Standard Deviation

Kurt Godel

Wed 1.5k OW race

I had a few clients I had to see this week in North Dublin, so is it wrong for me to schedule the meetings starting in Blanchardstown at lunch, and finishing in Sutton at 5:30, because there was a swim race at the Bull Wall at 7? No-one objected, all the business got done, and I arrived in good time to reg for the race. A man, a plan, a canal- Bull Wall!

I was tired and freezing beforehand. Lay down for a 30 min nap (not something I usually ever do) and realised I had only eaten just a banana since yesterday. The water felt cold once we got in, but cold wasn't a factor once I started swimming. I've been racing a lot recently, my arms are tired from Monday still, I have the 10k on Saturday; so I figured I'd just use this as a training swim. Ha, that plan lasted until the first yellow bouy, before race mode kicked in. The rest of the swim was a glorious face slap of waves and chop and arms and legs. See a cap, try and take that cap. See a cap pass, try and hold his legs as long as I can. Round the last bouy into a load of traffic and try and get as many places as I can, all the while ducking and diving and twisting and rerouting. Great fun.

For triathletes, what these races are great for is helping you control the swim part of a Tri. Since doing the SI races, I've been in control of Tri swims- I know where I am, my sighting is good, I can sense people coming from behind, I can deal with traffic, I can deal with scrums. I'd highly recommend these races for Triathletes looking to improve their OW race skills.

griffin100

Best of luck the weekend Paul. It's a big deal (in my head anyway) to do a 10km swim, let alone do it skins. A (wetsuited) 10km is definitely on my bucket list.

Re. the pacing, as Interested said to me before the WOTS last year, if you think you're swimming too fast you are; if you think you're holding a nice pace, you're probably going too fast; if it feels slow, then you're probably swimming at the right pace

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Any time interested was around, if I thought I was swimming too fast I wasn't; if I thought I was holding a nice pace, he'd shout at me I was too slow; if it felt slow, his car had broken down.

What does he know Griff, he's a midpack swimmer at best. Balls to the wall from me for the first km, and hang on as long as I can. If it's hurting, I'll try and duck a lap, or blame congestion (that's two I've needlessly insulted, but who's counting:)).

Best of luck in your weekend excursion, I salute your training program and dedication. Enjoy the taper.

Hmmm....at least I'm in good company?



Good luck at the weekend!!!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Best of luck at the weekend Paul.

Kurt Godel

Sat 7.7k swim

I had to bail after three laps. My form was dipping, it was very cold, I had just done a 1:01 lap, and would have had to finish with a 1:02 to make the cut-off. Really tough swim, we were swimming into white caps when swimming North, so lots of water drank with each breath. It was very cold too- lots of shivering swimmers after, and lots of drop-outs from both races because of the cold.

Although no-one likes dropping from a race, I'm not that disappointed. My lack of lake swimming came back to bite big time. From the start, my calfs were borderline cramping because of the cold, so I couldn't kick very much. This meant the legs sank, so my form wasn't great. The obvious lesson is to prepare for long cold lake swims with long cold lake swims.

First lap I tried to keep slow, but from the get go we were battling waves hitting the face, so it was a matter of do what you can to make the 1.25k turnaround. The swim back in reverse was a lot easier (although my legs were sinking). Lap two felt pretty good, lap three was tough on the out section, and then my form and sighting started going wonky. I set off on the final lap, but did some mental arithmetic and figured I'd be pushing hard to make the 1:02 needed to beat the cut-off. My shoulders were starting to hurt too- if this was a goal swim I'd have given it more effort to complete, but with half an eye on the Super Sprint tomorrow I decided to bail and fight another day.

griffin100

I swam half that distance today in a wetsuit and I was freezing - hats off for eschewing the easy 5 km option and giving the 10km a go.

Kurt Godel

Sun Dublin Triathlon Super Sprint 58:32

Arrived early and regged, set up transition. Its a brilliant set-up they have for this race, such a slick operation. They even had bright-eyed Marshalls at 7:30am at road junctions leading to the base, telling people the carpark was full so park elsewhere. The race itself in every respect is unsurpassed, so well done to Pirahna Tri. I entered this race early in the season, as I really wanted to try the Super Sprint 600m/16k/4k format, which I reckon I'd prefer.

Swim 8:19 6th (from 2 waves)
After watching the first few waves for the Oly, we entered the water and got ready for our start. It's a narrow river so everyone wants to get good position from the off- last year there was a huge scrum so I was prepared for it... off we go, work hard for 50m... and realise I'm sprinting just to fight for position. As well as that, this wasn't a scrum, it was a fully fledged brawl!:D Thumps and kicks were the order of the day as every wannbe Michael Phelps searched for that magical clear water. I got on feet, but this was useless, they slowed quickly. Decided to swim my own race, swam hard to get clear, and got sandwiched between two all'kickin' all'thumpin' mean machines. This is where the Swim Ireland races are useful; I held my position and gave as good as I got. A glance up showed there were two sharks with a 15m lead on the pack, but the turning bouy was getting closer and it would be mayhem if I didn't manage to get clear...
My stroke lengthened, I worked harder, and started to pull away from the pack, who seemed to be visibly tiring. Around the bouy and keep up the effort for the turnaround. I wasn't sure how my body would react after yesterday's swim, but I seemed to work fine. I was tired in the shoulders, but in control of my swim. I had been towing a lad, and he pulled the old "BTH switcheroo" routine, and ran past me off the exit platform to hit the timing mat before me (but I passed him again into trans). Happy enough with my swim overall.

T1 1:38 11th
Ran well from the swim, took off my suit quickly, helmet on, no fussing, out on the bike handy enough.

Bike 29:06 11th
2 laps on closed roads, which weren't as congested as expected. I put the hammer down and worked hard on the bike. Definitely lost a little time on bends and switchbacks, so bike handling skills need to be tuned up. I liked this undulating route, and managed to get up a nice speed on the smooth surfaces. It's impossible to tell who is who on the course, but I was only passed by about 5 from the Oly, which in my mind is a result. Don't think I was passed by any SS'ers.

T2 1:29 40th
I decided on my Mizuno racing shoes, lost no more than 10 seconds putting them on, so can't complain.

Run 18:02 22nd
The Oly numbers were green, the SuperSprint yellow, but I don't know if relays were also yellow in the SS. This only matters in that I was watching out for who passed me on the run. One guy straight out of trans went by, so I figured I was now in about 4th (thinking 2 were ahead from the swim, and no yellows passed me on the bike). Up the hill into the Park, and another lad from Piranha passed me. I tried to up the pace and stay with him, but I was running at threshold as it was. This is a huge problem with my running, as I'm just hemorrhaging places for the run leg. The fact that I couldn't run faster than 4:30/km meant I was passed by two, and cost me 3rd place from this baby race (came 5th overall). I'm really going to have to do something positive about my running, I should have ended on 4min km's.

Overall, I'm happy enough. All the talent was in the Oly, so while the position is meaninless, the race itself went well. I liked the short sharp shock of the Super Sprint, and hopefully will do more next year. The only downside is by their nature, the swim is more likely to be shortened.

Kurt Godel

Mon 1.5k recovery swim

Just an easy few laps tonight, some drills, some tumble practice. It felt good to be back in the pool. Nice and warm, not sandwiched between Rocky and Raging Bull.

Jesus, the season is almost over. I've only two races left, the Liffey Swim, and Pulse Sprint Tri. The plan is to drown Noakes' Central Governor in the Liffey, and run 20:xx after a good swim and bike in Clougherhead.

Dory Dory

There is nothing more medicinal than a nice recovery swim in a "warm" pool. (Not sure what your definition of "warm" is. )

When are your next two races??

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

There is nothing more medicinal than a nice recovery swim in a "warm" pool. (Not sure what your definition of "warm" is. )

When are your next two races??

Warm is defined as anything hotter than Lough Dan!:)

Liffey swim: Sept 13th
Pulse Sprint: Sept 20th
In reality Pulse swim might be cut/cancelled depending on conditions, but I'm looking to lose weight and so benefit on the bike and especially run.

RJM85

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Warm is defined as anything hotter than Lough Dan!:)

Liffey swim: Sept 13th
Pulse Sprint: Sept 20th
In reality Pulse swim might be cut/cancelled depending on conditions, but I'm looking to lose weight and so benefit on the bike and especially run.

Is the cut / cancelled swim a thing in the pulse tri? Can I knock my swim training on the head after Carlingford??

Kurt Godel

RJM85 wrote: »

Is the cut / cancelled swim a thing in the pulse tri? Can I knock my swim training on the head after Carlingford??

I'm (over)thinking more about colder sea temps in late Sept, so I need to prepare for the fact the swim will be proportionately less important. Hope I'm wrong though...

And since you asked, you may not knock your swim training on the head. You know on this log its all about the swim! Have yourself 20*25 fly as punishment for even considering such a thing...;)

Tue 60 mins turbo easy

Easy spinning, which helped loosen a few lingering muscle aches. I weighed myself, 90.5kg. So getting closer to 85kg will be a focus over the next month. However, there's a lot less ripples and jiggles when I jump, a positive consequence of all the swim volume lately.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Pulse swim has been cancelled before, i think i done it 3 years ago and it was changed to run/bike/run

Kurt Godel

Wed 7.8k easy

After a very busy and stressful day at work, I met up with SloggerJogger for a splashy run along the wet trails of Annagh's fireroads. This used to be food for the soul a couple of years back, running along the hills with company. I'll have to make an effort to do something similar once a week, all the stress just washes off and you feel great afterwards.

Kurt Godel

power2max FSA Gossamer – Road

It's reduced to €690, it seems to be well reviewed, it will fit my bike, I have an underutilised Garmin 910, its sitting in the shopping basket with my finger hovering...

... any reason to talk me out of it?

Oryx

Kurt Godel wrote: »

power2max FSA Gossamer – Road

It's reduced to €690, it seems to be well reviewed, it will fit my bike, I have an underutilised Garmin 910, its sitting in the shopping basket with my finger hovering...

... any reason to talk me out of it?

I hope I am not too late. I tried and could think of no reason to dissuade you. If you havent already, hit it baby!

Dory Dory

Oh good lord. Well, if you figure out power, let me in on the secret!! :)

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

I hope I am not too late. I tried and could think of no reason to dissuade you. If you havent already, hit it baby!

You da boss!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Kurt Godel wrote: »

power2max FSA Gossamer – Road

It's reduced to €690, it seems to be well reviewed, it will fit my bike, I have an underutilised Garmin 910, its sitting in the shopping basket with my finger hovering...

... any reason to talk me out of it?

Don't go FSA gossamer cranks, go rotor, worth the extra few quid.

Kurt Godel

Sun 17.7k hilly navigation race.

Slogger Jogger had organised a local Nav Challange IMRA race on Croghan Mountain & Environs, and it was a great sunny clear day to be up there. We had to hit 8 controls in any order from a given map. Hit the first easy one, and straight away decided to go off road to save distance. As I did, I hooked up with an Aussie guy who likewise had decided on this route. We were to stay together during the whole race.

We headed back uphill from checkpoint 2 and hit our third. From here we decided to go off trail across the open hill to the summit of Croghan. It wasn't great terrain, the jury is still out. Hit the summit, dibbed in, and began the long run back down through heather. This was great fun, I haven't run downhills in ages, it brought back all the fun. After hitting the next control we took a gamble on a direct line through what was one a forest ride, but now was covered in ferns. We were happy enough that our orienting was correct, and could take a bearing off Mt Leinster way in the distance. Eventually we came out to where we had hoped, so this took a fair chunk off the distance had we gone by trail. The next few controls were found easy enough, and we headed back for home. Probably made an error here as we opted to add distance so we could hit the road home, I would do this part differently again and go open mountain. The last road section was quite hilly and I would have slowed to a walk had I not had company to save face by. Happy to finish tired but content in spending 2.5 hours in the hills.

Afterwards I was chatting to loads from IMRA who I hadn't seen in years. Its a great community, and if the knees don't give me any jip maybe I'll do a few more of the hill races next year.

Kurt Godel

Sylvia Gifted Ratio wrote: »

Don't go FSA gossamer cranks, go rotor, worth the extra few quid.

An unexpected car purchase has talked me out of PM for a while!

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

An unexpected car purchase has talked me out of PM for a while!

Probably for the best. With your personality and affection for numbers, you'd drive yourself mad!!! :)

tunney

Kurt Godel wrote: »

An unexpected car purchase has talked me out of PM for a while!

I know the TI officials are lax on the rules being enforced but fairly sure they'd pull you up on using a car on the bike leg.Although not sure

Kurt Godel

tunney wrote: »

I know the TI officials are lax on the rules being enforced but fairly sure they'd pull you up on using a car on the bike leg.Although not sure

Its an invalid car (value of my car greater than value of my bike) so useless in Tri's. Although its a Mini Clubman so that might fit in with the whole AG vibe.

Kurt Godel

Mon 1,200m easy swim; 6k easy run

I woke up in bits, legs, back, arm muscles all sore from yesterdays fun. All that jarring and downhill impact takes its toll; if I continued with much more of it I'd be injured again quite quickly. The non-impact swim and bike training suits better for the moment.

Lunchtime I managed to grab a sneaki swim, it was as good as a massage. There was a lad there I meet sometimes, he's a handy swimmer and so I shared a lane and got to observe his catch and tumbles. Useful to see; his exit is a lot more resourseful and purposeful than mine.

In the evening I hit the forest for 30 mins easy with 5*(30 build, 30 easy). Didn't think my legs would be able for striding, but in fact they felt better after doing so.

Kurt Godel

My two kids have moved up a swim group so are now training at the same time as some of the older kids. It's a lesson to sit and watch how some of them move through the water. It looks effortless but it's not, it's just fast and highly efficient.

Kurt Godel

Tue 45 min turbo; 2,800m swim

The turbo included 10*(min 100% effort/min easy) and it was tough- as tough as anything I've done in the pool before. I'd look at the watch while peddling furiously, it would say 30 seconds. Ten minutes later I'd look again and it would say 35 seconds. Towards the end of the set, I counted down the seconds from 50..51...52....53 and there was an eternity to contemplate the nature of hurt and pain in between each. Dante could have found a few more Circles of Hell had he a turbo.

The Swim:
150swim, 150pull, 100kick
4x50 as 25 fist, 25 fast + 15s (all in 45)
Extra 45 secs rest
4x50 des 1-4 on 60 (in 39, 38, 37, 36)
Extra 45 secs rest
8x(150 cruise into 50 fast + 20sec) (done on effort; no times)
Extra 40 secs rest
4x50 fast on 60 (in 40, 40, 41, 42)
4x50 choice easy (back,fc,back,breast)

The descending 50's were hard, I set off too fast on the first, but was still determined they would descend. I'd been watching the teenage sharks earlier so was hyper aware of form. One fast guy takes 16 strokes per 25 doing 800's... I do 22 at best. So I've to introduce a glide into my stroke, and that means getting more hydro-efficient. Lots to work on, but I'll have 4 hours a week to watch these kids for the next while.
The main set was 8*200, again I gave it socks for the final 50's. Form (and the keeping thereof) important after cruising 150.
I was tiring for the final 4*50 fast, but happy that I gave it what I had. One thing that has come on well is my tumbles are getting a lot smoother; no touch turns tonight.

career move

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Lunchtime I managed to grab a sneaki swim, it was as good as a massage.

I remember you saying that on the DCM novices thread and that it was better than a recovery run but I didn't take any notice because I don't like swimming I like running. And now I have come to realise that you were right all along! Who would have thought

Kurt Godel

career move wrote: »

I remember you saying that on the DCM novices thread and that it was better than a recovery run but I didn't take any notice because I don't like swimming I like running. And now I have come to realise that you were right all along! Who would have thought

Saying anything on that thread was an exercise in futility. What a train wreck!:D There were two rules:
1. Everyone is awesome;
2. Slow down, you're running too fast.

That is was a back-slapping exercise wasn't down to you at all, it was poison from the start. I see some of the old faces are still considering themselves "novices" and dispensing useless advice on Ososlo's thread (and she's doing a great job like you did). A pity, because there's a load of good advice that gets lost in the drive for consensus.

I stress I'm not directing any of this Lowest Common Denominator stuff in your direction; just this weekend one of Irelands best AR racers was telling me about your drive and determinism. Best of luck with the swimming, really glad you're enjoying it! I was a beginner a couple of years ago too, so if there's any help I can give just ask

Kurt Godel

Wed 60 mins turbo; 5.8k run

Easy spinning turbo with 5*20 sec bursts thrown in. The run- well, my quads are still feeling the effects of the weekends hills, so they were very tight before. However, a very slow plod for 33 mins, and they were feeling better afterwards.

12 mins kettlebells earlier, with 15*pushups. What kettlebell program are you following, I hear asked? Why, this one, dear reader