GODZone...

shotgunmcos

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Without a doubt- swimming with faster fish ups your game, no end... ....Did you try that tumble turn technique?

Won't be joining the Sharks yet. No tumbles, though I do some of intertested's posted tip in my kitchen often. The Nenagh gang were motoring so attempted tumble turns would have high collision potential and I wasn't going to upset a whole club group after gate crashing their session

shotgunmcos

Run & Row
Silly O Clock training. Out the door for 0445 prepared for a downpour. It didn't materialise so I sweated like mad under the added layer :rolleyes: Chilly and dry which I like. It was 6x2.08km laps. 12.48km at 4:31 pace. The first couple of laps felt horrible. My body hadn't woken up. My legs hadn't run in over a week. I plugged away only to wake up and feel some spring in my stride for laps 4 and 5. For the last lap I pushed the pace to 4:05/km.

Thankfully I arrived back home reasonably dry and not spent for it was the erg next. I needed the tunes to keep me going. It was basically a hour steady base all at 20spm. Circa 183w for 55 minutes then 250w at same low rate for the last 5 minutes which sucked. It was mentally tough from 30-45 mins but otherwise the fitness was there to get it done. 14,588m total at 186w, pace 2:03.3/500m. Short stretch and clocked off for 0700

dave04

Hi there, congratulations with your training ! certainly impressive reading 14k on a concept 2 , what resistance setting do you use generaly [ if you don't mind me asking?] as I like to use the erg myself but as it's in a gym , I only use it as an alternative to running just to do something different , or mostly when coming back from injury usually , as 3k in under 12min at setting 4 as I read that this was most like the feel of rowing on water , don't know if that's true ? usualy see everybody whack strait up to 10 then do 2-3 mins then get off [ while looking down their noses at me ] All I know is I love the feel of your whole body working that you get from it , Thanks for the Inspiration.

shotgunmcos

Hey Dave I have the Concept 2 lever set to 5.5. That's what we used back in the day. I know the types you describe. The 2 minute wreck the chain wonders. No technique, bouncing the chain up and down over the knees, damaging their backs etc..

Good technique on the erg will utilise 70% of your entire muscular structure per stroke! There are few workouts to beat it.

3k in 12mins at 20spm vs 28spm is a very different workout. Try rowing 200m in just 8 strokes to control the slide

dave04

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Hey Dave I have the Concept 2 lever set to 5.5. That's what we used back in the day. I know the types you describe. The 2 minute wreck the chain wonders. No technique, bouncing the chain up and down over the knees, damaging their backs etc..

Good technique on the erg will utilise 70% of your entire muscular structure per stroke! There are few workouts to beat it.

3k in 12mins at 20spm vs 28spm is a very different workout. Try rowing 200m in just 8 strokes to control the slide

Thanks for the reply , [sorry though if hijacking your blog] I did the 3k in 12.30 mins at 20 spm though it took me a t least a hundred + metres to slow down and adjust to the stroke rate 2.04ave.tried 200m in 8 strokes x 10 ,but could only manage 150 at best on 8 strokes tailing off at the end to 136-8.....just rowed then to get a 6km total distance .....some workout that could feel legs /core /chest/sweat glands!! working hard. I like the Erg [though hardly qualified to call it that!!] and nice to do something differently , any advice would be greatlyappreciated , but again Idont want to be a pain in the ass. Thanks

shotgunmcos

dave04 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply , [sorry though if hijacking your blog] I did the 3k in 12.30 mins at 20 spm though it took me a t least a hundred + metres to slow down and adjust to the stroke rate 2.04ave.tried 200m in 8 strokes x 10 ,but could only manage 150 at best on 8 strokes tailing off at the end to 136-8.....just rowed then to get a 6km total distance .....some workout that could feel legs /core /chest/sweat glands!! working hard. I like the Erg [though hardly qualified to call it that!!] and nice to do something differently , any advice would be greatlyappreciated , but again Idont want to be a pain in the ass. Thanks

No problem Dave anytime. How did you find the lower rate?
Nice work out there! If you head onto the Concept 2 website, set up a logbook and submit your email address to get daily short/medium/long workouts sent to you. They are good for varied sessions. Good video for good erg technique here

shotgunmcos

February Done. The Numbers

• 19.7km swimming
• 90.3km cycling
• 107.71km running
• 88.21km rowing
• 200 push ups
• 136 pull ups
• 26 hours total

February Done. Best Key Session hit.

• 40 min swim at sub3 pace
• Half marathon row at sub 3 pace
• 22km medium long run

February Done. Most Satisfying/Enjoyable Sessions.

Moonlit mountain bike hill with mossym
Rowing 21k

February Done. Biggest disappointments

• No long runs :mad:
• Not a single yoga session completed
• No early swims, low swim volume

March General Focus.
Swimming, swimming, swimming
Core, core, core
Consistency
Lent

March 3x3 Specific Training Benchmarks

• Running: 24km with some sort of MP work
• Rowing: 30km at MP
• Swimming: 90min OW

shotgunmcos

Row
There was a time when weekend training was the long important structured sessions. I will get there but for now, pah, I just want to feel good about it. Work lately has me on near burn out. Flogged it the last year and threw sport down the list. I just need to get balance back for now.

The bro has been on a diet of 10x500s and 5ks over the last few weeks. He posted 18:55 this week so I set the clock for 5,000m. I'm nowhere near fit enough to attempt a test piece or hit it hard so I planned a rate step up. 2k at 20spm, 1k at 22, 1k at 24, 500m at 26 and 500 at 28. Resulted in 18:43 with something left in the tank. Next 10x1min hard at 300w, 1 min easy. Good session. Total: 11,551m

shotgunmcos

Bike
Had an errand to run, lovely evening, cycle the mtb instead of drive. Gave it some surges of welly and did some hops over curbs. Was still in my work shirt under a water proof cycling hi viz. Sweated buckets. Lovely cold, dry night. Could have happily continued on if I wasn't out of breath when I got home. So so unfit on the bike and feeling the extra weight. 21.5km or thereabouts done in under an hour.

Row
Test. 30 minutes rating 20 strokes per minute, best effort. Hurts. Its akin to doing a half hour on the bike on the turbo on a 54/12 with some brake and with a Max cadence of 60. I started off ambitious but within 6 minutes I knew the pain would come early. My previous best was 7,835m or 1:55.0/500m and I hit close to Max heart rate that day. Maintaining the low rate takes discipline. Keeping the power up becomes a physical and mental battle. Through 5k in 18:58 and I started to struggle.

For the next 5 minutes I wanted to stop so bad, I was in the pain cave but I just kept pulling the chain as hard as I could sustain. My power dropped from 238w average to 236, then 235. I thought I'd fade badly on 25 mins but I always count down the final 100 strokes and dig in. It is so tempting to take the rate up and maintain the power so you don't have to put so much into each stroke. I flogged myself to drag the power up to 237w by the end. I hit a pb of 7,907m or 1:53.8/500m but the pain was horrible. It coursed through my body as I rocked side to side on my seat for a minute. It is satisfying to push through the pain barriers but boy does it hurt!

shotgunmcos

Swim
Short window for a quick progression set. I wasn't sure if I would hit the times but pressed on
2x400m off 7:30
4x200m off 3:40
6x100m off 1:45
8x50m off 50sec
The set started easy making the RT with plenty of time for a breather. By the time I was through the 100s I was working hard. The 50s was practically constant swimming. 2,600m done but it was laboured and ugly.

Row
Intervals. 250m x 20 with 30 sec recovery. Sounds easy but this explored the pain cave again. The bro has been doing this once a week for 9 weeks and is down to 52.4 secs per rep which is about 304w. I picked a target of 310w average and after 10 mins warming up, just got stuck in to see how many I could do before the wheels came off. Reps in
52.0 sec 311w avg 1:44.0/500m
52.0 sec 311w avg 1:44.0/500m
52.0 sec 311w avg 1:44.0/500m
52.0 sec 311w avg 1:44.0/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
51.9 sec 313w avg 1:43.8/500m
Very pleased with the session but the last 6 reps were grim. The 30 sec rest starts out recovering well but after 15 it feels like the blink of an eye. The handle feels almost too heavy to hold until you plug in for the pain again. 250m reps are long enough to hurt but short enough to count down 'just' 25 strokes...

mossym

happy birthday MCOS:)

Dory Dory

It's shotgun's birthday???!!!! Happy birthday, Stud Muffin!!!! :D:D

mossym

Dory Dory wrote: »

It's shotgun's birthday???!!!! Happy birthday, Stud Muffin!!!! :D:D

well, Linkedin just sent me an email to say it was, so i'm presuming he entered it correctly there:)

pgibbo

Happy birthday Mike! :cool:

shotgunmcos

Swim
Birthday "make up as I go along" swim set 36x100m
Broken down as..
18x100m off 1:45
6x100m kick with fins
6x100m pull off 1:45
4x100m negative split
100m back stroke
100m breast stroke

It ended up being a tough one (for the current fitness level). I thought about trying to do the 36 reps off 1:45 straight or until I could no longer make the repeat time off the wall. I was hitting 1:39-1:41 for the most part but the effort was ever increasing. By rep 18 I was tiring and on 1:43. The kick set was more or less continuous with just 10 secs between reps.

The pull I found tough. I was generally averaging 3 secs slower pre rep but working harder to make the wall in time :rolleyes: Again it almost felt like continuous swimming. I barely made it on 1:45 for the 6th rep and I was panting.

A minute rest to catch my breath and a final set of 100s with a negative split. Basically easy swim up the lane in about 55 secs and back in 45 secs or less. Bloody hard. The mixed stroke 100s to "cool down" felt like an effort. I was wrecked and done! My current fitness sucks but it didn't help that I started the swim hungover too.

Next swim will be OW. Can't wait

Kurt Godel

Nice one on that swim. It's mad just how quickly feel for the water diminishes; you swam 3,550m straight at 1:41 pace a couple of weeks back! Enjoy your warm OW swimming, you lucky sod!

shotgunmcos

Run
Nice run along the promenade in Playa Blanca here in Lanza. Sun was breaking through the cotton bud clouds. Lots of other runners doing their thing along this lovely coast. Pretty flat with 2 hills. Noticed some trails veering off road which I'll check later this week. Simply wanted to get a run in before the epic breakfast. Just under 15km done which makes it my longest run in weeks, of the handful I've done. Since the May marathon is off I'm under no pressure, although I'm signed up to pace a 10k instead. A few more steady runs and intervals must beckon. Lovely run. Only downsides, my fitness, bowels, forgot water and sunburn

Swim
Yesterday I explored the enormous outdoor pool. 65m end to end. I did a few lengths to test it. Cold. Nice enough to swim but too cold to do any more than 40 minutes. Hopped in again today. Yesterday was cloudy, today sunny so I figured it might make a difference. Felt good doing laps steadily up to 30 minutes. By 40 minutes I felt cold and by 50 minutes it started to affect swimming. Hung in for an hour out of sheer stubbornness but it gave me the chills for the day in the sun :rolleyes:. A couple of shorter swims will be more doable than anything over 40 mins. I have my wetsuit with me and plan to head to the beach to do a longer swim. Its not a priority training week but a badly needed chill out. The only biking will be a meander on MTBs. Other than swimming and running, I sussed out a yoga group to requaint myself with my creaky core tomorrow.

shotgunmcos

Run
Cool cloudy morning. Ran the opposite direction to the end of the promenade, then off road for an easy run around what looked like a quarry or motorbike trails. Simple hour easy enjoying the serenity. Running is infititely more enjoyable with summery weather.
Approx 12km

Yoga
40 minutes of easy Hatha yoga after breakie. Been so long my poor flexibility is now non existent. I was a bit stiff after running and this did the trick to loosen me up.

Swim
After a good game of tennis or rather Caz making me run around the court while handing me my ass, we hit the beach. Thick clouds were rolling in and rain expected. The beach was a short one but had a bay which took about 400m around the perimeter. It was windy so I had to battle some chop. The water was salty but clear. Hundreds of fish to keep me entertained. At one point a silver shoal passed the corner of my eye so tightly packed I thought it was a huge fish. My heart skipped a beat. I basically swam about a hundred metres out to rocks at the edge of the bay, straight across the bay along a string of buoys and into shore 10 times. The wetsuit felt a little restrictive until I warmed up. I hit a bit of a wall at 3km or so and tired from there to the finish. I was tempted to do another lap but it would have been junk plus Caz had packed up on the beach under raindrops. Sooo much more enjoyable than pool laps. My shoulders ached after 4km of high elbow recovery over waves but it was the first enjoyable swim of the year Approx 4km in 68 minutes.

shotgunmcos

Run
Pre dawn along the promenade. I wanted to reach the lighthouse on the southwest tip of the island. Cool windy morning. Headwind until the path ended the off road for a couple of clicks to round the lighthouse. Steady pace that I felt for a finish. Lots of runners out on the return even a few nods exchanged. 16km in 73mins

Swim
Too windy for Caz at the beach plus the sea was rough out at the edge of the bay. Had planned a longer swim. Substituted for 2 shorter in the cold pool instead. Wasn't feeling it but then I've already swam more in 4 days than all of last month. Just making hay while away. 2x2.6km steady swims. Shoulders weary.

Yoga
40 mins easy hatha yoga outdoors. Fun trying to hold a pose with a fresh southerly wind blowing across the deck!

Kurt Godel

Holy mackeral, that was some huge swim update today on the SBR! Are you holidaying in a submarine?:D

shotgunmcos

Swim
Long swim. One of the sessions I wanted to get done on hols was a long OW swim, at least 5k. The purpose being to test the current endurance and reserves if any to put down a confidence boosting swim with 2 months to the sub3 attempt. Today was it. The wind had died down to a breeze so we hit the beach early. The sea was quite calm so no time was wasted getting the suit on. The bay perimeter ran along a border line of rocks, across a gap split by a little rocky Island to the opposite border line of rocks. A line of buoys bridged the gap. I had recce'd it to be approx 400m.

The water was lovely and the sun brought up the sandy surface. The first few laps were sheer swimming wonder. It felt like I was swimming in an aquarium. Thousands of fish of different sizes and colours, the most interesting ones weaving around the rocks. On my 3rd lap I felt I was disturbing a feeding frenzy. A shoal of tiny silver fish corralled into what looked like an oversized silver rugby ball were surrounded by thousands of bigger fish and birds were flying over head occasionally swooping the surface upon which I was swimming!

On lap 6 I wiped my goggles with greasy fingers, rookie error. The world suddenly went dark and I had to annoyingly sight nearly every stroke. I got out soon after to quickly clean them and get a drink of water. I had 3.2km down. I jumped straight back it with the intention of hitting my 5k goal and seeing how I felt. With a clear view of the sea bed I was back swimming happy. On lap 10 completing 4k I stopped to watch a couple of amazing black fish with luminous blue bellies. Almost like the neon lights you see under boy racer cars. I had been swimming steadily up to this point clocking just under 7 mins per lap. The initial 3.2k had taken me 55 mins.

Approaching 5k the wind had picked up. I was averaging 340 strokes per lap, 320 with the wind and 360 against it. A little chop made the going a bit tougher too. I felt OK so pushed on for another lap. It was less about the underwater scenery and more grit now. I clocked 55 mins again for another 3.2k on my way to finishing my longest ever swim. I had to engage the legs for a helping kick to put down the last couple of laps and took on a mouthful of sea water on a tired sighting. My shoulders ached but I managed to pour the last of my reserves into my last 2 laps making them the fastest of the session. Wrecked and hungry for a finish but delighted with the swim. Finally registered a Doryesque training swim
Total approx 7,200m in 2 hours 3 mins, pace 1:42

Run
I set out on a balmy evening for a short easy run. I had no idea what a treat of a run lay ahead! I turned east instead of the usual west out of the hotel. The promenade wound its way like a snake up to a viewing point where a few romantic couples had gathered to watch the sun set. The promenade on this cliff side was rolling but quieter and ended after about 3km. If I hadn't seen some people climbing down a steep trail ahead of me I'd have turned back. Instead I climbed it and found myself in front of a brown hilly landscape with a maze of trails cut into the hills. I also spotted Papagayo beach in the distance. Its a remote beach with only one access dirt road. I opted for the cliff top trail to get me there and it had some serious sudden steep dips. I was wearing scetchers, the wrong shoe for the job but pressed on regardless. I was the only soul around.

After a couple of clicks of fun testing trails I descended a steep drop to the beach. I was wary of the sun setting behind me and dared not do too much more for I'd be lost. The beach was maybe 800m wide so I ran across it to the other side on soft sand. When I turned the beautiful sun was dropping into the ocean and I had to make haste. The run back across the sand and up the steep cliff trail was testing. Light was fading and my heart was beating fast. For some reason there seamed to be numerous trails loosely heading back towards civilisation which initially confused me. I chose the one closest to the cvliff edge. The brown hills were darkening as I covered the trail back to the descent to the promenade. I LOVED the off road section. The street lamps illuminated the way back to the hotel with the waves crashing into the foot of the cliffs, 100 feet down to my direct left. I eased back to an easy effort and took it all in smiling. Approx 11km in 56 mins of the most enjoyable training run I can remember

What a day for training! Mojo well and truely back!

Dory Dory

You are blowing my mind.

And Caz is a saint!!!!

Kurt Godel

Brilliant swim, it sounds so wonderful to swim among all that sea life. Holding 1:42, for 7.2k, well you've got to take a lot of confidence from that. What's the thoughts on wearing a brand new set of your goggles for the 10k race, maybe they wouldn't fog up as much?

The best thing of all, no mention of the word "calf"!

Pmaldini

if the tourist board read your log you will be offered a job instantly:D the BBC will be onto you to narrate their next nature show!!

shotgunmcos

@Dory - she sure is but I'm an old romantic at heart which helps
@Kurt - yep 2 months to build on it now. Goggles were great actually, no fogging, just me wiping my greasy finger on the lens :rolleyes: 10k will be no joke though, the last km was tough and I'm feeling it today!

Pilates
40 mins easy (older clients) core poses in the morning sun. I ached from yesterday so I followed up with an extra half hour of stretches.

Swim
Last swim in the sea for a while. 50 minutes around the bay. Calm in by the shore but 4ft swells further out with a fresh north westerly blowing towards shore. Fun to surf the last few strokes. No problem with goggles today so I took my time to absorb it. The first dip in OW back home when the temp is up won't come remotely close. Approx 2,800m covered.

I had planned a short run but took Caz on a stroll over last night's route. Twas romantic

Dory Dory

<sigh>

:D

Trig1

Sooooo Jealous...really looking forward to my trip now in 4 weeks!!:)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

That is one type A personality type swim right there. Enjoy the rest of the break with Caz.

shotgunmcos

Run
Pre dawn heading east along the hillier side of the Coastline promenade. I ran straight toward a stunning backdrop of a dark volcanic ridge line crowned with a layer of wispy crimson cloud that was slowly turning gold. I headed off road and climbed the trail to the barren brown hills stopping for 10 minutes to stretch in front of a majestic sun rise. Hell of a way to start your day. Just a simple everyday sight on the south coast of Lanzarote but a rare one back home. If the terrain wasn't so rocky, I'd have completed a Zen like set of yoga salutation sequences there and then. I was compketely alone. The stretching alone was meditative.

From there I turned back and retraced the steps Caz and I had walked hand in hand many times soaking it in. Black cats basking in the new morning sun, waves crashing gently into the red and black volcanic rock faces, fishermen bantering and my swimming playground. Above the beach was one of these out door 'gyms', a set of 11 contraptions that you use your own body weight to exercise. We had laughed so many times at the antics on these over the week that I hopped on and did a 20 minute round of exercises myself. Mostly easy, a couple harder and 2 good one stretching my hamstrings and obliques respectively. Sweating now, I ran easy around the local town before heading back to my hotel with some tempo en route. Circa 15km covered plus a half hour of messing about.

Swim
I was back before the world was largely awake and stole a quick few lengths of the huge pool. It was Baltic getting in! I practically sprinted for a 100m with the adrenalin shot. After a few more lengths I cruised up and down with the entire pool to myself. The hotel is overall great but I'd recommend for the pool itself. I ended up swimming for about 45 minutes, hopping out to collect my gear before some bemused, sleepy guests heading for the source of delicious breakfasts smells. I was on the go for over 2.5 hours at this point and getting hungry. That's the end to warm weather training and done and dusted before Caz arose so we could breakfast together. Now to try and avoid Rugby updates until I get home tonight!

Dory Dory

I think we should start a thread to see who is the most heart-stopping romantic fella around here. <sigh> No doubt you are in contention! (Lucky you....lucky Caz) :)