LaurenSU02's group - CLOSED! (Page 24)

No trouble being in the aero position.  My lower back and neck are feeling just fine.

I didn't mean to imply....

I was just expounding on my need to stretch the entire "backside".....  I neglect that...

So anyone know who to talk to in order to trade 10% of my swim speed to get 10% faster on the bike?

In fact, I'm feeling generous.  I'll even give 15% of my swim speed away to be 10% quicker on the bike.....

Heh, that's ONE hobby I don't plan to take up if I can help it.....

I have a "what would you do" question for the group.

Basically a long time ago when I was first planning my '08 season, I signed up for 2 HIMs, one on 6/8 and one on 7/12. I started a 6 month training program in December of '07. Things went great until early March, I had a bike-related injury (hamstring tendon/other knee stress) from a bad set-up with my pedals. I fixed the bike set up, and worked with the LBS and a PT for 2-3 weeks to get back on track. In that period I did very little biking, and reduced running also. After that period, I slowly built back up again to where I am right now in my training (I know most of you have already seen my logs). All this time I figured there was no chance I would be prepared in time to get through the first HIM on 6/8, so I would just do the one on 7/12.  Now I am having second thoughts about this. Should I still go for it? What would you do?

I don't have my heart set on a time goal for this, however, I do tend to get injured fairly easily. Thoughts? Thanks -Claire

Interesting question.....  I like to go on record and say take the conservative approach and not push it.

OFF the record, I think your training looks pretty solid and if you are not feeling overtrained now, I thing you are getting close and could do it.  Especially if you have no real time goals.....

If fact, my first HIM was almost an afterthought.  I took about 2-3 weeks off last fall right before the race.  Just went out and did it....  It wasn't that bad.  The bike AND the run were my longest of the entire year during that race!

However, I wasn't injured going into it.

Since you ask "what would you do".  I would DO it, if I didn't have any injuries or pain, based on the current training you are doing.  You would finish for sure, and probably even have a respectable time IMO.  I think you know yourself best and know your limitations.  I think that with the amount of training you have done, you have a pretty clear picture.  I don't ever want to talk someone into doing something that could hurt themselves, but I also think people hold themselves back and should jump into things once in a while - challange themselves.

Another reason I say "go for it" is that I assume that you can quit if your body tells you to.  Just because you start one, does not mean you have to injure yourself to finish it.  Live to fight another day!

Thanks, you make some very good points to think about.  Just so everyone knows, If your advice is to "go for it" and I do "go for it" and end up with an injury I would never put blame on any of you, so no worries about that.

I could start the race and drop out if I needed to. I'm only a 30min drive from this one, so I don't even need to pay for a hotel.

i can't give much advice here as i have no idea what it takes to do a HIM - but it seems to me like you could totally complete it, if you wanted to.  do you want to? would you be ok with just trying to complete it comfortably instead of racing hard?  i think that's the real question.  if you are capable of listening to your body and pulling out if you need to then, seems like you should do it, if that's what you want.  especially since it's so close to you, might as well treat it like a long race simulation to practice for 7/12.

speaking of doing HIMs - do you guys think i could possibly complete one in < 6:30 in early sept?  i have had it in the back of my mind for a while, and sometimes come close to pulling the trigger on registering.  i don't want to stagger in at the very end - i've done that enough times in my racing career and i only want to do it if, barring situations out of my control, i believe i can finish strong in sub-6:30.  otherwise, it's just too long!  i'm not patient enough for a race that long.  no ironmans for me.

i'm encouraged by my recent race result, but i'm still unsure.  what do you guys think?  it's pretty flat for both the bike and the run, and the RD is supposed to be really good, though it's a first time HIM (non-MDot).  I'd appreciate any input.

Well guys.  I am not going to do the triathlon I had planned this weekend.  I have just been too sluggish lately and haven't been training enough.  I do have a new goal though.  I want to do this 70.3... http://www.hfpracing.com/eventinfo.php?eventid=42

Let me know what you think.

So I just signed up for my 1st Oly on Aug 24th.  Very exciting.  I am the type of person that needs something to strive for.  The more races I sign up for, the more I push myself.  Now that I have a race under my belt, I am not sure what training plan to do.  I originally was going to go for the Olympic 3x balanced, which would be fine and I know I would finish the race.  But after this weekend, I think I need a plan with specific drills, especially for swimming and biking.  I was going to do the Sprint to Oly 12 week plan, but I am no where near the volume for swimming.  Maybe I will take the drills from the S to O plan and use the Oly 3x balanced.  Any thoughts?

Congrats on the race!  I have found more and more that I LOVE racing.  Just the environement of the race makes it worth it.  Plus is gives little moments of the summer to shoot for.

Plans, plans, plans.....  I am the KING of "analysis paralysis" over plans.  But I can throw my 0.02 in.

FIRST, the free 3x balanced is good (I used it for my first race), but you are now seeing the downfalls that I noticed last year.  There are no specific drills/workouts.  They only have minutes, and you have to fill in the blanks.  So what do you do?  Drills, intervals, base?  I could probably figure it out, but too much work.

I would find a plan that has specific workouts that are laid out for you.  Either here on BT, or a multitude of other sources.  A decent source I always recommend is the "week by week training guide" for triathlons (do a search on amazon).  The have 12 oly plans to look at, as well as 36 other plans for races of other lengths.  It is pace paced - but pretty easy to convert to HR based if you know your paces in certain zones.

I used that book for all my other races last year and my HIM this season.  I have only recently changed to a plan on BT because it had a plan that suited my schedule better and I just wanted a change AND start some strength training.  ALSO, they have a HR based plan that I liked.  AND I could look at it at home or office on the computer.  Print out, etc.  Just easier to manage and make adjustments to.

I look at a couple things of a plan to make my judgement:

1. How hard is the plan at the start?  Can you do the first week of the plan pretty comfortably?  If it's too hard, it's only going to get harder.
2. Look at the PEAK week (volume wise).  Is it 10 hours?  20 hours?  Can you put that much time in when you get there?
3. When is the day off?  Does it work with your schedule or not?
4. When are the long bikes and runs.  Can you fit them in?  These, IMO, are the KEYSTONE workouts of ANY tri plan.
5. Check out the schedule.  does it call for 2 workout per day or one?  Can you fit two in or would you have to miss one or double up?  A two-a-day training plan does no good if you constantly miss one.  2, 1 hour workouts are NOT equal to 1, 2 hour workout.  There is the travel/prep time, showers, etc....
6. MOST IMPORTANT.  Be honest with yourself.  I tend to get excited and motivated and convince myself that I can handle the time and intensity, to find out that I bit off more than I can chew.  Then I end up getting disapointed that I have to skip workouts or get burned out.  I think it's better to take on a slightly easier plan that you KNOW you can bang out and really tackle each and every workout with gusto and focus than to take on more than you can handle and half-arse it.  You can always add a fun run or bike to your plan if you feel like you have energy to burn.

p.s. - something I noticed for me, but I don't want to push you to overtrain, but I felt that my Oly race was SO much easier when I trained for the longer races.  Which means I was constantly doing over distance runs, bikes, and swims.  If you can constantly do swims in the 2500-3000 length, long bikes in the 30-40 length, and long runs in the 6-11 length, the 1.5/40/10 feels SO routine.....

Sorry for the long post.

seems to me you could do the race if you wanted - it's not much different than the one you rocked azz at recently, is it?  700m, 18 mile bike, 5K fun...you could totally do that.  are you already signed up? 

 There are a few different distances in the race I liked.  I want to plan to do the 70.3 or the Half Ironman.  I'm not yet signed up, I think I'm going to give myself a bit to try to get prepared for it before I sign up for it.

Wow, I'm late to the party this morning!

Claire, a lot of good points made so far by everyone else, so mine probably won't be of much value. But I think that if you DO decide to do it, you mentioned the key phrase earlier when you said that you could drop out of the race if you need to. I think that's really important, especially with you coming off an injury. A lot of people would look at it as "I'll die before I drop out of this race!", and honestly, that's just stupid. All that would lead to is more injury. So you have the right frame of mind. But like Lauren said, they are pretty close together, and your recovery/taper time would probably overlap. My vote would be to skip the first one and focus on dropping the hammer on the second one. (NOTE: I've never done a HIM, so I am strictly armchair quarterbacking right now )

Looks like a good race Dave. But it's in August, and something I CAN speak of from experience, is that races that seem like they are far enough away that you'll have plenty of time to train for always seem to approach so much faster than you anticipate. As long as you start working off of a plan now and train consistenly, you should be ready by Aug. And don't worry, we'll keep an eye on your logs and bug you if your training starts to slip.

LaurenSU02 - 2008-05-13 6:35 AM Dealing with injury issues and feeling as though your training may be lagging (it's looking great to me, but I didn't go back and check what it was a month or two ago), the chances of putting up a solid HIM on 6/8 and 7/12 are pretty slim. Knowing your desire to do well, I think you should just shoot for 7/12 -- it'll give you a few more weeks of training to rebuild that confidence, and having not raced on 6/8, I think you'll be able to put up a pretty solid race. Doing both might be tough as you will lose a lot of good training for the 7/12 race between the taper and recovery for the 6/8 race. And, since it's your first time at the distance, you will more than likely not be fully recovered and ready for another good HIM only 5 weeks after the first. If you just want to race for fun, etc., do both, or do the 6/8 one; but I think you can still acheive your HIM goals, and feel that maybe waiting until 7/12 will get you there better. Also, I think you should do a sprint or something early June .

The injury is the ONLY thing that still concerns me as well.  I hope I mentioned that in my post.

But don't we all feel like our training is lagging?    But seriously, I see your points.

Sorry, I meant the race this weekend...i mean the one this weekend by no means seems out of reach for you...of course, the HIM later this season sounds awesome, but i don't think you have to rule out this weekend.  you can do that!

If the race this weekend is the same (or close) to the one you just did, why not do it?  You should be fine.  I don't want to talk you into doing anything you really don't want to do.  BUT, I bet you will be happy you did - especially if you already paid for it.

About the 70.3/HIM (same thing really, but one is a "trademarked" name, but interchangeable).  It sounds like a GREAT race!  Sounds beautiful, and racing on a trail is always fun.  I would consider it.

BUT, you only have just over three months to prepare.  I'm not saying it can't be done (you can get a beginner HIM plan) BUT, are you ready to put in the time?  I think that you are probably ready to start a plan like that with the training you have done, but can you devote the time and effort over the next 3 months?  If so, go for it.

I was happy getting several olympic length races behind me before starting an HIM plan, but I know someone who's first race was an HIM.

On no....

I JUST noticed that little tickle in the back of the sinuses/throat of a cold.  I hope it's my imagination, but I'm usually right......

Damn it.....

But I guess if it HAS to happen, now is the time.  4 weeks prior to my next race and 5 weeks prior to starting my IM plan. *gulp*

You answered it.  Everyone is different.

I never ran a marathon, but lets pretend that an HIM is equal in effort more or less.  I was not in shape to do anything for a couple days.  Then felt ok about 3 to 4 days later to do some easier/shorter workouts.

I would have to admit though, I don't think I felt 100% for about 10 days to 2 weeks.