Chet's Group is out doing it!- Closed (Page 21)

Afternoon all, rest day for me.  Tomorrow swim and Friday going for a run.  Im sure Sat/Sun will have something in store just not sure what yet.  Our weather is suppose to be rainy so will have to wait and see.

Chet,  sorry to hear about the changes with the BM affecting you negativley.  That is a bummer.  I read the article on runnersworld and thought ouf you. 

When I read about everyone else's training plans I feel like I am way behind the times.  Maybe Im just too new yet.  Speedwork, splits, negative splits, auto lap, monitoring HR.  So much to learn and so much information.  Im feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Im just swimming, biking and running, lol. 

I def need to stick around here to continue learing from all you amazing athletes. 


Have a great night.

Sheila:   "just" swimming, biking, and running every week is great!!!   (It's more than I'm doing -- I'm only running, and very occasionally cross-training.)     So don't feel like you're not doing enough..    I'm also playing catch-up right now with my fitness, and every bit helps!    :-)

Update:  I ran ~35 mins and took a yoga class yesterday.

Note: I've been trying to supplement my running with cross-training (gym / strength / stretch / biking / walking).  That way, I can have a daily routine of being active, without adding more miles -- since 30 mpw is enough for me, for right now!

Have a nice Thursday!   :-)

Mel

Sorry about Boston Chet, I can't think of anything to say to make it better but I'm still in awe of your marathon time!

If you got this far you'll get to Boston for sure.

Sheila: the biggest thing in training as far as I can tell is consistency, just getting out the door and doing a workout. All the rest is optional; when I was just running I always set myself the target of 3 runs per week as a minimum. As long as I did that I'd be ok.
I'd set 2 runs, 2 swims and 2 rides as your target and not worry too much about anything else. You'll get nice and fit guaranteed!!!

Cheers, David

P.S. Only a week and a half till my next sprint tri, my aim is to greatly improve my bike time even if that means a painful run...

Good morning everyone.  I am done wallowing, off for a mountain bike ride with friends today.  I need to get completely healthy again and look forward.  A 3:10 in October will put me in Boston for sure... but in 2013

Hope everyone has a great day. 

Thanks for the words of encouragement Mel and David!!  Had a good swim this morning.  Im really enjoying the classes but only 2 more next week and they are done.  From there I will have to get into my own training plan with what I have learned.  It has helped a ton and I feel pretty good about the swim part now.

Mel, 30 MPW is awesome.  I need to do more of the strength and stretching too.  I love Yoga, just need to do it more often.   Have a great day!

David, 2nd sprint tri?? Nice!!  I can hardly wait, mine is about 70ish days away. 

Chet, love the positive attitude.  Keep moving forward.  Did you go up to Bootleg for the Mnt bike ride?  Weather was pretty good today.  Im actually looking forward to some rain this weekend. 

Well, it's Thursday!!  Have a good one!

Sheila- We did!  It is just what I needed too.  Nice weather, fun group, and got a little work in.  It is tough up there and I am not great on the Mountain Bike.  More balance needed .  Beautiful day today.  Congrats on the getting comfortable in the water!  That really is the biggest obstacle for most people.  I haven't heard from Daneen in a while, how is she doing?  I would suggest as the weather gets a little warmer to get out for some open water swims though.  I will be back in the lake in a couple weeks with friends preparing for Showdown at Sundown.  There really is a difference from the pool but it just takes a little exposure to feel comfortable.  
Mel- You are our sole racer this weekend.  GO MEL!!! 

 

David- HAMMER that bike!  That is the only way you will know what you can do on the run.  You learn more every race when you push the limits.

Morning everyone.  Car's power steering went out so I have to replace my swim with a bike.  Dropping the car off and riding back then no time to get the swim in.  

So what is everyone doing this weekend? 

Hey Guys and Gals

Two bits of good news this week.

1. Someone is working on setting up a tri club right here in Inverness! And they are planning a couple of local events this year including a proper open water tri. Yay! Will be great to have others locally to go out to play with.

2. Finally got out on the shiny new bike today and it is every bit as good as I had hoped. I am not sure if it is a placebo effect but the titanium seems to soak up the bumps and rattles really well.

Keep up the good work everyone and great job on the positive attitude Chet.

Ross

Just checking in, had a pretty easy week after the race.  Finally followed through on all of my race report "what would you do differently" sections and got a pair of tri shoes.  Went with Louis Garneau Tri Speed's.  Also upgraded my pedals to Speedplay's Lightaction Chromoly.  I'll see how things go tomorrow on the group ride.

Good luck Mel!!! 

Good luck Mel!!

I had a swim/bike session scheduled for today, problem is the pool doesn't open till 7am so by the time I'd got down there and done my swim it was already sweltering, about 31 deg C and very humid.
I made the mistake of not eating breakfast because I was running a bit late and by the time I'd completed the big hill at the halfway point of the ride I was dripping in sweat and feeling very hungry.
Weighed myself when I got home and I'd lost 1 1/2 pounds in sweat even after having a 600ml iced coffee.

Doing a surf patrol tomorrow afternoon and have to fit in a 10k run, I think I'll do it late in the afternoon or early evening when it's cooler.

Ross, a tri club in Inverness sound great! One of my mates from Uni lived there for 4 years and we visited a couple of times, not sure about the open water swimming though... what's the water temp???

Cheers, David

Thanks for the well wishes w/ the race, everybody!  It's happening tomorrow (Sunday)..  I'll let you all know how it went afterwards!

Ross: that new bike sounds sweet!!!   Enjoy..     :-)

Short update:  I ran 12 miles yesterday, and took a Pilates class this morning (OMG..   I have the weakest core EVER!).     No running today (although I might walk around the city a bit), since I want to be sortof fresh for the 10km Phanos Boscross (Forest Cross) tomorrow..

Enjoy your weekend!
Mel

39.5 miles with the group this morning. By far the best group ride so far. The Speedplay pedals also worked great, no knee pain when I was done.

Good luck for tomorrow Mel! Have a fun race.

Water temperature is a bit of a worry! Its about 3 degrees Celsius in loch ness at the moment and peaks at 13 or so in the summer. The sea is around 5 degrees or so at the moment. Gonna need a decent wetsuit!

Chris - glad you got the knee pain figured out.  That can be miserable.

Good luck tomorrow Mel!!

Ross- I love the new bike smell

David- are you a spinner or a masher on the bike?

Ramping up a little agian.  I feel recovered except for the heel.  I still can't run on it but it is good on the bike.  Time to up the bike miles then.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Edited by cbarnes1 2011-02-19 10:21 PM

We had some rain today so after running on the beach with the dogs and family I hit the pool. I have been watching some total immersion videos and something stuck. I was able to swim 60 laps today which is longest pool swim ever. Right shoulder is acting up a little but nothing a little vitamin I won't take care of.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Robert 

Robert - those TI videos are good aren't they? I watches a few on youtube when I got back into swimming, funny how just one thing can change how the swim feels.

Chris - Good going on the bike, I haven't found a group to go with yet, they all seem too quick around here.

Ross - Yep, I thought the water might be cold! I visited in June once and there was still snow on the ground and skiing in the mountains.

Chet - I try to be a spinner rather than a masher, I'm trying to work out which gear feels right, I've checked my bike and I've got a compact crank 50x34t, the first couple of gears on the big wheel feel good on the flat but sometimes the lower gears on the small wheel don't seem quite low enough for the big hills.
Any suggestions???

Cheers, Dave

PS Did a 10k run this evening, very hot again and sweated++. I spoke to a friend who does Ultra's this morning, she'd done a 2 hour hill run and said she nearly blacked out from the heat!
Running seems to be going well despite only 2 sessions a week.

Hey everybody!

The Phanos Boscross is my first race in a LONG time.   Seriously, it's hard to believe that I haven't pinned on a race number for almost a full year!!!   I consider today to be the start of my "comeback" into racing..   the first of a (hopefully long) line of running races in 2011 (and beyond).

So here's my race report for the Phanos Boscross:  

http://www.phanos.org/index.php?cat=wedstrijden&id=kalender&subpage=2011/boscross.html

It was a chilly clear day, at ~2 degees C (35F).   The 10km race was the main event of the day, with approx. 100 participants.   I haven't run a 10km race in a long time, so my goal for the day was to hold a 10:20 min/mile.  (I used to be able to run a 9:30 min/mile cross race, back in 2008 when I was training for the Amsterdam Marathon.   But I'm not in that kindof shape anymore -- so I tried to choose a goal pace that seemed challenging but achieveable.)

The Phanos Boscross is a cross-county (not a road) race, that takes place entirely over grass, mud, and forest paths.   The route deliberately took us over the "hill" in the Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest) about 5 times, for a total of 200 meters of ascent/descent.  I almost lost one of my running shoes twice in the mud.   :-)

Mile 1 was my warm-up at a 10:35 pace, and during Mile 2, I settled into a 10:03 pace.  Somewhere during Mile 3, I got a weird cramp in my back, just below my left shoulder.  (In my ~5 years of running, I've never had that happen before.   Was it due to my Pilates class yesterday?)   It became uncomfortable to run, and I slowed down to a pace that didn't hurt my back (11:29 pace).  After a period of running slower, the cramp seemed to work itself out, and I was able to speed up again for Mile 4 (10:19 pace) and Mile 5 (10:28).    Between the hills and mud, it was pretty tough going --  I was definitely pushing myself to hold on to my pace.   Much to my surprise, I then saw the finish line..  so I (cheered on my the ~70 year old guy running just ahead of me) sprinted the last 0.2 kilometers to the finish (8:00 pace).   My average for the 5.16 miles was 10:30 min/mile.

All of the race participants were a bit surprised by the fact that the race was 8.3 km instead of the advertised 10 km.  However I was so pooped by the end, I secretly didn't mind too much..   Hey, I just finished my first race in almost a year!   :-)

Due to the mysterious back pain during Mile 3, I didn't make my 10:20 min/mile goal.   (More evidence that I need to strengthen my back/core, methinks.)    However, I'm satisfied with my effort, and I now have a frame of reference for what pace I can reasonably expect to hold during a 10km cross race.

This frame of reference will come in handy, since a friend and I signed up to participate in another cross-race next weekend: the 12km Baggerloop in Didam.  (Didam = the god-awful-middle-of-nowhere, near the German border.)

http://www.baggerloop.nl/

The Baggerloop is a very special race -- it makes the Phanos Boscross look like a squeaky clean road race!   It's run entirely through uneven farmland, and it's so wet that you don't even bother trying to avoid mud or puddles anymore.   I remember that a previous year's course map went something like this:  start-mud-mud-lake-mud-canal-mud-finish 1st loop-etc..

If you want to get an idea of what it's like, here's a Youtube video for the race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n3GKXwqnSw&feature=player_embedded
(Pay extra special attention to the 2:00 minute point.)

I doubt I'm gonna PR there, but it's always nice to have something fun to look forward to!   ;-)

Anyways..   have a nice weekend everybody!!!

Mel


Edited by grrlrunner 2011-02-20 7:58 AM

Robert- nice swim.  It sounds like a breakthrough to me!  Swimming should feel like you can go forever in triathlon.  It means you are efficient and are going to have plenty for the bike and run.  Keep concentrating on that stroke!

David-  I am a masher.  My cadence needs to be higher to help me run better off the bike.  I find that if I stay in my saddle on the hills and keep my rpm's up on the flats that my heart rate stays lower.  I think this is going to be key for me this year.  Time in the saddle is the answer but I think trying new things during training will help you get there quicker.  Just a thought. 

Ross - That is cold!  I would be in a neoprene cap and swim socks in that water.  Brrr! 

A great website - athlinks.com  

It lists all your races, categorizes them, gives pr's, rivals etc.  It has all but a few of my races.  If they are not listed under your name, you can go to race results and claim them.  It is worth a look.  

So I was looking at the site and noticed that my wife and I have run 13 races together.  Then I noticed it gave a won loss record for the races: 12-1.  Then I remembered Bryce Canyon Half Mary.  So I run with my wife trying to get her under 2 hours.  I am carrying her water, giving her splits, timing her nutrition, and being a coach (and a good husband) all the way through.  So in the last 15 ft of the race after running the whole thing together, she sprints.  She totally uses it against me too. 

Mel - Good job on the race, especially working through the cramp.

Robert - The TI videos are great, really helped me get through my first season.  I'll be dusting them off soon.

Dave -  Thanks, the group rides are starting to be fun and are paying off.

Took the family out to our local nature preserve for a bike ride and some fresh air.  1 hour run tonight, 3 weeks until my half mary. 

Crashing with us at the top of page one!  The group is racing!!!!!  All is well in the world

Here's another great website, check out Mr Smooth, he's meant to have the perfect swim stroke:

 http://www.swimsmooth.com/

Swapped my rest day from today to yesterday, needed the extra recovery after the hard ride Saturday.  Will get in my long run tonight after the kids are down.  Took advantage of President's Day and the great weather and went on an 8 mile bike ride with my boys.  Their longest ride so far and both did really well (no crashes).  It helped that we stopped for lunch before heading home.