Ironman Louisville : Official Thread (Page 15)

Welcome aboard for everyone starting their official training today!!  

I've been having too much fun out on my bike and neglecting my run so this week will be a pretty big volume bump for me as I work my run frequency back to where it should be (5 x wk) and also bump up the bike a bit with an 70-80 miler this weekend. 

What are your all opinions on bricks?  Should long bikes be followed by a short 3-4 mile run?  Every other week, every week, never?  I already do Tuesday night brick where I bike home from work (15 miles) then run 3 miles.  Eventually that will work it's way up to about 5-6 miles.  It seems that I can't increase run frequency without adding more bricks and I have been advised that too many bricks can be bad.

Started my 20-weeker today also.  I'm from Augusta, GA (home of thick air and humidity, just like Louisville), and was fortunate to spend the last 5 days in Boulder (actually Niwot), got in a great 2,500 swim early this morning.  I'm at 38,000 feet over Kansas headed back home now, can't wait for the OCD craziness to begin.

Ha, I find the finger to be a silent shout of encouragement.  As long as I am obeying the rules of the road, if I get the finger it just gives me a little boost of energy

throw my hands up in the air and tell them to bring it.

I just usually blow a kiss. 

I actually was going 25mph in a 30mph so I really doubt I was holding anyone up.

Week 4 for me.  Going through a "covered bridge" on last nights group ride.  The floor of the bridge is wooden boards with plenty of wide gaps.  Some walk, some ride through.  Mistake.  Got front wheel caught between boards, fell over, snapped rim in two, hurt hand (maybe broke finger), catching myself.  Duh!  On the happy side...3 minutes later a guy in a Jeep Wrangler with a bike rack drives up and offers to take me and my poor bike back to the bike shop we started from, which was 17 miles away.  Time to order a new rim....and steal my wife's in the mean time.

From a recovery standpoint.  That you are more likely to be injured running on tired legs off the bike and are better off either doing the same run before the bike or separate from the bike.  Personally, I like bricking at least once a week for the reason you said - to prepare yourself for a strong run off the bike - and to know how the legs feel running after an X mph bike ride for X miles to kind of gauge what my bike pace should be at KY in order to keep the legs relatively ready for the marathon. 

My plan (Be Iron Fit) actually has two bricks a week (for the advanced plan, but not the intermediate).  There is a short brick (45 min B and 15 or 30 min R) and then some kind of run after the long bike ride (every week).  I'm not sure how long they get but this week the run is 30 min and I saw somewhere down the line that it bumps up to 45 min.  I actually like bricks because I'm loosening up my legs after riding.  I would caution you to probably not do an agressive run after your long bike though because I can see how that could put you at risk for injury with legs that are already beat down.  My plan calls for all of the brick runs to just be Zone 2 but I do push it harder than that for the short brick.

And, like Doug said.  It is all about getting to the start line.  So if you don't think your body can handle a run after your long ride one week, don't do it.  There is a delicate balance that we all have to figure out for ourselves....hopefully, not the hard way.  Good luck!

(edited to correct my double negative....boo for grammer)

Edited by crazyalaskian 2010-04-16 7:42 AM

I currently am doing a brick every week, about 20 minute run off my long bike (3 hours). I think its helping, but not so intense I am hurting myself. By the time the 20 minutes is up, I am just getting used to the brick legs and setting a pace for myself.

I am finding it impossible to get out of bed in the morning for an AM workout. Its getting difficult starting to do workouts during lunch or 2 after work, as it leaves me working out till 9 or so. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to drag yourself out of bed in the morning to go swimming or running? Its way too early in the training to start this now!

1. Go to bed earlier.  Like 8pm.  Seriously.  If you aren't done sleeping yet, it is hard to get up early.  If you've gotten your 8 hrs, your body is more willing to get up.
2.  Get a dog that wakes up at 4am.  Wait, you could just borrow our dog. 

Seriously, waking up earlier is a habit like anything else.  If you do it enough times in a row, it becomes the new normal.

I had that problem this morning.  Did not want to get out of bed to go to the gym (for my swim.)  I forced myself up and went into auto-pilot getting dressed and driving to the gym.  Once I got in the water and through the w/u, I was glad I was there.  I have found that putting together everything that I need before I go to bed goes a long way to getting me a full workout in before I have to wake up the wife & kids.  If I don't, it gives me opportunity to procrastinate to the point that the workout is cut short, if it happens at all.

I have been getting everything ready the previous evening so all I have to do is grab it and go without thinking. However, I end up just using that to my advantage to wake up 20 minutes before work and being there on time!

I know I have to make a habit out of it, but I guess I am just a stickler for my sleep. Now on race day, I have no problem getting up at the butt-crack of dawn

Yea, my biggest fear is doing something stupid and getting hurt. 
New rims ordered.
My wife is probably a better biker than I am.....I'm just luck our parts fit together....yep, I meant that just the way it sounded! 

Week 1 is done!  The Silver BT Intermediate plan doesn't know that I took the last 5 months off from swimming and is throwing in some pretty long sessions, but I'm doing work and not backing down.  

Bump!

Training is going well, even though we still have almost 17 weeks to go.

I have been trying to focus a lot on hill work, especially with running, as I would think that come race day, the flat course in Louisville will seem easy. Well....not necessarily easy, but you get the idea!

I just noticed today that since January this year, I have already put in more distance than I have in all of 2009! This is going to be an intense season

So how is everyone else doing? Any milestones, small achievements to brag about?

Edited by 15step 2010-04-21 10:24 AM

I'm going to be adding at least 2 hours to my workday a couple days a week so I can try move up in my company.  And if I do get the new position I will be switched to night shift (6pm - 3am).  Goodbye Sleep, I always loved you.  

I completely agree with the response to go to bed earlier.  That is by far the easiest way to get out of bed for morning workouts is to get enough sleep. 

And don't think about ANYTHING once the alarm goes off except getting to the pool or getting out the door with shoes on.   If you start searching for a reason that going back to sleep is a good idea, you will always find one.  I always say no decisions should be made within 10 minutes of the alarm going off (meaning if you decided that, even though you weren't going to get enough sleep or whatever, you were still going to get up and go to the pool in the morning, you're not allowed to decide 10 seconds after the alarm goes off in the AM that you're not going)... groggy first thing in the morning you doesn't know better than the awake, rational, you that made that decision when you went to bed.

.. but I occasionally don't take my own advice because I totally opted for sleeping in this morning instead of going to the pool.. but I've gone from 1-2 morning workouts a week to 3-4 pretty successfully with those 2 things.

I'm following the 36 week plan, last week was 12 hours of training (8 of it was at 4am during the weekdays), now I picked up a cold.  The last two weeks I'm eating/grazing like crazy, anyone else?

Yeah, for some reason, now that I'm actually training for ironman, my brain thinks my body needs to eat everything in sight.  It's totally mental with me.  Need to reign it in and get it under control. I didn't eat crap before I started training, I don't know why I think I need it now.

I am on the 20 week BT Beginner plan so this was week 2.  Like others have said, my appetite is ramping quickly!  I also agree with the advice to get out the door fast in the morning. I once heard some wisdom that "The hardest part of any workout is getting out the door. If you can do that, you can do the rest of it."  I have found that to be 100% true. I've never made it out the door only to decide not to workout.  I have stayed inside though and decided not to workout.  JUST GET OUT THE DOOR. 

Strength training and core have never been part of my routine so I am learning to love those (but not really, I actually hate them).  This morning, during a very ugly core session, my 5 year old daughter came outside and said, "Daddy, you're tough."  That was just what daddy needed, a little affirmation.

Today was a 60 minute run, followed by core, followed by an hour on the bike.  Afer I put on my bike gear my wife saw me and said, "You still have to go ride your bike after all of that?"  I promptly explained that this is WEEK 2!!! and that is only going to ramp up from here!

I got to work at 11, STARVING, and was there long enough to grab two guys to go out to lunch with.  Tomorrow is a rest day. Looking forward to that.

I will say, so far the season is going well.  I have been training since January and have noticed my run times dropping.  I race in Galveston this weekend at Lonestar so am excited to kick off the year and see what I've got at this stage.

I enjoy reading everybody's posts. Please keep them coming.

Brian