Beer Drinkers Appreciation Society (BDAS) --Always Open (Page 30)

Originally posted by Rollergirl

Originally posted by bulfrog Nathalie Hope you're enjoying the winter. And I still think your mad going in that lake. As a contrast, I've usually got our spa set at 34 degrees for playing in with the kids. Mrs Bullfrog has decided that's too cold for evening spas, up to 37-38 it is.

I agree, we have our spa at 38 too in the evenings. I love both cold and hot water!

Originally posted by jmhpsu93

Nathalie....you're crazy.  alt="" />

Thank you I would have thought the same last year but now I am hooked! 4C in the water today and minus 5C in the air! lovely

40 degrees in ours.  Love it in the winter. 

Hey, all.  Alice is putting together the 2022 threads so I posted ours, as I don't think Gretchen is around anymore. 

Here's what I wrote:

GROUP FOCUS: Everything related to endurance sports, we have sprint-focused and IM-focused triathletes and a cyclist, a competitive swimmer, and people that dabble in other sports to keep the legs moving

NAME: jmhpsu93 / Mike

STORY: I've always been an athlete, from cross-country and track in high school, to basketball and volleyball through my 20s, soccer here and there, and finally got into endurance sports in my late 30s when I couldn't do competitive sports as much.  I've completed 5 HMs, about 20-30 5/10Ks, 10+ triathlons (mostly sprints), and am dipping my toes in competitive cycling at the ripe old age of 52.  COVID has pushed back my rookie cycling year a couple of times, but hopefully 2022 is the charm.  I've been through some back and knee injuries (with the surgery scars to go with them) so I have to really manage my volume and what I do to my body.

FAMILY STATUS: Married for 20+ years to a former triathlete, 19 YO daughter in college who was a competitive swimmer and faster than me in the pool by the time she was 11.

CURRENT TRAINING: I'm in base training for 2022 right now, with a full schedule of sprint triathlons and bike races through the summer.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: No racing in 2021...I deferred a couple for some unexpected family commitments.  I race fairly often on Zwift and am a solid MOP "C" racer.

UPCOMING YEAR'S RACES: 3-4 sprint triathlons, and Olympic aqaubike, two 40K time trials and a few criteriums depending on schedule, plus I'll continue to race on Zwift (I love the criterium races there).

WEIGHTLOSS: Currently weigh around 205, racing weight is 195 - it's easy for me to drop to 200, the last five are brutal and take real commitment to nutrition which I'm terrible at.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTOR: I've been a mentor or mentee for over a decade, and with this group I think about six years.  We're a great group welcoming of all newcomers and we all mentor each other.  We have members in several countries which makes for some great perspectives. 

Good morning everyone.  Yesterday was the first double in a while for me...got in a morning bike/run workout with some lower body strength work and then a 4 PM swim.  I haven't worked out that late in the day since before the pandemic when I was taking my daughter to swim practice in the afternoons, so I naturally had trouble falling asleep last night and this morning is my earliest get up time at 5:15 for Bikram.  Figures.

Andrew, great news on the pool opening - that should be an interesting swim. 

Speaking of swims, I did an actual swim workout today vs. just floating around in the pool.  Only 1300 but some decent intensity and got in a strength workout afterwards.  Happy Monday! (well, I guess it's almost Tuesday for Andrew)

@Andrew - interesting discussing on your pulling back on intensity in cycling.  You mentioned sweet spot riding as being a problem, but man that's the single most productive zone to train in for an endurance rider who doesn't have hours and hours available to train.  Maybe do top of tempo zone instead (like 82-25% instead of 88-92%)? 

I struggled a couple of years ago when first doing sweet spot work because I wasn't well-adapted mentally to that type of training (I'd either do long rides outside or thrash around short races).  Ratcheting down the wattage targets just a few percentage points did the trick (at the suggestion of someone on BT who is a cycling coach), and then I was able to complete the longer (like 20-25 min) SS intervals, eventually at up to 92%.  If you're toast after a sweet spot workout that's less than an hour in that zone, maybe your FTP is off as well.

As for me, I got in a good VO2 max prep workout yesterday, with 4 x 3' @ 105-107% FTP with 3' recoveries....that's barely VO2 max work so it wasn't that hard but it gets harder every week in my plan. The hardest one is the legendary Jorge Martinez Winter Cycling Plan special of 6 x 4' @ 105% with 45" recoveries, but I won't be ready for that kind of eye-bleeding workout for at least a couple of months. 

Today was Bikram and tomorrow a short sweet spot ride.  Hope everyone is having a good week!

I just wrote a dissertation and BT lost it when I posted. 

OK, Andrew, I'm going to try to write this again.  LOL

I'm not all that familiar with the 80/20 Fink plan, but I'm assuming it's 80% easy 20% hard, which philosophically makes sense but I guess it depends on how you implement it. 

The first thing to consider is what you're trying to accomplish with this particular training block.  For instance, I just completed Base 1 (4 weeks) where the main goals for me were to get used to the schedule, get back in the water, and start a little jogging.  These workouts were really easy and unstructured for the most part.  The only real intensity was me chasing some PRs in sprints in Zwift.

I'm now starting Base 2 where the goals become get into more structured training, introducing programmed intervals on the bike, continue to slowly ramp up jogging, and then get in swim shape so I physically survive Masters class next month.  My cycling looks like this:

• Tuesday:  40-45' VO2 max intervals, followed by a short treadmill workout
• Wednesday:  30' Z2 in aero (the drops right now, but will jump on my tri bike next year once I get my fitting done)
• Thursday:  40-45' sweet spot intervals, again with a short run
• Friday:  long Z2 ride building to 2 hours over time

I also have my long "run" on Saturday, with swimming on Monday and Friday, day off on Sunday.  My interval training is really easy right now, but will build over time (I did 3 x 6' @ 88-90% this morning, which felt really easy after yesterday's easy day).

OK, so let's look at yours:

• 1 x 45-60 min workout with FTP intervals (95-100%)
• 1 x 45-60 min workout with VO2 intervals (105-120%)
• 2 x 45-60 min Sweet Spot workouts (85-93%)
• 1 x longer 60-120min workout endurance zone (70-85%)

First off, there are 2 hard and 2-3 hard-ish workouts a week right there depending on how hard you hit that endurance one.  That's like a cycling build, not a triathlon base plan, and not even accounting for swimming and running.  I think you'd be fine with one or the other of the VO2 max / threshold ones (maybe alternate?)...they're the toughest to recover from and hit more or less the same systems.  I'd do one sweet spot at 60' building to 2 x 25' @ 88-90% but like you said you can start in the low/mid 80s until you get mentally acclimated to that type of training.  I'd keep the longer one but stay in Z2, so that's 75% max of FTP.  If you're feeling particularly good throw in some sprints / cadence work or a sweet spot interval.  If you can handle it during the week, add in another shorter sweet spot one, or just short/medium another Z2 ride. 

Based on your workout intensities, it looks like you're trying to raise your FTP (which is a good thing).  Tough part about that is it takes some intensity, which prevents you from building endurance.  It's hard to do both at the same time, and you have limited training time available PLUS you're bound to experience some inconsistency because of your work travel and the day-to-day stress of raising a family. 

Happy to keep the conversation going - I enjoy the geeking out on this stuff. 

Hi, all.  Back from Mexico with a fresh negative COVID test (my first, if you can believe that) and a positive case of the stomach bug.    I think it's one of those traveling norovirus things.  Fun times.  I got in a couple of swims and runs down there and a nice tan.  

Once this passes back at it in Maryland.

What's everyone doing for the holiday?  We're having a few people over then driving to Florida for about three weeks where I'll take a couple of weeks off and also do some "work from the condo" stuff again.

Oh, and I also got a new toy, a Garmin Fenix 6X.  It replaces my Fenix 2 or 3 (can't remember) which is a huge upgrade.  I'm still keeping my 920XT around as my swimming watch because it weighs like half of the 6X and has really easy to push buttons on the front.  I like the integrated HR monitor on these newer watches, though I'll still use the chest strap on the bike I can toss my other optical one.

Tummy bug seems to have run its course so I plan on getting back at it tomorrow.  Pretty dehydrated right now so sipping all day on fluids.

Hi, Jenn!  Yeah, don't know what happened to Gretchen.  I reached out to her a couple of times via PM letting her know we were thinking about her, but no response.  I could email her at work (that's not stalking...right??  ) but don't want to intrude.  Sometimes people are just done with this sport (and this site LOL).

Glad to hear from you so I didn't have to hunt you down as well.    (actually I knew you were just fine from Strava - nice burn tan ). 

We're driving down to Orlando for about three weeks on Monday.  Not bringing my bike this time so I'll have to fight with a hundred other people (including my wife) for the one Peloton bike they have at our resort.  They have a 25 meter lap pool which is always humbling.

Hope you all have a great holiday!