GODZone...

shotgunmcos

MTB Trails
Lovely day and 3.5 hours taking on the white loop with career_move. I got the meet up time wrong and had to press hard for 90 mins to catch her. Lots of climbing and some bone shaking single track. Some fun fast bits on the white loop and career_move has come on so much already. Felt the effort of the initial catch up pace catching up with me towards the end. Very enjoyable spin though and an April training objective complete. Circa 45km

Easy Run
Got a few laps of the block done before I cleaned the bike. Legs felt heavy but the pace was well contained. 10.4_km in circa 50mins

shotgunmcos

Short Bike
Extended the commute home to a spin around half the GLR route. Simple spinning as I felt yesterday's bike. I had a 10kg pack on for the 3.5 hours and felt stiff on my shoulders and lower back. Quads lacked a little juice too. Cold headwind unpleasant. 20.44km done

Short Run
Felt wooden to start but better once warmed up. I had to run an errand so just ran instead of driving. The running plan this week is simply regular short runs. I need to get consistency flowing but more than anything a kick into a real swim block of 6 weeks. Missed a swim this morning. It won't happen again. 9.45km in 44:41

shotgunmcos

Aerobic Swim
Long work day up and down to the big smoke but not complaining as many do it daily. One of which is our friend RedB. Bumped into him on the morning train and he is alive and kicking Just the single session today, 4x1,000m in the pool with 30 sec rest
17:19 avg pace 1:43
17:13 avg pace 1:43
17:04 avg pace 1:42
16:50 avg pace 1:41

All done at sub 3 pace pushing each one a little harder. This should have felt very comfortable but the final rep dug in. Another one would have been challenging. A couple of high performance guys in the next 2 lanes making 1:15 pace look smooth and effortless :eek:

Kurt Godel

^ One of the fun thing about hanging around your computer is reading these updates, and how they apply to your day. I did a couple of 1kms earlier, I knew that I wasn't hitting where I'd like to be, but figured thats okay; I probably am tired or have a mild virus or something. No biggie, all is good in the hood, hey I'm overworked IRL lately...

Then I read your 4*1km paces and the eyes narrow, complacency goes out the window, and I can't wait to get back in the water to mimic something similar. You thought the 1:15 guys were effortless? There's always a smaller fish dreaming of becoming a bigger fish;)

shotgunmcos

I know it was not effortless for them but same as watching top tier athletes. Power with grace. Also little fish yes, but they were full blown Macos.

Enjoying the swim updates on your log all the same. You have 20km+ more logged this year and I'm supposed to be training for a 10k!

shotgunmcos

Swim Intervals
Not a full 2k of hard intervals this week but enough in this to bite
400m easy
6x50m pull
5x100m off 1:35 in on 1:25/1:29/1:29/1:28/1:28
1 min rest
5x100m off 1:35 in on 1:24/1:25/1:26/1:27/1:26
200m easy
100m backstroke
2,000m total

Ouch! After a decent warm up I hit the initial half of the first rep a tad' hard. Reps 2 & 3 were good but I arrived at the entrance to the pain cave. For the next 2 reps I wandered into the cave until the light was very fade. I was sucking in the air and shaking out the lactate during the rest. Set 2 was going to hurt without doubt. I just attacked it and gave every rep my best effort. The times read as relatively consistent but the reality was that each rep hurt more and more. After 2 I was already deep in the cave. Rep 3 felt like the last one but I went again and gave it everything.

I found a new depth to the cave, surely I couldn't go again after #4, but I did. My body was in flames. Nothing else existed but the next 2 lengths. Zero recovery, the pain simply continued. I took a few steps into the unknown on this. If the front 50m was wet cement, the return 50m felt like I was swimming against a wall of lactic acid. Time slowed down and I thought the wall would never come. Real pain cave. Hurt more than any TT I've done. I had planned to do a hill run afterwards. Instead I dropped shotgunjunior home, went home myself and necked a recovery shake, after just 2k swimming!!

Kurt Godel

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Time slowed down and I thought the wall would never come. Real pain cave. Hurt more than any TT I've done.

Had one of these twilight zones myself tonight; 10m out from the wall and brutally aware of every static millisecond:D Great read, sounds like a good session!

Do you have a swim program leading up to the race? If so, can I sneak a peek? (by PM if you don't want to post it)

shotgunmcos

No plan, no program. Literally going day to day at the moment. Making the sessions up en route or mid route. Sounds ludicrous with the task in mind but I tend to set the plans out as if I was on form, thus over ambitious and ultimately unrealistic. A coach would fix that problem but tried that twice, one bad one good and I'm not sure a coach would know what to do with me in current mode. So, simple plan is to find consistency of any sort first. If I simply hit 5 swims this week, I'll plan a structured 5 week block to get fit fast. Decided to take the 3x3 one at a time..

Pmaldini

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Swim Intervals
Not a full 2k of hard intervals this week but enough in this to bite
400m easy
6x50m pull
5x100m off 1:35 in on 1:25/1:29/1:29/1:28/1:28
1 min rest
5x100m off 1:35 in on 1:24/1:25/1:26/1:27/1:26
200m easy
100m backstroke
2,000m total

Ouch! After a decent warm up I hit the initial half of the first rep a tad' hard. Reps 2 & 3 were good but I arrived at the entrance to the pain cave. For the next 2 reps I wandered into the cave until the light was very fade. I was sucking in the air and shaking out the lactate during the rest. Set 2 was going to hurt without doubt. I just attacked it and gave every rep my best effort. The times read as relatively consistent but the reality was that each rep hurt more and more. After 2 I was already deep in the cave. Rep 3 felt like the last one but I went again and gave it everything.

I found a new depth to the cave, surely I couldn't go again after #4, but I did. My body was in flames. Nothing else existed but the next 2 lengths. Zero recovery, the pain simply continued. I took a few steps into the unknown on this. If the front 50m was wet cement, the return 50m felt like I was swimming against a wall of lactic acid. Time slowed down and I thought the wall would never come. Real pain cave. Hurt more than any TT I've done. I had planned to do a hill run afterwards. Instead I dropped shotgunjunior home, went home myself and necked a recovery shake, after just 2k swimming!!

your talents are wasted, you should be writing thrillers!!!:D

pgibbo

Not like you to be missing for 8 days Mike. Hope everything is alright.

Dory Dory

^^^ You read my mind.

shotgunmcos

Still here! Just been a busy week. Plus Caz 15 weeks and pretty I'll so I've been doing what I can to make life less nautious for her than spending evenings here

There was some training done, not as much as I'd like, but I'll update tomorrow. Might be a weekly update for a while. Still reading other logs when I can and modding when I must

Dory Dory

Baby????!!!!! Oh shotgun, congratulations!!!!

Oryx

What a way to break the news! Understated or what.

Congratulations!

griffin100

Great news Mike. Huge congrats to you and your good lady wife.

shotgunmcos

Yes baby, but early days to a mini shotgun

Monday
Swim Group
3,200m including a main set of 2x(200m/2x100m/200m) and 2x400m Max effort
In with the sharks again. Tried hanging on to them fruitlessly. The repeat times were off 1:40 and 3:20 but the pace was savage. 1:20 towards the front and 1:30 at the back. My lungs were so tight and I gasped for breath. The call up of 2x400m max was a bit of sadism by the coach. Still, 5:52 was a best of the year mark and a pain cave 6:02 afterwards a second best mark. Happy with those. Not quite geared towards a 10k swim but it was swimming.

Tuesday
Aerobic Swim
3,500m at 1:51 pace. Simple comfortable cruise up and down the lane.

Lunchtime Run
8km loop of the town in 35:18, pace 4:25. Good run despite absence of running lately. Hamstring hurt a little, pulled it in yesterdays swim doing some recovery breast stroke but only noticed when walking around. Felt ok running though

Wednesday
Swim Group
3,500m including main set of 16x100m off 1:40, 10x50m tech, 2x100m max effort
Again electric pace in the shark lane but I dropped to the back of the group and swam in bubbles for the 16x100m. Nearly everyone else tumble turns but I lose nothing on the turn as my kick catches back up. Despite hanging onto the tail end the reps were coming in on 1:26-1:28 so it was bloody hard work even in a draft. The max 100s were all out. In on 1:15 and 1:24. Basically gave the first one everything and had nothing in the tank for the next. Better than Monday's swim.

Aerobic Swim
Short easy 1,500m while shotgun junior did his thing. No clock just easy swimming.

Thursday
Easy Run
8km at about 5min pace. Nice run before work.

Aerobic Bike
An hour on the roadie in the evening sun. 31kmh. Enjoyed it.

Friday
Aerobic Run
Met career_move and did her planned 8 miles with the last mile at HMP. She hails from the jogging forum and it was her session so miles it was! Nah... Nice easy run with 2km squeezed out for a finish. 13.68km in 1:12

MTB Trails
We had a quick bite to eat, grabbed the bikes and headed up to the Ballyhouras trails. Lovely sunny day for it. Completed the brown loop which currently has an evil uphill climb detour due to tree felling. We stuck together for most of it but on the way back down the mountain I couldn't resist attacking the single track. I passed 2 lads and one of them hung onto me. It was adrenalin racing stuff and mad fun to hit twists, turns, jumps and bumps at speed. 2 hours total for the session with 1:40 on the trails. Loved it.

Saturday
Steady Row
30 minutes rating 20spm. I haven't been on the erg in weeks and just 3 sessions done since the first week in March. Found this tough as expected. Average 212w.

Brick Run
5km run off the erg at 4:30 pace. Sunny day and I was melting after the row. Quads pretty stiff from pushing the last half hour of trails yesterday.

Sunday
Nothing but chocolate :D. Happy Easter boardies!

griffin100

Your swimming both impresses and depresses me in equal measures

Solobally8

Congrats MCOS, hope Caz isn't too sick

mossym

congrats to you both MCOS. enjoy the beast, might be the most sleep you get for a while...:)

RedB

mossym wrote: »

congrats to you both MCOS. enjoy the beast, might be the most sleep you get for a while...:)

+1

Congratulations Mike. Great news. Best wishes to all

pgibbo

Fantastic news Mike. Congrats to you both :cool:

shotgunmcos

Monday
Swim Endurance
1,500m in 25:59 pace 1:44 - 1 min rest
1,500m in 25:40 pace 1:42 - 1 min rest
1,500m in 25:15 pace 1:41 - 2 mins rest
400m in 6:36 pace 1:38 - 1 min rest
400m in 6:28 pace 1:37 - 1 min rest
400m in 6:26 pace 1:36
5,700m total

Good session the effort increased with each rep but happy with distance

Tuesday
Easy Swim
Straight 2,500m at 1:51 pace. Very comfortable but shoulders a little tired

Tempo Run
8km lunchtime urban loop in 34:18, pace 4:17. Nice warm day and I sweated buckets. I have to pace a local 10k in a couple of weeks. The 45 min group should be handy but my current fitness suggests otherwise. I was panting after this short run

Wednesday
Nothing - Migraine all day

Thursday
Swim Endurance
4,000m straight in 65:10, pace 1:38
Good swim with no breakfast, no water. I felt it for a finish but this was the best aerobic swim so far. Intended a run in the evening but the headache returned and all I could do was turn off the lights and sleep. I suspect its a combination of the sugar overdose and not drinking enough water this week.

Friday
Swim Group
Most of the sharks were absent resting for the Joey Shannon but the technician and a few other sharks remained. It was 3,000m total including a fast main set.
2x150m off 2:20 :eek: in on 2:11/2:10
2x100m off 1:40 in on 1:26/1:25
2x50m off 60sec in on 42/42
1 min rest
Same again in on 2:10/2:12/1:27/1:26/42/40
1 min rest
Same again in on 2:13/2:19/1:32/1:29/44/41

This hurt. I still think the coach meant to say off 2:30 instead of 2:20 for the 150s. Either way the pace was savage throughout. I was dropped by the sharks every rep and the 3rd set was pure pain cave. I can see now why so many avoided this session ahead of the race!

Easy Run
Same lunchtime loop but nice and aerobic at 4:59 pace.

Saturday
Easy Swim
2,000m steady at 1:48 pace before work. This is 3hour marathon pace and felt very comfortable.

Aerobic Run
Same 8km lunchtime loop again. It was lashing out of the heavens and I had the wrong shoes on (Sketchers go run 2). I kept the pace steady at about 4:35 but concentrating on visibility through the rain I slipped on concrete running down the quays. No stumblestumble just straight awkward plant. My right knee got the worst of it and immediately swelled up. A few passers by stopped to check on me so I imagine it looked worse than it was. I hobbled back to the office and got a cold pack on it. Swollen and sore but no damage.

Sunday
Nothing knee very stiff

Overall I'm not happy at all with the week. A few decent swims which I guess is all that really matters right now. It dawned on me that not only will a 10km OW swim be tough but the lake in May is not likely to be balmy either :cool:

Summer races now all entered. Mostly first time events

griffin100

Some very nice swim sets there!!

Kurt Godel

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Thursday
Swim Endurance
4,000m straight in 65:10, pace 1:38

Magic. That's a great swim to have done before your 10k.

shotgunmcos

Thanks Kurt, yeah twas a good session

Swim Group
Did my own warm up then joined the sharks for a main set of:
4x100m off 1:40 in on 1:26/1:27/1:28/1:27
4x150m off 2:20 in on 2:13/2:14/1:30/2:15
4x200m off 3:20 in on 2:56/2:53/2:15/2:52
4x100m off 1:40 in on 1:28/1:29/1:28/1:30

Then put the fins on for 300m of back stroke. I was wasted again. I bailed on the last length of the 3rd 150 and 3rd 200 as I simply had to catch my breath. It was a 2.2k main set and all done at 1:30 pace or better. I managed to draft huff n puff who is still on his way back from injury. I took my turn for some reps but there was no bridging to the sharks, the technician amongst them. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I can really feel the benefit of hanging with a pace that has you on the limit for some sessions vs. steady aerobic swimming. Getting there, although leaving it late :cool:
Total 3,500m

Easy Run
Simple 8.3km at 5:20 pace. Really easy as the knee is still sore.

mossym

just an aside, but you might be interested Mike given your aim of long distance swimming this year. A mate of mine is currently training to swim Lough derg, Portumna to the bridge in killaloe in one go. 30km. told him i'd swim with him on the first couple of km and the last couple. should be a crazy day.

Trig1

Hey Mike- Just catching up on few logs- congrats on the great news!!

shotgunmcos

@mossym - when is that happening? :eek:

Tempo Run
8km lunchtime city loop in 33:14, pace 4:12 my best for the route. Lovely sunny day with a cool breeze. Panted my way through it. Just have to start running regularly now.

Swim Intervals
2x1500m with 10 minutes of easy mixed strokes between. First rep was 24:41. I started easy and built into a steady aerobic pace. Turfed out after it to make way for little fish. The public lane was a traffic jam so I did breast and back stroke until it cleared up. Then rep 2 in 24:33. Pretty happy with these, average 1:38 pace without burning too many matches. Hard swim tomorrow.
Total 3,500m

catweazle

Congrats mike - great news!

mossym

shotgunmcos wrote: »

@mossym - when is that happening? :eek:

think he's aiming for june or july. He's been posting some stuff on twitter about 20k in the pool in a day, split over 3 sessions.