Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 20)

Steve,

Glad to hear you're back to a full training schedule.  REALLY happy I am not in the 60-64 AG.  I figure you have a bur under your saddle and whoa un to anyone that gets in your way!

Just remember - pain is temporary, victory is forever!

Kris,

Like you, I wear my Road-Id 24/7.  Any idea how the metal came off of yours?  I have the larger 1/2 inch silicone band and I can't imagine the metal plate coming off.  Any ideas how that happened?  Just curious.  Not going to do me any good if it leaves the contact information on the road somewhere.

Hey James,

Good question and one that we all get to ponder at some point, especially as we get older.

Back when I was swimming, the theory was that for every day of workout you missed, it would take seven days to get back to where you were before you missed the workout.  Using that formula, obviously you didn't want to take ANY time off.  Sadly, I can recall a number of times that I was in the pool swimming when I probably should have been home in bed getting better.

Fortunately, current research paints a different picture.  VO2 MAX is the best indicator of aerobic fitness.  A number of studies have recently been done that reveal after a 7-day cessation of training, there is less than a 6% reduction in VO2 MAX.  At a two-week break, the drop climbs to 6-14%.  After two-weeks, the decline continues but begins to level off and at 30-60 days the reduction in VO2 MAX is around 19%.

What that means is that after a week, you would likely notice a bit of a difference but not very much.  Putting it in terms of a 5K time, if you ran something like a 20:00 minute 5K before the break, after 7-days your 5K would drop to about 20:30.  After two-weeks, you would theoretically be down to something like a 23:00.

Summing it up, research shows that you really shouldn't be too concerned about losing significant fitness if  your break is less than two weeks.

The flip side of that is if you have an injury and you don't allow it to heal properly, you could lose a season, which would obviously have a far greater effect on your fitness.

In my humble opinion, full recovery from whatever injury you have is FAR more important than any concern with lost fitness.

Well, another weekend is upon us!  Anyone have any special plans or a race scheduled?  Ok, the race thing is directed more towards the people in the south and west.  I have been layed up with the flu all week.  Got a flu shot, and all the Dr. has to say is, "Yeah, they missed with the vaccine this year."  THANKS!

My plan is to prop my feet up and get better.  Anyone have anything more physically challenging planned?

No races for me this weekend.  I'm planning for a 6ish mile run tomorrow (would love to hit the trails but after the rain/snow this week, I really don't want to deal with the mud again , so probably just a neighborhood run), a longish swim Sunday morning and a trainer ride in the afternoon.  

Question: Is there a good way to train for hills while on a trainer?  I'm thinking about signing up for a duathlon in June (1mi run/17mi bike/5k run).  About 10 miles of the bike is pretty good hills, the rest is rolling hills.  Once I get outside to ride, there is a park nearby that has some good hills I can do some training on, but I'd like to start now on the trainer if I can.  I'm not really comfortable on hills so I need as much practice as I can get .  

Have a good weekend!
Janet

Yep there is.  There are three Sufferfest videos that target climbing.  They are "Angels 2015," "The Hunted," and "The Wretched."  They all cost about $13.00 and are downloadable to your PC.  You can find them at http://thesufferfest.com.  If you go to their page and get to the cycling video page, select climbing and you can get a short preview of each video.  You can click on the video description and it will detail specifically what it works on.

Angels 2015 is 3 x 8:00 climbs with lots of attacks. 56 mins.

The Hunted is a 20 minute climb followed by the worst 5:00 known to mankind. 60 mins.

The Wretched is a pure, attacking, climbing, fighting Tour de France stage. 48 mins,

If you follow the intensity and cadence instruction contained in the video, by the time you get done with any of them you will be questioning your sanity.  You will also be making VAST improvements.

SCOTT K - Bummer to be sick and a larger bummer that you got a flu shot and still got sick with the flu.  Grrrr... Drink a lot of water and rest, rest, rest.

ROD - I'm totally jealous of your warm weather. Enjoy the OWS!

KRISTEN - Good luck in your 13.1 tomorrow!   Do you have a goal in mind?  Run Happy!

I'll continue doing some core work and I joined the plank-a-day challenge so I'll add that in. Otherwise I'll be sitting at my desk working on tax returns.   I know you all wish you had as much excitement in your life as me....  NOT! 

Hey Scott,

Sorry to hear this.  Wishing you and your wife the best.  Hope she gets well soon.

Has anyone else been watching the Dubai Tour the past four days?  It is absolutely stunning how much power the pro cyclists generate.  Every year, I think I am making progress, then I turn on a stage race and realize, "Nope, not joining the pro cycling tour this year . . ."  

I was down with the flu all week so zero workout points.

Lost 2.5 pounds though, at least there is a bit of a silver lining to being sick.

• +5 points for no weight gain
• +1 point for 1 pound lost
• +24.1 point for 723 workout minutes
• Total: 30.1 points

My wife is doing significantly better. Hopefully I can bring her home from the hospital today!

Scott I.

Congratulations on hitting your 2:30 goal, KRISTEN!!  Woot Woot!   We've all gone out too fast on most of our races.  Holding back is hard when we're excited and ready to go.   You'll need to keep what you learned from this race in mind when you're lined up for the start of your 70.3.  In the longer races pacing smart and holding back become very,very important to keep the final 13.1 run from being a death march.    Good job on going out today for a bike ride and then a swim.  You're well on the road to a successful Half Ironman! 

 Good job on being restrained with the knee, ROD.  90% is so close to 100% that you shouldn't have long to wait to break into a canter.    And thanks for signing up to volunteer at IM!  You and the high school kids are rock stars for packing the bags.  That's a behind the scenes job that the athletes don't get a chance to thank you for.   You'll be out there on Saturday and Sunday too?  That's a huge time commitment - wow - thank ye, thank ye!   Your example has convicted me to volunteer at some more races this year.