Keen to see what the future may hold!

El Director

13.88k Easy Jog

This run, although done at a nice eay pace of 5min/km, I usually find uncomfortable. No surprise really as it is at the end of a hard week and a tough pool session this morning. Larne half marathon in 3 weeks will be tough enough i'm guessing. Hoping to build this Friday run so i am running for at least 1 and a half hours.

13 km Easy Run 1 hour 10 min

Looking forward to getting out on the road tomorrow on the bike (please don't be freezing/frost!). 75 km with 4 hills, including Skerries infamous "BLack Hill".

Macanri

El Director wrote: »

Need to remember:

3)tighten stomch muscles
4)time and stroke should not change

Just wondering why the stomach muscles should be tightened. Also, by stroke do you mean the no. of strokes per length? Cheers

El Director

Macanri wrote: »

Just wondering why the stomach muscles should be tightened. Also, by stroke do you mean the no. of strokes per length? Cheers

Ya, sorry that wasn't very clear.

By stroke I mean stroke length and by time I mean target time (which over time will come down hopefully). Basically these two things should be constant, if you're stoke length is getting shorter then you are tiring. If you are not hitting your target times then you are tiring.

Ok off for club cycle now....first since Jan 23rd when I fell off twice and got two punctures........nervous

interested

El Director wrote: »

mmmmm.....thanks lads, I do like a challenge (don't we all) so this will be the toughest thing I've done to date. Hoping I'm not jumping the gun my doing it in only my second year in tri. Looking forward to it now....bring it on.

no worries, and if it helps any I did the same - as in at the end of my second season. My advice is to enjoy the season, dont go crazy adding distances in training (especially if you've some running experience) and enjoy the challenge on the day.

El Director

Sorry Mac I forgot to answer your other question on the stomach muscles. I just found that keep my core tight helped me with my pull. My shoulders were getting tired and i consciously tightened my stomach and it seemed to help. Maybe it the same concept as when running, it is suggest to relax all over but keep the stomach/core solid.

El Director

60 k cycle 2 hours; RPM AVE 95

Well another eventful road cycle! Would you believe...2 more puntures on the same back wheel as the last day! Brand new tire ripped, only 15 k in! Cheap tire i guess. Lucky for me it happened in Skerries. Had to wait till 10 for bike shop to open. The club carried on and my mate waited with me. Had a coffee and chat while we waited, good chance to catch up.

The shop open, i askedfor a good tire, continental tire. Got going again and everything was going well. An hour later second punture, same wheel :mad:
so frustrating, found that inside the wheel wasn't exactly smooth. Anyway had one spare tire and it got me home.

The Positives Still got in 60 k and some tough hills. Felt really good actually despite this being my first outting for 4 weeks. Turbo training must be working.

Bike is getting serviced this week!

Overall im delighted with the weeks training, no session missed, a first for 2010! Good start to Base 2.

Went out Sat night in Galway for my birthday, great night, first time out in weeks.

El Director

Monday Morning

Started the week with an easy swim session, lovely morning and good start to the week.

Wrm - Up 300m

15 x 100m (3 Sets Of 5) Off 1:55

100m 1:45
100m 1:49
100m 1:50
100m 1:48
100m 1:48

100m 1:48
100m 1:51
100m 1:50
100m 1:51
100m 1:54

100m 1:49
100m 1:55
100m 1:51
100m 1:59
100m 1:57

Last 3 off 2:10

5 x 100m (50 kick;50 pull)

As you can see I struggled. Not fit enough, I worked hard though. My coach has told me to come in earlier now on a monday too. So 3 coached sessions per week should help a great deal.

El Director

Monday After School

60 min turbo session, ave watts 189/max 355; ave rpm 95/max 161

feeling good, enjoy these sessions.

shotgunmcos

El Director wrote: »

......max 161

feeling good, enjoy these sessions.

Thats some cadence, you must have been going for it!

El Director

Absolutely, I really go for my max/sprint efforts.

Reading your log there I think you're right to practise your tumbles although I thought it wasn't allowed in tri's that take place in pools!

Great to see lovely bright sunny mornings-makes it much easier!

El Director

Tuesday Morning

Strength Training Maximum Strength Session No. 5

Good session, feeling strong, upping the weights all the time. The bright mornings are really lifting my spirits.

El Director

Tuesday Eve

Skipped the training for an evening with the gf, has to be done glad of the break actually although i felt sooo guilty at first. I will be working twice as hard tomorrow.

Also i have a big weekend planned; Mountain run on Sat, Duathlon on sunday.

El Director

Weds Morning

Warm - Up 200m

6 x 200m

200m 3:36
200m 3:43
200m 3:41
200m 3:41
200m 3:44
200m 3:43

2 x 75m 25 kick/25 FS/25 Pull

8 x 100m 50 kick/50 FS; Kick 5 sec rest/FS off 1:05
The 50 kick averaged at 1:15
The 50 FS averaged at 49 sec

250m Cool Down

Very happy with the 200's, when compared to Feb 21st, the times are much more favourable.

My kick is at a stand still at the moment. I cannot get 50m kick under 1:15, i would love to get it under 1 min. Any suggestions?

My first brick(ish) session later today.

El Director

First Brick Session of 2010

Cycle

Warm - Up 5.5km easy

17km tempo/hills 31 min 09 sec

Cool - Down 5.5km easy

Run

I promised the gf that i would go for a run with her today, really enjoyed it, nice easy pace no HRM, not even a stopwatch! My gf is doing her first run next sunday so i want to support her like she does me :rolleyes:!

The bike section went pretty well actually. 4 laps of the pheonix park duathlon circuit backwards! This way i had to do more hils and more difficult hills (kyber/s bends 4 times each). After the bike i had to wait 20 mins before i got to go unning. The run was really enjoyable. Looking forward to the races this weekend, especially my first dua of the year. I'm getting a real feel for my TT bike, confidence is coming back!

Such a lovely bright day too, the longer days are really lifting the spirits!:D:)

El Director

Thursday Morning

Strength Training Maximum Strength Session No. 6

El Director

Thursday Evening

Warm - Up 4.5 k

5k tempo/TT Time 18 min 39 sec

Cool - Down 2.5k

So so thrilled! Never before ran 5 k under 19:40(ish)!
The club clubs run this session every 3rd Thursday but I missed the last one, so 6 weeks ago I clocked 20:23. So delighted to see an improvement-first indication this year. :)

Really hope my replacement HRM comes on Monday.

El Director

Friday Morning

10 x 100m off 2 min; came in on ave at 1:45

4 x 200m decending off 4:30;

200m 4:05
200m 3:55
200m 3:40
200m 3:25

10 x 50m kick off 1:30; first 4 1:30 (struggled); last 6 1:15

1 x 50m Sprint 20m/easy 30m
1 x 50m kick start; sprint 20m/easy 30m
2 x 50m sprint;

50m 37sec
50m 38m

Found it difficult to sleep at first last night, i was so buzzing from the evenings running training. Once i fell asleep it was a deep deep one...shocked when i heard the alarm at 5:30!

This session i found tough. Getting a little frustrated with my technique, and so is coach i think! i am not rolling my shoulders, i should be using more than just my shoulders and arms when pulling, i should employ all chest, back and side muscles. i actually got the hang of this late in the session....must keep practising it! the positive is of course that my times aren't that bad....so if i could get the technique right then who knows what my limit is!!

Must remember:
1) Relax shoulders
2) Roll shoulders

PS HRM came in the post!:)

shotgunmcos

Well done on the 5k pb, thats great running. Well done on the swimming too, thats some pace you are holding for the 100s and the 50m sprints under 40secs is pretty damn quick!

Overall flying, well done! .. keep up the good work

El Director

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Well done on the 5k pb, thats great running. Well done on the swimming too, thats some pace you are holding for the 100s and the 50m sprints under 40secs is pretty damn quick!

Overall flying, well done! .. keep up the good work

Thanks mcos, i am thrilled but i have a lot of work ahead of me on the swim i think, so i've decided to go for 3 coached sessions per week.

Great to see concrete evidence of improvement.:)

El Director

Friday Evening

Easy Run 16.04km; Time 1hr 17min; Ave Pace 4:50/km; Ave HRB 148; Max RH 169;

Well as usual a bit of a struggle. I think it has more to do with when i do this session in the week, I am a bit tired after a tough run session and swim session this morn. I am hoping that in two weeks time i can sustain 4:30/km for the Larne half marathon....i would be over the moon with that! Only thing that i can see going against me is the old achilles tendon

Bought me a new car today, well new to me!

El Director

7k Mountain Run Time 44min (by my garmin, 47min by IMRA timing); Place 50 out of 150; Ave HR 169; Max HR 180;

Very very tough event. Very steep climbs, the hardest of the 3 mountain runs i have done to date for sure. There were climbs were everybody had to walk/climb. Descents - very steep, slippy and dangerous. I must have lost 15 places on descents because my aim for doing mountain runs this year are two fold:

a) For mental/physical toughness
b) DO NOT GET INJURED!

So on some of the descents i slowed to a crawl! Overall though happy, beautiful day and unreal scenery.

19th now in the winter league which isn't bad i guess.

Predator duathlon tomorrow....as ye can see - no let up on the training even for races......training races! Felt a little tired today but summer time is the big picture!

El Director

Delighted with my placing here, first top ten finish ever! But still.....could have been better! Really felt the mountain run in the quads. Took off like a bat out of hell, HR shot up! After a min it was 170bpm! O the intensity of racing.....least i forget. It was a shook to the system. I eased back and was about 11th after the first run (no splits for this and i kept forgetting to press lap on my garmin). Took 5 k to get going on the bike but once i did i was flying, moved up to 6th, new bike and wheels a great addition and the time spent on the turbo trainer really kicked in! Lost 3 places on the second run, not too bothered as i know i can run faster, was really hurting after mountain run.

Predator Duathlon

4k/13k/4k Mt Splits (roughly speaking!)
14min/22 min 30 sec/15min 30sec

I am still taking my runners off and then putting my cycle shoes on, running to mount line getting on.....time consuming! Same getting off, i will have to learn the quick technique soon...very soon!

Over all very happy with my weekend! Decided i had to take Monday off to recover.

Tuesday Morn

Max Strength Session 7

Tuesday Eve

Running Club

Warm Up 3.5km

Main Session 800m/200m/400m/800m/200m

720m 2:33
191m 30 sec
416m 1:19
746m 2:36
199m 30 sec

Cool Down 3.5km

The rest really did me the world of good. It meant good quality training sessions as opposed to "just getting through it" for the sake of it.

Night:)

El Director

Wed Morn

Got up at 5.30 as usual but for the first time this year I headed back to bed. I HAVE to get to bed by 10 at least!

Wed Eve

60 min turbo train follow by easy 5 k with gf, she has her first race on Sunday:)

Turbo Session No. 28 Ave cadence/Max 100/167; Ave watts/Max 181/356; Distance 27 km

Thurs Morn

Strength Training Session

Session no. 8 of 12, max strength training.

Feeling rested and strong

El Director

Bumped up to elite runners last night for this session anyway! Did 5k warm up followed by 7 k with 12 200m pick ups. This was a good session, held in there well, coming in in the top 4 or so, would have struggled to do two more.

Swimming - Drills/Fins

No coach this morn so decided to do a drills session with my new fins.

Warm - Up 400m

Drills 250m - 'pushing on the bouy'
250m - 'belly to the side'
250m - 'single arm'

Kick 250m - kick

Drills taken from the triathlon training bible.

El Director

Beinning to feel silly for calling this 'easy' run! It is my toughest, mentally and physically, session of the week. Must have something to do with when i do it i suppose. Really hope i feel better at next weeks Larne Half Marathon. Anyway despite this i will be aiming for a sub 95min half marathon.

Long Run Distance 19km; Time 1hr 37mins; HR Ave/Max 136/187

Saturday Morning Cycle

First uninterrupted saturday cycle in a long time! I got the bike serviced which made a big difference i think. Confidence is slowly but surely returning. I am making time on the other cyclists on climbs but losing it on declines! Just dont have the confidence to go for it, tipping the brakes a lot. The final 20 k were very pacey, 5/6 broke and i went with, was more then capable of staying with them.

Cycle Distance 68km; Time 2hrs 15mins; Ave cadence 84rpm;
Speed Ave/Max 30/51.5km/h; RH Ave/Max 134/169bpm.

Felt strong, the quads are really firing, the max strength sessions are helping for sure.

Tomorrow I'm doin the Paddy's day 5k, it's also my girlfriends first race so good luck to her!

El Director

Base 2 - Week 4

Enjoyed this race, sunshine was the order of the day! I was wearing my skinz and i am glad to say....i got it wrong! Glad because it would seem the weather is getting less cold. Should really have been a pb here so i am disappointed but i guess yesterdays 70k cycle and fridays 19k run took it out of me. I am convinced however that if i had started near the top i would have done it-my first km was a disaster, 4:30, ducking and diving around people, so i was under pressure from the start. It was my gf's first race so i started with her.

Patricks 5k Run Time 19min 27sec; Place 181/1393 (top 13%);
HR Ave/Max 175/183; Ave Pace 3;48/km

Girlfriend did it in 25mins, unreal time for a first race!

Monday

Second Monday in a row that i was so shattered that i didn't go swimming.....in the last week swimming has suffered, so tomorrow morn its swimming instead of weights. Off to do turbo now!

shotgunmcos

Well done on the 5k and the Duathlon. Some good racing there, you are in great shape! Nice one from the GF too

El Director

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Well done on the 5k and the Duathlon. Some good racing there, you are in great shape! Nice one from the GF too

Cheers MCOS.

Monday After School

Turbo Trainer Session No. 29

Ave Cadence/Max Cadence 98rpm/178rpm; Ave Watts/Max Watts 189/350;
Distance 28km

Well i would say turbo training twice a week is soon coming to an end
Although i think, IMHO, that i will keep a turbo session once a week, it has really helped my technique.

Lovin Band of Brothers!

pgibbo

All sounding very positive. Fair play. Nice to see the rewards from the hard work. What are you using to measure your power?

El Director

Very clear to me now how important it is to keep up the swimming. No coahed session last week, only one frill session. Felt very unfit in the pool this morning. Struggled through though:

Swim Session

Warm Up 250m

Drills 150m

10 * 100m Time ranged between 1:47 to 2:01, very slow compared to two weeks ao.

400m TT Time 7:45, actually felt stronger and fitter in the second half of this, my tech also improved.

Well off out tonight, no session planned tomor so time to party like it was 1999!:D