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I'm too young for a midlife crisis
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RacoonQueen wrote: »Ah dude - good to see you hiding out over here. I knew there was something about that log of yours I liked
Great to see you getting some tri's done...I must try get down to Wex and join you for a spin some weekend. You'll have to give me the planned date of next years Ben5k so I don't plan IM's for the same weekend again!
I would love to meet you for a spin some day if you were around, I know some good routes now.
Iron man now eh? That's what we're dealing with, unbelieveable. I'll definitely give you plenty of advance notice next year.0 -
You might have mentioned it but I didn't see it, any word on the Argon??
Yeah left it with Peter in B2R and he thought cause of where it was it didn't need repair - apparantly the top tube is not the worst place to get a crack and there's extra layers under it or something. Just told me to keep an eye on it. No word back from Argon on warranty (it would have been within warranty if I'd registered it on their site when I bought it but I didn't)
I've marked around the crack so I can see if it spreads which is what they told me to do, so fingers crossed it'll be ok. I use it for hitting Wicklow mostly these days but I'm happy enough that it's ok...but I will of course be needing to replace it now next year
I'll downgrade him to winter easy training or turbo bike then I think... 0 -
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Monday July 24th
AM
Morning easy run. 4.2 miles 8:50 mile. Tired.
PM
Managed to make it out to an early OW swim. ~2k.
Tuesday July 25th
PM
Shattered Tuesday morning and missed morning session. Out for run Tuesday evening for 3x1.5 mile @ 7:15/7:20 per/mi pace
Bit faster than predicted HIM run pace. Not particularly hard work.
Wednesday July 26th
AM
Back into the pool for early morning swim. Can't remember what I did and strava isn't loading it for me to check...
PM
Midweek bike...out to do a few midweek hills. Rain started pelting down about 45 mins in...which turned to hailstones and I could hardly see 5 metres in front of me. My next turn was up the hill towards Glencullen and back downhill to go home via Tibradden but didn't fancy that in rush hour traffic and horrendous weather...so called it a day and headed home...
Followed with a very easy 2 mile ish run. I was already freezing and wet and hadn't turned hot water on...so figured I may as well keep moving.
Thursday July 27th
Shattered all week and knew I had to change things around. Busy with other things this week which probably contribute to the shatteredness so dropping some plans to try and protect myself. Easy post work run...and attempted early night.
Saturday July 29th
Up early for Tri Tyrone Middle distance. Report below...
Sunday July 30th
AM
Early to bed on Satruday after the race and early start. Awake at 5:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep...contemplated getting up for an early spin but after getting up for breakfast for 30 mins or so at 6:30, went back to bed and dozed in and out of sleep until 9. Out for a very easy and flat recovery spin at 10:30
75k ish 25.5kph - felt like I could do double that...but got stuck in about 4 heavy rain showers and I'm a fair weather cyclist
PM
Legs feel grand after yesterday but the runner in me believes in active recovery 2.5 miles very easy...trying to keep HR under 130. Legs feel even more grand after. Not sure if tomorrow will be fun. 0 -
Tri Tyrone Middle Distance
Up early for Tri Tyrone. After the week I'd had with work/feeling jaded I would have jacked this in if it wasn't for having a car pool organised. Incidentally I think my lift would have too. Up at stupid AM with about 3.5 hours sleep and hit the road for 5:30ish.
After a 2 hour journey with a convoy arriving after we all bumped into each other at a petrol station on the way up...we got to a wet and miserable Lough Eskragh. Ahhh this isn't starting well lads...we can't even turn into the muddy field. Boy was I glad I wasn't driving. Parking was fine, plenty of it but field was marshy and as soon as I stood out of the car I narrowly missed about ten piles of cow sh*t.
Up to registration which was relatively quick and painless...but the thoughts of just turning around and going home were strong. I was planning for a strong bike...and wet roads and rain were not part of that plan. Out of registration and the rain has stopped, a few spots of blue sky were starting to peak through the clouds. Back to the car to get bike and bags and stomp back through the marsh with the bike on my shoulder to avoid running through too much cow crap.
Bike racked, transition ready, wetsuit on...and nearly time for briefing. Crap should I have taken a portaloo stop?
Swim
Into the water and starting almost bang on time. The lake was warm and the start was pretty manic. Have never been in a swim that was that manic, I started too far back and ended up stuck behind slower swimmers trying to get past...nice elbow to the googles probably less than 100m in..and a glug of lake water. Great. Got my bearings, fixed the lens and kept moving. Took about 500m of jostling past slower swimmers before I got into clear water and could start moving. I saw a group up ahead and headed for them...keeping an eye as I passed I noticed that a few of them were girls, got to them and moved past...I was pretty much in completely clear water by the end of the first lap and having never been in this position before, found it hard to know where I was going as I normally just follow everyone else :pac: So, had to get my bearings at each buoy to see where the next group of swimmers ahead where. As we hit the second lap, I started to realise that I really should have made that portaloo visit before the swim. So mulled over whether to visit in T1 or T2. The way transition was marked out, it made more sense to go straight for it in T1 as the bike in and run out point wouldn't bring me past the loos. This was well debated during lap 2...about halfway through lap 2, some swimmers started appearing at my side...noticed it was the girls. I jumped on a hip and drafted my way home. About 5 of us came out of the water together.
Swim time by the time I crossed the mat 36:27 / 35:xx on my watch which was stopped as soon as I got on my feet. 35 was the goal so pretty much bang on target.
T1
Wetsuit down to my waist and straight in for a nature break...back out to my bike and a couple of people I got out of the water with were still there. What are yee doing?
Helmet on, glasses on, socks on, shoes on...unrack bike and go.
2:19 not bad considering the stop.
Bike
Long enough run out of transition to the bike mount line...not great in cleats on wet road. Anyway, onto the bike and straight down to the bars into a headwind and past a few people out before me. Head down and hammer time. The bike is a stretch out of transition, left turn, short stretch u turn and then about 13k or so straight up to a roundabout and back round. 3 laps and then back down the stretch back to the lake. I turn like an oil tanker so a u-turn x 3 was going to be great craic. I had a fairly good idea going up to the race that I had a good chance of placing or winning. So, was a little disappointed to be racking my bike right beside a pretty green shiv. She's gotta be a better cyclist than me...and sure enough she seemed to be leading the pack. Was hard to tell with some if they were male or female with some of the guys being so skinny, but think I counted that I was in 4th place.
The last one back I caught shortly after the u-turn (which I took like an oil tanker with flat tyres). Then somewhere up the road I passed another, who I hadn't noticed earlier...so now I'm definitely in 3rd, right?
The bike course wasn't bad. There was a hill under a bridge which had a bit of bite...and was fairly unexpected from my studying of the route map but grand up and over it and onto the flat. Lap one of the bike was all about settling in and learning the twists and turns of the bike, looking out for landmarks so I'd know what to expect for lap 2 and 3 and so I could prepare to get my gearing right (or what I think is right). As other cyclists started to pass on the other side, I started looking out for the women again...again only spotted two and noticed that I had reeled them in a bit. Roundabout was huge and roads were open, so in theory we were meant to follow the rules of the road but there were two police officers on the roundabout and a few marshals and the motorists were ace, on one of my approaches there was traffic on the roundabout and they stopped to let me go.
Anyway, round the rounabout and back onto the straight and back the way we came. Head down, lets chase. The way back was more pleasant than the way out as I'd gauged the distance now and had made mental notes of where everything was for the way back. However, as I approached the bridge and downhill, I forgot. Wasn't until two guys went past me I remembered I should change my gears and let the hill, gearing and wind carry me down.
Back up towards the turnaround and on red alert as the men start coming the other way. All of a sudden there were three girls ahead of me now, hey where did she come from??? Again, I noticed I was closer to them now than I was at the last turn. There was a cannondale, a green shiv and now Galway woman.
Around the u and ready for lap 2. I can't remember now where I caught the cannondale, think it was towards the end of lap two, so surely now it should only be the shiv and the materialising galway woman ahead?
About maybe 3/4 of the way into lap 2, the green shiv couldn't be missed up ahead. Nice one. Target locked in. Within a few minutes I'd overtaken her and straight past Galway girl and onwards. Time to put a bit more work in now and build a gap...after the roundabout they were nowhere to be seen which meant they had to be on the roundabout. So the second half of lap two was head down, use the knowledge of the road ahead you built up in lap one to nail this one. After the next u-turn...I could see the gap had grown again. So now, it was all about holding on...all I had to do was maintain my pace and assume they maintain theirs, that'll mean I continue to build a gap.
Last lap flew by, turn off and back down towards the lake. I vastly underestimated the distance back to transition and opened the velcro on my shoes far too early but the breeze against my feet was welcome.
Down a hill into transition, out of shoes, off the bike and fricken leggit.
2:53:41 bit slower than I'd have predicted / wanted but it was a teeny bit long :pac:
T2
Rack bike, shoes on, helmet off. Out.
42 seconds.
Run
Nice big hill to climb on the way out of transition. Feckin great. Out onto the road and settle in. Surprised to find the legs feeling good. A glance at the watch and I see myself at 7:20 / mile pace. Ah here, that can't be right. :eek:
I had hoped for a 1:40 - 1:45 run. That was a, if everything goes exactly to plan time. So thats about 7:40 - 8 min/mile. Second mile was 7:30 and as I settled in, the pace started to slow a little but I was moving well and feeling comfortable. Run was two laps..so again, could keep an eye on what was happening behind me and what the gap was.
At the end of lap one, I calculated the gap at about 5 minutes. That should be enough to allow for a blow up, right?
Wrong.
Lap 2 was hard from the outset. The sun was beating down, I'd taken on two glasses of water at the turn but from around the 5/6 mile point I realised that another err nature stop would be very useful right now. The demons came in, my stomach was fighting me, my head was fighting me and every 10 metres felt more like 100. I fought the urge to stop and lie down on the grass. My pace was slowing with each step and I knew I was in trouble. A Pulser passed and tried to take me with him but I was struggling. My pace dropped to 9 min miles in lap 2..and beyond...to the turnaround and the gap was now much, much smaller. Roughly 2 mins. I'd have a serious battle now to hang on to first place and I'd have to put the foot down...I was aching for the lake to come into view as that would give me a boost that the finish line was in sight. Alas just before it came into sight, with about 800m/1k to go...I got caught and she went past me with ease...with 400m to go...I see people going crazy on the other side. Balls, someone else is coming and sure enough she sprints past. Tried to reply to her as finish was now in sight but she had more in her than I had. I'm sure the chase helped both of them but I'd nothing left to reply with.
Over the line in 3rd place with just 28 seconds between me and first place (lot of time to lose over 10k)
Dreadful run @ 1:51:39 - lots of issues on the run that I've been having before. Disappointing given the work I put into running but it is partly medical so what can ya do other than learn to run harder through it - a 1 min stop in a portaloo on the run course, may have helped but I'll never know. Yesterday, partly my head and letting the demons in and not fighting back hard enough. But that's all part of the learning process I guess. More races will teach you that.
5:24:48 for 3rd overall - the dreadful run, means I was about 10 mins off 'if everything goes perfectly' target. But this was my first middle distance so I've no idea where my prediction really came from.
edit: in honesty probably the best swim and bike I've ever done in a race. So really can't complain about them...but I'll bitch on about my run for a few weeks 0 -
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RacoonQueen wrote: »Don't think it's the most amazing place to hang around for a week but seems to have a decent rail network and isn't far from Florence so can take a trip there one of the days after the race.
Florence is grand but if you can hire a car you should do Lucca, San Gimignano and Siena. Venice is accessible by train too and also well worth the journey - in fact, forget the Iron Man, just go traveling around Italy for the week on the bike
. Am totally jealous now (except for the swim/run/bike thing you have to do first...). 0 -
Annie get your Run wrote: »Florence is grand but if you can hire a car you should do Lucca, San Gimignano and Siena. Venice is accessible by train too and also well worth the journey - in fact, forget the Iron Man, just go traveling around Italy for the week on the bike. Am totally jealous now (except for the swim/run/bike thing you have to do first...).
Only have 2.5 days if even post race to have a look around and don't wanna be doing too much travelling. If I wasn't so broke I'd stay in Italy a few more days and stay around. Florence is about an hour by train so handy enough. Your list is all way too much post Ironman travelling - I hate travelling.
Guy in work is married to an Italian and has been telling me of all the places I should go - Florence was on his list for certain food (can't remember what it was now). If it is food related, I'm all for it!0 -
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Monday July 31st
AM
Into the pool for a small bit more recovery. 32 min easy swimming with pull buoy. Body tired. Bad nights sleep on Friday/Saturday and Sunday as much a reason for that as race recovery.
PM
Slow easy 30 min ish run with a friend. 9:30 miles...couldn't have run any faster probably. Feeling very tired...thinking maybe I raced harder than I thought.
Tuesday
Hmmm...I'm shattered. Should probably take a day off...
Wednesday
AM
Still shattered. But body feeling fine. Managed to get to the pool for a decent session for an hour. Can't remember what I did (really should start trying to keep track of myself better)
PM
6x1k run. Averaging about 4:05. Was still feeling shattered but body was feeling fine when I did get myself out training. Finally realised tiredness was due to being female rather than race recovery...
Thursday
AM
After realising that tiredness was not race / sickness related. Easier to drag my fatigued body out of bed for a swim session. Following Tango's 9 weeks to Ironman plan (as best I can) at the moment, so yeah, was one of those sessions.
PM
Easy, low HR run. 6.2 miles / @ 8:32/mile
Friday
Long run day. 18 miles after work @ 8:36 / mile
Saturday
AM
Moved long bike to Saturday this week as there was lots of sport I wanted to watch on telly on Sunday and it just happened that others were going out. Headed out with them to Baltinglass...and we decided to turn there rather than head out to Tullow and do some laps of the TT route in Blessington to add on extra distance. After a puncture and some hanging round in the rain. Everyone went their separate ways and headed home. After a late start and lots of non cycling...I couldn't motivate myself to throw on extra distance when I got home. Maxed out at 125km...much less than what I wanted for the day.
When I was training for Austria, he spin to Baltinglass was my long spin. No longer...and I was happy with that. Now if feels like a mini spin, so good to see how the mindset has changed now. The 120 was tough enough after the long run on Friday anyway, legs felt ok, bit slow but a decent spin out on tired legs.
Sunday
AM
After a shortened spin on Saturday and plans to do my hilly spin on Sunday to swap weekend spins around, I hit the road early enough and headed towards Enniskerry, but legs were toast...yawning cycling up the road and feeling no life in the legs, I turned at Enniskerry and headed home. 19km...and to the couch for the rest of the morning to prep for the afternoons sport. Really I was meant to be studying but I was so bored at doing, pretty much nothing all morning on the couch that I couldn't motivate myself to study. what do normal people do with their Sunday mornings? because that crap is awfully boring.
PM
Thursday's run moved to Sunday. w/u > 30 min steady > w/d. 6.7 miles @ 8:07 average...steady section at about 7:30 / mile
Not overly happy with the weeks work but not massively a bad week either. Clocked about 15 hours, biking was the weak point here which is what got to me.0 -
Monday
At a wedding. Took the opportunity to take the day off and stay in bed.
Tuesday
AM
Off work, so out for a hilly bike. With CK on Saturday I needed to change my training round a bit. Wanted to do long run on Wednesday after work so wouldn't get out on bike. Day off meant plenty of time for hilly bike. Not majorly hilly, just the hills of Enniskerry and on up Sally Gap. About 70km, slowly ~25/26km/h
PM
Easy, low HR run. 6.1 miles @ 8:41 / mile
Wednesday
AM
Very tired due to poor sleep for a few days so ended up not getting to the pool until lunch. So only had time for about 40 mins. 7 x 200m - slowly. Usually I can get going a bit at lunchtime, but swimming really frustrating for me at the moment. Can't seem to get any speed going.
PM
Out for long run. Plan was to hit 15 miles, bit shorter this week. Stomach has been at me since a couple of days before Tyrone, have mostly been able to run through it but Wednesday was a bad day. In pain all day and by the time I went out for my run was already fairly uncomfortable. Got to about 8 miles ok, then it just felt like hell. Got back to the estate and did a few laps of the hill but gave in on 12.5 miles when I could barely move my legs anymore.
Thursday
AM
To the pool for a Tango swim set. Again, in late so didn't get time to finish off the set. 5 x 200, 2 x 400...ran out of time for the last 5 x 200...so not really the desired swim set at all.
PM
10x500m run. I do this set once every 4 or 5 weeks, and it's a great way to measure progress. I targeted getting them all under 2 mins by the end of the year as back when I could kinda run...I was able to nail them all in under 2 mins. Mostly down to 2:03 - 2:05 now...so happy with what I'm seeing with this and other run sets I'm still doing.
Friday
Off..to try and be somewhat rested for Caroline Kearney and to bake for post race tea and cake.
Saturday
Caroline Kearney...will post report below.
Sunday
AM
Still have sh*t to get done...so out on the bike for long spin. Planned to get out at 7am but was still snoozing my alarms by 6:40...eventually got up for porridge and tea and out for 8...then realised I didn't have my saddle bag and had to loop back to apartment. Out again, out to Kinnegad and home for just over 140km. Out on my own for this this week as everyone else is hungover today..so happy to hold about 29km/h while battling way on my own. 160km was what I wanted today really but stomach being a bastard again today...headed home for some pain killers and couldn't motivate myself to loop back out for final 20k.
Out for short 2.1 mile run...again cut a bit short. Glad I got all the pain today rather than yesterday anyway...
16 hours for the week bit less because of two days off and training moved round a bit for race.0 -
Caroline Kearney
Well...I finally made it to Caroline Kearney. To bed early on Friday night...alarms across the other side of the room, woke up twice overnight after having two very realistic dreams that I slept through my alarms and woke up too late to make it to the race. Wonder what would make my sleeping brain think that would be a possibility! :pac:
So, up on time after two mild panics over night and hit the road about 7am. Arrived at Lilliput probably a little after 8, registered, with the 10am start, plenty of time for yapping pre-race and plenty of time to start not wanting to race...
I had two goals going to the race, break 2:30 and AG podium...the third one was to actually start the bloody race, but that was pretty much guaranteed at this stage. I felt 2:£0 was a daycent goal, I haven't really done that many triathlons, the standard distance races I've done have been beast of the east, HOTW...a not actually - standard distance Athlone and Blessington ( which was 2:51).
Swim
Into the water and started a bit closer to the front. I was targeting 27:xx for the swim. Off we went and got straight into clear enough water. There was a huge female field and we were all in a wave together. Got directly into a group and just landed on someones hip. Felt we were moving well and I would have had to work too hard to move on from where I was, so stayed at the hip and let her do half my work for me.
Found sighting very hard and realised as we approached the buoy I was quite far out to the right, but with a few bodies to my left I had to just stay where I was, when we got to the buoy I knew everyone else would go wide so took the opportunity to cut in closer so I'd be tight to the next buoy and on to the next hip. All going well in the swim till I got an elbow to the left eye which knocked my goggle out of place, it wasn't leaking but I couldn't see through it anymore when I lifted my head to sight. So I was stuck with trying to sight with just one eye. Judging by my watch reading...I slowed here and I lost the girls I'd been swimming with. Not sure stopping and fixing the goggle would have made much difference.
Long walk through the water to swim exit...but clocked 29:xx by the time I stood up and got to exit. Was not happy. Ended up clocking over 1600m myself as did a few others...so I've tried make myself feel better by saying that accounts for the predicted time difference between 27:xx and 29
Swim official time 30:09 - absolute rubbish. Was way down coming out of the water
Ti Embarrassing. 2:02
Bike
Onto the bike and head down. Target was 1:10 if everything went perfectly...or about 1:12 if not. Ah targets. Aren't they great. Started passing people as soon as I hit the road and was moving fairly well, once I hit 10K, I still hadn't really properly got going and couldn't seem to push on. I was still passing people who were out of the swim ahead of me and some men from the previous wan and was only passed by a handful of other girls who were mostly on bikes with fancy wheels.
Bike was miserable though, I knew I wasn't moving well and I considered not doing the run. Sure what was the point now...I swam like crap, I'm biking like crap...the run is just going to depress the hell out of me....but I can't not finish this damn race the one year I finally turn up. I feel like I never pushed on on the bike...legs weren't screaming at me but heart rate was avg of 154...so I clearly was working fairly hard.
Bike Official time 1:15:50 - waaaayyyy down
T2 Usually my T2 is quite good. But couldn't get my foot into shoe (after telling kurt in Okanes log how easy it is) 1:21 - shocking
Run
This was just go out and run and finish the race. My bike had gone so badly I didn't think my two goals were achievable. Watch was set to just time of day and heart rate. I hit the road on the run at 12:08 so just planned to look at time here and there to gauge how things were going. The legs felt great and the run just came together. I left T2 with another girl and the two of us just started passing everyone from the start. For some reason that I do not know, I kinda just stuck with her. She was moving well and she was passing people..and so was I...and I was feeling comfortable. Checking my watch at each km marker I was doing 4:xx per km. Grand. That'll do. As we approached half way having passed a tonne of people, I realised that either she was flagging...or I was running too slow. So after the turn around I passed her and kept moving. There had been a few of the pulse girls up ahead....two of whom had passed me on the bike. Looking at how they were moving on the run and knowing their usual run speeds I used them as my targets to move on. Passed two at about 6.5km and by 7km...questioned whether I should up the pace. Felt ridiculously comfortable...but knew I was running ok and feeling strong and the run felt easy. By 8 km I thought there wasn't enough time left to catch the other girls as I couldn't see them up ahead. Came back into the adventure centre with less than 1km to go and still couldn't see them...hit the grass and there they were. Planned to move once I turned the corner again...but when I turned the freakin corner the feckin finish line was right there and they last of them had just crossed it. Damn.
Run...was great. Easy, comfortable, spent the entire run passing others, which just buzzes you on even more. 44:23 for the run to cross the line in 2:33:46 for (shockingly) 3rd in AG
1st and 2nd did everything faster than me bar the run. Given I can swim and bike better than I did thats a pisser but it is what it is. Probably could have pushed on more on the run but easy to say that now.
32nd female overall which is a bit disappointing as I'd have thought I could finish higher than that based on fields from previous years but field seems to have been a fair bit deeper this year.
Not the sub 2:30 I wanted but AG podium achieved which is a win I guess. Though was probably the slowest AG of the day...but lets overlook that fact for now :pac:0 -
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Not the best oul week last week
Monday August 14th
AM
Very easy morning run 3.1 miles 9:13/mile
PM
Double run day - just because. 4.7 miles 8:50/mile
Tuesday August 15th
AM
Morning swim, 1 hour, 2800ish
PM
Being easy week, not a major run session. 8 x 300m(ish) uphill. 5.9 mile total with w/u and w/d
Wednesday August 16th
PM
Out on the bike, about 34k, my flatish loop finished off with a trip up towards Glencullen and back via Tibradden
Thursday August 17th
AM
Just under an hour in the pool - something from the IM run in plan. Think this was 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 100
Friday August 18th
Lunch
Easy swim. 30 mins ish. About 1700m
PM
Just under 14 miles @ ~7:45 / mile
This is where is got bad
Saturday August 19th
AM
Out on the bike for usual Saturday cycle of hillyish 60 - 80k. I was tired, grumpy and it was windy and cold. Struggled up as far as viewing point and turned for home. A measly 17k and that was all I did for the day. Head just wasn't in the game on Saturday as it was somewhere else entirely. Hoped to get a swim and or run in later in the day but when I got home later in the afternoon I fell asleep on the couch and couldn't rouse myself after 5pm do do anything.
Sunday August 20th
Got up later than normal. Thought ah sure I'll get my bike done today. Felt as grumpy as I did on Saturday and just couldn't motivate myself to get out and do anything. Thought sure I'll go for a run now and if weather is bad later I can hop on the turbo, it's easy week anyway so no big deal to not have a massive spin. Didn't do that either Had a big breakfast, shower and spent my morning wrapped up in a good book. Afternoon over meeting my new niece and playing with my old nephews and then went for a easy run Sunday evening. 7.3 miles @ 8:10/mile
Crappy weekend of training but my mind was elsewhere, training would have been crappy anyway and perhaps it was the mental and physical break I needed before launching into the last 3 big weeks of training.
Still over 10 hours of training overall. So I still chugged along. Raced twice in this block so hours were down a little but that doesn't really matter. Long bikes, long runs and quality was there...and both races had more positive points than they had negative.
Off work Thursday and Friday this week so have plenty of time for 4 solid days of training. Hopefully the weather is good to get lots of time in the saddle.
Happy with what I've done and happy with what I'm seeing in training.
Excited as I'm getting about the race now, I'm not happy that training is nearly over. Don't think I've ever enjoyed a block of training as much as I have enjoyed the last 4+ months. Other than the weekend just gone, bar a few mornings where I woke up and couldn't face another morning in the pool swimming slowly(usually I still got up and did it anyway), nothing has ever felt like a drag. Think I've hit as sweet spot here somewhere.
And so here we are...4.5 weeks to go :eek:0 -
So 5 weeks to go mean Ironman training big week 1. The swimming in the Tango plan for this week was uninspiring. I'm not very good at hurting in the pool at 6am, but I had two days off work so time to wake up a bit before getting them in.
Monday August 21st
AM
Not a great nights sleep so hard to get up for morning easy run. Ordinarily this is a recovery run, but, I didn't have anything to recover from from the weekend
5.1 miles @ 8:37/mile
PM
OW swim. Just over 2k at 1:53/100m give or take.
Tuesday August 22nd
AM
To the pool. 5 x 400m easy.
PM
Run. 6 x 1 mile progression
7:12, 7:07: 6:54 (too fast) 6:53, 6:49, 6:45
Was feeling wrecked today following another rough night of sleep and wasn't overly looking forward to this. Going through a stage where I feel absolutely zonked while sitting in the office but as soon as I get home I'm wide awake. Not sure if its the short drive home that wakes me up or my eyesight that is making me feel tired looking at computer screen. I'm fine on my own screen but presentations or looking at scripts on someone elses screen from a bit further out and I can't see clearly. Eye test booked anyway. Turn 30 in a few weeks...eye sight must be deteriorating with my old age :pac:
Wednesday August 23rd
PM
With Thursday and Friday off and time for bigger trianing, no morning session on Wednesday. Favouring recovery instead after run on Tuesday.
Out on the bike on Wednesday evening for 40k hillyish...home > Enniskerry > Ballycourous > Glencullen > Viewing Point and weeeeee all the way down...then short brick run 3.3 miles @8:47
Thursday
AM
Swim. 5 x 200, 4 x 400, 5 x 200 30s rest between reps. This was meant to be threshold pace. It was not. Probably did not work hard enough on this.
Lunch
Easy spinout on the bike up to Enniskerry and back. Just 20k to flush out the legs.
PM
Run. w/u > 40 min steady > w/d
7.4 miles total. ~7:30/mile for steady section. Felt harder than pace suggests.
Friday August 25th
AM
Plan was a hilly spin, up to Sally Gap > Laragh > Enniskerry > back through Glencullen again and home. This should have had me at about 80 - 90k. When I got up towards stocking lane it was closed for roadworks so had to detour down towards Tallaght and into Bohernabreena-
I actually got confused with the direction I was taking and ended up going towards Bohernabreena. Big error. I absolutely hate this stretch. Mentally I find it very draining. Tried to figure out how to make up distance but cycling up into Blessington in the traffic you'd get along that stretch at that time of day was not appealing to me, so I turned for home and decided to make up distance by heading out towards Enniskerry and could then go back out to Glencullen etc or do some hill reps to finish off. So turned back towards Tallaght and up into Firhouse and headed back. Coming up through Firhouse I see a stone in front of my front wheel, too late to dodge. Balls thats going to puncture me... both wheels go over it and sure enough...hiiissssss. "Please tell me its not both tyres" as I get off the bike.
Just the back one, not only a puncture but a massive hole in the wall of my rear tyre.
Changed the tube (I really should practice this before IM)...and hope to god I get home without another one as tube now protruding the hole.
No extension to spin and disappointed to get home with only 40k on the clock.
PM
Longish run. 15 miles @ 8:37
Saturday
AM
I had hoped to get my long spin done and dusted on Saturday and planned an extra early start but I got very little sleep Friday night. Ended up going out for a walk at about 2am to try and clear my head. So this meant changing things around a bit.
Out on TT for some intervals up and back from Enniskerry. 30k. After this IM I will be happy never to cycle out to Enniskerry every again, but it's just so handy, I can easily go flat, go coastal or go hilly within 20 mins of my front door.
Afternoon
Swim. 8 x [4 x 50m]. I had forgotten how nice the pool is on a Saturday evening. Lots of clear water to swim in and got this done without anyone joining me in the lane. Again. Don't think I worked hard enough on this...really need to get back to working hard when in the pool on my own. Used to be able to do this but now I think I'm just overthinking everything which is slowing me down.
PM
Run. 5 miles. Nice and handy. Low HR. 5 miles @ 8:58. Destresser run more than anything. Family...
Sunday AM
Early to bed Saturday and a good nights sleep. Woken by my alarm and feeling good. Up and out. There was not set plan for distance, it had been a big week with 15 hours training in the body already and I didn't want to put myself under major pressure especially with the lack of focus and stress from the weekend but was looking at hitting at least 160. So I hit the road, plan was to get out to Kinnegad (70km away) and either keep going or turn back and then head towards Summerhill and maybe on to Trim before heading home. I can loop into Trim from Kinnegad but wasn't overly sure of the distance and didn't want to end up shortening the spin. Can also detour into Dunboyne etc...I know these roads well enough so always plenty of options for adding on an extra 20k or so if I need to.
Turned back at Kinnegad and having not had much to eat so far started to struggle at 80k...pushed on and decided I'd stop in Summerhill get a quick cup of tea, refill my bottles and polish off some food quickly. Then I noticed my 5 missed calls while I sat there and had to ring the parentals So longer stop than I had planned but sure I enjoyed my cuppa.
Back on the road and headed towards home. 111k on the clock at this stage and home was about 50km away so knew I'd hit the 160 anyway. I always enjoy the way home from here as you come through so many towns you tick them off and seem to make it go quicker when you're staring to tire and hungry.
Kilkock, Maynooth, Cellbridge, Newcastle, Saggart, Citywest, Jobstown (mad how happy you can be to see Jobstown), Tallaght, Firhouse...nearly there now
163 or so on the clock by the time I got home about 28kph average. Happy to hold that while on my own, on crappy Irish roads in seemingly constant headwinds after a bigger week of training. Hopefully that bodes well for Italy (where I assume roads and weather will be significantly better)
Then after a long, long transition. Out for a quick 2 mile brick. Left too long between the cycle and run and probably seized up a bit, haven't checked but imagine this was over 9min/mile
and /week
Did finally start to seep into my mind that I'm glad I've only two proper long spins left now. Off work again Thursday and Friday so planning to get the super long spin done before the weekend.
4 weeks...0 -
Monday August 29th
AM
Early morning recovery miles. Where has summer gone? it's no longer bright when the first alarm goes off...and evening walks are in the dark now too.
Anyway. Just an easy 3 miler to wake me up - proper recovery pace at average of 9:43/mile
PM
Original plan was an OW swim but was fairly tired on returning from work and hadn't taken a rest day in a few weeks. Had just managed to convince myself that it is actually ok to take an evening / day off training when a friend who I've been trying to organise a run with for ages messaged to see if I fancied a run...and I mean, whats a girl to do?
5.4 miles @ 8:42 / mile
Tuesday August 29th
AM
Swim...easy...slow..
PM
Run session. 10 x 1K 4:05 - 4:10 the target for the reps
Wednesday August 30th
Lunch
Swim - had hoped to do the 6 x 100 flat out from the Tango swim plan but the numbers in the pool and the idiots who can't read signs determining what pace each lane is determined that that would have been a fruitless and frustrating exercise...did some 100's anyway but they were, lets say, interrupted.
PM
With no road bike, my normal hilly spin was off the cards...but I was off work Thursday and Friday and had big days planned so an easier Wednesday was a better plan anyway. Long spin was planned for Thursday morning so just did a quick spinout to Enniskerry - 20k easy
Thursday August 31st
AM
To the pool for IM test set
4x400
4x300
4x200
4x50
Lets just say, this didn't bode well for a good swim time in Italy...
PM
Run. w/u > 60 min > w/d
10 miles overall @ 7:40/mile ~7:17 avg for the work section
Friday September 1st
Had hoped to get out early on Thursday morning for the long spin...knowing schools were back and the towns I go through I knew I'd have to be out at 7am ish to pass through that towns before the mammy wagons hit the road. But, poor night on Wednesday saw a change to that. Out for 9am on a different route on Friday instead. Not an exciting spin out just past Tullow and home again...and I did have to pull some extra motivation from somewhere to do this but was fine while I was out there. Some support from those out marshalling for the tour de picnic spin who kept telling me how awesome I am was helpful on the way out
160k
Followed with a digging to the depths for motivation to do this very slow and very short brick run. 2 miles.
Girl related tiredness this week meant I was only fit for the leaba by 9:30pm - took a while to realise why I was so tired after this spin.
Saturday September 2nd
AM
Got out to start my long run but was tight on time and was on call for the weekend. Had to call it a day halfway at 10 miles. But nice, run out @ 8:30/mile
PM
30x100m - another IM test set thingy. Again, does not fill me with confidence that I can swim in any way fast in Italy
The fact I can beat people out of the OW who are faster than me in the pool is the only saving grace for me at the moment, hopefully I can continue that trend into Italy.
Sunday September 3rd
AM
20 mile run, extra easy @ 8:49/mile
There was a bike planned for Sunday evening but after a day of meal prep for the month, watching the hurling and cleaning...I opted for an evening on the couch. Studying.
Living the dream over here!
3 weeks!0 -
Well taper appears to have started about a week and a half earlier than planned...
Monday I took a rare rest day, felt I deserved it at this stage
Tuesday was a swim session and a run session. But I didn't sleep on Monday till about 4am, with alarm due to go off at 5:20 to be in the pool for 6am this obviously wasn't likely to happen. Took to the pool Tuesday lunchtime for an easy swim - not a great substitute and an easy 5 mile run on Tuesday evening after small nap. Again, not an ideal substitute for a run sesh.
Wednesday - morning swim. This was an easy/recovery set as I was meant to be recovering from a hard Tuesday. So kept the Wednesday swim as was. Ran 4 miles easy at lunch. After a night of no sleep it is usually two days later I feel the effects. Wednesday didn't let me down. The bike on Wednesday evening was hard and laboured. HR not especially high but legs felt dead.
Thursday - couldn't get out for morning swim but got a crappy easy, short swim done at lunch and stuck in work late, fit in a 6 mile run after work. Easy, again.
Friday - 14 mile long run done after work. It was fine. Wouldn't expect any more from a last long run.
Saturday was the birthday so was planned to give myself an easier day of it. Bike / Run and Swim was planned. Only a run happened. Trying desperately to get my brother to see he needs to accept the medical care he is being offered and this took up much of my day. Emotionally drained and by the time I got home there wasn't enough time to hit the pool.
Sunday - weather was awful and Sunday had been set aside as a study day. Plan was to get all training done earlier in the week so I could study Sunday but that just didn't happen. Did get a one hour turbo done eventually - first time I've been on turbo in a while and was very surprised to A) enjoy it and
see how much better my numbers are than when I was last on it
Thursday lots of travelers turned up back in work sick and on Friday I felt something coming on myself so pumped paracetamol into me.
Pretty much got nothing done that I wanted to get done and think it was my lowest volume/time week since April (even less than the week I was sick) but, end of the day, nothing I can do 3 weeks out is going to improve the overall result - it can certainly feck it up though, so not really a big deal. Just need to steer clear of the sick people in the office now for this week and tick along with the last of the training.
I had sidelined my last 3 weeks as the weeks where I need to make sure I get enough sleep. Once exam is over with on Wednesday I can settle the stress levels and focus on the rest and recovery with the last few mini sessions. Obviously still a bit of intensity in this week - need to stay healthy and rested for now. Only in the office 4 days this week so hopefully I can avoid all the sick people. 0 -
Well the taper is not going well. :eek:
Took yesterday off with the exam...went to see my folks after the exam as planned to do a short run from there to get something in for the day but instead sought out some painkillers as soon as I arrived with aches and headache I put down to exam stress/being sat in the exam for 3 hours. Got into the pool this morning and barely lasted 200m before needing to get out. Stomach bug it seems. I did manage 950m in two bursts in the pool but when I had to get out second time, I called it a day.
But hey, better to get the stomach bug this week than next, frustrating...but I'm traditionally not very good at tapering so perhaps it'll be a blessing in disguise in the long run.
Swim worries me now as I've not done much in the last two weeks and my swim is sh*te anyway.0 -
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Maybe a 48 hour one Much better today...in contrast 3:30/35 200s in the pool today compared to yesterdays 4 min (with fins on) still feeling a little ropey but it's certainly a novel way to lose those last stubborn lbs before race day :pac: 0
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Thanks P. Bit cold over here and lashing rain last night! :eek: Sun starting to come out now but forecasted for near perfect weather anyway.
Registration etc is about a 3 or 4 minute walk for the apartment so no major journeys to be done now that the food shop is in.
Was hoping to get into the sea for a swim but air temp probably a bit cold for that today without a wetsuit.0 -
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