17/03/2014
4.5km run in 18:45.
BOOM PB! Even with leg soreness. Now on to sub 18:30.
18/03/2014
4 minutes of:
20s ab exercise
10s hold with legs and shoulders off the floor
(This was really tough halfway through, really got the abs burning)
8 hill sprints. Tough, but definitely recovering better than I was a month ago so definitely making progress here
19/03/2014
AM
30 minutes on my mountain bike. Didn’t record distance.
PM
Insert:
2 sets of Complexes, 8 reps with 40kg:
Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Barbell Row
Power Clean
Push Press
Squats
Strength Work:
Romanian Deadlift: 60/5, 100/5, 120/5, 140/5 (PR), 100/5
Military Press: 60/5, 65/5, 70/5, 75/5, 60/5
Weighted Pull Ups: BW/8, 20/4, 25/3, 30/3, 20/5
Extract:
5 minutes on the erg r20 1:50.5 split. Felt pretty destroyed by this point.
21/03/2014
Swim:
200m warm up
6 x 200m freestyle on 4 minutes.
Stretching session in the sauna
22/03/2014
9.2km run in 44:01. Took this fairly steady today so plenty left in the tank. Had a fairly chilled day, so hoping to be able to smash the training the next week and half before tapering.
23/03/2014
AM
Did somewhere between 9-10k on mountain bike. Found a new trail in the woods that went on for a bit went on roads at other end and had a ride around the local park before coming back.
PM
Insert:
20 (each arm) One arm DB Snatch with 22kg
Strength Work:
Bench Press: 60/5, 80/5, 100/5, 107.5/4, 60/.5
Squat: 60/5, 100/5, 120/5, 140/3, 100/5
Extract:
10 Pull ups
10 Dips
10 Leg Raises
9 Pull ups
9 Dips
9 Leg Raises
.
.
.
1 Pull up
1 Dip
1 Leg Raise
24/03/2014
4.5km in 22.07.
Very slow, my lower back was really tight and I felt extremely uncomfortable, also getting the pain in my left trap again. No excuse I know. First bad session in a while. Plan to foam roll tonight and get agile 8 done before tomorrows run.
25/03/2014
4.5km in 19.10. Not bad, but still a little slow.
26/03/2014
Swim:
200m warmup
5 x 100m freestyle on 1:45
3 x 100m breastroke on 2:00
2 x 100m freestyle on 1:45
Really solid pace on the swim and faster than my triathlon entry time of 7:15 for the 400m swim. Had a lane to myself as swimming club had a competition and it was glorious!
30 minutes on stationary bike at 209 watts per hour.
10 minute run ast 12.6kph.
Solid session, getting used to transition, need to get outside on my bike more, but days like this very good for the fitness and I did more than planned on the swim to take advantage of not having people in my way when swimming. Got my start time for the triathlon and absolutely shitting it now.
28/03/2014
Swim:
400m warm up (mix of all 4 strokes)
25m sprint. 16s (still slower than when I was 11 years old???)
4 x 100m freestyle on 1:40 (this was tough, but solid pace)
Then the swimming club arrived. Went from lane to myself to 5 in a lane. Tried to do another 4 x 100m on 1:50, but got stopped 3 times over 50m. Thought all the students had left as semester had finished, but clearly thought wrong.
29/03/2014
4.5km run in 18.24!
Did not see that coming, but awesome time for me. Made a big difference in running stride doing agile 8 everyday and foam rolling, can’t let that get slack again.
30/03/2014
1 hour ride on my mountain bike (road bike is due to arrive tomorrow). Didn’t measure the distance, but quite a few hills, was destroyed by the end.
3k run. Didn’t time it just getting used to running on bike legs, not done enough of this.
31/03/2014
8.2km on mountain bike (road bike is in but needs to be built). Was tough on the hills, should be a lot easier and quicker on the road bike. Actually appreciated traffic lights for once.
3km run. very slow, had jelly legs from cycling up the hill back to my flat. At least the course for the triathlon is flatter, but need to improve on this, but really hoping the road bike improves efficiency.
02/04/2014
Picked up my road bike. First time on it was a scary experience. The bike is sweet and soooooo much faster than my mountain bike, but very different feeling. Fell off twice and was a bit of blow to my confidence.
03/04/2014
35 minute on my road bike. Only second time on it, but got better throughout and no falls. Hills are way easier on my new Cannondale as well so it will definitely help a lot Sunday assuming I stay on it safely.
4.5km run in 21:29. (Not too bad straight after the bike and lost time as I needed to stretch calves out as felt them twinging. May have to sacrifice 30s to stretch them on the day otherwise I am screwed if they cramp up.
[quote]Ironwarrior25 wrote:
02/04/2014
Picked up my road bike. First time on it was a scary experience. The bike is sweet and soooooo much faster than my mountain bike, but very different feeling. Fell off twice and was a bit of blow to my confidence.
03/04/2014
35 minute on my road bike. Only second time on it, but got better throughout and no falls. Hills are way easier on my new Cannondale as well so it will definitely help a lot Sunday assuming I stay on it safely.
4.5km run in 21:29. (Not too bad straight after the bike and lost time as I needed to stretch calves out as felt them twinging. May have to sacrifice 30s to stretch them on the day otherwise I am screwed if they cramp up.[/quote]
Good to hear about your road bike, but make sure to be careful. Even a simple crash can brake bones. I have ridden my road bike off and on for about 5 years now, and I think I have only had a total of 3 crashes, usually caused by pedestrians jumping in front of me. How did you crash? Cornering too fast?
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[quote]theBird wrote:
[quote]Ironwarrior25 wrote:
02/04/2014
Picked up my road bike. First time on it was a scary experience. The bike is sweet and soooooo much faster than my mountain bike, but very different feeling. Fell off twice and was a bit of blow to my confidence.
03/04/2014
35 minute on my road bike. Only second time on it, but got better throughout and no falls. Hills are way easier on my new Cannondale as well so it will definitely help a lot Sunday assuming I stay on it safely.
4.5km run in 21:29. (Not too bad straight after the bike and lost time as I needed to stretch calves out as felt them twinging. May have to sacrifice 30s to stretch them on the day otherwise I am screwed if they cramp up.[/quote]
Good to hear about your road bike, but make sure to be careful. Even a simple crash can brake bones. I have ridden my road bike off and on for about 5 years now, and I think I have only had a total of 3 crashes, usually caused by pedestrians jumping in front of me. How did you crash? Cornering too fast?
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[/quote]
Yeah man, the road bike is way better than anything I have been on before, it is more my lack of ability riding it. I only learned to ride a bike at 21 and even then not particularly well, so last 2 weeks I have had to improve it massively.
First time I fell off was stationary, just got my feet caught in the pedals. Second time was as I was approaching traffic lights a car squeezed all the room I had then I failed to control my bike well enough and clipped the pavement. Luckily neither were at too high speed.
Found riding road bike very different and I am very nervous for triathlon on Sunday. Really wish I had another month to get used to it, but unfortunately finances delayed me being able to get one. Saying that the speed difference is incredible and going up the hill outside my flat is 10 times easier now than on my mountain bike.
05/04/2014
10km ride on my road bike. Kept it steady and on main roads, just to get used to it. Best ride yet.
06/04/2014
AM
Quick 3km bike ride to warmup. Managed to fucking fall off which was not ideal on the day of the triathlon.
So time for the big event. Given I only learned to ride a bike a few weeks ago and only went on the roads 2 weeks a go for the first time this was a huge challenge.
PM
400m swim: 6:36 (BOSH! felt easy and smashed it)
T1: 4:23 (not bad for first ever transition, my helmet strap got twisted which was annoying, but ok.)
20km cycle: 53:26 (slow time I know, but I was so nervous about being on main roads for this and still need a lot of practice to get my gear shifts efficient, was just happy to complete this safely despite the shit time)
T2: 0:59 (Good!)
5km run 22:18. (Solid)
Total: 1:27:43
Happy to break 90 minutes for my first triathlon. Only the bike was slow and the run was effected because my lower back and hips felt very tight after the cycle so took me a while to find my rhythm. Definitely had more there.
Good work on the triathlon.
I just had my girlfriends friend visit us this weekend. He was visiting town for a triathlon that was on. Apparently he is one of the worlds best and is a contender in the wolds iron-men events. The guy was really slim, and runs effortlessly. It was really nice to watch. I discussed a bit about his running technique, and he really recommends forefoot running with the emphasis on using your glutes and hammies to propel yourself forwards, and letting your feet fall to far in-front of yourself.
It will probably take you awhile before you get used to riding the road bike. I suggest you join a group. They will give you heaps of tips.
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[quote]theBird wrote:
Good work on the triathlon.
I just had my girlfriends friend visit us this weekend. He was visiting town for a triathlon that was on. Apparently he is one of the worlds best and is a contender in the wolds iron-men events. The guy was really slim, and runs effortlessly. It was really nice to watch. I discussed a bit about his running technique, and he really recommends forefoot running with the emphasis on using your glutes and hammies to propel yourself forwards, and letting your feet fall to far in-front of yourself.
It will probably take you awhile before you get used to riding the road bike. I suggest you join a group. They will give you heaps of tips.
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[/quote]
Thanks man. Was pleased with my first go and I know I can get a lot better on my bike which was my biggest weakness. Thinking of doing another in the Summer and once I master the bike I know I can knock huge amounts of time off. Definitely will give group riding a go when I get a bit more confident.
I will be reassessing goals at the weekend and doing a full race writeup.
10/04/2014
So after few days rest, time to hit weights again.
Insert:
1k warm up on erg
3 x 500m sprints on erg with 30s rest averaging 1:42.1 split. Wow this should not have been that tough!
Strength Work:
Squats: 40/3, 60/3, 100/3, 110/3, 120/3, 130/3, 140/3, 100/3, 60/3
Weighted Pull Ups: BW/3, 10/3, 15/3, 20/3, 25/3, 20/3, BW/8
Bench Press: 60/3, 80/3, (stopped due to pain in my wrist again after I did a slightly dodgy clean to get the bar on)
Extract:
3 rounds fast as possible
20 KB Swings with 20kg
20 Knees to Elbows
20KB Swings with 20kg
Notes:
Need to up the conditioning, but after few days rest just wanted to lift reasonable weight and get back into it. Wrist pain was annoying, but 140kg squat felt ok, so will up it next week.
So weekend was bit of a write off. Free bar on Friday and a bit of fun on the side took most of the weekend and most of Sunday was spent watching sport and playing on PS4 and eating junk. So I have been thinking about what I want to do. It is too late in the season for me to do much in rowing or even deserve to do much to be fair. What I would like to do is get back involved maybe learning to scull better and make a concerted effort to step up my fitness and get my weight towards 85kg. NO EXCUSES! There is just over 3 months of rowing season left then there is a triathlon a few weeks after that which would give me chance to better my time from my first one and keep some varied cross training to maintain fitness during off season. The time of from rowing has been great to be free from such as commitment and get settled in my first job as well as deal with my struggling finance issues at the time.
Anyway I thought I would do a full write up on my first triathlon, plus I do like occasionally looking back at these things. I lost my slip so can’t remember all the times, but I have my final time and position.
SWIM 400m:
My entry time was 7 minutes, but I underestimated myself. Despite not huge amounts of time in the pool, the swimming I did when I was younger meant this was no issue. 6:38 for the swim and to get out of the building to first transition and this was after being held up twice by the woman in front, first of all not letting me past when I caught up and then I nearly overlapped her, but I didn’t want to expend anymore energy overtaking with just over 1 length to go as I wanted to be fresh for the bike.
Transition 1:
First time doing this so was a slow one. Just under 5 minutes. First of all I didn’t have elastic laces and I lost time putting socks on, but never having run without socks on figured best not to lose time later being in discomfort and getting blisters. Next time though I will do this without socks and use elastic laces. Then my helmet strap got twisted which was very frustrating. Still I put a lot of this down to inexperience and I left to the bike leg without being too tired which was good.
BIKE 20km:
53 minutes something. This was the bit I dreaded. Having only learned to ride a bike a couple of weeks before on my mountain bike in the woods, I was very nervous about this. I had only been on the roads twice before getting my road bike and I had 2 falls on that first time using it only 4 days before the triathlon. I got 3 more rides in, but I certainly was very nervous on it and really inefficient with the gears. I got overtaken a lot at the start (think my gear was too low) and also I was a bit tentative.
Once we came up to the hills my fitness took me past a lot of people, but again must have been getting gears wrong as they whizzed past me on descents and ended up playing leapfrog with a lot of people who I could probably beat comfortably with a bit of practice. Still I was so happy to get this done. Never learning to ride a bike when I was younger I had pretty much settled on it never happening, but I am glad I did it both for the convenience of riding a bike and it is quite fun when I relax a bit more.
Towards the end I lost a lot of time. The foot brace on my pedal came loose and I was in a lot of discomfort from being sat on the saddle and in my lower back. Think this is something I will get used to, but I should have been mentally stronger to push through really, but I let it get to me too much.
Transition 2:
BY this point I was aching, but aerobically had a lot left to give. Sprinted to transition area after dismount and kept this to 0:59 which was good.
RUN 5km:
First 1k was horrible as my hamstrings and hips felt so tight, but once I get into my normal stride this felt good. Finished with a time of 22:18 which was about right I guess. Could maybe have gone a little quicker, but was a decent effort.
OVERALL TIME:
1:27:43
Happy with this given where I came from in such as short space of time. Given my inefficiency on the bike I think I could get under 1:15:00 which is the aim. Still I am pleased with the achievement and beat everyone else in the office by at least 20 minutes and one guy by nearly an hour.