Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 38)

Shelly, congrats!!! That is awesome!

As for the HIM, never say never.  The funny part about yesterday was my best leg was the swim.  two years ago I never felt I would be a swimmer and doing a HIM would be impossible.   An HIM may not be in your future but don't discount it for now.

Great job! Inspiration.

x2.  Congrats! And never say never, 3 years ago I couldn't swim the sprint leg of a tri or run more than 5 miles.  

RR is up, sorry its long!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=272872

Wow, can I kill a thread?

Who all is doing the winter cycling program?  I started this morning and its going to be tough but I'm trying to commit to it.

Also, do you think that I can do a marathon on March 6 (Napa trip with the girls) and then the Boise 70.3 on June 9?  They are about 12 weeks apart.  I'm really committed to doing Boise 70.3 and it will be my A race but I also really want to go drink wine with my friends.

Elizabeth, I am in for the Winter cycling program, done it previously and its great.

As for the Marathon and then HIM, you should be fine assuming that the marathon is pretty much about finishing.  You will want to replace some of the marathon training with bike/swim training.  With 12 weeks difference you will lose about one week for marathon recovery and a few more weeks for HIM taper.    I believe you are a strong swimmer so it will be about the bike training and having fresh enough legs for the run.

Actually I am doing something similiar with a half marathon about 14 weeks prior to NOLA.

Absolutely you can do both.  With your results from your last Marathon ... there's no doubt whatsoever in my mind! Get out there and smoke 'em!

Gary, I'm thinking about mounting PowerTap equipment to my road bike for training and had no clue what this involved.  After looking into this it seems more complicated that my initial thought.  It looks like to do this I need to get the PT hub mounted wheel along with the appropriate hardware ... HRM strap, monitor and other to get the readout on power.  Oh and some type of trainer to set the bike on. 

Is there a simpler method to measure rear wheel power output; i.e. do some trainers measure this or is the PT method the best way to go?

TBH, I was a little confused on what was needed and was wondering the same thing but here is what you need:

A wheel with a PT and hub - multiple models but the newer ones are wireless and the older ones are wired.  I got the wired version (older but cheaper).  Now what wired vs wireless seems to mean is that the wired version has a sensor you mount near the PT hub that picks up the readings with a wire running to the CPU, see below.  If you have put a wired bike computer on its the same thing.  Very easy to do and the hardest part is trying to figure out the best way to run the wire so it doesn't show.

CPU - I believe they may also call it the Head unit.  Bascially it looks just like a bike computer (couple of inches long, 1.5 inches wide) and you mount it just like a bike computer.  It removes and you then put it into a USB cradle to download to your PC (PT comes with PowerAgent software for free)

Cadence sensor - same concept is you put a magnet on the cranks and you run a wired sensor near it.  Not required

HR monitor - I just use my Garmin HR strap and 405 to capture HR. Plus the CPU does not have a clock on in (or my doesn't or I haven't figured out how to show it) so I use the 405 to track time.

Trainer - if you don't have one now you don't need it for the PT.  THere are some units out there (Computrainer I believe) that do this.

Other options - You can but an app ( I will try to find the link) that can match the resistance of the more popular trainers and convert it into a power reading.  Cheaper but only works if you have one the trainers and does not work on the road (as far as I know).

I am really starting to like my PT for the main reason is that it is giving me consistent numbers with no lag, etc.  Trying to do things by RPE or HR just didn't work well.  Plan would call for 80% of my target HR but due to caffiene, amount of sleep, work stress, etc hitting that was not easy, especially the lag.  Now, if I am supposed to be at 150watts its easy to hit.

A PT is not a magic bullet but it is becoming a key tool for me to train with.

If you want cheap (I spent less than $400 for my entire setup) then ebay.  Wheelbuilder.com is having a sale on the entire system.  Also, JorgeM is organizing a PT group purchase to help bring the cost down.  I think the thread is on the Tri Talk forum.

HTH.

Laurie

Laurie, I sure can but my first question back to you is: Are you interested in joining this group or do you just need some specific information? 

Either way is fine and you are welcome to join the group but I would ask you post information about yourself.  If you go to the first couple of pages on this thread you will see sample posts of people introducing themselves.  Also, we have several folks on this thread who were new to Tris (or relatively new) and if you read thru some of their posts it may help you a lot.

If you just have specific questions (or general questions) go ahead and post those.  Chances are if you are asking them it may help someone else.  Plus there are a lot of smart people in my group and they often provide a better perspective then I can.

Gary,

My sister, dh and I are all doing the race in January. We are only doing the 5k option though. Dh may do longer - he hasn't said yet. I'm dreading it-lol. I like my swim and bike events :-).

Shelly

Thanks for all the congrats guys. It has been pretty exciting to win the challenge. I am like a celebrity at the gym right now- lol. They posted my picture on the website and a link to some of the stories submitted, so even people at work and around town are commenting. We ended up taking the membership and it made the prize worth about 900.00. The best part is we don't have to pay a membership fee to the gym until September of next year.

Thanks again,

Shelly

Awesome!  Will be great to see you! 

Hey folks!

How is everyone doing?  BTW, mentor groups will be opening up in another month or so.  When it does I am going to open up the group for a few more members.

While I am training my mojo is in the dust.  Not sure why but its fine as this is technially the off season. 

Garys question for the week: What goals do you have for the winter training season?

This offseason I really want to work on my cycling.  I'm doing Jorge's plan but am already behind this week because I slept in this morning - up super late reading the Hunger Games.  Have you read the books - they're totally addicting.   So that mostly and then I'm still debating the March marathon.  It will interfere with my cycling but it would also be good to have the motivation all winter.  But I'm not too excited about running on icy streets.  But I have 3 friends going. But, but, but..... You can see that I'm still totally on the fence.  Need to figure it out soon.

Off season just hoping to not be a total slouch. Been running outside 2x per week 3-4 miles and this morning did 12 mile on the exercise bike inside. I think my outdoor running is about over, waking up to 32 degrees most morning now and highs in the 40's durring the day and dark by 5:30 .  Wish I could swim, but no room in the budget for the Y and all open water is very cold or frozen.

Current plan is to ride the exercise bike M/W/F and tread mill run T/TH/Sun and work in some weight training T/Th. Having a motivation issue at the moment, but I am 1-day in a row so might as well keep it going!

I found out our local community college has open swim in the mornings for just $2.00 , no signups or membership required. Am re-energized about my winter workouts now that I can swim!

Can the Jorge's workout many of you have mentioned be done on a regular indoor exercise bike?

thanks.

I plan to stay with basically my current plan ... cycle 3 days a week and swim twice.  The difference will be increased time-distance on the cycle and more efficient use of time for the swim ... fewer breaks-more swim distance.  Too, I'm working on getting the bike setup with a PowerTap wheel and focus on the power aspect of riding.  Cooler weather makes for mountain biking around here which is great interval training.  Somewhere in all of this I'll work in some time for running.  We've a couple of lakes around with year round swimming.  I'm tempted to get a wetsuit and try some open water swimming. 

I have 6 races penciled in for 2012 and want to work in either an International or Olympic distance race.

I don't see why not.  You could use the HR/RPE version.

I'm still working on my goals and my races for next year.  In the mean time, I'm trying to run 4-5x/week and I just set the bike up on the trainer to start trainer season.  Hadn't ridden the road bike for 5 weeks until tonight though I've been hitting the single track on the weekends.  Haven't been to the pool for 5 weeks either and plan to start that up soon.