Ernesto's group (4th season) - Closed (Page 16)

I reinstituted the "Don't eat like a Pig" diet this week and lost three pounds after a really bad start gaining weight the week before.

Nice! I was at the picnic loop at the same time, but I didn't go out with the roadies. You are a brave soul, that ride is notorious.

After having hit my lowest weight in 7 years on Friday, I've rebounded, and today I'm back where I was last week.  I guess it shows that the plan of Sunday for weigh in hasn't really stopped me from pigging out on Friday and Saturday nights...

Congratulations Mitch, Scott and Mike.  They're all fantastic times.

Looking forward to hearing how Jackie's race went...

Little more detail on my run yesterday:

The Full Marathon was starting at 7:15 and the Half at 8:45.  I got up at 5:30 with the goal of getting to the race in time to get parking.   I'd laid all my gear out the night before so I didn't miss anything.  Made some coffee, ate a protein bar, mixed up a couple electrolyte bottles, and got on my way.  Amazing how little traffic there is at 6:00AM on a Saturday.  

I arrived around 6:40AM, parked about four blocks from the start.  Made my way over and picked up race packet.  I milled around looking for Scott and my friend Chris who were both running the full.  Saw Scott about 10 minutes before the start of the full and introduced myself.  We chatted about MAF, our kids, and our race calendars.  First impression is that he is a typical Midwesterner - friendly, solid, salt of the earth - and it doesn't hurt that he’s a UofM alum / fan! The full started and I found the porta potties, returned to my car, got my race belt, etc all set for the race and just chilled for a bit.  Eventually made my way back to the start, took a short jog to warm up and re-calibrate my footpod, found the porta-potties AGAIN, spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get mulch out of my shoes and got ready to go.  I had been sipping on an electrolyte water and had a gel about 15 minutes to the start.  Also had one about 1 hour before start.  Got into a starting spot and off we went.

The race started on a narrow street and straight uphill for about 1 tenth of a mile.  It was very slow and congested until it turned a corner.  The first few miles were urban in the city of Dearborn.  Closed course which is always nice.  About three miles into race the course transitions onto Hines drive and is like running through a park for the remainder f the race on a two lane road.  I sipped on the remainder of my electrolyte water for the first few miles and ditched the empty bottle at the second aid station.  Mile markers were great and  didn't use auto-lap but hit the lap button at every marker. I'm really excited that I was pretty much dead on at each marker meaning that I ran the lines of the course very good - I came up with 13.12 miles for the race.  Not much extra effort/time in running extra distance.  The course was rolling hills throughout - I did not expect that.  I looked at past runners Garmin Connect files and the course look more flattish.  I was lucky in that the wind and rain held off until the second half of the course.  The "out" portion was great; the "in" or "back" portion had a fair degree of head winds and a bit of rain.  I knew I was running faster than I had planned but was feeling good.  Around mile 10 there was a good uphill into an aid station and I walked a bit.  I then walked a few more times as I was starting to hit a wall.  The last half mile or so I picked it up and pushed trying to pass as many people as possible.  I ended with a 1:43:46 (official time gave me a second over my Garmin time - yay!)

CONCLUSION: 

So – I can’t complain about the race.  I wish I hadn’t slowed in the last few miles but I still beat the goal pace chart I had created the night before the race.  In hindsight I knew I was playing with fire given the hills on the course and the headwind in the last half.  I thought I would go for it and see what I could do.  I think if I had eased up I would have ended at the same spot with a bit less pain.  Probably could have been a bit smoother on nutrition during the race - I didn't sync my 2 gels I ate with available water so a bit hard getting them down (especially the 2nd one at mile 8.25 - first was as mile 4.5).  All in all best race I have ever had and hopefully the start of a great season of racing!

Got my longest run to date in today - 17 miles -YAY. had some trouble staying in the right HR zone, but overall i'm glad in got it done.

9 weeks to go!

Chris,  Last year's marathon was a near disaster.  I was not healthy mentally or physically last year when I tried to run this same race.  I really had no business even getting out on the course, but I tried to "power through it"  I was fighting extreme fatigue and ITBS and nearly had to be carried off the course.  Needless to say I learned my lesson.  I took the rest of the year off to get my health back in order.  To answer your question, yes, I think that having run this race before helped me tremendously mentally get through to the finish line. Especially when I started to feel that my legs wanted to quit with 3 miles to go.

Kuddos to everyone who raced this weekend, great times and overall efforts!  Jackie, how did your race go, where you able to do the swim?  Also kuddos to Deborah also for her longest run to date!

Today I did my first race rehearsal workout for IM Texas which was important to test everything before the race (pacing, nutrition, clothing, equipment set-up, etc.).  I ended up doing a 107 mile bike ride in 5:50 plus a 45 min brick run in hot conditions (93F from the last third of the bike ride on-wards) which is good training for IM Texas.  Overall, I felt good during most of the bike ride, except for some cramping and muscle soreness.  However, I really had to push myself to do the 45 min run in the heat, especially when your legs feel like spaghetti at the end of ride.

Ernesto, thanks for your timely advise on nutrition and pacing, I incorporated some of your suggestions including adding Cytomax along with my Carbopro in my bottles, and shooting for a steady pace, which really helped.  I still need to fine tune my nutrition since I could not see another gel/flavored drink after I got off the bike.

On the funny side, I was testing a new pair of tri-shorts today that I plan on using the the IM (2XU Long Distance).  However, since I got them yesterday finally in Guatemala through my mail courier, I had not time to wash them.  Long story short, with the heat they faded and now my white bike seat and my butt both look like they came out of a smurf movie (sorry for TMI, but I'm still cracking up and might save someone from doing the same thing ).

Chris, I looked at your runs and it is obvious you have lost a bit of fitness (based on your eleven miler today, and its HR). It will not take long for you to get back where you were, it wasn't long and the water running was a really good move. I do however, recommend that you ease into the long runs at a slower pace like low 9's for a couple of weeks, keep the stride short and frequent.

Glad to know that you're running pain free.

I agree with the above...I am dreading my next half marathon because I know that it will be a lot warmer.  Humidity when its 50 degrees is easy.  When its in the 80's it's a lot tougher, especially when us northerners haven't trained in similar conditions in 6+ months.

Had my first sprint yesterday and was able to get my first PR of the year. Last year I finished it in 1:36:22 and this year I completed it in 1:10:58. I can now see that the hard work is paying off.

This has given me the motivation to keep pushing myself. Just wanted to share..

WOW! that is a great improvement especially on a Sprint. Good Job.

Back amongst the living. Just got back from a 1 week car trip to North Carolina/South Carolina with the family. Had a blast, kids had a blast, but training suffered. Had a chance of going mountain biking in NC's Asheville area. The ride started with a straight 40 min. climb on a dirt road, total 1,800 ft elevation change. Remember that coming from FL, my biggest climb is normally my driveway, and that's like 15 ft long. And then the fun started with the downhill part. Much more fun when mountain biking actually include mountains. Also got in a 5 mile run near Charleston (BTW Jen and Scott, Charleston says hi). But nor much other than that.

I have a race (second tri ever) on Saturday, a sprint, so looking forward to that. Will try to avoid the slow run that plagued me on my first tri. Getting excited and antsy at the same time.

congrats to all who made personal goals this weekend!

Looks like I am in contention to win a challenge - person who gained the most weight :-) I am travelling again this week and not looking forward to the sale on sunday!!

Went the wrong way - think mostly water retention from effort on Saturday.

Great Job!  That's a huge improvement in a sprint!  Keep it up