Asphalt Junkies Winter Edition - CLOSED (Page 4)

You know your schedule Will but I think missing 9 days of training, provided it's not a key week, wouldn't mess you up all that much.  It would be a good recovery week if planned well and you could hit the training hard for another cycle and then taper depending on the date of the race.

Looking at your training calender so far this year I think you could easily build to a HIM volume in a month or so on the bike and swim.  Your run volume would take a bit longer but it's not far off right now.

Hey Gang,

This cold is still putting a damper on Tri training, but I have managed a couple of short runs this week anyway. I never know when I'm going to wake up coughing in the middle of the night and not be able to lay back down without the dry cough continuing. Fortunately work has been slow these last two weeks so I've been able to get days off when I haven't had any sleep the night before.

The weather here has been fantastic during the last few days. 70+ degrees and clear, so being sidelined has really been frustrating.

I'm still 15 weeks out from the 1/2 marathon I'd like to run but I really need to start building my run base to get there.

Tony,  Did you end up running the 10 miler? 

Vero,  If you've had something going for as long as you have (if I remember right longer than a couple of weeks), it sounds more like an upper respiratory infection/virus.  It seems every year around here people get something that lasts for weeks and weeks.  I think things like this are becoming more and more prominent because we have been prescribed so many antibiotics (overuse) for so long that the illnesses/viruses have developed their own antibodies, if you will.  It is for this reason that I, for years, have been somewhat of the polar opposite of a germi-phobe.  I used to get on Lis for always getting the anti-bacterial soaps until it had become nearly impossible to buy anything but those types of items.  Now the word is that we have done just what I stated earlier and the "new wisdom" is to remove much of the antibacterial stuff from the soaps and other items.  I'll end my tangent now.

Joanne, What type of riding were you doing?  VO2? Threshold?  And was that the max number of watts you've hit before the crazy peaks you have gotten recently?

I am with you on the morning workouts too.  As I get closer to warmer weather I am planning to begin getting morning runs in so I can set my body up for those 2-a-days myself.  I had done this early last year and abandon it after only 6 weeks or so but I'll have to pull that back out of the closet for this season.  Running will be the only one I'll be able to do AM workouts for because of the pool hours.  Riding on the trainer is out because of the noise and riding outside would be a poor idea too because of the darkness.

I had a full day yesterday.  I did the whole SBR for my workouts but that hadn't been the plan.  Laiken came over to the house of Thursday night and since I don't get to see her nearly as much since she moved out I thought I could skip that night and add it to my Friday plan.  

Anyway, I swam a 4x500 yesterday morning and checked my data for consistency during the swim.  I swam within 3 strokes total for all 4 of my 500's yesterday morning (195, 197, 196, 197, fastest time was  7:15).  This can be important to help each person find a solid rhythm in their swimming.  Obviously the Garmin 910 helps find this for me but there are other options such as the Finis Swimsense, etc.

I quickly compared workouts from the past and on Aug 17, 2012, I found some 500's where I swam 217, 224, 234  for total strokes.  Very inconsistent.  My times were significantly slower for this particular swim too, so a swim fitness has obviously developed as well (8:07 was the fastest that day).  Part of the inconsistencies are related to the additional length of time for each set but the pattern of poor stroking is apparent.  If I were more consistent with  my stroke count my times would have been much closer.

With that in mind, how about a project for everyone?  For those with the Garmin 910 or other watches that have the capability, begin to examine stroke count a little more closely over some of the longer sets you're completing.  Try to find consistencies and inconsistencies for these swim and attempt to figure out why they exist.  A large reduction in stroke count could be from over-gliding (I found one of those in my log too) and a much higher count may be from short, rapid stroking which tires you out more quickly.  Each person has a sweet spot that will be based on overall height, arm length and fitness, to name a few, but you should be able to find it over time.

If you don't have a watch, try to count stokes for every 100 and see what type of consistency you have through the entire workout.  You don't have to remember all of the info and write it down later, just try yo compare the 100's as you're swimming.  For instance, if you swim one interval at 45 strokes and another at 40 or 50 you can begin to make some interpretations with this information.  This can be just as useful to you as the watch!  You may not have the visible data to back this up but the data exists nonetheless, just in your mind.  If no watch is available make sure you log as much mental data as possible so you can refer back to it later.

NOTE: The stroke count I have used is for one arm only.  The watch does not count both sides, nor does it multiply data to reflect both arms.

Originally posted by Jo63 Oh man Tony that is terrible. My thought and prayers are with the family. As for my bike ride... I honestly do not know the difference as far as threshold or vo2 whatever I just do what the workout says lol so the main set was alternating 10x 30 @ 100-106 % and 30 @ 68- 73% I felt pretty good yesterday but today was a deiiferent story, for the main set it was 2x18 @ 94-100% I made it thru the first set then I was supposed to do 4 min easy but had to take a 10 min easy before I could push thru rest good news is I finished! So question...... Would it be better to somehow push thru the beginning of the second set and let up at the end or do it how i did it?

I agree with Tony.  If you can finish the workout, that's the thing to do.  Even a reduced workload in the same ride has it's benefits.  Remember if using Trainer Road plans, or any other well thought out plan, you are going to have to stretch yourself, especially at the end.  Your are gaining physiologically and mentally during these efforts. 

VO2 efforts are designed to increase the volume of oxygen your body can use per kilogram of body weight.  In English, it's the efficiency of your body to move the available oxygen into your muscles to create the desired effort or response.  VO2 is trainable, of course, or we wouldn't do it.  Training for VO2 is important because we can apply the better O2 efficiency during race efforts and get to the finish line in a shorter period of time.  And we all like that!

Threshold workouts are less intense than the VO2 workouts but they are not easy.  During these workouts you can feel the lactate developing the burning in your muscles and the fatigue building.  Threshold workouts are generally slower and develop the ability to perform longer at a higher speed/rate.

It seems that nearly all of us have seen the impact of this type of unexpected event recently.  It certainly brings the realities and importance of life into a little better focus.

Hello beautiful people!  

VERO - my man - get yourself looked at like others have said.  You've been sick just too long.

DINA  -  how's your Dad?  Is he still in the hospital?

JEFF - always good to see your name crop up here - you have great explanations for things

TONY - good job on the solid workout week!  It's funny how one day your body feels like it could go forever and others where you just don't feel it.   I gotta say that I was shocked when I read your post about passing on a MTN bike ride.  I've never heard of you passing on anything and was beginning to think you were just like the energizer bunny who never stops.  I was actually very glad to see you're partly human. 

JENN -  glad you claimed your spot amongst us.   You are just too cute in your FB pics taken at work.  You look like you're doing something you love.

MATT -  any more issues on the foot?  So glad you were able to complete your awesomely muddy run without pain.  As an RD are you working on your race yet or is it still far enough away you're not dealing with it?

DIRK - what can I say to you other than I hate you?  "Crushing yourself" on the bike and setting all these PRs on the swim.  Ugh....who can keep up with you?  And you suggest I publicize my stroke count?  I didn't know the 910 kept track of that but I checked and it does.  Where yours is 200 - mine would be 1000.   Yep, I hate you in the kindest way I can.

JOANNE -  Did you find a replacement for your massage therapist?  Hope so for your sake.  Glad to hear your bike training is making improvement.  Question for you - if I remember right, you went up to Madison for a weekend during the summer and rode the course, right?  Did you connect with a group or just go solo or do I not remember correctly?

WILL -  I assume your trip to Ecuador is a missions trip?   Are you taking some of your youth group with you? 

JAYNE -  I know you were traveling this weekend to a warmer place per FB.  Hope you had a good trip and are ready to deal with the sub zero weather we're supposed to get again.

WARREN -  I love that you enjoy hockey.  I think that's a cool sport to cross train with.  Knowing you plan on doing the relay this summer with your sons again makes me smile.  I don't think you've mentioned it, but does Kathy race or does she just love running for the enjoyment? 

DEREK -  same for you with hockey although, with you being Canadian, it's expected.   I know you're a Sufferfest lover.  What other ones do you recommend (Blender is the only one I have).   I don't see any races listed in your logs - what's up for you in 2014?

Although I took more swimming lessons recently and have been working on the swim speed workouts I've not improved my speed one bit.   Well, I improved for a while but I was starting to have shoulder pain so I backed back down.   I decided to either keep getting frustrated or just deal with the fact that 2:30/100 is about what I'll go over long distances (I can see you cringing through my computer screen).   You all know I gotta do this with joy or I'm out.   So, after 8 years of swimming with multiple lessons and countless hours in the pool I'm just resigned to be what I am and be content with it.  So that's where I am and that's why I hate Dirk.     My biking is improving a bit and running is consistent since I've mostly been putting time on the treadmill.   All in all, no complaints - life is good.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Thanks for the recommendations, DEREK.   I've heard others talk about Local Hero so I'll order that one today.   A friend is coming over on Friday to do a bike workout with me and I thought one of the Sufferfests would be perfect.     Your race schedule sounds fun.   I'd not heard of the World Police and Fire games so I googled it.  WOW!  That looks like an impressive venue over 10 days.   How much of it would you be part of? 

Have you heard of the "Wisconsin Brick Adventure" weekend, JOANNE?   From their website -  "It's a self-supported weekend of brick workouts on the IMWI swim, bike, and run courses. Participate in a laid-back, train at your own pace introduction to the course with local athletes who have spent many hours in the area and who have competed in IMWI"    A friend from my town said it was an awesome weekend and very helpful so he recommended it to me.   They haven't posted the date they're doing it this year yet, though.   Last year it was July 12th and that's the same weekend as Muncie 70.3 which I think DIRK is doing so we couldn't ask him along.    You're doing Racine, though, which is the next weekend so it may not work for you, either if they keep the date the same.   I'll keep an eye on it and let you know my plans.   I joined another Madison triathlon meet and greet blog and they said what you did - that there are always people out on the course every weekend so you're bound to connect.    

I'm going to see if I can check that movie out of our library, WILL, then I'll be able to visualize where you'll be.   That's great you have kids who want to be part of impacting the world.   Saw on FB where your baby girl is sick.  Hope it's not too serious and that she feels better soon.

School is delayed for 2 hours here this morn due to lake-effect snow and cold wind-chill so my swim has been postponed.   Hope that no matter what you have planned for the day, you're all safe and happy!