Run, Cycle, Swim

Check out these photos from Saturday's adventure race, and there's plenty more where they came from. Is it any wonder that I'm now frantically trying to figure out a way of doing this next year without having to skip any other major targets? As far as Adventure Races go, this one would suit me perfectly: it is close to home, the kayak part is mercifully short and the cycling part is on the road but still tough enough to stop anyone from saying you chickened out of a proper challenge. I'm not sure if I can fit this in next year; road running will always be my top priority, but I have the sneaking suspicion that I will be on the start line of that event sooner rather than later, and this time I'm not talking about the relay option.

Anyway, my quads were indeed sore on Sunday, though not as bad as they had been after the Wexford half marathon, which leave me hopeful that the real training for Dingle can start sooner rather than later. I did 5 easy miles on Sunday and then opted for the bike on Monday in order to get some blood flowing into the legs without subjecting them to the trauma of running on tarmac. It wasn't until the end of the workout that I thought I should have turned this into a brick workout with a short running section. Maybe next time.

Today I received a benefit for sacrificing my legs for the team on Saturday in form of a swim buddy for an open water swim. My swimming has taken a dive (lousy pun, sorry) since the triathlon mainly because I detest having to drive to Killarney and back on my swim mornings. This costs me over an hour of my very precious morning time and I really did not like it. On the other hand, I live in an area called “Caragh Lake”, which should give you a clue for an alternative option. However, I had never dared to swim there because a) I don't want to do it on my own and b) I was worried about an algae infestation. Well, on Saturday Kathryn (who had done the mountain running) told me that the algae had not been blooming this year due to the lack of rain in spring (now that is an unexpected bonus!) and offered to come with me this morning. So we met up at 7 o'clock in the morning at the one available path to the lake, which luckily happens to be merely a quarter mile from home. I also put my Garmin into my swim cap, a trick I had learned from this chap (and this one, too), to get an idea on the distance covered. This worked very well indeed, much better than expected, but Kathryn seemed to have enough after 20 minutes and we called it a day then. I think her thin wetsuit isn't as suited to swimming in Irish waters than mine. Me, I'm very grateful for every molecule of insulation on mine, even though getting in and out seems to be getting more difficult each time.

13 Jun

5 miles, 40:46, 8:09 pace, HR 150

14 Jun

15+ miles cycling

15 Jun

25 minutes swimming

5-4-3-2-1

The alarm went off at 5:15 on Monday as I was planning my one proper long workout for the Cork City marathon. Everything else was just recovery from Connemara, really.

Within a minute I noticed that my legs, especially the right hamstrings, felt very stiff and tired and decided, for the first time ever, to completely abandon the workout and go back to bed.

Then I thought about Saturday’s triathlon, and the fact that now I would not be able to do a speed session this week without tiring myself out for that race, so I turned round for a second time and went ahead with the workout after all.

What I had in mind were 5/4/3/2/1 miles at marathon effort with maybe 2 minutes of recovery in-between. That’s 15 miles of marathon pace, and 18 miles in total. This was going to be tough.

At least as important as the fitness boost from that workout would be the feedback from the pace I would be able to hold. Up to then I had no idea where I was, fitness-wise. Running and recovering from an ultra has messed up my system.

Well, I got going. The 5-mile section was always going to be do-able. I went by feel, and was very surprised by the low heart rate. The legs definitely told me not to go faster, but the HR seemed to be lodged in the high 140s, low 150s. By contrast, I expected to see something closer to 165. That difference is massive. But the pace, 7:00 exactly according to Garmin, was good.

After a brief recovery I launched into the 4-mile part. This started with the only climb of the day, which took some toll on my legs. I managed to make up for that, but I did notice that the pace was faltering towards the end. Had I run too fast?

At that point I took a gel and some drink. This revived me sufficiently to start the 3-mile run with renewed vigour. In fact, I broke 7:00 pace for the first time on this section, and the HR was still below 160. I did start getting tired, but it was definitely manageable.

The last 2 sections were always going to be easy due to their short length. I started the 2-mile section too fast because I was basically chasing after 2 girls who were jogging down the same road and had to put on the breaks when the Garmin told me I was doing 6:12 pace (Thomas you idiot!), and on the last section I just ran fast while still being in full aerobic control without looking at the watch once.

Considering I had very tired legs, this had gone brilliantly. I must be in better shape than expected. I compared this with other workouts for my marathons and found only one, before Boston (10 miles @ 7:18, 10 miles @ 6:48), that seemed better than this. It probably trumped what I had done before Cork in 2008 (17 miles with 15 @ 7:10 pace), so I guess I should be able to better that time (3:09). However, there is only one way to find out and as always in marathons, you only get one shot.

Today, in contrast, I went swimming. I saved the petrol driving to Killarney and went to the sea instead. I was rather nervous about an open water swim early in the morning, and the shock of the cold water literally took my breath away at first. However, 30 seconds later I was swimming properly, and in marked contrast to my 2 previous attempts in Rosbeigh I actually noticed that I was moving. I didn’t stay in there long, about 15 minutes, but now I can sign that waiver in Valentia saying that I have completed an OWS with a clear conscience.

17 May

18 miles, 2:09:01, 7:10 pace, HR 153
incl: 5 miles @ 7:00 (HR 152), 4 @ 7:01 (157), 3 @ 6:58 (157), 2 @ 6:59 (159), 1 @ 6:48 (163)

18 May

15 minutes OWS

Yet Another Weekend

Since I was still stiff as a board even after an off day, Saturday became another easy day of 6 miles. These 6 mile runs seem to have become a staple of my running; I hesitate calling it training because I still remember the times when twice this would have been seen as an easy day. But it set me up for a workout on Saturday.

Following Michael's advice I kept my speed work short and sharp and only did 8x400. By some coincidence, Grellan's latest entry describes a set of 400s as well, and it's interesting to see the differences. For once, he did 10. Secondly, he ran them significantly faster than me; in Daniels' terms, his would have been at R-pace, mine at I-pace. Well, I intentionally held back at each one, running them at my 5K race pace, which equals to 90 seconds per 400, or maybe a second or 2 faster. Even though I didn't check the Garmin while running, that's pretty much the pace I managed to achieve. It was a rather windy day and the repeats kept alternating in and out of the breeze, which is why the even numbered ones were all about 3 seconds faster than the odd ones. With only 8 repeats on the menu, this was over soon enough, whether measured in time or fatigue. Opinions vary wildly, but plenty of people say this is how an interval workout is supposed to be done, at least an I-paced one.

More gardening work didn't help and tired legs led to another easy run on Sunday. I would have loved sleeping in, but at 7:20 Maia walked into our room and rather forcefully demanded breakfast; that was the end of my time in bed. As Niamh later said, just another 16 or so years of that to come.

I might have just complained about my legs, but actually there has been a major improvement this week. The Stick has seen a lot of action, so much so that Niamh commented that I'm sure getting my money's worth out of that thing. Rather than hurting a lot, the legs are now merely stiff from the previous day's training and I finally feel recovered from Connemara and Wexford (which, in hindsight, I should not have raced). With the triathlon coming in a week and the Cork marathon 16 days after that, this may be just in time, but I'm still more than a bit weary about the marathon. I seriously considered pulling out of the race altogether. I had wondered what pace I might be able to achieve, and after Wednesday's run 7:20 seemed optimistic. There will be a pace group going out for 3:15 (7:26 pace), but aiming for a 3:15 marathon seems a bit pointless. It's 10 minutes slower than my PB and I really cannot get excited about this. I feel my only options that seem worthwhile are either to race it and aim for at least 3:10, or jog it to 3:30 and call it a long training run. Anything in-between will take too long to recover from without the chance of providing a satisfactory outcome.

Anyway, let's move on. I also measured my resting HR today. I did the same last week and was shocked to see an inability of my heart to go under 49 beats. That's incredibly high for me. Luckily, my fears were somewhat allayed this morning with a reading of 40, and that coming a day after intervals which probably caused a slightly raised reading. As I've said, I've seen some real improvement this week.

Oh, and I did another open water swim in the sea today. I hope I'll be able to cope next Saturday.

14 May

6.1 miles, 49:44, 8:09 pace, HR 145

15 May

7.1 miles, 51:12, 7:12 pace, HR 160
incl. 8X400 @ 88, 86, 89, 86, 91, 87, 87, 85

16 May

am: 6.1 miles, 50:10, 8:13 pace, HR 138
pm: 20 minutes OWS

Weekend

Saturday
Woke at 6:20, tried for half an hour to get back to sleep, gave up, got up, got ready. Went on bike for what was supposed to be a 90 minute ride but extended it a bit to get to Kate Kearney's Cottage (where the Gauntlet Half Marathon started and finished last November) and missed a turn on the way home. All in all just over 29 miles in 102 minutes, which comes to 17 mph (no, I didn't exactly kill myself). Immediately went for a run to make this a brick workout. The feeling in the legs when running off the bike is very weird, but it didn't slow me down. I started out at about 7:30 and got faster with each step until the average pace was down to 6:48. I had vague ideas of adding a second run later that day, but that fell victim to gardening work which took up the rest of the day.

Sunday
Woke up at 6:15, tried for half an hour to get back to sleep, gave up, got up, got ready. Had planned to run longer but sore legs convinced me to take it easy, so 6 miles at easy pace it was. More gardening work followed, but I stopped at 5 o'clock to drive to Rosbeigh for my first open water swim. I felt like a right langer walking down to the beach in my wetsuit but it worked a treat; while my feet were freezing, the rest of me felt fine. I didn't stay in long, but I now know what's in store. Ideally I'd like to do another OWS before the tri, but we'll see.

The weather was much better than forecast. At least I think she said there would be scattered showers, but I tend to get slightly distracted by the tight fitting leather dresses worn by the weather lady. I thought it might be early signs of an oncoming midlife crisis, but apparently I'm not alone.

Thank God tomorrow is Monday. I'm shattered and need some office hours for recovery.

8 May

29 miles cycling, 1:42, 17mph
3 miles, 20:29, 6:48 pace, HR 158

9 May

6.1 miles, 48:34, 7:57 pace, HR 143
open water swim