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Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf
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Showing a mean nasty streak here alright -
What do you think my plum colored Smith's were concealing?
its a pity Della is a poor swimmer - I think you like being the hound!
I suspect she likes being the hound too. She's way more seasoned than I am, and she knows this course like the back of her hand. The advantage is hers, I'm afraid.Whats your taper looking like - or are you being given one at all?
Well....I had "assumed" my taper would have started after Sunday's ride, but apparently a 3 week taper is not in the forecast. Instead, my taper begins next Wednesday. In the meantime, it's more nasty trainer sessions, timed swims, a long ride, and 18 miles of running this weekend. :eek:0 -
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First...thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement!!
Second...@ Pmaldini, I am definitely digging that Pantani story. He sounds like someone I would really admire.
Third...I had a look at my Garmin file from the ride on Sunday, and I specifically looked at the 4 miles of climbing (appears the KOM section was ~4.5 miles) to see what kind of data was recorded. Well, I was pleasantly surprised how "even" I chugged up that mountain with my happy groove and steady beat. The data stated as "moving time...elevation gain...average speed...average cadence" is as follows:
7:06...383 feet...8.5 mph...83 rpm
7:20...363 feet...8.2 mph...86 rpm
7:09...349 feet...8.4 mph...89 rpm
7:13...331 feet...8.3 mph...89 rpm
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015
Bike
20 minute warmup (12 min easy, 6 min of single leg, 2 min easy)
5 x (6 min big gear with cadence around 60 and starting at 125w but working up from there, 3 min easy)
5 more min easy
8 x (30 hard with power over 250w!, 2:30 easy)
5 more min easy
Okay...this may have been the best I've ever done this session! Whoop whoop!! I felt good and strong and in total control all the way thru. The 5 x 6 minute intervals stated as "average cadence...average power" were as follows:
61...126
64...143
then up one gear
60...151
62...161
64...176
I don't believe I have ever hit above 250w for all 8 x 30 second bursts, but I certainly did today!! Here's how they came in:
255, 253, 271, 274, 268, 276, 276, 283
Very happy with this session, especially coming off of a tough week and weekend.
Actual bike: 99 minutes of bonding with the Cat over lunch
~~~~~~~
Swim
900 warm up
6 x 60 (20 sprint, 40 easy)
4 x (20 x 20 band only, 200 for time!, 100 easy)
Okay, so why does my swim seem to be going backwards???!!!! Good god, I hate this...but I know I shouldn't worry about this. My swim is good enough. I imagine my body is more tired than I realize.....and I just can't fret about this.
The 200s came in as follows:
2:38, 2:41, 2:39, 2:40
Not my best by a long shot, but it is what it is!
Actual swim: 4,060 of slower-than-I'd-like yards0 -
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Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015 (happy first day of Autumn!)
Run
If it's Wednesday (aka, hump day!), then that means I've got a rise-and-shine trot to do in the god awful wee hours of the morning. Yuck. Up at 4:40, and on the treadmill at 4:47. I started out at a sleepy snail's pace, then worked my way up to a sizzling tortoise pace of 10 min/mile by 14 minutes in. Whoop whoop. (please note there is no exclamation point after the second "whoop") I kept it there for the next 16 minutes, then called it a morning and hit the shower!
Actual run: 30 minutes on the treadmill with bed head
~~~~~~~
Run
10 minutes working up to 7.5 (8 min/mile pace)
Then all at 7.5:
2 x (3 min @ 2%, 5 min flat...2 min @ 4%, 5 min flat...1 min @ 6%, 5 min flat)
15 minutes @ 7.5
Holy mackerel this was hard! :eek: I don't remember this session ever taking so much effort before. :eek: But I got it done...didn't miss a single second of it...came close to jumping off the ledge a few times, but I kept visualizing the race and my own personal hell that will be the run, and I kept telling myself that if I suffer through this now, then maybe it will be a little easier on the day. Fingers crossed it's true.
Actual run: 8.25 miles in 67 minutes0 -
Fantastic ... you did every thing but go back and stomp on them up that climb. Love it !
Btw, as I was trundling around the farmland here it occurred to me that there have been no hay bales mentioned on this log for quite a while.
Thanks!
And funny you should ask about hay bales, as it was just baled last week!!
But, there is a new fella baling the hay this year, and he has different equipment than the previous farmer - newer, bigger equipment that turns out bigger...much BIGGER bales of hay. :eek: Think: bales on steroids!! I'm not sure I could hoist myself up and over those ginormous things without some sort of outside assistance! 0 -
Thursday, September 24th, 2015
Bike
20 minute warmup
10 x (15 sec spin up to max cadence/max power, 45 sec easy)
30 x (1 min hard, 30 sec easy) - very hard effort on the last 10
15 minutes easy
I decided to do this and the subsequent run-off-the-bike over an extended lunch. I'm being very selfish at the moment with my time - I am nearly done (thank the good lord above!!) and I figure I can sacrifice a little time from work to finish these 5 months of IM training in style.
I started this session with two legs that wanted no part of what I was asking them to do...and I was actually worried that I had reached my limit with training. But once the business section of this session began, the legs hopped-to and stayed strong....in fact, today's performance may have been the strongest to date for this particular session. My cycling appears to be very good (for me) at the moment. Data for the last 10 x 1 minute hard stated as "average cadence...average power" is as follows:
100...175
100...170
101...174
101...180
103...183
up one gear
96...192
97...200
96...203
98...215
99...219
I threw the kitchen sink, the oven, the refrigerator, the microwave, the dishes, and everything I had in me and around me at those last two....and it actually made me just ever so slightly emotional when that last one was done.
:o:eek: I think I'm reaching my break point. !!!!
Actual bike: 90 lunchtime minutes tossing things from the Cat
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Run
After a very, very quick bike to run transition, this was done treadie style...
10 minutes easy
20 x (30 sec "on", 30 sec "off") - "on" done as 10 @ 9.5, 5 @ 9.8, 5 @ 10
5 minutes easy
This is always one crazy ride run. I'm not sure if it's my sadistic side coming out, but I always enjoy this session....and today was no exception. Perhaps it's the yucky feeling of my body being flooded....or the waves of nausea that pass thru...or the fleeting possibility that I might pass out...???...but whatever it is, this session never disappoints.
Actual run: 35 post-bike sadistic minutes
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Swim
900 warm up
6 x 60 (20 sprint, 40 easy)
8 x 400 off 5:55 8 x 400 buoy-band
300 easy
I just could not face the clock tonight. My swim times have been getting slower, and it's not fun to see that. I know I'm at peak with my training....I know my body is tired....and I know my swimming will always suffer first....but the pressure I place on myself in the water and the subsequent perceived failure is not productive, so I called upon something that swimming rock star and swim coach extraordinaire, interested, had told me a good while back - that it's okay to turn off the clock....so I turned it off.
And I also swapped out conventional swimming for buoy-band as I was worried I wouldn't work hard enough without the clock to keep me honest. And this was perfect.
Actual swim: 4,760 perfect yards0 -
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As far as what my target power will be for the IM, I am not 100% sure, but I am guessing ~125-130w. ??? However, I suspect I will have clarity in that regard very soon!
Also agree with Mark, great training and great consistency, but if you are going to f*ck it up it will be because you don't stick 100% to the correct wattage on the bike. At this stage you shouldn't be guessing what your race plan wattage is, it should be ingrained as the plan. So get that clarity, and soon, and stick to it!
Sorry if a little blunt! Blunt for effect
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Friday, September 25th, 2015 (only 3 months to Christmas kids!!!)
Swim
2 x (300 swim, 200 kick, 100 pull)
400 @ 5:55
2 x 100 @ 1:25
300 @ 4:30
3 x 100 @ 1:25
200 @ 3:05
4 x 100 @ 1:25
400 cool down
Brrrrr. The air is getting much colder, and my poor pool heater is having a hard time keeping up. I actually considered squeezing into my wetsuit tonight, but I didn't feel like taking the time to put it on....so....I swam in semi-chilly water tonight!
This session went okay. Not too much to say about it, really. Times went something like this:
400 - 5:27
100s - 1:18, 1:20
300 - 4:07
100s - 1:20, 1:22, 1:21
200 - 2:40
100s - 1:20, 1:22, 1:23, 1:21
Even my towel was cold when I hopped out and wrapped it around me!!! :eek:
Actual swim: 3,400 chilly yards
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Run
Immediately out of the pool and into my running shoes and duds....then onto the revolving surface known as my treadmill.
This was to be 60 minutes at my own pace, so I originally planned (sometime between toweling off and lacing up) that I'd mimic last Friday's 3 hour progression run paces and intervals (of course condensed down into 1 hour)...but I was feeling so good and getting a little cocky at the halfway point in the run that I decided to push it a little. !!!! Let's just say, the last 20 minutes were a little tougher than I had wanted, but I got it done!
Here's the breakdown:
20 min @ 6.3 (9:31 min/mile)
10 min @ 6.6 (9:05 min/mile)
10 min @ 6.9 (8:42 min/mile)
10 min @ 7.1 (8:27 min/mile)
10 min @ 7.5 (8:00 min/mile)
Actual run: 6.8 miles in 60 minutes0 -
Saturday, September 26th, 2015
Swim
5 x 800s, done as: swim, swim, band only :eek:, buoy-band, buoy-band
Because this was to be done immediately before a 4 hour bike ride outside (which got reduced to 3.5 hours on the trainer due to inclement weather), and because I had to work this morning and then go back in to work 6 hours later, I knew I had to time things just right to get all this in. Therefore, I dragged the deck clock out, not to time my swim, but rather to keep track of my time in general.
There honestly isn't too much to say about this swim itself - it all felt pretty good, and I tried to visualize my race swim while I was getting these 4,000 yards done. Probably the most significant thing to come from this session was a positive feeling about the amount of time it took me to do this, and how it might translate on race day. Again, I wasn't timing myself, but I knew approximately when I started, and I noted when I finished....and I knew about how much time I rested in between the 800s...and I didn't wear a swim cap so my hair was a bit of drag in a pony tail....and I had my ratty training Speedo on....and I did 800 yards with a band only and no flip turns...yet I had a zillion flip turns for the other 3,200 yards I did - 156 flip turns, to be exact.....and 4,000 yards is about 200 yards short of 2.4 miles....and it was in a pool and not in OW....and.....and...and.... Hey, bottom line is this gave me a little confidence at a time when I lacked any.
Actual swim: 4,000 yards in a very complicated equation that looks something like this in my mind: 1:07:00 - 2:30 - 1:30 - 1:30 - 1:00 - 2:00 + 5:00 + 3:00 + "x" - "y" which now makes "z" not look as impressive as it did in my head Whatevah!!!
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Bike
It was a dash out of the pool...a quick check to see how zico finished in Mallorca (fab result, now fingers and toes are properly crossed!!)...then onto the Black Cat still dripping wet!
Trainer:
30 min warmup
20 min SLT (:45 min R, :30 both, :45 min L, :30 both)
6 x (5 min at 140W, 3 min easy)
7 min spin
6 x (3 min at 75 rpm, 2 min 65 rpm, 1 min 55 rpm + 3 min easy)
11 min spin
30 min steady at 130 W
15 min easy
Okay....not too much commentary here other than to say.....I honestly need my head examined!!! How I don't mind sitting on the trainer for 3.5 hours is beyond me, but I don't. ??? Any way, this was hard....and I pushed it. Data is as follows, all stated as "average cadence...average power"...
For the 6 x 5 mins at 140w:
87...140
87...142
87...142
87...144
88...145
88...146
For the 6 x 3/2/1 at 75/65/55 (note, all gearing was consistent - went up one gear from 75 to 65, and up two additional gears from 65 to 55):
76...131
67...135
60...142
76...135
68...141
59...138
76...136
69...143
60...144
77...142
69...142
60...146
76...139
70...149
60...140
78...146
70...149
62...150
And....for the 30 minutes at 130w, I went a little over the target power. My cadence stayed pretty steady, but the power inched up slowly....and then by the time I was 20 minutes in, my stubbornness took over and I'll be damned if I was going to let the power go. This was a bit too hot, in truth, but boy did I work for it!!
87...142
Legs were toast when this was done!!! Whoop whoop!!!
Actual bike: 3:35:00 on the Cat listening to lots of music and sweating profusely0 -
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Sunday, September 27th, 2015
Run
18 miles done as:
3 miles easy
3 x (3 miles @ 9 min/mile, 1 mile easy)
3 miles easy
According to the weatherman on Saturday, it wasn't looking too good to get this done properly outdoors today....but after last Friday's 3 hour treadmill run, I really hoped he was wrong about all the rain we were expected to get. And thank my lucky stars, the predicted downpour was merely a bit of spitting rain...and I can run in spitting rain.
So, out to the field I went (I wanted to be close to home for a variety of reasons, including if the heavens opened up!) in shorts and a long sleeve top (it's getting chilly!!), and my iPod set to all things Gogol Bordello. It was conveyed to me to not go much faster than the 9 min/mile so as not to wreck the body. There was even a little smiley face after that little bit of instruction. And it was the last tidbit on my training plan, which meant it was sort of important. Ah f*ck. If this session was graded on the ability to follow directions, I'd have failed the test. 
I honestly never intended to go faster...but good god it felt good to run in the cool air in my short and long sleeves with the light, misting rain falling from the gloomy, gray sky above. And I guess because I didn't have any other session immediately before this run, my legs were "fresh". ??? Any way...here's how things went:
9:17, 9:05, 9:18
8:31, 8:36, 8:31
took shot bloks, drank water and nuun
9:28
8:30, 8:31, 8:27
took caffeinated gel (which didn't agree with me for the 2nd time in a row, so I guess these are out on race day!), drank water and nuun
9:11
8:01, 7:50, 7:34
took shot bloks, drank water and nuun
8:49
8:46, 8:26, 8:25
So...in the end, all is well. Whew!! However, a couple of things to note: come race day, these paces will be totally unrealistic coming off of a 112 mile bike....and as stated over and over again here in my log, my Garmin makes me look better than I really am on the run, so I suggest we easily add 20 seconds (maybe even 30 seconds??) to the min/mile paces to get a more accurate reflection of where I am (and I also realize the implication of this - that I only got 17.x miles done and not 18). But the bottom line is, this felt good....this felt really good....and that's a really good feeling to have with only 2 weeks to go!
Actual run: Per my Garmin, 18.1 miles in 2:36:13 for an average pace of 8:38 min/mile
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Swim
This was supposed to be some variation of 8 x 300s, but I recently caved and purchased a long sleeve wetsuit since the water in Louisville is predicted to be in the mid 60s (brrr!) and I only previously owned a sleeveless number, so I changed up the prescribed swim to try the new suit out tonight! But...um.... :eek: OMG!! :eek::eek: Let's just say it took me over 30 minutes to get my entire body in this thing. :eek: Holy crap. Of course, I had no help...I was trying to be super careful...and I'm not used to dealing with sleeves. In fact, it was getting the sleeves up my arms that took about 20 of those 30 minutes to do. (Tips, anyone???) After I finally managed to zip my body into this rubberized contraption, I hopped in the pool and immediately appreciated the buoyancy and speed it brings. However, my arms felt a bit of fatigue over time as they are not used to being bound in rubber. (Tips, anyone???) The saleslady warned me that the first time I put the wetsuit on it will be the tightest...so I'm guessing I need to wear it for a few swims over these next 2 weeks to get it formed better to my body, and to get used to putting it on. (Tips, anyone???) But the good news is, taking it off was relatively easy. Small miracles.
Actual swim: 2,400 yards while bound in rubber0 -
Get the legs up as high on your ankles as you can before pulling over the knees. Pinch the outside of the leg sideways with soft pads of the fingers (cut your nails lol) when pulling up. Use the folded down waist to hoik it over your hips.
Both arms in to the elbows, then on over the upper arms and shoulders in equal increments. Tricky, but one arm at a time stretches the neck too much.
As instructed by Cian in b2r 0 -
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ROKA pro. It was the pretty pink trim that lured me in.
Sorry, I don't know anything about them. I only asked because I have a Zerod Vanguard myself and you nearlly need a degree to put it on. I thought with the trouble you were having with yours, it might be the same suit.
FWIW; the two most important things I remember from my fitting were;
1) Always pull on the suit from the inside only.
and
2) If the suit is not fitting on correctly, roll it down and start over again.
And from personal experience, it's best not to leave it until three minutes before race start to put the suit on.0 -
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Kurt_Godel wrote: »I met interested before a race and hadn't seen him in a while, so we caught up discussing training, racing, bikes, the state of OW swimming in Ireland, favourites for the Liffey Swim, politics, religion... all while he put on one sleeve of his suit. So advice might be to slow down!
On the arms feeling tired- if the suit is on correctly (and its a good suit) they shouldn't feel tired. Move the rubber so any slack is around your shoulders, inch it up from your chest, back, arms, so there is least resistance for your stroke.
step-by-step video from base2race is here
Additional advice to all above:
baby oil over arms, legs (taken care to wash hands afterwards and before handling goggles) can help get a suit on.
If racing when very sunny, might be best to stick with 'trislide'/'bodyglide' liberally applied (since baby oil on some skin and sunshine can 'help' with the burning process (could be just Irish skin but ...) and assistance from someone standing idly by who's happy to help with the finishing touches and zip.
@Kurt ... Im sure Im not alone when I say time does seem to stand still when you're talking Glad you landed on something soft Saturday winter well. 0 -
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