Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 50)

Good job Carol.

Well I'm officially on taper/rest.  I have a couple hours of video of the bike/run course to watch.  Need to read a lot of race reports I have bookmarked.  Pack.  Double check my lists.  Pamper my knee.  Take it easy.

Today I did something I should have been doing all along.  Riding my bike to the start of my group ride, not putting the bike on the rack and driving to the ride.  It added 18 miles to the ride.  They were going for 50+.  Everybody prepping for a century in 2 weeks.  I said my goodbye after 27 miles.

So how is the knee.  Still not good.  Not as bad as it has been though.  Let's see what a week of pampering does.  It's really all I can do.

Hey Dennis, yes, the hay is in the barn for you so far as the knee goes.  Talk to it nicely this week, and see what it will do for you.  How is your mental state regarding the race? 

The bike group here gets really geared up for the 100 mile rides too, and does one century ride per month (100K or 100 mile).  I tend to avoid those . 

Went on a 29 mile small group ride this morning, and that + the 10K yesterday complete with final "sprint" has now officially caught up with my legs.  Tomorrow will likely be a swimming only day.

How is everyone doing? 

Grats on the PR 10k.  Any PR is well worth celebrating. 

Do you have a start for the run portion of the HIM yet given that your knee is marginal.  You don't want it to be a sufferfest by pushing to hard that is for sure.  It will turn out to be a long day even if the knee remains good though.... walking is not so much fun in a race.

I have a cold myself.  I considered not going to work, and maybe should have stayed home.  Stuff to do though. 

Dennis, glad you are getting to watch some football!

Steve, sorry you hab a code   All those kiddos are germ carriers and you are surrounded!

Still doing my best to train for the next OLY.  Looking forward to it, but also kinda looking forward to changing things up a little after that.  Which brings me to a few questions -- Steve, when you feel better, can you give me some advice on what to do over the fall/winter given these goals?:

1.  Do a few half mary's this fall/winter, improving w/ each one (2:15 Dec, 2:08 Jan, 2:00 Feb)

2.  Be in shape to get better at the OLY distance next year, and possibly a HIM in 2013. 

A few thoughts/questions:

1.  General -- how to divide up my time between s/b/r given the above goals?  Give one or more of the disciplines a rest, or try to keep all 3 balls in the air throughout? 

2.  Bike -- Jorge's bike plan (looks like I'd need a trainer), or just get in miles w/ rides oudoors + the occasional spin class?  I'm not generally a fan of indoor exercise, but if following that plan will make me better, I might consider it knowing I'll get outside by running and have TV time on the bike.

3.  Run -- Time to add in some slightly speedier intervals rather than just slogging through the miles?  Haven't identified a plan yet, but probably use an intermediate 1/2 plan that has cross training days as a guide.  I can also join the local running group.  

4.  Swim -- not sure what to do here.  Don't want to spend a lot of $$'s.  Hard to justify gym membership AND masters swim type program cost. 

It sounds like you want to go run focused in the off season.  That is what I typically do.  I can't do the Jeorge's bike plan and run training at the same time.  If you want to focus on run, then you pretty much have to focus on run.  What I have typically done is run 5 days a week, cross on the bike 2 and on the swim 1.  On the run you are looking at a long that will be probably 15 ish miles for a half mary on the weekends with shorter runs durring the week and up to two speedier workouts.  One workout is typically a tempo run where you go easy 1 mile then gradually build ( I drop 15 seconds off my pace per quarter mile) over the next 3, peak at around 5k to 10k pace and then decrease for 2-3 with 1 mile cool down jog.  Your other workout will typically be repeats week 1 alternated with hill work week 2 and then back to intervals.  Your intervals should probably be mile repeats, but your plan may call for half mile repeats.  You warm up for 1 mile, then do 1 mile at 10k pace, jog a quarter mile slow, then another mile at 10k pace, rince repeat.  For hills you actually want to be running up a 1/3 to 1/2 ish mile hill at a fast pace and then recover on the downhill and repeat.  It feels a lot like intervals.  You will probably start with 1 x 1 mile repeat and then add 1 mile each week, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. 

So first pick out a an intermediate half mary plan and get going on that.  If you don't have a current TT run HR info, you probably should do that to set up your hr zones.  Your mile repeats should be pretty much at LT. 

During the winter you can usually get better at 1 sport and maintain the other 2, but probably not get better at 2 at the same time.  Throw out more questions if any of this got too technical or whatever. 

Oh and your half mary improvements are pretty agressive for the time frame you are talking about, so your weekly miles will probably have to build to around 45 miles a week to get close on those.  Improving 1 minute off your pace in a couple months is really tough to do, but shrug, you have to have goals and with good vollume it might be doable. 

Thanks so much, Steve!  I should focus on bike, but want to focus on run...so run it is !  Thanks for helping me sort out the priorities/frequencies/etc.  Hopefully will help to keep me from trying to focus on too many things and accomplishing nothing.  

Couple of followup questions:  1.  Can I use the HR data from my last 10K as the TT?  2.  What % of max is LT?  3.  So generally, you would not recommend any intervals shorter than 1 mile (depending on plan)?

Yeah, you may be right on the paces being too aggressive.  I was going off McMillan  -- says 2:10 half based on my most recent 10K.  Of course I have to ramp up the distance to get there, but thought maybe 2:15 for the first one (early Dec).  The second one is going to be very flat and another month and half out (mid Jan).  The third one (late Feb) may wind up just being to complete it and get my 4th finisher medal in a series of 5 . 

Hope the cold is getting better!

Your 10k HR probably won't work.  For a run TT you need to warmup for 10 minutes, and then go as hard as you can maitain for 20 minutes.  So you might be able to use a 10k, but you would have to discard the first 10 minutes of the race.  Your LT is the average of your HR for the last 20 minutes.  You use that to set up your heart rate for the run.  You do the same thing for the bike.  10 minute warmup and then hammer 20 minutes as hard as you can maintain.  At the end of a TT you should be pretty toasted.

If your first time was padded 5 minutes then the third time is doable.  But yes a lot of building and it sounds like a bit more reasonable of a goal.  It is hard to say in run training when you will get faster though.  You put in the miles, do the work and then one day you have more speed.  My first 5k was something like 22:30 and my second 5k like 3 years later was 18:36 ish. 

I wouldn't do any intervals shorter than a half mile given that you are training for a half mary.  Mile repeats would be better and are soo much more fun.  I imagine your plan would max out around 7 or 8 mile repeats in a run for a total run of around 12 miles.  Now if your A race was a 5k, then you could consider shorter intervals, but you would also want a run base to handle a run pace of faster than 5k pace.  The faster you go the harder it is on your body.       

Thanks so much Steve.  Really appreciate the input and education!

Dennis, you doing OK?  How is the knee and the pre-race prep?  Can we track you?

Really nice 8 mile run in cool(er) breezy weather this morning.  Last 4 miles actually got progressively faster.  Feeling good and rested from yesterday's swim only day.

I'm doing ok.  Knee is OK.  Not perfect because even though I have no pain, It sometimes reminds that it isn't 100% with a little tingle.  It is what it is.  I have 2 more days after today for it to get better.

Heading out around 3-4am tomorrow morning.  It will take me 7 hours to get to my office in Atlanta.  The terminal manager decided to have a cookout for the office so I could eat with them.  I will leave on to get into Augusta by 3 or 4pm hopefully.  That way I can get to athlete checkin and get my stuff early.  I have to check my bike on Saturday so Friday night I can get it numbered and ready.  It will also allow me to get a good 8-10 hours sleep.  Parking seems to be in short supply near the race so I plan on getting up early on Sunday and getting a spot near the finish/transition.  Since i'm going solo I don't have the convenience of somebody dropping me off and picking me up where I need to be.

Nerves are doing good.  A little anxious (good and bad).  Once i get there it will hit me pretty hard.  3,150 participants in a sold out race.  That's a lot of people.  My largest so far has been 1075 with a time trial start.  This is a wave start (25 waves) and I'm in wave 7. 

Tracking me.  Not sure but one of these sites should be the office WTC tracker Site 1 or Site 2.  My bib #807.  My swim starts at 7:56 EDT.  I also learned of a tracker being done by a BTer at http://www.racedaytracker.com/.  What it does is posts your splits as they come available to your facebook and twitter feeds.  My twitter is @dhwebb.  It's a free service so hopefully it will work.  I also have that same site texting a couple of people updates.  Pretty neat idea if it works.

So I've watched a drive through of the bike and run quite a few times now.  I'm even starting to remember some of the turns on the bike course.  I've also read my share of race reports.  It's funny.  Most that I have found are by slower people doing 6:30+.  Not may <5:30 reports I have ran across.

Getting ready for bed myself.  Just gotta fill the coolers tomorrow morning, load up bike and bags, then hit the road.  I'll have my iPad and phone on my so I will try to post some pictures and updates when I can.  Thanks to everybody here for supporting me.  I went back on my journal where i made the entry for registering for this race.  I thought I was crazy then.  Was worried I wouldn't be able to finish  Boy things have changed a lot for me in that short period of time.  I feel the odds of me finishing now is around 99%.  Only mechanical bike failure would cause a DNF now.  

Just keep it steady for the whole day.  You are not gona rock this one because of your knee, so going to hard on the bike may make it a longer day on the run.  Just stay positive, cheer folks on and know that this is a learning experience.  You will probably drop 45 minutes to 1:15 for your 2nd HIM when you can hit it healthy.  So this is just a fun day to practice transition, practice keeping the tiger in the tank and pacing yourself.  A HIM is short enough that when you hit it healthy you can go pretty hard for the entire time.... put that is not this race.  Your HIM strat is like an IM strat.  Steady pace all day, do not tweak that knee and finish smiling knowing you can improve on it, not limping in pain.  I don't want to be a downer, but you can have a lot of fun, just don't go too hard too soon.  Be safe and enjoy your well earned day.  Let us know how it goes.  Any triathlon day is better than watching football on the couch.

As for me, this cold is kicking my butt.  I am half way through my 2nd bag of cough drops and have resorted to niquil at night to get to sleep and control the postnasal junk.  Oh well, the body probably needed a few more weeks rest anyway.  I will just be starting from very low fitness once I am healthy again.  No big rush, no races signed up for, just won't be racing with my son next month.  It will be all about him instead of all about me, probably good to not steal his thunder.  Have a great weekend. 

Hey All! It has been too long. Transitioning to Montana and getting into the swing of things and having internet issues has left me wanting or time to get everything done. I think about all of you often and I am back. I have managed to get in some runs and bikes and will continue doing that as much as time allows. I don't have a bike light yet, so riding has to be in the day time. I want to focus a bit more on running because it is my weakest area, but I love biking sooo much.

Carol- Great job on the PR. What a great feeling to do something you have done before and see tangibly that you have done it better. Very excited for you.

Dennis - I have been anticipating your race for days now wanting to know how you are doing. Other than the continued knee problems you sound very ready. Today is your day, I believe, so I look forward to hearing the outcome.

Steve - you do more work than most people I know. Yes, please post pics of the archery range! You said during the off season I can really only work on one portion for improvement, is that right? Do you think I would be better of geting stronger on the bike, or focusing on my run? What should my off season look like? Any thoughts on what I can do until I figure out a way to swim?

I missed you all! Glad everyone is doing well.

Dennis, GOOD LUCK tomorrow!!!  So proud that one of our group is doing a HIM.  We're rooting for you to have a good day out there!  Look forward to hearing what it looks like from the other side of that finish line.

Hi Samantha!  (waving crazily!!!).  Glad to see you, and hear that you are doing well.  Hope you are enjoying your new job and home.  Good job squeezing in some workouts between the moving.  We would make a good team.  You love biking, me not so much.  I love running, you not so much.  Now we just need a swimmer.  Bueller?

Steve, hope the weekend finds you feeling better.  I could swear that some of the cold viruses are like industrial strength these days. 

Rode the bike course for the US Open this morning.  Beautiful day, and nice to get a course preview even if it cost me all morning.  Hour drive there, hour drive back + a side tour to see the house I lived in as a child up until 5th grade.  Been probably 25 years since I've been there.  Weird feeling.  Anyway, parts of the course had gravel and some nasty potholes, and others were smooth as glass.  They say the gravel will be cleaned up by next weekend....hope they are right.  Our ride leader caught a groove in the road and went down.  She's OK and her bike handlebars took the worst of it.  Interesting morning.

Happy weekend!    

Dennis, I peeked at your race results, and it looks to me like you had an awesome day!  Congratulations!!!!!  I don't want to steal your race report thunder so will leave it at that....for now . 

Once again, congrats to our new half ironman!  Way to go Dennis!!! How do you feel?  And do tell about the IT band thingy when you get a chance.

Steve, you got that cold kicked to the curb yet?

OK, so I really don't know how to train/taper this week leading up to this next OLY on 10/2.  the training plan I used as a partial guide only calls for 1200 yards swimming, 12 miles biking and 2.7 miles running for the WEEK, and has 4 days of doing nothing, which doesn't seem to make sense.  So if you have time, I would appreciate a critique of my made up plan for this week (logs are up to date as of Sunday):

Mon - Bike 17-20, run 3-4 (brick) - close to race pace

Tue - Swim 2000, run 6 (2-3 miles w/ 1/4  to 1/2 mile pickups) 

Wed - Bike 25 (easy??)

Thurs - run 5 or 6 (pace??)

Fri - Swim 1650 OWS - this one is not negotiable....want to do for confidence

Sat - rest, expo, walk the dog, etc.

Sun - Race

I would consider cutting the wed and thurs workouts in half... but it is your day.  You really only need a 1-2 day taper for an Oly, so you can do all that or you can cut wed thurs in half and take Friday off.

As to offseason training.  You can maintain fitness in a sport if you do 2 days a week for around 1 hour or so each day.  You can make slow progress with 3 workouts in a sport per week.  You can make decent progress in a sport with 4 workouts a week and your best progress is in 5-6 days a week with shorter, intermediate, intesity and long slower workouts.  So for most people that looks like run 6 days a week swim 1 bike 2 (run focused).  For bike focused it might look ride 6 days a week, run 3-4 days a week, but shorter distances say 4-6 miles (4 4 4 8) and swim 1 day for 30-45 min, possibly 2 days for 30 minutes.  Swim focused might look something like swim 5 days a week x 1 hour, bike 2x a week (30 mile 30 mile) and run 4x a week (4 4 4 8). 

I may be starting to get healthier.  So I will need to ease back into things.

My winter plan on paper off the top of my head is bike 40, 20, 30, 20, 60, 10 miles, run 5,5,5,5,5,13 miles, swim 30 min x 2 or something like that.  I will have to see how it feels.  I don't really want to put more than 3-4 hours into a bike ride on Saturdays during the off season, but want to increase the intensity of the bike rides, so there will be some heart rate work with intensity should the leggs be healed up ok.  If I have to  I will drop 2 runs and 1 swim if I don't have enough uphta for the bike workouts.  So my base should look like an overkill HIM plan that will set me up for some serious building next spring for IM #4.  How does 11:15:00 sound for a goal, drop 25 to 30 minues off this year's time?  Oh well still putsing with it for now.

Oh and I went back and looked at the calories I have burned since I got off the couch.... 1,150,851... or the equivalent of 319 pounds of fat.... or if it were all just running that would equal 11,508 miles. So when I read the posts that say I have been running for 2 months now and I want to cut 10 minutes off my 5k time in 3 weeks...  I just kind of smile.  Unless God smiled on you and blessed you with the legs of a gazell... it aint gona happen.  Hard work, consistent effort, intensity when you can handle it, recovery when injured.  It is the long view.  So hopefully in another 1,000,000 calories I can qualify for Kona... hard to say I may have some nasty plateus or physical limits that I haven't bumped up against yet.  We shall see.   

Dennis, how was the drive back?

Steve, your winter plan looks like a LOT!  I'm assuming you will ease into it after taking some well deserved down time.  Do you watch movies or something on the trainer?  I cannot imagine that many hours without some distraction.  Which IM are you targeting?  Any other races you plan to do next yr? 

Thanks Dennis & Steve!  I hear you both on the less is more, and my body told me the same thing yesterday.  Don't know if it was mild heat exhaustion or what, but my workout was lousy and totally zonked me afterwards.  Zero energy, could not get warm for several hours, and fell asleep at 7ish on the couch and slept straight through until 6 this morning.  Dropping my planned run today, but will still swim. 

Alright.  Back at work so I have time to post with a real keyboard.  First off thanks for all the encouragement and congratulations from everybody.  Aside from a few people at work, this is the only place I really get that so it means a lot.  I'm proud of myself also even if it is taboo to say.

People ask me how was it.  It is one of the few times I can say that everything was wonderful.  I had a great time.  I had fun.  I enjoyed myself.  Every minute of it.  Sure things went wrong, but they didn't have any effect on my day, race or mood. 

1. Sunburned shoulders.  Those are uncommon for me because I'm fairly dark complected but it was been a while since they have seen any sun. 
2. Wetsuit neck hicky.  Once again I let the bristle part of my wetsuit rub against my neck for 30 minutes while swimming.  Gotta fix that.
3. Thighs are sore still.  Nothing bad but rolling them hurts.  They'll get better.
4. Pain on outside top of left foot.  Probably caused by foot swelling during event and making shoe too tight. 
5. Left big toe/toe nail.  Ok this on sucks the most.  In T1 I put my left sock on and pulled it way too tight.  The entire bike I spent with each stroke pulling on my big toe and the nail.  That whole unit hurts like hell still.

All of that will heal fast though.  What doesn't have to heal is that IT band.  Carol wanted to know what happened there.  Hell if I know.  Here are the few facts I can tell you.

• I felt a little bit of irritation from it the night before if I laid on my side in bed, which has been an issue for the past few weeks.)  I could feel it a little during the swim. 
• Didn't run in T1 or T2 due to it giving a slight pain and me wanting to save what little running I could get out of it for the run.
• No issue during bike but that is normal anyway.
• During T2 I put on the Mueller ITB strap I had purchased 2 weeks ago after the 10k.  I ran a little in it once and I can't say it helped because I wound up walking a majority of that training run.  I figured it couldn't hurt to wear it.
• So I start running.  I had already decided the day before since I hadn't ran in a while and I was risking the ITBS flaring up that I would do a 4:1 walk/run time ratio.  As I mentioned it hurt a little the first interval but went away after that.    

How has it been since the race?  Non-existent.  I don't get it, nor do I care.  I am still rolling it and doing my leg raises with the resistance band (I want one of these instead).  I also think when I start back to running I will do 4:1 intervals instead of 1 mile:1 minute.  And I guess me and the ITB strap are going to be going on runs together for a while.

People also ask me when the next one is.  I have been replying, "New Orleans is in April.  That gives me 7 months to find those 14 minutes I need to break 6 hours.  I already know where 3 of them are."  It's true.  I was looking up my next half before my head hit the pillow that night.  Every time I hurt I smile because I know where it came from.  I can't wait to ride the bike, run a couple of miles and even swim 42 laps in the pool.  I've been looking for a new drug for a long time, I'm pretty sure I have found it.  Which made me ask why do I like doing this.  I can answer that easily.  It makes it all go away.  For 6 hours on Sunday I had only one thing on my mind - finishing the race.  I never worried about how I was going to pay the credit card bill this month.  Raise the kids properly.  It was just me out there.  Only drugs can do that to you.  I can now stand up and say, "My name is Dennis and I'm an addict".

Oh I just remembered, I have a marathon in a little over 2 months.  This ought to be interesting.  Hopefully I can dial it back some and keep the training up.