Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--Now Open (Page 16)

I have a long ride planned for Sunday and we're having the kids/grand kids over for Easter.  I have been informed by "the Easter Bunny" that there is a conflict between my planned long ride and Easter activities - hiding Easter eggs, cooking Easter dinner, getting the house ready for the invasion of the grand kids, etc.  Not sure I understand how a ride from 6-10a is going to interfere with family at 2:00p but greater minds than mine are at work here!

Hey Dave,

You know the best thing about your picture?

Not a person in sight!  Oh how I miss open spaces!

Hi Keith,

You have been a swimmer all of your life so you have a leg up on most people that come to triathlon.  There are several free training plans available here on Beginner Triathlete (click on "Training Plans" near the top left of the page under the Beginner Triathlete logo).  You may find the Olympic - 2x Balanced - 20 Week Training Plan a good place to start.  If you are struggling with the run, you can find a "Couch-to-5K" program and download that to your smartphone.  The couch-to-5K plan will take you, step-by-step, from not running to running.  If you go that way, you can simply modify the Olympic training plan to suit your needs.

We have a good, diverse group of people here.  Everyone will be happy to jump in and answer any questions you may have.

Welcome to the group!

Welcome Keith.  The group here is really good, so you've found a good place to start.  Looks like, fitness wise, you have a good start as well, so jump in and get started and again welcome.  One aspect of the site is it allows you to log your workouts and track progress.  This is done via the 'training log' button on the menu bar.  This works well for me to be able to see the work done by activity, along with either time and/or distance, monitor progress, et al.

Weekend plans for me involve a longish ride and recovery ... longish for me right now is 35-40 miles.  I have a metric 100 ride planned for mid-April, so I've got to get some saddle time in quick.  Also need to sign up for my second race of the year, which happens June 18th.

Ciao Dorm

Hi all, I've been MIA  for a while.  I had an Easter Cycling camp for 4 days this weekend.  So, of course it was cold and wet.  Friday was my first day out of bed after being sick for a week.  I started our first ride on Friday with a ride up a mountain Rd climbing 568m.  I was so far behind all the other riders it was very embarrassing but the support driver and group leader were very supportive.  Then that afternoon we had a run.  I was very pleased to be able to run at all.  Very slow but I was able to do it.

Next day we had a 75 km/ 45 mile ride.  It was so much better.  I felt stronger and was able to keep up and even lead for a while.  Another 580m climbing and lots of fun.  That afternoon we all swam under the coaches watchful eyes.  It felt good to get back in the water.

Sunday was a short run then a recovery ride with no "big ring" allowed.  It was amazing how fast we rode along a fairly flat route with easy gears and higher cadence.  And, finally today was our last ride out a nonstop series of rolling hills.  At least another 500m climbing and the coach focused on our small group teaching us how to draught and fall back and for me specifically keeping my cadence over 90+.

I was so tired on Sunday that I made my lunch and fell asleep as I was eating it.  Thankfully it wasn't soup.  Sunday's day ended with a Pub night which was pretty enjoyable.

I'm still feeling a bit shakey but I'm keen now to get my running back to my normal and get swimming again but tomorrow I have a recovery day off.  Yay!!

AKDave - I too like your photo.  I miss those bright spring days AND full moon nights.

Keith - Welcome to the group and whereabouts in Thailand are you?  Brings back memories of snorkeling in the Similan Islands.

George ... this sounded like a really interesting 4 days.  On getting dropped like you did ... happens to me all the time.  I used to be bothered by this, but not any more.  The groups I ride with see the amount of effort I'm putting out and are totally supportive.  And, I take my turn when it's time to pull as well ... just not on a climb

I rode 35 miles on Saturday at an easy pace and spent 80% of the time in the small ring too.  A 16 year old friend of mine in Virginia rides like that ... mostly in the small chainring and he flys.  So I thought to give that a try on Saturday and while I was slow pace wise, my HR never went above threshold, which turned out to be a good recovery ride for me.

Made a sweet purchase this morning on a pair of PowerTap P1 pedals.  Last year, I bought a new Quarq setup with a std crankset. My then crankset was compact, but I'd had standard sets before and I saw no big issue.  After riding the std crankset for a year, I'm thinking I liked the compact a bit better, so I'll stick  the pedals and old crankset back on the bike, and sell the Quarq.  I'm off to the bike shop this morning to get this swapped out and some interval training. 

Question for the group ... are there weight lifting drills I can do to build leg strength for climbing?  Starting this week, my schedule is 4 days on the bike ... 3 days intense and 1 day long recovery for endurance.  Also, I'm increasing the duration for each.  My century ride is a ways off, but I badly want to do well and the last climb is absolutely brutal ... a 6.5k, Cat 1+ climb, which starts at mile 96. So after you've ridden 96 miles ... you turn onto a road starting at an 11% grade for 3 miles, and eventually ramping up to a 16% grade for the last mile!  I certainly have no illusions about winning or such, but I really want to finish well and finish strong.  While I can to prepare endurance and equipment wise, I wonder if some sort of leg lifting work would further me along in the strength category. 

Ciao ... Dorm

George - both my husband and my daughter were down with the flu for the past week.  I somehow managed to avoid getting it from one of them.  They're both finally feeling better but Steve says he still hasn't gotten his energy back yet.  I can't imagine doing a 4 day cycling camp after being sick for a week.  Sounds like you did pretty well though and enjoyed it.  

Missed some workouts last week due to the aforementioned sickness in the house and the Easter holiday.  I really need to make sure I stay on top of things though - only 5 months until my HIM.  Which sometimes seems like a long time and sometimes seems like it's coming up too soon.  I go back and forth between feeling like I can do this and freaking out about it.  Just trying to take it one week at a time for now.  

Janet

Hi Mike,

Nope  you are not too late!  Welcome to the group.

I hate to be the one to break the news to you, you are a triathlete.  That means you are certifiably crazy!  I guess your wife is right.

We should talk about what you are doing in the pool.  TI is a great program to get you into the pool and get you swimming.  TI will teach you to reduce your drag in the water.  Unfortunately, TI won't teach you to go fast.  I don't want to get into a TI debate (in case there are any strong TI supporters here - I don't remember).  Just saying that it is great to get started but at some point you will want to move beyond TI.  I looked at your training log and at your pace, there is lots of room to make improvement in your stroke technique.  Please don't hesitate to ask if you have questions.

We have a great bunch of people here.  Really diverse from all over the country and a couple located overseas.  We have one member that is up in Maine so I am sure he will chime in fairly soon.

Everyone here is happy to answer any question you may have so don't hesitate to ask if you have any.

Again, welcome to the group!

Hey Mike,

The absolute best thing you can do for your stroke technique is having a knowledgeable pair of eyes on deck.  The next best thing is a video analysis.  If you have a coach on deck that is also going to video tape you swimming and then spend time with you analyzing your technique and making suggestions, you will have struck gold.

And yeah, all of us triathletes are slightly nuts!

Last Monday, last ride of the Easter camp, I had a very minor fall off the bike - just rolled over onto my right side.  Got up and felt fine aside from embarrassed.  A couple nights later my left wrist is sore.  No big deal just annoying.  So I swam, biked and ran with no issues.  Today, driving to the pool thinking about my wrist and what could have happened - absolutely nothing - except the fall.

Before going into the pool I look at my wrist and I can see the area is reddened over the scaphoid bone and slightly swollen.  Swim went fine no trouble at all.  When I got home I used a tuning fork to see if I had fractured my wrist.  It didn't irritate my wrist suggesting it is not fractured.  I'll see my MD on Monday and maybe get it x-rayed although I am still hopeful it is just a sprain.

Scaphoid fracture is typically when a person reaches out to stop a fall.  I fell but to my right and can't recall anything to do with my left side.  I really don't want to miss any training but I'll make sure to rule out a fracture PDQ.

I'm supposed to ride 60km tomorrow and the weather is summer-like.  I may not be going.  Other than that I feel pretty good.

Morning everyone! 

Well, another weekend is upon us.

An athlete I have been working with is competing in Ironman 70.3 California down in Oceanside today.  I am heading down shortly to offer moral support and a few final words of encouragement.  This week has been a bad week at work so the rest of the afternoon and weekend is getting caught up with all the things I didn't get done while I was putting out the work fires.  Also planning to squeeze in a run today and a long ride tomorrow.  It is suppose to be another boring weather day here - 75 degrees, not a cloud in sight - so should be nice for a run and ride.

How about everyone else?  Anything special planned?