I have no idea what I'm du-ing

pointer28

Tuesday 18/2/14

Bike

85k Easy 26.1 km/h AHR 137

Because my hours are very flexible I usually keep a close eye on the forecast and tend to avoid the worst of the weather and run/bike when it suits me. Unfortunately, this is turning me soft and when you defer a hard session or two because of the weather then you end up with 3/4 hard sessions left to do in 3/4 days before the week ends. This is not a good plan so I'm now forcing myself to do a hard run session on Mondays regardless of weather (within reason), then a long bike midweek and my other hard run session at the weekend, I can then chop and change the easy sessions to fit in the rest of the week.

While the weather wasn't quite as nice as the forecast made me believe for today I just got on with the job in hand and out the door for the first long ride or 2014. Nothing to report for the ride itself just an out and back to Athlone keeping the effort easy.

What I do know for certain now though is this - if I ever have two cents to rub together I'm going to buy the fanciest, warmest, most windproof cycling gloves I can find and I don't give two ****es what they cost. My hands were absolutely freezing and took a good two hours to get the feeling back in them. I honestly thought I had a touch of frostbite, all the colour had left my fingers and I had a tingling / burning sensation in them as well. Not a bit nice.

Moral of the story, while the Aldi cycling gloves might look lovely and cosy, once they get wet they're useless.

Solobally8

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/santini-365-neoprene-winter-heavy-weight-gloves/rp-prod31025

These gloves are excellent, very warm and toasty after about five minutes. They are actually a little too warm for me the last couple days. I have circulation problems but haven't suffered with my hands this winter with these gloves

pointer28

Wednesday 19/2/14

Run

24k @ 5:49 min/km AHR 146

I have been doing these by HR for the last few weeks and it's been killing me. The pace I had to keep just felt really horrible and awkward so I decided to just run by feel today and keep and eye on my watch just keeping it slower than 5:40 min/km pace.

My stupid HR found a new trick to annoy me with today. Usually it works fine for 5 minutes, spikes madly for the next 10 and then settles down. Today, it gave me no readings for the first 10 minutes and then woke up, I think the strap might need tightening. Because I had a HR of zero for the first ten minutes my AHR was artificially low so the 146 above is my guesstimation from looking at the graph for the remainder.

Apart from all that, the run itself went ok, a straight out and back, no hills worth thinking about and very little wind, legs were tired but nothing painful. If anything I find the out and backs a bit boring as you're looking at the same scenery twice but if that's all I have to complain about it can't have been a bad day.

joey100

Going to do the rosslare duathlon on 9th march? See they have changed it to. 3.5km, 20km, 3.5km. I'll be down that part of the country and looking at doing it.

pointer28

I hope so, once work doesn't throw a spanner in the works.

pointer28

Thursday 20/2/14

Run 6k @ 5:43 min/km

The plan today was for an hour turbo / 5k run brick session but everything I own hates me and decided to really try and piss me off as soon as I got on the bike. First of all I couldn't get the resistance right on the turbo, then my gears were skipping and my HR strap wouldn't pick up a signal.

Resisting the urge to fire all three straight through the window I decided to just head out the door and get my run done and try to work out in my head what might be causing these problems. Sweet Jesus, f#cking hailstones and they hurt like hell. They were constant for the first 4k and it was like being stung by bees for 20 minutes. Anyway, the run itself was grand, legs felt good, pace felt easy and it really cleared my head of evil thoughts towards my equipment.

On a more important note was trying to figure out equipment issues that I've been having a lot of lately.

Skipping gears should be easy enough solved and I'll get onto it in the morning, 5 minutes should sort it.

HR strap, I haven't got any proper conductive gel and have been using aloe vera instead which obviously isn't doing the job, 5 minutes on Amazon and I'll have some in the post, job sorted hopefully.

Turbo trainer, this has been getting harder and harder to set up every time I use it lately. I just can't get the resistance right, it's either slipping or too hard, no middle ground. This could be one of two issue:

1. My legs are sore
2. Somethings wrong with the turbo.

Well my legs felt grand on the run and aren't a bit sore so I'm discounting that. However, the flywheel on the turbo is really badly worn in the middle as in an actual groove in the metal where it meets the tyre and I'm thinking this could be the issue. My GF is buying a new one for herself at the weekend and I'll see how that works out. Until then, I'll just try and get a spin outside tomorrow. I don't know how readily available parts are for entry level turbo trainers but I'm guessing it might just be time to buy a new one.

joey100

Tyre Pressure?

pointer28

joey100 wrote: »

Tyre Pressure?

Nope, tyre pressure grand, I always check it and make sure it's the same every time. This problem has been getting gradually worse now for a few weeks so I think the turbo might be fubar'd.

pointer28

Friday 21/2/14

Bike - Trainer Road Mount Leinster - 100 mins

Instead of getting thick and swearing at my equipment which truth be told is my usual modus operandi, I decided that time and patience might be more constructive in actually sorting out my problems.

It turns out that my derailleur hanger was ever so slightly bent (bike fell over last week), so I straightened that quite easily, then tuned up the gears and they're now sweet as a nut.

My turbo also needed looking at, so that's exactly what I did and I found two screws on the back of it that allowed me to shift the roller drive an inch to the left so the wheel is now sitting on a lovely smooth surface and running smoothly. It's only when it's running right that I now realise how bad it actually was for the last few weeks. The best description I can think of is that is was like cycling on a rough gravel surface, now it's smooth tarmac. I don't know the exact cause of this but my best guess is that I was using an old road tyre for a while instead of the turbo tyre I now have. Most probably there were small pieces of grit embedded in the tyre and that's what did the harm. Anyway, job sorted now and cost me a sum total of zero.

Another session created on Bestbikesplit and while I know it's only messing I enjoy them as you're constantly changing gears and cadence like you would on the road, especially for the longer sessions of 90 mins and over. While the repetitive intervals might actually be more beneficial and have a specific target, I'm certainly doing plenty of work on these. I know if I did a 100 minutes outside I certainly wouldn't have worked as hard.

Totals:

Endurance 11 mins
Tempo 12 mins
Sweet Spot 34 mins
Threshold 21 mins

AHR 143

pointer28

Saturday 22/2/14

Griffeen Valley Park Run 20:17

Did this just to see what I could do as I've never actually ran a 5k race before. Secretly hoping for a sub 20 and think it would be very doable on another day. Not to make excuses but tired this morning and a strong headwind at times so hopefully it won't take too long to get there. About another 5k to add on as WU and CD.

pointer28

Monday 24/2/14

Run 20k with 4 x 1.5k and 1 x 4k at HM Pace

I had written a long post about this on Monday but then my computer froze and I lost the whole thing. Couldn't be bothered re-writing it. The shorter intervals were done with 1:30 RBI, then 23 mins easy, then straight into the 4k interval. I like these sessions, I did a lot of them last year and I think they really make you stronger, especially with the longer interval at the end when you're tiring. I spent all day Sunday on my feet at work so wasn't at my freshest for this so was happy to hit all the numbers and the HR stayed in the proper zones while doing so. Job done.

Tuesday 25/2/14

TR - High Hopes 60 mins

6 x 1 min @ 110% FTP, 1 min RBI, 6 x 4 min @ 95% FTP, 2 min RBI

I was busy with other stuff and had almost written the day off for training but I decided at the last minute to just jump on the turbo and rescue something from the day. Nice session, not too taxing but it's like money in the bank, just keep adding a little more as and when you can.

Wednesday 26/2/14

TR - Frewin & Laragh 60 mins

Another bestbikesplit course featuring two horrible little ****s of climbs near home. Stiff session TSS 82 and IF .90

Tempo - 7 mins
Sweet Spot - 22 mins
Threshold - 14 mins
VO2 Max - 5 mins

5.2k Brick Run - 5:38 mins/km AHR 143

I ran this completely by feel keeping it nice and easy throughout, paying no attention to pace or HR. Happy to find that my HR was well inside the zone while the pace was a bit faster than it normally would be.

pointer28

Thursday 27/2/14

Run - 23k @ 5:57 mins/km AHR

Garmin says AHR 208 and calories 900 which is a load of crap, so I adjusted the AHR to what it was for the first 20 minutes when it seemed to work properly.

Ran this by feel again and took about 4 x 20/25 second walk breaks and they seemed to make a difference. I had forgotten about them TBH and only took the first one at 7.5k, then 12.5k, 16.5k and 20.5k. I think I'll use them again but I'll set up a workout on the watch and have more structure to them, Tunney suggested 19.30 run / 30 sec walk so I think I'll go with that. A little shorter than intended, I had planned on doing 24/25k but the weather convinced me otherwise.

Things were going lovely until 19k and then the heavens opened with sleet pelting down and a freezing cold headwind so I suffered like a dog for the last 4k. I quite literally couldn't even get my gloves off when I got home and it took a long, long time to recover and heat up properly afterwards. I have often ran in the rain before but that was the worst I've ever experienced, the combination of the cold, sleet and the wind were just really bad. It's a pity too as this was the first long run in a long time that was actually going well for me and I was happily plodding along at my easy pace and felt like I could have kept going for a long time.

pointer28

Friday 28/2/14

Bike

Trainer Road - Glendine & The Cut 130 mins

TSS 151
IF 0.84

Endurance - 26 mins
Tempo - 21 mins
Sweet Spot - 29 mins
Threshold - 32 mins

This was meant to be a 150 min session, but I had the bestbikesplit course set up at HM pace (.84 intensity) and TBH it just got too much towards the end. In future I'll have to remember to dial it back to about 95% and that should be fine. I could have been stubborn and just grinded away at the gears but I felt the quality was gone at that stage and I wasn't accomplishing anything. It's not a race after all.

Other than that, the legs felt good if a bit tired after the LSR yesterday.

pointer28

Saturday 1/3/14

Run 13.8k with 12 x 90 secs @ 5k pace

Avg for intervals:

3:47 mins/km AHR 163

Haven't done any faster intervals in a while so these hurt a bit, but the times are heading the right direction and I feel great afterwards so all in all a positive session.

After last weeks Parkrun I knew that my endurance was not a problem, but that my legs just weren't used to going that fast for any length of time so I had to get back to doing some faster reps. Glad I did them now, and while they always hurt, I nearly always feel great after doing them.

pointer28

Monday 3/3/14

Run 10.2k @ 5:58 mins/km AHR 140

HR playing up as usual with two large spikes lasting about ten minutes giving me an average of 142. I rounded it down but it could have been even lower. Either way I don't care once it's in or around the 130 - low 140's.

Legs were sore as hell all day yesterday after Saturday's speed session. I have a weird job, I'm pretty flexible all week and can fit work around training and then recover while working at my desk. On Sunday (supposed rest day) I spent 10 hours on my feet on a horrible sand surface which is a killer on the legs, the surface is sore on everyone's legs, not just mine. They were still sore this morning so I decided to wait it out and see would they improve, I gave them a good rolling and they started to loosen up after dinner so I decided to get in an easy run.

While work often suits me training wise it tends to scupper me moreso when I'm trying to recover, not ideal, but you need to earn a crust!

pointer28

Tuesday 4/3/14

Trainer Road - Frewin & Laragh TSS 80 IF 0.90

In a rush and have to get the train to Dublin so no choice but a quick, hard turbo. I felt great this morning so really got stuck into this one and actually enjoyed it. This is the second time I've done this session and I think it's going to be a regular. Tough but doable and leaves me feeling tired but happy with myself.

pointer28

Wednesday 5/3/14

Run 20k with 4 x 1.5k and 1 x 4k at HM Pace

Exactly the same session as last week simply because I couldn't be arsed fiddling with Garmin Connect to create a new workout and also because I really love to hate these sessions and always finish them feeling stronger and that I've really accomplished something.

WU
4 x 1.5k @ 4:16 mins/km AHR 165
23 mins easy
4k @ 4:19 mins/km AHR 166
CD

The good thing about copying sessions is that you can compare them and compared to last week all the intervals came in about 5 seconds per km faster and the AHR was about 3 bpm lower for each interval. I was quite tired last week though and had ran a hard 5k only two days earlier so I won't read too much into it.

pointer28

Thursday 6/3/14

Trainer Road - Glendine & The Cut 75 Minutes

TSS 81 IF 0.81

Endurance - 18 mins
Tempo - 12 mins
Sweet Spot - 32 mins
Threshold - 2 mins

Not enjoying my bike at all the last few weeks. I just got fed up of sitting on the trainer and decided to call it a day as I have a race on Sunday and I might ride the bike for an hour on Saturday as well. As well as that I think I'm doing my long, endurance rides as too high an intensity. The bestbikesplit sessions I'm doing are set at HM race pace which is probably too hard for long slow rides at a guess. I'm going to do some reading this afternoon and see what kind of effort they should actually be at for the future. I'd love to afford a coach.

In future, I'm just going to have to SIU and ride outside once the weather isn't absolutely abysmal. After all, it can rain on race day too.

pointer28

Friday 7/3/14

Run 25k @ 5:59 mins/km AHR 138

While I played with adding a few walk intervals last week I actually set up my watch to do it with some structure this week. Following Tunney's advice on another thread I went for 19:30/0:30 walk/run and it really helped to just break it up into sections and made it seem a lot more manageable.

Tough conditions out there today, very windy and even moreso on the second half and while there are no big hills around the town, there are some long drags on the route.

I paid absolutely zero attention to either pace or HR on this run and did it entirely by feel, if I felt any effort at all in my breathing I dialled it back. My AHR is dropping constantly on these LSR's and with the headwinds today I'm even happier about that, the theory being that my easy pace will start to rise if I do lots of this low HR running.

pointer28

Saturday 8/3/14

Bike - 24k Course Recce

Kept it real easy spinning all the way, nothing to report.


Sunday 9/3/14

Race - Rosslare Duathlon

Run 1 - 3.07 km / 12:14 / 3:59 pace / AHR 177

Ran hard from the start and just tried to hang on, but decided after about a km that I'd better dial it back a bit as there was a 25k bike and another run to do before the day was out.

T1 - 1:37

What a clusterf#ck! My bike was racked in the middle and the weight of all the other bikes made the bar sag so when I tried to take my bike out the handlebars wouldn't fit under the bar. Eventually I managed to get it out but knocked over another bike in the process, finally got that picked up and out the gate onto the run.

Bike - 25.43km / 50:46 / 30.1 kmh / AHR 161

I'm not much of a runner but as far as biking goes I'm more of a runner, if that makes sense. Seriously though, I'm well aware that my bike is a major weakness caused by years of fair weather riding, but in fairness it's less bad than it used to be. Average cadence was 98 which I'm very happy with as my legs were pretty fresh getting off the bike.

T2 - 2:20

I got new elastic laces and threw them in the car before leaving home on Friday. When I went to fit them Saturday evening they were too thick to fit through the narrow eyes on the runners and I didn't fancy trying to botch something so just had to go with normal laces. It was slow going tying my laces but I managed it eventually and headed on to Run 2.

Run 2 - 3.30 km / 13:40 / 4:08 pace / AHR 167

Four guys passed me on the bike, one of these was on a TT bike and was flying along effortlessly so I knew I wouldn't be seeing him again today. 3 others however all looked like normal Joes so I made it my business to hunt them down on the run, and hunt them down I did. I'm really pleased with the fact that I managed to catch and pass all 3 of them and kept running strong until the end. Not as fast as Run 1 but that's to be expected.

Overall I'm really happy with how the race went. I went hard (for me) from the start and kept going hard until the finish. I finished the first race (4 weeks ago) feeling like I could have gone faster but I finished this feeling like I squeezed every last drop of effort out of my body. While the run times won't impress anyone I'm really pleased with them. I only raced my first 5k three weeks and I tend to avoid the speed work and always prefer the longer tempo or LT interval sessions.

After hanging around for ten minutes I finished it off with a short jog back to the parent's house to cool down.


Tuesday 11/3/14

Bike - 40k AHR 91

Went for a spin with herself just to try loosen out the legs.

Thursday 13/3/14

Run - 7.7k @ 5:58 mins/km

I was away driving all day Wednesday and meant to get in a run when I got home. My sinuses were at me all day, my throat was sore and my glutes were killing me so I decided to skip the run and take it easy as it really felt like I was coming down with something.

I still didn't feel great this morning but decided to run anyway as sometimes you feel better once you get 5 minutes down the road. Today I didn't. As painfully slow as it was, it felt really hard, my glutes, groin and quads were all sore and I just felt generally sh1t. Binned this afternoons bike ride and going to work on some foam rolling instead.

This is meant to be a recovery week but I'm taking it a bit too far. All day Monday & Wednesday were spent driving and I honestly think they did more harm than the race on Sunday. Although it's a recovery week I had intended to keep up the frequency and just dial back the intensity and volume to about 60% of normal. If I had managed to get out on Monday for an easy bike ride and some easy running on Tuesday I don't think I'd feel half as bad now.

Life sometimes has other plans though!

pointer28

Saturday 15/3/14

58k Bike AHR 114

Volunteered to lead the beginners spin with the tri club. A new member lady member of 50+ put us all to shame while ploughing along at 30+ kmh on her 4.5 tonne hybrid. I eventually persuaded her to take it easy as she was killing some of the other members on their shiny new carbon race bikes.

9.2k Run @ 5:52 mins/km

Forgot my HR strap but took it very easy and the first time in a week that my legs feel like they belong to the rest of my body.

Sunday 16/3/14

8k Run @ 6:01 mins/km

Again, no HR but took it really easy.

Tuesday 18/3/14

Run - 19.5k with 8 x 1.5k @ HM Pace, 1:30 RBI

Avg Interval Pace: 4:25 mins/km
Avg Interval HR: 167 bpm

First proper session since the race and the wind was howling but it seems to be on the forecast for the whole week so no point putting it off. Torture into the wind so I purposely did those ones at a little slower and did the reps with the wind a little faster so it all averaged out nicely. Pace good and HR within the zone I wanted.

Wednesday 19/3/14

56k Bike AHR 129

Same windy weather but had most of the headwind on the way home which is even more cruel. Never felt good for the whole ride though, just tired and uninterested. I picked a really sh1tty route too which didn't help, and because I had a load of gear in the wash I was wearing a pair of bibs that are just horribly uncomfortable.

Thursday 20/3/14

Run 24.5k @ 6:04 mins/km AHR 149

HR is probably a bit high as there was the usual spike at the beginning. I set out with the intention of doing 5k loops but changed my mind after I got started and made up a route as I went along, unfortunately I seemed to spend all my time either uphill or into a headwind but that which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger, Right?

Although I would like the HR numbers to be lower, my legs are definitely starting to feel better on these LSR's. I followed the 19:30/0:30 Run/Walk strategy and it just breaks the monotony for me and gives you a mental break every now and again.

Friday 21/3/14

36k Bike AHR 146 64,080 km/h

Obviously Garmin Connect is acting the bollix yet again as I did not cycle 36k in 2 secs as it would have me believe. Strangely the same session is perfect on TP so obviously the issue is with GC and not with my watch.

Forecast is for heavy rain again this afternoon so hopped on the bike early and out the door for a short one. Windy as hell yet again and legs a bit heavy after yesterday's run but they loosened up after half an hour and I enjoyed the spin overall, I could gladly have gone longer but I forgot my water bottle and I'm thinking of racing tomorrow so I called it a day.

pointer28

Getting really bad at updating this the last few weeks plus travelling without my laptop and hate typing on the tablet so I'm only catching up now I'm home.

Saturday 22/3/14

Griffeen Valley Parkrun 20:11 AHR 174

God damn it anyway! Still didn't get the sub 20 I was hoping for but a small improvement over the last time even if only 5 seconds. I arrived later than planned and didn't get any kind of a proper warm-up, just a short jog but no strides or anything that I would usually do. I started adding 5 x 20 sec strides to all of my sessions the last couple of months and they really make a huge difference. Either way, I felt stiff and tight for the first lap and only started to feel good on the second lap, more excuses I know and entirely my own fault but at least I learnt from it and I know to leave home earlier in future and warm up properly. Sub 20, I'll get ya yet!

Sunday 23/3/14

5.6k @ 6:17 mins/km

Didn't even look at the watch for this, just ran really easy as legs a bit dead from yesterday's 5k race. The important thing is they felt better at the end than they did at the beginning which I suppose is the whole point of a recovery run.

Monday 24/3/14

Trainer Road - Achtung Baby - 75 mins TSS 87 IF 0.84

This was meant to be 90 mins but had to catch a train so cut it a little short, should have started earlier of course, but other jobs to be done around the place before I head off and I don't think 15 minutes is going to make or break me.

Tuesday 25/3/14

20k with 2 x 4k and 2 x 2k @ HM Pace, 4,3,2,1 RBI

I was in Wexford for this so took myself to Johnstown Castle. Surprising how small a place is when you start running, feels a lot bigger when you're strolling and looking at the wildlife, nice change of scenery either way. Undulating route for the intervals and a decent breeze too, I took a slightly different trail for the 1st 2k rep and dropped signal for a while so I was doing harder than HM effort even if the numbers say otherwise, I reverted to the original route for the last rep and the effort felt more in line with what it should,

4k @ 4:19 mins/km AHR 166
4k @ 4:21 mins/km AHR 168
2k @ 4:23 mins/km AHR 167 ***
2k @ 4:18 mins/km AHR 168

Pace and HR nicely within the prescribed ranges. I really like these long steady intervals so I'll have to make sure and do some short hard ones at the weekend.

Wednesday 26/3/14

Trainer Road - Frewin & Laragh - TSS 80 IF 0.89

Just got back this afternoon and had to get something done rather than lose a day, really didn't want to but started to enjoy it about halfway through.

Public transport in this country is just miserable and I think it wears me out more than cycling the 200k might have done.

pointer28

Thursday 27/3/14

25k Run @ 6:09 mins/km AHR 140

Incredibly boring but got it done, I much prefer my weekly 20k interval session, which is far tougher physically but seems to just fly by time wise. Still, another long one done and in the bag. HR starting to get where I would like it so these horribly dull slow runs are starting to work.

Friday 28/3/14

Trainer Road - Glendine & The Cut - 150 mins - TSS 138 IF 0.74 AHR 132

Longest I have ever done on the turbo. Wasn't as boring as I though it would be as I set up the bike in front of the TV, no problems apart from a sore arse towards the end. Just forgot about the chamois cream. No problems at all with my legs, I suppose because the LSR's are so bloody slow.

pointer28

Saturday 29/3/14

Run - 5k @ 6:03 mins/km

Forgot my HR strap but just kept this at silly slow pace again. Spent all day working on that horrible sand surface and my legs were in a jock after it so decided to just head out the door when I got home for an easy few K's to revive the legs. It worked.

Sunday 30/3/14

Run - 12.3k with 7 x 2.5 mins @ 5k Pace, 1.5 min RBI

When I set up the workout on Garmin Connect I just duplicated an old workout and changed the details. I obviously forgot to press "save" or did something else stupid as the session on the watch was nothing at all like I planned. The planned session was 12 x 1.5 mins @ 5k pace with 2 mins RBI. I didn't realise the session was wrong until the first interval and I couldn't do anything to change and I definitely wasn't going to cancel the session so I just got on with it the best I could. The most annoying part was the watch kept beeping non-stop for every interval telling me I was going too fast as the pace was also wrong on the workout. Either way, 17.5 minutes of some decent speed work done and dusted.

Monday 31/3/14

Bike - 50k - AHR 138

Nothing fancy, just out the door for an easy one. I did put in a few kms of some effort on a decent stretch of road, and attacked a couple of hills, but other than just kept it easy.

pointer28

Tuesday 1/4/14

Bike - 16k - AHR 87

Social spin with the GF, nothing of interest from a training POV.


Thursday 3/4/14

Bike - 102k - AHR 131

Cycled out to meet a friend of mine and did a nice rolling route in the north of the county. Everything felt good, legs were fresh, effort was easy so when she went home I went the long way home to bring me over 100k for the first time this year. Really happy with my bike this year although, in fairness, this is the first time I've ever done any bike training over the winter. I usually drag it out of the shed in March and start from there.

Run - 8k @ 5:34 mins/km - AHR 150

There was about an hour between the bike and the run so not a brick session, legs were a little tired as to be expected but seemed to just float along at a faster pace than I usually would for an easy run. Every time I tried to slow down it didn't feel right so I just went with the flow and let my legs do their own thing.

Friday 4/4/14

Run - 13k with 3 x 2k at HM Pace, 2 min RBI

Pace / AHR
4:21 / 167
4:21 / 170
4:21 / 171

Legs quite fatigued today and these reps felt harder than usual even though they only totalled 6k (I usually do 10-12k of HM reps). HR a couple of beats higher than usual but I suppose thats only to be expected after yesterday. It's my own stupid fault of course as I know full well that I have to get one of my quality run sessions done by Tuesday as it's screws up the rest of the week otherwise. I didn't do much on Tuesday as the GF wasn't working so I wanted to spend time with her on the rare occasion that we're home together. Wednesday pissed down all day and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Thursday would have been nuts, 8k easy after a long ride is one thing but an interval session is a whole other ball game. I need to just grow a pair and get on with it regardless of weather, I have no problem racing in the rain and it doesn't bother me if I get caught in the rain but walking out of a warm, dry house into it just kills me.

pointer28

Sunday 6/4/14

Run - 10.6k @ 6:08 mins/km - AHR 136

Finally an easy run that's in the HR zone it should be in. I splashed out on Amazon during the week and bought a couple of bottles of conductive gel and it's seems I finally have reliable HR data, and for the record, I was even wearing the Nike gilet that I've been blaming for the spikes all along. Yippee.

I considered doing the club duathlon this morning but decided against it for the following reasons:

1) This is a recovery week and I have been feeling quite fatigued lately.
2) Tomorrow is the start of two weeks of really solid work before tapering for my target HM at the end of the month.
3) I had a really hard day of work yesterday on the same ****ty surface that always kills my legs.

Looking back now I think I made the right decision and I'm actually feeling fresher after this evenings run and ready to get stuck into some real tough stuff from tomorrow.

pointer28

Monday 7/4/14

Bike - 29k - AHR 138

Brick Run - 5.2k @ 5:48 mins/km - AHR 135

I had intended to do two easy sessions today, one morning and one evening, but I changed my mind and did them as a brick instead. Two really nice workouts, I rode a nice steady effort on the bike and for the run I ignored my watch and just ran by effort. The effort I was looking for was really easy and that's exactly what I did. I feel as fresh as a daisy afterwards.

I have no duathlons any time in the near future, I did this for time management more than anything and they really are a great way of logging some miles without killing yourself. Serious HM sessions planned for tomorrow, I can kill myself then.

pointer28

Tuesday 8/4/14

Run - 20k with 3 x 4k @ HM Pace, 3 min RBI

WU 2.5k @ 5:49 mins/km AHR 133
5 x 20 sec strides / 40 sec recovery
4k @ 4:22 mins/km AHR 164
4k @ 4:22 mins/km AHR 165
4k @ 4:26 mins/km AHR 164
CD 3.2k @ 6:01 mins/km AHR 139

I'd been looking forward to this as I haven't done any really hard run sessions last week and I've been feeling good the last few days and also sleeping well, which is usually a huge issue for me.

Whether right or wrong, I deliberately chose a tough loop for this sessions rather than my usual flat canal path and I really felt it in spots. The first two flew by and felt strong and the third one should have been the same only for I switched off a bit and didn't notice my lap pace dropping until 100m to go and by then it was too late. Target pace was 4:25 mins/km and I realise it's only a second but it still annoyed. And the fact that the first two were 3 seconds better than target isn't any comfort. Yes, I'm a numbers freak!

I also shortened my recovery periods, I usually take 1 min per km for recovery so I shortened it to 3 mins rather than 4. Next week I will do this session again but with 2 mins recovery and that will be my last hard session 10 days before my target HM.

pointer28

Wednesday 9/4/14

Bike - 98k AHR 127

My usual buddy wasn't around for this one so I stuck a post on the club facebook page looking for a partner for the day. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I got a reply and had a cycling buddy for this one.

Now, I know the best way to get better at cycling is to cycle with someone who's better than you, but the first long spin of the year as well as a very hilly route and a bitch of a headwind on the way home are not a great combination. I just about hung on until the coffee stop at 56k but died a death after that. I told the other guy to head on and do his own thing so I could limp home at my own pace but he didn't want to do that so I also have guilt to add to my bad form after this spin.

On paper (or Garmin correct to be more accurate) the session wasn't that bad, the AHR is well within my easy zone but my legs just weren't interested in playing today. I guess yesterday's hard run session left it's mark.

My philosophy all along has been to do my suffering on the turbo or shorter rides and these longer rides are just about endurance and fat burning. Maybe I'm wrong and need to suffer on some long rides. Either way, as bad as it was, it's still 4 hours of aerobic exercise and if nothing else it burnt some calories.

pointer28

Thursday 10/4/14

Run 21.1k @ 6:18 mins/km AHR 145

I have a confession to make! While I'm a huge fan of trail running and love reading about it, listening to podcasts about it and I own a pair of trail shoes and a camelbak I must admit that I've never actually done any proper trail running (canal paths don't count). Today I decided to change that.

I don't usually have the car during the week so I generally have no choice only to do my LSR around town or on the canal paths. Today I did have the car so after a bit of googling I picked a route, wiped 6 inches of dust off my camelbak and drove to Clonaslee to try some real trail running.

I absolutely f'ing loved every minute of it!

I have always struggled with my LSR's but it's been a mental battle rather than a lack of fitness. I love my long interval sessions but the thoughts of plodding along for 2+ hours fills me with dread. Today was just fantastic, muck, ****e, water, stiles, gravel, rocks, fallen trees, and lots and lots of up and down. Not a steady paced run but it just flew by. Because everything from the ground underfoot to the scenery was constantly changing I never got the chance to get bored and it also exercised muscles that may be underworked always running on the roads.

There's 54 miles of waymarked trails in the Slieve Blooms and I can see me doing lots of exploring over the summer. Just a pity it's not closer to home.

pointer28

Friday 11/4/14

Bike 39k AHR 122

Horrible cold and windy spin and to make it worse I had no interest whatsoever in being out there today. Tons of work stuff going round in my head so I kept it really easy and hopefully it will help my legs recover from yesterday's run.

pointer28

Sunday 13/4/14

Run 12.8k with 6k @ M Pace

3.35k @ 6:06 mins/km AHR 130
6.00k @ 4:39 mins/km AHR 158
3.46k @ 5:46 mins/km AHR 140

Everything felt good except for my stomach. I know I need to leave about 3 hours after food before doing any kind of running but I ignored my own rule tonight and suffered for it. Luckily no embarrassing incidents to report but it just made the workout far more uncomfortable than it needed to be.

Feeling good about the actual running though, pace felt comfortable, effort felt comfortable and HR where it should be for the effort.

pointer28

Monday 14/4/14

Bike 52k

Really annoyed about this one. I bought a new pair of bib shorts last week and wore them for this mornings spin. All was good for the first hour, a nice, steady effort but it just went downhill from there. The shorts just became really uncomfortable and I spent the next hour constantly shifting in the saddle and not actually getting any work done. So much so that I would call the second hour a waste of time. Looking at the graphs everything just dropped off about from about halfway including speed, cadence and HR. I was very happy with the first hour though. It just shows how important comfort is on the bike.

That's one more pair for the "hour on the turbo" pile of cycling shorts that I have. I think I may start saving for some Assos!

mossym

wouldn't write them off just yet. i've had rides where shorts or bib tights that have been fine on every other ride suddenly are the most uncomfortable things ever, then they're fine again the next ride. always worth a second shot

pointer28

This was the second chance.

I rode in them last week and thought that maybe after a few washes or something that they might improve. I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with them, there's loads of padding and it seems very impressive to look at but when I'm riding it feels like the padding is lacking in one particular spot.

I only bought them on a whim and they were only €45 so it's not the end of the world. It's the wasted session that's annoying me rather than the shorts themselves, I'll always find a job for them.

Either way, I'm not going to bin them, I'll keep them for the turbo and shorter rides.

pointer28

Monday 14/4/14

Run 5k @ 5:41 mins/km AHR 138

Dreadfully boring but stuck to the plan, this was just to loosen the legs a bit for tomorrow's hard session. Lovely day out, just a t-shirt, no gilet or hat.

pointer28

Tuesday 15/4/14

Run 18k with 3 x 4k @ HM Pace, 2 min RBI

2.3k @ 5:51 mins/km AHR 118
4.0k @ 4:22 mins/km AHR 171
4.0k @ 4:24 mins/km AHR 172
4.0k @ 4:24 mins/km AHR 174
1.9k @ 6:05 mins/km AHR 153

This was exactly the same session as last week with the recovery periods shortened to 2 mins from 3 mins last week. I'm not that happy with the numbers for this one as the HR for all the reps is 3/4 beats higher than usual. There are a number of possible explanations for this:

1) It's the time this year that I've actually had to do some serious work in relatively warm conditions, I was under-hydrated, I had no water with me and I'm now quite literally caked in salt.

2) Maybe 2 minutes is simply not enough time to recover properly from a 4k interval, I usually take 4 mins recovery, last week I dropped it to 3 mins, maybe 2 mins is just pushing it too far. This wouldn't explain the first rep though.

3) I'm just not as fit as I thought.

4) I made a right balls of training for this HM next week. I should found and stuck to a well regarded plan rather than making up my own. Maybe you can go too slow on your easy runs?

Either way, I think tomorrow I should take a full day off. I should have done so yesterday but the weather was just so beautiful and I had nothing else to do. Today was the last hard session before my target HM on 27th April so taper from here on in. Short M pace Tempo at the weekend and a few short HM intervals early next week but no LSR this week and no long bike either. I will do some easy runs just to keep up the frequency.

pointer28

Thursday 17/4/14

Run 12k @ 5:51 mins/km AHR 136

In Dublin today so made the effort to head to the Phoenix Park for this one. I had no real idea where I was going so I parked in the visitors centre, ran down Chesterfield Avenue towards the City and then followed the boundary until the Furry Glen and followed my nose after that and when I got back to where I started it just happened to hit the 12k mark.

It really makes a difference to run somewhere new, I get a bit stale of the same old routes all the time.

Sunday 20/4/14

Run 8.1k with 4k @ M Pace

WU 1.88 @ 6:01 mins/km AHR 135
4.00 @ 4:35 mins/km AHR 158
CD 2.23 @ 5:56 mins/km AHR 138

Nice run, M pace felt easy and could I have kept going a lot longer but I'm tapering so I only added the change of pace to stop my legs entering hibernation on me.

Monday 21/4/14

Trainer Road - 30 mins

TSS 32 IF 0.80 AHR 127

Surprised to find that it's been a month since I've used my turbo and I fecking knew it too. Even though I've done plenty of miles in the past month they've all been easy miles and my legs didn't know what was happening when I tried to add some intensity. Pulled the plug as just couldn't get going and I was gaining nothing. I'll have to research some HR based bike workouts to add to my Garmin for outdoor rides.

Tuesday 22/4/14

Run 10k with 4 x 1k @ HM Pace, 2 min RBI

2.4k @ 6:00 mins/km AHR 133
5 x 20 sec strides / 40 sec recovery
1.0k @ 4:21 mins/km AHR 167
1.0k @ 4:16 mins/km AHR 164
1.0k @ 4:20 mins/km AHR 163
1.0k @ 4:20 mins/km AHR 169
1.4k @ 5:59 mins/km AHR 140

Another easy session just keeping the legs fresh for the weekend. The HM reps felt really easy, target pace was 4:25 and I was constantly forcing myself to slow down. I did the reps on a lumpy route and the 1st and 4th were uphill, while 2nd and 3rd were downhill. Happy with the HR numbers and recoveries were longer than usual with the taper in mind. Overall, very happy with this session and starting to think my goal time might be achievable.

pointer28

Cards on the table time.

HM tomorrow, target time sub 1:33

pointer28

Thursday 24/4/14

5k with strides 5:35 mins/km AHR 141


Friday 25/4/14

5k Easy 5:53 mins/km AHR 140


Saturday 26/4/14

4k Easy 5:59 mins/km AHR 139


Sunday 27/4/14

Wexford Half Marathon 1:36:40

Not happy with this at all, as above chasing sub 1:33 but never happening from the off.

My last HM that I ran hard was in Athlone last September and I was holding myself back all the way to 11k and then allowed myself to kick on a bit. Today that didn't happen. I was working hard the whole way to the 14k marker to hang onto my goal pace and then we hit a headwind and every KM from that point onwards was slower than the one before it.

It wasn't just the headwind though, the first 14k felt harder than they should have and I would ideally liked to have arrived at that point feeling a lot better than I did and only just starting to get stuck in. I can't really describe what was wrong with me other than just tiredness and lack of energy, I just wanted to lie down and have a sleep. I wasn't even blowing hard at the finish line as my legs just wouldn't go fast enough at that point to make me blow.

The last couple of weeks haven't been great, lots of work stress, eating badly (+2 kgs in 3 weeks) and other issues. I even said to the GF last night that I didn't feel great for this at all but was secretly hoping it was only taper madness and that it would all be sunshine and rainbows on the morning. It wasn't.

Anyway, we live and learn and I have to look very closely at what went wrong and how to avoid it in future. My first suspicion is that I made a balls of the taper and that my body started to shut down / enter recovery mode or whatever other technical term you want to put on it. I seriously couldn't stop eating for the past fortnight, I've never been as constantly hungry in my life and that was with a reduced training load. I know the books say keep up the frequency of training and keep some intensity but to reduce the volume but I skipped too many sessions in the last fortnight but as they were all bike sessions I didn't think it would affect my running. I think I was wrong. I always thought that after a good taper you should arrive at the start line full of beans and raring to go. I was full of wind and whimpering.

The only good point I can take from all of this is that I still ran a PB (even if only 24 seconds) while feeling like crap and I just got on with it and got the job done making the best of a bad day.

mossym

sorry to see that after the work you've put in. the work is done though, can you target another half soon and try again?

griffin100

A PB when feeling crap is not to be dismissed lightly. Everyone has off an off day, onwards and upwards

pointer28

mossym wrote: »

sorry to see that after the work you've put in. the work is done though, can you target another half soon and try again?

Had planned on doing Enniscorthy in June, it's a course I love but not PB material. Then 2 x HM's in one weekend in July, again not ideal for chasing times. I might look for something flatter in the meantime. I'm thinking about 5/6 weeks from now could be perfect timing, although yesterday was disappointing it was still a serious workout and should give some fitness gains. Easy this week, then 4 weeks of 5k races should put me in good shape for another stab at it.

TBH I think I have 1:33 in me and the plan all along was for 1:30 in the autumn so hopefully it was just a bad day. Either way what's done is done and I'm not going to waste my time crying over it, I just think that every bad experience is a learning opportunity and I just want to make sure I learn the right lesson.

pointer28

griffin100 wrote: »

A PB when feeling crap is not to be dismissed lightly. Everyone has off an off day, onwards and upwards

Absolutely, it was a solid LT session if nothing else, so not a complete waste of a day.

catweazle

I have found a long taper doesn't suit me, my best times have been usually dropping the training to very little to nothing with about a week max to 10 days out. Any longer and I tend to start feeling fat and old (which I am)

pointer28

Right so, I took Monday off because my legs were tender as hell and continued to feel like that on Tuesday too so I also took that off. I've never had DOMS like it before, even standing up was painful.

So Wednesday I decided I'd do a very easy hour on the turbo and then I might do a very short and easy run in the evening. This never happened, I lasted 8 minutes on the turbo. My usual warm-up routine on the turbo is as follows and has always worked for me. 4 mins @ 40% ftp, then 2 mins @ 50%, 2 mins @ 60% and 2 mins @ 70%. I know from experience what my HR usually is for these and the HR always works well on the turbo without spikes etc to skew the data. By the time I got to the 2 mins @ 70% my HR was at 180 and climbing and I felt exhausted, so I quit the session and decided to look into what might be causing these problems.

High Blood Pressue = Bad
Low Blood Pressure = Good

Simple, right?

Not quite that simple apparently.

It turns out that my blood pressure is naturally low and when you train hard you lower your blood pressure even more. Lowering your BP is a good thing for the majority of people but not so much for me. Mine has been lowered to the point where I have been having constant problems lately with nausea, dizziness, fatigue and blurry vision. This has been going on for months but I never said anything to my girlfriend as she's a worrier even though she's a nurse and could have helped me very easily if I'd "opened my big stupid mouth" (her words).

So, going forward. Although it's a nuisance, 90% of the time it's very easily managed and is still far less of a big deal than high blood pressure. The most common cause is dehydration, so it means if I train without water it will have a greater effect on me than people with higher BP. The plan for the rest of this week is to rest, elevate my feet and wear compression socks and drink lots of water, no training. If it hasn't improved by next Monday then it's off to the GP.

Luckily, we own a Sphymomanometer (yes it's a real world and has a savage word score in Scrabble) so I can take my own BP whenever I want and keep an eye on it in future. Hopefully medical intervention won't be necessary and diet and hydration will be enough to keep on top of it.

Knowledge is power and I'm just happy now that I have some explanation as to why my form was constantly fluctuating between fit and strong one day and flat and lethargic the next.

Onwards and upwards.

pointer28

Sunday 4/4/14

Run 8.1k 5:36 mins/km AHR 145

This was the single most enjoyable run that I've done in months. I've been gradually feeling better the last few days and felt great today so decided I was going for a run when I got home from work this evening.

No plan, ran as I felt like running and I must say that the 5:30 ish pace comes a lot more naturally to me than the enforced extra slow pace that I've been running the last few months. While the HR was low on those really slow runs, they always felt really awkward and uncomfortable, not to mention embarrassing. I know nothing about form but tonight's pace also felt a lot more natural and floaty than the ultra slow running I've been doing.

I think it might be a simple case of what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

pointer28

Wednesday 9/5/14

Trainer Road - Corduroy 60 mins

Getting stuck back into the trainer work again from now on. Even though I hate the thoughts of it when the weather is nice, I find I do a better session on the turbo than outside. This was a really easy session just getting my legs used to spinning for an hour again, I'll do something a little harder tomorrow and maybe Friday and then ramp it up for the 8 days of California on Trainerroad.com starting this weekend.

Run - Belvedere 5k League Race 1 - 21:20

Did I mention I hate 5k races? I still do, but they are a serious workout and don't take too long to recover from. A really tough course too with some short but steep climbs to really kill your legs. Even though this was my slowest 5k of the year it's also the one I'm happiest with as I gave it absolutely everything and never chickened out or slowed down. I passed a good few guys along the way especially over the last couple of climbs which makes me really happy. Did about another 5k between warm up and cool down so total was about 10k. Not sure about exact distances as lots of tree cover and GPS was very iffy.

pointer28

Thursday 10/5/14

Trainer Road - High Hopes 60 mins

6 x 1 min @ 110% ftp, 1 min RBI
6 x 4 min @ 95% ftp, 2 min RBI

This was my first decent turbo session in a month albeit one of the easier ones (TSS 71) as I wanted to ease myself back into it. Felt very strange for the first few intervals but once I got going it wasn't too bad. I actually enjoy the TR sessions once I have something to focus on and I'm sorry I fell out of the habit. The biggest problem is that it's such a big job to set it all up, I'm going to try and tidy up the garage and see can I leave the bike on the turbo down there and then I only have to bring down the laptop when I want to do a session. The biggest issue with that may be heat in this weather, at least in the house I can open all the windows and get a breeze blowing though.

pointer28

Friday 11/5/14

Run - 20k with 4 x 2k @ M Pace

M Intervals averaged 4:35 mins/km AHR 169

While these felt relatively easy and I had to hold back to hit the pace rather than push on, the AHR was quite high and more in line with HM paces. Ideally I would have more than one day after a hard 5k race but I'm working at the weekend and I'm afraid I'll end up missing the session altogether if I postpone it. Gorgeous day for it and I lovely running hard in the sun, the wind not so much but you can't have it all your own way.

Starting to feel a bit more human now and going to really get stuck back into it next week.