The difficult second album

joey100

Mon 17th Oct

Evening run. Back to bottom end of HR easy zone work. Legs feeling a bit tired, but plenty in them for the run. Around 40 mins done.

Tues 18th October

Turbo. Another big gear session and another build on the 2 previous Tuesday sessions with 7x5BG,1EZ. All ok until around the 5th one and then it began to get tougher. Cadence was mid to high 50's. 90 mins done on the turbo.

Wed 19th Oct

Morning swim. Some tired legs this morning but to be expected with the 2 lead up weeks and this week so far. Plan was 4 x (200pull,100sw) 4x(200sw,100pull). Still slow, really slow. Arms felt the pull buoy stuff too but it's all time in the pool.

Lunch time run. If I thought my legs were tired on Mon evening run they were really tired today. The toughest part of my week volume wise is done by Wednesday evening so I'm happy with how they are feeling for where I am in the week. Same route and a little faster than Monday's lunch time run. Another 10.5km ran.

joey100

Wed 19th Oct

Evening run. 40 mins very easy, pace improving and feeling more comfortable. Being careful though to keep the pace easy and the HR low. Around 7.5km ran.

S&C. 25 mins after the run, core work and stretching. Finding this is working, definitely getting more flexible, hopefully helps holding aero position on the bike.

joey100

Thurs 20th Oct

Evening turbo. 90 mins easy watching the Barkley marathons documentary. Usually I'd watch something like this and think I'd like to give it a go, no chance with this. It's mad! Good to pass the time tho. HR settling much better on the bike and using HR alongside power as a guide. Power staying the same but HR getting lower, still strength to be built in the legs though.

Fri 21st Oct

Afternoon run. Friday is interval run day and the last few weeks I've done 10 x 1 min hard, changed it up this week, groin has been a bit niggly, grand for easy running but when I push it on a bit I can feel it tighten. Session changed this week to 6x2 mins @3.45min/km, 1 easy. So a little slower than the 1 hard but a bit longer. Tough session, hit 3.40 for them all but not half as comfortable as I would have liked it to be. A lot of work to do to catch up to where I was. Overall about 11.5km run.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Barclay is a good watch, its on the hit list if i can ever find out how to bloody enter the thing. I reckon i could do the 3 laps not so sure about 4 or let alone the 5. It would be a grim race but a good experience i reckon.

mossym

joey100 wrote: »

Thurs 20th Oct

Evening turbo. 90 mins easy watching the Barkley marathons documentary.

that on netflix?

joey100

Yep on Netflix. Fella who organises it is mad, makes no money from it and has no real health and safety, but its a decent watch, no way I'd be interested in it though, some serious suffering going on!

Neady83

joey100 wrote: »

Yep on Netflix. Fella who organises it is mad, makes no money from it and has no real health and safety, but its a decent watch, no way I'd be interested in it though, some serious suffering going on!

Thanks for the heads up, I've never heard of it. Such an organic event, no trackers or fancy technology, only a map, a compass and some books amazing

joey100

Fri 21st Oct

Evening turbo. Needed just to do something, body seems to re-act well to active recovery rather than complete time off. Both will have there uses but with the week I'm in I thought it better to do something. So 45 mins easy on the turbo. Power kept low and easy.

After this was another bit of S&C, I'd say it's a combination of this and being back on the bike a bit but I'm finding myself more and more comfortable on the bike the more I do this. Around 25 mins done.

Sat 22nd Oct

Headed out on the bike but it wasn't to be. I'd done a little swapping of parts on the bike with a new bike and I mustn't have fully sorted the headset properly after meaning it felt like my steering was sort of floating while I was cycling. So 45 mins on the road bike outside and then 2hours 45 on the turbo. Not ideal but next week won't be busy and I'll get a chance to sort it out.

Evening run. Again just to get out. 35 mins very easy, bottom end HR stuff. I feel it's working well and letting me build the mileage without the same wear and tear as some of my other stuff. Maybe it's junk miles but it doesn't feel that way at the moment.

Sun 23rd October

Long run. Tired tired legs for this, normally they wake up after a bit but they never did today. Even with that though it was a little faster than last week and had no trouble completing it. 18.5km done. Was glad when it was over though!


So a bit of a re-cap on my first block of training. I'm working in 4 week blocks with building weeks up to week 3 then week 4 as a rest/recovery week. I feel this has worked well for me for the last 2 years so I will stick with it.

Week 1 11hrs 50 mins (2 swim sessions, 51.5km ran, 4.5 hours on the bike)

Week 2 14hrs 20 mins (2 swim sessions, 60km ran, 5.5 hrs on the bike)

Week 3 16hrs 10 mins (2 swim sessions, 71.5km ran, 7hrs 15mins on the bike)

(time includes S&C sessions too)

So a decent build up through the weeks ending in one of my biggest weeks ever. Think that's the furthest I have ever ran in 1 week. Only 2 sessions in the pool a week but that was by choice rather than skipping sessions. This will build now too, I'm going to try a Tuesday morning session with Peter Kern this week and if it works with getting into work after I'll be adding these to the weekly plan. An easy enough extra 1hr 30 a week to be added. I'm also looking at cycling with a club again on Saturday mornings, will get me out more on the bike and I'll be able to easily add on a bit myself going to meet them and coming home if I need to. I'm not sure I'll be running or cycling anymore than what I did on my biggest week but at the same time I don't think I really need to. The run mileage might go up as pace increases, only because I run to time but I will need to manage this well to keep it going. Feel good considering what I have done, body responded well and feel the timing of this recovery week has been good. A day off today before back to it tomorrow but everything this week will be a bit shorter and give me a chance to take in what I have done up to now.

RJM85

joey100 wrote: »

one of my biggest weeks ever.

Careful!

joey100

I'm doing my best! A fair amount is very very easy stuff, lot more bottom of easy HR than I would have done before and not worrying about pace. Need to keep an eye though as I get fitter that I keep the pace low for some of the easier stuff and not get carried away with getting as many miles done as I can.

Mon 24th Oct

No bike/run or swim today but did some core stuff and stretching in the evening. Bit of work on the old bike and the new bike and early to bed to catch up on my sleep.

Tues 25th Oct

First of my morning swim session with P Kern. Lots of technique stuff and some good feedback. Been a long time since I swam with others so was good, just get in and swim and not worry about what I was going to do. Plenty to work on and as the fitness builds my speed will improve too.

joey100

Tues 25th Oct

Fresh legs, been a while. 45 mins on the turbo, seen as it was short I put a few efforts in on zwift just to see how the body responded. Pretty good. Legs getting better.

Wed 26th Oct

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy, average pace has been around 5.05min/km up to now, averaged sub 5 min/kms today so improvements. Legs felt good for this, few little niggles but I always have after a few days off running, eased off as it went on.

joey100

Thurs 27th Oct

Evening turbo. 45 mins easy. Nothing fancy or exciting.

Fri 28th Oct

Lunch time run at work. 40 mins easy. Went well, legs feeling good, plenty of people around for the marathon expo.

Evening run with Laura. Very very easy. 4.5km in 30 mins. Good for loosening out the legs though.

Sat 29th Oct

First club cycle with velo club Balrothery. 10km out to the spin and then around 70km with them and then 10km home by myself. A good spin, a decent pace and had a few chances to push the pace. Still missing a bit of bike fitness but it's coming back. 90km done, around 29kmph average.

Sun 30th Oct

Long run this week is only 1 hour. Never really settled into it and felt a bit all over the place for it. Still decent pace and just over 12km covered in the time.

Evening run. Another very easy run with Laura. Pretty much the exact same as Friday, 30 mins easy and around 4.5km.

Mon 31st Oct

Start of the 2nd block of my base. Morning run 40 mins. A lot better than sundays early run, HR a little high and jumpy but is normally like this when I run in the morning. Legs felt good though and body feels well rested.

Evening run. 30 mins at bottom end of HR easy. Pace improving for effort and starting to feel like I'm running. Legs felt grand and have done around 30km in 2 days.

Evening S&C. Finding these sessions good, feel better for doing them so will keep them up. 30 mins done after giving out sweets for Halloween.

Tues 1st November

Morning swim with P Kern. Lot of sculling work again today. Good feedback on working on 3rd phase of my stroke, my left arm when I breath on my right and upping my cadence. Lots to work on but enjoying the group swims. 1hr 30 mins done.

Kurt.Godel

Looks like you are hitting the ground running for this training block.

Whats the swim goal over the winter?

joey100

Swim goal is very basic right now, I need to swim more! As simple as that, swim has gone really backwards the last while, 100's coming in on 1.40 in the 50m pool, I had these down to 1.30's at one stage. I'm hoping the Tuesday morning 90 min session will help with the fitness when we move away from technique work. I just need to get to the pool 3 times myself then as well and that will be 4 times a week and I should see improvements then.

peter kern

joey100 wrote: »

Swim goal is very basic right now, I need to swim more! As simple as that, swim has gone really backwards the last while, 100's coming in on 1.40 in the 50m pool, I had these down to 1.30's at one stage. I'm hoping the Tuesday morning 90 min session will help with the fitness when we move away from technique work. I just need to get to the pool 3 times myself then as well and that will be 4 times a week and I should see improvements then.

I would not focus too much, on the more I would focus more on the better right now. the fitness will take care of itself if you do the frequnecy you have planned . the stroke wont. your patterns are ingrained into the system and it takes some while to change them. and i think you would agree it dosnt really work in the open water.( especially now that you swim with your nemesis... ;-)

joey100

Agree 100% Peter, everything in the stroke is linked so when I try speed up my arms my legs speed up and then I tire much quicker. Makes sense about why my stroke suffers in open water too, what you said re-inforced what I had seen in one or two pictures and videos.

At the moment half that lane is my nemesis, anyone who is faster than me is my nemesis! Nothing like a bit of competition to push on your swimming!

Tuesday 1st Nov

Evening turbo. It's great when 1 hr on the turbo feels like a short session. Building on what I done the last block with the big gear work. 6x6mins with 1 recovery. Cadence around 58-60rpm but power up around 15 watts on the last time I done these. Tough but never in danger of not finishing.

Wed 2nd Nov

Morning swim. So taking what I Learned yesterday and not worrying too much about fitness right now I done a session of 50's. About 40 of them. With around 15 seconds recovery after each. The idea being I could work on the things Peter told me on Tuesday, I'd still get some distance done but with it only being 50's I wouldn't be slipping back into my old habits. Tough enough tho, increasing the turn over in my arms means I kick more. Trying to separate the kick from the arm turn over is proving hard. The first 20m of each would be great, I'd be moving well, next 15 -20 I'd start to tire but concentrate on holding the turnover and completing the third phase. The last 10m where the old bad habits would creep in, arm would come out of water early and stroke turnover would drop. At least I'm recognising it though and sessions like this should help re-inforce the new technique into my brain!

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy, pace a bit improved again, legs feeling good and just feeling really comfortable overall. Enjoyed this run.

peter kern

good stuff and good feedback for me to read , thanks .
in your case try to think to "reverse" your stroke
ie what you do at the front do at the back of the stroke
and what you currently do at the back you do at the front.
dont think about increasing the turnover as you dont need much of it and when the pace settles in a race , likely none. its more stroke timming. i know- in a way wrongly-I said turnover a few times , in my defence i did say focus on the third phase ;-)

joey100

Wed 2nd Nov

Evening run. 30 mins @ bottom end of easy HR zone. Legs moving well and body feeling good.

Thurs 3rd Nov

Evening turbo. 1 hr, bit of a warm up then 2 x 10@200w, 10 easy. My FTP is definitely lower, I need to retest and will do soon but just need to get back into a routine of training first. I've lowered it from 257 to 240 and it feels about right. These were grand, never in any real danger of not finishing and felt comfortable throughout. One difference I have noticed with the Kickr over the elite muin is that the Kickr seems to let me vary the cadence much more. I don't know if it's something to do with the liquid in the elite muin but I always seemed to settle around 72rpm, even when I tried to select an easy gear and spin a bit more it always seemed to come back to that. I'm hoping that by using the kickr and training at a cadence closer to what I cycle outside and race at I'll see some improvements. We will see.

Fri 4th Nov

Morning swim. So again taking on board what Peter said. Session was 2x(200m sw, 2x100m sw,2x50m sw). The Idea being I would be fresh enough for the 200 and wouldn't go back to my old habits, as I tired after this the efforts got shorter so by the next 200m I would be ok. Then was 6x 100m and 4x50m. Short enough in the pool but I was feeling it in my wrist a lot more with me now finishing the 3rd phase and I was starting to get sloppy and old habits creeping in so I thought it better to finish while I was still holding the stroke rather than logging miles.

Lunch time run. Intervals. Last time was 6x2mins @3.45, 1 easy. Changed it a bit to 8X2mins @ 3.40,2 easy. Tough but manageable. Legs still struggling to get moving abit and all feels harder than it should be positive signs there too. Watch had a mini melt down at the start and said I was running 1min kilometres, distance off and average pace at the end off too but I would say around 11.5km done.

joey100

Fri 4th Nov

Evening run with Laura. Again 30 mins nice and easy. More miles in the legs.

Sat 5th Nov

Club spin. Lot colder this morning than last week and around 20km into the 90km cycle the battery on my Di2 began to die. Wouldn't always shift the front derailleur. Thought I would be ok and for the majority of the cycle I was until with around 30km to go at the back of the airport and a bit of a flat section to push on. Di2 dead and stuff in little ring on the front and only shifting in a few rings on the back. Legs spun out trying to keep up. Suffered from there til the end but hung on. Another 90km done.

Sun 6th Nov

Long run. 1hr 20 mins. A great run listening to a programme about the mindset of a champion from ted talks. Talked to Diana Nyad (swam from Cuba to Florida) and a few other people. Interesting and helped pass the time. Don't usually listen to anything when I'm running but might start on my longer runs. Other than that it was a good run, nice and comfortable and body feeling good.

Mon 7th Nov

Morning run. Bit clunky and disjointed for this run but got it done. 45 mins and just over 9km.

Evening run. Lot more comfortable than the earlier run. Lower end of HR easy and pace still improving. 35 mins and around 6.5km.

Tues 8th Nov

Morning swim. No P Kern this morning so we done our own thing in the lane. Bit of a warm up then lots of 200's hanging onto toes, then 10x100m off 2 mins with everyone taking a turn at the front and times around low 1.30's. Was dead an hour in so headed off to work to get in early and free up some time to get out running during the week. A good session, spent the whole time chasing and working hard.

joey100

Tues 8th Nov

Evening turbo. Still ding Big gear work, probably for another block after this and then will move to above FTP work. Tonight was 75 mins in total with 7x6mins BG, 1 easy. Power above 200w (80%) for each of the BG intervals and was ok. Last one was tough, more cos the sole of my right foot felt like ti was going to cramp but I got them all done.

Wed 9th Nov

A missed swim session. The story of my training.

Lunch time run. 45 mins easy. Tired quads for this today but the pace was improved and HR settled. Starting to feel like the running is improving again, lots to do but little steps to get there.

Dory Dory

Any thoughts on Diana Nyad???

joey100

Hey Dory, they only spent a little time talking to her and was more about the preparation and how the missed attempts helped her to finally achieve it. She is definitely dedicated! And tough! Never mind the distance, even the sounds of swimming in the gulf stream, the jellyfish and how hard is was sounds tough enough. She said how her father told her what her surname meant when she was younger, something like champion and a swim creature and from then on she had a deep belief that she would be a great swimmer. They talked to a snowboarder too who had bacterial meningitis and lost her feet and how she overcame it to get back into the sport and be the best in her class in the world.

griffin100

http://marathonswimmers.org/forum/discussion/1487/nyad-lies-about-being-the-first-woman-to-swim-around-manhattan-again


https://loneswimmer.com/2013/10/08/the-diana-nyad-controversy-a-personal-reflection-part-5-probity-integrity/

Not a fan of hers I have to say.

Dory Dory

griffin100 wrote: »

http://marathonswimmers.org/forum/discussion/1487/nyad-lies-about-being-the-first-woman-to-swim-around-manhattan-again


https://loneswimmer.com/2013/10/08/the-diana-nyad-controversy-a-personal-reflection-part-5-probity-integrity/

Not a fan of hers I have to say.

I'm not either. That's actually why I posed the question.

joey100

To be honest I knew nothing of her before I heard her talk on the radio, name sounded a little familiar but if you had of said the name to me I wouldn't have known who she was. Didn't realise at all there was all that stuff going on about her record crossing or any of her other swims! She talked a little about the swim but she was asked more about her mindset and how she used the first few efforts to prepare her for her ''successful'' crossing. She doesn't come across well from either of them articles at all (didn't come across particularly well on the radio either)! Interesting to read though, if yous have any more info on her put up the links, cheers!

joey100

So from looking online it looks like she has done some work on NPR in America, the ted talks programme that was on newstalk is actually a NPR programme that they play. Explains why they never brought up any of the questions around her crossing and why she was brought on as the ultimate open water swimmer.

joey100

Wed 9th Nov

Evening run. 35 mins bottom end of easy HR. Good run, body felt ok, little tired but to be expected. Pace def improved.

So the week gets a little messy for the rest now. Tonight is another turbo and then I'm off on a stag tomorrow from Friday to Sunday. I'll have some time tomorrow and will get my long run done before I go, I think that's the most important session out of the ones I could miss so I'll prioritise it. I'll try and do a little bit on the turbo on Sunday when I get back but that will be hangover dependant. Just means that this week won't really build on last weeks training but should still be a solid 13 hour week, maybe a little more.

rooneyjm

How was the stag. Hope you made your swimming this morning! I PM'ed you, need to talk about road bikes.

joey100

What's the craic, stag was good, still recovering, bars not closing til 6 in the morning doesn't do me any good.

No swimming or training at all since last Friday, hopefully back on the bike tonight. Still not 100%. No pm there, I'll double check though to see.

joey100

Right so Stag has been and gone, a rough few days and even before I went I was expecting to be sick when I got back. If I don't get enough sleep I suffer and there was around 5 hours over the 2 days so I've been paying for it since. Done a bit on the Turbo the Thurs before (3x8mins @210w) and then a 1hr 30 min run on the Friday before the flight. Last night I done an hour on the turbo easy, power was decent, HR was were I would expect but effort felt a little out. Throat and runny nose today so I'm going to take a day or two off and see how I feel. This week was to be a big week and then next week an easy week but I think I'll probably take this as the easy week and then start next week as a build of another block. Not ideal but better now than later in the year.