cayrip's and AbbieR's Mentor Group - Closed (Page 17)

February's totals:
Bike:	17h 15m 13s  - 302.89 Mi
Run:	9h 03m 39s  - 64.07 Mi
Swim:	9h 12m 06s  - 25000 Yd
Pilates:	4h 00m

I had a good month.  Injury and sickness free for the last 3 months.  Swim total was PB, run and bike not records since I wasn't building up to the 3.5 hour bike ride and 2 hour run like last month.

Thankfully spring is coming strong here.  Time to get of the trainer and outside more!

Yes, Abbie, I really did 11 hrs last month on the foam roller.  I do it every morning and every night for 20 to 40 min.  It's the only way I can bike and run that much and still have knees that function.  I really wish I didn't have to do it but it's not so bad because I do it while watching TV.  The other good news is that it doesn't hurt much any more.  Maybe I've killed all the nerve endings. 

Wow, you are a hard-core foam roller!

I wanted to apologize for being absent in the group and not keeping my logs up to date. My wife was injured in a snowboarding accident 14February breaking her left hip, pelvis, and wrist. Needless to say she's needed a lot of help to do most of the basic functions. She's doing well and things are improving. We've had a ton of support from family and friends which has allowed me to continue training for IMSG which my wife insists on. I'll be taking some vacation next week so I'll be able to get caught up on everything. Glad to see everyone is doing well and keeping up with their training.

Edited by garryowen96 2010-03-08 9:58 PM

Garryowen96,

Sorry to hear about your wife's accident...I wish her a fast recovery!!

Cheers from Hong Kong!

"XTB" Xavi.

Ugggso sorry about your wife, speedy recovery.

Hey guys, I too have been a little absent lately.  I've got a new job/commute, moving to a new place, training and figuring out a new single life for myself.  I'm doing well and having a blast, but it seems so much of my time is so scheduled at the moment. 

Joe,

take good care of your wife, and may she recover well.

I am officially signed up for the Santa Barbara Half Iron Man. Time to get the training ramped up further. Looking forward to it.

Holy cow...what an accident.  My prayers are with your wife for a speedy recovery.  Those surprises tend to focus our priorities very quickly.

I hope everybody has been doing ok!

I havent been out running for around a week! I have something wrong with my right foot. When I walk with it a muscle or something stings from my big toe up to almost my ankle. I have no clue what this it.

Wow, we're an exciting group, huh?  This thread has been dead.  Where's our coach?  Cameron, you still aiming for IM St George?

Well, I did it.  I registered for my first tri.  It's 2 weeks away on the 27th.  When I started the training program 4 or 5 months ago, I didn't know what to expect, and although I had set my goal to do the HIM, I wasn't sure if I could actually get ready for it.  Well, now that it's time to register, I feel ready, so what the heck, I'm going to do it.

Yesterday I did my first open water swim.  The winds were 40mph and the water was possessed.  It was WILD, and I got pounded by the chop, but I was able to brave the cold and the white caps and figure out somewhat of a rhythm.  I got out to the buoy and back in a pretty straight line, and despite the crazy waves, I felt comfortable in the water...super tired, like I had been in a fight, but comfortable in the water.  Even though I didn't go very far, I feel like I gained tons of confidence because the tri coach I was with told me the water was so bad they would cancel the race if it were that bad on race day.  So, I feel like a calmer day will be much more
doable.  But, as much swimming as I've done training, if I had to swim 2000 yds in that rough water, I'm not sure I could do it.  I was very tired from even a short distance.

Anyway, I'm super nervous now that I registered for the race, but very excited too.  Somehow I feel like just signing up is an accomplishment because it means I really think I can finish.  I can't wait.

Wow, no apologies needed.  I'm glad she is doing well, and I'm glad it looks like you can still race St. George.

Best of luck to her.  Cat

Ooh, congratulations!  Glad you did well in the open water, too!

My PT told me I can start running 5 minutes, every other day.  It doesn't sound much, but it's a start!

Also, I reached my goal of a mile under 30 minutes last week.  I was super excited! 

How's she doing?  Any updates?  How's your training coming along?

I'm assuming you're referring to a swim of 1 mile under 30 min.  Very impressive.  I know I could not do that yet.  But you may have given me a new goal to shoot for.

I did a ride last night with some elite riders that was insane.  We took off from the bike shop and rode just under 40 miles in less than 2 hours.  I was pretty excited to hang with them almost the entire way until the last pull the two top riders were cruising close to 27 mph and when they took off, the other three of us began to fade.  We lost one rider completely (he headed back), but the other two of us finally rejoined and finished the ride.  I hope to ride with them again as it really made me push myself farther and harder than I had.

Edited by bmason 2010-03-20 1:19 PM

My wife is doing a lot better and able to get a lot of the basics done on her own now.  I fially got my logs updated through February.  Here are my February totals:

February's totals:
Bike:	25h 18m  - 495 Mi
Run:	10h 35m 08s  - 69.6 Mi
Swim:	7h 35m  - 23150 Yd

Great week of spring break in SoCal.  Open water swimming in LaJolla with my new wetsuit (little freaky, but fun), and a ton of climbing on the bike and run near our time share out in the hills around Escondido.

That's awesome.  I highly recommend a challenging weekly group ride for anyone looking to improve their bike handling skills and get stronger/faster on the bike.  Anywhere with a decent cycling culture has one or two good group rides each week.  Go out, hang for as long as you can, and keep going back.  Before you know it you'll be hanging in through the entire ride. 

I had my first "oh s**t, what am I doing" moment last week.  I had a light week because I had a trip planned - I built in an extra week for training so I was not worried about missing workouts and I did run a couple times.  But somehow the jet lag and the time change really messed me up once I got home and I could barely get out of bed this week.   That combined with my schedule just made me feel pretty hideous and I ended up cutting my long bike short (was supposed to be 2:30 and I cut it to 1:30) and only getting in one swim workout (a good hard one at least).   All the sudden my brain was going "there is no way you are ever going to be able to ride a bike for 58 miles in less than 4 hours" (my goal for the bike, because it seems like I can never go over 15 miles per hour) - all that negative stuff started to appear.  Boy, I've read about it but I've never encountered it this much in my run training.

I had a long run scheduled for Friday and I really wanted to can it - I felt crummy, but thankfully I as scheduled to run with a friend and I got out there and actually had a great 10 miles.  And then had a terrific short brick (60/30) yesterday - so the sun is shining again.

Is this normal triathlon training mind stuff - how do you deal with it?  As I said, I've never had this sort of a feeling with my run training-  I think maybe the scheduling challenge of the tri training is starting to mount as my training hours increase, and that is one of the issues.   The reality is, I am still very intimidated by the bike and I think I have to accept it will take a while to change that  (at least I was able to outside this week and I clipped and unclipped without falling down ).  How long did it take before you felt strong on the bike.

Cat

Edited by Catalana 2010-03-22 7:20 AM

Cat:  I'm totally with you.  This is my first IM and the at times the motivation is hard to come by.  I'm tired, hungry and crabby all the time.  Everyone in the IMSG group are reporting the same feelings so I think it is normal.  I also totally freak out when I miss a work out, but it actually increases my stress level so I continue to remind myself that if I skip it that will happen and I'm better off just doing it.  I always feel better when I am done.  

I was talking to a guy the other day who has done many of these and when I was saying I was worried about missing workouts etc, he said, you don't see many articles about the dangers of under training.  I think he had a good point.  Listen to your body, trust your plan, and try not to let the schedule get to you too much.

The bike takes a long time to get stronger/faster.  Honestly if you have a VO2Max or interval bike workout in your plan during the week and you can make that coincide with a group ride that you know will really push you, I'd encourage you to do the group ride.  My first year in CO I spent an entire summer getting my but handed to me every Wednesday night.  After a couple of years on the same ride I actually flatted, changed the flat, TT'd my a$$ off and eventually caught back on (they got caught in some traffic which helped).  To this day one of my proudest moments on the bike and proof that it eventually comes around.  


 

Cat:  Maybe a month ago I was out on a run, just a short 4 mile afternoon one after swimming in morning, and at 3 miles I just had this weird thought come to me that said, "what are you doing?"  "This is just a total waste of time."  It almost made me totally stop (I felt like Forrest Gump when he finally stops running).  I just had all this "life" flash before my eyes, and thoughts of "just do your heart healthy one hours of exercise a day..."  I wasn't really extraordinarily tired, just the usual, and of course hungry.

That's the closest I've come to what you said.

I guess it's part of challenging ourselves to go farther than we ever have, and ever thought we could?  Keep up the hard work, and rest as you need it.

Huge apologies for my silence....things have been crazy!

Cat, do not worry...everyone has those moments.  Some days finding motivation to train is harder than others.  Just as some workouts will feel great and the next day you feel like you can barely survive training.  Don't even get me started on when the smell of chlorine starts to make you feel like vomiting, lol!  But just as it is important to know that days to push through the training you also need to know the days that you need to listen to your body and maybe cut a training day short.  It's an odd balance.

On days I feel like just lacing up my sneakers is a chore, I tell myself I only have to go out for 10 minutes and if I feel lousy I can come home.  Usually once I am out the door I complete the day's training about 95% of the time.

My new motivation for my 2010 season......I've decided to race 3 IMs in honor of 3 people in my family touched by cancer.  More info in my blog!