Control-Alt-Delete.........RESTART!

I only did a swim last week, last Tuesday, I wasn't feeling well, low on energy and later that day I was getting sick. Some sort of bug, so I cleared the rest of the week's sessions and took it off. Did nothing for 6 days. That would have had the old me freaking out but after 3.5 years of zero exercise I'm just happy to be moving again! I've also came so far so quickly that I know a week off won't put me back too far. Metal and physical health first and foremost.

Tuesday 2nd May

Swim

Technique based session. Really felt fresh after the week off. Never feel bad for taking days off - it brings freshness.

Bike

Tempo session, 1 hour in total included 3 x 12 minutes at 80 - 90% of FTP, 3 minutes easy spin recovery. It felt good. Always like tempo/sub threshold Sessions.

Wednesday May 3rd

Swim

Longest swim in years and I was feeling it by the end but it wasn't so much that the quality fell off too much, I got out of the session the main aim. Threshold/CSS based session.

Run

Hill rep session. Did a good bit with Linda, good bit of walking but got 9 hill reps in a short steep hill. Good thing about doing some runs with Linda is that I go much slower which is no harm at all and ensures a quicker recovery. I mean I really hit the hills hard, sprinted up them. Did the WU and CD with Linda, nice and slow.

Beautiful day out there in the park, we even had a picnic and did some mindfulness. Good day today :cool:

pgibbo wrote: »

Mindfulness? WTF??? Far from that you were reared

:D:D

Thursday 4th May

Bike

First big gear session in a while and it was tough going! But it was no problem. 25min in all at about 108%. Broke up into 5 x 5 min BG with just 1 minute recovery, cadence at about 50. Finished off with 5 x 15 sec sprint 45 easy. I'll only do one more BG session before the racing starts then I will continue with tempo and endurance rides and replace BG sessions with sweet spot/sub threshold building to threshold in build 2 phase.

Gym

1 hour of upper body and core/stability work.

Sunday 7th May

LER SVW

Hot out there today! Beautiful though and even more so on the Suck Valley Way, did the Creggs to Ballygar section. Plenty of vertical metres! It was slow but no matter, did 11:30 run, 0:30 walk.

Time 1:06:39; Dist 11.1km; AHR 150; Cad 156spm; Pace 6:02min/km;

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

Expecting big things on the 4th so..:P

Ha It's only talk though and I have no base miles I'm afraid so endurance/muscular endurance will be lacking which is very important even for a sprint! I'll do fine and I will definitely enjoy it but I expect better results later in the summer if training goes well. How's the injury Rob??

Friday 12th May

Swim Morning

Second test of the week, CSS. After a WU and build it was straight into the 400m TT. No miscounting laps this time!

400m:
Time 6:22; Pace 1:36/100; SPM 54;
100 splits: 1:31; 1:37; 1:38; 1:37

200m:
Time 3:03; Pace 1:32; SPM 60;
100 splits: 1:29; 1:35;

Pacing could certainly improve, the first 25m in both trials were very fast.

Very steady improvement over the last 3 months since I got back training. Once again smashing my (revised) objective for the year. I need to be better at setting objectives but it's really hard to know what is attainable after such a long time away from the game. That doesn't matter, progress and enjoyment is what matters most.

So another revision means that the next logical objective is an all time best of sub 6:10 400 and try to get my fist sub 3 200. That should stretch me!

Run Afternoon

Easy 30 minutes. First time in an age that easy felt easy enough.

Time 30min; Dist 5.78km; Pace 5:12/km; AHR 146bpm; Cad 82;

Saturday 13th May

Bike Long/easy

Easy 2hours around Linda's home place. My god the road are rough as fvck around there. Got a serious rattling! Nice climb at the end up Redmount Hill too.

Time 2:04; Dist 57.8km; AP 179; NP 196; Cad 87; AHR 136; Speed 27.8kph

Good week so far, 1 hour LER tomorrow. Can every week be a rest/test week?! :rolleyes:

rooneyjm wrote: »

Like you were never away. Reassuring for anyone who fears taking a few weeks or months out

I hope so dude. I think people today are very hard on themselves, we need to be more gentle and forgiving. Especially when it comes to our hobbies. That's my plan anyway.

Tuesday 16th May

Bike Tempo

This 60 minute session called for 2 X 20min @ 80 - 90% FTP. Nice session, the legs certainly knew about it but it wasn't too taxing, both 20 minute periods came in at 213 watts which is 85%.

Wednesday 17th May

Swim CSS/Threshold

WU
100s
100p
100k
10 x 50m alt band and pb/swim
8 x 200 at CSS + 3-5sec, aiming to come in on 3:25 - 3:30
100p
100s

Nice session once again. My aim was to do the 8 x 200m at around 1:43-1:45 pace, coming in on around 3:25 - 3:30 but I wasn't feeling it this morning, the first two were 3:39 and 3:35 so I just kept going at that pace. I didn't want to push it. The rest were between 3:33 and 3:38 with the last one 3:29. I alternated with pb, good news is that there are no differences in time wi th or without the pb so body position is decent Iguess.

Basketball Teachers V students in the afternoon, glad to say I still got it

Thursday 18th May

Bike Big Gear

28 minutes of BG work work as in 4 X 7min with 1 minute recovery. Last big gear session for a while. I'll move to more sub threshold stuff now, 90-95% stuff. 1 hour in total.

Friday 19th May

Swim Easy/Endurance

Pretty simple this one - 9 X 300m. Tried this a few weeks ago and died a death towards the end. Felt much better this time around but I used buoyancy shorts for reps 5, 6, 7 and 8. All swam at about 1:51/100m. Good session. The buoyancy shorts are something else, much more effective than a pb and there was a difference in times, about 3 or 4 seconds per 100m.

Run Tempo

40 minutes including 2 X 10 minute tempo with 2 minute recovery. Tempo bits came in at around 4:45 for both 10 min periods. Running beginning to feel better.

Saturday 20th May

Bike Easy Endurance

Feeling stronger on the bike. Got all seasons out there today, bloody hailstones almost knocked me to the ground!! Like golf balls! For the last 45 minutes I decided to attack hills out of the saddle, felt great which is good for confidence.

Run Off the bike

3 minutes fast, 3 minutes steady and 4 easy. God the legs felt heavy! I needed to remind them what's expected of them in a race.

Other News

No sooner had I signed up and paid for the Howth Aquathon that something came up Monday evening so I can't do it now. Hopefully they will allow me to transfer to the next one. I've already a transferred place for the duathlon in the Park for July. The thinking behind doing Howth was simple - some OW experience. I'll try to get a dip in midweek before Lough Cutra this day week.

I've been neglecting my flexibility and strength work for the last few weeks, in the past I believe my commitment to those areas meant that I went nearly 3 years without injury. I hope to get back to it once the summer holidays kick in.

Yahir Hot Visor wrote: »

I have to say the P5 is some bike albeit the last time I was on mine was IM Barca last Oct!

I hear ya Fran! The first and last time I was on it was Feb 2014, a duathlon in Mayo! I look for to many miles on it now though 😊 I charged the Di2 battery though and still not a meg out of it. Despite never being used (practically) it must be completely dead and I'll need a new one.

Would love to hear what you are up to these days JB and I hope you are not retired!

Lough Cutra Starter Tri Sat 27th May 2017

A few months ago I thought it would be a good idea to enter a sprint triathlon just to have something to aim for and I've always enjoyed the Salthill one in my home city, that is on this Sunday June 4th. Then I thought I should look for a try a tri, just to remind me of what racing is all about. Getting through transitions, the experience of going from swim to biking to running and just as a confidence builder. Lough Cutra was the only one that suited and I got a 50% discount so I pencilled it in. The pricing for Lough Cutra is ridiculous, no way I'd have paid full price.

Training and progress has gone much better than I thought it would and last week I did start to think I could win the race and maybe I should look to get into the sprint triathlon proper as I didn't want to take away from the real beginners. However, I was nervous and a bit anxious and the thing that kept me calm was the thought that the format was short and I knew I'd definitely be able for it so I just stuck to the plan. I'm glad I did as it was the perfect reintroduction to racing. Talking to a few before the race they had all done triathlon before anyway. Like me their last one was a year ago or a few years, nearly 4 years for me! It showed too, I made some silly mistakes.

The plan was to go hard on the swim and bike and hang on for the 2k run!

Swim 200m

200m swim, 50m to the first buoy then right and 150m into the finish. Got to the buoy first and kept her lit until the swim exit. First out, second was about 30 seconds behind.

Bike 12.5km

As I said above I went with the road bike obviously! The first 1.5km out of the grounds and back in was very narrow with 2 speed bumps and runners crossing too! I forgot to stop the Garmin after but my NP was around 250 which was where I wanted it. some marshals wanted to send me the wrong way but I over ruled them as I knew my business! They tried sending me left but I knew it was straight on. Anyway, extended the lead.

Run

Forgot how going flat out hurts!! I was hating the run, so close to walking many times...it was only 2k! Anyway I was well ahead not that I knew that with so my on the course, all I wanted to do is finish. I was sent the wrong way again but another marshal recognised the mistake and legged it after me to get me back on track - it was really confusing!

It was nice to win but I felt bad, I talked to the organisers about not accepting 1st prize but the guy I was talking to told me not to "...be stupid!" I was embarrassed but feck it.

A Word on The Race

Lovely location but the rain turned it into a mud bath. Cars were getting stuck and the run with your bike up a hill/mud slide was crazy. Coming back it was down the mud slip and slide. Beautiful swim though.

Final Thoughts

Wow, it was so good to be racing again even though I wanted to collapse during the run I mean I just feel so alive getting into a lake to swim. To be honest this race wasn't about the win it was just about racing again. I find it hard to believe that 9 months ago I was so unhealthy, unfit, unhappy and so overweight (25kg overweight and actually obese). Losing the weight, through diet alone, and then trying to establish some sort of training/exercise was the hardest thing I've ever done. No race will ever be that difficult. When I finished the race on Saturday I was just another finisher but nobody saw what it took to get there and it made me think of all the people finishing, they all have their own stories and should be so proud of their achievement. I must say I felt so proud myself. For the first time in a long, long time

Now...back to big boy racing starting on Sunday in Salthill. Hopefully I'll have the P5 up and running for it but I don't really mind either way.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Regardless of the result** you got a taste for racing again and that was objective complete. It will be a treat now to take out the P5.


**nice to win all the same

Exactly MCOS. Thanks. I think you can relate :rolleyes: I actualy wrote down 3 things boxes to tick before the race: Finish, enjoy and no cramping! All 3 ticked.

Tuesday 30th May

Swim Technique

After ditching yet another day yesterday I had to do something today so I made sure to get up early and get my swim done. the session went well and I enjoyed it as per usually once I was doing it.

Dist 2,500m

After 20 days straight of training I've only trained 2 days out of 9. I need to plan better and include more planned off days, one every 10 - 14 days should do.