MightyMojoMentorGroup -- (Full House!) (Page 149)

ALEX -

Really fine reports, and I will address them fully tomorrow.  Any side effects in the past two days?  If not, then I think you should feel almost buoyant.  Given what you've gone through, the weekend was a major coup, yes? 

Come to think of it, i wonder if you sandbagged us some.  I mean, somewhere along the line you managed to fit in quite a bit of decent training to make your way through those two events.  You weasel, you!

STEVE

I actually haven't been sandbagging... - my training has been very little this spring.  The only thing I have done with any regularity is bike ride.  I can count the times on one hand that I have gotten into the pool and on the treadmill... I am paying for it a bit as the muscle soreness was pretty intense but after getting a massage on Monday afternoon that really helped tremendously.  I think what saved me in both events is that my expectations were low. Saturday I did want a good showing but didn't want to risk Sunday's race with going out too hard and then with the weather that just made it a bit easier to go slower.  Sunday, I just really wanted to get through the distance.  I have never done that distance before and wasn't sure what to expect.  

I did plan out a training schedule to shoot for Nation's Aquabike as my A race so it is time to start getting busy.

I did want to let you know that the wetsuit really did seem to help my shoulder not bother me too much.  I was kind of shocked that I was able to swim 1.2 miles without a lot of discomfort.  I think it helped me to not over-reach and kept my shoulder higher in the water.

Anyway... I did put my Garmin information into the training logs for both my races so if you really want some data you can take a look there....  

I look forward to hearing more of your analysis!

Thanks!

Alex

#2 makes it all worth while -- it's a journey not a destination (especially for those of us in the over 45 crowd!!!!).

ALEX -

First, I'm doing this one race at a time, just because that's the only one I know to refer to them.  Second, I am doing this without access to your Garmin data, which I will find later.  Okey-dokey?

Good discipline on the wake-up and arrival times, and as with me, to do this is probably in your genetic make-up.  I ahve no problem awaking at absurd hours and being one of the first at the race site, which was pretty much how you were at Mossman, too. yes?  For now, you're just seeing the subtle benefits of arriving early, but if you do this long enough you will come to a race where it has downpoured the night before and the designated parking lot is under water except for 14 spaces, and you get one of them, and every arrival after #14 has to park at some "remote" 3/4 of a mile away.  Just wait!

Decent breakfast, tallying nicely on the glycemic index and providing ample carbs for a sprint.  No mention, though of what you ingested closer to the start and also during the race itself.  You probably should've gotten soemthing more in your system30-45 minutes before the start, and then maybe at the beginning of the bike, and definitely at some point during the run.  Not lots, just "top-up" amounts.

Picture a footbal field, and it's big, and even the most severe swim-wanderer would be hard-put to stray 100 yards during the course of a sprint swim.  So, I'm guessing the swinm course was mismeasured long, and possibly about 60-70 yards worth.  I'm assuming that for your straying ways, you never got radically disengaged from the pack/flow-line of swimmers, as in looking up and seeing no one in front of you, and then pivoting 125 degrees before seeing your cohorts again.  (If that happened......then maybe you did add 100 yards!

Wise move to be cautious on the bike.  Nothing can mess-up a messed-up shoulder more effectively than crashing on it, which can add a separation or a broken collar-bone to the pre-existing problem.  Oh noooooooo..........

Very fine effort on the run, and your pace should help offset the concerns that appeared in the form of swollen knees and sore right hip.  That's somewhat of a heavy cost to pay,, or at least that's what I was thinking as I headed into the Rev3 report.....but lo and behold, no mention of knee or hip roblems on Sunday.  Halleloo!!!!

Onwards!

ALEX again -

Starting at the end of the Rev3 report, I can guarantee you that few if any of the other participants did a race the previous day.  I think I wrote you last week and told you that it never ceases to amaze me the effect a Saturday race will have on a Sunday race, even when the first one is short.  (If I didn't mention this to you and just thought about it, let me know and I will regale you with some details!)

Moreover, you did not dog Pawling at all.....and the only way to ensure close to your best possible result at Rev3 would've been to go slack(er) with the bike and/or the run.  You did neither, and so you should feel very, very pleased with how close you came to the official cut-off!

You should also be pelased with your swim time -- 53 minutes is very presentable for a half-iron, and especially in your case with your, um, setbacks en route to the weekend.  You obviosuly know how to manage your stroke to avoid hurting or injuring your self while swimming, and that must strike you as a huge relief. Whew!!!!

Putting on padded shorts was probably the smart thing to do, just to give yourself piece of mind.  and if you are inclined to discomfort when riding long distances, then putting them on falls into the catagory of taking a minute in T1 to save you losing many minutes later on.  (That's a "category" based on something else; ask me later!)

Again, the breakfast was good as far as it went, but in a 5+ hour day you needed to fuel much more diligently and effectively.  I know you think you know that, and I'm just telling you you've got the right idea....going forward!

My big recommendation is to diversify from just Blocks, especially for longer distances (and that might begin at olys).  But defintely for anything beyond 3-3.5 hours in duration, your systam probably wants something that is less "formulated" and more "normal".  Think "solid food", and that can range from pretzels to Pringles to Fig Newtons to slices of apple to baby potatoes (ask about that later, too) to anything else that genrally agrees with you and gives you pleasure.  (My guess is that your go-to snack in the middle of the day is NOT Blocks, right?)

Missing that last aid station was a mistake, but having done it now I doubt you will do it again.  And FWIW, I am self-notorious for scrimping on food and fluids during a half-iron bike, and not just Back When; as recently as August '10 comes to mind!!  Hopefully, you'll be a "quicker study" than I've been!

Finally (for now), well down at those screaming downhills.  Wheeee!  But you might not like what i'm about to say, which is that despite what you say about needing to lose some weight to be a more effective cyclist, you benefitting on the downhills from having some amount of "extra" weight.  I can't remember who i wrote to just a few days ago about this (mighta been Dave), but extra weight on a hilly course can help offset potential time losses due to not great climbing skills by enabling the rider to have better momentum on downhills.  I am a good climber and few people pass mne on the ascents while i apss many......but on any given downhill I will have a Clydesdale I just finessed past going up, blur past me on the subsequent descent.  Grrr!

Encouragement is great karma, and I gassho in the gneral direction of the guy who gave you some.  I am quite chatty in races, especially to those whom I sense are in some difficulty, and there have been several times that soemone has found me post-race and thanked me for encouraging them.  So, next race, spread the good word to another racer, and start collecting the ever-valuable Karmic Bonus Points!

I will fnd you Garmin data later, but just on the surface -- massive weekend, Alex, and something you probably never dreamed, not so long ago, of being able to execute so well.  Kudos galore to you!!!

DAVE -

Great assessment of Savagecamp takeaways!

1.  It should be worth the cost alone just for the bike changes.  That is some radical "tweaking", to be sure.  I literally cannot begin to imagine what a 4" seat-lift would feel like....and that was just the beginning of the changes.  But how you describve it in terms of enhanced power transfer, well, that's what it's all about (see #2, coming right up).

2. Multi-year, for sure, or if you want to think of it differently, multi-multi-multi races.  But why I finished #1 with "see#2" is to say again that my former coach, Erik Cagnina, used to say that it takes 5 or 6 years of serious cycling to get to the point where one is a strong cyclist, and lo and behold, that's about what it was for me.  Power transfer IS important, but beyond that it takes a lotta riding to get adept with gearings, and to learn to consistently generate maximum wattage (part of power transfer, to be sure), and to do all this while pedaling at absolute maximum efficiency so that you can still run well off the bike.  And that's just the bike part!  Ack!  No mention there of swim improvements (yeah, they never happen for me!..........), or eventually becoming a strong runner, or........mastering nutrition.  Ack Ack! Ack!  BUT, patience and hard work are rewarded, and those 5 or 6 years will flt by.  Trust me!

3.  Three quadrants down, one to go.  Far better than my own "four quadrants still unaccounted for" status!  Did you end up feeling okay about the swim knowledge at camp?

4.  Yup.  If you're looking for a coach, shop around.  Having said that, though, make D3 Multisport your first stop.  Mike ricci is a phenomenal guy, and his stable of coaches is top-notch.  And beware of any coaching "system" that is nothing more than cookie-cutter plans given out to any number of roughly-the-same athletes.  That's about the same as a packaged 12-week plan, except the "coach" will charge you big bucks for the "privelege".

5.  Yes and yes and yes.  When I went to vegetarian in fall '03, the change was enromously colossal -- but oh so good!  i stuck with it religiously for aboyut three years, or until the constant cooking beat me into submssion.  I suspect I will return someday, however.  And FWIW, my two biggest-monster seasons were '04 and '05, so being a veg did nothing to hurt my performance.  It's not easy going that far, however, and it sounds as if the camp nutritionist had lots of sensibel ideas for omnivores. 

6. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JEFF -

I owe you a couple, which will appear tomorrow, sometime.  Any weather changes?

One quicky for now is Gatorade is okay.  It is the on-course drink in about 80% of triathlons, and familiarity is definitely a plus with any form of race nutrition. 

For KS, though, look into electroyte supplementing, esp a bit of magnesium to help prevent cramping (potassium and sodium will also help some with this, but magnesium is a hidden gem).  that's why i asked about Endurolytes.  But if you haven't played with them previously, those gel caps in your gut can be a problem.  Some people get around this by simply breaking the caps and adding the powder to their drink, but that can make the drink too salty.  I can handle the saltiness, but it definitely is not preferable.

More tomorrow.

ALEX -

I have pribnted out the garmin data and will look at them later.  But first -- which of the two swim HR summations can i believe?  They could hardly be any more different!

Some improvement in the weather high 90, wind 15 no gusts reported. That is a normal day around here. I am feeling a little head cold coming, pressure on my ears, some sleepiness, and just not performing well...ugh

I've been out of pocket hence my absence from the forum and not chastising Jeff for the inflammatory (and inaccurate) comment about 40-44 being "old woman" category. He's obviously in dire need of attention, so I guess his ploy worked. o.O

Welcome back, Johanne! 

GANG -

I'm switching gears into mountain biking training status. Going to keep a run/swim base going, but just enough to keep me ready to train for Redman HIM in September.

Oh, and yay OKC Thunder!!! NBA Western Division Champs! 

Sorry to hear about the head cold coming on.   Hope it doesn't come full force till after your race.   No matter what, I know you will give it all you've got to have the best race possible.  

Be careful with your health and take some recovery time after this race.   I know you feel strongly about hard and consistent training but I see you haven't taken a recovery day in months.   Doing a little 3km run or an 'easy' ride still doesn't qualify as recovery.   Which is when we actually get to the gains from our hard training.  

Getting sick, feeling irritable and sluggish, not able to sleep well, are just some of the signs of over training.  

Hope you have a great race!

NICE avatar!   Still having fun with your new nutrition program?

Sounds like the tri camp was fun and well worth it.   Hoping to go to one in Florida next spring. 

#1 - You must feel so liberated.   I had a similar situation with a bike fit - not quite as dramatic - but my legs felt so much better getting the full rotation and the difference in power was amazing.

#2 - Steve talks about this alot and I have found it is very true.   Every year I get better and better and it is DEFINITELY not just from increasing volume & intensity.   I like the way I see the bike speed increase 1-2km/hr every year. 

#3 - I'm surprised you could get any better at swimming!

#4 - SO true. 

#5 - SO true again.    I've always (mostly) done a good job on this, but I'm telling you, since I have switched to 90% raw in the last 4 weeks, I CANNOT believe the difference in my energy level, my ability to recover really quickly and I literally have been able to feel my body healing from the inside out.   People always laugh at me because I expect to train and race pain and ache free, but I think I am getting the last laugh.    My husband is seeing the same results from the switch in eating.

#6 - Glad you like the wetsuit.   I like them too because it does give me some extra speed, which I drastically need.  However, I really enjoy swimming w/o as well, but when everyone else is wearing one, I pretty much have no option, or I would be dead last !

ALEX:

Enjoyed the race reports.  Congratulations on doing 2 big events back to back.   Glad the shoulder didn't bother you.   Sounds like you know exactly what you need to work on for the next event! 

Like all your comments to Dave.   Re # 5 and nutrition.   I don't think I could ever go full out vegan OR vegatarian but one of the things I like about the raw food is there is so much less time in the kitchen - only juicer, food processor and blender which are super quick and easy clean up.   Took another raw food class and made some amazing dishes - a favorite was pesto pasta (spiralized zucchini) with mushroom/basil topping and 'parmesan' cheese from raw cashews and garlic.    If you take mushrooms, sea salt, and olive oil and marinate they come out like they are roasted.   Can do the same with all veggies like red peppers, onions, zucchini....  So good in a wrap.   Next purchase - a dehydrator! 

STEVE,

You asked if I was excited about Binbrook.   Yes and no.   Yes because it is the first full tri in so long and even though I have been lacking in bike and swim training this year (haven't even hit 1000km on bike yet and last year did over 4km) I'm not concerned.   Being able to run has more than made up for it.   NO, because the forecast is 25km/hr SW winds and cloud and rain.  And you know if they say 25 it will probably be 30.    The course is open farm land so we can REALLY enjoy the wind, , and there are ten 90 degree turns and two u-turns.   The first 6-7 km is into the wind, which I don't like because it is always harder to make up speed.    I don't know the roads and we are driving down that morning, which means up at 3:30.  

Anyway, I'm sure I will have fun.   This is just a practice training session for Leamington the following weekend.   Don't plan on going too hard on the bike.   Would like to give a bit more focus on the run. 

I had a really good training session on Tuesday - too complicated to put here, but briefly - did a 20km ride, took a 20 minute break, then commenced a multiple run/bike brick session.     20 minute w/u run; 16 minute bike; then run/bike, run/bike, run.  

The final 3 runs I was supposed to run 600 meters as fast as I could and totally surprised myself.   My pace was 5:11, 5:03, and 5:14.   I had NO idea I could run that fast.   The best thing was my max HR only got to 150 and my average was around 140.   That's quite low when my LT is about 160.  

I know I can't run 7.5km at that pace but it did give me some optimisim that I might be able to do a 6min km off the bike if all goes well.    The first and last 1.5km of the run course is on uneven grass.   They have warned us about it, so that might slow things down a bit.

My swim?  Well, let's just hope I can do under a 3min pace.  No guarantees, though.  

I don' t think you can trust either of them as I am pretty sure the Garmin is erratic for HR monitoring in water.  I don't think they claim it works at all!

STEVE - 

Thanks!  I do feel really good about completing both events.  It was touch and go for the Rev3 as at mile 50 I was so ready to just stop!

I have gone through BT and setup an aggressive training plan so I can get to the Nation's Aqua-bike in good form.  Are you planning on that event?  I am going to do some small sprints over the next couple of months and most likely the Park City Aqua-bike.  I am trying to get more organized at work so I can keep my training in order.

Alex

After taking Monday off to rest after the trip, the workouts are back on.

Tuesday I took it easy with a 30 min run and a swim. Wednesday I had my behind handed to me with a bike ride with my Wednesday Women group, 3325 ft of climbing! Not the ride I should of done the first week back in training but I'm sure it was good for me

This morning was a 3350 yard swim and this afternoon will be an hour on the bike with a 15 min brink run. I have a 1:15 run Friday and Sunday with a long bike in between.

I haven't gone to the chiro yet because my knee is feeling good but I want to get these 2 longer runs in to see how it holds up and then go next week if it starts getting achy again. Saturday I'm also doing my first open water swim of the season. 

My eating is back to normal standards and I'm feeling good. I don't regret a single pastry though

I'm off to work! Hope everyone has a great day.

Johanne

Alex,

I just got a chance to read your race reports. Great job! Back to back races are tough and these were big ones too. Looks like it's going to be a great season.

Johanne

Are you revving up for your Grand Canyon ride? That sounds like it'll be a blast.

ALEX, oncemoreaboutthetwoRRandassociatedHRdata -

The big thing that leaps out at me is that your bike HR is so much higher than the run RR.  For most people, it works the opposite, and for me back in my HR days, my peak running efforts were always accompanied by higher HR than peak bike efforts.

So what i think this tells me is that there is nothing wrong with your cardio, and that if you could run pain-free and train consistently, you would make enormous inroads into your current PR paces.  And while you are discouraged with your "running history" and skeptical that it will ever improve, I really, really hope you don't give up.  You only have to look at ANNE's case to see someone who spent a couple of years almost literally/entirely on the running shelf, and who now seems to have finally resolved the issues that kept her there for so long -- and if both enjoying AND succeeding at running.

Anyhow, it is easy to see how hard you worked on the bike --- and also where the going got tough, presumably topographically (esp. Rev3).  And you entered the Sufferzone at about mile 47, which is what you said in the report, and which you attributed to nutrition.  I wonder, though, what role was played in the previous three miles with their awesome mph numbers to testify on your behalf.  I guess that represented a one or two massive descents, but you could enter a troublesome zone if you were working hard at spinning frantically to stray on top of your gearing.  Do you remember how you behaved over those three miles?

The Pawling bike data show nicely the lag effect of HR and speed, with your HR taking a few minutes to max-out after you had crested the high point of a given effort.

It's also kind of fun (for me, now; likely not for you, on Sunday) to see the decline in average HR over the last few miles of Rev3 (it shows better on thr graph than in the table), which is perfectly predictable in one who has kind of hit the wall.  I guess that's the body's way of coping with serious disaster -- force the athlete to slow down so as to prevent completre collapse (literally).

I think that's it for now, but I will look at the data again and see if anything else emerges through the haze of numbers!

How are the legs today -- and yesterday as well?

The thought about over training is noted. I have been doing my own mental status exams as well. There are additional psycho-social stressors in play not related to triathlon and I don't always compartmentalize well. My wife has been showing similar symptoms the week or so prior to mine-fatigue, frequent urination and sinus pressure. In addition she complained of lower back pain/pressure and abdominal discomfort.

We are getting lots of rain here and this rained out my ride home last night, I cut my treadmill run short and got some rest. Somewhat lessor symptoms today. I will hydrate, add some electrolytes and get some OTC cold meds.

Thanks, it was taken at the rainy St Patty's Day Sprint Tri - I think you can see me frowning because of the rain...lol! 

Having a blast with the nutrition - still learning new recipes and not worrying too much about weight loss right now (although don't want to gain any). My son has been staying with us the past few evenings and I made kale chips last night - he loved them. Today I'm cooking the yummy barley, lentil and mushroom recipe for him. Btw, I've learned that green lentils don't turn to mush like regular lentils do.

My mtn bike buddy is trying to get me to quit dairy. She says adults don't need it and most of us can't digest it or something....and it also causes cellulite. I'm just worried about osteoporosis now that I'm an old woman. Don't want that dreaded back hump and broken hips.