Me Against The World...

pgibbo

Cumulative fatigue perhaps? You've been doing a lot of hill work on the bike. Maybe the legs are just tired from the bike work?

Do you use a foam roller often or recovery tights?

BTH

pgibbo wrote: »

Cumulative fatigue perhaps? You've been doing a lot of hill work on the bike. Maybe the legs are just tired from the bike work?

Do you use a foam roller often or recovery tights?

Foam Roller - No
Recovery Tights - No

I do try to get an hours yoga in each week so I feel that gives me a good all over stretch without resorting to sitting on a rolling pin, or wearing tights while watching TV!

If I think about it its probably a number things. Sleep is still ocassionally restless as I described last week, resulting in two unplanned rest days last Thu & Fri. I also think the hill running in Howth on Saturday has left its mark, more so than the biking has. My legs were definitely sore on Monday and Tuesday after the Saturday Sunday combination, much more than last week. And that's despite some decent static stretching Monday and Tuesday evening and an hour of yoga on Tuesday morning.

So hopefully after some recovery black stuff tomorrow eve and no cliff running this weekend I should be back to some measure of normality. It'll also be a slightly easier day on the bike this week, as north Longford just can't compete with Wicklow for the climbing!

Dory Dory

Seems like several of the athletes round these parts are in a bit of a dip. Training can be cyclical - we tear ourselves down to build ourselves up. Perhaps you're just in "that" part of the cycle. But do take care that you're not getting sick either.

BTH

Dory Dory wrote: »

Seems like several of the athletes round these parts are in a bit of a dip. Training can be cyclical - we tear ourselves down to build ourselves up. Perhaps you're just in "that" part of the cycle. But do take care that you're not getting sick either.

Thanks Dory. I'm always very conscious of getting sick, as I seem to have a blocked/runny nose for 9-10 month of the year every year. Even before taking up tri that was the case, but 3/4 hours a week in chlorine makes it much worse. A lot of illness floating around the office so doing what I can to fight that too, although so far it seems to be confined to one room in the building. Fingers crossed on that front.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

When was your last recovery week? I assume you are operating in 3 week blocks and then a recovery week with your coach?

BTH

Margaret Important Cupcake wrote: »

When was your last recovery week? I assume you are operating in 3 week blocks and then a recovery week with your coach?

Yeah there are recovery weeks alright. The last recovery week was only two weeks ago. Unfortunately I didnt feel very recovered at the end of it as I seemed to be rushing to meetings all week. The easy week was also the week I got really pissed off about the ropes in the pool, so while training load was down, stress levels were up.

I suppose when its all added up it shouldnt be that much of a surprise that somethings not going right at the moment.

I am really looking forward to some pints........

BTH

Thursday Evening
Club Swim
Long WU, then 6*50 kick
Mainset 5*[4*50m hard on 1:15] extra 60sec between sets, times were
42,42,42,42
40,42,41,41
41,41,41,41
41,42,42,42
41,42,41,40

A short set distance wise, but 1km of sprinting so tough going. Knew I had to hold back a little early on to be able to maintain pace throughout. Very happy with the consistency.

Friday Morning
Turbo, 60min in Z1 with 6*10sec max sprints, 2*5min @70rpm & 2*5min @110 rpm. Got the TT bike out for the first time since Kenmare for this. Think I'll be upgrading that saddle too...

BTH

Friday Eve
Dad's retirement, and with Racoon Queens log being filled with cakes these days I though I'd share this masterpiece.



Thats all edible except for the crest on the hat, and a piece of cardboard to keep the hat shape. Some amount of sugar!

Saturday
Saturdays run started a little later than usual due to the Friday night festivities. WU to include strides then 40min @140-150 HR & 40min @ 150-160

First 40min avg 4:38 pace for 147HR 90Cad
Second 40min 4:18 pace 156HR 89Cad
Totaled 23.5km in 108min.

Happy with this. Maintained in an around marathon pace on a hilly route for mid 150s HR and after already covering 10k. Promising...

Sunday
Hilly spin in Longford. Is that laughter I hear? Sure longford has no hills. Well I managed 1141m elevation gain in 92km. Not bad considering I never went higher than 216m. Another tough days climbing.

No bike spin this coming weekend as myself and herself are away for the weekend. Then two 100km+ spins the following weekend. Both in Wicklow. Sounds like pain...

BTH

Monday Lunch
Easy run capped at 135HR to try and loosen out after the weekend. Just 6.5k in a little over 32min. 4:55 pace for 132 HR & 91 Cad

Monday Eve
Club swim,
650m wu of drills,

4*100 on 2:00 descending Hard. In on 1:30,29,27,22
100 easy
4*100 on 2:00 descending Hard. In on 1:32,30,29,22
100easy
3*200 on 3:30 descending. In on 3:13, 3:10, 2:51.
100cd

So a 4 second PB for 100m which I then matched 10min later and I knocked 18sec off my 200m pb so very happy with that. Drifted off a little in the middle of the second 4*100 so not as happy there (although if I can swim a 1:29 100 when I've drifted off then I don't have much to complain about). I was a little worried when I saw the first 100 come in on 1:30, thinking how am I going to descend from here, so I surprised myself a bit after that.

shotgunmcos

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

4*100 on 2:00 descending Hard. In on 1:30,29,27,22
100 easy
4*100 on 2:00 descending Hard. In on 1:32,30,29,22
100easy
3*200 on 3:30 descending. In on 3:13, 3:10, 2:51.
100cd
.

Thats some great swimming BTH, well done on the PBs! Pity I'll miss the showdown with you and Fazz at Joey...

BTH

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Thats some great swimming BTH, well done on the PBs! Pity I'll miss the showdown with you and Fazz at Joey...

Cheers MCOS, happy with that alright.

Joey will be interesting alright. I know one man who will be paying close attention to a lot of swim splits.

BTH

Tuesday Lunch
Easy run with some strides. 46min 9.5k. Met some crazy old guy out running with no top on but massive winter gloves. Facebook friends tell me this guy is a legend. Looks a little like popeye!

BTH

God, nothing logged here since Tuesday.

Tuesday Eve
Groundhog day on the turbo. Feels like I've done this session 100 times. 3 20min blocks in Z3. Watched Chelsea match during this. Neither was overly enjoyable (the match only got good after my session ended)

Wednesday Morn
Another bad nights sleep meant that the alarm was dismissed fairly easily and missed my swim

Wednesday Eve
60min run with 4 repeats of 4min Z3,3minZ2,1min recovery. Much better than last weeks effort, but not completely happy with pace.

Thursday Eve
Club swim session, ditched after 30min. Felt incredibly sluggish, awkward, sore, {enter more excuses here...} Pissed off with myself for basically missing two swims this week.

Friday
Checked the resting HR Fri morning to make sure all was ok. No issues there (44). Anyway, decided after Thursdays swim to ditch the turbo session planned for Fri AM. Half day at work and away down the country for the weekend with herself.

Saturday
After a day of tourist nonsense, I headed for the local pool for a 3k swim, to make up for earlier in the week. Actually felt reasonably enough, hitting 1:38 per 100 without much effort.

Sunday Morn
Early start to get a long run in before they stopped serving breakfast in the hotel. Did my wu & strides then hit the mountains for my first 40min block. Got a little lost, so when I did get back down I decided to do the second block on the flat in case I got completely lost! This went well with 4:11 pace held for avg hr of 157. After the gravelly trails I'd spent most of the previous hour on I was very happy with this.

Sunday Eve
With no long spin and ditching the turbo on Friday, I hopped up for an hour on sunday eve when we got back. Easy hour with some sprints. Legs felt heavy for the sprints which was to be expected after the long run earlier.

Monday Lunch
Easy 30min run to try and loosen out. It hasnt really worked and my calves are very very tight.

Fazz

Sounded like you needed a recovery turbo with no sprints after the solid run Sunday morning. No wonder calves are saying no more!

Saying that, mine were sore last week too till I got a massage and didn't even realise how tight the rest of leg muscles were.
Can't beat maintenance massage... The hard part is getting it done at the right time before something is tweaked.

Glad the swim went well after the ditched thursday one.
Back into it Eugene, think of 9 weeks time...
Think of Bambaata coming back with another big update in SBR

Any runs or duathlons planned to mix it up a bit?
May help the mental side.

BTH

Fazz wrote: »

Sounded like you needed a recovery turbo with no sprints after the solid run Sunday morning. No wonder calves are saying no more!

Saying that, mine were sore last week too till I got a massage and didn't even realise how tight the rest of leg muscles were.
Can't beat maintenance massage... The hard part is getting it done at the right time before something is tweaked.

Glad the swim went well after the ditched thursday one.
Back into it Eugene, think of 9 weeks time...
Think of Bambaata coming back with another big update in SBR

Any runs or duathlons planned to mix it up a bit?
May help the mental side.

Cheers Fazz,

I don't actually go for any massage or rolling or anything like that and I'm beginning to wonder if thats part of the problem. I certainly feel tighter all over than I think I ever have done before, and wondering if its this stiffness (behave...) thats keeping me awake. Certainly my left hip, my legs, glutes and back can feel the amount of work they've been through recently. Club training weekend next weekend which will include a rub down on Friday (and also two 5hrs+ bike spins ), so that might help, but it might be time to start getting a regular beating (which seems to be what goes on at these things).

9 weeks!:eek: I have another 3 races before that. A 10k (guaranteed pb, hoping to knock 4mins off it), the last Naas Duathlon, and the week before Joey I'm up in Burnfoot for the Dua National Champs (a good excuse for underperforming at Joey!)

Fazz

Madness not to be having more maintenance in my opinion
Even foam roll at least would help.

A training weekend with 2 x 5hr bikes??
I hope for your legs sake there's no hard running in there as well!
SBR won't know what's hit it eh!

I've 1 x 5hr myself this weekend, and 1 hard run the day before.
Here's hoping for a repeat in the weather!

BTH

Fazz wrote: »

Madness not to be having more maintenance in my opinion
Even foam roll at least would help.

A training weekend with 2 x 5hr bikes??
I hope for your legs sake there's no hard running in there as well!
SBR won't know what's hit it eh!

I've 1 x 5hr myself this weekend, and 1 hard run the day before.
Here's hoping for a repeat in the weather!

Anywhere in particular you, or anyone else, would recommend for maintenance. I see my gym (Trinity) have a couple of people who do sport massages, or I know a clubmate who would use sportsmed on Kildare st. Seems to be a good few places around the D2 area where I work which would be handy. Did a good stretch before swimmin last night and I was still stiff and sore, particularly the middle of my back, just below my shoulder blades.


Its looking like 150k on Friday with 1500m of climbing and 110 on Sunday with a mere 1400m of hills. Easy running and a splash in the pool on Saturday, nothing too strenuous. Good weather for the lot would be great alright, especially after the weekend we had last year.

interested

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Good weather for the lot would be great alright, especially after the weekend we had last year.

Im still scarred. Awful, awful, awful.

Fazz

I highly recommend Ciaran Fitzpatrick in Ballinteer beside Dundrum.

Knows his stuff having a big running background himself, works evenings as Saturdays and is €60 for proper massage usually 60-75mins.

I'll mail you his number now.
Best part for me was the hours as its only really evenings that suit me usually.

BTH

interested wrote: »

Im still scarred. Awful, awful, awful.

They were hard earned pints that evening alright.

Fazz wrote: »

I highly recommend Ciaran Fitzpatrick in Ballinteer beside Dundrum.

Knows his stuff having a big running background himself, works evenings as Saturdays and is €60 for proper massage usually 60-75mins.

I'll mail you his number now.
Best part for me was the hours as its only really evenings that suit me usually.

Cheers, although living on da nar siode Ballinteer is a bloody long trek for a rub down. Somewhere in the city would suit me better as I could pop in at lunch or after work. Would be much handier.

Bambaata

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Anywhere in particular you, or anyone else, would recommend for maintenance. I see my gym (Trinity) have a couple of people who do sport massages, or I know a clubmate who would use sportsmed on Kildare st. Seems to be a good few places around the D2 area where I work which would be handy. Did a good stretch before swimmin last night and I was still stiff and sore, particularly the middle of my back, just below my shoulder blades.


Its looking like 150k on Friday with 1500m of climbing and 110 on Sunday with a mere 1400m of hills. Easy running and a splash in the pool on Saturday, nothing too strenuous. Good weather for the lot would be great alright, especially after the weekend we had last year.

If you dont have a foam roller or something similar id strongly recommend "The Stick". Its available from Runways for €40. I also hear good things on The Grid - http://www.physioproducts.ie/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=288 but have yet to use it myself as i have a piece of foam thats similar (but has lost most of its strength). You'll notice over time if these little things arent taken care of you'll be very stiff, achey and potentially injured!

couerdelion

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

I know a clubmate who would use sportsmed on Kildare st.

Mark Mcabe there is very good and afaik is a triathlete too so should understand any problems (I think he was second in the recent sportsman duathlon). Not sure on price but he sorted out my plantar fascitis.

BTH

Bambaata wrote: »

If you dont have a foam roller or something similar id strongly recommend "The Stick". Its available from Runways for €40. I also hear good things on The Grid - http://www.physioproducts.ie/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=288 but have yet to use it myself as i have a piece of foam thats similar (but has lost most of its strength). You'll notice over time if these little things arent taken care of you'll be very stiff, achey and potentially injured!

I've never gone for any of these things becuase I wouldn't have a clue how to use it. Wouldn't even know where to start. I'm also not sure if I'd make the time to use it regularly either. Difficult to fit everything in.

couerdelion wrote: »

Mark Mcabe there is very good and afaik is a triathlete too so should understand any problems (I think he was second in the recent sportsman duathlon). Not sure on price but he sorted out my plantar fascitis.

Might ask the clubmate about it, although her opinion might be a little biased, as theres some form of sponsorship going on there too!

I'll get through this weekend, and might see about getting something sorted out next week, particularly if I'm still feeling the same issues I am now. Thanks guys.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Rolling pin and roll the **** out of those legs and you will be sorted:)

BTH

Monday Eve
Club Swim
Some drill work to start then a main set of 6*200 on 3:30, as 50easy,50 @60-70%, 50steady, 50hard. Except it worked out at 150 @about 75-80% then 50hard for me, otherwise I was getting caught by the lane lead, bloody dolphin!!! Reckon he was told to take a break mid 200 as well :eek:. Brought the 200's in on 3:07,06,04,03,05,02 so good steady swimming. 50 all out with pull bouy after was 38 on my watch, 36 on the coaches, so in and around that anyway. Total 2350m

Tuesday Lunch
45min easy run with some strides. Nothing exciting, except I saw a very nice BH bike go past on the way back to the office. Don't see to many new ones round this country.

BTH

Margaret Important Cupcake wrote: »

Rolling pin and roll the **** out of those legs and you will be sorted:)

Would you believe, I don't think we have a rolling pin! Must check that one!!

RacoonQueen

Peter Mathews in Functional Training Ireland Fitzwilliam Street for sports massage. He's the only reason I made it through the first half of 2011.

Bambaata

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

I've never gone for any of these things becuase I wouldn't have a clue how to use it. Wouldn't even know where to start. I'm also not sure if I'd make the time to use it regularly either. Difficult to fit everything in.



Might ask the clubmate about it, although her opinion might be a little biased, as theres some form of sponsorship going on there too!

I'll get through this weekend, and might see about getting something sorted out next week, particularly if I'm still feeling the same issues I am now. Thanks guys.

You'll find time, trust me. 5mins of rolling can really help if you cant find 15/20. I do it while watching TV, just before bed etc. The stick is great cos its easy to carry around and I dont need to be on the ground using it, can use it while just sitting down watching a movie/TV. Its also pretty easy to use. Basically just roll up and down, find a sore spot and focus on it. Plenty of youtube videos too but it doesn't have to be complicated.

BTH

Tuesday Eve
Turbo session. With the two long spins this weekend, this was and easy 70min Z2 with some spin-ups to WU and 6*10sec sprints. Watched the recorded MOTD2 from Sunday night to see my beloved Gunners destroy the enemy!


Wednesday Morning
Up early for a swim before work. Turned up at the pool, no togs packed. And no possible alternative. What a waste of an early morning. Now trying to re-arrange things.

Re the sports massage, rolling etc, I'm going to see about booking in somewhere for next week, and off the back of that I might pick up a roller/stick. Although my calves are much better today, whether thats down to the easier nature of yesterdays training, or the 25min of Yoga poses I did at my desk this morning in lieu of the swim (I had to do something and I wasnt going to start working at 7:30!) or both. Still, my back isn's right, despite the twisting, so we need something done. Thanks for all the advice.

BTH

Wednesday Eve
I got the better half to bring my swim togs into work with her which I collected at lunch. So I got my swim in after work.
Main set of
5*100 on 1:45 pushed to bring in on 1:34/35,
5*200 on 3:30, in on 3:12,15,14,13,12
5*100 pull on 1:45 in on 1:38/39 (arms arent as strong as they could be, might need to start doing more of these)
5*100 on 1:45 dsecending. Went out far too slow on this after the pull work. First three where 1:40 or more. Went hard in the last one, but had to cut a length short as there were idiots in the fast lane. Much prefer morning swims!

Thursday Morn
As a result of the re-arranged swim my Run was pushed out until this morn.
60min with
4 repeats of
5min target HR 172, these averaged 3:40, 3:39, 3:54, 3:44 pace
2min target 155, paces were 4:00, 4:38, 4:52, 4:42
1min recovery
Lovely morning for a run. Been a while since I ran in the morning before work and it was dark then. Clontarf at 7am with very few around and the sun rising, hard to beat it.