MJEWEN Summer 2013 Mentor Group - OPEN (Page 20)

Emile - a Salted Nut Roll is a candy bar. We have them in MN but I know you can't find them in Wisconsin. Payday is similar but not as good in my opinion. Basically a nugat center with peanuts on the outside.

Most likely my last tri and maybe last multisport event of the season. Another new race for me, one I've thought about doing for a few years but scheduling never worked out. Smaller fun race. Pics included. We have a new camera for an African Safari trip coming up in October and we need lots of practice. My wife and faithful tri sherpa, Barb, did a great job taking pics. Hope you enjoy!!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

I fixed the link to my RR, the original was my non-public version.

Have a good rest of the Labor Day weekend. We are headed up to BWCA tomorrow and probably won't have internet access until next weekend.

Edited by mjewen 2013-09-01 9:19 PM

I love paydays! Never thought about using them as nutrition on the bike.

Mike I couldn't get in to see the pics you posted. It asked for my BT password and once I put it in it just brought me back to the home page.

I finished 106 on the bike today. It seemed like it was uphill and against the wind all day. ....
I'll post the data tomorrow when I get home. ....

Terry - Nice ride!

Emile - I fixed the link in the original post....this is also the correct link http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

Included are two photos of the swim course on Saturday and a photo of the Orange Groves we were riding through on Sunday.....
the ride was very hot and long. many many rolling hills







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Great job Mike and Terry, and fantastic pictures, too.

Denise, I love the picture of you and your husband on the bikes! Glad to see it's been such a hit with your husband and you two can ride together.

Now I'm starving for a Payday - haven't had one of those in years... it does sound like a good long distance nutrition option.

Emile, I don't know about total mileage for a set of tires, but I would worry about a small cut, too. If you don't mind changing tires back and forth, that sounds like a safer idea to just go ahead and get the new tires.

I had an extremely lazy Labor Day weekend, and ate/drank too much. Track and swimming yesterday, though, so I'm back at it :-)

I have no more tri events this year, and don't know what to sign up for next. I think I need to train for a longer event, and there is a half right here in my town in May 2014. I would like to get one Olympic done first, though, so I think I need to look around for something.

This upcoming Saturday, I have the Francis Marion Dirt Dash half marathon out in the state forest a few miles up the road. Last year, the mosquitoes were as big as crane flies, but it was still a fun event. I am really hoping for some cooler temps, though!

Thanks everyone for comments and encouragement. This site it a great idea.

Terrance, : I got your email address and I'll drop you a line as soon as I have more specifics about my itinerary.

Today is packet pickup for the Beast on the Bay. Tomorrow is the big challange. 15.5 miles with 40 obstacles. This is the event that I have been training for since April. Now I am kind of dreading it. Along my journey I discovered triathlon which seems crazy but not as crazy as the Beast. Oh well. Nothing left to do but suck it up, smile and have fun.

Have fun out there and be safe.
Don

Don, I am sure you will do great tomorrow. Good luck and have fun! I think you will tame that BEAST of the BAY!

Emile, I am considering using orthotics. I talked to a friend that is a PT and he recommended I try that too. I just haven't taken the time to look, yet.

Been hitting the gym, running and doing spin class. Hoping to get out for a good ride tomorrow. Just seems like I am lucky to get through each week with all the activities of life and kids, that I am glad I am not training for anything right now, as I would not be very focused.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I just extended my racing season a bit. I signed up for the Beach Bash 5K at the Fort Lauderdale Beach Park. That is the day our cruise ship leaves. I think that's a good way to spend one of my mornings while I'm on vacation.

Don
Today is Beast on the Bay. 15.5 miles and 40 obstacles. This going to be crazy!

Mike great race, report and pics! Another great bike split!

Terry great job on the ride! Sounds like it was a rough one with the conditions you were facing. Great pics as always. Really got a kick out of seeing your shadow holding your camera up to our head to take the pic.

Melissa let us know how the half marathon went today. You have plenty of time to be ready for the 70.3 in May. You are already a good swimmer so you already have the leg that gives most people trouble licked.

Don let us know how the Beast on the Bay goes today. Sounds like a very interesting race.

Denise even though you are not training for any specific race sounds like you are still getting in some great training.

Tomorrow I plan on getting in about 3 hours on the bike and then after that I'm in full blown taper mode. I'm sure hoping the weather cools down a little between now and race day on 9/21.

Good morning,

Yesterday's race was very unlike anything I have ever done before. I decided to enter the event in April. I had just quit smoking and started running. A friend of mine at work was also just starting to run. My friend, Kyle, found this event that raises money for the Barber Center. The Barber Center provides services for retarded children. Kyle's family has received a lot of assistance from the Barber Center for his eleven year old son.

One of the options of paying the entrance fee was to raise money for the Barber Center. So our team created an account and started raising money. We took the money we would have paid to enter the race and made our donations. Come race day we raised about $1,100. We were the second highest fundraiser for the event.

When I made the decision to enter the Beast on the Bay I knew that I needed to find a decent training program. They were advertising that the event would be approximately 12.5 miles long. OK! That sounds like a half marathon program. Now at this point I had gone out a couple of times to run. I would burn out after a half mile and quit. I knew I needed a training plan that would start me out very easy. Unfortunately all of the half marathon programs start you out as if you can already run at least a 5K. There wasn't enough time to do C25K. I found C210K. There was enough time to complete the C210 and then complete the end of a half marathon plan. So, as far as training goes I have learned that you have to allow extra time. The schedule needs to be flexible. My 13 week C210K plan took 17 weeks. When I finally completed it, I no longer had enough time to do the half marathon program.

Looking back, I started the Beast on the Bay journey to find other people trying to live a healthier lifestyle. It worked. I have made some new friends this year and hopefully I'll keep making new friends. The big surprise was triathlon. I entered and completed my first triathlon. I think triathlon is the direction I'm going to continue.

Yesterday morning our group of computer geeks gathered in the Waldameer parking lot. We were in the third heat. To be in any of the earlier heats you had to either be a personal training from one of a handful of gyms or be one of their students. When 8:50 finally came we start out out just like any other event. It took us all a few minutes to slow down because we had a long day ahead of us. The first half mile was on the road and down the big hill to the entrance of Presque Isle. The course wasted no time in directing out onto the sand once we were at the bottom of the hill. Then they rN us into the water to get us wet. The first obstacle was a series of three sand mounds. Up and over feeling strong all was good in the world. Then we rN for about a quarter mile and there were 8 more sand mounds. No sweat! On the other end of the obstacle is the first time the team needed to walk for a few minutes. I didn't expect that so soon. We caught our breath and started running again. The third obstacle was a shipping crate with a cargo net. And a rope ladder. Up the cargo ladder and down the rope ladder. There were a few other obstacles too. Their were plastic tubes that we had to pull ourselves through and cargo nets we had to crawl under. At mile 7 there was a giant sand mound about thirty feet high.

In truth the obstacles were more than just a little disappointing. There were only six different obstacles repeated over and over again. It got to a point where we could guess what the next obstacle would be before we would see it. They had pipes fastened to the tops of the shipping containers to fasten the cargo nets to. One guy got his finders under one of them at the same time that a big group of people started climbing on the net. He got a ride in an ambulance. On one of the others the cable that fastened the pipe to the top of the shipping container came loose. I wonder how that felt to be climbing up an obstacle and to fall backwards because the obstacle broke.

We completed the 15.5 mile course and drank our beer. All in all it was a good experience. We raised money for a good cause. We spent a lot of time improving our fitness levels. We came together as a team and helped each other complete our biggest physical challenge of the year.

Don congrats on the race and the very impressive life change you have made! Nice job on raising so much money for a very worthy cause! I don't want you to take this wrong. I'm not trying to be tacky or belittle you in any way but the word "retarded" really isn't a socially acceptable way to refer to people with a cognitive disability. I work with disabled children in the public school setting and I just cringe when I hear the word retarded. All 3 of my children know that the word "retarded" is strictly forbidden in our household. There has been so much hurt and hate attached to that word through the years that it really had to be changed and I was thrilled in 2010 when Rosa's Law was signed mandating federal statutes will no longer use the term "mental retardation" and replace it with "intellectual disability". I will get off my soap box now. Again I hope I didn't offend you because I really applaud you for going out of your way to raise money for the Barber Center which sounds like a very worthy cause.

Melissa how did the half marathon go?

Monday I officially started my taper!

I'm sorry. I kind of struggled with how to say that. Thank you for your input.

Since the Beast I have been unable to run. I acquired a blister on the bottom of my right foot. A lot of sand had built up in my shoe and did a real number on my foot. I just hope it heals a bit by next Thursday. It gets more painful each day.

Don no apology needed I know you didn't mean any malice with your words. That was made obvious with the awesome work you did in raising money for your charity. I'm just a little overly sensitive when it comes to the word "retarded" because of all the children and families I have worked with in the last 10 years of being a school psychometrist. On the issue of your blister have you tried covering the blister with Body glide or KT tape. Both methods have worked very well for me in the past although I have never had a blister on the bottom of my foot it has always been around my heel or toes.

Edited by EKH 2013-09-10 7:00 PM

They posted bib#'s today for Redman. I'm getting excited!

Emile - Yikes, it's getting close! Next weekend, right, not this weekend? I hope you can get a lot of rest during the taper.

Don - Great job on your obstacle race - it does sound like they could have put more thought into variety. That's terrible about injuries and dangerous things happening out there! Glad you weren't hurt in any way.

My half was pretty good! Here's a little recap, since I haven't put it into a real race report yet:

Alarm at just a few minutes after 5. Since I live so close to this race, it only takes about 15 minutes to drive there. A granola bar and coffee, dressed, fixed my post-race drink and I was out the door in plenty of time. Drove to the parking area at the Sewee visitor center. I spent a few minutes debating what to bring with me, but in the end decided to leave my bottle and nutrition in the car and only take my car key. In retrospect, I could have taken my whole bag with me, because the race is so small and in such an isolated area, many people hung bags and shirts on trees at the side of the trail near the start/finish line. Next time! Hopped on a shuttle that took us across the highway and then a fancy long golf cart that drove us the mile down the trail to the start area.

What a difference from last year, where the humidity had been so thick the air felt like a blanket. This year, it felt pretty cool and lots drier. Also... no mosquitoes! I heard that they had sprayed along the trails, and wow, amazing - not a single of those gigantic mosquitoes this year. Not a huge fan of pesticides, usually, I was spraying myself head to toe in DEET last year because those bugs were so bad!

Met a few friends and the coach I have been working with. There were several people there who I know, so the time passed quickly as we chatted about what we were all training for. Then it was time to head out!

I spent the first 3.5 miles running with girl from my running group. She's faster than me usually, but was going out slow because she just had a 30 mile event a few weeks ago. After the first 5k, she had to take a bathroom break, so I headed on from there. I feel like I picked up the pace some, which made me realize that I must have been running quite slow in that first 5k. We met up again somewhere around mile 6, but only for a few minutes because she didn't feel so great and had to take another break. From here - miles 6 through 10 - I felt really good and energetic. I picked up the pace quite a bit, I thought (no garmin, so I'm just going off of my perceived effort). It was around mile 10 or 11 that I really started to feel some soreness in my quads. That was strange. I've never, ever had quad pain, even in my marathon. It's calves or hips for me, but never quads. So I just soldiered on, getting through mile 11 and then realizing that I was not on track for anything like a PR today. Bummer! The last two miles, there was some pain, and I really just wanted to finish it by then. My final time was 2:25:21, just about the same as last year (much hotter!). So I think I should have/could have beaten that time from last year, so that was a little disappointing.

After the race, we took a bunch of pictures with our running group and waited for the awards to be announced before heading back to the visitors center. I met up with a bunch of racers for lunch at a local pizza place and had a great time again followed by my traditional post-race nap :-)

Melissa great job on the race! I know it stinks when you don't PR and your hoping for one but it will make it that much sweeter when you do. Sounds like a fun race. Small races can be a lot of fun especially when you know a lot of the participants.

Yes you are correct not this Saturday but the next one. I haven't raced at all since Oct of last year so I'm raring to go!

Don how is the blister doing today? Are you making sure it is getting a lot of air to it during the day? I don't know what your work environment is like so not sure if you can sit around barefoot through parts of the day.

Great job on the Half, Melissa..... even through the quad pain you were able to continue and finish ... nice pace without the garmin...

Emile... I'm psyched for your race..... do they have an app that we can track you on? How are you feeling? what is your taper like? How are you sleeping? eating good? I have so many questions.....

Terry they are suppose to have an athlete tracking system in place. Although they said they wouldn't have the link posted to the site until Friday of the race. I took the day off before the race so I don't have to rush around checking into the race and hotel. I will post the link to the site on here once I get it. My bib# is 489.

My foot is feeling pretty good. Although I think I'm going to make some adjustments due to my foot. I was planning on doing the running leg in some light weight shoes but I think I'm going to go with the bulkier trainer so I can I have little more padding on my forefoot. Also, I normally leave my shoes clipped into my bike and strap them on while peddling and do a flying dismount at the end of the bike. I think I'm going to put shoes on in T1 and take them off in T2 so I don't have to run through transition barefoot and don't hit my foot to hard on the ground in my dismount. It will cost me some time but I don't think the reward is great enough in this case to gamble.

My taper is going well. This week I'm keeping pretty much the same schedule but at a reduced load. Long bike this week with be 2hours and already did long run which was just 5.5mi. Next week I'm just going to do several short 30min runs, 1 ows, and a couple of bike rides in Z1.

Sleeping and eating is going well. My goal on longer races is try and eat mostly the same stuff for two weeks so I don't run into any stomach problems. I eat a lot of rice, chicken, sweet potatoes, banana's, Cliff Bars and beets. I know it probably doesn't sound to appetizing but it has worked for me in the past.

Terry one of my goals for this race is to take some pics before and after race. I'm normally not a picture taker but looking at all of your great pics you have posted has inspired me to do this.



Edited by EKH 2013-09-11 7:51 PM

Melissa how is the quad feeling?

Really good - no pain in any runs since Saturday. I wonder now whether my gait was just off due to the gravelly road or something.

Like Terry, I would totally love to track you on that tri if they offer that!

Don, how is that blister healing? I hope you find a good durable way to cover it and it heals well. I had terrible blisters on my insteps one year and they took a looooong time to heal, partly because I didn't address them right away. Won't make that mistake again. Did you end up draining them yourself?

News... I got a mountain bike from my husband for our wedding anniversary! I'm so excited! I had been trolling through Craigslist for maybe a year now, just hoping that something would appeal to me, be the right size and price. So he got me a 2011 Rocky Mountain "Element sport". I can not wait to go on some trail rides, and might just head out this weekend to the roads where I did the half marathon. Those are easy gravel trails, flat (well, everything here is flat!) and well maintained. Bonus: since they sprayed for mosquitoes last week, it should still be relatively bug-free!

How is everyone else doing Denise, Chrissy, Ken... Zach?

Sorry I've been so quiet lately.

Terry: You rock! 100 milers.. etc

Emile: Looking forward to hearing how your race goes. I bet you'll do great.

Melissa: Nice job on the half... sometimes I think the benefit of facing a tough challenge in a race and pushing through it is more rewarding than a race where you might PR but no real adversity to deal with. Of course, both can be good...

Don: Glad you survived the beast on the bay... sounds like the obstacles were a bit disappointing but that it was still a good challenge and good time for you.

My big jump in mileage didn't result in any injury. I'm pretty comfy now with the mileage. Its a ton of slow running with some speedier sessions mixed in. The other day I did 10x800 intervals and didn't realize at the time its the same things as "Yasso 800s". If you haven't heard of Yasso 800's is from an editor on Runners World named Bart Yasso. He says if you can run 10x800 then the pace you hit on the 800's is the same as your predicted marathon pace. In my case, I was doing about 2:58 for each 800 so that predicts to 2:58 marathon. If it holds true, I think I'll stop running marathons and just do 10x800 to see what my time would be, its a lot faster and easier!

On Sunday I'm running in a pretty big 10k in Omaha... it usually has about 4,000ish runners and its my first time to do it. I'm "tapering" for it sort of... front loaded this week's miles by moving my long run to today from Sunday. Excited to see what I'll be able to do on somewhat fresh legs because I feel like the training has gone well. Another cool thing is I get to run with the "elite" (they have to use this word loosely when I'm included) wave. Hoping that by trying to keep up with them, I can pull out a tad bit faster time than I would otherwise.

Nice half Melissa. I am hoping to run that distance in the spring. How is you quad?

I didn't know that had tracking systems for races. I am very interested in seeing how that works. It sounds pretty cool.

My blister is healing nicely. It was strange. I didn't know it was there until two days after the event. Wednesday night I almost went to the ER because the pain was spreading through my foot. We found some antibiotic cream and I have been applying that twice a day. I work in an office setting. Can't go barefoot. I have been wearing my running shoes because they are a bit more comfortable. My boss has been pretty good about it. As of today I am walking normal again. Now the problem is... I haven't worked out in almost a week. I am bouncing off the walls. I have all this energy.

I have been preparing for a new workout routine. I canceled my Planet Fitness membership and got a new membership at the YMCA. $20 more a month for the use of the pool. I had to replace one of the clips on my race belt that was lost during the beast. I am still working out the schedule. Combining three sports into a single workout plan is challenging. There is a lot to consider. The big obstacle is my job. If I didn't need that this would all be much simpler. So, the solution is a large pile of money. Oh well. I like challenges.

I made a new friend this week too. My cousin insisted I go to Competitive Gear, a local bike shop, and introduce myself to the owner. I finally went down there yesterday. The guy has been doing triathlon for a couple of decades. He seems pretty knowledgable and is willing to help out. He explained a lot about bikes. I could not believe how light those bikes are. My mountain bike was about four times of the heaviest road bike. We talked a lot about nutrition. There were a lot of people coming in for last minute items for a century ride this weekend. At one point he was giving out energy bar samples. He also helped me pick a good century for next fall. In fact it is the very same one taking place this weekend.

That's all for now. It has been an interesting week.

Have fun out there and be safe.
Don