Manatee Mentors 2016 - Closed (Page 89)

It's all over the place as people have done and been all over the place. I don't really like the idea of having one within a few months of the IM. It's taking away from the longer training that the athlete should be doing at the time. The HIM as a whole is a decent size day, but the durations are really not long enough to test out how things will go in an IM. It's just that much longer and age group athletes generally just don't have the volume day in, day out like a pro would. It's sitting right at a time when your biggest days would be coming. Both the event itself, any tapering for it and recovery after.

That's for really racing them, however. If you're more just getting through them then sure, that should be enough. Something that seems to help recover faster for this would be taking it easy on the run.

Definitely about how you would approach them. I did a half as a training/tune-up during my IM training. I was training specifically for IM and used a HIM as a stop along the way - it was at the beginning of July and my IM was mid-august - so about a month and a half. I didn't really taper for the half and took training the week after pretty easy. I didn't 'race' but i didn't sit and take it easy either ... 

I really wanted some races in the lead up to get me ready. Particularly because I was a nervous swimmer and i needed the practice at races with the mass start.  I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well i recovered and was able to get back to it. 

It is very common for people to do a HIM as a training race to check pacing/nutrition, etc - and four weeks is what i see recommended pretty often. 

I prefer for a training HIM to be a little farther out, 8-9 weeks from the IM, but a lot of people do one 3 or 4 weeks before the big day and are fine. For me, I treat the HIM as a training day (to run through race logistics and nutrition) so I look at my training plan and figure out what is a good week to put an HIM in relation to the volume in the plan. In most IM plans, your volume 4 weeks out is going to be pretty large, and for me a 70.3 is not enough volume for the bike or run I need - I would have to tack on other workouts to compensate and that's a pain to me. Just my .002!

I agree with all that Ben says here.

Oh and having some races to do during IM training was fun!  

It's all very serious, i know, but it was great to remember why I love the sport. 

Stacey - Congratulations to K!  Are you two still on track for Dopey 2018?

Adam - Congrats on getting off the DL!  Woo hoo!

Mary - Congratulations on finishing Zion!  PR!!!

Karen - I bow to your 200+ watts!  How do you like the Power2Max?

Connor - Hang in there!  You’ll kill it when you are feeling more yourself!

Lisa - Did I see that you are getting the race itch?  

Ann-Marie - Thanks for another entertaining race report :-D  I think that people seed themselves incorrectly because they are oblivious.  It’s still incredibly rude and disrespectful of others at the event.  Oh, and congrats on winning the series.  Woo hoo!

Melanie - Sorry for the loss but at least your team took them to the shoot out.  Next up runs and tris and dus, oh my!

Justin - I prefer at least six weeks between HIM and full IM.  I feel that way adjustments can be made.  At least that’s what I tell myself.  Also, I’m just more comfortable with the taper(s) and it makes more sense as a training day.  Having an HIM in there does help to break up training.

Oh yeah, context can matter. Sometimes a lot. The description of doing "fine" can come up after doing a lot of things and not take in the situation may be different. I think a lot of people could still put in a decent effort at the time gaps listed, even with Justin's. However, if he was trying to do something like KQ at the IM, then this sounds more like a bad idea. One way or the other isn't bad in itself, but the crossing of goals and perspectives is. It's also not as good for someone optimizing such a race to be very insistent to someone who is more of a completer. Just last year I did the two longest rides ever on consecutive weekends. Certainly not ones I was really trying to go after.

Tomorrow's forecast is calling for an average wind speed of 35 mph. Average. This could be fun. I might be able to coast all the way to the lake, then need a ride to get back.

Haha I was going to say, sounds like a good day for a one way trip

On Saturday I was doing a tempo run but because of a tree down on the northbound section I was forced to run southbound for all of the run, straight into a steady wind. However, we had a major wind storm here on Sunday and I had the most glorious tailwind. I swear when my feet left the ground I was blown and additional half step, and it takes a lot to really notice a tailwind when running.

We get pretty windy in the spring, often with blowing sand. When it gets too bad I take my run inside.

Think my sister lives within a couple miles of the end point ...

Oh those runs are fun! Have had some with the last mile in a race even. Although one tempo with that was interesting as it would wrap around a largish building. I'd go from low 6's to a near stop within two steps!

Strong wind is a minimum 85% of the ride fighting it somehow or other. Expect 90-some.

My King of the Hill RR

I don't have experience with a P2Max, but others who know something about power do and like it. I think the accuracy is a little less than something like Quarq or SRM, but still reasonably good. So yeah, tends to be a decent value. I don't think the unit is a reason to suspect the power numbers you've posted.

Power can be a little funny trying to get your head around. It's often defined as a work rate. Work is applying a force over a distance. Moving a 2 ton pile of bricks 100 ft ends up being the same amount of work whether it's done 1 brick at a time, 10, or the whole pile at once. For power to be the same, then each would have to finish in the same amount of time. The whole pile at once movement will operate under a very high force, but be moving more slowly. The one brick at a time will have lower force, but be moving really fast. They feel quite different, so it can take some time to get used to develop the feel for energy usage rate as opposed to force, which I think people tend to do.

The 10-20 watt jumping is fairly normal. It's not going to be a perfectly flat line. Are you using any smoothing or average features? I leave it on the 1 second or instant, but I'm very much an exception with that. Many people will use instead a 3, 5 or 10 second average to help smooth out the jumpiness. Much easier on them mentally as the numbers aren't going all over the place.

Originally posted by marysia83 Happy Wednesday Question on the wet suit: my co-worker's husband, who used to do triathlons and completed several IM races, is not doing the sport anymore and wants to get rid of his wet suite. For free. Obviously, I will have to try it to see if it fits me, but just wanted to get some general opinion from you guys. I am 5'9 and he is 5'8. He's male, I'm female. Should I be optimistic? Would it fit? What's the general rule: you buy a bit bigger, just the right size? That would be great if I had a wet suite for free

If you are approximately the same size it should fit. Both of my wetsuits are designed for men. They fit me because I'm, um, aero up top

Try it on. If it fits then you've got a new suit! It should be difficult to get in to and feel snug. If it fits loose then it won't do the job.

Originally posted by marysia83 Happy Wednesday Question on the wet suit: my co-worker's husband, who used to do triathlons and completed several IM races, is not doing the sport anymore and wants to get rid of his wet suite. For free. Obviously, I will have to try it to see if it fits me, but just wanted to get some general opinion from you guys. I am 5'9 and he is 5'8. He's male, I'm female. Should I be optimistic? Would it fit? What's the general rule: you buy a bit bigger, just the right size? That would be great if I had a wet suite for free

Since it's free, take a look at it. Sometimes they do work. But when doing so try to ignore that it's free. Make sure that it actually works well for you though as a poor fitting one can make things go terribly.