Ernesto's group (4th season) - Closed (Page 22)

Jen

It is good to here your son is going to be alright. I can't imagine the relief you must have felt when you received this news. I am sure he will be fine this year and as another poster mentioned, you might want to encourage him to become a kicker.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks everyone.  As for our son being a kicker...I always hoped that would be the case!  He's played tackle football for the past 4 years (started in 3rd grade...They start them young in the South East).  He found himself as a Defensive End, Defensive Tackle and Offensive Guard.  He also stepped into a fullback position a time or two as well as center for long snaps!  He's not a "big boy" but he is solid and broad.  He's good...  I just have to keep the faith.  The hit that gave him the concussion was illegal during a training scrimmage.  He played for 2 weeks before we realized he had the concussion..

Now that all that is out of the way I can really refocus on training.  Still not sure about the June Sprint.  

Ernesto/everyone,

I need help.  It's now just under 12 weeks until my IM and my training has gone completely off the rails.  Until about a month ago it all seemed to be on track, and each week I had a clear picture in my head of what I wanted to achieve.  Through a combination of work/life stuff getting in the way, I've completely lost that.  My last 4-5 weeks have been a disaster and I really need to sort it out before I completely demolish all the benefits I got from the earlier training.

So can I please have some guidance on what to do for the final 11.5 weeks?

Positives:

1) I cycled down to York on Friday to see a friend, which was 67 miles at a pace of 16.3mph.  That's about 2mph faster than I've ever done a long ride before.

2) my swimming is great.  I'm really happy with it - both speed and endurance are on track.

Negatives:

1) I'm not sure what will give me the best benefits for cycling - my plan is 3 rides a week, but apart from one being a long ride I'm a bit lost with what to do for the others.

2) my running has gone completely to pot.  I just don't seem to be finding the motivation, especially to fit the long runs in.  I've been considering trying running shorter but more frequently to get the miles in without having to face a 2.5 hour run, but I really don't know what's for the best.

I don't do well following a specific plan because of work, but I need to have some idea of structure so that I can plan my own week.  Any suggestions/help would be really appreciated.  I'm starting to get a little scared about this...

Rachel, don't despair, 12 weeks is still plenty of time with your base to prepare for it (provided you're not planning to win it). Your swim is strong, as you said and you did some long bike rides. These are the most important parts. I'm like you when it comes to following a plan... but the miles have to be put in. In your particular case I would get back to motivation part. Watch again some videos that inspire you, fuel the desire first. Then forget about all the short workouts that fill up the plan and make your already busy life more stresful, this is a long haul and  bike endurance is  most important. The run part... if your motivation is strong at that point, you will just push yourself through it, mostly walking anyway. Don't neglect it completely though, all the runs will make your legs stronger. You could actually fast walk instead of running, believe me, a lot of pople will be doing just that.

In my opinion 1 x 3k swim a week is enough, alternate long bike with long run on weekends. That's it. You can do it, it's worth it. That's my $0.02.

The most important thing: write a happy ending for that race, visualize the finish line with your friends or public cheering (the last quarter mile of any Ironman is unforgettable, with the people roaring around you), the pain, the agony, the aid stations, all those things.

On the physical aspect, just like Mark said, your swim is strong. No need to work on that. Swim once a week, I would go a bit longer like 3.5 or 4K. Do it in one long easy set. The key to every Ironman is one long ride and one long run per week but even slower than your last 67mi ride. The trick is to go long, not fast. Just take it easy and put the miles, alternate one long ride with a semi long run one weekend, the following you do a semi long ride and a long run. During the week put your long swim and shorter stuff.

Don't despair, you'll do fine as long as you put the work in.

I need to vent. Yesterday on my last mile I came around a corner to find an older man, 70's ish, with a brand new Cadillac SUV parked on the side of the road. The area is heavily wooded. I watched him, take some plastic bags down an embankment, dump something out then come back up. He kind of looked sneeky, I don't think he saw me. He crossed the road went into the woods on the other side of the road and placed the bags in the woods. Just as he was coming out of the woods I came up to him. He looked at me, with a where did you come from look, smiled and said "nice day." I was stunned, and just said thats littering. I turned around got his license number spent my last half mile repeating it, and wrote it down.

I had a meeting, so I couldn't stop and look, but there was a bad skunk smell (not like there is a good one) in the area. I stopped on my way home, last night. He dumped two skunk bodies and the bags he carried them in on the side of the road.

I called DNR (who in Michigan have enough time to measure how much corn a hunters use as bait) and they said to go pick up the trash because they don't have the manpower to investigate this. I know that littering is a low end civil infraction, but seriously. When I pick up the bags this afternoon, I would like to either return them to the man ( I don't know who he is, but I will eventually find out)or put them in the DNR's trash.

Thankfully today is a bike day and I go the opposite direction, so I'm hoping the crows and oppossum have things cleaned up before my next run on Thursday.

Ok, I'm done, thanks for listening.

Wow jenputnam, thanks for sharing, what a relief, and hat off to you for managing all of that as well as training.

So I just signed up for my first tri on June 30th -- a sprint in Queens organized by the New York Road Runners (NYRR). The swim is shorter than a true sprint (400m), and I'm happy for that as I could barely do 50m without rest at this time. Once law school exams are over, there will still be 6 weeks to train, and I'm already running and biking long distance, so I'm hopeful that 6 weeks is enough to survive 400m. A good thing is that the swim is in a 50m-length outdoor pool, so fear of open water can be delayed to another day.

Excited and very nervous!

That's why I rarely ride with the groups here in town, for fear of that happening.  Question for you (or the group) though, I've always understood that in a pack on a group ride those on tri bikes are supposed to stay off their aero bars because we're too "twitchy" and don't have immediate access to our brakes.  For this reason, when with the groups I ride with I'll either stay off my aero bars while in the pack, or I'll keep to the back where I'm not inches from other riders and I can stay on my aero bars.

Riding is social too!

Kuddos Joe for keeping up with your training despite a crazy schedule and also very impressed by your fitness level based on your 14 mile run pace at near MAF.  Keep it up b/c you will rock your upcoming race!

Good news today!  I got in through the lottery for the 2012 NY Marathon!  This year was my 2nd attempt at the lottery and had also registered for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC as a back-up option, but now looking forward to enjoying the experience of running in NY!  Anyone here else also going to the NY Marathon?

Congrats! I'm also doing NYC, after SF marathon at the end of July. I did the NYC last year too and it was amazing, fully living up to the reputation of great crowds. Among participants was a NY Times cartoonist who doodled and tweeted while running (http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/new-york-times-cartoonist-live-draws-the-nyc-marat) as well as a runner-juggler.

Do you know what time/ training plan you are aiming for? 

Gabe and Mae, I am envoius. Those big marathons are awesome and the experience is unforgettable. Congratulations! I have mine coming up in 2 months, but  with 'only' 10 000 participants.

Mark and Ernesto - thanks for the comments.  I'm feeling a little calmer about things now.  That all sounds do-able, and I've got an idea of how to fit things in around work which is good.

Mae - congrats on entering your first tri!  The ones with the pool swims are a really good way to start (it's how I started) as it gives you a chance to try it out without the investment of buying a wetsuit and the stress of open water swimming.

Gabe - NY marathon sounds amazing!  I hope you guys have a great time with it.