Strong

Wednesday 30th May 2012
Swimming

01:03:15- 2750M

A really good swim session today.  The arms felt really tired for about 200M but then loosened up and I felt strong throughout.

Brick Session

Cycling
01:14:10 – 19.03 Miles (15.40 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 71% Max / Cadence 80)

I felt so strong on the bike tonight - gradients where I would have felt it a bit tight seemed to just flow under me tonight - I was able to ease up hills and cruise on the flats.  This felt brilliant and I hope it continues and that this is the benefit of the training paying off now.

I passed a static police speed camera display type thing that tells you your speed - it clocked me at 15MPH going up a bit on a hill - I was fishing for my Phone in my back pocket to take a photo but missed the opportunity - it would have been even better if a speeding car had been behind me and registered me at 40mph up the hill.

Running
00:34:29 - 4.00 Miles (08.37 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 78% Max)
This feeling of strength carried on for the run as well - straight off the bike on to the run.
I am chuffed to bits with the pace and more importantly the feeling that I had on all of the training sessions today.

Brimming with confidence.

Tuesday 29th May 2012

Cycling
00:56:12 – 11.70 Miles (12.50 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 76% Max / Cadence 78rpm)

Tuesday again.  Pond Park Road hill repeats again.
After the amount of climbing on The Etape Mourne on Sunday I was pretty enthusiastic about tackling the hill session brimming with confidence, but also a wee bit nervous as I wasn't sure if the legs would be carrying lingering tiredness.

I needn't have worried.  The beautiful morning was a great encouragement and my split times for each were all within seconds of each other.  Very satisfying.

Running 01:00:00 - 6.76 Miles (08.52 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 82% Max)

More heat training - who would have believed we would get such a consistent spell of weather.  It is great to get out in it and at least do a little bit of acclimatisation.

The run was good and I found it very comfortable even though the pace was under 9 min mile and it was still about 20C.

TW3 IMFF Week 31

Monday 28th April 2012

Week 31 completed

Hours Trained: 15H 00Mins
Swimming: 2.25K (1.39 Miles)
Cycling: 122.15 Miles
Running: 34.14 Miles

A very decent weeks' training.

Good cycling mileage and quality - especially the tough Etape Mourne which turned out to be about 1500M of climbing.

Good running mileage and all done in the warm weather which will hopefully help for Frankfurt.

 

Next week is another ramp up and I am hoping to do some sort of big Brick session on Saturday.

 

Here is the week ahead:

 

Etape Mourne - A tough day in the saddle.

Saturday 27th May 2012

Cycling
05:14:57 – 69.38 Miles (13.20 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 73% Max / Cadence 77rpm)

When I entered this event a while ago, I did so on the basis that it said that it was a ride though the scenic Mournes and that there was 1700ft of climbing - which is only about 500M.  That didn't seem too bad.

Today rolls around and the heatwave continues.  The combination of the warm weather and a few hills should make for an interesting day.

A FEW HILLS!!  This was a bit of a beast today for me and there is no way that it was only about 500M of climbing.  I am having trouble downloading the data from my Garmin but I reckon it was at least 1500M of climbing.

We started out from the Annalong village and immediately started in to a climb of about 3 miles which levelled out a bit before heading past the Silent Valley Reservoir and park.  After this it was a tough drag for about 8 miles and then some little down hills before climbing back up again to the top of Spelga Dam.

The downhill from Spelga Dam was amazing but scary also as it was so fast and the bends and the alpine style switchback at the bottom just come on you so quickly that the brakes were almost locking up at one point.  I did realise that at some point later in the day I would have to climb back up this as part of the 2 King of the Mountain timed sections on the route.

From here it was a nice run to Hilltown (yes the clue is in the name!) and then on to Rostrevor.  Again, some really nice downhills here too to make up for the amount of climbs.

Coming out of Rostrevor back towards Hilltown was the first of the times King of the Mountain stages.  The results show that I did it in 29mins28secs - which was actually very respectable.  Next big challenge was the climb back towards Spelga Dam - and even the road out towards the Dam was somewhat of a tough uphill drag.

We reached the start of the K.O.M timed section at the bottom and I headed on up. 
I have always wanted to ride up this section of road as I have driven it many times and always been in awe of anyone who could ride up it, with its tough gradient warning sign for drivers and the Alpine style switchback bend.
I have to say that the reality of doing it was no let down as it was brutal, however I am very pleased with how it went and I covered the ground in 11min02secs.  This seems to be around the average time and was in fact 1min faster than the overall race winner.  I have no idea how I did that.  Scary thing is that the fastest ride up it today was just over 6mins.  That is FAST!

The rest of the ride was more tough climbs and some sensational downhills.
Unfortunately from about 12 miles from home we were faced with about 9 miles of climbing and then about 3 miles of drop back down in to Annalong. 
One of the hardest moments was getting back up the hill from the Silent Valley Reservoir - it was a real ball buster coming so late in the race.

Back in to Annalong and the organisers had laid on a great spread of sarnies and sausage rolls and sausages.  Perfect after such a tough day.

The scenery was stunning and the weather just made it look even prettier.

Big credit to the organisers and marshalls for doing such a great job on the first running of this event.  It was fantastic Ironman training in the heat.  Will I do it again?  We shall see. . . .

 The Road up to Spelga Dam (Not the really hard one)

 Nice view of the Mournes

 Spelga Dam

 A Typical Mourne view

 Another typical Mourne view

My reward for all the hard graft - the bike resting in the background.

A hot long one under my belt.

Saturday 26th May 2012

Running 02:57:15 - 18.00 Miles (09.50 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 78% Max)

My preparation for this run could not be described as ideal by any stretch of the imagination.  A heavy night round at our friends house having a BBQ and lots of beer and very nice wine and getting in to bed at about 1.00AM.

When I woke up I was feeling a little jaded - not totally hungover but definitely not on tip-top form.
I had to get some Breakfast in and then head out.

I planned to do 3 loops for the run today instead of a long out and back, so that I could run back past home and top up my drinks as it was already well over 20C at 10.00AM.
This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and it was great to know that I would be able to get a nice cool drink in a few miles again.

The weather was amazing and I am delighted that the heat did not really get to me too much.  This is important as Frankfurt can be very hot in July and I am pleased to be able to train in this heat and see how I fare.  So far so good.

The run was pretty uneventful and it was good to get another long one under the belt.

I'm such a lazy Blogger.

Wednesday 23rd May 2012

Running 01:09:53 -  7.70 Miles (9.04 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 84% Max)

I was in London on business and had a run on a fantastically warm night out from the Tower Hotel to the Olympic Stadium. It was hard to get right up to the stadium but I did manage to get a good look at it from the platform of the nearby train station.  It is pretty impressive and I would have loved to have tickets to see some of the events in it.

Thursday 24th May 2012



Cycling
02:06:18 – 34.63 Miles (16.40 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 74% Max / Cadence 79rpm)

Another lovely night for a ride and I decided to head out towards Lough Neagh and it was a good decision.  the lough looked fantastic in the sunshine and I am delighted at the average pace of the ride and there were a few wee hills in there too.


Friday 25th May 2012

Brick Session

Cycling
00:45:01 – 10.91 Miles (14.50 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 76% Max / Cadence 80)

As this was a short Brick session tonight, I decided to give myself a bit of a tougher bike session.  I headed up the Pond Park Road in the same way I do for my Tuesday Hill sessions but this time half way up I went up the Old Pond Park Road which runs parallel to the main Road.  It is a lot steeper and it was a tough ride.  I then had another 7 or 8 miles of tough cycling before a nice sweep back down home.

Running
00:15:00 - 1.75 Miles (08.35 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 79% Max)
The run off the bike felt a little bit tough, probably because of the hard bike run and also the heat.  It was 24C as I headed out for the run - nonetheless, the pace went really well.

Stuck chain and a long walk home.

Tuesday 22nd May 2012

Cycling
00:36:46 – 7.23 Miles (11.70 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 77% Max / Cadence 78rpm)

Hill session again.  All was going well on such a glorious morning - and at the top of my 3rd repeat, about 200M from the top of the hill - DISASTER!
I was changing down gear and the chain slipped off the rear sprocket and lodged between the sprocket and the spokes.  This completely locked the wheel up and I nearly fell off.
I managed to get unclipped and not fall over.
The bad news was that the chain would not come out at all and I had to walk about 1.5 miles back home carrying my bike - in cycling shoes, which are not easy to walk in.
I was extremely annoyed - and all of this before 7am this morning.  It is fair to say that I was in slightly bad form when I got back in to the house.

Luckily the bike shop got the problem sorted today and adjusted my gearing and removed the chain blockage.
I hope this doesn't happen again.

Running 01:00:00 - 6.69 Miles (08.58 per mile / HR Zone 3 / 88% Max)

A lovely run on a nice warm evening.  I am very happy with that apart from the HR monitor going bonkers again.

Donald, you are an IRONMAN!

Saturday 19th May 2012

Cycling
06:09:50 – 92.09 Miles (14.90 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 70% Max / Cadence 80rpm)

This was my biggest ride to date and it was a long time to be out on the bike.

My aim was to do 90 miles in 6hrs, meaning an average pace of 15MPH.  The good news is that I want through 90 miles in about 5H59mins.  This was brilliant and the only reason the average dropped a bit was the hellish hill back up home for nearly 2 miles - just what I didn't need at the end of a long ride.

 

I have to say it was pretty tough going along the way at times.  I cycled over to East Belfast and cycled up the Craigantlet Hill behind Stormont and then over to Bangor.  That is the first time I have cycled up Craigantlet and IT IS A BITCH!  Not particularly long - probably only about a mile but it is steep.

 

Once through that I wound my way round the coast from Bangor to Portaferry - stopping for a 5 minute break and food top up and the back along the coast (on the other side of the peninsula) to Newtownards.

 

 

I had a few very dark moments along this stretch (about 20 miles) as I was straight in to a stiff wind and it took its toll on me - I would have gladly swapped places and been home rather than battling along on the bike.

Once in to Ards I had the big hill out of Ards back to Belfast - it looked awful but actually it was OK and felt pretty good riding up it.

 

Once in to Belfast it was my usual commute route home.

 

On the whole I am delighted that this is both the longest distance and time in the saddle that I have had.

 

Saturday night was great as my friend Donald Smith was competing in Ironman Lanzarote - one of the toughest Ironman events in the world and we (Me, Keara, Erin and Ben) were able to track him live and even watch the finish line live and see him cross it at 15H 51Mins. It was great to see him doing it and it really got our collective juices going for my event in just 7 weeks time- aarrrgh.

This was an amazing achievement and he deserves the title of Ironman!

 

I was supposed to do a long run Sunday, but given the Half Ironman last weekend, I decided to skip it and give myself another little bit of recovery time.  Next week is back to normal with all sessions back on again and the hours and mileage cranking up again.

All as planned.

Friday 18th May 2012

Swimming

01:40:01- 3800M

Another Iron Distance Swim of 3800M this morning.  And a whole 5 seconds faster than last time.  At least I am consistent, and to be fair I stopped for abut 3 minutes to chat to the guy in the next lane - so I feel that was good progress.

It felt comfortable - just boring!

Running
01:00:00 - 6.63 Miles (09.02 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 81% Max)

Felt really good today - everything felt smooth and easy and the pace just came naturally and I could have gone faster had I wanted to.

Is it May?

Thursday 17th May 2012

Cycling
01:15:57 – 20.00 Miles (15.80 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 73% Max / Cadence 86rpm)

Rain - Cold - Wind.  Yes, it is cycling time again!!  I just love the Norn Irish summer. 

Can you tell I am getting pissed off?  It is bloody May for goodness sake.

Who Nose.

Wednesday 16th May 2012

Swimming

00:35:50- 1500M
The swim got cut short today as my nose clip broke after 60 lengths and I just could not carry on without it. No idea why it just snapped in two but it did! I really hate the water running up my nose.  I was feeling pretty comfortable in the swim too. Had to get a replacement one at lunchtime.

 

Brick Session

Cycling
01:15:02 – 20.35 Miles (16.30 MPH / HR Zone 1 / 57% Max / Cadence ?)

The ride went well this evening and the pace felt really good.  The bike was playing up a little bit as the cadence monitor would not work and there was a bit of an annoying rattle coming off the crank somewhere.  I will need to give the chain a bit of a lube to hopefully sort that out.

Running
00:30:03 - 3.36 Miles (08.57 per mile / HR Zone 3 / 87% Max)

Straight off the bike and on to the run and the legs felt really good.  It is interesting to look back at the run off the bike last week in training and the pace etc were almost identical, however this was just a few seconds per mile faster which was good.  All felt nice and comfy.

4 is better than 3.

Tuesday 15th May 2012

Cycling
01:00:00 – 11.81 Miles (11.80 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 79% Max / Cadence 74rpm)

Back in to the groove again with an early start and hill sets this morning.
I had planned on doing 3 sets up the hill but at the bottom of the 3rd i talked my self in to doing another half way up the hill.
When I got half way up I thought, "what the hell! I am here now, I might as well go on up to the top again.  So I did.

I ended up doing 4 sets and each one was within 20 seconds of each other - so I am very pleased with the consistency. 

Oh, and by the way, my cycling curse struck again.  As I started out, it was a lovely clear morning with a nice sunrise.  By the end of rep. 1, it was drizzling and I was riding up in to a horrible drizzle.  The descents were cold and wet and not very enjoyable.

I am sadly getting used to this now!!

I was meant to do a 1HR run this evening but decided to give the legs another day of rest after the exertions of the weekend.  Hopefully no big shakes.

TW3 IMFF Week 29

Monday 14th April 2012

Week 29 completed

Hours Trained: 11H 14Mins

Swimming: 4.4K (2.7 Miles)

Cycling: 89 Miles

Running: 23 Miles

This was a very significant week with the Half Iron distance race being a significant milestone this week.  Thankfully it all went really well and I feel like this is a vindication of the training done so far.

I think the key learning points were:

• Keep things steady on the bike and leave plenty in the tank for the run 
• Be structured and organised but swift in transition
• On the run keep things easy paced and eat and drink little and often
• Smile for the camera as you cross the line

Back to normal training now for a fairly intensive 4 or 5 weeks and then in to taper time.
Here is the week ahead.

Tri an Mhi - Half Iron Distance Triathlon

Tri an Mhi Middle Distance Triathlon

1.9K Swim - 00:46:23

Transition 1 - 00:07:00

93K Bike  - 03:41:00
Transition 2 - 00:02:48
21K Run - 02:01:13
Total time - 06:38:27

http://www.precisiontiming.net/result/view/id/205

167th out of 187 overall.

The whole family (including the Dog) travelled down to stay in Mullingar the night before the race as the venue in Collinstown was just too far to travel down in the morning before the event.

We got to the Hotel and it was very nice but somewhat likely Fawlty Towers.  The Guy at reception was also the Barman and was later seen hoovering round the place too - in fact he was the only member of staff that we saw the whole time!
I did my usual night before the race "flapping" around and panicking about everything being in place and worrying that I had forgotten something or that the alarm would not go off in the morning.
As it turns out I needn't have worried as I was awake early before the alarm anyway.  Not the best pre race breakfast as the Hotel did not start serving until 8.00, so I had to make do with stuff bought from a Spar shop the night before - a Danish, a Scone and a Blueberry Muffin - not exactly the food of Champions.

We got to the venue in good time and I went off to get set up in transition and Keara, the Kids and Darcy (the Dog) waited in the car as it was pretty chilly - they would come down to the Lake nearer the start time.

There was a bit of a delay in getting started and as the Race Briefing started the organisers explained that there had been a real safety concern expressed by them and the Triathlon Ireland officials as the water temperature was very low and the air temperature was also very cold.  They advised people to drop out if they were unsure and that they would change the swim from 1 big loop to 2 smaller loops still totalling 1.9K.  I think this was so that everyone was a bit closer to shore in case of any emergencies.  Some people did drop out.
I must admit it was a bit of a scary prospect as I was feeling a bit nervous anyway.

The Swim

Eventually we were allowed in to the water to "warm up."  It was absolutely baltic and quite a shock to the system.  At this stage a few people bailed out too as it was too cold for them.
We lined up and the hooter went and we were off for the 2 lap swim.  The first 100M were the usual washing machine.  This was the first mass swim start at a Tri that Keara and the kids have seen and they said it looked pretty impressive.  It is less impressive in the middle of it thought!
At about 200M I had my usual panic set in - I seemed to be taking in more air than I could get out.  This always happens to me at this stage of an open water swim - so I literally was talking to myself and  said "stop being a Dick - you know this, relax and just concentrate on your stroke and blowing bubbles in the water to get the air out."  It worked and I felt much better really soon.
The swim went really well for me and it was in pretty tough conditions apart from the cold.  There was quite a chop on the water and the first leg out was straight in to the wind and waves, the second leg was across the wind and the waves really rolled you around here and then the last leg back to the start was with the wind which helped the speed but meant that the waves were rolling over the top of you and impacted on the breathing a bit.  Then back around again for the second leg.
When I go out of the water I literally could not feel my feet.  They were toally numb.

T1

This was a bit of a disaster.  I am not renowned for my fast transitions but this one was ridiculously slow.
I was conscious of the cold weather and wanted to get the right gear on.  I struggled to get my wetsuit off.  I then tried to get on my arm warmers for the bike ride and this was so tricky with wet arms and numb hands.  I then out on my cycling gear over the top of my Tri suit and eventually got out on the bike - saying hello to Keara and the Kids on my way out.

The Bike

My big focus for the bike was to keep things controlled and maintain my Heart Rate and stay steady, eat properly and drink enough - making sure I did not completely detonate or "burn all my matches" on the bike leaving nothing for the run.  After all I still had a Half Marathon to run once I got finished with my 58 mile bike ride. (It should be 56 but they did a 58 mile course for some reason.)
I knew there was a big hill at about 10 miles on the route and oh boy was it a hill!!  It was about 1 mile long and a real bugger - steep and challenging.  As this was a 2 lap cycle, I knew I would have to do it again.  Something to look forward to.
I kept my focus on the bike and worked through what was a fairly challenging course with plenty of rolling hills and a few other tough little rises and surprisingly few places that were flat to really wind it up.
The good thing was that my new wheels performed beautifully and I could sense the extra speed from them on the downhills or on the few flat bits that we had.
I got to half way at exactly 1Hr45Mins which was bang on schedule for my 3Hr 30Min target.
Lap 2 went pretty well, but we started to get a bit more wind and I lost 10 mins on lap 2 so I missed out on my target by about 10 mins.

T2

I knew this would be a lot quicker than T1 and it proved to be, however in my excitement and hussle to get out quickly, I forgot to get changed out of my cycling gear and run in my Tri-suit.  About 1 mile in to the run I realised I still had my Cycling shorts and top on over my Tri suit and there was nothing I could do about it.

The Run

The legs felt a bit heavy heading out on the run and for the first 3 miles of the looped undulating run course they felt very heavy. The good thing was that my Heart Rate was really good and as the legs loosened up the pace was pretty steady and consistent.
I kept going through a mental checklist - Legs feel OK, Breathing OK, No niggles - OK.  I was determined not to walk as long as I felt OK, with the exception of the aid stations.  I followed through on my plan and walked for a bout 30 secs at each aid station as I took on Coke and water and a Gel.  This really paid off because when I got to about 18K I was feeling pretty strong and after the last turnaround point tiwht 2K to go, I was able to speed up and clocked the last 2 miles at around 8Min30Secs pace - which was remarkable for me at this stage of a Half Marathon.
As I neared the finish I couldn't quite believe that I was coming in around the 2Hr mark for the run.  I was expecting roughly 2.20 - 2.30 for the run.  I think the conservative approach on the bike and the steady pacing and nutrition paid off and allowed me to run the second half of the run faster than the first half.
In fact I had gone so well on the run that Keara and the kids nearly missed my finish as I was well ahead of the time they expected me at.  Luckily they were there getting a coffee as I came in to the Finish Chute.

It was a great feeling coming across the line and knowing that pretty much everything had gone to plan and I had performed well on a challenging course.  I am really pleased and this hopefully sets me up well for the real thing in July.

I will reflect on this race over the coming days and see what lessons I can learn and take in to the rest of my training and in to the big day.

A happy man at the end of the day.

Squeaky Bum Time

Friday 11th May 2012
Cycling
00:52:226 – 14.00 Miles (16.00 MPH / HR Zone ? / ??% Max / Cadence 85rpm)

Last ride just to check everything is working OK on the bike before the race tomorrow.  Glad to report that all is well (with the Bike anyway!)
Heart Rate Monitor on the blink again and I really hope it behaves properly tomorrow.

Countdown

Thursday 10th 5th May 2012
Running 00:37:48 - 4.02 Miles (09.24 per mile / HR Zone 4 / 93% Max)

Flipping Heart Rate monitor was going weird again today.  There is no way that running at 9.24 per mile was putting my HR up to 93%.
Another fairly short easy run and it felt OK. 
Just a short ride tomorrow morning to make sure that the bike is in good shape and all functioning properly. Then it is all set to go. .5.4.3.2.1 Go!

You know you are slow when . . . . .

Wednesday 9th May 2012

Swimming

01:06:12 - 2500M

Last swim before the event on Saturday.  Went well, if a bit slow but I was not out to kill myself this morning.

Cycling
00:43:06 – 11.48 Miles (16.00 MPH / HR Zone 3 / 82% Max / Cadence 85rpm)

This was meant to be a little Brick session but it just turned in to a short bike ride.  Happy enough with how it went and in particular the relatively high cadence.
It struck me that you know you are slow on the bike when I am steaming away in the aero position and a guy with a backpack and wearing track bottoms rides past me with a "How's it going mate?"  Clearly not as well as you MATE!!
How to make a guy feel crap or what?  Maybe he was a semi-pro just on his way home from work to train for the Olympics.  I hope so but it is unlikely.  I am just slow!

When I did get up home I spent so long talking to my neighbour the time window and interest in doing my Brick session had passed.

BUT - that wasn't the end of it - I took Ben down to the swimming pool as he wanted to practice his swim because he has a Kids Triathlon next Friday and he has to Swim 75M / Bike 1000M / Run 400M. He was concerned about his swim but he did well tonight and covered the swim  distance - somewhat of a struggle but he was very determined.  Good on him.

Ear Ear!

Tuesday 8th May 2012

 

Cycling
00:31:52 – 6.15 Miles (11.60 MPH / HR Zone 3 / 89% Max / Cadence 77rpm)

Only 2 sets of Hill reps this morning as I am on the taper ahead of the race this weekend.  Felt OK even if HR was a bit elevated.

Running
00:54:29 - 6.00 Miles (09.05 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 81% Max)

Just 6 miles tonight and I stopped a bit short of the 1Hr mark.  Felt really comfortable throughout.
I stopped at about 5.5 miles to talk to a friend and whipped out my earphones.
When I started off again I couldn't find the ear bud from the end of the ear phone. ( the little rubbery bit.) I had a look around the ground and couldn't see it.
This was really annoying as I had just changed the earphones for these new ones as the old ones packed in.  I don't get more than about 6 months out of them as I think the rain, sweat and general abuse kills them pretty quick.

Back home for a shower. I was rinsing out my ear and noticed a funny feeling - the bloody ear bud bit was stuck inside my ear!  Lucky I found it and lucky it did not get lodged further in to  my ear.  That could have been nasty.
Keara said I shouldn't have worried as it would have fallen out the other ear anyway!  Ha bloody Ha!

TW3 IMFF Week 28

Monday 7th April 2012

Week 28 completed

Hours Trained: 16H 20Mins
Swimming: 3.8K (2.4 Miles)
Cycling: 141 Miles
Running: 33 Miles

Another pretty big week in terms of volume and time spent training. Nearly 9.5Hrs of cycling.  I only missed one session this week which was a 2.5K swim because of my stiff neck and shoulders - so all in all a pretty solid showing.

I am feeling pretty good on the bike these days and fairly comfortable holding a steady (but not fast) pace.

The week coming will feel a bit strange as the volume of sessions remain similar, but the time decreases as this is a bit of a taper week ahead of my Half Iron distance race on Saturday at Tri an Mhi.

I would love to achieve my A-time of 6H 30 Mins - broken down by:
 Swim 40 Mins / Transition 5 Mins / Bike 3Hr30Mins / Transition 5 Mins / Run 2Hr10 Mins. 
The reality of this may be somewhat different and to be truthful a time close to 7Hrs may be more realistic - but it is important to have a goal time in mind.

Wish me Luck!

Dromara Coastal Cycle

Sunday 6th May 2012

Cycling
05:20:22 – 80.19 Miles (15.00 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 77% Max / Cadence 80rpm)

Long ride was the Dromara Coastal Cycle organised by Dromara Cycling Club.  This was a great event with about 200-250 rider tacking the rolling 60 or 80 mile route.  Jim (Heaney) and I opted for the 80 mile route. 
The weather was very king to us and we stayed dry pretty much the whole way and at times the weather was really beautiful.

We had a lovely lunch stop at Strangford at about 35 miles, and loaded up on Sandwiches, traybakes and donuts. We had gone really well through to Lunch and were averaging almost 17mph.  Once out of Strangford we headed towards Comber but along the coast, and it is really gorgeous with lots of little inlets and bays along Strangford Lough, but a few tight hills to just catch us out.

once near Comber we turned back inland and towards Saintfield, Ballynahinch and home to Dromara.  The last 5 miles back to Dromara had a 2 mile climb and that was pretty tight and it was good to have company from another cyclist in his 60s who had done over 100 miles as he cycled to the start from home.  It is always good to be as good as a pensioner with 300 miles in his legs this week!!

I am really pleased with the way things went and i felt comfortable throughout and definitely could have gone on to do another 30 miles or so, and could have got off the bike and had a decent run.

Really pleasing and great day and company from Jim.  Rest Day tomorrow.

Don't forget to eat.

Saturday 5th May 2012
Running
02:52:09- 17.00 Miles (10.08 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 78% Max)
Long run day again! Decent weather and not too much wind today.  I decided to take it easy on the run today and keep the heart rate really low and subsequently the pace as well.
It all felt very comfortable and under control the whole way and I tried a couple of stints at a walk-run approach, which is what I will be doing on the Ironman.
After about 10 miles I did a few sessions of running 2 minutes at 10 min mile pace and then walking 1 minute at 17 minute pace. This felt a bit weird but it definitely helped to keep me fresh.

I am constantly forgetting to eat enough on the run and will have to sort this out as it could be a real disaster if I get that wrong on the day.

The Iron Swim.

Friday 4th May 2012

Swimming

01:40:06- 3800M

Iron Distance Swim - DONE!.  My plan said to do 3750M today, but I just couldn't go that close to the full distance and not do it.  It felt OK but I must admit that I did start to tire a bit between 2800 and 3300M - then I got a bit of a 2nd wind and felt reasonably well up to the end.  It was nice to hit this milestone.
Running
01:00:00- 6.36 Miles (09.25 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 84% Max)
I decided to take it nice and easy on the run tonight as I have a 3Hr run tomorrow and did the big swim this morning.

Stiff in the Sun.

Thursday 3rd May 2012

Cycling
01:56:47 – 31.00 Miles (15.90 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 73% Max / Cadence 82rpm)

First night of riding in short sleeves and it felt great to be enjoying a bit of heat for once.  It makes such a difference and makes the ride so much more enjoyable.

I focussed on spending a bit more time in the aero position and I think this helped the overall average speed go up a bit.  It did have the side effect of stiffening up my neck which the Physio had spent 30 minuntes loosening up earlier in the day.  Money well spent!!

Chicked.

Wednesday 2nd May 2012

Brick Session

Cycling
01:16:07 – 21.00 Miles (16.60 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 789% Max / Cadence 83rpm) 

This ride was a story of being "Chicked." That is where one is stuffed by a female of the species.

About 2 miles in to the ride I turned in to a road at the same time as a lady on her road bike too.  She took off a bit ahead of me and I COULD NOT catch her.  She sat about 150M ahead of me for 5 miles and I just could not catch up to her at all.  Every time I put a bit of a push on - so did she.  Maybe she thought I was a lycra clad perv!

I am pleased with the ride and the average pace.

Running
00:30:00 - 3.28 Miles (09.09 per mile / HR Zone 2 / 80% Max)

This run felt remarkably good and very comfortable.  Pleasing.

On a separate note - I am making a trip to the Physio tomorrow to get him to sort out my neck / top of spine.  It has been getting more painful and stiff over the last few days - I think it is the increased volume of cycling that is doing it.  My foot is also a bit sore and I just think that the volume of training is starting to take a bit of a toll on the old body now.  I am almost 40 after all!!!

Chrissie Wellington and me.

Tuesday 1st May 2012

 

My new book arrived from Amazon today and I can't wait to read it, it should be really inspirational and Chrissie is one of my favourite athletes- in fact one of the greatest ever to have competed in any sport and sadly under recognised for all of her achievements both in and out of sport.

 

 

 

Cycling
00:45:09 – 8.95 Miles (11.90 MPH / HR Zone 3 / 86% Max / Cadence 76rpm)

The usual Tuesday morning jaunt up the hill.  Only 3 times up and down today as the wind was hell and of course it had to be in to me going up.  As if it is not hard enough anyway.  Then on the way down I had to take it easy as the wind was pretty dodgy when travelling at speed.

Running
01:00:00 - 7.21 Miles (08.19 per mile / HR Zone 3 / 90% Max)

Enough of the going slow and maintaining Heart Rate - Sod that - let's have a bit of a push and see what happens.  Giving it a bit of Chrissie!

Over 7 miles in the hour is what happens!  Now, that might not sound all that impressive but it is a lot faster over a sustained distance than I have run in about 7 months.  It felt OK surprisingly and I honestly felt like I could have held the pace for another mile or two.  Pretty pleasing and especially so as the uphill miles were actually faster than the downs and flats.  How did that happen?

This was not really part of the training plan but what the hell - let's live dangerously. (although it is hardly being a real rebel is it?)