Ironman Training Week 3 & Hydration Tips

Hydration Tips

If you've been to my class before, you know that I'm always saying to drink before you feel thirsty and not to wait for me, the instructor, to tell you when to get water. Well, I also need to take more of my own advice. Especially when running. Since I've been hitting Saturdays pretty hard (between 15 and 20 miles over the past 5 weeks) I haven't been running with water. I don't want to carry a bottle and I think they hydration belts look pretty silly.

At last weeks Dick's Marathon training run however they was a "hydration clinic" before the run. It was a good reminder of what I should be doing and how much I should be drinking. As a general rule of thumb, it's a good idea to get at least 2 ounces every 10 to 15 minutes of activity (whether your running, biking, spinning, etc.). This will help keep your muscles loose, clear waste and acid, and just keep you feeling fresh.

A good test to see how much you need to drink is to weigh yourself before and after your workout. If you've lost weight, you didn't drink enough. For instance, say you are down 1 pound after your workout. That's 16 ounces. This means you should try to get 16 ounces more water next time you're doing the same type of activity.

All that said, I did end up taking a hydration belt with me on my 20.5 mile run last Saturday and I can't believe what a huge difference it made. I felt 1,000 times better than I had on the 20 mile run the week before. It may have been psychological, but I'll be running with the belt from now on!

Anyway... to this weeks workout schedule.

Weekly Training Schedule

Total Bike Hours: 7:30
Total Run Hours: 4:00
Total Swim Hours: 1:30

Monday
Swim at LA Fitness -DONE
Tuesday
Run at LA Fitness 4:50am - 5:40am (Easy warm up followed by 3 1 mile pick ups)
Spin at LA Fitness 5:45am
Spin at Rivers Club 12:15pm
Spin at LA Fitness 6:45pm (Warm Up, 2 10min hard w/ 3min off, then 1 15min hard 1/ 4min off, remainder of class at 75%)
Wednesday
Spin at LA Fitness 5:45am - 6:30am
Spin at Rivers Club 12:15pm (I will not be at this class, Dale will be subbing!)
Thursday
Swim at LA Fitness 6am - 6:45am (500 warm up, 150, 200, 250, 200, 150 w/20sec off, 3x150 w/20sec off, 10x25 sprints w/20sec off)
Friday
Spin at LA Fitness 5:15am - 6:30am (Warm Up, 2x10min w/3 off, 1x15min w/4 off, 2x25min w/2 off, Cool Down)

Saturday

Long run day @ 8am....not sure on mileage yet

Sunday

Some type of ride (hopefully outside & not on the trainer)

PeDal Stroke!

We've been talking a lot lately about proper petal mechanics and I wanted to get some facts out to those of you in Spin class. The myth has been floating around class for awhile that if you're wearint clip-ins that you should be "pulling" the petals up. Just in case you don't believe me that this isn't the proper form, here's some info from an article I picked up.

I've bolded a few of the lines

Put Pedaling Technique into Practice

An efficient cyclist's legs aren't pistons mashing up and down on the pedals. Rather than relying on momentum to swing the pedals through "dead spots," instead imagine your feet drawing ovals: pushing forward over the top of the pedal stroke and pulling back through the bottom. At the top of each pedal stroke, imagine that you are throwing your knee over the handlebars. At the bottom of the pedal stroke, imagine scraping dog doo off the ball of your foot.

While some well-intentioned but misleading articles may advise novice cyclists to pull up on the pedals in the recovery phase of your pedal stroke (between 7 o'clock and 11 o'clock), in fact elite cyclists draw very little power from pulling up. Only sprinters and racing hill climbers derive power from pulling up on the pedals when they are pedaling at maximal effort. If a rider pulls up too hard on her pedals during a long ride, then she will needlessly fatigue her hamstrings. Instead, focus on pulling your leg up just enough that the opposite leg doesn't have to compensate for the dead weight. Once pushing through the whole pedal stroke is mastered, riding at a higher cadence without bouncing is easier.

Read more at Suite101: Road Bike Pedaling Technique: Why an Efficient Pedal Stroke Makes You a Better Rider | Suite101.com http://www.suite101.com/content/road-bike-pedaling-technique-a147197#ixzz1KRrmSMLT

Untitled by kcp487 at Garmin Connect - Details

Wooooooooooooooooooo! Feelin good & ready for the marathon! 20.5 miles, 8:07 Avg pace, 2,626 Calories.

Todays Run Details - Click Here

Dick’s Sporting Goods Official Training Run

Dick’s Sporting Goods Official Training Run

Due to an overwhelming response we are no longer accepting RSVP's for the training run.

Join us for our first official training run of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon! Whether you’re a first timer or an experienced racer, this is a great opportunity to meet and train with your fellow participants and learn some valuable hydration tips from Nathan Performance Gear. All in attendance will receive a Nike long sleeved, dri-fit shirt commemorating the event, as well as samples of Nathan Catalyst. The shirts and samples are first come, first served, and while supplies last. Bagels and water will be provided at the finish. Prizes will also be passed out during the hydration clinic.

Date:	Saturday, April 23, 2011
Time:	8:00am – Check In
	8:15am – Hydration Clinic provided by Dick’s Sporting Goods and Nathan Performance Gear
	8:30am – Training Runs Start
Distance:	4 mile and 8 mile distances available (both training runs will be out and back)
Location:	UPMC Sports Medicine Indoor Training Center – South Side (Check In and Hydration Clinic)
	3300 S. Water Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203 Parking is available adjacent to the building

Runs will take place on the bike trail in front of UPMC Sports Medicine.

***There will be NO fluids provided on the course.***

April 18-24

This is going to be a pretty short post tonight because I'm pretty tired. Here's the schedule for this week. If your in a Spin class I plan to be teaching all my regular classes this week and could possibly sub at the Steel Tower YMCA on Friday (if that works out I'll be sure to let you know).

As always, feel free to join in any of these workouts!

Total Bike Hours: 7:30
Total Run Hours: 4:00
Total Swim Hours: 1:30

Monday
Swim at LA Fitness 6am - 6:45am (Drills)
Tuesday
Run at LA Fitness 4:50am - 5:40am (Easy warm up followed by 5 1/2 mile pick ups)
Spin at LA Fitness 5:45am
Spin at Rivers Club 12:15pm
Spin at LA Fitness 6:45pm
Wednesday
Spin at LA Fitness 5:45am - 6:30am
Spin at Rivers Club 12:15pm
Thursday
Swim at LA Fitness 6am - 6:45am
Friday
Spin at LA Fitness 5:15am - 6:30am (yes, I'm staring 30min early, feel free to join!)
Saturday
20 Mile Run Time TBD
Sunday
Bike 8am - 10am

Week One of Ironman Trainning & More!

*Schedule Change! The 1 1/2 hour spin class will be on Thursday at 5am, not Friday.

Week One of Ironman Training!
So it's finally the first week of official Ironman training! I've got a pretty awesome plan thanks to Lenny and will be making a few tweaks to it since I'm still instructing about 4 1/2 hours of Spinning Classes each week and training for the Pittsburgh Marathon.

The original plan has me swimming 2 hours, biking for 5 1/2 hours, and running 3 hours. My adaptation below has me swimming for 1 1/2 hours (I might pick this up if I change one of the Swim workouts to a PM workout), biking for 6 1/2 (but this includes my Spin classes) and running for 3 1/2 hours.

As always, I hate to train alone so let me know if you can make it to one or more of the workouts!

Monday
Swim at LA Fitness 6am - 6:45am
Tuesday
Run at LA Fitness 4:50am - 5:40am
Spin at LA Fitness 5:45am
Spin at LA Fitness 6:45pm
*I will not be teaching at the Rivers Club
Wednesday
Spin at LA Fitness 5:45am - 6:30am
Spin at Rivers Club 12:15pm
Thursday
Swim at LA Fitness 6am - 6:45am
Friday
Spin at LA Fitness 5:15am - 6:30am (yes, I'm staring 30min early, feel free to join!)
Saturday
20 Mile Run Time TBD (Looking for someone to join me!)
Sunday
Bike 9am - 11am

My New Kicks!

I'll be the first to admit, I do not do a good job at researching running shoes. In fact, I usually wait until my current pair are so dead that I'm only a few miles away from causing serious damage to my body, then head out to the store and find the loudest shoe possible (BTW, I do not recommend this method).

That said, it should be no surprise that I found these awesome Adidas Sonic 2's in blue & yellow! Fortunatly for me, after my first run I couldn't be happier with their performance. The Sonic's are Adidas' ultra light shoe. It's crazy how light they are. I was actually afraid that they would provide the support I needed for a long run, but after Saturdays 18 miles, I was feeling really good and even had some juice to finish the last mile at about a 7min/6.5 min pace.

Normally I wouldn't break in a new pair of shoes with an 18 mile run, but as mentioned above, my old pair were in really bad shape. Long story short, if you're looking for new running shoes, check out the Adidas Sonic 2!

Last Saturday's Run

Great run on Saturday, we did part of the Marathon course, ran through some sketchy parts of town and all in all I felt pretty good. I haven't uploaded the route yet because my Garmin is at Geoff's by check back for the link soon if you're looking for a decent route around the city!

Tips for a Controlled Descent | Active.com

Good read for my cycling friends who, like me, are sometimes a bit hesitant to take the decent at full speed!

Tips for a Controlled Descent | Active.com

First Week of April

It looks like the weather might finally break this week. That will mean more out door running and biking! So far I'm planning on am 18 mile run this Saturday at 8am w/ Geoff, leaving from the South Side. If anyone is interested in joining, just shoot me a message or post below. We've been striving for about an 8 minute mile but it could be faster or slower at times depending on the course.

As for the rest of the week, here's the plan. As always, feel free to jump in on any workout. I'm going to definitely try and get some yoga in too. Maybe Tuesday if anyone wants to meet up at LA Fitness before Spin.

Monday 4 Mile Run & Spin at 5am

Tuesday Yoga & Spin at 5am, Spin at 1215pm, and Spin at 645pm

Wednesday Core & Spin at 5am, Spin at 1215pm

Thursday Short Run & Swim at 6am

Friday Spin at 545am