Alanya, Turkey 2013 - My Euro Dream Odyssey

BTH

These things always sound so painful. Does it really make much of a difference? I aint signing up for no regular beatings thank you very much, I can get that free of charge at home!!

El Director

Weds Morn 1st Feb (Spring )

Plan NAC Coach Prescribed Swim
Plan NAC Coach Prescribed Swim

Like I said earlier my shoulders felt different this morning, more loose. After my WU and some fist drills and descending 50's it was into the main set, 8x 200 off 30sec rest.

1) 3:19
2) 3:28
3) 3:25
4) 3:24
5) 3:23
6) 3:22
7) 3:22
8) 3:21

I felt sloppy and distracted during the first two, so after a swig of cop on I re-focused and did the last 6. I thought I'd really concentrate on two things a) distance per stroke and finishing the stroke and b) engaging the core with every pull. It worked nicely. After the first two I was breathing heavily enough but from 3-8 I wasn't evn though I was coming in faster. Faster times with less effort, the holy grail

Then I had 4x 50 fast coming in on 40/40/41/41

Time 1:05
Dist 3000m

El Director

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

These things always sound so painful. Does it really make much of a difference? I aint signing up for no regular beatings thank you very much, I can get that free of charge at home!!

Time will tell for me. But all elites get regular maintaince work done. Hession himself uses that machine a few times a week and swears by recovery. Now while we are far from elite, we do as multisport athletes put ourselfs through a lot during the week. When I got injured it was off the back off a big week and I love those weeks the most so if I want to be able to ever do them again then this is the step I am taking. Identify the weakness, do something about it.

El Director

Weds Eve 1st Feb

Plan 45 min easy run with 5x 20 sec fast
Actual 45 min easy

I was sure this was supposed to be 45 easy but looking at the training log now I see it was the above. Maybe just as well after yesterday. So after last nights physio appointment I headed out for my 45 min easy run. This time I did bring the HR monitor. I first did the simple exercises that Ciaran gave me. I was/still am very tender where he was working but I put it to one side and just concentrated on form. So I had no issues, hard to know if it is 100%, I will have to wait for the bruising to settle. But two 45 min runs so far this week with no real problems is progress I guess.

HR 143; PACE 4:34/km

Time 45:23
Dist 9.9km

El Director

Thurs Morn 2nd Feb

Stretch/Core/Weakness/Rolling

Time 1:05

pgibbo

Progress for sure. Good to hear that.

What exercises has he got you doing before each run? he sounds like an impressive character.

El Director

pgibbo wrote: »

Progress for sure. Good to hear that.

What exercises has he got you doing before each run? he sounds like an impressive character.

Thats for sure...and he keeps calling me bro :cool:

Very simply: 10 squats and 10 lunges on each leg.

He has more to come and also a flexibility course/exercises. I am going back for some more pain this evening

El Director

Thurs Eve 2nd Feb

Plan 60min easy turbo
Actual 52 min easy turbo

HR 122(130 for 35min); CAD 94; WATT 225; SPEED 31.4km/hr; Had to cut this 8 min short due to physio appt. I actually felt great, didn't want to push to hard for the first 17 min or so but then just picked it up as I was feeling good. Using RPE for now to gauge effort.

Time 52min
Dist 27.3km

Then it was off to an external pain cave and another physio session. He said the ITB had loosened but there was more to go. Ideally he would like me to stop running for 5/6/7 days, gives the treatment a better chance to work. Instead of running sessions to do aqua running-he gets his middle distance runners to do this a fair bit anyway and it has it's own benefits. It means I must get an aqua belt-think I know where to get it. Swim as normal and if i must bike only very easy and not too long in duration.

He wants to see me again next week. He knows exactly where the prob is but will take a couple more sessions. He have me 10 stretches to help with flexibility to be done everyday where possible and before races.

I must say I am usually upbeat and positive but this is now 4 weeks going on and it's hard to keep positive all the time, even motivation has waivered the last 5 days or so. Meaning sessions are being done but head elsewhere at imes and diet has got a little messy after a good 3 weeks. It's been great to have swimming and biking to keep going but I really need to get this sorted. It plays on my mind that others/competitors are working away and getting ahead, although in the past these enforced lay offs have results in a fresh body and it's only Feb.

The thing I must keep reminding me is that my AAA race is in 2013, 497 days away and that this is the process I must go through to get stronger all round. Who knows if I stick to the strength and flexibility courses as well as my regular training then this time next year I will be in perfect condition. Time will tell.

I was at the cinema last night which I enjoyed (The Descendants) SO it was late to bed last night and no up for club swim this morning, should get time after school to get it in though.

pgibbo

Just don't go hogging a lane when you're aqua jogging!

Seriously though, another 5 days or so is very little in the grand scheme as you pointed out. Keep positive. Sounds encouraging though and by taking his advice on board you should be all set. Keeping the discipline to do the stretches, etc will be key.

interested

"aqua jogging"

you're now dead to me.

BTH

http://www.hallenbad-sulingen.de/fitness.htm

You'll fit right in!!

RacoonQueen

Come to my pool, people do backwards aqua walking in the lanes.

Notwitch

So you can swim as normal.

How about a big swimming focus - every day type stuff - what would the coach think?

Interested, any views on a 5-10 day swim every day focus for someone of El Ds ability?

El Director

@BTH that link is blocked, I'll check it out later but something tells me I know what it is

@Notwich I can swim as normal and my coach is currently working away on next week but I doubt it will be 4/5 times a week, I don't want any overuse shoulder injuries to have to deal with :rolleyes: I did do that during the summer but two of those sessions were no longer than 1600m and contained mainly drills/tech and some short/fast 25's and 50's. It actually really helped but they were more active recovery.

interested

Notwitch wrote: »

... what would the coach think? Interested, any views on a 5-10 day swim every day focus for someone of El Ds ability?

imho, all good - but then I was predictably going to say that based on where I come from
I think I read somewhere that Mr B. Keane was'nt in a position to bike or run towards the end of last season so spent the whole time swimming. He was managing up to 50k a week before the wheels came off and he was in a jacket with no sleeves.

The aqua jogging (although a curse in pools for people trying to train) is very good by all accounts. I know one person that had a stress fracture early last season and used it a lot (he was fairly nuts before hand so that helped) when he couldn't run as part of IM training.

Walking or running backwards in a pool may look pretty weird/dumb but its actually a top notch way to safely test out recovery from a run injury such as calf strains or achilles issues.

That said, El D is being coached by someone more than capable of steering him through any sort of cessation of biking and running.

El Director

Fri Morn 3rd Feb

Plan Club Swim Session
Actual NAC LC Coach Prescribed Session

So didn't get up for my morning session for the first time this year, but because running is out for now I knew I'd get it in later. So coach gave me a session and off I went after school. After the drills and WU I got into the 100's pull steady with 15sec rest: 1:38/1:36/1:37/1:38/1:38. A nice session and feeling pretty strong in the pool. At least swimming is going well.

Time 50min
Dist 2,300m

Bally8

Best of luck with your recovery El D, great to hear you so positive about it all:)

El Director

Bally8 wrote: »

Best of luck with your recovery El D, great to hear you so positive about it all:)

Thanks Bally but must admit I'm getting a bit fed up, and frustrated now. What keeps me positive is the fact the I still believe I will come back and be stronger for it. Even in the running department, I'm not going to let this stop me achieving my goals.

This week I started reading this, I have had it for a few months but only got around to it this week and already it's helping me mentally I will be following the steps in this book....it certainly can't hurt anyway.

El Director

Prep Week Round Up

Well no training to log except stretching and rolling totaling 1 hour over the weekend. So weird not bringing the bike and running gear home on Friday evening. It was depressing actually. But I came to realise two things 1) I'm a lucky guy, able bodied and no illness. God knows there are so many out there suffering so badly and struggling every single day 2) I am now convinced I am going through this annoying type of injury for a reason, over the last week or so a few things have happened that may be coincidence...or not. What I have learned is invaluable and makes sense and all this combined, the injury, the rehab, the penny dropping for me, I honestly believe will make me strong...in the long run. As my coach put it when I referred to the last month as time lost:

"Its not time lost, its part and parcel of progression. You have not maintained or strengthened the parts of your body that need to be looked after and made stronger to enable you to run large volumes and fast"

I believe the steps I take now, starting today will lead to me be a stronger, fitter and faster athlete. It may be many months for me to see and feel these changes but they will come and hopefully, hopefully injuries will be a thing of the past.

So what have I learned? I have to develop my pillar of strength. Whats that? I need to be stronger, more mobile and elastic from my shoulders, through to my core and through my hips. Maybe it was just coincidence as I say but a few things have came together at the exact same time 1) coach saying the above got me thinking 2) my new physio talks sense and a lot of what he says is mirrored in the book I'm now reading 3) the book I decided to take up and read only last week, forgot I even had it!

This is why I haven't jumped in prematurely to doing an ironman distance race. I want to have a really solid foundation before I do it. Now I know I could do one, but at what coast? I'd fall apart and cause a lot of damage. So then, like the coach says, this is all part of progression. This is my journey and this is what I must go through to reach my destiny.


30 Jan-05 Feb|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|12|09:40|67.4
Swimming|3|03:00|7.8
Cycling|2|01:22|40.3
Running|2|01:33:22|19.3
Strenth/Core|5|03:45|N/A


Not a bad week considering I was banned from running and cycling all weekend. At this rate I will never catch the high flyers in the SCR challenge, going to be tough to hold onto my top 10 from last year now

Mon Eve 6th Feb

My new stretch routine/rolling/core

Time 45min

Plan Coach Prescribed Session
Actaul Coach Prescribed Session

NAC SC. Loved this session for some reason. I have started to use a snorkel now just for the pull bits and sculling/fist drills. Just to address the dropping of the left arm at times when breathing to the right. At first I hated using it but now I really see the advantages, I can keep an even stroke and concentrate on a good catch and pull. Ok, so the main set then,
{100p steady + 15s, 50 mod +10s} x4,

Set 1: 1:34/45;
Set 2: 1:36/46;
Set 3: 1:33/46;
Set 4: 1:37/45;

The 4x 50s fast: 41/42/42/41.

So like I say enjoyed the session and glad swimming is going well anyway

So no biking or running since Friday on physio's request. I am seeing him again on Weds and I am pretty sure he will tell me to return to easy spins and runs by the weekend...well I hope anyway

El Director

Tues Morn 7th Feb

Core/Stretching/Rolling/Weakness

Time 1:15

Bambaata

Hope it goes well ElD. You've made loads of progress and it doesn't just disappear overnight

Just wondering what snorkel you got? I think i could do with one on some drills

El Director

This is the one dude.

pgibbo

El Director wrote: »

This is the one dude.

I got one of those last year and I've yet to use it. Must give it a try based on your comments.

What book are you reading? You didn't give the name earlier.

El Director

El Director wrote: »

Thanks Bally but must admit I'm getting a bit fed up, and frustrated now. What keeps me positive is the fact the I still believe I will come back and be stronger for it. Even in the running department, I'm not going to let this stop me achieving my goals.

This week I started reading this, I have had it for a few months but only got around to it this week and already it's helping me mentally I will be following the steps in this book....it certainly can't hurt anyway.

Sorry dude, it was mentioned in the above post earlier.

pgibbo

Oops. Apologies.

Have one or 2 of his other books but not that one. be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

Mind you, I started reading Iron War at the weekend and I'm struggling to find time to read that let alone another book.

El Director

Tues Eve 7th Feb

Plan Aqua Running :rolleyes:
Actual Aqua Running

The plan was to do a particular session for 30 min namely: 5 min warm-up

2 sets of 5x1:30 hard
(30 sec easy recovery)
(2 min easy btw sets)

5 min cooldown
Total workout = 32min

Anyway I decided to just use the 30 min to get used of the technique, which I did after about 25 min! Boring as it was, I didn't mind-I was trying so hard to do it right that I didn't notice the time going after 30 min I was chucked out of the lane for Bryan Keane and high performance swimmers:rolleyes:, but 30 min was good enough

Time 30min

Now over to the SBR thread to ask MCOS can he add in an aqua running km column

El Director

Weds Morn 8th Feb

Stretch/Roll/Core

Time 30min

Plan NAC SC Coach Prescribed Swim
Actual NAC SC Coach Prescribed Swim

After the WU I got stuck into:


4x50 des 1-4 on 60: 55/52/49/45

5x(200p steady, 100sw mod hard, 2x50 fast - all +15s)

Set 1: 3:23/1:39/45/46
Set 2: 3:15/1:38/44/45
Set 3: 3:14/1:38/47/45
Set 4: 3:16/1:36/46/46
Set 5: 3:15/1:37/45/45

Paced these well as there was no fall off in set 4 and 5, happy with that

4x50 fast on 60: 45/49/48/48

Now here there was a bit of a fall off.

Time 1:10
Dist 3200m

More physio this evening but I'd say it will be my last as in re-hab and lets hope anymore visits will be for pre-hab Hope to be back to easy running/biking for tomorrow and weekend. I must say the ITB does not seem as tight at all, it feels pretty good so I am hopeful.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Good to hear on the ITB hopefully the easy biking and running goes without any issues.

catweazle

El Director wrote: »

after 30 min I was chucked out of the lane for Bryan Keane and high performance swimmers:rolleyes:, but 30 min was good enough

Thats why I hate Aqua runners - get the f%$^ out of the swimming lanes and stay in the public section :mad:

Good to hear the ITB feels a bit better

El Director

catweazle wrote: »

Thats why I hate Aqua runners - get the f%$^ out of the swimming lanes and stay in the public section :mad:

Good to hear the ITB feels a bit better

No 'public' section in the NAC, lanes only 24/7, quiet anyway when I am there. Absolutley no one in the lane and almost in the pool at that time I am a swimmer after all so I do know what annoys others etc... :cool: