Me Against The World...

Dory Dory

Sounds awful. I'll stick with my 20 miler at PMP plus 15 seconds for tomorrow. Have fun with those TEN hill repeats. :eek: Yuck.

littlemsfickle

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Wednesday Eve
Turbo session, 75min Z2 easy with 9*20sec max efforts in blocks of 3, 1min rest, and 10min between blocks. The max efforts were tough, but I got threw them. More rolling after this session on those calves.

Thursday
First day I've been able to walk hobble free. I can still feel those tight calves, but thankfully its much better. Thursday eve on the Turbo plan was 3*15min @target HR152. The second was at 70rpm which meant 53*11. That was tough! 75min again 41.85km compared to wednesdays 37.18.

Friday Morning
Swim session this AM. 500m WU, 10*100 on 1:45, 50easy, 8*100 on 1:45, 300easy with every 4th length hard. Had intended on doing more this morning but I was fading towards the end of the 8*100. I feel like I've been slacking off in the swimming recently. 6 swims in the last 14days, but three of those were used for recovery more than anything else. At least I'm getting in the water I suppose, so I should be able to get back into a groove pretty quickly. Next two races are duathlons so focus is off the swimming slightly, and I need to be careful of that as Joey Hannan will come up very quickly.

Girl in the lane with me this morning was doing 50s off 45sec :eek:. Looked very comfortable with it too. Damn her!!

Do you swim in the Trinity Sports Centre?

BTH

littlemsfickle wrote: »

Do you swim in the Trinity Sports Centre?

I do indeed. Only joined there a couple of weeks ago. You changing your name to littlemsstalker?? Where you that fish I shared the lane with this am??

littlemsfickle

Ha! I would but I don't think I've posted enough to change my username...Yeah I thought I recognised you from that "know your ARTists thread" (to which I have not contributed because in every picture taken at a race I appear to be high on drugs) but I wasn't sure. I think that was me alright but did you see the guy in the next lane? There's always a bigger fish....

shotgunmcos

littlemsfickle wrote: »

There's always a bigger fish....

Too true. The guy who leads out our lane is a league apart. However even his 19 minute 1500 recently at a gala was outshone by a F50 in the next lane :eek:

littlemsfickle

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Too true. The guy who leads out our lane is a league apart. However even his 19 minute 1500 recently at a gala was outshone by a F50 in the next lane :eek:

F50?

shotgunmcos

littlemsfickle wrote: »

F50?

a lady in the 50-55 age category

pgibbo

shotgunmcos wrote: »

a lady in the 50-55 age category

Was that at the LC champs a few weeks back? Some serious results there! I hear a few ex-international swimmers have re-appeared on the scene. On guy in his 60's was swimming unreal times. :eek:

Bambaata

I wish my pool had such a swimmer! Would be great to have someone to aspire to in the next lane. Instead ive got grannies (sometimes wearing runners!) doggy paddling like drowning rats with the occasional person rugby tackling and fighting with the water whilst doing handstands which seem to constitute as tumble turns (that one is pure comedy, from up top you don't notice it but when you're underwater you can see him using his hands to turn and push off the bottom of the pool :P )

RacoonQueen

Bambaata wrote: »

I wish my pool had such a swimmer! Would be great to have someone to aspire to in the next lane. Instead ive got grannies (sometimes wearing runners!) doggy paddling like drowning rats with the occasional person rugby tackling and fighting with the water whilst doing handstands which seem to constitute as tumble turns (that one is pure comedy, from up top you don't notice it but when you're underwater you can see him using his hands to turn and push off the bottom of the pool :P )

And I thought my tumble turns were bad.

I'm not the only one with a crap pool then. I think I win with the people who walk backwards up and down the pool though.

Or the people who walk along the lane rope as if it were a tightrope (seriously :rolleyes:)

Or the people who use the lane rope as some sort of massage device and walk into it and thus into your lane then give you a dirty look for swimming through then

Or the guy who wears his turban into the pool and gets angry because you 'splashed' and got him wet.

I'll stop now. Sorry BTH.

BTH

Thanks for keeping my log alive while I've been off the radar.

Bambatta, I reckon that you are probably the bigger fish in your pool!

Anyway, back to my training and that run on Saturday.
Again i felt stiff heading out, but I eased gradually into the strides and that seemed to loosen me out a bit.
Onto the hill repeats and these went pretty well. All came in on 33/34 except number 8 for some reason was 31sec! High cadence for them all 95/96. Happy with these efforts.
The first 30min @145hr I went exploring a little, Up some backroads I didn't know but knew where they had to lead to, ish. Ended up hillier than I had planned on, but held 5:02 pace for 148hr and 89cadence. Not too bad considering the efforts beforehand.
Onto the 30min @165 which I knew was going to be tough. A bit flatter than the previous 30min. First 15min or so I was holding 4:00-4:05 pace, and I thought this is going pretty well. Then slight inclines started to become much more of a struggle and I had to ease off considerably to keep the HR down. I was struggling to hold 4:30 pace. And it got worse. By the end of the 30minutes, I was struggling with 5:00pace while HR was still up near 170. Averaged 4:23pace for 166HR but that only tells half the story. I jogged the 5min home, wanting to stop and walk instead.

And I've been sick since. A wasted long weekend (I seem to have had a few of these) and I'm afraid to count how many missed sessions. And I'm not done yet. Only back at work today but I'm still nowhere near right.

I share an office with 2 women. One of the only works part time. Last week she was in on Monday, back again on Thursday when she spent the whole day coughing on me. She should have known better, she's pregnant and if she's sick she really should have stayed home. She didnt come in on Friday. The other girl went home at lunch on Monday of last week, spent the week on antibiotics, but came in on Friday despite having a cert and clearly not being recovered. On top of those two infecting me, the hard run just pushed me over the edge.

So I've missed a week at this stage, which puts me back god knows how much, the Naas Duathlon on Sunday is completely up in the air. I've got to start looking at Burnfoot on 22April, Joey Hannan 29April and Tri an Mhi HIM 12May and ask myself, and my coach, whether I can do myself justice in all three after missing a week now. I can't even take comfort in a strong couple of weeks training leading into this. Last week training was restricted due to the DOMS from the 10k race. Before that was a rest week. And next week I spend 3 days in Brussels, which is going to limit what I can get done on the bike or in the water, not to mention the sore throat that flights always seem to give me. So write off March basically. Great......

shotgunmcos

Het BTH, I hear ya. I put down a relatively poor winter with LIFE stuff taking precedence. Put down a good 5 weeks then a viurs took 3 weeks away from me. Another 2 decent weeks then a crash took a week and is still tender. I have to travel with work too next week.
Its very frustrating in particular when your form was building nicely too.

I work with 20 women and I take all the precautions I can to stay healthy. You can only do what you can do. Drop the intensity when you need to. Tipping away lightly and you won't lose that form!

Fazz

Id try stick to the positives and you have plenty of them.
Strongest being you just killed a 10k pb and ran v low 36.
That kinda fitness has been gained over the last few months and won't be losing it in a hurry.

Sounds like you're Having a slightly bad run of it but I don't think it will affect you much once you ensure sorted and back to 100% before hard workouts again.

Still so much time, nothing to worry about there.

Naas Duathlon is a tricky one, you're not comin into it in best of form and should leave it, however I know the burnfoot is a focus and be nice to have a blast ahead of it.

Nothing to worry about at all imo.
Especially on the back of your 10k!

Might be a lesson of learning when still needing recovery vs not pushing too early.
Always a hard balance of that vs just take a cup of HTFU!

El Director

Hey dude, hope you are feeling better. Don't feel too down, I know what that's like and it ain't nice. Illness is part and parcel, may as well take account for it when planning a season, you'll get over it. Injury is worse, all the careful rehab and befor Ethan the figuring out the why and how to prevent it from occurring again-not fun, although a great way to learn.

Also a good time to reflect on your log and all the positives you've had so far you'll be back at it in no time

BTH

OK, so I got back out last Friday. Having missed work Tuesday and Wednesday I took it easy. 35min run in the evening for 7km-ish. Did likewise on Saturday evening.

Sunday I skipped Naas. Definately would have done more harm than good. So I headed down home for my mates 30th. Eventually got out on the bike on Sunday for 70k including a stop off at my parents for a fry-up! Lovely day for it.

Down to the pool last night for my first swim in 10days! Got there early to get a decent warmup in. Into the session and we started with 8*25m max on 60sec, which went well for me. Then a 800m straight swim, which I was fairly happy with. Then 4*200 on 3:30, which came in on 3:02/03/02/05 so I was very happy with those. The 8*100 on 1:35 which followed were a different story. I was shot at the end of the 200s and struggled badly on these. Still, I got through the 8 anyway so all in all the session went better than I had expected it to go.

Early bird flight to Brussels this morning, so trainings going to be difficult this week, but I'll get a bit done all the same. The Naas duathlon has been replaced on the schedule with Ashford on Easter Saturday. Another course I did last year so I'll be able to directly compare results. Wouldnt have been able to do that with Naas as they shortened the course.

BTH

Tuesday I didn't get anything done. 5:00 starts for a trip to the airport will do that to you.

Wednesday I had hoped to get a swim in after work. Found a pool not far from the hotel. Headed down, but there was only 3 lanes open to the public and each had 10 or so in it mostly doing breast stroke. Decided that attempting to get a session in would drive me nuts so planned on coming back the following morning. Oh, and the pool was a 33 1/3m pool. Those crazy Belgians!! Instead I headed back to the hotel and did my planned Tuesday run which was 45min easy with 20min @ 177HR. Having missed a good bit last week I decided I should ease very slowly into the 20min, and only hit target HR around the last 5min. Still went through 5k in 19:40 so happy with that after the illness last week. Overall covered 12k in 55min because I took a wrong turn on the way back to the hotel.

Thursday morning the alarm went for that swim, but I didn't get up. Mid afternoon flight back so was home by 6 for a brick session. I think I had only done one run off the bike this year so far which was a slow jog after a long day in the hills which near killed me. 75min turbo with 30min @zone 3, decreasing cadence. So I increased a gear every 6min, until I was doing the last 6min @63 cadence. Burn! 20min run off the bike, and happy to report that my legs felt good. Pushed on towards marathon pace early in the run to see if I got any jelly going on and they were fine. Felt the previous days run a little but thats to be expected. 4:35pace for 150HR which is high Zone 2. Obviously its going to be a different story running off a hard bike, without the easy Z2 effort before hitting T2.

Friday morning finally back in the pool. WU, 6*200 on 3:30 in around 3:18/20, 6*100 on 1:50, in 1:38-40, 6*100 on 1:45 in on 1:33/34 CD. Happy to get 3k down and reasonable shape considering the number of swims missed recently. I pushed the last set of 100s and these were particularly tough, but glad I got through them without letting times slip.

Heading West in the morning for a stag do, so I'll get a quick easy turbo in this eve before another few days of no training. At least I'll be well rested after all of this!!

BTH

Friday Eve
Took the TT bike outside for the first time since September for this one. With a race next Saturday I wanted to get used to the handling of the bike again. Plan was for 9*20sec max efforts, with 1min recoveries, and 10min between sets of 3. Headed out to the back of the airport for this. Bike setup is very agressive, but I'll leave as is until after Ashford next weekend anyway and see how we go there.

Saturday/Sunday
Stag do, so no training, but 2.5 hours spent in a kayak on Saturday afternoon as given the shoulders something to think about. I'm getting too old for these nights out. At least I don't have another stag for a whole 2 weeks!!

Monday
Club swim session.
400 progressive wu
16*50 on 50sec as 12.5m hard 37.5 easy. Its hard going to sprint at the start of every 50 like that. In on around 45sec for each one.
4*100 on 1:35
4*100 on 1:35 Started both sets sub 1:30, but probably closer to 1:32/33 by the fourth.
4*100 on 2:30 hard (pb+3sec). Hit 1:25 for each of these. Hard bloody work.
Very happy with the swim. After a hit and miss swim month in March with a lot of sessions missed, and a few converted into recovery sessions, I don't seem to have regressed too much. Its not getting any easier though!!

BTH

I had typed a Monthly summary but our network crashed so I'm going to summarise the summary.

Basically all numbers down on March 2011. Only 6 meaningful swims in March and 3 recovery swims as well. Compared to 12 in Feb. Biking down as I had no long bike on Paddys weekend or the weekend of the 10k race. Running down again because I was sick for a while and recovery from the race took longer than expected.

However, I should be back to where I was very soon, and 3 weeks of consistency before the Burnfoot and Joey Hannan double should see me in good shape.

kennyb3

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Friday Eve
Plan was for 9*20sec max efforts, with 1min recoveries, and 10min between sets of 3.

A minute recovery? Are you really sprinting max or just cycling a bit faster. I'd have a look at that - a minimum of 5mins recovery is what i ve seen recommended in most literature.

Maybe im taking it wrong and your just talking about max in a different context?

BTH

kennyb3 wrote: »

A minute recovery? Are you really sprinting max or just cycling a bit faster. I'd have a look at that - a minimum of 5mins recovery is what i ve seen recommended in most literature.

Maybe im taking it wrong and your just talking about max in a different context?

Hi Kenny, they're "max" efforts alright, but from a low cadence in a high gear so you never really get up to max speed as such as its only 20 seconds. So in max gear and a slow rolling start. Akin to sprinting out of a sharp corner, or a dead turn which quite a few tri courses would have. And its 3 sets of 3 with 1min recovery between each of the 3 reps, and 10min between sets so plently of recovery really.

kennyb3

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Hi Kenny, they're "max" efforts alright, but from a low cadence in a high gear so you never really get up to max speed as such as its only 20 seconds. So in max gear and a slow rolling start. Akin to sprinting out of a sharp corner, or a dead turn which quite a few tri courses would have. And its 3 sets of 3 with 1min recovery between each of the 3 reps, and 10min between sets so plently of recovery really.

Ah yeah i read it again and thats why i added the last bit. I kind of figured it wasnt a full out 60kmph sprint alright.

BTH

kennyb3 wrote: »

Ah yeah i read it again and thats why i added the last bit. I kind of figured it wasnt a full out 60kmph sprint alright.

No I wouldnt be holding 60kmph for the 20sec, but would be building up to that speed for the last 5 seconds, or damn close. However there was a stiff breeze last Friday so I did the efforts into the wind so max speeds for these were way down. Usually when I've done this on the turbo I'm hitting 58-60kmph by the end of the 20sec.

BTH

Tuesday Evening
Plan was for a 60min run with 4*1km fast. Under strict instructions to not blow up. That it would be best if I got faster through the 4 and I should feel like I could do another at the end. With this being my first bit of speed work in the run I ingored all of this and did the first rep in 3:22. 3:28 for the second, 3:33 for the third and 3:32 for the last. I somehow managed to avoid the hailstones for the fast reps but got blinded by them driving into my eyes during the WU. Not a nice day for it but needed to get this done. HRM acting up again. When it hit 210 on the CD I just took the f-ing thing off.

Wednesday Morning
Down to trinity pool this morn.
Main set was
8*200 on 3:30, in on 3:18-20
6*100 pull on 1:50, in on 1:37/38
8*50 on 0:55, in on 47/48
3300 total for about 70min.
Not a bad mornings work

BTH

Wednesday Eve
60min z2 turbo. Nothing much to report. Did a lot of it on the aero bars. Starting to get used to them again.

Thursday Morn
60min turbo with 40min Z3. With the pool closed on Good Friday I had to squeeze in this session before work so I can swim in the evening. Nothing particular of note. Back to back turbos aren't the kindest on the rear!!

Thursday Eve
Swim brought forward from Friday morning. Took a swim set from a recent article on Irish Tri. Started with some kick which has been completely neglected recently. That neglect needs to end. Main set then was 2*(300hard, 30sec rest, 4*100 15sec rest, 100 easy) did the 100's off 1:50 to make it easier to follow the clock. 300's in on 4:40, which is 1:33 pace. The 100's all in on 1:33/34 as well. Felt really strong in the water this evening. Working hard without loosing form, or pushing over then edge. Really happy with this swim this eve. Havent felt this strong in the water in ages. Why? Looking back its my first 3 swim week since the end of February (if you don't count recovery swims). It makes a massive difference. Another few weeks of the same leading into Joey and Tri an Mhi and I should be in good shape. Only 1400m of hard work this eve, but happy that I can build on that relatively quickly.

NeedsTraining

Should be an interesting update in the log after the weekend

Lets see how the log goes from here

BTH

Friday Morning
45min easy run. 9.3km. My running has gone down hill since that 10k!

Saturday - Ashford Duathlon
Major panic on Friday evening. I put the race wheels on the TT bike and the cassette wasnt lining up with the deraillleur. Chain kept skipping and it wouldnt shift properly. messed around with it for ages but couldnt get it right. Quick txt to my coach, his Uncle owns a bike shop in Dublin, and luckly the shop was opening at 9 on Saturday. So a quick stop in there on the way to Wicklow and we were sorted enough to get me through the race.

The plan for the race was to push hard for the last 1k before T1, push the bike, and push the first 1km after T2. The rest of open to how I was feeling. This was very much a training session, with much bigger targets later in the month.

Got down early enough and registered after a brief stop at Harolds Cross. Then headed out on the bike for a WU and to figure out the new bike route. Did a few 20second bursts during this. Then did a run WU with some strides, drills etc to loosen out the legs. Set up the Garmin for multisport and it froze on the start line so no race data which is very frustrating.

Run one, I went out with the lead group for the first 500m or so before easing off a little as the pace was too high for me. The start is up an slight incline so it was really tough going. Settled into a comfortable enough pace. Tried to push the last 1km a little and did take back a place or two. I clocked 18:52 compared to 19:03 for the first run last year. I think the start line was a little further back this year making the first run slightly longer as well. The eventual winner and runner up also raced this last year. I lost 1:31 in the first run to Mark Horan this year and 1:45 last year. Noel Kavanagh took 1:54 out of me on run 1 last year and 1:32 this. I also shortened the gap between myself and haggis mccloud from 28sec last year to 13s this year (he then punctured on the bike). I never really suffered too much on that run other than the initial burst, wary of running fairly quick but not wrecking my legs for another weeks training.

T1 I couldn’t get my helmet on, then one of the elastics holding my shoe broke when I mounted, but I still got away quicker than those around me.

The bike I tried to push, but never really got into a groove. A very different bike course to last year. The old route was an out and back along the N11 while this one is a two lap job on minor roads. So a lot of ups and downs and sharp corners. One long drag back towards the N11 from the coast road which meant small ring for a bit. I took 5 places on the bike and two guys went past me. Only the 9th fastest bike split (36:58) so slightly disappointed by that (7th fastest here last year). As it was a different bike course I can’t compare to last years split, but compared to the first two finishers I lost 2:00 to Mark Horan last year, 2:36 this year & I lost 30sec to Noel Kavanagh last year but beat him by 48sec this year. So hard to know what to make of it. Those are all T1&Bike splits combined. I wanted to push this bike leg but I don’t feel like I achieved that.

T2 went a bit better, but the surface was a little rough for running barefoot. I think most were wearing socks but my race flats are too tight for socks. That and a missing dose of HTFU.

The second run I pushed the first bit up the same incline again and took back one of the guys who passed me late on the bike. After this initial push I just settled into a steady comfortable pace and cruised around the rest of the course. King Quez passed me at the 4km marker but I let him go. I was more concerned about being able to train this week than going all out in a training race, especially after the agony I was in after that 10k. My running has been too hit and miss since then to jeopardise another weeks training this close to Burnfoot and Joey Hannan. I ran 20:05 (10th fastest) which included T2 also so I figure I must have been cruising under 4:00 pace anyway, last year I did 20:15. By way of comparison, last year I lost 1:37 to Mark Horan in the second run, this year 1:35. Noel Kavanagh took 1:28 out of me last year, 2:24 this year :eek:.

I don't like to compare myself so directly with others, but without any meaning full info from the Garmin there is little else I can do to analyse my performance. I know we don’t know how they were treating the race or what problems they might have encountered during the race, and Mark had the race won from a long way out so probably took the last run easy. But without any Garmin data its really the best I can do. From my own point of view, to only improve by 10sec on each run is a little disappointing. As I said running has felt a little hit and miss since Carlow, and I never really hurt during this race, but I still would have expected a little better. I don’t recall how much I pushed last year, but I do remember knowing that haggis mccloud was chasing me down on the last run and I was going to make damn sure he wasn’t going to catch me, so I probably pushed a little harder than this year. The bike leg I’m disappointed with. Every time I pushed harder I wasn’t prepared to hurt and needed to ease off. Maybe I wasn’t mentally ready for this, with the fiddling with the bike on Friday/Saturday morning, and the other plans for Saturday evening occupying my thoughts too. These plans resulted in a sore knee for BTH!! The sportive I did on Monday with El Director was a much better spin and I felt much better on the bike than I did on Saturday. I would at times have hurt more during that than I did during this race. Need a good solid couple of weeks training before the Nationals.

Oh, just to add, I finished 9th. Doom and gloom above would make it look like I was 52nd or something (no disrespect to whoever finished 52nd), but I know that I can perform much better than I showed on Saturday.

BTH

Sunday
Easy 2hour bike spin on Sunday morning with the local club in Longford. Actually did 2:45 and 64km so it was very leisurely and I took it extra easy on the hills. No complaints from the legs after the race on Saturday (or from the knee) so mission accomplished on that side of things.

Monday
Tour de Croans Sportive with El Director.
I couldnt do a report that would do it as much justice as El D did so I'll take the easy option and link to his report.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=78032750&postcount=236

I felt really strong yesterday and even managed to sprint up one steep hill and push the pace on a couple of others in the last hour of riding. Really enjoyable spin and near perfect road surface. A far cry from the rattling I received on the Sunday!

However ElD's Garmin is really acting up as mine only recorded 478m of climbing. Heres my garmin file http://connect.garmin.com/activity/166526363.


Tuesday
Back in the water this morning for 10*100 on 1:45 and 5*200 on 3:30. Very tired after a manic weekend so slogged through these with a big dollop of stubbornness to bring the 100s in @ 1:38 or so and the 200s on 3:20-22. 2700 including wu & cd.

El Director

It was very enjoyable alright wasn't it? Althoughnot a race it reminded me of how much I enjoyed the few bike races I did. I might look into doing a 2/3 race event in the future....not for a few years though, still too focused on what I want.

Rang Garmin Uk today, was on hold for 25min, finally got an agent, just telling him o fly woes when the line cut out! Q a frustrated roar and language that I thought wasn't in me! Rang again, 25 more min of wait, this time gave my number and instructed the girl to ring me straight back if same happened again.

Anyway, unit is faulty, return it and they'll replace it. So frustrating but I'm glad in a way too.

BTW if you feel like it and our sessions match up we could easily meet in Roscommon and do that route any weekend, or a variation of it. Also BTW you passed up on what I think was my best ever stew YUM nation

BTH

El Director wrote: »

It was very enjoyable alright wasn't it? Althoughnot a race it reminded me of how much I enjoyed the few bike races I did. I might look into doing a 2/3 race event in the future....not for a few years though, still too focused on what I want.

Rang Garmin Uk today, was on hold for 25min, finally got an agent, just telling him o fly woes when the line cut out! Q a frustrated roar and language that I thought wasn't in me! Rang again, 25 more min of wait, this time gave my number and instructed the girl to ring me straight back if same happened again.

Anyway, unit is faulty, return it and they'll replace it. So frustrating but I'm glad in a way too.

BTW if you feel like it and our sessions match up we could easily meet in Roscommon and do that route any weekend, or a variation of it. Also BTW you passed up on what I think was my best ever stew YUM nation

Yeah defo, if we're both down the sticks some weekend we can do that route again. I'll take you up on the stew offer then too!

Hope the replacement 910 works perfectly.


Tuesday Eve
60min run with 4*1km hard but even pacing. Did the 4 reps on 3:35, 3:40, 3:35, 3:40. 1&3 where clockwise on my route, while 2&4 anticlockwise, which might explain the difference. Had some "issues" on this run too. Probably the four helpings of desert I had in my parents on Sunday. Mam is still trying to fatten me up. It's only been 30 years. She'll give up some day! Hit a new HR max during this. 238. On my cool down!! Damn stupid Garmin

Wednesday Morning
Back in trinity for a dip this morning.
4*25 max efforts on 60sec to warmup, all in under 20sec (an Interested special!!)
6*100 pull on 1:45, in around 1:37s
Then I took another set from that article on Irishtri so
2*(300 as 100hard 200 race pace, 6*50max on 70, 100easy)
first 100s both around 1:26/7,then held 1:39/40ish pace after that for a 300 of 4:45. 50s all 38-40sec.
A short cool down for a total 2200m. Not a long session by any means but a fair amount of high intensity work. Another good swim session.

littlemsfickle

Nice to meet you at the pool this morning, you seemed to be going pretty well alright!