Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete Mentor Group (Page 15)

Completed my first race of the year this weekend. Good race for me ... had a ball, didn't get hurt and finished faster than last year. Still ... I was waaay back in the pack:

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=546318&posts=1&page=1

I continue to be amazed at the quality of athletes in my age group ... both men and women. That's what I love about this sport. 

Ciaoo ... Dorm

Nicely done Dorm.  A good start to the new season.  Congestion can be annoying but it's a good thing not to let it bother you too much.

Thanks George ... David.  This is a super fun, well run event that I've done the last 6 out of 7 years.  On the congestion thing, I was annoyed for all of 15 seconds. 

Temps were in the lo-40's when we got on the bike, but it was sunny and perfect temp by time to start the run.

Ciao ... Dorm

Good job Dorm!

Read the race report - was the congestion at T2 actually on the race course?  It sounds like it was people and cars not other athletes.  What's up with that?

Thanks Scott - it was a very fun day.  I think the best part of the day is the time spent standing in line and waiting your turn to jump in the pool.  Meeting new people, listening and telling stories, encouraging ones doing the race for the first time, is such fun.

The congestion was a driver, gawking and driving slow, who stopped at a crosswalk near the bike finish.  The event is held on the UNCW college campus, and there is a lot of pedestrian traffic.  I believe he stopped, thinking the people standing along the street wanted to cross the street.  Normally this would be fine, but his stopping actually encouraged people cross the race lane.  It seemed a freak thing that occurred in a matter of 10 seconds, but the image of people crossing in front of me flashed through my head.  And I was glad nothing significant happened!  I sent a note to the RD, suggesting they look at the risk there prior to the next race there.

Ciao ... Dorm

Dorm - congrats on your race!  Sounds like a fun time.

Need an opinion or two.  There is a semi-local race here (about 1-1/2 hr drive) in the fall that is pretty popular with members of my tri club.  In the past it has been a sprint and olympic distance race.  This year they have added a 70.3 distance.  Lake swim, flat bike and rolling hills for the run - exactly what I like in a race.  And the best part is that with my club discount and early bird pricing, it would cost less than $150.  I really want to sign up but I'm already registered for a half marathon the following weekend.  The half marathon was always meant to be just a fun race (it's a nighttime race, starts at 7:30pm) but I'm just not sure about running it 6 days after a 70.3.  Is that enough time to recover, especially if I want to do more than just finish the 70.3 (not that I'd be competitive, but I would like to improve my time from Ohio last year)?

Janet

Kelly - Sorry to hear you're fighting a cold as well.  There seems to be a lot of people fighting it here as well.  Just take it easy - don't hurry to get back to working out.

Interesting about your Lasik surgery.  Good to hear you're healing quickly and with good results.  

Hey Janet,

I don't think there would be a problem with a HM a week after a HIM if you approach it properly.  You will likely be doing essentially just that in training - the difference being you aren't going race pace in training.  The key would be how you approach the week between the two races.  If it were me, Monday would be an easy 20-30 minute walk just to get the blood circulating.  Tuesday would be an easy recovery ride and maybe a swim.  Wednesday would be a relatively short EASY jog.  Thursday I'd do a 2-4 mile Z2 run and maybe another easy ride.  The week would be all about recovery.  You'll already have "the hay in the barn" so I wouldn't worry about trying to improve fitness - my ONLY concern would be expediting my recovery from the HIM.  That would include attention to proper nutrition to help aide recovery.

The HM starts at 7:30pm?  That would be a problem for me!  I'm an old man and turn into a pumpkin at 9:00 - I'd fall asleep on the course!  

I swam today and had a fair time getting back into it and then this afternoon I had an indoor cycling session.  So tonight was our 20 min TT night.  I figured I'm still recuperating and worked hard earlier in the day swimming a series of sprints so I'm not likely going to achieve anything remarkable.  So, I just settled in to the time trial and got my pace up to a mid Zone 4 effort that I felt I could maintain and focused on a spot on the floor and just kept going.  I even found myself drifting up into Zone 5 in the last few minutes.  In the end it was my fastest time trial I've ever done.  So, I chalked up a new personal best.  Later, I realized I now have to beat this pace but that won't be until next winter.

Hey George,

Now you have the template for success - get sick, take a couple days off, set a new PR!

In all seriousness though, having been under the weather for a couple days may well have contributed to the good ride.  You had the fitness in the bank and being under the weather a couple days served as a kind of forced taper so your body had shed any fatigue.  Also, you had no expectations.  You just got on the bike and rode.  Sometimes, we can get in our own way - I know I can - and we mentally "talk ourselves" out of a good effort without even realizing we are doing it.

You realized the simple truth in cycling - it never will get easier, you just get faster.

Good job!

Does anyone else get wrapped up in March Madness?  I filled out my bracket, then I filled out my "just in case" bracket.  I'm picking Duke to win it all, and have UCLA in my "just in case, I wish" bracket.

I started filling out a bracket a few years ago when our son kind of forced the issue.  I found it made the tournament much more enjoyable.  My wife hates it because now there is an endless stream of basketball on TV during March!  I just smile and say that's why we have more than one TV.

So what say you?  Who's your pick?

If you're really into it, there is an informal BT group where you can join and have a little fun watching your bracket against other BT'ers.  Last year there were several of us.  I discovered I know NOTHING about basketball!

http://games.espn.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/2017/en/

Group name is HTFU

George fantastic!  It's always nice to see improvement and good results from hard work. Of course you now realize the 'good news-bad news' in this is future WO's are based off the higher results   suffering on top of suffering!

Scott ... being as you mentioned "it never gets easier - you just get faster" ... put another way per Greg Henderson "“Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don’t stop when you’re tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired.”  

I believe these fall under "Rule 10" for cycling rules.  Rules??  Oh yes there are rules: http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

Ciao ... Dorm

Yes, that paraphrased quote originated with Greg Henderson.  If memory serves, the first time I read that was in those very rules you posted the link too.  I think at this point, nearly everyone who has every mounted a bike with the intention of getting faster has heard that statement.  

Greg's words are as true today as they were the day he thought them up!

Thanks Scott.  I'll have to practice having no expectations for future time trials.  I think perhaps I do get in my own way at times with my expectations.

Dorm - it was good to review the Rules.  I was surprised by how many I have broken.  It reminded me I like to review my favourite swim video on Youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk ).  I love it and watch it at least a couple times a year.  I made a mistake and showed it to my wife and now she wants to follow me in her kayak when I swim in Okanagan Lake.

That is funny George!  I'm thinking open water swims can be like that.  I do like to review the cycling rules occasionally for a good laugh.  While looking yesterday, I realized I'd missed the discussion on the art of being "casually deliberate" or Tranquillo (definitely a must read).

This week for me has been: cycling workout on Tuesday and 45' running (Maff pace) - swim and treadmill run yesterday.  Not sure about today ... it could be a rest day or I could get in a run from home - I'll see how the day progresses.  Definitely 2 more cycling workouts though between now and Moanday. 

I'm working to increase the volume of my running.  And for me, there's a Goldilocks balance between going too much and too intense (joint soreness) and too little and too easy (no gains).  My thought is any increase in volume has to benefit regardless of the pace.  But the pace eventually has to increase to get faster.  Scott ... thanks for your advice on this!!

On Saturday, my 310XT went down during the race (water leakage) and so a new 910XT came in yesterday.  It'll be good to fire this up for a run!

Hope all have a good rest of the week.

Ciao ... Dorm

Kelly, glad to hear about the lasik results ... it's something I should consider too.  Sorry to hear about the knee too.  One thing our group has in common is age, and given age we don't heal as swiftly as when we were young.  Make sure to err on the side of caution with the knee; your workload and rest. 

Cycling and running today for me.  Hope all have had a good week!

Ciao ... Dorm

My next Triathlon is an Olympic distance race the first week of June.  I started my 12 week countdown this week and am getting really excited since my last race was last spring and this Olympic race is what I have been focusing on in my training for almost a year.

I also have a running event that I will be doing the middle of May.  The running event it the Cape Cod Ragnar Relay.  It is a 200 something mile road race done with 6 or 12 man relay teams.  You go around the clock for a day and a half leap frogging your runner in a team vehicle to get to the finish line.  Each runner does 3 legs of the race.  On the 6 man teams each legs averages about 20k and for the 12 man teams each leg averages about 10k.

My siblings invited me to do the Ragnar with them in December.  They are coming from three different time zones to do the event.  It will be my one big family get together for the year so it was a no brainier that I was going do the race even though it is 2 weeks before the Triathlon I am training for.  I was planning to just train through the Ragnar but now that it is getting close and I have to actually plan my next 12 weeks up to the Triathlon (well 11 now) and my next 9 weeks to my Ragnar race I am wondering what the best way to do things is.

I think I have a suitable plan doing my last long bike ride the Saturday before Ragnar.  While on Vacation for a week I won't worry too much about training and just enjoy the extra rest as part of my taper.  Then at Ragnar I plan to keep everything under my threshold pace to that I don't trash my legs two weeks before my "A" race.  Then I plan to flow my standard taper for the following two weeks up to race. whihc doen't have any long work outs or super threshold works out for the taper period.  

Any flaws in this plan? Should I adjust anything in the next 2 months to be ready for an "A" race" Triathlon two weeks after a 30K running event?  

Hey Curtis,

You didn't say what distance you are actually doing for the relay - or at least I didn't see it.  Either way, you have been doing sufficient mileage that I wouldn't give a second thought to the relay two-weeks before your race.  Even if you go out and deliver a maximal effort, two weeks is plenty of time to recover from both a 10k and 20k - especially when you consider that maximal effort is going to be high Z2 low Z3 on either of those races (maybe building to Z5 at the end).

If it were me, I would not attempt to taper for the relay.  Two weeks between the races is too long to "hold a peak" and it isn't enough time to taper, train, and re-taper.  Maybe take a light day or two before the relay just to shed a bit of fatigue.

Sounds like fun!  It's always nice to do things with the family.