kenj mentor group - back for another great season! CLOSED (Page 55)

John - great job getting to the finish line (and starting line) for the HM. Did you pick your HIM yet?

Eddie - I try to avoid night workouts at all costs. The only surefire way I can get to sleep without hemicals that make it harder to get up, is with a little help from Eileen, but lets keep this post rated PG, at least :-). Easier said than done with little one's who constantly want to come by for water, a monster check, etc.

Jennifer - I think dropping distance was a great idea. We need to keep this part of our lives as low-stress as possible, since the rest can snowball on us. I realized halfway through a long run, and too far from home to do anything about it, that I wouldn't make it home in time to see the kids wake up to find whatthe Easter bunny left scattered around the house for them. Felt like a heel. There will be plenty of time to pound the pavement, ride bikes, etc.

Kathleen - way to run under suboptimal conditions!

Dwayne - thats great training while traveling, at what point does "vacation" get reclassified as "training camp"? ;-)

Ken and Brian - I continue be be amazed with how much you guys fitin with your training volume. I swore I would not bring in contractors for things I could do myself in our fixer upper, but low and behold, Eileen has a painter coming in for some interior work next week. I threw in the towel...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

This weekend reminded me of why I prefer to hire a painter!  I don't mind doing some home improvements, but when it comes to painting hiring it out is much better!

Bill you had a solid month of marathon training in March!  Great work!

I have no scientific evidence to back this, but was always told between 20-24oz per hour depending on temperature.  You can do a sweat test in a sauna or something, but your body is a sponge.  It can only absorb a certain amount of water in a given amount of time.  Anything more gets wasted.

I have similar issues with cramping.  It mostly doesn't relate to hydration or salt intake.  Some of the more seasoned racers have told me 9 times out of ten cramping is a fitness issue and not hydration/nutrition.  Although, there are cases where salt/hydration can take a toll and cause cramping, but it's usually something really extreme, or really late in a hot race or training.  I would doubt a 38 mile ride would do it.  IMO it's either a longer ride than your body is used to right now, or the effort was harder than you were used to.

Some people don't seem to cramp first when they go beyond their limits.  I do!  I use First Endurance products to make sure I have enough electrolytes.  They have more than any of the other products/sports drink mixes on the market.  Beyond that, I have to stay used to the distances I'm doing.  I can guarantee myself that if I'm not riding 100 miles regularly I'm going to have cramping issues when I attempt that distance.  Same thing if I'm not regularly putting in short threshold efforts.  My coach has me test threshold once a month and do long rides on the weekends regularly.  If I'm not doing that I'll cramp

Eddie, I have used the Salt Stick products in the past and they helped.  My coach has suggested EFS which you can get at their website www.firstendurance.com  I can't speak to whether it will work or not, but they advertise has being high in electrolytes, my first order will be delivered later this week.  My issues with cramping haven't been as bad the past few years as they were the first couple  but on hotter days they can't still bother me towards the end of a ride.

Okay, I wasn't going to post about last week's training, and just move on to next week.  I don't have any questions, but I guess this is the place to share:

So the week started off okay after a Sunday Du where I ran pretty hard, but for only ~4.5 miles total.  Then Tuesday were Vo2 max intervals.  After that, my week was shot with knee pain and general malaise.  Apparently, running hard doesn't suit me.  I skipped one run entirely and the rest were either shortened or done at lower intensity then planned, or both.

Saturday was the real kicker.  Went to a group ride, but because of the weather, not many folks showed up.  And the faster riders that came brought mountain bikes and cyclocross deciding to take it off-road.  So the 5 of us with roadies went out for a 30 mile easy "no drop" ride.  After stopping to wait for a new guy after a hill, I gently bumped my right calf into my bike bottle, and I do mean gently, barely touched it.  All of a sudden, I have calf pain like a bad charlie horse that won't go away, not a pull, not a cramp, just screaming pain all the way back to the start.  It lasted for about 3-4 hours afterwords, then was gone, like it never happened.

Things like this happened last year, when building base, but it's terribly frustrating.  I feel like I can run/bike forever, but I'm terribly fragile.  Heaven forbid I bump into my desk at work today, or I may be sidelined for a week...  So it got me thinking about what "real" base means, and I don't have an answer.  I followed a plan last year and built up enough fitness to finish the IM safely, but I always seemed to be riding the edge of getting fitter, or going too far and falling apart.  The bright side is that I remembered that I started this stuff almost exactly 2 years ago with 8-10 minute jogs, 4 mile bike rides and trying not to drown in my backyard pool.  But I think real and lasting base fitness may take years, not months and I'm far too impatient to accept that.

Pardon the long whine, but for those building to distance this year, embrace the low intensity work, and stay safe.

Meulen - 2013-04-01 9:33 AM Had a big weekend here!  Put in lots and lots of miles on the bike.  Weather was starting to get nicer.  It hit 50's during the days.  The mornings will still in the 30's, but we rode anyway!   Also had a nice run with the wife yesterday as she starts training for a half marathon.    I also pulled the trigger on a new Quarq.....FINALLY!!

Good deal on the Quarq, I like mine so far! Make sure to zero it out often!

I think you are right Bill, especially about building base fitness taking years.  I think this is especially true for the run, and to a certain extent the bike. 

I guess I should look closer at your logs, but I know you are doing a fairly heavy volume run plan.  Make sure you are getting your rest and cut back weeks too. 

I was just looking for those numbers yesterday.  I did find this helpful http://www.hammernutrition.com.au/info-centre/The Endurance Athletes Guide to Success.  I know it is from a nutrition company so take it with the knowledge they are also trying to sell you their product.  The amount of water per hour seems to be in line w/ Brian's numbers though.  

Last month was my highest s/b/r month ever!!!  The last 2 weeks have been slightly over 10 hours, which I have done only a few times and never 2 weeks in a row. This week is another big week, legs are definitely feeling fatigued. Hopefully these big volume weeks will pay off in May!

Even better than my training is that the snow is melting here!!!!! Day 3 of spring breakup w/ temps in the 40's.  Fingers crossed I can get my new bike outside in another week and the street sweepers will be out in force to clean up all the gravel.

Great job Robin!

Excellent training Robin!!  We are at about 6 weeks out from Florida!

I struggle with ITBS from time to time.  I just need to remember to do my PT regularly and the foam roller, which is an evil tool, but it works!

I have a question for you all.  On the run and the swim, I feel like I have a good sense for how fast I'm going, and how fast I want to go in a race.  On the bike I feel completely blind. 

Now, I've only been biking about a year and a half.  And I don't have a power meter, nor will I be able to get one this year (maybe next year?).  My training this winter has been with HR, which I had hoped would give me a better feel for my own personal gears, but with the confounders of wind and hills I'm not much more accurate than I was.

So I'm particularly interested in how you all would recommend pacing an Oly distance bike leg.  On a sprint, I just go as hard as I can the whole time.  But that strategy didn't work for me very well last year during Olys.

I used to have a lot of trouble with my IT band, and I finally kept it from coming back when I started doing the strengthening exercises at the end of this article when it WASN'T hurting me (not much help if it's acutely painful, though).  It hasn't flared up for about 5 years now, but I keep the side leg lifts as part of my weekly core strength routine.

http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/stretching-and-strengthening-exercises-iliotibial-band-syndrome?page=1

Every race is going to be a bit different as you have heat, wind, hills, etc.  HR and perceived effort is going to be your best guide.  Doing some race rehearsal type bricks will give you a good idea how hard to push the bike. 

I think the key with ITBS is once you get it under control you have to continue to prevent it to some degree with strength exercises and foam roller.  These are good exercises to start with.  I also like the lying leg circles.