Jackjack's group - closed (Page 22)

Hey everyone-
thank you for all the great motivation. Today I was considering bagging my workouts and loafing around but once I logged onto the site here, I changed my mind. I need a bike ride tonight so even it's 60 minutes on the trainer, I will get it done.
I am meeting some friends for a short trail run tomorrow morning and then I am off for a camping weekend with the family.
So I have been spending the last 2 hours cooking, chopping, and preparing food for the weekend.

Jackie- let us know on Monday when you get into IMLP That is so exciting!

24 hours- I am doing the 24 hours of triathlon duo with my friend Liz. The course distances are each 1/10 of the full Ironman distance, so .24 mile swim, 11.2 mile bike, 2.62 mile run. You have to do the first "triathlon" in standard order, then you can do the laps anyway you like for the remainder of the race. The goal is to complete as many complete triathlons as you can in 24 hours. You can only have 1 teammate on the course at a time.
Logistically, we have not worked out any details. We are focused on training right now, most specifically for the bike and then for the run as those will be the events we'll be doing up until the end of the race. The swim we are hoping will be all done early on day #1.
It will be a crazy day that is for certain.

Dee
Hope you managed to get that ride in and glad we could help!  The times when you really don't want to do it are the times when our mental skills really get a good workout too.  Worth it in the end!

I got lucky tonight- my hubby came home for a 1 1/2 hour break between meetings and kicked me out to go swim. So I got a nice 1500 meter speedwork session done in the pool today - AND I just got off my bike trainer- 60 minutes!!!!
I feel good that I accomplished my workouts today.
Some days are so mentally tough to just get it done makes me feel good.

My swim went amazingly well. Have you ever had the feeling like you are just gliding through the water? I was focusing on both my pull and my kick at the same time, and really making sure I was using some force on each and I felt like I was flying through the pool.
It was very cool.

Have a wonderful and fun weekend everyone-
I'll check back in after our camping trip.

Dee

I ran outside today!  pacing was awful as it was also my DDs first time riding her bike on a bike path.  She was giddy with excitement and thrilled to ride hills and had to stop periodically to enjoy the moments.  So Mom had too to!  But it was fun tto run with her riding -- and DS triked with my mom who walked, it was a multi-generation event.  I'm hopeful my DD wil lbe a good biking/runing partner with a few more tries.  we'll see. 

Good luck Di on your race.  Enjoy the experience! 

Dee- I've thought about doing a 24 hr team running race, but then I want my sleep too much

-Cynthia

It sounds like it's been a great day for some of us!
Cynthia- I  remember that feeling of excitement when each of my daughters learned to ride. Enjoy!

I just signed up for a SPrint Tri! It's August 9th, and I'm so excited, I can't sleep!

But, I need every ones help. The run is 4.5 miles, and the run is my weakest part. So, I CAN"T miss any scheduled runs between now and the race. Please help me be accountable. Check my logs, and feel free to give me an ear full if I'm not running. I'd really appreciate it!

Good night!

Hello guys...remember me... Sorry again for not being on here, we have been busy traveling the last month and also buying a condo. We went to Vegas for a week and then we just got home from a week long camping/backpacking trip in Door County, WI. I competed in the Door County triathlon on Saturday. That was a tough race for me. The weather was absolutely horrible, 53 degrees and 4 and a half foot waves. They were considering canceling the swim, and I almost wish they would have. But I did it and I made it! The waves were ridiculous, I was swimming next to a girl who I couldn't see because the wave would get in between us. I also stopped for a minute by a girl who was struggling and needed help until the lifeguard got to her. That was a little scary. We have had two deaths here in WI in the last month during the swim leg of triathlons. She was ok, ended up being pulled out.
I felt sick from the water on the bike and had a HORRIBLE bike leg. I am going to really work on that before the Chicago race. That is my main goal now, to get faster on the bike by then.
My run was good, I averaged 9 min/miles, which was pretty good.
So I am getting ready to head out on the bike before the storms roll in.
Sorry again for being MIA and I will be on here more regularly. I have been training- I also keep a written journal which is nice, I compare where I am now to where I was a year ago, and it's cool to see the progress.
Hope everyone has a great day!!
Jenny

Jenny
Welcome back!  We missed you!  Sounds like you have been very busy though AND managing to fit training in.  Well done.
Congratulations on the tri - it does sound like a tough one.   I'm not surprised it messed you up for the bike leg - but that run was fantastic.  Good job on helping that other swimmer too - must have been very scary in those conditions knowing someone was struggling.

Jackie

Thanks! Any advice on how to improve my bike time? I am definetely focusing more training time on it, but outside of that, any suggestions? I aim to keep my cadence around 90-100 rpm the entire time, but sometimes I'm not sure if that is the best strategy or not.

My opinion and certainly for first few seasons

I think just getting out there and getting time in the saddle (said lots all over this site) is the best thing.  However I would ride varied terrain go get a better workout and use your muscles in slightly different way.
A good bike workout I like doing to improve my bike strength is to ride on a rolling course and really push the up hills and then recover on downhills, riding easy in between. I also make myself go up the biggest hill around here occasionally (just to make sure I can still do it!).  Sometimes I "spin" up these hills, sometimes I use a lower cadence and sometimes I stand for a few seconds.
If you are confident that you are getting enough time in on the bike then the next stage would be do do a bit of "tempo" work on the bike.  Just within a ride then do a couple of intervals of harder effort -start at 5mins with same rest interval.  You can build this up to 20-30mins plus.
When you have a good cycling base/fitness there is no reason why you can't reduce your cadence to do some strength type work 60-70.  Just don't stay there for too long each time to minimise injury (and only if your knees are ok!)
Many of the bike workouts on the tri plans here on BT do this type of strength workout and also give ideas for some harder intervals.

However, just to reiterate, time in saddle is best first phase.  The more you ride the easier distance will become.  For example if you know you can easily ride 30miles at a time then you are in a much better position in a race with a 15mile bike to push it more - and so speed will come.

Morning everyone

Di, good luck with your half marathon tomorrow.  Feet up today I hope and lots of hydration!

I didn't feel too good yesterday so skipped training (my accountable training with coach starts next week so I am going to make sure I am 100% ready for that!).  I would like to get out and do something today though.

Hope everyone else has a great weekend

IM Lake Placid is tomorrow. I know of quite a few people doing it so am excited to see how it turns out for them.

Di-
Good luck tomorrow! Have a blast, hope everything goes great!
Jenny

Jenny-Welcome back!

Di-Good luck tomorrow! How are you feeling?

So, Di, how did it go?

I've got a couple of workouts (run and gym) this morning whilst waiting for the ironman lake placid registration to open. It opened online and I'm in for 2010.  I'm really excited to having signed up with my coach again who knows my goals and abilities and all i have to do is do as she says

Hope everyone had a good weekend

Di - how was the half marathon?

Jenny- nice job on your tri! I get to feeling pukey after a rough swim, so that is understandable.
As far as bike speed, more time on the bike like Jackie said. Once your distance is there, the speed will come.

Jackie- congrats on getting into IMLP for next year. I know you will have a great year of training. It's nice to have a long range goal.

I had kind of a rough run this morning. I was tired from camping all weekend (beautiful campground btw way up in the mountains) but I hit the trails anyway. It was so muddy that my shoes were getting stuck while trying to run. We wound up fast hiking a bunch of the trail just to get past the muddy spots. I"m off to celebrate a friends' birthday tonight at dinner out - woo hoo! Girls Night Out. I am the designated driver, so after I drop everyone off I might go swim.

Have a great day everyone!
Dee

Jackie- congrats on getting into IMLP for 2010! Is it first come-first serve for registration? Or are there other qualifying factors?

Thanks
Just simply first come, first served ...give it a year and you may be tempted too!

Jackie-
Congrats on the IM entry!! Someday I hope to do IMWI.
Dee-
Thanks- I would love to camp out in Colorado someday- we just spent a week camping in Northern WI. So much fun!
I went for a swim this afternoon at the lake, and my plan to bike afterwards was thrown out the window by the weather- storms here tonight. Tomorrow morning I'll try again.

Hey guys!!

Sorry I haven't been around... the weekend was crazy!  But the half marathon was probably one of the best experiences of my life!  I was really nervous about doing it alone, and trying to stay on pace, and not knowing the course, and never having run more than 10 miles etc etc.  But everything turned out perfectly fine!

I finished in 2:11... which I believe is exactly 10 minute miles (my goal).  I felt great up until the middle of mile 11, when I started to hit my wall.  There were more hills than I anticipated, and I didn't eat much before the race... and opted not to eat during either.  I think if I had practiced more long runs this would have been fine, but as it was the "rolling hills" at the end didn't feel too great.  Laughing. 

But all in all, it was a very inspiring experience.  Beautiful, well organized race.  Tons of enthusiasm.  If you guys ever get a chance, I'd highly recommend it.

I quickly read through all the posts I missed.  Thanks for the explanation on the 24 hr race, Dee.  And I hope you're getting in all your runs, Heidi!  I've been holding my feet to the fire on that one for the past three weeks, and it really works. 

Welcome back Jenny!

Everyone, thanks for the good vibes.  Hear from you soon : )

Great job on the race diana!!

Diana that is awesome! Congrats on the race and your time! What do you plan on doing next?

I did manage to get on the bike this morning for about 45 min. It went ok, except being attacked by a bumblebee! But no worries, I didn't get stung or anything, luckily.
Hope everyone has a great day- I'm off to work and then as long as the weather cooperates, I have a soccer game tonight.

Somewhere in the beginning of this group some one (I think it was dee or Cynthia) suggested developing your goal times for an upcoming race. The suggestion was much more specific than what I remember, and I can't find the post in this thread.

Who ever it was (or anyone)- will you please re-explain the idea to me.

My first real tri is on the 9th, and I'm getting excited.


In non-tri related news- I've been offered a promotion at work! It's a huge opportunity for me and I'm pretty excited.

Heidi
Congratulations on the promotion.
I'll have a look through the posts too and see if I can find what you meant - unless someone answers first

I know the gang on BT says never say never, but no IMs for me!  Congrats on getting an entry Jackie - I know some can be quite tough to get into.  I wonder if the economy is helping ease some races?

Di!!!!! way to run!  what a great race time.  SF hills are not easy either.  enjoy a little rest this week.  how are the legs?

Heidi- congrats on the promo.  Nice to have recognition, and new challenges.  As for your tri - I think Dee suggested the tri-race goal-setting.  Essentially give yourself 3 goals
- your best-day-all-goes-smoothly fastest race time
- your likely-to-reach race time
- your guaranteed race time
It's nice to have some expectation to race towards - I was pleased when I checked my time about 1/2-way thru my last tri run that I was likely to trim a good chunk of time off my last race.  That gave me a little mental boost to keep pushing and maintain my lead.  Not quite sure what goal to set for my next one.

Which leads me too... after I revewed my splits on the last tri, I found most of my gains were in the swim and bike - the two sports which were most impacted in June by the cooler weather (cold water) and windy day (for biking).  I did slightly improve my run pace, by 20 seconds per mile.  I'm disappointed my run wasn't better.  SO.  I'm thinking I'll sign up for the all women's tri that runs the same course in September, and will focus on improving my run (?) over the next 8 weeks (the August tri is in 2.5 weeks).  It seems my training-without-a-plan has caused my mileage to stagnate, June and July totals are about the same.  Which isn't BAD, I'm maintaining... but not improving.

-Cynthia

Cynthia- I agree with you about the IM distance. I just can't fathom it. I can't imagine doing a stand alone marathon, much less doing one after the bike and swim!

Thanks for the goal setting information. I'll have to play with those ideas today.

I did my first brick today. I'm pretty psyched- because it went much better than last year. I'm feeling pretty ready for next weekend!

Hi Ladies- never say never, right?

I am seriously considering signing up for IM Arizona 2010. I am pretty intimidated by the race distance, but I love to train and set high goals for myself, so the IM should be right up my alley.
Any advice, Jackie?
The registration is not until November, so I was planning to see how the endurance aspect of triathlons feels during the 24 hour race and use that to plan out my training.
Luckily my husband has done 2 IMs so he is ready to be super supportive of me while I train.

What does everyone have going on today?
I am doing a 1500 meter speedwork session in the pool tonight, then I am on recovery until my long ride (3 hours) Friday morning.
I made the mistake of running 3 days in a row Sunday - Tuesday so my feet are feeling beat up today. A swim sounds fantastic right now!

On the goal setting, that is exactly what I do. I set 3 goals for myself and I include all my split times in my goals: swim, bike, run, transitions. I will even go so far as to write out my race strategy to include when I take in nutrition (pre race meal, gels on the course, sportsdrink) and where I will start in the swim wave. I find that it helps to visualize the event.

Have a great day!
Dee