Is there anything to be said for another mass?

Dory Dory

That face means business!!!

RJM85

Dory Dory wrote: »

That face means business!!!

By the looks of things I did an awful lot of gurning in the latter stages of the race.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Dory Dory wrote: »

That face means business!!!

Or he is having a poo in the middle of the field:)

sconhome

RJM85 wrote: »

A bit before the finish. He looks like he's ahead there (I'm on the right). Close.

Nice spikes!!

BTW why are you wearing different number logos? Are you sure he didn't wander in with a bandit number?

RJM85

AKW wrote: »

Nice spikes!!

BTW why are you wearing different number logos? Are you sure he didn't wander in with a bandit number?

Bought a new pair of Brooks spikes yesterday as the Kilkennys skinned my heel. Hopefully they're a better fit - they felt better anyway (I think).

Yeah, not sure about the numbers tbh. They must just use whatever's lying around!

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

Or he is having a poo in the middle of the field:)

Judging by this one that could be a distinct possibility.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

AKW wrote: »

BTW why are you wearing different number logos? Are you sure he didn't wander in with a bandit number?

That was our club XC, we like to recycle old numbers:)

RJM85

No intermediate for me this morning. There's a cold making it's way round the house - the little guy and my wife had it. I normally manage to avoid these things but I expect the lack of sleep from looking after himself has left my immune system weakened. Either way woke yesterday with the sniffles, full blown man flu this morning - it's affecting my breathing so running XC would not be a wise choice.

RJM85

Cold more or less gone. Back to it today - steady Z2 run finishing last 10 mins in Z3 came out at 4:30 / km pace for 40 mins. Possibly a bit fast. Not funny how itching for a run i was after only 3 days though!

RJM85

Good week of running in the end despite missing Monday and Tuesday due to sickness.

Wednesday - Z2 steady lunch time run. Came out a little fast. No HRM but perceived effort felt right.

Thursday - interval set @ lunch. Pace probably slightly slower than it Should have been for the hard intervals, but I was still clearin the cold a little (possibly going a little hard on Tuesday has something to do with it too.

Friday - day off from work so had time for a longer 60 minute session. Z3 negative split. Started out high-ish and followed through for the 2nd half. 4:09 pace avg.

Saturday - long run, 90 mins Z3 attacking hills. 21k @4:20 pace. Enjoyed it.

Sunday same as Friday. Came out slightly slower on tired legs. Looking forward to an easy day tomorrow.

One more full week before a small taper for the Senior XC. Weight has gone up a little 72.3kg this morning (vs 71.5 or so during the year) will need to keep a closer eye on diet since the training load has reduced due to single sport focus.

Looking forward to the XC. Looking forward to the month of November off even more. First target event for 2015 looks like it will be the Manchester Marathon in April. Coincides with my birthday and a friend is planning on using it for his first marathon. It's a pan flat course so based on how I've been running lately I'd hope that sub 3 is possible with proper preparation. Just working on the missus!

RJM85

Another decent week of running. Last bigger week before a relatively easy week next week leading up to the Senior XC on Sunday.

Monday - Recovery run. I'm told I've been taking these a bit too fast. 5:20/km for 40 mins.
Tuesday - Interval Set.
Wednesday - Z3 Negative Split Run
Thursday - Interval Set. Good session. First time in a while I've managed to get all of the intervals under 3:30/km pace.
Friday - Fartlek
Saturday - Z3 Negative Split Run (1hr)
Sunday - Long Run, 90 mins (Z3, attacking hills). Surprised at how this panned out. Ended up running 22k at 4:04/km pace HR 161 avg, and very consistent over the full run - that's just a couple of seconds off HM PB pace feeling very (well, relatively) comfortable.

82k for the week, and ended on a positive note with the long run on Sunday.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do next Sunday (even though I have no illusions as to where in the field I'll be finishing). Moreso, I'm excited to see what I can do in April given proper preparation for the marathon (results from Dublin today have me daydreaming a lot).

RJM85

11th overall - 37:46 on a very tough, muddy (and windy!) course. Club got team gold and I was 5th man (6 to count) so chuffed to come away with a gold medal from the county champs and to stand on the podium with some 'real runners'. I lost out on the sprint for 10th place after having closed a decent gap in the last two laps - I'm not sure I could have given much more on the day.

Rest time.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

RJM85 wrote: »

11th overall - 37:46 on a very tough, muddy (and windy!) course. Club got team gold and I was 5th man (6 to count) so chuffed to come away with a gold medal from the county champs and to stand on the podium with some 'real runners'. I lost out on the sprint for 10th place after having closed a decent gap in the last two laps - I'm not sure I could have given much more on the day.

Rest time.

I seen some photos posted of the race on our club page, did you really wear that headband upside down:)

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

I seen some photos posted of the race on our club page, did you really wear that headband upside down:)

Haters gonna hate.

To be fair, I don't think it's any worse than wearing the headband the right way round

RJM85

I am a style icon.

MojoMaker

Looks like fun - how are you getting on in the XC season?

RJM85

MojoMaker wrote: »

Looks like fun - how are you getting on in the XC season?

I'm done with the XC now. Couple of weeks rest and recovery and then it's time to start preparing for next year.

Really enjoyed it. There's nothing quite like a 'proper' XC course in terms of pure suffering!

RJM85

Zero training done for the week. Might head for a coffee on the bike Sunday and maybe sit in the jacuzzi in the gym for a while tomorrow.

MojoMaker

I was contemplating adding XC to my winter plan, before injury washed that away. Are you saying the xc season is done already, or just you're done with xc for the season? The BHAA had been mentioned to me as a decent vehicle for trying this btw, if you have an opinion.

RJM85

MojoMaker wrote: »

I was contemplating adding XC to my winter plan, before injury washed that away. Are you saying the xc season is done already, or just you're done with xc for the season? The BHAA had been mentioned to me as a decent vehicle for trying this btw, if you have an opinion.

It's done for me. I planned just to do the county championships. There's inter county, nationals etc and the BHAA - I've never done any of those but I imagine it's the same idea. Great for run strength and confidence. Plus, they really are good fun if you approach in the right way.

RJM85

Started a new job this week. Turns out there's a gym with a decent pool about 5/10 minutes wall away which could make increased swim training an option over the winter. In that case I'm considering no marathon and more tri next year.

Pros:
- actually working on my biggest weakness
- hit the tri season running as opposed to catching up after effectively 6 months of single sport focus
- maybe able to do two half distance tri's next year?

Cons
-sub 3 marathon will still be on the bucket list

RJM85

In other news: cake.

RJM85

2 weeks of nothing left me very itchy. Plans for next year getting me a bit itchy too. I was also starting to get fat. Worse, actually. Fatter than I already had been.

90 mins easy cycle Sunday - just enjoying the scenery. First time on the bike since the end of September. Felt good.

Got myself a months mebership in the gym near my office yesterday morning to see whether the early early starts are a goer. 20mins easy swimming done in the morning. The pool's a bit busier than I'm used to, but seems grand. Logistics work out perfectly getting to the office for 9 too.

Easy(o_O) 20 minute jog at lunch too. Came out at 5 mins per km, HR solidly in zone 3 :-/ my legs are pretty sore today as a result as well. I expected lost fitness, but maybe not /that/ much.

Did the same again today. Except some guys in my lane asked if I wanted to join in their session. I did. I shouldn't have.

Enjoying getting back of doing a little bit. No structure really - just exercising. Plan to keep this up for this week and next and then get on to coach to start 2015 training for real from 1st Dec. My wife has bought into Budapest 70.3 in August incorporating a bit of a family holiday afterwards. Coach seems happy with the idea too. Approach will be interesting as it's the first time I've ever done an absolute 'A' race.

MojoMaker

Once you lock onto a race it starts getting exciting. Nice target too, and making a holiday out of it with the family is a great idea.

RJM85

Sh*t just got real

mossym

fair play...looking forward to seeing how you get on prepping for this

Dory Dory

Fantastic!!! So excited for you!

RJM85

Back to training proper from tomorrow. Looking forward to it. The break was good, but I'm itching to go again. Dreading stepping on the scales in the morning though after catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror yesterday. I've been wintering well.

RJM85

First week back to training this week after four weeks off. I did very little for the first two weeks after the Senior XC before easing back into getting some daily exercise in the second two weeks. I managed to put on 2.5kg in the space of 4 weeks which I’ll need to work on. I’m hoping to get myself down to 68kg by the time my A race comes round.

The ‘A’ race for 2015 is Budapest 70.3 in August. At this stage I don’t know what kind of result I should be expecting, but I’d love to get as close to breaking 4:30 as possible. Coach has suggested an early(ish) season HIM locally as part of preparation. While the calendar isn’t out yet I expect Tri an Mhi might fit that bill. That will probably also help me get an idea of what to expect of myself in Budapest.

I’ve moved to a new job in the last couple of weeks which is close to a gym with a decent pool. As swimming is my biggest weakness, we’ve made the decision to focus on that over the winter. I’ll be aiming to get at least 4 sessions in each week (3 midweek, and one at weekends) but will hopefully be able to get more than this. At the moment, as I’m getting used to the new pool set up coach has given me leeway to figure out what might work best in the new pool (I had thought that the pool seemed very busy). As it happens I’ve been able to get my own session done with very little hassle each morning this week so far. I’ve also booked in to B2R for a swim analysis next week to get an idea of exactly what I should be working towards.

The bike last year was mostly based around 2 x 2:30 commutes to work each week. In the middle of the cold dark winter, I’m not going to be doing those. For the minute I’ll be looking at 2 x 1 hr turbos with a longer spin at weekends. That’s likely a little low, but cycling is probably still my strongest discipline, and I’ll catch up in the spring once I’ve (hopefully) made gains in swimming.

I probably made the biggest improvement in my running last year, so hopefully we can continue that. Lunch time sessions (3 / 4 per week) along with one longer run at the weekend will be the plan.
All in all, I’m likely looking at similar levels (12ish hrs per week) training to last year if not a little more.

Monday
Run – 45min run; 20min Zone1, 10min zone2, 10min zone 3 +5min cool down. Felt sluggish. Not terrible; just I think my body remembers running well only 4 weeks ago so the contrast of being unfit and fat is noticeable.

Swim – 1hr:
300 W/U
200 PB
200 Kick
4 x 200, 30 second rest descending (first in 3:45, last in 3:20)
6 x 50, 15 second rest (25 - 1 breath, 25 easy)
100 Cool down
1,900 total
Tired at the end of this. I think strength / endurance is something I’ll really need to work on as I can feel my form getting worse as swim session go on and I get tired.

Tuesday
Swim – 1hr:
300 WU
11 x 100 off 1:50
400 PB
5 x 50 off 00:50
200 mixed warm down
2,250 total
Making an effort to increase the length of the swim sessions as I go on which will hopefully help address endurance issues.

Turbo – 1hr:
Easy; Zone 2 with the last 10minutes into zone 3. Focussing on staying in tuck. Sore backside by the end. My body isn’t used to sitting in the saddle.

Wednesday
Swim – 1hr
400 W/U
400 PB & paddles
5 x 200, 10 seconds rest
400 PB & paddles
200 Cool down
2,400 Total
Again, increasing the distance on yesterday. Trying to focus on my left hand stroke in particular, as it doesn’t feel correct (exacerbated by the paddles).

Big gear turbo session planned for this evening. Was in the plan for Thursday, with a run today, but I’ve had to switch things around.

RJM85

My baby monitor was apparently designed for my tri bars