Experior's Group, Take Two -- CLOSED (Page 2)

Good morning all,

I'm looking forward to sharing a fun and successful spring and summer training/racing season with all of you.

Here is my bio, but before I begin, Phil- you're one heck of an inspiration.  Keep up the good work!

Story:  I am 32 and currently reside in Chicago.  I grew up a swimmer and was raised in an athletic household: mom was a BQ marathoner, Dad a former collegiate miler. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of me and my sisters watching one of our parents, in bad 80s gear and hair, compete at road races.  So I guess being active and racing is in my blood.  Unfortunately, for the past four years or so, I've ignored that healthy background and have instead been leading a rather unhealthy lifestyle.  While I would, at one point of the year or another, take up jogging for a few weeks, for the most part I was eating quite poorly, drinking way too much and smoking cigars and cigarettes.  I slowly lost my fitness until about two years ago, when a hectic job schedule and a lot of travel left me completely unhealthy and overweight.  My wife would tease me for becoming winded after walking up two flights of stairs, and people started referring to me as 'chubby'.  I didn't like where I was heading.   Following my brother in-law's successful swim of the English Channel last August, I was inspired to do something to get myself in shape and back on track towards leading a healthy lifestyle.

Family Status:  I've been married to my lovely wife for 3 1/2 years, although in three weeks we'll be celebrating our 11th anniversary of being together.  We're 'college' sweethearts.

Current Training:  A bit unfocused, but I've been biking and running regularly and have started swimming again. 

2009 Season: 1 half marathon 

2010 Races:  4/25 - University of Illinois sprint tri; 5/22 - Terre Haute mini oly tri; 6-19 - Johan's Trifest oly tri...and probably another sprint and oly before (hopefully) a HIM this fall.

Weightloss:  A year+ ago I'd eaten my way to about 185lbs.  I'm down to about 172lbs at present, but would like to take another 15lbs off of that.

What will make me a good member of your group:  I enjoy the camaraderie of group training and am eager to learn from the more experienced members of the group.



Edited by Stone Cutter 2010-04-09 10:02 AM

Nice to meet each of you! Please call me James.

Lots of HIM training around here. My HIM is next weekend – 70.3 New Orleans. I did the race last year and had a good time – it is the only HIM that I have done.

I trained for a marathon (first one) over the winter and Boston Qualified at the Mardi gras Marathon at the end of February – 3:08:44 (sorry – I’m proud of that). I read all of the articles and stuff about how a fall marathon will not help with triathlon (ironman) training. I think they are right. Although I have gotten faster at distance running my bike has suffered.

I have set an aggressive goal for this race. Last year my time was 5:30:xx with a horrible swim and a horrible run. I have a fantasy goal time for this race of a 4:59:xx. I think it is possible if all of the stars line up just right.

To put last year’s race in perspective, pace wise, I was faster in a full distance ironman for both the swim and the run then I was for this half ironman. I am hoping to maintain on the bike but improve 5 minutes on the swim (last year was a slow 40 minute swim) and improve 25 minutes on the run (dang, typing that out –this is going to be hard – but last year’s run was a super slow 2:01).

Bike size???

Found used 2007 Specialized Allez which is a 52cm. I was measured at a LBS which they say I can get on a 54cm. I'm 5'10". I'm having a hard time finding a used bike in my budget range, I can't believe what people are trying to get for old bikes. Anyway, my plan is to use this bike for only two years to perform Sprints and Olys.

Unfortunately I'm no bike expert when it comes to sizing. I would think as long as I can adjust the seat high enough I should be OK, right?

Thanks for your feedbacks.

Sylvain

Tapering down training this week getting ready for half on Sunday. My body agrees this is a good thing. My mind is saying why are you being so FREAKIN LAZY! First time I've tapered for a race. I'm getting a little antsy.

Phil

Michael,

Thanks, it's just a matter of putting the fork down and training like your nuts. ; )

Phil

Phil, congratulations on (nearly) reaching the century mark!!  Having struggled my whole life with weight issues, I appreciate the perseverance required for such an accomplishment.  I suppose that I now have to publish a picture of my fatman suit jacket.  I knew I was in trouble when the salesman proposed fitting me in an 'executive' cut jacket...

Great job!
- Mark

OK, several things to respond to here.  I'll take them one at a time.  If I run out of time now, I'll be back later tonight...

First, Mike asked me about shin splints.  A few weeks ago my answer would have been "I have no idea" but as it happens, my wife just started run/walking a month or so ago, and she developed them.  Well, I have a fantastic sports orthopedic Dr. who did my knee surgery so of course we went to him.  We also did some research on our own -- there are some pretty good sources on the web.  Two that seemed to have a good balance of informativeness and conciseness are these:

http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/shin-splints.php

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/lowerleg/shinsplints.htm

They say pretty much what our orthopedist said.  First and foremost, rest.  Elevation helps too.  The issue is basically one of inflammation (unless you have a stress fracture).  It may or may not respond to anti-inflammatory drugs, but if you use them, don't imagine that if the pain goes away, the underlying issue is resolved.  The meds could just be masking the underlying problem.

The cause (if it is genuinely shin splints and not something else) is pounding.  This means that you should be able to do pool running if you want to keep some running fitness.  Second choices would be elliptical or ski machine (Nordic track).  I picked up a Nordic track during a bout of achilles pain a while back for about $10 (literally) at a charity shop and after the initial learning curve was able to get a really good workout on it.  Depending on how bad it is, you might be able to bike as well.  Biking doesn't involve impact pounding, but there is definitely a moment of 'high stress' in the pedal cycle, and this may or may not prove too much.

In the meantime, the good news is that you have an excuse/impetus to become swim-focused!  Most of us (my hand is raised as one of the guilty parties here!) don't swim enough anyway, so being forced to maintain fitness by swimming is not a bad thing.  In fact, that's one reason I really love triathlon.  It is a challenge to blend the three disciplines, but that challenge can also become an opportunity when you can't do one or two of them.

Finally, if you do try to maintain fitness with pool running or some other low-impact activity, bear in mind that you are NOT maintaining your body's ability to handle the pounding of running.  In fact, that ability will deteriorate somewhat.  So you need to re-introduce running slowly.  A good plan might be to replace one session of the low-impact activity with a run for a week or two and see how that goes, then replace another, and so on, and if anything feels wrong, back off and slow down.  And no running speedwork for a while!  The impact forces are much larger.

Good luck in your race!  We have the same goal -- I want to go sub 5hr in mine as well (May 1).  I'm pretty sure that if I don't blow up, that is very achievable.  However, like you, I've experienced the run blow-up before.  Last spring, I did a HIM in which I completely lost it on the run and ended up walking over half of the run.  My finishing time was decent (5:2x I believe), but the run was absolutely disastrous.

Sylvain, sorry to hear about bike shopping woes.  Keep looking and you'll find something eventually.  It took me months before I encountered a used tri bike that fit me and was in my budget.  Persistance pays...

52cm does sound pretty small for you.

Just raising the seat really isn't enough.  That will get your legs far enough away from the pedals, but there will be other issues.  One of the most important aspects of bike fit is the 'cockpit length' (essentially, the distance from the seat to the handlebars.  There are things you can do (with different seatposts and stems) to affect this distance a bit, they cost money and they are not ideal.  (For example, a seatpost that put the seat further back would also change the angle between your legs and the pedals -- what people would say is that it would 'slacken' the geometry of the bike, and for triathlon, you don't want to do that in general.)

Cockpit length is important because if it is too long, you will be stretched out, which will increase the angle between your hip and your thigh, which will reduce power.  It will also put a lot of pressure on your arms and hands and will get uncomfortable pretty quickly.  If it is too short, your upper body will be compressed, which will cause you to sit up too high on the bike, and cause your back to 'hunch over'.  Sitting up too high can also get uncomfortable for the opposite reason -- it puts a lot of pressure on your rear end.  It is also a slow position (very un-aero).  And the hunched over back will get uncomfortable pretty quickly as well.

There are different 'systems' of bike fitting out there, but all of them agree on these (and some other) basic points.  The system that I've studied the most is the 'FIST' system, which is here.  That's probably going to be more information than you really want, and it is aimed mainly at tri bikes rather than road bikes, but many of the points that are essential to consider for bike fitting more generally are discussed here.

Ohhh, tapering can be so frustrating!  I'm doing a half marathon on Saturday, and although my performance will suffer, I'm sort of glad that I'm not tapering for it!

Sylvain, a 52cm road bike seems pretty small for a guy measuring 5'10".  Granted, the newer bikes have 'compact geometry' and it  allows for a greater range of sizes to fit on the bike, but I think that even if you jack the seat up you're going to be pretty cramped.  Any idea as to the length of the top tube?

It takes forever to find well-priced used bike in good shape, but it may be worth it to hold off until you get something that really fits you well.


Edited by Stone Cutter 2010-04-09 6:50 PM

Michael,

Kind thanks for taking the time to post on shin splints.  That's just what I was looking for. 

Phil,

That is totally awesome.  Would you mind if I printed you picture and took to my Weight Watchers Saturday weigh-in?  Just as a motivator for some people at our Saturday session.  They would and I find inspiration in your story.

Brian

Brian,

No problem. Sorry I saw this so late. Just got home from church. I'm honored by the fact you think it would help others.

Phil

Hi All,

One more college visit today and I think Katherine will be ready to make her decision and I can get back to training!  Very excited for her.   Looks like our bank account will be on a weight loss plan too ;-)

Phil... you're still my hero even if you're half the man you used to be!  (so incredible!!!!)

Welcome James, Randy and Mike... looks like we've got an outstanding team.  Good to see all the familiar faces too... I'm looking forward to seeing how all the winter training pays off for all of us!

-Stu

I would say that a 52 bike for a 5'10" person is definitely too small regardless of standard or compact geometry. I’m 5’8” and ride a 54 (standard and compact but the compact fits me better). Buying a used bike is a drawn out process. However, I have purchased 2 nearly new bikes (one was still in the bike box and the other had less than 100 miles) in the last year and half – at less than half of retail. I checked craigslist weekly and created several custom searches on eBay. The bikes just came together. For me it was important to define exactly what I wanted in the bikes and the exact price range. Once both of these criteria were met I was able to act quickly and procure the bikes. Fortunately I already had a bike so I had the luxury to wait.

I will be doing an interesting study (interesting to me anyway) next week at my HIM. What is more demanding on a half marathon time? Running a half marathon first or biking 56 miles. The reason I ask is that when I did my marathon 6 weeks ago I just about evenly split the race (1:34 first half / 1:34:44 second half). But the last time I did a HIM my feet were shot before the run started (they got cut up in the swim and the bike did not help them either).

In practice last weekend I was able to do a demanding brick. I rode for 50 miles at near HIM pace and then had a fantastic 5 mile run afterwards. I was able to run the brick at an average pace of 7:06. I felt like I could have pushed on at that pace for another couple of miles but not for the full half distance. I am looking (wanting) to run a 1:35 for the half marathon which is a 7:14 pace. This is a very aggressive goal for myself but I am trying to bring it all together!

It is going to be fun to find out!

Michael – good luck on your half marathon today!

I’m off for a fast group ride this morning the weather is perfect down here in Southern Miss.

I bought a bike!

LBS was having a bike swap event today, while I was looking around someone walked in with a 56cm Specialized Allez in very good condition and in my budget range. I grabbed it and ran before my dog damages his other leg.

I was worried I would have to wait another year before doing my first TRI. Now that the stress of getting a bike is off my shoulders, I can finaly start my official sprint program for my first tri in June. First official workout, Monday morning swim.

Sylvain

Congrats Sylvain! Just in time for the spring time weather.

I met up with the group this morning for a ‘moderate’ ride. I rode my race bike and forgot to grab my flat kit. I thought to myself – “What are the chances?”

Well, you know that you can take your flat kit on every ride for months but the second you forget it – the probability of having a flat is near 100%. So I had a flat but my buddies were there to help me out. Beautiful weather here!

After the ride I mowed the grass for the first time of the year.


Michael – what do your splits look like for a sub-5h hour HIM.

I am looking at the following splits (last years numbers are in []) –
Swim – 35 - [40]
T1 – 05 - [03]
Bike – 160 - [162]
T2 – 05 - [02]
Run – 95 - [121]

TOTAL = 300 - [330]

That's awesome! You've been searching for a while, and I'm glad your paience seems like it paid off.

Go ride!

I bit the bullet yesterday and bought a waterproof case for my ipod. It should be here on Tuesday. Let's hope it works!

That's a good brick.

Here's a workout that I love for HIM race rehearsal.  Do an easy-ish 35-40 min run, followed by 2-3hr bike where you gradually build to HIM effort.  Then another 35-40 min run where you start easy-ish and build to slightly faster than HIM pace.  This is a really hard workout but one that you can recover from fairly easily (assuming proper training up to that point).  I think it really helps to dial in HIM effort and get your body ready for the race.  I've done one and I've got one more scheduled before my race.

Woo hoo!  Great to hear Sylvain.  Enjoy your new toy!

That's pretty similar to me.  I hope to be on the bike somewhere around the 35 minute mark, but I'll live with 40.  The bike is a big mystery because I don't know the course.  It could be anywhere from 2:25 to 2:45.  Run I hope to come in under 1:35.  Given my race result today, I think that's a reasonable expectation.

Great!  I hope it makes pool running more tolerable for you!

Alright everyone, please pardon this, but I'm really very chuffed.  I pulled off AG win, and 2nd overall masters division (10th overall) in my race today.

As you were...