Fred D and Jason's (Tri808) Half Ironman Mentor Group CLOSED! (Page 31)

I use under armor compression shorts after hard rides (I wish I bought the full tights, but hard to sport under a pair of regular shorts).  Agree with everyone, not sure if it works or placebo effect but seem to feel good while they are on and afterwards as well. 

If it makes you feel any better, I'm racing Vineman 70.3 in July and have literally zero run training due to a knee injury.  I've had to readjust my goals and accept the fact that I'll be walking most/all of the run leg.

My advice would be to not cram too hard!  Increasing your run training too much right now is more likely to result in injury (the old injury or a new one) than get you to where you want to be.  Adjust your goals, accept the fact that you'll have to walk portions of the run, and keep in mind that it basically gives you a guaranteed PR for your next HIM distance (when you will be healthy!). 

Fingers are crossed for a speedy return to the saddle, Fred. Good to see there is a solid plan of action to resolve the issue.

I posted over on Tri Talk about my first HR threshold test as I'm trying to establish training zones on the bike. I'll repost here as I'm guessing this may not be a one-time event and probably will be looking for guidance from our group here. I know this is likely best done inside on a trainer but I don't have that option so it was done outside in the early morning on an isolated stretch of bike path that runs down to SF Bay. Hoped for calm conditions but got gusty winds.  OK, so I did the test today and think I screwed it up.  Here's what the plan was:

Warm-up: 15 min @ zone 1, then 5 min as 30 sec @ zone 4/ 30 sec @ zone 2, then 5 min at zone 2

Main set: 20 min all out test.  Use avg HR from this set to calculate HR
threshold

Cool Down: 10 min @ zone 1Total - 55 min.

At the end of the day, the avg HR during the main set came in at 149 which, when plugged into the calculator gave me my zone information.  Great!  Except that when I looked at the max values for 5c- Power they were 158-163.  Does this in any way correspond with max HR?  If so, I obviously didn't go hard enough on the main set as I've seen higher on hill climbs (OK, not a lot higher, only 169) and WAY lower than my running max HR of 193.  I know that the bike max HR can be lower than running by a fair amount, but 30 bpm? 

Here's what the HR looked like:

The HR dip at 40 minutes came as a result of a 180 degree turn I had to take on the Bike trail with the ride up to that point being into a gusting wind and the rest of the set with the wind at my back.Never having done this before, I can't interpret all of this to really tell if I actually did it right.  Not having zones established beforehand I did the z2/z4 portion by RPE, and when I did the main set I started hard but not all out as I wanted to be able to maintain the effort for the entire 20 minutes and finish strong.  I accomplished that but am concerned that perhaps I started out the main set holding back too much.

All my HR training has been running related, so that's all I have to relate to (and am biased toward), but for my effort level I feel that my HR should have been higher.  Thoughts?  Guidance?

Also, in my experience it doesn't just all of a sudden all click. It more comes in the form of minor changes in your stroke that add up over time.  The littlest things can make a big difference, but even the littlest things take a lot of time to click.  But they will, I swear.

I'm jealous!  I'm racing Vineman this year as well, but won't get to pre-ride much of the course (will probably drive it the day after I fly in, and might ride a portion of it the day before the race).  I also train in a very flat area, so I'm hoping all the work I'm doing on the trainer, and have previously done on hills, will be sufficient. 

Sounds like you've had a really good week of training -- keep it up!  Hope you have a good ride on the course today!

With your description, I obviously did not go hard enough, so will have to repeat at some point.  I'm lucky enough to have a bike path that goes by a wetland and out to SF Bay, so early morning is pretty deserted and thus no traffic, stop signs, etc. - just the occasional goose, rabbit, squirrel or snake.  Until then, I think I'll go into the calculator and tweak the result and raise the Avg HR basis by 5 points to get me closer.  Thanks for the feedback!

As for having that "click" moment, for me it happened when I figured out breathing. I used to breathe 1, 2, 3, breathe, so it was a 4-count, but then figured out to breathe 1+2+3 breathe, so the breathing was part of the stroke, and for me, swimming became much more relaxed. My second aha moment was when I figured out the high elbow, which I am still working on, but at least now I know what my elbow should be doing!  I am confident your day will come when swimming is not a struggle.

Another story - in July 2012 I did my first HIM (Racine) and I swam it 14 minutes faster than my first Oly in July 2011. So the longer distance took way less time - and that gain happened bc of form & fitness, like Jason suggested. Setting up a swim schedule helped me gain strength and fitness needed for swimming, and getting coached in that year between helped with form.

I know a lot of people prefer the trainer for these, but I have to say that this is perhaps the ONLY way in which I'm like Cavendish.  I just can't get the numbers on the trainer that I do on the road.  Not entirely sure why that is, as you'd think it would be easier to ride a constant and higher power in a controlled environment, but I just don't seem to have figured out how to do that.

One benefit (although I admit it's challenging to find a good stretch of road for a 20' non-stop hammerfest) is that I can set my training paces outside based on riding outside.  I know that with all the variety in outdoor riding (terrain, wind, turkeys - both the feathered kind and the kind driving cars), it can be hard to nail numbers if you're not doing a TT, but I figure I can get close enough to apply the right training stress.

I always think about FTP as a way to guage and measure my workouts, not as anything of interest or use in and of itself...

Just my approach.  YFTPMV  

Matt

Fred, glad to hear the progosis is looking good.  You've probably told a lot of people to not rush back to quickly, now that challenge falls to you!

Did the Vineman 70.3 course ride today.  I'm really glad I did, lots of learning that you don't get from race reports or elevation charts.  Posted a summary of it over on the Vineman 70.3 thread (here) if anyone wants to see how it went and my take on the course.  Found I need to still work on nutrition/hydration a bit, but I'm close as after the ride (which turned out to be ~61 miles) my schedule called for a 20 minute run and I felt pretty good from an energy standpoint at the end of that run.  Granted, 2.3 miles is way different from 13.1, but at least I didn't feel I was starting with a deficit.  I used two bottles of Infinit for the first 2 hours then Stinger waffles for the rest of the way.  Broke the cardinal rule of "No camelbak on a road bike" and am glad I did as there was NO opportunity for buying anything to drink for 95% of the ride.