[griffin100]

Ok I’m back. Seeing that every man and his dog has a new log for 2012 I thought I’d start log no. 3. To recap Log No. 1 followed my 30 weeks training to IMUK 2010. I reread the entire log over the Christmas for the first time in about a year and had a good laugh about how naive I was. Log No. 2 was from last year and was supposed to follow my training for the World Long Distance Champs in Las Vegas but I didn’t get to Vegas in the end, chiefly due to the cost (this ended up being a blessing in disguise as the event ended up being a long distance duathlon as the wimpy yanks decided that the water was too cold for a swim). I have a nice green Ireland tri suit at home with my name on it that will probably never be used – but that’s what I like about tri, event a fat git like me can buy his way onto the ‘Irish team’. The highlight of 2011 was the Hardman IM distance race in Kerry and the Tri An Mhi HIM and the will she won’t she go into labour fun before and during the race (see my old log).

I’m fat (88-89kgs) and lazy (see above logs). I have a job that requires a long commute each way and have 4 kids from age 7 down to 7 months. I detest early morning sessions of any type and don’t like cycling in the cold, so it doesn’t help that I also hate the turbo....yep I’m lazy. My sole reason for starting tri in 2008 was to shift some weight (at the beginning I was 105kgs) and I continue to ‘exercise’ as my wife puts it so that I can eat and drink what I like without getting too fat......as I like to say I train to eat. On the plus side I didn’t put any weight on over Christmas despite eating my own body weight in trifle and quality street on a daily basis for about a week......but then again I didn’t lose any weight at a time when my running mileage was hitting 40 mpw (high for me).

So I come to 2012 as a multiple IM finisher (yes I’ve done 2 IM’s so that makes me more experienced if not more knowledgeable than most IM loggers here ). I had kinda planned on backing off on tri this year and maybe doing some more running and even some mtb’ing, but as mtb’ers are an even bigger bunch of freaks than triathletes I’ve not followed up on this. In the end I’ve decided to break the year into two ‘half’s’. The first half of the year will be running based and the second half if all goes to plan will be IM based.

I’m planning on doing the Connemara Marathon. I’ve a place from last year I never used so this was a no brainer – although I’m dropping back from the Ultra to the standard distance. I’ve never trained properly for a marathon. I’ve done two IM marathons and 2 stand alone marathons off the back of IM training. I did the 2010 DCM in 3.52ish which is my PB. In 2011 I blew up after about 2 miles (yes 2 miles) and took 4.25 to finish. I had fallen down the stairs at home the day before so I’m blaming that for my slow time – I looked at my Garmin data for this race for the first time this week and I was hitting 180bpm at 10 min / mile pace so something wasn’t right with my body. So this time I am going to try and train properly for a marathon. I started the 18 week P&D 55mpw plan and surprisingly have stuck pretty much exactly to it for the first 6 weeks. Before the DCM I did a 5km TT in 21.31 and based on that McMillan says I should be able for a 3.30hrs marathon so that’s what I’ve been training for. All my pacing has been with this time in mind. As I train more my HR is starting to come down on the faster runs to match what P&D say it should be, but for the speed work and the marathon pace runs I’m still seeing a HR about 7-10bpm over what P&D say it should be – hopefully that will change as I put more miles in. Do I think a 3.30 is on the cards in Conn? No way with all those hills, but I’ll keep training for a 3.30 and see what happens closer to the day. The longest run to date on this program was 16 miles last weekend with 10 of these at marathon pace – 8min/mile. Did this without too much difficulty but this week have a bad chest cold so missing sessions for a few days – good thing it’s a recovery week. I’ll be using McMillans predicted time for 10km and HM to test myself before Conn. Based on a 3.30 marathon I should be hitting sub 45min 10km and sub 1.40hrs HM – the 10km target I think I have in me now, the HM one...hhhmm.....could be tough. After Conn I’ll see how I feel and I may do another marathon in early summer. So the running goals for 2012 are:
• Sub 45min 10km
• Sub 1.40hr half marathon
• New marathon PB (as close to 3.30hr as possible)

The second half of the year is back to IM – looks like I’ll do the Hardman Tri again. I’ll probably do the Tri and Mhi HIM and a couple of sprints also. I’ve some time targets in mind for the IM but I won’t divulge them just yet apart from one, which is to get close to a sub 4hr marathon off the bike (which would require me to be running a 3.30 stand alone marathon....see above). I’ll probably not get near a bike again until next Spring and as for my swimming....let’s just say you could count the number of swims I’ve had since last August on one hand. I need to try and get back into the habit of swimming at least twice a week. I could do early sessions with the Glenalbyn swimmers in the morning before work but that would mean getting up earlier.........The new 50m pool in UCD is due to be opened next spring so that might help with the swimming. I’ve signed up to the SBR 2012 challenge so maybe that’ll spur me on. Maybe I'll get myself a nemesis for the year to compete against......we'll see

[Bambaata]

Best of luck with it griffin100. Looking forward to more race reports like the last Hardman one.

[Bria Careful Schoolteacher]

Best of luck Grif i have one lad i am helping out at the moment who is doing Conn and targeting the same time. Best of luck with it, at this rate with all the new logs i am going to get feck all work done!!

[Brick Session]

Hope to see you on the start line in Killarney Griff, best of luck with your 2012.

[RacoonQueen]

If you can run 3:30 in Conn you'll be targeting a much faster half than that.

[catweazle]

Best of luck Griffin. You will enjoy Connemara - whip that Ireland Tri suit on for Tri Laois - the newbies will be in awe of you!

[Git101]

Best of luck. I look forward to meeting you on the back roads of Carlow/Wicklow.

[Izoard]

Good man - although the fact you are doing twice as much training for the Conn full than I'm doing for the Ultra, is a cause for concern....

[griffin100]

Best of luck Grif i have one lad i am helping out at the moment who is doing Conn and targeting the same time. Best of luck with it, at this rate with all the new logs i am going to get feck all work done!!

If you can run 3:30 in Conn you'll be targeting a much faster half than that.

I don't think I have a hope of doing 3.30 in Conn, but like I said I'll train with a 3.30 in mind and see how it goes. I'll make a decision on race pacing closer to the day.

Best of luck Griffin. You will enjoy Connemara - whip that Ireland Tri suit on for Tri Laois - the newbies will be in awe of you!

Ha, if I could get the yoke up past my knees then maybe

Best of luck. I look forward to meeting you on the back roads of Carlow/Wicklow.

Not at the minute you wont, fecking chesty cold. I'm coughing constantly and short of breath. This came on within a couple of hrs of finishing my last 16 mile LSR which had 10 miles pmp bit so I wounder is that related? Over training? Me? That'll be the day!!

[Git101]

Originally Posted by griffin100

Not at the minute you wont, fecking chesty cold. I'm coughing constantly and short of breath. This came on within a couple of hrs of finishing my last 16 mile LSR which had 10 miles pmp bit so I wounder is that related? Over training? Me? That'll be the day!!

Have a read of this thread before you go back training.

I won't be out much myself for the next few week.
I'm doing the Art O Neill challenge next Friday so a handy week this week and a few weeks recovery afterwards.
Recovery = eating and drinking (even more)

[griffin100]

Have a read of this thread before you go back training.

Yeah I'd read that and it did stop me doing my usual routine of trying to train with a cough / cold.

Good luck with the Art O'Neill Challenge, its a toughie and one that I must do some day.

[griffin100]

After a full 5 days off training back with a short slow run yesterday. 6 miles at 9.30 pace with HR exactly where it should be so hopefully that's the end of the cold.

Last week was pretty much a write off with the chest cold but better to be safe than sorry. It was a recovery week so hopefully it wont have too big an impact long term. This week is a biggie for me, the P&D plan has it down as a 50 mile week which is by far the most I will have ever run in a week if I complete it. This is where it starts to get difficult though, finding the time to do 10 mile plus runs on a weekday. I'm looking forward to it in a perverse way. I also need to get back swimming again Jaysus, maybe I am going to have to start doing early morning weekday sessions, which I haven't done since the initial enthusiasm of training for my first IM in 2010

[griffin100]

Started off my first ever 50 week mile attempt last night with a ten miler. The plan had this down as 5 miles at HM pace but I didn't think the lungs could cope with that just yet so settled on 10 miles at slighter faster than LSR pace - average pace 8.30-8.40 min / mile.

I did the run after work as I knew if I went home there would be a good chance I'd not get the full run in after getting the kids to bed. This was the first time in almost 4 years of running that I have done a training run in Dublin, all my other runs have been on the back roads of Carlow. I have to say its quite a different experience running around south Dublin. I did some of the trails in UCD, out onto some of the DCM route and finished off by heading down the N11 towards Stillorgan and back.

Some of the differences I noticed:

• The streets of South Dublin are paved with dog sh1t....feckin loads of it. Now when running at home a dog turd on the road is a thing of wounder. If I see one (which is very rarely) I stop and foensically examine it......how big is it (very important, as this dictates the size of the dog who made it); how long has it been there, can I hazard a guess at the dog concerned......this is all vital as I try to ascertain the likelihood that the turd was left by a dog unknown to me (and I know all the dogs good and bad on my run routes) and if I'm likely to have a new potentially rabid dog to fend off when I run. In Dublin the sh1t is just everywhere.
• When running on quiet country roads you can do what you want unseen, stop for a pee, readjust your tackle, spend a good five minutes routing around your arse to get your long lost underwear back out and so on. Its somewhat different running in a very busy area at rush hour. I only remembered this when I got some disgusted looks from the bus passengers who had a full frontal view of my very successful nostril clearing activity at a pedestrian crossing whilst waiting to cross...to say nothing of the lady standing beside me.
• The concrete footpaths are a lot harder on your knees than the nice soft tar at home.
• There are more potholes on Dublin footpaths than in Carlow.
• WTF is the story with footpaths that suddenly end in a cycle lane....can I kep running in these cycle lanes?
• Everyone is out to get you, especially cyclists and dog walkers with extendable leashes and will do their utmost to get you.
• At least the wildlife on a city run is better than that on a rural road at night

[Izoard]

Originally Posted by griffin100

Started off my first ever 50 week mile attempt last night with a ten miler. The plan had this down as 5 miles at HM pace but I didn't think the lungs could cope with that just yet so settled on 10 miles at slighter faster than LSR pace - average pace 8.30-8.40 min / mile.

I did the run after work as I knew if I went home there would be a good chance I'd not get the full run in after getting the kids to bed. This was the first time in almost 4 years of running that I have done a training run in Dublin, all my other runs have been on the back roads of Carlow. I have to say its quite a different experience running around south Dublin. I did some of the trails in UCD, out onto some of the DCM route and finished off by heading down the N11 towards Stillorgan and back.

Some of the differences I noticed:

• The streets of South Dublin are paved with dog sh1t....feckin loads of it. Now when running at home a dog turd on the road is a thing of wounder. If I see one (which is very rarely) I stop and foensically examine it......how big is it (very important, as this dictates the size of the dog who made it); how long has it been there, can I hazard a guess at the dog concerned......this is all vital as I try to ascertain the likelihood that the turd was left by a dog unknown to me (and I know all the dogs good and bad on my run routes) and if I'm likely to have a new potentially rabid dog to fend off when I run. In Dublin the sh1t is just everywhere.
• When running on quiet country roads you can do what you want unseen, stop for a pee, readjust your tackle, spend a good five minutes routing around your arse to get your long lost underwear back out and so on. Its somewhat different running in a very busy area at rush hour. I only remembered this when I got some disgusted looks from the bus passengers who had a full frontal view of my very successful nostril clearing activity at a pedestrian crossing whilst waiting to cross...to say nothing of the lady standing beside me.
• The concrete footpaths are a lot harder on your knees than the nice soft tar at home.
• There are more potholes on Dublin footpaths than in Carlow.
• WTF is the story with footpaths that suddenly end in a cycle lane....can I kep running in these cycle lanes?
• Everyone is out to get you, especially cyclists and dog walkers with extendable leashes and will do their utmost to get you.
• At least the wildlife on a city run is better than that on a rural road at night

And us Southsiders have a reputation for being ladyboys?

HTFU

[RacoonQueen]

You ever tried cycling in Dublin. It's even worse, cycle lanes end abrupty and in some cases you are actually expected to dismount and walk along with your bike.

We were stopped for cycling on a road beside such a lane on a footpath, asked him if motorists were ever expected to get out of their cars and walk their car along the road. He was a cyclist himself so he just laughed at me.