Heart Don't fail me now

Saturday AM: After trying to zap the lock on my car a few times to no avail, I realised that I must have inadvertently taken some poor lads keys from the dressing room the night before. Back to the gear bag and there was my set. Went down to drop them off and decided it would be foolish to not take advantage of a swim while I was there. After just having a big breakfast of eggs and toast to fuel a 3 hour bike ride I quickly binned the session after a fast 12 x 50 set for fear of puking. Total 1100m

Waterbabies was on beside me, which is something I am keen to get Pudsey on after his shots, however after seeing about 10 women and one slightly embarrassed fella spending the whole session singing Humpty Dumpty to his young lad, I am hoping Mrs C will be in charge there while I watch poolside proudly along with the other fathers

Saturday Lunch: I should have gone outdoors for the bike but I just wasnt organised enough and decided to watch the rugby instead. Boring game - but I enjoyed the England - Wales game after. 2.45 on the turbo with a 114 HR. Had to make a few stops during it so I would hope the true HR would have been nearer the 120's.

Sunday Morning: Took my time going for the run as Mrs C's head was tender from the girls night out. Went out at 12ish, I love the sunday run as it is an easier Z1/Z2 session so its more enjoyable. Finished 1.15 hours @ 5.19 pace and AHR = 136

Week 9 down with no missed sessions and a few extra swimming sessions thrown in

Thursday Evening: An easy Z1 hour of turbo with high rpm

Friday Evening: 1 hour at 4.45 pace AHR = 149. With this plan I am more or less down to 3 runs a week at the moment which is a lot less than I am used to and I have been questioning it lately. For some reason something finally kicked in on this run, I set off and glanced at the Garmin after a couple of minutes and saw I was running at 3.58 pace after .6 of a k. I was surprised as I felt I was running as normal. Slowed it down and came in on the first k at 4.40 pace. HR staying nice and low and it was pretty effortless. Was ticking along nicely feeling great - came up to the usual drag up to the turn - I was listening to kaskades The Game album and after a soft enough opening the beat really started to kick in at this stage. I usually find I am out to 5.15/5.20 pace to keep HR in the mid 150's at this stage but my old raver days were coming back and with a few grunts of Go on and Come on I stayed on sub 5 min pace, HR still in mid 150's but at 4.55 pace. Back down and into the gym to finish and I was delighted to see 4.45 pace at HR of 149 overall. Thats about 10 seconds a k faster and 3 beats a minute slower than my previous best. Perhaps it can be explained as simply as no wooly hat for a change.

Saturday Afternoon: 2 hours on the turbo - the plan wants 3 hours but through my own fault 2 hours was all I had. Finally dug out the old laptop so I had Game of Thrones on one laptop and an endurance session from the Turbo training website on the other. I could have done another 30 minutes but I was hitting the last episode of Game of Thrones and I didn't want to have to stop it half way through it. Am going to ban the TV from the midweek sessions from now on as there will be some injections of pace with the build phase

Sunday: It was Pudseys christening today and I could have gone out before the church for the LSR, but with monday being a rest day I decided it would be "appreciated" if I took sunday as the rest day instead and go out for a run on monday instead. Enjoyed the day - Mrs C gave the breastfeeding a day off and it was nice to crack open a nice bottle of wine when we got home after

So besides a long run tonight the base phase is over, before friday I would have questioned how well it suited me run and bike with less volume than I am used to but certainly after friday and 12+ks of comfortable 4.45 pace, I thought of my 45.01 10k pb and I reckon I will be looking to break that in Kilkee all going well.

Strangely for me looking forward to injecting a bit of pace with the build phase, its a long time since the heart rate was over 160

Monday Evening: Not a great start to the build for me, had put off sundays LSR for today instead but 5k into it my right calve tightened up and just got worse so I decided it was a bit early in the year to be forcing a run so I walked back to the gym. Its still a bit tender but hopefully its nothing however I will give the running a break for a few days

Tuesday AM: Not enough time for the set so 1100m of drills and a few calve stretches - I will kick into the set tomorrow instead

Tuesday Evening: I opted out of todays run and pushed forward thursdays cycle to today instead, 1.15 mins of Z2 with 5 x 1 sprints. I enjoyed this, I decided to give this an honest effort as I might as well take advantage of any potential break in the running. The 5 x 1 minutes sprints after 15 minutes got my heart rate well into Z2 by the end of it and I mainly concentrated on holding that for the rest of the session. Finished with HR of 125

Dory Dory wrote: »

Email it to me, Mr. Cat Weazle. And does this European Ironman hoe smackdown include mud? Because I'm thinking if a guy is suggesting a hoe smackdown, it's probably going to include some mud.

I remember many years ago in a Rhode Island bar I paid 50 dollars to be the manager of a hot girl in a wrestling fight. My mate paid 50 to wrestle her, by god I was sorry when all I was able to do was lightly towel her down with some big bouncer staring at me like a hawk and tell her to stay strong and keep going between rounds

In saying that I wasn't sure if I would have liked to be in the friends position either as she was able to give him a good hiding without fear of retaliation.

So no mud - waste of money!

Thursday Am: Nothing too bad in this swim session, main set was 8 x 108 off 2.10. Came in around 1.50 for all of them.

Thursday Lunch: Short 40 minute bike session, an easy session so justified to myself to open up the laptop so I am afraid Season 1 of 24 just been started. I have high hopes for this as I have always enjoyed this type of genre.

Thursday Evening: Another episode of 24 watched and another easy 40 minute session

Friday AM: I think this is the first time I have done 3 planned swim sessions in a row, I usually stick an easy session in the middle of it. However this wasnt a tough one either with plenty of recovery. Main set was 5 x 216 with 100 AR after each one. First was 3.45, next three were around 3.40 and the last one with a push was 3.34.

Friday Lunch: Another easy session on the bike, I seem to be finding it easier to get the heart rate up, the last three easy sessions I was hitting the mid to high 120's hr easy enough

Friday Evening: An easy run to test the right calve, was going fine for 4k and then I could gradually feel it. I was able to manage it for another 1.5k but then any gradients at all started to send pain through it. Binned it and had to do the walk of shame again :mad:

Looks like I have a problem, I was mad with myself then as I should have tried this at lunch and got a physio appointment straight after if there were issues. Looks like now I will have to wait till tuesday before I can get seen.

Hopefully its none too serious, I have a major stag next weekend in Lisbon so it was going to be a poor week for me anyways.

Of course the first night in Lisbon I lose my phone, after a minute of two of pleading whatever Portuguese bollox answered it to give it back, with them hanging up each time laughing. I had to block it :mad:

Worst part of this was I was now not contactable and with no-one having a clue how to pronounce the hotel or street we had to hope taxi drivers would bring us to the square with the black horse statue I could no longer either sneak off for a snooze or a sly break from the drinking for fear of not finding them again.

I did very well all considering and held my own better than a few lads who tried to start a row with about 20 Royal Marines after losing the rugby on Paddy's Day. Fair play to them they were pretty uninterested in teaching 15 fat Micks drinking Mojitos some manners.

Nice and cheap though, 2 euros for a bottle of Heineken - and even less for Super Bok and no commandments broken - happy days! Lisbon is a cracking place - although I wouldn't like to run a marathon there, its covered with big hills

Finally came back around to the idea of training on Wednesday

Wednesday Lunch: Easy 40 minutes turbo session
Wednesday Evening: Another easy 40 minutes turbo

Thursday AM: An easy 1500ms swimming drills
Thursday Lunch: A day or two early than planned but had to test the running legs on such a glorious day. Ran easy as I could with a short stride and snuck over to the grass margins every time I could. Seemed to be ok so far anyways and finished it at 5k. Stretched for ages after and am now wearing my new Lidl Compression socks, I feel kinda pervy in them.

Delighted with that, was planning a longer run tomorrow but looks like I have to go up to the office. Will be running easy for the next few sessions though as a precaution, but need to bump up the intensity of the swimming and cycling fairly lively

Dory Dory wrote: »

What color are your compression socks?

Similar to this lad but in White

Thursday Evening: My first attempt at a Sufferfest video, Downward Spiral. I was going ok and had the heart rate in the high 160's for every repetition in the first set. I got a sharp cramp during the 5 minute recovery and shamelessly convinced myself that was it and binned the second set I promise I will finish it out the next time! Enjoyed it though, I haven't been called a pansy in years, so much so that I downloaded Fight Club as well. 40 minutes AHR = 139

Friday: Nothing - was up in the office for meetings

Saturday: Out with Gibbo in great weather, brought the TT bike out, I thought I heard 30 minute warm up, 30 steady, 30 easy and another 30 steady to start. In to a decent headwind on the way out for the first hour and when we hit Craughwell for the turn around I was thanking God. Off Gibbo went like a bullet and I was left trailing. I am guessing the 30 steady was postponed until we got out of the headwind. Legs had gone by the time I got back to him so I backed out of the 2nd steady session and freewheeled home. I was disappointed till I looked at the HRM and saw I had an average of 137 for the 2 1/2 spin so I was working much harder than usual so I took solace in that another few of them will bring me on. Christ the balls were on fire though - takes a bit of getting used to riding on the road v turbo

Sunday: I just couldn't get a long run in today and when I bartered an hour in the evening I went out in bad form. I was running around 5.50 kms as I wasnt confident about the calf and I was disgusted at the highish heart rate for that pace. I was also getting brassed off having to look to run on grass and tarmac as I went along. I was really beginning to motor before I got this injury so I wasnt happy. Eventually I got into a good humour when I realised I had 8k done and the calf seemed ok. Increased the pace slightly for the last 2k into 5.30 pace and then stretched it out for a while after.

I think I will increase the running sessions back to the normal 3/4 this week but keep them all easy

Monday: Rest day did 600m easy swimming in prep for starting the long swim sessions the following morning

Tuesday AM: Didnt get enough time to do the session so did 2000m of drill instead with the flippers on

Tuesday Lunch: A cracking day - so was looking forward to getting out on the run. I was still being very cautious but managed to increase the slow pace slightly to 5.29 min average. AHR = 139

Wednesday AM: Session one of the long swims was cut short again but not too bad as I only reduced the distances of the warm up and warm down. Plan called for a lot of 5 x 108's of 2.00/2.10/2.20/2.30/2.30. Speed is out of me a little bit as I haven't been swimming much recently but was around the 1.55 mark for all of these sets. The good looking swimmer was in again beside me, would like to see her pushing herself at some stage her technique is lovely but she is very much swimming on auto pilot. 3400m total

I would normally have snuck some kind of run in during weather like this but with me still nervous about overdoing the calf, I suggested a sneaky walk with Mrs C and Pudsey, so I got massive brownie points instead for "sacrificing" a training session. Although the way Mrs C walks I should nearly put it down as a run

Wednesday Evening: I cashed in those brownie points straight away and brought the pusseywagon onto the decking outside and was going to have a go at Sufferfest's Fight Club. However with struggling to see the laptop with the shone and then the brother in laws arrival and fascination with a bike that doesn't move and then not long after that the mother in law came too so the session was pants. Reverted back to the Fink plan which called for 1 hour of Z2 with two 5 minutes sessions at Z4. I was able to get some quality into the two Z4 sessions but that was about it.

On another note the weight is going the wrong way - barbecue every night this week and like any real man I have to have a beer or two while cooking it

Tuesday AM: Again I left it to late to get that swim session I had to cut short in. I need to take into account how slow the kickboard sessions take me. However i mostly cut the warm up and warm down and a few of the kickboard reps to get the main set in which was 5 x 216m off 4.00. Once again my endurance was the issue, reps 1 and 2 were low 3.40's. I just made rep 3 on 4.00 and with a quick fix of the hat and goggles after rep 4, I needed to swim a 3.49 last 216m to get in on 20 minutes which I just about made. Nothing makes me feel as good as getting home to have breakfast after a hard swim session in the am. Total 3000m

Tuesday Evening: I was all set to have a go at Sufferfest and then through my usual disorganisation I just didn't have time, had an hour and 15 minute window which was time enough except for

• Not having turbo set up
• Swap skewers
• Wheres the Polar watch?
• Wheres the Polar HR strap?
• Not having Sufferfest on old computer (permanently in shed now)

So in the end I had 40 minutes watching 24 and did the planned set of 3 x 5 mins hard with 3 minutes recovery instead. On another note I have my aero bottle now, Torhans Aero 30. €55 yo yos for a water bottle :eek: Triathlon is the most expensive sport going


Wednesday AM: I got a very late call up to Letterkenny today so that was more or less today gone, I did another 40 minutes on the TT bike before I left doing yesterdays session again with 3 x 5 minutes.

Thursday Lunch: With me not getting home till after 1am and with my usual unwinding for a while after. I watched a bit of Eyes Wide Shut on ITV2 and it wasn't long till my Eyes were wide open . So a lie in this morning. Finally got in a run and I wanted to get back to Z2 levels rather than the easy running of the last month since the calf started playing up. So 8k at 4.54 pace with an average HR of 154. I couldn't continue to run sub 5 minute pace after 6k without the heart rate pushing into the Z3 area but was delighted that the running is coming back a little and no problems with the legs

I must be the only man relatively sticking to an Ironman plan 15 weeks in that is heavier than when he started. I am flucutating around 82kgs which is 2kg heavier than my usual weight. When I look at El D's 75kgs and himself about a foot taller than me something has to give. So I am going to give some salads a go for the next while when I have a chance. Todays lunch was some leftover Salmon with tomatoes and onions, I could have eaten the laptop when I went back up to the office

Tuesday AM: A 1000m splash about in the pool with a few drills to get me used to the water again. A rare busy morning with the kids off there were a few in.

Tuesday Evening: The plan called for 1 hour Z2 with 5 x 5 minutes hard with 3 recovery. I condensed this into 45 minutes as I was on a promise. Found them tough to hold and was fighting hard on the last one. AHR = 134 Max = 164

Wednesday AM: A shortish session today with main set of 4 x 108 of 1.50 and 4 x 108 off 2.00 and 4 x 108 catch up of 2.30. I didn't hold the 1.50's swam a 1.38 first 108 and was struggling there after. Held the other sets comfortably though. A Galway Tri club swimmer in there with me today - good swimmer, very little kick but still held a great body position

Wednesday Lunch: Another 40 minutes on the turbo where I just did 4 minutes hard every 10. It was a thrown together session as I had my gear on for a run and it started to lash down. Knowing I had time later I just hopped on the bike. AHR = 124 Max = 162

A ham salad this time with some sweetcorn and a mountain of lettuce along with the usual's, felt a bit fuller this time heading back upstairs

Wednesday Evening: Finally introduced some Z4 into the run, I decided to throw in a fast k and see how I got on. So ran the first 3k in 4.42 pace to get the heart rate up to the 150's fast and then bolted for the next k. ChristI hated it, came in at 4.03 for the k and had a max Hr of 180 for the kilometre which was 3 beats off last years 5k max. A long way to go as regards speed. Couldnt get the HR down into the mid 150's so while feeling ok I was running at 5.20 pace to stay under. No problems with the calf and I stopped bothering looking for tufts of grass to run on. Came in at AHR of 154 running at 5.06 pace for 13k. On another note finally got some type of computer connection to the Samsung phone so listened to a download of "these re-imagined machines" which were remixes of BT's original, excellent stuff.

Off to Dublin for the day tomorrow so will try and get a turbo in the morning before I go

Monday AM: My usual splash around the pool in prep for tomorrows session, 1500m of drills

Monday Evening: A catch up for my missed LSR yesterday, trudged along at 5.28 pace with an average heart rate of 134. A bit of a boring slog but I suppose it was my longest run of the year at just 1.30. From January last year I ran 2 hours + for my lsr so its a big difference from last year but it starts to step up in May timewise

Tuesday AM: Need to toughen up on my getting up, the Samsung is a nightmare, eats battery. So it ran out of juice so it was Pudseys wake up call instead of 7.15 which is too late to get the session in. So an altered set of with a repeat of the 8 x 108 off 2.00 from last week, held this more comfortably this time with no last minute scramble to make up a few seconds

Tuesday Lunch: With one of the girls off on wedding leave for this friday - which we will be going too. I got caught with work so only had time for a 40 minute turbo in the evening. Got it done with a few 5 minute hard sessions which wasn't as much as prescribed

Wednesday AM: After 1.30 hours of looking around for my wallet I finally found it under the bed so swim session scratched. With sister from Boston over for dinner tonight - working in Castlebar tomorrow and a wedding on friday it is becoming a poor week for me :mad: Will try and prioritise the long bike if I can at the weekend as that is where the most work is needed

Nothing done friday with the wedding, I met my optimistic target for Swinford at it and I reckon I can cross him off the list. I would be quicker in the swim and run but hes a big strong powerhouse and he murders me on the bike. I hadnt seen him in about a year and I was visibly shaken when I bumped into him, he has reverted down to almost nothing. Now I have seen skinny triathletes in my time but my first reaction was he must be sick as he was so gaunt looking. However hes flying it he tells me, I was sorely tempted to say something to him but I am sure hes sick of hearing it. Mrs C starts wagging the finger as soon we said our goodbyes and I will be banned from Triathlon if I get down to anything like that. However with only a choice of beef or turkey (no fish for mrs C ) for the main course and chocolate mousse for dessert the worrying stopped as 2 dinners and 2 desserts down my gullet later she knows I will never be skinny.

Sunday AM: I was delighted with today's long bike, I finally seem to be getting stronger and not be close to bonking by the end of it. The mild conditions this morning suited me so with the lack of any real headwind I was able to hold slightly over 30kph for the 50ks or so up to Abbeyknockmoy. 3 repeats of the hill, where on the 2nd I was overtaken by a race group riding a Black Rose race I think .

You think you are improving till you see how much you have to go when you see the top guys going at it. I don't think they even knew they were going up a hill. Anyways 85k with an AHR of 125, max - 156

With the auld one away on holidays its looking like we need to move back home for the week, my dad is old school and cant even boil an egg. While this might scupper much of the swimming this week, certainly some cycling routes out around Spiddal and Carraroe sprinkled with some runs down the prom will be a great change