Razorxp & KC Mentor team RFP CLOSED (Page 29)

I know I would be up for a beer! I say your place in AZ as the rest of the group has had terrible weather! lol   If your shooting to just finish then take your time make sure your comfortable ( I would shop for shorts at the race though)

As for me and a PR there is no way in heck I could even come close to that.  If anything it will be a training day, as my longest bike is 40 miles so getting 56 in hills would be great.  The run if I am feeling any pains I can always walk (good at that from IM's :-)   

Great to see your keeping the workouts going!!   If your like me the pool is a whole ordeal to get to, much easier to step outside and bike/run.  Hang in there and try to sneak atleast 1 swim a week.   Keep it UP!!!

Just wanted to do my OWS clinic report - Holly crap!!  You can't even describe how different it is from the pool!  They did a "mass" start with about 40 people so we could get the feel of what it was like to get bumped and stuff.  It was well worth it!!  It was about 100 yards out and back, and let me tell you it was a killer 200 yards.  I was gassed out the first time!  Ther was another guy there to who said he can swim a mile in the pool, but that was the toughest 200 he'd ever swum.  Second time around was much better.  I tried to relax more and jsut get into thte groove.  3rd time around I was getting cold and was pretty tired and jsut couldn't realax enought to make it a good one.  On the plus side, I learned alot!!  Swimming with the wetsuit makes a huge difference!  Defenitly have to work on sighting and OWS!

Naked Kevin - Go Bruins!!!

And just think that was a non race swim, double the intensity and you will be near race level!  The biggest thing is to swim your pace. 

I always have my athletes and myself do sets with 200 way above tpace to simulate race starts then back into a nice pace.  Just keep practicing and you will be just fine.   I agree on the wetsuits, I wish we could wear them every race.

Good Evening Team.

I hope eveyone had a great day.

Coach - you are right, it is tough to keep up with everyone so I agree - don't worry about it, just check in and say Hi. Hell, I can't even keep up with my own posts. As far as putters are concerned, at one time I probably owned 50 but I went to the long putter about 10 years ago and have not had to buy one since. I love the long wand. Also, switch the race Coach, your friend will understand and you will be there to support him.

Caleb - nice to see you and good luck with figuring out the new place.

Jen - I love the Vid, you looked awesomes!

Tim - I was thinking about a 2nd opinion but I already have 2 docs telling me the same thing.

George - great to see you.

Court - glad you are feeling well.

OK - my day was not so great - crap happening at work etc. etc blah blah blah - better day tomorrow I hope.  The run in the morning was refreshing but my swim was garbage. For some reason I seem to be going backward. I have a friend coming into town for a couple of days starting tomorrow so I think I am going to stay out of the pool for a couple of days and re-group on the weekend. The good news is, I did not feel a single side effect from the first day of meds

That is all I have for today team. I am going to try my best to get a bike in before my friend gets here. If you don't see me in here for the next couple of days - don't worry, the meds did not kill me - of course if they do how the hell am I going to tell you they did?

Have a great night and have a great day training, working and living tomorrow.

KC

Hi all,

I swam and ran tonight..  I stopped by my gym (which now has a pool) and swam the 14 minutes required on my training schedule (as a side note - I may have picked the wrong training program, as I find it really hard to motivate myself to get to a pool for 14 minutes - it just feels so short).. I don't know how long the pool is - except that it is shorter than 25metres; and there were no lanes, so I spent half the time swimming on a weird diagonal line to avoid crashing into people and didn't bother counting the number of laps swum, so I'm guessing I swam at least 400 metres in that time (but honestly, it might be a lot more, or a lot less..). 

Then I decided it was time to try taking the dogs for a run again (well, separate runs).  It's been a while since we last tried this, as the younger dog, who is the better runner, had a tendency to cut me off every few paces as she cut across to check out the other side of the sidewalk.  She has been taking obedience lessons, though (and "graduates" from the intermediate class on Tuesday night), so it seemed like a good time to try again.  The other dog is good about staying beside you, but can't go very far before you end up having to verbally encourage him to keep going.. With all that being said, I took the energetic one for an easy 1.5km loop, followed by a 600metre jog with the slower, less-motivated one.  They both did much better than the last time we tried running, so I will try again next shorter run.

Hope everyone's training is going well!

I need advice. The pool I use is city run and very nice.  It is also the cheapest pool I can find. The problem with the pool is that only two lanes are open for lap swimming when I can get to the pool.  The pool itself opens an hour before I have to be at work and switches to this set up an hour after I get off.  The same time it switches league swim starts and takes up the rest of the lanes.  I have rushed to get some time in after work, but I can't always do that. I called recently to see if there are any alternate times and was told no and that they have seen up to 8 people per lane in the lap lanes.  I think this is wrong because I am paying for a service that I can't use right.  Any ideas? 

Swim continues to improve. Another second off my 400 warm up and faster 100s than ever. Basically farleks in the pool. Speed work works. Fartleks on a 7 mile run last night. 90 minute bike workout @ tempo 75% tonight. I may ride the Real vid of IM Wisconsin for a while.

As for crowded pools, unsure how to resolve that without finding another.  Circle swimming is common practice for lap swimmers here.  I do Masters twice a week and it gets busy, 3- to 4 a lane sometimes, before an event.  But I still get my work in because I devote those short sessions to speed.  I also belong to a club here that has a lap pool.  I usually get half a lane which is all good for distance swimming.  Our tri club also has a city policeman who gets us permission to use the city park lagoon for open water practice when it warms a bit  (whenever the hell that will be.)  We have three buoys and set up a 600 year triangle.  Hire back lifeguards in canoes.  Can swim up to about 2 hours so you can do all the rounds you like. 

Have a great day. Ice.

Heather: I would have to agree, if you are able to swim more than 14 mins I would do it.  The great thing about the swim is you can basically swim as long as you want without much chance of hurting yourself due to overtraining.   With the dog's we had the same issue until we got one of the vibrate/shock collars, He has only been zapped approx 3 times (out of 100 runs) and all he needs to do is hear the beep and he straightens out instantly.   My wife was all freaked out about it at first because she didn't want to hurt her baby, but the one we bought has an audible only/ low shock (like a pinch)/ and high shock which does hurt alittle (I tried it).  As I told her though it will hurt him alot less than getting hit by a car if he runs free.  Good Luck

Coach - you now are going to have to explain how you tested the collar - sorry but I think this groups imaginations will run wild without one  - Come clean, did your wife put the collar on you and give it a try? Sounds interesting!

KC

Good Morning Team.

I did not stay away very long did I - LOL - wow I am hooked! However, I may not be on too many more times in the next couple of days - I promise (I think).

I hope everyone has a great day, whatever it is you do. I am planning on a long bike, lawn cutting and hitting a few balls this afternoon before my company arrives. I have been slacking on the bike riding and this looks like a great day for one so far.

KC

While I swam with 4 per lane our pool also states you can do 8. I would agree if your all equal swimmers but I have yet to find anyone that swims exactly my slow pace let alone 7 others.  I have the same problem with our pools hours and constantly bug them to change them but it is usually on deaf ears.  I guess I would look around to see if any pools are just a couple dollars more expensive that have better hours for you.  At least you have options we have 1 ymca pool and a pool at the local college (only teams can use) so I have to listen to the Y's schedule.  Also once it gets warm (if ever) you can find someone with a pond to swim at a couple times per week.  Good luck hope it helps! 

Ohh I forgot you could always buy a personal endless pool!!! lol 

I had 2 good/solid work outs yesterday....my 30 minute run was a hard effort run...and I think my effort was dead on!

I did a ladder work out in the pool with good effort last night.

I am getting excited and nervous about my race next week and will try to stay focused.

I couldn't imagine swimming in a lane with 8 people.  What a nightmare.  I would suggest what Dave said and look for a different pool.  I am starting to realize how lucky I am with my situation as I almost always have my own lane.

Got a good swim and weight training in this morning.  My speed is definitely increasing -now I just have to tranfer that speed to my endurance.  I was doing a somewhat tough 100Y repeat workout today where the 4th one is all out.  I was able to hit 1:23 for both of them.  I will be doing a TT in the next week to see if I have been able to drop my t-pace at all.

Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow then I have to battle the weekend (I HATE WEEKENDS!!!).   I somehow have to fit in two shows, 2-1/2 hour bike/20Min run brick, 1 hour run Sunday, then get up to my place in Wisconsin that was hit by a tornado 3 weeks ago to clean up all the crap from my shed that was destroyed and survey the dmage.  All while trying to still make my wife still feel important on Mothers Day.  Its all about the time management with this sport right?

Kevin, nice job in the pool. Do you feel like your ready for the race? if so nothing to worry about.

Tim: Did I read that correct you hate weekends???  I like my job and all but I cannot say I have weekends and would rather work! lol    Sorry about your house in WI hope it is ok.  Where do you have a place in WI?  Just do your best to sneak in the workouts.   Great swim pace, It will be interesting to see what your tpace is as you have not swam as much and focused on the run more, I'll bet you will surprise yourself how quick you are.  How long of a test do you do? 30mins?

I'm shooting for workout #2 after being off a week with a short bike after work. 

Train Safe

Kevin-- great swim!

Tim-- I know how you feel!  Supposed to do 1.5 hr bike, 1hr run Sat, then 2 hr bike, 1hr run Sun!  Not gonna happen.

George-- I'm an ENT resident.  Good times, surgery, and no poop. 

Scott-- Nice run yesterday!

Finally seeing an improvement on running times.  Did over 6 miles in less than 60 min, with HR in zone 2.  Had a little knee pain, otherwise good!  Bike tonight, run tomorrow. 

Nothing this weekend--headed home to Dallas to be with family!

Keith & Jason - Good luck this weekend. Is anybody else racing?

Ok, I need to vent - when I started out and I questioned 'the plan' It was pretty much just 'follow the plan'. OMG I should have gone with my gut. I'm not even remotely close to where I should be. I have been addiing miles above and beyond what the plan calls for. I'm sure it's great if you bike faster than me, but at my speeds, it's nowhere near enough. I have to be honest, I am freaking out. I wish i had more than 42 days!!  

You are doing a half according to your race list, right?  What distances are you up to on your long rides?

I have done one 45 mile ride, and a couple of 30ish rides. I just dont feel ready to extend to 56 THEN run 13, having barely had enough long rides. The 45 was an 'off plan' ride. If I go with the plan, then I'd be at about 36 miles as my max so far.

Like I say, I'm just venting. I am turning into a stresshead as the days count down and wishing I had followed a bike heavy plan instead. Oh well.

I think you are on track.  There really isn't that much difference between riding 45 mils and 56 miles at tempo but time in the saddle and more nutrition.

My plan is a four workouts a week.  VO2 workout one day, a tempo ride a second day, a medium distance ride with some intensity and then a longer brick a third day and a longer tempo ride while increasing the distance with at least a short brick after on a fourth day.  

The deal on the bike for me is to realize I can burn myself up on it trying to save a few minutes on a half distance but then turn around an lose way more time on the run if I don't have any gas.  What it's about is getting into a good tempo on the bike without ever hitting the red zone and going anaerobic so I save myself for the harder run where I can cost myself far more minutes if I bonk. 

The bike is also a place to really fuel and hydrate well.  300 cals an hour, one bottle an hour at least. 

You'll do great!

Scott, what's VO2?

I had a good workout tonight.  Did 18 miles on the bike machine, then swam a quick 400 yards before the gym closed.  During the swim, I tried the Total Immersion method (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=2244).  I have to say that it seems to work for me.  I felt like I was exerting less energy, I was breathing a lot more regularly, and most importantly, it seemed like I was going faster than before.  I was actually able to do 400 yards in 10 minutes.  That included any rests I took in between.  Definitely faster than I've gone before.  Once I get used to this, I may be able to take fewer rests stops and my times could be faster.  There are a few things I could correct based on the videos.  We'll do that tomorrow.

Maybe I won't drown during the race after all.

Good Morning Team.

Keith and Jason - very excited for you two - Have a great race and we will be thinking about you.

George - I love that video - I am alwaus trying to incorporate some TI ideas into my practice. I am not sure if it is working for me but I love watching the TI vids for the mental image of it all.

As previously mentioned - I have a few different things going on this next few days but will try to squeeze in a couple of runs/bikes.

I hope everyone has a great weekend - off for a short run.

KC