The difficult second album

joey100

Eased off training during the week, taking it easy for the next two weeks too. Kilashee tri was in the middle of this, club race and club night out after it so went along.

Swim 12.49

Set off on the toes of the fella leading our lane. Have swam with him before and he is a proper swimmer. Stayed on his toes for around 125m but fell off after that. Off by myself then and managed to lap most of the rest of the lane. Lack of time in the water really showed today and will have to be something I get better at next season.

T1 1.40

Bit of a run from swim to T1. Bit of a fumble getting onto the bike, still haven't got used to mounting it properly. Passed 2 in transition and was second out onto the bike.

Bike 31.19

First race with power on the bike and kept an eye on it during the cycle. Couldn't gain on the fella in front and was keeping ahead of the group behind me. Course was tough enough, constant enough rolling hills with no real flat bits. Got to the turn around and seen that there was a few lads around 300/400m behind me so kept the power up to try keep away from them. My 20km TT P.B is 31.16 from a club TT so this wasn't far off at all and with a run to go.

T2 0.45

Bit of a fumble getting off the bike again, and a bit of a struggle to get foot into shoes.

Run 18.42

Set off keeping the pace around 4 min kilometres. Tough enough run too and again lots climbing. Got passed around 3km in and kept going to be 3rd across the line. Found out later that the fella who passed me had got a 2 min drafting penalty on the bike. When I passed them at the turnaround I did see a few ina group but I didn't know if they were overtaking at the time. Lot of spectators and other competitors said that there was a fair bit of drafting going on. Good to see if being enforced in a smaller race like this were they might normally turn a blind eye to it.

So 2nd place in the race. Says more about the quality at the race than it does about my performance though, but I'll still take it! Nice medal and a 50 euro cheque made it a race worth doing. Two more easy weeks and then into winter training.

Change of coaching for next season so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Main focus looks like it will be on getting my bike times down, hopefully getting the run and swim times down too. Plan is to stick to Olympic and sprint for next season and hopefully make the move up to half distance in 2016.

G-monee

Well done on the weekends performance. You were flying it! My garmin ran out of power that morning (it had obviously finished its season already!) so I didn't manage to record the actual bike and run distances. Did you get them?
Gareth

joey100

The bike was pretty much bang on 20km, run was a bit short at around 4.8km. makes sense cos there is no way I would be running that time on that course feeling like I did!

G-monee

joey100 wrote: »

The bike was pretty much bang on 20km, run was a bit short at around 4.8km. makes sense cos there is no way I would be running that time on that course feeling like I did!

Thought it was a little short alright- not too short of the 5k tho. It's a PB though, so I'm taking it!!
Good luck with your training over the winter! See you next season for more madness'
Gareth

joey100

So a week of not much really apart from 2 sessions.

One swim on Friday night. Showed me how far off my swim is. Main set was 6 X 200m off 3.40 coming in around 3.15-3.20. Never really in danger of not hitting these but last year I done a set of 10 X 200m off 3.20 (I think). Last 100m was fast too and came in around 1.28, last year was hitting 1.22 for these. So work to be done but these sessions wil get me back in the water and help that.

Sunday was a track accreditation session with the tri club. Good craic and wasn't too bad getting used to the fixed wheel. Enjoyable session and surprised to see we covered around 36km afterwards. other than that not a whole lot really and not a whole lot this week either. 8km TT on Sunday down where the gf is from and then back into it from next week. Am enjoying the weeks off though and suprisingly enough considering the crap I have been eating I haven't put on any weight.

RJM85

joey100 wrote: »

suprisingly enough considering the crap I have been eating I haven't put on any weight.

You bastard.

pointer28

RJM85 wrote: »

You bastard.

Sorry Joey, but I have to second that.

I've lost about 25 kgs over the last few years but can't shift the last 3 or 4.

joey100

I'm lucky enough with my weight alright, seems to take a while to put it on and usually comes off handy enough. I reckon I can lose another few kg's over this winter without it affecting performance so I'll probably try give it a go, just need to clean up what I eat. I'd like to get around 58kgs to see if it has an impact on my bike and run.

joey100

So back into training from today. Done a bit over the weekend too.

Sat 11th Oct

Handy paced spin on the bike with the gf and two of her friends. Started in Clondalkin, out through citywest, up the embankment out through manor kilbride to blessington and then straight back to clondalkin. Handy pace but good 50km done.

Sun 12th Oct

Slany cycling club 8km TT. done this last year and was a good marker to see how I was before winter training. got down and bit disappointed that there was a bit of a head wind, times were going to be slower than last year so. Was 7th out and pushed it as hard as I could for the whole thing. Last FTP test had me at 205, I averaged 256 for this race. Time was 11.22 and good enough for joint 5th. unfortunately I was 2nd unplaced A4 so no trophy but did beat all the A3's in the race so a good run out.

Got a good picture from the race too.



Mon 13th Oct

First proper day back training after the best part of a month taking it easy. Early morning easy run. half an hour and pace kept easy enough. Probably should have went a bit easier though but not too bad.

After this was a swim. Working on some drills and my kick for the first time in months. Luckily enough it still works and it wasn't like starting it all over again.

Dory Dory

Pretty bike! And I like the pink tape!

joey100

Thanks Dory, helps me find it in transition, I must be the worst for running [ast my bike so thought I'd see it better with the pink.

Tues 14th oct

busy busy day in work so was glad it was a short enough turbo session for the evening. bit of warm up, few other pieces and main bit of some big gear work concentrating on low cadence. It's one thing I'm really starting to notice, my cadence is usually very high, for teh 8km TT is was around 98 average. Trying to lower this a bit and hopefully it helps with putting out power.

Wed 15th Oct AM

Back in the pool. Must be the first time in months I've been in the pool more than twice in a week. Bit sloppy though and still no real speed. Bit of pull buoy work and was trying to work on bidy rotation and a high elbow. Grand session but just wasn't very fast.

joey100

Had hoped to get out Wed evening but the club AGM ran on a bit late so didn't get out. Session moved to Thurs instead.

Thurs 16th Oct

turbo session before work. 1 hour, nothing fancy just keeping it easy.

After work headed out for a run. Weather wasn't great but really didn't fancy so the treadmill so headed out anyway. Mainly kept easy with a few builds in it too. Legs felt good and looking back I probably ran it too fast. Need to keep an eye on how fast I'm running.

Fri 17th Oct

Morning run before work. Legs bit tired today so def ran too fast yesterday. Bit of an easy run to warm up, then into 15 mins steady-That I ran too fast again, and then a bit easy to finish. Really need to keep an eye on my pace and effort for these, too easy to slip into running them too fast. Evening swim session this evening for a total of 4 times in the pool since last Friday.

Solobally8

Great Photo! Very professional looking :cool:

joey100

Fri 17th Oct

Swim session. 100m warm up then into 4 X 100m descending. Then 3 X 400m off 6.30, coming in around 6.15 for these. 50m easy pace, then into 4 X 200m off 3.30, coming in around 3.15. 50m easy. Then 5 X 100m off 1.40, struggled towards the end of these. Then 6 X 50m alternating between easy and fast. Tough session this evening. Felt better for longer than last week so starting to get some swim fitness back.

zico10

joey100 wrote: »

Fri 17th Oct

Swim session. 100m warm up then into 4 X 100m descending. Then 3 X 400m off 6.30, coming in around 6.15 for these. 50m easy pace, then into 4 X 200m off 3.30, coming in around 3.15. 50m easy. Then 5 X 100m off 1.40, struggled towards the end of these. Then 6 X 50m alternating between easy and fast. Tough session this evening. Felt better for longer than last week so starting to get some swim fitness back.

I didn't realise ye were going that fast. And I thought I was doing alright in the lane beside you.

joey100

When your chasing Lochlan zico you don't get much of a choice. Done my best to keep up with him but on most he left me for dead. He was below 6 mins for 2 of the 400's I think and around 3.05 for the 200's.

Sat 18th Oct

Didn't get out as early as I had hoped for todays cycle. Plan was for around 3 hours kept easy enough. First 30km flew by, had the wind at my back but didn't push too hard cos knew I would be coming back into it. The 35/40 back was really tough, headwind the whole way and never seemed to let up. Just settled in and tried not to push too hard. Altogether around 72km done in around 2hrs 50 mins. At least 10 mins of this I was stopped at red lights. seemed to get stopped at every single one.

joey100

Sun 19th Oct

Hour easy run. Really kept an eye on the pace for this one and tried to keep the pace around 5.10-5.15. Wasn't made any easier with the winds but done my best. Felt grand at the end, suppose that's a good sign that I went easy. 12.15 ran.

Mon 20th Oct

Morning swim. Main set was alternating pull and swim 100's. Bit like last monday felt very slow in the water. Body rotation coming on and starting to feel more natural. That's a marker I have for when I'm swimming well, when I'm swimming well and swim fit I don't have to think about it, it just happens. Getting closer to it but still a way to go yet. 2150m swam.

joey100

Mon 20th Oct

Evening run after work. Just an easy enough run for 45 mins after work. Strange running in shorts and a t shirt at half nine in the second half of October, but nice all the same.

joey100

Tues 21st Oct

Evening turbo session. Main set being 5 X 4 mins big gear with 1 min recovery. Kept the cadence below 65 and tried to keep the power up above 85%. Legs felt good, tired a bit towards the end but never in any danger of not finishing.

Wed 22nd Oct

400m TT and 100m TT in the pool. Bit of a warm up, rotation working well and felt decent in the water. 400m came in at 6.20, I swam 3 400m's on Friday night with all but the last being faster than this. Even at the end I knew I had paced it wrong and definitely had something left at the end. Felt ok in the water adn held a decent enough pace. 100m TT came in at 1.25 so not too bad. PB's for these would be 6.04 and around 1.21 so not too far off my best for relatively little time in the pool. If I can keep up the time in the water I'll be close to them times pretty soon.

joey100

Wed 22nd Oct

Evening run. 45 mins easy with 5 builds in it. Legs felt really good tonight, really had to pull back the pace and heart rate was a good bit down on where it has been recently. Very enjoyable run.

Thurs 23rd Oct

1 hour on the turbo. Easy paced with nothing fancy thrown in. Decent session, took the legs few mins to wake up but felt strong once they did.

joey100

Fri 24th Oct

Run before work. Mix of paces during this run, 15 mnis easy, 10 mins around 4.40, 5 mins around 4.20 and then 10 mins easy. Handy enough run, legs starting to feel normal when I'm running again. 8.8km.

joey100

Fri 24th Oct

Evening swim session with interested. Long warm up then main set of 3 X 200m off 3.35 and then 400m off 7.30. 200's in around 3.05-3.10, plenty of rest between made this ok and the 400m in on around 6.20. Was aiming to keep the same pace for the 400m as the 200m so happy enough with this. this was done again with the 200's off 3.35 (coming in around 3.10-3.15) and the 400m coming in around 6.25. Tough session but enjoyable. Push myself a lot harder with others around than I done by myself. Held my form for longer than last week and starting to get my feel for the water back.

Sat 25th Oct

3 hours cycle. the wind was horrible, really really horrible. I'll be on the turbo enough over the winter that I headed out for this. Pace kept handy and done around 71km in the time, even though I think I got stopped at every single red light! Again!

Sun 26th Oct

Long run. Around 14km done and the legs felt good. Like the swim the run is starting to come good.

Got to the pool for a bit of a splash and dash. Wanted to go to practice tumble turning, few people have said now about the time I lose turning at the wall. My tumbles aren't great, I tend to lean towards the right and sort of fall over but they work. Will try to use them in all my sessions, hopefully they make me a bit faster.

Mon 27th Oct

Swim session. Main set being 2 X (4 X 200ms). Felt decent again in the water, body rotation and catch getting better and was tumble turning too. Went a bit wonky when I got tired but not too bad at all.

Evening run. 40 mins easy, nad kept it easy. all around 5 min pace and legs felt better at the end than the start.

couerdelion

joey100 wrote: »

Wanted to go to practice tumble turning, few people have said now about the time I lose turning at the wall.

Me too, seem to lose a couple of seconds at least as I tend to stop take a big breath and then go again. Remember when I last practiced as a kid though that I get water up my nose - so haven't bothered trying since.

I should really try again but I reckon that if it slows me down by not tumble turning then at least I won't be over estimating my swim times and besides - I'll never tumble turn in a race.

/2c

joey100

That's why I've never tried it up to now. But when I'm constantly getting left behind at the turns on Fri night it's made me change my mind. I can keep up with some of the faster swimmers on the straight bits but they get a few metres on the turns. It's the competitive side of me coming out really! I'm typing this with a bunged up nose that decides to leak everywhere every few mins, the true cost of tumble turns (or what ever it is I do!).

joey100

Tues 28th Oct

Evening turbo session. 1 hour with the main bit being 5 X 5 mins big gear work with 2 mins recovery. tough enough but again never in any danger of not finishing. Power was held a bit higher than last week and for the first time in a while I felt relatively strong on the bike.

Wed 29th Oct

Morning swim before work. Starting to get better at getting up early. 3rd Wed in a row I've been at the pool at 6.30 and every time its been pretty much empty. Main set was 200's alternating between swim and pull. I much prefer swimming without it, find it just slows me down! A bit like fins, I seem to be the opposite than a lot of other people in the pool. Tumble turns were practiced again and are still ok, most of the time. Every now and again I'll get a really good one but more often I'll sort of fall over sideways, search for the wall and get half a push off. Still quicker than my normal turning though!

joey100

Wed 29th Oct

Evening run session. 45 mins with 5 X 30 second builds included. Legs felt decent today, pace was improved for around the same effort and heart rate a little bit lower too. Friday's run looks to be the hardest since I've started back and has 10 X 1 min fast included, not sure whatt time fast is any mroe and how long I can hold it for but will be good to find out! Around 9.3km ran in 45 mins.

joey100

Thurs 30th Oct

Evening turbo session after work. 1 hour easy. usually use trainer road to show on screen what I am doing for these but the garmin ant + receiver had an accident at the weekend so only had my watch available. Didn't really look at it and just concentrated on keeping it feeling easy and the heart rate low. Surprised to see the watts were about 10 higher than usual over the same time and still felt easy.

Fri 31st Oct

Up early for a run before work. Main set being 10 X 1 min intervals with 1 min recovery. Wasn't sure how these would go, have been doing some running recently but nothing too fast. Managed to keep them fairly consistent with only the last 1/2 dropping off a little. Pace was good too and not far outside my pace i would have ran 8/10 X 400m when I was running my best. Swim session tonight with interested where I will unleash my tumble-ish turns on the general public. if I'm leading the lane I'll try them, if not I don't think it would be safe for the general public for me to try them.

Chartsengrafs

joey100 wrote: »

Swim session tonight with interested where I will unleash my tumble-ish turns on the general public. if I'm leading the lane I'll try them, if not I don't think it would be safe for the general public for me to try them.

I'll warn the gf, she has started to attend those sessions and is probably in your lane (going by your times). Gum shield should do it.

joey100

Fri 31st Oct

Swim session with interested. Decided against the tumble turns until I get better at them. warm up then 3 X 400m off 7.30, plenty of time for these and came in around 6.05, 6.08,6.15. Faded a bit towards the end. Main set then was 2 X (3 X 100m off 1.40 and 200m off 3.30) First set of 100's all in well under and plenty of time in the 200 too. Felt good in the water, faded a bit in the second set and the last 100m was in on around 1.38. Stamina still coming back but definitely getting faster and smoother in the water.

Sat 1st Nov

3 hour cycle, again the wind was a killer here. Covered around 76km so not a bad cycle overall but ws tough on the way back, zig zagged a bit home to try find routes with a bit of shelter but always seemed to have a headwind.

Sun 2nd Nov

1 hour 20 min run. Covering around 16k. Pleased with this run, heart rate only started to rise towards the end and even still was one of the most comfortable runs in a long time. End of my first block back training and starting to feel the fitness improving already. Signs are good for next year. Power hasn't dropped off too much on the bike, run isn't far off where it was and with a bit more work the swim will improve on last year.

Mon 3rd Nov

Complete rest day. Nice to have a whole day off training, pity I'm not off work too though!

joey100

Tues 4th November

Handy enough day, 45 mins easy on the turbo. Power kept between 65%-70% and felt handy enough.

Wed 5th November

Swim session before work. Again some kicking in the warm up and starting to feel stronger at it. Main set was 10 X 100m alt swim and pull. Swims coming in around 1.30-1.32 and pull around 1.40-1.42. so a fair bit slower with the pull. These were at a decent effort without being flat out, so even though I wasn't feeling particularly fast in the water the pace was good.