Birkierunner's (Jim Kelley) General + Long Course Group (OPEN) (Page 15)

Good weekend here.

Sat was my normal brick workout. First, a nice 55 mile, 3 hour ride on my road bike with a good size group. Had a few decent climbs and some nice sprints. Then an easy 3 mile run.
Sun was interval sprints at the track. With the warm up and and then cool down it worked out to 6 miles for about an hour. Good way to end the weekend last night before sunset. Heading to the pool at lunch.

Have a really "fun" ride this coming Sunday, L'Etape Du California. It's on the same course they will be using for Stage 8 of the Tour de California. Four loops, 80 miles and 8800 feet of climbing. Wish me luck. I may bail after 2 or 3 loops. No use trying to kill myself and mess up training.

Wow, what an adventure!

Full race report here: http://sleeps9.blogspot.com/

Went for a 3 hour run outside this morning - no hat or gloves. First marathon of the year coming up in one month. Love this time of year before the black flies hatch and start chasing you (but maybe that makes me go faster?)

- Todd

yes! i am so ready for good weather. high 30s and rain for my marathon last month and i am over it.

So my A race this year will probably be ITU long course worlds in China (assuming I can figure out budget and vacation)… and a friend of mine mapped the bike course on Ride with GPS ( http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4364867). I'm a little intimidated - it looks like 7000 ft of climbing in 70ish miles, which I can handle, but with a max grade of 25.5%, which I'm not sure I can. Does anyone know how accurate Ride with GPS is or know something better? Any training tips when I can't find anything above 15% around me?

Hi, I know it's pretty late in the game, but if your group is still open, I'd love to join. I haven't joined a group yet because I was part of a group a few years back before doing my first tri and thought these were limited to strictly beginners but as I've read through the forums, it seems like many folks are a bit more seasoned! Here's my introduction:

NAME: username: tiffanyosh, First name: Tiffany

STORY: I''m a professor and psychologist from California who was very averse to all forms of sports and exercise before graduate school and then caught the running bug. I was an avid (not to be confused with rapid) runner during graduate school starting with some 5 & 10Ks and quickly moving to half marathons which I loved. I've averaged two half marathons a year for the last 7 years or so and it's been nice but I got a little bored and didn't want to commit the time to training for full marathon so decided to try my first tri. I did a sprint tri in the summer of 2011. I absolutely loved it, and loved my mentor group but started working at a new university that had me working about 60+ hours a week and I moved away from my local pool and training outside of running all but disappeared. I've been wanting to get back into triathlons since then but have had difficulty with access to pools and illness/injury. I've finally gotten the pool situation sorted and I've registered for a tri this summer, but it's quite a bit longer than that sprint I did before. I'd love to have a place to check in, ask questions, and keep track of progress.

FAMILY STATUS: I'm married to an awesome guy who does not swim, distance run, or have much time for biking and maybe thinks I'm a touch crazy for wanting to do a HIM.

CURRENT TRAINING: I did a half-marathon in November and spent December - March trying to build a solid base. I've been plagued with several colds/flus/and sinus infections but I'm hoping to stay healthy now. I've had some consistent months and some mostly bed ridden months, but in general I feel like I have a solid swim/bike/run base to start my 16 week HIM training program.

KEY 2013 Races: Clarksburg Country Run 1/2 Marathon Time 2:10 - 10minutes slower than previous year.

KEY 2014 RACES: Barb's Race 70.3 Tri in July - Clarksburg Country Run (1/2 Marathon or 20 miler) in November

WEIGHTLOSS: I try not to focus on weightloss. My BMI is in the normal range and that's all that matters to me there, but I would like to work on having better nutrition. I'm a sucker for awful food and beer, particularly on Sundays when I'm hanging out in the park with my drinking er softball team. I know if I want to be healthy and successful in my HIM I'm going to have to be more consistent with the basics like eating vegetables and drinking water -- which can be surprisingly challenging for me despite being a vegetarian.

WHY I'M A GOOD MENTEE: I really love the process of training for and completing a triathlon and I'm good at helping encourage others through the process. I have a good sense of the basics of triathlon at least at the sprint level, but I'm sure I'll have some questions about applying all of that to the 70.3 distance. Also, I like to have fun and it seems like this group does too!

no, but I might be able to get access to one. someone else is trying to see if they can find a Computrainer program for it, but I haven't heard yet.

Welcome, Tiffany! Mu husband thinks I'm a touch crazy too.

Awesome! Thanks for having me!

Really great race report, sounds brutal but amazing! I want to be relaxing in Cabo right now!

Should be 70 here tomorrow. Will hopefully get in a 30 to 50 mile bike ride and I'm doing the Rutgers Half Marathon on Sunday.

Got a 2.5hr bike ride and 15 minute brick on saturday and a nice hour run planned for Sunday. Hoping it stays in the 70's and rain free

Had a nice moderate swim and 4mi run today, planning to get in a 20-25mile ride tomorrow and a mid-length swim with a 6mi run on Sunday. So glad spring is starting to show up for those of you who have been coping with polar vortexes (vortices?) -- you all have certainly earned some nice weather!

Just found out my gym is closed the following Sunday for Easter and my first thought was - wait, you can't close, my training plan says I have to swim that day! I'm thinking my training might be making me a bit rigid! Hopefully next weekend will have nice weather and I can get in an OWS instead

Good luck on the Rutgers Half!

Hey all. Rode for 3hrs this morning, though indoors. Movie selection was the Three Musketeers, the 1973 version with Micheal York, Charleston Heston, Raquel Welch, etc. Good actors and all, but to be honest, this version was a bit boring - though every time Michael York spoke I kept thinking about his more recent roles in Austin Powers. The other movie was Men in Black 3 - good film, enjoyable for indoor biking.

Hoping to get a good run and/or ride in tomorrow. My legs are pretty tired right now - ran 13 miles in the past two days and rode for 3hrs this am - so we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

It's great weather here in the NY metro area - yay, spring has finally(!) arrived.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

hooray for spring! gorgeous 50 mile ride in the mountains today, 7-8 mile trail run planned for tomorrow. i've been out of the pool since my marathon because of scraped up knees from a badly timed fall… hoping to get back on monday.

tiffany - i had the same thought! memorial day, 4th of july and labor day are a pain too. the key is remembering in time to rearrange my schedule for the week

Did a 2.5 hour trainer ride Saturday morning (watched the special features - commentary etc on the final season of Breaking Bad) and a 22 mile run this morning in preparation for the Wisconsin marathon in 3 weeks. I'll start tapering down the run next weekend, but will likely add a bit to the bike. I've kind of let my swimming stall a bit. It is the hardest thing for me to get up in the morning for even though after I'm in the water for 10 minutes its all good. Just hard to get started for swimming for some reason. Hope everyone had a great weekend and got in what they wanted to!
-Todd

Rest day today!!

Had another great weekend here in Bmore with beautiful weather. Got in a nice hour run on Friday afternoon, 2:15:00 on the bike on saturday (had to do it indoors due to a wedding that afternoon) but got to catch up on some of my shows and then an awesome hour run sunday on the trail. I got so lost in the nice weather on sunday I went much faster then I wanted too but when I was done, it was nice to know I can go that fast for an hour