Gearwhore/himself Group - FULL (Page 9)

Hey guys. I really hate to do this because I am in my 20 week program but I am bowing out for 3-4 days or however long its going to take me to get better. I thought I have been getting over whatever sickness I have but each time I start back up I just get worse. At this point now I am pretty sure I have the flu and can barely move. Every muscle in my body feels like I have been thru a war and it even hurts to take a p*ss. I'm not going to do any training until I am better because obviously it has shown the past week or so that I'm not at my best. I don't know what else I can do but to not do anything. If anyone knows a way of doing it quicker please let me know. Not only am I on the 20 week program but I need to prepare myself for that du in April.

 On another note... Jame, I know what you mean about the heating bill. I bought a 200 year old farm house and have the same issues you have. I leave the temp. at 60 degrees as well and never move it up. Last February my bill was close to $475. I hate that time of year but its worth it because I love the farm house and wouldn't trade it for anything more modern. It has a historic value as well, it was the original farm house in my area.

Guys, I will most likely check in once a day for the next couple of days or so but I am going to try to keep away because all I am going to do is get depressed getting on here and will want to get out there and do something too early.

Take it easy.

-AJ

Congratulations!  That's awesome, keep up the good work.

Hey guys, just a quick note to say sorry for being sort of absent on BT lately.  I've been super busy at work, and we're really pushing hard at home to get as much done as possible before the baby gets here.

Couple of quick thoughts:

(1) Ryan and I still intend to finish up the running series stuff, we just both got busy at the same time.

(2) As you start to get on your bikes outside more in the next month or two, don't hesitate to ask questions about riding.  Group etiquette, nutrition on the bike, handling, etc.  We've covered some of this, but not in detail since everyone has been spending so much time on the trainer.

(3) I would encourage everyone to start thinking about and tracking weekly/monthly volume, and recommit to being consistent.  There are three easy methods on BT - look at the monthly calendar for empty squares, look at the graphs to check volume, and look at the tabulation to see what kind of hours you're accumulating in a month.  If you aren't already on a structured plan, one easy way to improve your training is to simply increase the total volume from week to week, and training cycle to training cycle.  At the most basic level, gaining fitness requires that you go longer, go faster, some combination of both, and/or increase total volume.  Take a rest week after every three weeks of training, but challenge yourself to do a little more during your three week training cycles.

(4) As everyone has now seen, life gets in the way pretty frequently.  But don't forget that even 20 minutes of running is better than nothing at all.  Don't be a slave to the training plan, just because you can't complete the entire scheduled workout doesn't mean that you should take a day off.  Just get in what you can.

(5) As the weather gets better and the days get longer, you might consider setting some intermediate training goals for yourself.  Like you might try to do a 3000 swim, 50 mile bike ride, 6-10 mile run - all of course depending on where your fitness is currently and the longest distance on your race schedule. 

(6) Biking long is probably the best and easiest means to build endurance, so try to get a couple of longer rides in this spring before the race season.  It's amazing what just a couple of long sessions will do for your basic endurance.  As a good rule of thumb for basic endurance, I would encourage you to try and do 3-6 rides this spring/summer that are at least as long in duration as your longest race.  So, for example, I will be racing a half ironman this year as my longest race.  My expected finish time is around 5 hours, so I would like to get in at least 6 bike rides of 5 hours or longer.  I'll try to get in a lot more than that (just because I like to ride my bike), but 3-6 would be enough to ensure that my body can go the duration.  Doesn't need to be anywhere near race intensity, just needs to be as long or longer than the expected race time to build basic endurance.  For an Oly - 3 hour bike rides would be ideal; for a Sprint, try to build up to 2 hours.

(7) On nutrition and weight loss - everyone is doing great, keep it going.  The thing to watch for this spring and summer as the intensity and volume of training ramps up is total caloric intake.  If you eat too little, you will really stress your immune system and limit your ability to train properly and recover.  Plus, if you're too short on calories, your body will go into a sort of conservation mode, and the weight loss will basically stall.  Try not to short yourself more than about 500 calories per day, and be conscious of the fact that more intense training means more intense nutrional/caloric requirements. 

Keep it up boys, and happy training.

Nothing but crickets out there boys, what's going on?  How 'bout an update from everyone?  Just a few lines to let us know what's going on, challenges, questions, whatever.

I didn't practice for the transitions last year, but I probably should have.  A lot of time is lost in transition by most people, and it's sort of funny that people will train for 6 months to get 1 minute faster on a 10K, but not spend 15 minutes a week to drop probably the same amount of time in a transition.  Things you can do to practice include taking off the wetsuit, practicing running mounts on the bike, practicing running dismounts off the bike, and getting used to pulling on the running shoes quickly and getting going on the run.

As far as focus, I think about doing things smoothly but quickly.  Flailing around in a hyperactice state is usually a lot slower than catching your breath for a second and getting everything right the first time.  Normally, with a few minutes to go in the swim or bike I'll start thinking about what I need to do in transition, and doing it as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

There are a ton of articles and threads on BT about setting up transition, so I won't mess with that too much, but a couple of obvious ones are Yankz elastic laces for the shoes (so that you don't need to tie your running shoes), and Body Glide on your arms and legs to get the wetsuit off easier.  Check around BT and you'll find a bunch of other tips, then just set up a transition area in your bedroom for practice.

I don't change clothes during the race.  I wear tri shorts and jersey under the wetsuit, and that is the race outfit for the whole time.  The only thing I add is the helmet and glasses for the bike (helmet is required), and then I swap to a hat for the run.

Alright, I'll do a quick update too and maybe prompt some of you guys to respond (including Ryan).

Overall - things are going well, no major injury issues (just niggling little spots here and there).  Still a long way from race season, but I'm starting to get excited about the summer and racing again.  Dreaming of buying a new time trial bike, but the stars need to align for that to happen.

Swim - pretty casual right now.  Swimming is NOT the focus of my season this year, so I'm trying to get as much as I can out of as little training as possible.  I think that might include Ryan and I doing some of those sessions with the endless pool and video camera so that I can tweak form and maximize efficiency.  I'm not going to be in the pool enough to go fast in the water on shear volume, so I want to see if I can get a little speed out of improved form.

Bike - Things are really coming around quickly on the bike.  I rode with Ryan about a month ago and felt like complete and utter crap.  Lately, the bike has been feeling friendly and strong again.  I'm doing a lot more early season climbing and higher intensity work this year, and I'm interested to see if it pays off.

Run - Marathon paid huge dividends, and I'm enjoying how easy running feels these days.  I'm running endurance and fast paced runs at much higher than ever speeds, which is making me really happy.  Still to be determined whether there was a big gain in the long run, but right now I'd have to say the off-season mary training was well worth the time and effort.

Nutrition - Finally broke down and started logging on Fit Day this week.  After a couple of days using Fit Day, I have to conclude that I was under-eating before.  Even at a weight loss clip, I think I need to be taking in 3200 cal/day, and I think I was down around 2500.  In short, I was under-eating and conserving weight instead of eating properly and losing it.  3200 cal feels like a TON of food.  We'll see if that unlocks the mystery on why my weight is totally constant despite my efforts to shed some pounds.

I agree with James that training with others helps if you can swing it.  Makes the time go by fast, scratches the itch to talk tri, you learn a lot, and it's good motivation.  Plus, when you watch other good athletes, you learn things on the spot.

I'll consolidate two posts into one. Adam was right on when talking about transitions and being able to save some good time there. I think it's all about the set-up and then making it routine. I've done it before where I've had my bike stuff set up outside against the garage, helmet in the aerobars, sunglasses in the helmet, shoes next to the bike. Then to practice the out of breath/disoriented feeling of coming out of the water, I'll walk to the end of the block (0.1 miles from home) and sprint to the house and try and get on my bike and gone as fast as possible. I'll go out and do my ride, them come in to the same set-up with my running stuff inside and get out the door again. A lot of times I'll only run down to the end of the road if I don't have a brick planned. You'll also see people coming into transition with their feet on top of their shoes, flip one leg over the top tube, coast in for a few feet and dismount while running all in one fluid motion. Watch others and you'll be able to figure it out, but don't get too caught up in doing everything just yet, especially if it's your first tri. That other stuff will come.

My training.

Let's just say that from a training standpoint I'm glad February is over. Not the best month for me as I had a lot of interruptions that kept my numbers lower than they should have been. That said, my motivation is really good right now and I'm enjoying the workouts, looking forward to some nicer weather (even though it's snowing out right now), and starting to think about race scenarios as I train.

Swim - I spent a lot of time in the off season working on my swimming to bring my time down since it's my weakest discipline. For the most part I think I've succeeded since my endurance pace right now is better than my t-pace at the end of last year. I'm more aware of my form and what I need to do. I had a lot of momentum going into February, but lost some of the speed I had gained. Fortunately, I'm confident that I can get it back and keep making gains. The swimlab sessions with Adam will help, as will just being consistent in getting my swim workouts in. It's easy to put these off when it starts getting nice out and that can't happen.

Bike - The good news is that I'm well ahead of where I was last year at this time (due, in part to a fitness carryover). The bad news is I think I'm a little behind where I should be (in my mind). The weather's really kept me from getting in the longer rides that I want/need and I have a hard time going long on the trainer. My leg strength is good but needs to be better. Still though, I feel like I'm making gains each time I get outside to ride.

Run - I haven't done any real speed work yet so I don't know where my speed is just yet, but aerobically, I'm doing well here. My mileage is decent and will keep going up, and my aerobic pace continues to fall.

I should mention that I'm still in my base phase so while I could use more muscular endurance in all three sports, some of that will come as I add in more tempo sets throughout the build period.

Strength - I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't focus on this properly. I realized more recently that I wasn't getting enough out of doing these workouts in the morning, and could lift more weight and do more reps in the afternoon. So in that regard, I'd say my leg strength is fair. However, my core strength is good due to a continued focus on that.

Recovery/Nutrition - I've been going to bed earlier than typical, but need to be in bed even earlier still, especially as my build phase approaches and the workouts get longer/more intense. I'm headed in the right direction here though. For nutrition I still need to eat more fruits, but have been eating vegetables (salad) at least once a day with dinner.

Overall, I'd say I'm at about 7 out of 10, which is okay, but I should be better. With my first race 60 days, it's definitely time to be consistent and stay focused.

Hey Gents,

You all know my story and what was up with me so I'm not going to get into detail... just pick up where I left off. As for tricks to making up time or what not, it's like you said. You need to utilize the early morning workout. It's imperative that I have my morning workout because of such a busy life outside of everything else plus there is always that chance I have to work like 6 hours overtime on any given day. It is going to get lighter out so that is one plus for you. All the sh*t I have been doing has been in the dark so I was running with those road ID strobe lights (one attached to the front and one attached to the back) so I don't get hit by a car. If you do need to use a gym find a place that is open 24/7. There is one that is going to open here in town in May and I can't wait to sign up for that. Besides that just try to stay as close to your schedule as possible and if it so happens that you miss a workout then just shrug it off and just make sure the next one you have is a kick @ss one. You already have the drive, it's just that life is happening to get in the way. I have had a hard time dealing with that as well but all you guys were there for me when it happened. Keep the chin up and keep driving to that HIM goal you have set for yourself. 

Everyone else, thank you for the inspires. I apologize for not sending much back but I wanted to stay away from this place for a bit until I was feeling better. The last time I ended up just getting too motivated and went back early and it only hurt me more.  Take care and have a hard workout week everyone!

I won't really disagree with James on the swim thing . . . once you get your swim up to that distance.  I know that has been a challenge early this season, so just keep working the swim as much as you can early on, and when you work up to the race distance in one continuous swim, back off the training there and just try to maintain.  Lots of people just survive the swim and move on.

As far as time saving training tips:

(1) Go shorter but faster during the week.  Seems like you have a lot of long and mid-long workouts planned during the week, and it's sometimes easier to bag them completely than do a little.  Instead of looking at a daunting 1:30 workout on a Tuesday, just go out on a weekday morning, lunch, or afternoon/evening and run 3-4 at a higher pace.  Same with the bike, shorter and harder if possible.  Saves time and you still get a quality workout.  Which then allows you to get in a longer endurance session on the weekend. 

(2) I like James suggestion about organization.  I have one whole section of my closet devoted to training gear.  I can be dressed and out the door for a run in less than 5 minutes, same for the bike.  Organize your life a little to make everything a one step process to be out the door and training.

(3) At the risk of offending every uptight endurance athlete in the world, skip the stretching.  Most studies are inconclusive about the benefits of it anyway.  If you have time, fine, but don't build workouts around whether or not you have time to stretch.  If you have exactly 30 minutes, and that's all, don't screw around stretching for 15.  Take 2 minutes to get out the door, run for 28 (pretty hard) and move on.

(4) Scratch strength training entirely.  I strongly believe in the benefits of strength training, but it absolutely has to be the first thing to go if you are otherwise time limited.  Just don't even build it into your plan.  On your schedule, any free time you have should be spent on one of the three sports, not lifting.

(5) Don't be afraid to work out at non-standard times.  AJ alluded to this, and it works for me too.  I often start a swim after 8 pm.  Some people run early or late.  Whatever it is, don't get wed to the idea that you need to be sitting on the couch watching sitcoms just because it's Thursday at 8pm.  If nothing else is going on around the house, sneak out and get your workout done.

With all of that said, I think it might also be time for a "come-to-Jesus" moment with your wife.  You are going to miserable to the point of despair in the half ironman if you don't get some long training days in to prep for this race.  I've done one half iron, and one marathon, and as much as everyone complains about how badly they feel at the end of a marathon, nothing compares to the misery I was going through at the end of the half.  Training to go the distance is imperative, there aren't too many people who can finish on guts.

Your running is strong, but you need to get to the point where you can comfortably ride a bike for 3+ hours, you need to get to the swim distance, and you need to be able to run a half after doing both of those things.  I think even from a minimalist standpoint, that's going to require at least one block of time on the weekend to go out for a long workout.  Whether it's Sunday morning, or some other block that you like better, just set aside 5 hours on the weekend for your training and go out and get it done.  Start with long rides, then make it long bricks, but work it out with your family to make it happen.

Sorry, never ridden with a good headlamp.  Maybe try road bike review online.