Is there anything to be said for another mass?

RJM85

100km steady on the bike this morning. After 2 months away from it I now have a very sore bum.

1,000m swim this afternoon. 4 x 250m with 90 sec recovery

RJM85

Monday: an hour in zone 2 on the rollers
Tuesday: 40mins swim and 45 mins rollers again in zone 2
Wednesday: same as Tuesday starting to feel a lot better on the bike. Hopefully I'll feel more like myself this weekend.
Thursday: day off due to mother in laws birthday celebrations!

Think I'll plan to run tomorrow lunch time and get some bike time in the evening. Everything seems to be to ticking along ok. I'm down to 11st 13lbs this morning so making slow progress on the weight front too. I see the TI calendar has been published, the CI one didn't change from year to gear last year so I probably have enough info available to actually start making a plan for 2014!

Wife is coming up on 16 weeks pregnant too, so I'm sure that's going to have an impact on my training!

Dory Dory

Congrats on the baby to be! Have you any races on the horizon? Or do you have yet to sign up for any?

RJM85

Thanks! We're delighted!

Nothing in stone yet. DCM in October will be a big target - I have unfinished business! I'll be selective about cycle races, but have a good idea which courses will suit me from last year. Will look to do at least one sprint and oly tri. Have my eye on some local duathlons which I think I can do well in too.

RJM85

Too early to be back running. Knee started giving out about 1.5 miles down the road so turned around and cut the run short. Will give it another week and if it's not healed up I'll arrange a physio appointment for next weekend. Some time with a foam roller might be in order too.

RJM85

Saturday: 1 hour swim lesson with tri club followed by 4hrs / 105k on the bike. Finished with 10/15 minites with a foam roller which was more painful than I ever remember a foam roller being. Have to get one of my own so I can do this regularly. I suspect my knee pain is down to IT band issues.

Sunday: 2.5 hrs / 65k bike followed by 1,500m swim and 15 mins foam roller.

Apart from the fact that I'm itching to run I'm happy with the weekend.

45 mins on the rollers this morning. Plan to meet with one of the more experienced members of the tri club as part of a 'buddy' system to get some swim pointers tomorrow evening.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Just on the knee issue, do you run on roads with a camber or is your local routes flat/good surface.

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

Just on the knee issue, do you run on roads with a camber or is your local routes flat/good surface.

I would have said they're generally good surface and largely flat. I've also tried to do a bit more running on grass in the last while, but probably not half enough.

TBH I think the real cause of it is probably trying to keep up too high a mileage after the marathon. I could feel my legs getting tight but pushed on rather than back off. Which is never the right answer in retrospect, but very hard not to do at the time!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

RJM85 wrote: »

I would have said they're generally good surface and largely flat. I've also tried to do a bit more running on grass in the last while, but probably not half enough.

TBH I think the real cause of it is probably trying to keep up too high a mileage after the marathon. I could feel my legs getting tight but pushed on rather than back off. Which is never the right answer in retrospect, but very hard not to do at the time!

Likely the body just needs a break, plenty more time for swim & bike so:)

RJM85

Left work on time Tuesday evening, shovelled my dinner in and raced across to.the gym - My 'buddy' didn't show. Great stuff.

2k swim on my own, not what was planned but a swim nonetheless.
80 minutes on the rollers yesterday evening.
Swim planned for this evening.

RJM85

Not a great weekend training wise.

Thursday: 2k swim
Friday: day off
Saturday: one hr swim lesson followed by 65k on the bike.
Sunday: slept in and felt tired even then. didn't make it out on the bike at all. 2K swim in the afternoon.
Diet was crap all weekend too. Going to have an early night and try to refocus this week.

Have half an idea about next year's plans, will try get them written down during the week.

RJM85

Not a bad week for training all things considered. (Not a great one either)

Monday: 60 minutes on the rollers
Tuesday: 2k swimming
Wednesday: wife's birthday, no training, made pig of myself
Thursday: 3k run. Little bit of tightness in my knee about 2.5k so turned for home. Hopefully it's healing - I only managed 1k before the same thing last time. 2k swimming.
Friday: dads 65th birthday this evening. No training. Hopeful of keeping pig self under control.

Masters swimming in the morning followed by 3hrs zone 2 on the bike.

Looking back at some of my Garmin files from when I bought the swim watch in September - I appear to have made little or no progress in the pool in three months. I think some one on one lessons might be in order - I'll ask around for recommendations.

I've also had a look at the TI calendar in conjunction with a few other things and I've a fair idea of my targets for next year:

February / March / April: Sportsman Duathlon Series (3.2k run, 18k bike, 3.2k run). I did race two this year off the back of loads of bike, but minimal running and came 13th. Think a top 10 finish in race 2 or 3 should be a realistic result depending on who is there on the day. I can also aim to beat last year's time of 56:33.

June: Crooked Lake Triathlon (sprint): I have no idea what kind of goals to set for my first tri; maybe just finish. I should have a better idea of what to expect from myself by then.

June / July: an Olympic tri. Carlingford may be a good one to do as it's local, but I'll wait to see what date etc.

August: Half Ireman (half IM distance). This will depend on how my first forays into tri go. The sole aim here will be to finish, but I'll maybe set some specific goals once I've a better idea of what I'm capable of.

October: Dublin Marathon. I think two (maybe 3) goals is appropriate for this
1) a PB. Better than this year's 3:20:05
2) sub 3:10 should be achievable given a good injury free run up. I feel like I could have done close to this this year.
3) long term goal is sub 3

I'll also plan to do a bit of bike racing, run a couple of road races throughout the year, do some xc in the new year and next autumn / winter as this year it was great fun, and try fit in more tri's if possible (e.g. blackrock sprint, or clougharhead are local and should be doable). If they're timed right I should be able to pick up a few PB's along the way. (10k and HM running and 10mile TT bike ones are ones I'd particularly like to get down to sub 38, sub 1:25, and sub 24 respectively).

Tired just typing all of that.

RJM85

Party last night went on a bit later than expected last night so ended up missing the swim this morning. Not going to get annoyed about that - I don't get to spend enough time with my family, and it's not every day Dad turns 65. Solid day nonetheless:

Cycle: 2:40 / 76k. steady; zone 1 / 2.
Run: Quick run straight after; 2.5k 6:20 / mile pace (bit fast, but a good feeling)
Swim: 1.2k including 400m TT. After whining yesterday about not making any progress I set a new PB: 6:28 which is a 49 second improvement on last month!



Long bike spin tomorrow with the club; 100k+ not sure what else I'll fit in as wife has plans, but a likely 4 hrs on the bike is probably decent for one day!

RJM85

115k / 4 and a bit hrs bike this morning. Solo as I got my wires crossed. mostly zone 1/2 slipped into 3 accidentally once or twice.

2.5k run straight after 6:40 / mile pace.

Feeling guilty I won't get a swim in. Does this make me some sort of triathlete?

mossym

first tri to olympic to half in 3 months? any worries that's a lot of stepping up in a short time?

not saying there is anything wrong with it, might be well within your abilities.

RJM85

mossym wrote: »

first tri to olympic to half in 3 months? any worries that's a lot of stepping up in a short time?

not saying there is anything wrong with it, might be well within your abilities.

It may well be a bit much. The half is going to be dependent on how the shorter distances go (and how much training I can do once baby arrives). I'll also be treating it more as a bucket list kind of thing. I know I won't be at the front of the race, but I think I can get around. It might also be valuable to do one with no pressure first so that I've a better idea of what I'm training for the following year when / if I'm looking to be more competitive over that distance. In some ways I think I should have approached the marathon like that this year.

mossym

RJM85 wrote: »

It might also be valuable to do one with no pressure first so that I've a better idea of what I'm training for the following year

can't argue with that, it's my approach, but over a longer period than you, first sprint last June, with a couple of oly's at the end of this season to get a feel. Mainly oly next year, but targeting one half at the end of the season to get a feel for it.

RJM85

mossym wrote: »

can't argue with that, it's my approach, but over a longer period than you, first sprint last June, with a couple of oly's at the end of this season to get a feel. Mainly oly next year, but targeting one half at the end of the season to get a feel for it.

I think it's a little of the cycling racing mentality maybe. Best thing I ever realised was 'what's the worst that can happen?' You'll suffer and you'll learn something about yourself. I've often bitten off more than I can chew in the past 12 months or so but I've never regretted it (that's not to say I'm advocating going mad, but I'd err on the side of taking a calculated risk than playing things conservatively.

mossym

RJM85 wrote: »

but I'd err on the side of taking a calculated risk than playing things conservatively.

Fair play. i;d agree with taking the calulated risk. i guess the starting point is the important bit, if the fitness is there already or not. i foudn ramping up too quickly was getting me injured, the running specifically. hence the slower appreach. if you can ramp quickly, then thats not a concern

RJM85

mossym wrote: »

Fair play. i;d agree with taking the calulated risk. i guess the starting point is the important bit, if the fitness is there already or not. i foudn ramping up too quickly was getting me injured, the running specifically. hence the slower appreach. if you can ramp quickly, then thats not a concern

yeah, this should probably be caveated with the fact that I'm just coming back from a knee injury due to overtraining!

RJM85

Monday:
Run - 2 miles easy, little tightness in the last couple hundred metres.
Bike - rollers 5 mins warm up zone 4 intervals 2, 4, 6, 6, 4, 2 minutes with 1 minute rest between each. Gently spinn for 6/7 mins to cool down. 40 mins total.
20 mins foam roller

Tuesday:
Run - 2 miles easy. No pain.
Swim - 2k planned for this evening. 8 x 250m.

Edit: the plan to go swimming wasn't a popular one. Spent some extra time with the other half and got 60 minutes moderate effort on the rollers instead.

RJM85

Wednesday: 5k run, easy. No pain. Taking it relatively easy for a week or so to ease myself back. Lovely to be running again though.

1.8k swim. 4x250m moderate effort, 10x50m hard, 300m of, eh, messing.

20 mins foam roller before bed.

Thursday: another easy, uneventful 5k run.

Pool planned for this evening followed by foam roller

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Am I right in saying someone got nominated for something in the CC?

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

Am I right in saying someone got nominated for something in the CC?

Ha! Yeah, that's me alright! Are you Liams mate I met briefly down in clonard this year??

Dory Dory

What is CC? And what did you get nominated for?

RJM85

Dory Dory wrote: »

What is CC? And what did you get nominated for?

Local cycling club. Nominated in the 'you were cr@p last year but you did alright this year division'

Dory Dory

RJM85 wrote: »

Local cycling club. Nominated in the 'you were cr@p last year but you did alright this year division'

Sounds like Most Improved. Congrats on the nomination.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

RJM85 wrote: »

Ha! Yeah, that's me alright! Are you Liams mate I met briefly down in clonard this year??

Yep that's me, put 2 and 2 together and figured it was you from your posts.

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

Yep that's me, put 2 and 2 together and figured it was you from your posts.

Same here, wasn't 100% sure but fairly certain. Good to [internet] meet you again!

RJM85

Friday: running. 7.5k easy (zone 2). Knee is coming around nicely.

Saturday: run - 7.5k easy (zone 2). Swim 1.5k (2x250m, 5x25m hard 25m recovery, 2x250m)

Sunday: bike - 65k solo zone 2. Run - 5.5k zone 2 crossed into zone 3. Finding it hard to control my running pace after getting off the bike, but ibexpdct that's normal? Swim - 1k (10x100m)

Not a great weekend overall. Charity bake sale at work followed by cycling club chrimbus party in on Friday meant that I over indulged mightily, no excuses for Saturday but I over did it then too. Had intended on going to the masters swim session at 7am Saturday but that didnt happen mainly due to laziness. I also intended on getting out on the bike, which didn't happen for the same reason. Had hoped for a 100k + spin today, but again I spent too much time in bed. Finding it hard to keep the motivation consistent at the minute. The aim is to keep it ticking over till new year, so it's not a huge deal at present, but I cant afford to put on weight, or not build a decent cycling base. Once agsin; I'll start the week tomorrow with the intention of refocusing.