Winter miles = Spring smiles

Well I needed a kick in the butt. That and a weekend away with my fabulous wife (she'll be running too)

I have my #Zero25k group starting again this weekend which is a start again for me - I haven't ran in joy (or anger) properly since August really. The odd trot here and there but just an extended period of laziness have taken hold of me.

Yes, we're busy and the kids have us wrecked but that's no excuse really. There is time to be found, created, had. I'm just lazy at the mo'.

All set to change!!

Yes, sir it sure is. New shoes, new goals, new plans, new coach, new year. Here I come..:D

[Training Diary] The curse of exuberance...

W/C May 25th

Solid start to the week last week. First week training after the #Coast2Coast adventures with +Edel O'Reilly-Conroy.

[Training Diary] Where to from here?

Having just finished up with the #Coast2Coast Adventure last weekend it is time to revisit the diary and plan the space between now and the Beast of Ballyhoura in August. (You can read all the race reports on the #TriHarder website and check out the video on my Youtube Channel)

 Training from here is going to be mostly fully focussed on the Beast and we have a couple of warmup events planned that the team will be tackling to zone ourselves in on the tasks ahead (check #TriHarder for details).

 Here in my personal space my training is longer term aimed at Dublin Marathon and achieving the elusive 3:15 goal that I have chased the last 2 times at marathon distance. I have signed up to the follow the Experienced Marathon plan that my friend Dave has developed for our own running groups you are more than welcome to join in, full information in the link to all the program levels.

 I have taken this week off.

Mostly I have been too tired to really get stuck into anything bar a 20minute swim on Tuesday. Straight back to work on Monday is not ideal but has to be done.

 Thankfully following the Beast we are taking a week off to chill with the kids and maybe go camping for a few days.

[Training Diary] #TurboTuesday - back on the bike with #TunneysTurbo

First time on the turbo in a long time to give the new thread a go with #TunneysTurbo session. Badly needed kick in the a$$!!

The session was quite straightforward ....on paper! Warm up, spin up/down and 5 x 4mins LTHR+10 / 2min easy - cool down.

As I have yet to sort out an upgrade on my Power Pedals I am working off Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) as a guide to the effort asked for by the session. Ideally this would be a power based workout using an accurately tested FTP +% as a metric for the workout.

The session as it looks on the V800

With a doubt as to where exactly my LTHR is at the moment I just went off RPE and 'power' feedback from the Tacx Flow to guide efforts relatively.

Knowing that the legs were tired following from the exertions of Craughwell 10 on Sunday, it was a matter of SIU and pushing through.

1st rep might have been a tad on the safe side of effort but I lifted effort and used gearing for each of the other reps to keep the effort up there.

Heart Rate graph - despite a fan and open doors the temp went up!

Happy with the first outing back on the turbo in a long time. I'd forgotten how long it takes to set up, between laptops, tyres and finding my bike shoes! As well as 10 mins looking for an extension lead!!

Looking forward to the next one! :)

Going Coast to Coast in Ireland

Time for me to step up to the plate and register for some other races in 2015.

My wife has expressed interest in Adventure Racing so after a bit of discussion and looking around we settled on taking on the Non-Stop Coast to Coast Challenge from Co. Sligo to Co. Down in May for our own bit of team building exercise:

16 – 17 MAY 2015 – ENNISCRONE, Co SLIGO – NEWCASTLE, Co DOWNNON – STOP & 2 DAY MULTISPORT RACE ACROSS IRELANDIreland, an island steeped in history and mythology with scenery which rivals that of any other sights around the globe. For many years visitors have flown or sailed to Irish shores to take in these sights and to go home with great memories of this fantastic island. For one week in May many travelling will have their sights set on a truly iconic event – the 26 Extreme Coast to Coast Multisport Race Across Ireland.
Traversing Ireland in a west to east format the route of the 26 Extreme Coast to Coast will pass through unspoilt rural locations, through quaint villages and along one of the most famous waterways in Ireland – The Shannon – Erne Waterway. Whether you choose to race the NON-STOP version or the TWO DAY version you will follow a route which winds its way along 316km of the best cycling, paddling and running terrain Ireland has to offer. Competitors will be truly astounded at the scenery and challenge laid down before them in this fantastic event.

We’re entered to do the Non-Stop version.

Ireland – Coast to Coast – Saturday 16th to Sunday 17th May 2015
Course Option: Non-Stop
Team Type: Pair
Class: Mixed
Club: Team #TriHarder ARTeam Type Name: Gotta Run
Team Member 1: Sean Conroy
Team Member 2: Edel Conroy

Apart from enjoying the experience and completing the main goal for us is to see how we get on together working as a different kind of team, without the kids around!! 

As most Adventure Racers will know there is a dynamic to the team and how it works together before and during a race. It is this dynamic that I think will be different because we are a couple and life partners too. I’m really looking forward to this as it opens a whole lot of new doors for us. What else could be better than finding out that both of you love Adventure Racing?!

Imagine a whole new world opening up for holiday destinations!! 

I've laid out my training diary and goals for each week, I'll post shortly with those. Be sure to follow Team #TriHarderAR as the entire team continues to work on core training fitness towards this years bug goal race.

–

See you out there!

Sean

Post Lactate Threshold testing

Last Thursday I was over with +Matthew Bidwell of Fitness Analytics in Claregalway to have my Lactate Threshold Tested. I planned a really long and complicated post explaining what the process was but with HR being so individual I decided to just summarise it and show what it means to my training.

[10km Focus] - Week 1: The plan so far...

The plan so far has been of the 'wing it' variety. It is also likely to remain so for the next few weeks too.

I'm working on base mileage and introducing speed work as I go with increasing focus on longer and longer tempo sessions at slightly faster than race pace but the lynchpin of the training, I believe, will be based on interval sessions of 200m and 400m repeated over and over and over bringing these down to 47 & 95 seconds respectively.

So far this week has looked like this:

40	29 Sep 2014	9.5	00:50:07							146	00:05:16	782
40	29 Sep 2014	9.5	00:49:00							150	00:05:09	802
40	30 Sep 2014					9.5	00:19:54			134		267
40	30 Sep 2014					9.53	00:20:26			132		266
40	1 Oct 2014	9.47	00:47:26							148	00:05:00	757
40	2 Oct 2014	9.5	00:49:34							141	00:05:13	723
40	2 Oct 2014	9.46	00:49:56							143	00:05:16	745

Green is running (km and time), Orange is bike (km and time). In Pink is Average Heart Rate, Pace (running) and Calories, I'll keep this format going forward, oh and blue is swimming! (Once upon a time!!)

Wednesday evening (1st Oct) was the interval session:

• Warmup - 3km
• 8 x 
• 200m in 55secs
• 200m recovery

• Cooldown - 3km 

Happy enough that I brought the 200's in around 47-48seconds each.

Another double run Saturday and possibly a longer steady pace run on Sunday should have a decent block of running to start this program with.

Thank you @Orca_Triathlon for your Team #TriHarder support

One of the emails last week form the organisers of the +BeastofBallyhoura mentioned that wetsuits were advised for a portion of the event which will be water based:

Wetsuits
We'll transport your wetsuits to the start of the swim, to be honest we don't think you'll need to use them so it might be best to keep them in your teams dry bag for use later on in the race.
We've requested that each person brings a full length wetsuit, both arms and legs, the section with the water based task will be the main area we expect teams to wear these, if you read the website we've said that they will be used in caving/coasteering type activities in other words there may be some rocks about, these could be likely to do damage to both you and your wetsuit. When the task was tested both us and our wetsuits came to no harm but we would like to keep you all in the race to the finish line so please make sure you bring the kit we are asking for, it's there for a reason. By the way the water will be cold ;) The long arms and leg cover will protect you from both the cold and the rocks.

 This put the fear of God in us. As you may know triathletes are fierce proud of their top notch equipment and the thoughts of damaging my precious Orca 3.8 frankly caused a lack of sleep.

A call to my friendly Orca manager had him coming to our assistance with a bevy of TRN wetsuits which would be capable of taking a thrashing and our good suits would come to no harm!

Whew!!!

What's the TRN wetsuit?

Well briefly it was developed as a training suit so you could thrash it on the beach, in the pool, in rough water, exit, egress conditions and not worry about damaging the top quality race suits like the Sonar, 1.5 or 3.8.

Here's the skinny:

Orca's TRN is the world's first ever training-specific wetsuit. If you're after a second wetsuit for regular training, look no further. This reliable, durable complement to your race gear offers you the best of both worlds: enabling you to potect your higher end wetsuit while serving as a solid companion to your sea or pool training. The TRN lite's 2mm smooth skin neoprene front and back with flat lock stitching balances flexibility, buoyancy and thermal protection. 2mm Yamamoto 39-cell neoprene on the shoulder panels provides excellent range of motion. High strech jersey side panels offer flexibility and comfort through the full swim stroke and kick. The TRN lite's polyester lining helps protect it from the effects of chlorine and warm water.

Hats off to Orca for rowing in at a moment's notice and thank you very much for the help and support from all at Team #TriHarder.

Tracking the Beast

3 more sleeps!!!

The emails are coming thick and fast with information on gear and preparations required. It's definitely not about who can bike the best, or run the best or the fastest swimmer.

Something entirely new for most of Team #Triharder for sure, but we're relishing the challenge and are most definitely up for it at the weekend. The training has been done, the team building has been done, it's all going to come down to putting it all together on the day(s) and making it happen for each other.

More information about the stages and preparing for them is being 'leaked' out on email over the past few days and when we are going from a a guesstimated 4-6 hours Stage 1 to a minimum 10 hour Stage 1 you know there is a new level of sadism involved in the organistation especially when you are being warned of blood sucking ticks, nettle beds and brambles.

(I actually googled some tick images to embed them here and my skin started to crawl, so I left them out, see how nice I am to you!)

Anyway there is a live tracker set up which will be active on the weekend www.beastofballyhoura.com/live you can follow along the 'progress' of Team #TriHarder and there's plenty of craic on Twitter all this week too!! Join us via my own feed @Amphkingwest with the hashtag #TriHarder

Look forward to hearing from you :)

A quick word about our sponsors...@RonhillUK.

As you may know I am training as part of Team Triharder to take part in The Beast of Ballyhoura.

I am lucky in my position with work to be in touch with some of the most amazing specialist brands on the market (all of whom we stock in +Amphibian King West - Galway and +Amphibian King West - Limerick )

As part of our mandatory kit for The Beast we are required to have fully waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers.

As it turns out +RonhillUK have off the shelf specialist jackets and trousers and are supporting Team Triharder with a complete set for each team member!!

Awesome, thankyou Ronhill!!

Spec on the Trail Tempest Jacket-

• Market leading super-lightweight waterproof running jacket
• Aqualite fabric
• Mountain marathon event regulation spec
• Just 250 grms.
• 2.5 layer hydrophilic coating
• Waterproof to a minimum 10,000mm hydrostatic head
• Breathable: minimum 15,000 g/m2/24hours (mVtr)

Spec on the Trail Tempest Trousers-

• Super lightweight, waterproof, & complementary, running pant for the trail tempest Jacket.
• Aqualite fabric
• Mountain marathon event regulation spec
• Just 166 grms.
• 2.5 layer hydrophilic coating
• Waterproof to a minimum 10,000mm hydrostatic head
• Breathable: minimum 15,000 g/m2/24hours 
•  

Other equipment suppliers will be coming on board. If you have a product you feel is suitable for Adventure Racing and would like us to field test or review, we'd be delighted to help :)

I wanted momentum

I said last week I wanted to "keep the momentum going for a while". Well by definition:

The momentum of an object will never change if it is left alone. If the 'm' value and the 'v' value remain the same, the momentum value will be constant.

By increasing mass or velocity you can increase the momentum. I want to decrease the mass (body weight) and conserve the momentum so I have to increase the velocity (quanity of training) proportionally.

So

Tuesday 22nd April
Little light recovery run after helping with putting the kids to bed.

Run: 7.53km, HRAvg 143bpm, PaceAvg 05:41/km

I messed up my morning on Thursday and missed an opportunity to do a session before work. I drove to Limerick & back as I had mixed up where I was working. I'm blaming sleep deprivation :(

Friday 25th April
Out on the bike. Still missing my Polar CS600x head unit so not getting to do any work to power at all. Out on one of my favourite race preparation courses. I hit the main N6 between Oranmore & Loughrea, a rolling route with a few drags and always a bit of wind!

I hit Loughrea and took off out the link road which is a Club TT route that we use. Of course just as I got into rhythm I could hear the phone ringing in my pocket. It was an expected & important call so I got to mid point and called back.

From here I spinned back home with a nice tailwind :D

TT Bike: 75.31km, HRAvg 152bpm, SpeedAvg 28.8km/h

Saturday 26th April
Very similar to last week I had my #Zero25k run group in Oranmore to take out so time for a little 'Runmute'. Was up early so got porridge and coffee into me all set with a fantastic morning for a run.

Lap 1: 50.09 / 9.81km / HRAvg 151bpm
Lap 2 - 10: is the Zero25k sessions
Lap 12: 52.37 / 9.59km / HRAvg 152bpm

Arriving back home in time for work.

Run: 23.82km, HRAvg 148bpm, PaceAvg 05:36/km

Sunday 27th April
Early morning text has me out towards Claregalway to meet up with Paul. Delighted to say I found my bike computer so the Power was back on! Plan was time in the saddle but Gibbo had other plans. As mentioned in Training logs elsewhere, his easy and everyone else's easy are two entirely different things.

It was a great morning, just the right side of chilly with plenty of sunshine and hills.

TT Bike: 92.9km, HRAvg 142bpm, SpeedAvg 26.8km/h, PowerAvg 197

Good week all told. Even squeezed my first swim of the year in during a wetsuit demo. It'll be grand :)

35km run total, 185km bike total for the week.

We have momentum!

That's more like it.

Lalalala, long weekend!!

Bit of time off over the long weekend meant I got stuck into a relatively solid bit of training. It had been a poor week as the roll over from the events of the previous Saturday night (daughter in A&E), van breaking down etc etc disrupted the entire family.

Cut to the chase and get back on track.

Friday 18th April

Was going out on the bike early but settled for a turbo as I could be at home in case I was needed. Stuck 'The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug" on the laptop and spun my Roveagh to Limerick GPX route. Just solid staedy state stuff hovering around threshold effort.

Turbo: 56.2km, HRAvg 146bpm, Duration 02:26

Saturday 19th April
Had my #Zero25k run group in Oranmore to take out so time for a little 'Runmute'. Fantastic morning for a run so with a little light toast, nutella & banana (coffee too!!) I was off out the door.

Lap 1 51.12 / 9.56km / HRAvg 148bpm
Lap 2 - 12 is the Zero25k sessions
Lap 13 53.29 / 9.49km / HRAvg 150bpm

Arriving back home time for breakfast proper, took a gel just before the run back, and then prep for work.

Run: 23.03km, HRAvg 146bpm, PaceAvg 05:49/km

Sunday 20th April

I went out early to lay out the Easter Egg hunt for the kids in Kilcornan Woods. After all the storms there is a huge amount of damage in there with a lot of trees down over each other. It made for a magical glade of discovery for the little ones who really enjoyed themselves.



After that it was out on the MTB for a quick loop to ensure all was in order. It was.
I also managed to map the planned 5k loop for The School Run in June.

MTB: 10.26km

Monday 21st April
MTB and run planned. Do a bit on the bike and run off the bike, back on & off a few times.

Body quite sore after the previous days efforts but to be honest I think digging the vegetable garden was the biggest culprit!

I got out nice and early, the woods were fantastic, just me, the trees and nature. As the trails are twisty, technical trails I was never expecting much other than time in the saddle and that's what I got.

Total:  20.98km, HRAvg 129bpm, Duration 02:13 Here's the file.

Then it was back to double digging and cleaning the vegetable garden for 2 hours in the afternoon! Cross training :)

Now I just need to keep the momentum going for the next while.

Well that escalated quickly

Not a training update but a state of affairs update.

I had a notion at the start of the week and I thought the worst had happened on Saturday morning with the bike mini-disaster.

Not so.

On her way to bed my daughter slipped and smacked the back of her head off the sink. We did all that was advised, iced it, no loss of consciousness, watched her, spoke with her and when she fell asleep naturally an hour later we were somewhat relieved but still worried.

Being woken at 3:40am to be told your daughter vomited is one way to do a super transition. I was fully dressed, in the car, engine running and on the way to the hospital before my two eyes were open.

Blood pressure, ok. Blood oxygen 99%, superb. Alertness, good for a little girl at silly o'clock.

Text to wife, to say Dr. ok but keeping her under observation for 24hours.

Little one napped, I sat vigil until we moved to the ward (got to see London Marathon on the TV) in the morning and mum came in to tag me out so I could take over with the little man at home.

Needless to say training was not a priority as a result of that and weekly goals went.

Back wheel keeps on turning

That's all that went through my head as I pushed off from the junction.

Clipping into the pedals, the legs spun and spun and spun. What the heck?! Momentum carried me across the road before realising that it is now time to CLIP OUT!! as the back wheel keeps on turning and you are going nowhere.

8 years of faithful service in cycling and the freehub has finally packed in. Good innings, just not convenient when I'm already pushed for time anyway.

I did Tweet the start of the week:

When your van battery is dead on a Monday morning you get the sinking feeling it could be one of 'those' weeks.
— Amphibian King -Sean (@amphkingwest) April 7, 2014

And it's haunting me. Good week training, but now a little mini-disaster that will force a change for Sunday.

Thursday 10th April
Day off as long day driving and working in Limerick. Changing this next week.

Friday 11th April
Limerick again and while I'd a rough idea to run am and turbo pm, between staff arrangements and travel it meant I would be back in Oranmore for the evening, so #runmute home

Run: 9.6km, HRAvg 151bpm, Pace Avg 05:15

Saturday 12th April
Aimed to run into that the #Zero25k group but a late wake up left be scrabbling for my bike.
Positive - meant extra few km on the bike = less pessure on Sunday
Negative - short on run km so make-up required.

As per intro, plan went to hell in a handbag. Required a pick up and delivery to bring the group out as arranged (30 eager souls ready & 'willing' to run). I'll need a run this evening as out early doors to do a looonnnng cycle on my TT bike.

Run: 3.8km HRAvg 131 bpm, Pace Avg 08:34

Might miss the bike target for the week but solid start & room for improvement next week.

Thanks for reading.

Rollin', rollin', rolling...

Laid out my plan, I did.

Goal is 40-50k running and 200k cycling for the next 3 weeks and then work from there. Shock the system back into action, kick this ass into gear burn off some excess kg's and crack on.

Monday 7th April
Treadmill running, nice and steady planned but just to alleviate the drone I threw in a km with a little bit of pace.

Funny now but not at the time.

Not much pace mind you but enought to have me thinking: "Man 4:45 per km and your struggling for 1k!!" The annoying thing sbout using the phone for music is the constant bleat and whistle of Twitter, Facebook and email alerts (Note to self - Airplane Mode in future). Anyway one of the emails was a response to an enquiry to a CMod from earlier in the day which needed an immediate action from me. Hence the step off for a moment.

Run: 8.01km, HRAvg 136bpm, Pace Avg 05:49

Tuesday 8th April
One of my usual favourite runs in the woods. Two loops reversing for the second loop. Wearing the Hoka Bondi trail / road shoe & my quads are thrashed!! These will take a bit of getting used to, or maybe my runs are just not long enough yet.

Night time run so had the place to myself pretty much and it was lovely.

Run: 12.06km, HRAvg 157bpm, Pace Avg 05:30

Wednesday 9th April
Turbo time with Tacx.

Using one of the preprogrammed workouts with rolling hills I went for a little over an hour, steady and solid. Missing my bike computer head at the moment so no power info to refer to.

HRM kinda mirrored the gradient too.

Turbo: 33km, HRAvg 141bpm

Good start, now to keep going for the rest of the week. Long day Thursday as in Limerick and late night shopping on Friday so plan to keep the run / bike / run / bike going through to the weekend.

As always comments or suggestions welcome.

Unleash the Beast!

So 2014 started for me with no clear cut race to target and this is probably the reason for the slump and lack of drive to train. Previously I'd targetted a 70.3 or similar race in the previous autumn, a year ahead, well at least this is how I approached the Ironman Galway 70.3 and I'd work other races in along the way.

For this year, slow start but a road map is forming.

Lough Cutra Triathlon - The Gauntlet is on my radar. I haven't been swimming but that doesn't usually make a difference to me. In fact my best swim was at The Humbert Challenge in 2013 and I'd stopped all training 6 weeks beforehand! By May25th I'll be well able for the 90k bike and 21k run and if nothign else it's a 6 hour training event.

After that a weeklong family trip is planned for June and then it's the 5 week countdown to The Beast of Ballyhoura.

I'm part of a boards.ie team and while I've no regrets, I do wonder why I'm so quick to put my hand up for things like this. The Beast of Ballyhoura is a 40hour long adventure race.

Not one of those offroad multisport type of races generally referred to as 'messing', but a real guts or glory adventure race when you are expected to be ready for 40 hours and 300km of:

• Mountain biking – teams should be prepared for a range of riding including single track, steep hills, gravel roads and sealed roads.


• Trekking – will involve travelling by foot through rugged and diverse terrain. The Irish hills can be wet and boggy in places. 


• Kayaking – kayaks will be provided by race organizers. Kayaking may be on inland rivers or lakes. Generally kayaking will be permitted during both day and night. Some of the rivers may have weirs. Teams will be advised in advance about any obstacles.


• Swimming - teams will be required to cross rivers. We are looking at the possibility of a short swim for all team members, this won’t be any more than 150 meters, PFD’s will be available if you feel you need one.


• Rope work. Could include abseiling, traversing, ascending etc.


• Orienteering – orienteering is an extremely important part of the race. The course is not marked and teams are required to navigate using maps.


• Special - as always you should expect some surprises, and special tasks

Training wise, where I stand now, the goal for the next 3 weeks is solid base work and miles in the legs of minimum 150km running (road & trail mix) 600km of cycling (likely mix of road & turbo for now).

Follow my training using the tags 'Beast of Ballyhoura' or 'Training Diary'

Are you along with me for the journey?

Start again?

Finally a bit of training being done.

I'm one of those types that needs a purpose to train. I gave myself the goal of cycling down to Lough Cutra to do a lap of the bike (olympic) course and back as a job that needed doing.

Friday 4th April
So with Friday morning off, myself and Mrs. AKW got out for our first joint bike ride in ages. With a couple of obstacles in the way we'd a bit of backtracking to do, so all in all nice comfortable 30k

Bike: 28.8k, HRAvg 135bpm

Saturday 5th April
I've also started a new session of our #Zero25k group from +Amphibian King West - Galway  on Saturday mornings which will run over the next few weeks right up to June 8th. Last year this worked out nicely as I'd run in, do the session and run home before doing the day in the shop. It means 30k or so done nice and early and a great way to cap the week.

Run: 3.8k

Sunday 6th April

I'd messaged some of the guys to see it they were up for it and ended up going out in the wind & rain by myself as others contented themselves on the turbo (looking at you Cinders!! :) ) Job done, Lough Cutra loop and back
 
Bike 70k, HRavg 147bpm, Speed Avg 21.6kph

Plan this week is to get the run km's up (40-50km) and end up running in on Saturday morning as well as clocking 200+ km on the bike between outside & turbo.

Summary
Bike: 99km for the week
Run: 3.8km

Groundhog Week

Recently every week seems to be 'do-over again' week.

After feeling rejeuvenated coming from the Paki Ryan pacing gig and the increase in simply training again the whole house has been struck down with chest infection x2, sympathy cold x 1 and a week of broken sleep and sweat-the-beds all round.

All and any planned training went right out the window for the past week.

Couple of good things though.

I was persuaded to visit Derek King of Kingmatics for a Holistic view of my own health. One word, WOW! I'm going to see him again this week.

I managed to take 2 FULL days off in a row!! Hasn't happened since Christmas so it was with delight we brought the kids to see The Lego Movie (again!). If you haven't seen it, borrow a niece or nephew, go see it! It is brilliant!!.

Technically the second day wasn't a day off as I was at events but the atmosphere at the #EnnisDuathlon

 followed quickly by the #Craughwell10 left me feeling vibrant and wanting to head out the door on a run.


It was good to be out and about. I also remembered to bring my camera so I'd good fun shooting pics at both events. There is an #EnnisDuathlon album:

Post by Amphibian King Limerick.

and one for #Craughwell10 too:

Post by Amphibian King West.

We'll see about that run, maybe tomorrow :)