Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 41)

You're a perfect example of what some people are talking about -- you have lots of experience and knowledge to share.  Many stay away from the main forum because of one or another frustration.

OK, triathlon stuff. Swim workout at lunch with main set of 6X300 (200 w/pb; 100 swim) on 4:55. That was a tough set for me...typically allowing only 10-15 seconds recovery.  Tonight is an hour on the bike with intervals.

Time to start thinking about the weekend.  Rene is at BSLT and I think Jen is racing. Anyone else?

Randy

Biked 24 miles this morning at a pretty good pace, felt very strong.  Tonight after work I have a run planned.  I have not swam in over a week and need to get my butt to the pool.  The pool hours are more difficult to meet, but here I go making excuses.  I need to just HTFU and get to the pool, OK I said it!  There is a local group who does lake swims every week and I will try to hook with them as well.  One of the members is also doing IM AZ.

Just got my summer schedule so will be looking at doing some other events this year.  IM AZ is still a ways away but I'm already starting to feel the excitement! 

Just bought new pair of running shoes, Brooks ghost.  I'm on my 3rd pair now and love how they feel.  I got the last pair of last years model at the store, saved some money. 

Nice swim set Randy!  Question:  Do you still do the drills from FF?  I confess that I never finished the program, but I still find the drills useful and work them into swims from time to time.  Just curious what others who did the program think and whether they incorporate that stuff into their swimming still.

I'm racing a sprint this weekend.  No taper -- I've got to stay focused on ramping up for IMWI.  But it is a local race, and fun, so I'll go have at it Saturday morning.  Hoping for a little redemption on the swim.  My very lofty goal is 'not DFL in the open male division'.

Jim -- great that you've got a pair of shoes that you like.  There was a particular model that I liked then they 'improved' it and it went from great to killing my feet.  I wish now that I had bought ten pairs!

Good swim set for me today -- 10x200(yds) leaving on 3:30, coming in 3:04-3:06.  Right now, nearly all of my swimming is restricted to about 40 minutes while my kids are in their lessons.  It is really teaching me to get in and not fool around, just get the work done.  On the down side, my swims are relatively short.  I'll really need to address that issue in July and August.

Just got done mapping a ride I did in the mountains last weekend (where I got lost...twice).  I knew it contained a lot of climbing, but wow.  Around 10,000 feet of climbing in around 90 miles.  No wonder my legs were sapped at the end!  I love the mountains.

Towards the end I just wanted to be home, and ignored a sign telling bikers to go left -- the map showed that going right got me home faster.  Then I learned why that sign was there.  There was a short climb that was so steep it felt like the bike came to a full stop after every stroke.  That was followed by the final 6 miles still climbing (albeit MUCH less steeply).  Needless to say, I bagged the planned brick run.

Jim-nice work!  I hate how the shoe manufacturers have to "improve" or change a model every year or so.  Never seems that the improved model is as good as the original.  I have a new pair of Saucony Mirage and Kinvara 2's in their boxes in my closet.  Got them on closeout and I like these models much better than the newer version.

Michael-good swim!  I get specific swim workouts from my coach with drills so I have not been using any of the FF drills.  I never completed the course either.  I was thinking today about the "kayak padddle" drill as a possible way to help eliminate some of the "catch up" I have in my stroke.  On another topic..were you able to get everything on your tri bike repaired/replaced?

I had a good bike workout tonight with some solid intervals.  Felt kind of blah in the beginning but turned out to be a nice workout.

Randy 

Sorry to hear about the kids, Blanda.  They always come first, of course.  Hope they are both feeling better soon.

There are lots of people here who really focus on just one sport but stick around.  Even if you become single-sport, I'd encourage you to stick around.  You have a lot to offer.  Oh, and I'm pretty sure duathlons and Xterra count as multisport!

We got a family canoe recently -- piled the whole family (5 of us) and a dog into it last weekend and did a trip down the French Broad river in NC.  (No, the boat was not really made for that load!)  Great times.  It really got me thinking about XTerra (about which I know next to nothing) -- around here, the 'water' portion of those races is almost always kayaking.  I own neither a kayak nor a mountain bike (though have access to both), but I'm starting to get intrigued.  Anybody know anything about multi-sport involving a kayak?

Welcome back!  Very nice how you got right back into it.

Your trip reminds me of a joke.  A friend of mine who, like me, does a lot of admin service at her university, every so often takes a semester away from admin to get actual work done.  She tells everyone she's in Spain.  For some reason, it sounds to many people like "It's legit -- I'm working -- but you can't reach me..."  Lol.

Hope you had a great trip.

Jamie- good to see you back and I'm impressed that your were able to get training in right away.  Sometimes when I travel I feel as if I can do a run or a swim, I can get the jet lag out of my system.  Hard part is actually getting up to actually doing it.

I got out of work at 730 pm tonight, went straight home, put on my running clothes and went right out the door (probably a 5 min transition from work dress outfit to run clothes).  I passed up the opportunity to sit on my couch and chill as that usually leads to nap, etc.  I ran around a local lake twice.  90 degrees at the start of the run, finally cooled down to low 80's.  Sun setting just as I was finishing.  Totally awesome night!  Good heat training as well.  Perfect ending to my day!

x2!

T-zero?

OK now you're just making the rest of us jealous.  You get to run around a lake??  I officially envy you.

Great!  Sounds like an fantastic run.  Yeah, it is getting hot around here too.  We don't have a/c (or heat) at our house, so temperature is a very live issue for us.  This winter and summer have -- so far -- been unbelievably kind, but I have a feeling that we are now seeing the beginning of the 'storm' of heat that is to be expected.

My college once held a swim-bike-run-kayak, but it did not turn out to be an annual event. I would LOVE to do this, so please let us know if you hear of any races like that. 

Rene - Thanks for sharing the Mediocre Athlete blog posts. That's some creative body-part slang in there. I'll never see a taco the same way again.  

Just got my pre-race info. There are going to be 100 people in my novice women's swim wave. EEEEEPP!!!!! I had planned to hang back and go slowly, but I might just try to attack it and get out in front. There's a strong possibility that I will pass guys in the novice men ahead of my wave, so I'll be in the thick of it either way. Glad my family is coming to watch -- there's so much less chance I'll chicken out.  Oh, and I would LOVE to see a dolphin on my swim. That would be excellent!! I'm definitely going to tell myself on race day that there are dolphins in the water --- but nothing else!

You'll be fine.  You've done the training.  You'll probably be way ahead of most of the novice division -- men's and women's.  Just don't get freaked out by contact on the swim.  There will be some bumping.  Stay confident and swim your stroke regardless of what is happening around you.  If you miss a breath, remind yourself that humans can hold their breath for MINUTES -- and there is only a few seconds between opportunities to breathe in an OWS.  So if you miss a breath due to contact or waves or whatever, just continue and try again on the next stroke.

Good Luck Rene!

Up early for a treadmill run since I cant workout at lunch today.  Easy spin tonight.

Have a good day everyone.

Randy

60 years ago it was normal.  

Our unit broke down 3 or 4 years ago and we were quoted upwards of 10 grand to fix it (all the ductwork had mold, etc.).  So we asked ourselves "Is a/c actually worth that much plus the power bill?"  For us, the answer was 'no'.  We're used to it now.  The main issue is really that when I go to work, I'm freezing.  We do get a break from the heat every couple of weeks or so in the mountains (though there hasn't been much heat at all yet this year).

Rene -- safe travels, and kill it out there!

Thought of the day (arising from an exchange I had with BryanCD who is occasionally lurking here):  If you are doing intervals on the road, do them by time rather than by distance, especially if they are short intervals (200s, 400s).  Example:  Your 5K race pace is 8:00/mile and you are doing 400s at 5K pace.  At that pace, 400m should take you 2:00, so just run '5K effort' for 2:00.  Your ability to judge 5K effort (assuming you've done a few) is probably better than your ability (including your Garmin's ability!) to judge 400m.

I got my bike back today from the shop.  I didn't clean it before I gave it to them, because I wasn't sure which parts were repairable and which parts were just trashed.  So I'm going to clean it this afternoon, and my boys are going to clean their bikes along with me -- sort of a 'guy garage party' involving bikes rather than cars.  The bike is put together in such an unusual way that I still have to refer to the manual at times to figure it out!

On a related note:  has anybody tried return-to-center shifters?  SRAM ones in particular?  Thoughts?

I hear ya on the price of the repair, and you have my respect!

Very nice Jamie!

Yes, heat is moving in.  Stay hydrated everyone, and remember that heat sucks pace -- you WILL be slower in the heat.  Learn to accept it!  For those who train by HR, start learning how much the heat affects your HR -- it can be as much as 1/2 a zone or more.