Swbkrun mentor group - Closed (Page 55)

GLORIOUS!

Had a good ride this morning with a local cycling group  - 34ish miles...

Happy Easter everyone! I'm just recovering after my longest ride ever, just over 140 km's and quite a bit of headwind. I did the ride with my friend who's also doing IM OZ this year which was a change for me, I usually ride alone. He's a much stronger rider than me and usually crushes my times on the bike leg at tri's so I was pleasantly surprised to find I dropped him - not intentionally - on every hill. On the last one I looked back when I got to the top and he was about 200m back. Hopefully this means my trainings starting to show!?

Nice ride!! I didn't realize your race was so soon. 6 weeks away! End of the summer for you I guess.

You going to get in a 180km ride before the race?

Next week is my 6 hour ride, that won't be 180km at my speed, do you think I should keep riding to 180km or stop at 6 hrs?

For my first IM, I did several 100+ rides. At that point, I needed to know I could do the distance.   Ever since then, I've gone by time not distance.  For those efforts, I made sure I was on a harder course than IM WI.  I knew that if I survived the harder course, IM WI would be very manageable.  I'd stick with whatever the plan tells you to do.

Side note, when you were dusting your friend, were you riding the hills the way you will race day? doing a set workout? or mashing the gears to get up them?  I hope it was the former.    Blowing energy on the hills is a recipe for a really hard run.

Nice job!  Way to get it done! 

Happy Easter everyone! 

Question for the group - how much racing do you do in season?  Once a month?  More often?  Less often? What do you consider "racing" - running events?  biking events?  OWS race or only tri's?  I need to plan my season out a bit, but I want to find that balance between training and racing.... 

I'll take a swing at an answer. It depends. 

When I first started doing triathlon, I raced alot, two to three times per month. I felt I needed the OWS practice and I enjoyed the whole atmosphere.  The last few years, I have reduced the number of races focusing on training for IM.  Last year, I raced even less, one June sprint, one June Oly and then IM. I believe that was an error. I still need more OWS experience and every race is an opportunity to get it as well as to build some more mental toughness.  While I won't approach my earlier years, I plan to do a short distance tri every month leading up to MOO.  I will also add two bike events (they're not races but supported timed events--100m efforts) and at least 1 aquathon/swim events.  I do believe you can race too much and it can be draining.  All the time to pack, drive to the location, overnighters and then the unpacking can be exhausting.

To answer your other question, I consider racing to include triathlon, running, swimming and biking events.  Since the tri season is so short here once it hits I focus solely on tris, bike and swim events.  I get plenty of running races September-April to keep me sharp.

Thanks Suzy - I think I have a tendency to try to race too much - a few years ago I was going every three weeks for a tri of some sort.  Since our season runs from March to October, I think I will keep it down to every 6 weeks or so with a mid summer break for vacation (will still be active, but not "training" per se).  There is a 4k OWS this summer at the lake a few miles away - that sounds like fun

Next question - anyone have a good, cheap source to buy running shoes on-line?  I know the model and size, so fit shouldn't be an issue so I am "value shopping" since the local tri shop that put me on these shoes is OOB....

so I couldn't deal with not being able to bounce into everyone's log to see how training was going and to leave inspires....    so, I put this together for Spring's MG....

if you want to post the chart into your training blog, follow the following steps:

do a quote of this post

hit the HTML button on the editor.

highlight and then copy all the info between the tag of <table style...> tag and the </table> tag

hit cancel from the HTML editor window that comes

user the back button on your browser

click on "training log" at the top of the page to get to your training blog

click the "edit" button for your blog header

hit the HTML button on the editor

go to the bottom and then paste in what you copied above

click on update in the HTML editor

click on OK button on your blog header

easy-peasy lemon squeezy - right??

Thanks Andy!!

 Thanks. Are the links suppose to work?

Yep, the links should work, but don't...  looks like the forum still parses the input even though it is entered in the HTML editor... 

if anyone wants to paste it into their blog header, PM me your email addy and I will email you a text file that will work easily....

I'm still slow on the bike but my speed on flatter sections has improved over time, just the hilly bits that destroy me! Unfortunately I think you have to learn to suffer on the bike to get stronger and the best way to do that is hard intervals on the trainer. I'm just concentrating on endurance now and feel a bit slow again but when I've done a few weeks of intervals like the Sufferfest or Trainer Road workouts I've had a noticeable improvement.

While I don't bike much in the off season, it's HIITS that keeps my watts level somewhat intact while I focus on other things.  During season, I think it's a combo of 3xX at Z4 work and low RPM (55) Z3 (30-90') work in a very big gear.  Of course, lots and lots of riding helps too.  I've seen my FTP increase about 30% in the last two years.

I am no expert. There is a rider at my lbs and he swears doing hill workouts are good. I have listened and tried to do some hills everytime I ride. I think they do help as I have seen progress or maybe my overall endurance level has gotten better. He also said to do the hills more than once and I have been doing that when I can. I am fortunate to have several different hills in my area to practice on.

It is the wifes birthday today. She is turning 30! (no training allowed today)

It's that time of the week again.....Who's got plans to race this weekend?  Let us in on your goals and your strategies?

Birdy's "getting faster on the bike question" made me think that strength training could improve biking power.  Are you doing any specific strength workouts?  If so, what are you doing, and how do you hope it will improve your swim/bike/run game?

David, any typo's this week? 

Hi gang - had a blast last weekend at the D'Alessio family TT.  Three of four in the family podiumed.  Alas I was the lone loser.  ;-)  So proud of my kiddos for gutting out the early AM cold.  My son was hysterical at the end his hands were so cold.  He couldn't shift gears during his ride but the 1st place melted away the tears.  My daughter's hands were so cold she couldn't brake so Tony had to catch her at the finish.

No racing for me this weekend.  2 LAX games for the kids then off to Charlottesville (about 2 1/2 hrs. away) for a bike race for Tony.  I will squeezing in training all sorts of fun ways.  Plus a bridal shower!

As far as the training questions - I love these two!!!!  For me strength training is really focused around flexibilty.  I am extrememly lucky to put together in some fashion that keeps me from dealing with nagging issues.  However my whole back side - shoulders to heals - gets so tight during training especially the running.  So constantly trying to keep my backside as long as my front side really helps how I feel when I get up in the mornings.

Now Birdie's bike question - I'd love some good tips for short, high impact workouts.  I have very limited time and really need to have my minutes on the bike work for me.  Now that the days are longer and the weather is finally getting better I can get some long, slow rides outside.  But my evening trainer rides could be more productive.  Any recommendations/samples from the group to get the most bang for the buck?  I need to increase power and endurance. 
I think we need our newlywed to chime in as well.  :-)

Thanks - Happy Hump Day!!!!!!