Slornow and Wannabefaster's mentor group...Closed (Page 6)

Strength session and short treadmill run done.  Legs really heavy from yesterday afternoon's med/longish run.  One of the tough things about running 5-6 days a week is the fact that my legs never really feel fresh.  That should change as my legs/body continue to  adapt to the increased load.  Easy spin on the bike tonight.

Jim-how do you like the Powertap pedals?

Question for the group: Do you do any strength training and if so what do you do?  I would include yoga and non traditional strength work in the question.  I try to do 2 sessions a week of 20-30 minutes of weights/body weight leg work and core.  Unfortunately, it seems I move away from this when race season rolls around and I feel that I need to put all available time into S/B/R.  I think it is especially good for me as an older triathlete and my hope is the leg work will help minimize the periodic issues I have with calf strains and hamstring tightness.

Have a good day all.  Those that have not posted a bio...please do so....just no pictures of Rusty in a speedo please.

2~3x per week PT work has all but replaced the strength work that I normally do for the time being, but usually I do 1x week yoga class (iyengar) and once a week Pilates private lesson. depending on the time of year I will do 1 or two more pilates routines per week, and graduate up through isolateral and plyometric work. I also try to get to masters early and warm up with cords and do a little dryland work immediately after if I have time. Being older, of all of that I find the Isolateral work to be the most beneficial for building resilience for me. As triathletes, we naturally build a fair amount of strength in the sagital plane, but when our form starts to break down (leading to injury) it is often because we have not develop similar strength in the frontal/coronal plane. I have found that trail running helps tremendously as well, and try to do about 80% of my running off road, usually. Right now I have been avoiding it as I continue work through my angry left meniscus issues.

Like mark, I also do a healthy bit of overgear work on the trainer, and consider that more of a strength workout.

Stuartap-great to have you again.  Thought we would hear from you at some point and am glad you are here.

Jim-treadmills are so inconsistent from one brand or even individual treadmill to the next. Not sure if there is a standard incline to replicate running outside. I would think around 1-2%?  On the treadmills I use at the gym I usually set to 1/2 of 1% grade.  I use that as it seems to give me a HR consistent with what I get outside at the same pace.  Right now all my runs are easy so I am not really worried about pace....just trying to keep HR in Z2.  

Yes, I was going to say the same. Treadmill calibration is so varied it does not really matter much, so on the rare occasion I find myself on one I focus on effort and cadence. I change the elevation just what feels right: on some mills it is flat, on some they need a little elevation. It doesn't seem prudent to run uphill all the time, but that may just be me. FWIW treadmill elevation is a little like religion with pure runners. If  you need about an hour of entertainment head over to letsrun and do a search on "Treadmill Running." You will get all sorts of opinions on proper elevation along with lots of research to support all points of view.

For easy runs, I set it at a 1% grade.  To mimic hills, I'll set it between 4 and 6 depending on how I'm feeling and do 2.5 minute sets with 2.5 minutes rest back down at 1 or even 0.

FYI treadmill speeds are notoriously inaccurate.  I use the Garmin foot pod (which tracks pretty closely with my GPS outdoors) and my Xterra treadmill seems to be operating about 20 to 25 seconds faster per km.

Just a PSA for other treadmill owners.  I've had my treadmill for over a year now but had to make a warranty claim about 6 months ago due to an overload error message.

The manufacturer sent a technician to replace the motor and the motherboard no questions asked, but the technician was 99% sure that it was simply due to lack of lubrication. 

The manual says to lubricate every 180 hours, but the technician said that was way too long and it should be at around 40 or 50 hours.

Lubricant is only $10 for 3 tubes, so its worth the investment.

He also left the old motor and motherboard, so I've now got a spare if it dies again after the warranty expires.

Ha, never thought of that!  That's a much better way.

That's kind of awesome.  I know my treadmill is "fast" - at least it mkaes me feel better about my current running.  I'm going to check the actual speed with my PT wheel tonight if I can, but then I don't know how to calibrate the treadmill.  Just leave it and adjust accordingly for paces? 

And yes, very behind in posting a bio.

that really is so obviously, fantastically brilliant, Marc. I live for kludgey stuff like that!