Daremo's Group - FULL (Page 2)

Hope that everyone's training is going well.  I try to swing by your logs and follow any races you might be doing.

A few of the group seemed to have disappeared off the forum already.  But if they show back up let's make sure to encourage them and give them any assistance they might need.

Life has a way of doing that sometimes!

Welcome back and we look forward to following your progress and answering any questions you might have.

If you are just starting out, then it is usually a good idea to go with a structured plan to help "guide" you in your pursuit.  Depending on your race plans for the year there are plenty of different plans on BT to help you out.

Each will prescribe a certain amount of rest time to ensure that you get enough recovery in there.  But if you start to feel exhausted and dragging and/or your heart rate has trouble going up when you excercise than you are overtrained and doing too much and need extended rest.

The key for me is just listening to my body and letting any plan adapt as needed to getting better.

I can say that I have had to learn to slow down... since I am really slow already that was hard.  Going all out for me was going 13 minute miles on a run.    I can still do that, but I just don't do it every run. 

Daremo's advice to use the RPE chart really has helped me, is helping me, to learn how I am feeling while I am exercising.  

Listen to Daremo... he is smart.   

If it is in reverse, does that mean that it is run, bike, swim?  Or bike, run, swim?   Usually I think it is swim bike run so you a) don't drown & b) your legs don't quit on the bike after running.  Probably not an issue on a sprint distance pool swim...

Is it an indoor triathlon on exercise equipment?  Or is just the swim inside?  Is it a true sprint distance... 1/2 mile swim, 12-18 mile bike & 3.1 mile run?  Or some other distance?

My only advice is to do as many bricks as you can of the run/bike or bike/run cuz when I get off the bike and start running my legs weigh 1000 lbs each.  

How exciting for you though to have your first event!   

Biggest thing would be to make sure you have an understanding of how the transition works and having it set up properly so that you can smoothly go from one activity to the other.

The next thing I'd say is to focus on not going too hard on the run so that you are cooked going into the bike (being a reverse one).  It is easier to be smooth on the bike and not push it, but a lot of people (me included) tend to push the run more than they should.

Depending on the intensity and duration of the workout, it can take anywhere from 3 - 5 days to recover from that specific type (i.e. - recovering from a day of 8 x 400m sprints on a track all out is going to take longer than a 4 mile general aerobic run - same distance, whole different intensity).

I usually take two days off before an evernt and the rest of the week before will be both light volume and lower intensity to make sure my body has time to recover.

I am thinking about another 1/2 mary but it falls exactly two weeks before my first tri of the season in March.  It's a sprint but I am concerned about doing the run too close to the tri.  Following my first 1/2,  I was sore for several days following but felt good on the first run a week later.

What do you think?

Okay, I am going to do a half marathon... I kinda want to do the Shamrock half here on March 17 but am not sure if that is too soon.  Do you think 7.5 weeks is too short of a training time for a half marathon considering I am sort of in a start over point? 

Seeing as it is two weeks before the sprint that gives you time to recover well from the 1/2.  If it was a full marathon I'd be leery, but a half is much easier to recover from.  My recommendation is to say go for it!

In your case I'd probably say that it may not be such a great idea to do one so soon.  It's my opinion that you don't have the strong base foundation you'll need to complete it comfortably.  Could you do it?  Of course ........ Should you?  I wouldn't recommend it personally.  Give yourself a good 10 - 14 weeks and get some miles in the legs to build your base back up.

Yeah I was kinda thinking I was pushing it.  10-14 weeks sounds a lot more reasonable. 

Thanks

One way to track your progress is to periodically schedule a "test" ot "time trial" in each discipline that you can then compare to other ones you've done.  If you establish benchmarks then you can go back and look at what you did a month ago or whatever and see (based on results and conditions) how it compares.

For example.  Swimming you could warm up and then do a 500 or 1000 yard time trial and pace yourself to be consistent and non-stop throughout.  Cycling you could go out and warm up then go as hard as you can maintain for a 1/2 hour and log your average speed and distance.  For running warm up and then run anywhere from 3 - 5 miles as hard as you can maintain and log the time/distance.

If you do this on a monthly or bi-monthly basis then you have benchmarks to work from.  Always remember to give yourself some time to rest before so you are fresh and recover for a day or two after before going full bore in the training again.

Another thing to do is to schedule training races on the local scene and this way you can compete and gauge your fitness at the same time.

To see how you'd compare to other racers, find the results of any local tris and compare them to your TT results.  This will give you some idea of where you'd stand in the local scene.

Buckbagger,

Well I am sorry to hear about your first marathon but I am glad you listened to your body.  There is always a price when you don't.  Of course knowing this and acting on this are two different things.

Anyway, hope the rest of the vacation went great and you are already back on the training horse.