A Really bad week. Hope it gets better.

The last 7 days or so have been a bit of a nightmare from a training perspective.  As I mentioned before, I picked up a fairly unpleasant cough and it just did not clear up at all and in fact moved southwards in to my chest and had the expected impact.

I managed a grand total of just over 4 hours of training last week - all of which was probably contributed to my cough and bad chest.  Not great at all.

I expect this week to be another one which is badly impacted by my chest.

I am not panicking about this as I still have 17 weeks to go after this week, but it may force me to re-think the plan slightly as I might need to adjust and rebuild it back up again slightly after loosing the guts of 2 weeks.

I have also been reading tips from veteran Ironman finishers and they all recommend that a novice Ironman needs to Bike Bike Bike and then Bike again in training.  I think I need to take heed of this and modify the training somewhat to allow for this and I am considering swapping one of my 3 swims per week for an  additional Bike ride.

Talking of my bike, I left it in to the bike shop for a bit of a sort out after it taking quite a bit of abuse through the winter.
Bad news - it needed, all brake and gear cables replaced, a new chain, new handlebar tape a full service and lube.  So, over £100 later and I am ready to get back on the road again.  It is a lot of money but I needed it done and it just shows how hard the winter can be on a bike.  I think next year I will use my older Road bike for any winter riding.

So a bad and expensive week is over and I will look positively towards the rest of this week and next week.

An Olympic effort.

Wednesday 22nd February 2012

Swimming
2500M - 01:02:26 in 25M pool at Lisburn Leisureplex
10X250M @ 20 secs rest
Total 2500M

Another early swim and a good session.  I was slightly concerned that the cough would impact my breathing in the pool, but it didn't make a difference at all.

I also had the pleasure of sharing the pool (albeit 4 lanes away) with an Olympian.  Aileen Morrison will be representing Ireland at the Olympics in London in the Triathlon.  I have been a fan of hers for the last coupe of years and she is ranked in the top 20 or so in the world.  It was pretty impressive to see her accelerate up the pool - depressingly impressive if that makes sense.

She writes a good blog and has a decent website too.  http://www.aileenmorrison.com/

Brick Session

Cycling
00:45:00 - 16.39 miles (21.85 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 68% Max / Cadence 85) Turbo Session
Decent session on the turbo and no ill effects from the cough either.

Running
00:15:00 - 1.69 Miles (08.53 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)
The cough did it's work!
For the first 5 minutes I had the occasional moment of funny running / stumbling / walking as I hacked away trying to cough.  It then cleared up and I was able to have a decent run.  Pace and HR were good.

I now need to decide what to do about my training for the next couple of days as I missed my swim on Tuesday because I was not feeling up to it with the coughing.
The sensible head is saying take a break for the next day or possibly even 2 - but the nutter in me is saying keep on going because i am getting through these session OK.

I will see how I feel tomorrow and decide what to do.

Cough it up.

Tuesday 21st February 2012

Running
00:37:00- 4.00 Miles (09.15 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)
[@10 mins Insert 5 Mins @ Z4 HR]

I have been suffering from a bit of a bad cough and wheezy chest. I was in 2 minds whether to run or not, so I decided to give it a go and it went OK so I decided to cut it short at 4 miles and try to be sensible.
The 5 Minute interval of fast pace running was really tough and it took a few minutes to recover the HR back to normal.

TW3 IMFF Week 18

Monday 20th February 2012

Week 18 completed

Hours Trained: 13H 20 Mins
Swimming: 8.65K (5.37 Miles)
Cycling: 79.87 Miles
Running: 32.63 Miles

Week 18 was a bit of a monster week. My biggest week so far in terms of volume and time. I think the biggest thing was the volume of running and probably most significantly the move to 3 swims per week and doing nearly 5.5 miles of swimming.

 

I need to get used to this sort of volume as it is not going to get any lighter and in reality I can look forward to an average of nearly 15 hrs per week from now until Frankfurt.

 

I felt pretty ropey today with a bad cough which had been kindly donated by the kids and a sore head to go with it.  Hopefully it is clearing up and I will get in to training again in the morning.

 

Here is the week ahead.

 

 

Toasti Toes

Thursday 16th January 2012

Cycling
03:17:40 - 49.00 (14.80 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 74% Max / Cadence 80rpm)

I set out with a really tough hill on this ride from home.  Up the Pond Park Road out towards Dundrod - which for anyone who knows it, is about 2 miles of a climb up a reasonably steep hill - then a series of pretty sharp little hills along the top road towards Stoneyford and Dundrod.

I then took a lovely run out to the shore of Lough Neagh and all the way in to Portadown and then through "scenic" Craigavon and Lurgan on the run back home.

Overall jsut shy of 50 miles and a reasonable average speed given the slow hilly start that I had.

I have been getting sick of being soaked and frozen on my rides recently and it was a pleasure not to get wet today, although it was a bit chilly and breezy - but so much better than the last few rides.
Just to be sure I wasn't going to get frozen toes, I invested in some Toasti Toes and they were brilliant. They are basically disposable hand warmers for your feet.  I would recommend them.

5 Times a week. Check me out!

Running
01:00:00  - 6.54 Miles (09.10 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)
[@50 mins Insert Pick Up 1Min & 1 Min Recovery X 5]
I did this run up in Donegal and afer about 2 minutes of being out I was wishing I had stayed in Bed.  The route I chose was pretty hilly and teh wind was blowing a cold gale off the sea and literally battering me.

I perservered  and stuck with it and things got better as I went along.  I got on to the trails at Ards Forest Park and got some shelter for a mile or so.
After the trail there is a monster hill and it hurt like hell and of course it had to be in to the wind.  My intervals on this run came at the end of the run and they are so much harder than doing it at the start when you are fresh.

This was a tough run and inervals but I have to say I am pleased with myself for sticking with it and actually doing pretty well.

This was my 5th run this week and is the most times I have ever run in a week. Tough but good.

Brain food and feeling good.

Friday 18th January 2012

Swimming
2500M - 01:03:20 in 25M pool at Lisburn Leisureplex

2500M straight through
Total 2500M

Another very early swim again - and another pretty successful one.  On paper it seems a bit slower than I had been doing but I spent about 3 minutes hanging on to the side of the pool trying to stretch out a cramp in my foot. 
I must admit that my swimming is going very well at the moment bit it is pretty BORING.  Looking at a black line on the bottom of the pool for an hour is not exactly stimulating but at least I get to switch off my brain for a while.

Running
01:01:04 - 7.00 Miles (08.42 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)
[@10 mins Insert 1x Pick Up & 1 Min Recover X 5]

Another very good run today - excellent pace and a good comfortable feeling throughout. Feeling good.
My runs now have interval session built in - so today was inserting 1 minute pace pick ups with 1 min jog recovery X 5 at 10 minutes in to the run.

If History repeats itself.

Thursday 16th January 2012

Cycling
01:00:00 - 19.80 (19.80 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 68% Max / Cadence 83rpm)

A quick hour on the turbo early this morning before work.  This is the first time I have done he bike this early in the morning and it went pretty well - although it was a bit weird watching an episode of 24 at 6.30AM.
Not a bad session - although I forgot that as I have moved in to the Build phase of my training I am meant to add some interval training in to my sessions now - so I didn't do it on this one as I clean forgot - DOH!!

Running
02:00:00 - 13.27 Miles (09.03 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)

This was the longest run I have done since the Lisburn Half Marathon last June.
To put how far I have come along in to context - I ran the Lisburn Half Marathon last year in 01:59:52 and knocked my pan in to come in under 2 Hrs. (now - admittedly it was 7 mins slower than my PB time and it was not the best of runs) My Hr at Lisburn was through the roof and I was destroyed after it.

Compare to tonight.
I happily trotted around the 13.27 miles in 2Hrs dead and did not feel that tired and was well under the desired HR level.  That is the effect of the base training I have been doing.  I would like to think that I could go out and do a competitive Half Marathon in close to PB time within my HR zone.  That feels good.

Go or Blow?

Wednesday 15th January 2012
Swimming
3000M - 01:17:17 in 25M pool at Lisburn Leisureplex

Warm up 500M
8X 50M Drills

16X25M @35 secs

1X600M Arms Only

16X25M @35 secs
8 X 50M Drills

300M Cool Down
Total 3000M

This was my longest swim set with drills for a while.  It went extremely well and I am once again enjoying the very early swims.  I am genuinely feeling strong through the whole swim and not all that tired - which is good but may also mean that I could perhaps try to push on a bit with the speed but I am really worried about blowing to pieces and not finishing the set.

 

i am delighted that I can consistently and comfortably knock out 35 sec lengths for 3K - I couldn't do 1 length in 35 secs this time last year.  Progress!

I'm an Old Romantic.

Tuesday 14th February 2012
Swimming
3150M - 01:21:40 in 18M pool at Gym
Warm up 500M
8X 50M Drills
4X200 with 10 secs rest between intervals
6X100M with 10 secs rest
3X50M
8X50M Drills
Cool Down 300M
Total 3150M
My longest swim session ever - I am delighted as it felt really good the whole way through. Now just to do another 3K tomorrow morning too!!

Brick Session

Cycling
00:43000 - 11.07 miles(20.10 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 68% Max / Cadence 83) Turbo Session
Not a bad session - cut short a bit at 30 mins so that I could finish a bit earlier for out Valentines Dinner - how romantic am I? Not very!

Running
00:15:00 - 1.82 Miles (08.15 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 83% Max)
This was a pretty swift wee run - sharp pace for me and good Heart Rate.  Nice one.