Meulen's 'Let's tri this Thing!' beginner mentor group-CLOSED (Page 23)

OK..........

last weekend of the month and some of you are sooooooooo close to those goals!!! They are ver much in sight!!! very nice!!

happy training this weekend everyone!

Pretty good weekend for most of you!...Nice!!!

Some of you have races coming up fast!!! How are you all feeling about the distances for your races? Please let me know if you'd like help with anything!

February was awful for so many reasons...knee and ankle injuries, breaking up with the girlfriend, snow and rain all the time in NYC. Hopefully my ankle injury goes away so I can get my into gear.  Only 8 weeks until my sprint and 12 weeks until my Oly Tri?  Oh boy.

Get out of here February!  Bring it on March. 

Bad months happen......that's for sure!!

I haven't heard any of you set goals for next month yet. Are you guys planning on setting goals? Oh.....and tomorrow I want a report on how you did with goals for February, good or bad!

This weekend, I somehow-sort-of-accidentally (I'm not kidding you when I say that) signed up for the Pgh half-marathon. So I'll be solely (get it...sole ly? running for the next 11 weeks- with yoga and  pilates of course, and maybe swimming (to save my sanity) every so often. I have about 4 weeks until I run an 8 mile race too.

I LOL'd at sole-ly 

Thanks for all the well-wishing, folks! Good news is that I'm back at work today (wait, is that good? lol) and feeling a bit stronger every day. Bad news is that so far just walking on the treadmill at 2.5 for 25 minutes exhausts me and I stagger home to sleep on the couch. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get back in the pool by this weekend. I don't think I'll be cycling/running for a couple more weeks but if I feel strong enough I'll give it a shot for short intervals anyway. It seems that no matter how much water/juice/etc I drink I just can't get fully rehydrated, so I have to be really careful about that as I ease back into workouts. Luckily I'm not too stressed about my first tri since it's so short. I'm pretty confident that if I can get in a good 6 weeks of solid training (in other words get back on track over the next few weeks) I will be able to finish.

As for goals, I am going to aim for February's goals again since I didn't get even close. I can't remember exactly what they were but I'll look back and post the official numbers asap.

Henry
p.s. And yes, Dale, they do say Mexico tends to infect us with weird GI bacteria. Yuck. Oddly enough, what I got (Campylobactor sp?) is more commonly found in the US. Go figure.

Solid month, for me anyway.  Hoping to finish up February with a 30 mile trainer ride tonight!  Hope everyone has a great training day!

I'll start for March goals

1. I want to run more miles in March than I did in Feb. So 115+ after tonights run
2. I want to swim more hours in March than I did in Feb. So 10 hours minimum! after tonights swim

Edited by Meulen 2011-02-28 1:59 PM

My February is officially over.

February's totals:
Bike:	15h 16m 15s  - 291.2 Mi
Run:	14h 00m 52s  - 90.23 Mi
Swim:	7h 20m 25s  - 15990 Yd

I ended up adding a little mileage to my last few runs to make my Feburary run goals. I didn't make up the time in the pool though. I probably could have last night, but I didn't. Hopefully, March will be a HEALTHIER month for me!! I hate scrambling to make up these goals at the end of the month.

February's totals:
Bike: 13h 37m 50s - 270.94 Mi
Run: 16h 45m 19s - 115.13 Mi
Swim: 7h 35m - 19400 M
Strength: 2h 55m
Snow Shoveling: 4h 00m

I am doing that race too!  Have you done a HM before?  I have NEVER ran that far, and am a little nervous! Good luck with your training!

As far as my goals from February:

                         Goal                           Achieved

Running            55 miles                59.7 miles         11 hours   44 minutes  19 seconds
Swimming         6 hours                 11000 yards      5 hours    31 minutes
Cycling              8 hours                 8 hours   55 minutes

My pool was closed the first week of February, so I am not too disappointed that I missed my swim goal.  I nailed the others and am very happy about that.  My official start to training for the Pittsburgh HM was last week.  I will continue to be run heavy until then.

My goals for March are:
Running: 70 miles
Swimming:  8 hours
Cycling:  8 hours
Start logging my nutrition


Happy Training!
Karen

Edited by gadgetlaw 2011-03-01 12:40 PM

I just started running this past September so no, never ever thought about doing a half marathon before. Thank you and good luck with your training too!

Great job last month everyone!!!

Those of you who have races coming up fast, be sure you take that into account and set some good goals for March. Leave yourself some room for taper before your races too. From what I see a lot of you are on track for successful races!! Nice!!!!

With all of the talk of upcoming races, my question is how do you really get yourself going when your closest possible race is not for another four months?  I am continuing with my workouts, but it's a lot more difficult when the weather is not great and there is no sense of urgency. 

Brian,  I know you talked about aero bars last week, but is there any real difference in designs.  I haven't found a place to really try them out, but I tried some on a vertical display.  Just wondering if there is anything I am missing.  Here's the ones I think I like...

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1087289_-1_1545502_1545500_400929

Michael, to get going you find a 16 week plan and start! . Or find another race in between to shoot for and just use it as a B race for training.

The big differences are comfort and aero. That bar will probably be comfortable if you bench tested it and it feels natural, but it's probably one of the less aero bars out there. This will be a balancing act between comfort and aero. Straight bars will be the most aggressive and most aero because they will get you lower and don't have that connector bar disrupting airflow. From there an s bend bar without connector will be a little less aggressive and the j bend a little more less aggressive. Your going to be surprised when you actually use them the first time. Your speeds will increase probably a full mph on average. The more aggressive bar you get the better, but if you're not comfortable enough to be an aero position very long there it defeats the purpose. However, you will acclimate some to the position. It's not really all that comfortable. The main thing is to try and keep a hip angle that allows you to be in aero position yet allow you to breathe freely. There is a lot of trial and error in this and you actually acclimate and change as you cycle more too.

I can't wait to see how you guys do in your upcoming races!!

Like! The only thing I would add would be "bask in glory" and drink a blue moon! I've sworn off drinking while I train...well, mostly.

hey Michael!!! http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

I am about to attempt my second run in two months.  I have been dealing with these annoying shin splints since October.  I went to the chiropractor yesterday for A.R.T. therapy and he told me that I should continue on with my workouts while I am doing the treatment.  Has anyone ever had any experience with this treatment? Someone mentioned it in the general forum and so I am giving it a try.  My leg is sore as hell today after my session yesterday, but I shall see how it feels after my run.  I will post again later....

What kind of shoes do you use?  For what it's worth, Saucony Hurricane's are the only running shoe I've ever found that don't give me splints.

this is a GREAT point!! Michael, it may be worth it to go to the running shoe store and get a gait analysis, if you haven't already, and discuss the splint problem with them. It may be as simple as changing the shoe you wear. I know for me, different shoes put a lot more pressure on my shins.