Scott's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 7)

Good morning everyone.  Had a 2500 yd swim this morning and am biking this evening.  My pool workout was:

300wu

300 Drills

10 x 100yd w/ 5 sec. rest

4 x 50 yd speed interval with 15 sec rest

8 x 25 yd speed with 20 sec rest

200 yd kick

300yd cd

About cramps in the pool.  Many people claim this is either a fitness issue or kicking of the wall too hard.  I agree with Troy that a piece of it is flexibility and I have found that swim fins help with this a bunch.  I also believe that nutritionally we can stave off cramps.  When I added chia seeds into my regular diet, my occurrence of cramping went down considerably.  Now granted this is an n=1 experience so take it for what it's worth.  

I'm an acupuncturist, so I will second Troy's experience with dry needling, which is essentially trigger point acupuncture.  I have found that releasing these "knots" is very effective for overall flexibility.  Foam rolling may help in this regard as well.  

Troy thats exactly one of the times I get them as I turn around in the pool and kick off I get cramp in my foot or if I try to point my toes after 1200-1500 metres I get the same thing. Worst one I had last year was when standing and trying to take wet suit off. The high knee ripping foot out of wet suit motion is guaranteed to bring it on in my quad. Is level of intake of fluid a deciding factor. Do I need to drink more or take salt tablets

When i run I now wear compression calf guards as I was sufferring post bike with a sever case of calves feeling like bricks that would once again cause cramp. During a race it is always on my mind

Hey Dave,  you could try just pushing of the wall more softly.  You can give the salt tablets a try, but I don't believe that your issue comes from a lack of sodium.  Try some potassium rich foods like chia seeds and bananas.  Olivia and Kate should be able to chime in as well with foods that are full of potassium.  Again I have found this to help me.  I have been dealing on and off with cramps since High School.  Direct correlation of when I eat right, they go away.  

I am 6'2" and currently around 225# ... I may pick your mind as my training progresses - thanks for the insight.

10 mile trail run today - muddy, fairly flat with a few rolling hills - 1:39:13 with my HR in the zone for 1:25 ... steady 9:55 pace may use this loops for my long runs and add mileage as it is more fun/challenging than flat streets.  Today ran with one 12oz fuel belt hand bottle which I drained as I finished ... unseasonably warm at 63 degrees today in NY (ridiculous really) ...

Please do. I love distance running.

So 12 oz. for 10 miles on an unseasonably warm day. Write that down somewhere.

Hope everyone had good workouts today.  I did a long ride (for me) about 90 minutes.  and tomorrow my plan calls for a 40 minute run.

Enjoy rest of weekend

Good evening, everyone.

I took yesterday off and got back to it today. I start training Monday so my muscles don't now what is going on. I rode 5 miles to the Y, did a 100 yrd watm up, 200 yd swim, and 100 yd SLOW doggie paddle. I really need to focus on my swimming. I then rode 5 miles back home. It wasn't a huge day but fun to put to 'legs' together. 

I have a long bike ride (90 minutes) planned for tomorrow. Anybody else have to take a few advils after 4-6 hours following a work out? Is that bad? 

I assume you're taking the advil because you are sore.  Where is the soreness?  Is it sharp, like an injury?  Or dull and diffuse?  

Hi Scott

Generally OK on all disciplines of a tri athlon, but never contemplated doing all 3 straight after one another!! and I think that is the worrying factor!!

This weeks training has been

3 X 5k runs, 600 metre swim and a 12k bike ride

Did a 5k run about 60 mins after my 600 metre swim and it felt ok, but obviously go to factor in a 30k bike ride!!

My sprint tri is in May, so is what I am doing at present ok, or should I be aiming to acheive more in my training??

Cheers

Gareth

Good morning all ...

Waiting for the dogs to eat their breakfast before I head out for my long run. I've got a route in mind, but may have to be flexible as we have a layer of ice on the ground. We'll see what the route looks like. Last year, we had so much snow up here that I ended up doing a 24 miler by running the same 3 mile loop 8 times ... a loop that was well plowed and sure footed. I'm not ready to do that again anytime soon.

Get out there and enjoy your Sundays!

Gareth,  If you can do all of the distances individually, you can do all of them come race day.  I have seen enough people that know far more than I do say that on the forums to believe it completely.  It sounds like you are on track for a great race in May.  

I had a good swim this morning.  3 sets of 300 yds @ 1:40.  Along with a wu and cd, I swam 2000 yds.  I have a 1 hour trainer ride this evening.  20 minute and 5 minute power tests this coming week.  I am shuttering in fear.  Man those tests are hard.

Troy, you are truly a running guru. I hope to get to that kind of volume running this year. Take it easy on your wheels.  Hope your ankle feels good.  

I think Sundays will probably be my rest days for now.

But had fun "cross training" by playing Kinect Sports for an hour! *lol*  Out of curiosity, I put on my heart rate monitor to see what kind of work I was getting bowling, boxing, and doing track and field with my husband.  I averaged only 114 bpm (you do get a lot of resting or slow times if you want) but during some of the running events, I was peaking up at 173!  So, that's a fun way to still move without burning myself out

Feeling much better today and ready to resume training. I will bike tomorrow morning, indoors of course, and I am thinking that I may go for a very short run to see how the foot feels. 

I know that a few of you had mentioned that you follow a mostly vegan diet. Ironically enough I watched a documentary this weekend with my wife titled "Vegucated". Some of you may have seen it or heard of it. At any rate you can find more info on the film here:  

http://www.getvegucated.com/ 

I  had read some books in the past, "The Omnivores Dilemma" by Michael Polllan, "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser just to name a few. As a result, my wife and I have made a choice long ago to eat very little meat and poultry. When we did eat meat it was only what we purchased from our local farmers market. For me it's always been about trying to eat healthy and less about the ethical issues that is the bedrock principal of veganism. While watching that movie I found it to be extremely disturbing to see how those animals are treated. It got me thinking about giving up eating all animal products entirely. 

I don't know how far I will take this but moving forward I would like to adapt a "mostly" vegan diet. This will be a new adventure for me and we'll have to see how far my family and I can take it. I would love to hear some feedback from those of you who eat this way. Specifically, what health benefits have you seen and how has this type of diet has helped to support your training from a nutrition stand point. 

  I agree with that and have felt the same way. I haven't really been completely succcessful in giving up meat, though but I never really did eat a lot of it. I have some weird issues with food, though. I am extremely picky. I've made a lot of improvement in the past 8 years or so but still have a ways to go. At this point I'm just rying to stay healthy...

  I got all my planned workouts done this week. It helps posting here because it makes me feel more accountable in some way. This week I have 2 runs and 2 swims planned before the weekend. I'll probably swim tomorrow, run Tuesday, swim Wednesday and run Friday. Hope everyone had a productive weekend!!

I first started cutting back on meat for the health reasons - and when I would eat meat, I didn't want factory-farmed and went with more natural, local, etc.  But after watching Food Inc., that pretty much sealed the deal, and I went 100% vegetarian.  And I've felt better since. More recently, I have also cut down on animal-related products, or again, switched to "cleaner" versions of butter, yogurt, and cheese.

This past season was the first that I attempted to do a mostly vegan diet.  I say mostly because butter is just good.  I felt lighter, reached my race weight easily, slept terrific, and found that I had plenty of energy for workouts and races.  I mostly used "The Thrive Diet" by Brendan Brazier, and my wife also really likes "Superfood Cuisine" by Julie Morris.  Lots, and I mean lots of quinoa, as well as hemp seed/powder.  Lots of nuts and legumes.  (Always soak the legumes, btw)  Cooked veggies and up to 100-120 oz of water a day.  I ate 3 regular meals, with 2 sometimes 3 snacks throughout the day.  

Winter is here now, and so I've been craving meat.  I eat it in small amounts along with everything else.  I figure come April I will cut that out again for my first race of the season in May.  

So glad that you are feeling better from your cold.  Good luck with the training this week.

Evening, fellow tri trainers!

Hope everyone had a good training/rest day! We had a mid 40s and sunny day so I hit the road with a buddy for a 23 mile ride through the horse country. It was a bit windy so my timing was off but that is okay. It felt good to be outside and that is rare for January! 

My body felt better today. I had to take some advil yesterday but feel decent today. I think it is in a shock from 6 days of workouts. Its been a good week and I'm excited to be talking to everyone and seeing what you all are doing. It is very encouraging!

Tomorrow is going to be a nice run weather permitting. I am doing a walk 5/run 5 to get the muscles going. I went for 35 minutes last week so I might add 5 minutes to it. My last one was on a treadmill so being outside tomorrow could be different...see how I feel. 

My my first race is 11 weeks from today! I'm pumped! 

My plan called for a short swim workout (26 min) in the am and a short bike in the pm.  One down and one to go.  Ended up swimming the following:  100m warmup, 400 drills, 10 x 25 fast, 4 x 50 fast, 150 pull and 50 cooldown.  Went a little over in time, like 33 min, but no cramping this time.  I too usually get cramps but mainly in my feet and it really screws up efficiency in the water. 

Have a great week everyone!!!!

Pete R