Fred D's triathlon training group CLOSED (Page 16)

Melissa - HOLY @#*%# - I nearly choked on my own spit when I read that! If you go by traditional wisdom that says you can reduce your trainer time by 25% and still get the same training effect as the full time on the road, that means you did the equivalent of 8 HOURS ON THE ROAD!!!!!! You Canucks really are crazy!!!!!!!

Rock on, Sister!

The Leadman series seems to be generating a fair amount of interest - I am pondering it myself, although I am putting my full faith in this group to talk me out of it... (please...)

Hum, I have raced in Bend before (my first HIM was down there).  You should totally do this one http://www.leadmantri.com/page/show/391875-bend-or

Cannot agree more. I did two long, race-pace swim/bike bricks (finished each with a 15 minute transition run) last summer and will do at least the same this year. In addition to the nutritional issues involved, you cannot underestimate the difficulties of being horizontal for 1 hour+ and then immediately jumping to the vertical. I have done a few 5k swims in my life and you won't see anything much funnier at the finish of a race than to see folks coming out of the water - we all look like a bunch of drunks we are staggering around so much! It is really startling the first time, because the effort of the swim doesn't really feel like it is taking that much out of you. But as soon as you stand up... wow!

I think the swim in IM is really sneaky that way.

ETA - fix freaky quotes.

The Bend race is the one on the radar. I am reasonably sure I have done more difficult things.

I think.

In all seriousness just about the only thing I am not wild about when it comes to IM racing is that I feel like you put a lot into a single race (I don't think I could do two IMs per year and accomplish my best effort). The run just beats me up too much. These newer type of races that are long and rather difficult are appealing due to the longer swim and bike but the shortened run - The Bend race seems like a perfectly good use of post-IM fitness but without the destruction dealt out by yet another marathon run.

I shamefully admit that I am one of the worst/best "Weekday World Champions" depending on how you look at it. I have a long history of laying down my best races on some random Wednesday afternoon with training buddies. So much so that my friends actually bought me this jersey:

I have worked very diligently during the past two years to relinquish this title.

That said, I did I have a great training day today - one of those rare days that you wish was actually on a race day. The difference is that I was supposed to today.

Training groups are the best, it will help in all aspects of training!!  So glad you found a group Elaine!!!

and to answer my own question from Yesterday about training vs race pace, this is what i posted in that thread

Swimming, i would love to race a fresh water non current aided race as fast as my pool times. i am faster in salt water, and really faster when i have a current helping my craptacular swim stroke.

biking, i am ALWAYS faster than training paces, sometimes by as much as 6mph, depends on the distance and terrain. My average training pace of our hilly group rides is in the 18-19mph area for a hilly 50 mile ride (3k feet of climbing) my race times in ALL distances last year were all over 23mph with a 25mph sprint ( i also set pr's running following the bike). Course condition and terrain dependent.

running,  this is hard to explain, only cause my 6 month volume is soooo much higher than last year but my average training pace right now is about 9:15m/m  i have a 5k this year that is a 7m/m pace, a 10k that is 8m/m pace (did not race flat out) and a 15k that is a 8:15 pace (hilly and this hurt at the end), i have not yet run 13.1, but if i can hold on to my 15k pace for the additional 3 miles, i would hope for an average of 8:30 pace or so, it also depends on the terrain as i am larger than average at about 205lbs, so the hillier it is the slower i go. Physics are a beatch.  I also do not do speed or tempo on my runs, they are all aerobic/recovery, i do most of my biking at anaerobic pace.

had an interesting swim set last night. I was running late so i had to do a shorter set than i wanted, so i did a 5x200 set on a 20 second rest interval, my splits went 3:08, 3:22, 3:20, 3:20, 3:20, then i rested for a minute and did a 100 all out at 1:25. I was particularly pleased with the 200's on the RI i usually use for 100's, no idea where the 3:08 came from, but i would love to have that across all 5 intervals, lol

Rusty - i love the jersey - that is way too funny!

As for my own race vs. training paces i have to say that it depends on the distance of the race and my relative maturity for the sport.  In swimming i don't have many gears so it's pretty much the same all the time.  It makes sense I am newest to swimming (only started a few years ago) but with biking I can hold faster paces on the shorter race rides - which also makes sense and same with running.  Though with running, i have the most experience and done the most concerted training and I can hold much faster race paces over various distances.  (though this weekend's 10k should be interesting)

So, last week i had my 7 year 'runniversary'.  Which marks seven years since I started running. I joined a 10k training group at the local run shop and I was completely hooked within a few weeks.  It's hard to imagine a time now before i was runner and now a triathlete.  I think it's good to stop and look back at where I started and remind myself of how far i've come because i can be really hard on myself.

Do any of you have similar 'anniversaries'? When did you start into this endurance sport thing?

Yup!

As training vs racing paces go I am faster racing in all 3 sports, although it is more the case with the bike and the run. 

7 miles on the treadmill this morning, probably going to be it for today although if I can get out of work at a reasonable hour I may try and do a short ride tonight. 

Love that jersey Rusty!!!!

Racing pace, depends on the distance of course.  Only recent experience is a 70.3.

Swim - way below training pace.  My training pace is about 1:15-20/100.  On race day I am always 1:25-1:35 or so.  For that distance I am merely trying to get out of the water as fast as I can, but saving as much energy as I can for the run.

Bike - Faster on race day than training, probably because there isn't the stopping for lights, chatting, etc.

Run - HIM slower than training. 

As to Rudy's question, I find my swim times are a little slower (probably because I tend to go a little too easy to save energy), bike tends to be 1-2mph faster and run tends to be almost 1min/mile faster. Of course, that's just for sprints as that is all I have done bar 1 oly!

All of my race paces are far faster than my training paces.  Particularly swimming as i dont push off or do flip turns, no free speed in the pool.  I also often wear board shorts rather than jammers in training which i think helps swim speed.

Are anyone else's allergies killing them?  I've felt like i have the flu for the past 3 days, but with no fever and really ichy eyes, despite being doped up on Zyrtec.

There's an interestign topic for discussion