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Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf
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You guys need your very own private forum I reckon. You could call it the Pain Cave.Kurt Godel wrote: »The reign of pain falls mainly on the splayin'.
This is still the ART forum right? Oryx could help us, she's mod of the nether regions.
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Swim Session With Hypoxic Work
After an afternoon shower, this evening was rare spectacle of beauty - an 11 on a scale of 10. Clear and sunny with casts of shadows to the west, and dark and brooding with clouds creeping over the mountains to the east. The best of both worlds all on one stage....and how lucky I was tonight to witness it while poolside......and how appropriate to have such a breathtaking view for my lesson in oxygen depravation.
I started out tonight's session with an easy 1k swim and a strong 1k pull in preparation of the quality section of this workout, which was decreasing sets of one breathless/nearly breathless length (20 yards), and one return length easy. I remember doing these in my younger days in both 25 yard and 25 meter pools, and I remember usually having to take one breath per hard length back then.
After a few deep breaths to expand the lungs, and a hard push off the wall, I was off on my first 20 yards....without a breath.
Success. And it wasn't that hard. Feeling rather chuffed, I relaxed it on the return length, rested for about 20 seconds, then off on my second attempt I went. The second attempt was slightly tougher than my first, and I did take a breath just before I reached the wall. No biggie, I thought as I swam my return 20 yards, it was naturally going to be harder. Third attempt, and I took a breath even sooner than the last time. 
Okay, this would not do, I told myself. Of course each repeat was going to be harder, but that's the point, right? I wasn't digging deep enough or trying hard enough, PLUS, my body position was totally wrong in the water. To be successful at these hypoxic laps, I would need to create as little drag as possible - I would need to be just skimming the surface of the water to eliminate as much resistance as possible. Head up, shoulders up, hips ups, legs and feet up. Check, check, check, check and check. Adjustments in body position and attitude were made, and from that point on, not a breath was taken on any of the remaining 12 hard laps. :cool:
5,000 yards as follows:
1,000 swim
1,000 pull
5 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
400 pull
4 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
320 pull
3 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
240 pull
2 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
160 pull
1 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
80 pull
3 x (200 kick, 200 swim)0 -
. To be successful at these hypoxic laps, I would need to create as little drag as possible - I would need to be just skimming the surface of the water to eliminate as much resistance as possible. Head up, shoulders up, hips ups, legs and feet up.
I get to practice this also on a weekly basis
shotgun junior likes to challenge his dad by standing at one end of the 20m pool and throwing a couple of his dive sticks as far as he can. They generally land a few yards apart and 15m from me. The challenge being to retrieve and return them to him, under water, no breath Its harder to swim under water with the sticks in your hand too...
After 2-3 of these I'm done and blue in the face!
How you can do 15 reps is nuts :eek: after a 2k warm up :eek: with a kick set to cool down :eek:
Edit: What was the specific purpose of the hypoxic traning in your swim days?0 -
shotgunmcos wrote: »I get to practice this also on a weekly basis shotgun junior likes to challenge his dad by standing at one end of the 20m pool and throwing a couple of his dive sticks as far as he can. They generally land a few yards apart and 15m from me. The challenge being to retrieve and return them to him, under water, no breath Its harder to swim under water with the sticks in your hand too...
After 2-3 of these I'm done and blue in the face!
How you can do 15 reps is nuts :eek: after a 2k warm up :eek: with a kick set to cool down :eek:
Edit: What was the specific purpose of the hypoxic traning in your swim days?
From a speedo clad gal's perspective at the time, the hypoxic training was cruel and unusual punishment doled out by the coach for too much dawdling by the swimmers about the pool. But, as you know, it puts you in an anaerobic state, similar I suppose to runinng intervals, so it conditions the body to work more comfortably and efficiently at less oxygen. And working more comfortably and efficiently at less oxygen is very important when swimming shorter distances (200 meters or less) because of breath control. And breath control is important at these distances because the act of taking a breath can slow you down, and when you are in a tight race (especially in a 50 meter free race) that can be the difference in touching the wall first or not. So, in conclusion, these hypoxic drills taught us breath control.
And, while I'm walking down memory lane.....I remember most Wednesday afternoon practice's were usually made up of 90 minutes of swimming widths. We called them Widths Wednesdays. They were killer. Lane lines were out (obviously) and you'd get into groups of three swimmers - 2 on one side, and one on the other - and off the first swimmer would go (diving start) and swim to the other side of the pool where the lone awaiting swimmer would dive in relay style and swim to the other side. The first swimmer would then pull themself out of the pool and wait for the arrival of the third swimmer, who would launch into the pool as soon as the second swimmer hit the wall. This would repeat over and over and over again without any breaks, and all diving starts so that meant repeatedly pulling yourself out of the pool, so by the time the session was over, you were wrecked.0 -
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Field Run
The sky was growing dark as I stepped out of the house and into the filed for my run - a storm was brewing, but I gambled it might go around and miss us completely, so on I trudged to begin my evening trot. My legs were feeling my keep-the-body-high-in-the-water-insanely-fast-kick from last night's swim, so I knew neither an interval session nor a tempo run was in the cards, but I felt good enough that this was to be more than just a recovery run. I was thinking along the lines of a LSR, but I knew I'd never get all the miles of a LSR in tonight, so I targeted a pace that was faster than LSR pace and comfortably pushed me. And it was, and it did. But around mile 5, the looming electrical storm descended upon me and forced me to cut the run short....so I finished up the evening spinning away on the trainer. Nice to have options.
5.57 miles in 44:19.76 for an average pace of 7:57 min/mile.
Trainer
Quick spin post run......
10 miles of sweating while watching national political news.0 -
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Swim Session With Hypoxic Work
After an afternoon shower, this evening was rare spectacle of beauty - an 11 on a scale of 10. Clear and sunny with casts of shadows to the west, and dark and brooding with clouds creeping over the mountains to the east. The best of both worlds all on one stage....and how lucky I was tonight to witness it while poolside......and how appropriate to have such a breathtaking view for my lesson in oxygen depravation.
I started out tonight's session with an easy 1k swim and a strong 1k pull in preparation of the quality section of this workout, which was decreasing sets of one breathless/nearly breathless length (20 yards), and one return length easy. I remember doing these in my younger days in both 25 yard and 25 meter pools, and I remember usually having to take one breath per hard length back then.
After a few deep breaths to expand the lungs, and a hard push off the wall, I was off on my first 20 yards....without a breath. Success. And it wasn't that hard. Feeling rather chuffed, I relaxed it on the return length, rested for about 20 seconds, then off on my second attempt I went. The second attempt was slightly tougher than my first, and I did take a breath just before I reached the wall. No biggie, I thought as I swam my return 20 yards, it was naturally going to be harder. Third attempt, and I took a breath even sooner than the last time. Okay, this would not do, I told myself. Of course each repeat was going to be harder, but that's the point, right? I wasn't digging deep enough or trying hard enough, PLUS, my body position was totally wrong in the water. To be successful at these hypoxic laps, I would need to create as little drag as possible - I would need to be just skimming the surface of the water to eliminate as much resistance as possible. Head up, shoulders up, hips ups, legs and feet up. Check, check, check, check and check. Adjustments in body position and attitude were made, and from that point on, not a breath was taken on any of the remaining 12 hard laps. :cool:
5,000 yards as follows:
1,000 swim
1,000 pull
5 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
400 pull
4 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
320 pull
3 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
240 pull
2 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
160 pull
1 x 20 yards hypoxic, 20 yards easy
80 pull
3 x (200 kick, 200 swim)
Reminds me of a time when I was capable of doing 75 m f/s without a breath ... although from time to time someone would black out. 90% mental, 10% physical. You should have spared the heating system and built a proper 25 METRE pool 0 -
interested wrote: »Reminds me of a time when I was capable of doing 75 m f/s without a breath ... although from time to time someone would black out. 90% mental, 10% physical. You should have spared the heating system and built a proper 25 METRE pool
The length of the pool had more to do with the artistic perspective with respect to the scale of the house than cost. I was actually a backstroker, so I never aspired to swimming hypoxic to the point of blacking out. 0 -
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Swim
It's Friday...and it's not unusual for me to take a rest day on Fridays, but because we will be out of town on Sunday celebrating my nephew's graduation, it was a no-brainer to do a swim tonight. It was a short swim, but it was a good swim...and I worked on keeping the stroke/kick/body position technically correct, and made sure I maxed out the stroke. Arm revolution was slow, but it was strong. At 89 degrees, the water temp was a little warm.... can you believe I'm saying that? Note to self: pick up several large bags of ice on the way home from work tomorrow to dump in the pool.
Basic session.....but it's Friday and I really had no interest in thinking too hard.
3,000 yards as follows:
400 each swim, pull, kick, pull, swim
200 each swim, pull, kick, pull, swim0 -
Proper Bike Ride
This session had a lot going on.....from deer and black bears (momma and two cubs!) hanging out on the side of road....to passing two groups of cyclists (and not being passed - yay!)....to really attacking the hills (at least that was my impression of what I was doing).....to experimenting with scrunching down on the bike on the downhills to become aerodynamic...to actually taking one hand off the handlebars a few times (without even thinking about it!).....to experiencing what it feels like to draft....this session was chock full of good stuff!
Did the usual routine - met hubby on the mountain and headed out on Skyline Drive. I had eaten a good solid breakfast and was fueled up properly to really give this some effort, especially on the hills....and I think I was stronger on the hills (for my girlie strength) today than I have been. What I need to do to see if I actually was stronger on the hills today is load my Garmin info on the computer and compare, but I don't have a computer at home so I'll have to wait and remember to do that at work. But on the hills, I just muscled my way through most of them, reducing it down in my mind to a simple up and down motion with my legs, leaning my weight into it right and left. It sort of felt like pushing weights in the gym, and lord knows I am way stronger in my legs than in my arms so I have no excuse not to be able to do this thing.
We typically cycle two out and backs.....and the outs have steeper climbs and gentler descents than the backs, which I like because the hardest work is done first. After our first out today, hubby pedaled along side of me and told me he wanted me to draft off him so I could feel the difference in effort. It was sort of subtle to me at first, but then I realized that on the long drags I was using way less energy than I had previously used on those same drags. Wow. It was like I was getting a rest while still moving at a good speed. I also liked being behind someone because it gave me a target in times when I fell behind - I pushed to catch up to get back to that lovely drafting spot on his rear wheel because I knew the extra effort getting there would be rewarded. I drafted off him on both backs, while he drafted off me (ha!) on both outs.
I still have so much to work on, but I am now pretty comfortable on the bike (even with traffic buzzing by) and feel like I am progressing at a good clip. I have some goals in mind to accomplish over the next few weeks and months regarding my progress on the bike, and I will try to tick them off one at a time. Today's Garmin stats are much improved over the previous weeks', but I know it's mainly due to me drafting off hubby...however, I will try and compare the non-drafting splits as soon as I load the data on the computer. Edit: I just realized I could pull up "laps" on the watch, so I compared the first 7 non-drafting miles - this week to last week - and I was only 38 seconds faster this week than last week for those 7 miles. It's something, but not much when you consider that 38 second improvement is spread over 7 miles. Just shows how much drafting assists the cyclist!
Oh, and here's something fun...there is a stand set up along the road in one spot that displays your speed as you pass. Obviously it's intended to keep the vehicles from speeding, but hubby and I both had to try and gun it to see how high we could get our speed up. I was a measley 21 mph while hubby was 27 mph.
Garmin data:
25.4 miles in 1:22:29 with an average speed of 18.5 mph and top speed of 30.3 mph.
Oh, and the current temp here is 90 degrees with 60% humidity and a heat index of 93 degrees. And I'm getting ready to go run. It will be a slow run or I'll melt in the field.0 -
6 Ugly Miles in a 90 Degree Field Under a Sweltering Sun
It was hot.
It was humid.
I wanted to call it quits after 2 miles but decided to slow it down and keep going.
I took in plenty of water over these 6 miles.
Other than the big black snake that I had to practically hurdle because he was sunning himself in my path, the field was totally quiet and lacked evidence that any living creatures actually inhabit it.
I sweated. A lot.
And wilted a bit as the miles went on - 9:16, 9:11, 9:23, 9:30, 10:00, 9:43 min/mile.
But this is what I do in the summer - run in the hot sun. Slowly.
6.21 miles in 59:00.01 for an average pace of 9:30 min/mile.
A swim tonight is in order. 0 -
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Short Swim
Just a nice swim as the sun was setting in my 90 degree pool. :eek: Yup, 90 freakin' degrees! :eek: Okay, so I love warmth....but I gotta tell you, a 90 degree pool is reaching my outer limits of refreshing, especially when I'm swimming laps. I had the garden hose pumping in cold water while I was swimming, and, like the patches of shade in my earlier sunny field run today, I thoroughly appreciated the cooler current as I passed through it.
I opted for a short swim session tonight because I am aware of how much running in the sun can take out of me and I felt to go much further would have resulted in crap miles plus unnecessary fatigue for what I hope to be a quality swim tomorrow night. Today was about the run, tomorrow is about the swim.
2,000 yards in boring fashion:
400 each of swim, pull, kick, pull, swim0 -
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Swim Session
Stunning evening. Last night's storms left our valley with slightly cooler temperatures, clear skies, and a more comfortable pool to swim in. Did this session while the sun was slowly making its descent - the days are obviously getting longer and longer.
Highlights:
- The first 2,000 swim was a bit sluggish and I had to stop several times because my goggles kept fogging up on me. :mad: Hate that. Sometimes they behave themselves and don't fog the entire swim, and other times they constantly want to fog.
- I did my spiffy pull/kick set that I love. And why do I love that spiffy set? I love that spiffy set because I get to pull at a distance that ensures high quality, and then at just the right time (for me) I get to transition immediately into a strong kick while giving my arms a rest....and then at just the right time (for me) I get to transition back into a high quality pull while giving my legs a break....and so on and so on....
- I did my modified IM (free, breast, one-arm butterfly, breast, free) with heavy arms from all that pulling. I tried one lap of full fledged butterfly and, because of those heavy arms, compromised and did them one arm one lap/the other arm the next lap.
6,000 yards as follows:
2,000 free
10 x (120 pull, 80 kick)
2 x 400 modified IM
4 x 200 modified IM
400 assorted strokes cool down0 -
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BetterThanHoyte wrote: »I'd have to agree with this. You cycle 40km as a cool down after a run, just use it as a warm up this time. Maybe get someone to drive in-front of you with a TV in the back window showing the sports news to keep you going.
It's 41km....on god awful hills....but I lovelovelove the sports news idea!!! Brilliant!!! 0 -
I've heard anything over a 12 hour IM isnt respectable anyway.All top hoochie on the chart means is that I have no kids so I have a bit more time to spend in my runners, on my bike, or in my Speedo. I think we can all agree the real top tri hoochie is the one doing the Iron Man. Period. We both think the other is wonderful, lol. Lets hug. 
You really are an all or nothing gal. I love it!If I do the longer distance....then should I sign up for both days and do the shorter distance the next day? Or is that a totally rediculous idea?0 -
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BetterThanHoyte wrote: »Its a ridiculous idea.
I'm doing exactly that this weekend.
I know you are!!! I actually had been mulling over this idea myself, and then when I read that you were doing both it gave it a bit more credibility...I think. Maybe I should wait and see how it goes for you before I decide..... 0
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