PLMsbr (JD) Group - FULL (Page 16)

I appreciate the wetsuit discussion, too.  I've got to find one for Boise...  Can I get away with a sleeveless suit?  My shoulders hated wetsuits surfing in Cali.  Any thoughts?

I finally got myself signed up for the Lavaman tri at the end of the month.  The event sold out and I had to wait for cancellations.  Thank goodness...  I need a race for some motivation.

One more question...  What lube are you using?  Not Teflon vs. Wax for the chain...  I mean lube for your man-parts.  I've got Belgium Butter right now.  I like it better than good ol' Vaseline and my friends don't make fun of me when they see it laying around, but it kind of wears off on long rides. 

Will

Surfing wetsuits are totally different than swim wetsuits.  I could swim like 200 yards in a surfing wetsuit, but 2.5 miles in a tri wetsuit.  The rubber is a zillion times more flexiable in the shoulders and the floatation is swim specific.  Sleaveless or full is a difficult choice.  I went with a full because I can only afford one and figured I would go none or full. 

As for the choice of lube, um I haven't had a reason to lube anything other than feet, manly chest parts and armpits and neck for wetsuits and use bodly glide for those areas.  I will have to consult my triathlon shirpa for any other lube related questions.    

Hi All,

I am way behind, but to add my 2 cents on the wetsuit question.  I feel way more comfortable in a sleeveless, but it depends on the water temp on whether or not you can pull it off.  I have a full tri suit, it's pretty good because I won it for raising a bunch of money.  THe retail on it was $350. 

I am considering renting a sleeveless for my HIM coming up because of how much better I felt when I used that in my last race.  The Pacific will be cold though, the expected water temp is around 58 degrees.  We'll see.

I am gettign down there for my HIM, so I am putting in the last couple of weeks of tough work before tapering. 

Good story for me - I went for a run today at lunch with some of my office mates - all of whom have run 1:30 half marathons.  I was able to keep up with them for the most part, and we kept the pace for the run at around 7:15 per mile for a 5 mile run.

I have only used Body Glide, so that is all I know.  I have never had a problem with it.

Good to read all of your posts, I spent about 20 minutes reading everything over the last 2 weeks.  I have been traveling again for work and just got back today.  I was able to train though as the hotel was right next to a 24 hour fitness with a great pool and spin classes. 

Nice run pace on that 5 miler! You guys are giving me some good inspiration...

I finished up the coaches clinic today; heading back home tomorrow. I'll post some notes about a few things the next couple weeks as I get time to absorb everything.

So those of you who have used sleeveless suits, what's the low temp you were in and how was it? 

Will

I've gone 45 F in a full, but don't have a sleeveless, so can't help you there.  45F is cold, I think my comfort line is 50, even in a full.  But water that doesn't make body parts go numb is much preferable.  I had my tongue go numb while swimming from the cold, that is just wrong.  This pool stuff is really spoiling me for water temp., although the drive....

No end in sight for the home construction project.  It was not encouraging that our contractor had DT's during our "sit down" yesterday to talk about his "additional costs" for completing the project.  My advice, get every single nail accounted for, get an end date with a penalty for not completion and make danm sure every subcontract portion of the job is included on the bid before putting any ink anywhere.  It is amazing how ... nm, I will stop here. 

That sucks about the pool, I hope you can work that out.  That water sounds cold, I would not do an event in water like that as it sounds crazy to me.

Yay, got to do my very first LT test on the bike.  15 min warmup and then 30 min sustained race effort followed by 45 min of easy stuff.  Man getting HR above 165 on the bike is really hard if you don't have like a 12 percent grade or something to work against.  I was on the drainer... I think I will take a nap now.

Ok so it was my birthday yesterday and guess what my wife cooked for dinner...... leftovers.  Last year it was meatloaf.  I am not sure how to tell her that pbj is not the thing you prepare for your sweety's birthday.  I just had the cake and went to bed.  I didn't have the energy to reheat the reheated leftovers after my bike ride.   

Happy (late) birthday! Bummer about the PBJ thing... maybe you'll just have to resort to going out to eat for your birthday

Tomorrw will be 2 weeks out from my HIM.  Getting nervous, but feeling ready as I'll ever be.

Question for the group:  I have been training on a road bike, but have the opporutnity to get a Tri Bike about a week ahead of the race.  I am leery of doing this as I have not trained on a tri bike, but I understand it is much faster and saves your legs. 

Any advise here? 

Also, for a HIM, does anyone have any advice on nutrition?  Should I be bringing everything myself, or just use what hte course has?

Thank you,

Pac10er,

I don't have any real experience at that distance - my first is in 2 months.  I will say that I just got my tri bike 4 months ago and it took me a good month before I was comfortable...

Will

Hey Mike, trust in your training, you'll do great! As far as the questions, my response to both of them ties in to the very true mantra "nothing new on race day".

If you could have the tri bike a little bit longer (even a couple weeks), it might be worth trying out. With only a week, though, there's just too much risk and downside. Handling, body position, gear changing... all will be different. Any gains you'd get would probably be more than offset by dealing with some of those issues. Just stick with what you've been training on. It's just amazing how even subtle changes can backfire on race day.

Similarly, for nutrition, use what you've been using! If they have the same nutrition on the course that you are used to, then it is nice to not have to carry as much. But even using a different gel than what you are used to can have bad consequences. On the bike, if the drinks they hand out are what you train with (or are familiar with), that can be helpful, since you don't have to carry as many water bottles.

That goes for your pre-race nutrition, also. Eat similar to the way you normally eat for big training days, including the day before. Here's first tip that comes from the coaching clinic I just did (which I had heard before): It takes 12-16 hours to restore glycogen, so if you are going to eat a large meal the day before; make it a late lunch vs. a big dinner.

I have a Half IM the same day, first tri of the season! Hope that we both have great days!

My 2 coppers.  On the bike they may have gels and stuff, but you really want to just take what you are used to on the bike because you aren't gona want to stop long enough to look through their stuff.  On the bike they will have water or gatoraid (99% of the time).  You just decide what you want and tell them.  If you do it right you don't have to actually stop at all to get the water bottle.  Make sure you ditch an empty before picking up a full one or you have some jugling to do. 

I agree about the bike.  The whole question of different saddle, or different fit and new muscle groups for a 3 hours ride could leave you wishing you had your old steady road bike.  The stearing is definately more "tippy" when manuvering if you have any kind of a technical course and breaking requires a lot of preplanning as you need to get out of aero to brake at all.  It will also be different on your back. 

On the run, if you can go with what is on the course that is probly best.  Some races have good course stuff, some have none.  The marathon I ran had nothing on the course except water.  So you had to bring your own calories for a 4 hour run.  You really have to know what they are going to have.  Also you need to know how far appart the water stations are for the bike and run to know how much to bring with you.  If the bike has  a first water stop at 10 miles.  You aren't gona need 3 full bottles on you, just one.  If the temp is really hot, pay close attention to the distance between water stations.  In Las Vegas it got to 105 and water stations were 2.5 miles appart.  If I had it to do again I would have brought some water with me to supplament.  (however, they screwed up on the water stations and they were all in the wrong places making them more than a mile farther appart than they were supposed to be). 

Main thing about calories, get enough of them on the bike and on the run.  I have to go lite the 20 minutes before transitioning from bike to run or I get cramps.  Know how your body responds to that transition and cope accordingly.  And do not rocket the bike on your first HIM.  Go at a steady pace, but nothing fast.  Steady sustainable swim, steady sustainable bike, steady first 3-4 miles on the run and then if you are chomping at the bit rock the remainder of the run.  (knowing the last 3 miles will be the toughest by far).   

Thank you for the feedback, I think I know what to do.  Safe is always better, I have learned that the hard way during my first marathon.

The road bike will be a little slower but in the end, I will probably screw myself up by riding the tri bike.  Also, it saves me $100 in rental fees, so thanks for the advice.

I think I will be okay on the nutrition, I did not eat enough during the marathon I did, and I learned how bad it feels to  not have enough calories in your system.

Tomorrow is my last long day, and then it is all taper.  I am just going to stay conservative, and keep pushing. 

I had a cool moment the other day.  Last weekend I went out for my long run with one of the guys I trained for my marathon with.  He is a better runner than me and regularly dropped me on long runs (I always told him to go on as I felt bad for holding him up, it wasn't his choice) 

Anyway, I called him up to see if he would go out with me as I wanted some company.  I ended up staying on a pace he normally runs at, and even pushing him a little on the hills.  We did 10 miles at 7:45 pace, and that is with 600 feet of climbing.  I was really psyched, just the psychological boost I needed coming into this event.

Anyway, enjoy your weekends and I hope you all get some good training in.  I am flying up to San Francisco tomorrow morning and am going to do my last long run in the city.  I am thinking of heading out over the Golden Gate bridge.

Talk to you later.

So I have been mixing up my swims with 100s, 200s, 500s, 1000s etc. with specific reps and seconds between then and all that stuff.  Lastnight I did 2 sets of 6 x 200 (30 sec rest between 200s) with all 200's below 4:00, ranging from 3:47 to 3:57 (last one).  Ya I know not fast, but beats the previous set of 200s that ranged from 4:07 to 4:24 I think it was a couple weeks ago.  It is really nice to see some progress now that I a not just going to swim for an hour or two and just work endurance. 

I am going to need cliff notes to decifer my Friday swim it has 25's, 50s, 200s, 300s and some faster some slower some breathing focused etc. 

Tonight's bike will be interesting too, jumping intensity up and down a lot, up 3 min (Z3) down 90 sec up 4 min (Z3) down 2 min etc etc.     

It will be great fun to find out if intensity work = better speed or better endurance when I up the vollume again or in keeping track of pace at heart rate etc.  and then finally in the races.

Fear these words "30 min all out effort."  8).     

Those are great swim improvements Baowolf - and besides the speed improvements; you will also be less fatigued getting out of the water. Good stuff.

Sometimes the workouts do seem to be written for MIT grads, don't they

I'll be interested to see how the speed work pays off as well. My experience is that it improves that base level of speed that I am starting from; and then the mileage/endurance work allows me to sustain speed for longer periods of time.

Y'all are being too quiet... I'm assuming that's cause we're all busy training!

 I was in San Francisco for 3 days, got some good runs in, a swim, and some time on the excercise bike.  I am in full taper mode at this point, every time I run I am worried I am going too hard, or too slow, or something.  Just did a 6 mile run at lunch, and I kept the pace a little slower than normal but not too much.  I was pleasantly surpised to find that as slow as I thought I was going, I still ended up around 8:20 per mile. 

I am a week and a half out - as is our fearless leader - and realy excited to get to race day.  I know I am ready but I am still pretty nervous and have moments of panic thinking I haven't done enough, but it will all be okay.  I am just going to take it as it comes on race day and try not to worry about time. 

If I had it to do over again, I think I would do more biking, the same running and swimming.  I am most worried about my bike as I have so little experience there and it is the longest part of the event.  I guess I am pretty much typing my stream of concisousness at this point, so I will sign off.

Hope all is well with you, take care.

I have been quiet for a while but have been busy training and doing some of those "grown up" responsibilities, as I like to call them. I have one more fruit tree to prune, my veggie seeds are planted under lights, and now some of them need to be potted up. And the most fun thing of all I'm trying to help my daughter buy her first car!! Oh what fun!

I feel like I've reached a plateau in my swimmig. I can do the 750 in 20min and the 1.2 mi in 60. I'll keep working on some speed but I will be pretty happy with that in the events coming up since those were my original goals. Running is comimg along ok. I'm not the fastest in the bunch but I have improved. I can't seem to get to that 2hr pace for the HM. I'll keep doing sprints and plugging away. I'm feeling ok on the bike...getting some longer distance rides in. They will be getting longer as soon as the weather improves. I do take a day or 2 off now and then, like today, when I feel I need it. What's been said about listening to our bodies is so true.

JD...I would appreciate it if you had time to glance at my log and comment. I'll be doing the Spring Sprint on Apr 3&4. The swim is in the pool Fri and the rest Sat a.m. I thought I would work out Mon and Tues and take Wed and Thur off. Any thoughts??? Thanks.....Tom

It wouldn't be taper if you weren't making yourself insane Now that we are down to 10 days or so, the most important thing is to be recovered and charged up, ready to go. Remember that tapering is more about reducing volume and frequency; not so much reducing intensity. No need to do all out speedwork (esp. for a half IM); but do incorporate some short (2-5 minutes approx) intervals where you bike/run close to race speed. Race speed as in half IM race speed, not 100 yd dash race speed... don't want any pulled muscles. Looking at your logs, you're doing a lot of running and not giving yourself much recovery time. Be careful about that, the time for building your endurance is done - time to trust the training.

For the bike, plan on no more than 80% of your max effort, and pay no attention to people that pass you. The difference between 17mph avg and 18mph avg over 56 miles is about 10 minutes, as an example. Somebody that pushes that extra bit the whole bike to gain that 10 minutes could very well end up walking/cramping/etc. during the run and losing half an hour or more. You learn better what you can do over time, but for first half IM (and later this year for your first full), err on the conservative side.

Good luck!

Yeah, my adult responsibilities have really suffered as of late... Good luck with the car shopping, at least you can get some good deals now

Don't sweat the plateau in swimming, it's fantastic that you've hit your initial goals already! I've mentioned before that swimming just seems to take a real long time to make improvements, at least from what I've seen.

To get that half IM run where you want it, I think may want to up the frequency of your running to about 4x/week (after this weekend's sprint tri of course). Quick tidbit from a study reviewed at the coaching clinic: if full potential = 100%; you can achieve 50% with 2 workouts/week, 75% with 3x/week, 92% with 4x/week, 95% with 5x/week. Reality tells me that those figures would vary widely by the type and quality of workouts, the base level of the athlete, etc.; but it does give you some good guidelines to consider.

Easy way to break up the 4x a week is one speed/interval day; one pace/tempo mid-distance day; one long steady distance day; and one day where you just get in a few miles at a relatively easy pace (I even use elliptical for that sometimes). I'm really learning the value in spreading the mileage out over the week, instead of having the long run be the majority of my running miles.

That sprint should not be a problem at all for you in terms of distance/endurance; so I wouldn't worry about that part of it. With only one week left, there's no reason to do any long workouts right now. Focus on recovery, with those short intervals of intensity that I mentioned in the post above. I like to do a staggered taper - maybe get in a decent set of workouts over the weekend (really nothing longer than 2000 yd swim; 15-20 mile bike; 4-5 mile run), then take Monday off for some recovery. Short interval runs on M/W and short bike intervals on T/Th; with the Wed and Thur run/ride being pretty short (2 mi run; 10 mi bike).  Swimming I'd probably do something Monday and then a short swim Wed with just one or two 100 fast intervals. Overall rule of thumb: better to err on the side of being overly rested than to be over-tired.

Also, get plenty of sleep all week, maybe cutback or cut out caffeine if you can (sleep better and get more of a kick when you do drink it again for the race). Practice your transitions, and keep them as simple as possible... and have a GREAT race!!!

I'm back from my trip to SoCal and had a great time.  We went to Knott's Berry Farm and the kids got me on some crazy roller coasters.  The highlight of the trip was going to Nytro and getting my new wet suit.  I picked up a 2XU T:0.  It is an entry level suit and not knowing exactly what I was looking for I just picked the one that felt like it was the best fit.  Then I took it for a test drive in La Jolla Cove.  What a bizarre feeling!  It was nice just being able to float with no effort but the suit kept trying to force me into swimming position.  Swimming in it was very strange....I felt like I was just skimming along the top of the water at break neck speed with very little effort.

My training definitely suffered as that short swim was all I was able to get in (the extra five pounds on the scale will attest to that).  But I'm back home now and time to make one last training push before my first tri on 4/11.  I really need to focus on the bike as I am no where near where I'd like to be in that discipline.  I'm ok with my swimming and mostly ok with my running but I know I'm not going to be happy with my bike result.  I'm not sure why it's so hard for me to get 4 bikes in each week but it is a challenge.