Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf

Dory Dory

Saturday, May 30th, 2015

Bike

Shot out of work and onto my bike for 3.5 hours with 4 bottles of fluids and plenty of snacks to keep me going. I had a bit of company at the start, but we parted ways after 18 miles....then as luck would have it, I ran into another friend putting in his few hours when I hit mile 34, so we hooked up for a bit of a chat for 10 miles or so. This fella is a better cyclist than me - plus he had just started his ride AND he was on his tt bike while I was on my road bike - and I have to tell you, I was dying at times on those 10 miles trying to chat/breathe/pedal/smile/laugh/drink/eat. Essentially, I was trying to fake my misery. I was never so glad to say "so long" in my life!

But, as I was waving good bye to my speedy companion, the heavens opened up and insane buckets of rain came crashing down on me for the next 45 minutes. :eek: I've never cycled in rain like this. :eek: Sunglasses got all wet and fogged up - basically I couldn't see - so I didn't know what else to do but push them to the end of my nose and look over them. ?? And then there was the little issue of me hydroplaning, and I'm not even going to discuss the few turns I tried to make nor the thought process that went on in my head regarding the climbing I had planned on doing with the scary descent that would have occurred in those scary conditions on such narrow and winding roads. I changed my plans and my route for safety reasons. And I slowed myself down...and got off the bike to make sharp turns. If you look at my Garmin data, you'll see when the rain began - it's when the temperature started to drop with about an hour to go in my ride (and I must say, I got pretty chilly!!!). But, with 15 minutes left to go, the sun came out and was shining brightly once again.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/789225597

Actual ride: 55.63 miles in 3:28:01 for an average speed of 16 mph and an elevation gain of 2,957 feet

Swim

800 warmup
8 x 300 w/15 seconds rest done as:
1 x kick
2 x band only
2 x buoy-band
1 x kick
2 x swim

I hopped off the Mad One and grabbed a chocolate milk and some chicken. 30 minutes of rest and recovery, and I was in the pool getting this session done. I always feel so slow and heavy in the water immediately after a long bike, but in time that feeling subsides and things become "normal". This may not have contained a whole lot of speed, but there was plenty of strength going on in the water. Still luvin' the band!!

Actual swim: 3,200 of strength-working yards

Dory Dory

Sunday, May 31st, 2015

Run - Treadie Style!!!

10 minutes @ 6.3
10 minutes @ 6.6
10 minutes @ 6.9
10 minutes @ 7.2
10 minutes @ 7.5
10 minutes @ 7.8

Tunes were turned up, two bottles of water at my disposal, pink adizeros on....and away I went!! Whoop whoop!! Not much to say about this...it never was all that difficult speed-wise....but it did get a little boring by the last two 10 minute sets. As you can see, paces ranged from approximately 9:30 to 7:40-ish min/mile. This was a good old fashioned sweat-fest on my revolving runway.

Actual run: 7.05 miles in 60 minutes on my treadmill

Bike

This was to be an easy 90 minute leg-loosener after the run....so that meant I needed to leave the Garmin at home!!! So I did. I gave the nod to the Black Cat, so off her stationary perch and onto the open roads we went....in search of a few hills and easy gearing. The only trouble is, when you've got 11-25 gearing (pardon the potentially incorrect terminology), hills, a tt bike, and a weak cyclist, then you typically run out of gears. Oh well. I just didn't care how slow I was going....I just enjoyed the luxury of not having to worry about speed or performance. Such freedom. Such liberation. I truly have learned to embrace the easy when it's called for.

Actual bike: 90 minutes, or approximately 22 miles, on the Black Cat. Meow.

Neady83

Dory Dory wrote: »

Saturday, May 30th, 2015

But, as I was waving good bye to my speedy companion, the heavens opened up and insane buckets of rain came crashing down on me for the next 45 minutes. :eek: I've never cycled in rain like this. :eek: Sunglasses got all wet and fogged up - basically I couldn't see - so I didn't know what else to do but push them to the end of my nose and look over them. ?? And then there was the little issue of me hydroplaning, and I'm not even going to discuss the few turns I tried to make nor the thought process that went on in my head regarding the climbing I had planned on doing with the scary descent that would have occurred in those scary conditions on such narrow and winding roads. I changed my plans and my route for safety reasons. And I slowed myself down...and got off the bike to make sharp turns. If you look at my Garmin data, you'll see when the rain began - it's when the temperature started to drop with about an hour to go in my ride (and I must say, I got pretty chilly!!!). But, with 15 minutes left to go, the sun came out and was shining brightly once again.

It sounds you're getting the same weather as we are here Dory, have we got our months mixed up or something, it's June right?

Great to see you logging about and enjoying running again Those boys don't know nothing about the pain and chaffing of sports bars

mossym

Dory Dory wrote: »

my bike for 3.5 hours with 4 bottles of fluids and plenty of snacks to keep me going.

4 bottles???:eek::eek::eek:

i know it's warmer over there, but i went out for 3 hours saturday morning with 1!!

Dory Dory

Neady83 wrote: »

It sounds you're getting the same weather as we are here Dory, have we got our months mixed up or something, it's June right?

Great to see you logging about and enjoying running again Those boys don't know nothing about the pain and chaffing of sports bars

Weather is all screwed up for sure! It poured down rain last night and it's chilly here today. Yesterday was quite hot and sunny! As they say, what a difference a day makes!

And thanks - fingers crossed the running will keep improving. And those boys haven't a clue what we ladies go through!

mossym wrote: »

4 bottles???:eek::eek::eek:

i know it's warmer over there, but i went out for 3 hours saturday morning with 1!!

I nearly died from dehydration with only 3 bottles a few weeks ago - when it's hot with a full sun here, it's dangerously miserable. I stashed the 4th bottle in the back of my jersey - was both surprised and pleased how easy it was to carry it that way.

Dory Dory

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015

Bike

25 minute warmup, including 5 minutes of single leg spinning
10 x (20 seconds 100+ rpm (low resistance), 40 seconds easy)
3 x (90 seconds HARD, 90 seconds easy, 60 seconds HARD, 60 seconds easy, 30 seconds HARD, 30 seconds easy)
7 minutes cool down

This was done over lunch....with plenty of good tunes. If I'm honest, I may not have pushed the first HARD/easy set as hard as I (maybe) could have. But I tried to make up for it on the second and third sets. Third set was the strongest...which now makes me wonder if I could have pushed that second set even more. I need to not worry about blowing up in training. Obviously blowing up should not be my goal, but it does tell me where my limits are while potentially promoting improvement.

Actual bike: 60 minutes on the Cat

Swim

400 swim
300 buoy-band
200 kick
100 IM
3 x (300 @ 4:40, 4 x 40 @ 60, 300 @ 4:40)
200 easy

Good god!! What month are we in??? It is freakin' cold outside!!! :eek: Brrrr!!! That poor pool heater is working like a dog. !!!

I've sort-of-kind of resigned myself to the fact that I'm no longer the queen of speed in the water....but I am trying to hone my pacing skills. And I am trying to keep all my pacing sub 1:30/100 yards, and tonight was a success in that regard. After the first set of 300/4 x 40/300, I decided to slow my 40s down a smidge to provide me with a bit of active recovery while still staying under a 1:30 pace. (The interval was the same at 60 seconds for all 40s, but going slower seemed to relax/loosen me and conserve energy for the long haul) 40s came in on :50 for the first set...and :52/:53 for the second and third sets. The 300s came in as follows: 4:25, 4:23...4:20, 4:20...4:15, 4:15. Paces ranged from 1:29 to 1:25/100 yards, descending, and breathing comfortably on 3.

Actual swim: 3,720 well-paced yards

Dory Dory

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015

Run

This was another treadmill session....as follows:

Interval period for each setting stated as 3 minutes/2 minutes:
6.0/7.0
6.1/7.1
6.2/7.2
6.3/7.3
6.4/7.4
6.5/7.5
6.6/7.6
6.7/7.7
6.8/7.8
6.9/7.9
7.0/8.0
7.1/8.1

So, this session's paces ranged from the first five minutes at 10 min/mile (for 3 minutes) and 8:34 min/mile (for 2 minutes)....to the last five minutes at 8:27 min/mile (for 3 minutes) and 7:24 min/mile (for 2 minutes). Interesting session in that doing the 7.0 and 7.1 settings on the treadmill the second time around seemed much easier than the first time around. Which proves, everything is relative.

Decent session - effort increased with 15 minutes to go. Wore my pink adizeros...had two bottles of fluids: one Grape Nuun, one water....tunes cranked...and that's about all there is to know about these 60 minutes!

Actual run: 6.97 miles in 60 minutes going up and down on the trusty tready

Dory Dory

Thursday, June 4th, 2015

Trainer

20 minutes warmup (12 minutes easy, 6 minutes of 1 min single leg spinning, 2 minutes easy)
5 x (6 minutes pushing a big gear (60-65 rpm), 3 minutes easy)
5 minutes easy
8 x (30 seconds HARD (200+ watts), 2 minutes easy)
5 minutes easy

Hello yucky 1 minute single leg spinning! Barf. I swear I thought my left leg was going to fall off.

Sets 1 and 2 of 6 minute big gear work were in one gear....sets 3 and 4 were in one gear harder....and set 5 was in (I think) two gears harder. Results stated as "average cadence...normalized power":

67 rpm...139w
68 rpm...145w

64 rpm...146w
65 rpm...150w

57 rpm...161w

That last set had some nasty grinding in it. The gear quite honestly was probably too hard for me, but I kept pushing, hoping to hit the target cadence of 60, but I never got there...however, I never gave up trying.

I compared these results to the results from the last time I did this session, and what I learned from this session is that there is a critical point of diminishing returns with respect to power when you go beyond a certain point in gearing, and, ultimately, cadence. More resistance does not necessarily equal greater power. Maybe all you gentle readers knew that, and it is logical, but I guess I never gave it much thought until I experienced it for myself today.

Actual trainer: 95 minutes of sweaty lunchtime big gear work with the Black Cat

Swim

500 warmup
5 x 100 @ 1:40
5 x 40 @ :40 (sprint up, easy back)
25 x 60 buoy-band @ 60 seconds
300 easy

Very, very chilly here....and rainy!! Boo. Gloomy weather, but decent session. All the 100s came in ~1:23.....sprint 40s came in 11, 13, 14, 13, 13....and the 60s with buoy-band came in 51-53 seconds, with the most effort (and success) being expended on the last four. Love the buoy-band! Some good upper body work done tonight!

Actual swim: 3,000 chilly, rainy evening swim in a comfy, cozy 82 degree pool

Kurt_Godel

No longer the Queen of speed?!? It's the longer stuff that matters anyway

How fast can you do 1,000m?

Dory Dory

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

No longer the Queen of speed?!? It's the longer stuff that matters anyway

How fast can you do 1,000m?

I'm honestly not sure how fast I can do 1,000 meters in a pool, but ask me next Sunday afternoon how fast I can do 1,900 meters in the Choptank River and I'll let you know!!

Kurt_Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

I'm honestly not sure how fast I can do 1,000 meters in a pool, but ask me next Sunday afternoon how fast I can do 1,900 meters in the Choptank River and I'll let you know!!

Awesome! Up/down/some variant of therewith?

Dory Dory

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Awesome! Up/down/some variant of therewith?

It's one lap around in the river - not too much of a current since it's in a sort of protected area. It's actually the same body of water I did the IM in last year. It' Eagleman 70.3 that I am doing. Was supposed to do this race last year but scratched due to injury. I'm not properly trained for it this year coming off my fractured femur...but what the heck, right?? Will use this to see where I am, and to learn from. No grand expectations.

Dory Dory

Friday, June 5th, 2015

Swim

600 warmup
6 x 100 @ 1:40
6 x 40 - fast up, easy back
10 x 200s done as:
3 @ 3:15, 2 @ 3:10, 1 @ 3:05
2 @ 3:10, 1 @ 3:05
1 @ 3:05
300 cool down

Well, the 6 x 100s all came in bang on 1:25, which was 2 seconds slower than last night's 100s, and I could feel a bit of fatigue from yesterday's two sessions in me so I was totally dreading the 200s I had yet to face. Ugh. But nothing to do other than give them a shot.

So.....I told myself to get into my happy sub 1:30/100 yard rhythm and hang on. I knew the first six 200s would be the "easiest", and they were, all coming in on 2:50 and breathing every 3. And then things started to get tough. The next 200 came in on 2:52, and I knew the next three 200s had the potential of being slower still if I didn't have a little internal intervention - so I had a bit of a chat with myself and got things sorted. The final three 200s came in on 2:46, 2:47, 2:47. I dug a little deeper on these and started to breathe every 2 strokes too. Was pleased with the result.

Actual swim: 3,740 tough yards

~~~~~~~

Run

Yep, hopped out of the pool and battled with my sports bra. Again. I even tried toweling off a little better than usual!! Any way....

I almost didn't wear the Garmin - I was pretty pooped from the swim and I didn't want a kick in the confidence if my paces were as miserable as I was anticipating they might be. But then I figured what the heck, and tossed it on any way. You know, at this point, my times, paces, and power are what they are. No sense in hiding or running from them as I'll be found out in race situations regardless.

But the paces weren't too bad, all things considered.

8:52, 8:36, 8:56, 8:22, 8:48, 8:26, 8:13

I ran by feel and let my body dictate pace. The paces were a bit up and down, but I think that reflects where I was in the field more than anything else as effort was pretty even, until I upped it on the last mile. The best thing about this run was that I came upon either two young foxes or two young coyotes (we have both, and they can look similar from afar, especially the young ones) rolling and having a good time in my path. I stopped to watch them and just smiled. They didn't have a care in the world. Of course I turned around so as to not disturb them, but it did cross my mind that there seem to be fewer rabbits in the field this year. :eek:

Actual run: 7.16 miles in 1:01:36 for an average pace of 8:36 min/mile

Oryx

You need to wear your bra for these swims

Dory Dory

Saturday, June 6th, 2015

Bike

Busy morning for me, complete with an early morning trip to Charlottesville which resulted in no breakfast - or rather, which resulted in a midmorning meal consisting of a big double chocolate cookie and a bottle of orange juice. Not exactly stellar nutrition, but this is one of my biggest areas of weakness that I need to take very seriously and work on. !!! (I won't even tell you the shocking crap I ate during the remainder of the day! :eek:)

Any way....

This ride was okay. Legs felt tired from the beginning - ugh. I was on the Black Cat, so to be honest this was a disappointing ride for me as I just don't feel I am doing the Cat justice. I'm not sure what my problem is, but I don't feel I am any faster on her than on the Mad One. Maybe it's the route and hills...or maybe I just need more time on her on the road. However, this ride was not without value - I used this as a dress rehearsal for next week's race and I got a few things sorted, and I have a few more things to sort tomorrow. Huge value in that.

Actual bike: 40.95 miles in 2:29:31 for an average speed of 16.4 mph and an elevation gain of 1,783 feet

~~~~~~~

Swim

5 x 800s: easy, moderate, buoy-band, buoy-band, cruise

All I've got to say is....everything is harder after a proper bike ride!!!

This was fine, but I'm honestly not sure there was much difference in effort between the first four 800s. It was all upper body strength - time and pace were irrelevant.

Actual swim: 4,000 upper-body evening yards

Dory Dory

Sunday, June 7th, 2015

Run

Wasn't sure how this would go, but it actually turned out pretty well. The legs were a bit tired, but they found some pep somewhere. The first 5 miles were dictated by the body - I just let it do what felt good. The next two miles were a deliberate increase in effort, and I can honestly say I was very glad when my hour of running was done - not sure I could have kept that pace up much longer.

Paces were:
8:42, 8:13, 8:14, 7:45, 8:06, 7:45, 8:01, 2:52 (7:47)

Actual run: 7.37 miles in 59:41 for an average pace of 8:06 min/mile

~~~~~~~

Bike

This was 90 minutes of spinning the legs out from the run with some HIM efforts in the middle. I'm not totally sure with my HIM effort is, but I settled on something between 120 and 130 watts. I opted to do this on the trainer for a variety of reasons - looked like rain, was short on time, and I needed to tinker with my arm rests.

Actual bike: 90 minutes on the Cat

Dory Dory

Monday, June 8th, 2015

Rest day!! Whoop whoop!!!


Tuesday, June 9th, 2015

Trainer

15 minutes warmup
30 x (1 minute @ race effort with cadence 90+, 30 seconds easy)
15 minutes easy

Did this sneaky lunchtime style, and it went pretty well. The intervals were supposed to be with increasing effort within each 10, but I pretty much botched the first 10 by going too hard too soon. I regrouped on the second 10, but still didn't do the best progression job. Finally, by the third set of 10 I got the effort just right. Yay me!

Actual trainer: 75 minutes on the Cat on a Tuesday at noon

~~~~~~~

Swim

400 swim
300 buoy-band
200 kick
100 IM

200 @ 3:10
4 x 40 @ 45
300 @ 4:45
4 x 40 @ 45
400 @ 6:20
4 x 40 @ 45
500 @ 7:55

200 easy

I have been dragging my feet about digging out my wetsuit and my speed suit, but tonight was the night!!! I wanted this to be a dress rehearsal for this weekend (truth is, I should have done this at least a week ago!), so I wore my tri suit as well.

I "slipped" in to the wetsuit for the warmup :rolleyes: - good god I had forgotten how miserable it is putting this damn rubberized contraption on. And it honestly isn't all that fun swimming in it either. Yes, it got better as the swim went on, but give me the freedom of movement with the feel of the water any day of the week! I had to modify the warmup due to the wetsuit: I only used the band for the pull....had to do backstroke kick for the kick....and swam freestyle instead of IM.

Then, it was a quick change into my speed suit for the guts of this session. Love the speed suit. It makes me faster than I really am. And who doesn't love to be faster than they really are? Comparing tonight's times to my times from this exact session 2 weeks ago, the suit appears to save me approximately 5 seconds per 100 yards. Zico, if you're out there....I know you think your IM swim last year was short (and from what I have read, it may very well have been a bit short), but I'm betting your speed suit saved you time as well. In fact, your speed suit may have saved you 3 to 4 minutes in your swim, based on my very unscientific experiment here.

Times tonight were:
200 - 2:38 (1:19/100 yards)
300 - 4:10 (1:24/100 yards)
400 - 5:27 (1:22/100 yards)
500 - 6:45 (1:21/100 yards)

I sort of freaked out when I saw my 200 time - was worried I was going to blow up knowing I was facing increasing distances - so I consciously slowed down a smidge on the 300. But got into a happy rhythm on the 400, then pushed the 500 to finish strong. Pleased with my times, however, I understand they are skewed due to the speed suit.

Actual swim: 3,080 yards in lots of assorted rubberized and fast water apparel

In my last minute quest to cross all my t's and dot all my i's, I have remembered to charge up my electronic shifters!! For all you out there with electronic shifters, this is VERY important!!! Mine have died on me while on the road before - not fun. And thank god I remembered to do this as my battery was on red. So, peeps....charge your shifters!!! !!!!

Dory Dory

Wednesday, June 10th, 2015

Run

This was slotted to be done on my indoor revolving runway.

20 minutes easy
5 x (3 min @ 7.8, 2 min easy)
15 minutes easy

I did this sneaky lunchtime style to free up my evening so I can start to pack for the weekend. Good god I HATE to pack!!! I took the liberty of making the easy reeeeeallllly easy which meant a lovely 10 min/mile pace to start with, then an easing into the 7.8 (~7:40 min/mile) for three minutes, then back down to 10 min/mile for 2 minutes, and so on. I'd say the 7.8s got "easier" as the intervals went by, but that always seem to be the case for me - I gain steam as I inch closer to the 6 mile mark while running, then the dynamics start to change. Decent hour doing some artificial running!

Actual run: 6.56 miles on my trusty tready

Dory Dory

Thursday, June 11th, 2015

Bike

Up at o'dark hundred to get this done since I knew I had to clear my evening for packing. :eek:

This was a simple 60 minute spin on the trainer with 5 x (5 minutes at HIM effort, 3 minutes easy). Ugh. I even went to bed earlier than usual last night so I would be fairly fresh for this this morning, but my body takes more than 20 minutes out of the sack and upright to be able to hit HIM effort (approx 120 to 126) properly. The first three were miserable, but I managed to find another gear (literally!) on the last two. NP for those 5 x 5 minutes was: 115, 119, 118, 126, 128.

Actual bike: 60 minutes on a sleepy Cat

~~~~~~~

Swim

300 swim easy
400 band only, swimming hard every 4th lap
100 swim easy
20 x 60 @ 60 seconds, swimming hard every 4th 60
400 buoy-band
100 kick

Good god it's hotter than Hades here in the land of Dory. :eek: I can barely walk barefooted on my pool deck. :eek: If this heat keeps up, the swim on Sunday will not be wetsuit legal (:D), the jelly fish will be out in mass quantities (:eek:), and the run will feel like I'm being brutally char-broiled (:eek:). Good thing this is just a bit of training fun with the run being optional.

Just like my little spin before sunrise this morning, this sneaky lunchtime swim was slow to get going....but got going I did! The hard laps with the band only were fun, and the 60s hard came in: 45, 45, 44, 43, 43. Happy enough with those splits.

Actual swim: 2,500 hot, hot yards in a 90 degree (:eek:) pool !!!

joey100

Used to think I would like to live in America but not sure reading this log, Bears on the road, lots of jellyfish! Think I'll stick to safer Ireland, water too cold at the moment for jellyfish!

Best of luck this weekend Dory, try to enjoy it!

interested

Enjoy the weekend, go have fun and surprise yourself (unless someone nicks your runners (sneakers), you'll run )

Kurt_Godel

Best of luck in your race Dory! Its been a good comeback from injury, time for a reward.

Kill everything in the water, if it moves, chase and devour it, hunt it down and leave a trail of bloody entrails in your wake, drown and suffocate any pathetic stragglers from earlier waves, make widows and orphans weep forevermore by the banks of Maryland waters that they allowed their loved ones share the Choptank River with the Mighty Dory Dory...

...then a solid bike and high-five the run! Good luck!

Oryx

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....

pointer28

Best of luck DD!

Solobally8

Best of luck Dory. Enjoy it! And remember how lucky you are to be back

catweazle

Dory Dory wrote: »

Good thing this is just a bit of training fun with the run being optional.

I doubt you even know what optional means

Very famous race - hope you have a good day!

Dilbert75

Hope you have a great day Dory. Time to celebrate your recovery and all the training you were able to do.

Neady83

Best of luck Dory, you're the come back kid make all those silly o clock training sessions count

Dory Dory

Aw, thanks! Been a long day here with travel that took way longer than expected due to my way-too-casual attitude about things (translation: didn't bother to check on exact directions ), and also due to weekend traffic to the shore. But I've registered, attended the race briefing (zzzzz....), gotten a bite to eat, purchased my combo sun block and jelly fish/sea lice (:eek:) repellant lotion, and am now settling in for the night. It's hot here. Really hot. And there is always potential for some good wind here. Right now the swim is wetsuit legal, but if the water temp goes up another .6 degrees Fahrenheit by Sunday morning then wetsuits will not be allowed for any type of prize competition and the participants who choose to wear a wetsuit will have to start in their very own wave at the back of the wave line. Fingers crossed the water temp goes up the needed .6 degrees. !!!

Quickie response to those above......

Bears are more afraid of you then you are of them - but jelly fish, not so much :eek:....I'd love to surprise myself, but define "run" ....you really are wasting your creative writing skills by working in numbers....I will, will, will....thanks!....counting my lucky stars right now ....so, okay, I want my medal :cool:....yeah, going to celebrate by soaking up the race atmosphere and enjoying the swag bag....I haven't made a come back yet, but thank you!

Off to bed soon....busy day tomorrow! Good night, from Maryland. Or as you folks would say, "Mary Land". :D

griffin100

Best of luck DD, time to forget the injuries and make a withdrawal from all the training.