owl_girl's Group --- FULL! (Page 3)

Here's all of us!!!!

• MDHillSlug
• Baowolf
• princessamy
• mac3116
• Rodney
• michaeldhess
• sdbryant
• ronislye
• owl_girl

Hi Sarah!  We are primarily a west coast bunch.  There are a few of us from the east coast.  As for me, I hail from the northwest coast of California.

Hmm.  Your blog page.  Well, go to your "control panel".  Click on "edit your training settings".  Click on "goals".  The first block will be your short term goals.  This is where I put things like our mentor group, challenges you are competing in, etc.  The second block is for long term goals.  This is where I put my upcoming races so I see them every time I get on BT.

A really wonderful way to keep track of your races is by clicking the "races" button at the top of the page.  Then click on "Go to Your Race Log".  Click on "Add Race" and follow the directions.  You can look at everyone's past races too.  That is always fun.

The Oly at Pacific Crest was fun.  The bike course was different than other years due to road construction.  I think there will be one big hill in 2008.  Other than that, it is a great course.

We will work on some nutrition stuff over the next couple of months.  Still thinking about this.  The holidays made me think about cookies to much!

As for your long run.....listen to your body.  Cheers!

Hi Mike,

Welcome! 

Where in VA do you live? What races do you have planned?

If you are going to use your cross bike for tri, just make sure you ride on slicks.

Your neighbor to the north, Nicole 

I'm still congested, but feeling better.

Good wheels and 23 or 25mm tires would make a big difference for races. I seriously wanted a tri bike but I decided that a standard race bike would be more versatile.

My first tri was also 300/20/5. I think it's a perfect beginners distance. 

Oh, I see on your training logs that you are planning on doing the Kinetic Sprint Triathlon at Lake Anna. I'm also planning on this one so I'll expect that we meet! Do you own a wetsuit?

That sounds awesome, Steve!

QUESTION OF THE WEEKEND TO PONDER!!!

Do all of you have a training plan?  The best way for all of us to reach our goals is by following a plan.  The first step in choosing or designing a training plan is to identify the one race at which you want to be at your best.  Sooooo......I would like all of you to:

1)  Choose your key race (or two races for some of you).

2)  Choose a couple of other races that you would really like to do for experience.

3)  Let me know if you have a training plan that will let you achieve #1 above.

Happy Training!!!!

I don't have a specific plan. In general I bike twice a week, run twice a week, and swim twice a week. I also try to get in some strength/core wo's, but lately I haven't been very good about these!

My swimming for distance and endurance is going well. I'm also working on getting comfortable with bilateral breathing. Soon I will need to switch over to swimming for speed.

I keep my core biking fitness with indoor trainer rides but I like to get a longer outdoor ride each week. Anywhere I go has hills so I can't escape hill training.

I'm still working on getting back my running fitness since the ankle and knee problems over the summer. My goal is to be able to do 10 minute miles in the last leg of a triathlon.

My A race is the Iron Girl triathlon on August 24. With my current schedule this will be my last event of the year. I also need to be ready for a metric century charity ride on June 8. 

Plan...hmm, first would be to find out what I've got myself into. I guess I can start by asking a simple question for a newbie.  What is a "Sprint" Triathlon?

I read in an earlier post what a "brick" is. Should transitions be done only in the order of the events in a Tri, or is it OK to mix them up?

Wet suits...  are there limitations to how thick they can be? As an avid Scuba Diver, I have suits with different thicknesses. Thicker makes you more boyant. Is this an advantage or disadvantage when swimming?

Cycling... Shoes, cleats, pedals, etc. I thought I could just get on my bike and ride. In a spinning class I took last night, they suggested getting shoes and cleats. OK, makes sense. So that raises the question, Road Shoes or Mountain Shoes? When it stops raining, I'll get on the road, but untill then, it's spinning classes. Unfortuantley, the spinning class equiptment doesn't tell me how "far" I've gone.

Since I don't have a full Iron Man date/race selected yet, I'm going to select a few races as part of my training. Longer runs will be Phukett Marathon in June, Hood To Coast in August, Portland Marathon in August and Honolulu Marathon in December. Mixed in with these will be several shorter races and maybe a half. I hope to find a few non-Iron Man tri's in my area with the goal of possibly doing the Phoenix Iron Man in 09.

I need to work on my swimming. Did 1/4 mile last night, could have done much more, but felt it the next day. Technique is a weak point here. I need to work on kicking and breathing.

I'd like some input on eating before some of the more intense training sessions.

Lastly, how do I get one of those little photo icons all of you have? 

Thanks,

Rodney

Bao,  thanks for the feedback. The running will be the easy part for me as I've done a couple of those runs before as well as several half marathons.

It sounds like I need to consider getting a bike specific to Tri's. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have the benefit of working with a former Olympic Cyclist who is very happy to offer expertise on that event. I'm Googling Tri's in my area, Portland, Oregon and will probably tackle two or three shorter ones this year. I'm fortunate enough to have a wife who works for one of the airlines... meaning we can fly just about anywhere for next to nothing. I think an Iron Man will happen in 09. I hit 50 in Oct of 09, and I'd like to do it before that.  

Great information, Baowolf! And good job on your 7 miles today!

Right now I am doing the half marathon 20 week training plan for the Snow Joke half marathon February 23rd. After that I am planning to start the intermediate olympic triathlon training plan for the MTCC Garden City Triathlon in September. I'll also be doing a couple sprint tri's and some 5 & 10ks during training.

So far my training has been going pretty well. There were a couple weeks recently when I ran much less than planned due to adjusting to the weather and figuring out how to make Winter running work for me. I'm back up to speed now though. I've been doing my speed training on an indoor track, and my muscles are adjusting to the uneven surface and slippage of the snow. I also bought more layers and a balaclava for the sub freezing temperatures. I envy those of you in the warmer states. Though I'm sure Summer has its own challenges for you with the heat!

Roni

Rodney, if you are pretty new to biking I would counsel against getting a tri-specific bike because you can't really use them for much besides triathlon and triathlon training. They are unwelcome in typical group rides because they are more difficult to control in crowds. Any road bike is good for a triathlon with a race bike being even better. You'll see people on mountain bikes and hybrids, too.

I think that "sprint" triathlon refers to pretty much anything shorter than olympic distance. My first sprint was 300m/20k/5k and my Iron Girl sprint was 1000m/30k/3.4mi. 

I forgot to mention that if I stick to my planned schedule then my first tri of the season will be in the middle of April. So, I need to have my running happening by then.