Beth and Yanti's Manatees Mentor Group--FULL! (Page 20)

Congratulations on the distance. It sounds like a great ride.  My husband used to live in Seattle and have a place on Vashon Island so I know the area.  It really is beautiful.  Hope you feel fine today and are ready to kick it on your run.

I'll second that!  My runs always involve concrete and more concrete.  The best I can get is through a pretty neighborhood.  Even running over waterways is pretty bad.  Although, I could run along the beach if I wanted...

Also, FWIW, I'm having a super busy last few weeks at work (my *ahem* internet time), so, while I've been keeping up with the thread, I'm not as active as I'd like to be.  Everyone is doing really great and thanks for the inspires!

How lovely to hear from everyone!

Leslie, I'm so glad you were able to overcome your frustrations and get a great long ride in. I can't imagine how difficult it is to juggle family obligations with small children and tri training.

Bethie Love, thank you for the pic! It makes us feel like we are with you ... as we are ... even though you feel like you're flapping all over the country. Home is where your feet are (or fingers, if you talk about BT)
 

Tuesday's embarrassing humor moment for ya:

I came home with a sleeping kid, put him in bed and tied the dog up in the front yard.  Brought in my groceries including an opened bag of nuts from Trader Joes.  Grabbed a few nuts and was snacking while putting away groceries.  Picked up a handful of doggie treats to entice the dog into the house.  Betcha can't guess what I mindlessly tossed into my mouth?  Yep.  At least they were organic and non-meat!  Pretty mild, actually, but I don't think I will eat those by choice. 

I thought you were going to put the dog to bed and tie up the kid in the front yard....

I got in an hour run today but could not make it to the pool and that bothers me...yes Beth I am not lying..it really bothered me that I was too tired to get wet today.  I tried out my new Garmin 305 and was so taken by it that I think I pushed hard on the run and I just didn't have the energy to go swim then go to D-Gd's softball game then come home and fix supper for 6 people.  I will make it up tomorrow but I will do it before my track workout which is a killer.

Headed to a SB game...Steve

You've got that right. I've used my 305 once for running and once for biking. I plan on using it tonight for a brick, so I actually brought it to work so I could get it set up properly. I figured it was a good time.....

Positive Thought of the Day: I missed my workout last night and I didn't beat myself up over it. I'm pretty good and bad mouthing myself (I'm pretty sure that's why Yanti is making me do this), so to not do it was good. Instead the family went out to dinner and had a fun time. Instead of staying up late to squeeze it in, I went to bed at a decent hour. HIGHLY unlike me.

Train well!

I'm keeling over in shock.

Big hugs for the Heffe!!!

I'll have to pay the guy who writes this stuff for me.....

Hi everyone!  It was a crazy day for me - good but crazy - no workout, but it's ok

Leslie - totally cracking up about the 'snack'   WTG on your longest ride!

Steve - I'm glad to hear you feel bad about missing your swim (does that make me evil? )  But, it sounds like you did a good job of listening to your body and taking care of life - yes, even I know that those things can be more important than swimming.  However, I do expect a full and VERY positive swim report tomorrow!  

Sunshine - no worries, we're glad to know you're checking in and getting value from the group - we've all been there!   And the beach sounds like a really nice place to run (for a change of pace maybe )

Erin - I love the things you do for fun!  hehe! Good luck getting the swim in tomorrow

Jeff - great comments today, Sounds like you had a great time with the fam!  can I hire your writer?  

Hello Yanti and Melissa and everyone else!

I don't think so.  I thinl...given your 10k at 8:34 pace and your comfort level at the 9:45-10 min pace you are now doing then I would stick with that.  Just remember that other than the tempo runs (at < race pace) and the long runs (those in the 9:45-10 range) then running at race pace + about 30-45 sec per mile should work for 10k but for the 1/2 Mary then I would train at about 1 min. per mile over 10K pace.  So this would put your regular runs in the 9:30 range and the Long runs in the 9:50-10 range.

Just curious as to what type of tempo work are you doing and at what pace?

Steve

Man I had to look pretty close to the bottom of the heap for our group......quiet day today. Perhaps everyone is out training for hump day? Wait, does that sound right? Never mind.

Positive Thought of The Day: Mycoach actually gave me a pointer today. He's not known for being a "talker", but he approached me and told me I was doing something wrong. I concentrated the rest of the day, when I wasn't gasping for air, on it and my shoulder felt better (it had been hurting before he told me). I'm hoping that it will improve my stroke and help my shoulder pain.

Is that a positive thought or am I just rambling incessantly? Probably the latter. I'm good like that.

Thanks for the reply, Steve ... I concur.

Erin, check out the McMillan calculator--this is a very, very widely used system of training-by-pace rather than RPE or HR.

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

That, too, I believe, will advise running slower than you currently are during certain sessions.

You're a relatively fast runner with a good bit of base miles under your legs, and to improve your running fitness, you'd probably benefit from periodized training (both microperiodization, which is basically that you do different workouts during the week for different purposes, and macroperiodization, where during a year you have one or more cycles of base period, a more specific training period, and taper/peaking/racing).

All that heebie-jeebie aside--there are two other thoughts/options (none of which exclude the others). One is that if you really want to improve your long-distance running (thinking beyond the half-mary here), you should follow a good, intermediate-level marathon training plan and use swimming and biking as cross-training which will allow you to have fun racing tri once in a while.

Two is that you should run as much as possible while avoiding injury. Niggling pains and strains, fatigue, etc. will quickly indicate that you are running too much. Also, in order to run MORE, you will by necessity HAVE TO run slower. In other words, you may comfortably run 5-10 miles at your current pace 4x week, but say, if you ran 5-6x/week, and/or added mileage, you'd have to start slowing down, or the pains and tiredness would set in. And if you extended your long run, you'd have to run with the caveat that your last mile ought to be as fresh (and possibly faster) than your first, and that you're not blown out the rest of the day, not to mention the week. That will absolutely necessitate going slower. 

Erin,

P.S. Your half-mary is close enough that you're going into taper after Bay to Breakers (which is a "fun" race anyway). So don't worry about all this stuff until after, really.

Here's an excerpt on base-building from our erstwhile thread. This makes the case for going more slowly--when training at a higher intensity, these physiological adaptations occur in lower measure, and not in a lasting measure.

Capillary density, slow-twitch fibers, and fat metabolism are the really important kickers. Having these three interdependent systems well-developed becomes critical during a long-distance race.

Let me repeat the most important part: the way you can safely do the most time training is at a lower intensity (aerobic level).

Physical Changes and Benefits

The major effect is that your body learns to use oxygen most efficiently to power your muscles, and the tried-and-true method to doing this is spending a lot of time in aerobic base building. (Cardiovascular fitness is related: basically, your heart—a muscle—has to do a lot less work to deliver oxygen, and aerobic fitness is that your cells, most importantly your muscle cells, can use that oxygen most efficiently). You’ll notice that some of these benefits are similar to those of active-recovery workouts (which are done at the low end of the aerobic zone).

The bottom line is that building a strong aerobic base is the #1 way to increase your athletic performance. If you want to go faster, first, go slower. In base, you gradually becomes faster while you are still putting forth the same amount of effort. Then if you eventually really put a lot of effort in (say, in a race), you will go much faster.

1. Improves fat metabolism. In aerobic training, your body preferentially uses fat as a fuel source, and the more you do, the more you are training your body to prefer fat for fuel. (Important for weight loss—the lower the intensity, the longer you can go, the more fat you will burn. Simplification, but fairly true). The number of enzymes that help convert fat into energy increase.
2. Develops slow twitch muscle fibers. These get bigger. They are the muscle fibers that will contract repeatedly without fatiguing (=> endurance).
3. Increases capillary density. Capillaries are small blood vessels that deliver oxygen to your muscles. The more you have, the longer you can continue to perform (=> endurance). 
4. Reduces risk of injury. You’re putting a manageable amount of stress on your joints, muscles, and connective tissue so they build up. Obviously, this is good in any case. Also, if/when you eventually introduce higher-intensity training, you will be putting a lot of stress on your body, and you’ll need to have your frame built strong.
5. Strengthens immune system. As above—good in any case, and higher-intensity straining also stresses the immune system, so it’s good to have it already strong.
6. More energy.

Like Sunshine,  my BT/internet time has really been limited lately and will continue to be so for another month... but I'm keeping up with the thread and being consistent about logging.  I'm sleeping some and my meds were just upped for awhile so I'm working hard on those challenge goals .

So let's see...

Congrats for longest rides and runs.  Kudos to those of you forgiving yourselves some training to prioritize your families.  Thanks for all the running advice from Steve and Yanti and others who've chimed in.  Leslie, too funny about the dog treats, and there's definitely a joke somewhere in all of that about Trader Joe's nuts but I won't go there . 

Hey, I'm hanging out too but not much to add to the thread lately.  Busy with lots of travel and work.  Though I have managed to get some workouts in while on the road but not as much as I would like.  Still trying!!!

Take care everyone!

Mila:nice synopsis!!

The Starfish - 2008-05-14 5:58 PM I have been around the last few days. Caught on reading our thread…lots of good stuff here. Enjoyed the running tips and resources. Enjoyed the laughs (I am one who would find themselves eating doggies treats too!). Enjoyed the photos…so I think I should owe you guys one since I have not been very active. Would like to join the challenge but my challenge this month is to survive it. I have my first HIM this weekend and I am very nervous. Then my husband and I prepare for a cross country move. So really my challenges are to (1) finish the Florida 70.3 (2) post daily on BT (3) not lash out to hubby when I get stresses (#3 will be the hardest! )

Everyone enjoy their training! You all are doing great! And keep smiling! You all have me smiling every time I read the thread.

Good luck on the race...you are going to do great...and don't worry so much about #3..after all we husbands deserve it most of the time and besides...after this weekend CHARLOTTE.....YOU ARE AN IRONMAN 

I think I'm developing 'garmin envy'