Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 77)

Hahahaha!!!!!

I'm starting Jorge's plan next week.  (2 days/week)  I've done it before.  Well said.

I just completed 3x8' last night that seemed to kick the trash out of me for some reason.  Honestly I have been allowing a little bit of easier cycling right now to allow some rest for my legs as I keep the marathon build going. 

I am a little more than 5 weeks out from Boston and still very much on the build phase of my running mileage.  I would love to have had all the 50 mpw as my base for 2 months but it wasn't in the cards this time.  All of that base would have given me the possibility of lighting up the course on April 15 and likely coming through with another PR.  It's all good!  I'm still going to Boston and running the premier running event in the world.

I wish I had time to nap.  I wanted to nap a couple of times this past weekend but couldn't find the time.  I am still trying to get a 4 way light switch replaced correctly.  It appears the common wore is unmarked and I don't have a fluke meter at home.  Does that sound weird to anyone other than me................An electrical worker with no fluke meter?

Dirk, great running, you are going to PR boston for sure, jsut take care of your foot!

GREAT work Tony!  you will be a BEAST when you get out on the road!

Did he enlighten you as to why you may be lacking muscle mass considering the type of training you do? It just seems with the amount of training you do as well as most of us here in this group, that muscle mass would not be an issue? Maybe I am totally clueless here, but I would really like to know more about  muscle mass and tri training? Do these two affect each other this way?

Thanks Tony.... thanks so much....

mambos - 2013-03-04 10:14 PM

strikyr - 2013-03-04 9:37 PM

I just wanted to warn everyone doing Jorge's WCP that the week 14 day 1 workout which I did this evening was by far the worse one I have done to date. I apologize for spoiling it for everyone and other factors may have played into this workout sucking so bad like having to work 10 hours on Sunday morning and getting very little sleep.

I thought the 2x18's I did last Friday were bad but tonight's 4x10's @ 95-100% were far worse. I was cursing Jorge out the whole hour. When I finished this work out you could have gotten the butter and jam because I was toast man. I also made the mistake of looking ahead and I believe there is a 2x20 workout on Friday. Not looking forward to that.

2x18' 4x10' 2x20'? C'mon Man! I'm still cussing the 6x4 I did today as part of week 9 Day 1 and now your talking about longer intervals? You are just plain evil! What doesn't kill you, only makes you.......tired!

Matt I was told by my friend that Jorge's plan was F'n hard well he was not lying and I'm sure the others in the group have done it already will attest to that. I will say it's true what Greg Lemond said it definitely doesn't get any easier but you do get faster and stronger. I'm just wondering if I'm going to survive and finish the next 3 weeks.

LOL, Will I wish I could find the time for an afternoon nap each day. That is exactly what I need these days.

Dirk that does seem odd but maybe you intentionally decided not to have one around as a reminder of work.

My apologies Jen but I figured I would share my pain and suffering with you all. On the bright side you will increase your threshold tolerance for how much pain and suffering you can endure. I know I have LOL!

Jen, now that you mention it that sounds odd to me too.

There is no such thing as having too little muscle.  You could have too little strength, but size and strength are only very loosely related.  And you don't hurt tendons when your muscles are too weak.  Tendons get hurt when muscles are too strong!  Or when bad form causes friction.  Or when an opposing or cooperating muscle is too strong in relationship to another muscle.

Proper body mechanics are supported by strong muscles in the right ratios (sometimes called 'functional strength').  That's probably what the PT was after, but the way he explained it was all wrong and makes me hope he isn't clueless.

ok, great to be back online as it's been crazy busy at work as we approach the CIC (change in control).  Fancy word for closing as Oracle is buying us.

I must be the only person using a special trainer tire.  I tried using my old tires, but they wear out ridiculously fast and leave black modules all over the place.  I literally went through them, like down to wire and beads, in 2-3 weeks.  I am currently using my tires from last year on the tri bike and the area is covered in black rubber when I'm done.  I ride on the rollers a lot too, and it seems fine on those.

Congrats on the record Tracy.  It's awesome to hammer like that.

My February s/b/r totals are atrocious, but I have some caveats.  The week of skiing and snow shoeing was no s/b/r but a lot of work.  I did a few swims which I haven't recorded, and a few runs I didn't log.  I've been running "naked" more lately, and it's been fun but I like the numbers so I'm going back to wearing the watch again.

I was also very lazy, and am still not motivated yet, though my half plan starts this weekend so I'm ready to light it up again. Jonathan, are you doing the Pumpkinman half?

February Totals:

Get on that pig and hold on tight

Okay, with my paraphrasing, I probably didn't use the best wording.  He may not have used the words "lack of muscle mass" - but that was my takeaway!  Especially since he said that I need more "bulk" (and he did use that word).. I take that to mean I lack muscle!  As much muscle as would be good for me. Or that I should have more, etc. (Maybe I shouldn't have said muscle mass.)   I will ask for more clarification during my next session when he's planning on getting more into it and I'll try to remember his actual phrasing. (Any specific questions I can ask to get this clarity?)  

But, he did say he suggests doing reps at 80% of my max for my purposes.  Honestly, I do not consider myself a newbie to weight training, as I have been lifting weights on and off since high school, but my way of lifting is based on feel, not based on any formula.... 80% of max sounds like it might be a lot considering the running (um, and biking I would like to be doing) I'm doing???  For the first time in what I feel is a long time, over the weekend I had some feel-good runs!  But then with that, I did a lot of running over the weekend, and I'm back to my legs feelings tired and such.  I don't think I can really imagine adding heavy lifting (which it seems like 80% of max is??)... But the one thing I know he did say for sure is that I need more bulk, upper and lower body.

......and on cue, in today's USAT e-newsletter was an article about functional strength!

http://www.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/multisport-lab/articles/functional-training-basics-030513.aspx 

Samantha, I'm curious why he would say you need more "bulk", if that's the exact wording he used.  I can understand more strength, and more specifically functional strength, but I'm surprised to hear him say you need bulk.  Unless the assumption is that more strength == more bulk.

I actually shy away from lifting like heavy squatting because I immediately gain bulk in the upper thighs and butt, and I don't think that weight, even if it's muscle, will be good for running.  I could be wrong, and I'll let the weight lifters elaborate.

Samantha- I think Karl can probably elaborate on the 80% technique, he has a lifetime of experience in this area. I think you should print off the discussion posts and take them to the PT and record everything he says and post it back here... jk! lol. I'm interested to see what he says though.

I consider myself a heavy lifter... okay, not really. But, I do try to get in a leg workout about every 10 days. If I go too long, I notice that I cannot squat nearly the amount of weight I can squat when I do them regularly. My goal is to be able to squat my own body weight or more. Right now, I'm down to only squatting 95 - 105 pounds. I feel like leg strengthening helps my knee stay strong. Perhaps I feel like I benefit from leg workouts because I am not pushing myself as hard on the bike.  

I'll leave that discusssion for our mentors...lol  but 80%, of 1 rep, that is a lot and what does it represent?  I mean good form trumps bad form.  I pet pieve of mine are the folks adding weight to the bar to do squats and then do a 2 inch squat...that does nothing.

Instead of using 80%, I prefer using using a weight that you can do 10 - 12 reps with, and can't do another one, using good form and if you want to make it real challenging, use the 5 second rule, 5 seconds down, 1 second up for 10 reps (hint, lighten the weight)

I wish we could all train each other, running, swimming, biking and lifting...

Warren, what is up with the run?

Samantha, I agree with Karl here.  I think that what your PT was telling you is you should lift 'heavy', not like so many endurance athletes and women tend to lift (afraid they will get bulky).  Karl suggested 10-12, but I find it's easier and quicker to get the same workout using the 8-10 rule.  If ess than 8 reps til failure then lighten it.  If you could have gotten 11 then go heavier.

All that is after a good warm-up of course.

The 80% of max weight might just fall in to those ranges but only if you have pretty darn good fatigue resistance....meaning not until you've lifted consistently for a long time.

Also, use good form.  You have been around a gym and know what good form is.  Always keep good form.  If you cannot lift the weight another rep with good form, but can with bad form, then you really can't lift it and that's your failure point.

You might generally be well-advised to gain muscle, but as it relates to rehabbing your body's current issues that isn't the main concern.  Coming from that perspective there are specific weaknesses that must be corrected and adding strength and flexibility to just a few weak areas should be the solution.

Challenge your therapist with that specific line of questioning.

I hope this isn't too narcissistic, but I would like to describe some of my recent training experiences.

Monday began well with a great swim practice and 6 mile run.  Weights at lunch.  Then another 6 after work.  But during that 2nd run my achilles (both) were flaring up and the discomfort increased throughout the run leaving me a bit hobbled afterwards.  They bothered me all night and were pretty bad the next morning.  I was prepared for a terrible day.

Tuesday didn't turn out as bad as I expected.  They loosened up nicely within minutes of getting out of bed and felt actually very good on my 5 mile run paired with cycling.  During my weight lifting I did chest and have lately been limiting my heaviest set of dumbbell presses to the 50lb pair.  The early sets with 30lbs feel weird with disconcerting popping in the shoulder.  40lbs is a little better.  50lbs is better yet.  I am not sure why it gets better with heavier weight, but it does.  I will assume the weight presses the shoulder in to a good position.  This time I did 60lb dumbbells and it felt even better.  So on a whim I tried the 70lb dumbbells and they felt perfect!  Shoulder felt healthier than ever when loaded with that weight.  Finished off my chest day with 100 pain free pushups.

This morning I woke up to something weird.  the first time in about 2 years my right achilles didn't have even a bit of tenderness when I got out of bed.  The left one did but was better than I remember.  After a mile of swimming I did a 10 mile run eventually easing up to an 8:00 pace.  Feels great!!!

Why are the achilles suddenly making promising improvements?  I will throw out my theory later.  Right now I need to get to work.

Karl, in terms of my lack of running, I have no spring half marathon to prepare for so I think I've used that as an excuse to be lazy.

Jeff, no clue why your Achilles are happier, but damn - after all that 100 pushups????

While we're on the weight training topic, and maybe related to Samantha's current track:

I hope this makes sense. Given I am not doing any bike racing I am not really interested in my max 10 second power output, aka max power.  Also given my biking this year will all be of the 56 mile TT version, I am very interested in my sustainable power output over a 2 ½ hour time frame.  So given at 90 rpm that translates to 13,500 pedal strokes, is it advantageous, physiologically, to increase my max leg strength?  In other words, should I do some “heavy” weight training for the legs with the assumption that all boats rise with the tide, even the long endurance capabilities, or is riding long enough specific leg strength training?

Google is proving to have a lot of conflicting advice/evidence.  What think you all?