2015 Clyde/Athena Tri-N-4- Weight Loss Mentor Group - Open (Page 24)

A good workout week for me,

6 runs for 3:50 for the week. 1 30 minute trainer ride, and a 60 minute outdoor ride around the neighborhood. It was slow, but that's my first outside ride since July, 2014. A long, long time between drinks, and a big step back towards triathlons this summer.

Diet, was good for the first half of the week, but fell away the 2nd half. My weight has stalled the last few weeks, as my diet has started to slip back into bad habits. No prizes for finding the connection between those 2.

This week, another 10 minutes added to the run, aiming for 4 hours. Will only have the time for a single trainer ride again, and another outside ride on the weekend. May go for longer than an hour this time if feeling good.

And re focus on my nutrition. today is 50 consecutive days of logging on MFP, I did really god work in the first 30, but the last 2-3 weeks I have slipped. This week I'm really trying to focus on getting back into those good habits

I'm with you my schedule is really tough to get through during the week. It has become even tougher since I coach my daughter's soccer team with practices Monday's and Wednesday's and games on saturday's. My normal schedule is looks like this

Monday: Swimming and some stretching or strength
Tuesday: 1 hour bike ride and 20 min transition run
Wednesday: Interval Running
Thursday: Bike and swimming
Friday: off
Saturday: long run
Sunday: long ride

Today I did 1 hour on the bike for 17.7 miles and 17.7 mph then did a 20 min jog for 1.74 miles. I missed my swim on Monday because of soccer practice will probably try to make that up on Friday. My body usually feels pretty beat up. I know that usually comes with the territory, but do you guys take any kind of supplements to help with soreness and/or recovery. I usually take BCAA's and Protein but was curious if you guys were doing anything different.

Ok, I'll have a go here.

First off, I think it depends on what your goals are, for example if you're after general fitness gym/strength workouts are more important than if you were purely focused on tris. Also, you don't need to lift things to do strength, different swim/bike/run workouts can be used to build strength, for example cycling up a hill in a big gear is a strength workout. And, one positive thing we have being big guys, is that carrying our weight around especially when running means we are pretty much constantly strength training. We may not be fit, but we are likely stronger than many of the whippets that lap us in tris.

Also, do you need to dedicate specific workouts just to strength? You could do some pushups/squats etc before or after your S/B/R workouts. Also, by mixing your workouts up you are able to rest part of your body while working another, for example, if you have a hard run in the morning, don't run in the afternoon, a swim will let your legs get some rest.

My previous HIM training, and what I'm building back to is 11-12 workouts a week, a short 20-30 minute morning workout and a longer 60-90 minute evening workout on weekdays, and a long ride and possibly run on the weekends, for example

Mon AM, Swim 30 min, PM Run 60 min
Tues AM, Run 30 min, PM Bike 60 min trainer
Wed AM Swim 30 min, PM Run 90 min
Thurs AM, Run 30 min, PM Bike 60 min trainer
Fri AM, Swim 30 min, PM Run 60 min
Sat, Long Bike ride (3.5 hours)
Sun, Run 30 min or rest day

Totals: swim 1:30, Bike: 5:30, Run, 5:00 12 hours total/week

I would also do a 10 minute body weight routine 2 - 3 days a week (aiming to, often missed)

But I know not every one has a lifestyle that could train like that, I have it easy, I'm a 10 minute commute to the office, I don't have kids, when I was training like that I lived on my own so had no commitments. I'm married now, but, I get home from work 90 minutes before my wife, so plenty of time to get a workout in without compromising family time.

Although planning is a good thing, don't get too carried away with making plans for the next year. As you get fitter, and lighter what you are capable of will drastically increase. 2 a day workouts will be a breeze in 12 months. You still have a period of huge, rapid improvements to come. i'd say you need to be changing your plan almost constantly as you make those improvements.

bullfrog, thanks for the feedback. That last paragraph was something I hadn't really considered either. I doubt many folks are more fit than a fresh US Marine graduate of Parris Island and I know ALL my strength training was body weight stuff. And it all came after we had done our morning run. I never touched a weight on the Island. My DI's wouldn't allow it. They already knew I was going to be heavier than standards and didn't want me to bulk up, something I USED to do fairly easily.

I would love to go through Boot one more time... just for the PT. I dropped from 201 to 174 between June and Sept at Camp Hollywood. That's MCRD San Diego for anyone who didn't get the reference.

Let me toss out my basic schedule for reference as well:

Sun (Work 0900-1730) - Long ride, 2+ hrs
Mon (Work 0800-1630) - PM Run ~40min and increasing
Tue (Work 0800-1630) - PM Trainer Ride ~60min (heavily neglected)
Wed (Work 0800-1630) - PM Run ~40min and increasing
Thu (Work 0800-1630)
Fri (off, Watch my 3yr old) - AM Run ~40min and increasing, AM Swim @ Y (~60min)
Sat (off, Kids bowl @1030) - AM Group Ride @0700 (usually ~90min as I have to be home by 0900)

My AM work is usually about 0430 so I'm done before I have to get anyone up and my PM work usually starts after 2100hrs when the 2 older girls are in bed. My oldest will keep an eye on the youngest if Amy is at work on running nights. I also just go around the block so I'm never more than a quarter mile from the house. I really need to add in a couple of days of strength as well. Tuesday and Friday are looking pretty good. I do have an old Bowflex Power Pro ("310lb" upgrade) which helps. Also been thinking of shortening my long Sunday ride a bit, and heading out earlier on Sat before the group. That way I can plan to hit the group start after so many miles, then push harder trying to keep up.

10/20 - Walk - 40m 48s - 2.01 miles - 20m 17s /Mi
Halfway through my September Challenge!

I knew I went out slow, but didn't realize how slow until I logged on afterward. 22:17 for the outbound mile, 18:31 for the return mile. Considering how my back feels, I will take the fact that I even went as a victory. Besides, as Robin says, not every workout is better than the last one. Sure wish I knew what I have done to my back.

Since I missed my swim on Monday I decided to swim today instead of running intervals. I swam 1300 yards total today for a pace of 2:05/100yards. Felt great swimming, this was the most distance I have swam and my times have dropped down. Two weeks ago I swam 1000 yards and averaged 2:35/100 yards. So I'm seeing improvement. I hope everyone keeps going strong.

11/20 - Bike - 29m 56s - 9.91 miles - 19.86 Mi/hr
I couldn't see any way that a stationary bike could hurt my back, so I went to the Y. Since I pedaled between courses, while I was selecting the next one, it was actually over 30 minutes but I can only claim the times from the computer. Also, we all know that out on the real road I have all I can do to manage 13.5-14mph, so that 19.8 is a euphemistic figure at best. Followed up with 10 minutes in front of the jets in the hot tub and then 10 minutes in the sauna.

Finally got in the pool this morning... It's been a while. I got pretty wiped out after only 1000yds, but I did it in 23:00ish as opposed to my usual 26:00ish. I know I am a slow swimmer, so 2:18/100 was flying!

12/20 - Walk - 1h 08m 57s - 3.75 miles - 18m 23s /Mi

Woke up with no back pain this morning. That was nice. Decided to do a longer walk today. This was my first time this year to go UP Hillside Drive. I HATE THAT HILL! It's too short to show up as a rated climb in MapMyFitness but it climbs 150' in .3 miles. That's a 9.5% grade! Hmmm, now I have to go see how that compares.

Are you ready for this? There are only two climbs steeper than that in the Tour de France, and only one other that is 9%. All the other climbs in the TdF are between 4.2% and 8.2%. If you average all 27 of the rated climbs for the TdF they only average 6.9% slope. It's the km that tear riders down.

I suppose I feel better about Hillside Drive beating me down and destroying my pace average every time I ascend it.

13/20 - Bike - 48m 33s - 11.63 miles - 14.37 Mi/hr
Went to the Y this morning for my ride. Finished four courses on the Expresso bike. Man, the sweat was POURING off of me. Followed that up with 10 minutes in the hot tub, cool down in the pool, and then 15 minutes in the sauna. I can see this becoming a nightly event, after a day of teaching school kids. Very relaxing.

BONUS ROUND - Walk - 21m 15s - 1.07 miles - 19m 51s /Mi
Got tired of sitting at Y waiting for Cindy so I decided to walk down to the bank meet her. Figured it for less than a mile, and I wasn't interested in walking fast at all. Just a pleasant walk through the city.

This week kind of felt "ho-hum". I just didn't feel it this week. I did drop back to 250.0, so there is that....

Swim: By the grace of my lovely wife getting the kids up and running for school on Friday (had to work on my day off...yay), I was able to jump in the pool. Like I said before, only 1000yds free and 2x50, but I went a bit quicker than normal, so all is good.

Bike: Kept it short this week. 23.44 on Sunday, 18.4 yesterday, and no trainer time made for a light 41.84mi week.

Run: Going to have to take a Mulligan on week 7... Got a good 2.55mi in Monday, I skipped Wed and tried to make it up Thurs... well I went out too soon after dinner, and you can imagine what happened. 1.63mi and it was mostly walking and groaning... 4.18mi for the week is weak... even for me.

This week should have me in the pool on Fri as I'm back to my normal work schedule (yay!). I'm trying to use this week and next week to "build" before I taper for my attempt at a 66mi ride (52mi on Labor Day was my longest ride to date). I'm hoping to coax myself on to the trainer at least once, if not twice this week... I'm also rewinding to week 7/14 of the c210k which is 3 sustained runs of 25 mins each. I should have 7.5mi or so for the week. I am taking the week of the 27th off work because my Dad is coming into town. First time I've seen him face-to-face in about 14 years. Hehehe plane tickets for 6 to Seattle ain't cheap... and I don't fly anyways. But, I should be able to hammer out a nice 2/4/4 peak week before I taper.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed about the week of the 27th... because that's when Walking Dead Season 5 drops on NetCrack... err NetFlix and since I missed it the first time through (was still on season 3) I'm hoping to get caught up before Season 6 starts...





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Great week for me here.

Weight/Diet: Despite not being 100%, I was reasonably good and consistent during the week. I brought up 55 consecutive days logging on MFP and weighed in at 206.8lbs, that's 6.6lbs down from last Monday!, and 33.7lbs down for the year. So happy with that.

Running, all 6 runs for a total of 4 hours, exactly as planned.

Bike, The weather did not play ball with me this week, so sundays ride got shifted onto the trainer. so the week was 2 trainer rides, 1 30 minute, and 1 60 minute effort.

Swim, yet to happen, but getting closer...

I've also done at least 1 workout a day for 14 consecutive days now, which is a bit of an achievement. Aiming for another week of something every day, and then a rest week next week.

We've also had a change at home, Bo and I are now the proud parents of a 10 week old golden retriever / retrodoodle cross puppy called Charlie... I'm really looking forward to having a running buddy in a few months when she's a bit bigger.

That is indeed a great week! Way to charge on.

14/20 - Bike - 1h 03m 13s - 12.96 miles - 12.30 Mi/hr
Needed the endorphins from a good workout today. First time in a LONG time that I've had THAT thought! I went straight from school to the Y. It started to sprinkle as I was walking inside. I did three rides of 4-4.5 miles each. BUT, I did them in the wrong order. I have just been going through the rides in order, but the first one in the second group was WAY harder. It was called City Express and I didn't like the profile just looking at it on the screen. I REALLY didn't like it when I started hitting 20% - 34% grades. And what SICK individual puts a 34% grade for the last 4/10ths of a mile?

Next time I have to do them in the order of City Express, then the slightly easier Bent Spoke, and finish with the relatively flat Fruitdale. Although I did finish 8 seconds behind "The Ghost". Another neat feature of these Expresso bikes is that they keep your PR for each course and the next time you ride it your PR also rides as a "Ghost Rider". I think I could have beaten my Ghost, if I had ridden Fruitdale first instead of second.

15/20 - Swim - 22m 23s - 1000.00 yards - 02m 14s /100 yards
Oh man, I am really psyched with this week! Went in today and swam 1000 yards. That's a 300 yd jump in one week. Hadn't planned it. Was just sitting at the dealer waiting for my truck and running some numbers in my head. I was thinking about working it so I'd have a 500 yd w/u, a distance set, and then a 500 yd c/d and I came up with this. (3x50, 2x100, 1x150, DS, 1x150, 2x100, 3x50)

It doesn't hurt that this month's challenge is nearly in the bag.

Mike, sounds like you're kicking this weeks arse! good work.

I'm 3 runs into the week, 2 x 50 minute and 1 x 25 minute. Looking for a trainer session tonight.

Got to get to the pool tho... only 6 weeks till my first tri on the comeback trail... that's coming around far to quickly!

bullfrog, may I suggest setting a tiny goal for those swims? For instance, through at least the end of this year I am planning to train each discipline two times a week. After New Year I will start to look seriously at doubling up or doing bricks, but for right now all I am really worrying about is building an aerobic base.

Just make yourself get to the pool twice, maybe Tu/Fr or whatever works for you. From what I have seen you post so far you appear to have enough base in the other two, but it almost seems like you are avoiding the pool. You know you need it bro, now just commit. Not to the pool but to yourself.

Swimming is important. My first tri I was not very good and my swimming suffered and took so much out of me. Swim.

Speaking of swimming I was able to finally swim again. Now that might be up in the air. The new work location that has a pool in the building might cost me more than I thought but worse. It might be a year commitment. Since I want to quit in the next couple of months its not worth a year commitment. Oh well.

I passed on my only tri of the year in favor of the 20 miler for my marathon only to miss that too. Storms, stress, and just too nervous about the whole day. Oh well. now its just try to lose as much weight as I can in the next 3 weeks.

16/20 - Dreadmill - 1h 00m - 3.50 miles - 17m 08s /Mi

Anybody remember the old Hee-Haw tv show skit that Archie Campbell and Roy Clark did about "Well that's good. No, that's bad"? Very funny stuff (even without any profanity) That's sort of how my day's been going. I suspect that a great many triathletes would welcome a day off from work so they could train. I probably would too, if it weren't for the fact that I am only working 2 or 3 days a week now. But this one was not "planned". I'm sitting at the desk this morning wondering how I'm supposed to substitute teach without any lesson plans or notes when the teacher walks in the room. First of all, she's so young and petite that I thought she was a student. Secondly, she was smokin' hot so I was mentally chastising myself for being such a dirty old man. And then she realizes she must have put the wrong date in the subfinder program. She's distraught, but I'm not sure whether it is over wasting my time this morning or that she might not have a sub for tomorrow. I told her to relax, I would simply go to the Y early today and yes I would cover for her tomorrow. And so started my day.

A quick stop at K-Mart to buy a new set of ear buds so I can listen to my phone while I'm on the dreadmill. Parked two spaces from the door, then had to walk to the FARTHEST corner of the store to get them. Okay, no biggie, I'm supposed to be exercising anyway, right?

Get to the Y, change out, and head upstairs to the machine room. When they opened this brand new facility back in January they opened with ALL NEW machines. Have to spend five minutes figuring out how to get it to just run. I don't want courses, hills, or intervals. All I want is a never-ending track and speeds I set manually. Finally get it going. the plan is a one hour walk at a steady 3.5mph. As I am approaching the 30m mark that darned young Marine in my head says, "HEY, let's try something different." So at 30m I jump it up to 4mph for 60s, then 3.8mph for 60s, then 3.6mph for 60s, then 3.4mph for 60s, and finally drop to 3.2mph for 5m to recover. Repeated this at 20m and again at 10m. HR zoomed to 145 or so at the 4mph.

Completed my 1 hour walk and even felt that I could trust my legs to go downstairs, unlike the other day when I rode the bike in there. I wimped out and took the elevator that day. Anyway, I set a new PR for the 5k with 54m even. It felt fantastic! However, by the time I got to the locker room I had such a terrible pain in the ball of my left foot that I could barely walk. Now, 3h later I understand why. I wouldn't call it a "blister" per se, because it didn't burst. But I raised a big bloody bruise right at the end of my first metatarsal. And when I say big, I mean the size of an egg! I have a feeling I won't be walking anymore this weekend. Thankfully, next week is a recovery week.

Edited by leatherneckpa 2015-09-24 2:18 PM

I hope y'all don't mind the long, rambling posts I sometimes do. I just copy/paste what I write for the blog of each workout.

Post away! Ramble away!

hate your foot boo-boo. Probably not as much as you hate me calling it that

Might you need some new shoes? Good work, none the less.

Oh, and I am old enough to remember that. Though, it was my folks watching it

Edited by ceilidh 2015-09-24 3:53 PM

I was a bit bummed this week, my local swimming pool is closed until Saturday. I ran Saturday 4.0 miles in 42 mins, Sunday rode 20 miles in 1 hr 15 mins followed by a transition run of 20 mins for 1.77 miles. Tuesday was another bike and run day for me did 17.7 miles in an hour and another 20 min run and today had another 40 min bike ride for 11.5 miles. I need to swim badly lol I'm racing October 25 so pool time is needed.

OK, OK, fine stop bullying me My togs are in the back of the car and I'll go for a swim on the way home tonight.

In all seriousness, the week's been ok so far, I've ran 5 days, 2 short, 2 medium and 1 long run, and a 30 minute trainer ride on Wednesday. So pretty much gone to plan.

I have been avoiding swimming, mainly because the way I like to work my schedule swimming should be early morning, on the way to work, which = early starts. Bullfrog is not a morning person! But it's got to be done, weeks till a tri is not long, so this afternoon trainer ride has been ditched and it's swimming on the way home.

The thing in my favor is, although i'm my no means fast, I am very comfortable in the water. Even with no swim training (playing at the beach doesn't count) I'm totally confident I could make it through a 500m OWS tomorrow if I needed to. But I don't want to 'make it through' when I was at my peak, ('12-'13 summer) I was swimming 1:50ish/100 in races and regularly in the top 1/4 of the field out of the water. By far my best discipline. Now, I know as a lapsed competitive swimmer Mike knows 1:50/100 is not fast... but triathletes are crap swimmers, so there is some low hanging fruit there.

The plan for the weekend, bike ride outside tomorrow for 1 1/4 hours, and 1 more 25 minute run on Sunday.

Have a good weekend everyone, and all going to plan next time I speak to you I will have run, biked and swam in the previous week... back in triathlete mode.