Scott's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 21)

BT is Beginner Triathlete.  This site.  And here is Jorge's plan:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/training-plans-view.asp?planid=10920

Good luck with everything.  It sounds like you are well on your way.  I'm having a busy afternoon at my clinic so I will write some thoughts about the weight loss later on.  

Good afternoon, group!!

Well, Scott and Troy were right. To get a plaque, you must yack!!!!\

I did my first ever race this morning and had a ball. It was a 5K in Jacksonville, FL. I finished in just over 25 minutes which put me at an 8 minute mile. I was a little disappointed not to hit my sub 8 goal. I should have sprinted the last few hundred yards but didn't think to do it.

Being my first race ever, I didn't have many expectations but to do it at my own pace and see where I fell. Well, I finished 35th overall (out of around 300) and 4th (out of 17) in my age group. 4th doesn't get any recognition!!!! 3rd place got a placque! I was 3 minutes behind the 3rd place guy. I should have sucked it up and tried to hang on like I was told to and puke at the end. I might have gotten 3rd place! 1st and 2nd place were at 16 and 18 minutes so I know I couldn't catch those guys.

Oh well. I had fun, learned some things, and got a technical t-shirt. 36 days till tri time!

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

I am using a Garmin Edge 500. Not sure about the smoothing. I too have a lot to learn. As far as racing with the PM I can see your point about Sprints and Oly's being a little different as you usually just go as hard as you can. I can however see it coming into play with some longer distances. My thoughts are that you can use your PowerMeter to keep an eye on your power output. I can see this coming into play if you are trying to conserve energy on the bike to make certain you have something left in the tank for the run. 

Way to go Ashley.  8 min/mi. is awsome.  I'm very envious.  And puking is not worth a plack!

Congratulations on your first race.  That is really awesome.  Now you know how it feels at that pace.  Get ready to rock your first tri.  35th overall is incredible.  Perhaps someday you venture to yakdome.    Serious kudos Ashley.  Well done.

Good morning peeps!

Sorry to have been so absent lately ... finally getting my legs back underneath me after being sidelined by that dang stomach bug. That thing had some staying power. But I managed to get on the trainer for an hour yesterday ... and just got back from a very encouraging 12 mile progression run. There is something definite to be said about fresh legs. It's like I had an unintended week long taper:

Warm Up: 8:24, 8:17, 8:11
Main Set: 7:36, 7:26, 7:21, 7:04, 6:48, 6:35, 6:33
Cool Down: 2@9:22

***********************

Very solid performance Ashley!! Outstanding race. As Scott said, you now have some experience under your belt to inform your pacing on your next outing.

@ Ashley - awesome run!  Next time you will kick and blast that time out of the water ...

Tried something different today with mixed results.

Ran 7.34 miles at an 8:41 pace - fairly consistent throughout ... will be adding distance for the next two weeks in prep for my first half marathon - my goal is to average sub 9 minute miles with proper race day nutrition I think I should be ok.  Usually I do 10 mile runs on Sundays at about a 9:10-9:20 pace ... figured I should start pushing some speed now so Tuesday I will try to do 8 1/2 at same pace, Thursday go for 9 miles ... and Sunday my regular 10 ...

I stopped using Gu and Hammer gels and switched to eFuel - so far I am liking it - if anyone is interested in trying this stuff I will give you my discount code. 

Right from running today I went to swim - never did a swim after a run and in all honesty it was subpar.  I swam consistently but my legs ached and after a mile I was cramping and the arch of my left foot was alternating between spasming and tightening up - extremely unpleasant.  Did 1950 meters before my body had enough.  Never did any speed drills or anything just went lap after lap at pretty much the same pace.

My brother wanted to bike as well but I bowed out - it's cold and my legs are shot ...

The kids are off this week which MAY mess with my training but my plan for tomorrow is to wake up early (5am) and hit the pool - shoot for 2500 meters - and then run a 5k in the park at race pace (assuming I have energy after the swim) ... and get home before my wife has to go to work.

Gotta love trying to balance living life and our desire to push ourselves to be better triathaletes.

Hope everyone has a great week!

PS - got an aero helmet - psyched to wear it in a race but doubt it will help me much - figure by the time my half IM comes up it may save me a minute or two on the bike but who knows.   Got a Rudy Project Syton Super Comp.  Plan to have one of my artist friends make it look sick - if/when he does that I will post some pictures.  If I can't be a badass cyclist at least I can try to look the part

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterdays swim seemed like it was up hill into the wind.  Each stroke took a ton of effort.

Today I did my first brick.  25 mi. on the bike straight into a 2.5 mi. run. 

This was my first ride with the aero bars and they felt great and my time was fast (17.1 mph).  Although the run was short I still managed to run an 11:00 min/mi. pace.  That's the same as my good training days.

So I guess some days are good and some are not so good.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

C

Hi Scott

You were going to post some thoughts on aiding weight loss whilst training, may help more than just me on the forum

Cheers

Gareth

Gareth, 

Sorry.  Spaced on that one.  One of the populations that I work with in my clinic are people who are trying to lose weight. 

First:  Find out what your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is.  This is the amount of calories you would burn just by living.  It combines factors like age, weight, sex, and height to estimate the amount of calories you would burn if you did nothing else during the day.  http://health.discovery.com/centers/heart/basal/basal.html This is one of many calculators that I found.  

Second: Estimate how many calories you burn in a day.  There are several calculators on the internet.  Though they are not exact, they will get you pretty close.  

Add these two numbers together.  This is how much you are burning in a day.  

Third: Track your calorie intake.  This requires diligence.  Write it all down and don't forget anything.  

This number is your caloric intake.  

Here is the secret:  Shoot for a 500 calorie deficit per day.  That's all you need.  You will lose on average a pound a week.  Barring any metabolic or genetic problems, most everyone will lose that lb. per week.  

Now is the time to do it for most of us.  It is more difficult to have a calorie deficit when we are in the middle of a season and at the height of our training.  So take advantage now.  

Scott

Thanks for the information, have just looked at my BMR and with my training think it is manageable to reduce my intake, just got to get into the habit of calorie counting!

Shortly after I posted my question 'What is BT' that I realised what it is!! Over the pond it is more commonly known as British Telecom, so apologies for looking stupid!!!

During my training I take one day off a week, not a set day but the day after my weekly night out!!

Is thre a specific type of food group that you would recommend that helps with training and the recovery from training, whilst not be heavy in calories.

Again, thanks for all your support, and I am sure that I speak for the other members in saying that I find this forum an invaluable supply of information and motivation

Cheers

Gareth

I find it extremely frustrating to swim in pools set up as 25 yard lengths and find it curious that the swim teams and TTT and other groups only use the laps set up in yard lengths - can anyone enlighten me?

I swim in the metered lengths - today I swam my first 400 meters in 7:41 ... did not try to be fast just steady and consistent - no stopping.  I next swam the remaining 50 lengths to make a mile which I finished at 36 minutes - for some reason the last 6 laps I could not get rid of a cramp in the arch of my left foot - slowed me down.  Did another 18 laps after I worked out the cramp - total swim distance today 2100 meters.

Weather looks like it will be awesome the next two days - my mom is watching my boys tomorrow (school is out this week) so after work will do an hour and a half of the bikram yoga - injury is healed so I need to get back on track with flexibility ... usually that drains the hell out of me but I will see if I can bang out a 5k after since it should be a beautiful 54 degrees if the weather man is telling the truth.

Half marathon day just 32 days away ...

Good evening, peeps!

Following my race on Saturday, my health declined to crap. I have been out of it for the last few days fighting a cough, cold, congestion monster! I took Sunday off which is my usual but couldn't muster the energy to attempt a training session yesterday or today. I believe it is better to let the bdoy rest than to fight through a workout with poor results. 

I will attempt to get back at it tomorrow. I have a vitamins/supplements question. What do you all take on a daily basis? I take a GNC megan man sport vitamin twice a day. I don't know if it helps but would like to think it does.

33 days until race day. I looked up the falmer's almanac for March 25th the last few years. Average temperature at 8:30am- 38 degrees.

Good morning peeps ...

Paul ... I'm not sure I understand your question about yds v. meters. In the same pool? Regardless, as long as you're consistent with your recording of training data, you should be fine, right?

Ashley ... Feel better! I missed most of last week due to illness and I was very anxious to get back into it. While I came back fresher, I still don't like to miss that much training. I don't take any supplements or vitamins. I try to keep it balanced with what I eat.  So far, so good.

***********

Heading out for 6-8 miles in a few minutes. Had another nice pool session last night. After working on breathing for two sets (4 x 50, breathing every 5 followed by 1 x 200 breathing every 3), I was assigned 5 x 100 all-out effort with :20 rest. My splits came in at 1:35, 1:38, 1:40, 1:38, 1:40. I'm very pleased with that improvement over what those splits would have been when I started in October. I've got through March to keep this trajectory going with my Masters swim sessions. I'm already starting to mourn the loss of the structure this class has given me.

Gareth,  I try to eat as many whole foods as I can.  The few foods that I eat that are either processed or packaged are the occasional treats.  Lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables are the bulk of what I eat.  I keep recovery very simple.  Coconut water sometimes, peanut butter sometimes, soup occasionally.  My weight will fluctuate anywhere between 180-190.  I try to be around 180 in season, so I'm carrying about 4 or 5 extra pounds right now.  Try not to focus on the scale so much.  You will lose the weight.  Try and focus on the healthy lifestyle that you are creating.  

I had a teacher in school who said,  "Try not to "lose" weight."  When you "lose" something you inevitably want to find it again.  Try, instead, to "let go" of the weight.  It might sound corny, but it has worked for lots of folks.  Good luck.  

Rocking the onesie.  Congratulations.  You will learn to love it.  Or at least tolerate it better.  

Troy, I'm with you brother. My first tri suit is on order. I can't wait to get it and go try it in the pool. I can't wait to see my wife roll her eyes when I am strutting around the house with my suit and a smile on my face!

On another note, I am going to try and volunteer for the Ironman Louisville this year. It is right around our due date for our twins but hopefully I can make it. I'm sure the mother-n-law will be here to help. Volunteer registration opens up 3/1. They said it is first come, first serve. I don't know what job to try and get. I would like to do something with the biking or swimming.

32 days to go! I might do a progress sprint on my own to see how I do. With a month to go, I am curious to see. My goal is do a sprint a month and finish with an Oly around the end of the season. 

Train hard and safe, my friends!!

Good morning, training machines! 

Well, I have recovered from whatever funk I had and will be back in action today. I feel like a bum taking the first half of the week off but so she goes.

Funny thing- I see everyone's pictures you use with your name. You all have some nice action pics. I got a few from my race this past weekend and all of them look like I am speed walking!!!!! Not one of them has a knee in the air. I will probably post it anyway. 

I worked on a sprint schedule last night of some races I want to do. I have one a month through July and they are all 3-4 weeks apart- 3/25, 4/21, 5/12, 6/10, and 7/15. The first two have indoor swims and the last three outside. Maybe I'll do an Oly on the last one. Those are my goals. I don't have anything planned for August except my wife going into labor. 

Have a great day!

Ashley, That sounds like a great summer of racing capped off by the birth of your child.  Amazing.  Absolutely you need to post one of those pics.  You can always change it when you get a better one.  

Troy,  Congrats on getting that spot in the HM.  Funny I think the cold bug and the stomach bug going around is the same bug.  I've seen so many people with it and progressed just like you've described.  Have fun with your swim this evening.  

Easy trainer ride for me tonight followed by an easy 1/2 hour run.  Go get em everyone.  

Check out the mug!!!! 

Got back on the road today for a 16 mile ride. Took me 60 minutes. I haven't been on the bike in two weeks so can't expect too much. It just felt good to get out and train again.

Depending on the weather tomorrow, it will be a swim or run and the other on Saturday. The weather has been amazingly warm! To be warm outside in February, wow! 

Do you guys have a USA triathlon membership?