Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners! (Page 17)

So other than my 7 mile ride a couple of weeks ago, I rode my new bike today for the first real ride.  It's AWESOME, I love it.  The saddle is going to take some getting used to, but other than that there was not one thing I didn't like about it.

I was surprised at how quickly I became comfortable being in the aero position.  I'm not as confident on this new bike as I am on my old one, but I don't think it will be long before I am.

We rode for 2 hours and after the ride we did a short run.  My leg muscles felt much different getting off the tri bike and running than how they feel after riding my road bike.  This years races should be interesting...

Hey guys...another newbie question here!  I find that when it comes to biking...my pace, total time and the way I feel is a lot better riding with a group of people instead of being alone.  When I say a "lot" better...I mean a lot better for me.  Instead of 14-16 mph, I may do 17-19 with a group...and it feels easier.  Anyway...I was just wondering if you guys found this to be true also.

Thanks! 

Good luck to the both of you, we know you will do great.

Great job Scott - you did well, be happy!

My race was great - I did much better than I had hoped.  Secretly I wanted to finish in under 2:05, and also average under a 9:30 pace.  I did both.  (I'm not even sure what a 9:30 pace would finish at, I just had the two goals in my mind.)

I finished in 2:02:15 with an average pace of 9:17.  I was very happy.  I looked at my heartrate quite a bit, knowing from the past several weeks of watching it during training, that I'm comfortable in the low 160's and not so comfortable in the high 160's and above.  Well, my heartrate was in the high 160's and 170's for a lot of the time, and I still felt ok.

I'm having trouble downloading my Garmin data, but once I see the mile splits, and the heartrate ranges, I'm sure I'll have some more thoughts.

I will say that mile 9 to 10 was tough.  Physically I was tired, mentally I was not happy.  But I told myself that I was more than halfway done, and I needed to get over it.  So I sucked it up and kept going.

My learning experiece is to not go out too fast (which I know I did), but other than that I think I ran a good race.  And I can honestly say that I had a good time, I didn't injure myself, and I finished with a smile on my face - AND I beat my time and pace goal.  = )

Scott and Karen congrats on your race.

This question is for all who have had a race. What was your diet like the day before the race and the morning of your race? What type of foods did you consume, fluid intake etc. ?

Next question is what type of warm up do you do the morning of the race?

Thanks

Jeff

Good questions Jeff.  Not sure you should follow my example, but...

Food wise - I increased my food intake starting two days before.  Not by much, but maybe an added power bar or some pretzels for the carbs and salt.

The day before I ate pretty normal, something every 2 to 2.5 hours, and had an early dinner @ 6pm.  I ate enough pasta for probably 10 people to run the half marathon.  I was worried I might feel heavy the next day, but since we ate so early I was fine.

Woke up 2 hours before the race, had a cup & a half of coffee (I always do this, but if you don't normally drink coffee before a race I do not recommend this), had my two packets of instant oatmeal (as if I hadn't already had enough carbs the night before, but that's what I did during training and it sits well on my stomach), some water and G2.

Oh, and I drank more G2 the two days prior as well, vs. just water.  I wanted to get electrolytes into my body for the race.  The G2 doesn't add that many calories so I drank a lot.

Warm up - I'm horrible about not warming up.  I did nothing except turn on my iPod.

That's what I did, and typically what I do.  I found that if I don't drink some form of Gatorade the two days leading up to the race, I feel sluggish.  Especially if it's summer time and I'm sweating a lot on the run.

Hope that helps.

Thanks so much for all the great info. Food wise this was in line with what I was thinking, and I love my coffee. As for warm up I need to warm up, it take me forever to get in the flow, especially the swim it takes me a good 600 yds. to get in the rhythm.

Again thanks for the input.

Jeff

I believe Cole's big race is tomorrow - GO COLE!!

We want a full report - specifically details about how you left your brother in the dust!

Have fun, I'll be thinking of you.

Oh, that's a tough one.  Fortunately for me my son is 18 and really doesn't need me much (unless he's short on cash!). 

My husband - well I try to exercise as early in the morning as I can, or at lunch sometimes during the week.  He's pretty understanding and knows that I'm not a happy person to have in the house if I don't get my exercise in.  So he's happy for me to head out for a while on the weekends to get my workouts in.  When I do get back home I try to make the rest of the day about him.  He likes that.

Now that the weather has been turning nice, work makes it difficult to try to fit in some after work group runs and bike rides.  I'm trying to get into work earlier on the days I know I want to exercise after work, so I don't feel bad if I leave @ 5pm on the dot!