The difficult second album

joey100 · 04-01-2014 4:11pm

Sat 4th Jan

First club cycle in a long while. One of the lads from the Tri club who is in a different cycling club came along for the spin too. Plan was to go with him (ex Irish TT rider). Groups were a bit all over the place and the group started out pretty slow. Average pace was right down and few seemed more interested in having a chat, when ever the other lad got to the front there was a push in pace which pleased some of the group but wasn't long before we heard people shouting steady. After about 65km of this (pace did go up after around 40km but was surging rather than steady), we pushed on ourselves. Gave me a bit of advice, saying to work on power going up short hills so to go up a gear or two and push up them staying in the saddle. Very new to me and made me suffer. After about 22km together we split to go home, added on a bit to the cycle to cover 103.5km and legs weren't too bad at the end. Will try to do some big gear work when I'm out on the bike over the next while. Club are having a meeting on Wednesday evening about racing so hopefully from that a new racing group might be started from people only getting into racing.

joey100 · 05-01-2014 10:33pm

Sunday 5th Jan

Skipped run session with the club in the phoenix park, woke up and weather was bad so rolled over and back to sleep. Instead it was to the gym to use the treadmill. 3km warm up then into 6 X 1.1km ran at 4 min kilometre pace with 90 second recovery in between and around 3km to cool down. Just over 14km ran and felt good, legs bit tired from the cycle on Saturday but got it into my head I wasn't dropping the pace and managed to keep it there.

After this was another swim session. This was my 3rd time in the pool in the last 4 days and to be honest I wasn't feeling the love for it. Cut the session short, bit of a warm up, some fast 50's then 7 X 100m, some kicking and a cool down. Around 1.7km done. Will be looking at maybe swapping every 2nd Sunday swim for an extra bike session, at the moment I'm swimming nearly 4 times a week and I would fancy doing a bit more on the bike too. I'll think it over the next few days and see how I get on. I reckon 3 quality sessions in the pool would be better than 2 quality ones and 2 I'm not feeling.

joey100 · 06-01-2014 10:59pm

Monday 6th Jan

Didn't think today would be too bad, Monday is nearly always a turbo day, but today was to be a 20 min FTP test. Wasn't sure how this would go, FTP had been creeping up and I had adjusted trainer road once or twice because of this. Started well and was able to hold a good power average for the 5 mins, around 10% above what my FTP came in at (probably even a bit higher). Twenty mins was tough, struggled to get comfortable on the bike and was suffering very early on but kept it where I wanted to and lasted until the end. Probably my best paced one yet, no real sprint finish in me, able to up the watts a bit the last 30 seconds but no huge jump. After the test was a 30 min easy spin, legs felt good and kept this nice and easy. Altogether 1hr 30 mins on the turbo and a decent enough increase in FTP. Up around 5% from last time I raised it and weight is down around 1.5kg too so not bad all round.

joey100 · 07-01-2014 11:20pm

Tuesday 7th Jan

Morning session was a swim session. New years resolution is to try get up early, early for me is usually around 9.00, going to start getting up at 7 with the gf and hopefully get in another training session one or two days a week. Anyway, up at seven and straight to the pool, bit of a warm up then main set of 8 X 260m. Tough enough and was trying to concentrate on rolling on my hips and pulling right thru, felt good when I got it right but didn't happen an awful lot. Cool down too, plenty of kick board work too. altogether around 3.7km done and felt good heading to work.

Evening session was a run. 4km warm up then into 12 X 60 seconds with 60 seconds recovery. I run these up and down the road outside my house, only road around with no lights or junctions. Got 2 X 60 seconds done going up the road and then 2 back down and repeat. Speed for these varied, going up the road was into a headwind and pace around 3.47/48, going down the road with wind behind me pace was around 3.32/33. These felt good and found the recovery was enough between them. Around 4km cool down then done for total of 14.1km ran.

joey100 · 08-01-2014 8:36pm

Wed 8th Jan

So the new years resolution didn't last long and I slept in today. Working in a new place though and a much handier and nicer cycle in so hope to do that at least 3 times a week, some days I have to have the car but hopefully I can keep them to a minimum.

Evening session was an hour on trainer road. Bit of a warm up then into 10 X 2 mins at 105% of the new FTP with 1 min rest between. Tough session but doable, one of them ones where your body feels like it can't do it but once you push through they become nearly enjoyable. Session was nearly split half and half between VO2 max and endurance. All part of a new block working on increasing my 20 min power. After this was a 30 min spin, focusing on endurance. Legs felt grand for this, pleased with how quick I am recovering after the intervals and got through the whole spin no problems.

joey100 · 09-01-2014 7:49pm

Thurs 9th Jan

Not too bad a day today, commute in and out of work, took it easy and finding this good for clearing the legs.

Evening session was a long run. Was a lovely evening for it and turned out to be one of them evenings when it just feels effortless. Pace was kept back and it just felt really comfortable, never during the whole run did I feel tired or that I was pushing it. Really enjoyable run and 15.25km ran, means I have a bronze in swim, bike and run for the month. If I can keep it up like this for the rest of the month I'd be delighted.

shotgunmcos · 09-01-2014 9:57pm

joey100 wrote: »

Really enjoyable run and 15.25km ran, means I have a bronze in swim, bike and run for the month. If I can keep it up like this for the rest of the month I'd be delighted.

And beat Fazz :eek::D Still going well at the top, keep going!

joey100 · 09-01-2014 10:06pm

Cheers but with the way Fazz's training is going it's more a case of when he overtakes me rather than if he overtakes me. Weekend's are usually busy and the club have a big cycle planned so hopefully I can hold him off for another little bit anyway.

joey100 · 10-01-2014 9:37pm

Fri 10th Jan

Busy day but not too bad a day today. Managed to get myself up early for a recovery run, kept the pace right back and just tried to enjoy it. Body was bit tired but after about 3km felt grand, really loosened me out.

Had a commute to work by bike, then up to swimming and then journey home from swimming. Not huge mileage but all adds up by the end of the week.

Swim session was with interested. Good session, not many there but was a good first session back. Some fast 50's mixed with some consistent 50's. Feeling it a bit by the end but wasn't too bad. Good to be back in a coached session, much easier to motivate yourself to go when other people are there.

joey100 · 11-01-2014 6:58pm

Sat 11th Jan

Club spin on the bike. Plan on the website was for a 110km spin and was looking forward to it. Ended up plans had to changed because of the cold weather but we would still be doing a good distance. Pace was much better than last week and most of the people in the group were happy to sit back so meant plenty of turns on the front. Got back from the club spin with 90km done and me and another lad decided to stay out to do a short 15km loop he knew, pace was bumped up and wasn't long before he started suffering, ended up both of us having to take gels to avoid the bonk but might have been a bit too late for him. Anyway the 15km loop turned out to be a 35km loop for me so got back to the house having done around 126km. My furthest cycle so far and legs were surprisingly good at the end. Bit tired but didn't feel sore. Just back from being out in base2race with the gf to finally get her a bike that fits, even looks more comfortable on the bike. Great service as usual by Paul and Dom out there, and if anyone is looking I have a women's bike for sale that would suit someone 5''3 to around 5''8.

joey100 · 12-01-2014 10:09pm

Sunday 12th Jan

Another planned run with the club and another missed session with the club. Last year I ran in all weather, tried to not let it stop me getting out. This year I'n trying to take a bit better care of myself with what I eat, how I recover after and between sessions and not going out when it's wet. I had a few chest infections last year so going to try something new to see if it stops them. Anyway, rainy morning so to the gym.

Onto the treadmill, 3.5km warm up then into 6 X 1.1km at 4 min kilometre pace with 90 seconds recovery. Felt ok, even though the legs were tired after the long spin on the bike I got through these with no real problems and will look at upping the pace the next time I do them.

After this was straight to the pool for a tough enough session. Bit of warm up, then some fast 50's, main set was 20 X 100m, some kicking and then a cool down. Felt ok in the water, not great. If I am going to keep using the treadmill on the bad days I'll have to try as best as I can to split the day. Was tough going straight from that run into the pool and trying to keep it going. Reckon a split day would work better for me. Altogether around 3.2km swam.

joey100 · 13-01-2014 10:42pm

Mon 13th Jan

No training this morning so only an evening session on the turbo. Tough enough session, 1 hour with 6 X 4 min intervals at 105% of FTP with 45 second recovery between each. Found a decent pace and kept the power consistent across all the intervals. Happy with how it went, didn't suffer too much. After this was a 30 min spin keeping it in the endurance zone and light spinning. Altogether 1hr 30 mins on the turbo and legs not feeling too bad at all.

joey100 · 15-01-2014 11:12am

Tuesday 14th Jan

On paper this isn't too bad a day but with training in work meant I didn't have time to do a morning session so both would be in the evening. First up was swim session, bit of warm up then main set of 6 X 300m. Managed to keep the pace up but wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked with these. Bit sloppy in the water too but reckon with another few sessions in the water I'll start to get back to where I was. Total in water of 3.25km.

After this was up to the treadmill. 4km warm up then main part of 8 X 90 seconds at 3.45 min kilometres with 60 second recovery between these. These weren't too bad, legs were bit dead and tired when I started on the treadmill but after a few km they woke up. Finished off with another 4km cool down for a total of 13.2km.

joey100 · 15-01-2014 8:55pm

Wed 15th Jan

Another day that didn't look too bad on paper but with tired legs was tough enough. Commute in an out of work on the bike. Home for an evening turbo session, main session was an hour long, bit of a warm up then into 10 X 2 mins at 105% of FTP, after doing the session on Monday that was 6 X 4 mins at 105% I wasn't too worried about this one. I'd have shorter intervals and longer rests but it was still tough. Kept it about 3 watts above where I needed to keep it and got through all ten keeping it consistent. After this was half an hour keeping it around 65% of FTP and working on endurance. This wasn't too bad, legs were ok and this seemed to freshen them up a bit.

Next few days should all be double days with the Naas duathlon on Sunday, should give me an idea where I am with my training.

joey100 · 16-01-2014 9:32pm

Thurs 16th Jan

Woke up wrecked, shelved the run in the morning and meant I would be missing a session in the pool in the evening to get it it. The pool session is only an extra session if I'm feeling up to it so wasn't too put off missing it. Legs were very tired, got a little better as the day went on so with one eye on the race on the weekend I pulled back the long run today to 8km. Not long at all but coming on the end of a good run of training. Bike commute too.

joey100 · 17-01-2014 10:22pm

Friday 16th Jan

Another easy day today. Commute to work by bike, then up to swimming then cycle home from there.

Swim session was a good one, starting to feel better in the pool and can see the times coming down. Was consistently under 1.30 for 100m's tonight, they were tough but I was under them and in around 40/42 seconds for 50 metres. Tonight was about trying to maintain a pace. Seem to struggle a bit to hold it after the first 50 but something I'll work on and think my kick is one of the first things to go so will try to concentrate on keeping the legs moving when I start to tire. Wasn't sure how much we done but asked a fella after and according to his garmin was 2350m, so a good session done. (not an easy session though, easy day because there was only one thing on).

joey100 · 18-01-2014 6:01pm

Sat 17th Jan

Busy day today but not too bad training wise.

Club had organised a swim analysis with peter kern and had signed up for this. Was done in an endless pool where we were filmed and given feedback on our stroke. Got some good feedback about my stroke and now have a few things to work on that will hopefully make me faster.

After this was to the gym for an easy session. 30 mins on the bike followed by a run to loosen out the legs. Intensity kept down and that's it before the race tomorrow. Good nights sleep and I should be in good form tomorrow.

(A few low mileage days and Fazz passes me on the SBR table, was nice being up in first while it lasted!)

joey100 · 19-01-2014 6:47pm

Sun 18th Jan

So first race of the season today, hoping that it would give me a good idea of how my training is going. Got out nice and early and got decent spot in transition. Warm up done, and waited for the briefing then it was the walk to the start line. Last year when I done this race I didn't get out on the bike because of a mechanical so this year had to go better.

Run 1 11.53

Knew the first few hundred metres of this were fast so put myself right up the front. This was about the closest anyone got to Cathal O'Donovan all day. Started at a good pace and was up were I wanted to be, passed a few people and kept the pace going. First km done in sub 3.30 and already I'd say I was around 400m behind first place. Kept the pace up, (can't really remember the splits) but did tire a bit towards the end and pulled it back a bit with the bike in mind. Delighted to see the time below 12 mins for the 3.5km, fastest I have ever gone.

T1 0.59

Fairly uneventful, in and out.

Bike 34.54

Out onto the bike course and overtook a few straight away, got to the first turn and wasn't ready for the ramp in the road, shifted front derailleur down and the chain hopped off. My own fault, too much pressure on it when I changed. Only took bout 10 seconds to get it back on so not too much time lost. Gave me a bit of a kick and I pushed it for the next bit, passed a good few, especially on the drags. Tough cycle out to Blessington and was starting to wonder if I had pushed it too hard up some of the hills. Hit the turn around in 13th place and not too far behind the group with 10th-12th in it and not too far behind the next group of people up to around 6th. Pushed it coming back and had a nice battle with another lad. Made up a few places and lost a few places so ended up getting off the bike in 12th.

T2 1.03

Run 2 13.49

From the start of this run my left calf was having mini cramps. Tried to ease into it and let it get used to it and seemed to work and they eased after around 800m. Meant I had lost a bit of time but to e honest not sure how much faster I would have went anyway. Passed one fella and was passed by another soon after. Coming towards the end I could tell there was someone around 10 metres behind me so in the last 1km I tried to up the pace and keep upping it, didn't think I was going to have much of a sprint finish. This worked and crossed the line in 12th place in overall time of 1.02.35. Bit behind the top ten but not a huge distance either (apart from 1st, that fella is something else!)Strange feeling for me not getting passed by loads on the run.

Overall very pleased with the result. The main focus over the winter has been on trying to build some speed in the run and get better at holding it. A sub 12 min 3.5km, and I reckon I could have held it for around a sub 18.30 5km. This is the next goal, going to do a 5km park run in probably about 4 weeks to see how my run is going. Lost a bit in the second kilometre of the 2nd run but this was more mental than physical. Managed to not let the speed drop too much but need to work on this. The bike was ok, up to now I've been doing a lot of distance on the bike and know that with a bit more work I can go a good bit faster than I did today. Today wasn't about the bike though, it was about seeing overall how I would hold up and I'm pretty pleased with it.

Plan had been for a swim tonight but I'm going to give it a miss and get back into another block of training from tomorrow. Have to try push Fazz a bit on the table.

joey100 · 20-01-2014 11:56am

Monday 19th Jan

Back to training after yesterday's race. Onto the turbo and thought my legs were feeling good. Today's session was to be 6 X 4 mins at 105% of FTP. Only got through the warm up and knew my legs wouldn't make it. Got about a min into the first one and had to stop, legs were too sore and starting to cramp. Bit of easy spinning after this to try loosen out my legs but nothing hard. If I can get out of work early enough later I'm going to try do a recovery run. Hopefully doesn't take too long for my legs to get back to normal.

El Director · 20-01-2014 12:19pm

Well done yesterday Joey, great effort and nice to have a starting point and always good to get conformation that all the training is having the effect you want. You were very right to bin that horrible sounding (for the day after a race) session and just spin. Personally I would never use running as a recovery session, bike or swim yes, running no but that's just me

Best of luck with the rest of the season now :cool:

joey100 · 20-01-2014 1:57pm

Cheers El D, looking at my week I'll probably swap a few sessions around to try ease into the harder stuff. I forget how much racing takes out of me, but do feel a lot better than I would have after a race last season.

joey100 · 22-01-2014 8:02pm

Tue 21st Jan

Up early to do my long run before work. Kept pace nice and slow and covered around 14.2km. Legs starting to feel better but still a big heavy.

Commute in and out of work on bike.

Evening session was a long swim. Part of the feedback from the weekend has been to work on the second and third phase of my stroke. I never knew but it's not done all as one speed, the 2nd and 3rd phase should be done quicker. I had an idea that I cut the stroke short a lot of the time anyway but hopefully by working on this it will encourage me to keep the hand in the whole way back and give me a bit more speed. Easier said than done though and practised it tonight but was a bit awkward, will keep it up though and get used to it. Lot of paddle work and kick work tonight. Was definitely feeling it afterwards.

Wed 22nd Jan

Commute in and out of work on the bike.

Turbo session in the evening. Legs feeling a lot better, reckon I'm as close to recovered as I'll get. Session had bit of a warm up then 4 X 5 min intervals at 105% FTP with 2 min recoveries between. These were tough but bearable, the hard bit I'm finding is picking the right gear to be in, I'm either spinning too much to control for 5 mins or too heavy a gear for 5 mins. Got through all 4 though and legs felt ok, another half hour added on at the end working on endurance.

Have been asked to play a bit of astro football tonight, in a previous life I played a lot of football so looking forward to it. Going to bring the garmin along, curious about how far I will run during the game. GF reckons it will be around 3km but I'd say closer to 5km, we will see though.

BTH · 22-01-2014 8:08pm

joey100 wrote: »

Have been asked to play a bit of astro football tonight, in a previous life I played a lot of football so looking forward to it. Going to bring the garmin along, curious about how far I will run during the game. GF reckons it will be around 3km but I'd say closer to 5km, we will see though.

Hope you're ready to be in a lot of pain tomorrow. The twisting and turning on a footy pitch uses muscles we don't use anymore. I found this out the hard way!!!

joey100 · 22-01-2014 8:27pm

BTH wrote: »

Hope you're ready to be in a lot of pain tomorrow. The twisting and turning on a footy pitch uses muscles we don't use anymore. I found this out the hard way!!!

was thinking that alright, it's with my brother and his friends so the standard is more league of ireland than premier league. was thinking ill take up a pirlo type role an not move about too much.

joey100 · 23-01-2014 5:43pm

So went out and played football last night, and just my luck managed to hurt myself. Bit of a slip, then sole catching the ground then slipping again and catching again has meant a bit of a twisted knee. Not too bad to walk on or run on but when I change direction I get a bit of a twinge. Did manage to cover around 6.4km though on the pitch, but I'll have to look at if I'm going to play anymore.

Thursday 23rd Jan

So was a run session this morning, bit of a warm up then into 8 X 90 seconds on, with 60 seconds recovery. Done around 4km warm up and combination of the legs still feeling the football, the wind and a sore knee meant I knew it was going to a tougher session than it should be. Got through 6 of the intervals and I had to stop, knee was sore, wind was in my face and motivation was gone. the intervals ranged from 3.55 min kilometres into the wind to 3.36 min kilometres with the wind behind me. Done a slow jog home and took it handy. Altogether around 10.5km ran, knee was grand by the end of it, but if the football is going to have this knock on affect to my training I'll have to knock it on the head.

El Director · 23-01-2014 5:51pm

joey100 wrote: »

So went out and played football last night, and just my luck managed to hurt myself. Bit of a slip, then sole catching the ground then slipping again and catching again has meant a bit of a twisted knee. Not too bad to walk on or run on but when I change direction I get a bit of a twinge. Did manage to cover around 6.4km though on the pitch, but I'll have to look at if I'm going to play anymore.

Thursday 23rd Jan

So was a run session this morning, bit of a warm up then into 8 X 90 seconds on, with 60 seconds recovery. Done around 4km warm up and combination of the legs still feeling the football, the wind and a sore knee meant I knew it was going to a tougher session than it should be. Got through 6 of the intervals and I had to stop, knee was sore, wind was in my face and motivation was gone. the intervals ranged from 3.55 min kilometres into the wind to 3.36 min kilometres with the wind behind me. Done a slow jog home and took it handy. Altogether around 10.5km ran, knee was grand by the end of it, but if the football is going to have this knock on affect to my training I'll have to knock it on the head.

Dude you are putting in WAY to much work, time, commitment etc... to expose yourself to soccer injuries. I know how you feel, I believe BTH knows too as we were in that situation before. Time to make a decision and way up what you want out of triathlon. Seems to me with all the training and improvement that you want a good craic at this tri stuff so, my advice, no soccer. Hope you don't mind me saying so but I just think it'd be such a shame to pick up some silly injury now.

joey100 · 24-01-2014 9:45pm

Don't mind at all El D. Thanks for the input, sometimes you need other people to say it to you though for you to do it.

Fri 24th Jan

Cycle into work, work to swimming and swimming home. Pace nice and handy and spun out the legs.

Evening swim with interested. Bit of a warm up then some 50's working on stroke, and the part of the stroke I needed to work on. Found it hard to try change my stroke, keep the hips moving and count my strokes. After this was 3 X 400m descending. Times were around 6.35, 6.25, 6.15 so kept bringing it down. Finished ok, bit of a miscount and thought I still had 2 more lengths so didn't push as much as I could in the last 50m. Felt alot better after this than after my PB of 6.04 so reckon with a bit more swim fitness I could be pushing to go under the 6 min mark. Need to push myself as much in my own training as I do when there is people beside me. Always seem to give it a bit extra try keep up or not let them get too far ahead of me. Altogether around 2.3km done and feeling ok at the end.

El Director · 25-01-2014 12:42am

joey100 wrote: »

Don't mind at all El D. Thanks for the input, sometimes you need other people to say it to you though for you to do it.

Fri 24th Jan

Cycle into work, work to swimming and swimming home. Pace nice and handy and spun out the legs.

Evening swim with interested. Bit of a warm up then some 50's working on stroke, and the part of the stroke I needed to work on. Found it hard to try change my stroke, keep the hips moving and count my strokes. After this was 3 X 400m descending. Times were around 6.35, 6.25, 6.15 so kept bringing it down. Finished ok, bit of a miscount and thought I still had 2 more lengths so didn't push as much as I could in the last 50m. Felt alot better after this than after my PB of 6.04 so reckon with a bit more swim fitness I could be pushing to go under the 6 min mark. Need to push myself as much in my own training as I do when there is people beside me. Always seem to give it a bit extra try keep up or not let them get too far ahead of me. Altogether around 2.3km done and feeling ok at the end.

Savage swimming btw!

griffin100 · 25-01-2014 1:24am

El Director wrote: »

Savage swimming btw!

Well impressive alright!!

joey100 · 25-01-2014 8:10pm

Cheers lads, didn't have to worry too much about how to pace it, just tried to keep up with the people around me.

Sat 26th Jan

So woke up and the weather was horrible so back to bed. Got up bit later for a turbo session. First hour was bit of a warm up then split into 4 X 10 mins with each ten mins being higher power than the last. 2 mins break in between these. Tougher than they should have been but got through, after this was an hour and a half focusing on endurance. Altogether 2.5 hours on the turbo, tough but better than heading out in that weather.

Afternoon was a run session, just an easy 10km run. Pace was kept right down and just relaxed and enjoyed it, except it was done on a treadmill that seemed to want to electrocute me through my ear phones. Legs felt good after and was handy session.

After this down to the pool to do a bit of stroke work. Used the pull buoy a good bit and tried to concentrate on my full stroke and hip rotation. Pace wasn't anything great but the focus was on stoke. Good session and feeling a bit better about it, still plenty to work on though. Altogether 2.15km swam.

joey100 · 26-01-2014 11:10pm

Sun 27th Jan

Another treadmill run. 3.5km warm up then 6 X 1.1km ran at around 3.55 pace. 90 seconds recovery between each then a bit of a cool down for a total of 14.2km.

Swim session in the evening. Run was done in the morning so I had plenty of rest all day. Long session but was broken up nicely, main bit being 4 X 400m. Mix of pull, drills, kick and paddle work. Was feeling this by the end. Good weekend for swimming, third time in the pool in 3 days. Altogether 3.2km swam.

joey100 · 27-01-2014 12:20pm

Mon 28th Jan

Turbo session before work. Bit of a warm up then into 6 X 4mins at 105% of FTP. 45 seconds recovery between each. Struggled with these, got through the first three then had to add a min to the recovery and 3 mins at 105%. Got through it in the end but legs struggled and was tough. Added ten mins at the end just to cool down. 1hr 10 mins on turbo. Turbo bike is starting to sound a bit rough, think I might need a new bottom bracket and cassette. Will try have a mess around with it to see what I can sort myself.

Chartsengrafs · 27-01-2014 9:35pm

Nice running too, any interval of that length is hard to repeat. When's the first (tri) race planned for?

joey100 · 28-01-2014 10:56am

Looks like first tri will be Fingal sprint. Pool based so not my favorite but close to home and usually a good turn out from the club.

Had plans on which races I'd be doing this season but one of my mates is getting married in July so will miss out on 2 provinces, not sure when the stag is on but would nearly put money on it that I'll miss another race because of it. Visting the brother in London in mid June so hoping to get a race in while I'm over there. Signed up for Tri Athy already and will definitely do Dublin (A race) and Caroline Kearney (club championship) but after that it's a bit undecided at the moment.

joey100 · 28-01-2014 9:24pm

Tues 29th Jan

For a change I actually managed to get up proper early and go to the pool. Lots of drills today working on the weaker bit of my stroke. Had a bit of time left at the end so done a bit of paddle work and pull buoy. Altogether around 2.6km done.

Cycle in and out of work.

Evening session was a run. About a 5km warm up then into 6 X 600m with 200m recovery between each. First one of these was the toughest and then started to get used to then. First one was around 3.45 pace and brought the rest of them down under this. Last two were 3.34 pace and 3.29 pace so probably can push it a bit more on these than I have been. Nice steady cool down after for a total of 14.3km ran and a good session done.

joey100 · 30-01-2014 1:52pm

Wed 29th Jan

Nothing today. Was meant to be cycling to work, then to club committee meeting and then home. This never happened, weather was too bad so I took the car instead. By time I got home after the meeting I was wrecked and just didn't fancy getting up on the turbo for an hour so a day of doing nothing.

Thurs 30th Jan

Long run planned before work, had hoped to be able to do it outside but there was too many showers when I got up and didn't fancy getting drowned after few mins and then spending rest of run drenched. Headed to the gym and 15.4km ran on the treadmill, pace around 5.00 min kilometres and 1% gradient. Nothing too bad and legs felt grand after. Weather had cleared up a good bit so cycled into work and home this evening.

joey100 · 31-01-2014 10:01pm

Fri 31st Jan

Another missed commute to work by bike, weather was just too bad. On the plus side it's past payday so I should be able to buy some waterproof bottoms to stop me missing days.

Swim session tonight. Lots of 400's, warm up was 400 (I miss counted and done 450), then 3 X 400m off 6.40 (during this I learned I can't count to 16 and should just copy the swimmers around me). Then it was next set of 3 X (4 X 50 off 50, 1 X 200 off 3.30). This was tough, first one not too bad, second one started to pinch and by end of third one I was hanging on. Got them all done in the time though, and was consistent enough with my times. A 400m then to cool down. Pleased with how tonight went, even though I didn't feel I was swimming particularly well and didn't feel fast I kept the times down and managed to finish the set.

joey100 · 01-02-2014 9:55pm

So every now and again the gf goes home for the weekend, usually this means I don't have a lot to do so train more. This weekend the gf went home so means I get to train a good bit, have a few things coming up that will cut back on the training later in the month so good that I can get some done now. Anyway,

Sat 1st Feb

Again the weather too bad for the club cycle so turbo it was. First hour focusing on tempo and sweet spot and the next two on endurance. Altogether 3 hours done on the turbo.

Afternoon was treadmill for a recovery run. Nice and slow pace, 10.2km. Nothing fancy about this but was easy pace.

Swim in the evening, didn't really look at the set properly getting in so wasn't expecting it to be as long as it was. Main set was 4 X ( 3 X 100m fast, then 300m paddles and pull). Long session and when I worked it out 4175m swam, my longest ever swim but to be honest wasn't too bad, mainly arms. Hoping to get all three done again tomorrow. Cycle won't be long, short club TT and a short swim before it. Tough run session though and that's the main focus of the day.

shotgunmcos · 01-02-2014 10:21pm

Full SBR x2 this weekend :eek:

joey100 · 01-02-2014 11:42pm

Thats the plan, tomorrow will only be a short swim and bike though, mainly a run. Today's bike was long but not hard and the run was very easy. Should be alright to go again tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

joey100 · 03-02-2014 1:41pm

Sunday 2nd Feb

So up before the club TT and to the pool. Bit of a splash and dash, took it nice and handy and just concnetrated on a few different parts of the stroke. Used the pull a good bit too. Altogether around 1200m done.

Club TT was in the afternoon so drive to the aquatic centre and used the drive from there to the start as the warm up. TT was around 6.8km long and a few short drags but mainly flat. Had estimated time at 10 mins but this was more because one of the other lads in the club had that as his time and I wanted to beat him. Race was that short that it was just flat out for the whole thing. One or two bad gear choices and bit of tired legs after the 3 hour turbo but all in all went very well. Finished in 9.51 and joint first with another fella (who has beaten me in every TT up to now, by around a minute in the 20km TT's) so reckon i have made improvements over the winter. Legs were tired after and then cycled back to get the car. All in 30km cycled.

Evening was to be a run but with gf coming home early I had an excuse to cancel it, was looking for an excuse really. Body is tired, I've been going since 1st Jan without any proper rest so have emailed the coach about asking to take this week as a rest week.

Monday 3rd Feb

So with tired legs and tired body it was onto the turbo today, plan had been for 6 X 4mins at 105% of FTP but changed this to more of an endurance effort. Tried to keep the legs spinning and done an hour. Nice to get off after the hour rather than 3 like Saturday, reckon the rest of the week will be like this, would like to keep the distance up a bit but the intensity down.

On a side note when I've been using trainer road it's estimated my FTP at around 130 watts. I'm around 61kg so in or around 2 watts per kg. Not a great number (I do realise trainer road is not accurate but is consistent so gives you something to measure against). But a little bit in me wants to know what my real number is, the fella who had the exact same time as me at the TT had an average power of around 320 watts, hes a bit heavier than me though but nice to see that the number is more than likely higher than the 130 trainer road is giving me.

couerdelion · 03-02-2014 5:52pm

joey100 wrote: »

the fella who had the exact same time as me at the TT had an average power of around 320 watts, hes a bit heavier than me though

A bit? I reckon he's nearly twice your weight!

joey100 · 04-02-2014 10:19pm

Tues 4th Feb

No swim this morning, made an executive decision that I needed the sleep more than I needed the swim. Cycle in and out of work and just managed to miss the wind and rain.

Evening session was an easy hour and a bit on the treadmill. Pace kept right down and covered about 11.2km. Legs feeling much better already, another few days and I'll be ready to go again.

Saturday's are usually my long cycle with the cycling club, when I can make it. This week I've been invited out with a group of racers who don't cover the same distance but move very fast. Group is made up of a lot of A3 and up racers so will be good to go with them and see how I get on. Hoping the weather is ok so I actually manage to get out.

joey100 · 05-02-2014 8:51pm

Wed 5th Feb

So still in the middle of the recovery week and the whole body is starting to feel much better. No real intensity this week and nothing too long. Easy turbo session tonight, 1 hour focusing on endurance. Set out to hit the hour and see how I was feeling with the plan of possibly going to 90 mins. Took it handy and enjoyed it so decided to call it a day at the hour mark. Need to focus on recovery this week, not the SBR table!

joey100 · 06-02-2014 2:02pm

Thurs 5th Feb

Another easy day, and this time I even managed to get outside for a run. 12.4km done very easy and very slow. Hopefully this weather gets a bit better, much easier to train outside than looking at a wall on the treadmill.

joey100 · 07-02-2014 10:55pm

Fri 6th Feb

Cycle in to work, work to swimming and then swimming home.

Evening swim with interested. Good session, 800m warm up then into the main session, a 20 min test. After my horrible attempts to count 400m last week I had my garmin with me this week to take away the hassle of counting. Set off at a good pace, led the lane for the first 10 mins, (garmin set up to beep at 5 min intervals), toes were tapped so let next person in front and drafted for around the next 4mins. Last 6 mins I tried to push on the pace a bit, felt strong enough after the drafting. Altogether 49 lengths done, up 2 lengths from last time I done this. But much more pleased tonight, the last effort I pretty much drafted the whole thing, tonight was a much more accurate measure of where my swimming is. Know myself I haven't been in the pool as much as I could be, trying to prevent the early season burnout I feel I had last year. Swimming will be upped over the coming months and feel I can make some more improvements here. Rest of session was some easy and some fast 100's. Good session overall and felt good leaving the pool.

joey100 · 08-02-2014 5:55pm

Sat 8th Feb

Up early and the group spin had been cancelled because of the weather. Probably best off for me with it being my training week and all. 2 hours easy enough on the turbo. Body feeling much better and was no hassle at all.

Afternoon on the treadmill, 12.25km at an easy pace. Again no hassle and body feeling much better.

joey100 · 10-02-2014 2:22pm

Sunday 9th Feb

Last day of the recovery week and took the full day off. Mam's birthday and gf's birthday both in same weekend so Sunday was spent eating cake and relaxing.

Mon 10th Feb

So back into proper training and body feeling much better after the rest. Plan was for a turbo, 1 hour with 6 x 4 mins at 105%. I've struggled with this since the first time I done it (only time I managed to complete it) and so have most of the people in the club doing it. After a recovery week though I was hoping I would get through it and I did. Finished the whole thing, paced it a lot better than previously and got through it. Still very very tough though. After this was an hour focusing on endurance. I'm going to try up my training slightly over the next few weeks, add on a few extra half hours. Hopefully going to add an extra run session (at lunch time in work, probably just an easy paced run) and if I can an extra swim session. Will do this gradually though to see how the body responds to it.

mossym · 11-02-2014 10:12pm

add a few hours? fair play, you're already doing savage hours for Olympic distances

joey100 · 11-02-2014 10:57pm

Cheers Mossy, I'd like to add a half hour to at least one if not two of the turbos a week. I want to try add in another session a week too, probably alternating between run and swim. Will be doing this slowly to see how the body reacts, if it's not working and impacting other sessions too much I'll cut it out.

Tues 11th Feb

Swim before work. An early morning one. Lots of drills, lots of different drills. Something different than usual and in a strange way I kind of enjoyed it.

Commute in and out of work on the bike.

Evening session was a run. On the treadmill again. 4km warm up then into 6 X 600m intervals with 200m recovery between. These were tough but not tough enough that I ever thought I wouldn't finish them. Around a 4km cool down then too to bring total to 13.25km.

The difficult second album

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