Older&Wiser Group - FULL (Page 3)

Hi Jeff, hope you knee gets better real soon.  Very wise of you not to tough it out and exercise through pain.  Is swimming out too?  Guess you’ll just focus on the “eat smart” part of your plan in the meantime.

I’m with you Lynne.  As a general rule, I only race where I can drive to in <2 hrs on race morning.  Good reliable carbo dinner and comfy bed the night before are crucial for me.  2006 was a special year – it’s the 10 year anniversary from when I first started exercising, the qualifier for the Worlds was within 1 hr drive, and the Worlds was hosted by Switzerland, one of my favourite countries.  Even though I didn’t think I would qualify, I knew I would regret if I didn’t at least give it a try.  I made the qualifier the ‘A’ race, my first Oly tri, and peaked for it.  When I qualified, I really looked at the Worlds more as a holiday, a celebration, and spent another week in Paris with my hubby after the Worlds.  My performance at the Worlds was hampered not so much by the traveling, but rather I’d given all to qualify, and really had no more left to give at the Worlds.  By that time, my shoulders really needed rest, as do my knees.  In Lausanne, I didn’t get one good night’s sleep probably because of butterflies, not change in time zone, as my hubby was sleeping like a log.  All the time, I was thinking - what the heck am I doing here!  I don’t belong here!

I rented a bike bag from the local tri store and threw in all the “normal stuff”, including Gatorade and gels because I didn’t know whether they had the same brands in Switzerland.  Except for a minor last minute packing glitch (can’t take seat post out), the disassembly, assembly, packing and traveling were quite uneventful.  I had previously taken a clinic to learn about assembling and disassembling a bike for travel.  Canadian team also had a bike mechanic on site.  The hardest part was getting the bike from the Paris train station to the hotel.  No elevator at the train station.  Taxis were very small.  But by that time, competition is over, no big deal.

Looking back, the Worlds & Paris was the trip of a lifetime.  Proud and honoured to represent my country, but very humbling among the best triathletes in the world.  Regardless, ecstatic that I’m healthy and fit to participate and finish.  The Parade of Nations, where everyone marches behind their country’s flag at the opening ceremony, is alone worth the price of admission.  Would highly recommend to anybody:  2007 Worlds – Germany, 2008 – Vancouver, Canada, 2009 – Australia, 2010 – Hungary.  Made a short video to capture my Worlds, if anybody is interested - http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-5785814540802562880&pr=goog-sl&hl=en-CA

Great question, Jennifer.  I'm wondering the same thing because next week, I'll be off skiing and will be unlikely to do any of my usual workouts.   I'm thinking the answer probably depends on your conditioning and the plan.  If conditioning is good and plan is conservative, I'd think you can just continue the plan as if you've done the workouts that have been missed, esp if the workouts missed are not the long endurance ones.   I'm, however, thinking of sth a little more conservative.  Next week is Base 3 - week 2 for me, and I anticipate I won't be doing any scheduled workouts.  The week after, instead of Base 3 - week 3, I'll do Base 3 - week 2.  Then the following week, Base 3 - week 4 is recovery, and I think it's ok to recover as planned and get back on schedule thereafter.   I'm not a coach here, so would really like to hear what everyone else thinks.  On the swim issue, you're obviously a very fast swimmer.  For me, I'd go with the lesser of the two because I've a fragile shoulder and cannot tolerate 50min of swimming or my arms will fall off.  I'm sure Lynne will pick the greater of the two and then add more because well, she's our ironman. 

BTW, I noticed on some of your logs, there's a notation about soreness and fatigue.  Does that mean you have soreness and fatigue?  I always thought soreness and fatigue mean I've overdone it.

Please DO ramble on Lynne, we'd love to hear your tips on swimming as much as possible.  How many strokes / lap do you think we should aim for?  I always find I swim slower with less strokes, which supposedly is more efficient.

Hi acfutures, even though our group is technically full, if the rest of the group doesn’t mind, we’d love to have you.  Please browse this forum, and in particular these two posts - group intro and summary and how to set group up as friends.  The training log (Logs button under your post  or this button  at the top of screen) is where we set up our goals, log our workouts, encourage each other and keep ourselves accountable.  This forum is where we ask questions, exchange info and share ideas.  Welcome to the exciting adventure of becoming a triathlete.  Can you tell us a little bit about your tri background, and which of the “Couch to Olympic” plan did you pick?

Rest of the group – please add acfutures to your log.

Rose, pay more attention to type and fit when picking running shoes, and less to style and colour.  Go to your local running shoe store (eg running room in Canada) in the evening when your feet are somewhat swollen, that will give you a more accurate fit.  They’ll have people examine your gait and whether you pronate, suggest a few models which you’ll try on and run in the store.
1.      Type – generally 3 types: motion control (low arches, moderate to severe pronators), cushioned (high or normal arches, efficient runners with minimum pronation) or stability (low to normal arches, mild to moderate pronators). 
2.      Fit - Because everybody’s feet are shaped differently, fit is very personal.  Try on a few pairs and run in the store to see which feels the best.  If after a few runs on your treadmill and you don’t like them, Running Room will actually take them back for a full refund.
3.      People generally end up with ½ to 1 size bigger than their normal shoe size
4.      Runner’s World has a shoe finder here
5.      Change shoes every 300-500 miles
6.      I’m cheap, I stock up with the previous year’s model when they go on sale.  I’ve been wearing the same models (Saucony Grid Jazz & Adidas response) for 8 years now, and both of them are being discontinued – help!

Can anybody think of anything else?

See our "collective wisdom" post on the first post of the last page.

Links: group summary,  swolf,  buying running shoes,

Good luck, Jeff!