Dominion's Sprint/Oly/70.3 Group--Closed (Page 36)

Been dragging the last few days. Since I go sick my training has been down even though I recovered. Looks like I have company. Hope things picked up like everyone wanted for December. I updated my USA Triathlon membership. I heard a rumor rates increase in 2016. I went for two years.

Also registered for two races today. On in March and the other in May. There is one I want in April but I can't decide between sprint and oly. The race in March is a sprint with a pool swim, and in May is an Oly.

There has been a lot of talk about Beach to battleship becoming an Ironman race. This is getting me thinking about a half again. Agghh

Nate

I've definitely picked it back up here in December. I think I already have as many workouts this month as I did all of last month and it's only the 16th! Mostly running, but I have gotten back in the pool and I haven't totally avoided the bike trainer. Unbelievably "warm" weather here in central MA for this time of year. The temps have barely dipped below 40 and it's mid-December! I even see a couple mid to upper 50s in the 10-day forecast. I may still be able to actually get outside for a ride, which would be unbelievable.

I'm jealous of you being able to even think about racing in March and April. :-( June is really the earliest I can think about racing. Last year, I ended up avoiding a race in early June because I was worried about water temps! Being a triathlete in New England sucks! LOL If you're thinking about a half, you're always welcome to join me for the Timberman 70.3 in 2017. I want to complete two Olympics in 2016 and I want to finish both without the cramping issues I experienced in my first Olympic. You all can expect to see me posting nutrition questions in my upcoming posts because I feel like it was one of the biggest issues that contributed to my cramping and I'll definitely need to figure that out before I can attempt a half.

Randy

I guess I got a little bit of the 5K fever lately. A friend of mine that is trying to get into running had signed up for a Christmas themed 5K, so I figured I'd sign up since it was local. When I signed up, I realized it was on the same course that I ran in October at the Halloween themed race. I knew it would be a relatively easy course since it was very flat, but my training fell way off in November and I wasn't sure how much I had been able to get back in the first 3 weeks of December.

I know I'm supposed to do it, but I rarely warm up before a race. For this one, I jogged about 1/4 mile plus from my car to the race venue as my warm up (about 15 minutes before the race start). I didn't think I would be challenging my PR, so I even started in the middle of the pack among the throng of 700 runners rather than my usual start closer to the front. I tried to be a little patient, but that didn't last long! ;-) It didn't take 50 yards and I was sprinting to get around blockages or bobbing and weaving in traffic to get to clean space.

It probably took about a 1/2 mile to finally be free to run how I felt. Despite the traffic, I posted a solid first mile and felt alright about my time. The second mile was relatively uneventful except for the fact that the course loops back on itself and we had to weave in between some of the race leaders in one direction and then some slower runners the 2nd time through. Another solid effort returned a second mile that was 0:05 faster. I was slowly picking my way past a few runners in the field, but when I got to about a half mile to go I decided to kick it up a gear or two. At about 0.2 to go, I was nearly at 100% effort passing the last couple runners I could see in front of me. When I made the turn onto the home stretch, I looked behind me to see that I wasn't being challenged. I slowed just a tad until I caught sight of the race clock and knew that a new PR was in sight! One last burst and I had it. My chip time was 23:37, shaving 0:17 off my time from Halloween.

Oh, yeah, and I was wearing red and green (shirt, shorts, socks) and a Santa hat, not to mention the jingle bells on my wrist. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to dress up in costume for all of my races! LOL Two costumed races and two PRs. Can you wear a shark fin during the swim portion of a triathlon or is that frowned upon?

It's already a Merry Christmas Eve! December 24th and we have 67 degree weather here in New England!!! Some sun would have made it perfect, but you won't hear me complaining. It was great, because today's 15 mile ride made me realize just how much I need to start using my indoor trainer. My legs wanted me to turn around after about 2 miles. LOL

Thanks for all of your help and guidance, Chris! Merry Christmas to you and your family as well as all of our contributing members on this group. Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a successful 2016!

Randy

Merry Xmas. Looking forward to the new group.

Nate

Back in August, I started going once a month to a massage therapist to try to loosen up my tight muscles. She and her husband are both triathletes, so during the massage sessions our conversation always drifts towards triathlon topics. The last time I went to her, she asked me how much running I was doing. I told her I was averaging about 13 miles per week. Her reaction was "oh, that's too much".

Is that too much? I'm doing my level best to keep my intensity relatively low. I was so proud of myself the day I was actually able to keep my pace on a 6 mile run to somewhere just north of 10:00/mile! I really am trying to do things right and just focus on building a strong aerobic base during this part of the off-season. Besides my triathlon goals, I'm also planning on doing a couple half marathons this year. But is 13 miles per week really too much?! I feel like two sessions of 5 miles and one session of 3 miles isn't a heavy workload.

How many miles (running only) are the rest of you doing on average at this time of year? The way my body feels, I'm not putting a lot of stress on it, especially considering that I'm only doing 1 swim and 1 bike workout the rest of the time. I'm curious to hear how others are approaching the off-season.

Massage is great for loosening up and in my opinion personal well being. I would recommend relaxing and not talking! lol. I typically fall asleep even with deep pressure.
You and I have similar goals and I don't feel that 13 is too much. Other than the two weeks were I was sick I have averaged 13-23 a week on the run. I would say I have done essential zero bike, and only one swim a week. I have not done an interval or tempo run, and have actually run a few times with my wife and kids to keep the pace down.

Nate

My training this year is going to be geared towards a mix of goals. In terms of triathlon, I won't race anything above the Olympic distance. For running, I am planning on two half marathons this year. My intentions were to maintain a healthy dose of running, with plenty of runs in the 5-6 mile range and then ramping up a long run each week leading up to my half marathons. During the season, I also planned to stretch out my bike distance to try to achieve the full half Iron bike distance of 56 miles as a stand alone distance. I was considering doing a half century ride towards the end of the season.

But I certainly felt like 13 miles a week wasn't difficult or putting too much stress on my body. In the end, the holidays cut into my training too much and I only averaged about 10 miles a week. I should fix that in January now that all of the holidays are over. It just sucks that I'm going to have to start logging more of those miles on a treadmill instead of outside. That in and of itself might work against me upping my weekly totals by too much.

Maybe she thought I said 30 instead of 13? I don't know. But, Nate, I'm a talker. I'm not good with silence. LOL I know that she has done multiple Ironman distance triathlons, so I was just sort of picking her brain about some of the training she did for her races. But like anything else, I feel free to pick and choose the parts that I think will work for me and which ones won't. I think even if I was just training for a 5K I'd be putting in at least 13 miles a week. Her comment certainly didn't stop me, but it just made me wonder what others were doing. It's just one of the reasons that this group is so helpful! ;-)

That's crazy. My first thought was that she may have felt the 13 miles was too much in the context of the general population or "average" person. Not realizing the demands of the sport. But if she has done multiple ironmans and thinks 13 miles/week is too much...that is just strange.

Edited by Dominion 2016-01-02 9:21 AM

Maybe just because it's the "off season"? I'm sure she had to have done more than 13 miles/week when she was training for an Ironman. I didn't continue the discussion when she said it was too much, but I should have asked her to clarify why she said that. I see her enough socially that I consider her a friend as much as she's my massage therapist and I didn't want her to feel like I was questioning her knowledge of the sport or anything. Bottom line, I'm planning on progressing my mileage to a higher volume over the next month or so. I'll probably settle somewhere in the 20 miles/week range.

Quick question For the group:
I spent 2015 not racing and spent June - Dec rebuilding baselines. I'm very pleased with where I am and very much want to do some sprint races in 2016.
Here's my question: many of the sprint training plans start off pretty light. I'm worried about losing momentum. Should I do follow the sprint plans, even though the distances are shorter than what I've built up to, or should I use an Olympic plan to keep building my distances even tho I have no intention of racing in Olympic distances this year?
I know I'm probably overthinking this, but I just really can't stand the idea of losing ground/going backwards. Should I not worry about distance and maybe I can focus on times instead?
Again, I know I'm probably overthinking.
Thanks everyone! Happy new year!

I'm certainly no expert, so feel free to wait for Chris or Scott to weigh in. But if it were me, I wouldn't want to lose those gains either. I'd probably keep some workouts that maintain or extend my distance, but would also mix in some speed work or some shorter workouts at higher intensity. That way, you maintain or even improve your fitness/conditioning, but you'll also be faster for your sprint distance races.

Having said that, why not consider an Olympic distance? If you've already built your distances beyond the sprint distance, why not consider an Olympic? At the very least, it would keep you progressing forward in your training. If you find a late season race, you would have time to figure out if you'll be ready for it or not and you can always opt not to sign up. Just a thought.

Hey, all! It looks like Chris has started the new group at http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp... See y'all over there!