Toiler's Constant

Kurt Godel

Sun 1:20 turbo

I have had a pretty foul cold the past few days, bunged up, coughing, shivers; just felt bleauch. This coincided with a recovery week, so I may as well take the fortuitous timing. I felt really bad last night, and broke my 2013 abstinence with a bottle of decent Cotes du Rhone, and four hot whiskeys. Didn't really feel the better for it, and I'm hungover today (although the cold seems to have eased), so I reckon I'll jump back on the wagon again. I don't get a buzz from booze anymore, in fact I prefer the clear head, and ability to train more, so its no great loss. The only thing I miss is the lowering of inhibitions that comes from a few drinks (as evidenced by the mild online flirting I got up to last night;)).

This evening, after I had taken the kids to running training (just started up again, they are so eager for those relays!), I hopped on the turbo for 1:20 easy spinning, and feel better for it now.

Kurt Godel

Weekly Summary|Session|Comment

Monday|8.5km run|Easy pace, didn't feel great for it
Tuesday|1:30 turbo|Easy
Wednesday|60 min turbo|Easy
Thursday|3,000m club swim|4x(3x200m off 3:25, :20, :15, :10) All good but the last set 10 secs over
Friday||Rest
Saturday|Rest|
Sunday|1:20 turbo|Easy

Weekly km|Swim 3 Bike 100 Run 8.46|Recovery week
2013 km|Swim 83.95 Bike 690 Run 189.1


Very little volume, very little effort. As noted above, my recovery week partnered with some sick days. Feeling better now, and I'm looking forward to a more specific phase of training before the races start. Running will be a focus this week.

Kurt Godel

Mon 3,000m swim

Right, time to get back on the horse. This cough still hasn't departed, but didn't seem to impede me too much in the water. I skipped any tumble turns, didn't want to strain the lungs today.

900m ascending w/u (1:49 pace av)
Main set: 4x(100m pull, 100m ripple, 100m point, 100m swim) (swims in 1:39, 1:34, 1:33, 1:32)
500m pull

There's another gear waiting to be fully utilized, and today was about trying to find it and make it natural. I first caught it a few days back at the club swim, when I needed to hurry to overtake someone- greater roll of the shoulders, feet kicking well, a bent elbow entry and catch... Each of the drills today was about trying to find that stroke, and then test it with a 100m swim at each set end. The more sets I did, the more I could refine it, and as the times were coming down on each, it shows a difference when its refined. I'll keep up this drill practice, and would hope to see the corresponding swim 100's go under 1:30 soon.

PS I wore a new pair of Arena racing goggles, and they are great for correcting head position. Focus is on the blue line (instead of the hottie two lanes over).

Kurt Godel

Mon pm 50mins turbo

Sufferfest "Revolver", main set 16x(min v.hard, min v.easy)

Never, in the course of turbo history, has one minute seemed so long, then so short, nor has 15 seemed so many.

Kurt Godel

Tue 1,300m swim; 12.5k run


Swim
The two munchkins are starting swim lessons this weekend, and needed to be assessed to see what level they will start at. I gave them each a pair of aquasphere goggles (which fitted and worked well), and let them to it, showing their skills at free and back. They took it very seriously, they're looking forward to their lessons, as is their beaming dad on the deck.

After they played for a bit, as I got in some stroke practice. I've been thinking about how to marry a few aspects of the stroke, so after a steady 500m warm up I did a few drills, and then tried three 100's to see what tweaking would do.

First 100m, 1:34. Out fast from the start, more about pull than kick.
Second 100m, 1:29. Slower start, rotate shoulders, more of a kick.
Third 100m, 1:25. Steady start, rotate the shoulders better, kick better. (Lost the kick a little on 3/4, but happy with form otherwise).


Run
This evening I had to do a cub run, so fitted in a loop of my Carnew backroads in between embark/disembark. Started slow, and gave progressively more effort as the run went on. My throat was still husky and the lungs were rough, but after halfway I was motoring a bit better. I've run this loop a few times now, think 61 mins is my best, when I was going for it and run fit. So I'm more than happy with the standard tonight. I need to focus more on the running side of things, hopefully I will try this again in a few weeks and take a minute or so off.

Kurt Godel

Wed 3,400m; 3k steady swim 1:52 pace + 400m drills, warm down

Before I knew anything about swimming I used just increase the distance, and do it all in one go. Now I know thats not the way to progress, but there's still some use in doing a long steady swim. For instance, it can tell you a lot about the quality of your stroke, when it starts breaking down on tired arms. After about 1,750m my foot was cramping, and I found it hard to get into the stroke again after I stretched it quickly. Another foot stretch after a bit, and I tried again to find the stroke. This time it came easier; I focused on rotating shoulders and keeping the kick high, and it seemed to come back again.

Kurt Godel

Thurs 2,900m coached swim

400m descending w/u

3x100m off 2:00
50m easy off 60
3x100m off 1:55
50m easy off 60
3x100m off 1:50
50m easy off 60
3x100m off 1:45
50m easy off 60
3x100m off 1:40
50m easy off 60
3x100m off 1:35
50m easy

8x50m off 70

I felt good for this. First few sets of 100 were easy, started to pinch at 1:45, felt the ones at 1:40, and the 1:35's were tough (first in 1:33, second in 1:35(cramped!), took extra couple of seconds to stretch cramp, last one hit 1:30). I got some stroke advice (rolling the head), so tried to take that on board for the 50's (all in under 45, last under 40;)). Nice session, I feel stoked now.

Dory Dory

Nice swimming!!

Kurt Godel

Fri 10k run 4:40 pace

Apparently there is a thing called "the outdoors" in which you can train, which is covered by neither a ceiling nor a pool roof. It's very, very, wet, though. Not quite as wet as the pool, but wetter than that big puddle under the turbo bike.

I painted on my new shoes, Inov8 Evoskin, which are like big blue condoms for your feet. It's hard getting the toes in correctly, but they are very responsive underfoot. 15 laps of the rain-sodden football field for the test. Not a whole load of grip (I skidded taking a couple of corners on the wet grass), but more than enough protection running over nettles, gravel, etc. I'll try them out on the road soon, but they were ok on wet grass, nice to run in (although I've now got a toenail that looks like its saying adiós soon). They were super cheap on wiggle (€20), and I'll get use out of them even if I don't run much in them, but here's the thing... they fit fine inside my bike shoes, and I didn't really notice them while spinning for 30 seconds. Might be an option for duathlons- now which way to the patent office?

Oryx

They look like the ba$tard child of crocs and vibram five fingers.

nerraw1111

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Fri

I painted on my new shoes, Inov8 Evoskin, which are like big blue condoms for your feet. It's hard getting the toes in correctly, but they are very responsive underfoot.

Kurt Godel

Sat 4,500m swim

800m warmup
1000m alternating 100m ripple, 100m point
2x100m swim (1:41, 1:46)
6x(100m ripple, 100m point, 100m swim)(swims 1:38, 1:38, 1:37, 1:34, 1:32, 1:29)
3x(100m ripple, 100m point)
100m swim down

The munchkins started their swim lessons in Arklow, they absolutely loved it, and it was fantastic to see the progress they made in their first lesson. Both were beaming as they came out, and can't wait for next week.

Afterwards I had almost two hours to myself, in a (mostly) empty lane. I wanted to work on stroke technique, with a focus on high elbow on entry, so the most of these were either ripple or point. Here's what I got from them:

Ripple: towards the end I was sensing the metronome rhythm of how the arms circuit. It's not a steady flow, instead parts of each side slow down in sections. Ripple really helps me understand this, and it fed into the tester swims.

Point: again, towards the end, there was less exaggerated pivot, as I began hitting a fluid motion. Its a matter of bringing this motion into my natural stroke.

Swims: Two at the start, to judge what steady pace was like today. 1:41 followed by 1:46, not happy to see the second so far down. The real test was to see how the two drills would feed into the stroke at the end of each cycle of 300m. I was happy to be able to use what I was observing from the drills, and see the times come down for each. By the sixth, I was tired, but felt like I was skimming the surface. If I can merge this streamlined swim with a steady stroke revolution, I should see times come down a fair bit soon.

Kurt Godel

Sun 55mins turbo

Sufferfest "A Very Dark Place".

5:00 warm-up
2×30 sprints
1:30 rest
5 x 4:00 intervals- with 3:00 rest between each interval. Each interval features pro-racing and has it’s own aggressive personality:
Solo breakaway in Paris-Nice
Small group breakaway in Fleche-Wallone
Joining Gilbert and the Schlecks as they attack in Liege-Bastogne-Liege
Following Cancellara – and trying to beat him – in Paris-Roubaix
Holding onto Wiggins and crew in Criterium du Dauphine
4:00 recovery with some vintage cycling footage

This one is very well put together- there's enough mixture between the five hard sets to keep your mind off the pain. Thankfully, for once a Sufferfest "5 sets" meant "5 sets"!

Kurt Godel

Weekly Summary|Session|Comment

Monday|3,000m swim; 50 min turbo|Swim drills; Sufferfest "Revolver", main set 16x(min v.hard, min v.easy) tough effort
Tuesday|1,300 swim, 12.5k run|Swim drills: run Carnew loop 1:02:47
Wednesday|3,400m swim|Straight 1:52 pace
Thursday|2,900m club swim|6x(3x100m off 2:00, 1:55,...,1:35) Felt good, hit them all
Friday|10k run|4:40 pace steady
Saturday|4,500m swim|Drills, with 100m tests swims (1:38, 1:38, 1:37, 1:34, 1:32, 1:29)
Sunday|55mins turbo|Sufferfest "A Very Dark Place"- hard

Weekly km|Swim 15.6 Bike 48 Run 22.5|Tough, hard effort, this week
2013 km|Swim 99.05 Bike 738 Run 211.6


A much better week, with pretty high intensity. The swimming is solid. Bikes were hard effort, but I probably need to start fitting in a 2-hr spin weekly. I'm happy with run progress. Had hoped to get another easy run in tonight, but was working so its not going to happen. In fact, I'm finding it hard to tick all boxes- I should really be ticking 3 each out of nine weekly sessions. It will take some discipline to cut the swimming back a little, I enjoy it very much, but I have to recognize it's a 3-sport discipline.

Kurt Godel

Mon AM 10k run 4:39 pace

Steady pace (actually a steady progression) along the Railway Walk and Tomnafinnogue, between flurries of wind and snow.

Mon PM 97 mins turbo

Easy pace, just loosening tight legs from this mornings run.

Kurt Godel

Tue 12.5km easy run 1:06:30

My body and legs felt good starting out, but sore soles and tight calves convinced me to do an easy run, first time I've jogged at an easy pace in quite a while. It was a tonic, into the gleaming twilight and along towards darker skies and stars. It made me think- its been a while since I ran for pure enjoyment, and tonights chilly jaunt was certainly enjoyable. I think I'll try and bring a few more of these recovery pace runs into my routine, if I can squeeze 'em in.

ultraman1

Kurt Godel wrote: »

its been a while since I ran for pure enjoyment,.

is that not the only reason?:)

Kurt Godel

Wed 2,100m swim

Forgot the watch, and the clock wasn't on, so no time feedback. No matter, I was just in for a quick swim.

400m descending wu
4x(100m ripple, 100m kickboard, 100m point, 100m swim)
100m swim down

ultraman1 wrote: »

is that not the only reason?:)

For jogging, yes. What I'm finding is that since so many sessions need to be squeezed into the week, I'm doing most of them at a higher intensity. Back when I was marathon training, several of each weeks sessions would be easy jogs (and hence enjoyable).

The enjoyment I get from training now is more like the enjoyment you get from hill repeats- relief, and pride, when they are over.

Kurt Godel

Wed pm 1:15 turbo
SUFFERFEST'S HELL HATH NO FURY
3:30 Warm-up
5:30 Stage 1: Easy, flat terrain with a few accelerations
20:00 Stage 2: Rolling terrain with a series of brutal attacks as the pack tries to take the lead from you
6:00 Recovery
20:00 Stage 3: More rolling, aggressive, attacking racing in which you try to break away to get the lead back
4:00 Recovery
3:30 Stage 4: A desperate Team Time Trial in which you have to crush yourself in order to take the lead, and the Tour of Sufferlandria victory
6:00 Recovery, featuring Mental Training Reflection

This was my first time trying this one, and its different to other Sufferfest workouts I've done- more of a steady effort with some bursts, rather than the interval sessions of others. Useful to mix it up a bit. Sufferfest really know how to make turbo training fun (right down to the really cheesy Mental Training Reflection in the warndown- that has to be a pi$s-take, right?:D)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Wed pm 1:15 turbo
SUFFERFEST'S HELL HATH NO FURY
3:30 Warm-up
5:30 Stage 1: Easy, flat terrain with a few accelerations
20:00 Stage 2: Rolling terrain with a series of brutal attacks as the pack tries to take the lead from you
6:00 Recovery
20:00 Stage 3: More rolling, aggressive, attacking racing in which you try to break away to get the lead back
4:00 Recovery
3:30 Stage 4: A desperate Team Time Trial in which you have to crush yourself in order to take the lead, and the Tour of Sufferlandria victory
6:00 Recovery, featuring Mental Training Reflection

This was my first time trying this one, and its different to other Sufferfest workouts I've done- more of a steady effort with some bursts, rather than the interval sessions of others. Useful to mix it up a bit. Sufferfest really know how to make turbo training fun (right down to the really cheesy Mental Training Reflection in the warndown- that has to be a pi$s-take, right?:D)

HHNF video is good for working out to especially with ladies lycra. The 2x20min segments are perfect for holding efforts around 90-100% FTP rather than following the on screen instructions.

Kurt Godel

Thurs 5.72km easy run 5:09 pace

Met up with my lumberjack friend for a jog along the Railway Walk. It's been a while since I had company running, so it was good to be moving at conversation pace (his conversation is dull as dishwater, but beggars can't be chosers;))

Celine Tall Molding wrote: »

HHNF video is good for working out to especially with ladies lycra. The 2x20min segments are perfect for holding efforts around 90-100% FTP rather than following the on screen instructions.

Yeah, some of the sprints and stands seemed a little superfluous, (at least from what I know about the rest of the SF vids). Following ladies in lycra is always going to be a good workout- although there was one confusing moment where I wasn't sure if they were mens' or ladies' behinds I was ogling... I'll just let "beggars can't be choosers" be my thought for the day:)

Oryx

You dirty old man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEbEMjKitA4

Kurt Godel

Thurs pm 2,700m coached swim

400m descending warm up
10x50 off 60 (first in 39, rest 43-45)
50 easy
10x50 off 55 (in 45-47)
50 easy
10x50 off 50 (in 46-50)
100 easy
5x50 off 45 (in 40, 43, 45, 48, cramped)
50 easy
5x50 off 45 (in 43, 45, 46, 50, 48)
150 swim down

Last week I hit all the numbers, and was chuffed. This week I missed them at the end, and was annoyed. However, I learned a lot more from tonights session). No Joe, no Fish, so the lane was my own; no hiding. The first set of 10 were a blast, I was told to pace well throughout, but probably went a bit fast on these. I held the stroke well, felt like I was gliding on the water, could have gone all day off 60.
Next set I slowed a little, purposely. The stroke was good and I was comfortable with the breaks.
The third set felt tougher, and I had to work at rebuilding the stroke in places. By the end of the set I was drifting off time.
The last two were tough- the first of each was easy (too fast in the first of them), but found it very hard to come in around 45. A word from the coach had me pace the last better, but still I was drifting.

I got some good stroke advice tonight. I also learned that I can swim sub-45 50's all night, once I have a 10-15 sec break after each, and hold the stroke well with them. However, once that break shorten, the stroke seizes and I start to drift. The word is my aerobic endurance needs to be worked on, so I'll bring in sets of 4x100 off (1:45, 1:40, 1:35) this week.

Kurt Godel

Fri 62 mins turbo

10:00 warm-up
2:00 interval / 2:00 recovery
1:45 interval / 1:45 recovery
1:30 interval / 1:30 recovery
1:15 interval / 1:15 recovery
1:00 interval / 1:00 recovery
:45 interval / :45 recovery
:30 interval / :30 recovery
:15 interval
5:00 recovery
Repeat of descending-interval set with free-bonus-ba$t4rd extra 1000x15sec sprints
4:00 warm-down

Good solid effort, sweatometer started dripping towards the end of the first 2:00 interval, and by the end a pool of sweat was mopped up from the floor.

I just "got" those hoarder guys who bottle their sweat and other fluids... weird thought.

Dory Dory

^^^ Hoarder guys? Sweat and other fluids?? I must live a sheltered life....but... More importantly....KURT, banish that thought!!!!

Solobally8

Kurt Godel wrote: »

I just "got" those hoarder guys who bottle their sweat and other fluids... weird thought.

Euuugh gross!

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

^^^ Hoarder guys? Sweat and other fluids?? I must live a sheltered life....but... More importantly....KURT, banish that thought!!!!

Solobally8 wrote: »

Euuugh gross!

I don't know... the kids were watching some show a while back about hoarders, these guys who keep everything, and I just didn't get it. But as I mopped up my sweat, some connection was made that this was in fact a part of me, and those jars and bottle guys came to mind... its gross all right, but it was just a fleeting thought!:D

Dory Dory

Note to self: if I am ever at Kurt's house, do not under any circumstances drink from a stray bottle or jar out of the refrigerator.

Kurt Godel

Sat 3,000m swim

400m descending warm up (1:49 pace)
100m ripple
Main set:
4x100m off 1:45 (in 1:36, 1:39, 1:41, 1:42)
100m easy
4x100m off 1:40 (1:33, 1:36, 1:37, 1:37)
100m easy
200m in 3:05
100m easy
200m in 3:07
1,000m drills, swim down

The intention was a focus on aerobic endurance. My arms felt very heavy for some reason today, maybe Thurs swim is still in them. After a warm up to stretch them, into the first set, which came easy enough. I don't find 1:40 pace hard at all these days, but I knew the hard work was still to come. The next set felt good too, obviously harder, but controlled well. The final set was to be 4x100m off 1:35, but I was doubtful I'd hit them all, and felt I'd get better use from splitting it into a couple of hard 200's with rest in between. The initial 200m felt good, control the first 100m, and hold form on the second. Final one was a bit tougher, but form was decent. My kick was feeding well into both 200's, but I need to pull more from the chest muscles. Pull bouy work needed.

Kurt Godel

Sun 10k steady run 5:00/km pace

"I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled"

I cannot handle wine anymore- two and a half glasses last night with dinner, and I was wrecked this morning. Up early for a steady effort run along the Railway Walk, and I was straight away noticing hardships throughout the locomotor apparatus. Still, it was a great morning to be out early, and the run was a decent one, if tougher than the pace suggests.

Happy Annual Boozefest PaddyWhackery Day everyone. Dare I drink a peach schnapps?