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Author Topic: looking for clues , whats an awful session ?  (Read 2860 times)
doc
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« on: September 04, 2009, 11:38:25 PM »

well , i did say i felt a story coming on ,
johnnyo  was going to do something and i was going to write one on swimming , but now the dust from last weeks sensational races has settled
i thought both winners  had answered  a question i had asked in the 2 weeks before hand in exactly the same way .
it has always intrigued me , in some sports , where people are completely preoccupied by times , as to it being a good or bad session  depending  on an imposter  time can be .
or as our 2 warriors
t-mac the warrior house wife  and
lisbeth the  supa mum, better known as the vi queen  used the  word to describe a couple of their sessions
                                                    AWFULL   !
what is an awfull session ?
how do we catergarise good and bad ?
is it a great session when we hit times , after we have had 3 days rest getting ready for a session ,or is it an awful session when we train hard and start a session tired and by the end are going just above a walk ?
not racking up those numbers , we want to see .
lets analisze  the real test .

t-mac  the last 2 ironmans have been the best ever in her career , she in the process knocked over
samantha mcglone  a champion in my book , then beat  another one in belinda grainger a winner of 11 ironmans  and holding a big win record over  our said power wife
lets leave the house part  out of it , at present .
some have said to me ,
both girls not at their best ? could be right, but how much was brought on by power wifes tactics ,
and ability  to change what usually happend to her against these 2 .

have an alright swim  and wait till belinda chews my arse on the bike
then  see how many i can hold off till the run .
or in sams case  ,try to hook on when she comes past on the bike , then wave her good bye on the run
while i settle down to see how far i go before i have to walk the aid stations .
these last 3 races saw power wife
take control , setting out the rules of engagement.
blast a swim , that showed intent , then rode  controlled , then hit the after burners  just , when said opposition usually thinks well  thats about it from tereza .
then keeps the hammer down ,or the foot firmly  against their  neck , asking the question , are you ready for a fight this time .
for what ever the reason for the answer , it was no .
however ,
the t - mac , when not feeling well or tired , now completes all sessions she starts out to do ,
the last 3 months , never missed one or cut short or its not happening to day , so i need to recover ,
no, a small fat man answers those questions for her now , you start you finnish .
they are all finnished , some times the finnish is ugly .
slow , time terrible , but is this the awful training ?
for tereza  yes .
but is it awful ?, or is it the source of her new insperation .
some one put a stop watch , on how much confidence one gets by not leaving a session defeated .
what time is that , lets put a score on how high does it  rate ,  that i had the discipline to cope , with not hitting my numbers but still kept going , and taking the positive  out of the fog of slowness .
what browny points do i score   for telling my self ,consistancy  will pay me back later when i cant see it helping now .
oh the power wife  got her pay back , with the best season of her ironman life and all done
with how is the session ?
awful . i get it a couple of times a week .
our next winner , is again different .
she has been panicking cause aj is away and i cant do all my sessions because my mum is not here and i have to look after astrid .
yep the mum  thing is never done , and i know i watched at close quarters 2 very good ones  in action .
lisbeth is another very good one .
so awful  is ,
i cant train like i used to , i had to miss this session , because astrid is a bit  sick
oh i had to do turbo today as astrid was still asleep ,  awful
brett i cant finnish the swim set , because you raved on for 30 min at the start about something i cant remember and i got to take astrid to the creche . awful for my training .
awful awful awful .
i dont know  if i can still do it .
now, this is the subjective side  of supa mum , all those in the squad and in leysin , have marvelled at
supa mums  antics ,
for a start leysin is not  flat , i think fair to say one of the games tourist play here
is find a flat piece of road longer than 50m , i think you get the picture it is on the side of a mountain ,
now their are 3 dangerous things about our little villiage that has no stop light or stop signs , again painting the picture of a quiet little hamlet .
well the first dangerous thing here , is the same as most places
taxi drivers , maniacs  here , and if one wants to take umbrance  on my judgement
 write in and i give you my address , and we can sort it out .
2/  the school bus driver  maniac ,  same goes for you
both whizz around our little villiage , like in a car chase from the transporter .
but the 3rd
well the third is a very tall  crazy woman with  a baby stroller , who runs like a maniac thru town  with it and said baby  in it  for like 2 hrs at a time
up the hills down the side tracks  round the loop .
eyes popping , sweat splashing , spit going every where ,
when  supa mum , thinks she is not going hard enuff because she is missing the track set because she got no one to look after astrid .
so the roads are not that safe , the locals cant believe any body with a stroller and rather large child in it
can get up the rue du quart  chalets  that fast .
i once held the stroller for lisbeth while she  had to run home to get something and i was like 200 m from her front door so i thought i would push it  to her crner  as a little gift , on the gradient , i think i did a hernia , trying to walk it
its heavy .
so dont think for safety , you switch to the mountain paths , because  supa mum  could very well run you over  there too , or atleast spray you with some gravel , as she pulls out the trusty mountain bike
with baby on the back
sorry coach  i cant ride to day , so i hope you understand its not good but this will  have to do ,
and off she goes terrorising the hikers , and really if you hike for fun , you need a bit of terror in your life ,
or so i think , 
i digress ,
well how was to day   lisbeth .
awful 
cut the swim short ,had to mountain bike
 and brett aj    aaarhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh   sorry  but i did a bit of a run with astrid , sorry .
"should i even go to louisville" ?
i dont know , what i will do , should i go to hawaaii ?
it might be my last time .
the training is not  there , look at them other girls , what you think ?
so here i am ,
staring at 6" of magnificance , with halter top  in 8 yrs i never seen the great dane with a six pack ,
and now its screaming at me , look how fit i am now , in 8 yrs  i never seen her be able to wear atop like that , with out getting a black eye , this yummy mummy is ripped like no time in her career .
you cant try the compliment , angle ,
you look the fittest i ever seen you ! cause i tried it and i got the danish response  "thank you but you dont have to say that , because we both know i havent done the training ".
go and have a little break  and give it your best , you will be fine , then we think about hawaii after  louisville.
stop worrying  your going great .
so off she went , and you saw the result
the 3rd girl was light yrs behind , the first should not have been there .
the supa mum  was  on fire , nothin awful about it .
just a great gutsy effort  all day .
being a mum  is training in itself , who can whack a test score on that ?
but what i can tell you .
the score that counts ,
the only score that means anything  race day 
both  were not awful  but awsome .
dare we say ,
you train to race , too many people  race to train !
so the debate rages on ,
what is  good training , and what is awful .
like most things ,
its in the eye of the beholder !

« Last Edit: September 05, 2009, 06:33:05 PM by doc » Logged
Keegan Williams - "kiwiman"
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« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2009, 01:03:27 PM »

I got the chance to run one day with Super Mum and the baby stroller, she kept on saying "you can go ahead, im running so slow" I was thinking to my self, F%&*k off, I might have to get me one of these strollers, this girl is running fast and strong!
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emabish
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« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2009, 01:52:09 PM »

Thank you doc, once again for some great morning pearls of wisdom...simple and straight to the core...it ain't rocket science but we (I) seem to 'ignore' the real value of getting thru a shit session don't we Huh...when they are really and truly the bricks and mortar of building a strong unit  Grin or so I think.... Roll Eyes
Great reading!!
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rebekahkeat
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« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2009, 08:02:00 PM »

Yep its the so called 'shit sessions' that make you so much tougher mentally as they are the ones where your legs or even a little voice in your head is saying ';this is not your day today...you can stop'...no way!!... you get through sessions like this and racing is so much easier cos you know you have done the work even when it feels impossible to get through!Sessions that you fly high in are nice and confidence building but mentally you get through them easily when you 'on fire' but they aren't the sessions that make you!The are just a confidence boost for your ego!The best ones are when you are completely blown up,you get though no matter how you feel even if it means walking the last few 400's for expample.. and you can have people running past you that wouldnt normally be anywhere near your level..that is really tough mentally as you ask your body 'give me more' but there aint nothing more to give.!!So you need to put your ego back in your lunch box and just get though it..yep even if it means walking,but NEVER stop..trust me been there done that its a soft cop out and I learnt the hard way!!..but this is the session that you think of in the race when your hurting like hell in the last 8km of the marathon!!...Dont be eluded..  it will get you to the end you will NEVER give up!! Wink
« Last Edit: September 05, 2009, 08:07:44 PM by rebekahkeat » Logged
DamienC
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« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2009, 10:54:33 PM »

As my running coach always used to say: "These sessions are the deposits in the bank."

And if anyone wants to give pushing a running stroller around, my 18month old twins will be only too happy to oblige!  Grin
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It's true that speed kills - it kills all those that don't have it!
ZachRuble
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« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2009, 11:28:22 AM »

Good post Brett, especially the part about finising the sessions if you start them even if you are way off that day...put an idea like that up on slowtwitch and see what happens  Smiley.
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doc
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« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2009, 05:18:39 PM »

thats why people who look for improvement and are happy to work for it visit here
slow twitch is about make me faster , with out me having to put in .

we are of  not the same ilk , as  why would yu want to go faster with out making the sacrifice?
that is what its all about .
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DamienC
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« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2009, 09:44:51 PM »

Success only comes before Work in the dictionary.
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It's true that speed kills - it kills all those that don't have it!
Jocelyn Wong - "Wongstar"
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« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2009, 12:15:48 AM »

the second time I ran a track marathon in Subic I felt awful...maybe for some reason I thought it would be EASIER the second time around??  at 35k I actually stopped...went over to Doc to whinge or something lame.  all he said was "keep going, you'll thank me later."  so I finished...even found a very small 2nd wind toward the end.  now every time I hit the 35k mark in the Ironman marathon I know there is more inside of me.  no giving up!
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Sraem
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« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2009, 05:16:47 PM »

Where does that quote come from? Was it Lombardi or some other coach?

Wongster: Doc makes you all run marathons on the track? I guess it's those kinds of sessions that separate the pros from age groupers!

Kevin
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doc
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« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2009, 05:41:05 PM »

lombardy
strength
was in the practice of execution ,
he would repeat repeat repeat then repeat and repeat again .
theen when most teams and coaches are happy
he would not be and start again .
he built discipline , on the training pitch that was transmitted on to the playing field .
on game day .
boring was not part of his huge vocabulary .
not part of mine either .
bored people should be doing something else .

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DamienC
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« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2009, 10:31:01 PM »

As someone who spent 7months out with Tuberculosis, the only awful session is the one you don't do!

What doesn't kill you, leaves you a bit stiff the next morning.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2009, 04:02:09 AM by DamienC » Logged

It's true that speed kills - it kills all those that don't have it!
dexter_ding
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« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2009, 02:55:05 AM »

this is awesome coach. i always feel bad when "the feeling" isnt there but im sooo glad i always finish them! Thank God for bad days cause better days are coming! thanks Doc! and yes... I will get em rhythms on!:D promise!

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Sraem
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« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2009, 04:05:35 PM »

Just so I understand this article correctly, I want to ask a few questions:

1. Should I ever skip a session? Should I do a session even when I feel like crap? Is it actually possible for an age-grouper to overtrain?
2. Which is more valuable: a session where I feel like crap but complete it anyway, or a session when everything goes right?
3. Should I keep a journal or track my times during training? Currently I don't because I think what counts is giving my best effort every time. What do you all think?

Kevin
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StephenBayliss
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« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2009, 04:24:35 PM »

A good question Sraem.  This is where a good coach comes in.  It can be difficult to make the right decision yourself.
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