Matt Gilmartin's 2nd Quarter Group- back in the pool! FULL HOUSE (Page 15)

If you guys want to see a great race report, check this one out:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=449974&posts=4#M4304459

Julia (juliapurr) is from Denver. She and Richard (Dick Dime) Para (dickdime) were almost killed back in 2009 when they were training for the 70.3 World Championships.  They were on their bikes outside Chatfield Res south of Denver and got t-boned by a woman driving.  Richard nearly died and has permanent brain damage.  Julia didn't get it quite as bad as Richard, but she was in bad shape.  This was her first race back, and she took 26th overall.  She's an amazing athlete and a very inspirational person.

Last link I'll post today (I promise!):

JEN CONGRATS ON THE RACE! Now we can wear our shirts that say "triathlon is a mother".   lololololol Sounds like you had a great time, made great time, and all the training paid off!!!

My training is down the tube the last 3 weeks.   Both tri races I wanted to do are out of the question for me now, I am soooo bummed.  BUT I am doing the obstacle course 5k mud run, and I (hesitantly) do plan on doing the HM in October.  (I do like to run, I do like to run, I do like to run-repeat).   So I won't gripe.   I don't know about anyone else, but I couldn't train outside in 100+degree weather anyway.

Quick question about GPS/Garmins, etc--do all the monitors that keep heart rate require that chest strap? 

Thanks all, STAY MOTIVATED (unlike me in the last 3 weeks)  

Hey folks miss hearing from all of you. I am trying to decide on my next race and get my training in gear. Looking forward to a vacation in Northern California in a couple of weeks and being able to run in some cooler weather.

Bryan

I've heard the Escape From Alcatraz is fun. </sarcasm>

I'd look into some fall running races now- tri season tends to wind down in August.

I'm finally getting to do races and you're right, the season is ending. There's a couple here in Sept. but after that it's all over. Have a great vacation Bryan and enjoy that cooler weather! 

I went mountain biking today for the first time and it was a lot of fun. All uphill then all downhill which is a change from rolling hills. My legs will be hurting tomorrow! And my hands from breaking so hard all the way down the hills, and they weren't that big or technical either. I told my husband to pick something easy, but his easy isn't my easy! He kept his word and didn't laugh or roll his eyes too much. It was a great challenge though and a nice change of scenery. 

I signed up for my next triathlon, the Asheville Tri on the 22nd. It's a 6:45 a.m. start!! We'll see how that goes. Then I'll try my first lake swim tri on Aug. 5. I might be a little hooked now

Anyone else excited to watch the Olympic tri events? Happy training!

Wow Mariah- you've got a lot on your plate.  Just take it a day at a time and things will fall into place.  Try getting training sessions in- you know how well they take the stress out of your life!  We're here for ya

Matt

Need advice!   I'm going to need a watch with GPS and heart rate monitor.  I did some research on them a few months ago and got very frustrated and gave it up.  I initially wanted something simple, tracking distance and heart rate.  There is so much stuff out there it's making me nuts.  What else should I consider and where should I shop to get it cheap? 

Try http://www.dcrainmaker.com/ website for reviews of products. He can help you decide between products. I have not found any real deals yet on GPS HR watches.

Hope this helps,

Bryan

I have a Garmin 110. It does what I want it to do, except for the occasional shutting down. I haven't had that problem since but when it happened in the middle of the marathon it was rather frustrating.

When I was at the Expo in Seattle, they had a new watch out - Motorola Activ or something like that. It has a GPS, etc. but also has 8MB of storage for songs. It's blue tooth compatible too. Anyway, it looked pretty neat but was $249. Earlier this week I got an email that they are on sale until August 31 for $199. I don't know anything about them but they looked pretty cool. Even though I rarely run with tunes and when I do its with my iPod Shuffle which weighs next to nothing, I still like this watch.

I got my wife the Garmin 210 for her birthday. Since she is having knee surgery at the end of August I have a feeling I will "inherit" it. I got it for her because she could use the foot pod since she liked to bike/run indoors. She won't be doing anything for almost 6 months except PT.

Good luck with your search. I used a Timex for a long time and once I got home, make a protein shake and go drive the route I ran to figure out my distance. It worked and the Timex was quite a bit cheaper than the Garmin. Probably more reliable too since its never quit and I don't have to charge it.

My $.02

ETA: I got the Garmin for the heart rate feature and I do like it. That has really helped me understand my runs better and be more accurate than my RPE without it. It also lets me know that yes I am working as I should be or that I'm sluffing. If it wasn't for the heart rate though I'd probably stick with a Timex. I also tend to run the same country roads and each intersection is a mile apart, so that helps me know my distances.

Hey All, sorry I've been MIA again.  Training for the Rock N' Roll Chicago Half left me toast.  Here's the UGLY result from this morning.  The positives: I went injury-free, I stayed cool, and I had fun.  

START	00:00:00	6:45:07 am	--
5K	00:33:52	7:18:58 am	10:54
10K	01:09:15	7:54:21 am	11:24
10M	01:54:53	8:39:59 am	12:04
FINISH	02:33:48	9:18:54 am	12:31
Avg. Pace	11:44

This was my slowest 13.1 by at least 15 minutes, but I was OK with it.  The heat and humidity were brutal.

Here's my race report, as promised.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=452050&posts=1&start=1

April, I second Bryan's suggestion about DCRainmaker.com.  That guy is awesome.

I had a Garmin 305 for years, it was a phenomenal product.  The only drawback is that it didn't do water, so it was useless for swimming.  The 310XT is waterproof, but both models will cost you near $400.

The Timex Ironman GPS is pretty good for the $.  The guy I sold my Garmin to said he had the Ironman GPS and it was a POS, but I think that's unusual.  It definitely takes longer to lock in a signal, and the downloading of data isn't as intuitive as the Garmin, but for the price it's great.

Check the Equipment forum on BT- lots of opinionated people around here

Speaking of equipment...I was asking if anyone had heard of a "wetronome".  This was a product from the Australian Swim Smooth group and now has become a Finis product.  It is the Finis Temp Trainer Pro.  I have ordered one and when it comes, I'll post a report.

Good job Matt!  Good luck racers this weekend!

Here's a blast from the past.  I'm still alive...and still training!

I've been very busy the last month to a month and a half.  I've been keeping up with my training well, but haven't been on here in what seems like forever.  Even though I haven't been logging it on here, I have been running 2-3 times a week, swimming 3x a week, and cycling whenever I can.  My wife and I have started our training schedule for the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. I also bought a trainer on Craigslist, so the cycling miles have increased now that I can jump on for 30-40 minutes in the morning or at night (traffic in my area is very dangerous, 2 bicycle fatalities in 3 years) and not have to rely on going on trails or driving to safe roads on the weekend.  My wife and I invested in clipless pedals and shoes for my wife's birthday.  Our LBS was having a big TDF sale and we got 2 set of pedals and my Bontrager shoes 25% off and her Mavic shoes 50% off.

BUT the BIG NEWS is that I swam my very first 400 m set on Friday! I didn't want to put pressure on myself, so I didn't time it exactly but I do know it was under 8 minutes.  I actually feel like I could finish a sprint tri now, which is huge because in March I could barely complete 50 m.

Now I'm looking to sign up for tri's in my area and KNOW I can complete them, it's a scary but exciting feeling.