BigDH - Checking Off the Boxes - Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 21)

Got my new bike - just had my first ride.  15 miles. Would have gone longer - like all day - but I had to have emergency eye surgery yesterday.  Retinal tears.  Doc said no triathlon for 2 weeks - and take it down a notch.  I'm going to skip running, and lifting, and RIDE!

My LBS had 2 carbon road bikes to choose from: Cannondale SuperSix 5, and the Giant Deft Advanced 3.  Thought I'd like the Cannondale, but the Giant felt way better.  Spent over about an hour on the fit - and I can't believe how much faster it is than my commuoter. I had to pull out the manuals for my Garmin to move over the cadence sensor - and mixed up my old and new HR strap - so today I got no HR data - but at what felt like about level 2 or 3, I was cruising at about 20 MPh. My commuter could go 15, but with much more effort.

The compact gearing is going to take a bit of getting used to.  I found that on the flats, about 15th gear (big front, middle back) was right.

I have my first sprint race this weekend. Should be fun.

I am still very undecided on T1, I have a new bike and with it new shoes and pedals. I hate the shoes and pedals! They are road shoes and I am used to mountain bike shoes. with my old shoes I could pretty much run through transition, jump on the bike clip in to the double sided cleats with out looking and get away quick. With the new shoes and the huge plastic cleats I cant run and I find it awkward to clip in because of the one sided cleat. I can TRY to run barefoot with my shoes already clipped in but I havent even tried that yet. Any suggestions?

Dave, is the old bike just a mtn or is it a road/tri?  Just wondering for your question.  Personally I think I would rather use my new toy if I were you, but if you think your time will be about the same it might be okay just using the old bike, if you're going to have time gains with the new bike I'd say use that instead.

My week is a little off, Sunday I went to do one more scouting run at my course so I took a couple days off after. My Dad is also in town from Hong Kong visiting this week so I'm spending some time with him as well.  I should get my long workouts in this weekend and then I'll start my taper.

I will be riding the new bike no question, I have to get used to the shoes and new pedals thats all. The old bike was a road bike with aerobars but the frame is cracked so I had to get the new one. (it is now in the basement on trainer duty) I also am a long time mountain biker so that why I was using the mountain bike shoes and pedals.

Enjoy your time with your dad

Maybe a silly question - couldn't you move pedals from old bike to new and use your old shoes? 

Sure don't want to get new gear overload!  I moved the only clip-in pedals I have from my old "Metro" over to my new road bike - and since it's my first road bike since my British Racing Green 1971 Schwinn Super Sport, I had plenty to get use to.

Cheers
Ben

On my run Sunday I started having some knee pain.  From what I've researched it seems like it's IT band pain in my left knee.  It just came from no where about 1 mile into my run.  I tried to push through it but stopped to stretch and walk a few times and ultimately walked the last 1.5 miles of my run.  So I went to the local running shop and picked up a foam roller and have added some stretches in to try and loosen it up.  I figured since I was there I'd pick up a new pair of shoes since mine are pretty old at this point.  

I'm hopeful that between these things and a little rest since i'm into the taper that I can keep my running up and get through my race without any problems.  I still rode my bike yesterday and didn't have any pain.

Just came from my 2 week follow-up after the laser eye surgery for retina.  Doc said no Tri's.  I am in shock.

She's fine with marathons, so I am going to switch into that mode. 

I really don't get why, something about going from back and forth of the swim to up and down of the bike/run I guess. 

Fooey!

Sorry I haven't checked in for a while.  I've been crazy busy juggling work, my workouts and my family.  I've been fairly successful at making sure I take care of all 3, but every once and a while one of them gets thrown on the back burner for a day or two.  I have the Chicago tri coming up in 2 weeks so I will be starting to get in a little bit of a taper mode.  But I am also in full blown marathon training mode at the same time, so there is even more juggling.  Today was a 20 mile run (of which i completed 18.3).  I fell apart.  I took it out too fast and paid the price.  Been there, done that.  I should know better.  

I got my bike tuned up and cleaned last week.  I have to take it back for an adjustment though.  I'm not 100% happy with the way it is shifting.  Should just take a minor tweak.  

Anyway - have a good week everyone! 

Ben,  that doesn't sound like good news, I hope after some time off or another opinion you'll be able to do Tris again, well that is, as long as you want to.

Have my sprint coming up on Sunday, feeling pretty good, still some lingering IT band pain but I'm doing exercises and keeping it stretched out.  I may or may not do a short Run on Thursday per the plan but I might skip it so my knee has a little more time to rest before the race.

Ben, I would give it some time, hopefully heal up a bit then get the doctors opinion again or ask another doctors opinion. Worse comes to worse you can still run and maybe do some duathlons?

I took last week off of training, my first in one year. I did a sprint then took one scheduled day off, then another, then my daughter broke her arm so I was at the hospital most of the night (shes fine). I did sign up for a half marathon for Sunday and did exceptionally poorly, I actually came in DFL for my age group. My quads started to really hurt very early in the race at the 4km point plus I also had to stop to use the washroom twice. It was an out and back course passing through the start/finish at the half way point. I knew it was going to be miserable but I pushed on to finish. At only 1 month to go to my HIM I was extremely disappointed in my performance. At this point I am simply following my plan through and add in a short run or two each week to try and get my legs to cooperate with running. Before I know it its going to be the taper then the big race.

trying to stay possitive

My 1st race is in the books, went fairly well. Here is a link to the race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=265583

I'm thinking about doing the same course again in 2.5 weeks.  What would you guys recommend I do for training in this time.  Take the last 2-3 weeks of my plan and re-run it, maybe, with a shorter taper?  Still deciding if I want to go for it or not.  Still have a little IT band pain but seems to be getting better.

Yes, it's the same race 2 weeks later, same name, same organizers, just a different date and time.  I have decided not to race, I'm taking it easy right now and haven't run in about a week to get some time off and hopefully get the IT band pain taken care of.  Now I'm trying to think about what I should be doing to stay in shape and improve for the future.

Based on the knee pain and what I've read, I'm guessing I built my run volume too fast.  I've been reading a lot on building up a running base and think I may spend some time starting over and reconstructing my run base.  I think I'd like to get out 5-6 times a week and start at a very low weekly mileage and run slower and build up slowly.  The biggest question I have is where should I start, 10 miles a week? less than that since even at the peak of my training I was only doing 8-10 miles a week.

In the meantime (next 1-2 weeks) I think I'll take a little more time off from running and add more time on the bike.  Then I think I'll start working on rebuilding my run base and try to ride a couple times a week too.

Wish me luck - marathon tomorrow!