Baowolf mentor group is [ Closed ] (Page 37)

Yay, Mike has a bike again!  Glad you are both OK.

Elena, nice ride and run!

Larry, you are a model of consistent training.  Great job!

Steve, yes, with that "hill" and your altitude, you may have to host IM Lake Tahoe training camps.

Samantha, glad the blue skies are smiling on you .

1st solo ride on my new bike this morning...about 23 miles total.  No the new bike is not equipped with jets, but felt nice and smooth..  My pace for road miles was a respectable (for me) 15.9 mph.  I have autopause set, but slowing for traffic lights, left turns, etc. still slows it down a bit, so hoping to average 16+ in the sprint on Sunday.  Off to swim now.

Larry & Steve, way to get those workouts done!  You are both doing great!

Mike, good luck at your race this weekend.  Looks like we'll be racing at that same time.

Ceril, what's up with you these days?  Haven't heard much from you after your tri.  What's next on your list besides Maui?  Oh, wait, that's plenty!

Yep, it's heating up here too.  Supposed to have our first 100 degree day on Sunday.  About to head out for my run at 75 degrees, 77% humidity, and zero wind.  Great for bike riding (which will happen this evening); not so great for running.  But this time of year I count anything under 80 degrees in the morning as cool.

Me and running have not been getting along lately, yesterday we had an all out fight.

I think we are breaking up for a few days!

LOL. Hopefully you can reconcile soon.

So, who is racing in the next few weeks? I know Larry & Steve have pending HIM races, there's a sprint or two being raced this weekend, Jim has an IM coming up. Who else? Where & when??

Ok, starting to research bike speed improvement, some thoughts from an article:

To increase speed, in order of importance:

1). Bike 200-250 miles per week

2). Ride up hills (2-3% grade) repeats

3). Do intervals

4) Build leg stregth with squats/leg presses

5) Calf raises

6) Leg extensions (not so important)

7) leg curls, core work, abductions.  

Have fun.  

Larry, thanks for letting us join you in this part of your journey.  You have so much to celebrate, and regardless of race outcome, you are a champion!

Steve, the better biking list is tiring just to read.  I think I'll chip away towards something resembling maybe 1/2 of that.  Re: the 90 degree foot angle, I've been told by multiple folks to stop pointing my toes on the bike.  They say that is a common problem for people from a running background.

Had a first last night.  A bike riding double date!  My hubby & I, and a friend I met here on BT and her hubby headed out to Texas Motor Speedway for a ride, and then out to dinner.  Fun!  Running was a sweat fest yesterday morning, and I'm starting to question doing any intensity in the heat of the summer.  We're hitting our 100 degree days with lows in the upper 70's/low 80's w/ high humidity in the mornings.  Yesterday on top of that, wind speed was zero.  Good for biking, not so much for running.  It was all I could do to just get out there and get in 5 miles at a slowish pace with several walk/drink breaks.  Still wound up with chills at the end, which seems to be a sign that the heat is getting to me.  Perhaps I'll acclimate more, but thinking of shifting my focus (yes, again) to biking more and running less for the summer.  It's funny, I usually dread at least one aspect of a race, but never the run. For tomorrow, I'm looking forward to the swim and bike, and dreading the run.  Glad it's only 5K!

Wow.  Wasnt exptecting to read 200-250 miles a week! That's a lot, but understandable.  Gotta put the time in for any progress to occur...in any discipine. 100 mi a week which has been my goal. But looks like I need to up my milage!  I rode 83 this week.  And loooking back at my logs from the past 2 months or so Ive realized I have gained speed!  -from low 14's to 15's!  Lots of work to do!

Larry upon my pursuit of this triathlon stuff, I have talked to others about this website and BT's virtual mentor program.  Ive talked about our (AWESOME) mentor, Steve and many of the others in our group, most notably your past, your ultimate goal, and where you are at now.  Yes indeed youve come along way baby!  Pat youself on the back.  It feels great to be in control doesnt it.  You inspire many not just those of us on this forum.  Keep it up!  Very excited for your HIM!! 

Alarm went off this morning at 6:30 am... raining and 35F out, went back to bed.  Got up and started my bike ride at 9:00 am.  Sad news was that my planned rout to get to the 10 mile hill of 1800 foot gain (27 miles from home to top of the hill) was going to not only put me into the wind, but that by the time I got to the top of the hill the wind was going to shift 180 degrees putting me into a 20 mph head wind for the next 37 miles of the loop before I finally got 13 miles of tail wind.  Oh well, didn't change the route, mental toughness day followed by a 5 mile brick.  10 hours on the bike this week, gona feel it on the 17 mile run tomorrow. 

So I looked at the Tahoe IM course.  The lake is at 6200 feet above sealevel and there is a nice 1000 foot climb on the bike that you get to hit twice.  So the bike tops out at 7200 feet.  That amount of elevation gain will definately make a difference and at that time of year I can't take 10 days off to go acclimate to the elevation.  Should be interesting.  For those who train at sealevel, it is gona hurt big time. 

Almost time to report mileage for June, get those workouts in.

Carol, if you do a short loop by your house like 1 mile, you can put out a lot of water, like pitchers of water or a hose in your front yard and practice race-like runs.  Drink 3-4 oz of water every mile and dump some water over your head, etc., rince repeat to keep your body temp down.  Other options are 5am runs, etc. 

Ya I don't have the bike thing figured out yet, but know that I need to up my IM bike pace at least 3mph for the full 112.  The past two years I have upped my pace by .2 mph each year.  Kind of underwhelming from 4000 miles of bike riding last year.  I will be doing bike focused offseason again this year and skip my marathon again.  Got to get that bike faster. 

Just for fun, this is Craig Alexanders peak training week for triathlons: Swim 40,000 yards (100 yard sets at 1:15/100, 400 yard sets in 5:00), run 85 miles (with a boat load of speedwork and hill work) and 457 miles on the bike.... in a week. 

In one day (typical training day) he did 5000 yard swim, 6 mile run to the track, speedwork, 35 mile bike, 5 mile run including 2x 1.2 mile hill repeats (brick) followed by 10 miles at the track of 20x 400 yard repeats at race pace with 1 minute recovery, 200 yard repeats etc.......  Just wow. 

Back to bike research not finding many pearls today.

K bike pearls.  Extended climbs: for extended climbs you can alternate between having your butt forward and back in the sadle, shifts muscle groups every so many minutes, also you can shift your hands back and forward on aerobars (back is more power, but forwards shifts muscle groups) you want to go higher rpms in a lower gear rather than low rpms in a bigger gear.  You want your hands and arms, shoulders etc, loose not really tight on the bars.  Resist standing out of the sadle as it uses more energy (12% more) and spikes your HR (+8%).  If you have to due to steepness, get some momentum up and then sit back down.  If you are in better bike shape than any of us and in a shorter race, and you really want to nail a hill, you can shift into a higher gear (harder) 1-3 up when going out of the sadle, usualy in the last 100 to 300 feet of a hill to cary your momentum forward into the downhill.  Your position when standing is like getting up out of a chair.  Working your hips/butt (leg lifts lunges etc.) will help with hill climbing.

Cornering: if you are in a left hand turn, you start on the outside of the lane (right side in US) and then cut in toward the center line and then back out again basically taking the shortest least sharp angle on the turn.  You keep your weight on your outside foot (which is down and right in this intance) and pressure on your inside hand (left hand in this instance).  This is less clear, but as you lean into the turn your actual tire may move slightly right as your angle moves sharper left.  (NOT ALOT).  Basically you get a kind of dip into the corner where there is a shift in weight.  Avoid straightening up, avoid hard breaking in corners, feathering the brakes before the corner is way better than trying to brake in the corner which can encourage skidding out.  And ya really need to know when sharp corners are coming, drive the course before a race.   

K thats all I've got for today. 

Solid 17 mile run this morning, all miles after the first were sub 8:30 with a negative split for the second half and an overall pace of 8:19.  Very happy with that, the run is ready for race day.... if only the swim and bike were faster. 

So who is out doing long workouts this weekend?

Oh and when I said put some weight on the inside hand/elbow whatever to initiate the turn, that was just enough to get the appropriate lean it was not so much that you fall on your ear 8). 

Nice workouts Elena, Steve and Larry!

Nothing long for me, but did a sprint race today.  Had a great time, made better by my hubby coming out to support me.  Didn't go hard enough on the swim, and surprised at how quickly it was over (2:08/100).  Then had my fastest bike time ever .  Course appeared to be off by 1/2 mile (long)Garmin said 16.9 MPH, results said 16.3.  Yes, believe it or not, that is blazing speed for me.  Considering my lack of bike training and just getting my new bike a week ago, I have to give credit to the bike.  Run was about what I expected given fitness and heat (8:44/mile).  This was a small race you had to qualify for, so no newbies for me to beat.  Even though a decent day for me, netted 10/11 in my AG.  Bike time and transitions killed me (5/11 swim, 6/11 run, 10/11 bike, and 11/11 transitions).  But I was within 10 seconds of the time I predicted on my race entry about 3 months ago.  Too bad there are not prizes for that!

Steve, I hear you on the hot weather hydration options. I do a version of that...start off with an 8 oz bottle of ice water or gatorade, run through parks that have fountains, and on very hot days hit a convenience store or grocery store midway through for ice and anything else I need.

Happy training!