[elvis jones]

Originally Posted by couerdelion

I think you are being pretty tough on yourself. How many people do you know who ran a marathon, completed a triathlon and lost 40 pounds? (all whilst having to cope with the upheaval to their routine/diet of being diagnosed with diabetes)


You are in a small percentage of people who set out on a journey at the beginning of last year and can be judged as a success. Sure you might have wanted to lose more weight, run faster, tri harder etc but there's no way anyone would judge your year as anything other than remarkable. Many more people are still sat on their arses dreaming about being more active, you are out their doing it. It's your first year too so your only aim should have been completing.

Take a look at all the fast people you know and how long they have been racing? Much longer than me and you! We'll be challenging in a few years though!

Your plan looks pretty good. All the races after the Connemarathon build up nicely. Perhaps because of that the first one looks a little out of place (?)

Oh, as has been said, join the S/B/R challenge. it's pretty motivating when you look at the work others are putting in and it makes you want to up your game.

Thanks for that. First week back training was VERY hard and mood was awful. Thus the reason for such a negative post.

I feel a little more positive after a good run at the weekend.

BUT the weekend is still annoying me and i might have to look at my meds.

[elvis jones]

Originally Posted by catweazle

I did Connemara - Joey Hannon (OLY) - Athy (OLY) - Salthill (Sprint) - Humbert (HIM) in 2010 and I felt my winters training was all about running. After Connemara I then tried to compensate by doing loads of swimming and cycling and I then fell back again on my run fitness.

Last year I did very little racing, Salthill (Sprint), Kilkee Olympic, The Humbert and then DCM, I felt this suited me much better as i was able to split my time much better and gradually build up to my main race.

3 Marathons in a year is a lot

Yeah i was thinking of that yesterday and am thinking of just doing the half in Longford as i like doing the half and haven't one in my calender at all.

At the moment the running is my main focus. But i am doing a club spinning class and some club swimming as well ( the swimming is to help me improve so i can build distance once conna is out of the way )

[elvis jones]

Monday was runday

I did 6.5K and pace was fine. Chest is healing slowing and pace is building with it.

it was a flat enough circuit in the city centre. I'm going to change every second monday and do a hilly trail in the dark next monday to work on my hills as conna in mind.

I'm back enjoying it and actually look forward to it now.

[elvis jones]

Tuesday was spinning

Back to the class with the club and a class leader who doesn't hold back and puts together some great classes.

I wear my cycling shoes on the bikes we use which makes it easier and gives you a better workout.

We started with a light warm up and then its a 3.5 min sprint which i really went for and the sweat started to roll down my face.

Recovery in the standing position before we begun to increase the resistance and worked on climbing for about 5 min which really got to the thighs and the breathing hard as well.

Now reduce the resistance and spin out the legs before a 4 min sprint in the tri position which was hard in the last min but i pushed it out.

Standing recovery followed by sitting with arms by the side and building the resistance to work the legs and stomach muscles.

Resistance dropped to spin out the legs and a standing sprint of 3 mins.

Recovery and a drink and one final sprint in the position of your choice ( tri for me ) and then warm down.

Really good session and enjoyed it..............even if the music was utter $hite

[elvis jones]

Coached swimming session last night.

Anyone who has followed me will know that swimming is my major downfall.

Anyway the two main aims of last nights session were to work on my breathing and stroke.

When we started off a 20m length was taking 20 stokes and 30 sec............

I tend to breath every 4 strokes which leads to me wasting a lof of enegry just breathing and off the head lifting doesn't help my position in the water. We worked on breathing every 4 and 6 strokes and 4 seemed to work a lot better even if it is on my right side every time. its a learning process and i'll develop as i go.

Next it was onto my stoke and we broke that down and started again with the entry, glide, pull and push. We'll do more on that but worked on the basics.

Again at th end of the session he timed me and it was 15 strokes and in 21 sec so that one session showed a major improvment if i can put that into pratice.

The main positive for me was the breathing whcih has held me back.

8 to 10k run today

[elvis jones]

Well i tried something new last night, trail running in the dark !

Conna has some decent hills so i need to get some hill work into my training and thats what thursday is going to be about for the next while.

There is a local wood beside me with a great 2.1k circuit and its about 1.5k away from me to get to.

I got out at about 6 with a lovely bright green top and head lamp on.

Its a steady climb into the woods so you going up hill from about 1k onwards where the need for the light also comes in as well.

The light took a bit of getting used to as my breath kept fogging up in front of me but a sorted that by breathing slightly differently.

In the woods themselves 1k is on trail and 1k is on an old laneway. The trail was great to run on and is almost all up hill with a 600m steep steep climb.

When i got onto the laneway there is some downhill which i had to slow down for as there are potholes and i had to be careful about where i placed my feet.

I did 2 laps of the circuit and as i finished each time my breathing was back to normal after the climbing which is what i'm looking for so it isn't taking too much out of me.

On the way back the first 500m is downhill and my legs felt loose so i decided to push it and increase the pace. I got it to 5:10 a km by the end which i was very happy with and i have to say it was the best run i've done in a long time.

A total of 7.6k and if i add another lap of the circuit i can push it to almost 10k which is ok for a midweek run.

I really enjoyed it and its good to do something different.

This evening will be a light turbo session if i can get my man cave cleaned out

[elvis jones]

Quiet weekend as i ended up having to work sat and sun, you'd think i'd get a bit of time off in jan.............but no

Plan for the week is.

Tues - Spinning
Wen - Run 6k and Coached swimming session
Thurs - Hilly trail run 10k
Fri - Turbo Session
Sat - 18k LSR
Sunday - swim with the kids and alone when they are getting changed.

I'm off next week to get my bloods done and see am i getting hold of the diabetes or will i need daily meds.

[elvis jones]

Spinning last night and it was a great session.

An hr of hard work and i went in 15 min early to get an extra bit of work in. I was nicely warmed up when the class started and really pushed it for the hr.

I feel i'm well ahead of where i was this time last yr and fingers crossed this will continue to build.

Training in work so i don't know if i'll get my run done but i have a coached swimming session this evening !

[elvis jones]

One to one coached swimming session last night.

Main aim of the next few weeks is to sort out my breathing, head position and stroke.

Last night it was head position as i tended to lift my head when breathing which didn't help my body position and slowed me down.

We worked the position of my leading arm as to balance my body while turning to follow my moving arm ( if that makes sense ). It reallt helped and i am more stable in the water and having to do less work so not gulping in air and leaving myself in bits after 50m.

By fixing my position we've come up with another issue in at i am higher in the water, make stable and not my kicking is causing spray up and that is holding me back as well so i have to work on the upward motion of my left leg and i'm doing too much and almost taking it out of the water.

Overall a good session and i'll hit the pool tomorrow at lunch for 20 controlled quality lengths which will be done really slowly and working on the areas we touched last night.

Tonight is trial running

I did 7.6k last week and upping it to 10k this week and hoping to hold it at that each thursday for the next while.

At the moment i have a quiet weekend apart from supporting my wife in her 10k. So i'm aiming for 19k to 22k of an LSR.

Weight isn't shifting and i need to chat with my doc as i'm working out, eating healthy and nothing is happening in the last while

[elvis jones]

Been a while since i've been here, i've done a bit and had a nice break away with my wife in London.

I've had my bloods done and all is looking good. They are improving with cholestrol down, blood pressure down and HBA1C ( 6 month bloods ) down as well.

The only problem as i've said is the weight not moving and i did discuss it with my doctor who is very happy about the above and how i'm dealing with my diabetes.

When i was training for half marathons and shorter triathlons the weight came off. Add to that i was still filling myself with sugar as well so a lot of thinking was done.

So after 2 bottles of wine, a bowl of chilli and a lot of thought..............half iron and full marathons are being put on the back burner for the moment

The best path for me at the moment is to focus on half marathons and shorter tri where i do a lot more high impact training.

For example if i do a LSR of 25k on a sat i prob won't be able to do anything until monday. Where as if i do a good 15K on a sat i can so a cycle or something else on the sunday.

It will lead to less rest days but more days exercising which is good for my diabetes and weight loss.

If i'm honest the idea of running another full marathon while carrying 16 stone doesn't really appeal to me.

The plan now for the next 12 weeks is to work hard at short distance races with 2 half marathons, a sprint tri and some smaller races as well.

Perheaps when i hit july my weight could be heading in the right direction and the Longford marathon could be a goal but for now its time change tact and get the weight down.

[RayCun]

Originally Posted by elvis jones

The best path for me at the moment is to focus on half marathons and shorter tri where i do a lot more high impact training.
For example if i do a LSR of 25k on a sat i prob won't be able to do anything until monday. Where as if i do a good 15K on a sat i can so a cycle or something else on the sunday.
It will lead to less rest days but more days exercising which is good for my diabetes and weight loss.

This keeps confusing me, I think because I understand 'high impact' differently to you. When I think of high impact, I think of hard, fast sessions - intervals, tempo runs, PMP runs, whatever, and a hard 15k would leave me in worse condition than a 25k LSR. But it sounds () like you mean doing 15k at LSR pace, so you can do something else the next day. Increasing the quantity of training, by lowering your targets for each session?

[elvis jones]

Originally Posted by RayCun

This keeps confusing me, I think because I understand 'high impact' differently to you. When I think of high impact, I think of hard, fast sessions - intervals, tempo runs, PMP runs, whatever, and a hard 15k would leave me in worse condition than a 25k LSR. But it sounds () like you mean doing 15k at LSR pace, so you can do something else the next day. Increasing the quantity of training, by lowering your targets for each session?

Yeah maybe i'm not being clear on what works for me.

The 15K would be at a gentle but not LSR pace.

I'll try harder to explain.

Training for a sprint/olympic tri i can do 2 good session in a day and 1 the next. With the longer races its one session and it takes longer to recover.

I need shorter more frequent exercise. As is a fast 5k in the morning and a 20k cycle in the evening is better for me than a 12k run.

Once i get the weight down i can focus on longer races but for now i need to get it down and more/short sessions worked early last yr so i'm going that route to see how it goes.

[RayCun]

Okay, I think I see what you mean.
You should be a bit careful with those fast 5ks, because as well as burning energy quickly (which you want) they will also put more strain on your muscles and joints (which you don't really want). Leaving aside the swimming and cycling, if you run a fast 5k 3/4 times a week, your injury risk will probably go up.

[elvis jones]

Originally Posted by RayCun

Okay, I think I see what you mean.
You should be a bit careful with those fast 5ks, because as well as burning energy quickly (which you want) they will also put more strain on your muscles and joints (which you don't really want). Leaving aside the swimming and cycling, if you run a fast 5k 3/4 times a week, your injury risk will probably go up.

I learned that the hard way two yrs ago

No i'll mix with up with longer distances, hill work and going to start interval which i haven't done up until now.

[elvis jones]

Started back again last night.

First workout of the week was a 5k that i wanted to do as fast as i could.

I managed 28:20 which isn't bad for a 16 stone man starting back after a lot of stop start. The run went well and i was able to get the pace up from the start which felt good as i was only hoping to get a time of 30 min.

Monday evening is going to be 5k at pace evening from now on and i want a PB as mine currently stands at 25:12.

This evening is club spinning which is always a good workout.

8 weeks until conna and i'm focusing on the half now, the new regime of more frequent short workouts will have until then to show some results and if they do i'll continue with it.