Chasing the Kona dream and a Mai Tai cocktail

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Saturday

Bike
Just headed out for a quick 40 minute cycle to loosen up the legs for tomorrows Bray Wheelers 100k around Wicklow. Great evening for it and headed out to Monasterboice hill and back. It's not a huge gradient but it goes on for a decent bit (about 5k) and helps to get the legs working. Hammered it for the last 2/3km on the way home to bring the avg speed up to 30kmph.
Time: 40 mins
Distance: 20km
HR: 139avg/155max
Speed: 30kpmh

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Sunday
Long Bike
Headed out with a few lads i know for the Bray Wheelers charity cycle. I ended up trying to repair a puncture after just 8km which took me the guts of 40 minutes as i had serious trouble getting the tyre off. I ended up doing the full 104.5k route on my own which sucked as there was nowhere to hide from the wind on the hills. One to forget!!
Distance: 104.5km
Time: 4:08:24
Avg speed: 25.3kpmh
HR: 139/max160
1350 mtrs of climbing

Week 14 Summary
14th Feb - 20th Feb|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|11|14:42|235.3km
Swimming|2|2.54|7.7km
Cycling|4|6:35|177.7km
Running|4|4:23|49.9km
Conditioning|1|0:50|Strengthening Work/Core - Gym
Other|0|0:00|


Totals so far
15th Nov- 20th Feb|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|164|171:14|2793.4km
Swimming|31|26:51|82.6km
Cycling|45|63:50|1974.2km
Running|68|62:34|736.6km
Conditioning|14|12:45|Strengthening Work - Gym
Other|6|3:30|Swim coaching


Not a great week in fairness and run volume is well down on previous weeks but next week should be good.
I am on holidays for the week in sunny windy/rainy Lahinch so updates will be dictated by the ****ty vodafone dongle signal:o.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Looks like i have picked up wireless from somewhere:rolleyes:

Monday
Early morning bike
Lahinch-Cliffs of Moher-Lisdoonvarna & back
This was simply breathtaking especially around the Cliffs of Moher. The road surface was actually much better than i am used to around Drogheda which was suprising. The rain held off and even the sun came out now and again to say hello. Pace was steady enough however there was a good bit of climbing at times to get the HR up into Z3.
Took a few stops along the way to take a few snaps and take in the scenery along the way and below is the photo of the day.

Distance: 47.1km
Time: 1:47:31
Avg speed: 26.3kpmh
HR: 139/155

Afternoon run
After the day out with the kids i went out for a recovery run at a slow pace. Effort was higher than expected with the undulating roads. I took about 2km to get into my stride, really felt awkward running for the first few minutes for some reason and most likely down to the two cycles in two days. I ran around the holiday home for 150 mtrs to bring it up to 8km:rolleyes:
Distance: 8km
Time: 44:28
Pace:5.33km
HR: 143/161

The kids have been in bed since 7pm lol wrecked from today and Daddy JB will not be long after them. Plan for tomorrow is to do another early cycle and i will probably take in Lahinch to Kilkee & back which is about 85kms

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

..

Macanri

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

..

Feckin' wireless broadband... I love it!:D

Enjoy the holiday.

catweazle

Google the Burren Challenge I thinks its called, I did the half marathon down there last year, bits of it are off road but its a beautiful run, with two savage hills in the middle of it

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

catweazle wrote: »

Google the Burren Challenge I thinks its called, I did the half marathon down there last year, bits of it are off road but its a beautiful run, with two savage hills in the middle of it

I am due to do a 20km run this week for Barca so may try this route if i can. I was up that direction yesterday at Ailwee Caves with the family and it's lovely around there.

Tuesday
Lahinh-Spanish Point-Quilty-Doombeg-Kilkee & back
I nearly did not make it out for this as i had the alarm set for 6.30 and hit the snooze button when i heard the wind and rain pelting off the window. The guilt sleeping kept me awake and i finally got my **** together, HTFU and headed out after 8.30. It was raining heavy enough for the first two hours and road conditions were mixed and terrible in places compared to Monday's bike route.
Kept it mostly in the small ring to work on cadence but did throw in about 10x5 min big gear Z3 work just to mix things up and get the HR going. Happy i got out there and i think this week will stand to me when i hit the hills in IMUK later in the year. Still finding it hard to hit that magic 30kpmh+ on the longer rides but if i keep putting the effort in who knows.
I am really concerned though as looking at Griffins IMUK log from last year as he was constantly hitting higher pace on his bike sessions (3/4kpmh more) and he hit over 7 hours on race day so that has me scared regarding how tough the course is.:(
Distance: 84.3km
Time: 3:02:31
Avg speed: 27.7kpmh
HR: 139/max 154

Evening swim
There is a 25 mtr pool in Lahinch:eek: so headed down with the family for a splash about for an hour and done various interval work mixed in with some drills
Time: 55 minutes
Distance: 2750mtrs

Wednesday
I was out for most of today so just got out for the same run i completed on Monday but at a much quicker pace. The garmin was dead so i just timed myself.
Distance: 8km
Time: 37:25
Pace: 4.40p/km

I am heading out for my longest bike to date in the morning covering about 150km along this route. Looking forward to taking in corkscrew hill as it looked like a nice climb when i wass driving through it. I just hope the weather is half decent as i don't fancy getting soaked for 5.5 hours or so:o

Diet has been **** this week, beers/wine/chocs/pizza so need to put a stop to that next week.

griffin100

It's true to say I was hitting the low 30's in my training consistently but all of my riding was done on fairly flat routes with no real hill work. You on the other hand have put a lot more structure on your sessions and are doing hill work so you'r significantly ahead of where I was. I also missed quite a few long rides later on in my training as I had some hip problems. This I think had a big impact on me. The bike route is tough and should not be underestimated but I think as long as you are putting in the hill work you'll easily beat my bike time. If you haven't already watch IMUK to get an indication of the hills and the in places very poor road surfaces. I think it's still available on the channel 4 website. I also have the race DVD which has lots of extra footage of the bike route so if you want I can loan it to you so you can get a good look at the course.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Griffin that would be great if you could as i checked the C4 site and did not come across anything.

Thursday
Long Bike - Lahinch-Ennis-Gort-Kilcolgan-Burren-Ballyvaughan-Lisdoonvarna-Lahinch
As the title suggests this was by far the toughest session to date and my longest cycle.
I set out at 7.30am after having a big breakfast. Thankfully no rain at all along the route and i was averaging about 27.5kpmh hitting Ennis so i decided to up the work rate slightly along the N18 through Gort and into Kilcolgan. At this stage i hit an average of 30.2kpmh after the 85km mark on an average hr of 138 so was in a good mood and feeling strong.
The mood soon changed and the last 70km was hell as soon as i turned onto the N67 heading for Ballvaughan as i was straight into a really strong headwind. I tried to maintain the pace and tried to get that elusive 30kpmh+ over a long ride but the hr was far too high and succumbed to dropping the pace.
The average coming back was about 23kpmh but it was much harder work as the hr,avg speed and elevation charts show. Going down some of the hills i was pedalling like mad and still going nowhere:o
Corkscrew Hill was a pleasure to cycle on and the road surface was the best i have ridden on heading into Lisdoonvarna. Did get one puncture but managed to get it fixed and back on the road after 15 minutes!! Not sure what time the more experienced guys can get one fixed?
Even after the tough going i felt ok getting off the bike and would have loved to do a 30 minute run to test the legs but had to head out as soon as i got back.
Time: 5:28:56
Distance: 147.1km
Avg Speed: 26.8kpmh
HR: 140/166

kennyb3

Always advisable to cycle out into the headwind first up, your asking for torture on your longest bike to date doing it the other way.

Also why flog yourself to try hit 30kmph on such a long bike?

Why not do a 2*20 session and try hit 32-34kmph on the road on a seperate day? i.e keep your threshold sessions as that and also your endurance as that?

Have you got your TT bike yet btw?

Puncture should take 5 mins max to fix unless there is a problem, i know some who can do it in about 2 or 3 tho. Id spend some time practising on a recovery day. The more you do the quicker you ll get. You dont wanna train so hard then spend 15mins on the day fixing a puncture.

Fair play on a great ride btw, thats a great ride to have under your belt so far out.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

kennyb3 wrote: »

Always advisable to cycle out into the headwind first up, your asking for torture on your longest bike to date doing it the other way.

Also why flog yourself to try hit 30kmph on such a long bike?

Why not do a 2*20 session and try hit 32-34kmph on the road on a seperate day? i.e keep your threshold sessions as that and also your endurance as that?

Have you got your TT bike yet btw?

Puncture should take 5 mins max to fix unless there is a problem, i know some who can do it in about 2 or 3 tho. Id spend some time practising on a recovery day. The more you do the quicker you ll get. You dont wanna train so hard then spend 15mins on the day fixing a puncture.

Fair play on a great ride btw, thats a great ride to have under your belt so far out.

Nah i quickly reined it back in when i knew i could not sustain that pace into the wind otherwise i could have easily bonked. The positive is i hit the pace in z2 hr for the first 85km and felt very comfortable in doing so.
I decided on going that way as i wanted to cycle up Corksrew hill although i did not reckon the wind would be blowing into my face on the way home:o
I will be doing a good bit of z3 & z4 sessions in the build phase as everything up to now as more or less been all z2 aerobic.
Going to work on the punctures as an extra 5/10 minutes could mean the difference between hitting or missing my target time if i do get one.
I am about an hour ahead on the long rides against the plan but made use of my time off this week.
Hope to have my TT bike on Monday which is a pain as i wanted to have a go on it before this Sundays duathlon.

kennyb3

You ll hit 30km/ph grand on your TT bike id imagine even where you are now, because i know when i ride in the drops im 1.5 - 2 km/ph quicker for less effort. A pointy hat will help too.

shotgunmcos

Agree with kb3 here. Yuo will go a little quicker with the TT set up, even if its 5secs per km faster it will make a significant 15minute difference over 180km! Its more about the time on the saddle now and well done for notching up a 5.5hr solo ride. You are ahead of me on this front and my IM is 3 weeks before yours You are getting some really good work in on your 'break'

griffin100

PM me an address and I'll send you the DVD - great for watching on the turbo.

Chanel 4 seem to have taken down the programme from their 4OD service.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

kennyb3 wrote: »

You ll hit 30km/ph grand on your TT bike id imagine even where you are now, because i know when i ride in the drops im 1.5 - 2 km/ph quicker for less effort. A pointy hat will help too.

Yeah itching to get the the TT bike and try it out and see how the pace compares to the road bike. I was looking at the pointy hats a while back and some of them can be dear enough. More expense lol, this tri lark can be big money:)

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Agree with kb3 here. Yuo will go a little quicker with the TT set up, even if its 5secs per km faster it will make a significant 15minute difference over 180km! Its more about the time on the saddle now and well done for notching up a 5.5hr solo ride. You are ahead of me on this front and my IM is 3 weeks before yours You are getting some really good work in on your 'break'

Yeah i am ahead of plan on the long sessions just need to reign it back in a bit but thought i would make hay while the sun shines on my 'break';). One thing i will say that 5.5 hours on your lonesome can get very boring on the bike at times.

griffin100 wrote: »

PM me an address and I'll send you the DVD - great for watching on the turbo.

Chanel 4 seem to have taken down the programme from their 4OD service.

Cheers Griffin pm sent. I owe you a pint if we come across each other at any events this year!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Friday

Endurance swim session.
2x1750mtr and 300wu/200wd
I had the pool to myself whilst the kids hit the kiddies pool. Not sure on time.
Distance: 4km
Time: 1:30

Brick session
A quick paced spin out just before it was getting dark. Cycled Lahinch to Milltown Malbray and the legs felt fresh after yesterdays long bike. I was getting a few beeps on the way back....my back light fell off the bike:(
Distance: 22.4km
Time: 44:39
Avg speed: 30.2kpmh
HR: 143/157
In for a quick change and back out for a planned 30 minute run. Headed out along the beach, clambered up the side of a hill when i found myself surrounded by water (garmin map has me in the water:o) but i managed to find my way back. An enjoyable fun run although the last km was a killer uphill and into the wind.
Distance: 5.66km
Time: 28:05
Pace: 4.57km/7.59mile
HR: 152/171

Saturday
An OW swim in February:eek:
I had been building up the courage all week to jump into the Atlantic in the wetsuit. After watching all the surfers out there i thought it would be fun how wrong i was!! I managed about 20 minutes:D and my hands and feet were frozen getting out of the water. It was bloody rough going out there.
Distance: call it 1km
Time: 20 mins

Sunday
Sportsman Duathlon
No race report as i am a bloody eejit!!

Evening LSR
My last longish run before Barcelona. The sun setting around Oldbridge was lovely and i spent the whole run visualising Barcelona. My legs felt very strong but i had difficulty with my breathing and i was coughing up all sorts of gunk. I hope i am not coming down with anything.
Distance: 16.2km
Time: 1:22:26
Pace: 5.05km/8.11mile
HR: 154/172

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Week 15 Summary
21st Feb - 27th Feb|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|11|17:01|346.5km
Swimming|3|2.45|7.7km
Cycling|4|11:04|300.9km
Running|4|3:12|37.8km
Conditioning|0|0:00|Strengthening Work/Core - Gym
Other|0|0:00|


Totals so far
15th Nov- 20th Feb|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|175|188:15|3139.9km
Swimming|34|29:36|90.3km
Cycling|49|74:54|2275.1km
Running|72|65:46|736.6km
Conditioning|14|12:45|Strengthening Work - Gym
Other|6|3:30|Swim coaching


My most enjoyable and biggest volume week to date, it makes it so much easier when you are off work to get the training in. I feel well rested after the break away and look forward to a recovery/mini taper week next week. All focus is on Barcelona now and i want to be in good shape for the start line to have a good crack at taking 30 minutes off my PB.
Need to get the diet back on track as i put on about 3kg last week!!

kennyb3

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Sunday
Sportsman Duathlon
No race report as i am a bloody eejit!!

Turn up a bit late? do expand!:)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

kennyb3 wrote: »

Turn up a bit late? do expand!:)

Something like that:o . The first race in the series was a 12pm start but they reverted to a 9.30 start for the other three. Fairly pissed off and knew when i got there and seen nobody something was up. Such a mongo!!

shotgunmcos

Good work put down last week JB. Taper smart now and I've no doubt Barcelona will have you revisting all of your future goals

kennyb3

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Something like that:o . The first race in the series was a 12pm start but they reverted to a 9.30 start for the other three. Fairly pissed off and knew when i got there and seen nobody something was up. Such a mongo!!

Ha ha i guessed that, was looking at heading up myself and noticed teh different times alright. Other stuff got in the way anyway so might try make the next one

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Good work put down last week JB. Taper smart now and I've no doubt Barcelona will have you revisting all of your future goals

I will be taking it very handy this week probably 2 swims, 2 easy bikes (no long one) and 3 runs. Yeah the marathon this weekend will give me a better guide as i am miles ahead of the 3:56 i posted in my first marathon in Cork last year. McMillan has me off 3:22:xx from my Waterford Half time so i will go out with a sub 3:20 and 3:25 pace band on the day and see how i get on.

kennyb3 wrote: »

Ha ha i guessed that, was looking at heading up myself and noticed teh different times alright. Other stuff got in the way anyway so might try make the next one

Yeah i am down for the next one. The first one was well organised and the road surface was decent on the cycle.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Monday
Rest Day

Tuesday
Lunchtime Bike - 24km & 7km commute
Went out for a jaunt and took it easy so was suprised to see my pace was as high when i got off the bike. Glutes felt tight enough at the start but the spin sorted that out.
Distance: 24.06km
Time:46:48
Avg Speed: 30.8kpmh

Tonight the running club normally do 6x1km intervals, half thinking of replacing this session with either an easy 5/6k or else do the intervals at a slower intensity than last time perhaps PMP (4.45/4.50kms)

Even though it's not a target race cannot stop thinking about Barcelona, nervous as hell which is strange.

thirstywork2

Its good to be nervous before a race !!!
I thin you are spot on about the reps,bring down the intesity even if it means doing it on your own;)

Bambaata

Enjoy Barcelona! Did it a few years back and found conditions perfect for the race. We got nice drizzle developing into a sunny day and it stayed in low teens temperature wise.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

thirstywork2 wrote: »

Its good to be nervous before a race !!!
I thin you are spot on about the reps,bring down the intesity even if it means doing it on your own;)

Yeah just took it handy and lead out the ladies on their intervals:)

Bambaata wrote: »

Enjoy Barcelona! Did it a few years back and found conditions perfect for the race. We got nice drizzle developing into a sunny day and it stayed in low teens temperature wise.

Yeah cannot wait it looks like i am going to watch the match in the Nou Camp on the Saturday evening so looking forward to it. Temperature looks to be around 13 degrees which would be ideal.

Tuesday evening
Club Session - 6x1k intervals & 1k wu/1k wd
Decided to take it handy no point doing any speed work so close to Barcelona. Lead out the slower group on the intervals and enjoyed the easy pace.
Jackyback Junior is flying on the running front, very proud to see him doing his stuff jogging around the track. He actually won a few euro doing the stop/start sprints to centre ......a real hustler like his aul man:)
Distance: 6k & wu/wd
Time: 31:24
Pace: 5.13km

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Wednesday

Crappy evening swim session
I opted for a later swim session than the early morning one to give myself an extra few hours in the leaba. Binned this session halfway through, a combination of laziness/no energy/generally not wanting to be in the pool. My stroke, breathing and rotation was utter crap.
I should have loads of energy to burn right now but it seems not.
Distance: 1.6km
Time: 40 mins

menoscemo

I printed that 3:25 pace band today and did a few PMP miles this evening, so I should be good to go out with you for the first half anyway. That's the plan at the moment. Now all I have to do is to get in the sub 3:30 pen (or maybe you fancy starting from the front of the 3:30+ pen- we should get a nice clear run at it that way?)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

menoscemo wrote: »

I printed that 3:25 pace band today and did a few PMP miles this evening, so I should be good to go out with you for the first half anyway. That's the plan at the moment. Now all I have to do is to get in the sub 3:30 pen (or maybe you fancy starting from the front of the 3:30+ pen- we should get a nice clear run at it that way?)

Yeah cool we can agree the plan of attack on Saturday evening. Would we loose much time though running through the 3.30 group? although it would give us a nice target to pass out in the first few kms.

What pen are you in 3.30+ to 4hr?

menoscemo

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Yeah cool we can agree the plan of attack on Saturday evening. Would we loose much time though running through the 3.30 group? although it would give us a nice target to pass out in the first few kms.

What pen are you in 3.30+ to 4hr?

Yep, that's my pen. I just remember from 2hr pacing in the dublin half, starting from the front of the 2hr+ pen (instead of from the back of the 1:45-2hr pen) we were hardly held up at all, no bottle necks, just passing people out gradually. There was much less stress than being in the middle of a group of people going at different paces. Of course there were loads of people in front going much slower than us but we came upon them gradually over the first 2-3 miles rather than all in the first half mile.