Tri Mark's Madness Group-Closed (Page 6)

Mark,

In one of your earlier posts you mentioned we should be in the "build" period and focus on quality rather than quantity. I've been wondering for a while about "periodization"--people talk about it, but not quite sure what it means in practice. What is build, what kind of workout does it require (what is quality?), what comes after build, and how will that be different from build, etc. Since our first races are at slightly different times, rather than using weeks, is there a percentage that is ideal for each training period?

Thanks!

Beth
P.S. The Ironman Youtube was a hoot!

I notice that I am thirstier when I run outside as opposed to treadmill.  It may be just dry mouth in my case and mouth-breathing. I'd get a side-stitch with 30 oz of liquid. Here's a trick if dry mouth is the issue for you: try pressing the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth and that seems to produce saliva.  It's not a swig of water but it helps a bit. I've heard people say they chew gum for a similar effect but I don't chew gum usually so I haven't tried it.

Basically, for the longer distances, you train in the neighborhood of 36 weeks a year.  In reality, most Iron distance athletes I know train all year, but far less formal in the "off season" or "out season".  If you are all but the absolute best athlete, your Iron distance is typically the end of any sort of competitive racing season for the year.  You need 4-6 weeks before you're really ready to even think about training. 

So the normal periods are something like Base from Jan. 1 to April (maybe sooner in better climates with earlier races, but typically no sooner than early march unless you're doing a spring marathon.  Then you go into build.  This phase typically lasts all summer, but it's important to note, it is interrupted by tapers and rest weeks.  I just did an 8 hour week after 4 weeks of hard build at 14.5 hours.  I'll be doing over 20 hours a week in build at the peak before my A race, and maybe again before the Chicago Marathon, but I'll have a 7-10 day taper going into my A race, and another half Iron 4 weeks before it, with a week of recovery work after.  Beyond that, you then move back into the outseason again.  We could look at your schedule and phase it out for you.

Mark,

Can you address the nutritional aspects of nutrition, weight loss and triathlon?  Is it ok to train for a specific race while trying to lose weight. I have read several opposing opinions.  Please let me know what you think. 

Ellen

That would be awesome.  

It's 14 weeks until my A race (July 17: 1/2 mi swim, 21 mi bike, 5.3 mi run)
But before that I have a Duathlon in 7 weeks (May 28) and a Sprint tri the next weekend (june 5).

After the July race, I have a sprint tri the following weekend (july 24).

After that it is 3 weeks until an Olympic distance tri (Aug 14) and 2 weeks after that is my last sprint of the season (Aug 28).

No real science behind the schedule itself!

Ellen,

I see all these articles about the pros and cons.  Most of them only apply to the ultra distance crowd if you ask me.  While training for sprint and olympic distance is rigorous, the training rarely spans over 2 hours at a time, and you are not forced to do twice daily workouts.  I think if you are doing twice daily workouts, you have to be vigilant that you are eating healthy.  60% carbs, 30-40% protein, the rest lean fats.  If you focus on the quality, you will be ok either way.  Think about this.  At 20 hours a week, I'm burning up about 4000 calories a day, more in some cases.  I can't consume 4000 calories without eating some sort of hellacious dessert, drinking a ton, etc.  I don't do either of those during the week.  I believe that you can work at a deficit, but you can't starve yourself or deprive yourself.  I also believe, however, that if you are at a significant deficit, you will put yourself in a situation where your body may hold on to fat for reserves, and cannibalize muscle to some degree. 

I've had a couple of comments about my Ironman race.  I found this report on my club site that one of the veterans insisted I write after telling her about my day.  She was in the race and we chatted briefly on the bike about my swim.  I hope you find it humorous, inspirational, whatever.  It's an unbelievable experience.

http://multisportmadness.com/member-race-reports/91-mark-porter.html

Mark love the race report! Wanting to do a IM myself I love reading other people's experience's. I would love to hear Mike Reilly say, “Here comes a big fella finishing in under 13 hours." Yes 6'4" 235 is a big fella

I have a question about swimming, while swimming yesterday my ring finger on my left hand started cramping. I have had this happen before and just ignored it as I did yesterday. Any thoughts on what I am doing to cause this.

Oh the joy of cramps in the pool.  If I had a magic bullet for them I'd tell you.  It's something that happens to me at about the 45 minute mark of nearly every session if it's high intensity, but usually toes (from them being pointed) or calf and hamstring.  Lots of theories abound, but nobody seems to know for sure.  If it's in your hand, which I've experienced once or twice, it's likely that you're tense and fighting the water.  Pulling really hard trying to push water back, rather than thinking about moving your body forward past the point where your hand started the catch. 

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, just something that tends to happens.  The pattern many I train with see is that it's way more prevalent in men, and the more muscle mass you have the more likely you are to experience it.  All I know is it sucks, and you have to fight through it.  I had a hamstring cramp in turn 1 of 7 on the IM Madison course, so I just did pull the rest of the way and PR'd my swim time.  I swam a 1:20 which 4 minutes faster than my best, and I am going to crush that this year.

mountain biked today as it was a rest day from my running scheduel.  It kicked my butt! New routes that tested my skills on the bike for 14+ miles, and i failed twice on those tests .  Thats why I wear a helmet and knee pads!

Hope everybody finished of their sunday workout with a smile on their face

cheers

Nothing wrong with a little failure every now and then.  Good thing you're not injured, and a good reminder of why I don't do that.  Seems every time I went off road, either me or the bike ended up in the shop! 

I had a 50 mile ride today in 25 mph winds with gusts of 35, quite interesting.  I was really the chaperone, so it was a very easy ride for me, but my coach is a bit perturbed that I turned a 1:30:00 planned ride into a 3 hour ordeal.  I didn't understand why until I looked at the schedule for this week coming up.  It can best be summed up as, a little speed work, followed by some speed work, then finishing with an all out 5k after a bit more speed on Friday.

Wow, a lot has happened with this group since Friday. I'm just catching up now, Sunday night. There are a lot of interesting people here. Looking forward to getting to know you all.

"Down to business" My key workout was an aqua jog. Mark, thanks for the reminder. I have done these in the past, but running in a pool is still awkward. I have read of people training for long distance races using pool running. I just keep forgetting about it as a possible way to run when injured. I really had no other goal then to get in the pool and try to feel like I was running. I was supposed to be doing a long run, so I tried to run the same amount of time in the pool that I would have done outside. Since I'm testing the waters after a slight set back, I took it easy at roughly a Zone 2 HR. I got 40 mins in with a few sprints at the end. I did mostly deep end and some shallow end running. I have to say, it wasn't that bad and I felt like I had run. The right muscles were a happy tired. 

I was supposed to do long ride on Sunday, but I was pretty tired when I got up. Also, a family issue side tracked the work out. So I guess that gets moved to a tomorrow early a.m. short ride on the trainer.

Mark, you mentioned being in the build phase at this time of the year, and that is where I was in my training plan. I did about a 10 week base because I felt I needed it and to allow extra time for random interruptions. Then I get into build and get hit with an injury. Now I'm at a loss as to where to pick up. I have a 6.5 mile run coming up in 3 weeks that I do not feel prepared for and my first sprint is mid-May. I had set myself both a pace and distance a goal for running for the end of March, and I have not met them. So I guess I'm wondering how you and others in the group deal with set backs and where to fall back into your training plan?

Goal for my make up ride, since it will be short, is pedal technique. Going to work the single leg drills and some high RPM spinning.

Mark,

I just read your race report - thanks for posting.

I'm wondering why you placed yourself with the faster swimmers - wouldn't you expect to be jostled more as they tried to get past you?

Denise

Thanks for posting the race report from your Ironman. Couch to 5 K to Ironman in 8 months is incredible and finishing under goal time too!

Had to go to spin class tonight because of weather. Focused on quality pedal stroke, quick cadence, and challenged myself in the sprints. Hope everyone's weekend workouts were great.

You def need to become your own bike mechanic when you MTB.  You dont have the luxary of cars driving by like you do when you road bike.  I trail run all the time, so it made too much sense to buy a MTB and enjoy the trails i love to run!

Denise,

Don't think for a minute that I didn't spend the first 10 minutes thinking about that.  Actually, I'd do it again, regardless of swim time.  I'm not sure if you've ever seen the mass start at Wisconsin, but it's the biggest field to have a mass start as I understand, and it's chaos.  Since you all start at 0700, you could be 4 or 5 minutes behind before the race starts if you go to the back of the pack, and more if you're still on land when the cannon fires. 

So, I was told by my now coach, to get my as$ up there.  I was nervous as they come, but I did it.  The theory is, better to force people to swim around you than to be totally stuck.  The other part of it is that people are spread out over like 200 yards wide.  So when everyone gets to turn 1, it's a bottleneck.  You are literally treading water for up to a minute trying to get everyone through, then turn 2, etc., until it finally evens out about turn 3.  I talked to people in every part of the pack that I race with, and nobody had any better experience.  Lots of people, not enough space.  It's crazy.  Over 100 people didn't make it out of the water.  You see people immediately freak out and swim to shore, grab bouys, etc.  Once you've survived it, it's a huge leg up for any other open water swims.  I'll never have anxiety about swimming in a pack again.

Back to the pool today to work on my technique a la the Mr. Smooth video.  I am slooooowly making progress.  My goal will be to get to the pool at least 5 times this week.

I also had a windy bike ride!  Winds were 25-30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph.  However, it was a beautiful day and the sun was shining and I am sure I never would have had a workout like that inside on the stationary bike.  I also did 20 miles which has been my longest bike ride to date.  It was fun and I could have gone further!

Hope everyone has a great training week ahead.

Jacqui

Mark,

I had to ask about that because I'm a total wuss when it comes to being run over although it's usually not a problem because I do small races and I'm almost always in the last wave.

I've seen the Kona mass start on TV and almost got to watch IM Wisconsin.  Our daughter is a student there and her apt is just a few blocks from where I think the transition area is - but we've never made it over there the right weekend.

What's sighting like with all those people? Is it less of a problem because you just swim with the mass?

Denise

Mark,

HR Monitor Question

When you are doing a Half Mary (alone, not after a S/B) what do you try to keep your HR at? I was doing a short tempo run the other day. 10 min WU, 15 min temp @ 6:58, and CD @ 8:34.

My average HR during the tempo run was 155 with a peak at 161.  My theoretical HR Max is 196 on the run.  That is roughly 79% of my HR Max.  Is that going to be way to fast to hold for 13.1, or is that all based on my lactate threshold and baseline endurance. 

I know this is a tough question. I dont have my HR zones in stone so it's kind of tough. 

thanks