Funked Up Triathletes (Sprint, Olympic Focus) Group - Closed Until Next Season (Page 9)

That's pretty weak sauce about the outdoor pool. The main reason I go to the gym I go to now is because they have an outdoor pool. Consequently since it's closing September 2nd I'll be changing pools. Their indoor pool is kept too cold. Not sure why they keep it colder than any other competitive pool I've been in, but I dread it in the winter months. Also the other gym I'm looking at it half the price and also has a 200 meter indoor track. So basically I can pay half of what I've been paying and get more training tools, seems like a no brainer to me.

Unfortunately I've also inquired about a triathlon coaching position the gym I currently attend has open. I was told just about point blank they don't hire anybody besides members or promote anyone besides staff that's already there. So we'll see if the hiring guy has any interest in me since I don't have certifications (USAT Level 1 and NASM) currently although as we all know a piece of paper does not necessarily make a good coach/teacher/professional/etc.

I think it is awesome that you even have a gym in your area that has a triathlon coach. Unheard of in my area.

It's a Lifetime Fitness so not totally out of line for them. Surprised it took until now for them to try and get one actually considering the LTF Tri series is one of the better paying series for professionals in the U.S. We've got 2 Lifetimes in the area, one just happens to be 2 miles from my house.

Jesse do you go to the one in OP? I was there with my boys this morning. They were doing the Lifetime Kids Triathlon. It was a ton of fun.

I'm not a member at Lifetime...I live a ways away plus I can't afford it. I took a swim cline this spring out there with Sheila Tiorama and the place is amazing. I was going to take my family in to show them around..but the Lifetime employees shut that down quick. They wouldn't even let us in to use the bathroom! We had to use the tri specific porta potties. I guess that was good for my boys though...more prep for the "real thing".

I would love to spend more at Lifetime, but there are tons of places in the area that are MUCH cheaper.

Actually I'm at the LT in Lenexa and yeah it's expensive. Around $70 a month right now. When cancelling my membership, well actually I need to go back in and pause (10/month) so I can re-join without extra fees ($150) next summer for the outdoor pool (David if you know anyone else with an outdoor lane pool locally let me know), I was told it's much more a month for people joining now. I mean, are you kidding me?

A little local diatribe here for the rest of the group I apologize, but LT even at $70 a month essentially offers me a pool. I don't use the fitness classes, weight machines, trainers, V02 testing, on and on. It's a nice gym with tons of stuff, but since the only reason I'm at the gym is for the pool I'm just becoming very budget conscious as I have to stretch dollars further to maximize living (like everyone else to some degree I imagine). Going to go tour 68's Inside Sports. They have a pool and a 200 meter indoor track from what I hear. Nobody else has an indoor track in the area. That means no treadmills in the winter if I don't want to get on a friggin' treadmill for speedwork which is awkward when you're doing sprints anyway. As opposed to LT, if I sign up at 68's with my girlfriend then I pay $25/month or 30/month by myself.

Is the quality of their pool going to be a lot lower than lifetimes? I doubt it. Especially since LT keeps their pool too cold. I'm not really sure how nobody else notices it or maybe nobody complains, but you do cool off quickly and it takes me 2-300m in it to start feeling warm as opposed to 50-100 in any other competition pool.

Diatribe over I suppose. LT is nice, but its a lot of bells and whistles I'm never going to use AND pay extra for. (70/month + extra money for Master's swim, V02 testing, training, some classes (not all)).

Congrats on the 5k! Under 22 is my one year (from now) goal for open 5k.

I hate pool closings! My local pool at the Y is closed for the ENTIRE month of August for "repairs". Not sure what can take that long, but it's a real pain to drive to the next closest pool. I just got back from vacation and had a pool on-site that was pretty much empty the entire week! I used it to my advantage and swam 14K yards in 6 days and also taught myself flip-turns. I did over 300 flip turns and got pretty comfortable doing it alone in a lane, so now just have to try it sharing a lane to see if I'm going to be banging into people or not! :-)

Hey Jesse I have some ideas. I'll send you a direct message because I doubt these guys care too much about the local gym scene in Kansas City.

John what kind of open 5k time were you running this year?

Hey Jesse I've never heard you talk much about heart rate zones. Do you use them I training? Last year I conducted a lactate threshold test on myself and have used It for my hr zones. I'm thinking of jumping in a 5k after tri season and letting it all hang out and use that for a LT test. Has anyone else done this?

I've never run a single running event (other than a triathlon) and always swore I never would just because I dislike running, but I'm thinking I need to do some 5k and a half Mary this fall in order to accomplish my goals next season.

I actually started to try and use heart rate zones back in College and it never stuck. Truthfully I'm almost embarrassingly low-tech. Heck, most days as of late I don't even bring a watch or timer to the pool or out on the bike. I had one with me on the track this morning. The hardest part to teach someone else about how I train is that all of my training is based on feel. I know exactly what feeling of effort I need and where I can push it to achieve each type of run workout I want to do. If I was coaching someone however, I would be working off of times, working through teaching that perceived exertion through tools like HR monitors and the Borg RPE scale and goal times.

This morning for example I had an idea to do a progressive 800m repeat set. I use myself as a test subject when I'm developing new training ideas. The idea was that every 200 would be progressively faster where the first 200 starts at 10k pace working to an all out sprint for the last 200. Turns out it's kind of awkward to do, takes a ton of pacing attention which was even tough for me this morning (and I'm a very solid pacer) and I'm not sure if I was really getting out of it what I wanted so I went back to 5k pace 800's with an all out sprint at the end after I did 3. The more even pacing led me to pop off a nice little 2:27 for my last one where I was breathing about as hard as I could for the last 300 meters, but I felt so smooth.

Fortunately for me to some degree, but unfortunately for me in the sense that its hard to convey because I just feel it now. I'd have to calculate to be sure, but this year some time will be the crossover where I've literally been running competitively for more than half my life not including sports like soccer when I was even younger that I only played briefly.

Anyway the heart rate zones I think are a good tool initially to help you learn what those effort levels feel like, but ultimately you'll be able to accomplish more without them imo as long as you take your recovery days easy enough and push your hard days appropriately (read: not all out if that's not the goal, just at the appropriate level for the day). I would also advise you if you do use heart rate zones to work on that feel in your various zones and then leave the HR monitor at home on race day. Race day is supposed to be an opportunity to do what you've not done before so sitting in your usual HR zones is not what you want.

I've got all kinds of rationale for why I train the way I do, but it's so second nature now. I've even gotten lazy enough that I've not even written down the last 2 months of training because the progression is in my head.


As an aside I'm thinking about offering coaching services for this upcoming year since we're heading into base season. Anybody who might be interested or know someone who's interested in making someone solid gains this next year feel free to shoot me a PM and we can talk about my credentials, coaching plans, etc. Self-plug I know, but you gotta get the word out somehow, right?

Thanks for the explanation. I'm afraid that I am very different in that I struggle to go by "feel". Although, I'm still very inexperieinced at this. I use my HR monitor ALOT to govern my runs, especially on the longer ones (over 5M).

Regarding 5K times...I have no idea where I would be but want to find out. My goal at Nation's Triathlon Oly distance is to run under 8:15 p/m pace. If everything went amazing and I surpised myself I'd love to be 8 p/m flat, but I don't see it. I don't ever do that in training (except for a 2 mile brick earlier this week). I ran 8:28 at the same event last year (I still don't know how). The X factor in all of this is that the run course at this race is dead flat and I never train on flats. We'll see.

I've signed up for my first race of 2014 - the ITU Chicago. Should be a fun event. I'm also looking at the 70.3 in Galveston in April. That would be my first foray into that distance.

Yeah I saw you posting the ITU Chicago thread in the Kansas section and I had to step in there a bit with the confusion on the AG race being draft legal. That's pretty much never going to happen for a large race ever. DL races will pretty much always be kept to 75 people and under if offered to AG'ers.


As a triathlon related rant; when asked for a location is Busch Gardens, FL a legitimate response or should the appropriate response be Tampa, FL since Busch Gardens is in Tampa? Hunter Kemper had a little contest if you could answer when, where and at what age he won his first Ironkids National Championship on facebook you'd get a prize. I was the first to answer and I said Tampa, FL instead of Busch Gardens, FL and the lady who answered Busch Gardens won so I'm just faux steaming about it, ha. It's not a city it's an amusement park and its in Tampa this is bull-pooey, ha. Oh well, maybe I'll just challenge him to a race for eternal glory and honor. I can see that going well... End rant.

Everyone's gone silent!!! Must be some serious training going on....

The season's winding down. Last race for me this weekend at Hy-Vee then a much needed 2 weeks off from working out, but an increased amount of working.

I've heard tell of something call a... vacation? Is that where you go and enjoy yourself on a trip somewhere? Not really sure what that whole vacation thing is about. Traveling is for Triathlon, ha.

Hope everyone is doing well. Contemplating whether or not to continue/re-open the group for the next phase of the season since we're technically past our original Mentor Group period and new groups will start soon I imagine. If you guys think the thread's been useful and you'd like me to continue a "Season 2" of the thread into Base season and the doldrums of winter let me know. We can possibly pick up a few more people as well since its seemed to have dwindled to us few guys in the group participating. Paula of course pops in every once in a while, but we haven't heard from her in a while unfortunately.

Just let me know.

I would like to see you open another group when the time comes. I know this one hasn't been that active but maybe we can get a few more active members next time around. I for one have appreciated all your help and insight, as well as your sense of humor. If you re-up next time around, I'll join up.

I would like to see the group continue in some form. Especially during the winter months I think it would be most helpful. I'm not exactly sure how to do a winter program and something i would like to learn alot about.

I'm tentatively thinking of doing a couple of fall/winter running events and then a half Ironman in April. I also plan to do the Tour of Sufferlandria (if you want a baptism by fire into the Sufferfest, this is it!). I think those things should force me to be pretty dilligent in the winter.

As for me, my last race is the week after Jesse's in Washington DC. This is my personal championship and "A" race where I am shooting to make big improvements on my PR. it's the one that I've been partnered with my Team in Training / charitible effort all summer.

Depending on how that guys, I've got an idea of one last hurrah race in 2013 in mind, but not making any firm plans yet.

Dominion, I've been wondering all season long...what does your signature line mean?

LOL, It's just a joke, something I got off Slowtwitch. It was a thread about "The most interesting triathlete in the world."
People yell out "on your right" as he passes them.
I just thought it was funny.

I would like this thread to continue too! Maybe we can pick up some more people to add to the discussion.

I have a couple more sprint tris and a 1/2 marathon in Sept. I'm not sure why I'm doing the 1/2 marathon, I really won't be ready for it as I am racing the previous weekends and am missing a lot of long runs. I guess I will just go slow and have fun and not worry about time. I'm also going to
do a few local 5ks/10ks in Oct/Nov for fun.

My goal this winter is to try to get into a regular swimming schedule, continue running to maintain my base, and to ramp up the bike on the trainer doing the sufferfest and trainer road programs, trying to increase my FTP from Oct-Feb.

February I'm doing a local 20 miler run (again, not sure why! might have to run-walk it, but runner friends talked me into doing it with them)

My big A race in 2014 is IMMT (mont-tremblant) 70.3 in quebec! Already signed up, have hotel, etc. June 22. That should be a fun trip as
it is about a 7 hour drive for me and I'm taking my wife and 3 kids and making a week long family vacation out of the trip. All my training is going to revolve around that starting in February. So I will definitely be looking for Oct-Feb training advice and support for how to ramp up for a HIM plan that I will begin in Feb.

Dominion, that makes sense with the explanation. I've honestly looked at that every day and just wondered to myself what it was supposed to mean. I vaguely remember seeting that ST thread and it makes sense (and is funny) now that I think about it.

Jesse - you don't have to travel on vacation! I took the fam to St. Louis and Omaha this summer (for vacation) and then for our real "summer vacation" I took the week off work and we saw the sites and attractions here in KC. It's funny there's so much to do that we as locals never really stop to enjoy. The main reason we did it though is that travelling with 4 kids (all under 9 and two of them under 2) was not super appealing for flying or driving more than 5 hours. Maybe next year.

I think you asked about coaching...this is something that I've thought owuld be beneficial, but I'm not sure I ready to budget for it. There are so many resources here on BT, and other sites that I've felt like I need to continue to progress on my own. I think my times are improving primarly through getting in better fitness. Perhaps when I start hitting a wall where I'm not improving my performance anymore I'd start considering this more seriously. Honestly, swim coaching is probably the thing I think I could use the most help with. I have a swim background, but think that I'm good enough to not be terrible, but could probably make significant gains with some focused refinement.

I appreciate the support for re-upping the group. Mainly its just a matter of wanting to know whether you guys think the group has been helpful. I'm in and out obviously as there's been times when I am on the computer multiple times a day on the site and other times when I'm gone for a week without replies. So really it was a question of 1. Have I been helpful and 2. If I'm helpful am I appearing in the thread frequently enough for you guys to want to return for a second season.

David I'm gonna shoot you a PM regarding the coaching thing.

Coming up for season 2 we'll talk about setting up your base training schedule so a lot of that will get covered hopefully for you guys. It all depends on your overall goals for the season. Since we're starting to talk 70.3's, the base season is going to be very important to make that jump. It will also be a decision of whether you are looking to just finish the 70.3 or you want to be competitive similarly to your Olympic and Sprint distance results.

More comments on your guys posts later...

You've been very helpful! I credit you already with helping me improve my run form and speed up transitions significantly- two things off the top of my head. I think in terms of frequency, once I got used to the fact that this thread wasn't super active and learned not to expect responses the same day, then it seemed to be good, as all questions were eventually addressed/discussed. I would rather have the 9 pages that we have than 100's of pages of chatting. Good signal to noise ratio here!



I'm taking the jump to 70.3 very seriously, not interested in just finishing. I think I might fare better at longer distances as I think my strengths might lie more at the endurance end of the spectrum rather than on the short speed end. I know I will never podium 70.3 no matter what I do or how long I train, but I want to reach my athletic potential, whatever that may be. (okay, confession- I have fantasies/delusions about making the podium in 3+ years when I move into the 50-54 AG! ) I also plan on doing some sprints/Olys next season, but my main focus is going to be IMMT 70.3 in June and Pumpkinman 1/2 Iron in Sept.

Yes, you have been very helpful. I have always felt you provided in depth answers and explanation and haven't just glossed or marginalized things. I have been in a mentor group before and it was not quite as helpful of an experieince (although it had some benefits). Another thing that I appreciate is that while you're pretty experienced and also competing for podiums regularly, I never have sensed that you view any of the others on here as being less important in their aspirations, even though the overall committment and goals are far different from yours. I think that's big and also is very much in the spirit of what this BT site is all about.

Regarding response times, I've never thought it an issue either. I recognize that this is a free site (pretty much) and that the service you're doing is of no material gain to you. Also, nothing we're talking about it is really time sensitive in any way. And all of the responses have been thorough. So no complaints.

While the group is small, it also has been nice because if there were 10 other people activiely participating, some questions tend to get lost.

I also know from previous experieince that these groups tend to thrive early in the season and then as many complete their races the activity drops dramatically and usually there's only a few left at the end. I don't know Jon and Dominion well enough, but I freely admit I'm a "nerd" and have some OCD tendancies that tend to make me enjoy hanging around and learning and reading about triathlon stuff year round.



I'm still consdering my 70.3 goals. For me, it's more of a step in a "bucket list". I don't have the time to devote to the distance to be competitive. Ultimately, I want to someday do an IronMan. That is far off for me given my family and other time committments. However, 70.3 seems to be a distance that I may be able to jump up and do once to mark off the list before moving to IM in the next 5-6 years. I guess I also think of it as a challenge that could ultimately help me be more competitive at the Oly distance.

Chris: Thanks for dealing with the lame jokes and hopefully enjoying them. If what you're doing (triathlon or otherwise) isn't fun and you can't have a laugh from time to time then either you're doing it wrong or you need to find a new muse. Just my two bits there.

John: It was originally my intention to be more on top of the thread in terms of response than I got to be later in the season. But as I'm sure you guys understand the actual racing part starts taking your focus. I mean heck I stopped working a few days before I even left for Nationals just to chill out and not worry about the hustle and bustle of running my business.

But truthfully I'd agree to rather have more quality packed into a small thread than just posting a bunch of emoticons
every time you guys say anything and not really get to the heart of the matter.

Tell me more about what you're looking to do in the October to February range? Were you saying you already have a pre-built plan set up from Februrary on and you're looking to build up to be able to do that plan? Also my brain is blanking on what you mean by FTP? In my head that either refers to a File Transfer Protocol or Full Tilt Poker. Did I mention I did my final math research project on poker theory and presented it for undergraduate research? Probably not, ha.

David:

No sense in being uppity about trying to get on the podium towards you guys. We're in different places developmentally and I assure you there's tons of guys out there my age and younger than tromp me like there's no tomorrow. So on top of it being silly for me to be ego maniacal it would also just be a false sense of bravado. Triathlon, Running and I imagine all other endurance sports are in many ways a race against the clock. But really what we're trying to say by that is its a race against your own mind with your body and emotions at stake.

Many great coaches of mine have similarly said "Just go out and race. Give it everything you've got and the clock will take care of itself." Additionally I have added for myself that "It's just a race, enjoy yourself and have fun." I found in college, and my coach will attest to this, I dropped the best times of my seasons on races I decided I wanted to just go have fun with. There were no worries about championships or titles or even winning the race since I'm not that good of a runner. So this philosophy carries over into my racing now and into the advice I give out. Have a good time and smile. Literally, smile when you're racing.



As a short story the first time I broke 16 minutes in the 5k I had been doing the pace for 15:50 during 1000 meter repeat workouts for a few weeks and getting into the groove of that pace. Now its of course one thing to pop off 1000 meters at that pace with 90 seconds of rest in between each and a whole other thing to do them back to back. So this particular race was at Northwest Missouri State. There were a couple Northwest runners sitting right in my pace ahead of me so I could relax and sit in that groove without taxing my brain. I just keep sitting behind them, which is unusual for me since I pace well, and one of my female teammates who didn't really know any better was shouting/encouraging me to go around them. I just smiled, literally, because I was enjoying myself and I knew what I was doing. After about 6 laps the two guys starting falling off the pace and I had to make a move around them and run the second half of the race by myself with no blocking from the wind. However, I was relaxed and confident in what I was doing as well as having a good time. Which then enabled me to have the most painful last 1000 meters I can ever recall running. I've only felt like that one other time and it was in the pool this year for an all out 800 meters. It's a point you get to where you lean into the pain and nothing exists beside the intense burning and your ability to overcome it.

Anyway the moral of my personal story is that if you enjoy yourself and have prepared properly both mentally and physically then you'll be confident in what you're doing and the clock will take care of itself. That race put me at 15:58, a 30 second PR essentially on top of my previous 30 second PR just a month previous. I had no intention that day of would or wouldn't I break 16 minutes. Truthfully I wasn't looking to do it for another month or so after that, but because I decided to enjoy myself and enjoy the race I had the ability to seize an opportunity.


So above all else if you don't remember anything else I've talked about remember this. Race happy and smile. The clock will take care of itself.


P.S. Although you guys may not be interested or yet at a point you want to hire a coach just so you know (David knows already since we've been discussing it) my coaching plans for "internet coaching" are $300 for the first month to get all the nitty gritty details of goals, testing, previous training, getting to know each other, etc. out of the way and then $125/month after that for unlimited contact via e-mail/texts and a small amount of phone time allotted a week. Additionally I'll have a "refer a friend" promotion set up where you get a month free of training for doing just that, referring a new athlete to me.

I just let you know simply in case you know someone looking for a coach and you might be interested in mentioning me as a possibility. Whomever can get in touch with me here on BT or I can send whoever my personal contact info for easier


Edited by funkj25 2013-08-30 1:27 PM

FTP = Functional Threshold Power. Basically the maximum watts you can maintain for an hour on the bike.
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/what-is-threshold-po...

I don't have a power meter on my bike, but am using the Virtual Power calculations from Trainerroad software when biking on the trainer. So basically just saying I want to get stronger on the bike over the winter.

I don't really have a plan starting in February yet, but I figure most HIM plans are 16 weeks and I want to get in shape and ready such that I could hit the ground running with a decent 16 HIM plan in February for my June 70.3.

I'm worried about swimming Oct-Feb, I'm afraid I will let it slide and not keep at it, as it's such a pain in the butt to get to the pool and swim and it's so easy to get out and run or ride or if the weather is bad, hit the in home treadmill or bike trainer. If I had my own indoor pool I would be really, really good at the swim!

Did you ever give Revolver a try?

By the way, when I started with TR and the Sufferfest my FTP was 199. The last time I tested was end of May and it was up to 237. I actually think my bike fitness degraded a bit during the season as I was less focused on power and it seems my most recent workouts I've found it harder to hold my power where I need to.