Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 35)

Hey all!

Forgot to ask, who is racing this weekend?  What I have is:

Sept 3 - Canadian Iron 226 Triathlon/Duathlon - LJK
Sept 4 - Hy-Vee Oly - Justin
Sept 9 - Vikingman Oly/HIM - Elizabeth

Dorm,
Go for it. I'm in the same boat you are in. I have my first Oly (as well as my first OW race) in a couple weeks. I got into the lake once for 20minutes swam around trying to sight. Helped a lot. I know the feeling of trying to over analyze and psych yourself out of a race. It all boils down to: Do you want to do the race? If you are confident you can swim the distance in a pool then you can swim the distance in a lake. Like ransick said take your time, smile (preferably not when your head is in the water and have a good time.

No race this weekend for me. I thought I should enter a local Oly before entering one on as big of stage as HyVee (but when those commercials were playing a few months back it was hard to resist the temptation). My race is Sept. 18 

I will add one more thing.  For me the OWS's have been more of a test of my ability to overcome my fears.  From my Oly (I didn't mention this in my RR) when I finished the swim it was a major boost for me.  Before the race I knew based upon my training I could do it but my fears pushed me the other direction.  I was estatic when I finished.

May not be the same issue for you but if you can swim the distance then go for it.  It may be more of a mental test then physical but you can do it.

G ... I thing you hit the nail right on the head for me.  HELL FIRE - I'm signing up right now!

That's the spirit!!!

I did an RR for my adventure race. Didn't really fit the form, but I think I got it in there. OA I had a great time doing something with my sons. My wife, one daughter, and inlaws were all there to cheer us on. Shoulders are sore from an hour of paddling, but all worth it. It goes back to the fact that if I wasn't working on training for tri's and if I was still sitting on the couch, I could not enjoy an activity like this. Thank you BT!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/directory/link-detail.asp?linkid=43876

x2.  That is simply awesome!

Hey all!

Just checking in with everyone, hope everyone is doing well?  How is training going?  For me things are going pretty well.  Got a 10.2 mile run in on Sunday, my longest since NOLA in April.  Ran 10k tonight.  Swimming is going well but I need to get a long ride in and everything is conspiring to block my long rides.  We got a bunch of rain over the weekend from TS Lee but the ground is almost dry now.  Evidently our drought isn't over.

So question, a bit silly but none the less.  If you wear a swimming cap do you put it over your ears?

I'm not racing this weekend - my husband is traveling for work so I have to watch the kids.  We've been on vacation most of the last two weeks and so I've just been running when I can.  My marathon is in 5! weeks and so I have a 20-miler this weekend.  Fingers crossed that I make it.

I've been swimming for years and years and have no idea and have never paid attention to whether my ears are in or out of the swim cap.  I'm pretty sure that they're in but dont know for sure.  I think that the tops are in but the bottoms are out.  I'll let you know after I swim next.

Good question, I was actually wondering about that when I got to my first tri in July. For practice, my ears wre out, mainly because the cap wasn't big enough to go over them. For my tri, the caps were larger and I noticed that half the people had them over the ears and half did not. I started my swim with the cap over the ears, b ut remember when I finished that the cap was no longer over my ears.

Training is going pretty decent here as well. Joined a new gym and have discovered spin classes- all I can say is Sweat, Sweat, Sweat. My riding has gotten faster though so it must be helping. Slow crawling seems to be improving as well- did it the other night and thought we were going slow and realized that it actually was my fastest time. Still slow but faster slow for me- lol. And I actually can swim 800m nonstop in the pool which is improvement for me as well. Trying to get ready for the Santa Rosa Tri and getting nervous about it.

I wear my cap with ears out. I have enough trouble hearing and covering my ears really would not help. I never really thought about it though- just put it on where it feels comfortable.

Shelly

Well ... hope all are doing well.  I got in late last night from a week's worth of vacation in Ft. Lauderdale.  I did get in some training time, but not completely satisfied with the effort.

Worst thing about the week was there was no way to bring the bike along.  Riding down A1A and seeing all those miles and miles of bike lanes just begging for some use was painful ... this will not happen again.

I know what you mean Dorm. When we went to Gatlinburg in April, there were trails just begging to be run on. I couldn't do it though because of time constraints but it was killing me. Nothing like a workout just calling to you and not being able to respond. Never thought I'd ever say that though- lol.

Shelly

LOL, that is how I felt at Gulf Shores.  I could have been done several long swims.

FYI, as to my own question I usually don't have the cap over my ears.  For races I do put my goggles on first then my cap but don't cover my ears.

Got another 10.3 mile run in on Sunday.  Two back to back long weekends.  Most I have done in a long, long time.  May be I will be ready for Austin.

Anyone racing this weekend?

Hey all!

Been a bit quiet here so I thought I would check in.  Been running more and found that I have run more in the first 9 months of 2011 then all of 2010.  Still pretty low miles but getting better.  Had a great 8 mile run on Sunday, actually pushed the pace for a few miles.  Also did a 48 mile ride over the weekend but also managed to get my hand slammed in our horse trailer door.  Ouch!!!  Better today and swam 900 yards just to see how it is.  A bit sore but did okay.

Gary's weekly question - In your area when does the Tri season generally start/finish?

Ouch about the hand!

Here in STL tri season starts in mid May and ends the first weekend in October.

For me the season is pretty much mid-March thru mid-October.  It starts getting cooler in October at night, water temps go down ... and mountain biking starts to kick in.

had my first oly tri this past sunday. everything went well. below is the link to my rr:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=269209

JP ... great job on your first OLY.  You did the right thing and were smart to listen to yourself on the pacing!  >20mph is blistering pace ... what a stroke of luck on the gu pack.

I've one more possible event on the calendar for October, actually there are 2 events, but I only have the time to fit one in.  And at this point I'm undecided but it's my decision to make.

Right now I'm sorta teetering on the season being over, focusing on specific goals for training, weight loss, speed and times, etc and am starting to look towards next years events.  And I don't know about going longer.  I definitely will plan for OWS events next year ... but longer - I don't know.  I sure enjoy the sprints, their short lengths and the fact that I'm done and headed home in less than 2 hours.

My question for the group is: what goes into your decision to move up into the longer events?  When, how, why ... or why not - do you decide on this?  What are the group's thoughts?

Ciao ... Dorm

Dorm, I did a full year of sprints (at least 6) before I did my first longer distance which was a HIM. 

Reasons: NOLA 70.3 was right in my backyard so no travel, I wanted to do the longer distance to help with my sprints, and (at the time) there were no Oly distance races available in Louisiana (there are now two).  The other item was that most of my sprints required 2-3 hrs of driving each way.  Continues to be a struggle to drive for 4-6 hrs for a 1+ hr event.  Where as HIM and Oly's feel like they are worth the effort.  That being said I had thought about only doing sprints in 2012 until NOLA offered an early bird special that was really cheap and I could not resist.