Left.Right.Repeat - CLoSED for the season - will reopen Jan 2013 (Page 50)

Ann - congratulations on your 10k and your PR.

Lou - congratulations on your race.  That is awesome that your PRd in all events.  Sorry I am not able to help you with wetsuit recommendations.  I have only used my sleeveless 2XU once and will be trying out my full sleeve 2XU in another week.

Bryan, will be thinking happy thoughts on Monday.  Hope you get in to Kona.

DARN!!!

Hopefully you get it next time. 

Ann and Lou great job!!!!!

Anybody ever do Ragnar??? Advice please. 

I am doing So. Cal this week. Not ready but to late now.  I am Leg 6 & 12.

Bryan, sorry to hear your name wasn't drawn.  Aren't you getting close to be eligible to enter the legacy program?

Phil, good luck with your the Ranger relay, you will do fine.

Bryan - Time to add another finishline to the front page.

The Ronde van Palouse, race report.
 
For years I've had a vision of riding fast across the Palouse.  I could picture myself riding up and over the rolling hills as the wind played with the wheat grasses.  This race was that vision.  Except in my dream the wind was always at my back.  In real racing you turn corners and the wind sometimes blows in your face.  Sometimes the wind blows really hard in your face as you fight to stay on the wheel in front.  Sometimes it snows and the wind blows the snow sideways.  Sometimes Race Directors put in sections of gravel roads just to make it tough.
 
I raced the Tour of the Palouse on my Cannondale CaadX cross bike from my team bike shop, NWTB.  Fast on the flats and steady on the 40+ mph descents.  The wide rims and 700x28c Gatorskins provided exception handling in the gravel sections.  I spent most of the day riding in the drops to present as small a cross-section to the wind as possible.  Aerobars are not allowed in USA Cycling road racing events.  Riding into the steady winds of eastern Washington, I could have used a set of bolt on extensions.

The race was better than the dream. It was hard, I suffered, but I also had a really good time and finished my first official road race.  It's not often you get to live the dream.

Mark aka Fit

Hey, Lou.  Great job!!  Money well spent.  

Bryan, sorry bout kona.  Guess it wasn't meant to be.  My neighbor ran in boston and thankfully is ok.  Finished 10 min prior to the explosion.  She just got home a a little bit ago.  I'm anxious to go and talk to her but I think I am going to wait until tomorrow.

I have a miserable head cold.  I managed to avoid it all winter.  Thankfully I am in a recovery week so nothing too strenuous.  I inadvertently scheduled a recovery week every third week instead of every fourth.  (It was an option in the program but I didn't realize the implications)I just played around trying to convert it and I think I am better off leaving it the way it is.  Especially with my crazy schedule.  I am building nicely and feel pretty good.  Does anyone have thoughts here?

I also bought a bike this week end.  I didn't intend to purchase but I did.  I got a Madone 4.5 and got Bontrager performance wheels, they cost 1000 for the pair.  Is this money well spent?  My husband thinks it won't buy much in performance but going from a Specialized low end to a carbon fiber with aero dynamic wheels seems to make sense.  I have to get my bike speed up.  I only averaged 13.5 mph on a 32 mile ride this weekend on a flatish ride with some strong headwinds on the way home. (12-15mph)  

I must admit this head cold is playing with my head in more than one way.  I got discouraged.  I need to work on strength, which I am trying to do, I have terrible flexibility, which means I need to do yoga and have a hard time finding the time for that and I am a slow biker and runner.  I can swim respectfully tho.  I know strength will help my bike and run but maybe triathalon isn't for me??  I have more weaknesses than strengths.  I am trying to push through.  Any thoughts would be welcomed.  I am also not a kid.  Turning 51 this May.  I started this journey about 3 years ago and I do love it!!  That's why we do it, right Bryan??  I would just like to get to some respectable splits.  I would like to mathematically finish a full IM and then have the option to train for it.  

Thanks for listening guys!!

ann

Ann, don't beat yourself up. If you love the sport and have fun doing it, then times don't matter at all.  All that matters is that you are happy and that you enjoy doing what you are doing.

With that being said, there ARE ways to get better and faster, but it won't happen overnight.  If you are more comfortable and aerodynamic on the new bike and wheels, then it may buy you some time, but the best thing to do to get better on the bike is ride more.  I would much rather run than ride, so when training for Ironman I really had to focus on not missing any rides and really giving it my all during my training rides.  Race day may be cold, windy, wet, etc., so unless there was more risk of injury than necessary, I had to get out in those conditions to train.  Over time, you will get faster.

Do you have a rest day every week?  If so, I see nothing wrong with doing some yoga on the rest day to improve the flexibility issue.  Just don't do a power class or Bikram yoga (the hot yoga) or something that is more of a workout.

Having a rest week every third week instead of every fourth is ok if it works for you.  As we get older, some people find it takes longer to recover, so if that allows you to recover and go into your next two week block refreshed, you will have better workouts in those two weeks.

Like I said, don't beat yourself up so much.  Enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

Mark - wow what a ride you had!  Congratulations on living your dream!

Ann - totally agree with Briana, don't stress about the times.  I know it is easier said then done but it is so very true.  We are only racing ourselves and once you finally feel comfortable with that statement things will start working out for you.  Because you lose the self doubt and you just go out there and have fun.  I laugh now as I look back at older posts when I first got my tri bike and how I couldn't ride in aero position and how I stressed over it.  I remember Bryan telling me, who said you have to ride in aero, if you want to ride your tri bike up on the hoods then who is telling you you can't.  That was what I needed and bang, things just started clicking and now I have no issues except going down a hill.  Just go and do what works for you and have fun and enjoy the journey as the journey is like no other.

Ann,

I'm a total newbie so don't have any concrete help to give whatsoever, but just wanted to remind you that everything always seems worse when we're not feeling 100%. When you're over this cold your perspective will change and trying to incorporate some of the new stuff you're talking about won't seem so daunting. 

...said the old lady that has her first event this Saturday and is about as clueless as they come. 

Good luck ChunkyBaby!  Can't wait to hear how it goes.  Remember to relax and enjoy the moment.

Chunky Baby - Here's a little advice for your first race.
  Have Fun, savor every second of the race.
  Inspire others, regardless of the struggle, smile and enjoy.

When you smile it hurts a little less, relax and you will go a little faster.

Get there early, and prosper from the nervous energy at the start of the race.

Above all,
  The zipper is on the back of the wetsuit.
  Some peeps pee's in their wetsuit, nobody pee's on their bike.
  Don't forget to take off your bike helmet before run.
  It's ok to cry when you cross the finish line.


Oh and have lots of fun.

Thanks. I keep having the show up late, forget my wetsuit, flat tires dream almost every night now. (Last night had an interesting variation: didn't have my wetsuit so a little kid gave me his and not only was it way too small, it was full of holes and the zipper had one of those fishing lead sinkers attached.)

I'll let you know...

Fit4Infinity, thank you so much for your words of advice. I was reading them while sitting in my car in the carpool line at my daughter's school and was actually getting a little choked up. 

My legs feel incredibly tired today so it's hard to imagine the race right now but I've decided, given the horrific event in Boston recently, I will celebrate being okay and being able to use my legs at all. 

Now if I can just stop these pesky dreams...

Kathy, in my opinion, yes, it is ok to do yoga on a day off.  However, like I said before, it needs to be a restorative type or more of a stretching yoga and not a power yoga session.  Sage Rountree is an excellent source of incorporating yoga into schedules for athletes and if I remember correctly has some information in that book on incorporating yoga into your periodized training plan.  As your swim/bike/run workouts increase in intensity, your yoga should decrease in intensity.  I have several of her books and she also has some short routines for doing as stretches after a run or a bike, etc.  

What kind of issues are you having in your IM training?

Kathy, in my opinion, yes, it is ok to do yoga on a day off.  However, like I said before, it needs to be a restorative type or more of a stretching yoga and not a power yoga session.  Sage Rountree is an excellent source of incorporating yoga into schedules for athletes and if I remember correctly has some information in that book on incorporating yoga into your periodized training plan.  As your swim/bike/run workouts increase in intensity, your yoga should decrease in intensity.  I have several of her books and she also has some short routines for doing as stretches after a run or a bike, etc.  

What kind of issues are you having in your IM training?

So I did it. I didn't drown, crash my bike, or finish last so I'm calling it a success. (I also didn't show up late, have to wear a shredded wetsuit with lead fishing anchors on it or have to fight off inflatable obstacles...all things from the wacky dreams.)

My time on the swim was so freaking slow but I think that has a lot to do with just figuring out how to better orient myself in open water. Apparently popping one's head up every 10 strokes or so adds time. Honestly, I had a moment in the first 5 minutes when I thought I just can't do this. That turn around buoy seemed MILES away. But then I thought of the $$ I've spent lately trying to find the right triathlon clothes so I don't look/feel like a stuffed sausage and figured I'd better carry on. 

The bike felt great even with my decision to use my running shoes with non-clip pedals. I'm pretty sure I was the only one going that route based on my observations. I just didn't want the stress of potentially toppling over since I've managed to do that on a pretty regular basis. I even managed to pass a good number of people. My time was not blistering by any means but it felt nice...except for trying to chew and swallow a GU Chomp after climbing a hill. Holy dry mouth!

The run was okay. At that point I was just determined not to stop and get this thing done. 

This was an Olympic distance tri and truly my goal was to just finish....until I started looking at the results. I just can't help it but that's when my somewhat competitive nature kicked in. So I'm afraid this will not be the end of Olympic distances for me. I WILL learn to open water swim and I will not dawdle in the transitions. And I just might even figure out how to use those blasted clip-in pedals without bruising myself up in the process. 

Thank you for everybody's help. It apparently takes a village.

Congratulations to everybody on their finishes today.

Carolyn