the buck stops here

Stitch09

I'm going to try keeping this training log until the dublin half IM this year.
My ultimate aim- sub 5hrs, i would be delighted!
Basics on myself;
6'2
90kg
34yo
ok on the bike, ok in the water, can cover the run....
Did a 10k to find a baseline in clon a few weeks ago and that was 54mins in, tbf, pretty horrible weather
My aim to cover the time is to be out of the water and through transition in 45;
off the bike and on my feet in 2:30 (3:15 cumulative) and though to the finish in a whisker under five
I did this last year with very little time to train-about 5 weeks- i am back studying and exams take priority, and swim was poorer than id hoped (water temp killed me for the first 500, i was burning up waiting to start and got cold shock when i got in :eek: )
cycle was ok all considered, about 3:15, and run was a slow and un prepared 2:20. Transitions were boggy at best.
Im training and under a little less exam pressure this time round.
I've been back in the pool, getting a bit of time in the legs and on the bike since Jan, and now that I've got my place sorted, I'm ramping up the training.
tomorrow sees me taking up a month challenge to swim 25km, cycle 375 and run 100, so i'll be held to account for that!
I'll post more details as i go and answer questions that anyone may have.
5 months, be grand, sure its years away... :rolleyes::pac:

GoHardOrGoHome

That looks like a good ambitious goal. Good to put the time out there in the open.

I didn't realise we wouldn't have a chance to warm up in the water before the start last year which was a bit of a shock.

Did you get off the bike with a cumulative time of 3:15 or was the bike section on its own 3:15? Seems like the run might be toughest part to improve on. Do you have a standalone half marathon time? I've heard of a rule of thumb to add 10% to your standalone time for your triathlon run. I've run 88 minutes standalone so theoretically I should be able to run around 97 minutes. It took me 105 through (1h45).

Steroo

That's a big improvement to aim for, but why not, put the head down and good luck

Stitch09

the bike section on its own was 3:15
but hoping to get that down pretty sharpish, hitting a good few spin classes midweek on watt bikes with ftw outputs and trying to get a distance cycle in at least once every weekend from now on out. And while blaming the bike is a weary excuse, mine is genuinely not really fit for purpose so hoping to upgrade that by end of april to at least a decent road bike, but hopefully an entry level tri bike. Combination of better positioning and more hours should hopefully help both get the cycle time down and leave the legs fresher...
if I can get the run down to 1:40 total i'd be delighted, again, I've got a bit to go, but not massively. I try to stay away from the gels and sugar drinks in training and i'll only go back to them closer to the event. I get more an effect from them then and they genuinely do help with staying fresher for the duration.
thanks for the good luck, yeah its ambitious if i can get the time on the individual components down to what i need or ideally less, by end of june, i reckon i can stitch them together in 6 weeks... i'll be doing a few adventure races, outdoor swims etc as the months go on so i'll use these as brick sessions, and i'll be doing brick sessions in the gym as well a few times a week so hopefully they'll all help pull it together

MD1983

it seems like you are looking to knock more than 1 hour off your time from last year which would be great progress! Best of luck with it.

GoHardOrGoHome

Stitch09 wrote: »

mine is genuinely not really fit for purpose so hoping to upgrade that by end of april to at least a decent road bike, but hopefully an entry level tri bike.

Tri bikes (In my opinion) don't seem to have an entry level option! You're looking at 2 grand. What I'd suggest is to get a road bike and put aero bars on it. Getting into an aero position and getting used to it can be hard. I didn't managed it last year. I used tri bars on my road bike and felt good for 70k but was trying to stretch out my back for the last bit. Bit of discomfort. Totally my own fault for not having time in the saddle. Didn't *really* affect my run which I was worried about.

If you've loads of cash then by a nice road bike and a nice tri bike!

GoHardOrGoHome

Definitely do the Howth Aquathons. There's usually three of them. I don't know if I'll have permission to do them this year!

Edit: big assumption that you're Dublin based

Stitch09

So Sunday night confessions :eek:
Dug up my times from last years 70.3 as well for a bit of accuracy
Swim
00:44:33
Bike
03:14:55
Run
02:21:58

5hrs seems more and more optimistic everytime I look at it but sure be no fun if it wasn’t going to be a challenge

Those Howth aquathons could be worth the trip up to Dublin actually, I’m pretty sure there’s a swim in Dunlaoighre as well at some stage so wouldn’t mind having a shot at that as well. I’ll have a look at the howth race series when they are posted, I couldn’t find them last night when I was having a look! Think I might fit in the cork half marathon as well in early june as a benchmarker.

So this is the training for march so far. I do weights on a 6 way split as well, I find I need it to keep me together! Helps me stave of injuries and keep a few other bits in check. Also, i know the treadmill probably isn't great but for short runs i find it helps me with pacing- i throw it onto 1% incline and tip away. as weather gets better i'll move outdoors a bit more :pac:

March 1st Tuesday
Run
5km at 12.1kmph so 5k in 24:50 Treadmill
Straight in to spin class
23km in 43min

Wednesday
Swim
Pyramid 1-9-1 2.025km (1hr)
Weights - Chest

thursday
Weights- Back session
Spin class
43:30 25.9km
Straight onto treadmill
5*1kms @12kmph w/ 1min @6kmph bw ea km. 30mins total. 5.5k covered.

Friday
Weights -Leg day
Run
Easy 5k tmill 30mins @12kmph
Swim
Inverted pyramid
10,9;8,7;6;4 »1.1km run and swim were late in the evening so couldn’t finish the pyramid properly but had been aiming just to get an easy k in and work on high elbows so was happy out with this

Saturday
Run
Ran from house to track and back, time out 1:03:48
Dist 11.13 km, most of this on a running track.
Felt fine but calves tight after. Pace avg 5:42/km Aim was just to get time on the legs and was happy with how I felt otherwise

Weights - Shoulders session
Rower 10mins 2550m

Sunday
Cycle
103km
4:18:24
weather was not a friend today Out with one of the lads from the college club. Included about a ten min coffee break just after the half way mark which is prob why we didn’t die from hypothermia on the way back!
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1075075740

March to date so
swimming 3.1km
cycling 152km
running 26.5km
happy with the week, swimming needs to pick up but happy enough so far with it

Stitch09

so march eh? had a bit of moving around with college but have actually managed to keep some sort of log, but I'm not going to be leaving it build like this again in a hurry
in a nutshell, this month i set out to cover 100km running, 375 cycling and 25km swimming, got it done.
Couple of nice cycles and a few nice runs. More lessons learnt than general fitness achieved i reckon.
Need to make more of my morning sessions, hit and miss with swims so going to alternate swim/cycles for mornings and let my shoulders build into it a bit better, and keep my short runs in the evening going as well to and from gym. Distance needs to pick up on the runs overall though and need to get my distance built into bricks at weekends.
Also managed to dig up my heart rate monitor so going to give this HR training a shot for April to begin with and see how i get on with it....
All the gory details....

Monday 7/3
Swim 2km
Tuesday 8/3
25.2km spin class
3.25 run out tmill
Wednesday 9/3
Spin 24.8km
Run out legs tmill after 2km
Thursday 10/3
Swim 2km
Friday 11/3
spin class 21km easy
weights
12/3 Saturday
(race)
happy with the cycling legs, the run was more of a walk on the uphill sections, running around a track all day is no use for this, but it was a great bit of cross training, and enjoyed it.
13/3Sunday NT
14/3 Monday NT
15/3 Tuesday NT
16/3Wednesday
Swim 1km
17/3 Thursday
Gym Back
Swim 2.5km
Run 5.8km (2x2.9 to and from gym)
18/3 Friday
Swim 1-10 1.375km
Gym
19/3 Saturday
Gym shoulders
Run to and from gym 5.8km
Beach run 6km
20/3 Sunday
Swim
1->10,10->1 2750m ~1hr10
21/3 Monday
Swim 1.25k (drills)
Gym tris
Run 5.8km

22/3 Tuesday
Run 2.9km
Gym-arms
23/3 Weds
Swim 2km
Run to gym and back 5.8
Chest day
24/3 Thursday
25/3 Fri
26/3 Sat
27/3 Sunday
Swim 3.9km 1-12;12-1
28/3 Monday
Run 5.3km
29/3 Tues
30/3 Weds
Swim 2.01km
Run 6.64km
Cycle 98.5km
31/3 Thursday
Swim 1.2km
Run 15.88km
Cycle 30.43


The gym I’m in here is just under 3km away the long way round so I run to and fro, it’s a good warm up/cool down and at just under 6k total round trip it’s a nice way of adding some quick short runs into the routine. I find it makes the setting and holding a faster distance pace a little easier anyhow…just need to do a bit more of it!!
Out of excuses now anyhow so hopefully should build up a better april. Think the distance i set my self in March could be easily smashed with simply better consistency, so going to aim for 40km swimming, 160km running and 600cycling....consistency going to be key...and coffee..... :eek:

MojoMaker

40KM swimming per month is tougher to hit consistently than it looks on paper, and will leave you more tired than it looks on paper - compared to the other activities in your plan.

Otherwise, nice progress, and the target must surely be getting a lot more realistic now.

Stitch09

Yeah i think you might be right with the swimming...my hope is to get in Mon/Wed/Fri for 2-2.5km per morning and then get in a long swim on the weekend but it will prob be the max of what i can manage at the moment anyhow. The running should be alright, plenty of short runs during the week and then stretch it out on the weekends, and same formula for the bike. Start time and daylight saving hours mean i didn't get out this morning before real life takes over but it was overcast as well, hoping to get out from now on though on tues on thurs for an hour session in the morning so close to 30k, then get a good 90-100k and another short cycle in on weekends....

Stitch09

So back at it this week, started off well but a combination of weather and generally feeling under the weather put paid to the late half of the week. This weekend was either going to be all or nothing, and it took the nothing turn. that said, i'm rested, and feel like i'm through whatever bit of illness was running me down the last week.
All said, training for the week

Mon
Swim
1-10-1
2.5km
Run to gym and back 5.8km
Chest

tues
Run to gym and back 5.8km
gym session back

wednes
Swim
2X100m front crawl warm up
5 x100m high elbows (swimming with closed fists)
5 x 100m with paddles
5 x 100m with pull buy
2 x 100m front crawl
1.9km
Was going to do the extra 100 just to make it even but feel like I'm better sticking to my plans than changing them. No point doing extra today to sacrifice a good session tomorrow.
Gym session Legs

thurs
Gym Shoulders session

fri
Gym Arms
Swim 1-9:8,5 So 58 lengths, just under the 1.5km. Session was short due to time restrictions. Actually met another half iron fella in the pool so quick chat with him was actually a nice bit of motivation. Im training on my own for this so its nice to catch up with others every so often!
sat NT
sun NT

So hopefully rest over the weekend and over whatever was dragging me down will see me set up for a good week. Finding it hard to get out on the bike for the short sessions but need to get on top of that. exams in a few weeks as well so bit of balance between everything is also kinda important! pretty much 16 training weeks out from the event now anyhow so need to remember that as well!!:o

Stitch09

Monday
2.5km swim 10x10
Gym session : Arms

Tuesday
Run to gym and back 5.8km (Nice and quick in spite of < in training at the mo)
Chest

Wednesday
2.05km
2x10 fc
2x10 closed fist hec
2x10 paddles
2x10 pullbouy
1x2 fc

Gym:back

Thursday
NT

Friday
Gym Legs

Sat
Cycle 104km
Tralee – dingle(n86) and back via conor pass (id actually really recommend this cycle as well, its a nice climb out of dingle up to the pass but the views on the way down were well worth it.)

Sun NT

Quest race next weekend (55km this time) and exams midweek as well. But back home so can fall back into regular routine from wed, I’ll train like normal wed-fri and take sat as a training session. Not where I want to be but exams were always going to muck things up a bit. Also probably trying to do too much this month with them looming, so missing a day piles on the pressure which is never going to be beneficial. Last weeks training wasn’t great, happy with how the swims went though and felt good to stretch the legs on the bike as well.
15weeks...

Stitch09

Slightly better stuff this week, its good to be home and back in the familiar set up!

Mon: NT

Tuesday: Gym: Legs

Wednesday (home):
Swim
6x10 front crawl (1.5km)
Spin Class: 24km
Gym: light chest session

Thursday:
Spin class 23.6km
Gym: Back session

Friday:
Heavy chest session
No cardio, keeping the legs for tomorrow

Saturday
Quest Glendalough Stage 1: Cycle – 6km
Stage 2: Trail Run – 6km
Stage 3: Cycle – 13km
Stage 4: Run – 5km
Stage 5: Cycle – 18km
Stage 6: Trail Run – 6km
Stage 7: Kayak – 1km
Stage 8: Trail Run – 2km
Good session, climbs were longer and a bit more viscous than I’d thought they would be, I should have looked at a map… definitely some room for improvement in the running again though.
Sunday
Gym: Arms
Swim: 750
250 warm up front crawl
250 high elbow catch
100 paddles
100 pullbouy
50 frontcrawl
Tiredness from yesterday kicking in so was nice just to get a bit of pool work in at all.

So another week down, nice to be getting back into it, exams in week and a half again so nothing dramatic planned for the week ahead but hopefully just tip away!

Stitch09

Right, i'm back....this is tougher to keep than i'd imagined tbh. I need to come up with a better system for logging my training than i'm doing at the moment...obviously :P
To be fair at least the training has being going consistently well for the last few weeks since the exams finished so thats a positive, better the training than the log book going well, but i need to stay on top of both.
Anyway without further ado:
Sunday
Gym: Chest
Cycle: turbotrainer 40mins

Monday
Gym:Back
Cycle: Turbotrainer session
Swim: forgot my shorts:mad: so no swim

Tuesday
Gym:Shoulders
cycle->Run: 30mins cycle (5 warm up, 10 min of 20sec flat out/40sec recoveryx2)/ run 5km(30mins)
Swim: 5x100 fc
5x100 hec
5x100 pullbouy
5x100 paddles
1x100fc sprint
1x50fc sprint

Wednesday
Gym:Legs
Spin:45mins 25km
Swim: tired but
500m fc
500m hec
400pull bouy
200m paddles
(got caught on time in the pool and had to leave)


Thursday
Gym:Tris
cycle / run as per tues except cycle was 25secs on 35 off per set, and run was 5.3km for same time- felt fine and could have gone harder but just still getting the feel for the session
Swim: tired but went swimming with one of the lads who's a competitive swimmer and he pushed me into drills, which was excellent!
Warm Up
300m fc
100m back stroke

Sets x 6 200m
50m fingerslide
50m chicken something or other---a sculling action anyhow
50m catch up
50m front crawl

5x50m front kick

2 x 50m sprint to finish off

If the set looks a bit iffy, its because my recall is a bit bad, and i slowed it down a bit while trying to get used to some of the sets. the complete drill was far more horrible, the above was actually enjoyable!

Friday
Gym:Bis
Spin: 47mins, 27.6km
Swim:100m fc
2x 100m fingersslide
5x 100m sprints
1x50m sprint
Short session but was immediately after the spin and had to head off early. Might also have been shattered...

Saturday: rest day- had hoped to get out for a long cycle but between lightning storms and a load of driving the day before i was happy to rest up tbh.

Sunday
Gym: Chest
Run: 45mins easy

onwards with the training and i'll see if i start using MFP again or resort to notebook by the bed for logging. i'll try both and see which works for the week.

Stitch09

Bike options:
Went bike shopping the other day as well. I'm looking at a carbon cube road bike with Di2 Ultegra, getting a zero saddle post and clip on aero bars. All new, all in for 2k. its an older model cube (2013 i think). One of the lads i know works in the store who's advice i would trust has the same frame and has no complaints. Im just wondering if the Di2 is jumping the gun a bit. There is a hefty price drop on it, so its still seems pretty good but i wonder would there be a better frame and mech gear set ultregra to be had for similar money??? I had thought about going for an all out TTbike, but I've been advised in a few places for my budget, better to go with a modified road bike and a proper fitting. I'm inclined to go that way but if anyone had any suggestions i'd be all ears

Stitch09

Monday
Bit of a nightmare morning so no gym.
Made gym in afternoon-back
Slept for evening, not feeling great.

Tuesday
Morning gym legs
Afternoon cycle run 35/25*2
Run was 15mins @12kmph
Night swim
2*100 fc/hec/fingerslide/pullbouy/fckicks/
1*50back stroke/fc

Wednesday
Morning gym shoulders
Afternoon swim
3*100fc/hec/fingerslide/pullbouy/paddles
1*50fckick/dc
Evening spin to run

Spin &80%ftw 260 watts

45mins 25.1km 635kcals straight into

Tmill 15mins @12kmph

Thursday
Morning gym tris
Afternoon swim 1-10-1(100lengths/2.5km)
Spin 46.17 mins 720 kcals. 27km at 325ftw
Into jog 1.8km 11.2mins

Friday
Morning gym bis and light legs for reps.
Lunch spin.
724kcals. 27.3km. 47.47mins.
Evening. Swim
300m fc warm up
3*100 hex/fingerslide/pullbouy/paddles
1*100 fc cool down
1600total. Felt good in the water.

Saturday
Morning Gym Chest
Took the day off from cardio, was after catching up on me and ended up sleeping for a good bit of the afternoon. Had thought about getting out on the bike but cycling to and form town for some errands was the most i did!

Sunday
Morning; Cycle:2:02:32/54.97km
avg hr 154
avg speed 27.1kmph
1674 kcals
Good bit of climbing, cork to bandon and back. Day was nice, thought about going further but hadn't got enough food in me and didn't want to change plans just to feel crap in the end. can't find the ant stick for the garmin at the moment but i'll update it when i do. Good to get back out on the road again.
Gym: Back session

Went with keeping my training on an email draft and updating during the week on the phone when i had the chance...works so far anyhow

also while the bike sessions and swims are going ok, i really need to up my running... the brick sessions are great but no substitute for clocking up more kms...june is going to have to have a focus on them or i'll end up walking the end of the poxy race in august

Stitch09

pretty good week for the most part, the weather doesn't half help!!! sunburnt on bloody saturday though which killed the sunday/monday a bit but still got a bit done.

Monday
Work stuff to take care of so only made gym in evening. Legs.

Tuesday.
Morning. Gym. Shoulders.
Afternoon. Cycle to bandon. Great weather.
55km 1hr58.14, avg 28kmph, 165bpm.
Evening swim sets
4*100 fc/hec/fingerslide/pullbouy/paddles
Legs were near cramping constantly from cycling earlier. Bit of a slump mentally round the one km mark but got through and got it done. (2km total)

Wednesday.
Morning. Gym tri's
lunch swim
pyramid 1-10-1 2.5km
Afternoon Cycle
Cycled to garretstown beach and back, met some mates there so split the cycle in two
out:
30km, 1hr07, 26.6kmph 159bpm (distance/cycle was longer but hit the garmin by mistake and lost the first bit of the ride which obviously means it never happened )
back:
37.44km. 1hr27. 25.8kmph 161bpm.

Thursday:
work played up on the routine again a bit so was gym only
Bis and oh,front, and back squats (high reps low weights, 3 x supersets)

Friday:
Gym: Chest

Saturday:
Morning: Cycle out by garettstown, got slightly lost...again...but anyhow
78.2km 3hr02. 25.8kmph 161bpm
that climb back in by cork airport is a thing of nightmares:eek:

Afternoon: Gym Back session
was going to swim after but didn't have the energy

Sunday: Gym Legs
was tired and feeling the sunburn to be honest so was just happy to get a good legs session in

Monday:
Cycle: Kept it short, was thinking about a longer one but traffic on the roads was mental and it was an evening cycle so didn't fancy pushing my luck
41.8km 1hr30 27.8kmph 166bpm

This week ahead I'm looking at gearing back up the running as planned... think i'll start light and build it.
I'm currently not taking anything during my cycles apart from a salt tablet thrown into one water bottle and just water in the other. i'll stay off the gels as much as possible so i actually get some use out of them in races.
I also had planned on doing the cork city half today initially for a time, but funds are tight with the planned bike purchase so i had to leave it aside. i have a feeling i'll regret missing it but anyhow. Hope to get some open water swims in this week in the evenings as well. Maybe even swim the course up in dublin next weekend with one of the lads. anyhow, sin é for now

Stitch09

so i have a bit of catching up to do again, but here i am anyhow. I'll fill in the blanks when i can find my ant stick for the garmin but i'm just going to keep it till the last week
Mon
Morning - gym bi's and light legs, followed by easy half hr run on tmill
afternoon swim 2x100m fc/hec/fingerslide/pullbouy/paddles
1x100 fc
2x50 fc
evening: spin class 2.7watt/kg, 26km, 711kcal, 44:50

tuesday
morning
Gym, chest session, followed by easy 1km in pool (4x250m fc)
afternoon Run. Easy, 1 hour 10km road.
Evening spin 607 kcal 23.8 km 45:27 2.2watts/kg

wednesday
morning gym back session followed by run- intervals- set of of sprints 20 secs on 20 easy
afternoon, cycle HR session, 2hrs turbo trainer
evening- supposed to swim but was not feeling great

thursday
morning gym session legs followed by easy 30min run on tmill
afternoon swim intervals and drills. got a bit of advice from one of the pool lifeguards, nice enough to give me a bit of coaching. couple of solid pieces of advice to tidy up my stroke so going to incorporate them in now hopefully. again, training outside of a team is great for being able to set you own schedule but you lose out massively on stuff like this
Evening spin 25kmm 43:19 655kcal 2.5 watts/kg

friday
morning gym shoulders
was supposed to swim an easy km after this again but was shattered leaving the gym. spent the entirety of the rest of the weekend hitting lemsip, being sick and on sunday at least did a load of food prep.

I've started much better planning of my weeks training as well, its divided up nicely into blocks with a bit of a better roundness to it, i hope. being sick for the few days was not ideal but theres worse things in life than a sore throat and a cold. one thing i have decided is to get a bit of yoga into the mix now as well, hopefully help with staving off any other delays I'm also looking at getting one or two triathlons in over the next few weeks. just be nice to get a few competitive 1500m open water swims under the belt.
sin e for now

Solvang

i went through similar same process/thoughts on getting a bike last year, in the end opted for Cannondale Slice TT bike which i bought in Cycle Superstore, 'entry level' but very good reviews. They also took my old bike as a trade in which helped. Would recommend the Slice, having now trained on it for about 3 months and raced it twice...