jsiegs and slornow's Train Hard and Have Fun group - CLOSED for Training (Page 27)

What a crazy busy weekend! My husband and I FINALLY finished our major remodel. It's only taken 1-1/2 years! Funny how things get done when you have a deadline, like a big birthday party for his daughter

I didn't get out to ride on Sat like I wanted. I was up for 21 hours on Friday, and slept solid until 9 am Sat morning. By then it's about 90 degrees! Oh well, once we are done with this party next weekend, it's all about me and my training.

Congrats Randy and Deb!!

Randy - nice bike!! One day I'll have a side by side pic that says: this is what I started on, and look at me now, ha! I would love to ride at your speed, very nice!!

Deb - great job!! I would freak out if something happened to my goggles DURING a swim like that!  Way to keep it together and keep on moving I use Swedish goggles - I don't recommend them if you like that padding around your eyes. Swedish goggles are plastic only. I've used them since I was about 10 or 11, and I only started using them because I thought they were cool, lol! I have never gone back to anything else.

As far as keeping them from fogging up, you can buy some anti-fog spray, I'm not sure about spitting in them, that may work for a temporary fix (like right before a race!) I want to say windex will work, but you want to make sure you clean them out REAL good before putting them on your eyes!

I just heard from my friend who crashed her on her bike yesterday. She's on her way to the ER.  She's having trouble breathing.  A few years ago she had a pulmanary embolism (no idea how to spell that) so she's on blood thinners now.  Her dr is worried she could have internal bleeding.  Which I guess is really bad when you're blood doesn't clot.  I'm so worried.

It also makes me freak out a little bit about riding.  I know something could happen at any time.  I know it's a risk we all take.  I'm kind of questioning if the risk is worth it right now.

Christy

Come down to Naples next year, you have a place to stay

As a fellow poor college student I would say save the money on a wetsuit for now and enter more races. I think I may have made the leap in distance a little to quick and definitely would have benefited from more time at the sprint and Olympic distance. You can learn a lot from those short races! 

That being said a wetsuit is an awesome purchase and definitely gives you a lot more options for training and racing. I bought an XTERRA Vortex Full suit on one of the 50% off deals that randy was talking about. The sleeveless ones you could get for under $100 usually. Its been a great suit for me and I would definitely recommend them if you decide to make a wetsuit purchase.

@Christy- will definitely be praying for your friend! 

@Deb- good race, glad you stuck it out despite some difficulties. You learn a lot about yourself and your abilities when you face those challenges and push through. Sounds like you just keep improving every time so good job and keep up the good work.

With goggles you just have to find what works for you. I have tried about 4 different pairs in the last two years and found that all of them can have there difficulties and are best for certain conditions. I wear a pair of clear NIKE goggles that I really like for my pool swimming and on overcast days in open water. I then have a pair of smoked TYR goggles that I like for those early morning swim starts into the sun. For both pairs I will spray a defogger and then wipe down the insides with a clean cloth the night before the race. This has limited some issues for me but certainly has not eliminated them all. Good luck!

Thanks for the prayers.  They admitted my friend to the hospital.  Nothing is broken.  She just went in for a CT scan. 

Deb-Great race!  Sounds like it was a tough swim.  I spit in my goggles to keep them from fogging up.  It seems to work for me.  I use youth speedo goggles.  I think it takes a lot of trial and error to find the right pair. 

Christy

Thanks.  Still no word.

I am in a little funk so I decided I would make a goal for the week.  I figure I should share it so I'm accountable.  This week I'm going to actually do all of my planned workouts.  It has been awhile since I've been able to get them all in.  This week is a lot of hours and it's going to be a struggle.  I have an hour run to do today.  It's 6:47 pm.  Not a lot of time left.

Anyone else have a goal for the week?

Christy

Hey all,

Sorry for no responses this past weekend. The in-law's wireless wasn't working, so I had no internet down there while we were traveling for the wedding. Oh well.

Weekend in review, after a good first ride Thursday, I worked all day, and we decided to make the 4 hour drive to south Florida area (my hometown) at 10pm. Yikes. Got into town at 3am, after a few stops for coffee, sleep, etc.

Next day I felt like crap since I was up for so long. Nothing like a 21hr day. Opted to make it a rest day, since Saturday is my typical rest day (mainly because I work a 10-12 hour day on Saturday). Went for nice 45min run on Saturday morning, and it was definitely what I needed. I felt like 'normal.'

Wedding went well, and my best man speech went even better. Thank goodness.

Went to bed somewhat early on Saturday (still recovering from the long-day on Thursday-Friday, and running around with the wedding, and trying to see friends and family). However, when I woke up on Sunday to ride in my 3 hour window I had....it was raining. GRRRR

I decided to sleep in, and just enjoy my vacation. It really stinks because I brought the bike down with me, and here is the gorgeous bike just staring at me.

Anyway, got a good strength session today followed by a 25 minute run on the treadmill. Getting ready for a Sprint this weekend (same course as my race a few weeks ago, will be interested to see how my times compare).

Attached is a pic of my bike on the back of my car before I took her on her maiden voyage.

Keep up the good work all, and let's have a great week of training.

P.S. Great job in all the racers this past weekend. And Randy, you are smoking on the bike! I wanted to get a Blue really bad, but no one carried them locally, and wasn't sure of the sizing. I feel you on the training so I am not getting passed as the slow (young) guy on a nice bike.

(Newbike.jpg)

So I did the Des Moines Dam to Dam 20 k this last Saturday. I'm not to sure how to just post the link so here is how my race went. Happy reading.

I got to Des Moines Friday to do my packet pick up. To my great suprsise I found a parking spot right away only a few blocks from the Convention Center. This was a far cry from last year where it was a 15 min walk. I got my packet without a problem and collected my tie die shirt. I got a blue one that I have to say is not as good as last year. Last year the shirts were actual running stay dry shirts but this year they were regular cotton shirts. I also noticed that there were less vendors and less entertainment from last year. I began to think that funding was low this year. I got my candy to do and headed to my hotel room.

I had rented an extended stay room so that I could have a decent breakfast instead of having to rely on some gas station food that I would hold me down. I spent the night eating Sushi and doing homeork, went for a short walk and just relaxed. I got to bed around 1100 but could not sleep. As usual before a big race I had butterflies in my stomach. Finally I got up, took a cool shower and went right to sleep. It seemed like 0400 came to early but I felt well rested. I'm sure this is from spending my last year learning how to function and workout on little to no sleep. 

I made myself breakfast of a tosted bagel with peanut butter and glass of chocolate milk. I got ready in no hurry. I chose to wear my black Under Armor shorts with a my faviorate pair of running shorts over that with a light blue running tank. I got my post run bag together, taged, dishes done, and packed. I was out the door and on the highway by 0500. Once again I found a parking spot very quickly, I parked far way so that I could get to the highway quickly without having to deal with downtown traffic. As I walking to the buses I noticed how hot and humid it was already. By time time I walked the five blocks to the buses I has a slight sweat on and was beginning to think that it was not going to be a good run. 

This year there were several bus pick up points and hence several bus drop off points. The loading went great. I stood in line for only a few minutes and things seemed to be much more orderly than last year. As we were driven to the Saliorville dam I noticed landmarks that I remembed from riding the bus last year. When the bus came to a stop and opened the doors no one moved. We were no where near our start point but we were told that this was our drop off point. Grunginly we did so and made the 1.5 mile treck to the start like. Once there I noticed that there was a lack of volunteer and race officials present. 

Last year there were people holding signs and giving directions to bag drop off and to the water tent and port-a-potties. This year we were on our own and after 20 minutes of wandering around I found everything that I needed. I noticed that some of the buses were dropping off their passangers close and some wernt. I grabbed a small cup of water and continued on with my warm up stretching. After a visit to the port-a-pottie I slowly made my way to my starting position. 

I should mention that last Thursday in my Step N Drums class I managed to fall off my step pulling my left calf muscle. All this morning it was stiff and sore but I kept on thinking that once I get running and the muscle warmed up that it would be ok. 

As we packed together in the starting corral I struck up a conversation with two older ladies behind me. They noticed my paramedic tattoo on the back of my leg and commented on how they were going to keep up with me so that if they fell out I would be able to save them. I laughed and said that I too was running injured and I didn't know how well I'd do. After we joked around for a bit we started to move. Being in the middle of the pack ment that we started slowly at first then picked up speed.

The first 5k went by smoothly but I noticed how hot it was and after a quick stop at that water station I was off and running again. By time time I got to mile 5 or so I was feeling much worse. My leg was killing me, instead of the muscle warming up and stretching it was getting tighter. I was also feeling dizzy and weak. I began to look around me and saw several people on the side of the road resting due to the head. I passed the 10 K marker at 1:11:48. Much slower than I had wanted but I was still upright and moving instead of on the side of the road. I saw several people being attended to by paramedics I even saw one lady trying to run and puke at the same time.

About this time my leg and body just had enough, at the mile 7 mark I felt my left leg give out and I almost hit the ground. I knew I was done, I would not be able to run the rest of the race without causing further and more serious injury to myself. So I slowed down to a walk. And that is how I did the last 5 miles. I did managed to run past the media cameras and the last 400 yards to the finish line. 
I

 took water at every station, drinking one cup and pouring one cup down my neck and back. Even at a slow pace I was HOT! It was in the high 90's around 9 am and the humidy did not help matters any.

While I was walking I noticed how tight my leg was and how much pain it was causing me to swing my leg foward. This made me glad I decided to walk the rest of the race. I don't know if my leg would have held if I tried to run on it. 

I crossed the finish line in 2:30:26. Like I said, slower than what I wanted but the alternative would have been a bad injury. 
I

 collected my medal and made my way to my bag. At this time I could barly move my leg. Just trying to put weight on it took a lot of effort. I reminded myself of a horse when it is fist trying to stand how is splays its legs out and is wobbley trying to get its balance. I eventually made it to my bag and made the long treck back to my car. 

The easy 6 blocks now seemed like six miles as I slowly limped and drug my body alone the streets. I do count myslef as lucky though. From what I heard there was one really bad case of heat stroke, dozones of head sicknesses and multiple injuries. My pulled muscle and over heated body did not seem to bad after all.

That sounds like a rough day.  Sorry to hear about your leg.   Are you feeling better?  

Christy

My friend is out of the hospital.  She is doing well.  Just some brusied bones.  I think the mental issue will be harder for her to overcome. 

I need to swim 2800 yds and bike 80 min today.  It's only Tuesday, but so far, so good on my goal

Have a great day!

Christy

Wow, Beth! I thought my race went poorly. Hope your leg is better. Sounds like it may take a while.

Christy, The yards you swim amazes me. Do you do drills? Swim a long length at once?

Why swimming in Gulf of Mexico is so fun : )

Swam for 1 hour and 20 minutes open water in Gulf of Mexico yesterday. Swam out and back along coast line.  At the beginning of swim, saw two dolphin swimming about 50 feet off of beach, it was cool a little scary thinking about swimming with dolphins, but not something that is unusual.  So the whole swim I was just waiting for them to come up and say hi

About ten minutes before I was going to finish, out of no where a fish about two feet long (don't know what it was) comes out of nowhere and almost smashes right into me!  I think it was as surprised as I was it flips, jumps and spins then takes off.  Of course I am freaked out, I finish the swim in shear terror.  What was chasing that fish???? 

Swimming in Gulf sure is exciting, fun and certainly freaky.  But it does make you swim fast not knowing what is out there

That is crazy!!  I would have freaked out if a fish ran into me!  The dolphins sound cool.  

I don't do as many drills as I should.  I'm just following my training plan.  If I do drills, I will do them right after warm up and before my main set.  At most, 300yds of drills.  Today I'm doing 3x750 as my main set.  Super boring.  And I'm not sure it's really necessary to swim that many yrds.  But, I said I would get every planned workout in this week, so i'm doing it. 

Does anyone have experience with exercise induced asthma?  I have a call into my doctor, but I think I have it.  I've had trouble breathing when I run outside.  I figured it was the pollen. Recently I've had the same problem in doors and today it happened when I was swimming.  I felt like I couldn't get in enough air.  And I wasn't swimming fast.  I don't think it was because I was over doing it.  For about an hour after I stopped, I had a hard time getting enough air.  It is frustrating.

Has anyone else had this?

Christy

Jumping back in! I love reading all the race reports - they are good mental preparation for my next race. Thanks so much for sharing and great job everyone on your recent accomplishments! 

One quick request, can y'all sign your posts with your first name somewhere? It gets a little confusing when there are so many of us contributing. 

Christy - I have Exercise Induced Asthma - very mild, it really only bothers me when my allergies are kicking up. It feels like I'm underwater, and no matter how deep I breathe, I just can't get enough air into my lungs. I usually run with an inhaler just in case. Your doctor can give you one. ... About 2 years back I was having to use it every time the weather got over 90, but then my allergist put me on a regime of nasal and lung steroids for a short period of time, and it really worked wonders for me. Now I only need my inhaler every once in a while. Most days I don't even run with it. (That got me in trouble at the Shamrock Shuffle though... It was a hot day, and after finishing I ended up in the medical tent for a few inhaler puffs. The doctor lectured me to never run without an inhaler!

Group - I am supposed to swim tonight but my pool is closed for the entire week, and my back-up plan just went kaput! (The other club near me with a pool doesn't offer day passes, and my outdoor community pools aren't open for lap swim after work.)  What should I do?  I suppose I can ride my bike again today, but my lady parts are a little sore from Sunday's ride still (even though I used padded shorts). Should I just grin and bear it, then do a bike-run-bike this week? I was thinking run-bike-run but I don't think that gives me enough training minutes for the week.

Man, it's 90 here, I was so looking forward to a swim!

___________________________________

Nicole

Thanks for the info Nicole.  I am in the process of finding a new dr because I hate mine.  I can't get in to see the new one until July.  I'm going to try to see the old one I don't like. 

That sucks that your pool is closed.  I would how many swims are you missing?  I wouldn't bike if your lady parts hurt. Maybe run today bike tomorrow.  I wouldn't stress out too much about not getting the exact time you need this week.

It's 90 here too.  Going to be 102 tomorrow and Thursday.  Way too hot!

Christy

Randy, I don't want to see any ariel photos   Having pulled out a 6  foot hammer head shark on a fishing trip in the Gulf years ago still worries me.  My only piece of mind comes from the idea that they are well feed..... lol

Signed up for the Great Floridian yesterday so it is official!  I am going to do a full Ironman!

fortunetly the swim for the Iromnam is in a lake, just have to worry about the gators.

Have a great day