Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf

Dory Dory

Marthastew wrote: »

Speaking of your trip to Ireland.... Not sure if you have any other offers or suggestions on here.
How about a lunchtime trip up the Sugar Loaf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sugar_Loaf on Tuesday 10th with a picnic (I'll bring the picnic for you)?

I know this won't suit most of your fans here in Ireland and you'll probably be meeting a lot of them in the pub in Wicklow that night but my sis is in town then so I can't make an evening rendezvous.
Lunchtime Sugar Loaf will suit those of us lazy feckers who are free in the daytime:D

That sounds like a total blast! Count us in for the lunchtime trip up the Sugar Loaf with a picnic!! Woo hoo!! Thank you!! :D:D

so excited......

Dory Dory

Intervals

Sneaky lunchtime intervals on the treadmill. I really like getting a session in over lunch - I feel like I'm now ahead of the game and have been very productive. If it wasn't such a mad dash to get out of the clinic to do this, I'd sneak out every day at lunch.

Today's session was pretty good. I really don't have a taste for the fast stuff, I'm much more into the longer slower variety of training, but today's quick pace seemed not as quick to me so I actually upped it just a smidge on intervals 3 and 4. I kept my body relaxed and distracted myself with some Adele, Christina and Imelda.....but I also concentrated on kicking/pushing myself forward as I had read in an article one of you peeps sent me on running form.

This session was a total sweat-fest and bang on targets per plan.

4.5 miles in 40:22 for an average pace of 8:58 as follows:

1 mile warmup at 10 min/mile
.5 mile at 6:44 min/mile
135 second recovery (2 min 15 seconds!!)
.5 mile at 6:44 min/mile
135 second recovery
.5 mile at 6:40 min/mile
135 second recovery
.5 mile at 6:40 min/mile
1.05 mile cool down at 10 min/mile

Dory Dory

Evening Swim

I don't know if it was the freezing cold 82 degree water that I almost couldn't force myself into refreshingly chilly pool water that I was delighted to be swimming in tonight (wicked storm last night knocked out the electricity to the pool thus disabling the heater, plus air temp has dropped), or the fact that I was practically drooling at the prospect of watching the Olympic swimming trials after my swim, or because I've been doing some faster sets in my swims, but this was one spiffy session.

Highlights: body naturally high, arm rotation solid and at a good tempo, kick visible. I felt as strong in the water tonight as I have since my pool has been opened.

Basic session, but quality was sky high.

3,000 yards as follows:
400 each swim, pull, kick, pull, swim
200 each swim, pull, kick, pull
5 x 40 (one lap no breath and high, one lap easy)

Watching Olympic swimming trials now. (Go Michael Phelps! Go Ryan Lochte!) Good grief an Olympic athlete is a beautiful thing, especially when it's half naked.

interested

After over 20 years I made a return to a 25 yard lane this morning. It sucked more than I remembered. I got a bit dizzy from the turns. All that said, I enjoyed being in an outdoor pool again, with the sun coming up.

Any news reports on this side of the pond regarding sightings of Big Foot in northern cali should be ignored btw.

Dory Dory

interested wrote: »

After over 20 years I made a return to a 25 yard lane this morning. It sucked more than I remembered. I got a bit dizzy from the turns. All that said, I enjoyed being in an outdoor pool again, with the sun coming up.

Any news reports on this side of the pond regarding sightings of Big Foot in northern cali should be ignored btw.

Ah hah! I saw you were lurking on the logs just now....I like having the company as I am usually all by my lonesome this time of night on here. Do you think you could alter your sleeping habits so you can join me at this hour once in a while?

Yes, an outdoor pool is a wonderful thing. It's really hard for me to imagine not having one in my life, even if it's a 20 yarder. You probably need to work on your flip turns anyway. Oh, and Big Foot is all over the news right now. The big fuss is over his sexy Irish accent and being half naked in an outdoor 25 yard pool.

Dory Dory

Trainer

Needed to give the legs a good spin, so just 20 miles pushing on the bike while watching the Olympic swimming trials. I kept a decent pace going, but happened to notice that my speed consistently increased towards the end of each close race.

interested

Dory Dory wrote: »

Oh, and Big Foot is all over the news right now. The big fuss is over his sexy Irish accent and being half naked in an outdoor 25 yard pool.

Oh dear, there can't be two can there, I was in my birthday suit again this morning and I made sure there were no camera's as I walked to and from the pool.

It definitely makes me work on my turns alright - getting some use of my right foot again so can't be bad for you.

re: nocturnal boards.ie ? Im sure there's already a group for that

RacoonQueen

At 2am After Hours is the place to be. Trust me, I'm an insomniac. :pac:

Dory Dory

interested wrote: »

Oh dear, there can't be two can there, I was in my birthday suit again this morning and I made sure there were no camera's as I walked to and from the pool.

It definitely makes me work on my turns alright - getting some use of my right foot again so can't be bad for you.

re: nocturnal boards.ie ? Im sure there's already a group for that

Silly boy, no wonder you're having trouble with your flip turns - too many moving parts in just your birthday suit!!!

Searching for hotel pool video now.......

RacoonQueen wrote: »

At 2am After Hours is the place to be. Trust me, I'm an insomniac. :pac:

Sounds like I'll need to show proof of age and be able to execute the secret handshake to be allowed admittance to that group!

Dory Dory

Tempo

Quick dash home at lunch...off with the clinic clothes and on with the running gear....down to the dungeon to hop on the revolving landscape......glanced at the tv schedule and noticed that there was a preview of the Tour de France showing (brilliant!).....secretly wished I was hopping on the trainer and not the treadmill so I could ride with the boys in yellow, green, polka dot, and some other color I forget right now.

Any way....decent session but it was hard. I seriously wanted to stop a few times and wondered why the treadmill can seem so much harder than running outside sometimes - even at 10 min/mile. I used the normal tricks to keep going, including the inspiration of these elite cyclists I was watching.

7 miles in 57:21 for an average pace of 8:11 min/mile as follows:

1 mile easy at 10 min/mile
5 miles at 7:49 min/mile
1 mile easy at 10 min/mile

Getting ungodly hot again. This weekend is supposed to be horrific and I have a 15 miler to do on Saturday. I just don't think I can stand to do 15 miles on the treadmill, so I may be field running this and hopping in the pool every few miles to cool off.

Dory Dory

Swim

Just a nice swim at a respectable level. Pool was 87 degrees, and, while taking a breather between sets, I watched smoke rise from a rather large fire on the mountain that's square in front of me. Very depressing. I worry about all the little critters caught in this careless and man-made disaster and hope that they all are safe.

4,400 yards as follows:
1,600 free
800 pull
400 kick
1 x 200 free
2 x 160 modified IM
3 x 120 free
4 x 80 modified IM
400 easy cool down

shotgunmcos

You are fairly rocketing up the swim ranking as promised 15 miles on the treadie is just sadistic but then a necessary evil at times. Might be fun though to dive into a pool every couple of miles on a long run!

Dory Dory

Swim

The fire on the mountain that I face while taking a breather between sets in the pool is getting bigger. As of this morning, it was only 5% contained. And it's going to be 100 degrees tomorrow, and it's horribly dry here.

Another decent swim. The body feels amazingly good, I'm guessing in part because my running mileage is down and my swimming mileage is up and the body isn't as battered as it sometimes has been in the past. BUT, we'll see how that translates in running times.

I did my mini-hypoxic set at the end of tonight's session and I broke new ground. I did 5 sets....and without premeditation, I decided on the first set at the flip turn to keep going without a breath and I made it a good 3/4 of the way down the second lap - so a total of 35 yards. I seriously considered seeing if I could make the final 5 yards to the wall, but I really was pushing my limit so I came up for air. The next 3 sets I kept to one lap of no breath/one lap easy...and the no breath laps were sooooo easy that I found myself just dogging them - almost seeing how easy and relaxed I could swim while not needing a breath. The last set I decided to see how far I could go again, and I made it not quite as far as the first one, but close - so I'd say around 32.5 yards.

3,200 yards as follows:
400 each swim, pull, kick, pull, swim
200 each swim, pull, kick, pull
5 x 40 (hard, no breath.....easy)
200 easy cool down

pgmcpq

Just in from a LSS (long slow shuffle) and saw the weather news from Virginia. Given conditions here it must be like he'll in your neck of the woods. Keep cool.

Dory Dory

pgmcpq wrote: »

Just in from a LSS (long slow shuffle) and saw the weather news from Virginia. Given conditions here it must be like he'll in your neck of the woods. Keep cool.

Thanks. Today so far is slightly cooler than yesterday (so far) - yesterday we hit 105 degrees at 6pm, with the heat index it was 125. :eek:

I just finished my run....and it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but I was wilting by the end of it. You take care and keep cool too!

Dory Dory

15 Miles in the Field with the Sun and the Heat

I knew today was going to be dreadfully hot, so I had a little chat with my competitive side and told myself that if I needed to slow the pace down by 10% or so that that would be acceptable and not considered falling short of my targets or plan. When I walked out the door with my cooler full of ice and 3 bottles of water and a bag of jelly beans, the temperature display read 83 degrees, and with the heat index, 86 degrees.

I have found that I pretty much have to stop for water every 2 miles in weather like this, and I have also found that keeping my head doused with water helps keep my body a few degrees cooler. I pull my hair back and wear a thick, absorbent headband and just pour the water over my head at each water stop. While this is not recommended if you are trying to impress someone with your looks, I do seriously recommend this if you are running in the heat.

Okay...quick summary of the run-

Miles 1 through 6 were just getting me warmed up. I wanted to behave myself and keep relatively close to plan pace of 8:45 min/mile. I did a so-so job at this, but I also rationalized that it was okay to bank some time because I knew it was only going to get hotter and I would only go slower.

Miles 7 through 10 I switched the direction of my run (it's interesting to me that one direction tends to be faster for me than the other). I felt really good on these miles and decided to work on my push/kick and run by feel. These were my fastest miles.

Miles 11 through 15 I switched the direction again and these were my slowest miles in part because I had decided during miles 7-10 that I would ease back to 8:45-9:00 pace, and in part because I was feeling the heat at this point and it was starting to take its toll on me. Because I knew I had banked some time, I decided to make mile 15 my cool down mile, so that last mile is my slowest of the day.

Splits:
Miles 1-6: 8:33, 8:43 8:27, 8:37, 8:26, 8:26
Miles 7-10: 8:16, 8:10, 8:13, 8:16
Miles 11-15: 8:52, 8:56, 8:45, 8:43, 9:20 (cool down)

15 miles in 2:09:11 for an average pace of 8:35 min/mile

The temperature when I finished this session was 92 degrees, and with the heat index it was 99 degrees. I am very pleased that my average pace didn't exceed the target pace of 8:45 min/mile, but that was only because I kept hydrated, cooled down, banked time and didn't start any later in the day than I did. It's only getting hotter.

Dory Dory

Swim

If it wasn't for the fact that I probably won't have an opportunity to swim for about 10 days starting Tuesday, I would not have done this session due to healthy fatigue from my earlier run. But on with the speedo and pink goggles, and off I dove into the pool to swim 2,000 yards in relaxed fashion, splitting the laps between freestyle and breastroke. I will sleep well tonight.....and when I wakeup, four very special boardsies will be halfway through their amazing IM over in Austria.

madon

Fair play to you Dory I can't even imagine trying to stay awake in that type of heat never mind run.

Dory Dory

Early Bike Ride

Up and out this morning and on the bike by 6:30 - what a great time to be out in farm country with the roosters cock-a-doodle-doing, the cattle lowing, and the goats frollicking. And our animal pleasantries were not limited to just the fields we passed, but in the road we happened to see a big black snake eyeing a rabbit that was nearby while a dirty looking snapping turtle had stopped in his path to watch us whizz by him. Ah the simple life here in Page County!

This morning's course was the actual bike course for our local triathlon....and it is hard. Really hard for someone of my questionable ability. Plus, I hadn't prepared to eat anything before the ride so I was a bit low on fuel....and I was probably still feeling the affects of yesterday's run.....and I'm not used to training this early in the morning. The hills and drags are tough and godawful...and I learned this morning that I need to take advantage of the downhills or I will suffer a slow death on the course. I will also need to be mentally prepared for a zillion other athletes to pass me on the bike because I just don't cut the mustard in this discipline.

Any way....hubby knows this course like the back of his hand so he was barking orders at me and giving me signs of encouragement. I did not draft, so my time is honest today. I plan on riding this course every Sunday (but not next Sunday) from now until the race in August.

Per Garmin: 17.4 miles in 1:06:08 for an average speed of 15.8 mph and a top speed of 41.2 mph.
I did have to chuckle and remark to hubby while I was dying on the last and hardest uphill that my speed at that moment was a mere 4.7 mph. Woo hoo!!! I suck!

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

I will also need to be mentally prepared for a zillion other athletes to pass me on the bike because I just don't cut the mustard in this discipline.

If you read this in any other Boardsie's log, what would you determine about their competitive spirit, and what advice might you give them to improve?

catweazle

Cycling is the easiest to get good at providing you work at it. I "think" the TI Junior squad only look for swim and run talent when selecting the underage squads as they can work on the cycling.

Its hard for you when the marathon running is the priority but I dont see any real set plan to your cycling as I do to your running and swimming. However your milage is great so you can bet you are far better than you were at cycling at the start of the year.

Perhaps look at some Sufferfest type of sessions to target specific weaknesses - I think you would enjoy slotting one of these in between the sports news. I have three of them and I find them pretty good, you don't need a powermeter or anything to do them just work off your own levels of exhaustion.

http://www.thesufferfest.com/video-sufferfests/

There are some decent sessions on this as well
http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/

And no moaning - there wont be any women in your age category beating you in that triathlon unless they are absolute animals!

(Did you go for sprint or Olympic)

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

If you read this in any other Boardsie's log, what would you determine about their competitive spirit, and what advice might you give them to improve?

I knew this was going to happen....

Well, depending upon who wrote this, I might actually understand that this is just psychology in play here for not only then benefit of the reader but also perhaps the writer. As athletes, we all have learned certain tricks to not only protect ourselves from various internal and external stresses, but to also give ourselves a boost by outperforming our internal and external expectations. With that being said, I know all about the competitive spirit and trust me, I'm as competitive as anyone is on here, so no worries there. Digging in on the bike is on the agenda on that day....along with many other tricks of the trade that will facilitate the goal to do the absolute best I can and crush as many of the competitors as possible. No one will be safe....they are all targets of some sort.

catweazle wrote: »

Cycling is the easiest to get good at providing you work at it. I "think" the TI Junior squad only look for swim and run talent when selecting the underage squads as they can work on the cycling.

Its hard for you when the marathon running is the priority but I dont see any real set plan to your cycling as I do to your running and swimming. However your milage is great so you can bet you are far better than you were at cycling at the start of the year.

Perhaps look at some Sufferfest type of sessions to target specific weaknesses - I think you would enjoy slotting one of these in between the sports news. I have three of them and I find them pretty good, you don't need a powermeter or anything to do them just work off your own levels of exhaustion.

http://www.thesufferfest.com/video-sufferfests/

There are some decent sessions on this as well
http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/

And no moaning - there wont be any women in your age category beating you in that triathlon unless they are absolute animals!

(Did you go for sprint or Olympic)

I have no training plan for cycling, so that is one of the issues for sure. I'll have a look at your links and see what I can make of them.

And I have settled on the Sprint distance for many reasons. I know there will be justified moans and groans, but the bike is really my big holdback. My bike is just an old road bike that is not very good, I don't clip in, and the thought of having to go 27 miles versus 17 miles (and that extra 10 miles is a horrible loop you do twice) on that blasted thing isn't ringing my bell. This will be my first tri (all others have been in relays), and I've decided I want to get my feet wet doing a distance I can possibly command. If this goes well and I enjoy it, then I've already decided to look at bikes and learn to clip in.

interested

Dory Dory wrote: »

Swim

If it wasn't for the fact that I probably won't have an opportunity to swim for about 10 days starting Tuesday

Surely you'll be taking a splash when on holidays ? Its July now and both the Atlantic and Irish sea are practically balmy. Wouldn't want your mileage slipping back eh ?;)

Dory Dory

interested wrote: »

Surely you'll be taking a splash when on holidays ? Its July now and both the Atlantic and Irish sea are practically balmy. Wouldn't want your mileage slipping back eh ?;)

Okay, you sly Irish fish....if I can't dig my wetsuit out from wherever i have stored it, then if you can find me one to borrow you're on!

(get the whisky pouring!!!!!)

interested

Dory Dory wrote: »

Okay, you sly Irish fish....if I can't dig my wetsuit out from wherever i have stored it, then if you can find me one to borrow you're on!

(get the whisky pouring!!!!!)

No, seriously, it's July, I ditch the wetsuit out of principle now until September. I'm sure I can rustle up something should you really need something. I guess I just thought someone so tough ... well, never mind.

:eek:

Dory Dory

Listen here, cupcake.....you get me a wetsuit that fits reasonably well and I'll give it a go. How could I possibly turn up such an opportunity to swim with such royalty?

Kurt Godel

interested wrote: »

No, seriously, it's July, I ditch the wetsuit out of principle now until September. I'm sure I can rustle up something should you really need something. I guess I just thought someone so tough ... well, never mind.

:eek:

Can't bike, won't swim... someone's reputation is taking a pastin' today:D

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Can't bike, won't swim... someone's reputation is taking a pastin' today:D

Eh hem....I never said I never said I wouldn't swim. !!!!!

interested

Dory Dory wrote: »

Listen here, cupcake.....you get me a wetsuit that fits reasonably well and I'll give it a go. How could I possibly turn up such an opportunity to swim with such royalty?

I've several old wetsuits about the place here, I'm sure I can provide something suitable. Which may leave it down to 'I'm not going in there, there's no lane ropes and it's got waves and stuff' or similar.

I'll have to watch you break up the swim into a kick, pull, swim set of yards as well. :P

Dory Dory

interested wrote: »

I've several old wetsuits about the place here, I'm sure I can provide something suitable. Which may leave it down to 'I'm not going in there, there's no lane ropes and it's got waves and stuff' or similar.

I'll have to watch you break up the swim into a kick, pull, swim set of yards as well. :P

Hey, as long as you promise to chip off the icicles that will accumulate on my nose and chin and give me something warm to drink afterwards, you've got your dream date with me in your wetsuit in the sea! Woo hoo!