RFP GROUP 2013 - CLOSED (Page 32)

I've done kettlebells for a year.  Took training from an RKC certified instructor.  They are the absolute BEST strength exercise there is.  Not only a great muscle builder, they also work the cardio hard.  Check out videos on Youtube by Russian Kettlebells or a guy named Pavel.  He is the Russian who brought the bells to the USA.  He has books and a beginner video.  Funnier than hell and a great workout.  Let me know how I can help.  [email protected]

You guys fighting illness?  Do not feel bad about wanting to ward off the germs.  Loved Tim's suggestions.  Great stuff.  Keep the hands clean.  I have the first signs of stomach flu, which Kathy brought home from work two days ago.  She had it 24 hours.  I'll give it 18, then I'm climbing in to kill it myself. 

Finished 18 miles today at 2:54, about 12 seconds faster than the coach wanted.  9:40 miles.  Sore at the end.  I think I am having lower leg cramps on the longest runs.  They went away immediately after I stretched, climbed into a hot tub and massaged for only a minute and drank Zico. 

Those racing this weekend, good luck and/or I hope you have (had) fun. 

Life is sweet.

Ice.

Blew off training this weekend and opted for a trip down the coast with the camera. My first photoshoot for the year. I figured I earned it after doing so well in my recent races. Besides which I'm still suffering a bit of DOMS from Friday's strength workout so figured a couple of days off would do me good.

Here's a couple of my pics, looks like summer might be on its way out!

Hope everyone else is having some great workouts this weekend!

Oh and Happy St Patrick's Day (the Irish in me is dancing a jig!) :P

Those are some beautiful pictures.  Thanks for sharing.

Very cool pix!

Can you see the comet at night in the Western sky?  A pic of that would be teh awesomer!

Thanks Troy, unfortunately the comet hasn't been visible from where I am down under.

Good morning Team - hope everyone survived the weekend.

Kristen - hope you had a great race.

Simone - beuty pictures.

I experienced a bit of an IT Band set back on Saturday - did a 3 hour trainer ride  (very slow though) followed by a 50 minute run and I had a IT flare up - something tells me this is going to last for a while. I am back to the chiro on Wednesday and getting a massage as well. Wish me luck. 

Have a great weekend everyone.

KC

Good Morning again Team.

I need some advice on something or some ideas anyway.

I was thinking about doing a half this summer before my full but I am now thinking about doing a 51.50 in Northern Ontario during the 3rd week of June instead and staying up there to train for a couple of weeks and renting a cottage. What do you think about not doing a longer distance before the IM?

Thanks.

KC

Kristen, how did the HM go?

Simone, beautiful pictures.  Sounds like you give your yourself a treat by taking some time off from training.    We should all do that and what you did during your time off was awesome!

KC - Oh man, you need to rest that IT band.  And I think you have your answer, if you keep having IT band issues do you really want to do a 51.50 knowing you might have issues with your IT band during the event, and would you be able to recover in time for your IM?

Simone - great pictures! Probably felt good to take a little break and get the creative juices going instead of the heart rate.

KC - On a scale of 1 to 10 where are you pain wise with the IT band issue?  From what I researched and heard, doing a 70.3 is not a necessity for IM prep.  You are already experienced in IM racing so you know what to expect.  I am thinking you would be better off doing a longer training (simulation) around that time so you can back it off if you have to - if you are in a race you might push it to finish instead of dropping out.  Just my thoughts.

I decided to go with the Runners World 4:00 Marathon Plan for Chicago.  It is funny that in 2011 for my Illinois Marathon I was using a similar program but the pacing was WAY different.  That old plan had me doing my long runs at 11:00/mile pace which I thought was totally crazy since my race pace was gonna be 9:09/mile. When i choose a plan though I try to have faith and believe in it -haha  figures why I hit the wall smack dab in the face at mile 22!  This Runner World plan seem much more effective with some good tempo and Yasso 800 workouts. Also the long runs are done at about a 9:45/mile pace.  I am just worried about the 3 weeks overlap between the Racine 70.3 and Chicago Marathon training plans.  

I am concerned about recovery from the Racine 70.3 - last year it was part of my IM plan so I took Monday off and was back at it Tuesday.  Gonna try and do the same thing this year - we'll see how that goes...

Hi Guys - My HM went pretty well yesterday.  I missed my PR by 11 seconds, doh!  I was hoping to run it in under 2:06 but finished in 2:14 instead.  The course was absolutely beautiful - it took place in New Bedford, MA which is an old whaling port so lots of cool old buildings, cobblestone streets (we didn't run on these, thank god!) and surrounded by ocean.  The most challenging part of the race for me was the wind whipping off the ocean.  We ran along the ocean from about mile 7 to 11 and the wind was blowing right into our faces.  I lost some major time here.  It was brutal but at least pretty scenery! I met up with a bunch of friends who also raced for some post-race St. Patrick's Day celebrating.  It was a fun day!  I'll definitely run this race again.

Here's my RR if anyone's interested: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=481463

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Great Job on your HM! It sounds like you had a great time doing this race except for the wind. That is always an issue around my neck of the woods.

KC - Take care of yourself buddy! I'm not one to give advice at all about training for IM seeing as how I haven't got there yet, but from what Tim and the others have said it sounds like you are better off restricting any 'race pressure' on your IT band before your IM. If it were me, I'd rather go into it knowing my IT band was going to stand up to the task, rather than keep testing it to the point of really injuring myself before my IM even arrived. Just my two cents. You've already proven you have the heart and mental toughness to get through an IM, so I wouldn't worry about fitness on the day. You know your tenacity and courage will get you through. In the meantime, milk that chiro for all he's worth to get this issue sorted out.

Kristen - awesome job on your 1/2 marathon, sounds like it was a tough race. Being so close to your PR with such a cruel head wind is a fantastic effort, you should be proud! Well done!!

Good Morning Team.

Kristen - nice job on the HM !

KTC & Simone - thanks for the words of advice and trust me I am taking everything into consideration regarding recovery and training.

Tim - I am not sure what number I am on the pain scale but if I had to use IM NYC and how I felt when I finished as my 9 out of 10 I would say I am way better but not pain free which is what is concerning me. I know we probably will always have our aches and pains but I am trying to keep this one from becoming debilitatiing. This is the reason I am thinking about not doing a half this summer and doing the 51.50 instead. I will be having another lengthy conversation with my chiro and massage therapist on Wednesday. I think I am on the right track for recovery but will cointinue to work dilgently on getting better and training at the same time if I can.  

Thanks everyone and I will keep you posted on how the IT is doing.

Sure hope the warm weather and spring shows up soon

Deb - good luck with the winter weather coming your way again today.

Be safe everyone.

KC

Mines been flaring up a little bit, usually at the end of the week, same with my gastrocnemius. Not enough foam rolling oops. A lot of my IT band stuff I was convinced came from pulling my gluteus maximus and that tightness yanking on my IT band. Dunno if you do any Yoga but the Pigeon pose is a good one to stretch out that butt / lateral area. 

I had a marathon plan last year... that undoubtedly was altered. Dropped a junk run for a bike ride. Dropped my pace run for a longer harder bike ride. Did not pace any of my long runs except for the last 2-3 miles I would hammer out (but not a particular pace just based on feeling). Did 1 recovery run, 1 interval run (that was paced usually on a treadmill) and one threshold run (kind of paced but nothing super targeted more based on feeling) per week. 

Plan on doing the Tri in Chicago in August so that gives me like 6 weeks to flip over. Should be an interesting transition but shouldn't be to far behind mileage wise at that point. 

Kpringle - Thanks, the race went better than expected. I was looking at finishing at 2 hours but did better than that. As I have mentioned before, the course is a hilly one for our area and because of the lack of running that I did to prepare for this race I figured it be a difficult day but my attitude was just to finish and not put a whole lot of stress on myself and the result was that the race was not as bad as previous years. I'm looking forward to Spring. Can't wait to get outside.

Congratulations to Gil and Kristen on your HM this past weekend!!!

Not much to report on my end.  Took my dogs for a run yesterday just to see how they would handle running with me.  It is so depressing running with them as I am running and huffing and puffing and they are just trotting along like it was a fast walk.  They were not running and the youngest one was barely panting.  I had no idea what speed we were going as I didn't wear my watch as I just wanted to see if they could handle the running.  I would say that they can.  Guess I have so new running partners now.

Where is Spring?!

Good Morning Team.

Nice job on the HM Gil!

Nice swim this morning - massage and chiro appointment this afternoon which I am looking forward to . After that I have a 5km run to do in the cold - again . I am with you KTC - where the hell is spring?

This same date last year in my home town we reached 81F - TODAY 28 .

Hang in there everyone - warm weather has to get to us soon.

KC

Hi Team.

Good swim and a pain free 5 km this afternoon. That of course is not that surprising since the IT does normally not start to bother me until I get to around the 8km mark.

However, I did have a great massage this afternoon followed by some serious work on my hips and IT band by my chiropractor.

Hope everyone is doing well. I hope this crappy weather does not have the entire group a little depressed. Hang in there everyone, warm weather ahead.

KC

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Good Morning Team.

Looking like another chilly run outside and a lonely ride on the trainer in the basement today.

KC

I agree t-roy. My tummy is always a bit gassy after a long work out in the pool