Slornow and Wannabefaster's mentor group...Closed (Page 41)

Doctor cleaned up medial and lateral meniscus tears and removed some"junk" that may have been contributing to the catching feeling I had  a certain spot in the range of motion in the knee.  Also found some bone to bone issues and a good bit of arthritis.  Should be able to spin lightly in a few days once the selling subsides.  I suspect future running will be up to me and if it does happen I will need to keep volume and intensity in check.

Worked a couple of hours today and will likely try to get back to a more normal work day tomorrow.  Pain has not been too bad so far.  

Indeed, rest up Randy and hopefully your recovery is short!

Well, I raced my first Sprint tri this past weekend and, overall, I’m pretty happy with how things went. I plan to write up a race report at some point, but below are a few highlights of the race:

The Good:

• I was worried about the run in terms of my fitness and possible PF flare up in my right foot, but my foot was fine and I was actually slightly faster this year as compared to the same race last year.

• Excluding the pros and the elites, my bike split was 9^th overall. I decided to race by feel rather than target a specific power number and ended up with an AP of 246 and a NP of 254. A little lower that what I estimated my power would be for this race based on training, but the course was rolling hills with heavy wind and gusts up to 50 km/hr. Tough to maintain any steady power.

• Raced with Lionel Sanders who chose to join us mere mortals for a local Sprint. He won handily in 57:15, with a 16:29 5K run.  Total class act and he spent several hours after the race talking with the Agers and taking pictures.

The Bad:

• I was hoping to see some gains on the swim this year, but struggled for the entire race and was slower than last year.  Started out too strong and so my form fell apart and my legs started to drop at about the halfway mark.

• Although my right foot didn’t give me any trouble my left calf cramped during the swim (never had that happen before) and was one giant knot after the race.  Four days later and it’s still very tight. A racer from my AG is a chiropractor and did some ART after the race. Hurt like hell but seemed to help a little. Foam rolling seems to be helping now.

• Very happy with my run but fought a really bad side stitch for the first 2 kms or so.  Looking back at my past 3 or 4 race seasons, I will typically cramp in my first race, but it tends to go away as the season progresses.

The Ugly

• Shortly before the first buoy I was caught up in a group of swimmers and couldn’t catch a breath for 3 or 4 strokes.  Had a bit of a panic attack (first time in 4 years) and it took a while to get back into a rhythm. Rolled onto my back for a few strokes to catch my breath and then forced myself to get back into freestyle and calm down.

I also didn’t wear my M-2 jersey as I didn’t want to risk a malfunction in T1 or on the bike. After Nicole’s post above, I tried the jersey on again last week and the zipper popped on me again.  Its not a problem so long as I don’t pull down on the left side, but I’m usually not thinking to clearly after the swim and was worried I’d forget.  Still waiting to hear back from LG customer service whether this is a defect or not.

Sounds like there is plenty of good to build on.  Early season races are always a mix and it seems the bike and run went well.  I think the issue you had with the swim can happen even to experienced athletes.  You got it under control and moved forward....good job.

I raced a 40k TT yesterday! I'm happy with how it went and very excited for what's to come in the future....I know where I have room for immediate improvement and also know that I'm highly motivated to keep working hard to make additional gains.

Race report here: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=541984&posts=1#M5187633 

Nicole-well done!  Really enjoyed the RR...getting into the mental aspect of the suffering of a 40K TT.  So hard to deal with the heat on the Gulf Coast when pushing the intensity.  Great job.

Knee update-through Wednesday it was pretty painful and very stiff. Woke up Thursday and pain was much less.  Hit the stationery bike for 15-20 minutes on Thursday and Friday to work on ROM.  Today I got on the rollers in the garage for an easy spin on a real bike and felt good.  Low watts but steady spin with  no pain and continued good ROM.  Not going to do anything but easy spinning until I follow up with doc next Monday.  Overall, pretty pleased at how things have improved over the last few days.  

Bib list is out for Tremblant this weekend - #1744.  Not feeling very prepared for this and a little worried about the expected temps, but intend to go out and just get through this one and be smart about pacing and power.  

Looking like it will be a toasty one this weekend - so expect to see you somewhere on the course.  

Haleakala this weekend for me.  Training hasn't been ideal lately due to work, and weight is also up about 5 pounds from earlier in the year...but still a couple pounds better than last year.  Not sure how it will play out...just glad to be away from work for 5 days.

I have another Sprint on Saturday.  Although my foot is feeling fine and my calf has loosened up, I decided against upgrading to the long course tri. I don't think my run fitness is quite there and don't want any setbacks for the rest of the season. 

The bike course is pancake flat and the weather is predicting very light winds, so hoping I can keep a consistent power output and then plug the data into aerolab.

My speed vs watts from the last Sprint was pretty lousy, but I'm hoping that was due to the strong gusty wind conditions and the rolling hills of the course.

Hey guys, just letting you know I've been lurking a bit also.  For those who don't know me, my name is Mark, I live in the pacific northwest, used to participate in the SBR group a bit.

This year has been a challenge health-wise but I'm hoping the summer will be better

Hope Mont Tremblant goes well for Marc and Neil tomorrow! 

Anyone else racing?  I'm working....sigh

Neil is 1744 and Marc is 320 -- I'll be stalking....I mean, following and cheering  

Right?!?!  I would give up a kidney to be able to run like that (injured or not!)

Neil is within 5k of finishing and appears to have some really solids splits too.  Nice work, guys!