The difficult second album

joey100

Thurs 16th July

Plan for the swim session was 16 X 100m off 2 mins. Forgot to bring the watch with me though so session was done the same except just swam hard for 100m and then took around 25-30 seconds recovery. Feeling it by the end, motivation not great but the session got done.

Evening turbo. 1hr 15 mins easy. Power came in around 181w and felt ok, longer the session went on the better the legs felt. Took a while to settle into it but was grand overall.

Fri 17th July

Morning swim session. Main bit being 3 X 400m pull off 7.45, 2 X 400m swim off 7.45. Pull's came in at 7.14, 7.02, 6.58. After the first one I sort of got into it a bit more and stopped just going through the motions. Pushed it on a bit and pleased to go under 7 mins with the pull. 2 swims came in at 6.23 and 6.25. Not particularly fast but pleased with how I held the stroke and kept it consistent throughout the 400m. Nice long recovery and reckon I had a few more in me with that recovery. Finished off with 4 X 60 fast, coming in 51,52,53,52. Tiring by the end but good session done.

joey100

Fri 17th July

Evening run session. Similar to last weeks session, 8 X 400m intervals with 400m recovery this time. Tried to hold a bit of a faster pace as I'd have a longer recovery this time. All the 400's came in below 3.20 pace and the times for the recoveries stayed similar enough. Last 2 dropped a bit but not by a huge amount.

Sat 18th July

Long spin on the bike. Tried to keep the easy power a bit higher than usual, then into 3 X (8 mins threshold, 22 easy). These probably were a bit more difficult than they should have been. Held over 240w for the first two and 231 for the last. Aiming for 230 so pleased with the first 2 but not as happy with the drop off to the third one. Overall around 85km done in 2hrs 45 mins. Happy enough, decent average speed when I pushed it on a bit too.

Sun 19th July

Long run. 1hr easy, 20 steady, 10 easy. Very hard to judge how I'm running by pace, no real flat parts around where I run, everything is up or down. Heart rate still rising a bit once the road starts to rise but not as bad as it was. Legs were bit tight starting out on this and took a while to get going. 20 steady where better than they have been recently with pace averaging around 4.20-ish. Still a bit off where I was before Carlow but moving in the right direction. Ran for 19km in around 1.32.

Mon 20th July

Rest day.

Tues 21st July

Another early morning swim with Peter Kern. This time out to do the 70.3 Dublin course with a bit added on. Water was cold but looked nice and flat. Stayed pretty sheltered most of the way, bit of a swell out by the pier wall but nothing too bad. No watch on to measure distance but most others where around 3.5km. Furthest I have ever swam and arms were feeling it a bit by the end. Time was under 55 mins too and that included a bit of stopping and chatting too so happy with the pace I was holding. Never felt like I was pushing it tried to keep in control as best I could, really had to keep an eye on my stroke towards the end. Right arm was swinging across and the pull phase was getting very short. Very enjoyable session, don't get to swim that long open water much so was great to get it in. Group of the lads even got joined by a seal towards the end.

joey100

Tues 21st July PM

Evening bike spin. Done on the turbo, pushed for time and just wanted to get it done to be honest. Lacking a bit of motivation at the moment but it will come back. 1hr easy, watching the women's race at Hamburg from the weekend. Bit of a boring race and a bit of a boring turbo. 1hr easy, around 187 watts.

Wed 22nd July

Morning swim. Usually it's the swim that I lack motivation for but it's been going relatively well recently so don't want to lose all the work I've done. Not too bad a session bit of a warm up then into 300m pull off 6, coming in at 5.20. 3 X 100m swim off2, coming in pretty much bang on 1.32 for each and then 3 X 100m pull coming in around 1.42. Arms were feeling yesterdays swim though but feel like I'm starting to get a bit of swim fitness back and position is improving in the water.

joey100

Wed 22nd July PM

Evening short easy run. This was done around the area where my parents live. Last few runs around my hilly area have seen me average around 4.40 pace so was curious how this would transfer to a flat run. Pace was in and around 4.30 for the whole thing and felt nice and easy. Heart rate towards the upper end of easy but legs felt good and was comfortable.

joey100

Thurs 23rd July

Evening turbo session, meant to have 5 sprints thrown in but completely forgot. Built into this session rather than starting steady and worked well. Legs felt good, tried a bit of a higher cadence than I have the last while on the turbo, mid 70's rather than high 60's. Power for the hour around 1902 compared with the 170's it used to be. Watched the mens Hamburg race, more interesting than the women's and took my mind off the turbo.

Fri 24th July

Morning swim. Can't remember much of it but do remember I was moving pretty well in the water and arms were starting to feel a bit normal again. still tiredness in them but nothing major.

Evening run. 40 mins easy with 5 builds thrown in. Pace was good and heart rate nice and settled, mid easy zone. Bit of a hillier route than last two and not a big drop in pace. Heart rate a little slow to drop after the builds but nothing too bad.

Sat 25th July

Club spin on Dublin Ironman course. Easy spin planned for the week so decided some company would be good for the spin and met with the club for a spin along the Dublin route. Legs were good and even though the pace was kept nice and easy I threw in a few bursts to see how they were. Nearly hit 700watts a few times so plenty of power in the legs. Talked to the coach last week and one of my weakness on the bike is putting the power out on the flats. No problem going uphill but need to really concentrate on my gearing on the flat and trying ot keep the power consistent. Tried it today, only about 5 mins of it but it worked well and legs felt very good. Altogether around 90km done and kept very easy.

Sun 26th July

Evening run. Last day of my easy week so only an hour easy run tonight. Tried another hillier route and pace was a bit slower but faster than last time I done the route with a lower more controlled heart rate. Covered around 13km in 1hr 2mins, and legs felt good.

Mon 27th July

Morning swim. It was like I was swimming in custard today and my arms were missing a few inches. Just wasn't working this morning. 4 X fast 60's in around 53, hen into 15 X 100m off 2, coming in between 1.31-1.33 with the last two out to 1.34. Then another 4 X 60m fast coming in around 54. Times were decent even though I wasn't moving well and was gassing fairly early on, which is a positive. Hips tight too this morning. Felt a lot better after the swim though!

Steroo

They are great swim times this morning! Jeebus

joey100

Mon 27th July PM

An easy evening run. Nice and easy run with 5 X 20 second sprints. Really pushed it for these, fastest I have gone before was the 5 of them just below 3 min/kilometres. tonight I Got them down to 3 below 2.50 pace and the other 2 around mid 2.50's. Pleased with this, only short sprints and probably has no real impact on my speed over longer distances but nice to see the pace dropping down. Altogether covered around 9km in 40 mins and heart rate mid easy zone.

joey100

Tues 28th July

An evening turbo. Bit of a change of plan for the turbo, had been struggling with the intervals above FTP so looking at working just below it. 2 X 20 mins @92-95% with 10 mins recovery. 95% is around 237w so this is what I was aiming for. Built into these rather than starting hard, this has been working for holding a good easy power so thought I would try it on this too. Tried to keep cadence above 70 too. First one was around 241 with the second around 245, tough but manageable and good to get through a session on the turbo. New power record by one watt too so a good session overall.

Wed 29th July

Early morning swim. Monday's swim wasn't great and was curious how today would go. Didn't start great but as I got through the warm up I started to feel better in the water. Main set of 4 X 400m, my aim for these was to keep them around 1.35 per 100 so aiming for 6.20. 100 pace has been around 1.30-1.32 so thought this would be tough but hopefully manageable. first 2 where in on 6.14 so faster than I was aiming for and was feeling good. Started to feel it on the 3rd one and came in on 6.17 with the last the toughest, started out too slow and could never make back the time and came in on 6.21. Good session, really concentrated on my stroke and rather than keeping an unmanageably fast turnover I made sure to try and get the most out of each stroke that I could. Tried keeping kick fairly easy and steady for the first 100/150m too. Seemed to work well, position was good and there was little or no snaking. When I tired this became harder to hold and the snaking started to creep in. Think it is linked to my breathing too, as I tire I take a longer breath and bring my right arm in more of an arc so I can get my mouth higher from the water to breath, then when it enters the water it's harder to stop the crossing at the front. When I'm moving well there is only a small turn of the head and the breath is nice and quick and no real arc on the arm. Will keep an eye on it over the next while and hopefully be able to improve it.

mossym

nice swimming Joey.


those >FTP sessions are killer. first time i got them i thought they'd be okay given the short time involved, but got handed my ass by them.

joey100

YEp really struggled with them, got through the 5 X 4 mins one, was tough but got it done but not even close to getting through the 5 X 5 mins. We will see how the sub FTP stuff works and hopefully I can build up to doing the over FTP ones.

mossym

amazing what difference a minute makes alright.

although i find a minute less recovery time is tougher than a minute more of work, especially if only 2 or 3 minutes recovery

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

joey100 wrote: »

YEp really struggled with them, got through the 5 X 4 mins one, was tough but got it done but not even close to getting through the 5 X 5 mins. We will see how the sub FTP stuff works and hopefully I can build up to doing the over FTP ones.

In my recent experiences (last 2 yr) sub FTP does not give you the gains as much as doing work over FTP does.
What % were you holding for the 5min efforts previously as a matter of interest?

joey100

Started off at around 115% but this dropped quickly, first one around 115% then 2nd around 105% third was struggling to hold FTP. I'd guess as well that my FTP may be 90% rather than 95% of the 20 min figure. During my last block I could get through the session, might just be too early in the block and need a few weeks to build into it first. Thursdays session is working at FTP so we will see how that goes.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

joey100 wrote: »

Started off at around 115% but this dropped quickly, first one around 115% then 2nd around 105% third was struggling to hold FTP. I'd guess as well that my FTP may be 90% rather than 95% of the 20 min figure. During my last block I could get through the session, might just be too early in the block and need a few weeks to build into it first. Thursdays session is working at FTP so we will see how that goes.

Yeah if 5x5 at 115% is proving difficult the multiplier of the 20min could be off. I always ask myself the question, if FTP is XXX watts can i or could i actually hold that power for a full hour. I could never hold the .95 figure for an hour.

You could ask your sadistic coach to schedule you a 1hr tt to find out for sure what an accurate multiplier is for you:)

joey100

I think I'll leave that for the moment! I reckon I probably am closer to 90% of the 20 mins test. Just after I done it I don't think I could have held 250 for 1 hr, after the session last night I probably could.

I've been told that I can't buy a new bike until my FTP is 300w, so makes sense to keep working it out as 95% of 20 min!

Bambaata

Keegan Unimportant Arm wrote: »

Yeah if 5x5 at 115% is proving difficult the multiplier of the 20min could be off. I always ask myself the question, if FTP is XXX watts can i or could i actually hold that power for a full hour.

I finally got to put this to the test a few weeks back in a club 40TT and i was happy to see my AP for the 40k was exactly my FTP! I wasnt even looking at that overall AP so was surprised to see i hit it exactly. I had been told previously i am a 95%er but never had truly tested it so happy to verify it

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

joey100 wrote: »

I think I'll leave that for the moment! I reckon I probably am closer to 90% of the 20 mins test. Just after I done it I don't think I could have held 250 for 1 hr, after the session last night I probably could.

I've been told that I can't buy a new bike until my FTP is 300w, so makes sense to keep working it out as 95% of 20 min!

In that case use a multiplier of 120% to get your new bike sooner

RJM85

Keegan Unimportant Arm wrote: »

Yeah if 5x5 at 115% is proving difficult the multiplier of the 20min could be off. I always ask myself the question, if FTP is XXX watts can i or could i actually hold that power for a full hour. I could never hold the .95 figure for an hour.

You could ask your sadistic coach to schedule you a 1hr tt to find out for sure what an accurate multiplier is for you:)

I can't hit (or even get close to) my multiplier number in a training session. Race files have me a whole lot closer.

joey100

Wed 29th July

Evening easy run. Just a plain simple easy 45 min run. took a few mins for the legs to feel like they were working but average pace was around 4.30 and heart rate right in middle of easy zone. Good to see run coming along again.

Thurs 30th July

Turbo session. Main set being 2 X 10 mins @FTP (250), with 10 mins recovery. Was confident I could hold these after Tuesdays turbo and I did. Power was above 250 for the whole thing and think it averaged around 255-260. Pleased with this, not easy but not uncomfortable either. Trying to hold a similar cadence on the turbo to what I would outside and seems to be working better for me.

Fri 31st July

Only one session today, an early morning swim. Bit of a warm up then into main bit of 5 x 200m best even effort. Aiming for around 1,34 pace. Coming in on 3.04, 3.04, 3.05, 3.04, and 3.02. Really pleased with this, held the stroke well and it wasn't until around 120-140m in that it got tough. Nice and controlled in the water and felt good.

joey100

Sat 1st August

Down in Laura's for the weekend so this cycle was done on the road between enniscorthy and Gorey. Not the best road to be cycling on but not the worst either. Worst part of this session was the garmin dying about 1hr into the session, had my 910 with me too so turned that on but it only picked up the power meter now and again so it made the session hard to do. Tried my best though, 1hr easy into 2 X (30@230w with 15 recoveyr and then around 45 mins easy). With no real guide for the 30 min sections I just pushed it as mush as I could, when the garmin did pick up the power it was over 230 so was pleased with how it went. WAs averaging over 40kmph of it including having to go through 2 small villages and slowing down. Tough session by the end but glad I stuck it out and done what I could.

Sun 2nd August

Long run. Again done down in Wexford and was no real point in looking at pace because I don't think there was a flat bit in the run. Pleased with the effort and how the legs felt. Was moving well at times and heart rate wasn't climbing too much. Finsihed it off with a run up a hill, 100m climb in around 1.5km so was a tough way to finish.

Mon 3rd Aug

Day off. Glad of this, legs were really feeling it after the weekends training. Been a long time since my legs were as stiff after training. This week now is all about getting ready for Caroline Kearney this weekend, hoping for a decent race. Went 2.08 last year and my run and swim are probably better than last year. Bike bit of unknown but would like to think it's at least as strong. We will see.

joey100

Tues 4th Aug

Evening turbo, just 45 mins easy. Legs a bit off, not as easy as it should have been. Legs woke up a bit after a while but it was hard to hold a decent cadence and it kept varying too much.

Wed 5th Aug

Morning swim. Nothing too bad in the pool today, moving ok, not great but well enough after 4 days out of the water. 60's descending in 57,55,53,50 and fast 100's in 1.27,1.28,1.27 and 1,27. Missed the watch on teh last one but the effort was there, wanted the last one to be the fastest. Decent session today.

Dory Dory

There's some seriously good training going on here! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you at the weekend to have a super race!!!

joey100

Cheers Dory, yep training ticking along nicely, Good race be great this weekend but I'd put that aside for a good race at Dublin city tri.

Wed 5th August

Turbo session after work. 10 easy then into 10 x 2 @race watts 1 min rec. Aimed for around 240 for these, will probably be just over what I hold for the race but it's around the same effort on the turbo. Held mid 240 for each, probably had cadence too low but session done.

Straight onto run from this, bit of warm up then 6 X 1 min @ race pace. Not a great session, heart rate high, pace low and effort felt higher than it should. Hopefully it's all out of my system now before Saturday.

Rest day today, then another 3 short session day on Fri and then should be prepped for Saturday.

Steroo

joey100 wrote: »

Cheers Dory, yep training ticking along nicely, Good race be great this weekend but I'd put that aside for a good race at Dublin city tri.

Wed 5th August

Turbo session after work. 10 easy then into 10 x 2 @race watts 1 min rec. Aimed for around 240 for these, will probably be just over what I hold for the race but it's around the same effort on the turbo. Held mid 240 for each, probably had cadence too low but session done.

Straight onto run from this, bit of warm up then 6 X 1 min @ race pace. Not a great session, heart rate high, pace low and effort felt higher than it should. Hopefully it's all out of my system now before Saturday.

Rest day today, then another 3 short session day on Fri and then should be prepped for Saturday.

Best of luck

mossym

best of luck tomorrow Joey. give it loads, A race only around the corner, these few weeks are what the last year has been about

pgibbo

Best of luck at CK. Have a great race

joey100

Cheers folks, not much else I can do now, all the training is done so just taking it easy now and relaxing for rest of day.

Fri 7th Aug

Early morning swim, bit of a mix of stuff with a lot of fist drill included. 4 X fast 60s were 47,49,47 nd 51. Pleased with these, don't usually go under 50 for the 60m distance so to go so far under was good. The last one was a strange one, was pleased with how it was going so tried to push it on a bit, sort of went too fast and lost a bit of control, balance went and timing went. Shows that I'm faster when I try to stay in control and strong rather than just going too hard.

Afternoon turbo, nothing major. Short warm up then into 10 x 1min @240w, 1 recovery. Used highr cadence this time (around 78) and was much more comfortable than last time. Legs felt good and was confortable throughout.

Straight off out onto a run, only short again with 4 X 30 seconds at race pace (aimig for 3.54 to bring me a sub 39 min 10km). No real problem with these, held it well. Heart rate a little high for the pace and effort but this is usually the case before a race so should come good tomorrow.

joey100

Sat 8th August

Caroline Kearney Tri

Last year this was my best race of the year and probably by the happiest I have been at the end of any race. Last years time was 2.08 so was hoping for faster today. Got down nice and early and met loads from boards,like Kurt said excuses were exchanged with everyone in good form. THe racks for this race had the numbers at the end of them so was confident that I would be able to find my bike easily. Racked nice and early and into tri suit and ready for the race.

Swim 22.10

Seen Peter Kern towards the front of the swim start so got as close to him as I could, not becuase I thought I could hold onto him more because I was sure he wouldknow the fastest line to the first buoy. Start wasn't too bad, not as much kicking and pushing as other races. My sighting wasn't the best and didn't swim the straightest lines. But on the plus side I was in a good group, I was swimming well and staying on toes so tried to work my way up the group towards the front. Towards the end I noticed a blue wetsuit, was pretty sure it was Kurt so was happy, getting out beside him would mean I had a good swim. Probabaly stood a bit too early getting out of swim, should have tried to swim in a bit more but when I seen the time I was very happy. Pretty sure thats my fastest Olympic swim ever so signs where good for a good race. Garmin had the swim at 1.77 so my sighting definitely wasn't the best.

T1 0.52

No problems here, bit of a twinge in calf getting foot out of wetsuit but nothing major.

Bike 1.02.31

Got feet in nice and quick and straight away was overtaking people. Kept an eye on the power and was pleased to see it was pretty much bang on where I wanted it. Legs felt good and was constantly passing people. The profile for this course said around 200m climbing over the 41km, it felt like a lot more! It's a fast course though and even the drags were fast. Wind was good too and it was only the last 2km maybe where we had what felt like a headwind. WAs delighted to see my time, legs started to drop off a bit towards the end though. Pleased with how I held the power on the flats and downhills but think I probably spiked it a bit too much when the road started to go up. Legs were feeling it by the end and knew it was going to be a tough run. Average power 228W, N.P 236W, Before the race I was aiming for 240 so nice and close. Weight morning of the race was around 60.3kg so close to 4w/kg for the bike. Dismounted no problem either.

T2 0.45

No problems here either, in and out nice and quick.

Run 39.54

This was tough from the start, was one of them days where the legs never got moving. Looking back I probably went out too fast, around 3/4 seconds a km and paid for it towards the end. Maybe it was overbiking, not being fully run fit or starting out too fast but I paid for it the last 3km where I drifted out to just over 4min km's. Passed one or two and was passed by one or two. Some of the faster lads behind me didn't make huge time into me so was happy with that. The last 400 metres or so we turned into a field over a grass track and my legs just went. Nothing left in them and took everything I could do to sprint the last 20m to stop fella overtaking me. Was hoping for a better run but after talking to the coach after the training wasn't going to lead to that so to still go sub 40min after that bike and on legs that weren't in the best run shape was good. It was my first time wearing them runners for an Olympic and aout 6.5km in my feet started burning, not ncie to see blood stained white runners at the end, they rubbed off the inside of my feet and where on fire by the end. No more Olympics for them!

Overall 2.06.15

New pb over Olympic distance with my fastest swim and bike. Run was my second fastest ever too. But this is a fast course so that all helped. 16th overall and if you take out the Cat 1 lads I would have been 8th so a good result in what was a pretty decent field. I was asked after if I was happy with it, I was happy with the time and how I raced, I've never pushed myself so far before, either in a race or training, I lost count the amount of times I was nearly sick near the end of the run. Not as happy though with the run time, know I'm faster than, but the positive is I went 2.06 and had a decent run. Time to be made there and if my swim keeps improving as well as the run there is time to be made there. Not sure I will ever go faster on the bike but we will see. This has to be my favourite race on the calender, great venue, well organised and great marshalls. It Dublin didn't get the huge numbers it did I would say this would win race of the year. Well done to everyone involved in the organisation.

I will have to look at what I take on during the race though. My stomach was in bits afterwards, food wasn't staying in too long and I just felt crap all evening after.

Sun 9th August

Plan was for an easy bike. Went out to watch the Dublin half in the park. Cycled down and around during it. Had no choice but to keep it easy, my legs were fried, really fried. Strange feeling having no power in them. Was at the top of the hill by the anglers rest for the bike ride so seen loads of people coming up the hill there and then in towards the end of the run. Great atmosphere and race seemed to be organised very well. Maybe an option for next year? I'm hoping to do outlaw half in Nottingham in June so might fit. Was talking to the race director later that evening and he said between being lifted from the water and not making the swim cut off were 36 people so not as bad as people expected from 2500 people and what was a long course, he reckoned by around 150m and currents.

Steroo

Great work on sat - good man

joey100

Monday 10th Aug

Planned swim has been moved, was wrecked tired, slept through two alarms and never made it to work and my feet are still fairly cut up so made decision to move the swim. Feet aren't sore or anything, just don't like the idea of swimming in the pool with the cuts being fairly open.

Evening run was done. 15 mins easy, 10 min @ 3.50 (bit faster than planned race pace, but race will be on and off road so reckon it's a good effort to stay at goal pace on the grass) then 5 mins easy. Legs were still feeling Saturday but was able to hold the pace here. Bit of a confidence boost to be able to run the times on very tired legs. Heart rate was really settled today, most it has been in a long while.