Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete Mentor Group (Page 20)

Adrian,

Good job on getting into the water!

Resting HR is very individual.  It isn't uncommon for a trained individual to have a low resting HR.  Ideally, you monitor your resting HR over time.  If it suddenly spikes for 2-3 days by several beats per minute - that is an indication you are in need of recovery.

112 BPM seems low for a swimming HR.  Remember that swimming can easily be anaerobic, especially if you haven't been in the water for some time.  The best way to check HR in the water is with a carotid pulse as it sounds like you did.  I generally do a 10-second pulse check then multiply for 6.  If that yields an unreasonable number, try again for 15-seconds.

OUCH!!!

There's two classes of cyclists - those that have crashed and those that are going to crash.  Fortunately you only had some bumps, bruises and a bike repair.  I second your words - stay safe folks!

Hey Kathy,

I think we have all been there at one time or another.  The first thing is get another race on your calendar.  Having something out there provides some motivation all by itself.  Next thing, I have my training plan shared with my Outlook calendar (you can do that through Beginner Triathlete if you are a paid member and have you training plan saved.  The "other" site also allow you to do the same thing.  You can also share your training plan with other calendars - gmail, etc.).  By doing that, I can see my training schedule on my phone and I get reminders on my phone when it's time to workout.  I try and get the workout started BEFORE the reminder.  Kind of a little competition with myself.  Finally, I remind myself why I started doing triathlons in the first place.  There is a reason you started - what was it?  Sometimes recalling what got you started will help get you started again.

Don't beat yourself up because you lost a bit of mojo for a brief period of time - remember it isn't how many times you fall down, rather, how many times you get back up.

Hope that helps.

My wife regularly has Baker's cysts behind her knee.  In her case, it is a direct result of the Osteoarthritis.  She takes 800mg Ibuprofen a couple times a day and stays off the leg for a few days.  The doctor has been telling her for years that she will continue to have the cysts until she has the knee replacement surgery.

I know my wife is in pain for a couple of days when the cyst flares up, but she can "tame" it and is then generally fine for a few months before another flare.  Obviously your situation is different than hers so I would seek some guidance from your physician regarding whether you can hold off or not.

For running, you will be better served staying primarily in zone 2.  As you build your aerobic base some Z5 strides or farleks wil be helpful.  Once you are into your build you can add some Z4 speed work to increase speed.  Time spent running in Z3 ends up being somewhat wasted time as you aren't training slow enough to cause adaptation to the aerobic energy pathways nor are you training fast enough to cause adaptation to the aerobic energy pathways.

I have increasingly been getting away from a fixed periodization schedule for myself as well as the athletes I work with - whether the schedule be 3/1, 2/1 or any other fixed build/recovery ratio in favor of a more dynamic approach.  Basically inserting recovery workouts/days when needed as opposed to scheduling them.  Too often I have seen athletes that are barely hanging on at the end of a two or three week build.  Towards the end of those builds workout quality suffers as fatigue builds beyond manageable levels.  By taking recovery time when needed, workout quality remains high which contributes to a higher overall level of training.

An IM is a serious event for serious athletes (in my humble opinion).  As such there should be a plan that includes a taper/peak.  Those final days before the event should be pretty well planned.  I had an athlete at Louisville last year and the last three days before the event were planned out almost to the hour.  For the record, there weren't any parties, there were a couple of short runs to get the blood flowing, a swim to acclimate to the river and a ride to make sure the bike was mechanically sound.  You're right, save the sight-seeing for after the race.

I will say right up front that I have no financial interest in what I am about to recommend.  I use this product and highly endorse it.  Check out Infinit Nutrition - https://www.infinitnutrition.us/.  They have pre-mixed formulas or you can create a custom blend.  You can have a sport drink that contains EVERYTHING you need - carbs, protein, electrolytes - EVERYTHING.  You can blend it so that you tolerate it well - not too sweet, not too strong, etc.  You can include caffeine if desired.  Their website does a far better job of introducing their product than I can do.  One of the biggest advantages in my opinion is you don't have to deal with gels!

Infinit combined with a small amount of solid food (I use quartered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) can be the basis for an Ironman nutrition/hydration plan.

I would wager you won't make this mistake again!

6.  Back when I was swimming, the "No-touchy" ban was a week before.  2-nights is EASY!

7.  An Ironman is about pacing, not fitness. You will see incredibly fit men and women that don't know how to pace an Ironman race walking or sitting on the side of the road.  You are right, don't let them influence you.  I tell everyone I work with, put blinders on.  Control the things you can and forget about the rest.

It occurs to me you have learned a LOT for someone that has "little experience!"  You have also learned the most important lesson - HAVE FUN!

Hi Kelly, my sprint was fun and I just posted a race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=547154&posts=1&page=1

It was pretty straight forward so it isn't a very exciting read but I had fun.  My next race is the Oliver Olympic, June 3rd but our spring has been so cool and wet I'm not sure if we're going to get in to the lake to swim before the race.

How about your plans?  What is coming up?

George & David - congrats on your races!

My race (Gateway Oly) last weekend got canceled.  We had a lot of rain a couple weeks ago that led to some major flooding in the area.  Apparently the lake/park were still dealing with the aftermath of that so the race was called off.  Good news is my entry will transfer to next year so I already have a paid-for race on my schedule for next May .  I did a DIY "race" instead on Saturday - OWS, group bike ride and then a run through the neighborhood.  The swim and run were a little short of the Oly distance and the bike was a little long, but overall it was good practice for me.  I've got a sprint coming up this weekend and I'm feeling pretty good about it.  

Hope everyone is having a great week!
Janet

I did rangnar Cap Cod over the weekend and got back in town today..  Last week I got in a 20 mile bike ride on Monday Morning before work then went into the office early on Tuesday and left town on Tuesday afternoon.  We drove three hours to Dallas on Tuesday and flew out to New York on a 5:45AM flight the next morning.  We spend the day in New York and saw the Statue of Liberty.  On Thursday day we drove up to Cap Cod to meet my family/team.  My wife and kids walked down to the beach and I followed them by a few minutes and ran to catch up. I felt very sluggish from 2-1/2 day of travel with no training.  I took 20 minutes to do strides/wind sprints and to stretch out.  after I got a good warm-up and some foot turn over I felt much better.  We ate as a team that night and the next morning at about 10:00 AM I was running my first leg of the race which was 8.25 miles.  I was very anxious to run after being cooped for 3 days and went out a lot faster than I should of.  i was about 40 seconds/mile under my target pace.  I tried to slow down byt stayed hot for the first 3 miles.  miles 3-6 were right on pace but the last 2 miles slowed and i went 20 seconds per mile over my target pace.  Over all I finished 6 sec/mi under my target pace.  

It was 6:00 before my group of the relay team got a break.  We showered and got some dinner.  I over ate at dinner.  I was starving and  just hoped that the four hours from dinner to my next leg of the race would be enough.  I ran again at about midnight.  My plan was to sand bag that leg of the race to use it as active recovery to set me up for a solid 3rd leg.  The 2nd leg was in the dark which wasn't ideal for racing hard anyways so I wanted to save myself for the last leg.  3-1/2 miles into the 2nd leg of my race I got heartburn really bad.  It was painful to swallow and breathing wasn't much better.  Is I stopped and tried to work through the heart burn before continuing.  I got water from another team's  SAG vehicle but even water to quench the burn didn't do much.  I walked til I saw the 1 mile to go sign then jogged in at an easy pace.  I was 2 minutes over my goal pace.  

My part of the team got our break at about 4 AM got to go back to our rest area and try to sleep until about 7:30 AM.   I ran again at about 9:00 AM.  my last leg of the race was listed at 6.2 miles.  I have never done a train for and stand alone 10K before.  I have done then as time trials, at events that did a 5K at 8:00Am and a 10K at 9:00 am, etc, but that is a distance I just never have go into for racing.  So...I want to run the last leg of the race like I would a 10K race just to see how I did.  I went out really relaxed but was still very fast.  All my splits we pretty even and I finished at a pace that was 17 sec/mile faster than what I did for my 8.25 mile leg the day before.  I was very excited about that since it was my last leg and I was running on tired legs and very little sleep.  .I felt that I learned a lot about pacing with this race and the 5K race I did the week before.  I didn't think last weeks 5K nor this weeks Ragnar Relay would be anything but distractions from my race prep for my Triathlon in 2-1/2 weeks, but I think that they may be the key for gaging my race effort on my Triathlon. Now I just need to fivure out my preparation plan for the next 2-1/2 weeks of training.  

After a 1:45 run in the morning yesterday a group of us went to a small local lake and had our first open water swim of the season.  The water temp was a balmy 18C or 64.4F (actually fairly comfortable) and it was even a fairly hot day.  In two weeks I have an Olympic race at this lake so now I want the water temp to stay where it is so it won't be declared, "no wetsuits".

The run was hard after a long ride (5:05) on Saturday so my legs felt pretty heavy at the start of the run but I did get settled into the run and wound up enjoying myself.  Then at the lake I felt quite comfortable - no leg stiffness - just some good swimming.  My Garmin says I swam at an average pace of 1:48/ 100m which if I actually managed that pace I'd be very pleased.  Unfortunately, this was my first OWS with my Garmin and I'm not sure how accurate it is.  Plus, I probably hit some wrong buttons.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.  This is our Victoria Day weekend for Queen Victoria.  

My "A Race" is in eight (8) days.  What traditions do you have for training, diet, rest, etc. the week before you big race?

Hey Curtis,

The final days before an 'A' race should be spent tapering and peaking for the race.  You accomplish that by reducing overall volume, while slightly increasing intensity and frequency.  Ideally all of your workouts will be at race pace - that reinforces the neuro-muscular connections and primes them for race pace.  Your overall volume should gradually decrease.  A couple of days out from your race you should start taking in additional fluids through the course of the day.  Continue that until race start.  I try to maintain normal sleep patterns.  As a race gets closer I increasingly have a hard time sleeping so if I can just maintain my normal pattern I am happy.  Depending upon the length of your race, you may want to limit your activity in the days prior to the race.  There are a lot of people that advocate doing nothing the day before a race.  I am NOT of that group.  I think the day before a race you should get in the water for an easy swim just to reinforce your feel for the water.  Ideally you will do that at the race venue if possible.  I like to take a short ride on my bike to confirm all is well mechanically and I like to get a 15-20 minute Z2 run in with a couple of accelerations to remind my legs what running feels like.

Remember a taper is about feeling FRESH on race day.  You've already built the fitness.  You are trying to rest, recover and optimize your performance during the race.

Hope that helps.  Good luck!  Have a great race.

Thanks Scott! 

Good morning all.  It's been a while since I've commented and hope all are well.  We've been traveling like crazy the last 4-6 weeks (Italy 2 weeks and family trips).  I am sooo ready to slow down and be home. Yesterday was my first time in the gym for about a month and it felt so good to get in there are work.  I do have an issue with my right foot ... the PF has subsided - but now there's a wart.  Dang I hate this thing! I'm trying an over-the-counter solution to dissolve it and it's a slow process.  So if anyone has a good remedy, I'm open for suggestions.

I have a 5k fun run on Saturday, and invited some friends to run along ... so Saturday is all about fun.  My next race will be another Sprint in early July, so it's time to get back to training.

Ciao ... Dorm