A little bit of everything, just faster

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Hey lads, quick question re prep/base/build phrases. According to when my A race is on, I've 8 weeks of prep before starting base phrase. Which seems a bit long?

Any suggestions? Do 4 of prep and maybe repeat a block of a base or build phrase?

Drawing up schedule as per Joe Friel.

Any help much appreciated.

One thing i have noticed in my first year of tri training is that you cannot plan too far ahead. I would work on the basis of a 4 week prep and see where you are at then before you decide what to do. You may decide you need to extend out your prep period by another week or two.
I would not repeat a block of base but would look at trying to extend it out and start working on what you think are your limiters.

nerraw1111

Cheers JB.

catweazle

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Ideally I'd be aiming for some top 30 positions. Crazy high target but basing that on previous races against triathletes in Gaelforce etc where I did ok with little bike training. I finished within 36 mins of Marrey at GF so if I can do that in half ironman, I'd be delighted.

Surprise surprise Marrey is a strong swimmer as well, although it is definitely his weakest as he doesn't spend much time on it! If you can get within that of him at the Humbert next year you will be in great shape - hes a sub 4.30 man ifs he fit and ready. Beauty about the swimming is that it becomes less important as the distance gets longer!

nerraw1111

catweazle wrote: »

Surprise surprise Marrey is a strong swimmer as well, although it is definitely his weakest as he doesn't spend much time on it! If you can get within that of him at the Humbert next year you will be in great shape - hes a sub 4.30 man ifs he fit and ready. Beauty about the swimming is that it becomes less important as the distance gets longer!

That's one of the reasons I'm doing the half iron distance. Theory is I'll be more competitive at the longer distance rather than getting hammered on the swim in sprints. Didn't realise Marrey was a strong swimmer, that'll make that 30 min (sub 5 target) more difficult.

nerraw1111

Wednesday swim lunch 1300metres ish

Bit knackered doing this, wasn’t really feeling it. Mainly did 50 metre reps to work on technique. Shared the slow lane with what appeared to be the fastest swimmer in the pool. So ended up swimming a bit faster than I was comfortable with, so as not to hold him up. Turns out he was a sound bloke and was returning to swimming after a break of a few years. He considered himself slow so that’s why he was in the slow lane. The lads in the fast lane were pretty slow. Bit Irish I suppose. Technique was ok, the breathing every three strokes is fine which I’m happy with it. Still lose count of lengths after about 5.


Wednesday evening turbo 45 mins

I did this session from Wheelworx.
http://www.wheelworxbikes.com/blog/2011/10/turbo-thursday-aerobic-endurance-week-5/

Bit of a struggle. The spin ups were tough and HR was way up. Right leg is far stronger than the left following the one leg revs. Pleased to finished it as legs were falling off me towards the end. Somehow left the chain on the big ring for the recovery. Doh!

HR avg of 158, max of 180
Cadence avg 96, max 110
Watts avg 180, max 335
Avg speed 24.8, max 43.5.

nerraw1111

45 minute recovery spin

Decent spin session as legs were feeling a bit heavy. Still a bit of an effort with a few minutes on the big gear. But starting to really like the turbo for training. Not sure I could do longer than 90 minutes on it but for short hard work, it's great.

Plan is to get a run intervals in tomorrow morning before work. Nothing today and see what happens on Sunday.

nerraw1111

Didn't do much at the weekend. Besides lifting pints.

Monday
8km run at lunch time and swimming lessons this evening. Lessons were grand. Decent workout.

Plan is run a 5km PB on Saturday at Donore's race work permitting. So will keep the running light this week.

nerraw1111

Turbo intervals 60 minutes

Really tough session. Happy that I managed to complete it as it was touch and go. Last 5 minutes I struggled to match a cadence of 100 on big ring.

Cad max 134, avg 94
watt total 634 max 290 av 184
km total and avg 27.5 max 40.4

nerraw1111

Wednesday noon
Swim 1400 metres ish

Really good session today. Stroke was pretty consistent thoughtout the session. Didn't get sloppy.

Wednesday eve
7km run. Nice and handy run. Still wearing shorts!

5km race pb attempt on Saturday so nothing too hectic planned before then

nerraw1111

Saturday 5km race

Just the second time to run a 5km road race. Plan was to go under 19 and sure maybe even under 18 if conditions were right.

Started off way too fast, first 1km done in 3.32. So sub 18 was on for about 3 mins 52 seconds before the turn onto Chesterfield. Deliberately tried to slow down and the wind did the rest to clock a 3 52 second km. Got passed by a few here. Started pulling people back on 3 to 4 kms, 3.46, 3.39. Hung on for the last km with a 3.29 to scrape under 18.30.

Fun but tough race. Splits were all over the shop but the wind and downhill meant that would be the case. Definitely think the hill running is helping with speed as I've got quicker without a huge investment in intervals. Particularly downhill with high leg turnover but without the huge effort required. Powerscourt 2 weeks ago I was clocking sub 3.20 kms on tired legs on the descent. Defo a mental advantage in last km of a 5.

Swimming lesson later

nerraw1111

Monday noon

Out with the running tights for first time this winter. Lovely 16km run, 5 min per km pace. Beautiful and crisp day for it

Monday night
Swimming lesson. Some good pointers tonight. Stroke is ok but not really exerting on the pull. So will concentrate on getting stroke rate down. When I do, I knock about 7 strokes from a length.

Tuesday turbo intervals.

Bloody hell these are tough. Barely completed the session and struggled to make 100 rpm, instead managing 92 ish on the big gears. Still happy to finish as the urge to bail was tempting.

Total km 28.1 max 44.3
cadence avg 92 max 143
watt trp 648 max 318 avs 188

nerraw1111

Wednesday swim about 1300 metres

Enjoyable session. Did a series of 4 * 25 metres lengths. Quick rest and repeat. Concentrating on form and reducing number of strokes. Really noticed the difference with the effort, arms were a bit sore afterwards.

nerraw1111

Getting harder to do a decent week of training with Christmas parties/work etc. Not that I mind, tis the season and all that. A weekend of boozing.

Monday
Lovely trail run up Bray head and along the Bray to Greystones trail. Haven’t been up there since the IMRA race during the summer. Great views, fresh air and winding trails along the cliff. Fantastic. Still managed to get lost on the way down though.

Monday swim lesson
This session was a bit of a pain in the arse. Practicing butterfly which I have absolutely zero interest in. Plus the regular coach wasn’t there so the lesson was a bit all over the place. Not the fault of the new instructor, he was pretty good actually. Just one more lesson left. Mixed feelings overall on the lessons. Some good tips but very stop/start from week to week and we haven’t got around to a lesson on the front crawl. That said, the others in the group seem to be happy.

nerraw1111

Hectic week with work followed by boozy lunches. Missed swimming and bike sessions.

Thursday 8km 35 mins

Dreaded this run and took me ages to get out the door. But loved the run, felt great and was cruising at a fast pace. Few days off had me feeling fresh. Nice booster to be feeling strong coming to the end of the year.

nerraw1111

Time to get log back on track. I'm off for the week, yuss, so besides stuffing my face, I'll also be able to get some decent sessions ahead of Christmas.

13km tempo run 60 mins

Wore too many clothes for this so was sweating for most of it. Very mild for this time of year. Few kms warm up, out by Sandymount, few kms at a guessed half marathon pace, out onto the Great South Wall where it was a bit slippy, and back home, increasing pace to 4.20 min per km pace. Enjoyable run.

Hope to do the half marathon plod route at some stage this week, weather depending. Few swims, turbos and I'll be in shape for Christmas!

I read a cool challenge on slowtwitch, which measures your miles versus the number of units of alcohol you drink. Think some aim for one mile for every drink over the Christmas period. Might give it a go starting from now

nerraw1111

Some decent sessions over last few days. Some nice runs, sessions in the pool and a turbo interval.

The turbo was a bit of a killer and was unable to hold the big gear towards the end of it. The plan called for 4 mins at 53 * 17 at 41 minutes into the session. Decided to change it to one minute on 53 * 17 and one min recovery. Still a decent session but I need to do it more often.

Last few days have been all about getting out and running off the beer/wine/celebrations. Swim later today.

Raring to go for 2012 so that's a good sign.

I got into Ballycotton so that's a good target early in the year. McMillan says 64 minutes but I don't know, I harbour ambitions of sub 60. Never trained for a ten miler but I reckon I might be able to hold 3.44 kmph pace for the duration. Shall see how next few weeks go

nerraw1111

Attempted to do some intervals last night but just wasn't arsed so packed it in after one. It was dark, cold, windy and miserable. Tired from working and socialising all week so was on a hiding to nothing.

My planned interval route was only 500 metres long so didn't have the heart to run up and down the same path 10 times or so. Note to self, pick a decent route for intervals in the future.

nerraw1111

So Christmas etc is over and time to get back into it. Kept ticking over the Christmas with a few runs and nice hike in the mtns.

Monday

Nice 12km run last night. Felt good and was motoring along at around 4.30 per km pace. I’ve the Raheny five mile and then Ballycotton. Ideally I’d like to run the 5 mile in around 28mins and then see how Ballycotton is shaping up.

Didn’t do any bike work so hopping on the turbo this evening for a decent tempo session. Any suggestions for what HR zone to ride in for 60/90 minutes? Keep it aerobic? Intervals later in the week.

Plans for this year include a few triathlons incl 2 half ironman, some multi-sport/adventure races such as Roar, War and Gaelforce. I’d love to target a top 10 at Gaelforce and I think that’s possible as long as my bike improves.
A few duathlons and of course some IMRA races.

Also looking at doing an X-terra in Europe, France or Germany maybe. A lot to pack in, need to sort what are my A races etc. X terra would be a nice way to include a holiday.

Another aim of mine to eat healthy. My diet is shocking. I can’t cook besides boiling an egg. Also learn to drive. Training options are really limited due to not driving.

Best of luck everyone for 2012.

DogSlySmile

nerraw1111 wrote: »

McMillan says 64 minutes but I don't know, I harbour ambitions of sub 60. Never trained for a ten miler but I reckon I might be able to hold 3.44 kmph pace for the duration.

Yikes best of luck with that one mate! Its a big jump from a sub18:30 5k to a sub 60 10 miler!

You've got some pretty big goals lined up for 2012, I'd love to do x-terra (seen it on telly, looks like the business) but I wont be doing it any time soon :P

Best of luck with it all.

nerraw1111

DogSlySmile wrote: »

nerraw1111 wrote: »

McMillan says 64 minutes but I don't know, I harbour ambitions of sub 60. Never trained for a ten miler but I reckon I might be able to hold 3.44 kmph pace for the duration.

Yikes best of luck with that one mate! Its a big jump from a sub18:30 5k to a sub 60 10 miler!

You've got some pretty big goals lined up for 2012, I'd love to do x-terra (seen it on telly, looks like the business) but I wont be doing it any time soon :P

Best of luck with it all.

Quote]

Cheers. Ten miler goal is probably more of an aspirational goal rather than realistic one!

nerraw1111

Tuesday turbo

Plan was ten min warm up and 50 mins at aerobic. Worst session so far. Only feeling normal 90 minutes later. Didn't fuel properly. No breakfast, small lunch and that was it. Stomach was growling 10 mins in. 40 mins felt like I was going to bonk. Legs were like jelly getting off.

Won't be making that mistake again. Changed the resistance to plus one so following figures aren't comparable to previous.
50 mins.
Avg cadence 95, max 107
Avg watt 176, max 213
Distance 22.6
Avg speed 27.1.

nerraw1111

Swimming 1600 metres Wednesday lunch

Bit of a breakthrough swim for me. Aim was to see how far I could swim continuously. Managed to get to 800 metres semi-comfortably so delighted with that. Stroke was getting a bit messy in the end and had to resort to breathing every two strokes for the last 300 but happy enough.
Then did a few 50 metre sprints off 90 seconds, 4 reps of them. Was coming in for 100 metres around 60 seconds. A few more lengths concentrating on form and finished it off with few lengths of breast stroke. Felt great, could really feel it in my arms and my stroke was all right, compared to youtube videos, for what it’s worth.
My kick needs a bit of work as I’ve no idea what I’m doing with them. They seem high enough in the water so don’t think I’m dragging them.

Wednesday evening
Planned a short run but the weather was nuts and didn’t fancy getting taken out by a rogue branch. Did some core work instead which I’ve neglected.

Plan is some intervals tonight. My main problem with intervals is finding a decent stretch to run in the dark.

catweazle

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Swimming 1600 metres Wednesday lunch
Was coming in for 100 metres around 60 seconds. A

You will be giving Interested and shotgun tips at that pace

Having a good swim session or two always lifts the spirits!

nerraw1111

Ha, jaysus.
I meant 50 metres. 50 metres!

nerraw1111

Intervals 5 x 1km with 90 second break.

Tough session. Pace was all over the shop. Intervals were. 3.32, 3.33, 3.44, 3.44, 3.38.

Started each interval too fast and was damage limitation from then on. Hitting 3.17 at one stage which was ridiculous. Need to run on feel more. Same 1km stretch up and down.

2km warm up and 4km warm down so 11 in total. Legs are wrecked. Recovery cycle tomorrow and long run Saturday.

nerraw1111

Saturday 16km 75 minutes.

Did this after work last night. Was hungover to bits from night before. First few kms were an effort. As were the last 12. Avg pace was 4.45. It's not a bad time to go for a run tho. Streets and paths are empty, Jenny Houston is on 2FM banging out the cheesey old skool. felt great afterwards, hangover was gone.

Plan is to get a long outdoor cycle in tomorrow. It's been a while.

nerraw1111

Monday swim 45 mins, 1km ish.

Was a like a scene from the film Cocoon this morning. All OAPs bobbing around having the craic and chat. The lanes eventually went in and they left. Was fairly busy compared to previous weeks. Found a nice lane and off I went. Decided to do 4 * 50s off 90s seconds, a few lengths of bs, then 5 * 50s off 90s seconds, few lengths of bs and then another 5 * 50s off 90s. Decent session as I felt like bailing on some of the intervals but kept at it.


Monday 90 min turbo

Did this 2 hours after the swim. Sundays and Monday are my days off and as Sunday is the only full day I get to hang out with the GF, I keep Mondays for training.

Aim was to do 90 minutes in the aerobic zone. Stuck on Bladerunner and off I went. First 45 mins were fine but second half was a struggle. My aerobic zone is between 150 and 164. Avg HR was 156. Bit disappointed to see the distance was only 36.5 but suppose distance isn't that accurate. Happy with the cadence tho. I also need a new pair of shorts. Did this in tri shorts and it was damn uncomfortable.

Watt 160 max 240
dist 36.5 avg speed 24.3
Cad 94
avg HR 156

Totals for the week (Tuesday to Monday)
Bike 59.1 2 sessions
Swim 2600 2 sessions
Run 27km 2 sessions.

Decent week but would ideally would like to have 3 sessions of each discipline.

nerraw1111

Tuesday 10km recovery run 5.15km pace.

Handy run. Legs were quite heavy though. Tried new pair of runners, Christmas gift. High mileage stability shoe asics 2170. Over pronate so not sure if suitable.

Plan to do FTP test tomorrow. Swim at lunch time first. Be interesting to see results and chart progress. Never measured my cycling before.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Best of luck with the testing

nerraw1111

Did the dreaded FTP. Fuppin hell. Was nuts. Was questioning why was I putting myself through it.

But first Wednesday morning.
Swim 1500 metres.

This was a great session. Pool was quiet. Swam 1,000 metres very comfortably. Then did 3 * 100s off 3 minutes. Some recovery and warm ups in between.

FTP test.

10 min warm up and into an all out effort for five mins. Think I managed to sustain my starting pace for the 5 mins.

Avg watt was 273.

Ten min recovery and into T20. Ridiculously tough and not even remotely enjoyable bar one tune kicking in a great bassline. Time stood still. Held the speed for first ten but after that had to drop a gear which I then held till end with a short burst.

HR avg was 178. My redline is 179. So I think I paced it ok? Went into 180s for last 2 mins.

Result was avg watt of 228. Avg cadence 98. Distance 10.6. Did it on a flow turbo. Went all out on both tests despite wanting to cry off. So 3.5 watt per kilo.

So something to measure myself against but man, that test isnt fun at all.