The difficult second album

joey100

Yep seems to be well organised, was my brothers idea to do it, he's been kayaking a few times up at the whitewater centre there and said it's a good set up. Not the hilliest of bike course but it is rolling hills so might suit me bit more than a pancake flat one. Best thing about it is it's only a half , not sure I'd be able for a full one around copenhagen even though it's probably a lot nicer than Nottingham!

joey100

@Couerdelion, I missed out on an age group national championship medal (21st overall but only 7th in my age group) but we all know the big prize is the club championships! Bragging rights for the next year, and a trophy (better be a trophy!!) what more could I want! Don't like this talk of a handicap system though.

mossym

joey100 wrote: »

Best thing about it is it's only a half , not sure I'd be able for a full one around copenhagen even though it's probably a lot nicer than Nottingham!

wooooaaahhhhh stop the lights. you're supposed to be able for something before you sign up for it?

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

ray o

couerdelion wrote: »

Well done Joey.

You're in luck that I've missed out on getting an entry to Tri an Mhi so you should win the "club championship" ;-)

I may be sociable for a change and come along to this. Might be on a dublin bike wearing my wifes flowery helmet though

joey100

If you have an entry and are looking for a bike Ray let me know, Scott cr1 pro, ultegra di2, powermeter, size 52 I can bring along for you if you want.

tunney

ray o wrote: »

I may be sociable for a change and come along to this. Might be on a dublin bike wearing my wifes flowery helmet though

moving up in the world

rooneyjm

ray o wrote: »

I may be sociable for a change and come along to this. Might be on a dublin bike wearing my wifes flowery helmet though

Bring the rest of your gear and set up a little shop.

ray o

joey100 wrote: »

If you have an entry and are looking for a bike Ray let me know, Scott cr1 pro, ultegra di2, powermeter, size 52 I can bring along for you if you want.

Now that's a generous offer Joey. Fair play to you! I don't know what possessed me but I did grab a late entry for the race. And so I decided to take the Soloist Team frame I bought last year down from the rafters. She should be built up and ready to rock by then.

ray o

rooneyjm wrote: »

Bring the rest of your gear and set up a little shop.

Not a bad idea! Flip out an oul wallpaper table and see what sells!. Don't think I could part with the Soloist though. It's just too pretty

joey100

Mon 24th August

Day off training, did about a 3km loop around Lusk with Laura but it was never faster than 6 min kilometers and felt good to be out.

Tues 25th August

Body is still feeling pretty ok after Dublin, no real aches or pains. Today was a 40 min easy turbo, even though the body feels ok it's still tired, had to work a little bit harder than usual today to keep the power around the same, legs felt a bit empty, ok for an easy session but not sure how they would hold up for a tougher one. Average power around 186w for 40 mins.

Wed 26th August

Early morning swim. The dog we are minding has been acting up the last few days and decided that it wasn't going to sleep last night, lots of barking and whining meant that I got about 1 hours sleep before the alarm went off at 5.15 to get up and swim. Was a long-ish session in the pool and wasn't sure how the body would be after the night before. Main set was 4 X 400m 30 sec recovery. Times were 6.42, 6.44, 6.36 and 6.31. Not as consistent as I would have liked and was feeling it throughout the intervals. These were only steady though, but probably couldn't have gone a whole lot faster if I had of pushed it really. Still it's a session done when it would have been a lot easier to stay in bed!

joey100

Wed 26th August

So after the tired early morning swim I wasn't sure how the evening run would go. Turns out it went great, legs a bit stiff starting out but once I got going they felt great. Tried to copy what I did in Dublin at the weekend and shortened my stride a little bit and kept the turnover high and seemed to work. Heart rate right in the middle of my easy zone and pace was around 4.30. One of them runs when you feel like your floating over the ground. Enjoyable session. Just under 7km done in around 30 mins.

couerdelion

joey100 wrote: »

One of them runs when you feel like your floating over the ground.

You talking like we all know what that feels like...

RJM85

Radios do wonders to calm barking dogs in my experience.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Well done at DCT J. Given how your feeling on the run and just after your A race a good as time as any to look at some 5k-HM pbs

rooneyjm

couerdelion wrote: »

You talking like we all know what that feels like...

Some float over it some want it to swallow them up

joey100

@RJM, dog is now put in a nice kennels down the road, much nicer than the one they had originally picked out for her. We were only ever meant to have her for 1 week so don't feel bad about putting her in, had her for over 2 weeks at this stage.

@JB, One more race at tri an mhi sprint and then a bit of a rest, looking forward to it really. Been a mad busy year and tried my best to train all through it so looking forward to a weeks break and them unstructured work. Loose plan had been to target a 10k maybe early December so will probably work on that once I get back into it. Hopefully add an easy run session or two during my lunchtimes to try and increase the frequency of my running. Only ever ran one half marathon, at the end of Tri an Mhi middle distance (1.39) and wouldn't mind a proper go at one before outlaw.

Thurs 27th August

Evening turbo. 4 X 4 mins @ 250w, 2 mins easy. Not as easy as it should have been. Up to now the legs have been good but they were feeling it during this, heart rate a bit higher than usual too. Held power around 255 so above where it needed to be but session showed I'm tireder than I though after DCT.

Fri 28th August

Swim session. Main set being 5 X 200m pull, mod hard. Pushed it a bit for these, no times so based on effort. At itmes I'm moving well and others it feels like my arms are moving thru custard. Not a bad session but not great either.

joey100

Fri 28th August

Evening run. Not as nice a run as Wednesday evening but the pace was still good and heart rate around where I wanted it. Included 5 X 20 seconds sprints and got some of these under the 3 min kilometre mark so moving well.

Sat 29th August

Long bike spin. Out on the TT bike, 1hr easy, 30 mins @225w, 30 mins easy. Good spin on the bike, had to work a bit harder than I would have liked to keep the power above 225, ended up with it at 232 but the pacing was much better than usual with no huge spikes and it kept as consistent and smooth as possible. Pleased with the speed for the effort and around 70km done in the 2 hours.

Sun 30th august

Long-ish run. 50 min run, covering 11km. Pace was good but heart rate was jumpy and very quick to rise on any hills. Chest has been a bit tight the last few days and not sure if it's the start of a chest infection or I've tweaked something in it but hasn't been 100%. Hoping it holds out until after Saturdays race, season is over then anyway. Form is good going into race so if I can hold it off until then I'd be happy.

Mon 31st Aug

Meant to be a swim and a run today but I've knocked them on the head. Chest still a bit tight at times and going to take a days rest to see if it does any good. Fingers crossed.

RJM85

Looks like a good result to finish the season, well done.

joey100

Was a decent result alright, not the ideal week leading into it but pleased with how the day went in the end. I see your the A1 coaching star pupil, hope all this fame doens't go to your head!

RJM85

joey100 wrote: »

Was a decent result alright, not the ideal week leading into it but pleased with how the day went in the end. I see your the A1 coaching star pupil, hope all this fame doens't go to your head!

Looks like a good race - I might see if I can plan to do it next year.

Ha! Yeah, they asked me for the testamonial so didn't feel like I could refuse. Won't be with them for next year anyway - pencilled in with a new coach I met with last week - Sounds like it'll be a different approach to the training, so will be interesting either way!

joey100

Would definitely recomend the race, tough cycle, first 10km is up and down, next 9km is pretty level and chance to get the head down. First 1km in the run is uphill, next 1.5km is up and down then it's a turnaround and back the same way. Well organised and good atmosphere, enjoyable race.

RJM85

joey100 wrote: »

Would definitely recomend the race, tough cycle, first 10km is up and down, next 9km is pretty level and chance to get the head down. First 1km in the run is uphill, next 1.5km is up and down then it's a turnaround and back the same way. Well organised and good atmosphere, enjoyable race.

Lough Lene is pretty great to swim in. Being able to see your hands is a novelty when you're used to camlough...

joey100

So last week was a bit of a write off, no training done until Friday, chest was tight all week and no real motivation to train either. Friday done a short 20 mins on the bike, short swim and 10 min run. Not the ideal lead up to a sprint tri but nothing I could do about it really.

Tri an Mhi sprint

Signed up for this as it was the club championships, disappointing turn out, only 3 males and 2 females from our club. Legs hadn't been great the other day and wasn't expecting great things at the race. Warm up done and heart rate was high on the run with dead heavy legs on the bike. Anyway excuses over, racked and set up in transition and ready for the race.

Swim 12.49

Done in my old wetsuit, I can get this off a lot quicker than the new one so thought any benefit the new one had in the water I'd probably make up taking this one off. Decent start, got fast feet and was moving well, breathing very laboured though and never really got settled, worked my way through the group going from feet to feet, led to a bit of a zig zag swim but saved a good bit of energy and worked well. Was in the first 2/3 of the second group out of the water so a decent enough start to the day.

T1 1.08

No problems here at all, in and out.

Bike 31.55

Bike course is short at 19km but is hilly enough. Straight into a hill and started passing people straight away. Worked well on the bike and power was just below where I would have liked it, caught a good few on the bike and only passed by 2 relays, one who pulled away and the other didn't get too far despite his efforts to hang onto the faster lad. Average power was 221 with NP being 229, would have been aiming for around 240 so not too far off. Never really settled on the bike though and felt I was fighting it the whole time. Bit of a messy dismount cost me time.

T2 0.49

Again no real issues.

Run 19.21

Course was about 40m short. So straight out and straight up the first hill, and my left calf, left quad and left arse cheek all started to give little twinges that let me know if I pushed it they would cramp. Had to pull back for the first 2/3km to keep them going. Pace was still decent though but I was passed by one and the rest were pulling ahead of me. About 3km in I started to get my legs and started to feel like I could run. Pace improved and for the first time of the day was starting to feel like I was hitting my top gear. Last km was downhill and I averaged 3.30 pace so the legs were good, just the cramps holding me back at the start. A decent time for the run but would have been nice to have given it a proper go.

Overall 1.06.03 6th place

A decent result, 2 of the lads ahead of me I have beaten already this season and I would like to think that if I had been going well I would have beaten them again. Considering how I felt on the day and the lead up to it it was a good result. Never really hit top gear and felt like I was stuttering along all day. Came home first from the club so at least that's a positive from the day. And so my season is over now, I have this week off training and then I think the plan is 2 weeks unstructured training before I start back into it.

Not 100% sure of plan for next year yet, still needs to be discussed with the coach but the main goal at the moment is Outlaw half in early June. After that I'm not sure, I was jealous of the people doing lost sheep on Saturday so that might be a runner but I'd need to gte on that course at least once or twice to see them descents! Not my strong point. I'll probably give the national series a miss next year, I'll probably do a few halves and non national series races. My wife, Laura, wants to get back into it next year and is hoping to do her first Olympic next season, probably at Caroline Kearney so I'm going to give her a hand with her training too and will probably end up as a spectator at a few races too. Training for her started yesterday with a 57km cycle around the hills of north county Dublin, meant to be a rest day for me but I headed out as well and took it easy.

pgibbo

Nice going yesterday. That sub 19 run ain't too far away.

Enjoy the down time.

mossym

joey100 wrote: »

After that I'm not sure, I was jealous of the people doing lost sheep on Saturday so that might be a runner but I'd need to gte on that course at least once or twice to see them descents!

1) Highly recommended. superb race. great end of season goal.

2) give me a shout any time you want to do the bike course. easy to turn that course into a training spin any time. just let me know. probably want to do it before sign up starts though..:)

Dory Dory

Well done on your race! And I think it's fantastic that you may be the head cheerleader and pit crew for your wife next year. I bet you have a ball, and I bet it makes you and even better competitor in your own races!

Bambaata

Well done on race and season in general Joey. Tempted by Lost Sheep next year myself! Have done it before but wasnt in any shape for it and it beat me up fairly bad. Would love a good crack at it, i love that bike and run course. If ye are heading down as a training weekend anytime let me know, may join ye

joey100

Cool will do Bambaata, and cheers for the offer Mossy, might take you up on it alright. Be like a little boardsie get together. After reading some of the race reports though I'm not so sure, the descending sounds hairy!

Bambaata

The descent is grand tbh. The corners are all very open so you see exactly whats ahead. Just gota watch out for those lost sheep -)

joey100

Right so back to logging my training. Took one week off pretty much completely and then two more weeks building back into it. But no swimming, and even before Tri an Mhi it was pulled back so need to get the consistency back in heading to the pool, plenty of time though. Run is in a decent place to be starting winter training with easy pace around 4.45 and power is still around 250 FTP, maybe a little drop but nothing major. Good few runs and bikes done the last 2 weeks and fitness starting to return. This week was back to structured training and back to the turbo. Netflix has got a new batch of dodgy B movies so plenty to distract me over the next while on it. Back in the pool this week too, steady 100's coming in around 1.37 and steady pull around 1.48, so the usual 10 second gap between them and a drop off from the steady 1.30's I was holding before the break but again not too worried, it's not too bad a drop off considering how much I have been in the pool over the last month and a half, feels like it's more fitness related than stroke so hopefully see some quick gains.

Met with the coach last night to talk about a plan for the coming year. No wedding or moving house this year and hopefully no broken wrist so if we can improve on the consistency from last year I'll be happy and should see good improvements. Plan for next year provisionally put in place that will see a 10km in December, probably the aware 10km that Kurt and Tunney are racing in. A duathlon early in the new year, probably a pool based sprint just to see how training is going and then the Outlaw half in late May. Looking forward to this race and will be a good test to see how I make the step up to half distance racing. The main A race next year will be the Dublin 70.3 (once it's on!) with the goal of trying for a world championship slot. Looking at last years times I'll need a sub 4.25 for that but hopefully I'll be able for that, Outlaw will tell me a lot about where I am. 2017 70.3 worlds are in Chattanooga and would be nice to go to. Other than that maybe a race between Outlaw and Dublin and maybe one after but them two races are the main goals of the season so I'm not too bothered after them. Probably won't complete the NS next year, no real desire at the moment, maybe give it a proper go the season after but we will see how next one goes first.

Training wise it's going to stay similar enough to last year, bit longer on my long bikes and runs but the coach has learned what works well for me from last year so a few little changes to keep it interesting but nothing huge. Going to slowly introduce a few lunch time easy runs in work to try build time on my feet but these will be easy and if they start to affect the main weekly sessions they will be cut. Won't be every week either I'd say but depending on how I'm feeling and where I am in my training. Hopefully get to a pool as well every 2nd or 3rd weekend to add in a bit of extra swimming but we will see how that goes. So that's where I am, looking forward to getting back into it and have the motivation back that was starting to ease off a bit towards the end of last season once the A race was done. Dublin goal has got a little bit harder since I seen RJM has it down as one of his goals too, but I suppose it was never going to be easy anyway!