Is there anything to be said for another mass?

RJM85

Wednesday PM
Turbo – 1hr
Big gear, low cadence for most of it. 6x2minute efforts, 1 minute rest. Felt like I was going to die.

Thursday
Swim 1hr
5x200 swim
5x200 PB
4x50 kick
6x50 sprint 25, breast stroke 25
100 cool down
2,600 total

Run Interval Session
Main bit was 6 x 3 minutes with 90 seconds rest. Went out far too hard and suffered badly in the last couple. Pace dropped right off. Still, running felt a little better overall.

Friday
Run 45mins – Negative Split; last 20 mins under 4min / km was the plan – I couldn’t quite get there. Came out at 4:10/km for the last 20 mins. This was done early morning in Dublin as I was on a course all day. Running on Sandymount as the sun comes up is pretty nice.

Saturday
Long (ish) run 60mins. Starting @ 5min/km pace and progressing. Finished around 4:15 pace avg 4:30 / km for the whole run. Felt good. Running legs are coming back – even if my HR is a bit (a lot) high.

Sunday
Bike – 2:30 easy.
Enjoyed this. Just went out and got lost for a few hours looking for hills and just riding my bike. It was cold and windy, but it wasn’t wet so it was grand.

Swim 1hr
1 hr continuous swimming focusing on technique, breathing etc. worthwhile If a little dull.

Week 1 done:
Swim: 3hrs 45mins
Bike: 4hrs 31mins
Run: 3hrs 26mins
Total: 11hrs 45mins
TSS: 683.6

RJM85

Swim set this morning included 10 * 100's off 1:50. 7 of the 10 came in under 1:35 - good for me even when I'm in good shape. Hopefully a sign that things are moving in the right direction swim wise at least.

RJM85

Good week last week. Getting back into the swing of things, and starting to feel like a bit of fitness is coming back. Doing decent hours, but it’s not leaving me as tired as I might have expected (the fact that the little fella is in a bit of a routine and we’re getting some sleep is probably helping).

Monday
Swim 1hr
Mostly PB & paddles, with a few fast 50’s 100’s.

Turbo 1hr
Interval session. Main bit was 8 * 2 mins HARD. Body coped with it a little better than last week. Still horrible though.

Tuesday
Swim 1hr
250m alternating between HARD and easy. Ended up doing 3 x hard 250’s in 4:06, 4:01, 4:00. Got caught behind slower swimmers in the first two - fairly certain they could have been under 4:00 (if only just). Tiring by the 3rd one. For the moment aiming to have these under 4 mins.

Run 45mins
Interval Session. Main bit was 6*3 with 90 seconds rest. Similar to the bike, the body coped a bit better this week. Still tying up badly by the end.

Wednesday
Swim 1hr
Main set was 10 * 100 off 1:50. Majority coming in at 1.35 or below. Happy with this session.

Turbo 1hr
Big gear session – around 60 rpm for most of it. These sessions always feel unnatural to me – higher cadence seems to come more naturally.

Thursday
Swim 1hr – mostly PB and Paddle work.

Run 45mins.
Negative split run. 20 min steady, 20 min under 4min /km pace, 5 min cool down.
Heavy legs and last weeks run had me thinking I wouldn’t manage the 4min pace. Eased into it, and the legs came round for 3:59 pace for the second 20 min. Happy with this.

S&C 20 mins.

Friday
45 min easy run. Really, really easy. Lovely cold crisp winters day. Jogged down to clontarf and back from the office. Lovely.

Saturday.
Was in with B2R for a swim analysis. Good experience. Being able to see what was wrong with my stroke on screen was really helpful. My left hand entry is a bit skewed, with elbow going in before my hand (I could feel something wrong before but was never sure what the problem was). Have a couple of drills to work on, and hopefully we’ll see some improvement.

Turbo 20 mins – Tabata session.
Made the mistake of telling the coach that I wouldn’t have time to get anything else in with driving down to ballymount etc. so he slotted in a nice 20 min tabata session 8 * 20 sec, 10 sec recovery. Dreadful, dreadful experience.

Sunday
Run 75 min. This was supposed to be hilly at around 4:30 pace. The route I ended up taking was flatter than expected, so pushed the pace a bit more. Came out at 4:11 per km. Relatively comfortable till the last 10 mins or so. Happy with this. Can feel my run form coming back, and while HR is still a bit high, I’m not plodding any more.

Swim 1hr. Mostly drills with some 50’s and 100’s. Died a bit at the end.

Week 2 done.
Swim: 5hrs 22
Bike: 2hrs 20
Run: 3hrs 31
S&C: 20mins
Total: 11hrs 33
TSS: 608

Weight is down this morning to 73.2kg as well. That’s 1.3kg in two weeks. Still 5kg to my goal weight, but I’ve 36 weeks till Budapest!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Solid weeks training, those Tabata intervals are short lived but they hurt like hell.

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

Solid weeks training, those Tabata intervals are short lived but they hurt like hell.

First time I've done them. I knew it wasn't going to be nice, but Jesus that was tough.

RJM85

Monday
Swim
Mixture of drills and 100's. Planned 100's off 1:45 as 1:50 had been 'easy' the week before. Struggled a bit on these so did 5 off 1:45 and 5 off 1:50.
Run
Easy lunch time run. Really enjoying these.
Bike
1 Hr high cadence.

Tuesday
Swim
Same session as Monday. Again struggling off 1:45. Think I managed 6 before reverting to 1:50.
Run
Negative split. 2nd half under 4 min / km pace. Eased into it again and finished strong - last km 3:45 pace. Happy with this.
S&C
Bit of time with the foam roller and some core exercises.

Wednesday
Swim
Main set was 200's descending - pushing harder each time - last one in 3:30. Some PB and paddle work as well.
Bike
Big gear session.

Thursday
Swim
Steady relaxed swim taking splits every 250m. Bit slower than ideal Little tired.
Run
Interval set. Reduced rest time this week. Very windy day so hard to judge pace achieved. Feeling like I'm running better though.

Friday
Active rest prescribed. Did a short easy swim in the morning and spent a small fortune on Santa presents in the evening. Not sure there's enough room in the sitting room for everything - the child won't have a clue what's going on.

Saturday
Run
90 min hilly run in the plan. Didn't get out till after the baby was asleep so done in the dark. Stuck to lit roads which meant it was flatter than intended. Good run though. Came out under 4:20 pace comfortable until the last 10 minutes or so when I started feeling the pace a little. HR better than last week but still a bit high. I'm not back to October run levels just yet but I'm getting there.

Sunday
Bike
3 hrs Z2. Got out earlyish and got to watch the world getting bright (I won't say sun rising, cause clouds). Lovely. Enjoyed this. Would have liked legs to feel a bit fresher at the end, but being realistic it's my first spin this long in a good while.
Swim
Drills, 50's 100's. Bit pushed for time on this one so cheated a little on the drills by using fins. Felt good in the water though, hopefully all this extra swim time is paying off.

Swim: 4hrs 5
Bike: 5hrs 4
Run: 3hrs 42
S&C: 20mins
Total: 13:11
TSS: 725

Biggest week yet and glad of a recovery week this week. Things are going well so far. Fitness is building and motivation is there. Will be adding in an extra run each week from next week as it feels light on running.

RJM85

Bit of catching up to do.

Christmas Week (recovery week):

Monday
Swim. Mixture of drills and 100’s. 10*100 off 1:45 – coming in on 1:40 but comfortable to jump back into the next one each time. First time since I’ve restarted training in December that I managed a full set of 100’s off 1:45. Happy.

Tuesday
Run. 1 hr negative split run on feel. First 30 minutes @ 4:14 pace, 2nd 30 minutes @ 3:58 pace. Felt good mostly. Needed to work a good bit harder for the last 5 minutes or so to maintain momentum.

Wednesday
Christmas Eve – rest day. Hadn’t been planned for today but there was just no way I could fit anything in with everything happening.

Thursday
Christmas Day – run – 40min run in the plan with no pace dictated. It was a gorgeous day though, and I was really enjoying myself so ended up doing an hour and ten at comfortable 4:33 pace. Home to put on the turkey and pig out after.

Friday
Turbo – 1hr; starting conservatively and trying to get avg HR as close to threshold of 174 as possible. Paced a little too conservatively and came out with 163 avg. Still, last 20 minutes or so weren’t pretty.

Saturday
Long run – 90 minutes on feel. Came out at 4:54 pace. Probably a little slow. But worse for wear after my annual night out with school friends the night before. Happy to have gotten the session done. This was originally the day I had intended to take my rest day.

Sunday
Long 3 hr spin planned with some efforts to prepare for a 10 mile TT on NYE, but icy roads meant I did it on the turbo. Felt bad to start and got worse as it went on. I hate the turbo at the best of times and when a long session on it isn’t going well it’s all too easy to throw the toys out of the pram and give up. Which is what I did after a little more than 2 hrs. 40 minute steady run straight after which went surprisingly well given the bad turbo.

Swim: 45mins
Bike: 3hrs 9
Run: 4hrs 24
Total: 8hrs 18
TSS: 555

RJM85

Back to the hard work after a recovery week last week. This week was good. Biggest week yet in terms of work. Felt good overall. Being off work for the week helps with recovery etc. Diet went to sh*t the last two weeks – I’ve not stepped on the scales, but I imagine I’m back where I started on 1st December. Not to worry – just have to start afresh again. I’ve managed to bruise a rib. It’s not stopping me from training at the moment, but it’s something I’ll have to keep an eye on and be sensible about.

Monday
Steady 45 minute run done on a treadmill due to icy footpaths.

30 minutes easy spinning on the turbo with a few short sprints. Actually did this on a wattbike in the gym seeing as I was already there and I was curious. Avg 173 watts, which means nothing to me.

Tuesday
30 minutes easy spinning on the turbo with a few short sprints.

Steady 1 hr swim. Bit slow, but just focussed on technique.

Wednesday
New Years Eve Time Trial (10 Mile)
Official time 24:26. 4th overall. Strong headwind on the way out (at one point I was doing 29 kmh with my HR at 175) , and obviously a tail wind on the way back. Wouldn't have expected to beat the first three in any case - all strong Ras men in the 21-22 minute bracket. Think I did ok. Had to remind myself once or twice that I'm not saving anything for the run. Took a while to be sure I wasn't going to vomit afterwards which is usually a sign you've paced these things fairly well I think.

Run – 1hr negative split run sub 4:30 / km pace after the TT. Took a while to get into this after the TT, but legs came good. Tough day overall but good for morale.

Thursday
Tempo run – ended up having to do this running home from dinner in the in laws. Wasn’t pleasant doing 4:05 pace with a belly full of roast beef and lemon meringue. Got it done though.

Turbo – interval session.

Friday
Swim - 1,500m Time Trial
Splits as best I can figure them were:
01:43, 01:42, 01:41, 01:41, 01:44, 01:39, 01:43, 01:39, 01:42, 01:44, 01:44, 01:41, 1:40, 01:40, 01:35
Total: 25:17
7 seconds slower than the TT I did in August. Considering less swim time over Christmas I think I'm happy enough for the moment - something to build on.

Easy Lunch time run. Lovely.

Saturday
Long run, 90 minutes. Didn't get this in until late. Baby isn't napping as much so it's a little harder to find the chance to get these done in daylight. Pace / effort felt about right - maybe felt like 4:30 pace overall whereas it came out 4:37 avg. Decent run. A drunk lady told me I have nice legs.

Sunday
Bike – 3hrs
Solo spin taking in 3 of the bigger climbs in the vicinity. Flagstaff, Annaverna, and Newry Hill. Always feels like a bit of an achievement to keep he bike upright on Annaverna as there's a longish section of nearly 20% gradient. Felt like a good spin overall.

Swim – 1 hr mixed drills and 100’s.

Swim: 2hrs 23
Bike: 5hrs 23
Run: 4hrs 54
Total 13hrs 4
TSS: 777

RJM85

Monday
Rest Day. Normally try to do a short swim and some S&C work but today I took the whole day off. Extra hour in bed in the morning and I read a book in the evening.

Tuesday
Bike – 3hrs Z2. Taking advantage of a day off work. Great spin. Feeling really good on the bike.
Run – 45mins. Done as a brick with 20 mins @4.05 pace. Tough, but doable. A good day.

Wednesday.
Little tired after the bigger day yesterday.
Swim – 250m repeats alternating between hard and easy. Trying to get the hard ones in under 4 minutes.
Run – Interval set; windy day and tired legs. Bad combination.
Bike – 60 minute big gear interval set.

Thursday.
Again, tired.
Swim – 100’s. Not coming in on the times planned so pushed them out.
Run – negative split run with the 2nd half planned for sub 4 min / km pace. Tired legs and another windy day meant this actually came out as 4.06 pace.
Bike session in the plan for this evening, but I moved it to Friday instead in favour of getting an early night.

Friday.
Feeling better thanks to a good sleep Thursday night.
Swim – 400 TT, drills etc. 400 came out 6:27. On par with the best I’ve done, but that was a while ago and I would have expected improvements since then.
Run – easy lunch time run / shuffle.
Bike – 1 hr turbo. Big gear intervals. Bit of a focus at the moment on building leg strength.

Saturday.
Long run – 90 minutes @ hardish pace with hill repeats. Started out too fast and didn’t manage to hang on, but an encouraging run nonetheless. Majority came in at 4:07 pace before trailing off in the last couple of k due to a headwind and legs tying up. Got some strange looks from passers by doing hill repeats at 10pm outside a McDonalds!

Sunday.
Long Z2 spin. Did this with the club. 3hrs 45 in total with a nice coffee stop in Bettystown. Good spin overall although the pace dropped right off near the end as a newcomer started to suffer badly and had to be pushed for nearly 30k. When I wasn’t doing the pushing I took the opportunity to do some overgeared efforts on the hills. Felt strong on the bike and comfortable.
There was a swim in the plan for Sunday afternoon also, but the bike took longer than planned and it just wasn’t possible to fit it in. I’ll catch up next week.

Swim: 2hrs 12
Bike: 8hrs 46
Run: 4hrs 28
Total: 15 hrs 26
TSS: 882.4

Biggest week yet by some way. Feeling good if a little tired today. Took the extra hour in bed again this morning and enjoying the rest day. One more bigger week before an easy week again next week. Everything is moving in the right direction. Haven’t stepped on the scales, but I can see in the mirror that the weight / fat is moving in the right direction. While acknowledging that the performance management chart in TP doesn't represent some sort of exact science, it is nice to watch the steady upward trajectory of the blue line.

RJM85

Solid if not spectacular week this week. Baby has been sick which means I haven’t had a decent nights sleep in a good while. I also woke yesterday morning with his head cold. Hopefully I can shift it quick enough and it doesn’t have too much of an impact on things. This week is a bit of a recovery week anyway.

Monday
Day off.

Tuesday
Swim – main set of 250m on / off taking time splits. Very pool so got caught once or twice behind slower swimmers and times were impacted by that. Still posted my fastest time for this yet – a 3.51.

Wednesday
Swim – Steady relaxed swim for an hour. Didn’t really keep track of anything. Just swam and took little breaks here and there to drink.
Run – Interval set. Not the best I’ve done. Legs were a bit tight going into it, and just got worse.
Bike – Turbo session with BG intervals, alternating between seated and standing starts. This is always a tough session.

Thursday
Swim – Mix of drills and some 100’s. 100's coming in roughly 1:40. Feeling good in the water if a little tired overall.
Run – Tempo run in very gusty conditions. Went surprisingly well - 4.05 pace was the target for the 20 minute ‘tempo’ bit; I managed 4.06 which, given the weather, I’m happy with.
Bike – Turbo session with BG intervals. Again. Have been working on leg strength a bit – I think it’s starting to pay dividends as I’m pushing bigger gears for this session than previously.

Friday
Swim – Main set of 10 x 100’s off 1.45. Coming in 1.33 on almost all of them. None below 1.34. This is the best swim yet – very happy.
Run – Easy lunch time run.

Saturday
Short Turbo / Long Run Brick – 1 hour turbo with BG intervals followed by a 90 minute Z3 run with a set of 5 hill repeats around half way through the run. Tough session, which I was a bit nervous about to be honest but it went well. Turbo was fine. Took a minute to get well wrapped up for the run as it was fairly cold out. First km was relatively easy to get into the swing of things before I upped the effort. I usually work of perceived effort for the first while in any run like this while keeping an eye on the Garmin to tell me that I’m not way off in my perception. First half came out 4.20 fairly comfortably before I got into the hill repeats. 200m (ish) on a steep incline all out, and recovering on the way down. Second ‘half’ came out at 4.06 pace for just under 40 minutes. I was hanging on a bit in the last 10 minutes or so rather than running strong and comfortable, but overall I’m very happy with this session. Long way out yet, but being able to do a long run as well as this off the bike at this stage is a confidence booster for later in the year.

Sunday
Bike – 3hr endurance spin – Woke (after little sleep) with a cold. Was looking too frosty for a club spin, so I held off until 12ish before heading out on my own. Legs just wouldn’t co-operate at all. I think I was a bit tired from the run the night before (which I only got finished at quarter to midnight), and the cold took something out of the legs as well. Either way, I just rode the bike for 3ish hours. Aerobic effort was low, but my legs were screaming at all but the absolute easiest of spinning. Probably a session best forgotten.

Swim: 3hrs 11
Bike: 5hrs 53
Run: 3hrs 43
Total: 12hrs 48
TSS: 693

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

RJM85 wrote: »

Legs just wouldn’t co-operate at all. I think I was a bit tired from the run the night before (which I only got finished at quarter to midnight), and the cold took something out of the legs as well. Either way, I just rode the bike for 3ish hours. Aerobic effort was low, but my legs were screaming at all but the absolute easiest of spinning. Probably a session best forgotten.

Or perhaps far too much quality work done on Wed & Thurs? 4 tough sessions over two days and the BG gear on top of it will always be tough on the legs. Some recovery week:pac:

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

Or perhaps far too much quality work done on Wed & Thurs? 4 tough sessions over two days and the BG gear on top of it will always be tough on the legs. Some recovery week:pac:

Sorry, this week's the recovery week, not the week just done - phrasing was a bit ambiguous. It was a tough week BG intervals were originally intended for Tues, Thurs, and then the Saturday brick, but I needed to move things around a little - as usual, life gets in the way! I've had to get in the habit of doing my long runs late on Saturday evening / bordering on night, with the long cycle on Sunday's starting less than 12 hours after I finish the run. It's not ideal, and sometimes it does result in crappy days like Sunday, but with a small baby, long commute, etc... if I didn't train tired is never do any training!

RJM85

Should say as well, I don't pay too much attention to once off bad days like Sunday. If it feels like there's a trend emerging, then there's obviously cause to look at things deeper, but the overall trend has been upward in all disciplines with what I consider my two best runs and swims (Fridays 100's and Saturdays brick) since I started again in December. Coach had scheduled a full day off today and some active recovery tomorrow, and the rest of the week is one of the lightest on paper so far. So there's plenty of opportunity for the body to mend itself.

RJM85

Rest week done. Was tired after last week, so this was needed.

Monday
Rest day – nothing. Mostly just trying to shift the cold I picked up from the little fella.

Tuesday
Active rest – very little; just some foam roller and a couple of S&C exercises.

Wednesday
Swim
Some drills followed by a steady recovery swim at c1.50 pace. Not the best I’ve felt in the water lately, but two days more or less off; the cold; decent gap since last in the pool all probably explain it.
Run
Easy Z2 run. Not much to say about this!
Cycle - Turbo
1hr Z2, pushing into Z3 for the last 10 minutes or so. I think I dislike these sessions on the turbo more than a hard interval set or similar.

Thursday
Run – intervals. Not great. Cold not fully cleared and legs a little lethargic. Pace was slow for all of them; but the effort was about right and HR looked normal.

Friday
Swim – main set 20x100 off 1.45. Tried to keep the effort level consistent over the full 20 - tiring by the end and there was a definite drop off in pace. Happy though that I managed to go off on 1.45 each time (even if only just!).

Saturday
Run – 1hr easy run.
Cycle – 1 hr; warm up, then 25 minutes HARD; cool down. Had to move the turbo for this as its set up in the bedroom above ours, and my wife was already in bed. Forgot to bring the fan with me though, so it became a proper sweat fest. Magnesium deficiency here we come!

Sunday
Cycle – club spin with the tri club with a coffee stop in Warrenpoint. Just shy of 4 hours. Easy effort the whole way, feeling comfortable. Ended up being longer than planned, but no harm done. Lovely carrot cake. Had enough time for a quick dip in the Jacuzzi and some time in the sauna afterwards too!

All the training is going well. Need to refocus on diet – I was good before Christmas, but its slipped too often since.

Swim: 1hr 58
Bike: 5hrs 51
Run: 2hrs 27
S&C: 45 minutes
Total: 11hrs 1
TSS: 538

RJM85

Monday
Run
10 easy, 10 steady, 10 tempo, 10 hard, 5 easy. Did this as Easy - 5:00, Steady - 4:30, Tempo - 4:10, Hard sub - 4:00. Felt slow and a bit 'ploddy' but pace was there per the Garmin and seemed to be matching up as I'd expect with HR (maybe a bit better than recent runs).

Tuesday
Swim
The bus broke down on Tuesday morning (really!) so I ended up missing the planned session.

Run
Interval set – longer (4 minute) intervals this week. Wasn’t overly happy with the pace. But the effort was there.
Turbo
Unusual session. Involved playing a song on repeat and matching the tempo to the song so that you start off easy and end the last 10 seconds in a full on sprint, and repeat. Tough session, but really good.

Wednesday
Swim
Repeats of 250m on /off.

Turbo
Z3, high cadence. Didn’t go great. Looking back, back to back turbo days usually seem to result in a bad turbo the second day. Going to try avoid this going forward.

Thursday
Main set:
6 x 100 off 1.45
4 x 100 off 1.40
4 x 100 off 1.35.
This was a bit of a step up. I managed all but the last 2 of the 1.35’s. Happy, given it’s still progress on where I was.

Run
Negative split run with the 2nd 20mins at below 4.00 pace. Good run. Wasn’t sure how legs were at the start but they eased into it well.

Friday
10 x 100 off 1.40. Swimming ok I think. Wasn't able to manage the full 10 off 1.40. Did an easier 200 in the middle (after 5) and then had to go down to 1.45 for the last 3. Again, these sessions are pushing me a fair bit, but considering the progress to date I’m relatively happy even though I’m not managing the full session as prescribed.

Saturday
Swim
Since I missed the session on Tuesday my wife agreed to forego her lie in this morning so that I could go to the tri club masters session. Won't be able to go every week - I don't have the money to keep her in the fancy chocolates needed for the negotiations! It’s a pity I can’t make these, as I think swimming with people would really bring me on. I started this session in the ‘medium’ lane which is where I had been last time I attended. By the end, I was leading the fast lane. Obviously, this is reflective of the standard in our small club as much as anything, but it’s progress nonetheless!
Main set was 16 * 100 alternating between hard (95%) and steady (80%). 10 sec rest after hard, 20 after steady, aiming for at least a 5 second difference between the two different effort levels. My splits were: 1:24, 1:28; 1:25; 1:28: 1:26; 1:29; 1:26; 1:31, 1:28; 1:35; 1:29; 1:35; 1:31; 1:34; 1:31; 1:34. I was drafting for (I think) the first half of these and leading the lane for the second half. Either way, this is pretty much the best swimming I’ve ever done.

Run
Long run – 90 minutes at a good honest pace with 5xhill repeats in the middle and pushing on in the last 10 minutes or so. Good run. Came out 4.16 pace overall, and considering there’s the hill repeats and then 5 minutes recovery at 5min /km pace in there I’m very happy with this. My running appears to be coming around.

Sunday
Bike – club spin, just over 4 hours and just under 120k. These are feeling easy, which is nice. I’ll try when I can to get an extra hour or two before these on my own. The mornings being brighter will help with this.

Swim 2hrs 48
Bike 6hrs 10
Run 4hrs 24
Total 13hrs 22
TSS 826.7

Good week overall. A couple of sessions I wasn't happy with, but I've ended the week feeling like I'm definitely on the right track and everything is moving in the right direction.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Good week R, the swimming seems to have taken a big jump recently!

What was the song on repeat for the Tuesday turbo as a matter of interest:)

RJM85

Makayla Abundant Scoutmaster wrote: »

Good week R, the swimming seems to have taken a big jump recently!

What was the song on repeat for the Tuesday turbo as a matter of interest:)

Yeah, I had been told that improvement in swimming can be like that, but I wasn't expecting to literally be same old sh*tty swimmer me one day and then be knocking 8-10 seconds off my 100s the next!

Can't always get what you want by the stones - I used to like the song, now I'm not so sure! Have to say it was a really good session.

RJM85

Bit of a mixed week. Started well. Went to sh*t. Ended well.

Monday
Swim 1hr. Main set 10 x 100 off 1.45. Making all the times relatively comfortably.
Run 45min. Negative split run; start steady and then 4 min km pace for the 2nd 20 mins. Didn’t quite make the pace. Legs feeling Sundays long bike a litte.
Turbo 1hr. Threshold effort for the hour. Avg HR was below what it was the last time I did this, but it actually felt like I did ok. On top of a decent gear and working pretty hard throughout.

Tuesday
Rest day. Little guy wasn’t well Monday night (he had a cold, seems to be teething, and was acting like he had a sore ear as well!) and spent a lot of the night screaming / crying which isn’t like him. I took the day off work to take him to the doctors. Once he got there though, he was in flying form. Just wanted to lighten my pocket by fifty quid obviously!
Got a short easy swim in in the evening.

Wednesday
Slept in and missed my planned swim session. Didn’t even hear the alarm. Also woke with the little guys cold. Had a turbo session in the plan for the evening also, but ended up binning it because by the time I got the little guy to bed it was 10pm, I was exhausted, and I was expecting another restless night. First missed sessions since I got back to it in December.

Thursday
Swim 1hr. Main set was 4 x 400m descending easyish to flat out. Started out too easy, but I did set a new 400m PB on the last one of 6.22. Fairly certain I’m capable of better than that
Run 45mins. Intervals. Not overly great or bad, just got it done to a certain extent. Still head coldy.

Friday
Swim 1hr. Steady swim didn’t keep track of anything really for the most part, just swam. Took 2 x 250m splits which came in about 4.20 pace. Did some mixed strokes every now and again when I felt like it. I’m saying 1hr, but it was a little less as I was late getting to the pool. (almost slept in again).

Run 45min. Easy. Nice day for it, and my cold seemed to start lifting throughout the day too!

Saturday
Long run 1.45. ‘Comfortable hard pace’ – it’s funny how ‘comfortably hard’ means two very different things after 90+ minutes! 25.something km at 4.10 pace. Moving well and enjoyed this run a lot.

Sunday
Long bike. Club spin. Open racing starts next week I think so some were eager for speedwork. We did some up and over efforts and there was a bit mess racing. I ended up doing a 10-15 minute TT effort off the front while the group chased. Great fun. Happy with the spin. Felt good & comfortable. Was a good bit shy of 4 hrs passing home and was feeling fresh so dropped one of the lads home and back to pad out time on the bike. 141k, and 4hrs 40 in total.

Myself and the little guy both seem to be more or less over our colds. Hopefully things will be uninterrupted for a while!

Swim 2hrs 38
Bike 5hrs 41
Run 4hrs 05
Total 12hrs 25
TSS 756

joey100

When is the half you have signed up for RJM?? Any other races planned for the year?

RJM85

joey100 wrote: »

When is the half you have signed up for RJM?? Any other races planned for the year?

Tri an Mhi in June and Budapest in August. I plan on doing some other small races here and there but I'll likely just decide on them a couple of weeks before and train right through them.

joey100

Tri an Mhi is a good race, done it last year. Bike is rolling with one decent-ish hill but it's only about 600m long. Run course is up and down, struggled a bit last year, just seemed to be climbing forever on it!

RJM85

I keep hearing about the run course in particular. Which has me a little nervous about it!

joey100

There is one or two hills alright but there is some long downhills too. Plenty of Aid stations and the 2 laps of make mean that there is usually someone around you. Few others from here have done it too, definitely a recommended race.

RJM85

Triathlete in training

rodneyr1981

RJM85 wrote: »

Triathlete in training

Cool pic. On a side note how do u find the giro attack? Had the giro advantage but wasn't a fan.

RJM85

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

Cool pic. On a side note how do u find the giro attack? Had the giro advantage but wasn't a fan.

It's grand. I'm not sure it's so wonderful that I'd be recommending one to everyone, but I'm happy enough with it. Slightly warmer than my normal road helmet (kask k-10), but comfy enough.

RJM85

Monday
Swim - hypoxic and then a pyramid (200, 300, 400, 300, 200) set.
Bike - song on repeat

Tuesday
Rest day. Bit of core exercises and foam roller.

Wednesday
Swim - 10x100's off 1:40 along with some other bits.
Run - Negative Split run. Second 20 mins sub 4min - came out 3:53. Moving well.
Bike - Big gear interval set.

Thursday
Run - long intervals. Not overly great again struggling to match Wednesdays 20 min pace for 4 minutes.

Friday
20*100's: 10 off 1:40, 5 off 1:45, 3 off 1:40 and 2 off 1:35. Completely spent by the last one, but made all the times.

Saturday
Race simulation. 30 minutes swim, 2hr bike, 1hr run.
Swim - 1,950m in 32:53
Bike - 75.3km in 2:03:36
Run - 14.3km in 1:00:02

Happy enough with the swim. Could have pushed a little harder with very little negative impact I think. Went out too hard on the bike and eased off concerned about the run. Easing into it and a more even effort would be better. Really happy with the run. Held 4:10/km pace relatively easy throughout until the last 10/15 minutes when it became tough.

Overall I'm happy with where I am, and it should mean that I can do at least a 4:3x in Budapest if not get in under the 4:30 mark.

Sunday
Club spin. 4hrs 2o something. 136k. Tough in places and legs were tired from yesterday, but a good spin.

Swim: 2hrs 52
Bike: 8hrs 41
Run: 3hrs 13
S&C: 45min
Total: 15hrs 58
TSS: 897

Easy week next week. Glad of it too!

RJM85

Haven’t updated this in a bit, so here goes: two weeks in one!

Feb 16th – 22nd (rest week)

Monday
Day off.

Tuesday
Swim – steady swim for one hour planned. Spent most of it daydreaming and bailed early. A bit exhausted still after the week before.
Run - Easy lunch time run.

Wednesday
Swim – Some drills and things followed by 10 * 100 off 1.35. Didn’t make the whole lot off 1.35 and pushed the last couple out to 1.40.
Some S&C / Core work and time with the foam roller in the evening.

Thursday
Run – Negative split run. 2nd half at 3.53 pace. Feeling good.

Friday
Swim – we were away for the weekend, so this was done in an odd sized hotel pool. Guessed distances by time it took to swim them. Main set was 200, 300, 400, 300, 200 at a hard / steady pace. Seemed to be swimming well, but hard to know when you don’t know your times.

Saturday
Long run – 90 minutes. Felt alright. Not great, not bad either. Happy with the pace (4.20/km) for the effort considering how I felt (if that makes sense).
Had a turbo in the plan also which just didn’t get done – little guy had an ear infection and a lot of time was spent looking after him during the week.

Sunday
Bike – 3hrs. I did this following the Traders Cup (local bike club’s open race) around and spectating. Enjoyed myself, and got the opportunity to meet my coach for a couple of minutes afterwards.

Not big or great week, but ended it feeling better than I started which I guess is the point of a rest week!

Swim: 2hrs 5
Bike: 3hrs
Run: 2hrs 59
S&C: 45 mins

Total: 8hrs 50
TSS: 529

RJM85

Monday
Swim – 1hr continuous steady swim – a bit over 3k in the hour.
S&C – 45 minutes of core exercises

Tuesday
Swim – main set was 22 * 100 off 1.45
Run – Negative split run. Struggled a bit. Legs felt heavy / dead to start and then had a strong headwind on the way back. 2nd 20 @ 4:10 pace.
Bike – 1 hr interval set on the turbo. Interrupted session - baby woke twice and needed to be settled. Didn't feel great to start but legs came round a bit. Obviously not the best session I've done but happy enough in the circumstances.

Wednesday
Swim – main set was 4*400m descending.
Run – easy lunch time run.

Thursday
Swim – main set was 20*100 off 1.50 with pb and paddles.
Run – interval set. Went better than the last couple of run interval sets I’ve done.

Friday
Run – steady lunch time run.
Bike – 1hr cadence around 70rpm, pushing hard. Think this was in direct response to my pacing of the race sim day where I backed off the bike to make sure I could run. Coach wants me to push a bigger gear, hard and feels that the legs will come around on the run.

Saturday
Long run – 1hr 45 with hill repeats. Not feeling great all day - little bit of a headache which I thought would lift once I got going never did. Last 10-15 minutes were a bit of a slog. Got it done though.

Sunday
Bike – 3hrs with hill repeats was prescribed. I went out with the club with the intention of leaving them on the way home to do my repeats. Started them on Tullyesker on the way home, but coming down the hill after the first I hit a stone or pothole or something (I have no idea to be honest) and lost control of the bike. Ended up head over heels in the ditch. Luckily I’ve no lasting injuries other than a few minor bruises and dent in my ego. I was a bit shook afterwards so decided to head straight home rather than complete the intervals.
Swim – 3k steady swim afterwards.

Good week overall. Baby was sick and not sleeping for a lot of the start of the week, and I think the tiredness caught up on me a bit near the end, but I got lots of good stuff in overall.

Swim: 4hrs 23
Bike: 5hrs 9
Run: 4hrs 38
S&C: 45mins

Total: 14hrs 55
TSS: 883

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I assume that was you that passed in the group on the opposite way on the Slane Road on Sun morning? heard about the spill, nasty. Hard shoulder on both sides of that hill has plenty of debris on it at times.