Eliwashere's spring fling mentor group!-Full (Page 13)

Ahh, swimming...
I will miss the pool at the building I live in now. I need to find a new pool that will be easy for me to get in a mile at in the mornings.
ramping down a little this week, but I am still going to try to get in 30 minutes a day, just for sanity and to stay active.

Rode my old hybrid last night. I still love that bike. I think I am going to switch the bars to drops and make it a "roadie", or at least a "frankenbike".

My daughter got a new bike with handbrakes and 7 gears for her birthday, and was keen to ride.  Who am I to say no?

Looks like more of the same tonight. 

My wife will have to be careful, my daughter got that bike up to 20 mph last night. 

I can't wait until my 5 year old daughter is ready to go for a ride with me!  About 2 more years huh? 

Good luck on finding the new pool!

Dave.

I'm jealous of you all.  I have trouble getting my 11 and 13 year olds out riding with me, even for fun rides. 

The 13 year old is signed up with me for the kid version of my first tri this year, but he's not doing any tri-training yet.  He's focusing on his grappling skills since he has a tourney this weekend, but man we're 3 weeks away!

Grappling? As in wrestling?
That is a decent workout right there! Plus, when you are 13, you can get away with a LOT more than a 35+ year old.

So, I am just in a holding pattern this week. Work is crazy, we are moving and I just want to get in my workouts as "productive procrastination".

That being said, I am thinking I need to add a summer tri to my plans. I may do one of the local sprints to compare my time to last year, or one of the local oly's.

I also need to get my butt in the pool or OWS. I think it has been 2 weeks since I swam  

Hey all.  Sorry I have been MIA yet again.  We headed to VA at the end of last week for a friend's Change of Command Ceremony in the Navy. It was an amazing experience and definitely worth the trip.  I did try to get a workout in at the hotel we were staying at but the treadmill and the bike were terrible.  I had not realized how spoiled I was by the equipment at the Y.  Crazy thing is that I found out there was a Y within 5 miles of the hotel but never thought to look it up before we went away.  Oh well.

So, I could not sleep this morning and rather than sitting here like a couch potato, I headed to the pool.  Managed to swim 500 yds but the allergies and asthma are acting up so I was winded and called it a day.  We have hot, humid weather and I am just not used to it yet.  I need to remember to take my allergy meds today.

I am still torn about doing the aquabike on June 6.  If I am going to do it, I need to rent a wetsuit ASAP.  Argh!!  Scratch that- just bit the bullet - ordered my wetsuit and registered!  Looks like I will be spending some time in the pool and on my bike over the next week!

Edited by Fechter99 2010-05-27 5:48 AM

Hey - that's great news! Hope it goes well for you.

Eli - take those necessary moments of procrastination...moving is really hard work.

It looks like the weekend of June 5-6 will be a big one for us - the aqua bike, Charlie's got a 5k, I've got a 10K...anyone else? Racing seasons getting started!

Moving is tough.  Good luck and don't worry about missing anything during the move.

My son is doing Brazilian Jui Jitsu, yeah, it's a great workout and also very technical.

Jennifer's right - lots of races coming up.  Good luck everyone on the tapers if you're doing them.  I don't race for three more weeks, but I've only been swimming about once a month so I'm getting panicky about the swim.

Hey All,
Finally jumped in the pool today. Ahh, that was nice.
I think I might sign up for a June tri, just to get the juices flowing!
Way to go on getting your wetsuit for the aquabike!!! I love swimming in the wetsuit. 

Awesome news on committing to the race.  Good luck, one week isn't a lot of time to train.  I'm horrified at my 600 yard swim leg coming up in three weeks.  Thank goodness for wetsuits and backstroke!

Seriously,  a week is definitely not the time to train.  I know that I can do the swim distance and the fact that I am wearing a wetsuit makes it even less of a concern.  My concern is that I have not yet ridden my new bike for more than 8 miles and the bike distance for the race is 15.2 miles.  I am just looking at it as a fun early season outing without the worry of a run.  I am planning to go out slow and find a nice easy pace.  The nice part of the bike though is that from what I read is that it is flat as paper which will make it easier.  Keep your fingers crossed that it is as flat as they say.

Freaking out a bit when I really think about the fact that it is next week.  In reality I have been debating doing this aquabike since the Fall.  It just took me this long to financially commit.

Hey, how's everybody doing.  I just thought I would say hi and thanks for the great inspires over the past couple of weeks.  I had a pretty good week for training so far.  Yesterday I rolled over 10K yds swimming since I have started training and was able to swim 1K straight without stopping.  I was pretty pumped about that.

Then today I seemed to crash a bit.  My entire "medium" run felt like work and my HR and my perceived exertion seemed to spike as soon as I started.  Not sure why but maybe my long swim is still impacting me today.

I have my "long" ride tomorrow then a rest day.  I am looking forward to that.

Eli, not sure I would have picked a holiday weekend to move, but then again you don't always get to choose when you do these things.

Randi, good luck with your race, I sure you will do fine and most importantly have fun.  Take advantage of the week you have and get ready.  Jennifer reminded me of the 5K I was planning, didn't realize it was right around the corner.  It will be my first ever race, should be fun.  It is a smaller race, but part of a pretty popular food festival in downtown.  About 50 of the local restaurants bring a booth and line the streets with 1 dollar samplers of their food.  Awesome!!

Hope everybody has a great holiday weekend!!!  Good luck with your training as well.  Will be really important for me as I plan to eat well. 

I am totally floundering right now. I have no motivation whatsoever and I'm actually even thinking about skipping my race on June 20th!

Someone help me!! My PT says I should likely be able to run without pain after next week (once I have four full sessions in). How do I get back on track??

Just go do something Jenna.  Don't worry about the race yet.  Pick a few times this weekend and take a walk, or ride, or anything.  You've been through a tough time with the injury, it's normal to be down and getting frutrated and losing motivation.  Don't let it spiral downward!  There's too much positive on this side.  Stay with it.

Just go do something Jenna.  Don't worry about the race yet.  Pick a few times this weekend and take a walk, or ride, or anything.  You've been through a tough time with the injury, it's normal to be down and getting frutrated and losing motivation.  Don't let it spiral downward!  There's too much positive on this side.  Stay with it.

I agree Jenna, just go out and do something.  Lift weights or strength train, or yoga or anything!  At this point I don't think any of us are out at races to set world records or qualify for Kona, so take the pressure down and realize why you do this, so that you can be fit and healthy.  Rediscover your fun that you have in training and you will be O.K.  If you don't feel like you will have a successful race later next month, just go volunteer to help in some way, and I bet doing that will throw a little fuel back on your fire. 

Reduce the pressure and increase the fun factor!

Did everyone have a great weekend or what?!  I know I did.

Dave.

I had a good weekend - but no training at all! I swam today. I'm about to go to PT and will try to ride tomorrow, but they're calling for rain. I'll try to do something though! I have psyched myself back up for this and want to kick again.

Hope everyone had a great weekend...Jenna - I'm with the rest of them - just do something that you like to do (as Yanti says, "splash along like a happy duck"). That will remind you why you got started on this path in the first place, and then you can figure out how to add in the rest of the fun things.

I realized today (as I was riding my bike on a perfect day - 65 degrees, sunny, not too much traffic because of the holiday) how much I like training...specifically - biking. I love being outside, going slow enough to really enjoy the scenery around me, hearing the wildlife (we live in the boonies), seeing the beautiful farmhouses, the blueberry fields (Maine blueberries are really the best), and the small towns. I also realized how much more confidence I have in what I can do. Last year, I was just trying to make it up a really hard hill, make it through the swim without drowning, run the whole distance of a 5K. This year I don't have any fear that I won't make the swim distance. I rode right up my nemesis hill without stopping much faster than I could last year. I ran a whole half marathon a month ago. This really has been an inspiring path for me to go down - to see what I am truly capable of and how lucky I am to be able to do these things.

Ok - enough of the Stuart Smalley channeling - hope you all had a great one. Make this week count!

Hey All,
Wow, what a crazy weekend!!!
So, although we had movers come for our furniture, I boxed up all of our stuff. It is amazing how much crap you can accumulate over the course of just 2 years (we moved 2 years ago to this apt).
I always like to think I am good at "purging" stuff, but I had 25 race bags (the little backpack thingies they hand out at races)...25!! That is about 20 more than I can even imagine using. 
I even threw away a few old race shirts.
So, although moving before a holiday weekend is a little crazy, it was nice to have the extra day to unpack. We are 95% done unpacking and loving our new place.
The only tough part is that I have to commute back to the town we lived in to drop off my daughter at school.

In training...I managed almost 5 mile run yesterday. It was HOT. I forgot how much the heat can take out of you. I need to get back in the swing of things, but am feeling motivated to do so.

Jenna, I know what you mean about losing motivation. I think it happens sometimes. Like everyone says, just get out there an do something. It just about always will make you feel better.

Have a great week everyone! 

Sounds like the move went ok overall Eli, that can be very stressful.  I hear you on the accumulation of stuff - I will NEVER be able to move.  We've been at our current place 12 years, and I tell my wife we either have to sell the house "as is" or burn it down.  There's NO WAY I could ever clean my basement of all the junk I've accumulated!

I got into the lake for an OWS yesterday and what a blast.  There are buoys, rafts, and points nearby (all within 200 yards and free from any boat traffic) so I can do "pool like" workouts but in the lake, so that makes it fun.  It was a little cool - 66 - so I wore the wetsuit.

Hope everyone has a great week of training.  Summer is finally here!

Edited by wbayek 2010-06-02 1:10 PM

Hey All,
Things are settling down here. Got in a few good workouts this week.
I even signed up for a sprint on Sat.
It is on a course I did last year as I was really ramping up my fitness. I am hoping I can do as well or better than last year.

So, since the heat is really kicking it here in South Florida, I was wondering how the heat affects you all and your training.

I know for me, I make sure to carry and drink a LOT more water, and I also tend to run a little slower.
Overall, I think it makes me plan more, as the chance of blowing up seems to be greater.

Any thoughts? 

Heat is definitely a killer.  I think it played at least some part in my half marathon blow up.  My few runs in the heat I consume almost 1.5 times my normal fluid, and I felt like I could have used more.  Sweat rates vary though, so it's something we all have to figure out individually.  I also know pace is much slower for the same RPE for me in heat.  Maybe as the body acclimates the speed drop off diminishes, but we're still in the spring weather here in NH, with nights still potentially in the 40s, so our bodies aren't at all ready for heat.

This is a bit of a funny topic for me since when I've been out the door this week at 5:30 it's still so cool I have the opposite problem!  The first half hour of the bike or run I'm quite cool, and as it warms up I get comfortable.  I don't want to dress for that start since I'll have way too much clothing as the workout progresses.

So for races this weekend, I see:

Randi - Aquabike
Charlie - 5k
Jennifer - 10k

Good luck everyone, and can't wait to read those race reports!

My first ever race is Saturday.  It is a 5K and I am pretty excited to run it.  I have been thinking strategy as to how I am going to pace but I think I am going to wing it it a bit.  Just go out and run and try to go hard and see what happens, if I end up walking a bit I know for next time.

Or should I go out and try to maintain a specific pace?  I know for some this is silly as a 5K is pretty short, but I really am not sure what to expect.  If I were to set a pace I think it would be 10:30 - 11:30 as I think I could maintain that comfortably (maybe).

This race is really just a chance to experience a race before my tri and is replacing a "long" run I do on the weekend.

Training has been going pretty well so far, the month of May went very well, and I am hoping what they say about it taking 28 days to form a habit.

Weight has been a bit of an issue, not exactly sure what is going on but I try to "net" 1500 - 1700 calories when considering the estimated burned calories of my training and I seem to have hit a plateau and even put a couple of pounds on in the past week.  Doesn't seem right given it takes 3500 extra calories to create a lb of fat.  Oh well I will see my fat Dr in a couple of weeks and see what she has to say.

Thanks for the encouragement and let me know if you have any tips.  My number one goal is to have fun and brag to people I did it.

Oh yeah heat...  So far not really an issue in Syracuse,NY.  We have had a couple of hot days but for what ever reason my training those days was swimming or I fit it in late or early in the morning when heat was not that big a deal yet.

I know heat will slow me down though.  I have never really tolerated hot and humid days that well.

Charlie, don't downplay the 5k.  That is a serious race.  I think 5k may be one of the hardest distances.  The typical strategy is to go out pretty hard and try to hang on.

As Jennifer has said elsewhere, if you puke after the finish line, you held back, if you puke before the finish line you went too hard.  You want to puke just as you cross the finish line!   Just kidding.

Good luck, and have a blast.  There is only one first.  Walking is fine, just give it everything you have.

I'll offer up some diet advice when I have more time.  I am an (very) amateur nutritional consultant to some athletes in other disciplines.  I'm trying to learn more about nutrition in the endurance space, but amazingly there is not much scientific data.  Maybe I'll try to get some grant money ...