Jsnowash (Jenny)'s Mentor Group - CLOSED! (Page 21)

Good question! I have no idea what to do about races this year. I have a 4 mile run scheduled for St. Patty's day. 

It looks like my 2 favorite area tri's are not being planned for this year.

Now, I have to find some new races. But, I'm hesitant to register at this point, since my ortho has cautioned that there's no guarentee this casting will work. I may still be looking at surgery. That means, I might be sidelined for much of the season.

-Heidi

Wow!  You guys are amazing.  So much has happened and y’all have kept up with your training.  Way to go, keep it up!

My life since I last posted about four weeks has been very tame in comparison.  I ran the Houston Marathon on Jan. 15 and actually got to see about the last 1 ½ hours of the Olympic Trials the day before, before going to pick up my packet for the marathon.  I was within a stone’s throw of the runners and could see the finish line.  It is amazing how good the runners looked coming in after having run 26.2 miles at a blistering pace.  I guess that’s why they are the ones going to the Olympics. lol

My marathon went well, but it took a lot longer than the elite athletes’.  I finished in 5:25.32.  That was only 19 seconds slower than my PR.  Had I know I was that close to a new PR, I could have probably pushed it a little more somewhere along the line.  I did fall between mile 19 and 20, so that didn’t help.  The street was uneven and I was probably not picking up my feet too high at that point in the race.  I can usually catch myself before falling, but not this time.  Somehow or other I managed to fall on my right forearm and hip, so I dusted myself off and kept going.  My elbow didn’t even bleed, I just had some nice bruises for about a week.

The next day I had to euthanize one of my dogs because of osteosarcoma (bone cancer).  That was hard because he was only 10 and a very special boy.

I think I have kind of stretched out the recovery part after the marathon, but I have gone out for an 8 mile long run and have started some track speed work with a friend.  My swimming is slowly progressing.  On Monday a girl who had been away for a few weeks gave me a compliment.  She said that I had come a long way, now I looked like a real swimmer.  At least I took it as a compliment.  lol  The biking has been totally neglected, so I need to do something about that.

As far as races coming up, I have a 10K coming up on the 26^th.  I’m also thinking about doing the New Orleans HM on March 4.  After that, I have the two HMs on consecutive days on March 17 and a sprint tri on April 29.  I need to get my act together and get training. ETA  Gosh I almost forgot!  I signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October.

Good job picking yourself back up from the fall. It is very unsettling to fall.

I did 20 minutes on the trainer last night at 10:30 and got up early to swim this morning, but the pool was closed because the PH balance was off. I'm hoping they can get it fixed by this afternoon or even tomorrow morning. I was really looking forward to the swim.

I'm still planning out my races, needing to decide which are A and B and C races, I guess. Last year was my first year of racing and I kind of approached all of the races the same -- trying to beat the previous times.

I hope everyone has a great day today. We have a little snow on the ground, and it's been pretty, but it should melt off this afternoon.

I still really want my A race to be Lake Stevens 70.3.  That said, if that one doesn't work out, I might just make our local Oly my A race.

Still doing this HM at the end of the month, and considering my running the last few weeks has been, well, non-existant...I think this will be one of those race I just go out and do for fun, and not for time.  We all have those occiasionaly, right?

My first tri of the year will be Rev3 Quassy Half in June.  Heard great stories about the race and really looking forward to it.  Lots of training between now and then...  After Rev3 I will probably do a local Oly and Sprint.  Those are fun, and since I know the course I can treat them as training days also.

My "A" race would be Lake Placid IM at the end of July.  First full for me so definitely getting nervous about that.  Coming down with a bit of a cold here so trying to take it easy but not feel guilty about missing a training session.

Well I made it through a hectic week and now it's time to catch up on workouts and hopefully get into a routine.  My husband won't be traveling again till late march.  Was able to get 1 hour trainer ride in on Sunday, 8.5 mile run on Monday and then work/kids 3 days = no workouts!  I'm heading out for a 5mile run and hopefully another trainer piece later today.  I haven't been logging or following my plan..that's my challenge for this week to get back on track.

I'm not sure what my "A" race will be.  I'm signed up for REV3 Quassy (HIM) with a goal of sub-6, but it's such an early race.  I'm more focused on goals for each discipline.  I really want a sub 2 hour HM and a sub 3 hour bike (HIM).  It looks like a good season to stay local (CT) and do a lot of smaller races and really focus on each discipline.  Might try to add my first century ride in there.

The swimming pool was still closed this morning. Since I'm not a swimmer, I don't understand why it is taking so long to get the pool back in balance again. How bad must it have been, and how did it get that way?

So I did a 20 minute trainer ride instead. I got up a little late and had decided I was going to swim for only 20 minutes, so that's all the time I had for the trainer, too.

My oldest son and I are going to Missouri to pick up his stuff from his dad's house. We are also bringing back a dog. But I refuse to take the rat!!!

My workouts are going to be difficult to get in this weekend because of the driving, loading the car, dealing with ex, and then driving back home. But I'm taking my swimming and running gear just in case I can squeeze something in.

I hope everyone has a great day today!

I'm not following a specific IM or HIM plan at this point.  I've been doing the Jorge Winter Cycling Plan to improve my bike over the winter.  My home schedule with three kids is not entirely conducive to following a structered plan.  The biggest thing I'm watching right now is my run volume and trying to get my weekly run totals up.  As April comes around, however, I may reassess where I am and start getting more specific on my training plan.

Timberman last August was my first.  I did the Quassy olympic last year and that was quite challenging.  Many were joking that REV3 is putting hills in the swim for this year.  It sort of sentimental -- I was training for my first sprint when this race was announced (Quassy was REV3's first race) and after hearing others talk about how challenging the hills are (many people walk, many fall over!) I said I have to do that race someday!

I do have the home field advantage as it's only a 45 minute ride to the course from my house, so I'm hoping this mild weather will hold up and I can start getting over there for some rides in the coming weeks!

I'm curious..haven't looked at the website.  Where is transition for you in NYC?  Any chance of riding the route -- pre-race?

I also have some home field advantage with Quassy as I work about 1 mile from there.  Generally run part of the course everyday and bike it when the weather turns nice.  Plus the Rev3 HIM bike runs about half a mile by my house.  The Pat Griskus Oly and Sprint are also run out of Quassy and are very good events.

Got in my second swim of the season last evening.  Felt pretty good.  I've been trying out the Finis Swimsense watch.  Pretty interesting how it can track your laps, stroke, stroke cadence, etc.  Hard short bike today and long slow bike tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a good weekend.

I switched to Vibram 5fingers in January of 2011. I LOVE them!  I have a lot of chronic foot problems from broken bones and ruptured tendons. In regular shoes, I can never get above 4 mile runs without  injury.

In the VFF's I'm up to consistently 5-6 mile runs with no pain and no injury. For me, they're exactly what my feet need.

Jenny, I've been running in a pair of Brooks Pure Flow and I love them.  I ran the Houston Marathon in them.  I like the way they feel on my feet and the fact that they are light.  I noticed toward the end of my marathon training that I had managed to do all my training without one blister.  That is the first time I didn't get blisters during my long runs working up to a marathon.  I'm not crazy about the color choices, but hey, if that's all the complaints I have about a pair of shoes, I'm doing great.

I did a track workout on Tuesday, and although I felt good during and after the workout, I could barely get out of bed the next morning I was so tired.  I need to back off so I can do the other styff too.  I did manage to get to the pool three times this week and did a long run of 8 miles yesterday.  I'm going out for 4 miles later on once it warms up a little bit.  The bike is still falling by the wayside.