Caius's Group - CLOSED (Page 30)

Wow such great goals you are all setting for yourselves!  Way to go Neil, Gloria, Caius, and Tim.  Not sure what I want to do yet but I'm going to give it some thought!  Something is whispering marathon in my ear:  I'm going to be 42 and maybe 1 km for every year of my life.  Haven't done a marathon in 10 years; will have to think some more.

I want to do my 1st half mary in April.
Secondly, I want to work on my "open-water heebie jeebies" and do an Oly next year.

Had a good off-road tri yesterday.  No splits yet.  We canoed 3.5 miles, mtn biked 8 miles then ran (trail) 2.5 miles.  Last year I did it in 1:54.  This year I did it in 2:00 even.  My canoe partner dislocated his shoulder and broke his elbow last year sometime mtn biking and had surgery; so we were a bit slow on the canoe.

Tired and sore today.

Gloria - sure you can't be convinced to get a 305, it really is awesome!  Seriously though, I think there are lots of great products out there and just get what suits you best.

Tracy - do it, do it, come on.  Sounds like a great stretch goal, and the fact that you've done them in the past I think gives you an advantage for your training.

Terry - nice job on the race.  You guys have some odd combinations in your neck of the woods!!  Must make for for some interesting cross training.

Timmeh - I don't have any experience with the spinervals, but do you plan on doing those at home as well as going to the classes to mix things up, or do you think you'll just try and train at home for the winter?

1/2 marathon is now in the books.  Even with a few hiccups along the way I hit my goal time exactly - which is kind of wierd.  Here's the link to the race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=134383&posts=1&start=1

hey everyone!

Great race Neil, how did you learn to be so fast so soon ! Jury is still out on the HRM, there are soooo many of them and they are good , Garmin, Polar....makes my head swim

Things are really winding down fast as far as races go for the rest of the year.  Just some local 5k's , about one a month till December.  We have nice weather this week but.. by the end of the month the snow will fly; it has to... it will be Halloween and the kids have to trick or treat in the snow, It's an unwritten law of nature somewhere, according to my kids.

I went out running  yesterday I was surprised at how much eaiser it is for me now compared to the beginning of the race season. I am not fast but I can do it for a much longer time period then this last spring.  It was a great feeling,  I love this sport !

Have a great week everyone !  I have month end closing (lots of overtime playing with numbers) coming up this week in the office so I won't be back till Friday.

You are all so amazing. I'm getting so inspired hearing all the fantastic comments people are making. Weather you're just thinking about signing up for a race or actually did sign up for a race that will push your limits, way to go!

I bet that at the start of 2008, it may have seemed inconceivable that you would be able to contemplate doing one of the longer races, yet here you are! Next year when you complete your target race (and you will) the boost of confidence that you will get will be mind-altering. Seriously. It is amazing to finally come to realization and actually understand, and trully believe without any doubt what so ever, that you CAN do pretty much anything once you put your mind to it and dedicate yourself. THAT is a powerful powerful realization. I'm so inspired by you guys. Thank you!

On a side note, I've been off training for about two weeks now. I initially was running for a bit but for the past week or so I haven't done a single thing. Mostly it's because I came down with a nasty cold and sore throat. I even lost my voice for a couple of days which was the first time that's happened to me and I actually found it kind of fun; well, except for the "sore" part. I think I even put on a couple of pounds which is probably not a bad thing as long as I don't continue to put on much more. Than again, Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up and that's always a dangerous time for a guy that loves food and especially deserts

Neil, congrats on your 1/2M race. Smoking time. Okay, so honestly, you must have some athletic background at some point in your life no? Either that or you are physically gifted and just starting to realize it. Either way, great job and congratulations on setting a new milestone!!!

Thanks for the kind words Caius.  For the record - I have zero athletic background (unless you count taking up golf in your 20's).  I played hockey till I was 14, but I was always a sub-average player, and after that I didn't do anything (and I do mean anything), apart from golf, until last year.  If I go back and look at my run times from my first couple of Try a Tri's I was running well over 6:00min/km, and it hurt, a lot. 

I'm going to keep trying to improve these run times, since at the moment it is certainly my strength, but I really wonder why it doesn't translate into stronger bike times.  In all the races this year I've been above average for the run, but below average for the bike.  Not sure why that is.  When I look at my year to date totals, I've put in more time on the bike than the run - but I was probably averaging 1 run more a week than my rides. 

What has more of an impact - total time or frequency?

Neil

Caius - cassette question.  Did you stick with the 12-27 for Muskoka or revert back to your 11-23?  What would you recommend?

Thanks

I have to check, but I think my bike came stock with a 12-25, which I'm assuming should be fine for the course.  (Am I planning a little far in advance?)

Caius - can you read my other post as well.  I'm really curious about your thoughts on total time vs frequency.

Thanks,

Neil

Total time or frequency? That's a great question but one that doesn't have a very easy answer because the two are very much linked together.

Increasing frequency generally increases total time. Therefore I would say that ultimately total time is the ultimate winner in that battle but it's not as simple as that. Let's say that you are comparing a single 4 hr run to 4 x 1 hr runs. Both have the same total time, so which one should you actually do? The answer in this specific case is the 4 x 1 hr runs. The reason is that it's all about recovery.

The single 4 hour run will take a huge toll on your body. It will likely cause you to lay off of training for a several days which will lead to a loss of some fitness. In addition, the risk of injury and the supression to your imune system is high which again, can derail your future training efforts.

So via frequency, we are able to increase our total time (which ultimately is the end goal) but in a way where we are able to recover quickly so we can keep training and where we minimize risk of injury.

Ultimately though, once you're running/biking the appropriate volume the key thing that trumps it all is intensity. You need to train at the appropriate race intensity in order to get fast. But yet again, the key here is to do it in frequent bursts for the same points as noted above.

I have a feeling you're going to kick my at Muskoka next year

Ha - don't think so.  But I'm certainly going to bust my butt for the next year to be as ready for this race as possible.

This ties to my next question.  Now that race season is over and it's time to start creating a base for next year, what are proper intensities?  I know you've advocated zone 2 in the past, so I'm wondering if this should be for most or all training over the next few months.

Here's where I'm at.  I was running 3x per week leading up to the 1/2 marathon with one of those runs being longer and less intense while the other two where at a pretty high threshold - maybe higher than they should have been, but I was using the FIRST training program and it was all about pace.

If I now continue to run 3x (or maybe even 4x occasionally) what benefit/downside is there to me making these all zone 2/3 runs.  Will running slower make me faster???

I'm thinking the same should apply to cycling, and for swimming I plan to try and focus on technique as well as distance as opposed to speed for the next few months.

Thanks Caius.

Forerunner 305 - love it, and have no issues with it (unless I don't pay attention to it when I need to delete laps).  Triples as my HR monitor, run pace watch, and bike computer.  Don't think you can beat the functionality for the money.  Yes, you're wearing a desktop on your wrist - but there's something cool about that isn't there??

caius - 2008-10-02 8:49 AM You've haven't done a full marathon in a long time but you have done one before. Therefore, you KNOW you can do it. If you're making the trip from Calgary to Toronto, might as well go for the whole enchilada! Do the full marathon! See, my logic is super easy

I like your logic - better return on the travel investment!  Will have to broach it, perhaps over a couple of margaritas while on vacation

Good answer on total time vrs frequency, I was wondering the same thing myself.  I am working on a winter training plan to be ready for next season, build a good base and do more triathlons  with an improved time over this season.

 I really find it hard to believe that I completed two of them this season, last  year it was just an idea I was kicking around.  After spending most of my life overweight and not moving, feeling bad about myself now I look foward to the work outs and the races!  I really love this sport.

Have a good weekend is anyone racing ?

Neil,

For the off season, I think that yes, you should do most of your workouts in zone 2. Sure, add some higher intensity sessions in there as well to keep things from getting stale, but the focus should be on maintaining and building your base. Running/biking slower won't make you faster (going faster will make you faster) but it's October now. You have to keep that in mind.

Build you base, avoid burnout and wait until next year to add intensity back in your regular training sessions.

Ok, this is the point that I get continually confused about.  I've understood from other posts in different forums that if you spend some time (number of weeks/months) training at a lower intensity level (Z2)- that over time your pace should improve while maintaining that same HR/intensity level. 

Ergo, you've been going slow but over time have gotten faster for the same energy expenditure.  Which I would in turn assume to mean that when you increase the intensity you'll be able to go faster at higher intensities since your baseline (Z2) is higher.

i.e. Today  5:10 pace in zone 2       5 months later 5:00 pace in zone 2

      Today  4:55 pace in zone 4       5 months later ??????

I really want to set a solid base that will make me faster for next year - so I want to make sure I start my prep/base training headed in the right direction as opposed to mindlessly putting in hours and km and not achieiving results - well, I know that almost any training is going to lead to improvements since next year will only be my second season - but I want to try and improve the greatest amount I can.

Thanks again Caius.