Athena/ Clydesdale Official Mentor Group (Page 39)

I just crashed, kind of.  It's windy as all get out here in central PA, but I was slated for a 30m bike today so I saddled up.  I had not completed the fist mile before a strong side gust knocked me off the road.  Soft shoulder, grass, and a ditch were waiting to receive me.  The other side of the ditch was about 6' taller than the roadside so I didn't fall completely over.  Shook up and sore but not injured, I walked the bike back to the house, washed the mud and grass off of it and me, and put it away.  Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer, almost 10* warmer and no wind.  I will try again.

This screws up the appearance of my Planned vs Actual calendar, but as long as I get the training in it won't make my actual calendar look too bad.  Tomorrow was scheduled rest anyway.  So I'm just swapping days.

This week, I was fairly low on activity. I did manage:

1/2 mile swim x2

14.86 mile bike ride with 1.2 mile run (brick)

1 hour cardio workout

Starting W3 of the C2S program.  I did get my 30m bike in yesterday.  A much better day than Saturday.  No apparent injury to the bike from the "crash".  (It was actually more like a fall-over.)  I was pleased to reach my intended turn around point at 6.5 miles, for an average of 13 mph.  It was faster than that on the flats though.  If I can get my computer installed on the new bike this week I'll be better able to gauge how I'm doing before the final hill into home slows me WAY down.  I got passed on that hill by some guy who simply flew up it.  I was pretty bummed and then I thought, "I wonder how fast those skinny little legs would power him up that hill with another 200lbs strapped onto that bike?"  Yep, reality check.  Of course I can't keep up with that little dude.  I am pulling 2½ times his weight up that hill.  Okay, I'm satisfied.  I may not be as fast as "them", but I am doing the same ride.  Good for me!

W3 D2 of C2S - Was supposed to only be a 20 minute effort.  (Oh yeah, and it's supposed to be on a flat course or a track.  My course is uphill for 1 mile and then downhill for the mile home.)  But I find I have a really hard time reigning in that gung-ho kid in my head.  I pushed it out to 30 minutes, but it was all walking, so I figure I traded time for intensity.  Which is good, 'cause I'm only supposed to be in zone 2 anyway.  And at my weight, as soon as I run far enough to break a sweat I am in zone 4 or 5.

W3 D2 second half  600 yard swim.  Didn't do any extra laps because I had a meeting scheduled for right after the workout.  Didn't even have time for the hot tub or the sauna.

Tickled to death that I actually got BOTH workouts in today.  AND, I have twice as many workout days as lazy days so far this month.

Bakerstreet - great to see you here.  Looks like we're from some similar backgrounds.  I've gone 420 to 270 over the past couple of years.

I was suffering from horrible shin splints too.  Found a real shoe store locally, went in at a quiet time on a weekday and spent a good two hours getting fitted and trying stuff out.  Major bucks, but the shin splints went away within about a week.  I got one pair for workouts and one pair for work.  It was probably the best investment I could have made.  I just went back in this week and found I've lost two shoe sizes (along with 14 inches off the waist).

As far as the crippling fear of the pool goes - I went to WalMart and bought me a tight, black, stretchy shirt with short sleeves.  They actually had them up to about 5x, I wear a 3XT in the pool.  It's long enough that it covers my butt and stays tucked in.  It's also tight enough that it keeps the loose skin flat(ter).  I've been asked about it a couple of times, and I just explain that I'm in training for triathlons and I train like I race.  It sounds scientific and I get no additional questions.

Anyway, welcome.  This group has been supportive to the point of being ridiculous.

Its a little early for my weekly training report. I've been active but the main thing I want to talk about is how my 3 meetings with a Nutritionist went. I did let him know my physical activity and my goal to complete a Sprint Tri. He did want me to commit to fat loss as a primary goal and completing the Sprint on May 11th a secondary one. This has more to do with him wanting to reduce my physical activity.

We talked about food preferences, meal frequency, and not starving the body of carbohydrates. It is a good match and think we will be able to work well together over the next 12 weeks. He set a plan for me to loose 1.4-2.0 pounds of FAT per week. He is asking that I limit my physical activity to 6 hours per week (3 cardio, 3 strength training) and only work out on certain days. The toughest thing for me will be to decide "what" cardio to get in and since I have a Sprint on May 11th, it's crunch time. It's just over 2 weeks away...and the second week should be a lower intensity anyhow so I don't think I'm giving up much. I am going hold off on a second sprint to see how I adjust to the new way of eating and exercise.

Good news this week: I improved my 1/4 mile lap swim time to just under 10 minutes.

W3 D4 of C2Sp, 40m bike ride that really felt good.  Of course it was only 8 miles and an average of 13.5 mph.  But the hills take a big chunk of time away from me.  If I can get my avg up to 15 mph before that June 15th race in KS I think I'll be really happy with my time, since that course is pretty flat compared to where I ride.

Could really feel the headwind slow me down on the way back.  LOL, I was laboring up that final hill to home, cranking along at a quicker cadence than usual on that  (I'm usually grinding up it at walking speed.) when I got hit with one of the biggest gusts.  It almost stopped me cold.  And then I powered through it.  The best part is that was the only hill on today's ride that I dropped to my granny crank.  (Let's not go getting crazy here.  My bike has a triple crank and I did most of the ride on the middle one, but I did actually use the big one some too.)

This was the first workout this season which has aggravated my exercise induced asthma.  I think I'm going to go see my doctor and get an inhaler for that.  Last season I actually got to where none of my training workouts caused a reaction, but BOY that 3 hour race had me coughing for nearly all of the 2½ hour ride home.  It's times like that when I think an inhaler could be handy.

W3 D4 of C2Spr - And I am pretty pleased with the fact that I got both workouts in, even after teaching all day.  I haven't really followed the plan the way it's written.  I can't.  My rides and my walk/jogs are based upon certain routes and distances, not on times like the plan says.

900 yd swim - 2x50, 2x100, 1x400, 2x100, 2x50 - nailed the 400 in 9m 30s.

2 mi walk/jog in 31m 12s.

W4 Extra Day (to make up for missing Saturday last week)

Planned a 10 mile bike ride, but I just wasn't feeling it.  I turned around after the woodlands and returned for only 6.5 miles in 30m 12s.  I told myself that my "punishment" for not going the distance was that I was not allowed to use my granny crank at all.  I even made it up that nasty little final hill into town!  I was thinking about standing up on the pedals if need be, but I didn't have to.  Wish my computer was installed, would like to know if I really climbed any faster.  Logic tells me that I must have.  Bigger crank, comparable cadence, should equal faster climb.

Along the lines of DL > DNF > DNS, I had a revelation Friday at school.  I was the center of attraction in the teachers lounge during lunch.  I mentioned having to go to the pool after work and that led to a discussion of triathlons and lots of questions I had to answer.  The distances I am currently doing surprised them all (and I'm only doing 2 mile walk/jog, 6-10 mile bike, and 1000yd swim right now).  Some people claimed they could do one of the distances, one guy claimed two (jog and bike), but none of them believed they could do them all.  And swimming was by far the most dreaded.

So the thought that came to mind was how far ahead of the general populace we all are.  The overwhelming majority of folks can't complete even one of our disciplines.  A few folks consider themselves fit because they go out a few times a week and run a mile or two.  But put them all together into one long event and I believe you would find we are WAY down there in percentile.  Hmmm, how far down?

Well, the US population is around 313 million.  USAT reports annual membership at 140,000 and one day sales of 326,000 for 2011.  That's 466,000 registered in USAT events.  Some of those are probably duplicates but let's leave it at that.  Doing the math shows that triathletes make up less than 2/10ths of the population, 0.15% actually.

I think my issue with not lossing weight is that I am not eating ENOUGH some days and too much on others. I like seeing your training updates. Today my neighbor and I (also doing the sprint) did a brick (9 mile bike, 3.1 mile run). We have alot of hills on our route so while we didnt have great times, it was great interval work. We then spend the rest of the day chain sawing down tree branches and hauling gravel. I am completely exhausted...but an old man must accept the help when offered.

Good Luck this week, Jeff

Shameless brag ahead:

I had the last indoor tri of the season yesterday, and managed to complete two major goals.  First was to run all long courses.  That's 500 yards swim, 15 miles spin cycle, and 5 miles treadmill.  The second goal was to run the entire five miles, and I'm happy to report that I never dropped below 5.7 mph.  Finished the run in 51:56 and couldn't be happier.

Now, my A-race for the year is an Olympic distance in July, with a sprint scheduled for June.  Next area of focus is to continue the bike rides after work and get in the interval runs immediately after each ride - starting with 6:1 run:walk, working my way up to 6.5 miles at a time.

W4, D1 of C2Spr  Program said only 10 minutes, but since I'm still only walking (with VERY limited amounts of jogging) I went for my two mile loop.  Pretty satisfied.  I got it in 16:30 per mile.  Almost at my 4 mph goal.  I'm going to stay at 2 miles this week, then step it up to my old 3.7 mile course for May.  I doubt that I will be able to run all of TinMan in June but I should be able to do 50% or so running.

Then I took my road bike to the shop to get my computer installed.  Once that was done I brought the bike home.  Just couldn't motivate myself to drive BACK into town for today's scheduled swim though.

This past week I did about 51 miles on the bike. No swimming for some reason that I look back upon it. I did 45 minutes of crossfit and ran 5 miles (2 bike/run bricks).  I have the Housatonic Valley Sprint this Saturday. One of my bricks included an actual 11.5 mile ride/3 mile run on the course--many hills. Glad I've been training on hills.

My wetsuit arrived in the mail yesterday (rental). Fits snuggly as I am led to believe it should. I will get to the pool 2x this week just to get acclaimated to the new feel. Otherwise, I expect it to be a fairly light week.

jump, good luck with the race this week brother.

DBG, take it easy with that injury.  Go to a bike shop and get a real fitting.  They'll be able to get you sorted out fairly quick.

LIFE SUCKS!!  Mom died last Tuesday.  I rode to NC that day and stayed until Saturday.  I took two days to drive back, stopping at a friend's house in VA on the way back on Saturday.  No workouts, too much fast food, and WAY TOO MUCH beer has added up to over ten pounds gained in this week.  But it gets worse.

Friday, one of my brothers got us into a golf tournament, to sort of take our minds off it.  It was a "best-ball scramble" and we were picking up our balls on the roll, so to speak.  I was leaned out of the cart pretty far to pick up one and my brother decided it would be funny to snap the steering wheel and launch me out of the cart.  I was holding on with my left hand.  Something in my bicep got pulled/torn pretty good.  I can't straighten my arm all the way.  I can't pull my arm through the water.  And I can't support my weight on the handlebars of my bike for even a quarter mile.  I should have kicked his butt while I was in NC!

So my season has turned to feces.  I lost my April sprint to that gall bladder surgery.  I just lost my June sprint to my idiot brother's screwed up sense of humor.  And there's no big hurry to train up for the B2B HIM now, since Mom is gone and won't be able to see the race anyway.

Motivation is at an all time low right now.