believe the ITU long distance worlds are being held on that course next year.

Here's the race calendar for the current year.

4月13日至14日 2013年成都金堂国际铁人三项赛 (Cheng Du)
5月18日至19日 2013年安徽池州国际铁人三项赛 (An Hui)
6月22日至23日 2013年宁夏石嘴山全国铁人三项锦标赛 (Ningxia)
7月7日 2013年重庆长寿湖国际铁人三项邀请赛 (ChongQing)
7月20日至21日 2013年甘肃嘉峪关国际铁人三项赛 (Jiayuguan)
8月18日 2013年包头全国铁人精英赛 (BaoTou)
9月28日至29日 2013年威海国际长距离铁人三项赛 (Weihai, as above)
10月13日 2013年梅州国际铁人三项邀请赛 (MeiZhou)



The swimming is a bit of a nightmare alright. Best to join a private gym with a pool. I was lucky in that I was living on the edge of a city. I could cycle away from the madness. Still had some close calls with crazy drivers.

aficionado

Thanks PGF,

Had no idea of them races, There is one in Guangdong I'll deft be going for.
Signed up for Challenge Phuket already and a few from work going for it too. But the wei hai would be great to fit in too.
Are you still in China?
In fairness the pools arent too bad if I can get in just as it opens or closes. Plus there is a 50m outdoor beside my apt costs about 3Euro a go to!

aficionado

Mon First session with the new club "Shenzhen Athletics"
Most people were beginners who never did a race before. But were really up for it.
Did a few 200m sprints with 200 recovery (walk/jog) followed by 15 min of some pylometrics (Planks & stretches)
Was pretty happy with the turn out, hopefully get some of the football teams involved too. If we get enough numbers then rent our own track.

Mon Did 10 x 200's. Again no watch Excited about picking up my 310XT next week.

Tues 4 mile slow slow run. Shin splints are deft on the way. Self massage with a tenis ball after.

PGF

aficionado wrote: »

Thanks PGF,

Had no idea of them races, There is one in Guangdong I'll deft be going for.
Signed up for Challenge Phuket already and a few from work going for it too. But the wei hai would be great to fit in too.
Are you still in China?
In fairness the pools arent too bad if I can get in just as it opens or closes. Plus there is a 50m outdoor beside my apt costs about 3Euro a go to!

I'm back in (freezing) Ireland. Would love to get back to Weihai for the worlds next year. It's a great course with some big hills on the bike. Get stuck in I'd say. It's a great way to see parts of the country you'd never see otherwise.

aficionado

Been a hectic week,

Wednesday was working in Hong Kong which involves getting up and home at stupid o clock, there was a a public holiday Thursday (Tomb Clearing day) so scheduled a long run for it.

My neighbor from Holland joined me for around 11 miles of it. Fairly nice pace around 6.50 to 7.00 then I slowed way down after he left. Finished up at 17 miles.

Working in Ireland next week so Friday was out the window travelling, Got home to Monaghan in the morning and did 3 easy miles to help with the jet lag (It works btw)

Today (Sunday) major hangover and sick from 24 hours of binging on Irish chocolate and home cooking.
14 miles through a rolling hill route. Was pretty slow 8.10 mi/min, most of the time I was just trying not to throw up.

But it was great to revisit a route that I had trained on for my first marathon this time 2 years ago.

Happy enough to hit 42 miles this week with 2-3 travelling days.

Tomorrow up to Dublin, Looking forward to getting into Phoenix park for a couple of runs and plan is to head down to Rathfarnham AC for there intervals on Tuesday.

aficionado

Well training this week went out the window.

Work and catching up meant there was very few hours free the whole week.
Couldn't finish work in time to make Rathfarnham Intervals so opted for phoenix park run on Tues.
Tues 9 miles at around 7.45 mi pace. (Loving having a running watch again. The 310XT is a nice upgrade from the 305, much much faster at picking up satellites.

Thurs: Same Phoenix park run. Very wet, dont miss the Irish rain at all, 9 miles at 7.35 mi pace.

Today heading to London for the weekend to some mates, Plan is to get a longish run in tomorrow, Downloaded some routes onto the garmin where Im staying so planning to get 15 miles in...

aficionado

Last few weeks have been nuts, with work - travel - holidays.
London was almost a write off, catching up with a old mates and lights meant I only got a 13 mile run in when a 20 was planned.
Flew back Sunday to Shenzhen (arrived Monday night) and did a quick 10k on the treadmill before collapsing in bed.

Tues: (17th) did nothing, blaming jet lag on that.
Wed: 13 miles before work, was an early one and felt horrible.
Thurs: 10 k on the tread.

Friday: Mother and Brother were coming over to visit and have a holiday. They were getting into HK Friday night. Plan was to meet them at the airport. Stay on Lantau Island. While they slept Sat get a 20 miler in then after show them round Hong Kong. But they missed their connecting flight in Heathrow so had to rebook they flight which arrived Sat morning.
Stayed on Lantau by myself Fri then met them at the airport and spent the day in HK and rebooked my run for Sun morn.

Sunday: Did quite go as expected. The area around the hotel in Lantau had notorious high hills. The cars and cyclists could barely get up them never mind running them. I found some trails but they were so steep I was walking some of it. No way was I going to complete a 20 miler. Did 10 miles there then when we got to Shenzhen that evening did another 10. First time doing a double run day. Legs were ok though.

Monday: Travelled to Beijing with the family. Took up the whole day so took a rest day.

Tuesday: Staying by forbidden city so got up early and ran 6 miles around the outer walls. Beijing is horrible for running in. I could literally taste the smog and the footpaths are packed with people and dangerous cyclists. Nice to have the garmin watch to measure back and forth.
Running pace is 7.35 miles/min these days. Would like to be around the 7 min pace cant see it happening with the way Im currently training.

Wed: Headed for the Temple of Heaven park for a med 13 mile run. Was a fiver in but thought it would be a good way to do a touristy thing plus get a run in. For a large capital urban park its terrible compared to Dub, LDN or NY. There is no round loop and all the paths are tiles or concrete. Shin splints really played up on me that day.

Thurs: Spent the day going and visiting the great wall. Guess that counts as cross training? Could have fitted a run that night but I really dont like running there with all the pollution esp at night.
Friday spent most of the day travelling back to shenzhen so nothing done then either.

Sat: After missing the planned 20 miler the previous 2 weekends I had enough determination and guilt to crack it out in the morning. Humidity starting to creep in too so left at 6.30 am. Took me 2 hours and 45 min. felt ok. Shin splints were sore for first mile or two then eased off. I was just happy to get one done.

Sun: After a night on the town with my brother for his last night I knew this would be a easy day. Dropped the family back to HK for their flight and made it home again for a easy easy 6 mile on the treadmill.

Summary: The past 3 weeks have been way too much on me. Averaging around 45 miles a week but its been very stressful trying to get them done. Singapore marathon is 5 weeks away and I was hoping to get up to 55 miles a week by now. Shin splints aren't going away either. I just hope they dont get worse. Pace has been slow compared to where I was this time last year. The next few weeks are going to get very hot so will be interesting to see how that effects me.
Also been doing way too much drinking. But cant be helped when I see friends and family after a long time and in different countries.

Going to re access my planned marathon time (3.05) and go for something a little bit more realistic like 3.30 ish.

aficionado

My training has steadily been going downhill every week.
Really not enjoying training lately and way behind where I wanted to be at this stage.
The Shin splints Ive been ignoring have caught up with me.

Mon - Track with the new running club a work mate and myself had formed. Legs were stiff from the weekends runs but felt ok. Consisted of 12 x 200 with 200 recovery each time. Pace was around 6.15. Should really been doing 800 or 1000 for the marathon training but I was taking the group along so didn't want to confuse matters.

Tues - nada, had to work in HK, up early and back late

Wed - 13 med mile run, This was done about 7.35 min mile and was tough. Shin's were a bit sore but eased after a mile or two. However once I was finished the pain was un bare able and could barely walk. Worst Ive felt yet. Knew this wasn't gonna go away anytime soon.

Thurs - Tried a recovery 6 mi on the treadmill, after 3 miles felt a sharp pain and nearly fell of the treadmill.

Fri - No Running.
Went to a chinese physio type deal. Was basically a sports massage on my shins for 20 mins, cost a whole total of 1 euro too! He also told me what I didn't want to hear. "Stop running"
I keep looking online looking for a answer I want to hear. Im in no shape to stop running and still complete the marathon 4 weeks away.

Sat - I usually do the long run on Saturdays but today I had to work and figured if I took another rest day Id be in better shape on Sunday for the planned 20 miler.

Sun - My 20 miles went out the window. Pain from the onset. Wasn't going away, had to take some walking breaks. Did 8 miles, slowly… Really feeling them today.

So now Im not sure where to go from here. So frustrated with these shin splints now. Im ready to throw in the towel with this Singapore and just concentrate on the 70.3 Phuket at the end of the year.

This whole year so far has been one step forward two steps backward. Pulled out on the full marathon in HK in Feb cause of a stress fracture now in June pulling out of another.

I enjoy running the most out of the 3 disciplines but I think the marathon distance just isn't for me.

Options are
A. Stop running, do some cycling and hope for the best in Singapore. (Ive one 20 mile done so I could probably finish anyway

B. Cut back on the run mileage and try and fit in one 20 miler next weekend and taper the rest of it.

C. Keep with the plan and hope the shin splints go away within the 4 weeks

catweazle

Option Drop the marathon altogether, think the legs are telling you at this stage to take a long break from the running

aficionado

catweazle wrote: »

Option Drop the marathon altogether, think the legs are telling you at this stage to take a long break from the running

Deep down I know this is the way to go, I can be pretty damn stubborn though!

After Monday nights crippling track session, I got back on the bike Wednesday, well went to a spinning class. Hadnt done any form of cycling since Feb and was a nice change from the running.

I decided that id give the long run another go on Sat, if it didnt happen then cancel Singapore and move on.
Sat, got up early and went out, shins were a bit tender at first but after a mile or two the pain either went away or I just ignored it!

20 miles in 2.45, first 8 or 9 were at 7.30 pace but then the legs got really sore and slowed down to 8.30 last 2 were basically a fast walk! Deft could not have managed 6 more miles.

Plan now is to swap the running for cycling, Singapore is in 3 weeks (June 1st) and hope I can finish it.

aficionado

Sunday, after the ugly disaster 20 miles yesterday I went for a short hour hike with some friends, I think it helped recovery alot and I felt fresh-ish

Monday Skipped the track session, figured it would do more harm than good. Went for a 45 min spin class and a 1 mile on the treddie straight after. Really looking forward to getting this marathon out of the way somehow and get back to tri training.

Wednesday It's gotten really hot and humid the past few days, Singapore is gonna be about 3 times as bad so I need to get out and do some runs in it. 30c this morning and did 10 miles, the heat was really tough, I just hope I can get used to it within just over 2 weeks

aficionado

Been quiet on this lately,

Tormenting myself with Singapore and wether to compete or not,
Took the past two weeks as a very low mileage taper, shin splints were appreciating the lack of miles too.
Did one track session and they flared up again, after that kept the pace low and took it easy averaging around 20 miles a week.

Had flights and accom booked in Singapore already so figured Id make a call on the day.

aficionado

Deep down I knew I would give it a shot anyway.

I told myself Id start it and if the pain got too much Id pull out.

Race report

The heat and humidity had increased a bit the past few weeks in Shenzhen, when I got off the plane the temp wasn't a complete shock.
The race was on at midnight and I was a bit of a loss on what to do / eat during the day.
Stayed in Little India and took a stroll, the food smelt amazing but having a curry before the race would not be a good idea. Found a supermarket and snacked on fruit all day. (Not sure how good of an idea this was)

Got to the race early to pick up my race back, the humidity had gotten worse since during the day and I was sweaty just standing. There was 6 hour pacers which I thought was very funny, how the hell do you pace a marathon for 6 hours. They quickest pacers were 4 hours, which says a lot about the majority of runners there. 10,000 full marathon participants.

My goal time for this was 3.15 and worst was anything quicker than my first and last marathon. Connemara 11' 3.34

Got right up at the fron for the start, no way I was going to wade through 9,000 4+ runners!



First half went well, stuck at around 7.30 pace but coming up to mile 13 and could feel the wheels coming off.
I wasnt consuming enough water, even though there was stops every 2k

By mile 14 I was running 8 min miles. If I could stick to this pace I could still go sub 3.30 though.

Mile 16, Blew up. Tried getting a gel down, stomach cramps, started shivering even though it was 32 degrees!
Stopped at the aid station and tried getting as much water down as possible, I must have been seriously dehydrated.

8.40min miles from then on, stopping at every aid station. Things weren't going well, The humidity had sucked everything out of me and I was exploding very early.

Pace just dropped more and more, doing around 9.20 min miles by mile 20 and walking a few meters at every mile. Feet were hurting from the blisters and I could feel my big toe nail coming off, was in a world of pain!

Mile 22, Debated wether to walk the rest of it then the 3rd female overall had passed me out which gave me some encouragement,
Got chatting to a lad from Belfast who was walking and he was blowing up too. We ran together and without a doubt made things easier.

Got through the line around 3.36, Seeing as I had resigned myself to walking from 22 and finishing under 4 I was happy with the time. Sub 3.30 would have been nice, but Im just glad its over. Overall winner was 2.45 so deft not a fast course.

Thoughts overall,

Marathon's aren't for me, the mileage in training recks me and I get injured too easily.
I much prefer training for triathlons and gonna stick at the these for the future. Looking forward to getting back to it soon.

Humidity has to be taken into account in training. The amount of water and energy you loose makes a huge difference. Not to mention the extra blisters. ouch!

aficionado

Post Singapore
Checked out the official results and came 45th out of 7,000, pretty damn happy with that! 10th in the 20-29 AG too

Took it very easy the week after. Legs felt worse than any race I had previously done and shins were sore.

Got back into the pool for the first time all year. Very slow 1000 metres on Wed and Thurs.
Didn't concentrate on time but Im think it was around the 30 min mark for 1000

Friday had laser eye surgery done. Uncomfortable process but something I wanted to do for awhile.
Post laser, exercise is supposed to be very limited and no swimming allowed for about 4 weeks.

Took Fri-Sun off, eyes were sore and didn't feel like doing anything anyway. (Doctors orders!)

Phuket 70.3 is Dec 1st so I have 5 and a half months training ahead. Plan is to ease into it and just get the routine down first before any hard or long training.

Last year with my first I was happy with my run and swim 1.39 and 36min but my bike was 3.15 on a flat course so there could be room for improvement there.

This year I want to stay consistent with the swimming min 3 sessions a week (last year was 2) and knock 30 min off the bike. If I could do sub 90 in the run id be over the moon.

So a sub 5 overall is the goal. Its going to be tough but if I stay consistent and do enough biking I think its possible.
Just need to find the routine first.

Monday Hit the track, did 5x 2min sprints with 2 min recovery. Did around 500m every 2 min.
Tuesday Had a couple of drinks after work, plan was to go on the rollers but my balance wasnt too good! Did some core work in the gym instead

Wednesday First session on the bike rollers. Got the garmin cadence sensor at christmas, was excited to try it out. 1.30 min session at avg speed of 16mph, slow but felt ok after

aficionado

Thursday 45 min on the bike rollers, nothing special

Friday Hilly 10k run with a neighbor, around 7.30 min mile pace

Saturday Was supposed to go on a 4 hour hike with a mate, but it started monsoning down so canned it.
AM: Did another 45 min on the bike rollers watching a spinerval episode, got some nice sprints in, felt good
PM: Went to the gym and did a 40 min yoga class and 45 min spin class. The instructor was terrible though, was more dancing on the sationary bike than cycling.

Sunday Back to the gym, popped onto the stationary bike and did a sufferfest ep on the phone. Was a bucket of sweat,
Then straight after into a hour of hot yaga. It was really tough going, not to mention the whole class laughing at me and not understanding a word the instructor was saying.

Happy overall with this week, did something almost every day which is my goal at the moment. 2nd time trying out yoga, finding it really challenging but want to stick with it, hopefully it will help out getting aero later on.

Still no swimming, post laser eye surgery I was told to wait 2-6 weeks. Seems very broad, itching to get into the pool again.

aficionado

Quiet week,

Mon- Intervals with the club 5x2 min coming in at around 500m per rep, 2 mile warm down and some pylometrics

Tues- PM 45 min Spinning class

Wed- AM First time since October braving Shenzhen traffic on the bike, did my old 40k route, well 35k of it. Surprisingly hadnt lost too much speed, was averaging around 20mph in October and did the 35k route at around 18.
PM 10k in a hilly park beside me, was tough, about 55min.

Thurs,Fri, Nada thing

Sat- Typhoon 3 warning, no way was I going out doors. 1 hour Spinerval DVD on the rollers, 5k run on the treadmill
PM Hour of hot yoga, first session I actually enjoyed, it could have been the heat but actually started being able to complete some of the positions!

Sun 2,000m swim, took this very easy, just trying to get the distance in, 50min.

Not a big week by any means, but overall happy to get outdoors on the bike again and fitting in a swim and yoga session.

This week hopefully more of the same with an extra session or two thrown in. Still fairly unstructured.

aficionado

Good training this week so far.

Mon PM Running Track Session, 1 mile warm up, 9x 2min sprints with 2 min recover 1 mile cool down

Tues AM Hour Spinerval dvd, hill training, high gears, felt good

PM Hour of Hot Yoga, felt tired from the bike, but almost completed most moves

Wed AM 6 mile hilly run route, was very hot and felt slower than last week, left the garmin at home

PM 2000m swim, no structure just straight swimming, 50min

Thurs AM Outdoor bike, 40 km in 1.40min, legs felt stiff for most of it.

aficionado

Sat If I'm going to continue living in China and taking part in triathlons I need to find better cycling routes that are safe and enjoyable.
They only place I know of is Hong Kong, up early Sat and crossed the border (twice) passport stamped and away I went. First time doing this, I had to plan just figure out the immigration process with a bike and find some routes.

Really enjoyable cycle, got a bit lost but found some great quiet roads with big hills and to my amazement other road cyclists. Dont think I can go back to cycling in Shenzhen again! Did around 46 miles, watched froze at one point and I had to reset it.
Garmin Info here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/335317323

Sun Had a few beers Sat night and a nice sleep in Sunday, hit the pool at 2pm for around 2000m, pool was packed and was a nuisance avoiding and crashing into people every lap almost.

PM - Hot yoga, after the beers the night before I think I set a record for how much sweating was done, enjoyable session though all the same.

Mon PM Track, 1 mile warm up 2x2min @ 5.58min miles w 2 min recover x6
Felt good, should have done one or two more.

Tues AM Working in HK today, hit the rollers for 45 min at 5.30am!

aficionado

Wed 10k run, hilly route, nothing special

Thurs AM 40k bike, AVG 19mph, flat, getting my bike legs back

PM Slow 2,000m swim, need to find a good waterproof lap watch. Clock in the swimming pool stopped so no idea of times.

Fri Nothing

Sat Stupidly went for a few beers the night before and couldnt get out of bed in time to reach the border in HK. The mainlander Chinese go over to HK in huge crowds every weekend to go shopping. Its crazy but if I didnt get to the border by 7am then I could have a 3 hour wait to go through immigration.
Woke up at 8, it was raining too so opted for 2 hours on the bike rollers

After the bike went to the pool and swam 2,500, clock wasnt fixed so little idea of time

Sun AM 1 hour on the bike rollers, moderate / easy effort then 1500m swim and then 1 hour hot yoga in the afternoon.

Overall week was good, apart from missing the long bike on Sat, managed to fit in 4 bike sessions, 3 swims, 2 runs and 1 yoga

Bike 150k
Run 20 k
Swim 6k
Yoga 1 hour

aficionado

Didn't post the previous week 8-14.

Didn't get much training in, with work and a bit too much socializing.

Last week

Mon,
AM 2,000m swim @ 45min
PM 10k treadmill @ 35min

Tues
PM 20 min yoga and a 45 min spin class after in the gym.

Wed
AM - 7 mile hilly route, bumped into my neighbor who is a running machine in the park. joined him for his last two laps, he gets faster as he goes and a final sprint up a hill nearly killed me. Enjoyable though.

Went to the pool in the PM, found a pool that has lane swimming and is 50m. Bad idea, there was 10 lanes and the middle being the fastest. People were walking up and down this lane, wearing glasses and almost nobody doing freestyle. It drove me insane I could go 10m without stopping to pass someone. Never again.

Thursday
AM 45min Rollers,

Fri
Nothing, stayed in HK

Sat
Finally got back out side on the bike, into the New Territories in HK. It pissed rain every 20 min but was warm and dried very quickly. Felt much stronger than the last time doing this route a few weeks ago. Tried to keep the pace around 20mph with a cadence in the 80's.
90 k in total, Garmin file here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/346530718

Sun
10k, very easy on the hilly route

aficionado

Found out over the weekend that a old friend is coming to visit for 2 weeks on the 1st.
Gonna be neigh on impossible to fit much training in. Its great catching up with friends, especially when they travel form Dublin to Shenzhen.
But its a logistical nightmare fitting sessions in.

Plan is to do bump up the training till he comes then 2 weeks of unstructured so what I can, then a big week straight after.

Mon

AM - 2 k swim @ 45min
PM - 8 x 600m w 200m recovery. Track session, running with a much faster guy, avg pace around 5.40 min miles

Tues

Nothin, had to work early in Hong Kong and got back way too late, decided to do a double Wed to make up for it.

Wed

AM Brick session - 50 min bike rollers with a Spinerval DVD then straight onto the treadmill for 25 min (4.5miles)
PM - 1 hour hot yoga, this was tough but felt great after, really helping with the brick recovery. Gonna make this a regular wed session

Thurs

AM 8 mile run out a out door hill route. Ran this with a mate who is much stronger and killed me on the hills, good session though.
PM 25min Hot yoga followed by 45 min spin class. Was really struggling towards the end of the spin class, very high cadence session. Went to the pub for some food after and was nearly fell asleep during dinner, early night...

Fri
AM 2 k Swim, around 45 min. Felt good

aficionado

Wow, almost over a month since posting,

Training over August has been really hit and miss. Had a friend visiting and some trips away. Only ended up doing gym work at lunchtimes and prob averaged about 5 hours a week.

Signed up for a open water swim race in HK. Although I had done very little swimming the distance was 1.4k, figured id survive it anyway.
Last min the course changed to 1.7k (Gulp)
Sun (25th) Up early and down to the beach, the course is a bay 2 bay swim, straight swim and non wetsuit.

As soon as I started it quickly became apparent I was at the lower end of the pack. My technique was really poor. Used the experience to practice some drafting, sighting and find out where I need to work on.

Finished in 37 min so around 2.10 per 100m. Pretty disappointed but at least I got some experience and lessons from it.
Next day I started enquiring about a swim coach. Its going to be pretty difficult and I'm guessing expensive to find one in Shenzhen, but it will be invaluable.

15 weeks until Challenge Phuket 70.3. Proper training starts now.

3 swim, bike, run sessions a week, 1 kettle bell and hopefully one yoga. If I start to burn out I'll drop the kettle bells and yoga.

Mon
10 k run outdoors, hilly. Not timed

Tues
AM 35 mile bike ride, avg speed 19mph
Lunch 40 min KettleBells

Wed
Lunch 5x1k sprints on the treadmill,
PM 45 min swim, 400 wu drills 200 cool down 1,200m


Ironman Japan is on this weekend. I'm half thinking of doing a full next year and this one looks feasible for location and time of year. I have a buddy in work going to do Frankfurt the week before so I would have a training partner for some of the long rides.

It also means I commit (mentally) to staying in Shenzhen for another 12-14 months. But I think that was going to happen anyway

aficionado

The rest of last week really dipped.

Thurs
Lunch 40 Spinervals on gym bike
PM Hot yoga, been awhile since I been to this, tough going

Fri
Zilch, rest day

Sat
Rained all day and couldn't get motivated to do anything, did 40 min on the roller and called in a day, got really annoyed with myself, ate junk for the rest of the day and a feast of beers that night

Sun
After a non day on Sat, I stuck on a movie and did 2 hours on the rollers, about 40 miles @ AVG 20mph
Straight after into the pool and tried out paddles for the first time. Really enjoyable and broke up the session. Did 3,000m


2 good sessions in 12 hours

Mon
AM Nothing, out late Sun watching the epic Dub - Kerry game.

2 good sessions over 12 hours coming up, really had to prepare mentally for this
PM
Track session, Some good runners there with us. did a ladder 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 800, 600, 400, 200
Then 30 min core / pylometric work

Tues

Am 8 hours later on the road, 61km cycle avg 20mph, legs were shattered, zombie in work after