Jeff Y's Group - CLOSED (Page 11)

I'm planning some shortish runs with a few strides mixed in during the week, but nothing over 4 miles.  I really missed the month of February with the new job, so with only 8 weeks of real prep I'm not at my best run fitness but I do feel ready.  Hoping to hold 8:35 for the race, and also hoping to negative split.

Its been a minute ince my last check-in so I thought I would leave an update.  After the earlier discussion about not doing enough I decided to switch from a sprint plan to an olympic plan.  This would still put me on target for an olympic in late August and still be prepared for sprint in June.  My complaint of not feeling tired or the fact I did not work out enough is gone!  After the 1st week of the olympic 3X plan I was looking forward to the rest day instead of thinking I wasn't doing enough.   I did miss some of the bike because of weather and time but still not bad.  Here are my results

As for the recent discussion on heart rate, I'm not sure how you can worry about heart rate.  I'm happy if I finish the time and there is still a heart beat period! 

Nice job Matt.  I was exactly in your shoes two years ago.  I also wanted to train hard.  I also hurt myself pretty bad over and over again.  I know you're just joking...but consider a heart rate monitor for the run.  It really did help me stay in check so I wasn't going too hard for my experience level.  It still keeps me in check on my longer runs.

Again, nice job and keep up the good work!

Awesome job.  Now the bar is set to surpass the goals we set!

X2  Way top snap an 24 year old record.

I haven't done any shaving yet but I have considered it.  I never thought I would do in until I started wearing running tights and riding in them too. Now, when wearing said tights, my legs itch a lot more.  I am not sure if I would ever actually do the shaving thing because I am not sure I could take the verbal abuse from some the people I work and hang with.

Besides, from my perspective I doubt I will be doing any placement on the podium for any decent sized races, so the "cutting time" benefit wouldn't be real practical.

I can't ever fathom shaving.  But then again, 18 months ago I wouldn't have ever thought I'd wear spandex as frequently as I do or run 35 miles in one week.

That's awesome!! Great job!!

First of all....congrats Tim!  That's a fantastic race.  Did it snow at all?

The shaving thing:  I always find this sort of a funny topic to discuss.  Two years ago I started using rocktape (kineseo tape) on my right shin and left knee to help rehab annoying injuries that I had from running too much, too soon, like an idiot.  After about five times of using the tape and tearing my hair out, I clippered the areas on my right shin and around my left knee.  Now if you think about what it looks like to have one bare shin and one bare knee...not too attractive in shorts.  So that's about when my GF decided it was smarter to just buzz both legs.  After buzzing both legs, it was very annoying to sleep with leg hair that was a mil. long, so I shaved them.  I don't do it in the winter.  My GF says it makes my legs look "strong and hot" and trust me, I'm all about it.  Yeah...it's mostly a vanity thing.

If you want excuses to tell your coworkers, 1.  Yes, it is easier to bandage/clean a leg with no hair in the wound.  2.  The wetsuit comes off your legs like a hot knife through butter.  3.  kinesio tape over hair is just the wrong thing to do.

To quote my fiance..."that's hot".

Just shave 'em.  If you/your SO doesn't like it, let it grow back...only takes a month or so.

Sorry for my spotty attention folks.  I moved this weekend (but usually don't spend much time online over the weekend anyway).  I just had another 3 days in a row of no workouts.  Yuck.  Felt great this morning though.

Ok...on to your comment...Yes, heart rate is notoriously inconsistent.  But then again, so is our body's ability to perform from day to day with varying levels of training stress (other types of stress too), diet, sleep, temperature, humidity...

Some would suggest that heart rate is the best way to gauge all of this.  But I prefer perceived exertion.  It sounds super subjective.  But it may be more consistent than heart rate.  Case in point: I find that my perceived exertion is relatively high sometimes while running at a measley 6.5mph.  I will be slightly uncomfortable, winded feeling.  Then I will check my heart rate and see 129bpm.  Other days at the same speed I will feel light and effortless with no sense of needing air and my heart rate will say 140.  It has got to be a situation where my perceived exertion is lower when the heart is supplying more oxygenated blood.  There is something either inconsistent or wrong with my sympathetic nervous system.  Perhaps it's just me, or perhaps we are all like that.

I think being a slave to heart rate can have the same down side that being a slave to a power meter can.  On those good days that could be a really valuable hard workout (or fast race) we hold ourselves back with a false sense of what our capability really is that day. 

Dirk hit the nail on the head a little further back when describing his typical easy training pace.  He could comfortably hold a conversation and felt like he could go that speed all day long up until the point that the leg muscles themselves gave out.  IMO, that subjective measurement of 'easy' trumps anything his heart rate is saying.

I know that in principle, triathlon training decreases your performance as a single sport athlete...once you are on the cutting edge of fitness.

During your build, when you were reaching for your highest mileage runs, if there was any sense at all of the run volume being limited because you had other bike/swim workouts to do then you could have, at that time, dropped some of the other training in favor of running.   During your 'taper', the only concern is that you not do enough of bike/swim training to have any unfinished workout recovery left to accomplish on race morning.  In fact, that's the entire goal of a 'taper'.  Most people over taper.  The idea is that for an athlete that is on the path to a new higher level of fitness, this is accomplished by what we term 'progressive overload'.  The body is challenged to do more than it's already adapted to do.  By definition, this leaves you in a weakened state. 

Your rate of recovery is more or less constant.  Meaning that a couch potato 'recovers' at the same rate as an elite athlete.  however, every individual has variability in this area and often the elite athletes are those who rise to the top specifically due to a superhuman recovery ability.  So the couch potato that does a .5 mile jog--aside from being sore--will have fully replenished glycogen stores and be recovered the next day.  The cardiovascular system is fully ready to go...because their fitness level was so low the total amount of work done was small.

An elite athlete who does a 20 mile run in 2 hours may not be fully recovered for 5 days.  And even though he/she still trains during those days, the training intensity is so low (for them) that they still continue their recovery process.

What that boils down to this this:  Elite athletes doing 100mpw of running need a notable taper to be at their peak on race morning.  The fitness jogger doing a race may just take it easy for 1 day prior to the race.  The only goal is to be fully recovered from all prior training.

So your prescription for a taper depends on how much your recent training has been stressing your body.  Or put another way, how deep a hole have you dug that needs to be climbed out of?  Odds are that you would be fine for a Saturday HM if you didn't ride your bike after Wednesday that week and did an easy 5 mile run on Thursday then on Friday (day before the race) you can swim and/or do a full warm-up run...1 - 1.5 miles with perhaps 3 strides.  Then eat BIG!

Now you did it! 

First, I want to say that there is no sport-specific reason that you SHOULD shave.

Now....that said, I prefer it.  I was a competitive cyclist for a few years back in the late 80s.  If you had hairy legs you were ridiculed.  If you can win the race and wanted to do that with hairy legs then you could probably have been forgiven.

Since then, I just don't feel right showing up on a bike with hairy legs.  I will say that in the mtn bike community it's acceptable to have hairy legs.  Perhaps 50/50 around here.

As a triathlete, I tend to think of myself more as a cyclist, a runner and a swimmer than just a triathlete.  So as a 'cyclist', I shave my legs.  As a swimmer, I shave my legs (swimming is a lot like mtn biking...50/50 at swim meets except at big championship races).

I have come to think that hairy legs look bad.  At this point I feel free to choose hairy legs but just don't think they look good. 

I've shaved my arms, but tend to just trim that as necessary to keep from having arm hair be the first thing I notice when I look in the mirror.

What probably matters most is what the woman in your life thinks.  (I'm assuming the women here shave!)

In my (limited) opinion, with 2 workouts per week all my running would be at an easy pace.  There's too much chance to injure if you up intensity on such light frequency. 

As far as the bike, there's a lot more leeway.  I think you can push the bike pretty hard and not only stay healthy but recover pretty quickly.  And intervals on the bike work wonders. 

Swimming can always be done as intervals, just work on form above all else.  With proper form there's little chance of injury, though some people do have shoulder issues which can be exacerbated while swimming.

If you're contemplating shaving just to avoid itchiness, you might want to consider the itch-factor of stubble! The first several times you shave, it itches like mad when it regrows - unless you're going to shave every day to reduce that little side effect.

I had 3 days in a row without workouts this weekend too! It's difficult around the holidays to balance travelling and family time - especially when it's raining non-stop. It's supposed to be another wet week around here too. This is not been very nice for training, to put it mildly.

I have someone who wants to take a look at my tubular carbon wheelset tomorrow. I told him I want $350 for it, including tires. Is that reasonable? There isn't anything like them on eBay for me to really compare it to. I don't really care about getting top dollar, but I don't want to give them away and have him turn around and sell them to someone else for double either.

I have actually been thinking about this very thing recently.  (Probably because my legs have been shot from last weekends long ride.)  After my long runs and rides it does seem like my legs come back "fairly" quickly given some rest.  The way tings are going recently though, my legs get little recovery time from the bike.  Usually I have to ride 3 days straight because the lap times at my pool can get really STUPID and getting time there is dictated to me rather being flexible.  I also want to stay focused on the run a little bit more than the bike because that is my primary focus until after my next marathon.

Given all of those things above, I would probably be fine to taper for 2 weeks on the run and a smaller reduction on the swim and bike.

As Warren said, I wouldn't do much intensity on the run.  The best thing to do there, if you can, try to get a third run in during the week.  I would try to get your weekly mileage up to 10-13 miles or so, consistently.  Looking at your logs, if you add intensity you may very well cause injury in the medium to long term.

The bike will have much more latitude for intensity since the shock to the body will be greatly decreased.  Again you have to do it smartly.  Make your longer rides a little lower key than the short rides but the intensity can still be there.  Just plan on doing a lot of other lower intensity immediately before and after the shorter hard work.  Your shorter rides can have more intensity but the workouts need to be pretty focused, i.e. time or distance at a certain HR or PE for the workout.

Swim can be a little tough in my opinion.  If you do too much intensity with bad form you are going to have injury issues sneak up on you.  Always have a good solid WU before doing any hardcore sets in the water.   Keep the intense sets at a short distance too, then work up to 100's if you are not used to swimming much.