David Gillen's Group - FULL (Page 4)

Knowing your HR during a workout is important so you can gauge your intensity.  In other words, so that you don't go too hard or too easy for what your trying to accomplish.   I'll get more into the details of this soon.  In fact, this weekend I'll try to write up a little article about heart rate training with some good links to a lot more information about it.   

Until then, Matt, I'd just make sure you know how to use the basic features of your S150 and maybe find out if you can set your zones on it.  Zones are simply ranges of heart rate values.  Zone 1 is the easiest and might be something like 125-140.  Zone 2 is the aerobic zone and is the most important, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Also, Matt, if I were you I'd run, not walk, to your favorite bookstore and buy a copy of "Going Long" by Joe Friel and Gordon Byrn.  It's specifically designed for IM training.  It was my bible last year, and much I've what I've learn and will be sharing with you will be from this book.

David 

You'll definitely want to take in some calories on the bike.  Ken's suggestion of uncrustables and honey is good one that I've heard from many people.  I've used something similar: a peanut butter and honey "bend-over", which is just one slice of bread bended over.  I find I can digest it pretty easy.  

You could also try some gels.  These are very popular, provide about 100 calories, and are generally easy to digest if you chase them with a couple good gulps of water.  

For you next race, we'll practice this nutrition and find out what works best for you as this is a very critical component to events lasting over 2 hours.  But for now, I'd shoot for about 300 - 400 calories on your 24 mile bike.  You might want to avoid taking any gels or solid food in the last 15-20 minutes on the bike however in order to give your stomach adequate time to digest before the run.  

On the run, prefer Gatorade to water, but I'd avoid solid food for a 5 miler.

Let me know if you have more questions.

phoenixrising404 - 2007-05-17 7:41 PM RE: OWS Notes to Self: 1. USE inhaler first! (Asthmatic here, the COLD triggers an attack!) 2. Look back at beach to see which one to return to! (Got out there and decided I couldn't breathe properly due to cold induced asthma and so headed back--except I went to the wrong shore entirely and so ended up doing the whole yardage or so anyway.....) 3. When the nice lady in the kayak asks if you want her to go back with you, don't be a Miss I Can Do It Myself! Let her help you back in!! 4. Ditch the freaking goggles that leak and fog up and get ones that you can actually SEE in so you know where the heck you are going!!! 5. Bring extra dry clothes for all three kids as they are KIDS and WILL get their pants legs totally and completely wet playing on the shore even if you repeatedly tell them not to!! 6. Don't promise children Walmart after the swim, as you will be WET! And it's just a bit risky to strip from waist down in the parking lot at said store to take off wet tri shorts and put on dry jeans, even if you got away with it this time! Thank God I had a nice warm dry pullover fleece to hide the wet tri top!!! 7. PRACTICE THIS A LOT, AS YOU PRETTY MUCH SUCKED AT IT!!!!! (But it was fun anyway and I noticed I sort of swaggered through Walmart feeling rather like an almost sort of TRIATHLETE CHICK

OK, we definitely know who the comedian of the group is!!  This post was so funny I had to show my wife.  Not we're laughing at you, but with you.  She's scared of OW swims, so she feels your pain.

Seriously though, thanks for sharing Pene.  The first is always the worst.  My wife was in complete tears after her first OWS.  It'll get better quick.  You'll know what to expect next time, and you're already learning.   So that's great.  Do try to find a good pair of googles that fit your eye sockets well.  It took me about 4 pairs before I found one that worked for me.

Loved your last line, and you should feel like a TRIATHLETE!  You are one!  OWS is tough and a lot of strong athletes don't dare step in water "they can't see the bottom of"  But you're not one of those athletes, you're a triathlete.  You should hold your head high.  Congratulations.

Yes, Mike it's a lot easier to digest on the bike. If you think about it, your stomach is fairly motionless on the bike whereas on the run, it's bouncing up and down with every stride! That's why a lot of people recommend trying to get in 60-70% of all your race calories on the bike!

Pene, Please try to practice this. Especially taking a sip out of bottle while riding. It is very important to drink, and I'm glad you're stopping now, but with practice you can learn to do it while riding. Just practice on a smooth, flat road with no traffic. With practice, you'll learn!

Dave, I am much like yourself. I basically try to fit in a full body workout on an easy days. I'm trying to get more structured about this and follow a periodization plan with lifting as well as the aerobic training. I'll try to talk more about this soon, but I think a lot of people would have you prioritize swimming, biking, and running over lifting. That is, if you had a fixed amount of time, and had to choose one. If you have lots of time, then by all means lift! However, don't lift too close to a long or fast run. This could cause injury.

BTW, I apologize for not logging my training yet.  I intend to start this weekend as I don't want to be hypocrite!! Up to now, I've been using a Polar's training log that came with my S625X b/c it automatically updates the log when I download the data from my HRM. 

There seems to be some interest in weight training here which is good.  I'm not really an expert in this area and I've never really followed a structured lifting program, but I do know some of the basics:

1. If you have limited time, prefer to SBR (swim, bike, or run).
   
2. Don't workout legs to close (24- 48 hrs) to a long or fast run.
3. Don't lift before swimming.  After is OK.
4. Weight training should be "periodized", just like aerobic training.  This means that during the earlier and longer "base" period, you should be doing relative light weights with higher reps (15-20).  Then, during the "build" period (I'll define these soon), you should start to focus more on building strength by increasing the resistance and decreasing the reps.
   

I don't have any good references on weight training yet, but I'll try to find some soon.

However, I have started to put together a list of my absolute favorite articles about triathlon.  They can be found by using the "btgroup" tag for my del.icio.us page: http://del.icio.us/dgillen/btgroup.  I've also put a brief comment on each of these links.  You can actually see all of my bookmarks if you like and some the ones tagged with "triathlon" or "training" might also be of interest to some of you.  However, these links are not commented.

There really is a wealth of information out there, and I certainly don't want any of us to feel overwhelmed.  Don't feel like you have to read/understand all of it.  My hope is that I can filter out some of the resources for you and only show you my favorites.   This list will grow over time and you can subscribe to it with your favorite feed reader to be notified when I add an article.  

Let me know your thoughts about this.

Thanks, and again don't worry about process any or all of it.  This thread has really taken off and you all are posting a lot of great information, but it is a lot.  So, please read it all if you want, but pick and choose otherwise!  If I/we can "tingle your brain", then we've succeeded!

I love it.  You've been bit by the IM bug HARD!  Awesome, but you've got time.  I don't want you worried about what training is required to complete an IM yet.  The earliest you'd do one is Sept 08, right?  You really shouldn't even start thinking about starting to train for it until the end of this year.  Let's focus on just getting you some solid experience, slowly building up your base mileage, and getting you prepared and in peak condition for your "A" (or highest priority) races this year!

About the PM, I don't have one and haven't used one, but I agreed that it'd make a great training tool and investment.  HOWEVER, I really think you should get proficient at using a HRM before a PM.   But if you a spare $1000 burning a hole in your pocket, then by all means get one!

First of all, be sure to build up to these long rides.  Don't go right out and bike 5hrs if you have gone over 3 before.  Try not to increase the time of your long ride by too much more than 10-15% each week.  

I think you mentioned that you're dong a 2-3 hr ride now on Sundays, right?  If that's been your longest ride, then next week I might try to move up to a 3.5 hr long ride.  Then, a 4 hr ride, etc.  For now, you should only have one of these long rides a week.  The other rides can be anywhere from 1 - 2 hrs.   Most of your rides should be done in Zone 2, meaning a steady aerobic pace where you can carry on a conversation.  You shouldn't be pushing really hard at any time during these long rides.

I'm glad you've identified your limiter.  That's a very important step in training that I have yet to mention.  If cycling is your limiter, then maybe once every other week you should try to get in a second long ride in the week.  For example, once you've worked up to a 4 hr ride on Sat, you might turn around and do a 2.5 or 3 hr ride on Sunday.  Also, if you could find time to bike 4 times/wk instead of 3 that would be really good too. 

Trainers...Arghh... I hate those things.  I used mine about 8-10 times last year, and I haven't been on it at all this year.  But, I live in TX, so we can almost ride outdoors year round here.  I get so bored on mine, even with a Spinerval or movie on.  I HAVE to ride outside.

However, I totally respect those who ride on them out of necessity due to family or time constraints or weather.  They're invaluable for that.  However, I don't have kids and it doesn't snow or get bitter cold down here too often, so I'm lucky.

Trainers are perfect for rides during the week when you need to squeeze in an hour ride here or there, but I'd really try to get outside for your longer rides on the weekend.