Swbkrun mentor group - Closed (Page 51)

Regularly and on purpose, IWBMATTKYT   

Minnow needs to give up the final information from MOO last year!  She was re-decorating her pain cave most of the day!  Tough as nails that little 4 footer is, tough as NAILS!!!  

Hey Now (to use my Canadian Friend's term!)

I'm 4'10" every day.  Well maybe not on IM day.  Yeah, thinking back, that was the longest time I've spent in the cave.   Miserable. Looked so ugly doing it too. Eeeeew, 12 extra lbs on this frame isn't pretty.   I had zero thoughts of quitting, kind of operated in a blur, kept telling myself "at least run a little or this could take as long as Fatty's marathons!" (who's Fatty?).  Good reminder when things get tough this weekend.

And I like that phrase.  I am going to use it somewhere in my blog.

I disagree... It was the pain cave, hurt locker... I guess I asking how do you overcome adversity?  When things are hurting, not going your way, or are on the verge of falling over.... What do you do... You POWERED through.... I see a common thread here... "NEVER THOUGHT OF QUITING," POWERED THROUGH", and everyone's FAVORITE.... HTFU (gosh I hate that!!)

It's funny how powerful the mind can be when your hurting....  What is pretty cool is when you know where your going with your training or racing and you know it's going to hurt.... Like Dino was saying... GAME ON!!!

Let's see... I'm pretty sure my last time was on Saturday, with you. What did I do? Whine, walk, stretch, stop. Find some cute chicks (not sure if they were cute? their dog sure was!!), call my husband, and whine for rescue.

But seriously... my body was not right and was telling me so. I hated cutting a long run short, but when I tried to run the next day and couldn't, I knew it was the right call. Probably should have made it sooner, but was trying to power through, push on, and not quit. There is a fine balance there between toughness and stupidity when your body doesn't feel right, IMO. I may have fallen more on the stupid side, but whatever. Wondering what I would have done had I been alone -- probably pushed on. So thanks for helping me find my voice of reason. :-)

As someone who has stupidly pushed through all sorts of pain, I agree there is a difference between the pain cave and body pain that is NOT normal.  I am way smarter than I used to be and if there is something that isn't "RIGHT", I pull the plug.  Silly example, but my legs have been sore the last couple of days between mile repeats, my last harder long run,  today's MP run so I pulled the plug on any TRX this week (and I LOVE TRX).  Could I push through it?  Sure. Does it make sense given this weekend?  NOPE.   With age comes wisdom!

I always find this topic so interesting as I was once the guy who got tired and would walk.. I was never able to push through any sort of mental or physical weakness (I am not talk injury, just fatigue)..... I finally figured it out during a half iron a few years ago.... I said I will NOT walk at all during this half marathon... Even if my pace suffered a bit I was still going to run.... From that point on I knew that I COULD in fact get through things even when tired.

Dark places are very interesting.... It's interesting how you can feel so many different ways in any given workout.... This past weekend I was running with Kyla and RP, scheduled for 19 miles I thought I was going to be in serious trouble that day... And sure enough 5 miles in a was deeply scared that I was going to screw everything up for them, and not be able to go the distance, and by mile 9.5 I was actually feeling really good and knew that it was going to be a good day.... From low's to high's, high's to low.... It's important to keep your nutrition in check, as well as your mental state.  

I personally consider triathlon 5 sports.... There swimming, biking, running, nutrition, and mental state.  ALL of them will lead to your success.  

Suzy will love this one.... a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd experiment with a low carb diet to see if it would shift any excess fat around my middle and see if I'd feel any other benefits (yes, maybe not such a bright idea during IM training ).

Anyway, after my weekend of a 2hr 30 run, 1 hour swim and 5 hour bike I felt like I could sleep for a week, on Wednesday I attempted my bike intervals on the trainer and after 23 minutes of sweating I had to stop before I fainted! Luckily my wife was nagging me to get off the trainer so we could take the kids out for dinner so I took that option and stuffed myself with steak and hot chips at the Surf Club and instantly felt much better!

The interesting thing is that I noticed the fat around my belly melt away within days of trying the diet but I wont be tempted to try this again until long after my race!

I love this mentor group!

It's so fun to check in and see such great things going on.  Congrats on the wedding, Mike.  I also love the conversation about the mental aspect of the sport.  I believe the mind is the first thing you have to get right......before you can reap the benefits of any kind of training.  Today, I got up at 4:30 and made it to the pool!  Woo Hoo!  I have to work really hard to shut out that voice that says, "It will be ok if you skip this workout."  So Spanky, get your a$$ out the door and get it done...even if you don't feel like it.  It will get easier and it will make you feel better as you regroup and move on in your life. 

Bruce, can you post something at least once a day?  I like your new avatar

When's the next MG race? Why don't you all come and do the HIM at Steelhead on August 4th.  You want to swim in Lake Michigan, don't you?

Listen up Swbkrun...........It's hump day and that means it's time to tell us what your plans are for the weekend.  Who's racing? 

Let's keep the conversation about mental fortitude going and also add in some talk about speed work.  When do you recommend speed work?  What kind of speed work to you do?  When do you avoid it? 

Ugh!  I don't think there is anything wrong with limiting a lot of refined crap, even during IM training, but limiting CHOs makes those workouts tough and you lost a few key ones with the experiment.  I read Fitzgerald's optimal racing weight  and his book on marathons. There is a section on fat loading a few days before CHO loading for a marathon.  Interesting, but not enough to test it out before my marathon.  I think if you want to go paleo or whatever in your non-A race period have at it and see where you land.

The reason why your gut looks thinner is CHOs hold more water.  When you eliminate them, the shrink ensues.

Me!  Going to see Kim and Linda in SF and do the Oakland marathon before a food/wine feast begins. Taking the man with me too!  

No racing here. GL to all who are racing. I am going to participate in a dualathon on Sunday (unofficial).

About this mental thing. It happened to me last week duting the 10 mile. I did what everone else has said. The pain was unbearable i could barely put weight on it. I have a hard time being mentally tough its like this is tough and instead of pushing through i slow down or walk. I am trying to get better and see improvements since this time last year. I guess I will keep training and hope the mental aspect keeps getting stronger.

I've heard they don't usually swim at the Steelhead 69.1 ......   

Great conversation on mental toughness. I often underestimate myself in this category, I always think that I am not as tough as others as I read about throwing up during a race and then you keep on going (David). Then I am reminded of my younger years of drinking when I threw up after many many beers or shots....and just kept on going Ok maybe that is not the type of mental toughness you are talking about.

I really don't think about it a lot I guess when I am working out or racing, I just adjust and keep going, I probably should have a better strategy, maybe singing(would be hard when swimming) , or maybe thinking about the fact that I even have the ability to get out and do this, and be grateful for being able to stand on two legs. Now I am going to have to think about this more ...ughh

As far as speed skills, I was much more disciplined last year, spent the early part of the week on speed and the end of the week on endurance. The season is still early. But I do mostly sprints, and skipping and jump rope for running, not much on the bike, and swim is more about technique for me.

Congratulations Mike on the addition to the family, weddings are a great time to be grateful for family and friends (that is of course if you like them

No racing again this weekend, need to get back into a regular routine.

Jayne - Photoshop works wonders

I'm racing!!   WOOT!  Oakland Running Festival.  Entered in the half, wondering if I can change it to the 2k.

Meeting up with Suzy and Kim at the expo, racing behind Kim on the HM and looking for Suzy doing the REAL distance on Sunday....and then having dinner in SF with us 3 and our SOs....at the Slanted Door!!!   Can't WAIT!!!!

Pain cave?  Lots lately.  Really struggling with the difference between hurting and being hurt.  Injury vs RA pain vs lack of training.  It's a tough one, with long-term ramifications, unfortunately.

LOVED the wedding pictures.....awwww.....but dang, they look so young!!  I must be getting old!

Yes, well. you'll be looking at staying here come Sunday......

Way to go, PNW speedsters...

I feel like I could sit and talk about this stuff for days...over the past 3-4 years, I have gone through the gamut of training speed, not training speed, being injured, coming back from injury, pushing through physical (not so smart) and mental pain (pretty awesome once you get through!), and just experiencing the highs and lows of it all...and learning about myself and my body along the way.

This will be my first race since 2009 (wow!) not having a coach and it's been interesting. They say a good coach will give an athlete the tools they need to train on their own when they are ready.  I hope that is true for this weekend, we will see!  I have not done any running speed work since pre IM in 2011 but prior to that , I did a lot!!!!  Sometimes, just little fartleks, and sometimes, mile repeats. 

I must say, I am healthier without it and am willing to be slower for the sake of staying healthy.  That said, now that I have been strength training, and my foot does not hurt one iota, I feel a little bit ready to let the legs go a little bit!  So we shall see what happens this weekend at the HM in Oakland.  It's been raining the past few days, but the forecast is for mid-50's to 60's for the race.  Perfect BQ weather, Suzy!

*that madison storm watch thing makes our storm watch seem like a joke!*

Good luck to all of our racing fools! 

Me - I'm racing this Saturday....  (that may be a generous description of my participation....)

Cooper Sprint Triathlon - 350 swim, 12 mi bike, 5k.....  good news is that it is like 10 miles from the house so I don't have to get up at 4:00 AM....

Haven't really done much speed work per se, as I am usually focused on endurance  - I have noticed that a decent tempo run each week at about 2/3ths the distance of my long run really helped bring my pace down over time...  I usually try to finish two of my runs with a hard effort though...

Not racing. I love and hate speed work. I've got enough of a base behind me that to get that awesome runner's high feeling, I need to push myself. Sometimes I hate it in the moment but I always love the feeling of accomplishment when it's done. I've been doing lots of tempo runs lately, negative split long runs, and some various track workouts. They all are great and serve a purpose.

When to avoid it? When you are tired, injured, or don't have a solid base to back it up, IMO. I did a pretty tough workout early last week on the heels of my HM and felt great doing it. Didn't feel so great the next day, and didn't really recover fully before I went and did a tempo run and a long run and ouch, have been suffering since Saturday. Was it the speed work that triggered my pain (glute)? Yes. Should I not have done it? Dunno. Felt fine at the time. Live and learn, recover and move on. 

And I'm taking a major lesson from one of my best role models, and that's my 10-year-old daughter. For those not in the know, she broke her radius and ulna, just above her wrist, in a fall during an indoor soccer game 10 days ago. ER docs reset her bones, but then ortho found they were slipping and inserted pins this past Friday. This is a girl who likes to move, who NEEDS to move, who's very goal-oriented and driven, who has some lofty soccer goals she's been working nearly a year to achieve. And now she can't play soccer for 4+ weeks. It is killing me, so it's got to be tearing her up inside. But I'm being strong for her and playing all of the optimist cards, and she is handling it all like a champ. We are focusing on what she CAN do (practice juggling, kick a ball against a wall, play pass with friends, work on ball-handling skills, etc.) and what we can control. It's amazing how much this is helping me as I face a much smaller setback for my run training... Focusing on what I can do and can control, and letting my body heal and recover in the meantime.

GOOD LUCK RACERS!!! Lots of peeps throwing down this weekend. Sending special well-wishes to the NorCal runnin' women. Have a blast out there!!

No racing yet. Still a few months out for me at best. I did order my new bike seat today in hopes of bringing on some darn spring like weather. I am so sick of this freezing temps and snow.

I am hoping to run my first 5k race in April and I am still a ways out for considering speed work. But It will be interesting to read so I know some things I should consider in the future.

No racing, I'm working this weekend...

As far as running speed work goes, I think it's overrated. Consistent easy paced running gets you fitter, stronger and faster over time. Speed sessions help but at a risk. I read somewhere that as you get older - that's most of us - tempo runs give the greatest benefit without too much risk so that's my favoured form of speed work. Marathon pace sessions seemed to the best preparation for my marathon last year, running 90 minutes at race pace takes mental fortitude!