jsiegs and slornow's Train Hard and Have Fun group - CLOSED for Training (Page 16)

Back from a 3.5 mile run.  Wanted to do 6 but I wasn't feeling good.  I didn't eat much today.  I think I just didn't have the energy.  Oh well...at least it was something.  Next week is a recovery/taper week for me.  Feels strange to have an easy week after doing nothing the last few days.  I'm really looking forward to next weeks race. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Christy

My race today got bumped to next sunday due to a downpour of rain and thunderstorms today. Kind of bummed as I was feeling ready but oh well. Got a 5 mile run in this evening.

@Randy- I have found that I perform better in shorter distance races like Sprint or Olympic with little or no taper at all. A slow endurance pace ride the day before, like I did this week tends to help me I guess. Plus my main focus at this point is Victoria HIM June 19th and I don't really want to miss a key workout.

If you don't mind me asking, what are other peoples thoughts on tapering leading into race day?

Congrats, Randy, on your race! Wow! After my miserable tri Sunday, yours sounds amazing.

 My swim was really bad!! Swam 10.11 300y vs. 9.11 300y last time.This race had two lanes where swimmers would travel up and back down lane...if you got behind a couple of slow swimmers (of course I am one) a big block occurred. You couldn't pass because of the swimmer coming back down on the other side of the lane. I would have to stop and try not to sink and then start all over again when the "mass" got going. I actually panicked for the first time in water because I was getting so tired. Is this type of swim normal for tris? Did I just luck out the first time with what I consider a "normal" swim pattern?

On a better note, my bike and run was a little better than my first tri. Biked 47.5 on a windy, hilly course vs. 49.5 on the first, easier course. My run was 9.20m vs. 9.57m.

I am NOT giving up, though. Will start plugging away at making my swim stronger and continue to better myself on the bike and run.

Overall I placed fourth out of five in my age group. The first three winners were awesome. They were a year to two years older than me and averaged 1:20 overall vs. my 1:32. Kudos to them!

Deb-Congrats on the race! Sorry the swim was so rough. I've never done a pool swim for a tri.  I can imagine how bunched up it could get.  But it sounds like the bike and run were good!

I am a big fan of tapering.  I really look forward to it.  I'm not sure if it's more of a mental thing or if I really need it physically.   I am doing an oly this weekend and a HIM in 6 weeks.  I'm trying not to let this weeks taper impact the HIM.  I switched weeks and did made this week my recovery week.

I got a massage this morning.  It was SOO painful.  I hope it helps.  I'm going to try to get a swim in this afternoon.  If not, I'll get on the bike trainer after the kids are in bed. 

Christy

Hey all,

After a pretty frustrating week of training last week, I am starting to feel a bit better. Ended up not getting in my long ride last Friday, but I did get on a spin bike for 30min, and went straight into a 30min run (Z1/Z2), and also surfed for about 2.5 hours. I didn't feel like I did anything, but I know I did.

Surfed again on Saturday for a while and took it easy. And Sunday I did a 50 mile ride, it was very windy, but the ride was good. Had crank problems on the way back, but still managed to hammer it out on the way back. The good news of the ride is my nutrition is starting to come along during the ride.

In other news, it is looking like towards the end of next week I will be getting a bike upgrade...I am really excited, as my entry-level Felt just isn't quite cutting it anymore. I want to be a bit more aggressive with the bike. I am also going to invest in a trainer, I know I will ride a lot more if I can hop on the trainer for an hour or two, and I can still knock out studying for school (pages in my book might get sweaty, but oh well).

Today I did some strength work...my legs and upper body feel like noodles. Was supposed to swim, but an afternoon thunderstorm shut the pool down as I was walking in. GRRRR

Oh well, I just switched the days around, and I will swim tomorrow, and do a distance run in the afternoon. Have a great week everyone.

Congrats on the race, Debbie! Sorry to hear about the pool incident.

Meant to add in my 2 cents on pedals.

When I first was starting out, I felt the same way about being locked-in on the pedals. However, I decided to go for it, and I am REALLY glad that I did. When you really look at it, the cage/strap pedals are almost harder to get out of in a quick and efficient manner. If you have a trainer, or know someone that does, practice getting clipped in, and kicking out of the pedals. Now, it has become second nature, and I have only fallen over once (when I stopped to see an old friend, extremely graceful)

Hey all,

Glad to see the group is doing well!  I've been somewhat busy the last week or so, sorry for not being around more.  I've got a lot to read back through...sorry if I make 10 posts in a row!

I had my next rounds of tests this morning.  I also got a migraine about an hour beforehand, so that was a welcome treat.  Luckily the doc said that it wouldn't affect the test so I went ahead with them.  They showed nothing unusual, so I still have no idea what's causing the vertigo when I run.  One test is to actually trigger vertigo while running water through your ears so after that I decided to go home and to bed as I felt pretty crappy.  I'll have to follow up with the ENT to figure out what the next step is.

Haha, I know how you feel.  Rest up and recover and hope to see you back out there soon!

It's all but impossible.  Your best bet is to figure out your ranking (e.g. you finished 11% on the bike) and what that correlates to on the planned race's results from last year.  Of course, it all depends on who shows up on raceday. Even the same course in different years can be vastly different due to weather (heat and wind mostly).  Speed is a poor metric to measure on the bike for that reason and people like to use HR, RPE and Power to help standardize it all.

Nice race!  You've got to love the transition spacing...cramming 10 bikes into the space for 5.  I've definitely felt your frustrations before.  Getting there early doesn't always help either, as others will not be so nice moving your stuff out of their way.  It's amazing how much respect people will have when you're there and then how little once you walk away.  Ok, sorry, my rant over to  

Good ideas.  I learned quickly my actuals will never be what I planned.  Living with that is tough.  I don't even what to think about what kids will do to it!  I can't believe anyone with kids actually does tri's!

x2.  Probably the first upgrade you should make and the most important.  I do all my riding in tri shoes now and some Look Keos.  People argue all the time about Shimano vs Look, but I really don't think there's a difference any of us will notice.  I went with cheaper shoes for a long time but have always had some issues with fit and "hotspots".  I decided to invest in a nice pair so that's when I got the tri shoes.  Turns out the nice tri shoes were a lot more comfortabel than the cheap road shoes so I never went back (imagine that!).

slornow - 2011-05-14 5:30 PM Survived the 4+ hour drive home and have pulled up final results. Very pleased overall...but I left some time out on the course:

Heading into this I was worried about my run since I had several injuries flare up after my race 4 weeks ago.  I have only run about 30 miles in the last month.  Going in I was hoping to break 2:30.  Broken down I was thinking 30 minutes for swim and 2 transitions.  1:08 or so for bike and 50 minutes for the run.  That left me a little wiggle room to get in under 2:30.

Swim 1500m time 30:07 11/50 in age group (AG) Not a good start.  It was a solid swim in a nice lake.  Consistent effort with no problems but thought 2:30 was out the door when I looked at my watch coming out of the water.  In looking at the results 11th in my AG last year was 26:00.  Not sure if course was long or what but everyone I talked to said there swim was slow...Lots of time to make up.

T1 2:04 pretty good for me.

Bike 25 miles  time 1:07:21  22.3 mph avg. 4/50 AG.  Oh what could have been.  Felt good on the bike and was moving along well.  At about mile 6 we start up a long hill and as I shift I drop my chain.  Its wedged in so I have to find a place to stop and then work the chain out.  UGH! 2:30 now seems an impossibility.  Figure I lost 2-3 minutes here.  Rest of the bike fairly uneventful.  I just kept plugging and really wasn't upset as I thought 2:30 was lost anyway.  Pushed the last 6 miles or so pretty hard and felt like I was around 1:08 coming into T2.  In looking at the results the top bike split in the AG was 1:05:10..... I might have been close without the chain issue

T2 1:17 not great

Run 10k 46:34 (7:31/mile)  16/50 AG  As I headed out of T2 my watch said 1:40 elapsed time so I needed sub 50 minutes to get in under 2:30.  Felt pretty good so decided I would try to maintain 7:45/mile pace and see how long I could hold on.  The miles slowly clicked by and I was maintaining  the pace so building a little buffer for my 50 minute time.  Faded between miles 3 and 4 but then starting feeling better at mile 4 so pushed a little faster and then pushed a little more to the finish.  I thought I was in the 2:28 range and was really pleasantly surprised with the run.  Hopefully, my quad and hamstring wont flare up tomorrow like they did after my last race.  Very happy with my run.

OVERALL-pleased with the result.  Ended up 7/50 in AG.  This race was considered the USAT Southeast Regional Championships so awards went 5 deep.  Without the chain issue I might have been #4-5 but its not a big deal.....don't really need another coffee cup anyway   Really glad I was able to mark off a couple of my season goals including 1) sub 2:30 Olympic 2) sub 50 min. Olympic 10k run  

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support

Randy   

Congrats Randy!  Killer bike even with the chain issue.

Joe-I'm sorry you're still having problems when you run. That sucks.  I'm sure it's frustrating that they can't figure out what is wrong.  It's strange it only happens when you run. I hope this latest round of tests gets you some answers.  

I have a random bike question.  My bike has around 250 miles on it.  I have a race Sunday.  Should I get it tuned up?  I haven't had anything done to it since I bought it. 

Christy

Hey all : )

Disney Half Ironman, I did it!!!!!!!

Day before (Saturday): Thunderstorms with 50 mph winds, just praying they don't cancel the race, and hoping my new bike is not getting too wet.....

Pre Race (Sunday Morning): Wake up at 4am, feel well rested ready to go, have twin brother and dad doing race with me, brother has done Disney Half Ironman 3 times before and dad and I are Half Virgins.  It's still raining and lightening, race was delayed.  Dad's wave starts before ours.  Dad is only 70 years old.  Seeing him getting into water is a moving experience. 

Race Start: Jump into lake, and its full of weeds, I stay to outside to avoid being kick, off to a good start.  But end up spending more time with boats instead of buoys.  I zig-zaged the swim course, googles fogged up, got kicked in the stomach, fun stuff.  I think I drank more water than I swam in.  Swim was slower than I expected or hoped for, probably because I was all over the course.  Time was 42 minutes for 1.2 mile swim. My brother was 4 minutes ahead of me and dad was 1 hour and 6 minutes for the swim.

Transition 1: Because it was raining in morning we did not lay out any of our stuff.  Mine was all clumped together in a garbage bag, thats probably why it took me 5+ minutes to transition.  I was frantically searching for my stuff and in my rush for things I forgot my sunglasses and gloves.

Bike: I had a great bike ride!  Can't believe how good I felt.  I passed a lot of people throughout the whole bike portion.  Was a hilly ride, and strong headwind.  My average was 21 and I was comfortable all the way.  My brother was pulled off to the side of the road with a sore back.  I was shocked to see him, he is a HECK of alot faster then me and has completed 3 full Ironmans.  Lack of training and bad seat position on bike did not help his cause.  We traded spots for the remainder of the ride.  He finished just ahead of me.  The bike portion flew by, my time was 2:40 for 56 miles.  My dad was 3:20.

Transition 2: Got biked racked and headed out seemed quick, but my brother was in and out quick, put me to shame. 

Run: Starting run felt good but got tired on 2nd mile and that feeling stayed with me for a couple miles.  I ran most of the way and walked the water stops.  The miles seemed to fad away, my time was 2:08! I did not expect to be that fast.  My brother and I ran together for most of the way which made it go by quick, he and I were close the whole way.  At around 10 miles I felt good and ran ahead.  I saw my dad for the first time since the swim start at mile 12, he was at miles four and looked good, he inspired me to finish.  My last few miles were trying to survive, I kept on thinking, got to beat your brother, can't let him catch you.  We are very comptetive. The only way I can beat him is for him to have a bad race.

Finish: Most awesome feeling! I can't explain it.  A rush of emotions.  During the race I felt tired, but not as tired as I did when I stopped!  I was exhausted.  But the satisfaction of finishing a goal is better than the tired feeling you have.  My time was 5:41:00 my brother was just a few minutes behind (I have bragging rights till next race!).  My dad finished in 8 hours 13 minutes not bad for a 70 year old.  We did it!

Reflecting: Let me say that competing in this race with my brother and dad was awesome.  I am grateful for the training programs on BT, it prepared me for my race.  I felt good all the way through. 

HECK YA I AM GOING TO START TRAINING FOR A FULL IRONMAN IN OCTOBER!  But I will take a few weeks off and enjoy some R & R.

Rob-What a great race report!!  It sounds like a wonderful day.  How awesome that you got to do it with your dad and brother.  And beating your brother...does it get better? 

I'm doing my first half in 6 weeks.  Any tips? 

Christy

What a fantastic race Rob!! Congrats on your accomplishment, and beating your brother (I know how competitive siblings can get!)

An IronMan... wow!! Kudos to you!! Can't wait to hear about it!!

Christy -  Thanks!  yeah, it was AWESOME

Advice, I would say, enjoy it and just go with the flow, and stay focused on task at hand.  I couldn't control rain, I just bought garbage bags : )  I could not control my out of control swim so I just focused on the next stroke.  I could have got upset at forgetting sunglasses and gloves on the bike, instead I just pushed the peddles down.  I could have gotten upset at all the people drafting and yelled at them, well I did that (hee hee). 

Enjoy the day, time is really not important in this, I hardly looked at my watch.  Just keep pushing!   

Thanks I think I am going to take at least a week off before starting Ironman training

Make sure you take rain gear