The Ironman Commeth.....slowly

shotgunmcos

Well done on that milestone griffin100. Plenty of confidence gained from it I'd say! What is the max aerobic distance swim you have in your programme?

griffin100

Well done on that milestone griffin100. Plenty of confidence gained from it I'd say! What is the max aerobic distance swim you have in your programme?

Cheers. The max long swim in Finks programme is 3,500m; but I daresay I'll push a few of these out to 3,800 or even 4,000m. Don't want my first IM distance swim to be on the day:) These swims dont come into play until week 21 so plenty of time to build on.

griffin100

Tuesday
Run 45 mins @ 10 mins inserted 5 min Z4 / 5.5 miles
The 5 mins increase in speed 10 minutes into the run was the most I've run hard since the Crookstown 10km last year so that was a nice change. Averaged 8mins mile for the 5.5 miles.

Wednesday
Swim 3,000m - 750tt / 100 x 15 (15 secs) / 750cd
I decided to do the first 750m as a TT so I went off hard but started to suffer about 500m in. Came in at 16.47 which is another PB. I'm delighted with that time. I have a pool based tri in Portlaois in a couple of weeks and last year the swim took me 19.50ish so if I can go as 'quick' as tonight in that race that will be a 3 min improvement which I'd be plenty happy with. After the 750m decided to do some 100m repeats. I did 15 of these with a 10-15 sec rest between each and all come in a couple of seconds either side of 2.15mins. I took it handy in these repeats concentrating on long stroke, body rotation (which is getting a lot better), head position, catching the water with my forearms and pushing my stroke out past my hips whilst keeping my fingers pointing at the pool floor - this last one makes a big difference. I was stroking much slower than my 750m TT but my 100's were coming in at the same speed that I avereaged per 100m during the 750, - a good lesson in how swimming slower with more emphasis on technique can be as fast as sprinting (for me anyway). Used my last 750 as a cool down and was purposely very slow.

I think the swimming is finally starting to come together. I'm looking like I might be ok for my target IM time and I'm starting to see big improvements in technique. As Interested said early on, time in the pool now is money in the bank, and I think I'm starting to reap the benefits of my time in the pool to date. On another plus all that swimming is doing wounders for the shape of my shoulders, upper arms and my back:D.

Macanri

Fair play on the swimming. I am doing the Portlaoise tri on April 10th too. Would be great to meet and say hello. You defo won't be in my swim wave (20 - 25mins). I'll know now how to spot you - you'll be the guy whith the Quasi modo back and shoulders!:D

interested

griffin100 wrote: »

Tuesday
Run 45 mins @ 10 mins inserted 5 min Z4 / 5.5 miles
The 5 mins increase in speed 10 minutes into the run was the most I've run hard since the Crookstown 10km last year so that was a nice change. Averaged 8mins mile for the 5.5 miles.

Wednesday
Swim 3,000m - 750tt / 100 x 15 (15 secs) / 750cd
I decided to do the first 750m as a TT so I went off hard but started to suffer about 500m in. Came in at 16.47 which is another PB. I'm delighted with that time. I have a pool based tri in Portlaois in a couple of weeks and last year the swim took me 19.50ish so if I can go as 'quick' as tonight in that race that will be a 3 min improvement which I'd be plenty happy with. After the 750m decided to do some 100m repeats. I did 15 of these with a 10-15 sec rest between each and all come in a couple of seconds either side of 2.15mins. I took it handy in these repeats concentrating on long stroke, body rotation (which is getting a lot better), head position, catching the water with my forearms and pushing my stroke out past my hips whilst keeping my fingers pointing at the pool floor - this last one makes a big difference. I was stroking much slower than my 750m TT but my 100's were coming in at the same speed that I avereaged per 100m during the 750, - a good lesson in how swimming slower with more emphasis on technique can be as fast as sprinting (for me anyway). Used my last 750 as a cool down and was purposely very slow.

I think the swimming is finally starting to come together. I'm looking like I might be ok for my target IM time and I'm starting to see big improvements in technique. As Interested said early on, time in the pool now is money in the bank, and I think I'm starting to reap the benefits of my time in the pool to date. On another plus all that swimming is doing wounders for the shape of my shoulders, upper arms and my back:D.

Congrats. Good solid work in the pool. IMHO it might make some sense as you get closer to your pool tri to look at sets like 2 * (4 * 100's) with 2 mins between each set - doing your 100's at above intended race pace - trying to maintain stroke - but doing the 100's on a slightly slower time to ensure you get 20 or 30 seconds rest between 100's. This might sharpen you up a bit for the swim at the sprint.

Training for an IM and doing sprint events can be a bit tricky imho - I participated in both sprint and oly races last year but my focus was always on the long event. If I went fast on the others then great, but as long as I was able to stick to my own training within a day or two so that those efforts didnt mess with the main goal.

Enjoy.

griffin100

Fair play on the swimming. I am doing the Portlaoise tri on April 10th too. Would be great to meet and say hello. You defo won't be in my swim wave (20 - 25mins). I'll know now how to spot you - you'll be the guy whith the Quasi modo back and shoulders!

Not quite Alain Bernard yet:D

Congrats. Good solid work in the pool. IMHO it might make some sense as you get closer to your pool tri to look at sets like 2 * (4 * 100's) with 2 mins between each set - doing your 100's at above intended race pace - trying to maintain stroke - but doing the 100's on a slightly slower time to ensure you get 20 or 30 seconds rest between 100's. This might sharpen you up a bit for the swim at the sprint.

Training for an IM and doing sprint events can be a bit tricky imho - I participated in both sprint and oly races last year but my focus was always on the long event. If I went fast on the others then great, but as long as I was able to stick to my own training within a day or two so that those efforts didnt mess with the main goal.

Enjoy.

Thanks for the advice. The IM is my main goal, the SD are for fun really. They wont be in place of any IM training sessions but rather in addition to. I made the mistake last year of spending too many weekends racing and not enough doing longer runs with the result I really suffered in the last 10km of the dry Eireman HIM.

I'll take the advice on the 'sharper' sessions. Fink's swim sessions are about getting you to the distance rather than speed I think. I will try and do some shorter sessions like you describe over the next couple of weeks or incorporate them into my 3 x 3,000m sessions per week that Fink requires:pac:.

interested

griffin100 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. The IM is my main goal, the SD are for fun really. They wont be in place of any IM training sessions but rather in addition to. I made the mistake last year of spending too many weekends racing and not enough doing longer runs with the result I really suffered in the last 10km of the dry Eireman HIM.

All makes sense - although I certainly didnt stay dry during Eireman but I know what you mean

griffin100 wrote: »

I'll take the advice on the 'sharper' sessions. Fink's swim sessions are about getting you to the distance rather than speed I think. I will try and do some shorter sessions like you describe over the next couple of weeks or incorporate them into my 3 x 3,000m sessions per week that Fink requires:pac:.

Sorry, hadnt realised you were on the fink plan ... I tend to take the distances for granted so apologies.
Sounds your progressing nicely on it so ...

mloc123

What swim time are you aiming for in North Tipp? I did a 500m TT last night to see how off my overly optimistic predicted time I would be

My big concern now is sharing a lane with 5 other people and the etiquette involved, it has been quite a while since I was in a crowed lane. The upshot being that if I can draft a stronger swimmer I might be able to save some energy.

griffin100

What swim time are you aiming for in North Tipp? I did a 500m TT last night to see how off my overly optimistic predicted time I would be

My big concern now is sharing a lane with 5 other people and the etiquette involved, it has been quite a while since I was in a crowed lane. The upshot being that if I can draft a stronger swimmer I might be able to save some energy.

I think I predicted a 18 minute swim. I'd rather be too conservative that get creamed in a fast lane. Based on my only pool tri to date which was portlaois last year everyone lies anyway. Nobody wants to lead out the swim so everyone underestimates their time so thay can start mid group - this is so they can draft for the first 100m or so when overtaking is not allowed, after which they push on. Last year a guy in my lane gave a 19min estimate for th 750m, started in second or third place, and ended up getting out after around 15 mins. I much prefer OW swims when I can swim faster than the newbies who have never swum OW before:D

mloc123

For pool overtaking, is it a tap on the foot to let the person ahead to let you by next time at the wall?

shotgunmcos

mloc123 wrote: »

For pool overtaking, is it a tap on the foot to let the person ahead to let you by next time at the wall?

Yep

griffin100

Failing that ask a lane marshall to pull them up at their next turn around. Sometimes people just dont wanna let you past - I got stuck behind a breastroker for the last 100m or so last year in Portlaois.

Izoard

Nice work on hitting the 3km milestone...just hit it myself today!

griffin100

Thursday
Off

Friday
Run 7 miles / 60 mins @45 mins insert 5 mins Z4

Saturday
Run 7 miles / 60 mins

Sunday
Swim 1,800m - 500 wu / 400 drills / 200-300-400m - then the kids descended on the pool and I had to get out well short of my targeted 3,000m

Bike 98 kms / 3hrs8mins. Another solid 31-32kph ride. Down on the bars for the full 3 hrs except when climbing. Picked a hillier route than normal and suffered on the last 20kms with leg tiredness. On the last hill at 80km was dying on the ascent, when I got to the top I realised I'd forgotten to drop out of the big ring - knobhead!!

Week 12 Totals
Swim 7,800m
Run 2.45hrs / 19.5 miles
Bike 98kms / 3hrs08

Another poor week. I really need to get my ass in gear. I cant afford to start dropping off the pace now. My 'long' sessions are ok but its my midweek shorter stuff thats suffering.

Week 13
Monday
Run 5.5 miles / 45 mins (@ 10 mins insert 3 min Z4 / 3 min jog) x 3 times

Tuesday
Bike 1hr turbo (@ 15 mins insert 5 min Z4 / 5 min spin) x 2
Run 7 miles / 60 mins @45 mins insert 5 mins Z4

Had some severe pain in my right leg and hip after Sundays ride. Took on too many hills I guess. Hasn't affected my running or my turbo, but I still have some pain when I turn my knee inwards. I blame it on going up that last hill in the big ring - it took a lot of effort. I changed my cleats last week but dont think that's the problem as it wasn't an issue on last weeks ride. Its easing off so hopefully it was just a one off. I'll be watching closely.

griffin100

Wednesday
Swim 2,000m - was pushed for time so decided to do an easy 2,000m - came in around 46-47 mins (forgot my watch and had to look at pool clock), which is pretty much bang on my IM taget pace. Still a ways off the time that some of ye took for the OW swim on Sunday though.

Leg and hip much better after swim. I reckon it was a strain of some sort following my hill climb in the big ring. Getting injured at this stage doesn't bear thinking about.

Here's to a long weekend of training with hopefully some let up in the predicted rain.

griffin100

Thursday
Run 9 miles / 1.15hrs

Friday
Brick 1hr turbo / 30 mins (3.5 miles) run. Only my second brick of the year, legs felt good of the bike. Have a chance to do it for real in Portlaois this weekend.

Saturday
Swim 2,800m straight - intended to do 3,000m but the kids descended on the pool towards the end so I gave up before I collided with a four year old. Did the first and second 1,000m both 1 minute faster than intended IM pace, but the pace dropped off significantly in the last 800m. Still though, would indicate that my swim fitness it beginning to improve a bit. It took me 56.22 to do 2,000m in week 2 of my training, saturdays 2,000m (week 13) took me 44.40. Heading in the right direction.

Bike 80kms / 2.45hrs. Was supposed to do a 3hr ride but the wind was atrocious. At one stage I was in the small ring on a descent :eek: When it started to get difficult to stay upright due to the crosswind gusts I gave up.

Week 13 Totals
Swim 4,800m - way too low. Need to sort this out. There is only a limited window in the evening after work in which I can use the pool and get a long swim in before it becomes too late. This clashes with the kids bedtime, so if I'm late home from work it becomes a toss up between spending time with the kids before they head for bed or heading straight out for a swim and the kids win most nights. Need to start getiing home from work at a more reasonable time.

Bike 4.45 hrs (2hrs turbo / 80 kms road)

Run 25 miles (3.5hrs / 14 mins Z4)

griffin100

Week 14
I never thought I'd get this far:D Now I'm starting to think a bit more seriously about the day itself.

Monday
Run 7 miles / 1hr (@ 10 mins (4.5mins Z4 / 90 secs jog) x 2)

Have my first tri of the year in portlaois on saturday. I'm a bit nervous of the swim, I'm in the second to last wave which means I'm in a fast wave, and there are 7 of us in the lane as far as I can see, should be interesting. Really looking forward to the bike and run to gague my fitness after 14 weeks of IM training.

mloc123

After friday I think a fast wave is the best place to be, better to hold onto the tail of a fast group than be held up by a slowed one. What time did you predict for portlaoise? 7 in a lane sounds a little crowded... 25m pool?

griffin100

After friday I think a fast wave is the best place to be, better to hold onto the tail of a fast group than be held up by a slowed one. What time did you predict for portlaoise? 7 in a lane sounds a little crowded... 25m pool?

I predicted a 18-19 minute time. 7 in a lane does sound like a lot. Perhaps we were the last of the swimming plebs and they decided to stick us all together

griffin100

Tuesday
Bike 1hr turbo ((@ 15 mins insert 3 mins Z4/ 3 mins spin) x 3). Managed to get the heart rate up into Z3 on the high intensity intervals which is the first time I've managed to do so on the turbo. Only problem is that at that speed I cant hear the TV.

Wednesday
Swim 2,250 - a short one tonight (jesus, when did 2,000m+ become a short session). 500 wu / 100 x 10 / 750 cd. Was happy with the times tonight. Did the 500m in 10.45; 100m repeats all in 2-2.05mins. This is a first for me, although I did take a 30 sec rest between each 100m . Times are improving though, my cool down 750m was bang on hoped for 1.30hr IM pace and that was swimming with very little effort (I was knackered after my 100m repeats). The advice from Tunney in a different thread yesterday about pulling your hand towards your opposite hip on the pull phase really helped tonight.

Put the new wheels (Mavic Carbone SL) on the bike today so dying to get out on them.

griffin100

Thursday
Run 1hr / 7 miles - didn't do any Z4 pull ups as I will be running at Z4 for the entire 5kms of the PortLaois Tri on Saturday I hope

Friday
Bike 20 kms / 40 mins - short one just to test out my new wheels - went far too hard and legs sore at the end :rolleyes:. Wheels felt nice though.

Saturday
Port Laois Tri 750m / 19km / 5km

Sunday
Swim 1,000m - 500 wu / 100 x 5 (all sub 2 minute:)). Was in bits after race so decided to bin the session after 1,000m. At least my 100m repeats are getting faster, but I need to take shorer rests between repeats.

Week 14 Totals
Swim 4,100m
Bike 2hrs16mins (1hr turbo / 39kms road)
Run 2hrs.22 mins / 17.2 miles

Makes grim reading, I did about half what Fink required for the week and missed both my long run and bike. Thats what I get for doing a SD tri. Despite my best intentions it's not possible to do a SD tri on a weekend and do your long bike and run session. I need to get it together in week 15 and 16. Its getting to close to the bone for missing key sessions now.

Tri Laois Race Report
I did this race last year and finished just outside the top 100 in a field of approx. 170 in a time of 1.31.xx I was determined to do better this year and I was aiming for a 1.18 time and hopefully a top 50 finish. Saturday was a scorching day and that made the 4hrs waiting around between registration and swim wave 7 bearable. Transition looked a lot different this year compared to last year - there were a lot more 'serious' bikes this year - I seen perhaps half a dozen cervelos, last year it was more mountain bike. This I think was due to a smaller number of 'women in sport' beginners this year compared to last year, the fact that the race was an intervarsities race so there were lots of fit young students about the place and finally some of the faster guys using it as a warm up for the North Tipp next weekend which is a national series race. Whatever the reason it made me reconsider my hoped for top 50 place.

Into my swim lane - great news - 4 persons as opposed to the 7 on the start sheet. Everyone gave a predicted time, I said 16.30ish, as this would be close to a PB. Everyone else was a 16 minute swimmer so I started last. Long story short - I lapped everyone twice, and two of them three times and got out of the water in exactly 15mins according to my watch (slightly longer on official time). Happy days, 15mins for a 750m is a time that I never thought I'd get. I reckon a combination of adrenalin, some drafting, and a latex swim hat and tri suit as opposed to my usual polyester cap and baggy shorts made all the difference. The water in the pool just 'felt' faster.

Into T1 - a great feeling as Elvis announced that myself and the guy beside me where the first swimmers out of wave 7. Out on the bike was a very lonely 19kms. I was a about 500m behind the other swimmer from my wave but rarely seen him after about 5kms due to the twisty nature of the course. He stayed ahead of me and nobody caught me. I now know what the elites feel like when they are out on their own with no company:D The new wheels certainly helped I think. I kept the head down and went as hard as I could. I reckoned that I'd worry about my run legs when I got off the bike.

Into T2 - spent far too long in here trying to get my socks on (I refuse to run in my bare feet as the only time I did it I got brutal blisters). Out on the run as hard as I could. Managed to catch a couple of runners from wave 6 but again was on my own the whole time. I really felt the heat and the hard cycle in my legs. Pushed hard all the way.

Came in in 1.15.xx - absolutely delighted. Just outside the top 30 and best of all, 2nd in my age group (well 3rd really but the winner in my age group was DQ'd so I ended up 2nd). I know it wasn't a high quality field (no offence to my co-competitors) but its still my best ever result. My legs are still in bits today so I obviosly gave it a good go!!

I am due to do the North Tipp Sprint next week but I think I'll give it a miss as I need to concentrate on my IM training. The chances of me getting a 2nd place in my age group in this race are somewhat lesser:D

Bambaata

Congrats griffin100. Good report. Well done on a great time. Im getting a little anxious about the pool swim at North Topp this Saturday. Fingers crossed some dont turn up from my lane too! How did you go about lapping them? Is it a tap on the ankle?

mitresize5

savage going Griffen ..... its nice to see the hard work paying off for you

griffin100

Congrats griffin100. Good report. Well done on a great time. Im getting a little anxious about the pool swim at North Topp this Saturday. Fingers crossed some dont turn up from my lane too! How did you go about lapping them? Is it a tap on the ankle?

A tap on the feet a few times as you come into the last few metres before the wall worked for me. I'd say in a faster wave people might be more hesitant about letting you past - the swimmers in my lane were pretty easy going about letting me past. Have to say though, the lane marshals were great at pulling aside swimmers who were slow to get out of the way.

metal dog

well done griffin. great to be able to make such tangible progress.:)

catweazle

Well done Griffin...have you not bought those tight swimming trunks yet???

It must be great to see all the long cycling and swim sessions pay off

griffin100

Well done Griffin...have you not bought those tight swimming trunks yet???

I building up to it......

Anyone else thinking of doing the Sperrin HIM that's mentioned in the events thread? Might be a good pre IM test, the bike course sounds hilly.

Izoard

griffin100 wrote: »

Anyone else thinking of doing the Sperrin HIM that's mentioned in the events thread? Might be a good pre IM test, the bike course sounds hilly.

Go for it...!

griffin100

Week 15
Monday - rest - I actually got changed for a run Monday evening but my legs were still in bits from Saturday, so I took the easy option and did nothing:rolleyes:

Tuesday - nothing - a work enfoced absence from training

Wednesday
Run 7.5 miles / 60 mins - @10mins insert 6 mins Z4 / 2 mins jog / 8 mins Z4 / 2 mins jog. Nice session, just under 8 x 8 min miles

Swim 3,000m straight swim. Took it easy and was still fresh at the end. Felt like my stroke was a little off for some reason. Managed to do it in 1.09.10, which is over 5 minutes faster than my only other 3,000m swim and is a couple of minutes under my hoped for IM pace so happy. My 15min 750m in Portlaois and the slight improvement in my swimming is starting to make me think I might be able to get closer to a 1.25 for the IM swim. I wont make any rash predictions yet though:)

Got the graded splits for Portlaois - swim in the 70's; run in the 30's; but best of all bike time was in the top 20; happy days (200 competitors).

I'm gonna give the North Tipp Sprint a miss and concentrate on getting a 90 min run and 4hr bike ride in over the weekend.

shotgunmcos

Well done in Portlaois Griffin100, no better way to draw confidence than to tick off the steps with milestone achievements on the way to the big one