Gordo Byrn's Group - FULL (Page 40)

HELLO G-TEAM.

while were all reporting in.....

29 min swim.  800 yds still working on my 'cricket' stroking, not seeing any 'evidence' in my SPL or my times YET (not getting 'better' but not gettin 'worse' either...)  ill keep plugging away at it.  it IS becoming more 'natural' ie i dont have to think about it as much, reminscent of when i first started 3 stroke breathing.

BTW, JEFF, nice improvement in your 400 m time, thats SUPER!  such motivation to keep plugging away when you see THAT kind of improvement.  YEAH YOU!

59 min bike.  went BACK to the park today.  so much quieter.  stayed on the back side of the lake where theres a bike only lane [that is when people and dogs stay out of it] ....no incidents, thankfully.

w my MS150 mileage adding in next week, and the warm weather, im trying to 'jump on' my time in the saddle, so todays ride was over and above...

i have 5.75 hr/wk - 77 miles total to get in next week [based on my current av pace]

i would be doing 4:07 w my Oly plan, so isnt all that big of leap to the xtra miles/time.

those two a day workouts are gonna be starting, right quick though, what w the warm temps [swimming at the Y, and then heading to the trail/park to ride] and the MS time/miles.

the TOTAL increases approx. an hour/10 miles each week, over the next 8 weeks...totally doable.  though, when i totaled up the mileage, i GASPED.  HOLY MOLY thats a lot of miles/time....but then when you break down to single days/ride/hrs, it isnt as daunting.

slow&steady

HAPPY CYCLING!

GOT R DUN inspite of the not nice ski legs.  WAY TO GO YOU!

now now, play nice next time mrwritebrained's ski legs.  [w my best mom shaking index finger i can muster.....]  wink.

oh HI G. (scrolled past your post....)

welcome back! 

back in Boulder, bike trip in AZ,

youre one lucky fella. 

G-Team,

Happy St. Pat's!  I cannot wait to enjoy this 70 degree weather we are expecting in Chicago today.

BB

 Brian,

 Thanks, I had a great trip.  Was really surprised at the crossover value of my winter sports to cycling.

g

2100 yrd swim - 1hr

40 min. on the bike - outside

reportin' in.

lovely ride.  on my fav trail.  had it pretty much to myself.

97 mins, rolling hills, windy path.  watched the fog roll off the lake.

enjoyed a picnic lunch when i finished up.

doesnt get much better than that....

[oh and to top off my lovely day, my son brought me home a bouquet of crocuses....im so fortunate]

another bike tomorrow [while the weather is nice] 78 mins

and then a run right afterwards, 38 mins.

after the good rides the past few days, the MS trng schedule seems even more doable than before.

onward!

AND.....

my husband came home w a bouquet of daffodils for me.

must be my lucky day.

heh.

i AM irish. 

G,

Quick swim question.  I noticed that I have a tendency to drift a little to my left (offside) while swimming.  Not a hugh amount but I do drift left.  Not a big deal but sometimes when I "zone out" and get tired occasionally I bump against the lane rope - adjust and then be on my way.  When I'm paying attention to the line at the bottom of the pool it doesn't happen.  Any guess (entry off/rotation of hips when breathing/etc.) as to what could be causing this without seeing video of the stroke?

 Two things to consider...

 You lift/pull head to the left when breathing... or...

 You are crossing over your mid-line with your right arm at entry (pulling yourself left).

g

steady as i go ride and run

78 min ride, then a 38 min run afterwards.

definately experienced that 'difficult transition' from the bike to the run.

better to have sooner rather than later/in training rather than race day.

ODD sensation it was.

it wasnt so much that my muscles were uncomfortable.

it was the feeling of INERTIA coming off the bike and starting to run.

like i was running, but not getting anywhere, like i was running in place.

theres a different rhythm/cadence bike to run that took a little getting used to.

definately different than what i experienced going from spin bike to the indoor track at the Y.

i did walk a bit until i felt my legs 'telling' me to run, so the transition went smoothly.  glad to have the experience/an opportunity to practice.

onward HO!

 This is very normal -- remember that no matter what speed you are running, it is going to feel slow relative to your bike pace.  So the sensation of not going anywhere... totally normal.  It is also why it can feel easy to be running a little "too fast" out of T2.

 g

G,

Not that you needed to hear it from me - but the calf raises worked.  Been doing them religously after every run/bike workout and I have not had a calf cramp/pulled muscle in over a month.

4.4 mile run - HRZone 3

 Thanks for letting me know -- it is surprising how effective a simple exercise like that can be.

 g

Workout Ideas that you might find helpful

==========

Swim #1 -- purpose is to learn to change speed while swimming

2x25

2x50 Easy on 10s rest

2x75 Steady on 10s rest

+++

100 Easy on 10s rest;

200 Steady on 10s rest

300 as 100 Mod-Hard, 100 Steady, 100 Easy on 15s rest

400 Alternate 100 Mod-Hard with 100 Easy on 20s rest

500 Steady

+++

Cool Down

++

Swim #2 -- purpose is to build four different gears in the water

4x100 on 15s rest

#1 50 Easy, 50 Steady

#2 50 Steady, 50 Mod-Hard

#3 Easy

#4 Fast

4x50 Easy on 15s rest

+++

4x250 on 15s rest

Goal is to swim each one faster than the previous

Start Easy!

Get splits for each 250

+++

Cool Down

=====================

You need to think about four "gears"

Easy <65% effort

Steady ~70% effort

Mod-hard ~80% effort

Threshold ~90% effort

Remember to start a little easier than you think -- give yourself room to improve

Bike #1 Ten minutes quick cadence easy/steady effort then:

• 5 x 1/1/1 minutes – 1 minute left leg, 1 minute right leg, 1 minute both legs

• 2 x 5/5 minutes – 5 minutes at 92-94 rpm and 5 minutes at 65-70 rpm

Single leg work only done indoors.

Don’t one-leg-it down the road outside.

Overall, aim for a steady effort – avoid your Mod-Hard zone.

Brick #1 Bike 1:00

Start with ten minutes Easy increasing to Steady

Then ride ten minutes where you alternate 1 minute Threshold with 1 minute Easy

Straight into 40 minute main set…

Pattern is 5/10/5 and you cycle through 2x

• Steady / Mod-Hard / Steady

• Steady / Mod-Hard / Steady

Run 30 minutes as 3x10 minutes

Pattern is 3/3/3/1:

• Steady / Mod-Hard / Steady / Walk

Throughout this workout, your capacity to recover while going Steady, as opposed to Easy, will help you estimate the depth of your fitness.

A deep level of aerobic fitness will be indicated by an ability to recover at a moderate aerobic effort. Also, watch that your Mod-Hard doesn't creep into Threshold, or VO2, effort.

Okay - this should make the pool workout a little less boring as well.  Also, after sending you the email about drifting left in the pool I went over Chapter 6 in your book again.  There was a reference about having a "banana shape".  I'll try out your tips tomorrow in the pool and see if I can pinpoint the problem. 

Finally, there was an interesting line in the book under the bilateral breathing section.  It said "Although extensive use of bilateral breathing is recommended for training, breathing every cycle is recommended for racing".  I'm not sure how I should interpret that?  My guess is that is intended for elite level athletes rather than novices - is that the case?

 The basic intention is "take the air" and switch sides to stay balanced -- use b/l 3 as an intensity check on how hard you are hitting it.

 With the anxiety that is normal at the swim start -- taking a little extra air will help keep you relaxed.  Being relaxed is quite important in the first 1/3rd of the swim -- even if you are going "fast".

 http://www.endurancecorner.com/library/swimming/workouts_sc

 You'll find a bunch of interesting swims in the article link, above.

 g

GORDO. 

wanted to know if you might be able to help me out...

i started to take a closer look at the MS150 plan that i downloaded, the plan is pretty standard fare mileage-wise id say, but my guess is that its for someone who is cycling ONLY and doing not much else.

its a TON of miles, and is going to be TONS of time to do the plan 'as is'

im still committed to doing the MS150 (the first weekend in June)   and i want to be as prepared as possible going into this ride.  im not going into it to race, but im not going out there to lollygag/tour either.

question:

is there a reasonable 'exchange rate' for run and swim for a cycling workout in terms of times/distance....

i know all my runs and swims 'count' and will certainly contribute to my overall fitness level, but im fairly confident that i will need to add in xtra miles, i just dont know how much is reasonable.

im doing the 20 Week Olympic - 3x Balanced trng plan from BT, so im already doing quite a bit of cycling, but when i started crunching the numbers, and trying to figure where i would make up the xtra mileage/time, its just not gonna happen.

like i said, im not going out to race, but im not going out to tour.

i want to be prepared, but i dont want to go 'overboard' either.

having never done a century/150 , do you have a suggestion on what would be a REASONABLE AMT. of mileage week to week/total going into the event?

ill have 10 weeks to train, starting next week, what w the nice weather we had this week i got a little bit of headstart....

im currently in week # 3 of the first month of the 20 week Oly plan.

anything you can suggest.  im all ears.

if you need more specific numbers let me know.

YES. i can totally understand how that could happen ie too fast/out of T2.

good to know its 'normal' though.

ooops should have posted my wrkout info too...heres the low down.

38 min swim - still working on the 'cricket' stroke, its a comin' and takes a whole lot less 'thought' than before.  just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

29 min run indoors pffflt.  the run was fine, its the indoors thats the plffft part.  AV HR 127, PK HR 152

hoping to get a run outside in over the weekend, looks like mother nature will cooperate somewhat on sat.  long swim is on tap as well, probably get that in on sunday.....

onward HO!