Funked Up Triathletes (Sprint, Olympic Focus) Group - Closed Until Next Season (Page 12)

OK Jesse, after our PM’s I’m officially asking to join your group.  Better late than never, right?  I’m actually looking at it at getting a jump on the new Mentor season starting in December, so technically I’m early.  Since I’m a newcomer here, a bio is in order.

NAME: Tom Hutches/Ttom, current AG 55-59

STORY: At age 51 I had never been involved with any sort of regular exercise or fitness regime.  For a number of reasons I decided that had to change.  Joined a gym, hired a personal trainer, and started walking every day.  Walking turned into running which made its way to racing.  In my first year of racing I did 3 marathons and 10+ half marathons.  Not the fastest (PR’s 3:42 and 1:44 respectively) but got the job done.  Started developing injuries related to all the miles so decided I needed to add some non-impact aerobic conditioning, biking and swimming.  Didn’t take long for that to morph into my first sprint tri (last summer) and I was hooked.  Honestly, I like the training as much as the race (well, maybe not the swim) so it is a continuous win for me.  Did my first Olympic at Pacific Grove in 2012 and afterwards set my sights on a HIM for 2013.  In July this year did the Vineman 70.3 and loved every bit of it – until the last two miles of the run when it got really tough to maintain my pace.  As I posted in my RR, “I saw recently that if you puke before the finish line, you went too hard, if you puke after the finish line you didn't go hard enough, and if you puke at the finish line, you left it all on the course. Well, I didn't quite puke on the nice volunteer who was removing my timing chip, but as soon as she was done . . .”  I had hoped to finish under 6 hours and ended up with a 5:41, so was really happy.  Then, I had to do Pacific Grove this year to see how I had developed as a Triathlete and PR’d it by 19:41.  There’s a bit of a story that goes with that race if anyone is interested. 

FAMILY STATUS:  Married, 3 kids, one grandchild and another on the way.  Two dogs that own the house.

CURRENT TRAINING:  That’s the question.  This will be my first serious off-season of training so am figuring it out.  For 2013 YTD I’ve done 212,000 yards swim, 2881 miles bike, 569 miles bike.

2013 RACES: Tri For Fun Sprint, Vineman 70.3, Pacific Grove Oly.

2014 PLANNED RACES: Vineman Full, Pacific Grove Oly.  Will find others earlier in the year.

WEIGHTLOSS:  Weight is in the 145-150 range depending, with body fat recently measured at 8%, so don’t really need to lose weight.  I’ve actually seen weight gain over the season due to muscle development, so I’m more focused on keeping body fat under 10% than on weight.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD GROUP MEMBER:  I’m not the most experienced but I’m really interested in learning, which means I will likely ask a lot of questions that may benefit the larger group.  I’m connected frequently and so stay current with what is going on in the group.  I really enjoy the training and the physical diversity of the Triathlon lifestyle, so hopefully that will translate into being a supportive member to the group.

Thanks Chris, looking forward to being a part of the group.  I was actually very surprised when I looked at the swim totals and had to make sure that there wasn't an extra zero in there somewhere.  I honestly had no idea I'd swum that much.

So, off-season training.  I've been mulling this over and haven't really made any final decisions.  Thought I'd do sort of a stream of consciousness segment here to get some feedback.  Here goes . . .

I've only got one full season under my belt, and last year at this time I really didn't even know what races I'd be doing this year.  Off-season training was minimal and definitely haphazard.  Next year however, I'm planning on doing my first 140.6 (the Vineman and since it is not a WTC event I can't call it an Ironman?  OK, I'll just use the common IM then!) in addition to a number of Oly and Sprints.  To me, this means base building now to create a really solid foundation for the actual training in prep for racing.  The training plan for the IM will be up to 20 weeks in duration, which leaves about 23 weeks before that starts for the off-season bit. 

Discipline thoughts:

Swim - I did my HIM at a pace of 1:40/100 and if I can do training that will allow me to maintain that speed for the 2.4 mile distance, I think I'll be satisfied.  I've still got a lot to learn about swimming, but really don't think that I can make such a huge improvement that I'll be able to shave a lot of time off of the overall IM time in the water.  So swim will likely be more of a build volume to maintain that pace.  However, I know I do have a stroke imbalance from breathing only on my left side.  I've use a coach for a few sessions and she strongly advocates bilateral breathing to fix this and I simply haven't done it because I found it too hard and didn't want to let my training take the hit.  Now is the time, however, and I'm going to do it.  I learned to swim distance by using an on-line program called "swim a mile in 6 weeks" and had great success with it.  I'm going to take that same plan and use it to become proficient at breathing on my right side.  Thought is to start the workout with the swim-a-mile bit, then when done with that portion, finish the rest of the workout left-side breathing or, if I'm feeling comfortable with it, bilaterally breathing.  This should be interesting . . .

Bike - HIM was at an average speed of 19 mph and took 2:57.  That was on my road bike with clip on aerobars and now I have my early Christmas gift from the family of the Cervelo P2.  I'm thinking that the new bike will pick me up 1-1.5 mph by itself, but remembering the distance is 2x.  It is on the same course as the HIM, so fair to compare.  I'm new to the bike really, so probably have some gains to be made and have become a recent convert to Trainerroad.  I think that the workouts there will help a lot but I have to also get more time in the saddle on the road.  Conservatively I'd like to at least maintain the 19 mph for the IM, but would like to do 20 or better.    This means I need to put a lot of training time on the bike.

Run - HIM was 2:00, so an average pace of 9:11 - but with poor execution.  I went out too fast, knew it at the time but it felt so easy, and ran out of gas on the back half of the course.  I will need to get quite a bit of mileage in the running shoes and figure out a way to control the "off the bike, run fast" habit that I seem to have developed.  I've actually toyed with the idea of walking the first 5 minutes of the run just to get things to settle down, but hate that idea on general racing principle.

Current complications - I'm in recovery mode right now.  1) Just getting over the Shingles which is quite a painful proposition.  I say getting over and mean from the active signs, but everything I read says the neurological pain can continue for up to a year.  It is pain without muscle/joint injury, so I am choosing to use it as a method of learning to deal with and train through pain - something that may come in useful during the IM, no?  2) Bruised heel - stepped hard on a sharp rock just before the start of my Oly 2 weeks ago and bruised the heel badly.  Sports podiatrist says 2-6 weeks before I can run on it.  So until then I'm rekindling my love affair with the elliptical (started with an ITB injury from running) and discovering how much one can really sweat.  Great aerobic value but boring as spit.  3)Also during the Oly managed to dislocate and fracture a finger that requires splinting.  Thus, no biking in the great outdoors, limited to the trainer.  This is OK as I know it is short term and I have only a few more sessions on my Base I Trainerroad plan until I get to do a second FTP test.  I'm anxious to see if I've many any significant improvement since I started these sessions.  But it also keeps me out of the pool as I can't risk smacking my finger on the edge of the pool during a turn.  I'm going to look into some sort of a hardened splint to get around this - if there is such a thing.

So broad thoughts: 

- Next few weeks dedicate to getting hours on the bike with hard trainer sessions and once I can get on the road, longer hilly rides.  Running will be elliptical, so aerobic base building.  Swimming, well we'll just have to see what I can get away with.

- 40 weeks out from the IM, move into the BT 7-10 Hour Winter Maintenance/Prep Training Plan - 20 Week (HERE) but perhaps switch it up a bit to add additional bike focus.

- 20 weeks out from the IM, move into the BT 20-week IM plan.  Won't decide on the Beginner or Intermediate until just before starting and will choose based on fitness/health at that point.  I like the BT plans because I've been able to move the training around to fit my lifestyle and because they automatically add to my training log and even my Outlook calendar so that I can see what is coming up from wherever I am and thus plan accordingly.

I'm not married to any of this at this point, just wanted to get it out there.  Thoughts?

Hey John, thanks for the welcome.  Yeah, shingles is the real deal.  I've seen the commercials on TV advocating getting the vaccine once you hit 60 years old, you know, the ones where they talk about the searing pain?  Didn't really pay close attention as I wasn't to that age milestone yet, but I think there was some truth in advertising there when it talked about the pain associated with it.  The onset was weird.  It started in my lower back and I swore I had torn a muscle there, but could not figure out what I had done.  Made an appointment to see my doc in the after noon, and between making the call and getting there the rash showed up making the diagnosis a quick one.  All the blisters are gone but still have active pain radiating from my spine all the way around the ribs to the belly button.  I'm planning on a recovery just like yours - thanks for giving my body the instructions it needed!

Note to all - if you have friends or family over 60, have them get the vaccine!

John, since you don't have a real finish time in mind, I like the concept of using the run to gain knowledge.  Personally I'd use it to practice achieving a solid negative split.  On the uphills just shorten stride and maintain the same RPE to conserve some energy.  It'll cost you a small amount in time but will pay off on the back half of the course.  Perhaps take your last HM time and reduce it by the percent you think you are undertrained, then split this race into a front and back half where the front = desired average race pace + 5% and the back = desired average race pace - 5%.  If you feeling good at the end at that pace, push it a little if you want to learn more of what you are capable of in a race situation.  It'll be a fun learning experience.