SWBKRUN MENTOR GROUP - FULL (Page 12)

Congrat's Jared.

All the best to you and your bride to be.

Just finished a workout on the trainer. Felt good since hadn't been on the bike for at least a month. Max speed was 32.2km/h, average was 25.59kn/h according to bike 'puter. Did use a number of gears to increase tension and still managed to keep cadence fairly well even.

 Stats:

• Time: 30m 15s
• Distance: 12.9k
• Avg. Speed: 25.6k/h
• Max speed: 32.2k/h
• Average cadence: 80

Next time, must improve cadence.

Benson - Your dog is so cute!  What's his/her name?  You aren't spoiling him/her are you?  It looks like it would be easy to do with a face like that!

Cheers!!

Just came back from 6.21k run. Was icy in places as the weather had been great all day and the snow melting. Some areas of sidewalk were sheer ice.

Was definitely over dressed for the run today. Wore 3 layers, but should have only worn 2.

I think spring is coming, although we are supposed to get some snow tonight (a couple cm's anyway).

Friday is here:

 Curling tonight, then out for dinner with freinds afterwards.

Tomorrow, eye checkup to satisfy the laser surgery warrantee (4 years and counting and still see great). Then a bike ride on the trainer.

Sunday, a shortish run of about 8 or 10k and then to work to test some changes and then relaxing afternoon at home.

 Oh Yeah, bottle of wine goes with out saying.

 Good luck with the Golf! Do you play a lot?

I try and play once a week during the summer. Have been playing for 38 years and still have a hard time breaking 100.

25K Trail Run Race tomorrow (Mud Run).

That's 15 miles for us Americans.  My weekly average is 20 miles, so I think I'm gonna suffer... a little bit.  Okay, a lot.  Then recovery on Sunday - maybe play a little Ultimate Frisbee.

Yep - different muscles functions.

Getting on the trainer is important, however, especially when you can't get outside on the bike. This is the perfect time and opportunity to work on form, cadence, and mental toughness. First thing I do is set up my trainer to be as close to my 'real' bike as possible. Practice cycling perfect circles - where there are no 'dead spots' in the pedal stroke. Also concentrate on pulling up with the leg on the upstroke - I assume you are clipped in. This technique works the full leg muscle groups, hamstrings and quads.

Also work on cadence, i.e. strokes per minute or rpm. Try to establish a cadence that you can endure regardless of how easy or hard the resistance is. And endure for a long time. I know some of the spinning classes use songs that are 2 minutes long. 2 minutes won't get you down the block. Work on long stretches of hi-cadence, hi-resistance pedaling, like 10, 15, 30 minutes.

All this (cadence, speed, etc) builds memory into your 'biking muscles.' Use this as a beginner's guide. There's lots more, but this is basic.

My weekend is off to a good and a bad start all at once.  Bad because I was handed a couple of "extra" tasks at a late afternoon meeting today that are all due on Tuesday.  Looks like I'll be working alot this weekend.  Good b/c we took our boys to the movies tonight and it was a great family night out.  My oldest boy is in 5th grade and I'm trying to make sure I enjoy him all I can while he still thinks I'm cool.    

Planning on two hours on the trainer tomorrow and a 10 mile run for Sunday if the weather's not too bad.  Two of my girlfriends offered to ride their bikes along with me on my longer runs to provide distraction and carry water.  How cool is that?  I'm giving serious thought to signing up for the Marine Corp Marathon in October this year.  Not decided definitely yet... but I think I want to.  (I've got butterflies just thinking about it!)

Well I finished my first race of the year.

This was a 25K (15.5mile) mostly trail run. It has been raining solid for the past week and the trails were very wet and slippery. There is a lot of clay in our soil. Some of the trails were running rivers and/or small 'ponds.' Today it was raining - drizzling and in the 30's. I was soaked within the first 10 minutes. My shoes and socks were wet (drenched, that is) within the first hour.

I finished under 3 hours at 2:56:30 - pretty good for an old guy I guess. But was 143rd out of about 300, and 28th in my age group. Not sure, yet, how many in my age group. (at least 28 :-) ).

I heard someone explain the difficulty of the run very well. You spend the whole time picking your path and you cannot get into a groove or 'in the zone' because you must constantly give attention to every foot fall - lest you fall, slip, or wipe out. I slipped and fell a few times - nothing serious - but I did see some spectacular slip-n-slides.

My buddy finished 20 minutes behind me and our mutual friend pulled out with a groin pull - the dreaded DNF! Ugh!

Update:

I was 28 of 39 in my class (40-44); 104/156 male; and 143/239 overall.  I must say I find joy in seeing all the younger pups who finished after me. 

I'll post a picture later.

Hey Paul,

 Sounds like it was a tough race. Congrats on the great finish though and not getting injured. Have you done a mud run before? I've never done a trail run yet (have been thinking about it though).

Way to go!

Thanks for the encouragement.  Can you do something about the weather, please?

March is here and we have snow, gale-force winds, and temps in the 30's!  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!