Newbz'z summer mentor group is FULL!!!! (Page 38)

Sweet...I don't think I could average 22+ mph with a tailwind for 42 miles...then be able to run a PB at a 9ish mile distance.

Garmins do tend to measure long...but just a little.  I know a lot of marathoners report their garmin will record about 26.3-26.5 miles.  So your difference is within the norm.  But it should never record 9.3 when it's supposed to be 8.8...unless you stopped off at McDonalds a few times.

The garmin could be off by that much - I'm pretty sure I've seen other threads where people claimed the garmin distance was slightly off.   OTOH, for my recent 10k race, my garmin 305 said 10.00 km. 

i was talking to a few other people and we think the race dir simply called it that due to the race format (the half lite 50). 8.8 would have ended it right at 50 miles..........

5 diff garmins now are all coming back at between 9.2 and 9.31


also if you dont take the direct shortest course many people end up running a lot further (.1 to .6 depending on turns) longer than they should in a marathon. center of the road will add a lot of distance overall vs cutting the tangents.

Today was a rough day of training for me.  I wanted to get in a nice long ride but I knew it would only be about 2 hours long.  The weather was frustratingly cold and windy.  I has covered in Gatorade because my dad threw away my aerodrink poof and the roads in Michigan are terrible.  I was tired since I ramped up my training this week.  I had to constantly fight to go in a straight line.  I kept pushing through the wind for a stretch of relief when it should have been at my back.  But it felt like I was constantly fighting it.  It was a mental battle but I made it when I really wanted to just go home.  I guess in the end I got in a good workout since I was working the whole time.  I was very surprised that I averaged 17.5mph too since it was so windy.  I'm hoping to hit the bike hard this coming week.

I ordered "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" from amazon a couple days ago.  I pretty sure that I want to invest in a PM.  I'm hoping that this book will help me decide.

I really like the idea of having completely objective numbers that I can train with.  I seem to get lost with wind and hills and either push too hard or not hard enough.  I also look at my speed way too much during rides which basically does me no good. 

dont remember who said this, but the quote " its easy to train when you feel good" the diff between you and me is you train when you feel good, i train when i dont" sums up days like that pretty well.

If you want to improve, the days when you dont feel good/great are going to happen way more than you think, and how you deal with them goes a long way in your races.
make the training hurt and have a blast on race day;-)

that totally sucks about losing the poof for the drink. if it happens again on a ride where you dont need to refill mid ride just duct tape the top (and heck you can pull out the straw and refill through that hole if you do need to).


All, my last shameless plug for the spring, i have room for 1 last athlete if anyone is interested in a tri coach or single sport coach at a great price.

Got in a long ride today.  My body was still a bit sore from yesterday's race...but I figured today may be the last day I can get in a long solid workout before tapering down.  Ended up being 58 very windy miles...with some breaks in between.  It was a TT practice ride, so we "warmed up" the first 16 miles into the wind...took a short 5 minute break, then sent off in TT fashion.  Unfortunately, the lead rider crashed into a curb...so we cut the TT after about 15 miles to help him out.  I think he separated his shoulder, but he didn't look to have anything broken or head injuries.  I don't know where he ended up landing...but thank God a car didn't hit him.  His front wheel is totalled, but the rest of his P3 looks okay...but you never know.  Someone picked him and his bike up and took him to the hospital.  We finished the TT, and the 16 miles back to the cars where we arranged to have the riders truck taken back to his house.  It was a good ride...but just sad the guy went down.  Really nice guy and very experienced rider.  That curb is a little tricky, and in an aero tuck, if you aren't really looking up, I can see how you can hit it if you don't see the left bend coming up...as the road used to be straight.

Bummers too because he just ordered (but has yet to receive) a new zipp 1080/sub 9 wheelset for a TT coming up in 2 weeks.  Hopefully he won't be out for too long.

Reminds me of one of my fav quotes, "I will do today what others will not, so I can do tomorrow what others can not."

Edited by jpbis26 2010-05-09 10:18 PM

Dirk, David, tri808 great results. Congrats to you all. 

what does everyone have on the plate for this week?

Normal workouts today and tomorrow

Today...just masters class tonight
Tomorrow...4-5 mile run, then a interval ride after work
Wed...start to taper...short 2-3 mile run, masters class
Thurs...short run...maybe just 20 min on an exercise bike
Fri...rest day...may jump in the pool just to practice some sighting...or have some friends do THIS to me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk to feel more comfortable during the swim.

Sat...packet pickup/race briefing/bike check in
Sun...first Oly

Front loading the week since I'll be in NYC visiting family for a long weekend.  2 hour run yesterday wore me down, but recovery bike today with a medium swim should let me recover just fine.  Big deal is a 4 hour bike w/ 30 min brick run on thursday (yeah, taking a day off to train...I live a tough life).

Just a question - is this a good use of my time in HIM prep?  4 hours is way over what I'd spend on the bike (or hope to spend on the bike).  Based on the plan, I'd spend 2.5 hours easy, Z1 to Z2, an hour working higher Z2, and 30 min at Z3 right before the run, which is Z1-2.  I'm never sure when plans are based on time, since I don't know what pace/speed they expect the athlete to be doing, so never know if I'm over/undertraining.  At the same time, when based on distance, if you bike/run too fast, you may not be spending as much time as you need to training, even though you're covering enough distance.  I'd expect the answer is that even if I'm doing a little extra mileage, thats not a bad thing.

Edited to make my grammer more better.

Edited by jsiegs 2010-05-10 12:04 PM

how far out are you from the half?

personally thats a bit longer than i would do for teh speeds i am going (4:30-40 half range), and i dont think i can handle that and recover right no, but is on par with the type of workout i do/have my athletes do leading up to that distance.

normally its a few of them, starting at 2hr/3-4 mi and progressing to the last one about 2-5 weeks out of 3 hr/5-6 mi.

warm up, and then at LEAST an hour at zn3/goal pace, run is at goal HIM pace. this lets you get in a good amount of time at goal pace plus the run. if you can finish that run not totally tanked, you should be good for your race.

4 hr may be pushing it for your race distance/goals, but if you can do it and not be dead, you'll be set come race day.

Race is July 11.  I have some recovery time after due to the weekend in NY.  A run with 5k pace intervals Sat and bike with LT intervals late Sunday.  One last long run Monday (plan is 2 hours, may be less depending how I feel) and then taper for an Oly the 23rd.  Bottom line is I don't think recovery from it is too big an issue.  I've felt good for 2.5-3 hours on the bike, though my last 3 hour bike came when I was too tired and I struggled.  There are plenty of 3+ hour bikes, some with runs, left in my plan from now until July.  My goal is sub 5 hrs, but I really lack the knowledge right now to know if that is a good goal.

Got my first sprint tri this Sat.
Going for a 3 mile run today. 

Just got done with an 18mile ride.  I wanted it to be relatively easy/aerobic but I knew that there was no way I could go at a slow recovery pace.  It was still pretty windy/chilly but I had a lot more fun than yesterday's ride.  The one thing I focused on was NOT looking at my speed the entire ride.  I didn't glance at my computer once until the end of the ride.  I also didn't look at my HRM because it kept telling my my HR was in the 200s which happens when my strap gets too cold when I'm riding.

I really really really need to get better on the bike.  I'm very happy with the progress I've made thus far, but my goal for my HIM is 3hrs for the bike leg.  That is an 18+mph average which I don't normally put up in short rides.  Lets not even discuss how I've never ridden over 40 miles either.

I have about 10 weeks left until July 31st, the day of truth.

are you following a plan, or doing your own thing?


you still have some time to make some decent bike gains but you need to get on it now .

i would do some serious re-vamping of teh schedule over the next 9 weeks and then taper, i think you have some time for a big build, peak, and then taper that will do a lot for your bike and your run.

I'm doing my own thing.  I think the reason I am going through a tough phase is because I am ramping up both bike and run.  I'm trying to really hit the bike hard as often as I can without damaging my run.  Once my legs get used to my current volume in both disciplines I think I can find out my optimum bike mix.

I know that I am lacking in the bike distance category, but my goal is to get in about 100miles of hard biking per week until my race.  If I can exceed that I'm willing to try.  My long rides so far have been 2-2.5hrs at mostly a tempo pace.  I'd like to get up to 3-3.5hrs.  That being said my rides are kept relatively short but I do a lot at tempo pace.  I also try to do at least one 90min bike with short intervals such as 12x1min sprint w/ 5min full recovery.

Is it a good idea to incorporate a mix of intervals each week?  Such as one day of short anaerobic intervals, one day of longer tempo intervals, etc

Ok- I've been considering this for a while, and wanted to know what you all think.

There is a half marathon in my city in Dec. I was thinking of doing it. The only thing I've done so far has been three 5ks and my long runs are only 4 miles.

That being said, I've come a long way already. In Nov, I started the couch to 5K plan and literally could only run a minute without needing to stop. Even though I'm not really fast, I can run the whole 5k now. So, for me, that's pretty good progress.

Obviously, I'll have to up my training (understatement), but is this goal unrealistic for me?  

i think if you keep building slowly and in a smart manner there is no reason why you could not do this.

as an example, my dad started running two years ago, no sports for close to 20 years. started with a few 5-10 min runs per week, and completed his fist half marathon 9 months in and had a blast. You can do it, just be careful with the build.

Carl, full reply coming in a min for the bike stuff.

David,

Any specific training plans you would recommend for me that are on this site (or another)? You can see what I'm doing now (logs are up to date) and I want to do at least one more sprint tri and 1 or 2 10ks before the HM in Dec.

Right now, I'm not following any plan. I'm just trying to consistantly do something everyday. I think following a plan might be a good thing for me at this point.