Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 98)

My November numbers are horrible ... I think December is going to be a lot better ... :-)

Starting the eating right and slowly starting my triathlon training today ... only swimming and cycling this week since I got the half marathon on Sunday. 

It is interesting how much better I already feel by eating right. For the past couple weeks I felt bloated and fat due to not eating right and being in "OFF SEASON" ... 

Back on the Tri Train! What is everybody else doing this week?

A little slow on getting the November training posted:

Bike         17hr38min      357.78 miles

Run          11hr35min        84.47miles

Swim          8hr45min      26,575 yards

Had a good run month going until 11/17 when I strained my calf. Only 2 miles since then. Going to give it another week or two and then get back to running. Hopefully, all will be well at that point.

This week is a mess for training. Busy work week with travel Thursday and Friday. I would usually try to run while on the road but trying to be smart....not my strong suit.

Randy 
  

Need a bit of advice from everyone: 

I've signed up for my Ironman Raleigh 70.3, my first HIM distance event, but I'm *planning* on also signing up for the Bridge 2 Battleship event in the fall of this 2013, as well. That would be a full distance. I completed my races this year, and handled the training well, and would really like to give the half and full distances a shot, but is there enough training time between June and late October to effectively train for a full distance? I know I don't have to do them both in the same year, but I'd like to get the distances under my belt and then maybe try some destination races in the future. Thoughts?

Jamie, I have never done a HIM or IM distance triathlon but I assume that since you have over 6 months to train for the HIM distance I would think that you can incorporate some of the IM distance training. 

I guess you could train for the IM distance now and take the HIM as midway checkpoint to see if you are on pace for October. 

Yeah, I've been wondering about...whether or not to train for the HIM, then switch to full training, or to train for the full, and take the HIM as a gauge of how I've progressed. Thanks for the input!

Jamie-most people will incorporate a HIM into their IM training. Gives you a chance to get a feel for longer distance, work on nutrition, pacing etc. You will have a good bit of time between Raleigh and B2B so I would suspect you would do more HIM specific work leading into Raleigh and then switch to an IM specific plan. You will not have to start the IM training plan from the beginning since you will have a soild base so it may be a shortened IM plan. I know several people that have followed the plans in the "Be Iron Fit" book and had excellent results. If I recall the book has 3 different plans...something like "just finish", intermediate and advanced.  I think its about 20 bucks.  I bought it when I was briefly considering B2B in 2011 and found it to be a very good resource. I believe it breaks IM training into 3 phases or blocks so you may be able to skip the first block since you would be coming off a HIM. Potentially, you could even take a break after Raleigh to recharge before heading into IM training.

Randy

No training for me today and tomorrow due to work schedule. UGH!

Jason that's great to put specifics into your Winter goals.  I think the swim is the hardest thing to improve. I find that I can improve my times by a couple seconds/100 if I really focus on stretching for the pull, keeping my core engaged and really finishing my stroke. BUT, I have a hard time doing those things consistently for more than a couple of laps. Some of it is concentration/ingrained habits and some of it is fitness. I know I have had some gradual improvement over the last year given my timed test sessions but its pretty small in the big picture.  Wrong or right I guess I am most focused on becoming a more comfortable swimmer....hopefully that will result in better performance come race day.

This made me wonder about how much someone's race times improve if they can improve their swim, bike and run by 1-2% each. Clearly, the numbers are more substantial the longer the race time/distance. So, starting at Olympic distance here are some numbers based on race/finish time:

2:30 olympic would be 2:25.5 with 1%(3%total) improvement and 2:21 with 2%(6%total)

5:00 HIM 1%=4:52/2%=4:42

6:00 HIM 1%=5:49/2%=5:38

12:00 IM 1%=11:38/2%=11:16

Pretty interesting to see what kind of gains can be made with even small improvement across the board.

Randy

Nice work Rene! Keep those kids under control ... :-)

Jason those are some nice goals that you have there. I hope you can get it done over the winter. 

I have a few goals for this winter myself. Starting next week I will bike 4 times a week and run 4 times to get ready for next season. I am trying to PR in every race next year.

Lets get it done!

Blanda-lots of good stuff going on there! Great job on the swim....just think how far you have come over the last year. Hope you enjoy the road bike. You should do well transitioning to the bike given all of your time mountain biking. 

Swim and maybe an easy bike on tap today. Hopefully, I will be back running next weekend. Unfortunately, I've missed a great stretch of running weather here.

Have a good day everyone. 

UGH! Crappy swim for me today. Times were slow given the effort level. I only swim in this pool occasionally on the weekends and it always feels like I am going against a current one way. Probably just a mental thing...or maybe I'm just a wuss. I've been thinking about getting a video session done as well. Need to get a better idea of what I'm doing wrong so I can work on it.

Previously, Michael/Experior and I had indicated we would be doing another mentor group when the groups open up later this month. Obviously, Michael's time on BT is very limited so he will not co-mentor a group with me. HOWEVER, Jason has stepped forward to fill the role of younger/faster co-mentor to balance out my older/slower approach. Of course. everyone is welcome to join us again whenever the mentor groups open again. Looking forward to working with Jason and having a fun group.

Randy  

I'm definitely in; I'd like to keep going with a mentor group without having to go back through introductions and figuring out the group, and I really feel like everyone here has a lot to teach! 

I had a great ride today, right at an hour. The weather was perfect, legs felt fresh, and still loving the bike. I really like riding aero; it's relaxing and a good change from just holding the bars. I'm resigned to the fact that I'm just not going to get a lot of time in the pool until I start my new training plan on Jan 1, which should be ok bc it starts at a level I can definitely handle. 

Speaking of training plans, I picked up Iron Fit and really liked the training plan and advice, so I'm going to go with the Competitive Plan, which will be perfect. It calls for a HIM for training, which fits perfectly since I'm going to be doing Ironman Raleigh 70.3 in June. My one question is, the training plan, if I start in January, will end about 4 weeks early for the race I've decided to run: Ironman Louisville. I was originally planning on B2B in the Fall, but I like the idea of training hard this summer, when I'm out of school. So, what should I do the last month, repeat the month before? Or can I do some different adaptation to keep training levels up?