project 40/41

pgibbo

Quite a dramatic few days. Hope you enjoy some good wine. Congrats on the podium!!

peter kern

thanks it was an eventful few days many ups and downs.
i am satisfyed with what i made out of it BUT this was not what i wanted and iam pretty sure there is more and iam considering entering another one on the 10th of june.
I have to say it was an awesome race and venue.

peter kern

easy week



recovery started in the evening of ironman with a 45 min easy bike and a good walk

next day 2 hour easy bike

mon travel day and an easy walk

tue easy swim and 3 k run 1 hour bike

wed swim easy bike

thur swim easy run and 1.20 bike

friday double swim

sat 5 hour bike

sun 3.5 hour bike short run

monday 4 hour bike and swim



i had the idea to do another IM contacted race organicer and they where good enough to let me in

so doing toursman on june the 10th

its a bit complicated as i had planned to focus a bit on oly disntance racing in june so this is going to be a bit messed up . at the same time the weather and wind looks good for sunday and i am very certain i was sub 8.40 shape and sometimes you have to use whats there

and if it dosnt work out no biggie either .but i tend to race at least ok 2 weeks after an long course race and recovery feels ok

apart from bad swim start the only thing i want to change is to start bike a bit faster and then cycle a steady pace its going to be totaly on time focus and not placing

pgibbo

Happy with the race from the weekend?

It looks like congrats are in order :cool:

P

RacoonQueen

Nice one Peter. Congrats.

Kurt.Godel

Well done Peter, two podium spots in full distance races a couple of weeks apart? Savage!

I was following the tracker for the last half of your run, you seemed to be closing the gap on first. No doubt you'd have won this race on fresher legs.

peter kern

the legs were fresh it was the swim that was the hard part ( the swim had a serious current after heavy rainfalls the days before) but i felt after 30 meter nothing was there.
I knew I was not totally fresh for high end speed but i felt quite good at solid level in all 3 diciplines ( and the 2nd lap in the swim was better too i am pretty sure)

Till i fell of the bike at k 45 ish i did cycle quite well and i think i gained a little bit on the leader who is quite a serious athlete and is from tours so knew the course well which was a good thing in the heavy rain in the first lap. ( now my 2nd fall was just stupid ...and in the first one i was as well to agressive especially since i run vittoria tyres )

on the upside those falls might have been a blessing in disguise as there was no chance anyway to do do a fast race and my body feels more like as i have done an half it is recovering very well as i more or less jogged the marathon ( still painful enough as the body parts i had fallen on did hurt)

Anyway .the course on paper can be fast, the day did not lend itself to a fast day but It did not cost me anyhthing and i learned a few things as you always do in an ironman. ok thats what iam saying now, during the race from the start of the the race I was totally grumpy and the smarter decison would have been to drop out after 14 k on the run and after 28 k i spend a few min with the timing chip guys to find out how far third place was as i was not going to do another lap if i could not have jogged it home.



I dont know re win I now the winner struggled with cramps but he is a serious athlete ( full time pro that makes a fairly good living of the sport)

I was more worried he would lap me ...to be honest iam glad i had no idea it was so close until very late at night on sunday.


the race i have to say was impressive I think they charged in the wherabouts of 225 euro for the race and had the razz matazz of of an m dot race. 10 tri clubs came togheter to Organise that race and the did an outstanding job. Personally i prefer the 1 race a day pureness of the frenchman a bit more ) but if you are attracted by the m dot raz matazz this is an outstanding race.



http://redaction.triathlete.fr/post/2018/06/10/Tours-Nman-:-l-ambassadeur-comble-d-aise-son-public
the transiton and finish line was in a expo hall ,serious stuff.

and besides the castle in the picture you pass the villandry chateau ( and i admit a sat up twice for a few seconds to get a glimps at it )



Anyway hard to say, if the season was finished now I would be very dissapoonted but I just have to get my head down again and built again ... iam not far of where i want to be ,despite it looks like iam miles of i still believe in my swim and bike and my run albeit not where i want it is not as bad as i have shown so far.

if it was esasy everybody would do it ...

RacoonQueen

Peter, you'll need to create a list of non branded long distance races on the continent for us. Don't know where you find these!

pgibbo

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Peter, you'll need to create a list of non branded long distance races on the continent for us. Don't know where you find these!

+1

peter kern

almost 2 weeks gone since the race

i wrote my first race report since 2005, i think ( and i think i will leave it at that for next 13en years)

as i said the body has recovered much quicker from this one, at the same time i have been struggeling more than i would have thought with the road rush and it has affected swimming and fast running.( not a big issue ) but the swimming iam not so pleased about as the plan was to get stuck into swiming asap after the race.

i have done 5 x45 min in the pool and 2 open water sessions but its not fun. i think the worst is over now and i would hope that form next week onwards it wont bother me




I did some core work over last 10 day as this is the least painflul training easy running is also fine and i started runing 3 days after the race. and legs do feel good.



on the upsite on the bike i have already done 4 solid interval sessions and since this week it has been hardly any issue. (last week i cycled mostly with one arm to avoid the shoting pain in elbow after each bump and the aero positon is still not comfi as it overstretches skin around the hip.




diet has been fairly good last 2 weeks and i would think i have lost 1 kg in last 2 weeks. I have been eating loads of veggies and fat.v little sugar.



anyway so far so good and happy with recovery


sat 2018 5 k pb which is nice 6 howth bike hill reps solid open water swim first day road rush hardly bothered HAPPY.

peter kern

it has been a while ...
bla bla bla but since kilkee things havent gone well .

kilkee was my A olympic race for the season i had a solid swim and was in a good positon to achieve my minimal goal ( not in the best position to achieve my max goal ) for some reason with the tyre blowout it also blew the motivation fuse or better it got me in a negative mood( i should know better but ... ) with the negative mood i somehow did not recover as well as i wanted etc etc and for the last 2 weeks the first time this year i did not enjoy training.
I did not think I would race too well hardman half after a hard week of training but hardman was the confirmation that things are not going great right now and that iam too negative and too tired so a few days of rest it is.and then we will see.

still the hardman bike course is my favorite and kilkee is kilkee and will always be the mother of irish triathlon.





the plan was that next year will be one of my regular recovery years ( with kilkee as end of season race but now i might have to think. I dont have the talent to improve quickly so either i have to pull the plug after the ostseeman or I do anohter ironman very late in the year with anohter built block. which would mean taking a long rest after that.

we will see.

Kurt.Godel

Its amazing the expectations in Triathlon, and what we focus on. If any of your athletes had podium-ed twice in IM distance within the month, and shortly after allowed a blowout to dictate their mood and their motivation... at least you can recognise this is wrong, probably a mini break will do you the world of good and help reset priorities. You've had a great season so far Peter, a rest is well deserved and will hopefully allow you to refocus on the positives.

peter kern

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Its amazing the expectations in Triathlon, and what we focus on. If any of your athletes had podium-ed twice in IM distance within the month, and shortly after allowed a blowout to dictate their mood and their motivation... at least you can recognise this is wrong, probably a mini break will do you the world of good and help reset priorities. You've had a great season so far Peter, a rest is well deserved and will hopefully allow you to refocus on the positives.

knowing something is wrong and dealing with it is not always the same lol.

this is never an easy situation for anybody.

I think the easiest way to show those things was chelsea wining the title one year with a huge margin and the next year not doing well with a very similar team. or similarly while i dodnt think germany was quarterfinal level they still should have proceeced to the next stage but came last in their group . often little things have significant outcomes.
in my case its more that by end of june i had no race i thought that was good , yes they were all solid but good was none of them. and i guess what really got me that apart from swim start i had a good day in kilkee i did not lose time to lead pack from 400 -1200 meter i was in an very positon after the the swim ,and when i was on the bike i felt good and on the run too (and i put a lot of effort into to have a good day travelling down their thursday afternoon etc )

of course its not healthy at the same time the most fragile human beings can be elite athletes ( not that iam one of them) but it takes a massive effort to prepare yourself to a really good performance where you are really digging in deep.

its not that different to the ironman blues many people experience. ie its not that hard to fall into a whole when the outcome is negative or a goal is accomplished.

again knowing something is wrong and dealing with it is not always the same lol.

interested

Succinct as ever Peter and humble insight offered

peter kern wrote: »

knowing something is wrong and dealing with it is not always the same lol.

Couldn't agree more.

of course its not healthy at the same time the most fragile human
beings can be elite athletes ( not that iam one of them)

Fitness and health are two different things, often athletes (elites or otherwise, and elite level athletes who own this blog and self deprecate) are on the very edge of unhealthy during race seasons whilst at the peak of race fitness.
Fine lines.

but it takes a massive effort to prepare yourself to a really good performance where you are really digging in deep.

The ability to prepare and mind set to dig deep are what differentiates those that participate to complete and those that take part to attain goals and in your case compete and win.

Id heard a quote from Daniela Ryf after Roth (the year when she pulled out of IM Germany one week from Hypothermia and then won Roth the next weekend) ... but can't find it ... Happy Athlete, Happy Body

Best of luck with preparations and racing for rest of season Peter.

peter kern

thanks interested



the only thing in my case health is actually very good .on a niggle scale I am a 1.5 ( 0 no niggles and lets face it this is prob as good as it gets at 43 ) coldwise/immunsytem 2-2.5 ( 0 = top health ) the only really bad mark I would get for sleep hours (sleep quality is good) which is a 5 ( 10 being excellent)

while sleep hours have somewhat an accumalative impact over the last 5 month . its much more in the head lol



nevertheless it dosnt really matter that much why , fact is that i overreached after kilklee and reacted too late ( despite the fact i knew there is a risk this can happen with 2 ironman ) . the solutions are more sleep, easy training, and remembering that 9 month work are not undone in 3 weeks.

interested

peter kern wrote: »

the solutions are more sleep, easy training, and remembering that 9 month work are not undone in 3 weeks.

Two incredibly underrated disciplines ignored when injured or not feeling the need to race - simply lying on a couch stressing about how it all went wrong is the common approach ... at 43 or otherwise ... you'll be back stronger Peter. Enjoy.

peter kern

the big race week... I am close to have a full set off jingle bells cups



my times so far have been between 17.08 and 17.44 this year my big project 'speed' goal is to go sub 17 en .

I have been preparing very seriously for this in fact so seriously that iam slighly injured from running very "fast' into corners , so this could throw a spanner into my sub 17en plan but with its goodie back at finish Dns of dnf is not an option.

to be honest i have no idea what i have been training i joined a run group and I just run when they run and stop when they stop. the only thing i know a few weeks ago i run 400s at 1.16-7 at the end of the session.but iam confident that iam sub 17en ( i was 19.05 sometimes mid october)

the last few weeks i have been 'working ' on weight loss or better on not weight gain .apart from chest i am not too bad.( shut it gordo)

this week i noticed my power on the bike is not to bad.

the plan was to lose a little bit less fitnees this year and while i had a good mental rest this was achieved ( the plan is to then train a bit less before i train seriously and have a bit more energy for crunch time
i even have done a few swim sprints and enjoyed them.(ok that me stretching the truth a bit as my sprints are 40 sec for 50 m )



I just realise i have somewhere some stuff from last season i might dig out at some stage.

but first i put all the focus on sat ...

Kurt.Godel

Hi Peter, I have a Good Question

You are training for IM distances.

Part of your training entails running 400m reps in 76/77 secs. 400m is around 0.95% of IM run distance.

Part of your training entails swimming 50m reps in 40 secs. 50m is around 1.3% of IM swim distance.

Why focus on fast run intervals, and not (also) fast swim intervals? I know the easy answer is that swimming isn't that important in IM, but I'm sure you have a more interesting answer!

peter kern

i am already focusing on faster swiming than last year . i did not really do 40 sec for 50 m at this stage last year and not nearly as frequently.



besides 20 x50 in 40 sec off 45 would be harder than 2 x400 in 1.16 of 4min ... no ( just questioning your question here ;-) since there is quite a few factors into your equation you dont know



realisticaly for my swim profile, 36 is the fastest i need to swim 50s . so 40, thats ok enough for what i need right now the rest iam better off to put into ohter things.

until last week i focused more on holding the water ,body position, kick and not to lose too much fitness . i will focus on swim start speed when the time is right for me in May.

at the moment the main overall goal is to train somewhat ok with the least mental effort invloved. it would be great if i really wanted to do a bit more but I dont want to , so i dont do it . becasue being 2sec faster now certainly dosnt mean i will be 2 sec faster in june.



last weekend i cycled out and back to the post office in newry , i really enjoyed that ( not the last 30 k) it was fun , as i did something useful and it was a plesant challenge. i always like to get out the normal training radius , but iam quite tired at the moment to cycle around dublin area .so that was refreshing.



on a positive note i spend more time on the turbo this week before i got bored as suddently 90 min on the turbo looks ok after 8 hours on the bike a few days before ...


so yes i want to be a bit faster at the moment but at the least cost possible and the run is where i focus on ,and the rest i spread between bike an swim and iam ramping up both very slowly.




if swimming was my weakest sport than i would most likely focus on swimming.

Kurt.Godel

Definitely a more interesting answer, lots of good points in there. Getting the training done in November without draining the brain is important.

(Aside) I like 20*50 off 45s at this time of year, useful for swimming with good form and resetting the stroke each lap (off 50s is just as good so long as you’re swimming fast)

peter kern

i could not swim 20x50 off 45 at the moment. iam 2-3 weeks away from that . i guess if i put my race mind on i could but not in normal training.
and usually the first time i really push is begining of april and often later. before i tend not to go into race zone at races i do ,especialy in the last 20-25 % of the race i hold back.as this reduces the time i need to recover from it.



interestingly BMC was a good bit back with racing this year ( no duathlon win i think, no cycling race win till april (actually only one bike race he did this year ) ,and then really hit out a big race in july.

El Director

peter kern wrote: »

i could not swim 20x50 off 45 at the moment. iam 2-3 weeks away from that . i guess if i put my race mind on i could but not in normal training.
and usually the first time i really push is begining of april and often later. before i tend not to go into race zone at races i do ,especialy in the last 20-25 % of the race i hold back.as this reduces the time i need to recover from it.



interestingly BMC was a good bit back with racing this year ( no duathlon win i think, no cycling race win till april (actually only one bike race he did this year ) ,and then really hit out a big race in july.

So Peter during races from say Jan to April you don't go too deep into the red, especially the last part of the race as you will require less recovery time. Sensible. Question - from Jan to April would you go into the red much during training sessions or do you just try to keep the volume high? Or a bit of both perhaps?! Just curious.

peter kern

El Director wrote: »

So Peter during races from say Jan to April you don't go too deep into the red, especially the last part of the race as you will require less recovery time. Sensible. Question - from Jan to April would you go into the red much during training sessions or do you just try to keep the volume high? Or a bit of both perhaps?! Just curious.

both but it does depend on the sport. i never try to improve at 3 sports at the same time, i am more of a block trainer for swim and bike

the most time in the red i would spend on the bike

for me to improve my swim i need double swim days once i have a bit of a base that really jump starts my swim. for my third phase i need miles not easy but not hard just loads of long steady pull swims

and running in order to run well i need many many many weeks where i slowly improve with the tempo run the key.



at the same time if you allow me to be a d.ck i'd suggest just follow your plan on your blog and dont wonder what others are doing i think your plan is very good apart from thinking about pb's ,just get a consitsent season of training in and 2020 you worry about pbs.

El Director

peter kern wrote: »

both but it does depend on the sport. i never try to improve at 3 sports at the same time, i am more of a block trainer for swim and bike

the most time in the red i would spend on the bike

for me to improve my swim i need double swim days once i have a bit of a base that really jump starts my swim. for my third phase i need miles not easy but not hard just loads of long steady pull swims

and running in order to run well i need many many many weeks where i slowly improve with the tempo run the key.



at the same time if you allow me to be a d.ck i'd suggest just follow your plan on your blog and dont wonder what others are doing i think your plan is very good apart from thinking about pb's ,just get a consitsent season of training in and 2020 you worry about pbs.

Excellent. Appreciate the reply Peter. I'm just curious really and as I'm self coached I find it useful to pick the brains of more knowledgeable others like yourself (I also text P Gibbo quiet a bit!. It's just (a) for a bit of reassurance and (b) I've a genuine interest in different coaching/training approaches.

I'm glad to hear what you say about going into the red a bit more on the bike because my plan for the next 3 months or so is to have 2-3 hard sessions in the week, 2 bike and maybe 1 threshold in the pool. The other 8 or 9 sessions all easy (all my runs with maybe some 15 sec hard repeats from time to time if I feel like it). I found what you said about holding back in the last part of a race interesting as I have gone too deep in races before that didn't really mean much and it took me way too long to recover.

You are dead right about the PB's, they will come again once I find the consistency. I don't worry about them I just like to tell myself that I can still get PB's, that they are still out there for me.

Thanks again dude.

tunney

peter kern wrote: »

at the same time if you allow me to be a d.ck

Since when do you ask permission to be a d1ck?

peter kern

wasnt it more a rhetorical question ;-) or maybe i had a weak moment after run walking 22 xx for 5 k at jingle bells...
funnily that was a race i had 0 intentions to hold back ...

i had not tapered either since i did not think i would get through it but i did everything at race morning preparing for an A race.

i had alos done my homework knew exactly where i wanted to finish beside whom i wanted to start ( and quite a few of those showed up) . goal was 3.24 -3.25 for first k i hit it , casio timed 3.24.8, and after 1.200 meter i had the person i wanted to be around with breathing heavily at my shoulder and was thinking she works way harder than i do. that was the only positive of the day and after 1400 meter i could start to feel the calf and should have stopped and walked right there, but stupidly i run ( albeit slower ) till k 3 and only then started to wallk.


the good thing is, this is triathlon and the week before and after the race i got in loads of good swimming and cycling in, and started to slowly run again this monday.

so apart from weight and run i am doing ok. espcially the bike is a good bit ahead where i would usually be at that time of the year. and i swam a 5.36 for 400 and given what i have put inoto the swim so far i was quite ok with that.

pgibbo

Good to hear you're back running Peter.


I looked at those results last week. The depth of the field is incredible. Is it always that way?


P.

peter kern

pgibbo wrote: »

Good to hear you're back running Peter.


I looked at those results last week. The depth of the field is incredible. Is it always that way?


P.

yes 60th place is within a few seconds every year .( i think only one year it was really stormy)

of course its also a net downhill course and winner did last mile in 4.23 and fastest female mile was 5.01 ...

peter kern

i got away over x mas for training sightseeing camping food and weightloss camp

I guess overall everything was achieved haveing been to cadiz and jerez now i have been to pretty much evey city in spain.

and with the hours off training i lost a good amount of weight despite still eating well and preparing fish almost every day while enjoying a glass of wine as well.

met my ex trainings partner for a 6 hour spin and that was good fun.

el chorro was perfect as a base for first 3 days its a great base with a swiming pool only12 k from it

the ever so beautiful ronda is easyly in my top 5 places to go for a spin.
and then i moved down to the coast and via tariffa cadiz sevillle over to faro. where i left my bike and go back end of the month for 3.5 days of cycling.



no complants here.

peter kern

recovery from holycamp took 1-2 days than i would have liked but overall all is good.
run came slowly back by thursday last week . parkrun was a bit slower than plannerd but was already better than thursday run and this weeks running has gone well. I felt the first time that runing was not just work but its also partly enjoyable. and a few kg less would certainly help to make it more enjoyable ( which iam working on at the moment)



had good turbo sesions but the wednesday one was a bit to much after i did some run drills am and i got a bit sore from it ( something i try to avoid )

no comment on the swim ... ie no good session this week some decent ones last week, frequency is ok and the main goal is to get the runing by end of january where i wanted it to be and the focus is more on this and the bike .

i have no plans to swim faster this year and iam doing enough not losing too much and the next 2 weeks its about running.and still not wasting too much mental energy into training.