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Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf
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Saturday, June 20th, 2015
Bike
Well, I'd say the week has finally caught up to me - the lack of sleep that started last weekend and my crap diet since I have come home definitely showed today. Folks, you can only ask your body to do so much when it's only averaged 5/6 hours of sleep each night for a week and is being fueled off of Oreos, M&Ms, brownies and chocolate milk.
Seriously, I have slipped to new depths in the eating department these last 5 days, and I can feel it. Garbage in, garbage out. And unfortunately this trend will have to continue for about another 24 hours - I have two young houseguests staying the night tonight and it's going to be all about the hamburgers, chips, ice cream, swimming, water balloons (with a launcher! 
), and a movie with popcorn. One last disgusting blow out before the clean living begins. But I digress....
Two hours on the bike...and this had nothing to do with speed, thank god. I took the Mad One, and it was nice to spend a little time on my trusty and stable steed. I made the decision (since this wasn't going to be fast) to at least make it about some hills, so I went up and down my two favorite hills for over an hour...and I tried to concentrate on using my left leg a little more since my leg power ratio is not improving. I guess I need to build some strength in that leg!
Stats from memory....can't be arsed right now to download info from Garmin as I am enjoying my glass of chocolate milk too much to ruin the moment.
Actual bike: 28.8 miles in 1:59:xx for a very slow average speed and unknown elevation gain, but I'll look at it later after I finish my recovery drink0 -
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Monday, June 22nd, 2015
Rest day.
Clean diet day.
Less than 16 weeks to IM Louisville day. :eek:
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015
Bike
30 minute warmup, done as: 12 min easy, 8 x 1 min single leg spinning, 10 min easy
5 x (6 min big gear (cadence 60-65), 3 min easy)
5 minutes easy
10 minutes w/cadence @ 95 and power at 130w
5 minutes easy
10 x (20 sec high cadence, 40 sec easy)
15 minute cool down
So starts the serious phase of IM training...and this was good! Long, but good. For the 5 x 6 minute big gear work, I held the same gear for the first two intervals, upped it one gear for the next two intervals, then upped it one more for the final interval. Results stated as "average cadence...normalized power":
69...146
69...148
65...149
66...155
62...162
Compared to the big gear work above, the 10 minutes at 95 rpm and 130 watts felt easy. However, I had trouble at first getting my leg turnover to the right tempo, and I had to fiddle with the gearing to get me to my targets, but I got there! Average cadence for the 10 minutes was bang on 95, and the normalized power was 137. Happy with that!
Actual bike: 2 hours of grinding and spinning on the Cat0 -
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Odin Drab Firefighter wrote: »I have been looking at buying one of those endless pools/swim spas for the new house. I thought they would have been cheaper, bloody expensive pieces of kit!Mad money to buy.
Wait til you check out the costs of maintaining and heating the bloody thing!having lived on both sides of the atlantic, things like that tend to be way way cheaper stateside given the bigger market and competition between suppliers. here, its limited and they can charge what they want.
They're cheaper than kids!!!!:) 0 -
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Thursday, June 25th, 2015
Bike
15 minute warmup, including 5 min of single leg spinning
30 x (1 min race pace at 95+ rpm, 30 sec easy)
15 minute cool down
The 30 x 1 min race pace was to be done with increasing effort within each set of 10 while maintaining a cadence of 95+. For the first set of 10 I found a reasonable gear and stayed there for the first 6 intervals, then upped it one gear for the next 4. For the second set of 10 I went back to my starting gear for the first 5 intervals, upped it one gear for then next 4, then upped it one more for the final 1. And for the third set of 10 I started at that initial gear for the first 4, upped it one gear for the next 4, then upped it one more for the final 2. This was good effort and legs were a bit shaky when I got off the Cat!
Actual bike: 1:15:00 of lunchtime purring on the Black Cat
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Swim
500 warmup
20 x 100 @ 1:30
200 cool down
This was just a little tester to try out the shoulder and hopefully get me back into the swimming grove. I honestly wasn't sure how this would go. Last night I was convinced my shoulder woes were just a shrinking speck in my rear view mirror, but as today wore on I started to have increasing concerns that my shoulder pain was reemerging and escalating in degree. #@$#%$@!!!! Mental much? Having learned more than I ever wanted know in the last 18 months about injuries and how to really f*ck yourself up by not recognizing/respecting their potential severity and the possible repercussions caused by having the ability to endure, I had made the decision I'd bag the session (or swim one-armed) if the shoulder wasn't good.
The warmup went pretty well - I could feel the shoulder, but it was okay....and it wasn't painful, really, just a little sore. I stretched the stroke and made my arm movements deliberate and graceful, trying to assess what was best...and I felt it was safe to proceed on to the 20 x 100s. The 20 x 100s went very well, and I'd say there was no soreness at all by that point - I guess the muscles were all warmed up. All 100s came in 1:25ish - that honestly seems to be my comfy-pool-100 point. I breathed every 3 and never felt horribly pushed. My biggest issue was addressing my goggles and slipping cap during the 5 seconds of rest!
Actual swim: 2,700 yards in my pool on a Thursday evening0 -
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Solobally8 wrote: »Woohoo delighted to see your coming over next year! Come hell or high water we are meeting up!
(Ok that sounds a bit scary. What I meant to say is I am looking forward to seeing you in person finally)
Same thoughts here, I was worried to put them in writing, I do not want to be seem as a stalker!!!:D 0 -
ToTriOrNot wrote: »Same thoughts here, I was worried to put them in writing, I do not want to be seem as a stalker!!!:D
+1
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Someone entered Challenge Galway......
I can assure you i have a) not entered Galway b) have no intention of entering Galway and c) have no plans for an IM next year It was given plenty of thought though.
I always wanted an outdoor spa, i was hoping i would combine the two with a swim spa until i seen the prices.0 -
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Saturday, June 27th, 2015
Bike
This was supposed to be a 3.5 hour proper bike ride on hills, but it was pouring down rain with scattered thunderstorms, so...well....I thought I was taking the easy road by doing this indoors on the Cat. Oh how naive I was.
25 minutes warmup
Cadence set -
3 x [easy gear, start cadence at 70 rpms, increase 5 rpms every 30 seconds until you reach 120 rpms (5 mins) :eek:* + 1 min super easy]
Iso Leg Drills -
90 secs each leg 60 rpm - hard gear. 90 secs easy
90 secs each leg 80 rpm - easy gear. 90 secs easy
90 secs each leg 60 rpm - hard gear. 90 secs easy
Standing big gear set -
3 x [10 mins standing biggest gear possible- surging the final 10 secs of each min + 2 mins easy] :eek:
10 minutes easy
Iso Leg Drills -
90 secs each leg 60 rpm - hard gear. 90 secs easy
90 secs each leg 80 rpm - easy gear. 90 secs easy
90 secs each leg 60 rpm - hard gear. 90 secs easy
Cadence set -
2 x [easy gear, start cadence at 70 rpms, increase 5 rpms every 30 seconds until you reach 120 rpms (5 mins) :eek:* + 1 min rest]
1 x [easy gear, start cadence at 70 rpms, increase 5 rpms every 30 seconds until you reach 105 rpms then hold 5 mins]
20 min cool down
(* and I held 120 rpm for 5 minutes, but I'm not sure I was supposed to actually hold it for 5 minutes looking at the directions now - no harm)
:eek:
Sweet jesus, there are no words....
.....only a little bit of data:
Standing big gear data, "avg cadence...normalized power...l/r balance":
49...136...48/52
49...134...48/52
50...141...49/51
And on the second set of l/r leg drills, I decided to see what the recorded power difference is in my legs:
Hard gear left leg - 60 rpm...68w
Hard gear right leg - 60 rpm...74w
Easy gear left leg - 80 rpm...53w
Easy gear right leg - 79 rpm...56w
Hard gear left leg - 61 rpm...72w
Hard gear right leg - 61 rpm...82w
??? Not sure how accurate this l/r data is. ?? Doesn't make sense to me since gearing and cadence were the same for comparative purposes. ??? I do believe my right leg is stronger than my left, but if two variables (gear and cadence) are virtually identical, then shouldn't power be as well? This makes me wonder what the inherent margin of l/r error is in Vectors, if the pedals need to be adjusted, and if I need to start calibrating the pedals as I was told to do before each ride. ?? And of course, I wonder just how much value there really is in this l/r data anyway??
Actual bike: 3 hours of f*cking madness on the Cat
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Swim
5 x 800 done as:
800 easy
800 moderate
800 buoy/band
800 band only
800 easy
This was fine. This set, post crazy bike, always seems to be about strength and not speed...and so it was tonight. No complaints. I even swam through a storm and came out in the sunshine. Nice.
Actual swim: 4,000 stormy yards0 -
Sunday, June 28th, 2015
Run
This was to be a 1.5 hour run, any way I wanted. And because I knew I was to do an hour easy on the bike post-run to shake the legs out, and because I knew the best place to do that easy ride was on a road that passed the starting point of a scenic and secluded place with a lovely stream following it, I decided I'd do this a way that I haven't done in ages - trail style! Giddy up!!
Very bright and perky tri shorts on....tick and bug repellant liberally applied....snacks and drinks packed in the back of the vehicle with the Mad One and helmet...and so was the start of my big adventure! And because it had been a year or two since I'd been to Jeremy's Run, I had forgotten what godawful hills you are met with, in particular, at the beginning of the out and back. :eek: And I had apparently banished from memory just how technical this trail is. And it had slipped my mind the number of times I had to cross that lovely stream. Good god, it was all eye and foot coordination. If I wasn't watching the rocks underfoot, then I was dodging the roots and limbs that were jumping out at me. And the stream crossing was interesting. It poured down rain here just about all day yesterday and last night, so the water was way up and running fast. I started out by very carefully hopping from rock to rock to cross each time (except for the one time I shimmied across the water on a rather large fallen tree on my rear, which was quite comical!), which worked well for about the first 6 times I had to cross....but then on my return, I ended up slipping and falling into the water. From that point on I said "feck it" and just waded through. Truth is, the water felt so refreshing, so I was happy to get cooled off.
The solitude of nature was also such a nice change. The woods were lush and green, and the birds were alive with song. There is no need for words or music when you're immersed in such beauty....there are no voids that need to be filled when you're in a place of such magic and whose brilliance comes not from our manipulation, but rather from our lack of it. My only regret today is that I did not take the time to sit on the large white rocks that are in the middle of the rushing stream about 1.5 miles from the trail's end to bask in the glorious sun. But I promise you, next time I will.
Actual run: 7.38 very tough and technical trail miles in 1:27:49 for an average pace of 11:54 min/mile
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Bike
Out of the woods and onto the Mad One. What an easy little leg loosener - perfect icing on the cake to a really enjoyable training day!!
Actual bike: 16.6 miles in 1:02:05 for an average speed of 16 mph and an elevation gain of 787 feet0 -
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Friday, July 3rd, 2015
Century Bike Ride!!!!!! :eek::eek::D:D:cool::cool:
I was invited to tag along on this ride by a gal I met last year at tri camp (she was one of the coaches) and have become friends with. And because this ride was to be the same ride as last year's at camp, I knew it would tick so many boxes for me in so many ways that I would be a complete idiot if I did not take her up on her offer.
We all met a little before 7am under a foggy and relatively cool morning. Perfect!! All together there were probably 12 to 15 of us, including 2 pros and 1 who should/could be a pro - all three of which are just coming off IM Coeur D'Alene a mere 5 days ago. You can see my Garmin link below, but the route was basically from Charlottesville, through Crozet, up the Blue Ridge Mountain to Skyline Drive at Rockfish Gap, 40 miles on Skyline Drive to Swift Run Gap, down the very scary Route 33 :eek: into Greene County, through Earlysville, and then back into Charlottesville. Whew! The plan was for us all to stick together until we got to Skyline Drive, then we'd break off into groups based on ability and desired level of intenisty.
The first 20ish miles were through lovely rolling countryside - gorgeous homes on generous and perfectly manicured lawns...a horse track all painted in white and green.....and well maintained roads with polite traffic every so often. In the light fog that was now lifting, it made for a perfect opening to our day. The next few miles were on much rougher terrain - gravel and rutted asphalt - with some twists and turns and one very steep but short climb, I guess to warm up the legs for what was to come.
Our day of climbing started around mile 24 when we turned right onto Rockfish Gap Turnpike - we were reminded to stay single file and as far right as possible since we were basically on a fast moving highway with unforgiving and unamused traffic. I was the 3rd rider from the front at this point - the better riders (and trust me, the pros and a few of the others are WAY better than me!!!) were unselfishly hanging back and enthusiastically helping everyone out by making suggestions and sharing positive words of encouragement. At some point up the mountain, the lead guy stormed ahead on a mission to reach the top first so he could snap everyone's pic coming up the crazy climb, which then put me in 2nd from the front. Not long after he was gone, the gal ahead of me asked if I'd take the lead as she was dying. Sure, why not? :eek: So we switched positions and I just started spinning up the mountain in my lowest gear. Adam (a fantastically tall drink of water who was my angel for the day) was now behind me giving me directions, telling me what was coming up next, how wonderful I was doing, and how easy I was making this "hill" look. When we got to the top, I had grown a gap between me and the next group by several minutes, dragging Adam along with me. Yay us!! :cool:
We had support in the form of a very lovely Anna from the UK waiting on us at the entrance to Skyline Drive/Shenandoah National Park - she had cold drinks and snacks ready for us while we waited for everyone to catch up. Once we entered the Park, we sort of split off into three groups, and I was with the first group which included Adam. At this point we still had about another 4 to 5 miles of steady climbing to do (we had just done 3 to 4 miles of solid climbing), and I was feeling good, so I decided to go at my own happy pace by getting into a nice rhythm and just going. Adam went with me, staying behind me, and we were putting another gap between us and the ones we left behind. (Again, please keep in mind that there were other riders way more talented and faster than me, but they were helping others - they were doing what Adam was doing for me.) A few miles into the climbing, Adam passed me like a bat out of hell and yelled that he needed to relieve himself in the woods and that he'd catch back up. I didn't see him again after that and I assumed he was so fast relieving himself that I never passed him and that he was ahead of me. ?? But when I rolled into our halfway meeting point for a proper lunch with a cheery Anna waiting on us, I was the first one there. Turns out, when Adam was trying to catch back up to me, he caught up with another gal who was behind me so he stayed with her. And so it was from that point on that I was dubbed "Queen of the Mountain." (it's the small victories that mean so much )
After a massive feed of hamburger, french fries and Dr. Pepper (things I don't consume, but all the cool kids were partaking in such unwise culinary selections, so when in Rome...) we started off once more, but this time with the threat of rain looming overhead. We were a lead group of 6 now, and I knew I'd be facing the worst part of my day - the downhills...and in particular, the dreaded and super scary downhill off the mountain on Route 33 - so I wanted to stay in the back of the group, where I am most comfortable in uncomfortable situations. We all stopped just before exiting the Park and starting our insane descent on a bad highway with whizzing traffic, and Adam told me he'd stay behind me and get me down in one piece. Bless his heart - he really was wonderful, because honestly you folks have no idea how ridiculous that stretch of road is - gravel, uneven, sharp turns and switchbacks, high speed traffic, serious pitch - and I have no business being on it with my lack of bike skills. But I did it. With Adam behind me like Linus's security blanket, I got down it in one piece, and I think I even have some brake padding left.
The rest of the ride went fairly well. Anna was waiting at the bottom of the mountain for us for anyone who needed a refill of anything, and we had probably another 25+ miles to go. I think I relied a little too much on having my greasy-spoon lunch to carry me through the second half of the ride because with about 15/18 miles left to go I started to feel like I was getting ready to bonk. I had been sipping on fluids regularly, but I had not taken in any nutrition for 90+ minutes, and I think I was starting to feel it. It was/is a good reminder to me how important it is to keep taking in nutrition on a ride. I downed one of my energy bars - it took a few miles for it to kick in, but I believe it did kick in and brought me round as we were heading back into Charlottesville.
What a great day!! My first century done and I'm hoping to get in 3 more between now and the end of September. The next one is in three weeks!!! And it has nearly the same amount of climbing as this one did, which is crucial because apparently IM Louisville has over 5,000 feet of climbing in it. :eek: Looks like I'll be gunning to beat cw's bike time from Nice!
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/822541949
Actual ride: 104.83 miles in a moving time of 6:47:37 with an average speed of 15.4 mph, top speed of 36.6 mph, and elevation gain of 8,491 feet :eek::D0
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