Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum (all levels welcome)--CLOSED (Page 6)

Hi all,

I am ready to get back in the training groove.  All the holiday gatherings and travel are over.  I'm looking forward to a semblance of routine.  Managed to get a 1 hour trainer ride in (decided to watch True Blood season 1) and then I ran up and down my little hill 5 times.  It is a rainy messy day here in NoVa.

Haley - I'm sorry to hear about your dog.  I lost my this summer.  He'd been with us for 16 years.  I was lost for awhile without my little shadow (Mickey) following me around.

This afternoon's goals are to finish my training plan for a spring race and work with holiday photos.

Cheers everyone - Melanie

I had a short run to warm up for boot camp class today.  Followed class with a recovery swim.  Considering hitting the trainer  for a while cause it's pretty soggy out from this morning's down pour.

Well the only workout I have done so far today is grocery shopping and piles of laundry.  Hubby and DD have a GI flu.  They (and I) were up most of the night.  Now to just de-Christmas the house....  Maybe I could set up my drainer once I have an area cleared (see previous comment).

Hi Judd,

I think the easiest way to "evolve" from being a one or two sport athlete to balancing all three is too accept the fact that you are no longer a one or two sport athlete.  You are a Triathlete.  Your Triathlon time will be the aggregate of the times for the swim, the bike, the run, and as Stu pointed out, the transitions.  Even at the Sprint Triathlon distance, endurance and thus nutrition may become a factor as, depending upon overall fitness and cardio-vascular fitness levels, even the most fit athlete has only about 60-90 minutes of glycogen stored.  That means there are in fact 5 different disciplines we must train for as Triathletes, not three.

I hear talk all the time about "I am a good runner," or "I am really strong on the bike."  However, in my opinion, nutrition is the most important discipline - especially at the longer distances (Half Iron and Full Iron).  Nutrition is arguably the discipline that has the greatest impact on overall performance and is probably the most overlooked.  Consider this, I was a swimmer in my first life and was somewhat successful.  At a maximal swim effort I can be out of the water in 45-50 minutes for an Ironman swim segment.  But to do that, I would have to have a VERY strong kick for the entire distance.  Swimming is largely an anaerobic exercise so that means using up 45-50 minutes of the glycogen stored in my legs.  Yes, I can take in fuel during the ride and somewhat during the run, but you can't replace stored glycogen during exercise so those 45-50 minutes of stored glycogen are GONE for the race at hand.  Your muscles use glucose as fuel, they don't much care whether that glucose comes from glycogen stores or from free blood glucose.  Your body however, prefers glucose from glycogen as drawing glucose from the aerobic energy pathway is slow and requires a tremendous amount of outside energy.  What that means is that you are going to further reduce your glycogen stores during the bike and the run, EVEN WHILE TAKING ON ADDITIONAL FUEL.  Wouldn't it be better if I held back a little bit during the swim and conserved my glycogen stores for later in the race?

Or take Steve, our illustrious leader, for example.  He is a runner by trade.  He has taken decades developing his aerobic energy pathway and is able to utilize fat for fuel better than most.  However, his body, like everyone else, will prefer to use glycogen over fat so he will still need glycogen stores so that he can compete at a high level.  He is, by his own definition, not the strongest swimmer, so if he goes out and tries to crush the swim - and uses up his glycogen stores in the process - he is not going to have the glycogen reserves when he gets to the run and faces the sad reality of 'hitting the wall.'

The short answer is that triathlon is about balance, nutrition and managing glycogen depletion.  It is not about a single discipline and the people that continue to strive for excellence in a single discipline at the expense of the other two will likely not be successful at the sport of Triathlon.

Hey Stu,

If you didn't live so dang far away we could share it.  I get it a week, then you get it a week.  Every third week or so we could send a picture of it to Steve.  But since you are WAY out there and I am WAY out here, I will just hold on to it and make sure it is safe!

Hey all!  Spent 40 minutes on the TM today - temperatures dropped drastically overnight so I wimped out and ran inside.  And I did one of the walking programs on the TM.  It does include some run intervals but it's mostly 4 mph and under so pretty slow.  At least it was something - I had almost talked myself into just staying on the couch all day.

So when is the contest going to re-start?  'Cuz I stepped on the scale this morning and was not happy with what I saw.  I've gained some weight over the holidays.  It's the only time of the year when we have cookies, candy and soda around so I'm not surprised I gained some, just not too happy about it. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!
Janet

Hi Anne,

I was re-reading some of the earlier posts and saw yours.  You have posed a loaded question!

According to the USDA, our diets should consist of 29% Fat, 53% Carbohydrate, and 18% Protein.  On the other hand, Body Builder Magazine says the percentages should be: 30% Fat, 40% Carb., and 30% Protein.  Then to add to the confusion, WebMD says the percentages we should strive for are: 20-35% Fat, 45-55% Carb,, and 10-35% Protein.  Whew, three fairly respectable sources, and they can't agree on the numbers.  To make matters worse, WebMD can't even settle on a single number but rather a range.  In reality, WebMD is probably the most accurate because nutrition is largely dependent upon the individual and what his/her goals are.  The person looking to lose weight is likely going to be eating differently than the person strenuously working out (Us?) versus the person trying to lose weight AND working out.

For what it is worth, I tend to more closely follow the Body Builder Magazine numbers - 30 % Fat, 40% Carb, and 30% Protein - although on strength training days I may up the protein and decrease the carbs.  I log everything I put in my mouth here on the BT nutrition logs.  I try not to obsess over meal to meal ratios or even daily ratios. rather I look at the weekly ratios and note any trends over several weeks.

I think of as much importance as the macro-nutrient ratios of the meals you eat is WHAT you actually eat.  To that extent I try to follow the 'common' rules - I do most of my shopping around the perimeter of the store; that is where the fresh fruits and vegetables are, along with the fresh meat, poultry and fish.  In general I try to stay away from refined sugars, go with whole wheat bread instead of white bread, and reluctantly drink 2% milk instead of whole milk.

Also of equal importance is your caloric intake.  A WORD OF CAUTION HERE!!!!!  If you are using the BT nutrition log and are logging your workouts, BT will give you a "From Lifestyle" calorie number.  Supposedly this is BT's approximation of your BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate - the minimum number of calories you need exclusive of exercise).  It will also give you an approximation of the calories burned from exercise and a net gain or loss.  THOSE NUMBERS ARE ALL WRONG!!!!!  The "Lifestyle" number for me was approximately 1,200 calories high and the exercise numbers were consistently 15-20% high.  The end result was when I calculated my daily caloric needs and subtracted 500 calories (so I could lose 1 pound per week) to determine my target calories per day, my diet was still 1,000 calories/day high.  After a few weeks of gaining 2 pounds/week, I learned the BT BMR number is too high.  Do a Google search for 'Calculate BMR' and go to a couple of those websites to get a more accurate estimate of your BMR.  When I did that, I had several different sites give me the same number which was considerably different from BT's.

Once you have determined your BMR, add for anticipated exercise, then subtract if you want to lose weight.  Remember that one pound is approximately 3,500 calories so if you want to lose 1 pound/week, you need a 500 calorie deficit per day.

There is a LOT more to nutrition than that, but what I have written down is sufficient to get a quick start.

Hope that helps.

Edited for punctuation.  Really!  I are a callage gratueight!

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the kind words.

As an absolute beginning swimmer, my advice is to not workout any longer than you can maintain PERFECT stroke technique.  If it is only 100 yards, then so-be-it, come back tomorrow and try again.  I know, that may be a challenge as at this point you may not even fully understand what 'perfect' technique is.  It is more important at this point to do a little bit of something right as opposed to a lot of something wrong.  Simply stated, you don't want to be thrashing around in the water with the wrong technique.  You will be doing yourself a disservice and not building functional endurance or swim fitness.  If you can get to some swim clinics at the tri-club that will help.  Alternatively, you might investigate if there is a masters swim program nearby or if it is possible, arrange for a few hours of lessons with a local swim coach.

I am happy to try and answer any questions you may have.  Send me a video of you in the water and maybe I can give you some pointers.

I'm not sure if the new site made it easier or just changed the obstacles that have to be overcome in order to post (I think the new site screwed as many things up as it fixed but that is another discussion for another day).

Yes, I am running in the One America Indy-500 Mini Marathon this year.  I am a die hard auto racing fan and like many others, consider the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to be hallowed ground.  We lived in Indiana last year and I was struggling to find a way to make running my friend.  Then I heard about the Mini on a TV News broadcast.  When I learned that the turn-around for the race is a lap around the Speedway, well, I was sold and entered that afternoon.  That race is actually what got me running.  Then I had emergency Gall Bladder surgery and wasn't cleared to start running again for 6 weeks.  That pretty well put the brakes on the Mini last year.  I did however promise myself that I would do it this year.  Can't wait!!!

I've thought about my goals for the year.  Here they are:

1. Top 10 in age group - Columbia Triathlon, Reston Triathlon
2. 8:00 min/mile in 10K (Dogfish Dash) (8:04 min/mile in 2011)
3. 20 mph in at least one race on bike (Reston?)
4. 137 lbs on September 28th (Dogfish Dash)
5. All freestyle in at least one race during swim (I need to sign up for a sprint!)
6. 4 state hike in 24 hours (PA, WV, MD, VA along Appalachian Trial)
7. Have lots of fun!

I'll likely add a few more as the year progresses.  Thinking about a Ragnar Relay and other races but nothing set in stone yet.  But mostly I'd like to improve at Columbia and drop my 10K run time at the Dogfish Dash.  Columbia is a very competitive event and doing well there would be pretty big.  It is my stretch goal.  I won my age group at the Dogfish Dash in 2011 and would like to do so again this year.  A sub-8:00 would get me pretty close and make the free beer taste even better.  The rest would be icing on the cake.