Fred D and Queen Zipp's SWIM, BIKE RUN consistency thread.... CLOSED (Page 11)

Kristen,

You know your body better than anyone.  If you need a full on rest day then take it without guilt.    When we push ourselves to complete what we think we "should" do and we're tired......it's like asking the injury fairy for a visit.  Been there and done that. None of us who have been injured want a revisit.

Fred very kindly opened the door for me, and I slipped in!

Here's my story.  I will catch up with you all tonight!

STORY: I am an adult-onset athlete.  Until age 40, setting aside a few failed attempts to start running, I was completely inactive, aerobically.  I sometimes hit Zone 2 at the poker table during an exciting hand.  That's about it.  At 40 I turned it around and now -- excluding the truly important things like family and trying to be a good person -- training is my priority.  I have some other hobbies but they all take a back seat to training.

FAMILY STATUS: The most important facts are that I've been blissfully married for 18 years (and that won't change, apart from going 19, 20, 21...) and that we have multiple children, and pets, all under age 12.  Our house is basically a zoo, but a happy zoo.

CURRENT TRAINING:  Because of some pretty big family changes, I basically stopped training in mid November, though I did run a half marathon in December and squeaked in under 1:25, which was my goal given lack of training.  Yesterday I ran for the first time in a long time and it felt great.  Today I'm headed to the pool.

PAST YEAR'S RACES:  A dreadfully hot (but still fun) spring HIM, IMWI, several sprints, a couple of Olys, and some running races.  A typical year.

2013 RACES:  I'm signed up for Raleigh 70.3 and Florida 70.3  Not sure what else I'll do (or even whether I'll do both of them -- I signed up before some pretty big changes at home).

WEIGHTLOSS: When I got into this business I was quite overweight.  I've lost a bunch, and it doesn't seem to be a huge issue now, though getting down to preferred race weight is definitely a challenge.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MEMBER:  BT has been a big motivator for me and I'm hoping to use this group's focus on consistency to keep me going with training despite the zoo-like atmosphere at my house.  I do try to give back as well, with whatever advice and encouragement I can.  I love endurance sport, and in the past I've spent a lot of time reading about it, discussing it with others, trying to learn from others, and trying to help others learn about it.  I've also worked in the labs of some local sports scientists and taken a few courses from them (I'm a professor), which has taught me some things (including the limits of research).  I believe that we all have things to learn from one another and I try to participate accordingly.

 Welcome Michael!

Welcome!  I am impressed that someone who hasn't trained in a few months can complete a half marathon in 1:25!  Holy cow.

I run mostly by RPE, and bike with power, but have been using HR as an "FYI".  On most days when I'm feeling normal, I can completely ignore HR and train just fine.  It's on those "off days" that I find HR useful.  I might see my HR really high for a given power or effort and then I remember that I didn't get good sleep, I was sick recently, I had a really big training week, etc.

I'm not too much of a believer that you should do a run/ride where you keep your HR under/over X bpm.

I would say this does a good job of summing up how I approach things too unless I have a strict pace or watts target to hit.  I would also say when I was first starting out, I had no indication of how to judge RPE on the run so HR was a good thing for me to use.  Otherwise, HR would elevate greatly because I would push way too hard for my fitness,  be gassed and walking to bring it down. Rinse and repeat.

Hi Michael, glad you are on board.

Regarding the HR training, I mostly use it as a reference point.  I do the LT testing in the winter bike plan and that' about it.  I have consistently fallen into the same range every time I have tested on this plan.  It does help me see that I cn push my HR higher than my comfort zone without getting gassed.  

I wear the HRM to run but rarely look at it except to get a feel for my pace.  I know with most of my neighborhood runs about how long it takes me to get to a particular spot so I will look and get a glance at if the run pace is "good day"effort or not.  I look at it if I am doing repeats of a particular route so I can gauge if I'm fairly evenly paced on the first loop from the second.  I can peek at the HR and reign in as needed if it's too high for what I am setting out for that day.

I think I use it more in racing.  If my HR is too high on race day and I get that lungs on fire feeling I may need to dial back if I'm only half way through the day.  Sure as heck don't want to DNF cause I blew up at mile 7 on the half mary course!

Hi Michael, glad you are on board.

Regarding the HR training, I mostly use it as a reference point.  I do the LT testing in the winter bike plan and that' about it.  I have consistently fallen into the same range every time I have tested on this plan.  It does help me see that I cn push my HR higher than my comfort zone without getting gassed.  

I wear the HRM to run but rarely look at it except to get a feel for my pace.  I know with most of my neighborhood runs about how long it takes me to get to a particular spot so I will look and get a glance at if the run pace is "good day"effort or not.  I look at it if I am doing repeats of a particular route so I can gauge if I'm fairly evenly paced on the first loop from the second.  I can peek at the HR and reign in as needed if it's too high for what I am setting out for that day.

I think I use it more in racing.  If my HR is too high on race day and I get that lungs on fire feeling I may need to dial back if I'm only half way through the day.  Sure as heck don't want to DNF cause I blew up at mile 7 on the half mary course!

Thanks for the welcomes, everyone.  They helped ensure I'd get to the pool today!  Now my arms hurt and I hold you all responsible.  ;-)

On the issue of HR -- great advice already.  Here's my take.

I used to train by HR pretty strictly, and spent a lot of time measuring how it's affected by temperature, hydration, etc., how it lags behind effort, how it drifts, etc.  I probably learned a lot doing that, and I'd recommend it to anybody who's already got the inclination to go to that trouble (it can be fun and educational).  I've also trained the bike by power, and went through a similar process of learning everything I could get my hands on, taking copious notes, records, etc.

For *me* (and this is just me, and where I'm at right now), eventually those things sucked the joy out of training.  Having biked 4x10' at FTP I know what that feels like, and so on, and now I much prefer to train by RPE.  I still have very definite signs I'm looking for to mark different levels of effort (how hard I'm breathing, the feeling in my legs, and so on), they just aren't on a screen.

Having said that, if I were a pro, I'm positive that I'd train bike by power+HR and run by pace+HR.

The most important thing, IMO, is going truly hard when you are supposed to go hard, and going truly easy when you are supposed to go easy.  Doing so can be surprisingly difficult and these devices do help.

Sorry I've been out of the conversation here.. I'm still fighting a cold bug that is at 10 days and counting.  Living on dayquil and nyquil.  Hope to get back to work and training early next week though I may have to do a couple short runs outside since it is supposed to get really mild this weekend.

I have used HR in the past for running because I tend to do all my runs easy unless I have that HR target to hit to ensure I run my hard intervals hard.  Right now as I'm pretty much starting over from zero I don't need to worry about going too hard.

I got a new pair of shoes in the mail today, now I've got two identical pairs so I don't have to worry so much about hitting the muddy trails.     

Today's run was another slow one, keeping my HR down in Z2, which ended up being 11:30 minute miles.  Felt fine, I ran at the high school track again since it has been raining and it deals with water well.   The track was busy with activity, both the HS track team and a lacrosse team were practicing today.  Lots to watch while running laps.  Nearly got hit by a lacrosse ball though!  No pains at all today, not even in the first mile.  I guess there is something to this running easy thing. 

that's pretty much where I am right now I think.  

What a bummer.  So many people are down with the flu right now, it's crazy!  Take it easy and get well, you definitely don't want to do too much too soon and make it even worse.

I'm in a somewhat similar place.  I don't know whether this counts as motivational, but I forced myself to swim yesterday, and I feel better for it today.  (I might even go back...)  Whenever I'm feeling like not training, I try to remind myself how much better I feel afterwards.

Fred--I don't know if this is motivational (or even applicable) to you, but when I don't want to work out I tell myself that I'll be saving money by showering at the gym...money I can then apply to something else, like a shiny new pair of running shoes.  What can I say?  I'm frugal (or cheap, if you ask my wife!).

So...I tried to take the dog with too much energy (to borrow a term from Tryana) running with me this morning and it was a complete and utter disaster.  I managed to get in a 28 minute run (1/1:30 run/walk intervals), but the experience was terrible.  I had to wrestle with her every time we came up to another dog.  Doesn't seem to matter to her that the dog is barking and growling at her from behind the fence, she still wants to play!  I think there were four wrestling matches that left me more breathless than the actual running parts.  I nearly got pulled off my feet by her three times when she saw bunnies or squirrels.  Nature's call delayed us twice, and there was a random chicken carcass along the side of the road (yesterday was garbage day) that I had to stop and get her to drop (which she actually did!).  A terrible experience I don't want to relive, but I would really, really like to be able to take her out with me to burn off some of that energy!!  Does anyone else run with their dogs?  Got any hints/tips/tricks to make it more enjoyable?

Off to the pool later to get in a swim workout later this afternoon.  We are having downpours right now, but no lightening or thunder.  I don't even know if the pool closes when it storms here, as in over a year of being a member at the SRC I don't think I've run into the situation.  I'm not sure I understand why they close an indoor pool when it storms.  Anyone know if there is a legitimate risk that one might get struck by lightening inside during a storm?  Seems fishy to me, but I'm not a meteorologist.

Enjoy your day!

Motivation can be a nasty buggar.  I am wavering in mine a bit, I found my pool closed this morning and had the opportunity to take a couple of fitness classes.  For some reason the cross training with strength work motivates me and brings back the fun into the process.  I know that time is a big issue though for a lot of us and the TIME it takes from S-B-R to do that "other" training is not always feasible.  But sometimes either stepping back to do something else or just starting the workout with the mental attitude that if it still feels lousy after 15 minutes to call it a day are necessary.

I've tried, but it doesn't work.  He's a spazzy speed demon for about 1 mile, then is just done.  No understanding of pacing at all.   I'm lucky that he never really barks at other dogs, but definitely distracts easily.  Squirrel!

The only time I'll bring him anymore is if the kids are coming with me, since they are good for about that same amount of time too, then they can play with him while I finish my run.

I have a motivational issue with swimming overall because I have progressed so little since I started in triathlon.  While I have been using the last three months to work with a swim coach to improve, it is still coming slowly. I basically started from scrath with no swimming and only drilling.   My tri coach is to the point where he wants me to be swimming real workouts. So I get to the pool and do some half-baked version of the workout he gave me and leave defeated.  It finally dawned on me that while I may not shave as many minutes off my IM time to be competitive (I have at least 20' to go), I need to go into the pool with the mindset that the effort CAN shave at least something off my race times every time I hit the H20.  I have used that same thought for my biking and running.  Still a WIP.

Motivational stuff:

I know this doesn't really do anything to help on a day to day, get out of bed in the morning basis, but I can pretty clearly recall how awesome it felt to feel awesome.  If a friend invited me on a long mountain bike ride, I could just say yes, and not stress out about whether I'd be able to do it.  Same with running.  I'd meet a friend for lunch runs on occasion, something I wouldn't do right now.  Pick up basketball game?  no problem.  Skiing?  sure!  Anyway, I remember what that felt like, and it's what I want for my life.  That's my motivation.

And I KNOW from my experience of last year where I just sort of stopped without realizing it at the time that I need to do it every day.  No saying, "I'll just skip today (this week, this month), it will be fine."  One day became two.  Two became a year before I knew it!

So my motivation is simple.  This is what I do.  This is who I want to be.  It's not a decision that needs to be made right now, the decision was already made, now it's time to just do it.