TRI (Totally Radical Improvement) - Clydes/Athenas to competitors - Re-Opened (Page 5)

Go anyway! You may not be advanced now, but you will be. You most likely wont be the only person in there that doesnt follow what the instructor says to do. In cycling people are always asking how to get faster, and one of the best ways to do that is ride with faster people... It drives you to work harder. Don't get discouraged if you have to reduce resistance or cadence, just try to spin the entire time. I have never gotten critisized for not following the program. I never do pushups on the bars, and I dont do jumps (stand for 15 secs sit for 15 secs) and i dont stand as much as everyone else. I try to emulate a real riding condition, and the fact is, you dont stand for 20 minutes of a 40 minute ride....

But, spinning has helped my riding speed greatly. It definitely helps keep your cadence up on the road because your legs get used to spinning fast.

Thanks so much for the information!  I have never taken an exercise class of any kind due to my lack of coordination and feelings of self-consciousness.  I'm going to go to my first spin class a week from today.  Let the nervousness begin

I say go for it,  I believe it's better to try and fail than not try at all.  And being in a challenging class will only make you better.

Good workout today, got all three in.  Bike was interesting, Since I just started swimming at a new natatorium I took my bike with me and did the bike and run after my swim.  The first half of the bike was down hill with a 15mph wind, going about 30mph.  Then I had to turn around, good work out. LOL.  

	23m 01s 7.93 miles 20.67 Mi/hr 475 calories	Min HR: 110 Avg HR: 156 Max HR: 164
10:48 AM     [Lap data]

	32m 10s 4.41 miles 07m 17s/Mi 581 calories	Min HR: 119 Avg HR: 166 Max HR: 174
11:20 AM

I think I found Andrew in the results of the Auckland 70.3 ... hopefully he can tell us how his race went ...

You guys have me all psyched to try a spin class now - my days off from work are Sundays and Mondays and my gym offers a Monday morning spin class ... after I do my marathon next month (I need my Mondays now for long runs) - I am going to try spinning.  I have always figured it was all women - but if I can do bikram and not be too embarrassed I should be able to try this too!

Yesterday for me was an hour of high cadence spinning on the bike (on my trainer) ... legs feel really good right now but it is 36 degrees out so not sure how I will do in todays 5k ... love that I check the weather in the town the race is in and it says NW winds at 21mph ... holy smokes!  Guess I will need to run extra fast to try to get/stay warm.

Hope everyone has a great day training/with family.  This week let's talk a bit about our run planning for the season and where we stand now (fitness/injuries/weekly mileage).

Congratulations!!

Great workout this morning.  Finally feel like myself again.  Since I got sick in November and ate all the junk food in December.  Probably the best ride I've ever had.  Of course 55 degrees and light winds really helped.

	39m 14.31 miles 22.02 Mi/hr	Min HR: 114 Avg HR: 154 Max HR: 168
10:57 AM

	21m 3.08 miles 06m 49s/Mi	Min HR: 110 Avg HR: 172 Max HR: 180
11:42 AM

Daniel here...

I have been out of the loop for a little bit but wanted to quickly check in and say hello. My wife and I have been up in Door County Wisconsin.  Single digits and heavy winds.  I have been working out to my P90X tapes and walking the dogs in the woods.  Lots of moving and chopping firewood have been my workouts.  I will be back tomorrow and back on a regular workout routine. 

Diet has been excellent.  I con control that.  100% Paleo - whole single source foods with no processed foods, sugar or breads (gluten) of any kind. Amazing what a positive effect that has on my system. 

Have a great day everyone..

Hi guys, 

Well it's the day after the big race, and unsurprisingly my body is letting me know it did a lot of work yesterday! Hopefully I'll get a proper race report done by this evening, but for now here's the cliff notes version.

I was happy with my Swim and Bike times, (especially with the wet windy conditions for the bike), both coming in about where I expected to be. But on the run the wheels started to fall off. I ended up with a lot of walking by the 2nd lap. I ended up with 6:39:18 Which was within the 6:20-6:40 I thought I should finish in. 

Very happy. Very proud. And with an increased respect of the distance!

Race report and pics to follow

Congratulations, good job.  You should be proud of yourself.

Awesome job Andrew - thought that was you I found in the race results!

Mitzi - check your messages - everything I sent you can be modified based on your current abilities.

I ran a 5k today - tried to run it tactical so I could PR but my buddy and I miscalculated and basically blew it on what was for sure a course we could have done at sub-24.  The race was on the water and started with a 1/2 mile on the boardwalk with a tailwind - here is where we blew it - last week we went out too fast and ran the first mile at 7:20 we said we should take it down to an 8:00 and then kick it up the final two and have a nice kick at the end.  In hindsight we should have just went at our pace and let the tailwinds take us - we hit mile marker one at 8:20 since we were in the mob of bodies.  I looked and him and he nodded that we were now in "panic mode" ... we started working through the crowd and did the second mile at 7:21.  Saw the mile marker and decided now was time to kick it - but here came the headwind (gusts to 21mph) ... we gave it our best and ran mile 3 at 6:59 ... but the 3 mile marker said 24:12 when we passed it and that deflated me for the last .12 ... I so want that sub 24 ... maybe next week.

Looking forward to your race review Andrew ...

18 miler on tap for tomorrow - looking to maintain a 9:15-9:20 pace and HR in the 155-165 zone.  

Just saw this great article, lady went from 427 pounds to competing in triathlons, very inspiring.  

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c4#/video/us/2013/01/15/400lb-to-triathlete.wkow

Paul, I had an 18-miler Long Run planned too, pretty similar pace.  Picked up a few gus to try & nail down my nutrition for the March marathon.  

Saturday morning I hit the road, and tried to ignore the 30 degree weather.  (I live in the South for a reason!)  7 miles into the run things went south- left foot (possibly tendonitis, hoping its not a stress fracture) & right knee (possibly ITB) started hurting.  I ended up walking 5 miles home- a really frustrating session. 

The Marathon is 8 weeks away, and I am having doubts that I'll be race ready by March.  I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and I am planning to take this week off from running.  Hopefully I'm not begin foolish by getting into the pool to stay active.

Here it is guys, Bullfrog's Ironman 70.3 race report can be seen here.

It's now 2 days after the big day, my legs are starting to feel better, still stiff, but no where near as much as yesterday. I'm thinking I might do a workout this afternoon. Either an easy bike, or easy swim. We'll see how the body feels after work. 

Andrew - loved the race report - weather sounds like a doozy - some seriously strong swimmers in that field - I can totally relate to falling apart on the run of a 70.3 - it's why I have focused so hard on the run this off season and why I hired a coach ... the rest of your races are shorter so no worries there but seriously no running or heavy bike sessions for at least a week!

Chris - hope the injuries are nothing serious - I had hip issues last March that knocked me out of 4 races and really had me think my season was in jeopardy - then I broke my collarbone and had to rethink everything - rest up - ice and ibuprofen ... give it a few days (maybe do some gentle spinning on the bike to stay loose) ... hopefully you are ok ...

My session today went like this:

So today it was cold - and at times it was windy ...

 My plan was to leave the house by 10am and be back by 1pm ... since plans never go 100% the way I want I did not get going until 10:40.  The weather said it was 34 degrees and would be getting colder, it also said winds were gusting 12-14mph and the windchill would make it feel like 26 degrees.  

 I geared up with my 4 bottles on the fuel belt, 3 waters and one eFuel.  I also took two efuel gels and one Gu gel with caffeine.  It was cold but I did not face a headwind until I hit the third mile.  It was also shortly after mile 3 that I started feeling some abdominal discomfort.  Typically I just fart away but my body didn't feel right.  Yesterday I ran a 5k and then gorged myself at a family party - italian food and pastries ... I was so full I had no dinner.  Really smart the night before a big run; though I never claimed to be all that smart to begin with.  So today my breakfast of fiber one cereal and my protein shake was rattling my body back into shape and my body was starting to revolt at mile 3.  When I hit mile 5 I was about to lose it - I had to pitstop into a McDonalds and take care of business.

After stripping down and getting back geared up I was off again - I figured I would be good but nope - the rumbles started again.  I took an efuel gel and realize I dropped the other one - followed it up with 10 ounces of water and I started thinking in my head - where can I stop - how far before I crap myself - can I make it all the way to mile 10 and destroy my mom's house or do I need to bail on this run at mile 8 (I knew if I stopped at home I was finished) ... I tightened the cheeks and ran on.

I rang the bell at Mom's and basically barreled past her grumbling "bathroom" ... I know she was trying to talk at me but I was all geared up and I couldn't hear her over the music.  I again stripped down - did my business - drank another 8 ounces of water - refilled my bottles.  Thanked Mom and had 8 more miles to go.  Leaving Mom's the wind was stronger and I was immediately chilled to the bone.  I told myself I would run 3 miles before looking at my watch again ... and so I did and not surprisingly these were my speediest of the day.  I find I look at my watch three or so times a mile - looking at my pace and HR - it is annoying but I don't want to burn out come marathon day.

At mile 14 I was in Bay Park and a lot of people were working on their Hurricane Sandy ravaged homes.  Martin Luthor King day and people were off from work - somewhat depressing running down here.  I was cruising down Kirgin Court and I heard my name called.  A buddy from high school was working on his house that had 4 feet of water in it during the storm surge.  Stopped got a tour of the house and caught up (had my Gu and some 8oz of water while I was there) - hopefully he and I will do some mud runs next year - Spartan's or the Tough Mudder ... getting going again was cold and my body was not happy to be running again.  Still never felt bad - hydration was good and I finished up at home at 17.5 miles.

Splits:

1 - 9:08

2 - 9:03

3 - 9:16

4 - 9:05

5 - 9:15

(stopped 4 1/2 minutes at McDonalds)

6 - 8:47

7 - 8:56

8 - 9:14

9 - 9:04

10 - 9:07

(stopped 7 minutes at Mom's)

11 - 7:53

12 - 8:40

13 - 8:57

14 - 9:15

(stopped 17 minutes at Mike Collin's house)

15 - 9:30

16 - 8:33

17 - 9:00

Was at a 9:15 pace the final 1/2 mile ...

Spent 1:41:24 in my heart zone out of 2:45 running ... hydration/nutrition felt good - legs sore but not fried now 5 hours later.  Weight loss for the run was 6.4 pounds opposed to 8 pounds from last week so I am moving back in the right direction regarding staying fed ... hopefully next week I can shorten that gap to 5 pounds.

Had a nice Chocolate Zico and ate a plate of spaghetti before showering - got an earful from the wife about the sweaty clothes and puddle I left in the kitchen (I cleaned it up - mopped and did laundry - so I know my hydration was better this time, last time I was a zombie after my run) ...