To the waters and the wild

Neady83

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

F***!

Easily broken

shotgunmcos

Oh Neady the temptress.. she lured you out of it! So secretively competitive. She'll be down in Limerick and up in Dublin some dark shady evening to trip Tunney or I up as we head out the door for the run streak...

Kurt.Godel

Fri 45min weights; 30min Fastlane

So I failed at my Lenten challenge not to mention certain words, undid by a teeny weeny Neady query
Rather than get into being disgruntled I've decided to jog on, no time for sadness, wimpiness, or anything in between... so I crunched some weights for a while- there is a certain devilishness to be found in grunting...

Soon after I trundled into the pool for a splash, easy enough but my form was good... some might even say it was tolstolobik-esque...

Ahhh, release, I needed that....:D

Neady83

I like your style Kurt

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Oh Neady the temptress.. she lured you out of it! So secretively competitive. She'll be down in Limerick and up in Dublin some dark shady evening to trip Tunney or I up as we head out the door for the run streak...

Tunney is sorted, train with your Neady senses turned on Mike

shotgunmcos

Neady83 wrote: »

Tunney is sorted, train with your Neady senses turned on Mike

Oh they have been turned on since we first met ;-)

Kurt.Godel

Sat 10k run; 30min Fastlane.

Run:
4k EZ
4k steady
2k fast

I was tired for this one- picking up Junior from a disco last night so I didn't get to bed until 1:30, and then up at 6:00 to take them to swimming... I swear I was on autopilot and only woke up a couple of km into the run. There wasn't many about at that hour, and I ran down to Poulshone beach and was rewarded with a spectacular sliver of sun growing just about the horizon. Where else would you be? Back to Courtown picking up the pace towards the end (had to truncate the run by 20mins too as I was on bank duty).

Fastlane- 30mins gradually getting faster from 1:47-1:30 pace, this was a nice swim to sooth a tired mind.

Kurt.Godel

Sun 10min yoga, 2:05 turbo; 30min Fastlane

10min steady to build
4*(10sMAX 2:20EZ)
6*(4min 220W, 4min 230W, 4min 250W, 4min 260W, 4min EZ)
5min cooldown

This was a pretty good session, it had to be fairly controlled throughout as the hardest 4mins would pinch a bit, and the easy 4mins were enjoyed with gusto. I have to say it felt harder doing it than anticipating it. Nice steady progression throughout.

Kurt.Godel

Mon 15min yoga, 45min hill run; 45min S&C; 2,000m Masters

The run was a nice lunchtime easy trot around some Annagh routes, fine tuning the course for our race on 11th March.

Masters:
400 warm up
16*(25k,25drill,25swim, 15s) odds free evens back
3*50 off 4:00 (free, back, free)
200 swim down
I found it difficult to breath tonight, its the pool air quality in Arklow. Anyway, got through the 75's, then into the TT's. First one I had a crap dive and my goggles went askew so I was swimming blind (33s). The back I had a good underwater start and was swimming well to the turn but died on the return (48s). The last free I swam well to the turn and again died a little (33s). I was disappointed to see 33 for the last one as I thought I had gotten closer to 31. Anyway, it is what it is. The focus (and training) has been distance oriented so far, I will target the 1,500 (low 23min) and the next day sprints will be for fun. Not much I can do to increase sprint speed now, and in any case its an either/or situation between being fit for the 1,500 or the sprints.

Kurt.Godel

Tue 1:10min run

30min EZ
30min Steady
10min fast.

I felt tight of breath tonight, which I'm putting down to the pool sprints last night. It was noticeably harder to up the pace during the steady section (stopped the watch for a minute after 50mins to catch my breath), and I was 10sec/km slower than usual for the fast section, just couldn't catch a breath and the run suffered.

Kurt.Godel

Wed 2,500m Fastlane

10min warm up (including some kick)
10 sets of
3*50 on 40
1 min easy swim between sets

This went well- got some kicking in the warmup, then into the 50's. It took about 20 seconds to change the pace from easy (1:40) to fast (1:15/17) so each set looked like:

3*(38s @1:15 pace, 2s rest)
20s to change pace
60s @1:40pace
20s to change pace

However, form was good throughout (BE4). After a couple of reps I started to "point" or "lead" with my shoulder- I don't know how best to describe this but it felt like I would enter with the hand then follow through with the shoulder. Anyway it seemed to help a lot with maintaining form and streamline.

Thurs 10min yoga, 90min turbo; 45min run; 60min Masters

Turbo:
10 mins warmup
4*(2 mins easy, 30 secs all out)
Easy 60'
3*(12 min at 240-260W, 5 min easy)
20*(20' at 110 RPM+, 20' easy)
rest of 90 min easy cool down

(I had intended doing this Wed evening, but was busy so got it done Thurs morning instead)
Felt good for this one, holding 240+W was relatively easy. The harder thing was holding 110+rpm 20 times.

Run:
30min easy, 15 min steady/strong
Felt good at the easy pace, and no problem picking it up to steady. Last two kms were fine except breathing a bit tight on the last km.

Masters:
400m WU
10*(25k, 25drill, 25 catchup, 25 fast)
Balance was practicing dives, turns, relay changeover. I'll be doing a leg of the 4*100 free, and swimming the back leg for the 4*100IM. My dives are good, my back turn will require some more work, and I learned a lot practicing changeover. I'm the slowest on a very competitive relay team, but I'm not out of my depth and will justify being included in the squad.

Kurt.Godel

Fri 4,200m Fastlane

10min easy with some kick
5*{(6*100 @ 1:20 pace, with 10s rest), 2 mins swimming @1:40 pace}

Held a good stroke and seemed to gain something from using that new "shoulder-follow-through" technique. Took a fair bit of confidence from this one.

Kurt.Godel

Sat Nada

I was on a Swim Ireland course (turn and stroke judge) Fri night and all day Sat. Very informative, I learned an awful lot about back turns in particular.

Sun 10min yoga, 1:55min turbo

10min steady/build
4*(10s MAX, 2:20 EZ)
6*(8min 260-270W, 7min EZ)
5min EZ

This was tough enough, holding 260W+ was hard going but manageable.

griffin100

Could be a long and difficult trek to Limerick this Friday.

Kurt.Godel

griffin100 wrote: »

Could be a long and difficult trek to Limerick this Friday.

Better hope for no floods anyway as you've used all your sandbagging for those start times

griffin100

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Better hope for no floods anyway as you've used all your sandbagging for those start times

The way things have been over the last few weeks...........

Kurt.Godel

Mon 45min S&C; 15min yoga, 30min easy run; 60min Masters

Run:
It was freezing tonight on the track, a biting wind you had to fight along the backstraight. Lots on the track, so this was probably a little faster than anticipated, although the effort wasn't too hard and I felt good to be running again after a few days off.

Swim:
1,000m pace (1:36pace)
10*(25k, 25drill)
balance dives

I won't have any watch for Limerick 1,500m, and there are no wall clocks so I'll have to pace on feel. This 1,000m was a good chance to test that, I aimed for a comfortable steady pace just slower than race effort, and ended up with an equivilent 24min 1,500m. The goal is a bit quicker than this, so in that respect all was good. I ended the 1km speeding up over the latter half which is what I'm most pleased about.

shotgunmcos

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

This 1,000m was a good chance to test that, I aimed for a comfortable steady pace just slower than race effort, and ended up with an equivilent 24min 1,500m. The goal is a bit quicker than this.....

A Bit?! Now who is sandbagging!

Honestly cruising 1,000m at 1:36 pace and your masters sessions going off 1:30, 1:25 in your sets would translate to low 22 at least. I hit my 1,500m PB off similar shape and you are doing more speed work that I did.

Kurt.Godel

Tue 15min yoga, 60min run

30min easy, 30min steady
It was very cold out there tonight. I did one lap of my concrete sidewalk and just couldn't face the second lap, so loops of Gorey instead. That wasn't too bad, something about sweating up a housing estate sidewalk on a cold Feb night... took me back 35 years as a youngster in DSD struggling up Barton Road hill.

Kurt.Godel

Wed 10min yoga, 1:30 turbo; 55mins Fastlane

Turbo:
10 mins warmup
4*(2 mins easy, 30 secs all out)
Easy 60'
3*(12 min at 240-260W, 5 min easy)
20*(20' at 110 RPM+, 20' easy)
rest of 90 min easy cool down

This is the same set as last week, and I found it slightly harder today.

Swim:
15min easy 1:42pace
5*100 on 1:45
5*100 on 1:40
5*100 on 1:35
5*100 on 1:30
5min swim down

I overcompensated for the snow and the pool was way too hot. Kept these all about the stroke, streamline, and stretch.
All eyes are on the weather forecast, as of this evening Limerick is still going ahead. What will be will be, its out of my hands and I'm not going to fuss over things I can't control.

griffin100

Not too sure Friday will go ahead. All UL buildings are shut until at least Saturday morning.

Kurt.Godel

griffin100 wrote: »

Not too sure Friday will go ahead. All UL buildings are shut until at least Saturday morning.

You were right, its official, reduced program with no 1,500 or 800... there goes my training goals! On the bright side I still have the 50 & 100 free, 50 & 200 back, and IM and free relay teams. Loads to be going on with!

griffin100

That's a pain that both the 1500 and 800 are cancelled. I won't be travelling for a 400m only so I'll have to pick a day some and TT a 1500m.

Kurt.Godel

Thurs 30min Fastlane; 60min easy run

With travel to the gala being up in the air at the moment (I'd prefer if it was rescheduled at this stage), todays training was a mixture of taper and ticking over. Various pace swimming for a while, then later in the afternoon a nice snowy run through the deserted roads, and less deserted forest (lots of bird activity). I kept the pace very easy throughout, it was an enjoyable run through the snowscape.

Kurt.Godel

Fri 40min S&C; 1:50 turbo

Turbo:
10min EZ
4*(10s MAX, 2:20 EZ)
6*(10min hold 260W, 5min EZ)

We got pelted with snow here last night, roads are impassable to all but tractors, and we'll likely be housebound for a few days. Word came in that Limerick gala was cancelled altogether- that suits me as I couldn't travel and it should be rescheduled. However I invested way to much mental energy thinking about if it would go ahead or not. Ok it was a goal, but not in the same way a proper swimmer might have it as a season goal.

For the turbo I just couldn't stay at 260W... don't know what the problem was, no energy in the legs. If I had to hazard a guess I was probably fretting over the Limerick gala cancellations the past few days.
Still, a turbo done, lets move on.

Shell to Run

Amazing how the use of mental energy impacts on physical energy!!
Best of luck at the gala.

Kurt.Godel

Shell to Run wrote: »

Amazing how the use of mental energy impacts on physical energy!!
Best of luck at the gala.

Thanks! I don't know when it'll be rescheduled but looking forward to it!

Sat 15min yoga, 11k snow trek

CRAZY! What started as a run on tractor-snow-tracks veered into the untouched forest- 3k of fighting a path through knee-deep snow. The "objective" of this run was a wine/chocolate request, alas when I got to Tinahely all the stores were shut. Ah well, back a different,higher route... a lot more cross-country, and some huge drifts to climb over/around/through. Not like anything I've experience before, probably the slowest 11k I've ever done but the most fun for sure.

Neady83

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Thanks! I don't know when it'll be rescheduled but looking forward to it!

Sat 15min yoga, 11k snow trek

CRAZY! What started as a run on tractor-snow-tracks veered into the untouched forest- 3k of fighting a path through knee-deep snow. The "objective" of this run was a wine/chocolate request, alas when I got to Tinahely all the stores were shut. Ah well, back a different,higher route... a lot more cross-country, and some huge drifts to climb over/around/through. Not like anything I've experience before, probably the slowest 11k I've ever done but the most fun for sure.

Really sorry to hear about the Gala Kurt. So difficult not to stress over whether the gala would go ahead or not, it consumes so much energy and can be totally out of our control.

This adventure sounds like mighty fun though and no chocolate in the end :eek: hope you got a gold start for your heroics though

Kurt.Godel

Neady83 wrote: »

Really sorry to hear about the Gala Kurt. So difficult not to stress over whether the gala would go ahead or not, it consumes so much energy and can be totally out of our control.

This adventure sounds like mighty fun though and no chocolate in the end :eek: hope you got a gold start for your heroics though

Yeah it was a real adventure alright Neady, something straight from your playbook! Snow banks were over 2m in places, and had to scramble up and down them. Coming back over a mountain track I was ploughing through deep drifts, my leg would sink right to the waist, pretty dodgy in places, but you know yourself, there's a fine line between reckless and adventure!

The mental stress from the gala... not something I'm great with, I tend to overplan things and am used to being in control. Something to work on, go with the flow a bit more, channel my inner Lochte rather than Phelps

Kurt.Godel

Sun 15min yoga, 35min Fastlane

I was pretty tight this morning, DOMS from yesterday's snow hike. The yoga seemed to help, even though it was harder than usual to hit some poses.

Fastlane:
10min easy with 4*10s bursts
20min @ 1:23 pace
5min easy

This was interesting. I did manage the 20mins at 1:23, albeit using pb for the most of it. I also stopped for a couple of seconds at times to adjust pb or cough. Stroke feedback was immediate in that you got thrown out the back/sides if streamline faltered. It was pretty turbulent throughout, and (rather like a treadmill) although I don't believe it translates to 20min @1:23 pace in the pool, it was a good session for confidence.

shotgunmcos

Interesting indeed! How do you feel the fast lane translates to the pool in general?