Gordo Byrn's Group - FULL (Page 24)

the blog.  most excellent.  chockfull of good info.  a succinct summary of all that you've been teaching us.

this.  this i LOVE.... "when we can hold onto our Beginner's Mind, we remain open to learning as well as adjusting our outlook as circumstances change."

and this.  this i NEEDED to hear...."Watch your mind's desire for certainty -- spending a lot of time on precision is largely a waste of your valuable time."

for all you do, G.  thankyou.

30 min. spin on the trainer today. 

Sounds like we're all having a pretty good Saturday. Maybe we should call this 'Weekend At Byrnies'!!! (old movie - probably dating myself here).  Anyway Go Team Gordo!

Really like the blog Gordo. The thing I take from it and everything you're taught us is that our mind is really the only limiter. Drop the ego and need for instant gratification, do the work based on our own realities, and the results WILL come. Powerful message for life, not just sport! I am just staring to see things differently. I can't explain it to myself yet - much less everyone else - I just know that I like it.

Morning Swim 47:25 - 1600 yards. In early December I almost quit because I was NEVER going to get swimming. Now I knock out 8 200's no problem. Actually wanted to keep going for 2000 but remembered that I have to hit tomorrow's workouts fresh.

No Heart Rate Data.  Perceived effort was low.

Noon - Bike Ride 58:02.  Did this one much 'easier' than most of my rides. I really focused on trying to control my heart rate outside on the bike. I did better than I have been and tonight my legs are not thrashed. I'll be ready for tomorrow no problem.

Heart Rate Data

Z1 (115-128) 1:39

Z2 (128-142) 31:48

Z3 (142-155) 26:04

Avg HR: 142 

Avg Cadence: 83

GREG.  these ARE powerful lessons....thanks for sharing your insights. 

i learned something new from you today....

stacie

JEFF.  getting SO excited for you as you enter into your final week of prepartion for your race.

its certain you wont do anything stupid.  you know what to do, and we have such an excellent mentor showing us the way.

follow THE plan, youre sure to SUCCEED!

onwardandupward

stacie

Writebrained - 2009-01-24 10:19 AM

JOHN.  LOVED THIS!  sent it on to some of my other tri-friends.  they got a big kick out of it....

stacie

John's picture isn't far from the truth -- Molina told me that Ken Glah had an Endless Pool, CompuTrainer and Treadmill in his basement.

 g

Brick again today. And a question - anything specific to look for in a sports drink for longer sessions? Obviously the one I used today doesn't work for me- it sat poorly in my stomach and I fought issues with it the entire time.

Today's workout

Bike 31:29

Z1 (115-128) 1:47

Z2 (128-142) 23:30

Z3 (142-155) 7:32

Avg 137

Avg Cadence 81

Run -   40:24

Z1 (115-128) 1:25

Z2 (128-142) 13:35

Z3 (142-155) 24:23

Z4 (155-169) 2:21

Average heart Rate 142

Average Cadence 79 

Sports Drink -- how long is the session you are considering?  how intense is the session?  how hot the weather?  My tips will depend (a little) on the answers.

 g

I've been using some Accelerade any time I go over an hour (less than that just water).

Went about an hour and 20-30 minutes. Fairly low intensity (zone 2/zone 3). Temp in the 40's.

I cut their mix in half (use half a scoop instead of the full thing). 

I drank about half the bottle on the bike (45 mins). Too much???

Once I got the stuff out of my stomach (nothing quite like yakking into the bushes) I was fine.

Never had this problem before but I just started the brick workouts. No problems at all on the bike even today.

short, easy, clear my head 10 min on the indoor trainer.

10 min abworkout.

the remainder of the day.  R-E-S-T.

1 hr on the trainer, today.  Got snow, cold, and blah outside today...so I opt'd for the trainer.  So far staying indoors a little more has helped with my cronic sinus-infections.  Onward!

 Get yourself a drink that has low, or no, protein in it.  Some folks have poor tolerance for protein in sports drinks.  So long as you are training under 4 hours then a no/low protein sports drink isn't an issue.

 For my longer training (not racing) sessions, I will use a drink with protein in it.  I do a lot of training on INfinit recovery -- I use their heat mix for faster and/or hotter sessions.  I also race on a low flavor version of the heat mix.

 g

taper week is off to a great start.

nice 21 min run today.  i didnt have much time today, so i did wout ST.

START:  72  walk pace 4.6

10 MIN:  120  increased pace to 4.8

5 MIN:  132/128 increased pace to 5.0

11 MIN:  135/130  increased walk pace to 4.8 [HR was dropping at 4.6]; increased run pace to 5.2

17 MIN:  140/133  5.2

21 MIN:  139/132  4.0

4 MIN:  113

some nice HR numbers, noticed that at the same pace the numbers stayed below or right around 139/modhard range.  where in the last run, the numbers were hovering in the low to mid 140s.  id say 6:1 is coming soon, on the horizon.

nice run overall.  feels 'right' to be tapering now.  good timing.

junthank - 2009-01-26 10:34 AM

27m 1000.00 meters 02m 42s /100 meters
10:00 AM

Kind of a weird workout today. Did a swim/run brick. Started out in the pool with my normal 1x400 meter rep. Completed this in 9:08. I followed that up with 3x200 meter reps with 1 minute rest between each rep. I focused the entire day in the pool on 3 stroke breathing. I have never gone longer or felt stronger in the pool than today. The pool felt the best it ever has. That's the good news.

	25m 27s 2.50 miles 10m 11s/Mi
10:30 AM

Now for the bad news. Well, maybe not bad news but the run didn't feel that great. I got on a treadmill that I have never used before. My run/walk ratio was 11:0.75. The speed setting varied from 5.9 to 5.7. My heart rate was 12 beats over my normal run HR. The numbers were: @11 154 @23 154 From the get go the pace seemed faster than normal. When I took my 1st HR reading at 11 minutes I wasn't entirely surprised to see it so high. I back the speed down a little and took the next reading at 154 (the same). Went another 1/4 mile running after that and decided to back it to my walk rate at 4.4. Not going to sweat it. Perhaps the treadmill calibration was off. Perhaps I just didn't have my mojo on the treadmill today. Time to backoff the running and jump on the bike for a day and everything will be back to normal.

 Speaking from experience, treadmills are more often out of calibration, than in calibration.  So focus more on appropriate effort, than pace.  

Be sure to enjoy it when you get a treadmill that reads high and has you cruising 1mph faster than normal!  I'm not kidding, I used to have a powermeter that consistently read 10% high and I loved it.  Take motivation where you can find it!

 g

G-man:

Enlighten me on the low HR training, 180 minus my age?  I'm struggling with the idea.  I've always heard (after developing a strong base) intervals, quick turn-over, lactic threshold, etc. makes one go fast.  Are you stating my sprint-tri time will be faster through consistent training at a low HR (and intervals are not needed) or just that I'll condition myself to complete a sprint tri by training at a lower HR? 

Just trying to clear up the foggy thoughts....thnx!

g,

Regarding the treadmill - I have found that I always seem to run at a faster pace (at the same perceived effort/HR) outside versus the treadmills at the gym.  I sensed I was going too fast earlier today but I didn't adjust until I was 20 minutes into the run....  ahhhh .... humility.  Anyway, lesson learned.

Jeff 

hi gordo.  trng plan question for you.

i am current using the 20 week Sprint - 3x Balanced trng plan from this site.

i have five weeks minus one day left in the current trng plan

my intention when i finish up this plan is to move on to the 20 Week Olympic - 3x Balanced plan, and then starting the end of March add in the xtra cycling mileage when the time comes, to prepare for the MS150 in June.

after the MS150, my original plan was continue the final 8 weeks of the Olympic plan 'as is' until i did my Sprint Tri in August.

BUT, im having some second thoughts about that plan.

considering the summer months, my schedule will be VERY different than it is now ie ill have three kids at home all day, everyday. then theres vacations, family time et al. 

realistically, i wont have as much time or flexibility to train as much as i am now.   i realize that i dont want to/need to put in all THAT time 'overtraining' from midJune until the Sprint the beginning of August.

my question is this, following the MS150 in June what would be most beneficial?  To:

a)  repeat the months four and five of the Sprint trng plan previously done.  this way ill be 'dialing back' the time requirements day to day 

b) repeat months one and two, or two and three of the Oly plan.  still a 'dialback' from what i would have been doing had a continued the Oly plan, but 'dialup' from the Sprint plan

or c) some other option.

i dont want to lose anything in the process, fitness-wise (maybe thats unavoidable) while at the same time i want to be VERY being mindful (and welcoming) of family time during the summer months.  striking a balance.

im a planner, so that's why i ask now.  its helpful for me to take the long view.

OR maybe this is one of those 'there are many ways to succeed' situations where i need to 'watch my minds desire for certainty...'

any advice/feedback/suggestion are most welcome.

Bike on trainer tonight doing cadence drills.

31 Min

15 min WU
3' @ 90rpm
2' @ 100rpm
1' @ 105+rpm
10 min CD

 The 180 - AGE is a starting point -- you can, and should, fine tune as you learn more about your physiology and fitness.  However, I've found that our collective psychology will try to trick us to constantly go harder, go faster -- people never come to me and argue their number down!  The tendency to go until we break, or quit, works directly against what is required to improve as athletes and enjoy our athletic lives -- call that collectively "wellness".

 If we are on a wellness path then we will be more consistent and, over time, do far more training than a program that has an intensity basis (that most of us are not biomechanically able to tolerate).  So... you get sick, you torch your ITB, or you just bounce from starvation/binge; peak/trough wondering why you're struggling to stay on track -- the reason is typically excessive stress in our lives.

 So our capacity to sustain high intensity (in a race) and increased load (in training) is set by our base, economy and biomechanical fitness.  You can improve for years (safely, healthy, and having fun) while focusing on these points.

 If you drill it for 12 weeks then you will show progress -- that is very well documented in populations similar to BT.  However, you will likely struggle to maintain the changes that are truly required develop as an athlete over the next 3 to 5 to 10 years.

 Win little now, win big later -- I've always been a win big later sort of guy.

 g

 PS - there is no ONE way, there are a lot of way's to play it.  At the end of the day, we rarely believe things that we haven't experienced for ourselves.  So if you ignore my advice then we'll either learn something new, or, you gain a deeper understanding of why my recommendations make sense.  Win-win!

 Build a timetable that shows the slots that you have to train -- block out time for everything other than triathlon.

 Choose the plan that best fits the time that you feel comfortable allocating.

 Aim for a little less than you think is possible -- so you have room to outperform.

 Focus on the training knowing that you have made a considered decision.

 Do your best, have fun and let the results take care of themselves -- the people close to us don't really care about our splits, they just want us to be happy.

 Don't plan the summer in January... none of us think straight this time of year!

 g

Short run this morning followed by stretching and core workout.

Run 15 min. Legs felt good and I was surprised to see my cadence a bit higher than normal at the same heart rate. At the end of the workout speed was a bit better than I've seen lately as well. Same hill spiked my heart rate again. I finally figured out this morning that maybe I should just walk that sucker to keep my heart rate down. Only took about 8 weeks - yes I am dense...

HR data:

Z1 :39

Z2 13:07

Z3  1:23

Avg Heartrate 133

Avg Cadence 87