Confessions of a wannabe Ironman weeks 5 & 6
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Link to week 3 and 4
Week 5 – beginning 18th Jan
Tip 5 – “Leave it hairy”
“Turn up at any triathlon and you may notice that lots of male triathletes have opted to shave their legs. Why, you may wonder? ‘Because it is the done thing’ is the usual unspoken answer. Aside from making sports massage a bit easier, there are no proven performance benefits to making your legs look like Kojak’s bonce. In fact, leg hair cools you down when you are too hot and traps warm air when your legs are cold. If someone made leggings with those properties, we’d all buy a pair. Why would you want to shave off a finely engineered bit of kit, just to make you look more like a triathlete? So why not make a bold statement of intent in 2010, by ignoring the ‘done thing’ and making the most of Mother Nature’s handy work”
The decision not to shave my legs is a big reversal for me – as basically I loved doing it to annoy my bird and basically shock my family. But the tip above does make sense – especially in the cold winter months …..
The only real complaints I have had about this new follicle rich approach to my triathlon lifestyle was from Austin Mooney, my sports masseuse, as apparently it does make things more difficult for him. However, seeing as he also requested that I wear a tong next session for easier access to my glutes – I am beginning to think his opinion may not count for much anymore!
Aside from the tong fetish, Austin is a top rate masseuse and one I will be seeing at least three times a month. It was one of my lessons learnt from last year’s debacle of a season that being proactive in terms of massages to clear out lactate acid/release tension built up in muscles (particularly IT bands … ouch!) is the way forward.
My previous reactive strategy of waiting until I was half injured clearly was not a wise one. So with regular massages – it is my hope that I will not end up out of action at any stage and won’t miss crucial training blocks as a result …. Slow and steady … that is the new motto…. Oh I mean slow and steady and proactive … that is the new motto!
Was a quiet steady week’s training with the definite highlight of a return to running sessions outdoors for the first time in around 5 months …… first session was on Tuesday night and it was cold, windy and rained on me for half of it …. And I LOVED it….
For months I used to look longingly at runners plodding along the coast road as I passed by in my car and was envious – now I was back ….. I was slow … but I was back …
I was like a child coming back to upload the training run information from my Garmin onto my laptop …. After which I discovered by messing around on the reports that from this time last year (including some 5 months out of action) that I had actually run some 700km from Jan 08 to Jan 09…..
Will be interesting seeing what the same report will say for Jan to July!!!!
On a more serious note – I would like to congratulate all the medical staff in Vincents A&E who managed to save the career of one of our more promising athletes, Mark Swan. Mark had been rushed to hospital, after a run in with some ice, with a potentially serious case of the “oucheys” and a majorly swollen “sense of self importance”. Fortunately, after some ground breaking medical interventions (a big hug and a lollipop for being such a big boy), Mark was released and is expected to make a full recovery as “a brave likkle solider”.
We wish him all the best.
Monday – REST
Tuesday – (am) Piranha swim session (pm) 45 min run session
Weds –(am) 70 min turbo session (pm) 45 min run session
Thursday – (pm) WW swim session
Friday – (am) Piranha swim session (pm) 10km run session
Saturday – Swim Ireland coaching session
Sunday – (am) Bike 2.5 hrs steady with 25 mins run afterwards
Week 4 – beginning 25th Jan
Tip 6 – “Get off the treadmill and get out of the door”
“It’s all too easy to stay in the comfort of the gym during the winter months and pound the miles away on the treadmill. Modern running machines offer a whole host of options and technological advancements, but none can match the experience outside in the elements and taking on real inclines and underfoot conditions over a variety of terrain. So be brave and get outside – you’ll be all the better for it come race day”
The week’s training started off well – as I posted my first victory in Piranha’s biggest loser beating Gav’s .8kg loss by .1kg more! It was truly a beautiful moment (“We’ve only gone and done it Ma!”) and levels the series at one a piece ….
The victory was made a little more sweet by Gav’s vain attempt to elicit my secret strategy from me whilst swimming beside me! I simply replied “The (tape)worm has turned” and powered off … (ok the powering off part was an exaggeration – more a case of Gav leaving me in his wake)
This week was also a rest week which means that I am only required to do approx 80% of the usual workload. Having recovery weeks is not only necessary for mental wellbeing but also to allow my body to adapt to the new training regime. This means that muscles that have been stretched to beyond their limits (possibly torn) can regrow and be stronger for the further training ahead.
Even with the reduced workload – I had a really good spin with the lads that I am down to do IM Frankfurt with, namely Frank, Kieran and John (with a cameo appearance of Mark Healy). As I blog along, you will get a better idea of the crew as they all very much bring different things to the table.
Frank, for example, is one of the most positive people I know and is a constant source of motivation for the group, whereas John is more negative and constantly reminds us that we could die in this misadventure (I suppose he grounds us a little). I think they are each others ying and yang and bring a balance to our IM universe….
As for the final member of the group, Kieran is the cyclist amongst us. Probably best to introduce his athletic strength first before even attempting to profile his personality quirks! It should be an interesting experience for him as this will be his FIRST triathlon as by his own admission “he runs like Phoebe (from friends)”…. Mind you – the man can cycle like Lance …. Should be an interesting race for the lad….
Overall, they are seriously good bunch of lads and the banter makes the time fly on the long spins.
Referring back to the tip for week 6 “Get off the treadmill and get out of the door”, I decided to enter in the Raheny 5 to give myself a brief Sunday run out. Seeing as I was not intending to race (not training for short distance speed and no need to put my back under any unnecessary pressure), I agreed to pace the race with fellow Piranha, Ger O’Shea.
Having met up in Rory and Claire’s gaff beforehand (where Claire admitted she only raced to keep in shape for her husband as part of her wife duties) – Ger, Claire, Rory headed off to the start line. Met up with a good number of other Piranhas, namely Gav D (looked portly but didn’t mention it), Cillian Balfe, Rasher and Judy before the race and pleasantries were exchanged as usual.
From the outset, I realized I had made a serious error in my role as a pacer, as we were too far back in the field at the start. This made our job very difficult as we were caught behind a large number of “desperate housewives” and meant the first mile was way off our target time.
So, after a lot of zig zagging and dodging (which clearly interrupts the desired rhythm/ target pace), we finally broke free into some sort of free space to run in. It was at that point that I made my second mistake as pacer – as I tried to get Ger to raise the pace to claw back the lost seconds in the next mile. This was too soon and too much to ask of Ger and it soon created more problems than it solved.
Ger soon developed a stitch after the second mile and this prevented her from maintaining the required pace. So now it was a case of damage limitation. Stitches can affect people differently and I was not sure how Ger would react – in my experience, a severe stitch can end a person’s race.
Ger to her credit responded strongly and despite the pain maintained a decent pace throughout. In fact, she finished the race strongly and should be very proud of her performance – maybe next time the pacer will not panic so early!
After the race, a good bunch of Piranhas (Bosco, Greg, Birdy, Rasher, Judy, Jay , Ger and myself) headed back to Rory & Claires gaff for top notch flapjacks, muffins and coffee.
Overall, looking back at the race, it was a good learning experience for me, as I took some key lessons from the race for the IM.
Firstly, it is important to think about positioning at the start of a race – it could be a disaster if I find myself in the wrong place for a mass swim start.
Secondly, patience is a virtue I need to learn. So, even if I find myself well down in T1 in Frankfurt (very strong possibility I will arrive in T1 where there are no bikes!) I need to have the confidence to stick to my game plan …. Panicking and trying to force things will not work out for me …..
Another day – another lesson …
Stay classy San Diego …
Monday – REST
Tuesday – (am) Piranha swim session (pm) 70 min turbo session
Weds – (pm) 10km run session
Thursday – (am) 30 min run session (pm) WW swim session
Friday – (am) Piranha swim session
Saturday – (am) 2hr 15 min spin followed by 25 min run
Sunday – (pm) Raheny 5 mile
Click here for weeks 7 & 8
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