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Dilbert75

Tue-Wed
Visiting, driving, eating. Not training.

Thur
More driving. Some eating. Dog walking and some running. Plan was 3k wu, 3k @4:15/k, 3k CD. Actual was 3.36k wu mostly downhill (16:03), 3k@4:09/k, 3.56k cd mostly uphill (18:14). Now for some rolling and stretching.

Dilbert75

Fri
Cross-training - a novel concept in this log. Going to try bias this towards the bike so I don't get to summer able to do nothing but run. As a gentle, ease-into session I set out to do a bit on a Wattbike; 10 min wu, 10 min tempo, 10 min cd.

I'd no idea what constituted tempo so aimed for HRZ4 - bad idea. It's so long since I was on a bike I forgot that my hr is lower than when running, so I struggled to get into and stay in the upper 3s. Turns out that a min hr of 150 might have been a better floor. Stayed at around 240W for the 10 mins tempo and then backed off the resistance for the cd.

Was suitably exercised by this anyway. And though I was under pressure it was more productive than sitting at home eating Scots Clan. Again. Followed it up with 15mins of foam rolling. Nice.

Dilbert75

Sat
Last training session of 2016. Snuck a swim in before the pool closed - 1000m in 30 mins (22 mins of moving). No drills as such but have been trying to get my (open) turns working more efficiently - so when I'm swimming, I'm moving constantly. It's taking me time - old dog, new trick - but it's getting there. But I really need to be swimming more than once a fortnight. Club swim is due back week after next I think.

Dilbert75

Sun
Long run. Target was 21k @5:02/km. Chose to run the line north from St Mullins through Graiguenamanagh and turn at 10.5k. Mrs D came with me as part of her prep for Donadea - running on squishy surfaces is a totally different prospect to tarmac. Outbound leg averaged 5:01/k and 4:59/k on the way back. Lower back was complaining a bit on the way back and I reckon I've a blister on my baby toe but other than that the only emotion at the end was hunger (ran it with no food or water). Happy to have it in the bag though.

Happy new year!

Dilbert75

Mon
Gym was closed so did some stretching at home and left it at that. Was trying to get a computer repair done before going back to work so concentrated on that.

Tue
Awake at 3:33am. By 5am I was fed up so got up and said I'd be at the gym at 6am, get my Wattbike session done and get home for breakfast by 7 before lunch. Perfect except the gym didn't open till 8. Said I'd catch it that evening. Got to gym at 6:20pm and realised they were closing at 7pm, so not enough time to get session done. Frustrating. Knackered anyway so went home.

Wed
Tempo run. Ravenous by the time I left work so had dinner first. Plenty of time to regret it. Plan (actual):
1.5km wu (1.5km @4:58/km)
8km@4:34/km (8km@4:34/km)
1.5km cd (1.8km @5:09/km)

Legs like lead, panting like a cornered bandit but got it done.

Neady83

Oh s**te C, what sorta gym is that? Should they not be open 24/7 this week with the queues outside them?

Oh and 2017 ..... what are your plans?

Dilbert75

Haha - I kinda envied the staff tbh. It was my own ill-preparedness that caught me out.

I'm currently on the road to Rome. Beyond that I've no firm plans.

Dilbert75

Thur
Wattbike: 10 min warm up, 20 min tempo, 10 min cool down. First 10 mins was average 130W, first 20 mins was average 171W, first 30 mins was average 187W and the whole 40 mins was average 174W. Sweated buckets and felt under pressure but was happy to complete it in full.

Dilbert75

Fri
Speed session. Plan (actual):
- 10-20 min wu (10 min, 2.14km)
- 1200@4:39 (4:41)
- 200RI
- 1000@3:49 (3:51)
- 200RI
- 800@3:02 (3:00)
- 200R
- 600@2:15 (2:12)
- 200RI
- 400@1:29 (1:25)
- 200RI
- 10 min cd (16 min, 3.2k)
Mostly walked the RIs, breaking into a jog near the end. 200m is very short!

Total: 10.36km in 50:27.

Dilbert75

Sat
Missed cross training. My brother and his wife just bought their first house and they've a week to get it painted, flooring down, etc so I'm giving a hand. Long, physical day.

Sun
Long run. Plan was 27.5km @5:11/km. Actual was 27.8@5:12/km. Had problems controlling my speed several times and had to resort to walking a couple of times to bring my average speed down - and stop the Garmin alerting me that I was going faster than planned. The early speed bit me though - was on my knees near the end and a cramp in my right glute since yesterday go worse. Back to painting shortly.

Dilbert75

Mon
2nd block of swim coaching started tonight. So having spent the first block looking mainly at technique, now we're going to be focussing on speed. And if you need to puke, make sure you puke into the gutters at the side. :eek: So it's all short bursts. I can't quite remember but I think I got 150m warm-up done, followed by 150m seal, 4x25 back kick, 8x75 (fast fc, slow bc, fast fc), 12x50 (slow fc, fast fc)...there was something else in there. I think I got to about 1200m - a lot of recovery time required between sprints (fast = flat out).

Dilbert75

Tue
Late home from work and utterly pooped, physically and mentally. Night off.

Wed
Late home from work and utterly pooped, physically and mentally. Caught last three quarters of Miss D's basketball match (she scored twice!) and then home. Then run. Originally planned my tempo session but switched to speed.

Plan (actual) was as follows:
- 10-20 min wu (2.25km in 11:02)
- 1600m in 6:20 (6:08 - started too fast and didn't slow enough)
- 400 RI
- 1600m in 6:20 (6:12)
- 400 RI
- 1600m in 6:20 (6:15)
- 400 RI
- 10 min cd (2.13km in 10:36)
Home for dinner. At 10:30pm. Hardly ideal....

Dilbert75

Thur
Late home from work, eat dinner and off out for the evening.

Fri
Original plan was to tempo run this am but I had to leave earlier than expected so had to scrap it. I was going to Dublin via my brother's new house in Wicklow to pick up a removal van to move all their stuff in. Collected it at 12pm and we were lifting, running, jumping, etc. until after 1am, when we both literally collapsed exhausted (our last two tasks having been to carry a double and a super-king sized mattress upstairs). I figure the day more than met the target of a high intensity cardiovascular workout.

Sat
Finished house moving around 3pm. Shoulder sore from all the lifting and dragging. Planned to get home in time to hit the Wattbike for 45mins but went mid-life-crisis shopping and got THIS close to putting a deposit on something that may not necessarily be the wisest investment. Home to eat and clean up and out for the night.

Sun
Home at 1:15am. If I were Neady I'd have been up at 6am to cycle to the foot of a mountain to climb it blindfolded, just for practice for dark climbing. But I'm not so I gave in to my exhaustion and lounged around all morning. Miss D wanted to bake lemon drizzle cake in the afternoon so I stayed around to led assistance. Then went for my long run at 4:30, not long after my final power nap of the day.

Plan (actual) was 29km (29km) @5:11/km (5:14/km). Usual story: went out too fast, suffered later on. I only dropped off target pace in the last 6.5km when faced with two sharp hills. I was bet and couldn't do much but keep going, but that I did. Probably dropped a minute or two in that time but wasn't bothered. I got it done when I didn't feel like doing it and that's important.

The cake is gorgeous.

Neady83

ha ha love it. Cheers C, that made me smile

29km LSR eh. Building nicely. Have you a long one in mind?

Dilbert75

Neady83 wrote: »

29km LSR eh. Building nicely. Have you a long one in mind?

12 weeks to Rome!

Kurt.Godel

Dilbert75 wrote: »

went mid-life-crisis shopping and got THIS close to putting a deposit on something that may not necessarily be the wisest investment.

Aw c'mon Dilbert, don't leave us hanging; let us know what it is and we'll tell you why you need it!:D

Dilbert75

Mon
Other things on and only barely out of work in time to go there, so nothing done. Swapped swim night with a club mate.

Tue
Club swim - second week of the speed block, so all fast / big efforts over shorter distances. Total was 1550m as far as I could count. One of the lads commented afterwards on how much improved my speed is since we last shared a lane in Oct/Nov. Was on a high for 2 days after that.

Wed
Day before monthly report to the Board in work. Working from just after 8am to just before 11pm. No training.

Thur
Other commitments in the evening so, even though I got home at a reasonable hour, I was straight out again after dinner. Home around 8:45 and considered doing my missed Wednesday session but I was just exhausted and was conscious of having another hard running session on Friday. Elected for 2 good sessions instead of 1 good and 2 mediocre and got a relatively early night.

Fri
Choice between intervals (1200 x2 + 800 x4) or 8k tempo. I ended up missing my tempo run last week so chose it this time. 1.5k wu, 8k@4:25/km, 1.5k cd. So that's what I did. Was gasping for air afterwards though and wondering how the heck I once ran a 39:xx 10k.

career move

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Was gasping for air afterwards though and wondering how the heck I once ran a 39:xx 10k.

Sure weren't you a lot younger then

Dilbert75

career move wrote: »

Sure weren't you a lot younger then

We all were

Dilbert75

Sat
Snuck to the gym in the afternoon (instead of doing the grocery shopping or walking the dog - not a universally popular choice). 45 mins on the Wattbike; 10 mins wu, 15 mins tempo, 5 mins easy, 10 mins tempo, 5 mins cd. I'd no idea what tempo might be in power terms so I set up to exceed 140bpm on these segments. In power terms it worked out at the following power: 170W, 217W, 150W, 210W, 132W. Total was 27km simulated. Legs felt it.

Sun
Long run time. Target was 32km @5:11/km. Route was the same as last week except the 1.25km out and back last week grew to 2.75km each way. Went fine. Daylight this time helped and I'd slept pretty well beforehand. Still the hills in the last 7km were savage. I was ahead of target before this but gave back a lot of time on this section. Still ended up with an average of 5:12/km for the 32km.

Dilbert75

Mon
Ckub swim night. Pool is a half hour from work so really need to leave by 7:20. Was 7:46 when I was going out the door so it was 8:20 when I reached poolside. Everyone else was obviously busy so I snuck into my lane and got warming up. Then into sprint sets, followed by 100m easy and back into 10x50m sets off 1:15. Total was 1225m in 40 mins, mostly sprinting. Arms were virtually dead and the quiet in the dressing room indicated it wasn't just me who was worn out. Good though - when I wasn't queuing for my turn I was swimming relatively quickly so it felt good.

Tue
Interval run. Guess what? Late from work again. Straight to the track and changed in the car. Started my warm up but quickly realised all wasn't well with my left ankle. I didn't twist it or anything so I figure it's muscle tightness. Abandon ship rather than making a small problem big. Home to roll & stretch - hopefully all will resolve itself.

Dilbert75

Wed
Supposed to be resting tonight and tomorrow night but I'd an interval session to do. The foam rolling had hit several spots, as had the massage ball under my foot. Still the muscles don't feel exactly right but definitely better.

Plan (actual)
10-20 min wu (11)
6x800m@3:02 with 90s RI (2:59,2:59,3:01,3:01,3:02,3:03)
10 min CD (10)

Some rolling still required but overall successful. Windy bloody night though it's not cold.

Dilbert75

Thur
Planned rest. 100% achieved.

Fri
Tempo run. Plan (actual) was:
1.5k wu (1.5k)
9.5k @4:34/km (9.5k @4:31/km) - and I went the hard way around the loop - 2k drag getting steeper as you go towards the end.
1.5k cd (1.7k)

Had a little foam roll before I went out and it helped I think. Could do with another one now though.

Dilbert75

Sat
Wattbike - plan and actual were:
5 min wu
1 min hard, 1 min easy
2 min hard, 1 min easy
3 min hard, 1 min easy
4 min hard, 1 min easy
3 min hard, 1 min easy
2 min hard, 1 min easy
1 min hard, 3 min easy

Was aiming for min 120W for the easy bits (10/1 on the Wattbike), 240W for the hard bits (10/4) and managed that. Total was 18.7km (avg 36.5km/h) with an average of 203W for the half hour. Couldn't feel much afterwards so I guess that's good.

Dilbert75

Sun
Long run. Plan was 21km @4:52/km. Set off with Mrs. D at about 8:15, just as it was starting to drizzle. Cold at first but warmed up within 1.5km (apart from my quads, which stayed cold for the first half). A simple out-and-back along the n25, complete with some tasty hills. First half averaged 4:49/km (50:42) and the return averaged 4:48/km (50:29). Got home just before the rain got heavy. Off now to stand in a field in Kilmore to watch Master D run for 2 minutes (county xc relays). Bad timing - could have been off hiking in the Wicklow mountains today but maybe next time.

Dilbert75

Monday
Club swim. Was late to bed last night so wrecked today. Also had meetings till 6 so too late to eat at that stage, so off I went on an empty stomach. If that was my first mistake then being on time was a second. I'd hardly warmed up and I was wrecked. But sure what can you do but persevere? Loads of sprints - 100f, 25f/25s/25f, 25f/25s, 25f, all with multiples off 15s rest. Total was I think 1700m in the hour. OK so I'm still in the novice lane and 100m is taking me 2:05, compared to the sharks doing it in 1:15, but I'm now looking at progressing rather than survival.

Dilbert75

Tuesday
I'm travelling from early on Sunday morning & all next week so I couldn't push out by a day without having consecutive run days, which is not allowed by The Plan. So I was gearing towards long run on Saturday, then Thursday and Tuesday. Was supposed to be tempo run night but I needed to get out of work on time at 5pm, or by 5:30 at the latest, in order to fit it in.

But a self-important man in America (actually not the tangerine terror) decided overnight that he wanted some updated figures compiled and muggins ended up doing it till nearly 8pm. So no run. Might try get out this evening if I can squeeze it in but work remains mental and besides energy is low this week, so I'm conscious of not overdoing it. This may end up being a miss.

Dilbert75

Thur
Gale force winds and driving rain so elected to tempo run indoors. Still feeling knackered and a touch of a sore throat but anyway. Warm up 3km was fine but quickly started to overheat and feel nauseous in the tempo session, despite having a fan blowing on me. Called it 2.5km into the 5km@4:15/km. Had to catch my breath and drink lots of water before I could head for a shower. Not a good day. Hopefully will get the long run done on Saturday because I'll be travelling for probably 22 hrs from Sunday morning, so it won't be an option.

Dilbert75

Fri
Working till 3:30am last night so too knackered to wag.

Sat
Long run day. Plan (actual) was 29(29.5)km@5:02(4:59)/km. Started in daylight but it got dark quite quickly so the headlight/visivest/reflectors were very much needed. Nothing much dramatic to report. Flying to LAX tomorrow so that's the day fecked and there's 25mm of rain forecast for Monday so let's see what materialises run wise.

Dilbert75

Sun
As expected, travel. Left home at 7:30am and got to my hotel in Anaheim at 4:30am Irish time. Got a decent enough sleep though.

Mon
Awake early. Got breakfast and sat at the computer all day. Twas properly raining outside all morning. So this evening I went to the "fitness room" - a box room with a treadmill, a cross trainer and a stepper. And no drinking water. Anyway. Plan was 10min wu, 2x1600m@6:20 with 60s RI, 2x800m@3:02 with 60s RI, 10min cd. Went pretty much to plan apart from having to step off after the 2nd to crank up the zircon. Only other problem was that the dreadmill couldn't incline at all without going into fault. But anyway.

Not sure how to manage cross training tomorrow. There is a pool but it's outdoors and small - I'm not terribly tall but I may end up feeling like BFG in it. Let's see.