jsiegs and slornow's Train Hard and Have Fun group - CLOSED for Training (Page 4)

I'm ok with the tatics, as long as people aren't being a jerk.  I'll definitely keep the drafting idea in mind on the run, but to be honest the run is my weak point.  So I get passed a lot more than I pass on the run. 

I forgot to include in me brief bio, that I am turning 30 this year, and my goal for the season is to speed up my normal run split. I am just under 9min/mile for 5k races. 

I got to ride my bike to work today, So around 18miles on the bike.

I have nothing to compare to, but I do have some competition blood in me! I plan to 'shine' in my event, which is swimming. Disadvantage: it's the first event, all the runners will take me in the end! Advantage: I can start at the front of the wave and get to T1 early enough to possibly gain a small lead?!

I can revisit this in 9 days and tell you what I did, but I have a feeling my momentum will increase and if I'm close enough to someone to pass them, I will. This does not include biking, at least until I get good training on the bike, and know specific rules and such.

In the meantime, all I want to do is finish, and hope for better than last place!

I did an hour and a half run this evening and felt great. I am loving the spring weather that is finally deciding to show up!

I will be racing again on sunday, doing a 12K road race in Spokane called 'Bloomsday'. It's one of the largest road races in the country with 50,000+ participants, should be a good time! Good luck with the training everyone.

I have a 2900 yd swim today.   Saturday is a short brick (hr bike/30 min run)  and Sunday is a longer brick (2 hr ride/30 min run).  I also have to fit a swim in there somewhere.  The next 2 weeks are peak training hours for me.  I'm really nervous about trying to fit everything in without my house and family falling apart.  I'm going to spend some time this weekend preparing food for the week, doing laundry, and planning my schedule. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Christy

Great article, Nicole!  Was it a Danskin Tri?  I have a finishers medal from a Danskin tri that says "The woman who starts the race is not the same woman who finishes the race."

Nicole that was a great article! It brought back so many feelings I had for my first attempted olympic tri. I too told my family to come for the start of my race and went through transition setup alone and had to wait, wait and wait. Then they cancelled the swim and I was super let down (probably my best leg of the race). I had to motivate myself for a TT start on the bike and remind myself that this was my first and to enjoy the experience.

My wife, kids and parents showed up and helped me get ready to tackle the bike and run. I had a blast and am now getting ready to train for a HIM in Oct. I am nervous about the time I will have to commit to training to make it an enoyable race. Hearing how you had to often pick between training and other issues motivates me to make time for my training while still focusing on the family. There will be lots of early mornings but the feeling after the race is worth all the sacrifice.

Again great article!

Kevin

Thanks everyone! It's so fun to see it up! For the record, I am just as nervous about my first Olympic Tri as I was for my first Sprint tri.  

@Christy - It wasn't a Danskin, but I've heard those are awesome. It was the US Women's Series Tri. This year that series looks like it's been taken over by SheRox. I'm not doing the race this year but will definitely be back at it next year! 

@Randy - This weekend I have the annual Chicago Police Memorial Foundation Run to Remember 5K. My fundraising team has managed to raise more than $400 for this awesome cause. First 5K of the year and though this distance has become pretty routine for me I still plan to go hard tomorrow and enjoy a BIG BRUNCH after ... doesn't really mesh with the rest of my training plan (I'm supposed to do six miles on Saturday instead of 3.25), but I'm rearranging some things to get the miles in next week. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

I have been experimenting with nutrition before and during my training rides and runs.  I have yet to find what really works.  I'm pretty good on the bike, I think.  On my last (and only) 40 mile ride I had a bottle of water and a bottle of HEED.  I drank when I was thirsty.  I ended up drinking both bottles.  It wasn't a really warm day. I also ate 2 gu chomps every 30 minutes.  The bottle of HEED is 100 calories and 2 chomps are 45 calories.  My ride took 2 hours and 30 minutes.  So I had around 280 calories.  I felt pretty good on the ride, but I'm not sure I would have had any energy for a 13 mile run.  I also have a problem eating/drinking while I'm running.  It always seems to mess up my stomach.   I'm going to do a 40 mile ride/3 mile run Sunday.  I thought I'd try to eat a little more on the bike and see how I feel.

I am also trying to figure out what to eat before long runs.  Everything I seem to eat gives me stomach problems when I run.   I know everyone is different, but what do yall eat before runs?

Christy

@ Nicole: Good luck with your 5K this weekend!

@Christy: I really struggle with eating on my bike as well. Last year for my HIM I was using bars and gels mostly for my nutrition. I really struggled to get stuff down, and keep it there. This year I am only using liquid nutrition. I use a Carbo Pro mix with some sort of electrolyte drink, either nuun or gatorade. With the Carbo Pro I can easily put 200-300 calories in a bottle. It is super easy to digest and it is pretty much flavorless. I then fill a flask with 2-3 packs of PowerGel and then add water to make it more liquid. With that plan I can easily get down 600-700 calories on a 2-3 hr bike ride. I am planning on taking in 200-300 calories an hour on the bike. I will then carry a couple packs of gel with me for the run and take whatever on course gatorade or water is offered. So far in training and some longer bricks I have done it has worked pretty well.

Pre training meal is usually pretty light, I just can't handle food in my stomach usually. I have been experimenting with taking down a couple nutritional drinks like an Insure or whatever its called, in the morning a couple hours before a really tough training day. 200+ calories in one bottle. I don't do it often as that stuff is kind of gross, but I plan on using that for my race morning meal. Simple, easily digestable, balanced calories, and very easy to have with me no matter where I am racing.

Just keep experimenting and find what works for you. I still need to do some tweaking with the electrolyte mix, and possibly taking down some salt tablets for hotter days. So by no means do I even have my plan completely nailed down. Good Luck!

@Matt-Thanks for the info.  I'm going to give a more liquid breakfast a try.  I have a couple of months to figure it all out.  I saw you're doing a HIM in Victoria, BC.  That might be my favorite place in the whole world.  I can't imagine how awesome that race will be. 

Christy

I don't know how long your runs are, but I have a ridiculously sensitive stomach and I'm good up to 10 miles/ 2 hours with the following (for a morning run):

Pre run: 1 banana, 1 bottle of full-calorie Gatorade (plus water, of course)
Every 40 minutes: 1 pack gu (or choose your nutritional supplement)

Then I eat like crazy AFTER I run. 

The key for me is staying relatively light before I go out on a run. I know people who carbo-load and eat bagels before they run, but those things sit like a brick in my stomach. Same goes for pasta the night before. 

There was a question about carbo-loading the night before a sprint tri? ... 
My local tri friends basically said not to worry too much about that before a sprint tri. So for the last few years, my dinner the night before a big race is usually salad, broiled salmon, brown rice, and a green veggie (steamed). I jokingly say that the salmon helps me to swim better  

I'm sure I'll have tons of nutrition questions once I start getting into bigger workouts. 

@Thanks Nicole.  It makes me feel better to know i'm not the only one with stomach issues.  It is so upsetting to have to cut a run short because i feel sick.  I do eat pasta the night before a race.  Not really for carbo loading, just out of habit.  I'm a little superstitious.  I eat the same thing the night before every race.

Christy

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to tweak my diet to see what works. I tried GU Gel - um, no thank you! It may have been to texture, but I tried it right before a run and nearly threw up. Last night we had spaghetti for dinner and this morning at training I felt like I had a huge rock in my stomach. Those two things I know for sure I will not do before a race!

It seems to me like brown rice, chicken and a green veggie it going to be what works for me the night before. The day of: cereal and a zone bar. So far that seems to work for me and my stomach. But that is during training... race day may be another story!

This week I'll try drinking G2 to see what it does during workouts. I'm not big on sports drinks, but if it helps I'll give it a go. If not, water it is!

Like Nicole... I too will have tons of nutrition questions!

Hey all,

I know you are coming close to your number of 'students', however do you have room for one more. Of all the groups available this one really seems to work for me, and has caught my interested...so much so that I read all 90+ posts before I set forth the commitment.

So with that said, may I join?

I will post a full post later to set an intro, however if you are so captivated by initial post you can read up about me on my blog (fatfittri.blogspot.com).

Hey guys - it appears like there's still some room on this train, can I hop on?

NAME: Xiao

STORY: I've been interested in doing tri's for a long time, but have just stuck with running so far due to time, money, and all of the other excuses people have named. This past year I ran two marathons (Chicago in the Fall, and Boston two weeks ago) so am a little burnt out from marathon training plans... which led me into a deep, dark place called Ebay. Long story short, I now have a really pretty bicycle, a trainer, and an angry fiancee. Just signed up for my first tri (oly) in a month and aiming to get up to a 70.3 by fall.

FAMILY STATUS: Got engaged after the Chicago marathon. No date yet - I figure my job is done, at this point I just take orders.

CURRENT TRAINING: Haven't run since Boston. Found a friend who'll let me use the pool in their building (I'm in NYC). Am fully bought into the mantra of suffering so am looking forward to beating myself up in a smart manner (exemplified by the fact that I took my last $100 and bought an indoor trainer instead of tri-shoes).

2011 RACES: 

Harryman olympic in May

70.3 in the fall (Timberman perhaps?)

A few road and trail races sprinkled in the mix

WEIGHTLOSS: I gain weight scarily fast, but that's why I work out... not a primary concern but I'm ~4lbs off my "chiseled" weight.

Plenty of room, welcome!

Welcome to the group!  I can relate to the angry fiancee...I bought myself a few toys just after engagement prior to going into "saving for the wedding" mode.  Haha, it was my last chance to get those things without asking permission!

I was too.  You'll do great though, trust your training and you won't have anything to worry about.

Congrats on the article BTW, it was a good read.  I think you really captured what a lot of us felt like in our first race...even if your circumstances (haha, crazy hotel) were a little different.  Also, no wetsuit????  Holy crap!  I can barely swim when my pool drops below 84!