Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete - Always OPEN (Page 13)

We've cooled off quite a bit today and for the next few days so I'm planning to run on the treadmill this week.

Steve - I have a sprint coming up in 11 weeks from today and I have been a slow runner for a long time - more of a walker - but when I run on a track I can run intervals at just a bit over 6:00/ km.  My goal for the sprint is 30 minutes or less.  I haven't been running consistently over the last few weeks but I'm planning to get myself going PDQ.  Any suggestions for increasing my pace off the track?  I was running on the track 3 times per week before Christmas and actually enjoying it.

I also ran two HM last October and November and I want to do them again this year.  I ran the Oct. HM just under 7:00/km.

Weight Loss Challenge:

Lost 1.7 lbs,

Swam 110.6 min/ Biked 253.4 min = 364 minutes.

Thanks for the swim advice Scott,  I'm looking forward to trying this all out tomorrow.

Weight Loss -

-1.2

Workout Minutes -

Swim - 472

Bike - 243

Run - 137

Total - 852

no weight change for me
workouts:
swim - 0:45 (estimate of time actually spent swimming during the swim camp)
bike - 1:20
run/walk - 1:46

Kind of an easy week for me although I did get out twice for a run and made it back to the pool.

Speaking of the pool - I went to a short swim camp yesterday.  The nice thing was that there were only 6 of us there so we had a lot of one-on-one instruction.  It was run by a local university's swim and dive coach and she had several of her swimmers there to help out.  We did a short warm-up and then she had us do a bunch of kick sets - streamline kicks and side kicks.  Then she showed us how that rotation applies to our stroke.  Scott - it was very similar to the drills you had me doing last summer.  In fact, she said she could tell that I had been working with someone who was a swimmer.  After that we did some laps of SPL to work on lengthening our stroke.  Mine was 12 per 25 yards - they said that was pretty good.  Then they did the videos - both above water and underwater.  She gave me 2 things to work on - keeping my fingers together during my stroke (I tend to spread them out) and "widening" my stroke.  I don't cross over but I keep things kind of tight.  There's another session next month that I might go to also.  She said for the returning students she would show us ways to build on what we learned this time.  I'd like to go back just to have the video done again so I can see if/how well I'm able to put her suggestions into practice.  I'll be trying things out tomorrow morning as long as the weather cooperates.  Thunderstorms today that may last into tomorrow morning in which case the pool will be closed.   

Janet

George,

I see there are a lot of posts and I admittedly haven't read everything yet so Steve may have already chimed in.  

Before you consider doing any speed work you want to get your base fitness back.  After you've got your base re-established, I would probably add some hill work before speed work.  Once a week you can do a treadmill workout such as I posted a few days ago or find a 4-6% hill.  After a thorough warm-up you can do 1'3' runs up the hill at ~ 10k pace.  Then an easy jog or walk back down the hill taking at least as long to recover as you did for the interval itself.  While doing that hill workout, I'd also be doing 2-3 Z2 runs per week, maybe a long one and a medium one.  You might also add one or two shorter Z1 recovery runs per week if you have time. 

After a few weeks of hill workouts, then you can add in a tempo run - a run at race pace or just over.  Then after a couple weeks of that, add in a speed workout.  A word of caution on speed workouts - especially for us "mature" athletes.   You are dramatically increasing the injury risk when doing speed work.  Under no circumstances would I do speed work more than once per week.  For older athletes I would do a hill workout one week and a speed workout the next week.  Following any speed workout, the next day would be a VERY easy Z1 recovery run.

Here's something to consider.  If you are training for long course - 70.3 or 140.6 - you can already run faster than you will run in the race.  I would give serious thought to the need for speed work given the increased injury potential.  For an Olympic or Sprint, you can arguably benefit from doing some speed work - however again, I would seriously consider the value of speed work against the injury potential.  For all distances, you will likely benefit more by raising your run lactate threshold heart rate than you will be increasing your top end speed.  You shift your LT by doing Z2 runs.

Just my two-cents.

Week 3: weight loss = ...Well after coming down with the Flu on Friday night and being flat on my back all Saturday I gained enough weight back on Sunday to only be a little over 6 pounds under for the week.  Due to sickness I am going to forfeit my weight points for this week and come back next week comparing the week's weigh-in with where I was on the weigh-in the week before I got the flu.  

               workout minutes = 384 minutes

               week's points = ??

               Cumulative points =  ??

I had to laugh when I read this.  You may remember Deborah B. (ok2try).  I've been working with her for some time now.  I "sentenced" her to a long trainer ride a couple of weeks ago.  She said she had no problem with the long ride - she'd get her supply of tissues and enjoy "Hamilton" because she was ready for a good cry.  I teased her a couple times about what really caused the good cry, the movie or nearly three-hours on the trainer.

Then this morning I get this in the mail -

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Only takes a pair of shoes to run . . . just sayin'. 

Good luck.  It's always hard to get the workouts in when you're traveling.  I remember once I was driving across the country for a race.  I figured the drive would be a great way to taper and it would be easy to get the shorter workouts in.  That didn't work out so well.

That makes me happy that you picked up enough that someone could tell you'd been working with a swimmer.

I'm curious if they made comment on your catch/EVF?

Here's an updated Gray Guys/Gals member list.

Just a reminder, please put your name in your signature so we know the "real you."

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Steve,

I have a confession.  My wife got me hooked on "Hallmark Movies."  It started with Christmas movies and then I apparently graduated to the entire collection.  I'm not to where I need tissues yet though!  My wife just smiles and says, "Give it time."

Here are the updated Weight-Loss/Workout Challenge results.

Kind of a mixed week.  A couple people were sick.  I think a couple of us were enjoying recovery weeks.  Remember -

"Weight loss isn't a physical journey.
Its a mental one."

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Hey Stephanie,

Opps, sorry I missed your post yesterday.  The stepper - oh my!  Isn't that some leftover medieval torture device?

Just a thought, you might want to check the supplement your Dr. gave you against the WADA list of prohibited substances/methods.  If a sports doctor gave it to you it's probably not on the list, but anything that "purports to be steroid-like" could well be approaching the fine line between OK and NOT OK.  We as athletes are ultimately responsible for what we put into our bodies.  I'd hate for you to find out after the fact that the substance wasn't OK.  Not in any way suggesting you're doing anything wrong, just saying prudence dictates you should check it just to be sure - especially when some over-the-counter cold medications can get you in trouble.  For the record, the likelihood you would ever be tested at the local age-group level is somewhere between "slim" and "not-in-this-lifetime," but who knows, in a couple years you might be in contention for a podium finish in Kona where the likelihood of a test is nearly a certainty.

Several years ago, when my weight really got out of control, I experienced a paradigm shift in the way I looked at food.  While I still struggle with weight, at least now I appreciate what food is and what it’s for.  Unlike in the past.

When I was younger, I swam competitively.  That means I swam a LOT.  And I ate a LOT.  At the peak of my swimming career I was taking in along the lines of 15,000+ calories per day.  Of course, I was in the water 8+ hours a day so I was burning every one of those calories off.  That freedom from concern over "calories-in" allowed me to “experience food,” rather than “need” food.  That became a problem later in life.

I had always looked at food as a celebration of life itself.  It had never taken much of an excuse to have an excuse to overindulge – chips and dip for the Sunday football game or NASCAR race, Sunday brunch every weekend, pizza night EVERY Friday night because it's just so damn good, donuts in the morning and dessert every night; the list went on and on.  As if the indulgences weren't bad enough, there was the daily “balanced menu.”  Potato, pasta or rice EVERY night on top of a menu built around highly processed foods, fried foods and sweets.  My mom’s words were always in my ear, “You have to clean your plate before you leave the table” (thanks Mom, those words are STILL there).  We couldn't go to bed at night without first having a piece of cake or a slice of pie.  Of course, the cake or pie had to have a scoop of ice cream; and not that cheap watered-down ice cream either, nope, it had to be Dryers or Ben-n-Jerry’s.

The weight gain I experienced was the predictable by-product of my nutrition plan.  I did not have a weight problem.  My body was doing EXACTLY what it was supposed to do – storing excess carbohydrate in the form of fat for “a rainy day.”

I knew I needed to lose weight.  I had tried “diets.”  They NEVER worked.  Sure, I’d lose a few pounds, and then just as quickly, I’d gain them back, plus a few more for good measure.

The definition of “Epiphany” says it is a sudden manifestation of the meaning of something.  My food epiphany took nearly a year however.  I guess that is sudden when you consider that food had been the center of my existence, indeed defined my existence, for over four decades.

My food epiphany came from two unlikely sources.  My wife was a service advisor at a Toyota dealership.  She came home one night and told me about a customer that had put diesel fuel in his gasoline tank.  My thought was, “Really?  What an idiot.  Don’t you have to go out of your way to put the wrong fuel in the tank?”  Then, just a couple days later, a gentleman in line at the grocery store was talking about his successful weight loss.  He made the comment that what he had been doing nutritionally was akin to putting diesel into a gasoline tank.

And the light bulb came on!  Food is fuel for the body.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.

Just that quickly I realized that for decades I had looked at food in the wrong way.  Food is NOT something you "DO."  Food is something you "NEED."  With that knowledge I could say, with absolute conviction, I didn’t have a weight problem.  I had a nutrition problem and a total misunderstanding of what food is.  My diets hadn’t worked because they were diets.  Proper nutrition isn't a fad diet.  It is a way of life.

I still love food.  Food is still as much of a social event as it always has been.  The difference is now, when I’m confronted with an inviting array of culinary temptations, I’m able to recognize and separate what I need nutritionally from what I want emotionally.

Changing the way I looked at food made all the difference for me.  Maybe it can for you too if you are still struggling with weight and you aren't sure why.

I actually wanted to ask you about that but I forgot.  I specifically asked her about EVF since she was emphasizing lengthening our stroke.  It just seems like it's hard to do both - how can I do the EVF and still do a full reach on my stroke?  She said once I'm fully extended to start bending at the wrist and that would lead into the EVF.  She suggested using paddles to help get the feel for it.  I've never used paddles before so I'm not really sure how to do that.  It kind of makes sense when I think about it - just not sure how to put it into practice.  Your thoughts on this?

Janet