enginerd's geek heaven - FULL (Page 16)

Congratulations, Mauro! That's a fantastic result! Enjoy a well-deserved rest. Hopefully, you have sometime to explore Spain/ Europe.

Great job on the swim, Synon! Keep it up -- you'll be able to add yardage faster and faster now, I imagine!

Congrats on the 100-mile bike, Bao! Yeah, every time I do a long ride I think, "Great, but how the hell will I run so far after this?!"

Mauro -- nice race. Can't wait to hear more about it.

Yvonne, yay for the longer bike ride and the winds too!

And thanks, all, for the supportive messages. I'm home now after a VERY mentally/emotionally draining trip, but I did have 2 days with my parents to decompress and relax before coming home. I'm glad the kids and I were able to go and see Grandpa, hug him, share some moments, build some memories, and attempt to have some closure.

So I mostly ran while I was in AZ, and boy, was my HR up there!!! At first I thought it was just dehydration/fatigue/heat. Then my f-in-law suggested elevation (1100 feet), although I'm at ~600 feet so I can't imagine 500 feet would make that much difference. I really worked on staying hydrated but the HR was up for every run. Effort did not match higher HR at all, so I didn't sweat it (pun intended -- ha ha). Anyway, it was very interesting to me. Made me wonder what my LT HR would be in AZ vs. here?! Just found it interesting to note. When push comes to shove it's all about RPE anyway, right?

Oh, and I usually weigh myself every day. I'm not trying to lose and am not really obsessed, I just like to keep tabs. I'm always in the same range, although lately it has crept down a few pounds. More than anything, weighing myself daily helps to reign in a potential slow creep of weight gain, like over the holidays and such. Keeps me honest!

First of all, I have to apologize to everyone from being MIA the last couple of weeks. Things were a little hectic. I was busy finishing tasks at work, making travel arrangements, shopping for gifts for the family in the canary islands, and yes, training.. At the same time I would like to thank you all for your great support and encouragement.

And yes, I am now an Ironman!

I will work on putting a race report together. In the mean time I will say that this all has been a great ride I am very happy and thankful to have gotten a chance to experience. Things went very well except for a broken spoke I got a little over half way in the bike course going up a hill to Mirador del Rio. The wheel was bent and rubbing on the brakes. I thought my day might have been over. I flagged down the next motorcycle that came by and asked for a mechanic. Luckily once the mechanic showed up they were able to let me borrow one of their wheels, change it for me, and send me on my way. I lost some time because of all that but at least I was able to keep going. I was happy and lucky to be feeling strong all day and ended up breaking my personal best time on the marathon.

And yes, I am now an Ironman!

Congratulations, Mauro! Totally impressive that you beat your marathon PR!

Great to have you back! I've noticed that warmer weather makes my HR much higher, and the day I ran in the heat after flying my HR went through the roof. We're going to Colorado next week - vacation in Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park  - and I'm expecting the elevation (~7500') to knock the wind out of me. Any tips from anyone on how to make that transition, other than drinking lots and lots of water? I'll mostly just be able to run, but hope to get to the pool at least once.

 

Congrats Mauro! Great job on a tough course.

Awesome job Mauro! Completing an ironman is an amazing feat, very inspiring!

treehugger, not much you can do other than let your body get used to it, your body will take a couple days to adapt (I live at 7000' in Northern Arizona). Sleeping at a lower elevation always helps if you've had trouble at altitude in the past. You will notice a difference and it will be harder to breath, but as an athlete you should be fine and you will feel amazing when you get back to a lower elevation! =)

Depending on what elevation you are coming from, 7500 will likely kick your butt.  When I go from only 4500 feet down to sea level for a couple weeks and come back up it is a full 10 days before my workouts are up to snuff.  You can still workout and such, but you will feal like you are training with a cold with a total endurance drain.  I would not do any high intensity workouts for the first week.  Last summer when I went from 4500 to 7500 I was doing a regular workout with some hills the first day and well, ended up walking back to camp.  I was able to do low intensity, but not the high intensity stuff.  People react differently, so just start out easy and see how it feels. 

Huge congratulations Mauro...not only did you complete an IM, but you did it feeling strong AND you bear your marathon PR!!!  Way to go!!!

I live at ~700', so I'm pretty much counting on that. I'll just take it slow and keep reminding myself how strong I'll feel when I get back to the flatlands!

Awesome Job Mauro!  You are now one of the select few...

Ever since getting my fastest 40 mile ride in (a tad over 2 hours) I've been in a funk.  I haven't been training consistenly, every week for the past month I have something big going on (Camping 2 weeks ago, Graduation/Family visit last week, and on call this week) which disrupts my training.  I seem to have a month like this every few months were I'm so busy I just can't find the motivation to train. 

At least after 8 years of work I finally got my Bachelor's Degree at 37.  Not bad for someone who was orphaned at 17

Seems like if I can't get in training on the weekend my weekday training falls apart; and on call is another issue - no riding for a week, and I have to plan my runs around my wife watching the pager.  Then when I do get paged, it usually rules out whatever training I have for the day.

Anyway that's been my dilemma going on for years, on-call and weekend event totally distracting me from training. 

This may be TMI, but I remember doing runs in Tahoe (7000 feet?) when I lived at sea level in CA, and I'd get tons of gloopy, gloppy thick spit in my mouth/throat. And that burning in the chest. I'd be out of breath just walking up stairs! It feels sooooo depressing! But if you can power through it even at a slow pace you'll get some great training, I'm sure. HAVE FUN!

Me, I'm heading out again tomorrow morning. This time it's without the family for a weekend of pure fun at my 20th college reunion in Ohio. They have built a new pool that is supposed to be amazing. I'm hoping my old coach will give me a challenging, yet doable(!!) workout. (No 20x100 on 1:10 at mile pace for this old lady ever again!) Will also log a run, and if they have some new spinning bikes I'll hafta try those out too, so the weekend won't be a wash as far as training goes. (Gotta burn off those alcohol calories for sure!)

Happy training to all!

Congratulations on the degree! I've worked with students who were earning their degrees while holding down full time jobs and/or raising families, and I have tremendous respect for the discipline and commitment it takes to do it that way. Not bad at all!

As for the training, I'd say don't worry about what happened last month, just focus on what you're doing now and next week and get yourself going again. Do what you can when you can and try to enjoy it!
 

20x100 on 1:10? I'm trying to think, can I even run that fast?

Have a great time at the reunion!
 

Ouche, long bike ride today.  6 hours, 6300 feet of climbing with 2 nasty 10 mile sustained climbs at 5-6 percent grade with a lovely hailstorm as I neared the top of the mountain making the descent kind of fun on the wet pavement.  Oh ya and 20-35 mph winds.  Soo beat.  It is amazing how much those sustained climbs take out of you. 

First OWS today! Man I'm glad I did this before the race, completely different! I had a lot of trouble breathing, the water is pretty cold and I'm not used to putting my face in it. Swam about 200-250m and had one of the kayaks drag me back. I got so used to watching that black line at the bottom of the pool... seeing the sun pierce maybe two or three feet of the water before turning to black was really eiree. Went out way too fast, maybe because of the cold, will have do this more before July and figure out how to relax.

Synon keep it up, it'll get natural eventually. First time OWS and the water was so cold I could not get my face in the water... I was dog paddling and making loud sounds. And it was hard to breathe with the cold water and maybe the wetsuit too. But over time it becomes second nature.

Hang in there.

You swim with a kiyak escort?  I don't think anyone in my county even owns a kiyak.  I hear you on the low clarity water though.  In clear water, even if you can't see the bottom, you have some sense that you aren't going to swim into someone/thing.  But, when water clarity is like 1 foot, it can be unsettling.  I was once swimming like 200 feet from shore in this lake and all of the sudden I was in the slimy branches of a tree growing straight up from the bottom.  Startled the heck out of me. 

Your face should numb out nicely after about 5 minutes.  It is just a matter of putting your face in taking it out for a bit, back in etc. until you are aclimated.  Or just go for it from the start and suck it up (easier said than done).  Anything over 50 F and your wetsuit should be able to keep your core body warm.  Anything below 45 and you may start losing core temp after a mile or so.  Breastroke is not a bad way to go until your face is numbed out.  But ya it takes a concious effort to put your face in and keep it there when the water is really chilly. 

Yeah, I've got several friends and family members with kayak's so finding an escort isn't too difficult. I wouldn't chance swimming across the lake without an escort, this time of year there are a lot of people out with their speed boats and jet ski's. Most aren't paying attention to the water, but I wouldn't expect them to be able to see me even if they were, but the kayaks stand out pretty well. I've already got plans for next weekend to go again with some other friends, being an escort for me is turning out to be a great excuse to get out on the lake and paddle around. =) I think this next time I'm going to have them hit me with the paddles and run over me with the kayaks while I'm swimming to simulate the race.

Boise 70.3 coming up weekend after next.  This will be my 2nd HIM with hopefuly much more favorable conditions and a better time.  The scary thing is that it may be a shorter workout than my usual Saturday workout these days. 

So what else is happening out there.  Folks are being way to quiet!

You are so going to kill that race. You are trained very well. I cannot wait to hear how it goes for you, esp. since my 1st HIM is the next weekend. The temps here have been really warm as of late, so the lake will probably be pleasant!!

It is very quiet out there. What up?

Super-duper hot here in western WA. Longer-ish bike ride on tap for tomorrow (likely 3 hours). Due to travel, I had to miss one long bike ride, so I did one long one in the middle of two weeks. Been able to keep up running and swimming no problem, but did have a run-in with the trail on Monday where I tweaked my ankle and really banged up my knee. On the advice of my nurse mom I'm going to stay out of the lake this week (I had to go to the doc to get the knee cleaned out, as it was deep and I couldn't flush it out on my own), and on the advice of the pain in my ankle I'm not running for another day or two and then will avoid trails until it's feeling better. Glad I did this NOW and not in another week or two...

Ouche!  That sounds like when I crashed and totaled my bike 5 days before my first Sprint tri ever and I was 700 miles from home.  I had them use the crazy glue on my face because you can't swim with stitches.  Why do people think we are wierd again?  Prayers for your knee and ankle.  Ice and compression on that ankle.     

My coach is advising that I pick up the pace on the second half of the bike in the HIM and then take it easy for the first 3 miles of the run and then build from there. 

In my first HIM on the front side of the Sileverman course (all hills) and temps 105 with aid stations 2.5 miles appart for the run... there was no kick at the end.  It will be really interesting to see how much of a difference 8 months of training will make on the same distance race.   My goals are to swim no slower than my last race, bike slightly faster, like half a mph and then run at around my stand alone marathon pace.  That should buy me 30 minutes or so overall on the race.  I have a better grasp of nutrition this go around too.  At least that is how it all works out on paper.