amschrod's mentor group - FULL (Page 11)

Can't wait to read all the race reports. Great to see you back in the race scene Paula.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement from the group.  I will finish up the complete race report later today but here is a summary.  Great trip to Jekyll Island with my wife.  She ran the 5K and set a PR for her and is excited about running another one. 

The swim is my best leg in a tri.  I have no fear of water.   Have never had a near drowning experience.  Not scared of sharks.  Love the water.  I almost DNF in the first 100 yds of the swim.  The course was easy enough:  swim out to a green bouy, turn left, pass two red bouys and then at the yellow bouy turn left back to the beach.  After the green buoy and the turn down the beach I couldn't get my breath.  I was doing the breast stroke, floating on my back, treading water, not moving.  At the first red bouy I hung on to it and rested.  Started swimming again and took 5-6 strokes and stopped and the bouy was still right beside me.  Not sure which way the current was going but I wasn't moving.  Fortunately, I heard from many others that their times from last year were DOUBLE on the swim due to the conditions. 

I had picked a goal time when I signed up for this to put me middle of the pack of my age group, based on last year's times.  Had I hit that goal, I would have won the master's division and nearly won the overall event.  The times were that much slower this year. 

Anyway, I survived the swim, had a good time on the bike and labored through to the finish on the run.  Packed up my gear and went to the hotel and passed out.  Felt sick all day Saturday until late that evening.  Sunday was much better and we drove home.  This morning, I checked the results online.  Now I am sick again.  I finished 3rd in my AG (out of 6) but didn't stick around to get the award or enjoy the party afterwards!  Oh well, it was a brutal swim for me and I will be back to try it again. 

Lots more to add about this race.  I think my problem was my wetsuit was just too tight in the chest and I couldn't get my breath.  My arms were never tired and I had good range of motion with them in the suit.  I will swim in it again soon to find out.  I will not have another wetsuit legal event this year around here.  Thanks again for the support.  Looking forward to hearing everyone's reports as the season really gets going.

Congratulations to your wife on the PR.



I read through some of the race talk thread and sounds like everyone had a hard swim because of the tide or curents or whatever. Sounds like you did well with difficult conditions. 



Too bad you missed the awards, but congratulations on 3rd in your AG. That is FANTASTIC!!



Wetsuit fit can be tricky. Sometimes people make the mistake of not pulling them up enough, but since you had full range of motion in your arms, I don't think that is the case. Besides feeling tight in  your chest did it feel constricting on your neck as well? 



I am definitely psyched that race season is getting into full swing, and I am also looking forward to hearing about all the races.

Anthony

ETA that's weird, There's an extra sentence here, but I can't edit it out.

Wetsuit fit can be tricky. Sometimes people make the mistake of not pulling them up enough, but since you had full range of motion in your arms, I don't think that is the case. Besides feeling tight in  your chest did it feel constricting on your neck as well?

Wow, great job getting through this most difficult swim.  That's gotta be the biggest fear because if you tank on the bike or running, you can pull over and regroup.  Not so much on the swim.  That was some serious thinking to pause at the buoy and get it together.

Congrats on such a strong finish.

Great job Calvin, finishing 3rd in your AG.  Fantastic!!  Looking forward to reading your full report.

Hey Gang I am off to Houston, TX 3 days for work. Just found out this afternoon. I will be flying out tomorrow am and will be back Thur. evening.  I have packed my running gear and jammers, just in case I locate the local Y to get in a swim.  I am running 2x and hope for a swim, but will settle for my runs.  I know it is bad when I am thinking about getting in a swim and run when away.  Maybe I can check my bike and get in a ride while out there...LOL.  6 wks till my first race, need to step it up.

Take care and congratulations again Calvin

Scott

I had a great time at my duathlon yesterday. It was a big challenge which is why I have done this race 4 years in a row so I can really push myself. This year they moved it from Fall to Spring which made it a little harder to prepare for the bike.

The run is a little bit less than 5 miles, is on trails and has over 1000 feet of climbing. Some of the trails are wide and gravelly, but some are single track. In some spots it's so steep you feel like you are climbing stairs with rocks and sticks for steps.  The bike is 29 miles with about 3300 feet of climbing with incredible views and scenery.

First run felt good but I held back a little thinking I needed to save it for the bike, but I felt great on the bike, so I think I should have pushed it harder. I climbed well on the bike, but I am definitely out of my comfort zone on the fast descents so I tried to let it rip going downhill, but I still held back too much. On the first steep climb I passed 3 people (not easy to do when you are only going 6-7 mph), but then got passed by 4 people going back down the hill, including 2 of the people I had passed on the way up. I was surprised how strong I felt on the last big climb, so all in all a good ride.

The second run is when it got hard. Apparently I went a little too hard on the bike for my current fitness level because I didn't have much left. Did some walking with some of it a little slow. About a half mile from the end a group of 3 people were getting close, so I had to dig deep to finish strong because no way was I going to get passed right at the end after 4 hours of hard work. After I finished I started to feel pretty woozy, and it took about 5 minutes to feel back to normal, so I think I gave it my best effort. Today I feel kind of beat up, but it feels good!

I had to leave right away because I had to go to a graduation party which was bad for 2 reasons. First it turns out I was 2nd out of 4 in my AG so I didn't get my trophy/beer mug. Much more importantly, this race has the best post race food of any race I have ever done; chili, soup, and 3 different kegs of beer from a local brew pub. I was only able to have one little bowl of chili and half a beer before I had to leave.

Anthony




Edited by amschrod 2010-05-17 9:09 PM

Race report is complete:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=208620&posts=1&start=1

wbayek -  I appreciate your comment "That was some serious thinking to pause at the buoy and get it together" but I wasn't thinking...I was just surviving at that point!  

Scott, enjoy your travel and training.  Just 6 weeks until your race report will be complete!

Anthony,  Sounds like you had a great event with the Duathlon.  Is this your first event this year?  Those climbs would not be good for me to attempt.  I will stick with my small rollers around home.

Paula,  Congrats on your run.  When is your next one scheduled?

Great race report Calvin.

Anthony - that looks like a brutal duathlon.  Those are some serious climbs on the bike loop.

Calvin, Paula, & Anthony:  Congratulations on your races.  Proud of you guys!  Scott:  On Beach2Battleship - Sounds like a great idea.  I give you my tentative "yes, I'm in". 

Dan

Good race and good race report, I really enjoyed reading about it.



 First multisport event. There are times during this race that I think I shouldn't attempt it either

Great racing this weekend fellas!  Keep up the good work!  This week has been bad for me.  I think EJ has passed off her cough and runny nose to me.  I have been coughing up my lungs for 3 days and have gone through 2 boxes of tissues by myself since sunday.  I feel much better today- acutally have a voice to speak to my patients!  Couldnt quite make my tues. am run, will try for a decent one tomorrow.  My mom is coming in on friday to watch the baby on saturday so my husband and I can celebrate our 5 year anniversary at the place we got married at.   Is it wrong to try to squeeze a bike ride in while we have a free babysitter? 
I am not sure when my next race will be.  We have a bunch of 5K's coming up.  I hope to make my first try in sept.  there arent too many in july and august around here.  I plan to run the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon on oct 24.  Serious training doesnt start until mid aug.  Should be a great inaugeral race if anyone is interested.  MB in the fall, cheap hotels, great weather and a fast flat course.
Keep up the great work everyone, y'all are inspiring!
Paula

How nice that your mother is visiting for the weekend. I think it's perfectly normal to get in a bike ride while she babysits, but keep in mind I really enjoyed my 6AM ride in the fog and drizzle today



Sounds like a good plan, and that Myrtle Beach race looks great. Last time I was there was 30 years ago.




Absolutely! Everybody is doing great!

Anthony

I'm with both of you.  It is absolutely ok to run/bike when you have a babysitter.  Though I'm getting into this rainy biking after being motivated by Anthony!

Keep after it, and I agree the motivation is great here.

Hey everyone, I finally finished my race report from last weekend. It's not real interesting, but I did post it if you fell like checking it out.

After my swim this morning I thought of a little tip that I have never mentioned: Ultraswim Shampoo and Conditioner. My hair seems to be the one thing that isn't deteriorating with age, so I am picky about it. If I don't use the Ultraswim products, my hair is like straw after a couple of weeks in the pool.

OK, I had some deeper thoughts while I was swimming that I want to share with everyone, but I will do that a little later when I have some more time.

Anthony

No hair really here so shampoo issues aren't something I worry about.  I'm not going gray, I'm going clear!

That looks like a brutal duathlon, Anthony.

Going clear, I like that



It is certainly challenging. I find challenging myself like that helps build my confidence.

Anthony

So, as I was swimming along this morning, I was thinking about recovery. You have to be a driven person to do some of the things that we do, but it is also important to allow your body to recover periodically. If you try to go hard all the time, and constantly build your volume without taking some time to recover, it can lead to burnout or even injury, plus you don't allow your body to make gains from all of your hard work. Training plans always have recovery built into them, even if it is as simple as building for 3 weeks followed by an "easy" week. Here's an example of a weekly volume graph from a BT sprint plan:



You can see on the recovery weeks the volume goes way down, but that doesn't mean you don't do anything. Instead, it is "active recovery".

Since I had a very hard effort this past Sunday, I needed to recover. Monday morning I was very sore and really didn't feel like doing anything. It was my day off, so I went with my wife on her daily mile and a half walk. I barely felt like moving, and my wife teased me because I had trouble keeping up with her, but by the end of the walk I really felt much better. I probably should have gone for a short easy spin on my bike as well, so maybe next time. On Tuesday, I went for an easy 3 mile run. I was still sore when I started, but by the end I felt pretty good. Same thing with a short ride on Wednesday: hard at the beginning, then felt really good by the end. Today I did a 5 mile run, and it felt like a normal easy run. I will ride tomorrow, and that should be good also.

This is my 8th year of run training, my 5th year of tri training, and so far no over training injuries, and no burnout!

Long story short: Train well, but make sure you also take appropriate time to recover, and recovery doesn't mean do nothing.

Anthony

That's a great point Anthony.  We have to remember that the actual growth of our muscles happens during rest, so also sleep well everyone.

I'm also on a "recovery" week this week, but at this point I'm really only dropping my long run for a short but high intensity run (5k TT) since I'm just building my bike.  I may actually get into the lake for an OWS swim this weekend, but I doubt it since I'm wimpy and the water is about 56!

How was everyone's weekend?  I had an incredible ride this weekend, maybe my best ever.  I went 45 miles and averaged 19.6 for the final 25 miles, which is crazy fast for me.  I guess the training is working!  Now if only my running would get going...

And I took Sunday off as my rest day, so I'm following protocol!

Glad to hear your training is paying off. Keep at it.

I had a great (for me) swim on Saturday and even got my wife to go and start the program I'm doing, so now we're both training. She's not as committed to this as I am but she is considering one day doing a sprint. I'm just excited that now she listens to me and is actually interested when I go off talking about training etc.

Sunday is my day off every week, and I try and make sure I take it. Had a great day off this week.

Edited by cemarkham21 2010-05-24 1:34 PM

Clayton, that's awesome that your wife is training.  That would be way cool to do tris together.  And I thought I was the only triathlete in the world with Sunday as an off day!

Anthony, I just read your bottom of page 2 comment and yes I'm a hockey player.  I love it, but a nerve problem in my forearm may be ending my career.  Too many scars and breaks to mention!

If you do Timberman, definitely let me know.  We'll have to meet in person.  I'm up there every weekend and I ride parts of that bike course a lot.  I agree with the location - it's heaven on earth in my humble opinion.

Hey Gang!  Back from Houston, TX  work related, but was able to squeeze in a run while I was there.  Sat. got called back into work so Sunday was my training day.  I have my 1st Sprint in 34 days and counting.  Need to hit the hills and will ride and run the course at least one more time.  

My friend did the Columbia Oly Tri this past Sunday. It was raining and he said the road course was slick and there were alot of crashes.  He had a good race, and backed off the down hills after witnessing a few.

Looking forward to a swim tomorrow.   

It looks like everyone had a very good weekend workout.  Way to go Clayton on getting your wife motivated to train. 

Edited by scott1223 2010-05-24 8:25 PM

That was a great ride you had. Did you feel like you were in some sort of special "zone" where your bike somehow just felt fast? I get that sometimes, but not as often as I would like. Your running looks very good to me, so I think your run training is working as well.

Anthony

That is really nice that you got your wife to join you. That  definitely was a great swim you had on Saturday; keep working at it and you will continue to improve.

Anthony