Kenj - triathletes in training CLOSED (Page 44)

Got back from vacation Sunday at 3am.  We had a WONDERFULL time in Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  Hiking was incredible!  I really can't even begin to explain how incredible the landscape is there. 

The hiking was actually pretty difficult.  Kudo's to my wife for hanging in there in my crazy attempts to go further and see more.  She was great.  I wore some minimilistic trail shoes on the hike.  Big mistake!  My calves have been sore and hurting since Sunday.  Had to take a couple days to recover from the hiking Sat/Sun.  Hopefully, I'll get back to the plan tonight.

Running Shoes question:

     How do you know when it's time for you to replace your running shoes?  Physical-wise. 

I had 92 miles put on these Kinvera shoes.  Yesterday, I was fast - first time sub 1:00 for 6 mile run (whoooot whoot!), BUT...I was having a bit of calf tightness. It's not very severe, but it did get annoying to feel it on my run. It happened the last few runs. 

ALSO - I notice that it felt like my ankles are being rolled over to the side. It's especially noticeable when I'm running faster, and occasionally feels like the bones are "creaking" a bit.    I'm not sure if it's just my form. Seems like I am rolling my foot when I do a stride - side of foot first slightly, then roll to midfoot. It's slightly, but it's there. I noticed it in one of my race photos.   I've tried to keep my foot straight, but it feels "weird", and I don't heel strike (that itself feels really weird!).

I may just go to my LRS and have them check on my last few pairs of shoes and compare the treads.  I just find replacing the shoes at <100 miles a little too low. 

I've had Ghost, and they felt fine, just a little less cushion in the forefoot than I like, and what I like about the Kinveras is the much less heel drop, it just feels better than the Ghost. 

Perhaps I've become a overpronator? Dang...:-(

Congrats DJ!  Nice runnin'!!!!

For me I know it's time when I start feeling more impact.  Knees and other joints start feeling more of a pounding and sore.  I usually get 350-400 miles out of my shoes. 

You may have always been an overpronator.  You just didn't know till you got faster.  Usually, it's the other way around.  The more you run the stronger you get and the less you pronate.  But if you're not running consistently, you could have gotten faster without strengthening supporting muscles.  When you go to your LRS make sure you are running your race pace and your normal pace to have them analyze pronation. 

Nice run DJ! 

I use the equipment tracker and start using them for recovery runs or shorter runs once they start approaching 350 or so.  I can usually tell though that they are starting to break down. 

Brian may be right about your stride changing and the over pronation showing up now that your starting to get faster.  Plus that model shoe doesn't offer a lot of support so maybe for the longer runs you may want something with some more cushion.  Have you had a run shop with the video on the treadmill to check your stride? 

Sounds like a great vacation Brian!!

Meulen - 2012-06-20 9:58 AM I guess this is more of a rant than anything!   I started reading Fink's book on the plane ride home from Vegas.  He encouraged trying morning workouts.  I've always done some small 20 minute strength workouts in the morning and occassionally some runs during the week.  I do them pretty regularly on the weekends.  So this morning I get up at 3am to run.  Cool, feel great till 8am.  Now I CAN'T STAY AWAKE!!! lol

LOL!  I am in the habit of getting up at 4 - 4:15 most days, the staying awake part doesn't bother me until after dinner in the easy chair watching TV before bed.  I wind up sleeping in the chair until the middle of the night about half the time! 

kenj - 2012-06-20 10:18 AM

Meulen - 2012-06-20 9:58 AM I guess this is more of a rant than anything!   I started reading Fink's book on the plane ride home from Vegas.  He encouraged trying morning workouts.  I've always done some small 20 minute strength workouts in the morning and occassionally some runs during the week.  I do them pretty regularly on the weekends.  So this morning I get up at 3am to run.  Cool, feel great till 8am.  Now I CAN'T STAY AWAKE!!! lol

LOL!  I am in the habit of getting up at 4 - 4:15 most days, the staying awake part doesn't bother me until after dinner in the easy chair watching TV before bed.  I wind up sleeping in the chair until the middle of the night about half the time! 

I'm up at 4am every morning to get to work.  Which is why I needed to get up at 3am for a workout.  That extra hour just did me in! LOL   I tried to go to bed a little early last night too.  I literally came home from work and jumped on the bike,  got off and ran, grabbed a peanut butter sandwich after my workout, showered and went to bed.  It was still 9:30pm!!! only 1/2 hour early!!!

gator22 - 2012-06-21 5:56 AM Sounds like everyone is doing great! I have been crazy busy at work and have not done anything except a few crossfit workouts. I suck! My youngest just finished school yesterday so I am hoping I get some more time before the mussel man or I might skip it

I hope not!  Tell the bad guys to cool it so you can train!

gator22 - 2012-06-21 5:56 AM Sounds like everyone is doing great! I have been crazy busy at work and have not done anything except a few crossfit workouts. I suck! My youngest just finished school yesterday so I am hoping I get some more time before the mussel man or I might skip it

Do what you can it will always payoff in the end. I tell that to my wife all the time but unless everything's "perfect" she won't work out. 

Man if I waited till "prefect" I'd never get workout in...LOL

Still struggling to put together a decent week and I have my first tri coming up in a couple weeks.........

I have established a new goal. Swim every day for 30 days, even if its just 15 minutes of drills in the backyard after the kids go to bed. Well, i posted to the internet now, so i guess i better do it.

Happy training all!

acv - 2012-06-21 12:57 PM

gator22 - 2012-06-21 5:56 AM Sounds like everyone is doing great! I have been crazy busy at work and have not done anything except a few crossfit workouts. I suck! My youngest just finished school yesterday so I am hoping I get some more time before the mussel man or I might skip it

Do what you can it will always payoff in the end. I tell that to my wife all the time but unless everything's "perfect" she won't work out. 

Man if I waited till "prefect" I'd never get workout in...LOL

Still struggling to put together a decent week and I have my first tri coming up in a couple weeks.........

You will be able to pull from your fitness of the marathon training Adam!  I am thinking you will do well!

I sometimes come up with ideas and about to post here and it dawns on me if I do that I will actually have to do it!  That is a good goal though and if you have backyard access it is certainly something you can do!

Anyone else racing this weekend besides Carla?  I saw a FB post showing her settling in for the race.  For those of you that haven't done an IM, the atmosphere of the race starts several days before hand and is exciting! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Carla Update:

Carla, told me to feel free to update you all so here I am.

She is in CDA and did her first OWS practice yesterday. The water was brutally cold and it made it hard for her to breath, swim etc.  She said it was the coldest water she has ever been in.  She didnt' like her booties as she said they filled up with water so she is trying again today without them. She is going to try earplugs today on my suggestion.  I give her a lot of credit. There is no way I would be in 50 something degree water. I started to get hypothermia at IMAZ and that water was 60 degrees.  She road part of the bike course yesterday and made it through.  She stated "we will ride one of the big hills.  2 miles @ 5% Gradient" on Friday (today).

You can track her on Sunday at http://www.myathletelive.com/events/.  For those that don't know about it, it is a small gps that the racers wear and you can see where they are on the course at anytime.  It is really fun.  If you go to the bottom of the page, you will see the list for IMCDA.  Just look her up by first name.

Busy here.  I did my routine 6 week functional threshold power test and hit numbers higher than ever, even before IM last year.  Something is happening right.

Got my new Shiv out for some rides and they have been awesome.  Windy and hot here and this bike just slices through. I did a 50 mile ride to a state park and back last Sunday at 20 mph plus in a strong wind and rain.  I actually slowed down in a 30 mph zone to avoid a ticket :D   

The swimming lessons have been going great.  Lots of comments on how smooth I look in the water now.  People saying, I wish I had your form!  That is the first time in 4 years of training that's happened.  Times seem better.  My time at the sprint tri was faster than usual, I think but hard to tell because wetsuit stripping was counted in the swim time.  

Running continues to be good.  

Took CPR and passed.  So I'm a certified ITCA triathlon coach now.   So much to learn but I learned a lot from the course. I've trained with power for four years and they focus on HR.  Learning about that.  Reading Friel's book on it now. Really good stuff.  I will put together a training plan for IM Moo with my coach before he retires and tweak it.  I also plan to take on a couple of friends who want to improve and know I can't hit my butt with both hands but are willing to work with me.  I suspect we'll all learn plenty. 

Next race is mid July, an Oly.  Then some long fast rides, maybe a trip to Wisconsin to ride the course for fun, then mid September is Branson after I volunteer at the finish line at IM Moo.  It's a great year. 

kenj - 2012-06-22 7:18 AM

acv - 2012-06-21 12:57 PM

gator22 - 2012-06-21 5:56 AM Sounds like everyone is doing great! I have been crazy busy at work and have not done anything except a few crossfit workouts. I suck! My youngest just finished school yesterday so I am hoping I get some more time before the mussel man or I might skip it

Do what you can it will always payoff in the end. I tell that to my wife all the time but unless everything's "perfect" she won't work out. 

Man if I waited till "prefect" I'd never get workout in...LOL

Still struggling to put together a decent week and I have my first tri coming up in a couple weeks.........

You will be able to pull from your fitness of the marathon training Adam!  I am thinking you will do well!

Thanks Ken. The real question for me now is do I want to push for the HIM in Nov. I'm not sure how to approach making that choice yet.

Congrats to Iceman for completing his journey on being a certified coach! :-)

Thanks for the advice from some of you. I went out on my short 20 minute run today, and boom, calf pain, and started to feel SLOPPY on the run, so I decided to head to a LRS that was recommend by a few local triathletes. I showed him my two recent running pairs - Kinveras and Brooks Ghost that I wore last year. He took a look at the Kinveras and said, "Have you been having any aches or pain that wasn't there a month ago? I looked at him shocked, and said yes. He said, "Yup. Your shoes are shot. No good anymore."  I told him, "But they only have 100 miles in them!"  Then he went to explain what he looks for in a broken down shoes, and went on explaining how it breaks down, etc.  It just happens that my shoes broke down a lot earlier, and he said he typically sees that in Kinveras vs other minimalist shoes.  No wonder why I was having calf issues. LOL! Kinveras 2 should last a little longer, but he didn't recommend me those.

Then he did the gait/foot analysis and was impressed on how I keep my strides short and midfoot runner.  He asked me how were my Ghost. I said that I like them, but they're horrible after 6-7 miles because I start to feel pins and needles in my toes/ball of foot. It gave me SUCH a bad pain at the last 3-4 miles of my half-mary (hence the reason why I went minimalist).  He explained exactly why that happens. I was impressed with his explanations. He had a foot model to explain as well.  I just didn't like the heel support or the extra cushioning. 

I went home with new shoes, Brooks Pure Connect. I look forward in running in them! My Ghost still has some life left in them, so I was recommended to use them for my shorter runs, and use the minimalist shoes for longer runs. My birthday is coming up soon, so I will get Ghost 4 to replace Ghost 3, that way I don't break down the Brooks Connect so quickly. 

Thanks again, and I'm glad that I decided to go instead of waiting, and now I know what I'm looking for in broken down shoes. :-) 

Glad to hear you found a good store with the patience to explain everything as they were putting you through the process.  Happy running!!

Congrats Ice!!  You will make a fine coach and your friends will be lucky to have you training them!

The water there always seems to be cold!  I hope she adapts well!

I will be checking in on her!

DJ - glad you solved the shoe problem. I'm not much help here since i seem to be able to wear anything as long as it has some cushioning. I have finally started to switch them out pretty regularly though.. Just bought 5 pairs of NB 890s since it seems like the same shoe will cost $45 more each for the "new" model...

Had my first "group ride" yesterday and it was an experience. The organizers of an OLY im doing in 2 weeks setup a course pre-ride and even got us a police escort, which was nice. The problem was that i now think there is nothing more dangerous than a triathlete with partial support. The one cop car was able to block intersections for everyone who did fall too far back, but for the rest of the ride, some folks acted like the roads were closed to traffic, 3 abreast, or just riding solo in the middle and left of the road. I'm hoping the. LBS rides i was planning on are a little tighter, or I'll probably stick to riding alone.

Carla finished the swim in 1:31 and was on the bike at 1:41.  I am following her on myathletelive.com. She is wearing a gps and it shows exactly where she is at. etc.  Very cool.  I am attaching her latest stats.

(carla stats.JPG)