Waterdog's Group - Closed (Page 3)

Topic of the week: goals

I’ve never been much of a runner, biker, or swimmer. In fact, I used to say “The only way I’d run is if someone was chasing me.” I’ve always enjoyed physical activity, but it had to be tied to a game like baseball, basketball, etc.

Now I see the whole combination of these activities in a competitive race as a reason to do the individual activates. I guess the truth is, I’m building from a very small base. I can run about a mile non-stop but then I need to walk before I get it going again. My swim technique is horrific. I swim, “heads-up”, because I’ve never learned to breathe and swim. Biking is probably my greatest strength because of a neighbor that got me to do some mountain biking last summer. So, with my embarrassing fitness history exposed, here is what I’m setting out to do this year. If all goes well, I’d love to add on and take it to another level in the future.

Race Goals/Goals:

1. Motor City Triathlon (sprint), Detroit, MI
2. Fire Cracker Triathlon (sprint), Benton Harbor, MI
3. Lose 30 lbs. (from 215 to 185)

I have no idea what a typical time is for a Sprint, but I figure I’ll do my best in my first one and that will give me a time to beat on my second.

Training Goals:
I started using Michael Pates Total Sprint Program because it was a 22 week program and my first race was just under 22 weeks away. As I get into it, the program is not all that challenging, so I try to so more than the program requires everyday. I know there are more aggressive programs out there and, maybe in another two weeks... if this program is still slow going, I’ll look into changing it up. For right now I just want to get into the rhythm of meeting my daily objectives consistently.

If anyone has any suggestions on a better regiment I’d gladly give it a look.

 Eating:
I don’t think I eat all that poorly. I may eat out once a week, if that. My wife and I love to cook and we eat pretty decently. I think my whole increase in weight is due to my lack of activity. Sitting at a computer 10 hrs a day doesn’t do much for the heart rate. For now I’m using Bill Phillips “Eating For Life” as a guide for my current nutrition program.

Strength Training:
I think I should be doing some strength training as well. I know that strength training will help increase my metabolism; I just don’t want to over do it and have my overall program collapse. I think I’ll add some lifting in once I’ve established a training consistency. When I do get started I plan on using the “Body For Life” training approach.

Does anyone know where on the site I can locate videos on swimming techniques?

Looks like we are all off to a great start

Dreu: I have a link to a Tri Calculator in my Blog that you can use to provide a rough estimate for pacing a Triathlon. You enter your training volume and paces as well as the course (And difficulty) and it will return splits and paces for each discipline.

It is very rough and not to be taken as a proper prediction. In the end, you must be comfortable with your ability to race at those paces. (Some Goal Pace Training will help gain the confidence in the prediction)

Oh, and swim lessons are a very good thing. Check around for a Master's Program or check out T.I. as Kanders suggested. (I know a lot of folks who got scary fast using TI)

Erin: did you get your trainer setup all sorted out?

Sure, just go to your control panel and set the "Use Rich edit Box When Composing Messages" to Yes.

When your done, you can switch it back to no if you don't want to use the HTML editor for all of your messages. (The HTML Source will remain when this is switched off)

Waterdog66 and kanders,

Thanks for the link and I'll google the TI book and check it out.

Jessica--

Congrats on signing up for your first HIM!  I'm a little jealous.....still on the fence about whether I want to do it this year or not.  (One of the women I train with is going to do Barb's Race at Vineman, but I don't know if I could do it.......I definitely would do the Aquabike, though)  Anyway, kudos for kicking yourself into gear and making the decision.

Great job Jessica

It is a bit of a rush to "Click the Button" and register for one of these things. I have heard good things about the race you are doing.

Oh, there is a thread over on the Ironman forum where you can respond with your HIM Plans. (And can see others who are planning on doing the race)

 Yep, good Idea! As amazing and wonderful as they are, kids do require alot of time. Enjoy the chance to schedule your training time a little easier, oh yea... and sleep. Sleep! Can't anyone get a full night around here!?

 Dreu

Not really

The Balancing act is tough sometimes but in the end, a single workout becomes less important than catching up on sleep.

Seems like there is a good weekly topic there someplace. (Balance Maybe?)

Sure thing

There are some excellent articles here and a few other places and I suspect we all have some great experience to add to the topic.

That would be a great topic, since I often find myself fighting against doing it (even though I know it's smarter).  For example, I turned my workout today into a brick to make up for yesterday's missed run, which meant that I should have been doing both of them Z2.  I kept creeping up, mostly because I hate going slow~ I love the feeling of pushing my body harder.  But I have to remember there's a reason behind zone-based training.

 Congrats on signing up for your HIM!  I'm a little jealous, as that isn't in my future for a while.  I have too many other commitments to make room.  It will be great to watch how you train for this from the sidelines!

The number of stars represent the number of posts made. Each color is a different "Denomination:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=64892&posts=2&highlight=Stars&highlightmode=1#M669437

Here is a thread that describes it in more detail.

I personally train for the run using Daniels Running Formula (Actually, an online Calculator that uses it) to figure out my paces based on my recent race times.  It not only provides me with target race paces for all distances, but also provides training paces for each workout.

This is because I really learned how to run by marathoning, and my marathon training plan was based on pace and distance.

I train the bike using HR Zones and RPE just because all of the formal bike training I have done is based on Volume (Time) and Effort. (PRE + HR)

I do use an HRM for running, but just to make sure a recovery run is really recovery. Over-Training, Dehydration and even lack of sleep can elevate the HR and I want to be sure I am doing the right workout on recovery days.

It is almost cliche, but the easiest way to tell the difference between runners and triathletes in the room is to describe a bad finish to a race and listen to the response:

Runner - Well, you must have gone out too fast. Clearly your opening pace was quick for the course and conditions and you fatigued to the point and slowed way down at the end. (IE, You hit the Wall)

Triathlete - Well, your nutrition must have been off. What was your nutrition plan and did you follow it. Did you take in enough calories to sustain your level of effort for the duration of the race? (IE. You Bonked when you ran out of fuel)

This joke sort of points out interesting perspectives from different sectors of the Endurance Sports World. Although this anecdote is not  representitive of each groups athletes mindset, it is funny because there is a kernel of truth to the difference.

Another key difference (At least at the level of coaching athletes) is how each approaches traing intensity.

Many runners follow Daniels Running Formula to calculate training (And Racing) Paces and apply this to Pace/Distance based training plans. (Like Pfitz, Higdon and Lydiard)

Many triathletes follow the method of using Heart rate (HR) and Rate of Perceived Exhertion (RPE) to measure intensity and train by Volume and Intensity. (Highlighted in the Triathlete's Training Bible as well as many other books and training plans)

Both methods seem to work well for the athletes but neither are that simple to apply to a trainng method. Being Triathletes, most of us are inclined to use HR for at least a portion of our training and so understanding the best way to apply this method  is key.

Here are some links to a few articles to help us all get started:

An article by Pete Pfitzinger on run training with an HRM:

http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=6627&page=1

Although Pete is a bit proponent of Daniels Running Formula, he wrote several articles on his expriences with training athletes using HR as a contributing editor at RunningTimes. Some key points that he makes, don't use HRM (For the Run anyway) to measure Race Day Effort and Don't use a formula to calculate your Max HR.

Here is another article by Coach Hansen from Running Times on the concept of a drifting "Lactate Threshold" or as it is known now, "Aerobic Threshold":

http://www.coachbenson.com/s_28.asp

The idea is that as we train and our fitness improves, our MaxHR probably won't  change, but our Threshold point certainly will. (And so will our training zones) The takaway from this article is to test your AT often during training to insure your zone based training is correct.

Some will note that this is no different with Pace Based Training. As fintess improves, runners are typically doing Tuneup Races to measure current fitness levels and "adjust" their paces.

Her is an article by Mike Ricci from BT on the way to measure your MaxHR, AT and HR Zones:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=405

I think a good takeway from this article is his suggetion to use the Friel Method for calculating zones (Based on Tested AT rather than MaxHR).

And here is a series of articles by Scott Sherrick also from BT that goes more in detail into HR based training:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=53

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=54

This series of articles seems to tie everyones ideas into a common thread of suggestions for HRM Training. The big ideas here are don't use a formula for calculating your MaxHR and/or AT and use RPE as well as HRM to measure intensity.

As some of you have pointed out, (And I have experienced also), HR alone is not always the best way to measure intensity. There are many factors that influence HR and without a backup measurement, it can be very misleading at times.

I am by no means an expert (And not a Coach or Authority) and have only been training by HR for a few years. My hope is that these articles will spark some good conversation based on our experience and we can all take something away from it.

Also, if anyone has any other articles, please feel free to post them. I posted what has been helpful to me with my training and is not a complete guide by any means.

Mike Ricci here on BT is an excellent source of experience and information. If we end up with unanswered questions, we can always drop him a PM and I bet he would provide some quick answers.