Showing posts with label goggles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goggles. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

T98 - Hope in a Sea of Chlorine - Swim

Gainesville

There was a girl I used to date who was always asking me, like most women do, what I was thinking. But this one had a particular interest in what I thought about during long training sessions with no music.

"Well, on swims," I told her, "I think about girls I've slept with, in order, to keep track of laps. Like lap one is my college girlfriend who was my first, and so on.."

"Really?!" she smiled, "So do you think about me?"

"I'll be balls deep in Ironman training before I get to you," I told her. Not sure she liked that response. This girl was #81, so today's 4000 meter swim would be as close as I would ever get to her getting a lap. Of course, I don't really employ that method anymore, so the point is moot. But it takes a swim where you do the same distance as the Ironman race to get that far in my sexual history. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Swim - 2x2000

2 Sudafed
2 Lipodrene
I had been feeling a little sniffley and drwosy, so I took some Sudafed to clear that up maybe an hour or so before the swim, then knocked back a couple Lipodrene before heading to the GHFC pool. I didn't even bother with a warmup, as it was already about 9 p.m. and I knew I was going to be in the pool for a while. So I hit the water strong and found myself keeping a nice form with a good push for a while. Stroke felt good, glide felt good. Everything felt good. I looked up around lap 12 of the first set and saw I had done 12 laps in 10 minutes, pretty much the reverse of how it had been up until this cycle. I was pleased.

The first set went well, and I managed to get through the whole thing at a fairly even pace and finished it in 38 minutes. So looks like I went real strong the first 500 meters or so, then settled into a good race pace. Which is probably exactly what I'll need to do during the race. I took a gel and some water after the first 40 laps, but my break was probably less than a minute. I feel like this is a good simulation for the "break" between laps on the course, since you have to get out of the water and start again. I didn't feel like running around the GHFC pool deck either. That mighta looked weird.

The second 40 laps also felt strong, and I never felt myself really let up at all. About lap 20 I started to feel a small cramp in my hamstring when I pushed off the wall, and by lap 25 I started to feel cramps in my lats and forearms. Not so much I had to stop, but definitely enough that I felt it. I'm not sure if salt tabs will help this, but I am mildly concerned since if I cramp up 1000 yards from shore during the race, I'm pretty fucked. Throw in a wetsuit that makes you sweat more, and I gotta definitely figure out how to mitigate this in the next couple of weeks.

But the swim felt strong the whole time, and I ended up finishing in 80 minutes, including my break. This is right where I wanted to be, and it was nice to have a training day where I actaully met a goal and felt strong for once.

I used my outdoor goggles, since I need to get used to having those on for long periods of time. They left deep caverns on my eye sockets, making me look about 10 years more weathered than I am. And about lap 60 I really started wanting to take them off. But otherwise they worked great. I also was wondering if I can put a gel in my wetsuit to take at the halfway point on the race. I'll definitely have to look into that once the wetsuit comes in the mail. But the main thing I thought as I got out of the pool, feeling a little tired but still energized was, "Ok, pal. You ready to go and get on that bike?"

Friday, July 17, 2009

T39 - Aaron Klueber is a Dead Man - Run/Swim

Gainesville

So I was supposed to go to Daytona tonight and meet up with Klueber and his sister up in Flagler Beach. Of course, anything involving Aaron Klueber is a 50/50 proposition at BEST, but I figured his 2 AM text telling me I didn't even like Volusia County Lockup meant he was good to go. So I set my alarm for 7 a.m. to get this run in before it got hot, so I could do the swim in the afternoon then drive over and meet him. Well, given my sleep schedule I drank 3 beers to put myself to sleep around 12:30, when Klueber's text woke me up at 2, and I didn't get back to sleep till 5. Alarm went off at 7, meaning I got a whopping 3 and a half hours of sleep before having myself a Cliff bar for breakfast, STRETCHING and warming up on the elliptical for the longest run of the training cycle.


Run: 120 Minutes

2 Lipodrene
After the elliptical warmup I took 2-32. oz. bottles of Gatorade and a water bottle to my car to set it up as my de feacto aid station. Started out on the campus look, using the iPod (a long run in the heat without music? Wasn't sure how that was gonna go. But this was its first use in a while)and felt pretty strong until I got to the long hill on 2nd Ave. Running up hill with no shade, even at 9:45 a.m. is tough in Florida in July. I was chopping steps probably the last half, not real happy with my performance there. I even stopped for a second in front of the stadium because my run was getting so choppy. I looked like an old man running, really. But once I hit the flatland out by midtown I kept my stride pretty well. That back part of campus has some decent shade too, and I switched the music up for the last 2 trips from Jefferson to Stadium and back (I don't do 2 loops)which I think helped break the monotony. Also was rigorous about gel intake, which I could tell mad a difference when I started getting hungry.

But as I was running in the heat, my shoes soaked with sweat by the end of the first hour, I thought "Klueber flakes on this one, I'm gonna kill him. This is a run that could have easily been done 1t 5 p.m. when its about 10 degrees cooler and I have shade. But whatever, Daytona will be fun.

So I get home, check my phone, and no word from Klueber. Then, about 20 minutes later, I get a text from him and I knew what it was before I even opened it. Claiming his sister flaked this time. There's no point in ever calling Aaron Klueber out on a BS excuse for flaking because once in a while they're actually true, and even when they're not calling him out won't change anything, so why waste one's energy? So that was that. I made myself some ground beef and white rice and settled into a nice big lunch before the afternoon swim.

I had a lady visitor come over for a couple of hours after lunch, and let me tell you fucking after a 13-mile run and before a long swim may not be the best idea. But, as I realized when I was able to have sex right after the Orlando Half, I always have energy for sex. Its like always having room for Jell-O. And of course, this girl likes it real rough and aggressive, so I couldn't even half-ass it. This was one of the few times that as soon as I was done, both times, I really couldn't move. Like I just laid there drenched in sweat, my arms borderline cramping up, like, shit, I'm done. I did make sure to drink a lot of water, though, as I knew I had the long swim coming up. but, really, with this girl it was almost a third workout for the day. No wonder I was so fucking hungry all night.

Turns out though, sex not as detrimental to working out as once thought...


S: speed day
wu: 350 continuous. last 50 in each 100 is kick
main: 10 x 200 EBEH (each 200 = 50Easy, 50Build, 50Easy, 50 Hard)


2 Lipodrene
So after my visitor left, I went to the mall and bought some protein powder and new socks. Combined with the Lipodrene I bought online and the race I registered for in August, I spent about $300 Friday on Triathlon-related stuff. I hit the pool about 4:40 with a throbbing headache. Despite the water and Gatorade I had drank, the morning and day's activities had pretty badly dehydrated me. And these 200 meter EBEH were a little daunting.

I donned my new goggles (see, only took me a week to get them) and immediately realized they were too small. Or maybe my old ones were just too loose, who knows. But tight goggles when you have a throbbing headache, not good. I realized I'd have to take these at an easier pace than the 100 EBEHs, so I tried to go easy, but not leg-dragging easy, then a slight build, then a solid effort on the hard but not an all-out sprint. While I won't say this swim was crushed by any stretch, it was a solid effort. Especially given the workouts I'd had before it. And my headache went away by set 6 or 7, which I found interesting. And it was gone pretty much the rest of the day. I'm definitely going to need to ramp up the effort on furute workouts like this, but then again I don't know that I'll have many swims like this aftr a 12-13 mile run.

Went out and drank pretty heavily afterward. We'll see how this affects the Saturday workout.

Friday, July 10, 2009

T31 - Country Club Training Day - Swim/Run Brick (Treadmill)

Sacramento

I decided that doing another long bike would not be a good idea, given the short amount of time I had Tuesday as well as how my back had been feeling to that point. And since Wednesday was a rest day (and by "rest" I mean waking up before 4 a.m. and flying across the country)I thought this would give my body a nice respite. So I took Sunday's training day and moved it to Tuesday. This day looked to be the easiest of the week, so it made sense for a day where my time was limited.

Swim: 30 Minutes Continuous

2 Lipodrene
Again, my swim schedule was dictated by my nieces' swimming lessons, so I ended up going to Rio Del Oro with them as they did their lessons in the kiddie pool. I swam laps in the lap pool, and felt good the whole way through. I really am going to miss the outdoor swimming, especially because my tan is looking phenominal right about now. At any rate, I did 27 laps in 30 minutes, and that included the beginning where I had to stop at the end of my first 4 lengths to fix my goggles. They are definitely starting to leak, and I'm thinking it may be time for a new pair. We'll see how long it is from this revelation to any actual purchase.

Run: 45 Minutes (treadmill)


Well, I have come to the conclusion that there is no easier way to run than with an iPod on an indoor, air conditioned treadmill. Seriously, I just kept turning the speed up I felt so good, so this is obviously a form of cheating. This whole workout was very fancy-boy, swimming in the nice outdoor pool with nobody there then doing the run on the treadmill. It times out perfectly and there were only 5 extra minutes to the scheduled training time. But they are rarely going to be this easy. My headphones are still broken (I borrowed some of dads) so the next few runs will have to be sin musica.