Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 33)

Michele-have fun and let us know how it goes.  Very exciting!

Randy

Hey everyone!  Just got back tonight from the mountains, so I'll be a much better 'correspondent' now.  Kids and adults alike are exhausted, but we had fun at the cabin.  I look forward to catching up with everything and everyone's training logs tomorrow -- for now, I need sleep!

I hope we're all heading into a great weekend!

Good luck racers!!

I'm getting ready to head out for my race. Coolest (65 degrees) morning we have had in weeks.  Hopefully, the wind will stay down and it will be a beautiful day for racing

Stu-did you get any of the bad weather in C'Ville?  Saw it was nasty down toward Richmond and my hometown of Hampton.

Will check in later.

Randy 

May the force be with you during your race, Michele and thirdstation!!

Best of luck to you!!!

Good luck to racers this morning!

Rene -- how are you doing now?

Michael:  Yeah, the whole bike thing can be very confusing and it is super-easy to get one's priorities out of whack.  It sounds like you've managed to avoid that pitfall.  I would very strongly recommend that you get a fit done by a highly qualified fitter -- even better if that person is NOT going to try to sell you a bike.  Indeed, I would even consider going in telling them "I'm paying you for really great fit information; I'm not buying a bike."  A good fitter should be willing to make it a three-part deal:  (1) Pre-fit where they give you stack and reach numbers, and if they are really good, a list of bikes that should fit you (but you can determined this yourself from stack and reach); (2) Initial fitting on the bike after you purchase (assuming that you purchase within a reasonable time, but NOT necessarily from the fitter or his/her shop; (3) final tweaking a month or three after the initial fitting.  You will pay a premium for that kind of knowledge and service, but it is very much worth it.  Really.  I would be very willing to accept a slightly lower level of components on the bike, for example. in exchange for the piece of mind, comfort, and, ultimately, speed, that comes with solid fitting and positioning.

I went to the pool this morning to try to get in a swim.  No dice.  It was PACKED!  I'm not sure I've ever gone on a Saturday morning, and I don't think I will try again...

I look forward to hearing about the races.

Hey gang-fun race this morning.  Somehow ended up 14th overall of 675-700 and 1st in age group.  Time was about the same as last year but they changed swim this year so I was about 3 minutes longer.  Not sure how my swim stacked up as compared to others...I didn't feel like it was very good as I went very wide early.  Bike was about 30 seconds faster than last year....averaged around 24.15mph.  5k run this year was 21:23 (6:53 pace) as compared to last year 24:01 (7:45 pace).  Run is really tough with a steep uphill for the first .30 mile.  Really pleased with the race overall but specifically with the run as my goal was sub 7:00 pace. Was not sure if I would hit goal pace as I was 7:25 over the first mile given the #$%@ hill.

So nice to do a race 2 miles from home.  Finished racing, visited, had a couple of beverages, got award, packed up, stopped and ate BBQ and still home before noon. Family is all out of town so big nap is planned. Volunteering in the morning for the kids triathlon at the same location. Should be fun! 

 Rene-one of the coaches from the group/team I'm with told me this morning he and several other guys are going out for Buffalo Springs.  I was spitting out all this information to him about the course, dry conditions and the altitude.  He asked me if I had done the race....told him no but I had inside info from a reliable source.   

Can't wait to hear how the other races went.

Randy 

Randy -Congrats on your race.  What a great accomplishment!!!!!

So today I did my 30 min TT calculations for my HR training zones.  I got the following:

 I followed the 30 min TT as prescribed in the BT forums.  I had a hard time knowing if I truly went all out as I was pushing very hard but also had to keep this effort up for the full 30 minutes.  I felt as if i did a pretty good job of going all out, and my legs and also my abdomen are very sore.

I then monitored my heartrate for the next 3 min of recovery (for what its worth?):

At 1 min:  114

At 2 min:  101

At 3 min:  95

For me this is pretty close to what I would have gotten if using the 220-age rule. 

How often do others in this group re-assess their training zones?  Do you do the same testing for your bike, or do you extrapolate this data into your biking?.  I usually hear mention of subtracting 5% off your running HR zones.  Jim

Jimmy-sad to say that I rarely "test" to change my training zones. With that said, I will keep up with HR data if I do a 5K road race as I feel that give me a pretty good idea of where I am for the run.  I have not done a power test on the bike for quite some time.  During the build into the season I will bump up my zones periodically as I start to feel stronger.  Good job getting out there and pushing through the test.  Its tough to do in a non-race situation...takes alot of mental toughness.

Well, times etc. were posted from my race. Race report posted:

www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=443525&posts=1#M4241153

Randy  

Randy -- great job on the race!

Jim -- it sounds like you did a pretty good test.  I ride by power, and the software that I use (Golden Cheetah -- it's free and pretty good) does a pretty good job of extracting critical metrics from training rides, assuming that you do at least some very very hard ('all out') efforts during training, which of course you should.  I tend to run the metrics every 3-5 weeks to check for progress (or, more recently, regress).  As for the run, I generally go by pace/RPE and use races -- or occasionally hard tempo runs of 6-8 miles -- to set my expectations there.  I tend to do enough running races that I'll get a pretty good data point every 3-6 weeks during the season.

Your cool-down HRs indicate that you have very solid fitness.

Randy, fantastic job on the race AGAIN! Man, I'm getting tri trips from awesome triathletes!

Have a great Sunday! I actually put a training plan on the calendar. Especially with running races it helps me to have a plan to follow. Next big race I can think up that I'm almost sure I'll make is next year's Xterra. Maaaybe the Olympic sized on in July. Maybe.

Blanda

Good morning-had a great time volunteering at the kids tri this morning. So much fun watching the kids turn the corner to the finish.  Lots of high fives and smiling kids with cool finisher medals.

Now, an easy recovery spin on the bike.  Legs are tight from yesterday's race.

Randy 

Great to hear about the kids race, Randy.  Kids are so much fun at those things.

My 'long' ride went fairly well yesterday, all things considered.  I'm going to try for a 'long' run today.  If it goes OK, then I'm going to assume I'm back on track and figure out how to get from here to the finish line at IMWI!

Have a great Sunday, everyone.  I hope you are having the weather we've got here, which is about perfect.

Hi, guys! I've been in a funk, but I'm determined to get back into it.

Wanted to share a video of our local "Tri Geeks" doing the 48 mile Perimeter Relay race. These are some of the folks that have helped and encouraged me during my first year of triathloning (is that a word?).  Our tri community is small, so very family like.

My bike is packed for a lunch ride up Nimitz.

I raced Saturday, report

Race: Kure Beach Double Sprint Triathlon

My parents and my son came to watch.  Great for them to see what triathlons were all about.

This was a 400 meter swim, 1.5 mile run, 12 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, 400 meter swim event.  IF you like transitions, this race is for you lol.

Highlights: First Ocean swim for me, thought I did well. The swim time were high across the board not sure if the coarse was long or the ocean surf/tide/current was the cause.  My run still needs work, but did pretty much as expected.  I crushed the bike, 19.9 mph is great for me. Much Fun!

New picture, Mom got me coming out of the surf heading to the finish.

-Steve

Fantastic job, Steve! A double sprint?! How fun is that?  Great new photo.

Its Monday ... weigh in day ... and I am not doing so well ...

May 21st - 206.2lbs

May 28th - 204.4lbs

June 4th - 206 lbs - Gained some weight back due to not watching my nutrition over the weekend. I started a new training plan today and I also have a weight loss challenge at work that starts today. 5% in 30 days ... I can do it ...

Hope you guys have a good Monday morning ... excited for tonight ... going to see "Foster the People" in Dallas with the wife.