Short Course 23- 29 September
Fall is finally here and our "summer" sport season is either closing soon or closed for all of us. 
I think I am the last one to close out the season next Sunday and I am going into taper week uninjured! 
So, Kim has a half-mary coming up and others are going into the "transition" break. I think WJ and AT are logging some run miles to get their endurance base back up. Share what you are doing and why. I always like to hear Ralph's viewpoint! 
At one time, RnP, had a great podcast that talked about what to focus on during this time period before the OS. The big things I remember were: get rested up, get healed, get SAUs, and get the bike(s) in for an overhaul.
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Still working on the bike fit. I have two new demo saddles doming this week. They are the ISM Road and the ISM attack. I may end up adding longer TT bars or a longer stem because my knees almost hit my elbows. We will see what Todd says when I send him the next video. Better but still a work in progress. That limits my hopes for a bike focus block in the next few weeks.
I ran a 10k in the pouring rain yesterday and, for only the second time ever, I got irritated nipples. I have heard about marathon runners putting bandaids over their nips but I had not had the issue until the Olympic last week. I guess that might be an added thing that I need to do in T2. So complicated. Between the bike and this, the sport seems to be hard on the tender areas. Or maybe I am just a wuss...
It was thinking how glad I am that it is still warm down here in SC while I was reading about the Tahoe race... What are those things called hills? Hooo Boy, that makes me shiver just to think about it. Maybe by 2015.
Have a great week team. Go Get 'em Joe, show the cajun who's boss. I'm pulling for you.
P.S. I also have a question about the dates.... If it is still last week then do I get to take the week off again? I sure hope so.
Sunday's Run-Bike-Run Sprint Duathlon was my last Multi of the year - I won my AG and with that the Season Series for my AG. The weather was sunny and a bit chilly at 42 degrees but it warmed up nicely to the upper 50's by race end. The best part was after the race when everyone just wanted to hang out and talk about the season and next year's plan. Great race, great weather, good company!
I have to tell you about a "funny" thing that happened at the 1st transition area. I mentally slipped completely into Triathlon mode when I entered T1, I keep my cycling shoes on the bike so I just had to put on my helmet and go. I did a running jump onto my bike and immediately discovered that I still had my running shoes on from the opening run!! I bike ride races without socks which makes for fast transitions and that makes sense when exiting the swim - not so much when exiting a run. I couldn't (wouldn't) go back to leave my running shoes. So, I peddled for a few minutes with my running shoes on and on top of my bike shoes until I figured out what I would do. I knew the bike was 17 miles with several hills so I *had* to use my cycling shoes. While still riding the bike, I carefully took off my running shoes and stuffed each under my shirt. There you go - not comfortable but serviceable. I had the fastest T1 by twice as fast to the next guy and an equally fast T2! Am I on to something here? Nah, not recommended.
@Aleksander & William - here is a link on how to train to run fast(er) 5k's. Good stuff here - seems to make sense. What do you guys think?
http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/solving-5k-puzzle?page=single
AT - you were going to write your thoughts on improving watts, say from 250 up to 270 - or thereabouts.
Jim- Nice way to end the season. I don't think I'll try your new transition strategy next season though.
Great run tonight! I don't know who's legs I had but I'm not giving them back. 3 miles total:
1 mi @ 9:49
.5mi @ 9:40
1 mi @ 9:28
.5mi @ 9:35
That's pretty much my Z4 and a little faster. I'm kinda doing a random HM plan. I'm sick of plans!
@Ralph - when I switched from cotton t-shirts to tech, the nipple thing wasn't so bad. But then again, I hate running in rain and take it to the treadmill so 100% wet might make a switch useless. Yup, Lake Tahoe ain't for me. Make it warmer by like 20 degrees and maybe....
@Jim - your transition is something I'll have to remember. I used to use those "pyro" platforms when I did the ol' Coors Light series back in '92. Your idea is actually pretty good considering what you had. Good job!
WJ and AT - you guys are probably off running somewhere fast! Enjoy that break!!!!
Last Saturday, I did one of Patrick's evil long runs. I was on a business trip and had to keep it to just 10.4 mi. Quick warmup, then 3/3/3 mi as 7:30, 7:00ish, and 3 x 1 mi at 6:40-6:45 pace. I ran at 5100 elevation, which was ok for the 7:30 and 7:00 pace, but just killed me for the threshold stuff. Had to break them into miles. I'm not sure what happened but I can't get my Garmin to load the file to GC.
Sunday was an easy 45 min with a dozen sets of strides. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/379972584
Monday was a 45 min swim and an easy 30 minute run. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/380735530
Tuesday was 4 x 1 mi at 7:07, 6:19, 6:53, 6:21 (alternating MP and sub TP with about .3 mi rest in between) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/380775232
Tonight, I'll get on the bike.
Jim - love your story. I wish I could give you a lot of wisdom about 5K running, but I can't. I'm quite sure I've run fewer than 10 5K races, and I am not terribly successful at them, though I am now running them in the 19:xx region. A couple of years ago (back when we were doing 20 week OS) I tried very very hard to get below 19:00 (my PR is somewhere around 19:15-19:20), and I failed because I kind of burned out the last few weeks of the long OS. I learned that year that what turned into the shorter sequence we now use was going to be better for me. As to the specific training advocated in that article, it makes some sense, but I'm no expert. I didn't break 20 until about 2010. :-)
I need advice, and since it is a very Naïve question, I am going to keep it here. I really liked the "Power" stuff when my bike shop lent me the power hub and garmin for the race a month ago. When the bike shop owner downloaded the power stats, I really liked the analysis stuff. So, here is what I would like to do before the OS starts - all comments are welcome.
Tomorrow is my last day on my trainer until the Nov OS that starts 27 Oct. I plan to take in my trainer bike and get an overhaul. While there, I am going to ask the shop to put a power tap on the back hub and order a garmin 910 for me. I saw the bike shop owner this week and he said he could fix me up with a used powertap hub and order me a Garmin 910 to keep the costs down.
My tri-bike is a different story. I plan to keep the trainer bike as a set and get the new crankarm system for the tri-bike. This way, I can put training wheels or racing wheels and not have an issue with the wheels. The bike shop owner said a garmin 910 computer would be compatible with a both the powertap on the trainer bike and with the crankarm power stuff on the tri-bike.
My bottom line is - most of my training is on the trainer. So, that is most important. Then, the tri-bike. Comments?
If you already have invested in race rear wheels and you really like using them, then your solution makes more sense. I have in my house 4 PT wheels (4 riders), of which 1 is a Zipp 404. I would (almost) never choose the plain 404 over the standard training wheel with a disk cover for racing. Just a thought.
-Power hub stays with the tri bike. Tri bike is going onto the trainer this weekend. I will use that bike for short, VO2/FTP type stuff and for the OS.
- I will ride the road bike outside with no power until I'm ready to commit to riding more outside in the spring, then tri bike goes back outside. I don't really need power right now as I'm not in any sort of traiing mode.
I'd love to have power on both bikes but it seems a bit too much (for me) so sacrificing power during a non-key time is OK with me.
So I had a great VO2 run tonight. Had to cut it from 4 x 200, 4 x 400, 4 x 200 to 6 x 400 due to lack of daylight. (I'm not reaady for the treadmill yet!) Went way too fast. I know I broke the "rules" but it felt good to push! Target Z5 pace is 9:22.
#1- 9:04
#2- 8:59
#3- 8:45
#4- 8:17
#5- 8:12
#6- 7:41
So I may have gone too fast but at least the were descending!
@WJ - my racing wheels are HED deep dish and training are conventional. So, although the wheel cover is an option, I don't have to worry about winds with the deep dish and it is always an "auto-go" on race day. So, I will always have two back wheels for my tri-bike. This has been the problem I have been wrestling with for ages.
My back-up plan, is to convert to power on the trainer and delay the tri-bike decision until the OS is over. By then, I might just do what WJ suggests and just use one wheel for training and racing and get a PT and a disc cover. By then, the proces might change for each or maybe I can find a good deal.
Thanks for the input!
What has to be the same is the number of gears (for it to be trivial). The exact cassette doesn't have to be the same. So, for example, if you have 10-speed cassettes on both bikes, but one is 11-23 and the other 12-27, that's not a big deal. Just slap them on.
On the other hand, if you have an 8-9 speed cassette on one and a 10-speed cassette on the other, this adds 5 minutes to the operation because you have to switch the cassette. this is a very simple operation after you've done it a couple of times, but it does require about $40-50 in tools. (You need a cassette nut and and a cassette holding tool.) My daughter learned to do this when she was 12 because her bike has 8 speed cassettes and mine and Chris's are standard 10-speed...so it's really not too hard. In fact, it's easier to switch cassettes than it is to change a tire in my opinion (as long as you have the tools handy).
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On the training side. I had kind of a crappy day today. Legs felt beat up. I cut it short at about 6.5 mi after 2 x 1 mi and 2 x 0.5 hard. 6:44, 6:30, 7:01 (actually mostly faster, but had to wait to cross a street) and 6:33 pace. Pretty blah. Hoping for better runs over the weekend.
Have a great Friday!
(for the record, the fact that the front cranks are triple vs double is irrelevant. My daughter's crank is a triple, and she shares wheels with the rest of us just fine.)
Better luck next week!
@ Joe - didn't get tr a chance to see the race report. Hope all went well.
On the Bike focused plan before I hit the OS on Oct 28. Today was 2 x 1mi and 2x 1/2 mi at Z4-5. 7:57, 8:08, 7:44, 7:45. 7.4 miles total. Clearly Something is helping. Must be the work.
I'm going on sabbitical for a while, see you guys in the OS forum when I get back.
Sunday, I could still feel the fatigue in the legs, but I decided to run longer again to get the "effective" long run, just split over two days. So I did another 13.5, again pretty easy. This time it went very well...about 20 sec/mile faster. i didn't do ANY speed work. Just ran steady in the 7:20s for the whole time. I'm definitely calling the weekend a success overall.
Saturday: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/382450172
Sunday: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/382450172