Scott F's group - FULL! (Page 5)

Matt,

 I'm no pro on trainers. I have one that's about 5 years old now (CycleOps) that's a magnetic resistance. Not the best, but gets the job done. I was thinking of getting a new trainer this Winter, one where you can manually adjust the resistance and such. We'll have to wait for other's opinions, and the "bike guru" Mr. ScottF2

Mauricio,

The plan/goals look good. Don't shock your body too much if it's way more than you're used to. If you do all of it, go at a comfortable pace and just get it completed. In my experience when I up my training volume for a 4 or 5 day period I get burnt out quick. But everyone's different. Sometimes it kicks that person into a different gear to train like that from then-on. Good luck on those workouts and let us know how they go.

Alright ya'll, OWS this Sunday. It's been so beautiful here lately I can't put it off any longer Hopefully I can get a 1600 yd swim in today (straight) to just remind myself I can do the swim. I started to worry about the trainsitions, but honestly it's my first one. Completing it is the first goal. Next one I'll start getting into details Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll be online probably once or twice this long weekend, but nothing too much after work. Take care.

Hi gang - sorry I've been out of touch for a few days. I went mountain biking for the weekend with the UCD cycling team. Great fun. Unfortunately, it's awakened my mountain biking bug big time, so now I have to fight off the desire to ditch the pavement and head for the dirt...  I'm sure I'll get my head back in the tri game soon, but right now I'm fantasizing about running off to Squamish for a week, or four...

I'm just catching up on the posts from the weekend, so I'll start responding soon.

Hope you all had great/fun/productive/relaxing weekends. I know I did!

What up group?!?

Been a GREAT weekend this past Memorial Day! Good training in, fell off my bike, can't swim in Open Water with a wetsuit, strained my quad... but you know what, I'm still stoked for the race coming up! Everything's falling into place (slowly), and my goal for this race... finish! Take the entire experience in, and worry about the smaller things later (transitions, layouts, etc).

Barb, I think you'll be fine getting to 22K if you slowly increase your milage. Just add a half a mile to your long run every week (if you feel good), and that should help the case. Just listen to how your body is feeling out there. My opinion is that I see a lot of people are using the Heart Rate Monitor a little too religiously when running/training. It's great if you keep your body and heart rate in that zone, but if you're not listening to how your legs/shins/feet are feeling during these runs it could spell disaster down the line. personally I never ran with a HRM and haven't had any problems. Sure I've BONKED a couple times in races (high school mainly) but I mean for the most part if you listen to how your body is, you should be ok. But that's my opinion and I think you should do what you feel comfortable with. Good Luck!

I've never mountain biked before, is it like way better than biking on the roads? I can't stay up on my road bike on a flat surface, imagine me on a dirt trail!

Speaking of Dogs... here's two of our four dogs my wife and I have. Three of the Four are stray/shelter dogs that we didn't have the heart to turn into the pound. We tried to find owners, but when no one claimed them, they stuck on us.

Happy Training Ya'll.

Matt, I took a look over them and I'm not a pro by any means in seeing what's right for someone. Like I said I have a 6 year old CycleOps that's probably "stone age" by now. But the Adjustable Fluid Trainer seems like the best choice for someone like me. Just getting into the biking, can manually adjust resistance w/o getting off the bike and such. But obviously the Max Watts that has all the bells and whistles is what I'd think you can benefit a lot from too.

Depends on how much you want to spend I guess. And now that it came up... this sport is crazy expensive! Bike, bars, pedals, shoes, wetsuit, etc... that's why I love running. Pay for your shoes and shorts and a watch... you're all set!

I actually started in high school - imagine the crap I took for that! Now I just do it for three main reasons:

1. aesthetics - I get lots of compliments on my "creamy dreamy calves" - that's an actual quote from a woman on the tri team  
   
2. wound management - if you crash (which I do when I'm mtn biking) you lose less skin and it's much easier to deal with
3. psychological - there's something ritualistic and soothing about shaving - it makes me "feel" like a cyclist/triathlete.

A trainer is a great investment, esp. if you live somewhere where you can't easily ride outside all year round. As you say, fluid trainers are generally the best of the lot as far as resistance and low noise. My suggestion is to either get a very nice one (kurt kinetic or high end cycleops) OR get a cheaper one, but get it from a place with a solid 100% satisfaction guaranteed policy (REI, Performance, Nashbar, etc.) Nashbar has such a policy, but since they don't have storefronts, you have to return it in the mail. I prefer Performance for such purchases because you can just take it back to the local store if it starts to leak or if you don't like it. Otherwise, I try to support my LBS, but if I'm buying something that I think might need to go back at some point, I go with the chain stores for peace of mind...

That said, I think you'll be fine with any of the models you linked to. Assuming the resistance is high enough, you don't really need adjustability,  you can just change gears to change resistance.

Rollers are also fantastic for improving technique, and much more "fun" than a trainer, but they require concentration and take some time to get the hang of. If I could only have one or the other, I'd have a trainer, but since I'm a gear geek, I have both, and usually warm up/cool down on the rollers and  get my main workout on the trainer so I can watch a movie or something.

You'll also probably notice that it's MUCH harder to ride the trainer at first - if you can easily for for 90 minutes outdoors, 45 minutes on the trainer will be challenging. You'll get used to it though, and it will get easier. It's a more constant resistance (like climbing hills) and you can't coast, so it's a different feeling than riding on the road. 

Kelownagirl - 2007-05-28 10:21 PM So what does it take to work your way from a 5k to 22k run? Do you have to have a good solid year of running under your belt to do those kinds of distances or can it be done in less than a year? (without hurting yourself of course.

I stick pretty religiously to the "10% rule" - don't increase EITHER your long run mileage OR your total weekly mileage by more than 10% from week to week. So if I'm trying to add mileage, I go by that. I also back off every fourth week and take a "recovery" week where I do less mileage. I believe that most injuries are cumulative, and you can often get away with adding mileage more quickly at first, but the damage might show up a few months later... I prefer to be conservative and take it slow.

Some things that have worked for me in adding run mileage:

• walk breaks - not for everyone, but I really like taking a 30-60 second walk break every 10 minutes on my long runs. It refreshes my leg muscles, gives me a chance to drink and eat, and gives me a mental break. I use this for all races of half-IM distance or greater as well - walk through the aid stations, take a quick break, refuel, thank the volunteers, be on your way
• go slow. This varies for everyone, but the long run is not the time to push your speed limits - you're already pushing distance, so keep it slow and easy.
• as mentioned above, increase distance conservatively
• BACK OFF if you start to feel injured - give yourself a while to warm up, but if you're still feeling sore/hurt after a good warm up, there's likely to be something going on - ignoring this leads to trouble - stress fractures, IT band issues, etc.
• STRETCH - I stretch for at least 10 minutes almost every day. I feel that this really helps to prevent some of the typical overuse injuries (plantar fasciitis, it band problems, etc.)

So if you go with the 10% rule, here's a weekly progression from 5k to 22k:

1. 5
2. 5.5
3. 6
4. 5 (recovery)
   
5. 7
6. 7.75
7. 8.5
8. 7 (recovery)
   
9. 9.5
10. 10.5
    
11.  11.5
12. 9 (recovery)
    
13.   12.5
14. 13.75
15. 15
16. 12 (recovery)
17. 16.5
18. 18
19. 19.75
20. 15 (recovery)
21. 21
22. 22
23. 22

This is just an example, but it looks like it would take you 20-22 weeks. I'd say 26 weeks to give yourself some leeway for illness, injury, vacation, etc.

Considering that you're already in good condition, I don't think this would be over-ambitious, as long as you "listen to your body" and take it slow when necessary... 

Chicks dig scars