Baowolf mentor group is [ Closed ] (Page 25)

Just wow!!!! Awesome progress.

You too Samantha.  No way you should undersell your progress.  Very nice indeed!

So Jim, did you do the OLY?  We need details!

Nice ride!  But 4:30 am, ouch.  Productive day, and sounds like you are bouncing back quite well!

Very nice new bike distance PR, Larry!

Steve, good job continuing to work on cracking the swim nut.  Hope you had a great weekend of training.

Opted for the 30 mile route this morning...which turned out to be 34+.  Windy and slow going, just not feeling it at all today.  Not thrilled w/ the rental bike, so at least ruled one possibility out of the mix. Ha, Samantha, I'm liking your idea of test riding bikes .  I'm considering all options re: new frame vs. new bike.  Still need to let my ticked-off-ness fade a bit to make good decisions on that.

In answering the "fried" question, I'm feeling pretty burned out on not that high a load.  Thing is...the only breaks I've taken in the last year or so have been due to illness or injury.  Perhaps catching up with me.  I was having thoughts on the bike ride today of dropping from the OLY distance to the sprint distance in my tri on 5/28 if that is still an option.  Swim and run are OK, but just not ready on the bike.  Of course I also thought about trying to mow down as many cones as I could in one of our many construction zones in my car today.  Long overdue vacation is also coming up, so hoping to come back from that refreshed and not as likely to commit cone-icide! 

First week M: longest bike 22.5 miles 15 mph average

                  longest run 6 miles 12:22 mph average

                  Swim: None recorded but I swam 2 600 yards swims around 3:00/100

Last week: longest bike 50 miles  average speed 16.84

                  longest run 10 miles  average speed around 11:00 (using last week's long run and

                                 this weeks short run

                  longest swim 2112 yards (did it twice) average speed 2:11/100

Fun workout day today.  I did 9 miles at an 8:00 ish mpm pace.  Then I did a see how fast you can go swim.  Started at 1:58 then 1:57, .... I had to eventually break it down to 50s.  Fastest 50 was at 52 seconds. Holy smokes 100 yards at 1:50 is sooo very much harder than 100 yards at 1:57.  Smoked, need food.  Enjoying watching the eclipse develop.

I had a long, interesting weekend.  We went to Cleveland for my wife's half marathon walk.  She raised money in honor of a student of hers with Leukemia.  She finished and did great.  The Team in Training organization is really neat.  The dinner the night before the race is very motivating.  I did the San Diego Marathon years ago with them.  It was a really cool experience (except for running a marathon fat, 6 hours and 33 minutes of not much fun). 

Now for my brother's story.  This is how not to prepare for a marathon.  He was going to run the half, and trained a little, for about six weeks.  Then he took a month off.  Then he ran 56 miles in a week, including three straight 15 mile runs.  He took a day off, ran some more, then did a 20 miler.  He decided "why not run the whole marathon" and signed up.  The next time he ran his right foot starting hurting bad; big shock!  This was two weeks ago.  As of Thursday it still hurt so he decided he was either going to only do the half or not run at all.  The night before the marathon, he decided that his foot hurt too much so he went out to the bars instead, and probably drank at least 12 beers, at least that's what he smelled like at 5 this morning.  He says, "my foot feels better and since I already paid for the whole marathon, I'll just turn off and finish the half."  Two and a half hours into the race he calls and tells me he was going to be a while, he was going to do the whole thing.  It took him 5 hours and 45 minutes, but he finished hung over and in 90 degree heat.  He celebrated with a couple beers and three hamburgers.  I haven't checked on him tonight to see if he can walk.

Since the half marathon was sold out when I decided to run it, I got to run for 2 hours and 15 minutes in the afternoon heat all by myself after walking around all day in Cleveland.  It was a "will to survive" run. 

Seems like everyone had a great weekend of training and some fun stories to go with it. I will write more specifically later, but here is an update on my training from the weekend.

My weekend training was decent. Friday night's run was sooo hard. Running for me is sooo hard!! After 32 minutes I switched to run 5/walk 2, which is the only reason I was able to get the whole distance in - 6.8m. I think I need to pay more attention to what I am eating because I am wondering if my calorie intake is supporting my output. Friday night I did not feel good on my run and tonight I did a short brick after my 30 mile bike and didn't feel very good. During my bike a drank 24oz. of perpetuam and 20 oz. plain water. I followed the bike with a 3 mile jog/walk. I need to double check the calories on the perpetuam. The weather was not really warm, but not cool either - it was perfect! And I felt pretty good on the bike. Not sure what to think, but I am celebrating getting all my planned workouts in for the week which totals 9+ hours of training. Biggest week ever! But now I am so tired. Another big week kicks off tomorrow.

Night!

Yups that is how to not do a marathon. 

Jim the armpads are relatively easy to replace once you find the right model and get it in your hands.  I broke one a couple years ago, dumb rock. 

Samantha, I am sorry to say that you are in for more of the same.  Your base was pretty thin starting your program so you are going to have a long haul to get fit for the race.  Going low intensity and doing a jog walk when you are smoked is fine.  At this point it is just getting it done.  Take naps, go to bed an hour early, eat healthy, keep your fluid intake good when not workout at as well as when working out.  If you get too smoked drop 1 or 2 workouts, preferably not run as that is your least well developed area.  Currently your swim looks best, go figure. 

So for those of you starting to get in longer runs, I use bodyglide on my um manly nips to prevent chafing.  A tri top or similar top makes that less necessary.  Also be diligent about keeping your toenails trimed close to avoid black tonails on those longer runs. 

This is the hard part.  The fun of building your initial base miles and increasing distance is.. over.  Now you are in the build phase.  And some are building more than others.  It is going to be rough so monitor your fatigue.  Your training plans are just that.  If you are too smoked, taking a day off can have you back on track for some better quality workouts.  If you are smoked and continue to hit things hard it will kill your motivation, your workouts will suck and your body may decide to let you know that you need to slow down. 

Jim, glad you had a good time in your club OLY.  And you even scored some bonus miles!

Larry, your BIL sounds like quite a charachter.  People like him who go into something and just do it regarless of their lack of preparedness are oddly inspiring to me.  Maybe because I tend to be the "overprepare and underperform" type.

Mike, sorry about your hammie and bike issues.  I can at least sympathize on the bike.

Steve, thanks for all the good advice, and sounds like your training is going well.

Samantha, very proud for you on your run!  I'm sure Steve and others who have actually done a half will give you some good input on the timing.  On thing I have observed is that you are very focused and consistent this year.  Regarless of whether you shift your goal races around, you are a winner!

Still up in the air on what to do re: my frame crack.  Also continuing to work on the decision re: new bike vs. new frame.  Will get a more information on the new frame option tomorrow.  Likely whatever I do will not be in time for the race this weekend.  So I'm left with the options of riding my current bike, renting one, or borrowing one  Starting to lean towards just riding mine.  The crack just looks so small, and for all I know it's been there for months.  

Unlike Samantha, who stuck with it, I cut my longerish run short yesterday and wound up with around 5ish instead of 8ish.  Got in 2K yards of swim this morning, but again, really not feeling it at all.  Hard to believe I did a marathon a month ago!

Actually, my bike on Saturday was great. Sunday run, not so good. The walk home did give me a few minutes to stop and sit at the beach and just chill for a bit. Was very peaceful, and the weather was perfect. Here's a pic from roughly where I was sitting:

Anyway, gave me some time to think about my upcoming HIM and think realisticly about it. I'm too close to race date to do a whole lot about my lousy run. I may take the ol'  'walk the aid stations' approach, and go from there. I'm feeling good about the swim, and the bike should be OK (a couple long rides still to come). The run may truly s*ck, and there may be suffering, but my training hasn't been where it should be by now (my long run was nearly 10 miles last week, though). We'll see how it goes race day. I just need to be sure I pace the bike, pay attention to my nutrition, and make the most of what comes.

Carol - The commitment you have to training has been an inspiration. While in the middle of all your preparation, remembering the joy of Tri-ing is hard. Find your joy whatever it takes. The bike thing will pass. We all want you to be safe.

Mike – With a view like that you could be there a while thinking about what is over that horizon. Nothing but Tri-success, I am sure.

Samantha – What is your goal for the HIM and IM? Complete? Compete? Have fun?

Larry – Your training is impressive, the kids have to be inspired, and you are going to have a great race.

With the distance it is hard to get the full emotion (through this virtual connection) but personally with the time to reflect on my ups and downs, how can anyone be anything but impressed with all the personal struggles and sacrifices being made? Life transforming…. To say the least. After this last build I can definitely see the difference between a quality work out and fatigue loaded, mail it in. Personally after moving nearly half the 20 tons of stone, I rested Saturday and Sunday. Now I have a much better perspective and begin the build journey anew. Not sure how far I can go, but know that I can do more and better. I am looking for an OLY late August- September and you all are a great inspiration.

Samantha, the Sept 15 HIM would be better.  Your run just has a long way to go and that extra 6 weeks will do the trick.  It is probably the difference between walking half of the HIM or having a shot at jogging the whole thing (at a slow comfortable though it won't feel comfortable pace).  Go figure was because you were all like why should I even bother swimming..... and now you are covering nearly race distance weekly.  Bike is easier to build so you should be fine with both bike and swim, but the extra time for the run will help you put it all together. 

Carol, even IM fitness is gone in a month if you just kick back (like you are supposed to do).  The upside of a whole new bike is that those issues with spinning out too fast, probably needing to change out cables soon and marginal berrings would not be an issue.  So front and rear chain rings $200, new chain must go with new chain rings $50, new frame $500, cables $20 (installed), aero bars $75 = $875 to fix your old bike up nicely.  (not sure of frame cost).  For 900-1200 ish you could get a Cervelo P1, Felt s32 or some such.  Hrm.  Not sure if you have a decent seat to transfer and newer pedals.  I just looked Cervelo P1 with full Ultegra after taxes $918 (2011) and a Felt S22 (2012) for $908 (what I am currently riding).  But I paid $1500 8(.    

Mike, if you are recovered enough for an 11.5 this weekend and a 13 mile next weekend then 8 followed by race and take the run easy you could end up not walking and do alright.  Adrenalin can give you a bit more than you think you have on race day if you don't kill the bike.  On the other hand if that hamstring isn't recovering early this week, you are better off walking 8 to 10 miles for your long runs and surviving your HIM.  Can't really tell untill we find out how that hamstring is doing.   

I may have overdone my rest week last week, enjoying being speedy with very low fatigue load hitting my long run on 8:00 mpm pace, hitting the last swim hard, climbing the big hill on my bike... less energized for this noon run.  I guess I will repeat last week and flop the wed run rest day to Tuesday again.  It turns out I have meetings all day anyway so shrug probably works out for the best.  On a positive note my scale read 150 pounds this morning.  So just another 5-10 pounds to lose before the end of July...and then keep it off until December.  Be careful in the offseason.  An injury and a couple months with no real workouts can bring the weight back on quickly.  Add in a little bummed out feelings, high work stress and holidays all stacked up and you get to where I was after Christmas 170 ish.  Mental note do not stay at a house that has a 20 pound everfaunt of peanut M$Ms on the table and apple pie and icecream every night.  At home pizza is my downfall, a couple extra slices of pizza will set back weight loss all week.  Oh well down from notch 2 to notch 4 in my belt and extra room in my size 32 inch waiste pants 8).  Getting there. These next 2 build cycles are going to be rough for me also, I am going to throw that big hill in every Saturday until the race. 

Mike - bummer about the run. But your view is worth stopping for! So glad you are part of the group and get Steve's opinion on how best to proceed.Take are of your body!

Joe - I am only hoping to finish, but I care very much about finishing well. It is about the training and race day is the culmination of the discipline. For the IM next year I want to do well, which doesn't necessarily mean MOP. My goal is to finish strong. Way to go getting all that rock moved! Oly in the fall will be nice. the weather is much friendlier if you don't like the hot sun.

Carol - You stick it out every day in so many ways, but thanks for the accolades! Maybe you can stop by a different bike shop and get their opinion on whether or not to ride you bike for your race. I would hate to hear that something happened and you would kick yourself pretty hard if you had a crash. Not being negative, but I prefer you stay whole and healthy! What is your race this weekend? P.S. Your running is so far above mine. YOU DID A MARATHON A MONTH AGO!!!!

Steve - can you share some links for bike buying websites? I plan on upgrading this year and most the bikes I am finding are around $2000; I don't want to spend that much. Plus I won't really be transferring anything from my current bike because it doesn't have many extras. I have been thinking about your desire to be a faster swimmer lately. I know you are reading books and have more experience than I do, but something I have been doing in the pool is counting the number of strokes it takes me to get from one end to the other, then I work to decrease the number of strokes I am taking. The best way I have found to do this is to glide through the water like a dolphin. I watched a TI swimming video once and that is where I learned about this. The video also said I want to make as few bubbles as possible with my arms. Anyway, since you have the endless swimming pool I wonder if the way you move through the water is different and if you can try what I am talking about. Assuming you aren't already doing it.

So after taking in thoughts from y'all, and praying about what I should do I am going to go for the September 15th HIM. With the amount of fatigue I am feeling now and looking at the plan I was on I think it will be too much. The build-up was just beginning and my body is screaming. So I changed my plan to a 17 week HIM and am not sure what it will feel like to start at the beginning of that with much less distance being covered for the next few weeks. I thought about jumping in somewhere near the middle, but since my running is terrible I want to build that super slowly. My bike could use more consistent slow building and for my swim I can focus on technique more than distance. Would you agree with my thinking on this? Plus, I want to start paying a bit more attention to my nutrition and this will give me time daily and in the long run. Plus maybe I can get a new bike before the race.

I was going to do something in the realm of training today, but I am so dead. I am excited to get going on my new plan tomorrow and feel like I can be successful at getting it all in without feeling like I might die.

Great job to everyone! All the comments regarding how inspiring this group is - I agree 100%. Since I do all my training solo it is so wonderful to have people to share my journey with who understand what the journey is like. My friends listen and support me, but we all know it is different.

Yup, I think the extra 6 weeks will make your HIM day much more pleasant.  I just googled Cervelo P1 and followed  a few links.  Some good sales going on now.  As I said I saw my bike new for $600 less than I paid for it.  That Cervelo p1 with ultegra looks like an awsome deal sweet components. 

I actually count strokes to count distance.  There is no wall, so it is really number of strokes per set not number of yards.  My math is 2 yards per stroke cycle, breathing on the right side it is 2 yards per breath.  When I get in a real pool I test it out for comparision.  Typically 25 strokes is 50 yards in the pool.  Our 6 week window of having the town pool open probably starts in a few weeks.  On the positive side I set my pace digitally.  And if I don't swim as fast as the current is moving the pool eats my toes.  Not really but I can kick the screen in the back which wouldn't be comfortable.  In January I was doing sets at speed setting 55 and on Sunday I started on 63.  Each increase is approximately 1.75 seconds per 100 yards faster.  So I am closing in on what I think is 14 seconds per 100 faster than I started in January.  So I am now comfortable around 1:57/100 for moderate distances (200 yard sets).  63 is still a little fast for me, my last 2000 was at 62.  Mostly I am trying to really focus on my pull. Sometimes it feels really good for a stroke and I push ahead and other times not so much. So ya a 5000 yard swim is 2500 strokes 8) or one length of the pool.