kalalau's Group - FULL for now (Page 8)

Just my $0.02, as always, I defer to Dave for the best advice but...

I like that your faster run is on Tuesday, as it gives you more time to recover before the next long run.

I could be wrong, but you should be able to safely increase your total weekly mileage by 10% per week, not just your long run mileage.  Of course, if you are feeling like you might be getting injured as is, then obviously don't do that.  What it can offer you, though, is an increase in long run distance every other week, so you have an "easy" and then a "hard" after the first couple of weeks.  Keeping your T/Th total at like 5-6 miles, your weekends could look something like this:

2/15: 5
2/22: 6
3/1: 7
3/8: 8
3/15: 5
3/22: 9.5
3/29: 5
4/5: 11
4/12: 5
4/19: 12.5
4/26: easy
5/3: RACE!

Maybe I'm just lazy, but for now, I'd do the shorter weekday mileage on the fast pace day, as opposed to the slower day.  Fast or tempo days don't necessarily have to be long too.  If it starts to feel like the 12 min/mile pace is too slow for the weekday run, then speed up some.  I usually just do what's comfortable and don't worry about it too much.   

Take it for what it's worth.  I'm interested in what Dave has to say.  

A good idea, Becky.

My first thought was "oh no - I'll lose performance if I drop my mileage", but after thinking about it more, that may be a better way to approach this race.

I was going to say what she said. :-)

The only thing I might change is how steep the stepback weeks are.  But if you are hurting after the long runs, it might work great for you.  Everyone's going to be different.  I might change the 3/29 and 4/12 5 milers to a 7 and a 8-9.  But it depends on how you feel.  See how you feel when the time comes.

I went out for a 10 miler on the treadmill last night, without water or gatorade, and it reminded me of how stupid I was with hydration in my early days.  So I got the same feeling last night that I used to have when I didn't know any better.  Achy legs, dizzy feeling, nauseous.  And it doesn't go away, I feel bad the rest of the night.  Being dehydrated or low on electrolytes doesn't just affect your performance, it affects how you feel and think during and even long after the workout.  It's pretty amazing how that happens.  I had some really painful nights when I was building up to my first marathon.

I did eat right after running last night, but it didn't go away.  In hindsight, I should've tried to drink more during the day, and probably taken a gatorade up to the treadmill with me. 

Ugh.  Sorry to hear that.  I hate that feeling.  It happens a lot during long runs in the summer, no matter how hard I try to stay hydrated/electrolyted (I know that's not a word).  It usually hits me worst when I'm in the shower afterwards.  The nausea is the most uncomfortable for me.  Take gatorade next time!!  I had a bottle on the trainer this morning, and it was only 70 minutes long.  I was just soooo thirsty.  There is the chance it had to do with the couple of glasses of wine I had last night... ;-)

I feel a lot better now, thanks.  Good job on your run!  But that's funny, you mentioned wine.  My worst run of all time occurred after a night of wine.  I was going to tackle 13.5 miles for the first time ever, and we were with friends so I had some.  The next day on my run, I took two bottles of gatorade with me, but it wasn't enough.  It was a bit warm too.  By the time I was done, I had been reduced to a walk with a wimper, and barely able to just get in my car.  Driving home was a huge task, and when I got there I just about crawled to the tub and stayed in there for a long time.  It hurt so bad.  It's hard to believe that you could hurt enough to cry but it happens.  Seen it happen to a friend too.

I will never drink before a big run again. :-)  I'm not really a drinker anyway so it's no sacrifice.  

I don't really drink much, so it's not an issue, per se, but I have another "you shouldn't drink wine the night before" story.  In October we did the San Jose Half Marathon and it happened to be the weekend of J's 30th birthday.  The night before the race was the only night it was going to work out, so I took him out to a nice dinner, including a bottle of wine.  The race didn't end that badly, but my hopes for a PR went downhill when I had to walk somewhere around mile 9.  I didn't intend to walk at all.  Once you walk that first time and you know your PR is blown, it's so easy to do it again...and again.  I learned my lesson!  Half a bottle of wine the night before a half marathon isn't the best idea ever.

Haha, yes that is a good story.  I know your feeling about "once the PR is blown."  It's hard to be motivated as much when that disappears.   I try to line up the next milestones and that helps a little.  Watch 3:45 disappear, 3:50, and then shoot for sub 4:00.  And with all those milestones, the pacer groups, waving flags and wearing signs, pass you by just to drive the point in that you are not making that milestone.  Isn't that a wonderful feeling? :-)

This weekend is a big weekend for local races.  Surely there is a Valentine's Day race within easy reach of every one of us.  I highly recommend it.  We can use the race to determine where we are in our training.  For me, it's probably not good, but we'll find out.  I'm going to do a club 10k race, and afterwards hopefully add on 6 more miles to get my long run in.  Keith, if you want to do this weekend's BRRC race, I'll run with you after the race.  We can motivate each other to add on the miles.  It's on Loch Raven Drive, which is closed to traffic on weekends.  There are also trails nearby that I know if you really want to hit the trails.

After this weekend, the next big weekend for local races is St Pat's Weekend.

Since we are talking about hydration, I'll discuss an idea that I read about often, and it's a great idea, but I don't know anyone who has done it yet.  The idea is to find out what your sweat rate is, so you know how much fluid you need to replace in training and in races.  What you do is plan out an hour long workout (let's try a run). Before the workout, weigh yourself without clothes.  Then do your workout, keeping track of all the fluids you take in after your initial weigh-in.  After 60 minutes, weigh yourself without clothes again (and toweling off a bit).  Subtract one weight from the other.  1 pound = 16 oz of fluids that you are losing during the workout.  Be sure to add in the fluids that you drank during the workout.  It's much easier if you just drink 16 oz.  So say I weigh 167 to start, 165 when I finish, and I drank one bottle of 16 oz.  That means I am sweating out 48 oz per hour.  Thus, I need to be trying to drink that much to replace all that hydration.  You can break the 48 oz down and tell yourself that you need to drink 16 oz every 20 minutes.

You can do smaller times than 60 minutes, it's just that 60 minutes makes calculations a bit easier.

Note that your sweat rate will differ for swimming and biking.  It would be interesting to see what our swimming rates would be.  That would tell us how much we are already deficient when we get to T1 so we can start drinking as soon as we get on the bike.

Also, the heat will affect your sweat rates.  When a race comes that is higher in heat, you'll need to adjust the numbers upward.

Weight loss of 3% has been shown to reduce performance.  That's not much.

That makes a lot of sense.  I'm going to try it this weekend.

Speaking of losing fluids, I've always wondered - how do you handle "bathroom breaks" during a marathon / triathlon?  I imagine "what happens in the water, stays in the water", but what about the bike & run?  Are there port-o-potties set up along the route?  Just use a tree?  Just let it go?

Another newbie question: is theft a problem?  I'd be nervous leaving my $5000 bike (if I had one)  in a transition area while I run.  Bikes everywhere - who's to know who's is who's?  I know it happens with skiis.  People just pick up a pair and walk away.

BTW - ran yesterday at lunch time.  A little faster than I thought (hard to gage my speed while running).  Feeling good today, but I'm not going to push it.  Taking Thursday nice and slow.

As you commented after looking at his logs, Josh does this almost every workout to help determine if he's taking in enough.  He is a very heavy sweater and his weight fluctuates wildly.  The problem comes on the long runs in the summer when he is losing so fast that he physically can't take in enough to replace it.  If you can't absorb it fast enough, it just gets all sloshy in your stomach.  While he drinks as much as he can, I know that he has found that he can at least make up for the electrolyte loss by using Endurolyte tablets.  They've really been miracle capsules for him. 

So how much has he figured his rate to be?  

I talked to the Lava Salts guys once at an expo, and they claimed that if we get sloshy stomachs, we need to be taking more salt tabs (or endurolytes) so your stomach can process the liquids.  

Good job on your run!! That's awesome.

In marathons, it's a lot more free than you would think.  At the start of the race you will see folks heading over to the side and going in lots of places.   Once at the Disney Marathon, a women about 4 feet away from me in a crowded corral, knelt down and did it right there, surrounded by folks, and a crowd of 12,000+ about to run through her pee.  And at Baltimore last year, I saw a guy on a narrow street, go over to a car and go in a wheelwell, in plain view.  I'm just telling you these to give you the extremes, you won't have to do that, and probably shouldn't.  At some marathons they will make an effort to  really crack down on this stuff, especially at the start, where it can be pretty bad.  The Marine Corps Marathon is one that won't tolerate it.  But, they have a good excuse because MCM provides lots of potties.

In general at marathons, there will be lots of potties at the start, and then some throughout the course.  The first few potties will have lines, which is a drag.  Your half marathon should be pretty decent with them.  You might even be able to see them on the race map they provide on the website.

I haven't seen anyone "just let it go" in a running race, but I hear stories about people doing it in longer triathlons, especially on the bike.

In triathlons, there are potties at the start, and in the transition areas.  The longer races will have them along the course, but you should check the race details to be sure where they are.

It seems to be a pretty good idea to get in the bathroom line about 30 minutes before the start of any race whether you have to go or not.  Then when you get through, you are ready to start.  That's worked well for me.

They take security pretty seriously in the transition areas.  Just imagine, the pros have a ton of money sitting in that area.  Only athletes are allowed in the transition area during and after the race.  Most of the time someone is there checking to see if you have a race wristband on, or your bib.  When they are really strict, they are also comparing the bib number (or wristband number) against the sticker on your bike to make sure you are taking the right bike.

I do leave my Garmin Forerunner 305 in the transition area, but I don't make it easily seen.  It's just too easy a steal. Wetsuits would be easy to mix up, as they are almost all black, and can be left inside-out and hastily left during the transition.  Just make sure you grab the right one.

I haven't heard of a theft, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.  Someone did take my flip flops once, but that was outside the transition area and I bet they did it by mistake. :-)  I had worn them down to the water start and taken them off before the race.

You never know, you might get a warm spell when a race is supposed to start.  Did you get 70 degree temps yesterday?

Sure, go ahead and do a 5k at the gym.  We won't be able to compare it to a real race 5k, but we can use it to compare your gym 5k at a future time.  My experience is that you will never train at what you can do a race in.  There's just too many things that make you faster in a real race.  For one, you don't have "that next guy" right ahead of you that you are trying to catch and pass.

That made me think of your swim in your triathlon though.  When you do your race, maybe you should get there early and get in the water 10-30 minutes before the race so you can get used to the water.  I have some sort of asthma, and I've gotten in water before where the cold just took my breath away.  If you allow yourself to get used to it, then maybe you won't hit that race with your lungs in that shape.

A lot of races will let you jump in and do some warmups in the water.  It comes in handy.  Sometimes it's hard to voluntarily get in the water when it might be cold, and you don't have to.

I hope you don't mind me answering; I figured it would be OK since you're talking about me. :-)  When it's cool, I'll sweat out a pound or two per hour (16 to 32 oz).  When it's warm, I usually average a pound every 2 miles.  I can drink and absorb about 16 oz per hour, more than that and I get the "sloshy" stomach.  Endurolytes help tremendously during marathons and long runs.  Even with drinking as much fluids as I can take, I've lost around 10 lbs on runs before. 

I haven't fully figured out my sweat rate on the bike yet.  It's a lot (the puddles under the trainer tell me that), but not quite as much running.  And I lost a lb this evening during a roughly 45 min swim.

P.S.  Tomorrow is Becky's birthday!

It's not nearly as fun talking about someone when they answer back. ;-)  Just kidding.

Wow, you're running at quite the deficit.   Do when you take Endurolytes, are you able to drink more than 16oz per hour?  Have you ever drank enough in a race to have to use the port-a-john?

I did the hydration test tonight for my favorite workout, 45 minute bike and 15 minute run.  I lost 3 lbs.  Kind of interesting.

Happy Birthday Becky!

Happy Birthday Becky!

We aren't anywhere near 70 degrees yet. I think it got up to 55 degrees though. I am just happy our snow FINALLY melted this week! Thanks for the advise about the swim I will definately remember to look into that.

Haha, that's awesome!  Yes, please let us know how it goes, things that are fixed, discovered, learned, etc.  Whatever they find, I am sure we can all learn from.

It's @#*%$ snowing in NJ AGAIN! Nothing much happening here!

Biking, Running and Swimming INDOORS still! Can't wait till spring!

However...starting to feel much better in the pool. Got some coaching on my breathing that really seems to help with my endurance. I actually don't hate it anymore LOL!

Did i mention IT"S SNOWING!!! UGH

Hey did you all hear about the crazy earthquakes in NJ? Thats where i live! FREAKY!