Scott's Mentor Group-Closed for training. (Page 13)

Ouch! Thanks for answering.

Jeff-Good luck with the transition practice.

This is some of the best training you can do. But 160 still seems a little high (not knowing much about your rates). What are your aerobic ranges? The more we train within our aerobic zones, the faster our body becomes within those zones. 

Ok, I blame it on Scott!

but then do I have to give him the credit as well?

You can't put out a challenge like that!

I continued to stretch the heck out of my back and got in the hot tub as much as possible. I also kept it lubed in icy/hot as much as possible. And.... I havent' missed a workout. I got in my full swim (1800) yesterday and was able to do it again this morning. I also just got back from a 5 mile run at lunch. So far no bad effects on the back.

Tomorrow is the real challenge. Trying to do a brick of the 25 mile bike ride, followed by at least a 5K, depending on how I feel may give the 10K a go but this would be bonus and not in the original plan.

Sunday is supposed to be a leisurely 5K.

I'll keep you posted on how it all works out!

-Matt

he he - now I have a picture too!!!

Tried on my new wetsuit - have to get it wet and sinch it up a little.

Great swim just now - 1500 yards, 200,200 and then a race distance of 400 yards - 6:42 - love that!!!!!!!

And I had gas in the tank - transitions - took me a minute to get out of that tight fitting wetsuit.  Need to get it wet and stretch a little - working on transitions!!!

OK - I am totally addicted and can't wait till my fir tri next sunday!!!

Got in my 25.5 mile hilly bike ride and went for my 5K brick. Was feeling good so pushed it out to a 4.5 mile run! Times were not off my usual and I wasn't pushing it and happy to report the back is holding up, so all is good!

-Matt

Good morning all,

   Got a 75 min swim in yesterday, feeling very confident with my drills now, ready to start actually swimming timed laps, my biggest challenge is still avoiding the panic that come with my breathing getting out of sync.

   I also had a decent ride afterward, 17 miles in an hr. I was nearly eaten by a dog. I noticed him flying towards the road (2 lane rural highway) at a dead sprint, owners standing outside smiling and laughing doing nothing to deter him. I stood up on the bike and gave it hell! I was moving at 28MPH when he finally gave up and faded into the distance. I deal with things like this alot where I live, in addition to harassment by motorists. This has turned into a limiter for me at times, because some days I dread getting out on the bike unless I am traveling somewhere with a group.

    Got up early and ran 5 mi. this morning. Having some pain on the bottom of my foot, hoping this will go away soon. I am gonna start my official plan on Mothers day.

 As far as diet goes I am going to start the engine 2 diet 28 day challenge tomorrow. My current diet  involves no meat, but I do eat seafood occasionally and cheese and greek yogurt. I like to cook with olive oil and put oily dressings on my salad. I will be cutting alot of these vices out starting tomorrow. I am going to weigh in and take all my measurements. I am very excited to see what this diet does for my training and general well being. The diet is based on ideas presented in the book "The China Study" and seen on the documentary "Forks over Knives". The guy who wrote this particular diet is a professional triathlete and claims it has helped his performance tremendously.

   Would love to see a more in depth discussion regarding diet on here. Have fun with the training all!

Great to meet you as well Troy.  Am looking forward to the running of the bull over the summer.  Not a great race for me.  21:12 on my watch.  Sub- 20 will have to wait for more volume and consistency I guess.  

After the meet I hit the pool for 2500.  Am tired and at work now.  Long ride tomorrow followed by a transition run of 20 minutes.  Really putting the achilles to the test this weekend.  How are you all doing with the challenge?

Great! I did 950 in the pool this morning. No sprints. I took it slow because the pool was >90 degrees. It was like swimming in the bathtub. After the pool I took a bike ride (mostly hilly) and this afternoon I did 50 minutes of yoga. All I have to do is my 4 mile run in the morning and I've done all my scheduled workouts this week.

Troy and Scott-Glad you enjoyed your track meet. Sorry you didn't go sub 20, Scott.

Brian-I've found what works for me nutrionally at the moment but I'm sure it can improve. There's always room for improvement, right? That's the extent of my knowledge, though. It's a confusing subject.

Matt-Glad you had a good ride and run!

Jeff-Great pic!

Train well, everyone!!!

Great to hear about everyone's training and races, it's very motivating.

I began swimming lessons last week -- I'll be taking 2 per week. It's a good thing, my swim style was completely inefficient. On days between lessons I'm getting to the pool as much as I can, so a total of probably 4 or 5 swim days per week. Today I did balance and stroke drills for half an hour then swam 600m.

Yes 160 is higher than I would like it to be. I am still a very new runner, really didn't get serious until my first 5k in April. I am also out of shape and overweight so that is attributing to a higher HR. When I run at race intensity my HR is usually 186-190 so under 160 is pretty good right now. Another thing that isn't helping is because I have to get up so early with my schedule to run (4:30am) I have caffeine about 45 minutes before I run. I've tried running with less or without but lack motivation. Hopefully with lots of running over the next 18 weeks the weight and HR problems will go away.

Another break-thru workout yesterday!!

Rode 14.2 miles (race distance) at race intensity pace @ 16.7 avg mpg. This was my best avg speed so far. Then 2 minute transition (getting faster) and 1.3 mile run at 10 min pace and didn't cramp up for the first time. Transition legs are getting here finally! Swam yesterday afternoon but was too exhausted after morning workout and 2 hours of yard work to really accomplish anything so it just turned into pool fun with my boys.

I am headed out right now for a nice 20-25 mile ride at a recovery hear rate pace.

A side note: A few years ago I was 250 pounds and couldn't run outside .5 mile without feeling sick. Today I'm 6'1 @ 189 pounds and training for a Triathlon. Pretty cool

Just to clarify ... have you done any of the HR threshold tests that are suggested to narrow down your ranges? The Joe Friel test is a 20 minute test that is, in my opinion, a good one to use. HERE is a link.

And you're making the common mistake that a lot of people make ... hoping your heart rate comes down within a certain pace or effort level. The best approach is to hold yourself to YOUR appropriate aerobic zone (that will depend on your age and your max rate which is mostly genetically determined) and then let the paces come more naturally.

This is frustrating for some people, as they feel they are going way too slow to stay within that zone. But within 2-4 weeks, their paces improve dramatically even though they haven't allowed themselves to move outside of that personalized aerobic zone.

This is the key to the mantra "you have to run slow to run fast". As we train ourselves to be mindful of running within certain zones (recovery, general aerobic, VO2, threshold), we can actually be much more deliberate about getting the most from our very hard workouts. If you're running too hard in your every day runs (which is why I brought up the thought that you might be working too hard), you cheat yourself out of more miles and the best workout for your "fast" days ... those are the things that make us faster.

I hope this makes sense ... and I'm happy to expand on anything.

*********************

I'm about to head out for my last long run of the cycle. It should be 22 or 24, but I'm going to just let the run come to me and take it from there. I'm a bit more fatigued that I'd like to be from yesterday's races, but I should manage fine. 

Thanks for the information. I do understand and agree with what your saying. I have done that test and another one on the treadmill to establish a baseline. I have no trouble riding my bike in zone one (recovery). In fact this morning I rode 1 hour 50 minutes with a avg HR of 117 as a recovery from this weeks training. With running however I cannot get my HR much lower than 155-160. In other words I can't run any slower. Ive asked several coaches and researched this form and a few others and found many people new to running and especially overweight have this problem. The good thing is unless I am doing the test wrong at 155-160 I am still slightly below LTHR and therefore aerobic. At this point I could run/walk to try and keep my HR lower.

Also for the last 2 years one of the things that has helped me lose a lot of weight is interval training. So I'm not necessarily new to running as much as Im new to long distance low heart rate endurance running. For the last few years I've been training anaerobic and I understand that now. I am willing to learn and absorb as much knowledge as I can (that's why I'm here) so if you have any critique comments suggestions please keep them coming.

So I have completed the challenge and got in all my scheduled training. I knocked out my 5K this morning and was looking to keep going and hit the 10K and if that was good to keep going.... well at the 5 mile mark I had to bang a HARD right and SPRINT for home. I'm choosing to blame it on Troy for over sharing the other day!

My bowels need no encouragement or reminder that they can pull this nonsense! While on this topic, what are suggestions people have to avoid this "condition". I've tried to monitor my diet prior to doing any longer runs to avoid this but it usually doesn't work and 9 times out of 10 when I'm doing a run of 10 or more miles by mile 8 (if not sooner) I'm desperately looking for the port-o-potty or making a venture into the woods and coming out with one or less socks!

-Matt

Me too!!!!

Take care of that ankle Troy. Congrats on the epic training this weekend!

Met all pay my targets last week. Two weight sessions, ran twice (including one outdoors), swam twice (800 yards each time), biked twice (outdoors). Took a rest day yesterday and rode 30 miles on the hills outside of Philly. That was intense! Travelling for the next two weeks with no access to a bike so its strictly running and swimming for a bit. 

- David

Had a blast at my first race of 2012.   My 10 year old son finished too!

Definately not last in my new 50-59 age group, but my times were off from last year except for the bike. I  slowed by a minute on the  350 yard swim, slowed by 2 minutes on the 3.2 run. Technically I dropped several minutes off my bike time over last year - but in reality I upgraded to a nice road bike from a commuter.

I'm going to focus on running for the next 2 weeks - I have a 3.5 miler in Albany on May 17th, and on May 18th I hope to get clearance from my eye doc to race.   The next race I really want to do is  August 4th - so 2 weeks is not a lot to postpone registration.

Great job meeting your goals, Dave!

Ben-Congrats on the race!!

Right on everyone.  I'm hearing some fantastic things.  I had a 2.5 hour ride today followed by a 20 minute transition run.  One thing I have noticed about running off the bike.  I have a difficult time knowing my pace.  I can usually within 10 seconds know how fast I'm running, but when running off the bike I have found it to be difficult.  

My run today is a good example.  I thought I was running about 9 min. miles.  When I looked at my watch; 7:45.  Holy frijoles.  I kept that pace, because it felt somewhat easy, and my HR was in check.   Anyway, just some thoughts.  My ankles feel okay, a bit achey right this moment, but considering what I did this weekend they feel great.  

I'm happy to hear most everyone met their goals.  

What's next for you?