KathyG's 2012 Awesome Mentor Group-Full up (Page 6)

Started a running routine this evening. Got 2 miles in non stop. Good start for not having run in over a month. My first week plan looks like this:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 2 mile run

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday - Cross train (swim, bike, weights).

Week 2 will increase mileage to 3 miles 3x week.

I'll keep building from there. A question I have is what (if any) distance goal should I reach for in week 4 for my long run?

Thanks. Hope all are having a great day.

hey Patrick -conventional wisdom will tell you that you should step up your long run mileage by. O more than 10% each week with a step back down in mileage every 3~4 weeks. However I have found that for me it is better to not have distance goals when training for endurance running. Instead, I would suggest you might try out having time goals instead (running for x amount of minutes), especially when doing early acclimatization runs. In fact the only runs I ever do for distance are speed work on the track and the occasional "step up" run, but even those are more often done by time interval. Mentally what this does for me is it keeps me focused on the efforts I should be running instead of always playing "beat the clock" by covering x distance faster than the last time. Also, when I run for distance I always tend to run the same known courses (again, playing beat the clock) and that running for time is really conducive to exploring new routes. I think most of us are better off focusing on time on our feet, not distance covered when it comes to the long run. FWIW, I believe the same is true for the long bike as well.

Sensible?!?!?! Your schedule sounds AWESOME to me! Yeah, if you want to get a few seconds faster in the 200 free in a pool, there might be a better way to do it, but swimming open water well in a tri or other endurance event requires variability and the ability to respond to a changing variety of conditions. Sounds to me like you have the dream set-up, Gwen!!!

Ann - during my strength phase I have incorporated kettle bells, medicine ball, and Pilates into my routine a couple of times per week. I have proven to be particularly fragile on the run over the years and I feel this type of strength work has helped significantly. Don't overdo it - the soreness does go away. Over time you can feel the effects of the workout but you won't be sore at all. Well, much anyway.

I agree.  I run by time, as well.

Thanks for the feedback! I like the time idea especially seeing as my time is somewhat limited most days. However, most plans I have found in regards to mary/1/2 mary are distance based. I suppose it is good to have a knowledge of general pace in order to put the 2 factors together.

That little fella is a Saw Whet owl. Our group catches, bands and releases them every year as they migrate through. One of the smallest owls. Doesn't look to happy in that pic!

(sawhet compr.jpg)

Agreed - I really like OWS and struggle with getting to/into the pool. It's really hard to be motivated to strip down to a swim suit when you have worn a down coat, scarf, hat, gloves, boots, etc just to get to the pool. I think I'm going to try to get into the open water sooner than last year (wasn't really warm enough until mid June) due to a mid June race! Looks like wetsuit swimming will be in order.

I really like Kathy's idea of swimming fast, focusing on form and going fast instead of distance. I have been swimming for distance the last couple of years and now I'm really good at going slow.

About the running for time vs. distance: For me, i have to run by distance, mostly so I know I can cover the distance because my pace is pretty slow. If I followed a plan for my previous half marathons and ran only by time, the farthest I would have run would have been 10 miles. Mentally, I need to have the "I've run this distance before" card in my back pocket during the race.

I'm at a swimming standstill at the moment.  I came from a swimming background so my swim was always stronger than my bike and run.  Now I've gotten to the point where my swim in my weak point.  Right now I'm trying to increase my swim volume (I've has my stroke analyzed a few times -- you can see the video here) but I think the biggest thing for me is just swimming more. 

I think that's a really interesting thought.  I do all of my running by time.  Before Ironman Florida, my longest run was 1:45 (well short of a marathon).  A big part of me just had to believe I was ready to run all 26.2 miles without having actually covered the distance in training.  I ended up having a really good run at Florida but I can understand how hard it is to race without having done a full dress rehersal before hand. 

Awe...little saw whet.....so cute!   Very fun that you get to band them?  Is it for work or through Audubon or something else?  I worked with spotted owls, barred owls and great gray owls so quite a big bigger birds.

Got my brick workout done!  Whew!  Thought it wasn't going to happen due to my little guy waking up and then promptly having a temper tantrum for an hour.  I think he's going through a growth spurt.  All of his pants are suddenly too short.

Anyway, the brick workout went great!  I did 55 minutes on the Spin bike and 35 minutes on the treadmill while Mr. Tantrum cooled his jets in gym childcare.

High fives to all the mommies and daddies out there that make tri training and family life work together!

Yes we do hardly any OWS here in Iceland except for the summer where we can swim in the ocean. Temps go as high as about 14C/56F and most people swim without a wetsuit! I don't!

This year we have planned 1-2 Mini-sprint Tris (very low key on a summer night eve) where we will swim in the ocean. This will be interesting!

All races we do here are pool swims and we have up to 10 people in one lane if it is a 50m pool and up to 5 if it is a 25m pool. You get used to it and some races work better than other of getting some space or finding someone to draft.

I am still loosing weight and I am back down to about 1100 calories a day right now. This will increase slightly when I increase my workouts but for now I have the OK from my coach to keep them that low but closely monitor my energy levels. I eat very clean and my body gets everything it needs for now. Loosing weight is top priority for now and exercise comes second. This will change then when the race season is getting closer....

We can't wait for Abu Dhabi! It's been a dream ever since they had the first race in 2010 and we thought about going last year but the fact that it is very hot there and middle of winter for us and the fact that we would be coming off the bike trainer for a 100K race kind of scared us off until this year. It will be interesting for sure.

We are both signed up for the short distance which is 1500m swim, 100K bike and 10K run and I just found out today that I cannot change my entry to the sprint distance (half the distance of the above) which really sucks. I will evaluate with my coach after 4 weeks if that distance would be possible without risking injury or not and if he thinks its not a good idea I will sign up for the sprint then. Just loose some money but not getting injured again is more important!

Hi Everyone,

I have been so busy the last 2 days I hardly had time to even read here. First 2 days in the office after 4 weeks away so you can imagine how much there is to do. I also just found out I will only have this week in the office and then I am flying the rest of the month followed by a 4 day training course in Germany so I have a ton to do over the next 3 days.

But the flying might (might as it is not 100% confirmed yet) include a trip to Cuba via Canada....that will be something new for me and I am really looking forward to it.

Did my first run today in 9 weeks and I can still run 30 min straight which really surprised me. It was definitely not fast but I could do it and you gotta start somewhere. I was very anxious before the run as I was not sure how my foot would feel (had a ton of issues with it last year and no real diagnosis) but although I could feel it getting tired towards the end I had no pain and I made an effort to do all my PT stretches afterwards!

Had to do it on the treadmill as we have a winter snow storm here today! NO FUN!!

Last night I spent 2 hours on completing the paperwork for my new triathlon coach. It's incredible how many information he needs from me and it was actually kind of fun to answer some of the questions. It really got me thinking!

I also just added all of you to my friends list and I promise inspires will come soon!

I just found this so I thought I better answer

I love love love the new saddle (although I am a bit sore on my sit bones today) and I love the way the bike feels. I was able to be in aero without much effort and without getting any shoulder/neck pain. And it can only get better! And yes I only use the Tri-Bike on the trainer. I need to get used to sitting on that!

OH, btw I don't have a Ceepo but an Argon 18 (E-112). But a Ceepo sure is pretty too but not as pretty as my bike

Steffi,

Congrats on your 30 minute run today

Do you struggle with training when you are flying a lot?

Sounds like your coach wants to know a lot about you to get to know you better. Is your husband using the same coach?

I like the thought of your coach of waiting to see if you should change distances and register for sprint later. Other option might be to do the longer swim and bike if those come back quicker and stop after the bike.

I had a Personal Trainer in October and he told me to take this twice a day to start with and now I am still taking it in the morning:

http://www.udoschoice.co.uk/udos_choice_beyond_greens

I never had any water retention issues since then! I also drink green tea twice a day which helps as well. They sell it at Amazon in the US!

And I assume you are already watching your sodium intake, right?

Thanks

Flying sometimes makes things complicated because if I have a layover somewhere I usually can only run (or use the stationary bike in the hotel gym which I usually choose NOT to do as I rather not bike then go on that ) but I have my schedule in advance so I plan it out as good as I can!

My husband has a different coach (he actually uses Jorge (who made the bike program here on BT) but I went with a different one for various reasons.

The coach told me right away the distance I am signed up for is not wise and we should go with the shorter one but at that point we did not know that I can´t change the entry without signing up new. I could NOT stop after the bike. No way! If I start then I finish....

This sounds like lots of fun! I am glad you tried it and it worked. And way to go for beating your kids even on crutches

I just LOVE that attitude! You go for it Girl!!

Sorry I only made it to page 6 but will keep catching up tomorrow (of course you all probably write 2-3 more pages while I sleep making it even harder lol).