Fast Twitch Tri-FULL (Page 27)

CONGRATS!!

MATTT -

This'll be the first of a few, I think, so........

I'm really pleased that the swim stuff worked for you, and even if just one thing was tried and bore some fruit -- perfect!  In a sense, swim technique is a cornucopia of ideas and approaches, and given enough stabs at this and that, some stuff emerges that seems to work and is worth spending more time on.  Not that any of triathlon is "one size fits all", but swimming seems far, far, far less so than the other disciplines.

Interesting to hear you say that it was "a lot of 'think' for the amount of 'swim' ", as I really feel that is the best approach to take with drillwork and even just random experimentation.  Those are the times to ignore the clock and the watch, and take things 25m at a time.  Down with focus and feeling, stop at the wall, think about how it just went and what needs to be tweaked, wait for "traffic" to clear so there is no pressure from behind to not be in anyone's way.........and onwards to the next 25m of mindful swimming.  It takes some discipline to do this, and frustrations can often happen, but considering that the 14,362,906 lengths of "regular" swimming haven't really gotten me anywhere fast(er), the mindfulful technique approach seems like a very fine option.

That said, though, I don't do it near as much as I used to........and maybe when I return to the pool in full force after the new year, I will get serious, once again.   Otherwise, I will continue to be and move like -- as in your fine words -- "a paddle-boat with goggles"!

What's up FT gang,

I signed up for my 2013 A-race yesterday, the big local sprint race on June 2nd.  Now its time for me to start some unstructured training in Dec, need to get to the pool, start some rides to/from work and some body strength WO in anticipation for the Jan 1st kick-off to structured training.  I found the GSP Rushfit online, downloaded it and will use this & running as my AM workouts.  Going to get my son to do it too as he wants to try out for track team in Feb and run the mile event.

BTW, I changed my profile pix to my favorite Calvin & Hobbs to reflect the training attitude change! 

MATT again -

As for the "off-season" --- I should have a few thoughts in a few more weeks.  I am in the depths(heights) of the most radical off-season of my tri-life, which has found me not running now in 34 days, and only cycling once since Oct 7.  There has been about ten pool visits since Oct 7, and a handfiul of Yoga classes, and that's it.  The plan is to get to the new year entirely energized, and entirely (well, as much as is possible for me) healed.

So, referring to the second paragraph of your post on off-season:

• I am trying to heal
• My workouts, when I do them, have no structure.
• There is no intensity.

That's this year, and even in past years when i have been far more active in Oct/Nov/Dec, those three categories pretty much characterize my approach.  This year it's just about multiplying those by about 27, and seeing what happens.

That said, even if it works for me I don't think i will end up recommending it for anyone unless they (a) have been at this stuff for a real long time, (b) are getting physically beaten-down, (c) exhibiting some signs of mentally burning-out, and (d) are of a kind of advanced age.  I believe that most people DO want and need training, and that is certainly the case for me every year -- until now.  So, we shall see how I enter back into training in about a month!

You're right about getting back into serious Base training, and that will be my complete focus -- get that Base re-established.  I know I have a deep Base from all the years of this stuff, and what i am curious about is exactly how deep it is and how much reconstruction is required.  I know that when I have "lost" big chucnks of time to impingemed shoulders and swimming, and various lower-body injuries and how they have iced my run, that getting back into decent form has not been formidable.  A bit frustrating, maybe, but beyond that no impossible heights to scale. 

BUT!  Past years have seen me keep at least two disciplines quite active while resting (or recuperating) the third, so the body has maybe been morer "primed".  Now, though, i'm just mostly slovenly --- the odd swim, the odd Yoga, a bunch of walks, but rerally nothing that ahs gotten my HR out of Z1, I really think.  La-di-da!

Finally, I can't see anything wrong with how you are still doing speedwork.  (As my friend used to say, however, "It's fun until someone gets hurt".)  Naw, I don't really think that as it applies to you.  If you like it and it doesn't injure you, and if it keeps your feeling sharp, and if you can keep it at a slightly lower level, then by all means continue.  It'll satisfy all your needs to be stubborn...............and maybe also your needs to be, at times, a bit "unwise".  Far better to be stubborn and unwise on yiour own and doing workouts than to inflict them on family and co-workers!  (Or not?)

Indeed it would... for their "rules," 30 minute minimum, and 2 runs need to be separated by at least an hour.

like! 

MATT once more -

The other two were easy; now comes the one I have to study and think about.  To wit: the "results" from your Wednesday run session!

I will look (or hope to) at them in more detail later, but my first thought is that you accumulated some compelling data three ways:  cadence, heart rate, pace.  Your cadence was remarkable; mine is prety good, but i don't do much ever over 93 -- and there you were with a 94/95, a 96/97, and a 99.  Mercy!  And while your HR spiked a bit on the three high-cadence efforts, it was not all that much out of line -- maybe Zone 3 for you, with the last mile pushng Z4?

Your pace desetrves its own paragraph, as what yopu pulled off is really impressive.  It wasn't just small differences, but rather enormous ones -- as in full minute and minute-and-a-half improvements when tapping out those fast miles.  Again -- MERCY!

As for holding it over multiple miles ---- that's the trick, and that's where patience enters into it.  I think it was a post to GREG a day or two ago in which I reflected on how long it took me to do isolated miles at high-cadence and fast-pace, and then how long it took to be able to hold it for 5km, and then for 10km.  I think I said a couple of years for it to click in for 10km runs, and while I meant to delve back through my logs and try to see if I kept specific notes about that......I haven't done that yet. 

But my pretty clear sense is that it was quite a while until I could do fast feet to good effect in oly tris.  It was made easier by seeing slow-but-steady improvements; barely a week of running would pass by in which I didn't feel that I had stretched my sustained fast-feet-faster-pace by just a little bit more.  I think i siad this to Greg, that it was so rewarding two years ago to do a stand-alone half-marathon with almsot-certainly 90+ for the whole thing (based on a dozen or so times I counted during the race, and that I felt I kept consistent throughout).  I just felt that I had "arrived"!

If I read your comment correctly about running off the bike --- YES!!!  Short/low/fast steps are far better than striding when coming off the bike in a race!  In a nutshell, to do so requires entirely different muscles than striding, which will utilize some of the same muscles that too mnay cyclists resort to for too much of the bike segment.  But the short/low/fast technique is using different muscle groups, and those are ones that have had a nice, long rest while cycling.

It can feel awkward, though, to change muscle groups, but my startegy for that is pretty simple:  devote some time on the final mile of the bike to activating those muscles.  To do this, I do two things:

1. Get in a hard gearing (big ring and maybe 11,12 or 13 cog) and get out of the saddle for about 10-15s
2. Get in an easy gearing (small ring and 17 or 19 cog) and do a fast spin for 1bout 15s.

I will repeat that maybe once more, possibly twice, and it amazes me how different it feels to go to those extremes.  But what is happening is that it is waking up some new muscles, and better priming you for the run fast approaching.  I find it best to do that in olys, where I have hopes of a fast run and need to get on with that immediately.  It is less important for me in sprints where I can ususally just tough-out that fast 5km pace, but it is a real go-to move for me in olys, or even sprint-oly "hybrids" (say, with a 7km or so run).  Maybe worth thinking about?

Onwards!

Swordfish with a tomato topping, filet green beans and basil mashed potatoes (I gotta find a recipe for that).  Our youngest daughter was with us and thought the green mashed potatoes were odd, even though she likes basil.

It wasn't easy, at least not for me.  Again I got to the first mile in ~7:30, but slowed to ~16:00 at the 2 mile mark.  So, I picked up the pace, pushed up an incline near the end and pushed hard downhill at the finish; thank goodness there was a downhill finish.

Not sure.  The last few seconds/mile seemed to come slowly.  Maybe I just hit a plateau, or maybe it's going to be a lot more small incremental improvements.  I've never run this much, so I don't know.  I'd like to break 50 minutes at the Peachtree, but a 10k in July in Atlanta with some significant hills may not be realistic this year.  I'd like to get in Group B (starting section) for the Peachtree, that took 24:28 in a 5K this year, so maybe get to 24:15 to give myself some wiggle room if they drop the qualifying time, by mid March when the registration opens for the Peachtree.

I knocked off more than a minute a mile this year, and that's from my first race of the year in June.  My daughter was doing track, so we had a lot of weekends tied up with that in the spring.  I'm not sure if I can cut another minute off in the next 12 months.

I need to make time to join a masters swim team to get my swimming going better.  I can chug away now for good distances, but 2:12 / 100 yd is on the slow side.  Biking I'll get back to as the weather is nicer, but may do some spin biking over the winter and my aim is to break 23 mph average in a sprint and stretch goal is to hit 24 mph in a sprint.  Just gotta make sure I don't nuke the running leg in the process.

Been MIA, I'd had a respiratory infection from hell that took FOREVER to go away, I spent what seems the majority of November sick.

I did get my tempo trainer and I played with it yesterday, definitely an eye opener! That and the fact that I haven't done much of anything this month made it quite a workout.

I had a 5k this past Friday that I am very pleased with, especially since I did very little running this month. Put up a race report.

Hope you guys had an awesome weekend.

STEVE!

Thanks so much for the great advice.  I won't do much of any tweaking this week with the sprint coming on Friday.

However, in this offseason I will certainly be much more drill focused.  I am BRAND NEW to swimming so the last couple months has been learning not to drown.

Thanks for the reach drill tips, I will definitely look those up.  I also just bought a TI book.  I will definitely be checking out the link.  

In addition, I also believe that my legs do drag a bit and on my breathing strokes I tend to scissor kick.  
It's like I can feel what I'm doing wrong, but then sometimes don't know how to fix it.  I'm sure the steady drills will be a great help.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your input.  I have copied your posts to my desktop and will be reviewing them thoroughly!! 

BOTH awesome!  Congrats - that's a heck of an improvement...

Matt

An observation.  Yesterday saw my 100th ride (since buying a bike in April) and, coincidentally, my 100th run (since signing on to Strava about the same time).  So, what better way to celebrate that than a brick?!?  Actually, it turned into a brick more because we had the holiday parade and tree lighting in Concord center to get to, and I was a bit behind schedule... 

Anyway, I got off the bike and on with the run within about 10' - the first time since my last tri in mid-September.  Legs did feel a bit stiff - not heavy, just like they wouldn't stride if my life depended on it.  Not a problem, as I was initially just going for an easy jog after a hard push for 32' on the bike (a fun, hilly 12mile loop from home).

So, I started with a high 80's footpace (88-89) and chugged along for an 8:08 mile (140HR).  I thought, hey, this feels good, I'll just stay with it.  Second mile around 8:04 (150HR).  

Hmmmmm.... an easy run on my usual short loop.  Cool, damp weather.  Legs loosened up and feeling good.  Time pressure to get a hot chocolate with the kids and take in the scene...

Yep, couldn't help myself but to start thinking about just nudging down from above to below 8m/m.  3rd mile was 7:42 with about the same foot turnover (HR 155), but an ever so slightly longer stride.

Last 0.85 was at 7:27m/m and was a bouncier, lopey gate - still feeling good with a HR of 159 (just into threshold which is above 157 for me).  Felt great at the end, but my legs were TIRED - or, as the kids tease, "in the good kind of pain."

SO WHAT, one might ask.  OK, here's the observation.  I picked up my speed in the second half of the run by keeping my foot turnover at ~90, but starting to stride a bit more.  My HR picked up and was about what it was for similar paces the other day JUST going by foot turnover. 

My TAKEAWAY:  I could have gone faster on the first two miles if I was racing (wasn't, so didn't), but ONLY by making my feet turn over faster after the bike effort.  I had what felt like no flexibility to take longer strides at the outset, but could have ramped up by "picking them up and putting them down" faster.  Toward the end, I was able to push for more speed by opening my stride and "running" rather than shuffling reeeeaaaalllllly fast.  That, for me, has a higher top-end, but isn't more efficient at the mid-fast paces.  So, it's a speed/foot cadence/stride length optimization (I think there is a chart in the offing here - too much time in science class...)

As I thought back to my 2 races this year (remember, I started late in the season with the decision to get back into tris), that was actually how my runs went - even without really thinking it through.  I started by just trying to get my feet moving moving moving, but finished truly sprinting (for me at least - no one else would have known by my pace!) the last 1/2 mile of both (in both cases spurred on by a fast moving competitor - that competitive thing runs deeper than my need for O2, apparently...).  I could not have "kicked" at the end if I hadn't gotten warm and a bit looser earlier by foot turnover.  And, if I'd tried to run as fast at the begining as at the end, I'd have blown up or torn something (for me to go sub 7m/m, I have to go from fast shuffle to striding - may be just my biomechanics...).

So, I'm formulating an idea that turnover gets me moving RELATIVELY fast off the bike for the first couple miles and then I shift into striding for any kind of kick towards the end.

One thing I might work on for next year is getting through the "turn over only" phase of the run to the "striding" phase earlier, as that might be the only way I can compete with these crazy fast forty something year olds (I mean, seriously, why can all the OTHER bald guys go so blinking fast?!?!?).

I'm also definitely going to try the end-of-bike routine you suggest.  Might help with that stiff feeling, too.

Sorry for the length of these posts - I type fast. 

How did everyone's November training go?  What are your December goals?  Here's my November:

S:  11900.00 M - 4h 29m 20s 
B:  93.60 Mi - 5h 31m 
R:  61.10 Mi - 9h 39m 40s 

I wasn't so concerned about the numbers as much for November, as I was trying to get out and just get in some consistency, which I am happy for how I did!

My December goals include swimming 15 times, biking 11 hours, and running 100 miles.  Also continue to lift weights a couple times a week!

------------------------------------------------GANG!!!!------------------------------------------------

I'm off shortly for Syracuse, from there to California until the 16th or 17th.  I will try to keep up in some anemic way while out there, but can't count on being very productive; I hope to wildly catch up when I return.

Train safely, all.  All, don't get stressed by holiday folderol.

And play nicely together, eh?

You're a superb group, and I will miss you while I'm gone.  Hugs and kisses all around!

My Dec goal once my calf is healed is just to start some unstructured training to get ready for Jan.

No kidding!  My absolute stretch for December is to hit 50 mi running, with no time planned on the bike or in the pool. 

OK - from Garmin Connect over last 30 days (so not really November - still trying to figure out how to get from GC to TP or BT...)

Run:    62.56mi    8:46hrs

Bike:    216.84mi  11:51hrs

Swim:  8.4mi (~14,700yds)   5:48hrs

No idea what December will bring - some travel and holidays are going to muck with it!  Good down month, I guess... 

^^^ Ditto!

<and I love the new avatar - C&H rock.  Now my kids are into them - timeless...>

Seems reasonable for these parts of the world and this time of year!  I'm going to try to keep getting out on the bike if the weather allows, but I am a total chicken-rider if there's even an outside chance of outside ice!  Risky enough as is on our NE roads with NE drivers. 

ARGH!  Woke up twice last night from sharp, intense pain in my left shoulder.  Odd, as I swam Monday night and only rode yesterday...  Now it hurts to so much as hold a cup of coffee. 

Ugh.

Well, I have an ortho appointment on the 17th.  Hoping for an overuse situation, but it feels suspiciously like a labral tear.  Might get some real "off-season" time this year, if so! 

OK - just venting.  Now to stop whining, HTFU and go for a ride (high 50's and sunny - I'm not missing this if I have to ride with a sling!). 

My Nov was SAD!

 Time to get back into training!

Dec goal is to get into spin class shape on the bike and really work on the run- I'd like to be 10k ready in late Jan.  No swim goals- I'll probably let that slide until next spring.  Maybe try and get in once a week but not stress about it.