Dirk's Junkie group - CLOSED (Page 22)

You have to admit though Dirk...at some point when you finally zone out and are into the pain, you enjoy the fact that you are able to push that hard and your legs just do what you want them to.  That's why I honestly enjoy the pain that is the 20 min Power test.  It just makes me feel powerful.  Crazy as that is.

Warren, I would only do the sprint at Pumpkinman.  I'm taking the advice of the group and not planning any half marathon related anything until I'm comfortable with my run.  I am just too shaky on it right now.  Not exactly nervous, just extremely cautious.  I have a busy year planned and want to do well, ya know?  Glad to hear you are doing Eastman.  I love that race.  I'm so excited to do it again.  You thinking Rev 3 OOB?

Jo63 - 2012-01-23 9:37 PM Its from winter maintenance run focued on BT, I was beginning to think Ihad no business doing triathalons . By the way thanks everyone for the push for me to get out a run I did 2 miles extremely slow still not feeling wonderful and my head was pounding but at least I got something in for today!

The fresh air probably did you some good!  I really hope you feel better.  Remember to drink lots of fluids and get lots of sleep!  I always like to hit the vitamin C and D when I start feeling crappy.  You'll be back at it in no time.  Don't push it while you feel bad.  A couple days lost now is better than two weeks because you pushed it, right? 

Now I sound like Jeff.  It's like he's my other dad.

Great swim!

That workout sounds excruiating!

Back to the workouts for me now that my weekend of rest is over. 45 min ride on the trainer yesterday and I am heading to the pool today. I'm going to hit someones blog and look for a workout so I hope you are logging!!!!!!!!

Again, nice races this weekend everyone!

That's a nice swim, and gives you benchmarks from here on out to measure progress.

Warren nailed it.  The term "strides" refers to a short sprint.  The right way to do them:

1) be warmed up

2) start slow and gradually accelerate to 90% of full sprint

3) as soon as you reach that 90% of a full sprint, gradually decelerate

4) full 'stride' takes about 100 yards give or take and you haven't even started breathing until you have finished

These are not hard on your body, except for those of us who are old and decrepid.  Anything fast could be hard in some way on our tired old bodies.  It's important for distance runners to do these periodically.  I would say that with the exception of nursing some sort of soreness (like those of us with hurting achilles right now) you should do this once a week all year. 

They will always be part of a good pre-race warmup routine.

The skipping back to the starting point is a great way to work in some explosive plyometrics.  The skipping movement is a great drill to strengthen the calves and glutes on the push off as well as the hip flexor on the driving knee.  It also encourages hip flexibility.

Oh, I have no illusions of being a better swimmer than you and know as soon as you get into the pool you will quickly leave me in the dust.  But I think I can hit your "out of swim shape" pace.  Maybe.

I have to agree that those 6x4 intervals are above and beyond.  My third 20 minute TT is today so that is also a barrel of laughs.  I am going to really work to embrace the pain.

Here are some grainy shots from the race this weekend with Team Yeager and my sponsored athletes.  There are no action shots because the photographer was also competing.

That is Evan (11)

and Jordan (20)

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Sounds like a good plan for you - I was going to yell at you if you were looking at the 70.3 (dad#3).  Yeah, I'm thinking Rev3 OOB as a possibility.

Awesome job and some great memories being formed.  I look forward to the day when mine can beat me (easier job for them than for yours!).

Not after being a part of Dirk's mentor group!  You will become so fast it will discourage your kids.

Dirk,

I meant to thank you for all of the feedback.  I am working on adjusting my plan accordingly. 

I appreciate the reminders about the importance of family time too.  I probably need that reminder every now and then, because I can get carried away easily.  Right now I am just starting up in my career, so I am not working full time yet.  That's the reason why I feel like I need to do the HIM this year- right now I have plenty of time to train during the day (2 hour lunches on Mon-Tues, half days on Wed-Fri).  I don't think my practice will allow me this kind of time in another few years.  On the weekends, we make sure to include the kids.  We either take them to the Y so they can swim after we workout, or they ride in the stroller/trailer when it's warmer out (they love this!)   

Jonathan - I could use a beginner swim workout.

Up until now I've just gone and done form drills for a few laps, then swam easy to moderate freestyle 25 or 50 then rest and repeat. No real warm up except the drills and never any focus on speed work. About the longest distance I've covered in a swim workout this last month was 1000 yards or so in 30 minutes.

My sprint tri last year was only a 400 yard swim so I didn't need much to get there. Now with two 1/2 mile sprints and an Olympic on the schedule for this year I need to really build up.

I'd like to build to a 70.3 distance by June 2013 and maybe do Ironman 70.3 Boise.

Sounds good Vero.  I know I always answer with a quesion, but how many days a week/hours a week can you dedicate to swimming right now?  Here's a good one to up the yardage a bit from what you are currently doing.  It sounds complex, but it will help pass the time:

Warmup:  100 swim easy / 100 kick with kickboard/ 100 swim easy
Main:  6 x 50 with 10s rest.  1st and 4th 50-60%, 2nd and 5th 75%, 3rd and 6th 85-90%
           2 x 100 @75%
Cooldown:  200 easy focussing on stroke.  Go slow and feel each part of the stroke.

When I say easy/50-60%:  I mean it's easy.  You're "all day" speed.
When I say 75%:  You are working hard, your heart rate is up, but you can continue and your stroke technique doesn't suffer.
When I say 85-90%:  You are working a bit harder than before and your heart rate is up, it takes real concentration to keep your stroke consistent.  This should not ruin your technique, but SHOULD challenge you.

Did you travel to a different time zone?  A few years back I went on a trip and had a similar experience, not quite there and a little blah during the run.  I was several time zones away and was in the 4th city in as many days and placed the blame on that!

According to this I have been going about my bike training a little wrong.  I have Jorge's plan going right now, but honestly I am having a hard time keeping on schedule.  Keep pushing it back but still getting in 2 days a week.  Anyway while doing the WO I have no problem getting my HR up, and I do this by increasing the cadence.  I turn the resistance up but only enough to keep me from spinning crazy.  With this method I have noticed that I have had to increase the amount resistance to maintain the same effort compared to mid-December!

Should I increase the resistance and allow the Cadence to decrease?  My opinion if you want to increase the strength in your legs then you need to increase the resistance.  Do you guys agree with this thought?  I finished my last 95% set today with a whole lot more resistance and it really showed.  The HR shot up and I was grunting to get through the 5' set.  It was fun!