TEAM RFP (Relentless Forward Progress)- CLOSED (Page 9)

Originally posted by ettringite23

Back from vacation, I went fishing for a few days! Still got my workouts in

First race is this Sunday, Pleasant Prairie in Wisconsin. My calf is feeling good. I practiced an OWS with my new wet suit. I swam fast, but the suit appears to constrict my breathing. Being an asthmatic, this scared me a little. Anyone else experience the same thing? I am going to try one more OWS with the suit and see how it goes. Mostly recover this week: OWS, easy run, easy bike.

Did a full brick last Wednesday: OWS, bike 13, and run 3.5. Went pretty well albeit was tired and lacked proper nutrition.

Originally posted by tmoran80

Hey Mike - Good move going with the HRM. Heart rate zone training is one of the simplest and effective ways to gauge your effort to not under train or over train and risk injury. The first step is to calculate your heart rate zones. The simplest is to to the 220 minus your age to get your peak heart rate. So for example my age is 39 so my max heart rate would theoretically be 181. You would then base you base your zones off of percentages to the max.

ZONE 1 = 50-60% (90-108)
ZONE 2 = 60-70% (109 - 126)
ZONE 3 = 70-80% (127-144)
ZONE 4 = 80-90% (145- 162)
ZONE 5 = 90%+ (163 +)

The main problem with this and triathletes is that your heart rate is going to be lower for your bike than your running. The most effective way to get your zones is to do a Lactate Threshold test. You would then get an average number that you plug into your log here on Beginner Triathlete and it automatically calculates your zones. You should do one for the bike and your run. These are also a great way to track your progress. Here is the link with instructions on how to do the test. Here is the link: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=...

As far as the zones go here is a good description of what each zone means:

Zone 1 - basically a warm up - very easy effort.

Zone 2 - This is your aerobic or endurance zone. Most of your endurance training should be in this zone. It is very tough when you start out since you will think that you are not working hard enough. When I started HR zone training my Zone 2 run pace was almost 11:00/mile. After a few months it was down to 9:00/mile. You just have to have faith haha!

Zone 3 - This is consider your "junk" mile zone. if you spend alot of tim ein this zone you will most likely become injuried since you are pushing too hard and not really gaining much.

Zone 4 - This is your anaerobic zone. You should be in this zone for interval work or speed work outs. This will help build some speed and help the body flush out the lactate acid.

Zone 5 - Pushing way too hard

Hopefully that helps! Let me know if you have any questions or need some help!

Also IronFink is actually an Ironman training program based of of a Don Fink book called Iron Fit. Great book and plan and what I used last year for IMWI and am basing my training off this year for Racine 70.3.

Originally posted by tmoran80

Whoo Hoo! I rode my bike into work this morning and NO FLATS!! haha. I have a crazy busy weekend this weekend with three shows so I have no time to get my long ride in so I decided to ride into work (32 miles) and then ride back home tonight. Had a great ride this morning - weather was perfect 60 degrees and sunny with a slight headwind. I hammered it and made it to work in 1:39:55 (18.1 mph avg) and felt great.

So what is going on this weekend? Anyone racing? Father's Day plans? I am playing a fest on Sunday at Sheffield & Addison next to Wrigley Field called Sausage Fest haha. Being a White Sox fan I find that very fitting for Wrigleyville -might be interesting haha

Originally posted by tmoran80

That is probably best - it will give you the most accurate data. Haha - I feel your pain on trying to stay in the zones. One thing to keep in mind is that you might get really high readings for the first 5-10 minutes of your workout. Not sure why but I have read about it being common and for me it usually about 1/2 mile into my run I will just instantly drop from high Zone 3 to Zone 1. Let us know how the lactate threshold test goes.

Originally posted by tmoran80

Where did you catch that Walleye? Nice fish.

I will also be up at Pleasant Prairie this weekend - last minute kind of a thing. I will be guiding a para-triathlete in the Olympic race with Dare2Tri. I am performing at a wedding in the the Milwaukee area Saturday night so and will get out of there around 1:00am then drive down to Pleasant Prairie (about 45 minutes) catch about 2-3 hours of sleep in the car then race at at 6:30. Kinda crazy but looking forward to it. Maybe we can meet up?

No help on the wet suit question. I do find the wetsuits tight when i first put it on but once I get in the water I don't really notice it.

Originally posted by tmoran80

Congrats on getting that first race under your belt Joe! I am sure it felt good to be done with it but you know you are hooked when you can't wait for the next one.

On the swim - One suggestion would be to start to either the left or right side instead of the middle and work your way back in after it settles down a bit. After a couple OWS you will get used to it.

2X on Todd's comment about a race belt. Very inexpensive and saves a ton of time. It also sounds like you put a shirt on in transition- right? You might want to consider picking up some tri shorts and jersey especially if you think this is something you want to continue with. Then you just get out of water jump on your bike and your off.

On the bike - It sounds like you might have been pushing to hard of a gear. That will come with practice. One thing to work on is to keep your cadence or pedal RPM around 80-90. You can figure this by just counting your right foot for 15 seconds and multiply X 4 (or with a bike computer) If your cadence is anywhere below 75 you are probably pushing too hard (some people refer to it as "Grinding" and your legs will get that jello feel. The key is to keep that cadence high and consistent. So if you are riding flat road you should be at 85-90 rpm, if you hit an incline then shift up to make it easier to pedal but keep that cadence at 85-95. After some practice you will get a good feel of what is going on and will just know when to shift just by your RPM "feel". Hopefully that makes sense.

You finished strong on the run which is great. If you incorporate some brick (bike/run) workouts once a week you will get used to that dead leg feel. They don't have to be long - just 10 minutes of running after biking will do it.

Again great work and glad you had a successful first race!

Originally posted by ettringite23

That is a great effort for 32 miles! Nice job!! What was your HR zones during that ride?

PS Minnesota Twins fan here

Originally posted by ettringite23

Did a 1 mile OWS with the wet suit tonight. It went really well. No breathing problems. Stroke was pretty good. I have to work on sighting and proper body rotation. I feel the buoyancy of the wet suit lessens my body rotation.

Finished just under 30 minutes on the mile, so hoping for sub 15 on the tri on Sunday (1/2 mile).

I will send you a PM with my phone number, if you want to meet up before or after race

Originally posted by SouthFLJoe
Thanks so much for the tips!! I definitely need to start keeping track of my cadence on the bike and be more consistent with it. Do any of the basic bike computers measure cadence or is that a more advanced piece of equipment. I also just got the 910xt Triathlon bundle which includes a sensor for the bike so im pretty sure that might include a cadence field. Once again thanks for the tips and my next Triathlon is only 11 days away!!

Originally posted by MikeMcK
Just noticed your hat (nice fish, by the way), I'm a Cards fan. Does this mean I have to leave the group now?

Originally posted by tmoran80

The 910XT is a great watch and it sounds like you do have the cadence /speed sensor so you will get a wealth of data to use. make sure you familiarize your self with all the custom features and alarms it offers. example - set you bike workout to fall with the RPM of 80-90 and the watch will beep when you go to high or too low. Good Luck!

Originally posted by MikeMcK

Just a quick report, I have my thresholds for running and biking and have been trying to use the new levels more as I build fitness back up. Went for a 90 min ride with the father-in-law again on Wednesday. Went okay, although my drivetrain is still funky and kept me out of the middle ring. Even with that we averaged a full mph faster than the week before (so 15 instead of 14, but I'll take what I can get). HR stayed lower and recovery was better too. I also ran more in Z2, but that has caused me to slow way down. Like 10 min mile slow. For years I've done a 4+1 run/walk, but I think I need to increase run time and bring overall time down. Does that make sense?

Will join a pool on the first, going to bite the bullet and go to one 20 miles away. We're in a pool desert here!

Originally posted by kruzmeister

Okay I have a question for those in the know about bikes.

My roadie is an Orbea Aqua TSR with Shimano Sora gearing. I have a compact double crankset 34x50 and 12-27 9 speed rear cogs.

It is looking very certain that I wont have the money to buy a TT bike with ultegra gearing before IMOZ, so I'm wondering if I should change the front crankset to a standard double or triple? Bare in mind the bike course of IMOZ is VERY hilly, but there are also a lot of downhills and some flats once you are out of Port Macquarie. I obviously want to get every advantage I can on my bike as it is my weakest leg.

I'm heading into the LBS tomorrow to have a chat with the guys, but they will probably tell me I'm wasting my money, but if it helps me to make the cut off well then its money well spent in my book. Also would you have any idea what something like that would cost? I've even thought about getting all of the Sora components changed over to 105.

Here's the specs to my bike http://www.orbea.com/au-en/bicycles/aqua-tsr/

Any and all opinions appreciated.

Have a good week everyone, cheers!

Originally posted by retiretotri

Still trudging along. Long bike is at 55 miles, long swim 3100 yards, and long walk/run 10 miles. I hope you ironman vets have some advice for me on my run/walk. Using run/walk intervals of 3 min run/2 min walk right now but become fatigued about 7-8 miles into the workout. I would like to increase the run interval to 4 min and leave the walk interval at 2 min. Should I wait? Eleven mile run/walk on tap for tomorrow and will stick with 3/2 this week.

Thanks!