Jim Kelley's (Birkierunner) General and Long Course Group (OPEN) (Page 12)

GROUP FOCUS: I would appreciate being a part of this group.

NAME: Mike

AGE: 47

STORY: In 2012 it happened that I was in Louisville to watch my son play football the day before the Louisville Ironman. Since I was there I decided to stay to see what this was all about. I was up bright and early to watch the swim start. The atmosphere was electric. Music was jamming and the athletes were getting ready. As soon as the cannon went off and athletes started jumping in the water I turned to my wife and said I'm doing this next year. I had never done a triathlon, didn't know how to swim, hadn't biked more the 15 miles at any given time, and had never run more then 3 miles in my life. My wife laughed it off and said ok. As soon as registration opened I signed up for the 2013 Louisville Ironman. It was 10 long months of learning everything I could about all three disciplines. I'm proud to say I completed the 2013 Louisville Ironman and am looking forward to many more.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with five children. Ages 25 to 18.

2015 RACES: Ironman Chattanooga - Goal is to improve my overall time by 2 1/2 hrs. I don't have to learn everything, so I feel it's achievable with the help of mentors.

PLAN: I'm currently training with a small group utilizing an Ironman distance training plan. It's difficult for me to understand and do the prescribed training for each day. I like simple.

Edited by livelifefreely 2015-02-03 9:54 AM

Yeah I'm not necessarily experiencing it as a bad thing, especially since I'm training for the full distance where the low HR/economy thing is more useful than pure speed, but I feel like I wanna capitalize on the form to get some other nice performances in. 170 is not low and you're right, in the past it was so easy to get my HR up, now my easy runs are at 130ish HR, I could never have run a decent pace at that intensity in the past. Just got back from a nice swim session, did 16x100 descending 1-4, 5-8 etc. First time doing it but I really liked it as it seemed that time was going much faster than had I done all 16 100s at the same speed, and a nice way to vary my tempo a little bit.

Good morning all. I have been lurking around looking for a mentor group since I fell off the band wagon last year. I haven't yet read all 12 pages of the group but I will. If there's still space, I would like to join.

Here's my "bio"

name: Pierce Hodnette "phishinphan"

Age: 38 and counting

About me: married with 3 boys, 6 4 2 My wife is supportive of my training as she has seen first hand over the years how much better I feel about myself when I work out consistently. That said, I try not to let my training interfere with family time so I'm up before dawn on most days.

Experience: I was always active growing up but we moved around a lot (not military) so I never learned really how to stick with something long term. We finally settled down in my high school years and I played basketball and tennis. There was no track, or soccer at the small school where I went. In college I played basketball pick up games fairly regularly but was not a gym rat. After college I didn't really work out and started gaining weight. I got up to about 240 a few years ago and finally had enough. I started running a couple miles regularly. The training plans I read *but didn't really follow) included "cross training" days so I started cycling. I met up with a group of guys that kept the same workout schedule I did and the were all triathletes so I started training with them. I have since lost 45 pounds and down to a good healthy 195 (I'm 6'3") . My first year of triathlon and racing was 2013 and it was rocky. My first sprint event was cancelled due to weather. The second had a shortened swim due to water temperature and weather but I finished. Then I did my first ever 10k and had a good time for me but not up to where I want to be. My training buddies were all looking at half distance tris but I knew I wasn't there yet so I signed up and completed an Olympic. I had to walk more than I expected and I totally messed up my nutrition not taking in near enough calories in hind sight. I signed up and started training for a Marathon thinking I would focus my efforts for a season on running more so than the other sports. Life happened and I got an opportunity for a significant promotion and move to Ohio from South Carolina where I was living and pretty much able to train outdoors year round. Moving to a small town in northern Ohio put a big time roadblock in my training. I eventually found a running route and group to run with that pushed my paces. I ran my first ever half marathon this past October and again bonked. My training was not consistent leading up to the event and I hadn't run longer than 10.5 miles since November of 13. I finished in 2:01 missing my goal pace due to all the walking I had to do in miles 10-12. I was woefully under trained and inexperienced. So here we are now, I'm committed again to my goals. I have my A race picked out at Cedar Point 70.3. It will be hard. I will have to train indoors more than I want but I will meet my goal!

Goals: My long-term goal is to complete a full distance for my 40th birthday next April. My training schedule is limited with the boys and wife being my priority but I am confident I can make this happen! My A race (and likely only tri) for 2015 is the Cedar Point 70.3 in September.

Current training: I am still getting used to running inside and have not yet put the bike on a trainer, but that's coming. I have focused on running the past year and have seen my pace improve significantly. I run 3-4x a week. Tempo, Intervals, recovery, long. I have a YMCA near where I work and I will swim there at lunch 2-3x a week. For the rest of the winter/early spring I will have my bike on a trainer 2-3x. I have not yet started a dedicated training plan as my A race is in September.

What makes me a good mentee? I'm a beginner so I have a LOT of questions. I have only completed 2 triathlons to this point but I love the sport and the lifestyle. I love reading forums and through my reading and research I like to share my limited knowledge. I'm not afraid to be wrong or ask questions. I have a lot to learn.

So I had planned a tempo run this morning. 15 minute warm up at marathon pace, 20 minutes 5k - 30 sec pace, 15 min cool at marathon pace. But instead the 6" of snow with wind we had yesterday gave me a nice 1 to 2 foot deep driveway to shovel. I got a nice core workout instead

I hope you all have a nice workout/work day. Next week I begin my tri training. I have to clean up my bike and trainer for indoor use, and find my swim gear.

Edit:
For those of you like me and stuck on a treadmill in the winter, I tried the Sufferfest running interval video called Steamroller. It was awesome, money well spent.

Edited by phishinphan 2015-02-05 7:35 AM

So I found a awesome cycling place in Dayton Ohio that bases all of its' classes on your HR zones AND it kicked my a$$ last night.. To be fair, I based my max HR (204) on a run V02max test and I think it may have been a tad bit high... The workout for the day was 32 (yes, 32) intervals from zone 2 for 1 min to zone 4 for 30 sec... It was a great workout and actually quite difficult to anticipate my body's response time and get my HR in the correct zone at the correct time. But, with my max at 204, I felt like I had to crush it to even get my HR to 80% max which made for a long difficult ride.

So, are my biking HR zones significantly different from my running ones? I love BT's MaximumTrainer but after last night I don't know if I am slacking on MT rides... Also, I did the FTP test on Maximum Trainer which I figured would help me determine my zones but can't figure out how to see this info.

Please school me on what I should be doing to ensure my trainer rides are helping my IM training!

From what I have read (i'm sure others have more experience in real world and will chime in) but you could expect to see fairly significant differences in your max HR and corresponding zones on the bike and run. I haven't tested that theory any personally but it's on the interwebz so it must be true.

I think there is traditionally around a 10+ BBM different between max run and bike. I was around this as well but that gap has shrunk a bunch as my bike legs have become stronger this winter. Basically, my legs were not able to push as hard as my heart could on the bike. I think that's pretty common.

Don't forget it's also possibly a matter of how trained you are at each discipline. In general I think for most it's possible to get a higher heart rate more easily with running, and for a long time I was the same way. Until last season when I was solely focusing on cycling and found I could hit 190+ in cycling (sprinting), something I previously deemed impossible for cycling, but possible for running. I'm not too sure as to the technicalities especially since I'm quite often baffled by the disconnect between RPE and HR but just to throw that out there.

I just found out that Sufferfest offers a monthly subscription. For $10 USD per month you have access to all their videos. I'm trying it for this month. I just did A Very Dark Place. I'll have to try yours next time.
I'd rather have the videos but it's a good way to figure out which ones you like first. Or if you just need a month or two of videos to get you through.

Speaking of indoor trainers videos - all of the videos are pretty much higher intensity or intervals of some type. Is there any value to a long steady session on the trainer? Should be doing one once a week?

Thanks!

I haven't figured my CP yet, I had technical difficulties on my first attempt.
Luckily my race is later in the season and I am hoping to get a jump on some riding in on vacation in April.

Those videos are no joke. I own Angels, The Hunted and Hell Hath No Fury. Kicks my every time but its been a few months since I have done any. I didn't realize that now had sub based. If you really plan on using long term it probably makes sense to buy 5-10 videos for $100. That works out to 10 months. There was a great thread on ST reviewing all the videos.

Been out for a bit. Post marathon cold, but it was probably good since I needed the rest and recovery. Its been nice to read the posts about indoor trainers, since I'll be starting triathlon training again soon, and plan to do a couple of rides per week on it. Has anyone used trainerroad? I just signed up for it and watched my husband suffer through one of the sessions. Just wondering if anyone had suggestions on workouts from their program when IM training.

Also, could everyone please post their a, b, and c races for the year and I'll compile a calendar each week of upcoming races so we can be sure to cheer each other on.

Happy training! One more weekend off for me (maybe...if I can stop myself) then back to the pool and bike!

Yeah, I think I am going to invest in some. The $10 was a nice option for me at this point though and I liked that I could try them first. If they added new videos on a regular basis the subscription idea would be better.

My "A" race is not confirmed yet but I am aiming for the Challenge Maine, August 30th, half distance.
My other "A" race is my favourite race, Ingonish Triathlon July 5th. I'm undecided if I will do sprint or olympic (suggestions?). I guess it depends on my training for the Challenge.

B races - I'm looking at the Escape Fort De Soto on April 12th. Sprint distance. And Port Hood Tri, July 12th.

Edited by Kaper 2015-02-06 4:25 PM

I use Trainerroad and love it. Started by using the Sufferfest videos and corresponding workouts. Was also nice to use their virtual PM before I bought one and establish a FTP to measure progress. the 20 min test is hardest workout I have ever done. I cursed nearly every min.

Currently, I have been using their workout creator. I can take the workouts from my plan and then create custom ones TR. Makes it much easier to follow along on laptop

Have not used any but definitely heard great things about their training plans.

A race- IMAZ on 11/15, first full
B races- Bayshore 70.4 on 3/7, damn that's in 4 weeks...better start training, Kawela 70.3 on 8/15 and Silverman 70.3 on 10/5
C races- Malibu sprint 9/20

A Race - Challenge Saint Andrews 70.3 (July 5th)
B Race - Duncan Hadley Olympic Distance (June 21st)