project 40/41

peter kern

3 f camp
10 days at fuerteventura went quite well and it was enjoyable
I had 3 goals
Fitness ( miles and more)
Fish ( that's what I always indulge while in Spain and iam convinced eating good fish makes me a better swimmer
And fat loss ie loads of training and healthy diet.

I would think overall all 3 goals where achieved pretty close to perfection.

Fitness was gained. now I had not even a watch with me ( needless to say no powermeter speedo GPS etc) so it's hard to say what I did but I have a good idea and my guess is 24 k swim around 1250 k on bike and 110 k running. I just did what body and mind where happy to do. As one would expect it was windy and plenty of hills sol no surprises here. And the climbing were my " efforts"
The plan was to camp the first 5 days close to tuineje ( centre inland and the 2 nd half at la Olivia ( north side of the island)
And I have to say it was awesome as I just got more diversity of roads and staying not at the cost gives so much more options and going the same road day in day out. and often I brought the neoprene with me on rides and swam early afternoon when it was warmest. and la Olivia has a brilliant 25 m pool.
The first week I got enough stimuli by just doing longer days. I passt one guy in the first week and got passed by plenty ... the last few days when groups pased me I stayed on and I was lucky enough that 2 groups that passed me were the cream de la cream of Itu . So I can report that the highest HR I had during the camp was going downhill lol. I was with the Norwegians who were super chatty and very open and going easy at a long climb but as soon we were on top the show was on, impressive stuff and I have to say I did improve on my downhill skills and I was much more switched on after that first experience where I had to cycle for life to get back on . On Sunday I encountered one of the best tri squads in the world and that was awesome to watch those 7 guys a work. Total professionals and better than pro cycling teams I have followed. I really liked cycling with the Norwegians as the very the nicest guys I meet all week. But watching those 7 was just a beauty to watch. There is nothing nicer than observing perfection and that was perfection how those guys. conducted themselves. I discussed that with another coach who was more of the opinion that the easier ride can be a bit more fun and he reckons only at swimming you need to be totally switched on all the time. But still I loved the way they worked,even at an easier session. I did like what the Norwegians are doing, but it wasn't quite as impressive in a sporty sense. But very impressive that they were so friendly. there is a place for the 2 and of course the Norwegians were also totally switched on downhills.
So overall I had a very good mix doing 95 % off my training on my own just focusing on my body and also being lucky enough seeing some tip squads and also some ****e groups that seemed to do the typical racing at training camp....

Fish worked very well and I loved cooking in the evening and did I say I love octopus lol.
They have some good veg and fruits papaya being my favourite followed by awesome green Peper and the canary island bananas that just taste great.

Fat loss went also v well my trouser that acts like a sacle and was tight is now pretty ok and I see some veins again ( while iam writing this my fat neighbour in the plane is munching crisps and talking about diet with his friend. he is fat is because he has a slow metabolism... mate its the Mars bar you had before the crisps s and the sandwich and coffee with 4 sugars...) I catch myself thinking the same that now at 43 it's getting harder to get the weight right, but it just needs more focus and the good guys find ways to do it.
I ate well and surprisingly I went through 1 liter of oil in 10 days.
but apart from 300 gram of choclate everything was quality and an average of 6 hours traing with some diet focus just works. I guess I would have been in calories deficincy 9 out of 10 days and only at the end of one bike ride I was getting a bit low on energy. I tired to be a bit hungry but not crazy either so I suspect I did lost close to 1.5 kg in 10 days which is a lot for me but I was in control.

At this stage happy where bike is and also with the swim and weight. Run fitness is on the up too but the one thing iam behind is still the run pace and this needs work.
But overall v pleased as so far iam in the driving seat and ahead of schedule and not like the last 2 years were I was constantly trying to catch up with weight and and the bike.
No niggles, must t be the 3 strenght sessions I did during the camp :-) as the pool was so cold I needed to do to warm up. ( and also it was so funny watching the peacocks in the gym spending more time in front off the mirror than on the Weights) Knee also in the dark green a zone nd is the only thing I have to watch at the moment. But also much better than last 2 years.
Have to say really enjoyed this trip even though the weather wasn't that great but still pretty solid. I when I go to morroco I always feel straight away happy at the canaries it always takes a few days to get used to it. But I did enjoy it a lot this time and I guess big part was staying in 2 locations and I covered every single Road on the island. And the open water swimming is just one of the best in Europe in the south of the island.
Anyway as always the most important time of those trips is last day of the camp and the 72 hours after this is were camps are made or broken.
And cycling Home from the airport with light snow wasn't the best so I need to be super careful now.

One thing if I go there the next time I will bring wider tyres as there is so many fantastic gravel roads I did a few on the roadbike but especially since one of my tyres developed a sidewall issue I stopped it in order to get me through the week ( i kept t he hole of sidewall nicely in check with empty gel packet thanks to the king my gel and protein bar sponsor. BTW Them gels are good with porridge ;-) but even the gravel roades are usually in pretty Good condition and you can go quite fast even on a road bike only after rain to be avoided

El Director

Thanks for the post, enjoyed reading it Peter.

peter kern

an eventful week ...

was to be an easier week with swim and run test.

became more intersting by falling of my bike 100 meter from my house thursday morning . while i was away new pothole develpoed and since it was covered by water i did not see it and when i cycled through the wheel got stuck and i was launched in the air ) luckily not much happend and only elbow and right hip were a bit stiff thursday evening.
i was lucky. and while thursday evening run did not feel briliant it wasnt to bad either.

went on the scales on thursday and i was 79.4 k which is pretty good for me i hit that weight last year begining of april. i went on the scales as i felt quit light running wed night an i assumed i would be 80 kg flat

friday morning i was running with alan and i thought he was doing 3.30 pace it was a bit fast for me but i did think i would have 3.30 pace in me but good dropped . realiced after wards that he was doing 3.26 . so i did set a new 5k pb for this season. should have worn a watch.
i noticed i wasnt quite willing to push as mind still in recovery mode after the camp and in a way the same for swim tt
but overall pleased with that as it i progress albeit weightloss progress


pm swim tt that didnt work out the way it should have but i
did 5.18 for 400 and the push of the wall was the only thig where i do notice the fall from y day so left a bit there . 5.20 was min goal and i was hoping for sub 5.15 looking at it before fuerteventura i would likely have broken 5.15 but i wasnt sharp enough since i did not do intensity last 2 weeks
400 paddle and pb was a disaster and eneded up 5.14 was expecting just under or just over 5 min for that . i treied again as i had strugled with the pb and was more focused on not losing it than going fast but abandoned after 2oo as it wasnt happening , and the pool got to busy to do the rest off the plan and i wasnt in the mood anymore . at least despite not being really in the mood the 400 fs i did push an i was happy with the consitency of the splits . but at the end of the day my friday swim session is way more important than the tts. but it was another clear reminder what i need to focus on more at swimming .
both run and swim opened up the muscles after a few days easier training

sat i decided that its time to break 17 for 5 k and went to st annes park ... i was the first time this year almost in the zone when i arrived , only to realice i had forgotten my runners ... not a biggie as it was also an awesome day for a bike and that i did and it was fun
swam 4k and run 10 k at night

overall pleased as its could have been much worse and i was lucky at the fall.

Kurt.Godel

Amazing how the mind works, looks like your subconscious was in control after the previous heavy volume. I'm curious about the 400TT and 5kTT Peter, would you advise athletes to seek aggressive pb's straight after a heavy volume block?

peter kern

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Amazing how the mind works, looks like your subconscious was in control after the previous heavy volume. I'm curious about the 400TT and 5kTT Peter, would you advise athletes to seek aggressive pb's straight after a heavy volume block?

Depends of course we need to define what is aggressive. If Johnny still smiles and has time to wave his hand for the camera in a 5 k race we are not going to talk about aggressive...While he might think he was trying hard... Of course this days that is loads of triathletes...
At the same time at this time for most people it should not take an aggressive Effort to beat their season pb. And heavy traing block is also a very random definition. Loads of miles is not equal heavy training. Running and swimming wise thar was closer to recovery week.

So the answer is it depends. the way you ask it I would say no. As really heavy and really aggressive don't go toghter.
I have a few more random thoughts on it I will scribble down later
The other thing is in recovery week there is never a chance I would set an aggressive time my brain very much switches off and there is nothing I hate more than tts in recovery week. And for me to get into the zone for Saturday was quite an achievement but defo no chance to go aggressive
. At the same time triathlon is about performing under fatigue
And that needs to be practiced too.

peter kern

another solid week 2 long runs and a 17.03 min park run. and i even did a few 50 meter swim efforts.
not a brilliant week but still pretty good and progress,
its about time now that the weather gets a bit better. yesterday was a brill day but it really could be a few degrees warmer lol.

Pmaldini

peter kern wrote: »

another solid week 2 long runs and a 17.03 min park run. and i even did a few 50 meter swim efforts.
not a brilliant week but still pretty good and progress,
its about time now that the weather gets a bit better. yesterday was a brill day but it really could be a few degrees warmer lol.

it will be a few more weeks before that happens if the boardsie weather guys are right:D:eek:

peter kern

just in case if you did not train this morning ... I did and how lovely it was to run and swim ;-)

somebody did say to me you need your head checked lol . only in ireland would they say this after a few cm of snow ...

peter kern

while i was complaining a bit about the weather i loved it last week
I love running and cycling and the snow and it it was really the first time i had the pleasure to do so in Ireland so 2 thumbs up for the weather last week

my favorite day was wednesady where i did my first turbo session where i felt its starting to come togheter and then in the afternoon i was going places and really enjoyed the finnesse and focus required on the snow ( iam not a good bike handler at all but still it was amazing also good menories when i moved in my late teens over x mas to scotland by bike and had snow pretty much every day, i still rember sliding down a hill in kent on my side but was fun )

not quite sure about miles but defo highest run miles since october and likley 110 k ( prob worth 125-130 without snow) only one fast run tho.
a for hour turbo on sunday and 2 hard sessions .
only 2 swims but a new 50 meters season pb.
fab week for training and a nice change.

pgibbo

Nice going yesterday Peter! :cool:

peter kern

pgibbo wrote: »

Nice going yesterday Peter! :cool:

Looks like I would have preferred a swim bike swim race...

Anyway it's one of those races where you are pleased, yet enough annoyed to want more
It was my first serious test and while not a key race as, such I certainly did taper last week.
The bike wasn't great as I have done less than 200 k on tt bike and changed something only 10 days ago and had a little issue with the smallest cog . But on the day that was a very good effort. Especially since a test lap on my course on Friday was way slower than I had hoped for.
Run was not bad at all for were iam. ( ok it was ****e but I knew that before the race, given the fact I was quite ok with it.
And I did run the first 2.7 k fast of the 2 run and did gain a bit on forth place but it was a bit too far and I slowed down a bit, as there was no point going into the red for nothing.
Still the first 10 k where good for my run training.
Enjoyed the race overall and it was very well organised and marshaled
and I guess its a strong contender for best value race of the season. 30 euro for a great 2 hour race and food after is amazing. my respect for the organisers Efforts.

peter kern

after the dua nationals i started the week a bit easier.
monday active recovery
tusdays 2 easy swims and an easy run
wed turbo for 70 min with a few built 7 min intervals
thursday double swim and 26 k run
friday double swim and 2 hour turbo with shirter intervals
sat park run , was a nice race there was a guy at my level he was a bit slower so i was leading most time but he run an attac up the hill and got a gap so i had my work cut out fo rnext 600 or so meter to get him back passed quickly and cruised home. time was very slow but it was incredibly windy and the guy 2 weeks ago run 17 flat and i guess his effort was not lower this time as he did want to win. anyway it was a good session floolwed by 3 hour turbo and another pm run
sunday am short run 5 hour turbo 40 min pm run
monday am and pm run and 2 hour turbo
tue am 8 k of run intervals at 5k or slighly faster pace
despite the pool being closed for sat sun . I got 18-19 ks swiming done and a solid amount of cycling and runing. and lilttle progress on bike and run.
happy with last week as i recovered well and got some good sessions in . and todays intervals felt quite good i felt like i was running well yet also in controll. was the first itme i run 2 k intervals this year.

peter kern

its getting tougher since i have ramped up the interval durations . until the dua nats everything was pretty much good solid work but controlled, now sessions are more taxing . I am still not wearing a watch most of the time but I do feel the sessions much more after the sessions now. and body wants more sugar.
swimming has been suffering a bit but iam chipping away and today
i set a 3 year pb in the 200 400 200 set for paddle in pb set with 5.08 pull . the 200s were also good and i think i swam the first sub 2.45 this year nothing special but i was swiming comletely on my own and thats quite god for me , in the next few weeks i have to sort out some sessions where i have to push a bit more i am quite confident i could swim a 52-53 for an ironman but but at the same time i also know there is another minute there with a few tough sessions .

went for first camping trip this year in ireland and we cycled up the east coast
it was quite enjoyable and i got loads of overgear work in on the tandem ( my partner is one of the few people that prefers a lower cadence than i do so its always a grind ) the weather was fab.
did a 2 hour run sunday morning along the coast around dundalk and really enjoyed that.
the way it looks like i will try to go sub 8.40 at the ironcat on the 19thth of may .
and plalnng to do the clontarf 10 miler next monday after a good bike weekend at a good solid effort.

A pretty good easter weekend
Friday run am and pm 3 hour turbo with 2x50 min above IM pace ( that session hurt a lot but was great)
Sat am 2.10 long run with an incorporated 5 k park run ( in 17.25) followed by 20 min at roughly 4.10 pace and the rest easyish quite happy with that pm. 5 hour bike 3.5 around blessington lake and 90 min turbo with 50 min max effort I was extremely happy when that was done as i was haging in the ropes for last 20 min
sun am 8 k run with some strieds Pm 3 hours climbing in the wicklows and some good solid efforts. Pm 8 k run. And some core work
Sunday 30 min bike clontarf soome warm up ,10 miler 59,14 min and cycle home. Pm. 5 hour turbo
Reasonably happy with the 10 miler wasn't the best weather at this cornery course. I was going for 58 min as goal time. Started out a tiny bit too quickly so pacing was a bit suboptimal but it was a good solid Effort.
My last and only other 10 miler in ballycotton was almost 4.30 min quicker. At the same time i belive a bit tapered rather than going inot it really fatiqued tapered I would have been able to break 57 min. and the running is definitley commng on.
While the running is not there yet I have had 8 weeks of good running now and good improvements. with 4 plus 25 k runs my long runs have become much better and i was suprise how easy the first 3 miles were on Sunday given the hard training lately ( i runappros 200k the 11 days before the 10 miler ) iam still 3 _4 secs behind target but it was 5 sec a month ago so that's positive lol.and while I still need to bring my speed up iam definitely operating much better at sub threshold level.
i was almost a bit dissapointed to not have been sore at all the day after the 10 mile and i run and swam quite freshly on tuesday and my bike legs were more tired than run legs.
so far a solid week with decent swiming and running
doing portloise tri tommorow and then the plan is a good bike ride on the way home and long bike and long run sunday ( thursdasy long run was a bit on the short side but it was mentaly challenging as i had not been in the mood for it so good IM practise )

rodneyr1981

Well done on the win yesterday Peter

peter kern

cheers
i was very lucky. i punctured around k 13-4 into the bike , it was a very slow one and for the first or 2 k i thought i am imagining it,but it was real and i just got it home . every year i am thinking to get rid of my now 15 year old disc wheel as i would prefer a clincher but y day it saved me as i would not have gotten through the bike on a clincher wheel .

i was happy with my swim i was told it was 10.15 min and i wore a slow setup, and with the usual skinsuit i usually borrow for races i would have done sub 10 and i only drafted first 175 meter i think. so thats good and i think its more 51- 52 IM shape
all in all a good day but man did it rain on the way home ...
still about 190 k cycling done .
and today another 5 hours and an 8 and 12 k run.
all in all approx 600 cycling k for the week .

edit nice friendly race and the marshalls were really fantastic.

pgibbo

Congrats Peter. Nice going

peter kern

cant remember what i did exactly last week
but likely the first week i swam less than 10 k this training year.
bike approx 13 hours (9 weekend )
run about 140 -150 k including two 40 k days and a 30 k day with 12x200 s and 12 k 600 push 600 float at kyper pass.
key day of week was sat 2.10 am run broken into , 1 hour run , park run 3.30 pace ,30 min steady, 5-6 k push ( approx 3.45 pace ) 5 hour bike in wicklows 80 min straight of the bike.
while i really cant remember a few sessions i did ( i remember I missed a swim sessions lol and not sure weather i did one run or not ) i do know i could not have done more. there was a few times last week i had to really push l.
very pleased with park run sat as this was hard work (despite being the first one i did not set a new park run pb ( missed it by 3 sec and it was well windy) but i did run well given the fatique level i started that run with.
this week is bit easier till friday with swim focus and another 40k run day .

peter kern

the heel of italy had been a place i had wanted to see for a long time. I got a good look at it for 11 days and rather enjoyed it ( at the same time it was also being a bit frustrating missing out on seeing so many intersting things since i was there for training , but as they say seing a bit is better than nothing)

earlier in the year i was in fuertventura for miles this time it was about pushing the envolpe on the intensity side and there was usually 60 - 90 k at ironman pace or above. I was overall happy with the outcome and good progress was made. as always there is things that could have been better but it would be sad if that wasnt the case.
day one i cycled from bari to a village just south of lecce and leaving the airport at 2 i had my work cut out ( carrying a back pack was good back training ) cycling to dublin airport and a few loses got me close to 200 k on the travelling day.
most of the days consisted of an early morning run bike and an swim or another run swiming was a bit substandart but should have been enough not to lose too much and all my swiming was open water and therefore good open water practise. overall i did about 16 k of swimming and some in really stunning locations . water temp was ok bit like ireland in july.
Bike i got about 1950 k the road surface was not that great and often changed between a few km of good surface and a few k of very bumpy roads (often not potholes more like cracks and waves) good in a fair bit off overgeared work
run nothing too special many 50min -1 hour runs and one 2.10 hour run all in all aobut 140 150 k but i did feel runing better at the end then at the start of camp. in both locations i stayed at the running was excellent running in the old town off lecce was definitely the highlight .

weightwise i am not too sure guess is i lost 1kg but i still have a bit to go. the goal was more to be fueled well to not run out of energy and only one day i felt that i did not quite achieve that

importantly the weather was fantastic not a single drop of rain and usualy 25plus degrees during the day and mild nights and morning were perfect.


especially the parts south of lecce and the area around altamura and matera ( both not the heel anymore ) are places that are pretty impressive. i guess the place is even better suited for coffee camps than trainings camps. but still having had only one coffee i still enjoyed cycling through towns to get distracted ( and as i said sometimes got frustrated missing to see more)

anyway the bike is pretty much IM ready ( should have done IM texas for a sub 4.20 bike split... ( i guess this was the biggest cheater race in the history of tri with so many splits in the 4.30 is you cant help to laugh about ) i guess even the people posted those splits dont dare to brag about them ( but i guess iam wrong about that)

peter kern

post camp sessions are the ones i always find the most exciting in a way they are out of the ordinary and require great care to stay healthy.
I have kind of given up even thinking aobut some and just do what the body wants to do and i guess this recovery is very different from most other camps.
tue wed thur i was quite tired i landed at the airport past 2315 put the bike toghter and cycled home so by the time i was home had somethng to drink it was almost 00.40 few things to get ready and up the mext day a 5.30 am is not great .
did and easy swim and a bit of bike
wed did nothing
thursday recovery bike
friday 1.20 run that felt lke hard work i said to myself this is kind of ironman effort and fatique and it turned out 4.19 k pace concidentaly the pace i kind of think iam.
went for a swim 6 x400 pull around 5.30 -45 of 5.50 and then a few 100s with a swimmer next lane which was great as i was pushed ( its rare to see a real swimmer in the pool and i knew she wasnt going fast, nosy as i am i did ask her for 400 m pb and was not too suprised it was 4.26 )
sat park run 25 min warm up felt a bit tight so decided to run cautious and slowed dont by at least 10 sec last k but it was still a course pb for me and i was happy with that 110 k bike on the easy side and a 1 continious swim ... i thought i had only 32 min before pool closed so hammered was wondering when i was sure i had more than half an hour done and looked at watch to see i had done 40 min and just kept going for the hour . melted a bit down at the end but i d gueass i swam aobut 3.8 in that hour and 2 k in first 30 min

sunday was the planned 1 hour swim and 180 k push on bike
swim went well and i really enjoyed it the bike was a bit more of a mental struggle but it was a good solid pace at approx 36 kmh average.
monday easy 3 hour bike and pm another 1 hour bike and swim at seapoint , that was suprisingly nice and i got 1600 m or so done enjoying it after the first 2 min shock
today pretty good hill rep run session and easy swim

as refelction i certainly got the max out of the camp , mentaly struggled this week as i had gone to the limit of training there but at the same time body has recoverd well as one would expect after 6 month of serious training now the body and mind had it a bit now but i feel i have the right tiredness ( not too deep) and perform at solid level when i want to ( let me rephrase when i have to as there was no session in the last 8 days i wanted to go fast bare the sopposingly 32 min swim ...

aquathon champs this sunday not going to be fantastic but i would think rather solid. and if anything i need some fast short stuff.

Kurt.Godel

Well done today Peter I don't know if you consider that a fantastic performance but everyone else does.

There's a brilliant photo on FB of you praying to a banana

RacoonQueen

Yep great race Peter. Showing the youngsters how its done!

peter kern

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Well done today Peter I don't know if you consider that a fantastic performance but everyone else does.

There's a brilliant photo on FB of you praying to a banana

I comsider it a very solid performace lol.
I really emjoyed it despite the fact that 2 weeks before an ironman that wasnt easy today.
Very happy I did the race thou as I got a lot out of it.
Had a nice 3 k in the pool did most of the 70.3 route and a fab run from johnnyfox to ticknock and back just a lovely day

BTW you have lost quite a bit of weight, respect

RacoonQueen

Jesus and I thought my 35k bike was impressive this evening.

peter kern

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Jesus and I thought my 35k bike was impressive this evening.

Did I tell you about my run this morning at 7 am lol...
More seriously I took almost 2 days of this week as I was sick and tired of training so overall this was an easier week.
At the same time i did approx 3150 k on bike in April and trained a lot the last bank holiday weeked so its not like I have been slacking.
But today was enjoable again

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I may have missed it but which IM is coming up?

peter kern

Jared Fluffy Sorcery wrote: »

I may have missed it but which IM is coming up?

https://www.facebook.com/frenchmantriathlon/videos/943887395762776/
50 k from bordeaux airport, fast couse and good wine

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

peter kern wrote: »

https://www.facebook.com/frenchmantriathlon/videos/943887395762776/
50 k from bordeaux airport, fast couse and good wine

That looks like a great, well-organised race, the good wine is a bonus.

peter kern

Jared Fluffy Sorcery wrote: »

That looks like a great, well-organised race, the good wine is a bonus.

The bonus is the price money lol
2000
1500
1000
500
400

peter kern

last week good solid week



swim and bike monday
short hill run rep session 60 pretty much nonstop swim

no idea what i did wednesday i now i run and swam

long run thursday 2 hour 60 min swim

friday turbo with 6 min intervals pm 60 min non stop parachute ( tough)

sat park run like for dua champs i did a nutrition stress test . at the duathlon champs i got away with on sat that was a bit over the max prop lost 5 sec becasuse of it , 16,45 was ok and i defo felt better than last week at duas where i was still in a dipp and i think in the park run a was pretty much out of the fatique dip. 90 min easy spin

pm 60 min swim 20 min open water

sunday 180k passed carlow and back out of dublin 95% in aero bars nothing special nothing bad i worked solid . legs are aobut where i want them to be not zippy fresh but good for solid pace .

swimming was quite ok last week
bike ok

and 16.45 is a start


this week apart from a 40 min tempo bike and 3.8 k swim test and a short fast swim fixed all the rest depends on what i want to do

and then frenchman on saturday .



there is a good chance that for a chance i want be totally alone on the bike there is some pretty good athletes on the start list the 4th amateur overall at last years kona ( v good swimmer and top runner) . then a sub 8.30 guy i know quite well..., an 8.35 guy and another guy that was top 60 in kona a couple of years ago . and who knows.

the swim will be fast thats for sure and it will be interesting .you are not going to win that race if you dont go sub 8.30 and i dont think less than 8.35 will do for the podium .

pgibbo

Best of luck at the weekend. Race well