MightyMojoMentorGroup -- (Full House!) (Page 170)

Got it Steve.  Thanks.  Had to leave town for 5 days.

Rather than miss a beat, I think I've got way too many beats.  Heat rate beats that is.  Did a 30 minute run yesterday and the HR was thru the roof at a 10 min./mile pace.  It was during the heat of the day, outdoors but still yikes.. it wasn't very encouraging. 

I think I'll be OK getting my paces back to normal in the water and bike by race day.  Just need to build endurance in those 2 disciplines.  Running is a totally different story though.

Anne,

Sounds like Saturday will be fun just to put it together. When/where is Ken's IM? The not nutrition thing I changed for my last race is really sticking to a schedule. I drank nutrition or water every 15 min or ate something (a bar or some chomps) every 15 min. Then on the run I took gels and drank at every rest stop. I drank more than I usually do and it really seemed to help. I also tried Coke towards the end of the run and that sat really well with my stomach

My next race is an oly on Aug. 12. It's a small local race in Santa Cruz we've done the past 2 years. I want to get out for an ocean swim before this race but there has been a Great White Shark hanging around and I don't want to go out there unless there is a big group of swimmers. I'm a baby that way!

Johanne

Welcome back Jeff! Some friends just did a REV3 race in Portland and loved it. You'll be in pretty good shape with 14 weeks to train. I bet your base is still pretty solid. 

Johanne

I just got home after a week of time travel (went back to the 60's and some 50's).  I haven't done any kind of workout for a week.

It looks like I've got about 4 pages of reading to catch up on. 

And, I'm looking for a new challenge - apparently our season here is pretty short and there isn't much happening after mid-September.  There is a Sprint Triathlon this Sept 2nd (very beginnerish and easy going) that I'm thinking of registering for and/or an Xterra in Kelowna around the 9th of Sept.  Gives me a month to get ready.

Thank you Johanne.  My expectations are not high for the race.  I don't think I will go under 6 hr. so it won't be a PB for the HIM distance.  But my approach is to simply build my base for an early season 2013 HIM when I age up (thankfully not into Steve's AG). 

Is IM Arizona still a go for you?

STEVE,

1/3 M60-64 (would've been 2/5 in 55-59, 3/8 in 50-54....but who's counting   - You and I think alike - I even dig into the 40's.   

I sort of forgot you were a gym rat.   You've been focussing on the yoga for some time now.   The gym will be a major focus for us again this winter as it seems to have really helped.   Will stick with yoga 3x per week, and finally will spend an off-season working primarily on swimming.    I have been doing the yoga 3+ years now and for sometime was doing 4x per week and now find that I can still do well with it practicing ony once per week during the tri season and can even be away from it for 3 weeks without much of a setback (thankfully). 

RE our upcoming race weekend - not sure what time we will be getting in on Friday and will want to stick to my usual routine for eating and early to bed so no worries about getting together for dinner.    Would be extremely happy if Sunday could work out for us to get together, but you may not want to do a long ride due to the hip???  

I hear what you are saying about not being an IM for life, sort of.   But it is a HUGE accomplishment and I don't think having a sticker or letting people know you have done one is false advertising.   No re-certification necessary.    None of the other world champs feel that necessity.   Once they 'retire' they were still world champs.     You will always be an IM in my eyes.

Hope you registered for the double Fronhofer.    I know how much you want to do it but just can't imagine why.      Maybe the sprint first and then an Oly, which would be tough, but the other way around would kill me!

Have been getting in some decent training since we got home and seem to be handling the longer hours but need to start eating a bit more.   Seems we need more fuel for some reason.   Not super confident about doing the Olympic, mostly the run portion.   Might feel better after this weekend's 'big' training day.  

ANNE -

"Dig into the 40s"?   Okey-dokey!:   3/5 in 45-49, 4/13 in 40-44.....then 5/14 in 35-39 before crashing and burning amongst the 30-34 crowd --- 10/10!

Signed up for Double Fronhofer.  More on that later.  And two more to you for now, soon to follow.

ANNE again -

I would never-ever-never-ever impose my system of "standards" on anyone else, and I fully (well, mostly) understand why people view these sorts of accomplishments in a "lifetime" sort of way.  But just as I use "retired" now, as opposed to "teacher" (or going back further, "wildlife biologist", or even further "taxi driver"), it works about the same in my brain vis-avis "ironman", or even "marathoner".   And even though back when I played a ton of baseball, and later on spent a fair bit of time at volleyball, I can no longer use those as describors of myself.  I almost feel that asterisks are required, or at least starting off sentences with "I used to be....", or "Back in the day I did......"   For me, there have to be touchstones, and I guess for IM, once three or so years rolled by since having done my second one.....it just didn't seem to apply to me any longer.

But I'm glad that in your eyes I remain an ironperson!

ANNE once more -

The plan is still to do a long ride with you two on the Sunday.  Who knows what shape my hip will be in......but I'm assuming it will be good to go.  That said, though, I haven't ridden more than 1:45 since it flared up about 15 months ago, but (a) it has gotten slightly better since then, (b) I know how to manage it to some degree whilst riding, and (c) I know how to manage it via Aleve (although that's not reliable).  And if the hip is workable for a long ride, I will drive ahead of you, maybe doing 5-10km jump-aheads, just so you know where you're going.  I mean that very seriously!

The township just south of ours, the one that has done such a remarkable job repaving and then painting in commodious lanes perfect for cycling, has just finished work on yet another link for me.  I really am blessed with how safely I can ride such a huge expanse, once I drive for about 10-12 minutes to get to where the getting starts to get good.  I don't have a clear sense of mileage for us, but I think I can twist and turn easily enough to get up to 90km, and very easily 3+ hours. 

I want to get it all firm between now and the 5th, but as of tomorrow I'm away until Sunday, and then I will have to do some serious cramming of my training prior to Double Fronhofer, so I'm not sure I'll get there to do an exact mileage check on an exact route.  But as a Preview of Coming Attractions, we will start and finish at Berwick.  To find that, look SE of Ottawa, roughly between Cornwall and Ottawa.  If that fails, find Ingleside (west of Cornwall, along the St. Lawrence), then come north to Finch, then just a tad further north to Berwick.  We will go from Berwick through Finch and down to Ingleside, then along the Long Sault Parkway where I hope we can take a dip in the St. L., then back to hwy 2 past Long Sault itself, then up some and over to St. Andrews West (just north of Cornwall), turn there to head NW to Harrison's Corners and then up to Avonmore, along 43 westward to a nowheres road where we will go north for about 6km until we are even with, but east of Berwick, then head east towards Moose Creek and back to Berwick.  (There are a few sidetracks we can take to add time/distance, including one to Monkland after we hit Avonmore, and another NW towards St. Albert.)   Wheeeeeeeee!

Gotta get out on the bike and do a ride on MY NEW PEDALS (and new cleats on old shoes), and also a run of some duration.  Then when i get back I will conmment on your big weekend coming up, which sounds absolutely superb; what a tune-up!!

And just checking here:  For The Canadian, you are doing the Half and Ken is doing the Full, yes?  I'm hoping to be here for that, which is on the Saturday if memory serves correctly.

ANNE - Finally got a chance to read you National Championship RR! Sounds like you had a great time - 11% grade on the bike is vicious, especially right at the front of the bike split - I would have tried to hold onto someone else's bike and let them pull me up! So when do you get to go to London, and what will you be looking to win? I'm assuming World Champion? Wow!!

JOHANNE - Also stopped by your blog (awesome blog, btw) and read your Vineman RR. How did you like the point to point race? The groping would have freaked me out a little but what can you do? Seems like you handled it very well, as well as the rest of the race. Congrats on the PR! That has to feel great! I bet it was a beautiful race. And your friends seem so cool! They cheered you on, made you lunch and drove your car home! 

STEVE - You're a triathlon machine. How many more do you have scheduled for this summer? I looked at your profile/logs and didn't see anything.

I had a weak moment Sunday and made fried okra. It's a southern summer tradition around here and my organic co-op sent me home with some fresh okra...so..... Other than that I've been sticking to my eating plan and am losing some fat, but the weight isn't coming off. Clothes keep getting larger and scale isn't budging. Oh well... 

Registered today for Redman 70.3; going to do the "Duncan Dehydrator" 50 mile ride this weekend as a training ride for Hotter n' Hell Hundred in August - shooting for 100K unless it's cooler than usual then will try for 100 miles. Planning on signing-up for the Toad Suck Half Aquabike in Conway, Arkansas in early August if time/finances both permit. Coach thinks it will be a good race to check-out my riding legs for Redman two weeks later, and with no run it will not require any recovery time. My run still sucks but I'm not stressing about it. On the bright side my golf game is really evolving in a good way.  

The major thing I'm concerned about is nutrition for Redman. Last year I hit a small wall at mile 40 during the bike split - I was starving and out of energy. I am kind of at a loss as to how to fuel for a 70.3 so any advice will be greatly appreciated.

TRINA -

Ah-ha!  You're back, and with tales of fried okra glory as well!

I love the names of your races - Duncan Dehydrator, Hotter 'n Hell, and best of all, Toad Suck.  And to think my most recent one was "Vermont Sprint II"; borrrrrrrrrrrinnnnggggggg!

Truth told, I don't know what I will do for the rest of the season.  This one is my latest-started ever, and I'm sprt of cobbling it all together as I go.  There are about 293 permutations that I could create, but how it all shakes down is mostly on a week-by-week basis.

Back when, I would have my race sched in place, mostly, by late November.  The "mostly" part pertains to add-on races, "C-priority" things, that would come up mid-season and seem appealing and doable....so i'd sign up and do 'em.  I loved ahving big goal races in place so far in advance......but then I kept having episodes of getting hurt, and having to bail, and eating too many registration fees, and so I stopped being so foresighted.

Really, i'd love to be able to tell you my schedule, but after Fronhofer Double (oly at 8 a.m, sprint at 2 p.m.) on Aug 4, it's not at all clear.  I will probably do something on the Aug 25/26 weekend, and it could be (a) an oly in Old Orchard Beach, ME, (b) an oly near Bridgeport, CT, (c) two sprints, one in eastern NY and the other in western MA, or (d) the Triple Challenge at Chicago Triathlon.  I would most love to do triple Challenge, which I pulled off in '08, but I will have been in massachusetts the previous weekend and likely won't want to drive all the way to Chicago so soon after that.  (Trip Chall is the super-sprint on Saturday, and then on Sunday the first wave of the sprint at 6 a.m. and the first wave of the oly at about 9 a.m.  It's a blast-and-a-half....but will probably wait until next season. 

As for September and early October ---- manymanymany options.  Wheeeee!

By the by, I agree with coach that doing T.S aqbk would be great prep for Redman.  i hope you can find the time and the funds.

Redman is Sept 22, i believe, and keep on bugging me about nutrition for it!!!!   I'm sure we can craft a good plan for you that can combine formulated energy foods and drinks along with real foods, too.  I firmly believe that for HIM, the menu must be appealing, with everything available being desirable (although NOT fried okra!).  There is a fudge-factor here, which means that one must address serious nutritional and hydrational needs and can't just skate through it with yummy stuff.....but there's plenty of room for good things that pack a nutritional punch as well.

I'm gone this weekend, satrting tomorrow and not home afgain until late Sunday, but sometime next week we should start to bounce some ideas around.  That'll give you plenty of time to fool around with stuff and see what works for you and what fails abyssmally (sp??).

Does coach have anything nutritional thoughts for you?  And congrats on the golf successes!!

Back from the track and my last real run workout before my 'A' Olympic race. All about dialing in race pace which I continue to say is 7:30 / mile until it's proven otherwise!

Already looking ahead to late Summer and early Fall races. I have North Park Sprint tri two weeks after Pittsburgh. Today I signed up for a free (my fav price) running clinic put on by the West Penn Health System as part of the Pittsburgh Great Race. I haven't yet committed to the Great Race itself which has 5K and 10K options and is at the end of September. On one hand, I'd like to have a standalone 10K time for reference, and it's the 12th largest 10K race in the country. On the other hand, I would love to see if I can improve on my February 5K time. Plus some friends are doing the 5K, and it's always fun to smoke your friends, right?!    

Others on the schedule are Cranberry Township Aquathlon (would be my first non-tri multi-sport race) in mid-August followed the next day by a JCC Long Course Swim Meet I did last year. Still kicking around Savageman 30.0 or, dare I say it, 70.0 in mid-September. I'm thinking the half iron would require a big step up in training time commitment, particularly due to the challenging bike course.

IMAZ is still a big GO! I'm on week 14 of 30

Hi Trina,

Yes, Vineman was fun. Made even more fun with the company It sounds like yoga already have a fan club for Redmond.

For a HIM nutrition start, here is what I did. I'm still working out what works best for the longer distance but this worked for me.

I ate 'clean' for the 4-5 days before the race. No wine, no sweets, healthy meals, etc. Race morning I had an english muffin with peanut butter and a banana. Before the swim I drank 1/2 a bottle of a CarboPro/Heed mix. About 15 after getting on the bike, I ate a Luna bar then I had set my Garmin to buzz every 15 min to eat or drink something. For the whole bike I had a bar, a bottle of CarboPro/Heed, a roll of Chomps, a gel and a bottle of water. Then on the run I had a gel every 45 min and drank water at every aid station. Towards the end I also had Coke at the aid stations. This was the first race that I really stuck to my nutrition schedule and it worked for me. Really work at testing this stuff out during training. I haven't been good about that but I'm going to try to be better about that in the next few months.

Fun times!

Johanne

Rev3 races gets big raves, but I have yet to do one.  I came very close to doing the first year of their iron at Cedar Point, and then chickened out....and I guess I have trouble getting back into their fold.  I'm looking at one in Maine in late August.....and maybe I'll use this discussion as my catalyst.  I'm feeling quite keen right now!

They set themselves up as a kind of challenge to WTC, trying to address some of the aspects of overcrowded courses that WTC was beginning to favor 3-4 years ago.  They also tried to choose locations that are good for the whole family, so amusement park settings (i.e., Quassy and Cedar Point) were amongst their first races.  Some people have groused that their price points are too close to WTC, and while that's true it is also true that they don't crowd courses and they seem to FULLY understand what triathletes want and need.

Yeah!  I'm keen on doing Old Orchard Beach on Aug 26!  Ocean swim, too!!!!!!!!!!!!

GANG!

The morning is already creeping away from me, and I have to leave here all too soon.  So, I will try to knock off a few quick comments.....and then I'm incommunicado until Sunday evening, or maybe more likely Monday morning.

I think it's two of your -- ANNE and DAVE -- in battle mode this weekend (and possibly JeffTX?).

ANNE -  Enjoy the dickens out of the BIG traiining event!  That'll be awesome experience, period, but especially so in light of The Canadian.  I'm not sure training options present themselves so beautifully, ever!

DAVE -  Have a great race with your "A" race!!!  I came very close to altering my weekend's plans to fit in Pittsburgh (I was viewing both.....), but decided to stick with the status quo for this year.  Maybe next year?   And stay with that 7:30 goal....but don't aim to set into it right from your first step out of T2.  Pay attention to your watch, and definitely monitor where you're at timewise at the first mile.  It would be great if they had markers at km points, and if you hit that at 4:50-5:00 you'd be doing well.  Take carfeul notes -- i might need 'em for next year!

GEORGE -

I cast my vote fully for you to do that sprint!  For many, many reasons,, sprints are the perfect entry into tri, and one that seems to advertise being beginner-friendly is even better.  Those tend to "scare off" the more studly, experienced triathletes, thus clearing out the field for the folks who don't want the frenetic vibes that the hard-core ones can generate.

Do it, do it, do it!!

As for the Xterra one, well, if you do that you're a better person than I am.  i have never done one due to a huge fear of injuring myself on uneven and suspect terrain, and I leave those to folks who are both brave or bionic (Or at least think they are!).  That said, not all Xterra are created equal, and some are deliberately kinder and gentler -- maybe "Xterra Lite"?  Which is the one you are considering?

Finally, no Carbo-Pro to you yet, and for that I deeply apologize.  It just fell off my radar totally, and I have now placed the canister at my feet here at the computer to remind me to get my act together and ship some to you asap!

Still feeling good about the last GF?  You should -- that age group placement really was superb!

HOKIE JEFF -

You're aging up into 55-59?  That's a good a.g. to go into.....but not near as nifty as 60-64.  It's funny with the age groups, that they're one of the few venues in the world where getting older has its benefits.  While I'm not exactly thrilled about truning 65, againg into that a.g. will be thrilling.  I know that if I can maintain consistency between now and 2014 season, I'll be in for some stellar USAT rankings placements.  As for you and 55-59....it'll be great to shrug off all those pesky 50- and 51-year olds!  (Although at 63 now, i find those pesky 60- and 61-year olds just think they own the a.g.!  Harummpphhh!) *

What's the word on the street about wetsuits at Venice -- still unlikely?  The website suggests water temps will be high 70s.....but what is the latest thought on the matter?  I know that ocean currents are hardly predictable, and what happens in the east Atlantic is affecetd by what happens with the Antaractic currents, or their offshoots, so........

* Just aged up to 60 is one Steve Bradley, from VA.  He is already the owner of four USAT races, so his name is in the rankings already.  I have never met him, although there are a few races we have in common, but just not the same year.  he is a good example of someone who has improved with age, as his results now are a whole lot better than they were a few years ago.  Maybe someday we'll compete in teh same race on the same day, and we can cross the line together holding hands raised high.  Or not!

JOHANNE -

What a superb nutritional plan you followed for Vineman -- no wonder you did the thing feeling so solid throught!  I hope you have that plan carved in stone somewhere, cuz with just a few tweaks and refinements and additions, it should be a rock-solid foundation for IMAZ.

Eating "clean" is big, especially for HIM and IM.  Of course, we all have our ideas of what "clean" means, in which case it probably comes down to making mindful improvements in ones' eating styles.  Any improvement is better than none, especially for those of us who can be "sloppy" eaters, and for me --- I just start from that point and see what I can improve upon!  (Note:  For sprints, i don't really bother trying to be a good boy, food-wise; for olys,  though -- sometimes!)

ANNE -

Let me wiat a few days for thoughts on what is worst in slam-bam races -- the oly first, or the sprint.  It's not a cut-and-dried matter, and each carries risks.  My two best examples are Fronhofer, where it's oly at 8 and sprint at 2, and Chicago, which is sprint at 6 and oly at 9.  But even that is not easy to compare,a s Fron is hilly and Chicago is flat.  And there are also situations in which I ahve done sprints on both Sat and Sun.....and inevitably the second one does not go as well as it would';ve if it had been the only thing I did that particular weekend.  But more later!

Agaian, i envy you the training "event" this weekend.  You are soooooo lucky to have that at your disposal!

DAVE -

As an add-on thought to one earlier, take the final mile of the bike to stretch out some of those running muscles.  Do a couple sets of alternating grinds and spins.  For the grinds, het in big ring and smallest (or second-smallest) cog, and get out of the saddle for about 10-15 seconds, really feeling the power coming down through your thighs and claves.  And then shift to small ring and maybe your 19-tooth cog, and spin for about 10 seconds.  Then repeat.  Aim for a feeling in your lower body that is quite different than what you've felt for the preceding 38km or so.  (And if it feels really good, repeat again!)

Have a great "A" race!

GREAT weekends for all of you, I hope!

See you Sundaynight/Mondaymorning.

Play nicely togther -- as usual -- while I'm gone!

Got rained out of the two outdoor pools we somehow ended up belonging to this summer, so I had to go to the indoor backup pool where a woman was holding a remedial swimming class in the lap lanes. She took pity on me and let me have a lane. Proceded to rattle off an 1,100 yd swim at 1:25/100 average pace followed by 4x100 average of 1:14 and a 250 yd. warm-down. Super pumped and excited for Sunday!

To keep the good karma rolling, I signed up to volunteer for the Sprint / Adventure (kayak) races on Saturday. I have to go down and pick up my race packet anyway, may as well get free food and a t-shirt out of it. Plus I'll get to tease cheer on some friends who are racing. Only downside is they want us to be there at 4:30 am. 

Hope you have a GREAT race on Sunday, Dave!    Can't go wrong being super pumped and excited.      

TRINA,

ANNE - Finally got a chance to read you National Championship RR! Sounds like you had a great time - 11% grade on the bike is vicious, especially right at the front of the bike split - I would have tried to hold onto someone else's bike and let them pull me up! So when do you get to go to London, and what will you be looking to win? I'm assuming World Champion? Wow!!

Thanks, Trina.   Our London race is September 2013.   Not looking to win anything - far from it.   Just wanted the opportunity to race at the same venue as the 2012 Olympics and see the Elites compete for the World title.    I really can't compete with the caliber of athletes at this event - my big goal is to NOT embarrass myself.  

BOY, you are doing alot of events and they sound tough.    I'm really anxious about the nutrition aspect of my HIM too, and appreciate the advice JOHANNE gave both of us.      Going to give it a test tomorrow.