Waterdog's Group - Closed (Page 13)

I agree with Chris.  Take it easy, use it as a workout before you start your taper, and learn from the experience.  It might be hard to hold back if you're feeling fast and frisky, but keep in mind that your "A" race is still 2 weeks out.

As far as my training schedule, I created my own plan based off the BT one I used last year, with lots of modifications.  I've been doing little "mini-intensives" where I'll focus on one of the disciplines for a while and throw in extra workouts in that area.  It seems to work for me - gives me a little extra time to focus on that while keeping my overall volume manageable.  I'm still in my base building phase, as my first race isn't until June (hazards of MN living).

Actually - I do have a question about schedules and calendars for Tim/others with some experience under their belts.  With the half-mary I just added, my race schedule got kind of tight in the beginning of June.  I have a triathlon on June 7, the half marathon 2 weeks after that, and my "A" Sprint race 3 weeks after that.  Then a month goes by before I do my Oly distance race. 

So what I'm planning to do is to get my fitness up to Oly distance for nearly everything prior to my first sprint.  The week of my first tri, I'll just sub that for my long workouts in the bike and swim discipline, but will do my long run early in the week (that week should be my first 12 mile run, which I don't feel like I can miss).  The following two weeks I will pull my run back somewhat for the half-marathon, but bring my bike levels back up and stay consistent on my swim. 

The week after the half-marathon, we're going on our family vacation, which will mean only a few recovery runs and some recreational biking/hiking.   The week following that would traditionally be the first week of taper for my A race, which, from the Oly levels I will have been at, should work out fine.  Then do a true taper week prior to the A race.  After that I should have no trouble picking my distances back up for the Oly a month later. 

So does that all make sense?  Anybody have any other bright ideas for me to consider?  I wish we could have put our vacation the week after my last tri, but that didn't work out this year.

Kristin, I think you should just make your Olympic the 'A' race and consider everything else part of the training program. 

 (Coming from the girl who has decided to make her 1st Olympic in 3 weeks a 'just finish the damn thing' race and decide later if the sprints or Olympics should be the 'A' races!)

I'm fighting some last minute injuries.  Am torn between keeping up with training to make sure I can do the 6-mile run after the bike and swim, or to try to allow my hip flexors time to recover and be able to run ANY of the run course by the time the race rolls around.  I'm really trying hard to ice and stretch as much as possible, but every day I see a long run on my schedule, I get all upset. 

 Tim and Wookie, are you guys ready for Saturday?  What do you want on your motivational posters?  What are your numbers and how can I identify you?  I'm officially there for my Coach and my two friends, but I can't neglect Team Waterdog!!

I say you allow yourself the recovery time.  You've got the fitness to make it to race day if you keep your bikes/swims up.  Keep doing those shorter runs if you can and focus on your PT. 

Sounds like an ideal situation to me

The idea is that your going to run multiple races on a single training cycle. I have always had great luck with this approach. I basically did 3 marathons in 8 weeks last year on a single training cycle with nothing but taper miles in between.

A lot of my marathoner friends swear by this and will commonly schedule a 10k or even a Half Marathon after their goal race and will commonly crank big Personal Best Times in the followup race.

If only bib numbers were assigned by projected finish times

Good luck this weekend and hope you make it out on Friday.

Nothing left to do now but enjoy the ride. The training is done, the weather is near perfect and hopefully your gear is all ready to go.

Not to worry Ken

You were missed, we are glad you are back, but you are a paricipating member of the group. I think you might have read some of the posts from earlier in February pointing out that we had a few folks who signed up but have not been back since. (You are definitely not one of those folks)

FWIW: It would be cool if some of them would come back too.

Take Care and glad to see you here.

Congratulations, Ryan & Tim!  Nice job out there today.....I definitely bow down. 

 I made a Go Team Waterdog sign and everything, but for the life of me I couldn't spot either one of you.  Well, I didn't spot Tim because he finished his run sometime around the time I found my spot at the turnaround on the run.  Ryan, were you in OCTri?  I did manage to spot my coach and a few other friends, so it wasn't a total loss.  But what a gorgeous day, albeit a bit chilly!  Was thinking of you all at 7am when I went out for my bike ride and couldn't feel my fingers.

 Anyway, wanted to congratulate you again on good finishes today.  Sorry I missed you.

As week 13 comes to a close, we reach the point where the mentor program officially ends. (According to the folks that set it up anyway) We have lost a few folks along the way but added quite a few more. Thanks to everyone who participated in making this a very cool group.

We are free to continue our group and I will be here participating as long as there are still folks in the group. As we head into prime Triathlon Season, it will be great to see everyone out there tearing up their goal races. The administrators will leave the forum and the threads in place for us to use for at least the remainder of the year. (A few of the 2007 groups are still active)

So, question of the week: Now that the days are getting longer, when do you normally get your outside workouts done. Are you a morning person, an afternoon person or even both as the training volume cranks up

Thanks for the thought. I hit the turnaround on the back side of the course (2nd Lap) singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame (7th Inning Stretch) and had the whole crowd singing by the time I was heading the other way

was stopping by to see how you did on your race Tim....sounds like you had a fun time and did really well to boot!....ready to go karaoking? have a great Monday!

OK, can't let us fall off the page here.

 QUESTION for you fast hill climbers out there.

 How in the HECK do you do it?  I think I have a little stage fright coming up to the hill and prematurely switch into my little ring and then spin as fast as I can with as little resistance as possible until I get there.....but then everyone and their mother comes flying up past me and I have to pass them all over again on the straightaways and downhills.  It's really getting me down here.  Do you just get used to the pain of pushing the big ring?  Do you pedal as hard as you can until you are halfway up and then switch over?  Practice over and over and over again on hills?  I mean, I'm not a slow cyclist, but I'm starting to take these hills a bit personally and would dearly love to know if there's some sort of secret to them.  (This question coming from the girl who did her first triathlon without shifting because she had no clue....yes, I'm smarter now and shift constantly, but clearly have not mastered the hills)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!  I'm exactly one week out from my first race of the season and as you can see, totally freaking out.    It's a good freakout, though.

The trick for me is to find a gear that I can work the hill with and not fight. (The Gear that is) This usually means keeping the cadence high and my butt in the seat as long as possible. I try to build up as much momentum as I can in the early part of the hill and then carry it as long as possible up the slope.

With tougher hills, there always seems to be a point where it is time to get out of the saddle and start hammering for the top. The goal I shoot for is to have some speed to push over the top with and not stall at the crest.

At my race last weekend, I found myself passing a lot of folks on the uphill only to get passed again on the downhill. Seems a bit comical but true. I worked hard on really pushing the speed on the downhills but just could not compete.

My setup offers most of the explenation for this. I ride a road bike with pursuit/Aerobar combo. I don't have bar end shifters. When I am climbing it is much easier for me to shift then the folks riding up on the bullhorns who have to reach to the end of the bars to shift. (And so they are less likely to shift down when the time comes and end up fighting the gear and the hill)

The other big difference is that my road bike is geared pretty agressively. My "Bailout Gear" is a 42/21. This forces me to be out of the saddle and cranking a lot sooner than the folks around me who are able to spin along in easier gears up the hill.

The reason I get smoked on the downhill is because my bike is not aerodynamic. It is made for riding in a pack and drafting and not solo time trialing. It is very light, but seems to drag a bit more on the downhill even when I am furiously cranking down the hills. 

This is all a huge advantage in a bike race, but can be a bit of a problem when I have to get off the bike and run afterward. 

Hope this helps and I really look forward to reading your race report next weekend

Tim--

So, you recommend being out of the saddle?  This is music to my ears, of course, but I had heard that when you climb, you should be able to sit the entire time.  It's been frustrating to just sit there because I do expend less energy when I am climbing out of the saddle.  Guess I may have to try that next time around.  Was on Santiago Canyon this morning with a slower teammate, but she smoked me going up the hills and I was pretty annoyed by the whole thing.  I'm intentionally not trying to mash gears so I don't hurt my knees too much, but my new bike's gearing is a little harder than my Trek 1000.....my bailout isn't all that much of a bailout, and leaves me wishing I had that granny gear!

My course next weekend starts at a higher altitude than Santiago, but the climb is spread over 9 miles, not 3.5, and it's a little smaller in magnitude.  It looks like it's pretty much all downhill after that, so I'm trying not to get too freaked out about it since I think the climb profile on my practice ground is a bit more aggressive. 

Anyway, thanks for the help.

Erin

From what I know anyway, being out of the saddle is not such a bad thing when the situation permits.

As long as keep the HR in check I would rather get over the hill sooner and start the recovery process than spin forever up the hill and not have any momentum to carry me over.

Santiago is definitely a great ride with some really challenging hills. I bet that is excellent training for your race next weekend

Congratulations on a huge PR James.

And welcome back