JMD: Did you get that kangaroo picture I sent you?
M: NICE!
(Makes amazed face and flexes arm and shoulder muscles...)
JMD: Pretty amazing muscles, eh?!?
M: HUGE!!!
More kangaroo-type musculature courtesy of Wendy:
Monday, June 9, 2008
Monday gym
Solid workout with M. We did a lot of machines and on the whole took it easy because of the heat, but there were a few nicely evil exercises in there too....
JMD: Did you get that kangaroo picture I sent you?
M: NICE!
(Makes amazed face and flexes arm and shoulder muscles...)
JMD: Pretty amazing muscles, eh?!?
M: HUGE!!!
More kangaroo-type musculature courtesy of Wendy:
JMD: Did you get that kangaroo picture I sent you?
M: NICE!
(Makes amazed face and flexes arm and shoulder muscles...)
JMD: Pretty amazing muscles, eh?!?
M: HUGE!!!
More kangaroo-type musculature courtesy of Wendy:
Monday swim
Hmmm, I must thank everyone for their bracing and/or consoling comments on yesterday's post...
Warmup: 200 free, 150 drill as catch-up, finger-drag, salute by 25, 4 x 50 kick in IM order, 50 stroke build (I did back)
2 x 300 free (:05 RI)
3 x 100 free
2 x 300 kick-drill-swim in IM order
2 x 100 free
1 x 100 IM
2400 yards total
Warmup: 200 free, 150 drill as catch-up, finger-drag, salute by 25, 4 x 50 kick in IM order, 50 stroke build (I did back)
2 x 300 free (:05 RI)
3 x 100 free
2 x 300 kick-drill-swim in IM order
2 x 100 free
1 x 100 IM
2400 yards total
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Undistinguished...
I ran a dramatic personal worst 10K on Saturday--in fact it was slower than any other NYRR race I have ever run, including the half-marathon I did in May as a training run. It was utterly awful! Looking at the race statistics, I see that the temperature was only in the 70s, but with super-high humidity, and it felt insanely hot--I was already covered with a sheen of sweat as I stood in the sun at the start, and I realized about one minute in (while running smack in the midst of a thick and non-weaveable-through pack of very pleasant but not especially speedy women who were moving solidly forward at 9:30-9:40 pace for what was by far the flattest and easiest mile of the entire course) that I was going to be running rather than racing with a time goal.
Final results: 1:00:01, 9:40 pace, and every minute of it quite horrible and full of the most intense self-flagellation and self-reproach of really quite baroque range and elaboration....
I do not think I can really have lost so much running fitness, heat and humidity just make a huge and depressing difference (plus two intense full-body workouts earlier in a week of the most intense stress and sleeplessness). I am probably a little slower than I was in the fall and early winter, but more like :10/mile slower rather than a minute and a half. I had to remind myself very earnestly that being able to run is a privilege, not a punishment--I've got several friends right now who can't run due to illness or injury...--but this weather is definitely a minor trial!
(The NYT coverage says the winner's time was the slowest in 10 years and that humidity was 84%--all I can say was that I felt pretty awful the entire time, though the last mile offered the consolation of it soon being over and the final 400 yards prompted a certain grim satisfaction at the notion that a really gruelling and mentally unpleasant race is probably good practice for the bad moments in future serious long-distance triathlon training and racing!)
On a brighter note, a friend of mine working in Africa has a happy outcome after a bicycle-related mishap....
Final results: 1:00:01, 9:40 pace, and every minute of it quite horrible and full of the most intense self-flagellation and self-reproach of really quite baroque range and elaboration....
I do not think I can really have lost so much running fitness, heat and humidity just make a huge and depressing difference (plus two intense full-body workouts earlier in a week of the most intense stress and sleeplessness). I am probably a little slower than I was in the fall and early winter, but more like :10/mile slower rather than a minute and a half. I had to remind myself very earnestly that being able to run is a privilege, not a punishment--I've got several friends right now who can't run due to illness or injury...--but this weather is definitely a minor trial!
(The NYT coverage says the winner's time was the slowest in 10 years and that humidity was 84%--all I can say was that I felt pretty awful the entire time, though the last mile offered the consolation of it soon being over and the final 400 yards prompted a certain grim satisfaction at the notion that a really gruelling and mentally unpleasant race is probably good practice for the bad moments in future serious long-distance triathlon training and racing!)
On a brighter note, a friend of mine working in Africa has a happy outcome after a bicycle-related mishap....
Friday, June 6, 2008
I cannot resist
linking to this article chronicling one Caymanian competitor's experience racing Florida 70.3. Thanks to Wendy for the delightful link!
(NB: it is worth taking the time to put on one's socks for the run!)
(NB: it is worth taking the time to put on one's socks for the run!)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Thursday run
Just three miles, with a short stretch at what I will optimistically dub race pace... I am now dripping with sweat, it has been unseasonably humid this past week in New York, it is not beneficial for my state of mind or my running speeds!
Thursday swim
It was a good one, I think; it seems to me possible that skipping Wednesday's practice will make me likely to concentrate better at Thursday's?
I did the full workout, only with slightly curtailed warmup and cooldown so as to have time to go through the last bit four times rather than just two. Irks me to be given special/shorter stuff, but until I start swimming faster, that's just the way it's going to be...
Warmup: 1 x (100 free + 75 IM (no free) + 50 catch-up + 25 free easy)
Set #1 (on 10 seconds rest):
400 as 75 free / 25 fly drill
300 as 75 free / 25 back
200 as 75 free / 25 breast
100 IM
Set #2:
4 x
100 free on 2:20 with negative splits
2 x 50 free (strong) (5 seconds rest for the remainder of the set)
4 x 25 stroke (fast) in IM order
Cooldown: 50 back, 50 free easy
2550 yards total (OK, that's good, very respectable...)
I did the full workout, only with slightly curtailed warmup and cooldown so as to have time to go through the last bit four times rather than just two. Irks me to be given special/shorter stuff, but until I start swimming faster, that's just the way it's going to be...
Warmup: 1 x (100 free + 75 IM (no free) + 50 catch-up + 25 free easy)
Set #1 (on 10 seconds rest):
400 as 75 free / 25 fly drill
300 as 75 free / 25 back
200 as 75 free / 25 breast
100 IM
Set #2:
4 x
100 free on 2:20 with negative splits
2 x 50 free (strong) (5 seconds rest for the remainder of the set)
4 x 25 stroke (fast) in IM order
Cooldown: 50 back, 50 free easy
2550 yards total (OK, that's good, very respectable...)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
One-Buffy trainer ride
A meager forty-five minutes, but before that could happen, the following preconditions had to be filled...
- my new CycleOps trainer had to arrive (check)
- and be assembled (several minor nervous breakdowns and episodes of dramatic second-guessing and internet consultation later, check)
- and the pedals had to be put back on my bike, since I have not touched it since I retrieved it from the bike store post-Florida (this step was surprisingly easy--you just screw 'em back in, who knew?!?)
- and the bike had to be put in the trainer (and really this step took half an hour, perplexingly... it's all the little things, tire pumping and trying things with slightly different adjustment plus extensive further second-guessing)
- and then everything else had to be readjusted--fan, TV screen, water position...
- but now I think I am good to go...
(Due to placement too far away from bookshelf/water rest I dropped a full liter bottle of water on the floor five minutes into the ride, but most of it came out over the mat...)
It is naturally perverse to ride a trainer indoors when I am in a perfectly civilized climate and could ride wherever, but I have realized I do not have the fortitude, and I will have to build up some fitness in order for that West Point ride to be OK...
Now I am going to shower & go to the theatre to see a play...
ARGHHHHHHHHH!
- my new CycleOps trainer had to arrive (check)
- and be assembled (several minor nervous breakdowns and episodes of dramatic second-guessing and internet consultation later, check)
- and the pedals had to be put back on my bike, since I have not touched it since I retrieved it from the bike store post-Florida (this step was surprisingly easy--you just screw 'em back in, who knew?!?)
- and the bike had to be put in the trainer (and really this step took half an hour, perplexingly... it's all the little things, tire pumping and trying things with slightly different adjustment plus extensive further second-guessing)
- and then everything else had to be readjusted--fan, TV screen, water position...
- but now I think I am good to go...
(Due to placement too far away from bookshelf/water rest I dropped a full liter bottle of water on the floor five minutes into the ride, but most of it came out over the mat...)
It is naturally perverse to ride a trainer indoors when I am in a perfectly civilized climate and could ride wherever, but I have realized I do not have the fortitude, and I will have to build up some fitness in order for that West Point ride to be OK...
Now I am going to shower & go to the theatre to see a play...
ARGHHHHHHHHH!
Dread
I am not looking forward to running this 10K on Saturday--that distance is tough work at the best of times, and the odds are very high that I will run slower than I would like, and pretty definitely slower than the one I did at 8:18 pace in December. But it's a useful benchmark for the run component of the NYC tri in July (it's for the most part the same course), and it's definitely a cool race: here are this year's competitor bios (including all three members of the US women's marathon team). It will count towards the nine races that will guarantee me a spot in next year's NYC marathon...
Recreation
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 12:39:51
From: ed park
To: Jenny Davidson
Subject: for the light reader and the triaspirer!
Athletes and those engaged in caring for their bodies are not concerned only with muscle tone and exercise. They also pay attention to relaxation taken at the right time, and in fact consider this to be the most important aspect of training. The analogy operates also, in my view, for literary experts. When they have finished a long spell of reading more serious material, they ought to allow their intellect some recreation and put it into more alert condition for the labour which is to follow.
—Lucian, True Histories
From: ed park
To: Jenny Davidson
Subject: for the light reader and the triaspirer!
Athletes and those engaged in caring for their bodies are not concerned only with muscle tone and exercise. They also pay attention to relaxation taken at the right time, and in fact consider this to be the most important aspect of training. The analogy operates also, in my view, for literary experts. When they have finished a long spell of reading more serious material, they ought to allow their intellect some recreation and put it into more alert condition for the labour which is to follow.
—Lucian, True Histories
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Tuesday gym
I was already feeling rather overheated and almost queasy walking over to the gym, and I did two fairly hellish treadmill miles before meeting with M. for an extra-bonus-minutes 75-minute workout. The air conditioning over there is not up to much! But about fifteen minutes into the workout, I was feeling very good--it was definitely an enjoyable one, it put me in good spirits.
Tuesday swim
Warmup: 300 free with breast every fourth length, 200 kick easy with every fourth length strong
3 x 100 free on 2:10 (swimming around 1:58 I suppose--really I should do 'em on 2:05, as goal was +5 second rest? but this was explained as a sort of continuation of the warmup, so not hard effort)
2 x 300 free on an interval mistakenly written on the board for my lane as 7:30 but undoubtedly meant to be 6:30, which I realized only afterwards as I (a) miserably reproached myself for swimming so much slower than the people in the other lanes and (b) perplexedly wondered why I was being given such a long rest interval for a low-to-medium-effort swim
1 x 500 free
2 x 150 IM with extra lengths of back and free
(Then there were 3 x 100 IM variants, but we were out of time, so I moved straight to cooldown.)
200 choice easy (I did 50 double-arm back, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 free)
Reflection #1: I have become a better swimmer but not a faster swimmer, though I suppose this means that if I were to swim hard and assess my top speeds would probably be either a little faster or else sustainable for longer. Partly the Monday-night swim workouts in the fall were geared to fast freestyle, so really I just don't know about what current times would look like. I would say that a comfortable 100 free comes in just around 2:00; that I can swim a number of 100s on 2:00, but five would be more realistic than eight, I would think I would start to fall off the interval by that point, but it might be worth seeing if I could hold 2:00 for 10 as a realistic challenge; and that based on today's swim, an easy/comfortable 300 is paced around 2:10/100 but that I could probably be swimming those a little faster, as the 500 came in more like 2:05/100 and still felt non-breathlessness-inducing.
Reflection #2: I suppose these long bits of free are good race-specific training, but they are mentally understimulating, they are long and boring enough that they unfortunately allow the most baroque and elaborate ribbons of self-criticism to unspool in my mind!
2400 yards total
3 x 100 free on 2:10 (swimming around 1:58 I suppose--really I should do 'em on 2:05, as goal was +5 second rest? but this was explained as a sort of continuation of the warmup, so not hard effort)
2 x 300 free on an interval mistakenly written on the board for my lane as 7:30 but undoubtedly meant to be 6:30, which I realized only afterwards as I (a) miserably reproached myself for swimming so much slower than the people in the other lanes and (b) perplexedly wondered why I was being given such a long rest interval for a low-to-medium-effort swim
1 x 500 free
2 x 150 IM with extra lengths of back and free
(Then there were 3 x 100 IM variants, but we were out of time, so I moved straight to cooldown.)
200 choice easy (I did 50 double-arm back, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 free)
Reflection #1: I have become a better swimmer but not a faster swimmer, though I suppose this means that if I were to swim hard and assess my top speeds would probably be either a little faster or else sustainable for longer. Partly the Monday-night swim workouts in the fall were geared to fast freestyle, so really I just don't know about what current times would look like. I would say that a comfortable 100 free comes in just around 2:00; that I can swim a number of 100s on 2:00, but five would be more realistic than eight, I would think I would start to fall off the interval by that point, but it might be worth seeing if I could hold 2:00 for 10 as a realistic challenge; and that based on today's swim, an easy/comfortable 300 is paced around 2:10/100 but that I could probably be swimming those a little faster, as the 500 came in more like 2:05/100 and still felt non-breathlessness-inducing.
Reflection #2: I suppose these long bits of free are good race-specific training, but they are mentally understimulating, they are long and boring enough that they unfortunately allow the most baroque and elaborate ribbons of self-criticism to unspool in my mind!
2400 yards total
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday swim
I was late again, I did not swim the whole set. This is what I did:
Warmup: 200 free, 4 x 100 free at 80% effort on 20 seconds rest
6 x 50 odds kick on side, evens 6-3-6 on 5 seconds rest
4 x 100 descending (starting on 2:30 and decreasing by 5 seconds)
400 pull
6 x 50 choice fast (I did 4 x back, 1 x fly, 1 x breast)
2000 yards total
I told the coach that I will come only Monday-Tuesday-Thursday because of the need for bike training time. She says that I can come to the Friday 11am time slot (in the other lap swim class) for a recovery swim if I want--I think she did actually use the phrase "the massage benefits of the water"! And it is true, I might want to pop in for that swim now and again...
Warmup: 200 free, 4 x 100 free at 80% effort on 20 seconds rest
6 x 50 odds kick on side, evens 6-3-6 on 5 seconds rest
4 x 100 descending (starting on 2:30 and decreasing by 5 seconds)
400 pull
6 x 50 choice fast (I did 4 x back, 1 x fly, 1 x breast)
2000 yards total
I told the coach that I will come only Monday-Tuesday-Thursday because of the need for bike training time. She says that I can come to the Friday 11am time slot (in the other lap swim class) for a recovery swim if I want--I think she did actually use the phrase "the massage benefits of the water"! And it is true, I might want to pop in for that swim now and again...
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Rest day
Hmmm, it is very fishy that the day I decide I really have to take a rest day is the day I was supposed to ride my bike....
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