kenj mentor group - back for another great season! CLOSED (Page 32)

I wear the K Swiss quicky blade lights for 10K or less with the speed laces for triathlons.  The longer races, doesn't matter if it takes an extra few seconds I am putting on what I would wear in a stand alone race, too long to run to be uncomfortable and I need the extra cushioning.

I hear good things about the Zoots, but I have not had the opportunity to try them.  If you think you might like them and Active has a reasonable return policy, why not give them a tri !

Omahabritt - 2013-01-29 3:13 PM

kenj - 2013-01-29 2:46 PM

robingray_260 - 2013-01-29 12:05 PM I have a 2 hr trainer ride today (longest one so far!) - my son is home from school sick so we shall if I can get it all in.  Tomorrow should be warm enough to do my 1 hr 15 min run outside - fingers crossed!

I hope you get both of your sessions in Robin!  I hate to ask this, since I am a weather wimp, but how warm does it need to get there to be considered outside running weather?

Ken, I was going to ask the same question!!! I'm a cold weather wimp myself. Can't answer about the Zoot shoes. I've got NO arches, so it's Brooks Ariel's for me.

Hehe!!!   I am happy if it is in the 20's or higher. I will run in the teens but my motivation quickly drops off the colder it gets.  I see people running here in negative degree weather and I say good for them! We are supposed to get another subtropical system tomorrow so it will be in the 30's with possible rain again We bottomed out around -23 on Sunday (Fairbanks hit -45) and it will be in the 30's tomorrow - crazy.

2 hour trainer ride done - woot!

Great question, and your status in the group is safe!

January is a good month to get consistent with you workouts, so that is a good accomplishment. 

I am fairly happy with my month, hit most of my workouts, although I could have swam a bit more.  Travel plans derailed that, but swimming will be more of a focus in February.  Weight wise, we'll see for sure by the end of the week, but I know I am down at least 6 pounds and the BF% is down somewhere around 2 or 3%.  Considering a week spent in the land of umbrella drinks, I am more than happy with that. 

Speak up everyone, lets hear how you did! 

I guess I didn't have any specific goals, but for me Jan recap........

- Made it through the holidays and managed to get below 170lbs (my kryptonite weight!)

- Hit the majority of my workouts

- Finally starting to see light at the end of the tunnel on my PF

- Got started on my new pain cave

- Signed up for some of my races and for training camp

January was busy!  But productive.  I don't feel I made any significant gains.  But, being on the diet I didn't expect any besides the weight loss.  My workouts suck and I've gotten a poor attitude.  I'm struggling to have any meaningful or quality workouts.

So.....February I need to:

In General:

- Improve my attitude!

- Continue to hit my bike/run workouts and quit skipping swims!

- continue to be rock solid on the diet.

- work on pain cave and get that closer to being useable

- plan my new road bike purchase

Specifically!!!!!:

- Hit 165lbs

- Break under 1:50/100m T-pace

These specifics will be difficult!, especially with my attitude right now!  I almost decided to can my season, lose any $ already put out on races, this week and quit all together.  Things are rapidly changing here with my wife's business.  Unfortunately, a lot of the burden and picking up the slack of our regular life is falling on me.  I've resorted to cooking and cleaning between weight training sets to fit it all in.  My long work hours and commute have never felt more constricting. Plus, now I have the basement project.  The pain cave project also includes a theatre room, a bar, and a storage room.  So I set these goals pretty high in an attempt to keep focus!  Not sure on how I'm going to get it done but.........

IMO....

1.  Yes, almost everyone new to HR finds Z2 running waaaay less effort than expected.  Some even have to run/walk to stay in Z2

2.  I think it's fine to run further as long as you stay within your limits.  If I wasn't doing any races longer than what your training for now though, I would think about adding more speed work as opposed to distance

3.  YES!!  Find something to do.  Core work/strength or something.  Healthy snacks like a spoonful of natural peanut butter, almond butter, celery, hard boiled eggs, etc.  Some people find brushing their teeth helps mentally.

A couple of thoughts here, but first you did fine for January.  When you get to the tail end of your training plan for the big race, you will value the lack of structure you had in this month. 

Now, as far as your training plan questions:

1. I agree with Brian, until you can get a test done to get a better measurement of your zones, stick with what you have and yes, Z2 should be easy.  It is a mindset that many struggle with. 

2. I will agree and disagree with Brian on this one.  I don't think adding some distance is a bad thing as long as you take the cut back recovery weeks and reduce appropriately.  That said, you have indicated you wanted to get more swimming in, rather than cut back the bike as you have mentioned, use the extra time from the shorter runs to swim extra when you can.  For instance, I swim at the Y and when I get serious about swimming I will run from there then switch into my swim gear and grab a short swim.  Even 800 yards of quality drills and solid swim with good form will benefit you.  Just a suggestion. The other thing here also has to do with the length of your plan, even though you can run further you need to be careful of just getting burned out.

3. Not much of an after dinner snacker, but this current diet of mine I could eat the ottoman!  When I do need a snack though I try to find something light like popcorn with lite or no butter.  I also try to make sure I am really hungry and not just bored or dehydrated.  I have read that in some people being a bit dehydrated will make you feel hungry.

Good thoughts and questions Becky!!

I had not heard that one before!  I can understand how it would work though!

Great job on the weight loss.  I am 2.5 days into a 3 day jump start program my wife wanted to do.  Right now I could eat the computer keyboard.  But it is working, the weight is coming off down a couple more pounds this week and more importantly the body fat % is down again too. 

Now, as far as you go Brian, if it is only the diet affecting your attitude, maybe a cheat day or a date night with the wife to forget about it for a day would help?  I worry about you if you are already struggling to get through everything and it is barely the end of January! 

thanks Ken!

It's not just the diet.  The diet is causing me some lack of energy during workouts.  I'm also not recovering well from weights.  I've got added stress from the wife's business and getting the whole responsibility of cooking/cleaning/taking care of the the dogs on a daily basis.  It bothers me a lot that we don't even need my wife's salary.  There is no real need for her to start a business.  But I do understand she needs a sense of accomplishment and this is something she has to do.  So I'm rolling with the punches right now and letting her do her thing.  Put that all together and sit on a trainer for 2-3 hours!  lol  What do you think I'm thinking about when I'm on that thing?!  The workouts should be difficult with the diet.  But then add all that stress in the equation and completing 3x40 minute intervals at 80% is REALLY difficult.  When you start failing intervals it just adds to the frustration of it all. I don't dig failure!   So I'm well aware I'm not in a good place for it being January.  One thing I've learned in all my training, about everything else not training related, is nothing stays the same.  I'm hoping things get better from here.  If not, I'm going to have to put knife in some of my goals and come back to reality and take care of life.

January - It's been mostly successful.  I picked a run plan with a lot of volume knowing I'd probably miss some.  I only missed one long run due to pain/stress of a quick buildup, and a little bit of short work.  Swimming has completely fallen off, but there is nothing I can do about that right now, until my work schedule changes, or I join a fancy NYC gym with a pool (not in this lifetime...)  I might get to swim while traveling this weekend, but I will certainly be the only person in the outdoor pool at the Bellagio.

One thing that was not on my official goals was diet change.  I'm still not thinking specifically, but I'm wondering how much my diet holds me back.  I treat my stomach like a toxic waste dump then do all this morning training.  I'm not gaining weight, but probably not doing myself any favors here.

Zoot - never worn them.  I hate to hijack, but do most of you wear tri-specific shoes for tri's? I use a neutral NB trainer for all running/racing.  Is the only difference that they drain water better? I understand that for bike tri shoes (plus the EZ on/off closure on tri bike shoes).  But aren't you dry by the time you start a the run leg? unless its raining, but then I guess then all shoes would be wet.  Just curious.

HR (Z2) - I think there might be two things at work here.  I think a lot of people need to slow down to stay in Z2, but Z2 isn't "easy", its sustainable for a long time.  So, yes, maybe you need to slow down.  But as soon as you can I would test it yourself, maybe in a short early season race.  I built my zones from sprint race results and have used them for a while.  Fink calls Z2 75-85% of Max HR.  If i use that 220-age business, it puts my Z2 10 bpm lower that the results I tested myself.  So, if I used 220-age, I think I'd be sandbagging a bit on every run.  Of course that's just my numbers.

First month of my HIM training is complete!  I think I have done pretty good. I was derailed by a couple of tooth procedures and a cold, but was able to recover fairly quickly.  Only missed one long workout and a few shorter ones (mostly swims). January totals will be a little higher in all 3 sports than December so I am building but slowly.  In February I really need to concentrate on hitting all my workouts as they are now starting to pick up some intensity.

Weight is back down to pre-holiday weight, but I would really like to lose the last 5-10 pounds (the hard ones!). To do that I will really have to be good on weekends and I hate being good on weekends!

I have this problem but is late afternoon (before dinner) - lots of mindless eating. I am usually hungry but instead of making good choices I usually turn to carbs (crackers, bread, etc...) and once I start it can be hard to stop grazing. Some things that sometimes work is:  just being aware that I am eating junk, gum, hot tea, lots of water, start an activity that keeps me busy.

Back to new purchases..........

My wife is training for a couple tri's this year too.  I just decided to give her my Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.  So I just upgraded to a Rock n Roll!

It is amazing the amount of sins to our diet that long course training hides.  I am always reminded of that when I take any significant down time from the training volume.  On the other hand, when ramping up volume and eating right, it can really come off fast if I pay attention to serving size and the type of food.  This year, I think the same as Brian, I have made the commitment, which isn't easy already, to getting to a lower weight than I ever have for this just to see what I can do with it.  Hopefully I can keep the focus through till November and race date.  We have booked a New Years cruise just to give us a little reward for keeping things in order all year. 

You are right though Bill, it may or may not be effecting your training.  Give a little clean eating a try for a couple of weeks and see what it does for you.

You will be too busy doing long bikes and runs to get in too much trouble on the weekends Robin!  Good work on the weight so far!

Did I see you post in a forum someplace on mounting the compu trainer head on a Rock n Roll base?  Interested to know how you like the RnR vs the Road Machine.  I bought a Road Machine when I was in CA for the extended business trip but when I got home and had the choice of keeping that or the Cyclops I kept the Cyclops as I liked it better.  But the drum is getting pitted pretty bad so I may need to replace it.

BTW, I hope you at least pretended to offer the new one to your wife!

Morning all!

What a difference a day makes!  Low 30's, snowing and very windy.  Trainer ride on the agenda this morning.

Heading into the weekend, what's everyone doing this weekend?  Any plans for the big game?

Here too!  It was 60 Teusday!!!!  This morning it's 15! 

I have to admit, I forgot about the big game!   My Bears were such a let down this year.  I turned of football after they were out of it.

That said, another busy weekend for me.  Coach has 2 more weeks of heavy volume.  So I'll have to fit in some big workouts between a dentist appt., doggie accupunture, and basement project.  My wife has pet sitting clients all weekend so I'll meet her for breakfast on Sunday morning! lol

Tonight, I'm kicking around the idea of trying out a new masters class in the area.  It's a little further away then I want, but I think the pool is salt water and the coach is supposed to be incredible.  I hear nothing but good things.  I'm hoping to get paper work today so I can get in tonight, otherwise, I'm not sure when the next chance I'll get to try it.  The salt water may be what I'm looking for to cure my sinus problems!