Scott's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 24)

Troy, you need be signing up for Kona with those kind of swims. 

Nicole, welcome back to the pool. I stink at kick turns. I'm trying to get better. 

Scott, glad you are getting your running legs back. 

This cold weather and biking/running outside plus 2-3 times a week in the pool is killing my skin. My finger tips are cracked next to my nail. I am a mess. I have been soaking up the aquaphor/lotion but still dry to the bone. 

I hit the pool yesterday to work on my times. I talked with a swim coach while I was there and he gave me an exercise to do. He told me to take the time I expect to finish the 400 for my race. My goal is under 8 minutes. Anyway, take the time and divide it by 4. Thats 2 minutes per 100. He recommended I add 30 seconds to each lap for a little more rest. He told me to swim the 100 as quick as I could and rest the remaining time I have left in that 2:30 minutes. Then repeat. He said that is a good workout to try and build speed. I'll see how many sets of 400 I can do. 

I did 2 cool things yesterday. I joined USAT and signed up for my race! I am super pumped! The USAT membership pays for itself with all these race discounts and 1 day permits. 

Today will be a run or bike depending on the weather. Its supposed to be 60 so hopefully biking. I''m trying to hit a 12 mile goal of under 40 minutes. 

Train smart and hard everyone!

I'm not a swim coach, Ashley, but I saw the most improvement in my times when I decreased my rest window to less than 30 seconds. Last night I had about 10 seconds of rest ... maybe 12 for my 5 x 100 set. It hurts to get right back into it after only 10 seconds, but I was holding my times at around 1:38 - 1:40. You can handle it for four reps. Then maybe a minute rest and another 4 x 100 set.

I'm going to recommend 2:15. 

*rofl!!*

CRAMP!  I meant CRAMP!!

...maybe it was from too much crap inside though....

Good morning freaks ...

2700 in the pool last night. Coach wants me to really focus on my bilateral breathing, knowing I'll want both sides available to me during open water swims. I resorted to breathing every other stroke (to my right side) during the harder sets ... but managed to maintain every 3 for a good portion of the recovery paces. I feel like I really upset my momentum when I breathe to the left, but I know it's just a matter of time and practice.

60 minutes on the trainer this morning doing endurance/high cadence work. I can tell it's been more than a week since I've been in the saddle.

I'll swim again tonight and try to get to bed early ... have a 9 miler on the schedule for tomorrow morning.

Good morning all ...

Good news on the running front, Scott! Glad to hear there is no bad news from the injury.

Got out for 9 miles this morning. Temps in the 50s (40s with the wind), so I was in shorts and a long sleeved tee. Very nice.  I ran into the largest skunk I've ever seen ... this guy looked very healthy. He stopped me dead in my tracks from about 10 feet away, but he just looked at me and didn't even flick his tail. He sauntered away like he owned the trail. Respect, my little punk rock friend, respect.

I'll set a weekly high yardage mark with tonight's swim. Last night, my times just weren't coming to me. Still a solid workout ... and continued improvement on breathing to my left. But I felt sluggish. I was assigned 4 x 150 on 2:30. I came in at 2:27 on the first split, so I only had a 3 second break. The next three all came in around 2:35, so I took short 5 second breaks on those.

Train hard today.

Where did everybody go?  Oh I get it.....Y'all are training.  Don't forget to check in.  I had a great trainer ride this evening.  

Troy,  Good luck with your build towards the marathon.  Those are some serious yards you're putting in the pool too.

Evening, all! 

It's been a wild couple days. I had three good training days this week and today crapped on me...

Monday I hit the pool for some shorter, quicker swims. My quarter mile was a PR of 7:21 which I was excited about. 

Tuesday I hit the road for a bike ride and shaved a few minutes of the 12 mile track I've been practicing. I want to finish my bike race in 40 minutes which is a 3:20 pace. It will be a challenge. I think 45 minutes will be more accurate especially never seeing the course.

Thursday I had a nice 4 mile run. I did sub 8 minutes the first two miles and high 8s in the last 2. Some of it was weather- high winds. We hgad 30-40 mph gusts and you just can't go anywhere in those conditions.  My energy has snot been dropping off that bad on my previous runs. It was weird.

Today my truck crapped out on me and I spent the day car shopping, dealing with salesman,  and getting the wife to come see what I picked out. Anyway, with the twins coming, it is minivan time. We got home at 9:30. Weather pending, I am going to try and get a nice brick workout tomorrow to make up for today. 

I have 17 days left until my race! I am enjoying the shorter harder, workouts and focusing on my times. 

My goal for the race is a 8 minute swim, 45 bike, and 27 minute run. That is 80  minutes plus transitions. I hope to hit those in 2:30 at worst. I need to work on them.

Sorry about the the last few days. My wife has been out of town so it is just my son and I. He keeps me quite busy. 

I signed up to volunteer at Ironman Louisville in August. I signed up to work in the bike transition area. That will be fun.

Good morning all!

Just in from a brick ... 45 minutes of VO2 intervals on the trainer followed by 5 miles at recovery pace. I feel like all of my workouts this week have been just sort of "meh" ... nothing spectacular, and a bit sluggish. But I remind myself that these are the workouts that truly let me appreciate the amazing ones. Hopefully I've just stored up for Sunday's run. That'll be 13 or 14 with 10 at sub 70 min. If I'm having a good day, the splits will come ... running it with my running partner which always helps.

I'm instructing an all-day workshop tomorrow, and I'm home alone today through tomorrow, which puts me on full time dog duty. I doubt I'll get any structured workout done, but I treat these stone wall building workshops like strength training.

Work hard today! 

I'm going to try and hit a big brick workout today. Scott, what are your thoughts on ride to run ratios when doing a brick? With my race 16 days away, would it be okay to do a race length ride and race length run? 

I'm doing a sprint so these are not ironman distances. I think I should be fine. 

16 days out, you should absolutely be fine.  I wouldn't necessarily do race intensity on both workouts though.  Hit the bike hard and have a nice easy run.  I rarely do classic bricks.  I do more "transition runs".  These are a short easy 10-20 min runs after a dedicated bike workout.  I have read, and there are conflicting opinions on whether it is beneficial to our run fitness to do bricks.  I don't have the answer, but I do most of my important run workouts on fresh legs, and use transition runs to keep my mileage up.  Does that make sense?

Hello all,

Wow, I can't believe how busy work has been.  My training has been way down.  Not good with just a week to go before my firts race.

I did 40 minutes on the bike trainer just now.  My son's baseball game for tonight has been pushed back so I plan to get a run in prior.  Tomorrow I'm planning on an open water swim.  Sunday should be a 25 mile race distance ride. 

Next week I plan on shorter distance work outs through Wednesday then recover for the race until Sunday.

Let me know if I'm missing anything or need to add anything.

You all sound like you are realy doing well.   I hope I'm holding up my end of the bargan.

C

I was just curious are you planning on taking off Wednesday through Sunday?  

Race is a week from this Sunday.  I was under the impression you should rest several days prior to the race.  I figured I'd do light trainging Monday through Wednesday.  Take Thursday - Saturday off then race Sunday. 

Thoughts?

I am not going to do race intensity on my workout but rather race length. I don't know if brick workouts are beneficial to our run fitness but I believe they are very beneficial to our mental fitness. Knowing the feeling of getting off the bike and how your legs will feel. That requires mental toughness and discomfort we need to work through.

Hope everyone has a healthy day!

I was out training!! Not as much as usual but I had a great run last night! Probably will run again tonight, yoga tomorrow and an 8 mile run on Sunday. Next week I'll be making an effort to get back to getting back to (I might as well fix it before someone else does) my regularly scheduled workouts .

You should definitely follow your plan, however I think you may find that you will be more fresh if you did some very light training on one or two of those days.  Something like:

Thurs: Easy 20 min ride

Friday: Off

Sat: Super easy 10-15 min jog.  

I will usually do some strides or a very quick intense set on the day before.  Like a 20 min ride with 1 minute really fast in there somewhere.  Do what feels comfortable, but I think your legs will feel more ready with some very light training.  

I believe this as well. 

Morning, friends.

I was bummed with no training on Thursday due to vehicle issues but rebounded nicely yesterday with a good brick workout. I did a 9.88 mile ride and a 2.12 mile run. I didn't hit either with extreme intensity. I did the ride in 41 minutes, a 1:40 T1, and the run at 17:32. Total time just over 60 minutes. I don't know why it took over a minute to hang my bike up, switch shoes, take off my helmet, and close my garage door but it did. 

I was very pleased with how my legs felt after the ride. I remember a brick I did a month ago and the legs felt much heavier. I can tell a big difference in my progress. The brick yesterday gives me a lot of confidence. I felt like I had a lot left in the tank.

I hit the pool this morning for some interval training. I set a time of 2 minutes for a 100 meter swim. The goal was to swim as quick as I could and rest the remaining time. I was hitting my 100 at 1:40 -/+ a few seconds.  I lost track of how many sets I did. It was between 12 and 16. I need to keep better track next time with some pennies. It was quite a workout. I also worked on breathing on my right side. It still needs a lot of work. 

I also did some weight lifting. I was on a good schedule January/February for weight training but got lazy. I am going to work harder at getting it in. Lifting after a swim is hard work compared to lifting after biking. My goal is to lift 3 times a week. 

Happy training today!

P.S. Tri suit shipped yesterday and should be here Monday/Tuesday!! WOOOOO!! 

Been a mess for me of late guys/gals ...

My February totals were dismal as I had to focus away from the run (in what was supposed to be a big mileage month) and onto the swim.

My month totals:

Swim - 19,427 yards

Bike - 46.65 miles

Run - 34.22 miles 

Did a Yoga session and two weight sessions but nothing really worthwhile.

As per my PT I tried Bikram again on the 29th - found I totally lost flexibility in my left leg - and then on March 1st I tweaked my back at work.  Like an idiot I swam my regular mile after work and made it worse.  Tried to recover for two days and then I went on a planned bike training ride for the NY Gran Fondo on Sunday (the 4th) ...

There were three groups and I set off with the C group (the slowest group) as I needed to break in my new (used) road bike and I had never really tackled hills before.  I stayed with the front 4 of our 23 person group for the first two climbs and the bike felt great - on a downhill going between 26-29mph I blew out my rear tire.  Having never experienced that before it was both frightening and a weird calmness as I fought to maintain control while barreling down the hill.  The rider behind me yelled (and I assume signaled to those behind to slow or sweep me) ... I moved further right as one by one the group past me as I came to a stop on the bottom of the hill.  Never having had a flat on a ride it was an interesting test to see how fast I could remove the rear tire, pop out the tube put in a new one, inflate and go.  Took me almost 5 minutes and that ended my ride as I went back instead of trying to catch up.  First day ever on hills and I felt good.

My wife and I went to the Poconos for vacation and for me to spot out the Ironman Poconos 70.3.  I did a nice 20 mile bike on Tuesday (the 6th) up and down some rolling hills - nothing crazy - and maintained a steady 17.5mph pace.  On flat races this year I think I will be killing it but I felt overly confident as I rode back to our hotel.  Riding in 30 degree weather with a headwind however turned my toes purple - guess I need those shoe covers all the serious cyclists have.

We took a ride to the swim area of the 70.3 ... a triangle loop in the Delaware River - looked fairly flat with the first part against the current and then the return with the current.  My plan for Wednesday was to do the bike and then Thursday the run ... did not quite work out.

I loaded up my bottles, one with water the other with eFuel ... and backed 3 clif bars, 2 efuel gu's and a MetrX bar and my wife dropped me off for the bike.  Having driven in the car the first 8 miles the day prior and armed with a map I set off.  I literally made it 2000 yards up the first hill out of transition, tried to downshift, dropped a chain and tumbled over.  What the hell had I gotten myself into??  Went back down the hill, fixed the chain, headed up and dropped it again; at least the second time I avoided falling over.  There are very few hills here and I have never had to be pre-shifting as I anticipated hills - learning new things I set out again.  Made it to the 5 mile mark where I knew the grade would get super steep, and where I read half the field walked last year, and where I promised I would not walk .... well I walked it up the next 1/3 of a mile until I could ride again.  It took me an hour to do the first 8.2 miles.  Thankfully the next hour was much more productive, flats and mostly downhills I covered 19 miles in the second hour but then things got dicey.  I got a bit lost and took a downhill I should not have and had to climb back up in granny gear to find the route.  As I was driving along (finally back on track) I saw road closed signs but continued - figuring I could ride the shoulder.  I saw some cones up ahead and continued on till I saw a guy with a hardhat and NO ROAD AT ALL!   I breaked hard and ended up wiping out as I released my feet, pulling my bike onto me as I rolled.  Somehow I ended up in a standing position but my back was jacked.  I ended up carrying my bike around the missing section of road (nearly 200 yards - I will be emailing the Ironman people) and continued on.  I fell over one other time trying to get my feet out of the clips when a school bus stopped in front of me - loved falling onto the shoulder in front of a bus full of teenagers ... but the rest of the ride passed fairly smoothly.  56 miles (plus a mile and a half accidental detour) in 4 hours and 17 minutes.  At least now I know what to expect in the race come September and with a lot of hill training ahead of me I should be able to cut some time off.  I can honestly say though the chance of me doing this on my TT bike is near nil ... the road bike just handles so much safer and I can get better power in my climbs.

Heading out for a short run now - we'll see how my back and leg hold up.  Its been a few weeks since I ran at all and I have a feeling I will be doing dismally in my first half marathon just 13 days from now - but the way I see it anything from now until September 30th is a test for my half Ironman.

Back home so I will be back to reporting daily - sorry for writing a novella today.

Paul,

You are won tenacious man.  Most people would have quit after the first problem.  That kind of attitude will serve you well on race day.

C

Good morning peeps!

Paul!  Holy cow! You've gotten all of your bike woes out of the way early this season. Let's hope for some smooth riding from here on out.

I took yesterday off from training and spent the day instructing one of my stone wall building workshops. We had a great group of participants who were pretty skilled, so I didn't have to do a lot of lifting. That allowed me to really save it up for today's run, which I knew was going to be tough.

15.33 all together:
3.74 mile warm up @ 8:38
10 @ 7:05
1.58 cool down @ 10:20

I had hoped to go sub 70 for the 10 mile main set, but the headwind on the return from the out/back drained me. I petered out for the final two miles. 1:10:57 for those ten. I'll take it this early in my training block.

Hope you're all making up for the lost hour of sleep with a vengeance!

Hello friends,

Yesterday was a 25 mile bike ride.  The body felt great the bike performed great.  Unfortunately the head wind affected my time but I'm feeling ready for the bike portion of next weeks race.

I was excited to see my tri jersey arrived in the mail yesterday...then I put it on.  Does anyone actulay look good in spandex?  Oh well.  Who cares.  I'm going to wear it proudly on race day.  Love handles and all  . 

Today will be swim and maybe a run too.

Have a great Sunday.