Birkierunner's (Jim Kelley) General + Long Course Group (OPEN) (Page 8)

This brings up a good point....consistency.  One of the keys to setting up a training program is to put together what some call a "basic week".  Get a piece of paper and sit down and figure out what are the key workouts you know you can get in on a consistent basis from week to week.  A good place to start is the swim, since the logistics of pool lap schedules, driving to the pool, etc are the factors that dictate when you can get your swim workouts in.  Pencil those days and time blocks in.  Next, since bike workouts tend to be longer than run workouts and (if you don't have an indoor trainer) are affected by things such as access to safe roads, length of daylight in various seasons, you should then turn to the bike and figure out the best days/times to get your bike workouts in.  Then its a matter of fitting in your run workouts in the remaining day/time slots that aren't taken up by work and family obligations.  Its all about time management.  If you can get your "basic week" in on a consistent basis then your fitness will improve despite the occasional "life happens" event that derails your training on any given day.

Make sense???  Thoughts??? 

Make sense???  Thoughts??? 

Todd, thanks again for putting together the member list and, no, I don't feel like my toes were stepped on I've provided links to each member's training log page so it will be easier to visit, check logs, race results, say hello, whatever.... Only a couple of people have their blogs set to "private" and I totally respect their decision to do so. However, if you do and have questions about your training just know up front that it is hard to answer questions if we can't review what training you have completed to date. Let me know if there are any errors below.

Thanks for putting together the mentor list, Todd & Jim!

I had a good weekend of training. Got in about 11 miles in the slush on Saturday and then almost 3 hours on the trainer on Sunday. I'm doing Jorge's plan again this winter.

Today, though, I feel like I have been run over by a truck. I'm doing an experiement to become more fat-adapted. Among other things,  I'm not eating any additional sugars/fake sugars/sugar susbtitutes, etc. (It's the Whole 30 challenge for January). We'll see how this plan works. Has anyone tried something like this? Is there any merit to it? I figure now is the time to try, instead of when training really kicks into high gear.

You can only edit posts for about 30 minutes so I can't go in to make some edits right now.  Rather than posting this long list on this page I will re-post it on page 9 and then make the edits.

Steve, the first question you really need to ask yourself is..."what (if any) are my weakness(es)?"  Is it swim, bike, run, all?  Most people have at least one strength so that helps narrow it down a bit.  But, even within each discipline you may have a certain weakness.  For example, on the bike someone may be strong on a 5 minute critical power test but they are much weaker on a 20 minute test.  That would indicate a basic lack of endurance and the need to incorporate workouts to address that weakness.  You can address weakness within a certain discipline while still maintaining a more balanced s/b/r load.  It doesn't necessarily require devoting 2 months to a given discipline.  Further, I wouldn't advocate arbitrarily devoting 2 months to a given discipline if it isn't needed (i.e. it is not one of your weaker disciplines).  And, if you read what you have described for your approach to focusing on "one sport at a time" you actually still have a schedule filled with a fair amount of each discipline...not trying to split hairs but just trying to distinguish what really is a one sport focus block from what is a more balanced schedule.  I'm not saying what you have outlined won't produce results but whether or not the results are optimal for your particular situation is the question.  Hope that makes some sense.

Personally, I have never had this issue but perhaps Scott can chime in here if he might have some insight.  Actually, the first thing that popped into my head is whether you have a problem resulting from a non-related issue such as carpal tunnel syndrome from typing on a keyboard, or some other trauma, and perhaps swimming is aggravating it?

That depends on the nature of the Sunday and Monday swims.  Distance is only one part of the equation....what is the intensity and focus of those swims.  If the Monday swim is more of a recovery type swim (or vice versa) then it shouldn't be a problem.  If you can get into the pool any day of the week with no schedule restrictions then I would defer to your preferred run and bike day/times to schedule your swims.  Or, if the shorter swim is not too intense you could always double on the Tues or Thurs.

This might be a stupid question, but how do I tell if I'm burning muscle instead of fat?

Phew!  Hi everyone!  I've been a voyeur too...haven't had much time to play on-line.  Regarding the "when are you ramping up training" question, I think I got serious again about two weeks ago...it was about the first of the year, and I had to ease back into it.  I'm working my way up to a 20 week program now.  Even though my "A" race is Calgary 70.3 in July, I'm training with a friend who is doing the CdA IM in June, so I'm trying to see if my body will withstand that kind of mileage and my schedule will accommodate that kind of time.  It's a nice way to test the waters for a "someday IM" and I figure it will just make me stronger in Calgary. 

Last night, I swam 1.5 miles which was my farthest ever, so I was pretty stoked! 

Todd, thanks for the list...that was really helpful. 

My log is set to private for bizarre reasons that don't matter to anyone but me; but, I'm more than happy to open it to anyone in the group who might want to see it.  If it hasn't already been opened to you, just let me know and I'll do it.

The brick and nutrition discussions were interesting.  Thank you!  My tri team just had a sports nutritionist present to us.  It was pretty interesting.  He basically says there are 3 types of athletes, from a nutrition standpoint...gut trainers (who need high carbs), "train-low" people (who need moderate to low carbs and more protein) and the hybrid.  I am in the "train-low" group, so I asked how the GU gels work into that...they don't.  He said to try real food - a potato and salt, trail mix, Generation UCan with homemade nut butter (nuts and salt).  I'm going to give it a whirl and see how I feel.  I did gain weight last season, and I am wondering if it was because of all the carbs and chemicals that go into the GUs, Accelerade, and Cliff Bars...   We will see!   

There is a guy by the name of Bob Seebohar who is the guru on the "train low" stuff.  You can google him.  Apparently, he wrote a book, which I've yet to check out, but which the nutritionist recommends:  http://www.amazon.com/Metabolic-Efficiency-Training-Teaching-Body/dp/0984275908/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389421906&sr=8-1&keywords=metabolic+efficiency+training

Anyway, that's it for now!  Hope you all have a great week! 

Erika

How did you determine that you are a train low athlete (assuming that such a thing exists)?