Manatee Express Mentor Group - closed (Page 13)

Sledge,

Congrats on finishing your first Century.  It is one of the crowning achievements in road biking for sure.  After recovering you might notice that those 40 - 75 mile rides that used to wear you our won't have the same effect anymore.  At least that was the case with me after riding my first Century.  Congrats again on the accomplishment and I will definitely take my time before I start running again.  I have a Century this coming weekend with my group as we are starting to bid our farewells to those that are leaving our group.  I will put in a couple of short rides this week to make sure that the foot is going to hold before I go pushing triple digits on the bike again.

Weekly recap - Nothing significant to report other than my toes and foot are starting to feel alot better but still no rush to get back to full speed yet.
 

I am not sure if any of you have seen this video before but I would definitely recommend watching it and sharing it with other to drive the point home about bike riders.  Enjoy.

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Weekly Recap

5 runs and 3 bikes, including my first ever century ride!

My runs were good -- totaled 19 miles, and mostly at a good pace (well, good for me).  Bikes early in the week were easy in prep for the century. 

My April challenge was to bike 250 miles and run 75 miles.  I went way over on the biking (321), but still have 9 miles to go for the run.  But I'm going to make it!!!

Swimming is coming soon!  After a little recovery time, I should be back in the pool.  We'll see how that goes.

Hey Manatee's!!

Where is everyone???  It's been a quiet week here on the Express - just makin sure everyone is still hangin in there with whatever your into these days!  I have been gettin back into some base buildin for runs and swimming - Masters class - that has been going well, even though I missed both my classes for swimming this week - it's been challenging to say the least.  Hopefully - I will get back into the groove this coming week....still working thru this calf issue I am havin, think I am gonna take it easy on the runs for now and focus on biking and swimming....let this leg heal up and then get some runs in.  It's takin 4ver ...but..time seems to be the only thing that will help it get better.  Well - here is my recap - no swims this week ( bOOOOOOO but I did manage to get some runs in and some cycling and brought back the core/strength training into the workouts as well...core especially for swim is very important for me.  Next week - back at it full steam - gonna ride my new bike this weekend I hope...and def next week!!! PLan on swimming tomorrow if time allows...I have a busy weekend and I am on-call for work so...we'll see how it goes!!  You folks have a great one and chat with you all soon!!

Cheers

My Dear Manatee's,

       A little bit of humor or just a grim reality check.  I made the assumption that my bike base was solid and that my two week rest period or recovery from my broken toes would not take a toll on my endurance.  DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE !!!!!  I went out on a nice little 100+ miler with the boys yesterday and it was a picture perfect day for riding in the early part of the ride.  The temps were in the high 60's, low 70's and the humidity was a little high but the slight breeze basically mitigated it.  The first half of the ride was an absolute dream with crystal blue waters and a few clouds in the blue sky but they were the huge fluffy white ones so I liked them as they provided some shade every once in a while.  So we got to the turn around and the rest of the crew stopped to eat but I had a time limit so I stopped for only about 10 minutes and then began the return trip.  The first 20 miles were good and the pace was decent but then the heat went up several degrees, the humidity kicked in, and the breeze was gone.  Maybe this was all mental but it definitely made the last 30 miles much more of a chore than a ride in a postcard like it was going out to the turnaround.  I made sure that I was hydrating by taking in H2O/Cytomax and taking in 125-150 calories every 45 minutes with Powerbars and gel packs.  So I have deducted that it was either the heat, probably not, or that your base can deteriorate rapidly without at least some effort made at maintaining it.  

Ken do you have any input on this as I didn't think yesterday's ride would have been so difficult.  It also puts a perspective on the 1/2 IM that I am going to attempt later on this year.  I had a lot of fuel in the tank at the halfway point so a half marathon might have been doable but as far as the marathon after the 112 on the bike for a full Ironman that is certainly going to be a huge challenge.

So if you can learn from my mistakes please do so.  As 18 hours after the ride I am still not feeling 100% mentally and physically it will take at least 48 - 72 hours to recover I am sure.

Weekly Recap

I had planned for this week to be a high volume week, but my body had other plans.  Despite good intentions, I needed to recover from the century ride last Saturday.  So I had four short runs for a total of 13 miles and two short bikes for 33 miles.

I did have the surgery on Friday to remove the plate from my clavicle, and have the hardware to prove it.  Some of those screws were really long -- no wonder it was painful to swim!  Anyway, now I'm in "recovery" mode.  Hopefully walking and riding my mountain bike on the trainer will keep me reasonably fit, although I am concerned after reading Chip's post about losing fitness quickly.  I have an appointment with my doctor on Friday, and plan to negotiate some additional training from him.

On Saturday I plan to be a cheerleader at the Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City Beach.  See you there, Ken!  (Does it really start at 6:15???)

Sure, I'll run for you.  

Seriously, I hope your knee is ok.  Rest it this week, ok?

Hey Chappy & gang!!  I finally got a ride in on my new bike!!!  Here is my log from the ride today!  Whooot FINALLY got a ride in!!

 WOW - ALL I can say is WOW!! My inagural ride on Black Beauty was today! I decided to take her thru the paces on the back roads thru the country out here so I could get used to this new machine w/out the worry of heavy traffic. I rarely worry about traffic but on my maiden voyage on my new steed I want to make sure I was comfortable and had time and space to get used to all the functions of it. The ride is really great, lots of rollin hills mixed with some flats and a couple of HILLS that will get you out of the saddle!...good mix of terrain to put the bike thru it's paces!! It was a nice ride- and man what a noticabale difference in how this bike rides compared to my ole mtn bike. For one - the tires took me a bit to get used to, they are much narrower and it's a weird feelin when you 1st start off on them if you have never ridden a road bike before! I took the 1st couple miles just getting accustomed to changin gears, finding the desired grip on the handlebars, ya know - just settlin in to the whole thing. After about half-way thru I was good to go, gearing was workin good for me,switched into all the positions I could to get a taste of ridin more aero then I have been used to...the aerobars are still gonna take me some time to get used to. Especially at speed - I tried that on my way back on a nice flat section and I started to feel a lil off kilter so I went back to the handlebars for safe measure....but overall I am stoooo stoked about this bike!!! I rode further then I thought I would today...I just knew where I wanted to go so I went..I had no trip computer on my bike yet so...I figured what the hell..let's just ride!! Awesome ride and what a nice way to start the day!!

Mileage = 15.33 - Time = 50.00  - Avg Speed = 18mph.   - HR - just right!!

Ken,

 You are more then ready man...just taper and do what you do best!!  Kick some butt!!  I have alot of good roads out where I live - mostly 2 lane country roads - little traffic - nice scenary...ya know open fields and farmland...it's really ideal for bikin.  Like today - I just set a target of where I wanted to ride to and I just rode...I was like Forrest Gump..well..I just wanted to ride..so..I rode!!  LOL.  Next thing ya know I am gonna be ridin clear cross Mecklenburg county into Cabbarus county -- oh wait...I did that today!!  LOL. Well..I did not ride across the whole county ...Oh ..you know what I mean.  It was such a nice time of day for it..nice breeze..temps were in the mid 70's...perfect.  Now - I cannot wait to go again...prob go a lil further next time...I felt so good after todays ride I prob could have gone another 10-15 easy.....the only thing really that was buggin me was my right foot - it was starting to tingle a bit..sorta numb..I think it was cause I had my shoe strapped to tight and I was not pedalin the right way for some of the ride..once I started movin my legs correctly and my feet started movin a bit...I felt better ..I guess I just need some movement and I was mainly powering on the downstroke and not as much on the up.  Other then that...my ride was good

Ken,

      I will have to agree with PapaHawk in that you are ready for the upcoming race.  Just listen to the body and it will let you know about the tingle in the knee.  You have prepared exceptionally well for this race and I am sure that you will kick some @55 and maybe beat the "Worm" if he is competing too.  Best of luck to you and I look forward to reading the race report.

PapaHawk,

     I can't wait to get back to the states so that I can find some of those country roads that you are talking about in Hebron, KY.  I am glad that you have found the bike bug and that you are enjoying the new set of wheels.  Compared to the mountain bike it is like a Corvette compared to a Chevette.  Sure they have both been called "Vette's" but there is absolutely no comparison.  Keep up the riding and one of these days we might be able to take a ride with Ken down by the Gulf.  Take care.

I think you are selling yourself short.  I keep saying that your run is getting so much faster, but you keep blowing me off!   Honestly, don't you see improvement in your running this year?  Now I don't know how you were doing in 2006, so I might be way off here, but I think the run will be strong for you this year (assuming your knee was just a twinge).

Best of luck!

Chappy,

 You make sure you holla at me when you get stateside man - we can make a trip to Florida and go put some miles down with Ken and Sledge for sure!!  Yep  - those back roads are nice...you can just ride for miles and really soak up the whole expierence...and your right about the bike...it's a night and day difference ridin this bike compared to the old one.  I bet it's nice riding in Okinawa as well...I would like to visit sometime - one of my wife's best friends from college has some family from there....have a good rest of the week my friend!!

Hey Nat!!,

No worries - take yer time with that trainer - I have finally gotten my new bike out on the road and now the weather is getting warmer - that's where I plan on training.  But - good to see you back in the Express- I know how work can get...it's nutt's for me now..but I take it one day at a time.

Ken,

You can do it!!!  I had some friends from my tri club that just completed the HIM here in NC at White Lake, NC...this is one of the more popular locations for HIM and Sprint Tris in NC..the terrain is mostly flat, bike route is a loop around the lake so nice scenary and flat as well, and the water in this lake is one of the nicer and cleaner ows here...everyone that swims it just raves about it.  They were really inspiring - I chatted with one of them yesterday after Masters...and of course he was eggin me on about competing in it next year....LOL...I was like.."we'll see"..no promises...but I do have a whole year to prepare...so who knows...Half Iron Hawk?? 2009??...lets just see how the remainder of 2008 goes.    Have a great race Ken!!