The Good Mood Cookbook

Oryx

Are you saying I'm right? I want to print this out and show him.

interested

Oryx wrote: »

Are you saying I'm right? I want to print this out and show him.

Not only do I think you're right, I can't believe people are still teaching others this way ... the idea of 'catchup' drill imho is to facilitate timing, help people ensure balance in the stroke and ensure people know that there is a short pause in the arm stroke (you keep kicking btw) ... however in the sea, there's little or no pause when swimming.

Instead of the hands touching each time .. the drill can be done, but the hands perhaps 1.5 hand width apart or so ... neither hand should ever cross the centre line imho

Anyhow - people have lots of ways of teaching and coaching ... but, yes, D'internet say's youre right

Oryx

My next swimming trick will be to synchronise my kick with my stroke (once I get my catch to a passable level). In your opinion will this be time well spent, or should I just try and nail the catch, bilateral breathing, or something else entirely?

interested

Oryx wrote: »

My next swimming trick will be to synchronise my kick with my stroke (once I get my catch to a passable level). In your opinion will this be time well spent, or should I just try and nail the catch, bilateral breathing, or something else entirely?

its tricky to say without seeing your stroke .... if you do 200fs swim, note your time and then 200 fs pull ... note your time ... and there little or no difference then time spent ensuring the timing of kick and pull is better will help.

Swimming more, taking on more challenging sets that build your aerobic swim fitness could also be considered since Im sure your stroke is pretty enough at this stage. Careful what you ask your coach for you can get faster in a couple of ways .. swim more efficiently by fine tuning your stroke or swim more and more and more pushing your fitness and holding your existing stroke. Its a conundrum for everyone.

If someone ... say ... an ex-swimmer turned runner, who reads blogs regularly, and hasnt been in the pool for an age had some time to swim before ... say ... a HIM, then their time might be best spent easy swimming, slowly getting a feel for the water and not stressing about the swim - they'll know its not about the swim on the day, and its more about getting to the bike in good shape and out for the run. Just a thought.

Oryx

Im sure your stroke is pretty enough at this stage.

Pretty inefficient. I'm told I have no catch whatsoever. Ill do that 200 comparison and see what it tells me. Thanks for the input, you're a godsend. Oh, and Christmas has interfered with my tt's but I am going to get back to that. Once I do a little fun run in Feb that is....

Dory Dory

:eek::eek::eek:
Stickler for spelling???!!!!
At least I'm not a handslapper.

Oryx

Dory Dory wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek:
Stickler for spelling???!!!!
At least I'm not a handslapper.

This place is full of euphemisms today.

Dory Dory

interested wrote: »

If someone ... say ... an ex-swimmer turned runner, who reads blogs regularly, and hasnt been in the pool for an age had some time to swim before ... say ... a HIM, then their time might be best spent easy swimming, slowly getting a feel for the water and not stressing about the swim - they'll know its not about the swim on the day, and its more about getting to the bike in good shape and out for the run. Just a thought.

I think when you have more bathing suits hanging off the tub than runners sitting in your closet, you can safely say you're still a swimmer.

Oryx

I got up late, and it was raining cats and dogs, so 5.2k easy on the - shock, horror - treadmill today. I had to blow cobwebs off the thing. It was surprisingly less hateful than I remember and my stomach stayed calm (usually I get sick on it, must be motion sickness or some weird thing). The strength work I did yesterday was meant to target the outer glute muscles and oh, mama, did it just. I'm walking like the little old lady I try not to be, and of course running was just So Much Fun. But this was just a loosener in prep for a much stronger turbo session later. (As long as a faint sore throat I'm getting doesn't set up camp properly)

Oryx

I did a lthr test on the turbo tonight. I think it was an honest effort. Av hr for the first ten minutes was 161bpm, for the second 20 min bit it was 166. I thought it would vary more but it held steady pretty much all the way, no spikes. I hope that doesn't mean I did it wrong cos I really don't want to do that again for a while.

Oryx

MaryB30, who was at the pool this morning, has promised to thank this post, because they witnessed the blonde moment it describes. Hi Mary!

In spite of the turbo test last night, I wanted to do my 400tt today. I actually thought the timing would be good, what with the rest day and then a buzzy bike session to get me fired up. So I did a 500 wu and then hit my watch to start the tt. I felt like I swam well, fast turns, held a good stroke all the way through, all that malarkey. But the watch is set to buzz on the last length... and it didnt. I knew Id counted right so I stopped anyway, and checked the watch... which was stopped. I had hit the button to start the timer alright, but had stopped the watch instead. Bugger. From the pool clock I would guesstimate I did a 7.45, which would be a 14 second improvement, and tbh it felt like I swam that well. I just cant put that on the challenge table. I might put down 7.50 though, just to have a number.

Of course, when you cock something up, what do you do? You try again. So I did. I thought it would give me an idea of where I was at anyway. Did the second 400 in 7.57, and I know I didnt go as hard, but it was still faster than my previous pb, so something was going right today. The third 400, which I did cos I was on a roll and enjoying them, was 8.27. My arms were feeling it.

A few sprints and swolfs to finish at 2100.

I may well repeat the test next week, but next time I will start the bloody watch.

Edit: looking at the challenge table, I see I did a 7.52 before, which I had completely forgotten about

Oryx

Short progression run this morning, with a few of the guys. It was raining, and muddy, and still pleasant. 8.8k. Speed is irrelevant as I warmed up slow with the group, but we did it as thirds, racking up the pace in two stages. I was running about 4.40min kms in the last part.

Oryx

My first outdoor ride of 2014 this morning, and my first time wearing overshoes. Those things are a revelation. Warm feet when cycling in the rain! Who needs summer, I've got neoprene!

Due to a communication cock up on my part there were only two of us on this ride but it worked well as we were well matched. We both seemed to keep each other pushing and there was no slacking off apart from a short teabreak. 71.25km but I don't have the exact time till I look at the splits. It still needs work but it was good.

Ten minute easy run off the bike just to teach the legs how to do it. Fun morning. Really enjoyed it. Especially the novelty of warm feet.

Oryx

I was supposed to fit in a proper long run today but I couldn't do it. I knew I didn't have a big enough time window for a start, and I am feckin tired. (If I didn't have to work and run a house this training thing would be easy.)

I hoped to get 20k done but only managed 19.75 in two hours which included a few what they call comfort stops. Bad run, don't want another one like it. But sure it happens.

MaryB30

Well Done.

Its not easy time wise, as I know;). But you are doing outstanding with the time you have.
See:http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=XXLK-wj9x7s&u=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DB03dFMG8nR4%26feature%3Dshare

Oryx

Early swim. Grumpy swim. 'I'm half asleep' swim. But myself and the shark shared a lane and managed to converse civilly in spite of both of us being in early morning mode. He swam rings around me while I did 2k of drills and technique work.

Now I can feel self-righteous for the rest of the day.

RacoonQueen

Any cake or goodies requests for the next time I see you?

I make mean gluten free choc fudge cupcakes

Oryx

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Any cake or goodies requests for the next time I see you?

I make mean gluten free choc fudge cupcakes

By the state of my recent attempts to do any lsr's, I think the only thing you'll want to bring is a wheelbarrow to pick me up.

RacoonQueen

Oryx wrote: »

By the state of my recent attempts to do any lsr's, I think the only thing you'll want to bring is a wheelbarrow to pick me up.

Not sure if my oven is big enough

Izoard

So, what's the "fun run" in Feb?

Oryx

Izoard wrote: »

So, what's the "fun run" in Feb?

I dont know about anything fun.

Izoard

Oryx wrote: »

I dont know about anything fun.

It can only be...

Oryx

Izoard wrote: »

It can only be...

Only if you do it with me.

Oryx

Another swim tonight. Club set. Lots of short sharp stuff, all arms based, then 3 x 400 fc arms, some kick drills and no breath lengths. I enjoyed it. These double swim days are turning out to be good, in the second session I always feel strong and have a great swim. Fingers crossed that continues. 2500m

Izoard

Oryx wrote: »

Only if you do it with me.

It is probably my appropriate level, right about now.

I have a slightly longer effort the week before - I believe the organizer is going with a strong Valentine's theme this year....

ultraman1

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Not sure if my oven is big enough

:eek:

Oryx

Short speed session this morning. Handy 800s on the road by my house. I got up late (it was dark out anyway at first) so only did 3, with the same distance as recovery, just because doing it as a loop like that works best for hitting the distance accurately. My 800s were 3.31, 3.33, 3.31 and I would like to have done a few more. My speed work needs work.

Oryx

Group turbo tonight. I had another nice session to do, which was 4x 5 min intervals building to a v hard effort level, and a horrible little section at the end where you had 4x 1 min race pace on the bars then 30 seconds hard sprinting out of the saddle. Does a job on your quads

My hrm was all over the place and I don't know if that's because its dodgy or I have a bit of a dose on me. But the session made me forget I was feeling a little off. I'll sweat out whatever it is

Oryx

Early swim. I dont usually go to the pool without a session plan in my head, but today, because I know I have some kind of lurg, I though I would just bring the pool toys and do some easy drills, without a plan.

But I got in the water, and it was quiet, and relatively peaceful once I zoned out the swim club splashing in the next lane, and I just started to swim. It was so good I didn't stop swimming, just got into a rhythm and kept going. Every now and again my watch bleeped so I knew I had a 400 done, but other than that I didn't count, or worry about time, just tried to think of various things about my stroke, and to relax. (A few people recently have told me I am not a 'placid' person, and that its something I need to work on, lol) Half an hour in I could no longer feel my sore throat and I was enjoying the tick tock beat of the swim. Did 2100 continuous in something over 50 minutes, I haven't done a swim like that in ages. I finished off with some bilateral with pb just for practice. 2500 total.

Solobally8

Sounds heavenly