Reach for the sky...

wed 6th march swim 1 hr lesson
thur 7th march 1 hr bike turbo
fri 8 march 3/4 swim ..300m ish
sat 9 march ashford duathlon 5k run ( 4.2 ) 20k cycle ( 20.5 ) 2k run
sun 10 march 7.5k run 46 mins slow and easy

finished just above mid pack in the duathlon, first run was shocking for me ( i was happier when i thought it was actualy 5k ) , havent ran in 2 weeks and it showed, legs still a bit stiff from a full week but more surprising was the blowing i was doing, anyway good transition, bike went ok to a degree, felt ok going out felt bad the longer it went on but was able to put a good effort in unlike the run, second run was ok as well, not great but ok, happy enough in the knowledge i couldve been a little bit faster and that the bike work im doing is making some kind of improvement..
swimming is improving,more in terms of technique than distance but thats what i want.. hard on my legs , generally if i have to stop its because my legs are in bits.. maybe i kick too much, i dunno..working on breathing on both sides and its coming easier than i expected and its making a difference to the legs...

hoping to get into the pool for a handy hour or so later today, swimming tomorrow as well, so thatl be 6 days running and 8 days out of 9 doing something,
looking forward to tuesday doing nothing .. maybe club duathlon next wknd maybe not, dont know if its on yet

thursday 14th march bike turbo 1hr
friday 15th ..13k run .. slooooooow as hell
saturday 16th .. swim 300m ish.. hotel pool.. sign of progress that a 15m pool now bugs the sh*te out of me ,
sunday 17th turbo.1hr 40. new sufferfest video, blender, horrible day outside so i tried this out instead, didnt go full tilt at it as duathlon following day but i could see it being very very tough indeed if i did.. but the time passed surprisingly quickly..
monday 18th club duathlon
2k, 16k, 4k
first run went out hard as was the plan, there are a few mid-back of the pack people like me ability wise and i wanted to see could i beat some of these so the idea was to do first run flat out and see what happened from there, came up to the transition with some of the better guys, not where i expected to be and not where i was going to stay but nice to see that i can at least run with some of them.. albeit for 2k 2k 7 min something, forgot to split watch until on the bike
not a great transition.. onto the bike.. no real wind to speak of thank god, spent most of the first lap getting my breath back from the run and trying to go as hard as i could, got passed by 1 about halfway thru then another 3 ( together !! :mad: ) towards the end of lap 1, lap 2 got breathing somewhat back to normal , speed probably dropped slightly but not too bad still.. not caught for 2nd lap but i could see one was coming closer coming into transition..
16k .. 29 mins ( this is a massive speed for me and i dont care if there was no wind, if i could translate that to a 36 min 20k for sprint tri i would be a happy man )
2nd transition, good dismount off bike, elastic laces too tight , got them on quickish but not quick enough as 1 girl got into transition behind me and out ahead of me, another just came in behind me and was hot on my heels coming out, long story short couldnt catch girl in front quick enough and girl behind passed me ( shes a far better runner than me i was expecting it ) as usual i started to narrow the gap as it was coming to a close.. 4k just under 20 mins.
happy with first run, happy ish with cycle, not overly pleased with 2nd run
.. all of the people i wanted to finish ahead of passed me on the bike, although they were all within 1 min 30 of me overall at the finish..
took 4.15 mins of my last time for the course, another one in 3 weeks so hopefully get another bit then..
considering the focus is on swimming and i havent been running or cycling much at all, im semi-pleased, but now i need to get some quality back into the little bit of running and cycling im doing,

sat 23rd march 15k run..

sun 24th 40k bike outside ..

mon 25th .. lunchtime swim, pool wedged !!! shocking... 30 mins about 6 complete lengths and a lot of sh*te swimming.. stopping twice and three times during lengths... dont think getting full breath on left, possibly kicking too much..still wrecked at the end of a length

tuesday 25th .. nothing, felt completely zapped and a bit nauseous, not well, better half not well either and one of the boys, some class of tummy bug.. hopefully thats some of the reason for mondays poor swimming

wednesday 26th
5.5k run. 1min 30 hard ( ish ) 4 recovery and repeat..

thursday 27th
swim .. waterpoint enniscrone..leisure centre / kids pool.. brought kids , big pool didnt suit with times..
so a lot better than monday 18m pool apparently.. did about 24 lengths no stops and tried a few things with breathing and kicking, managed to do 2 lengths consecutively twice and only stopped cos its really a family pool and i felt like it was time to get out of the way.. ( and pay some attention to my own kids )
im happier with that but not counting any chickens, we'll see how this translates to the 25m pool at the weekend, id like to get to 2 lengths of the 25m pool consecutively soon..

friday 28th.. better half working today and tonight, sunday 8 til 8 and monday nite 7-8 , so its pretty much me and the boys for the weekend.. which is grand if not for over exposure to crap kids tv and lack of conversation other than change the chanell, daddy im hungry, daddy im bored , daddy, daddy , daddy . repeat ad infinitum !!! and or the smaller one trying to seriously injure himself in new and exciting ways..

so seeing as the kids had us awake plenty early i jumped out for another quick 5.5k before she had to go.. same idea as before with hard efforts and then rests, i am terrible for just jogging out the likes of these runs nice and easy so the idea is if time is tight to try to make the best of it..

turbo tonight.. swim tomorrow.. possibly nothing sunday.. long easy spin / run monday..

club duathlon
started 7.30 down on the first starter but with an 11 min head start over the last guy .. 1st 2nd and 3rd went to the 2nd 3rd and 4th starters , i wasnt sure if it would work out but obviously it worked from the weaker guys point of view, stronger guys may not agree,
first run.. went well, tiny bit slower than last time cos i didnt want to be so shagged when i got to the bike and from that point of view it worked, overtook 2 that started ahead which was the plan..
bike.. one of the 2 that i passed got me back within 2k on the bike, and i think my cyclings improving ! the guy that started next behind me caught me mid way thru next lap.. otherwise no one else passed, happy enough, tough headwind for some of it but kept plugging away despite feeling like quitting early on
second run.. bad start as usual, passed by one girl, then later on passed by some of the speedmerchants, including the last to start who apparently was right up on the first three at the finish so the handicap idea worked fairly well.. got going about half way round and finished in about the same place i started.. even though it was a bad start its the fastest ive done this 4k,
2 mins slower than last time but there was a headwind this time, have to work on speed off the bike..

thurdsay 11th 7k run

13th swim 23 lengths

14th 14k run

15th 16.5k run

16th swim 26 lengths
last nites swimming started well, the tired legs stopped me from kicking too much and i went thru 4 lengths pretty much together, and then the legs loosened out and the rest of me got tired and it went to doubles and then singles, but i was expecting it to be much tougher anyway after the 2 long runs..

race on sat so i shouldnt to a lot between now and then , swimming tomorrow and il be taking that very easy, tempted to just spin the legs on the turbo tonite as i havent been near it in almost 2 weeks ..

thanks dave, i havent heard anything yet anyway, il let you know if i hear anything..

cooley legends half marathon
so this is a very hilly mostly trail with a bit of road half marathon
i did it last year, and i liked it a lot so i entered again this year,and as a bonus i got my sister to pay for it as an xmas present so it was free..
convinced better half and 2 brothers in law to join me, however 1 had to pull out at the last minute,
road trip to meath the day before to deposit kids at granparents for the weekend and then on to carlingford early in the morning for registration and race
as usual out of bed far to early , 6 am and one of the first to register at 8 ish, and then hanging out , chilling out, getting changed and waiting to be brought to the start on the bus, all helped by a very sunny morning promising to turn into a lovely day..
all into the bus for the start and theres a lot of chat and nerves, im not generally nervous before races but i know whats coming and a lot of it is going to be painful

off the bus at about 9.45 so we have 15 minutes to warm up, loosen up or just hang out and chat, which is what our little group does, first time ive not done some little attempt at a warm up for a race but its probably the first time ive had others there with me to chat to so i got distracted..

walk down to the start, turn around and as with last year there isnt much warning , " we'll be starting soon", changes to 3 2 1 go in seconds, and were off, the first 500 yards is pretty flat and im making an effort not to push on too hard as i have a habit of doing, then it turns uphill and everyone slows a bit and im still feeling ok, but when it turns from trail to road after the first km and then gets uphill in earnest then i get a shock, i dont remember it being this steep, this tough, lung burning leg bursting slow painful shuffle tough from last year, and were only a km and a bit in,.. so all i can do is slow it down a bit and a bit more and wait for my heart and lungs to chill out a bit, but theres no way im walking, feckin hell were only starting here.. the first hill is about 5k long, with differing grades of flatter and steeper sections and i know il get a proper break soon, i reckon itl take me 40 ish minutes to get to the top so i just start to count it down in 5 minute patches, in the meantime my nervous system figures out that im not being chased by a lion and allows my heart and lungs to chill and everything feels a bit better.. and so over the top we go pretty much dead on 40 mins and into the downhill, grassy downhill with buckets of grip and i belt down it passing loads , but then i stop dead at the first water station at the bottom to get a proper drink and they all pass me back, i dont mind, its a hot day and theres only 2 water stops and i want all the water i can get, drink 2 cups properly and take off again.. 8k done.. 6k of road now to do.. im in trail runners which i dont wear very often, mainly for the reason that i dont run trails very often but also cos the soles are like concrete and i cant run in them without serious discomfort.. but they are brilliant for downhills so im suffering them for today, and as soon as im on the road im suffering, the road is also hillier than i remember , with a steep little climb right at the start of it.. but again the plan is that its going to take 30 mins ish to get to the next station and just count it down, after about 10 minutes ive got a twinge in my right calf which funnily is better if i run with a longer more open stride unfortunately my lungs cant cope with the extra effort and ive got to stay with the shorter stride and just live with the twinge.. on the plus side ive pretty much caught up with the few that have passed me at the water station and were all within 100m of each other, i know if i can keep it this way that il pass them on the downhill again into carlingford.. just as im starting to lose faith in my timing calculations and wondering where the hell the turn off back to the trail is i see guys turning off the road in front of me, thank god for that..
second water station and again stop to drink properly, fellas passing me again but theres no panic this time , i know the craic here , in 2 minutes their all going to be walking and sure enough as i turn the corner to see whats ahead theres a line of people walking up the hill, i did this last year , walked all the way up feeling sorry for meself, change of plan this year, walk for 2 minutes run for 2 minutes, its probably bugger all faster as i dont exactly pass everyone but it keeps me concentrated on moving forward and the hill doesnt feel half as bad as last year and as i get close to the top im running and looking forward to the downhill.. last year i ran it 2.07 and this year i didnt have any goal time but as im getting to the top my watch says 1.45 and im wondering if i can get 2 hours or even below.. so off down the hill i go, and im in trouble straight away, the trail cuts diagonally across the hill so your running down on a camber left foot higher than right and i cant get my left foot to land at anything resembling a natural looking angle at all and after 2 minutes its seriously painful, so i have to slow a bit, and then a bit more, i stop to tie laces tight as possible to see does that make a difference, no thats worse, stop again and adjust them a bit, not much better but on i go, the trail switches directions and i cant wait for it so my right foot can take a bit more of the pressure and when it does turn thats how it works out, but now my laces are open, stop again to tie them, 2 minutes later open again, decide to leave them open, 2k or less to go so feck it, and the road is getting close anyway itl be grand, still not sure on the sub 2 , il see where i am in a few minutes, onto the road laces open whipping the back of my right leg and driving me mental, some sort of a thorn stuck between the tongue of my shoe and my sock, il leave it its fine, but its not, stop again to get that, only takes seconds but i see fellas catching up from behind, get going again, this is all on road now but very steep downhill, and im clattering down it, pass 3 or 4 on this section and get into carlingford central, ive an idea of what distance is left now and the watch is at 1.55, still not sure whats in the tank for sub 2 though, just keep going, round to the car park about 500 yards to go, no one behind and no one in front to chase so for a second i let the pace drop cos im f*cked and so close to the finish but i pick it up again ( to something marginally quicker than a slow crawl ) and keep it going to turn the corner and see the finish line and across it in 1.58
delighted with that as i wasnt expecting it, im doing a nice bit less running than last year and little or no hills , lovely day helped a lot, il be back for it next year as i think that without having to tie laces half a dozen times and with a bit more specific training for it that i could knock another nice bit off 1.58..
brother in law finished in 2.13 in his first race of any kind..wife finished in 2.30 with me waiting at the finish worrying about my impending death for talking her into it.. " ah sure itl be grand, youve already done a half with no training and you were fine " no it wasnt grand, she died a million deaths and suffered through most of it, and shes still stiff as a board, but obviously i havent been killed or divorced...
sorry for the long report..

thurs 25th april turbo 1 hr.. im calling it about 20k cos it really was a slow and easy effort..just to get going on the bike again after a while off it

friday 26th swim 30 lenghts..maybe 34 lost count.. improving.. slowing down but going further .. not as boring either when lengths are being done in 2s and 4s rather than singles..

saturday 27th bike run.. 20k bike with a couple of nasty hills ..out into a headwind but obviously back with it.. bearing gone or going on back wheel didnt help.. not fast but it wasnt meant to be 20k 50 mins .. tri bar came loose mid cycle as well... run 4k 19. 40 something.. felt slower.. was tough enough going.. ive a few different tight spots in different places now it might be time to go see a physio to get loosened out..
i have a problem with back going out of line..common in tall thin people apparently .. which leads on to hip and knee problems easy fixed though just need to get in..

at one stage in this log i was going to start adding up what the cost of this for the year would be but it went out of my head, probably because there wasnt any huge expense at the time.. small ones like club membership or duathlon entry fees .. and it depresses me a bit to think about it too much, i dont have an expensive bike ( net spend 100 euro ) i dont have expensive wheels or an aero helmet, my turbo cost 40 quid.. one of my brother in laws used to sell cycling and tri gear so a lot of my stuff was free or very very cheap but even at that there are unavoidable expenses..

anyway coming up expenses wise in the next month or 2

ive 1000k put on my main pair of runners and i can feel they need replacing but theyl have to do for a while,cant even find a cheaper old model pair online,
wetsuit needed for june sometime...if lidl dont sell one between now and then it may need to be borrowed
bearing gone on bike..
club tri suit to pay for .. ( optional, )
could do with changing saddle as my current one is working on giving me a sex change operation , will have to do with adjusting or trying the wifes..
physio is probably gonna have to wait.. will make do with roller.. which was homemade from a lump of wavin pipe .. at least i saved on something
even swimming 3 times a week adds up.. 12 quid a week plus petrol in and out..
car tax and insurance due.. not tri related but doesnt help

this is not a whinge about triathlon..triathlon is as expensive as you make it yourself.. more about my own cash flow ( or non flow ) situation and bad timing..

on the plus side..kind of .. lilipoo crashed her car yesterday.. pretty much wrote it off.. but walked out of it unhurt.. no other car or person involved or hurt thank god.. so something to be thankful for .. really shouldnt be whinging.. and as a double plus, she couldnt go to work so i got out on the bike every cloud..

jesus wept..just looking at this , hadnt realised how little i was running ( i knew i wasnt cycling much ) time to get finger out..

6th may 10k run.. 52 mins fastest 10k training run for a while , nice to run without having cycled or swam beforehand.. a long way from 45 mins, beginning to wonder how i ever ran that.. once ballina tri is over the idea is to get back to running and try to get below the 45 for a particular 10k in late august so i need to keep the running ticking over too ..

7th may swim 900m 3 x 10 1 x 4 and 1 x 2 .. shouldve done another 4 to make the kilometre but it didnt occur to me until i was out of the pool and i wasnt getting back in, much better than the last time i was in, still not perfect , but itl do for now..

7 days in a row, break tonight, hope to get into a pool tomorrow morning. weekend at home ( meath ) this weekend so training is going to be hard to come by from friday morning til sunday evening.. might sneak one day in somewhere.. another weekend away next weekend then to liverpool, gonna have to live in the pool next week..

14th may
15 min open water swim this was at about 6 o clock, im only getting the feeling back in my toes now.. but having said that it wasnt as cold as i expected it to be, grand everywhere that was covered by a wetsuit, feet cold, hands cold, worse when i had to take the suit off..
lake swim but very windy and choppy ( for me ) which at times i found ok and at times i found tough, in some ways im happy to have done it and in others its been a blow to my confidence as i thought i was further on than i actualy am..a bit like being back in the pool for the first few times, stopping a lot for small reasons, not being able to breaststroke doesnt help at all,
didnt mind the cold once swimming, didnt mind face / ears in cold water, found bouyancy ok if not over bouyant at times with the swell in the lake..
hopeful to get back in soon with a less windy day to see what thats like..

had brought bike with me with the plan to cycle home and was going with that plan until i took the wetsuit off and got froze by a shower of hailstones.. so total for today is 15 minutes which is pretty poor.. hopefully swim run tomorrow to get back on track..