Toiler's Constant

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

Yeah, I did it a little differently than you. I employed multiplication then subtraction. Sorry to butt in, but I'm a CPA by trade and always love a good math problem.

We did it the same way, just reversed, I'll bet. Now to come up with an algebraic formula for the nth term...

Do you read Martin Gardner at all? The very best when it come to recreational math puzzles and problem. What a great brain he had, we lost him to the Great Void only a couple of years ago.

A man. A plan. A canal. Panama!

Kurt Godel

Tue 7km tempo run

Club run, I led off sharpish, and pushed up the hill. Caught by the speedsters at the top, and I eased downhill, being caught by a chasing group at the bottom. From there we pushed each other around again, never letting the leaders from sight. The pace was kept strong up the second sharp hill, and no-one wanted to fall off for the final couple of km. This felt like a good tempo run, perfect night for it.

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

We did it the same way, just reversed, I'll bet. Now to come up with an algebraic formula for the nth term...

Do you read Martin Gardner at all? The very best when it come to recreational math puzzles and problem. What a great brain he had, we lost him to the Great Void only a couple of years ago.

A man. A plan. A canal. Panama!

That's correct, we did it in reversed fashion. Funny, that is.

Never heard of Martin Gardner....but what a great gift idea for the next time someone asks me what I would like!

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

Never heard of Martin Gardner....but what a great gift idea for the next time someone asks me what I would like!

For being the spark that ignites so much of my swimming... one of Gardner's finest on its way to you now;)

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

For being the spark that ignites so much of my swimming... one of Gardner's finest on its way to you now;)

:D:D:D:D

Have I told you lately how awesome you are?

Thank you.

Kurt Godel

Thurs 1,800m swim drills.

Well, tonight was certainly an eye-opener! Our club started its first ever swim program, under the watchful eye of interested. Two lanes, more newbies than experienced, but everyone got something from it and the concensus was this will be a very useful way to spend the next ten weeks. Certainly I found it more than helpful, after a quick warm-up of 200m I received some advice on altering my stroke. Then into a straight 400m, which was just done at a steady pace, focusing on stroke correction. I wasn't going hard at all, but timed it anyway. 6:43. I busted a gut two weeks back doing a 400TT in 6:35- so straight away I'm seeing big gains from the first lesson, if I can cruise 400 in 6:43, I should take a big chunk from my next TT.

Next was 4x100m off 2:00, increasing effort, then repeat.

Drills, 4x100 letting the returning fingers ripple the water to help keep the elbow bent (I'm overreaching with my entry)

8x50m alternating ripple, and then pointing the hip up each side of the stoke. This hip drill was great, could really feel a more fluid cruise straight away.

Cheers to interested, he really knows his stuff and gets the corrections shown and explained quickly. I'm going to get huge benefit from these sessions.:D

Oryx

Explain ripple?


Please

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Explain ripple?


Please

Your arm exits the water, and you gently caress (ripple) the surface with your fingertips as you move the arm towards its entry position. The idea is to teach a good high bent elbow upon entry. Difficult to do at first, but if you slow down the time and get the drill correct, you're swimming with the correct core muscles, instead of entering with an outstretched arm and using shoulder muscles incorrectly for power (as I understand it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ihsP6O2Gs

interested

"Ripple", "finger tip drill" - many different names - as well as hand entry its really important to finish stroke to past the hip each time too.


"only smarties have the answer"

Oryx

Gotcha. We call that the very obvious 'drag fingers'. I've never thought about utilising the core as part of it though.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Gotcha. We call that the very obvious 'drag fingers'. I've never thought about utilising the core as part of it though.

Yeah but... can you swim through a tube of smarties?;)

Coach showed us a demonstration in the power difference between incorrect straight arm, and correct bent elbow. (You need another person for this). Standing up, hold out your arm straight, and have them push down on your hand, while you try to keep your arm raised. You'll find it difficult to do so, and you're using shoulder muscles while resisting. Now try again, bending the elbow and raising it a bit, as with a correct hand entry position. You'll find it much easier to resist the person pushing down, and you're using your side ribcage muscles while resisting. Much more power with the higher bent elbow.

Oryx

I gotta meet up with you guys for a swim sometime. You're so damn clever!

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Yeah but... can you swim through a tube of smarties?;)

Coach showed us a demonstration in the power difference between incorrect straight arm, and correct bent elbow. (You need another person for this). Standing up, hold out your arm straight, and have them push down on your hand, while you try to keep your arm raised. You'll find it difficult to do so, and you're using shoulder muscles while resisting. Now try again, bending the elbow and raising it a bit, as with a correct hand entry position. You'll find it much easier to resist the person pushing down, and you're using your side ribcage muscles while resisting. Much more power with the higher bent elbow.

What a blast from the past!!!! :D:D I had forgotten all about the bent arm power demonstration thing!! Wow....kind of a nice walk down memory lane....

Kurt Godel

Fri 3,000m swim

500m w/u
600m drills, 2x(100m kickboard, 100m ripple, 100m pointed hip)
4x100m off 1:55 all coming in between 1:30 and 1:40
50m easy
4x100m off 1:50, in between 1:30-1:40
50m easy
4x100m off 1:45, in 1:40, 1:40, 1:43, 1:25
250m steady
5x 25m hard, 25 easy

Dory Dory wrote: »

What a blast from the past!!!! :D:D I had forgotten all about the bent arm power demonstration thing!! Wow....kind of a nice walk down memory lane....

It's incredibly effective as a demonstration, I had it on my mind all through today's set! Forgot the watch, all times are done off the swim clock. But the times are proof, dramatic progress after one session. I'm bending my elbow higher on entry, pushing past the thigh, aware of hip rotation... and times are coming down. The sets felt steady rather than lung-bustin', keeping form was the important thing. Form started dipping on the second-last 100m, and so I resolved to swim as good as I could on the last, hit a purple patch where it seemed as if I was gliding on the water, and came in on 1:25, that's a pb for me I think. The fast 25's at the end were a joy, power translating to speed. Happy, happy days:)

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Fri 3,000m swim

500m w/u
600m drills, 2x(100m kickboard, 100m ripple, 100m pointed hip)
4x100m off 1:55 all coming in between 1:30 and 1:40
50m easy
4x100m off 1:50, in between 1:30-1:40
50m easy
4x100m off 1:45, in 1:40, 1:40, 1:43, 1:25
250m steady
5x 25m hard, 25 easy



It's incredibly effective as a demonstration, I had it on my mind all through today's set! Forgot the watch, all times are done off the swim clock. But the times are proof, dramatic progress after one session. I'm bending my elbow higher on entry, pushing past the thigh, aware of hip rotation... and times are coming down. The sets felt steady rather than lung-bustin', keeping form was the important thing. Form started dipping on the second-last 100m, and so I resolved to swim as good as I could on the last, hit a purple patch where it seemed as if I was gliding on the water, and came in on 1:25, that's a pb for me I think. The fast 25's at the end were a joy, power translating to speed. Happy, happy days:)

Ahhh...I'm back in OP's and walking the deck with my whistle.

Very happy for you. I had a feeling a little personal instruction would go a long way with you. If I were you (and Abhainn et al.), when the weather gets warmer, see if Interested would take you out for a session or two of open water swimming and tap into his wealth of knowledge in that playground. I think that's where he shines.

Oryx

Eh. Can I ask again? Pointed hip?

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Eh. Can I ask again? Pointed hip?

As you swim you exaggerate your hip movement, so point the higher side towards the roof as you swim. All of us last night found this drill very beneficial in guiding towards a good streamline stroke. When I was doing the faster 100's today I had this hip rotation in mind, and it definitely made for greater speed.

RacoonQueen

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Yeah but... can you swim through a tube of smarties?;)

Small tubes of smarties don't come in tubes like that anymore.

Just not the same when you can't collect the lids. What do kids today do for fun?! :eek:

Kurt Godel

Sat 12km easy run.

Bleauch. Me and running have fallen out of love, now that I have a new sexier swim mistress. 12km plodding around muck, puddles, wind, rain, cold, dark, of the forest. Has to be done I suppose, it'll get better once the Spring takes hold and the evenings don't end at dark early'o'clock.

RacoonQueen wrote: »

What do kids today do for fun?! :eek:

Give confectionary advice on old man Kurt's log, as far as I can see. Back in my day it was all discorama's and sculling Crème de menthe in a dark field...;)

Kurt Godel

Weekly Summary|Session|Comment

Monday|3,800m swim|Not feeling great
Tuesday|7k run|Tempo, pushed it a bit, felt better.
Wednesday|Rest|
Thursday|1,800 swim|Drills, new coached sessions, frickin' awesome!:D
Friday|3,000m swim|Absolutely flying in the pool!
Saturday|12k run| easy.
Sunday|Nothing|

Weekly km|Swim 8.6k Bike 0k Run 19k|Crap week, only bright spot was the swimming.
2013 km|Swim 35.65 Bike 280 Run 110.5


Not a good week, I was busy, tired, and missed sessions. The tiredness I can put down to the antibiotics, but more importantly I can just put it behind me. Motivation is still there, in fact I'm psyched because of the coached swim session. I got a huge amount out of it, and there's nine more weeks to go!:D

Kurt Godel

Mon 4,000m swim

1,000m w/u in 18:18
600m drills, 200 each of ripple, point hips, ripple.
4x100m off 1:55 in on 1:46, 1:47, 1:51, 1:49
50m easy
4x100m off 1:50 (1:38, 1:39, 1:40, 1:43)
50m easy
4x100m off 1:45 (1:35, 1:45, 1:42, 1:40)
Various drills
10x25m flat out, 25m easy
300m w/d

The initial warm up I was shocked at. It was jogging pace, no faster, just concentrating a little on my new form, and it came in 18:18, one of the fastest 1,000m I've ever swam. Amazing.
Drills went well, and I settled into the main set, 3x(4x100m) descending. I was conscious of pace, and went slower in the first set, came in where I wanted, and the second set went well too. But I calf cramped during the last set, and that's why the times are down. Dragging a dead foot is just that: dead drag. No matter.
The last ten sprints were amazing, form was holding well, I was skimming the surface of the water. They came in (pool clock) between 16 and 18 seconds, I'm very happy with how swimming is going at the moment.

Met two of the Tri Club there for the first time, getting in some practice before next Thursday. Great to see, and you were both going very well indeed!:D

Kurt Godel

Tue 7km tempo run

There were loooooads of new faces down at the club run tonight, great to see. I found the initial hill climb tiring on my legs, but I kept up the effort over and around the first lap. The second steep climb was tough but well taken, and I had a target for the rest of the way around, who upped his pace, forcing me to do the same. Perfect tempo run.

Kurt Godel

Wed 62mins turbo

Sufferfest "Downward Spiral"- I absolutely flogged myself on this one! Sweat was pouring off, I tried to disassociate my body from the pain it was feeling for each interval (2:00 hard, 2:00 easy; 1:45 hard, 1:45 easy,...,15 hard, 15 easy). Five minutes trail biking, and then do the set again. Hard work- I'm totally shagged now!:D

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Wed 62mins turbo

Sufferfest "Downward Spiral"- I absolutely flogged myself on this one! Sweat was pouring off, I tried to dissociate my body from the pain it was feeling for each interval (2:00 hard, 2:00 easy; 1:45 hard, 1:45 easy,...,15 hard, 15 easy). Five minutes trail biking, and then do the set again. Hard work- I'm totally shagged now!:D

Compartmentalization. Yep. Do that myself!

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

Compartmentalization. Yep. Do that myself!

Any tips? I count slowly the seconds- really slow, so I'm fooling myself that one second has passed when actually two have. That way I'm "delighted" that the end comes so soon. Hey, whatever works, right?!:D

Oryx

I sing 'killing in the name of' (rage against the machine) in my head during hard sessions.

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Any tips? I count slowly the seconds- really slow, so I'm fooling myself that one second has passed when actually two have. That way I'm "delighted" that the end comes so soon. Hey, whatever works, right?!:D

I mainly do the disassociate/compartmentalize thing when I'm hating life on the treadmill by "bundling" the pain up into one lump and partitioning it off from my mind. And if I'm trying to pass the time, my main tricks include the counting trick that that you employed, forcing myself not to look down at the time/distance until "x" number of songs have played or until the next commercial comes on or until the Caps have scored a goal (which could be a very long time (talking hockey here)), and belting out tunes while shaking my booty with my favorite musical artists. Like you said, whatever works.

shotgunmcos

Make fun of the pain, mock the quads, anger them into a retaliation of more power! On a more serious note, relax every body part from waist up as much as possible. You can then imagine that pain in your legs to be at the bottom of strings and you are the evil puppet master.

Also, it ain't over till you fall over!

BennyMul

I love the downward spiral, and never mind the first few, where it gets me is the 45,30,15 they feel longer than the 2min and the recovery just flies.

I try and embrace the pain, and remember that it is meant to hurt and if I can suffer here then come race day I have that in the bank to dig into.

Fair play to you on this.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I just grunt, make loud noises and try smile through it knowing it will all be over soon enough and the endorphins will then kick in.:o