Tri Hard: With a vengance

68 lost souls

Die hard 1 was great, Die hard 2 was ok but not the best, Die hard 3 was a return to form. Hopefully a bit like my triathlon to date.

First year I went from Crutch to 5K and beyond, completed my first 3 races and went form a box ticker to catching the bug.

Second year started with great intentions and a lot of winter training, signed up for 6 NS races knowing I needed surgery on a torn minuscus I planned it all around a 6 week recovery. One infection and 2 operations later 6 weeks turned into 8 months and I am still going through the recovery.

Year three, recovery has started to go well. Back swimming and back on the bike although down a lot of power and fitness. Running wont be happening until probably March at the earliest but I will be pushing the other two.

Goals this year are to get my legs back to better then they were before injury. Concentrate on balancing out the muscles and prevent any further injuries as well fix the imbalance between by two legs. After that I want to push the swim and get to perhaps around 6:30 for a 400TT and push the bike a lot.

I have my eyes set on a few races;

Crooked Lake (Sprint)
Belfast (Olympic)
Dublin City (Olympic/ A Race)
Pulse (Sprint)

I have picked races towards the end of the year for the most part in order to allow me to get to where I need to be physically for them.

Also moved in the past year so need to meet new people in the area so I started to train with a new club as well. My first bits of trianing of the new year have mostly been with them

Monday 5th January - Swim

First time training with a new club it's hard to know what to expect but it went really well. Found a pretty good fit in terms of standard with the lane I went into and did a decent set for the first day back of the new year. A series of 200m swims working on different aspects including kicking and stroke. 400m main block and then a test to check where our fittness is 35 slow then 25m fast x 4. HR got up to about 150ish which was on the high end of the group but to be expected.

Going off memory so cant remember all the exact details, will do better next time.

Thursday 8th January - Turbo

I was trying to gauge whether or not I would be able for a group cycle on Saturday so setup the turbo in the house which had had the heating on for a while, bad idea.

Very quickly started getting warm and out of breath. Tried concentrating on my cadence and getting my legs working at 90 rpm again a range of gears. Sorry to say I only lasted about 15 minutes before having to stop. I didn't think I'd be able for Saturday but put it down to how hot the room was and how much of a wuss I am.

Saturday 11th January - Cycle

Wanting to prove myself after a pathetic turbo session I decided to through caution to the wind and go out for a group spin.



Was a small enough group of 5 of us and headed out for 30k in about hour and a half. Slow enough pace which was perfect for what I needed. Averaged about 21kph and certainly the hills brought that down. Nags head averaged 10kph and around 28 kph at Rathbeele.

Really struggled on the hills to keep the legs going but enjoyed having done it. Hoping with training and a spoonful of HTFU they will get easier and I will bring up my average speed. Last year before surgery I probably would have been able for an average of around 27/28kph.

Plans for this quarter are;

Monday - Coached swim
Tuesday - Coached Turbo
Wednesday - Swim and Strength training
Thursday - Yoga
Friday - Strength and conditioning and swim
Saturday - Group Cycle
Sunday - Rest

Solobally8

Best of luck with the recovery. It's great to have a plan and some goals to work towards.

68 lost souls

Solobally8 wrote: »

Best of luck with the recovery. It's great to have a plan and some goals to work towards.

Thanks. I think I need the goals otherwise I'll just keep putting things off. Putting them down in writing helps even more cause if you tell people your plans you have to follow through.

68 lost souls

Monday January 12th

Swim session

400m warmup

3x 100m - 25 fists 75 swim 10 second rest

3x 100m - 25 kick 75 swim 10 second rest

4x 100m - 100 easy 100 fast repeat 15 seconds rest

400m swim

4x 25m sprint full recovery

Really felt it today. Cramped up on the 4x100s but eased off a bit and worked through it.

68 lost souls

Tuesday January 13th - turbo

Was a great session. Tough but made me feel a lot more confident. Made up for last weeks abomination.

15 minutes warm up
6 x 2 minutes at 75% with finishing hard for 10
Recover
4 x 5 minutes at 85% finishing hard for 20
Recover
3 x 7 minutes at 85% finishing hard for 20
Cool down

I'm going off HR rather than power and my max is around 205bpm. Estimated From my Flow I reckon I put out about an average of 100 watts. The 3 x 7 minutes I was holding 140.

Not too bad all things considered.

68 lost souls

Wednesday January 14th - Strength and Swim

Arrived late last night to the gym so only had about 45 minutes which meant no swimming for me and just stuck with strength training.

5 minutes cardio on the cross trainer to get the HR rate up to optimum.

Leg curls to work on the quads
Bicep and tricep work
Core work
Delts, pecs and lats

Cool down on the bike

Shower time.

Short but sweet, hope to make up for the lack of swim tonight and fit one in after tonights session.

Don't think I'll be able to make the yoga class and will probably swap it for another strength set. Just getting used to the new gym so going to try out a few new techniques.

68 lost souls

Thursday January 15th - Strength and Swim

Again Thursday night was a short enough one. Did a quick 20 minutes weights session to build up my legs and core. Felt like I was getting somewhere with my quads and starting to notice at least a small difference. Still a way off where I need to be or at least where I was last year but going the right way.

After that it was a quick change and into the pool without much of a plan. Ended up doing;

400m warm up (with pull buoy)
100m with paddles
2 x 100m hard
100m practicing deep water starts

Spent about 15 minutes then working on my tumble turns coming in from about 10m out, turning and 3 strokes. Repeated this till I was blue in the face. Again like the legs I've made improvements but still not perfect.

I'd like to get turns right as I believe it will improve cardio work in the pool if I can tumbleturn and have it not effect my stride or my first few strokes. I enjoy stopping and turning as I get a breather in a long set but in my head I know I shouldn't be doing this as there are no wall sin the sea.

Friday January 16th - Strength

Longer strength set then before with a 10 minute warm up on the cross trainer followed by a series of ab and back exercises. (Mason twists, inclined weighted sit ups/reverse sit ups, ball work etc.)

Finished up with some squats trying to concentrate on form and uniformity. One big problem my physio noted last time was that I was still favouring my good leg so I need to even it out.

On the bike to cool down and then hit the shower.

Saturday January 17th - Group cycle Turbo

With the icy roads it was decided to call off the group cycle and instead go indoors for a turbo session.

Was a very tough 2 hour session and my legs are still feeling it.

15 minutes warm up

15 minutes at 75%
2:30 recover
15 minutes at 90 %
2:30 Recover
10x1 minute flat out
Repeat

Finish with a cool down.

Sunday January 18th - Rest day

Well I did just that. Enjoyed having a day off and felt the body looking for one too. Did a lot of core work this week and my sides are letting me know. Hoping the body will be rested enough for what I'm expecting to be a tough swim session tomorrow night.

Looking back at my first week back to full training I can see where my schedule might change a little over the next while as I find the rhythm and fit it into my everyday schedule. Its been a good week and perhaps I need to ease myself in a little more gradually then I though.

Ramping up the training quickly probably isn't the key so for now I will do short but concentrated efforts in strength sessions and perhaps just squeeze in the 2 swim sessions in a week for now and closer to race season swap some of the strength training for more time in the pool and at that stage on the road.

68 lost souls

Monday January 19th - Swim

An interesting session, mixed bag really felt really good starting off but then half way through my leg cramped up again, this is the second session in a row when it's happened me. I am trying to correct my kick at the moment and I put it down to that. It is taking my legs a bit of time to get used to it.

Got going again though and finished off the session with some sprints that showed me I still have the speed if I can get the cardio up.

Tuesday January 20th - Turbo

A tough group session with a lot of time spent in around threshold. Legs were really starting to feel it and was worried a few times about the knee a little but it held out. Spent a lot of this session trying to concentrate on even power distribution both between my two legs and on the full rotation. Trying to train my feet to stay in the correct plane in order to utilize my quads and hamstring correctly.

I am convinced I would benefit from a proper fitting so this is moving up on my wish list. Was thinking Bace2Race but if anyone has any other suggestions or feedback on this it would be great.

Wednesday January 21st - Strength work Meetings

I have hoped to make the gym but a last minute rescheduling meant I was preparing for a meeting when I got home from work and then was on a Skype conference till midnight so unfortunately got nothing done. My body is thanking me today for it though I think.

68 lost souls

Thursday January 22nd/ Friday January 23rd - Foam rolling

A few aching muscles have been slowly niggling me this week so I took a step back to try and loosen things up a little. Left calf has been tight and my knee has been a bit painful on a daily basis even when just sitting at my desk which I think is related to an overly tight IT band. Spent some time both evenings just trying to loosen things out a little.

Saturday January 23th - Cycle



Was a nice cycle today. Could have upped the pace at the start a little but ended up doing just shy of 44km in 2hours 10. We squeezed in 3 hill repeats at Ardgillin, tough climb for me average about 7% but parts are 10%. I'm just getting used to hills again and HR peaked over 95%, felt as though I was going to puke after the first one.

Knee was paining me after again so ice and ibuprofen were the order of the day. Going to ring up Monday and book a bike fitting and perhaps another session with the physio. Almost positive its the chondromalaica that's causing the pain. Need to balance out the muscles.

68 lost souls

Sunday January 24th - Strength session

Starting to see some progress in the legs, was able to up the weight on the leg press, single leg still only at about 20% on the right but that is an improvement for me. Able to complete the motion of the leg extension which I couldn't before. Weight on the leg curl is coming close to level. Felt a bit stronger in the upper body as well.

Best news from this session is my Christmas weight is officially gone. 2kg down 8kg to go.

Monday January 25th - Swim

Nice 2k session with 10 sets of 200. Every second set was threshold or drills. Enjoyed the session and for the first week didnt cramp up at all.

Tuesday January 26th - Turbo

1hour 20 session. Really worked myself into a serious sweat. Concentrated on a few things;

cadence was between 90 and 95 at all times except when going flat out and upped it to 120 and when it slipped down once or twice while changing hand positions.

Knee positioning - Tried to ensure my knee was tracking in the correct position as shown below



HR zones - Was finding the correct gearing and speed to keep me at different levels.

Coach really put us through our paces but enjoyed it.

68 lost souls

Very busy week in our house with things going on in work, and trying to get paperwork and study done at home so was not very motivated and frankly exhausted most nights so I didnt get a whole lot done but did squeeze in some good sessions, and some fat fat fatty food.

Wednesday January 27th - Nothing to note

Thursday January 28th - Swim

Partly to hit the bronze goal in the Boards Challenge I dragged myself to the pool for a short a session. It actually helped clear my head and made me feel better for a while.

200 warm up
100 kick with fins - found it helped get me pointing my toes the right way and encouraged me to keep them there
100 pull buoy concentrating on not crossing my arms and high elbow catch.

400m TT - Target was to break 7 minutes and with a digital watch I may have :P with the wall clock I looked up and was just striking 7 minutes so I wont count this one but happy as I thought it felt slow and was not going to hit it.

100m recovery - back crawl

100m - 25 fast 25 slow repeat.

Friday January 29th - Big dirty Chinese

It was a stressful week and I had a day of weakness, circumcised to the lack of energy and frustration and had 2 beers and a big Chinese. I felt I deserved it and needed a break form watching everything I put in to my body.

Saturday January 30th - Cycle

Coach asked me to repeat last weeks route but with 4 repeats instead of 3. Was on my own for this cycle which meant it was all me. Very strong headwind going out especially around Skerries made it very tough on the way out.

There is a lovely section of the route out that I really pushed on and enjoy, on the Skerries road.

Repeats were tough, I did one in the big ring and the rest in the granny ring but was working on putting in more power, keeping the legs spinning and trying to stay in as high a gear as I could without blowing up.

The spin home was great and really pushed it. Had the wind behind me for most of it and kept the legs spinning almost all the way. Really enjoyed it. Was faster the whole way back this week. Looks like I averaged close to 30kph on the way back, hope I can keep up the improvements all season. Just need to improve the hills a lot.

Looking at Strava I can see what I already know my hills need a lot of work. Going on my positions compared to others this week it looks like I was top third on most sections but the hills I was still way back near the bottom. Must pick some races with no hills so keep practicing hills


Overall I did further than last year and in a shorter time so great news.

45.5km in 2:06:51. Very happy with the day today.

68 lost souls

First week of February was a no go in terms of training. Due to family reasons I didnt get to swimming or turbo training and then was traveling the rest of the week. Did get in a swim session on Friday morning in the hotel though. It was nice to take my mind off things that were going on and enjoyed training with some one I hadn't trained with in a long time.

Was good to stretch the limbs after being in a car so much lately as well. 2x1100, 2x200, 1x400 (was supposed to be 300 but I lost count), 2x200, 2x100 with a warmup and cool down.


Back on track now this week.

Monday, February 9th - Swim

400m Warm up drills and swim

Main set - [50 as hard as possible, 100 at 85%, 150 at 80% 100 recovery drill]x4

Felt great after getting out of the pool. My knee felt far better after this. Had been in a lot of pain during the day so glad I went to the pool tonight.

Tuesday, February 10th - Turbo training

1 hour 20 set. Warmup spin, HIT intervals, 2 x 20 minute threshold sets and a cool down. Spent a lot of time up at 80% and 87%max heart rate. Struggled to keep the cadence up for the entirety of the set especially the second threshold set. Each set contained 2 x 1 minute all out which made me almost faint and/or puke so I know I was working hard.

Calf has been a little tight since, nothing painful but trying to stretch it out today.

Wednesday, February 11th - Leg work

Spent the duration of operation transformation on the telly working through physio routines on my leg. Squats, stretches and balance work was the main content. Stretching out with the band helped loosen it a bit which feels good. Really want to get back to full strength soon. Getting frustrated not being able to run and knowing the season is getting closer.

68 lost souls

Thursday, February 12th - Swim and Yoga

Wanted to see how I would handle longer sustained swimming having felt tired after my last TT I wanted to double it and did a 800m continous swim with a warm up and cool down. Short 20 minutes session 1km total.

Been feeling a little stiffer this wether when training compared to this time last year and looking at the difference between my training the big thing missing is yoga so made it back to a class for the first time. Didn't enjoy it as much as my previous experiences but I guess that's the difference between a proper yoga studio and a big gym. Also the difference between hot yoga and normal yoga. Still felt a little better though not 100%.

Friday, February 13th - Rest

Took it easy today. Still feeling tightness in my back/shoulder. Had some help work out a few knots and some tiger balm. Hoping I'll be right for the bike fit tomorrow.

68 lost souls

Saturday, February 14th - bike fit

First off I must say Dominic at Velo Motion is a great guy. First time meeting him and he knows his stuff. Has been through similar injuries as me and was full of great advice and ideas not just on the bike but also training and targets.

He was pretty straight up with me on a few things I was afraid I'd be told. Namely I should have gone for a 56 instead of a 58 when I bought my bike. The 58 will get me a great road setup but need to change a lot if i want a TT position in it.

We went through my history and plans for the year. Then a bit of a test on flexibility and sizes.

A lot of good news in terms of angles and biomechanics. I seem to be doing a lot right. A few small changes made, moved from a 110stem to a 90mm stem. Higher education the saddle a little and levelled it out.

Looking at the video footage Dom showed me a few mistakes I was making and when I concentrated on relaxing my shoulders and bending from the hips I had a lot less pressure on my spine and shoulders.

He recommended I take a few spins to get comfortable with this position and then possibly consider changing the cranks to 170 instead of 175 to take some pressure off my knees and raise the saddle to compensate for the shorter reach. Might try and see if any one is looking to go the other way.

Also possibly change he bars from a 44 to a 42. But I have a much less reaching fit now which should help the numbness I was gettin in my shoulders. Also a lot happier about not stressing my knees too much now that I have a good fit.

If I want a TT position I think I have a few options now to think about. First is get a forward offset seat post and TT saddle te shorter cranks and take out a few spacers on the bars. Second is sell this bike which I have kept pretty immaculate as I clean it after almost every ride and it doesn't have a huge mileage on it anyway. Third is by a TT bike and have this as a road and winter bike.

Currently the third option is out due o lack of space. Second option is a possibility but I don't know if I want to part with my current bike as there is a lot I like about it. Now back to the first option I might keep an eye out over the next while on adverts and here for bits an pieces and put them together over a few months. Keep the current setup until I get the rest of the bits and if needs be ride in a road setup for races this season which would probably be better on my knee anyway. If things go well this year then look at getting a TT bike next year or the year after.

A lot to think about and work on after this but happy with how it went.

Sunday, February 15th - knee rehab and foam roller

Rolled out my muscles and did a good bit if exercises to work on my knee rehab.

68 lost souls

Monday, February 16th - Swim

Was a nice session, pretty interesting. 3oom warm up, 300m pull+100 max (1:35), 300m kick+100 hard, 300m paddles + 100m hard, 4 x 100m threshold (1:42).

Tuesday, February 17th - Turbo

15 minute warm up bit of a drill and a recovery and a 20min TT to test heart rate. Held 95 cadence throughout, held 180watts for the first 5 minutes then 164 for the rest. HR started at 126, jumped to 179 in the first minute and steadily rose to 192 at the end. Fecked after it.

Wednesday, February 18th - Swim

Repeated Monday session without the 100 max in the main sets then did a 100m recovery and a 400m TT followed by a 100m recovery.

TT time was 6:52 and I think I had a little more in the tank so headed the right way. On track for my 6:30 target by June I think.

68 lost souls

Thursday, February 19th - Leg work

Did some band work on the legs to work on the knee and loosen it up as well as some poses to try and stretch out my hips.

Friday, February 20th - Leg work

Bridges, squats, leg raises to strengthen the knee and glutes.

Saturday, February 21st - Cycle

Big group out yesterday, 11 of us as opposed to previous weeks with 2 or 3. With the bigger grouper there was a greater range of abilities so we went at a bit shorter and were back to the first group spin I did of the year. 30km at 20kph.

Was nice to see the progress I made as the hills were a lot easier this time around and had a couple of sprints with 2 of the guys during it.



The new setup helped as well I think, when I made sure to keep my back flat and the arms relaxed I could feel a noticeable power increase and when I finished the spin I had no shoulder pain as I had before.

68 lost souls

So apparently I was far more tired on Saturday than I thought. Went for a nap at 7PM after dinner and woke up at 10am on Sunday. Felt better for it but felt like I can do the same thing last night. Wondering now if maybe I'm over tranining and need to cut back for a couple of weeks.

Sunday was a rest day anyway to make up for how tired I was.

Monday, February 23rd - Swim

1850m set with 1x400m @75% 2x200m @85% and 4x100m @ max (127,132,132,135)

Was really struggeling with my breathing on the last 2 100m's, went from breathing every 5 to almost having to breath every stroke on the last length.

Enjoyed the session though.

Tuesday, February 24rd - Turbo

A good tough session. Sent a good bit of time holding a high output. Had to pull up in the last 5 minutes though. Was trying to hold 90% for 5 and could feel my knee about to go so spun it backwards to help ease off. Feel like my bike is making some progress though so happy with it.

Wednesday, February 25th - Strength and conditioning/first run

Well here is the big news, I ran for a whole 2 minutes! Yep that's right logged my first few meters in almost 12 months. Started to feel a little wobbly towards the end but happy I did it.

Then an hour and a half of strength work concentrating on legs and core.

Thursday, February 26th - Strength and conditioning/second run

Today's warmup I slowed down the run a little but did 3 minutes and felt good about it. Didn't want to push it too much so left it there. Need not to rush it. Will slowly build it up over the next few weeks.

Concentrated on arms and upper body, then a little work on legs and a cool down on the bike.

Friday, February 27th - Foam roller

Legs are feeling the work outs this week, feeling pretty tender and tense so spent Fridays workout rolling out my muscles and taking it easy to be sure I'd be up for the cycle in the AM.

Saturday, February 28th - Cycle

Was a nice 45km spin today. Longer but flatter. We concentrated on speed work, did a few laps of a nice TT section. (I set it up a strava segment now as it is supposed ot be pretty popular and aleady a few people doing it, Murtaghs TT loop) Its a 5 KM out and back with an up and over flyover section. Key was to keep consistancy and my times were 9:37, 9:46, 9:59.

I know I'm capable of faster but as with Friday I could really feel all the gym work and my quads were not playing ball. Planning on using this loop going forward as a measuring stick.

Here is the full spin



And the TT loop

68 lost souls

Little behind on my updates. Needed an easy week last week as I decided to listen to my body. So I took Thursday, Friday, Saturday off training and concentrate don my studies instead. Here are the update son the rest of the dats.


Monday, March 2nd - Swim

Long sessions this week. 1000m steady and 10x100 at threshold plus the warm-up. Was tough going but nice to put in a solid long swim.

Tuesday, March 3rd - Turbo

Warmups and then 5min at hardest resistance and hardest gear, 5 minutes at 87% and 10 minutes at 75%, repeat. Recovery nad then 10 times 30 on 30 off.

Again a tough sessio nand lots of strength work this time round.

Wednesday, March 4th - VO2 and metabolic testing

I want to do a full report on this but don't have my data in front of me at the moment. I hope I will do this at a later stage. Basically I can eat a lot, 18% above normal metabolic rate. This puts me at eating about 3200 calories a day with my training schedule to still lose weight.

VO2 results were a 49.9 with an FTP of 2.8w/kg. My recovery was above normal with 27% in the first minute and 54% in the second minute. Happy to get my training zones as they are a little under where I thought so perhaps I have actually been pushing too hard and staying in the anebolic range too much. Will adjust for tonight turbo.

A caved at about 411watts.

Sunday, March 8th - Cycle

Nice big group again of 13. Took the back routes and did 6 hill repeats. Totaled 52KM in about 2 and a half hours. Pushing up 4% gradient over 1km in the big ring, a few weeks ago I would have had to have been in the granny ring so improvements are coming. Total climbing of 487m in the day.

Getting used to going up as well as oging down. Feeling more confident descending now. Felt a bit of pain in the knee after as I didnt tape this week like I had the last. Will tape it next weekend.

Monday, March 9th - Swim

Nice session this week. 300m warmup, 300 stead 6 x 50m sprint, 200m steady, 4x50m sprint, 100m, 2x50m sprint, 300m pull.

Felt good after this. Was keeping the 50m sprints under 40 seconds which I was happy with.

68 lost souls

Tuesday, March 10th - Turbo

Was not feeling this session at all. 15 minute warm up, a few intervals and then 40 minutes ramping from 75% up to flat out. I couldn't hold the sustained effort and felt sluggish. Tried to stick with it as much as possible but found myself going off pace a good bit and dropping back to 70% for sections of it.

Run off the bike, first outdoor run in almost a year. Just a short 1km or so. Felt ok but calves were tight and legs were a little heavy.

Wednesday, March 11th - Run

Yep, its taken 11 months but I did my first run session since surgery. Was kept short enough still as I want to ease into it but came up just shy of 2km in 10 minutes. RIght calf locked up on me though and knee started feeling a bit of pain later that night. Will bring it back a little further even next session. Perhaps the same loop but at a slower pace.

Thursday, March 12 - Swim

Did the full session more or less with the pull just to rest the leg as my calf was still tight. Did 300m of drills and a straight 1500m swim followed by dropping the pull for 4x50m sprints.

Felt a little loser after this. Was a nice set.

Friday, March 13th - X-Fit class

Wanted to try something different in the gym so did their X-Fit class, was more of a circuit training class but was tough.

Started with 2 loops of 6 stations, TRX running, moving plank, prowler push and heavy ropes, balance ball reverse situps, kettle bells, dumbbell boxing.

Then 10 minutes of sprint, prowler, firemans carry, prowler with cardio in the middle of jogging on the spot, starjumps, high knees and lunges.

Then floor work of various situps, side planks and planks.

Was spent at the end. Very good session.

Saturday, March 14th - Cycle

Did a 43km out and back with 3 hill repeats of the black hills from post #9. I've done about 15-20 ascents and descents of this hill now and set a couple of PBs on both the climb and descent so showing improvements. In January I was getting up in around 6:50 average. I was 4:57, 5:32, 5:34 on these 3. If I could get htem all under 5 minutes I would be happy.

Sunday, March 15th - Rest

Mothers day gave me a bit of an excuse to pig out so my mum didn't have to do it on her own :P

Monday, March 16th - Swim

3oom warmup and goal was to fit in 25x100m with 20 seconds rest but a mixture of too much rest and a little too late getting in the water meant it was 19x100m by the time we were getting kicked out of the pool.

Was happy with how the set went and felt like I could hav emanaged to finish it out if the pool was open longer.

Solobally8

68 lost souls wrote: »

Sunday, March 15th - Rest

Mothers day gave me a bit of an excuse to pig out so my mum didn't have to do it on her own :P

You are so thoughtful

Must be great to be back running.

68 lost souls

Yeah it feels great. Did another run last night but wore a knee support and felt great after it. Had planned on doing the same route but slower and ended up matching the time almost exactly, 1 second in the difference and that could have been taking a little longer to stop the clock. My phone dropped its signal so couldn't compare.

I have a few progressively longer routes mapped out and since I moved to a new area a year ago there is still a lot of unexplored parts for me to run around and get lost in. Only discovered a few weeks ago there is a big park about less than 500m from the front door for example so will definitely be getting to know the place better with running back on the cards.

68 lost souls

Due to travel with work an other commitments training took a backseat last week.

Tuesday, March 17th - Run

Did the same loop on the run tried to slow it down but came in at exactly the same time as previously. Glad to get it done.

Wednesday - Sunday - SFA.

Dropped the bike in last Sunday for a service and to change the crankset to a shorter arm 170mm vs 175mm as suggested in my bike fitting. Had hoped to collect it on Saturday to go for a cycle on Sunday but didn't get a chance to collect until lat eon Sunday.

Monday, March 23rd - Swim

Nice set, really enjoyed it. 300m WU, 300m steady but the 4th length of each 100m hard. 100m Drill, 300m paddles, 100m drill, 300m pull, 100m drill 300m swim 199m drill 100m cool down.

Tuesday, March 24th - Turbo

15 min WU
10 min Intervals, 40 off 20 on
7 minutes at 75% 3 minutes at race pace x 2
2 minutes easy
6 minutes at 75%, 4 minutes at race pace x 2
2 minutes recovery
6 minutes of 30 second intervals
10 minutes cool down.




Planned on taking today off for my birthday unless I could squeeze in a run, then last night I started getting hit with what feels like the onset of tonsillitis so definitely nothing doing tonight.

Hope to swim tomorrow but obviously if I'm sick I'll be off training for a few days.

mossym

are you still considering a TT saddle? i have one, practically new,i'd let go for a good price.

happy birthday by the way

68 lost souls

Considering it alright. Spend a bit of the session last night on the tri bars to get used to it but in the new setup my saddle is putting pressure on. Send me a PM with some info on the saddle and I'll have a think about it.

Cheers for the birthday wishes. Another step closer to the next age group :P

68 lost souls

The last few weeks have been a bit mental. Adding to the tonsillitis have been weddings and funerals. Throat is now feeling better but chest has decided it felt left out and has been causing me issues. Another round of antibiotics and lots of rest.

Been struggling keeping a healthy diet with so much traveling, eating out at family events, motivation to cook (the two of us are sick now) and also been very bad at taking my vitamins etc due to so many other tablets I'm taking. Its a pain because I felt I was progressing well.

Have just under 10 weeks until my first event so hoping I'm almost over the worst of it.

Anyway today I was really feeling the cabin fever and lack of training and decided to go for a walk to clear the head. Needed it as I Was getting nothing done while staring at my screen all day. Walked the 5km route I had planned out for training. Never been around that part of town and it seems nice enough. Glad to start exploring. Dunno if you guys count going for a walk as training but I'm going to count this one. 5km in 45 minutes.

68 lost souls

Got back in the pool on Wednesday night as I was feeling pain in my knee form not training. wasnt ready for a tough session yet as still a bit chesty. Worked on breathing and control.

200m warmup
100m x 9 breathing 3,4,5,6,7,6,5,4,3
2x200m sprint.

1500m 45minutes.

68 lost souls

Getting over the breathing issues now for the most part. Slowly building up training again.

Saturday , April 11th - Run

Moved up the distance a small bit to the 2K loop I found. Its got a fair amount of hills so good workout. 2.2KM in 13:04 happy enough with it despite feeling a little stiff in the hips.

Sunday, April 12th - Bike

The usual trip to the Mothers house was a good excuse to get back on the bike after a layoff of a couple of weeks. Just looking back on it the last spin was a turbo on the 24th of March. 29km pushing it as much as I could while being weary of Dublin city traffic. Lovely weather for it, first time in shorts this year.

Monday, April 13th - Run and Swim

Repeated the same loop, bit faster this time. 12:21 this time around

Good training session with the club pushing it at threshold for a lot of it. 2.1km targeting progressively faster times. Coming in around 1.25 for 100 at the end.

Tuesday, April 14th - Rest

Wednesday, April 15th - Planned run but rested


Was feeling fairly light headed on Wednesday. Possibly over caffeinated at work.Kept starting to get ready to run and felt the wiser choice was to rest. Ended up going to be early and sleeping it off. Happy I did cause I felt much better for it.

Thursday, April 16th - Run and S&C

Third time doing the 2K loop, little slower again but happy with how it was, again a smashing day weather wise so was nice to be out. Having done this 3 times I'm going to step up next run and do the 1.5k loop twice. Slowly growing the distance in the runs and hope to be back up to 5K soon enough.

Hit the gym then after dinner. 15 minutes on the bike, then hit the heavy bag for a boxing workout, rounded off with a few sets on the back and abs machines.

Plan on getting back in the sea for the first time after work today and then cycle in the AM. Should get a run in on Sunday and then I have a work trip next week and there's no pool or gym in the hotel (visitng a few small towns and staying in local hotels) so wont get much training done. Gonna try make sure I get a couple of runs in though.

68 lost souls

Overdue an update. Been hectic lately.

Friday, April 17th - Sea Swim

Was a rough day with waves throwing me about but was good to get back in the big pool. Wasn't looking for speed but more an acclimatization to the sea again. First of the year. was about 1.2-1.3 km total, swam to the rocks and back in Clogherhead.

Saturday, April 18th - Cycle session

Club cycle started with some bike skills and then a steady spin from Swords to Skerries and back with a run off the bike. Not too taxing but a nice spin and making it a bit of a brick session was good for the legs. Will need to get more of these in. 34km total

Sunday, April 19th - Run session

Brought up the distance a little more to 3km. 17:10 total time and felt good. Got quicker each km. Starting at 6:00 and then picking up each time.

Was traveling for work then and only go tone run in the following week.

Tuesday, 21st April - Running tour of Germany

3km in 17:29. Steadier/more consistent pace then Sundays run. between 5:30 and 5:40 pace.

Sunday, 26th April Educating myself

Went to the Base2Race event which I thought was great. Went to some interesting talks and picked up some good info from a few people, mainly on running technique.

Monday, 27th April - Swimming

Session was good and tough. 300m warmup 5x200m with 25m drill and 175 swim, 10x100m off 2:00, 200m cool down.

Enjoyed the session despite feeling bad about a notable decline in performance. Not doing enough swimming the past few weeks to maintain improvements. It balances out though as my running is coming along nicely.


Tuesday, 28th April - Run

3km in 16:03. Put into practice some of the tips I picked up and also switched shoes to my racing pair to get comfortable in them. Wasn't happy with them last time I wore them and wanted to see if they felt any better. Pushed to see how I would feel going fast and to see how the knee was holding up.

Ran between 85% and 90% of max HR.

Splits 1.) 5:24 2.) 5:01 3.) 5:27

All great but my knee was not happy afterward. Think it might be the shoes. Either way I took 2 days off to rest it.

Friday, 1st May - Run

Upped the distance again. Slowed it down and reverted back to my training shoes. 3.7km in 22:01. I wanted to make sure I didn't push it before a cycle in the morning so kept it at about 5:55 pace.

Felt a bit of pain in my shins towards the end and also could feel my right foot was landing inside first and then rolling flat while my left leg was landing mid foot perfectly even. This was putting a but more pressure on my weaker knee. Tried to concentrate on correcting this, not sure how much of it was slope of the path and how much was poor posture. Something to work on.

Plan on getting up to 5km in about 2-3 weeks giving me 3 weeks to work on brick sessions and prepare for my first race of the year.

68 lost souls

Saturday, 2nd May - Bike Rest day

Went to meet up for a group spin but when we got to the meeting point it was just 2 of us and our coach. With the weather that was there we decided it was safer to stay indoors and do a turbo session so our coach gave us a good session which I decided to do on Sunday and make Saturday my rest day.

Sunday, 3rd May - Turbo

Nice session to make up for yesterday.

10 minutes warm up
3x (5minutes 70%, 5 minutes 75%, 5 minutes 80%, 5 minutes 65%)
3 minutes recovery
5 x 1 minute interval (20 hard 40 easy)
5 minutes recovery/cool down.

Really enjoyed this session.

Monday, 4th May - Run

3.7km consisting of 2km loop and 1.5km like before. A little up on speed this time. Feeling a bit of pain in my shins today after it. Not sure if its just because I didnt warm down properly or something else. Will watch it over the next little while and may need to ease off a little for a week or so.

68 lost souls

Tuesday, 5th May - OW Swim and Run

Day started off pretty wet but glad it cleared up by the evening as was able to get out for an OW Swim. Ran through some drills and practiced sighting. Water was cold but refused this time to wear gloves and boots like last time. Need to get used to the cold with a lake swim in June. Appox 600m and 20 minutes but the important thing was not distance in this session but rather getting used to swimming in a group in OW and sighting.

Ran back down the beach and took the opportunity to transition to running. Then proceeded on a 3.5km run. Felt like I hadnt put my socks on properly about half way around and my run was put off. Was feeling very soar for the second half on my knees, shins and hips so slowed it down. I would have stopped if there was a quick way back but as it was one big loop I kept going. Got back to the car and realized I had blisters on feet. Tough tough run and my body is giving out to me now. Definitely need to lay off for a few days and I'm going to try and arrange a Sports massage this week.

68 lost souls

Been really suffering since Tuesday with my left shin. Forcing myself to stop training but its hard as I want to get back out. With Crooked Lake looming the last thing I want is an injury.

Icing it every few hours and rolling my legs, especially the calfs. Trying to get a physio appointment still. 2 phone calls and an email with no response though. Think I may look elsewhere.

Might chance swimming on Monday and Tuesday but staying away from running and biking for now.

68 lost souls

Something is definitely not right, scared to get it checked out after last year but it needs to be done. Just putting off the inevitable I think.

Stayed away from running and impact all week. Did some squats and single leg squats on Sunday while doing some cross training through boxing.

Good knee wasn't feeling right toward the end. Hoping beyond hope it's nothing serious. Don't think I could bare the same recovery again.

Monday, May 11th - Swimming

Figured swimming has no impact and needed to do something so went to the club session and was happy I did. Muscles were stiff from lack of training and the boxing on Sunday so was good to stretch them out.

250 warm up
3 x 200m drills
6 x 100m race pace (1:30) with 45 seconds rest
200m mixed strokes
cool down

Tuesday, Mayth 12th - OW swim

Some good sighting and group swimming drills for half an hour. Then skipped the run and went home.

Debating wether a doctors appointment would be better than a physio appointment at this stage. Hoping a bit more rest might help it go away but nervous of letting it too long.

68 lost souls

Overdue an update.

Wednesday, May 13th - S+C with a swim warm down

Spent an hour in the gym working on leg and core. Planned on doing a 400m TT at the end but was dead after the work out and just cooled down with some slow drills

Thursday, May 14th - OW Swim

880m of mixed sighting drills and group work practicing drafting and swimming in a pack. 30 minutes total. Was mighty cold but getting used to it now.

Friday and Saturday were a bit of a bust.

Sunday, May 17th - Cycle

Very happy with this, was my first solo long spin in a awhile (long for me). I had most of the morning to fill it so I took a route out of Swords towards Dunsoughlin and then a ring around Dublin through Kilcok, Maynooth and Celbridge back towards Rathfarnham.



Averaged 23.2kmh, had anticiapted 22 so nice to be a little up on planned. A few fast sections along the Canal which I was really happy with. Held about 30kph for a nice stretch between Kilcock and Maynooth, would be very happy if I could hold this in a race. On the hillier sections I had a good 20km where I averaged 25kph which is probably more realistic on race day.

Puncture in Greenouge was a pain in the ass. Ha trouble filling the new tube as it had a very short valve and couldn't get the gas on it.

Monday, May 18th - Swim

Interesting session with 300m warmup and then series of 200m drill sets. 1800m total.

Then a week of nothing due to work travel. Trade shows however are essentially long distance walk training. Planned on doing something on Sunday when I got back but was deprived of any sort of energy.

Back to it tonight.

68 lost souls

Tuesday, May 26th - Run

Signed up for the Balbriggan Aquathon on Thursday so was about time I got out running again. Slow pave averaging 6kmh but happy i took it slow because any faster would have killed me. Knee is a bit sore today after it. Not sure if its the lack of running or something else. Was clicking on every step of the stairs though. Good news is the shin was a lot better, no pain there. Have a physio appointment for Saturday so will see what they say.

3.7km in 22:27

68 lost souls

Wednesday, May 27th - Yoga

Feeling tight after the run on Tuesday and wanted to limber up before the aquathon as well as re-energise so I pulled up some videos on youtube and did a good hour long session. Felt great after it. Exactly what I needed

Thursday, May 28th - Fingal Balbriggan Aquathon

was late into work so rather than leaving early and getting home I was glad I had packed the night before so stayed in work late and went straight. Got there plenty early and registered.

Before the off i had a walk out into entry point to see the water levels and get an idea of when to stop running and start swimming, have an awful fear of diving head first into the ground. With that and a quick warmup done it was time to lineup.

The race began on the beach with a run into the sea a proper 750m swim I estimate out to the first marker sharp right turn and parallel with the beach to the second marker followed by another sharp right and back to the beach. A few of the usual 3,2, (front pack leave) 1, GO! people there as a bunch leapt into the water before the claxon but I heeld back for the off. Kept to the right of the bunch and made my way past them again on entry.

I was with the front pack up to the first marker which I could sight well using a boat that was near by and held a pretty straight line all the way, didn't need to readjust at all really. Was in the front 5 at this stage. One or two people I think had started pulling away and I felt strong. I made sure to keep out of the pack and didn't trust any one else to hold a good line so no drafting and kept myself clear of any elbows or feet.

Rounded the corner and was about level with someone and I could feel my hats and goggles starting to slip so a quick readjust and decided then to use the opportunity to draft off the hip of the person beside me. Had slipped a little again and pulled down hard on it. Could feel the other person weaving a little so I stopped drafting them and went back to picking my own line.

Sighted the second marker a little to well and gave it a little hug as I turned. A few more strokes and then pop, hat and goggles came right off. New this would hamper me but wasn't sure what to do. They were siting on top of my head but not on so I tried readjusting and swam a few strokes, tried reseatting goggles but they were full of water and not sitting correctly. Then popped off again and this time I tried to just hold them in my left hand while swimming. Realised the parachute effect this was having so shoved them down my wetsuit and tried to swim again. This time I couldn't site and I was all alone, the breakaway group and gained a lot of time on me now and the rest were behind me still with some catching quickly. I got past by quiet a few people as I stopped to thread water and untangle one of the hats and goggles and put them back on. I left one of the hats float off at this point and then set about making up some time I had lost.

Heading towards land I was happy I didn't trust others sighting as I saw people go well wide and head for the tower at the edge of the beach rather than the middle. I got back into a good rythem but was finding it fairly hard to catch my breath having swallowed a lot of water during "hat gate". Passed out a few people I had let past me which I was about. Out of the water and into transition in the top 10 which was my goal. Delighted with that as I didn't think it was realistic. I believe looking at the times if it were not for hat gate it would have been a top 5.

Then the dreaded 5K. I hadnt run 5k in 2 years. I had no idea what to expect this time, all I knew was I didn't want to come last. Didn't even know if I would finish. It was out of (a very slow) transition, sharp right and up hill. Then follow the road around to 2 laps of the playing fields, back the way we came, along the cliff walk over the bridges around a cone and back under the bridges. Trying to keep the time under 30 minutes my first 2k were pretty slow as I struggled to find a rythm 6:!2 and 6:03. I knew I needed to pick it up so stopped and adjusted my shoes then picked it up 5:44, 5:43 and 5:25 were my last 3 splits which were a but more respectable.

Was a fairly hilly route with about 8 minutes climbing 8 minutes of descending and I was a bit terrified of the gravel section before and after the playing fields as I have had previous falls on gravel but a great turn out by the public along the way with matches being played at the same time which made for a good atmosphere.

Finished the race with 1 15 minutes swim (Top 10) and run into transition, 30+ transition with a run of around 29 (not last) minutes giving me an overall time of 46:45.

I achieved a few goals here. Learnt some lessons before my first big race, had a strong swim, didn't post the slowest run time and crossed the line. Gave me mixed confidence for the coming season.


Friday, May 29th - Rest

Saturday, May 20th - Park run

Having done my first 5k this week I decided to follow it up again with a Park run. Was feeling confident now that I had one under my belt. So in my head I targeted to hold a consistent 5:45/km which I would be happy with repeating. Was a nice crowd and great warmup before hand. DIdn't know the course so was thankful it was well signposted.

360 runners on the day which is great to see and I was right up in the middle which also made me very happy.

Put in a PB of 26:30 which I was delighted with. I was a lot faster than expected went at 5:24, 5:26, 5:15, 5:15, 5:06. It was really pushing the HR though. Gradually rising over the distance from 159 - 195. I reckon my self confidence with running is holding me back a little and this has helped a lot. Very very happy with it, despite feeling very sore afterwards, a good sore though I believe. I think I paced it well and I don't know if I can go much faster at the moment without serious work. I am hoping to start putting that in though.

Onwards and upwards!

68 lost souls

Sunday, May 31st - Cycle

Wanted to try and get a handle of the kind of times I can target in a race so went for a shorter flat spin on my own. 34.3 km in 1:22:33 along the coast road, over the east link and along the canal. First half I was about 28kph then slowed down the second half. Heavens opened just before I got to the east link and a few dodgy man hole covers from there along the canal nearly took me out.

Happy enough with how I felt overall. Gives me a bit of a bottom line over those shorter distances. Hoping do finish the bike on Crooked lake in under 45 minutes. Closer to 40 and I'd be delighted.

Monday, June 1st - Rest day

Total rest, didn't leave the couch all day.

Tuesday, June 2nd - Yoga

Started to make a ritual of doing an hour of yoga the day before a race. Need to limber up and have nice loose joints to try and prevent injury and make sure I get across that finish line.

Wednesday, June 3rd - Belpark Duathlon

Wasn't sure what to expect from this race. Had a few goals though one was not to get beaten too badly by challenger 1 and hopefully beat challenger 2. Unfortunately we were each put in a different wave so judging it would be difficult and certainly no sprint finishes. All I had to go off was challanger 2's time in Mays race. This then wasn't helped by the fact that my Garmin died after 200m on the first leg of the run.

Run 1 2.5k- Went out fast. Very fast, was trying to judge the pack by eye and pick some pacers since my watch had died. Got dropped by the main pack and then it was a case of trying to stay with it. Bearing in mind I had been averaging around 5:45/km in training I was delighted to come around in 11:28.

Cycle 12k - Was feeling the run, hadn't expected to go out that fast and was worn out starting off. Found it hard to get in the rythm especially on quiet a technical course. Lots of undulating and bends. Found myself catching a lot of people on the descents and flats and then losing them again on the hills. Enjoyed the long straight from transition exit to the S bends. Picked a few people I wanted to beat and kept ahead of them. No sign of the 2 challengers which meant I was probably doing fairly ok in comparison. Had a glance as I went past transition and along the run route and no sign of challanger 2 which was in wave 1 which meant there probably was not much time between us. Put on a bigger push on the third lap.

Had a nightmare dismount. Had the right foot out of the show and pedaling and the left foot half out when I unclipped by accident so had to grab it with my hand and run with it in one hand while balancing the bike. Very very long walk back to T2 as I couldn't get my legs working right. 29:16

Run 2 2.5km - Left calf was cramping up. Need to do a lot mroe brick sessions in the next few weeks. Was not ready for that transition. First 500 m was a mixture of jog walk and stop to stretch the calf. Then rounded the first bend and heard a few encouraging words from a really nice guy who decided to pace with me. Took my mind off the calf and ran it out. We each decided tp up the pace as we went around at different stages and picked a few people we wanted to pass. Times were feeling fast and faster as the run went on. We looked at each with 200m to go and nodded, finish strong he said and we upped it. Sprinting to the line he got there a second ahead of me. 13:31 for te second run.

Overall time - 56:09 - Beat Challanger 2's time from May only for them to have put in a better time this time and he beat me by 3 minutes. Still happy enough, was hoping sub 55 and my run was faster than I planned but my bike was down on what I planned.

Challenger 1 crossed the line about 2 minutes after me having started in the wave behind me so delighted I didn't get lapped which was my other goal.

Perhaps if we all do July's race I can beat challenger 2 on the bike as I had them beat on the run this time.

Thursday June 4th - recovery

Not doing anything more really bar stretching and yoga before Saturdays big race. Im already worn out and need to rest.

Friday June 5th - Plan is yoga and foam rolling tonight, feling very tight in my calf still and worried I'll suffer in the morning if I dont try and stretch it out.

Looking forward to crooked lake if not a little nervous.

Hoping to go sub 1:35 would be delighted with a 1:30. Wouldn't be happy at all with over 1:40 as this was my PB in a sprint previously.

Swim - nothing over 15:00 and I'd be happy - hoping for closer to 12:30
Bike - Ideally sub 45
Run leaves me 30 minutes which is my PB in a triathlon for 5k. Set a few new markers the past month of 26:30 park run and a combined time of 24:59 for the 5k of the duathlon.

Adding in transitions I hope I'm not too optimistic in hoping I can go sub 1:30 but we will see what tomorrow brings.

68 lost souls

Saturday June 7th - Crooked Lake Triathlon

Targeted time sub: 1:30

A nice start time for this one. Didn't have to get up at the craic of dawn to travel up and plenty of time to get setup in transition and settled down. Great atmosphere around the place and plenty of spectators out. Seemed very well organised and registration went very smoothly.

The weather, well it was Ireland so unpredictable, freezing rain, gail force winds and then sunshine for the finish. Bit of everything. We were issued weather warnings in the goody bag and disk wheels were banned.

Swim - 14:14 120/489 - Was hoping to go out fast and be towards the front coming out, I know I was capable of a top 50 swim time here but got in the wrong place at the start, no count down and no warning of the claxon. I was still getting warmed up and was at the back of the group. Tried battling through a wall of swimmers but was getting no where, ended up having to just sit back until the first turn when it broke up a bit. Very congested still and had to fight to hold my line with a few people trying to push me out. Lesson learnt, warmup at the front from now on. Disappointing swim but still decent enough time.

T1 - 2:46 - Long run in and stupidly left my watch on over the wetsuit so struggled to get it off having forgot this and got tangled up.

Bike - 39:41 298/489 - Planned on averaging 25kmh and went slightly quicker at 26kmh. Tough start of the course but fun and beautiful setting. About 4k in there was a tough section with a grade between 10-15% which signaled the top of the course. Was mostly decent from there bar a few drags. My bike was making an awful noise which I thought was the breaks rubbing so dismounted at the top of the tough climb to check the breaks and adjust them. Cycled on and still heard it so opened up the front break and still there. Will drop into the LBS tomorrow for a check over. Back was a little soar towards the end, suspect it was bad posture.

T2 - 2:06 plenty of room to improve

Run - 29:40 402/489 - Below 30 which was what I hoped but not great since I've been running better lately. I'll blame it on the tough hill on both laps but really I know it's lack of brick sessions. Got passed by plenty of people on the run. Pushed the last KM to 5:15 as I knew I was cutting it close to go sub 1:30.

Overall - 1:28:29 318/489 - 19/28AG.

Overall happy with the race but still plenty to improve on. Learnt a few lessons and got some good experience.

Monday, June 8th - Swim

Nice session 2200m

warm up, 3x100, then a ramp 50,100,150,200,200,150,100,50 followed by 5x100 and a cool down.

Tuesday, June 9th - Cycle

Lovely evening for it. 46km in 1:31:29. Near enough 30kmh which was great. Lots of improvements and glad I went out with the group I did, had been scared to before was I was afraid they'd drop me fairly quick but I kept up and was delighted to push it.

Wednesday, June 10th - S+C

One hour in the gym working on chest and legs. Very soar after.

After this Im taking it easy for a few days. Legs are very tired and worn out from a packed few weeks.

68 lost souls

Took some time to rest after the last few races and days training. The body welcomed a bit of a break.

Tuesday 16th June - Swim

Was traveling and the hotel pool was about 6 stokes long so felt like a goldfish in a tiny bowl for a while until I figured out there was a button on the wall to turn on a current. Then spent about 20 minutes in the endless flow nice and easy as the current wasn't too strong so I was having to pull back. IT felt good though jus tto stretch out and ease back into it after some time off. Next two events are swim events any wa so need to spend a bit of time on this.

Thursday 18th June - OW Swim

Went out with the club around Skerries. 1km swim with a fairly choppy sea. Made for good training and really enjoyed the session.

Saturday 20th June - Boyne Swim 2.7km River Swim


The weather was great for the day, packed up the car and headed up around midday. Registered in the D Hotel and picked up my chip, hat and goodie bag. The Tshirt for this was really nice. Headed down to the finish then, nice setup and free parking was sorted which was a plus. Good to get some time to catch up with a lot of my old training buddies too.

1.30 safety briefing and then shuttle bus up to the start line. We were given bags with our race numbers to transfer anything back to the finish for us so could bring flipflops and a water bottle etc up to the start while waiting around. Then got into the water with plenty of kayaks for support and some safety swimmers.

Race started around 2.45 and tried to keep to the center of the river as much as possible, drifted in and out a bit for the first few hundred meters as I settled in. was a good distance ot the first bridge and then was able to use each consecutive bridge for sighting. Pretty cold under the bridges but lovely temperature apart from that.

There were good crowds around the town supporting the swim and a great atmosphere with the maritime festival on over the weekend. Could hear boats whizzing by every now and then but tried to keep concentrated on my swim. Past a few people as I went and did my best not to let others pass me.

Under the last bridge there was about 400m to go and was trying to judge when to push it for a strong finish. Starting making my way from the middle of the river over to the right hand bank as this is where the exit would be and about 200m out I emptied the tank to try and get in ahead of a big bunch. At the slip a few people were trying to walk out from a deep enough position and I swam pas them a little bit until it was knee deep. Then scrambled to my feet and rushed to the timing mat, spotted a patch of grass to the side and collapsed in a heap. Was a little dizzy and felt happy that I had given my all to it then.

Overall did it in 38:31 which put me ahead of a few guys I used to train with and within reaching distance of others so I was happy with how it went. Some strong swimmers in the bunch with Brian Harris bringing it home in a time of 26:56 almost a full 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place and 1 other person going sub 30. 35/85 in Senior Wetsuit category.

Lats and triceps were very stiff after bt really really enjoyable day out and a big thank you to all the organisers and marshalls.

Steroo

Wish I had been able to swim that Boyne ;( well done sounds good

68 lost souls

Yeah it was a good one. Nice to get that sort of distance done as well. Think its the longest OW swim I've done. I've done longer pool sessions but as we know its a different ball game. Was good practice for Escape from Ireland as well in 2 weeks time. That will be shorter but tougher.

68 lost souls

Monday, 22nd June - Swim

Arms felt very heavy and was not up for the session we did, felt pretty low after it but I know its only temporary.

300 warm up

2x25m sprint

4x400 first 3 getting faster every 100 then last 100 was best average.

Cool down.

Then that's been it so far for the week. Calves still very tight and shin felt painful too. Finally got to a physio tonight. Confirmed shin splints bordering on stress fracture. Ultrasound treatment and exercises for the next 10 days and see how its feeling then. Plenty of exercises to do for my weaker knee as well to strengthen it. Muscle wastage is still worse than I thought so possible that that's to blame for the shin.

Need to change how I was doing my S+C moving from highrep work to heavy low rep work. Very happy with the physio I went to and hoping to get some good results over the next few weeks.

68 lost souls

Sunday June 28th - Run

Been doing my stretching and physio had given me the go ahead for gentle running on flat grass so headed out to the playing pitches and did 5km at 6m/km. Hips were feeling tight after but shin wasn't too bad.

Monday, June 29th - Swim

300m warmup

Main set: 30 seconds between each
5x200m at 80%
5x100 at race pace (went out to fast and first 2 came in at 1:27/1:28. Slowed down for the last 3)

300m drill

Nice set and felt a lot better than previous week. Happy with it.

Tuesday June 30th Cycle

Garmin failed to record but about 42km in about 1:32 was a very enjoyable swim along the coast and up Howth head and back. Nice decent into the village and fantastic views today.

68 lost souls

Wednesday 1st of July - S&C

First proper gym workout since physio so that was my target. As I'm off running at the moment to avoid the impact on my shins I spent 15 minutes warming up on the cross trainer and then hit the weights. Negative repsx4 on the leg press at 100KG and calf lift at about 80KG, machine in the gym doesn't allow negative reps on the hamstring curl so did 5x55kg single leg. 3 sets of each. Then another 30 minutes working on the mat doing floor work and single leg plyo exercises. Finished off with some time on the heavy bag.

Thursday July 2nd - Sea Swim

Nice 1k swim at sea. Swam out to deep water and then laps of two buoys which are about 20-25m apart practicing turns. Finishe doff with a swim back in and practicing dolphin dives.

Friday July 2nd - Rest

Saturday July 3rd - S&C

Tried a slow run on treadmill, realised after 200m it was doing more harm than good so switched to the cross trainer again.

Single leg leg press - 70kg 3sets 4 reps. Similar effort on good leg is 90kg so gives me a target
Single leg calf raise - 74kg 3 sets 4 reps. Found these tougher, find it hard to get the form right on this one legged
Single leg hamstring curls - 4 reps at 70kg (poor form not finishing the movement) - 4 reps at 60kg (real struggle) - 4 reps at 55kg.
Single leg plyo work
Then some cable work on the arms and chest.

68 lost souls

Sunday July 5th - Cycle (copied from the cycling forum)

Waited out the rain and headed out about 3pm today for a coastal spin around Dublin. Planned it out around 75km and 3 hours. Ended up going about 85km and a bit slower than planned.ostly thanks to Kiliney hill.

Swords-Malahide-howth head loop-fair view-irishtown-black rock-Dunlaoighre-Dalkey-Kiliney-ballybrack-Bridesglen-stepaside-Dundrum-mill town and finished in Terenure. Felt great from Swords to Dalkey averaging about 27kmh then it went down hill as I went uphill. Was not expecting how tough Killiney hill is and then by the time I got to Brides Glen I think I bonked. Not fun on your own. Ended up eating two snickers and pushed through knowing if be downhill from kiltiernan.

Ended up a lot slower overall though about 23.5kmh which I'm very annoyed about.

Positives are I spent a lot of time building confidence on the drops and also some time practicing on the Tribars. Went from howth to bull island on the Tribars the whole way which was good. Much more confident on descents today as well.

Monday July 6th - Swim

300m warmup
50 fast 50 slow x 3
400m easy
2x200 steady
4x100 race pace
50m cool down

68 lost souls

Was feeling a good bit of discomfort on Tuesday in the shin while driving home from work so just did some stretching to help relieve it and took it easy for the night.

Wednesday June 8th - S&C

Bike warmup
Heavy negative reps
Leg press - 120KG 5x3
Calf raise - 110KG 5x3
Hamstring Curl 70KG 4x3
Plyo jumps
Hip flexer stability work
Heavy bag session

68 lost souls

Well between catching the flu and going on holidays I have been quiet on filling this in.

Thursday July 9th - OW Swim

1.5km in 45minutes. Working mainly on sighting in the group.

Woke up Friday with a soar throat, by the end of work I had a fever and a stuffed nose. Not a good sign for Escape from Ireland.

Saturday woke up in bits. Was really in a bad way and determined to make the starting line on Sunday I went to the gym and spend an hour in the Steam room trying to flush it out. Seemed to work for a bit but couldnt shake it.

Sunday July 12th - Escape from Ireland Swim - DNS was just way to sick to get out of bed. Very annoyed to have missed it as I had been looking forward to it for months. It was one of my goals for the season so raging to have missed it.

Spent the rest of the week just resting and recovering until Wednesday when I went to a hotter, drier climate which helped me shake it off.

A week of swimming in 28 degree water for several hours a day plus walking upwards of 10km a day around the city in 40 degree heat was great. I really enjoyed switching off technology for a week and just enjoying a break away. Brought the runners but they didn't get used.

Thursday 23rd July - Cycle

Very short just 7.3km in 15:29 to get the legs going again and make sure everything was ok before Sunday.

Felt good and strong, bike felt really nicely setup. Feeling confident about the Swim and bike legs for Belfast, terrified for the run but still hadnt made up my mind whether I'd do the run.

That was it for up until Sunday except for stretching 3 times a day under instruction from the physio. Race report to come.

68 lost souls

Saturday 25th July - Arriving in Belfast

Decided rather than wake up at stupid o'clock to drive up the day of I would make a mini vacation out of it with the OH. Arrived up around lunch time and stopped in SS Moore to register and get my race pack. Very much hassle free, nice tshirt and a new small bidon. Got to the hotel and checked in, brought the gear up to the room and lay it all out to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything that I could get quickly. Just some tape missing for sticking gels to the frame. Down to reception to check what time breakfast was for and it was too late for me, they offered to put some things out early if needed but I decided to skip paying the extra fee for a few slices of toast and picked up some supplies in the local Lidl.

Went out to the centre then and picked up the tape I needed, scoped out transition and the swim/run courses. 1.5km looked an awful long way from the bridge but was looking forward to it. This sign on the bridge looked ominous :P



Went about enjoying the rest of the day after that, bit of shopping and exploring the city, then a good big feed in preparation and a cocktail to settle the nerves in the Merchant Hotel which I have always wanted to visit.

Back to the hotel to make final preperations, stick the race numbers on the bike and helmet as well as packing the transition bag. Double checked all alarms for 6:30

Sunday 26th July - Race Day - Standard Distance

Woke up with my alarms at 6:30, poured a big bowl of Muesli with some fruit. Then got ready and headed over to transition at 7am.

Got my place setup and had a catchup with some members of my current and former clubs. Was good to catch up. A few things in transition could have been organised a little better, there was no bag drop and with the expected torrential rain was not too happy about that as all your nice warm dry clothes for after race would be exposed, also the briefing could not be heard by most I suspect, in part due to every one chatting over it. They were my only complaints of the race organisation which was impeccable apart from this.

Off to race start then marched across the bridge and into the water.

Swim - Target 30:00

Positioned myself towards the front of the group this time to make sure I didnt get stuck behind any one. Plan was go upstream tight to the bank then on the turn around stay out in the deep section.

Was with the second big group for the upstream section and then everyone started turning left before I expected it. The course was night as rectangular as I expected from the bridge. My left calf which I have been working on with the physio for the last 2 months started cramping when I kicked so I switched between arms only and arms and legs for a good chunk of the rest of the swim.

On the way back the river narrowed a bit more than expected with docks and bridges so had to move back out a little more a few times.

Time/Distance - Measured Distance 1669m Overall Time 27:27 Pace 1:39/100m Place 167/443

T1 - Long run in from the swim to transition, 300m transition. Made a few mistakes, tried to use the time of putting my racebelt on to catch a breath so put it on before I took the wetsuit off from around my waist and then ende dup pulling it off with my wetsuit so had to untangle it before putting it on again. Need to speed my transitions up a lot still. Reckon I lost a few places here.

Time 4:20

Bike - Target 1:30

Very wet and windy bike course, first out and back section along Queens road was nice, apart from one sketchy patch where the road had been dug up and was filled with gravel. Second out and back section felt more open and the head wind was terrible. Really struggled against it at the end of the outward journey. The plus side of this was the way back was the fastest section of the day. Felt very strong in general though and passed a few people, was also passed by a few.

A very very flat course with lots of long straight sections, I would say it is one of the fastest courses in the country, if it was on a still day. With the wind and the rain it was a little tricky on the corners and roundabouts. Very well marshalled and the motorbike official was driving around the course watching drafting, not sure if nay one was penalised or not but didn't see too many trains.

Felt very sorry for the numerous punctures I saw. Most seemed to be very far out on the course and I wouldn't fancy the walk back in the weather we had that day. Think there were about 17 DNF no the bike.

The positives I took from this leg was that I managed to stay on the bars for about 90% of the bike I reckon, most I have ever spent there and I felt strong here. First time I held an average above 30kmh over a distance. Also held the level, didnt fade over the second half as 6 of my 10 fastest km were on the second loop.

Came out of the shoes a little to early but was able to peddle on to the dismount line, dismount went well and was very happy with this.

Time/Distance - Measured Distance 38.63km Split 1:14:17 Overall 1:52:11 Pace 31.2KMH Split Place 251/443

T2 - Long transition again. Really need to do a few session of just transitions or something. 3 minutes to change over. There was a nice ledge beside my rack so I sat on that while I dried my feet and put socks on. Then shoes and went to through on a technical tshirt as it was so cold but it had drenched through, rang it out but was still soaked so I left it.

Time - 3:02 Overall Time 1:52:11 Planned target -17:49 Overall Place 259/443

Run - Target time <1:00:00

The rest of the race had gone well and was very happy to be ahead of time, I didn't feel confident about the run. Previously I have been attempting to run straight through and ending up walking for sections of it unplanned which overall through me. This time after reading other reports on here and elsewhere I decided I might be better overall to stick to a plan of run 5 minutes walk 1 minute. Shortly into the run I realised this wouldn't work it was more like run 3-4 mintues walk. I decided to try run 3 walk 30sec then after seeing my hopes of a sub 3:00:00 overall slip I decided to push it and run 6 walk 1.

4 laps each about 2.5km long.

First 2km were on schedule 6:02, 5:52.

Started slowing down and hit 6:32 for next to 3 km. Would have been worse but for the support of a few club mates who encouraged me along. Big shout out to them for that, thanks guys. I know one or two slowed down a bit for me putting their own times at risk to make sure I got around so that was much appreciated.

Tried to push it in an attempt to still get in under and hour 6:15 for KM 6

I shouldn't have pushed it and this is the km that broke me I think. Legs hadn't felt great the whole time but now my left quads were on fire, my calves were soar but my quads were the real agony. Was asked by a marshal on a bike if I was ok at one stage, he obviously saw the pain on my face.

The next 4 km were a mixture of hobbling and an attempt to run.

6:53
7:48
6:43
7:17

last 400m was 2:41 as I pushed to the line knowing I could still get in under 3:00:00 if I pushed.

Dont think I could have finished if it had not been for the support form fellow triathletes, club mates, marshalls and knowing the OH was waiting around the corener from the start finish on every lap so I needed to make sure I passed her every time. Got an extra cheer everytime I did go past.

Was asked on the finish line if I needed medical assistance which was a new low for me.

Time/Distance - Measured Distance 10.43km Split 1:12:03 Overall 2:58:09 Pace 6:37/KM Split Place 418/422 Overall Place 373/443

The run really destroyed me. Lost 114 places on the run. Its kind of to be expected considering I haven't ran over 5km in 2 years and had ran only 50km From the start of May until race day. My plan had been to concentrate on running between Crooked Lake and Belfast and had not gone to plan due to shin splints.

When I made it to the physio table they were commenting on just how bad my TFL felt in particular and spent several minutes trying to release it. As I got off the bench my left leg went into spasm and I had never seen anything like it before, look like a wave going across the muscle and an alien trying to escape. Was told to get some food in me immediately to help it. They had sandwiches at the finish line so had that and water and started feeling better after a while.

Then it was back around to transition and get my stuff as fast as possible. The hotel had let us check out late so I was glad of being able to get a warm shower and change of clothes. Had planned on going to the Titanic centre too but decided to just hit the road and head home.

First Olympic distance done, I nearly didn't finish but I did and thats the important thing. Would love to do that course again in the sun, hopefully next year I will be fit for the run.

Took it easy this week as my legs are just now starting to feel like normal again. Been stretching every day at least twice if I remember it 3 or 4 times. I'm really missing Yoga this year I think. Hoping to finish up studies in the next few weeks which will give me some time to hopefully get back to it.

Thursday July 30th - OW Swim

If I could describe this swim in one word, COLD. Think the adrenaline got me through the swim in Belfast but adjusting to 12 degree water from 28 degrees the week before was a shock. I found it very hard to breath out which then made a mess of my breathing technique. All in all about 1.8km done in about 45 minutes. Good to get out with the group and see how every one else got on between all the races the weekend prior. There was a lot of excitement for 70.3 which after Belfast I am glad I am not doing as I would in no way be able for that run.

Next race is DCT Olympic and the week after Lakeside Tri in Ballyshannon. This will make 4 NS races and I expect to be somewhere around last of my AG at this rate but I will be glad to finally have done it and seen exactly where I need to work. The stand out is the Run but also transition. Starting to think ahead to the winter months already and what sort of training schedule I can put in place.

Steroo

Well done - nice report - the run sounded horrendous & painful ;(
The swim & bike was good. I might put it in my calendar for next year. Get back to the YOga & keep up the stretches. Best of luck

68 lost souls

Definitely worth putting in the calendar. The run course itself was nice with loops of the city hall and main center. Well sectioned off from traffic too and I'm sure for others it was a delight.

Think my main target come winter is get my running up to scratch and condition my legs more.

68 lost souls

Not much to report recently. Been very busy with some other things going on.

Monday, August 3rd - Cycle

Decided to test out the DTC course. 20km to the Park 40km course and 20km back in a little over 3 hours.

Out to the Park was not too much of a bother. Course was a lot like I remembered it from 2 years ago and partly from the Belpark Duathlon I did. Kyber pass is awful, I hate it, not sure why I have a thing against it but I do.

The other section I dont like is the turn at the Park exit point, on the laps it kills all your speed doing an almost 180 turn at the bottom of a hill and then straight uphill again. All in all a bit of a challanging course compared with Belfast and I expect to be much slower.

Left knee was in a bit of pain after 3 laps. Kept going though and started to ease off a little on the way home. Glad to have got this done so I know what to expect in 2 weeks time.

Felt like a 7/10 day. HR Avg 165 so about 78% Max. Spiked at 184 going up Kyber.

Thursday August 6th - Running 2.5km @5:30

Wanted to test the legs in the hope that I could do the Park Run on Saturday. ITB was a bit tight so foam rolled after. Stomach was not happy though running very late in the day and having had a very big dinner.

Disheartened that I wasn't able for longer. 5/10 today.

Saturday August 8th - Park Run

Hit a new PB this week 26:06 at 87% MHR, this shows that this should be about my race pace. I would be happy if I could hold 5:15/KM in a race. Delighted with my time, Hoping to get to 25 minutes by the end of the season if I can.

Outside of my left knee was in a good bit of pain for the afternoon though. Think its related to ITB/TFL. Need to loosen out more still. Possibly related to some lower back fatigue from Mondays spin, spent a lot of time on the aero bars. Need to work the glutes and lower back in the Gym, havent seen it much the last few weeks.

8/10 for the run.

Sunday, August 9th - Boxing

Short focus pads workout with core exercises between sets. Enjoyed this but still feeling fatigue in the lower back. 7/10.

Monday, August 10th - Swimming

300 WU
400 steady
2x200 paddle
4x100 fast
200 slow
2x100 fast (1:27)

Felt great to be back in pool training 9/10 really enjoyed this session.

68 lost souls

Thursday, August 13th - OW Swimming

Started with a 250m warmup and then sets of about 400m swimming out around a bouy and back to coach who was moving around making us sight her. A bit of speed work 100 strokes fast as you can 50 easy 100 fast back. Really enjoyed this session, great weather helped.

9/10 ~1800-1900 meters 45 minutes

Saturday, August 15th - Parkrun

This week they had a pacers at 21,23,25,27,29,31,33 minutes. Having gone 26:05 last week I wanted to go with the 25 minute pacer for as long as possible and see how I could hold out hoping to start slowing down and still go sub 26. Also wore the race runners in prep for next week. Wasn't feeling great starting but said I'd go fot it. Splits as follows

4:56
5:05
5:15
5:23
6:xx

Official time 26:24.

FIrst 2k felt good then started slowing a little and in my head targeted <5:20 for the next 3. Had to walk for a few seconds at 3km to let the HR come down from 193. By 4KM I had blown up, had to walk most of it.

It showed me I wasnt ready yet for sub 25 but could work on it. Have the pace for half it just need to push on with the stamina. Didnt feel as much pain after the run this week.

I also decided that I wont wear my race flats for Dublin, with the longer distance and cross country I think I need the support from the Brooks Ghost. I wont have race laces but the few seconds lost tying should be saved overall with a better run.

6/10