Me Against The World...

BTH

So, bailed on a turbo session on thursday night after 10min. Couldnt turn the pedals. Was dozing off 10min later which explains why. Shattered from no sleep. Same story on Thursday night, so into chiropodist on Friday morning. Not an ingrown nail, just an infection, either picked up in the pool or in the mud ponds in Howth. Drained and patched up it felt much better, but stay out of the pool for a couple of days. So I did nothing on Friday either. Two swims a bike and a run missed. Could be worse

Saturday
Got out for a three hour bike. Headed for flat land in Kildare. Accidentally found myself going up this ridiculous hill. So much for flat.... Nothing fancy, just ride by feel.;)

Sunday
Easy hour run. 4:50 pace, massive head wind for the first half, along the canal so fairly open too.

BTH

Relegated to Page 2

Monday
Club swim with a main set of descending 200s off 3:20, over and over again!! Hitting 3:00-02 for the faster ones, 3:10ish for the slower ones. 2650 total session.

Tuesday
As this is something of a recovery week I had an easy 30min turbo and easy 20min run off. 4:48 pace for the run, although its probably over-easy pace I'm running these days.

Wednesday
Still no pool clock, so I had a set of 5*(50hard off 1min, 400 off 7min) using the 310xt on the poolside to roughly time these. Swam crap with the 400s down around 6:30 pace. rubbish. Only 2450m done

Evening easy run, 45min @ 4:50 pace.

Thursday
Bought a cheapo watch in argos on Wednesday and with the pool quiet on a Thursday morning it was a perfect time to get my TTs done. 400wu, 4*25 hard, 4*50 hard with some active recovery, then into the 400. Went out hardish, but holding just a little back in reserve as I knew I'd need it. No idea of my splits but I worked are throughout and was wrecked by the end. 6sec PB of 5:47, compared to mid November. 4 easy 100s and about 15min later (lots of standing around catching my breath while my legs shook!!) I got stuck into the 200tt. Out much harder in this, but only managed to match my 2:49 from the last time. A little disappointed to see no improvement, but I have been struggling with the top end efforts lately, thrashing at the water rather than working with it, and I did a little of that during the 200.

So, it would appear that my top end speed hasn't improved at all this last 2 months, but my stamina in the water has jumped massively. I said in November that I believe there is a 5:40 in there somewhere but while the 400 improvement is encouraging the 200 time wouldn't point to it happening anytime soon.

Evening easy turbo 60min with 6*15sec max efforts 3min recoveries.

And thats January.....

Kurt Godel

Nice work on that 400 pb! So bloody jealous:D

Just want to ask you about form during the 400 and 200TT's. You seemed disciplined for the 400, pacing it well, and got a big result- maybe better pacing might have helped the 200? Did form go to pot during the 200m? What do you usually do when you're mid-set and know you're thrashing in the water?

Lots of questions! (eager beaver:))

BTH

January Summary

Swim Total: O/N/D/J 27.125/42.425/43.425/44.2
Some very good consistency this last 3 months in the pool, and very good improvement as a result. I think I missed 3 swims in January, two last week with the toe issue and one at the start when I had a little throat problem. Fairly happen with where my swimming is, but I need to stop thrashing the max efforts.

Bike Total: 659.5/1045.36/1003.02/837.35
Bike totals down a little this month, as a result of getting back running. Biking is going well, and a three hour plus spin on my own is fairly comfortable, even averaging 30kmph. Still haven't missed a weekend long spin since September (touch wood), but I did drop one turbo session this month. Again, fairly happen where my biking is. Now I need to spend some time in the hills.

Run Total: 0/17.70/102.54/171.27
I would say the knee is 95% there now, and certainly not holding me back. The odd time I can feel a tiny little something there, but certainly no pain or anything that I would be concerned about. All very easy (almost recovery effort) running thus far, but my running was taking the same route last year before picking up quickly. And the 18:18 5km on new years day shows that theres still a bit of speed there that should be easy to build on fairly quickly. 12 months ago I was running 5:00 pace easy @143 HR or thereabouts, this year its 4:50 for 137 HR. So, its exciting to see where I go based on that and what kind of improvements we'll see.

BTH

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Nice work on that 400 pb! So bloody jealous:D

Just want to ask you about form during the 400 and 200TT's. You seemed disciplined for the 400, pacing it well, and got a big result- maybe better pacing might have helped the 200? Did form go to pot during the 200m? What do you usually do when you're mid-set and know you're thrashing in the water?

Lots of questions! (eager beaver:))

Cheers KG. I knew going in that I'd PB, just a matter of how much.

Interested as been on to my recently about my kick, and kicking faster (not harder :rolleyes:) during the max efforts. I think its a case of trying to move my arms faster to keep my with my legs (although Interested will probably say I'm not actually kicking much faster anyway ) and as a result I'm not finishing my stroke fully (this is certainly the case). He has also mentioned that during these max efforts I'm swinging my arms too much. I also tend to take on a lot of water during this as I'm creating such a splash during the recovery phase just as I breath that all I'm breathing in is a wall of water. What do I do in this case? Try and splash less so I can breath! What should I do? Possibly, slow down the arms a little and keep the kick up, but slowing down the arms sounds contrary to going faster, and difficult to co-ordinate with a faster kick. Why do my arms struggle to keep up? Maybe its down to the school-girl-esque shoulders, maybe its a limiter enforced by my less than perfect stroke, or maybe, as JB puts it, I'm just soft...

To be honest, I reckon I paced both fairly well (certainly no negative splits though), but obviously difficult to know. I don't think form dropped too much on the 200, and I've a lot of hard work in the bank this last 3 months to be able to push hard for 8 lengths. Very difficult to know without accurate splits or someone watching from the poolside thought.

BTH

Also, KG, I had to laugh at you and Abhainns comments about last nights swim session. We've done that session a couple of times, and then there was the night Mark tried to kill us, when he announced 5*(4*50 on 50 2*100 on 1:30). Needless to say we failed miserably! I'll never forget that night

Kurt Godel

BTH wrote: »

Also, KG, I had to laugh at you and Abhainns comments about last nights swim session. We've done that session a couple of times, and then there was the night Mark tried to kill us, when he announced 5*(4*50 on 50 2*100 on 1:30). Needless to say we failed miserably! I'll never forget that night

100's off 1:30 in that set!:eek: Sounds like a night to remember all right:D

What stays with me from last night's pain is how relative time can be. Waiting for the clock red to hit top, thinking "five whole pain-free seconds, bliss", and even savouring that moment with two seconds to go... what's a couple of seconds as I sit here at my desk, eh?

BTH

Kurt Godel wrote: »

100's off 1:30 in that set!:eek: Sounds like a night to remember all right:D

What stays with me from last night's pain is how relative time can be. Waiting for the clock red to hit top, thinking "five whole pain-free seconds, bliss", and even savouring that moment with two seconds to go... what's a couple of seconds as I sit here at my desk, eh?

Those two seconds can be delicious alright.

I think I missed the 1:30 time on all but 3 100s. Spectacular failure!

interested

Specificity in the pool and 200's and 400 swimming


A 200 fs is considered a sprint distance.
A 400 fs for swimmers is considered middle .. but sometimes these days by some elites its almost considered a sprint.

But triathlon swimming is different.
Having a good 400 time, with consistent or flat 100 splits is the objective imho. Having a great 750 time in the sea .. or 1500 or 1900 or 3800 is the only objective - as fun as the idea of a 400 progress bar thread is.

The sessions BTH has been 'thoroughly enjoying' are part of a 20 week plan - not that he's aware of this .. so schuuush ... overloading, unloading but specifically focusing in on 750 and 1500 swims. Not 200's. Swimming super fast 100's and 200's right now would indicate he's either a) got very soft 100 and 200 times or b) Im not overloading him.

Im pretty sure its not b) BTH ? contradicting opinion most welcome

Tracking progress is good, but dont go sacrificing doing key blocks of work at a critical time of the year in the pool for p!ssing contents online ... harsh .. but it won't / shouldn't be an excuse to your coach that you were too tired at the end of a week to make a set of 100s because you burnt your matches trying to get one up the league on boards.ie


But ... please ... continue
20 min tt tonight Eugene .... kick ....

BTH

Relegated to page two, again :rolleyes:

interested wrote: »

Tracking progress is good, but dont go sacrificing doing key blocks of work at a critical time of the year in the pool for p!ssing contents online ... harsh .. but it won't / shouldn't be an excuse to your coach that you were too tired at the end of a week to make a set of 100s because you burnt your matches trying to get one up the league on boards.ie

Surely this it the whole point of boards

Friday 1Feb
8km run at lunch time, spent pissing about :rolleyes: running a super easy 4:48/km 138hr 90 Cadence

Evening group swim. A sexy 20*50 alternating kick and swim WU, with a super fun main set of 4*(3*100 on 1:40, 200 on 3:15). Solid steady swimming, and a couple of weird stroke issues which here highlights when I got tired.

Saturday 2Feb
Glorious day, no wind for the first time in what feels like months, and blue skys, I spent the day inside staring out while we completed our mandatory pre-marriage course. Painful stuff. Managed to get squeeze in 10k pissing about at 4:42 pace afterwards. Really nice to run without a gale helping or hindering you. 135hr 90Cadence

Sunday 3Feb
Joined the club bike spin for the first time in months as Interested introduced us to red lane down by the sugar loaf. Nasty little climb. The spin was very stop start so myself and another guy turned for Glencree on the way back where we fought a wall of wind before reaching the Featherbeds where we were getting hammered by the wind from the side, and had about 100m of visibility. Enough to wake us up anyway. 85km covered

Monday
30min lunchtime jog with 5 short stride efforts. 4:44 pace in total 136hr 89cadence.

Evening club swim. 400wu and 16*25 kick before a day full of drills. Much easier session than usual. Finished with 2*100 max on 2:30 just "for the craic" :rolleyes: apparently I hit 1:17 on the first one and 1:19 on the second. The last 15/20m of the second effort I was cooked and coasting home. Attacked the start of each like it was a 50 all out.

Tuesday
An hour on the turbo, 6*30sec fast 1:30 recovery into 4*3min hard 2min recovery. Happy enough with the efforts here.

Wednesday
Early swim, pool clock fixed, but as I had 2*1000 to do I figured I'd bring my watch to be sure. Had 15m surges every 4th length, mid length, so that made counting the lengths that bit easier. 16:20 and 16:10 for the 1000ks, Sped up as I woke up. Followed up with 16*25 kick and 7*100 band and buoy. 3650m in total

And hour jog in the evening with another set of strides. Took on a hillier route for this, but still averaged a very low HR, think it was 135 for 4:4x pace (havent uploaded yet). 12.7km covered in the hour anyway.

Thursday
Another early swim, I did the group session plan from two weeks ago when I missed it due to my toe. 15*50 kick left the legs toasted, 2*400 & 4*200 on 6:30,3:15. First 400 was too slow, so I picked up the efforts after that and hit 3:04 for all the 200s. 5*100 band and buoy to finish. 3400m.

BTH

Friday

Lunchtime 40min run, which was rubbish. Never felt comfortable and couldn't settle into a rhythm. Running :rolleyes:

Evening group swim, with 600wu, 400,200,100 on 6:30,3:15 and 1:35, a few drills and then 4*100 on 2:30, descending. scraped under 1:20 for the last one. Nice

Saturday

Met up with a couple of clubmates for a trek around Wicklow. First time across the Sally Gap was quite miserable, heavy fog up there. The day cleared up after that and come cracking climbing done in great weather. 110k for the day and 1700m of climbing according to garmin connect.

Sunday

Run through puddles in the park. 30min easy followed by 30min steady. 30min Easy felt awkward again, like on Friday, and I never settled, leaving me worried about the steady effort. Pace was 4:45-5:00 depending on the wind direction. Steady pace was 4:00-4:20, again depending on the wind which seemed to be picking up. 14km done.

BTH

Ok, so its been a few weeks

Not going to fill in the gaps, but suffice to say I'm still ticking along. Monthly summary as I won't be training again today....

Swim
Total 27.125/42.425/43.425/44.200/38.150 Monthly since October.
Swim volume down this month as after the first week I was down to swimming 3 times a week instead of four. Hope to get this back up to 4 in March until OW can start, provided its not going to impact on other training. Despite the lower work load some top quality sessions this month like 7*400 on 6:30 or 3*[4*50 on 45, 2*200 on 3:05] :eek: or 4*[4*100 on 1:35] 4*100 on 1:30 :cool:. Lots of ouch this month, and swimming is still going well. If I can get a fourth swim in weekly in March I should be able to consolidate those gains, and maybe build a little more on where I am. Total distance is greater than all but one month from last season anyway

Bike
Total 659.5/1045.36/1003.02/837.35/665.14
Again, much lower total than previous months as I was down to one turbo session a week. Being back running means I'm only getting one long cycle in each weekend as well. One particularly hard turbo, and consistent weekend long spins, including one 4.5hour jaunt in the mountains and another solo 110km last weekend, so a decent months work nonetheless. I'll be hitting close to half that February total this weekend alone on the club trip, so that gives March a bit of a head start!

Run
Total 0/17.70/102.54/171.27/167.75
Running, as always, is very hit and miss. Some days I'm trotting along at 4:45 pace for zero effort, others I'm feeling awkward, sluggish and struggling along at 5:00+ for what HR tells me is a similar effort, but feels a lot harder. On a more positive note, I've progressed beyond easy jogging this last two weeks, even breaking out into a run at time :rolleyes:. The last two weekends have seen me re-introduced to my coaches patented long run of wu, hill sprints, 30min easy, 30min steady, cd :eek:. While the prescribed easy and steady efforts are lower than last years, the corresponding paces are generally faster which bodes well. Another month of those will see me in good shape. Except for an easier week of three runs, I've been consistent with 4 runs a week this month which also helps. Planning to run the Paddys weekend 5k in the city, looking for a PB. I'm calling my pb at 17:50 at the moment, and I'll be hoping for 17:30 at least.

I've just realised, I've run in 8 :eek: different pairs of shoes this year so far. I don't have a problem ....... Hi Sean


No other plans to race just yet. I don't feel my run is up to scratch just yet to be taking on any of the duathlons, so I'll probably not multisport until Rosses Point. The club are looking at running our own internal duathlon in late March so at least I'll have that to shake any rustiness before the big showdown in Sligo :cool:

BTH

Friday March 1st

160km cycle to Carlow for the 2013 annual club trip. Cracking day out, and a lovely spin down taking in the Sally Gap, Luggula, part of the Beast bike course (but backwards), Wicklow Gap, and when can only be described as a wall 15km south of Carlow.

Recovery session that evening of 6/7/8 (I'm really not sure) pints of the black stuff.

Saturday
Early run session with progressive 800m on the track, up to 3:30/km pace, then a 600m max effort, in on 1:45 despite the pints and late night.

Afternoon "swim", massive session of 7/800m. Tired and heavy, and no great surprise.

Sunday

165km, Slieve Maan, Shay Elliott, Wicklow Gap, Blessington Lakes, Sally Gap, home. Just under 6.5 hours. Complete Zombie today. I have to go up stairs shortly. Not looking forward to that......

interested

BTH wrote: »

Sunday

165km, Slieve Maan, Shay Elliott, Wicklow Gap, Blessington Lakes, Sally Gap, home. Just under 6.5 hours. Complete Zombie today. I have to go up stairs shortly. Not looking forward to that......

Nice weekend Champ, but the list of climbs on the way home ... really only one there that stands out

BTH

interested wrote: »

Nice weekend Champ, but the list of climbs on the way home ... really only one there that stands out

Only someone who took the easy route home from Laragh would feel that way!

Fazz

Surprised I didn't bump into you.
5 of us on a loop yesterday taking in similar routes.
You must have been off ahead in the distance!

Nice biking! And there was me happy with my 5hr yesterday.

BTH

100 days........... :eek:

RacoonQueen

BTH wrote: »

100 days........... :eek:

Plenty of time for the poor lass to come to her senses

BTH

So, following the epic cycles, and a recovery swim on the Monday evening, I ended up sick for a while and did nothing for 5 days. Yep, 5 days and zero training. Anyway last Sunday I hopped on the turbo for an easy 2 hours and in the evening I got out for a jog to see if the legs still worked. They worked but not much more beyond that.

Swimming this week started slowly, bailing on the Monday session as I blew up leading out a slower lane than my usual one. Three more swims later and things are improving, feel coming back and getting back to how it felt a couple of week ago.

One 90 min turbo was my biking for the week, with 3*20min steady efforts. Recently signed up for trainerroad thanks to Duffyshuffle and Couerdelions help, and it tells me I was holding 300watts for those efforts. Is that any good? Obviously some reservations about the accuracy of this figure.

Running this week was crap. Just two lunchtime 40min runs, and both felt like crap. Awkward, sluggish, no zip, bounce or flow to my running. Not great prep for the 5k race this weekend, but sure we’ll give it a lash anyway………

BTH

Myself and Michelle headed over to the mansion house this morning for the Paddys weekend 5k. On the back of only 3months easy jogging, including only 2 moderately hard long runs, and one “speed” session, and being sick last week, I certainly wasn’t going into this in tip top shape. But the plan was to go hard as I know my pb of 17:50 was a little soft and a definite target. Bumped into Meno on the way in to register, and Macanri and the spectating El Director inside. We had jogged over from Michelles office where we parked, so I didn’t head out for a warm up until about 40min to go. Tried a few strong efforts during this to see how going fast would feel, and I wasn’t filled with confidence. Looking now it seems I was doing these at 3:00 pace or below so that might be why!

Anyway, lined up on the startline a couple of rows back, but over to the side so I could avoid getting boxed in early on. Started out hard enough and realised quickly enough that this certainly wasn’t sustainable. About 400m in and I’m already in pain and struggling with my breath. I ignored the watch the whole way through, and I’m glad I did as if I’d seen my first km go by in 3:11 I’d have probably eased off a good bit more than I naturally did anyway. At about 2km Officer DigDig was on photography duty on the corner onto the canal and I managed a shout out to him. I ran mostly on my own, with the odd person around, but like a proper 10m pace line from where I was anyway!!

After the initial madness I settled into a more sustainable pace, but by 3.5k my lack of miles, and recent illness were starting to tell. Middle of the race kms went by in 3:23,3:26,3:24. I was really struggling at this stage and just focused on not completely dying a death. It certainly felt like I faded much more than I did. I was conscious of trying to lift in the last kilo but I had nothing to offer. There was a guy just ahead but I could make any inroads. I heard a few shouts in my direction during the last km but I wasn’t sure who they were cheering and I couldn’t see anything other than the tarmac 5m in front of me! Km5 was a 3:27, but the last 120m I somehow managed to run 3:12 pace. Thank god for the downhill finish! Even with this I lost a position along here!

Crossed the line in 17:15 for a massive PB and I’m very happy with that for the amount of running I’ve actually done recently. Bumped into a few other boardsies after as well. Macanri surpassed his expectations, Meno was moaning as usual, Krusty was flying about as was Thirstywork, and Krustys log leads me to believe it was the family Stew I met as well. Cracking day out, atmosphere about the race was fantastic, despite the hailstones!

joey100

I've been using trainer road too for the last few months. Bit like yourself I'm not sure it's giving an accurate reading of the power I'm putting out but because the sessions are adjusted to what they measure you putting out it doesn't matter too much. I've found it really good, breaks up the boredom of the turbo, definitely one of the best 7 euros I spend a month!

littlemsfickle

Wow, impressive running for someone who hasn't been doing much...beginning to doubt the veracity of your training log:rolleyes:

BTH

littlemsfickle wrote: »

Wow, impressive running for someone who hasn't been doing much...beginning to doubt the veracity of your training log:rolleyes:

Two responses to this.

1. I'm 6'1 and 71kg. Someone with my body shape should have been running times like this, and better, a long time ago.

2. This is proof that you don't need to be running hard twice a week to see massive improvements.

Were I to run a 5k in May, and presuming (touch wood) I'm injury and illness free between now and then, I believe I would definitely break 17.

BTH

The one problem with never running hard in training, and not racing for almost 7 months, is the DOMS. Oh my god the DOMS. Easy joggin doesn't prepare the muscles for that. It may have only been a 5k, but I've been hobbling ever since, and I've tried a few things, a couple of swims, an easy leg loosener of a jog (its actually easier to jog than walk), and I hopped up on the turbo for an easy hour spinning after the race too. None of it has worked. My right calf is particularly bad. Hopefully thats the initial shock to the system done with for this year....

Dory Dory

BTH wrote: »

The one problem with never running hard in training, and not racing for almost 7 months, is the DOMS. Oh my god the DOMS. Easy joggin doesn't prepare the muscles for that. It may have only been a 5k, but I've been hobbling ever since, and I've tried a few things, a couple of swims, an easy leg loosener of a jog (its actually easier to jog than walk), and I hopped up on the turbo for an easy hour spinning after the race too. None of it has worked. My right calf is particularly bad. Hopefully thats the initial shock to the system done with for this year....

Aw jeez...I'm going to have to start calling you Barbie if you're complaining about DOMS after a measly 5k. Do I need to send my pink barbells back too?

shotgunmcos

Nice running! Jealous.com :cool:

RacoonQueen

BTH wrote: »

The one problem with never running hard in training, and not racing for almost 7 months, is the DOMS. Oh my god the DOMS. Easy joggin doesn't prepare the muscles for that. It may have only been a 5k, but I've been hobbling ever since, and I've tried a few things, a couple of swims, an easy leg loosener of a jog (its actually easier to jog than walk), and I hopped up on the turbo for an easy hour spinning after the race too. None of it has worked. My right calf is particularly bad. Hopefully thats the initial shock to the system done with for this year....

Some of us raced on Monday and did a 400m tt on Tuesday. Toughen up Princess.

kingQuez

BTH wrote: »

The one problem with never running hard in training, and not racing for almost 7 months, is the DOMS. Oh my god the DOMS.

That's me! I normally dont run too hard in training, but have been known to cripple myself in a race because it feels good at the time

BTH

Dory Dory wrote: »

Aw jeez...I'm going to have to start calling you Barbie if you're complaining about DOMS after a measly 5k. Do I need to send my pink barbells back too?

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Some of us raced on Monday and did a 400m tt on Tuesday. Toughen up Princess.

I know ladies (sorry, Lady and Dirty Leeds fan..... ), I'm an absolute disgrace.



So, training, yeah, not so good. Following my illness 2/3 weeks ago my mojo has been non existent. Swimming has felt like crap. Awkward, sluggish, tired, arms feel completely weak and useless. Nothing feels natural in the pool and I feel I've no rhythm to my stroke anymore. I've actually swam 8 times for 22km in the last 14 days but it feels crap and anytime I try to maintain some decent level of effort I crack. I'm also suffering in this weather a little with a blocked nose and I can feel my throat is beginning to close up a little too. Feeling very lethargic in general and seriously considering giving swimming a miss this evening. But I'm going to be away with work on Wednesday and Thursday which will mean no swimming, but also a deterioration of my throat from the disease riddled plane. Not ideal coming into the long weekend..

Biking has been dodgy too. I haven't had a proper long spin since the weekend away, with 120min & 90min & 2*60min turbos all but one of which were easier than easy, a foolish 40k in the snow on Paddys day (which obviously hasn't help my current health), and a particularly short club duathlon yesterday. Again, I struggle a little to maintain any decent level of effort on the bike, although it is much better than my swimming at the moment.

Despite running a 5k PB, running is also fairly sluggish, with my usual easier than easy effort coming in much slower than normal, and really struggling on some of my recent runs.


Usual March dip in form I guess. Race season is still two months away for me, with my first race on 25 May, and another 7 weeks after than before my second race, so I've plenty of time to turn this around.
Fear 1 is that I fall too far behind the rest of my swim lane bumping me back down a lane to lead out rather than chasing fish much faster than I. The positive is that there'll be no club swim next week with the bank holiday so I'd hope to be able to work hard again in two weeks. However,......
Fear 2 is that I come back from Brussels with a full blown throat infection which rules me out for another 10days. This time last year I had just run a massive 10k pb and ended up sick 2 weeks later and I don't feel my running ever got back to that level last year. I don't want a repeat of that. My current tiredness is also affecting my diet as I've become very very lazy about food too. Clearly that doesn't help.
Fear 3 is that I keep ticking along easy easy for another couple of weeks and then come back sick from my stag weekend and loose 10days anyway :rolleyes:

Do I need complete rest, or should keep getting out and keep the effort way down? Is the weather making it worse?? At least I'm not wasting some great cycling weather

BTH

So, I didn't go swimming last night. I didn't do anything yesterday. And its a good job too as my throat is quite dry/raw this morning and it would have been 10 times worse had I gone swimming and, as usual, swallowed about 3 litres of pool water.

Throat will need to be managed this week, particularly with flights to take, so swimming is out until the weekend, and running in that weather probably aint the best idea either. So I'll probably hop up on the turbo this evening for an hour.