The difficult second album

joey100

Tues 17th Jan

Short enough morning swim. No faffing around, 45 mins in the water and from when I got in to when I got out it was 100's with 12-15 seconds recovery alt swim and pull. Times were consistent enough, no real idea of how many I done but probably 20 of them or just over. Just getting back in the pool and working at the moment is good enough, I don't need to think too much of distance at the moment.

Evening turbo. 45 mins easy with 8x1 min @100%,1 easy. Kept it nice and easy for the easy bits and then the 1 min wasn't really long enough to hurt but was there to keep the legs moving a bit. No problems at all, legs a little stiff but overall a handy session really.

joey100

Wed 18th Jan

Easy run. 8km kept nice and easy. Pulled the pace back and didn't worry too much about how long it took. Legs tired after the weekend and very heavy.

Thurs 19th Jan

Morning swim. Another swim! Mix of 100's alt sw and pull and 200's alt swim and pull. Moving well at times in the water. Feeling like less of a dead spot at front of stroke. Finished off with some hard 50's. Again not bothering too much with times. Took 10 seconds after the 100's and 15 after the 200's.

Lunch time run. Still trying to run with the club mate. On an easy week so done something different to what he was doing but good to be out with someone else. Done 8x400m steady-not flat out, with 1 min recovery. Recoveries felt long and felt strong for the 400's. Times were consistent. Legs tied up a little but it was the legs the limiter today rather than HR or breathing. Altogether just over 9km done.

rooneyjm

What ya win?

joey100

Apart from just life in general, a small duathlon down in Wexford.

Fri 20th Jan

Day off. Easy week, pushed for time and the little planned for today never happened.

Sat 21st Jan

Morning turbo. A planned duathlon on Sunday morning meant a bit of prep was done today, 30 mins on the turbo with 5x (45 @110%, 1min 15 easy). Legs were alright, not great but not bad either.

Run off the bike. 4km easy including 5x(30@race effort,1min 30 easy). Legs a bit stiff and never really got going. No problems running off the bike though.

Sun 22nd Jan

I found out racing 795 were running a small club training duathlon, there would be a few spaces for people from outside the club and I have done it once or twice before. We were going down to Laura's parents anyway for the weekend and the race was about 5 mins from their house. Good timing at the end of an easy week and be a good run out to see where I was. Route was 3km run, 21km bike, 3km run.

Run 1 10.30 (2nd fastest)

started alright, lead runner got away but the gap never really grew after the 1st km. Kept it steady enough. pushed the uphill (not many and not steep) and took it easier coming down. Was around 15 seconds behind 1st into T1 and just ahead of 3rd place.

Bike (+T1) 36.58 (fastest)

Settled well into the bike and in the first 2km had made up the gap to 1st place. Let him lead for about half a kilometre then pushed on past. He was on a road bike so knew I could probably put some time into him and with how he ran he first run I would need a bit of a lead. Bike route suited me, rolling hills but a straight route with no steep downhills so pushed on. Surface wasn't great and I'm not 100% trusting of the handlebars, very conscious of them and nearly convinced myself a few times they were moving. At the turn around I had 25 seconds from the turnaround to 2nd place so knew I could match that on the way back. Pushed on a bit and got to T2 feeling good.

Run 2 (+T2) 11.58 (fastest)

Nice quick transition, no mistakes and out very quick. Pushed on for the first 600m, that's when the course split left for the bike and right for the run. I was around 100m from the turn when the 2nd place passed me heading to T2 on the bike. I knew I had the guts of 500m on the run and T2 and a bit of a cycle on him so was fairly sure I had 1st place. He would have to make up huge ground over 2km. Pulled it back here a bit and after the run turnaround I had about 2 mins on him. Was just over 1km back to the finish so I pulled it in a fair bit as I knew I wasn't going to be passed.

Finished in 59.26, approx 3 mins ahead.

I'm going to sound like a bit of a d!ck head here but I wasn't entirely happy with my race. A win is a win, it was a small club race but it's always nice to win and this was my first win in any type of Tri or duathlon event. Last 2 times I've done this I think I've been 6th. This race was more about how I got on though than a position.

The first run was ok. I just couldn't get properly going. I wasn't under huge pressure but just struggled to up the pace. Average was just under 3.40 where I would have been hoping for closer to 3.30. Bike was ok, Power meter and garmin are acting up so had no idea of power so rode on feel. Pleased with it overall, made good time and had fastest bike out of everyone by around 2 minutes. Nerves are still there though after what happened to the bike at the Dublin half and when the surface was rough I wasn't comfortable on it. 2nd run was grand, I knew fairly early on in it that I wouldn't have to push it flat out to win. 2nd run time was pleasing, It includes T2 so I reckon it was closer to 11.20, which isn't too bad considering I really pulled it back the last 1.5km. There was plenty left at the finish, plenty of endurance but little top speed at the moment.

Good to get a race under the belt early in the season. One or two little mistakes like bike shoes facing wrong way in transition but overall a good race. I don't know if it's the training I done in the last 2 weeks or that I didn't do much over christmas at all but I struggled to get properly moving at the race. Maybe a bit of complacency crept in, I was confident going onto the bike so thought I could give up a bit of a lead from the first run. Ran well off the bike, first 1km, especially since I have only done 1 run off the bike since August. Some positive's from it. Not really a negative but need to get moving on the 1st run. It will come though, just wasn't to be today.

RJM85

Congrats on the win!

Neady83

Nice early season boost Joey, a well deserved win. nerves are understandable, how do you think you'll tackle that? More racing?

rodneyr1981

Nice one Joey

joey100

Cheers folks. I just need more time on the bike Neady, that's my first time on it outside since Dublin half, most of my outdoor spins have been with a club and I can't take it on them. I'm just hyper aware at the moment and very conscious of it happening again. I'd love to say a new bike would solve the problem but it will just be more time on that bike really! Just need to get a bit of confidence back in it, the roads of North County Dublin will soon help with that, I'm not sure I've been on rougher roads!

Kurt.Godel

Well done on the win Joey! The lad who came second is a handy runner.

joey100

Had a look at my results from Duathlons last year and the fella I beat on Sunday beat me by around 20 seconds at Naas last year, so looks like some progress being made!

Mon 23rd Jan

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy including 10 mins tempo. Done the tempo on a downhill section, was running to HR anyway but was nice to see some faster times. Legs were surprisingly alright. Little tiredness in them but would have expected them to be worse.

Tues 24th Jan

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy. Decent pace today, HR kept towards middle of easy zone and settled well. Lovely day for running and was probably a bit over dressed. About 8.5km done in the time.

Evening turbo. The start of some of the harder sessions. tonight was a bit of a pyramid, 3min @110%,3easy,3@120%,3 easy, 3@130%, 5easy and then back down. 110% and 120% were manageable. 130% really hurt. Ended up splitting the 3 min into (1@130%,1easy,1@130%). Finished the session but legs were really feeling it. Need to do more work above FTP, usually struggle around there anyway but was pleased at being able to hold the 120%.

Looks like the reason for no power meter data on Sunday was my power meter battery had died. Figured it out tonight when trainer road wouldn't find it either. Battery swapped and all looks good again.

Wed 25th Jan

Morning swim. Again no messing around, straight into the pool and lots of 100's lat sw/pull and with 12 seconds between. Bit sloppy towards the end so took a longer break between one of them. Seemed to help. Legs a little tired after the turbo yesterday evening. Around 2400m done.

rooneyjm

joey100 wrote: »

Had a look at my results from Duathlons last year and the fella I beat on Sunday beat me by around 20 seconds at Naas last year, so looks like some progress being made.

I heard he's only off the couch ; )

joey100

Wed 25th Jan

Evening run. 40 mins around where I live. Legs were alright, windy out so hard to judge it based on pace but overall a good comfortable run.

Thurs 26th Jan

Lunch time run with one of the lads from the club. Set was 6x400m with 30 sec recovery, then 2 mins recovery then the same again. holding 1.27 and below for the 400's. Tough towards the end but pleased with the pace for them. Miles behind the other fella but someone to chase. Just under 10km done in total.

joey100

Fri 27th Jan

Morning swim. 5 x 400m all pull buoy. Something I don't do a lot of is swim with the pull buoy, trying to do a bit more to try and get my arm turn over quicker and hopefully get familiar with a wetsuit position. Decent enough today, times weren't fast but faster than usual with the pull and where consistent.

Evening turbo. 1hour with 3 x 12@85%, 3 recovery between. No real problems. stayed in aero postion for these and if anything had to pull back the power at times. Good session.

Sat 28th Jan

2hr 15 on the turbo. Done on zwift for a bit of variety. Helps pass the time, was the london course so done box hill 3 times. Kept seated and a low cadence for each climb, so around 3 x 10 mins of BG work included in the session. Overall comfortable enough and legs felt good.

Sun 29th Jan

Morning run. 1hr 20 easy. Pace was decent enough for this, tried to run a hillier route to build some strength in the legs. Comfortable enough for the whole thing and never under real pressure. Good first week of block done. At times wanted to do more but need to give myself space to build it over the next 2 weeks.

joey100

Mon 30th Jan

Lunch time run. 45 mins with 2x(8mins tempo, 4easy). Done one of the tempos up hill and the other on a more flat piece. Pleased with the paces. Legs usually little faster than the long run on Sunday and today was much the same. Held up well for the whole run.

Tues 31st Jan

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy. Moving very well, felt nice and smooth for this. Had to pull the pace back a bit once or twice, had an eye on tonight's turbo session and this was just to be an easy run.

Evening turbo. Back to the hard stuff. (3x2@120%,2easy) this was done 3 times with 6 mins between the sets. Tough but pleased I could hold the power, aiming for 300w and holding closer to 310w for each. 120% is about as high as I can hold above FTP, really struggle once I go above this. Tonight was decent, no huge jumps in power and was consistently holding around the same watts. One more above FTP session left in this block and I'll try to test on my recovery week.

joey100

Wed 1st Feb

Lunch time run. Could still feel the Turbo in the legs so this was a heavy leg, clunky run. Pace was ok though, just never settled. 40 mins done.

Thurs 2nd Feb

Another lunch time run. Again with fella from the club, I say I run with him but in reality we are together for the first 20m of the first interval and after that I watch him disappear. Today was 12 x 400m with 45 recovery. Bit of a head wind on the section so 6 into the wind, 6 with the wind. into the wind around 1.28, with the wind around 1.25. Legs still heavy, struggled to get them moving fast but happy with the pace. Suppose it's a good thing when that pace feels slow. Around 9.5km done in total.

Friday 3rd Feb

Another lunch time run. 35 mins easy, keeping it easy, turbo tonight is main session so this was just to keep the legs loose. Big lack of swimming this week but why break the habit of a life time!

RJM85

How much of your training time proportionately is going into running? Seems like a lot!

Bambaata

Gimme a shout next week any of the days you're running easy so i can get a tempo run in ;-)

joey100

Probably a bit of a leaning towards running alright rjm. I'd say I run around 5 hours a week, bike is around 5 too, let's not mention the swim for now!

Mileage is probably down on the run overall though, no double run days. Trying to do a bit more intensity too. So 1 interval sessions, 1 tempo session and 1 long run and the rest easy, rather then just 1 interval and 1 long. Running with a proper runner one day of the week too is good, I had hoped to run more with him but it doesn't work trying to balance the bike efforts too.

Same on the bike, trying to cut out any excess that I'm not sure I need. 1 session with intervals above ftp, 1 session of tempo/threshold and then a long spin at the weekend. Normally done as 2 x 1hr turbos and then either a long turbo or long spin at weekend. I'll prob stretch these out to around 75 mins but won't go anyore I'd say.

Its a bit different than what I have done before, bike time is around the same but im doing more work in the time. I always preferred the bike but I'm enjoying the running more and more the last while. Since I cut the double run days the body isn't as tired and I haven't been sick. Is working that end, as for times - we will see! Not running as well as I was at my peak last year but its only the start of Feb. I dont think I'll ever set the world on fire with my bike times, but if I can hold my own and run well off the bike is probably my beat chance of doing well.

I've half an eye to the next few seasons too, I'll be doing a full in the next while and I'd like to think the mileage now will stand to me then.

joey100

Fri 3rd Feb

Evening turbo. Main set being 4 x 6mins @ 95-99%, with the first and last having 5 mins added at around 80% too. Hit the numbers for all of these. Another session where you know your working but no fear of not finishing. I'm going to test again in my next recovery week. Hopefully my number has gone up!

Sat 4th Feb

Out early and all set for a good turbo session. Just as I'm about to get onto the bike the power went. Checked on the ESB site and was out for a lot of north county Dublin. So a quick change and out for my run instead. 1hr 30 mins easy. Moving well, bit of tightness in my left hip but nothing major. About 19.5km done so moving well and felt very comfortable the whole way.

Sun 5th Feb

Morning turbo. 2hours 30 mins on zwift. Works well on the kickr so for a bit of variety I went looking for hills on it. power was kept easy for the majority, few efforts through the time but nothing major. It says I climbed 1400m, means nothing really, just that there was some resistance for the spin.

Mon 6th Feb

Lunch time run. Around 45 mins easy including 3 x7 min tempo, with 4 mins easy inbetween. Moving well, wind was a pain so tried to run with a cross wind as much as possible. Legs were tired but pace was good, HR very controlled and effort felt good. Normally an indicator I'm running well is when I start to do 10km in training in around 45 mins, doesn't really matter if it's intervals an easy run or a tempo run, 10km in that time is normally the sign for me that my running is hitting form. Today was through 10km in 44 mins. The structure of the session helped but it felt easy and is a confidence boost. Hopefully it shows that my work is working. I'd like to race a 5km on my next recovery week but I'm heading to a wedding the Saturday of it so I don't think it will happen. A pity but I'll try for the next one.

joey100

Tues 7th Feb

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy. Nothing really fancy or strange about this. Nice lunch run.

Evening turbo 1hr with 15 x 1min@130%,2 easy. I struggle above 120% but I don't want to neglect it either so this was my compromsied way of doing some above FTP work. Managed it alright, few tough ones but was pleased to be able to hold the power fairly well and it was nice and consistent across them.

Wed 8th Feb

Morning swim. Started with a mix of longer pull and swim stuff, then into 10 x50m aiming to keep the pace steady but consistent, coming in around 43-45 seconds for these. Then into 2x200m pull, 2x100m pull. tired finishing. But at least I got into a pool this week.

Lunch time run with Bambatta. Nice and easy and around 50 mins. Still a bit of tightness in my left side, felt ok during the easy run, nearly at the end of the week anyway so will manage it until then.

couerdelion

joey100 wrote: »

Another lunch time run. Again with fella from the club, I say I run with him but in reality we are together for the first 20m of the first interval and after that I watch him disappear.

I'll wait on for you next time

I guessed pretty quick who that was - couldnt be many leaving you behind!

joey100

Ah there's a few who would leave me behind, but he leaves me behind very quickly into the session!

Thurs 9th Feb

Afternoon intervals. More 400's. 2x (6x400m with 30 rec) and then 2 mins between the 2 sets. Times were good for these, fastest I have ran 400's and with a short enough rest too. Pleased with how it went, seems to be working anyway.

Fri 10th Feb

Lunch time run. 40 mins easy, still a bit of tightness in the left hip area but getting better and only one more run this week before I start into a recovery week. Grand when I'm running easy and straight, mainly feel it when I push on the pace or turn a bit. Grand really though. Tempo turbo tonight.

In other news I'm joining a new swimming pool. It's a little closer to work, only 25m but is quiet. Pass it on the way to work so makes it a little easier to get to than UCD. I'll miss the UCD pool but it wasn't really working logistically and it was giving me too many easy excuses to miss the swim. Moving pool is a bit cheaper and means I have a few less excuses. One month left in UCD and then I move on.

mossym

joey100 wrote: »

In other news I'm joining a new swimming pool. It's a little closer to work, only 25m but is quiet. Pass it on the way to work so makes it a little easier to get to than UCD. I'll miss the UCD pool but it wasn't really working logistically and it was giving me too many easy excuses to miss the swim. Moving pool is a bit cheaper and means I have a few less excuses. One month left in UCD and then I move on.

was just chatting to someone from these parts about this today. it's great saying a session in the 50m pool is better than the 25m pool if both are done. it's true.

but even the shortest pool is better than missing the swim altogether.

joey100

That's what I'm thinking Mossy, really UCD isn't that far but I have to drive about 15 mins past the office to get there, this one is about 5 mins before the office. went and had a look at it today, pretty quiet and most of the people in where getting out. Sure it's worth a shot anyway!

joey100

Fri 10th Feb

Evening turbo. Working on threshold, main set being 2x5,2x6,2x7 @90-95%, w easy between. Working well on the bike and comfortable enough. Power a little jumpy, not as smooth as I would like but done on tired legs.

Sat 11th Feb

Morning run. Had to drop car in for service so run and cycle swapped around. Long run day, 1hr 35 mins. About 20km done and even though legs weren't great and never really felt like I settled it was a decent run. Pleased with where my run is for Feb.

Sun 12th Feb

Morning turbo. 3 hours on the turbo. It's always around this time of year that I spend the most time on the turbo, usually when I watch the most triathlon on the laptop too so spent today watching IM stuff. And again started thinking about going long. Maybe next year. Anyway 3hours easy. Spending as much as possible in the aero position.

Getting different readings on the garmin and from trainer road. Both taking the info from the power2max but might need to try and calibrate it thru the garmin. Garmin reading about 15-20 watts lower, not good for my ego but probably matches closer to what I put out on the road.

Bambaata

What pool are you joining?

joey100

Looks like sportsco Bambaata, drive past it every morning I drive to work. Not as new or nice really as UCD but seems to be quiet enough and is easier to get to.

joey100

So recovery week. Monday off, Tuesday off and done a 30 min run today. Finally finished the supersix evo build, just couldn't get the front derailleur sorted so had to leave it in a shop for that. Few tweaks to do with saddle height and little bits but pretty much ready to go. Looks like good timing with the weather too.

FTP test is scheduled for tomorrow evening, no running tomorrow and will take it easy. Got the power meter and trainer road problem sorted the other evening, doesn't mean it won't be a problem tomorrow but hopefully it's ok!

rodneyr1981

Any pics?

joey100

No more recent than this one, it will be locked in the basement in work until Friday when I can get it home.