Kenj - triathletes in training CLOSED (Page 24)

Thanks everyone for the good luck vibes! I'm running the Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday - my first marathon ever. I'm setting the bar high too - sub 3 is my goal. I was approved as a seeded runner and will be in Corral A with the really fast guys. Pittsburgh has some hills especially over the first half so my plan is to stay under control and run 6:55-7 min pace through 14-15 miles and then drop down to 6:45-6:50 over the last 11-12. Weather is shaping up to be pretty good - if even a little warm for my liking.

My bib is #360 - Steve Troisi. You can track me by going to their website http://www.pittsburghmarathon.com/runners.asp. 

I've been thinking about and training for this thing for 6 months. I am just ready to race and see what this body - and heart - can do.

Thanks everyone for the good luck vibes! I'm running the Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday - my first marathon ever. I'm setting the bar high too - sub 3 is my goal. I was approved as a seeded runner and will be in Corral A with the really fast guys. Pittsburgh has some hills especially over the first half so my plan is to stay under control and run 6:55-7 min pace through 14-15 miles and then drop down to 6:45-6:50 over the last 11-12. Weather is shaping up to be pretty good - if even a little warm for my liking.

My bib is #360 - Steve Troisi. You can track me by going to their website http://www.pittsburghmarathon.com/runners.asp. 

I've been thinking about and training for this thing for 6 months. I am just ready to race and see what this body - and heart - can do.

Thanks everyone for the good luck vibes! I'm running the Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday - my first marathon ever. I'm setting the bar high too - sub 3 is my goal. I was approved as a seeded runner and will be in Corral A with the really fast guys. Pittsburgh has some hills especially over the first half so my plan is to stay under control and run 6:55-7 min pace through 14-15 miles and then drop down to 6:45-6:50 over the last 11-12. Weather is shaping up to be pretty good - if even a little warm for my liking.

My bib is #360 - Steve Troisi. You can track me by going to their website http://www.pittsburghmarathon.com/runners.asp. 

I've been thinking about and training for this thing for 6 months. I am just ready to race and see what this body - and heart - can do.

Another month has come and gone! How did your training/goals stack up? Did you meet/exceed any of your personel goals?  Is there something you are still struggling with? Lets hear it!

Here's mine:

Absolutely fantastic month - in fact, best ever!  My bike (~15hrs) and swim (~10hrs) were the highest monthly totals to date.  Largest training month since I started training 2 years ago. While my running is no where near last year - I am running and that in itself is huge!  Still struggling with PF on a daily basis, but the major flare ups are definately less!

On the other hand still struggling with the weight losss.  While I am not unhappy with the current weight I STILL would like to lose those 5-10 stubborn pounds. I enjoy my weekend gluttony and I guess until weight loss > my food addiction I will struggle. A lot of times I think I put in the hours so that I can enjoy the weekend fest.

Goals for the next few months: Unfortunately, this will probably be my highest month for the year as the kids only have a few more weeks of school and we have 4 vacations planned for the summer. My goal for over the summer will be to try an be consistent even if the volume isn't as high.  I struggle with workouts when my schedule isn't rigid, especially when on vacation!

OK - I've got a story that I imagine most of you will be able to relate with.  Maybe not the old pros, but most beginners.  Hopefully you can give me a little advice. 

I recently bought some cycling shoes.  I knew this would be difficult and wanted to avoid a fall so I first took my shoes to a few spin classes to get used to getting in and getting out. 

I was feeling pretty confident with that so I changed my pedals out last night.  I climbed on beside my car so I could hold on and steady myself - I even wondered if I should put my helmet on for this.  The next thing I knew, I was slowly leaning away from my car.

I had time to decide which would be the best part of my body to take the blow - I didn't want to break my wrist and thought that the head might hurt so I opted for trying to spread out the impact over my forearm.  Mixed results - nothing is broken and I'm fine, but I have a nasty knot on my elbow.

After that, I moved the operation to the two foot space between my car and the garage wall - no more spills.

I've decided that the reason was that the pedals on my bike were much tighter than the ones I was using at spin class.  I was still having trouble getting in and out and it would take several thrust of my legs to get out.  Should I just loosen my pedals out as far as they will go?

Also, I tried to loosen them some last night, but 1/8 wrench was too big and 3/32 was too small.  I read this morning that the size may be 3mm - does anyone have any insight?

Robin, have you had anyone suggest trying the kinseo tape?  I saw an article in Runners Digest (I think) about it and specifically for running injuries.  They showed a picture of a foot taped to help with PF.  Nice work this month!

OK - I've got a story that I imagine most of you will be able to relate with.  Maybe not the old pros, but most beginners.  Hopefully you can give me a little advice. 

I recently bought some cycling shoes.  I knew this would be difficult and wanted to avoid a fall so I first took my shoes to a few spin classes to get used to getting in and getting out. 

I was feeling pretty confident with that so I changed my pedals out last night.  I climbed on beside my car so I could hold on and steady myself - I even wondered if I should put my helmet on for this.  The next thing I knew, I was slowly leaning away from my car.

I had time to decide which would be the best part of my body to take the blow - I didn't want to break my wrist and thought that the head might hurt so I opted for trying to spread out the impact over my forearm.  Mixed results - nothing is broken and I'm fine, but I have a nasty knot on my elbow.

After that, I moved the operation to the two foot space between my car and the garage wall - no more spills.

I've decided that the reason was that the pedals on my bike were much tighter than the ones I was using at spin class.  I was still having trouble getting in and out and it would take several thrust of my legs to get out.  Should I just loosen my pedals out as far as they will go?

Also, I tried to loosen them some last night, but 1/8 wrench was too big and 3/32 was too small.  I read this morning that the size may be 3mm - does anyone have any insight?

May looks like a fun month for me. 

This weekend I've got the Palos Half Marathon.  When I signed up I had a goal of being sub 1:45.  But, running has gone so well for me over the winter, I've re-evaluated and will be trying to be sub 1:35!  My plan is to set a 7min/mile pace and try to hang on.  From training, I can tell 7min/miles is going to be pretty hard warming up the first few miles.  After that I seem to settle in and it becomes pretty easy.  I figure it'll be pretty comfortable through mile 9.  After that is where I'm going to have to kick in the mental toughness.  In training I've been able to pick it up in the last part of my long runs.  So I'll re-evaluate at mile nine, and if I feel like I can do it I'll pick it up to 6:45-6:30/mile.  If not, I'm going to be pretty happy with that pace all the way through anyway.  This is my first 1/2 marathon even though I have done a full marathon before.

May 12th I leave for Brown County for a 3 day MTB trip with some friends!   That whole week will be spent re-cooperating from the HM.  I plan on getting back into the pool and will get back to some running during that week.  I'll do some trail running while I'm on the trip.  When I come home I need to decide if I want to do Xterra Ft. Custer the following weekend.  It'll depend on how beat up I get/or not get on the MTB trip, and how well getting back to swimming is going.  Ft. Custer is usually a VERY COOOOOOLD swim.  After Ft. Custer my shift to bike focus and training for Racine 70.3 begins!  I should be getting lots and lots of bike miles in during that time and hope to get a little stronger swimming.

June will be a combination vacation and peak training for Racine.  I'm a little worried about this.  I'll be doing some running and hopefully a bike trip in Vegas as well as some hiking in Arizona.  Right now, it looks like my peak 2 weeks should fall right when I get back so I need to keep up some work while on vacation so I'm ready for that work when I get back.  I'm sure I'll be asking the group, especially Ken the traveler! , some questions about how to handle that.

OK - I've got a story that I imagine most of you will be able to relate with.  Maybe not the old pros, but most beginners.  Hopefully you can give me a little advice. 

I recently bought some cycling shoes.  I knew this would be difficult and wanted to avoid a fall so I first took my shoes to a few spin classes to get used to getting in and getting out. 

I was feeling pretty confident with that so I changed my pedals out last night.  I climbed on beside my car so I could hold on and steady myself - I even wondered if I should put my helmet on for this.  The next thing I knew, I was slowly leaning away from my car.

I had time to decide which would be the best part of my body to take the blow - I didn't want to break my wrist and thought that the head might hurt so I opted for trying to spread out the impact over my forearm.  Mixed results - nothing is broken and I'm fine, but I have a nasty knot on my elbow.

After that, I moved the operation to the two foot space between my car and the garage wall - no more spills.

I've decided that the reason was that the pedals on my bike were much tighter than the ones I was using at spin class.  I was still having trouble getting in and out and it would take several thrust of my legs to get out.  Should I just loosen my pedals out as far as they will go?

Also, I tried to loosen them some last night, but 1/8 wrench was too big and 3/32 was too small.  I read this morning that the size may be 3mm - does anyone have any insight?

YES!!!  I have actually been religiously taping my foot for the last 2 months.  In my case it has been very helpful and one of the reasons I can run.  It adds the support to the arch that the orthotics were supposed to do w/o the pain!  I would recommend anyone who is struggling with PF to try it (as it is cheap and easy!). I will have to look up that article to see how they recommend taping the foot.

X3 on loosening the pedals  - haven't taken a spill in a while but yep I have done it (more than once)!

In May I hope to continue with increasing the miles on the bike to get ready for my 2 rides in June. I have added a metric century to the mix as I am thinking of dropping the sprint tri that I was planning on.  Also want to keep increasing the running miles - happy with the swim.

Other than clamming this weekend I only have one other vacation this month.  A short weekend trip down to the kenai to do an all day wildlife watching boat cruise. Crossing my fingers that I get to see an Orca!

OK - I've got a story that I imagine most of you will be able to relate with.  Maybe not the old pros, but most beginners.  Hopefully you can give me a little advice. 

I recently bought some cycling shoes.  I knew this would be difficult and wanted to avoid a fall so I first took my shoes to a few spin classes to get used to getting in and getting out. 

I was feeling pretty confident with that so I changed my pedals out last night.  I climbed on beside my car so I could hold on and steady myself - I even wondered if I should put my helmet on for this.  The next thing I knew, I was slowly leaning away from my car.

I had time to decide which would be the best part of my body to take the blow - I didn't want to break my wrist and thought that the head might hurt so I opted for trying to spread out the impact over my forearm.  Mixed results - nothing is broken and I'm fine, but I have a nasty knot on my elbow.

After that, I moved the operation to the two foot space between my car and the garage wall - no more spills.

I've decided that the reason was that the pedals on my bike were much tighter than the ones I was using at spin class.  I was still having trouble getting in and out and it would take several thrust of my legs to get out.  Should I just loosen my pedals out as far as they will go?

Also, I tried to loosen them some last night, but 1/8 wrench was too big and 3/32 was too small.  I read this morning that the size may be 3mm - does anyone have any insight?

May goals:

PR at Irongirl on Sunday (5/6), even if it's only a few minutes.

Start increasing my long runs to 40 minutes to an hour. I may add more run frequency with short runs.   

Start visiting the pool again, and get some swims in.  HIM training starts on June 4th, the day after Amica Sprint Triathlon.

HTFU and get in a run early in the mornings. Bleh...it's has reached the mid 90's now. Too hot. 

Like Kathleen I have started reading Don Finks book Be Iron Fit and he talks about the value of getting the training done early in the day.  It is a good feeling to be eating breakfast knowing that you don't have the training hanging over your head!

Nice goals for the month DJ!

I bought the book to get some different perspectives on long course training.  I toyed with the idea of hiring a coach this year, but decided not to. So I am looking for something different for a training plan.  I love the plans here and have done well with them at all distances, but I would really like something different to motivate me some.

As far as Finks book, you might want to pick it up sooner rather than later.  The early chapters spend some time with some great ideas on how to deal with squeezing the training in with a full schedule and he talks about the long commuters.  Personally I don't know how you guys do that.  I have a 15 minute drive and some days that seems long.  Before we moved 10 years or so ago the commute was about 5 minutes and we could shoot home for lunch!

So Brian, you're wife must be really fast if you can't keep up with her on the run! 

OK - I've got a story that I imagine most of you will be able to relate with.  Maybe not the old pros, but most beginners.  Hopefully you can give me a little advice. 

I recently bought some cycling shoes.  I knew this would be difficult and wanted to avoid a fall so I first took my shoes to a few spin classes to get used to getting in and getting out. 

I was feeling pretty confident with that so I changed my pedals out last night.  I climbed on beside my car so I could hold on and steady myself - I even wondered if I should put my helmet on for this.  The next thing I knew, I was slowly leaning away from my car.

I had time to decide which would be the best part of my body to take the blow - I didn't want to break my wrist and thought that the head might hurt so I opted for trying to spread out the impact over my forearm.  Mixed results - nothing is broken and I'm fine, but I have a nasty knot on my elbow.

After that, I moved the operation to the two foot space between my car and the garage wall - no more spills.

I've decided that the reason was that the pedals on my bike were much tighter than the ones I was using at spin class.  I was still having trouble getting in and out and it would take several thrust of my legs to get out.  Should I just loosen my pedals out as far as they will go?

Also, I tried to loosen them some last night, but 1/8 wrench was too big and 3/32 was too small.  I read this morning that the size may be 3mm - does anyone have any insight?

I totally did this the first time I put clipless pedals on mike... except mine was at a stop light.  In front of a ton of people.  Literally going zero miles per hour, I just tipped over on the side of the street.  It was ridiculous.  All the people who saw were first concerned that I was OK, and then when the realized I was, started laughing at me.