Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 63)

Congratulations to Stu and Steve on the Oly Distance Tri's. 

Rene - That is one thing about Texas that is absolutely nuts .. the heat! I bonked today on a 3 mile run that was supposed to be a 5 mile run. The sun was just killing me. 

I rode 24 miles followed by a 3 mile run. The rest of the day its relaxing, watching the Olympics and some weight training tonight before bed.

It's been a great week of training for me. I followed the Olympic 3x balanced plan (pro-rated to month 2 week 2 so that the plan ends when the Olympic Race begins in October) pretty closely. Next week is a pretty heavy week on the plan and unfortunately it's also the weekend of my 2nd Sprint.

I was thinking I'd double up on a few days next week so I could take Friday and Saturday off to rest completely before the race on Sunday. Any thoughts on that? Will I be overworking myself too hard if I double up on days in order to gain an extra rest day before the race?

Thanks!

-Nate

Nate-my taper weeks typically show a decrease in volume but still some intensity.  I will typically take a rest day 2 days out from a race....Friday rest/Sunday race. Day before the race, depending on race distance,  will be maybe 30 minute ride with 20 minute run.  Not necessarily as a brick as that is a bit more stressful on the body.  I will include 4-5 30 second pick ups during the ride at a bit more than race pace to give the legs a little work. Same with the run...I'll end with 4 sets of 50 yard strides.  Building speed focusing on quick leg turnover and form.  You seem to be a solid swimmer so I would not worry too much about swimming the day before. 

There are different approaches to tapering and also whether this is an "A" race or something less.  I have not been able to adjust my effort level for races and as a result I treat them all like "A" races.  I would probably do differently if I were building to an IM distance race but all of my races this year are sprint/olympic distance.  Some (Michael) will essentially train through a race and use the race as a hard training day with an eye towards a true "A" race.....a more long term approach.   I would taper for this race as you still have a good bit of time before your olympic.  2 workouts a day are fine if thats what you have been doing but I would not increase frequency the week leading into a race. Maybe keep training essentially the same through Tuesday/Wed. then cut back on volume a bit on Thursday, rest day Friday. short bike/run on Saturday then kill it on Sunday.  If you have access to the training plans here on BT you could look how those palns treat the week leading into a sprint.   There's an old saying...I think from distance running. "The hay is in the barn...don't burn down the  barn."  Translation don't negate what you have done by overdoing it before a race.

Randy

Thanks Randy and Rene!

That's very helpful. I'll go ahead and follow a BT plan going into a sprint race and take your advice on a short Saturday workout.

I'm pretty excited about this 2nd race. This will be the first one I've really "prepared" for. I did the first race as a way to get my feet wet in the sport of triathlon and I found out that I really enjoyed it.  I didn't really put the time and training into it as much as I have this one, however, so I'm excited to see how I do here! Being another 10lbs lighter than before should be helpful as well!

-Nate

Nice job Jason!  Yeah, I sometimes feel guilty on planned rest days.  One of the good things about following a plan...if it says rest then I'll rest.  Doing it on my own I probably don't rest enough.

You mention pacing which is something I was looking at yesterday.  I think I am doing my 800 repeats too hard.  Looked at my VDOT yesterday and it confirmed this.  I was struggling to do the scheduled number and turns out I was pushing too hard.  I will adjust for tomorrow's track workout and see how it feels.

What does everyone have scheduled for today?  I have a 2500 swim at lunch and an hour bike tonight.

Randy 

UGH! Weather cut short my swim.  Got in about 2000 of the 2500 planned so not a total loss.

Randy

I'm still a hurting unit today, but went through the motions of a recovery workout in all the disciplines.  Felt a little better afterwards.  Best part was the hot tub before the swim :-) That race definitely took a chunk out of me.  Need to have a solid few days before I head out of town for business on Saturday which will make bike and swim training tougher for a week.

How are you feeling, Steve? 

Those of you in the deep south who workout in the heat, my hat is off to you for training through the summer.  The difference in the heat and humidity really takes a toll.  I much prefer Fall/Winter/Spring training, even with the "cold" and lack of light of the winter months (plus, the workout warms me up, so I do look forward to it). 

Have a good one everybody!

Stu

Well, I was supposed to do a 1 hour ride on the trainer tonight. Just got back from the car dealer. After buying 2 brand new tires last Wednesday on Friday my car decided to die on me and it was way too much to get it fixed. 

Hello new car .... looks like there goes the Quintana Roo Seduza that I was going to purchase in a month! Hate when stuff like that happens. 

Good morning all. I have started trying a free runkeeper app on my iphone to keep track of my runs.  Up to this point I had been using a Garmin.  The only disadvantage I see so far is the loss of ability to monitor HR.  Does anyone know of any iphone Apps that also have the ability for HR monitoring? 

42 mile ride last night.  Ended up bagging the long bike/run this last weekend.  Just did not have it in me after work.  Slept instead.  I feel much better and refreshed now.  Believe I made a wise choice.  My weight is down to 185, down from 211 about 8 months ago.  Would like to get in the 170's. 

Good day everyone!  Nice race Steve and Stu!

Blanda - 2012-08-07 7:32 AM Hi, guys! I appreciate you all. Just wanna tell you that. It's been hectic here with school starting up soon. I did have another successful 1/2 marathon training week though, so I've not been totally slacking.

Something I noticed in my run training. I have always been encouraged to look up and out and run with fully extended strides, but I've noticed while tracking my runs with my phone app that I'm slower doing that than running with short choppy strides looking just ahead of my feet. Is this unusual? I'm more comfortable with the later, but with all the "research" I do online, my mind is muddled, lol!

Watching the Olympics men's tri' at the moment. One thing that stands out to me is that there are no brown folks. Just an observation from a brown folk.

Blanda, if you need advice on shuffling, I'm your man!  Running advice I shall leave to more qualified folks :-)

On your observation... same thing in the local races here in Virginia.  Any thoughts as to why you think that is the case?  And I would definitely say that 1/2 marathon training is not slacking!

check out http://www.wahoofitness.com/.  Iphone doesn't have ANT+ capabilities built in (what garmin heart rate monitors use for a protocol), so you need a dongle.  If you have an Iphone 4s, it has bluetooth 4.0 and there is a heart rate monitor that is compatable (its pretty new).  I haven't used either, but been reading up on them.

-Steve

I have the MapMyRun+ app and it says it supports ant accessories, although I'd think you'd have to plug and adapter in or something to pick it up.

Blanda - 2012-08-07 6:32 AM Hi, guys! I appreciate you all. Just wanna tell you that. It's been hectic here with school starting up soon. I did have another successful 1/2 marathon training week though, so I've not been totally slacking.

Something I noticed in my run training. I have always been encouraged to look up and out and run with fully extended strides, but I've noticed while tracking my runs with my phone app that I'm slower doing that than running with short choppy strides looking just ahead of my feet. Is this unusual? I'm more comfortable with the later, but with all the "research" I do online, my mind is muddled, lol!

Watching the Olympics men's tri' at the moment. One thing that stands out to me is that there are no brown folks. Just an observation from a brown folk.

Blanda-the trend tends to be toward promoting a midfoot strike. From what I read and see in diagrams taking a long full stride actually cause the leg to "brake" a bit as the leg is out in front of the body at impact.  For a midfoot strike you should try to lean forward a bit as you run and have your foot striking barely out in front of you or right under the body. A focus on quicker turnover will also help you get away from a long full stride.  I don't think one specific way is best for everyone but I do think there is some benefit to more of a midfoot strike.  Another good way to work on running form is with strides.  After an easy run do 4-5 sets of strides.  Basically a stride is a short, 50 yards or so, run where you build toward a fast speed then gradually slow down.  Walk back to where you started and do it again.  For most people we are most efficient when we are running fast.  Also a great way to get in some "speed" work without much likelihood of injury. There are a couple of "methods" which teach or promote the midfoot strike.....Pose and Chi Running.

Very few people of color participating in triathlon down here as well.  

Randy

Surprisingly I’m not feeling too bad, still a little stiff/sore.

 The first 5-6 hours after the race on Saturday my legs hurt pretty badly.  I did a recovery bike ride on Sunday morning (30 minutes), that felt good except for one hill.  Then I was able to play 2 rounds of disc golf with the boy without any trouble.  I did my first run this morning, first mile the legs just didn’t want to turn over, second mile felt fine.

-Steve

Happy to report some swim improvement. Did time trial testing today.

3 X 300scy on 30 sec. rest  1) 4:23  2) 4:27 3) 4:25

Avg. 1:28.33/100

Decided to do some swin testing today since my swim was cut short by weather yesterday and my only workout today is track intervals this evening.  I always do the same 3 x 300 for testing.  I should do it more but I really don't enjoy it.  Pleasantly surprised as my last testing 4/19/2012 average was 1:33.67/100 and in Dec. 2011 was 1:37.67/100.  Today I was hoping, but doubtful, that I could break the 1:30 average.  I suspect the result is a combination of some swim improvement and a higher level of fitness since it is later in the season.  Regardless, I'm pleased but already worried that I'll never be able to improve further

Randy