Reach for the sky...

woody1

monday dont think i did anything
tuesday started off with trainerroad trying to do a bit of focussed training on the turbo as opposed to usual spinning n time wasting .. this was the 20 min ftp test have a feeling that i undercooked it a bit i was fairly shagged at the end but still ok .. anyway its a starting point i can do it again

tuesday evening swimming group .. in one of the faster lanes again hung on ran out of puff in the end but enjoyed it ..

wednesday was gonna run during the kids karate but in the end it was lashing and freezing and i figured it was more sensible to leave it

thursday
morning turbo trainer road first proper workout 1 hour enjoyed it was well above the targets

evening swimming back a lane , found it sustainably tough without being a killer , my level is probably mid way between both lanes ..

friday driving all day nothing

saturday tymon parkrun dublin 21.50 something first k fairly easy then stretched the legs

sunday 5k one of the millions of little village 5ks that are on all round me all year ..first 3k in 11.35 but my brain was a bit foggy and i didnt really take in that i had so much in the bank proceeded to slow drastically and run the last 2 in 4.11 and 4 15 to put me just over the 20 slowed badly in the last 2 which is something that hasnt been happening lately .. anyway last 3 races are 20.30 odd , 20.10 and 20.02 so going in the right direction..

woody1

6th to 13th
2 bikes turbos trainerroad monday and thursday
swam on tuesday
ran on wednesday 6k
ran 5k thursday
swam and cycled on friday only a 7k spin helping out with a kids duathlon
off road mtb and run on saturday 8k and 10k ish
sunday off

woody1

just entered 3 races in 5 minutes

nephin upandover if your into running ( trudging up and down ) mountains its worth a look

cooley legends same as above but with more of a path and less elevation ive done it before so at least i know what im in for

and later on the same day which will possibly turn out to be the worst idea ever the patsy kelly 5k

already in for
the metalman swim series
westport tri
caroline kearney tri
most likely the salmon run tri
2 provinces
and a.n. other to complete the national series 4 races

along with a few 5s and 10s and probably a half somewhere along the way
gonna be a busy summer

Neady83

Sounds like you've a great summer ahead of you Woody, I like the sound of the Nephin Up and Over and the Cooley Legends

No sign of the river Moy half in there?

woody1

ah yeah i kind of take for granted that il be doing the river moy half i never really train for it just jump in and see what happens probably enter at the last minute

cooley legends ive done twice before and id strongly reccomend it very well run race lovely course great craic i shouldnt really be doing it this year as ive a 5k on later that evening that would /should be higher in my list of priorities but i missed cooley last year and i dont want to miss it again this year so its gonna be a 2 in 1 day

nephin race, its hard to know what itl be , i havent been up or down the routes they are talking about , i live quite close about 10k away , and ive been up a few times just walking mind , i dont know what kind of turn out there will be , it doesnt seem to have huge pr , its a locally run race in aid of a few local organisations , if i didnt live locally id never have heard of it, having said that there will be a few strong runners in it , im sure rachel will have a go if shes around, couple of guys living close to it will be strong too but obviously its not the kind of race thats for everyone ... hard to believe but some people dont like the off road hilly mucky stuff
if its a nice day there could be a good crowd at it if not there could be just a handful

snailsong

When is Nephin up and over?

woody1

april 2nd .. https://www.facebook.com/upandoverchallenge

snailsong

woody1 wrote: »

april 2nd .. https://www.facebook.com/upandoverchallenge

Thanks, woody.
Doesn't suit me, a week before Rotterdam. I'd love to do it sometime.

woody1

13th to 20th march
monday trainerroad turbo hour bit half arsed but better than not doing it at all
tuesday swimming coached mostly technique stuff with flippers which rubbed skin off my toes which as more of a runner than a swimmer peed me off a bit but got thru it

wednesday run with o/h 6k odd easy enough

thursday swimming more technique more flipper drills just skipped them

friday tubbercurry 10k 10k of hills in the rain and wind and cold i was ok til about 6k then it got hard--- er legs improved round 8k had no garmin with me so was unsure of pace and with a foggy brain i managed to miss the markers for 8 and 9k so i didnt really have a notion where i was on the course , there was a marker for 500m to go and i realised i was close to a pb so i tried as much as possible to push the legs on a bit missed it by 15 seconds in the end but im pleased enough to be that close on a seriously tough course .. did i mention the hills ..

saturday off badly hungover one of the benefits of doing regular training .. no resistance to alcohol, a few pints after paddys day parade, crossmolinas festival of lights... and i was a car crash all saturday which the kids enjoyed immensely as mammy was at work so they were let do whatever they wanted

sunday tri club duathlon .. rain cleared in time for the start, first run few seconds slower than last time, could really feel the 10k in the legs , bike wasnt bad but wasnt anything to get excited about either , got passed earlier than before but didnt lose as much ground so maybe paced it better ? second run was good, legs were looser passed a couple but couldnt quite get up to 2 more that i should have caught ... 8min 27 min and 19min for 2k 14.5k and 4 and a bit k .. transitions were shocking as usual i was 6th 4th and 5th were about 20 seconds in front of me better transitions would make the difference but its only a club duathlon and thats what they are great for learning whats working and whats not

doing a bit more turbo stuff lately albeit only twice a week and once last week.. cant say it did much for my cycle yesterday but my running legs were a lot better for the second run hopefully with brighter mornings and better weather il start to get some proper cycling done as well

woody1

20th to 26th March
monday off
tuesday swimming - up a lane i think did ok struggled on 1800m ish
wednesday usual run while kids in karate 6k
thursday swimming back down a lane one of those days like swimming in porridge just couldnt get a feel for it at all ..1500m
friday felt terrible headache all day did nothing
saturday westport duathlon .. first run quite good, bike felt good at the time blew up at 15k which isnt suprising as club duathlon bike is only 15k .. wouldve liked it to be a minute quicker .. second run ..stung a bit legs were only getting going approaching the finish line.. think i like the short run bike long run format better this one was long run , bike , shorter run
sunday 6k in the woods probably shouldve rested after duathlon but it was such a nice day

Neady83

Good luck with the Nephin Up and Over this weekend Woody, looks like it'll be a nice day for it. Looking forward to hearing how it goes

woody1

27th march to 3rd april
monday easy turbo set up on the patio to enjoy the nice day between fatigue and then having to get off the bike for the kids every few minutes it wasnt very effective but it was a nice hour outside

tuesday swimming 2.4k longest day by far
wednesday usual 6k run in town
thursday swimming again much shorter hard enough work not really getting close to the times id like to be
friday luncthime swim tried to do something a bit structured for a change so did 300 warm up 10 x 100 off 2.30 100 l arm 100 r arm, 100 warm down
saturday -- rest
sunday nephin up and over

sunday morning i was up early and looking out the side windows to have a look at what it was like on nephin, clear and sunny with a small touch of cloud on top.. just perfect..just after 10 i had parked the car and registered and it was begining to brighten up a bit more, there was a good few people milling about , a lot of walkers, and mostly the usual suspects running, with maybe a half dozen that i didnt know at all that had come from out of town ..

format of the race was a 5k ( 3k in reality ) road run.. about 2k ish of mixed trail onto the open mountain and up and down the mountain itself and 5k back on a different road to the village..

the race started at a serious pace sub 4 min km at times over the first 2k, which was a bit too fast for me so i settled back closer to 4.30 and 5 at times until we got to the trail... some / a lot of the trail was runnable ( shuffleable ) in spots it was easier to walk just to get decent footing as the higher it got the wetter and boggier it got.. after about 2k of that we came out onto the open mountain no trail , they had marked the way with electric fencing stakes in fairness lots of them i hadnt been up this route before and its fairly steep hands and feet stuff in places ,in terms of the race , the positions havent really changed since the start.. theres 5 in front , me and 2 other guys make 8 , couple close enough behind us. bit of a gap and then a few more.. were about halfway up.. pace is 20 min kms !!!
gotta got to work will finish later ...

ok so about 2/3 of the way up its very steep but we are making steady progress, i think everybody has the run at the end in the back of their minds, the 2 guys that are level with me have road runners on, no treads, so im hoping that il pass them on the way down, at one stage i look behind and see the first lady gaining ground quickly, within 5 minutes shes past me and moving on up the mountain, along with that , one of the 2 that was with me, moves away with her, im not panicking anyway the first 3 places are long decided, they are over the top on halfway down , just keep plodding away, eventually we are able to stand up properly and stride a bit and before long 4 of us the front 2 and me and the other guy are at the top the front 2 get there about a minute or 2 ahead of us and are gone..downhill at a serious speed, i get to the top just ahead start to go down but im not going anywhere near as fast as the ones in front or indeed the guy behind and soon enough hes past me and gone as well, its incredibly steep and stony , i used to be ok at downhills but i must be well out of practice , within 5 minutes the other 3 are out of sight and someone else has joined in behind me, we stay most of the way down together but as we get close to the bottom and the road, my quads start to give up and i get jelly legs , any time theres a big step, which is every few yards , my arse is scraping the ground , im just folding at the knees, for the sake of the last 100 odd metres of mountain i decide that the best thing is to walk it and see can the legs recover at all, the guy behind comes past, im still hopeful of catching him at least and maybe some more on the road..
get down to the fence and onto the access road, there are order of malta here so i try my best to keep the legs straight for a few yards, jog on down the 500m of trail to the road, legs are better but not great, doing about 5 min kms though so im still hopeful, get out onto the road, grab a drink and walk with it , so i can get it in properly, and set off running again, manage about a km and half at 5 or 5.30 pace , no one visible in front or behind , turn onto another road back towards the village, theres a few little hills in this bit , and although the heart and lungs are good, the legs are not, forced to walk a few times , 4 little hills over the space of a km, spot the next guy in front, about 500m and hes walking too, get going into a jog and hold it for the last 2k, catching all the time but he just does enough to stay in front.. finish up in 9th or 10th i think, 50 something did it , guessing about 15 or 20 had a go at running it .. havent seen any results yet.. quads in bits today .. dont think i couldve done much better , couldnt go any faster up or down, maybe better technique at descending but thats to be learnt ...
but all in all, good event, well run on a lovely day ..

woody1

3rd to 9th april
not a lot to report, after nephin i had legs of stone until thursday , the mistake was probably not going for some kind of recovery on monday, by tuesday i was barely able to move let alone run. a lot of foam rolling , stretching and hot baths got me to a point where i could just about jog on thursday

thurs.. 6k jog, an experiment to see what the pain levels where , i had read somewhere that if i was feeling better after a mile then to keep going, but if not then it would be best to rest for another while, at a mile the legs felt just ok, by 6k i was jogging rather than shuffling... but still stiff, when i got back to the house i e-mailed the cooley legends organisers to see would they change me to the 10k race..

friday was a 5 hour drive to meath, via sligo and a couple of other stop offs ,
stiff as a board getting out of the car

saturday.. cooley legends 10k
did a quick jog out the car and didnt feel too bad. not loose by any means but a lot better than i had been, drove up, signed up, went to get a coffee whilst waiting for the bus to the start and then got on the bus and off we went.. hung around the freezing start line ( windy gap ) for about 10 minutes in a singlet !! and then we were let off ,
first 4k was on the road, went well enough, 3 took off straight away , 4th place i could see but couldnt get to, at some stage before the hill i was passed and dropped to 6th,
got onto the hill, about 200m over 2k ish .. and walk/ran most of it, was catching 5th place all the time, ran down the other side well and caught a bit more, got onto the roads and about 600m from the finish i passed him and he didnt try to race thank god, finished up 5th.. in 47 something .. first over 40.. fairly happy, even with good legs i wouldnt have threatened the top 3..

saturday evening
patsy kelly 5k.. this has turned into a regular event for me and my better half and my brother, i think this is my 4th time doing it.. anyway , back up towards dundalk that evening, parked up and registered ,eventually wandered up to the start line and did a little jog on the way up.. left hip is murdering me, and most of the rest of my legs arent too happy either, did more warming up than ive ever done before, stretched and strided and whatever else i could think of, and reduced the pain to bearable..

lined up almost under the arch, 860 runners makes for a lot of congestion, race started and theres still congestion, anyhow after about 500m of slalom running it seems to settle and whilst the hip ends up being sore the whole way round, everything else is fine, heart and lungs and head are all fine.. i forgot my garmin and i started my stopwatch late, so im only roughly guessing how im doing, i pass 4k at 15.30 something on my watch and i try as hard as possible to raise a sprint, downhill with the wind, but i come round the corner to the clock and see 20.02 and with about 100m to go i just slow down to a complete jog.. come in on 20.18.. even allowing for gun versus chip time, ( which turned out to be minus 8 seconds ) i dont think i wouldve got sub 20 anyway.. but given that during the week i couldnt jog and just before the race i thought a jog would be the best id manage , il take that very happily

nothing sunday or monday, kids are away for a few days though so hopefully tuesday , wednesday, thursday will be productive ..

woody1

sunday monday 9th and 10th were nothing days

tuesday
working from memory, 30 something km bike ride , thought it was going better than it was, but it was just a starter anyway, bit over an hour, not working overly hard

swam in the evening with the club, a tough enough session, even hiding at the back of the line

wednesday tri club running session , something like 15 mins w/u, 6 x 2 mins at 5k pace, 4 x 1 at almost flat out.. warm down.. hips were sore still from saturday, wasnt running as freely as id like but it went ok

thursday lunchtime swim to make up for missing the evening swim, 100 repeats not as many as id like but lacking motivation

friday .. nothing

saturday .. 6k run , running a bit freer

sunday .. nothing .. hungover
monday.. 6k run in the morning again legs are improving .. 35k bike ride in the afternoon.. enjoyed this, went out with the wind, generally a bad idea, but when i turned into it i felt pretty good. wasnt much slower coming back than going ..

not as good a week as it couldve been.... but not completely wasted either.. have resolved to cycle more..and run less... we'll see

woody1

mon 17th to sunday 23rd

mon morning 6k run.. afternoon 35k bike

tuesday 2500 swim .. things starting to ramp up a bit

wednesday 6k run with o/h

thursday 2300 swim .. 20 x 100 off 2 mins i think ,

friday sat sunday, trainer road turbos, 1 hr and 2 x 45 mins

woody1

monday 24th off
tuesday 1500 group swim
wednesday.. afternoon usual kids in karate 6k run..evening turbo 1 hr..
thursday..2k group swim
friday.. 1700 swim , 21k bike ..group tt training..
sat .. off
Sunday .. 8k run
Monday.. 60k cycle.. evening o/w swim not very far, just a bit of paddling about to get used to the cold..

woody1

not much to this week
tuesday swim think about 1600 at times felt like i was swimming in tar
wednesday usual 35-40 minute run while kids in karate ,
thursday off communion in the house at the weekend, all day spent in the garden / house.. was watering plants at 9 when i shouldve been swimming
friday bike / tt training with tri club.. warm up lap and then 5 x 5mins flat out..

sat sunday .. nothing too busy with communion stuff

woody1

working from memory so might not have it completely right

monday 7k run in the woods
tuesday nothing .. was on the bog, turning turf, by the time i was finished i just didnt feel like bothering with swimming
wednesday.. usual 6k run round town, legs felt unusually light, good pace all the way round ,
did a bit of open water splashing - cant really call it swimming - maybe about 3 or 400m later on in the evening, just getting used to the cold as much as anything and trying to recover my confidence in the water
thursday - bog again. couldnt be bothered afterwards again
friday saturday sunday. better half on call weekend, so the plan was to turbo the 3 days
in the end i did 2 and ran on sunday in the woods, the boys cycled and i ran and or pushed for 5k .. so 2 x 1hr turbos and a 5k run

considering im not running as much lately, im down to about twice a week ish, the legs feel surprisingly light, im gonna keep an eye out for a local race just to see where i am..

turbos are going well but probably need to re-test as i think they are not quite really hard enough..

swimming wise i could do with getting a few more trips to the lake / sea in , during the weekends at least .. metalman is only 3 weeks away

snailsong

Fair play, Woody. The Key is getting the turf cut early. If you get it turned and we get more of this dry weather it'll hardly need footing. Have you good spreading ground?

Oh, and are you doing good any of the Mayo ac 5k series? The first is Foxford on tomorrow week.

woody1

didnt think id be discussing the ins and outs of turf cutting on this page ..

most of it doesnt need footing, a little bit already has been, but thank god most of it can be left where it is, its between 4 different houses so we have plenty of help , but its also a big area, with any luck itl be another couple of weeks before i hear any more about it ..

more importantly .. yes i am hoping to run in foxford on the 23rd, i havent really looked at the other locations, but if any are close by il try to get to them as well.. just looked at it there, castlebar should be ok as well

snailsong

woody1 wrote: »

didnt think id be discussing the ins and outs of turf cutting on this page ..

most of it doesnt need footing, a little bit already has been, but thank god most of it can be left where it is, its between 4 different houses so we have plenty of help , but its also a big area, with any luck itl be another couple of weeks before i hear any more about it ..

more importantly .. yes i am hoping to run in foxford on the 23rd, i havent really looked at the other locations, but if any are close by il try to get to them as well.. just looked at it there, castlebar should be ok as well

Hope I'll see you in Foxford. I'll be away for Castlebar but might get to Ballinrobe. That's the fastest one.

Neady83

Woody you need one of these

woody1

thats a cool machine.. will have to show it to the boss !

i have a feeling we will have to stick to the high effort - low cost method for another while yet though

woody1

mon 15th was off

tuesday 16th .. 1000m ish swim in the pool, the lanes have been removed and we are swimming around the pool to get used to o/w.. dont like it .. probably wont be in again

wednesday.. changed the route for the kids in karate run.. added a km and a half to it, first 5 was very quick .. 4.15 kms .. rest was 4.30s far too fast

thursday .. last minute decision to jump into an 8k race a bit up the road from me, legs still a bit heavy from previous days run.. flat enough for 2k , hilly for 4k and flat / downhill for 2k.. started easy enough, was watching the pace a bit and waiting for legs to warm up.. after 2k of hills i was ready to give up..went through 5k in 21 mins so pace was fairly high even though i felt terrible.. so after another 2k i was really burnt out altogether .. thankfully the road dropped away downhill fairly sharply and that helped the legs get turning over .. gave it as much as i had over the last km .. ended up with a decent pb , admittedly its a year since i last ran 8k, 90 seconds to 2 minutes ish.. will have to check back through the log to find out.. 8k in 33. 43

friday off completely done in after wednesday and thursday..

saturday . 45 minute turbo in the morning, 500m open water swim in the afternoon.. and 5k run with better half and the boys in the evening ..

sunday .. hour turbo in the morning ..

woody1

brain a bit fried, long weekend with different bits and pieces happening, this might not be totally accurate

monday off i think ,

tuesday .? 5k race. flat course, nice evening, ran 19.37 according to race clock , which is what ive been chasing now for a good while.. happy to go well under 20,

wednesday, usual 6k run around town, legs were a lot heavier this week, slow going.

thursday swam in enniscrone, sea was flat calm, wanted to go a bit further offshore but there were jetskis about, and they were a bit closer than i wouldve been happy with, swam about 900m on and off around the pier


friday, delayed heading up to slane til sat morning to do a club aquathon, arrived and the sea was very choppy, and i was sure i wouldnt be swimming, but in fairness to the guys they moved the swim up along a bit of a headland that was providing shelter and the water was fine, at this stage i had decided i wasnt swimming and i couldnt be arsed getting into the wetsuit.. water was fine and by the time it was over it was almost flat calm.. did the run. just to justify being there, spent the night being annoyed with myself..

saturday .. slane..
sunday .. driving

woody1

its been a strange week to say the least ..
the cyclist killed in mayo as a result of a crash last sunday was a clubmate and a neighbour,
most of the week since sunday afternoon has been spent in a state of shock and sadness..
needless to say i havent done a lot of training..and im not too worried about that at the moment..
got a run in on wednesday.. 6k easy enough no real pace..was good for my head..
sorry forgot.. swam in the lake on monday.. flat calm about 4 feet deep the whole way round.. arms very heavy for most of it .. 15-1600 ish

was supposed to do the first race of the metalman swimming series this morning .. usual story got there looked ok, built myself up.. walked into the sea for the start.. got bounced around a bit..this is before the start and decided that this sh*t wasnt for me.. i think thats me and sea swimming done with.. other than absolute flat calm mirror days..the whole thing is just too stressful...im sure if i worked on it i could probably get over it , if i swam a few times a week over the summer, but who has time for that ? can barely get in once a week as it is..

on the plus side .. the better half came second in the ladies distance race and the brother in law took it all in his stride as usual and just got in and got on with it .. ( for those dont know, he has downs syndrome.) and finished in the top half of the results ..

anyway .. i think its gonna be an easy enough week or 2 until i can clear the head and get back into it... westport tri in 2 weeks .. with any luck a reasonably calm swim and i can get back into things

snailsong

So sad about your neighbour, K. I didn't know him but a few of my club mates did.
The swim in Westport is sheltered enough, should be ok. Doing the run as part of a relay myself, I'll see can I spot you.

Neady83

I was very saddened to hear about the cyclist killed in Mayo Woody and my sympathies to you and your club mates. The roads seem to be getting more dangerous unfortunately. It certainly puts some perspective on life.

woody1

thanks guys.. it being so close to home makes it all a lot more real.. its very different reading about accidents happening and seeing the reality up close ...

woody1

going from memory for last week
so june 4th , 5th and 6th i did 3 turbos to finish off the training plan i was following the last 2 were almost wind downs but it was something handy to do and convince myself that i was doing something worthwhile

tuesday and wednesday ended up doing nothing, wasnt the plan but
life got in the way

thursday , a few of us met up at the lake , there was a bit of wind chop on it
which was good for me as i need to experience crappy conditions .. and the lake is shallow so its a good place to do it about 1000 or 1100m swimming
wetsuit on a bit better too

friday. club aquathon . 750 swim, 5k run.. tried to swim easy / controlled took about 300m before i was mentally comfortable.. sighted terribly on the last leg and lost ground a bit , but was pleasantly surprised at my position getting out.. i have no idea of time and of course others could have been taking it easy too..
transition wasnt bad.. got running .. found it hard enough. had taken on a lot of water and felt sick.. also balance wasnt great.. after about 3k was feeling better with the exception of having a stitch.. finished in around 39 minutes .. havent a clue how that splits up.. happy enough though

saturday.. metalman.. went to support .. a lot of chop.. not my cup of tea.. didnt bother

sunday .. turbo.. ftp test.. left it all out there.. had a headache for a lot of the day after this.. power waay up.. a lot of it is probably because i wimped out during the last one.. even so.. nice to see improvements ..

just the one run in 9 days ! i guess the last few weeks have been a bit scattered.. time to get a bit organised and squeeze at least 2 in