Come fly with me!- Closed again with a bunch of winners! (Page 18)

The pace in parenthesis is my earlier post can't be correct even though that is what they sent me in an e-mail. What is correct is my overall time of 1:10:11. It is 15 minutes faster than my time last year. Even with a much slower pace, I am still happy with the results.

Way to go. Congratulations!!! I am glad you beat your brother! Did you giggle as you passed him?

I don't have any tips to share because I have it easy. My family worksout and trains with me. My oldest son does not, but that is because of his age and interests. We try to include him...for instance we are going on a weekend of bike riding to a fun/small town in NC. We are bringing him and his girlfriend with us. They won't be riding the distances that we are, but they will get in a few miles and we will enjoy being together. I also get him to drive SAG (support and gear...he follows the ride in the car offering food/drink and mechanical support) for some of our rides. He occasionally volunteers at some of the events that we choose to participate in.

When the kids were much younger, we would take them on bike rides. We rode at their pace, stopped a lot, and tried to make it interesting for them. We didn't get much of a heart workout, but it helped us get in miles. It also got the kids used to riding. Our youngest has turned into a bike riding fool. Our oldest doesn't love riding as much as we do, but he can hold his own.

I also only work part time. I work in a health conscious kind of place. I am encouraged in my efforts to train, and they really like it when I ride my bike to work. They have even paid my entry fees into a local 5K.

I am interested in how the rest of you keep the balance.

A huge congratulations Cole, We are so proud of you. What an awesome job.

As far a training and family I try to do my in the early morning before the family is up.
Swimming is hard because of the time available to swim at the high school.
There is a little give and take and when my girls do not want me to go swimming, I stay home, they are more important.

For me I think I just do the early morning late evening thing as much as possible. I have done a lot of runs at 10pm after kids are in bed and I have had a chance to unwind a bit and decide if I am really this nuts...yep I usually am. I try to especially be around in the afternoons when the kids get home from school. It definately isn't an easy juggle and I am not the most consistent training person in the world but I try to keep priorities.

Now that we have gotten a race under our belts (I think we all have who are still here and active) What have you learned from your race? What worked? What didn't? What would you change? What would you keep doing?


Along those lines, I noticed several people who joined our group are no longer logging workouts (I can't say they are no longer training but it seems to logically follow) What can we do to keep this from happening to us? What will keep us going in the sport?

Cole, awesome race...you made us all proud!

As far as balancing my work outs/training...I have it pretty good too.  My oldest left for college in August of 08 and my youngest is a freshman in High School that plays basketball and is on the track team...needless to say...she is always on the go!  I leave early in the mornings for the Family Y and I work less than one mile away...so it is very easy for me to spend 45 minutes everyday at lunch at the Y again.  I can always make enough time on the weekends for training too.  My wife is totally fine with the time that I put in and really enjoys going to the events and being the official picture taker!  For extra money I give music lessons in my home after work...so that doesn't allow me to have any time Monday-Thursday in the evenings...now that it is warming up outside, I would love to be able to get some biking in during those times...but I can't complain.

What kind of music lessons do you give? I love music.

I teach drum set, guitar and bass guitar.  I graduated in 1984 and spent the next 10 years playing drums in a variety of different bands.  Ended up being on the road with a country band in the early 90's...spending way too many nights away from home!  Finally got a "real job" and have been teaching on and off every since.  Had a great time and wouldn't change a thing about it...okay, that's not true...I had a great time...but I sure do wish I had a Grammy and a Platinum album over the fire place!!

I don't think everyone has a race complete yet. Jeff has his first race coming up soon.

Your absolutely right. Perhaps our experience can save him a hard knock or two :-)

Thats awesome. What country band did you tour with? I have never had the coordination to play an instrument. I sure admire people that can though. Thats a talent.

Thanks Scott, I was with a band called Silver Wings...released one CD in 1991...had some good airplay with a song called "Long Ride Home".  No major label ever picked us up, so we spent a lot of time opening shows for larger acts.  When I left them I started doing some recording...I have done drum tracks for a heavy metal guitarist, a "Beatles" influenced pop band...even a 72 year old western swing singer!  All enjoyable recordings and really kept me on my toes!  Thanks for letting me relive some of the "Glory Days"!!

Thanks Cole, one week until my first tri, as I said to Cole, the more I think about it the more nervous I get. It is wierd, I have done bodybuilding shows, standing in front of hundreds of people in a little posing suit and was not nervous one bit.
I do not know what is making me so nervous. 
The posts on your races,reminds me to stay within myself, find my rhythm and stick with it.
I am reminding myself that this is my first race, something to gauge future races on.
Any extra input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for all the help already.
Reading the post does put my mind at ease.
Thanks again
Jeff

The best advice I can give at the moment is 2 things...Breathe and smile, breathe and smile. Enjoy all that your training has brought through and to. Besides the way you have been training you'll be great.

Jeff,
Is there any particular area that you are nervous about with the tri? One thing you might try that would help with nerves a bit is to take the time to sit down and visualize the race. Every part from warm up to transitions to finishing and seeing everyone cheer for you as you cross the finish with a big smile and feeling of accomplishment. Try to see all the little details. If there is something in particular that makes you a little uneasy, practice it a bit before next weekend. You might even set up a little transition and go for a bike ride, come back, change and head out for a little run.

One response I have when I get nervous also is to slow down. If I go too fast bad things happen. In a previous post I put smile and breathe. That actually helps me a lot. The smile reminds me to have fun no matter what. Breathe reminds me to relax, slow down and just focus on the next couple of steps or revolutions. I can't worry about the finish until I am there.

Well I hope that helps a little more. Let us know if there is anything else we can do for you. We'll be rooting for you!

I think one of the most important things that I learned was how to recover after a race. I learned that I need to take the week after the race to fully recover. That means easy workouts and lots of refueling.

The one thing that I would change is throwing up at the finish line. I would love to figure out what makes me do that, and then stop doing it. I am pretty sure it isn't nerves or nutrition that causes it. Now if I could just figure out what does cause it.

I found that the psychological part of racing is very important. It is important to stay within your limits to insure that you finish the race strong. That means it is important to know your limits (that would be why we have done so much experimenting with heart rate zones.) Going out too fast can be catastrophic. Don't let the person beside of in front of you dictate your pace.

I also learned to not hate racing. For the most part, I enjoy exercising for fun. I have learned to find ways to enjoy competing.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Yes Happy Easter!! Have a great day

Question?????

What is the next thing we are looking forward to? Working towards?

Jeff has a tri this weekend. Hope the taper week is going well for you.

Thanks everyone for a great mentoring board, I really enjoyed reading the posts.
My taper is going well, I already see an increase in energy just from the decrease in volume the past few days. I am staying hydrated and trying the G2 for the electrolytes as mentioned earlier by Karen.
So far so good.
Thanks again.
Jeff

Edited by spinepa 2009-04-13 6:57 PM

Good deal. I have had bad luck stomach wise with gatorade in the past but the new G2 stuff seems to work well and not be so acidic. Good stuff.

Jeff,
Good luck with your race! I look forward to hearing all about it....we want all the details. Your training has been great, so your race will be too. Good luck.

Ditto Jeff.
I am anxious to hear how you do and all about the experience. Good luck!!!!