Fast Twitch Tri-FULL (Page 47)

I hadn't posted anything after my last post because there are only so many ways to say I did more of the same old thing.

I did a good run on Saturday (followed by a quick 10K ride on a stationary bike - just for fun) but I'm not running nearly enough to make any improvements.

Swimming has been good this week and tomorrow should be more of the same but cycling today just wiped me out.  I made it through the session okay after a 20 min Zn 3,4 effort but when I got home I couldn't stay awake.  I only have 4 more sessions for the cycling then I'm on my own and outside, I hope (we have no snow and double digit temps). 

Just today I learned of a long distance bike ride in June.  Its a ride not a race everyone stays together, starts and finishes together.  The ride starts at 3:30 a.m. in Kelowna with about 10K uphill-ish then onto the Coquihalla Hwy (escorted the whole way by thr RCMP) up a nice 13km uphill then a short downhill and then it gets steep uphill again for a few Km and carries on up and down all the way to Delta (part of greater Vancouver) and finishing at 10:30 p.m. 400 km later.

There'd be some pretty exciting downhills and once you make it to Hope it would be mostly flat most of the way to the finish.

I'm definitely not planning to do it but if timing permits I might volunteer to help.

Resting.  Did 8.5 miles on Sunday, but my shoes were a bit worn, and my right foot wasn't feeling great afterwards.  Then Wed afternoon the heel starting hurting in the back (not bottom) near where the Achilles attaches.  Got a 5K in the morning and now it feels much better.  Thursday morning I was hobbling, by the afternoon it was just a little sore.  Friday morning I could feel it a little bit, but by afternoon I didn't even feel it on the stairs, up or down.

It's cold, again, when there's a 5K I want to run to get my time down for Group B in the Peachtree, and I'm not sure my heel is 100%.  Grrrrr.  I'll see in the morning.  I got new shoes on Monday, so I won't be messing with blown-out inner soles.

I have an old HS classmate there tomorrow; think he was a grade behind me.  He's running the 10K distance.

I felt fine this morning, so off to the race I went.  A chilly 33F; that's downright cold in Atlanta.  There were a few snowflakes falling.

My goal was to shave off 16 seconds overall to get to 24:28 to qualify for the Start Group B in the Peachtree.  I hadn't run since a long run on Sunday as I hurt my foot/tendon and only felt better on Friday.  It's sore again, so that will put a delay in my HM training.  

I ran it just barely under 24 minutes, 23:59.9, 7:44 min/mile pace.  New PR and qualified for Start Group B.  Woo hoo!

GEORGE -

Ha!  Good line about only so many ways to say the same thing!

No snow and double-digit temps -- sounds mighty fine!  We are looking at several days this coming week in the mid-single-digits, and will be thankful for that.  we have much snow on the ground, which is great for skiers: I am enjoying cross-country, in my limited "classic" style of doing it.  I have done well with almost any sport I have ever tried, but skiing well has always eluded me.  I have NEVER tried downhill, and never will, and overall i just am not comfortable on those thin planks.  I like doing it, though, but slowly and completely non-performingly.

That bike ride sounds incredibly cool.  Is it done on the night of the solstice.  i guess it would have to be close to it, just to maximize the light for a wee-hours start time.  DO IT!!!!!!!

And, nothing wrong with being a bit tanked after a Z3/4 ride.  Embrace those post-rdie snoozes!!

WAYNE -

Good to hear from you after so long, but even better:

PR time today!!

Great pace!!!

Group B placement for Peachtree!!!!

REALLY wise decision to rest the foot tendon until today --- but I'm sorry that it's sore again.  But now with the race in the bag, just give it a good week to improve.  your performance today says that you're running chops are solid, so it's the perfect time for some recovery.  Think you can be a good boy and go runless for a few days?  I'm betting on you!

The heel isn't hurting, but it started this way on Monday after the long Sunday run.  I'm going to not run for at least a week.  It will be easy as we're heading off to Nawlins later in the week.  The teenager needs to run for track practice, but I'll have to pass.  Maybe I can find a bike to rent and ride along with her.  Unless I can find her a good safe course.  She's supposed to get in 45 miles during her spring break, and I don't think she ran farther than the bathroom during a commercial break.  

Since I'm now a member of the Atlanta Track Club I get a guaranteed spot, so I signed up today now that I have that time.  It's ironic that I qualified in the coldest weather I've run in for a race that has some of the hottest weather I run in.

The Ride2Survive bike ride is on June 22nd so very close to the solstice.  I think it would be a fun ride to do but 19 hours on the bike sounds painful and I'm hoping to do the Oli Oly on June 16th...But maybe next year?  I went to their website and they claim 12000' of climbing.  That would give a person a good workout but on the upside of the downside (?) the ride starts out in Kelowna at 1129' above sea level so with 12000' of climbing you get 13129' of descending (finishing at sea level) and some of it would be pretty long hills too.

Today it was 12C/54F (felt quite warm) so I went outside for a run.  There was a strong south wind which was a nuisance otherwise it was really nice temp.  I forgot to start my garmin timer until I was 26 minutes into the run.  I started out very "ponderous" but after warming up a bit it actually felt easier and I felt as though I was running faster than usual as well.  Not waynec fast but fast for me.

waynec - congrats on the PR today.  Your 7:44min/mile is faster than my min/km but I'm working on it.  33F is pretty cool to run in.  Not too bad once you get going but pretty cool waiting for the start I expect eh.  I also hope your ankle heals pretty quickly as well.

Wayne - congrats on the PR!  Imagine, you run a race in Atlanta with snow, and I ran one in MA with rain - seems backwards!

Hope the heels heal...

As for activity, I decided to take the weekend completely off except stretching and drinking with friends.  Needed it, as my legs felt like concrete and just wouldn't wake up last week!

We also registered for a bunch of races, driven primarily by Kim saying something along the lines of, "I think I'd like to a HM..."  Love it!

More on the schedule in a bit, as we're tweaking some races to fit, as I'd love to get y'all to weigh in on the structure (or lack thereof - a Merckxian, cannibalistic approach).

Hope everyone enjoys what feels like winter finally breaking (but I'll beware the Spring storms that we often get).

Matt

Ben, 

As Steve says, that is pretty fast. There was a time I could have swam a :52 for 100 yards, but those days are long gone. My 100 sets are usually in the 1:18-1:23 range. I had a 1600 swim of 23:20 or so a couple of weeks ago that I was proud of.

Doug (Hoosierman)

Running is coming along good too.  Finally at the point were 5.5 miles doesn't mean I'm whooped for the rest of the day! Picked up a running partner for early Sat runs while the kids are at swim practice.  He pushes me a bit more than I would do myself and he likes to talk (normally not what I'm into) so its a good gauge of RPE.  Over the last 4 weeks I can tell the pace is dropping for the same RPE.

Suppose to start swimming this week, but this cold snap makes it hard to go to the Y .  14 weeks until race day so swimming has to start soon.

Daylight saving time next weekend, yeah!

Congrats on hitting a PR and qualifying for your goal with the start group 

DONTO -

Good stuff!  Specifically:

--- The long ride in the cold, followed by 55' on the trainer

--- The relative ease now with 5.5 miles

--- Acquiring a running partner

--- Pace dropping as RPE stays the same

As for the swimming, don't be hard on yourself.  many people take their off-seasons in single-sport blocks, and for you, doing it in a two-sport chunk, there have been big improvements.  Really and truly, it doesn't get much better than that, and had you been trying to fit in swimming all along, I doubt you'd be as far advanced with the bike and run as you are now.

Besides, 14 weeks is still quite a ways away.  It's, um, like, mid-June for that race?  Plenty of time to get your swim chops kinda sorta where you might want them!

At this stage of improvements with the bike and run, however, i wouldn't advocate dumping eithe rof thsoe to make more room for swimming.  You may well have to reduce your volume on one or both, but as far as taking a shot at swimming in a big concentrated block -- you've come too far with the other two to NOT continue working at them.  Just my two cnets worth!

Congrats on where you've gotten yourself to!

DOUG -

Man, you still gots what it takes!  Convert that 1600 into the 1500 (or a bit less) for an oly, and you'd be at around 21:40 --- probably high FOP for your age group, and really for any age group.

I don't know how you guys do it.  If I hadn't already gone down to the crossroads and sold my soul in order to learn to finger-pick guitar, I'd head there to be able to swim fast!  (Wonder if trade-ins of skills are allowed, in the crossraods-soul-selling racket??)

MATT -

"a Merckxian cannibalistic approach"??????

Speak for yourself about winter breaking!  While we are due for a few days of above-freezing temps here, it's still close to a month until we can wave goodbye to winter for good.  But, most every previous March has seen me out on the roads for a few days on the bike, and that might happen by the weekend.  I suspect that'll feel really nice, although this winter has not seen me on the trainer and rollers enough to feel that I have broken my shackles and busted out of incarceration.  I guess I should feel kind of bad about that.....and maybe I do.....but this is the first off-season in umpteen that I have loafed through.  And with thoughts of not racing this year --- why belabor myself unnecessarily?!?

KATE -

I thought you had gone on a mini-blitz of races sign-ups, maybe about a month ago.  No?

But, yeah -- not much better motivation than getting a race or two on the sched!

GEORGE -

Oh.  I had missed some of the nuances of that ride, like the time-length of it and the about of elevation.  I guess there's a reason why it's called Ride2Survive, eh?

Close enough to the solstice to count, i'd say. A couple of days late would mean, what -- about 4m27s less of "daylight", is all?

I am so envious of you for having 54F to run in!  We might get to about 45F later in the week, and I guess I can be pleased about that.  As it is, i chickened out of a windy and coldish run today.  Bwwwaaaaaa!!!!!

Thanks Steve!  I don't sweat the swim, I can get myself close to MOP in 10 weeks. Like you stated, my focus on on the "long" parts of the race! I won my AG 1.5 years ago with a MOP swim but with kicka$s transitions, bike and run.  Granted this next race is a tough one, a lot of very good & great athletes so my goal is to PR and hopefully break 1:20. 

I've never been one to run with a partner, but its a nice change of pace.  The cool thing is my wife runs with him too when she drives kids to swim on her weekday night and he has been pushing her at the same paces on longer runs.  She's been asking if we can go for a run together and I've been looking at how I can rearrange the training to go do at least one longish run (well my long, her mid distance!) together.  I have the Army 10 miler in DC pencilled in as a race we can do together this year for our 18th anniversary!

DAVE -

You're back!  More later!

OK - preliminary race skedj:

3/16   5k  St. Paddy's Day, so it's a run to beer, in Plymouth 
4/6     5k  Some beer run in Waltham
4/28   10K James Joyce Ramble in Dedham.  Did I mention beer here, too?
5/5     5k  Great Bear Run in Needham (Kids run the mile race)
5/26   HM  Boston race - close the city streets for it, should be cool
6/1     5k  Emerson Hospital charity race at Thoreau Club  (Kids do mile race)
6/2     Prolly do a century with some friends around here.
6/7     P2P (Plymouth to Provincetown) 90mi ride - definitely not a race thing. 
6/14   B2B if I get in (might be 6/15?).  148 miles for a Harpoon.  Totally worth it.
7/13   Falmouth tri sprint
7/21   Nantucket Oly tri
8/18   Cranberry Trifest Oly (not yet registered)
9/1     Plymouth Mayflower Tri sprint  (not yet registered)
9/8     POSSIBLY THE PUMPKINMAN HIM.  We'll have to see on this one.  (not yet registered)
9/16   Dover Sherborn tri sprint (not yet registered)
Probably some late season long rides (Prouty?) and the Chilly HM in early November (or similar one)

Then, rest...

I'm sure some of these will drop off for various reasons, and we'll probably throw a few others in, but this is what it looks like as of today.  Probably a sprint or two in August?  We'll see...

FUN!

Matt 

Very cool.  Just very cool.

DONTO -

Is it Pineappleman?  If so, then akll the more reason to slightly downplay the swim training, as the swim disatnce in the race is downplayed itself.  That is MY kind of sprint, to be sure --- underdistance swim, overdistance run, marginally overdistance bike.  Woo-eee!!!

My "career" has been carved on the formula you mention --- MOP swim, but then it's all good, with fast transitions and very strong rides and runs.  A landlubber's revenge!!

Let me know if it is Pineappleman, okay?

Very nifty plan for the Army 10-miler; I hope it works out!  I'm not sure where that course carries one, but the way I figure it is that in DC, it has to be good.  I did nations Tri in 2011, but that was the year the hurricane (which one was it??) caused massive flooding in the Potomac and the swim was canelled.  the race was just the 40km bike and 10km run, with no pre-ride run to turn it into a duathlon.

Nevertheless, staggeringly inspirational venue, and really -- DC is just a nifty place.  The tri run was 98% flattish.but if the 10-miler carries one into the hills leading down to DC proper, it could be a tough.  I will check its course later.

Nice story of the running guy being able to bring both you and your wife's runs up a notch or two.  Lucky break for you both!

And in case I forget between now and then, happy 18th!!

Thanks Doug. You were flying! Think my average pacing is close to where you're at now.

Jeez, I wish I was that slow.    I'm doing great when I'm swimming 2:05/100 (for 500 yd).  Yeah, not setting any records.

That was a very nice pace.