Baowolf's Winter training is FUN group..no really it is!! (OPEN) (Page 20)

Too.....much.....pizza

So be very careful with minimalist shoes. You need to stretch your achilies about 1/4 inch to run in them and some folks achilies get very irritable when they try it. My wife started very slow and after 2 years had to ditch the minimalists because of chronic achilies pain. I tried some shows with a lower heal drop and shifted back after 1 week when I started developing achilies pain. It took probably 4 months to have it be back to 100 percent.

The guys who sell shoes to people every day and video your foot hitting the ground on the treadmill will be much faster generally than actually trying to figure it out yourself. Doctors often can figure out whats wrong with ya better than google too.

I am not sure what you mean about running with your head up either. You do want your head kind of aligned with your shoulders and spine, so not with your chin way down near your chest, but if your chin is up you can not run fast. Basically to run faster you bend forward at the ankles which tilts your body forward and then you run fast enough so that you do not tip over on your noes. Try it jogging in place against a wall at different angles. Also you push out the back with your stride not reaching out in front farther to lengthen your stride. As was said your foot should strike the ground under your body not out in front. If you do that it will slow you down.

Edited by Baowolf 2015-04-24 7:41 PM

Steve, I hope the knee is surviving those distances this week. Wow! Something to look forward to when I train for a full IM.

Jimmy, I'm glad to see you are attempting to get out of the building for some workouts. Chinese drivers, cyclists and scooters are crazy! You're not even safe on the sidewalk. It seems to be an extra lane for most... How are the lungs handling the smog?

Lindsey, good luck on the tri this weekend! Please post how it goes.

David, congrats on crushing it! It's amazing how the body responds to proper training and recovery. I have only experienced it this past year as I've been scared to death to compete in my 70.3 and have stuck fairly close to the training plan.

Now for some more noob questions. My race is a week from tomorrow and the reality is setting in.

Gear: Lower Half - how essential are tri-shorts? To clarify, can I get by swimming in jammers under the wetsuit, then use a towel to change into comfy bike shorts, then towel change again into running shorts? I'm not overly concerned about transition times, I just need to keep them tight to finish well within time with a smile on my face.

Gear: Upper Half - can I get by wearing my normal cycling jersey, then change into a 'proven' short sleeve shirt I typically train in or do I need to go the sleeveless official looking kits?

Heat: now this one has me extremely concerned. I have been training at 6000' altitude in the early mornings in the 30's and 40's and evenings around 50's. The forecast for St George (3000' altitude) next weekend is in the 90's. Best I can tell, the swim start will be around 60F and the finish should be in the low 90's, but low humidity. Yikes! Any suggestions other than a cap/visor, plenty of fluids (my gut handles Gatorade well, I may alternate between Gatorade and water/scratch?) all suggestions on adapting for the temperature differences are very much welcomed... I did go down and run most of the course in the 'heat' of this afternoon, but it was only 70F and humid with a few drizzles. It wasn't bad. Thank you all for being an incredible resource!!

Hey Todd. IM703STG will be an awesome event! Wish I was going...soon.

As for your questions I will answer with the "yes" you can do what you ask for the upper and lower. Just be careful if you go that route that WTC Article VII Sec 70.1 Item (g) states that public exposure or indecent exposure in the transition zones is a disqualification (DSQ).

Notice they do not define "indecent exposure". The top will not be an issue as you can go shirtless in the swim for WTC events in the USA on non-wetsuit swims. If the towel drops then you are at the mercy of the officials. I use a Long Sleeve (LS) cycling top at times and change out to a running top myself when I do.

I will say that for the swim using a wetsuit you probably will not even notice the chamois pad and most all today are made not to absorb the water so no issue on the bike with that. As for the run that is personal preference so I say go for the change so you go in what makes you comfortable.

Heat - slow down. EVERYONE goes slower on the run in the heat. You mentioned the hydration, etc. WTC should provide sponges and ice there. If so use them! Squeeze sponge over head/wipe back of neck and dump ice down shirt and shorts.

You can use this calculator to figure out a sensible run pace if that is how you plan to run:

http://runnersconnect.net/training/tools/temperature-calculator/

If you go by heart rate (HR) then just follow your plan keeping in mind that your pace will be slower. 90 degrees coming from under 55 degrees is about 10 beat per minute (BPM) faster for the same pace.

If you go by RPE then I would say first 10k of the run should feel like you are going waaaaaay slow. Next 6k build into it a little and see how it feels and last 5k take it home knowing you are done soon. A good run is set up by a proper bike effort and the nutrition taken on the bike. Take it from someone who has waaaaay over cooked his bike leg before...you do not want that. I would not try anything different nutrition wise on race day. Go with what you know works for you during physical activity.

Everyone is different when it comes to nutrition and physiological adaptations such as heat acclimation. The good thing is coming from altitude you will be better off in this respect than someone coming from sea level. Lots of adaptations your body has over someone at sea level to help combat the heat.

Enjoy the experience and please post a report when you can. I love reading them. Do you have your bib number or do you want to stay incognito for now? Good luck and I am sure you will have a blast there.

Brad

One thing to keep in mind is to keep things simple. Changing clothing a lot is not so simple. It is much easier to just wear a trisuit for the whole race (2 piece). That said you can swap out clothes as much as you want no big deal, you could even change in a porta potty if you wanted to, some HIMs have changing tents.

Heat, slow down, wear a baseball type hat not a visor because you are going to want to keep it wet on the run. Your main heat management is going to be staying wet. It will probably be cool enough on the bike and you won't heat up until the run. You do need to start drinking early so you don't get dehydrated in the heat later. If you try to cool down by drinking nice cold water, you will get sloshy though. The heat will affect you. Stay in Z2 all day.

Fresh snow on the ground today so my 112 mile bike ride was indoors, long day.

Sunday 17 mile run went pretty well, knee was alright. Taper starts tomorrow Yay!

Edited by Baowolf 2015-04-26 3:10 PM

Folks, I'm not sure if I should mention but I will. Carol's (Squirt) FIL passed away yesterday. Keep them in your prayers.

The talk about minimalist shoes always seems to be diverse in opinion and I will take your advice and be very careful. Hopefully by trying to build volume slowly I can avoid any injuries, but I'll be sure to listen to my body and not put myself at too much risk. I'm investing in a second pair of shoes very soon that have more cushioning to make sure I have that option.

When I said head up while running, I just meant looking forward and not staring at the ground. In the past I've been a bit slouchy, constantly looking at my feet and drooping my shoulders a bit.

Todd/Steve - I always assumed I would purchase a Tri suit about 30 days before my first race and that I would swim, bike and run all in the same suit up to race day. I'm curious, is there a benefit that I'm unaware of to running or biking in different attire? It seems like it would naturally cut down transition times and leave less to chance. Is there anything I should know about the difference between 1 piece or 2 piece suits?

As a newbie, I really appreciate all the advice/guidance!

Dan

Ok so a 2 piece lets you use the restroom much much easier. A wet one piece requires moving wet tight fitting clothing up and down in a confined space (porta pottie). You don't actually have to practice in your tri suit for a month, you can just tri it out once before race day.

The only benefit of putting on bike shorts is that they have a bit more padding. Otherwise there really aren't any advantages of using non tri outfit.

Hi guys!

Thanks for the feedback on the trainer.

Yesterday went GREAT! I was (still am) the happiest person in the world right now. Tri is something that I've wanted to do for SO long and I finally got one under my belt! Legit happy cried (several times.. esp upon finishing). Before I lost all that weight in 2012-2013.. never ever would I have ever thought I would do something like this.. so it's HUGE for me.

It wasn't the easiest thing. I definitely know of some areas that I need to work on now from yesterday.

Here is my data:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/757813072

The bike was killer... that elevation map.. phew. Uphill after uphill.. continuous climb. I rented an Orbea Avant H30.. which was a HUGE improvement over my oversized Schwinn 1980s world sport. I am definitely gonna buy a bike this year.. if I have to work multiple jobs..lol.

Also.. 3rd in my AG! There were only 9 ladies in my AG.. but.. SO PSYCHED! I missed 2nd by 40 secs. I lost it in the run. I didn't really do any brick training (that's on me) so I wasn't expecting my legs to feel so much like led after the bike.. esp coming from a running background. Lesson learned. Fiancee and I finished together.. it was great.

I'm doing SPA girl tri in 2 weeks.. but it is pretty low key/laid back.. the swim is in the lazy river of the resort.. bike 10.. run 2. not worried about it. Just for fun!

AHH.. SO EXCITED! CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE!

Happy finish photo!
http://postimg.org/image/e1wgwlfsr/


Edited by Lindzmich 2015-04-27 9:01 AM

CONGRATS!!!!
Seems like you caught the bug

A very nice race indeed, plus, shall I say you look amazing with future hubby there...
Well done!

Nicely done!!!!

Great job to you and your fiance!

Steve

If its even possible can you recommend indoor trainer workouts to prepare for IMLT a friend of mine signed up. I am really excited for him still wanting to do IMLT even after failing the cut off at HITS Half Napa. Can you recommend indoor trainer routine to prepare for IMLT.


My mind is just so idle taper is killing me.

Thanks

Carlo



Edited by strykergt 2015-04-28 9:41 PM






Attachments
----------------
image.jpg (113KB - 3 downloads)

Good news: I picked up my wetsuit rental yesterday and went for a quick swim. It was glorious. I'm hoping to get a couple very short outdoor swims under my belt before Saturday since I have only swam in a pool, well, and surfed in the ocean. But last I checked, boards are not allowed in races.

Bad news: I came down with a cold yesterday and feel worse today. I hope it comes and goes by this weekend or at least stays above chest and can treat it with OTC drugs... Great timing, right? I have been forcing myself to get more sleep since Sunday anticipating not being able to sleep much later in the week as the event approaches and nerves amp up. I'm also pumping VitC / Zinc and other vitamins through the system...

Brad & Steve: Thanks for the tips. Gear-wise, I have settled on compression shorts under the sleeveless wetsuit (bike shop rental). I'll change into my standard cycling shorts / jersey that I've been training in then will change into running shorts for my run. BTW, what are your thoughts on running in a cycling jersey? I have done it plenty of times during training, but didn't know if it screams noob too loud for a race. I may spring for a sleeveless shirt/singlet from the Expo. I'm just a bit paranoid running in something new/untested.

Thanks also for the link and high-temp hints. I'll be sure to keep hydrated inside and out and will take advantage of the sponges and ice. I also read somewhere to bring a ziplock bag to fill with ice and then move it around to keep things cool and refill as needed. Forecasted temps for Saturday dropped 5° so things are looking better and better.

Dan: I'm too cheap to buy a tri-suit right now as I have dropped quite a bit this year already prepping for this HIM, but I'm sure I'll get one for my full distance race next year. This was my first year swimming and cycling so I'm leaning toward a more comfortable experience. Hence, the thicker pad on cycling shorts and my standard running attire. I know it will add time to transitions, but is a good start for my first Tri.

Steve: congrats on the knee making it to the taper. Sounds like the seat adjustment made the trick! I smiled when read about the snow. We had flurries on Sunday as well. I can't imagine 112 miles on a trainer. You must have caught up on lots of races and/or movies. Good for you for sticking with the program! BTW, did you do the 112 miles consecutively (other than potty breaks,) or did you break it up in two sessions?

Lindsey, Congrats on the race! Podium finish! Woot! New bikes sure are nice! Good luck on your next race. BTW, did they give you guys your finishers metals before the race? You guys look great!

Todd you can run in whatever, the main concerns are friction areas (and don't run in bike shorts-tri shorts are fine). If you are going to run in a jersey I would do some runs in it first to find out if it is worth wearing it. It is going to be really hard to put on a shirt when your skin is wet after the swim. The tri tips are nice because they stay tight and don't rub too much. The main theme is to keep it simple. So changing a lot makes things harder, putting ice in bags, etc. Your fingers are not agile after coming out of cold water and a bag of ice may have sharp corners that cause annoying abrasions. You can dump a cup of ice down the front of your shirt on the run and it will be um ... refreshing for a while. The tighter tri clothes help keep ice from falling out of your clothes as well. You actually want the water to evaporate off your clothes and skin as this reduces the temperature of your skin. If you cover more area, you will cool more. I have done an HIM in 105F. You want to stay wet...

Yes I did the 112 continuous except to grab some food or take a potty break, stretch the legs occasionally.

Trainer is not great for Tahoe. You would have to do big gear sustained climbs for 5 to 10 miles then regular gearing for 5, rinse repeat. They have made the course much easier which reduces it to the hardest bike of the IMs. The best thing would be to find a hill about 2 to 5 miles long at a 8 to 10 percent grade and do sets of 20 repeats on it as part of your ride. So on the trainer you would have to practice grinding up that maybe in your biggest gear at like 5-7 mph.

Edited by Baowolf 2015-04-29 7:20 PM

APRIL TOTALS

Swim: 7h 25m 11s - 27559.06 Yd
Bike: 34h 08m - 702 Mi
Run: 16h 09m 30s - 113.52 Mi
Strength: 7h 00m
Weight: -4lbs

Thanks Dennis! Out of curiosity, how were the videos? Did you find them helpful at all?

Totals are down on swimming and cycling this month :-(

Swim - 0.4 miles
Bike - 11 miles
Run - 43 miles

I also had to give my borrowed Bianchi back to its owner, meaning I am now bikeless! Need to get one soon, but meanwhile will be racking up miles in the gym instead.

David

Edited by RookeyDavid 2015-05-01 8:48 AM

Hi everyone. I hope it's not too late for me to join.

I'm brand new to triathlons so I thought might be a good place to park myself and find some good advice. I've read through all 20 pages of posts, so I already have lots of good tips and knowledge accumulated from that. But, there's ALWAYS plenty more to learn, especially with something as complicated as triathlons.

So, a little about me:

My name is Daniel. I live in Leavenworth, KS.

I am currently training for my first triathlon, which is a sprint and will take place on July 25th.

I'm on the fourth week of my training program currently, with 12 more to go after this. The plan I am using is the 3x3 beginner plan from this website, and it's working out very well. The gradual increase in the time on my workouts is allowing my body to adapt nicely. Every fourth week is a recovery week, which makes sure that I don't overdo it and possibly injure myself.

I currently am a vegan and eat most of my food raw. So, smoothies, juices, plenty of fruits/veggies. I also just started using Raw Meal meal replacement supplement, which is fantastic as far as nutrition/calories/protein/etc. One serving per day makes a fantastic addition to my normal regimen so that I make sure I'm getting enough of everything to fuel my body during my workouts and to help with recovery.

So far, I enjoy swimming even though I'm not great at it yet. I learned from reading the posts here that it's good to concentrate on kicking from your hips rather than your knees, so I've been working with a kick board my last few sessions to try and improve my kick form. It's going pretty well, but feels weird. The main issue I have is that when I'm kicking from my hips I have tremendous difficulty not locking my knees. If I try to unlock my knees while kicking, I wind up kicking more from my knees than my hips. I am hoping this will improve with practice.

Biking I really don't enjoy at all. I'm pretty decent at it, I think, for a beginner, but for some reason I just don't really enjoy it and I feel like I have to force myself onto my bike for each session. I hope this improves with time. The area I live in has a lot of ridiculous, cliff-like hills. They aren't typically too long, but the grade is absurd so it can really take it out of you as well as slowing you down, even in the low gears.

I really enjoy running the most, having been into running at various points in my past. I've suffered some injuries though, which is sort of what led me into looking at triathlon. It started with me learning to swim a bit as a cross-training technique. Then I thought "Hey, if I can learn to bike as well, I could try a triathlon". So, I think the run should be fine for me, but after trying a few mini-brick bike-run transitions, I can tell it's going to be weird to say the least. My legs feel like lead weights when I try to run after biking and the feeling doesn't really go away quickly. I bought some new Hoka One One Clifton shoes which feel great and I think will help me avoid some injuries.

I think that triathlon will suit me well, since I am an extremely goal-oriented person. If I don't have a goal to work towards, I probably won't get around to working out much. But if I have a race I'm working towards, it motivates me to get out the door each day.

Anyways, hello to everyone, great to be here (assuming that it's still open of course), and hope to hear more from everyone as your training progresses.


Daniel

Welcome Daniel.

Quick checkin with totals. Not good but hopefully I've gotten my mojo back. Maybe
Run: 8h 43m - 46.2 Mi
Core Training: 2h 16m
Yoga: 3h 05m
Weight loss, well let's pretend I'm the same weight. I started out losing a pound or two and then blew it the rest of the month. I'm going to pretend that I'm currently where I was last month but I know I'm lying to myself.

Ew, tonight is gonna be humbling. A friend of hubby asked if my son and I would fill in for their softball team tonight. (They need women because the rules dictate certain male to female ratio.) I haven't played a softball game in 25 years. I can catch but won't be able to hit anything and can't throw at all now. I really hope that I get the job of holding the bench down.

Edited by Pink Socks 2015-05-01 3:07 PM

Hello all. It's been so long since I've gotten on here that I feel like I should introduce myself and ask if the group would be willing to accept one more. This last month has been pretty up and down. I have not logged much if anything for the entire month. I was active though despite the large amount of blank spaces in the calendar on the log. Work also got in the way and I slacked off on the logging. I'd like to be able to post my mileage for the month but my garmin decided to erase all of that when I was trying to get my powertap to pair up with the watch. I'm sure it was something I did since I have never read the instructions for the watch. Anyway, I did do a wee bit of training.

In April, I did a 5K on the 4th. On the 11th, we did an adventure race where we mountain biked to different stops, and then ran to different stops in an effort to gain points for the race. We spent about 3 hours on the bike and an hour on the running, and while we didn't gather as many points as other teams, we had a blast. I forgot how much fun mountain biking can be. Sheri had a blast as well and we got her a much improved mountain bike (Liv Tempt2) to replace her 15 year old Giant that weighs about 30 pounds. On April 18th we did a half marathon, and again I ran with my wife Sheri. She had never ran a half marathon and I think I was more excited crossing the finish line for her than I was for my first half. She did great for her first, and she already has her sights on the next one, with a PR in mind.

April 26 was the James O'Rourke sprint triathlon. It was brutal conditions with a strong east wind and mist. Temp was around 42-45 all morning. I spent a little extra time in T1 putting on an insulated long sleeve bike jersey and I left it on for the run as well. Normally I'm the guy in the sleeveless shirt in December, but it was cold. We had to bike 5 miles straight into the wind and mist and I never could warm up after that. I also forgot my bike shoe toe covers at home and I ran the first 3/4 of a mile before I could feel my feet. I ended up placing 3rd in my age group despite a mediocre bike and slow run. More importantly, my wife did her first triathlon and not only did she complete it (I was really expecting a DNF because of the cold) she got bit by the tri bug, HARD. We now have a tri bike on order from the LBS in her size. She did the bike on her cyclocross bike and when I passed her (she swam before I did) she was deep in the drops struggling. The first thing she told me when she crossed the finish line was "That was a Blast" followed by "I would have done better on a tri bike". I couldn't really argue that either. On the bright side, the next bike at our house will be for me, and I'm already looking

I hope everyone had a good month and an even better May. I am re-committed to logging my workouts again as I should have been doing all along. I don't have any major races coming up until Bolder Boulder on Memorial day. I am going to run a 5k tomorrow and a 15k on May 16. Otherwise just lots of miles on the bike and continue my run training plan.

Have a great weekend,

Steve

Hell Month is done and finished uninjured and without illness I am very thankful

April totals

Swim: 9h 53m 23s - 21048.84 Yd
Bike: 31h 45m 02s - 555.4 Mi
Run: 24h 02m 35s - 138.52 Mi

longest Brick 4K Yds.+ 106mi + 3mi

I guess i am ready for IMTX if i can hold it together.

Here are my numbers. Backed off a bit for the knee but got most of it in.

Swim: 16h 36m - 40000 Yd

Bike: 33h 39m 30s - 576 Mi

Run: 21h 26m 20s - 135.66 Mi

That long brick is perhaps unwise, opening you up to injury and putting a big old chunk of recovery needed in your workout schedule. Glad you survived it. Where do you want to meet up at the IM TX event?

Knee wasn't great on 60 mile bike ride today, but meh I'll bring ductape.

Oh and Steve all are welcome common in.

Edited by Baowolf 2015-05-02 6:00 PM

Steve

We can either meet at Athletes Banquet or Athletes meeting ?
when will you be arriving onsite??

Pam i am gonna finally meet Steve

I need to do the packet pick up thing on Thursday and will hit the Athlete briefing at 2pm (unless you want to hit a different one). My cell is 530-931-0134, but I only have it on when I am away from home so we could connect on site. The Newton shoe tent is often near where the athlete briefing is so we could meet there at 1:45 pm on Thursday or if you know more about the setup I can do whatever. I will be in Texas Tuesday, putsing around for a bit. We could drive the bike course or something if ya want. I am pretty open to whatever as long as I get my packet stuff and my equipment to the T1/T2.
Steve