Destination MoP Group is FULL (of motivated life jugglers) (Page 22)

Wow!  Three impressive performances for the team MoP!!  Joanne, that's a really fantastic start to the season.  Your bike and run were seriously strong.  Obviously, those 5 hour tennis matches were paying dividends :-)  And you were awfully close to surpassing MoP ;-)  btw, I think it is important to leave something on the bike in a tri.  From the pros on down to our level, overcooking the bike is a common issue.  Sounds like you hit it just about right.

And a brick from Rach and a 3 mile run for Andrea.  Andrea, many congrats... that's super!  Sounds like you'll be ready to rock and roll for your 5K!

Stu

Just a quick note.  Triathlons normally have a participant cap for safety reasons.  I'm noticing that the early triathlons in the Virginia Triathlon Series are filling up significantly sooner than last year.  It may be the same where you are, so make sure you don't miss out on a spot in a race.  That's what happens when you participate in one of the fastest growing sports.

Have a great day everyone!

Stu

Joanne- That is an awesome first tri! Way to go. I'm glad you had fun. 

It's hard to know how hard to push yourself in your first race- great learning experience.

Congrats!

-Heidi

Hi MoP's!

Sorry for the absence. This weekend was non-stop activity with family events and commitments. I did virtually no planned workouts since Friday night. 

On Saturday, I ended up doing an unplanned walk/run with my oldest daughter. We were trying to walk to an event, and mapquest put us  a mile in the wrong direction. So we had to walk back to the starting point, and go another mile from there.

I've been doing all of my running in my VFF's since I got them, and my feet have felt great. But, Saturday morning I had my running shoes on.  And guess what. After those 3 miles, my old injuries have completely flared up. It's frustrating, to say the least.

Sorry to hear about your injuries, Heidi.

Huge excitement on the scale this morning.  I'm below 200lbs!   I'm so happy!  Next big goal is to get below 170 and out of the obese range.  I'll need mini goal in between, but I'm on my way!

FANTASTIC!!!!!  WooHooo!  Keep up the good stuff :-)

My first 5K of the year is Sunday.  I'm excited but a bit concerned as the crowd will be a new experience.

Any advice in running in a larger crowd?  I will line up near but not at the back.  There will most likely be close to 2000 runners, based on results from the last 2 years.  The 3 running races I did last year were 150-400 runners and I spent large periods of time mostly alone.

Another concern I have is seeing others walking and caving in.  The course is on "flat" city streets.  I know I can do the distance.  I just need a mantra or something to avoid temptation.

Hi Andrea,

With a large crowd it will be very exciting and your adrenaline will be pumping. Make sure you do some warmup jogging, stretching, deep breathing, and take time to yourself to mentally encourage yourself to keep your pace and stay happy. With that many people it will take a little bit for the race to get going so take your time to get to your pace, don't start too fast. Next thing you'll know, around .5 mi, you'll have people around you at your pace. Remember your goals and don't get negative. Sometimes when I'm pooped I say "I can do this" or "just a little more". When you are tempted to walk just look around and realize how much you have accomplished and with all the effort you can muster it will feel so great at the finish line. You have to push the little doubts out of your head with positive thinking. Also, don't put so much pressure on yourself that you don't enjoy the race. To keep me happy I thank the volunteers as I pass by and say congrats to the people passing me. For me, I don't think of it as "bummer, I just got passed" but instead I think "cool, I get to run with these awesome people". Instead of a calm and peaceful solitary run it's a time to embrace with total strangers and to get jazzed doing a run that you don't normally get to do.

Have a blast!

Joanne

Today I got some very exciting news.  I've got a place in the Cleveland Steelman triathlon.  This is a HIM (ish) event. I've been on the reserve list for ages (as you commented Stu, events are filling up really fast), but today they offered me a place!  So obviously my training goals now have to change slightly, but I've been training with it in mind, so no great drama.

I've been really hoping I'd get a place, but didn't want to get my hopes up too much until I knew for sure.

And also - ARGH!  It's really long...

I'm with Joanne and Rach... I think you'll find the crowd is a great motivator and the race atmosphere will carry you along.  With 2000 participants, it would be really nice if they grouped runners by expected finish time, so look for a sign with either your pace/mi or expected 5K finish time.  Usually with larger races they'll do that to help the flow at the start of the race.  If not, just watch your step at first and hopefully the folks behind you will too :-) 

Mantra... how about Stu will be a pain in the butt if I walk?  LOL.  On a more serious note, you have to run *your* race... have a plan and stick to it.  Don't go too fast if everyone around you goes faster than you want, don't start walking if people around you walk.  What others do doesn't affect you because you've prepared and you know you can do this.  And you will!

Can't wait to hear all about it... best of luck and HAVE FUN!

Stu

Congrats Rach... that's very exciting!!  Not that I need to mention this, but the HIM length is a really different animal.  Start reading the Ironman distance threads on BT for lots of good advice.  I totally bonked in my first one last year.  Nutrition and hydration really come into play at that distance as well, so make sure to add that into your strategy/plan.

Stu 

Andrea- Good luck with the race this weekend. Let us know what you think of the bigger venue. Some people love them. I steer away from them.

Stu is right- run your own race. It's so hard to do (for me anyway), but it's really important. When I see people walking, I always think, "There's one person I can beat." I know, that's not very nice, but it's true.

Lately, my mantra has been, "suck it up, cupcake!" But, I wouldn't ever say it to anyone else. That's not true: I said it to my husband the other night, when he didn't want to get off the couch.

We've been trying out various gels and drink options on the long cycles for a while, as we're aware that it becomes very important at the longer distances.  The main thing I haven't figured out is how much water/fluid I need to carry.  I've got 2 bottle cages on my bike, but that's only about 1.5L which doesn't seem like enough.  Going to have to figure that one out...

Andrea - good luck with the run.  Let us know how it goes.

Check with the race to see if they have fluid bottle handoffs on the course.  At our local races they have water and Heed stops on the bike portion of the course on HIMs (not for the shorter distances).  Hope that is the case for your HIM as well.  Note that one of the stops ran out of both water and Heed, so you still have to be prepared. 

I took one disposable bottle on the course that I replaced with their handoff bottles and one of my own concoction.  I was still a little dehydrated when I started the run even with all of that, but it was a hot windy day.  Also take care during the handoffs - it can be a little dicey if it is crowded.  Another skill (like transitions) that is probably worth practicing. 

Stu

How's everyone's weekend going?

I've had a very busy time.  Yesterday I did the Newcastle Parkrun, which is a weekly timed 5k run organised by volunteers.  It's completely free and you just have to register online and then turn up whenever you want to take part.  It's such a fantastic idea I can't believe I haven't done it before.  Managed a really good time for the 5k and was really pleased with how it went, although I found it hard to pace at the start because of all the people around me (there were 210 participants).

Today was the tri club winter series duathlon (3k run, 18k bike, 3k run).  It's a training event which is run once a month, but I can very rarely get to them because of work.  I did one in August last year just after the two tri's that I took part in and was very slow, so I was interested to see how I've improved (also had a road bike this time, did it on a mountain bike last time).  Over the course I'd improved from 90min to 79min 08sec, which I'm really pleased with.  I also improved my run times over 3k by about 2min each, which shows how much my running has improved recently.  And the best part for me was that it's handicapped so the slowest people start out first and in theory everyone should be getting to the end at about the same time.  And I crossed the line first!  Obviously there were people who started behind me who were much faster, but last time I started first and finished last so it was really nice to not be overtaken by ANYONE this time.

So it turns out all this training really is making a difference.

Now I'm having a rest week, which my body definitely needs. ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Way to go, Andrea! It's always great to beat your goal. Fantastic job! Do you have a goal for the race on 5/1?

I have a 5k on 4/9 also. My 8 year old wants to go, but since it's my first this year, I'm trying to avoid running it with her. 

Way to stick with it Anne! I can't imagine running 2 days after a root canal.