Sesh's Group - FULL! (Page 4)

I had been biking and doing some strengthening with some light weights.  I was in a straight brace for a month, then a limited movement brace another five.  The doc actually told me the stair master would be good, so I had done a little of that.  Honestly, most of it was in my head.  I favored that leg so much that I ran into some IT band stuff and other by product issues.  I truly ended up hating running and vowed to never do another marathon because I was just hurting all the time. 

In other words, I started back with WAY to much.  Toward the end of 2007 I decided to start from scratch and work slowly toward a half marathon.  It went well and I got some confidence back.  I ended up feeling so good and actually enjoying running again that I ran half marathons in December, January, and February.  Basically, I just accepted the fact that I was slow and was probably going to stay that way.  I decided that was ok, and that I would just be slow, but I could still handle the distances and have fun doing it.  I've had nothing more than the typical running soreness ever since.

Questions:

Who in the group trains with a heart rate monitor?  Who in the group trains based on rate of perceived exertion?  Who in the group has no idea how to train with either one?

I'll answer first.  I train based on RPE.  I'm low tech to the point that I don't wear a watch when running (I just look at the clock when I leave the house or office and when I get back), and I only have a cyclocomputer to tell me how far I've gone.  Nothing really bugs me more than trainer sessions because they are tied to a certain time and not a distance. 

That's just me, though.  Training to time and by HR is perfectly acceptable and may be better.  I just want to get an idea of what everyone does so we can help you along with how you train.  Also, for anyone who doesn't train either way or even know where to start, we can help you find what's right for you.

I'm low tech as well.  I just use a watch(when I can find it) and map my routes to figure out the distances.  I love the BT route feature!

Up to now I've been just running (run/walk, really) and biking based on time.  I am getting a heart rate monitor for Christmas (my husband loves it when I pick out my own gifts) so a week from now I'll be trying to figure out how to use it.  But I think it's safe to say that I have no idea how to train with either one!

Sweet!  There's all kinds of HR training info out there, and it can get fairly overwhelming, but it certainly doesn't need to be.  We'll get you going after Christmas with it, then!

Good stuff, Samantha.  That's a good example of whether you use HR, RPE, or some sort of mixture of both, it's good to have some sort of guide out there so you're not just training blindly. 

Oh, and a good website for swim workouts is www.swimplan.com

The BT plans have great swimming workouts as well.

Re Sesh question about training:

I am an Engineer and am addicted to data, I wear a HR monitor and have a GPS on the bike...  I typically don't look at either during a workout, but I like to look to see what I've done. 

I've tried to keep my HR is certain zones while running, but I end up walking trying to keep it down.  When I ignore my HR during the run, I usually find out that I am "in zone" a majority of the time.

I ignore my HR during the bike, and really lust look at my avg speed.  I like to go back home and upload my bike route on Google maps to see what I've done.

I haven't figured out how to take data on the swim (much less keep track of the number of laps I've done/need to complete)...  I wish there was an easy way to keep track..  My RPE on the swim is ALWAYS really high

If I could afford a fancy garmin with the foot pod, bike pod, power meter..  etc.. I would

Sesh,

 I used to wear a heart rate monitor all the time, but I also found that it limited my runs to try and maintain a certain zone or zones.  I switched last year to RPE and it has worked out pretty well.  I tested my Lactat Threshold (by myself on the treadmill, not extremely acurate but it worked) using the Triathlete's Training Bible's guide and came up with a number higher than my max HR (per my watch using my age).  That kind of told me that the HR monitor is probably not the best way to train, for me anyway.

I use a Garmin forerunner 201, which doesn't have heartrate, so I've been running either by distance or time, and using RPE.  I do almost all my running at a low RPE because I have some idea that I'm "building a base."  I just want to build up my miles and I'm hoping that the speed takes care of itself as I get fitter and lose some more weight.

 Also I find that any sort of "speedwork" seems to be more likely to lead to minor annoying injuries.  ALSO I play basketball and kind of hope that that might count as some kind of speed work - but that's probably pretty lame.

 I'm hoping to get a 305 soon so maybe I will look at using HR after that but from reading BT a lot it sounds like it is quite difficult to actually use HR effectively. Mostly I just enjoy tracking distance and pace and looking at all the cool data...

Anyone please feel free to correct me on any misconceptions.  Happy Thursday.

 That happens to me too...  I always have tender knees after "speed work" (whetever that is)

Speed work is evil, but evil can be fun sometime

In base building and for beginners who need to increase endurance before anything else, speed work is not neccessary.  Why torture yourself with intervals when a long zone 2-3 or RPE 6-7 ride would be more beneficial to your current goals?

Speed work enters the equation when you're endurance is on par with the race distance and you... well... want to do it faster.

Happy Friday, hammerheads.

Any big training plans for the weekend?  Any other holiday plans?

I'm planning on a 50 mile ride Saturday, and then my last long run of 12 miles on Sunday in preparation for the half marathon on Jan. 3rd.  Also got a get together with some old friends I graduated high school with on Saturday night.  Should be fun as I haven't seen a bunch of them in a while.  Some will even have fresh, brand new additions to the family in tow.

No exciting holiday plans here, just frantic gift wrapping and organizing and hopefully not taking any last minute trips to the mall.  I think I've got everything.  I'm usually much more organized.  I don't know what happened this year.

As for training, I'm doing max's December trainer challenge, so I'll be spending some time on the trainer.  I'm hoping to get in a couple of short runs, but the weather is not cooperating.  It was raining ice when I came into work this morning.  I'm going to try a 5-miler on New Years Day, but if I don't get some runs in before then I'll be taking a nice 5 mile walk.  I haven't HTFU enough yet to go out and run in freezing rain.  I guess I could go try to figure out the treadmills at the Y.

My daughter's high school swim team is having a swim-a-thon tomorrow and they invited family to participate, but I was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be getting in the pool with her friends.  Since it's Christmas, I decided not to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to embarrass her and will watch from the stands. 

I was going to log my nutrition today, but since we had a carry in for lunch, I don't know where to start.  Briskett, shrimp, lobster, bread pudding, etc.  I will be punishing myself on the treadmill tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a great Christmas and tries to keep the calorie intake lower than what I just had for lunch.

 Eric

We are having a holiday lunch here at work today, but yours sounds much better than the sandwiches we are getting.  Lobster...yum!