Elaine's Spring 2011 Mentor Group - CLOSED! (Page 10)

Weekend was good but busy.  My ice hockey team and I took part in a tournament to raise money for MS, so no tri training.  I am really itching to get back into a regular training routine; I feel like with all my travels and vacations I have really fallen away from where I want to be tri-wise.

Sounds like others are getting some great mileage in, good job, gang!

Ken, I cant add items to your list I am a minimalist and tri to get away with as little sa possible so my items will definatly already be one there. 

Look forward to reading about your tri. 

*crickets*

What is your favorite healthy meal?

What is your favorite unhealthy meal?

they have been chearping for a while.  

Healthy food:  Spinach salad, with chopped strawberries, almonds, baked chicken.  Rasberry vingerette dressing. 

Un healthy:  I have an addiction to Mountain Dew. 

good luck to those racing this weekend. 

I know Ken and Dave are racing! Good luck!

Here's a good thread that's been going on it's a good read before a race: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=264558&posts=74&start=1

I am pretty basic in my cooking.  Since practically all my meals are for one , I rarely get creative when I cook.  So most of my meals are pretty boring.  So my healthiest meal is probably pan cooked chicken breast with corn and peas.  If I am eating at my parents, then is easily my Mom's home made paella.  Rice with chicken, seafood, pork, saffron, vegetables.  

My unhealthy favorite meal is Chinese General TSO Chicken.  Good news, is I got that knocked down to only once every couple months.  

I got my swim estimated for my pool triathlon this weekend.  I am estimating 6:45 for 300 meters.  That puts me at 170 out of 308 swimmers.  So I got a 56 minute wait before I hit the water.  Also I did find a hotel about 20 minutes away from the event.  So now I don't have to worry about waking up at 4am to drive to the event.  

Good luck with all your weekend plans.

Good luck this weekend Ken.  Enjoy your first Tri.   You are sticking the Tri needle in your arm and it is a hard addiction to break.  But a very good one. 

From another tri addict. 

Goal this weekend.  overall better than 59 minutes.  shooting for a 1st place age group.   oh yea and beat my wife.  that is the hard one. 

Got my race packet today.  Found out my swim time qualified me to start 9th overall.  That is a bit scary.   I am going running now. 

Good luck Ken on your race. 

Dave - It's not your A race, so go hard, but go smart. You practicing anything specific for your Half Iron during this race? I'm still trying to pick what tri shorts to wear, so I've been trying to race in different ones.

Ken - best of luck! You haven't biked much recently, so give the bike a good once-over before the race - smooth shifting and braking, no rubbing, chain isn't stretched. The cardio from your running will help carry you through. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!

What does everyone else have going on this weekend?

There is one 4 mile hill climb so I am working trying to take notes on how hard I can climb with out red lining.  Thank you Elaine I think I needed those words, I would hate to screw something up for my HIM. 

Have a good weekend everyone. 

Quick update from the Tri.  Still waiting to get the final results from the officials.  Did the race in 1h 50mins 46sec.  Some thoughts.  Felt really good during the swim.  The bike was good and my run was slow but steady.  The transitions really hurt my time.  Going to need to see how to decrease my time there.  Overall I am glad how things went.  I got another month to my next tri, so I get some things I want to work on for that.  

Hope everyones weekend went well.

Great Job Ken,  Sounds great for a first Tri, I love you saying my next tri is in a month, welcome to the addiction.   On the transitions just practice on your driveway getting shoes one and run/walking your bike down the driveway.  I make the neighbors driveway the mount dismount line. 

My update.  Finished in 59:29  got 8th overall and finished 1st in my age group.  I will get the race report up a little later today.  

my wife one the Female division again with a 1:02:00  she is a stud again. 

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=265636

Ken - Congrats on your first tri! Glad you were happy with your performance and that you are already looking forward to the next one. You've also discovered the 4th dicipline of triathlon - transition! Dave is right, and a little practice here will go a long way. There are a ton of You Tube videos on the subject that are helpful (I'd post links, but youtube is blocked at work - let me know if you need me to dig some up and I'll send them later). Check them out, because chances are you'll see a few things that you hadn't thought of that will really streamline the process for you. A bike/run/bike/run (repeat as many times as necessary!) would be good to do. Just set up transition area in your driveway, a parking lot, anywhere safe - ride around the block, transition, run an out and back on the street, transition... and just keep going. You can get really intense and make it a hard workout, or just do it at a leisurely pace and really work hard and fast on the transition. If you have any specific questions, post them here. We'll help you out!

I'm looking forward to reading your race report!!

Dave - Congrats on the sub hour finish! Your wife must be a super athlete with her 1:02 finish, too! Do you train together a lot?

Your Half Iron is quickly approaching! Still feeling confident in your training? You're entering the last few high volume weeks before you step back a bit for taper. Now is the time to push - carefully, of course! Keep a clear picture of that finish line in your head during your workouts.

Have you though about goals for the race?

Ken - wooo hoooo!  Super job finishing your first tri, and yes, everything including transitions will get a bit smoother the more experience you get.  Any chance your next tri is the Lancaster YMCA tri at Speedwell?  That is my next race, and seeing as you are 'local', I thought maybe it is yours as well.  At any rate, keep up the good work!

Dave - WOW!!  I am awed and humbled by you and your speedy wife.  You are a very speedy couple!  Great job! Sub hour, wow, just wow!  Keep up the good work in prepping for your half.

Hey guys, 

Elaine: My wife and I do one swim one bike and one run together most weeks.  We follow the same training plan.   I am feeling great with my training and getting stronger so I really and looking forward to the next two races.   Especially the half.     I put some new photos of this race with our team jerseys.   The funny one is my bike dismount.  It looks very graceful, but that is a lie, I dove off the bike at 18 mph right before the line and the guy in the picture jumped out of the way thinking I was going to run him over.   I took a few stumble steps with the speed and ran past another guy just out of the pic.  

On my race report I need to change the run part.  It was a 2.2 mile run and they had it listed at a 5k, I am not as fast as it says right now. 

and the group pic my wife is on the far right. 

Melbo:  Thank you.  

Dave - I was wondering where all of that run speed came from! That's awesome that you get to share triathlon with your wife.

How is everyone doing - espeically those of you that have been quiet for a while?

When you have a very fast wife you have to run faster when you get in trouble.  

Where is everyone.   Hope all is well, I had a rough week personally but it is coming back together.   Work truck broke down, and my neck went out of place wednesday.   I feel for anyone that has had to deal with Migraines.   I had no idea and thought it was a glorified headache.   Man was I wrong.  

Dave - glad the rough week is just about over. Hope all of the issues are resolved.

I came across Chrisse Wellington's 50 triathlon tips. Some are pretty common, some are very specific and helpful: http://compressport.uk.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/220_262_50tips_final.pdf

Those of you working toward Half Iron might be able to benefit from the nutrition recommendations. I also really liked her idea of dedicating every run mile to someone that helped you out. It'll make those 13.1 pass a little more smoothly if I know I'm running it "for" someone else.

I am going to have to read that elaine.   Thank you.  

My question:  What do people do for a HIM nutrition?  do you try to hit a calorie number?   Where does you nutrition come from?  

Chrissie recommends (and it's a figure I've seen before) 1 gram of carbs per kilogram per hour. With me at 125 lbs, that's 57 grams of carbs per hour. One Gu is 25 carbs. Thats a LOT of Gu!

I'd look at that figure as a starting point. Start trying out that formula on a mid-distance to long-distance ride. If you're really worried about nutrition messing with your long ride - start shorter.

A few other things I like - Gu Chomps, Clif Shots, Clif Bloks - all have about the same amount of carbs per serving. Honey is a good natural alternative.

There are pure liquid options: Infinit, Carb Boom, Ironman Perform, Perpetuem...

And there are solid options: Clif Bars, Honey Stinger Waffles, Fig Newtons, energy bars...

The options are nearly endless. The key is figuring out what works for you and your race. You also want to try to keep the fiber content down and the fat content relatively low, too. Simple carbs are easiest to digest, and will fuel you better.

I checked out your HIM website:

On the bike: aid stations will be "located approximately 10 miles apart will have Hammer Gels, Hammer Endurolytes, Lemon-Lime Gatorade Endurance Formula and of course plenty of water, bananas, etc"

On the run: "athletes will have access to aid roughly every mile of the run course...  Basic food supplies will also be available at each station, those supplies include but are certainly not limited to Lemon-Lime Endurance Formula Gatorade, water, Hammer Gels, Hammer Endurolytes, salt, etc"

So, if I were you, I'd try out some Hammer Gels (21g carb) and lemon-lime endurance Gatorade (14 g carb - with extra sodium and potassium). You might want to figure out what, if any, solids you can consume on the bike. On the run, I'd stick with gels and liquids. Chrissie's recommendation for the run is 1 gel every 25 minutes. The gel packets generally recommend 1 every 45 minutes, so I'm sure there's a good middle ground that works for you.

So... between now and your Oly, you might want to pick up a few single-serving products - most running stores will carry them. Test out a few while training, and come up with a rough nutrition plan. Test this nutrition plan on the Oly and go from there. You'll have a better idea of what will work for your HIM, and you can tweak those ideas in training.

For the HIM, plan to be self-supported food-wise. I'd carry less water though, because of the added weight and logistics of attaching that much water to your bike. You can have a speical needs bag, so throw a water bottle or two in there in case you drop yours, or in case the course is short on water. Use the course for things you can't carry (bananas, etc) or if you drop your nutrition or feel that you need more than you brought.

I've never done longer than an Oly, but just adding something I read recently about a few other nutrition alternatives:

Hillary Biscay recently posted what she takes to races as far as nutrition.  Something that jumped out at me was that she makes what she called the creamsicle mix: a water bottle with EFS Orange drink and an EFS Vanilla liquid shot.  Sounds good!

I have also heard from others of making a 'slurry' of powdered drink mix such as Infinit but more than just the normal 2 scoops.

Also heard of folks squeezing 12-15 gel packets (not the big EFS bottles, but if you did use them, use less accordingly) into a water bottle, topping it off with water and shaking it up (keep in refridgerator if you want it cool).  Here again you could fashion your own flavor blend, such as strawberry and vanilla or whatever.

Also have to add that I love Honey Stinger Waffles!

hey Guys.

I am enjoying a nice week vacation.  So I am doing some good runs, biking, swimming.  I even got in a round of golf this morning.  

Mel-  I am in fact doing the tri in Lancaster.  Sounds like a good tri.  I am excited to see how much difference there is between pool and lake swimming.  

Elaine- Thanks for the PDF.  Need to read that.  Always looking for good info.

Have a good weekend folks.  I got a long 14 mile run tomorrow.  

Finally, got my race report finished.   

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=266538

It's just about that time to recap your August training.

What are your goals for September?? We have a few BIG races coming up in this group!

I raced on Sunday. Check out the race report by clicking my "Races" button under this post.

Lessons learned:

1. STUDY THE COURSE MAP! I missed a mile on the run and e-mailed the RD to have myself disqualified. I followed other runners. I also got lost leaving on the bike... but I didn't go off course there.

2. 1 gram of carb / kilogram / hour actually worked for me on the bike. I had a Gu around 15 minutes, Honey Stinger Waffle around 45 minutes, and a Gu around 1:10 (finished bike in 1:18).

3. It was so hot that I didn't want to eat on the run. I will carry shot blocks in addition to Gu at the half ironman, because I think they'll be easier to stomach if it is hot out. Being well-fueled from the bike carried me through this one.

4. Mentally, my training is getting to where it needs to be. I knew I messed up the run less than a mile into it. I fought through a heat index of well over 100 degrees and kept a decent pace despite knowing that my effort wouldn't officially count.

5. Physically, taper is going to be VERY important. My legs constantly feel tired. Despite feeling fresh at the beginning, by 20 miles into the bike, my legs got heavy.

...that's about all for me.

My goal for September is to miss ZERO planned workouts... except when swimming is out of my control because all of my available pools are outside.