tri808's Spring Pot Luck (CLOSED) (Page 27)

We have a bit of a warming trend here.  It was 28 with a wind chill of 17 when I completed my long run today.  It felt pretty good really.  I didn't have to have as much clothing on and it was more comfortable to run today.  I actually want it to stay cold for a little longer.  The work I have coming up over the next couple of weeks is in fields and I don't want a thaw to make things muddy.  In my line of work mud means 3x the amount of work it takes to get things done.

Swim and run done.  Bike in 30 minutes.

I wanted to go for a ride outside tomorrow, but my cold that I thought was gone came roaring back. I actually took a sick day from work today, thats the first time in like 10 years. If I feel better and the weather holds I will get on the bike with a friend of mine. "I hate being sick!"

@Dirk. that is some nice work man. especially keeping it off.

I usually get some kind of bug about once a year that literally last one day.  Depending on when it falls, I may have to take a day off work.  My wife and girls were just talking last week about how seldom I get sick and how little it seems to slow me down most of the time.  Of course now that I have said that.............

                              

I am finished with all my workouts for the day.  Now I am blown up!  Tomorrow is going to be a long 1.5 hours on the trainer and I hope to be able to get an easy 2 mile run put together afterwards.  With all of today's activity I am not real sure how I am going to feel about doing both of them tomorrow.

It hasn't been very hard really.  I have been increasing my distances and workouts some for the past year and a half so that has made it pretty easy.  I hope to be able to keep it up.

I just finished a short ride (26 miles) and planning on doing 30-35 tomorrow hopefully.

I have 2 more winter maintenance workouts this weekend and Monday I start my training for my first half marathon in April and sprint tri in May.

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. "
John Wooden



Edited by mparson76 2011-01-28 6:50 PM

page 2? tsk tsk.

It seems things are a bit to serious in our group....."All work and no play"........ We need something other than training talk to really break things up. So...........

What is your favorite race memory or experience?  It doesn't matter what kind of race or when it occurred.  You don't even have to have been the one racing.  Just whatever memory is your favorite.

Mine first.  (Obviously!)
It was my first marathon.  The Marine Corps Marathon was my biggest memory of racing to date.  Sure you might expect it to be because it was my first race at this "extreme" distance but that isn't what made it the best.  I had so much encouragement and support from my family, immediate and extended, that most of my training was pretty easy.  (I said most, definitely NOT all of it.)  What made this race so incredibly memorable was that my family chased me all over Washington DC to see me run 26.2 miles.  They had a plan to spot me at several different locations and hurry to the next one to see me again.  They rode the Metro (subway) all over and walked several miles themselves to catch a fleeting glimpse as I ran by.  Then when I finished in complete agony they stayed next to me and massaged my legs and helped me up from the ground as I struggled to walk and step up and down from the curbs as we walked to get a massage and back to the hotel.  They did this and seemed to enjoy the race as much as I did.  This will be one the fondest memories I expect to experience for all of my races in the past and those yet to come.  I only have a few more years with my girls at home and I don't expect them to see me race to many more races and that is what makes this race memory so great.

Hmmm favorite running race experience would be my last 5k. It was just a fun run and I hadn't really trained for it, but the whole family was going to run it. So we lined up and the gun went off and there goes my 9 year old son. I chased after him along with 5 other guys, he lead the first mile or so. When I came up next to him I told him to run his on race and not worry about how fast others are going. As I kept trying to keep up with the high school kids, I noticed my son right there with us. About 2 miles in I stopped to take off my long sleeve shirt and my son passes me. I just smiled and began running again. I passed him up pretty quickly and hit the last hill then a straight away to the finish. I sprinted it out as fast as I could finishing 5th I think. I turned around to see how close the next guy was and there was my son. He finished 40 seconds behind me. I couldn't of been more proud of him for pushing himself the way he did.

My other favorite race experience would have to be the Idaho City 100 enduro. It is a very technical race on a motorcycle for 8 hours. It was one of the toughest things I have ever done. The race is a qualifier for the six day enduro that is held all over the world. Just finishing is a great accomplishment. I know it has nothing to do with tri's but I loved it. Hera is a clip of one of the hard sections. The guys in the video are pro's way better then I am.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylfoxsc7Mmg


Edited by garrunning 2011-01-29 1:55 PM

I think my favourite race memory would have to be from October last year. It wasn't a race per se, and instead it was a mass cycling event in Melbourne. We cycled 210km around the bay from Melbourne down to Sorrento, take the ferry across to Queenscliff and then cycled on the other side of the bay back to Melbourne. 16,000 cyclists took part, I've never seen anything like it. 

We started at 6am, while it was still pretty dark, and because it is compulsory for every cyclist to have a white light at the front of their bike and a red one at the back, we saw one of the most epic sights ever: hundreds and thousands of cyclists, none entirely visible, with white and red lights flashing. Beautiful! I spent the day riding with 3 other guys, and it was a typical Melbourne day with four seasons all within the span of a couple hours! We went through wind, downpour, you name it, but we ended in the last few hours in beautiful warm, spring sunny weather. It was a perfect day!!  

Dirk
Great idea.  I've only ever done 3 races... one 5K and two sprint tris... so not a lot of action.  But, I did podium the 5K.  I could run short and fast back then, but in order to get my run distances up for tri's, I've had to slow the pace WAY down.  

This user's post has been ignored.

Great idea Dirk.

Ok...I  have 3...for different reasons.

1.  Finishing my first marathon.  It was epic.  I trained hard, I was hurting REALLY BAD, but somehow I sucked it up and finished strong.  I still don't know how I did it.  I had bets that I was going to break 4 hours, and cashed in with a 3:58:32.  Honestly...the race sucked as far as enjoying it...I was hurting for days and vowed I would never do another marathon (which I changed my mind a few months later)...but I never dug so deep to get something done in my life.

2.  Finishing my first Olympic.  I blew away all my expectations.  Was hoping for 2:50, maybe 2:40 if I lost my mind, and finished in 2:33:xx.  I enjoyed this race...and couldn't stop smiling afterwards.

3.  This was actually a race that never happened.  I trained HARD...REALLY HARD (like 2200 miles in 3 months hard) for a 112 mile cycling race last September...only to have it cancelled 4 days prior due to logistcal reasons that have not been fully explained to this day.  It was a team event, and I running, and triathlons being an individual sport, I was so excited to participate in an event where we work together, suffer together to accomplish something.  Not to mention all the TdF stuff on TV that summer had me all amped up.  I was really dissapointed the race was cancelled, but I really enjoyed training long hours with our group.  I got to know a lot more people in the group on a personal level and wouldn't trade the 3 month training experience even if I knew the race wasn't going to happen from the beginning.

Edited by tri808 2011-01-29 6:38 PM

Had a great week.  started swimming, monday 1850 yards, wednesday 1500 yards, friday 1150 yards.  running with minimal pain in the calfs so that was good too, and i got in all of my bike miles and then some.

Today i got word that we have found someone to do the marathon part of an IM relay on the kona IM coast for the 12th.  I had a swimmer already, and i have the 114 on the bike.  should be fun.  Best part...its free!!! though i have to find my own SAG.

I haven't actually done a race yet BUT Charleston does have the Cooper River Bridge Run, it's a 10k that spans the new bridge fairly large race they are expecting about 60k this year including the walkers.  This is one of those events that we get volun-told for, if you aren't working the street you get volunteered to work it...  One year I had a traffic post right next to the homeless shelter and everyone lines the street to watch it.  Well there was this 20 something girl running and it was the last mile or so left and she was just about out of steam when one of our locals, Henry Hooks (so called for having 2 hooks for hands that is a different story completly), just yells "don't give up girlie pretend I'm chasing you!!"  she looks over sees him freaks out and starts sprinting down the last part of the race.  Everyone fell out laughing.

On a race day prep note, remember where you park your car.  Over the course of race day we have several hundred people that can't remember where they parked their car or they know it was in a parking garage but are not sure of which one or where it is and even in a fairly small city like Charleston we have about 15 in a mile radius so asking a random police officer wont really help because I'm just picking one at random to send to you since all parking garages look the same.  It seems like a really small thing but most people are so consumed with getting to the race and doing well small things like that escape notice.

Edited by Tripopo 2011-01-30 7:54 AM

I completed another brick today.  I have done more brinck in the past month or so than I did all of last year.  Most of them have been by necessity rather than by choice.  I wanted to run this morning but our girls had a friend over for the night and they have to sleep in our living room which means I wake them up getting ready to run (thats what happened last weekend).  So this weekend I chose to do the brick.  some of the brick have been because I was shot the night before and needed the extra sleep in the morning.

I actually like these bricks (some) after I have done them but planning them always seems to hurt more than the actual doing part.  I always seem to feel pretty decent during the run and I am usually a little faster as well.  My pace seems kind of comfortable sooner than if I did a run solo.

BTW, I like all the stories.  But I have to say that Kirk's reminder to remember where you parked is about the funniest thing.  I know I have been a little turned around in a parking lot before but having no clue where you parked is pretty ridiculous.  I have run a race 3 times that has 35,000 entrants and never forgot where I was parked.

J and Mike,
I have a question about Hawaii.  I have heard the cost of living/vacationing there is kind of outrageous.  My wife and I are considering going somewhere for our 25th anniversary and Hawaii is a consideration.  I am curious what kind of costs might be incurred.  To give me an idea:  What does a McDonalds Big Mac meal cost (medium)?  How much is a gallon of gasoline?  What would the cost of a decent hotel cost for one night, say Ramada, Holiday Inn Express type place?

edit:
We will be enjoying 25 years October 2012.  so we have plenty of time to figure out where to go.  We are also thinking about Bermuda, Bahamas...."come on pretty mama" or the Cayman Islands.  Melanie you might be able to help with that area.


Edited by DirkP 2011-01-30 5:27 PM

Like most places, maybe moreso even, you can do Hawaii in big style, or smart.  Gas, I'm paying just over $4 for the cheap stuff.  Big Mac, not sure...we do have some $.99 burgers on the menu at Wendy's.

Cars are actually pretty cheap here due to all the competition with rental companies.

Hotels ar where they CAN get you.  If you want to go 5-star on Waikiki on Oahu like the Halekulani, you'll drop some serious cash$400+.  Or, if you won't spend much time in your room you can go to an older place with a nice view, like an oceanfront with a GREAT view at Waikiki Circle hotel for like $150, non oceanview is like $119.  If you are staying on one island for a week or more, I strongly recomment vacation rentals.  Much more space than a hotel room, usually quieter, almost always much cheaper, and you get a kitchen which will save you hundreds over the course of the week in dining budget and time wasted waiting for a table and service.

You can find a lot of cheap/free activities too.  Hiking, beches, snorkeling, etc. are pretty much free.  Or you can do helicopter rides and deep sea fishing tours for $400-$700 (btw, you dont get to keep the fish).

We love it here.  So much that we vacation on other islands and we always have a blast.

Agree with Mike.  There are always 2 ways to do it, and it really depends what you want to do.

I'll give you the Oahu perspective...since Oahu is quite different from the other Islands.

If you're going to Oahu, my recommendation would be to either go in a vacation rental like Mike mentioned, or to go for a cheaper hotel.  IMO...Waikiki is just like any other tourist town.  There isn't anything special about the $500 per night hotels in Hawaii that you can't get anywhere else in the world...and it's not like they have access to special beaches, special activities, etc that anyone staying in a card board box can't do also.

If you really want to enjoy Oahu, you're going to spend a lot of time outside Waikiki.  Visit Pearl Harbor, the North Shore has spectacular beaches that will put Waikiki to shame.  Hike Diamond Head, visit Hanauma Bay, go to the Pali Lookout, etc, etc.  We also have a flea market where you can buy tons of touristy "junk"...LOL...for much cheaper than they sell in Waikiki.

Yeah...if you got the money, by all means stay in a 4 star hotel.  They treat you AWESOME!!!  But you can get that same treatment in any 4 star hotel around the country.  If you're going to fly 5000 miles to Hawaii...spend your money on enjoying everything it has to offer that you can't get elsewhere.

Gas on Oahu is about $3.70.  Fast food prices from national chains are pretty comparable, but if you want to eat just a local meal at a take-out place, you're likely looking in the $7-9 range on average.  If you're always going to eat in sit down restaurants like you would during vacation, I imagine it would be about $12-25 for lunch per head and $18-"whatever you want" for dinner depending on where you go.

Driving on Oahu can be a little tricky.  The roads have a lot of Hawaiian names, and the way the roads are built is a logistical nightmare.  I'm used to it...but it's terribly easy to spot a tourist on the road.  A garmin or tom tom is a must and actually works quite well.  Traffic can be pretty bad during rush hour, so you will need to plan for that or you'll waste a lot of time sitting in traffic.

I think I may need some group intervention here... I ate 2 choc donuts this morning and a taco bueno platter tonight.  My diet sucks!  I was planning on getting off cokes at the first of the year, but fell off the wagon pretty fast... been drinking 2 cokes a day.  Someone slap me!

Okay, now here's something you should focus on. Don't freak out if you do have an off day, or off week. From now on, however, perhaps focus on only allowing yourself a coke or whatever if you've taken care of your veggie/fruit servings for the day, or only if you've drunk enough water for the day, etc etc. I personally need to stop eating Nutella like it's candy.  

krystyna... not freaking out, lol.  but seriously, i need my support group (all of you) to step in here and kick my butt!  i dont really eat veggies or fruit and I have to force myself to drink water... and oh yeah, i eat lots of sugar and I eat at Chik-fil-a 4-5 times a week.  My HIM is April, I need to seriously clean up the diet.  Any and all specific foods you guys can recommend is much appreciated!

In the spirit of the "Pay it Forward" thread, I've got some stuff if anyone wants it:

1 brand new pair of sunglasses (supposed to be made for cycling)
1 brand new pair of speedo Vanquisher goggles 

I've also got a pair of used cycling shoes (shimano i think) that should fit a US size 12 1/2