MJEWEN Spring 2013 Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 19)

1.) Swim Start from last Saturday's "Miami Mile"....

2.) going towards the first turn

3.) on the back stretch

4.) the final leg

note: I did not take these photos ... They can be found ay the following link: http://www.nikonmiami.com/swimmiami2013/

Terry - awesome pics, thank you for sharing! The weather looks gorgeous, and what a beautiful place for an OWS. How were the temps?

Very sad right now, following the news at the Boston Marathon. My thoughts are going out to all the people affected :-(

air temp about 80/ water about 74.

Wow, I had no idea about the marathon.....it is so sad. what a tragedy.

Indeed, very sad - and I'm feeling angry and kind of scared, too, by the whole thing. I wish there were some way to reach out to the families and help. I am sure there must be a way, but I haven't heard about it yet. So sad and senseless.

Tonight I got in 15minutes of running with about a five minute break and then about 10 more minutes in. My issue is that I start watching the timer on the treadmill and start thinking that I should go faster and why is this so slow. I am currently only using a stationary bike but I get in about 30-40 minutes on that and try to make sure that I am going 10-13miles on it. I go back and forth on the resistance on the bike to make sure that I am working harder for awhile then going easy for a few. Swimming will start at the end of next month when the pool opens for the summer. I just need to get back on track and make running my primary goal to get better at it. My biggest fear is that when I go to do the sprint tri that I will require a flashlight to end the race because I will be so slow.

Emily - No, I'm sure you won't be as slow as you think! We are always harder on ourselves than we probably should be. And you are training - so you'll be stronger by then! It sounds like you have a good workout routine going between the treadmill and the bike.

Personally, I can not do any speed work at all on the treadmill. I find it much easier to do that kind of thing with a group, or if I have to do it alone, on a track at least. It's just easier for me to run fast(er) when I can see the stretch that I have to complete rather than watching the seconds tick down.

I started a new swim class yesterday and it was fun. This is once a week for the next 6 weeks leading up to a 2.4 mile swim in the river here. I have wanted to do it for years, and I am going to just go for it. We did some drills and a few sets of 100 yards for a total of around 1100 yards. The nice thing is that it is in a 50 yard (or meter?) pool. So nice not to have to do 4 lengths, just 2 long ones to get a hundred yards done.

No workout planned today. Saturday is my first sprint, and I decided not to try renting a wetsuit.

Everyone ready for the weekend?  I am!  I've got a 10K race tomorrow to measure my fitness for the marathon.  Hope having other runners to compete against helps me do better than the time trial flop two weeks ago. I've heard the course is normally windy and hilly so not sure what to expect.  Then its a long run Sunday and my taper officially is underway.  I hate the taper.

Anyone ever try drinking beet juice?  Its supposed to help make it easier to use oxygen due to the nitrates.  I drank some beet/carrot juice before a marathon last year and have no idea if it helped.  I had a cup last night of pure beet juice and I think my recovery run today was easier than normal in terms of breathing.... like I wasn't jogging at all.  I'm really not sure if its placebo effect or not, but I'll have another cup tonight and then maybe one cup early morning before the 10k.  Then I'll do the same thing for the marathon probably.  The stuff tastes horrible, worse than liquid dirt in my opinion.  There have been quite a few studies confirming that beet juice helps performance in both runners and cyclists but I think its far from conclusive how much it helps or when and how much to drink to get the benefit.

Melissa - good luck tomorrow.... you'll be great...

Ken - yes- beet juice is good. But you have to add carrots and/or apples..and a touch of fresh ginger is nice.... I often mix in cordyceps and liquid iron.  I get the same feeling after - but not sure if it's physical or mental...

I'm doing the Bike MS ride this weekend.. 100 miles to key largo on saturday and back on sunday.....

Thanks Terry, good luck on your long ride! I bet that's a beautiful route.

Hm, beet juice - never tried it, but I would be game. I love beets, so I wonder why it tastes so bad - maybe because it's raw? Do you juice it yourself or buy it?

Some of my friends are avid juicers and I can not believe the amount of veggies that they have in their diet. That alone would be a reason for me to do it, just to get more of the green leafies and things like that. I hadn't heard about the recovery benefits, but I would tend to believe it. 

There's a heavy thunderstorms rolling in right now. My bike is out there because this tri has 2 transition areas and they ask that you at least rack your bike the night before. The lake was 74, so I feel fine with no wetsuit. Though I suppose the rains will cool it off some. I will report back tomorrow!

Terry - Awesome pics!  Good luck on your 100 miler.  The longest I've rode at one time is about 70 miles but I have kicked around doing a 100 miler this summer.

Emily- Good job on signing up for the 5k.  What about using a run/walk program.  Like run 5 min then walk 1min and do this for 30min.

Ken - Good luck at the 10k this weekend.  I've tried beet juice with apples.  It's not bad but does taste alot like dirt.  The only reason I don't drink it more is it makes such a mess. 

Melissa - Cool swim class!  I would love to go to a swim class like that with the final goal a 2.4 open water swim with the class.  Good luck tomorrow on your first tri! Very exciting. 

I haven't run since last Sat. when I hurt my calf.  It doesn't bother me when swimming or biking so I've stayed busy doing that.  I'm trying to decide about doing a short run tomorrow or just waiting until Monday.

Well, Melissa, we have the tail end of that front. It's been raining all night. Scheduled to rain on and off all weekend...... Good luck today.

Emily - that's a good strategy, just a little farther each time. And I think everybody has that funk descend over them from time to time. Glad it was gone quickly.

So, speaking of age, my husband got smoked by an 86 year old in the triathlon today! The triathlon was a mixed bag for me. It stormed last night and rained all night long, so conditions were very wet on the run and bike. Luckily, the rain stopped about 20 minutes before the swim started, but it was only about 52 degrees out so everyone was cold. Getting in the water was sweet relief at 74 degrees. I thought the swim went fine, pretty normal, and I worked hard on the bike, but my speed dropped toward the end. I don't have the splits yet, but my overall time was a little under 2 minutes slower than last year :-( That's not much, so I am not too bummed, but I am curious about where I lost the time. Probably on the run, to be honest, because I ran a 5k PR for this race last year. On the down side, the food was not ready at the end of the race, and I really needed something warm after that. We decided just to head home and get showered and changed rather than wait around any longer.

Terry - how was your bike ride?

Melissa - Great job on the race!  Wow that sounds cold waiting for the swim.  How did it feel getting on the bike?  I imagine it was freezing on the bike for the first part.

Terry - How did the return ride go?  Getting a hot spot on your foot can be really painful and make riding miserable.  I don't get it very often but it seems like maybe once or twice a year I will get it on a long ride.  The only thing I can think is on those occassions I must have either had my shoe to tight or to loose.

I went out for a 46mile ride today with my training buddy.  Just a nice easy pace today and enjoyed the good weather.

Thanks Emile... I agree with the hotpots being a shoe too tight..... at least that's how it was for a running shoe a while back..... that may have been the case this weekend although I loosened the shoe today and at about mile 32 it happened again.  I opted for the shorter course today. I didn't feel like riding today, but I'm glad I did.

This weekend's ride really made me reconsider all my training efforts. There's another 60 mile ride next weekend that I'll do in preparation for the 70.3.  In the meantime I have some weight work to do. Swimming technique and some easy running.  I'm posting photos to the album in a bit.

Emile.... after many hours in the new saddle, I like it. As long as I keep the body glide on the chamois everything is good.  I spoke to a friend during the ride about the hot foot issue. she said what helped her was a new insole that helped redirect the foot pressure... she got it at the LBS that I go to.

Terry - I like the saddle too.  Although I rode yesterday for the first time in a long time on my road bike and my butt was a little sore after the ride.  I think my sit bones have adjusted to my Adamo and now my road bike isn't as comfy as it use to be.

On insoles in cycling shoes I currently use Superfeet (yellow) and have used Sole insoles in the past.  I really think I like the Superfeet ones better.  The Superfeet yellow ones are made specifically for cycling shoes.

I ran 5.3 miles this morning hoping my calf wouldn't act up.  I kept it at recovery pace and never left my neighborhood just incase it started hurting I wouldn't be far from home.  It felt pretty good and never did tighten up on me.  My plan is to keep all my runs for the next couple of weeks at recovery pace.

Thanks for the insole tip, Emile. Have you tried Ken's calf exercises? and self massage with a foam roller for the calves?

When my calves were bothering me I stretched alot then did Ken's exercises and incorporated some agility drills and plyometrics to strengthen them.

Hello.........
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone home?

What"s up everybody???

Mike I've ordered a pair of the Desoto 400 mile shorts.....  I should get them today or tomorrow- ready for this weekend's long ride....

I got back to the gym this week for some strength workouts, I'll be focusing on my legs along with hill rides to prepare for NYC in July and more speed for the upcoming HIMs. I'll get to running again this afternoon but the long rides this weekend left my legs like jelly and my skin was radiating until yesterday afternoon because of the duration of heat exposure.  Swimming will come on also. It's just that work seems to be interfereing with my training plan...... that and a HS son who has decided to join just about every after school organization available..... I have become an official member of the Dad's Taxi Corps .....

oh... I downloaded Joe Friel's The Triathlete's Training Bible a few days ago and began to read and ponder his thoughts...... so far, it's a great book on organizing your efforts....

I'll post some more as i get further along.... has anybody read this??