2016 Clyde/Athena Tri-N-4-Weight Loss Mentor Group - Open (Page 20)

Congratulations on beating your previous time by so much. That's a big number to improve by. Good job.

A good start to the month for me. So far I'm 6/6 days working out. Considering the best I managed in May was 4 consecutive days that makes me pretty happy.

My goal for June is going to be at least 28 days doing some sort of Swim/Bike/Run (Assuming no sickness or something else out of my control). Consistency works for me, so I've got to get back to it. For this next week the goals are run 5-6 times, bike once and, now that the local lap pool has finished its renovations, get back swimming at least once. Should make for a good week.

I'm also getting very close to making a really silly decision, but, more on that later.

*Edited for not paying attention when posting*

Edited by bulfrog 2016-06-07 3:25 PM

Yes, My birthday is in June, so seeing I don't want to acknowledge that I'm getting older I've decided to do May again instead :P

Silly decisions involve what races to enter this coming summer. 1 in particular. Pretty sure its what I'm going to do. But it's a big step

Ya'll are funny, celebrated my b-day last month. Had more issues with it than I originally thought. If you would have told me at 35 I would make it to 42, I would have laughed. Then luckily someone or something slapped me on the back of the head and said change. My birthday is usually a reminder of that change. MY attitude had to change. (Not saying either of you attitudes are bad by any means. I am just pointing out that mine was bad).

I like having a mid-year (kind of) b-day because it helps me re-focus my yearly goals.

I am curious as to what race you are looking at.

Have Fun Always.

J

My Birthday is the 9th, so today, or tomorrow for you guys in America. I didn't say I was going to stop getting older, I just said I wasn't going to acknowledge it :P

Ok, my silly decision (which isn't fully decided yet) is whether or not to do a full ironman this coming summer. My plan was to do 2 big events over the 16/17 summer:

1. the Tauranga, HIM in early Jan. This is a flat, fast course. Hills are my enemy so this is a chance to set a time I'm really proud of.
And 2, either a 2nd attempt at the challenge wanaka HIM, or Ironman NZ at the start of March. These 2 events are 2 weeks apart, so it's one or the other.

At the moment I'd say I'm 80% sold on doing the full. I'm quite confident of beating the 17 hour cut off, but the goal for this one would be just to finish, not chasing any time or competitive goals. We just have to see how the weightloss and training goes over the next few months before I make the final call

Happy Birthday bulfrog

You know you'll get lots of encouragement from us if decide to do the Iron man.

I did my first tri when I was 57 so don't talk about being too old.

Happy Birthday Bullfrog, Always have fun!!!

My suggestion is go for the Full. Of course I am saying that preparing for my first Half. But do it now, stay injury free up to it and you can do it.

J

I'm a couple days late to the party but...

Happy Birthday Bulfrog

Hi all,

Another week has passed; only 2 runs and a gym session this week as I was had some unscheduled work to cover some absences.

Lost 1 lb this week , down to 209 lb. Less than target weight loss but still heading in the right direction.

I went for a run this morning around a disused quarry that has been converted into a nature park. There are lots of steps up & down and soft dirt path. I did 4 circuits of the 1.7 km loop with a mix of running & walking.

Currently researching duathlons as option for winter.

How is everybody else going?

Thanks for the birthday wishes guys. I got a nice shiny pair of running shoes for my present. Yay me.

Still thinking about whether a full ironman is in my near future. Will have to run it past the wife too of course But if/when I decide you will all be some of the first to know.

My week was ok, 6 runs 1 bike for just under 6 hours for the week. A total of just under 6 hours for the week, and 12/12 days in June doing something.

Still no swimming, and lets not talk about weight

This week the goal is to up the running again, get to the pool, and watch what i'm eating!

Hey Guys,

Quiet in here this week.

Good news, I made it back to the pool. First swim in over 2 months. Guess what? When you don't swim for months, it's harder when you get back into it. Oh well, it will come back.

Otherwise I've had 3 runs, and my first day off for the month on Wednesday. For the rest of the week, short run tonight, mid length run and a bike ride on the weekend.

Hope everyone else is having a productive week

Hi all

I started the week with a great run but pulled up sore which put me out of action for the week.

I'm now behind where I want to be for my 5 km race and my weight loss. I'm happy as long as I'm heading in the right direction and I'll get there eventually.

Lost 1 lb this week but need to lose 8 lb in 9 days to hit my goal.

Hope all is well and that you're all preparing for the summer season.

Got all my runs last week as planned. But life got in the way of a bike ride, so that didn't happen. And of course I had my first swim for months. So that was good.

Weight wise, I dropped about 1lb for the week. Not much, but at least it didn't pop up anymore.

This week will be a bit disjointed due to work. I have at least 1, maybe 2 days where I won't get the opportunity to get any workouts in, which is a bit of a bummer. Just aiming to keep things nice and consistent.

I'd like a little input.

I've changed up my run location and time in the spirit of how I lost weight about 12 years ago. I didn't have any metrics or tracking at all. I just cranked up the tunes and did laps around the (measured much later) .48mi loop at the community center in Lewisburg, TN. After a while I was doing 10 laps 3 times a week. I have no clue how long it was taking me, but I was running the entire distance. About 3 miles from my house, there is a lake/pond/whatever that has an advertised 1.0mi loop around it. After two runs, it's really .8mi . The plan is to run Sun, Tue, Thur after work slowly building distance the way I did before. I'm starting with 2 laps, and when I can run the full distance, I'll add another lap.

the first run I did was tracked, but no HRM. I was just measuring the distance of the loop as well as getting a time just to check for improvements. I logged 1.6mi in 25:40 - 16:05 pace. Fast forward to yesterday after work and I logged 1.57mi in 23:11 - 14:46 pace. The only difference is that I did wear my HRM... and I listened to it. I do not have my zones set up properly, but I ran until I hit Z3, then walked until I hit Z2. I did hit Z4 a couple of times, but only because I wasn't paying attention. I'm attaching a screen shot of my HRM and speed tracking.

Okay, the input I'm looking for is: Do y'all think this is a sustainable way to improve my run? I should be able to stick with this plan and slowly gain distance on the running portion while I lose distance on the walking as I improve fitness and recovery ability. I also had zero pain (but a ton of sweat equity) when I was finished.

Forgot the screenshot *facepalm*





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A little history first:
When I first started training in 2011, I signed up with a trainer for 24 months in the gym and he also guide my aerobic workouts outside of the gym. He trained me to run. Very quickly he replaced the distance and how far I would run, with time and HRM info. I peaked at running an 11:00 m/m and fastest mile at 9:22. Then I decided to leave the gym and workout with a group. We focused on mileage per week, rather than speed. We focused on finishing not really speed for the marathon. The overall effect of this 2 year experience was I was slower, but could run further. Pretty much left the HRM at home during that two year period. Last year, I barely got off the couch. This year. I have focused more on triathlon training/ cross training. I am riding more swimming more and running less. The change has had dividends. All my races this year so far have been improvements.

When I am running/riding, I use my HRM to tell if I am pushing too hard to soon or need to push harder. I have this article printed out saved and posted in a couple of spots. I re-read several times. http://running.competitor.com/2014/02/training/running-101-running-...

I am not the best at it, but HRM training has helped me get faster and push a little harder. With the heat we are experiencing out here I especially watch my HRM. Running in 110 degrees and running in 75 degrees can have quite a bit of difference on my HRM.

One statement I will make is when I push to Zone 5 and beyond I never do this alone. Always have a training partner nearby. One event left me passed out on the track, with no one around. I think I was only down for ten minutes, but to say the least I had to call for help. Luckily it was just a dehydration issue and well pushing way to hard. But be smart and safe. I learned a lot that first year.

I do run a lot less than I did in the past four years, but I am getting faster and I am staying injury free. (Knock on wood.

Just my thoughts, hope this helps.

John

John-
I think it sounds like I'm somewhere in the middle...

I am focused on the distance part of this simply because I would love to not walk at all on the run leg of a sprint one of these days. I am using the HRM to keep me from overdoing things, especially in the heat, and adding in the runs after work drops my energy levels a bit. I figure that if I can ever get to a 10k distance (and I know I have a history of injury and stopping/restarting training), then I'll worry about doing it faster.

Hi Rick,

First thing: To improve your run you need to do 2 things. 1. Weigh less. 2. Run more. It's really that simple. HRM or not is the icing, not the cake. Just get out and do it.

For your questions specifically, I've trained with and without a HRM. And had success and failures with both.

When used correctly a HRM can be a valuable tool to help you train. But only if used correctly. This means finding out accurate zones. This site has a page on it that describes a field test you can use to find accurate training zones (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=633). Essentially its doing a 30 minute flat out time trial, your average heart rate for the final 20 minutes is your lactate threshold (LT), which is a much more important number than your supposed 'max' heart rate. Dont use 220 - your age to find heart rate zones. The odds are that it wont be right. Once you've found your LT you can use your HRM to stay in an aerobic zone for the majority of your training.

Or, using RPE you can do the same. The page i linked to describes what you should be experiencing in the various zones. Specifically, for most of your run training you should be in the upper zone 2 "Working but sustainable, able to talk in full sentences "

To be honest with you, at your current state of training, I wouldn't worry about HRM. Just run. Monitor your effort level using RPE and make sure you are pushing, but not too hard. There is no need to add complications.

Also, the page I linked to says:

Although you're not new to endurance training, it does sound like you're in a couch to XXX sort of phase. I would recommend keeping it simple, and ditching the HRM for now.

Yes, I am in a "couch to..." phase because I went all the way back to the couch and gained the weight back. I've tried the plan you suggested, and i am just unable to get out 5-6 days a week to run... yes, even for 5mins a pop. Honestly, getting everything on just to run around the block once drove me crazy. I'm cautiously optimistic that this will work because other than using the HRM to limit the intensity, this is what worked before.