Cav's Group - Closed (Page 12)

Hey Pattie, I hope it's not too serious!  It doesn't seem like it could since it doesn't hurt when running.

Wish you a speedy recovery Pattie. I hope it is not something serious.

Last week, I asked about how to determine the long run distance. After doing my long run and reading Stavros' response (thanks again Stavros), I checked the subject from the "Training Bible". Friel says that long runs should be between 20 and 90 minutes, AND it should be done in Zone 2. I was doing my long runs way too slow according to this information. This morning I did my long run at Zone 2, and it was certainly harder. I'll see what it does to my times.

Today's long run was 66 minutes long (I was intending for 80 minutes but I did not have time for that). I went much faster to keep my HR up. The distance was about 14 kms (guesswork, since I do not use any GPS devices, and my foot-pod was not working somehow).

Also, this period (my Base 2) I prefer (again info from the Bible) doing my shorter runs at Zone 3, sometimes using hills, which surely feels hard at this time of the season.

Just wanted to share the experience.

Happy Friday!  Big plans for the weekend?  I've got a swim/run workout this afternoon before going to a small get-together.  Tomorrow is our tri club's group trainer ride.  I'm not riding this week, but my husband is.  He's the victim of the threshold test this week.  I'll be assisting the instructor this time.  Then Sunday is a bike/run workout.  I have Monday off from work, but I'm planning on coming in at least for a half day.  That way I have NO guilt about ignoring work on the weekend.  What's on YOUR schedule?

Nice to see some people are still exercising on here (I know I haven't been...it's been 4 days, I think...).  I plan on restarting the 100 push-up challenge and the 20 pull-up challenge.  A friend of mine and I are also signing up for a Tough Mudder run on May 2.  I did do this today:



I do need to get the saddle fit right as I have only gone on one ride with the aero bars...it weighed in at about 20.5 pounds...I didn't think much of it anymore considering it's age, but the guys at the local bike shop were drooling over it...they were saying how Litespeed doesn't "build them like this anymore"


Edited by ferretracer 2010-02-13 6:45 PM

Cool bike, Erik!  How old is it?  I know very little about bikes. 

Today was a rest day.  Tomorrow is a 5 mile run and 60 min trainer ride.  Whoop!  Now we're watching Olympics. 

Thanks Pattie!  The frame (Litespeed Catalyst, 58cm) and fork (Look carbon) are about 13 years old, the rear derailure (can't spell it), handle bar and stem about 18 y/o, the aero bars are brand new, the FSA crank arms are 2 y/o (but new to me), the front (Mavic Helium-nice and light!) and rear wheels are about 12 years old.  Not sure about the seat.  The right brake shift lever is new and the left brake shift lever is 3 years old (but I bought it this past summer).  The rear cassette is set up for acceleration- 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23 teeth and the front is 39/53 with 170mm cranks (short for criterium turns so you can pedal through the turns- my last set had some scrapes on the bottoms from hitting the road while pedaling). It's a Frankenstein bike that is mostly leftover from my road racing days ('95-'00)

Nice bike Erik. 58 cm is large, so I presume you are not a small one either How tall are you? And also you may do better with 172.5 cranks for triathlons. There are not lots of turns in tris.

I know that Litespeed frames are good, and bike's weight is very good. I have been intending to weigh mine for sometime now but I still have not. I will do it this week and post it here. I think mine will be way over 10 kgs (22 pounds). I have bought mine in 2003, it still has the same front-rear derailleur, brakes, chain. I must have done at least 30000 kms, and the parts are still good. So I think your bike parts will serve you good.

What kind of races did you do when you road raced? Criteriums, stage races, time trials, all?

I hit some monster hill yesterday with my bike. I could climb the hill using 53-19 or 53-21. I used 53-23 (aka granny gear, although I cannot see any grannies climbing 10% hills ) yesterday and I remained seated whole ride long. I climbed the hill 5 times. My max HR was 157, my average climbing HR was like 149-150. In the season I could climb those hills hitting 170 or higher and much faster.

I think that my run HR is also lower than what it was.

So, my point is what Pattie said some time ago. I think my LT values for both cycling and running are lower and I really should re-test my values and train accordingly. This week is my rest&test week. I will do LT test for cycling and running and a 1000 or 1500 m TT for swimming plus 1-2 more swimming sessions. I think I will be testing them again every 1-2 months from now on.

By the way, Erik I also bought a simple door pull-up bar last week and I am doing 2-3 pull-ups whenever I visit that part of the house. We will see how it goes. I am not trying 20 pull-up challenge instead I am doing "grease the groove" method described by Pavel in his book "Naked Warrior". I will report about the results 1 month later.

Nice job on the hill repeats Burak!  Is the Naked Athlete one you would recommend?  The only athletics related book I have ever read was The Inner Athlete by Dan Millman.  I don't think it is published under that name anymore.  Dan Millman is an inspirational/life lesson type of writer.  His most famous book is The Way of the Peaceful Warrior- basically his journey to Oneness with the Universe.

As for the cranks I had considered going to 172.5, but decided when I bought these back in December that I would stick with 170 because it is what I am used to and what I have my bike set up for and also because I love go sprint down hills and take turns hard.

Today was the second time this year I ran two days in a row.  The first time my left knee didn't allow me to go very far onthe second run.  This time I did 1.67 last night and 2.06 tonight and did not have a problem at all!  I was hoping to get out to swim, but the pool was closed for a couple nights and last night when they were open I opted to run.  I will swim Thursday night and try some of the techniques previously listed by a few of you to help with mytechnique.  Last time out swimming was not good technique/breathing wise (first felt great with breathing, but not technique).  Good luck to all!  And, anyone else considering joining our virtual 5k?  I may end up running it instead of doing the eliptical for it.  It'll be a good challenge for me to run that far!

Erik, here is the link for "The Naked Warrior". The key point of the book is if you do not have access to weights you can do 2 body-weight exercises and they would be enough for strength purposes: one-armed pushups and one-legged squats. I know, they are very hard to do. The book offers many tips to gain the ability to do this 2 exercises, one of which is "grease the groove" method. This method is basically doing submaximal sets whenever you have the chance. For example do 2-3 or even 1 pull-up whenever you go near the pull-up bar. This way your muscles will not be spent, and you will do way too many pull-ups (or any other exercises) thorough out the day. He also recommends this technique for at most 2 different exercises at the same time. The book is one of the fun strength books to read, with the summary being what I wrote here.

I will look up Dan Millman today.

As for swimming, did anyone missed this thread? There is a link to a very good underwater video of Grant Hackett's 1500 m. Looking at the video I realize how early his forearm makes the 90 degree angle and starts pulling. I have to concentrate on my pull some more.

This morning I made my 1500 m swimming TT.  30:18 is the time. 500, 1000, 1500 split times are:
500 m   -> 9:50
1000 m -> 10:08
1500 m -> 10:19

So, a slight degradation towards the end, though it surely did not feel slight especially the last 300 m. I was very hungry

I think this is my new Personal Best. I had a previous 29:30, but I think that I miscounted the laps that time. I will try to beat this PB from now on.

If you consider 53-23 to be granny gear, then I dread to think what the 42-24 I was using to struggle up a (probably no nore than 3%) hill this morning is!

Sorry Stavros, my bad. Not 53, but 39. I was using the smaller gear (39) on the front. Sorry to get you thinking.

Not to worry, it gave me motivation to push a little harder up the hill so maybe it was a good mistake

Well then, next time I will climb a 12% hill with a 53-11 gear combination. Think of what you can do when you read about that, LOL.

Thanks for the swimming video link and the book link.  That video was something else to watch!  I t gave me a live swimmer to watch while thinking about the different things to try that were mentioned earlier.  It actually helped me better envision what I need to do in the pool in terms of arm motion (I was envisioning the pull wrong).

Ahhhhhh, using the 53 going up hill...how I miss those days...getting back to that is something that I am aspiring towards with my cycling...my rotating weight on my bike is pretty light- I do need to look into new pedals.  Mine are pretty old (about 15 years old) and fairly hefty...I tried Speedplay a few times a while back, but didn't like the lack of a "platform" to push down on...I need to weigh my pedals to see what they are to get a better idea of wether or not it would be worth the $ to upgrade.  Of course, getting rid of all this snow and getting on my bike will be the best optio for improving my cycling!!!

Erik, I bookmarked that video, and I will return to it again and again. I am trying to improve my pull, but I am still far away from Hackett.

As for the pedals, I have been using Look Keo's for 3 years now and I am pleased with them. Shimano pedals look also fine. I know just what you mean with "lack of platform" problems. I cannot imagine a road pedal with smaller area, I just would not be comfortable with it. From the photograph it looks like you have similar pedals, right?

Well, today was my sports med appt and I have no answers to my problem.  Frustrating!  The xrays were clean (good).  Doc thinks it's either a soft tissue injury (ok) or a stress reaction (bad).  Stress reaction is the beginning of a stress fracture.  I also suspect my orthotics are part of the problem.  Doc wants me to see the orthotics guy (fine), but he is out on vacation until March 8 (WTF?).  Really, 3 weeks?  Arg!  Until then, no running for me.  I'm banished back to the elliptical.  I'm not happy, but I've been here before.  And I've come back from this before.  Last time it was a stress reaction/tiny fracture and it was more like 8 weeks than 4 weeks.  I'll take the 4 weeks.  Guess it's a good time for those bike and swim focused weeks I needed to schedule.

Yikes!  Sorry to hear that Pattie!  I have found the elliptical a good time to catchup on TV, though!  I hope it is just soft tissue and that it'll be a quick bounce back.  I know recurring injuries can be frustrating.

I got back from swimming a little bit ago and I'm quite happy with being able to do the "new to me" techniques mentioned about not pushing with your arms the whole way, only after your arm is at about 90 degrees.  I felt really good.  My 100 times went down each of the 5 I did from 2:27 to 2:15.  Overall about the same as the previous swim, but I felt better.  After that I did a 200 (my longest of the year) and then 25 fast/25 recover.  My 25 fast (5 of them) were slightly slower than last time, but I did squeeze in the 200 in between which I did not do last time.  My breathing was still as struggle except when I did the fast 25's (yards for me, not meters).  My fast 25's calculated into 100 were only about 20 seconds faster than my 100's...maybe I should try to keep the faster pace longer since it felt better...we'll see!  Swimming is my weak point, so why not experiment!  Also, on the 25 recoveries, I did the close fist swim- very challenging!

Pattie, I hope it will be the better option for you. Speedy recovery.

Last night, I made a 30 minutes all-out effort run to find my LTHR. And it was 165!!! I was training thinking it was 175-176, which was my average HR rate at a 10K race (my only one so far) last May.

What are your experiences about this one? I am doing no speed work at this part of the season. So, is it normal for my LTHR to decrease this much? I know that race LT and training LT may be different, but 10 beats??

All my run paces will be different from now on.

Well, after a two week break at the insistence of my physio,(shin splints and the shoulder injury, plus having to look after then children during school hols) training starts again on Monday. Ties in quite well with transferring my Gym membership to a much nicer gym and its a £1 cheaper !
            Itching to get going again. I get grumpy when I don`t train and actually ache more. Swim and bike it is!

Ah Chris, that sounds positive!  Hope the shins and shoulder are doing fine after their rest!  Great on the gym change, too!!  Nicer and saving money- can't beat that!!

I'm going to map and run a 5k tonight (I'm feeling ambitious).  Unfortunately that meant no beer with friends after work...

Woo hoo!  I did a 5k tonight (well, 5.04K ).  It felt really good.  I did it in 30:10.  My time out was 15:48 and back was 14:22 for an under 10:00/mile pace!!  Also, I signed up for a 6k race on March 21 (it begins and ends at a Pub).

Welcome back Chris. Happy trainings to you in your new gym.