THE SLAYER RULES-FULL Up (Page 23)

I'm still hanging around. Having some trouble with scheduling work-outs but have been slipping in short work-outs when I can. May April HIM isn't going to happen due to work. I am scheduled to do a Sprint in March and anxious to see if my frequent run plan pays off. I started running only in Nov. and tried to run everyday in Dec. In Jan I slowly added bike and swim back in. 

Benefits- My average pace during the run has dropped slightly. The funny thing is I don't feel like I am running as fast as my pace shows. In other words it must be easier for me to maintain a faster pace at a lower effort level.

              My recovery time feels shorter. This morning for the first time in several years my legs didn't feel stiff, tight or hurt. They felt like normal legs. I changed that after a tough session on the trainer but it was a good feeling while it lasted.

Cons - My FTP on the bike dropped 20% which seems huge. I really expect it to come back quickly once I get my bike mileage back up but it seems like a huge drop in a short period of time. 

            My swim is off slightly but I think it is from lack of quality speed-work.

Overall I think it was a decent idea for me to put my focus on frequent shorter runs. Before, I was doing mostly longer runs 2-3 times a week. I am planning to run at least 5 days a week for the entire year.

Tomorrow is a swim/run

Gladiator-Thanks for the inspirational post. That was some interesting stuff there. How bad do you want it is a question we all must ask ourselves in long course training and racing. AND you better have some pretty good answers in mind ahead of time.

Scotty-Another cool post. I pored over that TP.com file from Crowie looking for some magic. You know what I know because of twitter probably, but the majority of that ride was done in zone 2. If its good enough for Crowie, then its good enough for us. He's not shelling himself and those watts are nothing special for the most part. He is capable of much more (unless they draft  up front during an IM).

Peter-There are two take aways because your swim is going to be back with some consistency. 1. you have neglected your bike and its cost you but 2. your run is becoming more efficient. Given that your run is your limiter in my view, this was the correct approach this winter. I would like to be able to see your schedule open up some while you are still young enough to enjoy the sport, but it is what it is until you are able to change your lifestyle, which doesnt look easy after seeing all your expenses with private school etc. Do the best you can with the time you have which might mean tolerating some declines in swim and bike to get your run stronger. DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR RUN.

Are we all done analyzing everyone's training and racing? I don't see anyone else stepping up. Edin? Kate? others? Join the fray.

Jordan needs to check in too about where he is at and where he is going.

My update is #9 day straight is not looking good. Doing a medium run this morning and have to work all day! I hate the streak to be over, but I have to get the run volume back up with a quickness. Little niggle on the hamstring continues to be evident for 6 months but it doesn't really interfere much.

Go Get Em everyone!

Currently I really don't know where I am going. No races officially on the books for the rest of the year. Tentatively looking at a couple of sprints and oly's, possibly HIM in Charleston, 50 miler in Dec or Bone Island IM in Jan.

Run miles are going back down as I am picking bike back up. Don't want to start swimming again until a) pool opens back up or b) warms a little to OWS.

Now that 50k is over and I can add a little speed to my runs I have noticed that there is actually some speed built up from the heavy volume training.

I got back on the horse this morning with some trainer intervals. 

I hopefully dodged the worst of the sickness that was going around the office. Turns out it was bronchitis. 

Depending on if I can run this weekend, Im going to re-evaluate the training and race plan.  Ill post what Im thinking and see what the group thinks.  Especially since Im going to have to do things differently than Ive done in the past.

Good luck. I hope it warms up a little for you.

i think we have vibratingp00 stepping up for some input soon!

also, jordan, get some direction. you look like a hodge podge with that herky jerky race schedule. figure your stuff out.

hows your butt Ash? son any better Peter?

That all goes back to my prior post about enjoying training more than racing. I rather be able to go run or bike when I want to regardless of what the calendar says. Once I have a race training plan in place I tend to be a slave to the plan.

I can have never let a certain race goal drive me. It is all about me against my self. Pushing myself to the limits. If a race falls in to that, so be it. I have always been of the mindset that you bleed during training so you don't have to on race day.

That said, the 50 miler is a goal that I now really want to focus on. However, I do not want to sacrifice biking to reach this.

Good luck. You will do well!

 Sons good, He's a tough little dude. We didn't have Lacrosse when I was growing up. It actually looks like a fun sport. Wife watched the first tourney last weekend and said that "if  I knew how violent the sport is, he wouldn't be playing"

As far as a race plan. I consider it a necessity. I try and enjoy races as a mini-vacation. It is very tough for me to get away from work so I make the best of my time off. Work hard, Play hard. It really bothers me I had to drop Charleston but I am going to do Chattanooga instead. Still debating between Augusta and REV3 Anderson as an IM prep.    

Cialis works wonders for performance anxiety. Disclaimer: No first hand experience in this house.

yes cialis is another Slayer Rule....errr....I mean what is Cialis?

Dont feel pressure to do Rev3 SC with me Peter as long as I can still crash and get glorious mini sticky buns with you from Hardees before the race!

+1  I hope you leave it all on the course.

Meh, 25 mile training runs are more fun than any race.

NO QUESTIONS? WTF

You cant get out that easy. Your the first one to tow the line this year. You will question and re-question yourself your self 100 times before the race. At this point there is nothing you can do endurance wise that will improve your performance other than a good warm-up. Don't count om any special gels, GUs, gatorade or energy drinks to make a big difference.

My advise- Get though transition quick and smooth. Every motion needs to get you closer to the finish. Don't drink, eat, change clothes, or sit in transition. Change clothes is relative in Feb because it may be really cold. If you do put on clothes for the bike, make sure it doesn't parachute or flap and you can put it on quickly while wet and shaky. .

                    Have a Mantra. Sprints are short and quick but hurt like 10ks. The bike is short but you will be above your threshold the whole time. Singing a stupid song (preferably something by Slayer) to yourself or repeating a quote helps.   

                    Don't worry about nutrition. It doesn't matter on a Sprint effort. A gell before the race is plenty. A mouthful of water on the bike to get the chlorine taste out of your mouth is plenty.

                    Leave everything on the course so you have no regrets later as others have said.

Just got back from an awesome swim. I got lucky and had 2 coaches on the deck while I was there. They had me reduce my turnover rate & change where I would enter my hand in the water in front of my head.  These two changes had me gliding more. It felt like I was hardly working but I was swimming much faster. I don't think I went slower then 1:42/100yd. It was typically in the 1:30's.

I really hope I can continue with these changes.  It's difficult for me to reduce that turnover and just glide.

The best part it was all free. They just happened to be passing each other right at my lane

This weekend I plan to sweat my ars off at home on my elliptical trainer and go to the pool tomorrow morning/today evening if weather allows me to.

Running is out of the question... one good thing in this freezing and windy weather condition is that it's happening now, and not in a month when I run my first marathon. Didn't run for 2 weeks now.

Edit: Decided to take on first triathlon race in June (Olympic distance)

Hoale: I would add some caffeine to the mix pre-race to fire you up a bit!

Gladiator in the race house with no run! good job signing up. Hopefully it warms up soon!

littlewj: free swim lessons rock. More importantly figuring how to go faster with less of a physical toll only helps you on race day. learning that glide and how to stroke strong not fast is where I am at too.

Jordan: you can come out of the closet. we know you love to compete. race day is qualitatively different than a training run. You were like a little kid in a game room at mtn mist so don't send us the BS. if you would do a more linear focused season you could keep nailing your races. what i noticed from your schedule was a haphazard approach that will not produce as good of results as possible.

Peter makes some great points. transitions have to be tight. practice them before the race.

have a great training and racing weekend everyone. looking forward to hearing about what you are doing, have done, and any questions you want to bang around. Also want some check ins from the others! Rich, Ash, Kate, Edin, Scotty, etc?