Experior's Group, Take Two -- CLOSED (Page 35)

Good morning everyone-looks like I will not race on Sunday as planned.  Right calf is improved but nowhere near 100%. Ok for swimming and biking but not running..  Would do the swim/bike portions of the race or look for a relay if the race was close by but too far to go to participate on a limited basis.  Trying to keep pushing the bike and swim while I'm not running.  Dont want to miss several weeks of training by making the calf worse in a race.

Anyone racing this weekend?

Randy 

Sylvain-best of luck tomorrow.

Randy

Well I'm sad to say that the Mentor group is now closed.  I had a great time reading and sharing with all of you, and good luck for rest of summer races.  Maybe I'll chat with some of you during the winter as I'm sure I'll have more questions as I enter year two as a triathlete.

Michael, you did great job again as a mentor.  You've taught and guided me for two sessions and I learned a lot.   Here is a BIG THANK YOU!

My best to everyone.
Sylvain

I have really enjoyed the group and Michael's willingness to captain the ship. I hope everyone will continue to check in periodically.  I love hearing of everyone's ups and downs as we pursue the sport.  I will continue to check for new posts regularly. If any of you are ever in South Alabama let me know.

Thanks to all for their encouragement and support I sincerely appreciate it.  Talk to you soon.

Randy  

Thanks to everyone, especially Michael for your commitment and knowledge. There were times I felt I was in over my head being in this group, but I truly appreciate the patience and helpfulness shown by all the members . Without this group I doubt I would have obtained the accomplishments (although modest) I have on this journey. I will definitely be checking in from time to time to say hello and see what's going on. Again, my sincere thanks to everyone and happy racing!

StlPhil

I, too, would like to thank everyone for supporting me through my first multisport season.  It's been a heck of a ride and I'm proud of my accomplishments:

- Though I have a very long way to go, I learned how to swim more than 25 yards without drowning.
- Despite a rocky first race when the local police boat sank in the rough waters, I completed four triathlons.
- I also met my goal of not coming in last in my AG. In fact, in my last race, I broke into the 3rd quartile.
- I lost 20 more pounds and beat my goal of 165 (I'm at 162 now).  It was only a couple of years ago that I was at 230 and climbing...  Now that my season is over, I'm going to take some time off from training and plan to enjoy some (but not many!) treats that I have foregone over the past 9 months - insert Homer Simpson "BEEEEER!" sound track here... :-)

While I am very pleased with my accomplishments, I do have a number of goals for next year:

- Continue to have fun:  After my second race, I transitioned from fear to fun.  I really look forward to race days and seeing the friends I've made.  I love the carnival atmosphere - a big, sweaty carnival to be sure - but a carnival nonetheless!
- Stay injury free: Now that I've been through a full season, I hopeful that I'm better in tune with my body and can avoid any major injuries.  Though, I am still going to avoid the Super HulaHoop game on Wii that put me out of commission for 3 months this year.
- Improved swim form and endurance: The swim leg was my weakest this year.  The primary driver was the lack of pool time I could fit into my schedule.  I'm going to look for a pool closer to home and will try to fit an early morning swim into  my schedule.
- Continued weight loss: Given my BMI, I still have 12 pounds to give before I approach a healthy race weight.
- Improved T1 time:  I still have yet to master the removal of my wetsuit.  I'd like to cut 60 seconds from my 3:30 average.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you who participated in this group.  The motivation and accountability provided by this group was probably the biggest contributor to my success this year.  Good luck with the rest of your seasons and I hope to hear from you next year.

- Mark

Hi, for those who are still reading this group I've completed another Sprint today. http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=223430

Overall I had a better race then last week.  It rained all night, sort of spraying when I got there.  It rained a bit during the bike but only at beginning.

The swim felt better, probably because I didn't swallow as much water.  My pace for the swim was the same as last week, but I figured out why I've been slow.  I noticed about 3/4 into it that I was not turning my left hip and was not catching at all, it was all arms mostly the right.  I guess catching is not second nature yet, too busy concentrating on the other things like breathing.  Sighting was OK, but still need some work.

The bike was on a hilly course and was 4.5Km more then last week.  My average speed was an 18.1 mph (from my watch)  The road was rough and wet, and because I was getting passed, a lot , I was stuck on the rough stuff.  I will be faster next year.

The run was awesome, my fastest pace yet, for 7km I averaged 7:49.  I won the mental game on this one.  I controlled two cramps before they got worse by breathing with my stomach.  Then the mental battle began.  I tried a trick from an article I read in the Triathlete mag (august issue).  I started repeating a verse of a stupid song, don't know how I pick it, but I didn't even know the words (well maybe two) so I made some up that went with the rythm.  Worked like a charm.  I only got passed once, here I did all the passing   At the end I could feel my thighs getting tight but I just kept going, once I was near the finnish I didn't feel them anymore. 

I couldn't stop smilling during the last 200m.    I can't wait till next year.

later
Sylvain

Sylvain-great race. Enjoyed the report.  Exceptional run.  Seems like it always becomes a matter of mental versus physical in the late stages of races.  Lots of good stuff to continue to build on. 

Randy 

Stu-do you have one starting college?  Is that the tough "transitions" you speak of?

My race was a mixed bag.  Had an absolutely horrible swim. 35 minutes for 1500 meters. That was about 9 minutes slower than Chattanooga.  It was a wave start and there were about 100 in my wave.  Ran into alot of folks and my HR spiked.  Never could get into a rhythm.  I have been swimming plenty (40k yards this month) so it is a mental thing. BUT, AG Nationals will be a wave start and I need to get it together.  Fortunately, there my wave will likely be about 50-60 and we are the second to last wave.  Think I will just let all the speedsters take off and then take it nice and easy-should have more room that way.

Bike was good. 1:08:26 for 40k. Averaged around 21.7mph.  Good pacing and likely would have been a little faster without all of the 90 degree turns on the course. 3/23 in my AG.

Run was 52:29 for 10k. 8/23 in AG. About what I expected given limited run volume due to calf issues. Hopefully, that is behind me and I can gradually build up the mileage over the next few weeks. Would like to be under 50 for the run for the next race.

Overall 2:39:43. 8/23 in AG of 45-49. Dissappointed with overall time. I thought I had a chance to go under 2:30 with a decent swim and definitely under 2:35. Those extra 9-10 minutes on the swim killed me.  Swim course may have been a little long as I was 12/23 in AG and even fastest splits overall were in the 24 minute range. Still, I spent alot of time breast stroking intsead of swimming.  Glad I did it even though it was kind of a last minute decision and I really didn't taper for it.

Randy