Penn State's mentor group - CLOSED! (Page 11)

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That, plus the "weight-o-meter" means we are gonna get along just fine!  Are you sure we aren't related?

I agree w/ Fred - don't get caught up in what anyone else is doing.  You need to train based on your current fitness, not your desired fitness come race day.  There's more good news for you... a conservative "just finish" goal will help you avoid injury - you've already seen a few of the "big boys" from the LP group drop out due to injury.  And if your experience is anything like JenN's was, "just finish" can turn out much better than that.  I'm a historically injury prone runner, and I remind myself in almost every workout not to push to hard.  For a while my log title was "the discipline to be slow" -- that was only a few months ago and I had the discipline... and I got MUCH faster being disciplined. 

If you're in a mentor group, chances are one of the dangers of the "official threads" for races is that you can forget you're only racing against yourself and the clock in these things... not the guy who is fighting for a kona spot.  That's why I'm happy to be in both the IMLP thread and this mentor group, like you, WittyCityGirl.  I think there's a healthy balance between the machismo and smack talk and advanced training discussions there, and the discussions that will inevitably take place here about fundamentals.  Like Fred said, there's no more certain way to NOT be faster than to get injured.  Regardless of experience, we're all prone to forgetting the fundamentals or trying to be advanced before we've even dabbled in the fundamentals.

In fact, 2010 so far FOR ME has really been about a RETURN to fundamentals... with MUCH better results than some of the "advanced" (ie stupid given my fitness at the time) training I was doing for the last few years.  I wrote quite a bit about it in my blog over the past two days (here on BT) if you're interested in reading more.


Edited by JoshKaptur 2010-04-13 7:59 PM

This is my 1st year of doing triathlons...actually only been training for about 3 months now. I haven't really had any sidelining injuries yet because I'm sticking to the 10% training program. Every week you increase 10% in time for 3 weeks and then you reduce by 40%. This has been working out pretty well for me. I'm getting the time in and am seeing results in distance and speed.

I'm not really doing much intensity work right now. My track club that I run with on Tues does some intensity stuff but most of them have been running for a long time. I go out and run for as long as I feel comfortable with and then skip a 200 yd sprint to let my body rest for a minute or two. Tonight I went to Master's swim and we did a 16 lap intensity set that was actually really fun but it didn't kill me to do it.

I have been struck by a bug twice since I started training. It always happens when I start working out. About a month in I will get a cold that will last about two weeks. It did sideline my training a bit in March but I just need to get back at it now with only 1 1/1 weeks until my 1st Oly.

I did my 1st OWS this weekend and it didn't go well. I'm going back out with a group on Thur and then on Sunday as well. I need to get the OWS down my the 24th. Confidence is what I'm looking for. I'm not going to podium in my 1st OLY so I just want to finish in the best time I can. Someone told me in my 1st Sprint that I can walk tomorrow when I was walking on the run. I'm using that as my mantra for my OLY. I'm going to leave it all out there on the run.

I am planning on doing a 1/2 IM in Oct but I won't start to train for that until June or July. Until them I just want to keep increasing my physical ability. My HR is finally coming down on my run but my legs are still getting tired and sore. If I could get that down I would feel a lot better about the 6 and 13.1 mile races I have coming up. The run is definitely my weakest of the three. I'm struggling to get 12 min miles in. When I see people do 1/2 mary's at 7 min miles I wonder if I'll ever get there. It seems so far away.

Bottom line, I'm in a base building stage right now but I should be able to start some speed and intensity stuff in the late summer or early fall.

I'm in awe of some of the time, speed and distance that everyone in our group is doing. I know I'll get there someday.

GOOD LUCK! Hope you were able to hang in there! I actually rode w some roadies for a little tonight also. they were pushing 25+ and i was hanging in the back as close to the rear wheel as possible! They lost me a couple times but then waited up

What a great post! I have to remind myself a lot of these things very frequently. My race is for me...and me alone. While id love to be in the 600 april club..that just isnt for me right now. Maybe next year...or the year after. But for now i nneed to try and keep my cool and do MY OWN thing.

With that being said...had an awesome ride tonight. I decided to bike out to Leguna Seca with my roomate (fantastic roadie) and then rode there..then biked back home. My 2 hour planned ride turned in to a 3:20ish ride. But unlike almost everyone at the track..i did my own thing and took it easy!

I can totally relate to this.  my running is my weakest also and it can get discouraging at times. It seems that some people can be total couch potatoes, get off the couch to run once and make it look like they have been training for years. I guess some people really have the gift for running.
Hang in there. This is still all new to you. I bet if you save this post and look back on it a year from now you will surprise yourself with how much you have improved. 

I think that's the smart move, the philosophy of racing going into an IM seems to be what kills half the DNF's, the other half being nutrition.  You just can't treat it like a race unless your volume has been there for awhile, and most people going into IM's don't have it.

Probably not, all my relatives are in Wales.  Of course, you seem to wear your weight better than me, It makes you look like a weightlifter; when I gain weight, I look like someone in the 3rd trimester =\

Hopefully I can keep it off, last year after my A race I gained 15 pounds in 2 months.

I have a question about cut off time for the 70.3 races. The website states that the cut off times are as follows...
Swim: 1 hour and 10 minutes after final wave start
Bike: 5 hours and 30 minutes after final wave start
Run: 8 hours and 30 minutes after final wave start
So, does that mean that those who are in the first waves have more time to finish the race?  That doesn't seem right to me but I then I have never dealt with cut off times before. I am familiar with the IM cut off times as everyone starts at the same time but I am not clear about when there is a wave start. Does everyone have to finish the race in a certain amount of time ie... 8.5 hours?

Edited by Kath2163 2010-04-14 12:01 AM

I was close to that 7min/mile mark for my 1/2 mary on Sunday, but I'll tell you this it took time for me to get there.  A year and a half ago I was completely out of shape, couldn't run a mile (at a 12-13minute pace) without having to walk.  I was coming off being a pack a day smoker for the previous 7 years.

You mentioned it's your first year and you've been training for only 3 months.  I don't know what your background is before tri training, but mid-summer is only another 3 months away.  If you'll only have 6 months of training behind you, I believe it is way too early to think about speed work.  Like I mentioned in my other post, I consider myself to have been building a base for the last year and a half.  Not a single bit of speed work was done in that time, I simply got myself out there everyday (took a rest day as needed... took a lot more in the beginning than I do now).  I put the miles in, was consistent, and watched my performance and my body progress over time.  There was no need to risk injury with intervals or anything like that.

I feel the same way, but I think the best philosophy is to look at like a career.  When we're younger we all wonder why the first day you aren't making top dollar and everyone else is.  Then you put in the work, get your degree, and suddenly you're up there with everyone else.  Yes, there is the guy who does everything right, and makes it to the top fast, but its best to ignore the exceptions.  Building endurance takes years of work for the average person; especially cycling.

About 12 years ago I ran a 16:50 5k, and I often wonder if I'll get back there.  I highly doubt it,  I hustled for that time and put in about 70 miles a week.  I got that time because of fear of getting kicked out of the Marine Corps for slow run times;  I had / have asthma, which means I had to be as fast as everyone else with an asthma attack and no inhaler.  Luckily I got so fast no one that mattered could see me hitting the puffer!

I just wanted to show off my usual cycling route..


This is where I usually ride unless I head to the mountains, typically, its this empty unless its a weekend; but after work there's usually me and maybe 2 or 3 other cyclists along the 18 mile strip.

The mountains in the background go up to 7k feet and will be featured as the queen stage in the Tour of California.



The headwinds have been atrocious lately though...I guess its good prep for IMSG.

Edited by furiousferret 2010-04-14 12:44 AM

Thanks for all the kind words. Growing up I was a natural athlete. Just went out and ran, biked, swam, whatevered. I was in amazing shape and actually competed in a couple of triathlons when I was in high school. Actually did a tri with Lance Armstrong in Puerto Rico (actually I wasn't really competing with him cause he was a tri stud). I was asked to join the Panasonic road racing team based out of Golden, Co when I was 16. I was asked to leave 4 months later because I wasn't progressing at the level that they wanted. Actually I was very immature and missed home a lot. I moved back home and enjoyed cycling as a hobby until I entered college.

Through college and my 1st job my physical fitness declined. When I met my wife it went completely out the window. We ate as our social thing we did together and I gained about 50 pounds. I never lost the weight and when I started working out in January I weighed 216 pounds. I'm about 200 right now and my goal is to be about 180. I have a background in being physically fit but I'm coming off the couch.

As far as speed or intensity work goes, I don't see it being a big part of my plan until sometime next year. I would like to improve my speed on the bike and run this year. My swim is about 2 min - 100 yds and I'm fine with the right now. If I get faster...great. If not, I can work on that next year.

When I do triathlons, I'm competing with me. To see how much I can get out of me. Not can I go faster than someone else. If I can do the best I know I can do, then I win.

This has been a life changing thing for me at 39 and I don't ever see me going back to a sedentary lifestyle. My wife and I workout a lot together and I love that we do it with each other. I feel that I am truly blessed to have the ability to do endurance style exercise and I have met amazing people so far.

Thanks for inspiring me everyday to work a little harder and be a better person.

Plan for the rest of the week: Wed - run at least 5 miles (distance not time)...Thur - OWS 60-90 min...Fri - rest day...Sat - 24-30 mile ride...Sun - OWS 60-90 min / 2 hr hike.

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I agree with posting pics, too! Love 'em.


BTW, for what it's worth... the last two hours of Ironman Lake Placid last year were the BEST parts of the entire race.  I watched as those people who were out there longer crossed the finish line and it was so inspiring.  I watched when the pros crossed and there was barely a crowd.  I hope I'm not one of the last finishers because I really want to be out there before midnight cheering them on!  But, if I am one of the last I am going to have one hell of a cheering section! 

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Yes. People in the last wave have less time to finish the race than people in the first wave before the cut off time.

Beautiful!! and the road looks like its in really nice condition for some smooooooth riding

Where in california??