Challenging Times

rooneyjm

Sunday 16th
Easy Turbo Z2 75mins with the first 40 Aero followed by 6k easy, 30 mins. Moving nice and easy at 8.00 min per mile

That's my biggest week this year time wise and 177km done on the bike. Since January I've been doing 3 weeks on, 1 recovery but I'll do one more week and then start to wind it back a bit, although probably no need to wind swimming back as I only do 6-9k a week.

Don't feel tired at the moment, no niggles, easy running pace has improved, weight is down to 76kg, so just keep it going now for the final few weeks.

rooneyjm

Monday 17th
Cycle to work with an extra loop around Malahide/Portmarnock, 38k, 90mins
Cycle home with a small bit added on to make up an hour, 25k 60mins.

Tuesday
Swim 70mins, 3.0k

• 4x100m building
• 4x100m as 50 kick, 50 swim
• 4x100m off 1.55
• 8x200m pull buoy off 3.50
• 200 easy

Run. Onto the treadmill 55 mins, 11.6k

• 10 mins easy
• 40 mins tempo (half marathon pace, 4.15 per km)
• 5 mins easy

Wednesday

(AM) Swim, 50mins, 2.2k

• 400m warm up
• 10x50 (2 hard, 2 easy)
• 10x50 (pull buoy)
• 10x50 (first 12.5 fast)
• 50 hard, 50 easy, 50 hard, 50 easy
• 100 warm down

rooneyjm

Wednesday (PM)
Run - 40 min easy run 8km

Thursday
Turbo  - 2hrs with 1.45 at tempo/sweet spot
Run - Straight into run, 60mins, 12km @5.00 kms

Friday
Swim 3D, 60mins, 2.0km

• 50 easy
• 6x25 off 40sec
• 5x100 off 1.55
• 2x50 off 50sec
• 5 x 200m off 3.45. Got moved into the next lane so grabbed the pull buoy. It was actually useful to swim with a faster swimmer, get a draft and stay on his toes.
• 50 easy
• 3 x 50, last one all out

rooneyjm

What a difference a week makes. Feeling great last weekend, this week not so much. Felt a bit tired Friday but put it down to my Dads retirement do. Into work Friday night and Sat felt tired as hell. Hymned and hawed about getting up on the turbo, finally got on to do 90min workout with 80 @ tempo. Lasted 70 mins, really felt it and pulled the plug.

Hard to know if it was just fatigue i needed to press through or something else. Anyway ended up with head aches and green stuff starting to come off the chest Sunday so I'm currently picking up a prescription. Doctor said take it if it gets any worse but I'm not waiting, no way I'm having 6months derailed by a chest infection, there are enough variables without that in the mix as well

MojoMaker

At this stage all the good work is done and the fitness and race readiness banked, so what about just cruising through your last 10-odd days and keeping it all low-key and injury/sickness-free?

rooneyjm

MojoMaker wrote: »

what about just cruising through your last 10-odd days and keeping it all low-key and injury/sickness-free?

That was the plan more or less, a few bits early this week and then just keeping myself ticking over, bit of a waxing, get the tan done.

rooneyjm

Sunday - Nothing
Monday- again nothing

Tuesday
Woke up, could have went back to sleep but I had two midgets dancing on my head. Felt a bit better, tired as the day wore on so we all had a little power nap.

Run - Long 17km 90mins

Decided to chance a run although Rocket Ronnie and Ding were just starting and I pondered another rest day. Said I'd do 60min and see how it felt. Started and pace settled at 5min/km so just went with it, HR may have been slightly up but I felt fine, a few coughs.

All good at 60 so kept going to finish my last long run, energy feels ok after

rooneyjm

Wednesday

Doesn't really matter how many times you hear "the hay is in the barn" or " the work is done, nothing to be gained from here in" you always think I can sneak some extra hay in the back door.

Swim 2.6k 65mins
•400 warm up
• 4x100 as 50kick, 50 swim
• 4x100 as 50pull, 50 swim
• 4x200m off 3.45 pull
From here I was starting to feel it , I was to do another 4 x 200m but decided to leave it at 2
• 2x200m off 4.00
• 200 warm down

Headed home will full intentions of going out on the bike for a few hours. Opened my mails and had one from an old friend saying take it handy from here on in. So I decided just to do an hour and rest up for the remainder of the day.

Bike - 67mins 30km
3 laps of the Phoenix park, cool enough out there today

Organised an massage for the afternoon, hip flexor is the only thing that is mildly at me so got that looked at and a bit of general stuff

rooneyjm

Thursday

Wasn't feeling up to much so decided against training. Collected a set of clinchers off my brother, HED deep section with 25mm tyres. Essentially brand new, think he used them twice and cost nearly 2k so he's not getting great value at the moment.  

Friday

Starting to feel a bit normal again and organised/ offloaded the kids to my mothers while i messed about with the brothers wheels and went for a little spin. Or course nothing is ever easy, had to adjust the break calipers to get the wider tyre in. Ok on the front but the back break was not releasing back once I pulled the break? Joe this is your cue.

Not to be undone by a mere break I headed to the P.Park for a couple of laps to test out the wheels. Gear changes were spot on, biggest gear on back is a 23 (bit of technical stuff there) but there is little or no climbing so shouldn't be an issue. You hardly notice the gear changes, nice and tidy. The best thing about the wheels is the comfort, you notice a real difference straight away going over bumps or any kind of rough patches, the 25mm tyres seem to even out the road. Surprising the difference in comfort. Did 20k. 

(pm) Swim 3D 60mins 2.25km

Got moved to the next lane up after the 1st 50m. More to do with numbers than my swimming ability but didn't mind. Like last week it was good to practice a bit of drafting and pushing myself.

• 50 easy
• 6 x 25m off 40 sec
• 5 x 100m off 1.45
• 2 x 50m off 50 sec
• 50 easy recovery

then into

• 5 sets of 3x50m off 50sec , 100m off 2.00

Bit of a chat about how to progress the previous set and push on in training.
Finished with 6 x 25m spotting.

Well that's it, 25 weeks of coached sessions by Interested. Think I missed 3 (2 sick and a wedding). I've improved again, in the pool at least, now to try make the gains count in races. Usually I dont improve much through the summer, probably because I dont have a coached session again until October. He walked out on the last 25m without a chance to say thanks, like the littlest hobo, off to solve a case of sh1te swimmers with bad kicks somewhere down the road. Maybe our paths will cross again but until then keep on truckin.

rooneyjm

Saturday
Rest Day. Went out for a bite to eat with Mrs Rooney to celebrate 25 weeks of staying in on Friday nights, not sure how many more years I can get away with it. One or two glasses of wine and into work the next morning so it lent itself to a rest day.

Sunday
Got up early to get a run in before work. 50 mins 9.7km

• 20 mins easy
• 3 mile tempo (7min pace)
• 10 mins easy

Did feel a bit harder than normal but feeling a lot better

joey100

Not so sure on the Brakes, could be not enough tension in the cable, bit of dirt in the spring. Best bet would be to get a bike shop to give it a look over. Some peace of mind for next weekend. How's the chest?

rooneyjm

joey100 wrote: »

Not so sure on the Brakes, could be not enough tension in the cable, bit of dirt in the spring. Best bet would be to get a bike shop to give it a look over. Some peace of mind for next weekend. How's the chest?

Not too bad, I'll be fine by Sunday. Yeah I'll bring it down, getting a wireless speedo fitted anyway. Don't have a bike garmin so a speedometer will give me an idea if I'm on track

rooneyjm

Monday 01st Race Week

In work tonight so a bit of training in the afternoon.

Swim 1.7km 40mins
• 400 warm up
• 11 x 100m off 1.50 pull buoy
• 200 warm down

Run 33mins 6.2km
• 10 mins @ 5.20
• 10 mins @ 5.00
• 10 mins @ 4.36 - race pace
Few minutes warm down and stretch

MojoMaker

Getting close now - best of luck on Sunday and fingers crossed the weather is nice for the after-race holiday too.

rooneyjm

MojoMaker wrote: »

Getting close now - best of luck on Sunday and fingers crossed the weather is nice for the after-race holiday too.

Squeaky bum time as Fergie would say, weather on the day is forecast to be good, highs of 22-25 depending on what site you look at. At least I'll have the lads to lash on the P20, avoid the scalding I got last time out.

Bike is in the bag, not too much fuss so its probably wrong but should be fine, let's hope the baggage handlers are in their happy place

joey100

Was just going to tell you to make sure you put some good sun cream on this time, think you still had them tan lines up to a while ago! Best of luck out there, I'm predicting you first home so don't disappoint.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Best of luck J, all the hard work is done, now time for some fast fun!

rooneyjm

In the airport, checked in and bike gone off in oversized luggage, took about 5mins, let's hope everything else goes as smoothly.

I did an hour on the bike Wednesday, about 30k. Thursday was fairly manic, drop kids, go to the bike shop to get the brakes sorted and a speedometer attached. Couldn't get the wireless one working so a wired one it is. Fly up to the pool to get s little swim done. Then grab a few last bits in Blanch, collect kids again.

400 warm up
8 x 100 off 1.50 pull buoy, coming in at 1.45
200 cool down

Could have done a little run but the side of my foot is a little soar so won't run until Sunday. Turning into a right hypochondriac as the middle of my back is giving gyp. It like it's in spasm so I go to the chiropractor Thursday. It's happened me before a few years back. Anyway he cracks a few things and it seems better, amazing what paying 45 euro does for your state of mind.

El Director

Best of luck Jonathan, enjoy it!

gerfmurphy

Best of luck

zico10

Good luck tomorrow, hope it goes well for you.

9Crimes

Best of luck, log has been an interesting read and I look forward to report

rooneyjm

4.47 : ) . As the man says you have bad days to appreciate good days and today was a good day.

MojoMaker

Well done bud - I felt that was coming alright.

Nice marker for the season ahead and a nice return on a good block of work.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Well deserved result

rooneyjm

Just wasted an hour of my life typing a report only for an "error". I'll do it in sections later. Thanks for the messages, the thoughts of not reporting a sub 5 kept me going on the last 5k

rooneyjm

Baguette Negro

3rd time penning this so it's a synopsis. In summary all the pre race stuff was a doddle. Everything really compact, easy, no hassle. After the race briefing we wanted pasta, so we could either wait 20 mins for the pasta party or walk around. We chose to walk around(angry face). Eventually we landed in a Portuguese Italian. The lads we going full retard, starters, main. I had my carb loading head on and opened for the garlic bread, the boys , pork, garlic mushrooms and Keith was going for the black sausage.

Earlier I had managed to order a fizzy water form our limited English speaking waitress, so now I was the group translator. She comes over and Keith tries to order black sausage in his best Cabra English. Your woman hasn't a clue w.d.f he's sh1ting about. He tries a few foreign ascents, no joy. So then he looks at me as if to say, sort it out, then she looks at me. I haven't a clue so I just say " he looking for a baguette negro". After about 2 seconds the penny drops and a big smile beams across her face.

We all laugh

rooneyjm

RACE DAY

So the food was dodgy enough in the end and I was just hoping not to see it again during the night. Back to the apartment after a coffee and we were tired enough after the registration, bike test, practice swim, race briefing etc. Got to sleep relatively easy after mulling over all my excuses for bad performance.

EXCUSES

The back had calmed down. Initially I was questioning the powers of the chiropractor as the day after there was little improvement. Friday was better and By Saturday it wasn't on my mind and my thoughts turned to my foot. Even in bed 8hrs before the race start it was twitching, some muscle in my foot tightening, nothing I could do about it now. Finally the antibiotics I took the previous week hadn't cleared up my chest, so the only conclusion is that it's a viral infection. Not other obvious symptoms but the odd burst of coughing.

PRE RACE

Woke at 5.15 feeling good, got some porridge, banana and a chocolate pastry into me with a cup of coffee. We flaffed around a bit to be fair and finally headed out the door. Did our final checks but it was obvious we were a little behind the curve a were going to miss the swim warm up, which is usually a mistake from my point of view and this time was no different.

THE SWIM (The following account is exactly how not to tackle the swim in Lisbon)

Got over to the start after missing the swim warm up, toilet stop was priority. Pro men were off first at 7.25, pro women 7.30. There wasn't really anywhere to warm up. I did a bit of a jog to get the blood flowing but it was hampered by the surface. Everywhere has this paving of small blocks that's horrible to run on.

Anyway we were called and we ended getting in the water near last. I got myself behind the bouy to the extreme right hoping to get away quick and avoid the masses at the first buoy 400m away. Gun goes and I'm off, moving well enough. Notice a big crowd to my left and there is a big pack going towards the first buoy. I get my angles all wrong and instead of a 90degree turn I'm having to come in much tighter. It's a disaster, get myself in all sorts of trouble, lose momentum and end up breaststroking. Questioning what I'm at, why I'm here bla bla bla. Giving myself a pep talk after 5 mins was not in the plan but that's what I'm doing. Finally get going and find some feet to draft off. Takes a few minutes but I settle down and start moving. Would like to be in a faster pack but I've made my bed at this stage. Towards the end the next wave start to come through strong. Finally the exit ramp and my left hammer completely locks, fcuk. Up the ramp doing my best Captain Hook impression, get me out of here quick!

rooneyjm

T1
Get handed a cup of water at the top of the slip which I throw in the general direction of my face. Get to my bag with no issues. Very little in it, just my race number, a little bar which I take a bit of and a little drink of water. Stuff my swim gear into the bag a run (volunteers do the rest). Get to the bike, helmet on and go. Arrive at mount line and jump on, time to make up for that cluster fcuk of a swim.

BIKE

I normally don't go by any numbers on the bike but got a speedometer attached for this race, plan was to hold 34 average, no faster than 36. I had done a good bit of tempo work on trainer road, up to 2 hrs but it's a bit of a guessing game if that is going to be enough power. As I settled in my speed was looking around 35km, perfect hold here. One or two passed me but I wasn't bothered. Bike is on a closed motorway and is a very good surface bar a few pot holes where sections of road join. Passed a couple of guys with punctures as a result and my thoughts turned to last year ( please don't get one I thought). Nice little punchy hill at the turn around but you really fly when you turn, 61.5km I clocked. Then you could settle and make up some time. There was a double switch back which broke your momentum but lap 1 was 35km average.

The other laps were in the same vain, wind picked up going out but you got it back on the way back in. My average was solid 35km the course a little short, 87.5km. My only issue was my lower back started to pinch and tighten on lap 3, I remember thinking I'm never doing IM.

T2
Good dismount and dumped the bike. Got my bag and sat down, socks on, runners on, visor on, watch on. Ran off without the HR monitor and noticed I hadn't synced my watch with satellites, so that was going to take a minute to sort itself out while I was running, sloppy.

rooneyjm

THE RUN

So as I set off into the run the temperature was starting to hit the mid 20's. Had the visor on me for the first time since my last Half in 2013 in Mallorca. Felt ok but I was waiting for the watch confirm my pace after the first mile, it beeped 6.56, a bit fast. adjusted to 7.04 for mile 2 and 7.14 for mile 3, more like it. My target was 1.38 for the 21.1k so that's 7.30 per mile. I trained at 7.20 off some long turbo sessions but again not for 2hrs30 and prob not at that intensity so happy to see 7.20/7.30 might be sustainable. Course was pan flat out and back 4 times along the coast, path/ board walk/trail.

First loop was fine as above, second not to bad, splits were 7.21, 7.32,7.25. Then I started to feel it and at the start of the 3rd loop I took a gel and a piece of banana while dousing myself with a bottle of water. The lads were suffering badly with the rising heat. Keith had pulled up with a knee injury and the other two we're melting. Unfortunately Ivan was seeing a sub 5 slip away after a super swim and bike. I didn't entirely know myself what time I was doing but if I can in under 1.40 for the run I was there or there about.

Starting to work hard now I was focusing on breathing and not cramping, next 3 miles were 7.35, 7.33, 7.33. One loop to go all I had to do was keep moving. Slowing down to take a gel and water my pace slipped and the next mile was 7.45. A guy from Piranha passed me and told me hurry up so I tried to say with him for a bit. Next mile 7.43. Keith had stayed on the course and told me I had it if I stayed steady so that's exactly what I did, 7.49. Final push to the line and the clock read 4.57, happy days. Then Keith comes through and tells me that's the pro men's time so take away 10 minutes, delighted with myself, the bike and transitions had obviously gone much better than expected.