Elaine's Awesome Start to 2012 Group! - Closed! (Page 5)

Tomorrow is the big day. I get the yeah or nay for starting to push a little on Training. Hopefully back to work on Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I really just partied all weekend, Bowling with friends on Friday, Grand Hyatt party for New Years with fireworks downtown,(does dancing count as a workout)  lots of that.  Then football game on Sunday, sad day for the Bronco's but we did get a playoff shot.

Happy New Year everyone, May all of your goals be acheived as desired.

2012 Goals

#1 Get well and stay uninjured

   2 compete in something, not sure what, and finish.

   3 Get my diet under control and lose 25lbs.

Good luck!! Let us know how it goes!!

Ok, let's get a topic going this week:

What is your biggest training/racing concern for 2012?

That's easy for me. With a mostly undecided schedule, that 26.2 on January 29 is staring me down. My 20-miler was less than stellar, but also not under fantastic condidtions.

My main goal is to run a time that I'm proud of, so that I don't feel the need to a rematch.

So, from you, my mentor group - any marathon vets? Any general racing advice to calm the nerves that I know will make an appearance?

What's looking tough for you in 2012? How can we help?

Training concerns:

I had a solid year last year, I would like to improve on that.   My concern is that pushing harder for better times is going take training at a level where injuries could start creeping in.    Staying injury free.  

I do not have any Marathon exp but I would say set a goal that you are comfortable with and go for it.   If you leave to general of a time you will start having rematch thoughts.   I look forward to your race report.  

With your long run out of the way your body can also start recovering and getting rested.   How big of a taper are you planning leading to the marathon.  

Training concern:

My biggest concern is being consistent and having the time to train. Since I know that I can only do a couple of events this year, I have to be able to up my mileage on the run without injuring my self.

You've got a solid base. If you take your training to a new level, do it slowly, and listen to your body. You're smart. You got it. Plus, your wife should be able to help you out, too. Its nice to have someone around that understands

I've got goals for the marathon: A) 4:22 (one hour slower than my sister's PR), B) 4:XX (satisfied to be a sub 5 hr marathoner), C) Finish, D) don't hurt myself (yup, if I'm hurting - in the injury sense of the word - not the HTFU kind of pain - and I drop out, I'll be happy I didn't blow the next 2-3 months of my life on one event)

I've got the Ragnar Relay this weekend. I'll be running 21.8 if all goes as planned. My weekly mileage should be 15ish mid-week, to finish off around 37 miles for the week. I taper for the next weeks, reducing mileage to 29, 21, and 9 the week of the marathon. 

If you're earliest potential long event is the half in April, you've got plenty of time to build that mileage. You've been pretty consistent over the last couple weeks! If you can keep that focus and consistency, you'll be just fine. 10% increase is contested number, but is a generally safe number.

I'll have loads of advice for you in a month

Are you following a plan for it?

Training concerns:

I would agree with ramping up the training and increasing the chance of injuries. That and just staying consistent with it.

As for your marathon, your going to do great. Training runs are just that. I always feel like the actual race is always so much better.  

I belive in the power of Taper

You've started logging, which is a big step in the directon of consistency. Now you'll know that myself, and other in the group, will be checking in on your logs. It's also a great too to check progress yourself

For increasing your volume - running is the toughest one. Swimming and cycling are low impact, so the risk of injury is lower BUT you still don't want to push your limits too far there.

Hope it's going well!

I was looking at Higdon's Novice 2 plan for my full - I liked the idea of marathon pace runs during the week!

I ended up using a plan that my sister uses in hopes that some of her awesomeness will rub off on me

My only concern is staying injury free, mainly due to running.  I'm going to try and increase no more than 10-15% week over week, hopefully that does the trick (although last week was a lot comparied to the week before).  What is not really a concern of mine, but I will mention, is that it's hard to me to go by a plan.  I am a totally random trainer.  Last year I simply made sure I did a fair amount of s/b/r to improve over the year before and it worked.  I'm sure it will this year also.  BUT......how about I really follow a plan and see how close to the OA podium that can get me, not IMKS 70.3 but the OLY distance races afterwards.  So if I follow a good HIM plan and do well at the 70.3 distance, then it would make sense I would do very well at the OLY races.

Marathon:  I've only run one, April last year.  ORIGINAL plan was to go for 3:30 but started feeling knee pain about 6-8 weeks prior to race and ended up cutting mileage down considereably.  After looking at logs, it was clear that I increased mileage too fast.  So I ended up lining up with the 3:40 pace group hoping I could hold on, I hit the wall between mile 19 and 20.  Ended up at 3;47, still felt good because I FINISHED!  The last 6 are indeed harder than the first 20. 

Recommendation from my vast marathoning experience of ONE race:  I say pick a pace group on race day you know you can hang with.  You can pick up the pace with a few miles to go if you have it in you.  That would be my strategy.  In the beginning it will feel very easy and you will have the desire to go faster.  DON"T DO IT!  The last 6 will be HORRIBLE if you do that.

You might look at where you swim and see if they have a masters swim.  It is a good way to get your swimming stroke corrected.   We have one that only cost 10 bucks a month.   you can do a single day at $1.  

Drills   that helped me.   you can you tube them for correct form or visuals.   

1.  Shoulder turn and reach:   Swim a slow fifty rotating in the water so that your shoulder comes into view with each stroke.   Also reach to place your hand on top of the water with each stroke.  That will help you get good rotation.   Focus on rotating hips and shoulders together.   

2.  Fists:   Swim with your hands balled into a fist.  You will have to focus on getting good pull with your forearm and gets your arm to track a good S pattern.    Do a 50 with fists then follow up with a 50 regular trying to keep the same tracking.     

I have some other drills that will help if you want them.  Those helped me the most.  

I went to a Tri 1.1 Clinic last night just to get the basics of it. I felt kind of scared!!! Especially as the coach talked about trying to get your bearings when you running out of the water. I though to myself whenever I run out of the water its back to my chair and to my drink with the umbrella in it!!

But I am really excited about taking this on and I admire each and every one of you!!! I also heard its addictive. Which I can believe. I'm addicted to racing so I can see myself getting addicted to tris!!!

Michelle,

Keep it up.   One stride at a time, and you will be addict soon.    Welcome to the family.  

Hey Elaine -

I think you forgot one of my favorite marathon goals...enjoy yourself.  During those tough moments I found that saying "thank you" to the volunteers at the aid stations or encouraging cheering from the crowds, etc. really made the experience much more memorable.  Your training will take over when you get there; start slow, find a pace group and stick to your plan but be absolutely flexible at the same time.

As far as my concerns for the 1st part of the year, keeping and maintaining a schedule while keeping it fun.  I tend to "require" workouts, I'd like to weave them into my life in 2012.  With the early races I'm looking at being no longer than Olympic distance, any advice on frequency/division/distances of workouts if planning on 5/week?  If you look at what few workouts I've logged, these are pretty normal/manageable workouts for me.

Thanks and I'm looking forward to getting to know everybody.

If you're saying you live in Ft Lauderdale, I'd be happy to meet up with you to work on some technique. I usually swim at Pompano Beach Aquatic Center ($1.06 to get in!) or at the Hall of Fame Pool in Fort Lauderdale ($5 for non-residents i think?)