Team KiterChick - CLOSED (Page 4)

Hi everyone! I've been keeping busy lately. Got in a solid hour on the trainer yesterday morning, then it was off to the pool this morning. That was a bit discouraging. Generally, I don't have to report specific paces to my coach, but this one involved a 300 and 1000 yard set where I was supposed to keep track of my pace. After doing 1500 yards at a 2:15 pace on Tuesday, I was feeling good. Ended up doing the sets today at a 2:18 and 2:28 pace respectively. Not sure if I was just having an off day, or maybe schlepping two heavy bags on my shoulders to the gym wore them out. Who knows? Oh well, on to the next workout. I have a 45 minute run this afternoon, then it's more running and biking over the weekend...

Eddie - Sounds like you're keeping busy. I know you'd mentioned slacking on the swimming, but I glanced at your logs and there's none there. Are you not swimming at all? If you can't get it in, then that's fine, just surprised to see that going into a half. Sweet bike, by the way! I can't wait to get my race wheels on in the next month or so...

Amanda - I'm impressed you chose the treadmill and swimming over relaxing in the spa. That's some willpower! Hope your cold clears up soon.

Roxanne - Sounds like your tri club is doing a good job of prepping you for your upcoming race. Feel free to post any additional questions you may have between now and then here.

Will - If you're looking for warmer weather to run in, you're going to get it soon enough. I feel awful for the marathoners. Record breaking heat on Monday!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Eddie - Sounds like you're keeping busy. I know you'd mentioned slacking on the swimming, but I glanced at your logs and there's none there. Are you not swimming at all? If you can't get it in, then that's fine, just surprised to see that going into a half. Sweet bike, by the way! I can't wait to get my race wheels on in the next month or so...

It is hard for me to get motivated to swim. Fortunately, swimming comes fairly natural to me. My Olympic distance event last October was a lake swim. It took me 33 minutes to complete and I was 3rd out of the water for the Novice. Not necessarily fast, but I was second off the bike and ended up 7th because I I lost 10 minutes on the run. I have been dedicating most of my time to running. Before the Oly I had only been swimming three time in the last 20 years and two were lake swims the week before the event.

I have put in a few pool swims the last few months, but definitely not enough for a real training program. I will be in survival mode.

Hello everyone.  Sorry I have been absence lately. I have been busy and also my daughter's wedding.  

I am ready for my second tri coming up this weekend.  Should be fun.

Good evening everyone,

Been plugging away at the workouts. Ended up taking Thursday off to celebrate the ITP recovery. We were in celebration mode all day. Today I spent only 31 minutes on the treadmill but I keep the pace faster than my normal.

I have a wet suite question of my own. I currently own a full sleeve wetsuite that  wore last year on an oly. The water was cold but managable. However being that I have extra padding on my body (fat) by the time I got to the half way mark I was already over heated.

This year I have three tri's lined up for sure and they are all wet suite legal. The first one is in June, an oly; second one is July HIM in Wisconsin, and the third one in Septempter an Oly. So my thinking is why should I buy or rent a sleeveless wet suite? My body will most likely get over heated again anyway since I'll be swimming. I was thinking of buying a speed suite instead, still have yet to find one place to rent one. For those who do not know a speed suite it a wet suit with no sleevels and the legs end at the knees.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Any brand recomendations? Do you think I'll be able to stay cool? I would like to wear one at least for my HIM.

In two weeks I have my first half marathon of the season, I'm going for a 2 hour finish time. Being short and fat the closest I've ever come is 2:20:36 last year in September.

Hope everyone has a good night.

Beth

Had a good workout at the tri class this am, a 15 mile bike ride followed by a 4.5 mile run. I made it through just fine, so I think that the tri will be ok.

Hi everyone, I am finally back home! 32 hours on planes in the last 4 days was not too much fun.

I did get some pretty decent workouts though. On Monday in Chicago, the hotel had a pretty decent pool, so I did a hard swim and felt really good. I flew out the following morning and got to Tokyo at 5pm on Wednesday (local time). Had dinner with a couple of co-workers and went to bed at 8:30 pm. Then of course, I woke up at 11 pm I went to the fitness center and did a run on the treadmill, first half tempo, second half easy. Felt good, especially after being on a plane for 14 hours. 

On Thursday I had several meetings and dinner, so there was no workout, but Friday morning I woke up at 4 am as expected and went outside for a run around Central Park in Shinjuku. There were quite a few people running and the weather was beautiful. The park has some tough inclines, so I went at a low pace and focused on form. It's a shame there were not a lot of Cherry Blossoms left, since it rained two days prior and that kind of ended the two weeks of this beautiful spectacle.

Today I got to try the trainer I got as a birthday present (did I mention the day I flew out was my b-day, so I spent in on the plane?). It's the Kinetic Road Machine and I love it! I went for an hour and a half and I felt great. 

Tomorrow I am going out early morning for my long run (1 hour and 50 mins).

Hope you are all doing great,

Sebastian

My swim this morning did not go as planned. I had intended on swimming a mile or so but after a few laps I just wasn't feeling it this morning. I pushed for another 10 laps with poor form and much to be desired for speed. I finally called it quites. I kind of feel bad about stopping early but what good will it do me to swim poorly?

Beth

Beth, 

I think that is a good decision.   some days it is not there.  

Well it looks like another day on the trainer here.   We did not get the tornado storms but I have had crazy rain this weekend.    I am ready to get back outside.    Looks like some others got in some great workouts.   Keep it up. 

I know I've toyed with the idea of retro fitting my existing hybrid Cannondale a few days back, but now I have an interesting dilemma...I have an opportunity to buy a used 2001 Trek 1000 (http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2001&Brand=Trek&Model=1000&Type=bike) with limited indoor trainer usage.  From the pics I've seen it looks in great shape only thing is the cost...guy is asking $300 for it when it came brand new $650-ish.  All parts look original on it from the pics.

From what I can recall, my Cannondale is a 1996 M300 (http://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=1996&Brand=Cannondale&Model=M300&Type=bike), also in great condition and limited outdoor usage.  I'm just worrying that by the time I retro it I will be at least $150 in the whole (pedals, tires, tuneup, etc.) and if I go with the used Trek 1000, I would sell my current bike to offset the price...

Seller can meet in a few hours this morning to show me the bike and some accessories...any early morning thoughts from a fellow BT-er?  Am I paying too much if I buy the Trek or am I just being paranoid and can handle the first tri on my own?

Mitch, I also agree that 300 is a bit much for an 11 year old bike.   If you retro fit I think would would end up close to your 650ish.   depending on what you put on it.   With tech upgrades over the last few years I would think there also would be a big weight differance over th 11 years.  

I also agree that your current bike would be fine for what you are doing.    Hope that helps. 

Mitch, I have to join the bandwagon here.  IMHO, I think if you can get the bike for about 200, go for it, otherwise, walk.  I would make a couple of modification to your current bike and continue to look around.  

Finished my second sprint of this season.  Today was just not a good day for me.  Even though physically I was great, I just couldn't get my head into it.  

See my race report for the dismal details.  

Hi everyone, I had a fairly active weekend. Saturday, I went out for a 6.8M run. I would have liked to have pushed it more, but I was up late the night before, so I did the best I could. Made sure to get more sleep on Saturday night, and headed out for a bike ride on Sunday. There were a lot of hills on the return portion of the trip, which were killing me by the end, but I'm not going to rebuild my hill fitness cruising along on flats. Looking like I'm going to take today off, but I'll potentially be running, biking and swimming tomorrow!

Eddie - Glad to hear you're not too stressed about the swim. It's the most difficult for me to motivate for too...

Ken - Congratulations on your daughter's wedding! Sorry you don't feel as though your race went as well as you would have liked. Personally, I'm not sure that I would be able to deal with ducking lane lines well either, so I wouldn't beat yourself up about that too much. Regardless, looks like you've got another race coming up in just a couple of weeks, so you can try to redeem yourself then.

Beth - I haven't had to deal with overheating on the swim, but if it bothers you, you should certainly look into other alternatives. If you're considering a sleeveless suit, you could rent one for your Oly, then, if you feel it's an improvement, purchase one for your HIM and any other future races you may do. As for the speedsuit, that's certainly another option, although I'm fairly certain that they don't offer the same level of buoyancy as traditional wetsuits. Something to keep in mind, depending on how much you rely on your suit to keep you afloat.

Roxanne - Sounds like your brick went well this past weekend, and that you're prepared for your race!

Will - Can you not ride outside on a trainer tire? I've never swapped out tires, so I'm not sure how the trainer tires differ from conventional ones...

Dave - Glad to hear you dodged the tornadoes!

Sebastian - Welcome back, and happy belated birthday! Nice job on getting in all of the workouts you did, especially considering your schedule. Also, I have the same trainer as you, and I definitely agree that if you have to be stuck inside on the trainer, it's the way to go. Glad you're enjoying it!

Sarah--are you surviving the heat today in Boston?  I'm working from our Cambridge office today and it is a warm one out there...always cool to see the marathon runners walking around after they finish but today it is even more of an accomplishment given the heat wave.

Everyone that responded to my bike questions--so I bit the bullet and bought the bike...it is a 2001 Trek 1000 Alpha.  It is in pretty good shape, the body itself has no rust or scuffs to speak of, the chain and gears just need some grease and perhaps a tuneup, the tires are both in great shape.  I ended up paying $270 for the bike, a pair of Time entry level clipless pedals + plus the standard pedals already installed, a pair of one season-used cleats, and a brand new Bell helmet, still in the box (which I saw at the LBS for $40 shortly thereafter).  Although I was a little hesitant to buy it, especially when I got cold feet in my last message, I think it was a good choice so far.  I have to take it to the LBS to for a check up but so far it looks to be a decent buy.

Check out the pic and let me know how much I overpaid...here is the pic

Anyway, thanks you all for the help.  If it wasn't for my wife's negotiating skills, I probably would have overpaid for it and not gotten the few accessories, which I think sweetened the deal enough to make it worthwhile.

Had a great workout today. With sustained winds of 22 mph and gusts up to 30 mph my run was on the treadmill. I ened up doing a little over three miles of hill repeats after which I spent 30 minutes lifting free weights, then it up on the indoor "track" (19 laps per mile) for another 20 minutes at a slow and easy pace. My legs certainly hurt now but I'm glad I did it.

I have a half marathon at the end of the month and the course is known for its use of hills. I've been training for this for several months now and am hopeing for a PR, but we'll see.

Beth

Greetings everyone, I had a great week training last week- lots of effort/lots of fun.  Now I am getting to enjoy a few days of easier workouts, before picking it back up again.  I think I need the break- I just talked to my wife and apparently I sent my daughter to pre-school in her pajammas today.  In my defense, she wanted to wear them and she's only two and-a-half so no big deal.

Sarah- did you get out to Walden this morning?  I am curious how cold the water was.

Will

Hi Sarah- yes, absolutely, usually.  But in this case, the tire is fairly beat-up and has left its better days behind on the hills of New Hampshire; I just don't trust it for the 2+ hours I would have been outside.  But problem solved, I just got my road bike back, so plenty of bike options now.

Had a pretty good swim this morning.  I never thought I would be in position to say that.  It was good not because of the speed but because it was comfortable.  Focused on getting into a rhythm and ensuring I was using good technique.  

Also had a good run at lunch today.  It is getting hot here.  I am getting back into my routine.