Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 55)

And since I rudely forgot to compliment Carol

Great that you met your goal weight.  Now the challenge of not backsliding.  That is what I usually do once I get to where I want to be.  And then going from 25 hours of workouts a week to 2 hours = nearly 4 pounds less burned off per week.  Oh that's where those pounds came from.  You don't actually get less hungry when you workout less. 

Ya those real cyclists pulling 400 sustained power......

My bike ride lastnight was just an hour, but had 5x 30 rest 30 LT efforts and then main session was 13x 30/rest 30 sec LT efforts.  The LT efforts are in the 22 to 25 mph range on the drainer.... the last couple may have been slower.  Not sure what to do with my day, longer... for me now bike ride for tomorrow, longer for me now (10 mile) run on Sunday, so maybe just a slow 4 mile run today.  I will not be sure how much lastnight's bike ride hit me until I get going on the run.  That TT last week knocked me for a loop. 

Actually I will probably just do Vineman next year.  April is too early.  I would have to already be in a solid building phase for it and I am only doing about 8-9 hours a week now.  Timewise it is just easier to be doing the long workouts when I am not so buisy at work and have some vacation time to sleep in. 

Steve, it's linky link time for you.

Just learned about TrainerRoad.com.  It is a trainer program that uses your ANT+ HR and Speed/Cadence sensor to help you with trainer rides.  People even say you can input Jorge's Training into it and train. 

Here's a BT thread about it. Hell I'm tempted to load it up on my laptop just to have a big bike computer screen.

Looks interesting, but my seedometer is wired so no wireless.  I do like watching the pretty lines match up it is a good distractor while on the trainer.  I will have to just look at the numbers on my Garmin.  Although... I think you can display things on the garmin like graphs over time ... hrm. 

Totally spent after lastnight's bike ride.  I am still not sure how an itty 1 hour bike ride can kick your butt so completely.

Carol since you have lost so much weight we need a new avitar pic..... pictures or it didn't happen 8).

Went out with the tri club this morning for a ride downtown.  Afterwards 4 of us participated in an ice cream TT.  Pretty simple, each person buys a pint of Ben and Jerry's.  Eat it as fast as possible.  I won in 4:05.  Second place was 6:52.  These chumps didn't know who they were dealing with.  Here we are, notice I brought the metal spoon and not some weak plastic one.

Dennis, now that is a contest!  Where is your trophy?  And did you wear the helmet in case of flying chunky monkeys?

Steve, sounds like the bike program is going to take your cycling to a new level.  I hope you at least have some good dvd's to keep you company.  Yeah, I'm kind of camera shy, and usually the one taking the pictures.  So I don't have any recent photos other than race pics, which I don't buy, and one of me chowing down on a turkey leg at the fair, which I refuse to share. 

I'm pretty happy w/ today's race and feel like I put out there about all I could.  Total time 56:39, which is a 1:49 improvement over a month ago.  Would have been good for 1st place in my AG the last 3 out of 5 yrs (yeah, I geeked out and looked), but only good enough for 5th place today.  Turns out it was the RRCA state championship 10K, and I could not have touched any of the ladies ahead of me.  

Mile 1 8:28 169/179

Mile 2 8:52 176/181

Mile 3 9:07 178/181

Mile 4 9:10 181/184

Mile 5 9:15 182/186

Mile 6 8:57 182/185

Mile 6+ 8:42 186/188

Garmin had it at 6.33, so the above are a little off from the real deal. 

My friend and triathlon partner in crime walked the 5K and the 10K to train for the 3 day Komen walk, and I got to meet another BT'er and her mom and hubby, which was really fun. 

Here's a new stat.  I've had my new bike for 9 days.  I rode my old bike for 179 days.  Basically 20 times longer.  

But I've already ridden the new bike  over 11% what I rode total on the old (112.17 hours vs 12.49 hours).

 It took my 4 weeks when I got my old bike before I had the same mileage I've done in 9 days on the new on.

Way to go on that run.  Your HR are right where they should be and your PR is awsome, under your goal time and you really kicked in the last 2 miles.  Sub 57 for the win.  Very impressive. 

For me just a 10 mile run, but 20 second per mile faster than last week 7:55 at z2 149 HR, lower HR.  So 3 bike workouts, 4 for next week, run miles 28 for the week, building slowly. 

Then some frisbee golf.  My son beat me for the first time ever in one game, his best game ever at 1 under par and I throw it over the fence on hole 6 earning me a penalty stroke that I couldnt recover from.  I did beat him in the overall 3 games... and I was using a new disc.. but not many years left where I can beat him at everything, he turns 17 next month. 

So Dennis, you have had the new bike 5% as long as the old one and ridden 11% as many miles already.  Good job breaking it in properly!

Steve, did you build the frisbee golf course or do you have one in town?  It's great that your soon-to-be 17 y/o son still wants to play with you.  Ha, he'll probably want to more if he wins!  Sounds like you are getting your running legs back on and working out the bike vs. run intensity/volume. 

And BTW, I appreciate your comments on post weight loss complacency.  It is definitely a danger after all the compliments on how much better I look, the running improvements, the newness of the triathlon challenge, etc. starts to diminish.  I think that is part of the reason I don't want to aim for an IM, or even a full Marathon.  Aside from not feeling ready for that and needing a lot of improvement in the shorter distances, I want something maintainable over the longer term.  The peaks and valleys and injury potential in the longer event training/recovery cycle scare me.  I'm afraid I might get in a valley and stay there.

MTA: OK, so my triathon compatriot just called and wants to do the MS150 in April 2012.  That after my talk above of not going long.  Told her OK.  She says it's done over a couple days, so no pace pressure, there is camping involved, etc. but what the heck was I thinking?  After training for that + the half mary's in Dec, Jan, Feb, it may put me dangerously close to making the jump to a HIM. 

The MS150 here had the option to not ride the entire distance.  I think some people did 45 or 50 each day.  Lots did the 100/50 though.  We also recently had a 24 hour St. Jude ride.  Most of the teams rode a relay for it, but my bike mechanic at my LBS rode the entire thing.  Covered way over 200 miles.  I forget how many he did exactly.

Cycling is way less injury prone(wrong word) than running so I wouldn't worry about it.  I think HM training is way more risky than century cycling training would be.  Lots of stopping and chilling at SAG stops.

Good morning.  Just back from the gym.  Swim lessons today followed by a ~4.5 mile run.  What's your plans?

Last night I redid my threshold test since I had not done one to test my power.  Normally you test 4-8 weeks apart but I needed an idea of what my sustainable power was for looking at training material.  So I took a few days off from the bike and my slow runs hadn't really taxed my legs at all.  I used Spinervals 27 for the test again.  Coach Troy is a great motivator to keep up the effort.  I used the new TrainerRoad program to capture the data because my watch won't, my bike computer will show it but not download it and the Garmin 900 isn't for sale yet.

I finished with a sustained 20 minute power of 211 and a HR of 174.  That puts my FTP around 197-200 depending on which formula you use.  My last test put my FTHR at 168.  I say a lot of the increase is just due to knowing what effort I put up before and having a little more confidence.  Below is a picture of the output from TrainerRoads.

Hey Dennis, sounds like you are zeroing in on the power stuff.  I forget...are you planning to do Jorge's bike plan?  As for the watts, I didn't see anything near that in my brief encounter with a power meter.  Seems like I peaked out around 180 for a very brief time.  Hmmm....no idea what is normal/good/etc. on that...guess it is what it is and you just want to work for improvement?

Took a total rest day yesterday.  Would have been good to ride or do a short brick, but the wind had really kicked up by the time I was ready so I blew it off.  This morning ran for 2 hours (about 11.5 miles).  Thought I would feel pretty fresh after resting yesterday, but not so much.  Anyway, got it done.  Monster Sprint Triathon is this Sunday, revisit of the first one I ever did, so should be interesting.

Doing some contract accounting work now, so perhaps I can fund a few more races, or maybe pay a few bills.  I may have to ask Santa for a trainer, though I'm keeping an eye on Craigslist.     

Still struggling here.  Had my hamstring act up out of the blue, so I took a couple of days off.  Then I tweaked my back a bit doing a restraint at work.... we see how bad that is tomorrow.  I also had s stomach thing lastnight around 3 am ... for a while.  Glad it is the offseason.  Having trouble getting back up to speed with all this other stuff going on.  It will work its way out. 

For a TT test you can use a garmin and just turn the autostop feature off, then just start the watch during the TT and then stop it, you can get a graph over time or just look at the average hr.  You could do the same thing for swim if you could be sure no one would walk off with your watch. 

And if you go slow and take long stops the 100 mile bike rides are a lot of fun.  Cookies, subway sandwhiches... it is like doing an IM and not racing it just load up on the goodies talk with friends and keep going all day......

So I went for my second lesson.  He tweeked a few things.  Had me do 1 arm drills, catch-ups and fist.  We talked about changing my kick to a 2 beat which I will work on.  At the end he asked me how fast I could do a 50 sprint.  I said 60-65 seconds, more like 65.  He said "Go!".  So I went (said like Forrest Gump).  When I hit the wall he said "49 seconds, not bad".  I looked at the wall clock and he was right.  I have never swam a 49 second 50 in my life.  Yesterday I swam a 50 sprint with fins and only did it in 57.  So now I am to do 10x50 on 70 during all of my workouts.  I'm going to pay for over-achieving.

Steve is right, on a century, you eat all of the Oreos you want.  That is as long as you pull the draft line some.

For my first test I used my Garmin.  Hit lap at the beginning and end of 20 minutes.  Garmin Training Center will show you avg. HR for a lap.  Last night I forgot to turn auto-lap off so it busted my TT into mile laps and destroyed the avg. HR lap.  I also needed the PC app because my Garmin doesn't read my powertap.

Actually I have a book with a chart for that.  My power/weight ratio at FTP(200 watts/75kg) is 2.66 which puts me a little below middle Cat 5 level (cat 5 is the lowest of the 5 cycle racing grades).  Based on your weight and sex, you would need a FTP of 127w to be considered the same fitness.  For women that ration is 2.24 (127/56.8kg).  So you are probably right there and doing fine.

I love geeking out on numbers, charts and math.  I also found TriathlonCalculator.com the other day that is made by the QT2 coaching folks.

They should promote that President's Award more.  I've never heard of it.  Picture please?

And by default, here's a link to the page with Steve's name for everybody(Carol) who wants to see it.  http://www.presidentschallenge.org/celebrate/presidential-champions/platinum/2011.shtml

Way to go Steve on the President's award!  That is quite an accomplishment and it's nice to get something tangible to recognize the hard work.  Also nice to see our government doing something like that to encourage fitness.

Just a fly by this morning and will catch up more later.  Need to get to work (yay, I have some work) and then going to "Octoberfest" at my FIL's assisted living place for dinner.  Should be a wild night of sausage, beer and polka .

oops...double post....I know better than to hit submit twice...

Dennis, sounds like your swim lessons are a good investment!  Nice to see that kind of progress with only a couple of lessons.  As for the rest of it, I officially dub thee "team geek".  I mean that in a nice way.  Oh, and I only wish that I raced as fast as the calculator said....had to guesstimate a couple of things though (garbage in/garbage out).

Looks like it could be in the 40's for the tri on Sunday morning.  Maybe the cold will motivate me to finish the bike leg sooner.

Packet pickup at the bike shop yesterday was expensive.  No, not due to a great sale on bikes I could not pass up.  I had just gotten my car back from the body shop the day before (from when my hubby backed his car into mine back in April).  This is my first new car in about 12 years, and with the brand new bumper and rear quarter panel it was looking spiffy again.  Anyway, after getting my packet, I backed into a car rounding the corner in a crowded parking lot.  Ugh!!!  I'm sure our insurance co. is going to be "updating" our rates soon. 

Well, on the plus side, I didn't back into anyone the last couple days .  Short run at the lake this morning, and then volunteered w/ the running club at the community trash pickup along the shoreline.  Coldest morning so far this fall.  Beautiful, glassy smooth lake, and light fog right right over the water.  Reminded me of Gen 1:2 ".....and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."  Almost got to try kayaking....probably would have if I had stuck around longer.  Work + father-in-law issues has kept me off my bike this week totally.  I have practiced zero colder weather riding, so hard to gauge what I want to wear in the sprint tomorrow morning.  Kind of regretting signing up for this one, but I'm sure I'll have fun once I get there.  Plus, will help me reach my goal of doing 12 races this year.

Hows about everyone else?  Dennis, betting you are riding this morning.  Steve, can you get outside to ride at all anymore, or is it too cold now?  How is the bike/run balancing act going?  Samantha, you still out there inspiring others and getting in some training?

Carol, I found the best thing on the bike are arm warmers.  I think during a tri they will work out fine.  You can just roll them up your wet arm after the swim and jerk them off before the run. 10 transition seconds total. If it's below 50 you might want to use some full gloves during the bike also.

Good luck tomorrow.

You lose.  I actually went out for a long swim.  Needed the sleep anyway but had the long swim planned all week.  I got the Swim Workouts for Triathletes and it has a 3x300 w/0:15 rest TT test to determine paces for some of the workouts.  I wanted to get this in so I went out this morning to do this and swim 4200 yds. just for the confidence that I could do it.  So I did a 1,000 yd. warmup before doing the test.  I hit my numbers for each 300 of the test (6:34, 6:33 & 6:24) like a negative splitting boss.  I then did the rest of one of the workouts in the book to end with 4,300 yds. in 1:42:00.

So my swim motto is the same as my new pickup line at the club, "What I lack in technique, I make up for with endurance."  Hasn't worked at the club but at the pool I think it'll be just fine.  

2 swim lessons have really paid off.  My speed is better than ever.  My kick has went from 8-12 beats per kick(more lick a leg seizure) to a steady 2-4 beats.  I think that has been my greatest improvement.  I'm also pulling a lot better.

I do plan on doing a long ride on the trainer tonight.  Around 2.5 hours or so.