Experior and Slornow's Winter Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 20)

Had a good run and masters swim tonight. 

Planning on another run tomorrow morning and punishment on the bike tomorrow after work.

Good morning-looks like it is going to be a pretty day here with temp around 65.  Run with 15 hard 1 minute intervals planned for this evening.  Hope everyone is off to a good start today.

Randy 

Neil-thats a double whammy on the calf and Garmin.  Hang in there.  Hope things improve.

Randy

Bennet: Great information on sleep. I don't doubt any of it and am working on getting more of it. Last night I was in bed at 9:30, but didn't doze off till 11ish. I was still pretty wired from a late night workout. 7 hours is a lot better than usual, but working on getting in another hour. Trying to condition myself to it before my husband leaves next month. I want to be as close to 100% as I can be for the kids. They're both at trying ages and I find I'm less patient with them when I'm exhausted.

Last night I decided to join my teammates for some soccer training. I thought it was going to be the usual off season, light stuff with ball work, and lots of giggling, but it ended up being a serious conditioning night combined with the men's team. No giggling, no ball work, no fun! It was one of those run till you puke nights with lots of footwork drills that hurt my knees. Pretty sure the next run will be a sore one for them. For the sake of my poor knees, I should have gone swimming instead.

Very Beautiful  Randy!!!  Looks like my son will have another day off of school tomorrow.  I was notified that our School District is cancelling school for tomorrow due to all of the flooding.  It is very bad int he surrounding areas!!!  My son is lucky his ole man is a school administrator and gets inside information.  I think I'll wait until the morning to tell him.

Rene-curious about the USAT ratings you mentioned.  Where is your blog?

Randy

Hi Gang - Really happy with my training this week.  Pool is closed (again) until Wednesday and that's a hopeful estimate.  I am hopeful!  

Brian - hope you are feeling better.  Take care and rest up during this storm then hit it when it's over!

Jason - I have a couple of questions for you re: Honu.  Any training tips you have for this race?  Lots of hills on the bike? I hear good training runs out in Makena (here on Maui) during the day will help me with the heat on the run - lots of running on the grass (i.e., the golf course!).  I don't have any grand plans, but really want a respectable finish.

Thanks!

A slight change of plans....

Was offered today an opportunity from the SF Forty Niners organization to attend the NFC Championship game as their guest.  Well, as a life long California resident and ardent 49ers supporter, I can't say no.  I guess I won't get my long run in on Sunday.

So, do I make it up on Monday? Hmmm......

Here's my tips for Honu. 

Swim...it's a mass start, but fight for the inside line off the gun.  The swim is a weird shape, and with the currents, people tend to swim REALLY wide.  If you get caught on the outside of the pack, you will have no choice but to go wide with them.

Bike...the course itself isn't that hard.  The defense of the bike is the wind...and last year the winds were calm...so I have no idea how much harder the course can be.  The climb to Hawi is long, but it isn't steep at all. I would say that as long as you are properly geared, you should be fine.  If you aren't properly geared, then you'll be climbing Hawi for 30+ minutes of misery and you'll likely fry your legs for the run.  I ran standard chainrings (53/39) and a 11-26 cassette.  For most of the climb up Hawi I was in my two easiest gears with no problem.  But I'm a strong biker.  Most people I would advise using a compact (50/34) and a 12/27 cassette.

Run...assuming you pace the bike properly...this course is all about the run.  I never seen so much carnage on a run course before.  It's hot, and since it's on a golf course...it's mostly flat, but there are a lot of short steep hills as you run by the tee boxes and greens (since they are usually elevated).  I normally never pass anyone on the run, but I think I passed about 130 people on this run course and had a top 20% run split...where my run split is normally in the top 35-40%.  This was possible because I took it easy on the bike...and I did A LOT of run training.  I was running 35ish mpw for this HIM in training...peaking at 44 mpw.  Needless to say, I was scared to death of this run, so I trained accordingly...and it paid off.

So in short...take a good line on the swim...gear properly on the bike and RIDE IT EASY.  If you're not sure what too easy is...then go easier just in case.  Save your energy for the run and you'll be glad you did.  It's an awesome race and you'll have a blast.

I had an awesome interval ride today.  I only started doing intervals since the beginning of this month, and my power is starting to come back.

I did the same interval workout on Tuesday and Today.  8x4.5 minutes with 60-90 second recoveries (depending on which way I was heading...one U turn takes longer than the other).

Tuesday...my intervals looked like this

Int1 231 watts
Int2 234 watts
Int3 234 watts
Int4 238 watts
Int5 235 watts
Int6 242 watts
Int7 243 watts
Int8 253 watts

Today...my intervals looked like this

Int1 252 watts
Int2 265 watts
Int3 265 watts
Int4 263 watts
Int5 262 watts
Int6 268 watts
Int7 274 watts
Int8 299 watts

Roughly a 30 watt improvement.  Still a long way from home though...my last 20 minute test (granted it was an uphill test on my road bike) I did back in August at the peak of my bike training was 301 watts.

Bennet-have fun at the game.  It will be tough to beat the excitement of last weekend's Niners/Saints game.

Jason-good work on the bike...that's significant improvement.

I'm hoping to get a swim in sometime today.  Thunderstorms in the area so keeping an eye on the weather to avoid the dreaded "pool closing" right after I start.

Who is racing this weekend?  If I remember right Blanda has a Sprint?  Anything else happening?

Randy

Had a good run this morning and looking to OWS 2k after work. 

Good luck to Blanda and anyone else racing this weekend.  For everyone else...happy training or recovering.

Hey everyone.  Another day in bed.  I'm feeling better.  I'll catch up with everyone soon -- a brief glance shows that many are doing great, and that's inspiring.  Randy, the picture is both inspiring and jealousy-inducing.

I've come to the difficult decision that most if not all of my spring races are out the window.  Injury plus illness has made proper preparation out of reach.  I'm worried that if I push myself to be ready for a spring HIM, I'll break myself for IMWI, which remains the target for 2012.  So, barring unforeseen development, the spring is now devoted to just getting back to being able to train the way I'm used to.

Hopefully I'm truly on the mend and can be a better co-mentor starting tomorrow.  Off to bed now...

Good morning everyone

Michael-I hope you continue to get better.

Headed out on my long run since tomorrow looks like the better day for biking. 

Have a good Saturday.

Randy

Kind of quiet here today.  Hope everyone is having a good Saturday.

Randy