JohnnyKay's HIM & IM focused Group - CLOSED (Page 11)

Yes, I should add that I have been a paying member for most of my time here.  At first, it was really just a 'donor' as there weren't the added benefits of paying.  I just felt this was too valuable a resource not to support it.  It's really a great place for those trying to get into the sport.  Then I used some of the plans (and the coaching contact when that first began).  I still use some of the added log features as a paying member, but mostly now I am back to the 'donor' stage.  I just think it's a good way to give back to the whole BT community (not suggesting that anyone else should do it for that reason).  And, yes, I too have been bitten by the Bug.  And I'm not looking for a cure. 

Just a heads up, I will be away starting tomorrow through next Tues (FL vacation with family).  I might be able to get on BT some, but might not.  But please keep posting anything that's on your mind.  I will definitely read them when I get back.

Managed to get both my bike and run in today.  Very excited because I can go back to the pool tomorrow.  I've been thinking a lot about Steve's advice on getting stronger on the bike to allow for more energy come the run.  Makes lots of sense.  So far this has been a good month for me and I need to keep the momentum going.  I have not done any outside training in a while.  I believe I have pretty good bike handling skills but feel I am getting a much better workout on the trainer.  Once the roads stay ice free, I will venture out and work on hill repeats.  We have pretty decent hills in my area. 

I watched an Ironman video (2010 World Championship) while doing my trainer ride yesterday.  They get a bit over the top on the emotional side at times, but overall a good motivator on those long trainer sessions.  I enter the lottery every year and dream of getting to do the Kona Race.  As a BOP to MOP'er, this will likely be my only way there - but if I ever do get it I will go proudly and love every moment of it!

I tried to sign up for the Janus Charity Challenge today only to find it is not available.  This is sad because it seemed to be such a wonderful organization.  I sent them an email but am afraid the answer may not be good.  Has anyone else heard anything about this?  I searched the BT and ST threads and found similar rumors.  If this is the case, I will need to venture on my own to find a way to set up the fund raising program.  Does anyone know of any good sites for this?

Keep training everyone!

Hey folks!, sorry I haven't checked in in a while, I've been very busy.

Jimmy, best of luck with your medical issue. Hopefully the full week of wearing the monitor will provide some good info.The way you describe the symptoms it sounds pretty uncomfortable.

It's about time! I have my first big race of the year on Sunday. Half marathon, my training has been great and I feel very confident.

Great stuff JohnnyKay! Definitely worth repeating, especially the bolded part.

Anthony

Anthony, great job on the half marathon!!!  Very impressive!

Another week of fairly solid training except lacking on swim.  No more excuses, need to get my butt out of bed in the am and get to the pool.  Hope everyone is doing OK and is meeting their goals!

Well this is the big week for me!  Starting my 20 week program for my first half ironman on Aug 14.  I am using the gold plan on BT.  The nice part was I got to arrange it to my schedule and was able to adjust to my needs, that was nice!!  I went today and got my fitting for my bike, I bought it in January but wanted to wait until I got my pedals and shoes, which I did last week.  My shoes are Carnac, which I never heard of, had a hard time finding it on the internet, but I did, the nice part about them is that the one strap is a strong velcro, so its easy to adjust if need be during a ride, also the top of the shoe is mesh nice for letting my sweaty, stinky feet breathe when its hot out LOL.  All I have to do is work on my nutrition!!

Like Jimmy said, good luck everyone with there training and hope everyone is meeting their goals!

Thanks! I felt very confident which helped me perform to the best of my ability. Starting off the season with such a good race has got me really psyched to go out and have a good year.

Looking at your logs, I would have to say your training is outstanding!

Your two goals aren't totally incompatible.  Running a consistent pace for 6-10 miles requires very little "speed" (go run a quarter on the track and I'll bet you find you have plenty of speed to hit your goal already).  It requires lots of endurance.  Obviously, endurance is all you need to keep going at the tail end of an HIM or IM. 

Now, if running faster were your primary goal, you would simply run a lot.  Since you are doing triathlons, you have to balance how much running you are able to do with your swimming & cycling needs.  Getting to that consistent sub-8 pace may not happen this season within those constraints, but you can be sure that if you run consistently that you are building the foundation for doing so in the future.  Building endurance is a long-term proposition.  It takes years of consistent training to reach any kind of potential, so everything you do will help you reach your goals. 

Run as much as you can (without pushing so hard that you keep getting injured).  Run mostly easy, but don't be afraid to run harder once in awhile--either push it for a few miles in training or enter some shorter running races to get that work done.  If you can manage the latter, it can help to feed that need for "speed" even as you stay focused on building the most critical aspect through your training--endurance.

Hi everyone!  Today was a glimpse of spring like weather in Michigan.  Had to work all day so only got to enjoy it looking out the window.  Training is going along fine, finally getting back to the pool.  Just got back from a solid run.  Hoping to get in some long bike rides this weekend.  I go to Las Vegas in a few weeks (Apr 10-14) and my thoughts are to put more emphasis on the bike the week before I go, so when there I can swim and run (as I won't have my bike with me).  Make sense?

That makes sense to me and is pretty much what I've done when I travel (often only running is possible for me so I lose a few swims).

Tomorrow looks like picture perfect riding weather here!  Unfortunately, I will be working and then it's supposed to get damp and cooler for Sat.  Oh, well.  I'll survice another week on the trainer. 

Planning to revisit my pool next week and try to start getting into my regular tri routine even though I have a du coming up first.

Another week of training done, reached all goals except for the swim where I am not getting enough time in the pool.  Work/pool hours don't jive well.  I have a week off coming up soon and plan to make up lots of time in the pool.  I would without doubt say my IM training is focused much more on bike and run, but I do need to get the fitness back in the pool. 

Thoughts on the week:

Many times had to push through mental walls to get through all the training sessions.  It is really mind over matter for me when working on finishing my timed bikes and runs.  My long trainer rides in particular are difficult no matter what is on tv or what spinnerval I am watching.  When on my 3rd or 4th  hour I try do visualize myself on mile 70-90 of an IM race, pushing through the aches and cramps, the heat, and whatever else comes my way.  I do believe this is an important component of my training as well. 

Did really well nutritionally.  Ate powerbars and GU, gatorade and water.  Started out on the bike a little hungry with the plan that I would eat while riding, trying to balance how much I take in with how hard I push.  It's time for me to continue experimenting to see what works best.  After my long workouts I have been having milk with chocolate protein powder. This has really helped me deal with the early morning food cravings (thanks Steve).

One thing I don't do enough of is stretching.  Honestly, I don't stretch at all before my workouts.  Never have.  I start my sessions slow and build up speed, rather than stretch beforehand.  I sometimes stretch after a workout.  Anyone have opinions on this?

Here's to wishing everyone a strong week of training!  Go get em!!!

I don't stretch either.  If you do stretch, I would actually think afterwards is better than before.  Stretching "cold" muscles can lead to more problems than it can solve.  So if you do it then, do it after you warm-up.  Lke you, I just like to start out my training session with some kind of warm-up and then get into the work.  That's effectively my stretching.  Sometimes I strecth lightly when I finish a workout, but often I just do some kind of cool-down (reverse warm-up).

Whenever training gets tough (end of long rides or just days when I'm more fatigued), I also like to think of myself at the latter stages of my goal race.  And think about how it's these tough training sessions that prepared me.  It's good mental training, if nothing else. 

I am hoping to 'rediscover' my pool this week, but have to go through 2 no-training days first.  Be back at it by Wed I hope.

We have finally had some nice weather to be able to get in a couple of ride's here VA.  This week is the first week that is has been both warm and not extreme wind.  It doesn't happen every time that I go for a ride, but occasionaly I will experience lower back pain while riding.  It is not debilitating but hurts enough to make me want to get off the bike.  Had the same pain last year, some rides I'm pain free other's not so much.  Any ideas what could be causing this, and how do I make it stop?

Oddly, swimming is the one sport where I do strech before-hand.  It's all very gentle stretching.  I focus on my calves a little bit since if I cramp in the pool, it's usually there.  I think it's the fatigue from running or biking combined with pointing my toes when I swim that helps cause it.  Don't know if the strecthing then really helps avoid them or not.  It's become a habit as much as anything.  Maybe just something to delay jumping in the pool at 5:30am for a few more minutes. 

Odds are it is related to bike fit.  If you haven't had a professional fit, I would start by looking into one.  Describe what you are experiencing and the fitter can hopefully take that into account when setting you up.  If you have been fit professionally, I would go back to them and tell them what you are experiencing and they should work on an adjustment for you.

Glad the weather is getting better for you.  They are forecasting a chance of more snow for us!

I think that it probably is related to bike fit, the bike has a very aggressive set up.  I think that the stem may be to low.  Yea, we had 3 good days of weather now they are calling for rain and cold weather.  

If it begins to go away (not recur) as you ride more, it may just be your body has to (re)adapt to the position.  But if it recurs with any frequency (even irregularly), then you probably want to adjust something--very hard to say what.  Being comfortable on the bike is of critical importance for long course--both training & racing.  You want to be able to ride a lot and get off the bike ready & able to start running.

I also don't stretch, except for on race day. 5 or 10 minutes before the start I will stretch my back and shoulders, but that's just to relax.

Our weather here has been freaky. On Sunday and Tuesday it was nice and I was able to ride outside. Monday and today it was snowing. Fortunately I had runs planned and I love to run in the snow. We are supposed to get 8 inches of snow tonight so I will be back on the trainer tomorrow.

8 inches in Spring is just WRONG!!! 

We did have some flurries this morning--which was bad enough.  Last night was cold and rainy for my run.  I'd prefer the snow, in that case.  It will definitely be another weekend on the trainer for me. 

On a brighter note, there is a chance that I run a 5k on Sunday.  It's a course I've run before (including my PB of 19:13 last year).  It'll be interesting to see how I can do since I have been doing decent running, but not very much intensity (and less volume than last year when I was prepping for Boston).  There's usually some HS track kids that run in it (5 of the 6 people who beat me last year), so I am assured of having some good pacing at least.  I would really like to go below 40:00 in a 10k at some point.  I think I'll need to be able to get closer to 19:00 in a 5k first.

We ended up getting only about 4 inches which wasn't bad, but I still had to ride the trainer today and a funny thing happened. I was cruising along getting in a good zone, and I just tipped over suddenly. Apparently I didn't tighten the thingy on the back wheel correctly and it just came off. It happened quickly so I was unable to unclip. So there I was laying on the floor with both feet still clipped in looking like a turtle on his back. No worries though, my bike is fine

Good luck with the 5K John. It's good to have pacers. In small local races I try to find someone I know is a little faster than me, and try to keep up with them. Funny thing about 5K's: They are so short compared to all the other things we do, but if you really race them they can be even harder than the longer events.

Yea I've fallen out of the trainer a few times.  Glad you are OK. A reminder to me to make sure everything is snug.  Have not had this problem with my new trainer as the skewer fits very well into the fasteners.

Well had my first outdoor ride of the year!  It was awesome.  The time flew by so much faster than it does on the trainer.  I do feel the added benefit of the miles put on the trainer in terms of leg strength going up steady inclines.  Have not gone on the steep hills yet, but plan to later this week.

Still fighting the battle with the heart rate.  Thanks for all the support from everyone.  I found some other threads on ST which were very helpful as well.  I will keep fighting it as long as I can.  Formal ablation procedure is going to be in July, but may push it back to September.  We'll see.  I'm not too worried about the procedure as the guy doing it is an excellent electrophysiologist.

Getting back to the pool this week has been good.  Can't seem to ever find a decent pair of goggles.  Either they leak too much, or no leak but too foggy.  I've learned to just deal with it. 

Next week I only work one day so I am excited to get some longer rides done.  Next race is just under 2 months away and I need to continue to build on my bike fitness. 

Have a great weekend everyone!