Mav's mentor group - CLOSED (Page 29)

Come on...we have been on page 35 for waaaaaay too long! Sooooo I have a question:

strength training...yay or nay? Do you do it? Do you feel it helps with s/b/r or is it a waste of time? If you do ST, do you do all over or concentrate on certain areas?

SU-WEEEEET, WE DID IT!! I knew if I babbled long enough we'd reach a new page

Michelle...I do the same as Mark...more on the off season. I wish I had kept it up....I feel the "bagel" in the center of my abdomen returning. I concentrate mostly on abs and arms. That being said, my legs are always the injured part, perhaps there is something to this!!!!!

It's taper time boys and girls.  Do you know that means.  It's cranky time.  You see I'm medicated by working out and I always get an additude when the Dr cuts back on my medication.  For this weeks Sprint I'm going to taper for 4 days.  Dropping first volume and then intensity, with a small surge before race day.  The goal of taper is to arrive at the start line fresh and full of muscle glycogen and a bit of additude. 

A normal week is Monday 1 workout, tuesday is 3 workouts, wednesday is 2 workouts Thursday is 3 workouts and Friday is 2.  In a taper week, Monday is normal, Tuesday is two, wednesday two, thursday 1, Friday 1. Thursday and Fridays workouts are also less intense.

The other change is diet.  As I drop the number of workouts, my total fuel load needs to drop.  Every bite of food is important.  I would prefer to drop 2 pounds in taper week, but will be very happy if I avoid gaining a pound.  First I make my workout shakes at 1/2 scoop instead of 1 scoop of powder, and no energy gels during long workouts.  Second change is no alcohol during taper week.  This helps on the calories and on the will power to avoid late night snacks.  No unusual foods.  Double up on water and no caffene or chocolate.  For this I will reward myself after I finish the race.

What do you do during Taper week?

mav - 2011-05-31 5:17 PM Oh and BTW did my first OWS of the season without a wetsuit. Swam approximately 4200 in 1 hr 20 mins It was FANTASTIC!!!!!

Awesome MAV!!!

I'm racing my first tri of the year, Saturday morning.  Today is the last day of taper, sheesh.  Finally have no workout scheduled, so I'm planning to sleep in.  At 3:30 the power goes off.  that causes the ups alarm and power alarm to start beeping.  The life of a slacker is just not all it's cracked up to be.  5:00am I'm up, dressed and watching a Tri-transitions video on my laptop.  Yeah It's almost like training.  If I had been truely dedicated I would have been out on the lawn, in the dark,  perfecting my flying squirel mount. ha ha ha.

Good Luck Racers.

<Edit The water is currently 57 degrees.
At last the sun is out and the forecast looks good for race day. YEAH!>

Woo hoo!  Todays triathlon was so much fun.  First Sprint of the year was simply fantastic.  It was a PR but best of all I had a great run.  I averaged 20+ mph on the bike but an 8:19 ave pace on the run.  OMG it was perfect.  I always pass peeps on the bike, but today I passed at least 30 on the run. 

Yes the water was freaky cold.  57 degrees.  during warmup the cold water was painful.  I got out and while I was waiting for my wave to start I took some of the bag balm on my feet and rubbed it on my face.  The next five minutes I was busy trying to get the sand off my face. ha ha ha.  but you know what, when I hit the water I felt strong.  The balm filled my pores.  No worries about the cold.  Counting strokes, every ten head up to check nav. Then back to power stroking.  I had a blast.  Swam all the way into very shallow water, then popped up running.  Plenty of time to get the suit off.  T1 was 350 yards from the beach.

Good t1, suit off helmet on, shoes on and off to the races.  Some where I knock the elbow pad off my areo bars.  I also forgot to turn on my bike garmin.  this prevent my from seeing the power meter readings.  so I rode be RPE.  Easy but with good form.  Averaged a shocking 20.5 mph on the bike.  That was riding easy damm.  Lots of technical corners riding through cones and flashing red and blue lights of the police doing traffice control.  Great course.  I know this road and can really let it fly on the descents.  Cooking on the down low.  Came back into T2 in a ultra easy gear spinning to get the blood flowing in the feet.  Does everyone else have sleepy feet getting of the bike?

My rack was empty as I ran in with my bike.  Very quick transition.  running without socks today.  Speed laces and I finished getting dressed running through the Transition zone.  After getting my running shoes on, I grabbed all my stuff and ran.   Ran while I put my hat on, ran while I put my number belt on, ran eating a gel, ran stuffing the empty gel wrapper in my pants. oops thats not a good Idea.  ran while I fished out the wrapper and put it in my race jersey pocket. Much better now thank you.  Good negative splits, 9:00, 8:30, 8:00, 7:30, passing everything in sight.  This was without a doubt my best run ever.  finished with an 8:19ave pace for the 5k.  Ran 9min pace while I waited for my feet to return to normal.  Then decide to run it.  Could have ran faster earlier but the spilt turned out good for me.

I forgot to tell you my sprint time - 1:19:57 PR - is that cool or what
Cheers.

WOOP WOOP!!!!! Wow what a great race...FANTASTIC RUN!!!!!!!! Glad you were able to remove the trash before the runSounds like you had the perfect race. YOU ARE VERY READY FOR YOUR HIM...now to try the taper...next week should be interesting for you!!!!

The cold water swims are tough. Be ready for that if you sign up for IMAZ...the water temp was 60* last year. Its a long cold 2.4 miles! SOunds like your swim was just perfect today

COngrats on a great race

Just got caught up on this weeks training blog. Seems i'm only entering my training once or twice a week.

Mark - fantastic sprint! All around great race - start to finish (sans wrapper in pants).

Marianne - killer swim !! Hope all your body parts are getting to be 100% !

Michelle - Since the weather has gotten nice, i hardly get to the gym at all. Everything is outside. I've been missing doing ST and Yoga. I can really feel it. Finally got in a ST/Yoga day yesterday. For ST, my main excersises are deadlifts and pull-ups. I try to get some core in (planks, v-ups, side planks, sometime crunches) and i'll do squats if they don't bother my kness too much. If i have time i'll do some rows (twisting dumbbell) and maybe some pushups. I have a bad left shoulder so i can't really do bench presses.

Yoga is great for core and flexability and all those little stabilizer muscles that cause us so much pain, yet we never work them out unless we have a PT standing next us You know, the very un-sexy excercises using resistance bands or tiny little dumbbells.

IMO its all about the bike Mark. Ride ride ride...when you think you have ridden enough...ride some more. You want to get off the bike and feel like it was a walk in the park and you are ready to run. I would also suggest that after every ride you do a 15-20 minute run. This brick will help you feel your legs and your pace. I always run too fast off the bike and need to practice slowing myself down. On every long ride practice nutrition.  Three weeks ourt form IMAZ I took 10 days and went to Fla. I rode 360 miles while I was there. It was flat windy and hot. Very similar to what I would face in AZ. It really helped me alot.  You are a strong runner and you can run 13 in your sleep. Just practice your longer runs at the pace you plan on race day. Be certain your sodium intake is adequate. I dont know how hot it is going to be when you race but sodium intake is EXTREMELY important. Have you done a sweat test?

The longer distances,HIM and IM are about getting adequate nutrition and pacing. If you hammer the bike you will pay for it on the run. How do you feel when you get off your bike after 50-60 miles? What is a comfortable pace for you in order to run your race? These are part of your race strategy/plan. How much are you drinking on the bike?What are you drinking? It is extremely important that you get enough calories. I set my Garmin to beep every mile. I sip from my aero bottle and I go through one 24 oz bottle every hour. I use infinit as my nutrition but I also eat gourmet jelly beans from my bento box. Need a treat every now and then. On the run I use the aid stations and a Gu every hour. I use 2 Salt stick tablets every hour on the bike and the run. Without it I get a terrible headache. The heat sucks the salt right out of me.

I hope this helps.

The week/10days before the race you should back WAY off.  Short SBR just to keep the muscles twitching. Its about recovery. Make sure you are well hydrated. Sleep well the2 nights before the race...because you probably wont sleep the night before. HAVE A BLAST.ENJOY EVERY MINUTE.YOU HAVE WORKED YOUR BUTT OFF!!!! Training is the hard part, the reward is the race.

Nice job getting outside Bob. I am with you...I love to be out when the weather is beautiful. I only go to the gym for Masters.

Still cant run much but I am aquabiking a HIM next weekend. Super fun race with lots of my BT peeps!!!

I sweat buckets.  In one workout I once dropped 7 pounds in water weight lost.  That was before I discovered the science of race day nutrition.  I drink on schedule not when I think I'm thirsty.  Heat is very hard on me.  I actually practice electrolyte loading before racing.  If it is warm I will ride with 2 20oz bottles on the frame and 20oz in the areo bottle.  I'd rather carry the extra weight than become dehydrated. 

On the run I plan to run out of transition with a 12oz bottle in my hands.  I generally consume 4-6oz per mile.  The cups at aid stations can be unpredictable as to how much they will contain.  A bottle is easier for me to drink during long runs.  I think I can have an aid station fill the bottle for me at mile 3, 6, and 9. By mile 12 I'd rather just keep moving.  What I drink in the last ten minutes of a race is not going to make much of a difference.

I have two things to add into my last 3 weeks of training. Number 1 is ride as many 50+ rides as I can get in.  The other is to find the electrolyte mix used on race day and become comfortable with it.

During HIM should I expect to exchange bottles at aid stations on the bike or have my bottles filled.  I have some nice insulated podium bottles I'd rather not toss into the crowd.  I'f I'm going to exchange bottles do they give you HIM bottles to start with?

One more thing, where do you keep you salt stix on the ride, in your bento box?
Cheers.

Mark,

It sounds like you have a good understanding of how much fluid you will need. I have a double aero bottle for the front and two bottle holder behind the seat. I have nothing on the down tube. Front takes about 40 oz...back takes 2 24 oz. This is all I need for the HIM. They dont "exchange" at the aid stations so use crappy older bottles or refill at the aid stations. For my HIM I used 1/2 Strength Gatorade and I ate uncrustables ( 1 per hour) on the bike. Uncrustables are pre packaged peanut butter and jelly. Yummy. I didnt stop at any of the aid stations. I stopped once during my IM because I needed my mixed bottles out of my special needs bag. For my IM I used Infinit and jelly beans. Plenty of calories and electrolytes. I really dont like the taste of Infinit but I used it. Or I should say, got used to it.

I carry my salt stick tabs in my bento box. They have "small " snack zip lock baggies. They are about 2 inches long. I also got a salt stick dispenser for my bike. You can get them at tri sports.com. They attach to your aero bars but I didnt use it because it came right before the  race...nothing new on race day.I also had a baggie of salt tabs in transition for the run, just incase I lost the ones on my bike. I lost mine n the run at IMAZ and drank chicken broth...which worked..Phew!!!

Let me know how your practice rides go and if you have any other questions

Whhattttteeeeeee.

Mav - Are you enjoying your taper week? 

Hey Marianne - You say hello and then............. I hope that wasn't some kind of BT alien abduction.  Some people will do anything to put some miles in their training log.

Hey Marianne - You say hello and then............. I hope that wasn't some kind of BT alien abduction.  Some people will do anything to put some miles in their training log.

I am post padding for sure. Someone has to make up for Michelles abscence!!!!

I am riding 50-75 today and then the taper begins. Hope you are riding LOTS!!!!!!

Marianne - have a great ride today !

I went for an uptempo 40 after work.  It was a beautiful night for a ride.  Stayed in control the first 30 and then dropped the hammer as it started to get dark.  Surges up to 30 sprinting away from stop lights.  Been a long time since I was faster on my bike than a cars.   I know it's not part of the race day plan but sometimes you need to ride until the tank is empty. 

Planning to ride the 'Flying Wheels Summer Century' this weekend as a test of pacing, hydration and fueling on the roll.  Races wheels are here so I'm going to put some miles and get the feel.  I've changed back to the Cervelo two position seat post.  Front of the saddle is now 1/2 inch further forward.  When I'm in areo i'm on the saddle now, instead of hanging way off the front of the horn.  Much more comfortable in this position.  Power is good, Climbing good.  Quite a difference on the descents.  That little extra bit forward makes it a challange to shift weight onto the rear wheel during full power - 40 mph descents.

I'm starting to obsess on the HIM bike course elevation profile. there are 6 or 7 430foot tall cat5 climbs followed immediately by a big descent.  Then the course sorta cruises around on the flats for 3-4 miles and then attacks another monster.  This profile suites me. 

How do you interpret the USAT position rules during a climb?  On a steep climb there is no draft, do you still need to pass within 15seconds or keep 3 bike lengths between you and the bike in front.  Seems to me that when the race hits the bottom of a steep hill, there is a contraction effect as everyone slows down and then the normal spacing returns after the crest of the hill.  Is this a violation of the rules?

Anyone racing this weekend?
Good Luck Racers.

I did 83 miles today beautiful day for a ride and my knee feels pretty good.

I would follow USAT rules. 15 secs to pass and on the hills I would keep at least 2 lengths. The  race officials are more "present" in HIM and IM distance races ( that has been my experience). I did however see a LOT of drafting at IMAZ...but there were a lot of folks in the "sin bin" too.