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Alanya, Turkey 2013 - My Euro Dream Odyssey
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Weekly Summary
Somehow, somehow I deleted the page were I and coach keep track of training so this weeks totals are something like:
Swim: 5,000m
Bike: 200km
Run: 26km
Some tough sessions and quality sessions too, most enjoyable week thus far
Mon Morn 2nd April
Swim
Nice easy session this morning. Almost, almost broke the 40 sec for 50-40.5, I reckon the .5 was the time it took me to hit lap!!:) Was tossed out of the pool so didn't get the last 100 of CD done
TIME 35min; DIST 1,500m
Stretch/Rolling
TIME 30min0 -
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+1 Great racing El D. I like the sprint out of T2 to break yer man approach. I might try that sometime as I'm usually on the receiving end of it. Most emphatically by Bambaata scorching away from me out of T2 at DCT. If I see you in T2 sometime this year though I'll know your game
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shotgunmcos wrote: »+1 Great racing El D. I like the sprint out of T2 to break yer man approach. I might try that sometime as I'm usually on the receiving end of it. Most emphatically by Bambaata scorching away from me out of T2 at DCT. If I see you in T2 sometime this year though I'll know your game
Ha, game up alright....just need to get on your feet and try to hang on for dear dear life!! Won't be happening anytime soon though. But ya, give it a go, 500m or so and settle then when out of sight...whats to lose? I'd suggest trying it an IM race :P
Ya Bambaata, frustrations have gone now and I'm not viewing this time as making up for lost ground at all, just concentrating on one session to the next and getting the most out of each one. Tasty sessions this week
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Tues 3rd April
2hr Easy Spin
Had been looking forward to this, 2 hrs easy mid week = happy days! But not today. Showers of hail, very strong head and side winds, a slow puncture, horrible road surfaces in patches, narrow roads with huge lorries and idiots for drivers. Not the best spin of the year you could say. Also the garmin kept switching off, it was on the bike mount and as I went over rough, not even that rough of ground it would switch off, happened 5/6 times! :mad: Apparently this is a very common probably with it when bike mounted. It's no problem on the TT bars though, less vibration I guess. The puncture was slow and thank god for that as I wouldn't have liked changing a tube in that weather. At least I tried out a new route and now that I know my way to Portmarnock I know I can push onto Skerries or Howth even...find this famous hill some day With the garmin up to its tricks I'd say I covered 50k, it was a tough spin but there certainly wasn't 21,000m of climbing as claimed by the garmin file :mad:
Run - Easy 20min
No way was I going out again so hopped on the treadmil for this easy 20.
TIME 20min; DIST 4.7km0 -
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BetterThanHoyte wrote: »Not the 910?? 500quid and the damn thing switches itself off. That's no much good.
+1 your not really selling it to me El
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Weds Eve 4th April
Run
Session
10 easy
5x(30sec build, 30 sec easy)
4x(800 3:45 pace, 200 jog recovery)
10 easy
4x(400 3:30 pace, 600 jog recovery)
5+ easy
Liked the look of this session but not the weather. It was going to be hard work to maintain the paces in that wind, especially in the Polo grounds where it is very exposed. I like doing these sessions on grass during the summer as it is more forgiving on the body. I didn't help myself by eating crap at lunch and this made things very uncomfortable at times...but stupid am I. After the 10 min WU and build work, I stopped and did my dynamic stretches and WU drills. As Shotgun eluded to yesterday I also find these great and set me up for the session. Anyway hit all the pace targets but wasn't happy with the pacing, they were mainly too fast and not bang on which at this stage I should be able to do. As the summer goes on this should improve though. A great way to do over an hour of running though and despite the strong wind I really enjoyed the session...especially as I just sat in the car and the hail shower came
Here are the 800's and 400's0 -
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Fri 6th April
Run 45min Easy - 6x 20sec fast, 30 sec rec
Pace on the 910XT is absolute crap. Wasn't giving me current pace, was giving average, had me going way too fast and then way to slow. Very erratic, very annoying, emailed Garmin already, 3 days ago-no reply, well I will send a f'ing email every f'ing hour if I have to in order to get a response. Now I certainly didn't pay 500 for it, actually got it as a presie from the US at a much lower price, but still...wishing I still had my trusty 305 now. Ok, deep breath. It is very rare that I don't want to do a session, I suppose motivation today has just been on the floor. So, when this happens I believe it is 90% a mental game with one's self. So I told myself a) it's only 22.5min run and then back again b) you only have 3 sessions left and then it is a recovery week with a day off Tues c) your competitors wouldn't miss this session d) you might end up loving it. Then remembered words from my a while back, "missed sessions now equal missed goals later" also, "when feeling like this, just get geared up, get out there and if you still feel like binning it after 10 min then fair enough (usually you just finish it anyway)" So I did get out eventually, again some crap ate today but I did get into it and felt like I was flying during the 6x 20 fast. Of course, I was delighted after that I got out there
Garmin file here0 -
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Sat 7th April
Bike
Right lets get the annoying thing out of the way first. 910 once again switched off, this time only 15 into ride. I've had a good idea that it was to do with vibrations as it does not switch off on the TT bike as it's on the extensions and therefore less vibration. So two things I could do, a) get some spongey bar tape to absorb some shock b) turn off the vibration alert. As I was already out there it was the later. Problem solved Didn't turn off again and I don't need that function while cycle...still though, not good enough. While I can live with that, I can't live with dropped sats which is exactly what happened only 17min in. Also have a look at the elevation graph below....for gods sake how could it be so bad!
Ok the good stuff now, and today was a very positive day for me. Normally I've no confidence in myself over long easy spins, usually I fade and today was not only my longest of 2012 it was also the most intense (not including turbos).
An hour easy, 45 min steady, 15 easy and that took me to 2 hrs.
Then the real work began 3x {20min mod hard/10min easy} thats 3hrs, then 3x{10min hard/5 easy} finish with 15 easy.
As usual I was a bit worried about how I'd get my HR up, but apart from the first hour easy I met all my targets. I was bloody determined, so every time my HR dropped out of the desired zone, out of the seat I'd get and push it back up again, once in zone maintain it there for as long as I could, normally 5min then out of saddle again. Getting out of the saddle isn't something I normally do but it kept me honest today. There was in fairness enough climbing to keep the HR up, about 1,500m in all, but even while climbing the HR would drop so up off my ass I'd get. As you could imagine the mod hard and the hard stuff in the last 1hr was tough. But as the mins/hours ticked by my confidence grew, although legs getting tired I felt great strength in them and I really started to grip the drops hard, grit my teeth and loving the challenge. I was on the TCR (road bike) not the Trinity (TT bike) as I have a sportive/tour on Monday so I was pleased with the speeds I was getting, it's a beautiful bike actually to ride.
Sorry about the size, too late to put all the data in a proper table. First 15min before the power down is on another file.
A successful ride such as todays obviously had to be fueled well, so todays nutrition: Pre spin - 100ml water/300ml OJ, scoop of whey (unflavoured), UDO's choice oil. During - 750ml water+nuun tab x1, 1000ml water+High5 zero tab x2, drinking by feel. Then every 40min a gel or bar, as I don't like gels today I tried eating after 2 gels so it was 40min gel, 80min gel, 120min bar (kelloggs-elevenses, just what mam had in the house this morning) and so on in that fashion. I actually didn't even bother with anything in the last hour. So this may work for me going forward, just need to find some bars I like, any suggestions??
So a great day and has done wonders for me and my confidence. So one more session left and it will be a massive two weeks for me done and dusted. But I have been warned...what happened me at the end of a big week before-had my LER to do (90min easy-tomorrow 60 easy + 30 steady), I fell apart and the ITB trouble began. This time it's at the end of a big 2 weeks and the run is tougher. So tonight I will roll again, especially the trigger points. Tomorrow I will use a dynamic warm up and dynamic stretching lasting 30min at least. Right now I have doubled on the compression, I will ease that off while I sleep but I will use all compression I have for tomorrows run. So hopefully all these pre-cautions will see me though..then recovery week with a long weekend away next weekend with Linda to look forward to
Legs are constantly tired/sore these days...I love that feeling It will be amazing to race on fresh legs come the 3rd and 9th June, my first two A races 0 -
Sun 8th April
Run LER
Well if ever I needed company for a long run, today was the day, and I had it thank god. An old friend and a great guy to pace off. As I said yesterday I was nervous about this run. I took pre-cautions starting straight after yesterdays tough cycle with the recovery steps kicking straight in. I treated the run as a race, therefore prepared as such. Up at 6:45 for breakie, start getting suited up at 9 and dynamic WU and dynamic stretches from 9:30, run at 10am. The legs were tried starting, I had calf, quad/hamstring compression and then compression tights over that.
So it was 3x 19:30 run/30sec walk, that took us to 60 min then it was 30min at steady pace. I was nervous because of the reasons stated in yesterday's post but I was also nervous because I usually always fade at the end of LER but today forced me to finish strong, picking the pace up for the last 30.
Off we went, the thing about running at home is there are loads of hills so it can be difficult to get into a good rhythm. I kept on the shoulder of my running mate, he was always an inch or two ahead which helped I found. I had to ease back up hills. We were able to chat for the first hour, both of us loving the run/walk approach. If I was on my own it would have been tough, thinking/dreading the last 30 min. So when it came we picked it up, I got the HR into the zone and we clipped away. It's funny, it felt like a race, shoulder to shoulder as we came through the village running on the road as a big crowd was leaving the church (most crossing to the pub!) cheering us as we came through! It was funny sh!t The last 10 was difficult, calfs, quads, glutes very sore but like yesterday that determination to finish strong set in. Hand shake at the end, job done
I even did 4min CD after, then 30min of rolling and static stretches. Two big big weeks for me done, the first 20hr week too and I came through it, hopefully this means I'm getting more robust.
And now so much sport! Paris-Roubaix (my fav classic), United game, City game, Munster/Ulster, sunday at the Masters and I have been off chocolate, sweets, crisps, chips, pizza and coke for the last 40 days and nights, a lovely stew on...what a Sunday I am really in the mood for pinting but...100k sportive/tour tomorrow. I'll be using it as recovery, sitting in the bunch while staying in the top 30, don't want getting caught up in anything silly back further, god knows what could happen. I certainly won't be doing long pulls at the front into the wind. 0 -
Below is a graph that has not graced these here parts since before Christmas....no point as I was injured and obviously going to lose fitness. A reminder of what it represents:
"One of the most important aspects of training for the endurance athlete is developing aerobic endurance – the ability to perform efficiently and effectively for a long duration at an intensity below the anaerobic threshold. In the Base period this is typically one of the most important aspects of training for road cyclists, triathletes, mountain bikers, runners, cross-country skiers, etc. It is usually considered the “foundation” upon which all subsequent training gains are made." - Friel.
It's ave HR divided by speed (not pace).
So roughly were fitness was mid Nov, not bad at all and over the next 7/8 I'll keep an eye on that trend.
2nd Apr - 8th Apr|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|17|20:32|268.69
Swimming|3|02:55|7.4
Cycling|3|07:20|211.4
Running|4|03:47|49.89
Strenth/Core|7|06:30|N/A
A big week and the end of two weeks were volume and intensity increased. Tomorrow starts a recovery week with 100k cycling but believe me, I will make it easy on myself Tues completely off, since returning to full training from injury we (myself and coach) have been determined to get a good consistent run going so therefore no full day off in weeks. That good run has now given me a sturdy platform as I start my first build phase in a weeks time. Now an easy week with a weekend in Amsterdam and quality time with Linda, looking so forward to it now....just need to watch the beer and the fact that I am coming off the junk ban 0 -
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Forgot some vital info, todays nutrition:
Well as I was treated todays run as important as a race I had my usual pre-race breakie 3 hours out. I kept swigging on water too. Then I took out the fuel belt....rarely used. I had 2x 250ml water + nuun, a swig every 15min or so. A High5 ISO Gel at 30min and 60min.
Really learning the importance of fueling my sessions appropriately, this may be the very reason I used to fade last year in long sessions.
Just got word....MCOS is a winner! 0 -
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El Director wrote: »Hi couerdelion,
It just simply a matter of dividing average speed by ave HR. So for me today it was 13\149 = 0.08725.
Ah ok, thought you had some fancy equipment working it out for you
Do you find the graph correlates with performance like Friel suggests?0 -
couerdelion wrote: »Ah ok, thought you had some fancy equipment working it out for you
Do you find the graph correlates with performance like Friel suggests?
I think I will have to wait and see. It's not fool proof though as you can have a partically bad day or be coming off the back of a tough week or even have a slight cold that elevates HR. At the peak before christmas I did feel very fit and PB'ed in a 5k by a big margin so I guess it's some indication and nice to have some way to measure fitness. I need more data though to be able to decide weather or not it is useful.
Monday 9th AprilTour De Croans - 100kThanks DD for the idea of a center heading
First off the 910XT is absolutely pants! Dropped sats again very early, getting speed and distance from the speed/cadence sensor which was way off. The cadence and HR are the only reliable enough data. This was a tour organised by by local GAA club, a nice start to my recovery week! Advertised as 100k but it was short by 5/6k I'd say. Forget about yesterdays posts/promises of not doing much work BTW.
Great to have Better Than Hoyte (BTH) in my local sportive, hope you enjoyed your stay dude We set off just after 10, I had been expecting a big turn out from club riders in the 7/8 clubs in the area but there was only 50 altogether! Perhaps the weather put people off, which is a pity as the course if is lovely with about 95% perfect surface, about 1,000m of climbing and nice fast sections too. So it was obvious from the very start myself and BTH would be doing most of the work. And so it was for the first 30k or so, the group were more than happy just to sit in behind us, but we were happy enough and within ourselves. One lad did shoot way up the road and wasn't seen until we got to the first of two food stops which was in his own town so maybe he wanted to be first there. Now and again lads would pass us but continue to shoot up the road, so we got nothing going. But as I said we were happy out chatting away spinning and reeling in those 'shooters'.
I had been dying to relieve myself from almost the off. I thought I'd be able to hold it until the stop but couldn't. Upon BTH advice I shot (tried to anyway) up the road trying to put some distance between me and the group. Aftera couple of minutes I looked back and thought ok thats grand, continued for another minute and got off...as soon as I did though the group shoot by! Damn it! So did what I had to and got into TT mode to reattach. After 5 min I got right up behind the ambulance and thought ok rest in here behind for a while and then try again to get to the group. Problem was the driver didn't know what to do and kept breaking, so I decided it wasn't safe and passed it and continued the chase. I was happy just to get to the back of the group and tag a ride all the way into Ballaghderreen, then I saw BTH was dropping back to pick me up and toe me in, thanks dude, nice of you. Even on his wheel though the HR was in the 160's, seemed pretty effortless to him and a lovely relaxed style he has too. So once we made contact we sat in all the way to the first stop. Plenty of sandwiches and tea/cooffee. Problem was it was a cold, wet day and soon enough we were freezing and wanted to get going again.
On the resumption I was chatting away to an old mate I hadn't seen in a while and didn't notice that two groups had gone up the road a few hundred meters. The fast group and led by BTH and the guy who TT'd to Ballagh, so I politely excused myself and went after them, here we go again. It was either that or go slower, chatting away all the way home-too cold andwet for that I thought. Made a big push and soon caught the first group and thought get in at the back and rest but there was a massive pull on and I had no resting time at all, it was difficult to stay in touch! Lads were flying out the back and finally after 15min it settled. There were now 7/8 of use and we actually got something going with everyone taking a turn. This helped as we were now into a headwind.
There was a section left that I knew all about, in the last 25k or so that was pretty hilly, most suffered here. Our next stop was in Ballymoe, my own village and I would have liked to lead into the village. About 2k outside though I got an almighty cramp and went backwards, almost out the back. I would have only we were on a bit of a climb. It hurt like hell but I just dug in, got out of the saddle and said to myself "just this last effort!"So I got back onto it and along with BTH lead into Ballymoe were there was a great spread of food! At least we were indoors for this.
We had only about 10k left after the 30min stop and again with my chatting I missed the off and had to work to get back to the lads. Once i did I got straight to the front with BTH. Now going along the main Roscommon road and me being the only local in the group of 6 I shouted "left, left", I was sure that was the way we were to go. Wrong! I tricked myself the most though and shot down the road about 100m. So once again it was catch up time. As I cuaght up I apologised to the lads for my F up
We were then on the home stretch and the last hill seemed one to many for most. BTH could have easily just pulled away into the finish but in fairness he waited...only to ask me what my sprint was like! I was like, "o god, really??" So it was. :cool: We both accelerated for the line, now hammers, calfs and quads cramping but I was loving it! Then the stupid lead van and motor bike stopped dead on the line! In those conditions, very dangerous and we both eased up before the line. Safe to say he had me.....this time anyway
Very enjoyable and well done to all involved. Anyone that likes their touring this is a great course and so well run for a first time event.
Time c.3hrs
Distance c.94km (
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Well here is the link to Friels blog post regarding it, this is the source from which I calculated the number I got. now I'm positive that you've read this already, but basically it's a measure of Aerobic endurance. As I previously said though it ain't fool proof, just an indication and those long runs should be over the same course.
Just a couple of points I found interesting:
"Making a significant improvement in aerobic endurance is very important and yet it is seldom measured. One of my coaching precepts is that which is measured is more likely to improve. But this is seldom done for aerobic endurance even though it may be the most important foundational ability. Most athletes believe that what they are doing in training is producing the desired results. It would be far better to measure progress rather than to accept progress on blind faith"
The way to measure the progress of aerobic endurance is by comparing output to input. Over the course of time in steady state workouts done below the anaerobic threshold, if output increases relative to input or input decreases relative to output then aerobic endurance is improving. So by comparing the two we can determine changes in aerobic endurance
Really for this to be a reliable indication of improvement you'd need a number of weeks of info and also compare it to decoupling. Perhaps another way would be to just do TT's, same course, same pace, same duration and therefore cover same distance and if their is a drop in HR it would indicate the same thing? Certainly would indicate that you are becoming more efficient anyway. I don't know but what I do know is I like anything with numbers
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Tues 10th April
Rest day rest days only feel good when you feel you deserve one, hence the smiley face.
Wed Morn 11th April
Stretching and rolling for 30min - great way to wake the body up pre session.
Swim Coach Prescribed
So this is the one and only swim session this week and as I mentioned last week, I'm glad. Feel I needed a break from the pool and I felt I'm not really improving much now and I have found in the past that a break can leave you refreshed and bring the motiavation back, thats what I need now for the final 8 weeks before Athy. So this morning, after WU:
2x 400p steady: 7:01, 7:00;
4x 200sw steady: 3:30, 3:31, 3:32, 3:29;
4x 100sw mod hard: 1:37, 1:37, 1:38, 1:39;
4x 50 fast: 42, 46, 47, 48.
So continuing with the trend of late, the fast 50's are slowing in time for sure. The 100, 200 and 400's actually felt good and efficient. No swimming now till next week, I hope I return refreshed and feel more pow full during my fast stuff. I'm sure times will improve as I build now and sessions become more race specific.
Time 1:10
DIST 3,000m
First green made in the SBR challenge I've made a significant move up the table in the last few weeks and despite the indifferent start to the year I've about 85% more swimming done already this year compared to this time last year and I've also caught up and passed out my biking km's from this time last year. The running is still a bit behind, but all going well I'll hit the 1,000mile mark again this year 0 -
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Finding it more and more difficult to keep the log up to date, would be binning it only that I have the summer coming up so it should be easier. Sorry guys I've lost touch with most logs because of this....I will catch up during the summer I hope.
Last Week
Weds Eve - Sun
A 60 min easy turbo and 2x 60min easy runs in a beautiful park in Amsterdam on beautiful mornings with lovely sunshine. This was recovery week, I missed rubn sessions on Thurs and Saturday and ate plenty of crap and some nice beer....including from the Heinekin brewery yum.
Mon Morn 16th April - 48 days to Tri Athy Sprint
Swim NAC LC Coach Prescribed
2x400
alt sw/p on 8: 7:00, 7:04
2x200 alt sw/p on 4: 3:30, 3:31
4x100 alt sw/p on 2: 1:38, 1:42, 1:43, 1:44,
4x50 alt sw/p on 1: 50, 52, 51, 51
4x50 fast on 60: 43, 45, 45, 47
For
the 400/200/100/50’s I was not under any pressure so I did them at an RPE of easy or 4 out of 10. For the fast 50’s I decided not go balls out on the first and therefore ruin the last 3, tried to keep them with 1 sec of each other but I still mis-paced the first.
Hoping
now in the next 7 weeks to see an improvement on swim times. I know that if I did a 400TT soon I’d be near my objective of 6:10, hopefully though by Athy it will be nearer 6. As I am now in a build phase and then a race specific phase I am assuming that I will have challenging swim sets ahead and therefore must turn up at every swim session with my race face on! Treating each session now as important as a race. That means my prep, WU+CD and nutrition.
Time 1:00; Dist 2,800m
Mon Eve
Run
Didn't have garmin so ran by feel on a known 45 min easy route. Felt a bit heavy after the long weekend in Amsterdam!
Time 45min; Dist 10k
Stretching/Rolling
Time 45min
Tues 17th April
Bike including 4x(10 threshold effort, 5)
Found it tough going today, I suppose I'm just still re adjusting after Amsterdam and all the crap. But I got it done. In the right zones for the threshold work: HR 153, 154, 155, 155. I'm still basing my LTHR on a 155 guess, it does feel right though. It's funny I found the last rep the easiest!
HR 124, SPEED 30km/h, CAD 88; TIME 1:20; DIST 40km
Weds Morn 18th April
Swim NAC LC Coach Prescribed
2x(400,300,200,100) as sw, p + 20s, sw and p steady:
Set 1: 7:00, 5:22, 3:35, 1:42
Set 2: 7:07, 5:32, 3:38, 1:46
4x50 fast on 60: 44, 48, 50, 49
I feel now that swimming is at a stand still. I feel I could hold a 1:40(ish)/100m pace forever (nice IM time too) but I've lost my gears. What I mean is I seem to be efficient at that pace but going any faster is a struggle. My fast 50's are now consistantly slower than before too. I feel I've lost the ability to push myself in the water. I am questioning myself now as I feel I have plateaued, my confidence is very low now and while swimming it affects my focus. I'm getting very sloppy I feel too. Now I haven't had a club swim in a while so maybe Fridays session will help, a 25m pool with others to push and someone watching my tech. Anyway, sorry for the rambling buts my mind feels a bit 'mushed' thinking about it.
TIME 1:10; DIST 3,000m
Weds Eve
Run/Massage Last of 3 sessions with Austin Mooney
Did 30 min run as usual. His comments - much more relaxed upper body and I seem to be stiking the ground much better with a straight right foot too. The massage was good and he commented that I was definitely not as knotted as before.
TIME 1:00; DIST 6km
Thurs Morn 19th April
Bike 1:15 easy
Early morning turbo, although very tempted to go out for this one as it was a nice morning but the bike wasn't prepared so hopping on the already set up turbo was better as time was an issue. Took a while to get the legs turning over and the HR up into desired zone.
HR 117(127-for 35min); SPEED 28.3km/h; WATT 196; CAD 85; TIME 1:15; DIST 35.3km
Last night I was thinking about why I am lacking in energy this week, the last week of my speed/big week I was full of energy and going deep into my muscles whenever I had to and loving it! I came to the conclusion that the recovery week I went way too easy by missing sessions and lent ended therefore I went mad eating all kinds of crap, therefore feeling like crap. This sort of sudden change in lifestlye - from healthy eating and training hard to a ****ty diet and taking it way too easy left me feeling like I was getting a cold again. So I was in bed by 9 and slept right through to 6 and felt much better this morning. Body still not willing to be pushed too much hence low overall HR but I did feel stronger. Also LENT II has started. Less than 7 weeks to Athy so I need to eat like a champ, think like a champ and train like a champ! No more negative thoughts even in the pool, just do what I am told and push a bit more on steady, mod hard and fast bits. I am now treating Athy and 6 days later Crokked Lake as the most important races I have ever done.
Yes, Crooked Lake....it's on again, e mailed them and they put me on a list, I was one of the first! So I am delighted about that.0
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