The difficult second album

joey100

So what ever I had last week got worse and worse. Ended up doing nothing all week. Probably could have done something Sat or Sun but I have made the mistake of coming back from sickness too soon before and hopefully I've learned something from it. I've changed the training around, last week was to be a big week and this week a recovery week. With last week not happening I've changed that to the recovery week and will start building again this week.

Mon 21st Nov

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy. Legs felt good, HR a little jumpy. Wind made it difficult at times. Not as bad as I was expecting and overall a decent run.

Evening run. 30 mins bottom end of easy HR. Wind played a big part here, with the wind pace was around 5.10, into the wind around 6.10. Didn't go by pace at all, don't really on these easy runs anyway, and kept it to HR. Legs felt good throughout and no real tiredness there.

Tues 22nd Nov

Morning swim with Peter. What Peter has been telling me to do for aorund 2 weeks now finally clicked a bit today. Hopefully I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing now. Good session, using borrowed paddles though and found them tough to use. Will be picking up my own paddles soon and will do some work with them myself to try and improve. 90 mins done.

Dory Dory

You are now receiving mail here in the States. I just received a catalog from Betty Designs with your name on it!

joey100

Was just thinking about that there Dory! Thanks again for all your help last year, it's one of her favourite tops and always gets comments when she wears it!

Tues 22nd Nov

Evening turbo. Going back over what I done in the last block because I never got to finish it out. So 1 hour, including 6x6bg, 1ez. Cadence around 60rpm and power above 200w so a good session. Tougher than I remembered too.

Wed 23rd Nov

Morning swim. 20x100m alt sw/pull. Working again on what I have picked up from Peter's sessions. Have shortened my stroke a little to get rid of the dead zone at the front and it seems to be working well. Definitely feeling less of a dead spot and more consistent speed. Taking time though, concentrating on the high elbow from early on, third phase and the quicker turnover means sometimes something slips. The other thing is my kick is really linked to my stroke, so as I try to speed it up I'm kicking more and tiring out quicker because of it. Plenty to work on.

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy, kept nice and easy. Again HR a little higher but nothing to worry about, legs feeling good tho. Groin was a little tight starting out but eased off fairly quickly and the rest of the run was nice and comfortable.

peter kern

swim more with pb that should help you to seperate the kick and arms
in your case and known open water issue , you need to kick deeper and slower.
or we need to fix a few lead weights on your toes for the wetsuit swim ;-)

joey100 wrote: »

Was just thinking about that there Dory! Thanks again for all your help last year, it's one of her favourite tops and always gets comments when she wears it!

Tues 22nd Nov

Evening turbo. Going back over what I done in the last block because I never got to finish it out. So 1 hour, including 6x6bg, 1ez. Cadence around 60rpm and power above 200w so a good session. Tougher than I remembered too.




Wed 23rd Nov

Morning swim. 20x100m alt sw/pull. Working again on what I have picked up from Peter's sessions. Definitely feeling less of a dead spot and more consistent speed. Taking time though, concentrating on the high elbow from early on, third phase and the quicker turnover means sometimes something slips. The other thing is my kick is really linked to my stroke, so as I try to speed it up I'm kicking more and tiring out quicker because of it. Plenty to work on.

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy, kept nice and easy. Again HR a little higher but nothing to worry about, legs feeling good tho. Groin was a little tight starting out but eased off fairly quickly and the rest of the run was nice and comfortable.

joey100

I'd say we will need the weights Peter! Tried concentrating on it yesterday but with all the changes it was nearly always the kick that went first. All the other changes are to do with arms, so found I was just doing what I would normally do with my legs and concentrating on the arms. I did try a bit of what we learned from the sculling too and tried changing the pull phase from a straight pull to a little scull motion at the top and then a pull. Worked well but with all the changes I'd say it happened 1 in 5 strokes if I was lucky! Plenty to work on!

Wed 23rd Nov

Easy evening run. Bottom end easy HR zone. Not looking at pace and just trying to enjoy the run. Back in Sauconys for my running, had tried a pair of Nike's, Zoot's and some Pumas I got on sale, they were grand but once I put on the new Saucony's everything just felt nicer. Will try stock up while they are a good price! 30 mins easy running.

peter kern

when it comes to kicking martin is your man for advise ;-)

i hope he reads that (he saved me a lot of money this morning with unique kick;-)

peter kern

"I did try a bit of what we learned sculling too and tried changing the pull phase from a straight pull to a little scull motion"

I wouldnt go there ,you have bigger fish to fry ( remember i dont believe in sculling drills ;-) , just think about what i say about thumb and finger(tips) and stroke velocity.
the sculling we only do to be more aware of what happnes if we dont get the basics right, not really to improve on the basics.
(do me a favour cut and paste that stuff -your and my comnents from this tue and send it to the others,apart from ray and martin of course )

joey100

Done just there Peter.

Thurs 24th Nov

Evening turbo. Legs were feeling it today, shouldn't really be tho, it's an easy enough week. So 1 hr turbo, 20 easy then 3x6@200w(80%),6 easy. Last time I done this it was 2x10@200w,10easy but I felt this was a little long so I cut it back a bit. Average power between 205-210 for each and no real problems holding the power.

Fri 25th Nov

Lunch time run. Friday intervals. 10 mins easy then 8x2@3.35min/km,2min easy. Back to the start of the last block and the same session again, probably a little easier than the last time but I'd put that down to no real wind today rather than running better. Held the pace well and for the last 2 I pushed on and was closer to 3.30 than 3.35. A bit like last nights turbo, no real danger of not finishing but not as comfortable as I would like either.

joey100

Sat 26th Nov

Club spin on the bike. The usual route done so just over 90km in just over 3hours. Enjoying these spins, really help on getting out on the bike. Would have been a lot easier to stay in bed but got myself up and out. Legs felt ok, not great, but good enough.

Sun 27th Nov

Long easy run. Decent enough pace, consistent from start to finish. HR a little quick to jump but was easy enough to bring it back down. All felt very easy and legs were ok. Just over 16km done in 80 mins.

Not a bad week, missed a few stretching and weights sessions but I'll add them back in this week. First week back after a week off sick so didn't want to push too much, body feeling a lot better though and this week will be building on last week.

joey100

Mon 28th Nov

Lunch time run. 45 mins easy. Again a very consistent pace, picked up on the downhills but the flat and gradual uphills were very consistent. Legs felt decent. Just over 9km done.

Evening run. Bottom end easy HR zone. Pace was not consistent at all here. ON uphills it was down and on flat and down's it picked up. Bit of tightness in the outside of my thighs but nothing too bad. Very comfortable run overall. Just over 6km done.

Evening core and stretching. Neglected this the last 2 weeks. Feel better already for having done it. Some weights too, focusing on arms and trying to target what I use for swimming. Half an hour done.

Tues 29th Nov

Morning swim with P Kern. Good session this morning. Still a bit of technique work but more swimming. Lots of fast 50's off 1 min. Held around 41 for the majority of these, the last 2 drifted out a little. More feedback on my stroke and things starting to click a bit. Turn over is increasing and feel I'm getting better at high elbow. Need to work on my left arm a bit. Seen a video on facebook during the week of Mark Austin swimming in an endless pool, gave me a good idea of what Peter means when he says to get rid of the dead spot. He wouldn't have a mad fast stroke but it's short and there seems to be no gliding at all. A good session.

pgibbo

have you a link to the vid?

joey100

I'll try dig it out, can't link when I'm in work but I'll get it up later if I cna find it again. Was only a short one, around 15 seconds and more of an ad for an endless pool company but gave a good idea of a nice turnover without an over reaching stroke. A lot of what I've been told became clear when I seen it, but might not be the same for everyone.


Just had a quick look on the phone and can't find it at all! Now I'm not even sure it was Marc Austin

joey100

Tues 29th Nov

Evening turbo. Still working on Big gear stuff. 7x6mins BG, 1 easy. This was more comfortable than last week. Legs felt a lot better through it. Average power above 200w (80%) for each of the intervals and cadence around 60rpm. Pleased with how this went. Got off the bike feeling great!

Wed 30th Nov

Morning swim. Lot of pull buoy and paddle work to try and seperate the kick from my turn over. Getting there but still work to do. Paddle highlights when I don't finish my third phase. Also highlights sloppiness when I start to get tired.

Lunch time run. 45 mins easy. Legs a little dead for this, no major soreness or tightness just felt a little heavy. Pace a bit improved from Monday, HR a little jumpy at the start but once it settled the pace improved and it felt comfortable. Pace increasing on the downhill section too for the same HR, good sign.

joey100

Wed 30th Nov

Evening run. Bottom end of easy HR zone again. HR strap acting up a bit so ran by feel for the start, 35 mins done and about 6.5km ran. Legs felt good for this, was freezing out and the ground was getting slippy but I wasn't out too late so all good.

Thurs 1st Dec

Evening turbo. Only one session on a Thursday. Catch up on my sleep in the morning, an afternoon off training and then turbo in the evening. 1hr 15 mins. With 3x 8@205w, 6easy. Building on last weeks 3x6@200w,6easy. Pleased with how this went, finding the kickr great, much easier to control the cadence so was able to do this at race cadence, never really worked on the elite. Legs tired towards the end but overall a good session.

Fri 2nd Dec

Lunch time run. Friday is intervals day. Building on last weeks 8x2 mins @ 3.35,2 easy. today was 10 x 2 mins @ 3.35,2 easy. Went well. First 3/4 were very strong, not the ideal route to be running them, some tight enough corners meant they were a bit more 'surgey' than I would have liked but overall a good session. Held the pace for all of them, last 2 were tough tho. Just over 50mins for 12km.

MD1983

joey100 wrote: »

Tues 29th Nov

Morning swim. Lot of pull buoy and paddle work to try and seperate the kick from my turn over. Getting there but still work to do. Paddle highlights when I don't finish my third phase. Also highlights sloppiness when I start to get tired.

trying to increase arm cadence??

joey100

Yep, swimming with Mr Kern and hes recommending it, too much of a dead spot and glide in stroke. Need to shorten it and speed it up, easier said than done!

rooneyjm

Fins Tempo Trainer are a good tool, I trained with one for a while and used it in Dublin 70.3. Not very reliable though. 1st one stopped beeping on me, they eventually gave me a new one but that has died as well.

peter kern

joey100 wrote: »

Yep, swimming with Mr Kern and hes recommending it, too much of a dead spot and glide in stroke. Need to shorten it and speed it up, easier said than done!

your alternative is to put on 2 stones ....right now you dont glide ...

joey100

I know what you mean about the glide Peter, just when describing what I need to speed up it's the place that most people glide I need to speed up.

Fri 2nd Dec

Evening run with Laura. 4km easy, more to stretch out the legs a bit than anything else. Nice and easy.

Sat 3rd Dec

It was wet on Fri night and cold overnight so it was out to the turbo for me. 3hours easy. Power was steady and no real drifting of HR, pleased with how this went. Legs felt good and was well able for it, done as much for the mental training side.

Sun 4th Dec

Morning long run. 1hr 30 mins. Took about 20 mins to get going but I'm starting to get better at judging the effort and this meant the HR was very settled for this run. Pace consistent again and moving the right way too. Legs felt decent, little tired but nothing major at all. 18.5km ran.

Evening turbo. 45 mins easy on zwift. One or two short sprints thrown in but the rest of the time was spent trying not to race people and just keeping it easy. Went by pretty quick. Would have done a bit of core and stretching work but what ever way I slept on Sat night I've pulled something across my right shoulder blade so thought it was better to stay away from the weights.

joey100

Mon 5th Dec

Last week in the current block so a big enough week. Lunch time run, 50 mins. Running well. Legs felt clunky and tired but pace still getting better. 10.5km done.

usually I'd run Mon evening too, but a crap nights sleep on Sunday meant I was wrecked so thought it would be better if I went to bed early because I had swimming very early on Tues morning. Wasn't too happy to miss the run but the right decision.

Tues 6th Dec

Morning swim with P Kern. Good session today. Lots of bits and pieces but the main bits being 6x 100m buildling through the 100's and then 8 x25m sprints from diving start and walking from the end to re-start. Fitness building a bit and getting more comfortable. Still a long way to go. A bit one-paced at the moment but when I get fitter that usually changes. 90 mins done.

joey100

Tues 6th December

Evening turbo. 90 mins with 8x6mins BG@200w,1 easy. This was tough enough from the start but it never really got any tougher. Pleased with how the legs were for this. Held above 205w for each of the intervals and they really weren't that bad.

Wed 7th Dec

Morning swim. Started with 100's alt between swim and pull and paddles. CAn really feel the benefit of the 3rd phase with the paddles and just need to keep it in mind when I go back to not using them. Then I moved onto 100's split into fast 50, easy 50. WAs feeling it for these and the times drifted out, fastest I went was 41 seconds so not that fast but going the right direction.

Lunch time run. 50 mins easy. The run pace has taken a bit of a jump. Tends to be the way my run progresses, rather than 1/2 second improvements it jumps 5/6 seconds at once. Good sign that the consistent running is paying off. Legs felt good, pleased with how they felt this far into the block. 11km ran in the time. Best decision I made this week was skipping the Mon evening run to go to bed early. Didn't want to but I would have dug myself a hole I wouldn't have got out of all week and would have been playing catch up with myself. Not always the worst thing to miss a session.

So I've finally bought a new aero helmet. Earlier this year at the Naas duathlon the helmet fell off the bike and cracked and I never bothered to replace it. So as my christmas present to myself I got a new helmet, from what I have read it tests well on a lot of people and a shop in England had 50 euro off it. For my half distance race this year I was around .4kmph off a 2.30 bike split. This helmet is my way of finding that speed!

http://www.giro.com/eu_en/aerohead-mips.html#gid=27247

rodneyr1981

Speaking of duathlons are you planning on racing the national series? Coming over west for the duathlon champs?

joey100

Originally the plan was to race some of the national series duathlons but like all plans it looks like it's coming undone! Most of the races seem to be midlands or over the west and I have 2 weddings on the same day or day before 2 I had planned and I'm in Amsterdam for a few days before the national champs so will probably only get one or two in and probably not the nationals. How's your own training going Rodney? What's the plan for next year?

Wed 7th Dec

Evening run. Bottom end easy HR. Lovely evening out, strange to be running in shorts and t shirt in night time this close to Christmas but I won't complain. Legs were pretty good, got a little heavy towards the end. HAd to keep an eye on pace, very easy pace has improved but this far into a big week I odn't want to be pushing it too much so settled around 5.30 min km's. 8.5km done.

Thurs 8th Dec

Morning swim. Yep that's right, 3 swims in 3 days. Been looking at why I've missed swims and I think I have a better chance of going to the pool if I go the 3 days in a row and get up early the 3 days. Having a gap in the middle seems to make it harder for me to get up the next day so going to give this a go. Busy enough pool and lane so tried to work around other people in the lane. All swimming today, no pull or paddles. Shortest was 100m but that was split into 50 easy, 50 fast - trying to keep up with the people in the fast lane beside me. Lots of 200's with 2 400's as well. A good session, little tiredness in the shoulders but overall good to be in the water again. About 50 mins done.

zico10

I wouldn't agree with you, that skipping that session on Monday was a good decision. The week before a race, or even if there was a key session the next day, I'd understand. But it's the middle of winter, what does it matter if a bit of tiredness makes the rest of the week that little bit harder? That's the game, and with three sports to juggle, you can't expect to start every session feeling fresh. Bailing on one session, makes bailing on the next one an easier decision. You posted this last summer;

joey100 wrote: »

Watched the Duathlon in the park after to see some seriously fast lads, some like zico who had just raced on the weekend too. Even though I'm getting faster, I'm still a way off these lads and seeing how fast they go makes me want to work a little harder to get there.

Honestly ask yourself, do you think I'd have missed the session?
If you want to work a little harder, you have to be prepared to train when you're tired. Getting through sessions in such a fashion stand to you. Honestly half the mornings I get into the pool, I feel fatigued. With less than 6 hours sleep last night, I had very little enthusiasm for Peter Kern's swim session this morning, but it was in my plans, so there was no way I was missing it. That's how you should start thinking.

"I used to train on Christmas Day because I knew my rival wasn't."
Daley Thompson

joey100

I know what your saying Zico but it wasn't tiredness from training, if I skipped them sessions I'd skip most sessions, it was tiredness from 2.5 hours sleep the night before and having to be up at 5 the next morning to make Peter's Tuesday session. It's the first run or bike session I've missed since October (except for a week sick, and I have missed swim sessions too). It was a choice between an easy 35 min run or making Peter's session the next morning, for me the most important swim session of my week.

zico10

I still think I would have done both sessions.
We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Kurt.Godel

It's a brave session to call out zico- at the limit of an all or nothing approach.

Assuming the purpose of the second easy run is recovery and given the lack of sleep, I'd have thought rest is the better option and would lead to more productive form for the mornings swim session.

joey100

That's pretty close to where I was coming from Kurt, that scrapped run on Mon evening would have been my 2nd run of the day and was 40 mins very easy. The more important session was definitely the Tuesday morning swim session. I cna see where Zico is coming from, once you miss one session it becomes very easy to miss another. But I won't be letting that happen! hopefully!


Thurs 8th Dec

Evening turbo. 1hr 30 mins. Main bit being 3x10 @ 205w @ race cadence and 6 easy. Receovery has stayed the same over the last 3 weeks as length of time at 205w has increased. Bit like Tuesday it was tough but never really got that much tougher. Well able to hold the power throughout. Legs a little tired but nothing major. FTP test has been scheduled for Thurs 22nd December.

Fri 9th Dec

Lunch time intervals. 8x 2 mins @ 3.35 min/km, 1 easy. This was tough. Legs really feeling it and after the first 3 the HR never really got back down to the easy zone in the 1 min recovery. Held the pace well for the first few, 5th I pushed too hard, got caught up with racing a cyclist who was beside me. Paid for it with 30 seconds to go on the 6th when I blew up. Walked the rest of the interval and went again for the last 2. 7th went ok, bang on 3.35, 8th drifted out a little to 3.38. Pleased with how I handled it. Just on with the next one, probably a little bit mental more than physical if I could do the last 2 but done them all. Will keep an eye on how Thursdays bike sessions impact this run and what affect they might have. Might be worth moving this run later to give me more time to recover. Have a park run scheduled for Sat 17th Dec to see where I am before Christmas.

rooneyjm

Speaking of being right for sessions, did you see the programme on RTE during the week about performance but more interesting the variations in athletes (GAA) recovery times based on an enzyme produced during exercise. Some lads still weren't right for training 72hrs after a match according to the UCD experts?

joey100

Haven't seen that JM, but will try have a look at it. If I left it 72 hours to train though I'd get nothing done!

Fri 9th Dec

Evening run. 40 mins very easy to try stretch the legs out after the earlier intervals. Felt better after the run than before, enjoying these easy runs as a type of active recovery.

Sat 10th Dec

Morning club spin. Headed out with Velo Club Balrothery again, enjoying my spins with these. We do around 70km together and today the average speed was around 32kmph so we were fairly moving. Benefit of the group is the easy bits are longer as you make your way up through the group. Done a bit before and after myself to bring it up to 115km for the day. Legs a bit tired but nothing major at all.

Sun 11th Dec

A busy weekend meant I didn't get to do as much as I would have liked but still got a good bit done. a longer break than usual between my cycle (Sat morning) and my run (Sun evening) meant the legs were good for this. HR very settled and the pace was good. Felt very comfortable and felt strong for the whole run. 1hr 40 mins and 21km done. A good end to a good week.

So a re-cap of my second complete block of training. Weekly breakdown was

Week 1; Total Time 11.31 Swim 2 sessions, 2hrs 20 min
Bike 3 session, 2 on turbo. 5hrs 10 mins
Run 5 sessions, 4hrs, 48.8km ran.
Gym+stretching, none

Week 2; Total time 14.46 Swim 2 sessions, 2hrs 20 min
Bike 4 sessions, 3 on turbo, 6hr 15 mins
Run 6 sessions, 5hrs 41 min 66.1km ran
Gym 1 session 30 mins

Week 3; Total time 16.04 Swim 3 sessions, 3hrs 5 mins
Bike 3 sessions, 2 on turbo, 7hrs 15 mins
Run 6 sessions, 5hrs 44 mins 70.2km ran
Gym none

So a good build through the 3 weeks. Week 1 probably a little low in time. Things that stand out are I need to increase the swim to 3 times every week. I need to try and get more of the gym and stretching stuff in and I need to put an extra run in on my last week, and probably first week. Other than that I'm happy with how the block went, it doesn't feel like all I'm doing is training and even Laura was surprised when I said how much I done on the last week. Getting a bit smarter with it, trying to run as much in work as I can, so in the evenings I have my shorter recovery runs. Adding a bit to the long cycle on sat worked well too, I'm already out so an extra hour or so isn't too bad.

Next few weeks will have a few testing sessions in them. Next Saturday is going to be the Donabate park run. Normally some fast times there so hopefully I can find people to push myself against. Not expecting a PB, more to see where I am coming into Christmas. The following week I have a FTP test planned too. Again not expecting a new PB but will be interesting to see where I am, a lot more outdoor cycling and group cycling than normal for this time of the year so will see the impact this has on my power.

And in other more exciting news than my training is we are getting a dog. Have wanted one for a long time and even though Christmas isn't the best time to get one it suits as Laura is changing job and has a lot of leave and time in between finishing one and starting the next so the timing suits. This weekend was mainly taken up with sorting that but I don't see it having a huge impact on my training hours, just some better planning and scheduling and all will work out well.