Allison and Ryan's Beginner Mentor Group - FULL (Page 11)

Glad to see people back.  I was starting to get lonely here (I'm pretty sure I showered after the last workout!)

Dave - I've had those swim days too, usually after a long swim just like you.  Sounds like a pattern eh?

huntnjerm - Goodluck on the marathon! I don't think I'd ever like running enough to want to do one but lots of respect for you marathoners!

I just got back from my ride as my workout today.  Supposed to be long but time constrained as it has to be within my lunch break.  Got about an hour in and ~20miles.  Not too bad.  I actually geared out on the way back!  I thought I had one last gear on a flat portion and was surprised to find I was already on the last gear.  I guess my legs are getting stronger! 

On a different note, Trishorts padding sucks!  I think the reason I was pushing so hard at the end was because I couldn't wait to get home and out of the saddle.  Have no idea how people can ride in these non-existant padding shorts for hours on end.

I have to agree with you on this one. I try and do some of my rides wearing tri shorts to get used to them but it's tough.

In my experience you just need to get used to them.  I actually prefer my tri shorts for longer rides, particularly when I'm riding in the drops a lot.  Less chafing.

I'm soooo struggling right now with scheduling.  I think I bit off a little too much with this HIM in July.  The plan I'm doing calls for me to be doing something like 10 hours a week right now and I don't seem to have it.  I feel bad because I'm not following through with any of my commitments, including the one I made to you all.

So anyway, I'm going to be modifying my plan to something less aggressive in an effort to find some more balance.  And keep us on the front page!

Yeah gotta agree with thndrcloud I ride in under armour compression shorts w/o padding of any kind at work, interested in the tri shorts though it might be useful for me at work, cycling shorts just seem too much like a diaper if you aren't on a bike.

Enjoyed reading all the posts tonight. 

Here is my day summary.  Good 3 mile run.  It felt normal so I am glad since I was worried about my 5.6 mile leg of the Gettysburg North-South marathon relay this Sunday.

BUT THEN.....  Where is my bike?

We recently decided to break down and spend the money on road bikes. I have ridden mine 5 times.   Last year I rode a $50 craigslist mountain bike.  My husbands road bike was used and mine was a new entry level road bike.  Still very expensive and painful to spend all that money on bikes.    I go to the garage to put my bike in the car to go home.  Couldn't find it.  Someone broke in the garage stole both the road bikes, lawn mower and other garden machines.  Of course, our insurance deductible is $1,000.  I must remember to be thankful because I didn't lose my house or life in a tornado.  But I am still sad.  

Oh man.  That sucks!  I'd be so mad right now. 

In the end though, these are all just material things and you still have your health and your family.  I'm glad no one was around when these punks came.  Safety before all else!

wow....really sorry about your bikes and other possessions. Yes, they are only material things but its incredibly frustrating to work hard for something and have it taken away. I think about this often....we are so busy that our house is unoccupied much of the week.

On a lighter note I got a great swim in tonight.....started my 10x75 and about halfway through I stopped being tired and out of breath and actually felt like I could keep going on each rest. Tried to use the elliptical but wasnt happening with this knee yet.....so, more stretching and roller.

Getting my swim mojo back!  Another swim milestone for me today!

From my BT Training Log:

Uhm....Wow.

I can't believe I just did that. I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST DID THAT!

Work-out plan today simply told me to go and swim for 30minutes - straight. Yeah, ok. That just sounded like torture when I read it. In any case I figured the writers of this plan knows more than I do so I just HTFU and went to the pool. After my normal 4x25 warm-up I just started to swim. And I swam, and swam, and swam. 1100 yds later I was done. 1100yds! I can't believe it! the longest continuous swim I'd done prior to this was 500yds. Just 3 months ago I first got wet in the pool and could barely do 25yds without feeling like I was going to die.

I've got my swim mojo back. Now I just gotta get this thing down in the OW.

thanks

I feel a bit less bad right now. Schedule has been crazy past couple weeks, and I feel so off track.

Sorry about your bikes, hope they get returned to you but you might need to be doing a weekly trip to the pawn shops if you don't have the serial numbers...

My house is going back to normal this weekend!!  Hopefully can get my training back on track

Happy Saturday morning!  It's my favorite morning of the week because my dear hubs gets up with the kids and I get to sleep crazy late.  Like until 8:30!

I'm getting ready to head out with my middlest to her swim lessons then I'm scheduled for a 4 hour bike ride.  Winds are supposed to be around 25mph today with gusts up to 44mph so I think I'm going to be a wimp and use the trainer.  I might put it outside on the patio so I can be with the rest of the family while the do yard work.  Yes, that's sort of mean but I already spent several hours working out there yesterday.  Oh, and I'm cutting the ride to 3 hours to maintain that whole balance thing.

Tomorrow I'm shooting for a five mile run.

What is everyone else planning for this sunny weekend?  Is it sunny where you are?

That is sucktastic.  The fact that they took power tools and bikes makes me think it was probably teenagers.  Adults who were desperate for money would have just taken the tools because most don't realize how much bikes can be worth.  Adults who knew how much the bikes were worth wouldn't have messed with the lawn mower.

I'm sorry that happened.  I hope they find the jerkwads and make them 10x as sad as they've made you.

Good job on getting out there.  Every new distance, whether measured in time or yards, looms like a mountain in front of you.  Then you get over it and it was just a little bump when you look back. 

If you want to get ready for the open water swim here's a video that might help...

Triathlon Start

Beautiful sunny day, had a cold front come through thursday so high near 80 and no humidity great day to be outside...  unfortuantly I have to add working.  It's my week to switch sides of the rotation so I end up working 7 out of 8 days which never goes well for training but I'm on a bike so it's not a total loss.

Plan says a 21 minute run for sunday going to do a 5k to see how fast I can get that time in at

It's been a pretty weekend for us as well.  Wifey and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary last night (yes...will and kate got married on OUR wedding date).  This morning I still woke-up around 6:30ish and went outside for a nice easy run.  Went about 4miles and was able to enjoy the sunrise.  I live in FL so it's been sunny and warm for a while now.  That also means no excuses to not go outside.

Went to the farmers market later on and planning to hit the beaches this afternoon.

Ha.  Thanks for the video.  I've seen that before and it cracks me up everytime I see it.  I'll probably splash around today at the beach.

got up early (5:45am), and met a couple of tri-club guys at the Y and tried to keep up with their swim workout.  I did 600 yards, 200 of which were 25 yd sprints.  All in all it was better than the other day.  Their workouts are Tue, Thur, and Saturday, and they are working with me, so I'm pumped.  Ran a bunch of errands and watched as the clouds gave way to a little bit of sun.  

Decided to get the bike out and do a 30-miler.  Well, I get over to the bike trail, because I wanted to mix in some drills. I notice that the air in my tires is low, so I get the pump out of the trunk and commence to pump up the front tire. It's a shrader valve and the pump was configured for that since my wife's and step-son's bikes use a shrader valve.  The rear tire, which is brand new, a Bontrager Race Lite, uses a Presta valve.  My pump is configurable, so I take the inside grommet out to flip it around and get it wrong.  I loosen the screw on the Presta and attach the pump.. whooossshhhh...  now I'm completely flat.   I fiddle with the pump and can't get it to work.  I look at my watch. It's 3:20, and I know the bike shop is open.  I throw the bike back on the rack and head over.  The tech sees that I have the grommet in before the fitting (wrong Dave!!), he flips it, puts it back together and I'm able to pump up my tire.  I get ready, clip in and take off.. I hit the clearing on the path, and the wind hits me hard.. I feel like I'm peddling through mud.. I push as hard as I can to maintain close to the speed I want.. the burn.. the burn.. about 1.5 miles down the road is a tree-lined portion and the wind subsides and I start to cruise, but I'm dying of thirst, so I grab my bottle, take a swig, and then 'try' to put the bottle back, only to knock it in between my leg and the frame and off the bike, this cause me to rattle, but I maintained it, but had to stop and go back after the bottle.  Thinking I would have the wind to my back on the way back was pure folly on this day.. on the way back, it was swirling, sometimes coming straight across me, other times, behind me, and sometimes right at me..   How I averaged 15mph I'll never know, but my quads are still burning..

GREAT WORKOUT!!!

Happy May everyone!

I decided that I'd start May off with a bang get another brick in.  It's been a few weeks since my last one and I think my legs forgot what it feels like to run immediately after a bike.  Did 10miles on the bike pretty hard.  Tried to keep a high cadence.  It was tough on the way back as I hit a headwind the 5miles back that was pretty stiff. Legs were nice a gelatinous feeling after the ride.

Went into my run and couldn't get my rhythm down at all.  Not until after the first mile was I able to settle into my normal pace and get my breathing under control.  That and the run in with the raccoon helped up my pace a bit! (I wrote about it in my log).

So question for the mentors (and experienced mentees), as race day approaches (1 month left!) I've been reading that I should incorporate more bricks into my workouts.  I've doing the bike/run brick, but my training plan has me doing a swim/bike brick as well.

How do you guys handle that (from a logistics standpoint).  I'm usually at the pool with all my gear and if I ride my bike there it's locked up outside. do you just ride with your stuff?

Got a short run in yesterday after work which had me a little beat, 25 miles on the day, the training plan called for a 23 minute run so hoped to get the full 5k in in that time, didn't do bad was able to keep a sub 8 minute pace but not the full 5k in the time but I am still optomistic about a sub 1:20 finish in my first tri 19 days from now...

I do have a question though everytime I run recently I have been feeling very tight in my left hamstring, right is perfectly fine although I am left side dominate, early in the run like within a couple of minutes to the point that I don't feel like I am fully extending my leg in my stride and the tightiness lasts a day or so afterwards but does dissapate some while running.  I stretch regularly at this point, every morning before I start my shift and sometimes before I go to sleep, any advice or thoughts on it?

The swim/bike bricks I have done I have done 2 different ways.  My gym is also my pool so I have done the straight pool to exercise bike after a quick change in the locker room to dry clothing.  I have also done a swim to road bike brick in which my wife dropped me and the bike off at the gym and I just locked my stuff up in a gym locker and rode home, when I was running errands later in the day I just stopped by and picked up the stuff in the locker.  Also some of the people in my last mentor group suggested that the swim/bike brick isn't as important as the bike/run and not to worry about it.  Not sure how I feel about that attitude as I expect the swim/bike to be my best legs and they were acomplished runners and new to swimming.