ADollar79's Group--closed and in the base building phase! (Page 12)

I swear to god I'm a thread killer.  Every time I post

Good run today. I am so ready for my new shoes, I don't think I could manage another long run in mine.  I have two pairs on their way to me now so I can rotate.  

Sorry, I've been MIA...I hoping this week lightens up work-wise.  I got virtually no BT surfing time in last week...I'm feeling deprived.

• Monday: Perhaps a rest day, but maybe an hour run
• Tuesday:  1 hr 15 min run
• Wednesday: 30 min run
• Thursday: 55 min run (travel to Vegas)
• Friday: 45 min run
• Saturday: 2 hr 10 min run (travel home)
• Sunday:  Rest day/Skiing

Just to stir up some discussion....

In your racing experience (tris or road races) what are some of the mistakes that you have made?  Have you forgotten something?  Left you bike at home?  Didn't remember socks?  Goggles?  

What beginner mistakes have you made?  Wearing goggles on the bike?  Forgetting where you bike was racked?   

Oh man, let's see.  My first triathlon was totally fly by the seat of my pants.  I had ZERO knowledge about how things were supposed to go.  I had a hybrid, no extra tubes or pump.  Flat pedals.  I did manage to get tri shorts and top.  I didn't know how to swim.  I sort of just "winged it".  But man if I didn't feel awesome the whole time!

My second was better, though I got to transition really late and didn't have much time to get ready.  I still hadn't done much training and the bike was a little rough.  

I think I finally got the hang of things on my third - this time I added pedals to my hybrid and wore bike shoes.  I had a few swim lessons, but wasn't great in open water.  

Needless to say, I'm stoked to get out there this year!!! 

Last year in my only sprint, I had the bright idea of showing off my flying dismount.  I had practiced it a number of times and while shakey a bit, I was cocky and confident.  The only thing I didn't factor into the equation was other people trying to dismount.  I got out of my shoes and was preparing to swing my leg over but the guy in front of me couldn't decide what he wanted to do.  This forced some improv.

I had to swing the leg and hit the brakes at the same time.  This thrusted my body forward but not the bike.  My back wheel popped straight up in the air and my clipped in shoe shot out of the clips and into the crowd.  Needless to say, the kids thought it was all cool....the athletes wonder who the idiot was. 

Lesson:  Never try anything new on race day

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During Powerman Alabama last year it was freezing, sleeting and windy.  It made for miserable ride.  During the last 6 miles of the bike portion, all was lost.  I couldn't feel my fingers.  All my nutrition was too cold to eat.  My gels were frozen and I felt the early stages of bonking set in.  To make matters worse, I was cruising in my big gears, hammering the course.  My hands and fingers were so stiff that I couldn't pry them from my aerobars to change gears (not to mention trying to handle the bike in the wind wasn't fun).  I rode back trashing my legs.

When I got into T2, my hands were so numb that I couldn't unbuckle my helmet.  I actually ripped it off my head.  I saw two other guys struggling with their helmets.  They eventually ran toward each other and unbuckled the others helmet.  I put my shoes on but I couldn't tie them.  I was a mess.  I ran the first mile without tieing them until my hands warmed back up. 

Lesson:  Prepare for the worst

D*mn.  I think I'll go with the run in my shoes option. 

Dollar - what happened at Emerald Pointe?  

Hmmm, (knock on wood) I haven't really had anything outside of the ordinary happen during any of my races. 

I panick a bit during the open water swims, but it has never prevented me from doing a race. 

Well I was going downhill at about 35-40 mph and couldn't figure out how to get around a car.  Something in my head clicked and I decided I would slide on the pavement to try to pass the car, lol  Hmmm.....car and pavement won.

Lesson learned:  Cars always win and skinning half your body isn't fun. 

I don't have any suggestion....never ran in Nike's before.  I will just add that shoes are much like a bike in that fit is important in a running shoe.  For example, I have very high arches and I pronate....that means my market for shoes is VERY small.  I found a pair and haven't changed in 3 years. 

Now, if I was just going on just cool points....I like the Nike free....the sockless shoes.  I had a couple pair of the early models and loved them!

So, I kind of need a bit of babying right now. 

I want to do the Silverman 1/2 in November.  I know that I can get my butt in gear and will be ready for that race.  (I even have the training plans loaded on my blog for the next year)

But, I'm having trouble pulling the trigger and actually registering.  I just need someone to tell me to do it and tell me that I can do it.

I'm having that panic attack, OMG what am I doing? moment.

Do It !!!!! 

Do It !!!!! 

Do It !!!!! 

Do It !!!!! 

Do It !!!!!

( did you get the whole chanting vibe there?)

Word.  That's how I feel about Steelhead!  My alternative was to volunteer at IMFL this year and then sign up for Gulf Coast in the spring (HIM) and do IMFL in the fall of next year.  Happy 30th birthday to me.   I'm leaning to this plan.

If you think you will be ready and will put the training in - DO EET! 

Hi everyone!  I will just mosy on in and sit down if that's ok.  I am on week two of coughing, spluttering, headaches, sore chest,sinus infections!  and I am PISSED OFF about it all!

Okaies. Enough griping.  I have been tired, stressed and a bit fed up recently. I was so hoping to be able to go see my family in Scotland in April but it turned out that the car was going to cost more than we thought etc etc. When I mentioned this to my boss she offered to "contribute" towards my flight. So on Monday she gave me $500!!!!!  I didn't know what to say! I burst into tears.  So less stressed I went swimming! Tuesday I get up with my throat niggling me again. I felt ok till yesterday afternoon.  I came home at 7, went to bed and didn't get up till 11am this morning.

So here I am. I've been told not to workout, for at least 2 weeks. Get enough rest and MAYBE I can start back in a week.

So there you have it. No workouts for me this week. It's going to hard, hard, hard!!!!!  

Pants. 

Go for it! By registering it will give you the motivation to get moving! If I were you I'd be signing up as soon as I possibly could. That way I wouldn't have time to think about it

Good Luck.

I'm going to be doing a lot of volunteering this year. There are some places that give you coupons/codes for money off if you want to enter the race the following year   That I like.  

pipscweek - 2008-01-31 11:35 AM Ok, I'm registered. Eek! That just means you guys get to deal with my panic attacks that will invariably come with this process. Thanks for your support and getting me off my butt to register.

YAY!! Good for you. You'll do us all proud! I just know it.  

Hi everyone - You all have been really nice and asking about my arm and I wanted you all to know that I appreciate it.  I will give an area update since I am not really good at this one hand typing jazz. 

Besides the aggravation of having my arm in a cast, it is coming along fine as well as I can tell.  A lot of the swelling has gone down and most of the purple from around the fingers is gone.  The cast I have right now is really a splint thingy - Hard cast material on the top and bottom of the arm and around the elbow and then padding and ace wraps all the way around to cover it all.  Most of the pain is in the fleshy part of the bottom of my forearm, where the incision was made, in the wrist, and in the elbow and shoulder (from not being able to move them much).  I can move all of my fingers without any pain, which is a change, so that is at least some progress.

I was placed on pain killers (Percocet) and antibiotics (my anti-rejection drugs bring my immune system down so I don't heal as quickly as most folks, so they worry about infections) and they played serious havoc with my stomach.  For the last few days I have been barely able to eat and felt sick all of the time.  I finally finished the antibiotics and the doc told me to stop taking the pain pills because good nutrition is really important to the healing processs.  As of today my stomach feels pretty good but my arm hurts more.

I have an appointment to see the surgeon on 2/4 and he will take this original cast off and put a smaller one on.  At that point, he said we could talk about getting back into training.  At any rate, I am sure I will be out of the water until the beginning of March, so I have set up to start a duathlon training program as soon as I can get back at it, and then alter my plan when I get the cast off and can get back in the water. 

So, that is pretty much it, as far as updates are concerned.  I did go out and get some ankle weights that I wear around the house.  Whenever a commercial comes on I either do 30 calf raises, 15 standing hamstring curls (each leg), or 15 knee raises (each leg).  Commercial breaks between shows I do all three exercises.  Just my way of feeling like I am not standing still while everyone else around me is going forward.