Experior's Group - CLOSED (Page 18)

Down .4 this week.  Not sure why.  I had a great week eating wise.  I'll continue on as I did and we'll see what happens this next week.  Maybe the 4.8 loss the week before was a major shock to the system.

Here are the results from this week.  Scout, Ted and Phil had big weeks.  No one went backwards :-)  If I'm missing your update, just drop me a note and I'll edit this post.

We're halfway through... take stock of where you are and let's all have a really strong week leading up to the home stretch.  This has to be a really good week for me for both my goals... time to focus and do it.  No excuses!

	Weight Loss Goal	Progress	Other Goal	Progress
Brian	-10 (-6)	-5.2	2 days/week core work	Met 2x
Heidi	-4	-1.0	Run 3x / week + Swim	Met 1x
Mark	-4	-3.0
Melinda	-4	-1.4
Michael	-6	-2.6	750m of kick drills/week	Met 2x
Pete	-6	-3.0
Phil	-8	-4.6	1 mile non-stop swim	1200m
Scout	-10 (-5)	-7.0
Stu	-8 (-6)	-4.0	Reach 7 hrs of training/week	4hrs
Sylvain			Core workouts 2x / week
Ted	-5	-3.0

Edited by juneapple 2010-01-19 5:00 PM

Hello everyone.  Sorry I didn't get back here yesterday.  What a day!  First, my nice but clueless neighbor left our back gate open, and our dog, plus her two visiting doggie friends, got out.  The visitors don't know the area and so went on walkabout.  It took us 2 hours to find them.

Then I hop on the bike, and follow it up with a run in the cold rain.  When I got back, I figured since I was already wet, I'd do a few jobs in the yard before coming inside.  Well, one of those jobs ended up being repairing the plumbing to the hose spigot that broke off of the pipe.    By then it was dark, so there I was outside, in the rain, with a headlamp on, working on plumbing.  I could think of a few thousand things I would rather have been doing...

Anyway, I'll check in with everyone today.  I hope it has been a good weekend.

I had a weird weigh-in today.  (I weigh myself once per day at the same time every day.)  Normally, assuming that I'm hydrated, my weight can fluctuate a pound or so and this means nothing about a general trend.  Well, I hop on the scale this morning and it's down quite a bit.  I'll be interested to see how much of the loss is real, and how much is fluctuation.  I did more slow stuff this week, which tends to burn more fat, and my body composition is starting to look better too.  I hope I can stay on this trend!

I've been meaning to order that workouts in a binder too, but never have.  Let us know what you think.  Starting next week I'll be on the "swim 'till you pass out' plan.  I start swimming with a local open-division, very fast, triathlete.  I think it's going to be an adventure trying to keep up!

OK, now that I have a little more time, I'll take a better crack at recovery.

So, we all know that we get faster by stressing our body in various ways, and then allowing it to recover.  The body 'overcompensates' when it recovers from fatigue so that it can better handle whatever brought on the fatigue in the first place.  The body is smart that way...

But absolute 100% full physiological recovery takes quite a bit of time.  More time than one can afford to leave between workouts.  So by training before we are fully recovered, we build up 'residual fatigue'.  After a while, we need to give this residual fatigue a chance to go away.  How often we need to do that, and for how long, and what level of exercise exactly counts as 'recovery', depends on a lot of things that are particular to each athlete.

I think that a good general set of rules is this:

• Be sure to refuel well after every workout (appropriately of course!)
• Try to keep 48-72 hours between your really hard (intense) workouts.
• Schedule a recovery day every 7-14 days.
• If you are building volume, take a break from building every 3-5 weeks.
• Have an off-season of at least several weeks.

The slightly longer story is that there are different 'phases' of recovery. 

1. The first thing that happens is that various stuff (like ATP and O2 in muscle myoglobin) that gets used up in the muscles during a hard effort is replaced.  This is the sort of recovery that allows one to do intervals -- during the rest between intervals, you are recovering by replacing these used up stores.  Assuming everything is operating well and you don't absolutely slay yourself during exercise, this sort of recovery happens quickly.

2.  Next, you begin to recover from the metabolic stress that you put on the body.  Primarily, your muscle glycogen stores need to be replaced.  To a certain extent, this can occur during exercise as well (assuming you take in calories), but you cannot replace everything you burn right away -- the body cannot process calories that quickly.  (This fact is what makes bonking possible, but that's another story.)  Depending on how much glycogen you used and on your diet, this can take less than a day, or up to 3 days or so.  This is why in general you do not follow a hard workout day with another hard workout day.  Or if you do, make darned sure that you recover your glycogen in between.

3.  Next there is the recovery from the actual physical damage that you did to your muscle fibers and related bits.  Your body responds by rebuilding.  This takes a longer time (1-4 weeks, depending on the damage done), and is why we often see recovery days spaced 7 to 14 days apart.

4.  Finally, regular training triggers a stress reaction.  The body learns to tolerate the generally higher level of stress hormones, but over time, this wears one down, which is why we have 'off season'.

I've read some parts of a very interesting dissertation (here) on this topic but focused on 'older' athletes (by his definition, that includes all of us!)  Reading that and some stuff on muscle physiology really helped me to understand what is going on and what to look for.

Whoa, that's some "light reading" I'll set aside 10 minutes to get throgh it.  Thank's for asking about the volleyball tourney. Do you happen to have an article that explains how 12 - 17 year old males can lose all their athletic ability within a thirty-six hour time frame at the same time? If you have one, go ahead and post it. It might bring some comfort.

They got knocked out in the quarter finals. They were one on the teams favored to will it all. A lot of "what just happened" looks from both players AND parents. We were all stunned. Their coach is an ex-marine. Their next practice should be fun.  Early in the season though. There will be other chances to qualify.

Official results are in....10 K time of 53:26  (4th place in age group).  Missed third place and a medal by 10 sec.  If I would have known it was the guy just ahead of me I might have tried to stay with him.  He passed my about mile 4.  Oh, well.  I did meet my Stretch Goal of below 55 sec.    It was a wet race, but not too bad; no down pours.  A little head wind coming home, but more comforting than bothersome.  I felt real good about the race.

Some things I learned.... 1.  need another pair of running shoes; I generally have two pairs I use and switch off between the two.  The tips of my toes on my right foot hurt; partially due to the wetness and probably banging up against the end of the shoe.  I have the new ones Asics 2150's), but have not been running much in them yet so I used my older pair which are a bit smaller.  I look for a cheaper pair; maybe the 214O's on sale.  2.  Can handle and maintain a faster pace than I thought.  3.  Should look into a running technique course...I 'm sure I waste a lot of energy in my form and running style. This one may have to wait. 

Thanks Michael for all the information on recovery.  My approach is far simpler.  Recovery weeks are the weeks where I'm unable to work out as much... lol!  Which means I've had my two recovery weeks already in January... need to get crackin' today!  Have a great day everyone :-)
-Stu

P.S. Great run yesterday, Brian!

Edited by juneapple 2010-01-18 7:11 AM

Fantastic!  That's a super result.

Things happen in races that don't happen in training.  I wouldn't read too much into the fact that you felt some pains that you don't feel in training.

As for form:  lots of people think that good form comes mostly from running more.  I agree with this to a point, but have found that a few things have helped my form (I hope...).  Perhaps the one that helps me the most is just doing strides (30s or so of pretty fast running (like just under 5k pace -- just throw a few of these into your normal runs once or twice a week).  Most people (so I'm told) run with better form when they run faster.

I also found it useful to use some of Fitzgerald's 'proprioceptive cues' from time to time.  They are in his book, but also here.

Hey Brian- Great job on the race!
My weekend was pretty overwhelmed with family stuff (again). My husband has a major audition this Weds, so I spent the weekend being a supportive wife, giving him hours on end to rehearse.
I did get a run in yesterday, which felt good.
Plan to hop on the bike trainer today. But, I also promised to take my oldest daughter shopping, for everything she needs to head back to college this weekend.
Have a great day every one!

After doing some reading on recovery weeks. I'm going to cut back a little this week. My cycling classes are my most intense workouts. I'm going to stay on my running schedule, get my swimming in and take a vacation week from my cycling classes. That should give me a bit of a break without interfering with my half mary training. Thanks for th article Michael.

Thanks for the shout outs everyone, much appreciated.

Recovery...One of the things I like about using Plans is that the recovery periods are built in and I don't have to think much about what to do next and how much, unless of course (like now) my running base is further along and I might have to alter mileage numbers a bit.  It is hard to bring it down, but know it is important.  Michael thanks for the comments on strides.  I have never used those into my runs nor speed type workouts or hills.  I have been looking at some plans lately that have those built in which again makes it easier to do.

More snow....I used to live in South Dakota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; snowed all the time.  I always tell my wife I wished we lived back in South Dakota, but now that I am involved in Tri's I am rethinking those comments.  She'd never do it; she hates snow.  She has the brains of the bunch.

Easy day today; toes feel a little better.  Will do my Core Today with an early Indoor Cycling Class tomorrow morning.  Have a great week everyone.

The thought of backing off during a recovery week does scare me a little. In the back of my mind I think I'm worried I'm going to balloon up 20lbs. this week. I know that's not realistic, but still shows that I have some "fat thinking" I have to deal with.

Phil

That's the kind of info I'm looking for, I'm referring to Michael's links he posted earlier for the small dissertation and Fitzgerald's 'proprioceptive cues' . There seems to be a lot more information being passed around here and I've been wanting to join in a few times.

Sorry folks don't mean to highjack your group but with permission from Michael I've ask if it would be OK to chime in. This is your group and if you feel that there are enough people here then I'll stick to reading only. I will not be offended if you choose to not have me, I'm a big boy I can take it.

Note: My BIO is on the first page.

Regards,
Sylvain



Edited by sstucker 2010-01-18 10:56 AM

My vote is welcome aboard!

On a different note, training and diet are going to take a hit this week.  My wife's uncle passed away yesterday very suddenly.  The next few days are going to be filled with too much food, too many tears and too many stories.  Please keep my family in your prayers.  His name was Jack and he passed at 57 years.  He and his wife were still head over heels in love after just celbrating their 30th anniversary.  They have two daughters, the oldest is in her mid 20's and the youngest is a JR in high school.  Jack was the patriarch of our family and is going to be missed more than I can imagine.  We are all feeling very lost right now.  This is going to be an awful week to get through.

Scout

Good with me. I already assumed you were in. I added you to my friend list in the beginning.

Phil

Not understanding how the Mentor group worked, when I saw this group grow so fast in one day I thought I'd bow out and join another group. Now that I have a better feel of it I think this is the best group for me. It's has the interaction and knowledge transfer that I was looking for.

So sorry Scout.  Food, family and comfort is above all most important.  Prayers going your way.
Melinda

So sorry to hear of you and your family's loss Scout.  I'll keep you in my prayers.  Take Good Care of yourself !!!

Very sorry about the sad news, Scout.  I know we'll all be thinking about you this week.

Our prayers are with you and your family, Scout.  So sorry for your loss.  He sounds like someone who lived life to the fullest and made everyone's day better because he was part of it. 
-Stu

Sorry, Scott. Something like that put's all this in perspective.

Phil

So sorry to hear that Scout. Prayers for all of your family. Take care of you and yours.