Baowolf's Create your Own Saga Triathlon Group (OPEN!!!) (Page 6)

Thanks for the feedback.

I am doing SuperiorMan in Duluth, MN, where I live.

Follow up on the trainer question: Might it make more sense for me (who has not yet acquired things like spare tires, old tires, extra wheels, etc.) to just stick to the spin bike at the gym for indoor training? It feels like cheating...because it's much more comfortable. But it's easier to just get time in and even get some data feedback. I did have a complete bike fit when I first got this road bike. I bought it used in 2012. I haven't had it fit since. It feels good...except my arms and wrists just get so incredibly sore.

I haven't figured out the training log on here yet. I used to be super obsessed with data (in my running) and I am trying to get away from that. I write stuff down, manually, on paper, on the plan I have. I am following a fairly simple, basic, HIM plan. I'll look into logging, but really I am just looking to put in lots of time and miles and laps and such. To get comfortable with the swim and the bike and the technical elements of triathlon as much as possible.

Hamstring tweak is still bugging me, so that is not how I wanted to start my 20-week training plan. It might be a good way, though, to get me doing more on the bike and in the pool, and less running which is where I am already quite comfortable.

Thanks again!

A trainer tire is about $20. A spin cycle is likely to not have the same fit as your home bike... so your body won't be prepared for your real bike come race day. It would be fine to do the spin bike once a week, but not for every ride if you want your body to be prepared to hang out on your bike for 4 hours or whatever.

I just meant for indoor rides. I intend to ride my bike outside, for just those reasons you state. (i.e., getting my body used to the real thing)

The tire is $20, but how much is the wheel? I am trying to work with what I have and not get sucked into the Tri world of buying lots of extra gadgets and toys. At least not for this first one. I got sucked into buying lots of toys for running marathons and ultras...so I can't even imagine the extent to which that habit could multiply with triathlon!

You just put the trainer tire on your regular wheel. It is most useful in the winter when you aren't going to be riding inside and outside every week. Alternatively, the gatorskin type tires hold up better to tainer and road wear. On thing that really helps is to clean your tire with a wet then dry rag after have been riding outside before stating a trainer ride indoors. A clean tire does not wear the tire or the resistance roller nearly as much. Also, don't crank down the resistance roller too hard = less wear.

Too quiet here. What do folks have going on this weekend.

For me I started with a 5000 yard swim, then a 75 mile bike ride, 15 mile run and another 5000 yard swim.

Too quiet here. What do folks have going on this weekend.

For me I started with a 5000 yard swim, then a 75 mile bike ride, 15 mile run and another 5000 yard swim.

Steve putting some swim yards in!

Friday was 3000m swim am, 30' run pm
Saturday was 2 hr bike am then catching a flight to Italy in the pm
Sunday will be 40' run.

All aerobic. More importantly (to me anyways) is I am down 22lbs since starting back up on 22 March.

Got out on my bike for 12 miles today via a new MUP section that was completed last week. Road construction, city politics and what not had delayed it to the point that I thought I might not live to see the day! But now I can ride a relatively stress/traffic free route, yippee!!!

Yup swim is stronger than it ever has been. Not fast, but less slow. My 1000 yard sets are down about 3 minutes over the past 5 months. Of course I was really out of swim shape then but it is nice to get a little faster. It turns out the bike and run still lagging, 75 miles on the trainer today was sucky. Hopefully I can start getting outside for at least the long rides.

Edited by Baowolf 2016-04-24 2:51 AM

Dang Steve, that is a heck of a weekend workout! When is your next IM?

Poor Brad is in Italy. I'm so flipping jealous!

I had ramped up the running nicely but then I got sick. Nothing but a cold and sinus infection but it has really taken me down. Yesterday was the first day in 2 weeks where I didn't feel like roadkill.

I had such a weird situation happen the other day. Was in line at the grocery store wearing a shirt that I got at a marathon; there is so little writing on this shirt that you have to be looking hard to see that it was from a marathon. The line was long and the man in front of me asked me if I still ran marathons. I said yes and since he asked, asked if he did marathons. He tells me his time from his last one, told me he was in his 20s at the time, and that his doctor told him that that he didn't need to run any more marathons - especially after the age of 30 - because people died of heart attacks all of the time in marathons. WTH! So this out of shape middle age man wants to tell me his marathon time from 15-20 years ago and then wants to preach to me that marathons are dangerous? Me thinks the man has a major inferiority complex. I pointed out that the doctor probably didn't talk about the 30 - 50 y.o. that died on their couches while flipping the channels and eating bon bons.

Steve- nice job on dropping the 1000 swim times. ~18 sec faster per 100 is a huge. Nice job.

Pam - as far as doctors blanket statement to patients advising not to do endurance events....well maybe the guy had some underlying issue and was advised? I dunno. Trying to give the benefit of the doubt but I have had a PA tell me not to do triathlons before. When I asked why, the PA said my HR is too low. I asked if she was in the top 5% of her PA class or the bottom 5% of it. Let's just say I never went back to that office again.

Week in Italy was great. Rented a farm house in the Siena countryside. Not much fitness gained (translation...none was gained) but I learned so much about wine/olive oil. I do not drink alcohol but caved in since I was in Italy. Somewhere I read red wine is good for you right???

My month is complete. Nothing to write home about but beats sitting on the couch. May should see some big base numbers.

Swim: 7h 31m 36s - 23990.99 Yd
Bike: 18h 10m - 306 Mi
Run: 7h 27m 02s - 42.68 M

10lbs dropped.

I visited one of my local bike shops yesterday to try to ease some of my anxieties and fears re: my road bike. It was a good visit. He suggested that since the season is starting, I just leave my tires on now and I'll be fine to go back and forth from the road to the trainer. Then next fall, when it gets close to me spending more consistent time on the trainer, I consider investing in a separate trainer tire, and maybe wheel. So I am going to go with that. Thinking maybe I will get new tires on my bike before the race in August. I also bought some lube for my chain (I was supposed to lube that!? Whoops!). And a new CO2 cartridge and valve set. (I have spare cartridges, and I think two tubes as well) Oh, and a new bike bag for under my seat. He looked through my "kit" and said I should be good to go. As soon as I learn how to change a flat. ...Add it to the list.

My hamstring is still giving me grief, which is annoying. It shouldn't be. I got really sick a week ago, so let's just say my hamstring has had lots of time to rest. Anyway, I actually have an annual physical this week so I am going to ask for a PT referral.

I went for a very slow run today. The ham DOES seem to get better as the run gets longer (and if I stay very slow - no speed or hill work) so I am thinking there is just some residual junk in there.

I set up my training log on here and connected it to my garmin. Still not sure how good or obsessive I'll be about logging...but I thought I'd play around. I have a garmin 610 - I got it in 2011 and it's still ticking! But just barely. The battery is not awesome anymore. It's had a good life.

There are really low prices (around $230w/HR monitor) on the Fenix 2 and the 910XT, so I am considering upgrading to one of those. If anyone has advice/thoughts on one or the other, I'd love to hear 'em!

Fellow Trainees

just currently finished my Century Ride this weekend. It was just IM pace i did not hammer it too much being 3 months on the trainer i noticed after my century legs are naturally tired , but the rest of my body felt beat up i guess i lack core exercises or strength training any suggestions please?

month of May pre-peak 12-13hrs/week and June is Peak Month 13-15 hrs./week.

Goodluck to all of you no races for me just training to avoid injury.

Cheers!!!








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April total for me. pretty happy with these as i keep scaling up this year, though I scaled back my running this month due to an ankle strain that needed to heal. Still spending a lot of hours on the bike trainer in my spin class, need to get more real miles outside this month!

Swim: 4h 54m 46s - 16350 Yd
Bike: 24h 34m 55s - 326.38 Mi
Run: 10h 49m 23s - 60.14 Mi

april:

swim: 1 hr, 2500 yd
bike: 22 hr, 303 mi
run: 9.3 hr, 62 mi

white water rafting, 2 hrs
soccer: 6 hr, 12.7 mi
total activity: 41.5 hr (just shy of last year's high of 43.5 in aug)

went on a 62-mi ride sat in the cold and rain and i think i got sick from it, so i took sun and mon off. i'm 2 weeks away from a 70.3 so i'm in taper mode (i suck at tapering). after april i was feeling comfortable with the swim and running so I to focus more on biking. i haven't had as many brick sessions as I needed. A half in may is really early for me in the season.

in april i did a 5k every friday (part of a series a local running store puts on), and my last 5k I PR'd: 21:08. Prtty happy with that. Especially when considering back in 2007 when i was overweight and out of shape, my 5k time was 37 minutes.

I signed up for my first marathon, in october. marine corps mary. wish me luck.

A car ran into my platform hitch bike rack, with my tri bike on it last Thursday! I was furious. The only damage I could see is a broken spoke and somehow both pedals broke. Hopefully the impact of the pedals didn't affect the crank, and hopefully the rim is ok and it's just the spoke that broke. I haven't had time to bring it into a bike shop to have it checked out. But I might have to race on my road bike+aerobars on May 13.


brad, we'll ahve to do some training together when you come back around dmv if i'm still in the area

dennis, i think we were in puerto rico the same time! i was there 3/17-3/20 for a bachelor party, i left the day of puerto rico 70.3

sj, hamstring injuries suck and take a long time to heal. hope you get better

oh man i just found out BT now syncs with garmin. you'll all be able to see my workouts if you aren't on strava or garminconnect now.

Edited by phifatech 2016-05-03 10:50 AM

Carlo - AWESOME job on the century! Looked like you paced it nicely from what I saw on Strava. I am sure the conditions were "challenging" in that part of the world given the weather you have been having there.

I think 6 hours on the bike would beat up almost anyone's body. Me personally I am on the fence with strength workouts. I did a strength program last year which was 2 x 1 hour sessions a week. I guess it helped but I really don't know. I don't think it hurt anything though. If you want the program I used jut let me know will send it to ya.

SJ - Definitely make time to learn to change tires and practice it. I do not know what kind of race support SuperiorMan has but sitting on the side of the road waiting for them to come to help (if they have this service available) is no fun.

As for a new watch/computer I am a simple guy. The less stuff I have to pack on race day the better because I forget everything it seems in my old age. I say this because the new Fenix3 Heart Rate, Forerunner 225/235 have optical HRM built in. I personally HATE the heart rate strap. One thing to think about is what application(s) are you going to use the new device for. Just running? Biking with power now or in the future? Bike with HR? Hiking? Skiing?

Fenix2 and 910xt are both good watches (I have both). Garmin will probably start phasing out the 910xts soon as the Fenix2 does everything it does. If you go with Fenix2 be sure to get the latest firmware. It had some issues I think with early editions. I really like the Forerunner 235 though. Love optical HRM.

If you want a fairly objective review on anything triathlon related, google "DC RAINMAKER" and research away.

Hope the hammy is getting better.

Brian - hope the ankle is feeling better.

Phil - Nice 5k! Not so nice someone ran into your bike though. At least no one was injured. I assume your bike is carbon. Definitely stress to inspect the bottom bracket housing. Marine Corps Marathon....nice. I just had lunch with the 2008 Marine Corps winner (Andrew Dumm) and picked his brain a little on run training. Nice guy. For sure we can do some training if we are both in DMV same time.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

About all the same for me. Ramping up fitness. Speed comes later. My pool is closed for a week starting Thursday. Limited options here so hmmmmmmmm, maybe an extra run session/bike session or two. I am jealous of everyone racing!

Wow, we have some serious totals for last month! WTG everyone.

Carlos, congrats on the century ride. I'm not great about putting in strength work but I found that simple things like planks and crunches make a huge difference in my core. Now ask me if I'm doing it now.....well, I'll duck my head in shame. I don't know why I don't do those things when I know that 10 min a day makes a huge difference.

Totals below. Not good. I was sick for two weeks and did very little during that time.

Run: 18h 01m - 74.1 Mi
Core Training: 20m
Walking: 4h 30m
Yoga: 1h 20m

Thanks Pam ill religiously try the planks and crunches.

Ok here are my April Totals:
Swim: 14h 21m - 41000 Yd

Bike: 19h 27m - 360 Mi

Run: 14h 52m 36s - 90.4 Mi

Not what I wanted, but legs remain iffy. Today's workout was 16 mile run, 5500 yard swim continuous.

Dropping 16 minutes ish off a 5k is epic and a 21 min 5k is very respectable. A 20 min 5k is the gold standard for the over 30 crowd for showing you have arrived.

Sucky to have your bike eaten. Insurance should take care of it but copay may be more than the damage so it is a catch 22.

Work has been pretty busy, was out of town last week at a training and the gang goaded me into giving the mechanical bull a tri. I escaped without injury, but was perhaps not the wisest move a few months out from an IM. I am sure he free drinks they were putting on the table for me did not have anything to do with my decision making...Oh well food time.

Brad

didnt see what you wrote right away. I think i really have to incorporate strength training.have to start doing a regular regimen i think i can sneak in two
sessions a week.

Hi everyone,

I did my first tri of the season on Saturday - the Polar Bear sprint in Brunswick Maine. Weather was challenging, around 50 and damp, but I had a great race and was able to finish 3rd in my AG! My first triathlon podium finish!

The swim was interesting as it was in a pool: 525 yards and then a speed walk down the deck to an outside door. I got stuck in the last lane and had to deal with turbulence on the wall, but still managed a good time at around 1:20/100, which was about 10s/100 faster than last fall (open water).

On the bike I averaged 22.4 mph, up from previous sprint best of 20.8 last year.

On the run I managed 7:58/mi, down from 8:20 last year. Pretty happy with that as I really tried to focus on pacing this time so that I wouldn't blow up on the run. I probably could have gone a tiny bit faster, but I think my pacing worked out pretty well. A couple weeks ago I did a 5k all-out and managed 22.11 (over 2 minutes faster than my best 5k time last year).


I haven't really done any focused speed or strength work, just endurance and general training. It's nice to see the gains though early in the season and I'm feeling pretty good now. Very excited to see what the rest of the year may bring!

cheers!
Brian

Brian ... Wow... that is fast in all 3 events. Grats on the podium.

Brian ... Wow... that is fast in all 3 events. Grats on the podium.

Thank you, Steve. I'm still smiling about that race! Everything seemed to just come together in the right way that day. Though I'm not yet sure how much of that was preparation or just dumb luck .

The flipside to doing well is I was actually pretty rested because I have been backing off the run distance to help my ankle and hamstring heal over the past few weeks. It's feeling pretty good now but I think I've lost some ground on my endurance and will probably need to get back into it slowly to stay healthy. I'm definitely finding it's very tempting and easy to do too much too fast! Any tips on getting back into the usual routine would be welcome! For now I'm thinking to do 10-20% gradual increases in volume each week until I'm back on track. Does that sound reasonable? thanks!

Congrats Brian! Impressive drop in times!

CARLO - if you want to PM me your email I will get that strength program to you. I am not the most technologically savvy but I do know how to send file in an email

STEVE: mechanical bull?! whoa....any pictures? haha.

PHIL: believe you are doing the Kinetic Half tomorrow. Good luck and have fun out there! Is your team/club doing it or just you?

As for me, still base work. Gaining a little fitness and weight is coming off as planned. Politics aside, I have changed my race to the NC 70.3 (old B2B). 1 day difference so no biggie. Saves me 11 hours of driving or a plane ticket. Sept 16th I leave my current country for good and head back to the N. VA area for a bit. Where to live...where to live.

This weekend will be a 3 hour ride (outside ~100 degrees...yay!) then eat a pizza and then Sunday 1 hour run (easy), and another 2 hours in the saddle (trainer...woohoo, not).

Hope everyone had a good week and has an even better weekend.

B