Tri Ritter's Mentor Program "Smashin' it 2011" CLOSED (Page 16)

Uggh, I fell off the trainer yesterday trying to multi task. I had my laptop on the aerobars and talking on the phone and down I went, too bad no one was there to take a picture.

We can't all be Lance...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqSBZ8Xsjiw

I can relate to the overwhelming feeling!

My biggest stresses come with planning the longer bike sessions. I don't feel like there are too many good/safe options for long bike routes in my area. I have a couple of options for 2-2:30 rides, but when I get to the 3-3:30 rides, I'm not sure exactly how to structure those without doing repetitive out-and-backs. I'm really focusing on the bike this year and hoping to overcome my underpreparedness during last year's HIM.

I agree, we are crazy for what we do, but there's also an admirable quality in all of us who make training work while balancing our lives at the same time. I'd rather be called crazy for a 4:30am trainer ride or run than blend in with so many lazy or lethargic folks.

Hope you can figure out your food allergies soon...I can't relate, but I can empathize with you.

That's a classic! it must have sucked though, I hate the whole, I'm clipped in and laying down now how do I get out, feeling. Did you get stuck, or did the computer get hurt? I'd hate to see a computer wrecked in the process.

Thats the issue with the internet and email, there is no inflection and no one can see your facial or other expressions so a messages intent is often lost. What you say as a joke can be taken in all seriousness. Even my rollerblades on a treadmill comment, I thought it was funny but I think others thought I was serious, here is a video about what I am talking about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZLlmYV9sp8 An easy way to rack up miles no? A joke!

back on track... I swam 3Km today! 120 mind numbing laps ending with a 1km continuous swim. Best yet my fastest lap was lap 119. Not much of a cool down but Im okay with that.

I'm not there yet but some day I'm sure I will be, 120 laps seems nuts. As a distance runner I find the longest stretch I can to avoid repeating loops. I think it will be tough for me to get used to the idea of so many repetitive laps. Thats awesome though that you got a good workout in!

Maybe Ritter needs alfonz to hold the computer and a new blue tooth to take care of the cell phone!
But you're right we can't all be Lance.

I had to stop counting laps because it was too big a mental hurdle.  Much easier to say "I'm going to swim 100yds 25 times" "than I'm going to go swim 50 laps".  Or 100 depending on your definition of a lap.

haha no the computer was already wrecked. The screen is coming unattached to the keyboard. It's looking ghetto, I need a new one, but need money first.

Goodness, I hope that wasn't straight through. Your workouts should have a warmup, main set of something specific (strength, speed, endurance sets, or a combination), then a nice cool down.

yes I agree, unfortunately I sometimes get little goals in my head and swimming 3km was one that was in the back of my mind. Im not very fast at this point but at about 3/4 of the way through I figured I could do it if I pushed it. Before the 1km I did a 200m then ramped it up on each set. I did swim the 1km straight through doing freestlyle and did manage to pick up speed towards the end. Partly this was due to watching the clock and there was no way I way I was going to leave and not hit that goal but I also felt good in doing it. I had no cool down but I did stretch afterwards and felt fine later on and the next day.

My training plan is pretty vague as it is only time based with no real set distances or work outs, I think it is simply designed to increase endurance and get me to the finish line. The plan wraps up in 5 weeks then I will turn my attention to building in some speed with a more focused plan.

Edited by DaveL 2011-02-10 7:15 PM

Tif and I have been hitting the training hard this week.  There were some really tough workouts...but they felt good.  This morning was a nice easy spin on the trainer...and the legs said thank you.  This is what it looks like for the rest of the weekend.

Tonight - interval run; a little speed work + strength and core
Saturday - a well deserved rest day (however, I will be at a baseball umpiring clinic and scrimmagae most of the day, so I will get a little workout)
Sunday - 3200 swim + 2 hr bike

The rest day will be nice.  I am glad I was able to kick the sickness fast and it only kept me down for two days.  Very pleased with this last weeks workouts.  The one I am proud of the most is yesterdays swim.  This is the first time this season I have felt solid in the water.  I was maintaining a good pace without feeling like I was killing myself...and I almost beat Tif in the MS...it is fun to have small competitions in the pool...it keeps you honest and you don't slack as much as you would in the workout.

Hope everyone had a solid week of training and the weekend brings good weather for all.

Hi everyone...glad to hear it is warming up down south...we're getting a break up here too...looking forward to running outside again.  I don't mind the treadmill, but emotionally it is very beneficial to get outside during these dreary Chicago winters!  Yay!

I had a question about training plan modification.  I am using weeks 1-22 of Don Fink's be iron fit program...

His structure is to have a long bike, long run at the end of the training week.  I moved the days so the long bike marries up with my bike team long ride, but I can already see that when we go out on team rides I am probably going to exceed the time for the long ride, especially early on in the program.  I also will probably do some of the shorter weekday rides with the team as well which will probably go longer than the plan calls for.

So, does anyone see a problem with this?  Physically it is no problem for me.  I am viewing it as bonus exercise.  Am I missing any obvious or not so obvious drawback here?  I am more concerned about staying Zone 2 as I am a knucklehead and always want to ride as fast as I can...especially in a group, but that's just self discipline... 

Also, who here has continued with a strength program during training?  How often did you lift weights and do core work, and what was the structure (after a run, bike, etc?).  As a 40+ female I simply cannot afford to stop lifting weights during tri-training...but I do need to modify my program.  Thoughts?  Thanks!  Q 

Holy moly dude, I need an ice bath just reading about your workouts!  Strong work! 

I strength train 2 days a week and do core 6 days/wk and haven't had any problems, just be sure to keep the stress/strain levels below the injury thresholds.All of the guidance and feedback that I've received is that "extra" is great if it doesn't prevent you from following the next day's plan. The HR element is different and depends upon the distance your training for (be Iron Fit -- I'm assuming your heading toward HIM/IM). A good activity is to estimate your total calorie needs for the race you're training for. Heart rate calorie consumption x timeHere is my understanding....In long distances you have three sources of fuel; fat stores, metabolism of food/fuel through digestion (body can supply 500-700 calories/hr) during the race and glycogen stores. You only have around 2000/2500 calories stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen (there is a test on this later;-)). The key thing to note is that glycogen is the only energy source you brain/CNS can utilize. So by way of self preservation, when glycogen stored are depleted the brain will start shutting down elements of the body to preserve remaining stores--I'm sure you've heard of athletes who "bonk" ...the next stage is coma...you get the pathway. Different heart rate zones correlate to different energy sources. Z1/Z2 sources are predominantly fat (note: not exclusively -- you still burn some glycogen from muscle/liver stores and metabolism), Z3 transitions into glycogen/metabolism and z4/z5 is coming from the liver...The real element of z1/z2 training is to teach your body to process fat more efficiently and to develop a fitness level that you can complete this time/distance without depleting (completely) your glycogen stores.Hope that made sense! Cam

I would not let your swim or run fall off just because of adding miles with a group ride.  What one of the 3 plans are you useing? 

 The HR element is different and depends upon the distance your training for (be Iron Fit -- I'm assuming your heading toward HIM/IM). A good activity is to estimate your total calorie needs for the race you're training for. Heart rate calorie consumption x timeHere is my understanding....In long distances you have three sources of fuel; fat stores, metabolism of food/fuel through digestion (body can supply 500-700 calories/hr) during the race and glycogen stores. You only have around 2000/2500 calories stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen (there is a test on this later;-)). The key thing to note is that glycogen is the only energy source you brain/CNS can utilize. So by way of self preservation, when glycogen stored are depleted the brain will start shutting down elements of the body to preserve remaining stores--I'm sure you've heard of athletes who "bonk" ...the next stage is coma...you get the pathway. Different heart rate zones correlate to different energy sources. Z1/Z2 sources are predominantly fat (note: not exclusively -- you still burn some glycogen from muscle/liver stores and metabolism), Z3 transitions into glycogen/metabolism and z4/z5 is coming from the liver...The real element of z1/z2 training is to teach your body to process fat more efficiently and to develop a fitness level that you can complete this time/distance without depleting (completely) your glycogen stores.Hope that made sense! Cam

I was going to do the beginner program but I recently decided it was too easy so now I want to do the competitive program.  Except the swim workouts are kind of hard right now...not hard in as I can't do them, but hard as in I can't finish them in an hour...so it's more of a time management problem.  I guess I kind of get spacey doing drills...they are taking me WAY too long, so I need to get more efficient there.  Tonight I swam for 1hr 15min and didn't even get to the second set of drills 8x50 and dropped 100yds of the 200yd cool down.  Yikes.

And of course my intent is to do everything in the plan but to bike more...if that tires me out or whatever, I'll dial it back to a more reasonable level.  In fact, I also have given myself permission to drop back down to the intermediate or beginner plan if I get overwhelmed.  Thanks for the comments!  Q 

Q, I'm starting "officially" on Tuesday too.  Technically I'm already finishing week 4 of the bike and started a HM plan this week that I'll be doing instead of Fink's stuff until after my race in April.  I picked the competitive plan as well since it's a whole lot easier to drop back to something less demanding than to catch up to a harder plan later. 

One thing I did when making my decision was check the differences in the Intermediate and Competitive and there is pretty much no difference in the swim workouts between the two.  Since biking is my strength I wanted the biggest push I could get and since the run is my weakness I need to work harder on it anyway.

Today I made up the trainer ride I missed yesterday due to my clingy sick l'il dude, although cut :15 short.  I also did my scheduled run but missed my swim since I couldn't take the sick kids to the gym.  The hubs is supposed to be home from his project some time tomorrow afternoon so I'm hoping to hit the pool then.  I also have a 1:30 trainer ride tomorrow and a :50 run.  Quincy may make it outside to run this weekend but I'm staying indoors until the snow melts enough to locate the sidewalks.

Haven't been on in a while and I had a crappy week of training. wednesday's run was a little fast so when I got sore I made some excuses for the rest of the week. No more of that though I'm back at it this week and will be back on track.

Edited by grownassman161 2011-02-13 5:37 PM