MJEWEN Summer 2013 Mentor Group - OPEN (Page 22)

Melissa how was your nutrition and hydration during the run? Are you feeling better today?

My back didn't bother me at all.

I posted some pics from yesterday in my photo album.

Great job Emile! I'm sorry you had a bike crash. That really stinks. What caused it? You still had great times despite the crash. And no pains (other than road rash) is impressive. I was worried something would pop up during the race and nag you the whole race. Good to hear you did not experience any of that.

Melissa - not sure my bike handling skills are all that fantastic. The good thing about cross (cx) is that they start you off in beginner categories. So I will do my first race as a "level 4" racer. After a person wins 3 level 4 races, or does a certain number of level 4 races, they get bumped up to level 3. Once in level 3 they could actually win $. After so many wins, or races at level 3 (s)he moves up to level 2. Eventually making it to level 1. Men have a level 5, but women start at level 4. Lots more men race cx, so they can afford to have more categories than the ladies. The courses are the same no matter what level you are, but you race with others at the same level.

As for the bike, I have a cx bike. That's what I've been riding for triathlon. It looks like a road bike for the most part. The brakes are cantilever so there is more room for a muddy tire to pass through. The tires are wider and knobbie - in between a mtb tire and a road bike tire in width. I think the bottom bracket is a little higher. You can race with any bike at a race, just like you can with triathlon. A race specific bike just works a little better.

I'll update everyone later in the week and let you know what it's like to race cx. :-) I think there are 3 or 4 races in this series and I might race all of them if I enjoy the first race. They are held Wednesday evenings and are about 30 minutes in length. I think there is about a month break and then another race series starts up.

Crissy

Hey all... I took a well deserved week of last week. My body was protesting.
I begin training again tomorrow in earnest for upcoming events.
Yesterday I registered for the Challenge Atlantic City ultra distance triathlon on June 29, 2014.
The challenge triathlon series is pretty big in Europe. It's their first event in the U.S..

I'm thinking about getting a used tire to run with (pulled behind me with by a cord attached around a waist belt).
Has anyone heard of this or have experiences with it? thoughts?

I've seen football players and sprinters training by pulling "speed chutes"... basically parachutes. The idea there is to build muscle explosiveness.

I'd imagine that pulling a tire would be similar. I think it would be a unique / bad- type thing to do... but not very sure about the training benefits for endurance events

There is a loony guy that things he's going to set the marathon world record via his Spartan Race training.... he trains in a weighted vest and adheres to a training program based on running a short distance at world record marathon pace. Then he's planning to build up the distance over time at that pace to set the world record. I read about it a year or two ago, still waiting to see him set the record.

BTW, Terry you're awesome.... whether you train with a tire or not. My reference to Spartan Race guy was just a random thought and not connecting you to his looniness.

no problem...... many of the people i know think i'm a little loony for doing these events

Posted race report.

Terry never heard of endurance athletes training this way although I know football players and fighters do.

many of the ultra runners use a tire to train down here. doing parking garage repeats and running bridges get monotonous so many pull a tire.

here is an article that was referred to me

http://marshallulrich.com/blog/tire-drag/



I'll acquire a tire this week and let you all know how it goes.

Emile... you are a true "Red Man" blood splatter and all.....

Terry interesting read. I've never heard of distance runners training this way.

Ultra runners are a different breed. I'm pretty sure that guy was in a documentary I saw awhile back and he had his toenails surgically removed.

There is a spectrum of compulsive behavior... I realize I'm further up the spectrum than "normal" but having my toenails removed is definitely closer to the fringe than I'd like to be.

Now... back to training.. if hill sprints are good and tire dragging is good.... then dragging a tire up a hill while sprinting must be the best!

Why would you ever want to miss all the fun of getting black toe nails and having them fall off.

I just love you guys.

Ken you crack me up with your comments. Sprinting, uphill, pulling a tire. Why not add in a snorkel for breathing restriction - it will help improve your cardio endurance! That's it, we are all going to do this this weekend. Is it OK if I pull a bike tire?

I've never gotten a black toenail. I'd like to think it's because I always get properly fitting shoes with plenty of toe wiggle room, but perhaps I've just been lucky. Either way I'm just happy to never have experienced it.

Let the off-season training commence!

My cross race was last night. It was so much fun, and so hard at the same time. I really pushed myself. I had no idea how hard I should go, so I thought I better go out as hard as I thought I could go. They started the guys levels 4 & 5 then ~30 seconds to 1 minute later they started us level 4 women. The course started on a paved up hill. Then we had to jump a curb and go into the trees. This portion of the race was over pine needles and pine cones between rows of Pine trees (you were thinking they might be oak, right?). Sharp turn around a tree, through the grass, sharp turn around a tree or two or three, several more through soft pine needles and dirt (nearly causing me a few wipe outs), back into the grass, over a few 8" tall wooden planks, and more of the same eventually popping out over the curb back onto pavement. Then repeated 4 more times. Each lap took 6-7 minutes to complete. It was sprint, break, turn, sprint, brake, turn. I caught up to the guys and started passing the guys. I didn't know how far behind me the other women were so I didn't let up until I lapped one of the other women. It was then I realized I had put a lot of distance between myself and the rest of the women's pack. So for my 40th birthday I won my 1st cyclocross race! What a great birthday present! It was totally unexpected. Also, here is an article in our paper where I just so happen to be in 2 of the photos. http://journalstar.com/news/local/local-cyclocross-riders-looking-t... We were having a practice so that us newbies to cyclocross could learn some of the needed skills and a group of cub scouts came along and were invited to join us. Cute article.

You guys should try a cx race. Holy cow it was fun.

Next race will be Wednesday of next week. My husband is going to race it too. I used his bike for the race because my bike still has road tires on it. Guess this means i need to swap my tires back to the knobby, wider cross tires. Oh, wait! I'm doing a triathlon this weekend! I forgot. I believe it involves 5 miles of kayaking instead of a swim. I think the bike portion is 20 miles, and the run is a 5k hilly trail run.

Edited by crissy_jo 2013-09-26 12:05 PM

Crissy,

I saw that article earlier this morning and remember you mentioning cyclocross but I didn't make the connection

congrats on the win... great way to celebrate your 40th bday!


It does look like a ton of fun and I'd definitely like to give it a try sometime. I think they're winding down this particular series of events during my marathon taper so maybe I can get into them next year.

Crissy awesome job on your first cross race! It sounds like a blast and very difficult. Let us know how you and your husband do next week.

I still haven't ran or biked since Redman. I'm still a little sore and beat up from the race but getting better everyday. I'll probably get back into training Monday. I have a duathlon I plan on doing in about 3 weeks.

Went to the bike store to buy a new pair of bike gloves and came out with this...

Guess 30% off seemed like too good of a deal for me to pass up. I now have a cx, mtb and tri bike. My husband says he needs to get one now. We need another stall in our garage if we keep up these healthy habits.





Attachments
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tri bike.jpg (2530KB - 31 downloads)

Picture doesn't work. What kind of bike did you get?

It just came up. Oooooooooooo!!!! Sweet!!! Awesome looking bike!!!

Crissy next purchase needs to be a matching blue/white tri suit!

Matching tri kit? Hmm....I probably have enough workout clothing I could pull this off right now. :-)

Today's tri was tough. Didn't help that I was still sore from Friday's boot camp class this morning, and that I was up late at a friends 40's birthday party and had a couple drinks last night. The race started with 3 miles of hilly running on single track trails. This was followed up with 2.5 miles of paddling up river, then 2.5 miles back down the river. The paddling section took me about 2 hours to do. I was so tired at the end of it. I had only taken a sports drink with me, but was glad I at least had that. Then it was a jog back to the bikes and 16 miles of biking over hills. I don't remember my finish time, but seems like it was around 3:25. Loaded everything up and rushed home to get to my daughters' volleyball games this afternoon. I'm beat and going to bed early tonight. I'll write up an official race report tomorrow, assuming my arms work tomorrow.

Hey all... I've been really work busy.. but....

Crissy_jo....Sweet ride. great job on the race.
Emile I hope the recovery is coming along nicely.
Ken/Melissa, how is your training coming along??
Mike?? are you back yet?

I still haven't gotten a tire to pull behind me yet....

I completed the Escape to Miami Olympic distance on Sunday. I had been recovering from a few very long rides and had not done anything for two weeks prior to this race- i got behind on some work and my body was rebelling and just feeling really run down. On the swim start they bring us via Ferry to an island in Biscayne Bay and we swim back to the mainland. I planned on 30-40 minute swim...I did about 35 min, I wanted to do 15-18 on the bike and hit 16 mph (avg), and felt the hamstring begin to tighten up on the run so had a little slower time than anticipated for the final 3 miles. I wanted to do 11-12 min miles to get into that pace for the upcoming marathons but walked about 1/2 mile because of tightness- finished 20 minutes longer than my plan. final time was 03:43:15 Finished 889/1400 overall and pretty close, but not last in my AG. Pretty good for doing absolutely nothing for 2 weeks prior. It brought to my attention that I need to do interval training to get my bike speed up.

The very first triathlon I did was last year's "Escape-Sprint Distance"... and I got a DNF...... So it was very nice to finish the Olympic distance this year ... woot woot...

I do a 5k swim in Siesta Key/Sarasota this upcoming weekend and will plan a run afterwards.

Terry nice job on the Olympic distance tri. Sounds like you had a nice race going until your hamstring tightened up. I think you did the right thing by shutting it down and not causing an injury.

I'm still doctoring road rash on my elbow but overall feeling much better.

Crissy I posted a response to your saddle situation on your race report. I should have posted it on here so others could read it and chime in with ideas. I just wasn't thinking.

Wow, Chrissy, that bike is just flat-out gorgeous. I love the color!

My training has been so-so lately. I have not been biking or swimming, and I think that is getting me down a bit. Running had been fine though I did have a sore knee last week after the 18 miler. I just tried to take it easy, and it is feeling much better now.

I was driving a ton over the weekend (22 hours in 3 days) and noticed that my knee actually bothered me more not less. Since it's my left knee, it doesn't do a darn thing while driving in an automatic, so what is up with that? Maybe it is true (for me or in general) that a lack of activity is worse for this kind of a knee condition (deterioration of the cartilage, my doctor calls it pre-arthritic). It's just interesting to me that driving seemed to irritate it more than moderate running.

Off to read the race reports...

Crissy before settling on the Adamo saddle I tried Cobb V-flow and Bontrager Hilo RXL both are tri specific the cobb is cut out and the Bonrager is a split saddle. They are both cheaper than the Adamo. I went numb on both so they didn't work. Although besides going numb on the Bontrager it was really very comfortable on my sit bones. The Adamo was horrible to set on for about the first month but I stuck with it because it was the only saddle I found that I didn't go numb on. The intial break in period on the Adamo was very tough but after the break in period it is very comfy.

Melissa sorry to hear your knee is bothering you. My knee bothers me when I drive a lot too. One thing I do is put my seat back as far as I can and still be able to reach the peddles and try to straighten leg out a lot during drive. Also a knee sleeve seems to help me a lot. Finally I know a lot of people don't like taking anti inflamatories but when I'm having knee problems I will take about a 4-5 day dose of Mobic and it usually knocks it ou completely.

Quick question. I got an email today from USA Triathlon that I have VIP registration for 2014 Olympic Distance Nationals in Milwaukee. Did you all get one too (said they were mailing out first week of October to all who qualify)? What qualifies a person for such? Just racing in 2013? I have never done a Oly distance before. Just figured that would be a qualification. And holy cow $160!! How would one get a FREE entry?

UPDATE: I got another email today that offers specifics about how I was able to qualify. I wish they would have sent that first, would have answered all my questions. It was from placing in the top 10% at my last USAT sanctioned triathlon. So now I know, and you do too, if you didn't already know.

Edited by crissy_jo 2013-10-03 4:31 PM