Experior and Slornow's Winter Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 24)

Ceril - So happy to hear that you have seen the benefits of excersize.  You took the first step and have been rewarded.  Step 2 does not have to be too complicated, just make some basic changes.  If you make too many changes all at once it may drive you back to old habits.  Give your body a chance to adapt.   Good luck!

Excercising with injury!  Folks, I'm not a doctor, but why would you contenuously exercise an injury when the previous workout it told you it hurt.  You need to let the injury recover, more then 24 hours for sure.  Yes, it's ok to test it but don't over do it.  Excersizing an injury is like doing intervals, do you perform back to back intervals for any sport?  Give it time to recover, minimum 48 hours.  Just my opinion!

Rene - great job on your HM PR.

Had a good long bike workout today.  I was able to maintain high cadence without legs getting tired and got my HR in Z2 for a good lenght of the workout.  This ends Week 3 of my plan, recovery week next week.  I didn't get in all my workouts in, some planned and some not.  My fat loss has not panned out, but I think I know where I went wrong so I'll correct that starting tomorrow. 

Ceril/Stu/Bennet-welcome back!

Rene-way to kill it at the half.  Good work!

Got home around 1:00pm after the drive from Chattanooga.  Figured since leaving Thursday I have driven about 1200-1300 miles. Really sluggish after the drive today so took a nap and then was able to get in a solid hour on the trainer.

It was a crazy weekend. After the car trouble Thursday night things went pretty smoothly for the remainder of the weekend. Traveled to Johnson City, TN Friday night with son and 2 other boys for an indoor track meet.  They all ran Saturday around mid-day.  My son had a good race winning the mile event.

Lots more travel on the horizon through the middle of the month with a trip to the northeast with son to look at 2 more colleges the week of 2/6-10 and then another school function the weekend of 2/17-19.  

Back to work tomorrow....

Randy 

Bennet -- My Dad was a Navy pilot back in the 1960s (before he went to grad school and then became a Professor -- I guess that's what he did when he 'grew up').  He worked on the USS Independence (Pensacola Fla, which is where I was born).

Rene -- Um, that's not a 'bit' of a PR.  That's a massive PR.  

Sylvain -- you're right, of course.  You don't understand addiction very well, do you?  

I had a very lucky experience today.  I flatted on my ride (first time in a long time) running over some piece of road trash.  No problem, right?  So I opened up my tool kit and that's when I realized that since I had traveled with the bike, I have never replaced the CO2 (can't fly with them).  There I was with everything except the CO2.  Not 3 minutes later, someone rode by and asked whether I was OK, and he had a CO2 to give me.  I took down his details and will send him a nice Thank You tomorrow.  I guess that's one advantage (among many) of riding in a popular cycling area (the local Army base, which graciously allows local cyclists to ride on base).

Huge workload for me the next two days, but hoping to get my final few miles in on the bike and yards in on the swim for January.  How are others coming on our January goals?

Looks live everyone's been keeping busy this weekend.

Rene - congrats on the huge PR.

My weekend went pretty well.  Good long ride and long run and feel ready for next weeks workouts.

Favorite movies...in no particular order.  Remember the Titans, Armageddon, Predator, Rocky III and IV, Bad Boys I and II, Training Day, Forrest Gump, Talledega Nights, Rudy, and probably about 5 others I can't think of right now.

So today I think, after weeks of fiddling, I found a good cleat position on my shoe.  I had been having some aching in my foot (unrelated to the injury) and kept moving the cleat around to try to alleviate it.  Today I rode as long as I have in a long time, and had zero pain.  The solution (unless it was just coincidence) was to slam the cleat back and inside as far as possible.

Curious what others have done with cleat position.

Ceril: So glad you had some fun! That is absolutely a-ok. I have been meaning to get my BF checked, but haven't. I think I'm pretty darn close to your previous result even with all the years of activity! Totally shows I have NO self control. I hear you on the fear of having heart issues. I also worry about diabetes too. My family on my mother's side has had a history with every health condition you can imagine. So, let's get healthy together. We'll keep plugging away.

Michael: Totally been there with runs being more fatiguing that you'd expect! Yes, I do need to make it a habit to get up early. I didn't wake up to my early alarm to run this morning, so I had planned to scrap it. Luckily Mister was home early so I can get a run in. I'm going to give it an honest try next month. Sounds like you've been a good man with Karma looking after you. Thank goodness for the man stopping to check on you! Good luck busting through the tough work load.

Bennett: Looks like your doing well at keeping up with your training even with your busy schedule. Inspirational!

Rene: Awesome job on your PR!!!

Sylvain: Running while injured is definitely not the way to go. I am a total wimp, so when I'm actually injured I'll rest to the full extent. Awesome bike ride!!

Randy: Oh, heavens. I need a nap after reading of your busy, traveling schedule.

Jason: Oh, yeah!! Love Forrest Gump!! Love your consistency in your training.

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Today swim team was nixed due to someone having an accident in the pool. YUM! Got 4 miles on the treadmill instead. A slow, easy 2 miles with another 2 with intervals.

Have a great Monday.

Movies- Two movies I always stop on if channel surking are Armaggedon, and The Rock.  For some comedy, I recommend watching Arrested Development on Netflix, and for those with an HBO subscription, HBO GO is fantastic.  You can stream all of their original programming and a bunch of movies as well.  Game of Thrones is awesome, and I want to start watching Boardwalk Empire.

Blanda -.  Last March about this time, I was up to the heaviest I have ever been at 196.  Over the course of the last 10 months, I have whittled that down to 179, and would like to be around 170 by summer and IM peaking training.  Looking back, I think one of the most important things to remember is that I didn't get to 196 overnight, and that I won't get to a target weight overnight either.  IMO if you try to make giant sweeping changes all at once, your chances of being successful, and of continuing success, are much less than if you change over time.  Adapting a lifestyle doesn't happen overnight, and I find making good choices much easier now than I did last spring.  I also don't think about it as much, as it is just something I do.  

Rene- Awesome work on the half marathon!   

After a bad week last week, this week is off to a good start.  Got a swim in before work, and will do intervals on the bike later today.  Have a good week everyone!

Busy day at work.  Was able to get in a swim at lunch and an easy spin on the trainer this evening.  Tomorrow I will be traveling and have a run workout with intervals on the schedule.  Looks like an early morning on the treadmill.

Randy 

Morning all.  Been working since 4:30 this morning -- taking a break for coffee and a bite at the coffee shop.  I've got one more crazy day at work, then (knocking on wood) I think things will settle down a bit.  I managed to swim and bike yesterday, but I was so tired that really they were more like escapes from work and mental breaks than training session.  Same today, I'm afraid.

I'm going to miss my January swim target by about 1K.  I just don't have time to put in the 3.5K or so today to get there, and anyway that long of a swim might be a bad idea -- my shoulder wants me to build slowly.  I'll hit the (modified due to injury and illness!) bike goal with an hour on the trainer tonight.  Weight goal -- not so much.  Ugh.

OK, back to it.

Have a great one everybody.  I'll check back in tonight while I'm on the trainer!

Bennet: Wise words. Thanks so much for sharing!

Regarding bikes shoes: Still haven't worked up the courage to use them!!

Tonight I meant to do a bike/run brick on the road, but I fell asleep late in the afternoon and missed the daylight I needed for it. I must have needed some rest! I rarely just zonk out like that. So, got 14 miles on the bike to nowhere, and 3 awesome miles on the treadmill.

Itching to get to the sprint this weekend and try out my new swim skills on the 700m.

Good morning everyone!  Hope you all find time to get a workout in with your busy schedules. 

I have an easy day today, and I am VERY happy about that will get an easy four mile run in at lunch, and then a little pool time after work.

Michael- I haven't messed with my cleat position too much, but when I did the fit for my tri bike, the fitter did remove my cleats, and put shims under them so that the load was spread out across my entire foot, and not just on the on the inside of my foot.

Glad to see everyone is sticking to it through the work craziness.  Today is the first day I can actually take a breath, but then it's back under I go.

I had an hour on the trainer followed by 30 mins on the 'mill and it felt awesome!  I'm so glad I spent the fall run-focused...it feels so easy right now.  (Michael, don't worry, you'll get there soon!)

I am desperate for new bike/tri shorts.  I spent a squirmy hour on the bike this morning in my DeSoto tri shorts trying to get comfortable.  Unfortunately all of the seams are in all of the wrong places.  I have four different pairs on order right now...hope I can get something right for me.

POWER QUESTION!!  I am using Joe Friel's "Your Best Triathlon" as my training plan for the 70.3.  This is Base 2 Week 1.  There is a lot about training with power and I get it - I also get that I need to do the LTHR tests (which scare me to death!).  What I'm wondering is:

• if it would be a wise investment to get a power meter right now
• can I find one that won't cost me a million dollars
• what is the learning curve (keep in mind it took me a year to start using my Garmin 305, and I STILL don't know the best way to make it work)
• or can I make do with HR and my cadence sensor

In this plan, Week 4 is "rest and test" so I think I can do my testing then, although it says in order to make the best out of Base 2, you really need to know your LTHRs so you can ensure you are working inside Zone 2 and no more for the aerobic endurance sessions.

HELP!

BTW, I set up my bike inside on Sunday so I could watch TV for my 2.5 hour ride.  LMAO!  There was nothing worth watching, believe it or not, and I didn't have anything DVR'd.  But this morning I listened to Pandora - 80's rock - and it was a great way to start the day.  

Di - based on this statement (and this alone) I wouldn't recommend a PM at the moment.  They can be a very valuable tool, but the analysis that goes into getting the most out of them can be somewhat overwhelming.  Either you have to be willing to invest time to learn what all the numbers mean, and how to then use those numbers to your benefit, or else have a coach who can do this for you.

I used to get some slight knee pain on rides over 1.5 hours and then a fitter made a small adjustment to the cleats and removed the problem.  I'm now very careful about making any changes, but just switched pedals and needed to move to a new cleat system.  We'll see how close I got to the old settings after I get riding again.

DI -- I love my power meter, but I think you would (for the moment) be much better served by using a heart rate monitor.  If you didn't get the strap with your 305, they are not expensive.

There are a few things to be aware of when you are training with a HRM (which I did prior to switching to power on the bike and pace/RPE on the run).  Naysayers will overemphasize these points, but if you keep the proper perspective, they are helpful to bear in mind.

* HR will naturally be higher in the heat.  So there is a temptation to adjust your rates upwards when training or racing in the heat.  And a slight (VERY slight) adjustment is OK.  But don't try to 'compensate' for the heat entirely.  The reason that your HR is higher in the heat is that your body is doing double-duty -- trying to generate the power you are asking of it to bike or run, AND trying to cool itself.  You can't ignore the contribution that the latter task makes to HR and adjust upward.

So, to be explicit, let's say that your plan says to run an hour in Z2, which for you is 135-145bpm (and I'm making these numbers up of course).  But you determined your LTHR (and hence your zones) on a 60 degree day with low humidity, and today it is 90 degrees with high humidity.  You have learned from experience that this difference in conditions will raise your HR by around 8bpm.  You should NOT assume that your training in 'Z2' should therefore be at a HR of 143-153bpm.  My inclination instead is to allow myself to train closer to the upper end of the range, but still stay within the range.

* Stress, lack of hydration, lack of sleep (which really just manifests itself as stress), recent diet, and other things can affect HR.  In general, you should not try to 'compensate' for these either.  However, it can be useful to observe that 150bpm (for example) feels much harder today than it did yesterday.  That observation could tell you something about your current level of stress, etc., and maybe encourage you to 'chill out', or drink more water, or whatever.

* HR drift is also something to be aware of.  This is a bit more complicated.  'Drift' refers to the tendency of the HR to rise at the same level of effort, after an extended period (usually more than an hour) at that effort.  My tendency in training was to be somewhat more willing to 'compensate' for drift than I was for other factors (especially heat).  So, if I was aiming to train at, say, 155bpm for 2 hours, I wouldn't be concerned about that number creeping up to 160bpm after 90 minutes.  It is also useful to bear in mind that as your fitness improves, drift is less severe, so keeping an eye on it can be a useful measure of progress.

I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about, reading, and experimenting with training by HR (and I still use it as a useful piece of information).  I've even participated in some studies made by our local Sports Science guys, forgoing payment in exchange for being allowed to discuss the results with them after the study.  I'm certainly not a know-it-all on the topic, but I'd be happy to help if I can -- so feel free to push for clarification or elaboration on the above (or anything else that occurs to you) if you want.

Di-Agree with what everyone else said about the use of a powermeter.  Great tool but for many people it is really just a fancy "speedometer". Not sure what type of trainer you use but you may want to take a look at www.trainerroad.com  .  They have tons of rides/workouts and calculate "power" numbers based on many popular trainers. Transmits wireless data to laptop via Garmin Ant+ USB stick.  Might be an easy and inexpensive ($7/month) to train with power without the big start up cost.

Sorry to be AWOL so much but this is a busy week for me.  Plan is for a swim at lunch and bike in the evening tomorrow.

Randy

Earlier there was a mention of buying new tri/cycling shorts.  Was curious what products/gear/brands people have found through exercising/s/b/r/tri that are well made and products that work just like you want something to work?

Waterfi-waterproof Ipod Shuffle.  After destroying several Ipod shuffles due to sweat or accidentally running through the washer I ordered one of these.  I have tried it while swimming and ran it though the wash, accidentally, last week and it still works as advertised.

Hitch bike rack-  www.1upusa.com  Quik Rack.  Super well made and easy to use just as advetised.  Literally,  the bike goes on or off  in 10 seconds and very secure.  A little pricey compared to most racks but it works great.

Trainer- www.insideride.com  Rollers without the learning curve/terror.  True road feel with adjustable resisstance.  No need to use trainer tire.  Simply take bike off rollers and head out.  Another one of those things that cost a little more but well worth it.  I probably have 8000 miles on my set and other than the finish being corroded from sweat they work like new.

Tri clothing-I have had great luck with DeSoto.  They also make nice cycling gear-I have a pair of the 400 mile shorts and the 400 mile bibs.

Anyone else?

Randy

x2  Love DeSoto.  I have the 400 mile bibs and shorts also, and can't say enough good things about them.  I also race in their Forza shorts and jersey, and love them as well.  I have ridden 45 miles in the Forza tri shorts with no problems, and the jersey is nice and long in back, so it doesn't ride up.  I am thinking of trying out the Riviera for long course.  The pad is different from the regular Forza.  I would love to hear comments on the Riviera version if anyone has them.