GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 24)

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-23 7:54 PM

STEVE A -



Speaking of hoping to find another gear for Topanga/PCH this coming weekend ---- what is the gearing on your bike, and will you be changing it before St. George? I think I changed mine to a 25-12 before Lake Placid '04, and was glad I did so. But now I'm wondering --- did I baby-up and go with a 27?? I'll have to check my log from then and see if I wrote it down! I know I used a 27-12 for the murderous climb at North Country Tri a couple years ago, but I'm fuzzy on Placid. But it was at least a 25, to be sure.

What is your car? Is it something that is small and that you have to partially dismantle (one or both wheels off?) you bike so it will fit? Regardless, I would say take the time to get the bike out of sight and behind locked doors. I know you're probably thinking of a fast transition for the brick, but realistically that isn't going to happen at St.George, anyhow. You're probably looking at a minimum of 3 minutes in T2 there, and likely 4-5, so taking the time to lock it away and get on your running stuff for a brick will probably equal your T2 at St. G.

And if you do have to remove your wheels, just view that as valuable practice for times in which you get a flat and need to go through that nasty process as quickly as possible. If it comes to that, treat it as its own challenge - door unlocked, wheel(s) off, bike in, door locked again, all within, say, 45 seconds.

I'm timing you!

I'm HAPPY.  

Did my run and tried to look pretty with no head-wagging.   Kept the pace slow and felt really good.   Did 4.5 km.

Then I went swimming, but was late, so could only do 45 min.   After usual w/u and 200 meters of breathing drill/swim I did 2 x 200 meters at a nice slow pace practicing the breathing and I even surpassed a short term bridge goal I had set yesterday to get my easy 200's to 4:56.    Did them in 4.49 and 4.41.    Can't wait to start to speed work. 

THEN, I went to osteo for an hour, and he says there is nothing wrong structurally; at the end of treatment he feels it is a fascia issue so rather than go to someone else for ART, etc. am going to have a couple of sessions with him where he works strictly on fascia.   My chiro said I had that problem before where the muscles get 'stuck' together (scar tissue?) and don't move and function properly.    I trust my osteo and am optimistic because he is the one who got me over my serious injury in 2006.  

SO, I am thinking for my Thursday run I back it off and just run 3km and then on Saturday maybe 6km????   Thoughts? 

I love this group.   It is exactly what I needed.   For the later part of last year was verging on giving up totally on the running and losing interest in training, and am now being totally inspired by everyone's support, stories about their past tri journeys and plans for the future.   And to have a mentor/coach who provides such sound advice just tops it off!!!

Anne

STEVE A again -

Re Z3 for St.G.:

Remember, Mike had said about 95% of you IM time will be in Z2, with Z3 coming (hopefully!) at the end of the run. So, with that in mind, it IS good to train there, but get your mind around the steady pace required for a double-digit hours kind of effort, which will be predominantly in Z2.

The places where you may find yourself at Z3 or (god forbid) Z4 are the first half of the bike and the early stages of the run. I think so many people get themselves in big, unforgiving trouble by going out too fast on the bike, and pay dearly for it for the next 8-10 hours -- or more! Te other place where people get hoodwinked is heading out on the run, especially if they have been smart about the bike and feel kind of frisky and daring exiting T2. It is pretty easy to get into Z3 early on the run, only to blow-up shortly thereafter and suffer through a series of walk-runs.

That's kind of where I found myself at IMLP, which was my first IM. I managed to ride the bike wisely, and wanted to make a statement (to myself, I guess) going out on the run. My first five miles were really quite good, and then I just tanked. Not really severely, but the run-walks began earlier than I wanted. However, in the final 1.5-2 miles I managed to pick it up, and I'm sure I spent those 12-18 minutes in Z3. And finishing -- hell, I was good for another mile or two!

STEVE A once more -

By the by, I really like the structure of your week, as presented in your post yesterday at 3:53. And now that I know how T.C. and the PCH figure into it, it makes even better sense. The runs, especially, look very fine!

Congrats on finding the pool ----- but where does that leave me?!? I mean, I've been living a wild fantasy life here in the frozen north, vicariously enjoying every minute I thought you were swimming on the Pacific. How thoughtless of you, to resort to a pool. Harumph!

STEVE A, yet again -

And just how is your last name pronounced -- Ah-KWAH-vee-ah, or Ah-kwa-VEE-ah? I'm guessing the second one, but I just don't know.....

I AM PUMPED!  I registered yesterday for the Nevis sprint.  It's not 'til August but it's very popular and in one day it's already 2/3 full.  Last year I got a 1st place age-group plaque but only because there were only 2 of us.  I checked the registration list this year and already there are 4 of us in the 60-64.  Bring on the competition!  I am motivated!

SteveB - thank you for not making me train on rollers

SteveA - I'm so excited that we have a potential Ironman

Diane - Steve is right about not worrying about speed on the bike at 1st - BUT - what I did for my 1st tri was check out the results from the previous year of the tri I wanted to do - then I counted up 5 places and 10 places from the bottom for each leg (swim, bike, run) - then my goal was to aim minimally for the pace between 5th and 10th from the bottom.  I actually did better than that but it gave me an idea of what to aim for to not come in  last.

Denise

Steve A and Steve B!

Thank you both for your replies! I have read them and will ponder a bit and try to sort out my schedule asap...but right now I have to catch up on my sleep. So am off 'till at least tomorrow!

Arthur

Steve B, thanks for the link to the Healus, very interesting!

Darren, thanks for the chart and the easy to follow directions to posting it. I'm going to change my avatar at some point but guess I need by DH help to downsize one of my pics.

This is a taper week for me, so ran a little over 2 miles tonight and will hopefully get another 5 miles in on Thursday. Hope to get back in the pool and/or on the trainer the next week. They are predicting the coldest temps for us in over 20 years towards the end of the week and into the weekend.  Temperatures for my race on Sunday are expected to be 22 to 24 degrees F, so may be the coldest I've ever run in.  It was 24 degrees in Memphis for my race last month, so at least I know what clothing will work.

Hope everyone is having a great week.  Stay warm ... looks to be cold everywhere this week.

Lisa

Steve,

Thanks for all the great feedback!  It's pronounced the first way, but I answer to both.  Heh. 

I think I'll see whether I can fit in in the car tomorrow night.  I don't think it will fit in the trunk, but maybe the back seat with a blanket to protect the car. I drive an Infinity G35 - clearly purchased before I was bitten by the Tri Bug.  :-)

Denise, glad you got registered!  Hard to believe it fills so quickly for August.  And thanks for this advice, it will give me some idea of what to be shooting for as I get further along in training.

Steve, I did read your posts on the one goggle in-out and the popeye breathing.  It was one of things I could understand.  I am really getting into the TI drills and it will be interesting to see how this all comes together. 

Whoa! Just in the nick of time! There we were, last group on the first page, about ready to get bumped to page 2 ---- and along I came to save the day. Man, that was CLOSE! Whew!

ANNE -

That's great news about the ortho guy feeling that it's just your fascia and that A.R.T. might help. Best-case scenario, almost. (Best-case would be no pain, anywhere, ever!)

With 4.5 yesterday, yes, I think it would be best to drop back a step or two for tomorrow, and then add on again on Saturday. So 3km tomorrow followed by the 6km --- sounds good!

With the head-wagging I was kind of joking around, but it's true that running with as little extrneous movement is best. I mean, LOTS of extraneous head movement seems to work swell for Paula Radcliffe, but she's one in a trillion.

Getting back to the ortho's thought, and A.R.T., do you ever "roll" your hip area? There are those big foam rollers that are widely available nowadays, and that might help. One further thought, though, is that my A.R.T. person told me that for breaking down scar tissue along an ITB, say, that foam is too "giving", and that something harder is better. I use the "Quad Roller" from Trigger Point (www.tptherapy.com, I think), but if you could find an oversized rolling pin, that might work fine. I wonder too about The Stick for you. They come in all sizes and hardnesses, and that might be something you could do on your own between appointments, just sort of as maintenance.

Where is it you stay at Peteborough and Muskoka? I am toying around with one or both, as parts of the 376 different plans I am considering - permutations of permutations of permutations. I've never done either, but both have their very loyal followers!

If I don't race mostly in the U.S. this year, I have a few options: (1) race the budget series close to home here, the Somersault series (www.somersault.ca); (2) do as many of John Salt's HBSC races, which I've found to be good ones; (3) just mix-and-match, but making Peterb and Musk two big priorities -- and maybe using Peterborough to qualify for IMCanada? That has alot of appeal, but I'm not sure my body is up for IM training, and I'm also not sure I have the energy to drive out to Penticton and back.

The problem for me with any of the Muskoka-area events (Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Bala, and Muskoka 70.3, and of course "regular" Muskoka) is that getting there requires a kind of tedious drive through the hinterlands west of Ottawa, and then through Algonquin Park -- nice enough once....or twice....but tedious after a while.

Lots to consider; so many races, so little time!

It's GROOVE TIME! this weekend -- for LISA!!


USA FIT HALF MARATHON

Sunday, January 10
7:00am start
Sugar Land, Texas
(University of Houston)

Very nice course! (Check it out at www.usafitmarathon.com)

Late as usual.   Running out to volunteer - no computer access - back around three. 

Have a great day, everyone.  

That's really an advantage that you know what to wear.  Even tho I'm used to running in cold weather, I have to be careful I don't overdress

Denise

STEVE:

I have those stride counts for you. So counting how many times my right leg hits in 1 minute, I got 85, 85 and 84 in three runs. Not sure if you need to know this too, but my pace was around 13 mins/mile.

By the way, I got fitted yesterday for one of those metatarsal lifts at the podiatrist's. Also got a prescription for Lodine. We'll see how they help!

Thanks,

Tracey

Volunteering, training for races, keeping meticulous logs - Anne, you are superwoman!

DENISE -

Three cheers for you being quick on the draw and getting into Nevis! It's amazing how quickly some races fill up nowadays, and it's not necessarily the "prestigious" ones. There must be dozens of smaller races that just have great reps and fill up in a heatbeat (or two), and especially if a given race is not expensive, you might as well sign up and at least assure yourself of a spot.

Doing things this was, though, has had me eat way too many race fees over the years, as one month's bright idea goes bad a few months later when an injury puts me on the shelf. So, I'm not near as quick to sign up nowadays as I was a few years ago.

However, I am still really good at signing up for accommodations, even well before I sign up for the actual race. (Speaking of which, I booked two places for IMLouisville when I thought I was going to it, which I'm not. Better cancel those before I forget! )

Your approach to figuring out your desired pace is brilliant -- going to past results and calculating what you need to do to be where you want to be. That ends up being a very effective carrot to shoot for, yes?

I often use something a similar approach for figuring out the relative difficulty of an unfamiliar race. I know where I usually finish in relation to everybody else in a given field, for each of the three disciplines, so I look for the times that correspond to those percentile placements. And, it usually works out pretty well. I did it this past season for my last three races, Reston, Lake George, and MightyMan, and my results turned out pretty much as I thought they would.

Race result voyeurs, is what we are!

TRACEY -

That's a pretty decent cadence you're clicking out! Around 90 is considered optimal, so at 85 and 84 you're pretty close. Another five footfalls over the course of a minute really does not represent a big change in what you're doing.

But having said that, don't rush out and try to hit 90 just like that. Take your time working up to it, and maybe once in every run for the next few weeks try a 3-minute period in which you aim for 88 in the first minute, then 90 in the second minute, back to 88 for the third minute-- and then settle back into your regular pace. And don't worry if you miss those numbers some, as it's pretty hard to know exactly how much you've picked up the pace. (If it turns out you do 87, 88, 86 in those three minutes, that's fine, too - it's getting there!)

Lodine? Hmmm. I'll have to google that!