Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 11)

This morning I was 181.8 lbs.  Not a bad start to the Weight Loss Challenge.  Last week was my first full training week for 2015.  Looking forward to this weeks effort.  Good luck everyone.

Hey Everyone!

I see a lot of you are posting your actual weight .

Just to clarify again.  You don't have to post your actual weight.  You do need to weigh yourself and record it somewhere.  Beginning next Sunday, you weigh yourself and then post your weight change - gain or loss - and your workout minutes for the previous week.

If posting your weight will help motivate you, then by all means, put your weight up.  As for me, my computer would break if I tried to enter that big a number!

Establishing a baseline number - good, bad, or ugly - is always preferable to not knowing the number. 

Now you know, you aren't guessing any more, and now you can objectively see improvement.  That is a much more efficient way to train.

Jo,

Not you don't absolutely have to have a helper.  Having someone to time you frees you up to give a maximum effort.  Without the helper, your time may be off by a second or two.  In the big picture, that is not going to be that big a deal.

Like you, there are a lot of people that don't like to get into the calculations and thinking things through as it takes some of the fun out of it - it kind of makes it work.

This is one of those things that is worth doing.  By knowing your threshold pace you can train effectively.  Many people spend hours training ineffectively in the pool because they don't swim at the proper pace.  They swim too slow, which does nothing, or they swim too fast, which is training a system that a triathlete is never going to use.

If you want you can post the times up here and I will run through the calculations and it can become a bit of a learning experience for everyone.  Then we can take your STP and develop target training paces that will be effective in training.

Jo,

I am almost the exact opposite, I am rarely in my small chain ring.  There is a cadence, how quickly you are pedaling, that will be optimal and most efficient for you.  The "experts" all say that is around the 85-95 RPM range.  , Some people have a higher cadence, some people have a lower cadence - but the average is right there around 90.  That would be a good place to start.  You can get a cadence sensor that will pair with your watch so you can see what your cadence is.  Select the gear that has you in that target range and go from there.

Rod,

Glad to hear you're on the road to recovery.  I love the attitude - when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade!  Improving your swim will prove to be the silver lining in all of this.

Donna and Jo,

Sorry, I had just looked at Jo's post and then responded to Donna's post and there is a reason I am in the Gray Guys/Girls group . . . cause I'm an old guy!

Sorry about mixing your names up!

Scott,

Yeah, that's the problem with the trainer - it gets B O R I N G !!!  It will get better when you start adding intensity.  When you get there, TR works with a number of training videos like Sufferfest so that will spice things up.

When I am doing the long slow aerobic base rides I generally put on a series that I like.  We have all the NCIS, West Wing, and Original Star Treks   I have been getting series of some really old shows that take me back to my early teens - Emergency, Sea Hunt, Mash,  just got all the Flintstones so that will be fun to watch. I just run a marathon of something that will break up the monotony.  I generally put on something I have seen before so I don't have to "WATCH" it to enjoy it, that way I can have at least one eye towards what I'm trying to do on the bike.

I'm anxious to hear your overall impressions of Trainer Road.  I have been considering joining for some time.  I much prefer riding outdoors, but I kind of wonder if I am missing a good training opportunity with TR.

Scott - You're really talking some good TV viewing there.  Emergency and Sea Hunt were top notch.  I also used to like Tugboat Annie and I'd like to find/copy "The Silent Service" (about the US submarine service in WWII).  I watched it in the 50's but I recently found a book on the submariners and thought I'd like to see it again.

Just to mention one more.  Did you ever watch Riverboat with Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds?  I got to stay up an extra half hour to watch it.  Not sure why but I always liked Darren McGavin (The Night Stalker!).  Sorry, I didn't mean to get carried away.

Had a good weigh in today and knocked off a slow modest run and then a nice bike/trainer ride.  I'm going to sleep well tonight.  Our local weather forecasters are calling for +5C/41F this Friday and Saturday so I'm going to hit the hills for some repeats outside.  Can't wait to get away from the trainer.