The Good Mood Cookbook

Oryx

My first prescribed swim set tonight. It was tougher than it looked written down. Ditto the strength and mobility work this morning. I was worried this girl wasn't going to make this training hard enough, I needn't have been!

50 mins this morning, an hour and 2.5k this evening.

Oryx

An hours high cad turbo followed by mobility work this morning. Nice. Today was the day I would have travelled to Bolton. Somehow I feel like I've made my peace with that. Sunday might feel different but right now I am serene.

Shell to Run

I will think of you Sunday Oryx. You are making great progress here. Alls well that ends well.

Oryx

Shell to Run wrote: »

I will think of you Sunday Oryx. You are making great progress here. Alls well that ends well.

Ditto! I will be tracking you, so everytime you hear the bleep of the timing mat, know that I am there shouting GO! GO! GO!

Oryx

Group sea swim tonight, which was offshore and showed up my glaring tendency to swim with a pull to the left! I swam way off course even though I was sighting regularly. Another annoying glitch I have to fix. 2.55k in 1 hour.

Oryx

Spiffy early morning bike ride. Foggy out, but really warm. Wore my new boards bike kit which my daughter described as 'snazzy'. (Her favourite word). Got honked at twice, possibly cos of the 'now yere talkin' written across my butt, or maybe it was my wobbly bike technique.

This ride was meant to be steady. I took that to mean sustainable pace. The route was undulating and I have no problem grinding up the hills, but I need to put more effort into the flats. 49.2k, 121 mins.

Dory Dory

There are boards bike kits???

Oryx

There sure are!

Dory Dory

Okay, they are way cool. How do I order a kit? Have you got a link? And what's that flappy thingy on the bibs? Easy access for potty breaks??

Oryx

Ha, its so you can see the back when approving the proof. The final version has writing on that part.

Dont think they're doing another order till winter but its the cycling forum who organise it.

Dory Dory

Oh. On both points.

Oryx

Dory Dory wrote: »

Oh. On both points.

I will make sure you never miss another order!

RacoonQueen

Didn't realise there was new gear again. Like that one.

Oryx

Saltee swim

My strategy for not getting fed up on what would have been ironman day was to do the ever friendly Saltee swim, from the little saltee island to Kilmore. 3.6k as the crow flies.

We were ferried out to the island by rib, and jumped in just offshore. I started swimming to the first buoy but made little progress, and I could see the other swimmers were spreading out. It was only when I hit some very heavy chop that I realised there was an issue, a boat pulled alongside and told me to get in. A strong current had been pulling us towards a reef, they ended up sweeping most of the swimmers. They dropped us back in at a better position, but it meant we didn't do the whole distance. I measured 3.2 rather than closer to 4.

I still got a medal though, and would highly recommend this event just because the guys at it were just great. It wasn't ironman, but it was fun.

griffin100

I wanted to do that swim today but apparently I couldn't coz I wasn't a member of swim ireland

Oryx

griffin100 wrote: »

I wanted to do that swim today but apparently I couldn't coz I wasn't a member of swim ireland

Yeah I had to sort all that out before I could do it. Helped that I was local so knew the club members to contact.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Saltee swim

My strategy for not getting fed up on what would have been ironman day was to do the ever friendly Saltee swim, from the little saltee island to Kilmore. 3.6k as the crow flies.

We were ferried out to the island by rib, and jumped in just offshore. I started swimming to the first buoy but made little progress, and I could see the other swimmers were spreading out. It was only when I hit some very heavy chop that I realised there was an issue, a boat pulled alongside and told me to get in. A strong current had been pulling us towards a reef, they ended up sweeping most of the swimmers. They dropped us back in at a better position, but it meant we didn't do the whole distance. I measured 3.2 rather than closer to 4.

I still got a medal though, and would highly recommend this event just because the guys at it were just great. It wasn't ironman, but it was fun.

Good for you doing this so soon after you leg break. I was going to head down, but glad I didn't now with them pulling people out. Maybe next year.

Now that you have your SI card (and Griff you need to get yours) the National 5k and 10k races are in Lough Dan on Aug 23rd. No wetsuit, but sure that will help your transition time to the cake table:)

Oryx

I won't be doing a 5k non wetsuit swim anytime soon but it might go in the long term list.

Today was a four hour bike, 97.3k in 4:03. Lots of sun, a bit of rain, and so warm even a two piece trisuit was too hot. I love summer!

RacoonQueen

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Good for you doing this so soon after you leg break. I was going to head down, but glad I didn't now with them pulling people out. Maybe next year.

Now that you have your SI card (and Griff you need to get yours) the National 5k and 10k races are in Lough Dan on Aug 23rd. No wetsuit, but sure that will help your transition time to the cake table:)

Are you doing one of these?

Kurt Godel

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Are you doing one of these?

Definitely doing one of them, leaning towards the 5k at the moment. Racing without the suit is a lot purer; there's a huge "glide" effect from the extra lift in a suit.

Are you thinking one of them yourself? The SI races are brilliant.

RacoonQueen

Would like to do 5k but swim endurance and swim ability currently non-existant. So yeah, no.

Oryx

2650 pool swim today. Got through it fine, but I had varied effort 100s to do, and my times were utterly depressing. Sooooo sloooooow.

MaryB30

Ha, I did 400m in the pool today, forgot my goggles and after 400 I couldn't be bothered.

Oryx

MaryB30 wrote: »

Ha, I did 400m in the pool today, forgot my goggles and after 400 I couldn't be bothered.

Ah, you get a pass for that one. Can't have you swimming blind!

MaryB30

I now look like this.:o:o:o:o

Oryx

Rest day yesterday. I felt lazy.

Then a sticky, hot, horrible high cad turbo set this morning. By the second last interval I was woozy and faint and wondering if I would finish without falling off the bike. Thinking would my kids would hear the crash and come investigate! But I stayed upright and the dizziness is wearing off 15 mins xtraining afterwards as I am STILL NOT RUNNING. Which is hard to handle. Whatever about the physical issues, getting through the mental struggle of this whole episode has to make me tougher!

Oryx

Swim tonight. Much easier than the turbo earlier. Strength work, so lots of paddles. Finished with 200 alt back and breaststroke. My two pet hates 2500m in an hour.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Swim tonight. Much easier than the turbo earlier. Strength work, so lots of paddles. Finished with 200 alt back and breaststroke. My two pet hates 2500m in an hour.

What type of paddles do you use?

Oryx

Kurt Godel wrote: »

What type of paddles do you use?

Speedo biofuse power paddles. They were on offer for €11 from wiggle, but I had tried them out at a club swim and found them good. Better than my previous pair, also speedo but smaller and tapered.

Oryx

Last night I did the Dublin Night Swim (1500m). I went up on my own after work because none of the club girls were interested and asking any of the club guys to come out for the evening would give me a bad name.

As I was driving up I realised what a daft idea this was - an 160 mile round trip for a swim. But sure, it was something different. I hadn't been to seapoint before, its a lovely spot, and the weather was glorious. The crowd were friendly and chatty and even tho there was a lot of waiting around, the time flew. It was properly dark by the time we got in to swim, a bobbing shoal of glow sticks. Very pretty! Sighting was a doddle, just follow the glowsticks in front, and we regrouped regularly. The water was almost too warm. I never thought I would see a day when the irish sea would be TOO WARM.

I've never swam in the dark before. It was disorienting, you lose all sense of distance. We were a big bunch and other swimmers invisible but for their glowstick, so there were plenty of slaps and kicks. All part of the fun. You could see little darts of phosphorescent algae from peoples feet as they swam, and it was quite something to be in the middle of an inky black bay looking at the lights of Dublin. But as a slower swimmer, I didnt have much time to take it in. Id get to a buoy and whoosh! theyd be off again.

My watch (ever the triathlete, measuring everything) gave 1650m in 35 minutes. Out of the water into the warm air, straight over to tea and cake and yet more chatting to randomers (and charlie the dog).

The drive home was a pain. Not in the door till 2am, but I'm glad I went. It was a class experience. Thanks ILDSA.