Jim Kelley's General and Long Course Group 2017 (OPEN)

Hey Brandon.  Thanks for the interest.  They haven't put my thread into the live mentor forum yet but when they do I'll give next steps.

Happy New Year Amy.  Glad to hear that you're doing WI in September.  Are you joining the group or just touching bases?

We just went live folks.  For those that have already expressed interest in joining the group please tell us a bit about yourself using the general format below:

NAME: 

YOUR STORY: 

FAMILY STATUS: 

CURRENT TRAINING: 

THIS YEAR'S RACES: 

2016 RACES: 

WEIGHT LOSS: 

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTOR GROUP MEMBER: 

If you're looking to mix in road races (including a marathon) with your triathlon training I think our group would be a great fit for you.  I came from a competitive running background to triathlon and am now starting to focus on ultras as well, so I can share my experiences.  Tell us a little more about yourself using the format above.  Welcome!

Congratulations!!

How was training for everyone this weekend?  Start firing away with questions if you have any...and remember the only stupid question is the one that doesn't get asked.....

Welcome Steve!!

As you continue to train your entire cardio-vascular system will become more efficient at delivering and utilizing oxygen to/by your muscles.  Your heart's stroke volume increases which means you can transport more blood for a given period of time, capillary density in muscles increase which also delivers more oxygen for use by muscles. When you train at an intensity that demands more oxygen than your CV system can deliver (given your current fitness level) you experience that out of breath feeling.  Its a gradual process so you just have to be patient.

Sorry about the injury.  Are you sure the injury was due to simply going too hard on the treadmill?  What do you mean by too hard?

Ramping up training after an injury is a very individual thing, as well as being dependent on the nature and severity of the injury.  But, I would urge caution in adding additional volume/intensity too soon depending on how your foot feels. 

If injury wasn't part of the equation, I would be telling you that you should be introducing intensity now...in a progressive manner....rather than waiting until you have built up more volume.  Right now I've got my athletes doing shorter but more intense bike workouts to help raise their Critical Power (akin to FTP - functional threshold power).  This is especially attractive to athletes during winter when riding outdoors may be infeasible. I want them to enter spring with higher CP that will set them up well for increased volume as their target races approach.

What intensity level does that 9:20 run pace correspond with?  Hard to say how to schedule an increase in intensity without knowing what that 9:20 represents....zone 1, 2...5? or Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) 1 easy or 10 all out?

I think you would be well served by determining your run training zones.  BT has outlined some field testing protocol here   I typically have my athletes complete 1600 and 3200 meter critical velocity tests and use those tests to determine critical velocity and base training intensities from that.   Another alternative is to use a recent race result and use that result to determine your VDOT (developed by Jack Daniels) which is then used to determine training intensities.

Don't make the mistake that many athletes make...spending the winter doing long boring workouts at a low intensity (so-called base training).  You're better off developing your VO2max and Lactate threshold (you'll see many different definitions for this) early in your training plan so that you are better set up to start doing more race-specific workouts as your races approach.  You can introduce VO2max level intensity workouts by doing something as easy as 4-5 x 20 second efforts at RPE 10 (all out), with 5 minutes of rest between reps.  This MUST be preceded by a full warmup of at least 20 minutes of easy running, with perhaps some short strides towards the end of the warmup before doing the 20 second reps.  These can be increased in duration gradually over a few weeks to 1-3 minutes (1:1 work:rest ratio), noting that a RPE of 10 for the short bursts of 20 seconds will obviously be faster than an RPE of 10 for a 3 minutes interval.  Be sure not to start the longer efforts with an all out sprint.   I have my athletes doing this type of workout once a week.

Workouts aimed at developing your lactate threshold can be introduced several weeks after you have been doing the VO2max workouts.  These efforts are longer (e.g. 8-20 minutes) and done at a lower intensity than VO2max...usually done at or just below your LT or critical velocity (work:rest ratio of 2:1).  This is about Zone 4 or right at your critical velocity.  Conducting field-testing again after 6-8 weeks of focused training would be ideal in order to determine your improved fitness level and re-calculate your training "zones".

I want to stress that the above is not a recommendation for a training plan, which is beyond the scope of the mentor groups.  However, these are just the types of workouts one needs to incorporate to develop the various components of your cardiovascular system.  How and when you develop those components will vary depending on the athlete's experience, current fitness level, and timing of your A race(s).  If nothing else, I want you to leave with you the take-home message that you shouldn't neglect more intense workouts during winter.

As far as heart rate monitors....I don't train any of my athletes using heart rate.  There are too many variables that affect heart rate for it to be relied upon to be an accurate measure of intensity.  Many coaches will disagree with this notion, but I think athletes are better served by structuring workouts based on critical power (bike) and critical velocity/LT (run) tempered by RPE.  Hope that makes sense....