Ernesto's group (5th season) - OPEN (Page 14)

Great race and nice report! Congratulations and I loved the pic of your girls and you!

Just got back from a trip to Florida with the family. Three nights on Amelia Island with just my wife and me followed by a 5 day trip to Universal Studios and Sea World in Orlando (with our kids and 12 members of my wife's immediate and extended family). Definitely happy to be sitting at a desk today.

I did get a swim in the ocean in and it was a blast. Nothing like getting rolled by a wave! Quick question for you ocean swimmers - how do you get the thought of a shark coming after you. The water was really murky from the sand and waves and zero visibility. I'm pretty fatalistic and believe when its my time its my time - but alot of the time I was swimming I kinda just kept waiting for that shark bite. Silly I know.

Ran on the beach some and around the outside of the theme parks. Didn't get as much running in as I wanted but legs were still fatigued with all the non-stop standing and walking.

Really focusing on getting into my running plan. Looking forward to maintaining discipline on running in preparation from my HM in October.

The Thanksgiving 10K I try to do every year just released a new race schedule allowing you to run the 10K followed immediately by the 5K. You get a special medal for completing - we all know you can't resist the draw of a special medal - so I'm going to sign up for both races. Sounds like a fun challenge.

Edited by trisuppo 2013-07-02 10:57 AM

I swim in the ocean every weekend and I totally understand your fear. From time to time I still think that there will be a shark when I will put my head back down. Honestly, I think about it less and less. I guess it is a matter of time. Also, when I start thinking about sharks a lot I concentrate on my breathing and technique and that helps me stay focus on what really matters.

After I'm done, I usually go for a run and then I realized that I have more chances to get struck by a lighting or hit by a car than bitten by a shark... Go figure how the human mind works!

And definitively, go for the 10k+5k, I wish I will find a race like that here.

My wife thinks I am nutty after seeing how excited I was about the 10k / 5k combo. They're calling it the "Drumstick Double"!!!

That sounds awesome! I've been looking for something like that around here, but haven't found anything yet. Have fun with it!

So...update....

I've had a busy couple of days.

Since last Thursday, I've been to the doctor for what I thought was an ear infection with wax build up (no infection...just a lot of wax, but discovered a problem with my health insurance), raced an Xterra 9 hours away from home, and helped with a mini bike tour for some high school students.

I've had a lot of travel which brought some training numbers down, but that's ok. The alternate activities were very much worth it. Family is more important than a 2 hour bike ride.

My race went well. During the pre-ride of the Xterra course, I bent my front deraileur which caught a link of my chain and bent that. I had to run out the night before the race to the bike shop and get a new chain. The bike shop was great and repaired it almost right away. If you're ever in the Nashville area, stop by The Biker's Choice. Great establishment! Went back after the repair and finished my ride of the course. Arrived at the race on Saturday morning and realized that I had forgotten my goggles at the house. My brother ran out to get some at Wal-Mart for me. They helped, but I couldn't get the fit right and my right goggle leaked and was filled before the first 100 yds. Sighting was difficult and so was navigation. One of my poorer swims. I had a good bike and run though which got me 3rd in my age group. I somehow was omitted from the results. After a quick e-mail to the RD, it turns out that they did have my results and someone got glitched out. Whatever...they were cool about fixing it.

Helped a mini-bike tour for some high school students, which they enjoyed! Always good when kids get the chance to get out and enjoy biking. It was a short tour (65 miles over 2 days), but we took our time and went slow.

Now I'm back for awhile and can focus on my training again.

Glad everyone seems to be doing well! Happy training!

- Joel

That is one of the the nice things about the board, we get what others don't. There is a similar race in Pinconning the "Cheesetown Challenge". A two mile followed by a 5 mile race. My wife couldn't get past me doing races back to back, while I was annoyed that I got the same stuff, (tech shirt and a block of cheese) as everyone else.

See - the Drumstick Double gives you a medal different than everyone else's. Awesome!

I was pretty pumped last night. It's been quite awhile since I've been able to fit in my schedule a night time run. Due to travel fatigue I wasn't able to get up yesterday morning for my run interval workout (1.5 mile WU, 10x400 @ 5k to 10k pace with 400 recoveries, and 1.5 mile CD; total 8 miles). Got our little one to bed last night and was able to get out the door around 10:00pm. There's something different about running after dark as opposed before dawn. The world is winding down and going to sleep - completely different feel to me than running pre-dawn. Somewhat unexplainable. Anyway - it was a tough workout but got every interval done. Need to work on slowing my pace down on the recovery segments.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/336741132

I used the garmin workout function for the first time on a run and it worked great. No need to keep checking the watch to see if I'm at a 0.25 mile. It beepes about 5 times and then has an alarm when you are supposed to move to the next segment. Then all your splits are set exactly as planned in the watch. I plan on using it for all my speed, strength and tempo run workouts.

As an aside, I'm connected to a few of you here on Strava. If anyone else has started using Strava and wants to connect please search for me under Mitchell Dangremond.

Hey guys, I really need your help this time. I can't find ANY motivation since IMTX, to top it off I am working unreal hours and always out of town. I have an Ironman in eleven weeks!!!!! Motivate my @$$!!!! Please!!!

Feeling the post IM blues. Its when you don't want to do it you have to do it. Once you start, you will find it easy to keep grinding to the next mile. You will get it back soon enough. Either that or one of the potentially coolest races in one of the coolest places is going to totally suck, and you will have wasted a bunch of money doing it. So, get off your a$$ and start training and stop making up excuses.

Thanks guys, today I rode 40 miles and ran a little over 3. Far from feeling good but I guess I need frequency. Everybody ok? @Gabe, how do you feel for Vineman?

I had a good weekend but a bad training weekend. We had 18 people staying over for the holiday. I had grand visions of a couple of runs a long ride and a lot of swimming. On Thursday I was attacked by hornets when I was collecting wood for a beach fire. I was stung 6 times on the wrist and ankle. Both were swollen and it hurt to walk and the water made the stings feel like they were on fire. So, I mostly sat on the beach and ate too much. I tried to swim Sunday, but there was a change in weather and it brought in the deep water from the Lake. The water temp went from 63 deg on Saturday to 48 deg on Sunday. I dove in without checking the temp and my head went numb. I ran back to the house and got a swim cap, which helped, but I still got nauseous from the cold and had to quit after 700 yards.

Gabe, don't feel too bad for me, I spent most of the weekend fat, happy, and lounging in the sun.

I generally don't have an issue with either cold water or surf, since most of my swims are in Lake Huron, but 48 was just painful. Today's swim was great. The storms pushed shallow water from the South up, so the water warmed up and I had a nice current for half of my swim and I felt like Aquaman

Enjoy your trip to San Francisco and have some Crab for me. I love Alioto's.

Edited by JBacarella 2013-07-09 7:18 PM

Double post

Edited by JBacarella 2013-07-09 7:16 PM

Gabe - Good Luck on your race.

I'm in a run focused mode and trying to smartly get the volume up. Ran last night in the muggy heat and it sucked. 5x800M intervals at 5k to 10k pace with 400M recoveries. Pace and heat caught up with me and I wasn't able to hit the last interval from a pace perspective. Bit of cramping as well. I hate working out in the evening - always feel so much better working out before I've eaten anything major for the day.

Still dealing with a bit of Medial Tibia Stress Syndrome (shin splints) so I used my compression socks and made sure I iced for a good bit after the run. Legs feel ok today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/340204866

Also - Garmin sent me a refurbished replacement for my 1.5 year old garmin whose barometer no longer worked. This one seems to be working great!

A couple of bike questions. I rode today in heat and swirling gusting winds. An odd thing happened, I was wearing an aero helmet the wind gusted in my face and I was sprayed in the face with sweat. Is that normal with those? Today was the first time I used it in the heat.
The second is does the GPS in a watch go bad? I have been getting some strange readings on it. It has never been 100% accurate, but the last couple of days it has been more off than normal.

Question for the experts: I've got a carbon racing bike and would like to add aerobars to the conventional handlebar; any suggestions or brands, should I change the handle bar to a tri-handle bar? Thanks!

Call the Garmin CS, they have all the answers. That thing with the aero helmet never happened to me, not a clue.

You can put clip ons, going for the full aerobar setup is not really a good idea because of the difference in the geometry of the road bike (as compared to the triathlon bike). Clip ons are inexpensive when compared to the full tri bar and the mounting is very quick, almost no tools required except a 4mm allen wrench.

I had a good race yesterday at the Vineman 70.3 and was able to come in with a new PR of 5:28. It was a moderate course in terms of difficulty, but with beautiful views of vineyards everywhere, which would make you go in with a smile, even in the moments of pain. I brought my wife and 3 kids with me and it was extra special to share the moments with them. I have limited access to Internet so will follow with a RR later on. Saludos!

Thanks coach, will do that.

Enhorabuena!! Very challenging for begginers and short distance runners - will check your RR.

Congrats on the PR! That must have been some good scenery to race in!