left.right.repeat group -closed - Full of a bunch of winners...YEAH! (Page 143)

Dianne, I agree with Gary. Your calorie intake is probably not enough. I drink one bottle of 1/2 strength Gatorade, one uncrustable and a swig of gel every hour. It gives me a little over 350 cals/hr but I always feel fine. For super hot/humid weather I also take a "salt stick tablet". Its actually an electrolyte tablet with a higher salt concentration. I am 5'9" and 148 pounds. I would  guess you are just not getting enough fluids and calories.

HEY BRYAN!!!! Add three more finish lines.I did a sprint in July . I Did a sprint two weeks ago and a 2 mile ocean swim race yesterday. It was quite a chilly swim (63*) for a 2 miler. Got a very bad cramp in my calf and thought I might have to bail...but made it through. What doesnt kill ya will make you stronger!!!

Billy and Amy...How are you feeling???? Very excited to watch you through the live feeds.

I am excited and I am ready to kick this puppy off.  Last week of taper is killing me, bored to death and don't want to do the simple maint. workouts.  Thanks of the words of encouragement and wisdom.  I will post on Thursday night or Friday morning, the tracking information for those that want to follow on line.

Note on my charity fundraising, total as of this morning is $5207.00.  Had a dinner at 2 different Chilies resturants last night for 10% of proceeds and one tonight at a Foxs Pizza Den.  Won't know those totals until this morning a later tonight.  Maybe it will reach $6000.00?  Very excited.  Thanks Bryan for telling me about the Janus Charity Challenge.

Am I ever going to meet yo in Louisville Amy?


Number 74 signing off for now.

Hey all!!
Had a great swim today.  Inside pool is open again but they replaced some of the glass walls with garage door style doors.  So they had them open.  Water a bit cool but warm breeze flowing in.  Did a 900 yrd swim and it was great, bi-lat breathing worked the entire time, overall time was good, stroke felt good, I was happy.  Followed that up with a 2000yrd swim which was a combo of pulls and freestyle.  I swim again tomorrow and I am hoping for similar results.
FBP - good luck with Lobsterman!

Billy - you will do great!

Yes Billy yes!!  674 will meet 74 in Louisville!!!  I'll send you a PM with my cell no.

Diane, congrats on the finish line (sorry so late!).. as for your bike riding, I agree with Gary and Marianne.. sounds like you aren't taking enough in. I'm not an endurance rider like you (but I will be in a few months), but just looking at your caloric intake makes me think not enough.

Billy and Amy, I canNOT wait for IMKY!!!! We can track you guys, right? I will be all eyes and ears during your race! SO excited for you and SO PROUD of you! I can't imagine going the distance and have a lot of respect for you for doing it! One day, I'll join you, too.

.... I do think that day may come sooner than I ever thought. I am doing Half-Ironman Racine next year!!!!!!!! I thought of it and thought of it and well... i'm officially sucked in. Saving up for the entry fee now So, i'm guessing that a full Ironman is not too far ahead after the HIM. Any words of advice?

These are the websites to track me on race day:

Web browser & iphones:  www.TrackMyAthlete.com/vemap.aspx?name=042775

Handheld PDA/Blackberry/Palm:  www.TrackMyAthlete.com/pda.aspx?name=042775 

Thanks for the well wishes and encouragement!

Edited by elcaminobill 2010-08-26 7:51 PM

Awesome Billy, will be tracking you!  Good luck Amy and Billy! 

Okay, after 1.5 yrs of this swimming stuff I think I might have it figured out.  After Tuesdays great swim I wondered if it was a fluke or if I could do it again.  Went for an easy 900 yard swim, first 100yrds at 1:45/100 yards (woohoo!).  Bi-lat breathing working again, stroke felt great.  At the end I felt great, time was great (2:03/100 yards avg), and was not out of breath. 
Keys to the fix were a) finally remembering LRR's comment about breathing, implementing that made Bi-lat breathing easy (Thanks LRR!!!!!) b) curving my stroke slightly inward which helped improve my catch (I learned at the last swim lesson) c) spearing the water (over exagerating it) and extending which my swim coach has been beating into my thick skull for 1.5 yrs.  Today was probably my best swim ever.

My daughters B-Day is tomorrow.  She is having a sleep over for a few of her friends tomorrow night (oh joy, a bunch of 9-10 yr old girls, LOL).  Adding to the good news is that my diet is finally working I am down another 2 lbs.  Down to 188lbs! 5 more lbs and I will be down to the weight I was at before my injury ended my running career.

Counting down the days until I read a couple of IM race reports!

Go Amy and Billy!!!!!

Pete...I am signing up for Lobsterman today!!!!

Gary, CONGRATS on your swim

GOOOOO Billy & Amy!!! 

Ok so I walk into school yesterday and there were all kinds of signs made by kids hanging outside my classroom door.  Inside was a big sign from my own class.   The whole school meets in the gym Thursday mornings....so....yes they call me up...the whole school wishes me luck.  They give me a big basket full of goodies, pasta, cliff bars, gels, cookies, gatorade, mountain dew, excedrin,etc..., and a gift card!  WOW!  Then to top it off the newspaper comes to interview me and take my picture.  So...the pressure is on!!!  LOL  The kids were all very excited and gave me great comments all day long!  I have the whole school backing me!  Next Thursday we will meet in the gym again and I will get to tell them about the race no matter what the results are.   I'm ready!

Wow...reading all your posts everyone is rocking it!   

How fabulous Amy!!! Keep those memories with you on race day!!!! Good Luck, have fun!!!

Gary, that is fantastic about your swim!! So, help me out here... how did you get that much faster? I really need to figure it out!

Amy, I'm sitting here, crying. How incredible that your school did that for you! I'm so happy for you! what a special day!!!!! I know it'll carry you through the pain! WOW.

Amy - Wow!!! That is amazing!  You haven't finished the race yet but you have already scored a victory!  You are their role model! 

Lena - I will try to explain, not sure I can but will try:  There were three major items that when they came together it made swimming so much easier for me.  I swam another 900yrds today and when I was finished I was not out of breath and could easily had done another 900.  So here goes:

1.  Hand entry - at the last swim lesson the pool put on the guy working with me told me that my hand was not in the right position for a proper catch for the pull.  While my hand was pushing me forward thru the water it was only catching a fraction of what it could do.  So his first item was to have me over exaggerate my hand entry by rotating my wrist inwards.  When swimming my wrists and arms were too open and by exaggerating the movement inward (until I could get it down right) it made catching the water on the pull easier.

2.  Snaking my arm behind my hand into the water.  This one came from my swim coach.  She said I was extending too far before putting my arm into the water.  Consequently instead of my arm snaking into the water behind my hand it was landing splat onto the water (somewhat).  Spearing the water (once again an exaggeration) helped me with this.  Combined with #1 my catch improved tremendously.

3.  Breathing - For a long while my first 50-100 was always good, I felt like I was gliding thru the water.  I was also fastest my first 50-100.  After examining this I realized it always happened when my breathing was relaxed.  If I stopped for a couple of minutes then my speed and relaxation came back for another 50-100.  So I slowed down my stroke some and remembered what Bryan had said about breath "the air is there" and worked on relaxing.  I forced myself to stay with the Bi-lat and what I found was that it worked fine.  Occasionally I would take a breath every other but then forced myself back.  I remained relaxed, my form stayed together and now 900 yards is just time on task.  Obviously I want to get as fast as I can but for now 2:15/100m is a good start for me.

Now the test is to see if I can replicate this in a OWS race.

Here is the tracking information for the big race day! Soon I'll no longer be an Aluminumman but an Ironman instead.  Just follow the steps below and hopefully there isn't a problem with the software.

1. Go to trackmyathlete.com.
2. Click on the gear saying "track athlete" at the top right center of the page after it loads the page fully.
3. Scroll down the page to the Ironman Louisville participants and choose McWilliams, Billy.
4. Click the name and it should take you were you need to go to follow my progress.

Total funds raised for the Belize Vo-Tech were $6500.  The outpouring of support over the past few months has been a blessing to the school, my family, and me. 

Just checking in.  Its almost 7 am CST and it looks like the pro's are finishing.  Myathlete.com shows Billy still in the start area.

8:12 CST, Billy is on the bike!

Watching coverage on Ironman.com... SO exciting!

Billy was 1:31 swim, Amy 1:52. Can't tell how much bike Amy has covered so far, Billy is on mile 18... GO GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are doing so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are all rooting for you!!!!!!
(yes, I know they won't read it until after, but I'm sending cyber good-bike-vibes!)

Billy averaged 19.03 pace on the first 23 miles! wow, nicely done, Billy! Keep going strong!

Amy's first 23 miles were at 14.49 pace... GO AMY!!!!!!!!!!! Keep it up!

Billy has passed the 40 mile mark (tracker says he is at the 60 mile mark), Amy should be there shortly.  Go Billy and Amy!

Edited by GaryRM 2010-08-29 11:39 AM

Billy is past the 70 mile marker...smoking at 17+mph...Go Billy


GO AMY!!!!!!!!

I'm watching this thing live. I just can't believe Paul Ambrose.. running like a machine!

Billy has covered 92 miles, according to the tracker. KEEP STONG, MAN!!!

Amy, keep going keep going keep going!!!!!!!!!!!! We are sending you both COOL vibes!!

poor Billy and Amy are doing this in 90+ degree weather and 95% humidity. I can't imagine how fun their run will be. What an accomplishment!

KEEP IT UP, GUYS!

This morning, I didn't want to get up when the alarm rang... it was so windy yesterday, I didn't want to go out... then I remembered my friends Billy & Amy were doing a FULL Ironman today, and got myself up and to my ride - GLAD I DID... it was BEAUTIFUL out!!! did 44+ miles and could have done more

Thanks for inspiring me today Billy & Amy... It's exciting to get back from my ride and have updates on your progress waiting for me... sounds like it's going well so far... keep up the GREAT work!!!