RFP GROUP 2013 - CLOSED (Page 35)

Pierce - I know exactly what you mean about run cadence. I'm the same, I try and keep the same rhythm, but just extend or shorten my stride for up and down hills etc. It's funny I had a look back over my old training logs from when I was in the police academy 24 years ago. We had to do a 2.5 km run as part of our fitness testing and I used to be able to do that in 11:55 mins, what I wouldn't give now to be able to run that quick! But I guess it shows I do have speed in me, now that I am older I don't expect to be able to get down to a 4:45 min/km, but I think a 5:30 min/km might be possible, I just need to work on my speed and muscle endurance.

Timmer - Hope you are starting to recover from you flu, nice purchase on the wheels and I hope the bike fit goes well!

Lori - So happy for you that you finally got your bike and crank issue delt with, make sure you post us a piccie of the new steed when you get it! Can't help you with the nutrition, I'm still in the dark on that one myself, although I have just recently found some raw food bars at my local supermarket which are paleo friendly, so I'll be trying them out on my long rides. I'm trying to stay away from gels for as long as I can so I can keep my system clean.

Tim - Hang in there bro, you will work it all out, just remember one step at a time, one job at a time, one race at a time!

G'day Team,

I hope the weather is starting to warm up for you all. We are having cooler nights and mornings now, but the days are still beautiful and training friendly.

Yesterday I celebrated 6 months freedom from bipolar and anxiety symptoms thanks to my meds, diet and exercise. If you had of told me back then that I would be in such a good head and heart space today I never would have believed you. With each passing day now I cherish my health and my sanity. I decided I wanted to celebrate with a milestone ride so I headed off-road on the mountain bike and did my longest ride in over 20 years, 56.36 km in a time of 3:37:40. My legs were toast at the end of it, but I felt awesome! I cannot wait now to take the roady out and start building up the ks over winter.

If any of you are interested, I spent a few days last week writing about my experiences with mental illness, diet and triathlon. I figure if I can conquer my demons and work towards a better life then anyone can. I'm hoping it inspires other people with health issues to realise they can still get out there and have a good life instead of sitting at home and playing the victim.

Anyway here are the links if you want to take a read...

A Whole30 Lot of Joy (My Story) - Part I

A Whole30 Lot of Joy (My Story) - Part II

A Whole30 Lot of Joy (My Story) - Part III

On another note, I entered my first 10K race which will be held on the 21st of April, I'm looking forward to seeing if I can set a PR from my time a couple of weeks ago.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

That was some awesome reading. Thank you for sharing and congratulations on your budding success!  I know you will take this feeling with you into the future and never look back.  After reading your story I am reminded of one of my favorite Yoda-isms. "Try you say? There is no try, there is only do or do not" Well, you are certainly DOing it!

Had some success in the pool today.  I'm on week 3 day 1 of the 0-1650 6 week swim plan. I was anxious because it's a huge jump in the distance of the long swim. Here's what I did...

2x25

1x400 (new PB distance)

1x200

4x100

4x50

4x25

for a total of 1350 yards (new PB total workout distance)

It was hard and I had to do some breast stroke in the sets, but forward movement is forward movement! I quite possibly lost count on the 16 lap 400, somewhere around half way through I started day dreaming about what it will be like in the lake on 5/5. lol. So it's possible that I did a 450, but I can't be sure.

Followed that up with a 5k on the treadmill with negative splits. +0.2 mph at every K with a final kick at 4.5k.

Good job on the swim Pierce!  

It looks like spring temperatures may have finally arrived!  Can't wait for some warmer weather.  I know, I know I will probably posting I can't wait for cooler temps in a few months.  

Have a great weekend training everyone!  Is anyone racing this weekend?

Thanks very much Pierce, I too love that Yoda-ism, one of my other favourite quotes to get me through the tough times has been the Japanese proverb, "Fall down seven times, stand up eight." Life certainly is an adventure!

BTW, great job in the pool! Before you know it, you'll be swimming the half iron distance without any problems at all.

The temps are still crazy down here too KTC. Today is like a Summer's day again, not that I'm complaining!

I have a wedding to go to tomorrow so I'm hoping to get my long run in this evening and maybe a short bike and swim before I go, only two weeks till my first 10K race. Cannot wait!

Another milestone for me yesterday.  At church I was talking to a tri friend of mine and mentioned getting together for a ride during our kids' nap time.  About 10 minutes later he finds me and says that we're on and another guy is coming with us. My question "sweet, how far were you thinking about" which seemed harmless enough. I was thinking 15 maybe 20 miles. "30 miles - about an hour and a half"

At first I questioned my stamina and endurance, hoping I wouldn't get dropped. Long story short, I did it!  It took longer than we wanted because one of the guys had a broken master link so he kept throwing his chain. Not only did I not get dropped but my legs feel great today (aside from a recurring inner knee pain I seem to get on my bike).  I am very excited and encouraged!!

We averaged 16.8 with stops over 30.4 miles on rolling hills.

Good Morning Team.

Been away from the forum for a couple of days. I will catch up today. Came down with a mild cold middle of last week but was able to get most of my workouts in anyway.

Pierce - nice job on the ride.

Masters week this week -

Have a great week everyone.

KC

Hi Everyone!

Pierce, nice job on the bike!

KC, glad to hear you are feeling better.

I think this week I am going to take it easy.  Have a crazy work schedule so it just makes sense.  Right now I am pulling out my hair as I have a new work computer and all the other items that they send with it.  I got it all set up last night and now I can't get half of it to work.  UGH, and I don't have time today to deal with with, so I am just working off a laptop today.

Have a great week!

Kathy

Simone - Nice job on hitting those distances on bike and run.  You are really making me pull out my metric conversion calendar with all you Kilometer talk haha.

Pierce - Nice work on the ride and longer swim workouts.   I find swimming and biking to be very mentally challenging sports.  Once you can get over the aspect of I can't do it and get out there and do those longer distances you realize it is more about preparing yourself mentally and having the time.  I have almost talked myself out of some long swim workouts and long bike rides (over 3 hours) but once you do it it becomes more of "how much further can I go".  I was actually thinking about that on my ride this weekend since I was doing the same route that I did with a group similiar to what you and was my first real ride.  I remember when I came home I was sore for a couple days and 28 miles might as well have been 150.  Three years later I did the same route I did the same route faster and harder and made myself NOT do one more loop because I knew my wife would kill me. It is all in your perspective.  It is great that both you and Simone are getting out there and pushing the limits.

As I said above I got outside on the bike finally and felt great.  I had gotten once short ride in after IMWI so this was my really my first ride on the road since IMWI so it was good.  I also used by iBike power meter for first time and was happy with the results.  It felt very close effort wise to my trainer road numbers.  I tried to keep it at 80% of my FTP (190 watts) and found it really helped me stay consistent without much extra effort.  Totally digging the power thing

KC - enjoy the masters! Hope your cold gets better quickly

Tim - glad you finally got outside on the bike, and I will try and write the mile conversions for you, lol!

KTC - Glad you and hubby found a compatible new group to ride with.

Pierce - Great job with the ride. It feels so satisfying doesn't it when you reset the bench mark.

I am still at the nervous stage of riding with others even though I know it will do me good. I had to go to a wedding on Sunday, was my old TKD coach getting married and so I saw a lot of my old friends who I don't get to see anymore. Anyway long story short, a dad of one of the kids I used to train who I got to know really well through Taekwondo, actually rides bikes. He is also a masseus (bonus!!!!!) and is so rapt that things are going well for me and loves that I'm training for Ironman. We have teed up to do some rides together. Once a fortnight I'll go down to Melbourne to his mountainous hills and once a fortnight he will come up here to Bendigo for a long ride with some of our hills. It will be great because my bike is my weakest leg and I really need someone to push me, which Nev will do. He also said to consider him my personal masseus from here on in and I was not going to argue with him!

Anyway, did my first outside brick today, totally different to the trainer and treadmill at the gym. Struggled a bit on the run, but happy I got through it. Ended up doing a 20 km (12 mile) ride followed by a 4.5 km (almost 3 miles) run. My HR was up on the whole run, and my lungs were burning, so I know I was working hard. I've decided to make Tuesday's brick day, because I think doing one a week and gradually increasing the distances is really going to help me pick up some fitness.

Hope everyone else is going well and training hard, also hope your weather is picking up!! We are kinda still in Summer here, but I'm not complaining!

Hi Team.

Just wanted to check in and say hi. I hope eveyone is doing well. I missed my swim this morning, still feeling a bit under the weather - which around my parts means your close to dead because this weather has been the $hits .

Stay safe everyone.

KC

Sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with everyone's training. I've been sick for over a month and missed more than 3 weeks of workouts. Today I finally feel like I'm truly on the mend!

Basically I'm starting over and I'm 4 weeks behind on my HIM training schedule but I guess life just gets in the way sometimes and we have to roll with the punches.

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope you are all well.

Jen, glad to hear things are finally looking up for you, don't worry about the missed sessions, just right them off and start a new, you'll be firing in no time!

KC, I'd send you a ticket to Oz if I could mate, don't want to rub it in, but we are having beautiful weather at the mo. Hope you feel better soon and more importantly that the warmer weather finally hits!

Another milestone for me today. I rode the entire length of the O'Keefe Rail Trail, which has been a goal of mine since I started riding again. All up today's ride was 61.17 kms and took me 3:55:04 to complete. Almost my first ever 4 hour ride and I actually didn't pull up too bad. The other thing was today I was trying out my new CamelBak for the first time, so that added 5.5 kgs to my back. I also tried out nutrition for the first time, I used Endura Rehydration in my bidon which is what they use for Shep 70.3 and it went down a treat, no GI issues. I had plain water in my CamelBak and I alternated between the water and Endura and that seemed to work nicely. I also had a couple of Emma & Tom's Life Bars, which are similar to your (US) Larabars and they worked great, easy to chew, tasty and gave me heaps of energy. So all in all it was another great day and I'm feeling more and more confident about actually finishing Shep now. I just have to start backing up my mtb distance rides with my roadie. Got weights and a long swim tomorrow and then a long run on Saturday with my niece.

Hope everyone else is having a great week and working, training or resting hard!

Great job on the ride Simone!

I may take a slackers weekend with the Masters being on.  Today I did an hour on the spin bike.  Also adjusted my cleat a little to see if that took some pressure off my inner knee. So far so good, but the real tell tale will be on my roadie.

Interesting story...I got a piece of handwritten mail from a local Tuesday. I saw it and thought what in the world?  When I opened it I saw my driver's license and the note read that the gentleman found it while out running.  It must have flown out of my saddle bag (which I realized I didn't zip closed) on my long ride on Sunday.  Funny part was I didn't even remember that I took it out of my wallet so I had NO idea it was even gone!  Hopefully the gentleman also found the $10 bill I had wrapped around the license.

Anyway, the way I figure the guy saved me $10 from having to get a new license so he's welcome to it!

Pierce - yes, I'm like that too. I usually don't get sick and this was the sickest I've been and for the longest time too. I was a total baby! I also missed 7 days of work. I'm not used to my world being turned upside down like that. Glad it's over!

Jen - glad to hear you are getting healthy.  Still plenty of time to train so don't feel like you have to "catch up"  it will come back real quick.

Pierce - I guess there are still good people left in this world haha.  That is great that he returned you license.  For future you might want to consider putting you ID, cash and phone in a ziplock bag and stuff it in you rear pocket of your bike jersey.  I find it amazing how much crap I can shove in those pockets

Simone - Great job on the long bike and hitting another goal(when I plug that in to my handy calculator that is 38 miles).  Keep up the great work.  My car broke down on the road yesterday while visiting a jobsite so I had about 3 hours to kill and I finally got a chance to catch up on some stuff and read your blog.  Thanks for sharing that and glad to see how much better you are feeling.

KC - Isn't it always crappy weather in Canada haha?

finished a 12 week lifting / adding to everything cycle Saturday so I haven't done anything of substance the last few days. definitely necessary though. 

back to the grind Monday and first 5k of the year (and ever for that matter) in 16 days. 19 even would be cool but I think I could live with under 20. 

Jen - glad to hear you are feeling better!

Pierce  and everyone else - RoadID, I can't tell you enough order a road ID and don't worry about carrying your license for identification.  I use to only wear it while biking and now I wear it for biking or running.

I am slacking with the training this week and guess what, I am okay with it and not stressing about it.  I love it! 

Yes agree on the Road Id.  I used to go out on runs at lunch with no ID at all and would always joke that I would end up a John Doe if I got hit by a car or something and after my heart stuff in 2008-2009 I would worry I would drop on the trail and also end up a John Doe.  Ever since I got the Road Id - no worries.  This actually reminds me to order a new one since we changed our home phone and I have the wrong number haha.

No worries about the slacking- you have plenty of time - When does your IMAZ plan start?

Me three on the RoadID, one of the best things I've purchased for training, use mine for running and riding also.