Funked Up Triathletes - Season 2 - Olympic/Sprint Focus - Closed (Page 21)

That's awesome!

1 hour on the dreadmill today. Woke up this morning and it was -21 without the windchill. I decided it's a good day to run inside...

I've been running on the treadmill the last two months, regardless of weather. We haven't had many nice days but I've resolved to grind it out for a while. We're supposed to see 30-40's the next few weeks, so I may go outside at some point. The way our training has been working (we are both basically on the same training plan) it just works to have one of us home inside while the kids are sleeping. Our long runs right now are 10-11 miles on the treadmill....I think it builds mental fortitude. Not too many things tougher than having to muscle through that.

You are not kidding. Our treadmills at the gym kick off at 1 hour and 2 minutes prior drop down to walking pace so if you're not ready you go flying to the front. LOL. They actually have 45 minute limits but so far I haven't had to worry about getting kicked off.

How's training going for everyone? .....if anyone is still here...

Me me me! It's just us.

Next week starts the 3-week block of peak training before April's NOLA 70.3. Things are going pretty good!

Awesome!!! You're really right at peak then!! Crush it!! So happy for you guys!! (I think you said your wife's doing the race too, right?). That's awesome!! Taper will feel so good.
Hey what training plan did you guys use? And what is your preferred choice for course nutrition? I'm looking into Infinit but haven't picked up a sampler yet.
I'm panicking a bit as it seems every week I've had to miss one workout for one reason or another. This week it's kids home with the stomach bug. I'm really hoping I don't derail myself.

Yep, she's doing it too. Her first 70.3.

Plans: what I did was use one of the plans from the custom plan creator available here on this subscription site. (I also created one for her too, that I printed off). I used this for the swim/run portions. Next, I used a 70.3 bike plan from my Trainer Road membership. Last race I felt like maybe I was under-prepared for the bike, so I wanted to give something new a try. I like that the plan is far more structured instead of me just picking random workouts.

Nutrition: good question. This year, I am working with a coach for the first time, for lifestyle nutrition and also Sport Nutrition. She has given me lots of advice for training/racing that I have never had before. It's a very light arrangements: I've retained her twice and it comes with about 6 video chat consultations, lots of email back and forth, and some daily food/training logs. It's all focused on nutrition. I'm still using my own training plan.

There's a LOT to this, but I'll do my best to summarize.

What I've been training with is: Infinit Speed for bike. This is nutrition + hydration. Food (real food or sports nutrition like waffles or blocks) are mainly for stomach satisfaction, as the Infinit is designed to provide the calories/nutrition I need. I was hesitant to use this, as it's very expensive and I didn't understand what "the deal" was with it. For the run, I'm using Skratch labs drinking every 8 minutes. This is a big change for me too. Also, increased emphasis on pre-workout eating, protein after every workout and recovery meals. This stuff is all new to me and I *think* I'm seeing improvements as a result. I have not figured out race-day nutrition yet. I can handle my bike nutrition with what I carry with me. She is a huge advocate of carrying flask for nutrition on every run (another big change for me). On my own, I don't take anything with me for less than 6 miles (not even water). So, I'm adapting to this and making it work. She's way smarter than me on this stuff so I'm following her instructions. Here's a link to her website/blog. She has TONS of free content on her blog that you may find helpful.

http://www.trimarnicoach.com/
http://trimarni.blogspot.com/

I went down with a week long stomach bug and lost a chunk of another week due to illness. This wrecked me for about a week. Your race is late in the season, right ? You've got plenty of time. Consistently and big picture training is more important than any single training day.

I am definitely going to check out her link - thank you! Who knows, she may get another client out of it!
I do want to try Infinit for the bike - I'll give the samples a try to start with and go from there.
My food has been off this year as well. I haven't really gained, but I'm not really losing either, which is okay for now. Last year I was so very good about my food choices, this year it seems like I don't know what to do. Weird. It could be that we're still coming out of winter up here - ran in snow, sleet, and freezing rain this morning. Comfort food is good.
I look forward to riding outside soon!!
Running has gone pretty good this year! Psyched about that. Last year the farthest I ran on my messed up knee were the 10 k's in my races. This year I'm running at least 6.5 miles 3 x's a week - totally due to the Galloway program of running a mile, walking a minute. Yay!

Now your race is coming up soon! You guys must be fired up!!!

Push through peak!!! A couple more weeks and you'll be in taper before you know it!!

My back went out two nights ago. Trying to stay positive, do my PT, rest and stretch and not panic - I'm still 22.5 weeks out...but still!

I checked out your nutritionist's site - I feel like I should call her! She sounds like she's a really good resource!

Back is slowly on the mend. I swam for the first time in 2 weeks and it was lovely. I can't run, but use the elliptical machine at the gym. I've switched to my road bike on the trainer - no aero for a while. I think that's what did it to me. I didn't ease into the aero thing, just got into the bars and the next thing you know, I'm 2:45 on the bike in aero. - too much for my core I think, wasn't prepared for that kind of time hunched over. Older and wiser now.
20 weeks out from IMMT and moving in the "build" phase of my program though I can't actually do it yet. At least I was up to 8+ miles running before my back went and almost 3 hours on the trainer (shoot me now). So I do feel like I have some kind of base built - not coming from scratch. PT is going pretty well, I think things are slowly loosening up - or at least letting me get some kind of training in.

April 17th is coming up!!! You guys must be jacked and ready to go!! taper time!!

Edited by aviatrix802 2016-04-05 10:00 PM

Yes, we are now in taper week. This is the one week of training that I'm really good at!! : ) We're raring to go. We drop the kids off at my brother's house on Friday morning and then drive to NOLA. We're eager to get on the road. No kids, long drive and big race...it will feel like a vacation from everyday life! Ha!

I'm not sure you're on track with your back issues. It IS some work to learn to be in aero, however I would think that your back going out would indicate a fit problem. That's scares me (I'm sure scary to you too!).

I'm still trying to plan my end of season. On my "bucket list" is Savageman in Sept. It's known as the hardest, hilliest tri out there. I'm not a climber and am not a lightweight guy. They have a special section of the course (called Westernport Wall - there are lots of youtube videos of it) that is super steep, on old brick, that awards finishers of the climb with an engraved brick on the street. The challenge entices me, but I'm scared to death of it. I trying to decide if have the nerve to do it this year.

That is so exciting!! You guys are going to have a great time - I wish you both strength and patience in your race this weekend!! What peace of mind knowing you don't have to worry about your kids, that is really worth something right there. Focus on what needs to be done. Stay hydrated!!

Savageman sounds brutal! hahaha!! Hey, you learn the best when you put yourself up to the hardest tasks!! Is it a question of not knowing if you can finish or wondering if you can finish "well?" If you think you can at least finish it, I would absolutely give it a go. If you have some doubt, absolutely give it a go. You will learn something about yourself and the course and then make a plan to do it again and put what you've learned to use.
I had not planned on doing an IM this year - wanted to build strength this year and do one next year...I got talked into it....now I have an injury but I'm still planning to go ahead with it. I'm probably not going to be quite as prepared as I'd like, but my plan will be to finish (ideally under 15 hours...it's a hilly course). Am I scared...yup. Do I have lots of questions...you betcha. But I'm going to give it a go and learn, and plan to do another one some other time and put that information to use.
You can pretty much do whatever you put your mind to ...and are disciplined to train for..

Fit could be an issue but i think it may be more that I was putting up big numbers without "breaking in" aero position - meaning 15 minutes in aero, 15 minutes up, etc. I just flopped over and got comfy and would go 2:45. I think maybe my core/back wasn't ready for it. Stupid. I'm still riding but I'm on my road bike on the trainer, staying upright 100% of the time now (I miss aero....it let me be "lazy").

I head to Orlando next week so I'm hoping the nice hot weather will help to bake my muscles and get rid of some of the knots. My right quadratus and psoas are like rocks - literally feels like I have golf balls under my skin. I'll swim in the lazy river opposite current and do some light run/walking but I'm not bringing my bike - I can ride here the same day we leave and probably get in a trainer ride the night we get home so I'm not going t sweat those days.

Thinking of you guys today- hearing the winds are brutal in NO!!

I heard there were a lot of DNF's due to the swim. That's not fun.

It was very rough!! But we did it. I was only 20 minutes slower than the same race in 2014! Ha! The conditions were that much worse.
Even so, we had a great time and a fun "getaway" with a race mashed up in there.

Now, we're starting to make our plans for the rest of our training schedule.

Awesome! I'm so glad you both were able to finish! I've read about so many people pulling out on the swim. That would be a bummer. Happy for you guys though!!

I've hanging in Florida since Sunday - needless to say that with trips to Universal and whatnot, not much going on for working out. I've also picked up a nasty sinus infection - not used to air conditioning. Hahaha. I kind of thought it would be a good last week to let the back rest so I'm trying not to panic too much about it. I'd like to get a morning in at least swimming opposite current of the lazy river and a run before heading home; decent gym here too.
At the least, I'll be back at it Sunday. Only two more weeks of teaching class, then exam week and I'm done for the semester - then full time working out.

It's been a long while....kind of coming out of a bit of a funk.

After NOLA, I had a long list of things that I had been promising myself I was going to take care of, that I've been neglecting over the past few months: stain our new deck, do brakes on both cars, etc. So the first couple of weekends I missed out on some long workouts while I took care of those things.

Also, we have an Oly tri this weekend 5/15, and "somewhat" Olympic tri the weekend of 6/18. Training plan wise, it's sort of no mans land. So, I've missed a lot of workouts. The last week, I've started to get back into the swing of things.

The big news is that I bought my wife a new bike (and matching helmet and shoes). It's pretty awesome and she's excited.

Here's a pic with the set up: https://www.dropbox.com/sc/nt7gg3ssul95xww/AABGWlBgGOkKQdFqYi_j-HTna

She's getting a fitting tonight. I'm hoping I've found something really cool. There are a few Retul fitters in our area, but I found a fitter on the Slowtwitch directory here in the KC area. He actually is coming to our house. Since she just got the bike and has not ridden it yet, he'll be there tonight for a few hours and also has agreed to come back in a few weeks to tweak the fit. It's $250 for the fitting. I hope he's good, because the convenience of not having the pack up the bike and go cross down for a 2-3hr session, and then doing it again for a tweak is huge for us. We'll see how it goes.



I still have not settled on a long terms rest of season plan. I want to do a 70.3 in Sept/Oct and Savageman and Border Wars are both on the radar (although they could not be more dissimilar). I also signed up for something called the "I-35 Challenge" in Mid October: I'll run the Kansas City Half Marathon on Saturday and then the Des Moines Half Marathon on Sunday (3 hours up the road on I-35). Should be sort of fun and interesting.

The bike is AWESOME!!! She must be so psyched!!! Good for you guys!!

That is so cool to have the fitter come to your house! I've never heard of such a thing; reasonable price too! Heck, my RETUL fitting and whatever the funky bike simulator they put me on and saddle mapping was like $300 and I had to drive 40 minutes to get there and 40 home, though i was there for like 3 hours - long time... I don't think the guy was keen on tweaking. (he's a big cheese in the fitting world though and I was intimidated). Another place I went for my very first fitting was $200. He wasn't as knowledgeable or as experienced but he tweaked my bike later, also didn't charge me to install my aerobars when I asked him to. I try to give that LBS a most of my business to say thank you.

The funk. I know what you mean. After a big race or a season-end race I enter the funk and don't come out for a couple of months. Kills me every fall.
You've nailed it though - get some stuff on the calendar and you will iron things out. Now that your wife has her fancy new bike, she will really want to get out there!

I've been in a funk trying to get back on my training plan. This back thing really screwed with my mind, not just my back. I am trying to be conservative coming back so I don't throw it out again but I am at the point of knowing I'm not going to kill it at this race at this point. It will be a matter of survival now and I need to focus on finishing uninjured. It bums me out but one can only do so much and there are other races. I'll do the best I can with the next 15 weeks and see what happens. If I have any more setbacks I will have to consider bagging. There is a HIM I can do on Labor Day weekend worse case. But I will lose a heap of money. (fortunately it's in Canada so the exchange rate is good for us right now so it could be worse).

You are a beast to run 2 HM back to back!!! Holy smokes, that's awesome!
I remember you mentioned Savageman before - are you going to do it?!?! I've never heard of Border Wars and that's part of the reason I like groups like this - you get to hear about other races you wouldn't otherwise have ever heard of. I'll Google it!

So the fitter came last night. Let me tell you...it was awesome. I've done what you did: go to a Retul fitter, 3 hours, etc etc. (I didn't have to drive quite 40 miles, but it is across the city and it's during daytime hours).

He arrived at our house at 6pm. We set up on our deck outside (perfect weather) and he spent 2hr 30 min with her tweaking, measuring, cut seat post, etc.

He has a fit bike, (like what you probably sat on at the Retul fitting), but he says he doesn't use it unless someone is doing something really custom. It was definitely interesting. My Retul fit was pretty good, but after watching this guy work, I think he's everybit as good. He doesn't have bike shop, and doesn't sell bikes. So he's truly independent when it comes to making recommendations. His background and bent has been in phyiscal therapy so his approach is a little different.

I think if I was at the pointy end and winning my AG at big races (like IM / HIM events), I think someone like your FitWerx guy may be a bit better. But I definitely think it was worth it and was at LEAST equal to my Retul fitter. BTW, my Retul fitter is a Felt/Cervelo dealer. So, there's always that bit of bias for the fitter who is selling bikes from his own inventory.

As mentioned, included in his fitting is a follow up. Sitting at home, watching and talking to him for 2 hours, while the kids entertained themselves was priceless. No packing the bike up, no baby sitters, no other customers walking in, blah blah blah. I don't know if there are other people like him or not.

Not that you would ever be in this area, but here's his website if you ever wanted to take a look: http://www.bicyclefitrx.com/

I haven't gotten the nerve yet to sign up for Savageman. We'll see. It's in Maryland, so that will also mean a big travel expense heading East. Border Wars is a independent 70.3 outside St. Louis. The theme is pitting East vs. West (of Mississippi) athletes. It's a cool, race. It's in it's 3rd year. It's not a big race, but I signed up 2 years ago because of the nice SWAG and the time-frame worked with my schedule. I signed up last year because of the nice SWAG and time-frame (again) and because I targeted it was a PR race (it's a very flat course). It turned out to be extremely strong winds (a theme?) and I had a really bad race. If I decide to opt for it (over Savageman) it will be because of time-frame and revenge for last year. Also, it's a fun weekend trip with the family and would be a much smaller trip than trip to MD.

If I were you, I'd stay on the IM plan. Don't worry about results. It's your first and you shouldn't stress about the performance, time, etc. I know how you feel about it messing with your mind.

So, I bought my wife a bike right? Well, now she's telling me "she's got the bug" and thinks she wants to do a 140.6 this year. Looking at Ironman Louisville or Ironman Maryland. .

We both can't do it....would just be too hard with our kids. But I am thinking of signing her up and being her soigneur.

My Race Log

Awesome!!!!! Good for her!!!! That is so great and you guys will know what each other is going through so you will be great support for each other. So cool.

So is so cool to have the guy come to your house. I love the idea of having total attention of the fitter without a bunch of customers coming in. I had to free up a chunk of time when my kids were in school and I didn't work that day. It's a chunk of time for sure and so worth it in the end.

So I'm now in the throes of changing out either my chain-rings or cassette or both. I ain't got what it takes to climb steep hills with a 52/38 chainring set-up and an 11-25 cassette. Chain-rings are too big for Mont Tremblant (or any hill climbing here). My road bike isn't much better - the 50/34 chainring set-up is fine but the 11-25 cassette (with 10 rings, not 11 like the tri bike), is tough.
DOT Canada recommends an 11-28 at a minimum for MT so I'm looking at different options. The LBS here mentioned a couple of ideas: go with either a 52/36 or 50/34 for chain-rings and/or changing the cassette to an 11-28.
Another option he mentioned is to change my rear derailleur to an Ultegra GS version and change my cassette to an 11-32 and combine that with a 50/34 chain ring so I would have the lowest gears for climbing without sacrificing my top end appreciably.
Decisions, decisions.... hadn't really factored in budget for this but I don't really need a front race wheel....at least the IA stock wheel is pretty decent.
I'll attach a sad picture I took of a climb I do here on my road bike that uses the 50/34 and 11-25 set-up...by midway up that nasty long grade 2 climb my cadence is a pitiful grind and I am cussing audibly. hahaha. It's a stinker....but so good for training. I have yet to climb it this year, the weather has been poo for a long time and it takes a couple of months for me personally to build up to climbing something like this.

Edited by aviatrix802 2016-05-18 9:01 PM






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