swim, bike, run ... it'l be fun!

kingQuez

New to tri swim session again tonight, only a few more weeks left unfortunately

SWIM: 1500m. Main set was 1000 (6x100m and the rest was 50m, with about 10 second breaks), rest was warmup/kicking drills/swimming with head out of water.

kingQuez

Finally got off my arse and went for a cycle. My assumption that I'd be grand at cycling was very wrong :rolleyes: . Lessons learned:

1. Tuck your laces into your runners, they dont play nice with the chainring.
2. Avoid twigs on the road and anything that looks like a bump or crack in teh road. Roadbikes are a different beast from mountainbikes and make horrible noises when these things are encountered.
3. For the love of god don't touch the breaks to slow when going round a corner if its been spitting rain, I felt the back wheel start to skid and nearly lost control of the bike.

On the plus side I never managed to get up to 50kmph on my mountainbike ;p

BIKE: 1hr, 24k. Varied route with a very long gradual climbs and descents.

kingQuez

Another cycle today, but disaster struck. Pedals somehow managed to loosen themselves from the cranks and it only became obvious as I was going up a hill and felt them 'wobbling'. I managed to damage the threads where one pedal screws in Back in the house I got them screwed back in fully but the outer threads are badly damaged on one of them, fingers crossed it'l all stay put and that section doesnt need to be replaced!

I prefer maintaining my runners and swim shorts.

BIKE: 10k, 30mins.

kingQuez

Rain thismorning and it stopped as soon as I was changed and back in the car


RUN: 16.4miles, 1hr 57mins (average pace 7min 8sec/mile). Max HR 188 average 146.

MCOS

kingQuez wrote: »

Rain thismorning and it stopped as soon as I was changed and back in the car


RUN: 16.4miles, 1hr 57mins (average pace 7min 8sec/mile). Max HR 188 average 146.

Thats a pretty fast long run :eek:

kingQuez

Hey MCOS, When I got going I just settled into a comfortable run and yeah, it seems it was a bit fast for a long run really I was going by my HR, and it seems if i slow down to the right pace for a long run it drops me well below what my easy runs are supposed to be at by HRM training (down to 130 instead of 140+). Still haven't figured out how to reconcile the difference between pace and HR for training. After that run McMillan puts me in the running for a 3hr25min marathon.. not sure how realistic that is though. Will have to make an effort to slow down next week.

SWIM: 300m (3x100m) just to stretch my legs, they were a little tired today. Did a couple of lengths breaststroke then too which I now find harder than frontcrawl

kingQuez

Second last new to tri swim session tonight. Its mid term and the pool was setup with 50m lanes (my first time swimming in a 50m pool!). And they sprung a 750m timetrial on us too :eek: .. the longest ive swim continuously before tonight was maybe 200-250m?! They did that distance a few weeks ago during one of the classes I missed, so everyone else had a time to gague themselves against. Everyone did really well and all had improved a fair bit! I came in at 20min 41seconds, which Im really really happy with - I wasnt sure id be able to do the distance continuously yet!

SWIM: 200m warmup (continuous), 750m timetrial (continuous), 2x100m warmdown.

MCOS

Well done on the swim progress! Was that in UL?

kingQuez

Cheers MCOS. It wasnt in UL, it was in the national aquatic centre in dublin.. tri ireland have been running a beginners session for the past 7 weeks. Would be miles away from my targets if I hadnt discovered it and gotten signed up!

RUN: 6miles, 49mins 28seconds. (8min 14sec/mile). max hr 160, average 137.

kingQuez

Headed to the phoenix park for my long run today. After the first lap (5.3miles) I stopped to grab some water from my car, just as I was shutting the boot I realized the backwindow had been broken and a bunch of stuff less important than water (at the time -- my clothes and suchlike!) had been stolen :mad:

So, im down some stuff that was in the car.. have to get a new window put in, and they also got the last 11miles of my run. I'm not happy at all.

RUN: 5.3miles, 45mins 2 seconds. Average pace 8min 29sec/mile (max hr 154 average 135).

kingQuez

Ive come down with another cold so im off exercise cold turkey. Well... stretching, some core work and playing with clipless pedals on the bike over the past couple of days dont count Need to shift the cold and get back running, the long runs for edinburgh training are the next 3 weekends...

Disappointed to miss the last new to tri session tonight. If anyones trying to get their swimming improved for a triathlon and based within reach of the NAC its well worth doing... Dont think its on again till October now unfortunately.

Also looked at some tri wetsuits at the start of the week.. they're very tight fitting :eek:

MrCreosote

Sorry to hear about the cold and the car! You must be happy with the improving times though.

Have you decided on a tri yet?

kingQuez

Hey MrCreosote, hopefully thats the end of my bad luck for a while now! Im signed up for the triathlone sprint, and the dublin olympic - they fit in well with giving time to recover after the marathon next month, and the extra time I need to get my swim distance up. Im not convinced on doing dublin, (im not a bit keen on swimming in the liffey.. weils disease doesnt really appeal to me) -- Id prefer to do carlingford, but dont want to risk not getting a place in that: everything im looking at is late in the season and id be miffed if I endedup without a place in any race

Due a long run today, but having been off all exercise for the past week I went out for a 4miler instead. Will maybe do the scheduled 16m on monday, want to have an extra day or two to make sure the cold is well and truely gone.

RUN: 4.1miles (32mins). Didnt have the HRM with me.

kingQuez

LSR today, it was going great for the first half but I died at mile 14... I was suddenly right out of energy and ended up walking for about a minute before picking it up again :mad: -- despite a big effort to slow the run. Im going to blame the cold I had last week combined with still not running slow enough. It was a new route (I couldnt bring myself to use the phoenix park again), and turned out to be largely on concrete, so thats not going to be a runner for long. I'll be bringing a sports drink or gels for the remaining long runs (an 18 and a 20).

RUN: 16.1, 2hrs 14min (8min 19sec/mile). max hr 165, average 136.

kingQuez

Swim today to stretch my legs after yesterday, it was really good and I enjoyed it but going to take a couple of days off now before the next run. Work is going to be crazy for the next few weeks, and then I've got my phd viva a week after the work deadlines are hit. Im getting tired just thinking about it all. Damn life interfering with training!

SWIM: 1k. (200m easy warmup of kicking drills and easy front crawl, 2x100,1x200,2x100frontcrawl and then another easy 200m to finish off)

kingQuez

Did I say a couple of days? I meant a day
Was wearing my new runners.. I've stuck to my old pair for anything over 6 until now because I'd been trying to break them in. They still have a bit more breaking in required.

Started the run pretty easy and then after the first 3 miles pushed a bit harder.. its been a while since ive done that (I normally pick a pace, well, HR, and stick to it), but enjoyed the variation it gave.

RUN: 6miles, 47mins (7min 50sec/mile). Average HR 142, max 159.

kingQuez

Sick of working so took a break and went for a swim. Took it pretty easy because tomorrow's a long run day.

SWIM: about 900m? (9x100m).

kingQuez

Ok, after getting a slap after mile 13 last week I planned this weeks LSR a bit better. Decent sized pasta lunch yesterday, water for first 1/2 of the run and moved to lucozade sports drink for the second 1/2, ran with HR 135ish for first half of the run and then bumped it to 145ish for the second half once it was clear everything was going well. Legs felt a little heavy during the entire run (maybe swimming yesterday wasnt the best idea), but overall I'm happy!

RUN: 18.6m (2hrs 32min, 8min 10sec/mile). Average HR 139.

kingQuez

Managed to squash in a run thismorning before breakfast. Not going to get a chance to do the last LSR for edinburgh till early in the week (ideally it should be tomorrow, but im gonna be sitting in airports and on planes for about 20hrs )

RUN: 6.8miles (50mins, 7min 21sec/mile).

kingQuez

Was unexpectedly called to a cave rescue in Fermanagh on sunday evening, having just gotten back from the states that morning. Not quite rested enough yet to get out for my final LSR for Edinburgh, and not sure whether to abandon it now or not. I dont really want to go to a marathon on the back of a single 18m run, but a 20m run two weeks before the marathon doesnt make for much of a taper! PhD viva is coming next week too.

EXCUSES: a lot of them.

kingQuez

It's been much too long since I was in a pool.. really need to get swimming with a group, when I do go to the pool Im just making up what im going to do on the spot.

Still not sure what to do about a long run this weekend.. only two weeks to edinburgh.. I might just aim to get in a 10; runnings got to take a back seat this weekend. It sucks that I got swomped with stuff for the two weeks when work was really needed for the marathon

SWIM: 1k. 4x50m frontcrawl, 50m kicking back, 2x25m kicking sides, 2x25m catchup drill (? i think thats its name) each side individually, 50m catchup both sides, 200m frontcrawl, 4x100m frontcrawl.

kingQuez

It's been over a week and a half since I got in a run; I didnt manage to make it out this weekend.

I did however pass my PhD viva yesterday, which was a great end to another endurance event.. even if it mostly involved 4years of sitting in a chair infront of a computer


So, I'm back. Work+college deadlines all met, and even fitted in a cave rescue inbetween

Very easy run today to ease back into it... hope I havent entirely made a mess of edinburgh with missing almost two weeks of running!

RUN: 3miles, 22mins (average HR 140).

kingQuez

Got in a nice swim after work on thursday, and off for my last LSR later today.

SWIM: 1k. 200m, 100mx2, 100m kicking on back/sides, 500m, 50m cooldown

kingQuez

Ok, did todays run far far too fast. Calfs are actually a bit tired/stretched, which is quite worrying at this stage. Will aim to do a few incredibly slow short runs this week to try and stretch the legs and get them to remember its only two weeks since I was running properly.

RUN: 10.7miles, 1hr 21mins. (7min 34sec/mile).

kingQuez

Got in a very short swim after work on monday, and got out for a run lastnight. Been living off 6-7hrs sleep a night for weeks now and its starting to catchup with me... I work a lot better after 8

SWIM: 5x100m. Nice easy and fun.
RUN: 3m, 21min 30sec. 7min 10 sec/mile. max hr 152, average 142.

kingQuez

Edinburgh marathon.

It was hot. I've seen various reports for the temperature during the marathon ranging from 20-22 deg c. I picked up a baseball cap to shade my face on Saturday and boy am I glad I did! I ran the race with a friend to mile 20, at which point I pushed on a little bit faster to see what I could do...

My watch froze 21mins into the race, so I had to rely on him to do the pacing; it was his first marathon and he was getting caught up in the buzz and pushing much too fast early on. I guess the start, which runs straight down a hill, encourages you to break with the plan a little. After a lot of complaining on my part we slowed back down to 8'20/mile after three miles, but inevitably sped up a little again.

After hitting the 1/2 way point I was happy to increase the speed a bit, but not too much, until mile 18. Mile 18-19 was offroad (a clay farmtrack!), and I found it very different compared to the road, and felt the heat coming up off the ground very strongly. At mile 19 I was feeling good (or as good as one does after a 19mile run), so started to push a little. At mile 20 we separated; I was feeling energetic and my friend was quite happy with his current pace--he was well on track for a 3:40 marathon. I felt bad 'abandoning' him when I knew he was just hitting the hardest part, but we had been making good time and I wanted to see what I could do with the last few miles.

With no watch and no regular updates I mostly ran the rest of the race based on how my legs felt. I put on my iPod and set off with tunnelvision. I was cautious until mile 21, fearing the wall at any moment, but it didn't happen. I got three updates on the time during the rest of the run, thanks to other runners on the route that were willing to help me. Based on the times I was hearing there was a chance I was in for sub 3:30. I had a mission.

During the last few miles I only remember a few people passing me, relay runners included. It was a hot day and it was showing: a good few people were running at a steady pace, and a lot were walking. I was convinced I'd hit the wall at mile 22.. it seemed to run forever. Eventually I saw the 24mile marker, I had outright missed mile 23!. At mile 25 I cranked up the powersong that I use when sprinting on the treadmill and picked up the pace again. That last 1.2miles was hard work; entering the stadium was amazing, there was a great crowd there.. but I didnt have time to enjoy it, there was the chance I could steal a sub 3:30 and really had my heart set on it now. Crossed the line with about 3:32 on the clock, and then spent 3 minutes trying to catch my breath. I dont think I've ever been so focused and pushed so hard during a run.

Found the results online today: 3hrs 30mins 5seconds. A very nice time indeed, despite those extra 6 seconds. Given I had decided 3:40 was my target, and the weather on the day, I can not complain. Unlike the dublin marathon my feet are also fine; no blisters, no black toenails. Overall a good result (tm).

I've got serious respect for anyone that ran that course this weekend. I don't know how the faster runners pulled off sub-3, nor how the slower runners managed to weather the heat and still finish. Kudos to all.

As an aside: I enjoyed the course, it was certainly faster than Dublin, but I would recommend Dublin over Edinburgh for anyones first marathon. The crowds in Dublin seemed much bigger and it had more of a party atmosphere to it; they extended over the entire length of the course and gave brilliant support. The supporters at edinburgh were brilliant, but the turn out was just not the same.


RUN: 26.21876 miles (3hrs 30mins 5seconds, average pace 8min/mile)

Breakdown based on published results:

1hr 47min for first half -- 8min 11sec/mile
1hr 43min for second half -- 7min 51sec/mile

0-10k: 7min 53sec/mile
10k-13.1m: 8min 24sec/mile
13.1m-30k: 7min 57sec/mile
30k-26.2m: 7min 46sec/mile

kingQuez

So here's what I said back in Jan.:

kingQuez wrote: »

I'm also going to do the edinburgh marathon. This is a secondary objective, even though it will happen earlier in the season. I missed lots of runs due to injuries/paranoia about injuries etc. when I was training for the DM. I also walked for about two minutes during the race as I came up feenian st. My aim for edinburgh is to be more consistent in training (hopefully I have a better base to start from this time!), and to run the entire course without any walking. Ill be running it with a friend, who is also a non-runner, so I dont mind if I dont get a good race time: a quicker recovery to get back training for the triathlon is more important.

That's the first goal of the year ticked.

• Training mostly went out the window for the past month, but until that point I was a lot more consistent than training for DM. I didnt miss any training as a result of a significant running injury.
• I ran the entire course without walking.
• I got a good time, and should be back training within a week or two. It was months before I was properly recovered from Dublin.

So I am happy that I did what I set out to do!

MrCreosote

Good time and race report. Cracking negative split too

kingQuez

Slow easy run, which was surprizingly hard, with a break for stretching midway and at the end

Outside of my right knee is a bit sore after the run, so going to take it easy for a few days again before making another attempt at running. Will use the time to come up with a training plan for the sprint and olympic triathlons I'm planning to participate in in 6 and 12 weeks time.

RUN: 2.35miles

kingQuez

SWIM: 6x50m warmup, 200m, 100m 200m, 100m cooldown.