Chet's Group is out doing it!- Closed (Page 19)

Love the pic Mel!  So many fun ways to stay fit out there.  Great job finding a hamster wheel

Massage today then up to the cabin.  It is going to take a couple days to get the legs feeling normal again.

Everyone put in an interval for me this week!   

So I usually wait until wednesday but WHO IS RACING this weekend?

How is everybody doing with their training?  Have a routine yet?  Notice improvements?

Chilly Willy Duathlon on Sunday, its a 5k run, 10 mile ride, 5k run. It will be my first du and my first age group only race, no Clydesdale division.

Good luck Chris!

Just bought a Cateye Velo wireless+ bike computer, I love new gadgets!
I'm going to see if I can sustain longer intervals of 30+ km/hr speeds and work out which gears I feel most comfortable in.

I've been a bit slack since the tri on Sunday, can't seem to wake up in the morning and too tired to exercise in the evening.
Will start again tomorrow (got the day off).

Dave 

Found some pics from the tri:

 

Great pics David. You look like you are an old pro!Snow shoveling for me today for the workout. Looking to get on the bike tomorrow. Legs are finally starting to come back.

Great pics you guys. Love the treadmill thingy, and David looks like he knows what he is doing for sure.

Having trouble keeping up with some of the guys on the Sat. races. I have back issues but I don't think that is slowing me. Any tips on increasing my O2? If I could just hold longer I could go faster. I just know it. I was doing the sprint then jog interval thing last year but I didn't notice any huge increases in my speed. I am trying to get to a 5:50mi. by the end of this season. Doing pretty well so far just looking for techniques. Help. I do live in the mountains, does anyone know anything about high altitude training?

Jeff - I need a little more information on your goals.  If you are just trying to get to the 5:50 mile, you need to be doing 1/4 and 1/2 mile repeats.  They hurt like hell but it will increase your turnover.  1:20 -1:25 quarters should be the goal and increase the number based on how many you can hold at that pace.  You should be running these once a week.  

If you are looking to hold your pace longer then you should be doing tempo runs.  These start at 2-3 miles at a little less than 5k pace and increase up to 5-6 miles.  This will increase your ability to "hold it".    Speed work once a week based on your goals.

The McMillin calculator should help with your target paces.

Altitude training as you know increases red blood cell production.  It helps you carry and deliver more oxygen making you more aerobic.  What it doesn't do is increases your speed.  The ideal situation is if you can go to a lower altitude to do speed work then back up to sleep and do long runs.  They say it takes at least 10 days before you start getting the benefits from the altitude.

One last thing, speed kills.  Take care of yourself when you are pushing the pace.   

Hope this helps.

 

Had a good workout this afternoon.  One advantage of working at a high school, I have keys to the track!  Hope everyone else is doing well.  Chet, how's the recovery?  I remember awhile back some discussion about icebaths.  Just wanted to share how we do one in the Athletic Training Room.

 

This was me today after the speed work.  I started having knee pain last week and am just trying to keep the swelling and pain in check until after my race Sunday.  The water temp is between 55-60° F and treatment time is 8-12 minutes.  You don't need the turbine but it does help.

Well Chet that performance in HB was impressive. You must have been comfortable with your pace from the beginning. 

My day went better then expected. With about 4 weeks to train for a half and previous runs never exceeding 6 miles I was not expecting much. My neighbor went out hard and me a bit slower. Long story, short I caught up at mile 12 and we finished together at 1:48.  Not a PR but a 6 year best. 

I need to maintain the endurance work but looking to build up a little more speed.

Hope all is well,
Robert 

Lets blow the top off this then. Gaw, that's the love hate relationship with this sport...the technicality of it all. So here is more info....
I am going to start at 8:30 pace for 5mi. That is comfortable at the end. I am not breathing hard. I could say, "Hi, thank you, passing on the left..." If I wanted too.  In the 1.5 to 2mi. range I am "puffing" though. I call this my "wall" I settle down after that and I could push harder but I don't know how hard to push and for how long I can sustain this (Is there a physiologist in the house?)....therein lies the "fear factor" of failing by pushing too hard because I don't know what my body will do if I push to the "limits". See those guys in the Kona videos? I am afraid of that and I don't know why, so I just stay comfortable. BUT, I have this inner voice saying "test it...let's see what this baby can do" as if I am behind wheel of my Chevy Caprice 327ci that I had in high school. It's just different now. I am 45 YEARS OLD, I COULD BREAK SOMETHING IMPORTANT! So I remain with this fear thingy. But I really want to end up at 5:50/ mi. even if just in training. Any one else have that? I am hoping I can do it this year so this group can partake in the acheivement. The A race would be one of my sprints where the run is around 4-5 mi I think. My goal is to walk away with a 6/ mi. and an overall time of 1:10. Hope this helps in the "more info" department. All input is welcome. Thanks guys. Thanks Chet.

Mel- Does that thing travel to the states around to other continents?

Way to go Robert. Sounds like you paced is just right. Nice pacing. Even better injury free to live to run another day. WhaHoohee.

Chris - Nice to have access to that kind of equipment.  The ice baths really do help from keeping those twinges from becoming injuries.  What is with the foam though ?

Robert - Nice half!  A 6 year PR is still a PR!  I think a PR has an expiration date for sure. 

Jeff - I think you are needing some tempo runs.  These will let you test your limits and see what you are capable of.  If you are on a 3/3/3 plan you would be running 3 days a week.  It should look something like Tempo/ Easy / Long each week.  I work the Tempo at 3 miles for a 4-5 mile race.  The idea is to hold the same pace close to LT for the entire 3 miles.  It is darn near a 5k race pace but not quite.  Just my 2 cents.  Every few weeks replace your Tempo with an all out mile.  Make sure to warm up and cool down with it and ice bath after.  Anything starts acting up just back off. 

On the bike today.  Legs are still sore but getting better.  I always recover slowly from the marathon.

Because the tub is in a medical facility where there will are multiple patients, I have to use a disinfectant. That causes it to foam.  

A few years ago, I switched products and did not read the amount per gallon of water recommendation and we had bubbles 2-3 feet above the tub. 

Hey All

Been away with work for a few days so no posts.

Love the pics, that hamster wheel looks awesome and the tri pics make you look like a pro for sure. Great too to hear about the marathon in more detail.

Thanks for the info on the splits, it gives me an idea of how things may work out when I get to local tri season.

My "base building" programme continues with the main problem still being my love of junk food. Feel like I am starting to get ready to race though so am planning a 10k race in early March. Just did "fight club" which is one of the "sufferfest" workouts and just about fell off the bike at the end despite it being on a trubo trainer. Good fun.

I am impressed with the goal of 5:50 miles. I don't think I can even get up to that pace....

Have a good day!

Ross

Great news Ross on the 10k. I love that there are so many racing so early in the year. I think my next race will be a tri in March. I haven't decided on a distance yet though.

Another short recovery spin today.  I have a teddy bear picnic with my daughter at her school today.  I think it is worth giving up a swim in a recovery week for that

x 100, you can't make up those moments like you can a workout. Enjoy your date.

It was a great picnic Chris.  I ate a sandwich while she opened all her Valentines from the class.  Good stuff.

Hey, where is everybody?

Great to do things like that with the kids, I think that's one of the triathlon training skills: fitting in family time despite training for 3 sports.
I dropped off my 9 year old at her friends house at 6:30am today, she's off for a fantastic birthday party, 3 kids going to Seaworld Resort for the weekend, we didn't have parties like that in my day!!!
Had a good swim session after followed by a steady 1 hour bike ride over a hilly course along the coast. My cycling feels a bit better, managed to hold the speed over 30km/hr for most of the flatter sections.

After that, met up with family and friends at the beach and helped the kids learn to surf. Beautiful day!!!

Have a great weekend, Dave

Jeff: the "Wheel of Energy" was custom built by a Dutch engineering company, and it's living just outside the main entrance of Amsterdam Schiphol airport for the upcoming year.   I have no idea if the initiator plans to move the wheel around after the year is over..    (I'm doubting it, since he's running 1 marathon every day on the thing -- and he'll probably want to think up a new challenge/fundraising idea after that.    But..   ya never know!)

Regarding pacing:  5:50 min/miles are not within my realm of possibility.   My fastest single mile ever (back in high school) was 6:42.  Considering that I'm now running veeerrrry slow, I'd be happy enough to get back down to 9-9:30 min/miles in training!  (And 8:30-9:30 min/mile races, like in 2007-2009.)   I predict that this will happen easily enough, once the 10-15 excess pounds I'm trying to shed are gone..   but to avoid injury, I'm avoiding speed work until my aerobic base is solid again..    :-)

Update:  I've been experimenting with "run commuting" as a way of getting miles in..    and I have been quite happy with it!    For example:  Yesterday, I met up with some friends for dinner..    so I ran across town to/from the restaurant.   It wound up taking ~50 minutes each way..    (for the sake of comparison:  it would have taken ~30 minutes biking, or ~40 minutes with public transit!)   Run commuting does break up distances into smaller chunks (so it probably isn't a great way to do long runs) -- but run commuting can't be beat for getting consistant weekly mileage in!    Also, because it's mid-winter, being sweaty isn't a large issue right now (for me, at least..)

I don't yet know what I'm gonna do this weekend, exercise-wise...    we'll have to wait and see..

Have a nice weekend!
Mel

P.S.  The teddy bear picnic sounds awesome, Chet!   Moments like that must make it really nice/special to have kids...    :-)

Good luck to Jeff today in his race!

David- That is some birthday party!  That is going to be tough to beat next year.  The cycling will keep improving, it is just time in the saddle. 

Mel-  I have tried to do the commute to work on my bike but found that there is just no safe route.  Too many drunks in Vegas that are going home at 5am.  I love your approach and think you are going to really see benefits from it.

I am trying to shift gears and change my training into more bike/ tri focused.  I have time available for my swims but I am nervous about the bike.  I have to pick my daughter up at 11:25am every weekday.  She only goes to school half a day still (next year is going to be great!!!).  So my dilema is that if I break on the bike, I may not be able to get to the school on time to pick her up.  I am working on the backup plan.  I really look forward to the weekend long rides though.  It has been a while.  All the logistics are changing.  If I can get my act together the next couple weeks I am looking at my first tri this year in March.

Everyone have a great weekend.  I am working today and hitting the road tomorrow on the roadie!!

It sounds like the biggest challenge for most is to fit things in around family and work commitments. Glad it is not just me. Mel has the right idea with the commute thing. Once the sun comes up before me I will be able to start running to work but for now on unlit roads with no footpath and 70mph drivers I am gonna stay in the car/on the bike.

Also working this weekend but the weather here is improving so planning to get the road bike out if I can sneak home from work some day this week.

Ross

Ross- You are so right.  Training for the ironman peaked at about 18 hours of actual training a week.  That didn't take into account for travel time, shower, recovery, stretching etc.  The only way I pulled it off was to be creative with the schedule.  That meant early morning, lunch time and late night workouts.  It was almost like I had to sneak in most workouts but it was worth it.  There was no avoiding the long day though.  It was usually in the 4-7 hour range.  My family seemed to understand but I would still get that feeling of guilt a lot of days.  For my next ironman I will have the whole family in school until 3:30.  I am going to have many guilt free days of training!!

I saw my results in marathonguide.com today and it had "BQ" listed next to the time.  It sure is great to see that!