Allowing that you all probably don’t get here every week but might like an overview of how the year is shaping up so far I thought I’d summarise how things have been going. I’ll cover both how we feel things are going and what the numbers are. Read More
Pupper is outside the back door and barks to be let in. When Ais opens the door she comes in proudly carrying a bone like a trophy. She drops it on the floor, looks at it blankly then barks at it.
“The bone” I think “The big doofus is barking at the bone” and vaguely wonder why. But this is Pupper. There doesn’t really need to be a why.
The bark attracts Coopers attention. He wanders on over to see what the fuss is. He looks first at Pupper doing the barks then looks down at the bone.
Cooper takes one more look at Pupper then picks up the bone and walks off with it.
Pupper’s left standing there wondering what’s just happened. Whatever it was it doesn’t seem to be what she intended. She looks puzzled. It’s hard to picture a Boxer looking puzzled but Pupper somehow manages to pull it off.
“What do you think she was barking at?” I ask Ais. She just shrugs.
“What do you think is going through her head when she does something like that?” I ask.
“Candy floss” Ais answers. “That’s all there is in there, candy floss” Read More
When I looked at this weeks training plan I mistakenly wondered out loud “Is this meant to be an easy week?”
This was then answered with just the tiniest hint of annoyance…
“Why don’t you come back next Sunday and let me know if you still think that was an easy week” Read More
People ask us all the time about nutrition as it relates to sport, health and what we eat in general. I guess they ask me because I’m skinny. At six foot tall (ok 5’11 3/4″) and usually hovering at around 68 kilos I probably look like I know what I’m doing food wise. It’s very important to note that I’m not a nutritionist, neither of us are for that matter but I guess we have found what works. For us at least.
If I’m honest I think we have probably found what works for most people. There isn’t anything magic about what we do. We both fall of the broccoli, salad and boiled chicken wagon regularly enough. Most often landing face first in something that contains chocolate or is entirely made of chocolate. But most of what we do is simple, straight forward and sustainable.
Ais woke me early with a coffee in bed. I was sitting there looking at some rubbish on Facebook or Twitter when Ais suggested that seeing as we were up earlier than we’d planned I had time to get in a swim before our meeting in the city.
I didn’t need to be told twice and grabbed my swim bag and another coffee on the way out the door. Read More
Due to athlete demand we have added a second Ironman / 70.3 Turbo/brick class on Saturday mornings. We now have a two hour Ironman specific option available as well as the four hour class.
If you’re training for Ironman or 70.3 this year this session is made for you with Ironman specific intervals and technique work.
Click through for all the details Read More
We sat down on Sunday evening to write out my plan for next week. I’m itching to get into what I think of as proper training since I got back from Lanza. This week has been fairly moderate as Ais was careful to make sure I’m recovered and ready to go again before ramping up the load.
I’m sitting there impatiently pen in hand, note book open. Picture a poor hungry orphan sitting there, cutlery in hand waiting impatiently for the food to be dished up.
Ais starts with a question.
“What do you think of starting back with the big days this week, maybe on Thursday? You could go into work late. Swim, bike, run?” Read More
We had a few Irish athletes racing at the Ironman 70.3 Dubai yesterday and incredibly the winner of the overall womens amateur race was an Irish athlete living in Dubai. Deirdre Casey completely dominated the race winning by almost 13 minutes and leading from gun to tape. Click on through for her details and for the top Irish finishers at the race.
I woke early and had some work to do before heading to the pool. I had intended on doing an hour or so but when I started swimming I was really tired. Right from the first length I was arguing with myself that I needed an easy day. I added up my training hours so far this week in my head and thought I had about sixteen hours so far and I told myself that with two more big days over the weekend I’d still get close to thirty hours done.
The arguments went back and forth in my head as I slowly clocked off the laps. I eventually decided that if I did 1500 meters I could call that a reasonable swim, anything less would be embarrassing.
“You should start an Ironman specific turbo class on a Saturday morning in the new training room in the shop on a Saturday morning” Ais suggested.
“That sounds like a good idea” I answered “How long of a session have you in mind?”
“Four hours” Ais answered.
“Jaysus” I thought that’s a bit epic.
If you’re training for Ironman or 70.3 this year this session is made for you with Ironman specific intervals and technique work. We might even take a short coffee break at the two hour point to give your backside a break. Click through for all the details Read More
