brick94513-GoGoGo Mentor Group - Closed For Now! (Page 70)

Brian/Tim,

Appreciate the ideas.  This PMs workout was the worst I've had in ages -- could not get past 50m.  Irony is that my stroke feels great.  I'll get after it tomorrow and HTFU and push it hard.  The muscles are fine and I've got the cardio capacity -- just need to get after it and do it.

A bit frustrated with the lessons -- while they seem to be helping with the form, have gone down hill on distance since I started.

Curt

Hang in there buddy!  Swimming is my nemesis.  I'm the kind of person that can usually catch on to things pretty quickly, but swimming has definately challenged me.  Stay determined and I guarnatee one day an epiphany will come!  Thinking back, my swimming has a noticeable pattern: gradually progression, break-through, then regression.  Maybe you are just in that funk....

I just decided...why not take some more time off and stay in Tahoe a little longer. My 3 day weekend just turned into a full week...looks like I'm bringing my bike!

Got my foam roller yesterday. This thing hurts!!! Is it supposed to hurt? how long am I supposed to roll on each IT band? I read till it stops hurting, but it doesn't stop. LOL

Oh it will be painful for a while. I'd say you need two weeks max to get used to it.

Sooooo in light of my last 2.5 weeks of training that left me feeling pretty burnt over the weekend, I am trying to make a weekly template that I can follow pretty religiously and not over-reach on anything.  I am having some trouble.  I'd like to get 3x cycling, 3x running and 3-4x swim.  Think that's too much for sprint distance racing?  I am having trouble w/ separation between the speed/tempo run day, long bike and long run and still putting a full day off in there somewhere.  Any ideas how I could change this up?  The only thing I can think of is to keep the Thursday distance, but make it an easy run instead of speedwork?  I'm concerned about doing speedwork on Tuesday and then being smoked for the long bike on Wednesday, it's not exactly an easy day on the bike.  And I'm guessing I end up sacrificing a day of swimming or cycling if I want a full rest day?

SPORT	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN
SWIM	EASY	LESSONS/EASY		EASY	LONG
BIKE	EASY		LONG			EASY?
RUN		EASY		SPEED/TEMPO			LONG
	CORE WORK		CORE WORK			CORE WORK

ETA: sorry, tried to get this table to look right, but you get the idea.

Edited by shmeeg 2010-06-29 11:33 AM

I burned out earlier this year doing too much speed work. Since, I've resorted to doing only one speedwork day per week. It might be s/b/or r depending on what I'm racing next or what the rotation is. Also, remember you are still getting speed work in your races.

Edited by Meulen 2010-06-29 11:34 AM

First ride report Cervelo P4

It's a bit windy tonight, but not too bad. I decided to take the P4 for it's first training ride. Up till now it's only gone down the block and back for test rides. So I mapped out a 23 mile out and back route that I could use as a time trial. I've done a similar ride in similar conditions with my road bike to compare this too.
I headed out through the neighborhood to get warmed up. Right away I noticed the wind was too my back. This usual means that when I leave the neighborhood the majority of my ride will be against the wind. No matter, I wanted to ride this thing in a bad way.
This thing looks fast standing still. The P4 has a long history in TT and the design and aerodynamics are tried and trued. I really had no idea what this meant as I have never ridden a TT bike in my life. All I can say is, if it looked fast standing still, it sure didn't disappoint when I started rolling.
After I left the neighborhood and headed down some long stretches of frontage road I immediately felt the aero qualities of the bike. It cut through the wind like butter. Into the head wind and down this same road with my road bike (Fuji Bordaeux Pro Series) and I suspect I would be doing 17-18mph avg. With the P4 I was pulling 20+mph avg down this stretch.
It was also obvious to me how plush and stiff the frame was. I could feel a huge difference from my road bike in the way the power I was putting to the pedals was transfered to the road. The frame was stiff and the cranks definitely transfered the power to road in a way I have never felt. I suspect some of this was due to the incredible job David over at Endure it, in Naperville Illinois, fit me to the bike. I just felt that I was able to spin the crank powerfully for longer periods of time and be comfortable with the bike to boot. A far cry from my road bike.
If I have one complaint it would be the crosswinds. Although, I suspect all aero bikes feel like a sail in a crosswind, this was my first experience with that. I'm sure I'll get used to it. The trade offs seem to favor the positive aspects of the bike being so aero and fast, even in the headwinds. I'm not even sure I would call this a negative. Rather, maybe, a necessary evil. The bike also didn't feel like it climbed well. I'm not sure many TT bikes actually do but it seemed exceptionally challenged to me. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not used to the bike and gear selection on it, or it actually just doesn't climb well, but I seemed to come to a halt on the hills.
After fighting the wind for a while I did a short loop near the end of my "out". It was time to head back, and I couldn't wait to open this thing up and see what it would do. It did NOT disappoint!! There was some flat sections that seemed like 30mph was effortless to achieve! I couldn't believe it. Everytime I dropped a gear I was able to pick up the cadence and hold it with ease. I never dreamed an incredible bike and a proper bike fit would make this much of a difference.
Overall, this was money well spent!! For the Time trial I averaged 21.4mph for 23.05 miles. To compare that to my road bike, I would avergage a little over 18mph on the same route in similar conditions. To be fair though, my road bike was never professionally fit to me. Even still, I can't believe I was able to pull that average tonight. I'm looking forward to many more rides on this incredible machine!!

Special thanks to David at Endure it for fitting me, and to Eric for working with the Cervelo peeps and making this happen for me. The P4 has been an illusive bike to attain this year and these guys got it done, and got it done right!


Edited by Meulen 2010-06-29 10:44 PM

Made some progress on the swim over the past two days.  Decided to trash the form idea and get back to grinding.  Maybe not smart, but had to do something to keep from going crazy.

Tuesday did 25m lengths of freestyle + back for 400m.  Then went 600m straight combining back and front.  It felt really slow, but proved to myself that I could "survive" 600m.

Today decided I'd do 1000m non-stop.  Did 50 free / 25 back / 25 free / 25 back series and repeated.  At 700m, tossed in a 100m free non-stop, finished with 2 x 25m back/75m free.  Total time was 43 minutes.

Good news here is that I've now shown myself (i) I can "survive" the distance, (ii) that I can get stronger as I go along (100m at 700m mark), and (iii) that I breath just fine when I relax.

Left shoulder is a bit sore, but think it will be OK.  Legs actually feel a bit heavy which is a new sensation after the swim.

Goal now will be to repeat the above and bring the times down.

Brian, I hate you.    Ok, not really, I'm just jealous!  Awesome first ride it sounds like!  And yes, climbing on TT bikes pretty much sucks.  Grab yourself a *-25 or -27 cassette of some sort and roll w/ that.  You'll can just spin out on the hills.

Curt, nice work on the swim!  I haven't even gotten in the water this week, your post makes me wanna do a 1k myself!

Wherez ever-bodee at?

Yeah, forgot to comment on Brian's new ride.  Thanks Brian, didn't think I'd even be interested in a tri-bike until I saw your pics.  Now you've put another item on my wish list.  Seriously, that is a really nice looking machine.  Looks classy and fast and screams quality.  I don't like the bikes that are all gaudy and loud.  This one says get the heXX out of my way because I'm here and I mean business!!!

thanks guys!!

Curt, nice job on the swimming. Let me know when you want to get out to the Lake


I think I caught the funk Tim had last week!! I'm 3 weeks from my first Oly and I'm slackin'!!! I feel real guilty, because I shouldn't feel like this right after getting a new toy. Work, my damn knee, and some other things that needed to be done has left me with very little sleep lately. I lack motivation to workout and can't recover from workouts when I actually do them. I'm really looking forward to the 3 day weekend. I'm hoping to step it up and get a lot in. I got a little MTB time planned to keep it fun, and another couple coming by to do a brick with the wife and I before we relax with some beers around the firepit and watch the fireworks.

Sorry guys that I've been MIA the last couple days.  Jeez, I've spend the last couple days driving all over the country.  We left Tahoe on Monday for home.  Then, on Tuesday, I had to drive to Orange County to get my kids (about 400 miles).  The next morning made the return trip home with the boys just in time to load them up and get my oldest to his tournament baseball game an hour away.  Today, I'm back to work.

Looks like I have a few posts to catch up on today.

Despite my meager performance last weekend, I somehow still managed to grab a 6th place in AG and 47 points.  This was better than I initially thought.  As a result, after two races, I'm sitting 8th in the XTERRA West region (CA, NV, AZ, and Guam) after two races.  Most the guys in front of me have completed 3 or 4 races (score is tabulated from best four races), so it looks like I'm positioned pretty well to get a spot for Nationals (fingers remained crossed).

I would like to get to a regional championship race to try for a spot at worlds, but this just doesn't look logistically possible for me this year.

Holy crap, you need some frequent flyer benefits for all that

Dude thats awesome.  See, you didn't even have to run a great race to be in contention for top spot!

No doubt.  However, I just checked on my next scheduled XTERRA race in Big Bear.  The base elevation is even greater than Tahoe at 7,400 feet!  Crap!  On the bright side, the swim is only 1,000 yards for that race.



Nice.  Perfect time to escape the heat.  It should be absolutely gorgeous up there for your trip.  We came home through Carson Pass on Monday; I'm just amazed at the amount of snow still on the ground.

Yep, it definately hurts at first.  As you have probably already found out, start light by supporting yourself off of the roller.  when the pain starts to diminish over several uses, then allow yourself to sink down heavier on the roller.  After a couple of weeks, you should be able to roll without any pain.

Also, I found it helps to roll as soon as possible after your workout.  Supposedly, this minimizes the time that the muscle tissue has to adhere to the fascia. 

Have fun!

That was me, yesterday's ride.



Nice!  Enjoy the vakay!

My bad Jay - I knew I saw that somewhere. Makes sense...not too many places get that hot. I don't know how you train in those conditions!

Lol, no worries.  Some days I don't either. 

My wetsuit was getting a little tattered, so I finally broke down and bought a new one.  Since the one I have is definately still usuable, I decided to go with a sleeveless suit for some of my races in more tempid water.  I really like my 2XU suit, but I could find a sleeveless suit in my size anywhere.  So, I opted to try a Blueseventy.  I'm curious to see how it will compare to my 2XU.

You better start running some then slacker!! LOL J/K Good luck Tim.

My wife is getting more and more involved in this. Instead of finding a party to go to for the weekend we seem to be planning and looking for rides/runs/swims to do! It's kinda great and all but there are some bad points too. I paced her last night for ride and she didn't tell me she wasnt' feeling well till she fell off my wheel for the 15th time!!! God that was frustrating!! Since she gets home late from work we got a late start. Got home late. Getting up in the morning I had the shakes. I got a feeling I didn't get proper recovery from my workout yesterday because of lack of sleep and woke up in some kind of funk. Like I don't get too few hours of sleep anyway! It maybe because of my allergies too. I might be a little under the weather from cutting the long and trimming a tree and cutting it up into firewood before we rode. This weekend should be good though. I got lots of choices from MTB to metric century and should be helping the wife with a brick workout.

Hope everyone has a good/safe holiday!