Jeff Y's Group - CLOSED (Page 39)

That's a good idea.  I'll be sure to throw a cliff bar into my gear bag.

I would run and ride the up hills that are over 30 seconds in duration with an even effort level.  Get to the top and feel as good as you did at the bottom. 

But that may not be possible if you don't have mtn gearing on your bike.

Well, it's a matter of prioritizing the time available to training.  You need to simply maintain your running fitness while focusing more on cycling.  That implies that you want the bare minimum of time spent on the running while putting all extra time on the bike.

So we are talking about a potential 4th run of around 5 miles?  That 45 minutes will come from a bike ride theoretically.  What's the rest of your plan going to look like in addition to the running we are talking about?

Well, I'm back.

The good news is that I'm back on dry land and above seawater.  The bad news is I am seriously out of shape.  I tried to do my long ride/run brick on Sunday and was still seriously jetlagged.  After the ride, I pretty much wanted to quit and sell my tri bike.  After the run..let's call it a run/walk...I wanted to cut my legs off.  I only made it about 2:15 on the bike and wanted to cry.  Now I know why so few people start working out in the first place.  It friggin' hard as hell!  Glad to see everyone else is doing well and racing well.  Jeff, you're bike split is awesome man.  I know I said that I wanted to be run focussed and all, but how many hours a week do I have to bike to see that kind of speed!?

Warren, sorry to hear about that achilles man.  That's starting to be a real nag, eh?

Bryan, what made you think that race was going to be a good idea?  The idea of running up a flight of stairs is daunting to me right now!

Tim, I feel ya man....time off from training sucks big time.  As far as transitions, I would just recommend setting one up in your driveway.  Do the whole thing from wetsuit to run though....your neighbors will think you're crazy, but it's worth it in the end.

Dirk, you're a slacker.

Hey! welcome back!

Here is all that I've done cycling-wise for as long as I can remember:

Tuesday: 90 minutes spin bike

Thursday: 90 minutes spin bike

Saturday: respectable ride.  Sometimes only 40 (2 hrs) last weekend, 93 miles....some weekends in the winter...no ride but I had gotten in to a routine of doing a 3 hr spin class last winter on Saturdays by the end of the winter.

I am just lucky to have some cycling talent.  Can't say where it comes from.  Could be left-over from being a competitive cyclist for 2 years in college...or could have something to do with heavy, heavy weight training in my history that focused pretty good on legs....or most likely just happens to be a talent.

If you have a talent, perhaps swimming, you will find the same thing holds true for you in that sport too...just minimal investment in training is all you need to be competitive.

The real question then is do you work your talent hoping for a greater % improvement per hour, or work your weakness hoping for a greater % improvement per hour?  It's not clear to me whether your potential for improvement is greatest in your 'talent' sport, or your weakest sport.

And back to you...I know how hard this is for you because I've been there.  I suggest you put in the training time with very little effort.  2:15 on the bike is a solid workout.  If you want to go longer, just slow it down and be aerobically comfortable.  You have permission!

Same with running.  make it nearly a walk and if necessary ACTUALLY a walk.  But don't just go for a short, painful run.  It's the longer duration runs that help the most, even when they are silly easy.

I've been a little awol as work has really heated up this week. 

Yikes Bryan, that course looks brutal.  I agree with Ryan that you should just be prepared to be humbled and just be mentally prepared for a battle.  No races I do have as many hills as that but some of my rides are similar and there's a lot of 6 mph readings on my computer which also coincide with the highest HR readings.  And the downhills can be a challenge as well so stay focused going down.

I'm racing this weekend but not expecting much with the limited (no) running I've done lately.  My plan is to swim easy, expend all ordinance on the bike, and see what's left to run with.  My running is slow enough so as Monty Python quote says "How could it possibly get worse!".  It's only 3 miles - I think I can fake it for that, and it's 1.5 miles up and 1.5 miles down so once I get to the turnaround it should be possible to at least limp home.

Dirk, seems like three runs would likely maintain your running as you've really built a solid base over the last few years.

Welcome back Jonathan, now get to work!

Everyone should check out Jeff's last race report.  Insane results.

Right now my hopes are to survive.   I'm also am going to strive to try and get my family all loaded up in the car and on the road early enough so that I can get there with enough time to drive the bike route in the daylight Friday.

Driving the bike route the night before seems like a pretty good idea.  My first race of this season I was able to ride the last 4-5 miles of the bike prior to the race and it REALLY helped.  There were a couple of really tight turns that would have nearly killed me if I wasn't prepared for them.

Good luck getting the family loaded up.  My girls like watching me race (even at age 15 and 18) but they HATE getting up early to get there an hour and a half prior to the race.  The just don't get all the extra work that has to go into a pre-race routine for triathlon.

Good luck on the race!

Today's sprint is complete, 8th in AG and 118 overall.  Feel good about most of the race, swim was still rough.  I think I have to remember I AM A ROOKIE.  Anyway the race report will come later.  More importantly is the memory I will take away from the race.  As most of you may have caught on I have 3 wondefull kids that have supported me through all of my races and today was  no different.  The run course was an out and back that followed a bike trail at the park.  Most of it was outside of the park except for the last 3/4 mile to the finish line.  At the point where the trail comes back into the park is a good spectator spot that several have gathered at.  I start the race to the normal cheers of the family and tell them I will see the at the finish line.  However my 2 boys decided they wanted to see me before that and staged themself at the 3/4 marker and waited for me to come back from the 3 mile run.  As I turned the corner to come back into the park I hear them cheering me on telling me I was almost done.  At this point my 3 year old son decides to start running next to me and wants to have a conversation.  He is asking me, Daddy are you OK?  And then says "Daddy you look tired!"  Keep in mind that he is running just off the course in the grass and keeping perfect pace at that.  I'm not sure if that means I was running that slow or maybe I have a little runner on my hands!  I told him I was OK and that I was exercising and that I was almost done.  His reply at this point was, "Good I want some lunch!"  (Yes, he is still keeping pace).   I tell him to go to the finish Line and I would meet him there.  (He was able to take the shortcut where I had to take the 1/2mile loop.)  As I come around the corner my entire family is cheering me on.  This was all the motivation I needed and finished the race at almost a full sprint.  Regardless of the results I believe I finished on top!

Life Is GOOD!! 

My sprint race is also complete, I'll try to get a full RR tomorrow.  Finished 111/1464 overall, 56 on the bike, so gotta be happy with that.  Not sure on the AG since those results aren't posted, but I think I was 10th in my AG.  My best finishing spot to date for sure. 

I actually did ok on the run but I had to stop and "unstick" my Achilles at one point.  Very strange lock up happened about halfway through, I'll ask about it later.

It sounds like a few good races this weekend!  I'll be looking forward to seeing those race reports in the next couple of days.

I have had a pretty slow few weeks of training.  I thought last week was going to be back on track but my wife got sick Friday night and I had to skip my long bike Saturday to care for her in the morning.  she texted me about 20 minutes before I was planning to leave on Saturday morning after all was ready to go: "Can you help me?" was all the text said.  I thought it important enough to stay home since she NEVER!!!!!! asks for help when sick.

Hopefully I'll be on track this week to get everything back on track.  The good news has been that I haven't been allowing my runs to take the hit.  Last week's mileage was 44 and I am planning 48 this week.

Man, I wish I was racing this past weekend.  We had to drive up to Vermont.  5.5 hours or so to my sister's wedding.  I did manage to get a quick run and swim in on Saturday, but I haven't put in enough bike rides this month at all.  My olympic is this Sunday and I'm a bit nervous about the bike.  I am feeling okay with my running, although I'm still not back in shape after those two weeks off.  I wish I had another week to put in a couple longer hard bike rides in before my race.

Warren, was that Timberman sprint?  Looking forward to the race report.  A buddy of mine did the race and said it was a fast day.

Dirk,  hope your wife is feeling better.  She sounds like a tough woman.  Especially if she puts up with you!

Jeff, my last race of the season is likely this weekend.  I want to start the running plan after that.  I'm thinking about scheduling a half marathon November 12th or 14th.  Do you think this is smart or doable?  Let's talk about a plan of action for running.

Good decision Dirk, and I agree with Jonathan that anyone who could put up with you is tough by definition!

Yeah Jonathan, I did the Timberman sprint. I'm not sure if it was fast or not, but the run is short so our run paces look better than they really are.  The run is a bit under 3, The bike is a bit longer than 15, and the swim was who knows this year.

My son has pics from the start this year and last year, and this year the start was significantly further back than last year.  Better for me, and definitely better for you when you come up here next year!  It just makes it tough to compare times year to year. 

They also moved the timing mats around, so that makes it even tougher to do year over year comparisons of the individual events.  The bike mat last year was at the mount point and this year it was at the T1 exit.  I hit my bike watch at the mount points and came up with 44:40 (to compare to last year's race of 46:05), and my official bike time was 45:55.  I really have learn to do the flying dismount - more for the ease of running in bare feet vs. the bike shoes!

I'm going to rehab my Achilles for a few weeks and then I'd like to start the running program.  It's not subtle what I need to work on.  In this weekend's race, out of 1400 some odd people, I was 136 in the swim (with zero swim training), 56 on the bike, and 310 on the run.  Ouch.

One thing I was thinking about after the race is that I also need some mental training on running.  I just have a lower pain tolerance on the run than other sports.  I can push hard on the bike, and I was always known as a third period hockey player, but on the run I can't seem to really dig down and push through it.  I always seem to have some internal excuse or something, and give myself permission to ease up when it really starts to hurt.  What's the answer to that?  More racing?  HTFU?

Sounds like you had an awesome day.  It's cool that the family came along and got involved.  It's good for the kids to see adults playing. 

Sounds like you did very well for a 'rookie'!

good call Dirk. 

Hope your wife gets better fast.  But unlike the other yahoos here, I won't trash talk you.  You may be lucky to have someone that puts up with you, but you are one piece of man-toy (not that I would know, mind you) and she is lucky to have you too! 

I think it's both (smart and doable).  I will drop in to your training log and take a look at your recent running.  Let me know if the log isn't up to date.

That's some pretty impressive results in that size field.  We'll work the run, but only as the achilles allows.

So what's the answer to 'low pain tolerance' on the run?  HTFU?  yes and no. More racing?  perhaps. 

Here's my take on the pain thing.  Every stress we experience provides our body/brain with feedback.  We tend to perceive new 'feedback' as pain or discomfort initially, but over time we don't.  For instance, put your hand in a sink of hot water.  Hold it there a few minutes and it doesn't feel hot anymore.  There's a similar phenomenon regarding all sorts of types of pain.   In my martial arts/kickboxing days, it was very painful and scary to take hard shots, especially to the face.  But over time, it wasn't so much 'pain' any more.

The same is true with running.  Just do a lot of running and you won't feel that overwhelming urge to stop or slow down to the extent you do now.  The HTFU comes in doing a lot of running.  But you can run slow for a time.  When you are ready to move to the next step, we can add 'painful' intervals which do help.  Racing often is good.  Finding a local 5k/10k as often as you can adds variety, excitement, threshold training all in one.

So my answer to your question is that you don't have to do anything about that 'problem', except focus on the running as we had planned.

Yup, it's pretty much up to date.  Sad month so far, but up to date none-the-less.

Thanks Jeff!  At least someone repspects me!

Truth be told there's a lot more "putting up with" from her than there is from me!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=265805&posts=1&start=1

Here is the race report for Sunday, Skip the swim portion and it is a pretty good performance!

7:37 pace on little run training is pretty sweet if you ask me!  I'm glad to see you had a good race.  What's next on your schedule?