Oct 15-Nov 15 "Triathlete's Guide to Training with Power" Book Club

I just finished reading the book....will definitely join in on the conversation.

Just a word of advice, it took a couple week between the time I ordered the book and when I actually received it....so if you (anyone thinking of participating in the conversation) don't own it already, you might consider buying it before October.

Looking for an audiobook version ...

To be clear, we're talking about this book, right
http://www.amazon.com/The-Triathletes-Guide-Training-Power/dp/0979463610/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1381858387&sr=8-5&keywords=triathlete%27s+guide+to+training+with+power

and NOT the Andrew Coggan book?

Yes. No idea why it's 3x as much at Amazon though.

Yeah that's weird. I ordered from Dr. Skiba's website, where it was $20.  The flat shipping rate makes me worried about when it will come in, but I'll listen along while I wait on it.

Why don't we push back the start date a week? I'd love to have a good group for this.  I learned a lot by reading others' questions in the JD thread.

It would actually help me out time-wise, and then people don't feel pressed to rush with the book.  So we'll begin talking about it on October 22, and hopefully we will all have our books by then :)

So for now it's how nicely the blue & green covers complement each other on the bookshelf?

I've done some research until my book arrives.  The main question when I see yet another guy writing about power is "what's different"?  Here is an interesting thread from ST that involves Skiba and Coggan.  There's a couple of other solid posters in the thread as well:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=2652621

I'm reading through again to see what else to pick up, but I've the books helpful towards putting things together in a bigger picture a little better.

Book arrived today.  Let the reading commence.

Got my book as well.  Let's do this!

I have some general observations so far:

1)I like the book and  I like his writing style.  He's mentioned his other book at least five times now (I've just started Chpt 4), and I'm feeling like I'm gonna need to read that too.

2) Pg 9 has some interesting observations about HR zones-- "your heart may in fact be in Zone III, but your legs arein Zone II or Zone IV, and your legs are what is most important."

3) Do any of you use or play around with the idea of GOVSS?

I'd also like to add that I am still hopeful that I will finish this book and be able to resist a power meter--that TR virtual power will suffice--but that hope is rapidly diminishing :)

Yes, the disparity potential in item 2 is something to keep in mind.

I've only used the Training Peaks equivalent of GOVSS. Seems like it would be somewhat useful. I was frustrated with it there because they would add the bike and running together, so didn't use it so much. The idea is much more helpful for cycling.  I'll have a reasonable idea of the effort and know the time for a run. Effort is mostly easy, so is generally fairly similar for a given elapsed time. The hard sections don't necessarily vary that much from other hard intensities either. I picked up his program a few years ago and used it for awhile. Will probably try it again sometime now that I have a better understanding of things.

As a guy who gained a lot of speed off training by HR on the bike (I still use HR), I feel like he's not giving it enough credit.  I have a few guys in my area that race with power too that act as if HR is the worst metric in the universe.  

Matt, are you still using HR or do you have a PM?

--------------

A couple of things of note for today:

1)  pg 16 talks about MLSS, maximal lactate steady state and how that is higher than LT.  This is the first time I've read about that term "MLSS" (I think).

2) p6 25   "plyometrics function by improving the spring-like rebound of the muscles and soft tissues.  This likely involves both enhanced stiffness of the tissue itself , and functional stiffness before foot strike as a result of improved reflex arcs that allow better pre-tensioning of the muscle.  Case reports in elite athletes, including Paula Radcliffe, the current World Record holder in the women's marathon, indicate a correlation between running economy and stiffness or rather loss of flexibility as measured by the sit-and-reach-test.  Theoretically, this permits the athlete to use less oxygen to run at the same speed, because the elastic snap of the muscles and tendons provide some of the energy required." 

Huh?  So is that saying that increasing flexibility could actually decrease running performance?

It's possible. Think like a pogo stick. There are a few things to it, but if that spring gets softer there isn't enough oomph left to push you as high. You can still get off the ground due to your legs pushing, but they have less assist from the pogo springs. So balancing act between being stiff as a board and a wet noodle.

I know what you're saying. I've made lots of progress with HR and continue to use it. I think he was just putting out the issues with it and not taking the time to apply weight to them, so it tends to come across as if all things are equally bad. If he did, it would likely come across much less critical than it seems now. His focus was more on explaining the power metrics.

Yeah I kind of read that section as "let's talk about HR....it sucks...moving on."

Bolded for you  but I am going to toy with trainerroad some this offseason.  I just can't justify spending ~$800 on a metric.

Ack--Matt, I'm sorry, totally missed that.  What I should have asked is do you use HR with power, and I guess you don't :)

I think you'll like TR.  I am not budgeting for any big tri purchases until next spring, so I am hoping that I'll still see some good gains with virtual power.

----

Ben, thank you for the pogo stick analogy.  Hmmm.