McFuzz's New Athlete Group (CLOSED) (Page 12)

Lana,

Thanks for the recent posts!  I'm glad you enjoyed a week long break and that you've come back recharged. 

I liked your race report too.  (Nudge, Nudge...there's a feature here on BT where you can create an "official" race report and it'll be easier to find it a year from now. 

Nice Lana. I bet you'll be surprised when riding with cleats. They do make a lot of difference!

Originally posted by el penguino I'm happy to report it looks like I'm picking up a cheap bike trainer off craigslist- nothing fancy, but better than nothing! Now, how to organize workouts around that? I'm suddenly going to have too much to do. And hubby says my rims/wheels have arrived for Frankenbike, and they are sweet. I think he's jealous. Better than his bike's. ran yesterday and today, did not have time for a swim (pool is only open certain times; and I had an appointment). Tomorrow I'm planning a last outside run before the snow hits, then swim on Wednesday- I haven't been in the pool in a week!

My first trainer was picked up used.  The thing with a trainer is there are no stop signs and no downhills where you can coast.  My experience has been that whether I'm listening to music or watching a video, the moment my mind starts wandering away from riding, my effort drops.  I'll count cadence (count 90 strokes and see how much time has elapsed) and I'll sometimes do "song intervals" where I'll go easy/hard song-by-song or hard for the first minute of every song. 

Are you riding tubies on the trainer?  Maybe he needs to pick up a cheap clincher rim/tire? 

I saw something amazing on TV today. There was this program where two "famous Belgians" do challenges to see who is the best. Today one of their challenges was racewalking. So this guy, who is Belgian champion racewalking, thaught them how to do this. And then he told his best time over 10km was 48min. I was like, DANG! This guy walks faster then i run. So I went looking on internet to see racewalking is an official olympic sport for men (20 & 50km) The world champion racewalks 1h17mins over 20km ~ 12.42 miles.

I was really amazed at the speeds these gentlemen walk. Now all I want to do is AT LEAST run faster than the Belgian champion over a distance of 10km. Can't let these men with silly walks beat me

My grandmother race-walked before she died and my mom race-walks in the Senior Olympics! 

My 10K PR is 47:42, so I could probably hold off the Belgian champ! 

You don't generally need to train at distances greater than the race.  Why does your plan have you running 12 miles unless you are also training for a half-marathon? 

I have taken ice baths after long runs, but usually just stretch some and I may wear my compression socks.  During my IM training, I'd get a deep tissue massage about once a month.  If you do a deep-tissue or sports massage, expet to feel like the therapist is trying to tear you apart and you may feel feverish for a day after.  (They are basically doing that, and your body has to flush out the stuff worked loose from those muscles.)  Also, don't schedule a deep-tissue massage right before a race.  The muscle development needs time to adapt to the different motion characteristics after the massage.  Think of it this way...if you have very tight calves, your running gait adapts to this "limitation" in training.  If you have a massage and now the calf muscles aren't so tight, your gait changes and your calves need time to strengthen for this new motion. 

I'm no training plan expert but I share the opinion of Mike. Why 12 mile runs if your goals is 6 miles? I read that if you train for smaller distances, it *can* be nice to do a slow run that is a bit longer then your goal. But 12 miles is more then just a bit longer. Saying all this, I do plan on running longer then 6-7 miles if all the running goes well. And i'm only planning on doing that startin in 1 or 2 months. Reason behind this, is because if the OD distances all go well, I want to try HIM next year. And apart from running, I know the other two disciplines won't be a problem. But if a HIM in 2015 is part of the plan, I don't feel like a couple of months in the winter trying to focus on the 12 mile distance will give me enough running experience to actually make me adapt to that distance. And also I want to test to see if I can cope with 12 miles of running.

As for recuperation, I know all the technical mumbo-jumbo around it but i'm not really into all the sportsnutrition etc. because I just want to keep it easy. But here are some tips you can always do. Within half an hour of your training, there is a window where you should eat/drink something to support the recuperation of your muscles. It has been proven that this 30min window is very important. Now, you can buy (an expensive) recup shakes or you can use the "poor-mens-recup" shake. This basically is low fat chocolate milk. The one you make with chocolate powder yuorself, not the ones you buy pre mad. So buy low fat milk and cocoa powder en drink about half a liter of this. It contains sugar to refill the energy you used up, no fat (good) and most importantly proteïns!!

What you also can do is mix a banana in a blender with (low fat)  quark. This is even better. Natural sugar from your banana, low fat and even more proteïns. Its sour though so I add Stevia in it. This is a natural sweetener which gives 0 added calories! Tasty, sweet, cheap AND no chemical stuff.

If people are interested, I know a guy who makes his own sportsdrinks. It really isn't hard to make and is about the same as the (expensive) ones you can buy in stores. And again, its pure components mixed with water so you actually KNOW what you are drinking. I can look it up and give some explanation about it if interested. I do have to say its more to be used in biking as I don't really have any idea about what kind of drinks you use while running (or after you just swam).

Originally posted by Kate_r Not checked in for a while as life's been manically busy. Trying to juggle work and training is ever complicated, especially as 2 night this week I've got to attend dinners on behalf of work that throws out the training and on top of that I'm at a conference all weekend!! Other than that I'm doing OK, +ve's this is recovery week! I weighed myself and it looks like I've lost over 6kg since the start of the year -ve's I have a cold, it's not enough to stop me training and is proving a good prompt for taking time to relax/sleep and drink lots of fluids. Fingers crossed it'll be gone soon.

Congrats on the weight loss!  Keep up the hard work. 

A powertap stays with the wheel and can be moved from bike to bike as long as the bikes accept the hub width (most newer bikes have the same 135 mm dropout spacing) and have compatible drivetrains.  So if both bikes have Shimano Ultegra 10-speed drivetrains, the wheel can be easily moved.   You might be able to swap cassettes (it's a 5 minute job with the right tools) if the drivetrains are semi-compatible.  (So you can swap Shimano cassettes probably even with SRAM cassettes, but you can't usually swap them with Campagnolo cassettes.) 

I don't know whether it makes sense to put a powertap hub on race wheels or stick it on regular wheels.  Obviously, whatever you put it on you'd expect to ride in training more than racing (unless you can afford TWO powertaps!) 

There may be other options, like iBike to get power as well. 

Hi all!  Just checking in!  Looks like I'm not the only busy soul this week!  It's amazing how some weeks fly by while others crawl.  This week is definitely flying!

Kate--congrats on the weight loss!  Great job!

I have another big volume weekend coming up.  I was really hoping to run outside Saturday, but another winter storm warning heading our way.  With that we usually get brutal winds and if there is one element I despise running in, it's the wind.  Funny enough, I don't mind cycling in the wind at all.  Absolutely hate running in it though. 

Keep up all the good work friends!

I rather go biking in the rain, than in Wind. I rather run in wind then in rain :D

I see no reason into why a bike focussed plan would make you do longer runs then your goals is set at.