Mesteren's Group - CLOSED (Page 11)

I was able to return to training today!!!!

I have not been able to do any training but weight lifting because of my ankle for the last 10 days. It was killing me! I got my friend to tape up my ankle and I went an easy 4 miles last night. I was so glad. My ankle felt better today and I was soooo glad to be out training again. I always get a little depressed when Im stuck like that.

Im sure that everyone will do great with their tris this weekend. Calluna, be careful on the change of terrrain for the run. That is how I rolled my ankle

Duncan, maybe a quick zipper down that hill will get you comfortable at those crazy fast speeds.

Anyways, glad everyone is doing well.

Joel

Wow... that kinda sucked!  I've been WAY too busy lately, and haven't run in almost a week, but I decided to do 50 minutes today at lunch.... finished 6 km in about 34 minutes when I just kinda lost it... SOOOOOOO hot (and I needed to be useful this afternoon... MCing the graduation ceremony at two o'clock).

I dunno Mesteran... somedays (when I'm not bike riding) , I would gladly trade Taiwan's heat for a nice cool Icelander day!

Mesteren - 2011-06-10 5:58 PM Just saw this in todays paper
This is from the northern part of the island.
It is suppose to be SUMMER !!!!!!!




So Duncan do you still want to switch ?

Do you even have clothes for this kind of weather

Wow... as much as I love snow... It's June!!!  Maybe not on the switch!

On another note, had a good 24 hours here.  Yesterday afternoon I made it into Taipei to the store "Fun Triathlon".  I was chatting with the owner for a while, picked up some race nutrition, a race belt, and a tri suit. (one peice dealy... I'll have photos after my race)  It was nice to be able to talk to someone local who has done a few races (He won his age group in his last race... and he's in my age group!!!)  Got a couple tips, learned a little about the race I'm about to do, and with any luck, I'll be able to find him at the race, since he is racing too!

Then, this morning I did 48km on the bike, followed immediately by a 5km run.  Both felt pretty good.  I've been doing a fair bit of swimming in the last couple weeks... I really feel like everything is gonna come together on Sunday and I'll have a great race!   Only 1 week to go!

Yieks Mesteren that looks yukky and I thought it was bad here the last weekend. Anyways I gotta get my training back on track. My little girl fell the other day and knocked her little head so we spent a lovely morning in emerge. Sitting is a skill when your 9 months that requires practice. She's okay thank goodness. And then the weather turned to crap and I just couldnt get motivated until today. Nothing like what you had though holy smokes.

Besides being to busy at the moment doing fun stuff (ie. Went on a bike weekend last weekend, going to a festival tomorrow for 3 day) I bought myself a new bike yesterday. For the nerds the details.

• Brand: ROSE
• Model: Carbon Pro-SL 3000 triple
• Frame: 61 cm Full Carbon
• Group: Shimano Ultegra
• Crank: 53-39-30
• Casette: 12-25
• Extra's: Triathlon steer, bike computer (Sigma BC 2209 MHR)
• Color: Black

I opted for a road bike with some alteration for tri racing (ie steer and close group 12-25) as I also want to use it to take to the mountains. I might even do the alpe d'Huzes next year. That is a charity race to collect money for research on cancer. Every entrant will collet 2500 euro minimum. In return they will close down te road to alpe d'Heuz so you can try and climb it 6 times. The "zes" in the title is dutch for 6.

To get an idea on the challange you can find the mountain profile here: http://www.climbbybike.com/profile.asp?Climbprofile=Alpe-dHuez&MountainID=5

For reference. On of the "hills" I climbed this weekend was only this: http://www.climbbybike.com/profile.asp?Climbprofile=Cote-du-Rosier&MountainID=615

The last one was already a hard one for my brother in law. And he is the one I'm planning to do the Alpe d'Huzes with.....

Ow and in 9 days I will go for my second tri. And I lacked in training to much to my taste. Together with a technical bike course (19 corners ) I do not think I will get close to my PB.

Hey Guys, I haven't posted in a while, I hope you don't mind if I hop back in????  I wanted to share my learning experience I received last Sunday at my HIM.  Kansas 70.3 was last Sunday and let me start by saying it is a really neat venue.  It is held at Clinton State Park in Lawrence, KS.  The bike route was very hilly but there was always a good downhill proceeding the long uphill to get you going.  Unfortunately I didn't make it that far.  Didn't make it past the swim.  The water was pretty rough Sunday morning and I just couldn't get it done.  So I DNF'd my first HIM in the one dicipline I was the most confident in.  Now for the learning part ......I knew I could do the 1.2 miles (in the pool all day long) however I did not do a single open water swim this year in preparation for this race, and the worst part is that I know better.  I've done OWS races in the past and I know how different it is than being in the pool.  Lesson learned!

On the bright side, I did get to watch the pros race.  It was pretty cool watching Chrissie Wellington and Leanda Cave battle it out on the run! 

Hola everyone!

I can finally say that I have been able to return to my regular training after the ankle sprain. I am not returning with the fitness when I left, even though, that was only about 3 weeks ago. During recovery I did stay in the gym. I did upper-body strength training. I have been doing well the last few workouts but am concerned about being prepared for my first tri in a month. I certainly have not been able to do the training I hoped for.

Thanks for letting me rant a bit. Hope everyone is doing well. I see there has been some racing going on.

@neizels

that sure does look like a nice bike (big too) maybe one day ill be sporting ultegra. This is not that day.

@menstren

How do you train in weather like that? i just can't get over it

That sucks Holly, but cool on getting to watch the pros!

Did you really have to share your OWS 'fail' story 2 days before my first race, and my first OWS... It just hasn't been possible for me to get anywhere where I can practice an OWS.  I am hoping, that when I register on Saturday, I can jump in the river for a couple hundred meters... I might just walked up river and do it anyway.  I feel confident that I will be OK, but as you have just shown, confidence doesn't get the race done.

Sounds like a cool ride Neizels, but seriously... 61 cm... wow

Good luck with the last couple weeks of training and your race Joel.  I'm sure you will do great!

Hey everyone...

Well, no chance for a swim on Saturday (Family tourist obligations kept me busy until around 10pm) so my first OWS was during the race Sunday morning.  I will follow this with a full race report, but here is the long and short of it.

Swim - It was pretty awesome.  I got beat up a bit, but managed to be one of the first people in my wave ( I was gonna go to the back, but when the first few waves hit the water, and 75% were breast stroking, I decided to go out in front)  I passed lots of people from the waves in front and finished in around 37 minutes.

Bike - I rocked it... my fasted training ride over 40km was at about 29.5 km/h... now this is in traffic, with stop lights etc, so I wasn't sure what to expect in a race.  I finished the bike in about 1:05.... which blew my expectations outta the water...

Run - With transition times (and I forgot to start my start watch at the beginning of the swim, only remembered about 2 minutes in) I began running at 1:47.  I figured I would be A-OK for my 3 hour goal, which had me pretty excited.  My first 5km lap went well... 30 minutes, but then the heat got to me.  I walked about 3 km of the second lap, completely stopped at a couple rest stations / showers they had a course... I managed to run the last 1.5km and crossed the finish line running.

Stopped my watch about 1 minute later at 2:59:57... so it all depends on how slow I was to start timing... I may have just broken 3 hours, or I may be just over.  But either way, it was awesome.  I loved it, felt great to finish.

I am a triathlete!

P.S. Temperatures were around 35 degrees... with probably about 90% humidity.

Results posted, so I finished up my race report.

I finished 150th outta 280 in my age group.  Not too shabby.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=257496

Holy: Nice to see your back. Sorry to hear you weren't able to do the whole race. You do make me jealous though on naming those pro's.
Joel: Good to hear you made it thtough the injury. Not jumping into the gym with that ankle sounds like a good plan.
Duncan: Sounds like the Holly horror story on the swim did not affect you too much. What a great result on your first race. And with that heat I already have respect for you of getting all the way to the halfwaypoint of the 3rd discipline before getting over heated. And that bike time sounds superb!!
And nice race report you wrote.
Mesteren: It is inspiring to read your race reports. Good to now that there will always remain parts to work on .

And yes I got a big frame. I'm 187cm. After taking my measurements at the bike shop my optimal frame size was calculated to be 60cm. As they only have 59 and 61 as frame sizes we chose the 61cm frame.

This weekend I will do my second race. The fact I really slacked training and the bike course being non optimal with 19 sharp corners I don't expect to get even close to my PB. Main focus will be to enjoy the race and use it as a point to bounce back into a nice training rythm.

so, I went into this local place called 'endurance sports.' I thought I would see what was in there. It was just a small store selling running shoes, performance apparel and gu. I did find a pair of tri shorts that I did purchase (hopefully they work well).

Anyways, here is my question; the attendant that helped spoke of the venue in which my first triathlon will be held. He said that I should be careful and taste the water they are serving before I begin. He said that the water often has a high sulfur content and it upset his stomach. Can I strap on a camelbak for the bike and/or the run of a triathlon? does anyone else? if so, is it a bad idea?

thanks in advance

Joel

Hey Joel,  far from experienced here, but I did notice one guy with a camelback on Sunday, so you wouldn't be the first.

Well, I decided to defeat the heat, and run at noon today (another 35 degree Sunny day, just like race day) and again, the heat won!  I planned 30 minutes, and called it after 28:20... I was starting to stagger.  A quick shower after revived me, but man, that heat and humidity really saps me.

Good news, I've got time off from 7/1 ~ 7/10.  I met a guy, who I've been facebook friends with for 6 months now, on Sunday, and he invited me to join him for a ride.  It's about a 90 drive to get to him, but I'll have the time.  Also, gonna bike out to my buddies place.  Been meaning to do it, and I think I'll find the time then.  40km each way.

Joel: As far as I know there are no restrictions of taking a camel back with you. On my first race I had two bottles on my bike plus a bottle stand by in T2 in case I wanted to take it with me on the run. I'm fortunate that we have very good water quality in the Netherlands so I do not have to worry about that.

I'm not sure if I would want to take a camelback though as it takes time to put on/ can shake a bit during the run and is less aerodynamic on the bike. So maybe you could try the bottles. And you can also check if you are affected by the water yourself. Maybe you have a good stomach and do not need to worry about it.

Duncan: Those are cool plans. And if you want to bike even more we can become facebook friends too. It with will surely take you a week to get here by bike ;o).