zia_cyclist's Group - FULL (Page 5)

That is a sweet looking bike.  I like the wheels  .

TJ

Scott,

Good question.  I guess first we have to define what it means to 'hit the wall'.  I always think of hitting the wall as similar to bonking....running out of fuel; your body is depleted of glycogen; light headedness; feeling like you can't go on; negative thoughts.

Obviously, hitting the wall is related to your nutrition; specifically nutrition on the bike.  I have had minor battles with the wall during the run.  Usually a Gu or two gets me out of that funk.  It's important to practice your on the bike nutrition.  Last summer I went through several different nutrition practice sessions.  For example, I once tried a super concentrated Perpetuem bottle.  This bottle contained about 800 calories.  The plan was to sip the Perpetuem and drink water with it to dilute the Perpetuem in my stomach.  Well, the concentrated Perpetuem tasted so nasty once it got hot that I couldn't drink it.  So I abandoned that idea.  I stuck with mixing the Perpetuem at regular strength. 

It's also important to find something that gets you over the wall.  For me it's Espresso Gu.  It contains a bunch of cafienne.  At mile 70 or 80 of the bike in IM I down one or two of these.  For some reason mile 70-80 becomes really hard for me; mostly mental.  Then on the run at about mile 18 of the run I have more Espresso Gu.  Find what works for you.  I know some people who love Skittles at these times others love chocolate covered coffee beans (I'm going to try these). 

TJ

Nice bike.  Specialized is opening bike shops now.  They only sell Specialized bikes.  One just opened in Houston.

TJ

Hey Group,

Something for discussion and perhaps help for me.  I had a great plan to focus on running during the winter.  But, I over did it in January and ended up with a sore piriformis muscle.  Anyway, that is recovering.  But now I have to revise my trianing plan. 

As I was revising my plan, I started thinking about the different training strategies.  This is what I've gathered from my reading and researching.  I'll describe them below. 

1. The Joe Friel method - work on your limiters.  Running is my weakest sport, thus the run focused plan I had.
2. The Norman Stadler method - Become very efficient and strong on the bike thus saving lots of energy to run strong. 

I always subscribed to the Joe Friel method, but lately I've had one 6 time Ironman and one tri coach suggest the Norman Stadler method.  They both suggested developing a plan to become a very good cyclist and save energy for the run. 

Any ideas on which is better?  How are you planning your training?

TJ

Interesting stuff.  If one does decide to go with the improve cycling strategy, do you increase the duration of the rides or the frequency of the rides?  When I did the first draft of my plan I increased the duration of my long rides.  But, now I'm thinking that I should increase the frequency of my cycling workouts instead of longer rides.  Afterall, if my long ride peaks at 70 miles, I don't think riding 90 miles will help a 56 mile HIM leg.

This is so true and you'll not have wasted so much energy.  My masters swim coach had us do this workout: swim 300 at race pace; 1' rest; swim 300 counting strokes, try to minimize strokes per length; 1' rest; then swim 300 race pace but maintain the strokes per length deteremined in the previous swim.  I swam ~ 20 strokes/25 m.  I tried to swim the last 300 at 20 spl and race pace.  The last 300 was about 20 seconds slower than the first 300 where I just swam hard without counting strokes.  But, the last 300 was much less intense and I wasn't as tired after as the first 300.  Giving up the 20 seconds was worth the energy saved.

Yes, that's true.  But, don't underestimate the run.  In my experience, if you race smart, you will pass many, many people in the last 3-4 miles of a HIM run and the last 6 miles of an IM run.  Gaining 15 minutes on the bike can be wiped out very quickly with a bad run.  I guess it's all about balance.  As Gordo says: It's not about who goes the fastest, it's about who slows down the least.

TJ

Glad you're back.  I bet the Caymans was fun.

I like track work.  Last year I did one day per week of track (as per the plan).  I would guess that Yasso 800s would help your HIM run time.  But, I think you could probably run a faster pace than the marathon pace predicted by the Yassos.  Just a guess though.

TJ

Wow.  That is a great picture.  I think he's going to be a GQ model.  How'd you get him to stay in that pose?

Congratulations.

TJ

I have all the pool toys also.  I use the paddles for strength sets.  I use the pull bouy for recovery sets during long workouts (4000-5000 m); swim 500, pull 200, swim 500, etc. 

I don't like the kick board.  I feel it puts my body into the wrong position for swimming.  We don't swim with our head and shoulders out of the water.  I usually do kick sets without a kick board.  I kick with my hands out front and my body flat on the surface of the water - in a swim position.  When I need to breath I use a skulling motion with my hands and lift my head; or I roll to one side or the other.  Sometimes I alternate kicking on my stomach and kicking on my back.  I have a pathetically weak kick.  That is something I need to work on.

I rarely use fins.

When I do use the pool toys, it's usually for only one or two sets. 

TJ