Chasing the Kona dream and a Mai Tai cocktail

I had these up on another site and forgot to keep this updated. Here is some of the events covered since August.

Kilomarathon in Kildare
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43694088

Really tough course with the warm weather around 23 degrees and hill after hill after hill. There was a good few people around the course complaining about the hills but hey what goes up must come down.
I ran a 2.16.54 in the end, a good 7 mins off my target time. All was going well up to mile 6 in terms of pacing but the hills between 2.5 and 8.5 miles took a lot out of energy out of me and it would appear everyone else around me so i had to revise my plans.
Like most hilly courses you can take advantage of the declines but the hills took that much out of me i was not pulling sufficient time back on the declines to keep up the 8min mile pace. I decided to drop the pace for the last 10 mile trying to keep it around the 8.30/8.40 mark.
I was in stitches laughing at some guy around mile 6 who commented ah ffs not another fcking hill what are they trying to do kill us!! A valuable lesson learned....must study the routes before i run a race.

So back off holidays and straight into Lap the Lough race today. I did 4 gym sessions and 2 runs over on holidays which were less than expected but at least kept me in reasonable shape. The diet sort of went out of whack for the two weeks with rich food and plenty beer/wine. I will be giving the beer/wine a miss until after the Dublin City Marathon as it really does **** up the fitness.

Lap the Lough Cycle
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46737719
The race in Lap the Lough went reasonably well. It is a flat course and the weather was pretty poor for the first 2 hours with wind and rain which was not helped by me forgetting my waterproofs but at least it picked up for the remainder of the race. I completed the 140km course (actually only 133 km on my garmin) in 5 hours and 8 mins at an average pace of 2.19 per km and an average speed of 25.9 km/h. I burned a total of 4500 calories and felt fairly tired afterwards, 90km through 115km were tough going but I finished strongly which was good.

Joe Loughman Wicklow Cycle
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48694690
Today’s spin only got a measly 150 runners across the three distances with probably less than 30 doing the long route of 123km. I waited at the start for a decent group to get started and headed off with a group of 20 for the first 30km.
The first climb we hit was around the 22.5km mark, it was more of a long drag that went on for around 11km with an elevation gain of 190 metres. There was 7 of us broke from the larger group and we started drafting and reaching speeds over 40 km/h for the next 25kms through lovely scenery until we reached the main food/drink stop around the 55km mark. At this stage I had taken on two full bottles of sports drink, 2 energy gels and 1 energy bar so I just tucked into a banana, a few sambos and chockie biscuits.
We left shortly after in the same group that cycled in but unfortunately 5kms down the road all 6 turned off to the right as they were only doing the shorter course. The parting advice “was take it easy up Slieve Mann it’s a monster of a climb”.
I hit Slieve Mann at the 60km mark, it lasts for just over 5.5 km with a total elevation gain of 320 metres. To say Slieve Mann was tough would be an understatement, the fact I was tackling it on my own into a wind did not help matters. There were parts of the climb which were very steep but I just about kept the bike moving up it.
I had a nice 4k downhill section were I reached speeds of over 50km/h. I near came off the bike towards the end of the descent as the course took a sharp left at the bottom and with me motoring along I hit some loose gravel when braking and my heart was in my mouth (near emptied the drawers).
The next climb was straight into Brown Mountain lasting 4 kms with an elevation gain of 180 metres, although it was not much of a climb I still had Slieve Mann in my legs so I struggled up this section. Next on the list was the dreaded Shay Elliot climb. I actually found this slightly easier than Slieve Mann, it lasted for around 3.5kms with an elevation gain of 240 metres. Thankfully there was another food/drink stop at the top so I quickly refilled the bottles and had a quick bite to eat.
The last 38kms had two quick descents and some rolling hills near Roundwood. I really struggled with the last 20kms but just kept the pedals churning over.
I finished in 5hrs 2mins although there is 4kms missing from my Garmin as I forgot to switch it back on after the stop at Shay Elliot. Total Elevation Gain was 1653 metres, average speed was a measly 23.7km/h, average pace was 2.32 per km and total calories burnt was 4720. I really enjoyed this scenic but very demanding route and the weather was fantastic. At least I know what to expect on the bike section of WAR in two weeks.
Need to get myself sorted with clip pedals and cycling shoes. Some of the lads on the cycle said it would increase my pace by at least 10/15%, not sure if there is any truth in this.

Dublin Half Marathon
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/49505846
I ended up running this along with another 8000 crazies which on reflection was pretty stupid tbf. I went to the physio yesterday and he felt the back pain was brought on by my hamstrings. After half an hour with him I was feeling much better although his advice was best off to leave the race alone.

I woke up this morning feeling slightly tight and sore so went for a quick 2k to see how i felt, which went well. Soon after I found myself driving down to the Phoenix Park!!

The course is fairly flat and although carrying a slight injury I still went off with the sub 1.40 pacers as I wanted to post a pb (again stupidy). All was going well until around the 3.5 mile when I got the back pain again. I had been on the shoulders of the 1.40 pacers up to then but decided to drop it back a click to see how the back would fair out. I ran the next 3 miles or so at a slower pace and then picked up the pace for the the last 7 miles. At one stage I seen the 1.40 pacer balloons about two minutes ahead and for once I made the right decison not to go after them.

I ended up finishing fairly strong and in a time of 1.41.37 which considering the circumstances I am happy enough with as it was a pb (previous 1.43.23 Enniscorthy). I reckon i would have been close to a 1.38 on that course so that gives me plenty of confidence for the sub 3.30 in DCM.

Even though I had a good stretch after the race I am really hurting now so resting up now for a few days and probably more physio on Monday.

Wicklow Adventure Run
Stage 1 - 10k Kirikee Mountain Run
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50472958
No softly softly approach here and straight into a steep climb for about 4km. I ran the first 3km and walked the last k to the summit due to the steep climb (everyone else walked). Coming down the other side of the mountain was fun and I picked up some decent speed, at some points I was running speeds of 22km+.
I finished this in 59mins 20secs and the transition time between the run and bike was just under 4 mins which was pretty dire.

Stage 2 - 22k cycle covering Shay Elliot and Slieve Mann climbs
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50472960
The first couple of km was ok with around 1.5km off-road which I decided to run as I did not want to risk a puncture. Around the 9km we started off on the Shay Elliot climb which lasted for around 5km.
I was pretty much fcked after 2km of this climb and decided to get off the bike and walk a bit, at this point I noticed the back break was rubbing off the wheel (probably caused by the off road section). After a quick fix I hoped back on and completed both climbs at a steady pace. I passed out a good few struggling on the second climb which was good.
I finished this in 1hr 30mins 10 secs which was a good bit off the time I had planned. Transition time between bike and run was better at 1min 44secs

Stage 3 - 7.5k run up and over Croaghanmoira Mountain
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50472964
This simply put was insane. The terrain and the steepness of this mountain climb was very tough. There was a good few people at the summit either waiting on help with injuries or simply just exhausted. I fell twice coming down sections of the mountain so decided to walk some of it rather than risking injury. I did enjoy doubling back on the route and watching all the people suffering behind me
I finished this in 1hr 17mins 47 secs, I had this originally planned for 55 mins but I completely underestimated it. Transition time from run back to bike was 2min 40secs.

Stage 4 - 19k cycle down Slieve Mann to Glenmalure.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50472969
At this stage I was feeling sick before the last cycle from all the energy gels/bars and contemplated making myself sick but decided against it as I would have feck all energy left. The last 19k cycle was much easier than the first cycle with a bit of downhill and just one significant drag which went on for around 4.5km. We had to take parts of the descent handy due to bad roads, one section we were allocated 5 minutes to pass through due to loose gravel.
I finished this in 55mins and 32secs and was happy to be so close to home as the finish line was right beside the last section. Last transition came in at 2mins 6 secs.

Stage 5 - River run and obstacle course
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/50472972
This was more or less done for the novelty factor. The river was bloody freezing and up to waist height. The obstacle course was very short with just a few crawl nets and jumping/climbing over a couple of hay bales. I finished this in 7mins 11secs.

I crossed the line in 5hr 26secs (on garmin) and an official race time of 4hr 58mins covering 59kms. I won my prop bet with my mate which was sweet as he finished 35 minutes behind me. The garmin said I burnt 3000 calories I think it’s more like 5000 calories, I have not stopped eating since the race finished.

I really enjoyed my first adventure race and plan to do a few of these next year. I am not sure of finishing position but results should be up tomorrow.

....Now i have this up to date I must try keep it updated

Today was a disaster for me and one i want to forget quickly. Set out with the 3.30 group and was slugish for the first 3 mile or so but quickly got into a rhythm and was feeling good. Ran the next few miles with Menoscomo who was also trying for his sub 3.30 (good to put a face to the name).

Bang mile 11 my right hamstring started to get very tight and i tried to run it off through mile 12 and 13 but to no avail (horrible feeling seeing them balloons drift away). Had to pull up at the physio tent at mile 15 and seek some attention, hard to tell but they reckoned it was probably a pulled hamstring.

Tried to walk/jog and it was too painful with every step, contemplated just binning it around mile 16 as i was pissed off and the thoughts of having to walk another 10 mile. I decided to plough on, walked most of it and ran the last 2 mile as i wanted to get it over with and not let the kids see Dad hobbling around the corner of College Green. My two lads ended up running the last 200 mtrs with me which was the only high point of the second half

To have little or no injuries this year and get the training spot on for my race of the year it is truly dissapointing how the day went. The garmin tells the story, almost 3 hours spent hobbling the second half of the marathon to finish in a horrible 4hr 42 some 48 mins slower than Cork this year.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/54337313

Went to the Physio yesterday and they confirmed it's a Grade 2 hamstring injury. Pretty much guessed this was the case as the area started to bruise up. It appears there is some damage to the muscle fibres around the biceps femoris. I had planned in my own mind to have another go before Xmas but i can pretty much rule that out unless i make a miraculous recovery.

catweazle wrote: »

Sorry to hear things went pear shaped Jacky. Look at it on the bright-side, you have had a long year so the break will do you good before you head into an Ironman year. From the title of your log, the Ironman is your main focus so all the running you have done for Dublin is in the bank anyways

You were doing a serious amount of training and events from your opening post, I wonder did you take too much on too soon.

Stick a pull bouy between the legs and get some swimming into ya.

Looking back possibly should have left the WAR event alone but what's done is done. I was thinking of doing something like that on the swimming to stop me going completely stir crazy as i am used to training at least 15+ hours a week.

Monday 15.11 - 10 mile Run
This was the real tester to see if the hamstring is fully recovered and thankfully no problems after the run. I had initially planned to run a 6 miler but instead of turning for home I decided on adding another 4 mile. Need to get myself a headtorch as I could not see in front of me running along the Boyne River with the mist rolling in. Really glad to be back at it.


Tuesday 16.11
18 hour day in work put a stop to any training being completed.

Wednesday 17.11
3 mile run at lunchtime in 22.06
Mile 1 - 7.41
Mile 2 - 7.45
Mile 3 - 7.40
30 minute turbo on the bike with 1 minute cool down. 23.47km / 45.4 km/h / 116 avg watt, most of this was in zone 1 hr with 3 spurts in zone 3/4 hr thrown in.


Thursday 18.11
Gym session at lunchtime consisted of a 15 minute metcon (military press, chin ups and 2 arm kettlebell squat raises) Done bench and stuggled on 70kg due to lack of practice over the last few weeks. Done 4 sets of 500 mtr rower in total around 7.45 exluding the minute recovery in between. Quick session but it was a busy one.
Done a quick all out interval session in the evening as I was heading out for a meal, 3x1 miles with 1 minute recovery in between around the footie pitch.
Mile 1 - 6.23
Mile 2 - 6.17
Mile 3 - 6.49 - struggled on this probably from my earlier gym session

Friday 19.11
Took a long lunch today at work to get a swim and run session in
Swim - 3x500 mtr b/stroke with 2 minute recovery. in total it took me about 37 minutes excluding recovery although not accurate as my stopwatch battery went dead.
Then headed out for a run just under 5 mile and kept it at 7.44 pace


Saturday 20.11 10% IM distance.....just to see like:rolleyes:
Total time was 9.33 min swim, 40 min bike and 20.21 on the run....1.09.54 in total. Transistion between bike and run took about 4/5 minutes, darn gps watch loosing its signal when coming into the house to change into running gear
Swim
Completed a 200mtr warm up and cool down. The 400 mtr took me 9.33, I rotated the swim 1 fc/1 bstroke.
Bike
Actually got out on the bike rather than the turbo and rode out on an undulating course. I knew it was going to be tough and the legs felt fairly tired. Dissapointed with the time of 40 minutes and will work on getting this down to under 36 minutes.

Run
20.21 on the run, again I think there is a few minutes to come off the run. It does take a while to get used to running after coming off the bike.

All in all pleased enough considering tired legs this morning.

Sunday 21.11
Went out for a 2 hour cycle this morning in perfect weather albeit slightly cold. Done the full 56km in zone 2 heart rate did peak into zone 3 on a few occasions on some of the climbs. Feels really slow doing it zone 2 but thats what it takes to get around the IM distance, I felt fresh coming off the bike which shows there may be some merits in what the experts say.


Weekly Summary
15-21 November|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|11|8:06|137.5km
Swimming|2|0:55|2.3
Cycling|3|3:22|97.7
Running|5|3:04|37.5
Conditioning|1|0:45|Strengthening Work - Gym

Lessons on swim start next week, hope to start making some serious progress in this area.

Tuesday
Gym session - 1 hour
5 minute warm up on bike
Leg Curl - 35x8, 40x8, 45x8
Leg Extension - 40x8, 45,8, 50x8
Leg Press - 90x9, 100x8, 110x8
Bench Press - 50x8, 55x8, 60x8
DB Shoulder Press - 17.5x8x3
Single Arm Row - 17.5x8x3
Tricep K/Back - 10x8x3
Hyperextension - 10kg weight/15x2
Situps 30x3
5 minute stretch and cool down.....after a busy session
Swim Lesson
Swim lesson was a disaster, this was meant to be at an advanced level obviously not after two people had to be saved from drowning from the guy running the lessons There was no way I was wasting 10 weeks on this so a got a refund and a switch to lane sessions from next week. There is only 4 in the group and it should be more what I am looking for so I can get my front crawl technique sorted.
In sheer frustration I stayed on and completed 4 sets of 150mtr f/crawl in under 11 minutes.
Today
8.97km run this morning in 45:47, Z2 avg hr 151 and 5.06km pace
Brick session this evening
Bike - 30 minutes on turbo (flat), 28.97km, 203 avg watt, avg speed 56 km/h, zone 2 avg hr 139
Run - 3.75km in 17:55, avg hr 154 and 4.46km pace

Friday
I only managed 30 minutes for my run yesterday due to the icy conditions, nearly went over a few times.
6.2 kms in 31:15, avg 5.02 per km pace

Saturday
Not a chance of getting out today with the conditions so made do with the turbo.
53.81km in 1:47:00 resulting in an avg speed of 30km/h, cadence 91 and I kept the heart rate in zone 1 128. The route had 3 nice climbs in it, total climbing was around 700 mtrs.


I hope the weather clears up for my long run tomorrow as the 10k Heath race has been put off ideally want to get 15kms in.

Monday
Swim
300 mtr warm up, 8 x 50 mtr f/crawl drills, 12 x 100 mtr (8 b/s and 4 f/c) and a 200 mtr cool down
Total distance: 2.1km in 49 minutes.

Tuesday
Run
Recovery run on the treadmill at lunchtime (hate treadmill running)
Total distance: 6.5km in 34 minutes, 5.40km/9.07mile pace and avg hr 127
Swim
1/2 hour lane session with instructor, much better than last weeks mess and focussed on f/c technique. Slowly but surely getting there.
Gym
45 minute weights session similiar to last week, not doing heavy weights as i don't want to risk injury. Had another assessment tonight as September was my last one, current weight is 157lbs/71kg and 9.7% BF (finally single digit figures:))
That is a total weight loss of around 39lbs/18kg since this time last year so i have lost the same weight as what my 4 year old son weighs:eek: Want to be around 68kg come IM race day.

Abhainn wrote: »

That is some weight loss in 1 year.! Has anyone asked you if you've been sick yet?
I 'm sure your goal race weight will be met come race day. What IM event are you targeting?

I have had a few comments alright from friends/family i have not seen for a while:). Registered for IM UK next July, looking forward to the challenge.

Thursday
Swim
2.5km in 61 mins
Was not properly fueled for this session due to missing lunch in work and it showed as i felt weak throughout. Ordering my wetsuit tomorrow and will try it out next week in the pool doing f/crawl. A guy in the lane next to me was wearing one and he was zipping along.

Bike
Zone 1 - 45 min session
Got properly fueled for tonights turbo session. I kept the heart rate at an avg of 122 (roughly 63% of max hr) dipped into zone 2 for 5 minutes near the end when i changed from low to high gearing. I kept it on the aero bars for the full session and concentrated on maintaining even cadence in the 3rd lowest gear, session felt fairly easy tbh which i suppose it should be in zone 1:rolleyes:
avg watt -150, cadence - 95, avg speed - 29.7kmph, distance - 22.29km

shotgunmcos wrote: »

150watts = 29.7kmh

I'd normally need about 190 watts to hit that. What kind of turbo are you using?

Tacx Fortius Multiplayer, link above in an earlier post. Will post the output graph later.

Abhainn wrote: »

Hope to see you there then:)



I've only been on my TACX 1680 4 times now but I reckon I have to reach 30.5kph to reach 200watts which would be similar to the above.

Cool see you there then.

On the turbos with different makes you are always going to get different readings. Factor in someone pushing a big gear with low cadence versus someone in a lower gear with a higher cadence you could experience a difference in wattage but i have no idea. Perhaps the five minutes pushing the big gear and maintaining around 240/270 watts may have distorted the averages over the 45 minutes.
Here is the output from last nights session.


Friday
After a tough week in work and the gym closing early i could have easily skipped tonights 1hr z2 run, glad i chose not to. It was a very slow 10.44km in 1:01:06 which is a paltry 5.51km pace but have to say running in the snow gives you a good workout.
Plans for tomorrow is a long bike on the turbo, going to try and get the gps mapped across onto the turbo and ride a lap of the IMUK bike route. Long run planned for Sunday and then recovery week next week.