Penn State's mentor group - CLOSED! (Page 82)

Hmmmmm......

I am sending positive thoughts your way!

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I'm gonna pretend I didn't see this  I would hate for any Devil Dogs to hear about this.

Positive thoughts and a prayer heading your way. 

For me the one place you can afford to push the pace/effort a bit more with less fear of injury is on the bike.  As the bike is basically an impact free device in which your not changing your stride or form, for the most part, the potential for injury is reduced when compared to running with high intensity.  I would recommend some fast paced group rides and or some interval work for speed gains. You will of course have to balance this with other longer endurance rides.

Thanks! And I totally love Office Space. For some reason I didn't link that quote to the movie.

Off to go file my TPS reports...  

What I believe and what I do are two different things.  So far I've found that whatever I've been doing has still been resulting in massive improvements for myself, so I'm assuming I am in one of two situations: 1) I've yet to reach the point where simply riding more will no longer make me faster.  or 2) I've miraculously stumbled into an incredible training routine for myself.  I tend to lean towards #1 being the situation I'm in.  

As for what I believe and aim to do is similar to this (I'm really interested in some feedback from Fred about these comments I'm about to make):  

Having a solid base is extremely important in order to allow yourself to have the ability to do hard workouts and high mileage in the same week where you can recover quickly enough each day to maintain that kind of training program.  Assuming the base is there I'd believe in a mixture where some things can (should) be substituted occasionally to keep the body from adapting to a certain training style (think P90X philosophy).  

Obviously what your goals in racing need to be considered, but for me it's to get fast at long distance.

Hills (mountains) are an important workout, even if you don't race courses with hills.  The hill/mountain rides can take the place of a hard fast ride to mix it up.  It doesn't have to be straight up a mountain, but if you're trying to decide whether to go left, right or straight during a random ride... choose which ever has the biggest hill.  Sometimes short and steep, sometimes long and drawn out.  A wise and much faster rider than me once told me: "Always leave yourself with one more low gear as a bail out gear, mentally tell yourself it's not there, don't use it, because when you REALLY need it you're going to want it"  (Kathleen... the hill on the oly course this weekend is that time we're likely to REALLY want it).  Basically, by training as if you don't have it, you'll build the strength in your legs to not NEED it and when dealing with triathlons having the power to not need it but the ability to use it can save your legs for the run during a race.  Another note on hills, if you can build the strength needed to pedal your normal cadence  up a mountain and little by little get yourself into a higher gear, you'll be using an even larger gear on the flats and going that much faster.

Even for short course you should still be able to go out and ride 50-70miles at a easy to moderate effort and not feel completely spent at the end of it.  For going long a 50-70miler should be viewed as just a typical day of riding if you're not attacking a mountain and just getting some good saddle time.  You want to get to the point where doing a century ride with a group is something you could just go out and do on any random day.  Building up to a century ride is a great milestone to aim for, but after your first one you need to build yourself to the point where it is no longer "oh my god, a century!?!?!", instead it should be "I typically do 70-80miles once or twice a week anyway, another 20 at that pace isn't a big deal" (ESPECIALLY if you're drafting).
 
I don't particularly believe in pure sprint workouts when it comes to biking, I take more of a fartlek approach (I know that term is used a lot with running, but I'm not sure if I hear it much with cycling).  I think changing up the 50-70mile moderate effort rides you do during a typical week is better.  Throwing in a couple 5mile hard pushes (like at the pace you can hold for a 12-15mile sprint tri) during it is better in my mind.  So out of 50 miles you might get 2, or 3,  5 mile sections at a hard pace and then be able to recover while you maintain your normal 50-70mile pace.  Sometimes the 5 miles might be on a flat road where I decide to just put it in a harder gear, let the HR climb, and force myself to keep my cadence up in that harder gear.  Other times it might be during a long gradual downhill (about -.5 to -1% grade) where I might have it in the hardest gear my bike has, while other times it might be uphill where I may just be trying to maintain the same speed I was doing on the flat section.  It's intervals, but it's not as structured as doing 15x1mile sprints along the same road every time with a set amount of recovery time.


"If you ride your bike all the time at 18 miles per hour, you'll just get really goood at riding your bike 18 miles an hour."  I understand what the guy meant by this, but it's a flawed statement. I agree with the intended message it's supposed to get across: if you always ride at a moderate effort level, then you'll get really good at riding at that effort level.  But if you ride outdoors in a place that has anything but a 0% grade in all directions, then maintaining an 18mph speed at all times can actually become a fartlek style workout.... push hard uphill to keep that pace, get recovery on downhills, go moderate during flats. ... just food for thought...

As for the guys that are fast, here's a genuine question... I'm sure they are extremely fast for 12 miles, but how fast are they when they reach mile 40 and still have 16 more to go?  Are they still the fastest guys out there or are they now getting passed or just trying to hold onto someone else's wheel?... or did they sneak in longer rides during their training that they failed to tell you about?

I hope it's something that will heal quickly for you.  My thoughts are there for you. 

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Don't forget to use the new cover sheets!

Good luck, I'm not sure how I'm going to get any training done that day, I'm eagerly anticipating how it plays out!

Its a "jump to conclusions" mat. You jump...to a conclusion. great reference fred

X2!!

Me too!

Well, the Boulder Peak is this weekend. It is an Olympic distance and due to the dental setbacks I have had I am way undertrained.. I have considered not doing it but that is not my nature and the reality is is that there is no reason that I shouldn't finish it. I don't have an injury, I am just not ready.  People tell me to use it as a training day. I am going to try and do that but that is a hard thing to do. With all the nerves, chaos in the water ( I am one who does not like that) being put in a wave with 35-39 year old men (I am sure they will be long gone before I hit the first bouy.. a good thing) and all the elites in Boulder, this won't be anything like a training day.  On a positive note, I did ride the bike course with minimal sleep and medication and I was able to make the climb up Old Stage Road so this weekend should be easier. At least I won't have to walk up it( I hope) like I hear others have had to.  They just posted the waves and bib numbers which is what set this all off.
Thanks for "listoning"

Has anyone seen my stapler?

Life is getting in the way of training. I have to do 2 1/2 hours tonight to get back on track. I'll see what I can do tonight.

Was it a red Swingline?

Nope, haven't seen it.

Just go out there and have fun.  Missing events due to lack of training sets a bad precedent.  The next time its alot easier to have a reason not to race.

I wouldn't force it, playing catch up is how people get hurt.

So this is today's ride:

1h 02m 38s 20.80 miles 19.93 Mi/hr

OMG OMG SOOOO CLOSE!!!!

So close to my long time goal of 20 mph over 20 miles.  I have to feel pretty good that I did this on a road bike, and that the first half was into a 15 mph headwind.   I'm sure if I put back on my aero bars and had perfect conditions I could obliterate that time.  Its been windy the past few weeks and I've been at its mercy.

I hate to brag but I thought this would break the monotony of the 'I think I hurt my achilles again' posts.

I know a 20 mph avg isn't a big deal for alot of people, but for me it is.


Edited by furiousferret 2010-07-08 10:14 PM