kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2013 (Year 3!) - CLOSED (Page 67)

When training for my 1/2 mary I ran multiple days in a row...and many say the more you run, the better...I can't speak to what your training schedule is like etc., but as long as you aren't doing sprints etc., back to back...and take it fairly easy, I'd say go for it. Again, I defer to the experts. Also, when I was running back to back, I was not throwing in a bike workout too, so my legs generally felt fine.

There are lots of "rules" but what's most important is what works for you.  If you have been running twice a week for 30 minutes each, I think you are fine going to three 30 minute sessions.  Given your background, here's what I would do:

Week 1 - 30 min , 30 min , 30 min

Week 2 - 30 min, 30 min, 40 min

Week 3 - 35 min, 30 min, 45 min

Week 4 - 40 min , 30 min , 55 min

Essentially splitting the increased volume between two runs so you end up with a short, middle and long run.  Also make sure that when you are adding volume you keep the runs aerobic in nature. For the purposes of developing run fitness what matters is the cumulative volume of your running, not the volume of any one run.  Plus long runs create a big recovery debt so I find there to be very little utility in very long runs for tri preparation. 

Its also fine to run on consecutive days.  If you are having leg / pain issues its likely a form problem, which can be corrected with some drill work. 

Generally my weeks are structured with middle distance run on Tue, recovery run on Wed, middle distance run on Thur, short T-run on Saturday and long run on Sunday.

x2

Front end drills in the pool and a recovery run. 

The painter showed up with help today.  Awesomeness.

Time trials in pool today.  I'm pretty happy with my results, as they are an accurate reflection of the type of training sessions I'm doing right now.  Lots of all out 25s in my training, and I think that helped with my 200 TT.  My 800 TT didn't improve very much (6 sec), but I think I need to be swimming a lot more yardage to see big improvement there.  No worries.  I'm very happy and proud of myself.  

This run test tomorrow is a different story.  I feel like I'm lacking confidence there.  Plus, it has to be done on the treadmill.......EW.    

Thanks for the kind words. I used to blog, for myself not public, every single day so it was a way to get the pain out of my system. I times I get the urge like I did yesterday to just let it out. The month before her birthday 11/3 and her passing 3/1 are the toughest part of the year. For some people it's the holidays but I can compartmentalize those so my other children have good memories about them.

90 minutes on the trainer as 15 minute warmup, 60 minutes intervals, 15 minute cool down followed by 5 miles in Z1 on the treadmill.

Is that just a term for doing a combination of closed fist drill, catchup drill, one arm drills, etc?

X2. I am so sorry. It is amazing how you have coped. My brother was killed in a car accident when he was 22 (this happened 12 years ago) and we still think of him every day.

I'm very sorry about your brother. When I was 22-ish a guy the same age died in a motorcycle accident. I didn't know him all that well but liked him. He was a ball buster in a funny way and being that way myself I gravitate to people like that. I did know a lot of his friends quite well so a group of us timed it so we would arrive at the wake together and go in as a group. For whatever reason I ended up first of our group in the receiving line. I didn't know it going in but he had crashed in the middle of the day, on a straight road with no traffic around. So his parents wanted to know why. Was he racing some random cyclist? Did he just get distracted.......Not knowing as I know how just tears you apart. So his mother was a really large Irish woman and when she saw me and didn't recognize me she grabbed me in a bear hug so tight it literally took my breath away and I could bench 400 pounds at the time. She was screaming and crying, "were you there? just tell me please........"

I often think of that now because I just wanted out of there so badly. I just wanted to run. Part of me writes it off to being 22, wet behind the ears and not capable of the compassion that should have been shown. Another part doesn't cut myself nearly as much slack knowing what I know now. All of me wishes I had a do over and I wish there was a way to reach out to her now.

Anyway long winded story but I'm sure your parents live it every day and always will.

Pretty much.

I run faster with a lower heart rate on a track vs the treadmill. There's just something about my stride that's different on the treadmill.

Thanks. I hadn't heard the term used before and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on something.

Treadmills encourage poor form.  Because the belt is moving beneath you the runner is "rewarded" when he or she incorporates additional vertical movement into the stride (when you bounce up high the treadmill continues to move under neath you).  Too much time on the treadmill can cause a super bouncy stride that is really effective on the treadmill but does you no good on the road.  Obviously we all have to use treadmills sometimes but I prefer the road to a treadmill.

These are drills that focus on the front active portion of you stroke as compared to the back end, recovery or body position.  Generally they focus on creating a strong initial pull with a high elbow and an early vertical forearm.