Team KiterChick - CLOSED (Page 20)

Today I did my 15k race at Gasparilla. Did not go as well as I had expected, but it was fine, and I showed a great attitude and mental will to push through it. My race report is in the forum. 

Also, yesterday I did another swim workout with my new Garmin and this time it was perfect, it identified all the strokes correctly

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Sounds like it was a heck of a race. Personally I don't do well in the heat. I end up with cramps, puking and other nasty things. I'm glad you were able to finish stong, keep up the great work!

Beth

Hi Beth,

Thank you. It was brutal, I am just happy I did not give up

KiterChick - 2012-03-04 11:20 AM 
 A 1:25 half is really fast too, so hopefully there's still hope for you winning this bet. Sounds like you'd kill him on the swim a least!

He finished in 1:32, so he is going to have to start his intensive swim training Yes, I will beat him buy aprox. 8-10 minutes on the swim.

And I've finally returned!!! After three weeks off from training and being admitted to the hospital Friday night they finally got my head straight and there's no threatening problems.  I'm on steroids for a week now and I'm cleared to start training again "as tolerated."  I did a 45 minute 4:1 interval yesterday at low to moderate exertion just to pull my heart rate through the range and make sure that it didn't feel like my head was going to explode.  So far so good.  I'm going to ease into things with some cycling this week and maybe a run mid week.  I'm happy to be back to training even in a reduced capacity.  It's amazing how quickly you lose the gains you had made when something like this happens.  Hopefully they come back quicker this time than it did to make them the first time.  I'm keeping my goals the same which is to the a HIM in August.  

Hope everyone is well and it's good to be back!

Shane

Shane,  It's great to have to you back, but I am sure you are more happy about it.   Make sure you take it easy getting back into training.  I am sure it will come around quickly.  

Hi everyone! Was dealing with a bit of the "Irish flu" yesterday, but am feeling like myself again today, and took advantage of the sunny, although very chilly, weather outside and went on a run this morning. I was pretty happy with my pace, considering my current shape. I'm definitely still having issues with the new HRM though. This time it said I averaged 128. While higher than the previous 103 readout, I would still hope that I'm pushing myself a bit harder than that!

Sebastian - Way to go on winning the bet!

Shane - Welcome back, glad to hear you're feeling better! Good luck getting back your previous gains, although definitely take it easy as needed. As for the August HIM goal, you should still be fine in that regard. My first HIM was last August, and I didn't really start doing any organized training until May and it went fine.

Shane- Welcome back!

My Saturday long run was rough, but I got through it.  Now after two days off, I did a light swim and a run.  The run was supposed to be easy, but I went a bit harder than I should have.  Still fun though.

Today’s bike ride was interesting to say the least. I decided to ride to the next town over from me, about 13 miles. The weather channel said it was in the mid 60’s with a steady wind with some gusts. Great I thought, this would be a perfect day to get a serious ride in. The route I chose was basically 13 miles of rolling hills with short and infrequent flat stretches. There was also a section that had several S curves on a hill.

 As soon as I cleared the protection of the buildings on my block I was off with the wind to my back the whole way. And man oh man did I fly! I was coasting down hills at speeds close to 30 mph! I hardly felt the wind and I thought for sure someone had their hand on my back and was pushing me along. After crossing a bridge, railroad tracks, and several gravel spots on the road I felt great on my aero bars and was confidant.

 All that changed when I hit the turn around point. Yup I was heading into the wind; well actually it was at a frontal diagonal to me. So it was blowing from the front/right to left. The gusts of wind were so strong that I was blown out into traffic on a regular basis. Several times I was leaning hard to one side and actually had the bike itself at an angle to prevent getting blown into an oncoming vehicle. My blazing speeds of 28 mph was replaced with a long and painful 6-9 mph with me fighting for every inch of the 13 miles.

 Three times I actually had to get off my bike and wait for the gusts to die down because my bike was literally taken out from underneath me. It made for a great training ride as far was power, but it was dangerous and I don’t think I’ll be riding in such high winds again.

Beth, I had a similar experience today.  Unfortunately it was a headwind both ways (I am not sure how that works) but I was almost blown off my bike several times.  My legs are screaming now from spinning.  

Hi everyone! We had some unseasonably warm weather roll in today, so I had to take advantage of it and get outside on the bike. I headed out to meet Mike, the guy I'm dating, at his place, rode 10-15M with him, then headed off on my own again to ride into work. My first commute of the season! I also got to the gym last night to work on more swim drills from my coach. I think I'm finally starting to get back into a base training routine, which is good, because I'll have to start ramping things up in the next month or so...

Will - Sorry you had a rough run. It seems as though your other runs have been going well though, so I'm sure the race will too, especially if it was due to losing your nutrition, as that won't be an issue on the course.

Beth - Wind on the bike is the worst! I had a similar situation at my second HIM last year. Maintained an easy 20 mph for the first half and felt great, only to get smacked with head and crosswinds for the entire second half. I basically wanted to cry by the time I got off the bike (of course I didn't though, because triathletes don't cry, right?). Glad you made it back okay, without getting knocked into traffic!

Ken - I know what you mean, I've had runs where it seems like no matter what direction you go there's a headwind. Seriously, how is that possible?

Yeah, I think the combination of losing the gel and running out of water did me in.  No worries, I have already ordered and received a replacement waterbottle (Amphipod is one fast shipper) for the one that I cracked.

Nice that you got outside.  I briefly dreamed of going out on the mtb today, but work got in the way and I couldn't sneak out early.  Next time for sure.

I had a great swim yeserday. Speed and form just seemed to click to me. Despite a full pool and haivng to share a lane along with everyone else I stil managed to out pace everyone there. By the time I was done the life guard pulled me aside and said that she has not seen anyone go at the speed I was and still maintain near perfect form. Now if I can only pull that off on my triathlon's I'll be good to go.

Beth

Had my first race of the year.  Not really happy with performance but it wasn't a total wash.  Last year I walked most of the swim but this year I actually swam the entire swim.  

The event itself was great.  It was a really nice way to start my Tri season.  I posted my race report in case anyone wants to read.  

Happy Monday, everyone! I had a very productive Saturday morning, since I knew I was heading up to Maine for the weekend. First, I went on my usual 6M run. I didn't have my GPS with me, so I just went by feel. I think my new compression shorts are helping to stabilize my hamstring too, which is encouraging. After that, I headed over to the pool for some drills. No time to fit in anything today, but I'll definitely be back at it tomorrow...

Will - Too bad you had to miss getting outside on the bike last week, but this week is looking great for it. Not only may I ride my bike home on Wednesday (I had to leave it at work after commuting in last week...), but I'd also like to ride in Thursday and/or Friday as well.

Beth - That must have felt awesome to have the lifeguard pull you aside like that. Sounds like the swim portion is really starting to click for you. Any tips for all of us who are still struggling?

Ken - Sorry the race didn't go as well as you'd hoped, but the swim improvement was huge from where you were at last year. Sounds like you still had fun at least, and it's still early yet, so there's plenty of time to push things once the season really gets started.

Hi everyone, hope you had a great weekend. After avoiding doing it for quite a while, I decided to do a T-pace test of my swim speed today. The test consists in swimming 3x300 with 30 secs rest as fast as possible but at an even sustainable speed. You have to being all 3 within a 15 seconds window. The average pace per 100 is your T-pace. 

I have been using 1:45 / 100 meters as my T-pace based on a "guesstimate"

Anyway, I did the test during lunch, I warmed up and did some drills to get ready. Then started the 3x300. I was surprised by how even my pace was. My times were 5:06, 5:11 and 5:12 (this was done in meters). So my T-pace for 100 meters is 1:43. Not too bad with my 1:45 guess!

Anyway, this means that when I do my 15x100 sets in preparation for the OLY at the end of April, I should be doing those on the 1:55-2:00 if I am in a 25 meters pool, and trying to hit 1:40-1:41 per interval. If I am swimming in the 25 yds pool, I have to do them on the 1:45-1:50 and aiming to hit 1:31-1:32.

My long term goal is to bring my T-pace to 1:30, those 13 seconds seem so far away :P

Hey guys,

I got out yesterday for a brick workout.  Set a personal record on the bike for a sprint course.  My runs are still lacking.  I've never been a fast runner.  But I've been logging my 5k's in around 32-33 minutes.  The courses I've been running on have a fair amount of elevation to them (both roughly 400-450 ft of climbing).  I think this week I want to find a flatter 5k to run and see how my time is.  I feel like it would improve quite a bit.  As I've eased my way back in I've also played with doing the Galloway walk/run method.  I don't find it any faster/slower than a consistent run...but definitely feel like I could go a lot farther going into it.  It's a step in the right direction.  I'm just happy to be able to train again finally.  

Hope everyone is well!

Shane

I use the Galloway walk/run method, it seems to work for me. I do notice that I can go farther using that method than just trying to run strait though. My times on a shorter course are a little more using the Galloway method but it really comes into play at the 10k and more distances.

I'm glad your feeling better, keep up the great work.

Beth

I finally got my schedule sinked up to enjoy some runs on a nice weekend- had a 9 mile track (800 m intervals- fun!) workout on Saturday and a 7 mile strides/SS session on Sunday.  Now, it is light activity this week while I get ready for Sunday's Half Marathon.  My goal is to break two hours, and based on my last month or so of running, I think there is a realistic shot I'll be in the 1:52 - 1:57 window.  Running is not my strongest segment, but it is where I am seeing most of my progress this winter.

I finally got my 910 to the pool for a 1,250 yd swim last week.  It confirmed what I thought: Will=slow.  But, suprisingly for me, my pace was fairly consistent throughout the swim, and I didn't feel exhausted at the end.  So perhaps my base is improving for this second year after all.

Ken- I swore off doing any pool triathlons this year.  But reading your race report has me rethinking that position. 

Have a great week everybody- Will

Enjoying tapering this week.  Had a my longest swim ever this morning.  It took forever but I got it done.  I am getting much better with my drills and feeling ever more confident.  

Had an easy 3 mile run today.  My time has improved.  I think I am ready for my marathon this weekend.  I am on the fence between the 3:15 pace group and pushing it or the 3:30 pace group and trying to pull away in the end in order to finish in a time of 3:25 or better.  Any suggestions?  3:15 is a little better that a 7:30 pace which I run normally.  3:30 is about an 8:00 min mile pace.  

Hi everyone! Heading to the pool after I finish typing this. I figured the fact that I was putting it in writing would give me the extra motivation I needed to follow through, since admittedly, I'd like to head home at this point. It's so nice out, but there will be plenty more nice days for me to get out in the months to come, and I really need to stick to my schedule...

Sebastian - Your swim times are crazy fast! Sounds like you have a good feel of where you're at, and where you'd like to be in the coming months. By the way, I flipped through some of your recent log entries, and saw the one where you mentioned trying coconut water. I did too last year, and I thought it was nasty, but I love all other things coconut as well, so it's not just you!

Shane - I definitely don't want to suggest you push yourself too hard, but if you'd like to really see what your 5K time is, you could sign up for a local 5K race. Once again, definitely don't consider this until you're really feeling up to it, but it's an option to consider once you get to the point that you really want to gauge where you're at.

Will - I definitely think you're capable of breaking two hours for the half!

Beth - That's great you're already getting quite a few outdoor rides in on the new bike. Sounds like it's treating you well. I'm hoping to get out a couple times myself in the coming week. This winter has certainly been an odd one in regards to weather...

Ken - As I've mentioned before, you most likely will run a faster pace than what you did for your training runs, so the 3:15 group doesn't sound completely unreasonable. That being said, I'd hate for you to burn out partway through, as I've had that happen, and it's definitely not fun. Is 20M the furthest you've ever run? They're not kidding about the last 10K being painful, so you need to be prepared for that. Sorry this isn't a very direct answer, but unfortunately, it's generally a fine line between how far you can successfully push yourself and the point beyond that where you bonk. You just have to try to listen to your body.

Sarah, if you had to swim with some of the guys that are in my Master's team, you would not think my times are fast. Some of them go 15 secs faster than me per 100! I feel like a turtle...

I am glad I am not crazy about the coconut water and that there is someone else out there who likes coconut and does not like the water.