Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 59)

Little under an hour this morning on the trainer and 5 mile run coming up here.  One last thing on the Jaybirds.  The sounds cuts out for just a split second every once in awhile but I noticed that once my phones screensaver kicks it the issue stops.  I believe the issue is with my iPhone and the Jaybirds.  The sound is great and I really like them.

Shelly - there is an open water swim clinic in BTR on Saturday if you are interested.  I can PM you the info or forward the email if you don't already have it.

Hope everyones training is going well!

Gary,

I'm very interested but unfortunately still don't have a wetsuit. What do you think of the water temps? I went to one in Mandeville last year in March and it was ice cold but doable. Can't say that I enjoyed it but I did get through it. I think it was end of March though. Pm or email me the info though as I may see what I can come up with in the next two days for a wetsuit. Thanks for thinking of me.

Shelly

Shelly,

Will do but I suspect that you may want to skip this one.  I have been to this one before and you spend some time in the middle of the lake floating while the instructor speaks.  Water temps may not be too bad as its been a warm winter.  If you do come I would bring a pull bouy to help float (unless you can tread water for a couple of minutes at a time).  I think I have your email address in my PM and will forward the email tonight.

Ice and rain storm ruined yesterday's morning ride, and the Big 12 basketball tournament right outside my office spoiled any plans for my afternoon work out.  Pushed my run to today, so hopefully it happens.

Had a real good swim this morning.  1000M continuous.  My previous best had been only 400M.  Took me about 25 minutes give or take.  Growing some confidence for this race!

Taking the day off work to prep and work on transition for tomorrow's 1st race of the year for me. Time to break out the checklist and make sure everything's there.  I may hit the gym late this afternoon for an easy swim, but I did a hard 30 minute spinning session last night (2 x 1 minute intervals) and an easy run.  I want to stay loose, but want to be fresh for tomorrow as well.

My running stamina is slowly building, but it's hard!  I really have to take the Goldi Locks approach ... not too much - not too easy ... but just right.  If I go too hard, the knee soreness kicks in and anything less just seems like treading water.  A friend suggested that I do 1 long run each week ... long meaning twice my normal distance.  And that once he started doing this, his run strength really picked up.  Any thoughts on this approach?

Have a good weekend all ...

Good Luck!!

Well ... it was a good day for a race.  Overall my time improved over last year by 7 minutes, still not to the level I'd hoped for.  Race report is here: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/races-edit.asp?raceid=216443

Much improved on the swim.  There was a fairly stiff headwind for the first ~5 miles going out on the bike ... still was able to maintain ~20m avg.  Run still needs a looottt of work. 

Gary ... didn't get passed on the bike, but most of the people I did pass on the bike - blew by me during the run

Dorm - Congrats!!!  Read the RR, nice job especially on the bike.

Did the OWS clinic, Shelly without a wetsuit you would have froze.  I was amazed how cold the water was.  Learned some cool stuff including how to do open water turns around bouys that is amazingly easy and fast.  Got 35+ miles on the bike today.  I need more miles for NOLA but just no time.

Catch ya all later!

I cannot get to your RR.  BT keeps booting me and asking me to log on.  Anyway congrats on the improvement.  Anyime we get better, no matter how small of an increment is in the right direction.  I am so jealous.  Wish I were racing soon.  I may have to travel a race in April or May.

Don't use the link as there is something wrong with it.  You have to go to Forums | Races then search for Dorm.  That is how I got to it.

Or you could try this link: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=429679&posts=3&start=1

Too bad it's raining for you but hopefully you can make the most of the weekend anyway.

For running, I believe in the Barry P approach though I don't have time to run 6x per week.  His plan is a 3:2:1 where if your short run is one mile you do 3x 1 mile runs per week, 2x 2 mile runs per week and 1x 3 mile run per week.  As you increase your distance keep the same ratio so when your long run is 6 miles, you do 1x6, 2x4 and 3x2.  

That is a lot of time but I try to do a couple short easy runs, 1 hard medium run and 1 easy medium run and 1 long run per week.  

Nice job on the PR at your race!  

Running wise I typically shoot for one short, one medium, and one long.  Every other (or sometimes every third) long run is cut shorter but I push the intensity.  I need to start doing intervals but so far my knees have responded pretty decently to my training and hate to mess things up a month away from NOLA.

As for yesterday, several great tips for OW swimming.  I asked about a swim technique I saw about going around buoys.  The instructor first had us do corkscrews: Swim freestyle, flip over for one stroke backstroke, then back over to freestyle (think about a corkscrew motion).  To go around a bouy: interrupt that turn mid-way to do a 90 degree turn.  Do two to go around a bouy which for me included 1-2 strokes freestyle to clear it.  Tried it a couple of times and I could fly around bouys much faster than what I was doing before.

For sighting I really practiced trying not to lift my head too far.  The best thing for me was simply getting in the water in a non-race setting. 

Shelly - FYI, there are going to be a couple more OWS practices in New Roads in a few weeks.  Will forward on info as I get it.

Texas - if you are still around I can send it to you also.

Mike, thanks for the ratios on the run training.  I've started trying to figure out how to work some of this into the weekly training.  I will say during the run on Saturday that once I had a mile under the belt, the remainder seemed easier.  I'm not saying easy ... but easier wherein I kept looking at my pace on the Garmin, I'd still be running and the overall pace was getting better and I walked for ~30-45 seconds twice during the last 2 miles of the run. 

Hopefully it's like this for longer runs as well.

Busted up my dang heel pretty good this weekend playing ball.  Looks like a pretty stiff bruised bone.  Jammed it up hard enough to swell all the way through the top of the ankle.  Looks like a 2 week recovery, but I'm a dumb jock, so I'll give it 2-3 days and just ride and swim until I can run.  No pain when I'm up on the ball of my foot, but I just don't think I'm in good enough shape to run any distance of note on my toes the entire time.

Got a good 9 mile bike in.  Couldn't pass up on the 75 degree weather.  Furthest I've been to date.  48:16.  

Also signed up for another Tri for the summer bringing the total to 3.  This one is the Kansas City Corporate Challenge, where all the corporations in KC compete against each other in lots of different events.  It is a month after my first Tri, seemed super short (500M Swim, 9 Mi Bike, 2.4 Mi Run), and it's free!  Couldn't pass us a free practice run.

9 weeks out from my first tri.

I'm starting to feel real confident with the swim, and gaining momentum on the bike (once I get over my fear of the skinny tires!).  I'm actually most nervous now about running a decent time, which is what I thought would be the easiest part of this for me when I started working for this stuff.

My routine (when consistent) has been 3 swims a week, 2 runs a week, and 2 bikes a week.

Should I taper to 2 swims and try to add another run?  Stay the course and try to up mileage per run?  I'm usually running 2 miles on tuesdays uptempo, and 4 miles on thursdays 830 pace.  Or any other suggestions out there?

For a sprint tri, do I even need to worry about a training taper other than just easing up a week before?  I have no problems feeling fresh day to day as it is.

Thanks!

Chris

If you feel fresh day to day, I wouldn't worry about tapering too much.  Maybe a short ride/run two days before and a day off the day before.

You need to pick your own plan but for me personally, I need 2x per week per discipline to maintain fitness and 3-5x per week to improve.  So for me, I would cut back the swimming to 2x/week and try to increase the running to 3-4x/week and biking to 3x/week.  You need to experiment with what works for you though.

Hey all!

In Atlanta hoping I get home tonight.  Got a nice but quick run in this morning.  Bike is in the shop and hoping that I can get it back on Thursday.

As for the workouts.  With 9 weeks you still have time to improve.  Any chance of adding another bike and/or run without dropping a swim?  3x really makes a difference.  If you are fresh each day but can't add another workout could you consider starting to ramp up the workouts you have (ramp slowly!)? 

As for taper I wouldn't do too much tapering.  What I don't recommend is to stop working out the week of your race (one day is okay but not several).  I understand people want to be fresh for the race but short workouts will keep you stretched and limber.  Some of my best times have come a day after a good workout.