Jeff Y's Group - CLOSED (Page 51)

I said last year I was going to do Jorge's winter bike but never actually began it.  Once this last marathoin is over I will be hitting the bike hard all winter.  That seems to be my weakest event so I'll take the time to really work that up to respectable ride time for next season's races.  Maybe I'll get a couple of more podiums next season.

I glad to hear the running is going much better too.  Are you planning on building a slow base before hitting much more mileage.  I am kind of thinking it would be a good idea to keep that running pretty light  for a while and allow your legs to get used to a solid base before trying to get the winter running mileage way up, as you guys were talking about earlier.

Edit:

I am waiting for a little bit before I get my run in today.  The temp is down to 32 degrees and I am not exactly ready to go jumping into that just yet.  I certainly don't mind running in the cold, it's ALWAYS better that running on the dreadmill, but I would like to not send my body into shock already.  It's been really nice most of the week and I have been running in temp at least 10 degrees warmer.......I'll wait a couple of hours.

I am also planning to run between 12-15 miles but my legs will be the determining factor.  They felt really good during last nights 8 miler and if I run 15 today I'll drop back to 3-ish tomorrow to begin...........another race taper!!!!  I am exited and nervous all at the same time right now.  2 marathons in 3 weeks seems excessive and "possibly" to much to expect another PR and a qualifying run for Boston but I really think this might be my best chance.

Thanks all, I'm fine, just extremely frustrated.  Sometimes you deal with the day to day crap well, sometimes not.  Just seems like the snowball of life gets rolling down the mountain pretty fast sometimes. Training always gets me back in a good place, but without it, I'm a bit of a whiner.  I know the perception is that triathletes can be self consumed, but I find the more consistent my training is, the less self consumed I am in my "normal" life.  Thought I'd be more mature than this at 49, but no luck there!  Ok, that's my therapy session for the day, thanks for tuning in.

I'm very hopeful after the doc visit today - Jeff, are you an MD or what?  They gave me exactly what you said, and think the fluid should clear up very quickly.  In any event, I ran today and it was exactly what I needed.  We did get a few inches of snow last night and 5-7 more are planned for tomorrow, so I'm giving up on outdoor riding until spring, putting the trainer tire on tonight and getting back to biking asap.

When I'm frustrated, it helps to exagerate to blow off steam.  So if I ever talk about suicide or blowing up cities with nuclear bombs, that's all it is!

I'm not an MD.  I just play one on the internet.  But I have recently learned what the treatment is for inner ear infections causing vertigo!

Enjoy the snow.  I always loved running just a bit more when it snowed.  And I have a long lost love for XC skiing.  In fact, it was just a few weeks ago that I dug out my old skis, boots and poles and surveyed them.  Had to throw away 1 pair of skis and 2 pairs of boots.  And I started to long for the old days of skiing.  Do you XC ski?

I used to ski both downhill and cross country a lot.  Like every single weekend on the slopes with a 1 or 2 week trip to the West, and a few times a week x-country - pre-kids. 

Once the first was born, me and Mrs. wanted/needed me home on the weekends so since then it's once a year.  We have a time share at Smuggler's Notch so we spend a week there every Feb vacation.  If we had unlimited $$$ we'd probably do some weekends since the kids enjoy the downhill skiing.

Yup, that is absolutely the plan.  Right now I run as often as my legs feel good.  I try not to push it at all.  Just go out and run at least 30 mins at a time.  The last couple runs I have done were faster and my legs didn't like it.  I had no heart rate or RPE issues at all.  Just cruisin along...but then my legs are sore, or my shins hurt for a day.  Just being smart right now.  I will run every day as long as it's the smart thing to do.

As far as biking goes...I'm looking forward to Jorge's winter cycling plan.  I'm on board for that whenever it starts.  I got another bike ride in today, about an hour and a half.  By the end my legs were junk again, but it was good to get outside.  It was only 29 degrees when I left the house though.  Kinda chilly.  Glad I went because we have 3" of snow right now and counting!

I like snow but not already.  It cramps any kind of riding for me but really it's not the snow that cramps riding, it's the cold.  I am on a small budget for tri gear and winter/cold weather cycling gear isn't in said budget.

One nice thing about the Jorge's this year is that you can download it into your training plan.  I already did it but I don't plan to start it until Nov. 13, one week after my marathon.  I figure I'll need that week to get some recovery going again and be able to start thrashing my body again.  I am kind of looking forward to the sufferfest's that are coming this winter..........I think?!?!?

This was a great  game, I don't think I have ever been to a game where the emotions go from so high to so low, back to holy crap they one the game,  Go Bucks!!

On a different note: A while back I talked about the quality of trainers and which one I should buy.  The consensus was the $40 choice was pointless and that I should get the higher quality version.  Unfortunately I broke my budget replacing my phone that i dropped, again!  So my only choice now is to use what is at the YMCA.  My question now, What is the difference between the actual spinner bikes and the other stationary bikes?  I Know the spinner places me in a closer position but it is not easy to repeat the exact settings.  Does it matter which excercise bike I use?

No expert here, but I'd say spin bike > typical stationary bike exactly for the reason you stated, closer position to the real thing.

Also, if you don't mind NOISE, I have a CycleOps wind trainer collecting dust in my basement.  It's a bit old, but actually spins realistically and works fine and the price is right!  I used it until last year but picked up a used 1up over that summer and love that one.  PM me if you want to set something up.

Winter training program advice needed, also posted in the general forums area.

Want to improve my biking over the winter, bought a CycleOps 2 Liquid trainer (really like it).  Up to this point to improve my cycling I have been concentrating on adding miles and frequency of workouts.  Now with the trainer I want to follow a 16-20 week program and am totally confused with the different types of programs (heart rate, power, intervals etc.) and terminology - it sounds pretty complicated to follow these programs/  Would it be as effective to use my current cat eye computer and work on increasing my average mph from workout to workout?  Does anyone have an effective straight forward winter (indoor) bike training program?

I want to find an effective, easy to follow bike training plan over the winter that will increase my bike fitness.

thanks

Just a quick update to the group before heading to bed to begin ANOTHER work week.  It is official.....I am registered for the Indianapolis Monumental marathon this Saturday.  The race starts at 8 AM, which will be a little bit better than an earlier start.  Maybe I'll be able to sleep a little better than the last time....probably not.

Jorge's plan on this site is gold.  It is 16 weeks and will absolutely improve your bike fitness a tremendous amount.  Go to the challenge forums and join in - I think it starts either this week or next.  It's brutal at times, but it's fun to do it with a bunch of other people.

Great news Dirk, I hope those legs are fully recovered and ready to BQ.  I'm thinking about you this weekend with all the power outages around here and the extra people brought in the get us back in business.  I'm fortunate in that 95% of my town is still out but we got power restored a few hours ago.  The generator was great, but I had no internet access or cable!

I would look at Jorge's plan and see if that's something you can do.  It would be better than anything self-directed.

You can use average HR as a valid method of quantifying your effort level during a workout on the bike.  That tells you how hard you works relative to your physical ability.  The average speed on your bike computer is, on the other hand, an objective measurement of how much work you did on that workout.

So striving for a higher average HR than a previous workout will ensure high intensity.  Noting a faster average pace (or greater distance in the same amount of time) tells you that you got faster.

Greg,

I am glad you are checking back in.  It's been a while since we've seen you around the group.

I agree with Jeff that you need to make sure there is a focus to all of your bike workouts on the trainer.  I tried to "just ride" the trainer the first year I had one and it was brutal.  Last year I focused on intervals and it made things much better, HARDER but much better.  I am planning Jorge's myself this winter season and I have already downloaded it into my training log.

Hey you east coatsie's, I hope the storm isn't keeping you out of power.  Warren, I know you were without for a little while and I hope your still on.   My brother is on his way out right now.  I am not sure where he's going, just that he is headed east.  The y are nearly emptying our distribution line barn here.  They are down to 8 lineman now that they took my brother.  The usual barn compliment is about 27-28 lineman.  Now Ft. Wayne could be in a little bit of truble if even the smallest of storms move through.

We were out for just under a day, but we're on street power now.  We were fine throughout since I have a generator which I bought during that crazy ice storm a few year back - we were without power for three weeks that time!  We're lucky in that 95% of my town is still out.

I see progress slowly being made but there's a long way to go.  The problem this time was that the leaves were still on the trees, and with such a wet snow the weight really brought down a lot of trees.  We have a lot of wreckage in the yard, so this weekend will be a chain saw party!

Jonathon and Warren, I know both of you have generators so you are pretty lucky in that regard.....Well lucky or smart.  I'm glad to hear you're both "lights on."

I got a swim in for the first time in a month.  I took it very easy and didn't even do any kicking sets like I normally might have.  I figure it might take me a little bit to get back into the swimming thing so I really didn't even keep track of time.  I will get about 4 swims in before I start trying to hit anything hard.  My goal for swimming over the winter will be to get back to the swim fitness I had to start the race season this year.

I had a pretty good swim fitness when the season started.  I got just below 7 minutes for my 500 TT in May and I would love to be able to get back to that fitness level again.  Right now I can't even guess what it might be.....7:30??  I guess we'll see in a few months.

Started Jorge's cycling program tonight.  I was sweating like a pig and this is just the warm-up to the actual plan. haha!  Gotta love it.  Back to jogging tomorrow.  We'll see if I can beat October's 60 miles with no increase in injury or issues at all.  Wasn't sure if you got that.  Yeah, some people run 60 in a week,...ahem....but I'm not sure if I have ever even hit 50 in my life.  

Dirk...I hear you on that one.  I have not swam much at all since July.  I need to join the pool, but only want to buy the 6 month membership so I can do most of my swims OWS starting June.  I will probably go for the end of November and sign up.  Saving little bits of money here and there will get me closer to my wedding goal of a bazillion dollars for next September.

Jonathan, are you planning on trying to do the full Jorge plan, well at least the 3 key workouts, while building up the running?  That's going to be my goal, but if the running becomes too much I'm going to drop one of the bike workouts.  I did #1 and it felt ok, legs were good, lungs not so much.

I've done a few very short runs, like 10 and 15 minutes, and felt pretty good.  Tonight is a 20 minute, then I'll reassess. I'm hoping to start 6 days a week next week.

OK, 1st the fact that I can make the following complaint is completey amazing.

Running for 2 hours straight on a treadmill is TORCHER!  Staring at myself in the window in front of me and not going anywhere is rough!  On top of that the reason I was on the treadmill was the fact it was raining when I got off work and the radar showed it wasn't going to stop!  Well 15 minutes into the run the rain turned to a sprinkle and then stopped completely, so for 1hr and 45min I got to look out the window while it wasn't raining!

2 hours, 12 miles completed, I have officially carried my April 5K pace into November's half marathon pace.  I call that a good season!  Hope everyone is doing well and that the bumps and bruises are healing! 

Dirk: Good luck with the race this weekend!

Matt that sounds like a good run.  Congrats on a long distance run!

Oh and I think you need to be corrected on the language you used........It is called a DREADMILL!!!  I hate them!  I will do all kinds of things to keep from having to run any time at all on there.  Your HM is coming up soon right?

I found out my bib number for this weekend for all of you that would like to follow me through another death march.  The website is Indy monumental marathon here and the bib number is 390.  I didn't find a way to get the updates online but you can get updates via text message.  I already signed my wife up for the text updates but I am probably going to carry my phone this time.  The updates are few and far between for this race.  The first doesn't come until the HM distance then 30k and the finish.

My wife can locate me with the Sprint family locator and track me that way.  She'll be able to stay closer to where I am at on the course using this tool.  We have had this resource for checking on our girls for a while but I am actually more interested in keeping it for me.  If I don't come home from a run or ride she can (hopefully) find me this way.