Newbz'z group is FULL!!!!!! (Page 10)

You know, after being a slug last weekend two days ago I had a shock. I remembered we had a three week goal that I have likely gotten behind on it. Perhaps if I had remembered the commitment I would have been more motivated over the holiday. So here is the tally for the past week.

Swim 20,000 m 20,000-8600 = 11,400 to go. I plan on swimming tonight (ahead of schedule)

Cycle 250 miles 250-25 = 225 to go. 100 miler Sunday weather permitting (behind)

Run 150 miles 150 - 10 = 140 to go (way behind) Will likely not be able to hit that goal (too much)

I have been focusing on my swimming and that is going well, since that is what has held me back from competition. I think I will be doing my first sprint tri Jun 14th, if that doesn't conflict with a graduation party.

Observation number 1. Three sports are tough to balance out.
Observation number 2. A hard run the day after a hard bike hurts can't imagine back to back

In a sprint. How much do you hold back on the swim to save your bike? How much do you hold back on your bike to save your legs for the run?

Great job on the challenge, guys!

Personally, I'm a bit behind because I added my sprint and am tapering a little this week. I'll make it up over the next two weeks though, that is for sure!

Here's the update (through my workouts today):

Swim - Goal of 22,500 and I've got 15,200 left
Run - Goal of 60 miles and I've got ~38 left
Bike - Goal of 260 miles and I've got 210 left

Oh and Scott, thanks for the description. You sound hard to miss ;-) I'm a bout 5'10", reddish brown hair with a goatee...See you on Saturday afternoon!

--Chris

for me i dont hold back in any of the three much at all. if you are not used to racing i would cruise through teh swim a little under what you think you can do.


my goals so far are a little under what i would have hopped but i stand at:

30,000yrds swimming (actual right now: 7340)
26 hours on the bike (actual right now: about 8 hours)
80 miles running (actual right at: 27.7 miles)

alright, but this week has not been as planned, the knee is not a happy thing right now.

Losing my mojo after the holiday hurt me... Just like everyone else it seems. Starting from 05/21 this is where I am at

Swim: 1:02:23 Goal: 5:30 ~19%
Bike: 5:04:02 Goal: 15:45 ~32%
Run: 1:06:37 Goal:6:50 ~16%

I also created a tracking sheet for the group. Use it at your will and keep up the good work everyone.



Attachments
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Newbz Tracking Sheet.xls (15KB - 27 downloads)

Nice job everyone!!! Nice format Justin and thanks for the tracking sheet.

I slowed up a little this week but that was expected. I will pick up again after Sunday.

Swim - 1300 m (23% complete)
Bike - 57.09 mi (33% complete)
Run - 6.9 mi (22% complete)

Chris, I'll see you on Saturday! Looks like a little rain for packet pick-up but clear skies for Sunday morning. Fingers crossed.

Scott

Edited by shaggy28 2008-05-30 8:33 AM

Thanks, Justin. That is awesome and will make it easier to keep track...

--Chris

Thanks guys... Really not that hard to make. I make spreadsheets all day with different analyses... That was a nice easy 10min task.

Best thing for it's use, before we get the thread bogged down with too many uploads of the spreadsheets, report your totals here or send me a PM and I will update it every Wednesday.

Thanks for suggesting this David... It will do a good job of keeping me on plan for the upcoming months.

thanks for the spreadsheet. i am retarded and hurt myself at TTT this weekend, hopping all is ok and just over used at TTT, but right now i cant bike at all. if all goes well i hope to get caught up though, if not i guess its a break before ramping back up, tsk tsk.


for those of you are columbus/central ohio, a few of use are planning a swim/ride at alum on sunday morning if anyone wants to join.

What did you do? Too hard, too fast??? Pull something?

something under knee cap, i think it may have been too much hills on the run/bike after not a lot of that in the past few months, its a lot better now but i still can feel it.

Doing anything for recovery? R.I.C.E level? Get better...

Oh, and I could not imagine that course. The profile of the course looked absolutlely brutal.

the profile doesnt do it justice. and once you add up all the races together it gets ugly.

been iceing and taking time off it, so far thats it

Hey guys...race report is up. For my first it was a great but very challenging experience. But I hit my time and worked my butt off to get there. Let me know what you think and any input is welcome.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and David, I hope the knee is feeling better....I'm off to relax and see a movie ;-)

--Chris

Chris, nice job man!  I never saw you but I saw your results... nice work!  Challenging bike but it was a good course.  The run start/finish was a monster huh?

Thanks and you too, Scott. Those hills coming in and out of the run were brutal! My legs were definitely not ready for it from coming off the bike, that is for sure. Sorry about the stitch but great job fighting through it. When is your next?

--Chris

Great job guys!

So who's racing next? I think Tom has one this weekend... then we both race on the 15th.

Keep up the good work.

I do have one question for the group. Do any of you use recovery drinks? If so, do you have a brand that you use?

first off, guys nice job this weekend! i'm headed over to read the reports after this but i hope everyone that raced had fun.


Justin, I have on and off, i only really do when i am doing very long workouts (in the order of 3-5 hour rides hard, or long bricks in the 5mi run/40mi ride/5mi run vien).
if you are training a moderate amount at our age its mostly not needed, as you get older it becomes more important. that being said, after races or harder traiing, or if you are training a lot (recovery needs to be sped up the more you train or else you will not be able to get everything in). comercialy made ones the only two i can stand are the ones made by infinit (i actaully really like the tasteof this one, very light flavor), and the one made by enervit.

howerver, the cheapest and best tasting is simple chocolate milk. its cheap, easy, mosto f us have the stuff to make it, and it tastes awesome (best part is it is just as effective as the comercial ones).

just getting in a quick meal with some protein after can work as well.



I am racing this coming weekend at the rockman half IM in rockford IL. knee is doing a little better, been iceing a few times a day and i am planning to stay off it for the most part up till the race. going to kill my training numbers for the next few days but i would like to actually be able to race this so i'll take the trade off.

Justin, I haven't toyed with post-workout recovery drinks enough to add much. Although I do know there is substantial research about how ingesting the right mix of carbs/proteins within 15-30 minutes of your workout can greatly improve your recovery. I've just never had enough of a recovery issue to make it a priority...yet.

David, glad to hear the knee is coming along and good luck with your half. How in the world do you keep your body from breaking down from all the racing you do?

Also a question for the group. One of the things that irked me during my tri was getting passed on the downhills. I'm riding a Felt F75 road bike which I love and although I need more time in the saddle I did a good job of holding my own on the hills and flats (actually passed quite a few gorgeous tri bikes on my way up those hills in fact)...only to be passed on the way down by the same riders in aero. Try as I might (and trust me, I tried) I couldn't get much more speed than I had. Now, I know that this will be solved at least partially by a lot more time in the saddle. But I'm also wondering how much of it was the fact they were in their aerobars while I was trying to "get small" on my standard bars. Do aerobars (or them being in aero for that matter) make that big of a difference? Or is it their nice light tri bike? Or both...thoughts?

Thanks everyone!

--Chris

I some times will mix in some whey protein into a gatorade or powerade to speed up the absorption of the carbohydrates. Many swear by Endurox. Probably more refreshing, albeit more expensive. Generally I focus on making certain to get carbs soon after a long workout and also lots of electrolytes when its hot.

Be thankful you are young, the natural production of testosterone and human growth hormone helps quite a bit. Wish I had put mine to better use when I had it.

Chris, aerobars are a worthy investment. In pretty much any book on cycling you will find that they are the best bang for the buck when it comes to bike modifications followed distantly by lighter more aero wheelset.

David, you are an animal - half ironman next weekend! Best wishes and keep on the ice and ibu's they work wonders



Edited by rc63413 2008-06-02 2:34 PM

chris,

first nice job with the race. on the bike front, a number of things come into play here. are you riding in the drops or with your hands up on the brake hoods? if you are up on the hoods, riding in the drops will get you a lot lower and thus faster, it might be harder at first but the more you ride there the easier it gets. the next thing to try would be setting the bike up with aerobars (have someone at a shop thats knows their stuff help, just slapping them on and not adjusting the postion can make things worse). being aero vs being on a road bike will give you 1-2mph depening on how your position is and how easily you can hold it. that being said, you need to find a trade off between aero/power/comfort. for most people the last two are the most important. being wildly aero wont help if you are not able to ride well there.

that said, a very good aero postiion, while maintainable for the race distance is not exactly the most comfortable day in and out postion, its meant to be fast, not comfy. if you have the ability, a tri bike and a road bike are best, but a road bike set up with bars will more than get the job done at a fraction of the cost.

for what its worth, your bike (if you have it set up like the felt site says), is the same weight as my tri bike, and might actually be a bit lighter than mine race ready).

the upgrades will help some in a the long run (postion change will yeild the single biggest gain once you are used to it, getting down in aero bars will do more than wheels/a new frame or anything else like that). but the engine is where the real work can be seen, adding 50 miles of ridding a week into what you are doing now will do wonders for your bike and run.

good luck and let me know if you have more questions on that.

i have raced too much this early spring, and will be taking a few weeks off from race after rockman to get in some solid training and address any lingering injuries (that is if the knee is ok enough to race, otherwise i'll reasses in a week or so and go from there).

i do get a lot of smaller injuries like this, or pulled muscles, but i do my best to recover quickly and prevent things from getting worse. if i feel a leg issue/shin splints or something like that coming on, i'll get in the ppool and water run and stay off the concreat for a bit, or if my legs are beat up i'll dial back the cycling pace.

its hard at times finding the balance between training/racing/not getting hurt or burned out, and deff a fine line i have not walked long. i am still trying to get that balance a bit better, and its coming along, but right now i feel like i've missed a bit of the overall volume i have been looking for in order to race a bit more. which means i now have a ton of speed work in, but not as much longer distances in the past month (i did get some huge base in from feb-march though).

so now i get to race (or sit this weekend out, still out on that), then back up and lay down some serious training for a few weeks which i am really excited about. and i just added a powermeter into the training mix so i hope to see some good cycling gains from that and get my cycling to level i am happy with. I'm also about to start working with a very good collegiate swimmer starting this week to get my swimming to a slightly better and than floundering level.

overall, and this goes for anyone, its about finding a balance and slowly increasing the distances /amount you are doing. you get used to a certain training load, then add in some more short workouts and makes sure you recover from them, and them again slowly up it, and your body will get used to it.

i'm lucky in that i am still young enough that i seem to be recovering quickly, and have no family ties (of my own at least) to restrict time outside of work, so i am able to put more time into this. hopefully it pays off and gets me where i am looking to go:-)

Thanks for the input guys. To answer your question, David...I use a combo of on the hoods and in the drops. I'm in the drops on long declines. I can definitely train more in the drops though. I'll work on that while I'm exploring the idea of adding some aerobars...and don't worry, I'll get them put on at my LBS and get them to fit me to them too. I have no desire to add abars and end up with a hurting back and neck...none at all.

Your comments on comfort and experience are perfect for where I am and have been. When I first got my bike I almost had sn abar added but opted not to complicate what was already complicated enough (I hadn't been on a bike in years)...but now that I feel more comfortable I'm much more confident I can add them safely. As for comfort, I certainly don't expect it to feel like a walk in the park but I'm more than willing to sacrifice some comfort for a few mph, assuming I'm not hurting myself in the long run.

And it is interesting that the weight of my bike and yours is so close. Huh, I guess the weight advantage isn't it then...but the fact that tri bikes are more aerodynamic might be a factor, right?

Don't worry, I don't think this is going to be a magical fix...there is nothing that will make an impact like more riding. I'm just thinking that more riding combined with a few upgrades might make that time even more effective. Off to get some time in the saddle now...later, boys and girls.

--Chris

part of the bike is i am not ridign a wildly top end bike, but instead chose to take a bike frame i liked and fit VERY well on, and deck it out with my choice of parts. i could prob drop another few pounds off it if i really tried, but in all but an over 8% hill climb areo trumps weight by far, so i'll save the cash and put it towards stuff i need.

i'd say go for the aerobars and see what you can do with them.

as for people passing you, some people are just better at downhills, flats, or climbing.

there are a number of people i know that are teh same speed as me, i fly by them on uphills and flats, they clobber me on downhills. i am much more comfortable going up, and fast spinning on the flats, than going downhills. frankly it scares the crap out of me.