Neweyes' Intelligent Trisign Group -- full (Page 4)

Michael,
Nice chariot. I too will be interested in time differences from a regular road to a tri bike. In fact, closer to home, I am more curious about what kind of time differences I can expect from switching from a mtn bike to a road bike.
Last week was a good week. I got all my workouts in and felt strong for starting this week. This week is going to be challenging. Denver has finally gotten winter. So much so that Friday I had to run in place to even get a jogging workout done. I don't have access to a treadmill, or a gym for now.  I have shifted everything around for this week so I can run this weekend, when it is supposed to be nicer. However, I am afraid that I am going to have to do both runs for this week while running in place. Anyone got any hints for pacing while running in place? I want to be sure I get a good quality workout in, but realize I may not be able to work on endurance or speed while doing so. Should I maybe strap on the snow shoes and try to run in those? Do I just cut the runs this week and add a couple of session of Spinnervals?
Tomorrow makes a month since I smoked my last cigarette. :-) I stopped taking my meds this week, so It is almost like being at week one or two again. Pushups and situps have helped, but I have allowed my less social side to come out a couple of times. Thankfully the people that were around were very understanding about the situation. Well that's what's new with me. I hope you all have a good week of training. Keep it stable and steady.

Yeah for me!!! I had a new PR on the swim today. 1200 meters non stop freestyle!. 400  more till I make my goal. As I was swimmimng today I was thinking about something I read about people who had done the total immersion classes "swimming downhill". I think I finally understood this today. I was getting tired so instead of looking down and forward, I just relaxed my head and looked straight down. It seemed to give that feeling of leaning downward. It made it a bit harder to breathe as I had to rotate a bit more but I think it actually made me faster and more relaxed. I may have had a Eureka! moment.

Michael-anyone have anything to add about this?. Thanks for the info on the shoes. Ive been trying to decide what to do about that.

Elaine----Nice run!!!!  13 miles! Thats a goal that I have. I'm jealous.  

Brian----

Running in winter, you should take a look at YAK TRAX, they are about 19.99 on sale. Slide onto your running shoes and give traction on the ice and snow. I love them and you cant even tell they are there.


BTW---Great job quitting the smokes!!! I chewed snuff for 20 years so can feel your pain. Trust me, its the best gift you can give yourself and sooooo worth the pain. You will feel so free when you are no longer a slave to them. Keep it up!!!!!!

Yay for quitting! I may have said this before, but it's worth saying again... quitting smoking was the single most important thing I've ever done. And don't worry about the social stuff... your life is in upheaval for a few months after you quit.... keep building the positive habits like this and other things will fall into place.

I didn't realize you were in Denver. I grew up in Englewood/Littleton, and my folks are still down there. I miss Colorado. Yeah, it gets cold (my dad, who's training for the first time in his life for a 5k in May, said he wasn't able to run last week because of the cold and snow), but it also gets warm, and sunny, periodically through the winter. I miss that sooooooo much right now in the perpetual cold gray of Morgantown, WV.

I don't know about running in place... I guess it's probably worth doing.... can you get your heart rate up to levels like when you run regularly? I hear Yak Tracks are good... I've actually had a pair in a box for a couple years, just never put them on. I guess I prefer the treadmill when there's snow or ice on the roads, otherwise, I'll take a road run on a cold day.

Terry, congrats on the swim. 1200m non-stop is serious. You'll get your mile in no time. I try to do the swimming downhill thing sometimes by pushing my chest into the water... I don't think I quite have it though. Occassionally, I'll feel very horizontal in the water... kind of like a stiff pencil, and it feels great. Doesn't happen often enough though.

I'm at a decision point. My IM is 25 weeks out. I thought I was going to follow a 30 week plan from a book, and then I got sick after the first week and missed a week and thought I'd rather build my own plan, which I did, and I've been pretty much doing that for the last few weeks. But I'm getting worried that I've underestimated the consistency it's going to take to get me through this training. And I think following a plan written by a professional might help me stay on it. But I do like the plan I wrote for myself, and I've missed four weeks of the other one. Not sure how to proceed, but I do know I need to get some sleep now so I can get up and do an hour on the rollers in the AM. Good night all.

I am working off a training plan for a race in late April.  I am curious to add in a little cross fit workout.  Does anyone have any experience with crossfit? 

I am off training for a week due to a minor surgery but will be back at it soon.  My thought was that crossfit would ramp me back up for my upcoming event. 

Thank you in advance.  congrats to everyone on the training I have seen posted. 

Just wanted to stop by to give a quick plug for frozen spinach (and other vegetables). Cheap, never spoils, easy to cook with, and I hear it even retains nutrients better than the fresh stuff. It's so easy to throw a bunch of frozen spinach into the pan before the scrambled eggs go in, and, for those who may not love their veggies, there's hardly a difference in the final product. Oh, I should also plug salsa in scrambled eggs/omlets. Yum.

Dave - I've done some Crossfit. Just make sure to scale to your size and abilities - and make sure you know proper technique! It's a great way to mix up strength training. There are free videos on the website of some of the less common movements.

I'm doing well. I'm keeping up with my mileage. I'll pass 40 miles for the month tomorrow! I'm really hoping that this running build will allow me to focus on cycling once tri season comes around. Swimming is my strength, and after this focus on running, I think I'll be more confident there, too. 

Any tips for getting through long runs when I'm distracted and bored?

This weekend, I have an adventure race! It's one of those orienteering canoe/run/bike things. I'm pretty excited. Also, that will definitely push the long run to Sunday again.

For those long runs are you running on a populated trail?  if so I like to focus it like a race and see how many people I can catch.  It sounds like you have a good running base. 

My wife was not a cyclist before she started in the triathlon world.  I had her do riding drills on our street to get really comfortable on the bike and her biking took off.  she held back to much at first.  Now she is more confident on the bike.  I can post up some drills if you would like. 

Enjoy the adventure race they are a lot of fun. 

Michael,

Thanks very much for the TI swim links. I'm going through them now -- great stuff.

I  think I have a plan now for triathlon #1. My local running store has a tri class starting next week for an olympic distance event in May (http://www.rev3tri.com/knoxvilleComingSoon.htm). Hopefully that will help me get out on the bike.

I'm in maintenance mode for now. Swimming twice a week, running once or twice a week, and hitting the exercise bike once or twice a week. My swims last week were 1.2 miles/43:08 and 1.3 miles/46:52. I ran 13 miles on Sunday in 01:32.

Run somewhere pretty. The picture below is where I did all of my long runs and most of my weekday runs in marathon training. Totally fell in love with the river valley. That and music. I used to like audiobooks and podcasts a lot, but lately I've found I really want hard-driving, pump-me-up music.


John, those are solid swim times. Is that continuous?

Sounds like a good plan for your race... I imagine it would be a lot of fun to train with a bunch of folks for the same race. I guess they're going to give you a plan?



Dave, I'm curious about those bike drills... never heard of bike drills before....

bike drills, 

I came up with a few because my wife was scared of the bike especially sharp courners and decents.  I figured if you get your bike handling up you can go faster.  I live on a street with little traffic so it is easy for me to set these up. 

drill one. 

set up a line of cones about 8 ft apart do a sloam run through the cones turn 180 at the end and go back through the cones to finish.  Make sure you start on both sides so the 180 turn is practices both left and right.  to make the drill harder of set the cones so the turn has to be sharper.  I like water bottles if you hit one it falls over and does not take you out. 

drill 2.  Same set up as drill one but go as slow as possible to work on balance.  I also practice balance at stop lights and see how long I can balance before putting a foot down. 

drill 3.  90 degree corners. 

have a partner sit at the corner to make sure there are no cars.  very important!!  I start a sprint up the street and corner as hard as I can.  remember to start the corner wide cut in close to the curb and exelerate out.  use all the lanes.    just be safe with cars.  do this both directions. 

drill 4.  put one cone in the middle of the street.  I put it about 6 houses away. 
Start with a sprint to the cone and turn sprint back to where you started.  it will work on braking and tight cornering.  I  have someone time this and try to get it faster.  I can pass more people. 

I have learned that most people can push about the same speed on a straight away but you can shave a lot of time in corners. 

Have fun and be safe. 

just redid my plan for the next event.  Added in crossfit days to build muscles and endurance.  the race is a sprint april 16th.  I have done a lot of reading the last 3 days about the speed improvements people are getting from crossfit.  I will let you know how it goes. 

If anyone has good swimming drills I would love to hear them.  I am getting a little bored with the drills I have been doing. 

Awesome. I just tweaked my plan too and settled on my B-races for the season. My next B-race is 4/16 also... the Rumpus in Bumpass! After that I've got a HIM in Middlebury, CT 6/5, and then the 140.6 on 7/30 out in California. I want to figure out how to upload my homemade training plan so I can look graphs of planned vs. logged time....

I need swim drills too. I'll probably go looking for them this weekend, but I'd love to hear what y'alls favorites are.

Speaking of swimming, I usually build my own swim workouts... usually I just think something up during warmup, but yesterday I googled [swim workout 1750] before I went to the pool, wrote down one that looked good and took it with me.... made for a much more enjoyable experience. The workout seemed to drag on much less than the 1600 I did a few days earlier. What a difference a little variety makes!

I found this while looking through some other blogs. The website has several good articles about running and swimming. I though you guys might enjoy some of them.

http://www.coachtj.com/

swim drills I am current doing. 

drill 1  swim 25 meters with fists. focus on pulling water with the forearm.  25 back regular swim.  sometimes I just do a 25 in the middle of a long set to change it up a little and give me something to focus on. 

drill 2 swim with one arm other arm stays glued to your thigh.  it helps power and rotation. 

drill 3 with pull bouy try to touch bouy with you figure tips to make sure you finish your stroke and get maximum push before recovery stroke.   

those are some of my favorites to throw in but would like some more.   thank you for the sight I will look at it and see what I can pull off of it too. 

Michael, yes my swim times are continuous. Right now I'm in the indoor 25 yard pool using a finger counter to keep track of my laps. My flip turns suck, so I'm generally not doing that. But I'm doing the time without any breaks.

Yes, the class is supposed to include a plan and a bunch of group workouts. I'll report back with more details after the orientation meeting on Thursday.

Funny story about boredom. I was interested in doing a triathlon in 2009, so I joined a club to start swimming. Problem was I found it incredibly boring and there were these great tennis courts right next to the outdoor 25 meter pool. So before long I was playing tennis again and not doing any swimming.

This time around I found a way to listen music and podcasts while swimming (http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/17560.htm). I think it really helped me stick with it this time.

Great picture. Looks like the TN river.

Dr. J. 

Nice work on the swim times  that is a long continous swim. 

I am back training going to run this week light to finish recovery.  I have 9 weeks to my next event so it will have to ramp up fast after that.  What events are other people running this year. 

4/19 spring fling sprint tri. 
6/18  Tulsa Tri,  oly. 
8/13 texas 24 TT  (24 hour time trial)
8/29 f3 sprint  (anniversary race  the day I married my wife we are running together)
9/24 Redman 1/2 Iron
I will throw in some other 5ks when I can.  also looking for a race in july. 

Missed a 10-miler this weekend because the 6 hour adventure race I did left me pretty sore and tired on Sunday!
I'm not concerned, and I'll be back on the wagon this week. Less than two weeks until my crazy race weekend! 

I like the bar graph of time in your logs for last week. That is one massive "sports" session. Was the adventure race a blast? I love those things.

Dave -- that looks like a good season... I like how it builds in terms of duration through the season. What is a 24h TT? Are you going to be in PFM (perpetual forward motion) for 24 hours?!


I weighed in under 160 pounds for the first time in my adult life this weekend, and today I took a body fat measurement and found out I've lost 1 of my 15 percents of body fat in the last four weeks. Pretty sweet.

I'm beat after the first real week of IM training, in my legs, and in my brain. The time management challenge of this endeavor is coming into focus. I dreamt last weekend that I was drinking a beer and then realized I had a race later that day, then was scrambling to get all my stuff together. Yikes. I need to get better at getting to bed early so I can eight hours of sleep and still get up early enough to get a workout in and get to work at a reasonable hour. Below are my training hours. Week -25 down, 24 to go.......

Wow, Dave. That's nuts. I would be terrified to be riding my bike after 23 hours of riding my bike and not sleeping. Are you training any particular way for that, or is just kind of a fun add-on race?

I will do a few 8 hour + rides before starting in late may.  I also plan to ride to Tx to the inlaws house, I will make that ride one 11 hour day and finish the what is left the next day.  Other cycling races will be added in over the summer, we have local crits every tuesday nights.  it adds to the training. 

Dave- awesome, good luck with that. I personally agree that it is nuts. 11hrs in the saddle and I would never be able to sit again, let alone the race planned.

Michael - Hang in there, if you can make it one more week, you will be over the hump.  Keep up the good work. I know you can do it. Besides, you can't forge iron without lots of pounding. Is your graph generated by BT, or another 3rd party?

I personally am gaining lots of confidence. I am becoming more comfortable with running, and now can manage 1/2 of my race distance. I was speaking with my father, a long time runner, and he advised that I could already complete a 5k, if I could do 1/2 that for training. He states he could typically do 2 times his training distance without too much loss of speed. Is that also something that you guys have experienced? Either way, buy the end of April I will be training at the 5k distance. So I will have 2 months before the race, in July, to work on speed.

Hope everyone has a fun, safe, and progressive training week. Keep your chin up, and enjoy the burn.

I am also interested to know if anyone can explain/refer me how to effectively plan and execute a spin down before my runs? Do you guys have a set distance that you use, cadences you try to hit, or hard/easy gears? Do you do your final push for the line a mile before the line? I have tried hard and easy gears, but am confused by the results. The easy gear/high cadence made for heavier legs at the start, but faster times in the end.