TW3 IMFF Week 17

Monday 13th February 2012

Week 17 completed

Hours Trained: 6H 58Mins
Swimming: 5K (3.2 Miles)
Cycling: 33.20 Miles
Running: 22.13 Miles

Week 17 was a funny old week.

All of my sessions went well and I seem to have got in to the groove on my early morning swims, even if they start at 5.30AM!!

BUT for some reason I seem to have got a bit lazy on Sunday morning and didn't fancy my 50 mile Bike ride.  It's not as though I even had a big lie in or anything!  However, I don't feel too guilty about it and I am sure that it has not set me back too much at all, and in fact the rest may do me good.

 

 

Running
00:34:11 - 4.00 Miles (08.34 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 84% Max)

I made up for it by doing a 4 mile run tonight that was not on my schedule while Ben was at his Athletics Club training at Mary Peter's track.  I would have really felt guilty if he was  training on a cold night and I wasn't.  The pace was good and it felt very easy even though I was moving pretty swiftly for me.

 

Next week looks a bit busy!

 

 

Nun too good.

Saturday 11th February 2012

Running
01:45:10 - 11.80 Miles (08.54 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)
I am very pleased with the run today. Not the flattest of routes and the pace was great.  It felt pretty good the whole way through, even on the hills coming home.

Missed opportunities - I missed my 1HR run on Friday due to circumstances beyond my control - so I was happy that the Saturday run went so well.

My Sunday Bike ride was planned to be slightly over 50 miles BUT . . I couldn't be bothered and decided to give myself a rest today.  I do feel slightly guilty about it but I know that one missed ride will not kill - and like the Kinky Nun, I won't be making a habit of it.

The early fish . . .

Friday 10th February 2012

Swimming
2500M - 00:58:31 in 25M pool at Lisburn Leisreplex
2500M straight through
Total 2500M
Another very early swim this morning with a 5.30 swim start.  This really early start must agree with me as my model of consistency got broken and I actually improved.  I knocked about 1.5 mins off my previous times and it all felt really comfortable.

Next week I am due to go to 3 swims per week.  That will really crank things up.

Chafing - Ironman style.

Thurday 9th February 2012

Brick Session

Cycling
00:45:00 - 13.06 miles(17.40 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 67% Max / Cadence 100) Turbo SessionDid this as a spin session.  Kept the cadence up well and HR well under required levels.  I watched the Liam Neeson film "Unknown" on DVD while training - pretty good actually.
Came straight off the bike and went out for a run.

Running
00:30:09 - 3.50 Miles (08.37 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)
I am bloody stupid!
I decided to do my Brick run straight off the bike in my cycling shorts.  A really bad idea.  Can you guess why?
Let's just say that the padding to help on the bike is not a help on the run.  I am chafed like a chafed baby tonight.  Somebody put the Sudocrem on ice please.  Ooooooh!

I am a model of consistency.

Wednesday 8th February 2012
Swimming
2500M - 00:59:56 in 25M pool at Lisburn Leisreplex
2500M straight through
Total 2500M
I had another early morning swim at 6AM this morning. I am noticing that the first 30 lengths or so feel a bit sore on the arms - which is hardly surprising as I did no warm up before it and just get straight in to it.  The first 30 lengths took just about 16 minutes - which looks good for any Sprint distance triathlons I do later in the season as I worked rally hard last year to get the 30 lengths in 16 minutes at races last year - and now I can do it as part of a much longer set, so I should be aiming for around 15 minutes at races this season.

The time for this session was just under 1 HR again and this is the 3rd time it has been within a couple of seconds of 1HR.  I am very pleased with the consistency and hopefully the next step is improvement and getting a bit faster. I think at present 1HR for 2.5K is not bad.

Cycling
01:00:00 - 20.14 miles(20.14 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 68% Max / Cadence 86) Turbo Session
I was thinking that I really could not be arsed doing this session tonight as I was hungry and just wanted to get something to eat and sit down - BUT - I zipped up my Man Suit and just got on with it and I am glad that I did.

It wasn't the quickest session ever but it was a hell of a lot better then no session at all.

No Snow patrol here.

Tuesday 7th February 2012

Running
01:00:00 - 6.83 Miles (08.47 per mile / HR Zone 3 / 91% Max)

I pushed on a bit tonight and the pace was great but HR was well up for some reason.
It is lovely running on these nice cold crisp nights.  Makes a change from the rain and wind of recent times.
Thank goodness we haven't had all of the snow that some parts of England and Scotland have had - that would be a nightmare for training.  I think I would still try to go for a run in the snow and just wear trail shoes provided it was not too frozen under foot. Let's hope I don't have to try it out.

TW3 IMFF Week 16

Monday 6th February 2012

Week 16 completed

Hours Trained: 10H 42Mins
Swimming: 4.5K (2.8 Miles)
Cycling: 83.15 Miles
Running: 26.22 Miles

Week 16 carried on the recent trend of getting decent hours and training sessions in without too many interruptions.

I think I am most pleased with the long bike ride last week as it put the demons of last week to rest but also was done a t a good steady pace which felt comfortable and one that could be built on for going longer and faster.

I literally ran a Marathon this week - albeit across 4 runs - but the average pace was around the 9 min/mile mark and was very satisfying.

This is the last week of the "Base" phase of my training schedule.  This was all about building a strong aerobic base to take in to the next 2 stages of training the "Build" and "Peak" phases.

Following this week I will be going in to the Build phase.

These phases are different as the length of training increases steadily but also the intensity.  I will start to build in some intervals and go Anaerobic at times to work on speed and also get me used to coming out of the comfort zone.  Sounds like fun!!!

Slack Blog, early swim and melting Icy demons.

Thursday 3rd February 2012
Cycling
01:00:00 - 17.17 miles(17.17 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 89% Max / Cadence 99) Turbo Session

Friday 4th February 2012
Swimming
2500M - 01:00:00 in 25M pool at Lisburn Leisreplex
2500M straight through
Total 2500M

Running
01:45:00 - 11.31Miles (09.17 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 81% Max)Saturday 4th February 2012
Running
01:00:00 - 6.79 Miles (08.50 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 82% Max)
Sunday 5th February 2012
Cycling
03:07:350 - 50.00 miles(16.00  MPH / HR Zone 2 / 77% Max / Cadence 81)
I have been a bit slack over the last few days in updating the blog, probably because I have been so busy training.
A good sign of how busy it has been was he 5.30AM swim on Friday topped out by an 11 mile run on Friday night.

Saturday was a great day as Ben got his AQE results and did really well and will now be able to go to the Grammar school of his choice.  He did work really hard for it.  I managed to get out for a 1HR run on Saturday evening and was delighted at going further and faster in the 1HR than I have manged so far in this training block.

Sunday was a day to put the icy demons of last Sunday's bike ride to bed - and I did.  I did 50 miles and the pace was great and HR terrific - and Guess what? It was cold and wet again.  I really am getting totally P'd off at this happening every Sunday.

A good week over all and well pleased

Naked Double Running and a brick.

Wednesday 2nd February 2012

Running
01:00:00 - 6.40 Miles (09.22 per mile / HR Zone ? / ?% Max)
I was meant to do this run last night but in my MoJo slacking mode I didn't bother.  I did decide to get out early this morning and do it.  It was a nice clear cold morning and perfect for running.
My Garmin was not charged so I just ran out for 30 mins and then back again - so no HR data available but it felt very comfortable  I did feel a bit naked without the Garmin but it did me no harm at all.

This will be an interesting day as I will still do my planned Brick session later on and that will mean a double run today - albeit a very short one later on.  Should be interesting.

Brick Session

Cycling
00:45:00 - 15.98 miles(21.30 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 69% Max / Cadence 90) Turbo Session
This session felt a lot better than the Turbo sessions last week.  Legs felt good and pace was pretty strong.

Running
00:15:00 - 1.72 Miles (08.43 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 81% Max)
The 2nd Run of the day was actually pretty good.  I know it was only a 15 min run, but it really didn't feel like I had run this  morning at all.  No signs of fatigue in the legs.  Very happy with the brick session tonight.

Dunking my MoJo

Tuesday 31st January 2012

Swimming
2000M - 00:49:55 in 18M pool at Gym

Warm up 300M (WU 300)
8X 50 M Drills (Kick only / Swim fist / Doggy Paddle / Arms only)
4X125 with 10 secs rest between intervals
3X175M with 10 secs rest
1X275M
Total 2000M

Swim was a bit of a motivational struggle today as I really could not be bothered.  I cut it short and just did 2000M rather than the planned 2500M.
Nothing wrong physically - I just could not be bothered and for the sake of 500M i though - Just get out of the pool.  Although i could be argued that for the sake of 500M i should have stayed in the pool.

Oh well - my MoJo floated down the pool and left me today - but I will swim up behind it and dunk it next time!