Matt Gilmartin's 2nd Quarter Group- back in the pool! FULL HOUSE (Page 11)

Nice job, Steve- 8:51 pace is pretty good considering all the adversity in your training!

I like your idea of "carb loading"- that's more like "sugar loading", my friend

Ya gotta love Washington State - where else do you get to ride your bike through dairies, smell the sweet clover (and the manure pits!), and have fresh fruit smoothies at the end?  Lynden, WA.  Got to do the Tri-berry Triathlon with my extended family.  Brother-in-law did the 250 yd swim, I rode my NEW and FAB-O Cannondale in the bike, and my brother did the run.

We had a great time!  Oh yes, did I mention it is Washington State and it was drizzling?  Natch. 

Big take home lesson - I can dig deeper.    Two weeks from my first all me tri.  Work week coming up!

Hope you all had great weekends!

I was more focused on my heart rate than the time. I tried to keep my heart rate at 160 since that is pretty much the max I can sustain a run for more than a half mile. I wanted to try and push my heart rate for the entire race. I haven't downloaded my Garmin data so only had the average from the history on the watch.

My carb/sugar loading was a fail. I had a nice sugar high going until about midnight, then crashed and hit snooze instead of getting up to run. I'm just glad my wife only has one birthday a year - its too easy for me to go off the healthy eating and balanced meals when there is cake and ice cream being dished out. Tonight we had a storm and I wasn't able to make up the run so now I've got to squeeze in a long run sometime this week.

I love hearing about the races everyone is doing, keeps me motivated! Especially when everyone is doing well and having fun. We got back yesterday from a week at the Outer Banks so I may need motivation to get back into it, although I am actually very eager to ride and swim again. I think I actually missed my bike, imagine that.

I did find a Memorial Day 5K in the village next to ours in the OBX and decided to run it. I set a new best time, but even better was running the last mile on the beach. It was an awesome experience. The best thing though was that my son did his first kids fun run! He really enjoyed it overall, although he only ran in the beginning and end, and at one point in the middle he actually asked to be carried  He loved wearing the bib and they did a group stretching session that was fun. He was the smallest one in the crowd and he looked really nervous before it started but took off when they said Go! It was hard running in the sand and he walked the middle of it. At the end I told him he had to run through the "tunnel" to get his medal and he took off, and he had the biggest smile on his face when he ran back over to show us the medal. It was such a great moment. 

I only got in one more run on the beach before we left. Now I have lots of food and wine to work off. I love my mountains, but I really love and miss the beach too! Why can't they be closer to each other?!

I finally got a chance to look at my Garmin data from the 5k and saw my heart rate was pretty consistent. I started out and hit 163 at one minute into the run, maintained around there for the first mile (which is typical for me - sometimes my highest heart rate is the first mile, not the last), then dropped to about 150. From there it steadily climbed and when I finished I had a heart rate of 170. The reason I was watching the heart rate so much was because I tend to not push myself all that hard on 5k runs. I find myself saying things like "its just a fun run" or "that person ahead of me isn't in my age group so no need passing him/her" etc. My mile splits paces were 8:58, 8:54, 8:52 and the last quarter mile was an 8:08 pace.

I also learned a lot from running in the Bolder Boulder. Most importantly it renewed my motivation to get back to training. After being out of the training routine, I was having a hard time getting back in to it. Running in that race showed me I really enjoyed doing it and I would have had a lot more enjoyment if I would have trained for it instead of just going there. It also pointed out in a not so subtle way that I needed to run more hills. Lots more hills.

Have you tried any of those during workouts? I remember a very wise someone once saying "Nothing new on race day." I'm pretty sure it was Matt. You might try different things before the race. For me, I can't take in solids when I'm running. I stick with gels - Cliff shots or GU work the best for me. My brother uses the Cliff Blocks when he runs. My stomach just doesn't do well with solid food bouncing around when I'm running.

Just my $.02. Good luck on the Sprint Tri!

When I did my sprint, I knew I had to have something to get me through the run. During training, I practiced with the gels because I can tell from training that about 45 minutes into exercise, it gives me an added boost.  (I have read online that when doing a sprint you shouldn't really need any nutrition because of the short distance, but MY advice is listen to your body and let it tell you what you need). I knew I wanted to take it while on the bike because I needed a few minutes for it to kick in, and I wasn't carrying water with me on the run.   I had issues with trying to take a gel pack while on the bike because I swerve everywhere, but I knew for a fact that I could NOT get my gel pack out of a side or back pocket on my shirt WITHOUT wrecking, so I used athletic tape and taped a pack to the bike across the top of the tab where it rips at.  When it came time to take the gel pack (last 2 miles of my bike) I ripped it off the bike, it opened the package- did it all one handed, just as I had planned (and not practiced- WHEW).     BUT in my race, you weren't allowed to litter or you get penalties, so I still had to take the empty pack and stuff it into my back pocket.  Not as hard as trying to get it OUT though. . .

Just my .01 worth.   GOOD LUCK!!!

I am in the same boat, not really able in a race to eat and ride at the same time. I haven't run my first race yet, but when I do bricks or all three in one morning, what really works for me is a half pouch of the Jelly Belly Sport Beans. I eat a Cliff bar or something similar before, then the sport beans at the end of the bike. Works great for me, but everyone's different. I think gel blocks in the jersey pockets would work too. Let us know what you figure out!

Went to an open water swim clinic on the lake that I am doing my target Sprint Tri on next weekend. Man those bouy's llok way out there. It is  a 500 yard swim. I still am not proficient with my freestyle so I tend to do side stroke or back stroke.

Back stroke is lousy for sighting but allows my head to stay focused and not freak out about being in the middle of the lake.I swam my longest swim yesterday of 1000 yds, then the swim clinic i did approximately 600 yds on the lake.

Now it is more mental than anything.

So I trudge on in preperation -8 days until my race on my 50th birthday/Father's Day.

Can't wait to accomplish this goal!

Bryan

<Stronger than I was yesterday, but not as strong as I will be tomorrow>

Sounds like a good OWS, and it looks like you will do fine at the tri! Our local tri club starts OWS practices next week, hope I do as well!

I had quite an experience Saturday on my first group bike ride. There was a 20k charity ride posted on a LBS' Facebook page, and I emailed one of the organizers to make sure it was ok for a beginner.  Luckily they said yes. The post said the ride would be led by 4 members of a women's pro team. Cycling is huge in this area and there are lots of pros who ride full-time so I didn't think anything of it.

I get there in my bike shorts and a 5K t-shirt and everyone is in full racing gear. One of the organizers must have seen my face and told me it would be fine, it was a relaxed casual ride that most riders were using as a warm-up before a 60-mile ride at 10. Ha. In my dreams I could ride that far.

I've never ridden with other people so I put at least a bike's length between me and the back of the pack. I'm too scared to get too close, although they are all on top of each other. I also didn't clip in for half the ride, I was too scared. But one of the organizers who is the sweeper sticks right by me and promises not to leave me. At the end of the ride I was clipped in and finally not terrified. It's a cool sound to hear 30 people clip in at once too!

Long story short, at about mile five I am struggling up a hill behind the pack (Asheville is all hills, no flat parts) and another rider named Ally comes back to talk to me too. Then she says, oh, you have a flat. We pull over and she says, you have two flats! Which is awesome because I only have one tube and I've never changed a tire on the road before. Ally calls her boyfriend who comes back with a tube. It takes forever as they change my tires for me, showing me what to do (my tires are pretty tight and hard to roll the tube onto). I even saw the boyfriend a CO2 canister, which I didn't even know existed. Quite an education. 

I was really embarrassed and kept apologizing, because it took a long time and we had definitely lost the group. And the boyfriend didn't make it to the next ride on time. But they were really cool about it and said they loved working with beginners. Ally kept saying "ask me anything, I love answering questions," which was pretty neat. Finally the 4 of us get going again and the rest of the ride is uneventful. They gave me a lot of tips and didn't laugh at me for riding my brakes down all the big hills :-)

The best part - I get home and decide to look up this "pro women's team" because I didn't know who I was riding with but I really liked Ally, who was one of the 4 on the team. I wondered if it was a regional team I could follow. Turns out she is Ally Stacher, one of three Americans on Specialized-Lululemon, one of the top women's teams in the world. The core of the team including Ally is the former HTC-Highroad, which was the top women's team in the world, before it folded because of financial problems. Two of the women will be in the Olympics and Ally had mentioned that she was leaving in a week to go to London. Makes sense now! Also on the ride was the Swedish time-trial champion and the Australian criterium champion (what in the world is a criterium?!). Another member of the team from Canada has won six world-championship medals, one of the Americans is the 2008 world time-trial champion, and a woman who bronzed at the Atlanta games is on the team.

I thought I was riding with a local club on a charity ride, but wow. One of the top women riders in the world helped me change two flats on my first group ride, haha. At least it was a great ride after that! 

Bryan,

Sounds like you've got a good game plan going into your first race.  If you need to do backstroke to keep yourself from freaking out on the swim, do it.  Just push a little extra harder on the bike and run!  Feel free to PM me or post any questions you have.  I'm actually in Chicago all week and should be able to attend to the group on a regular basis.

Matt

Melinda,

IMHO, stick to gels.  Hammer and Clif are easy on the stomach.  The blocks might be harder for you to digest.  Just be careful with how much you consume- as Steve showed too much can cause cramping.  Always, always, always consume them with a lot of water, too.

Matt

So for those of you that don't know, I'm running the Chicago Marathon in October.  I just completed my first week of training, and I'm cautiously optimistic that it's going to be a lot easier than training for a triathlon.  First week consisted of 5 training days, 3 and 4 mile runs at a Z1/Z2 pace, then a long run of 6 miles.  One strength session and one crosstraining session.  I opted for swimming as my cross-sport.  (Imagine that!)  Next week the workouts are almost the same, but the Saturday long run will be boosted to 7 miles.  Still nothing too scary yet.  I'll keep everyone updated on my progress (I keep my training log updated too).

Matt

Jen- It sounds like your bike ride was a once in a lifetime experience!

Bryan-Good luck on the swim, I'm sure with your plan you'll do fine with the swim.

The last few weeks have been crazy down here.  I has rained for what seems to be the last 3 weeks in row, which has interupted training, I haven't been cycling in weeks.  The roads have been soaked and every time they start to dry out we get another inch or two in a few hours.  We have gotten around 15-20 inches of rain in the last 3 weeks!  There are now ducks swimming/living in drainage ditches.

Last Friday I swam my first 300m straight.  The first 200 wasn't that hard, but I could feel my form breaking down the last 100.  I did have to swim with my head up for about 10 m twice to calm myself down and slow my breathing, but other than that I feel like I did well.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the swim clock on and I forgot to ask them to turn it on before I started.

I had quite an experience Saturday on my first group bike ride. There was a 20k charity ride posted on a LBS' Facebook page, and I emailed one of the organizers to make sure it was ok for a beginner.  Luckily they said yes. The post said the ride would be led by 4 members of a women's pro team. Cycling is huge in this area and there are lots of pros who ride full-time so I didn't think anything of it.

I get there in my bike shorts and a 5K t-shirt and everyone is in full racing gear. One of the organizers must have seen my face and told me it would be fine, it was a relaxed casual ride that most riders were using as a warm-up before a 60-mile ride at 10. Ha. In my dreams I could ride that far.

I've never ridden with other people so I put at least a bike's length between me and the back of the pack. I'm too scared to get too close, although they are all on top of each other. I also didn't clip in for half the ride, I was too scared. But one of the organizers who is the sweeper sticks right by me and promises not to leave me. At the end of the ride I was clipped in and finally not terrified. It's a cool sound to hear 30 people clip in at once too!

Long story short, at about mile five I am struggling up a hill behind the pack (Asheville is all hills, no flat parts) and another rider named Ally comes back to talk to me too. Then she says, oh, you have a flat. We pull over and she says, you have two flats! Which is awesome because I only have one tube and I've never changed a tire on the road before. Ally calls her boyfriend who comes back with a tube. It takes forever as they change my tires for me, showing me what to do (my tires are pretty tight and hard to roll the tube onto). I even saw the boyfriend a CO2 canister, which I didn't even know existed. Quite an education. 

I was really embarrassed and kept apologizing, because it took a long time and we had definitely lost the group. And the boyfriend didn't make it to the next ride on time. But they were really cool about it and said they loved working with beginners. Ally kept saying "ask me anything, I love answering questions," which was pretty neat. Finally the 4 of us get going again and the rest of the ride is uneventful. They gave me a lot of tips and didn't laugh at me for riding my brakes down all the big hills :-)

The best part - I get home and decide to look up this "pro women's team" because I didn't know who I was riding with but I really liked Ally, who was one of the 4 on the team. I wondered if it was a regional team I could follow. Turns out she is Ally Stacher, one of three Americans on Specialized-Lululemon, one of the top women's teams in the world. The core of the team including Ally is the former HTC-Highroad, which was the top women's team in the world, before it folded because of financial problems. Two of the women will be in the Olympics and Ally had mentioned that she was leaving in a week to go to London. Makes sense now! Also on the ride was the Swedish time-trial champion and the Australian criterium champion (what in the world is a criterium?!). Another member of the team from Canada has won six world-championship medals, one of the Americans is the 2008 world time-trial champion, and a woman who bronzed at the Atlanta games is on the team.

I thought I was riding with a local club on a charity ride, but wow. One of the top women riders in the world helped me change two flats on my first group ride, haha. At least it was a great ride after that! 

 SWEEET! I'm so stinkin jealous! That's a really cool experience!  ESP the part about learning how to change a tire from a pro  LOL. 

 I'm still a loner on the roads.    : (    I tried biking with a friend once recently. . . .

mcgilmartin - 2012-06-09 9:25 PM Jen, that's an awesome experience!  I just sent her a tweet saying thanks for you

Thanks for that! Have you met her? I'm probably the only one who doesn't know her name LOL

Keep the details coming! As someone who hasn't run a half yet, I'd love to hear how training for a marathon goes.