SBR Utopia Season II - OPEN (Page 29)

Thanks. Now hoping I'll be recovered enough in time for Tuesday's set!

I do hills every time I head outside.  I don't have a choice really.  I've not been able to find a trail yet at the new house but if they are easily accessible to me I'd take a trail over pavement every single run.  I use to do my marathon training with a Portland running group and they did every second long run on trails.  I found that worked really well as you got use to the pavement for the marathon but had that trail run in there to help build the stabilizer muscles and give the body a bit of a break from the pounding

Melissa - your RR just put IM France on my "must do" list - sounds like a great venue and you handled the (literal and figural) ups and downs very well.

Your race report reminded me that you mentioned earlier the large disparity between the numbers of men and women in the race - not exactly sure what that is about? I did a century earlier this year that ended with 22 miles/5600 feet of climbing to a mountain top finish (11,000 feet total climbing). There were a little over 1000 men that started, but only 47 women. I overheard a group of jack-wagon he-men talking about how "this is obviously not a ride for the weak as there are no women here," blah, blah, blah. I felt compelled to butt in and reminded them (in a friendly way) that the ride ws actually on a Monday and it was really probably just that most women had a lot more responsibilities than any of us self-absorbed slackers did. Not sure why stuff like that bothers me; probably because I know my wife somehow manages to work and train harder than just about anybody I know. I really don't know how she is able to balance both so well, but it does serve to keep me trying to keep up on a daily basis! She is a rock.

Tom - I am the same as Kim - it is very hard to avoid hills around here, so I run them all the time - in fact flat courses actually tend to beat the heck out of me because I never really get to train for them. I stay off the pavement and run trails as often as possible - I would guess that maybe as much as 80~90 percent of my total time is spent on trails/soft surfaces. 3 years ago when I finally decided to take the "slow down" approach to running, I found myself often having to walk the steeper/longer hills just to keep my effort in check. It was really annoying and sometimes even demoralizing. I stuck with it though and within the first season I got so much more efficient and better able to manage my effort with less spiking that I got most of all my old speed back. Now three years down the road I am much, much stronger than I was before.

a few things I have learned along the way:

1) While trail running is much easier on the body in many ways, it is also harder in others: as triathletes we tend to build most of our strength in the sagital plane (moving directly forward). Trail running demands/builds a lot more isolateral strength and flexibility than most of us start out with, so it is important to work your way into it slowly. But I have found the increased strength it brings to pay off in spades when road running.
2) I treat it the same with my road running, but incorporating a good warm up routine of 15 minutes or so is key to a successful trail effort - just heading out for a run on the trails like many folks do on the road is a recipe for injury. Most age groupers don't warm up properly because they don't feel like they have the time to spare, which is a little short sighted IMHO, but that is probably an entirely different topic.
3) When trail running (and especially when it is hilly) don't worry about distance or pace. Only worry about time and effort. There is no consumer GPS out there that will measure distance or pace accurately on the trails, especially when it is hilly, tree covered, twisty, etc. It really does not matter anyway. Time and effort, that is it.
4) Get a good pair of dedicated, grippy trail shoes. A lot of trail shoes seem like big old clunky things - for me anyway I have had a lot more success with low-slung, unstructured, lightweight shoes, but that may just be me. I like the Innov-8 X-Talon 212's, but this is obviously a highly personal thing.

Trail running is fun! I have enjoyed making it an integral part of my IM training so much that I am really thinking long and hard about switching over to x-terra ish races next season.

Originally posted by axteraa

Originally posted by ChrisM 104 miles (on a new saddle) with 7,000 feet of elevation (and the ride included about 35 miles of pancake flat so the climbing was concentrated ) :40 run off the bike. Think the bike pacing was good as the run went well. Will need to concentrate on running slower off the bike. ( that sounds kinda douchey but I am not running that fast. ). That was a long day. Had to drive about an hour away to get the right bike profile

Awesome ride Chris.  Like the new saddle?

Granted, it was my third ride, first outside, and then it was 6 plus hours      Probably not the most highly recommended adaptation schedule, but I have limited time.  I was waiting for those moments when I realize "hmm, I haven't thought about the saddle in the last half hour or so..."  Nevery really happened.  Had a few moments, but nothing substantial.  It was not extremely comfortable 80 miles in, but then again neither was my old saddle.  But, and I think it's the most important thing, and sorry if it's TMI, my taint was fairly happy in aero 90+ miles in.  that was definitely not true on the old saddle    Really just a bit uncomfortable where the sit bones are now resting.  It's not as dramatic a change as an ISM though.  Going in to tweak the fit this weekend, so we'll see.

Not every time, but same for me most of the time.  I can run down to the beach and then totally flat, or run up into the hills.  Hills jsut seem much more interesting.  And there's usually a trail involved.

That said, a few things.  Don't forget that hills are basically speedwork in disguise.  SO you need to be aware of pacing, etc.  Also different mechanics.  I need to be careful I am not "pushing off" using the relatively small calves, but "lifting up" using the very strong (well, theoretically....) glutes.  And, if your A race is a flat run, IMO it's important to get those long flat runs in as well because they are simply different than hilly runs, both mentally and physically (to me).

Last weekend I did my 2.5 hour run, I started out in the hills for 9 miles than added a few miles of flat at the end.  It was a nice way to break it up.  This weekend I have another 2.5, but planning on just going 1:15 out on the beach bike path, 1:15 back.  Not really looking forward to it.  but at least there will be girls in bikinis playing beach volleyball.....

Oh, Ben, if only you knew how accurate that really is..... 

But on this particular ride I actually earned my keep as a good little domestique. My beautiful bride had a a longer ride than me so she went ahead and rolled out while I was still fiddle-farting around getting ready. The ride started with a climb that takes me about 1:10:00, but I was only about 7 or 8 minutes up the road when I saw her coming back to me. As she passed me going the other way she shouted out that she had forgotten her food. For a 5:30 ride in the mountains. She usually carries it in her jersey, but since this was a race simulation for her she had everything in a bento box instead and she forgot to put it on her bike. I turned around and caught her and suggested that she already had a long enough day and that I would go back and get it. She said OK and headed back up the first climb.The only real problem with this plan was that I didn't catch her until the top, so she had gone about 1:30:00 without anything to eat. She says she suffered for it on the next climb as she felt like she was getting a little bonky, but she got a coke from a vending machine where the Appalachian Trail crosses the route at the top and then all was right with the world. When she told me that I knew she had to desperate, as I would bet good money she has not had a soft drink in years and years.

I don't drink them often, but I do find Coke to have special magical properties when I am in a little bit of a dark place.

This was immediately after my 6:15 bike/:40 run brick Saturday

That is so much awesomeness

Heh heh! Right!?!?! So much fun!

I was tempted to write a brag post in TT ...

Yeah, that is next on my list.

I think it's going to be a lot more difficult due to the carbonation. Plus being drunk like 30 minutes late is going to be a really odd sensation. 

That would have been better if you puked tho

Nice! That is at the top of my (very short) list of reasons I am looking forward to returning to work in 5 weeks....

One could argue that I ran to work today, given that I left the house for a run and I returned to the house still running

Oh boy, those are fun days. I did that once on a similar sized ride. Remembered about half an hour in and there had been a lot of downhill to that point, so didn't really want to go back up just yet. Actually did ok on only water. Had planned to stop at a store if needed, but never had to. A real eye opener towards nutrition for me.

Well, it could be worse - the humidity here keeps the smolder to a minimum. Now if you had said MOULDER.....

OMG...here we go again.  First they complain about the snow and now they're complaining about the heat...

Seriously though...I don't know how you guys deal with the weather extremes.  I was in Georgia for a week in July 2011.  I was DYING in the heat and humidity.  And that was only for the 20-30 minutes I spent outside...and they told me that I just missed the heat wave the week before.  WTF...

We spared you from the hail ...

another 20 minute test.  Holy you know what.  I was tired last night from the swim and was dreadiing it.  I think I dreamt about it.  I woke up literally dreading it.  I got on thebike dreading it.  Did the warmup dreading it.  Did I mention I was dreading it?

CT wouldn't communicate with the laptop, I secretly hoped I'd have to cancel the whole thing.  there it goes.  Cr@p.  My legs felt weak.  mentally I was weak.  I was not into it, and was fully prepared for a drop in average watts, which would have really bummed me out.

Not 2 minutes in, I had no idea how I'd do 10 minutes of this, much less finish.  I was seriously already wording the email to coach, "Sorry, I just blew up, didn't have it in me, have to do it another day."  Another minute passed.  and another.  Half way there.  Holy f**k.  Maybe I can finish, but I honestly can't say for sure.  Wonder how accurate a 15 minute test is????

15 minutes, 4 and change to go (that's how my head works, 15:01 is 4 minutes left....). 

Finished it.  No idea how I did that.   That was one of the, if not the most, difficult workouts mentally and physically I have ever done.  6 watt improvement over May.   It's not much but I am waiting for the Friday 5 minute followup, then the email from coach, I may, possibly have hit a milestone number.....   But I am already dreading Friday.....