Hashers and Mashers Part 2 - OPEN (Page 13)

No Mike, I am not currently following a plan per say!

Now that I can swim again I was thinking about following the MWF swim/bike TTh Run, Bricks/long ride Sundays.

Mostly though I have just been training by feel! No set volumes or distances. Mostly just building base.

Done 1:30 on the trainer, it's mentally tough while you're doing it, but as soon as I got off it felt like not much. Maybe I need to increase the tension?
I found a 45min trainer workout on YouTube, done that after a 15min warm up, then done a spinning video. I think I'm going to have to buy some training DVDs to make it interesting. But overall I'm just so glad to have the trainer and have done a proper workout on a day I wouldn't have done anything had I not bought the trainer.

You're talking about training plans... I'm still not sure which one to follow, the distances/times on the sprint plans are too short for what I'm already doing, but it seems too early to start an Oly (I'm planning on doing a sprint at the beginning of May, one in June, possibly one in July, and an Oly at the end of August and another one on September). Do you all follow BT plans? Free or membership ones?

Regarding training plans

To chose a plan when I started, I googled free plans and compared several then chose one I liked. Choosing a plan really comes down to a few things, namely

1. How much training time do you have per week?
2. What discipline do you need the most work in?
3. How much training can your body take without breaking down or becoming too tired?

The answer to these questions change over time and so should your plan. I suggest picking a free plan on BT or elsewhere then modify it to suit your needs. If the distances/times of a plan seem to low, go ahead and increase them. Most plans follow a few basic rules such as

1. Have a rest day
2. Build for three weeks ~10%/week then step back ~20-30% on week 4 to allow your body to recover
3. Have some hard intensity workouts and some easy
4. Have some brick workouts
5. Taper the last week of training

For my last few tri's I loosely followed a plan from Gale Bernhardt's book Training Plans for Multisport Athlete's which I recommend along with Joe Friel's Triathlete's Bible. I put Gale's HIM plan on a google spreadsheet so I could access it from anywhere. Here is the link if you want to check it out

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ar5EpJvYM2b1dEs0VjFhZlR...

A few things I changed due to my time constraints.

1. I didn't do any strength training opting to use all my time for SBR. I don't necessarily recommend that approach.
2. I only did 1 or 2 swim workouts per week since it is the shortest leg of a tri. When I was learning to swim, I went 3x per week until I could swim 2500-3000 yards without issues.
3. I rearranged things until I found my ideal schedule was as follows

Monday AM off
Monday PM swim
Tuesday AM run
Tuesday PM bike
Wednesday AM off
Wednesday PM swim
Thursday AM run
Thursday PM bike
Friday off
Saturday long run
Sunday long ride

That said, I rarely if ever hit all 8 workouts, I typically hit 4-6 workouts due to time constraints, fatigue and/or motivation.

Hope that helps.

X2 => Mike's advice

Just crushed 40 mins if strength training, and 1000m continuous swim

Nice! Feels good to use words like "crush" when describing workouts.

First bike ride of the season and since June of last year. Not too bad I guess. Still getting used to the clips. Nice weather down here today. 30 minutes and a little over 7.5 miles.

This leads me to a question. Socks or no socks with the bike shoes? Preference? Any real advantages to either one?

Btw. seeing my Neurologist and getting an ECHO done tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Markus

Depends on weather.  I don't notice a difference in general comfort whether or not wearing socks.  It's not comparable to running; if I run without socks I get blisters, if I bike without socks I don't notice I'm not wearing them.  Unless it's cold.  So basically I don't wear socks because it's one less thing to have to wash unless it's cold enough outside (and we're talking like 50 or below for me).

Best of luck tomorrow!

Edited by Fresno_Joe 2014-01-26 6:35 PM

Good luck tomorrow.

Socks for me. The pros of no socks are a few seconds off T1. If you put your socks on then roll them off so they look like condoms, you can roll them on wet feet quickly.

Your right a nice day today 70F and lake water is 57F just about my tolerance for OWS... Goodluck tomorrow man

Tay - I really liked Gale Bernhardt's book that Mike mentioned but if you are only looking at Sprints and Oly's then it may be more intense than you need - atleast for this year. Definitely have a look at Mike's excel file it really sums it all up.

I still swim 3 days a week but I'm still hoping to get a bit faster otherwise I would just swim 2X/wk as well. Plus I may have a full course event in my future if I completely lose all my marbles.

It will be a lot of fun when we all get into our events.

Edited by wenceslasz 2014-01-26 8:35 PM

Markus - Good luck tomorrow. Nice ride for a start. Hopefully it felt pretty good.

On the socks issue, my limited experience is pretty much as Joe and MIke say. I get blisters with running but the bike seems fine without socks except as temps get lower.

Let us know how you make out tomorrow.

Am I truly mean "crushed" i don't think I have ever done a continual 1 km swim before.

I just started swimming, got to my 200 m mark for my warm up but instead of stopping I said lets do 500 m. Got to 500 m said to my self lets keep going do a race distance. Then around the 700 m mark this couple hoped into my lane no verbal warning at a turn around that they were going come in, so I amost ran into them twice because the first time they surprised me the second time they were on the wrong side and they only swam two laps and left its like the jumped into mess with my swim (grrrrrrr i digress), At this point I said to hell with go for 1000 m. At 900 m the life gaurd told me tehy had to move the ropes i asked for two more laps so I could finish the 1000 and he cheered me on.

On longer rides i wear these little compression ankle socks and its like my feet are in little coccoons I also really like them on the run, but other then that on shorter ride as long as the weather is nice I don;t wear socks in my bike shoes i don;t know why just don't really like too i guess.

And neve when I am on the trainner. But lately I have been just wearing my shorts on the trainner because i have been over heating. I bought a fan yesterday to cool me down. Can start to put in some more longer efforts. Catch up to you crazies!

I better step up my game!
I just happend to leave my nicest googles at the pool the other day

That's a good incentive! Will definitely sit on that trainer more the next week!

Managed to jog 3 miles today (walked 10min and then jogged the rest), and so far so good, not in anymore pain than I was before, so I'm hoping by the end of the week I'll be back to at least the same distances I was before the crash (maybe not the paces though).

I had a glance at the excel and it looks good, might make a few changes here and there but it's definitely closer to what I'm doing already.

Go fir it bro!!! My Aquasphere goggles broke while i was about to go for a swim and swam without it good thing its a lake , i sent a 1 page complain plus pictures to Aquasphere one week later they sent me 2 goggles. So i am giving away one for motivation

Edited by strykergt 2014-01-27 12:10 PM

Hi all...

So did a swim and run today... not far though 1500yds then 2.2 miles... but still... very cool... and really like the training log here!

So the bike trainer deal... any suggestions for brands etc.. what to look for.. I'm good for outside until summer then it's hello 110+

Thanks! Mike

Where do you live?  I'm in Fresno, and even in the height of summer I bike outside.  I've gone out mid-day in mid-summer when it's 110.  Not the best option, but with lots of water and sunblock it's doable.  Usually though I'll bike in early to mid morning, and it's no problem at all.

But if you feel like you need a trainer because the alternative is to not spend time in the saddle, then it strongly depends on what you are looking to spend.  I've got one I paid 60 bucks for on Amazon and I'm happy with it, but I ride it very rarely, and if I spent more time on the trainer I'd probably want a better one.  You get what you pay for, I'm sure.

I use a cycle ops fluid trainer I got used on Craig's list why I like. Fluid trainers are quieter than magnetic trainers. I've heard good things aboutKurt Kinetic trainers too but have never used ones. I also ordered an industrial fan. You will sweat much more on a trainer without the natural breeze.

I opted for a Kurt Kinetic trainer and I like it a lot. I've heard the CycleOps are every bit as good but I chose the KK because it is very stable. Both are very quiet which is important. In my cycling class some of the cheaper trainers are very noisy. When you get 30+ riders spinning at 100rpm it gets quite noisy. I would say that the CycleOps trainer is a bit lighter than the KK which makes it more portable if you're going to cycling sessions like I do.

I recommend you put a towel on the floor under you while riding. Even with a fan it is amazing how much you can sweat. In a hard class I can't tell at times if I'm sweating, crying or drooling. But it feels good...when I stop.

I also have the Kurt Kinetic trainer I really like the set up very secure very easy! Also if I ever max it out (like that will happen) you can order a larger fly wheel which will increase the resistance!

Back into the swing of things. Had a nice bike ride today, going for a long run Tuesday and Wednesday. Might start boxing again, because apparently I need to fill every minute of every day.

This is the one I got last week and I'm very pleased with the noise levels (I'm doing downstairs while the kids sleep).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_86tH6zyMg