Winter Training - Triathlon Week

moabrunner · 10-07-2006, 07:11 PM

I am wondering how people train over the winter for a half ironman. I live in Chicago and would like to do a hal in spring but I don't know how do get in all those miles on the bike in winter. Do you guys ride indoors? I gotta think that would get pretty dull. Any ideas would be great.

ddguier · 10-08-2006, 06:06 PM

I live in Princeton,Il. which is about 2 hours south of Chicago. I just finished my first year doing tri's. I plan on running outside as much as possible. Swim indoors working on my form most of time, doing drills, and getting one long swim every now and then. I plan on doing spinning classes and using my cycle ops indoor trainer. Hopefully I can get outdoors once in a while.
I think here in Ill. we just got to do what we can.
ddguier

sfricks · 10-09-2006, 06:50 AM

Quality vs. quantity guys. If you do enough intensity work (fartleks, intervals, pick-ups, tempos, etc) you can gain a lot of ground. Get as much base work in as you can before it gets unbearably cold. After that, hammer with what you have left and leave the fun "junk miles" for the spring.

chappy · 10-09-2006, 11:24 AM

Yeah, I bet it is hard for you to get out in the winter when the temperature drops to 79. :)

hmullett · 10-09-2006, 12:23 PM

Terry,
I was thinking the same thing! :)

I train up into mid November outside. It's cold and its windy, but I HATE training indoors. Then, I move it inside to the basement, where my cyclops is set up and its Spinervals for me. I will run outside down to 20 degrees, and then I'm inside on the treadmill. This winter, I plan on hitting the weights and doing yoga also. I want to get a better core and some more flexibility. I'm also going to build speed in the pool. I think I'll take a few private lessons to get some good one on one with a swim coach. Since I'm not doing a full IM next year, I'm going to work on speed. I already know that I can go the distance, now its time to do it faster. And, I'm entering another fast age group for women, the 35-39 group. So, if I'm going to continue to place well in age groupers, I need to build speed.

Heather

sfricks · 10-10-2006, 04:35 AM

20 DEGREES?!!! People can actually LIVE at those tempratures? I grab my winter coat at 75! On a serious note, one of the reasons I moved from Florida is because it was just too darn cold. Really!

chappy · 10-10-2006, 10:02 AM

I live in Texas so I can't talk to much about the cold weather, but I actually do enjoy running on those 20-30 degree days (the few we have).

Spike10 · 10-10-2006, 11:25 AM

I have the best of all, cold temps and high altitude here in beautiful Colorado, home to Tim and Nicole DeBoom!!!!
Train hard, race harder.
Spike.

sfricks · 10-10-2006, 03:07 PM

OK... Here's an interesting fact regarding temperature and athletics. Maybe I'll do some research and see if there are any studies on the subject but here's what I recently read...

Your heart spends the VAST majority of it's energy pumping blood to your surface tissues to keep your body temperature in check and a significantly smaller portion to your muscles.

It would make some sense to me that if you trained in warmer temperatures and raced in cooler temperatures you would have some advantage. Hummm...

caged wisdom · 10-13-2006, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moabrunner

I am wondering how people train over the winter for a half ironman. I live in Chicago and would like to do a hal in spring but I don't know how do get in all those miles on the bike in winter. Do you guys ride indoors? I gotta think that would get pretty dull. Any ideas would be great.

heres the deal--if theres no ice on the road, you can ride outside. you may have to invest 100-200 dollars on some cold weather stuff. for example, a base layer thermal top, booties for the feet, a skull cap (not the kind 50 cent wears), cycling tights (although running tights over shorts work too) etc. check out nashbar.com to get an idea of some other stuff. riding in the cold sucks, but think of the improvement you will get by riding in the off season. the trainer(or rollers) and spinning are also okay, but dont rely on these things only. also remember to spend around 50% of your training time on biking. i suppose swimming isnt an issue and running on a treadmill is a good alternative to running outside, at least for 2-3 months of the year. we dont all have the luxury of living in tx or fl!!

good luck

chappy · 10-13-2006, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caged wisdom

heres the deal--if theres no ice on the road, you can ride outside. you may have to invest 100-200 dollars on some cold weather stuff. for example, a base layer thermal top, booties for the feet, a skull cap (not the kind 50 cent wears), cycling tights (although running tights over shorts work too) etc. check out nashbar.com to get an idea of some other stuff. riding in the cold sucks, but think of the improvement you will get by riding in the off season. the trainer(or rollers) and spinning are also okay, but dont rely on these things only. also remember to spend around 50% of your training time on biking. i suppose swimming isnt an issue and running on a treadmill is a good alternative to running outside, at least for 2-3 months of the year. we dont all have the luxury of living in tx or fl!!

good luck

Nothing that a u-haul can't fix. :D

usasportstrain · 11-08-2006, 11:18 AM

You could take a look at the various DVD's for indoor training. Also, it can be fun to workout to a triathlon/cycling race video or documentary.

We've got a number of them, but there is also the new What It Takes dvd that is supposed to be pretty good.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

pyschosyd · 11-08-2006, 05:44 PM

Yeah, Gotta love those DVD's. I'm slowly building my collection of Ironman and AR DVD's. Nothing lets me push harder than watching other suffer!:)

Cross training is also a major part of my winter. Dust of those old X-country ski's or snow shoes. It helps that I live on a lake and when it is frozen, it is perfect for these sports.

I actually look forward to winter. For a month or two, then it gets old!

Cheers
SYd

jwier92 · 11-10-2006, 02:04 AM

Okay, first of all Heather, you have to go out when it get below 0. Layers is the name of the game, but when you come home and have frost on your hat from your breath and ice from your eyelashes, then you have arived at a good run. I love the 10 above to about 15-20 below and snow/ice on the ground. Nothen fast, but feels good to be frosty!

Right now it is 42 and it is too warm, sub 35 is the best, but I will do it.

Gotta go.
Jason

sfricks · 11-10-2006, 05:01 AM

Jason, you're a freak! It was down to 78 here for this AMs 6 miler and my blood was turning to ice! brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....