Category: Training

Ironman training: Robs Blog: Week 9 2017

Mar

2017

It was like someone pulled the plug out of me this week. All motivation and energy were gone and I ended up in a sort of holding pattern. I only managed a couple of short runs during the week and one decent one on Sunday but otherwise the week was a bit of a non event.

Luckily enough it doesn’t happen to me too often but occasionally I just completely lose the desire to train. I used to just stop completely when this happened, sometimes for as much as a couple of weeks, and of course I would end up losing a lot of the progress I’d made. Now though I try to just tick over with very easy, short runs or bikes so that at the very least I hang onto whatever fitness I’ve gained and it also serves as an easy recovery week.

That’s what this week became. Hopefully things will be back to normal next week. Click on through for this weeks fairly short update… Read More

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Freespeed: 35 ways to go faster in Ironman that aren’t training

Mar

2017

It’s like the holy grail of triathlon. How do I get faster without training more. Where is the best place to spend money and what gives me the biggest bang for my buck? Everyone looks to Tri bikes and deep section carbon wheels first (Which is good because that’s what I’m selling in the day job) but there are a lot of much more economical ways to “buy speed” or even go after “free speed” some of which might surprise you. Click on through for the good stuff…

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Ironman training: Robs Blog: Week 8 2017

Mar

2017

Some days you’re the hammer. Some days you’re the nail.

Today I was the nail. And the hammer was not really a hammer, more like a 40 ton steam roller….

For the last number of weeks our Sunday run in the Phoenix park has been a gradually building sort of affair. It started off at two hours, all easy. Then we stretched it to three hours and as we became comfortable with the distance we started adding a little pace into the last hour.

The last two weeks saw us build the pace from the half way point and run a strong negative split for the second half.

This week Ais wanted me to run with a faster group from the start and see how I got on. A couple of the lads from that group said they had been averaging 5 minute k’s for their 20k run for the last few weeks.

Grand, I thought. That should be comfortable.

Famous last words.

The pace did start at 5 min/k’s but the speed gradually crept up until by about the 10k point we were running 4:15/k pace. I was working fairly hard but still confident that I could manage another 10k at that pace.

The problem was that while the group I was running with only had 10k left I had another 24k to go. I knew I wouldn’t last that long at this pace so three of us backed off a little.

In the end we finished out the first 20k lap in about 1h30 and after a quick pitstop at the car to grab a gel and some water I headed out for another 12-14k.

Four of the others were extending their run a little so started out with me but cut out after ten minutes.

All except Barry.

I was surprised to see him still running with me so asked him how long he was doing. We had met him near the end of our first lap and he had jumped in with us. He said he was happy to do as much as I was.

Without trying to sound like I was making excuses I told him I wouldn’t be going too quickly. I was already a little fried after the first lap and was just making up time on my feet.

Barry answered that he was happy to run at whatever pace I liked as he was only making a return to training. I was still very dubious that I wouldn’t be slowing him down too much. Barry Minnock is a sub 2:20 marathon runner. In fact I think he also has the Olympic “B” standard qualifying time for the marathon so chugging along with me at 4:40/k must have felt like being out for a brisk walk.

I’m surprised he wasn’t shivering. Anyway he dragged me through another 13k and I finished up doing 33k in just over 2 hours 35.

I’ve seen a couple of minutes improvement over the three hours most weeks since the beginning of the year without too much effort. If I’d started off today with the ambition of lopping off over 20 minutes in one fell swoop I would have told you that was probably a tad ambitious and to be honest I probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to try without firstly the push from Ais, then the group and lastly from Barry. Sometimes you can pleasantly surprise yourself.

Lets get on with the weeks training…

Monday 20 2:00 (1)

Bike 2:00 60k turbo

This was another one of those lactate threshold sets. Very unpleasant while doing it but savagely satisfying afterwards.

Tuesday 21 —

Off

Wednesday 22 2:25 (2)

AM: Run 1:40 16.5k hills.

PM: Run :45 10k

Thursday 23 1:50 (2)

Swim 1:05 2800 Paddles set

Run :45 8k easy run

Friday 24 1:10 (1)

Run 1:10 12k

Saturday 25 2:30 (1)

Bike 2:30 57k

Sunday 26 2:40 (1)

Run 2:40 33k

This is the run I talk about at the start of the post. Enough said.

Total 12:35 (9)

Swim 1:05 2800 (1)

Bike 4:30 117k (2)

Run 7:00 89.5k (6)

S&C —

Accumulated

Total 46:15 (31)

Swim 3:55 10,300 (4)

Bike 18:30 447k (8)

Run 22:25 260.5k (17)

S&C 1:00 (2)

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My #killersession part 4: BDT: Big day Training

Mar

2017

My favorite training session of all is what we call big day training. I just love how epic it feels. I love the idea that on any random Monday while the rest of the world rolls into work I could be doing 80-90% of an Ironman in training. Of course I it takes months and even years to build up to this sort of session. I start with a more manageable big day but the fitter I get the bigger the session gets. We start BDT early in the season and gradually build it up until we hit about 7-8 hours. Click on through for the details of this monster day.

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Ironman training Volume v’s Intensity

Mar

2017

One of the most common Ironman training questions we get is regarding training volume v’s intensity. How much should people train and how hard should they go. Can they possibly get faster by training slower? And can intensity deliver better results than big volume? Click on through for the good stuff…

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Ironman Triathlon Training Consistency

Mar

2017

Despite our best intentions we often judge each other based on our first impressions. People look at you and see who or what you are right then. We might look at someone driving a fancy car like a Porsche or Bentley and assume they are wealthy and often think they know something we don’t or have some sort of skill we are missing that allowed them to become rich.

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Choose Hardship

Feb

2017

Choose to lie on, choose a new tv, choose to party, choose cake, choose coffee, choose another beer, choose easy, choose life.

The famous “choose life” bit of Trainspotting doesn’t include the line “choose hardship” and why would it when we are told that life should be easier, more comfortable, richer, tastier, faster or more fun. Why in the world would you choose hardship? Read More

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Ironman Training: Robs Blog: 2017 Week 5

Feb

2017

If you’ve never experienced one it’s difficult to describe just how hard the two hour turbo class we do on Monday’s are. We had one of the lads lose his lunch about 30 minutes into the session this week. He had to spend five minutes in the toilet but then he came down, got back on the bike and finished out the session.
I was really impressed.
I’ve only puked off the side of the bike a couple of times in my 18 years cycling. Once was during a mountain bike race and once in a road bike race. It’s very unpleasant and it’s hard to come back from but Joe dug in and kept going.
We have a couple of spaces left in the current block of classes if you fancy joining us drop Grace a call in the shop and she will sort you out the number is 01 6201000. All you need is a bike, towels, water and your kit. You can even rent a turbo if you don’t have your own and we will provide the bucket if you can push hard enough that you need one. Just ask Joe.
Anyway let’s get on with the weeks training.

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Ironman Training: Robs Blog: Week 4 January 2017

Feb

2017

I started the year really tired and feeling almost burnt out. It took quite a bit longer to recover from the last few races of 2016 than I’d anticipated but as we get to the end of January I’m finally starting to feel normal again.

I’m also really enjoying the feeling of returning fitness and the unique buzz that comes from just running. Most of my training this month was done on my feet which means that I’ve made reasonably quick initial progress as I mostly just focus on the one sport.

Even with the gains I’ve made though, it’s hard at this stage to see how I’ll hold my target marathon pace for 26 miles. I know I shouldn’t focus or worry about something that is still over two months away but every so often (usually when I’m struggling during some of my faster efforts) I can’t help but wonder how the hell I’ll run this fast for hours…

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How to train for an Ironman Triathlon

Feb

2017

This post will look just what is involved in training for an Ironman triathlon and how to get started. We will also look at how much time do you need to train each week. We will detail how much training is actually involved in just crossing the finish line versus how much training is needed to be competitive. We will look at what’s the best way to split your training time and offer some suggestions about how to best fit Ironman into your life without coming home to find a suitcase on the doorstep. Click on through for all the good stuff.

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Ironman training: Robs Blog: Week 9 2017

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