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
-
Friday, August 2nd, 2013
Run plan: 1 hour 50 minutes steady
Two O.M.G.s to report:
1) O.M.G it was buggy out there tonight!!! There must've been a zillion bugs swarming and buzzing and dive bombing....the majority of which I involuntarily consumed or captured in my eyes. It really was quite disgusting out there!
And..
2) O.M.G. this was hard....in part, self-made due to my inability to understand (or rather, my inability to apply myself to understand) my Garmin's pace display. For several of the miles I was seeing average overall pace on my display thinking it was the average lap pace, so in reality I was going faster than I should have been...which then explained why it felt harder than I had anticipated it would.
Okay...it's a Friday evening in Luray...and the town was buzzing with activity. Lots of cars whizzing by with happy passengers waving and honking (at least that was my take on what they were doing)....and a big fat musical concert in the center of town. I did the first several miles on the rolling roads, then finished up on the flat Greenway where I saw my little buddy (who's not quite right) who is always so excited to see me and gave me the most sincere, "well hello darlin'!" Made me smile.
I decided to target a steady pace range of 8:00 to 8:15 min/mile with hopes of being as close to 8 min/mile as possible. The first few miles were quite disciplined, but then I must've picked up some speed that I didn't realize due to my Garmin ignorance as referenced above. I think it was around mile 9 or 10 when it hit me what was going on with my pace, and I was quite relieved because I really was working harder than I thought I should have been. I slowed it a bit....and then I made the decision to use the last mile or so of this run as my cool down, and I hoped that I had built up enough cushion to stay around 8 min/mile average overall pace. I had to stop very briefly at a traffic light around mile 5.....and I stopped for water at a fountain while on my cool down mile (specifically at 1 hour and 42 minutes and 13.x miles into the run) as I was dying of thirst at that point and felt I would most certainly perish and dissolve into a pile of dust that the wind could scatter about leaving only my Garmin ticking away as a clue that something had happened to me if I did not consume water at that very moment. :rolleyes:;)
Splits as follows:
8:01, 7:56, 7:41, 8:03, 7:54, 7:42, 7:38
7:33, 7:40, 7:46, 7:49, 7:49, 7:53
cool down: 9:54 (included walking to the water fountain and running on a busy highway, up a nasty hill, and in a gully), 2:11 (9:07)
Actual: 14.2 miles in 1:53:35 for an average pace of 8:00 min/mile
I am SOOOO glad this run is done...because it means I've got the weekend free of any big sessions (easy runs for me for the next 3 days
), which will give me some extra pool/lake/bike time. Whoop whoop!!! 0 -
Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
Run plan: easy
Just a very easy field run in the gentle afternoon rain. My legs were feeling last night's 14 mile run in them, but with each passing mile at a pace my body dictated, the legs were starting to smile again. I am always amazed when I start one of these easy runs with my legs wrecked and moving like they are in quicksand how much better they feel by the end of it. It's a miracle, I say...just a miracle!
Actual: 6.3 rainy field miles~~~~~~~
Swim
Still spitting rain this evening (in fact, it rained off and on all day which made it a great day to take a 2 hour nap!
:D) so the evening swim was done in a fantastically moody atmosphere. Nothing fancy with this one, just a 2,000 yard swim while concentrating on my stroke and thinking about the triathlon and how I will have to pace the swim.
Actual: 2,000 yard swim0 -
-
Kurt Godel wrote: »Can't wait to see how this goes for you. How is your sighting? Will you draft off other swimmers? Or just lead out from the gun?;)
I'm looking forward to the tri as well. However, I've mixed feelings on my swim at this point. I've not had any burning desire for speed while in the water as of recent - I prefer to swim at a lovely pace for long periods of time, and how that will translate in two weeks is totally unknown to me. My sighting is generally pretty good as I have been taught that sighting frequently and staying on course is much more efficient than not sighting frequently and going off course. I will breathe a 2, 2, 2 pattern and will probably sight every 4 (give or take, and depending where I am on the course). In fact, as luck would have it, they've set up buoys in the lake already so I am heading there in a few to practice with a friend this morning!
Drafting? Gosh...If the feet present themselves at the right pace I will draft, but in just about all of my other OW races (which is limited) I usually just go and swim my own race. As far as leading out from the gun.....I will start on the front line, but trust me, there will be plenty who hit the sandy beach before I do!!
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Tuesday, August 6th, 2013
Run plan: 2 mile warmup, 6 x (1 mile @ HMP, 1 minute recovery), 2 mile cool down
After three days of "easy"
, I had hoped my legs would have been daisy fresh for this session tonight, but they weren't. They weren't in bad shape, I just could feel some fatigue deep down inside them....and between the wind that was gusting and my slow sluggish pace on my warmup, I actually began to wonder if this would be an epic fail session for me. I had a little chat with myself on the warmup and told myself that it was not the end of the world if I could not meet my targets....that it was okay to fail every now and then....that failure makes you work harder....but I also told myself I had to try....and I reminded myself that I usually feel better as the miles pass by....and that I usually reap loads of benefit from the recovery intervals. So, with my little pep talk fresh in my head, I got my mind in the game and tried.
Legs cooperated.....and other than a misunderstanding with my pace and why my Garmin was beeping at me constantly on mile 4 (because I was going too fast and not too slow as I actually thought!), each HMP mile felt better than the one before it. I was hoping to keep my paces between 7:15 and 7:30 with a target of averaging 7:20 min/mile....and for the most part I'm pretty happy with my discipline and effort. I rewarded myself with a nice slow cool down that the legs appreciated post this spiffy session as I headed for home!
HMP miles:
7:25, 7:28, 7:20, 7:12, 7:17, 7:11
Actual: 10.6 miles in 1:25:19 for an average pace of 8:05 min/mile0 -
Wednesday, August 7th, 2013
Run plan: easy
Ugh. Legs felt like crap at the start of this run....body was creaky....and I was finding no joy in being in the field at noon on this very humid day. I soldiered on, intending on doing somewhere between 4.2 and 6.3 miles, but I was so not into this run that when I saw a lone deer enjoying herself by grazing in my path without a care in the world at the start of my 6th lap, I decided it would be a sin to ruin her peaceful moment with my miserable slog so I turned around and headed for the house.
Actual: 3.5 creaky not-feeling-the-love field miles~~~~~~~
Lake swim
Headed out to the lake directly after stopping by the local 7-11 to purchase a batch of lottery tickets. Big pot this evening....and oh boy could I be as happy as a pig in sh*t if my numbers happen to get drawn tonight. <fingers and toes and everything else crossed> Of course, I have now guaranteed that I just wasted a small pile of dough...however, if by chance you don't hear from me tomorrow, it's quite possible it's because I am wallowing quite gleefully in a mucky puddle somewhere oinking my heart out.
Ah, but the swim....it was lovely. The water temp continues to decline, which is stressing me a bit since I am not going to wear a wetsuit (because I can't find where I stashed it during/after we moved a few years ago and I am not going to purchase a new wetsuit just to swim 750 meters....well, unless that lottery gig works out for me... ) and the swim will probably be wetsuit legal. It was an out and back swim tonight, twice. Three of us were out there....with the bugs and the fish....and the sun setting.....and I worked on stroke, sighting and getting used to swimming without flip turns.
Actual: 1,500 meter lake swim0 -
Advertisement
-
Wednesday, August 7th, 2013
....after stopping by the local 7-11 to purchase a batch of lottery tickets. Big pot this evening....and oh boy could I be as happy as a pig in sh*t if my numbers happen to get drawn tonight.
Yean, right ... and I'm gonna stay fit and run a sub 3. Bah !0 -
Yean, right ... and I'm gonna stay fit and run a sub 3. Bah !
Bah!!! I didn't win!! So it's not looking too good for your sub 3.....and I guess you better not take your fat pants to Goodwill just yet.
Thursday, August 8th, 2013
Plan: easy
Hot and muggy field run over lunch. Blech. BUT, the legs and body felt SO much better than yesterday, so there is that. I must've sweated 5 pounds off of me as drenched as I was, and the sun was hardly even out - it was just the horrid humidity. Blech. I was pressed for time, which is a shame because I could have enjoyed another mile or two in the sauna (which sounds like such a contradiciton, but the legs were cooperating). Oh well. I'll take what I can get when I can get it!!!
Actual: 4.2 hot and humid field miles0 -
Bah!!! I didn't win!! So it's not looking too good for your sub 3.....and I guess you better not take your fat pants to Goodwill just yet.
You really should play Reverse Lottery, its much more fun. You pick your six numbers, put your "entry" into a coin jar, and every week revel in delight when those six numbers don't come up.
At the end of the year, take the coin jar to Atlantic city and put it all on Red. If you win you buy an expensive wetsuit and go sea swimming. If you lose, no wetsuit...0 -
Friday, August 9th, 2013
Run plan: 2 hours 45 minutes at a pace slightly slower than easy
It's late, I'm tired, I'm not hungry but I'm forcing myself to eat, and my toenails hurt...so this is going to be brief.
Best thing about this run - it's done.
Worst thing about this run - I didn't bust any good moves.
Strangest thing on this run - the old lady walking with a stick, waving a bag in front of her face, shouting to me "keep it going!"
Another best thing about this run - my friend I met after 13 miles who ran with me for the remainder of this run.
Worst miles on this run - miles 14 through 17, I felt like crap.
Best miles on this run - the first 12 and the last 2.
Funniest thing on this run - the two older couples riding their leisure bikes in brightly colored apparel, each of whom rang their respective little bike bells as they passed me from behind. Too cute, really.
Biggest shock and disappointment on this run - that I finished 2 minutes and 14 seconds sooner than I was supposed to. In my defense, it was dark by the time I arrived back at the clinic and I could not see my watch data until I stopped, and at that point I was like, "feck it!" Stick a fork in me I am SO done!
And, yet another best thing about this run - the ice cold Straw-ber-Rita Margarita with a Twist that was left on my car as a post run treat by one of my girlfriends.
I'm not going to bother posting my mile paces, I'm just too frickin' tired. Let's just say they were anywhere from 8:09 to 9:18. My goal was to average this run around 8:30ish min/mile but to also take into consideration the hills and heat. I did a respectable job up until I met up with my friend. I don't know if it was his company or the fact that I stopped and guzzled a gallon of water and Gatorade that then sloshed around my belly or that I was just getting tired, but miles 14 through 17 were miserably slow and I didn't enjoy them at all. The good news is that I got my mojo back shortly after mile 17, so at least I ended on an up note.
Actual: 18.8 miles in 2:42:46 for an average pace of 8:39 min/mile0 -
Saturday, August 10th, 2013
Run plan: easy
I spent most of the day in the bike shop having the Mad One gone over for a well checkup and to reassess the fit before the race next weekend. After being put through the hoops with measurements and spinning and being reminded of form and being scolded for mashing, a small adjustment was made to the seat because I noted that I sometimes scoot back when going uphill. Some lube and love was then given, and the Mad One was pronounced to be in most excellent condition!
Sooo, this meant the run was done after my late shift at work. Just 6 times around the field for an easy breezy trot to shake out last night's very long run. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised how good my legs and body felt/feel. Honestly, no detectible ill effects that I could notice. And, speaking of last night's run, I'm sipping on my Straw-ber-Rita Margarita with its 8% alcohol now, and it's really good!
Actual: 4.2 field miles on legs that should have been wrecked but weren't~~~~~~~
Swim
Late evening swim in semi-darkness. Super cool, really. It was a bit of a challenge at times seeing the line on the bottom of the pool, but this easy swim was therapeutic and a reminder of where I am most comfortable - in the pool. I really swim for me...for the way it feels and for the way it makes me feel. I will never be as fast as I once was, but I can continue to love it as much as I always have.
Actual: 2,000 yard swim0 -
Sunday, August 11th, 2013
Today was the last tri training session with some of my local triathlon buddies before the race next weekend. Everyone was a buzz with excitement and prediction, especially whether the swim will be wetsuit legal, and if so, pros and cons to wearing a wetsuit.
Lake swim
I wasn't feeling so spiffy for this - work is a b*tch right now and I spent 2 hours immediately before this swim at the clinic doing hard labor. And because I was like a mad woman at work, I didn't consume my usual calories prior to this session, which I do think matters. And, I may have been feeling some fatigue from Friday night's 18 mile escapades. Bottom line, I opted to only go one time around the tiny white clorox bottles....and I went fairly easy until the last push home. I guess this swim was pretty uncharacteristic for me because one of the guys I was with asked if there was something wrong with me when I came to shore.
Actual: 750 meter lake swim~~~~~~~
Bike
I decided to down a few shot bloks to bring some life to the body prior to hopping on the bike, and I do think it helped. After yesterday's polite lecture from Kyle the bike shop guy, I heeded his advice to have my bike computer display my cadence. I've never ever ever worried about cadence, but he really impressed upon me how important it is...and he suggested that my goal should be to keep my cadence above 80. :eek: Wtf?? Being the masher I am, my cadence per my computer thingy averages around 60. Aw hell. So, I tried to work on that for this session, but it was so apparent that pedaling at that speed with the corresponding gear does not come naturally to me, and this is not the time to be changing my technique (or lack thereof) one week before the race, so I negotiated a compromise - to keep the cadence around 70 while still pushing bigger gears than I should.
The ride was okay overall, and I got this done in just under an hour, which is the fastest I've ever clocked myself on this course. I hope I can repeat a sub 60 minute on the day.
Actual: 17.3 miles in 59:46 for an average speed of 17.3 mph and average cadence of 69~~~~~~~
Run plan: easy
I couldn't stomach doing the tri course run - it's horrid. If it's not going up, then it's going down and around curves. There is nothing flat nor straight about this run, and just thinking about it right now is making me nauseous. Barf. Plus, it was 96 degrees out there....on pavement....black asphalt...I think you get the picture. So, I headed home and did this field style.
Actual: 6.3 miles in my field with some dance tunes to pep me up~~~~~~~
Pool swim
It was such a lovely evening and the pool was way too inviting to ignore, so I put in a nice steady swim while I was grilling some chicken. And I had company for this one. My frog is back. I heard him dive into the pool when I was on the deck - good grief he made a lot of noise hopping into the pool for such a small creature with his big splash. I ended up having to turn the pool lights on so I could see him under water, and I fished him out and sent him on his way.
Actual: 1,000 yard pool swim with a very bold frog~~~~~~~
Target run mileage for the week: 55 miles
Actual run mileage for the week: 55.3 miles
Actual swim yardage for the week: 7,475 yards
Actual bike miles for the week: 17.3 miles
This is race week for me, and work is insane. I will be pushed for time all week, so this will be a real exercise in time management for me to get all my sessions done and target mileage hit. No taper, but I will try to front load this week best I can without being ridiculous or stupid to allow my body to rest a little prior to Sunday morning. It will be all work, training, eating, sleeping for this gal this week. Oh, and I suspect my posts this week will be very brief, so for all those who avoid my log due to too much wordiness, this will be the week to come and have a visit here. And without further ado, let my week from hell begin!!!!0 -
Monday, August 12th, 2013
Run plan: 2 hours steady
In the spirit of Marthastew, this session gets a "Holy Merde!" ranking due to the buckets of rain and miserable wind I endured for parts of this run. :eek:
As promised, this will be brutally brief due to the hell I am living this week. In a nutshell...I felt pretty good for most of this run....actually quite good until tummy trouble on mile 9 that forced me to seek out proper facilities....started to feel low on energy around mile 13....and decided to start a nice cool down at 13.5 miles. Oh, and based on my understanding of the definition of "steady", I was targeting a pace of 8 to 8:15 min/mile. Went a little fast at times, but happy enough with this run....and the overall average pace was bang on target.
Splits per Garmin:
8:22, 8:02, 7:43, 7:58, 7:53
7:49, 7:44, 7:49, 7:46, 7:46
7:48, 7:39, 7:45, 3:52 (7:46)
Cool down: 9:38, 4:20 (8:51)
Actual: 15 miles in 2:00:01 for an average pace of 8 min/mile.0 -
Tuesday, August 13th, 2013
Run plan: easy
Seeing how my work life has got its vulcan death grip firmly on me, there was no sneaky lunchtime run. And unless I can do a beam me up Scotty to get me out of work for a breather midday, the sneaky lunchtime run just ain't gonna happen this week. (Secretly, however, I am plotting to duck out for a bit tomorrow....)
So....this was done post-work-early-evening-easy-field-style.....and it felt good. I am trying to frontload this week a little, so I did 10 laps around the field under a cloudy sky. Weather is supposed to cool down starting tomorrow. I considered going for a swim after the run, but I'm tired and sleepy so I opted to eat dinner, write my post, and call it a night slightly early tonight.
Actual: 7 miles in the field counting to 100 -
Wednesday, August 14th, 2013
Plan: easy
Ah ha!! I put my foot down and bolted out of work at lunch to get this done. It was too too too gorgeous a day to be denied this little slice of heaven. I mean, picture this - sunny, moderately warm with a hint of crispness, no humidity, a slight breeze.....and the sky a blue so blue that you'd only find such a perfect color in an animated film. It. Just. Doesn't. Get. Better. Than. This.
Quick change from clinic slave to field loper....and the body and mind were happy campers once more. I had my dance tunes with me, and I was busting some serious field moves on the inside.....and with each passing mile the interior smile got bigger and bigger. I needed this run. It really felt good in so many ways.
Actual: 7 very happy field miles~~~~~~~
Pool swim.....in a wetsuit
Yep. You read that right. I caved and secured a wetsuit just in case the lake swim this weekend is wetsuit legal. I just couldn't stand it....all the buzz....all the talk...all the supposed edge. UGH!!! I got a sleeveless number that looks pretty bad @ss. :cool: But it's not about the look, is it? It's about putting your money where your mouth is....or maybe in this case it's actually putting my mouth where my money is....?? Either way, I was totally in awe of how high in the water I was, but I was also aware of the constriction across the chest and the feeling of having to work the arms more. I actually started to wonder if I was going slower in the wetsuit because I just wasn't feeling fast, but I slipped out of it and put in a few laps sans suit, and I do think that maybe there is an edge with the wetsuit. Plus, Kurt's assessment is pushing me to believe the suit adds an edge.
Actual: 2,200 yards in an 87 degree pool while wearing a wetsuit0 -
Thursday, August 15th, 2013
Plan: 2 miles warmup, 8 miles at MP, 2 miles cool down
Gorgeous, gorgeous, super gorgeous day today!!! OMG....pinch me and tell me I'm not dreaming. And the weather certainly added to the enjoyment of this run....as did a few of the people I saw along the way, but I'm not going to discuss that.....I'll just keep to the script due to my promise of brevity for this week's posts, which is the run.
Prior to blasting off from the clinic after work, I had decided to target my MP range between 7:45 and 8:00 min/mile...but when my first MP mile came in a bit faster than that I decided to target 7:30 to 7:45 min/mile.....then when my 2nd and 3rd MP miles came in very close to 7:30 min/mile I decided I'd just target that....but then when the 4th MP mile came in faster than that I decided to target 7:20 to 7:30 min/mile and accept the fact that I really was doing HMP and not MP.....and then when I reached the 8th and final MP mile and was feeling like a million bucks, I decided to not look at my watch and to run this last mile 100% by feel, so I dropped my shoulders and relaxed my body and let the legs go, once again pretending I was on the final DCM mile and staying far enough ahead of meno who has promised to shout abuse at me to encourage me along. Such hospitality.
Good run that felt controlled and, while I did reasonably work it with solid effort, never felt like I was in over my head. I had my mantra provided to me by rock star Pos/Neg echoing in my head, "make every step count", and I used my arms to keep my pace and help thrust me forward. And, the cool down was my recent standard fare of dangerous highway, nasty hills, and icky gully. And now my 2 full days of taper begins. Whoop whoop!!!
MP paces:
7:28, 7:30, 7:28, 7:23, 7:20, 7:17, 7:20, 7:05
Actual: 12.0 miles in 1:35:00 for an average pace of 7:55 min/mile0 -
Advertisement
-
Friday, August 16th, 2013
Run plan: easy
Just a very simple and slow lunchtime field run. This is day 1 of my 2 day taper so I kept this super easy breezy while my mind busied itself with some higher math and calculated that since last Friday (and not including today, so I am adding up a true week/7 days only) I have run 70.3 miles, including 18.8, 15, and 12 mile runs. :eek: Hope the legs hold up on Sunday.
Actual: 4.2 miles while working on my math skills~~~~~~~
Lake swim
The triathlon peeps organized a lifeguard supervised lake swim with buoys for this evening, so after work I boogied on down to the lake to swim in the wetsuit and to practice taking it off. The water is currently at 75 degrees, so it appears the swim will be wetsuit legal. But, I'm not convinced I'm going to be wetsuit wearing. I'm just not sure how much it will benefit me. Bottom line, I'm not used to the constriction and it's distracting to me. It also feels like it's using energy to swim in it - is that possible?? On a positive note, it's so freakin' buoyant....I feel like I've been poured into my own total body PFD. So, now I'm faced with about 24 hours to decide to wear or not to wear.
The swim was nice - lots of triathletes buzzing and splashing about. Unfortunately, the swim was total chaos since there were only two buoys set up in basically a straight line (wtf?) so it was an out and back swim with no uniform consensus about which "direction" we should be swimming in. Soooo, it was a wall of swimmers heading out, and a wall of swimmers heading back. Crash, bang...you get the picture. Oh well. I guess you can't have everything. I did the first out and back in the wetsuit, then did a second out and back sans wetsuit. Sans wetsuit is more comfortable for me, but am I slower sans wetsuit?? From what I've read, a wetsuit can save you 10%....so that's probably between 1 to 1 1/2 minutes of swim time. Is that enough? Will it save my legs for the bike? Will the stripping off of the suit negate any time gained by wearing it? Crap. Why can't the water temperature just be above 78 degrees and be done with it! :mad:
Actual: ~750 meter lake swim0 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
Saturday, August 17th, 2013
Run plan: easy
This was just a little leg stretcher in the field in the midmorning sunshine. Loving my 2 day taper.
Actual: 2.1 easy breezy lemon squeezy field miles~~~~~~~
Pool swim in the wetsuit
Okay...this felt good. I'm not sure if I just had the suit on "better" today...or if wearing it in the morning versus the evening makes a difference....or if pool water versus lake water creates a different sensation, but this wetsuit swim I enjoyed. So, decision made - wearing the suit. I also am also wearing the baby blue Pikeman Triathlon swim cap that Oryx sent me just recently. I always wear two swim caps, so hers will be my base layer, then goggles, then my purple wave designated cap on top. I am smiling knowing she will be with me.
Actual: 1,000 lovely yards in my wetsuit and Pikeman swim cap~~~~~~
Race thoughts:
The swim - I have not had many high quality swim sessions this summer - I mainly just swim at a comfortable pace for long-ish distances because that is what I most enjoy. Swimming is different for me than running or the bike, and don't ask me to explain because I promise that you will be bored to tears and regret asking by the time I am done with my explanation. I don't really have any high expectations in the swim for tomorrow but I will go out there and see what happens by keeping things controlled and down to business. Transition should be interesting taking my wetsuit off.
The bike - Even though this is my weakest leg, I am most looking forward to this. I have not put in near enough time in the saddle to expect great things, but I love my bike and enjoy the challenging course I'll be doing. My hope is to go under an hour for these 17.4 miles. Transition here should be interesting as well because last year I biked in my runners, this year I clip in and will have to swap out shoes.
The run - I am dreading this section the most as the course is horrid! It's either up or down or crazy curvy. Barf. And it's an out and back. Double barf. But, it's only 3.1 miles, so I can tough this out for sure. I hope to have paced the swim and bike smartly as to have a little left in the tank. I believe I did this run last year in 25+ minutes, so the hope is to do better than that this year.
Fingers are crossed there are no major mishaps, and toes are crossed the rain that is forecast does not happen as I will be hating life with white knuckles on the bike.0 -
-
Advertisement
-
Advertisement