Year Four

Fazz

Thanks lads but its minor pretty sure will be sorted with a massage as muscles are tight all around arm now.

Still training and should still be getting solid weekend to save what's left of the week but with proper tweaks I generally apply caution as want to maintain consistency as opposed to push through and into more serious injury.

The minor aches, I simply ignore and they go away :P . Not so much this silly nerve thing.

Fazz

Friday - just a massage on arm.

My lats, triceps and back of shoulder are very tight.
Probably triggered by sleeping on arm but caused by a lack of stretching or foam rolling in that area. Other side is also v tight but not as locked up.
Could also be a good thing and a sign I'm actually using the correct muscles swimming now! Yes I'll take it that way

Planned bike TT aborted sat morning after I woke up still sore and tested on turbo but not a good idea.

Easy rest day taken instead with a short easy no gadgets run.

Sunday - a bit better, hopped on turbo for 85mins v easy l1 and felt alright.

Very low week, maybe 8 or so hours and only a little bit of quality.

Consistency is not where it needs to be just yet but hopefully easing on muscles to prevent further issues.

One advantage of a late season planned peak is not worrying about minor inconsistencies around now.

Aim is to get normal hours in for next month, work on bike and try not get too smashed in a duathlon in 5 weeks time.
Will do the fingal sprint one as a course recce of the champs race, and a shock to the system also I expect!


Monday - arm a bit looser so did some more stretches in the morning.

peter kern

just read you last 6 weeks of training pity about your trapped nerve at the same time iam sure some slow time will do you good .

overall it would appear you are a bit too worried what happend to you last may , I would see it like this it was a small error that can be fixed easily with a tweak or two. and you seem already to have found the key. at the same time it looks a bit as you might be overcompensating a bit too much , in training and dicipline.
its been a while since i read your block but it used to be very enthusiastic and you seemed to have lost this a bit ( normal in a way but I would suggest you get a b goal for early season )

"Just because something did not work in the past does not mean it won’t work now - different time, different people, different place and different circumstances."

Fazz

peter kern wrote: »

just read you last 6 weeks of training pity about your trapped nerve at the same time iam sure some slow time will do you good .

overall it would appear you are a bit too worried what happend to you last may , I would see it like this it was a small error that can be fixed easily with a tweak or two. and you seem already to have found the key. at the same time it looks a bit as you might be overcompensating a bit too much , in training and dicipline.
its been a while since i read your block but it used to be very enthusiastic and you seemed to have lost this a bit ( normal in a way but I would suggest you get a b goal for early season )

"Just because something did not work in the past does not mean it won’t work now - different time, different people, different place and different circumstances."

Thanks for the post and You're right Peter. it's something that I realised a couple weeks ago.

Fortunately, Tri an Mhi is now my first race focus and likely to be a repeat showdown on last years podium along with more I hope. Huff n Puff may be joining also and these are the kind of line ups that help motivate and focus me.

I definitely needed an early season goal to stop what was a bit of a mental lul in working out the late season peak compared to late season decrease as experienced.

My race calendar is set and i'm excited about that.
I am back into full on training (last weeks tweak delaying) but my overall plan is to build into tri an mhi and do Kilkee before I take a short recovery break then try build back for Kenmare/Mallorca.
I think this will serve as a mental break as much as ensure I am still fresh and training well for a late sept planned peak.

My key has been consistency and I think that strongly contributes towards any performance progression so the overall training goal from here.

I do feel the down time/slight inconsistencies has helped and will help prolong what will be the next 9 months of solid training and racing.

I've the plans in place now and am in the right mental zone so hope to be working hard and consistent from here.

My blog has been reopened the last few weeks,have a few draft posts done but life has been busy but an update will be along shortly.
This has somewhat replaced it in a quicker easier updating format.

El Director

peter kern wrote: »

..."Just because something did not work in the past does not mean it won’t work now - different time, different people, different place and different circumstances."

That may be so, and just playing devils advocate here... definition of insanity - "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

Fazz

Monday.

Arm/back being managed. Stretched, foam rolled, trying not to put under much stress.
Will continue for the next few days in normal training mode and if tightens up then back for a proper massage until all loosened up.


Turbo - Sweet spot session with extended easy.
wu 15-20mins, 2 x 20mins @ 255w with 5min rest in between (150w).
Then extended with last 30 or so mins easy level 1.
Sweet spot watts felt about right. Maintained target wattage but was clearly struggling the last 5 mins of last 20min set. Spitting lactate is what Eanna used to call this and a sign of a lack of depth as well as the watts/set being at correct values. Decent Turbo set. Good times.

1hr 45 done.

Now on to the foam roller for some joyous yelping... :pac:

First hard swim for a week tomorrow. Won't be pretty. I'll be hanging on at the back I expect!

peter kern

i guess you would be right if fazz had a real crap season last year and the year before and got slower but in his case i think what he did the last 2 years was pretty much spot on. and apart from one minor issue which might have allowed him even better results many things are leading in the right direction.
or in another way if it was a soccer team he might need to make a substitution, but at least 9 out of 11 players ad the coach of his team performed last year. So its enough to substitute those 2 ( recovery week /not overstepping training and maybe expectations)
my guess would be that he had too many expectations for nat duathlon champs then really pushed on hard for tri an mhi and then in his hunger for more ignored a bit of fatique.when an easy week could have all he needed.
but if he learns form that ......

scott molina once said nicely in the lines , the drive i had to train hard made me a champion the drive i had to train also cost me many more champion chip titles, as i did not take enough rest ... the toughest question in training something alister brownlee seems too struggle a bit as well. and gomez has that down to perfection.

Fazz

So after a few hums and haw's I've seen the light and ironically I'd class my calendar as quite similar to last season - not enough races but hopefully in the right quality.

I had a look at anyone who's got an ironman right in the last few years, and if there's one common denominator it's quality in races over quantity.
Now most would generally be around June time so understandably not much domestic racing before, but even so, it's clear that to be good at a particular distance and get in the required quality in training one has to be disciplined with the race calendar.

Now Huff n Puff will be out to prove me and all other previous examples wrong. And I respect that approach as he is much more used to racing than I am and has a lot of experience and can probably train through races better than I could.

So my initial plan of completing the National Series is out the window.
Just doesn't suit my overall goals or long term future goals in the sport.
I accept I am not as competitive as the fish or fastest runners and the shorter distances does not cater to my strengths. I believe I could get faster but my long term goals rest in middle/long distance and this is my focus starting this season.

So, my initial plan of Lost Sheep being the A goal has been slightly shadowed by the Ironman Mallorca a month later.

I think I can race a good 70.3 on the back of an Ironman focused training plan. Again research into others here has proven the case - Niall Somers, Liam Dolan, Owen Martin, Martin Muldoon, Bryan McCrystal (more so a recent bike focus but when he was racing IM as pro too).

Could I race a good ironman on the back of a 70.3 focused training plan? Perhaps, but more likely to run into risks later in the marathon.

The duathlon champs is a tricky one. it's a very tough race, but is a very competitive race and a nice endurance event. It has advantages for me in that my running needs to improve to be respectable so helps the focus there. It's also nice and early, and helps get into some shape and motivation early season.

So current plan:
Mar-Apr - Duathlons - early, speed/hurt sessions, fun,
June - couple races, toy with idea of adding another but unlikely (3d Sprint/Athy Oly).
July - mini break before hard training block into August.
End of Aug - Race, drop, freshen, taper into IM.
End of Sept - A Race


March 1st - Fingal Sprint Duathlon
March 23rd - Naas Sprint Duathlon
April 5th - Fingal Standard Duathlon NC

June 7th - Tri an Mhi Half Ironman
June 28th - Kilkee Olympic NC

This is where I have a break planned. Last year didn't work for me and I am trying something different. It will be based off feel, but be a 7-10 day training break - probably easy bits but also rest days.
When I say didn't work for me - I purely mean up to May went to perfection, I peaked for Tri an Mhi and that was the goal and it was nailed. The only downside was my bike power numbers decreased from there (all be it 5-10%) and I couldn't regain the same power as May peak. So I want to try a different approach - recovery week of easy work is an option, complete break is another. Mixture of complete break from bike and recovery in others an option also - will be based off feel as I say.
There's no doubt in biking terms, I had fatigue in the end of the season and this is something I will need to change to get a peak at the end of the season for 2014.

Decent training block then leading into my B and A races respectively.

Aug 30th - Lost Sheep Half Ironman NC
Sept 28th - Ironman Mallorca

I won't want to take a break after Kilkee, but will apply discipline as still have 12 weeks before A race.
Is this risky? Perhaps. But I do feel it necessary to drop a bit to freshen up and avoid late season staleness. A holiday may help here also!
Will likely swim and run to an extent and then hopefully come back and hit it with a fresher approach.

El Director

peter kern wrote: »

i guess you would be right if fazz had a real crap season last year and the year ....

Just to be clear it wasn't my point of view at all that Fazz had a real crap season last season, that's laughable - IMO he had a great season! Like I said, I was just playing devils advocate...keeping an open mind and all that.

Ian - look forward to seeing you at those early season duathlons and the NC Duathlon, HoTW and Lost Sheep and see how I measure up!

Personally I like the fact that you are not afraid to try different approaches and have an open mind about things. I also like that you use a lot of probability to help you to make decisions. Makes sense.

shotgunmcos

The break will be hard as you will undoubtedly finish Kilkee on a high and wanting to push on. Try switching to some other code for a week. Go off road, mtb or something else aerobic but not SBR. Fun, hitting the lungs and yet still resting what needs to be rested..

Fazz

Tuesday

Swim - opted for 75% of the set at planned pace so as not to overload the muscles too soon as opposed to just easy swimming etc

Set was a Kev Keane nice one - 500 wu as 10 x 50 easy off :55, 3 x (1 x 400 steady off 7, 3 x 100 Hard off 2min) take break between 2nd and 3rd set (I missed this).
The set was 4 reps but I did 3 and out.
2,700m done in 55mins. Times not too bad 400's in 6:28-6:46 (traffic). 100's in 1:26-1:29 ish.
Defo feel the lats and triceps are tight.
Ongoing maintenance required for this area that has been neglected.

Run - easy 50mins treadmill - 10km.

Core - 15mins Core work

Foam rolling - 15mins back/glutes/calves. Don't talk to me about quads.

Good to be back in the pool. I enjoy swimming now and was glad times hadn't fallen off after a good few days of little/nothing.

Fazz

Wednesday

Turbo - Easy Strict Z2 power

35min wu, 60mins @ 160w, 30mins @ 200w, 25mins cd.
2hrs 30 done.

On reviewing file, hr started to creep during the 30 @ 200w.
A sure sign of lacking depth/aerobic fitness.
More easy work required. Nothing I didn't know as long bikes have been lacking up to now.

Fazz

Thursday - Off, Ate lots.

Friday

Run - 1hr 25min easy run - 4:54/km pace, 17.4km
Bike - 1hr 15min Easy - L1

Saturday:

Bike - long easy turbo - 3hr 20m as 20min wu, 2 x 8min @ 275w R2, then long easy work sub 200watts just building base.

Fazz

Sat Pm =

Swim - easy 3.1km mainly 100's off 1:45 - coming in easy pace close to 1:40.

Back massage imminent. Foam roller only inflicting so much pain

Fazz

Sun am

Run - easy trails, 80mins, 4:46/km, 16km.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Hey Fazz, do you think change and adjustment to swim stroke has lead to back/shoulder issues?

Fazz

Alaya Uneven Nag wrote: »

Hey Fazz, do you think change and adjustment to swim stroke has lead to back/shoulder issues?

I looked back through my log and the differences to my training this yr so far have been:

- increased strength work in that area
- change in swim technique now engaging those muscles.
- little to no foam rolling compared to a little in that area.

So yes, seems most likely the combination of using those muscles for both strength and swim is the cause.
It's poss the strength helped me start to use those muscles in swim in first place also.

So, I'm swimming better but suffering tight muscles.
Solution = more stretching, foam rolling and massage maintenance for those muscles as its the way forward for my swim I feel.

Oh, and try to sleep in more neutral positions but don't think this was the cause really more the final straw.

Fazz

Monday:

Turbo - Threshold short intervals, 1hr 10mins

wu 20min, 5 x 5min @ 275w aiming to increase wattage each interval. R3-4.5 as needed. CD.

Paced well, first rep at 277w, then 282w, 289w, 294w, 302w

More a medium set spending 25mins at above threshold than a hard set due to the extended recovery periods (3mins-4.5mins).
Still, felt good and a nice session.

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/TPMGYRVTKHRB6UYAMIBWCMVBCI

Fazz

So, I've been my own coach, planning my own sessions and doing my own work since around November now and I've learnt quite a lot, more about myself and what I feel works for me than technical stuff per say.

In November I kicked off running more, more frequency and more volume.
Purely easy work, no speed work at all and the only hard sessions would be the long run up the mountains - 1hr 30-2hrs with a fair bit of hills. Prob did a weekly treadmill session also purely easy at 5min/km pace or so just low impact helping the volume.

I carried this into December and ran some PB's over 4mile, 5km and all this off zero speed work but my highest volume and perhaps most hills work to date.

Biking was low during this period - 4-5hours a week and mainly 1-2 hard turbo's and a couple easy ones.
Swimming was being maintained, a lot on feel and endurance of 6-8-10 x 400's weekly and a set of 100's.
Strength was increased also and more upper body and core work done.

From December I dropped the hills as much, added some intensity in bits and kept the swim and bike the same.
Took it easy over xmas and enjoyed the hols.
Lost a bit of motivation for proper training kick off as I hummed and hawed over adjusted race plan with early season mallorca 70.3 clashing with a cousin's wedding so cancelled.
Did the same with overall training plan and trying to decide best approach to prevent late season burn out as experienced last year when I need the opposite this year in a late season peak.


January - kicked off trying to increase bike volume, joined up with a swim group of Kevin Keane's and hit a few sessions before my triceps/lats started tightening up and causing discomfort.
Strength work had decreased in Jan, but swim technique had changed and swimming became easier and more efficient but using muscles I hadn't been engaging before hence the lats and triceps issues whilst not massaging or foam rolling them enough.

Biking slowly increased and I started analysing my training last year along with reading and researching a lot on ironman plans and training approaches.
The Polarisation thread on slowtwitch was an interesting one for me, made a lot of sense and when I correlated it to my 2012 and 2013 training it directly matched up with overall work.
I then looked at my recent couple months and saw the most glaring thing in that my consistency was poor, normally my strength and whilst this wasn't necessarily caused by a different training approach, I had been doing less of the easy work and also had less motivation or overall approach to the season ahead.

I finalised my race season plans, included an early season half ironman being Tri an Mhi which should be stacked and this has helped motivation and approach.
I also took advice from others and those on here and came to a decision regarding my 2014 approach overall, as well as decided in my head what was working for me, what wasn't and how I'm going to proceed.

So my overall approach will be similar to last season, in that I'm into the hard work and training properly now and aiming for a mini peak at Tri an Mhi.
I will hopefully carry this into Kilkee 3 weeks later before taking an easy/recovery period/break.
This I hope will increase freshness, reduce fatigue and set me up for some quality work leading to my planned peak at the end of the season.
The rest period will be 1-2 weeks, contain some days off, some easy work, some maintenance and overall de-stress/de-fatigue.
A holiday will hopefully be in here also.

Pure training then into Kenmare and I have to admit the Ironman is becoming more on the priority in comparison but I hope to do well at both of these races.

So that's motivation and races sorted, now what about my training approach? What else do I need to recover my consistency and ensure I get the training done to the required levels I want to?

Well, I've found I can get good volume in and great return from following a similar approach to the Polarisation method, so this will be the base of my next block or two before I evaluate it's progress.
The aim is simple - consistency and quality and volume.
The method is also simple - 80% in easy zones, 20% in hard zones, repeat.
The science is there - my last 2 season have contained this type approach - primarily in bike and run and have seen great returns.
The comparison is also clear - I've tried a couple months at an unprepared approach, operating lower volumes, increasing intensities and sometimes missing intensities. It's resulted in a lack of consistency and I would say lack of response physically also.

Hills will be frequent, hard turbo's at sweet spot/above will be weekly and easy volume thereafter.

Swimming will be with the group where possible and maintenance of lats/triceps will be increased - at the cost of weights if needed initially to ensure the swim is consistent and at good volume.
Core will continue.

Hopefully, this should get me back on the consistency train and see me make gains as I head into the hurt lockers of duathlons in a month or so's time which will be my first speed sessions.

Fazz

I should add a metric approach that I will be using as a guide via training peaks also.

Alan Couzens is a coach over on endurance corner and I saw an interesting video blog on training peaks where he and another coach analysed their athletes on ironman performance in relation to Training Stress Score for training.
TSS is a metric that many programs use, and simply a stress score for each session based on your threshold speeds/watts/heart rate zones and volume completed.
It's an information point really but nonetheless an interesting guide.

The online seminar showed graphs of athletes tracked and a clear correlation could be seen for overall TSS for athletes in conjunction with ironman performance.
A short take away would be the average 9 hour ironman got up to an average TSS of 130-140 per day in the 20/24 week cycle up to race day.
Obviously exceptions apply, punctures, GI issues, strengths and weaknesses etc but a fair average if only that.
That's big scores, over 1,000 TSS per week and really near 1200 per 3 weeks with a drop of 800 or so to recover.

So this is all online numbers, but still, an indication or guide on overall consistency which is the aim anyway.
I won't stick to these numbers, but will be tracking mine and monitoring to see progress in relation to this.

Swim TSS is measured on the 910xt so this is useful seeing as I have the info I may as well review it.

It may be that I cannot sustain the above numbers and never get near them, I don't want to hit them one week but for consistency to drop off so I won't be reviewing them until after the next block or two when I hopefully have consistency and can look back at what the TSS performance was for that period.
There is no point hitting a big week but to drop off with fatigue/motivation the next this I know.

So again I repeat, consistency, consistency consistency.

Bambaata

Ive always wondered how accurate TSS is. I know that in 80% of my runs my HRM will spike wildly for a few seconds or even minutes and thus thought that this would put TSS for that session off kilter. Does anyone factor that in or does HR have that much of an impact on it?

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Bambaata wrote: »

Ive always wondered how accurate TSS is. I know that in 80% of my runs my HRM will spike wildly for a few seconds or even minutes and thus thought that this would put TSS for that session off kilter. Does anyone factor that in or does HR have that much of an impact on it?

Run - threshold pace and bike - threshold power, swim is still not accurate. These should be adjusted as fitness improves. TSS does not work for everyone but i find it works for me.

Quick one for Fazz, quick check for Roth prep showed me a weekly average of 870 with the big weeks over 1k and topping out at 1600tss before tapering.

Fazz

Alaya Uneven Nag wrote: »

Run - threshold pace and bike - threshold power, swim is still not accurate. These should be adjusted as fitness improves. TSS does not work for everyone but i find it works for me.

Quick one for Fazz, quick check for Roth prep showed me a weekly average of 870 with the big weeks over 1k and topping out at 1600tss before tapering.

What did you get your CTL up to out of curiosity Fran?
Must have been around the 110-120 mark so prior to taper?

Did I read that right in that you did a 1600 TSS week before taper?
That's huge! You must have been in bits after it!

Fazz

Tuesday

Swim - easy 2.2km mainly 100's - can still feel tight muscles but not the worst. Some swim fitness gone so more pool time before that is regained.

Run - up to treadmill for 65mins easy with a little flutter at the end. 13.1km.

Core - 10 mins core work.

Foam rolling - here I go...

El Director

Fazz wrote: »

Swim TSS is measured on the 910xt so this is useful seeing as I have the info I may as well review it.

What is a typical sTSS for you Fazz? Mine are always 0.8, 0.7 etc... which is way off and I use the 910xt too. The only way I can calculate sTSS accurately (well within the accuracy that the formula allows) is by doing it manually. So for that 0.8 sTSS really is a sTSS of 23.

For TP or your garmin to calculate sTSS it needs an input of your Functional Swim Threshold or CCS, where on TP can this be inputted?

trinewbie

JESUS CHRIST!NERDS!

El Director

trinewbie wrote: »

JESUS CHRIST!NERDS!

BTH

trinewbie wrote: »

JESUS CHRIST!NERDS!

I'm with you on this. Another thread Fazz was posting in he started taking about VI or something like that. No idea what that is. I completely tune out when that kind of rubbish starts. Still not even sure what TSS is!

F-ing nerds.

El Director

BTH wrote: »

I'm with you on this. Another thread Fazz was posting in he started taking about VI or something like that. No idea what that is. I completely tune out when that kind of rubbish starts. Still not even sure what TSS is!

F-ing nerds.

It cannot be forced and we will have to be patient but some day curiosity will get the better of you and when it does we will be there for you and gladly explain it all "...gather round and I tell thee a tale..."

catweazle

El Director wrote: »

It cannot be forced and we will have to be patient but some day curiosity will get the better of you and when it does we will be there for you and gladly explain it all "...gather round and I tell thee a tail..."

Thanks christ you didn't come to that dinner El D, the wife would have been asleep in the soup bowl

You can excuse Fazz a little as he is a financial controller!

Spotted the bike the last day - fantastic, training seems to be going well for you this year!

I hope you declared all that grinds money it must have cost