triOK's Group - FULL (Page 17)

Running.... blech.  I did manage to bring my LT down about 5 bpm, though!  My test wasn't exactly accurate, but I got a good feel for where I am.

An LT test is a field test that will give you your lactate threshold, or simply will tell you what heart rate (what effort) your body starts producing lactic acid.  Lactic acid is produced as a result of your muscles working anaerobically, and is responsible for the burning sensation you get in your muscles when you workout.  Basically, lactic acid is bad and as an endurance athlete, you want to minimize its production.  So that means you need to keep your workouts well below your lactate threshold to keep your body from producing lactic acid (ie. your body needs to operate aerobically).  As your body becomes more efficient, you will see over time that your LT will come down gradually.  That means that you can workout with more intensity, but your heart doesn't have to work as hard to get your muscles enough oxygen.  That is the ultimate goal.

So to do an LT test, you need a heart rate monitor.  I do my tests on a treadmill, but its easier to do it on a track.  Do a 10 min warm-up jog.  When warm-up is done, start your heart rate monitor.  Every minute, increase your speed just a bit so that at the end of 20 minutes you are all out sprinting.  At the end of the test you should have no gas left in the tank.  The avg heart rate (which is a number your HRM will spit out at you) for those 20 minutes should be a good indication of where your LT is.

It also helps if you have someone there to write down your HR each minute as you do the test.  You can see your HR slowly increase over time as you speed up.  As you get close to your LT your HR will spike and then level off again.  This is because your muscles aren't getting enough oxygen, switching over to anaerobic mode and producing lactic acid.  This causes the HR spike.  Its a cool thing to see... its kind of a clue to how your body works.

So what do you do with an LT?  Well, my "training zone" is a heart rate range that is about 85-91% of my LT.  Most of my training runs and all of my long runs fall within this heart rate range.  This ensures that my body doesn't go anaerobic and I get minimal production of lactic acid. 

When I referred to a tempo run, that is usually a run done at or just above LT.  This helps to drive down your LT in order to make your body more efficient (faster), but should only be done once you have a good endurance base already established.

Don't use my tapering technique... instead of working out last night, I had a few too many margaritas then fell asleep before 8:00 last night.  I love taper week!

Actually, I was so busy in the lab the past 2 days I kind of count that as a workout.

I always count those as curls!

A couple of times now, I've gone off plan and cut the stationary bike ride short in favor of running, including this morning.

The main reason is that I think I need more work on my running, but also now that I've gone out on my bike a bit, I've found that the stationary bike doesn't have my legs as prepared as I thought it would have.  Also there's no chance to work on technique.  But with the running, I can improve my stamina and work on techniques.

What do you all think of that?

There is a fine line with working on one disipline too much.  You're getting the time in, so that is good.  But keep in mind that all running and no biking just means you get to make up more time on the run.  :P

And like Gator said, a spin cycle is much more realistic than a stationary bike.  But if that's all you've got...it's better than nothing.

LOL... you guys crack me up.

OK... here's the thing.  You can't assume that substituting one kind of workout for another type of workout is going to give you equal benefit.  The only way to get better at running is to run lots.  Same with biking.  Its true that biking/running will improve your overall fitness, but running and biking use very different muscles and if you don't condition them doing discipline-specific workouts, then you aren't going to improve much.

However, if you feel that your running needs more improvement, then its good to concentrate on that, even if that means that you can one of your biking workouts.  BUT, keep this in mind; biking is the hardest discipline to be competitive.  You spend more time on the bike than you do anything else.  Its amazing when you learn how fast you really need to be.

Another point to remember:  The run is going to hurt.... so its good to have lots and lots of run miles under your belt so that you know what your getting yourself into before it actually happens.  My first tri, I learned this the hard way.

Thanks for the thoughts about the stationary bike and running.  I never knew that about the spinning bikes, I'll definitely check them out. 

For those of you who saw my log today, you'll be happy to know that my "situation" is now corrected after a stop at Sears at lunchtime.  Even picked up some Reebok High Performance socks that guarantee I'll run much quicker now. 

Well I'm off to Las Vegas early Sunday morning for a few days.  I've heard rumors that they don't have snow and it's warmer than 40.  If that's true, I'll report back to Aaron and Gator what it's like.

Erik - very best of luck on Sunday!  I know you'll do great!

So Erik,

How does it feel to be a TRIATHLETE???

Great job yesterday!

It feels good!  I can't wait to do it again!  Thanks for all the well wishes from everybody! 

Totally disgusted - woke up this morning to rain and snow on the hillside outside my room.  I could have stayed in Pittsburgh for that. 

It snowed in Vegas?  Seriously?  Wow.

Erik:  You got your race report up yet?  I can't wait to read it!

Yep, here's the race report. It's the first time I've filled one of those out, so I hope I included everything.

Wow...what an amazing trip!!  You must have some awesome pictures!

I would say that it depends on your goal... remember all workouts should have a goal.  Are you improving endurance or speed with the workout?  If you are new to bricks, I would say just do them to learn what they are like.  When you first come off the bike, your legs are going to feel like lead.  You need to get used to that feeling before you try and race on legs like that.

It also depends on the distance.  Don't do too much too fast.  We don't want any injuries!

I would say, when you start doing bricks, do them just for completion so that you can get your legs under you.  Then start adding surges of race pace sprinkled in the workout.  When you get closer to your race, then you can pick it up a bit and do a few shorter workouts at race pace.

gc150 - 2007-04-18 5:45 PM I do have some pics: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/graceycheng/album/576460762397468773#pa... if you wanted to take a look... i'm the one in the baseball cap trying to pick up the pyramids. Are brick workouts required? Can I get away with not doing them?

Wow!  What cool pictures!

Yes; you can get away with not doing bricks... but just so you know, when you come off the bike and try to run, its quite a shock if you don't know what that feels like.

That said, I highly recommend doing them.  They are great way to spice up your workout and improve your tri-specific fitness.

Welcome back!  Looks like you had a great time - was the pyramid heavy?

Welcome back! Those pictures are great! Looks like a really fun trip!

I highly recommend doing a brick workout too. The first time I tried to run after biking, my legs felt like lead.