Ernesto's group (5th season) - Closed (Page 13)

Congrats on the PR, I just recently got my HM under two hours and it was a huge success and confidence booster for me.  Going to try again on Tuesday at our Polar Dash.

I have a BlueSeventy neoprene swim cap that I bought to use on the Alcatraz swim last year and I was very happy with it.  It's one piece with a chin strap that some folks find annoying but I had no issues with it.  I would probably advise, if anything, to put some body glide or something under your chin if it chafes.  I always wore a regular swim cap over it.

I use this one.  Had to replace the first one because the little contact pins on the underside got corroded due to sweat. They shipped me a brand new one. I like their customer service as it was so simple as to get it fixed. I am also able to hook up the speed sensor on my rear wheel too so I can measure distance on my trainer. The cadence is great as well on top of it as well although I had to modify the mounting bracket somewhat to get it to fit on my felt b16 as there was very little clearance between the cranks and the chainstay.  Overall I am happy with it compared to my cateye I also have.

http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-Double-Wireless-Bicycle-Speedometer/dp/B0039GG844/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356914149&sr=8-2&keywords=sigma+wireless+bike+computer

Here are the totals that I logged here on BT. For most of the winter/spring when I was on the trainer I wasn't smart enough to see if putting my speed sensor onto my back wheel so I didn't measure quite a bit of time. Overall I guess not bad though I do realize I need to increase my run mileage for IMCDA.

Bike  1971.57 Mi - 208h 07m 06s 

Run 738.51 Mi - 98h 57m 03s

Swim 160479.30 Yd - 56h 24m 39s

I didn't realize that timex made that, unfortunately my watch is the gps run trainer and I think this only works with global trainer.

Anyone interested in purchasing a like new timex gps run trainer so I can get a global trainer??

Here are my totals for 2012, definately had better years, specially as far as swim and bike...

2012 totals:

Bike: 148h 26m 33s  - 3249.27 KM

Run: 180h 12m 39s  - 1810.14 KM

Swim: 24h 50m 31s  - 54200.33 M

Hi Ernesto and  others. welcome to all new members. I'm interested in joining the group for the second year.  Although I was not as consistent as I would like to be last year, Ernesto's mentoring group was an excellent resource, that provided support and motivation.

NAME: Charlotte

STORY:  I am  55 years old and started doing sprint triathlons about 4 years ago. Two years ago I did my first olympic triathlon. This past year I only did 2 races mostly because of family illness, but things are much improved so I hope to complete more races this coming year.  I was not a high school or college athlete; I do not have a strong background in bike, run or swim. I am passionate about not aging prematurely, and trying to do as much as i can to slow the inevitable muscle loss, etc.  I started adding cross-fit to my training the latter part of 2012, and found that i gained considerable functional strength, especially arms and core. I also want to try and increase running and cycling speed.

FAMILY STATUS: Married with three teenage children (17 year old son, and 15 year old son and daughter twins) 

CURRENT TRAINING:  In the winter, I ride computrainer at home, and go on fairly short rounds.  I swim with local Master's program about 1/3 to 1/2 the year.  I need to be more consistent about logging my time in BT.

THIS YEAR'S RACES: I plan to do at least 2 sprint triathlons and 2 olympic triathlon races this year.

WEIGHTLOSS: Weightloss has always been a challenge for me but I am determined. I would like to lose 15-20 pounds this year.

WHAT WOULD MAKE ME A GOOD MENTEE? I listen to instruction, and try to implement suggested strategies.   I participated in about 2/3 of monthly challenges last year. 

Well, the sun is down and we're off to watch the fireworks at 8pm (for kids). Happy New Year everyone!Tomorrow will ride 20k to an untimed parkrun 5k. If I manage to get up...Have fun tonight!

1 hr on drainer (5x3' step intervals, 5x2' step intervals all with 1' RIs) followed by 5 miles on dreadmill. No swim, figured out how to make my weekly plan work, swim is on Tuesdays now.  Finished the Entourage series, started the Wire.

Mitch Swim 6 - Bike 18 -Run 25 - Rest 5 - Total 49 Time 37:54:02
Matthew Swim 13 - Bike 12 - Run 11 - Rest 4 - Total 35 Time 42:45:51
Mark Swim 4 - Bike 11- Run 12 Rest 7 Total 27 Time 25:17:00
Jackie Swim 0 - Bike 4 - Run 21 - Rest 5- Total 25 - Time 38:48:07
Jim Swim 0- Bike 7- Run 15 Rest 5 - Total 22 -Time 16:57:14
Ernesto Swim 2 - Bike 9 - Run 12 - Rest 9 - Total 23 - Time 33:24'42"
Charlotte Swim 3 - Bike 13- Run 11 Rest 6 Total 27 (To Goal: 3) Time 18:31 (To Goal: 1:29)
Gabe Swim 0 - Bike 8 - Run 9 - Rest 11 - Total 17 - Time 18:35:28
Joe Swim 9- Bike 5 - Run 3 - Rest 1 - Total 17 Time 11:12:12
Chris Swim 0 - Bike 0 - Run 13 - Rest 8 - Total 13 Time 11:57:41
Samy Swim 1 - Bike 0 - Run 10 - Rest 8 - Total 11 Time 8:03:23
Andy Swim 2 - Bike 0 - Run 8- Rest 12 - Total 10- Time 6:52:47
Barry Swim 1 - Bike 2 - Run 2 - Rest 7 - Total 5 - Time 2:58:52
Scott Swim 1 Bike 0 - Run 1 - Rest 2 - Total -2 - Time 2:

2012 Review:

2012 was interesting.  Clearly better than 2011.  I had a PR in a HM in April, but suffered a solid setback with a stress fracture in my Tibia about 1.5 months later.  Contributing factors to the stress fracture were: diet (not enough calcium), shoes with too many miles, too much intensity on higher volumes, too much intensity on sidewalks (did many speed workouts on sidewalk versus the track).  I rehabbed and was able to complete my first triathlon since 2009 in Sept.  

The injury allowed me to refocus my training and begin anew with a clean slate.  I've spent the last half of the year running easy and slowly building volume.  

I'm ending the year running 5 to 6 days a week and cycling 3 to 4 days per week.  The last three months have been very solid with December being my biggest month ever.

Swimming has been spotty at best.  I got into a groove leading up to my tri, but afterwards lost discipline again.  I am resolving to have more discipline on frequency at the pool and then work on building volume.

Congratulations Mitch on winning another edition of the challenge. Congratulations to Matthew and Mark on completing the podium (I hope it's not too soon, maybe we'll have a surprise).

Everybody ready for a January challenge?

Ready!

This weekend was all about enjoying the snow...lots of trail running and snowshoeing. 

Working the next two nights, so I will be logged out of the matrix.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm ready for the challenge!  Got the OK to start training again.  Swimming and biking will have to be the go to exercises for a little bit until I am very sure that the ankle is not going to flare again, but I will get out and test it tomorrow with a short slow New Years run. Two weeks now with no pain.  As a close out to the year decided to get to the pool and see where the fitness level bottomed out after taking a month off.  Not too shabby, 4000 meters in 75 mins.

I came home from the pool and I got my trainer set up in the barn next to my treadmill so I have no more excuses not to get out there and ride my bike this winter.  I will be training for a spring marathon to start the season once again this year.  14 weeks til the first race.

Welcome to all the new folks!  Glad to have you along for the ride.

The Martian it is.  Just wish they wouldn't start the Half two and a half hours after the Full.  It makes for a very congested end to the marathon in an out and back course.....

Very seriously considering going back to Tawas for a HIM again this year.  What do you say to that Mitch?  Go up and crash @ Jim's place?   lol

Maybe you want to drink some before you start too! God almighty, that's way too cold for me.

Well, today it is twelve days and hours until the start of the Houston Marathon. They sent me an email a few days ago where they said the deadline to switch distances (up or down) was December 31st, so today I went to switch down to the half, decision that I came up to because of my extremely low run mileage in the last months and lack of specific training.

Somehow, it didn't let me do it, so I'm stuck with the Mary. I'll try to make some lemonade by running slower than I would well trained. Although I had some good runs (yesterday, for example), the depth of training required to run a marathon well is simply not there.

All that said, I'm gunning with the 3:40 pacer, which translated means 8:23/mile. It is a pace that will allow for me to run very aerobic, but I'm still afraid my lack of musculo-skeletal adaptations will run me down in the last few miles. I've been experiencing that in my long runs.

We will see, the part that I'm not afraid of is the pain part, I can suffer well. 

I think I have tacit support.  I'll know more as the winter progresses.