mcgilmartin's 2013 Mentor Group~ let's get swimming! CLOSED FOR TRAINING (Page 21)

Congrats on the PR, great feeling, isn't it? I'm still in awe of you runners. Hope you got a green beer afterward!

I've finished the first 7 weeks of my half marathon plan and I'm still alive! Three more to go. I took a bunch of time off because I was sick but I'm finally getting back into training. And the Y pool finally opened again after repairs; I'm really excited about swimming again, missed it! Race season is starting up and I love hearing about all the races everyone has coming up, so keep posting

Good job!  I know the feeling of being motivated to keep doing better.  Knowing that you're making progress really does feel good. 

Thank you everyone on the advice for what to bring on long bike rides.  I'll have to consider purchasing a road ID.  Seems like a good idea to have for emergencies. 

It has been a fun couple of weeks getting back into the swim groove and work to improve.

 Finishing planning my race schedule for the next 6 months and trying to determine the budget

My wife, along with my kids, are incredible in how they support me. Planning several fun runs with my family throughout the spring.

How has the weekend been and the race scheduling going for ya'll?

It has been a fun couple of weeks getting back into the swim groove and work to improve.

 Finishing planning my race schedule for the next 6 months and trying to determine the budget

My wife, along with my kids, are incredible in how they support me. Planning several fun runs with my family throughout the spring.

How has the weekend been and the race scheduling going for ya'll?

Hey folks how is the training going? I am ramping up and really enjoying my swim (even though my times are not anywhere near as good as y'all's). I have been working on refining my race list for the year. My wife refuses to do any runs after May says it is too hot in Texas. My wife thinks I am crazy for considering doing a tri after June in Texas .

Let's hear how it is going. Missing hearing from you's guys!

Thanks for getting the conversation restarted!  I'm glad your training is ramping up and going well!  Mine, on the other hand not going so well.  I injured my foot while running about two weeks ago and it completely threw me off.  I'm still able to swim and bike, but total lack of run training threw me off mentally.  I've slowed down considerably as a result and lost a lot of motivation that I had when I first started.  A visit with PT, and now it's recommended that I don't do the half marathon at the end of this month.  Bummer.  I should be fully healed by the time it becomes blistering hot and so humid that it feels like I'm running underwater.  I've never lived in Texas before, so I can't really compare the heat, but I imagine it's more of a dry heat.  I haven't decided which is worse, dry heat or humid heat.  They're both miserable in my opinion!

Is anyone else experiencing any mid-season sluggishness?  Perhaps this "accountability" thing we were talking about when we joined this group in January needs to be kicked in.  I should be on all of your friends lists, so feel free to throw a "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" my way when I skip out on a considerable amount of training!  I'll do the same for you and hopefully we'll all finish the season strong!

Hi guys

I went AWOL while I went back to Europe to visit family and friends for two weeks. Back now and ready to get this show on the road again!

Back home I did not do much training. Went for three runs and that was it. Great break, both mentally and physically. Last Sunday I ran a 10k race. I had been looking forward to this 'test' quite a bit. When finishing my watch said 43:17. That kinda sounded too good to be true as I finished and it was. Turned out the distance was only 9.65km... So no official PR for me yet

Got back into the groove this week with the usual swim/bike/run workouts. Tomorrow a friend and I signed up for a half marathon. Since I have not trained for the distance (longest run this year was 12km) my plan is to treat it as a nice and long training. Stop at aid stations, keep my heartrate low and enjoy the run. Oh, did I mention it kicks off at 5.30am ? If there is one downside of living in a tropical climate the ungodly start hour of sport events must be it!

Last night I had a bit of time to kill so I went to the pool for 1000m TT: 24m56s. Very happy with that. In three months time I went from 'Jeez, a 50m pool is long' to 'Hm, swimming 1000m non-stop is not impossible after all'.

Matt, question to you: what would be a realistic 1000m time to aim for by end of August ? (assuming I swim 3x / week and a coaching lesson whenever I feel I need it)

How is everyone else doing ?

Katartizo, ready for your 10k race tomorrow ?

Steve, you have a 5k adventure race today, right ? What did that entail?

Jen, your half marathon should be around now as well if I remember correctly. Feeling ready ?

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

Enjoy the weekend.

Max

Not sure that I am ready for the race tomorrow - the weather is so variable lately rain/dry/cold/hot/windy - hour by hour it changes. Should be a fun run though.

Gotta get some riding in today though and see about getting a swimmers ear cleared up before I hit the pool again.

Have a great weekend teammates!

Bryan

Hey Brian

How did your 10k pan out ? Weather not too bad I hope.

This morning's 21k was fun. Started with a colleague completely at the back and took it easy. Stopping at water stations, chatting along the way etc. Caught up with another colleague at the 8k mark. He was targeting a PR of 2:15 so we paced him the rest of the race. 

Max

Bryan, how did the 10k go? Good weather? And a tri after June in Texas – I think I’m with your wife on this one! Hope the races have ice or cold towels at water stations.

Doald, sorry to hear about the half marathon. That stinks when you have a race all picked out and you instead have to deal with an injury. That makes me kinda paranoid sometimes after I sign up for a race, just knowing that something could go wrong. When you heal you should be ready to go back at running full force, just think of it this way – you’re getting the sluggishness part out of the way and the rest is some great training!

And Max, I’d go AWOL too if I had a chance to go to Europe! Sounds like a fun break.

My half marathon is 2 weeks away and I just finished the meat of my training plan. The final 2 weeks of the plan are like a taper with easier (well, shorter) workouts.

Two weekends ago I bumped up my longest run yet from 10 miles to 12, and even though I was pretty sore afterward I did go the whole 12 miles, taking a break after every 2 miles to stretch and drink. Since the half marathon is a trail race, last weekend I ran a 12k trail race in the same forest. I finished in 1:13, which was better than I thought, so I felt pretty good. But I pushed it pretty hard for me.

Yesterday I staged a mock half marathon in another forest and tried to make it just like the half marathon, stopping at miles 5 and 7 for water since that's where the water stations will be and practicing nutrition. It took a while, but I ran the entire distance, all 13.1 miles. I never thought I could run that far and survive. But now I feel confident that I can finish the race. The hills are killers though.

The funny part - I decided to try this ice bath thing. Usually my runs are before work and there's no time. And I HATE cold. Really hate cold. So I bought a bag of ice, dumped it in the tub, put on a sweater and made a cup of hot tea. Didn't help much - it was so cold! I stepped in and waited at least five minutes to get to a kneeling position. Had to turn the hot water on for a bit too. You guys are crazy! That was awful, I never felt warm and it took me forever to sit in the tub. My husband couldn't stop laughing. It's like a polar plunge or something. Some kind of torture. But it definitely helped the next day and I'm sure I'll do it again after the race, but maybe after a few shots or something. This is why I'm not a runner lol 

My ankles are sore but I'm sure they will be fine in 2 weeks. Luckily I haven't my usual knee pain. The hip pain is always there, but not too bad. I'm actually looking forward to this race!

Any advice for a first half marathon?

stevesflyshop - 2013-04-06 2:35 PM We had our adventure race yesterday. It turned out to be a 3k but was fun. Sheri and I had a great time meandering through th golf course climbing over hay bales, gates, through a culvert and up a hill with a rope. I took it super easy since next weekend is my half marathon. I didn't want to roll an ankle one week out. Ice baths are wonderful aren't they! It's a kind of torture but the end result is worth it for me. I haven't tried the shots approach but it might be worth a try Sheri and I also signed up for the Bolder Boulder 10k. She's working on the couch to 10k plan and making great improvements. My training hasn't been consistent on the bike but its getting better. The first "real" triathlon is in 3 weeks so I'll get a chance to see where my training is at. I hope everyone is having a great spring!

The adventure race sounds like fun! It's nice to do a fun race with your spouse. And glad to hear the ice baths are worth it!

Hi Jen

Sounds like you are very well prepared for the half marathon since you already ran one  Enjoy your two weeks of taper and rest well. Curious to hear whether you'll fall victim to 'taper madness'

Ice baths... Not my cup of tea. I love the idea, but like yourself, I hate the cold. I tried it once, but just could not bring myself to sitting down fully in it. I settled on a cold water bath instead  
Something I did try after this weekend's run was icing my knees. A friend of mine's father who is an MD/runner highly recommends it after every run. I am sure it cannot do any harm and it's easily done while on the couch. Perhaps worth a try for your ankles/knees/hip ?

Hey Steve

Happy to hear you had a fun adventure run. Wise choice to take it easy in order to avoid any injuries. Do you have a goal time for next week's half ? Is your first 'real' tri a sprint or a longer distance?

Regards

Max

Thanks for the advice on icing the knees instead, I'll have to try that and compare. Sounds a lot better, and warmer! And it's hard to taper when we're having the best weather we've had all year. I got in a 2-hour ride yesterday because it was 70 degrees - it was awesome to be outside on the bike again!

Hey everyone! It's good to see everyone seems to be safe in this group (I'm assuming no one in this group was at the Boston marathon today, but may know someone who was).  I hope all is well. 

I have registered for my first race this year, a sprint triathlon in about five weeks.  I have also registered for a mud run that is later in the summer.  The other two tri races I wanted to do are back to back (Saturday/Sunday) so I have a feeling I am going to opt for the sprint rather than the Olympic (LOL).   My training has been fairly steady, but I'm afraid the intensity that I am aiming for is just not there.  I know where my training is lacking, just having some difficulty pushing myself.  

 It sounds like some good races are on the horizon for a couple of you, I wish you all luck!  Congrats on the PR's that were posted too! 

-April

I've been quiet for a bit, crazy at home, but things are starting to get moving here, got my firsdt two 10k's of the season behind me, and an impromptu obstacle race over the weekend.  I've been working hard on the runnign and swimming, but my time in the bike has been very light unfortunately.   My first tri is in two weeks, a relatively short pool swim, 300yd pool, 9 mile bike and 5k run very local to my house.  I started taking some coached swim lessons last week and signed of for some open water classes at the Y, and am planning on particiapting in two other tris this summer- 1 sprint (.25 mile swim, 12mile bike, and 5k run) at the end of June, and 1 olympic in early August.    hopefully i can find more time on the bike before August..

Well I finally made it back to Nebraska and am glad to be off the interstate. We drove through about 550 miles of snow storm, got stranded in Rawlins Wyoming when they closed the interstate, but we made it back home only 1 day late. I had a good run at the Corvallis Half Marathon. Here's the semi-short rundown.

I had to spend 2 days snowed in before we left because the highways were closed. We left on Thursday and then drove or 2 days. We got to Corvallis Friday night, and I got a short run (3 miles) on Saturday to loosen up the leg muscles.

Sunday I went with my sister in law to the start line. My brother didn't run in the the race because my nephew was sick. After a really short wait we started. My plan was to run the first 10 miles at about 70% hr (around 133 bpm) and see how I felt. If the first 10 miles went well I'd run the last 3.1 hard. If not, it was going to be a long training run.

My first 8 miles were nice and easy and my pace was between 10:10 and 10:48 minutes per mile. I felt really good and around the halfway mark I was wanting to pick up the pace. I negotiated with myself and stuck with the plan. Finally at mile 8 decided I could bump my heart rate up to 140 bpm. I started to pick up my pace and increased my speed to 9:50 for mile 8, and was feeling good and kept picking up the pace. Each mile was faster and my pace for mile 12-13 was 8:35. My last .1 mile was at a 6:35 pace, although it helped I knew the finish line was just around the corner. I finished at 2:11:22 which averaged 10:02. I was happy with my time, the negative split and I felt really good at the finish.

Awesome job! Sounds like you really enjoyed yourself. I forget that it's still snowing in some places, since we never get  much in Western NC. That's dedication!

Sounds like you chose some fun races, best of luck! I'm curious to see how the swim coaching works out, I've heard a lot of success stories from people who did the same.

Hey April, which mud run are you doing? I'm really starting to like those events, they're a lot of fun, especially with friends. Two tris back to back - wow, that's impressive! Makes me tired just thinking of it