jesswah's group - FULL of sexy triathletes! (Page 3)

I will also have to agree with the early morning stuff, although after a year of it I still personally hate it. It's just a necessary evil that has to be dealt with or there is no way I can do everything. Besides that I also think that you have to have sign off from your signficant other as well as children to some degree (if you have either). My wife is fully supportive of me and my kids to a degree as well. They tend to sometimes forget and want to know why I have to go on a ride or they want to go with me. To me that just opens the door for them to become more active and heightens their interest in the sport. Since I started this my kids have each done a kids Tri (daugther has done two) and my wife joined Masters swimming and is completely hooked.

Sorry I'm rambling, which I tend to do.

Last idea is to have a gym which is either open late or even 24 hours. Although I haven't done that lately, when I first started I went after the kids went to bed quite a bit. Anything helps.

Gator, good luck going cold turkey on the soda. I used to drink soda all the time but about two years ago I just stopped. Once in a blue moon I'll have a coke but I almost only drink water or coffee (which isn't great, but then again it's not soda).

Happy New Year to everyone!

There are a couple of methods I use. Here are some that come to mind:

- Eating -  whatever comes handy.

- Running - when possible.

- Walking - when not running.

- Reading - something that would destruct my thoughts.

- Writing - about the stress source (sounds funny - but it works for me).

- Talking - to someone close about it.

- Talking - to myself about the stress source (I read it once in a book, thought that it was crazy - but believe it or not - it works).

Hope this helps,

Ronen.

Thanks for the tips guys! Early morning is my usual, but now its a matter of getting out of bed to do it. I got "clocky" the alarm clock for christmas, so maybe it will help. (if youve never heard of "clocky" just google it and prepare for entertainment

As far as the stress issue, IDing what it is that you are actually stressing about and figuring out if it is something you can control or not is a simple way to destress. It might just be an issue of giving yourself a little slack. Music is another destresser for me.

Happy 2008!

Stress...  I'm not sure how I deal.  Actually, I don't.  I avoid it.  Of course that is even worse, but I'm motivated by deadlines and ultimatums.  Example:  I had 12 days off for Christmas break and lots of papers to grade.  Didn't grade a single one.  Not one.  Now I'm back at work AND have papers to grade.  Doh!  Since it's crunch time, I'll buckle down and do it.  Not before though.  I wish I was better at time management.  Like right now, I could be grading papers.  But I'm not. 

(I'm hopeless).

That's exactly how my break was.  I could've gotten a head start on data analysis for my thesis - and writing solution sets for the class I'll TA starting Monday.  But nope.  Did nothing.

Not this one, but on Saturday 1/26  - in which I'll be doing my first 2008 Sprint Triathlon...

Hey, looks like Jessi's Cool Kids are off to a great start.

Saw some familiar faces here and thought I would drop in and say hello. Good to see you Patti, hope the SP's are getting better.

Looks like everyone has some great goals this year and it is gonna be great fun.

Just watch out or you will be out running Ultras with Jess.

You know what the say about the Ultra, "Don't worry, it's only kinky the first time you do it"

Good luck with your training for the 100 Jess.

Sorry for the empty post...You people in warm weather make me sad. You are doing sprint tris and we in the cold NE are looking forward to ICE SCUBA and Polar bear clubs...

It is WAY to cold to even *think* about hopping on a bike when wet!  Heck, just running from the pool to the locker room gets me chilled!!  Brrrrrr....

In honor of all you Californiaites, I rode outside today on my old hybrid bike, dodging old snow drifts and ice patches. It felt great to get out....Now root for the GIANTS!!!!

That is an awesome picture!!  Just for that...

Go GIANTS!!!

(even though I don't watch sports)

Ok peeps, I'm working on writing up another training related thingy.  We did some nutrition already, and since collectively we want all the topics covered, we'll do biking next.  (I'm on a high from my gym workout, which included biking!)  If any of you have things you want to throw in that might be useful to others, go for it!

Happy Sunday!!!

I have some really fundamental questions about cycling:

What should be the relationship between cadence, HR, and gears? How do you know at any given time, you are on the right gear and that you are pedaling at the right cadence while maintaining your HR under control?

Also, what is the nature of cycling coaching? Does it require individual attention?

Additionally, when I go off and ride my bike, how can I turn it into a learning experience? what should I pay attention to? I am feeling, that in most cases, I care only about the speed and the time it took me complete the course - but maybe, with some additional attention to a couple of more details, I could do better...

Thank you,

Ronen-

Those are a lot of good questions.  I'm not sure I know the answers to all of them, but I'll try and find them.  I'm just starting to work on training better, and paying less attention to speed.  I've also heard a lot about biking slowly to help improve speed - though I'm not sure how that works.

The relationship between gear, cadence, HR is an individual one.  Two people with the same gearing, pedaling at the same cadence, will likely have different HRs, depending mostly on their age, fitness, but also the weight of the rider and bike, and the terrain.  In addition, if you are fatigued your HR will be higher than normal.

As far as cadence, it is also personal.  For most people, ~90rpm is most efficient.  However, some people prefer lower or higher cadence.  If your bike computer gives you cadence, try spinning at 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105 (try maintaining same speed) to see what feels the best.  What feels most natural, what feels like it takes the least amount of effort?  Once you have your optimal range, that's what you'll do most of your riding in.  The idea is to keep cadence about the same, and vary your gearing to keep your HR/effort level in check with what you are doing. 

One workout I've been doing lately is 5x5 min intervals, with 5 min recovery.  The entire time I'm spinning ~95rpms.  I'll do a warm-up to get my HR to ~140 (70%), and the intervals will be done 1-2 gears higher, so that my HR is ~160 (80%).  I really try and ignore speed, and focus on cadence and HR.

So, the key is to figure out what intensity level you should be using during the workout, and adjust your gears accordingly.  For long "endurance" rides, you should aim to keep your HR below 70%.  For intervals, the shorter the interval, the higher your HR should be.  When it comes to climbing, start shifting before you hit the hill so you can maintain a high cadence (at least until you run out of gears).  This will help prevent you from pedal-mashing your way up the hill and wasting your legs. 

I've got a Bicycling magazine issue at home that talks about intervals.  What different length intervals are good for, when to incorporate them into training, intensity, recovery period, etc.  I'll dig around for that when I get home and summarize it.

Thanks for the detailed  explanation, Jess.

From what I read, I understand (which I did not before) the following:
Cadence and HR are not linked. You can keep a constant cadence while controlling your HR by shifting gears. Is that right?

Thanks again,

Ronen. 

Yup.  You can pedal at 90 rpm all day, and just shift away to change your effort level (that's what I do on long rides).  Of course, if you stay in the same gear and up the cadence, your HR will go up.

Dang, this actually makes me want to go for a ride!  Maybe I should subscribe to Bicycling Magazine....

I was just in TRIOK's group taunting them into a "challenge" with us. We can all set a goal for miles, time, yards swimming etc. Then the team with the highest % of members reaching their goal wins. Usually the penalty is changing your avatar to a pic of yourself in a bikini for a week or something fun.

Of course I am sick as a dog, so you folks will have to back me up if they respond!!!

I am okay with the challenge [not sure about the penalty though ] - I'll play along any rules you'd come up with.

Oooh.  That sounds like fun.  And just in case.... I have a red bikini!

Guess I'd better start hitting the core work hard if we all start slacking!

I'm also letting one more person in.  It's quiet around here, and they asked nicely... though with the bikini challenge, who knows what'll happen!

Ok, I promised bike intervals last night, and didn't deliver (no internet at home... still...).  So I brought it to work with me... like I need more distractions!

For aerobic capacity (lungs giving out before legs, and slow recovery): Increased training volume.  One easy way is to go for an easy recovery ride of 30-90 minutes within 24 hours of a hard ride.  Added benefit is that when you workout while you are fatigued, your body produced hormones to stimulate fat buring.  Hey, it's a 2-for-1!

For endurance (bonking too soon, or cramping): Increase your weekly long ride - though you should be doing that anyways.  But if you don't have the time, do long intervals.  Like 2-4 intervals that last 10-20 minutes near your lactate threshold (~80-85% max HR).  Recover between intervals with 5 min easy spinning.

For lactate threshold (can't sustain high intensity): "microbursts" (these are killer, but also kinda fun).  Do 15 sec at near sprint pace (pretty much all out), then 15 sec at an easy spin.  Repeat for up to 10 minutes.  If you do this at the gym, expect strange looks from your neighbors!!  It's really short, so it makes good use of time if you're doing a quick hop on the trainer.

For anaerobic capacity (struggling to do repeated hard efforts): short, near-maximum effort intervals.  Intervals should be 30sec-2min in length, with ~3x as much recovery between.  Try for 2 sets of 4-5 intervals, with 5-10 min between sets.

For maximum power (getting dropped on short, steep climbs or attacks): Start going slooooow (<10 mph).  Do a 10 sec all-out sprint, with only 1-2 gear changes.  Don't change gears until you absolutely have to.  Basically you'll be maxing out on rpms.  Do 6-8 with 2 min rest between. 

Happy training!