There's Cocaine in it!!

boysinblack

Said I would give one of these a bash! Hopefully help me to record my training and give me something to look back on next year and maybe one of you will enjoy reading it!!

Background.

April 2014- 24 Years old and after putting on 2 Stone since leaving college due to a love of sweets and partaking in no exercise whats so ever! I decided a serious change was needed so started running 5k nightly. Progressed from 30 mins and needing breaks down to about 23 mins in a couple months and the weight started to fall off me and I gradually began to properly enjoy exercising for the first time in my life!!

Decided to tackle Achill Roar Sport as goal to work my training towards and expand out from just running .Bought a Giant Defy 2 through work and joined a gym in order to start swimming. Did roar and finished 40th despite a really tough swim due to a serious lack of swimming outdoors experience. Decided then that I would go give tri events and training a proper go and see how I would get on. Just competed in the Donadea Duathlon which didnt go the best due a very poor cycle Doing the Kilashee sprint tri next week and that be my events for the year done.

11.4 in weight now and hopefully with the right training can be some what competitive in tri events next year. Ive trained hard on my runs in the last few months and through the local parkrun and other 5k races have managed to get my PB down to 20.40. However cycling, swimming and my overall fitness need serious improvement! Main goal for the next three months is to train hard and compete in sprint tri events in the new year and move onto the olympic distance towards the summer.

2014 Race Summary.
41st Achill Roar Sport
66th Donadea Duathlon
Kilashee Sprint Tri....

Plans for 2015.
Join a Tri Club.
Compete in at least 15 events.
Run 5k in sub 19.
Cycle 20k in sub 35.
Do a half IM. (Hopefully Lost Sheep)
Finish Top Ten in any kind of Tri event. (Unlikely)

MojoMaker

Best of luck at the start of your journey dude - be interesting to see the updates here, I predict some big gains.

boysinblack

Gonna have a crack at keeping this updated this year have some more time on my hands these days.

Results of my 2015 Plans
Join a Tri Club.- Joined Naas.
Compete in at least 15 events. Think I did 16 in the end.
Run 5k in sub 19. Never got close to this 19.40 being my best
Cycle 20k in sub 35.- Think I clocked a 32 min 20k.
Do a half IM. (Hopefully Lost Sheep) Did Dublin and Lost Sheep (Blew up badly in both and didn't finish Lost Sheep).
Finish Top Ten in any kind of Tri event. (Unlikely)- Won a local Triathlon.

2016 Plans/Dreams
Win My Age Category in the National Series. (Unlikely)
Qualify for the Super Series.
Top 8 in a National Series.
Run sub 19.20 off the bike.
Medal In Lisbon in the EU Champs. (Highly Unlikely)

Obviously pretty ambitious plans but I am only really at triathlon a year and physical exercise for a year. So would be hopeful by the tail end of this season I will have reached the required standards to achieve most of my goals.


Two Races Done so far;

PORTLAOISE

Very sick and on antibiotics the week before the race. Touch and go whether or not I would race it but with Lisbon fast approaching I decided to do it.

Swim.
Lined up third in my lane behind two good swimmers and hung on for 750 to exit the pool in 10.42 and third overall

T1.
Was a mess it was only my second event with my shoes on the bike and I lost serious time putting my feet properly in the shoes.

Bike.
By the time by shoes where on the leaders where long gone. I started to struggle early on and was lacking power and motivation as I trudged through the cycle. I got passed 1k from the end to drop back to 4th and there wasn't much I could do about it. Rolled into T2 with a bike time of 32.53.

T2.
Quick and easy.

Run.
All out , heart rate through the roof! Passed 1k in and held on from there to finish 5th in a run time of 20.21 and overall time of 1.06:08.


Nenagh.

First National Series of the year and a week after portloaise but feeling a whole lot better going into the race.

Swim.
Had to lead the lane which I wasn't happy about, would have loved a fast draft. Switched with the lad in second after 300m but he let me back in front after 400m. Exited the pool in 10.52 so not much done on last week.

T1.
Complete mare. Elastics broke, lost the head and serious time trying to get my feet in. Much more practice needed here and determined to have my T1 fixed by my next triathlon.

Bike.
Felt I made good progress on the first 10k out and wasn't far away from the front of the non intervarsity contenders at the turnaround point. However I seemed to die a death on the way back in and posted a very disappointing bike time of 34:24. Second bad bike time in two weeks which is strange as it was by far my strongest discipline last year.

T2.
In and out job.

Run.
Tough ould run with a few drags which ended up being 5.3k. Was happy to average 4.03 per k though and posted a run split of 21:25.

Overall.
Finished in 16th with a time of 1:08:15 and no had real complaints. 5 weeks to Lisbon and my next race and with some hard sessions on my run and bike planned and some T1 work, I would be hopeful I can continue improving.

joey100

I was 6th in Laois, you had a good lead though and I didn't see you up the road on the run. Well done, a good enough standard down there this year too.

That's some good swimming, do you have a swim back ground?

Any race in particular you are aiming to peak at this year?

boysinblack

joey100 wrote: »

I was 6th in Laois, you had a good lead though and I didn't see you up the road on the run. Well done, a good enough standard down there this year too.

That's some good swimming, do you have a swim back ground?

Any race in particular you are aiming to peak at this year?

Ya competitive enough race for that time of year! No couldn't hold my breathe under water this time last year but my club has some great swimmers and a very good swimming routine which really helped me along.

Hoping to peak for Lisbon and then a race at the back end of the season more than likely Jailbreak in Cobh.

MojoMaker

Will you be back at HOTW again this year Mike?

Nice report on Laois, and congrats on that swim - holy moly.

boysinblack

MojoMaker wrote: »

Will you be back at HOTW again this year Mike?

Nice report on Laois, and congrats on that swim - holy moly.

Yep booked to go down. Heading down yourself Dave?

MojoMaker

Aye - looking forward to it already.

boysinblack

Sunday 17th April

Solo Sunday Spin. Was down with the inlaws for the weekend in cork, with it being the day after the race I did a easy 60k Spin Average 27.4K with HR 131. Was lovely to cycle out near the sea, don't quite get the same lovely air in Kildare!!

Mon 18th April

Rest Morning.

Group Evening Run. 2k warm-up, Drills and then 4*1k at 4.15 with a minute rest in between. Felt nice and easy and was followed by a 2k warm-down.

Tues 19th April

Morning Swim with a clubmate. 300 warm-up followed by 450 *4 at 6.35,6.38,6.39,6.45 and 300 warm-down.

Lunch Run solo. Nice and Easy 7.5k at 5.10 pace with 148 hr.

Evening Cycle. Easy spin around flats of Kildare with a clubmate, Out and back 61k, averaged 29kphm at 141 HR.

Wed 20th April

Group morning swim. Hot and Heavy. 400 warm-up with drills and sprints. Followed by 400m off 6.30 including rest followed by 4*100m at 1.40. Repeated 3 times. The first 400 came in at 5.40 and it didn't slow up much from there!

Group evening run. 2K warmup followed by 8*2 mins flat to the boards with 2 min recovery. Pace for the 2mins on was 3.46,3.35,3.28,3.40,3.38,3.37,3.49,3.41.

Thur 21st April

Solo Morning Swim. Total recovery swim at a very slow pace. 2.7k split into 1k,1k,700m.

Evening Group Turbo. Nice and easy Turbo planned for tonight. 10 min warm-up , 10 min threshold, 10 min recovery,10 min threshold and 10 min warm-down.

boysinblack

Friday 22th April

Planned rest day.

Saturday 23th April

Morning Turbo+S/C.

Hour and 15 mins of sufferfeast hills. The absolute bants...

Followed by a one hour strength and condition class. Mainly working on my core.

Saturday Evening was spent getting a bike fit on my P3 at the bicycledesigncentre in Naas with Brendan Whelan. Couldn't recommend the guy enough, received a top quality fit and some great advice. I never received a proper fit when buying the bike and it turns out my setup was all wrong. The bars alone where dropped 25mm :eek:!

Sunday 24th April

Morning Cycle.

Group of three of us went out on the TT Bikes to do a three hour spin which included the Athy Triathlon bike route. Did a couple of 20 min tempo pieces in the 91k spin with an average pace 31.4km/h. New bike fit felt good and was happy to be comfortable in the position on such a long spin!

Afternoon Swim.

Better half wanted to go swimming so did 1.5k in blocks of about 500m at a steady enough pace. (forgot my watch)

Monday 25th April

Morning-Rest

Group evening run. 2K warm-up followed by 1*6 1 Kilometer Intervals with 1 min recovery and a 2k warm-down. Pace for the 1k was set as 4 mins for the first once and 3.45 for the rest. My splits where 3.54,3.42,3.44,3.42,3.43, 3.42. Happy out with them splits and starting to see slow improvement in my run.

Tuesday 26th April

Morning- Watt Bike.

Set was designed to help boost my cadence which is pitifully low.
10 Mins warm-up at 135 hr
5 min interval made up of 30 seconds flat out with no resitance and 30 seconds recovery repeated for 5 mins.
10 Mins recovery at 135 hr.
5 min Interval as above.
10 Mins recovery at 135 hr.
5 min Interval as above.
10 mins warm-down as above.

Lunchtime run

Nice and easy 8k at 5:08 pace

boysinblack

Sorry been busy in work last few weeks so haven't been able to update!


Wednesday 27th April

Morning Group Swim
Hour long set with some fast 400, 300 and 100 meters.

Evening Group Turbo.

10 min warm up with 5 min threshold followed by 2 min off with a 10 min cool down.

Thursday 28th April

Morning Group Swim

Handy recover set 2,7500 meters made up of drills.

Evening Group Turbo

15 min warm up , 5 mins all out followed by 5 mins recover by 5, 10 min cool down to finish.

Friday 29th April

Morning Group Swim

3.3k drills and fast 100's


Saturday 30th April

Life enforced rest day.

Sunday 1st May

Down in cork for the weekend so cycled out to kinsale from the city to investigate the kinsale king of the hill course for later in the year. Was just over 70k in two and half hours. Followed the cycle up with a 4k easy run off the bike.

Monday 2nd May.

Another life got in the way rest day.

Tuesday 3rd May.

Morning Solo Run
Up at 5am to catch up yesterday missed run set. 2k warm up and warm down sandwiched between 7*1k repeats with a 1 minute break first one at 4 min rest around around the 3.45 mark.

Evening Solo Swim.

Quick 2.5k swim in the evening with some tempo 500's.

Wednesday 4th May

Morning Group Swim

3k with some very fast 300 meters repeats.

Thursday 5th May.

Morning Group Swim

Easy Swim of about 2.5k.

Evening Group Turbo

15 min warm up , 5 intervals of 3 mins all out and then 2 mins run off the bike with 5 mins recovery in between 10 min cool down to finish.

Friday 6th May.

Morning Group Swim

Technique and drills work for 3k.

Saturday 7th May.

Coach told me to race once more Lisbon so went off down to claregalway for the last national series duathlon of the year. Pretty wet and miserable day but was looking forward to trying to improve my bike split on my last two events.

First run I wasn't even mapped. Ran the 4.3k in 3.49 pace which was good enough for me but left me in 25th overall.

As per usual shoes where an issue leaving T1 again , more work needed. But I soon started to catch people on the bike and made good headway all the way to T2 to exit the bike in 6th with a time of 33.08 for I think just under 21k.

Last run was only 2k. I managed to hold my position until the 1k turnaround when two lads when by me, tried to put in some sort of a fight but the pace was beyond me. Averaged 3.52 for the 2k to give me a total time of 58.35 and a 8th place finish. Was reasonably happy with the my times as that is really as good as I am at the moment.

Evening Group Swim.

Jumped into the barrow in Athy on Saturday after the race for my first open water swim of the year. Just did 1k but was nice to have the wetsuit back on!

Sunday 8th May

Group Cycle.

Handy cycle just over 2.15 hours for 66k spin.

boysinblack

Monday 9th May.

Group Swim.

2,750 easy recovery swim.

Group Run.

2k warm up and warm down sandwiched between 7*1k repeats with a 1 minute break. The first one at 3.55 min and then rest should been between 3.40- 3.45 mark but totally blew on the last two though, averaging 3.52 and then 3.59

Tuesday 10th May

Solo Watt bike Session.

Back doing my cadence building set.

10 Mins warm-up at 135 hr
5 min interval made up of 30 seconds flat out with no resistance and 30 seconds.
10 Mins recovery at 135 hr.
5 min Interval as above.
10 Mins recovery at 135 hr.
5 min Interval as above.
10 mins warm-down at 135 hr.

Afternoon Solo Run.

Easy 8k at 5 min pace.

Wednesday 11th May.

Group Morning Swim.

Warm up 500m

Then 30*100m coming it at 1.20-1.25 leaving on 1.40. Was tough going as three of us switched the lead on these every 500m.

Group Evening Run.

2k warm-up followed by 10*1 min on and 1 min off and 2k warm down. Was averaging about 3.20-3.25 on the 1 mins. Natural pace is not my thing.

Another big weekend of training planned, followed by the howth aquathon and then its taper from there to lisbon....

boysinblack

boysinblack wrote: »

2016 season pretty much done (might do pulse). Never quite managed to keep this updated probably to do with the fact I raced 16th triathlons this summer. Ultimately raced myself into a hole and have gone backwards badly since July. Hard winter of training ahead for the super series and the decision on whether or not to get a coach needs to be sorted soon...

Results of my 2016 Plans

2016 Plans/Dreams
Win My Age Category in the National Series. (Unlikely) (Third, best I could have achieved really)
Qualify for the Super Series. (Qualified in Two provinces)
Top 8 in a National Series. (Achieved in Kinsale)
Run sub 19.20 off the bike. (Achieved in Two Provinces)
Medal In Lisbon in the EU Champs. (Highly Unlikely) (Never came close)

MojoMaker

Some big jumps this year Mike. Best of luck with the winter season and I predict big things next year.

Kurt_Godel

Thats a lot of races! I can understand where you're coming from though, we train to race, the race is what its all about...

Can I ask what sort of training you did over the summer, between the races? Very hard to do much in between each, I'd imagine. "Racing yourself into race shape" is a delicate balance between competing and burnout.

boysinblack

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Thats a lot of races! I can understand where you're coming from though, we train to race, the race is what its all about...

Can I ask what sort of training you did over the summer, between the races? Very hard to do much in between each, I'd imagine. "Racing yourself into race shape" is a delicate balance between competing and burnout.

I kept up my normal training regime for most the summer. Basically hard run Monday, watt bike+ easy run Tuesday. Swim hard wed+ easy run. Swim easy Thursday+ hard turbo. Then took Friday or Saturday depending on raceday.

Looking back I think less would have more here! Havent ran over 10k or cycled over an hour and half since early May. Which has definitely affected my fitness.

Kurt_Godel

Thanks- very interested to read that you kept intensity between races (over volume, I guess). It'll be interesting to see how you go next season with some tweaking/coaching.

Any goals for next year? Are you going to the ITU AG champs?

boysinblack

Only real goal is not to make a tit of myself in the super series! Spend the winter trying to improve across the board see what happens.

Think ill head to rotterdam alright. Love lisbon this year such a fun weekend. You planning on heading over?

Kurt_Godel

Yeah R'dam will be the goal for me- I like that it happens at the end of Summer, something to work towards.

They are great fun weekends alright, and for shorter-distance athletes they are a good substitute for IM razzmatazz.