Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--Now Open (Page 9)

The Super Bowl is tomorrow!

So is that an excuse to skip training, eat anything and everything in sight, and generally forget for a day that we are training for athletic excellence?

We are having about 30-people over for a Super Bowl party.  Our one real extravagance every year.  Have food in the 'frig, beverages chilling down to the optimal temperature, and all of the TV's moved so nobody will miss a play.  I keep telling myself the food is for everyone else!

I have said all season that I didn't see anybody beating Carolina.  Now, I have to say I am rooting for Denver.  As much as I am a Payton Manning fan, I don't think he is the key to Denver winning.  Nobody thought they could beat New England and the Bronco's 'D' absolutely worked the Patriots.  If the Denver 'D' can have another career day -  their 3-4 pressure and contain Newton, and their secondary be an impenetrable wall, then Denver has a chance.  If they can't then it is gonna be a really long day.  

I say Denver in a nail biter.  

What say the Gray Guys/Gals?

Steve - I would love to go back to Chelan.  It was a great race and the lake was particularly enjoyable.  I really enjoy crystal clear water anytime.  I'll get back there someday.  I looked up Lavaman out of interest and it looks like a fun race.  I like the idea of combining travel and a race.

Dave - I agree it is motivating to have a list of races to look forward to.  Your Quassy race sounds interesting.  I'd like to see it's uphill swim.  A friend did the Augusta Georgia 70.3 as a preparation for IM Florida and her swim was downhill.  She swam the 1.2 miles in :28:xx.  She is fast but that was amazing.

Chris - Scott and Deb's advice about wetsuits is perfect but I'd just add emphasis to the necessity of a perfect fit.  When I bought mine I tried on 3 cheap suits and hated them so I asked for something a little more expensive and they gave me a Blue Seventy Fusion, sort of a mid range suit, and it took me forever to get it on (inexperience) but it felt so much better.  I bought it 4 summers ago and I've logged 120 OWS since.  It is still in pristine condition and I can put it on faster than most others I swim with.  I suspect that when people buy poorly fitting wetsuits, even expensive ones, they have trouble with putting it on and taking it off plus they break down faster with the extra strain of pulling them on. 

Scott - The Seaworld 5K sounds like a fun day.  Yesterday in the pool, I had Jonny O and a Tri Pro swimming in the lane beside me.  It was interesting to watch both of them.  He didn't swim long but the Pro kept going.  She was so fast I couldn't begin to guess how fast she was or how often she was passing me.  At my Tuesday evening Cycling session I heard that Jonny had his group swim 50# 50m on 10 secs rest.  I'm not sure I could do it in an hour.

Very appropriate you should mention swimming more often is more important than time swimming.  While I was swimming yesterday I was speculating on how I couldn't maintain my pace when I was swimming 100m intervals.  I started out swimming about 2:15 but as I fatigued I slowed to 2:30 and I was getting sloppy.  I tried to hold the 2:15 but couldn't.  I'm going to change to more swims as soon as I can.

Have fun tomorrow.  I'd like to see Preston Manning's team win but only because I understand he may be retiring soon.  Beyond that I don't know enough to have an informed opinion.

David - Welcome to the group.  I peeked at your race reports and I'd say you're not so bad a runner as you think.  The group works best if you get involved in asking questions and offering opinions.  Where is the HIM you're planning to do?

Hey Dave.  Oh man, sorry I missed your initial post.  Welcome to the group!

"Youthful indiscretion!"  Oh my, been there done that, so glad I left that at college!

With 6 Sprints and an Olympic last year, you have progressed quite far in only a year.  As you are planning to move up to a half this year, have you given any thought to a training plan?  When you start to go long, having a plan becomes much more important.

Look forward to getting to know you and I'm happy to try and answer any questions you may have.

Yeah, I fear you are right.  Hoping not, but reality is reality right?

Hey Dave,

I took a look at the bike course.  It looks like there are a couple somewhat challenging sections - one grade at 4.7% and a couple more at 3%.  The half course is even more challenging with multiple 7%+ climbs.  The thing that will be most challenging is the hills just keep coming at you with little break.

Even on a flat course, bike pacing is key to a good run.  On a hilly course, it becomes that much more important.  This is a course that begs for a power meter.  Certainly you can do it using RPE, but you will have much better control over pacing with a PM - I know, that is an expensive step.  I would be riding as many challenging hills as I can find between now and race day to dial in your RPEometer if you go that way.

What size chain-rings do you have up front and which cassette on the rear?  Depending upon what you have on the back, you might consider a different cassette that will allow you to deal with the climbs a little better.  Cassettes aren't that expensive (typically $50-150 for Shimano depending upon type and ratio - Ultegra towards the bottom of the range, Dura-Ace towards the top of the range) and pay huge dividends on a hilly course.

Hey George,

50 x 50 w/10" RI is a set you do once your swim base is well developed.  That is the kind of set that builds speed.  It is also the type of set that can be VERY challenging.  It gets harder and harder as you get deeper into the set.  To make that type of set even more challenging, instead of a defined rest interval, you have a defined send-off interval.  Say for example that your 50 pace is 35-seconds.  You swim that set with a 45-second send-off interval.  THAT my friend is what we use to call vomit sets.  As you get deeper into the set, your rest interval gradually gets shorter and shorter as you fatigue and accumulate lactate until, towards the end of the set, you have only enough rest to draw a breath (or puke) before you have to go again.  50 of them on a defined send-off?  Yeah you'd be using the gutter for more than water.  But you would get FAST!  Ahhh, those were the days!

I say all the time if your technique breaks down during a workout to take an additional rest period of 1-3 minutes, depending upon what you are doing.  If that does not restore  your technique, then get out of the water, go home, and try again tomorrow.  There is absolutely ZERO to be gained working out with poor form.  All you are doing is committing improper technique to muscle memory.  The whole point of intervals is so that you can swim further before exhaustion.  If you are having difficulty maintaining form, lengthen your interval 5-10 seconds.  That should allow you to swim "longer" without the technique degradation during a set.

Swimming more frequently helps with technique and feel for the water because you are fresher when you are in the water.  Feel for the water develops more rapidly because of the way we humans process something new.  Doing it more frequently commits it to memory more quickly than doing it longer.

And THAT my friends is why they play the game!  And I'm happy to say I didn't go too crazy with all the edible temptations!

Well, the Super Bowl is over so now it's back to training.  For me, that means out the door heading for the pool at 4:30 tomorrow morning, then strength and a run.  Looks like I have a total of a little over twelve hours planned this week - 3 running, 3 swimming, and 6 cycling.  I am still in a cycling focused base phase as I build my run back up.

What's on tap for everyone else this week?

Scott ... just got the time to read your post and help on swimming.  I am waaaay behind with postings from the group, as we just got back from Cancun last week after a long trip and finishing up on the barn as well. 

My training in earnest begins this week, so I'll review the links you provided on swimming and respond back should I have questions.  Too, I'll try and get some video of my swimming for your review.

Dave,

The 12/28 cassette is the one I would have recommended so Steve beat me to the punch!  (Now that you mentioned it, I do vaguely recall some discussion about that last year  - VERY vaguely).

Now, on to the loaded question that really only you can answer.  You have done the race before using RPE.  Admittedly you struggled with pace a little bit, but you learned from that I imagine.  Pacing in hills is fairly straightforward - for the first half of the ride, if you aren't being passed by A LOT of people, you are going to fast.  They will all come back to you when they die because they went out to hard.  The ones that don't come back to you, you'll pass on the run when they die because they went to fast on the bike.  No doubt if you choose to do the race again using RPE you will manage bike pace better than last time so don't feel like you MUST run out and spend $400-1,500 to buy a power meter.

Now that we have that out of the way.  Let's talk about what power can do for you so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not you should dip in to your "fun budget."  First thing you need to answer is how committed are you to triathlon in the long term?  You are after all talking about a fairly significant investment.  Next question, are you using Trainer Road or some other form of virtual power?  Trainer Road is a good, inexpensive way to introduce yourself to training with power.  You can become familiar with the various terms, what they mean and how they apply.  I strongly encourage (actually require) any athlete I work one-on-one with to sign-up for Trainer Road.  The various training plans are excellent.  It is quite literally like having a coach there with you on each and every ride.  I suggest three rides a week on the trainer and your long ride outdoors on your bike (weather permitting).  That will get you training with power and begin to make large improvements in your cycling.

The downside to Trainer Road is that it uses virtual power if you don't have a power meter - meaning it is useless outdoors.  If/when you get a power meter you can pair the PM with Trainer Road and continue to reap the benefits of the TR workouts while using your actual power numbers that WILL translate to the outdoors.

So let's talk about what power can do for you.  Training with power takes the subjectivity out of your training.  If the ride calls for a 6 x 10' intervals @ 85% FTP w/5' recovery at 55% FTP, you simply do that - ride 6 intervals of 10-minutes at 85% of your FTP with a 5-minute recovery at 55% of your FTP.  NO GUESSWORK.  You do the workout as designed - you reap the benefits - period.  Without power it is impossible to be that precise in your training.  Indoors, outdoors, windy or calm, with a power meter you can hit your EXACT workout as planned.  Without a power meter, not so much.  You can get that benefit with Trainer Road by the way in the comfort of you pain cave!  As an added bonus, because you would be doing periodic FTP tests, you will have an objective measurement of your improvement as you see your FTP increase.

The benefit of power really becomes apparent on race day.  Probably the single biggest challenge triathletes face is correctly pacing the bike - and that's on a flat course.  What happens if the course is hilly or it's windy?  Using your Power Meter in the most intelligent way, you would have established your FTP - Functional Threshold Power.  Then, riding with power during training and a couple of race simulations, you would have determined 'YOUR" target race %FTP.  Typically for an Olympic that will be ~ 85-95% FTP.  On race day it is real simple; you have Average Watts Per Lap, Normalized Power Per Lap, and Current Watts (10-sec smoothing) displayed on your Garmin (or watch or whatever head unit you are using).  If your target power is 85-95% FTP then that is the number you want to see in your average and normalize power displays.  The closer those two numbers are to identical the better you paced the race.  Hills, wind, flat, calm - DOESN'T matter!  Keep your output power at your target power and you are golden. (That is a VERY simplistic explanation. It would easily take several paragraphs (pages?) to give a more detailed explanation of power and how it works with respect to pacing, hills, etc.  The point is, power takes the guess work out of pacing.)

When I said the race we are talking about cries out for a power meter, it is because of the relentless nature of the hills.  They aren't that high or that steep, but they just keep coming.  A power meter will keep your pacing accurate.  You somewhat develop tunnel vision as you focus only on your target power.  You won't be induced to go faster by little old ladies or children passing you; yeah you will see them but you will know that the pace you are going is the perfect pace for YOU - so you won't be influenced by what others are doing.  There is a saying, "Do the ride you should do, not the ride you could do."  Having a power meter helps you do the ride you should do, so you can run afterwards; instead of the ride you could do that, while it may be fast, will all but guarantee your run will be a walk.

As to getting it now or waiting for the new bike.  You will instantly begin to see the benefits of a power meter.  The bike the PM is on doesn't matter.  Of course, you can instantly begin to see the benefit of training with power by signing up for Trainer Road.  If you are seriously considering a PM for the upcoming race, I would STRONGLY urge you to get the PM on your bike a number of months before the race.  You need to train with power and become familiar with what it is telling you.  Getting a power meter and then trying to use it a week later in a race will be a recipe for disaster.

On a personal note.  I firmly believe that the money I spent on a power meter to be the single best investment I have made in triathlon.  More valuable than the triathlon bike, more valuable than the watches and all the other toys combined.  Would I dip in to my "fun budget" to purchase a power meter?  Knowing what I know now, I would mortgage my house to get one.  But that's just me.

Hope that helps.

PS -  Here are a couple links to DC Rainmaker articles about power meters.  The first is a general run down of what is out there, the second, if you scroll down, has what is probably some dated pricing but it will give you an idea.  I suspect actual prices may be a touch lower as there has recently been kind of a power meter war going on.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/10/buyers-guide2015-edition.html

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/04/power-meter-pricing-wars.html