SBR Utopia ~~~~ Permanently OPEN!! (Page 9)

Nice job! I've been wondering about this course. Particularly after seeing that a Josh Beck put up a 4:42 at the half last year.

congrats James!

Neil, sorry about the DNF but sounds like you handled it well

That's awesome!  Very happy for you that the run came together (with the bike, etc.) - must be a great feeling to perform well on such a great course!

Matt

Theoretical question for the TP number jocks.

Is it better to race with a higher TSB but lower CTL/fitness (say, 25 and 90 - kinda random, but illustrative) or a lower TSB but higher fitness (say, 10 and 100) for a HIM?  Not sure which is better, but I think I could get to either place depending on how I approach my taper this week.

In other words, better to taper until the TSB curve goes from steep to beginning to flatten out (well into the positive double digit numbers) or stay in the steep portion of the TSB (high single digit to low double digit positive number) and prevent the CTL from slipping "too much"?

Jason, the article you linked was helpful and makes clear that it's all individual, but I'm looking for even a general guideline (or more HIM specific - not sure if for a longer course it's perhaps better to hold on to fitness a little bit more than taper more aggressively - although either will have at least SOME taper, as I'm not suggesting trying to BUILD fitness, just maintain more or less vs. a bit more freshness).

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Matt

I'm back! Already! The eta was 6 weeks recovery and I broke the tape in 13 days I was able to do at least something every day after surgery, slowly ramping into some hard bike sessions about 10 days out but just started running again yesterday. I still have a pretty big open wound on my back (just above my butt) but it doesn't really hurt now. It's just uncomfortable (but I've been dealing with that for 8+ months before the surgery anyway.)

I'll take some time ramping back in to be sure I don't have a setback. Since I already qualified for nationals I can drop the meet that was supposed to happen next weekend. I not only don't believe it would be wise to attempt a hard 10K on the track but I don't think it would tell me much other than I need to get back in shape

It looks like you all are having some nice races! 

And Neil, chin up! 

Great recovery time Adrienne - pretty substantial difference between the eta and your actual time.

I'm good with how my race played out.  I'm still sick, and that just validates that I made  the right call rather than trying to push through it on the day (although I was second guessing myself for the better part of 24 hours).

Welcome back, boss!  

I've always liked to incorporate one hard weekday group ride into my tri training just to mix things up.  I agree that the recovery cost can be pretty high (I'll usually build up around 130-150 TSS in 2 hours) so I usually have to plan the workouts before and after accordingly.  It would be hard for me to fit in two weekday hard group rides like that.  Usually my other weekday ride is 70-90 minutes, consisting of intervals on the TT bike...around 80-100 TSS.

Finally took back a KOM that I've been itching to take a real shot at for over a year.  I knew I had the fitness, but today was far from ideal going into a 15 mph headwind.  Not to mention with a small sling bag on back and a regular tech shirt instead of a jersey...LOL.  Smashed my previous best for 3 minute power by 23 watts.  Funny though that I had already figured in my head that I would need at least 420 watts to pull it off under today's conditions.  And I threw up afterwards...three times.  HAHA

http://www.strava.com/segments/1361818?filter=overall

Anyone toeing the line this weekend?  I'll be doing the Liberty Half Ironman in Minnesota tomorrow.  I managed a M45-49 AG win there in 2008 (can't believe its been that long) but haven't been back since....we'll see what happens with the M50-54 tomorrow.  Good luck to anyone racing.

Good luck Jim.

I tend to have mixed feelings on group rides as well. I guess it depends on the flexibility within the ride and your scheduling around it. Do you often have to chase every attack to stay with the group? And do they do that a lot? Are you able to adjust or schedule the workouts more immediately around the group ride to accommodate this? I too feel like riding until I'm very spent carries extra recovery that TSS doesn't always indicate. Things like Revolver or AVDP will do this to me if I'm truly done near the last interval and it will affect all workouts over the next few days, possibly a little longer. These will be noticeably short of 100 TSS as they're 45-50 minute workouts. Whereas I can do 150-160 at an easier effort and be fine the next day, or even later the same day. Could this also be from not doing as much of the really high intensity as a roadie might do?