Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete - Always OPEN (Page 18)

Hi all ... I've been MIA for a while and seems I've a lot of catching up to do.  I was on a ski trip to Whitefish, Montana and it was absolutely the best snow I've had EVER at this mountain.  We had constant snow over the course of 3 weeks - >5ft.  There were days wherein no-one was skiing off the lift we were on and the snow almost covered your tracks between runs.  Skiing in deep snow is like fire and ice ... it is sooo good - but physically it is harder and just wears me out.  I was soooo tired; glad I went and glad its over with too. 

When I joined back with the group this year there was mention about doing a weight loss challenge and I was glad.  Weight loss has been extremely difficult and frustrating to me, so it'll be nice to compare with others in the group.  Scott, if you could please add me to your spreadsheet, I'd appreciate.

Ciao ... Dorm

Hi George ... I had a bad bout with planter fascitis about this time last year too.  There were several suggestions of things to do to relieve the pain.  The action that turned it around for me was doing a deep calf stretch for ~3-4 minutes, first thing in the morning and last before bed.  I'm not sure of the muscular/skeletal connection with this, but I felt all of this is tied together at some point.  And again, it seemed to be the key action that relieved the pain; i.e. it worked for me!

Ciao ... Dorm

This is usually me the week before a race.  Trying to change that this year but only had so-so progress with it so far.  

Enjoy the time in Hawaii and have a great race!  Looking forward to hearing how it went.

Janet

I had an interesting swim this morning.  After the normal "alarm goes off, I think of all the excuses not to go (it's cold and dark outside, it's warm in bed, I can always go tomorrow instead, etc)" I got my butt up and went to the pool.  Opened the door to the pool area and it was dark and there was a sign up saying "Pool closed" but I could see people in the water.  So I asked and they said the pool was open, they just forgot to change the sign and they couldn't get the overhead lights to come on.  So I did my swim in the dark - not totally dark, the underwater lights were on.  It was a little hard to see the clock on the wall (regular clock, they got rid of the pace clock since it never worked anyway) or my watch to time my send-offs but I did the best I could with it.  It was kind of nice - a little more peaceful than normal.  Wonder if we can convince them to leave the lights off every morning .

Janet

Hey Dorm.  You're added.  Just need some numbers!

Keep it up everyone, we're starting to accumulate some real weight loss across the group!

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Hey Steve,

When I saw the subject line - my first thought, before I read a single word, was "Steve needs a new HR strap."

There's a hidden lesson there for all the newer people.  If your HR suddenly is doing "crazy things," manually check your HR.  Garmin HR monitor straps are generally good for about a year of use and then they may start getting "sketchy."  You may start seeing an increasing number of drop-outs, or crazy HR spikes - both high and low.  

Hey Steve,

By now you have probably already had your first Mai Tai!

Enjoy your time in Hawaii and have a great race!

Hey Janet,

Just remember!  Twilight is when the sharks are most active!  

I rode outside today - because I could!

Nothing overly fancy, two-hours at 70-75%.  I'm not at all familiar with the roads here so I pulled up Google maps, found a country road away from town and just rode.  I saw one truck and a tractor so I picked the right router.  Other than the traffic, there were a lot of fields drying out from all the recent rain.  More importantly, I saw my shadow the entire ride!

I know, I'm easily amused.

Anybody have anything exciting planned this weekend?

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Like Steve I think my fairly new HR monitor has died.  

I had a pretty good day today.  Almost an hour in the pool doing 50m intervals and a few 100m as well.  Then I ran outside in bright sunshine and warm temps for an hour.  My first run in a week so I figure I was slower due to my inconsistent running.  So, good swim, mediocre run.

Tomorrow is our annual last indoor ride of the season.  Three hours on the bike/ trainer.  The time passes relatively quickly.  Surprisingly, the session is also the best attended of the whole winter season.

Sunday is my recovery day and pancake or cheese and ham omelette breakfast.  Plus, one of our granddaughters(5yr old) will be visiting for the weekend.  Maybe she'd prefer crepes with strawberries.

Have a good weekend everyone.

I think I'm getting sick .  Stuffy head, headache, general fatigue.  At least today is an easy day - just a 30' recovery ride.  

On a good note - I lost 1# this week (finally!)
Workout hours:
Swim - 1:18
Bike - 2:45
Run - 2:15
Yoga - :45

The swim camp I was supposed to go to yesterday got cancelled - not enough participants.  I was hoping to get a copy of the underwater video they do.  It would have been nice to see if I've improved at all since the last one.  I feel like I have.  Since the camp was cancelled I went for a normal swim day and I was hitting 2:05 for my 100's (I know that's still slow but better than the 2:10-2:15 I've been doing).  I'm sure some of that is consistency in swimming but it seemed easier - like i wasn't struggling as much with my form.  We'll see this week if it's just a one-day thing or if I can keep it up.  

I think my biking has been going well - I'm anxious to finally get outside and see how it goes.  Unfortunately spring just does not want to come here yet - it was supposed to be upper 50's yesterday and never got out of the low 40's.  Any nicer days we've had have been rainy.  I need to get out at least once before the end of April!

Running has been up and down - good weeks and not so good weeks.  I really hate TM running and it's a little easier now that it's light out a little later but again, rain and chilly weather make for some tough runs.  

Hope everyone has a good week!

I got the stuffy head, headache, and runny nose over the weekend too.  I didn't keep me down though.  

My weight was even this week.  

Workout hours: 377 minutes

We always waited for high tide to come in when were were fishing from the beach.  We pulled some Leopard Sharks and Sand Sharks from the beach.  The morning would have been a good time to fish too it sound like.  :-)

Weight - lost 1.6 pounds - finally!

Workouts -

Swim:  11.6
Bike:  6.2
Run: 4.4

Total 22.2

Company is gone.  Only missed my swim and run today.  We've had quite a few days of nice warm weather over the last couple weeks but it is forecast to cool off again later this week.

Weight loss 1 lb.

Swim - 96:05

Bike - 311:54

Run - 66:30

Total 469 minutes = 7.8 hours

I bailed on the recovery ride last night.  Between the not feeling well and my dad going in the hospital (he's OK, just some minor side effects from his radiation treatments), I decided a night off and a good night's sleep was the better choice.  Worked out well I think.  I'm feeling better today and made it to the pool this morning.  Just a short swim but I was able to hit 2:05 on my 100's again so I'm happy with that.  It's nice to feel like I'm making progress - makes me a little more motivated to get to the pool.  

Janet

Hey everyone!

Here's the most recent weight-loss/workout challenge results.

A reminder to everyone - the final weigh-in will be in two-weeks (April 1st), unless there is a consensus to extend beyond that date.

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I totally get your shark concerns.  I'm usually fine so long as I can see the bottom but as soon as it gets too deep to see I get a bit more anxious.  Still, really awesome to swim with the turtles.  Sounds like you're having a good time.

I've had a very lazy week this week.  I barely swam 20 minutes at the pool today and it was my first swim of the week.  No running yet.  I've only managed two bike rides and tomorrow will be another one.

Steve,

I feel your pain.  I grew up just a few miles from the beach.  On the weekends and during the summer, when I wasn't in the pool, I was at the beach.  I swam in more open water swim races than I can recall - all of them three miles or more in total length and going from the shore out to a turnaround then back.  That meant regularly swimming at least a mile-and-a-half out into open ocean.

It didn't really take that long for me to go from comfort in the ocean to terror.  The first thing that happened was I went snorkeling at Laguna Beach - a location I regularly went body surfing at.  What I saw with a diving mask on terrified me - there were dozens of Pacific Blue sharks just beyond the surf line near the rocks that make up the tide pools.  When I had done all that body surfing, I had no idea that sharks with an aggressive reputation and a history of attacks on humans were "RIGHT THERE."  Then "Jaws" came out and I suddenly developed a fear of being dinner.  On a family vacation in 1976 we saw a re-screening of the movie "Blue Water - White Death" down in Florida.  That was it!  Less than a year.  That was the end of my open water swimming career.  Yeah, I went on and competed in several triathlons with open water swims, but I was always terrified.  I operated on the principal, "I didn't have to be faster than the shark, I just had to be faster than one swimmer."

A few years ago, I was traveling and went to an unfamiliar outdoor pool to get a workout in.  It was during a 'Santa Ana' wind event in Southern California so there were extremely strong winds blowing and taking leaves, branches, etc. all over.  Bear in mind, I had been swimming in indoor pools for years at that point.  So there I was, swimming along at 5:00 a.m.  It was dark out and I was the only one in the pool.  Suddenly I felt something on my leg.  I ABSOLUTELY panicked.  In my mind, "IT" had happened.  I'd encountered a massive shark.  Then I remembered I was in a pool and there probably wasn't a killer shark swimming with me.  Thank goodness I was alone because it would have undoubtedly been comical for anyone watching me swim.  It took several minutes to get calmed down.  When I finally discovered a palm fond had been blown into the pool and that's what brushed against my leg, I felt like quite the fool.

That was the day I decided I had to do something about my irrational, debilitating fear of sharks.  I started reading everything I could about sharks and shark attacks.  I discovered that someone who is regularly in the water - a surfer for example - has a better chance of dying in an accident with their washing machine than they do by shark attack.  Of course the statistics don't mean much if "YOU" are the one with the shark on his/her tail.  But I digress.  I finally realized that my irrational fear was just that - an irrational fear.

I'm happy to say I am back to where I can venture into the ocean again.  The fear isn't completely gone, but at least it's manageable.  I will however, admit to a slight sigh of relief every time I get back to the beach.

Like I said, I feel your pain.