Scott's Mentor Group-Closed for training. (Page 45)

Sorry - computer gremlins

Happy chappy today, managed to run 9.19 miles last night in 1hr 24 mins without stopping. May not be quick to some, but I am happy!! Going to try running for 1hr 45 mins on Sunday - will update

Gareth

JJ - good luck in your race tomorrow!!

I always fill my tires at 105 in rainy conditions and closer to 120 on "normal" days ... that said I am also heavier than the average racer and the bike is the one area I try to hammer and this is what has worked for me.

Been a light training week for me - missed 2 days due to work/exhaustion/recovery from Sunday's Oly ...

Did one fast tempo 5k at an 8min/mile pace ... and today ran a 7.8 miles at a 9:40 pace ... did a bike ride also this week for an hour and a half --- all told this is way less than my usual volume.  On tap tomorrow is an hour of the trainer doing Spinervals 27 (threshold test and sufferfest) and then I will do a slow pace (10min/mile - 6 miles).   Sunday should be fun as my brother and I are going to Orange County NY to do some 62 mile bike tour - we plan to hammer it and only stop at rest stops to pee ... when we complete the 62 we will do a 10k tempo run.  Hopefully this effort will be the last "big" one before my HIM ... 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Has anyone thought off season plan/training yet?  I have a plan from 10/3 to January 1st that I am hoping will help lean me out and get me ready for proper coaching to prep me for IMLP which I have decided to bite the bullet and pay for starting in January.  Also I have been talking to a few guys about starting a small run club - basically we would plan some long runs together and a tempo training night at a track - I am hoping with the "peer pressure" of a group we would be more likely to attend and actually work on speed/stamina.  Just not sure how this would work with guys/girls that are all at different speeds now (myself being on the slow spectrum).

Completed my first TRIATHLON!!!

Awesome experience. Details coming later. Made some costly mistakes but still managed to beat my goal. Had a blast!!!!!!!

First ever Triathlon Race Report (9/15/2012)

Pre-Race

I woke up at 4:30am and had my normal pre-workout meal of toast with peanut butter & blackberries with a 12-ounce glass of water. I arrived at the race site at 6:15am and was extremely surprised to see so many people already there. I unloaded my car and got checked in and set my transition area up. For some reason I guess because it was still early I opted not to completely setup my transition area. I just got out a few things. As the time to the race approached I spent time with family and friends and then realized at the last minute I wasn’t setup and didn’t even have my run race number attached to my race belt. I rushed through setting up transition and then jogged over to the pre-race meeting.

 Swim (17 minutes 08 seconds) (2:38 avg/100)

At exactly 8am the first wave (Elite) started their swim and I looked down to see my HR which was showing 140! Our group entered the water at 8:05am and my HR was still climbing. I did a few swim strokes to warm-up a little and then waited for our wave to start at 8:10am. As I began the swim I was kicked, punched, and even had someone swim over the top of me. I finally got my rhythm and began to swim well. The swim took me just over 17 minutes to complete. I know from practice and training that my swim should have been at the 14 minute mark. After talking to quite a few people it seems the swim was at least 75-100 yards long. My time should have been 2 minute/100 yards. Regardless of the length I felt that I had a pretty awesome swim considering I only really learned to swim 8 weeks ago.

 T1 (1 minute 42 seconds)

When I got out of the water it was 200 yard run to transition area. Since I didn’t spend much time setting up my transition area I wasn’t mentally prepared and wasted a little too much time here. I still ended up with one of the faster times however.

 Bike (53 minutes 01 seconds) (16.4 avg)

The bike is what I am the most comfortable with and where I knew I could gain some time. This is one of the hilliest streets we have in our hilly East Texas. Once I got the bike out of transition I spent way too much time getting clipped in. I really need to practice leaving my shoes on the bike and getting going then getting in the shoes. The bike overall was good. I saved saved saved. I know from practice I can ride the course about 4 minutes faster but I really wanted to build to the run.

T2 (1 minute 17 seconds)

Again I wasn’t mentally prepared for transition and spent a little too much time here than I would have liked.

Run (30 minutes 25 seconds) (10:08 avg)

Started the run at a 9 minute pace with full intentions of building to a 7:30 min/pace. This is where I fell apart. I began to cramp bad at 1 mile in. I was determined to finish the run without walking so I did the best job I could with my legs cramped up.

Summary & Lessons Learned (Total Time 1 hour 43 minutes)

Some mistakes cost me about 8-10 minutes today.

1)   Hydration – I had a 12 ounce glass of water upon waking at 4:30am and didn’t have another drop until 3-4 miles down the road on the bike. With the race day adrenaline and unusually low temperatures I completely forgot to drink. This really hurt me on the run as I cramped pretty bad.

2)   Brick workouts – I did a lot of short brick workouts early in my training but for some reason over the last month I didn’t do any bike/run bricks and I think it hurt me a little getting my running legs today.

3)   Swim Sighting – I have not had many open water swims since I am so new to swimming and really need to work on sighting. The last ½ of the swim course I sighted almost every few strokes because I couldn’t figure out where the finish was. I sighted so much my lower back hurts from lifting my head.

4)   Bike – What I though was my strongest leg wasn’t. I need to really work on speed on the bike.

Some positives

1)   Swim: For my very first competitive open water swim I did very very well swimming more than 3 minutes faster than many people I have trained with over the last few months. The one part of the Triathlon I was most worried about turned into my strongest leg of the day. I really feel like I have the potential to be a good swimmer.

2)   Run: I ran my very first competitive running event a 5k in April of this year. Today over the same distance I beat that time by 4 minutes while cramping and after the first 2 legs of a Triathlon. Improvement in running is off the charts!!

Overall I had a fantastic day. I learned so much and no matter my mistakes I achieved a PR for finishing a Triathlon. You might say that I am too hard on my self however I always find lessons to learn in anything I do. It’s how I make myself better. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and made so many new friends the last few months training. I am highly addicted and can’t wait to compete in another. I am committing to Ironman Texas in May 2014!

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I've been out of pocket for a while, home life, work, and personal commitments were completely overwhelming me. But things are finally starting to return to normal now. I'm pretty much tri done for the year but have some run races still that I'm training for. Plus I've been doing 50+ rides on the weekend with a friend that is training for a half in Augusta at the end of the month. I got in 58 miles on the bike this morning, first 36 were great, then it became a choir, wasn't pretty but I got it DONE!

Now that life is returning to normal, I'm also going to have to start hitting the indoor pool again.

So I think JJ just had a race or was it Gareth? How did it go? Anyone have any other races coming up soon? And lastly, Ashely - you hanging in there with the twins???

-Matt

Good morning, all!!

JJ, nice race!! Congratulations on your first tri! The feeling is amazing isn't it? It only leaves you wanting more!

Hey, matt. The twins are doing great! My training has taken a back seat while my wife is on maternity leave. I started telling people I had a pregnancy injury that requires 8 weeks of rest! I have snuck in a few runs/rides here and there but haven't swam in ages. It really is unbelievable how much time twins need. When they don't need something, the wife does. If they are happy, I am playing with my two year old. An hour a day to train and be by myself is hard to achieve right now. Things will get back to normal when the wife goes back to work and we get a schedule.

It seems I am done racing for the year. I had a tri planned for this Saturday but we have to go out for town for job interviews for my wife. Thats okay. I got 3 races in this year and am happy. I have discovered a new lifestyle that makes me feel good, look good, and I a better for it. I am in the best shape of my life (although now a little rusty) and there is no turning back.

Do any of you use juicers? I bought one hoping to supplement my current diet but it is not cheap to feed the juicer. I need to grow a garden but too late this year.

I haven't seen Scott or Troy in ages. Are we still Scott's group? Nicole, what is the word from the man? Do we start a new group?

Glad everyone is doing well!!

JJ - congrats on the tri - sounds like you had fun and that's what counts!

I had a fun time at the Orange County Bike Tour - a metric century bike ride through the hills and dales of Orange County NY - figured this would be the final test of my bike legs before the Pocono 70.3 and it did not disappoint.  As usual I struggled uphills and barreled down and did fine on the flats ... I maintained an avearge of 18mph which I hope to exceed in the Pocono race especially since it has a 22 mile section of what amounts to a time trail and I plan to hammer that and then save my legs some in the hilly section and hope to have something left for the run.

I have signed up for some 5k races and will be here posting as an Ambassador for New Skin ... still don't have my run kit but as of right now my first 5k will be on October 7th.

My brother and I are starting an endurance racing team - the goal is more geared towards group training runs, rides, and swims and to hopefully do some events as group.  We are currently developing the website and concept and then will approach several local people who we think would be interested.  I am hopeful to have some local sponsors as well which will reduce the price of running, cycling, and tri specific kits.  We are looking beyond triathlon for adventure races, mud runs, challenges - though with both of us doing IMLP this July obviously our main focus until then will be that goal.  We are having our logo developed now and are looking at a copyright ... should be fun!

Scott has been quiet on Facebook as well - Troy seems to be well into his marathon and endurance racing at the moment ... anyone else still have races this season of any sort??  Typically these mentor groups die in September and restart or build new come January ... 

I saw Scott earlier this week. He was receovering from bronchitis and not getting a lot of training in (although, not a lot for him probably means something different than it does for me). I expect we'll hear from him soon as he seemed to be feeling a bit worried about not having posted in a bit.

I haven't checked the IMLP group lately but I'd be surprised if you didn't find that Troy was spending a lot of time there. I usually lurk that group as that race intrigues me (being so close to my hometown). It usually goes pretty steady the whole year leading to IMLP.

Personally, I've had a rough couple of weeks starting with the marathon driving to South Carolina and back. It took a week to catch up on my sleep and just when I was getting back into the swing of things I got the migraine from hell lasting several days. By today I decided it might not be a migraine and went to see the chiroprator which was a good move. I'm feeling a lot better from relieving the pressure in my neck (probably also a result of the driving). I also did some yoga today to try to loosen up. Yoga and short runs will be my focus this week as my HM is on Sunday and my training didn't go completely as planned (does it ever?). I'm hoping for the best.

Hello? Anyone still here? It's like a ghost town. If anyone is checking in I PR'd my HM today (by a few seconds) then I puked in my car. It's becoming my trademark. Seriously, though, it's about what I can expect from my crappy training regimen of late. Couldn't be avoided and I feel no guilt for it but still I'll be paying for several days.

If we've moved to a new group or otherwise broken up will someone let me know? I'm feeling kind of lonely in here-and as I get back into training hard I might need Ashley to tell me to HTFU from time to time.

Hi I still check in and post occasionally, still like to read what you guys are upto!!

Congrats Nicole, any improvement is a good improvement.

I am in the middle of 4 weekly events, two 10k races done, PB set on second race, triathlon this weekend then HM in 2 weeks - easier events done, harder to come!!

Gareth

Hello all ...

My apologies for my long absence. As the summer was winding down, and the academic year began to peak from around the corner, I became pretty focused at work (which is where I do most of my posting), then the year began in earnest and I just wasn't able to pop in during the day. My daughter has commandeered our home laptop, and I haven't even been able to update my workouts in the morning, as she has taken to keeping the laptop in her room (I'm cutting her some slack, as she's in crunch time as she prepares her portfolio for art school applications).

Anyway .. excuses, excuses. My training has been primarily run focused lately, as I've got the Philadelphia marathon in 7 or 8 weeks. I was supposed to run it with my oldest daughter, but her training took a hit when she developed pretty bad shin splints. So she dropped out, and I'll use it to qualify for Boston for 2014. I made the decision to not register for Boston 2013 ... the training budget just couldn't handle it with IM registration and a new Garmin.

I've had some solid late summer/early fall rides ... a lot of climbing work. I'll try to get in one century before I move it indoors for the winter. And swimming is now back in the pool, so it's becoming much more regular again.

My relay team one our division again this year for the Reach the Beach relay in New Hampshire. I run it on a 6 person ultra team and I had a blast again ... that's probably my favorite race event of the year.

Okay ... enough of an update for now. I'll try to stay a bit more regular.

Troy 

So glad to see so many posts in just a day!!

I had so much fun yesterday I just signed up for a 10K on 10/13. Sometimes I wonder what's wrong with me.

This will actually be my first 10K but I'm excited to try this distance. I feel like I might be able to push myself a bit. Then again, I might be last. At least the HM usually has walkers...

Hi Nicole

My thoughts (what they are worth) on running a 10k. I try to run comfortably for the first 6/7k, then really start to push myself through to the finish, by the time you get to this point, the field should have thinned out sufficiently for you to run quicker without having to dodge people all the time. Also, at 7k, mentally you know that you have broken the back of the run and running a quicker pace for 3k should be ok mentally as you are nearly there.

I did this approach on the weekend and beat my previous best time by 3 1/2 minutes, still got room for improvement, 52.37 now my best, next goal to get under the 50 mins

Gareth

Honestly, my approach to the 10k is to be as close to redline as possible for the entire race ... backing off just a tad. It is seriously my most despised race. I think the only reason I'd consider running another one is because my current PR is a 40:01. There's not a lot of them to be run around here, though.

If I were to run a 5k tomorrow, I'd start at a 6:05 pace. If I were to run a 10k tomorrow, I'd start at a 6:20 pace. From there, it's hold on and try to grit it out for as long as possible. So, for me, 15 seconds per mile difference between the two. My HM pace would probably be a 6:45ish to start with right now.

Heading to Pennsylvania today for the Pocono Half this Sunday ... twisted ankle/knee on last soft run on Tuesday ... hope by Sunday I am good.

Weather calling for low 60's and chance of rain during the bike segment - not sure yet if I will go for the freeze my of tactic or wear a long sleeve tech shirt to strip off for the run ... nervous and excited.

Stopping at my local bike shop on the way out since my pump decided to die after I deflated both my tires (seriously!?!) ... see you guys on Monday!

I always think of stuff like that as good luck. Better now than during the race. Good Luck!!!