jldicarlo's group -- CLOSED (Page 3)

I actually love the trainer.

I have several different Spinervals - Coach Troy will kick you butt.  Slap on a HRM and follow the workout, you will not get bored cause you will be sweating your butt off.

Matter of fact, thinking of getting a computrainer, any of you all have one?

Have it.  Love it. What do you want to know?

Don't worry.  BT gets addictive.  The more friends I acquired the more I wanted to blog...it's a rare day I forget to log a workout.  

Not sure really what to ask, I have some extra cash and my biggest goal is to have a much better bike split.  I have to use the trainer alot cause most of my during the week rides are at 5AM.   Everyone that has a  CT goes on and on about them. 

Have you "truly" improved your biking because of the CT?

I suck at this too, but the best advice I've been given is that if you don't buy it you can't eat it.... 

Okay, first...workouts.  Looks like you already have that done?  I can click on your logs and see your workouts.  Did you figure it out?  Or was that not what you meant?

Adding friends....go to your control panel.  Click on "Edit your training settings" and then click on the "Friends" tab.  Type in our names in a slot.  Then hit apply.  Voila.

Forum a favorite...I would copy the web address when you're looking at it and then go back into Control Panel and this time after "Edit your training settings" click on the "Goals" Tab and insert it as a link in your goals.

Let me know if that doesn't make sense. 

I use google.  The BT directory is pretty good too.

As for number per year...it depends.  Some rules of thumb:

1.  Underkill is better than overkill.
2.  Not all races will carry the same significance.  You will have to decide which are your most important races (A races), semi-important (B races), and just training/fun/filler races (C races).
3.  2-3 A races are really the max in a season.  You can do quite a few B/C races.
4.  You need to allow yourself proper recovery after A races and sometimes B races. By theory a C race would be more like a big training day and doesn't need specific recovery.
5. For Oly's that I race hard I take about a week off.  HIM's 2-3 weeks, IM...well, haven't done that yet but I would do about a month of unscheduled training.

So, what does all that mean?  Pick your A races first.  The races you REALLY want to do and kick butt at.  Then in the gaps, fill in some B races for training/evaluating/prep, and then C races for fun/training.

In general, I don't race more than once a month on average.  Sometimes twice.

Um, I'm sure that spawned more questions...fire away. 

I improved because of the workouts I did.  But the Computrainer HIGHLY increases the quality of those workouts.  I really like that I can change the resistance level at will without getting off the bike.  It makes it SO easy to vary the workouts.  And you always have a benchmark too.  As long as you calibrate the CT you know from workout to workout that 150 watts is 150 watts.  If you can't push 150 watts one day and it's normally easy, you know you are tired.

It has definitely helped me get MORE out of my bike workouts.  Right now it's an expensive bike stand.   I sure hope the doc clears me to ride tomorrow.  

Thanks for your ideas on the CT.  I am considering it, I am also getting a new bike.  Since I can't ride outside much the next 3 months I am thinking of buying the CT first.  I have an old Tri bike that has been sitting on my trainer.  

Speaking of bikes, I am traveling this week for work - off to the hotel bike...

Nutrition is totally unique to each individual and the only way to see what works is to experiment during training.  And sometimes you need to train at race intensity to experiment.  For example, I loved eating PB crackers on training rides.  So I tried it in a race.  It's much harder in a race going full speed.  Oops.

I'm a huge fan of solid food at any race HIM or longer.  Sprint/Oly you are not working out long enough to get sick of gel.  But at the HIM distance you are out there for awhile and gel WILL get unappetizing at some point.  But I do rely heavily on a concentrated liquid bottle for the bike portion of any event simply because it is SO handy.

It's a sensitive balance...too much and your gut goes crazy on you...too little and you bonk.

I'm not sure what else to say other than you have to experiment in training and even in some less important races....you will find what works for you!

IMHO that falls under the category of too messy and hard to carry.  I wouldn't be able to eat that without the honey leaking all over the place.  And that would be a LOT of calories at once.  Can you think of something smaller and easier to handle?  Cookies?  Powerbars broken up into pieces?

• Jan 19 - Too Cold to Hold 15k (White Rock Lake, Dallas, TX)


• Feb 23 - Cowtown 1/2 Marathon (Fort Worth, TX)


• Mar 15 - Seabrook Lucky Trails 1/2 Marathon (Seabrook, TX)


• Apr 6 - Big D 1/2 Marathon (Dallas, TX)


• May 10 - The Rookie Tri (New Braunfels, TX)


• May 25 - CapTexTri (Austin, TX)


• Jul 13 - Couples Triathlon (Austin, TX)


• Aug 3 - Jack's Generic Tri (New Braunfels, TX)


• Sep 1 - Austin Tri (Austin, TX)


• Oct 5 - Longhorn 70.3!!!!! (Austin, TX)


• Oct 19 - DSM 1/2 Marathon (Des Moines, IA)


• Nov 2 - NYC Marathon (NYC, NY)


• Dec 14 - White Rock 1/2 Marathon (Dallas, TX)

Wow.  Quite the schedule.  But you left off Buffalo Springs Lake HIM...it would fit so well in June.

Really I just want to do it but can't so I'm trying to talk everyone else into it.  You have some great races in there!

I like races because they keep me motivated to train.  So, I don't think you went too crazy with the cheese whiz.