Fred D's triathlon training group CLOSED (Page 58)

Well, that was the weekend i needed for mental fortitude

Friday had a good late PM run, Saturday and Sunday 2 good long rides, Saturday's was a bit of a hammerfest and sunday i went out with a friend that has not ridden in a while, so it was good base mile ride.

Monday I had the best swim i have had in 2 years, i did the course of the Local Tri at my home beach and beat last years time on the course by over 3 minutes.  I was swimming straighter and smoothly.

This weekend really helped my mental status, i was hydrated properly and figured out some nutrition for my upcoming Half Iron.

More good news is as long as the weather report holds true, it will be 20* cooler on race day than the pre-ride. That will certainly help a guy my size out in the long grand scheme of the race. With propoer nutrition and actually being somewhat rested, i am in a much better place mentally.

Hope everyone else had a grand weekend of activity.

I am curious to hear any more responses to Neil's questions, especially around nutrition. I need to get mine in order with only 12 weeks to go....

As for me, I am very tired.  I am sure this is very normal for IM training when you still work full-time and have outside of tri commitments. I am enjoying my swim group - even with some pretty serious critique of my stroke (makes me wonder if i've been completely deluded all this time) i feel as though it's good.

Work is busy and becoming a bit of a pressure cooker so i am trying to keep going and have some perspective. This project will be done in the fall!

Neil:  I think Fred has it right especially regarding the limping back home part!  I just did this type of workout over the weekend as a race simulation for an upcoming HIM.  You can see the TR file by going to my log and clicking through.

The 2.5 hr ride was done mainly between 80-90%FTP.  Following a warm up it was broken up into something like:

 30' @80%; 10' @75%; 20' @90%; 10' @75%; 20' @90%; 10' @75%; 30' @80%

It was done this way as opposed to a steady effort so that I did not go crazy while on the trainer .  Typically all my longer rides are done above 80%.  Just keep doing them and it will get easier.

For nutrition:  I had ~350 calories for breakfast shortly before riding and then 550 calories of liquid nutrition on the bike supplemented with 2 bottles of water and this was pretty good.  I was able to run well for 35 minutes off the bike which is a good indication that it worked ok.

Everybody is different but 200-250 calories/hr on the bike is a good starting point to see what works depending on body weight.  I am 158ish.

Great training Rudy.  I actually thought you were racing this past weekend...but then read your post again and realized it was this coming weekend.  I've got my HIM this weekend too...so when I'm suffering, I'll just remember that I didn't have to do a 20k TT the day before...

Really good weekend of training.  Not a lot of volume, but just some solid workouts.  Going on a test ride today with the 404 set, mainly just making sure the rear wheel is good as I've been using a disc cover up to this point in the year.

x2...exactly my experience as well.

I took in about 1000 calories during a 2:50 bike and 500 calories for a 1:52 run last year in my HIM.  I was fine...but I don't think I needed that much.  This weekend I plan to use about 7-800 for a 2:40-2:45 bike, and 300 calories for a 1:48-1:50 run.

Hi all - a good weekend of training for me as well, but I will be a little herky-jerky for the rest of the week due to work-related travel.

The best part of this weekend is it seems that we finally got my wife's bike squared away. I rechecked the setup and alignment of her front derailleur one last time. James - I always use a penny to set the spacing between the FD cage and the big chain ring which gives right at 1.5mm of gap. I took it into my mechanic and he tried dropping it down even further just to see if it had any effect. Nope, still the same. He then re-cabled it (including new housing), but that did not help either. You could make the tiniest adjustment to the limit screw and it would either not shift up to the big chain ring at all or it would drop to the outside. It really was the craziest thing. I was still not convinced it was not a problem with the internal routing, so I actually went through it myself with the mechanic. I have never messed with internal cabling before, so I learned a lot. On her bike you darn near have to take the entire thing apart just to get to all the access points. At any rate, that did not make it any better, but it did convince me that cabling was not an issue.

So, the solution in this case was to get rid of the SRAM front derailleur completely (I had already swapped from Red to Force) and replace it with Dura Ace. We also swapped the Red rings to Dura Ace along with the chain. The chain ring switch took a little bit of machining to get the rings to fit the Quarq power meter/SRAM cranks.

The bike shifts like a dream now - it is rock solid and smooth no matter how hard you hit it, and the wife is ecstatic. She now wants to change the rear to Dura Ace when the season is over. The only thing that I have left to do is recalibrate the PM, put I have to get a laboratory-grade 20 lb weight to do that. It is already on order from McMaster Carr.

I still don't think there is anything wrong with SRAM - I have Red on my road bike and it is awesome - nice and solid. Not as smooth as the Shimano on my tri-bike, but it is swift and reliable. The only thing I am left to think is that it is just something up with the interface of the SRAM with her particular model of bike. I am just glad that it seems we have it worked out finally. Here is what it looks like - I actually think it would have worked without swapping the chain rings, but I was honestly done dealing with it and did not want to leave a stone unturned. If this had not worked she was getting an entirely new bike this week.

I had SRAM Rival compact put on my Planet X build, just wanted to give SRAM a shot.  Spent weeks taking the bike in every weekend as the FD would keep rotating and I couldn't shift into the big ring.  Finally gave up and had them put the DA FR and RD back on.  Works like a dream now.

Training wise, trying to get back in the swing and lose that MX weight. 
Fri - 4 mile run
Sat - 60 mile ride
Sun - 1 mile OWS and 5 mile run
Mon - 30 mile ride and 6 mile run

Tuesday- Tired

That OWS was pretty rought.  First non race OW swim and it was choppy as hell

Thanks for all the input guys.  I'm going to try out 200 calories/hour on the bike next weekend.  I think I'll try to focus on getting my nutrition through gels/chews and get the hydration through water.  I'll aim for a bottle an hour.

For power, I'll see about pushing things a bit harder as part of longer rides.  I'm riding my HIM course next weekend, so not sure if I'll try it out on that ride or wait for the following weekend.

Neil,
 
Glad you will be test before hand. 
 
I tend to use more calories on the bike in prep for the run.  This is more so for halfs/fulls.  The key for me in a race is staying on top of it.  I will tend to take from the course and I still carry nutrition with me or on the bike.

Fred...this is part of why I really respect your advice and why you're considered a great BT'er by many.  You are an awesome athlete, yet you keep things in perspective and your priorities straight.  I've said it many times before...things happen for a reason.  I'm sure you'll work through your stresses and become a stronger person for it.

What Jason said.

Be well Fred

Leaving for Kona tomorrow morning, so taking a half day at work and using the rest of the day to pack up the bikes (me and my GF), and get everything squared away. 

Yesterday was extremely windy, so it was good to go for a short ride to prepare myself mentally for the winds that should blow up at Hawi.  On the flats, with the tailwind, I was pushing up to 33 mph at HIM effort...but turn around into the wind, and I was curling up in a ball trying to hold 15-16 mph.  Overall though, my legs felt great...best they've felt all year.

Ditto from me Fred. "PennState" is the dude that initially got me hooked on BT. I am deeply and profoundly grateful for the advice and support that you have offered. From my own experience this may be your first hiatus from the sport but it may not be your last as your priorities, obligations and responsibilities ebb and flow. The one thing I know to be true is that you will come back faster, stronger, healthy, refreshed, energized and most importantly smarter for it. Take care - I'll keep checking those logs!

Fred: Although I don't get much of a chance to post, I feel I've learnt a lot from this group but your personal life is far more important!

Take a break and return when you are ready.

Wow, I timed that run to perfection, not 5mins after walking in the door it is verging on torrential rain with full on thunder and lightning!

Fred - thanks for everything!

I've gotten so much out of this mentor group, and it wasn't all triathlon related.

I wish you the best!

Fred - Agree with everything the others have mentioned.  I really appreciate all the time you have spent guiding the group and providing so much great information. 

Definitely wish you and your family all the best!  Thanks so much!

Fred - I hopw the break allows you to focus on your other priorities.  You're an immensly positive influence for a lot of folks on BT, and especially your mentor groups, so I hope the break allows you to come back stronger than ever.  We'll miss your contributions in the mean time.