Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete Mentor Group (Page 21)

Hi Kelly, I haven't registered for Oliver.  I went to the website to register and for the first time ever they show the Sprint and Olympic are sold out and the best I can do is go on a waitlist and wait until the morning of the race.  So then I thought I could sign up for the HIM Aquabike on Sunday.  So I went online tonight and the Aquabike shows, "Closed".  It wasn't closed just yesterday.  So now I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing this weekend.

Dorm - Have a good race Saturday.  It does sound like fun.  I like to travel to but always glad to get home.

David - Your problem does sound frustrating.  Hopefully your training and Sprint will go well.

Deb - Good to hear from you.  I think of you everytime I sit on my bike.  You do sound busy and it is great to hear you are getting stronger and faster.  I seem to be going the wrong way and getting slower.

I think you already saw this on another forum but I will be trying something a little shorter this time.  It will be an Olympic.  The 70.3 races can get a little long for me so the Olympic distance may work out better for me.  I will know in a few days. 

Hey guys!  Been a while for me too since I've been on here - work/family/training has been keeping me busy.  Feeling a bit like George lately - like I've been going backwards instead of forwards, but it's just temporary.  I've been working with a coach who has been pushing me more that I would have pushed myself to get ready for my HIM in September.  But that's a good thing - it's why I asked him to work with me in the first place.  He's made some changes to my swim (which was horrible and needed improvement!) and my run (using the MAF method which is very slow right now but will make me a better runner in the end).  

Deb - congrats on AG Nationals!  

To anyone racing this weekend - good luck and enjoy your race!

I'll be volunteering at a kid's tri on Sunday morning. It's always so much fun to see them out there having such a good time.   
Janet

I very much enjoyed doing the "Run the Quay" event this morning.  It was my best time for a 5k, albeit most of the 5k's I've done are at the end of a Tri.  Still ... faster is faster.  We had a group do the event together - one daughter, SIL and some friends and we all had a ball.

Deb, welcome back ... its good to have you back again.

Hope all have a good weekend!

Ciao ... Dorm

This is a bit off topic, but has anyone in the group done a 'bike tour' vacation?  My wife and I have friends who like to travel, but neither wife cycles.  I'm looking to do a 4-day trip in the US somewhere.  I've read some on this and there are many tour companies out there that arrange lodging, equipment, SAG support and some food and drink.  Most have a "single" option wherein you pay extra to have a private room.  With the private room, we have accommodations and the wives come too and do their thing while we're out on the road.  Some of the US regions are in the Pacific Northwest, California Wine Country, Northeast as in Vermont and Maine, et al. 

Anyway, if ones here have done this, your thoughts or experiences are appreciated. I'll post this in the "general" forum also for feedback as well.

Ciao ... Dorm

I had a good race.  

I got calf cramps on the swim and ended up a full 5 minutes over my goal on that leg.  Then my timing chip fell of the band during the wet suit peel which added about 15 seconds to my transition. 

My bike leg was the shining point of the day.  I got an aero helmet since my last race as well as some 2nd hand racing wheels.  The guy that I got the wheels from got a flat so he replaced the latex tube for Buna.  He also had some training quality tires.  I had tested these wheels for a week in training when I got them for my birthday 6 months ago and I was about 1/2 MPH faster on them.  A week before the race I put my Continental race tires on these wheels, put latex tubes one them, took all the extra gear off the bike that I used for training, etc.  Then I shave my legs, arms, and most of my beard (I kept some of it for fun.  I can't take Triathlon too seriously or the sport would become boring and I would lose interest).  Well all of the adjustments made me lightning fast.  I was 2 MPH faster on race day that I am in my time trials in training. I didn't even feel bad that I am still riding on platform pedals.  :-)  I did take one wrong turn that cost me about a minute so I could have been even a minute faster.  One guy that I passed told me that he came to Triathlon from a bike racing background.  I would have felt good about him telling me I was fast on the bike but I come from a competitive running background and he passed me in the last mile of the run.  :-)  

My T2 had problems when me and a few other people all exited the wrong side of the Transition area and had to go back though and out the other way.  Another 30 seconds lost.

My run leg was about 2 minutes over my goal time.  That is about 15 minutes closer to my goal time than I have been on my last two races though so I think that I pretty much nailed the run.  If I had gone any faster I would have had cramping in my legs so the pace was right were it needed to be.  

So a top 10% bike leg, a top 10% run leg, and a bottom 20% swim leg.  That put me just in the top 25%.  Last year I focused on my cycling and it payed off big.  I DID do more swimming this year than the year before, but I guess over the next year the swim is going to need a lot more work. 

Curtis ... really nice job.  I would love to have your speed on the bike.  I've never had a "perfect" race - meaning I always wind up doing something before or during the race that slows me a bit.  And yes ... I've gone thru the wrong gate in transition as well.  It sounds like you were well prepared though, given the efforts you went through for the bike leg, and knowing and sticking to your pace for the run leg.

It is funny though ... every time I feel like I'm getting too serious about something I wind up shaving my legs as well

Congrats again on the strong performance ...

Ciao - Dorm

Thanks! Here are my before and after photos of my "race eve" shave.   You are probably thinking the beard shaving alone is what made up for most the difference in the 2 MPH and the wheels, areo gear, etc. were significantly less.  :-)

Wow, has it really been 10-days since I've been in the forum?  Sorry everyone.  Work has been crazy busy.

Kelly, I'm doing well, thanks for asking.  I'm back to a full training schedule.  However, I made the decision to pass on a 140.6 this year.  My fitness took a pretty good hit when I was in the hospital.  I probably could have gotten back however other things have been going on that caused me to take a good hard look at priorities.  I'm in the process of winding down my I.T. business and ramping up my coaching business.  That's where I ultimately want to be. Coaching is my passion and simply put, it isn't work.  I.T. on the other hand is hours of boredom followed by seconds of sheer terror.  I'm getting old enough I no longer enjoy that kind of stress.  When I looked at the big picture, I realized, given I'd lost a good deal of fitness and the season was in question at best, that I had an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive.  While I am still doing some I.T. work, I no longer consider myself an I.T. guy that does a little coaching on the side - instead, I now consider myself a Triathlon Coach that does a little I.T. stuff on the side.  I am very much looking forward to I.T. being in the rear view mirror.

Speaking of rear view mirror.  My wife and I are planning to move back to Indiana.  We have been talking about it for a couple years.  My wife began collecting Social Security a couple months ago in preparation for us moving.  Sadly, her knee has flared up.  The orthopedic surgeon says she really can't wait any longer and has to have the knee replaced.  We were hoping to be on the road before summer but now it looks like she won't be done with surgery and recovery until early to mid October.  That means, depending upon weather, we may or may not be able to actually move until Spring - we aren't too excited about moving when snow is a concern.

Now, I have to see if I can get caught up on all the posts!

Welcome back Deb! 

For those of you that don't know Deb, she is one of the most dedicated Age-Group triathletes I have ever known.  I have a little saying - WWDD - what would Deb do.  When I have a bad day, a tough training, or just plain don't want to go workout, I just say WWDD out loud.

Deb I think I speak for all that know you when I say we look forward to your continued inspiration.

David,

That's great news!  Good luck on Father's day!

We should set up a Gray Guys/Gals dinner.  I know Deb will be there, you will be there, I'll be there.  Be nice to put faces to names.

We have a couple months to set something up.  Anyone else going to be in Omaha?

Chris,

Good job.  That's called tenacity in the face of adversity!  Good job.  Looking forward to the race report.

Hey Dorm,

I've not done any formal tours, however, back when I was in college one of my friends and I did several longer rides up the coast of California, from Los Angeles to San Francisco - about 400 miles.  We'd take a week and just take our time.

Another buddy and I are hoping, loosely planning a coast to coast ride.  From Los Angeles to Orlando, FL.  Neither of our wives ride, but they are all too happy to spend the day sightseeing and shopping.  Our idea at this point is to cover roughly 100 miles per day.  We'll start out in the morning and "our support crew" will start a couple hours later.  They'll just drive through to the next stop.  We're figuring a month or so to go the 2,500 miles.  That's the problem right now, trying to figure out how we can get away for a month.

Good luck finding something!  Let me know how it goes.

Great race Curtis!

It's amazing what shaving the beard did for you! 

The key to the swim is frequency.  Say you are going to swim 3 hours per week.  I'd rather see you do four 45-minute workouts than three 1-hour workouts or two one and a half hour workouts.  The more frequently you are in the water, the more efficiently you will "become a fish."

Adrian,

Been there!  Done that!  I've said those very same words more times then I care to admit.

The thing that helped me get on tract the most was when I made triathlon a priority.  Obviously I had to work and had family commitments, but I made triathlon a priority and let everyone know that it was important to me.  I quite literally blocked out time on my calendar (I live off the calendar in Outlook).  NOTHING was allowed to interfere with that time.  If I missed a workout, it was only because I chose to miss the workout.  Once I'd placed that type of emphasis on my training, it became much easier to get the workouts done.

Good luck!

LOL, undoubtedly!  See my earlier post!  All that other stuff is just hype!  The beard - now that's true drag reduction.  I mean really, how many fish have you seen with a beard?