Baowolf's Mentor Group- Closed (Page 3)

So.... minimalist shoes take like a year to get used to with a ton yes a ton of stretching of your calf and achilies etc.  You have to start walking like 1 mile in them for a month, then 2 miles for a month, then 3 miles for a month.....  If you are a heal striker the adjustment will be harder.  If you kept them you could use them for your shortest run or part of your shortest run every week.  Ya folks really understimate how much dropping their heal 1/2 inch for 1 million footsteps impacts things.  Also on your bike make sure that your feet are parallel to the ground.  If you are toeing the pedals you will get outside back of the knee pain.  A marathon stick should help with that from the bike.  Ice after every run and stretch.

I don't have a road bike, so not so sure about that one, but pretty sure you are not supposed to lock your elbows.  It sounds like more core work is in your future... Try rotating your hips down and forward to take some pressure off your arms (really hard to do consistantly) and engage your core muscles change your position from time to time with your hands. 

Saltines are the win for stomach issues. I had to live on them for months once with a really bad prolonged stomach thing.  Bananas came way after saltines and like 7 up.  Pediasure is also a posibility if things go on for more than a week. 

Mike: 3200!  great swim!  Me next for 3350.  Now lets see if I can hang!

Steve: Core work.  Ugh.  Really?  Not my fav.  Will incorprorate when I can even if im not in the mood.  I will be conscious of my positioning while riding BEFORE I get all "bent outta shape". 

Squirt: 30 miler sounds like a blast!  And isnt that the story of our lives???...."training the Husband"...& i aint talkin' sport! haha

Question:  I have a sprint tri(.9/16/5) on Sunday .  Im following BT silver HIM training which calls for a 3:45 ride on Sun! Was obviously planning to adjust my training this week and take Friday & Sat off before race.  BUT Long workouts are important and dont want to miss it.  Should I get it in this week before race?  Im thinking tomorrow so i have time to recover.  Or should I save the long ride for next week? This was my plan: 

M- 3350swim & 40min run

Tues- 1:30bike or (3:45 bike!!)

Wed-30min run & 2800 swim 

Thurs- 1:15 bike

Fri: easy run/&or swim

Satff 

Sun:RACE

Hi Steve,

I don't know if you remember me, but I recognize you and Carol from another mentor group awhile back...  Can I play too? 

Name: Courtney/Tribeagle

Story:  I'm 42.  I've always been a runner, but always swore I didn't have time to train for a marathon.  I got talked into signing up for the 2009 Pittsburgh marathon, but I ended up on crutches watching my friends run. I did a bunch of strength work, dropped some weight, and trained smarter for 2010 Twin Cities Marathon.  I caught the marathon bug and have done 6 more since then.  I also did my first HIM last year (Musselman).  I enjoyed that despite getting wetter on my bike than in the lake!  It absolutely poured complete with thunder and lightning on the bike.  The only thing dry at the end of the day was my wetsuit because it was in my car (not wetsuit legal)! 

Family Status: married for 16 years, no kids. I do have 2 dogs, one of which is a tri-colored beagle hence the screen name.  My sister just did her first tri!

Current Training:  I am run focused right now and will start to ramp up toward marathon training mileage over the next month or so.  I will add swimming back in as we get into summer.

2013 Races:  I ran the Little Rock Marathon in March (4:11 just a few minutes off my PR on a hilly course), but have been doing mostly shorter stuff since then.  My plan is to target a fall marathon, likely Hartford (CT) in October.  I will also likely do a swim event called Swim for Life in Provincetown, MA.  It's a 1.4 mile swim across the P-town harbor held on the weekend after Labor Day.  I swam it 2 years ago in REALLY cold water, but chickened out and kayaked this past year due to the chop.  In hindsight I should've swum - the water was warm and the current favorable...  I am currently not planning to do a tri this year, but will probably go volunteer at Musselman. 

Wt Loss: I'm not really focusing on this right now.  I am probably up 5-10 lbs over where I would like to be come marathon time.

Goals: What I really want to do is qualify for Boston.  This is a long term plan - right now my qualifying time is 3:45.  That seems a little out of reach, but the F45-49 time jumps to 3:55.  That feels like it's in the realm of possibility with a good training cycle.  I went 4:09 at Twin Cities, but I was probably in at least 3:55 shape then.  I made the rookie mistake of going out WAY too fast.  Anyway, the plan is to try to PR at a fall marathon (maybe 4:00-4:05 ish), run one in the spring, and then target Wineglass 2014 for a BQ attempt (taking advantage of the loophole that the qualifying time is for the age you will be at Boston, not age when qualifying).

What Will make me a good Mentee: I check the site pretty often.  I think it's fun to get to know people on-line and encourage them as we all work toward our goals... 

Come on in Courtney the water is fine, good to see you.  Tell me about what your what your workouts look like for marathon training.  How many times a week, what weekly/monthly miles you end peak at, how many weeks to build for a mary, what kind of speedwork you do?  Mile repeats will be your friend.... come race day, until then, not so much.

Alright I reviewed your training for your last mary and your race day paces: Garmin splits: 9:27, 9:05, 9:24, 9:18, 9:16, 9:13, 9:12, 9:20, 9:22, 9:11, 9:29, 9:18, 9:21, 9:36, 9:36, 9:33, 9:26, 9:24, 9:31, 9:54, 9:34, 9:38, 9:53, 10:01, 10:26, 9:50, 8:53 

So it looks like you did amazingly well for what your training was indicating that you have massive heart for marathon running.  For you to drop 26 minutes off your marathon you need a more challenging training plan.  Most decent plans have 3x20 for long runs leading up to the marathon with more than 20 miles in supportive runs during the week.  So ideally you would peak out around 50 to 55 miles per week for your final 3 peak build weeks.  Your weekly mileage was 25,25,34 (way to big of a jump inviting injury), 27, 36, 21, 36, taper.  Your weekly miles did not support your last 20 mile run.  So... you need more miles and that will help you hold your pace better in the last 6 miles. Your pace broke at after mile 19.  Through pure determination you brought it back down to somewhat for 3 of the last 6 miles on heart alone.  The second big thing is that you had no speedwork at all that I saw.  I am not talking about 100s, I'm talking mile or at the very least half mile repeats.  To qualify for Boston you will need to start doing at least half mile repeats at a 7:30 pace.  (3:45 per half mile) all of your runs were around the same pace, so you didn't get much faster during your training.  You will need to get 8:50 mpm pace comfortable for your short 4-6 mile runs.  We can talk more later.  So when you start marathon training do 1 day of 800 repeats.  Start with 1 x800 at as fast as you can reasonably hold (5k pace for now) then 400 jog or walk then repeat another 800.  Each week add another 800.  Make sure you do 10 min warmup/cooldown.  It will take a while, but you need to get those 800s down to 3:45 min sustained across 15 ish by the time you are ready to taper for your race.   Do not do the 800s until you are solid at 25 miles per week for at least a month... which is around where you are I think.  

I hope this isn't putting you off, you make your first post and I am all planning your life....   let me see if I can find my workout strategy page, here it is. 

Hi Courtney.  Welcome!  That would be so cool to Q for Boston.  You seem pretty close already so keep at it and we'll get to see you cross the line soon1!

Elena - Good luck on your race!  Be sure to keep those arms and shoulders relaxed.

Mike D - that should be a fun HIM with people you know from your swims.  If they all swim like you that will be a fast one!

Miitzi - Be sure to take your time.  This is endurance training.  Taking the time to build a nice solid base is of the up-most importance.  We coined ourselves the MASH unit last season due to all the injuries this group has had.  Hopefully we do not have a repeat of that.

Carol - Glad to see you enjoying the bike rides.  Should be fun with the hubby.

Steve - I'm so impressed with your training so far.  If you keep at it like this you should be able to have a fun Tahoe IM!

I'm feeling a bit sore these days.  Only been back at it for about 10 weeks so patience is my friend.  The run is coming along.  Did my  long run  of 9 miles last week at an 8:55 pace.   Pretty happy with that.  Did my beach boot camp with my running group the next day and I am really feeling it.  Gonna take a recovery week this week.  Going to try to swim and bike a bit more but keep my long run short and build again next week.

Hope you all have a great week!

Hey Baowolf!

My name is Evan and I would like to join your group if I still can. I've wanted to do a triathlon for about two years now but I've always gotten started to late in the season and I've not been able to find a good bike in time. I've decided I want to do the Olympic length race in dallas on October 6th. Today actually started my 20 week work out plan to get me to race day. I think my biggest struggle in training will be nutrition and being able to train hard for the swim. My swimming is awful. I've never done any competitive swimming before and it shows. I'll edit my profile and post some more tomorrow after work. 

Yesterday I kept kids home.  They slept probably half the day off &on.  At one point they started to argue!  GOOD sign they are better!  haha.  They ate lunch and light dinner.  Everyones feeling better.  This morning however, Sophia (8) says tummy bugging her again! NO!  So I take the boy to school and Sophia is here with me.  Had planned to get a 2:30 ride today but  the husband's not working in the shop (HVAC - on property)today, so cant just take off w no one here to keep an eye out on the girly. I think shes just tired.  Hoping to take her to school at about lunch time.   ...Oh, and did I mention my stomache's been gurguling all morning? 

Everyone: Hope you dont mind that I will add you as a "friend" so I can send you "inspires".  Hope training is going well for all!

Hi Evan: welcome to my world of aweful swimming.  We WILL get it one day!   

Tribeagle:  Great goal to Q for Boston.  Looks like you're well on the way! Ive run several 1/2's but have yet to run a full.  That is next year.

Steve: Good idea- 2:30 ride it is.  (Have all my gear on now, except for helmet & shoes...!)  And must say that one of the reasons I am back in your group is b/c of that last detailed schedule you whipped up for Tribeagle.  LOL  Love how you analyze ones training and then punch out a detailed schedule for them, challennging them at the appropriate pace. I think that's AMAZING !

 Mitzi: re: your daughters comments ... Leave it to our children to tell us what we really look like!  Too funny.

Question for the group about swimming. 

Last thread there was talk about increasing your stroke count.    I've always been trying  to decrease my count and swim more smoothly.  At my masters classes there was some Olympic trialists who were only taking 11-12 strikes per 25 m.  I was doing 21-22 at the time (this was 2 years ago)  Now i average about 15-17 strokes per 25.  Should I be concentrating on less strokes or more?  Since I didn't grow up competitively swimming I just want to be as efficient in the water as possible...

The trick is to find your balance point.  You can swim efficiently at 2:00/100 or slower, but if you want to get faster there is a limit to just how far you can reach and pull.  Once you have reached that limit (think stride length in running) to go faster you need to increase your stride rate or turnover rate in swimming.  If you stroke twice as fast, but shorten your stroke length 50% you go as fast as before you made your stroke faster.  So what you want to do is increase your stroke rate without losing too much off of your efficiency to get a faster pace.  Swim smooth has some formulas etc.  I think that most of us 2:00/100 folks do not have a fast enough stroke rate.  Part of that, like running, however comes with swim fitness and triathletes in general do not swim 4-6x per week.  So long efficient stroke, fingertips pointing down, high elbow, synchronized pull-rotation-kick-reach with other hand.

And thanks Elena.  If I miss something in the general chat shoot me a message and I'll make sure to catch it. 

As a warning for our new folks we post our monthly miles /yards at the end of the month so time to buclke down to get your numbers looking good so that we can not compair ourselves to each other.............8). 

Good afternoon everyone.  Today was a very good workout day as I get back into the groove after my return to work.  I did some strength training (more on that below Mitzi...this deserves its own paragraph!), 35 on the elliptical, 30 on the bike (its been threatening rain all day), and 10x100@10 swimming at the end of it all.  I felt pretty good to get that all in and unlike the last time I tried to do a workout like this (pre AT surgery) there were no cramps!  I plan on starting to hit the trainer before work starting on Thursday; a week to adjust to an earlier wake up time is long enough!

Pam: Nice to see that you got the bug again!  Hopefully things are getting better with the low iron situation.

Mike: As always, killing the swimming!  Glad to hear the hammy is not acting up on you!

Mitch: Did you have to bring up the MASH unit   We're all finally getting better.  Good job on your training too...mileage going up on runs and swimming back into the mix.

Anthony: Nice to see you on a driveby post.  What's next now that the OLY is over?

To everyone else, welcome to our group.  As Steve said earlier, don't compare yourselves to anyone else here.  We are all here to help each other meet the goals that YOU want to achieve.

Warning to all non bodybuilder types...this is going to get....meatheadish!  With that said, Mitzi you asked about lifting while training for triathlon....this is what I'm doing more or less.  I'm down to 1 or 2 days per week full body workout.  At this point, our focus should be on two things: 1. increasing cardio for our triathlons  2. preserving our strength that we've worked so hard to gain.  With those goals in mind...you have to accept that circuit training is how we're going to achieve both goals I listed above.  As an example, this is my strength workout for today: Circuit 1  3x6 weight dips BW+70, nautalist curls 3x10 90lbs, torso twists 3x25.  Circuit 2  3x3 decline bench 245lbs (had to lighten up due to hitting tri's first), 3x3 pull ups BW+40, 3x as long as I can stand planks.  Circuit 3  3x6 Standing BB Military 95/115/135, 3x8 DB shrugs 100lbs, 3x as long as I can stand planks.  Circuit 4 3x5 hack squats 3plates, 3x10 seated calf raises 2 plates, 3x25 torso twists  That's it.  I should note that there is almost no rest.  My rest comes from putting the weights back and going to the next part of the gym to do the next circuit.  I believe that we should be going heavy because we are doing so much cardio which is increasing muscle duration but not strength.  I am also taking glutamine and BCAA's after every workout to try and preserve as much muscle as possible.  Those circuits took me about 25 minutes to finish.  The last thing I'll mention is that you should notice that most of my exercises are compound movements to get the biggest bang for the buck that we can.

Hope you all are having a good day.

Jay I followed most of that, but I imagine it is like most folks reading my workout grid above.  If anyone wants me to break that out in English let me know.  Thanks fo helping out with the weightlifting background Jay.  Jay forgot to say don't do a leg workout and then run bleachers with a gorilla on your back, swim 2000 yards, play basketball and then do cartwheels up the stairs on your way to bed all packed back to back 8). 

In any sport, 2x per week = maintain, 3x per week, slight improvement, 4x/week = growth, 5-6 focused improvement.  So a 3x3x3 plan will gain you endurance, but very little speed.  My 5x5x4 plan leaves me tired, but allows the posibility to gain speed once I get my base back up.  It does take a lot of time though.  Balance is hard to achieve.   

Hey all:

Thanks for the warm welcome.  Mitzi listen to them - don't compare yourself to others...  I've been running for a LONG time.  Bike on the other hand, not so much...

Steve - I signed up because I knew you would have good advice!  I will read through all of that and answer your questions soon.

Just to be clear, my goal is to BQ next year when I can run to a slower time.  This year's goal is to go somewhere in the 4:00-4:05 range at a fall marathon. 

I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you!

Courtney

Hey Courtney!  Great to see you!  Sounds like you've been doing some seriously good running.  Congrats on your marathons!  I'm going to school on your strengthening routine.  I must run funny too, even though in my own mind I'm a gazelle .  But I'm tired of being a wounded, stiff, gazelle, and something needs to change fo sho!  If you get a chance, would you mind sharing the details of what you are doing...or point me to a log entry?

Larry, so glad to see you!  Guessing you have a little more time to train heading into the summer...at least before football practice begins.  Welcome back!

Went for a ride with hubby last night, and thankfully he took the lead and got us out the door.  Short  run this morning, and stopped by the exercise stuff at the park for a little strength and stretch.  Confirmed how much I needed to be there when I had trouble just getting up after doing crunches.  Geez I'm stiff!

I definitely won't have any numbers to post at the end of the month! I just started following the 13 week sprint tri plan this week. Before that, it was just 1-1.5 hours 5 days a week of whatever I felt like. Mostly conditioning or yoga classes at the gym, running and workout videos. I like to work out 6 days a week, so today, which was slated as an off day, I took an Insanity class at the gym and it was...insane! Very hard! I find I have to do 2 days a week of strength workouts to not lose strength gains and also to make sure I avoid back pain. Tomorrow I plan to take my bike out, which will only be my third ride this season. The plan says 30 minutes.

So I guess my question would be, if I like to work out 6 days a week for 1-1.5 hours, but I also want to do more than swim, bike, run, (like yoga and strength), is this a good plan? Follow the 13 week sprint training plan, but add to it?

Julie