Tri/tbay group closed (Page 6)

That's great Mike.  my very own MTB is a circa 1996 Specialized Rockhopper - I guess it was as a decent bike when it came out.  No suspension at all, but rocksolid and great for riding near the beach or just cruising around with the kids and wife.  It is so heavy that everyone in the family ride beats me at the sprint (LOL).

Now its time to get your dose of mud.  The best part is when you actually enjoy the bike ride for being fun, not for being fast.

Thanks Roy.  Now I am going through the frustrating process of a) trying to pull control of the down-and-in training activities from the group organizer (a non-runner); and b) trying to boil down the USA Fit training methodology so I can explain it to the pace group coaches (not easy, USA Fit doesn't publish a word about its methods...other than they are "tried and tested".  But I refuse to let this group go through another poorly-organized season like we went through last year...even though I was just a pace group coach, the lack of professionalism at the top was embarrassing.

Headed for a show-down...

Mike

By the way, I bought a Tyr kickboard yesterday, a board was recommended by the HS coach I met with last week, to help with my kick drills.  I need to work on not pointing my toes, as my calves get cramps after about 200m of free sprints.

That is the great thing about MTB.  It is FUN!!!  I have a few friends that treat every ride like it's a crit race, but for the most part we have a great group of riders that like to hit the trails then have some beers.  I use my MTB for hill intervals.  One of the trails here is 8 miles of single track all enclosed within one half square mile with over 1k feet of climbs.  Not real technical, but your lungs are screaming when you're done.  Nothing like having to pick your line up a 200 foot climb with rocks sticking up as much as a foot the entire way and keep those pedals spinning. 

I've had the major calf cramps a couple of times in the past when running--whoa, man, but it stops you in mid-stride but quick.  Knot like a tennis ball, could barely walk.  So I am mindful of that feeling when it starts to "grip" when I am swimming.  Last week, I did the last 20m or so of my 50m sprints dragging dead legs because both calves had threatened cramps (good upper body work!).  I've noticed that when I'm not really pushing it, I tend to relax and slow down my kick beat, but when I do sprints, I need to figure out how to disengage my kick count from my arm rotations, or at least slow down my kick.  I rarely use the fins, so it isn't from that. 

I think I get much more out of good stroke and body technique than I ever will out of a stronger kick, so I will focus on that part and not let "better" be the enemy of "good enough" on the kick!

Roy, I'm not sure just what percentage exertion I should be giving during a time trial, but I did 500m after warming up tonight, what I think was probably about 85% effort, 500m at 9:15 time, 1:51 pace.

Calves were good, I concentrated on slowing down my kick and keeping feet relaxed.  I could have gone another couple hundred at same pace.

Mike

So, what is a good indicator of where I am right now--the 500m with some reserve left in the tank, a 100m all-out...?  I know I can do a 1:25 100m, but don't know for sure what that tells me.

Mike it looks like your assesment on kicking is correct, don't worry about it to much, keep the ankles relaxed and you'll be fine. On your TT swim, the current 500 you did the other night at 85% is a good start. If you want do it again this weekend if you feel like spending the energy before your marathon. But if not we'll go with that time use it as your base time to start with and then we'll do it again in about 3 weeks. What you are looking for is your ability to maintain your splits during a swim just like running or biking. You don't want to see a major drop-off over the duration of the swim. Looks like you where you want to be.

Your first 100 should be swum strong, then the remaining 100's should all have pretty much the same split time, with maybe the last 100 being a few seconds faster than 100's 2-4. If you can do this then it is a good TT, even if the 100s fall off it is good information and it can help direct the training to be done. There will always be a fatigue factor, but we are looking to minimize the drop off of time during the swim.

I did a TT the other night did not intend to wasn't even going to do one until this weekend, but somehow after about 50 yards of a what was going to be a set of 400/s I decided what the heck. So I did 9:17, this is about 25 seconds off my best that was actually a 500 split from a 1000TT last April. So I have some work to do.

We're just looking for base information here on this first one, then we'll see what happens on the next one. But the intent is to swim these hard should be 90% or better, and you should probably have a HR at the end in the upper 150's to low 160s. This would be about what you are lookin for in an event. If it is much higher thats fine, but can you transition that into a good bike ride, it not umcommon to see a spike in HR on the transition run to the bike, so you have to swim in control much the way you'll approach the event.

Two more discussion topics: 

First, I was watching Ironman Malaysia on YouTube last night.  Apparantly this is a non-wetsuit race.  However, I noticed people pulling off their one piece tri suits after the swim to expose another tri-suit.  Were these non-buoyant speed suits they were wearing over their race clothes or what?

Second, Bike frame size.  If you ride a 56 cm road frame, does that automatically mean you will ride a 56cm tri frame?  Is it possible to fit to a smaller tri frame because of the geometry?  I am asking, because the fitting I received indicated a smaller tri frame.  I have really long legs in relation to my torso, so I can afford to have the shorter top tube length. 

Just need some feedback.  

Hey Steven,

Yes the suits over the tri suit is the specialty speed suits that are allowed,a small degree of bouyancy is allowed in these suits, but nothing like a wetsuit. Its one of those issues where if it is helping a little and if your trying to get on a podium, and everyone is wearing one, you go to go with it.

Frame, I ride a 58cm road bike and a 56cm tri bike per the fitting, so I do think your  fitting appears to be normal. I'm pretty equal top and bottom, but the 56 is a nice fit.

Almost all discussions I've read in regards to frame size on tri bikes is that most feel it is always the best choice to go with a size smaller.

I can virtually guarantee that my 100's from the time trial (other than the final 100m) were not more than 2-4 seconds different from each other--I was in that kind of a glide, just like when I run.  I learned some time ago how to slow down my breathing on the run when I would realize that I might've gone out too fast, and I am finding that swimming is no different...you just have to stay in control, or regain control as the case may be, and not start to panic breathe.  MY last 100 was probably 6-10 seconds faster, because I knew the finish was in sight and was feeling good...so my first 400m was probably about a 1:53 pace, with the final 100m at 1:43 or so.

I ran some 3:00 minute intervals tonight as part of my taper, ran about 7:05-10 pace, and even after the last one (6:53 pace) my heartrate was only 156, so I felt pretty good.  The swim is no different--it stays right around 145, so I clearly am not topping out (on a 50m sprint, I do top 150 bpm), but never go over mid-150s.

Personally, I think this is a good assessment of me after swimming 3 weeks--it is the fastest 500m I've ever swam (swum?).  I know I can do more, but I'd like to leave some room for improvement in a few weeks! :-)  Crazy, but the swim went from my weakest event to the one I am enjoying the most in just three weeks--way to go, coach!

I need to start focusing on the bike, figure out some drills, workouts, like on the swim, so I can expect to carry 20+ mph on a sprint distance in a couple of months (am averaging 16-17 on 20-30 mile rides now).

These are the items I am looking at purchasing in the VERY near future.  Please review the list and provide input on if you feel it is worth it and what products you have experience with:

1) wetsuit:  my target race is "wetsuit required"

2) HR monitor/cyclocomputer/running computer:  Polar S725X is the model I'm looking at because it has a two bike system and I have no cyclocomputer at this time.  $270 on ebay right now. 

3) speedsuit for pool swims

4) water bottle belt

5) running visor/hat- all my hats are just baseball caps that don't breathe at all.  Would prefer a visor or mesh back hat "Andy Roddick" style if you've seen him play recently.

Anything else you see as "essential" equipment that I should consider in addition to or in lieu of the above items?  Does anyone have/use a TT helmet?

These are the items I am looking at purchasing in the VERY near future.  Please review the list and provide input on if you feel it is worth it and what products you have experience with:

1) wetsuit:  my target race is "wetsuit required"

I just bought a Promotion Afterburner full suit, $270 shipped.  It is very comfortable, has forearm and shin ribs, and interchangeable thigh neoprene pads, also has some color and flair to it.  www.wetsuit.com

2) HR monitor/cyclocomputer/running computer:  Polar S725X is the model I'm looking at because it has a two bike system and I have no cyclocomputer at this time.  $270 on ebay right now. 

I use the Garmin 205 (no heart rate), but the 305 on sale for $145 for the next day, does.  They have a running and a biking mode, so I just strap it on my handlebar when biking and it works fine--no cadence though.

3) speedsuit for pool swims

I wear jammers...not to be confused with "jammies"!

4) water bottle belt

I love my Nathan Speedbalt 4-pack.  http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpage-NS4P.html

5) running visor/hat- all my hats are just baseball caps that don't breathe at all.  Would prefer a visor or mesh back hat "Andy Roddick" style if you've seen him play recently.

Lots of good dri-fit running caps, with ventilation out there.  Me, I only wear do-rags--keeps the sweat out of my eyes, lots of colors to choose from.  I like the HeadSweats, though.

Anything else you see as "essential" equipment that I should consider in addition to or in lieu of the above items?  Does anyone have/use a TT helmet?

Good running socks are vital, I pay $12-14/pair, they last a long time, and worth every penny.  I like the Asics Kayano anatomically correct socks.  www.runningwearhouse.com is a great place to get them, and they charge 0 shipping fees and no tax.

Mike,

I don't wear socks in my running shoes.  Never have.  And yes, my shoes smell terrible. 

Thanks for all of your input on my product list!!  It will help a lot when shopping for new stuff.  Man I love new stuff.

I have a milestone to report:  This morning I went for a run OUTSIDE.  It was about 12 degrees and snowing, but it was that really nice light snow that just falls from the sky rather than blows like ice chunks into your skin.  It was really cool when running under the street lights and watching it fall, otherwise you couldn't see it, you could just feel it hitting your face.  I had a four inch beard-cicle when I finished.

The route I took is called 3 Parks.  It is an in town loop that takes you through, get this, three parks.  I ran it EVERY MONDAY FOR FIVE YEARS when running track in college.  It was the middle distance crew's long miles for the week.  It is 6.3 miles.  I finished in 51 minutes.  I was pretty happy with that as I wanted to keep this aerobic and easy.  Considering I started running 5 weeks ago, I felt 8 minute pace for an easy run wasn't bad.  I realize I will be racing that distance at a goal of 6:15-30, but these are base miles.  The 1200M repeats are scheduled for April. 

Picking up the tri bike this weekend and GOOD NEWS:  They ran out of the 105 equipped bikes and I was upgraded to a Dura-Ace equipped Giant Trinity Alliance A0!!  I'm thinking of screen printing this bike shop's name on my tri suit just to say thanks.  :-)  Haha.  Happy training this weekend!!  I am swearing off the computer til at least late Sunday night.  Way too much to do. 

Youdaman, Steven!

Roy, maybe my swim workout today gives you some idea of where I am at--I still don't know how to gauge fitness in the pool, but I sure felt good today!

See notes on my training log, but here are my splits from a mile swim today:

I felt fine in the middle 500, really didn't realize I had picked it up a notch.  Copy all on the "peaking too early", but I wanted to just see what I had in me.

I definitely feel like I can pick it up, I'm still learning what that means though!

Whew!  I finally made it home after 3 weeks of travel, sorry coach, was way too tired to get up this AM from my own and cozy little bed.  This week I will be posting some workouts.

To the rest of the crew, keep it up and keep tri-ing.  Great to see we're still motivating and inquiring, qhich means we're all intrested and willing to sweat for the big prize.