Scott's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 20)

Hey everyone.  Went for a swim this morning.  My daughter has been so generous and shared her cold with me.  I am down and out tonight trying to shake it.  I have a big week this week with power testing coming up.  I'm going to get some rest this evening and see how it all goes tomorrow.  

What a show today with Lance taking second in Panama.  I was following it pretty closely.  Things are never dull. I hope everyone had a great weekend.  

2250 meter swim today - first mile in 35 minutes - can't wait until its warm enough for open water swims so I can see how I can do without all the damn turns ...

Should be relatively warmer this week in NY ... leg still a green/brown massive bruise but will try to do a 6 miler tomorrow ... I need to get back to yoga but I can't bend that leg all the way yet - which means yoga will be a wasted visit ... see how I feel on yoga day but I can't see doing it this week.

Has anyone tried eGel ... I saw an add in Triathlon TriGuide and am going to order it and try it out - I really need to iron out my race nutrition by September.

Got inspired today watching Kona 2010 today - awesome race in the mens and I love the inspirational stories from some of the other finishers - did you guys see how Lance Armstrong did in his first half Ironman in years?  The guy is a freak of nature ...

I am with you.  It will be a long time before we see OWS up here, but I can't complain at all about the winter so far.  It sure has been mild.  I followed the race with Lance, and yes, he is indeed a freak of nature.  Paul have you read the hammer nutrition guide.  Some of it you have to take with a grain of salt, understanding that they are trying to sell product.  But there is some really great info in there about setting up nutrition for endurance events.  Here is the link:

http://www.hammernutrition.com/downloads/fuelinghandbook.pdf

It's a good read.  Good luck. 

Today was one of those days were everything just went right with my training. I got up at 4:45 and had a good solid hour on the bike. I hit all my power numbers for my intervals and just felt great. I did my first run back after work (Yay!!) and it went great!! I took the advise of going granny slow and kept it real short. I went for just about a mile. No issues with my foot whatsoever. I am encouraged by this but will remain extremely cautious as I move forward. Capped off my night by an awesome pool workout. Felt great in the water and managed to get in 2200 yards in 50 mins. I wish I could just bottle up this success and uncap it every day! 

On another front, my wife and I volunteered for Ironman Lake Placid. We are both working bike aid station # 5 which is at the Wilmington Fire House. This is close enough to where we stay that we can bike down there. We have the morning shift which is 7:00 to 11:00. Can't wait to see this event first hand. I know it's going to make me want to sign up for 2013!!

Good night all, 

Tim

Ran 4.5 miles today - averaged 8:24, without pushing too hard.  Seeing as how my PR for a 5k is 24:55, I think I will be beating that time this season.  Felt good during the run and not tired until an hour later so I am sure I could have gone longer and harder. 

Since yoga is out tomorrow and the weather is scheduled to cooperate will try to do 6 miles tomorrow at same pace (not sure if I have it in me to push a nice pace 2 days in a row but I will try).

Half marathon on March 24th - hoping for a sub 2 hour finish days like this are obviously morale boosters - I am so loving this mild winter!!

I took yesterday off because of this nasty cold.

Tim,  I know what you mean.  I too had a great day today.

2000 yds in the pool.  I tweaked one thing with my stroke and it made me significantly faster on my intervals today.  I was blown away.  

I took my last 20 minute power test.  318 watts avg for the 20 minutes.  Back in October I averaged 279 watts over 20 minutes.  I can't believe what this plan has done.  

I am so excited about this season coming up.  Bring it on world.  

Sorry I've been MIA the last few days.  The weekend was packed and didn't allow for any training.

Yesterday ran for 35 minute at a slow pace with no walking.  No calf problems.  I did notice that my running cardio seemed to have slid backwards a little. 

Today was a great day in the pool.  I did 2000 yds.  My first 500 y set I completed using four stroke breathing for the entire way for the first time.  It shaved quite a bit off my time and set a PB.  It appears that 4 stroke breathing is a lot more efficient than 2 stroke.  The rest of the swim was also strong and fast.

Tomorrow will be a 45 minute slow pace run.

C

You gonna share that "one thing"?

That's some very impressive wattage, Scott ... looking forward to my next test as well. But I'll probably do it in a week and a half instead of this weekend. Today marks day 5 of no workouts. This stomach virus has a hold and I'm staying home from work again. I'm going stir-crazy.

My running partner wants another fast long run this weekend, I'm hoping to recover enough to make that happen. Hopefully I can still salvage two pool days this week. 

Well it looks like I'll be training indoors today as the rain has arrived.  Since I don't have a treadmill at the house I'll probably get on the bike trainer.

On a nicer note, I officialy registered for my first race today.  It's the Superseal Oly in San Diego on March 18th. www.superfrogtriathlon.com

Ha Ha.  Yeah.  I wasn't trying to keep anything away.  I just don't consider myself any kind of authority on swimming, so I try and not give much with regard to stroke.  I dramatically changed the position of my hand once it enters the water.  I flex my wrist and point my fingers straight down to the bottom of the pool.  I always "knew" to do that, but in that workout I focused on that, and it was significantly faster.  Good for about 5 seconds per hundred on my intervals, with no perceived increase in exertion.

My Dad was a collegiate swimmer, and he has been helping a bit.  One of the things that was the most helpful was that he has had me focus on just one thing at a time.  He doesn't throw a bunch of stuff at once.  With regards to the hand entry, I just decided to focus on it because one of the recent threads about swimming mentioned it.  

Craig,  Congratulations on registering.  Now go and rock it.  

Here is a video of what I am referring to with regards to my wrist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1426yPVJ7iY

Oops. Tried to edit a typo and double posted...

?   Great video! Thanks, Scott! I'm going to work on that tonight.

   I'm doing my long run (7miles) tomorrow before I travel. I'm hoping to get some yoga and a couple of short runs in this weekend (one might be a run/walk if I go with my friend who is a beginning runner). As of Tuesday AM, I won't have internet access for a week so I won't be able to check in here.

   I hope everyone has a great training week!!!

Today was my first long run day since the calf injury.  I went 4.5 mi in 50 minutes, just under 11 min/mi.  I know that doesn't sound fast but its as fast as I was going before the injury.  I could feel the calf a little at the end of the run so I've got it on ice now. 

I sure would like to go sub 10 min/mi on race day.  Just over a month until the race.

Hope you all had a good day.

Craig.

Scott, 

Those are indeed some impressive power numbers. I too have been following Jorge's bike workout since the beginning but haven't been able to come close to those numbers. I will say that I have seen a significant improvement however. The one thing I learned is that training with power opens up a whole new element to my bike training. I can't wait to implement it as a tool for racing. Now that I understand it I feel like I will likely set my primary screen on my Garmin to show Watts, time, HR and Cadence. Not much else seems to matter to me anymore. 

Thanks for posting the Youtube video on swimming. I have heard that explained so many times but having the visualization of putting your arm over a barrel will definitely help me.  

Hi Scott

I am entering my first Tri event in May (sprint) and would like your opinion on where my training should be now.

I am currently swimming once / twice a week, doing around the 1,000 metre mark and amd running every morning (3.5 miles) followed by either a 12, 15 or 20k bike ride (in the gym on an exercise bike). My average run speed is about 9.37 mins per mile, and I am doing 15k in 28 minutes.

Is what I am currently doing too much, not enough or should I be concentrating on a different approach.

Really appreciate your thoughts on this!!

Thanks

Gareth

Gareth,

I can share what has worked for me.  It doesn't sound like you are doing too much.  How are you feeling?  Are you able to complete each workout and then feel recovered for the next one?  That is a good gauge to tell if you are doing too much.

Swimming:

If you want to decrease your times you can increase volume and/or intensity.  You can start breaking your session into intervals.

1500 m workout:

300 warm up

200 drills

5-6 x 100 m with 5 sec rest in between each 100 (do these as fast as you can in order to maintain the same speed for each one.

200 just kicking

300 cool down.  

This is just a thought.  

Biking:

Are you doing the biking at the same pace throughout?  If so, throw some harder efforts in there.  20-30 sec burst where you are sprinting followed by 20-30 sec of easy spinning.  Do 5-10 of these throughout the workout.  Check out Jorge's cycling program on BT.  It does wonders.

Running:

You can start manipulating the numbers so you have some longer and some shorter efforts.  7 days x 3.5 miles = 24.5 miles.  It could look something like this:

M- 3 miles

Tu- 4

W-3

Th-4

Fr-2

Sa-6

Su-2

Then you can increase those.  You can also throw in some "striders".  These are relaxed sprints of 20-30 seconds in duration followed by 30 sec rest.  I would put those at the end of one of the runs and do 6-8 of them.  Or you can disperse them throughout one of the runs.  

Like I said, these are just some of my initial thoughts.  What do you think?

Thanks.  Like you I have been babying my foot/ankle and been focusing hard on the bike this winter.  I feel it is paying off. There is still so much to learn with regards to power for me.  I still don't know how I would use it in racing.  Focusing on sprints and oly's again this year I feel like especially with sprints I try to keep it as close to the "red line" throughout the entire race.  I'm sure for longer distances it is more handy.  I could be wrong though.  

Do you smooth your power data?  I've been using the 3 second smoothing with the 910xt as my computer.  What are you using?  

That video was part 3 of a series.  If you watched the other two there are some real pearls in there.  

Good morning, friends!!

How is everybody???? Been off the grid this week but still sticking to my training. I have been down in FL for the week with the family/extended family and keeping busy! I turned 34 Tuesday but not feeling it! I've had a great week of training. I took Sunday off like I do every week.

Monday- I did a 5K and averaged a 7:54 mile!!!!! I was super pumped! It might be b/c I'm at sea level and everything is flat but still excited!

Tuesday- Went to the local Y and did 45 minutes of riding on a stationary bike. I didn't want to haul my roadster all the way down to FL not knowing if I could get a ride in. 

Wednesday- Walked around the Magic Kingdom for 12 hours pushing a stroller. I know that does not meet USA Triathlon requirements but it was the only thing I could do. 

Thursday- Hit the local pool and swam my first mile! Total swim time 34.52!!!!! First 1/4 mile (no breaks) in 7:47. I did my second 1/4 mile in 8:30. I then took 30 second breaks every 200 to 400 yards depending on how I was feeling. I am going to keep better track of my breaks next time. 

Friday- I plan on hitting the Y today for a 60 minute bike ride. 

Saturday- I have a 5k in the morning. This will be my first ever official race. I'm pretty excited. I'll post my time tomorrow and let you know where I finished!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I have missed the interaction and support with you guys. I'll be back on the grid Monday! 

37 days until I am a beginner triathlete!

Ashley,

Happy Birhtday.  Looks like you gave yourself a birthday prestent...7.54 pace!  Well done!

Good luck on you 5K this weekend.  Remember to have fun and enjoy it!

C

Hi SCott

Thanks for taking the time to type all that information out.....

I generally feel good, having concerns though over the lack of weight I am losing, I havent radically changed my eating habits, but I thought with the amount of training that I am doing I would lose weight a bit quicker - have lost half a stone in 4 weeks.

In terms of doing a event straight after each other, I have practiced going for a run straight from the exercise bike and it felt ok.

You have given me a lot of food for thought, and I will take the swimming into the pool on Sunday morning, only doing a light run tomorrow as got a very busy day ahead!!

I have already started looking for an event to enter after the May event, basing my theroy that I will enjoy the event on the enjoyment (well not quite enjoyment, but cant think of a better descriptive) that I am getting doing the training!!

Thanks

Gareth

Scott

Forgot to ask these questions:

What is BT

What is Jorges cycling programme

Are these US based things or are they accessible in the UK

Cheers