Totally awesome! 47mph is no joke on a descent, when I get it up that fast I always have to tell myself "it won't hurt any more than 30mph will"

Second is more than bad for your first Oly! Congratulations!

Emily it's a rule you can't complain about the heat and in the same paragraph talk about the ocean!!

I haven't got to see the ocean in two years

Hello

Checking in.  

Left heel still hurting but the stretching seems to help.  I have ordered a night & a day brace to help with the stretching.  If the heel is still hurting next week I will go to the Dr.

I was in Atlanta this weekend visiting with my daughter.  So does going to the Braves game Saturday afternoon, sitting in center field in the sun for the entire game count as training.  It was so hot I limited myself to one  Bud Light Wheat at tailgating.

I will get back on the trainer tonight and back in the pool Tuesday.

Kevin

Nice job on the ride! 55miles in heat is quite the accomplishment! I'm also jealous that you can just go jump in the ocean, since I'm a landlocked girl and all.

And I forgot to throw in a plug here while we're talking gear/clothes. If you are looking for a good performance cycling/run sock, try linsocks.com. They are 6 dollars a pair, 4 for 20 and they do free shipping for orders over 20 dollars. Using "christina" as a coupon code will get you an extra 10% off your order.

Hope everybody is having a good Monday!

Wow, I didn't realize how much ocean envy I'd inspire! Sometimes I forget that not everyone lives on a coast- but know that yesterday I looked around and thought, "I can't believe this is half an hour away from my house." So I DO appreciate it for all you landlubbers.

Separate question: I'm thinking about asking a pro that I know to write a training plan for me from now until my Oly in September. I'm almost done with the BT four-month plan and now need a new one- I'd like one more specifically tailored to me (and not just training volume), so I figured I'd take advantage of her knowledge (and she's offered before). My question is, how much should I expect to pay? I know she'll try to do it for free, but I've already trained with her a couple of times and haven't paid, so I'm going to insist on paying her for the plan. But any idea what coaches usually charge?

Quite jealous of that too Kevin... I used to go watch the Braves play at least 9 or 10 times a year, but haven't got to go in a couple of years! I do bet it was miserably hot though. Keep on RICE'ing the foot.

Wow, great job on race results everybody! Age groups can barely contain this group, it seems.

As for expensive gear, I feel your pain man. I follow the "just deal with it until it becomes an issue" technique - so I'm still swimming and biking in my old rowing spandex, no chamois, no nothing - and it's working so far. As I get small amounts of money here and there I upgrade small pieces (waterbottle holder, just recently got a flat kit, etc), but I keep a close watch on what I spend. Do you use budgeting software, like quicken or mint.com? I love mint for the fact that I can tell you I've spent about $1,943.62(ish) on gear, and $881.98 on races and hotels. Looking at those numbers, it's a lot harder to justify the Cleveland Race I really want to sign up for, even though I'll likely have no hotel fees since it's close to home. However, until I just looked at that right now, it didn't seem like I'd spent that much, since I haven't bought anything in a while, and I saved up for a while to buy my bike (which with cleats, pedals, shoes, etc is about $1,500 of the gear) and my Garmin. So it's good to have that capability (although now I'm second guessing Cleveland, haha).

Speaking of my Garmin, finally got it working again - at the cost of losing all my data from the past month. I logged it all manually, but I did a killer 45 mile ride yesterday I really wanted to see mapped, and a bunch of other things I'll never get to see (like the elevation). In order to get the firmware upgrade to work I had to reset everything. I highly don't recommend buying one, since it's obviously still very glitchy. That's in spite of the fact that's its amazing during exercise - its just way too unfinished of a product in front of the computer to legitimately spend $400 on it.

Also, Emily, most plans I've seen online run from say $70-$130, with most being somewhere around $100 or slightly higher. For a custom plan, I have no idea, but I'd assume more. Have you tried googling it to find some comparable fees?




Edited by drphungky 2010-06-28 1:57 PM

Emily... coaching is just extremely dependent on just how much "interaction" you want/expect.

Just wanting a plan? A couple of hundred dollars (or less) even for a fairly specific one, is about right.

Now wanting hands on training... that's when you start talking serious $

Another thing to keep in mind is, a lot of the best athletes are terrible coaches. (and Vice Versa)

Which Garmin do you have?  And if you want to see elevation, you can always map your ride on mapmyrun.com (there are others too), but sadly you won't get to match it to your hr or speed data. 

Yea... sort of the whole point of getting it was that I wouldn't have to keep manually mapping my rides. Plus, in order to get a good elevation read, you have to use a whole bunch of plot points, or you can miss small hills, so mapping a 45 mile loops (not an out and back even) would be pretty tedious.

I have the Forerunner 310XT. Unfortunately, it's the best thing available - because it's the only thing available until Timex puts out their new GPS HR monitor. The online site kinda sucks - there's no community like on here, which they should absolutely have since they've already got people using the site to log their data. There's no way to have a wired upload to your computer, you have to use their USB stick and hope your computer can work the drivers - so for my old laptop, I can't even get it to link up - I have to use my girlfriend's comp. Plus, the out of the box instructions are virtually non-existent, and didn't help me get the latest firmware right away. On top of that, the forums are poorly organized on their site, so finding an answer to your problem is very difficult, and frequently the answer is losing everything or sending it away to Garmin - and still possibly losing everything. Just very very disappointed with everything about the product except the product itself. The product itself though, should not cost $400. The online software is limited as to the anallysis you can do, glitchy as all get out, small site, and the product is essntially still in development. With everything I've heard about the 405 (glitchy touch screen when it gets wet - so God forbid you sweat while exercising) it seems like Garmin doesn't put a lot of thought into their devices. I have very little faith they'll stay competitive once an alternative comes around.

That is a bummer! Hopefully you can get it fixed! I thought you meant it just messed up one ride, but gosh they should help you get that fixed!!  No point in having sweet technology if it doesn't work.  I know I love my Garmin, and hopefully you can eventually have the same experience as me!!

It appears to be working now, so assuming there are no glitches in this latest firmware upgrade (quite the big assumption) I should be fine. Maybe they'll have all the glitches worked out by the time prices come down on power meters/I have money burning a hole in my pocket.

Great job on the races and long rides everyone!!

As for the gear question. Psst, you don't need every new thing everyone else has. I used to race mountain bikes and had a friend that had enough cash for a nice bike and entry fees. He used to race in a pair of cheap bike shorts and a cut-off flannel shirt and black socks. People used to laugh at him behind his back and sometimes in front of him until the end of the race when he was on the podium and they (in their entire Trek attire) were making excuses.

Find something comfortable and wash the snot out of it, then replace with something nicer next time when it wears out. Sometimes people get too wrapped up in what others expect them to look like and feel the need to conform and forget its about getting better within yourself not looking like a corporate logo.

Hey all, checking in.  Sorry to be MIA, however, Mom came out to visit, started my swimming, which wrecked my bad shoulder (I think I need swim lessons?) and then I went up to Channel Islands (which gave me an awesome opportunity to test out my legs in the ocean, but again aggravated my shoulder.  I'm not sure if there is a particular stroke you all stick with in swimming, but maybe mine should be the dog paddle

Biking and running are on par for August tri.  I've also been interval training and doing some plyo work.

Hope all is well with everyone lately.  The weather has been gorgeous here in SoCal, perfect for training, which is why I haven't been online hardly at all!  HUGS to each of you!

Jess

Thx for all the tips guys, guess im going to start living like i do when i backpack. Shower with everything on and hang it out to dry
i keep my eye on the classifieds but im a big guy so not a whole lot of stuff out there for my used. 
im just a guy...i hate doing laundry

so any of you ever do any Tri's in the So. Cal area?

Race Report from Sunday is up. Learn from my mistakes.

Amen.

Jess, how far out is your arm when you start your pull? A lot of times the shoulder starts hurting when you pull "underneath" your body... a bit hard to describe but the best way to get a feel for where your pull should be in relation to your body is to go to the edge of the pool, put your hands flat on the ground and push yourself up (like you are getting out of the pool)

Find where it's easiest for you to get up... same place your arm should be coming back in the pool.
(Also... try to push yourself up with your hands almost touching...very hard)

Enjoy the weather!

As a big guy myself I know what you are talking about. But when you do find some stuff its usually in great shape because it wasn't used but a time or two then put away for another day that never arrived.

Check Dick's sporting goods store (if you have them in your area) they always have a 1/2 off rack or closeout rack that has great clothes for super cheap.

Have fun!!

So my friend wrote me up a training plan and it's SO much more detailed than I expected! I'm really excited about it- it'll be a relief to just have someone else tell me what to do instead of worrying if I'm doing it wrong. And she gave me a break- just $100/month. Only minor problem is that she's having me use the website TrainingPeaks to see and input my workouts. And I'm lazy and don't want to enter them on two different websites.

The good thing is that Trainingpeaks has an excellent interface too! Sounds like a great deal... I always feel better with a plan (I go so far as to say I HAVE to have mine printed off and in front of me daily as well) it always keeps me honest!


Training has been going great, just checked the mail and got a pair of Zoot RecoveRX tights! Gonna give them a try in a bit.

Tour De France starts this weekend!!! Woohoo

For sh*ts and giggles I decided to run a 5k fun run in the am. This should be interesting since I have never run in an actual race before. Come to think about it, before starting this training I have never run before. Well, other than in school sports.

Thats awesome MRoss,

Good luck in your race!!!!

Hello

I am back and had a good swim-ride today.

My heel is better but I think it will take another 2 or 3 weeks before I try running.

The weather here in SC is cooler over the last 3 days so it was very nice outside this morning.

I do have one question.   During my ride I was passed by 4 guys riding together. I heard them talking behind me but I did not get a  "Passing on the left"  They just shot by me and did not say a word.   Is "Passing on the left" a triathlon thing only?

Everyone enjoy the 4th

Do a random act of kindness to someone on active duty or a veteran.  Say hello, buy them a drink. Just
tell the guys & girls thanks!

Kevin