Reach for the sky...

woody1

its becoming a pattern, nothing week, busy weekend. might be the way its going to be for a bit with kids, school, kids swimming kids running etc

wed 23rd 8k race, 36mins took it easy enough, first half moderate, second half a bit quicker, still just a training run

nothing til saturday
saturday 16k run with a 10k ride before and a 15k ride home after

sunday 27th am. treadmill 25 mins, turbo 1 hr , angels , surprised how much effort i was able to put into this, i went into it with a just do it for the spin mindset but soon enough i was working at it ..

am entered for sea to summit now, after saying all year that i had no intention, itl give me a focus until november at least, also in for tollymore trail half marathon..

woody1

this week a bit more like it
tues 29th turbo 1 hr, downward spiral,

thurs 1st oct treadmill 30 painfully boring minutes

friday 2nd. turbo..
had a go at zwift, my wifi connection out in the cave isnt great so for a long time i was cycling on my own, but when it did come right and the other cyclists showed up it was good craic.. i dont think its the cure for turbo boredom but its an option for when ive enough of the sufferfest dvds, if i can get a gang from round here to log in at the same time it could be good

sat 3rd parkrun 5k . 23 40 something, just a jog with a few efforts in it , eldest birthday party later , spent the day eating rubbish had a plan to get on the bike but it didnt work out

sun 4th bike run bike.
bike 12k, local 5k race, fund raiser for a school, about 100 at it , half of them kids, nobody that i would recognise as a runner, some away in barcelona, some in athlone at the 3/4 , some just not here, before it started i had an idea that i could do ok, felt a bit ropey from too much wine the night before though, so wasnt sure how it was going to go,

started and it was me and a 16 year old out the front from the start, i decided to stay behind him all the way and see what happened, just past halfway he realised there was no one behind and he had 2nd if he wanted it, so he stopped to tie his laces, i kicked on from 3 to 4 to make sure he didnt get back on and pushed as hard as i could from 4 to 5 and finished in 19.53, which is sub 20 and a pb. so thrilled with that.. nice to get the win albeit in a race with no one in it.. kids are always asking did i win, so nice to able to say yes for a change..

10k cycle home

better week,

in for the megalithic man in meath in 2 weeks, muck and slobber obstacle course at the end of it, normally not my cup of tea but itl give me something to focus on

woody1

tues 6th good hard turbo solid hour

thursday 8th treadmill after the ireland game 10.30pm ish torture.. 30 mins

saturday parkrun + warm up + cool down 7k ish turbo later with mrs , 1hour

sunday nada.. ive no excuse , its a lovely day, i cant be arsed.. day off i think

woody1

had decided early on on sunday that i wasnt doing anything, couldnt be arsed-ness even though it was a lovely day

amazing how things turn out.. id normally go out the door as soon as better half comes in, but this weekend better half came in, did a few bits around the house and then went out to the car to get something and come back.. in the process of coming back she fell backwards sideways off the step at the door and dislocated her kneecap.. ! so kneecap off to the side of her leg and stuck there.. immense pain, screaming, stuck lying in an almost fetal position between step fence and a plant pot.. long story short, ambulance,morphine lots of morphine, hospital, kneecap put back.. big horrible come-down from lots of morphine and home at 10 on sunday night

on crutches now leg in brace and currently getting mri to see what the damage is .. if surgery is needed

but what keeps getting to me is if i had been 5k up the road on my bike what wouldve happened, a 7 and a 5 year old would have to deal with it, they were there at the time of the fall , but i got neighbours to take them fairly quick, as it was they were a bit shook from the bit they did see / hear

then yesterday i got a notification that the race i was planning to do at the weekend is cancelled, it wouldve involved a 4hr road trip for everyone so i probably wasnt going to be able to go.. at least this way i get entry fee back

Dory Dory

Oh, sending good thoughts your way for your wife!!!

woody1

12th to 18th october

3 runs, 2 of them 5k races on sat and sun, 20.51 and 20.37 respectively

2 cycles 23k outside , and an hour and a bit on the turbo later in the week

woody1

19th to 24th october

2 runs 7k treadmill and 7k outside
1 bike 33k
1 run through of the sea to summit course
so bike, climb, run down, bike, run ( jog )

that was sunday, legs still stiff and sore today ! hopefully will get to spin the legs out later on the turbo ..

woody1

25th to 1st november
not a whole lot, very stiff after croagh patrick for a couple of days
turbo on wednesday
s&c class on friday that im still stiff after
parkrun + warm up saturday about 7k
bike run bike run sunday nice and easy just tring to loosen up

had a bit of a toss off the bike yesterday did a u turn on a quiet road and i kind of knew that
there was deep gravel but i thought i could get away with it, i didnt, back wheel slid out and
i fell off in slow motion, few bits of gravel rash on hands and knees otherwise grand, more importantly
the bike got away without a mark !

with october done , the years totals are looking interesting, therel be no more swimming but running is at 800km even and cycling at 2150, like the idea of getting running to 1000 even and cycling to 2500, dunno if thats realistically gonna happen but its a target ..

woody1

1st to 8th november

1 5k run

sea to summit race saturday .. 8k run, 19k cycled, up and down half croagh patrick.. 2.06 80th from 1100 something

race went well, enjoyed it all the way through, faster or the same on all elements of it, just
not as fast as id like to be, not unhappy with it but not satisfied i guess, some people that i would
try to benchmark off were significantly quicker than i was , some of them i expected to be
others i honestly didnt,
looking back at it i cant see anywhere that i couldve put much more effort in to reduce the gap
significantly, so im happy with the effort i put in, which isnt always the case..
wouldve liked to be inside the top 50 or higher target for next year i guess..

woody1

8th to 15th

not a thing all week, which felt really weird, was in fine shape after sea to summit no major stiffness or soreness.. just a large dose of cant-be-bothered-ness coupled with the arrival of wind and rain and miserable weather in the west so i went into tollymore well tapered.. i seem to be tapering for the last month

anyway tollymore trail marathon 2015 .. entered this with better half and good mate.. better halfs kneecap dislocated so that ruled her out and friend couldnt make it either so had to do it all on my own.. along with about 800 others variously doing ultras, marathons, halfs and a 10k,

it had rained all thursday and friday and it did so again all saturday, i had 3 layers on including a decent running rain jacket and by the end all 3 were soaked through.. but i enjoyed it all, its a single loop course in one of the biggest forest parks in the country , so mucky paths, streams, bridges, stone walls, leaves and branches and all that that entails.. soaked and covered in muck at the finish, 2 big ass hills and a few smaller ones .. took it fairly handy overall , very easy first half and more normal pace second half,

course profile ..

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/591221607


so thats 3 very quiet weeks ,apart from the 2 races.. this time of year with crappy weather and dark evenings i tend to lose focus and usually pack it in for dec and jan, dont want to that this year.. run streaks are a bit ambitous and would probably involve a lot of time on a treadmill.. need to formulate a plan of some sort... new cyclocross team / club ? in town might be an idea but then i need another bike :eek:

Green&Red

Hows the missus? Sore thing I'd say

woody1

shes almost mobile properly again..so nearly back to " normal " as in walking driving etc.. going by her reaction at the time it had to be unbelievably painful.. when you imagine the force required to move your knee joint that much !!!! anyway id say back to swimming and maybe easy spinning on the turbo soon, dont think will be running for a good long while ..

woody1

havent been here in a while so from the 17th to the 26th i didnt do a tap really,
from the 27th until yesterday ive ran every day , min 30 mins , a couple of 40s , 4 on the treadmill in the cave , and 3 on the road, the last 3 as part of akws sanity clause..

storm desmond is howling outside at the mo ! so today will be back to the cave although i will prob wait a few hours to see does it calm a bit , even in the shelter of a shed its still nicer if its not blowing a gale around you..

anyway 27th Nov to 3rd Dec 7 runs , total 32.5k

woody1

4th to 11th dec
7 days, 7 runs, 5 on the treadmill , but still 7 days done

MojoMaker

Love how concise this log is - no messing and no exaggeration! Hope the missus is mobile again.

woody1

MojoMaker wrote: »

Love how concise this log is - no messing and no exaggeration! Hope the missus is mobile again.

cheers, theres not much to waffle on about at the moment , better half is mobile and has been cleared to turbo and swim

woody1

12th to 17th
6 more runs . think 4 treadmill and 2 outside, all 30 mins ish, a combination of christmas bits and pieces, picking stuff up, shopping, and kids stuff with school, plays, parties and i think the early darkness and short days are starting to brown me off a bit, getting fed up of this sh*t, itl be another late one on the treadmill by the time i get to it, badly need a couple of runs outside, id even consider running in the rain at this stage.. :eek:

woody1

18th to 25th 7 more days 7 more runs most of them outside this week thank god ! Christmas has been good to all here No triathlon related pressies for anyone and that's actually nice for a change that just means we are fully stocked already ðŸ˜႒ stephens day 5k later be interesting to see what kind of shape im in after yesterday's indulgence slightly belated happy Christmas to all hope ye are having a good one

woody1

26th to 31st
the last 5 runs, all outside again,
stephens day 5k came in at 20.17, usual story , fast start, run out of gas about 3k , hang on for slow and painful death.. nice to be around the 20s the day after a big feed and a few drinks

nothing new years day needed / wanted the day off ..

edit
totals for the year
swimming 103km compared to 109 in 2014
running 1046km compared to 577
cycling 2177km compared to 2343

a good year, pbs broken, progress made on the bike and run, went backwards psychologically at least
swimming,
i think there are still more gains to be got on all 3, and il stick with mostly sprint / oly stuff until
im happy ive exhausted it, it also just suits my life, small kids and all that comes with that

having said all that , ive won an entry to lough cutra in may and i need to decide what distance
and the half is appealing to me, as is humbert ,

so whats in store for 2016, as usual a bit of everything,
targets.. swim more confidently in open water .. run .. to run 19 ?? 5k regularly rather than just once in a blue moon
bike .. 35 ?? for 20k.. 1,39 half marathon would be nice too

anyway happy new year

woody1

so we are all back to normal with work and school and its time to start trying to put a push on some kind of semi organised training

3rd to the 10th Jan
back to coached swimming on tuesday , serious shock to the system worse than i thought around 1800m of paddling about ..
wed and thurs i had a headcold, the nose dripping feel miserable kind so on wednesday i ignored logic and went for a run in lashing and freezing rain.. as runs go it went fairly well.. 5k in 22/23 mins
but thursday i paid for it and was properly miserable all day and bailed on swimming..
felt better friday and brought the kids into the pool for a splash.. the youngest is having a bit of trouble with being afraid of the depth of the pool , hes only starting, so i brought him in to try to get him more comfortable.. seemed to work , got 2 lengths done before getting out. just to stretch out and to see if tuesday was as bad as i thought.. it probably was !

saturday turbo 1 hr inside set up turbo in the living room at around 21 degrees it was a warm and sweaty turbo nothing strenuous just getting back in the habit

sunday.. 9.5k run.. 8k out and back and 5 hill repeats on the hill outside the house.. good pace..

if i get nothing more than 2/3 decent swims done this week itl be a good week.. in clifden at the weekend..will bring runners and maybe even bike and see can i get a bit done.. sky road looks good for a run..

woody1

11th to 17th jan
6 swims 2 coached 1200 and 1800m, 3 on my own 1200, 1000, and 500m
one with kids 0m

no running or cycling , was in clifden for the weekend for both of our birthdays , meant to run the sky road or part of it, but i was enjoying the nothing to do nowhere to go vibe.. got some swimming done in the hotel pool instead..

woody1

finally, birthday present

woody1

18TH TO 24TH Jan
not the best week but not awful either,
swam twice despite being in pool 4 times, twice were coached, twice i was messing with the kids, ive moved down a lane in terms of speed / ability, rightly so, ive fallen back a good bit not having swam since august, but while the speed is about right , possibly fractionally slow for me, the distance being accumulated isnt, too much chatting between before and after is doing my head in and were not getting through the full set..pool is being a bit more strict on time too which isnt helping but 1200m in an hour is not gonna work for me, gonna have to work my bollix off to get back up to where i was..

ran twice, friday evening 5k, felt loose enough despite not having ran for 2 weeks ..
local 5k race today, got about 2k of a warm up, sore enough / stiff quad muscles in right leg, dunno from what but not too bad, forgot garmin, started easy enough, went thru 1,2,and 3 k in 4 minutes even, fell back fairly alarmingly after that, 4.30 and 4.30 somethings, left me over 21 minutes, wasnt shocked by that but wouldve preferred to be high 20 minutes than low 21s. i was very warm / flushed at the end, and am very tired and hazy feeling now so maybe im brewing some kind of bug.. il take any excuse i can get ..

bike. zwift yesterday in the house , 21 degrees , too warm , wasnt able for it, bailed after 40 mins..

hopefully will get outside on new bike tomorrow
better than last week, next week will be better again.. getting close to time to start following a plan for lough cutra..

woody1

25th jan to 1st feb

monday bike . outside . ! feels so long ago now, seeing as weve had wind and rain pretty much every day since .. but new bike, first impressions are good, it wouldnt take much to be better than the old one.. but good all the same

couldnt make swim on tuesday, wednesday, went in after kids finished lessons, got through 1500m in about 35 minutes, mixed it up a bit , tried a few hard 100s .. died .. faffed about.. did a few more.. got out

thursday group swim 2150m.. much more like it
friday tmill run. 30 mins..
saturday . run 6k 35 mins thereabouts, very heavy legged, sore joints,
sunday - nada.. had loads of time to, just didnt
monday.. zwift 50 mins.. still undecided about its usefulness.. passes time but without any purpose. must try a workout before i have to start paying certainly need something to inspire some bike work..

stag party at the weekend and wedding soon after is gonna put pressure on the next month. gonna be about damage limitation,

Neady83

woody1 wrote: »

25th jan to 1st feb

monday bike . outside . ! feels so long ago now, seeing as weve had wind and rain pretty much every day since .. but new bike, first impressions are good, it wouldnt take much to be better than the old one.. but good all the same

Can't remember the last time I was out on the bike and didn't get rained on Fair play for getting out, nothing like a new bike to give you the extra motivation It's very pretty by the way, well wear

woody1

this wont take long
tuesday 2nd 1500 swim
wed 3rd 6k run

thurs fri sat sun mon tues stag party and recovery.. get back to it tomorrow

woody1

and another low mileage week

extended stag recovery, a crummy sinus-y thing that im almost over , and just other stuff - life i guess - conspired to make this a non productive week
got 2 runs in on saturday and sunday to salvage things , 7.5k and 8k first run felt surprisingly light on my feet, sunday , despite it being a nicer day, was a bit of a slog

10 days of a gap doing nothing, longest in a long time, chicken and egg situation develops .. cant be bothered cos not doing anything-not doing anything cos cant be bothered.. thankfully we are finally starting to see a bit of spring sunshine and that will help

back to swimming tonight and hopefully thursday praying that the weather plays ball at the weekend and makes it a bit easier motivate myself to get out ..

woody1

2 swims 1700 and 1800
2 runs , 5.5 and 5 both at a good clip
1 cycle.. in the rain for about 90 mins

less rubbishy food, more good stuff, more water, feel better for it

thought about doing something today, club duathlon was on, felt a bit tired / under the weather and have a niggle in arch of foot so left it ,

woody1

21st to 28th feb
3 bikes 25k 30k and 46k first one very easy, 2nd a good effort, third just a sunday spin
1 run 10.5k 4 1km hard efforts,
2 swims 1200 and 1400..

GoHardOrGoHome

Nice bike. What's the spec?!

I think you did Gaelforce a few times. What's the aim this year?