jsnowash's training group - FULL!! (Page 12)

Hi gang! I'm still working on my hydration....we had a blast today, and my wife and I were very proud about finishing our first long race together. Very hot and humid day. We did good with hydration yesterday and this am (multiple potty visits pre race). Finished at expected pace, just over 10 min/mile. I guess this includes slight delays at water stations and one potty stop for my wife. I wish I could say I ran slow waiting for her, but the truth is I don't think I could have gone any much faster. Quads were sore at mile 9, and hints of a calf cramp with 400 yds to go. Again my HR was 10 bpm higher than expected for pace. Not sure if it was the heat? Plenty of people needing EMS assistance! so I'm really happy we did fine. Never felt any cardiopulmonary stress . We stuck to our plan and it worked. I just realize though I need to train much more.
How did everyone else do this weekend?
Fernando. 

Just had to post this one to advance from regular to veteran 

Well done Fernando! Congrats to you and your wife! It was definitely challenging conditions - for me, anyway... Heat is not my friend.... especially this early in the season when I'm really not acclimated to it. I had hoped I might have a 10 mile PR run on Sunday, but that wasn't going to happen. My plan was to try and run within a pretty specific heart rate zone. That zone had me right about on my target pace for the first 3 miles, but after that, the pace dropped off for the same effort - so, Fernando, I basically had the same experience as you, but in the opposite direction - instead of HR being higher for a given pace, my pace was slower for a given HR. I felt like I had a solid run for the conditions, and had a good time. There were people dropping like flies out there on the course, though! Pretty scary!!!

After the race I came home, had lunch and a shower, went to my son's piano recital, then helped my hubby mow and edge the yard (about 2 hours worth of yard-work). Yeah - I was definitely ready to hit the pillow last night!!

I'm going to need to dedicate a week or two to getting caught up on some stuff around the house - primarily helping get the mulching finished in our yard - a pretty big job that really needs to get done before we are completely over-run by weeds!!!

How did the rest of our racers do this weekend??

We call that.......

POST PADDING!!!

Congrats to all that raced this past weekend. 

My race went well for the most part.  I got kicked in the throat/chin as soon as it started, so swam breast stroke to be able to breathe after inhaling whats eemed like 10 gallons of water. It still only took me 15 min to finish the 500m. 

I got a new bike on Thursday and it rocks.  It was my mother's day present to myself. So, the first time to really ride it was at the race and I went faster than I ever have.  I think I would have done better, but I dropped my water at mile 1 and had to finish the 15 miles without anything to drink in 86 F weather, luckly there was lots of shade on the course!

I made a huge mistake, I chugged water and gatorade before the run.  Not 5 min in I had side cramps and then a butt cramp that would not go away. So I walked most of the 3 miles.  I don't think I would have cramped if I hadn't lost my water on the bike.  Oh well, live and learn.

My next race is in 2 weeks and I won't make these mistakes again ... I'll find new ones   Then 2 weeks after that I've got another!

Any advice on swim starts?  I was all the way to the right and there was no one next to me, until the horn blew and some girl came running in from the land and dove, kicked me in the face and went off.  I never saw it coming, luckly I'm not bruised.

Cat

Hey everyone!!

Well, through an odd series of events..nothing bad just stupid/funny I didn't end up racing yesterday. I left my friend's house at 6am giving myself plenty of time to get there. My GPS was sending me off on some back country roads to get to the Parkway when all I had to do was take Rt 9 South to 195, etc...after a couple of miles I turned around and headed back. Just as I was about to get on 195 I realized I left my Aquacell bottle on the counter..ARGH!! Turned around, went back to my friend's house...got the Aquacell..back on the road. Get onto 195 (while on the phone to my mother) then realized that I was heading West instead of East...OMG...are you kidding me?? WHAT am I thinking? So a couple of miles before the exit so I can turn around...I'm coming up on the exit and I GOT PULLED OVER!!! By the time the cop came up to my window I was laughing hysterically because I just found it so funny. I wasn't nervous for this race...I actually didn't have any feeling about it. Probably because I was nervous at Rumpass because of the swim/wetsuit experience...already did that and this was still practice for Eagleman so I wasn't worried, just going to go out and have fun!

So I explained to the officer why I was laughing and apologized so I didn't seem crazy...he just chuckled and said, "So, you're telling me I'm the icing on the cake?" "YEP!"...He just smiled and said, "Well, try to slow it down and have a nice day"...at that point my GPS was telling me I would've been at the race around 8am...start time...so I stayed on 195West and just went home! I had to laugh, I'm just glad it happened now and I hope nothing like this happens for Eagleman!

On the plus side I did raid my friend's closet of all the clothes she can't fit into now and got a box full of clothes a full size smaller!!! And I had a great visit with her and her husband..so not a complete waste of time!

Hopefully everyone else racing this past weekend had better luck! A friend of mine running the Pittsburgh Half Marathon got in before the bomb scare luckily.....crazy weekend!

Congrats to those who raced!  I had you all on my mind, especially those in the northeast faced with Hot and Humid on the first weekend in May!  Yikes.  And congrats to those who missed their race because the universe is just funny sometimes.  =)

I walked my 2 1/2 hours on Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful and day and I felt great.  I have some residual soreness on the sides of my feet from ankle to sole.  Must be muscles that get used differently in walking than running. 

My focus is still the swim this week.  Should be full-stroking by Thursday.  And I get fitted for my bike today and get it back, yay!  Running a local 5K on Saturday, just to keep things moving.  I am a sucker for the race atmosphere, and I like supporting local good causes.

Question for the veterans - I get what I call gripey guts before most things I do in life, but especially in race setting.  This leads to numerous visits to the port-o-potties.  Do I need to increase my hydration as a result for my sprint?  Or just hydrate like normal for the time I plan to be out there?   With a 5k I am usually OK once I start running and am only out there for 35 minutes.  Thanks for any tips!

Nice job, Cat. I can't imagine getting kicked and trying to keep my stroke consistent. I guess I will have to get ready for that. Nice early Mother's Day gift! Sounds like you have a full schedule over the next 4 or so weeks. Keep up the good work! 

Marla, I can't wait to hear how your swim goes this week! You must be really excited. I had a nice long swim tonight and it's difficult to try to remember all the little nuances of the TI way of swimming. Good luck! 

Wow, what a series of mishaps and misadventures. Just a little something we call life, right? Good for you to be able to laugh it all off and find the silver lining. A new wardrobe and day with friends is something to smile about!  

First congrats to all you racers. Soundings like everyone had good or great races. It sounds like we all learned a little about hydration.

Jenny- kudos on signing up for your Marathon and the yard work after your race, Whew, I was tired reading about it.

Fernando- Cool on the run with the wife together. We are working on that here. On this race I did get to run with my daughter though and the two boys ran with mom on another course for the 10k. Cool to have everybody there.

Cat- Late, have a great race vibe. I hope you did well.

Lovey- Sounds like you had a great time as well.

The run through the Giant Redwoods was awsome. Those trees are massive. Plus they are tall, 200+ feet. You can build several houses with one tree. I had a trained to finish before 2 hours and I made it. My time was 1:58:52 and I PR'd at 9:07/mi. I am thinking about a marathon........

It happens.
What...?
-Forrest Gump

Keely you made the best of it. It's cool. We're all glad you are okay. Moving on and learning to prep for the next race IS part of training. My weakness is focusing too much on packing and forgeting to find directions on how to get there.

OOh! I forgot to mention something. It's a question really. I wasn't really sure if I was employing proper race etiquette. But...eff it I was older and she was a young thing.

The sitch: I was running along minding my own business ...you know during the race and everything. So here comes these long legs attached to the good looking blonde thingy with the MP3 plugged in. I didn't notice if she was hot or anything because we were busy playing this cat and mouse thing. My strong point are hills which was appearantly her weak point. I had my MP3 player in ...so there was no talking. Then I noticed she was hanging with me. We hung for a good 6 miles.  Is this pacing off of somebody? I am new to this race thing so I wasn't really sure wheather I was being creepy or she just liked the pace. I felt like I should have backed off a bit. But I couldn't do that ...I was not about to lose my pace. No way.  Towards the end she dusted me. I felt there was some sort of mental stratagy there I was not aware of. I did play the game of picking people off until I found her. I also noticed people seemed to race out find their pace and hold it for a good long while then back off somewhere in the middle of the race and then toward the end say 3-5miles out they would pick up a faster pace and hold until the finish.  

Question: Common stratagy race practice? Am I dreaming? How many stratagies are there?

G'Morning, all!

So, this week will be a fairly light training week again for me. Mostly because I feel like I need to get caught up on some stuff around the house... One of my primary goals this week is to try and make a significant dent in the massive mulching job that needs to get finished in our yard. Looks like pretty good yard work weather here in my neck of the woods this week.... I'll fit in tri training as much as I can, but no real specific training planned for this week.

CAT Congrats on your race (AND the new bike!!!)! Way to hang in there! Getting kicked in the chin/throat and loosing water on the bike sure would have thrown me off!

As for advice on swim starts, I would have suggested exactly what you did - start toward the back and off to the side a bit. Not much you can do about some knuckle-head bounding into the water at the last minute.... That was pretty inconsiderate of her fellow racers.... I'm sorry to tell you, that if you continue doing triathlon's, this will not be the last time you make physical contact with your fellow swimmers.... The good news is, now you've experienced it first-hand, and you know you will survive if (when??) it happens again!

KEELY OMG! What a morning! I have been in a similar position before, but what usually happens with me is I rush around and end up totally stressing myself out. I haven't missed a race yet, but I've come close, and it's really not fun starting a race with that kind of panicy stressed feeling. I think your approach was MUCH more sane than mine! I'll have to try that next time !!

There was a bomb scare at the Pittsburgh Half Marathon?? I had a friend running there last weekend, too. I did't hear anything about it!!

MARLA Good to hear you're so close to a full stroke! You've been working really hard on your TI drills - I'm sure all your hard work is about to pay off!

RE: your "gripey gut", not to get too graphic... but - are you experiencing diarrhea before races? If so, a little extra hydration couldn't hurt. It IS possible, however, to hydrate a little TOO much before races - and it can be a little uncomfortable to be in the middle of a race with no where to stop and pee (I speak from experience..... LOL!). I'm not sure what other advice to give without a little more detail on what you're experiencing. You could PM me if you don't want to post it, but we DO have some medical folks in the group that might be able to offer some good advice.

Jeff Congrats on your race! I wouldn't be to worried about race etiquette. It sounds to me like you just found yourself running next to someone who was running the same pace as you. I think you just need to go out there and run your own race, according to your own plan, and not worry about what anybody else is doing.

Re: Race strategy - you're right. There are about as many strategies for running a race, especially a longer race, as there are people. Some prefer to go out fast and try to hang on to that pace as long as they can, some prefer to hold back a little at the start and speed up if they feel like they can, and some do what you said - push the first few miles, dial it back a little in the middle, and then put on the gas if they have any gas left for the finish.... I think I tend to be more in the the "hold back a little at the beginning and kick it up at the end if I have it in me" camp. I guess they say the ideal is if you can run "even splits", or essentially keep the same pace for the whole race. I haven't mastered that skill yet.....

Well, not much going on with me this week (thanks Mother Nature  *see pics*)

Went swimming this morning, lanes were very busy but I ended up with a lane to myself for most of it, maybe I smell, who knows lol.  Tonight I will run around the track at the gym.  Also need to get a new HRM, mine cr@pped out, just another expense *sigh*.  Maybe I'll get a garmin 310, more research needed.  Well that's all for now, will update again soon.







Edited by tryin2tri 2010-05-04 1:05 PM

I am recovered now. See my race report.

Despite the hot weather (start in 70s, end of race 86), I enjoyed the race and actually liked the 6:30am start. Great organization, easy parking and race small enough not to feel overly congested or crowded at the beginning or finish area. I tried pushing it at the end but didn’t make it with the heat. I didn’t meet my 3 hour goal but I did pass Wal-Mart (mile 9.75) with 30 minutes to spare before the cutoff time and I still beat my last half marathon time by 18 minutes!! Well 18:47 to be exact.

Time: 3:06:05.26

Lovey

Jessie - OMG -That's CRAZY!! We had a lot of snow here (for us) this winter - I like snow, but I'm glad we're done with it!!

Lovey - Congrats! an 19 minute PR, especially in the kind of heat we had over the weekend is HUGE! You should be VERY proud!!

I got a couple hours of mulching in this morning, then a little bike ride this afternoon. I've been reading up on the bike course for the tri I'm doing in a few weeks (Fernando's doing the same race!) Sounds HILLY!! I haven't ridden hills much yet this year.... I could be in trouble!!!

I am just shivering looking at those photos! I was SO ready to bid goodbye to the snow this year!
 

Lovey, 
Great job on your run! The heat must have been brutal. How awesome to beat your last time by over 18 minutes!

Lovey - That's AWESOME!! Congrats on the race and your shaved time!! I did the Baltimore Half last October and finished in 3:33 I believe..I was happy with that because I wasn't able to consistently run for about 2 weeks prior because I had a massive attack of gallstones lasting for 3 days before going to the ER then I was scheduled for surgery 2 days after the race! I was ok up until Mile 8-9 and started to get a blister (had band aids in my fuel belt pack!) then around Mile 11 my hamstrings seized up and I had to walk a mile before I could push myself to run it in!

I'm hoping to do it again and better my time...but I want to survive Eagleman first!

So, I've decided it's time for me to take a more pro-active approach to trying to loose the extra winter pounds I put on. I'm back to counting calories, and being more mindful of what I eat. I'm hoping to drop 4 or 5 lbs by the end of the month, and would ultimately like to drop somewhere around 10 lbs.

For anyone who's at all interested, I use FitDay to track my food intake. I know there is nutrition logging here on BT, too, but I've already entered a bunch of custom foods on FitDay, so it's just easier for me to stick with that. I've also heard good things about Daily Plate.

I've thought about that. Some people swear by it. I know in my case (being sooo type A) I would end up with Anorexia/Bulemia. I'm trying to loose weight too. My approach is small 150 cal healthy snacks every 2 hours or so and being smart about dinner. As long as I avoid the Cavernet I think I will reach my goal. I have probably lost about 25 lbs in 6 months.
Fernando

I've seen a lot of people on BT talk about Total Immersion swim books/DVDs.  Anyone here use it? And if so is it any good or not worth the price?

As a matter of fact I am using it now.  My background is: I can swim, but no freestyle.  Not any style really, but I can be in the water without drowning.  I took adult swimming lessons in January. which helped with all of the other strokes, but not freestyle.  I always felt like I was fighting against the water and struggling to swim 25 meters.  SO I bought the TI DVD and book.  I am almost all the way through it, and just today made it from drills to actual full stroke.  More on that later.

Things I like about it: taught me to relax, teaches the mechanics well - breaks things down into chunks and drills, etc.

I don't like that I don't have someone to watch what I do and tell me if I am doing it correctly.  That's the price of learning from a book/DVD.

As for my full-stroke today - it went OK.  No "aha moment" and I didn't make it too far.   I will though.  It was a strange day in the pool - very crowded, with a rude guy who didn't want to share "his" lane.  I spent a fair amount of time focused on not hitting or kicking other folks, and not enough time focusing on what I was doing.  Once cool thing though is that I am looking forward to tomorrow and all the rest of my planned swims.  That's new for me.   

Hope that helps!