Eli's Getting Ready for the Season Group-CLOSED (Page 7)

I am going to get in on a 30 or so mile ride with the guys from my local bike shop.  They are all mountain bikers and triathletes in training, so it should be nice.  Then a long run, and Sunday will be bricks for me again.  Have a good one everybody.

Warren, Nice plan!! That is a good pace for a 1/2 marathon. Best of luck. I know you can do it. You are WAY faster than I am in most of you logs.

I am working my way back to that level. I can't wait!

Colby, 

Great. A group ride can be a great way to stay motivated, AND to challenge yourself to ride at a faster pace than you might alone. Drafting is also fun, but keep your eyes open and don't get too close until you know how they ride!

Not sure if they are faster or slower than you, but if they are faster, and you are hanging on by drafting, don't feel obligated to pull if it means you won't be able to stay in the ride.

Hey All - I'm headed to an open water swim clinic in the morning, then a 18 mile ride on my own (no groups in the afternoon, unfortunately). Sunday is my final long run (half marathon on May 22) and then an open water swim practice in the afternoon.  I ran on a hotel treadmill on Tuesday night and am still sore in my hips and hamstrings. I hope that tomorrow will help, as I'm hoping for a good run on Sunday.

Hope we all have some great weather for the weekend!

Michele

So...all of my workouts should be either endurance pace for the most part? I just get worried that I am not doing any intervals / intensity training, but it is difficult not to overdo it if you increase volume every week and then on top of that you do some increased intensity work as well.

Chris, I guess it depends. The plans should have some information about zones and rates in them. I am more than happy to help you with those if you haven't looked at them or are unfamiliar with them.

In addition, I have just been reading about intensity vs. volume again, as this is a constant internal debate for me. Up to a certain point, intensity can replace some volume in an effort to for fitness adaptations in a shortened amount of time.

In general, the amount of intensity you can do without crushing yourself depends on your fitness levels and how fast you recover. Since we aren't doing just one sport, most of us like to have some intensity in each of the disciplines in any given week. That being said, you have to recover as well. Doing longer rides/runs at lower intensity will not only let you recover, but does help build the aerobic engine. However, it takes longer to build the engine this way, and not everyone has the time to do the volume that this requires.

So, I would say if your plan only lists times or distances, without mentioning zones, you can always throw in some faster miles. For example, if I am doing a 5-9 mile run, I will warm up and then throw in a few faster miles. This may be 2 or 3 miles where I go up just a step in effort (from comfortable to comfortable-hard or 5-6 to 6-8 Perceived exertion) or do a couple of mile repeats where I do one mile at comfortable-hard and then 4-5 minutes of my normal pace and then another mile hard, etc. Bicycling is the same way, only better! On the bike, the intensity work doesn't pound your body as much. I will often do rides that I warm up and then do 3 intervals (of between 8 and 12 minutes) of a speed that is just past comfortable-hard, the elusive "threshold," and the rest at 80% or so of this level.

The idea of the threshold that I subscribe to on the bike is the max effort you can hold for an hour. You can use power, Perceived Exertion, or Heart Rate to determine this point. Basically, in perceived exertion, it is the speed just before I have to breathe really heavy.

I used a lot of this type of training last year, and it made a huge difference for me on my bike and overall fitness.

If I could figure out what to do for the run, I would be in great shape!

Paul, my taper weeks are usually a complete week of chaos, so I focus on staying rested and motivated. And besides, the taper is designed for you to be tired just before-you just peaked!

Hey Everybody,

I had a lousy week training with Sick kids, little league and way more rain than our area could handle.  Although I can't complain when compared to the awful weather in the south.   I am hoping that they can get a break over the next week or so, what an awful week. 

I have a hilly 10 mile race in morning so of to bed.  I am hoping to average 10:30, but that would be pushing it for me.  I have yet to run this distance ever so no matter what it will be a distance PR and a time PR.  Weather is supposed to be beautiful.

Warren good luck.

I'm just up early waiting for my food to digest and hoping I've prepared enough to run a good half today. It's cool this morning (39 - I know you southern folks can't relate to that sort of temp except inside your fridge!) so that should be a good thing.

Good luck Charlie, 10 miles of hills sounds daunting.

Finished first sprint triathlon yesterday.  Had a great time.

600m Swim: 21:05

T1: 2:30

13.8 mile Bike: 50:13

T2: 1:55

5k Run: 37:51

Overall: 1:53:33

The swim was the toughest.  I kept swimming into people and people kept swimming into me.  I was trying to stay to the outside and using breast stroke to sight.  I would find some "open water" and start to swim when out of nowhere someone would be there.  Finally gave up and swam breast stroke and elementary back to rest.  I definitely need more open water continuous swim practice.  But even with that you just cannot simulate the mess of people in the water.  Suggestions anyone?

Bike was good, passed a lot of people and got passed very little.  Passed a 17 year old at about mile 11.  That was fun. 

Run was slow.  Had to walk some of the hills in the back.  Started jogging steady again at he turnaround, about 1.8 miles, and ended up being able to jog all the way back to the finish.

Goal was to finish.  Done!

Finished in under 2 hours.  Extra Plus!

Beat 18 year old son's overall time by 3:30.  Priceless!

Race Report:  http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

Edited by billeckert 2011-05-01 9:22 AM

Congratulations, Bill!  That's awesome!

For open water practice, take a look on Meetup.com for any groups in your area.  Use search keywords like triathlon, swim, lake, etc.  You can do the same for Facebook groups.  Check out the race reports of the race you just ran and ask those participants if they know of any groups.  Google "masters swimming" for your area as well.  Find the coaches names and email them.

I did my final long run before my May 22 half marathon this morning. My training plan is skewed a bit because I stuck my first sprint triathlon in there next week as a fun one to start with.  That's really just a practice race before my goal - the Olympic tri on June 12.  Anyway, my goal time for the half marathon is 2:00, which would be about a 9:10 pace.  I'm supposed to do my long runs slow, but decided to try for marathon pace today and ended up at 2:02:34, running by myself.  My PR in official half-marathons is 2:19 - this May 22 race is the first half marathon that I will be running by myself and not having to worry about any friends or other races coming up.  I can go all out, and I'm finally feeling that I'm ready for it.  Now the goal is just to have fun in my training and sprint tri over the next three weeks.

Have a great day everyone,
Michele

Awesome Race Bill!!

I finished my 10 Miler in 1:47:35, and am very pleased.  The course is very hilly and this is the longest I have ever run so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I already created my race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=250363

Well I have to get ready for Little League practice.  Have a great day everybody.

Congrats to Bill and Charlie. I'm equally impressed with your races and the fact that you already have your race reports done!

I don't have a race report yet, but I feel like I nailed my half today: 1:51:14.  The final pace is about 8:29, right where I hoped to be, but I faded badly the last few miles.  After mile 10 I was at 1:24:15, felt pretty strong, and secretly wondered if 1:50 was in range, but no way.  I wasn't sure if it was really fading or the fact that the last 3 miles were right on the coast directly into a truly evil wind.  I wasn't passed much and actually passed quite a few people even though my paces slowed to the 8:45-8:55 range.  Or maybe I just have 10 mile fitness right now!

Wow everyone, what a weekend!

Way to go for the new records, first times, and great training results.

I had a decent training weekend as well, and am getting psyched, and a little nervous, for my first tri of the season on May 15th.

Warren, I just read your race report and took a look at your logs.

I didn't check your times against any charts, but have you ever looked at attackpoint.com? They have a Vdot calculator that is based on running daniels formula. You put in your latest "race" and it calculates paces for different distances and types of training speeds.

The reason I ask is I wonder if your easy runs were too hard, or maybe you weren't rested enough. It looks like you were well trained and in good shape to keep that pace, or even better. Of course, this is me as an armchair coach, so I could be way off base.

I was thinking about running at that pace this weekend. Last year I was at that level for a 1/2 marathon, and now I wonder how I ever even got close!

I have come to the realization that although I like using more intensity to help ramp up my body's training response, I still need to get in those long slow miles!

Glad to see some of you had a good weekend of races.  I was excited to log my longest bike ride and my longest run back to back this Saturday with a 27 mile bike and a 6 mile run.  Got a little boost of confidence on the running, but the guys I rode with for the bike ride kicked my butt.  Hills just kill me, anyone have any pointers for things I can do to strengthen my hill riding? I get about 4 or 5 good pedals in when I stand up and then my legs are on fire.

Yeah, I've checked that and really have to fully accept the training paces all those sites point me towards.  It's just hard to make the commitment and believe it! 

Like my pseudo coach says, for running we go too hard on slow days and too easy on hard days.  If you have time to properly do the miles: recovery runs at a pace that should be embarrassing to be seen in public, long runs at a pace that should feel like there is no possible way this could be beneficial, tempo and repeats should at a pace that you can't believe you can do the full interval.

Ok, I keep trying to accept this.  Keep hammering it to me, and I think we could aoll benefit from this.  Training is not racing, training is not racing.

Warren, you nailed it here!

Here is how I handle some of it

recovery runs at an embarrassing pace-I ride the bike instead!

long runs at a pace that should feel like there is no possible way this could be beneficial-These are the best ones to do with a buddy or group. They really work, but they have to be LONG.

 tempo and repeats should at a pace that you can't believe you can do the full interval-I bring a bucket and cry alot.

Sounds like we are in the same boat on this stuff.

Colby, if you did the run after the bike, you are doing something right!

As far as hills, I never stand. This is one of the biggest difference between cycling and triathlon. Your goal in most tri riding is to ride as hard as you can ride and still run. You don't need to worry much about surges or the tactics of other riders (unless it is a really crowded race). Generally, standing up to hammer up a hill will make your legs suffer and will limit your ability to recover enough to run. There is nothing wrong with being passed on a hill.

Of course, in training, I like to attack the hills as well (not that there are any hills where I live). Bicycling magazine just did a great spread on how to go up hills. 

Aside from really short ones, where you do as you describe and hammer up, my general method is as follows:

1. Just before getting on the hill, put on a little burst to get some momentum.

2. Before it gets hard, shift down into a gear I think I can spin on the whole way-aiming for not getting below about 70 for my cadence

3. Spin my legs and try not to make is a mash fest.

This has helped me, but the truth is, I am a big guy, and gravity is NOT my friend.

Good luck!

That's pretty much what i did, switch gears and slow down dramatically.  I guess when it comes to a race, it won't be as bad, but the guys I was riding with were cyclist, not Triathletes, so it was a bit embarrassing to be so slow up the hills. They would get over the hill and burst into a 24-25MPH sprint on the straight aways, and I was just stuck in the back catching my breath.  I didn't think about the fact that you could burn out your legs standing like that for the run, but it makes sense.  Thanks.

Colby

Awesome.  Nice race.  Congratulations.  I looked at you Garmin stuff also.  That is pretty cool that it tracks all of that.

Just checking in with yall I've been in vacation mode after my half. I did 1:42:06 so I was under my 1:45 goal. Very happy with my time. There were lots of hills so it was a kind of a charge hard then recover as far as the efforts, my mile times varied over the course depending on elevation changes.

Glad to hear the positive reports back from the other races, I won't be on much until I get back into town next week but I'll catch up with everybody then!