The difficult second album

ray o

Backstrokers, breastrokers, 1 length all out hero's, leaky goggles, following that line, what will I have for dinner later... The pool can be a pretty uninspiring place on your own.

If you found it hard to stay motivated even with having a prescribed session, then you will absolutely have to do what you said there, which to get to the right coached/group sessions. Nothing can replace chasing and being chased up and down those lanes.

A brave move going solo. Good luck with it.

joey100

Cheers Ray, I know what your saying and in a perfect world I'd get to them Tuesday or Thursday club swim sessions but they don't really work with getting into work after but I might have another look and see. I've swam with 3d and interested on Friday evenings before and found them really good so something like that would be great too but we will have to see. At the moment we only have one car so makes it a little trickier to get to some of the swim sessions. Might try putting up a post here too and see if there is others to swim with in the mornings. Even just having other people in the lane doing something similar might help.

joey100

So I have a bit of time to kill and have got some WiFi so thought I would give this a little update.

Since Dublin I've been ticking over. Done a little running, mainly with laura, all short easy runs. Done a bit on the bike too, again mainly with laura and all outdoors too which was nice.

My log cabin arrived around 3 weeks ago and some time has been spent painting and prepping it for electrics and drains for gutters but its nearly done. Got a letter from the council to say someone had reported it and even though I was 100% sure it was below planning regulations a little bit starts to doubt yourself. Got onto the council and to be fair they were very helpeful and we got am inspector out very quick who took one look and said it was well below, that we could have gone bigger. Helped he was a runner and was mad for having a chat when he found out the plans for it and that I do some running myself. So that was sorted last Thursday and then we flew out to las Vegas on Fri morning to start our delayed honeymoon. Nothing done in Vegas and then onto Cancun last wed.

This is the perfect training spot! Nice little gym for using the treadmill and have done some beach running too. Everything nice and easy but feels good to be back doing something. Swimming over here is great, they have a marked out section around 100m long that is safe and perfect for open water swimming. Water is roasting and lovely and clear, Kurt you would love it, lots of fish around and water is probably warmer than the pool I swim in. Doing a nice bit of swimming, nothing too long but few times every day. Body is feeling rested and ready to go. Motivation is back up, even for swimming. Plan is to keep ticking over over here and then 2 weeks to get back into swing of things when I get home before starting properly at the start of October.

joey100

Right so back to logging. Training for 2017 has started. Done a bit in Mexico, not as much as I would have liked but more than I thought I would have got done so not too bad. Plan for next 2 weeks is to have 2 consistent weeks of easy training to get the body used to the routine before I get going in October.

Mon 19th September

So I said earlier our log cabin has arrived and today was spent going to a stone yard and picking up stone and then the majority of the rest of the day spent painting the cabin. Only some more touch ups to be done on the paint and then the exterior painting is done. Electrics and Lino to go inside and some garden work to be done over the rest of the week but I'd hope to be finished the majority of the work by the end of this week. This and little sleep last night meant I was very tired setting out on my first run back. Tried as much as I could not to look at pace but it was slow. Bit slower than I expected but not too much of a surprise after the weekend and still getting the body clock sorted. First run back and good to be out running. Didn't feel smooth or fluid but that will come. 2017 season has now officially started, 35 mins easy running.

EC1000

joey100 wrote: »

So I said earlier our log cabin has arrived and today was spent going to a stone yard and picking up stone and then the majority of the rest of the day spent painting the cabin. Only some more touch ups to be done on the paint and then the exterior painting is done. Electrics and Lino to go inside and some garden work to be done over the rest of the week but I'd hope to be finished the majority of the work by the end of this week.

Would love to see some pics when it's done! All the best for the new season.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

EC1000 wrote: »

Would love to see some pics when it's done! All the best for the new season.

+1 would love to see a few pics as probably doing similar early next year.

joey100

Sure it will only be a work of art EC1000! I'll get some up when it's fully completed, I've taken pictures along the way so will give a good idea of what it started like to what it's like when it's finished. I'm lucky with Laura's Dad being a builder he can give a hand with putting in drains and my brother is an electrician so he's going to wire it up but other than that it's fairly handy really. Just manual labour, painting and moving soil.

joey100

Right so seen as I'm back in work and my boss is off today it means I have nothing to do really so I'll post up a bit about the cabin and some pictures about where we are now.

I was always going to build a shed or get a shed for the back garden. The bikes had been stored in the house and even though it was great it wasn't handy bringing them up and down the stairs. We priced building a block shed but the work involved and the cost for the size we were looking for made a log cabin a better alternative. From what I found from the majority of planning sections in county councils we could go to 25m2 and below 4m high and leave at least 25m2 of garden and not need planning permission. this combined with the fact you need to leave a bit of space around the cabin itself so you can re-treat the wood every few years decided on the size for us. Ours is 5mx3m being just below 3m high at it's apex. Internal dimensions are a little smaller because of the thickness of the wood, we lose around 10cm in width and length but it's still plenty big. We went for upgraded living standard windows, more secure and better for heat and also for an upgraded steel roof, better insulation and better for keeping the rain out.

Beginning of building,

IMG_20160815_131008

Building took around 2 days. We prepared the site a little ourselves but this was more to have it a little lower, my back garden slopes higher towards the back so it was an attempt to have it a little lower for the neighbours. You wouldn't normally need to do this. The cabin sits on around 8 concrete blocks that are cemented into the ground and then a base built on this.

Built cabin (steel roof still to be fitted)

IMG_20160815_172945 by

We opted to paint it ourselves, we were quoted 700 euro plus the cost of paint to paint it one colour and we were hoping for 2 colours so decided to paint it ourselves. Meant more work but would save a decent chunk of money. We knew it would be a while til it was up and running too so were in no real rush.

Painting, nearly done, some touch ups and finishing to do.

IMG_20160918_151018 by

Internal pictures.

IMG_20160816_165654 by

IMG_20160816_165644 by


Still have a bit more work to do on the garden, moving soil and putting in a path but nothing too major hopefully. Cabin had to be treated too before putting on the paint. This was done with 2 coats on the outside and 1 coat on the inside. The paint acts as a protection too but no harm having it as well coated as we could. Will be putting lino down on the inside, wood floor would be tough to do with the cabin itself being wood and dealing with the expansion and contraction of the whole building and the floor so easier just to put down the lino. Will be covered in gym mats and other mats anyway so won't see a lot of it but just some more protection for the floor.

Plan is for the kickr and Lemond to go in along with 2 desks for our laptops. A treadmill will go in the other end and then a weights bench and a few weights and if I have a little room left over I'll put a work stand in for the bike. Fingers crossed the main bulk of the work will be done by this weekend and we are just waiting on the lino to come into the shop so we can get that down and then move stuff in. I got a sensor light for the front as well as a yale alarm that comes with an outside box to put on the shed too. Our back garden is pretty secure, we are surrounded on the back by other back gardens so I'm hoping it's secure. Bikes will be locked to units in the shed too, just to make it as difficult as possible if someone does get in.

If anyone has any questions about getting one or what you need to do when you do get one just let me know. I know the place we got ours wasn't great about giving out a huge amount of info and took me a while to get my head all around it.

rodneyr1981

joey100 wrote: »

Right so seen as I'm back in work and my boss is off today it means I have nothing to do really so I'll post up a bit about the cabin and some pictures about where we are now.

I was always going to build a shed or get a shed for the back garden. The bikes had been stored in the house and even though it was great it wasn't handy bringing them up and down the stairs. We priced building a block shed but the work involved and the cost for the size we were looking for made a log cabin a better alternative. From what I found from the majority of planning sections in county councils we could go to 25m2 and below 4m high and leave at least 25m2 of garden and not need planning permission. this combined with the fact you need to leave a bit of space around the cabin itself so you can re-treat the wood every few years decided on the size for us. Ours is 5mx3m being just below 3m high at it's apex. Internal dimensions are a little smaller because of the thickness of the wood, we lose around 10cm in width and length but it's still plenty big. We went for upgraded living standard windows, more secure and better for heat and also for an upgraded steel roof, better insulation and better for keeping the rain out.

Beginning of building,

IMG_20160815_131008

Building took around 2 days. We prepared the site a little ourselves but this was more to have it a little lower, my back garden slopes higher towards the back so it was an attempt to have it a little lower for the neighbours. You wouldn't normally need to do this. The cabin sits on around 8 concrete blocks that are cemented into the ground and then a base built on this.

Built cabin (steel roof still to be fitted)

IMG_20160815_172945 by

We opted to paint it ourselves, we were quoted 700 euro plus the cost of paint to paint it one colour and we were hoping for 2 colours so decided to paint it ourselves. Meant more work but would save a decent chunk of money. We knew it would be a while til it was up and running too so were in no real rush.

Painting, nearly done, some touch ups and finishing to do.

IMG_20160918_151018 by

Internal pictures.

IMG_20160816_165654 by

IMG_20160816_165644 by


Still have a bit more work to do on the garden, moving soil and putting in a path but nothing too major hopefully. Cabin had to be treated too before putting on the paint. This was done with 2 coats on the outside and 1 coat on the inside. The paint acts as a protection too but no harm having it as well coated as we could. Will be putting lino down on the inside, wood floor would be tough to do with the cabin itself being wood and dealing with the expansion and contraction of the whole building and the floor so easier just to put down the lino. Will be covered in gym mats and other mats anyway so won't see a lot of it but just some more protection for the floor.

Plan is for the kickr and Lemond to go in along with 2 desks for our laptops. A treadmill will go in the other end and then a weights bench and a few weights and if I have a little room left over I'll put a work stand in for the bike. Fingers crossed the main bulk of the work will be done by this weekend and we are just waiting on the lino to come into the shop so we can get that down and then move stuff in. I got a sensor light for the front as well as a yale alarm that comes with an outside box to put on the shed too. Our back garden is pretty secure, we are surrounded on the back by other back gardens so I'm hoping it's secure. Bikes will be locked to units in the shed too, just to make it as difficult as possible if someone does get in.

If anyone has any questions about getting one or what you need to do when you do get one just let me know. I know the place we got ours wasn't great about giving out a huge amount of info and took me a while to get my head all around it.

Looks the business. Very jealous

griffin100

Looks nice. One piece of advice from someone who's had his bikes stolen from a garage - put some one way film on the windows and doors so you can see out but others can't see in. No need for the scrotes to be able to see what's inside.

EC1000

FWIW - I recently did something similar to you - except using a pre-fab steel shed. I used this stuff for the floor. It's nice and spongy and only took a couple of hours to lay down. Gives it that "gym feel".

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-Black-Interlocking-Mat-Gym-Mat-Play-Floor-Guard-Soft-Foam-4-Piece-16-SQ-FT-/201201745786?hash=item2ed88eff7a:g:PpEAAOSwjVVVrReE

catweazle

700 euros + paint to paint that :eek:

Christ sometimes there are advantages to living outside of the Pale

joey100

I know that stuff EC1000, use it at the moment under the bikes in the spare room, that's what will be going down on top of the majority of the lino but didn't get it that cheap so I'll hold onto that link.

@Catweazle, I got the impression that they didn't want to paint it really so that was the reason for the quote. We got most of the inside of our house painted for less than that including paint. Bit of a pain to paint cos there is little notches between each plank so a roller doesn't really work. But I'd guess at around 15 hours of painting done in total on it so not too bad at all really. Another 2 hours and it will be finished.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Forget about the lino, some artificial grass laid down would give that room a good vibe

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/497507090056062594/

pgibbo

Looks great Joey.

Have you purchased a treadmill yet? My OH is on to me to get one so need to start looking.

joey100

Bit smaller than your own P! Still looking at treadmills but the general advice seems to be spend the money and buy a good one.

http://www.fitnessequipmentireland.ie/shop/care-runner-20kph/

This looks like it might be the one I go with. It gets good reviews, has a good warranty and I like the way they say what type of use it would be good for. It is expensive but from looking around a cheap enough one would be around 1000 so I reckon it would be worth the extra to get something good like this. I know it will be used though, Laura is looking forward to getting it too so that makes it a bit easier to spend the money on it.

joey100

Tues 20th Sept

An evening spent moving around 6 tonne of soil from the back garden to a skip in the front. Finished this and then onto the turbo. 45 mins easy. Legs were tired and body was tired but I still think I'll have to work off a lower FTP than what I used the majority of last season. Tough enough, and never really comfortable.

Wed 21st Sept

Morning swim. Woke up sore and tired but still headed to the pool. Session was 4 x(200m,3x100m) with 20 seconds recovery after each. I was slow, I'm slow at running, slow at biking and slow at swimming right now but it will come good. Fella in the lane with me had a norseman hat, bucket list race definitely, might enter the lottery this year with the idea of not getting an entry and then building up the entries for when I can do it. Maybe not the best idea tho if I do get it....

Lunch time run in work. More manual Labour this evening so ran at work. Again only 35 mins easy but was a little faster and felt a little better than Mondays run. Still not comfortable but little tiny signs of improvement.

joey100

And meant to say, I'm not changing my TT bike, the cost to change wouldn't be worth it for any additional benefit. I'll be sticking with it for the next while anyway. I am building up a new road bike though, I done it before with my Scott and enjoyed the whole process so have started again on a new aero road bike. Not 100% sure of frame just yet but new dura ace crank along with sram etap shifting kit has been ordered. I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas now! Build will take time though and want to get the kit I want and like rather than what's the best price so will take my time building it.

joey100

Thurs 22nd Sept

Meant to be an easy turbo but skipped it. Jet lag seems to have kicked in a bit and every night after work I'm moving soil, digging or moving stones. Body is just tired so took the evening off.

Fri 23rd Sept

Morning swim. 20x100m. Taking around 15 seconds for recovery. Bit better in the water, still slow but improving.

Lunch time run in work. 35 mins easy. Bit better than the last 2 runs but still getting there. These runs are feeling really easy though and the recovery after them is very quick so at least that's something.

Sat 24th Sept

2hours easy on the turbo. Had hoped to get out on the roads but morning was spent moving stone while the weather was good and then by the time I was free to get out the rain had started. 2 hours easy on the turbo watching Flora Duffy win in Cozumel. Kept the power around 10% lower than usual and seemed to work better.

Sun 25th Sept

1hr 5 mins easy run. The best feeling run in a while. Still slow but HR very settled and didn't jump as easy, quicker to recover too. A comfortable run. Things are improving.

joey100

Mon 26th Sept

Lunch time run. Around 40 mins easy. Legs not bad at all and couldn't feel the longer run from Sunday in them. HR a lot better today.

Tues 27th Sept

Evening turbo. Still on the easy weeks so an hour easy watching last years Kona. Power still down but feeling more comfortable.

Wed 28th Sept

Lunch time run. The complete opposite of Mondays run. Felt very clunky and just awkward the whole run. Around 45 mins done tho.

Evening run with Laura. Nice and slow evening run with Laura. Around 35 mins done and the first double run day in a while. Legs felt grand though and no aches or pains or tightness at all.

joey100

Thurs 29th Sept

1hr easy on the turbo. Power still down a little but legs coming around a bit. Bit more comfortable than last few sessions.

Fri 30th Sept

40 mins easy run. Nothing fancy just an easy run.

Sat 1st Oct

Planned long cycle outside but never got it done. Electrics were put in the cabin by my brother so stayed around to give him a hand. Getting closer to being finished.

Sun 2nd October

Had an ikea delivery in the afternoon so out early for around 1hr 30 on the bike. Was like I have never cycled. Power right down but it will come good. Nice to get outside on the bike too, try and keep that going for as long as possible.

Evening 1 hr run. Again nice and easy, at times moving well, other times very slow. Signs of progression though.

Mon 3rd October

So after 2 easy weeks time to try and get back into it a bit more. Morning run. 40 mins easy, started well but HR rose as it went on so back off the pace, again encouraging signs though.

Afternoon run. 30 mins very easy. These were out around 6 min/km's and was kept nice and easy. Legs felt decent for this.

Evening swim. Missed my morning swim so went for a once off with the club. Good session, new coach there and got some good feedback. Bit of a kick up the arse too around my swimming seeing lads a lot closer to me than would normally be.

Tues 4th Oct

Evening turbo. 1 hour with main set being 5 x 5min BG, 1 rec. Legs felt this a bit but overall power was up on the turbo. Didn't go too big a gear, will build that over the next few weeks. Good session done on the bike tho. Put the lino and sensor light on the cabin today, another few steps closer.

Wed 5th Oct

Morning swim was cancelled, Laura has pulled something in her back and was due in work for a meeting. Drove her into work so didn't get a chance to go to pool, would have meant leaving her waiting outside while I swam.

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy. Again good at times and others it's like starting from scratch. All feels very easy though and no aches or pains so good signs.

joey100

Wed 5th Oct

Evening run. Nearly skipped this but if I start skipping sessions this early into the season it's not going to be a good one! 30 mins easy, keeping the evening runs on the double days right at the bottom end of my easy. Can be hard to run that slow but if I'm to increase the weekly mileage and time on my feet I'll have to be careful and manage it well.

So TI released the NS calendar nice and early this year. Provisionally looks like Carlow Sprint in May, Derry sprint and NC in June, Hazelwood Olympic in July and CK Olympic NC and Dublin Olympic in August. Would like to do a small race before Carlow but not pushed on a pool one so we will see what comes up. And if Skerries is on in September again this year I'd like to do that, I know that course backwards. Goal is still top 3 in my age group in NS so we will see. The way I'm running and biking at the moment that's a good bit off!

I'll be entering the norseman Lottery in November too, I'm hoping I don't get it but because of the way the lottery system works it would mean 2 entries for 2018 which would suit me much better, but at the same time if I got it I don't think I could turn it down. Either way it should be a good season.

boysinblack

joey100 wrote: »

Wed 5th Oct

So TI released the NS calendar nice and early this year. Provisionally looks like Carlow Sprint in May, Derry sprint and NC in June, Hazelwood Olympic in July and CK Olympic NC and Dublin Olympic in August. Would like to do a small race before Carlow but not pushed on a pool one so we will see what comes up. And if Skerries is on in September again this year I'd like to do that, I know that course backwards. Goal is still top 3 in my age group in NS so we will see. The way I'm running and biking at the moment that's a good bit off!

Just throw it outhere that Derry, Hazelwood and CK where probably in the lowest scoring 5 races this season. Also NC usually make for low scoring. Worth maybe rethinking the races if you are chasing the top 3 in the age group over everything else.

Dublin and Carlow are both very high scoring races though.

joey100

Cheers boysinblack, I'll keep that in mind. Derry and CK are there because they are the NC too, Hazelwood because it's close to a friends house who I have been meaning to visit for ages now!

I'll keep an eye on the points tho, hopefully with less NS races this year and none on the same weekend it should mean more numbers at the races.

Last time I done the right number of NS races (think it was 5) I remember I got more points for an average race in Athy compared to a good race at CK. I have bit of room to add one or two more too as the season goes on, Port Beach could be added and we will see how the performances go at them ones.

boysinblack

The way the points system works for national series is based on 70% percentage. So basically you want a decent sized race that lacks quality down the field.

Dublin city is a prime example of this sort of race size and field and always scores well.

You should definitely look at Westport ,Belfast, Loughrea and Two provinces in order to maximse your points. The reduced national series race size might change things up a bit. But I bet the 4 of them races will score high. Especially Westport because a few Dublin clubs use it as their away race which makes it sell out and have a lower quality field and Belfast which mirrors dublin city a bit scoring wise.

Avoid Pulse Port if you can unless your racing it just for fun.

joey100

Thurs 6th October

Evening easy turbo. 1hour nice and easy. Power creeping up and taking longer for the HR to start to climb.

Fri 7th October

Morning swim. 8 x (200sw,100pull). Felt ok in the water, getting abit of a feel back and more aware of what I am doing. Still a long way off though but a decent session this morning.

Lunch time run. First interval of the pre season, 15 easy then 10x(1min hard,1 easy). The hards came in around 3.3x pace, depending if they were into the wind or against the wind. Tough to hold this pace and HR slow to recover but done them all. Around 15 mins cool down too.

Sat 8th October

Morning cycle. 2.5 hours outside on the road bike. First 1hr went well and then started to feel it, not just the legs but the whole body from not being on the bike. Around 65km done. Glad to be finished by time it was over.

Sun 9th October

Morning run. Around 1hr 15 ran and around 15km. Pace getting better and HR gettting lower. Legs felt comfortable for this and was nearly the exact opposite of Saturdays cycle, would have stayed out longer for this.

Evening turbo. So the cabin is completed. Treamill probably going in next month but for now all the work is done and the room we were using upstairs to train has been changed to a spare bedroom. So the weekend was spent building a sofa bed, painting walls, putting an alarm and blinds on the shed and building IKEA furniture for it but it's done. Have a Kickr that I picked up from pgibbo on here and last night was the first time to use it with ZWIFT. Not a bad set up, hard not to get drawn into racing but the courses change the resistance on the kickr and make it a bit more interesting. 45 mins easy (ish) done last night including a climb up box hill on the London route.

Mon 10th October

A morning swim on a Monday?! I must be motivated! 21x 100m swim. Need to be more careful on the extra turbo on the Sunday evening. Legs feeling it a bit today and slight twinges before cramp once or twice. Not my fastest swimming at all but the mileage is building and the fitness improving.

joey100

Mon 10th Oct

Lunch time run in work. 45 mins easy, nothing special, legs a little tired but overall a good run and even seen sub 5 min/km for the first time in a while on the watch. Slowly getting there.

Evening easy run. 35 mins very easy. Again aiming at bottom end of easy HR. Started off slow enough but pace improved for the same HR as the run went on. HR very settled and no real rising. Easy to control too. Around 6.5km run.

Weight is starting to settle down too. When I came back off holiday I had put up around 4kg, but I suppose that's what happens when you have dessert with breakfast for 2 weeks. Down 2 of them kg so far and just taking it handy trying to get it off. Still eating but have cut out a lot of the crap from my diet. All moving the right way.

joey100

Tues 11th Oct

Evening turbo. 1hr 15 mins. Main set being a build on last week so 6 x 5min big gear, 1 easy. Every second one of these I had a bigger gear than normal so the even numbers were around 58 and the odds around 55. Felt better through this than last week. Legs starting to come around.

Wed 12th Oct

Morning swim. Bit of a pyramid, 100sw,100pull,200sw,200pull,300sw,300pull,300sw,300pull,200sw,200pull,100sw,100pull. Ok in the water, times it felt like it was clicking a bit, didn't really keep an eye on pace, no need at this time. Rest intervals of around 10-12 seconds. Steady pace rather than pushing it.

Lunch time run. 45 mins easy. Bit of a hillier route than normal, HR easy enough to control on the hill so a good sign. Just under 9km ran.

Evening run. Working on bottom end of easy HR. Same route as monday and improved pace and HR compared to Monday session. Legs felt grand, no real tiredness from Tuesday bike or lunch time run. Around 7km ran, very easy.

After the run was a bit of S&C. Never really do this but with the cabin having the stuff for doing it I'm going to try and do a bit more. About half an hour done. Nothing mad just yet, easing myself into it rather than giving the body a shock!

The plan will be to have every second Wednesday lunch time run include a bit of a tempo run @ around half marathon pace (4.05 min/km). I'll let myself get at least one good block of training done before I start that tho. Enough going on at the moment without trying to start that as well.

joey100

Thurs 13th October

75 mins easy on the turbo. Power getting better and getting more comfortable on the bike.

Fri 14th October

Lunch time intervals. Around 50 mins in total and again including 10x1min hard, 1 easy. Pace a bit better than last week, tired legs for this too. Few under 3.30 and the rest low to mid 3.30's.

Evening core session. Going to try and work on my flexibility and core strength. Needs working on. Only a short session, around 25 mins.

Sat 15th Oct

Up early and onto turbo because of the lashing rain. 2hours easy on zwift then 1 hour easy on trainer road watching netflix. Tired by the end but a good amount of time done.

Sun 16th Oct

Long run. 1hr 30 mins. Around 17.5km done. Hilly enough route and legs were ok for the majority, bit tired towards the end but overall a good long run. Getting more and more comfortable.

Evening core session and stretching. Again around 25 mins done.

Mon 17th Oct

Morning swim. Good mindset in the pool this morning, just got in and swam, no thinking about how long I have left or if I will go to the jacuzzi. 24x100m done. All easy/steady. Feeling more comfortable in the water, speed will come.

Lunch time run in work. 53 mins and around 10.5km. Pace increased again for same heart rate and heart rate lower on hills now too. All good signs.

Dory Dory

Thanks for the nudge. I'll be getting caught up on this log.....