Newbz' group is FULL (Page 7)

fit, fit, fit.

after that your fit+ price range will determine the best suit for you.

from there, there are some things you can do to get them on and off easier, but the best suit for you is the one that fits the best. a lower end suit that is perfect size wise is going to be WAY better than a top of the line that doesn't fit just right.

Page 2 again! -

I did the Steam Whistle 12 K on New Year's Day -

This race is on the trace just out my back door. Jodie (my girlfriend) and I rode our bikes down to Jackson Station (1.4 miles from my house) - it was a cold ride in the low 40's - and picked up our race packets. I programmed my GPS watch to run at a 6:40 minute / mile pace. This would be a reach for me. Last week I ran a strong 4 mile tempo run with the last 3 miles being at 6:40 pace. I though that in race conditions I could, maybe, push this pace and last for the entire 12K (7.45 miles). This would be tough. It was a cold morning lining up at Jackson Station and we were all anxious to run. I stuck to my plan and ran off of the ‘virtual partner’. He was set for exactly 6:40 minutes per mile which should allow for me to finish the race at just under 50 minutes. This would be my Gold Medal goal for the race.

The first 2 K’s I was in fourth place – first and second being way out in front and pulling away fast. I was running a little too fast and quickly got about 180 feet ahead of the ‘virtual partner’. This guy just goes out too slow – or maybe I was a little too fast. I tried to slow down just a little bit and run even pace. I was slowing during the middle part of the race – a couple of my fast friends passed. They were just doing a ‘training run’. They passed me easily. I was able to pick up the pace towards the end of the run and achieve my goal time. I finished the race in 49:38 with an average pace of 6:39. I met my goal and I am going to continue to try to race myself to a Boston Qualifying Time of 3:14:59 (7:28 minutes / mile pace). I ran this race hard with an average heart rate of 181. I ended up finishing 6th out of 97 and first in my age group. Everyone that beat me was years older (8 of the top 10 were older than 42). These guys were always fast and have just gotten older. After helping clean up I decided to get a few more miles under my belt. I got another 4.6 miles to end up with just over 12 miles for the day.

According to the McMillan Running Calculator ( turn your speakers down - http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm) - averaging 6:40 for a 10 K should equate to a 3:14:45 marathon time. I am racing another half marathon this coming weekend (01/10) and a 25K and 30K in the next couple of weeks.

I am excited that I am meeting my goals!

Edited by microspawn 2010-01-02 11:59 AM

nice job on the run! what as the course/trail like?

The Steam Whistle is on a rails to trails (Long Leaf Trace - 41 miles) so it is flat and fast!

Nice run!  Woulda smoked me by a long shot!  I am pretty sure they would have been picking me up in a body bag with a Avg. HR of 181.  I think thats pretty close to ventricular fibrillation.  The highest my Garmin has recorded my HR is 183 and that was a max for a 15 mile bike sprint on an uphill section.

I did an 8 mile run this evening in 15 degrees with a -3 windchill.  This was my first really cold run of the season and my face was feeling it (didn't have any face protection).  I also ran with some ice cleats on for the first time ever.  We have some frozen (formerly) slush that I thought would give me fits.  They worked very nice BTW.  My avg. time for the run was slow but it's training not racing, 9:21 pace with an avg. HR of 149.

David,
I know you're not an HR zone guy but does that mean your a PE guy.  I have been doing some PE training as it relates to my runs because I feel very comfortable running for a long time with my HR in in Z4.  I have done nearly all of my long runs in this zone for the past month or so and at the end of my runs I feel pretty good (could go another mile or two).  What's your take?

assuming we are defining zones the same way your zn4 is not where you think it is.
zn3 should be comfortably hard, zn4 will start to hurt after a while (for most people this is jsut a bit slower than 10k pace). if you can finish feeling like you could have kept that up more than likely you are in zn3 ish. What did you use if anything to determine your zones?

Right now running and biking is 100% done by PE, swimming is all by the clock. for the last 3 years i have been training with power on the bike and love it, but due to financial stuff i am back to not using it this year (might change in the spring).

running will stay by PE though and most likely so will the cycling.

Hey guys,
Sorry that I have been absent for the most part from the group. You know how the holidays go. I should be on here a lot more now since I am going to be kicking my training back into gear again.

I have been looking at how I want to structure my training over the next few months and I had a few questions for you David. In general, do you think it is better to have a balanced training schedule or to favor a strength or a limiter? The bike is by far my strength right now. I can do 20 miles with around a 16 mph average, currently run 3 miles in around 36 minutes, and swim a 1/2 mile at 2:00/100 yards.

I may be overestimating myself, but it seems like the beginner sprint plans on this website just dont have enough volume. I know that I need to ramp up the volume slowly since I am still carrying about 30 more pounds than i want to be, but I also want to put in enough volume to make some good strides.

I was looking at maybe modifying a bike focused olympic plan to use for that sprint. My other option would be to use a run focused plan, since the run is currently my limiter. Do you have any advice?

assuming you are doing a volume within reason for your body/what it can handle, more is almost always going to be better .

I would say if you have the time/ability to do it one of the olympic plans would be a good idea. If you get part way through and feel like the swim/run is not getting enough attention, you can always switch over to a swim or run focued plan at the same point in the plan

I didn't do anything specific.  I just used the age group chart.  I had a hard time figuring out how do determine a method I had read about some time ago, so I found a chart.  Not the best way I am sure but for a guy with a 2nd grade mentality it was sure easy.

What is a good way to determine my true HR zones.  I would actually like to determine the correct zones but I will probably continue to train PE after hearing about it from another runner and seeing that you do it this way.  (In your description remember I have a 2nd grade mentality, so use pretty colors and bold print. jk)

this will change a bit depending on how fast you are, but a pretty common test is to get in a good warm up and then run a 30 min TT as fast as you can. take the ave HR over the last 20 min and that gives you your threshold (some people prefer a slightly longer test).

it hurts a lot to do well but is the most accurate test you can do. in place of that a 10k running race will often work as well. the age based HR is almost never correct. as an example at the point it puts me in sprinting pace, i am at the HR i can hold for a 2-3 hour race.

I just had a very uncomfortable 40 mile ride in 32 deg WINDY weather.  But I did not complain; I just kept reminding myself of all the northern BTers who endure far worse training conditions. 

David, you're up in Philly so you must have experience with this.

1.  Biggest issue was cold numb feet!  I wore my son's thick hunting socks and also had on toe warmers, but my feet still froze throughout most of the ride.  Fingers were numb at times but eventually warmed up.  I think I did ok layering the rest of my body.

2. After about 90 min, my rear chain started jumping up and down the cog set by itself!  It was as if a ghost had taken over my bike and was shifting up and down.  It continued going up and down by itself until I manually shifted and got it to stop.  I thought something was wrong with my bike.  But oddly, about 15 min later, my training partner's bike did the same thing!  Then I was convinced it was the cold weather affecting the cables?  Have you ever heard of such a thing?

It was so cold, my training partner's aero bottle had ice forming on it!  Brrrrrrr!!!!

TT are always hard - using the standard fomula just gets you in the range. For example 220 - AGE (37) = 183. I have seen 195 on my heart rate monitor at the end of a 5K (a extremely hard race where I was being out kicked at the end). My true running MAX is probably a little higher. But if I was using the 183 as my MAX then my zone 4 would really be at a comfortablly hard cruise. This last race I just did was a 12 K and my heart rate averaged 181. It was a hard race.

You also have to determine your MAX for each sport. My MAX for cycling is about 10 beats less than running but doing TT's in cycling is so much harder for me. They all hurt but cycling hurts MORE!

maria, was there salt, dirt, other stuff on the road? that could do it, the cold could as well.

if it starts jumping again, its an easy fix. stand behind the bike, looking forward (same dir the bike is facing). there is a small barrel adjuster where the cable goes into the real derailer. whichever way you turn it, the derailer moves a bit. if you are in a gear and its jumping to an easier one, turn it clockwise (away from the bike), same thing for hte other direction (oppisite though)

220-age puts me at 197 as a max. i did a 5k two weeks ago, and ave 193. there is no way my max is that close. i have seen over 200 in rowing before.

hows everyone doing today?

i cant wait, i am driving back from FL tomorrow to ohio, then on to philly the next morning, 30 hours of drive in the next two days, YAY!

Got back to work today – and the fitness center here at the university is closed. The heating is broken and the center will not open back up until Thursday. Bummer – also I was planning on getting back to the swim. It has been freezing here in Mississippi (actually in the 30’s – I know it is not that cold – I did live near Chicago for a dozen or so years so I do know the cold). But I bet that pool is going to be cold!!! I think I will have to bring my wetsuit.

I just wrapped up my “holiday running camp”. I was surprised with how well I was able to recover. I got just less than 130 miles of running in the two weeks that I had off – with 2 races thrown in there for good measure. I wrapped up the holiday with a good block of training 12 miles / 16 miles / 15 miles – back to back to back – 43 miles in three days! Probably not smart but nothing hurts.

just a quick note if anyone in here or anyone you know is interested, am in the process of getting my new coaching website up and am still looking for 4 or so more people for the 2010 season.

website is: www.dcscoaching.com
blog with it is www.dcscoaching.blogspot.com

blog has some content but the site is empty right now save for the links, should be done in a few days.

That's a lot of driving in two days!  Safe travels.

All good here in Tampa. Just a little colder than i'm used to but did get in my first swim of the year and first swim since summer 2005. it felt good! muscle does have memory. i didn't really pay too much attention to yards yet. just kinda wanted to have no pressure first time back and just enjoy the process. Alos got in a good 90 minutes of high cadence intevals on the bike trainer in the AM. Feeling strong! Tomorrow, bundle up and run 15K before work.

Hope everyone is getting in some good training and staying warm.

KC

I'm still in California visiting the parents for the holidays, which I know have already ended. But hanging out here is a lot more pleasurable than freezing Colorado. Luckily I can work from home (wherever that may be) and my boss is on a cruise, so it's perfect for extending that vacation by another week. The only downside is I haven't gotten much biking in. But I go back on Saturday so it shouldn't slow down the training too much.

Hope everyone's New Year's went well!
Kasia

that last part about bundling up makes me die a little inside;-) i am in Fl right now (ft myers area) and its been in the 50s, i ran in just shorts today and it felt like summer!!

SNOWING IN ARKANSAS!!!???? WTH?  I am going back to Texas tomorrow morning hopefully to some warmer weather...I have been stuck training indoors for the last week or so...I can't wait for the warm weather down here.

i'm heading back to some serious cold. warmed up to 11 in ohio yesterday, 18 in philly. run all around.

On the upside i get to go out to CO to train for a few days, from sat to wed of next week:-)