Fast Twitch Tri-FULL (Page 5)

Wow, this thread took off in 24 hours!

You know, I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the new Altra Superior. Truth is, Skechers has been sending me so many wear test models that I have a hard time putting many miles on any one pair of shoes. I'm working on a review of their Go Trail, which is set to release soon. There are a couple more models coming in the next 6 months as well (one of which I'm really excited about, and did the run leg of my last sprint in them... SSsshhhh! Don't tell any one!).

Hi Steve! Quincy has been one of my fearless leaders on the Mys-tri Tour. She is going to be awesome here with you. I, however, will not be joining the group, as I am contemplating a full IM next year (which means I'll be registering soon). Once I completely wear down my body, probably in about a year, I'll be back to concentrate on the short(er) distance races. No hurries on the PM, I can see you have your hands full here. I'll let you know about Austin!

Hi Gang, sitting in a conference and my biz partner is now giving a presentation so I have some time to peek in.

NAME: Donto, er Don McKinnon

STORY:  Been on BT since Feb 2004, many tri's and run races in those years. Actually put in enough hard work last summer and won my AG (45-49) in an Oct sprint tri and was 6th overall.  Then things fell apart. I had a weird accident and lost a big toe toenail, then lower leg issues, and finally lost all interest in training and racing.  So this past year was basically a disaster for me.  Also I work a lot, I'm a partner in a small test lab biz that almost died after the 2008 crash and are running very thin afraid to rehire.

FAMILY:  Today is the 16th anniversary for my wife and I!  We have two kids, son 13 and daughter 11.  We are an active family, my wife loves to run and workout at the Y.  Our kids are comp swimmers on the Y's USA swim team.

CURRENT TRAINING: Finally found my mojo again and after almost 20lb weight gain am basically starting over with focus on running for now, I'll be running a HM with my wife on Thanksgiving weekend, hopefully helping her to a new PR.  January 1st will begin the tri training plan, for now any biking and swimming will be unstructured.

2012 Races:  Did a sprint in June, a 15k in July that was a horrible race for me, decided not to even attempt the local fall tri race, and will have a HM in Nov.

2013 Races:  Have planned two local tri races, a spring sprint and fall sprint/Oly, two 15k run races (River Gate & Boilermaker), Local HM and hopefully the Army 10 miler in DC.

2013 Goals:   A-race, to podium in the early June sprint race.  This is a big local event that brings a lot of excellent athletes from all around FL.  The fall race will be decided if it becomes a sprint or Oly as time gets closer to it.  All other run races are to be for "fun" if PR's happen, cool!

WEIGHTLOSS:  To get in racing shape again...

Ok, I'm back and have some time to do my bio. 

NAME Tiffanator - Tiffany

LOCATION Hattiesburg, MS

MY STORY I've always been an outdoors person, I guess that came from my mom booting me out of the house after breakfast and letting me in for supper as a kid in the summer. I have no background of swim, bike or run, as I mostly played baseball or football in the street with the neighbors. I took up waterskiing, then wakeboarding, then motorcycle trackdays. Needless to say, mom was excited when I decided on triathlon. I had a friend who was training for a marathon, so I decided to do the 2010 Rock and Roll San Antonio half marathon since that's where a friend lived. I had run off and on for a few years, but nothing serious and never over 4 miles. While in training for that my friend started talking about triathlons, it sounded intersting, and since I grew up around the water I thought that might be something for me. I signed up for a local tri in 2010 and wore my wakeboard wetsuit and rode a borrowed bike. I was hooked. I have since done several more sprints and an olympic. 

FAMILY I'm kinda freshly single and live alone with only a cat who rules my household. I live less than 1/4 mile from my brother and about 10 minutes from my parents. 

CURRENT TRAINING I'm currently training for OilMan Texas HIM November 4th, although it's looking like I may not be able to do it because a back injury has hampered my training the past 2 months. I really enjoy the bike rides and swims, even though I don't swim much. The run is my weakness, but I was just starting to like it more when my back flared up. 

WEIGHTLOSS Mostly I am just maintaining my current weight, but I would love to drop another 5-10 pounds, but that would require a diet overhaul which I'm not sure I can do. I worry that once training is over for this half I'll start putting weight on, so I need to do something. 

RACES Racing has become a bit of an achilles heel for me this year. Last year I completed several races, but this year I have yet to complete one due to mental and physical issues. I really enjoy the training, but when race day comes I get scared of the distance and just don't want to be there. That anxiety and fear just makes racing no fun for me.  My first of the year was New Orleans 70.3, I withdrew on the bike due to just being mentally burned out. I was signed up for Gator Bait Olympic in August, and failed to start because I was just scared of the distance. Then I was signed up for Mighty Magnolia Sprint last weekend, and I was super stoked for this race, it was a sprint and I felt ready to rock after HIM training for so long, unfortunately, 3 days before the event my back flared up and I could barely put my shoes on, much less bike or run, so it was a no go for me. I was so bummed. So it's been a depressing race year, but I have learned a lot and have a new fire in my belly going into winter training for 2013.  

2013 RACES My schedule for next year really depends on if I'm able to do my half in November. If I can't go I will be signing up for New Orleans 70.3 again. I also have several local sprints planned, as my goal is to get faster over the shorter distance. I'm also toying around with another half marathon and some bike races. 

Samantha, I'm guessing if you have a half marathon this weekend and you are also from Michigan that it's the Freep?  I'm in for the half too.  Weather looks like it will be awesome!

I saw that you made it to sprint championships this year also, good job!  Did they tell you what it took to qualify?  Somehow I can never find myself on the ranking page despite doing at least three USAT races.  That website boggles my mind a bit 

Good morning everyone!

One of my spawn has a 1/2 day so I'm going to make a few quick posts and then off to get my workouts in (Mommy workout schedules tend to be upside down...middle of the day is my down time).

I have a HUGE request.

One of our members, Mike (jmhpsu93) has his name under his signature line. Please, please, please if your BT handle is not related to your first name (thus making it easy for everyone to remember) can you drop your first name into your signature line?

It would make it much easier to keep track since we do have a large number of folks.

In related news, wwlani has opened up a second group! It is already getting lots of hits. I sent another PM to the large group from yesterday so some of you who have already joined got the PM...ignore it...I'm not telling you to go join the other group, just wanted to get info to everyone else out uber fast because her group is going to fill quickly too. Just so that anyone else from the original thread who still wants to be in a group has the info.

Who is racing this weekend? I have a ridiculous HM...it is a costume race and the only race of the year where I am guaranteed that my husband will stay with me because...well...he has to.

I'll explain and post pix on Sunday.

No time goals. Just a brunch goal afterwards. Fun!

I have so many topics and questions that have been bouncing around in my head...and since that little exchange about trainer road last night I am even more eager to get things rolling. The problem is how to go through all the stuff we want to go through without trying to do too much at once or losing focus.

I've been in mentor groups where someone kind of throws out a topic of the day and the crew kind of chews on it all day long, with people coming in and out and adding their 2c and so forth. I was thinking with our larger group, that might be a good format for us.

Don't feel constrained to just that, by all means lets talk about whatever we need to talk about. But I thought we could all sort of take turns bringing a topic to the table. 

Whatsayyou, fast twitch braintrust?

Your reviews really have made skecher-curious. I'll have to go back and catch up on your posts!

I also have a half mary on Sunday but I am trying for a PR.  I don't know if I'll hit as my injured old legs haven't been performing at their best but I'm still trying!

Quincy, enjoy your fun run with the hubby and yes, post pics!

Ha!  I like that - thing 1, etc.  We thought about having four kids and stop but #4 was twins so, oh well.  

Yes, I'm actually on week 11 next week of sprint tri plan.  I've been a little inconsistent in my biking but everything else has been good, according to the plan at least.

Injuries, etc - none, thankfully.  About 4 years ago I tried running and pushed it way too hard, didn't know what I was doing and got serious IT band pain - got really discouraged and quit.  Now, I've done Couch to 5k, and been fairly slow in my progression and have had no pain, other than normal workout pain.

I was thinking/hoping 5k/10k and sprint in that order would work for me.  After my 10k I will ramp up my mileage in prep for the marathon.  From 10k to marathon would be 18 weeks (3-2-13).  Is that enough time?  I was going to do this plan.  And start it on week 3.  My longest run was today and was 7 miles.  I do the 10k next Saturday.  Any help/advice would be great.  I haven't registered for the marathon yet, so if it is too soon for me, its no problem.  But I'd really like to try.

Then I'm looking at a local sprint here in April and then considering Oly later in the year.

There is a local 5K that I am thinking about doing tomorrow.  My last one was in early 2011.  I'm just trying to decide if I really feel like suffering that much tomorrow or not.  5K's hurt...alot.  I've never done a costume race.  Sounds fun. 

Yep.  5Ks are really about how much pain you're willing to endure, but since this is sprint tri forum, and most of the sprint tris are around 5K, consider it pain practice. 

I would definitely call the hotel or check online to see if you can find a bureau of tourism that could answer that for you.  Ocean swims can be very different depending on locale.  Is it choppy?  What sea life lurks nearby?  Are there any incidents of shark attack in the area?

If it does seem swimmer friendly, stick close to shore and have a family member watch you from the shore to be safe.  It's definitely different than swimming in a lake!

How do you know when you're at the right 5K race pace? Easy! You can taste it...

SARAH -

Aw, shucks -- no you here.

Lemme guess --- IM next year, need to register soonand you live in MS............ could it be IMFL that's behnd Door #1?  Ta-da?!?

That's a great plan for you, I would think, and I can only hope that Austin is such a success that you will be all psyched to register for IMFL -- or whichever one you are eyeing, if not FL.   And I also hope that your training for it doesn't "completely wear down" your body.  I mean, that's always a profound risk with IM training, although it really doesn't have to be that way at all.

See you on the PM front next time, i guess!

Tiffany, yeah those injuries can be frustrating and back injuries are particularly so.  Hope it just resolves on its own.

JASON -

I wish I could converse knowingly with you about stand-alone bike races, but I have never done one.  I have thought about it lots, as cycling is one of my two strengths (hint: the swim is NOT), but mostly I try to "save" myself for multisport stuff.  I also nowadays generally try to only races that matter to me, and I just can't justify stand-alone bike or swim races.....and haven't done a s-a running race in two years.  So sad!

No doubt, though, you'll just continue to get stronger as a cyclist with each race you do that involves your wheels.  So, i'm sure you're on the right path with emphasizing cycling, especially sinde it is pretty clear that it's Love #1.

Best of luck with those time goals!  I'd like to think that, in the right conditions, I could go sub-hour for a 40kmTT, but as for cracking 5 for a half-iron..........that won't happen unless significant parts of a course are mismeasured!  My best two have been around 5:10, one in '04 and one in '07, and I just can't see how to reduce enough time to make sub-5 happen.  That's a reality that took a while to sink in........but I think I can be a big boy and accept it. (Or not.)

"The Rock"  As in Newfoundland???

GANG!

Quincy has a to-look-at "disclaimer" at the bottom of page 3, and I have one to add to it:

PLEASE don't get discouraged if you fall behind by a page or seven!  This is not a "required reading" textbook, and whenever you can drop in is great.  Each of you individually might be feeling some self-imposed weight of needing to stay on top on things and potentially be responsive to one and all, always, but eventually you will figure out that this is untenable.  Even I, in my retired state, fall by the wayside periodically, and while I make every effort to catch back up ------- I can usually do that due to being retired!

So, don't feel you have to visit and/or post here daily, and your presence will be loved and honored whenever you can make an appearance.

Onwards!

Continuing the discussion on power and bike workouts...

My main goal during Dec-Mar is to dramatically improve my bike splits. My best bike split ever was set over a year ago (22.9mph over 19 miles) and I was consistently slower in all of my races this year than last year (2011).

I am well aware of the "ride more" advise that I see frequently but I don't want to add more training time to what I already do.  I will only plan on riding once a week on the road (probably about 50-60 miles) and do 2-3 trainer workouts during the week.

Besides Jorge's Winter Plan - anyone have any advice on workouts to improve?  As an alternative, I was thinking of doing the following schedule:

Sat- long ride (50-60 miles)

Mon - Time Trial Workout (at FTP or slightly more for each interval - 4x15' or something similar)

Wed - Sweet Spot Intervals (2x20' or 3x15')

Fri - Big Gear/Strength workout

FTP (from 20' Spinervals 27.0 Test) is right around 216W and I'd like to be around 260W come April. I think that improvement should translate to that 1mph improvement I wanted to see at next year's races.

Thoughts?

CARLO -

So much to say to you, as reading your bio and then looking at just one of your race reprots -- but seeing all the others there -- made me feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole!

Easy starter comment is that i lived in Allen for a couple of years ('85-'87), and remember McKinney very favorably.  Moreover, a guy from my ther currently-active group (and one before that one) lives in Denison and I'm sure has done the Kiwanis Tri there himself.  Smallish world!

I loved you Toyota RR and will need to visit it again to absorb all the huge details.  It was especially interesting to see your three years of times for each of the five splits, and you deserve huge kudos for the huge strides you have made in swimming and running.  See, evolution IS alive and well, as judged by where you were two years ago, and where you are now. 

And too bad we don't live closer together, as your times for Toyota are very close to my own in each of the three disciplines.  I could benefit from a time-compatible training partner, to be sure!

As for those transitions...........

First, I can feel your pain (physically and psychologically) at T1.  I had a race, a few years ago, in which I calf-cramped on removing the wetsuit, and the relative good news in my case was that it didn't last long -- just one "cycle", as opposed to a couple for you.  Arghhh!  But at least you know that that had nothing to do with strategy or T1 technique, and while it's tough to swallow as to its impact on your total time, it should be easy enough to dismiss as "one of those things".

Second, you mention a jacket and gloves.  For the latter, i haven't worn cycling gloves in years, either for training or racing.  Not wearing them in races just saves those few seconds, and the agitation that can accompany trying to wrestle them on.  For really cold days I have a pair of super-thin "tech-fabric" gloves, that work best as wind-stoppers as opposed to warmth-builders.  When I think I might need these, I will put my Bento Box on my top tube, with the gloves inside, and if I am still cold-fingered afer I get wind-dry in the first mile or so, I will put them on at speed.

As for a jacket, I have never used one in a race.  I have taken many risks with riding in just my wet tri top, which is always on me, under my wetsuit......and I suspect that some day I will suffer mightily for this; hypothermia comes to mind!  But so far so good, and to combat any deep-freeze symptoms I will drape my arm-warmers on my aerobars, and akin to the gloves, slip them on when I get wind-dried, maybe a mile or so into the bike.  That really seems just about as good as a jacket might be, without the hassle of spending time in T1 yanking it down onto a wet body.  So, it's wet me in my wet tri stuff --- and maybe the arm-warmers and maybe the thin gloves.

I see that you couldn't feel your feet upon dismounting, which I think led to feeling as if you were "running on stumps" for the first too-many minutes of the run.  Am I right?   If so, invest in a pair of good toe covers, which are neoprene-ish and slip onto the front half of your shoe, with a cut-out on the bottom to accommodate the cleat.  these are life-savers for me, as I have very poor circulation to my feet and can get numb toes pretty quickly.  (To add to my potential misery, I never ride in race s with socks, so on even borderline-cold days, I need those toe-warmers!)  Most bike shops should carry them, but if not, DeSoto (www.desotosport.com) makes a good pair with an anple bottom cut-out (perfect for Look systems, and I guess workable as well for Speedplay).

I'll be right back.

CARLO again -

As I said, I will need time to go back and peruse you great race reports, even just a few of them.  For now, though, and your bio:

You seem to have been locked-into a great training regimen, and I hope you can make it work similarly well at your new office and with new hours.  (Avoiding traffic around DFW must mean you work from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.!)  Seriously, you have had a very sweet training system in place, what with hours, and time spent, and managing a masters swim group as part of it.  I'm envious!

I'm even MORE envious of your multiple bikes, and especially the P3!  I have a P2C, which has served me really well since July '08.  Prior to that I had a P2K, from '01, which gave way tto the P2C when it developed a crack low on the seat tube.

Even though the C is the direct descendent of the K, it was more like a different family tree altogether right from my first feww seconds on the C.  It was just soooo responsive, nothing I had ever come close to feeling in the K.  (That said< i was very devoted to the P2K, mostly through not having experienced what other "rides" could offer.

I will need to see what you HIM bike split is, buit 15 minutes is not unreasonable.  Get on a compatible course (new orleans comes to mind) on a low-wind day, and you can probably do it.  The downside, of course, is being able to run well off the bike, and I am personal witness to how easy is it to overplay the half-iron bike card, and then pay the price on the run.  More on THAT later!

Based on the numbers for Toyota, you are in line for a sub-5:15 iron, i would think.  Again, though, i will look at your HIM results to see how your oly abilities translated to a half-iron.  (Wait!  Aren't we supposed to be short-course here?!?

As for a 2:30 oly, well, your SBR numbers would put you there!  At Toyota, the diff for you going sub-2:30 was in both transitions, and if you have no misfortune with either, let alone both, you're there.  I mean, between cramping, and the jacket and gloves, and wondering what to do with your dysfunctional feet, you lost at least three minutes all told, i would think.  It's not like you were deliberately pokey at either of the Ts, so just plan on better luck next oly around!