Gat's Mentor Group - Closed (Page 16)

Congrats and nicely done!! 

Sure, here are some thoughts. 

1. Have fun! 
2. Know the course.  Find the course maps and review them.  Know where there might be a sharp turn, a hill, a decline, etc.  This will help you to be prepared for things on race day.
3. Know the T1 and T2 areas well.  You want to be able to exit the water, find your transition area quickly, take care of business and know exactly where to exit with the bike.  Same for the run.  I have seen people use balloons or bright towels or mats or anything that will set apart your area from all of the others.  It can be confusing depending on the size of the area.
4. Have fun! 
5. Practice your transitions prior to showing up.  I do not go as far as suiting up, some do, but I like to touch everything and play it out in my mind (visualize it).  This will also help you realize if you are missing or overlooking something. 
6. If you are wearing a wetsuit, make sure to use something to prevent friction....say body glide.  I also like to use Pam (yes, the cooking spray) on my legs to help the suit slide off quickly.  I did not come up with this trick.  Lots of folks use it.  If the even has wetsuit strippers, use them.  It is quicker than what you would likely do.
7. Make sure to bring a towel.  Bike socks do not easily slide on over wet feet.  I like to roll my socks up so that I can roll them on.  It is easier then trying to pull them on. 
8. Change as little as possible.  Wear something that you can swim, bike and run in.  Unless your feet get wet, I would not look to change much at all.
9. Did I mention have fun!  At the end of the day, you are going to be a triathlete.  Enjoy the day.  The rest is all just details.

We cannot wait to hear all about it.  Best of luck!!

I'm always lightest in the a.m.  So, that's what I stick to

Yes, I think that it is safe to say that you do not need to be able to run 13.1 miles to be able to complete a half mary.  Many marathon training plans have 20 miles as the longest run (not 26.2).  It all comes down to confidence.  If you run 13 miles in training, you know that you can do it in a race.   

My race was quite interesting.  Overall, I consider it a success.  I will have further detail up on my blog shortly.  I hope all is well. 

Our very own IRONMAN!!!  If all of the mentees on the sight were so lucky?!?!?

Hello again,

I am assuming that the first reporting period is 7/14 (monday) - 7/20 (sunday).  If this is not correct, someone please set me straight.  Here are my numbers.

Swim:  6,724 yards

Bike:  145 miles

Run:  34.2 miles

Weights/Core:  15 minute (I am not sure if this was part of the challenge)

Weight Change:  None (said with a sigh).  I plan to work on this though.

Inspires: Plenty, but based on the 3, 2, 1 system with 3 being the best I will take the 3.

I look forward to the updated spreadsheet.  Let me know if I am missing anything.

Jana-

 I noticed you mentioned having trouble knowing when to shift on your bike in you race report.  I'm pretty new to the bike as well (although I've come to love the speed of it!), and I learned the most by doing group rides and watching what the more experienced riders would do.  I have some friends that drop gears right before a climb and up cadence to over 100 so the fall back to a cadence of 90 once the start climbing.  Other's just switch gears as they climb.

The quick and easy way is to have a cadence sensor and keep you cadence >90 at the effort you want.  If you are going at a tempo effort and you find 90 rpm too hard, drop a gear until you can hold 90 at your tempo HR.  I hope this helps.

Alright folks here is the spreadsheet as updated as I can get it.

Muscle Momma yours is inaccurate as I need your goals in distances since you have decided to track it that way.

  If you forgot to report your weight I went into your log and tried to figure it out and if you did not fill an "inspires" score I gave you a 2 for average.

Carla "whupped" us with 50% of her bike and 40% of her weight goals already completed after just one week.  GREAT JOB!!

On a negative note....you guys are going to KICK MY BUTT this week.  I, out of the blue, became a (temporary) single dad of three for the rest of the week and I have not been able to get in any training this entire week so far.  I am hoping to get in a few hours this afternoon, if I can skip out of work early.  The prospects for the weekend are VERY bleek though.

Good Monday morning peeps.  I am so glad the weekend is over...it was aweful! 

My totals for last week:  swim 1200 yd  ~  bike 11.25 mi  ~  run 4.4 mi

I guess I'm about average on the inspires.

Weight...the dang SAME!  Guess that's better than being higher?!?!

John,

Not setting any records this week.  This week was all about recovery, although I did sneak in a sprint tri on Sunday.  Here goes for 7/21 - 7/27.

Bike:  22 Miles

Swim:  1,650 yards

Run:  8.2 miles

Weight:  Down .8 (hmmmm....less training and weight loss, how does that happen)

Inspired:  I will take a 2.

So I made it.. It was an awesome feeling crossing the finish line.  Time wasn't great (3:30:06) but considering I only began training a few months ago.. I'm very happy..

 I had a minor setback in the water.  I started panicing about 10% in due to the really murky water and the commotion.  But i did some backstroke and was able to calm down. I swam more breaststroke so i could see but otherwise the rest went pretty good!!

Trying to find my next tri!!

Here is my week... not as good as I had hoped...

Weight - 228

Swim - 7900 yds / 2:38

Bike - 82.3 miles / 4:16

Run - 12.23 / 1:58

Inspires... I deserve another 0!!! 

Oh by the way...I am back!!! 

 The wife is back to help with the three little ones, I got a new computer and I plan on getting some training in today. (Although the three of them wore me out the last week)

I have everybody's numbers for the challenge week 2 (July 21-27) except ctnord and musclemomma.  I will wait another day before sending the spreadsheet out updated.