Standard Deviation

Kurt Godel

Tue 22.05k LSR @5.36/km pace

A bad sleep last night, and I woke up with a congested and achey head. My usual remedy for this is to try and kill the germs with several hot whiskeys, but I'm off the hooch for a while. Instead, I tried a LSR, figured I'd run 10k anyway and see how I felt after that. As it turned out I felt good at this slow pace, the achilles felt better than ever, and I was enjoying the run so I just kept going. Very slow over the final steep hill (I didn't want to stress my breathing), but otherwise this was the sort of run that could have gone on forever. My congestion seems to have eased off, too

Kurt Godel

Wed 90 mins easy turbo; 2,750m swim

Swim was:
250m warm-up
8*(25m choice, 25m free {breath on 5}, 15 sec rest)
4*400m (100m 70% effort, 100 80%, 100 90%, 100 100%, 45 sec rest)
100m kick
100m drill
300m swim-down

Didn't feel great for this, my cold has developed into a chesty dry cough. No snots or phlegm though, so I could enter the pool without a biohazard suit. I found the "breath on 5 strokes" tough, my lungs didn't want to play ball, but got through them. The 400's were all in 6:45-6:55, and I took my HR after each of them- around 165 to 180. I'm pleased enough with the times, as my last TT was only 6:36, all out, versus tonights not feeling great.

Kurt Godel

Sun 60 mins hard turbo

Sufferfest Angels, pretty hard (perceived)effort

This week was a bad one, what started as a headcold developed into a horrible cough and really sore throat- so sore I couldn't sleep with the pain for a couple of nights. It seems like its on its way out now, so after three days rest, I chanced a turbo. Sometimes your immune system gets a boost after "surviving" a dose, so I'm hoping next week will be a strong one.

January as a whole was a good training month- I've got into a routine of volume, started to introduce some swim and bike intensity, and have lost almost 5kg, so thats most of the goal boxes ticked. February will be about upping the swim intensity, maintaining what I'm doing on the bike (and hopefully getting outdoors once or twice!), and most importantly, building up the run volume. Run intensity can wait for a few weeks yet, but for now the achilles seems better than its felt in months, so fingers crossed.

Weekly Summary|Session|Comment

Monday|90mins easy turbo|Starting to feel run down
Tuesday|22.05k run @5:36pace|First long run in ages; felt great and could have kept going
Wednesday|90mins easy turbo; 2,750m swim|Incl 4*400 descending pace all in 6:45-6:55
Thursday|Sick|
Friday|Sick|
Saturday|Sick|
Sunday|60 mins turbo|SF Angels tough
Weekly km|Swim 2.75k Bike 110k Run 22.05k| Poor week, with sickness
2014 km|Swim 53.7k Bike 652k Run 133.76k

Kurt Godel

Mon 2k steady swim @ 1:58 pace

This swim was literally testing the water, I kept it at an easy pace so as not to stress my poor weakened lungs. I'm still not at 100%, as the effort seemed to increase over the last 500m.

Oryx

Sounds like we've been similarly under the weather. Bloody cough Your immune boost theory gives me hope that we will both have a few good weeks now.

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Sounds like we've been similarly under the weather. Bloody cough Your immune boost theory gives me hope that we will both have a few good weeks now.

Hope your cough dissipates soon- I'll think of you in my prayers. Its a nasty dose going round, training can only get better!

Mon pm 55 mins easy turbo

Oryx

You pray?

And what is a vutt?

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

You pray?

And what is a vutt?

It's a sort of praying in some meanings, and vutt is in the (urban) dictionary.

Kurt Godel

Tue 1:37 turbo

SF "Blender", hard on the TT sections, very hard on the sprints. This is a nice long vid, it seems a lot different to other SF stuff I've done. I don't just mean the length, but it just has a different vibe to it. The designer is a Tri coach, maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway, it's a toughie but a goodie.

Kurt Godel

Wed 10k easy run; 3,000m swim

The run was just a lunchtime jaunt splashing through the forest, along the massively swollen river. Very much "After the storm" sort of run. I dig Neil, man.

Coached swim:
12*50- 5 sec rest every odd number, 15 sec rest every even. All in around 45sec.
12*50- 25 kick, 25 swim, 10 sec rest.
8*200 off 3:45 (first in 3:15, rest in 3:20-3:30)
Swim down

The initial 50's felt good, I was kicking well.
The next kick set was tough, but the kick thread here earlier today was on my mind, and I took some of its good advice. In particular keeping feet together.
The 200's I would have liked to have been faster- I'm mainly putting that down to the remnants of the cold I have. Otherwise, I'm happy enough with 'em.

Kurt Godel

Thurs 2,200m swim and core work

Another Thursday, another Masters session.

400m warmup

Then 4 sets of the following:
200m easy breath 3/4
20 pressups
20 sits ups
20 squats
12 "Superman" planks
75m sprint 45sec rest
50m sprint 30sec rest
25m sprint 15 rest

400m swim down

As usual, my core work is embarrassing, albeit starting to get a little better. The sprints were all out, arms were screaming after the first length. However, they came in nicely; 60 secs for each 75m, 38 for the 50's, 17 for the 25's. The other two lads did a fifth set, (having done all the core work perfectly compared to my feeble attempts). I'm not at that stage yet, but trying to hold on to their coattails is a good incentive.

Kurt Godel

Fri 10k run; 45 mins turbo

The run was an easy plod in the forest, the turbo was easy spinning. Touch of spring in the air earlier.

Kurt Godel

Sat 1:45 turbo

Easy pace- I missed my planned swim having to take the kids to see Robocop (not a patch on the original, although the ED-209's look cool), so managed a turbo this evening while watching Ender's Game (a decent if lightweight sci-fi romp).

Still off the hooch, although I almost caved this evening. It's just a matter of time, I have a batch of IPA maturing in bottles that need another month, and started a fresh brew tonight. I switch between three forums on Boards; this one, the HomeBrew forum, and the non-drinkers forum.

Dory Dory

I just picked up a case of Strawber-Rita-Margaritas. Cheers!!!

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

I just picked up a case of Strawber-Rita-Margaritas. Cheers!!!

When they find me in a ditch, clutching an empty vodka bottle to my bosom, after a week-long bender... this goading will have been the initial push;)

Oryx

DD is like an anti-AA sponsor.

Kurt Godel

Sun 5,150m steady swim, 1:57/100m pace

I wanted to do an endurance swim this morning, to see how my pace would hold up with a bit of inter-session tweaking. The plan was to do a kilometer at a time, and tweak different aspects to see if I could maintain the steady pace (usually pace drops off after 2k or so). So the first km was deliberately slow and steady, just swimming without thinking too much, in 19:xx. For the second km, I focused on high elbow, perhaps with a bit of a glide or pause in the stroke entry. Pace held steady, and I felt strong and in control. The third km, I focused on high elbow and kick (not as much glide), and again the form was good, pace held up, and I felt in control. This was important, as usually this is the section I start losing form in endurance swims (albeit they'd usually be a bit faster).

There was no reason to stop, so I said I'd see if the form could be held for another km, and this was no trouble. No point stopping now, the stroke was solid, and more importantly the kick was playing a decent part. I had interested's advice about keeping the feet close together in mind, and was consciously breaking the surface with my heels. All was good until about 4,700m or so, when it became harder to hold the form together. I'd been sipping an electrolyte drink throughout, but this felt like carb depletion. Anyway, I held the pace for the final bit, got to 5.15km and called it a day.

What did I learn? Well, the goal was to hold pace and form over distance, so that worked, pace was a steady 19:xx/km throughout. My kick is playing a bigger part in my overall stroke, so I was glad to see it strong over the latter stages. I could have kept going, which bodes well for any bucketlist 10k swims I might be mulling. After the thread about race/training pace, I had in the back of my mind to see what use a distance swim might be. It might have been useful to see how I react to endurance, but I doubt this swim will contribute much to my overall training. I don't do that many endurance swims any more, but comparing this one to when I used do them (18months back, when I thought increasing distance was the way to train), I'm a lot more in control after tiredness sets in. That's all come from the short swim sets, so I'll continue with that as my training focus, with perhaps the odd endurance swim thrown in to measure progress.

Kurt Godel

Sun PM 8km easy run

A great way to end the week, running along the railway walk with the two kids, as the sun sets on a delightful February evening. My daughter is very competitive, so no-one gets to run ahead of her- if they do, she ups her pace to take the front again. She'll be a force to be reckoned with in any under-10 kidathlons this summer;)

Weekly Summary|Session|Comment

Monday|2k swim; 55mins turbo|Easy pace for both, still not over the cold I have
Tuesday|97mins turbo|SF "Blender", very hard effort
Wednesday|10k easy run; 3,000m swim|Main 8*200 off 3:45, in 3:15/3:30, felt hard for the average times
Thursday|2,200m Masters swim|100% effort sprint sets 4*75,50,25, with core work in between
Friday|10k run; 45mins turbo|Easy for both
Saturday|105min turbo|Easy spinning
Sunday|5.15k swim; 8k easy run|Steady endurance swim, 1:57 pace, felt controlled throughout. Kick is getting stronger.
Weekly km|Swim 12.35k Bike 109k Run 28k| Still not 100%, but a decent enough week
2014 km|Swim 66.05k Bike 761k Run 162.11k

Dory Dory

Oryx wrote: »

DD is like an anti-AA sponsor.

I'm just tryiing to drag any and everyone down with me.

(some nice work going on over here on this log!!! )

Kurt Godel

Mon 9km run @ 4:39av, 2km warm down

At lunchtime I drove to Glendalough, with a half notion to do something hilly. There's an itch that hasn't been scratched in ages, but the heel reminded me just enough over the first km, that I would be foolish to venture steepward. Instead I kept things flat, running along the lakes. The first km was easy, and I started to pick up the pace from there, until I was running under 4:30 pace. Things started to hurt from 6km, said I'd go to 7, then 8, then 9, but I could lie no more after that. Easy 2km warm-down after.

The mist was down, but there's a view for the soul in any weather conditions. It is a great place to run, just such a magical area in that valley. It's the fastest I've ran in a while, so I can't have any complaints. One of these a week, the rest of the runs easy, and we'll see how things pan out by March.

Mon PM 70mins turbo

Easy spinning, watching Khan academy tutorials on calculus. These used to be head-spinning, but are most understandable presently.

Kurt Godel

Tue 57mins turbo, 600m pool

The turbo was easy lunchtime spinning.

Pool was a quick half an hour gap before the swim club took over. In truth, my body was beat, a combination of that distance swim two days ago, and a tough run yesterday, so I was glad of the restorative powers of the water. I had my kids with me, so we were practicing our stroke, and a few 25m races. Best they got (push start) was 23 and 24 seconds. I did a few in just over 15 secs. *Losers*

They've been doing the club swims since January, and its brilliant to see their progress, and their continued enthusiasm for swimming. Afterwards we watched as the clubs advanced kids did their thing- its awesome to watch, such perfect technique. Pushing a perpetually constant bow wave while gliding high in the water with an ideal kick... The three of us looked on eagerly, all taking mental notes.

I was going to run tonight, but I think I'll give it a miss. Listen to the body. Medium run tomorrow, then club swim (which won't be too hard). I got a preview of the Masters swim for Thursday; its going to be a tough one.

mossym

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Afterwards we watched as the clubs advanced kids did their thing- its awesome to watch, such perfect technique. Pushing a perpetually constant bow wave while gliding high in the water with an ideal kick... The three of us looked on eagerly, all taking mental notes.

it's both encouraging and depressing to see a proper swimmer do their thing, mainly depressing when you see how easy they make it look

Kurt Godel

mossym wrote: »

it's both encouraging and depressing to see a proper swimmer do their thing, mainly depressing when you see how easy they make it look

I'm going to try and get a video done of my (above water) stroke as I swim. I know I drop and roll the head, but it would be interesting to compare just how far away from this seal-esque bow wave I am.

mossym

Kurt Godel wrote: »

I'm going to try and get a video done of my (above water) stroke as I swim. I know I drop and roll the head, but it would be interesting to compare just how far away from this seal-esque bow wave I am.

i did the swim class thats run in athlone every once in a while, where they video you both above and under the water. amazing how much your view of your stroke changes when you see it on the screen. well worth the effort

Kurt Godel

Wed 60min turbo

SF "A Very Dark Place", decent effort put down. I was just showering afterwards when the power went- very stormy around these parts. We put down a fire and cooked soup over the stove, and settled down for the night. No swim training for either the kids or me, instead I had my first beers of 2014 in a nice candlelit room. Slainte, Dory.

Thurs 1,200m swim am, 3,800m swim pm

Still no electricity so the kids were off school. We all went to the pool for some strokework and fun. They tried to keep their head steady, and push a nice bow wave, and that seemed to pay dividends. Next, we had two kickboard races. They almost had me on the first one (it was a matter of inches), they are just such better kickers.

The Masters session was in the evening, so I returned for what is becoming my toughest session of the week.

10x(25 choice, 25 free)
1,500m (average pace 1:47)
800m pace 1:49
400m pace 1:43
200m pace 1:40
100m pace 1:33

The idea was to increase pace as distance decreased (and the pace bands on the board were faster than I achieved), so in that respect I'm very disappointed with the numbers for the 800m. I must have switched off, and not pushed it, and thats not good enough. There's no point in doing long swim sets (or mickey-swinging 5km swims like at the weekend) if I don't hit the numbers in sessions. I'm going to have to have a good think about my mental attitude in training, the hard sessions are going to hurt, and I need to step up when they are hurting.

Anyway, the pace started to get better for the other distances. The 400 and the 200 both hurt, and the 100 was a good old fashioned ding-dong with the lad in the next lane. I got some very good advice on some limiters in my swim style; I need to co-ordinate my kick with the opposite sides stroke. More technique work, which can be done in stead of the mostly useless long slow swims.

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

I was just showering afterwards when the power went- very stormy around these parts. We put down a fire and cooked soup over the stove, and settled down for the night. No swim training for either the kids or me, instead I had my first beers of 2014 in a nice candlelit room. Slainte, Dory.

With a magical setting like that, it would have been a sin not to. Bottoms up, Kurt.

Kurt Godel

Fri 10k recovery run 5:28 pace

It's pretty wild out there again today, I spent an hour looking out the window before heading out. Lots of trees down in the forest, so some hurdling was involved. Heavy feet from all the water. This run felt a lot more laboured than its pace would suggest, by the turnaround I was feeling it on the lungs. I slowed the pace down a tad to get over this tired feeling, and picked it up again when I felt better. Yesterday was a tough bike, and a tough swim- I'm happy to use the runs as recovery from those harder sessions for a while longer.

PM: 94mins easy turbo

Kurt Godel

Sat 2,200m pool

The girls have headed off for a wimmins shrieking circle night with wine and chocs, so me and junior get to do man stuff. We have beer, burritos, pringles, and Watchmen DVD. Before we settle down to an evening of that, we hit the pool. Junior can go forever, he has great stamina, and his stroke is getting more and more confident.

Lots of drills for me, kicks and pull bouy stuff. I tried pull bouy with a center snorkle, but was having issues with my nose; reckon I need a nose clip when using the snorkle.

PM- 35 mins turbo, before I punctured. Thats enough done, I'll fix it tomorrow. Now munchies, beer for me (coke for junior), Enders' Game followed by Watchmen, sci violence, no chicks around to scold us, brill

Kurt Godel

Sun 2,100m swim

4*100 off 1:55 (in 1:40, 1:41, 1:42, 1:41)
50m easy
4*100 off 1:50 (in 1:36, 1:38, 1:40, 1:39)
50m easy
4*100 off 1:45 (in 1:35, 1:39, 1:41, 1:40)
50m easy
200m in 3:14
50m easy
2*100 off 1:40 (in 1:29, 1:34)

This was my first interval session in a while, I'll need to start doing more of them. Plan was to do 4 sets of 100 off 2:00, 1:55, 1:50, 1:45, with an idea that hitting the 1:45's would be a fair test of my current abilities. However, the first 100 came in so far under the target of 2:00, that I decided to try swimming off 5 seconds faster. I concentrated on entry and glide, it seemed to make a difference. The last set I broke up, but should have kept it as a set of 4*100's, as I'd have hit the goal.

I'm pleased at where this set puts me ability-wise. The goal was to be going off 1:35 come April/May, but I might revise this downwards if things continue to improve.

The lane was shared with Junior who is making great swim progress, he started doing sets himself. It's a lovely feeling to be training at the same time as your kids.

Kurt Godel

Missed an easy run on Sunday evening, otherwise a good week. Running is becoming easier, swimming is becoming faster. In other news, I broke my dry spell with a few beers. Nothing hectic, literally a few beers at home, but its of no benefit, I'll try and go dry again for a while.

Weekly Summary|Session|Comment

Monday| 11km run with 9@4:39av; 70mins easy turbo|Decent run by Glendalough lakes
Tuesday|57mins turbo; 600m swim|Easy spin and swim
Wednesday|60min turbo|SF "A Very Dark Place, hard effort
Thursday|1,200m swim am, 3,800m swim pm|Masters 1,500,800,400,200,100
Friday|10k run 5:28 pace; 94mins turbo|Easy for both
Saturday|2.2km pool|PB and KB
Sunday|2,100m swim|4*100 off 1:55,1:50,1:45, 200in3:14, 2*100 off 1:40
Weekly km|Swim 9.9k Bike 141k Run 21.01k| Still not 100%, but a decent enough week
2014 km|Swim 75.95k Bike 902k Run 183.12k