Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 41)

Donna,

Sorry!

One step at a time.  It doesn't really matter how many times you fall down, rather, how many times you get back up!

Steve,

I didn't know this was an anniversary we were celebrating!  Oops!  My bad!

No doubt you will get your fitness back in no time!

Hey Kris,

Congrats on finishing your sprint!  That is one of my pet peeves, a swim course that is too shallow to actually swim on.  We have an annual race here where the swim is parallel to the shore.  The water is about 3-4' deep the entire length of the course.  Certainly deep enough to swim, but shallow enough that many think they can walk and/or dolphin dive the whole distance - which creates all kinds of problems for those that are swimming.  Anyway, glad you got through it.

Which BT plan are you planning to follow?  Provided there are rest days and/or recovery weeks built in to your 70.3 plan, I wouldn't be too overly concerned about burning out or overtraining.  You can monitor this by taking your pulse FIRST THING every morning (like before your feet hit the floor first thing).  Once you have established your normal resting heart rate, if your HR is suddenly several beats per minute higher one morning, that is a sign of overtraining.  Burn-out is often not far behind.  Generally, if you are ramping your duration and volume up slowly, there is not going to be an opportunity for overtraining or burnout.  It takes a fairly rapid increase in time/volume and/or very high duration/distance to enter into the realm of overtraining/burnout.  That said, I would just do your normal training between now and when you start your 70.3 plan.

With respect to the heel discomfort.  I am always the first to say, if in doubt, get it checked out.  A little bit of discomfort or an annoying twinge of minor pain has a way of turning in to major, potentially season ending injury for us gray athletes.  Better to have it checked out by a doctor and it be nothing than be sidelined for months with an avoidable injury.  I'm currently working with an athlete that is training for an Ironman.  She had been having a recurring problem with shin splints.  The doctor said, "Get off your feet and let them recover and heel."  She didn't see the wisdom in that and continued to run because she was concerned she would lose fitness.  I finally convinced her to use an elliptical machine in place of running while continuing to swim and bike.  6-weeks later, she is running absolutely pain free. Having a minor injury is not the end of the season if you deal with it early and properly.  My advice is go see a doctor and follow his/her advice to the letter.

Just my humble two cents.

So very sorry for your loss... welcome back.  

Hi All,  I finished my race yesterday in fairly decent order.  My swim was disappointingly slow (I suspect it was longer but I can't prove it).  Then I had a great bike ride about 10 minutes faster than I expected.  Then I had a wishy washy run in intense heat.  My pace was slow by 10 to 20 minutes for a 10K.

As I ran in to the finish line I was thinking, "Thank God I'm not doing the HIM race today."  I could not have finished another 11 km/6.5 mi of running.

I have fairly mixed feelings about the race and I still don't know my timing for the race.  As soon as I get my results I'll write up a race report.

First Olympic triathlon - check!  Good job Scott.

Just remember, the idea is not necessarily to go faster during the swim, it is to stay aerobic during the swim.  There is a long day of racing after you are out of the water, better to stay aerobic and have the glycogen stores later in the day when you REALLY need them.

A really good run/walk strategy is to run a mile, then walk 20 paces for a HIM or IM, and run 1K, walk 20 paces for Sprint or Olympic.  Ideally the run aid stations are every mile for HIM or IM, then you are simply walking the aid stations.

Hi Scott,

Great job on the first tri!

Thanks very much for the report! I've been lurking in the background, absorbing all the info from everyone, but haven't been posting because frankly the experience and dedication of everyone on here is a bit intimidating to me as someone who is just getting their toes in the water of triathlon. Having said that I've got my first tri coming up in Barcelona on the 21st of June and your report echoes so loudly I could be looking in a mirror. I'm dealing with a "low grade" achilles tendon issue also, something that afflicts many new runners I'm guessing. My goals are exactly the same as yours for my first tri.

Thanks again for the report. It will really help me mentally prepare.

Cheers,

Dave

Hey there!  Been away for a while.  Things kind of went a little off the rails after the Indy Mini last month.  Still training - just other parts of life haven't been going as smoothly.  Hoping things will start to settle down a little bit now.  

I bought a wetsuit and have been doing OWS's for the last 4 weekends, along with doing 1-2 other swims at the pool during the week.  I've always been pretty comfortable in the water but each time seems to be getting easier so I'm happy with that.  For my cycling I took Scott's advice and downloaded the Angels 2015 Sufferfest video (2 of my tri's this summer have hilly bike courses and I avoid hills whenever possible).  Tried it for the first time on Monday - all I can say is I made it through but it wasn't pretty.  I know I'm a weak cyclist and this proved it!  I enjoyed it though - looking forward to getting better at it.  As for the running - well, I'm also having some heel issues.  It's not the first time I've had it and I know it'll get better, just need to give it some time.  I think my chiro is going to be at my race on Saturday (his office sponsors a lot of local events) so I'll have him check it out while I'm there.  

Janet

Hi Janet!

I;m not sure if I should tell you this or not.  Riding Angels '15 is NEVER going to be pretty.  It doesn't get easier, rather you just become familiar with the ride.  You know where you are going to bump up against your pain threshold!  I think I must have ridden Angels at least 40-50 times by now.  It's as ugly now as it was the first time I rode it - and yet, I keep going back for more.  Keep with it, you will be amazed how quickly you will progress!

I don't recall that you mentioned how the Indy Mini went?!? (Or did I just miss it?)

NO!!!  Taking care of young grand-kids is not easier!  That is a job unto itself!  You will likely need a vacation after a week! 

Yeah, I'm sure Angels isn't going to get easier (they don't call it Sufferfest for nothing, right?).  But at least next time I know a little bit more what to expect.  And there were some spots where I couldn't keep my cadence up where it was supposed to be so it gives me something to work on.  I really enjoyed the workout, even though it was tough I felt like it was probably the best trainer ride I've done. 

The Indy Mini went well for the first 8 miles or so, the last 5 were harder.  I think partly because I hadn't done more than 9-1/2 in training and partly because it was warmer than I expected it to be that morning.  I didn't PR which I was hoping to do but it wasn't my worst time either.  It was a good weekend overall though.  We went over to the Speedway on Sunday and watched some of the drivers for the 500 doing practice laps.  That was the highlight of the weekend for my husband.  He keeps talking about "if we go back next year".  We'll have to see about that.

Janet

Hey Janet,

Let me translate this for you - "if we go back next year" - this is manspeak for "I REALLY, REALLY want you to do the race again next year so I can go hang out at the Speedway!"

LOL, us auto racing fans have to hang together and there is no better place to hang out than the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.