Beer Drinkers Appreciation Society (BDAS) 2023 Mentor Group - ALWAYS OPEN (Page 76)

Hi Guys, been a lot going on the last week.

Training wise, I made last week a full fitness test week and did an individual 5km time trial on Saturday. FInished in 31:11, not fast, but a little faster than I thought I was. So my run zones are also getting a little harder. Not as much as the bike though.

Ended up with 7 runs for 4hr 13 min and 3 bikes for 2 hr 21 min.

This week is the beginning of my 'official' Half Marathon training plan (the last 12 weeks of the 15 week 80:20 level 2 plan) Although I am going to trim some Z1/Z2 stuff of some of the workouts to shorten the overall mileage. This plan is a bit of a step up in run mileage than what I've done before so I am going to need to increase over time.

Monday 2 minute recovery run
Tuesday 40 minute 'critical velocity' intervals
Wednesday 45 min Z2.

We've also had a pretty full on week from family life. Monday Mrs Bullfrog had bariatric surgery, and was in hospital post op until Wednesday night. It's been a while coming, and long term will be a very good thing. But for now, and the next few months things are going to be pretty tough. One of the reasons I deferred the ironman from this year till next.

@Gretchen. Did you sort your derailleur? Nice to see you nailing yor workouts, despite inconsiderate gyms not being open when they're supposed to be.

@Mike. Enjoy the trip. Make sure you bring some water on those runs. Heat and humidity is not fun when you get dehydrated. Hope the sickness clears up fast enough for you to enjoy your escape.

@Nat. Nice job for your team to pick up the slack and get a win without their star spectator. Good choice taking a conservative approach to restarting training post sickness. Which one of those races is the 'A' goal? That close together you'll be struggling to peak for everything I think?

@Nicole. Hope your cough is 100% gone. And just like Nat, don't push to hard post sick with the workouts. Make sure it's properly gone. Any news on that race planning you mentioned?

Finally bit the bullet and took my bike to the shop. I think the cable is actually broken inside the frame. Took a while because the shop was moving and it is cold as heck here, so I didn’t want to go outside. :D

Today’s fun was a brick—60’ bike and 35’ run at the gym. Spin bike—ugh, but better than nothing. Also…not sure if it is the training is working or I just keep miscounting laps, but I’m faster at the gym!! The only bright side to having to run inside on a 7 lap to a mile track.

Andrew ”little faster than I thought I was” is great! Love it when it happens!

Smart to tweak the plan a bit so the increase is gradual.

Glad Mrs Bullfrog’s op went well, it’s always a worry going under the knife.


I suppose my A ”A” races are the Oly and the 10k at the end, but of course, I want to kick 23 Nat’s arse at every single one!
It will be tough to break my course record on the first race of the season in May, as this one used to be the last one in September but other than that, I can’t see why I couldn’t do better in all of them.

2 more days of post sickness rest and I will do a double on Saturday (short easy zwift ride followed by live hockey, yeah!) and some cross country skiing on Sunday instead of running. (the way I ski it’s no harder than a walk)

If all goes well, we start proper training again Monday

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Edited by Rollergirl 2024-01-18 4:17 AM

I don't know who decided to overlay a marathon training plan over an ironman training plan, but that person is dumb!! Oh...that person is me. Shoot... Today was a beast. I did a 4500c swim this morning, and then in the afternoon an hour on the spin bike at the gym and then 45' of fartlek intervals on the tiny track. I'm tired! Fortunately, my bike is done at the shop, so I just have to pick it up tomorrow and then I can at least numb my mind and butt at home, while watching television or something, instead of watching the walkers/runners on the track at the gym (the bikes overlook the track). Major planning fail today...my headphones died about 10' into the run, so I was on my own with my thoughts during fartleks...never a good idea! There is a lot of...this sucks, I want to quit... going on in my head. Bonus was that I saw a random person in the plexiglass and thought oh...nice form...and then it turned out that random person was not someone coming up behind me, but was, in fact, me. I was surprised, but then as soon as I started looking at myself in the glass when running my form started looking like my normal, I've never actually run before in my life and don't look like I'm using both legs properly form. Good to know sometimes all is right with the world.

Anyone else following the new mess USAT made with the annual memberships/Platinum requirement for Team USA? Probably not...it is a genuine poop-show. Basically USAT instituted a new tiered system of membership that requires all Team USA members to have platinum status...to the tune of $400 per year, which they didn't tell us about before we paid fees to joint Team USA ($100 spot fee had to be paid in October to avoid losing your place on the team). To me, this is a major breach of contract/change of terms after the fact, but we'll see if they follow through with it. I was on a town hall last night that was scheduled for 30' and actually went for 1:42 because there were so many people expressing their anger at this dramatic increase in cost and the application of the fee in a post hoc way.

Well, we warned you about the franken-plan. Be afraid, be very afraid....

We are all our worse critic. Your form looked great before you knew it was you, I am sure it looked great when you realized it was you too

Sounds like a breach of contract yes, I hope they'll sort it, an extra $300 is not nothing

Yo, yo, yo!!! What up Beer Drinkers?!?!?! Early day for me today, with just a 3000c swim, 35' run, and an hour of strength training today--all done before 9am, when the day really went downhill. :D. I swear, nothing has worked quite right today since I left the gym. Oh...and I also found out we have four massage chairs at the gym, so I spent a little time getting bruised up by one of those today. I'm sure it did me a bit of good, but man they really have the low spinal massage on too high for my taste. I am not sure the balls trying to tunnel through my sacrum into my pelvic cavity did a lot for me, but they helped my tight shoulders!

Mike--sorry to hear you are still sick. I assume that "Go Ravens!" comment was made by Muscinex Mike and you really meant to say Go Chiefs!! I'll let it slide this time. :D


Andrew--hope Mrs. Bullfrog is doing okay. I had bariatric surgery in 2021, so I know how rough the first few days/weeks (heck, years) can be. Feel free to reach out if either of you have any questions.

Nicole and Nat--glad to hear you are both back off the DL!!

I got my bike back from the shop today. Apparently my shifter cable was rusted to the side of the tube. Oops! How am I supposed to know that?!?!?! It is INSIDE the bike! Man, these bike maintenance charges are going to kill me!

USAT pulled their heads out of their behinds and have rolled back the requirement for Team USA members to have Platinum memberships for 2024. That is good news. I couldn't honestly see how they were going to get away with that plan. Now that that mess is settled, I went ahead and ordered my parade kit for the opening/closing ceremonies today!! Sizing on these things is stupid. I normally wear a men's small shirt (I hate how women's shirts are cut!). In the parade kit, I wear a large, according to the sizing chart. There was a height/weight chart for sizing (along with measurements) and one of the entries was 6'3" and 130lbs...wtaf?!?!?! If you are 6'3" you should not weigh 130lbs...you'd be vapor! I mean, seriously, that is what the nutritionists would call substantially underweight. To be at the bottom of the "normal" weight for that height you have to weigh at least 150lbs. That combo of 6'3" and 130lbs was supposed to fit a medium. I can't roll my eyes hard enough on triathlon gear sizing.

Tonight I'm doing a scuba diving class (at the pool). I've never been scuba diving before and I'm thinking I might want to try to go at the Great Barrier Reef when we are in Australia, so when this opportunity popped up at the gym, I grabbed it. Looking forward to it, while at the same time completely forgetting I signed up for it nearly every day. I can't tell you the last time I had an evening event on a Friday! I'm too old for that stuff!

Long run this morning--nothing special, but 66 laps around the tiny track at the gym is something. Later today I'll do my long bike for the week (2 hours) on the trainer (because it is 5 Freedoms outside today!) while the football game is on. I might even be able to begrudgingly let out a cheer or two for the Ravens, just for Maiek and Nicole...but all bets are off if they play the Chiefs!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

66 laps… don’t you get dizzy?

After my post sickness rest week, I was supposed to start slowly with an easy short ride yesterday and some CC skiing today but instead, I got sick again. Just a cold this time (I hope). Still went to the game yesterday but nothing more and nothing today.

Annoying

Ugh…sorry to all who are sick! Musenix Mike is right about the pandemic causing this onslaught. While we were all safely ensconced in our little germ bubbles, the other pathogens were mutating into things our immune systems don’t recognize. Thus…all out panic mode when they are encountered. What once would have been a At of feeling a bit off while your body figured out the slightly different bug is now a full blown immune response. Buckle up…it is gonna be a bumpy winter!

For me…still heathy…rest day!!!!! Couldn’t come soon enough. Week’s recap:
6 runs
4 bikes
3 swims
2 strength sessions

Nat—I run slow enough that I don’t get dizzy, but bored is one problem and a slight ache in my outside leg is the other problem. Fortunately, the running direction changes every day, so the ache balances out over time!

Here, we didn’t totally close down (most public places were open, only the sporting events and concerts were closed) and even though, we reopened in 2022 so it’s the second winter, and I did get through this last winter too.
Oh well, on the plus side, I get to practice music instead, it’s good to have other interests

@Mike, Welcome back from holiday. Hope that your cough is a passing one, not the traditional winter perma-cough. Your daughter training to turn herself into a runner is a worry, I mean, good for her, but not so good for your Alpha Father athletic dominance. You're going to need some uber biker favoured courses soon.

@Nat, So sorry you got sick again. I know it's winter and these things happen, but damn, that's a frustrating January.

@Gretchen. As someone who is also planning to overlay Ironman and Marathon training plans (although I don't think as much overlap as you've got) that is a bit of a worry that it's getting so hard so fast. Not surprising, but a worry. I know you love to hit green numbers on training peaks, but don't be afraid to back stuff off to avoid digging yourself a hole. Time on the bike can cancel out Z2 foundation runs. Not all of them, but some for sure. Also, long ride and long run on the same day? That's asking for trouble.

66 laps on a track? I think that would even be worse than a treadmill. At least the treadmill I can stream something to watch. Hope the weather improves soon and you can get back outside where running is fun.

Not that health officials admit it (at least here they don't) but I'm another in 100% agreement with Musenix Mike. Yet another 'unforeseen' but should have been obvious consequence of the panicked decisions over the last few years.

Personally I was sicker last winter than I can ever remember. And none of it was covid, all just boring 'regular' flu and coughs. Hopefully by our next winter the immune systems have caught back up. But who knows.

Finished off a busy week in the bullfrog household with:

7 Runs, 5hr 30 min
1 Bike, 1 hr

Total 6hr 30 min

Considering everything that was going on, I'm happy with that. And it's actually my biggest running week ever. I've done lots of weeks in the 4-5 hours running. But this is the first time I've been over 5 hours. So bring on this Half Mary plan, Should be over 6 hours this week.

Looking forwards to another productive, and hopefully less stressful week.

Thanks Gretchen. I will keep that in mind. It's going to be a hard few weeks, but long term well worth it.

Not a question for Mrs BF, but for my own curiosity, how to you handle fueling during a super long event like Ironman? I would have thought that post surgery that is a very difficult thing to keep on top of?

It is war!!

KC v. BAL next Sunday!

Fueling the race isn't nearly as hard as fueling training! For racing (and training) I use a custom formulated Infinit that is 366 cal per bottle. Each bottle has 10g of protein (40 cal), but the vast majority of calories is from carbs. I don't get dumping syndrome, which makes a huge difference (I had VSG, which is much less commonly associated with dumping than RNY). I set my watch to alarm at 10' intervals during racing and long training to remind me to drink and I strive to drink about one bottle an hour. Realistically, I usually drink about half to 3/4 a bottle an hour plus some water, because the taste really gets sweet near the end of the race. I probably could perform better if I was more disciplined about getting more calories in during racing.

Training, on the other hand, is an entirely different game. I strive to eat my BMR plus calories expended during sessions each day with an effort to get in at least 175g of protein (700 cal). I still lose a bit of weight during the season using this method--calories burned in daily activities (and those from training I don't manage to consume). My BMR sits right at 1800cal per day. Training calories burned varies, but is typically 800-1300 per day (except double long days). So my daily caloric goal is 2600-3100. To hit that, with the small amounts I can eat at one time, I have to eat essentially every two hours like clockwork, about 350-400 calories per session. If you do that math, it means I eat about 8 times a day, more if I am eating light. It is actually a chore sometimes and I find myself having to work through the previous diet mentality to consume as few calories as possible to how do I eat enough calories to fuel myself. Some things are pretty easy, like instead of milk in my coffee I now use heavy cream. Instead of low fat anything, I eat the real versions of everything. But, some days, I still end up stuffing a Snickers bar in my mouth as I walk to bed.

Early morning swim with masters (3400c), followed immediately by a 48' run (on the tiny track again!), and then whole body strength session. A triple brick (??--does this qualify if the disciplines aren't actually sequential in a race?) is not ideal and I certainly would have preferred to do the run and strength later in the day (and run outside), but the weather is supposed to bring us the gift of a little sleet today and I didn't want to run the risk of the gym closing on me and not being able to get those sessions in. I can't fathom trying to reorganize this week's schedule to find the time to add two sessions to other days (and yes, I know it is early in the season and I should be able to just let them go if they are missed, but my brain doesn't work like that!).

Weather is supposed to warm up this week for us and stay in the mid 40s-low 50s now, but rain is forecasted for the rest of the week. I don't mind running in rain though...especially if the alternative is running inside dodging the oblivious. Seriously, it is a three lane track with clear labels for run, jog, and walk--Saturday, there was a guy walking probably 30' miles in the "jog" lane while doing arm circles (i.e., holding his arms directly out to his side in a T formation). There was a good chance of getting clotheslined! Fortunately, his stamina was not significant and he only made it about three laps before he called it quits.

IT'S ON! KC is going DOWN!

Caw!!

Oh my. One of my goals is to be better at keeping up with all of you!

Nat, so sorry you're sick again! Hopefully you are on the mend and this is it.

Mike, welcome back, and of course that plane ride didn't help! How are you feeling? Did the Ravens crushing (in the 2nd half) the Texans make you feel better?

Gretchen, we are mortal enemies until Sunday evening...
BUT glad they walked back on that requirement. This sport is expensive enough as it is, we don't need to be gouged further!

Andrew, so glad Mrs. Bullfrog's surgery went well! I wish her (and you) all the best as she adapts post-surgery!

I've had a pretty good week or so since my last post. We got a good amount of snow (for us) here in Maryland. I need to buy some salt to have on hand, as my parking pad has been slick every day from snow melting during the day, then re-freezing. It's supposed to be 60F on Thursday though, and rainy, so all that snow and ice will be gone.

I've gotten in a few rides but haven't done much in terms of strength or yoga. This week has been pretty busy, I am helping someone who is recruiting for a position in his division, so have 2 work dinners. I also ate way too much at last night's. But luckily they determined no booze so I'm not tempted, though did meet a friend for a glass of wine before I also have our work holiday party Thursday.

Saturday I leave for Puerto Rico. I booked this trip in November when I was feeling cold and sad, lol. I'm going by myself, only 'til Thursday, and expect to just read and relax and sleep and watch the Ravens beat the Chiefs. I'm SO looking forward to it. It's supposed to be in the mid-80s and sunny both full days that I'm there. I will shop a little and explore, but mostly just enjoy some time alone and unplugged.

Quick 2700c swim this morning. I noped right out of the 1500c kick set through. I only did 750c and then got out. No one needs to do 1500c kick sets! It was kinda fun through--for me. There were two lanes of women, the other lane being quite a bit faster than my lane. The "game" was for them to get a 50yd headstart, but they didn't get to use fins. We got to use fins, but were delayed a bit in taking off. The goal for us was to lap them. The goal for them was not to be lapped. I ended up lapping both of them and then got out. I knew I had a 40' run later this afternoon (which I did at 1pm), so I didn't want to burn my leg power up on a kick set.