Athena/ Clydesdale Official Mentor Group (Page 23)

Congrats, keep it up.

Had a feel good run today - unlike Wednesday's which was a lethargic struggle - today I did 6.32km in 45mins and that was 2:1 run walk so I'm pretty pleased.  I worked some intervals into there - just 20secs every five mins for 20mins.  Worked well.

Legs are pretty smashed!

I'm eating healthy today - I feel sluggish coz I've eaten so much carbs this week - severely bloated!  Just had a great chicken salad from the deli.  Lovely

Great job you guys keep up the good work.

Short Tri shorts aren't they called Speedo's. jk

I'm not sure I will ever get this run thing but I walked/jogged an hour this morning for close to four miles. I can't seem to get to four miles in an hour. Meybe I need to wait until there is snow on the ground, thus cutting down on friction..  lol

Have a great Friday all.

yeti, I went to college in Oneonta.  Give it a month, you'll have snow!  LOL.  Seriously, I wouldn't sweat the 4 mph mark.  You will get there.  Heck, I only just made my first time at 2 miles this week and I've been training since June.  Of course, I haulin' 340 lbs.  I have to keep reminding myself of that when I am unhappy about only 13 mph on the bike or 3.7 mph on the walk/trot.

hey gang, sounds like lots of people are progressing well.

Just got back from a work trip to Mexico so I haven't gotten workouts in lately... although walking all over the place at semi altitude in the Mexican heat should count for something right? (ah, they joys of being a mining analysis). I actually came back lighter than when I left which is always nice.

I LOVE SPRING!!!!!

2 hours on the drainer this morning 43km - very happy with that, I reckon you lose pounds on that thing!  I find the first 45mins a real drag anything after that I'm find with coz i'm in so much pain in my butt!

Going down to the beach foreshore where the LBS is holding a demo of all new Trek bikes - roadies, tri bikes and MTB's.  Just bring helmet and shoes!  Well I will take mine but I won't ride I'm too nervouse be full of very professional lycra clad people I'm sure.

My tri coach called today wants to meet tomorrow check my progress - apart from not going out on the bike I'm happy with the training hours I'm putting in.  This week I've done 7hours 45mins - still got swim squad today, 1 hour and an hour's run tomorrow.  So if my maths is right 9 hours 45 mins.  Woohoo!

Jo I hear ya on the butt hurting.

I did 2 hours 45 minutes and went 37.25 miles. If my butt didn't hurt i could have done a heck of allot better. Need to break my butt in and the seat.

Enjoy the spring its fall here.

Super Saturday to everyone get out there and keep moving!!!

Bike - 7.8 miles - 34m - 13.7 mph - AHR 144 - MHR 164

Boy, looking at the calendar, September has been a rotten month for me in terms of workout!  I have to admit that my drive fell of for a little while there.  Overtraining?  Who knows.  On the plus side, I know I've been getting plenty of rest and what fitness I had developed does not appear to have diminished.

It was 45* out this morning when I put air in the tires.  ( I will be VERY lucky indeed if it is that warm the morning of the race!)  Decided to wear a fleece jacket riding.  Good call, I was NOT hot.  In fact, I have to look into gloves with fingers, long pants, and a windbreaker for fall riding (or wait until the day warms up).  But this morning I was up, out, back, and showered before Cindy woke up.  And I feel like I still have enough left in the tank to go ride Rails-to-Trails with her this afternoon.

I'm on my 3rd saddle so far.  This one is definitely harder than anything I've ridden so far, but that's just a matter of getting used to it.  Too early to tell if it has fixed the "numbing" problem down there yet.

That 164 MHR took place on the last hill climb into Nisbet.  BUT, I was spinning the pedals going up that hill instead of mashing them and grinding it out.  I was much happier with my pace climbing the hills today.  Also, this is the fastest pace I have maintained to this point.  So there is improvement to motivate me, even though it appears that I won't hit my 15 mph goal for the race.  I have two special rides planned for Tuesday and Thursday of this week.  Stay tuned.

20 days to Blueman!

#1 is done.  Did my first sprint tri this morning.  It was fun, well the swim sure as hell wasn't, but the whole event was fun.  I finished somewhere around 1:30:xx, not sure of the exact time because of the wave start and I forgot to actually look at the clock as I finished.  Once I have the official results I'll load the race report.

Like I said, the swim was terrible.  I totally underestimated it and had a very tough time with it.  I had to stop twice and I even grabbed on to a lifeguards surfboard just to take a breather, which a lot of other people did too so I didn't feel TOO bad.  I ended up half free-style and half actually backstroke which for some reason I was flying.  It was the only time I passed people on the swim.  I feared the swim and it got the best of me.

Bike was pretty good I think.  Again, no official times yet but seeing as the swim felt like it took me a really long time, I know I started the run at 1:09, so working my way backwards I'm guessing it's somewhere in the 40-50 min mark, but I'm just so clueless on my swim time that I'm not sure.  Even with the MB though I was passing lots of people, and I got passed by some too, but anyone that passed me was on a tri bike or down in aero, so I figure my 6'6" sail frame upright on my MB was keeping pretty good pace by passing other people.  As a side note, I didn't see another MB out there.  Sad face.

Run was good too.  I think it was around 24 minutes, I went out at 1:09 and finished around 1:33, so that's what my math tells me.  Passed a few people on the way out, got passed by a couple on the way back, probably pretty even in terms of +/-.  Tried to finish strong but it was tough, I was definitely feeling the race by the end.

All in all, great time.  Definitely need to step up the OWS training though.  I felt like my bike suffered because of it big time.  Just need to train, train, train.  Overall I was right where I thought I'd be, so at least I didn't over or underestimate my efforts that much.

Bike - 10 miles - 1 hour - 10 mph

I got a second ride in this afternoon.  I sort of pressured the wife into going to ride Rails-toTrails along the Pine Creek in PA.  (Rated the #1 trail in PA, and in the top 10 Rails-to-Trails nationwide from what I can read.)  Not verbally or anything, I just loaded the bikes onto the truck and told her they were ready when she was.  That was all it took.  She was the one who mentioned wanting to ride this over the weekend.  If I hadn't done this she would have stayed busy doing housework and stuff, an then I would have had to listen to her complain that she didn't get her ride in.

Cindy hit one of her big goals today, she made the ride in 1h.  She didn't know until we got back to the truck how far or how fast she had ridden.  So, while the pace wasn't all that tough for me, the additional 10 miles brought me up to 18 miles for the day.  I'll bet I could ride my 15 mph goal on this trail.

jonD - brilliant stuff on your first tri.  Aside from the swim, sounds like you had a lot of fun.  Just keep working on the swimming and OWS stuff, trust me it'll come with time and practise.  I keep telling myself that same thing with this running stuff

I too raced yesterday, and managed to finish my first Oly (1,500 m swim, 24.6 miles bike, 6.2 miles run), in a slow time of 3:30:50, thus failing in my attempt to get under 3:30 by 50 measily seconds (Doh)!  The swim was gorgeous, especially as it was already 80°F at 7 am, and the race got delayed by 25 minutes as the bike course hadn't been cleared.  I didn't want to push hard on this race, it being my first at this distance and I was unsure about pacing, so I took it easy on the swim (34 minutes), held back on the bike (1:33 at 15.9 mph), and was very slow on the run (1:15 at 12:07 minute/mile pace).

I had a couple of encounters with unofficial vehicles on the bike course: (1) an SUV that I came close to drafting (stupid idiot drove right onto the bike course, just as I came hurtling round a corner, braked hard and swerved around, as he was then being shouted at by a policeman!), and (2) a garbage truck who decided to drive right across the bike course and single lane car road, dragging 3 cones with him! 

If you've ever wondered where the physical location of Hell is, I discovered it yesterday:  On the north shore of Tempe Town Lake, Arizona, right next to the 202 freeway, a 1.5 mile section of the two loop run course.....101°F heat at 10 am, full sun, no breeze, and no shade.  The volunteers and aid stations were great though, offering tons of water, ice, water dousing services, and lots of friendly encouragement. 

Great fun, albeit a wee bit hot towards the end, but I'm very very happy overall.  Now I know I can do the distance as I wasn't entirely sure of that, and I really enjoyed it too, especially the second loops of the bike and run course!  Getting to meet and race alongside paratriathletes was an extra special bonus, as this is the first local event where they have participated.  They deservedly got the loudest cheers at every section, what an inspiration. 

And thus ends my 2012 triathlon season on a great high note!  Now to start training for some end of year OWS races, and when it finally cools down, some 10k events, plus of course think about tri's for 2013!!!!! 

Walk - 3.7 miles - 58m 41s - 3.8 mph - AHR 131 - MHR 164

Well, I was going to start this blurb with a big, bold BREAKTHROUGH declaration.  I did the first uphill mile in a 3.9 mph pace and my race distance (with that nasty climb on Hillside Dr) in 49m flat for a pace of 3.8 mph, almost to my 4 mph goal.  Then I read wartho's lament that her run was slow at 12m miles.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to hear you did so well and enjoyed your first Oly so much.  Silly me, though, I can't help but compare myself and I don't measure up.  (Have to put those thoughts aside and focus on "running my own race", not someone else's.  Easier said than done.)

Anyway, I am still quite pleased with that effort.  And here's the breakthrough part, it was my fastest time ever for this distance/route, and I did it with ONLY walking.  No trotting at all.  Because of the 18 miles (30k) of riding yesterday I left the house with every intention of taking it easy and not doing any trotting.  But that 21 yr old Marine who resides deep in my grey matter noted a sub-15 pace for most of the first mile and yelled "CHARGE".  I was almost halfway back down to the start before I realized that my GT was recording in metric for some reason instead of US.  Blew it off, switched to my mental calculator and forced myself to hold the pace.  And I have to admit, it felt great.

I'll be darned!!  I was a Geography major in college (back in the '70's) and I never realized that NH had ocean coastline!  I still wouldn't have known except I looked up jon's race and it said it was an open ocean swim.  Now way I thought, not in NH.  But yep, there it is on the map.  It's only 18 miles long, but it's there.  (Hey!  I can already ride across one state on my bicycle!!)

So there's my one thing learned for today.

WARNING - Major rant coming!

Just got back from my Weight Watchers meeting and I am NOT happy.  For some reason I am up 4 lbs this week.  I am confused.  I have been setting distance or time PB's with virtually every workout, so I know I'm working hard enough.  But I've also been taking many more "rest days".  I believe they have resulted in those increases in performance.  Are they also responsible for me going back up in weight?

I'd go back to my old 10 workouts a week program again to jump start my weight loss but I don't want to jeopardize my performance for the race, which is coming up in only 16 days.  What a dilemma!