Toiler's Constant

Dory Dory

Oryx wrote: »

I just ate two chocolate muffins and half an easter egg. I do admire your willpower.

If I make my goal time a week from now, I will put you all to shame with the quantity of chocolate I potentially will consume in just a matter of hours.

Kurt Godel

Tue 62 mins turbo

Sufferfest "Downward Spiral"

Main set: 2*((120 seconds-n) hard, (120 seconds-n) easy; n€{0, 15, 30,..., 105})

This was probably the toughest turbo I ever did, pushed each set until it hurt, and kept on pushing till the finish. I had intended an outdoor loop, but it was too cold for my delicate triathlete's constitution, and in any case this turbo was longer and harder, and so more useful.

catweazle

Spotted this yesterday and thought of you

https://www.facebook.com/TheGreatBrayToGreystonesSwim?ref=stream

Kurt Godel

catweazle wrote: »

Spotted this yesterday and thought of you

https://www.facebook.com/TheGreatBrayToGreystonesSwim?ref=stream

Cheers! It's certainly something I'd be interested in. I saw the Leinster OW calendar for 2013 over on the swimming forum, looks good! I think you need to be in a club to enter them though, and Wicklow is full up. I might drop Wexford Masters a line...

Tue pm 5km easy run, with strides

The Community Games training has started up again, so back for another round of helping keep order. I do the "warm-up" with the little 'uns, and then try and keep the big 'uns active. My 10-year old son is in this group, and I don't want to cramp his style too much, he's more fond of flirting with the girls than running. Sensible lad...;)

Wed 10km run. 4:46 pace

New shoes, New Balance Men's Mt10bo2. These are iteration II of the great Minimus, which I love. They've toughened up a soft spot on the sole, so running on gravel doesn't hurt so much; the heelbox is more rigid; and the strap across the toes isn't quite as tight. All in all, a great improvement on an already great shoe, and these are better for trail running. This is the nice couple of years in a shoes development, when yearly changes mean improvement. In a few years, yearly changes will be all about $$$ and change for its own sake, so I might just stock up on these. Very happy with them:)

I started the run feeling good, before running out of steam by halfway, sweating, little energy, etc. Don't know why- perhaps the big meal I'd just eaten, perhaps the lack of sugar in my recent diet, probably the tough turbo from yesterday coming back to bite. In any case I persevered, and by the final third I had picked up the pace again, and finished strongly enough.

Oryx

Wexford ow asked me to join the other day. Is that who you meant? If so they're def taking on new members.

griffin100

I had a look at the Leinster calendar but its all non wetsuit so not for me......yet.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Wexford ow asked me to join the other day. Is that who you meant? If so they're def taking on new members.

I swim at Wicklow harbour, and emailed Wicklow SC a few months back. They have a waiting list and (not unreasonably) would expect those signing up to tog out at races- perhaps a little more times than I might be available.

Wexford sounds good, although I doubt I'd get down training to Curracloe very often. But I might sign up just for the entry to races. Are you joining them?

griffin100 wrote: »

I had a look at the Leinster calendar but its all non wetsuit so not for me......yet.

Ah yes, any pretense among Triathletes that they are hard, tough, "iron"men... crumbles when they have to put their shivering skin into a moderately cold sea;) Question- how do the good swimmers tell themselves apart when they can't differentiate by expensive wetsuit???:eek:

interested

re: swimmers - they don't have to, the handicapper figures it out quick and you are at or just in front of scratch - and yes, wearing a wetsuit is a no no if you want to get your (I think) 4 swims for the harbour or liffey swims.

Kurt Godel

Thurs lunch 65 mins turbo

Sufferfest "Angels". Mindful of Jackybacks suggestion, I tried this longer session- main set 3x8mins "climbing" with attacks. I think I managed a decent pace for them, and kept the effort high towards the end.

Thurs pm 2,600m swim

400m easy warm-up
3x200m off 3:30
6*(4x50 off 60, in 45, 45, 45, 40) no break
4x100m off 2:30 (first sprint 25m, 2nd sprint 50m, 3rd 75m, 4th 100m)

The 200's were steady pace, in around 3:15.
The set of 24 50's was interesting, a new one on me. There's constant refinements needed to my stroke, but in general I have decent form for these short 50's. Stroke is better than its ever been. Every fourth one was to come in on 40. The first three were solid 45 pace, and then into a 39. Keep going for three more, and again a fast one. As they went on, 45 became cruising pace. I started cramping at the end of set 5, but pulled it together for the last quartet- in on 38 for the last.
The last set of ascending sprints I started cramping up in pretty bad, thats what I get for doing a turbo a few hours before. Won't do that again, these coached swims are key sessions. Still, I managed a great first 25m, cruised the rest. Then a decent 50m, but dying towards the end. The 75m sprint was a bridge too far, I was cramping and form all over the place. I only managed 50m of the last, totally fooked. Lesson learned

Dory Dory

^^^Well done you! I figured coach was going to throw the book at you, but looks like he's reserved that for another day.

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

^^^Well done you! I figured coach was going to throw the book at you, but looks like he's reserved that for another day.

Oh there were mind games going on tonight- trying to convince me I missed a whole load of times. He kept such a straight face too, the fecker:D

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Oh there were mind games going on tonight- trying to convince me I missed a whole load of times. He kept such a straight face too, the fecker:D

Don't you just love him?? :D

interested

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Oh there were mind games going on tonight- trying to convince me I missed a whole load of times. He kept such a straight face too, the fecker:D

You have to KNOW your times and splits. Im watching beginners bob up and down and have far too much trust in your honesty and time keeping after your faux pas the previous week with the clock.

Doing a turbo session hours prior to one of my coached sessions is ... well ... disrespectful If I'd know you'd have had the pleasure of a what I like to call a 'kick session'. Care to take a wild guess and what you'd have been doing for the entire hour ?



see you next week champ

Krusty_Clown

Weren't you swimming on the West Coast recently? How was the mackerel?

Kurt Godel

interested wrote: »

If I'd know you'd have had the pleasure of a what I like to call a 'kick session'. Care to take a wild guess and what you'd have been doing for the entire hour ?

An hour with the kickboard? Can't be sure anymore, could just as easily be an hour being kicked by your good self. Each sound equally painful- so no more doubles on key swim days.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Weren't you swimming on the West Coast recently? How was the mackerel?

West coast of Portugal- the Connemara sea's are still a bit cold for my delicate whotsits. So I sent one of the Merlads to fetch me some mackerel;)

Kurt Godel

Fri 65 mins turbo easy

I'm a bit low on energy today- probably a mixture of two hard-ish sessions yesterday, and diet. Basically, I'm eating less, and a lot less crap. That food tracker certainly keeps you clean. 65 minutes easy spinning, just to get the legs moving.

Fri pm 5km easy jog

A great tonic for the spirit, this easy jog was about the setting sun, pink clouds, lambs braying; felt like Spring for the first time in ages. If you're going to jog for 5km starting in a tired mood, this is how you want to end up, feeling 1000 times better, and itching for more.

BTH

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Oh there were mind games going on tonight- trying to convince me I missed a whole load of times. He kept such a straight face too, the fecker:D

He says that to everyone, but he honestly doesn't have a clue what time you've swam.

Kurt Godel

Sat 13km fartlek run

A wet and miserable day, all I wanted to do was swim, but instead I got only to watch the munchkins at their lessons. They're coming on strongly, still got a lot to learn about maintaining stroke. My daughter was given a backstroke drill- hold a float to chest, alternate arm. She misunderstood and only used one arm, alternating direction:) Guess it runs in the family!

A two hour turbo this evening, or suit up and hit the wet trails? One thought on my poor clubmate who opted for the Wicklow Glacier Lakes solo today, and I figured I could manage an hour or so. I'm glad I did, once out in the wind and the rain, you feel alive. Lots of strides, changes of pace, uphills, hands on knees; tough work, but very rewarding to have finished!

Kurt Godel

Sun 1:45 turbo

Easy enough, just turning over. I had intended venturing outside for a couple of hours, but the fierce wind out there today put a hold on that.

Weekly Summary|Session|Comment

Monday|3,000m swim; 11km easy run|Swim drills, 4 100's in !:30, 1:31, 1:29, 1:28
Tuesday|SF "Downward Spiral"; 5k run|Hard session on the turbo, worked it well.
Wednesday|10km steady run|Felt it at half way, picked up the effort to finish
Thursday|SF "Angels"; 2,600m club swim|Turbo 3*8min climbing. Swim main 24x50
Friday|65min turbo; 5km jog|Both easy pace
Saturday|13km Fartlek run|tough, hard pace
Sunday|1:45 turbo|easy pace
Weekly km|Swim 5.6 Bike 170 Run 44|
2013 km|Swim 133.85 Bike 1,156 Run 343.79


Swim: Volume is down, but I'm happy with where I am now. 1:30's are becoming easier to hit, and I want to make this more of a cruising pace. Thurs was a decent session.

Bike: The two SF turbo's were very hard effort. Need to get outside this week and begin hill-specific work.

Run: Highest volume in ages. My steady pace has come right down, the Fartlek sessions are great for helping this. More of the same next week.

Oryx

Yay. I'm not the only one who wussed out of a cycle today.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Yay. I'm not the only one who wussed out of a cycle today.

I read on an IronPerson's log earlier that they had wussed out. Who am I to second guess IronPeople?;)

Kurt Godel

Mon 2,400m swim

1,000m steady (1:47 pace)
4*(100m ripple, 100 point, 100 swim) (swims 1:24, 1:32, 1:29, 1:28)
200m warm down

The steady paced kilometer was pretty good, I can cruise for distance at this pace now. Aim is to get cruising pace under 1:40 by summer.

The drills did their trick- I wanted to set a marker for 100m, so got 1:24, I'll take that as my pb. It was eyeballs out. The next ones were more controlled in their stroke. I'd like to get under 1:20 for the 100m, albeit just for the say-so. Sprinting isn't the goal.

Kurt Godel

Mon pm 6.5km run

Bridge to bridge, the idea was an easy run, but I picked up the pace throughout and was soon running steady and strong. Running is a lot easier these days for some reason, I'm getting back to a place where I can put the foot down a little, and feel a bit of strength.

Kurt Godel

Tue 10km steady run 42:53

Now that the evenings are a little brighter, the Tuesday night club runs have migrated to the Railway Walk. Not a huge turn out tonight, but a great fresh evening for a trot. Having company meant this was a faster pace than I'd usually do, and I'm pleased that it was comfortable throughout. The fartlek sessions are doing good, they are like a shot in the arm for running progress.

I led out for the out section, and two of the lads picked up the pace with 3.5k to go. Staying with them would have pushed me harder than intended, so I let them off and kept to my own pace (which was still tough enough!). Added a little extra at the end to make up the 10k, and finished. Very happy with how the running is coming along, tonights was a nice steady run, a good deal faster than of late, and a solid indication of progress.

Kurt Godel

Wed 62 min turbo

Sufferfest "The hunted"

My calf was a little tight this morning, but this turbo seems to have done the world of good. There's a long 20 min session with some pick-ups, followed with a 5 min session with attacks, then 5 mins broken up into [(50-n)sec tempo, (10+n)sec sprint; n€{0,10,20,30,40}]

Good solid effort, my dripping brow became a faucet, heart was pumping hard throughout.

Kurt Godel

Thurs 2,400m coached swim

200m swim
200 kick
200 point
200 swim

4*100 off 1:50
4*100 off 1:45
4*100 off 1:40

2x25 off 60
1x100 off 4:00
2x25 off 60
1x100 off 4:00

With Joe and Fiona (Fish) back in the lane, I thought I could hide my hangover (caved in last night, a bottle of red to mask a bad assessment result). No such luck; Joe got a pass after his great run in Boston, Fish got a pass as she is racing this weekend.
The first set, no problem, got some good feedback on my form.
Next lot of 100's, no real problem. It says something about my progress that I consider 4*100 off 1:40 to be easy.
The last set was about sprinting and hitting pb's. My first two 25's were coming in 14,15; good form and good speed. Happy with the time. However, I went out too fast in the 100, was dead after the first 50. Touched the wall in 39, turned like a tanker, and splashed the rest on horrible form to hit 1:25. A similar story for the next lot: hit decent 25's, but although I tried pacing better the 100, I cramped after 50 and aborted. Need to try Nuun shots, I think, cramping is too frequent.

I learned from this session that my 25's are fast. Putting four of them together, I should be able to go well under 1:20 for a good 100. But the real lesson is to use that speed to jump onto feet, when we hit OW.

PS Joe passed on a box of chocs from Dory- thanks a million, thats so sweet of you Carol!:)

Kurt Godel

Sun 61.55k bike 2:25

I felt devoid of energy the past couple of days, so took them off. I've been burning the candle at both ends recently- exam work is intense (and will be for the next few months), and most sessions I've been doing are tough sessions. In particular, running and bikes have both been pushed hard. Results are good progress, but I'm feeling burned out. I don't like not training, and was itching to do something yesterday, and was all set to visit Wicklow Harbour for a cold dip, but a family trip took precedence. Just as well, I then had an upset tummy and headed to bed early...

Didn't even sleep too well, and woke up tired. The morning was spent following the fantastic efforts of some of the fast boardies in London, some masterclasses in pacing given from pronator and Krusty. Well done lads! After I figured I may as well head out on the bike for an hour. It got extended, and became a bike of two halves. The first was on flat, dry, good surface, roads, and I was turning over nicely, 32.8km for the first hour. The rest was on bad backroads, with a good few hills thrown in (about 500m elevation gain for this part), and in squally wind and rain conditions. Bombing downhill on wet brakes through rivers of water is life-affirming!:)

Glad to get the bike outside finally. My hour-long speed has improved over the winter, all that turbo work was useful. Tinahely Duathlon is on in a couple of weeks- I want to get the bike part close to 36 mins for the 19.8k route.

Kurt Godel

Mon 3,800m swim

400m warm up (1:51 pace)
4*400 off 7:55 (in 7:01, 6:56, 6:55, 6:58)
200 easy
8*200 off 3:50 (3:35, 3:40, 3:41, 3:39, 3:46, 3:49, 3:56, 3:49)

This was robbed from one of interested's sets, although looking at it now it should have ended with 4*200 off 4:10, 4*100 off 1:50. No matter.
The 400's were solid enough, keeping the stroke steady, and concentrating on kicking throughout. My arms were tired towards the end of each, but I'm satisfied that I kept decent form.
I had intended doing only 4 200's, but had in the back of my mind to make it 6, then 8. The last three were off 4:00, as I found the going tough. No time for a swim-down as a school was about to take the pool over. I'm happy with this endurance session, mainly because my form didn't totally collapse when the arms got heavy.

Dory Dory

Just now getting caught up on the life of some of my fave boardsies....

Some good work going on around here!

Kurt Godel

Tue 10k run 4:20 pace

This seemed like the first evening of Spring, finally able to run in just a tech top! Speedster #1 was missing tonight, but Speedster #2 was there and we set off together. Too early for Fish, who caught up with us and ran a few km, fresh from her 13:xx swim in North Tipp, which she's happy about. The pace was kept very steady, and we hit the turn in the same time as last week. We commented that it felt a lot easier this week, and turned for home. I was dropped after a while by a burst of pace, but kept my pace steady (4:20 average tonight vs. 4:17 last week), and didn't lag too far behind.
I'm happiest with the pacing tonight, very steady throughout, and there was lots in the tank if needed. Running with faster people is the quickest way to up your game.