Tri Mark's Madness Group-Closed (Page 7)

HR is totally relative to your zones and your LT.  You can safely hold high Z3 or low Z4 without getting into LT.  I don't so much try to drive race pace off of HR though.  Race pace should really be driven by your 5k race pace. 

http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html

Here is a HR calculator that will put you close for running, note, it does not apply to biking and a well trained individual's ranges will be a bit higher for z3 and z4.

http://www.sarkproducts.com/targetzonecalculator.htm

I went for swim on Saturday and for the first time I had incredible cramps in my legs and my toes.  I stopped after 1700 yards because I was just dragging one leg.  Every time I tried to kick it cramped again.  After reading your post I will keep swimming next time. I thought I needed to eat more bananas for the potassium.  The lifeguard was watching me suspiciously and thinking he was in for some excitment since it looked like I was going under at any moment. 

I am swimming again today.  I think swimming is a good way to burn a lot of calories without a lot of wear and tear on the body (well, less anyway).

About Swimming:

1.  It is the lowest calorie burn DURING the activity, but it is a full body resistance workout and acts like strength training in that you burn more calories all day. The advantage it has over actual weight strength training is that you do not shred the muscles in swimming, so you don't have the down time requirements between.

2.  When legs are cramping, grab a pull bouy.  It's the same position you will swim in with a wetsuit if you wear one.  Just do pull, let the cramps subside, and move on.  Work through them, it's not all that abnormal.  The toe/calf ones are incredibly common in males and you just keep swimming.

3.  For your overall fitness, much though I would rather be on the bike or running, swimming is the best.  If you don't believe me, try missing a week or two of it and run and bike your butt off.  You'll feel like hell in the pool, no matter how fit you are.

I'm off to put in my 90 on the bike.  Zone 3 work today for 45 minutes of it, so I'm jacked, that means speed, even in the 20+ mph winds this morning.  Then it's off to the pool for an hour of masters!  Back in action this week!

i used fitnesspal for about a week.  it was an app on my iphone but you can google it on the internet and get it on your comp.  I only used it for about 2 weeks max.  I measured out my servings and recorded everything.  Those two weeks opened my eyes to what a real "serving" is and gave me a rough idea of what i could eat in a day given the amount of exercise i was getting.  After that it was just common sense and i didn't feel the need to record everything.

best of luck

Mark, I went out for a windy/rainy 100 minute ride and tried to dial in a base cadence.  I got in an easy gear and set a pace that was comfortable to hold almost indefinitely.  Every few minutes I would look down at the Garmin and the majority of the time my cadence was 92, with several times in the 95 to 105 range - my average for the 25.5 mile ride was 93 rpm.

You are so right about the higher bike cadence leading to a higher run cadence.  After the ride, I went for a short 1 mile run just to acclimate the legs.  Usually when I do this, I do about a 11:30 pace for the first half mile.  This time it felt the same, like I was doing an 11+ pace, but I was amazed when I looked at the Garmin and my pace was 9:10.  My legs felt like crap but they sort of automatically settled in at close to T Pace.

I didn't know that about swimming.  I had huge suspicions on the calorie burn part but no idea on the rest.  You are an ANIMAL.  I'm guessing that is 90 miles, not KM?  AND 45 min in Z3?  Wow!  Are you working today?  Sounds like a full one to me. 

This week I am going to dedicate to finding a PT.  I think I got a lead on one, now I need to make contact.  I managed to tweak a new muscle and running is out this week (so it will be in the sea instead of on land).  This is the same one I tweaked in the triathlon and it is totally bike-related instead of run related (which is progress, believe it or not).  I was shocked at how fresh my quads were today on the ride (60km - 36 m) after yesterday's rest day.  Unfortunately I couldn't exploit them totally but it was nice to know they were there just waiting.  This week I focus on getting back in the water and nailing down a PT.  I think I'm also going to lay down far too many pesos and actually sign up for Coz this fall.  Putting the money in the ring.  Yikes.

Kim

Keep your head up, some days workouts are just harder for some reason. Especially when you change environments. When I first started running I did run outside 100 percent of the time, but where I ran had no hills. My first race event had a baby hill,... Midway up the hill I freaked, finished, but was certainly hill-wary for a bit after that.. And that's not changing from inside to out..

It's more than likely just a slight change that your body will adapt to. (as long as you've been training similar distances in the gym?) The human Bod' is pretty amazing. Trust it.

Keep at it, and if you need to build some more base before you resume your current training, then so be it. You're out and moving, and will get there. Better to train smart and avoid injury then to rush into distances you're bod's not ready for and be out for months.

Good Luck and have fun with the swim today!

Kim,

I am with Tiana.  You will get used to training outside, just take it slow. Because I live in Minnesota, much of my training has been inside.  I noticed the same thing you did when I first started running outside vs the treadmill--I was slower, fatigued faster and I also got more side stitches and I was thirstier!  It just takes time to adjust to the differences. Ditto with the bike since you have to deal with the wind and other elements, clipping in and out of cleats, traffic etc.  And swimming in open water is different from swimming in a pool--no wall to rest on. Just take it slow--many people do laps in the lake--swimming a reasonable distance out (or around buoys) and turning around and swimming back. It takes time to get acclimated, but you will if you keep at it. Good luck!

Holy cow, busy weekend on this thread!

I came down with a chest cold this weekend, which put a snag in my training. Sometimes my colds can last for 2 weeks, so I'm trying hard to cut this one short with lots of rest, fluids, vitamins, echinacea, etc. I did my short run on Saturday and my long run this morning, but skipped my long bike on Sunday. Got 11 hours of sleep both Friday night & Saturday night, and 10 hours last night. I *think* the cold is moving up into my head, which would be preferable.

What is everyone's take on powering through workouts when you're sick? Since my race is a Sprint, I'm not *too* worried, but at the same time, I missed 3 weeks of training during the first month because I was hospitalized, so I'm already on borrowed time a bit and don't want to miss anymore workouts!

Kim,

This is VERY NORMAL.  Don't get discouraged.  Your move outdoors introduces different muscles into the same exercises.  You spend more time propelling your body forward outdoors than you do on the dreadmill.  The same goes for the bike.  It will be incredibly different as you introduce the concept of drag into the equation.  Even if there was no wind, your body and bike create drag.  Hence the reason fit and position are so important on the bike.  With running, you are also spending more time keeping yourself upright when outdoors, requiring a lot of core strength that you don't always use on the dread. 

It will pick up quickly as you've built the cardio base.  You'll get the muscles properly tuned and be right where you thought you were in a week or two.  You should still do one workout indoors 3x week, and that is core strength, it will help all three disciplines.

I'm going to do a full post on building distance.  My hunch is that many are doing it the wrong way.  I used to...until I was taught how to do it right.  I've now ramped my mother up from couch to her first 5k next Sunday in about 8 weeks.  She's never been a runner before and we got her to go the distance.  I expect she'll finish in about 35 minutes, which is great for a 58 year old first timer!

QueerDrummer- I'll be curious how people respond to your question about powering through a cold.  My husband is firmly of the mind that a good workout at the beginning of a cold 'clears it out'.  However every single time he's convinced me to exercise when I have a cold starting up, I come back feeling absolutely terrible and within a day my cold shifts from light to something more serious.  This happened for the third time a couple of months ago, and I have finally become wise.  Next time I get a cold, I'm taking a day or two off.

However, what I've generally heard is that exercising with a head cold is ok, and can even be a good thing.  Exercising with a chest cold, however, should be avoided.

I actually have a copy of "Racing Weight" ( by Matt Fitzgerald . I have glanced through it but I guess I should see what he has to say from start to fiinish. 

I probably don't want to know.