Dodgersmom and Doughboy's Group -Full (Page 15)

Happy Thursday all! 

Let's see...what's new in Marcyland?  Not really a whole lot to be honest with you.  I guess that is not a bad thing.  Workouts are going really good this week.  I am starting to get back into the groove of things and not wasting time trying to figure out how to get out of doing them.  Well, it's still a struggle with the swim but even that is getting better.

All confused this morning.  My alarm went off and I looked at my clock and thought that I was late, and must have hit the snooze too many times and not realized it.  Jumped out of bed and started the shower.  It was then that I looked at the clock in the bathroom and realized that I was way early.  So, what's a girl to do.  Option 1...get on the treadmill and do my 30 minute run or option 2, go back to bed for 30 minutes.

OK...this was not getting out of the run.  It's going to be 80 here today and why would I waste the opportunity to run outside?  The plan is to run to the gym to swim tonight.  So, I went back to bed for 30 beautiful minutes of sleep.

30 minute run to the gym and then a nasty 3100 swim tonight. 

but the swim is your friend. You must embrace the swim. :P

Can you guys recommend something for recovery? I would like to get something that not only reduces recovery time but also helps reduce injuries and after workout pain.

Hey Lina. I'm sure there are those that know more than me but i'll put in my .02 for what its worth.

What i have found since I got into this nutty sport was that for your run, 90% of all your runs should be done at your Base or zone 2 pace. What this will do is train your heart to pump blood more effecintly so that when it becomes time to race your heart will not need to pump as fast to supply your muscles with the same amount of oxygen.

Most  people I have talked to recommend base training for 6-9 months before getting into any kind of speed work.

Once you have a solid base going then you can start adding some interval training (speed-play, fartleks whatever they call it). This should only be done once every week or even every other week. A good thing would be to get in contact with a local runners club. Lots of times they will have a "track night" once a week or so where you can get in your intervals. If you cant find a club there's all kinds of different interval workouts you can locate on-line.

Basicly what an interval is is a workout where you have sprints or higher intense runs mixed in with normal or recovery runs. Of course one should always make sure they warm up properly and stretch before doing these as you will be pushing you body pretty hard. This is another reason it is important to have a good base before starting these.

I havent done any myself this year But I hope to get in contact with some others in training as soon as this weekend. I like doing them also because they are fun and really break up the monoply of doing so much base training.

Mark - At the risk of sounding dumb - what would zone 2 pace be?

Not at all Lina. When I was talking about zone 2 i was meaning you Heart rate zones. When traiing for an endurance sport one of the best ways to do it is by closely monitoring your heart rate and train accordingly. Zone 2 mean the second of 5 heart rates as shown in this article i've linked below. This article will give you a good run down on training useing your heart rate as a guide.

http://www.rungearrun.com/resources/salzone.php

You can get really into trying different test to determine your personal max heart rate, which is what they base the 5 zones on. But a simple guide to get you started is the old fasion 220 minus your age. That will get you a gross estimate of what your maximum heart rate is. then you can used the guide to find out what your differnt zones are. There are more accurate ways of getting your zones, and it is certinly worth looking into them, but I jave found that most times my zones are within a few beats of the standard anyway.

Great question about HR Lina  I agree that you should be doing the majority of your long runs in HR zone 2.  The best way to get your HR zones is to do an LT field test.  I just did one last weekend.  Here is how you should do it

Run should be done on a track whenever possible.  Warm up for 10 minutes.  After the 10 minute WU, hit the lap button on your Heart rate monitor.  The main set is 30 minutes and you need to run this at a pace you can maintain for that that amount of time.  That is the key, you need to keep your pace consistant for 30 minutes.  After 10 minutes of your main set run, hit the lap button on your HRM.  At the end of 30 minutes, hit the lap button again and then do a 10 minute cool down.  Your LT is the average HR for that 20 minute period.  In your training log, there is a place to store your HR information.  Select run and put that average number in the LT box.  It will then calculate your zones.  220 -age is not always good. If I did it that way, my LT would be 177.  It is really 166 so I would be training at much higher zones than I should be.

Hope that is not too confusing.  If it is, I can try to make is easie to understand!

Morning! I'm back. A week of vacation and no 'tri' related workouts, it was great.

Back to the trainer today and Crossfit.

Lina,

What they said^^^^. This is sage advice. Long slow runs are one of the staples of a triathletes run diet, if you will. I've been doing base work for several months, I just started throwing a few speed sessions into the mix about 3-4 weeks ago.

As far as lifting goes, I'm focusing leg weight workouts on building power for the bike. Extentions, hamstring curls, calf raises, and interior and exterior hip exercises. I do these at medium to low weight, 3 sets of 15 reps. Make sure the weight is light enough that you're not working the muscles to exhaustion on each set but the final set should be challenging.

I'm sure these weight sessions contribue to my better run times but better run times are just a happy byproduct.

Hope this helps.

Thank you to everyone for such great advise and guidance.

After this week's training is over (this Sunday), I have decided to take a week off from training, so that I can give my body some time to recover from my multiple injuries.

Marcy - I think I am going to get a HR monitor and try to do this LP test when I get back from my week's rest. Do you have any recommendations for a HR monitor?

Mark/David/Marcy - I am going to take your advise and try to stick to the pace for running you guys recommend. Hopefully with this I will be able to do more distances than I have been able to do thus far.

This is great. I am so glad I joined BT and this group especially. You guys are awesome.

On another note, I was supposed to get a short bike ride in this morning, but unfortunately I am still drowsy from the muscle relaxer I took last night. Will try to get in the trainer ride after my short swim tonight.

I did have a recovery suggestion, but I'm not sure whether a "Burger and a beer" is all that helpful for recovery.

I think I like the Beer suggestion better than the Ice. No offense Erin.

Why not do both? Enjoy your week off. Don't forget to stretch everyday. I little light stretching in the morning and then again at night can do wonders for your recovery.

I'm not Marcy, but im sure she'll echo my comments.  We do our LT Tests on the trainer more often than outside simply because it is more repeatable.  For the same reason, you'll find that most LT Run tests are on a track.  We can get on the computrainer and repeat the test almost exactly the same every time as it relates to conditions.  You can't expect the outcome to be exactly the same on the road and inside, but it will give you a good comparison to measure gains.
 

Good question Kristen,

I like to do mine very 6 months.  The thing that I have found is that my run LT has remained the same sine I started doing the tests.  It is 166.  What I have foind, is that each time I do it, I am faster at that heartrate.  That's what this training is all bout, being able to go faster at teh same HR.  This time I was a minute a mile faster.  I'll take it!

You don't really know until you do it.  The last 3 times I've tested my Bike, it hasn't moved but a beat or 2.  My run has been virtually the same too.  But like Marcy says, the number may not move too much, but how your pace changes at the same LT's is what matters.

Well I couldn't wait. I went ahead and did mine on my 90 minute bike rides this morning.  The one thing that jumped out at me right away was that my BPM for my bike (157) was quite a bit lower than my BPM for my run (169) I did last week. Is this pretty much the norm?

If doing one on the road really just wont work, than I'll do it again during my training session this Tuesday.