Jim Kelley's (Birkierunner) General and Long Course Group (OPEN) (Page 6)

Back to work this week after having a few weeks off....slammed.  It should settle a bit but I struggle with the juggle.  Working from home there is always something to do...but I don't want to be a worker bee. I could take short cuts like some of my co-workers, but as an educator I don't believe my students deserve shortcuts!!

Anyway, will keep working on finding my groove and best schedule.  KUDOS to you early morning peeps....I used to swim early but can't due to kids....early morning running messes me up (though I may try to ease in to it again)...I can bike early and that will soon have to be a priority.  

Originally posted by Snaaijer Hello all, if there's still room I'd like to join as well. Name: Thomas Story: I am a 29 year old Dutchie writing his Master thesis in Groningen, The Netherlands. I found this site a couple of years ago when I dabbled into triathlon, only completing a sprint. During my undergraduate years I rowed competitively (I guess you could compare it to Varsity) and my highlights were going to Boston for the Head of the Charles and to Henley in the UK for the Royal Regatta held there. Now I am intent on finishing my studies, but also to keep active. Running injuries have meant my last two years have been mostly bike-focused. However, the last couple of months I have trained at lower intensity and more frequency, and I have been healthy! So I signed up for an Ironman, because that's the normal course of action for when you've only just completed one sprint tri right? Cycling is my definite strong suit mainly because a lot of rowing fitness carried over into cycling and my ability to keep doing it when I was injured. Running I've got a pretty good handle on and swimming is a big work in progress. Family Status: In a relationship with the love of my life who lives in Switzerland. Current training: As this season has been mostly biking I have slowly built up the running since August and the swimming since November. I now do 5 runs and 3 swims a week, and am looking to pick up biking again (will be mostly indoor weather/light permitting). Mileage wise I'm looking to be around 50km (~30mi?) and about 8000m swimming, building toward 10k. This year's races: Egmond Half Marathon (1:38, PR even with a beach and dune course) Local TT Speedman Groningen (As part of a relay, I biked) Alpenbrevet, Meiringen Switzerland (more of a fondo but hard nonetheless, around 110 miles and about 17500 feet climbing) 2015 schedule so far: 8 February - Local 10k 8 March - City-Pier-City Loop Half Marathon 9 May - Bosbaan Triathlon (sprint) 31 May - Triathlon Nieuwkoop (half) 19 July - Ironman Zurich 23 August - Triathlon Klazienaveen (half) I am looking to do an open water "race" between Nieuwkoop and Zurich but have so far found limited races that have a decently sized wetsuit category based on last year's results so I might do a tri-relay and do the swim leg of an Oly or something if I can convince some of my mates to join in in the other disciplines. Weightloss: Definitely shed a few lbs from my current winter weight but not a real motivator for exercise. What will make me a good mentee: I am mostly self coached so I frequent lots of the online communities. As such I probably think I know a lot but probably don't At least I read alot about tri stuff haha. I'd like to learn from others and their journey, as well as maybe letting others learn from me (if nothing else then from my mistakes). As this will be my first full distance theres always this lingering anxiety of "did i really sign up for this??" Perhaps by combining forces it will not seem so daunting. I have my ideas about training, and I'm looking forward to sharing them and having them challenged/discussed/debunked. I do not have much technical training but it does always interest me, I just got a powermeter so am nerding out a bit over that.

Welcome Thomas...sorry for the delay in posting the official "welcome"   I would love to get over to Europe to race an IM someday.  I did the 90km Swedish Vasaloppet ski race a few years ago and that is my only European racing experience.  Thanks for joining us!!

I use clip-ons too- I had my bike fit professionally a few years ago, probably need to do it again sometime.  They have worked great for me!

I saw the chiropractor and she did some ART so I didn't do anything Wednesday, and yesterday I was doing work stuff from 6:30 am to 9 pm (and on my birthday!), so no workout then either.  Back to workouts today . 

I have Vision Carbon Pro clip-ons on my road bike.  However, they are about 9 years old so I'm not sure what the current model would be.  As for seats, yes HIGHLY personal choice.  I like the Fi'zi:k Arione Tri line of saddle

+1 for split saddles generally and the Adamo Road specifically. If you haven't used one before it will likely feel bad at first because you're not used to having weight on those spots... LBSs often have a demo you can ride on for a few days, might be useful.

+1 also for a professional fit. It always feels expensive to me since you don't get any physical thing in return, but it's a good idea. As someone said, you'd be faster and more comfortable on a well-fit $500 ride than a $5k ride that's a few cm off.

Based on where you are right now and just coming back from your pregnancy I would tend to discourage running the half marathon next month.  It's not like its not do-able but you would have to be fairly aggressive in upping your mileage to get ready for the race in a few weeks.  That might hinder your overall program in getting ready to launch your HIM training program.  I'm not usually one to say never, but its just not optimal timing to run the half in February.

The short answer is that you set up the resistance to achieve the intended purpose of the workout, not just for a certain RPM.  If you are using a Computrainer its very easy to set the desire watts for the purpose of the workout and then all you have to do is choose the gear that allows you to spin at the RPM you normally spin at (disregarding any special workouts that purposefully have you spinning at a high or low cadence).  If you are on a trainer where you can't control resistance of the flywheel via a computer (i.e. you tighten the resistance knob before you get on the bike and the setting doesn't change) you rely on gearing to achieve the desired work level the workout calls for.  You will have to play with your gearing to get the RPM you want to spin at and the output of effort your workout calls for.

As for pull buoys, it depends on the intended purpose.  They certainly have their role if you have swim stroke mechanics you are working on, and swimming with and without the buoy provides feedback to you as to what your body position should be. 

Jim, I just read your IMMT race report. Great race and write up. I hope you get that spot at CdA this year.

I have a question about zone 1 vs. zone 2 training in IM prep/base. We use a greater proportion of fat in zone 1, and I've heard it suggested that zone 1 training builds the ability to use fat as fuel, so that in a race you can run at a higher intensity for a given fat/carb ratio. If true, that would obviously be great for the IM distance, but last time I looked (years ago) I couldn't find any evidence that training at lower intensities could create more fat-burning adaptation. So the question is, for a given volume of aerobic training, assuming you can handle it all in zone 2 and you're recovering well, is there any evidence that doing time in zone 1 would be advantageous? 

Welcome Mike!!  Feel free to start firing away with questions.

Thanks!  I just re-read it myself and it brought back good memories from a few months ago.  There will be fewer Kona slots at CdA in my AG so the challenge will be greater.   I'll get to your Zone 1 question later today when I have more time.  I should mention that there have been a few threads on the topic of metabolic efficiency on another site in case you are interested.

Great to have you join us Ted!  I thought NYC Marathon was an incredible experience and love the city.  Welcome!

Thanks. I read that thread and some of the linked articles. What I take from it is that increasing fat % of diet or low-intensity % of training volume can change physiological adaptations and some people think it has improved their performance, but there's really not evidence for the latter. OTOH, there is lots of evidence for increased fat metabolism and efficiency through training and of better training with CHO consumption. Does that fit with your understanding?

In my first and only other IM season, I ate a lot of carbs in training, and I think it allowed me to get the work done day after day. I aimed for zone 2 in all my sessions and stayed in upper zone 2 on almost all of the runs; on the bike there was some muscular endurance in the hills and a lot of  zone 1 time since I was new to cycling and just found it hard to hold zone 2. During the race, I took in a pretty good amount of calories (350 cal/hr on the bike, 250 on the run), and didn't have any GI issues, and didn't seem to run out of fuel. Since that all worked pretty well last time, I'm thinking I'll stick with a similar strategy this year. 

Achieving racing weight is, of course, a related issue. I'd like to drop around 12 pounds of fat over the next 28 weeks (from 166 and 18% fat to 154 and 12% fat). Last time the training volume pretty much made weight loss automatic, despite, as I remember it, plowing through pints of ice cream, movie theater boxes of candy, burritos, etc. This year, I'd like to keep the food quality higher, at least until the really high volume period, limit eating after dinner, and do a couple fasted workouts each week (which have been shown to help weight loss). 

Anything in there I should rethink?