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Bliain Faoi Thrí
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I know you're right, I just fear looking like a complete gobsh*te at a masters session!
For what its worth I forgot my swim togs one day and figured my jocks were basically the same shape, just green and blue stripes. Thought I slipped in unnoticed but I was ribbed for it later. Ok OT a little but thats the masters for you. Usally a motley crew of ex top class swimmers, club class, triathletes, OW types etc.. The lot I sometimes swim with are constantly ribbing each other but mostly are very welcoming of new members to the group. They were once that newbie too
Go for it ronanmac, join the back of the lane and hang on. The sets are usually already set out so you just have to get in, swim when they swim, stop when they stop. You will get used to it and it will bring you on loads, that I can guarantee! If you progress half as quickly as you have with your running you will become part of the crew in no time
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Ya, I know what you mean. They're a sound bunch. Don't worry about it. Get there a few minutes earlier to have a chat with them and explain your situation. Now that you've managed 600 continuous a Masters session will be no bother to you. Good luck and enjoy it.shotgunmcos wrote: »Go for it ronanmac, join the back of the lane and hang on. The sets are usually already set out so you just have to get in, swim when they swim, stop when they stop. You will get used to it and it will bring you on loads, that I can guarantee! If you progress half as quickly as you have with your running you will become part of the crew in no time
Cheers lads, ok, I'll man up and go... Expect an interesting post on Thursday morning. Hopefully, it won't be too amusing an experience!0 -
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Left Dublin last night at 10:30 so it was past one when I got home. Moved the alarm forward from 6:30 to 7:30, but I can't say I was too happy about getting up
. Anyway, after pressing the snooze button, I got out of bed five minutes later and headed out to the shed to get on the bike. It's been a long time since I've been on the bike, and I wasted some time getting the turbo set up.
The only purpose to the session was to get into the rhythm of cycling again, and being stuck for time, all I did was 30 minutes. This was my first time on the bike since switching to a kindly-donated carbon seatpost salvaged from a thrashed S-Works Roubaix. It's a setback post, turned the wrong way around in an attempt to get closer over the bottom bracket while down on the aerobars, and while it achieved that purpose, there are definitely more tweaks needed (a headset spacer to be removed for starters).
It wasn't an intense workout by any manner, starting out gently and upping cadence as I went along.
Done:
30 minutes
12.15 miles
24.3 average mph
(I note that triathletes tend to go by kilometres, I guess I'll have to cross that bridge sooner or later!)0 -
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Hmmm just under 40k an hour - My goose is cooked already!
I sincerely doubt it. I don't know how the turbo was set up this morning, but it definitely wasn't as challenging as the figure suggests
. A good average for me on the road would be 18mph, so I'm going to have to try and work on that this year.
By the way, I note the absence of a Catweazle log so far this year. What gives? I feel pretty exposed logging sessions, while my arch-nemesis flies under the radar, only to lift his head over the parapet to post self-deprecating comments
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By the way, I note the absence of a Catweazle log so far this year. What gives? I feel pretty exposed logging sessions, while my arch-nemesis flies under the radar, only to lift his head over the parapet to post self-deprecating comments.
Ha very good, rightly busted! I have nearly put the pen to keyboard a few times but my circumstances has just changed (in a good way) so my plans are up in the air. So for the moment I am going to continue lying in the long grass (taking notes on your progress) and hoping to log some pretty decent sessions so I have a few options come the summer.
The log will come though eventually though when I get my plans sorted and when I can think of a flash title.0 -
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Ha very good, rightly busted! I have nearly put the pen to keyboard a few times but my circumstances has just changed (in a good way) so my plans are up in the air. So for the moment I am going to continue lying in the long grass (taking notes on your progress) and hoping to log some pretty decent sessions so I have a few options come the summer.
The log will come though eventually though when I get my plans sorted and when I can think of a flash title.
The flash title is most important catweazle, it must be catchy, snazzy and instantly recognisable but must not be cliched - tis a tough balancing act to get it right
Izoard is a good man for the snazzy titles, maybe knock him up for a few suggestions?
Great to hear that that you've had a change for the better as well0 -
No post on being out of my depth at the masters session, as I didn't make it. My wife is still recovering from a pretty bad flu, and was home with the boys, so I took the option of going home after work, rather than coming home at 9:30 that night. To be perfectly honest, though, I was glad of the excuse. I really don't think I'm up to group swimming yet. I think I'll look into a few one-on-one lessons once I finish the current zero to 1650 programme.
Yesterday was another disaster training, my first morning of not getting up early. I have no recollection of hitting snooze, and woke up at 7:20 wondering why the alarm hadn't gone. The plan to sneak a run while at work was scuppered by Brian Cowen's on-off resignation/ousting.
Things were back to normal this morning, with the added bonus of using for the first time my birthday present of a Garmin 310xt, which arrived yesterday. It's interesting looking at the HR stats but as I've no idea as yet how to decipher it, I need to figure out how heart rate training works.
Anyway, the run was an interval session, which I hadn't done in ages, 12 x 400m. I reckoned the football pitch would be waterlogged, so I headed down to the beach as there is a decent stretch of flat road there. Not a good idea to eat before an interval session, but I felt good afterwards.
Route: Trá an Dóilín
Distance: 6 miles (1 mile warmup, 12 x 400m with 90sec rest, 1 mile cooldown)
Time: 50:32
Prescribed Pace/Actual Pace: 5:30/5:40, 5:20, 5:24, 5:33, 5:35, 5:44, 5:15, 5:31, 5:41, 5:44, 5:27, 5:40
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 7.5
Personal Satisfaction: 7 (back to intervals, and not too many over the pace, despite it being a morning run)
Weather: Very windy, just in the door ahead of a heavy shower0 -
After the utter misery of Saturday’s weather, Sunday turned out to be a gem of a day, with sunshine, no rain and a big drop in wind speeds. Tuam was last year’s racing season opener, and so it was again this year. Máirín and Marcas travelled up with me (Máirín had hoped to do this race as well, but an ankle injury coupled with a bad dose of the flu scupperd that plan), and we stopped off in Galway to pick up Pádraic. I met Brendan and two of his brothers in Tuam and the bold trio now plan to turn racing into a monthly family event (Bren has a start on the other two training-wise, but Cormac’s specialist mile training and Kevin’s experience could see that change by year end).
I planned to try and run this at an even 6:10 pace, but my usual immaturity at the start line put paid to this, and I set off at 5:30 pace, saying to myself “wow, not as bad as I thought.” A stiff breeze on the N17 soon put a halt to my optimism and I was soon seeing the back of my early 6:10 target. I was passed by two runners on that stretch, but after coming off the hill leading into the centre of Tuam, I felt better and started picking off a few people (not before a bloody Ford Focus turned right in front of me and stopped me in my tracks... :mad: I might have let the driver know of my dissatisfaction with a belt of the back windscreen
). Back onto the N17 and the two lads who had overtaken me on the same stretch previously were slowing up a bit, and after briefly tucking in for a break from the breeze, I went passed them, but with my pace now dropped to well over 6:30. I spotted Máirín and Marcas cheering on the last corner and I put in a little sprint just before the finish.
My time was 31:28, which was over two minutes faster than the same time last year, but seven seconds slower than my 8k PB from Kilcornan last year, and puzzlingly, 18 seconds slower than a very tough five mile in Leenane only a month ago! Looking back, I should have paced my day better. It would be more sensible to aim at coming under 31 minutes, instead of random pipedreams of sub 30, when I don’t have the training or ability at the moment to do that.
Pádraic, who is a former pro cyclist and who isn’t too keen on running, put in a great run of 36:14, especially considering he had done no running since before Christmas, and Bren knocked over two minutes off last year’s time. As was last year, the Tuam 8k was very well organised, and I couldn’t get over the increase in numbers. 397 finishers, compared to around 170 last year if memory serves me correctly. Tea, coffee and cake, along with showers, add to the races’s stature in my eyes, the only black mark being the mixture of traffic and pedestrians at the narrow street at the finish.
Position: 34 out of 397 (8.5%)
Route: Tuam 8k
Distance: 4.97 miles (plus 1.2 miles warmup)
Time: 31:28
Average Pace: 6:20
Average/Max HR: 178/184
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 8
Personal Satisfaction: 7 (enjoyable race)
Weather: Strong breeze, but dry and sunny
Today
Onto the turbo, for a makey uppy session of power intervals, two minutes at full pelt while not bouncing in the saddle, followed by three minutes active recovery, ten minutes warmup and five minutes cooldown on either side.
40 minutes
16.1 miles
24 average mph
40 max mph
Average/Max HR: 110/1560 -
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It seems much easier to get up to speed on the bike in the mornings, than it is running. I never got going properly today, and the hips felt a bit heavy as the run went on. That said, it was a beautifully still morning to head out, with nothing to accompany me but the light from my head torch.
The tempo pace prescribed was 6:41, but I only got under 7 min pace the once (on the first tempo mile). After that, it got progressively slower without feeling progressively faster! I can still feel the run in the legs a good few hours later. I'm guessing it's a bit of the Tuam race still in the legs, coupled with the fact that training on consecutive days is an almost totally new experience for me.
Route: House to Cladhnach and back
Distance: 6.1 miles (1 mile warmup, 5 miles tempo)
Time: 45:25
Prescribed Pace/Actual Pace: 6:41/6:57, 7:17, 7:10, 7:21, 7:50
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 7
Average HR/Max HR: 160bpm/177bpm
Personal Satisfaction: 7
Weather: Cold but still, a bit slippy underfoot due to frost0 -
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Back to the reality of work today after a lovely weekend away with my wife, free from those pesky kids. We went back to Ballynahinch Castle for M’s birthday, and Saturday saw a beautiful 7.8 mile run on a frosty morning with hills, rivers and forests as background. Ballynahinch is only about 25 miles north from home, but is a world of difference from the rock and sea of south Conamara (a different type of bog, as it were!).
Route: Ballynahinch Castle loop out to N59 and back down Roundstone road
Distance: 7.8
Time: 59:32
Prescribed Pace/Actual Pace: 7:11/7:38 (didn’t really set out to keep pace)
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 6
Average HR/Max HR: 157bpm/174bpm
Personal Satisfaction: 7 (nothing like fresh scenery to act as a diversion!)
Weather: Frosty and cold, no breeze, really nice
I headed out for the first outdoor bike session of the year when I got home on Sunday, with the aim of trying to stay on the aero bars for an extended period of time. I had dropped the headset by taking out two spacers, and it was much more comfortable on the back, but the forward saddle position is a bit more uncomfortable around the undercarriage :eek:! I headed back the islands and turned around near Leitir Móir, meeting up with two friends on the way back. Average speed for the first 18 miles was about 19mph, but dropped to about 17 when I met up with the other two.
Route: House to Cuigéal and back
Distance: 26 miles
Time: 1:25:07
Speed: 18.2 mph average
Average HR/Max HR: 149bpm/175bpm
Weather: Not too cold, very little breeze
Myself and one of the lads headed out for a run after the bike but calf problems for him left us abandoning it after quarter of a mile.
Distance: .52 miles
I was late getting on the turbo this morning, and had a truncated 30 minute isolated leg session. First time I ever did this, and although I had to cut the session short, I can definitely see the excercise reaping dividends.
Distance: 10.2 miles
Average HR/Max HR: 112bpm/161bpm
In a first for me in triathlon training, I had a second training session in the one day (hurrah!), and made the pool at lunch time. Swim was tough as ever, but I find the pool leaves you with a nice kind of exhaustion afterwards!
600m
300m
4 x 100m
4 x 50m
Total: 1500m0 -
Big day in the pool for me today, as it was my first time to swim sprint distance without stopping (my only tri swim so far was an embarrassing combination of front crawl, breast stroke, back stroke and treading water in Loughrea), and first time to swim 1000m. The plan works! (as I continue to try and improve endurance while completely ignoring technique ). Next week is the last week of the zero to 1650 programme, so after that, I'll look at starting drills etc.
Done:
1000m
4 x 100m
4 x 50m
Total: 1600m0 -
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Saturday
Being unused to more than three training sessions a week, I’m feeling the fatigue at the end of this week. Yesterday’s nine miler was run in perfect weather, doing some loops around to some local beaches, with a little bit of shoreline running, and while I felt good, I noticed that my pace dropped substantially at any sign of a hill. It feels good to be doing this amount of training, though, and my paranoia about falling apart with injuries has been unfounded as yet. After the run, I went into Galway as Galway Tri Club had a series of lectures organised on bike maintenance, running technique, nutrition, season planning, swimming and strength training. Some lectures were better than others, but informative overall.
Route: Various loops around An Cheathrú Rua
Distance: 9
Time: 1:05:24
Prescribed Pace/Actual Pace: 7:02/7:16
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 7
Average HR/Max HR: 162bpm/217 :eek:bpm
Personal Satisfaction: 6.5 (well off pace, a bit of fatigue as I’m getting used to the new regime)
Weather: Bright, sunny and cold
Today
Today saw my longest bike ride ever, a whopping 41.85 miles! (yes, I know there are those amongst you who would do that on a turbo before breakfast, but I guess it puts into context for myself the little bike work I’ve done to date!). I met up with our group and we headed out to Maam and back, meaning that Máimín na gCearc (or the Hell of the West in Connemarathon parlance) had to be tackled twice. A bit cold on the bike, but a very enjoyable cycle. My quads feel exhausted after the spin and I’m glad of the day off training tomorrow (even if it will be spent driving up and down to Donegal)
Route: House to Maam and back
Distance: 41.85 miles
Time: 2:32:07
Average / Max Speed: 16.5mph / 36.1mph
Average / Max HR: 145bpm/175bpm
Average / Max Cadence: 79rpm/125rpm
Weather: Cold and strange kind of overcast
Edit: just stuck my numbers into the SBR Challenge and saw the stats rolled up by other people already. Was laughing at my perception of having put in some big training recently!!0 -
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