RFP GROUP 2013 - CLOSED (Page 34)

The bike hills are not too bad, as long as you train on hills you are going to be fine.  With you 45 minutes away you can do a training ride on the route.  I know I will be doing that again this year.

KC - great job on the 5k and I agree you are the MOP groupee now.

Gil - if you feel comfortable and can handle it then go for it.  You are right the distance between the oly and HIM swim is not that much different.  Just practice doing some bricks you will be fine.

I have a buddy that gave me a Blackburn track star trainer this past week. I hooked the bike up to it last night and went for a quick test drive.

Anybody have any good trainer workout sources?  I was thinking about downloading a sufferfest vid.

Did a swim and short run today. I'm going to start a HIM plan on Monday, any suggestions for a good one to look at? I have roughly 15 hours a week to devote to training.

Well, my "new" bike saga continues......

The bike has 172.5 cranks and the fit guy did the fit with those cranks on the bike but wasn't sure it was the best decision.  My bike class coach told me that I shouldn't be on 172.5 cranks.  So, the shop will swap out a compact crank with 170s for the triple with the 172.5s.  The bike fit will be redone with the shorter cranks and a different saddle (Cobb V-Flow Max).  The shop even offered to let me try a completely different bike.  I may try the new Trek Domane and spend a few more dollars. 

I did some reading over the weekend on appropriate crank length.  Pretty interesting.  The formula in the article resulted in 175s as the recommended crank length for my inseam (32 inches).  No way would I ever use 175s!

If you are interested (lots of different articles), here is the link:  http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/06/crank-length-which-one/ 

Hi Lori.

Good luck with the fit - keep tinkering till you get it the way you want it and the way that feels best for you. Thanks for the link.

KC

Good Morning Team.

This has been a taper week for me and I needed it. Short run and short bike today. Weather still not great but slowly getting better.

KC

KC - I can tell you that here in the south things are getting better. Azaleas and dogwoods are blooming which means one thing...

THE MASTERS!

Hang in there bro...spring is contagious and it's headed your way!

I had a great swim this morning! Yesterday I spent some time watching TI videos on youtube and I took note of a couple things that I applied this morning.  Although I'm a long way from fast, the distance is getting easier which is all I really care about for now. My morning set looked like this (which is week 2 of the 0-1650 swim plan)

4x25 warm up. 200. 5x100 with 10 breath rest. 4x50 with 10 rest. 4x25 with rest as cool down. 1100 yards total. Best part was after the 200 and the 100 repeats I was not nearly as winded as I was just earlier this week!!

After the swim hopped into the cardio cinema for 4 miles while watching Ladder 39. Good flick.

My A race has changed to the Augusta Half in September. I peaked for the cancelled tri just in time, but found myself getting bored with the short distances so why not push myself (according to a plan of course) for the HIM.  Anyway, starting the 0-1650 6 week swim plan then a 20 week HIM plan. It actually sets up perfect for the timeframe!

I hope you all have a wonderful day of life!

Pierce, glad to hear you are doing Augusta.  I will see you there!  If you want to ride the course some weekend, let me know and we can meet up.  

Lori, I just take the word of my LBS on what crank to use.  I wish you the best of luck with finding the right fit.  When I got my tri bike I asked around for who is the best bike fitter and then I went to one of them.  He fit my tri bike up perfectly.  It is just finding someone who knows what they are talking about and are good at it.  This bike fitter doesn't do tri's, he bikes but his wife is an Ironman so he knows what is required from the long bike rides.  That was one of the reasons why I went with him, he knew the bike mechanics and he learned from his wife how the bike should feel.

Work has been crazy for me lately so I am really glad that I have this down time so I am not so stressed out about getting my workouts in.

Have a great day everyone!

A friend of mine is trying to promote Beads of Courage, so here I am promoting it to you.  Check out the website    www.beadsofcourage.org as it sounds like a wonderful ideal and easy for us to help out.  You don't have to do the 13 in 2013, you can just sign up and do one.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Good Friday Team.

Pierce - thanks - I actually rode for the first time outside yesterday - not great weather but better than nothing. Have you found a plan yet? I am sure there are some great resources out there - even on here BT has some decent plans I think.

KTC - I will take a look a that web site - thanks.

Nice swim this morning - followed by 3 hours of yard work. Tomorrow - swim and run.

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Easter.

KC

Crashed yesterday... running... haha wire in street oops. No major injuries buncha blood straight away but pretty funny. Finally maybe riding outside this weekend much excitement

Hello all,

Finally some good weather is upon us. I had a good easy run this morning with my wife. Tomorrow is a group ride with the club then a short swim.

Have a great weekend everyone.

AJ, sorry to hear you crashed, but so happy to hear it wasn't major.  Did the bike have any injuries?

Joined a new group this weekend for a bike ride.  I was running late and just got my stuff together when they took off.  I was in the back and not knowing a soul and I was thinking if I had a problem would anyone even notice, thank goodness I didn't and I was able to move up.  The group was very friendly and I was able to meet lots of very nice people.  The route wasn't very hilly for a change.  The only concern I have is I don't know how far they ride.  I went with the group that wanted to ride longer and we only did 27 miles, and they call that long.  Oh well, I am not training right now so I am okay with now.  I will be back as I really enjoyed the ride.

Hey Team,

hope everyone had a great Easter, I've been AWOL for a bit, partly due to being slack and partly due to too many late nights up writing then having my meds kick me in the butt... but back on track now... went for a short ride yesterday and a run today, looking forward to tomorrow's brick and swim... you guys are getting the good weather and now we are starting to get the cold.. ordered some winter running and riding gear which will hopefully be here next week.

KC - congrats on the 5K, great pics!

Gil - I've only done 4 sprints and I'm doing a HIM in 7 months, I say go for it!

Pierce - sorry to hear about the sprint being cancelled that sucks.. as others have said, put it behind you now and concentrate on the next one.

KTC - nice job on the group ride, I'm so happy for you that you have found some good training partners.

AJ - sorry to hear about your stack, hope you pulled up okay!

Good Morning Team.

KC

G'day Team,

Had a great day of training today, brick workout followed by a weights session. Did a 6 min/km pace for the first time ever on the treadmill at 1.0 incline, now just gotta transfer that to the road.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Great job on the tough brick Simone.  If you can hold that quicker pace on the TM on a steady incline you can certainly do it on the road.  For me the thing I try to concentrate on is cadence. I try to always keep my feet hitting the ground on the same rhythm but adjust my stride length when I need to go up hill or slower (shorter) or down hill or faster (longer). It may not be what the experts say to do I'm not real sure but it helps me keep pace no matter the topography.

Today was a cycling day for me. Got to the gym about 5am and hopped on the spin bike around 5:10 before the 5:30 class. Steady flat ride for the first 20 minutes then the class was a tough hills based workout. My legs are toast but it feels good. Total saddle time was just shy of an hour. Note to self: do NOT forget your water bottle for an hour trainer/spin/ride. I'm STILL cotton mouthed!

Tomorrow is a swim/run day.

Hey guys - sorry I have not been around lately.  I can give you the typical been really busy at work and life blah blah blah... but that is really what is going on haha.  I was telling KC the other day that I am just really struggling this year with juggling everything. Last year I was machine and took everything that was thrown at me between, family, work, band, training, etc... This year it seems like one thing goes wrong and I really struggle to keep it together.  I am running a project where we are putting an elevator on the new Oakland Bay Bridge and the State of California is making me want to jump off a bridge with all the red tape they are putting me through.  Gonna be busy for the next two months.

I have been somewhat hanging in there with workouts so that is good.  Forced myself on the bike tonight.

Anyways it seems that everyone has been busy and getting ready for some warm weather and racing (except Simone who has been enjoying the warm weather for a while now)  Gonna catch up on everyone's posts tomorrow.

Have a good night.

Great article from EN on transitioning from indoor trainer to outdoor riding.

http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/training/three-considerations-for-transitioning-from-indoor-to-outdoor-riding/

Thanks for the link Tim!

The new bike crank issue is solved but to the tune of $250 for new 170mm cranks!  I also was able to locate a saddle like my old one.  The bike will be mine on Friday afternoon.  Picture will be posted sometime this weekend.

I did some reading this weekend on the ingredients in various electrolyte replacement drinks.  One of the things they mentioned was that Hammer Heed contains xylitol which has a laxative effect.  Hammer Heed has been my "go to" drink since 2008.  Does anyone know anything about xylitol?  Well, I purchased a cannister of Ironman Perform today, might as well get used to it.

What do all of you Ironman eat and drink on the bike?  What do you eat and drink on the run? 

Still looking to tweak my hydration and nutrition plan a bit.  I have it on an Excel spreadsheet that I will post here soon.  Thanks in advance for any input!

Never heard of the xylitol but will look into it.  I wonder if the other hammer products use that?

As far as my nutrition:

Bike - Hammer Perpetuem and Hammer gel, Hammer Endurolytes and then for a snack on long rides I eat a pack of Combos (Cheddar Cheese).

Run - This where I really messed up.  I planned to keep with the Perpetuem/gel/endurolyte plan but by mile 8 i threw all of it away haha.  If I could do it again I woudl go with the Perpetuem chews instead of the liquid sinc eit didn't stay cold for long and was too much liquid.

It is funny - I was talking to my buddy last weekend about his IMWI this year and recalled how I spent months planning my special needs bags and my bike bag never got there because my sister put it into my run SN bag. And then when the volunteer dumped the contents of my run special needs bag on the ground I just looked at it all and said "nope" haha.  DIDN'T USE ON THING!  I wish I could have that planning time back!

Gil - Honestly I thought it was harder to go from Sprint Distance to Olympic than from Olympic to HIM.  As far as jumping off the bike after 56, it feels the same as jumping off the bike after 18 haha.  Still takes the same amount of time to get your legs back on the run.  I think the biggest difference is the nutrition aspect.  You can get away with a bad nutrition plan in shorter distance but you need a good plan to be out there for over 4 hours.

I say you go for it!  You will be fine.  Signing up for your first HIM is actually harder than running the race!

Tim, sorry to hear that life is keeping you busy.  That is the beauty of triathlons you go with the flow of life.  Hope things slow down for you soon if that is what you want.

Lori, I use infinite on the bike.  I would take a drink every 12 minutes and drink water when I needed it.  I ate a Payday candy bar (broken into pieces every hour or when I thought I needed more salt)  On the run, I drank Perform and water and ate what I felt I needed at each aid station.  Not the smartest move but by that time I not thinking about nutrient I just either wanted something to drink or eat.  I did put Gummy Bears in my run special needs bag and those did come in handy.