What Was Your Work Out Today?
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Another row, usual distance, I was in bow (steering/calling stuff).
Air quality improved to yellow, so we did quite a few power 10s between the warm-up and cool-down phases. Different lineup of rowers today hit yesterday's fastest pace once, but was about 5 seconds slower than that on the other 10s. (Still not bad, for us partly old-ish group . . . though we did have the advantage of our 30-something former NCAA div 1 conference championship rower sitting stroke today!
Having an excellent rower to follow is useful for technique self-improvement, too.)
I hope you have a great race day, @Djproulx - will look forward to your race report!2 -
I spent EIGHT hours at my 12-year-old's swim meet yesterday in Joplin, Missouri. With a 2 hour delayed start because of rain, then some technical difficulties, we were there past 7:30 pm. This wasn't a workout for me, but it sure felt like one, especially the two hours I spent timing the swimmers. (Meets are usually 5 hours long, for reference.)
Today I got in a 24 minute, easy-paced bike ride, some gardening (pulling up grass in the flowerbed), the usual walk with my dog, and then 45 min. in the local pool, splashing around (I call it "water aerobics" on the MFP exercise chart since I'm moving), before they closed early for lightning. We joke that sometimes the lifeguards see imaginary lightning, esp. on weekends, so they can go home earlier. That's probably not fair, I know.
@Djproulx, glad you got to race today. Let us know all the details!3 -
Paddled a canoe about 3.5 hours (18 miles) on a river. I tried out a new shorter paddle, and I do like it. I'm happy to add it to my quiver. We started at a place I haven't been in maybe ten years. The river is "wilder" there with more hazards, but nothing that was unavoidable for a person with good boat control. There were for sure places where strong current was flowing directly in to down trees and branches. Not a place for a beginner. We only saw about six or seven bald eagles.
When I went to go pick up that nice paddle, I saw a very nice sea kayak paddle and contacted my friend to see if she wanted me to buy it for her. She did; I did. She likes it very much. I almost kept it for myself, but lately I've been doing a lot more canoeing than kayaking. It adjusts from 120 cm to 130 cm and weighs only 22 ounces (a little more than 600 grams). If I want to take my sea kayak out, she said I can borrow it. I told her to also keep the other paddle I loaned her for now so she can use it as a spare. I always like to carry a spare. Now I have a good collection to use in canoes, too.
We had to fight the wind quite a lot. That made us glad we decided to just run 18 miles instead of 23.
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Yesterday I did another short horse ride followed by 20 laps in the pool.
This morning I finally got back to the gym for the first time in a week. Went through a full-body workout, the AC wasn't working that well in the gym and it's really muggy here at the moment so I cut the final exercise short by 2 rounds.
Also did about 40 minutes of walking just completing errands. Plan to get to the gym earlier tomorrow before it gets too hot.4 -
10 min. walk with the dog, the later a 10 min. bike ride to the coffee shop; one hour of reading; a short warm-up walk, then 20 min. of running, and a 15 min. biking home. Left my bike at the coffee shop so I could get in a different route than the usual one around my house.1
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It's odd, I find caving, climbing and scuba all very chilled out activities. I was a nervous type when I was young. I think I must have used up my reserve levels of fear then.
I am scuba in diving in the Scilly Islands at the moment. It is lovely.
We had a couple of non-diving days to start. I did a lot if walking, averaging around 16 miles a day. We also bought bouldering mats, and so have had a few goes at outdoor bouldering on the local granite. It has been superb.
Yesterday, we dived the Cita (a container ship, max depth about 30 metres, time about 50 minutes); then a reef dive.
Today, the boat's compressor broke so we only got one dive. It was on (I think) the Lady Charlotte, a wreck near the Cita. It was properly lovely.
Hopefully the skipper will get a new compressor tonight, and the diving can continue.
I'll add pictures later. I found some random holes to crawl in, for example on an ancient ruin.
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I completed the Escape The Cape race on Sunday along with a number of friends. This was a fairly large (1000?) race that offered both sprint and Olympic distance options. Six of us raced the Olympic distance and one did the Sprint. The day started with a 3:45 am wake-up, then 4:30 drop off at the Cape May Ferry terminal. Check in was slowed by the homeland Security screening (with dogs) to be sure no bags were carrying prohibited items. There was additional screening upon boarding the boat. The boat steamed out one mile and anchored. After a safety briefing , athletes filed to the bow and made the 11 foot plunge into the water. FUN! However, the 4 knot outgoing current quickly swept swimmers away from the finish line and out towards Delaware. A dozen kayaks were sent to corral those who went off course, including one swimmer picked up by the Coast Guard.
After about fifty swimmers were in the water, The race director stopped anyone else from entering so he could give guidance to “swim left straight towards shore,NOT towards the finish line” so that’s what I did. The 64 degree water was fine in a wetsuit and after 300 yards of getting tossed around I found my breathing cadence and let the tide help me. I had a very fast swim (1:22/100yds) as did most others, emerging from the swim feeling fairly fresh . The 200 yd trot through soft sand made me forget about the easy swim. I was one of the early starters, so I knew the closed road, flat bike course would be my chance to push. Once I got out of the 500 yd no passing zone, I pushed fairly hard. The two loop 23 mile course was flat except for the bridge overpass which we climbed and descended twice. I was full out 22mph for most of the first loop and felt good. As I made the turn to start the second loop, the slower Olympic and faster Sprint distance racers wet coming out of transition m, clogging the road. This made it hard to go wide open, since many cyclists did not stay to the right until I yelled out “on your left”. In any case I finished the bike with a 20.25mph pace for the loops, and overall 19.6 mph pace when the entry and exit lane portions were included.
As is usually the case, the run course separates the podium finishers from the rest of the pack. I knew my run fitness was marginal, and that proved true. The compounding factors for me were 1) my aggressive bike effort really worked my hip flexors and shut down my glutes when I started the run. I tried to compensate by doing 50 yds of walking lunges, but that didn’t do much good. The more serious limiter was that the race director re- routed the 5 mile run course to travel over 1.5-2 miles of sand. This was VERY tough to run on and my left calf and hamstring seized up. Bottom line is that I walked ALL of the beach sand portion and trudged the rest.
Summary: 2:54:00 time, finished 8 of 14 in my age group. I gave back 3-4 places during my run, but that’s the way it goes in triathlon.
The great news is that all seven of our group finished, with the two women earning podium spots. Our club took first in the woman’s 55-59 age group and 3rd in the women’s Athena group.
Sorry for the lengthy post, but it was kind of a unique event.
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@DJProulx, I love all the details on Escape the Cape!! How fun to have a group to train and race with. And man, I only ever top 20 mph on a steep downhill slope. Your swim and bike sections sound outstanding.
Kudos to the women in your group for their podium finishes, but I hope you feel equally proud of a strong effort in this race. CONGRATULATIONS to all of you.2 -
Rowed bow in the double this morning, usual distance. Kind of windy, so we kept it moderate steady state, with a brief burst of extra power when we were passing another boat. (Since we're all facing backwards (toward the stern of the boat), it's a nice gesture after passing to make an effort to move a few boat lengths ahead so the trailing boat doesn't have to monitor distance between boats quite as anxiously.)
Tonight, helped with learn to row class again. I did some boat-carrying, but mostly coxed a quad which is no particular physical effort but a bit of a psychological one, especially while trying to coach/instruct from the cox seat. Didn't help that it was windy. There were times when the new rowing learners weren't providing much momentum to the boat, so I didn't have much rudder control over our direction.
Class overall was a bit of a madhouse, with quads and doubles of new rowers (usually with one experienced rower in each boat), the new folks still being pretty green and working on basic skills, including this being the first time they've had to carry boats.1 -
@Djproulx amazing, I couldn't even dream of attempting what you've done!
Yesterday was a full body workout in the gym first thing before work, a lot of focus on using my core as much as possible.
Today was spinning at 7am, first time I've been in a good few weeks and my legs are definitely feeling it! Have also walked for about an hour in total.3 -
@Djproulx Great effort. I used to do some tris and running on sand, or trying to, can be brutal. I'm also very familiar with pushing on the bike and paying for it on the run! Way to hang in there! It's been a few too many years since my last tri though. You are inspiring!!
This morning I warmed up on an elliptical for 15, then did some core work circuits for another 15, and some stretching after. There's an hour of dragon boat paddling practice scheduled for this evening, weather permitting.4 -
Vinyasa yoga over here!4
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Thanks to all for the kind words. I really enjoy both the challenge and group energy of triathlons.
@laurachambers86 - It may seem daunting, but triathlon is very doable if you follow a training plan. The weeks of training build your aerobic and muscular endurance, then race day is simply trusting your training.
@Ernest_Nigma - I have a power meter on my bike, so I wasn't going into the run blind. I made a conscious decision to suffer on the bike and see what I had left on the run. Next month's race is a 70.3 distance event, so I'll be a bit more conservative on the bike, since I've walked a half marathon before, and didn't like it all that much, lol.
Recovery swim today. 1650 @ 2:05/100. Wore my Sim shorts to enhance buoyancy and keep it a recovery session.
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Today was my first day at the gym. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill at different speeds and inclines and 15 on a standing bike.6
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I hiked back up to the peak today. I'm going to go at least once a week to watch the wildflower progression. It's neat to see how the flowers change on the hike from about 2500 to 4000 feet, and now I'll also get to watch how they change over time. So much fun.
Today was just short of eight miles. I started the same place as last week, but I skipped one loop down the North Ridge Trail to the Tie Trail and back to the trail I took up. Instead, I added on the Meadow View Trail - about 1.6 miles through some unique forest up there.5 -
Tuesday, just helping with the learn-to-row class, doing a little boat carrying but mostly just coxing. The only part of me that gets a workout from coxing is my shouting muscles (we don't have amplification for our coxes). Class last night similar, expecting similar tonight, though I may start rowing more myself during class as we move the class from quads (4-person boats that can take a cox) to doubles and singles.
Yesterday morning, normal row in bow of the double, just under 7k, moderate steady state because we decided to work more on technique than conditioning. He was working on holding forward body angle longer during the drive (while the legs do the work), I was working on getting smoother puddles by pursuing a more stable blade path on the drive (towing the handle more than muscling it).
Working with the class isn't a thing I calorie count as exercise, but it looks like I'm burning some extra. I'm still working on super-slowly creeping off the small Winter/holiday gain, and loss rate has picked up noticeably during these last couple of weeks.
(snip)
@Ernest_Nigma - I have a power meter on my bike, so I wasn't going into the run blind. I made a conscious decision to suffer on the bike and see what I had left on the run. Next month's race is a 70.3 distance event, so I'll be a bit more conservative on the bike, since I've walked a half marathon before, and didn't like it all that much, lol.
(snip)
@Djproulx (and @Ernest_Nigma), it seems like that's one of the many benefits of a training plan, or at least of certain kinds of training plans: One has an idea of what pace one can go for and sustain, or what pace is a small risk vs. a big one (i.e., risk of setting up a fly and die situation).
At the time when I did some indoor races (rowing machine), I was luckily very well coached with a training plan that included that kind of information. I had a very clear target race pace that would be very uncomfortable to hold, but not quite completely impossible. That was the starting point pace. If I got into the last 500-ish meters and was holding well and feeling good, that was an indication I could take some risk in that last quarter of the race, and push hard while still hoping to finish no worse than close to target pace. That was really powerful knowledge, comparing with folks whose race plan was more like "go out as hard as I can and keep going".
It sounds like you're thinking in similar ways, in a very different type of event, @djproulx.2 -
@Djproulx (and @Ernest_Nigma), it seems like that's one of the many benefits of a training plan, or at least of certain kinds of training plans: One has an idea of what pace one can go for and sustain, or what pace is a small risk vs. a big one (i.e., risk of setting up a fly and die situation).
At the time when I did some indoor races (rowing machine), I was luckily very well coached with a training plan that included that kind of information. I had a very clear target race pace that would be very uncomfortable to hold, but not quite completely impossible. That was the starting point pace. If I got into the last 500-ish meters and was holding well and feeling good, that was an indication I could take some risk in that last quarter of the race, and push hard while still hoping to finish no worse than close to target pace. That was really powerful knowledge, comparing with folks whose race plan was more like "go out as hard as I can and keep going".
It sounds like you're thinking in similar ways, in a very different type of event, @djproulx.
@Ann, Agree with your observations.
Re: First bolded comment - Yes, we spend quite a lot of time on this to understand what is possible on race day. And this means knowing whats possible in each of the 3 disciplines, given that you ride the bike after a swim, then run after a bike ride. There are also outside conditions that impact performance, heat, rain, course terrain, etc.
Re: Second bolded comment - For the longer races, Half Iron (70.3 mile) and Full Iron (140.6 mile), my coach and I went back and forth verbally and in writing to produce a written "race plan" that established my base goal time( the most modest result that I needed to achieve to feel successful) the a stretch goal (say 10/15 minutes faster finish time over a 6 hour race(, and finally a BIG Stretch Goal (Best result I could imagine if all the stars aligned) This way, I wouldn't feel defeated several hours into the race if it was apparent that I could not hit the BIG Stretch Finishing Time Goal during a particular race. This was very helpful, since in long course triathlon there are really 5 disciplines: Swim, Bike, Run, Nutrition and Pacing. Lots of variables to manage, but we boiled it down to simple terms on race day. For example, on the bike I ONLY watched two numbers on my Garmin for a 112 mile Ironman bike split: Normalized Power: (155 watts) and Intensity Factor (.71). Did NOT look at speed or other riders, I just rode to my power number.
Re: Third bolded comment: The "Go as Hard as you Can Approach" is a recipe for pain and failure in longer events. Even the elites have a strategy for when to push and WHEN NOT to push.
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It's officially too hot for me here in the UK, am struggling a lot with tiredness and just feeling groggy.
Cycled to my friend's house this morning (only 5k total) and then walked her dog for an hour. Its something I've done since covid to help her out once a week or so as she has health issues.
Boxing class was cancelled due to the heat as there's no AC in the gym we use on a Thursday. I was secretly very glad as I'm exhausted! So I'll treat today as a rest day and get back to it tomorrow.5 -
The boat I've been diving off had compressor issues. They steamed from the
Scillies to Penzance on Monday evening to get a replacement under warranty. That was successful, so we have had filled bottles ever since.
Tuesday
We dived the Plympton and Hatha; two wrecks at right angles.
Second dive was a reef; it was kind of stunning.
Wednesday
3 dive day! This is unusual for the UK.
We did:
The Italia, a truly stunning wreck.
A seal dive. We got a bit a seal action, but not too much.
The Colossus, a very broken up historical wreck.
Thursday
We dived Tremanemanemamine (spelling nailed. Probably.) in the morning. It was stunning; really nice reefs with loads of anemone and nudibranch.
We tried to do the MiniHaHa in the afternoon, but failed to find it so had a reef dive instead.
I went bouldering later in the afternoon, finding an ultra-exposed stunning set of boulders.4 -
Nice afternoon to ride my usual weekday loop. Went out for 57 minutes at a 16.2mph moving average. Good to be back in the saddle.4
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Have knocked out 20 miles of runs outdoor and indoor between Mon-Thurs. Will likely do an early morning 10k tomorrow before the heat crawls up. The humidity has been unrelenting this week. It’s been manageable if done early before the sun starts the beat down.4
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A half hour elliptical warm up and 15 minutes core exercise circuits this morning.
Got to the pool for about a half hour of swimming this evening. Just easy though as I'm trying to get back into it.
Dragon boat paddling was canceled last night. The wind and light rain might have been ok but there was a tornado warning for the area too. There were pictures of several different small ones, but no damage reported and I didn't see any.
@AnnPT77 I agree with what you and @Djproulx are saying about pacing. Like him, I've done long course triathlons and pacing, based on the course and weather, etc., can be a real art. And, not so much for long course, but for short course triathlon especially, training for efficient transitions between the sports is like another event as well. Lots of time to gain or lose there too.4 -
Actually rowed in the learn to row class tonight, sitting stroke in a quad because one of my friends was coxing for the first time ever (so I in stroke was right in front of her, facing her, could help her if needed). We did two different boatings, 3 experienced people, one in cox, one in stroke (me) and one in two seat. That put 2 new learners right behind (able to see) an experienced rower as we rowed . . . verrrryyyy slooowlllyyy, trying to be good models for them to follow. Not much of a serious workout, but very fun and rewarding. It's always good for me to go over basics - good value technically.2
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[quote
- For the longer races, Half Iron (70.3 mile) and Full Iron (140.6 mile), my coach and I went back and forth verbally and in writing to produce a written "race plan" that established my base goal time( the most modest result that I needed to achieve to feel successful) the a stretch goal (say 10/15 minutes faster finish time over a 6 hour race(, and finally a BIG Stretch Goal (Best result I could imagine if all the stars aligned) . . . since in long course triathlon there are really 5 disciplines: Swim, Bike, Run, Nutrition and Pacing. . . . For example, on the bike I ONLY watched two numbers on my Garmin for a 112 mile Ironman bike split: Normalized Power: (155 watts) and Intensity Factor (.71). Did NOT look at speed or other riders, I just rode to my power number.
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@Djproulx , this paragraph has answered some questions I haven't asked on here but have been wondering about as I consider going to a longer Tri distance next spring. Thank you!
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Ernest_Nigma wrote: »Like him, I've done long course triathlons and pacing, based on the course and weather, etc., can be a real art. And, not so much for long course, but for short course triathlon especially, training for efficient transitions between the sports is like another event as well. Lots of time to gain or lose there too.
Don't I know it!! Ask me (or rather, don't) about my 8 minute TI in last year's sprint tri. All I can say is that race (the Ozark Valley Triathlon) included a 200 m. run uphill straight out of the water to the bike area in their transition. That was the worst part of the race, IMHO.
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30 min. run this morning in humid conditions. Also some walking to cool down (ha!--not possible in 83% humidity).
36 min. bike outside yesterday, with another half hour of "water aerobics" ie, jogging in place or treading water while keeping up with my autistic 15 year old at our local outdoor pool.
My regular Wednesday indoor pool swim got cancelled when the lifeguard didn't show up. To be fair, we had had a severe thunderstorm an hour before. I got in 40 min. on the elliptical and some strength training at the gym instead, and a couple minutes of running to my car in the rain while holding a towel over my head when another storm blew in right as I was leaving.3 -
Full body workout today, lots of different varieties of squats and dumbbell work. Keeping the dumbbell weights low (only 3kg) as my tennis elbow still isn't 100%.
Also managed a walk and 30 minutes of yoga stretches this evening.
I don't know how you guys cope with such high humidity and heat, we've had it for a couple of weeks in the UK and it's knocked all my energy out of me!3 -
DiscusTank5 wrote: »Ernest_Nigma wrote: »Like him, I've done long course triathlons and pacing, based on the course and weather, etc., can be a real art. And, not so much for long course, but for short course triathlon especially, training for efficient transitions between the sports is like another event as well. Lots of time to gain or lose there too.
Don't I know it!! Ask me (or rather, don't) about my 8 minute TI in last year's sprint tri. All I can say is that race (the Ozark Valley Triathlon) included a 200 m. run uphill straight out of the water to the bike area in their transition. That was the worst part of the race, IMHO.
As @Ernest_Nigma mentioned, transition times at the Sprint distance can be the key to your overall age group placement. Every Second Is Precious! There are lots of little things that make a difference: Wetsuit stripped as you run from the swim to T1, Helmet and shades upside down on aerobars for easy placement on head (practice this 30 times in a row just before race start to create an automatic response when you get out of the water) . Don't wear socks! Too much wasted time putting them on. Bike shoes mounted on clips and held in place with elastic - Leave transition running barefoot, do a running mount onto bike, then pedal with your bare feet on top of the shoes. Slide feet into shoes once you're underway. In T2, take helmet off, attach your race bib/belt, then slide feet into running shoes and use speed laces to simply pull them tight. Small water bottle in 1 shoe, so you can drink and eat a gel as you run out of transition.
As you get practiced, this process becomes a routine. That's what's needed to be fast in/out of transition. Once I hit the timing mat, my goal is to spend less than 1 minute in T1 and same in T2. A typical race would be :52 in T1 and :48-:50 in T2.
Glad to discuss via PM if you have questions.3
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