2015 Clyde/Athena Tri-N-4- Weight Loss Mentor Group - Open (Page 13)

I am all moved into my new home. 3 miles closer to work but drive home last night was 1.5 hours vs my normal 45 mins at the old place. Needless to say starting Monday I think I will start working out in the evenings for sure. Maybe I can work out for an hour and get home 15 mins latter than I would. That is my goal at least.

Gym at work and a gym with a pool close to work on the way home. I should be OK I think. Just need to get up early. Heck If I am in good enough position maybe I will be even better because that might mean I will have 2.5 hours a day to train.

It was a 45 zone

Well... another lackluster week going into taper week. I'm really not sure how I'm going to get out of this funk, but with 2 more races after this weekend I really need a kick in the pants (front or back... whichever anyone thinks will help)

Somehow... I'm actually down to 250 this week... not sure how that happened...

Swim: In the pool for 1000yd free and 100yd kick on Fri. I've had a lot on my plate lately, but that seems to be a good "keep in practice" routine. Of course, once the kiddos are out of school I can add another day or two of pool time.

Bike: Yuck. I woke up late on Sunday and only had time for a quick 11.76mi before work. I actually got on the trainer on Tuesday.... but only managed 3.7 miles. I'm not sure why, but it felt like I was biking through molasses... uphill... in a snowstorm.... with a headwind....... Well, you get the picture. Yesterday's group ride never happened since we had gallon-buckets of rain falling.

Run: 2.45mi run/walk on Monday. I started off the week with a bang... and that was it. I was actually going for the 5k distance, but my bladder had different ideas.

MMMMkay... taper week with a 587yd swim, 12mi bike and a 3mi run... Funny thing is: If I stick to my taper plan, I'll have done more this week than most of the 4 weeks before *facepalm*

Okay... it's been a while, but it was requested that I post my ride after I finish the first part of my upgrades:

Changes:
Bottom Bracket - Went from an angled bearing to a sealed system.
Crankset - Went from a 48/38/28 170mm triple to a 53/32 170mm double.
Pedals - I have SPD clipless, but I am still rocking the flats due to foot issues (bike shoes are a touch narrow at the moment )
Tires - Went from 700x32 to the 700x25 tires I was given when I inquired about BB specs last year.
Swapped in a nicer seat.
Computer - Added a cateye wired computer with cadence.
Rewrapped handlebars with better tape.
Added double bottle behind seat. Will race with a single on the downtube though...
Debadged entire bike... I hate stickers

Still to come:
Aerobars.
Upgraded drivetrain.
Possibly nicer wheels for races only.

Can anyone guess what I'm riding? It isn't an expensive bike at all...





Attachments
----------------
0507151230.jpg (787KB - 2 downloads)

Not a great week for me,

Skipped a few workouts, ending up with only 4 runs for a touch over 2 hours total for the week. Diet was pretty poor... lots of gaps in my MFP log for the week, that tells a lot. And I ended up being 1lb up for the week.

I really need to do something to rediscover my mojo. The year is ticking along frighteningly quickly and if I don't restart making progress soon there's no way I'll be achieving what I want to be next summer.

I know what I have to do, and I know that I can achieve it all, I have before. It's just finding the belief and drive to make it happen.

That's this weeks goal, try to find the drive, and make it happen!

Congratulations on the move. 3 miles closer, but twice the commute? thats a bit of a strange one. Hopefully your evening workout plan works and you can make good use of the time. Who knows, it could be a blessing in disguise.

I know the feeling, like I said about my week I'm missing my drive too... If I figure out how to refind it I'll be sure to let you know, if you promise to do the same.

Congratulations on being down for the week. And it may not have been all you planned to do, but you swam, rode and ran... that's more than lots of us managed so be pleased with that

And the bike's looking good. My vote for your next upgrade is clipless pedals. IMHO that's much more bang for buck than a set of race wheels. and if you are looking at wheels, have a look at a cover for the rear wheel, 99% the benefit of a disk for a fraction of the cost.

That's some nice rides you're doing there. I think you well and truly win the 'training miles for the week' award. Keep up the good work!

Started the week off right with a 5.5 mile run at 5.30am this morning with the local tri group (I was the slowest by quite a good margin!). Times were slow but good to be back on it, longest run I have done.

Do we have a beginner tri Clyde/Athena group on Strava yet?

I do have clipless already. With the foot issues I've been having, my bike shoes are a bit narrow so I've been King of Mashers for a couple of months now. I think I'll swap them back in for some trainer time tonight and see how they feel. I've thought about a cover, but haven't done much research in that direction simply because of my uber low-end bike (ie: cheap wheels)

It sounds like maybe a trip to the LBS is in order to try some different shoes. Just like running shoes, the different brands all fit a bit different, you may be able to find a wider one? I know when I changed from flats to cliples, it made a big difference to me.

I don't have any race wheels myself, I lust after a set of flos, but my commitment to the sport recently hasn't been enough to justify the cost. But that said 'free' speed, is free speed, it doesn't matter if you're upgrading a $100 walmart special, or a $10,000 P5, it still makes a difference. So its up to you if the cost of the free speed is worth it. On the 'other' tri forum, the consensus is a flow 60 front wheel (or 2nd hand Zipp) and disk cover rear is by far the best value race wheelset, and as fast a set up as almost anything else out there.

Sounds like a good run, good job! Sorry, but I don't use strava, I find I already waste enough time on this sort of stuff without adding that to the mix.

Hey there, good to see you back

Sorry to hear that you've had to cancel the HIM, you'll get there, I cancelled my first one due to a calf injury, so I know what it's like. And to follow that up with coming off the bike, man that sucks.

Good on you for getting back on the horse, and pushing through a 5k, just don't push too hard. The last thing you want to do is re-injure it and put yourself back in the sick bay.

I'm sure we'll all do what we can to help keep you motivated. 2 months to go is still plenty of time to make a difference. I look forward to hearing about your training

1 day into the week, 1 workout down. Nothing too exciting, but 20 minutes on the treadmill and 1.75 miles after work.

It's a start.

It is, and I can add 1 40 minute medium run, and a second short run to the list. Long run coming up tonight.

How's your week going so far?

I reckon your sons wedding out ranks training, after all, you only get one of these! Have a great weekend, and look forward to getting back to normal training next week.

I love using Strava to track my times, makes it super easy to see how a given run compared to those previously done.

Anyhoos, the pain from the Monday run was not inconsiderable, i felt like an octogenarian on Tuesday and Wednesday!! Got two good swims in with the masters group on Tuesday and Thursday, the latter being a race pace oly distance effort with 600 warm up prior and 600 cool down after. Speed work running session this morning with the group at the local highschool running track, 3.8 miles. Although to be honest calling my effort a speed session would be stretching the truth! My fastest mile was 8.35min. Amazing to watch some of the guys (and gals) knock out consistent 6.30min/miles for the duration, something to aspire to/inspire.

Finding that liberal use of a roller (couldn't bring myself to spend $50 on one of the fancy ones so bought a $6 length of PVC at homedepot instead) after 15 or 20 mins light spinning on the turbo trainer is working wonders at keeping the legs feeling relatively free.

Another week to work hard and then off on a business trip to Italy - will take some will power not to drop off!

Keep up the hard work all!!

Denali??

We have a winner... LOL.

Before I forget... Weight this morning: 248.0 - down 2 more this week.

For some reason BT doesn't have a race report template set up for Memphis in May this year... weird...

Memphis in May moved back to it's original site in Millington, TN this year. After the race last year in Tunica, MS, the casino that was hosting it shut down. In fact, they kept the casino and everything open just to host the event. The biggest changes were in the swim distance (1/4mi to 1/3mi) and the terrain (relatively flat to light rollers on the bike and run). Last year, the weather started off being very cold (50deg) and wet (light, prolonged rain). This year was a good bit warmer (mid 70's), but gallons upon gallons of water were being dumped on the course. It did clear right before the race, but there was water on the bike course.

Since I ran this one solo (the wife worked the night before), I slept at home. Got up, ate breakfast, fueled the van and took off. It had been raining so hard there was no visibility at my house, but it cleared up before I left and I thought all would be good... nope! Before I got to the race site, I ran into the same type of weather. Getting parked, unloaded and out to transition to set up had me (and everyone else) soaked to the bone. There were jokes flying around about a 15mi swim. I got set up, made contact with 3 of the 4 teammates I had there and got ready to go.

Swim: TT start. I remembered to have my goggles on my face this time (yay!) Course was out turn, turn and back (3 sides of a squareish type shape). No kicking and punching for me this year. I stayed to the outside as I'm slow. I did run into one guy who was treading. Someone else crashed into me from the rear. I also avoided a 3rd contact, but as I popped my head out she said she really had to pee, so I hauled arse around her. When she was done she got back up next to me and kept bumping... she couldn't swim straight if her life depended on it. I decided to sight every 3rd stroke and it kept me pretty dang straight. Swam 1/3 mi in 13:36.3 @ 2:32/100M pace. I was :32 longer in the water this year, but my pace was :43/100M faster as the swim was longer.

T1: Rough concrete (ouch). Just like last year, I had all my stuff in my backpack to try to keep it as dry as possible. My cotton shirt was soaked from the walk in. Also swapped back to clipless for the race, so I changed to bike shoes instead of running shoes. Time was 3:29.3 which was :59.4 faster than last year.

Bike: I had a game plan and I stuck to it. Now that I have cadence, the goal was to stay above 80-85RPM the whole time. I did catch myself in the mid 90's a few times, but I never dropped below 75 (that I saw). The roads were flooded in a few places, and the water was running off. I lucked out at one point as I got forced over the yellow line into oncoming traffic just as as official was heading towards me. Luckily he saw me avoid the wreck and I wasn't penalized. I also picked riders in front of me with the plan of reeling them in. I passed about as many as passed me so... eh. Bike Time was 43:12.1 @ 16.67mph. Not as fast as I hoped, but it was a 5:42.7 & 1.03mph improvement over last year.

T2: This year I had to change to running shoes in T2. I'm really not sure how this happened, but even with my running shoes soaked from the walk in to set up (ankle deep water at places), my time was 2:04 flat which was actually a 6.6 second improvement... figure that one out...

Run: This is where I disappointed myself... but not for the reason you may think. Last year, the run killed me. I was in excruciating pain the entire time and if y'all remember, I actually collapsed after the finish. You would think that being injury-free this year I would have KILLED the run... nope. My lack of training and conditioning shone through here. I ran the 3mi in 39:44.5 @ 13:14mi pace. Compared to my 42:59.8 @ 14:19mi pace I did improve. However, I should have been able to do so much better. This is the only part of the race that really gets to me, and it's my own fault. It's May and I haven't even put 20 miles on my feet this year...

Overall: My 1:42:06.3 was an improvement by 9:42.06. No matter how bad I feel about my run, I can not be disappointed with that... and I'm not. Now I looking forward to the Gearhead Sprint in 5 weeks (plus a day) and ultimately taking a shot at my PR at the Riverbluff Sprint 7 weeks (minus a day) after that. Now... comparing my pace times to what I did at Riverbluff last year has me... cautiously optimistic. My swim and bike were both slightly faster yesterday, and my run was WAY faster (I burned out on the bike in the heat last year... plus HILLS). I know I haven't made the leaps and bound of improvement that I wanted, but I have improved. Throw in the health improvements I've enjoyed, and I would say that the time from my first Tri ever, to repeating the even has overall been a huge success. I'm looking forward to maintaining, if not exceeding, the improvments I've made by Memphis in May next year... And set another PR .

Also on a side note... There was this tiny little boy out on the course. He wasn't much bigger than my 9yr old daughter. I passed him on a rise on the bike course while encouraging him to just keep spinning along. Later on he passed me on the run about 500yds from the finish. This 11yr old's name is Declan and he was there with one of the teams.

I passed my his team's spot as I was leaving, so I decided to offer congrats and it turns out that he was 6 days out of a cast. That means that there was really no recent training involved before his run, and he still put down a 1:52:48 and showed all kinds of heart on the course. I don't know if any of them will ever see this post, but when that boy grows up he is going to be a beast on the course.