Short Course 2-8 September!
Hot as heck out there! We all seem to be dealing with the heat and adjusting our workouts! William and Aleksander should be posting their HyVee race reports and we can see what cool things we can learn! 
It's football season, which for me means the final month of training and racing before my October break! Hard to believe I have been at this for ten months since last November! 
I need to start planning a weekend getaway with my wife before I bankrupt my SAUs and start the OS in a hole come November...
Hope everyone is healthy (mental - included) and racing well! 
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Sat was tailgate training at the football game so tomorrow becomes long run day.
Prolly swim too since I have the time.
Happy holiday guys!
Today was run 85 min with 3 x 1 mile at z4 for a total of 8.5 miles this AM. The sad part is that the intervals were 7:38, 8:37, and 9:33. The interpretation of those splits are "had some speed, lost some speed, survived"
It is done so that makes the day look better.Pool closed for the holiday, Nap instead, Darn.
Have a great day team.Today was just play. Biked to sub-division pool, swam a little and then wife showed up with some noodles and just wanted to water bug. She got out to get some sun and I did some IMs. She likes it when I butterfly and I still like to impress her. Hey, what's this fitness for if you can't do cool stuff?
Hope everyone is having a great day!
Hope everyone had a great weekend.
I am so excited to be here.
@Joe - I have to say this while I can - the weather here in SE Wisconsin is perfect right now - highs in the 70's - lows in the 50's. love it! Don't talk to me about the weather in the Jan-Feb time frame. Ug
Decided to use the last few weeks of the Get Faster training program to keep my interest and keep focused as I prep for my next & last Multi-sport race of the year - a Duathlon on Sept 22. I did 8x60" (bounding) hills with hard sprint at the top. Total run of 6.1 mi. A good day.
Starting to think about my 2014 Goals - I'll probably stay Short Course because I like it and besides, there is that little World SC gathering in Edmonton, Canada in late August 2014 for which I Q'd and plan to participate in.
Who is going Long Course next year?
Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!
Joe- I'm impressed U can butterfly! I doubt I could do one stroke w/o dislocating my shoulder, or drowing...
Elizabeth- Welcome to our exclusive little speedy club! When I say speedy, I'm referring to the others in the group, not myself, Although I am much speedier than the 2012 version of myself so that's all that matters!
Jim- Those hill bounds are a killer but really help. re: SC vs. LC 2014... I'm doing both, but longest is a Half or two as I slowly ramp back up for another IM in 2015.
Nothing much to report here. On vaca from work this week and made a short trip to the Cape yesterday so no WKOs Mon. & Tues. Will do "something" Wed. and Thurs. in the form of something short so I'm super rested for last sprint on Sun. Took a nap yesterday (after driving 3hrs. then walking around/shopping for 2) then slept 9.5hrs. last night. (Tempurpedic at BnB wasn't bad!) I'm killin' the rest part of the plan. LOL
I raced Sunday at HyVee (Olympic distance). I'll post a real race report shortly, but the Executive Summary is that I had a pretty good day on what turned out to be a moderately hot (mid 80s?) very windy day. I went 30:25 for a no-wetsuit swim, which is my best time for that distance no wetsuit by 3 minutes. I really think this is improvement, not a short swim. My Garmin has it pegged at 1.00 mile, including the 10-15 yards run into the water. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369065093
My bike goal was modest. I didn't beat it power wise, but I did time-wise. I knew my run would be "ok" rather than great, but I kept it under 45 min.
Final time was 2:30. The nice thing about the race was it made me feel like if I really was in shape I could take 5 minutes off and maybe 10 minutes if the weather were also ideal. Anyway, 2:30 was good enough for 4th place in the AG in the open entry race, so I'm pretty pleased.
I took Monday off and will bike again tonight.
http://wsjinames.blogspot.com/2013/09/hyvee-olympic-distance-triathlon-race.html
Wednesday morning and here I am, quads still screaming, cannot walk up and down the stairs, HyVee damage.........
@Ralph, bike fit is key. After all these years and static fitting, got dialed in pretty close, than this year, my fitter got Retul, we have gone through the fit, tweaked few mils here and few mills there, made a huge difference in power generation, well worth it.
Some days we are glad just to survive the workout, all good. I assume heat played the role.
@Joe, would love to hear AP/NP, W/kg and elevation gain/loss on those two sub 60min 40km TTs, planning on attacking that myself.
@Kim, Elizabeth, good time to take a break or vacation
Raced HyVee, people's race, not 5150 Champs, 3rd M40-44, 27th OA, 2:20.xx, way slower than my PR, but I am way off form, spotty work on the bike and I went in more since my girl was racing the day before. I will type up a report here today.
Monday, easy 2400m swim+ 90min easy bike ride, Tuesday, 8mi EP run and 1hr40min bike.
I will now fully engage in traditional base building, the Joe Friel way, next 8 weeks until OS starts. There will be functional strength work, weak hips, tight IT bands.......yesterday got diagnosed with Plantar Fibroma, have non malignant tumor on my Plantar tendon, small lump, that is likely caused by an injury onset after which surrounding cells hyper reproduced in response......not sure if I explained this correct....doc stuff. Massaging the area for a month or two, than if not smaller, steroid shots.......It is not bothering me for now as it is small and out of the way from my toe off point......
I have read a previous thread about IM racing and signing up. In 2014, after 7 years in the sport, 10+ HIM races with solid results, I have committed to IMCDA. I feel ready to take on it. My take on IM racing deviates from most views. I believe that distance racing requires certain level of maturity and experience+ durability for body to sustain the training required.....Another time and thread.
Sorry I didn't run into you at the race! I'm not sure if I'm quite capable of a 2:20, even in prime shape. It would have to be a very good day. :-)
@William, I am so sorry for not even responding to your post, totally was rushing, gotta go swim while I have a window.
Huge congrats! It was pretty windy and hot in the end too. I read your RR, like it a lot and will follow after I get back from the swim.
Kids race was crazy busy and the next day we got carried away with my prep. I was looking out for EN kit, thinking I may spot you, no luck, next time, really looking forward to catching you somewhere at the race.
2:20.xx, oh yes, you are well within, I did reference some of your KS times, they looked solid, yes you can. Likely, much like me, you prefer distance.
Here is the kicker, 2012 Racine, placed 7th M40-44, bike split 2:24, avg. speed 23.4mph, NP 221W, IF .83, HyVee, NP 248W, IF .92, avg speed 23.4mph...........my sprint two weeks ago was slower than this, but in general, I carry bike power/ speed over distance really well, makes me a very strong HIM biker, but SC, I struggle.....long story.
I spent an hour typing the race report here and this thing just ate it up, gone not saved, wanna blow up.
Looking at next year and I have decided to do the Raleigh NC 70.3 in June and the Augusta GA 70.3 in Sept with some sprints mixed in the middle for fun. We will see what coach has to say about it.
3 x 1 mile intervals today at 7:54, 8:45, and 9:06. Still not steady but a little better.
Have a great day team.
@Jim - I am thinking about next year doing a year-end HIM (Austin 70.3) and doing the short course nationals like what you did this year. Not sure how I can plan that - will work on a "big plan" in October when I can dream about 2014 and review 2013.
@WJ - read the race report. Yes, the swim takes forever, even if one is a good swimmer. I am impressed that you go 12 strokes before navigating. I go six right arm strokes then peek with my left eye...You are one of the guys that pass me on the run!!! Those are some fast splits!
@AT - before my last triathlon, my bike shop wanted to know what I did in watts. So, they hooked up my bike with a garmin and a power hub. My ave power was 265 and my "P-Norm" was 292 and my power/weight was 3.4w/kg and my max power going up the big hill was 568 watts. I may not have the units right, but the numbers are. When I brought my bike back, the showed me all the graphs and stuff. At first, I thought "wow" this is cool. Then, I thought. Hey - I do this at work. So, I think I'll let this potential addiction to yet another world of numbers rest a bit. I am interested and will spend some time in the OS doing research. The bike shop showed me the latest garmin power system that goes on the crank arms....for a mere $1800.
@Ralph, June and September should be a nice spread to prepare well for each.
3x1mi workout, I would really work on reversing the trend, make it a goal to start at 9:05 and finish last one at 7:45, it simply looks better on the paper, I am a stickler for looks
, mild OCD
@Joe, those are some solid numbers, you must have a great position when you are posting such a great times on 3.4W/kg. Quarq has not made me faster cyclist, just helped me race smarter long course, I do like not guessing too, it is not a must have but a good addition if you can.
@William, 6:25s two days after HyVee, that is pretty impressive, my quads are shot, only easy stuff, tomorrow is an easy 12mi run
Today, AM swim 3400SCM in 1hr, all FR, PM easy run 5 in 39min.
I will type up a shorter race report again here.
@Jim, i'm still a bit green at this, so thank you for your patience! Distances on Sunday are .49 in the water, 13.9 on the bike and a 5K run. After all this EN training, I am hoping to kick this one out of the water.
Thanks so much,
Beth
Here's my strategy for my sprint on Sunday so maybe there's some pieces u can take....
Background: this is my tri-versary. (No, hallmark doesn't make a card for this but they should). I did this all women's tri as my first is 2009 and it holds a special place in my now well-conditioned heart.
That rambling aside, the standard "pacing" for a sprint is to swim like there's no bike, bike like there's no run and run like someone's chasing u. I am generally a little more conservative than that however but had some decent luck with a .96IF bike and a decent run given that it was hilly !
Can't wait to hear about your race!
8' @ .94IF
6' @ 1.00IF
8' @ .96IF
Total 12.54mi in 49' @ .85IF. Felt like I could do more but resisted the urge and told myself "save it for Sunday!"
Oooh, I just saw that my new Aqualite bottle & mount came today so I guess I know what I'm doing this afternoon! A little pre-race bath and lube for the bike, then mounting the new bottle. Good times!
@Elizabeth - I agree with Kim that your EN training will propel you and your performance. The one thing about Sprints that I've found is that you end up locking in a pace for that particular event part (swim, bike or run) and for that particular distance. When you pass someone, they usually can't pass you back because your overall conditioning exceeds theirs. Sprints are different in that regard when compared to Long Course Tri's. In other words, if you run a 25 min 5K at the end of a Sprint Tri, and you pass someone who runs a 27 min 5K, there is nothing they can do about it. So, at this point, just work on your transitions and focus on what you want to do in each part of the race. Kick butt and have fun.
@AT - I agree with William about the Vector Pedals ... except the part about not buying them ... Must .. Have ... New.. Equipment.
@William - Are you racing this Sunday or was your comment a reference to last Sunday's race? Looks like you are hitting the training pretty hard right now. What's next for you?
It took me about a while to get back into the training groove. Seems that all the looking back at this past season's accomplishments kind of took the focus off going forward. On the "go forward" note, I really need to figure out how to move my 5K into the 20-21 min range (I'm right at 22 min now) and elevate my bike FTP into the 270's (I'm at 250 now). The age clock continues to tick but I just ignore it.Looking for suggestions on how to get "really" faster from those of you that moved from where I am now to where I want to be.
This AM, 12mi EP run, yes, pure aerobic base building. Yes, I will show it below why I need this badly.
12mi in 1:35.xx, avg pace 7:58, NGP 7:20, rolling course, avg/max HR 151/161,
one metric that TP shows, Pa:HR 10.90%, this is pace to HR decouple ratio, sub 5% indicates good aerobic fitness, I am double that, also heat/humidity and dehydration will affect that ratio, anything that affects HR will affect this ratio, topography will affect pace......
Further looking at time in HR zones with 40min in Z3, tells me I started this run too fast given the heat........so, slow it down next time.
PM will be a short swim, recovery in nature, more pulling than swim.....
@Elizabeth, I am not a huge fan latching onto some numbers that we should be racing at, even though I fall into data slave category myself. You have to have training behind, including "critical volume" to back any strategy you choose. Racing the sprint bike at IF.95 for 30-40min is no easy task. If 2x20min was the longest you went in training at FTP, you will find that pacing sprint at IF.95 and trying to run after will be very different. I really do not believe in all out in each discipline of triathlon unless you have trained at that intensity for at least the split duration and preferably over distanced it. You also have to have all other boxes checked off to "go for it", all out, out of the gate on each. Rather, hold back a bit early in each, swim should never be all out unless you have done time in the pool to back it. Your run time will not be optimum. Fatigue in race is cumulative.
@Kim, love those bike intervals, very nice.
@Jim, fully agree on Vector, idea is nice, two things come to mind, me no likey being a beta tester for product I payed for, also price does not make it attractive, overpriced, no doubt. First thing that tears up in crash, pedals........
On going 20min 5k and raising the FTP to 270W, I will try to give you my 2cents below in new reply.
@Jim, going sub 20min 5k subject. We have to put this into triathlon perspective. Single sport focus block is common wisdom would say. However, simultaneously raising FTP to 270W with going sub 20min 5k is a monumental task. EN has a great tool for that, OS training. At least on paper it appears so. You have to take a baseline in each and quantify the difference to reach the goal.
One fact is an issue, bike training zapps running legs and run training zapps your bike legs, that is why OS can only do so much. If you attempt at it through OS only, you may fall short. That is why this makes the case for carefully timed and crafted single sport blocks.
Sub 20min 5k can be achieved in more than one way. You have to carefully choose which one suits you. Also consider if you are going to be doing OS after run block, since the method you choose, in my opinion should differ from OS training. Why, repeating the same type stimulus over and over for run block say 8 weeks + 14 weeks of OS will take to a plateau rather quickly.
Daniels 5k program adjusted to your level can be very powerful. Been there and done it, got really fast with it, sub 19min fast, however as our OS run training is really fundamentally same type of work adjusted to bike+run training, may lead into a plateau during OS.
The case may lean toward the method 2, traditional base running, high frequency-moderate mileage, including a long run to the 30% of total weekly run miles. Why go this way? If you have not done this ever or this year or on in the last 6 months, it may provide a strong enough stimulus to improve your aerobic capacity through higher volume, EP running, bringing all the physiological improvements that low intensity does......More importantly, sets a solid base for OS and that type training. OS than builds wonderfully on top of that.
Fall is great time for running, method 2 above goes with nature's cycles.
I have done both ways. First method proceeded OS, I was really fast going into OS but fell off the cliff after week 10, could not hold on to gains anymore. Using the upper range of intensity is more powerful and brings changes quickly, I just could not hang on to it with lousy recovery. Superior base allows OS to stick on and recovery between hard workouts are much more effective.
This past Fall, proceeding OS, I embarked on the second choice, 12 weeks long, many weeks at 55-60mi, all easy pace, Z1-2 HR. Than I put OS+SC on top of that, it was awesome. First workout in OS, out of the gate, I ran faster than ever before, held on to it much easier, did not race at all, but that is a different story. Just following files as I am a data geek........
This is running only. This is only one angle and not the only correct one. There are more ways to get there, listen to different angles here and choose what you think suits your situation.
Next time, we talk FTP. That is entirely a different matter. Cycling is a different beast.
As to the rest of the season, there's one last sprint race in my neighborhood on Sept 15 that I'm planning on doing, and there's a good half marathon in October. I'm pretty sure I'll give that one a go as well. I haven't decided how much swim/biking to do after the sprint race. My next "A-race" is Boston in the spring.
Maybe I will join AT in the "base building" for a while after this last sprint.
FWIW, I ran my first sub-20 miinute 10K at age 46 (in 2010). I haven't broken 19 and I may never do it now, but I set a marathon PR this year and am planning as if I will do it again next spring. Hope springs eternal when you weren't much of a youth athlete. :-)
I have tried unsuccessfully 2-3 different times to kick myself up out of the 250W FTP (when in top shape) range up to 270 or higher. I've never been successful. I've tried to become faster with what I have at this point. I was a little surprised. I thought that i would be able to continue to improve my top biking for more years than I did. (I didn't really start biking until the late 1990s). I don't want to discourage you...instead I want to ENCOURAGE you to keep trying, but don't overlook the "free" ways you can get faster by really studying your fit, riding style, equipment, etc.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/371075014
And best (or worst) of all, they gave me a trophy for best looking male legs.
That was good for a chuckle anyway.
@Elizabeth Welcome to short course nirvana. make yourself at home. These other guys (and gals) are amazing for inspiration, i run more along the comic relief side of things.
@AT & WJ - Great stuff. You guys gave me a lot to conside - especially the base phase leading up to the OS. I look forward to your take on how best to increase the bike FTP watts.
What I do know is that last year's OS kick-started what turned out to be a phenomenal year for me. Seems that everything the OS had me do turned out to be golden - strides, 20' FTP's, mi repeats, etc. But what may be the best & most important - I missed zero days training due to injury! Days off due to fatigue, sure, but not injuries. This is the first year that was the case. I attribute this to the rest days factored into the EN training plans. Hard to overstate the importance of being injury free.