Go long or die trying

9Crimes

After that, it's a short bus ride back to hotel in city center, an early dinner and an early night. I am just drifting off when a clubmate out to support rings me to wish me luck, cheers for that!
I sleep quite well, considering, everybody was telling me I won't sleep a wink the night before but I get a broken 7hours.

Raceday

4am, the alarm goes off and it's raceday. The hotel (which was superb, I fully recommend it, Palais Porcia) have put on breakfast at 4am for us. There is about 12-15 racing and staying in the hotel of which 6 are clubmates. There is a nervous energy about the place. I finish breakfast, scuttle back to my room, pick up my streetwear bag (which has my wetsuit in it) and head back down to reception for our 4:50am taxi. I notice it's quite cool and overcast, I hope it stays this way all day.

We get to transition and are just in the queue in time to hear the official announcement - Wetsuits are allowed! Everyone cheers like Ray Houghton just put the ball in the English net all over again.
Into transition and I swear I could walk blindfolded to my bike. I pump up the tyres (105 on the front, 110 on the back), pack my nutrition and fill my water bottles. I walk through the change tent, drop my runners and nutrition into my runbag and walk down to the start line. Here I meet my clubmates again and we lube up and get into the wetsuits (to waist height only, to avoid overheating too soon). We stroll down to the start line together and take in the sights. Time seems to fly by and all of a sudden my biggest rival off the day 'Frodo' is getting introduced to the crowd. I take my place at the very back of the 1hr 10min swim pen with the aim to get a draft off faster swimmers. I am not the only one with this plan!

Canons boom, shouts go up and the race is on.

About 10 minutes later, after the pro's and the AGer's fast wave start and I am lining up to go. 8 athletes every 5 seconds go in Germanic efficiency into the water. My clubmate and I start 5 seconds apart and its the last I see of her on the swim (despite emerging 13 seconds apart 3.8km later!). It's about 1.25km out to the first turn and I focus on a smooth stroke, straight line and see if I can pick up a pair of feet worth following. I get a draft here and there but for never more than 75-100m. I'm swimming dead straight though which gives me great confidence.
We get to the first turn and it get's a little congested, but I have dealt with worse. I turn and head across the lake for circa 500m and I'm still swimming as straight as a line connecting two dots. I draft off a few feet again but nothing sticks. I'm not worried, I can feel I am swimming fast (for me!) and I may be on for a sub 1hr 15 if this continues.
Around the second turn we go and I'm considering a career as a pro open water swimmer (do they even exist, I wonder). It's a little more difficult to sight a straight line here as we have turned into the rising sun but it's pretty overcast so it ain't too bad (for us pro's anyway). After about 1.15km back towards shore I spot the canal entrance right where it's supposed to be - straight in front of me. It's

9Crimes

here my right arm starts to weaken, I think as a result of my back problems (which were on the right upper side of my back). I continue on but I have slowed noticeably in the last 100m into the canal.
We enter the canal and it's a washing machine. Everything backs up and its a case of do what you can to get to the swim exit. People try and swim over me, but I'm kicking like a mule on cocaine (my coach would be proud!) and people quickly get the hint to stay away from this lunatic. My right arm has given up though, I can't get it through the water with an open palm so I close it into a fist and plod along as best I can.
It feels like an age but the exit finally appears and I'm out of the water.
Swim time - 1hr 17min 51seconds

All the kicking in the canal has helped eliminate any potential jelly legs. I pass a clubmate in the crowd who gets a high five for his trouble and I'm into transition. I grab bike bag, manage an average change and head out towards the bike.
Except now I'm upright I suddenly realise I need a number 1! A not so quick stop to the portaloo and I'm out of transition in an embarrassing 9mins 56seconds

Onto the bike and get the garmin going as quick as I can so I can settle into a nice heart rate. After about 2 mins it picks up my heart rate, perfect! It's quite congested the first few km's but I assure myself this will change as I am exiting the water with the masses and my stronger bike will pull me clear quickly enough. I fly along the first hour or so, executing my nutrition and pacing strategy like my life depended on it. Still no clear tarmac after 35km though and I am getting frustrated with the volume of people who appear to have purchased their tt bike the day before and are now learning how to cycle. One Aussie guy can't figure out his gears going up an incline and weaves into the middle of the road as he is looking down to see what's wrong. I take evasive action as best I can and have to go up his inside. I get a barrage of abuse for my troubles. Thanks Crocadile Dundee.
Before I know it we are on 'the big climb' for the first time. I prepare for hell, but am met with heaven. The bloody Khyber in the phoenix park is harder than this. I pace myself up it staying in my heart rate zone and am passed by a plethora of cyclists who sound like they are going up Alpe D'huez. Needless to say I soon pass them on the descent and its the last I see of them. This pattern continues on all the inclines, but I am determined to stay in the right heart rate zone despite what my male macho ego is telling me.
The last 20-30km back to town are all downhill and I average 40kph. My first lap is over and I have averaged 32.5kph excluding the first few mins when my garmin was getting going. I'm a little faster than expected but I tell myself that's ok as I might slow a little on the second lap.
The second lap is a carbon copy of the first except the crowds are thinning out a little now. I spot my clubmate that's out supporting about 10k out but he is talking the hind arse off a donkey with someone and misses me completely.
With that I'm heading back towards transition. A quick calculation in my head and I reckon I could be off the bike in under 7 hours (I am unaware of the age I spent in T1 at this point). A 4 hour marathon would see me hit my goal but deep down I know that's not possible given my lack of running. I resign

9Crimes

myself to sticking to the plan for the run - heart rate all the way until 8k to go and then give it all I got.
All of a sudden I'm at the dismount line.
Bike 5hr 36minutes 31 Seconds.

Off the bike and shockingly I find my spot no problem. Again, once I'm upright and running I realise a stop for a number 1 is needed. Once that's done, I find my run bag swap my bike gear for my run gear and I'm off.
Another embarrassing time - 6min 57sec

I tentatively start the run - this is the first time in weeks I have ran. I'm constantly checking my watch to make sure I am pacing it correctly. My heart rate is fine and the pace isn't even that bad. The first few km's are around 5:40. I know from my long runs that my pace slows naturally though so I don't get excited. About an hour passes and everything is trundling along. I see a clubmate coming the opposite direction and he is bossing it (he ends up running a 3hr 2min marathon).
Soon after I pop my second gel of the run and all hell breaks loose. As soon as it hits my stomach it's coming back up and I empty my stomach into one of the rubbish bins at an aid station. This was not part of the plan. My stomach is sore now but I can still trundle along at roughly 7min per km pace. At the next aid station I try some water but that comes straight back up too. I get the same result when I try ISO, Cola, an orange slice, nothing is staying down and my stomach is getting worse. Somewhere around km 15-25 (I'm disoriented as this stage) I have to walk. Just the movement of running is causing my stomach to wretch and there is nothing in there to come up.
After about 30mins of strolling through downtown Klagenfurt my stomach has calmed down a bit and I try jogging. I can jog but I know I won't hold anything down so I resign myself to the fact that I am going to have to finish this without food or water. The last roughly 15km are hell. I push myself by repeating the line 'It's just one foot in front of the other'. Time is irrelevant now, just get to the finish.
I know I pass clubmates in the crowd cheering me on but I don't know at what point in the race this is. At last I see a sign for 40km and that brings me around a bit. I see my clubmates again and this time I acknowledge them. About 250m from the line one hands me the Irish flag. I am going to enjoy this. I briefly try figure out which way I need to carry it over my head so that it's the right way around, but that's like trying to figure out quantum mechanics and I give up. (it ends up the wrong way around). I do an airplane down the finishing shoot and cross the line.
Run 5hr 7min and 17seconds
Total 12hr 18min 32 seconds

Apre Ironman

9Crimes

As soon as I cross the line I am staggering and a volunteer pretends to be my friend for 5 mins in case I collapse. I make my way to the athletes tent and bump into two clubmates, one of which I have done most of my training with. They have both smashed it. They look after me for about 20mins and I manage to eat some pizza and get my senses back. I can't figure out if I am happy that I completed an ironman or distraught that it all fell apart on the run. Typing this now, I still can't figure it out. I shouldn't really be so hard on myself. It was pointed out to me that when I joined the 3D 2.5years ago, I couldn't swim, I had never ran further than 10k and never cycled further than 60k. I suppose that's the triathlete's curse though, we are forever disappointed with ourselves.
There is one way to get over this disappointment though, do another ironman and redeem oneself............

Review

The ironman journey is one a lot of triathletes take. It's almost a right of passage, a badge of pride to be worn. Some dive straight in in their first year, others take decades to build up to it.
Having completed it, it is definitely a journey worth doing and one I will recommend to others to do.
I learnt a lot about training, nutrition and myself, more than I have learnt in years.
What would I change about my journey if I was doing it again? Quite a lot actually, but here is the 5 biggest changes I would make:

1: I would have taken natural foods only on the bike and saved the jellies/mars bars for the run
2: I would have completed a marathon before signing up for an ironman. Psychologically this played on my mind quite a lot in the months leading up to the race.
3: I would have ran more when I was tired. This is a tough one as I was trying to protect myself from injury and managing niggles at the time but I would have liked a lot more running.
4: I would have started swim training 9 months before and spent the first 3 months solely working on technique. I made a lot of gains in the pool this year some through technique, some through general fitness, but being such a weak swimmer I feel there is a lot of speed to come from technique improvements yet.
5: I would have used a coach. Again this is largely psychological, I don't think training would have been wildly different but it would have given me some comfort.

With that, that's me signing off, for the moment...............

9Crimes

Apologies for all the posts, it's a long report and it wouldn't upload in one post!

NewCorkLad

As someone just starting out where you were 2.5 years ago, those posts both inspire me and terrify me.

Well done.

mossym

9Crimes wrote: »

2: I would have completed a marathon before signing up for an ironman. Psychologically this played on my mind quite a lot in the months leading up to the race.

i've two IM done still to do a stand alone marathon. not sure i'd agree with this one. the others, especially number 3, i would.


dare i suggest, given where you say you started from, that going to IM in 2.5 years was very fast? i'm sure if you took the learning you had now, applied it for a couple of years, and went again, you'd have a very different experience

9Crimes

mossym wrote: »

9Crimes wrote: »

2: I would have completed a marathon before signing up for an ironman. Psychologically this played on my mind quite a lot in the months leading up to the race.

i've two IM done still to do a stand alone marathon. not sure i'd agree with this one. the others, especially number 3, i would.


dare i suggest, given where you say you started from, that going to IM in 2.5 years was very fast? i'm sure if you took the learning you had now, applied it for a couple of years, and went again, you'd have a very different experience

I know what you mean about point 2, it wouldn't have helped physically, but I think for me it would have put my mind at ease a bit during the training.

As for doing IM too soon, there is a case for that too. I decided that I have to take the jump sometime, it may as well be with a good group of friends to help!
You learn by doing I think, so by doing an ironman now, I have learned more than I would have if I spent another year or 2 building up to doing one.
Now I can look at doing another in 1-2years with this learning experience behind me.

Neady83

I had your IM report ear marked to read 9Crimes and only got around to it during my lunch break.

Really sorry to hear how tough the run was, it took serious mental strength to keep going. You'll get through anything when you finished 26.2 miles while suffering that way.

Thanks for the report. Any ideas on what's next? DCM maybe?

9Crimes

Neady83 wrote: »

I had your IM report ear marked to read 9Crimes and only got around to it during my lunch break.

Really sorry to hear how tough the run was, it took serious mental strength to keep going. You'll get through anything when you finished 26.2 miles while suffering that way.

Thanks for the report. Any ideas on what's next? DCM maybe?

No concrete plans yet, I have a cycling holiday in the alps in September and I will decide after that what the next goal is.
I am currently torn between going long again late next year (Barca maybe) or returning to short course (I really enjoy just going out and racing every fortnight or so during the summer).
Right now, I'm just trying to motivate myself to train again by signing up to a few sprints!

bt_ie

Well done 9 crimes been reading your training log for a while. Inspiring stuff. i am due for italy this year with similar background (2.5 yrs Tri with 1 year off injured) so great see you finish. Epic bike time! pity about the run but i will take your advice and bring more natural foods (trying to fit a hang sandwich mite be a push thou!).

9Crimes

Decided I am unhappy with my attempt at an ironman so I am back to right a few wrongs. Plan is IM Copenhagen August 2018 and as per my last attempt, to go sub 11.
For those that followed this log previously you will know I identified a number of factors I would change were I to go again and here (for better or worse) is how I plan to address them:
1. Problems on run with stomach – Plan is to eat more natural foods on the bike reducing the sugar intake until later in the day.
2. No prior marathon experience – I do now (even if I walked a fair bit of it!)
3. Lack of run volume, especially when tired – Plan is to run more while still protecting myself from injury, Prehab has started already (I’m doing 2*s&c classes per week and a yoga class)
4. Poor swim abilities – a hard one to fix as I only learned to swim 3 years ago, but this is already a WIP (swimming 3*times a week at lunch and a club session). Progress has been good to date.
5. No coach – Currently looking for a coach to commence jan ’18. This is a controversial one and always sparks debate but my mind is made up!

Summary July ’17 to date:
Mostly a mix of Beer, whiskey, gin & cake, sometimes all at once.
Managed a decent race in Tralee (although the run fell apart a little) along with a diabolical performance in youghal, and had a few days cycling in the alps to round out the summer.
Back doing a little bit the last 2-3 weeks, but just what I want when I want, no real structure and no real volume.
Plan between now and xmas is to drop a few kg’s (currently 78kg, raced Austria at 70kg), improve swim technique and continue the s&c twice a week, with yoga at least every other week. I will throw in some cycling and running as I see fit (want to be lighter before I do any serious running though).
With that, here is my attempt to go long or die trying V2.0

joey100

I'm going to ask, for no real reason other than to maybe start a bit of chat, but do you think sub 11hrs is too high a goal after a 12hr 18 last year? I've never done one, I've no idea really, it just sounds like a big jump to me. Just wondering about the having a high target like that if things don't go 100% on the day, would an A,B,C target work better so you can adjust to how the day goes or even how the managing the run injury goes in the lead in?

9Crimes

joey100 wrote: »

I'm going to ask, for no real reason other than to maybe start a bit of chat, but do you think sub 11hrs is too high a goal after a 12hr 18 last year? I've never done one, I've no idea really, it just sounds like a big jump to me. Just wondering about the having a high target like that if things don't go 100% on the day, would an A,B,C target work better so you can adjust to how the day goes or even how the managing the run injury goes in the lead in?

I take your point but deep down I know at this point (9months out) if I targeted 11hr 30 from here on and finished in 11hr 15 I wouldn't be happy.
As you mentioned injury etc, this is a moving target and will depend on how the training goes and what sort of state I line up on the start line in but right now I feel like this is a tough but attainable target.

Neady83

Great to see you formulating a plan for 2018 9Crimes. I can't offer you any advice re. the Ironman but +1 to the S&C and yoga classes.

Was listening to a podcast on Fitter Radio this morning and they talked about training for ultra running and doing big milage. They figured that two/three hours of running prior to doing S&C will build endurance and time on the feet without necessarily being as impactful on the body as running for three/four hours.

MojoMaker

Welcome back dude and +1 on the motivation for the new plan - good to see v2.0 up & running.

9Crimes

Neady83 wrote: »

Great to see you formulating a plan for 2018 9Crimes. I can't offer you any advice re. the Ironman but +1 to the S&C and yoga classes.

Was listening to a podcast on Fitter Radio this morning and they talked about training for ultra running and doing big milage. They figured that two/three hours of running prior to doing S&C will build endurance and time on the feet without necessarily being as impactful on the body as running for three/four hours.

That's an interesting one, thanks, I will dig it out and have a listen

9Crimes

Mon 6th: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min in total.
Started a new job since the last log and am currently cycling 3-4 days a week. Generally keep it easy on the way in and fartlek it red light to red light on the way home, obviously while obeying the traffic laws and trying not to get myself killed while I’m at it!

Tue: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min
AM: S&C: 30min, focus is on strength and strengthening my right side which is the side I tend to get injured.

Lunch: Swim: 30min 850m – 200m wu, 6*(25m kick, 25m swim), 3*100 off 1:45!!!! 50wd
Did the 100’s after joining a sea swim group in the lane next to me and nearly killed myself trying to hit this. I certainly didn’t leave 5sec between me and the swimmer in front pushing off!!! Happy to have been able to do this though, certainly puts me ahead of where I was this time last year.

PM: Club Turbo session: didn’t keep notes of this but it was steadily increasing intervals and resistance with corresponding rest periods keeping cadence at circa 80rpm.

Wed: S&C 1hr This class focused on core work with plenty of pilates moves.

Thur: Lunch: Swim: 30min 900m – 200wu 6*100 off 2:00, 50 fast, 50wd

PM: Run: 1hr – wu - drills, stretches and 800m.
Main set: 15 laps of 400m track, ran the straights hard, recovered on the bends
Wd – 400m easy, stretches

Fri: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min
Swim: 1hr, club session and it was all technique

Sat: Turbo: 1hr 30min Watched the rugby on the turbo made the time pass all the quicker. Session was: 10min wu with 5*10sec sprint randomly included, 20min of 1 leg drills, 10*(10s sprint, 50s easy), 5*(1min hard, 3min easy), 5*(90s big gear, 150s easy), 5min wd.

Sun: Fasted Run 90min incl wu & wd. Main set was simply 1hr Z2.

Swim: 2hrs
Run: 2hrs 30min
S&C: 1hr 30min
Turbo: 2hr 30min
Commute: 3hr 30min
Total: 12hrs

Doesn’t feel like I did 12hrs, the commute really adds to the volume without cutting into the free time. It’s closer to junk miles than training though so I may start to exclude it from this log if I decide including it is taking the P!$$.

9Crimes

Mon 13th: S&C Class 1hr – this was focused on core and included a lot of pilates moves

Tue: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min
Lunch: Swim: 30min, 200wu 7*(25m fist drill, 25m swim), 3*100 off 2:00, 50m wd

PM: Club turbo session: 1hr, 10min wu, 7mins @ (level 1,2,3,4,3,4) 5min wd

Wed: Rest

Thurs: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min

AM: S&C class: 30min, strength based training

Lunch: Swim: 30 min 200wu, 8*100 off 2:00, 50wd
Was a little tired after the class this morning (and hanging with a cold) but am happy that I was able to complete 8 relatively comfortably (all came in under 1:50).

Fri: Sick (off work) The cold got the best of me, first time I have ever had sinus problems (Fri morning my face felt like it had been hit by a train). Loaded up on drugs and by Friday evening I was buzzing again.
PM: Yoga: 45min, nothing fancy just deep stretching.

Sat: cycle: 100km, 4hr 20min
Felt much better today so headed to Wicklow with a clubmate and met the old man there. Very much a winter social ride, plenty of stops and a long coffee stop in the middle, but it felt great to be out there.

Sun: Run: 1hr 40, fasted, 20min wu (roughly 2k jog and stretching), 67min run mostly z2 with a 1k pickup about 20mins from end, 10min wd stretching, roughly 14k including wu

Swim: 1hr
Run: 1hr 40
S&C: 2hr 15 (incl yoga)
Turbo: 1hr
Commute: 2hr 20min
Cycle: 4hr 20min
Total: 11hr 35min

Missed my Friday night swim which I’m not happy about, swimming has been going well and I want to maintain the momentum. Once again though, I am surprised with the volume considering a rest day (planned) and a sick day (not planned!).

9Crimes

Mon 20th: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min
PM: S&C class: 1hr, all round work out, the quads were feeling the weekend’s exertions.

Tue: Lunch: Swim: 30min, 5*200m off 4:10
Not overly happy with this, all were in the 3:45-3:50 range, I was hoping to be closer to 3:40-3:45 range. I think the slowdown might be a few days out of the pool and a bit of stiffness/soreness from S&C last night.

PM: Club Turbo: 50mins, 5min wu, 5*(1min left leg only, 1 min right leg only), 2min easy, 5min effort 8/10, 4min easy, 10*(20s sprint, 10s easy),4min easy, 10min effort 8/10, 5min wd.

Wed: yoga: 40mins

Thur: S&C: 30mins

Fri: Nothing

Sat: AM: S&C class: 1hr

PM: Turbo: 35mins, 5min wu 27mins 1 leg drills, 3min wd

Sun: Run: 1hr 40mins, wu & wd circa 35mins incl 1k running, 73mins running all z2 circa 12.5km (fasted)

Run: 1hr 40min
Commute: 1hr 10min
Turbo: 1hr 25min
S&C: 3hr 10min
Swim: 30mins
Total: 7hr 55min

Another week with virtually no swimming after I had been going well. Am hoping for 4-5 sessions next week so hopefully I can get back up to speed quickly.

9Crimes

Mon27th : Lunch swim: 30min, 200m wu and drills

PM: Pilates class: 45mins

Tue: Lunch Swim: 30mins, 200 wu, 4*200 off 4:10
All of these came in 2s either side of 3:40 except the last which I really pushed and came in at 3:35.
PM: Swim: 1hr – 200wu (3:37), drills, drills and more drills, 2*50 off 60, 100m all out – 1:28 and embarrassingly that’s a PB.

Wed: Rest

Thur: S&C: 30min

Fri: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min

PM: Swim: 1hr - 4*(3*50 desc 1-3), 4*(3*100 desc 1-3 off 2:05, 100 active recovery).
Was hoping to swim better than I did. The 100’s were coming in between 1:40-1:50 but there is no endurance there – I was taking longer and longer rests between sets.

Sat: Run: roughly 1hr 15min as 3k wu (had to go fast as I was running late for start of jingle bells 5k)
5K jingle bells run (21:01). This is a fair reflection of my current shape and fitness. It’s always an enjoyable run and today was no different.
4k wd, ran home very easy and stretched comprehensively as I planned to run on Sunday too.

Sun: Run: 2hr - 20min wu, including circa 1k jog and activation exercises, 1hr20min steady z2 with a little acceleration to z3 for 2mins near the end, 20mins wd.
Run was very slow and I was dropped from my running group (again) but it felt better than previous weeks and it felt amazing to have run twice in 2 days, that happens very rarely.

Run: 3hr 15min
Commute: 1hr 10min
S&C: 1hr 15min
Swim: 3hr
Total: 8hr 40min

9Crimes

Mon: Lunch Swim: 30min - 200wu, 8*100 of 2:05
These all felt comfortable which, when I compare to Fridays session clearly shows I lack endurance. I need to be getting more hr long swims in. The lunch swims are great but I should treat them as a bonus on top of my regular training.

PM: S&C class: 1hr – the usual
Yoga: 20min - felt a few bits tightening up after class so I did a bit of yoga to try keep loose.

Tue: Lunch swim: 30min – 7*100 breathing on weak side only, 50 bilateral breathing
It only dawned on me this morning that I spend a lot of time on S&C trying to even out weaknesses on one side of my body vs. the other and then I spend all my swimming time exacerbating the problem breathing to one side only. So I decided to swap for this session and being able to breath to the other side when needed for sighting etc is an important skill anyway. The first 100 came in at 2:04 but I got steadily faster and the last one was a 1:48. I tried bilateral breathing for 50 and felt very comfortable, this bilateral breathing thing could be the future. I wonder if anyone else has discovered bilateral breathing????

Wed: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min

Thurs: AM: S&C class: 30min

Lunch: Swim: 45mins – 750m breath on weak side only/bilateral breathing, 8*100 off 2:00
I am going to continue to work on bilateral breathing for the next few weeks in an attempt to become someway proficient at it. At the moment however any “fast” swimming will continue to be breathing on one side only as I am running out of breath when I go hard breathing bilaterally.
All the 100’s came in between 1:43-1:47 and I was happy enough without being ecstatic about it.

Fri: Swim: 1hr – 2,450m - 550wu, 6*50 off 75 desc 1-3, 5*(3*100 off 2:00, 30 sec rest), 100 easy
Very few people at swimming tonight, so there was plenty of focus on technique and I took away a few work-ons, this turned out to be a very productive session.

Sat: Run: 2hr – wu &wd circa 35min stetching and loosening up etc. main run – 85min 15.1km, Z2 with a 6min pickup towards the end of the run into z3. Very comfortable run and I am happy with progress over the last 2-3 weeks.

Sun: Nothing - had a hangover that could kill an elephant, xmas party season has arrived.

Run: 2hr
Commute: 1hr 10min
S&C: 1hr 50min
Swim: 2hr 45min
Total: 7hr 45min

9Crimes

Monday: Nothing

Tuesday: Nothing

Wednesday: Nada – Work has been a little bonkers the last few days.

Thursday: S&C: 45mins - plenty of work on the core thrown in with the usual stuff.
Yoga: 45mins - followed the S&C with some yoga to keep loose.

Turbo: 55mins – 8min wu, 6*(20s hard, 40s easy), 6*(30s hard, 30s easy), 3min easy, 20*(20s hard, 10s easy), 4min easy, 20*(20s hard, 10s easy), 8min wd.
This was an epic session and I was light headed towards the end of both the 20 sets. Housemate had the heating on full blast too and I don’t have a fan which only added to the difficulty.

Friday: Lunch Swim: 30mins – 200wu, 11*50 off 60, 50 wd,
Surprised how well this went considering I hadn’t swam in a week. It was only a half hour but still, I’m in a positive mood writing this so I am happy.

Saturday: Turbo: 30mins – easy ride with a few 15s sprints thrown in.
Used this to sweat some of the beer out from last night in preparation for tonights assault on my liver.

Sunday: Nothing, Xmas has arrived, the goal of the next 2 weeks is to catch up with fam and friends, keep hangovers to a minimum and not put up too much weight. If I get to train a little, so be it.

S&C: 1hr 30min
Turbo: 1hr 25min
Swim: 30min
Total: 3hr 25min

9Crimes

Don't usually post partial weeks but I am bored in work so decided to write up the last few days -

Mon 19th: Lunch Swim: 30min – 200wu, 3*200, 100wd
Just needed to get in and swim. Didn’t do these on a time, just took circa 30s rest in between each and tried to focus on good technique.

PM: Pilates class: 45min – Lots of good core work with not much else!

Tue: Cycle commute (2*12.5km) 1hr 10min
Life has prevented me commuting much by bike the last few weeks but I will be back to it regularly in the new year.

Lunch Swim: 30min – 200wu, 7*100 off 2:00, 50wd
A nice dip, held the pace better on the 100’s than I have been doing, all were comfortably under 1:50

Wed: S&C: 45min, went to the gym to waste some time between finishing work and meeting a friend for dinner.

Thur: Lunch swim: 40min – 200wu, 10*100 off 2:00, 50wd
it’s xmas week so I snuck an extra 10mins at lunch and did a few extra 100’s. I was happy with this session – all were comfortably under 1:47, the few work-ons that my coach gave me 2 weeks ago seem to be helping things (at last).

S&C: 60min – went to the gym again, just gave everything a little workout but working on core mainly.

Treated myself to a new pair of sauconys on the way home from work in the run hub Ashtown, if only xmas shopping for everyone else was as easy!

9Crimes

Fri: nothing – breakup day in work so had a night out

Sat: Cycle: 2hr 11 – easy spin around johnnie foxes etc to clear the hangover from last night antics before I repeat the trick tonight.

Sun: nothing

9Crimes

Mon 25th: traditional xmas morning jog, circa 4.5km (22mins)

Tue: nothing

Wed: nothing

Thur: Run: 48min – easy fasted run before trying out a new spot for breakfast

PM: Turbo: 57min – 5min wu, 5*(7min hardish, 3min easy), 2min wd
Tough tempo session but felt good for it

Fri: Run: 52min - 10km, steady run with 3 efforts of circa 1-1.4km thrown in for the craic
Second time this month I have ran 2 days in a row and with no negative effects. I don’t know if it’s the light training load the last few months or if the s&c is paying off but I am happy with this trend.

Sat: nothing – had a few jars last night and a social engagement today
Sun: Cycle: 1hr 22min – warm up and then 5 repeats up a small slope (circa 2.5km) near my house, nothing too strenuous in truth but it was a nice spin

Run: 2hr 5min
Cycle: 2hr 20min
Total: 4hr 25min

Last week before I start some more structured training and right now I cannot wait to not drink or pig out again for the foreseeable future.
Happy New Year!

9Crimes

Mon 1st: Cycle: 1hr 38min – 40km, down in Kerry for a wedding so I did the Connor Pass this morning, pretty hungover from New years and with a wind warning in effect meant no records were set.

Tue: nothing – travel back from Kerry and post wedding hangover meant I was in no fit state to deal with the world never mind train.

Wed: Lunch Swim: 30min – 800m just swam and tried to get some feeling back after a long time out of the pool.

PM: Run: 40min, 7.4km – 10wu, 25min steady, 5min wd

Thur: gym: 1hr session after work to get the s&c back on track

Swim: 45min – 1700m 200wu, 300 with 30s rest, 200 with 20s rest, 100 with 10s rest, 100 with 10s rest, 100 with 10s rest, 200 with 20s rest, 300 with 30s rest, 200wd.
Endurance session and I enjoyed this, averaged roughly 1:52ish despite the lack of swimming lately.

Fri: rest

Sat: Run 90min – main set was 65mins z2, 11.6km, 5:37 per km. Easy enough run and kept close enough to Z2 for the duration. Need to lose some weight and the speed will increase considerably for no change in HR.

Sun: Club cycle: circa 82km circa 3hrs – was way late for meetup so used spin to meetup spot as warmup and then went hard to catch the guys up the road. Caught them after an hour and sat in for a good while as I was knackered! Enjoyable spin if a little chilly.

Yoga: 30min: Need to keep on top of this now that the training is becoming more structured and load is increasing from now on.

S&C: 1hr 30min
Cycle: 4hr 40min
Run: 2hr 10min
Swim: 1hr 15min
Total: 9hr 35min

First week of training plan from new coach, very easy load so far. I am buzzing to get going and it took a lot of effort to rein it in this week and stick to the plan.

9Crimes

Mon 8th: Swim: 1hr – 1900m, first club session of the year and I think the whole pool was struggling after the xmas indulging!
400wu, 16*50 off 60s, 24*25 off 45s desc 1-3, 100wd
The last 5/6 50’s were hell on earth, I was second out and the guy leading asked me to swap with about 4 to go but I just couldn’t. Fair play to him he got the 16 done and hit the times too. He cramped shortly into the 25’s so I took over then.

Tue: Lunch Swim: 30mins – 5*200 with circa 30s rest between each.
Happy enough with these after last night’s “issues”.

PM: Turbo: 56mins: 10min wu, 4*(8min high z3, 3min recovery), 2min wd
First 2 efforts were way too hard as I was mistakenly looking at average hr and couldn’t understand why it was so low despite me struggling! – a costly mistake which I will not make again.

Wed: Lunch Swim: 25mins: 200wu, 10*50 off 60, 100wd
Wanted to tackle the 50’s off 60 again, although I only had time to do 10.

PM: Run: 45min – 8.44km: 10min wu/build, 30min z3, 5min wd
I did the warmup and warmdown on a 400m track but hit the road for the main session. I am very slow at the moment and am hoping for a quick improvement coming from such a low base. It was a beautiful foggy night to be out.

Thurs: Swim: 45mins – 1800m: 300wu, 400m 6/10 20s recovery, 3*(100 7/10 with 30s recovery), 200m 6/10 20s recovery, 4*(50 7/10 with 20s recovery), 100m, 4*(25 7/10 with 10s recovery), 100wd.
I was tired at the end of this and my average slowed from 1:50 per 100m for the first half to 1:54 per 100m by the end – I have zero endurance at the moment!

PM: S&C Class: 60min - I am trying out a new class just to change things up a bit. It was a lot of conditioning tonight and not so much strength work. I would prefer it the other way around. I will give it another week or 2 but I may be returning to my old class if the emphasis on conditioning is an ongoing focus of this class.

Fri: S&C: 90mins: This was supposed to be a rest day but I had to hang around after work tonight to collect someone from the airport at 9pm so I went to the gym and did some strength work to make up for last night’s conditioning class. I then did a 45min yoga session. I am noticing that I am recovering quicker from runs which I am putting down to the emphasis I have put on s&c the last 2 months (xmas excluded!).

Sat: Cycle: 3hr: Battery on watch died so I don’t have the distance but I think it was circa 75k with 2 climbs and a few lumps. I have a rule on the bike – don’t fall off unless there is a big crowd of people to see you fall and embarrass yourself and today was no different – 200m from home I took a left, hit an oil slick and went over in front of circa 30-35 people. My hip and handlebars took the impact but the worst part was the severe embarrassment.

Sun: Run: 1hr 30 – wu and warm down circa 20mins, main was 73mins all zone 2 (12.7km). The hip was a little stiff from yesterday’s fall but I had a few beers last night that definitely impacted this run and I am not happy about it. I need to cop on.

S&C: 2hr 30min
Swim: 2hr 40min
Cycle: 3hr 56min
Run: 2hr 15min
Total: 11hr 21min

9Crimes

Mon 15th: Swim: 1hr – 2,350m, 20*25 off 45s desc 1-4, 16*100 off 2:00, 50 easy, 6*50 off 1:00
Led the 25s and half the 100’s before having to surrender lead out duties as I was in bits. Managed to hang on to the end once I started getting a draft. This was a good indicator of the work required to get swim fit but I am happy with the session.

Tue: Nothing, Plan has a turbo, work was mental and I ran out of hours in the day. I am using this as my rest day this week and will do the turbo fri instead.

Wed: Lunch Swim: 200wu, 10*100 off 2:00
Brought all the 100’s in under 1:50, and managed to get under 1:45 for the last. Dare I dream? Is it time to start swimming the shorter sets of 100’s off 1:55????

PM: Run: 40mins 7.5k – circa 8min wu, circa 27min z3, 5min wd
Same run as last week except I had to cut it short to get to the post office before it closed. It was a little faster for what felt like the same effort so I am calling that an improvement. I shortened my stride last year when training for my first ironman and I think I may have taken it to the extreme so I am going to focus on lengthening it slightly (but not too much) in the coming weeks.

Thur AM: Swim: 45mins 1800m – 400wu ( 200 easy, 100kick, 100 hard), 3* (200swim,20s rest, 200pull,20s rest, 50kick, 20s rest), 50 easy.
This was a set from my (new) coach and one I would never have done on my own. I haven’t used the paddles in ages and it was good to get a feel for them again.

PM: S&C: 1hr: My new class and again it was a little too heavy on conditioning and light on strength but it was an improvement on last week. It’s a bit of craic too training with clubmates which I do less and less of these days due to Ironman focus.

Fri: Lunch Swim: 20mins - 7* 100m, breath on weak side only, circa 20-30s rest between each.
Happy to see these come in under 1:55 as I feel very awkward when doing them.

PM: Turbo: 1hr – 15min wu, 4*(7min high z3/low z4, 3min wd), 5min wd.
This was a savage session, the heat in the front room was unreal.

Sat: Run: 1hr – Supposed to do 80mins easy but tweaked my calf. I’m disgusted, I was sure I was in a good place – managing the load and having done a lot of s&c, but it doesn’t appear to have helped a jot.

S&C: 1hr: 45mins of yoga with the calf in a calf guard and circa 15mins of core work.

Sun: Turbo: 1hr 45min: Combination of damaging my road bike last week and the weather this weekend had me on the turbo for a slow spin, wore a calf guard and had no adverse reaction.

Cycle: 2hr 45
Swim: 2hr 35
Run: 1hr 40
S&C: 2hr
Total: 9hr

I’m not sure where to go now with my calves, I’m off running for the week at least and after that I can only hope that continued massage, s&c, and workload managing will work. I’m also going to drop some weight this week and go back to my run shop and ask them to take another look at my gait to make sure I’m in the right shoes. I was hoping to get to about 2hrs on my long runs before starting to wear the calf guards but I might just accept defeat and wear them from now on.
Any other suggestions on how to overcome this persistent issue are more than welcome.

MojoMaker

Are you tracking the calf issues? If so, are you seeing any correlation between incidents and weeks when your bike mileage is raised (or consistent)?

What I was finding personally was calf issues linked directly to aggravations further up the body - glutes, pelvic area, adductors, and tightness in the lower back and the small of the back created some forces that manifested as problems lower down the legs - right calf in particular.

Additionally, and you may have this covered, I was using fairly flat shoes (NB 1500s) for all my running - love the shoe - but my body can't take training mileage in a shoe without more support I now know. Swapped out for something more sturdy and calf issues have noticeably retreated (was getting 5-6 per year, costing months and months of running time).

Haven't had a flare up since the shoe swap actually, but also dialled back bike mileage a bit too.

9Crimes

Haven't noticed a correlation but I will make note of conditions leading to this incident and keep for future reference, thanks.

9Crimes

Mon: 22nd: Cycle commute 2*12.5km circa 1hr 20min

PM: Swim: 1hr: 2,700m – 10*50 off 60 no’s 3,6&9 fast, 12*100 off 2:00, 5*200 off 4:00.
I’m pretty sure this is a record for distance from my Mon night coached swims and it felt it! I led out for the 50’s and 100’s and then swapped with someone else. I fatigued as the hour went on and by then end I wasn’t gasping for breath but my body was shattered.

Tue: Lunch Swim: 25min – 850m, 200wu, 12*50 off 75s desc 1-3, 50wd

PM: Turbo: 1hr: 20min wu with random sprints for 10s, 30min hard, 10min wd

Wed: Lunch Swim: 25min – 850m, 200wu, 6*100 off 2:10 desc 1-3, 50wd
Both the fast 100’s came in under 1:40 which I am happy about, but the effort needed to get from 1:45ish to 1:40ish is unreal. Think this was talked about in someone’s training log before (joey100 maybe?) and it underlines the importance of knowing what pace you can sustain in a race.

PM: Yoga: 15min: core
Turbo: 55min: 10min wu, 40min z2 aerobic, 5min wd
Instead of my weekly run – not ready to run on the calf yet.

Thur: AM: Swim: 45min – 1600, 200wu, 6*200 with 30s rest, 200wd
I’m definitely slower in the morning & endurance remains an issue.

Fri: S&C: 1hr – all core and upper body work as I am off to physio after work to have the calf looked at.

Sat: Cycle: 2hr 30min – Headed for Wicklow but it was a crap day. I was in dark gear and without lights and it got so misty I abandoned my plan and just did a few hill repeats from stocking lane up to the lookout where it was a bit brighter.

S&C: 20mins – just some core work and a little stretching

Sun: S&C: 1hr – 30min yoga, 30min core work.

Turbo: 1hr – 10min wu, 45mins easy with 9*20s flat out, 5min wd.
No major problems with the calf but physio suggested taking the week off to give it plenty of time to recover – no point in forcing it in January so I took her advice and swapped in a turbo instead of my scheduled long run.

S&C: 2hr 35
Swim: 2hr 40
Cycle: 6hr 45
Total: 12hr

joey100

Think that was in Kurt's log, where he said about the effort required to swim flat out and how the time compared to a more steady effort, small time difference compared to bigger difference in effort. Definitely worth doing the flat out ones, soon that will be your steady pace anyway so may as well get used to it!

peter kern

just based on a very short look training seems to be sub optimal
( and again thats also a very sub smart statement as i did onlly look at a few weeks)
but i see that the intenisties and your training distrbution are what i do not like to see.
i guess you see your S&C approach is not doing much good so i would suggest try to built more easy fitness and get going slowly
swim more bike more and break the runs into many short runs and much less faster stuff until you have more base.

the other thing there is so many buzz words you use s& C calf guards gait analyses but i guess you dont realy understand how it works. so maybe it would make sense to study that a bit more what you are doing.
you are obiously falling a lot for the marketng hype. ( and now i shut up its just my 2 cents iam sure i sound like and total d.ck but if that was the case i would not have wasted my time , but feel free to totally ignore it )

9Crimes

Thanks PK, I take your point on training and you may be right - S&C may not be working (I haven't had any ITB issues in a while, but that could be coincidence.)

Disagree strongly about falling for marketing hype though and the use of buzzwords.
S&C is an acronym nearly everyone uses (& understands) & covers a multitude & alot of people focus on it in winter, as I have. I could call it Pilates, Yoga, Circuit training, Core work, Stretching & Flexibility, but that's a mouthful.
Using Calf Guards last year reduced the regularity of calf problems for me, so despite not liking them I may just have to suck it up.
As regards Double checking my shoe suits my gait, is there any runner out there that doesn't buy a shoe to suit their gait?

Thanks for reaching out, but I don't buy into your theory on my use of buzzwords. I believe my current injury is scalable and while my training may not be best practice or bleeding edge, I will continue to leverage the knowledge of those around me to improve. Should injury hit again I will drill-down further to ascertain the root cause and take away learnings and not boil the ocean.
(That's using buzzwords!)

peter kern

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/choosing-the-right-running-shoes/

we could find the same aobut all the other buzz words you are using they is very little proof that this stuff works or makes a differnce.
so when people get everything of that stuff ther is a good chance that they focus to much on the fluff and not enough on the meat.
its very easy those days to get too distracted in the sport of triathlon.
every 5 min something new comes out that promoses x y z.
while there is a good chance that your underlining problem likely is is that you progresed from beginner to ironman too quickly and just thavent dont the base miles.

which probably is the biggest problem in the sport that people do to much too early and too fast.

cheers

btw any of those buzz words can work for somebody , I do not say that they dont but what i say the importance of those marketing words and products is totally overrated and one needs to have a good foundation to make use of it .

9Crimes

Let's agree to disagree on that

peter kern wrote: »

while there is a good chance that your underlining problem likely is is that you progresed from beginner to ironman too quickly and just thavent dont the base miles.

which probably is the biggest problem in the sport that people do to much too early and too fast.

This is the crux of my problem really, but the heart wants what the heart wants, I'm hear now so I have to do as best I can.

9Crimes

Mon PM: Swim: 1hr: 20*25m off 45s every 4th fast, 4*200 off 4:20, 2* (3*100 off 1:55 desc 1-3), 50 easy, 6*25 off 45s every 2nd fast.
A good session, a lot less volume than last week so I found it easier but I am happy with progress on swimming to date.

Tue: Lunch swim: 30mins – 200wu, 2* 400 with circa 60s rest between each, 50wd.
I feel like I’m in the midst of a mini breakthrough, 100’s off 1:55 last night followed by 2 steady 400’s under 7:20 (7:18 & 7:07) today. They are numbers I have not seen before, now I just need to shave another 60s off that and I will be sorted!!!

PM: Turbo: 1hr 4min: 15min wu, 4*(8min z3, 3min z1), 5min wd
Good session, I felt more comfortable doing the efforts than I have previously.
S&C: 20mins – some yoga targeting lower back.

Wed: Lunch Swim: 20mins: 200wu, 5*100 off 1:55, 50wd
This was rushed from start to finish due to a shortened lunch but I did what I could.

Wed PM: Turbo: 53min: 5min wu, 45min as 20s surge, 2:40 easy, 3min wd
Yoga: 10min core.

Thur AM: Swim: 50mins 1.9km – 300 wu building to 7/10, 100 with 40s rest, 200 with 30s rest, 300 with 20s rest, 400 with 10s rest, 500, 100wd
Good session and I kept the pace largely even throughout which I am happy about.

PM: S&C class: 1hr 15min: tri club class with circa 15min stretching at the end.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Cycle 2hr 50min: circa 80km – mainly flat spin, might have slightly underfuelled but got away with it.

S&C: 20min – stretching and core work

Sunday: Run: 30min – just a light jog to test the calf, no adverse reaction

S&C: 45min – yoga session

Swim: 2hr 40
Cycle: 4hr 47
Run: 30
S&C: 2hr 50
Total: 10hr 47

9Crimes

Mon 5th: Nothing. Something’s up with my wisdom tooth.

Tue: Massive toothache, trip to dentist and some awesome painkillers.

Turbo 1hr 4min: must have been groggy from the painkillers but I stupidly decided this was a good idea – 10m wu, 4*(10min medium, 3min easy) 5min wd

Wed: still in bits but the painkillers are deadly when they kick in. I’m afraid to go running as the impact through the body will be too much.

Turbo: 10min wu, 30min low cadence z3, 5min wd – its all I can manage

Thur: I’m coming around, weaning myself of the deadly painkillers slowly

AM: Swim: 50min – 2km, 300wu, 300 moderate, 30s rest 250m mod, 30s rest, 150 mod, 20s rest, 100 mod, 10s rest, 150m mod 20s rest, 250m mod 30s rest, 300 mod, 200wd
Very slow which I’m putting down to a week out of the pool and my current ailments.

PM: 45min – yoga

PM: S&C: 1hr: start off easy but build into it and feel fine. The last 4hrs have seen a dramatic improvement.

Fri: rest – VO2 testing tomorrow and I want to make sure I am fully rested and recovered for it.

Sat: AM - VO2 test

PM: Yoga: 45mins – spent most of the day hunched over in an attic installing insulation so I needed this to stretch out a bit.

Sun: Run: 2hrs incl wu and wd. Run was 75mins, averaged 5min/km which was too fast but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Plenty of stretching as I am in bits from the manual labour yesterday which is a rarity for me!!!!!!

Swim: 50min
Cycle: 2hr 20 (incl VO2 test)
Run: 1hr 15
S&C: 3hr 15
Total: 7hr 40

Feels like a little light but given the toothache and VO2 test it will have to do.

Neady83

Awh shoot, sorry to hear about your wisdom tooth troubles. I went through the horrors with them last year so I feel your pain. If you can learn anything from me, it's to not train when you're taking those painkillers. I messed up my back training while on them last August and it set me way back.

9Crimes

Mon: Lunch Swim: 40min – 200wu, 12*100 off 2:00 100wd
Can’t make the club swim this evening so I snuck an extra 10mins at lunch. After only 1 session last week what little feel I had is gone. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get back to where I was.

Tue: Lunch Swim: 30min – 200wu, 4*(2*100 off 2:10 – (1 steady, 1 fast)), 50wd
Trying to get a bit of pace back, fast 100’s were all 1:45 or under.

PM: Turbo: 1hr: 10min wu, 3*( 12min hard, 3min easy), 5min wd

Wed: Run: 30min easy

Thurs: s&c: 1hr

Fri: Rest

Sat: rest (travel to Gran Canaria)

Sun: Bike: 3hr – 80km, rolling hills. First day of training camp in GC and it felt great to be cycling in the sun. After a small lie-in as I was tired from all the travelling, we went and got bikes sorted before hitting the road about 11. Plan was an out and back trip of approx. 80km of rolling ups and downs but the road was closed so we detoured a little.

Swim: 1hr 10
Run: 30min
Cycle: 4hr
S&C: 1hr
Total: 6hr 40

Incredibly busy week with family and work commitments so it was a quiet one, but in a way perfect prep for a tough training week in GC.

9Crimes

Mon 19th: Swim: 1hr: 400wu, 10*200 with 20s rest, 200wd
Did this in a beautiful outdoor pool in Gran Canaria with Daniela Ryf 2 lanes over! Class seeing the pros at work with Brett Sutton on poolside! As for the swim it felt good but I think the water was salty which may have contributed to greater buoyancy and easier swimming.

Bike: 2hr 30: 50km: Quick breakfast after the swim and 25km straight up the mountain to a village called St Bart and 25km straight back down again. Did a bit of an effort for the first 18-20km to hold the wheel of a clubmate and then just went steady the rest of the way.

Run: 30min: Run straight off the bike and it was hot but enjoyable!

S&C: 30mins – plenty of flexibility work to keep the body in shape for the week.

Tue: Swim: 1hr: 300wu, 400 with 40s rest, 300 with 30s rest, 200 with 20s rest, 100 with 10s rest, 200 with 20s rest, 300 with 30s rest, 400 with 40s rest, 200 wd

Bike: 4hr: 78km: First 25km was rolling and then into a tough climb of circa 10km, followed by circa 15km of rolling and 40km descent. Felt ok throughout.

S&C: 30mins – daily work on keeping the body moving for the week.

Wed: Run: 1hr 20: 15km – ran this fasted and felt comfortable despite the heat starting to rise towards the end of the run, great to get some long runs back in the plan.

Open water swim: 15mins: just a dip in the ocean really with 500m swim – it was beautiful!

Thurs: Bike: 4hr 50min – 100km. This was planned for the last day but swapped it as the weather forecast was for heavy rain Friday and I didn’t fancy a 50km descent in the wet.
This was effectively a 50km climb and it was all about pacing it cleverly. I got a trun with about 10km to go to the top and felt really good so upped the pace a little without going OTT. The descent was fun and I was so fresh I hit a PB up the small 4km climb near home!

S&C: 30mins –Yet more flexibility work.

Fri: Swim: 1hr – 400wu, 3*(3*100 fast, 100 easy all with 20s rest), 300wd
This was a good session and I got faster as it went on finishing the last set of fast 100’s with 1:40, 1:41, 1:40. I attributed this to the extra buoyancy I think was coming from the salty water. Daniela was in attendance again this morning and for a good while it was just her and 2 other pro’s and myself and 2 clubmates.

Bike: 2hr: 50km – bit of a longer break between swim and bike this morning as I was worried about the forecasted rain but it never really came down that hard. Still to be safe I stuck to a rolling route and did an out and back with 2*10k efforts in the middle on a quiet section.

Run: 25min - After dropping the bike back I went straight into this, 1k easy, 3k hard, 1k easy. Great way to round out the weeks training.

Sat: Rest – Travel home


Swim 3hr 15
Bike 13hr 20
Run 2hr 15
S&C 2hr 30
Total 21hr 20

A great week’s training and I still feel very fresh after it, I’m definitely ahead of where I was this time last year and I’m gutted to be back in Ireland writing this and reading about some beast of the east thing that’s gonna cause havoc with my training plan this week!

9Crimes

Forgot to include Sunday in last weeks log - run 30min easy, 30min yoga

9Crimes

Mon 26th: Lunch swim: 30min: 200wu, 8*100 with 20s rest, 50wd

Tue: turbo: 1hr 10: 10min wu, 3*(15min z3, 3min easy), 5min wd

Wed: nothing

Thur: am: turbo: 50min fasted easy

Pm: turbo 1hr 6min - 10min wu, 3*(15min z3, 3min easy), 5min wd

Fri: turbo: 1hr 25min - 10min wu, 3*(20min z3, 5min easy), 5min wd

S&C: 1hr 30min - yoga and core work

Sat: 30min: core work

Sun: s&c: 1hr, yoga and core work

Turbo: 1hr 36min: 10min wu, 3*(22min z3, 5min easy), 5min wd

Swim: 30min
S&C: 3hr
Turbo: 7hr 37
Total: 11hr 7min

Jesus, I need to swim and run again! Totally over this snow malarkey now.
Off work next week so hopefully it clears quickly.

9Crimes

Mon 5th: Swim: 1hr - 2.4k - 400wu, 3*(3*100 off 1:55), 50 easy, 4*(4*50 off 60s, desc 1-4), 6*25 off 45 every 2nd fast, 100 wd.

Tue: Run: 85min - 15.6km - long slow run, avoiding what's left of the snow.

Wed: cycle 1hr - fartlek spin

Swim:1hr - 2.7km: 300wu, 350 with 40s rest, 300 with 30s rest, 250 with 20s rest, 150 with 20s rest, 100m with 10s rest and reverse back up the distance, 200wd

Thur: swim 1hr - 2.2km: 200wu, 200 pull, 200 kick, 100 swim, 12*100 with 15s rest, 200kick, 200wd

S&C: 1hr class

Fri:run: 45min - 10min wu, 30min tempo z3, 5 min wd, really enjoyed this run.

Sat:rest

Sun: nothing - my 'rest' day got away from me and I couldn't do anything today.

S&C: 1hr
Run: 2hr 10
Cycle: 1hr
Swim: 3hr
Total: 7hr 10

9Crimes

Mon 12th: Swim: 1hr: 2.35km - 400wu, 16*25 off 40s every 4th fast, 3*(8*50 off 70), 50 easy, 6*50 off 70 every 3rd fast

Tue, Wed, Thur, - I got food poisoning Mon night and that put an end to training for these few days.

Thur: s&c: 10mins and I have hurt my back.

Fri: nothing but a trip to physic to assess the damage

Sat: rest: back isn't serious thank God but the sooner this week is over the better,

Sun: Rest: - still no training back is still stiff.

Swim: 1hr
Total 1hr - says it all really

9Crimes

Mon 19th: AM: Swim: 1hr - 2.5km - 400 wu, 5*200 with 20s rest, 10*100 with 20s rest, 100wd
The pool was busy and I was regularly sprinting to get past swimmers and getting stuck behind swimmers but I made the best of it and it felt great to train after the last 10 days debacles.

PM:Turbo 1hr 30min - 10min wu, 3*(20min z3, 4min easy), 8min wd

Tue: Lunch Swim: 35min -1.25k - 200wu, 10*100 with 10s rest, 50wd

PM: Run: 1hr 15min: 10min wu, 5*(1mile with 2min rest), 15min wd
Did this with the club and while I am nowhere near my best speed wise it still felt like a good workout.

Wed: Swim: 1hr 15min: 3k - 400wu, 8*(200 with 20s rest), 2*(400 with 10s rest), 200wd
Shattered for the 400's but got through them, endurance remains a problem in the pool.

S&C: 45mins - yoga stretching

Thurs: rest

Fri: cycle: 5h 15min - club training weekend to carlow. This was a long steady ride through the wicklow mountains taking in botharnabreena, the lake drive, wicklow gap, shay Elliott and sleeve maan. Starting to tire getting into Carlow but a really enjoyable day with good company

Sat: pilates: 1hr: a great class with a borrowed pilates instructor from trilogy trial club
Swim: 1hr 10min: 2.3k - A mix of drills and fast swimming including a VO2 max test of 4*100 off 1:45. I have never swam off 1:45 before and I was delighted to hit 3 of these but I had to do the last off 1:50 as I was shattered.

Sun: cycle: 3hr 30min - club spin back to Dublin via Hollywood, lake drive and botharnabreena.

Run: 1hr 15min
S&C: 1hr 45min
Swim: 4hr
Cycle: 10hr 15
Total:17hr 15min

A good week after my last 2 weeks but I remain worried about my back. I went to the club physio on Sat and it certainly helped but sitting here typing I can feel it's still not 100%. (It's also the reason there is only 1 run this week).

9Crimes

Mon 26th: Nothing, Tried to make club swim but new job with an American company has resulted in some introductory calls at odd times of the day!

Tues: Lunch Swim: 30min: 200wu, 10*100 off 1:55, 50wd

PM: Turbo: 1hr 20m: 10min wu, 2*30min tempo with 5min rest, 5min wd

Wed: Lunch Swim: 40min: 200wu, 25min of drills, 4*50 off 55s, 50wd

PM: Run: 1hr 30min: 10min wu, 70min tempo, 10min wd
This was a tough enough session and I probably shouldn't have swam at lunch and tried to be fresher for this.

Thur: S&C: 45mins of yoga

Fri: Nothing - travel to London for Family Wedding

Sat: Run: 35mins: A quick run before wedding

Sun: Nothing - Wedding Celebrations Day 2


Run: 2hr 5min
Cycle: 1hr 20
Swim:1hr 10min
S&C: 45min
Total: 5hr 20

I knew this was going to be a bad week, so I'm not too disappointed. I have several quiet weeks ahead so I'm hoping to get more consistent training done as time is starting to slip by.

9Crimes

Mon 2nd: Run: 30min: Just a leg loosener after the weekends antics before my flight home.

Tue: Run 1hr 15min: Main set was 35mins at tempo, I was in bits, I felt like the Michelin man running around.

Wed: Lunch Swim: 35mins: 1.5km: 200wu, 3*400 with 30s rest, 100wd

PM: S&C class: 1hr 15min - back to my old class and it was a nice change.

Thur: AM: Swim: 1hr: 2.4km: 300wu, 400,300,200,100,200,300,400, 200wd

PM: Turbo: 1hr 35min: 15min wu, 3*(20min tempo, 5min easy), 5min wd

Fri: Rest

Sat: Run: 2hrs: main set was 90mins z2 fasted (16.5km). This was the best I have felt for a run in quite some time.

Sun: Cycle: 5hrs: Set out from Kildare and headed for Blessington, onto Lake Drive, up the Wicklow Gap, into Laragh and up the Sally Gap via military road before heading home through Rathfarnham. This was the longest I have spent non-stop on the bike since the Ironman and I was tired at the end and close to Bonking. I'm very happy to have it under my belt though.

Cycle: 6hr 35min
Swim: 1hr 35min
Run: 3hr 45min
S&C: 1hr 15min
Total: 13hr 10min

This was a good week from Tuesday onwards, but I need to kick on now and bring some consistency to the table.

9Crimes

Monday 9th: Swim: 1hr: 400wu, 16*25 off 45s every 4th fast, 5*200 off 4min, 100 easy
This was the start of a new club block and the focus was on good stroke work rather than volume. I however have lost the little bit of feel I had a few weeks ago and while the target for the 200's was 3:45, I could only manage to do the first in that time and then had to adjust my expectations.

Tue: AM: Turbo: 50min: 10min wu, 5*4min hard, 2min easy), 5min wd

Lunch swim: 35mins: 200wu, 5*200 off 4:00, 50wd

Wed: Lunch swim: 40mins: 200 wu, 11*100 off 2:00, 200 medium, 50 wd

PM: 1hr 30min: S&C class: combo of 1hr class and 30mins on my own prior to the class.

Thurs: Swim:1hr 10min: 400wu, 8*200 with 20s rest, 2*400 with 10s rest, 100 wd
This was supposed to be before work but I slept it out. I wasn't about to just skip it though given my problems in the pool Monday, so I finished work 30mins early went straight to the pool and after this session I went straight into a run.

Run: 40mins: 1k wu, 6k tempo, & wd
Felt pretty good for this run and was holding about 5sec quicker than previously for the same effort.

Fri: rest

Sat: run: 1hr 35min: 17.7km: Long slow run and it felt really good. It wasn't a fasted run which may have contributed to the comfortable feeling throughout. It will be interesting how next weeks run goes when I get back to fasted running!

S&C 45mins: a lot of stretching and core work after the run. I feel some fitness coming and I am not about to let a niggle or injury ruin things.

Sun: Turbo: 2hr 30ish: Forgot to start the watch for about 20mins. boring as hell steady turbo that just got done.

S&C: 45mins: yoga and core work.

Cycle: 3hr 20
Run: 2hr 15
Swim: 3hr 25
S&C: 3hr
Total: 12hr

Another good week down and it would have been even better if the weather wasn't sh1te yesterday and I could have got 4+ hrs outside.