Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 10)

It would be great if Jeff could post this. I believe I have the my running down now. I'm looking to ramp up my mileage and I really like easy running (lol).

On a bad note, I am going to have to pull out of my July race. My boss is being an @ss and I can't get the days off for the race. Even though I have had my vacation days in for it since Feb. I was really looking forward to this race. MMA fighter Nick Diaz comes up every year and races here. Thought it would be fun raceing him.

Karl - Take a look at http://www.wetsuitoutlet.com/ They have clearance sales and they sell Demo wetsuits at big discounts. Just have to find the right size. I bought a 2011 Synergy Adrenaline suit from them when they had a clearance sale in January and the suit is great.

Tracy / Warren - I tried a pair of Aqua Sphrere Kayenne goggles last year and I thought they were great right up until they suddenly started leaking on me after about 2 months of pool swimming. I replaced them with a pair of TYR Tracer Racing goggles right before my super sprint tri last September. Those have held up well, but have just recently begun to fog before I can finish a swim workout.

Stan - That sucks that your boss wont give you the time off for the Donner Sprint. I will be doing my first Olympic the week before that down at Rancho Seco Park near Herald, CA. That's about 2 1/2 hours from you, but it might give you a July race option. There is a Sprint on Saturday July 7 and the Olympic is Sunday the 8th. I'll probably be camping at the park for the weekend of the event.

I really like the Aqua Sphere Kaiman goggles but after time they develop the ability to leak.  I have been using a pair for slightly less than a year and they are in need of replacement for this reason.

Foggy goggles?  Use a very, very light amount of shampoo on the inside lens and sianara foggy goggles.  I learned this here on BT a couple of years ago and really like this method.  The only bad thing is if the goggles begin to leak it going to be a stinger if too much water gets into the lens.  I have never tried baby shampoo but I am sure it works well too.

Briefly, because "the man" is calling me to work.

Adapting a plan is a very good idea and allowing your base building to start at it's current level is even better.  I am unfamiliar with Fink's plans and whether they are time or distance plans but it sounds reasonable that you be able to adapt to a higher time for each discipline for each of the given WO's.  Swim frequency based on just learning how to swim......Definitely keep the extra swim if you have the time!  "More is better" if time is not an issue.  One caveat, make sure the family is taken care of first before adding time.

Overall, the idea about the plan shouldn't be a concrete, fixed plan.  I am sure Fink would agree that you can mold it and make it your own, to fit scheduling and personal needs.  Shift the days around, add WO's when you have extra available time and increase volume as needed based on your abilities.

Spit in the lenses before you start the workout. Works like a charm. Spit - God's anti-fog!

I've never tried the shampoo trick, but I do find that soaking mine in a sink over night helps clean them up a little.

That sucks man, My old job used to pull that stuff on me all the time. A couple of times I had vacation time scheduled and they canceled it at the last minute. I hated it. Best of luck finding another race!

Jo - I can't imagine whether you or your husband will go crazy first, but I can imagine both of you needing a week's worth of sleep to get over it!

Tony - If you're doing the right stuff, swimming more means bigger gains, so I'd definitely keep that extra swim day. Comfort in the water is also directly related to time in the water - the more you do it the more comfortable you'll be. It looks like the Iron Distance plans are time based,

As far as adjusting the training plan - try and keep the gaps between the key workouts the same, but you can certainly adjust the day it starts with. I try and rotate the day, but keep everything else the same - if I have a plan that starts with a long run on a Saturday, but I do my long run on Sunday, then I just push everything one day forward and work from there.

Bobby - At 3-5 miles every other day, that's a max of 20 miles per week. I think most here would recommend staying away from a lot of speed work due to the risk of injury and because the returns on speed are higher for slower, more frequent running to build endurance. Jeff can explain it best. Both Allison and myself have had a lot of success with the slower, more frequent approach. Others have too - I just can't remember who they are!

Dirk thanks for the advice and the reminder. I totally agree family comes first. Fortunately most of the training time is during my lunch hour and in the early evening before my wife gets home from work and the weekend work is typically earlier in the morning/day. I also have been making it a point to schedule around family time. They are the priority and this all comes in second to them. So Fink's plan is based on time rather than distance. I have been sort of doing both. For the run's it's been based on distance because that is how I have done it in the past and I have an idea of how long it is going to take me to run a certain distance in a given time period. For the swim and bike it has sort of been both since I am trying to get a feel for what I can do in a given time period. Also when I am pressed for time say working out during a lunch hour I will do what I can in that given time frame where I may have more flexibility with my time in the evening or the weekends.

I think solid advice is offered here.  Jeff does have some amazing insights into running, so when he drops in hopefully he'll share them.  Take advantage now before the price goes up!

My short running advice - the body definitely requires progression to improve.  Adaptation to the current regimen is what the body does extremely efficiently.  So to improve in running, something has to progress.  But here's where I think most of us lose the track.  We're running and racing, so we immediately think faster and harder.  In running, there's too much risk to go hard all the time, particularly as we age.

First, run as often as your life allows.  Running three times a week?  Can you slowly and methodically go to 4? or 5? or 6?  Even if some of those are 10 minutes?  Can you add an easy mile after a bike to save the prep time?

After you've tapped as much frequency as your life allows, then you can add some distance to the runs.  Again, adding slowly is the key.  I think this is another place where we tend to miss the boat - by adding too much, too soon.  Let your body get used to each new additional mileage plateau.  Make your long run long, but not too much more than some of your other ones.  I know plenty of solid 70.3 finishers who run 9 or 10 miles as their longest run before the race.

Only after you've tapped the max frequency and max mileage at easy pace do you really need to think about speed work.  This isn't to say that some days if you're feeling good you can't let the dogs run a little, but there's probably no need to add structured speed work for a long time.  Strides are a great way to get a little fast running in without really adding speed work.  Jeff can detail what those are and how to do them.  I have recently added strides to my long run and it really feels good.

Check out Matt's logs and races to see the results of adding frequency and mileage at easy pace.  When we read stories of how elite marathoner x dropeed their 10k time 30 seconds with some crazy speed workout, remember, that person had already tapped out frequency and mileage long ago and speed was really just the final spice to make the meal.

Long post, but here goes:

Your case is exactly why plans are meant to be guidelines.  I think your point 3 is key.  What will serve you best is to be consistently swimming, biking, and running.  If your life says Weds is good day to run long, and Friday works for a bike, and I have three openings here for swimming, sticking to that plan will ensure you do the workouts.  A perfect plan not followed will surely result in a bad race day experience, while almost any plan which gets you out the door every day will prepare you for a positive race day.

I love crafting my own workout plan - in fact it's one of the things I enjoy most about the sport.  We can make this thing overly complicated.  A 70.3 is a serious event which requires a lot of fitness, but the best way to get that fitness is to do the work week in and week out.  At our level, I would bet just sticking with a base building type plan for the whole training cycle would work great.  The best plan is the one you can follow week in and week out and stay fresh and motivated.

In general, for someone looking to do well but not seriously compete for a 70.3, my overall views would be:

Do enough swimming that you can manage 1.2 miles without much effort.  The swim of the race should feel like a warm up.  There are a lot of ways to get to that point.  For me personally I’ll do lots of 300-1000 yard open water swims repeats, swimming about 2000-2500 both weekend days and then I’ll do one pool or lake session with shorter faster intervals during the week.  If I miss the mid-week swim I’m not too upset.  Did I mention I hate pools more than most people hate treadmills?!

For biking, you have to get to the point that a 3 hour bike isn’t taxing.  Again, you really can’t feel like you’re racing the bike legs of a 70.3.  The terrain of the actual course is important, so if possible get used to riding similar terrain.  I’d say you need to get up to at least a 3 hour long ride, and a few other rides with longish (15+ minutes) harder efforts built in.

For running, again I’d go with run lots, mostly easy, sometimes hard.  The running on race day is very dependent on the biking, so these two go hand in hand.  I believe in separating the long run from the long bike.  I know the arguments for running the day after on “tired” legs, but I’ll say it’s better to run long on fresher legs and get the most out of the runs.  And a run a day after a bike is not at all the same as running 13.1 after a 56 mile bike. 

We can talk about race day strategy later, but this is an often overlooked part of the day.  Fitness is great, but producing your best result on the day really requires the right execution plan.

Jo, are you saying that you got a Speed Concept?  Which model?

Can you post a pic or two???

A good pair of trail running shoes are incredibly helpful in giving you sure footing which helps to avoid falls and twisted ankles.  It's probably a lot like the difference between a truck using street tires vs. off-road tires when trying to drive through mud. 

First off, avoid 'trail' shoes that are just a 'rebadged' road shoe.  Some companies are offering so-called trail shoes by adding a knobby tread and using earth tone colors on an otherwise road shoe design.  These shoes will do nothing to provide you stability in rough, broken terrain.

A good trail shoe has less mid-sole, which means it will offer very little cushion.  But off-road, the surface is softer than pavement and you don't need as much.  It will fit very snug in the mid-to-rear of the foot, but not in the toe box.  You may want them 1/2 size LARGER than your road shoes because if your toes don't have extra room you can end up with black-toe when running down hills...but that's LONGER, not WIDER.  Remember, the middle and rear foot must be tight.

They may not be right for your foot, but look for the Adidas Adizero XT in a local store and try them on and you should feel what I'm talking about.  That is a very sure-footed trail shoe.

I keep thinking about putting together a youtube video demonstrating some trail running techniques.  These techniques would include ascending and descending, how different terrains should be dealt with,  going over obstacles...  These are things that could be described with thousands of words, but demonstration is so much better.

What you plan to do sounds great.  Just one caveat regarding #2.  Strength training time is not triathlon time.  Your current 14 hours needs to have strength training time removed.  Once you do that, what is your SBR investment each week?  Is it short of the 10 hours the plan calls for?

Jeff, that youtube video would be a great idea!

I'm coughing and hacking from this cold but I seem to have avoided the fever that my son had.  All the vitamin C and other stuff I took in anticipation of catching the cold seems to have helped moderate it's effects.  Thanks for the advice.  I'm going to keep laying low.

A few people seem to want me to post some of my thoughts on run training.  The most important one is the approach to run training as it revolves around slow, frequent and (over time) increasing distances...and why that approach is the right one versus the other approaches out there.

But also important for those of us that haven't yet been running daily for a while...I'll call you 'recent adopters'...is how to adopt a running program and avoid injury in the process.

So I'll start by putting this out there for your viewing pleasure.

http://johnpostmdsblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/for-those-who-cant-run-or-are-always.html

Now don't you have a race coming up this weekend that we all encouraged you to enter despite the risk of getting sick?

I have a treadmill running question.  I run 4 to 5 days per week.  Almost all of that running is on a treadmill.  My son does not like riding in the running stroller anymore.  The treadmill I use is a super fantastic Woodway.  I don't feel any negative effects when I get out on the road.  I always do my weekend long run outside.

What kind of workouts would you suggest for the treadmill to stave off boredom?  I run between 25 and 60 minutes for my weekday treadmill workouts.

Since I'll be doing a hill climb half marathon in August, I have incorporated walking on the treadmill at incline for about 10 minutes at the end of each tready run.  My thought process is such that I'm allowing my muscles and tendons to get used to the incline before I begin busting out runs at super inclines.

Thanks team!  This is a great group!  Cheers!

Great questions.  I would love to hear everyone else's opinions on this too, despite the fact that I have my own opinions. 

I do most of my running on a treadmill myself.  I haven't noticed myself having a disadvantage of any sort when running outside, even on hills.  I think that treadmill running is very smart for a number of reasons.  I do usually get 2 runs on Wed. with the 2nd one being outside on the road with lots of hills and a long run on Sundays on trails.

Your approach of walking on an incline is great because it uses more glutes and calves which is exactly what will be needed to run up a hill.  When you are ready, use your treadmill to introduce running on an incline introducing it in a gradual progression from a few minutes to 20+ minutes before the race date.

To stave off boredom, I'm always doing my treadmill running in front of a movie.  I can forget that I'm running and it turns treadmill running from tedium to entertainment.

I really enjoy using the treadmill to work on my running economy.  With a HR monitor on, I will vary my stride length, perhaps the way I land, my breathing pattern...any and everything.  As I do this I note changes in my HR and strive to lower my HR.  It's a biofeedback game that makes me a better runner.

Yep!  I should be pretty much all better, rested, hydrated and ready to kick some booty by Saturday! 

Good!

Do you try to train when you are sick?  Sometimes it works well for people, even helping them feel better, other times not...

Well, yesterday was a run day.  I tried but only got a mile before I bagged it.  Today is a bike and run day.  Again, I'll try with the option of abandoning.  I never know how I'll feel.  Regardless, the effort is ridiculously low.

Although I feel like that was the tenth time I have read the article, I really love it.  Well, except for the part when he refers to you as "level-headed" of course.

Those are the words I try to live by.  Sometimes it doesn't work that way, but I will say that I've adopted the method for the last 6 months and have not had any injury that has side-lined me like I normally would.  I have normal running aches and pains...sure, but no major issue.  I can run through them all.

I too would appreciate some trail running advice.  I plan on running trails as much as possible this year.  The time passes faster, it's a better workout, more fun and less impact.