Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf
Options
Comments
-
Wednesday, February 12th, 2014
Run plan:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 3 miles steady, 2 miles MP, 1 mile HMP
I did the first easy 5 miles sneaky lunchtime style on the treadmill while catching some of the Olympics. Good grief I am lovin' these Olympics. They make everything better.
Actual: 5 easy on the treadie while in the Olympic zone***********
Well, by late in the day, Old Man Winter was unleashing his wrath on us here by dumping a pile of snow that he must've been saving up all season. Gah. 10 to 18 inches they are possibly calling for. Double gah. Sooooo, looks like it will all be indoor action until this stuff melts. Boo hiss. I'm so freakin' tired of winter...I am so done with it.
But no matter the weather, my trusty treadie is always ready to carry me to where ever my heart desires. Props to the treadie! Whoop whoop!! <fist bump> And today we did some treadie action at a 1% incline...the first 3 miles were at an 8 min/mile pace....the next 2 miles were at a 7:41 min/mile pace....the last mile was at a 7:15 min/mile pace.....and I tacked on an extra 2 miles as a nice cool down. I had the women's Olympic hockey on, but my gals on ice lost a bitter battle to the ladies up north in Canada. And as I watched and ran, I kept thinking about what so many of these amazing Olympic athletes say - that so much of what they do is mental. Mental...a limiter that we can control. Mental. Toughness. Easy peasy.
Actual: 8 miles on the treadie...cuz, baby it's cold and snowy outside!!!0 -
Thursday, February 13th, 2014
Bike plan:
10 minutes easy
4 x (1 min high cadence, 30 sec easy)
4 x (30 sec building, 30 sec easy)
10 x (1 min ON, 1 min OFF)
10 x (30 sec ON, 30 sec OFF)
5 minutes easy
Holy crap, it's snowing its @ss off outside!!! :eek: At this rate my running shoes and the Mad One won't be seeing the light of day for a while.
<grumble, grumble.....> In fact, it's coming down so hard and piling up so high that we actually closed the clinic today, so I am home with the kitties chillin' for the afternoon....and I went ahead and got this little session out of the way. 
Not too much to say about the session other than it was good. I tried to keep the ON intervals at a high cadence with healthy resistance, and I was also mindful of the speed I was hitting...trying to keep it above 24/25 mph. I believe I must take a long time to warmup on the bike because consistently I tend to be able to push harder as a session goes on, and today I found that it was easier with each passing ON interval to hit the higher speeds while pushing a bigger gear. Any way, good session all in all....felt it was quality. Oh, and I tacked on an extra 5 minutes easy at the end to make it an even hour on the trainer.
Did my stretching, core and foam rolling triple play post-trainer. Body feels good.
Actual: 18.24 miles in 60 minutes while watching the men's Olympic figure skating short program0 -
-
Saturday, February 15th, 2014
Bike plan:
10 minutes easy
10 x (1 min high cadence, 1 min easy)
10 minutes easy
5 x (30 sec building, 30 sec easy)
5 minutes easy
5 x (20 sec fast, 40 sec easy)
5 minutes easy
3 x (30 min HIM effort ("just" harder than easy), 10 min easy)
Run off bike: 15 minutes easy
The streets 'round these parts won't be safe to run or ride on for a few days, so once again this was done trainer style all safe and warm in my basement with Olympic hockey (Go USA! Beat Russia!!) and men's Skeleton on the telly to inspire me. I had my HR monitor on to keep me honest with the HIM pace (was targeting 145-ish), but true to form it wasn't working properly - it would read a reasonable rate, then plummet to 78, the go back up to 140ish, then back down so low that it would not register. I've actually purchased a new one since I knew my old one was dying a slow death, and now may be the time to break down and give the old monitor its last rites and be done with it.
Without a HR to keep me in line, I just worked off perceived effort and speed. My first set of 30 minutes felt pretty good and I kept my speed between 20 and 21 mph, but I could tell by the end of the set my thighs were a little more fatigued then they probably should have been so I decided I'd back off a bit for set number two and spin a bit more. The second set speed was pretty steady at 19 to 20 mph and it felt much better - much more reasonable and sustainable. The third set slipped just a little bit to 18.5 to 19 mph for the first 20 minutes, but I managed to comfortably up it to 19.5 mph for most of the last 10 minutes.
I popped off my bike to realize I had forgotten my running shoes. !!!! So, that meant my T2 found me running up two flights of stairs, retrieving my runners out of my closet, then running back down two flights to my trusty treadie. I did a nice and easy increasing pace for the first 10 minutes, then settled on an 8 min/mile pace for the final 5 minutes. This felt great. Kept the body super relaxed and I felt good and strong. I think my hips were lifted (I was told to lift my hips)...not totally sure, but I felt like I was running like I always do.
Did some much needed stretching after all this....and even got some core work and foam rolling in while I chatted with Oryx after her amazing accomplishment at Donadea. What an inspiration she is....and tough as nails. Congrats to everyone there - no matter what place you came in or what time you ran, you folks rock!!! Today was a very good day for a lot of fine athletes and organizers of the event.
Actual: 53 miles on the trainer in 3 hours as prescribed above, followed by 1.75 miles on the treadmill in 15 minutes.0 -
Sunday, February 16th, 2014
Run plan: 90 minutes steady
I am really, really, reeeaaaallllyyy looking forward to the warmer weather the weatherman has personally promised me in a few days as I am starting to feel like I am being mentally challenged on the treadmill at the moment as 40 minutes into this I was starting to hate life. I. Just. Wanted. This. Over. And it was all in my head. I tried to keep distracted and from obsessing on elapsed time by switching between Olympic Ice Dancing and the Rock music channel, but neither seemed to thoroughly rid me of my misery. So. Glad. This. Is. Over.
A side order of stretching, core work and foam rolling was put on the bill to go with my misery to make this lunchtime special complete. Sunny days, here we come!!! And only, um, about 6 weeks until my pool opens. Whoop whoop.
Actual: 12 miles in 95:48 minutes with the treadie set at an 8 min/mile pace0 -
Advertisement
-
Monday, February 17th, 2014
Run plan: 4 easy miles
Back on the treadie for this, which is fine since it's only 4 miles and at an easy pace. The bad news is we are supposed to get a few inches of snow tonight (wtf???), but the good news is it is supposed to be above freezing here during the day for the rest of the week (thank god!). So fingers crossed I'm back outside by Wednesday's run(s)!!
Did this super slow and super easy with the knowledge of what the rest of this week holds for me. :eek: I went a little over the prescribed 4 miles due to the distraction of my Olympic girls on ice beating Sweden in the hockey semi-finals, and now they go on to the gold medal round against Canada on Thursday. Whoop whoop!! :cool:
Actual: 4.5 miles on the treadie while terms like "slippery", "quick sand" and "high hockey IQ" were tossed about.0 -
-
Tuesday, February 18th, 2014
Bike plan:
10 minutes easy
5 x (30 sec build, 30 sec easy)
4 x (8 min at just over threshold, 2 min easy)
5 minutes easy
My one and only tt test was done on November 26, 2013....and the results showed the following:
LTHR: 169 bpm
vo2max(z5) 179+
Threshold(z4) 161-178
Tempo(z3) 142-160
Endurance(z2) 117-141
Recovery(z1) 0-116
So, tonight....I was told for the "just over threshold" to target just above the value I held for the last 20 minutes of that test I did in November, and looking back at my log it appeared I'd need to hit somewhere in the neighborhood of 165ish. I wasn't even close. In fact, I've noticed over these last 4 to 6 weeks my ability to hit those upper numbers has become increasingly harder and harder to do, which begs the question: do I need to be put in a shed with someone standing over me cracking a whip?
What transpired:
first 8 minutes - avg HR 152, max HR 158
second 8 minutes - avg HR 153, max HR 158
third 8 minutes - avg HR 154, max HR 160
fourth 8 minutes - avg HR 153, max HR 160
Things of note - my heart rate dropped to 125 bpm or less during the 2 minute recovery betweeen 8 minute sets, my speed during the 8 minute sets was faster than I think I've ever been able to hold (may not be relevant if trainer settings are not equal), and I ended up getting a little sick on the fourth and final set.
Of course I was a little dejected after tonight's session, wondered if I really may not be as tough as I thought I was....but I honestly felt like I pushed and gave it all that was in me. Which then made me wonder if perhaps my zones have changed....perhaps I need to do another bloody tt test as it has been three months, and when I took that test I was just beginning my cycling training....and of course I am hoping if I do need to do another bloody tt test and if my zones have changed that perhaps that change in zones is because I am more fit now than I was and have a heart that beats more efficiently. Or maybe I just need that shed.
Actual: 20.03 miles in 60 minutes with an average HR of 142 and max HR of 1600 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
Things of note - my heart rate dropped to 125 bpm or less during the 2 minute recovery betweeen 8 minute sets, my speed during the 8 minute sets was faster than I think I've ever been able to hold (may not be relevant if trainer settings are not equal), and I ended up getting a little sick on the fourth and final set.
I'm far from an expert here but getting sick is a pretty good indication you were at your max. did you try messing around with cadence, i.e. maintain the power level by hitting a higher cadence but at a lower gear, meaning you're not physically pushing the pedals as hard?0 -
Which then made me wonder if perhaps my zones have changed....perhaps I need to do another bloody tt test as it has been three months, and when I took that test I was just beginning my cycling training....and of course I am hoping if I do need to do another bloody tt test and if my zones have changed that perhaps that change in zones is because I am more fit now than I was and have a heart that beats more efficiently. Or maybe I just need that shed.
You might as well wait until those dirty yolks that you have ordered arrive as you will be doing another one then again anyways
Ask he who must be obeyed can you do it to Hell Hath No Fury0 -
I'm far from an expert here but getting sick is a pretty good indication you were at your max. did you try messing around with cadence, i.e. maintain the power level by hitting a higher cadence but at a lower gear, meaning you're not physically pushing the pedals as hard?
I don't do power.....yet. (you are talking watts, right??) But to answer your question, I only increased my resistance as the interval went on as I've learned that I have to push a harder gear (while minding my cadence) to get the heart rate up (working off heart rate for now)...and I was trying to get the heart rate up. But maybe all that will change once I go to power...or maybe I should try harder with a lower gear?
You might as well wait until those dirty yolks that you have ordered arrive as you will be doing another one then again anyways
Ask he who must be obeyed can you do it to Hell Hath No Fury
Those dirty yolks. You're right....might as well wait. I'll have to get Hell Hath No Fury off you then. Dropbox, baby. 0 -
Thursday, February 20th, 2014
Bike plan:
10 minutes easy
4 x (1 min high cadence, 30 sec easy)
4 x (30 sec build, 30 sec easy)
5 x (3 min mod hard, 2 min easy)
10 minutes easy
Mod hard = threshold = z4 = 161-178
I'm pretty convinced I need to reevaluate my zones...even my 10 minute easy warmup isn't really getting (much) into my z2 zone of 117-141. My speed is fine....it just appears my heart rate is lower across the board.
This session was good....took some head hanging, eye closing, and concentrating on momentum rather than thighs exploding to get through the worst of it. As eluded to above, HR never got near threshold - the brevity of the intervals didn't help me in that respect, but it's more than that.
Heart rate, avg/max:
#1 - 143/149
#2 - 146/154
#3 - 147/154
#4 - 148/156
#5 - 149/156
Stretching, core and foam rolling were my reward after this one!
Actual: 18 miles in 1:00:09 with an average HR of 129 and max HR of 1560 -
I don't do power.....yet. (you are talking watts, right??) But to answer your question, I only increased my resistance as the interval went on as I've learned that I have to push a harder gear (while minding my cadence) to get the heart rate up (working off heart rate for now)...and I was trying to get the heart rate up. But maybe all that will change once I go to power...or maybe I should try harder with a lower gear?
.
i don't use a power meter either. you could replace power in my last post with effort, so for same effort you could spin a lower gear faster or a bigger gear slower but have to push more, just wondering if you changed your cadence for hte same effort would it help, i know it does for me0 -
Friday, February 21st, 2014
Run plan: 2 miles easy, 1 mile HMP, 1 mile easy, 2 mies MP, 1 mile easy, 1 mile HMP, 2 miles easy
Snuck out of work late morning (post a crazy storm with rain and wind and very, very scary looking clouds :eek:) on a busy Friday to get this done. Not too many people out and about down at the Greenway, but that was fine with me as I just turned my tunes up and got lost in the beat. I got caught in a brief sprinkle, but the most impressive thing was the wind that was lingering in the storm's wake - I swear at times my pony tail was sticking straight out at a perfect 90 degree angle from my head. :eek: The wind is my friend...the wind is my friend..... Which begs the question: why is it we can feel the push of the wind but never the corresponding pull?
Overall, the run was just peachy....and I stayed extremely and uncharacteristically Dory-disciplined. Okayokayokay....so on both of the MP miles I was a little too speedy for the majority of those miles, which resulted in having to slow it down over the last few tenths of each of those miles....but other than that I did a pretty good job. And the legs felt pretty strong in spite of the vague fatigue they had in them from this week's cumulative training effect.
Paces:
Easy - 7:58, 7:57
HMP- 7:13
Easy - 8:02
MP - 7:23, 7:17
Easy - 7:47
HMP - 7:02
Easy - 8:10, 8:00
Actual: 10 miles in 1:17:11 for an average pace of 7:43 min/mile0 -
Saturday, February 22nd, 2014
Bike plan: 3.5 hours proper ride with some bits and pieces of instruction that I didn't really follow
The wind is my friend.....the wind is my friend....
:eek::eek::eek:
Ah, the wind. The windy, windy wind. But the sun was shining, so that's something, right? But back to the wind....good grief it can get tiring after a while....pushing you, knocking you, roughing you up....and the faster you go, the more spiteful it gets. I seriously contemplated calling it a day at an hour and a half because I was just so frustrated with being beaten up, and it was causing me to be in a very foul mood. But.....I just kept going. Had a little chat to remind myself that I may be faced with brutal wind in a race one day, and what was I going to do about it then? Quit? I don't think so!! So I kept going.....and I decided to not fight the wind, but rather let it be my fourth dimension....the contour of my path.....in other words, I tried to work with it and not against it. And I tried to make myself very small.
The roads I cycle on are all either rolling or up and down....there really is nothing flat around here. And because of that, it's sort of difficult for me (with my lack of road experience) to follow proper session instructions to the letter, but what I did today was tried to simulate HIM effort periodically throughout this ride. I think I got the job done. I know by the time I got to the last 30 minutes I was tired and hungry, and I just wanted to get home. Saw lots of roadkill today - squirrles, skunks, birds, bunnies, and opossums. Not only was this the longest training ride I've done to date, but that's the most dead animals I've seen in one session too!!!:)
Actual: 55.7 miles in 3:32:51 for an average pace of 15.7 mph in the wind and on hills0 -
Quit? I don't think so!! So I kept going.....and I decided to not fight the wind, but rather let it be my fourth dimension....the contour of my path.....in other words, I tried to work with it and not against it. And I tried to make myself very small.
Dory, I am going to use this mantra in the morning as I get battered across the back roads with strong winds and rain, I like it thanks 0 -
^^^ Aw, thanks Pmaldini! Glad I could perhaps give you a little different way to think of the blasted wind. It is awful, but it can make you stronger physically and mentally. And it may turn out to be your friend by giving you an advantage over others if you've trained in it and become comfortable with it.
Good luck to you in the morning!!!0 -
Saturday, February 22nd, 2014....part II
Swim
Yep, you heard me right.....SWIM!! Whoop whoop!!!
After fretting over not being able to do any swim training since early October, and having this fact amplified and noted in my swim time in Key West by not only me but one or two others on the boards (you know who you are), I've been itching to get back in the pool ASAP. My pool will open the beginning of April, but in my quest to figure out a way to get in the swim of things before then, I've turned my thoughts to the endless pool twist. It occurred to me last weekend that our little town has a fitness/rehab center with an endless pool, but I was informed when I called to inquire that they had JUST shut it down due to lack of use. !!! So, I called upon a dear friend of mine who has one in his home. He has offered it to me multiple times, but I was too much a conventional pool snob to take him up on it. Not any more. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I was ready, willing, and able. So off to his house I went, with Speedo and googles.
So, how was it?? Well, it's not a conventional pool, but it's not bad. You swim against this current that you can adjust to your liking, but the current is kind of intimidating at first - it's constant and pretty powerful, and because of the diminutive size of the pool, all the wave action is contained in a small space so there's a lot of non-stop movement all around you. I configured the current setting to 2 mph, and just kind of jumped into it...and away I went. It's nice in the sense that after you settle and relax, you can get into a nice steady rhythm that is totally uninterrupted, but it does take a little getting used to. The one thing I noticed that I really didn't like was I felt that at times the current would go up and over my upper body and then push my lower body down. Didn't like that at all, and would be concerned that this could have a negative effect on a swimmer's overall stroke over time. I felt the upper body work was great, but might consider using a pull bouy next time. And the next time will be next weekend. And then after that I might start using the pool once or twice during the week as my friend (he is only there on weekends - he lives full time in DC and commutes out to the country each Friday and back on Sunday) has offered me the key to the house. Yay!
Actual: ~1500 meters in ~30 minutes0 -
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Sunday, February 23rd, 2014
Run plan: 2 hours easy with the last 15 minutes at MP
Gorgeous day, but when I woke up this morning the body could feel the entire week's training in it. Ugh. But the good news was I only had to do 2 miles at a specific pace, the rest would be dictated entirely by how the body felt. In fact, I was so serious about letting the body dictate the pace that I did not have my watch display pace until the mile before the first MP mile.
Not too much to say about this run...kept it all in town but hit some pretty good hills (eased up them!) and ran a few streets I have not run in ages! I was starting to get a little low on gas around mile 10 so I took a gel and downed some water I was carrying, and that definitely perked me up. I started to up the pace a bit around the 1.5 hour mark, and by the time I got to the last 15 minutes I was ticking along at a nice solid clip. I finished the 2 hours about a mile or so from the clinic, so I used that as a cool down....a very slow cool down.
Tough week with some solid work. I'm pleased overall.
Easy miles: 8:42, 8:57, 8:32, 8:47, 8:37, 9:12, 8:59, 8:40, 8:48, 8:33, 8:09, 7:42
MP miles: 7:18, 7:10
Cool down miles: 9:35, 1:55 (9:36)
Actual: 15.2 miles in 2:09:44 for an average pace of 8:32 min/mile0 -
-
-
-
Whats the bubble??
Lord I hate the wind, I had stupidly cycled to my cycle yesterday, 45k/h average in for the 7k, wind picked up just as I was leaving the pack to their cars, literally fell onto the fella beside me with the wind
Well, the bubble is more properly known as a winter dome. I did a little research yesterday and it may be a viable option - it's actually very similar to the pool cover we fasten down each winter to protect the pool, but this has different and more material to it so when the one or two blowers blow air into it, it expands and creates a dome. Some of the versions tout that they are solar and will keep the pool and space comfortably warm by design. Fingers crossed.:)
Here's what the version I like looks like:
http://vynall.com/pool-domes/0 -
Well, the bubble is more properly known as a winter dome. I did a little research yesterday and it may be a viable option - it's actually very similar to the pool cover we fasten down each winter to protect the pool, but this has different and more material to it so when the one or two blowers blow air into it, it expands and creates a dome. Some of the versions tout that they are solar and will keep the pool and space comfortably warm by design. Fingers crossed.:)
Here's what the version I like looks like:
http://vynall.com/pool-domes/
It sounds awesome, just as well you dont get much wind near your house since that sort of structure could easily just take off down the hill .... hmmmm, wait a minute .... 0 -
Advertisement
-
interested wrote: »It sounds awesome, just as well you dont get much wind near your house since that sort of structure could easily just take off down the hill .... hmmmm, wait a minute ....
The sound you just heard was my bubble busting. 0
Advertisement