Dangremond's April 2009 Mentor TEAM - CLOSED (WE'RE BUSY WORKIN' IT!) (Page 19)

Scott & Dewey ~ y'all have a great race...it will cool to meet each other I am sure!  Have fun, race hard and let us know how it goes as soon as possible.  Best of luck guys!

The tri was great fun.  Unexpected things happened though.  One was a woman stopped on the boat ramp getting out in front of me, forcing me to trui to put my legs down with a wet suit and finding I was in deep water.  Result was a hyper extended back that reinjured a 35 year old problem that I’ve dealt with on and off since I injured my back in a factory.  I couldn’t hardly walk to my bike. 

 I got my shoes on, got out of transition (over 4 minutes later) and rode 25 miles at 19.7 mph average.  Killer pain every turn when I had to get up to handle the brakes.  I rode at only 83% FTP, so it cost me time. My cadence was pretty good, nearly 90 average, I spun up the hills well.  I shifted down to the smaller ring on climbs which I did not have to do ever in practice. I just couldn't push down hard like I normally can without shooting pains.  I'm OK with the result.

 The run transition was ok, but I was sapped a bit from the pain.  Ran at 11 min splits instead of the 10 and under I wanted.

  I was 7th of 16 in the age group in the swim, 6th in the bike and dead last on the run.   Total time was 3 hours, 8 minutes which I’m told is OK.

 Came out as 15th of 16 overall. Blah.

 But I couldn't swim more than 100 yards or run at all a year ago, so I've got that going for me.  My bike max probably wasn't much more at 17.5 either. For a year time, being in the middle of the pack ont he swim and bike is good, I think.  I have work to do on the run. 

Progress.  I just want more. 

 Goals;

 - Reduce run time by adding a faster, shorter work every week.

 - Focus on increasing my bike average.

 - Lose more weight.  I have 20 that still needs to go to increase my power to weight ratio.

 - Find some sprints and an Oly for the rest of the year.  Race some running races for faster times. 

 - Add strength workouts to improve muscle tone, especially at the core.

 - Plan on a half Iron Man sometime later next year.

 - Keep the door open on a full Ironman in 2011.

Way to go both of you!!!  Scott, way to battle through adversity, and I hope your back heals up quickly.  I can sympathize, as I have a chronically bad lower back (for the last 14 years) that gets significantly worse every now and again.  Sometimes, I can't straighten up coming into transition - when that happens, the volunters, I'm sure, contemplate calling a medic over.  Oh well, it wouldn't be fun if it were easy, right?

And Dew, great splits!!  You're swim time is actually pretty respectable given the circumstances, and I'm jealous of it.  Great job on the other two legs as well and congrats on the top 10 finish!!  Woot!

Just use a progam like Picasa, or Microsoft's Picture software (forget the exact name).  Reducing an image to 50k should not deteriorate it's quality given the small size at which it is displayed.  Some programs, however, (for some reason) can over-pixelate the down-sized image. 

I've also heard decent things about www.tinypic.com (online hosting of images, with automated resizing available).

Linda rocked the HARDWARE!  Way to represent!  woot-woot!  Awesome job ~ you put in the time in your training and you deserve that 1st Place!  Your work ethic and dedication is an inspiration in itself! 

Grace ~ we all go through the ebbs and flows of training and anxiety associated with race day.  You will do well... stay positive and like Dewey said ~ Just have fun out there!  Ease the anxiety, the worry or negative thoughts with a big ol' happy face!  Smile, enjoy the moment, know that the pain will fade and the endorphins will be all consuming when you cross that finish line!

Keep workin' it hard gang ~ have fun and look good, like you know we should!!! 

Wow Terps - great job!!!!!!

I had a fun weekend, even if it didn't set me up very well for the race (see my logs if you want).

I had a decent race.  I had my best swim yet (5th in AG and top 30% OA), a decent bike, and an off run.  Finished MOP in my age group.  I'm generally satisfied with those kinds of results, particularly the swim.

The race report is up!

Thanks everyone, for the inspires - it was great to read them all!

Oh, and here's Terp's race report.  Go ahead and hammer her with praise!

Check this out to fix your pictures; http://www.photosize.com/  Free, resizes so you can save a smaller version without hurting the original.

Linda, great job!  Riding in rain is challenging two ways.  Falls and flats.  Prevent one as you said, using caution on turns.  Also, avoid riding on the street paint.  Lane markings get very very slick.  You can also reduce tire pressure a little to increase traction. 

My own health has sucked.  Temps up to 104.  Cellulitis attacked my lower right leg.  Two kinds, one slow to come, slow to go.  Treated outpatient.  This was my second bout with the hot fast moving kind.  Fast to come, very sick, hard to get on top of, hard to beat.  5 days in the hospital ended yesterday.  Now 10 days on two pills.  (One cost $200 for 10.  Insurance picked up half.)

Leg is sore, red, and stiff.  Affected area is shrinking.  No temp.  At work after discharge at 5 p.m. yesterday.  

Pluses. 

-I didn't lose my leg which almost happen3d last time because I was so fat the medicine was hampered.
-I won't lose much in the way of fitness.  Last week was a rest week anyway.  My coach assures me not to worry.  I remember Lance on Ventoux and think, if he can do that after 4 years, I'm jake.  
- Gives me time to map out what's to come this fall.

The struggle has been both physical and mental. Athletes tend to beat themselves up for things like this.  But I didn't cause it.  A bug bite probably did, no kidding.  Crap happens sometimes.  Go with the flow.  Fighting it and getting frustrated does no good.