Left.Right.Repeat - CLoSED for the season - will reopen Jan 2013 (Page 51)

Carolyn- Great job on your finish.

Ragnar what an adventure. 40hrs of no sleep, haven't run more than 20 miles in a week since oct. and no other training made it even more crazy.

Our Ultra team did great for our first time. 27 hrs. My quads were done after my second leg. I got to run in the area I live in so I ran way to fast because of all the people out cheering me on. A bunch of my athletes show up too to cheer me on. The most kills I got was 32. I had a total of 98 and the team had 283. THis race reminded me of how much you can do physically if you really want it. I was never tired while running or out of energy I just had to block out the pain of my leg muscles.

I will right more later I have to go.

All right.  I think it was the cold talking more than anything!!  It was miserable!!  Thanks Carolyn for the perspective!!  I knew things were off when I was asking questions about my new bike and second guessing my ability to continue in the sport!!  I did pick up my new bike today.  Guess I should think of names??  I moved my pedals and aero bars over to save some bucks.  I can't ride until Thursday the earliest because of work commitments.  I'm very anxious to get out there.  I do put in a lot of training and have many hours on my bike.  Improved times just are very slow in coming.  But in reality that is only a small part of why I tri!!

Carolyln, great job on your Oly.  You sound like you did great.  WE have very similiar goals.  

Thanks Bryan for your perspective.  I thought I heard you out there muttering things over.  

Bri, you are the best encourager!!  What a coach!!  You found your niche.

More, later in the week!!

ann

HIM - Swim 1.2, Bike 56, Run 13.1

With 4 weeks to go until your HIM, you have perhaps 1 more training cycle of 3 weeks and a 1 week of taper.  I would suggest your greatest area for improvement will be in Transition and possible Nutrition.  Realistically you can only expect to improve by 10 percent in any one of the S/B/R disciplines.  Find out what drink mix will be served during the race.  Get some and train with it.  Take the drink mix out on your next long run and find out now it your going to have stomach issues.

Your swim in the OLY was good preperations for the HIM swim.
  Fitness is what it is, but you could improve your sighting skills with some more open water swimming.  Good sighting skills can mean the difference of as much as a couple hundred yards of zig-zag.

The bike will be around 3 hours in the saddle. 
  Are you comfortable riding in aero.  Each time you rise up to stretch you have to work 2-3 mph harder.  You have time to build up your saddle time and make sure you have the right shorts and know where to put the body glide.

The run is the most important part of the event.  It is 13.1 miles.
  There is no great bike unless you can follow it up with a good run.  Save some energy during the bike and first half of the run for the finish.  Practice your long course nutrition (food and drink).  You have time now to make a change if nessicary and practice.

Nothing new on race day.  This means same shoes, googles, saddle, drink mix, food.
With 3-4 weeks to go, Now is your last good chance to make a change and practice it.
 
Go for the HIM.  It will be super exciting.  Spandex is powerful stuff.  You can do this.

Regards,
Mark

CB - Here's the low down on Gu and Blocks.

Energy Gels and cubes should be taken with water.  The easiest way to do this during the run is to scarf down a gel just before the aid station and then drink 1 - 2 half cups of water.  Taken a gel after drinking works but not as well.

Do not mix energy gels and drinks with sugar, like gator aid.  You'll end up with a high concentration of sugar in the gut that is difficult to digust while running. 

2 common solutions to this problem
  Drink a custom solution of both electrolytes and energy like Infinit.
  Drink a sugar free electrolyte solution like nuun and consume your energy in gels, blocks or real food like cookies, unwiches, fruit etc.

Last tip on gels.
Getting the gel out of the packet and into your mouth can become a complicated thing when your mind is in a marathon, Ironman induced fog.  And there is the empty sticky wrapper to deal with.  I empty gels sachets into a small squeezable flask, and mix in a couple of teaspoons of coffee.  The result is a gel flask that is easy to use one handed.   If you find you like one kind of gel, you can by a large bottle of the stuff at a lower the cost.

I used to prefer the blocks and would consume one ever couple of miles.  This worked well for sprints and oly, 10k and Half-Mary runs.  But on long courses and 26.2 runs I ran out of pockets to carry a dozen or more of the silly things.  Thats another reason why I prefer to use a gel flask.

Tata for now.

Lou, good luck on your event.

Listen to these guys as they know what they are talking about but also remember what works for them may not work for you. Thus the reason to practice! I tried so many differnt food items on the bike last year before finally going with Infinite drink mix.

Yes, the water last year was colder than that... even booties were legal. As a cardiac survivor with a lot of internal parts that got moved around, my extremities (hands and feet) tend to get colder quicker. But the booties made a huge difference. that being said, we did the practice swim the day before race day, and once you are in the water and moving around, that pocket of water inside your suit stabilizes your temps.  I think a lot of people tend to get very surprised when their face hits the cold water. One racer I know told me to fill a big mixing bowl full of ice water, trying to approximate the water temp of your race, and just dunk your face in it, even with the goggles on. If nothing else, you need to learn to not react to that surprise the wrong way... jump in, hold your breath and wait until you pop back up to the surface.

Yup, the plodding elephant has returned...slowly.

To catch up, I did the Cap 10K with my daughter and her new husband, which was exciting for me because up to this year, she has never been involved in events such as this. But they made the commitment last year to do this stuff together, so I signed them up to do the Hot Chocolate 5K while I did the 15K, and having that finish line for them was a great achievement. I managed to convince them to come down to do the 10K, knowing they would walk quite a bit of it. But they finished, which in the end is the goal.

Then it was a month or so of nothing but working with Briana on the Austin logistics for the Team Red, White and Blue Triathlon Camp, which was April 11-15. What an honor to be able to pay respect to 29 awesome heroes! Truly inspirational people, each and every one. Something I will never forget.

Having said that, I was severely undertrained for Ironman New Orleans 70.3. This was the first year in 3-4 that they actually had the swim, with the move into the harbor. Another wonderful windy ride, and then off to the walk/run back to the French Quarter. With the heavy humidity I didn't feel like I was able to manage the heart rate as well as I wanted, so it quickly turned into just finishing, which I managed to do. Overall, it is a pretty good event. I will likely return to do this one at some point.

I know I owe Bryan 2 beads now. The first I dragged through the Texas Independence Relay (poor bead! - it could have rolled faster than I ran!) and this second worn during the Veterans' Tri Camp and IMNO. Given Boston and West, Texas, there is a lot of emotion tied up in this bead.

I have committed to two other tris this year, and returning to IMAZ 2014, perhaps with a couple of my fellow cardiac survivors. We'll see how that goes...

Kathy, like Patrick said, booties worked wonders for me.  I HATE cold water.  It takes me 10 minutes to ease into the indoor heated pool where I swim and that water (at least according to the sign on the wall) is around 82.  So, 60 degree water was frigid for me.  We at least have Barton Springs here, which is an outdoor spring fed pool that stays a constant 68 degrees.  I did several swims there to help get me use to it, but the practice swim the day before the race was still a shock.  

I used booties, ear plugs, and double capped to help keep the warmth in.  When I jumped in for the practice swim, I thought "there is no way I can do this".  I was supposed to wait for Patrick and Selene and do the practice swim together, but I had to get moving.  It took a bit, but I finally got to where I could tolerate it.  I have to admit that race morning when I jumped in the water, it didn't feel quite so cold.  It was still cold, but I just kept moving until the gun went off.  I was ok in the water for about an hour and then started getting a little chilled again.  More motivation to get out quick.

I'd say find the coldest body of water you can and practice swimming in that.  Take cold showers and do the "face in the bowl of ice" that Patrick mentioned.  DEFINITELY do the practice swim the day before.  You have to have your chip and wristband, so make sure you get registered and checked in on Friday so you have those.

If I can get through it, you can too!

Mark, that was a great rundown on the nutrition aspect of this ongoing adventure. After some experimenting this week, I think I'm going to go with a liquid only approach. I think that'll work best for me once I settle on the right one. You don't suppose they'll have a Starbucks somewhere on the course, do you ;-)

Great discussion of cold water adaptations.

Wax ear plugs - Not sure how this works, but by keeping the cold out of the sinus keeps the body warmer.  Something about how the ears are connected to the 'Central Governer'.

Thin neoprene cap worn under your race day cap provides extra insulation, the chin straps take some getting used to. or Wear an extra swim cap under your race swim cap.  doubles the insulation.

Petrolium Jelly on the tops of your feet seals the pores and keeps the feet warm.  You can put some of this stuff on your cheeks but keep it away from your googles.  The slightest touch and the googles will refuse to seal on your face.

During cold water training swims, take a gallon jugs filled with hot water to rinse off with after the swim.  Helps to warm up after the swim.

Regards,
Mark

Along with what they said ice baths. I hate the cold but since I started taking them I can stand colder water.

Finish line--I did a club sprint tri today and came in 3rd. More details later.

If anybody lives in so cal we have a race a month about and its $20 a race or free if you join the club for $25.    We also host an ironman distance & 1/2 distance race that is pretty cheap.

I use infinit and love it. also used it for Ragnar. And like others say you have to try things until you figure out what works for you.

Been reading every day, just not posting.  Little Caesars Pizza is scheduled to open on May 7th!!!  Everyone is invited to the grand opening!

Been on the side like Billy.  No time.  Just wanted to post real quick.  Got the new bike.  Loving it. I see a difference in effort and results.  Less effort and more results.  So Happy bout that!!  Seeing some run improvements too!!  

Carolyn,  some one on this site I think told me about cutting up CLiff bars, different flavors, which you like and have tried during training, and put them in your Bento box on your bike.  It kept me nourished in my one and only HIM and it was a surprise cuz I never knew what flavor I was going to get.  I drank it with water.  I like to chew stuff.  I'm always hungry.  Full liquids didn't cut it for me.  Did Gu and water and sometimes coke on the run.  And salt tabs, I was in GA.

Hello to all!!  Train hard.

ann

Been on the sidelines but trying to keep up with everyones postings.  Between work and a house remodel that required me to move out and back in, I have not had much time.

I must really get my travel under control as IMFL training is going to start in June!  Running is going well(I just signed up for the Aspen marathon as I need to at least run one of those things without the swimming and biking...), riding the bike so so but the swimming I need to crank up.  My first tri-race is this weekend, an international distance put up by our local club in a new venue that was built for triathlons and rowing competitions, really cool.  I've only swam 5 times since last july, so I am apprehensive but feel that if I do not at least do it, it's another opportunity lost.

For nutrition I have gone with infinit, and then chewable stuff on top -powerade energy blast chews are my favorite along with stinger waffles.  I cannot swallow gu at all, makes me gag.

for the finish lines: I did a 5K last week, a glow in the dark beer race for the make a wish foundation.