Milaminute and Sparco's Group - Closed (Page 20)

You know I loves me some Kara... but you are insane.  I mean that in the nicest possible way .

Seriously, you never cease to amaze me with your long swimmy swims.  You rock, girl.

Giddyup!  Congrats on the PR.  Hope you've recovered well... of course, if I keep reading the thread I'll probably find that out, eh?? 

Incidentally, I am enjoying talking to myself here and simlutaneously increasing my post count. 

Kara... you nailed it because your swim training has rocked... including nailing the nutrition beginning last summer.  What long distance swims do you have planned for this season??

I bet they are!  I hope you took it easy on the bike and maybe that helped...

Incidentally, here's a link to Cash's race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=100383&posts=6#M1140359

Alrighty then, I think I'm all caught up!  As for me, I spent a lot of time in various saddles today... and I am unhappy with being back on the getting up at the crack of stupid schedule!

Yes, he encourages me to "ride lots"... wait... did he mean my bike?? 

Make sure you give yourself adequate recovery time...

Holy smokes... you swim better than I walk, I think .

Do you have a running plan in place?  If not, we can make Sal come up with one for you  take a look at that.

O.K. Brett, as promised, posting best swim splits after today's (short) workout:

400 7:55
200 3:54

You definitely kicked my butt on yardage yesterday!

OUCH --  I've got some SERIOUS work to do!

I'll probably do my split on Friday.  Tomorrow is a recovery day....

That said -- I set MAJOR (although embarrassing) history today!   Ran 5.12 miles -- Last time I ran further than that in one workout was Aug 22, 2006! ---  That's almost inexcuseable!

O.K. deyr Brett.  Since you seem to be in da challenge mood, how's about a 'pre-challenge' before Lifetime?

You're doing Lonestar.  Cindy and I are doing Minnetonka.

            Lonestar     Minnetonka

swim   .3 mile          .5 mile
bike     12.5 miles   15 miles
run       3 miles        3 miles

Standardize the swim to a .4 mile distance (based on pace/100 yds), standardize the bike to 13.75 miles (based on mph), direct comparison of run times.

Lowest overall (standardized) time wins.  You have the advantage because of shorter race distance.  You up to it?

Congrats!  That is a big milestone. 

ETA:  No pun intended but it made me giggle .

And this is why I like Cash .

Nice Job there Cashmason!  Seems like ~ 5.25 miles was everyones magic number today!

Free shoes for entry!  SWEET!

LOL... really?  I told him he was a punk today .  I meant it in the nicest way, though.  I am sure you'll do great on the ride this weekend.  Sorry about the blisters. 

Oops.  I missed the memo .  Yeah, I thought that was pretty sweet, too!

So I swam today--and I didn't have to stop to rest (well, any more than the other master's swimmers...). I felt really good, and did longer distances in one shot than I thought I could. Yay! I also sent in my registration for the local tri club swim clinic, and joined the local tri club while I was at it (Desert Sharks, for The-Triathlete-Formerly- Known-as-UTTriman).

So I have a few questions:

A. How do I know which RPE level I'm at while I'm swimming? I know when I've gone too far (um, breathing on both sides, every stroke sound familiar to anyone?) but how do I differentiate Z2 from Z3?

B.  When I do eventually get a HR monitor (which will be sometime in the foreseeable future) what's the best way to figure my HR zones? (before I do the 20 minute LT mini-self-test-thingy). Betcha didn't know I make up the jargon as I go, huh? And which HR monitor should I go for?

C. I'm still losing weight. I've only worked out a few times over the past 2 weeks, I'm eating again, and I've been sleeping so-so. Any ideas? I've lost a total of 6 pounds in the last 3-4 weeks.

Feel free to chime in on any/all

Cool -- Glad you decided to join a club.   Desert Sharks is a good group.   I don't know them as well as the other, but the few I do know are great folk!

As to your item 'C', please tell me your secret.  I'm training like a madman, and haven't lost more than a pound or two in 10 weeks.   Driving me crazy!   I'll never be able to win my guantlet with "he who must not be named" if I can't get the weight off.....

Any ideas, anyone?

Good job getting back into your training!

Got in a nice easy run today.  Then strength training, with core focus, I bet I have a 6 pack under the "baby fat."    I am hell bent on getting back to my pre child bearing weight this year, preferable before summer.  It is going to come down to diet for me.  I love to eat, and I tend to stress eat. 

UTTriman:  I have found that eating a lot of veggies (with lunch & dinner and fruit @ breakfast), and drinking 2 liters of water a day is key for me.  Plus you just have to wait it out sometimes, as you build muscle you won't see a big drop in weight.  It sucks, but take a look at your diet and be patient (easier said than done). 

 Givemashot:  My HRM doesn't work well in the pool, so I take my 6 sec HR periodically, multiply the number by 10 and you have your HR.  Mine is always higher than I think it should be, it may be getting a little better.  I try to keep it below 140 bpm 

I know those tricks, and they help that's for sure.   The funny thing is that in the past, once I started to get into a consistent workout schedule like I am now, the weight just melted off and I lost 35 lbs in about 6 months.  Now, with basically the same training, and similar diet, I've been working for 2 months and it's going nowhere.   And for reference, because I know once you get to a certain weight it's harder to lose, I started at about the same weight as last time.    It's just so frustrating!   (URGH)

Thanks for your support and suggestions, I think I'll definately increase my water intake, and I'll try to be a good boy and eat my veggies!     Thanks again!

Hi Guys!

I am back from a busy day of training and wiped out.  Hope everyone is well.

I thought I would re-post this since there have been several people who joined us after our initial discussion about rate of perceived exertion (RPE) as it relates to heart rate zone training.  I hope it helps. 

There's been some good advice here about LT testing.  A field test is a sound way to go.  You can also approximate your zones with the cues below.  Just listen to your body for RPE. 

FWIW, I wouldn't advocate taking your max HR from one work out and working backwards from it... if your aerobic base is huge then plugging the max HR number in (actually, it should be your peak instead of max), isn't going to really allow for the zones to be personalized to your aerobic fitness, just your own aerobic threshold.  This method will give you a general idea which likely won't be too far off, but won't necessarily be specific to you.  Does that make sense?

Also, I am going to post some specific stuff about weight loss results that pertain to these HR zones that some folks might find helpful.  I'll try to get to it tonight but it might not be until tomorrow.

Z1... not much more effort than eating popcorn on the couch.  You could do this all day long.
Z2... you can comfortably hold a converstaion here, depending on your fitness level, could comfortably sustain this for 60 minutes to... well, let's just say 16 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds .  Z2 sometimes feels awkward... as if you body is saying "c'mon already" but you're trying to keep it reined in.
Z3... you feel it, you know you're working, you're sweating, but you can get through it.  You are not breathless but as you get higher up in this zone you reach a point where you could hold a conversation if you had to but you don't really want to.  Five words at a time or so is about all you feel like saying.
Z4... it's tough to breathe, your jaw drops (your body is trying to get more oxygen in), 1-2 words is all you can say.  Your muscles might burn.  Depending on your fitness level, you could stay here for as little as 1-2 minutes or you could possibly run a 5K here...
Z5... Z5 is only doable for a very short amount of time.  This is your all out effort.  It's like going to your in-laws... you know you gotta go but you don't want to stay for long.  If you were to try to sustain Z5 you would hit the wall, puke, etc.  Good times, good times.

This is my methodology... and I happen to teach it to group X and personal trainers for a pretty well known company... so I do believe it has a lot of merit... but there are variations on the theme so please feel welcome to chime in with your own RPE methodology!