The Good Mood Cookbook

Oryx

Still sick. Club swim tonight, it was less than stellar. I was already struggling with pace when the coach threw me in with the sharks for drafting drills, the poor guy I was paired with had a useless few lengths 'following' me. Completely wasted his time. Finished out a lacklustre 2k set (main set 10 x 100 off 2.30 I was coming in on 1.55) with some silly drills. I'm glad I got out and did it but hate feeling so lame.

Oryx

Having read KG's log this morning I'm beginning to think that embracing the water like it's male is where I am going wrong.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Having read KG's log this morning I'm beginning to think that embracing the water like it's male is where I am going wrong.

Ok, at the risk of opening myself up to ridicule;

Female to me means curves, arabesques, grace; and if I approach the water like that I get a good result. For the last 25m of a race my relationship with the water is very violent and male.

Not something you'll find in any swimsmooth books, I'll grant...

Oryx

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Ok, at the risk of opening myself up to ridicule;

Female to me means curves, arabesques, grace; and if I approach the water like that I get a good result. For the last 25m of a race my relationship with the water is very violent and male.

Not something you'll find in any swimsmooth books, I'll grant...

My relationship to water is like a dysfunctional marriage. Lots of fighting turbulence and getting nowhere, with the odd moment where everything sails along and you wish it could be like this all the time.

Anyhoo, on a serious note, I think I try to 'power' through the water too much, theres not much grace and no relaxation. My attempts to keep up with the sharks last night have left my shoulder injured, for instance. I liked your analogy; I dont know if I can apply it personally, but its certainly a new way to look at it.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Anyhoo, on a serious note, I think I try to 'power' through the water too much, theres not much grace and no relaxation. My attempts to keep up with the sharks last night have left my shoulder injured, for instance. I liked your analogy; I dont know if I can apply it personally, but its certainly a new way to look at it.

Thats exactly it. I've also been using too much aggressive/explosive power. Watching the Asgard sharks, they are much more at ease in the water, and get a lot more benefit from the power they use. For some reason last night I thought to "embrace" the water and it seemed to make a difference. Loads of different analogies I guess, but thats the one that came to mind last night.

Oryx

Still sick. Think the rest of this week is binned. Including the Half Mara. Sometimes you just cant catch a break.

Dory Dory

Rest, rest, and more rest. Then you will be better than new!!

ToTriOrNot

Oryx wrote: »

Still sick. Think the rest of this week is binned. Including the Half Mara. Sometimes you just cant catch a break.

Oh no, get better soon. Maybe you just need a break from it all!! You'll come back stronger!!

Oryx

ToTriOrNot wrote: »

Oh no, get better soon. Maybe you just need a break from it all!! You'll come back stronger!!

Ive heard that A LOT this year.

ToTriOrNot

Oryx wrote: »

Ive heard that A LOT this year.

Maybe it's time you start listening :P

pointer28

Bummer!

Maybe you should have been resting instead of acting as tour guide for someone who doesn't know his own backyard. The straw that broke the camel's back and all that.

Either way, Sorry if I contributed towards it in any way.

Oryx

pointer28 wrote: »

Bummer!

Maybe you should have been resting instead of acting as tour guide for someone who doesn't know his own backyard. The straw that broke the camel's back and all that.

Either way, Sorry if I contributed towards it in any way.

Of course you didnt! And even if that run hadnt helped, it would be noones fault but mine. I rested yesterday, and feel worse for it, so its just one of those things.

Oryx

Okay... against my better judgement (do I even have better judgement?) I went swimming this morning. Cough, cough, cough all the way there, yet once swimming, I have no need to cough (which is lucky). Till I take breaks between intervals. Haven't quite figured out how that works. I wasn't the only one afflicted, someone a few lanes over had an identical cough, we made a nice duet at times.

As for the swim, it was fine. I lack oomph, but I put that down to being tired, I'm keeping myself awake nights from, you guessed it, coughing. I feel no worse now than I did yesterday, perhaps even a smidge better, so no harm done. Now I need to decide how badly I want to run 21k tomorrow, and is it worth it?

Edit: While swimming, I recalled KGs analogy of handling the water like you would the female body. Turns out my particular swimming female must have cellulite and love handles.

Oryx

After a restless night of more coughing, I rocked up to the start of the waterford half marathon a little dubiously. I had no idea if I should be doing it (all advice said no) or how it would go. Had some friends doing it too so it was a chatty wait for the start. Once the klaxon sounded, the cough that had been incessant shut off like magic. That's incredibly weird! Started behind the 1.50 pacers, so my first job was to get ahead of them and make some space between us. The pace that used to be my happy place felt too fast, but I held it anyway. What the feck.

Within the first mile my calves were complaining, they were stiff and semi cramping. Last weeks race still in them, probably. A few nasty little pings had me worried but they didn't develop into a real problem. I felt the pace up until halfway, I never really relaxed and was a little worried I would blow. But after 12k I seemed to find my groove and settle in. I started passing a few and felt much more in control. The last two kms which are downhill were a joy, and the fastest splits of the day for me. Worked hard to finish strong, and came in on 1:42:3x.

The minute I crossed the finish line my cough came back with a vengeance, like I had been saving it up. I wish I knew how that worked. My calves were so buckled I couldn't walk properly, I limped out of the car in a crippled mess when I got back. But I got a friend to strap them with voodoo tape this evening, which is just as magical as it sounds. An 80% improvement straight away. Gotta get me some of that tape!

I'm really glad I took a chance and did this. It was important to me to set a marker for how I am doing at the moment, this was my first intense run since the injury, and my longest continuous run since February

Kurt Godel

Weren't you a broken old crock a few months back? 1:42 is a great time given this is a "comeback" race from your injury. Brilliant stuff, onwards and upwards.

Oryx

Less of the old, you.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Less of the old, you.

1:42 says you still got it kid

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

1:42 says you still got it kid

Oh, she's still got it alright! Amazing, everything considered....but I never underestimate a determined woman.

Solobally8

You are one tough cookie! Well done K

pointer28

1) Your mental strength / sheer stubbornness is amazing.

2) What are you capable of if everything went right for a year?

Oryx

pointer28 wrote: »

1) Your mental strength / sheer stubbornness is amazing.

2) What are you capable of if everything went right for a year?

Thanks... thats really kind of you to say. Tho I realised today stubbornness is a useful but dangerous thing. I need to get more sense I reckon!

I really want a good year, but wont tempt fate. Take each day as it comes!

Shell to Run

Class, well done to you. A performance which shows you are back in style!!!

Oryx

Out on the bike before daybreak this morning for a loosen up of the legs. Its quite nice to head out into the dark but I do need better lights on the bike! This was kept very easy, with chat and a coffee stop, under two hours ride time 43k.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Out on the bike before daybreak this morning for a loosen up of the legs. Its quite nice to head out into the dark but I do need better lights on the bike! This was kept very easy, with chat and a coffee stop, under two hours ride time 43k.

Nice morning for a spin under that sky. Fair play for the dark start!

Oryx

Ran this morning. It was supposed to be steady but although pace was slow, it was tough. Still chasing off the end of this dose, and my calves are very stiff, uphill is sore! But its done anyway. 9k 51 mins.

RacoonQueen

You always say your pace was slow. What should your fast pace be? or your steady pace be? Do you run by pace, RPE or HR?

Oryx

RacoonQueen wrote: »

You always say your pace was slow. What should your fast pace be? or your steady pace be? Do you run by pace, RPE or HR?

I run by rpe as I cant get a hrm to stay in place and where I live is so hilly that pace is meaningless. And do a lot of slow stuff. And sandbag a bit. I used to know instinctively what level I was at (easy, steady, hard, pukefest) but with my run fitness taking a knock and being a little unwell its harder to tell.

Dory Dory

I tend to have the same issue with the HR strap staying in place, but I've found if I tuck it under the bottom band of my sports bra (so it's between my skin and the bra, all the way around), then it stays in place pretty well.

Oryx

Dory Dory wrote: »

I tend to have the same issue with the HR strap staying in place, but I've found if I tuck it under the bottom band of my sports bra (so it's between my skin and the bra, all the way around), then it stays in place pretty well.

Umm... without getting into major details about either my shape or my choice of underwear, I haven't managed to get that to work yet. And if I put it on very tight... it doesn't read!

RacoonQueen

I have mine at the tightest and it still slips around a tiny bit. It should still read though? You're slimmer than me I'd say though.

Annoys the crap out of me that they don't consider female bodies when designing these things. Even phone or mp3 player armbands don't fit!