project 40/41

Dory Dory

"If I don't do the training somebody else will do it...."

You do tend to ramble some, but you always have valuable information in what you say. All good stuff above. Perhaps not rocket science, but appreciate your contribution here on boards.

peter kern

The tribox is rocket science ...

Dory Dory wrote: »

"If I don't do the training somebody else will do it...."

You do tend to ramble some, but you always have valuable information in what you say. All good stuff above. Perhaps not rocket science, but appreciate your contribution here on boards.

Dory Dory

peter kern wrote: »

The tribox is rocket science ...

sconhome

the swim is really not the problem for a guy that has swam more miles in his live a than you will swim until you hit 50 if you keep swimmng as you do ( coincidentaly this is why a lot of people dont like that athletes who used certain drugs to return to the sport after a ban as they belive using those drugs has an long term effect even if they are clean now and give and unfair advantage )

Actually I think in this one sentence you have stated a very obvious and often overlooked effect of legacy that doping has on the body. A clear anecdote that can not be argued against. Nice one Peter

MD1983

not long now until your first big race, how are you set? when does the taper start for you?!

peter kern

long time no update
still ticking over ( but it would appear this wednesday was the rock bottom day and things are going upwards again.



wed (last week) pm nothing

thursday usual bike am v easy

pm 30 min easy

friday easy swim easy run

sat easy run

sunday 90k tt at half ironman intensity very sobering I never expect to do well after easy days and the form has been down but that this was a good bit slower than i had wanted, at the same time was a very good session. While i would have liked to get of the bike a few times I kept going and after 30 k it started to get a bit better , Still the only lap i hit the target were the last 2 laps
run of the bike was not too bad, i guess it was a clear sign that i had oertrained a bit i was confortalbe with the pace but when i tried to push a bit more there was nothing and i did not get the cranks moving.
overall 135k 130 k bike 5 k run

pm 9 k run easy


monday easy swim

pm 70 min run

tue turbo 1.40 min I told coach gordo the session to be done and then checked out and let him call the shots ,always great to have somebody shouting at you for the the tough stuff. i cant even rember the session i guess main set was 8 times 5 min as fast as possible 4 easy

wed am steady swim

pm run I dodnt want to talk aobut it most likley the worst session in the last 6 month ( i should not have worn a watch just do it )

thursday usual cycle

friday am swim as usual

lunch time turbo 20x 1 fast 90 easy i cant rember when i fell on the ground the last time after a turbo session but after the last interval i felt like a nordic skier after a sprint finish ( coach gordo looked pleased )


sat 1.45 turbo 3x20 coach gordo constantly reminding me to push a bit more

pm teadmil run with half ironman pace

sunday triple zone session 2 1 1 28min 24min 16 min to the dismay of the coach i did quite a few bike adjustments before we started but it was worth it and iam very close to be fianally happy on the bike and have the sattle tilt finally close to where it is right, (just need to raise the pads 5mm) . another good session

easy run pm 40 min

overall not very good 2 weeks and very poor running and swiming
but i like to think that iam starting to feel a bit better and while i have adapted my goal times for austria a bit iam not too worried that 2 not so great weeks have a big impact overall and as i said i like to think that iam starting to get better again.at the same time it was a good lesson for the 2nd part part the year. bike wise this was quite a decent week and on reflection given that iam a a bit in a dipp the bike tt wasnt that bad either as everything was bad last week ;-)

i am sure without gordo i would not have done any of the 4 turbo
sessions proper last week as motivation was rock bottom ,he also kept me in the pool on friday and he has certainly been the most valuable trainings tool this week,what likley would have been a write of week turned into my best cycling week in terms of bike intensity in the last 6 month .



monday 60 k at half Im pace . it was prob a bit windier than last week at the same time the wind came from a different direction (and the more wind was at least negated by being more protected over a 2 k strech per lap, ) each 8 k lap was 40 sec faster than last week
I was pushing a bit harder than last week but also felt for the first time this year that I generated close to proper power and put some pressure to the paddle. run decent of the bike approx 3.55 k pace for 5 k


MD1983 not long now until your first big race, how are you set? when does the taper start for you?! its still 5 weeks to go till Bala , in a way i have already done my taper for 70,3 austria in the last 2 weeks ( not the way it was planned) so i plan normal training this week duathlon on wed thursday easy day and another bike tt on sat and swim tt
rest day monday and easy day tuesday next week and then still close to normal training with an easier day on sat before the race on sunday
it does finally look like that after 5 weeks iam about to get rid of the slight chest infection i have since germany. so that would be a good thing ( i was very close to get my first does of antibotica in 10 years i have been living in ireland now ...)
as i have said earlier i have down scaled my goals a bit for the 70.3 in austria but i do not think i would take a slot for the worlds if i dont go at least sub 2.24 on the bike ( a usual bike split that gets you on the overall podium in austria for the pros is 2.12 ish and uber biker pros like vanhonecaker go sub 2.09 and the inital goal was to be no more than 10 min slower than a typical podium pro split (usually raelert or llanos ) . I dodnt think iam there , at the same time training and racing are two very different things and austria is more a test to see that where i think iam is where iam at .and with 2.24 i dod not really have to really push the run unless i feel I could get a uplifiting time if i really push but I would like to keep the recovery need after the race as low as possible to get another 2 good weeks before wales.

coach gordo will keep a close eye on me on the turbo over the next 10 days as there is work to be done.
at the end I am watching my right achillies a bit right now and iam more in the orange Zone than i would like to be and the main goal has to be to do nothing stupid as i would prefer to not run 2 weeks than not running for 3 month ( if i get this right i would be much happier than anything else to be honest and today i did not feel it during the run but i also know i should be a bit more careful than i have been so far dealing with it as it is prob closer to red than i admit to myself and i will be careful now
...and this week i get back to focus on the swim ( as planed )
after achilis 2nd most important goal is to sleep more .
ps mark to answer your question ;-) i am set for austria If i keep the achillies in check. Last 6 month have been solid and 6 month is more important than 2 poor weeks...
at the same time 4 days ago my answer would have been a bit different ,they say its always darkest before dawn and there was a few times i had to remind myslef of that,and look at the bigger picture.

peter kern

monday pm 8 k easy run

tueday 90 min turbo main set 3 sets , 3x 1 min fast 1 min easy , 45 1, 30 1,
pm 7k easy run

wed am
motorpaced swim 2 sets 6x 100 6x75 6x50
I did not look at the times, my motorpacer was in charge to keep the set off times and i knew they were bad and i just did my best and also focused on race specific skills, and only if i got it right did I not get spit out. This was a brutal set and i left the pool dead and was close to falling asleep while writing emails.

pm duathlon
I was in no mood doing this and only turned up as i had promised it to my swim pacer and I did not want to hear for the next 5 years that i did not turn up.
I had 1 liter coke before I left as i was worried i would fall asleep . but to be honest I was already glad on my way to the race that i did go, as there would have been no way I would have done a session on my own.
I got a niece beating but did a very good training session and got a moral boost as I think I raced very well at this fatigue level and felt good when I continued to add on another 8 k run after the race.
Achilles caused 0 troulbe and that alone justified to do the race ,and made me really happy after the race.

Respect where respect is due .Got a great massage after the race by Robert from bodyright.
despite being the last athelte of the evenning and getting a free massage, he spend more time than he had to and was very good being careful where he had to be ( left calf) and really hurting me where he could ( quads which have taken a serious beating up in the last 6 days with an intensive bike session every day )

nice 25 min spin home
I slept surprisingly well despite all the caffeine in the system.

thusday am usual cycle nice and easy

pm 30 min recovery bike run

friday usual swim session all off 1.30, swam a bit better than Wednesday ie Wednesday was abysmal . today it was only horrible so i am moving in the right direction ;-)

peter kern

friday pm 10 k steady run

sat pm 90k tt 20 min off the bike due to lack of motivation I would have liked to reschedule this to Sunday and i still had to do some stuff on the bike but decised to go ahead, got the bike stuff out of the way am and fianlly started tt just after 12pm ( after being inside and outside woodies for what felt like an eternity ) but happy to get something done i should have done 3 weeks ago ...)
in the same way the last 90 k tt went bad , this one went well and faster than i was hoping for. i was pleased with going another 30 sec faster per 8 k lap than last week for the 60 k tt and 12 min faster than a few weeks ago for the 90k tt .
for the 20min run i had my pacer who i had told to go 3.50k pace cycling beside or behind me, i felt constantly under pressure and just a bit too fast to call it half ironman pace thinking this cant be right and i am going faster than 3.50 ...anyway as happy as i was that the run was over, as much i had enjoyed it. Only after the run was I told that the fecker had me on 3.40 k normalized pace running
anyway happy with the session and was even more pleased when one guy questioned my times later on. Granted wind conditons where very good, bit less wind than last week and the wind direction was i guess the best for the loop. Anyway i am not that faced by the time, and like with the bad tt , the process was more important than the time.

sunday am cycled to nac for planned swim tt unofrtuantley no 50 m format and with a swim meet pool quite busy i did a 90 min steady swim and another 2 hours easy cycle afterwards.

monday am
swam again a bit better ( or better less bad) and unlike the boys earlier on I won the 50 m race series against finman ;-) A good race practice sesesion and I almost enjoyed that session.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Good luck in Austria Peter, solid and consistent training from you the last few months.

MojoMaker

peter kern wrote: »

the fecker had me on 3.40 k normalized pace running

Hands up - who else smiled at this?

rodneyr1981

peter kern wrote: »

friday pm 10 k steady run

sat pm 90k tt 20 min off the bike due to lack of motivation I would have liked to reschedule this to Sunday and i still had to do some stuff on the bike but decised to go ahead, got the bike stuff out of the way am and fianlly started tt just after 12pm ( after being inside and outside woodies for what felt like an eternity ) but happy to get something done i should have done 3 weeks ago ...)
in the same way the last 90 k tt went bad , this one went well and faster than i was hoping for. i was pleased with going another 30 sec faster per 8 k lap than last week for the 60 k tt and 12 min faster than a few weeks ago for the 90k tt .
for the 20min run i had my pacer who i had told to go 3.50k pace cycling beside or behind me, i felt constantly under pressure and just a bit too fast to call it half ironman pace thinking this cant be right and i am going faster than 3.50 ...anyway as happy as i was that the run was over, as much i had enjoyed it. Only after the run was I told that the fecker had me on 3.40 k normalized pace running
anyway happy with the session and was even more pleased when one guy questioned my times later on. Granted wind conditons where very good, bit less wind than last week and the wind direction was i guess the best for the loop. Anyway i am not that faced by the time, and like with the bad tt , the process was more important than the time.

sunday am cycled to nac for planned swim tt unofrtuantley no 50 m format and with a swim meet pool quite busy i did a 90 min steady swim and another 2 hours easy cycle afterwards.

monday am
swam again a bit better ( or better less bad) and unlike the boys earlier on I won the 50 m race series against finman ;-) A good race practice sesesion and I almost enjoyed that session.

Hi,

Did u ever get your stolen TT bike back?
Good luck with race.

pgibbo

Safe travels and the very best of luck this weekend Peter. Race well and race hard.

Dory Dory

Best of luck Peter. Hope it all goes to plan for you!

pointer28

Good luck!

peter kern

thanks for messages
and no i did not get the bike back

mon pm
light 30 min session

tue
cycle to nac and back 3.2 k swim 1.9 k tt slow enough time but good practise should have used my race wetsuit but since she is getting tired i did not want to stretch her on 38 flip turns.

quick turbo session with a few short intervals binned it after 25 min, got out of it what i wanted, ie to shake the legs a bit .


pm cycle to seapoint open water swim approx 1.2 k slighlty faster than tt pace in am . loving it


wed easy swim getting into a swim grove again

I have sat down a bit the last few days and reflected but overall I have to say despite the fact its still a long way ,and i am not really happy where i am right now,overall the pre season time has been positive and more importantly there is a few important things i can learn from and improve on.
the last few weeks where not fun but an important part and i saw i still repeat some of my mistakes, but I also found ways how to deal with those mistakes better .

Bambaata

Best of luck Peter, looking forward to tracking your day!

mossym

best of luck Peter.

Kurt Godel

This is always a great log to read,and to inspire. Hope you get what you deserve at the weekend!

peter kern

race report

1 the world is not fair if it all had gone my way I would have won the race ...

2 Iam the worlds most miserable trithlate, I cant swim bike and run I hate the world and my bike is now at the bottom of a lake.

3 some good bits some bad bits ,some problems resolved new opened up.

We go with 3 at the same time, had i not seen that my rear tyre was flat after the race I might have gone for 2. At the same time there is still enough left of 1 too keep me going.

the good
i got the nutrition spot on pre and on race ( should have had one more gel at one o fthe 2 last downhill but forgot to take that at the aid station)
the problem zones in my body where holding up nicely.
transitons were good nice and steady.

solid I swam ok and i knew before the race i would not set the lake on fire, and was 2nd out of the water in my wave without using much enrgy ( the first guy was too fast, I was 600 m in second place and then let my draftee ahead of me and let another 200 m in the 2nd lake and then back into third until the end where it was clear that the guy i swam after had not done his course homework proper and swam to wide .

on the mental side race was solid I was reasonably focused the whole day and did not walk despite the pain.

bike was for most part solid too apart from the climb and it does come on nicely right now , I rode 82 k totally on my own and was leading my wave till k 60 when i got passed by a pack of 7, 5 of them ( the hanger on ) i dropped again in the climb or last section of the bike. so third in my age group into t2.


the bad
One body part seems to be fixed another starting to cause issues I had massive back pain when i started the run. ( i like to think I know why it happpend at the same time I also realiced I had those syntoms last week and ignored them as i still had more issues with my problem zones (I will also lift the arm rest a bit)



the unknown
I have no idea when I punctured. part of me likes to think that at k 20 the rear tire started to feel a bit softer. the only problem with that theor... it did not feel do get that much softer and when i picked up my bike after the race the pressure was so low that it doesnt square up (it was a micro pucture and so maybe it got slightly bigger during the course) or the puncture really happend at the end of the race.

I am non the wiser aobut the run of the bike I did not want to really burry myself in the run but had planned to push for the first 8 to 10 k and then easy of and while I did easy off after 10 k it was from slow to very slow. again it would be easy to go back to point 1 and say without the back pain i would have run x.



the result
the minimal goal to qualify for the worlds was never in danger I had a look at age group sizes before the race and was fairly sure my age group would have 11 slots ( it was 10 ) and new where I was during the race so 8th place was safe.
naturally I would have wanted to cycle 2 min faster. and would have liked to run the first 8-10 k in 3.50 pace so I am far from happy with the race, but to be fair the bigger problem is that i did not really get the conclusions where i am right now, in fact I have almost more new questions than i found answers.I am not worried about the run split but rather than running on my terms I was actually really hurting to run that slow ( at the same time the legs felt good so thats a mild plus)
but the body breaks at the weakest link and it dosnt really help me if i fix one thing and another part dosnt hold up.

The reality
I dodnt like to speculate,
I would like to do another half this weekend to get some answers and since i run that slow i have pretty much recovered from the race. back is still tight but today is much better than y day .

3 things to take away from the race

1 more climbing on the bike
2 I need to strenghten the back a bit more and be more careful with sitting position protecing my harmstring while sititng puts more stress on the back.
3 do not tell me that slower people draft less than faster guys . its just not true. Having passed some 500 people its just makes no difference how slow or how fast people are . the faster guys are maybe more skilled but drafting happens from the slowest to the fastest guys . draft marshelling was brutal to be honest. ( the rest of the race extremly well organiced )

Dory Dory

So, you qualified for Worlds? I assume you will go then? When is your big IM in relation to Worlds? Congrats, even if you've been left feeling a little empty(?). If you learn from things, then there is always value.

peter kern

yes i paid the big bucks for the slot,its after all project 40 . a once in lifetime stupitity ;-0

sconhome

Well done Peter, congrats on the qualification!

A little birdy told me you might be racing this weekend? Are you paying a visit?

Dory Dory

peter kern wrote: »

yes i paid the big bucks for the slot,its after all project 40 . a once in lifetime stupitity ;-0

I think it's fab. Congrats!

peter kern

long time no entry
and to be honest not much news on the west front.
the numbers are not there right now and i have decided to take my planned midseason break a few weeks earlier and then built again.

Nobody likes it when things dont go as planned at the same time I am really "only " 4% off from where i need to be and while 4 % is a lot its not the end of the world given that weight alone counts likely for close to 2 % and a few mistakes another close to 2 %.

On the birght side side on wednesday before the brithish middle distance champs ,i felt for the first time in a while runing ok , during the duathlon
and I was pretty happy with that.

the british middle distance champs where the best bike of the year and while iam still not where i need to be, this is the one dicipline iam still reasonably happy with apart from my climbing perfomance.
with the race being kind of cancelled during the bike i did again not to get to run of the bike but from the one split i took at approx k50 I had lost max 1 min on the guys and closed on others and was approx in 4th positon ( being over 40 and german they had put me in wave 2 ;-) the other good think ( of course easy to say ;-) i felt like the bike changes i made got rid of the back pain i had expeirenced in the last 2 races.

Anyway the goal will be to run of the bike tri an mhi and then take my midseason break and make a few tweaks to the program while not changing 95%.

MojoMaker

Best of luck in Tri an Mhi Peter. Hope the weather holds up too.

peter kern

Did not really want to race last weekend but with the death of a triathlete and the race in wales rightly cancelled after the bike , it would have been a shame not to do this great race which is also close to dublin.
big thanks to Tri An MHI tri club for letting me in at the shortest notice possible- i was kind of hoping they would say no.

Swim not feeling the love at all and was contemplating to go home after the first lap

bike quite decent there was a few parts where I was cycling quite well and i did actually enjoy it ( i guess after bala pretty much every bike course is enjoyable) pacing was very good till after the downhill of the biigest climb in 2nd lap ( roughly 60 ) after that i started to push a bit too hard (call it stupid) and closed the gap to 2nd place too quickly. plan was to take a bit of a breather once i got there but did not do that either. end of storry i guess for 30 k i pushed aobut 20 watts too high
now to be fair I would not have run well in anycase but going 1 min slower in last 30 k would have been better.

run run ok for first 4 k and then in the long drag uphill got very tight . more negative was the fact that while i was certainly unconfortalbe with back pain I was defo not pushing in the red. At the same time given the fact that I would have liked quit after 600m in the swim and had to repat the mantra DNF is not an option I was in the mental hurtbox long enough.

Anyway after 5 90 k tts in last 7 weeks y day was the first time I felt a bit like I was actually cycling rather than fighting against the bike , and at least i am right about that the bike is moving in the right direction
at the same time I will need to push those 20 watts comfortably in 11 weeks. Or as much better said by the race winner I need to lose weight ( and i did start with that last week).
Anyway next 2 weeks its about losing weight ( or better eating healthy ) and oil the body to become a bit less stiff. and then go again.

zico10

peter kern wrote: »

Or as much better said by the race winner I need to lose weight ( and i did start with that last week).

I thought that as well Peter, but as it can be a touchy topic I didn't want to say anything. Plus it makes it much easier to run you down.

peter kern

putting on weight is obiously an dicipline issue and showes lazyness.

at the same time one of the best things to weight came from a guy that won hawaii 6 times, he said, if you want to perform in october you should be fat in the summer ;-)

MD1983

whats up with your swim Peter? you were posting some impressive pool times a few weeks ago, not swimming as much?

peter kern

5 folded
-a mix of an planning issue (minor but certainly one of the 5% i will change) but it caused a bit of an shoulder issue.
- with my tt bike stolen I was not used to tt positon anymore and got some shoulder issues when i got the new bike.
- in combination with first issue not helpful and i had to reduce the swim a bit and my swim can go up quickly but also goes down v quickly ( i dont have a swim back ground and havent swam much in last 3 years apart from 8 weeks before kilkee last year)
-Part of taking my break earlier than planned is that i have not gone well since begining of may in all 3 sports
- I had likely one of the 3 worst off days in the swim in any triathlon i have done ( and for the first 5 k it did not look good on the bike either ) on top of that I made an tactical error that left me exposed on my own.