A great run and a no-mo-jo swim.

Monday 3rd March 2014

Running (00:31:49 / 4.30 Miles / 00:07:24 per mile / HRZ 2)
Tempo Run

"That was unpleasant!"  That was my initial thought as I finished my run at lunchtime today.
Brendan and I hit out along the Towpath again and the usual loop round Ormeau Park.
The pace felt hard right from the start and it didn't get any easier.  In fact it sped up and we did a negative split on the run.

I'm delighted that the speed seems to be coming back again in to the running.

Unfortunately that's where the enthusiasm for today stopped.

Once again I bailed out of my swimming session tonight.  I just didn't feel like it.
I need to shake this and get the swimming monkey off my back and get back in the pool.  Simply, it must get better.

The Week 16 IM Training round up. Frozen hands and Fight Club with Tyler Durden.

Monday 24^th February 2014

Cycling (01:04:18 / 15.83 Miles / 14.90 MPH/ HRZ 2 / Cadence 72)
Technique Session

The normal commute in and out of work today.

Vague sense of paranoia as I kept expecting to get a puncture and every bit of rough road surface had me convinced I had a flat.  Luckily none of it came true and it was rather uneventful.  Which is good on a commute.

Swimming (2050M / 00:58:27)

Now, I know that I have lost a bit of swim fitness over the last couple of weeks, but it has been a long time since I have felt so physically stretched in swimming session.

It wasn’t even a long session but I just found the combination of hard intervals and speed work really hard to handle, plus I was in a lane with faster swimmers than me which made me feel even slower.

One particular set almost did for me entirely.  Swimming with bands on and no Pull Buoy.  For non swimmers this me and having your legs bound at the ankles and not being allowed to kick and not having a float between your legs to aid buoyancy.  The net effect for me was basically not being able to swim more than half a length without putting my feet down to try to avoid drowning and a deep rooted fear of the deep end developing as I couldn’t put my feet down there.  Not a pleasant experience and one that showed up my complete lack of core strength to hold up my body.  Really really tough!

I’m not going to get demoralised about it, just suck it up and look forward to eh next session as I hopefully will have gained a bit of strength back from this one.  I better had, as I would hate to think the experience was for nothing.

Tuesday 25^th February 2014
Running (00:32:55 / 4.30 Miles / 00:07:39 per mile / HRZ 4)

Back on the lunchtime Tempo runs.  No Brendan to run with this time as our meetings overlapped at work and we couldn’t co-ordinate a suitable time, which to be honest I thought suited me as I didn’t think I was up to his speed at the moment.

Within the first ¼ mile I was thinking that I had bitten off more than I could chew as I felt horrible running at pace.  The feeling settled a bit after about half a mile, but I never really felt comfortable throughout the whole run.  I suppose though that is the point of  tempo run.  To have controlled discomfort.  Mission accomplished then!

The wind made things a bit tougher but I actually surprised myself by running this loop only 25 seconds slower than the fastest time I’ve recorded on this route.  That was pretty pleasing and worth the discomfort.

Cycling ( 00:53:10 / 17.43 / 19.70 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 92)

Turbo – Sufferfest Fight Club

The first rule of Fight Club…. Is to expect a sweaty pasting!

A really good session tonight.  This video is such a good mix of climbing, power, sprints and recovery.  Odd as it sounds the Tyler Durden in me really got a good kick, and slap out of this one.

 

 

Wednesday 26^th February 2014

Cycling (00:41:55 /  8.94 Miles 12.80 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 74) 324 M Elevation Gain
Hill Session – Pond Park Road X 3 Repeats

“Here we go again” was the thought going through my head as the alarm goes off at 5.45am so that I can get up and get back in to the routine of doing the early morning Hill session on the bike.  It’s fair to say that I hate the idea of the session and always harbour a hope that the reality of it will be much better.

What’s not to like about heading out on to an unlit road climbing over 100M in about 1.3 miles with the odd Lorry for company?  Who wouldn’t love it?

I know that this session is a key one for me and I had left it until this stage of my training to build it back in again as I really want to reap the benefit of the strength that it builds.

So, off I go, into the blackness and knock out three repeats.  Not my fastest or longest set on the Pond Park Road but a good start to getting back in to it again.

My aim is to repeat this each week, gradually building the number of repetitions and hopefully the speed and strength alongside that.

For this week the time for the three repeats were (9.02 / 9.07 / 9.16) – fairly consistent but about 30 seconds off where they had been last year.

Thursday 27^th February 2014

Running (01:07:17 / 8.00 Miles / 00:08:24 / HRZ 2)

Unusually for me, this was a commuting run.  I came up with the brainwave that I would use the commute to work as an opportunity to get miles in and free up my evening a bit.  So, run to work and get the train home.  Save the planet and get fit!  Well get a bit fitter anyway.

I don’t know whether it was heavy legs from the hill session yesterday or the early morning start, but I felt sluggish and the Heart Rate was a bit more elevated than I would have liked. I was still within my HR Zone, but a bit higher up it than desired.

Anyway, it worked out OK and I hauled my heavy legs in to work at a steady enough pace.  Training for the day done by 8AM.  Not too bad.

 

Saturday 1st March 2014

Running (01:41:17 / 12.014 Miles / 00:08:26 per mile / HRZ 2)

 

An early start for the weekend run as I had to leave Ben down to Rugby so I just decided to go for my run along to Tow Path at Lisburn.

It was a beautiful crisp and frosty morning and it really was a delight to be out running.

I enjoyed it and was happy enough with the way it went.

 

Sunday 2nd March 2014

Cycling (03:41:17 / 57.52 Miles / 15.50 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 83)

 

As usual I was looking at the weather forecast and hoping for the best.  Heading out to meet up with Mark I was rewarded with a clear morning and not much wind.  Result!

The route today saw me head over to meet up with Mark and then through Belfast and up the Crumlin Road to the hairpin bend at the top and then along towards Antrim.  Heading along Seven Mile straight we averaged over 23 MPH - even though mark later informed me that it is actually only 6.5 miles long.  Only in Northern Ireland!

Where I thought there was no wind I was very wrong.  on the turn back towards Templepatrick it became clear that the high average speed was aided by the tail wind.  It was a bit of a slog in to the wind alright.

 

Sadly the forecasted rain that was promised arrived bang on time. Things got pretty bloody miserable from here in and the rain, wind and cold started to bite and by the time I got to within ten miles from home I was really suffering.  My hands have never been so sore and frozen.

 

Mark was freezing too and he still had a longer way to go home than me so he decided to crank up the pace and head on home himself.  I think my pace slowed him down a bit and once he cranked it up I think he warmed up and got home safely.

 

Once again, another tough ride on a Sunday.  please bring on the Spring and Summer.

 

Week 16 Summary

10H 40 Mins

 

Swim 2050M

Bike 99.74 Miles

Run 24.31 Miles

 

Not a bad week and the only disappointment was missing the second swim session during the week.  This was entirely my fault and I just was too lazy to do the session.

I'm pleased with the week and my running has come back a little bit and the cycling was decent.  The hill sessions are back again and I'm sure I will start to see benefit from that on my cycling strength.

My biggest week of training time for quite a while and I enjoyed it.

 

 

The Week 15 IM Training Round up. Punctured.

Wednesday 19th February 2014

Cycling (01:05:03 / 16.05 Miles / 14.95 MPH / Cadence 74)

The commute to and from work.  This time Brendan joined me as he wants to build a bit of commuting cycling in to his training, as it basically is free miles.

Not the best of days for either of us really.  I punctured about 2 miles from home on the way in to work, and he punctured about 2 miles from work on the way home.

If I’d know how good he was at changing the spare, I’d have let him sort mine for me earlier in the morning.

It was a decent wee spin both ways, and the fact that it was half term and traffic was light was an added bonus.

Swimming (01:01:35 / 2350M)

Nothing else for it but to get back in the pool.  I was genuinely worried about this as my last decent swim was a fortnight ago.

I did find it harder going than I would have liked but the positive thing for me was that although I clearly have lost fitness and speed over the last couple of weeks, I was holding my own reasonably well and finished strong, which is a good sign.

Thursday 20th February 2014

Running (00:09:24 / 1.00 Mile /00:09:24 per mile / HRZ 2)

What a nightmare!

My quad muscles had been suffering a bit as I got back in to training, and the effect of this meant that as I ran, my sore quads couldn’t absorb the impact on my knee which was still not 100% right.

I got half a mile up the road and was limp-running, so instead of looking like  Gimp, I decided it was more intelligent to head for home.

The grand total of one mile was achieved.  Not a happy Bunny!

Saturday 22nd February 2014

Running (01:16:44 / 9.00 Miles /00:08:31 per mile / HRZ 2)

Trying to put the nightmare of Thursday’s run behind me I opted for a fairly flat route just out and back which allowed me to cut short and head for home if I felt any residual pain in my knee.

I’m delighted to say that it went well and apart from the obvious loss of fitness I was pleased enough with the run.  I did struggle a bit to keep the Heart rate at a controlled level at times but even with that I am still only about 15 secs per mile off where I was before the injury break, although I am about 10 BPM higher on the Heart rate, which is where the real sign of fitness loss shows through.

Still.  A run is a run is a run.

Sunday 23rd February 2014

Cycling (03:43:45 / 58.09 Miles / 15.60 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 79) Elevation Gain 756M

Waking up to the sound of a strong wind battering the house and rain being blown against the window my first reaction was to grab my phone, text Mark and tell him I was hitting the Turbo instead of going out for the planned 60 mile ride with him.

After looking out the window to see that it probably sounded worse than it looked, I decided to man up and get ready for going out.

I knew it was going to be windy one as the forecast had predicted 25MPH winds from the south.  I planned the route to allow for this which meant we had a supposed tail wind for about 20 miles home.  The bad news was that the first 35-40 miles would be more or less straight in to the wind.

Dutifully, Mark turned up bang on time and we set out.  We didn’t get very far.  Literally after about 20 metres, my chain came off.  It was a problem I thought I had solved.  The free hub on my rear wheel was no longer “free” and when I stopped pedalling it de-railed the chain.

A quick change of bike and I headed on the steel Donkey winter bike, which is heavier, slower, less comfortable and harder to ride, but sure it was only going to be 60 miles in the wind with hills!  Gulp.

The ride went really well and as predicted there was a definite “wind in the face” feeling.

Despite Mark getting a puncture at about 25 miles we made decent progress, although I did feel like I was slowing Mark down, but he was happy enough as he had knocked out a 70 mile hilly ride the day before along wit ha run straight after it, so this was a recovery ride for him.

The stretch from Lurgan to Scarva was tough going with a really strong wind right in our faces and at times I was pedalling fairly hard downhill just to keep going.

A Pit stop in Banbridge to top up the water bottle and refuel and we were on the homeward stretch with a tailwind.

The funny thing about a tailwind is that you don’t really notice it that much but I could feel the benefit of it and the average speed picked up a bit.

The good fortune ran out about five miles from home when I got a puncture too.  The same tyre that punctured on the run to work on Wednesday.

I found a small sliver or metal or a thorn type thing in the tyre and removed it, hoping that I had rectified the problem and I rode on home.

Mark was long gone as he had planned and executed a time trial down the Moira Road and by the time I got home he was probably at home having five rounds of toast and four scrambled eggs.  (not joking by the way!!)

All in all it was a tough but satisfying ride and definitely in the category of character and strength building.

Week 15 Summary

9 Hrs 40 Mins

Swim 2350M
Bike 106.7 Miles
Run 13.67 Miles

A strange sort of week, It actually turned out to be one of my better weeks for a while in terms of hours trained, but it just felt like it lacked a bit of quality.  Then again that is probably about right given that it was a come back week from injury.

Mostly I am just pleased to be back in to training again and feeling somewhere towards 90% injury free.

 

Hobbling back to training and chunks in the pool.

Monday 17^th February 2014

Cycling (17.17 Miles / 01:03:00 / 16.30 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 80 rpm) 242 M Elevation

Finally!  Back on the road again.

I had the day off work as the kids are on half term, so despite the rain I was determined to get out and test out my improving knee and see how it held up with a short ride. 

The great news is that my knee was brilliant.  Even though I was on my heavier winter bike and it was windy, I didn’t feel any soreness, even when having to push hard on some hills.

Apart from that side of things, the ride was good fun and I enjoyed being soaked and a key difference from previous wet rides was that I wasn’t frozen.  The weather was wet and windy but mild.  It made things a bit more bearable.

Swimming was cancelled tonight as someone decided to throw up in the pool, causing a Chernobyl style clean up operation and delaying the pool opening again until 8PM.

 

 

I couldn’t be bothered hanging around for the later session so I passed on it and will make up for it later in the week with another session to replace it.

Tuesday 18^th February 2014

Running (00:30:0 / 03.67 Miles  / 00:08:30 per mile / HRZ 2)

This was it.  A real test of the improving knee injury.  My first run since 29^th January, almost three weeks.

Normally this is my lunchtime tempo run, however I told Brendan that I would have to take it easy on pace and cut the mileage a bit.

He left me after about two miles and pressed on with his 10K while I headed for home.

I am delighted that it all held together and the pain I felt initially which was about a 4/10 gradually dulled throughout the run to about a 2/10.  I had a bit of restricted movement on the left leg, but nothing too major and I would guess that I’m about 85% repaired.

It is amazing though how fitness leaves so quickly.  I felt like I was working a lot harder than I actually was, and I know I have a lot of work to do to regain the fitness lost over the last three weeks.  The most important thing though is that I am back doing some training and I am desperate to have the injuries go away and allow me to get back to proper fitness levels.

 

Cycling (15.39 Miles / 00:50:46 / 18.2 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 90)

Turbo - Sufferfest - A Very Dark Place

 

Turbo session again tonight.  It really was a very dark place.

Just the three of us tonight but that didn't stop us flogging ourselves on this tough video.

 

It felt pretty good and I enjoyed the dark sweaty place that it took us to.

 

The Week 13 IM (Non) Training Round up.

Sunday 9th February 2014


Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Nuttin. Zero. Big O.  Pretty much Bugger all!


That was the sum total of my training this week.
To say it hasn't been my best week is a bit of an understatement.


I missed training on Monday as I was away on Business but it was Ok as I had rejigged my schedule for the week and was confident of hitting out a solid week's training.


Tuesday morning and as they say, "all the best laid plans..."
On the way down the stairs on Tuesday morning I managed to stand on the kids school shoes which had been left on the stairs and I then proceeded to throw myself down the stairs on my back and flying through the stair gate at the bottom.


The end result was that I twisted my knee, hurt my back and whacked my elbow.  I was left in not particularly good shape.
That put paid to my training, and indeed walking, on Tuesday.


Thankfully the sore back and elbow cleared up quickly but my knee went up like a balloon and was stiff and sore.


Wednesday saw me still in quite a bit of pain but with a bit more mobility in the knee but I was nowhere near being able to run or cycle or even swim. 
On Wednesday afternoon I had to have tissue sample taken from my tongue as I've had a bit of an on-going problem with it over the last while.  So the end result of that was three injections in to my tongue, a 5mm sample of tissue taken out of it and 3 stitches put in. 
The whole thing really knocked the stuffing out of me and I have struggled with it since then.


For the best part of three says I couldn't eat solids and was in real pain.  It has eased off a bit since then and I have been able to eat proper food again but it is still pretty sore at times.


Generally I have been feeling sorry for myself all week then and everywhere I look I see people running and cycling and I feel totally helpless.


One of my highlights this week though was the Parkrun at Wallace Park on Saturday.  It was my friend Brenda's 50th Parkrun which is a great achievement and there were quite a few club mates doing the run too.  My Son Ben wanted to do the run, so I took him down and watched.
He did really well and knocked out a 5K PB with a 24.24 run.  Not too shabby at all.


I know that I have plenty of time left until Zurich and part of the reason I started  training earlier than I needed to was to allow time for injuries, however, I can't help but feel frustrated and under a bit more pressure to get back out there again.
Once again I am in that position between wanting to heal properly and the need to get back in action again.


My knee is probably about 80% right at the moment and I feel like I could cope with swimming OK, and possibly a bit of biking.


I'm in London now for a few days and will take the training gear with me on the off chance that it feels good enough to maybe hit the stationary bike or treadmill at the hotel.


We'll see how it goes but I am hopeful of at least getting off my arse next week.

Horse walking and the Week 12 IM Training Round up.

Wednesday  29^th January 2013

 

Running (00:37:02 / 4.60 Miles / 00:08:02 per mile / HRZ 2)

Medium Tempo Run

 

A lunchtime run with Brendan again but this time I wanted to just ease off on the pace very slightly from our usual tempo pace as I was still conscious of protecting my knee a little bit.

Happily I felt no ill effect and we managed to hold a very steady pace throughout the run.  It’s lovely to be able to run this sort of pace and not feel too pressed.  That’s a big step up for me over the last six months.

 

Swimming (01:01:26 / 2150M)

Endurance Session

 

This was another good swim session, this time with Arran taking the helm as Coach and doing a good job at it.

After the triumph of my 1.43 / 100 at Monday’s training I was feeling confident.  Interestingly with another times session at the end of this one my tempo pace 100M split fell down to 2.00Mins.  Quite a bit slower than Monday night and it was probably a combination of my legs being a bit tired after the run at lunch and also a more endurance focussed swim set taking it out of me a bit before hitting the 100s as part of a tortuous Pyramid set that Arran devised.

I’m not going to feel demoralised over it as hitting 2.00 / 100m at the end of a tough set is still not too bad.

 

I’ve started thinking about how I may need to start working on increased endurance fairly soon, and by that I mean steady state swimming for an extended period of time.  The training at the moment is brilliant in terms of building technique and blending with endurance but I just feel like I should be doing some training where I just go and swim 2500-300M straight and not worry about particular skill based drills.  I might start taking advantage of some very early morning swims in another month or so just to start working on the swimming steady for an hour or so. I know it worked well for me last time around and hopefully if it is on top of the excellent coached sessions it will give me a further boost.  I’ll not rush to any decisions yet but that’s just where my head is at now.

 

Thursday 30^th January

 

Cycling (01:01:36 / 15.56 Miles / 15.2 MPH /HRZ 2 / Cadence 76 RPM)

Commute

 

The usual run up and down from work.  The only notable thing was my slightly faster return home than normal.  It could have been due to lighter traffic or maybe that I was trying to ride a bigger gear.

I read an article about increasing strength and power on the bike, which is something I definitely need to do, a I feel like I lack power and therefore speed.  The article suggested riding for some time in a gear that is one or two more than I would normally ride.  Therefore it increase the resistance and forces activation of bigger muscle efforts.

 

This is the antithesis of what I have been focussing on which is high cadence and turnover of the legs but I’m wondering if a combination of both elements within my training will yield some results.  So I am going to try to use the commute each week as a big gear grinding session to build strength.  This will be particularly challenging on the way home as it is a net gain of about 200m in elevation over 8 miles in a big gear.  Great fun.


Sunday 2nd February 2013


Cycling ( 03:13:28 / 52.59 Miles / 16.30 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 81 RPM)
Sunday Long Ride


I was actually meant to do my long ride yesterday but I wimped out due to the weather.  Wimp might be a bit strong, as there was snow on the ground and a gale blowing but nonetheless I didn't go out.
So Sunday rolls around and it turned out to be a really lovely day so I was going to make the most of it.
Clear skies, no rain, oh and a fairly stiff breeze.  Well you can't have everything.
As part of my ride I had arranged to meet up at the Down Royal Racecourse with some boys from the Club so that we could do a test run around the bike course of out upcoming Duathlon.
This went well and the course is good and has the potential to be fairly quick.


Back at the Down Royal we all witnessed one those surreal things that you really only see in Ireland.
inside the racecourse is a hard path which is the ambulance track used in the races.  Many people use this for walking their dog.
One man however decided that he was going to take things up a notch by walking his two horses on dog leads.  You heard me right!  He was walking two Shetland ponies on leads like they were dogs.
Very amusing.



I had a lot more miles to go so I hit out for the road again.  The next 10 miles or so were really windy and tight enough going.
Once I turned towards Lough Neagh the wind came round from the side a bit and it made things a bit easier going. 
Heading up the side of the Lough towards Glenavy the wind moved to being from almost behind me and I was able to make up for lost time and raise the speed a bit.
Sadly the tailwind left me at Glenavy and the road home was eight miles of face in to the wind grinding!


I am particularly pleased with the ride, the way I felt and the average speed given the conditions.

Week 12 Summary

8 Hrs 05 Mins

Swim 4350
Bike 92.70 Miles
Run 11.41 Miles

Hours trained was up a bit this week which is good, and the volume on the bike came up towards the levels I need to be doing as a minimum from now in.

It was a pretty low level on running this week but I'm not all that worried as running is the area where I feel I have a decent base of mileage and missing a long run won't make too much difference at this stage.

One of my highlights this week had to be the swim on Monday and it served as a bit of a confidence boost.

The next two weeks are going to be a bit challenging with some disruption as I'm travelling with work.  I'll make it work some how but I'm guessing that some sessions might need to be adapted.

A decent week on the whole and I'm ready for a good week ahead.

No Knee(d) to panic. The scenery is wonderful.

Monday 27th January 2014

Swimming (2200M / 01:00:00)
Technique Session

I am one chuffed bunny.  Part of the session tonight was some effort driven sets at 100M.

To cut a long story short and get to the bragging point, on the last 100M of the night at the end of the whole session, I managed to knock out at 1.43 for 100M.

That is a pretty impressive improvement for me.  Back in October my flat out fresh 100M time trial time was 1.57.  So in the space of a few month I have knocked 14 secs. Off that time and it wasn’t even in full time trial mode.

Forgive me, but to go on about this just a little bit more, we also did 5 x 100M steady during the session.  I am delighted that my 100s came in on 2.00 / 1.59 / 1.58 / 1.58 / 1.58.  That is consistency.

Big Thanks to Oliver whose coaching is clearly paying off for me.

Tuesday 28th January 2014

Running ( 01:00:00 / 6.81 Miles /00:08:48 per mile / HRZ 2)

I ventured back out to test the knee on the run and I’m pleased with the way it held up.  I took things really easy and my average Heart Rate stayed below 80%.  This was more abut getting back to running again and seeing how the knee reacted.  It was positive on both counts and even post run I have had not adverse reaction.

Cycling ( 01:13:12 / 24.55 Miles / 20.10 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 93)

Turbo – Sufferfest – Hell Hath No Fury.

Once again I was in the territory of testing the knee out and seeing how it reacted to being back on the bike again.

I must admit that I could feel it throughout the entire session, not in a painful way but just so much that I knew it was still not 100% fixed but it didn’t really impair me in any way.  I probably didn’t commit 100% to this session as I was holding back a bit on some of the power sections of the video just in case I blew the knee up.

This was a slightly longer video than normal but the extra time was made up for by the fact that the whole video is based on Women’s Pro cycling races. The scenery was wonderful.

So, in terms of getting a couple of days training in across all three disciplines I’m pretty pleased that I have been able to get back at it again and I’m really hoping that the sore knee will fade away completely over the next couple of days.

Something new and the Week 11 IM Training round up.

Sunday 26th January 2014

Cycling (01:23:56 / 8.54 Miles / 6.10 MPH / HRZ 2)
Mountain Biking

Something a bit different today.  In fact it was a first for both me and Ben.
We went Mountain Biking.

I had always sworn that it was not for me as it looks a bit scary and tough.  The prospect of falling off seems incredibly high and the combination of mud, slippery rocks and trees makes it a daunting prospect.  Add that to the thought that for every minute of downhill thrill rush there was probably about 10 minutes of grind upwards.

However, Ben was keen and thanks to my generous neighbour who gave him an old Mountain Bike for free, we were able to hit the trails at Castlewellan Forest Park.  I had to hire a bike because despite the Bike shop-esque look to my garage, I don’t have a mountain bike hanging up among my collection of bikes.

The trails are really well designed and just like the Guy in the shop said, they started out gently and built up in terms of difficulty and therefore confidence building.  He was so right.  I definitely found that we were able to cope with more complex trails and obstacles as we progressed through the ride.

I was genuinely impressed with how Ben handled the bike.  He lacked a bit of stamina in his legs and found the uphill sections a challenge, but then again I’m not exactly a mountain goat myself and I was happy to take it at his pace and he walked a couple of the tougher sections. His stamina will definitely come along as he is pretty fit from Rugby anyway.

His bike handling was good and to the amazement of both of us, neither of us fell off.  I was delighted to see him tackling some of the jumps and rough sections well and obviously enjoying it.

I can really see how MTB would improve your bike handling skills and that in turn builds confidence.

We weren’t exactly cranking the pace, but as a first go it was more about education and fun to se if we really liked it, and I can say that we will definitely be back for more.  It was great craic.

Importantly for me, the sore knee that had put me out of action for a few days held up well enough under the test and I’m hopeful with a few more days of rest it will be strong enough to get back to full training again.

Week 11 Summary

7 Hrs 01 Mins

Swim 4050
Bike 49.20 Miles
Run 12.41 Miles

Another disappointing week.

Although I should caveat that with the fact that at least I managed to get 7 hours in, albeit I should have done about another 50% on top of that.

The main reason for the reduced volume this week is that I picked up a bit of a knee injury on Wednesday and it made me miss out on a few key sessions, notably my Tempo run and long ride.

It appears to be a fairly common cycling injury: http://www.thetritouch.co.uk/cyclists-spring-knee-pain-and-what-to-do-about-it and it is hopefully on the mend.  I will try to build in some muscle work to prevent it recurring.

The week ahead will be dependant upon the knee pain, but I’m hopeful of a good week of swimming and potentially a couple pf light runs – I might stay away from the tempo run until all pain is gone from the knee.  I’m hopeful of being able to get back on the bike fairly soon too.

Three for one.

Monday 20^th January 2014

Cycling (01:04:56 / 15.78 Miles / 14.60 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 74)

Commute to and from work

The usual Monday commute only this time without as much danger to life and limb through frosty conditions.  Sadly still plenty of risk to life and limb from completely incompetent and rude drivers.  No Change there then!

Swimming (2250 M / 00:57:34)

Technique session

Before I mention anything at all about this I will not say that we did a kick set!  Oliver was very clear that 300M of kick drills does not warrant being called a Kick set.  So anyway we didn’t do a kick set but instead did 300M of kick drills.

This was a bit of a ball buster session.  It was a good session as it worked on both increasing the endurance but also the intensity through some combinations of longer pull buoy drills and then short sharp full out sprint sets.

I was knackered at the end of it but felt good, especially as I managed to hold my own on the pull buoy and sprint drills.

Tired but satisfied is a good summation.

Tuesday 21^st January 2014

Running ( 01:30:02 /10.71 Miles / 00:08:24 per mile / HRZ 2)

Looking ahead to Saturday and Sunday I want to rearrange my weekend slightly compared to my usual training routine, so I decided to get my long run out of the way early this morning instead of Saturday morning.

It meant hitting the road for 90 minutes early on but I didn’t mind too much.

The first five miles felt like hard work and I was hoping things would ease off, and thankfully they did get a bit easier, and by the time I got round to mile seven to being my little loop for home I was actually feeling quite sprightly.

Finishing off with an average pace of 8.24 per mile is pretty pleasing and not too far off my Half Marathon PB time from a couple of weeks ago.

Cycling (01:00:03 / 24.88 Miles / 24.90 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 94)

Turbo – Sufferfest – The Hunted.

Time to try out a new video.  The Hunted!  It sounds pretty ominous and it did indeed turn out to be a bit different to the others in so much as thee were longer periods of riding at medium to high intensity without a lot of short accelerations etc.  This would explain the higher average pace and greater distance than we normally cover.  It was pretty enjoyable despite the scary title.

Running (00:13:01 / 1.70 Miles / 00:07:38 per mile / HRZ 2)

Brick – Run

A short run off the bike at Turbo just to get the legs used to turning over immediately off the bike.

I was very pleased at how easy this felt.  I do feel that I run faster of the bike than just on a straight run and this came through again tonight.

The only thing is that I have a bit of a sore knee and I’m hoping that a swim will help ease it a bit

 

Wednesday 22nd January 2014

 

Swimming (00:51:55 / 1800M)

Endurance Session

 

Bit of a shorter session tonight.

I'm pleased with the 5X200M set that we did - my splits for each were 4.10 / 4.12 / 4.14 / 4.09 / 4.11.

That may not be the fastest but at least it was consistent.

 

My knee still hurts a bit so I'm not sure what to do in terms of biking and running tomorrow.

 

Land of Giants, Game of Thrones and the Week 10 IM Training Round up.

Sunday 19^th January 2014

Cycling (01:40: 57 / 27.04 Miles / 16.10 MPH / HRZ 2 / Cadence 80 RPM)

Originally I had planned a ride of about 3 Hours which I hoped would get me towards the 50 miles mark.

Sadly this didn’t emerge as we had been away for the weekend in a lovely Cottage on the North Coast, up beside the Giants Causeway.  It really was lovely.

It was also nice to have a coffee down at  Ballintoy harbour, which people may recognise as the Harbour where Theon Greyjoy returns home in Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones pic.

 

My pic from the other end.

 

This meant getting back on Sunday a bit later and also missing my longer run (90 Mins) on Saturday.

I’m a bit disappointed to have missed the run, but I feel that my running is in a decent place at the moment and that missing one longer run at this stage is no big deal.

As time wasn’t totally on my side I decided to cut the ride a bit shorter and was joined by my Lunchtime running Buddy Brendan.  It was his first ride out for a while so we chose a relatively flat route with just a short climb at the end to stretch the legs on.

He was worried about being rusty but he needn’t have worried.  He rode well and I am sure in a few weeks will be dropping me!

I had tagged on some miles before I met up with him and on the whole I’m happy that we managed an average speed over 16 MPH and that slightly counters my disappointment at being out for about half the time I wanted.

I plan to make up for it this weekend.

 

Week 10 Summary

8 Hrs 41 Mins

Swim: 4550 M
Bike: 75.13 Miles
Run: 14.70 Miles

So much for having a full work of training exactly in line with my plan.
I suppose it is still a decent week and the quality of the sessions was mostly very good, but I am a bit disappointed that I missed a 90 minute run and my long bike ride was closer to two hours than the planned three hours.

I am pleased though that I got my hill session in on the bike and it was successful, I’m also pleased at the quality of the run sessions.

I know I’m saying it again but hopefully this week . . . . . . .