Stoop Dog's Tri Group - CLOSED for 2010! (Page 20)

It has gotten a bit quiet...GoGoGo usually drives the bus on this forum b*lls to the walls...

Keep posting your progress...I'm lurking and waiting to pounce!

did 2700m swim this A.M. w/ out the coach yelling at me...(she doesn't really yell but she has hit me with a pool noodle before...)

look out...here comes the snow....get those indoor trainers ready for Sat/Sun.

later team!

Phil

Time seems to be getting stolen away every day.  Been in a funk and haven't been able to drag my no *ss out of bed in the mornings.  Got in a 40 minute run at the work gym yest.  Squeezed in a 1/2 bike last night around 9:15 even though I just wanted to go to bed.

	40m 3.75 miles 10m 40s/Mi	Min HR: 91 Avg HR: 137 Max HR: 166
11:00 AM       [ HR data]
Equipment:	Treadmill

Cal 617

	30m 7.66 miles 15.32 Mi/hr	Min HR: 109 Avg HR: 135 Max HR: 145
9:15 PM       [ HR data]
Equipment:	1up USA indoor trainer

I have my 1upUSA trainer set at max resistance by adding the additional bearings.  The trainer comes with three bearing in the wheel.  I added the additional 3 bearings.  It definitely adds a slight hill like feel as it's pretty hard to get the bike above a controlled speed of 16mph.  When I'm out on the road I usually average closer to 20 mph. Does anyone have a trainer where you can control the resistance dynamically?

I think the hardest part of tri is the puzzle of time.  Family, work and sleep are all important and cut into potential training time.  I look at some training plans and wonder how its even possible.  Then people complain that they "only" got 10 hours of training a week.  Only- I'm doing a lot, around 6 hours a week, and I'm barely squeezing it in or wanting to squeeze it in.

WRT trainers:  I found mine in the trash while out running.  Its not much more than a stand and I have no idea how or if it works.  I really want a computrainter, but I have a hard time justifying a trainer that costs 50% more than the bike.

Agree...I think it's all relative to your lifestyle...I know athletes with no family commitments and all the time in the world to train..of course, they don't do anything else and going out to the bar with them sometimes you just want to punch them in the face and say 'relax...you aren't getting paid to train...', know what I mean...

If someone wants to 'pay' me to race then sure, I'll train like it's my job...so, my point is, as long as your training is able to get you to your goal, it's good. When I did my half-iron last year I rarely crossed 10 hours a week of training.

as for trainers, mine's a pretty basic Blackburn with no variable resistance other than how many times I turn it in the back before I get on...I just change gears to get more resistance.

Computrainers are cool but you have to have a place to leave it up all the time (a pain to take down and put back up) and they do cost big $$.

Phil

So Phil tells me, you thought I was dead!!!!

Not really,  as you all have been remarking, life has been busy.  Just getting over a cold/flu which set me back a bit.  Now tapering for half marathon, on Sunday.  The "hypothermic half" aptly named!!

Been peeking in every few days & looks like you guys & gals are doing well.   Finding ways to deal with everyday life, that seems to interfere with training plans. 

The taper...

My views on "the taper". If you have not raced recently, you will encounter this soon!

The taper differs for everyone. It depends on your present fitness level & current training volume. It also depends on the "exertion level" expected from the race. Many frequent racers grade their races as "A", must do, important races. "B", semi-important races, sometimes used as training races. Finally, "C" races which are for fun & training. The type of race will also affect the taper. A 5k will require very little tapering, probably the day of prior & that's it. A marathon or Half Iron or Iron, will have a much more rigid taper. During race season, many on this site, will race every weekend or two. It is impossible to properly taper for all of these & hence, grade the races & use some as training runs, etc. As the race assumes more importance, get more serious about it, for your best performance/showing.

Despite this, the taper does have a few common themes. You have recently gotten through very high volume training weeks & your body need to start to repair & rest, prior to the race, when you will work very hard. Hence the taper starts to taper volume of training, most importantly, but does keep some intensity, to theoretically maintain your "sharpness" & not let you stiffen up.

The taper for my half mary consisted of my maximum Long run, of 25k for this training cycle occuring 3 weeks ago. 2 sundays ago...16k, last sunday almost 10k. Kept my weekly training with no change until this week. Did a 20 min bike & run yesterday & today & that is it for me, until Sunday.The few days prior are sort of strange, not exercising! I usually exercise Saturday morning with a long bike ride or spin class. This Saturday, will be strange, doing no exercise. Hopefully I will resist the temptation not to go!!! This is what I call taper madness!!! Many of my running buddies will do a short 15 minute, easy run on saturday, to "loosen up". I often don't do this.

Anyway, you have probably read about this stuff & could critique my method, easily, but there it is!!

R

Edited by GoGoGo 2010-02-04 5:51 PM

Best of luck on that 1/2 Marithon GO.. let us know how you do I'll be cheering for you..

Good Luck on the half mary!

I seem to be having a good training week a few little twinges but nothing that hasn't stretched out. 
Did 5 miles on the indoor track this morning and 22 on the trainer this evening.

The trainer is just a MAG  trainer so the resistance is just the tension knob.  Would like to get a better trainer but its not in the budget.  Funny how that works.

Oh I put a pic of my new bike in my profile photo section.  Still need to change the pedals and get another water bottle and cage for it.  Oh and I need to resize the pic.

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Very Sweet bike.  Now why do you have al that sand piled up outside your porch?  Kind of a crazy landscaping thing?    

GoGoGo  I thought the Taper was that kid in the shipping warehouse that taped up all the boxes before they went out for shipment.  Man you learn something new every day :-)  Thanks for the info.

I did a Brick after work today. I did 30 minuits on the Spin bike and then out the front door for a 5k run. Used the 4:1 run walk ratio so I'll recover good for Sundays longer run.  I think it is easier to run coming off the bike than it is to go straight into a run.  Probably because your already good and warmed up and breathing falls into rythem easy.  Speaking of breathing, man I'm loving the inhaler it is working wonders.  It feels so good to be able to breath when I run again.  My pace is steadly getting faster at the same or lower HR now that I can breath it has been easier to make some progress.  Back in November my blood pressure was 135 over 82 ( little high) last night couple houres after a 2 mile treadmill run I checked it and it was 118 over 72. (GOOD)  Not sure what my Resting HR was back in November but after sitting for about 5 minuites to take my BP resting HR was at 65. 

Whats everyones weekend plans?  My son and I are going to the Monster Jam (Monster truck show) Saturday night, think I'll have one of them giant Pretzlels while I'm there MMM!!  Everyone have a fun and safe weekend.   

Cool ride!!!

I guess, with the snow piled up, your tires would be slicks.

It's nice to see someone else was hit by some snow!!!!

Sounds like you are speaking from experience!!

Congratulations on your healthy lifestyle!!!!

My plans.... shovel out from the snowstorm we are having now. Might go order my new Tri-bike tomorrow. Try not to go to spin class, tomorrow.

Run a Half Mary on Sunday & hope for good weather!!

How old is your son? I have a 7 yo son & 9 yo daughter.

Edited by GoGoGo 2010-02-05 4:49 PM

My son is 6 years old.  He was born on my birthday so I no longer have a birthday just a gift that keeps giving.

Nice job. Glad to here your pressure is coming down. I have a long list of family issues that I am trying to avoid myself. So far, so good. But it is out there for me if I let it..

Well, my second workout today was a odd one for me. Remember, I know nothing about this stuff. My coach set me schedule so I do..

I ran 45 mins on the treadmill keeping my heart rate in zone 1 which is under 115 for me. Wierd workout. Not very easy either. I could do a simulated run at 4.0 mph and be between 112-115. 4.1 would throw me over. Hahaha. Of course I could walk at the same speed and lower my HR. Then run again.

Can one of you experts explain to me why I did this workout?

Mark Allen explains it far better than we could.


http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460

12 inches so far this morning! Thank god for buying a trainer yesterday!

Ryan...the philosophy behind the 'long and slow' workouts is to build the supporting mitochondria that help remove the lactic acid and improve performance. It does seem strange but it's effective.I'm sure Nicki will explain better than me but it works. You can also check out the book 'SERIOUS training for endurance athletes'...an excellent resource.Trust me, I pushed back on her too with this as it seems counter intuitive but it works.Phil

Thanks Phil.  Trust me, when you know as little as I do about this, you dont push back on anything.  haha.. It was kind of strange but I got through it...  

Thanks for the link William.  That was very informative...

Just got off the spin bke this morning for 60 mins.  Legs and heart are great on the bike but my butt and, well you know, has not got use to those little seats yet... 

Ahh...monkey butt...common phenomenon to spin seats!! 

Well you are all welcome to come to my Sunday spin class in NJ.  My psycho instructor has us out of the saddle for about 80% of the class.  Easy on what my wife and friends cal...my long back (becuase I supposedly don't have a butt). Tough on the legs. Preps for any hill work for sure. 

Slept in this morning hoping for a nice run in the 3" to 6" of snow we were supposed to get - nothing.  A dusting and that's all.  At least it was snowing when I finally went out for my run.   After the run, I rinsed off and headed off to the gym/pool for 3000 meters.  That distance is getting easier (its still broken down into sets) but man it can get boring as hell.  And I lose track of counting lengths in my sets.

Hope everyone else is having a fun weekend.  Wife and I will try for a movie later.