Holt's Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 5)

My plan calls for times, not distances - anywhere from 30 mins to an hour now.  I always do at least the 450 consecutive required for my first race.  Other than that I do 100s, 200s, drills.

Good training day today.  It was 60 degrees out, so perfect except for a bit of wind.  I ran my whopping 35 minutes - the longest so far - and biked 70.  I've always gone to a bike path before, but today just ran the 'hood and biked around town.  It was actually fun!  I timed/routed my run so I would end up at the local Y to pick up my race shirt for the sprint in (gulp) 3 weeks, and then walked home as a cool-down.

Hey all!  Hope everyone is having a good Easter!  I got in a short TM run this morning - 4.5 of my planned 6 miles.  That's OK though - it's a holiday so I gave myself a bit of a break.  We'll be heading to my parents' house soon but I wanted to check in and see how everyone is doing. 

Transition tips - the one thing I did for my first tri (and didn't do for my other 2 and wish I had) was to have a 3x5 card with things written down on it so I wouldn't forget anything.  It had 2 sections - one for bike, one for run - and I put it in my helmet right before I headed to the swim.  For the bike - socks, shoes, shirt (it was a cool day), helmet, sunglasses, bike.  For the run - rack bike, helmet off, visor, race belt, water bottle.  Since I ride in my running shoes, I don't have to worry about changing those.  I didn't have to think about what I needed this way, I just had to read the card. 

Swimming distances - most of my swims are only short distance since the tri's I'm doing this year are both pool swims.  One is 500m and the other is only 300y.  I usually do 700-900m total, either sets or drills, sometimes both.  I know I should be doing more, but right now I'm trying to concentrate on my biking so this is more of a maintenance thing for me. 

Goals - My main goal right now is to spend more time on my bike.  It's definitely my biggest limiter so I want to try to do as much as I can to improve before my tri in June. 

Fraud???  No way.  Two years ago my wife and I joined a running group and this certainly helped us.  It kept us accountable, it made us wake up early in the morning on saturdays and we learned a lot.  So do not worry about preferring to have a workout partner.   - Gerardo

Hi all,

I've been keeping track but have not posted as well.

@ wesley12 - I never measured the speed change when I moved to clipless pedals, but they were a definite improvement for me. 

Goals for May - This is week is T-14 for sprint

1) keep calorie count - I need to lose 15 lbs for this tri

2) join master's swim class - I cannot seem to get up at 5 to swim.  Tomorrow will be the day!

3) stick to training schedule - 2x/week for s/b/r

Gerardo

Hi everyone, well here's my first post to the group. Been out of the picture for a couple of weeks and there's 6 pages of posts!

Just wanted to comment on the above question. I found using a drink bottle to squirt water over the feet and then a quick dry on my layed out towel worked well for me when i had sand/grit on my feet in my last HIM.

As far as goals - I'm in a different situation to you guys as in NZ we're going into winter, but my goals at the moment are to continue with my 3 months weights plan and improve my swim technique. Am signed up with swim course starting next week so really looking forward to that - i really don't like the swim! Hoping to get more at ease and comfotable with it after the course...

Will be starting the BT HIM plan around August time, so until then i'm just doing weights and fitting in reasonable swims, bikes and runs when i can.

Lewis.

1) This week's goals for me are to get in a solid 5 days of training as planned.

2) I was thinking of starting intervals during one bike workout and one run workout per week.  I've been still trying to establish a baseline of endurance that is needed. 

Thanks ... I believe that's going to be my plan for my transition!

My goals for the week:
1.  Get all of my scheduled workouts in - 4 runs, 2 rides, 2 swims.  The runs and rides shouldn't be a problem, but the swims may be tough if the thunderstorms don't stop at some point this week.  Pool is closed during thunder/lightning and that always seems to happen during lap swimming times. 
2.  Learn some useful information at the bike maintenance class that I'm going to on Saturday morning.  Things like how to change a tire (I still don't know how to do that), keep the chain clean, adjust the brakes, etc.  If the weather cooperates, I'm going to ride my bike to the class and back home afterwards - should take care of one of my bike rides for the week. 

Intervals:
I do running intervals, usually either on the TM or the HS track.  In fact, one of the LRS's is starting speedwork sessions in May at the track where I run, so I signed up to join them.  We'll be starting by doing intervals at 10k race pace and working our way up to 5k race pace.   I've also done some intervals on the bike, but only on the stationary bike at the gym.  Sometimes I'll do spinning intervals (like 15x45sec at 105rpm w/1 min recoveries), sometimes strength intervals (like 4x4min @ 65rpm w/3 min recoveries).  I got those bike intervals from a beginning bike plan here on BT and they've worked well for me. 

I'm already off my planned training for this week.    Missed Sunday's swim (guess I coulda figured the Y would be closed on Easter, huh?).  Last night I did my strength training but not the run beforehand.  So my goal is to not miss any of my remaining workouts.  It'll be tough on Thurs since I have a longish swim scheduled and I normally do my swims during lunch, so we'll see how it goes.  I set my alarm early this morning so I would go swim before work - and then had a rational moment when it went off and went back to sleep, lol.  NOT a morning person.

I do not currently do intervals except in the swim.  I would like to start for the bike and run.  I'm finally comfortable enough that I know I can survive the workouts, time to start working on a little speed.

I'm thinking I'll switch plans after my race 5/15.  I'm currently doing BT's, but it's all time-based.  I have the book Triathlon Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide.  It has more details as to how each workout should break down - intervals, hills, etc.  I have races scheduled 6/12 and 7/31, so I'll have to customize the plan to have appropriate taper weeks in there, but it seems like a good plan.  Is anyone familiar with this book?

I'm going to have to level out my training time soon.  I won't be able to continue building times.  Someone suggested the following approach and I think it sounds sensible.  Tell me what you think:

You have x hours for training per week.  Break it into percentages.  In my case swimming is my strongest leg.  So I would say 20% swimming, 40% cycling and 40% running.  Let's say I have 10 hours to keep the math easy - that would be 2 hours swimming, 4 hours cycling and 4 hours running.  Or I could do 30/40/30 which might be more realistic in terms of the running.  Thoughts?

Goals for the week:  as most mentioned-1.  get all the workouts in 2. to start thinking more actively about the transitions and 3.  get one more step (mentally) to actually registering for my event (I have until the end of this month before fees go up)

I have a question about intervals.  I think I understand the idea, you just change up your workout by increasing speed, THR, etc, correct?  I feel like I am missing something because up until now I have been just doing what I can to get a base in.  Can ya give me just a tiny bit more basic info re:intervals?

I love this group!!

I never had a personalized coach, but I was able to see my improvement when I joined the master's swim class last year.  You will be pleasently surprised with your improvements just by working on technique.  The returns are much faster here than on the bike or swim, where you really need to put in a lot of hours to get them

G

My first sprint is May 15.  I just looked at the 10-day forecast for Chicago and it's all mid-50s and a lot of rain.  I just don't see getting out of a pool, going outside and jumping on a bike in 50-degree rainy weather.  Plus it's been really windy lately, which makes me whimper on the bike.    My answer to adverse weather is always to go to the gym.  I figure it's already good enough getting through a hard workout without adding additional discomfort.

I guess I have to get outside when the weather's bad and get acclimated.  I just haven't HTFU'd enough yet.  In fact it's gotten harder mentally to train lately.  Any suggestions as to not only getting back in the game, but getting tougher at the same time?

Sorry I don't have any advice on getting tougher - I have the same issue myself.  If it's cold and/or windy, I head to the gym, especially if I have a bike ride planned.  Runs aren't as bad, but like you said, why make myself uncomfortable if I don't have to.  I realize that not every race is going to have perfect weather, so I need to get out and get used to it eventually, it's just that first step that's hard to take. 

How is everyone's week going so far?  Are you sticking to your goals?  Weather here still has not broke but trying to stay optimistic!!  So far got two swims and one run in with run/bikes in the next three days!!

What's got ya motivated this week??!!

Well I had a great workout this morning.  BUT I have slacked Big time this week and missed my workouts on both Wednesday and Thursday.  I'm not sure if I had a great workout this morning because of resting (slacking) the past two days or because I was feeling so guilty about slacking that I needed to get my butt moving!!

Anyways I'll be taking my planned day off tomorrow and I have a 42 Mile Bike ride on Sunday!  Its this TD Bank 5 Boro bike tour.  They basically block a lot of streets off from traffic in NYC and you get a chance to ride through all 5 boros traffic free!  Should be a nice easy ride, but I'm sure I'll be able to get in some decent miles in there too.

Have a great weekend everyone!!