PLMsbr (JD) Group - FULL (Page 17)

Leaving tomorrow for the big island and my first race of the year.  The olympic distance Lavaman tri in Kona.  Sounds like fun!  Part of the race is on the Ironman course.  The party after the race sound better than the race itself.  Here's the agenda on race day:

6:00 am - Body Marking
7:30 am - Swim waves starts (3 minutes apart)
11:00 am - Beer Bash and Banquet with Live music begins.

8:00 pm - Journey concert

Beer Bash!?  I'm not going to be ashamed sitting at the bar before noon cruising to some live music throwing back a few 'recovery drinks.'  Good luck to all of you and the upcoming races.  It's exciting to finally get past the base training and move into some speed work - both racing and training.

Will

My wife would be jealous of the Knott's Berry Farm trip; she's a roller coaster fanatic. Congrats on the wetsuit, now don't forget to put bodyglide on the back of your neck and try to roll to breathe rather than turning your head... or enjoy that nice neckburn that stays for days!

Do you have an indoor trainer of any kind? That is the only way I'm ever able to do 4 or 5 bike rides a week; and it's great bike fitness since you never stop pedaling. Just have to make sure you have some way to measure effort (like keeping a certain cadence at a specific gearing).

That is an awesome way to find your new singer!  The funniest part about that is how it will inspire millions of people to think that all they need to do is keep posting clips to YouTube in order to become rock stars.  Which of course gives us all free entertainmment.

Nice.

I do have a trainer and I have a Garmin 405 with the bike goodies so I am able to measure my training.  It is more of a motivation issue I guess.  I love riding but dislike the trainer and riding in traffic so that limits my options but I guess I'm just going to have to get over those issues and do it anyway.  I am considering commuting on my bike a day or two per week once the weather starts cooperating.  It is a 20 mile round trip so that would definitely help build the milage.

Sounds good, I like the commuting idea when weather and traffic cooperate. Just have to be careful of the rush hour crazies in their cars. Not sure if I've mentioned this already, but I find reading good novels a great way to pass the time on days where i'm just trying to get an hour or so in on the bike trainer. And hey, I did 3x/week for years; I only changed that to do my IM in 2007. Back when this was still a hobby, and not an obsession. Don't let the lunatics get to you... do what you can and enjoy what you do.

 I "got to do" a very fun/interesting swim drill today...  Length 1 casual swim, length 2 swim as far as you possibly can on as few breaths as you possibly can, rest 10 sec repeat (8 x for me tonight).  It was fun because the first attempt I was at like 3-4 breaths, then as I figured it out I dropped down to only 1 breath for the next several attempts and then finally for the last two I was able to go the entire 25 yards on the initial breath I took before pushing off the side wall. 

The key was to go slow enough that you didn't burn through your oxygen too fast, yet be efficient enough in form that you actually make it to the end of the pool before you run out of oxygen.  It was really cool to go that many strokes without having the form affected by taking a breath.  Everyone try it out and post your thoughts on it.  I was so psyched when I was able to do it in the one breath.    

I used to not like those breathing drills, but I finally figured out what you already have... it teaches you to be very efficient in your stroke and get to the other side relatively quickly without thrashing around. Good stuff. Also helps teach you how to be calm in the water when you don't get enough breath, which happens once in a while in the race

Nice bike ride. But what are you doing up after midnight?!? ha

Good story to share, I went for a light run on Saturday afternoon.  My plan was to run it slow and easy.  I checked my Garmin and I was going at around 7 min pace so I slowed down.

I ran comfortably and felt the whole time like I was going slow, but I ended up hitting 7:35 pace for the entire run.  I hope it doesn't hurt me this weekend, but I am really happy to see that my pace has increased so much over the past few months.  All those intervals must be paying off!

Did you ever see the movie "Joe vs the Volcano"?  There is a line where the Meg Ryan character tells Tom Hanks: "nothing's ever easy with you, is it Joe?"... or something like that. Just seems like you keep getting those obstacles thrown in your way! But the great thing is that you just keep moving forward each time and find a way around! Don't give up Shawna

Cool!   As long as you kept it comfortable, and based on the distance in your log; I think you'll be fine. Just a few more days now...!

Hey all,

I'm back from the big island.  The Lavaman is a great event.  The course takes you through lava fields on the ride and then finishes the run on a lava trail and then the beach.  If you're ever looking for an event in Hawaii not involving an Ironman distance, this one is fantastic.  The resort is perfect for families and for the race.

I did about what I was hoping to do.  I was shooting for 2:30, and finished at 2:33 (Olympic distance - 34 minutes for the swim, 1:09 for the ride, and 45 min for the run).  I didn't account for the 30+ mph headwinds the last 5 miles of the ride or the last 2 miles of the run being off-road.  I finished 11th out of around 60 in my age group and 8th in both the ride and run.  If I wasn't giving up 10 minutes to everyone in the swim I'd be half-way competitive!  I saw fewer colors of swim caps motoring by this race, which was nice.  It's an improvement over the 42 minutes I did in my first ever race last year, but still over 2 minutes/100.  Back to the pool!

I think a few of you are racing this weekend.  How are you all feeling?

Will

Will, sounds like a great race and a fun event.  Looks like you had an awesome race! Congrats!  Hope you are recovering well.

Tom, good luck this weekend, I know you'll do well just try to relax and enjoy (easier said than done I know) because you only get one "first tri."

My first is rapidly approaching (4/11) and I'm looking forward to it.  It's a reverse so that will be a little different but the swim is in the pool I train at so I've got home field advantage

Will - congratulations on a great race! It's still a dream of mine to get out to Hawaii at some point. IM Hawaii would be a fantastic 50th birthday celebration, don't ya think?!? I'll have to buy my way in, most likely... I think I'm one level of crazy short of being able to qualify.

I know exactly how you feel about the swim, I've always given up so much time in the swim myself. That was a nice improvement from last year, though! For me, the Half IM this weekend will be a good test to see if my increased swim workload is helping. I have to be realistic, I've only been doing this 4 months - but I am hoping there is value! One thing that is almost an absolute with swimming is that you cannot just muscle/willpower your way to faster swimming. Well, you can... if you want to wait many years for small improvements. The more that you are able to get some type of coaching and/or feedback, the better. Without technique improvement, you have to use 8x the force to go 2x the speed in water (or so the physics folks claim).

My race is this Sunday, leaving Friday evening to go down to Galveston. Mostly stressed right now about everything that has to get done before I leave

I'm pretty psyched to see you do in your first triathlon, just try to stay calm and under control. Hope you have a great time!

Same for you Tim - waiting for the 11th!

Congrats on a great race.  That sounds like a lot of fun and it's awesome to place that high in your age group.  Once you get your swim to the level of you bike and run you are going to be up at the very top of you age group.  Those head winds sound tough, but your bike time was still amazing.

I am racing this weekend, California Ironman 70.3.  Looking forward to it, and really not too nervous.  I definitely have some nerves about it, but I have done the training, I know it will be hard but it is within my abilities to finish this race, so I am just really concentrating on not going out too fast and keeping everything controlled.

I went out for a quick ride last night, was coming down a pretty decent hill at close to 45mph when my back tire blew out.  That was scary, I really thought I was going to die for a second there.  I managed to keep the bike under control and stop, but I sat on the curb for about 15 minutes before moving. 

I don't think I will be going that fast again, as it is dangerous.  Especially in the aero position when the brakes feel like they are miles away from your fingers.

Anyway, I didn't crash and after that, facing a headwind will be easy.

JD, good luck in your race as well, I'm sure you will be in the top. 

Not sure if I will get back on the site before the race, so I hope you all have great weekends and I'll post my report next week.

Mike

 Good Luck!  You will do great.  Don't worry about time, and stay relaxed.  Enjoy the finish line and make sure your hands are in the air when you cross the tape.