Runity run run run

It's 4 degrees outside. What a nice evening for a run methinks.

And it was. CCCCCcold makes me not stop running. Did a nice little session. 6x(6mins on, 1 min off). Hr had to stay between 140bpm and 170 bpm for the whole session. Active recovery type stuff. First set was a warm up, last was a cool down. Middle 4 at race pace, 1/2 IM race pace anyway.

Nice session, covered 8km. Felt good, but may have tweaked my ankle a bit running on the trail by the rugby pitch in the dark. Doa'h.

Fun anyways!

A long day in the saddle

Yes it was. The weekend looked terrible, rain wind and freezing temperatures were predicted. But we only got the one. Cold.

Left the house at 9.30am, went over to DCU to collect a few people. First few KM were cold, but i was warming up when i got to college. Picked up 4 lads in college and the spin began.

Went out towards Meath, ended up in Rathoath after an hour and a half. traffic out there was mental, people were going to a Sunday market out in Fairyhouse so were mentally driving down the roads. one of the lads nearly got creamed, tbh he wast even looking where he was cycling when he moved out. His own fault. Went out to Dunboyne to get some coffee, then the group split as Louis and Donogh went off towards home and Lexlip as we went on back to DCU.

By the time i had got home i had been 3hrs 45mins in the saddle and 4hrs 30mins from my front door and back. I did a total of 75km in the day, and at a nice easy average HR of 136bpm. Felt good during the evening. A little tired but not too bad, threw the compression tights on anyway, just to be safe, and had a nice evening watching films. Looking forward to a good week now!

'It's cycling Greg, not science'

Or so said one of the lads over dinner the other day. How very very wrong they are.

Its been a good week training. Very good. Felt quite motivated all week.

Met with Sharon the Nutritionalist on Monday evening. Did a bit of work on my nutrition and worked on a few new things. Took the day off training to relax from the weekend.

Did two swims on Tuesday, in and out to college, the wind was unbelievable. Took the road bike in so i wouldn't destroy my legs. Wed was a nice weights session, got back into the gym and did some new exercises i haven't done in years. Lunges make my ass hurt. DOMS for the two days afterwards. Stuck the compression gear on straight after the session to see how they help! It feels weird to say the least, its very very tight. Odd to get on but not warm when its on. Strange. Kept it on for a few hours to see if it helps with the DOMS. Deffo didn't feel as bad as i have before but it will take a few sessions to check if it helps. Went out with the lads from the cycling club for a christmas dinner. Wagamama's. Tasty.

Thursday was a little sore after the session in the gym so decided to hit the pool. Took a while to warm up but once i got going felt good in the pool. Just did some work on my technique and a few slow-mo 50's. Felt great after, nice and loose. But by the time i got home was getting tight again. Friday was a boring boring day working on my presentation for my FYP proposal. But by 5pm i'd had enough so decided for some coffee, and then a run! Went out in the freezing wind and ran a nice fast 5km. Took about 19mins, but i felt great! No major pains in the legs, breathing was great, knee was fine. And i could have pushed much much harder. WOW maybe this compression gear is worth something!

Didn't try the gear on the run itself, just using it for recovery at the moment. Threw the gear on after the run again just see if it helps more. Legs weren't sore much today. Which is odd. Normally i get 2-3 days of BAD DOMS. But pretty good today after day and a half! Planning a swim in the morning before work. If i wake up!

Training go now!

So yeah back to training proper now.

Thanks to Pauline for the pics!

Had a good week last week, got a few spins in and a run. Didn't make the pool, had to much actual college work to do. But i should be better this week so i can get back in the pool. Bring it on.

Went over to Manchester on Thursday last week. Nice to get a long break from home and college and to just have a bit of fun and training. Didn't do much on Thurs evening. Friday was great, had a nice aul sleep, did a bit of study, met up with Pauline's mates and had some curry for dinner, then just chilled out for the evening after wandering about town for a bit.

Saturday was a training day, 15km or so spin to the velodrome, 2hours on the track (i nearly died, great session, nice and hard), then a 20km spin home...we may have got lost. Session was good, new coach i'd never trained with. hard session, nice mix between sprint session and an endurance session. Session HR graph thingy below. Nice peak HR of 189 after my 3 way sprint at the end, i wasn't even maxing on it! Felt like i had allot more to give, nice. I enjoyed it. Kate and Brian were there too. Ate more food that evening and wandered to the local outdoors store.


Sunday was a shopping day. DECATHALON!! Best shop ever. So much to buy, thanks Mr. Visa card. The ferries we cancelled so had a panikey hour or two trying to get incontact with Stenna, in the end said 'fuck it, nothing i can do' then went into town to the Christmas market. What can i say, Bratwurst and Beer. Stroopwaffles and Gluhwien. Nice. Much food was consumed as was a few beverages. Slept like a Greg shaped log. 5.30 alarm, rang Stenna, boats are go now! Drove to Hollyhead straight away and got the boat home. Then the Burgerking on the HSS went on fire. Nice. So crazy mad panicked staff moment on the PA, lock-down to my seat, then a period of floating about the harbor, then its ok, and we came home.

Bought me some compression gear in Decathlon, going to go for a weights session and a run tomorrow, will wear the gear on the run to see if it helps after the weights session in the morning. Time to get beasted!

Another weekend MTB

Good weekend again!

Friday went out for a nice fast spin on my local trails in Howth. Did the lower cliff path, to the summit, then down the middle path, and back to the Martello tower in Sutton via the lower path again. Had a minor incident with some gorse, but its all good! Came home and made a cottage pie that was fit for the Gods themselves! Ate large amounts and had a beer or two.

Relaxed the evening, then Pauline came over from Manchester for the weekend. Hung out in town on Saturday with Ide, Una, Pauline and JJ. Did some shopping, ate food, and drank coffee. Nice.

Then Sunday came, and a dry cold day it was. Perfect for mountain biking. Had been chatting to a few mates the night before about the new trail in Ballinsloe Forrest in Wicklow. One of only two dedicated maintained trails in the country, and not officially open! So we went! Me, Pauline and Jeff. Took about an hour to get there, then 3 hrs of riding some of the best trails outside Wales and Canada! Fantastic, well set up, little hard to navigate due to the lack of way markers, but savage all the same. Not to difficult, one section is a bit tricky, but the rest is fast and flowy. Love to get back this weekend, but i'm off to the track to do some training!

Planning a good weeks training:

• Monday: off to recovery from the weekend!
• Tuesday: 2x10km spins, tempo pace. Light run 3o mins
• Wednesday: 2x10km spins, tempo pace. Swim session 1hr, split 50's technique.
• Thursday: 30 mins run, light. 1hr swim, distance, slow and steady.
  
• Friday: off
• Saturday: 2hrs hard session on track
• Sunday: 2hrs easy session on track

Thats the plan anyway! Lets see what happens!

D.O.M.S

I still have owwies from the race on Sunday.

Hip flexor's were cramping at work last night! Might have something to do with standing in the freezing cold at a rugby club for 3 hours....

Back on the turbo tonight to loosen out me thinks

Race's are good

I have been very very busy in the last 2 weeks. I had two exams each worth substantial amounts towards my final year score so i was focusing on them. College is getting in the way of training! But i don't mind to much. I only have on semester of lectures then i can get to working on my FYP.

I got my proposal and ethics in for my project :

'A Comparative study of two cycling ergometers on the energy demands of Irish male club level cyclists aged 18-30'.

I've received ethical approval so i can go about starting to recruit people for the study. But before that i have to finish my Lit Survey and a few other submissions for other modules. So i probably won't get rolling on the actual lab work until January, but I'm going to try and get my test runs done before then!

I've been training a bit but not much. Dropped 2kg in the last 3 weeks, which is a start, but im thinking that it may not be fat, more muscles :/ going to hit the gym again this week and try to get back into some sort of rhythm with my weights training.

I had to skip the triathlon training day with Rich Brady cause i just had to much work on, and i hadnt got more than 6hr sleep a night for 2 weeks. Man i had a great sleep on Saturday 11pm - 11am! Nice.

Got up early on Sunday and went down to Wicklow to race in the Off Road Duathlon being organized By Naas Wheelworx Tri Club. Great event, but felt so slow on the run, carrying way to much weight, the legs were willing but the body was heavy. Having serious D.O.M.S from all the downhill running on the course on the slippery slide mud covered grass. Man I've missed trail running! Only wished my trail shoes weren't in Manchester.....

Course was 2.5km run/12km bike/ 2.5km run all off road. I was two lazy to build up the XC bike so rode it on the trail bike (Santa Cruz Bullet). worst idea ever. 8 inch of travel, great for trails, sucks for racing, but sure i didn't mind!

I placed 26 out of 50 or so riders, ahead of most of the adventure racers which was nice! But got beat by Will Byrne...damn roadies and their cyclo-cross bikes! Great race though. Looking forward to the next one in December.

Going to do an hour on the turbo later to let the legs recover. It's lashing outside and i don't feel like getting wet.