Lyric Revues

joey100

Ha, I don't know about that, bike and run going well, swim (as usual) could do with some work. I'd be surprised if I got off the bike in front of him.

Cheers kurt, enjoy your weekend spectating, sure you might even sneak in a little open water swim yourself!

Kurt.Godel

Wed PM 8k run 4:32/km, 1.2k OW swim

I felt great tonight on the run, turbo-charged. These were probably the smoothest and lightest steps I've taken in a long time, and there was more in the tank if required, as it was I just kept things steady uphill ascending the Rock, and gradually picked things up to finish with a 3:58 last km. I'm pretty happy with this steady run.

Swim
400m warmup
2*(10 strokes hard, 10 easy, 20 hard, 20 easy, 30 hard, 30 easy, 30sec)
5*(beach start to bouy 75m out, turn and sprint back to beach exit; min rest)
There was a good crowd at the cove tonight, great to see. Lots of smiling faces as we negotiated some hefty waves with aplomb. I sank a bouy 75m out, and the set was to run out (high knees), dolphin dive into waves, sprint to bouy, turn, and sprint back, trying to catch waves on the exit. It was good to do something a little different than the usual steady long sea swim, I find myself that there can be a huge advantage in the sea if you have a toolbox of different skills to call upon (how to read waves, which side to breathe on, etc~). Or rather, there is a huge disadvantage if you don't have a good toolbox of skills- if someone gets a gobful of water, or their goggles come off at the start, or the waves skew your direction... it can be game over before you even start.

Good fun, but I went in skins and was shivering afterwards, had to drive home with the heater blasting!

Kurt.Godel

Thurs 8.5k run 4:52/km av

Another evening on Brittas, very easy running north with the wind in your back, a little tougher the other way; but still everything felt easy. That was enough, I would have liked a quick swim but yesterdays shivering put paid to that idea.

griffin100

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Thurs 8.5k run 4:52/km av

Another evening on Brittas, very easy running north with the wind in your back, a little tougher the other way; but still everything felt easy. That was enough, I would have liked a quick swim but yesterdays shivering put paid to that idea.

I did an hour skins in Wicklow Harbour last night and it's the coldest I've ever been in the water. Had planned to do longer but gave up. Took me hours to warm up my feet afterwards. Summer my @rse.

Kurt.Godel

griffin100 wrote: »

I did an hour skins in Wicklow Harbour last night and it's the coldest I've ever been in the water. Had planned to do longer but gave up. Took me hours to warm up my feet afterwards. Summer my @rse.

Yeah there has been a drop in temperature all right. I had a half notion of entering the Lough Dan 10k after meeting you last week, but have given up on that as I'd never acclimatise. Good luck in it yourself!
I bumped into a mate at the pool this lunchtime, he won the Irish OW Champs at the weekend (17k) but said he's hardly been in the sea at all this summer, all pool stuff.

Kurt.Godel

Fri 2,000m swim

400m warmup
10*50 off 60, in under 40
100 easy
10*50 off 60, in under 45
100 easy
250 hypoxic
150 swim down

As is usual this time of year, my lack of pool time is telling. The first set of sprints showed just how bad my form has become, they needed brute force to hit the times. The second set were more relaxed, and helped focus on what still works and what needs work.

griffin100

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Yeah there has been a drop in temperature all right. I had a half notion of entering the Lough Dan 10k after meeting you last week, but have given up on that as I'd never acclimatise. Good luck in it yourself!
I bumped into a mate at the pool this lunchtime, he won the Irish OW Champs at the weekend (17k) but said he's hardly been in the sea at all this summer, all pool stuff.

Haven't entered Lough Dan yet as waiting for SI membership to transfer, so have time to back out. Not sure if I'm up for it, distance is not an issue I think, it's the cut off time that has me worried. It's hard to get a handle on OW speed in a river when you're swimming up and down against and with a strong current. Sea swimming is also not a good guide as the extra buoyancy gives you water wings. Have a 3hr / 7-8km ish OW swim planned for this weekend so that will tell a lot.

Kurt.Godel

griffin100 wrote: »

Haven't entered Lough Dan yet as waiting for SI membership to transfer, so have time to back out. Not sure if I'm up for it, distance is not an issue I think, it's the cut off time that has me worried. It's hard to get a handle on OW speed in a river when you're swimming up and down against and with a strong current. Sea swimming is also not a good guide as the extra buoyancy gives you water wings. Have a 3hr / 7-8km ish OW swim planned for this weekend so that will tell a lot.

I entered it a couple of years back, it was a cold day, windy chop in your face right through the race... I managed 3 laps (7.5k) and was a couple of minutes off the cut-off, they were more than happy o let me finish but I was shivering.... most of my OW had been sea swimming which you rightfully say is no substitute.

However you're a stubborn fecker so I've no doubt you'll surpass my attempt and get the full swim in :D Best of luck to you!

Kurt.Godel

Past week

I was down in Kerry with the kids- they were doing a weeks life-saving course, so Dad-Taxi was in operation for a lot of the time. While they did their stuff, I got in a lot of OW swimming, some decent running, and a modicum of biking:

Swim- a couple of times most days, about 1.5/2k each time, mostly around Knightstown harbour. One time I had a near death experience (bright pink cap, sighting every 12 strokes) racing across the entrance to beat the Ferry boat which was a good bit out... look up, Ferry far away, no other boats... look up, Ferry getting closer but I have loads of time, other boat moving parallel to me but safe... look up, I've passed Ferry line, check other boat HOLY F*** he's right on top of me!!! Missed me by inches (no exaggeration), I turned my shoulder to miss his hull, in retrospect he must have diverted towards me to "teach me a lesson" as he was observant of everything ahead of him. He stopped his boat after and gesticulated "WTF?" at me. I consider what he did attempted assault at best. Put the frighteners up me.
Other best swim- I swam across to Renard (mainland), lovely sunny day, obviously watching for traffic. By the time I got there, a squall had set up, wind kicked in, I swam to the Ferry to hitch a lift back but it just beat me... resigned to wait 30 mins or swim back, I hailed to only boat 50m out there who acknowledged I was swimming back, and set off against the chop. It was tough and a lot of water was breathed, but I stopped and sighted every 50m or so (spooked by yesterdays incident), and made it back without incident. You have to respect the sea.

Run- a couple of runs up to the slate quarry and back (about 8k return). The most spectacular route, its just an incredible view across the sea. I was happy in that easy/steady pace is much faster than usual- my run is where it needs to be now.

Bike- a single 20k loop, nothing spectacular, but enough to tell me my bike is 3rd place among the diciplines- just where it needs to be 4 weeks out from a draft Sprint.

Other- this was the best, 2 hours beginner surfing with the kids. I had been given the number of an (Aussie) instructor then night before, phoned him up to ask for lessons for a 15 and 13 year old;
-fair enough, are you getting in the water yourself dad?
-ah I might go for a swim and watch what they do.
-why don't you grab a board yourself mate?
-ah I'm too old for that!
-Blimey how old are you man?!?
-46 hahaha
-tell you what I'm 60 myself so I reckon you're using age as an excuse if you ask me?
...
How could I say no after that?! 2 hours of the best, exhilerating, fun I've had in a long time. The instructor (Wayne Murphy for anyone interested) was fantastic (he knew exactly how to explain in as few chosen words as possible), and the kids had a blast, they took to it pretty quickly and managed to surf quite well. Myself, not so good, but I did stand for a few and certainly will try again. The kids are hooked though, and will buy boards next chance they get. They loved the laid-back instructor and driving home today if I got stressed in traffic they would call "What would Murph do?". Reckon I should grab a board and hit a few sets more often

Overall- 4 weeks out, swim going good, run going great, bike okay... but the mood is better than ever having had a lesson in "what its really all about".

Kurt.Godel

Sun IMRA Nav Challenge 1 (17.6k in 2:11)

I love these races- you are given a map with 9 controls, and must punch any 8 in any order to finish. A large crowd gathered at Ironbridge, and we set off after some instructions from RD Mick. I opted to stay on the trails as best I could, as the last thing I want now is injury from playing on the hills. The first couple of controls came quickly enough, but the next proved difficult to find, it took some running up and down to locate the memorial stone. Some contouring brought me nicely to the 5th (playing hide and seek with Hilary to this point, she took different routes but we often arrived at the same control from opposite directions), and now I was done with this side of the valley: just three more needed from the other side.
I took a nice straight-ish route down, opted to cross the river by wading rather than bridge, and began to climb back up along a wonderful old estate wall. My map-reading was going well, and I caught the next two controls fairly handy. All that remained was one more, I took a shorter route suggested on the map... and ended in no-mans land. There were about 6 others also searching the area for the elusive final control, and much scratching of heads. I broke off and decided to find a "major" trail to orient from. Once I had that, the compass came out for the first time and I fought through brashings until I had my trail. From here it was fairly easy to find the 9th, and run down to the finish.
I lost about 20 minutes finding that last control, but otherwise had a good enough race. Lots of talk regarding route choice at the finish line, and the general consensus was it was a great course. I certainly enjoyed my couple of hours in the hills, and its always a pleasure to catch up with the IMRA gang.

Kurt.Godel

I finally got the Fastlane powered up and working... its a very impressive set up, may as well give my first impressions after swimming for a couple of 30 min sets:

The Fastlane shoots a wide river of water at you- naturally there is more turbulence than in the pool, and indeed it most closely mimics swimming upstream against a current. Your legs sink more than in a pool (less so at higher speeds), and it takes a bit of effort to keep them from drifting off straight. This forces you to hold a good position more so than you would in the pool, and the core and legs are put to more use than usual.

With the turbulence there is not really a steady bow wave, so breathing slightly higher is required. Bilateral breathing can "rock" you more than in a pool, so again you need to work harder to hold good form.

There appears to be a "sweet spot" in the current where swimming is smooth and mimics a pool- drifting from this spot increases turbulence. (My Fastlane has no return channels so maybe the Endless pool has less turbulence).

The top speed actually feels less turbulent, and closest to pool swimming. I can swim into it for sets of "50's" without too much trouble, and I'd say it is around 1:15-25/100m pace. Swimming front crawl at slower speeds is possible too, with greater attention to form required to hold position.

Swimming breaststroke is ideally suited to this pool, at all speeds. Perhaps this is due to the symmetric nature of the stroke and I will notice this less for other strokes as I get used to the pool.

Swimming with PB and centre snorkle helps mimic pool swimming closer.

Overall I am impressed with the Fastlane- its early days yet but I think it will be extremely useful to reinforce good technique. Any deviance from good streamline position is immediately punished. Likewise any change in technique is immediately obvious, much more so than in a pool. My core and legs are weak aspects to my swim so hopefully the Fastlane will help in this regard. A mirror seems like a very necessary item to get the most from the Fastlane, especially so as stroke corrections give instant feedback. More thoughts as I get used to the Fastlane, but one thing you can't beat is waking at 6:00 and swimming at 6:05...:)

Kurt.Godel

Past week

Not a great week at all, I was busy with work and then came down with a summer cold. I "justified" limited training with Tri the Hook for Saturday, however late Friday I realised I hadn't entered the damn thing :rolleyes: so opted for an easy run instead. Yesterday I managed to grab 2k OW early in Curracloe, before spending the rest of the day watching my son compete at the National Surf Rescue Champs. Not great prep with 3 weeks to go before my main event, but such is life and if I take a holistic view of things there is good balance family/work/training/play. Having triathlon goals are just a method of helping find that balance, whether I hit them or not.

Otherwise the Fastlane pool is very useful, I'm getting the hang of where to position in the flow, and how to swim. Bilateral breathing is useful in that it stops the legs from drifting to the side (a common issue in Endless and Fastlane pools), and overall the more I use this pool the more I realise how useful it will be for streamline/core/legs in a real pool.

Steroo

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Past week

I take a holistic view of things there is good balance family/work/training/play. Having triathlon goals are just a method of helping find that balance, whether I hit them or not.

Spot on. so important to remember this.

pgibbo

Check out the start of this video where he talks about the mirrors

Kurt.Godel

The last week has been a disaster, I developed a full blown chest infection. Sometimes these things can be sweated out, sometimes they can't, and with Rotterdam so close I decided to roll the dice last Tuesday and ran steady for a hilly 20k. I felt great while running- albeit a little short of breath- but things nosedived from the next day on and I knew my gamble had failed. No energy and no training for the next few days. I'm still coughing now and only started back training last night.

Obviously this is not the ideal lead-in to a goal race, but what can you do. Then megabucks have been spent now, I may as well go over and just do the best I can do on the day. Swim should be ok, I'll aim to be towed around on the bike, and leave nothing on the run.

Mentioning the bike, I just saw a video of the course... holy cow it is technical! I might end up packing the mountain bike!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1pOuLaD4NE

https://youtu.be/I1pOuLaD4NE

Kurt.Godel

Mon 2,600 masters swim

2*200 warmup 15s
10*75 (25k, 25d, 25sw) 10s
20*50 (25 IMO, 25free) 10s
10*25 hypoxic (3,2,1,0,0,0,0,1,2,3) 15s
200 swimdown

The Masters sets started back again tonight, and although my breathing is still limited I made a point of turning up. Consistency is 90% of any improvement. The goal this year is to improve dramatically in the pool- I want to swim under 1:05 100m in the LC Champs next March, along with other long-held improvement goals.

It felt good to be in the pool again, and straight away I noticed improved position (gained from my home pool). Kick in particular is better. The IMO were a test for breathing mainly; I got some good coach feedback for fly improvements. Breast and back were better than usual. My limited breathing showed up for the hypoxic, and I only hit one of the "no-breaths". Otherwise a good enough session, and the welcome start of another pool block.

Kurt.Godel

pgibbo wrote: »

Check out the start of this video where he talks about the mirrors

Wow that is some training day!

The mirrors would add a lot to endless pool alright. Once you get in first time, the instinct is to "outrace" the current in a show pf prowess, when in fact slowing down and focussing on stroke improvements is the main benefit. I must get some mirrors asap.

RacoonQueen

What day is the race Kurt?

Kurt.Godel

RacoonQueen wrote: »

What day is the race Kurt?

Fly in Sat 16th, race Sun, fly back Mon.

joey100

We know you love a good tough swim Kurt, Otillo swim/run world champs were on the weekend, really tough conditions and no cancelling or shortening of the swim.

Some pictures here, but don't do the conditions justice,

https://www.flickr.com/photos/otillorace/albums/72157686061556463/page1

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Wow that is some training day!

The mirrors would add a lot to endless pool alright. Once you get in first time, the instinct is to "outrace" the current in a show pf prowess, when in fact slowing down and focussing on stroke improvements is the main benefit. I must get some mirrors asap.

I have an angled one ordered but let me know if you find a "home solution" for one on the base as I was not paying 400 for one!

Kurt.Godel

joey100 wrote: »

We know you love a good tough swim Kurt, Otillo swim/run world champs were on the weekend, really tough conditions and no cancelling or shortening of the swim.

Some pictures here, but don't do the conditions justice,

https://www.flickr.com/photos/otillorace/albums/72157686061556463/page1

Looks great, you can't beat swimming in a bit of chop to connect with the universe!

Tue 11.4k run 5:03/km

The run itself felt easy, although I was coughing and spluttering up radioactive globules right the way around. Thankfully this was mostly done off road so the facade of dignity remains.

RacoonQueen

You all make me want an endless pool. Since I'm a shortarse can I get a kids one for my balcony?

Kurt.Godel

RacoonQueen wrote: »

You all make me want an endless pool. Since I'm a shortarse can I get a kids one for my balcony?

Oh they are very handy alright... I had a short work window and grabbed 35 mins just now, quick towel and back browsing boards at the desk. Mind you if I lived closer to a decent pool I don't think I could justify it.

Kurt.Godel

Wed 35min indoor pool; 60 min easy turbo

I'm getting the hang of the Fastlane current now, this was 100 stokes free, 100 strokes pb.

Later an hour spinning, made a few adjustments to the saddle.

Thurs 30min indoor pool; 30k bike; 2,750m Masters swim

Bike was on the new roadie, and the saddle adjustments seem to work.
5k build (27.9kph)
5k hard (39.1kph)
5k steady (32.9kph)
2 min break
5k steady (31.1kph)
5k easy (25.4kph)
5k moderate (27.4kph)
Going out was flattered by a mild tailwind, but it was a solid effort. I'm happy with this bike, it responds well enough around corners, and suits a grinder on the straights. The electronic gears are a godsend.

Masters swim:
200m warmup
4*75 as (25k, 25drill, 25 swim) 10s
20*50 (alternate off 45s, 60s)
10*75 as (25k, 25drill, 25 swim fast) 10s
10*50 as (25 back pb, 25 swim pb) 10s

The main set were the fast 50's, and I was pleased to get them all in 35-37. Tough, but not quite eyeballs out yet. The home pool has helped my kick already, that much is noticeable.

Kurt.Godel

So still suffering the tail end of a chest infection, I went swimming tonight and things seemed ok... decided to travel to Rotterdam and give the race a lash... flight due to leave Sat morn so I can make registration... just now Ryanair have decided to cancel the flight. The cheapest Aer Lingus alternative is over €600.

The gods are testing me.

RacoonQueen

Ouch. Any other flights? Fly to Einhoven?

Kurt.Godel

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Ouch. Any other flights? Fly to Einhoven?

I looked at that option, flight gets in 4pm with Registration closing in R'dam at 7pm, with an hour plus train journey in between... it would be cutting it very close. If things had gone to plan the last few weeks I'd maybe risk it, but with the chest issue it's not worth it. Forget it; onwards and upwards.

Mon 30 min flume pool; 60 mins Masters
Main set Masters:
20*50 free on 60s
All in 32-35s, which I was pleased enough about.

Tue 40 min flume pool; 60min easy turbo
The focus in the pool was on technique, which is the best focus to have in it. Specifically breathing- I am breathing too high and too long. Breathing in general is my swim limiter, and so is something that needs to be fixed for good. My drop-off in times as distance increases is crazy. PB's for 50/100/200/400 are 30s/1:11/2:44/5:45, and problems begin once oxygen depletion sets in.
Two-time Olympian Chloe Sutton has a series of videos on technique (in a flume), I think they are very useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN7jvcoKQZ8

Wed 60min flume; 60 min easy turbo

Thurs 6k easy run; 60mins Masters
With the chest settling down, I chanced the first run in a week. No huge issues, a bit of coughing but otherwise it felt good to be running again. No way I'd end a Sprint with a sub-20 5k though, maintaining 4:15/km pace would be a solid target though.
Masters:
200 warm-up
10*50 (25k, 25swim, 10s rest, 25drill, 25 swim, 10s rest)
10*100 aim for holding best time across all with 20s rest
10*50 breath only between the flags, 10s
250 hypoxic 3,2,1,0,0,0,0,1,2,3
My times for the 100's were about 1:22, but I had to skip the last two with breathing problems. I hit all the hypoxic though.

Neady83

Really sorry about the flights and chest infection Kurt, rubbish luck on all counts.

pgibbo

That sucks. Sorry to hear that you're not travelling.