Baowolf's New Years Resolution Group-Closed (if are stuck with no group PM me) (Page 19)

I made my race report public. Let me know if you can view it.

@ Jared & Samantha: Happy birthday!!!

@Kumar: congrats! I'm glad to see you finished strong and more importantly, had fun!

@ Steve: slowly building up my inddor bike training, I realize that I get so bored during any session longer than 1 hour! Hope to build mental toughness and eventually do 3hours on the trainer. Hats off to you!

Good training last week, "long" run on Saturday on a beautiful but very windy day + strenght session.
Last night, 75 min bike. After 15-20 minutes I felt a drop of energy and was wondering why. Then I remembered that I only ate 2 pieces of toast with peannut butter at breakfast + small bowl of vegetable soup fro dinner. Doh!!! That's not good. I managed to finish training but was so hungry!!!

Nice workouts Isabella! Ha, I unfortunately never forget to eat

Kumar, great race report! Your joy comes through, and so glad you had a good day at Cowtown!

Sam: Yes I got engaged in December! It was in my first/intro post but that was a while ago. I dragged her along on a couple sprint tris the last few years and she did really well. We're looking at a destination wedding in Dominican Republic in 2015. Happy birthday, and enjoy Rainbow Sherbet's company!

Carol: I splurge on bikes every year. Last year I upgraded my road frame, and this year I plan on going full carbon on my mountain frame. SMH. I don't have kids yet, but I plan on upgrading their soft, mushy human skin into a full carbon one. Or an adamantium skeleton. I could probably use an intervention.

Mike D: Congrats on the personal best in the pool!

Isabella: I turn on a movie when I want to go on a long trainer ride. Helps me a lot. There are a ton of 3-hour movies out there :-)

And I'm with Carol: my body has no problem telling me I'm hungry. If my stomach forgets, my brain reminds, or my mouth just eats stuff even when it isn't hungry.

I like Mike's idea of hitting the reset button so much that I've done it myself. I didn't expect change of workplace to have as much of an impact as it has but things are finally slowing down. A good 45 minutes on the elliptical today; my HM is in 3 weeks....I'm so screwed but I have nobody to blame but myself. It will likely be a sufferfest unless the SMA angels can somehow carry me through.

I'm getting close to deciding on my race schedule for this year...and I'm not excited about it. My goal of doing an IM for my 40th is not looking like its going to happen; I know Steve has told me many times to do it when I'm ready but this has been a two year goal and I'm watching it go down the drain...very disappointing.

Jennifer, how far from Berwick are you?

I'm glad everyone else's training is going well. Kumar, congrats on your mary yesterday.....I'll go look for your race report now.

Berwick? Jay - you thinking of doing Pumpkinman this year?

Kumar, grats on finishing your Mary under the cutoff time. My wish however is that we could get you well trained for your next mary so that you can finish sub 6 hours or even sub 5 hours. This would take running consistently so you can run the whole marathon even if not at a "fast" pace. I think a no walking goal would be awsome for your next mary.

You fit into this group fine Kumar, everyone is welcome and hopefully I/we can provide some helpful information and motivation for you. You don't every have to run an entire mary, but if you want to, we could get you to that level of fitness. It makes the race completely different.

My workouts will be getting significanlty longer over the next 18 weeks... which means a little more on a daily basis, but much longer on the weekends, up to probably an 8 hour workout on Saturdays.

So heal up, get those legs healthy and we will get you back into it. The first trick will be to get your swim solid so you are comfortable covering that race distance while getting your run legs back and building a solid bike base. For now... enjoy.

So my wife I think feels bad that I can't eat chocolate or drink soda, so she is buying saltwater toffey and other snacks. That is sweet... but not helping. I think I may need to give up pizza for a few months. My wife cooks pizza and after a 10 mile run and a 1 mile swim to have hot pizza just sitting there ..... doesn't actually help with weight loss. I had good intentions until I got out of the water, then I was sooo hungry. Oh well, 4 more days until our monthly weigh in. For our OCD types round out those numbers so they are all even and such.

I think so Mike. It seems to be the most logical to me. I like having September race dates so I can wear a wetsuit....and its only a 2 hour drive from me. Plus, my training has been sporadic at best so that gives me time to get things together.

Hello Everyone again

The half marathon that has been haunting me again is finally laid to rest, I am tempted to go AMA again since i need a 1.5 hrs. run this week, but I also need a 3 hr. bike.Theres an organized hilly bike this weekend day totally eliminates the possibility of a HM. I feel i am almost fully recovered from my Mary 5 weeks ago, but still my legs are looking for to do run/walk during my runs.


@Steve and others.

Whats the balance again re.short runs in a week and a long run? can i do two short runs in succeeding days? to give one day off before a long run. I needed to do this so i can give a day off before a long bike ride. 8 hrs workout in a day wow!!!! I never went more that 4 hrs.(45mi/10mi brick) how do you recover from the 8 hrs?

@Samantha/Jared
Happy Birthday , Happy shopping to you Jared

@Phil
Sent everything to you man,Congrats on the engagement!!!

@Kumar
Recover fast bro, you have a Sprint to train for, swimming is a good time after a race, feels like aqua therapy for me.

@Carol
After Spending weeks in pool, i feel restricted in my wetsuit doing OWS. I am thinking of having laps using my wetsuit.

@Jay/Mike
I like you guy positive outlook on a bad weather and tight schedule.

@Isablle
Good 75min bike is it at night? how do you do it i am paranoid to bike at night.


Happy Training everyone

An 8 hour workout. Wow !!!

- Kumar

KUMAR Congratulations!! You did it, you finished a marathon! Way to go, now you deserve some rest and then set your next goal. We can cheer you on!

Kumar- Congrats Bro!!!!! I know you were excited to complete your first Marathon! You got this first sprint tri. Just pay the race fee and you will have to do it haha.

Samantha- What date was your birthday? Happy Birthday!

Karl- Still deciding which plan to take! They all look great!

Everyone seems like they are working hard. Keep up the good work!

Carl - I try to keep my runs and bike somewhat evenly spread out, but life doesn't always allow for that. I do try to always do my long run the day after my long bike so my legs know what it feels like to be tired. I also make sure I have one day that is swim only so my legs get to rest. For all the other workouts I try to do medium then short or vice versa. Mostly just get them done whenever works with yo schedule. Steve can probably elaborate on all I've said ;-). And yes when I'm in peak training it's a seven days a week affair.

Recovering from an eight hour ride....hmmmm. I guess that happens during recovery week. The rest of the time your just pushing your body. Sleep is always good too!

I remember one of my longest training rides. I started before nine in the morning and retired home after five. It was one of the hardest training days ever. When people as me if ironman was hard I tell them no. What's hard is being out on a bike for eight hours all alone when your body is being pushed to its limits with seven days a week training so you're exhausted while on that eight hour ride. During ironman you have hundreds of people telling you all day long that you are amazing and then they hand you fresh cold water, fruit, etc. anyway, I love telling that story.

Carol - sounds like some steady progress for you! I laughed out loud when I read your comment about never beig able to forget to eat. I don't think I'm capable of that either.

Have a great day all!

I run 5 days a week, so most days are back to back. It is fine to put 2, 3 or 4 days back to back take a day off hit your long run take a day off of the run and then back to it again. (while fitting in the rest of the swim and bike in your spare time 8).

This AM was great. I went out about 4:30 to get in my run, and I just felt awesome the whole time. I'm getting 'that feeling' of things going in the right direction, and while my fitness may have slipped, I'm not a trainwreck by any means, and some steady work will get me back up that mountain.

I also watched some YouTube video of Ironman Lake Placid 2012, and now I want to go sign up and do it! Logistically, its the easiest one for me. (can drive and bring my bike).

Jay -- There's a good chance I'll see you in Berwick. I wanted to do that race last year, but couldn't work out the logistics. The post race turkey dinner is a big draw for me

@ Phil: yes I also need my iPad nearby to watch stuff on youtube, I like to watch Ironman Championships but they only last an hour! LOL I guess I'll have to find long, action-packed movies or TV shows to watch... any suggestions??

@Steve: homemade pizza doesn't sound so bad, as long as you go easy with peperoni and use good tomato sauce and full veggies! Plus you need to replace those carbs, right? (evil pizza temptress cheking in!)

@strykergt: this is indoor biking, as in Canada we are still in several inches of snow and will be until April! Even in the Summer my weekdays bike training is done indoors, I don't trust car drivers at night

@Samantha: I love what you said about training being harder than the actual race. So true.

As for me I did something really dumb last night. So stupid that I am ashamed of telling about it. I was craving indian butter chicken & basmati rice and thought a nice fresh cucumber salad would go well with it. I cut open my finger on my brand new mandoline, because I didn't think using the food holder was necessary. Needless to say I had to cancel my swim. In fact I'm not sure if I will be able to get in the pool this week, at all.

Do you sometimes do dumb dangerous things out of sheer lazyness?
Please tell me I'm not alone!!!

Hi Everybody,

I've been missing for the last month since the family decided to take sabbatical. Now it's time to get back to training again.

I'm inspired by everybody's training and motivated to jump right back in. I've been catching up slowly on the 10+ pages on the forum thread. It is so good to see the group making progress and some of you already have some significant achievements under your belt already and it's only the February!

I started the the day off with an hour long ride on the spin bike at the gym (on the road so no access to the trainer) and a quick 1200 yd swim this morning. Hoping to get a short run in this evening too since weather is just perfect to run outdoors.

My goal over the next week is finalize HIM training plan and focus for the next 6 weeks is to focus on the 1/2 marathon in April.


- Anish

I'm about three hours north of Berwick (it's really close to the NH/Maine line). I did Pumpkinman a couple of years ago. It is an extremely well run race - very organized, lots of volunteers, lots of beautiful scenery...that being said, I don't think I will ever do it again. The swim is a two loop swim in a pretty murky/reedy pond. I was in the very last wave, so there was a TON of people to swim around by the time I got in the water. There is a SIGNIFICANT hill out of the pond to T1 (.25 mile at a very steep incline). The bike is a lollipop with two loops around - very nice, not too hilly at all. It was the run that did me in. It is a two loop - a gradual incline all the way to the turn around and then a slow hill back down to the other turn around. For me, hitting the turn around at the bottom knowing I had to climb another 2-4 miles was REALLY demoralizing. That and the fact that I was in the last wave, I'm a slow runner, so by the time I got to the finish, things had really been packed up - no more massages, no one at the finishing chute. Not a great experience for me.

I am doing the Patriot HIM this year (it's in June and sells out in December typically). I also have done the Patriot before and really enjoyed it. I have many friends who have done Timberman and speak highly of it. I have also been hearing positive feedback for a race in Vermont (I think they offer both a half and a full) by the same folks who do the Cranberry Tri Fest - might be worth a look-see.

Kumar - very well done! So glad it was a positive experience. Congratulations. I still don't think I've got the gumption to finish that distance.

Happiest of birthdays to both of the birthday people. I love a birthday.

Steve - so impressed with your training. I can handle the time on the trainer (I too just plug a movie in and let it rip) - mostly because I am pretty skittish about riding on the roads in this weather. With all the snow berms, I don't feel like I've got room to get out of the way if I need to, and I'm not a good enough rider to handle slippery patches of ice. It also lets me fit in laundry (swap the laundry out whenever I need to take a bio break) so I don't feel so guilty.

Glad to see (hear? read?) that folks are getting it done. Very motivational to me to know that you all can fit it all in.

Ciao!

Jennifer -- I'll see you @ Patriot this year! Its a fun race, really well run, and a good time had by all.

More swimming today. Another 2700 and I'm tired. Getting better thought. Bike tonight. Tomorrow a run.

Quick drive-by post. All this talk of pizza is making me hungry! I generally only eat thin crust pizza. The thicker crust stuff tends to be higher calorie and harder to time my insulin doses to match digestion timing. We get these from Costco and they are great if we are wanting a pizza "fix" without too much collateral calorie damage: http://www.palermospizza.com/our-pizza/primo-thin/margherita-pizza/

Good to see folks getting back to a level of training that suits them. I've been trying to figure out what that is for me as well. I need to be riding (event at the end of March), but I'm having trouble fitting it in. I'm working on rebuilding my run every other day now, trying to swim 3X/week, and doing the "shred" video every other day. I know there are enough hours in the day if I prioritize accordingly, but the thing is, I just don't want to devote that much time/energy to working out. So I think I'm going to drop the swim for a month or so, other than maybe a "relax and recover" swim if needed. Anyways...cheers to all in finding the balance that is right for each of us .

Went back to the doctor today as my pink eye has gone from bad to worse, I now have a sinus infection, ear infection and pink eye in both eyes. Needless to say my training has been nothing this week, I feel better today and may attempt a run tomorrow but right now its rest and a new round of antibiotics.

Kumar congrats on the marathon

happy training everyone else.

Ouche, get better Mike, don't worry about the workouts for now. I hope you get the right meds.

Half mile repeats today, windy: 7:30, 7:27, 7:44, 7:18, 7:08, 7:08. (headwind for first 3 tailwind last 3).

Edited by Baowolf 2014-02-26 4:07 PM

The concerning part of your unofficial race report is the idea of a murky/reedy pond. I've read a number of race reports and this is the only time I've read about this. (I even went to ST and searched the event) I'm a tad...errrr...skiddish when it comes to the swim so your description does concern me. I'm also not a big fan of double loops but I have done them before.

I can understand your overall negativity with your experience if you were one of the final people to the finish and there was little excitement for you.

Thanks for your input Jennifer! I appreciate knowing some of the pros/cons by someone who has experienced it before.

Mike - that is awful! Get better soon.

I recovered enough from my marathon to get into the pool today and swim for 45 mins. Still learning to swim, but felt good :-)