ultrahip_00's Mentor Group - Closed Again! (Page 12)

Could someone please explain something to me?  What's with the long socks that everyone has in racing now?  I'm a runner and I can't imagine wearing anything that hot.  Does anyone wear these and why?

Laura

I signed up for my first ever Tri today. Its the mini-Musselman in Geneva - a couple hours from where I live. Im really excited, but kind of nervous too.

I was impressed how green the event is. The shirts they give out are made out of bamboo. There also was an option to donate money for your cars carbon emissions in traveling to the race. It was $0.62. Is this a common theme at Triathlons?

Technology and marketing are changing in this arena, those are compression socks. I personally think they are hype, others swear by them! They are deigned to keep blood circulating efficiently using compression, more so twards the end of longer races. They are expensive, trendy,ugly!

i bought into the hype - i don't race in them, but they do work for recovery, and they work great!  definitly reduce a lot of calf soreness after a long or intense run.  yes, they are expensive $55-60, but worth it, i think

I don't get calf soreness so maybe that's why I've never investigated them.  Agree--ugly.  Especially the black ones on a hot summer day.  Think I'd rather have someone massage my calves after a race! 

Yeah, they are ugly, that is why I don't wear them outside my house unless I have pants on

10k race tomorrow.  Swam 1300 meters and then did 3 hours of gardening, so I'm knackered!  Wish me luck.

I would be knackered after 10 mins of gardening!

Good luck tommorow, burn rubber!

Wow!  And here I was feeling proud making it to 1300 m in the pool!  You rock, girl!

Nice job Lynne!  Laura, what is your goal, as far as time, for tomarrow?  Wish you well and post up results when you find out.

Goal is 50 -55 minutes tomorrow.  I was out last night and it's 5:45 am now, so I'm feeling really tired.  But gotta catch a train to the race.  Start at 9:02 - Frauenlauf, Bern, Switzerland.  Annual all-women's race.

I'll be back...

Well...it was hot, it was sunny and it wasn't too bad.  Last year, I did this same race in 1:00:00.  It was my first 10k race ever.  Today, I did it in 0:56:00.  A little slower than I had hoped, but I'm ok with this time.

My Garmin heart monitor completely failed me though.  Apparently wasn't sitting in a good place and so the HR is completely inaccurate.  Oh well.

hope everyone had a good weekend! i finished yesterday, weather was definitly tough - tons of rain on the bike, but atleast it wasn't hot!  finished in 5:16. . not what i was hoping, but i did my best.  despite the weather, craig alexander was still able to pull of a 3:53 or something rediculous, and Chris Lieto had a bike split in which he averaged 27 mph. . how do they do it?!?

Nice job Mike!  How beat up are you today?

My legs are pretty sore, not really to the point of limping though. Shoulders and back are pretty sore too - I didn't train enough in aero, since I ride so many hills.

Mike -

Great job finishing your race under nasty conditions.  I'm supposed to be on my bike this morning and it looks like a monsoon outside.  Big change from yesterday.

Would you mind sharing your expected and actual event times so that I can begin to get a feeling for the different races?  I'm beginning to guess about how long a sprint race will take me, but I don't really know how all of these tris compare to one another.  How big a difference is it for the athlete to do a Sprint and then an Oly in terms of the different disciplines (swim, bike, run)?

You can send it to me privately if you don't think everyone needs to hear this.  I'm probably the most inexperienced person here.

Is it possible to have a life and train for a triathlon?  I'm in my 4th week of training for this Sprint and I'm beginning to feel like all I do is train.  So far, I haven't run into many problems with coordination, but work has been slow and I haven't had many students.  How do you have kids and a job and still fit in the training?

Laura:

I have three kids, so I think I can address your last question.  My boys are 8, 5, and 3.  You just have to fit the training into your schedule which most of the time it means making sacrifices.  This usually entails waking up early before the kids, swimming at the gym where chilcare is available (they love the kid gym!), running on the treadmill, having the kids ride their bikes while I run, putting hours on the indoor bike trainer, etc.  It is very doable; you just need to be creative in how you balance your life.  But, I will admit that I'm very fortunate to have a wife that understands my obsession and a job that provides significant opportunity to train even while at work.

Guys, another question about running.  On my third week of the new schedule and have a little trouble with the pace of the easy runs which are suppose to be at a 9:02 pace.  First, it is hard for me to slow to this pace unless on a treadmill.  Second, when I achieve this pace, I fell that my stride is short, choppy, and flat.  Is there a trick to this?

hahaha...it's called "gliding" and Jeff Galloway is the king of this technique.  Check out his website at www.jeffgalloway.com and search for gliding.

I trained for both of my marathons using Jeff's approach to adding walk breaks during my running.  I trained for both of them sticking religiously to his program.  I was successful in completing both, but I did not run fast.  The gliding technique allows you to continue running while really slowing down.  You have to keep your feet quite low to the ground and it will feel very awkward at first.

What I did notice is that I developed a bad habit of running with my feet low and that made it hard for me to ever go faster in a race.  I didn't develop any strength in my hamstrings and glutes because I never lifted my feet behind me and barely pushed off of my toes.  I've had to retrain myself to be a more efficient runner.

Save gliding for your log, slow runs.  For your tempo and speed work, make sure you are propelling off the front of the foot and lifting behind you.

it depends - i didn't find my times going down much between sprint and oly.  Here is what i would expect to hold for paces for those:

Swim - around 1:40-1:45 per 100 yds
Bike - 21-22 miles/hr
run - 6:30-7 min/mile

For the half i did:

1:45ish/100 yds
19.7ish mph
8:05 min/mile

but i feel that the bike during my race on sat really hampered me - i am not used to hammering at race pace for that long, and the weather mentally drained me and wore me out. . i was not able to push my pace hard on the run. .

going up to long distance like half-iron - the times are going to be slower.  i find my sprint times to be quite a bit faster then my training paces, since the adrenaline and such, and it is short enough that i can hold an 'all out' type of pace for most of the race.

is that what you were asking?

Damn, today was just one of those days.  Went to go on my bike ride and forgot my shoes.  Then went to the pool and my workout was just horrible.  I just felt slow, heavy, and non-bouyant.  And, to top it all off, after masters swim last week, I've been trying to learn and incorporate backstroke into my workouts. Feeeew, what a mess.  Every length is a struggle.  I'm afraid someone is going to throw me the life ring thinking I'm drowning.  What a flaundering mess!!! Sorry, just needed to vent.

Mike>  Yes, you answered my question.

And...I-m having one of those days too.  Both of my computers have gremlins, I should be out on my bike, but I-m sitting here reading the BT boards.  If I don-t exercise right out of the bed in the morning, it-s really hard to get into it.  Ok...I-m going now...really...