Cycling v Triathlon

Green&Red

I'm not sure I'll have the dedication to keep up this log but sure I'll give it a go.

History - Two years into proper triathlon training after back surgery, previous to that messed around but nothing serious.

Goals for 2012 included:
Sub 20 5k - Complete, maybe looking at sub 19 in advance of christmas
Sub 40 10k - Complete
Podium finish in Triburgh - complete
Move from A4 to A3 in cycling - incomplete, for a number of reasons - including poor info on how the points work, under estimating the standard and general lack of appetite

Other bonuses - winning my AG in Ballina and winning (albeit short course) the Athlone swim in July (?)

So I'm at a crossroads at this stage as to which sport to go with for 2013/14

Cycling - Move from A4 to A3, with the goal of making a race team, something like the tour of Ulster with the end goal of making a RAS team in 2014. A huge undertaking timewise.

Triathlon - Win a local race with the aim of making top 15/20 at NS in 2014.

So at the minute I'm concentrating on the cycling , my swimming is coming along well and my running is ticking along after taking two months off in August and September.

Plan (at the moment) is to do some cycle races with the aim of traithloning for the summer

Green&Red

Week 1 - 14th October

Monday: 40 minute turbo - yo-yo session between 130-140 BPM, off this into my long run - 18k, @ 5.25/km

Tuesday - Morning swim, 1.7k, 9x100m drills, ignored drills to a large extent as I've moved lanes and am struggling at the back. 6x100 @ 1.50, struggled.
Run session in the evening - 4 x 1500 off 8 mins, all were under 6 mins, happy enough, felt ok

Wednesday - Slept in instead of going to pilates.
Turbo - 1 hour. Progressive power 3 mins on @ 60RPM HR Z4, 1.45 off, 3 min On, 1.45 off, 4 min on, 1.45 off, 5 mins etc up to 9 mins on.
Tough session

Thursday - Swim session, 2.1k, felt great, 9x100 @ 1.45 after drills, no problem keeping up

Friday - Swim session - 2.1k, longer distances, faster group, waaaay off the back, probably shouldnt be in this lane
Run in the evening, practical purposes to collect my car, 11k, 5.20/k

Saturday - swim session - 2.1k, same set as saturday, again well of the pace
6.5k run while I waited for cycling group, easy pace, chatting
98k cycle - easy pace, average HR 120, 5 of us out

Sunday - Orwell club cycle, went with the first group out as last week had been fairly pedestrian. This week was tough in parts but still I'd like to be doing a bit more work. 89k, average HR 125


Totals for the week (including commute)
Swim - 8k
Cycle - 278.92k
Run - 45.39k

Time (excl commute)
16:34:43

catweazle

Ya would be a shame for you to just stick with the cycling next year, you are getting strong on all three disciplines. I would expect your red headed rival will be an interested reader

Green&Red

I'd say he might concentrate on the cycling as well this year, its him I'm trying to catch, hes destroyed me on a few cycles recently

Solobally8

Looking forward to following your log Green&Red. I have a similar plan in mind for next year too. Although I'm usually found at the back of the pack in triathlons and have never done a bike race before!

Green&Red

Cheers Solobally, hard to know how much is being read!

Week 2 - 21st October

After three long weeks, 16hr+ I knew with work and personal committments I'd struggle with this week so had it planned in as a rest week.


Monday: Turbo - 1 hr 6mins. Progressive power 3 mins on @ 60RPM HR Z4, 1.40 off, 3 min On, 1.40 off, 4 min on, 1.40 off, 5 mins etc up to 9 mins on.
Tough session

Tuesday - Morning swim, 1.6k, all drills, felt comfortable as they were at an easy pace.
Run session in the evening - not very happy showed up at 7 and by the time I had dropped my gear the group had moved from our normal spot, spend 40 minutes looking for them :mad:
6k slow pace

Wednesday & Thursday - Brussels with work. Home thursday nite for a gig and a few sociables.

Friday - drive to Mayo

Saturday - 75k Ballina club cycle - easy pace, group could probably have been split in two as there were one or two that struggled, did just that and picked it up a bit towards home. Cycled to and from spin added an extra 20k.
95k total

Sunday - Family christening, day off

poor week all in all and not helped by taking Monday off to spend time with the OH and watch the marathon but my excuse is that its still relatively early for winter training and after moving my season of far forward in 2013 I've allowed myself have August and September off so I have some buffer for weeks like this.
Although (I had forgotten to add my 5k times to my goals for 2014) if I am to break 19 mins for 5k before the end of 2013 I need much stronger running weeks.

Totals for the week (including commute)
Swim - 1.6k
Cycle - 136.18k
Run - 5.88k

Time (excl commute)
6:05:37

Green&Red

Only realised my running goals are missing

2013 - Sub 19 minute 5k working towards a sub 18 minute 5k in 2014

19:22 is my current PB from 9th March. I would like to think that in June I could have gone sub 19 and would hope to get back there before the end of the year

My history of running is that I have none, I took it up from scratch maybe three years ago and am now two years into proper structured training and I suppose I feel theres plenty left in me

Green&Red

Week 3 - 28th October


Monday: End of the long weekend, went in and watched the marathon, took it easy

Tuesday - Morning swim, 1k, felt tired after the weekend and the few drinks. 4x100m rotation drills + 6x100 off 2.10

Run session in the evening - have gone back to warming up by jogging to the sessions
Still tired so instead of the 12 x400m I only managed 7x400m off 2.20
18k in total
Bit of core work when I got home

Wednesday - 45 mins pilates in the morning
8k easy jog at lunch
Turbo in the evening 1 hr. Progressive power 3 mins on @ 60RPM HR Z4, 1.30 off, 7 min On, 1.30 off, 5 min on, 1.30 off, 6 mins etc up to 9 mins on.

Thursday - 2.4k swim session in the morning, all drills, happy with the session
Track session in the evening, 10x200m, all three seconds off where I was when I did this session during the summer
Again ran to and from, 18k

Friday - 1.3k swim session, had to leave early for work. Again all drills
Evening did a cycling strength and conditioning class with Andy Kenny, signed up for a 10 week spell, tough going, i've brutal core and glutes

Saturday - 2k swim session, again all drills, tired arms after three days on the bounce
Had planned a 10k loop of howth head 8/9 times but got no takers to go with me so opted for a 90 minutes spin class. Probably too high intensity for this time of year. Some workout
Out Saturday nite so rest day Sunday

Feel guilty there was no long cycle this weekend but I'll get back at it next weekend and the running is coming along again, take me another few weeks to get back to where I was during the summer and build on that.
I've found previously the junk miles put in to and from training really improved me so although its pretty tiring at the moment it should begin to pay off in a few weeks


Totals for the week (including commute)
Swim - 6.7k
Cycle - 46.4k
Run - 44.81k

Time (excl commute)
11:58:25

Green&Red

Week 4 - 4th November

Well a disaster of a week training wise, work went into overload and interrupted Thursday and Friday and then the farming at the weekend just took an age, usually I'd pencil in one if not two long spins for weekends I'm home but everything was on go slow Saturday.
End result, the guilt of not training coupled with real muscle ache and tiredness, and a busted hand to boot where I dropped the tow bar of a trailer on it.

End of the whinging though, plan on a good week this week to get going again, will put it down as an unplanned rest week.


Monday: Worked late with no lunch, so no run and no turbo

Tuesday - Morning swim, 2.2k, felt good, 12x50 bilateral 3/5/7
(5x100)x2 drills, fist, catch up, one arm and zipps
8x50 lowering stroke count

Run session in the evening - jogged to and from, tired coming home but good session, 2x3k was the main set, dug in for the second 3k and held off the two others in my group
20k in total
Bit of core work when I got home

Wednesday - 45 mins pilates in the morning

Turbo in the evening 54mins. Yo-Yo - 45 mins main set yo-yoing between 130-150BPM @90RPM. First nite with my cadence monitor, picked up here from ckeego, nice to get confirmation that what I thought was 90RPM was about right.

And that was it for the week, got hijacked in work replacing the boss at a couple of things that knocked out early mornings and meant I had no time in the evenings.

Anyway onwards and upwards


Totals for the week (including commute)
Swim - 2.2k
Cycle - 39.4k
Run - 20.08k
Turbo - 0:53:54

Time (excl commute)
4:34:14

Totals for October
Swim - 21k
Bike - 755.45k
Run - 149.81k
Turbo - 6:00:13

BennyMul

Hey
On the Ras (to keep the other thread for what its meant)
Don't lose focus on it, it is one of the best things I have done, and its hard very hard especially at the back of the bunch,
the speed at times is savage and the racing brutal but so worth the pain.

I would however personally miss 2014(imo), get an A3 lic and race with them gain experience in a big bunch with longer races and higher more controlled speed, (not the start stop style of A4) you should be able to place in races and gain points and move to A2 once there a good winter and you will be ready.
then you will be "a man of the Ras"

Green&Red

BennyMul wrote: »

Hey
On the Ras (to keep the other thread for what its meant)
Don't lose focus on it, it is one of the best things I have done, and its hard very hard especially at the back of the bunch,
the speed at times is savage and the racing brutal but so worth the pain.

I would however personally miss 2014(imo), get an A3 lic and race with them gain experience in a big bunch with longer races and higher more controlled speed, (not the start stop style of A4) you should be able to place in races and gain points and move to A2 once there a good winter and you will be ready.
then you will be "a man of the Ras"

Cheers Benny, I appreciate that and will take your advice and go with the A3 licence

Green&Red

Week 5 - 11th November


Monday: Easy run at lunch, 8k loop.
Turbo in the evening, 1hr 10, progressive power again, 3 mins on @ 60RPM HR Z4, 1.30 off, 7 min On, 1.30 off, 5 min on, 1.30 off, 6 mins etc up to 9 mins on. First nite with the new cadence sensor, was probably a little off, 2/3 RPM, on previous efforts, enjoyed that

Tuesday - Morning swim, 2k. 4x100m catch up, 4x100m one arm + 3x(4x100) off 2.05
Run session in the evening - 4x1.6k (6.31 - 6.24), 2min recovery
24k in total
Felt my knee very sore when I started the jog home, any stopping at lights meant I was in agony setting out again. IT band tight again, hobbling around the place after, tough getting up and down stairs

Bit of core work when I got home along with ITB stretching

Wednesday - Off, injured

Thursday - 2.5k swim session in the morning, 24x100 @ 2.05, felt very confortable, raging I didnt try the 30x100 @1.45
Still couldnt run

Friday - Missed swimming in the morning
Evening did a cycling strength and conditioning class with Andy Kenny, easy-ish session
Work nite out Friday :cool:

Saturday - massively hungover saturday, token effort on the bike, 35k
Australia match saturday evening, disaster

Sunday - no orwell spin as they were on their weekend away, went with the tri club, slooooow, heart rate was below 100 for some, 80k

Very mixed week, I can take comfort from the fact I was limping for most of the week but didnt really push myself on the bike at the weekend


Totals for the week (including commute)
Swim - 4.5k
Cycle - 177.57k
Run - 32.34k

Time (excl commute)
12:06:39

Bambaata

12 hours aint so bad at all! Im following this log with interest as i have similar goals to yourself for next year (leaving out the Ras part, just more cycling). Im planning on an early cycle season before switching over solely to tri from May or so for the world 70.3's. What club are you with for your cycling? I need to join someone but unsure who to go with.

Green&Red

12 hours isnt bad, it just didnt feel like a lot

I was with galway bay last year when I was based down there. Looking at orwell this year, they have huge numbers so plenty to test yourself against and they have a RAS team so I presume they'll be entering all the major multi-day races. Plus they are local to me.

Bambaata

Cool. My issue is i seem to be between the good clubs. Im based in Glasnevin and was hoping to join a club who are not stopping for coffee while out training. The local ones to me seem to do that!

BennyMul

Bambaata wrote: »

Cool. My issue is i seem to be between the good clubs. Im based in Glasnevin and was hoping to join a club who are not stopping for coffee while out training. The local ones to me seem to do that!

Ar you going out with the racing crowd, as I would assume that most of the racing groups would not be stopping (unless the dublin based ones are soft )
but either way it should be knocked on the head after christmas as they start the harder training for the season.

Green&Red

Week 6 - 18th November

I've decided to stop feeling guilty over missing training session between now and Christmas, theres a lot on and I guess I'm prioritising having a good run in to Christmas over training flat out, I think it will help me work harder when I knuckle down ............................................hopefully



Monday: Date night, 40 minutes of a rubbish spin class, followed by core work and a quick dip in the pool

Tuesday - Morning swim, 1.6k. Feel like I'm going backwards in the pool, very frustrated today and ended up packing it in
8x100m drills - was struggling to keep up without the drills
4x100m @ 2.00
1x200m @ 3.35

Run session in the evening - 8 x 400m hill (1.35 - 1.39), 400m downhill active recovery
23.5k in total
IT band at me again, coach suggested foam roller, helped


Wednesday - Turbo 1 hr. Progressive power 3 mins on @ 60RPM HR Z4, 1.30 off, 7 min On, 1.30 off, 11 min on, 1.30 off, 17 mins On, 1.30 off, 9 on
Adding the ons together to try and string the whole lot without any breaks

foam rolled

Thursday - 2.1k swim session in the morning, dropped back a lane
5 x 100m (25 kick, 25 fist, 25 fc)
6 x 50m @ 1.05
4 x 100m @ 2.05
3 x 150m @ 3.05
2 x 2000m @ 4.00

Friday - 2.4k swim session in the morning, dropped back a lane
6 x 100m (25 kick, 25 fist, 25 fc)
6 x 50m @ 1.05
4 x 100m @ 2.05
3 x 150m @ 3.05
2 x 2000m @ 4.00

Evening did a cycling strength and conditioning class with Andy Kenny

Saturday - Wedding

Sunday - Ireland v NZ, what an anti-climax, thats how Mayo fans feel regularly

Totals for the week (including commute)
Swim - 6.3k
Cycle - 58.8k
Run - 23.48k

Time (excl commute)
8:15:53

Green&Red

Week 7 - 25th November

Monday: 8k jog at lunch, knee still sore from IT band.
Monday evening off to Orwell coaching talk, informative but good to meet me also, enjoyed it


Tuesday - Morning swim, 2k.

3x100m drills - (50m short one arm catch drill, switch arm at 50m)
1x500m
3x400m
No times which I dont like, this coach is all about the drills

Run session in the evening - 2k run, 2.30 rest
5x400m with 1 min rest and 2k run
20k in total

Absolute chronic pain in my foot on the way home, plantar fascitis apparently


Wednesday - Turbo 1 hr. Progressive power 3 mins on @ 60RPM HR Z4, 1.30 off, 7 min On, 1.30 off, 11 min on, 1.30 off, 15 mins On, 1.30 off, 9 on, 1.30 off, 10 on

Added on 10 minutes this week

foam rolled

Thursday - 2.5k swim session in the morning
4 x 50m (25 underwater doggy paddle)
5 x 50m (25 fist)
5 x 100m @ 2.00
4 x 150m @ 3.00
3 x 2000m @ 4.00

In work late so no turbo session

Friday - 1.2k swim session in the morning, had to leave early for work
12 x 50m (4x50m fist, 4x50 underwater doogy paddle, 4x50 catch up)
3 x 100m swim three strokes rotate 90 degrees for 6 kicks

Evening did a cycling strength and conditioning class with Andy Kenny

Saturday - Orwell spin
118k @ 27/28kph - long day, hadnt been out on a spin like this for a while but felt strong, a couple of weeks of this and I'll be flying it

Sunday - Was out saturdya nite so all I managed was 45k round howth

Totals for the week (including commute)
Swim - 5.7k
Cycle - 238.86k
Run - 28.59k

Time (excl commute)
13:52:57

catweazle

Green&Red wrote: »

Week 7 - 25th November

Absolute chronic pain in my foot on the way home, plantar fascitis apparently

Be careful with this, its a real niggly injury, I still have it 7-8 months later - although it was never as sore as you look like you are getting.

Green&Red

Had to get a taxi home last week!
I went running again last nite and it was sore but bearable, having said that I think if i'd have done much more I'd have been in real pain again. Golf ball to work with me this morning

Bambaata

Are you seeing anyone with it?

catweazle

Green&Red wrote: »

Had to get a taxi home last week!
I went running again last nite and it was sore but bearable, having said that I think if i'd have done much more I'd have been in real pain again. Golf ball to work with me this morning

:eek:

My physio warned me not to run on it if it was sore - you are just going to prolong the injury

Green&Red

my coach said hers flares up every once in a while and she runs as long as she can take the pain?

I've chatted to the physio over email about it, I'm hoping their advice can sort it out.
I've always been lucky enough with injuries and not getting them and I think its left me with an attitude of if I dont go to the physio theres nothing wrong and I'll be grand, it probably stems from football

The golf ball on the sole of the foot is a painful enough job for half an hour!

pgibbo

Focus on your calf too. When I had it, the cause was a tight calf

Green&Red

thats another stretch I have, foot tight to the wall to stretch both foot and calf

duffyshuffle

Green&Red wrote: »

thats another stretch I have, foot tight to the wall to stretch both foot and calf

I had tightness under foot and then got runners a size bigger than my normal shoe size and it meant they weren't cramped up and was fine since, are your runners tight?

Green&Red

Not that I would have thought Gav, they're well worn in as well at this stage. Tight calves is the issue I think, I'm poor at stretching them, u reap what u sow I suppose

pgibbo

Green&Red wrote: »

Not that I would have thought Gav, they're well worn in as well at this stage. Tight calves is the issue I think, I'm poor at stretching them, u reap what u sow I suppose

Don't be afraid to get a roller & a golf ball or a sliotar at the calf too

Bambaata

Yeah i wouldn't necessarily think a strong stretch on the calf would be the cure, i would think you'd have more luck with the sliotar etc as this is usually a chronic tightness issue which wont release and in my experience stretching does little for that

Green&Red

I'm going with all three, and all three are telling me how stiff/sore it is but it does feel like its improving.

Green&Red

So went to track last nite, no pain at all running but some discomfort when doing the plyometrics after. Looks like what I'm doing is clearing up the problem, tg