Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Weekly Summary and Chat with Coach

Let's start off with last week's training.

Feb 12-18

Mon - rest
Tues - Bike 60', Swim 60'
Wed - Run 40'
Thurs - Bike 55', Swim 60'
Fri - bailed a run
Sat - Brick 240' (Bike 220' + Run 20')
Sun - Run 70' (read it wrong, suppose to be 100')

Total - 585' or 9 hours and change

Yesterday I was exhausted. I am glad it was a rest day. My body do need a rest. My fellowship had a coffee house last Fri. Preparing for that and I bailed on my run. The good news is that my brick on Sat, 3 hr 40 min ride + 20 min run, I have no stomach issues. I kept my Heart Rate below 149 and I am fine. Will explain more of this below.

I talked with my Coach last night. Glad he was there to give me feedback.

i) Nutrition

He suggest I try eating more conventional food. One hour on Infinit and another hour on solid food (banana, Clif Bars).

ii) Heart Rate

We talked about my stomach problem last last Sat. As suspected, my heart rate was too high for my body to handle food. As mentioned above, I rode with 149 and things are fine. Coach suggested I ride with a heart rate of 142. He gotta be kidding. 142? I will be slow.

Gordo had it right. Slow is the new fast. I do not anticipate to be that slow on the bike. At the same time, I need to let my body absorb as much nutrition as I can before the run. It is a long run..and if I blow up on the bike...it will be even a longer run. I rather be slow throughout the race than slow down on the run.

He suggest I run with a HR of 144. I would be running about 11 min mile or so.

iii) Race Schedule

March 4th - 1/2 Chilli Marathon (run w/ Anners)
May 13th - Mississauga Half Marathon
June 3rd - Ride for Heart (ride up the highway, 120 km or so, possibly run 30 min afterwards)
June 16th - Muskoka Long Course (practice pre race meal and jitters)
June 23rd - Ironman Simulation (organized by coach)
July 22nd - Ironman USA (fun!?!)

All the races leading up to July 22nd are done in aerobic zones. Nothing fancy. I will be running 15-30 min before the 1/2 marathon so I can get a decent long run in. I wish there is more tri before July 22nd but most are short (sprint). If I do a sprint tri, I can use that same day to go for a long ride. I rather do a long ride and work on my nutrition instead.

iv) Climbing on the bike

Coach said the only way to learn to climb hills is to climb hills. Trainer will not stimulate hills. Use trainer to work on base, efficiency and technique. Once spring comes, go outside and work on hills. Learn to shift by feel. In general, if RPM drops below 70 shift. There is no hard rule (like stick at 90 rpm), find what works for you.

I look forward to this summer when I will be climbing hills big and small :)

v) Swim - Kick

Kick should be like a whip. The kick acts as an achor for me to get a proper catch. Kick helps rotate body. Keep hip at surface level and learn to kick consistently (even when breathing) and flutter.

14 comments:

Steven said...

"...to learn to climb hills you must climb hills..."

Hmmm...

That sounds familar to me. Something about "...to run fast..."

tri-mama said...

How exciting to be training for IM USA! hills and all. If it makes you feel better, I saw a guy doing this on a fixed gear bike-so it's probably not quite as bad as it seems- train on! :-)

Mike said...

Cliff..sounds like everything is coming together for you......solid schedule there buddy!!

July 22nd- YEAH!!

brendaj said...

Very interesting tidbits. I have a very high hr too (avg 165 on bike last week). And I really need to work on hillclimbing. Those two things are related, I'm sure.

Kewl Nitrox said...

I am fixated on the same sentence "Coach said the only way to learn to climb hills is to climb hills." Just how do I do that living in FLAT Singapore. :(

Oh, and I need to work on my kick too. Been getting lazy on the swim and forgetting to kick. I think I will change my swim to swim drills this week. Thanks!

Tri-Dummy said...

I thought you posted a really good week!

I also laugh when you talk about eating "Clif" bars!!!

JC said...

Didn't I read somewhere that if you can't bike hills, you can max out the incline on a treadmill and that will help develop the hill climbing muscles best of non-hill cycling?

also, maybe your trainer has a tension setting that you can just add more and more pressure to it, which may help.

keep it up, Cliff. You are even helping to motivate me!

momo said...

cliff - sounds like a great chat with your coach, his philosphy is a lot like my coach's. i'm doing the hr training right now too and you may be slow at first, but your body will adapt pretty quickly, don't worry.

ah, hills... yep, i need to do more of those too!

Comm's said...

11 minute miles are not that bad for IM, its consistent 11 minute miles. Good number.

Habeela said...

If you stick to your coach's HR recommendations you are going to be one fast dude this season!

Robin said...

"SLOW IS THE NEW FAST."
~~I love it!!!

Dawn - Pink Chick Tris said...

Good job. Looks like your training is going well. Good luck with your Ironman.

I've been told slow and steady get the race done. Find a pace you can maintain. My biggest problem is trying not to go out to fast at the start.

Michael said...

Reading your race schedule has my fondly remembering my life as a triathlete, 1995-1999, I loved it. All the best with the training, I’ll be sure to follow your progress.

P.s. Good luck with the nutrition, come race day, don’t do anything differently, it’ll be a recipe for disaster (speaking from experience).

Cheers,

Bullet said...

I have the hardest time learning to slow down to prepare for the long road. Good luck. It's difficult. Great training week. Keep it up.