Baowolf's Mentor Group - Sorry Closed. (Page 35)

So ya I ended up having to work until 1:00 am on Wed., but oh well.  Overall my leg is doing better since I got that shot in it.  I don't know if that is causal as I had not really been running for 2 months.  In any case I was able to jog 4.75 miles continuous with only a mild ache in the left knee.  This is up from a max of .7 miles the previous month.  I have a MRI scheduled 4/1... just as my leg starts getting a little better.  So ya I will start limping along in my build slowly and balance the knee and the shoulder.  And man am I out of shape.   

Ken, very solid training.  I think a 3:10:00 marathon would be a nice goal for your mary.  I think you will find that that extra 50 miles last month will really help in that last 6 miles of the mary.  Your paces have been solid across all distances.  I think you are in a excellent place if you can completely kick our cold.

Pam, sounds like a great day for you, happy BDay.  (yes I am behind on reading posts again.)

Jay, completely understandable that your mood would be taking a hit given what you are going through.  Hang in there and try to look at the long run picture of things.  If you can get through the next 2 months without tweaking that ankle any anyway you will then have another 40 years to work on fitness.  I know it sucks, I have been living there for 6 months now.  Lord give me patience, but be quick about it.

Mitch, I know it doesn't feel like it, but your numbers are looking pretty good.  Just keep chipping away at it, your base is getting past that suchage stage and you will soon be able to build more ... quicker.  It all builds, stay smart and nice work.

Carol, sorry about the leg.  At least now you know it wasn't you.  Absolutely nothing you could have done about that.  Your training was soooo solid.  Next group is gona have to be Baowolf's med tent, bring me your wounded, your sad, your disheartened and we will get through it and back to greatness!  Hang in there.  Some well earned and now forced rest.

Mike, don't incourage Jay to do stupid things.  We will have to have an intervention and steal all his athletic equipment.  He realllllly needs to not do ANYTHING to tweak that ankle.

Jay, sorry about your grumpy parents. It is hard to listen to whacked upset parents.  That is my life at work.  The best strat is probably to go with listenting and empathy followed by some reasonable statements.  So "I understand that you are upset about your son feeling he did not get to help the team out as much as he wanted to lastnight.  I know that we did not win, but this is just one very important step in building a strong skill of cooperation.  Any team is made stronger when each individual works in a coordinated way as part of a team.  We as a team are still working on learning how to play together.  I would love for every child on this team to have an equal amount of time with the ball.  If we could do that, every child's skill would improve a lot and the team would be performing at the very best that it can.  Thank you for sharing with me how your son is feeling.  I want every child to feel good about being a contributing member of the team.  The process of building a team is really hard, especially with younger children. Every child on this team is important to me, that is why I give my time to help them become their best.  I encourage you to come to a practice, watch how we are working on teamwork and let me know if I am missing anything.  We are all learning how to work together for the best performance of the team and I am a member of the team and will continue to work on improving my skill coaching as well.  Thank you for taking the time to share this with me it helps me a lot to know how each child is feeling about the team."  Or something like that.  The parent just wants their kid to feel good about being on the team.  It is also something that you want.  The rest is just working through what it means to be a member of a team rather than being a solo sport.  A huge part of being a coach is balancing the ego of your best player with the lack of self-confidence of your weakest player so they identify their strenghts build skills and cooperate to perform better than any one individual.  If your start thinks he is better than everyone else have him play some 1 on 2.  He will quickly understand that passing is huge and being double teamed sucks.  (my 2 coppers) 

Larry, good to hear from ya.  You are always welcome to stop by.  Enjoy the body building, will make ya look like a stud in your tri outfit.

Samantha, check in and let us know how the training is going.  You are likely getting into the high fatigue why am I doing this I will never be able to survive the training let alone the IM stage of training stage.  Lets hear about it some of us have been there and would like to buy you a milkshake to perk  up your recovery.  8).

Phew caught up.  Work just keeps going strong, will check in as I can.  Everyone is doing well be that hitting peaks or hitting lows.  As an endurance sport/endurance lifestyle it is really just putting in your heart and soul and the outcome is what it is.  An injury doesn't hurt who we are, just gives us some time to catch up on other things and then get back to it as we can.  Hang in there.

Hey all - I hope all the injuries are healing up and everyone is feeling better.  Last week was extremely busy at work and I am finally starting to process the results of my first race and I have several questions.  The most burning question is why was my swim so bad?  Although I made it with out stopping, I zig-zagged through the course, could not develop any type of rhythm and really was just not prepared.  At one point, about 200 meters in, I actually thought about stopping.  I was surprised since my longest continuous swim was 1900 M.  It was my first open water swim but I didn't think it would be so difficult.

I was shocked to come home from work a few nights ago and my wife announced that she signed me up for another race, an Olympic distance in Bend, Or in mid July.  All I could think of is that I gotta get the swim thing figured out before July.

I took the last week off from training.  I was having some aches and pains in my ankle and calf and my work load last week was very intense.  Tomorrow (Sunday) is the beginning of workweek in the Gulf and I plan to get a good week of training in. 

What strategy should I use to move from the race I just completed (750M S/50KM B/5KM R) to a traditional Olympic distance?  Any plan suggestions are appreciated?

Tom -- BT has a 'Sprint to Olympic" bridge plan. its 12 weeks, and I believe its a freebie, so its worth checking out. If anything it will give you an idea of the increases in training you may need to incorporate.

Since Jay lives only 3 towns away from me, I'll hustle down there today, and take all his goodies

Hope everyone has a good day. I'm hearing the siren song of the bike trainer, and need to put in a  couple hours this AM. off I go. BTW -- Trainer Road is quite fun. Gives you some basis off of which to measure your bike workouts, and keeps you interested and attentive to what you are doing. No slacking off, thats for sure!

Whew, I was behind on all of the posts too and I think I caught up.  This has been BD week at our house because of mine and then my son's BD two days later.  Add 4 ballgames to the mix and I've just been out of it.  Thanks for all of the well wishes on my bd.  And then our group will have another one coming up soon with Ken's BD.

Steve, you give great advice to everyone!!!!!  You are working on your recovery, Jay's recovery, Carol's recovery, Ken's mary, Jay's irate parents, and then all of that at work.  I really hope you recover well.

So Mike, I take it the change in the HIM means you will be there?   Cool!!!!!  Can't wait to live vicariously thru your training.  Also, good job on stealing Jay's stuff but make sure you don't get caught.

I am worried about Samantha too.

This should be Kate's last build week before she gets to taper.  WooHoo for her!!!!!

Ok, I need to go do something.  I wonder if I can talk hubby into hitting the pool....  If not, I guess I'll take Bronco for a spin.

BTW, I hear everyone on the PF.  I'm just quite p.o.'ed about it.  I'm stretching, rolling, and doing most of the things but I do realize that I've been lax in some things.  I resolve to start hitting it hard again.

It is official - I'm the worst cyclist ever.  Just got back from 30 minutes on the bike with hills and I don't think my HR will ever be below 150 again.

As I was puffing up the hills, I thought of two things that I've been meaning to post.  Both are not training related.

If you have a Garmin 305 (maybe it works for other Garmins) and the watch will no longer hold a charge, do the following.  "To reset the Garmin device, put on the charger, turn off, then hold Mode + Lap and press Power for a few seconds then release mode + Lap and Power."  Let it charge.  It should hold a charge afterwards - if not try again.  I've had to do this to mine and it worked for another 8 to 10 months and I've just had to redo again.

Also, I know this is a sticky subject for many people because medals are precious to many.  But there is a program called www.medals4mettle.org that takes HM, mary, and tri medals and then gives them to children and adults going thru debillitating diseases.  It looks like an awesome program.  I take pictures of my medals, front and back, and then remove the ribbons.  I have pix if I ever want them and I have the ribbons and I'm happy with that.  My rep is so cool that she sends me thank you notes and emails me when she gives out my medals.  Mentioning in case anyone is interested.

Alot of people have a bit of an um different experience with OWS than pool swim.  This is especially true if the water is cold or if the visibility in the water is 0.  One of the resevours I swim in has no visibility and I can run into submerged islands (10 inches deep water) 100 yards from shore and have to watch out for barbwire fences.. under water.  So um the only way to really get better at OWS is to do OWS.  

40 Mile trainer ride today.  We see how the legs hold up for tomorrow's run.  MRI scheduled for early April.  Hopefully by then I will be recovered enough that I don't need it.  Trying to build back into some semblance of training again.  My boss as me irritated enough that I am considering finding a new job, which would mean a move.  We see how things go.  He has not been very appropriate lately and close to 1/3 of staff will be going elsewhere next year including most of his administrators.  Not a good sign of leadership when all of your admin leaves over a 2 year period when they had been there for at least 3-5 years previously. Heat wave today 42F.    

Hey Steve, glad to see you able to get some workouts in.  However, and not to rain on your parade, but 40 miles already on the bike?  Maybe you and Jay have some things in common, but since noone lives anywhere near you, we cannot sabotauge your equipment.  As for the MRI that might or might not be after the fact, go anyway.  I seriously almost cancelled the podiatrist appt where they found the stress fracture because it was feeling better.  As for the job, a move to civilization might be good, but it sounds like the boss might be on his way to imploding anyway.

TK, that OLY in Bend shounds really nice. Beautiful part of the country.  Stayed at a resort near Sisters, OR years ago, that was super nice.  As for the OWS, yes, nothing takes the place of experience.

Mike, hope you got that trainer ride in.  Hmmm...maybe Jay has an even nicer trainer....or bike....or??  Jay, you said you're in law enforcement, right?  Please don't shoot Mike when he comes.

Pam, ah yes.  I'm afraid I'm very familiar with those feelings of cycling inadequacy.  I really have no idea if I will ever not suck on the bike.  For a long time I wondered "is it me, or the bike" (had the same bike as you).  Since I was "forced" to get a new bike over the summer (yes, cry me a river), I have come to the conclusion that it's at least 90% me.  Mainly it is that I don't ride enough miles or intensely enough.  I'm still amazed at how much some of the pure cyclists and triathletes around here ride.  But I've shifted gears mentally on it.  I'm now determined to have FUN on the bike as the #1 priority.  Church bike group, road rallies with Kerry, rides with friends, picking group rides that are more my speed, etc.  Hopefully that will mean more miles, which will = a little more speed, but that will be a bonus.

Woke up early yesterday, and found a yoga class on TV, so did about 20 minutes of that and 45 minutes on the bike trainer.  Wow, is that yoga stretchy stuff ever needed.  Set a season pass for the class/show, so will start mixing that in.  Hoping to get in a ride after church today with one of the couples who wants to help with the bike group, so it's "take your bike to church" day for me .    

Pam - I'm a member of the "I'm the worst cyclist in North America" club, but hoping to drop out of it in the very near future

Carol -- trainer ride was mostly done, but ended early as a couple of contractor showed up to help us get closer to finishing our kitchen re-do project that never seems to have an end. Feel bad for these guys as they show up and are greeted by me after 1h35m on the trainer (I stopped to go answer the door), in bike shorts, still w/ my bike shoes on, and dripping sweat. Not somthing they can ever 'un-see'

Run for the day is in. Slow pace as the lower left butt cheek/top of the hammy thing started to show up again. Felt much better if I slowed my pace a bit, and did stop once to give it a stretch which helped. Regardless, felt good most of the run, and fought off the oh-so-warm bed covers to get up and out the door.

Tom -- One thing you can do is look at one of the plans and see where it makes sense for you to start given your current level of fitness. Count back from the race date to that point, and there is your plan starting point. Until then you can maintain what you've been doing, et. I'm sure Steve has better thoughts on it than me, but that may be one way to approach it.

Couple nice runs in this weekend for me.  a little over 4 yesterday with a negative split. 

Then a strong 3 miles this morn with some easy hill repeats and a nice strong 7:52 ending mile.  Don't feel like I pushed it too hard but just wanted to kind of see if I had sub 8:00 in me still.  foot feels pretty good!

Hi All! Sorry I went MIA and  missed so much happenings. I had a terrible bonk week two weeks ago and I'll spare any details, but I'm back at it this week and enjoyed a solid week of training - which included two bikes outside! Hoping trainer riding is over. I'm planning to ride 60 miles outside tomorrow if the weather holds..praying!

I heard the swim start of IMCDA is going to change this year. They are working on a plan to have different start times, but making sure everyone starts by 7. Should be interesting. My feelings about it are torn. In some ways I'm so thankful to not have a mass swim start, but in another way I'm gonna miss having that feeling of an epic start. I'm guessing it'll feel epic either way.

Mike - could have done without that visual... Sounds like you made it through the storm ok.. Good news.

Samantha - It will be epic any way it goes. The one thing I notice from the wave start (the one Tri I ran so far) is that you really do not know where you stand at the finish line until you see the results. The good thing about it I think is that it lets you run your race rather than worry too much about people passing you.

Mitch - nice to see you at it again. Take it slow though. You worked so hard to get back. Nice times though, I could use some of that.

Bike yesterday was a bit strange as after getting on the road about 1 mile out, I notice a rubbing sound and resisting my worry about it a home found some loose spokes. Yikes! that could have gone so wrong. Easy enough to tighten and the wheel straightened enough to solve the noise. Good! then after 6 or so miles, I notice the right shoe seemed a bit loose. Ok stop again, check the peddle, looks good. Notice some dirt on the shoe, ok that seemed to fix it. All in all a pretty good ride but would have been better 20 minutes shorter. Went 15-16 miles in 59 minutes and ended with 17.6 in 82 minutes. Weather a very comfortable 50+ degrees.

Today was Brick day. about 11 miles on the bike in 45 and 2.2 mile run in 23 minutes. Hope you all got some good work in this weekend.

If you are more fit than the first few weeks of an Oly plan. You can just start at whatever week looks like where you are at now (say week 5 of a 16 week program) and then just repeat the last build cycle or 1 run mile, 10 bike miles and 200 swim yards to the max build week for your last cycle before taper. 

Ya bike was fine, over did the run though.  May be feeling that tomorrow.  Doc wanted me to find out where those limits are.  Found em.  6.5 mile run 1800 yard swim 900 of it freestyle.  Built up to the run with 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,...5.... 6.5 (.25 walk), not a huge jump but too much.   Swim was 1500, 1500, 1500, 1500,1500,1500......1800.  Bike was 20,20,20,20,30,20,20,40,... so reasonable.  Pace was slower.

Bike speed = 5000 miles of biking lots of it hard, hills, repeats in a year.  Lots of repeates, 30sec repeats, 1:00 repeats, 4:00 repeats, 5:00 repeats etc.  Then in 5 years... slightly faster on the bike 8).   

Good afternoon everyone.  Samantha, it was good to see you check in.  Remember, training is the time we want to bonk...not race time.  So take some time to figure out what happened and try not to repeat it

I had my staples removed today so that's another baby step.  Next week, I got the clearance to start PT and do some swimming (upper body only) so I'm feeling better about that.  Its time to stop the pity party and get back into some cardio shape so I can meet my August/October racing goals.

Its nice to see the MASH unit training smartly   I am noticing because I'm going to have to take the same approach and that is against my nature big time!  Mike, the soreness is going to happen.  Is it muscular or just general?  If muscular, you may want to try some amino acids (here comes my BB background....) whether its BCAA's or glutamine.

Nice rice, Joe, even with the interruptions.  That's why I like running...it's simple...well, mostly. 

Samantha, so glad you are still out there and on the journey.  There will not doubt be ups, downs, and all arounds.  Your disappointment at IMCDA being a wave start tells me you have really good swim confidence.  Ha, I would be sooooo very glad to hear that kind of news!

Mike, I'm bettting that contractor has seen much worse!  Sounds like you are in a really nice training groove now.  I happened upon a yoga class on TV, and am adding that to the routine.  I think it's a smart move, especially for those of us who are not spring chickens.

Mitch, when you get a chance, remind me about exactly what went wrong with your foot.

Steve, glad that you have been doing some cycling prior to that 40 mile ride.  Sorry the running didn't go as well.  Hope that MRI will give you a path to getting really healthy.  

For obvious reasons, I looked at this: http://www.pfitzinger.com/labreports/stressfracture.shtml Figured I'd share for our other walking (or not walking) wounded.

Rode the trainier for an hour this morning while watching Hunger Games.  Pretty good movie.  I haven't seen many movies the last few yrs...we just never seem to find 3 hours to kill.  So there are lots that are new to me .

Joe - great job getting out for a run after such a hard day.  It's easy to just give on a day like that. 

Samantha - good to hear from you.  IM training comes along with a lot of emotions.  It's ok to have a down week.  Just meant your body really needed it.

Carol - I'll try the short version.  Broke my big toe and knuckle on my left foot during an Xterra Trail race by kicking a rock on a decent.  Of course I proceeded to finish the race .  4 miles down hill on a broken foot = mistake number 1.  I then got x-rays to confirm the break, but of instead of getting a walking cast or crutches I just limped out of there.  Mistake number 2.    I was in the middle of training for IM California so 1 week later I was back on my bike.  Mistake number 3, the problem was I was changing my gait.  I couldn't push down with my big toe so I was using my outside foot.  This is where the problems really started.  I then started running again at 5 weeks.  8 mile run 1st time out  Again I was running on the outside of my foot.  After a few weeks I started getting PF.  Once I completed IM Cali I continued to run for  few weeks then the PF got so bad I could not walk.  It then turned into some sort of bursitis and chronic pain (this was going on for months).  Couldn't even do a spin class.  After all kinds of treatments, cortisone, Prolotherapy, ART therapy I found that I had to retrain my gait, and strengthen all the little muscles around the foot and ankle and most importantly work on my flexibility and range of motion.  I think if I would have not limped on it and just let it heal I would not have lost that year of training.  For me it was all about my gait changing and the problems that came along with it...

I guess that that was not so short, it's hard to sum up a year of trying to figure it out....

Run tomorrow for me!  Foot is feelin good and letting me run!

Jay, that's great news that you may be able to get in the pool soon!

Mitch, thanks for sharing your story.... a really good cautionary tale.  When you train yourself to keep going, it is so hard to know when to stop.  Obviously I agree with you; anything that changes your gait should indeed be a wakeup call.  I need get back to working on my recurring issues that likely contributed as well.  I've run with glute pain for quite a while now, and that + knee (IT band) pain that cropped up again + the old arch injury...all on the same side.  It does make me wonder how in the heck folks with one leg run long distances.  I wonder what type of strength work they do behind the scenes.

Joe, ugh, one of those days for sure!  Just like our bodies, our houses and cars can have "maintenace issues" at all the wrong times.  Hope today is less eventful! 

Jay -- great news about the staples. Hitting the pool could be just what you need to keep some sanity. Get that pull buoy out, and work that upper body.

Steve -- hope the recovery keeps up.

Mitch - quite the ordeal with the foot leading to your injuries. Happy to hear all is getting better.

Samantha -- glad to hear from you. the wave starts will certainly be a change from what the races have done in the past. Wonder if the 'washing machine' effect of the mass starts will tarnish a bit of the thrill/mystique of the races?

Joe -- tough day for mechanicals, but good for running to get rid of some of the stress?

I have an hour run tonight. Should have done it this AM, but I was needed at work early, and am carpooling this week with someone, so my time isn't all my own in the AM. Its nearing mid 50's temp wise today, so maybe I can do my run with shorts today. That would be awesome!