Baowolf's Mentor Group- Closed (Page 4)

OK, here is where I show my newbie-ism. What is a 5x5x4 rbs?

Julie

Julie: 5 days run, 5 days bike, 4 days swim.

Steve:  I found this very interesting: 2x per week = maintain, 3x per week, slight improvement, 4x/week = growth, 5-6 focused improvement  I was looking at the IronFit program and noticed that it is more or less 4R, 3B, 3S with a lot of bricks.  I believe Mike said in our last group that he uses the Ironfit plan, what are your thoughts?  I have a whole spreadsheet of it saved.

So a minimalist plan is 3x3x2. So 4R, 3B, 3S allows for decent growth in run, slow growth in bike and swim.  You have to consider how much time you actually have to train and how much your body can handle.  I am currently doing a couple of days with 3 workouts, not everyone can do that.  If you had equal skill in all  3 events you would do 4 bike, 3 run, 2 swim because bike 112/run26.2/swim 2/4 = bike 6.5, run 4, swim 1.5 ish hours.  or 6.5/12, 4/12, 1.5/12 or 54% B, 33 ,R 13%S.  So if you do your workouts by time your bike time should be slightly more than your run and swim time combined with your run being 2-3 times as much as your swim time per week.  However if you are weak in say run you may run more than your actual race percent because you want to improve that so you would go 3 B 3 S 4 R.  That way you make more growth in run or maybe you just don't want to be sucking wind on your run so you can finish strong and put more training time into it.  Clear as mud?  Ask specific questions if you want.  Iron fit is fine, it is tested and proven training plan.  The general training theory, however holds across all training plans. Build 1 mile per week long run (or 10%), build 5-10 (10%) miles per week for your long bike, build 200 to 300 yards per week on your swim (10%), recover is .6 x long run so long of 10 recovery week is 6 miles.  So marry or IM run build is 4,5,6,4,7,8,5,9,10,,6,11,12,7,13,14,8.5,15,16,9.5,17,18,10.5 18, 10.5, 18 taper (if straight mary would build to 20,12,20,12,20, 12, 8 race.  The build patter is the same for swim just ad 200-300 yards to the long per week, bike 5-10 miles per week to the long bike.  Head hurt yet?

I want to do a Sprint on June 8^th, but I’m thinking with the amount of training I am doing right now I might just hold off and focus on getting some solid base training into my routine. I kind of want to get to the point where I can do some speed training for running and some other higher-intensity stuff. Plus, I still want to get a HR monitor, bike trainer, …… So the money saved could go towards one of those.

Lifting – I don’t incorporate lifting weights into my training often. I try to do some bodyweight stuff (one-legged squats, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups, planks). This is partly due to me wanting to slim down a bit and partly due to a lack of time. I know I know you can lift and not put on mass, but I have been trying to think about secondary muscle groups lately. I had a nasty case of ITB two years ago. Since then I have been doing clam exercises and some leg lifts while on my side. This focuses on the gluteus medius (or at least that is what my wife told me) and has definitely helped me hold better form while running and has also kept the ITB at bay. One plus of having a PT for a wife is I can ask for exercises to help with any pains I might have. One negative of having a PT for a wife is I better do those exercise or I don’t get any sympathy if the pain persists.

Well last day at work in Madison for me. Tomorrow and Friday are moving days and then hopefully things start slowing down so I can get back to some consistent training. It is funny how I always want a day to just sit around and relax. Then that day comes, and I can’t stand having nothing to do. I guess it is good to be busy. Keep up the good work everyone, and don’t be afraid to post workout history at the end of the month even if it just a couple of hours. No one will laugh or judge you. It is a good way to measure up against yourself from month to month and see all the great work and time you have invested.

Steve – Cannot wait to see what this season will bring. Hope you will have me back.

Larry – Is it a plane, frog, a helicopter, no.. nice to hear from you.

Great to see some new faces and glad so many are sticking around.

NAME:  Joe

LOCATION: Blairstown, NJ

FAMILY/DESCRIPTION:  Married 15 yrs June 20! Step son 21, and Daughter 13. My daughter is on a swim team and provided the motivation for me to get back in shape.

STORY:  Work as a Manufacturing Engineer and commute 2+ hours every day. Not very conducive to staying in shape but about two years ago I go back in the pool. Then last year a friend convinced me to enter my first Tri. Being outdoors is where I feel most comfortable. I am a big solar energy proponent and continually look for ways to harvest free energy. It would be nice to one day put oil companies out of business.

CURRENT TRAINING:   Not always very consistent with the long work hours, and a large yard to take care of work out tie is hard to come by. This year I have averaged around 5 hours a week SBR with general 2x2x3. Training should be more 2x3x4 to help build the run and bike the way I want.

2012 RACES: 1^st Sprint Tri (1:37), 1^st 10K(60+ min) , 1^st !/2 marathon (2:16)

2013 RACES:   Jerseyman Sprint Tri this Saturday May 18, LMCC Pass It Along Sprint Tri July 27 (repeat), Looking to build for a ½ Iron distance race in Sept, or Oct currently targeting Shoreman 1/2

WEIGHTLOSS: Currently around 213 lbs. and would like to drop the 13 but still working out how to maintain energy and workout level to make this happen.

GOALS :  Race in ½ Iron distance this year, Drop 10+ minutes off of last years Tri result, and enjoy the results of a healthy lifestyle and share that with the family. I might add a sub 2 hr ½ Mary try in mid Oct.

WHAT WILL MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE: Have been here a few time and always learn something new and get great inspiration and always try to give that back to the group. Every person’s story is unique and much more real than any of the reality shows so there is a lot of strength and motivation to be gain through this process.

^^^^Totally agree!

And glad you hear that move is actually happeing!

Let's see we have a PT, a nurse, a psycologist, a coach, and a dietitian on our team (yes the spouses are part of the team ).  We should be able to work through just about anything that comes up.

Julie, I tend to have a hard time fitting in anything other than S/B/R, but I'm going to have to change that if I want to be/stay healthy.  Given where you are in coming back from surgery, I would think the beginner 13 week plan would be good coupled with yoga and light strength/stretch to maintain what you have and hopefully prevent injury.  As long as it's not too intense, it should not take away from your tri sport workouts.  Personally, I would not try to mix in insanity or anything really high intensity.

Short run in some light rain this morning.  Always a treat in the spring/summer to run in the rain!  Tried to load up a Rodney Yee DVD for a 20 minute yoga session, but our univeral remote died, and I didn't have the patience to figure it out otherwise.  So did some light stretching until Katy the dog brought me her bone and laid it right in the middle of my matt.  Dog and technology = 1, Carol = 0. 

Anthony, by the way that was a decent Oly you just did.  Almost 20mph on the bike, almost 8 mpm on the run, swim well you will hopefully find a swim coach at your new place 8).

Joe, always welcome.

Hey, folks. Glad to see all the new faces -- welcome!

Missed yesterday due to some biz travel, but did make masters swim today. I was the slow guy in my lane, and it was tough. The 2 guys ahead of me were fish, and I was nearly lapped at one point, but wouldn't let it happen . Did 3100 yards, which puts me at 6300 for the week - biggest swim week in a while. Bike tonight, run tomorrow AM. Nice to have the sun just starting  to come up at 4:30 or so while I'm out doing my thing.

HIM only 4 1/2 weeks away. Holy carp!

Today was one of those good/bad workout days.  After PT, I went and swam 5x150@10 and that went pretty well.  Again, the idea is to extend my distance slowly to make sure I don't overkick and reinjure.  Right now, my long total is 1K yards and 150 yards is the longest set.  If I can get in the pool again, I'll probably shoot for 175.  A few hours after the swim, I went out and did my longest bike ride ever....26 miles.  My pace was a very average 15.5 and I felt pretty beat at times.  Logically it makes sense; I killed my body yesterday, I'm still getting back into shape, I've never gone that far on the bike, AND I did a semi brick.  Unfortunately, none of that matters.  I'm pretty frustrated with myself...I thought I should've performed better.  It reminds me of when I ran 10 miles the first time and thought I was going to die...my thought was how in the world am I going to do 26.2  Again, logic and expectations often don't meet. 

Anthony: Good to hear the move is coming for you and your wife!  As far as the lifting is concerned, there's nothing wrong with BW exercises.  If you'd like some ideas, I can share some exercises I know.

Mike: I can't imagine you getting lapped by anyone with the numbers I've seen...but good job keeping the fishes at bay!  I hope the weather warms up in the next month so you don't go into shock when you hit Long Pond

Steve: My avg HR was 142..I know I don't have a LT to go against but any thoughts on that?  Also a quick Podium Quest question...I cut my straws a little too much...have you used the other straws they provide?  They look like they'd go over you straws you insert into the water tank.

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Carol - I snagged some of my workout cards out of my folder at the gym and brought them here to work.  Here are two examples of what I do...  Each line in the top part is a super-set.  I typically do 2 sets of each though I think I'm supposed to do 3.

Shorter workout:

Step-ups on medium box/Bench dips

Single leg squat to box/Deadlifts with kettle bells (or other weight)

Push-ups/X-band walk

Core:

Plank holds, Side planks, Weighted sit-ups with dumbbell (db), Trunk twist with db, Side V-ups with db, Pull over with alt leg raise w/db

Longer Workout:

Walking lunges with weight/Push-ups

Seated cable row/Prone leg curls

Pull-ups with assist/Dips with assist

Hip Abductor/Hip Adductor

Single leg Squat to medium box/Single leg deadlift with kb pickup

Glutes (Fire hydrants, knee circles, donkey kicks)/Hip bridge with leg extension

Core:

Plank holds, Side plank holds, Trunk twists w/ball, V-sits, Flutter kicks, Supermans

Hope that helps!  All the other workouts I have are pretty much variants on these - various lunges, squats, rows, kickbacks, etc.. and then a bunch of different core exercises.

Thanks Courtney!  Really appreciate it.  I suspect we have some similar "issues", so will start working these in.  I don't currently belong to a gym, but it looks like most of them (at least in the short set) don't really require that.  Park has some equipment that will simulate the boxes to step up on, and I have assorted hand weights.

Jay, don't beat yourself up...let us do that!  Just kidding!  From an outside point of view, your comeback looks to be going great.

Jay, easy fix.  I am not sure what is in your packet, but $1 worth of clear plastic tubing from the hardware store will extend your straws to whatever length you want. The friction will hold them in place.  If you have replacement straws you can just replace and recut to see how it works.  If it doesn't then you are fine with adding your 10 cents worth of extension.  And remember... years to get faster.... lifestyle.... incremental improvement knowing that fatigue load impacts current day performance.

For me 5 miles at 8:44 pace today, which is slow for me, but really good for where I am at in my training.  Tonight 15 mile bike and 2100 yard swim. 

Well, my plan to bike today was put to a halt by the rain, so I just hopped on my elliptical instead. I plan to do a 2500 meter swim workout in the am. I agree that the insanity may be too insane, bc I was feeling it today!

Julie  

Good morning everyone.

True to my goal, I did wake up at 4AM to get in a trainer workout.  It was a nice easy 30 minute recovery ride after my 1:40ish ride yesterday.  Legs didn't feel too bad but the pain on the side of my foot came back during the trainer ride....very odd because that pain doesn't happen on the road.  I wonder if its my boredom forcing me to overanalyze my body or if I'm spinning differently on the trainer.  I'd assume that if the side of foot pain was due to a bike fit that I'd be hurting when I was on the road too. (NOTE: I force myself to stay in the saddle for 95% of my outdoor rides too so I don't think that's the difference)

Steve, thanks for the tips on the plastic tubing.  I'll try the extra CeeGee's gave to me first and then if that doesn't work...HD/Lowe's here I come.  I guess in hindsite it was dumb to cut before I rode   Also, did you suggest that I be patient??   Not a Jay strongsuit for sure!  One last thing, not sure if you saw but I asked if you had an opinion on my HR during my ride yesterday....looking for too high, too low, potentially in Z2 etc.  Thanks

Off to shower and then work.  Have a good day all!

Hey everybody.  Hope you all have a great day!

Courtney - those exercises are key.  Thank you for sharing.  I do a lot of similar stuff for part of my injury prevention attitude.  Since I have been doing those kinds of exercises I feel a lot stronger.

Mitzi - Try not to worry too much about missing a workout.  I found in the past when I was constantly trying to make up workouts I was overdoing it and that led to burning out and injury.  Just try to stay as consistent as possible and get those key workouts in.

I am felling a bit tired this week.  It's been a very consistent last 10 weeks or so.  This is a recovery week for me so I am taking full advantage.  Took an extra day off running this week as well, which I think is a good idea since I'm not training for anything specific.  Gonna do a 5 miler today, ride and run tomorrow...

I passed on my morning bike becuase I'm going home after work and riding outside for the first time this year!!! Will be sunny and low 80's here today, and I'm dying to get out on the road and ride. Can't wait!!!

Jay -- the recovery seems to be coming along nicely for you.
Steve -- same for you. 20 weeks to IM Tahoe?

Mitzi -- as others have said, if you miss someting, don't worry, just go on to the next thing on the schedule.

Courtney -- no idea what much of that workout means, but it sounds like it would be very tiring, but great to do.

Mitch -- I think what Steve said about stroke lenght & turnover is right on. I'm in the 15-17/25yd count like yourself.

So I just got back from my 5.66 mile run. When I broke my foot I was running Low 7 MM and sub 7 for shorter 5k's and such.  Now I know I've only been running for 10 weeks again, but I feel like I'm running sub  8 mm, but when I look down It's 8:40's and such!  I know I need patience but I figured I would be running a bit faster than this. 

I'm wondering if I should add some speed work in so soon, or am I just impatient?  Is there any formula as to when speed returns?  Maybe it's because I'm in my 40's now?

Ya I was sub 6:00 mpm pace for flat 5ks before and was happy to do a 5 mile run sub 9:00 mpm this week. 

Alright looked at your logs.  For the past 4 weeks you have been averaging around 20-21 miles with a long of 8-9 with consistent paces, slight overall improvement (15-30 sec mpm).  It looks like you need to up your weekly mileage some getting into the mid 30s and you can now add in a tempo run 2x per week or 1 temp and some 3% grade hills.  I would top out your tempo run around 7:45 and do half mile speed increments, so like 1 mile at 9:00 then half miles 8:45, 8:30, 8:15, 8:00, 7:45, and back down cool down mile at 9:00.  Do that 2x per week and gradually incease your miles and you should see some improvement.  You are about 30 to 45 seconds per mile faster than me at the moment.  My weekly miles are up to 26 per week with this week's long 8 miles.  I know that I am carying fatigue into all my workouts at the moment so I know I won't be getting much speed comming along for another few weeks and I don't expect a 5 mile run at 7:30 to be comfortable for another 3 months.  After another month I would say start doing some 800 repeats at a around 7:45 and see how that feels start with 1 and then add another 1 per week.  By then you should be up to 25 miles per week for 4 weeks before throwing in the 800s.  After another 2-4 weeks at 30-35 miles per week add in 1 day of hills every other week.  (2:00 to 3:00 up a 3-6% grade at hard effort 8:15 mpm ish).   

Wow, this group has been posting!  I'm behind on everything.  Son's baseball, in a different league, started up this week so I've been working concession stands and scoreboards, leaving home at 7am and getting home at 9:30pm so I haven't been posting.

Everyone please forgive me but this paragraph is going to be self-centered and I'm sorry.  The old group knows that last month the doctor found that I had low hemoglobin and I've got to say that I've been worried.  Cancer is always where my brain goes and even aside from that niggling worry, the energy drain was miserable.  But I had a doc appt today and I'm fine!  Yay!  Combo of so many things and there is still work to do but the numbers are going in the right direction.  Jay, thanks so much for the post on the red meat, spinach (which I eat tons of),artichokes, and bell peppers.  We have to adjust some things but things are looking up.  Carol, I've got to tell you something tho.  Doc asked if I took a multivitamin and I told him no that it caused joint issues for me.  He nodded his head and said, "Yep, petite white women can have that issue." I was so thankful to have someone confirm that it was real (Hubby said I was crazy every time I mentioned the joint issues.)  So the recommendation for me is - prenatal vitamins.  So this 51 y.o. women is going go get her some prenatal vitamins and bump up her iron, folic acid, etc. 

Ok, like I said, very self-centered.  But I mention all of this in case others have this issues now or at a later date.

So now that I've got a clean bill of health, I really thinking about this 4th of July tri.....  It's not a full sprint - something like 450 yards, 10 miles, and 5K.  But I'm not signing up yet.  Pros: clear water therefore may help me with some of the swim panic and flat biking.  Cons: Afraid if I sign up, I'll remove my focus on the strength training (for osteo) and running (for mental health).  Dang, I wish I knew what I wanted to do when I was all grown up.  Have the rest of you got your life figured out?

I read that some of our new people are concerned about the monthly posting.  Please, please, please never be afraid of that.  Yes, some people are gonna have numbers that are intimidating (sp?) and others are going to have low numbers.  It's not a competition.  We are all here for different reasons and we are all at different stages in our life and training.  We all need different things.  Julie, you realize that yoga and strength are necessary for you and Girl, go with it.  Courtney, those are some good exercises to be doing. 

Gotta go now.  Again sorry that so much is self-centered but I wanted to share since so many of you have had a part in the recovery.

Hi everyone that I havent officially greeted! Glad you're here.

Pam:  YAY! That check up must REALLY put you at ease.  Thank goodness.  So happy for you.  Strength training can definitely be done in conjunction with your July training!  I think if you plan it out on the calendar and have set days for strength training you'd more likely get it in...as opposed to getting the sbr in and (maybe) plugging in the strength when time permits or when you "feel" like it.  Make it a priority like the sbr and I know it can be done!

Jay- Please define "meatheadish".  haha

Re: strength training- Always trying to get some sort of strength training in.  Its the "balance" thing that throws it off.  Ive actually never done ciruit training.  When I was a "gym rat", it was all about focus on 1-3 body parts (Back/bi's or chest/shoulders/tris, legs got their own day) but since ive been doing tri's I just dont have 1+ hrs a day to train w weights. So now on strength training days (when i can find that balance), I'll  do supersets (two excercises back to back w no rest).  Keeps the heartrate up like the circuit does.  Looks like you guys will keep me motivated to get more of that in! 

So the household has fully recovered!  yay!  Yesterday I got in a 3 mi run first thing in the morning.  Then later a 30 mi ride.  My stomach hadn't fully recovered from that bug.  Had these random painful cramping during both run and bike.  When on the ride I freewheeled it till the cramping subsided.  Today I swam and ran.  Forgot my towel but got in the workout anyway. Lottsa chatty-cathy's there today. 

Shin-Splints-  I have never had shin splints. Then in January I started feeling discomfort in my shins (on the outside not on bone).   Im pretty sure it was due to a bootcamp that I had taken part in from Nov-Jan.  Lots of plyo-type movements, tons of jump-squats& explosive jump movements.  Shoes may have also played a part.  So I went from running 50-60m/mo Sept-Jan to 30m/mo in Feb when spints was at its worst.  Not having any trouble now except for an occational dull ache after the longer runs. Did a slow 7+ mi run last week w no trouble.  I have layed off any speedwork because that's when I always will feel discomfort.   Tried to incorporate strides in my run today felt it in the shins immediately.  I got rid of the shoes that I think may have contributed to prob and stopped bootcamp. I will occasionally use foam roller on shins.  Read somewhere to use a golf ball or tennis ball under your foot and roll it, massaging the muscle on the bottom of the foot that attaches to the shin.  This feels good but I dont do either of these excercises every day b/c I dont feel discomfort everyday!  Will this ever go away???  Any suggestions?