Baowolf's Mentor Group- Closed (Page 38)

Jim - I'm sorry about your wife's hearing loss and I'm praying you get answers soon!

Elena - That cruise sounds like a whole ton of fun!

Joe - That story about your wife and 'the dummy husband' made me laugh out loud. And it reminded of a story I read about a guy biking through the Yukon territories with friends. He got ahead of the group and soon found himself being chased down by a very large wolf. Here is the link if you are interested - http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2013/jul/09/sandpoint-cycli...

Steve - hang in there! I get overwhelmed just thinking about those long workouts now. I'm so stoked with how far you have come since the accident last year, and you are gonna really have a good race at Tahoe. There is a guy in my tri club who is gonna do Tahoe too. And I see you and the others as my family too Looking at your run splits on the 17 miler I'd say you are definitely ready!

Pam - great job on the run after boot camp! Your bear story made me laugh too. Sucky deal on the identity theft situation.

Jared - Realizing the negative affect that comparisons have on you is a huge step in the right direction. Now you know and you can move forward and do it for the love of being out there! Excited for the arrival of your princess.

Jay - so glad things went well for you wife's surgery! And what a crazy way to bring your story full circle. What a day! Give yourself some time to rest!

Mike - I am so happy for your daughter. What a great achievement for her and it shows so much about you and her mom.

Carol - I hear ya on the fitness anchor. The heat here isn't inspiring me to get out much since I don't have a race pushing me to go anyway.

My training has been sparse. I've done a couple runs and several swims. Lots of volunteering for local stuff. Last two days at current job are monday and tuesday. I'm going backpacking later this week. New job starts on the 19th and hopefully I'll be moving into my new place soon. Thinking about doing a HIM in June 2014 with a friend.

Great job to all of you who are killing it in training. So very proud of you all!

Samantha, it is such a joy to read your posts. You have a great gift of encouraging and making others feel heard. So glad that you are moving forward on the job, and on your new living space! Good for you for taking a little time in between to soak up the great outdoors!

Pam, glad to see you posting while on the phone dealing with the mess. Glad it sounds as if the damage may be contained!

Steve, that run is incredibly solid. Very amazed at your resilience. I was listening to a book on tape in the car this weekend, and it talked about how being healthy was not about not ever getting sick or injured, but about having a sort of a reserve or base to draw on. Like a kids toy that is weighted in the bottom...you can knock it down, but it pops back up well and relatively quickly. You are a Weeble...they may wobble, but don't fall down

Had another awesome weekend visiting my friend. Having hours upon hours to just talk has been incredible and very good for both of us in so many ways. Have my Sept visit scheduled, and that may be the last one if she can get a spot in a halfway house in October. My eyes have also been opened to how truly broken parts of our criminal justice system are. I know that we have it much better here in the US than in so many other places, but lets just say I was very naïve. I'm not talking violence or anything in this facility, but just so much that does not make sense. My motto when going there is "It does not have to make sense". Jay, I so appreciate you having prepared me to visit her that first time.

On the workout front, tried to swim in the city pool in Bryan yesterday, but as soon as I change into my suit, an alarm went off, and they closed the pool due to thunder. Took that as my cue to head to the hotel and get some work done. Tried a little jogging (I'm talking maybe 50 yards at a time) mixed into my walk this morning, and the pain in the butt is still there. As before, I can run through it, but it is far from good. So back to the PT drawing board tomorrow. I want to be like Steve and bounce back.

Hello everyone. It appears that life once again is putting the screws to my wife and I She is recovering well and that's the most important thing but my car decided that after a couple hundred thousand miles that its life is nearly complete. It ran fine when I went to work yesterday morning but it crapped out on the way home. Today will be an interesting day...we find out if my wife's Jeep is fixable...once that's determined then how we handle my car. Technically, it still runs but I don't know for how long and my wife can't get in and out of a car easily with her surgery. This is one of those times that I find myself saying "God, why!!??" but I know that I've been through much worse and He's always been there! We know life trumps training but I'm getting annoyed; I'm READY to get going but the obstacles are killer.

Mike: I think you had a race this weekend....hope it went well!

Carol: I'm glad that you had a good visit with your friend! I hope prison hasn't broken her spirit too much...I see that way too often.

Samantha: Nice to see you lurking around You sound like you're in a great place with life and training.

Steve: Great numbers! I love the consistency in that run you posted. What do you wear for a watch anyway? I don't think I can get those splits from my Magellan or Garmin (its a 205) Quick question...when you were doing your 800's..how much rest were you giving yourself between sets? Also, thanks for posting your swim numbers....I forget to practice BS so seeing your workout reminded me I need to start!

Pam: Hope your identity theft situation clears up soon....I love how they try to make that sound nice by saying its "tax evasion"

Have a good night everyone. Hopefully, I'll be coming back with some decent news later today.

Jay - hope the car things works out well. You are being tested, no doubt.

My race is this upcoming weekend. I'm getting excited for it, and it will be a fun, but long day. If anything, I'm looking forward to the beautiful scenery along the bike & run courses. I'm taking it easy this week, as I have been sick the past few days (going around the house) and didn't get out and do much the past couple days. Went on a short bike Sunday AM, but was so congested, I cut it off after 17 miles. One good thing is that is was so beautiful outside, I stopped to take a picture along the route. This is about 2 miles from my house. The water on the left is the Atlantic Ocean. about 1/2 mile further down the road the whole left side opens up to an ocean view. Here's the pic I took:







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I use a garmin 405 and I set it to beep and give me the time for every mile and it then logs each mile split so I can look them up later. It also has the average pace set to the lower left corner so for like a marathon you can look and see your current pace, each mile you can see what your pace was for that mile and you can see your average pace for the entire race or run. You can look at a lot of other things, but those are typically the most important to me. I have done heart rate zone work with it, but I typically go by feel currently. If I can get in better shape next year than I am now I can start doing some heart rate specific work, but I find that I have to have a really thick base before doing too much speedwork makes sense.

My shoulder has been iffy this year (impingement) so I do 200 yards of breaststroke after every 1000 ish yards of freestyle to help kind of balance out the muscles I am using to irritate the shoulder less. In the offseason I will do more muscle balancing work to try to get a more resilient shoulder for next season. Next year will be my first attempt at 2 IMs in one year. We see how that turns out.

For the 800 repeats, I warmup for 1 mile at a comfortable pace, then do 800 hard with 400 (half mile) easy between each 800. I then add 1 800 each week. So if you start with 2 then next week would be 3 etc.

I hate car, house, etc. issues. It looks like we probably have to replace the roof on our house this year after replacing the fridge, wife thinks the dishwasher needs replacing, new concrete in the driveway, new siding for part of the house, son starting college, putting a big chunk of cash into a retirement fund for 1 year... Thankfully the cars are both less than 100,000 miles. I hope your fixable car is actually fixable without remaining wiggles or whatever due to frame issues.

Sometimes you just can't make plans for races and workouts and such because life is just "happening." It is another part of life that we sometimes have to let go of for a time until the dust settles some. Take care of you and yours, our prayers are with you.

Good afternoon everyone.

First off, thanks for the encouragement Steve and Mike. We are still awaiting word from the autobody on my wife's car...I'm thinking no news is good news...or at least hoping thats the case!

I got back on the wagon today and got a workout in. My kids are at YMCA camp this week and my wife needs to prep for school...so I snuck out. I forgot my swimming gear so I just did some strength training and a short run. I'm very happy that I haven't lost much strength; I squatted for the first time since my tear and I was able to pile on the weight without much difficulty. (no pain in Achilles either) Overall, nothing to brag about but it was a good reintroduction for my body.

That's about it for now. I'll post if/when I hear anything else...and thanks for the prayers, they're appreciated!

Mike, that picture makes me want to ride that road! Sorry you have been sick. Hopefully the timing will work out OK for your tri though.

Jay, ugh, sorry that you are dealing with multiple and time consuming issues right now. Glad it's the wife healing and the car broken down instead of the other way around. Sounds like the workout was good for you.

I embraced my inner fruit/nut during the drive this weekend and listened to a book on CD by Andrew Weil - Taking Care of Yourself. Actually, it was not too far out there, and I learned a few things and had some others reinforced. It is a good read/listen if, like me, you are pretty OK with the activity side of things, but have more challenge with eating healthy on a consistent basis. On that front, I'm down 4 lbs since I decided to focus on that. It is never a perfectly straight path, but at least I'm ON the path . OK, must snap out of denial that I am behind on work...again...sigh.

helllooo!

Well you knew I was back from the vacation and caught a good head-cold the night we got home. Lasted for days. Better now & lazy a can be. I've only ran once since I got home. Kids start school Wednesday. Was talking with friends and we were chatting about how excited we were that school was starting!!!! ...had nothing to do with sending our kids off, We were just so happy we could get back to our workouts and training!!! Yay!!!!

Pam: I'm so sorry about the identity theft. I just cant understand how people make the choice to STEAL something that doesn't belong to them. Never understood it. Makes me angry. Sure hope it clears up for you and doesn't consume more of you than it needs too.

Jared: Baby yet?

Jay: Could barely believe about the accident before your wifes surgery! Glad she's healing and hope you'll have a vehicle that allows you to get from point A to B.

Mike: Pat on the back for raising a "Good Egg". What a gift! And what great model you are! Enjoyed the pic. Serene.

Samantha: Enjoy your time backpacking! I've had a fantastic summer traveling but realize summer just isn't compete till I've spent time camping-hiking-backpacking and then coming home smelling like campfire smoke to a HOT STEAMY shower. ..in no particular order.

Steve: training looks incredible. September's almost here!!

Edited by EV3110 2013-08-12 5:43 PM

Just as a reminder guys Ken has his IM on 8/25, has sufficient training in to finish it hope he doesn't have a nagging injury keeping him away from the boards. I asked him to get us his race number so we can stalk him. Ken if you lurk here, easy on the pace all day Z2, no Z3 at all for effort level.

Go Ken!! Didn't realize it was coming up so quick.

If anyone cares to track me as I amble through New Hampshire this weekend, I'm bib # 535. Can follow me @ Ironman.com. They have athlete tracking set up for the HIM this weekend.

Elena, glad you are feeling better and that you will have some time for workouts!

Ken, yes, if you are out there, good luck on your IM!

Mike, wow, that HIM snuck up fast! Hope you have a wonderful time. I'm sure I'll check in over the weekend to see how you did/are doing.

Jogged a little bit on my walk this morning, and for the first time in a LONG time, no pain! Didn't push it....maybe 1/4 mile on a mildly downhill path. Not really supposed to be running yet, but can't resist testing it a teensy bit.

First off, Ken, I hope your achilles is healed and you're ready to go!

Quick update: My wife's car is okay...going to be fixed and ready by next week. My car is pretty dead...going to buy a new used car tomorrow. Most people would be excited...I'm less than thrilled.

Lost my post again - damn this laptop. Can't retype all. Will hit high spots.

Good luck Ken and Mike this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jay, glad wife's car can be fixed.

Intervals this morn. Not good but they are done. 8:50, 8:30, 8:09, 8:14, 8:03, 8:12. Steve, you were with me on those intervals because I decided that I was only going to do 3x 1/2 miles. I remembered your post of how you had to mentally make yourself finish your intervals and so I buckled down and bloody did it. Not great but the mental focus was used on making myself do 6 intervals so I had little mental left to make myself run my butt off. lol

The movie "The Last Mile" did some filming at the Tally mary and was the feature movie for the Boston mary. Watched last night with our running club and it's EXCELLENT! Hubby found on Amazon and ordered a copy today and I can't wait to watch again and again and again and again. I highly recommend. Done by John Burkett (Hope I spelled his name right.) Beautiful filming. Tally mary is the start line scenes and then the outdoor finish line scenes.

Edited by Pink Socks 2013-08-13 7:06 PM

Pam, your fatigue load will impact your pace on intervals, the main thing is to have a hard effort for them, so you get an A for getting it done. My last interval set I had to mentally focus on the angle of my ankles, hips, shoulders, head and arm swing to maintain pace once my get up and go had got up and gone. Way to get it done 8).

Edited by Baowolf 2013-08-13 11:55 PM

Last pre-race swim this AM. Felt good and did about 1900 yards (I cut masters short) and felt like I could have kept going for a while. We also had one section where we had a timed 100 yd swim, and I did an all time best -- 1:19!! Couldn't believe I broke 1:20. Coach was looking for me to break 1:25. Granted its not a big deal for a 2200 yard race swim, but it felt great to get there.

In other news, my sore hammy has been acting up all week, and hurts all the time now. Had been fine the past couple weeks, but this week, not so much. If I end up having to walk the run on Sunday, I'm looking at a 7 hour finish. Guy in my masters class did the race last year and told me there are places on the bike where I'll likely be able to hit 50 mph if I want to. Not so sure thats something I feel like doing .

Hey Mike, hope the hammy feels better for the weekend. Are you icing? As for the 50mph downhills, it makes me wonder what the uphills look like!

Pam, glad you made it through the intervals. Do you find that later in the week (not the next workout) you naturally go a little faster after doing them?

Steve, sounds like you are holding together pretty well. We need to know what kind of duct tape you use .

Yesterday's pain free 1/4 mile was so good I decided to try a couple of half mile jogging intervals this morning (you know...if one is good, two is better theory). Maybe not such a good idea...had some fairly low level pain when running, felt OK after, and then the deep tissue massage sent pain down my leg and behind the knee to the point I had to take a couple breaks. PT nicely suggested that I was rushing things a bit re: the running.

Ya 50mph on skinny tires might be a bit fast, depends on if there are any turns and if the pavement is good. I hit 40 mph ish regularly on my rides, but no turns and then it flatens out so no real need to break. There is a big difference between 40 nd 50 though.

Mike, that hamy is just gona take a really long time to heal up. I have to imagine that at 1:19 you are even using it for your swim.(me not so much on my swims). That is very impressive swim, but man do not kill your leg in the HIM. I would be really tempted to punt, take 6-8 weeks and start up walking for 1 month then 1 month of walk jog in an attempt to get healthy.

Carol I am sure your PT can "let you know" what you have done to your leg during the massage..... Are you sore HERE! Hope that all works out. In truth we do have physical limits. That is why I have accpeted that I will in all likelyhood never hit a 9:59:59 IM to qualify for Kona, but will try to just get in the 12-14 IM IMs to qualify through the legacy program. Those only need to be done at 16:59:59 to count. The last thing I need to accomplish before I die... Although 50 marathons in 50 states is a thought.

Edited by Baowolf 2013-08-14 11:35 AM

I'm already punting on the September Oly (Sorry, Jay!), and plan on taking a full month off from running after this race. I will restart from scratch in October. Will continue easy swim/bike in the mean time.

I am going ahead with this HIM, though, and will take it slow on the run. I'll likely end up walking much of it, and if thats my day, so be it.

I don't see 50 mph in my future. Just insane on those tiny tires and questionable roads.

50 mph!! Max downhill speed I've gone is 42mph. FUN, but hard not to think what would happen if bad road got in your way. 50 should only happen when buckled in a car! Really excited about your race Mike! bib # is handy.

Steve, Ive never really looked into the whole qualifying thing (for knowledge, not for me to "qualify"). But I guess the question I have is why do athletes have to qualify when they can just buy a slot? It the qualifying solely for pro & semi-pros? A friend raced Hawaii Kona70.3 last year and registered like any other race. Whats the deal?

Ive heard about that 50 marathons in 50 states. Sounds like a great bucket-list item. Thinking that my first isn't going to happen in Nov. Been really hard to get out the door and do something that makes me sweat. Planned to run today after dropping my car off for new brakes and oil change, but walked the entire 3.5 miles home.

Steve, your training looks so strong. I need our mental-toughness Your race is just a few weeks out! Is the entire family going?


Carol, sounds like you are really working hard! Great splits.

Elena

The Hawaii 70.3 race is a HIM done on the Big island in June, and the bike follows part of the Kona IM course. Its a WTC run event, but is not the Ironman Kona World Championship event. Anyone can sign up.

In fact, if you'd like to do the 70.3, its still open. May be as close as I ever get to racing there

Yes I am talking about the World Championship IM. To qualify you need to win a slot at a pervious typically IM IM earlier that year. In any given year 70,000 people complete a qualifying event and 2,500 qualify. Some slots are for companies that donate alot of money to Ironman, TV celebs, military etc., certain groups get slots. So it is roughly the top 2.5 to 3% of Ironman athletes that qualify to play on the big island. So to qualify you need to do an Ironman branded IM earlier in the year and place high enough to qualify at that race. Only so many slots are alloted per age group per gender. So at my age/gender I have to be in the top 60 in the world and on that partiular day at that particular race I need to place in the top 2-3. Even if you are in the top 60 in the world if the top 5 guys who are faster than you show up only 2 are going to the championships. Typical qualifying times for Ironmans at my age/gender is around 10:10:00 or 1:35/100 swim, 21 mph on the bike and 8:00 mpm pace on the run. Just to put that in perspective the run as part of the IM should be a Boston Qualifying time. So the younger you are the faster you have to be to qualify. Alternatively you can complete 12 Ironman's with the last 3 being in the most recent consecutive years and then you have a decent chance of being selected to go to Kona after you complete another IM branded IM earlier that year. Alternatively you can win an IM branded HIM in your age group (4:10:00 HIM times ish). Some courses are flatter so faster times to try to beat there. So a bit more complicated that registering online 8). Oh, you could buy a Kona lottery ticket and have a 1 in 70 or 1 in 140 something chance of winning, you can buy a slot for $50,000 or so on auction maybe ( a couple of those each year) or you can know someone who has one of those rare corporate or military tickets and find a backdoor in that way. So there ya go more than you ever really wanted to know.

Final bike session this AM. Just an easy spin for an hour. Felt good, and looking forward to the race on Sunday. Mentally, I'm in a good spot for this, and will be out there to have fun, even if I"m DFL for the race.

Here's a look at the bike course --- its an out & back, with plenty of hills. First 11 miles are all uphill, I think. Fun!. 39x25 here I come!

http://www.mapmyride.com/us/gilford-nh/timberman-tri-1-2-ironman-bi...

Steve, so how many more IM's do you need to get to 12?

Mike, like your attitude re: this race. My last one was on only a sprint, but I went in feeling that way and thoroughly enjoyed it. Just realizing what a privilege it is to be able to race makes it fun. Will look forward to you reporting back in with how it went.

It was unseasonably cool this morning, one of those days I would normally seize the moment and run. But yes, I got the message from my last PT session and chose to go on a no hills, low intensity bike ride this morning and stop at the park to do my exercises/stretches so I could at least be outside. Did very well on that strategy....until a guy blew past me as I was cautiously making my way through a dangerous intersection. Just seemed like he thought he was hot stuff the way he was riding. Well, it was ON. I made it my mission to pass him, and did so fairly quickly. He was on a hybrid and I was on my road bike, so not a fair fight. But I do hope being passed by a middle aged lady took him down a notch or two. No ill effects from my short term need for speed, but yes, I could use some endorphins about now!

Total awesome-ness!!

Mike & Ken!! Ready? Crazy how excited one (ME!) can get about another's race! I guess we understand the sweat & sacrifice that it took to get to that race-day start! Rootin' for ya both! Mike your positive attitude rocks! Love it!

Ya Steve that's a ton of info. But interesting. So ya Steve, I echo what Squirt asked.. How many IM have you completed? Close to 12?

I'm ready for autumn. Anyone with me? :D