Baowolf's Mentor Group- Closed (Page 53)

Here's one for fun.... In a prior life, I occasionally played the role of wanna be rock star....

Mike - I really hope you have a picture of said "rock star days".

Pam - That spill on the road side totally stinks. I'm very glad you are okay! Nice miles this month!

Jay - so very glad you and your wife received good news. Celebration is definitely in order for that.

Elena - Way to race with all you got!

Steve - Take it easy buddy. NO more recovering from injuries for you.

I'm excited to say I went for a nice 2.5 mile run today. I was able to sort out a couple things and I think I might be able to get back on track. I'm always shocked when I realize the ways that life circumstances can push me into my hole and I have to fight like crazy to get back out, but I'm oh so thankful for the moments of realization and clarity. Here's to hoping for more bright days!

I do love the name Ava and the two lives it represents in this group!

Here's a pic. Thought it attached last night....

Edit -- I give up on adding pictures

Edited by Mike_D 2013-10-01 11:30 AM

Hey everybody. We're home and now a family of 4. Baby Eva is amazing and healthy and did i say Amazing!!! Wife is doing well. Not much sleep the last few days but Eva is being very accommodating. Eating, sleeping, pooping. doing her job nicely.

I did read a few posts and I love the advice. Thank you all so much for the great wishes. Such a great group to be a part of!!

I did buy my wife a Diamond necklace and gave it to her at the hospital. Wanted to make sure she knows it's not just all about the baby.. She loved it and hasn't taken it off!

Jay, I was thinking of you and am glad to hear things are ok.

Thank you all again and I hope Jared is doing well!!!

I will check in soon

Winner!!!! And so glad that Eva arrived healthy and happy. Enjoy!

Samantha, glad you are getting your groove on. Right now I'm a big fan of "do something almost every day". Ha, how's that for a training plan?

Great news Mitch! Glad baby Ava is doing well and nice move on the necklace......I wish I'd have thought of that one a few years ago!

Thanks for the well wishes for Kiley...I'm glad she's okay and she slept well last night! Carol, I wish they could just take out her thyroid but its not that simple...I don't know why that is but I do know it isn't.

Elena: Congrats on the podium finish...7 or not, no matter! You had some smoking times there too...well done!

Mike: I so want to see rockstar Mike...give the pics another chance!

Steve: Easy man...no need to hurt yourself...give your body a break...you put it through hell at IMLT.

Jared: Hope is all well with your, wife, and baby and you can give us an update soon.

I'm trying to be smarter with my training and increased my run to 8 miles today. I was SLOW....too slow but there are reasons. I added hills to my course and my legs didn't like that; My AT still bothers me when I run...not a hurt pain but a hey I'm here pain; and I wore long sleeves which was great when I started but the temp must've jumped a lot because I was a furnace near the end. 8 miles done 9:43 pace...crappy

I took an hour to rehydrate and then went and did 1500Y in the pool. It went okay 10x150@10 and I brought back my tempo trainer...didn't like that at all. I've gotten used to swimming my pace...the trainer wants you to do a stroke at the interval you set it at...well I set it faster than I've been doing so the workout was a challenge. I did notice that the more sets I did, the better I felt and dealt with the increased speed.

Dietwise, I rededicated myself again to eating better. I bought a juicer and am going to try to do that...not a lot of experience with it so if anyone has done it...I'm all ears for advice. Not concerned about weight at all....just cleaning up and trying to find what will work to lose inches and keep me properly fueled during my training.

Definitely a winner! That means a lot. The Christmas before my son was born, I was 7 months pregnant and felt like a barn. Hubby gave me a nice gown for the hospital which of course was huge. And a pair of extra small flannel pajamas. I can't tell you what that meant to me. Flannel for the next winter so no hurry to lose the baby weight but XS because he knew I would lose the baby weight. It's still been 15 years and I will not throw those pjs out; the pjs look ratty but that XS was priceless to me at the time. {p.s. He did give me a ring after my son was born. But I swear the pjs meant more.}

Just got the Ragnar assignments!!!!!! 6.6 miles, hard, afternoon, 4.4 miles, moderate, midnightish; 6.4 miles, hard, morning. Thrilled! I didn't want easy runs or light mileage. I'm very happy with the level of difficulty, the length, and the varying times of day.

Hi everyone. Overwhelmed with real life things at the moment, so I'll be sparse for a few more days. Nothing huge, just insanity at the office, tyring to straighten out some stuff at home, and tyring to sleep in the off time .

MD

Pam, I would be tempted to hit your HM pretty hard. Consider it an experiment, testing your new found speed and thicker run base. This is like a simulation of a marathon, but also a fitness test and you can use your HR monitor and get an LT out of it as well if you want. How I would actually do it would be start at 8:15 first mile, then 8:10, 8:05, 8:00, hold at 8:00 for the next 6 miles (or whatever pace puts you at the top sustainable effort, then kick up your effort from there over the last 3.1 miles with your last mile being your hardest effort, maybe your fastest mile. (You could start at 8:30 if you want and bring it up from there, but your start is a firm comfortable pace moving to the top of sustainable pace by mile 4 and then pushing past confortable for the last 3, closer to 5k effort (speed may or may not be there)).

I must admit that when I saw this, I thought of the quote, " I wish I was half the man that my dog thinks that I am." Steve, I wish I was half the runner that you think that I am. All I can say is that I'll try.

Ok, who has heard? Augusta GA is supposedly in the running for a 140.6 in 2015. The announcement for the 2015 140.6 is expected in January or February 2014 and Augusta has submitted a bid for it. The proposed course is a river swim start at Hammond's Ferry to the Boathouse, two loops of the bike course and a run up Broad to Savannah Rapids by way of the canal tow path. For the HIM, they flatly state that a log thrown into the river will make the cutoff. If it happens, this will be a very, very popular race.

Had anyone used Tegaderm? Bt'er Left Brain recommended on another thread. I just put it on the road rash. I think I may be a big endorser. Ask me again in a few days.

Pam, hope the tegaderm is a big help with the road rash....ouch! Those sound like some challenging assignments at Ragnar! The HM is going to be great for figuring out your pacing. You know your body best, and are smart enough to listen to it. But I hope you will let the confidence that Steve is expressing push you just a bit beyond what you think you are capable of.

Steve, taking it easier I hope.

Mike, good luck with real life!

Samantha, how's the groove?

Mitch, I do think we need some baby Eva pictures! Hoping Jared has some soon as well.

Real life is happening a lot for us too. Lots of work on my plate, and been kinda crazy on the home front. Finally got the slab leak repaired yesterday, so hot showers all around! We were not expecting insurance to pay anything because we did not have any visible water damage inside the house, and that is what triggers the coverage. Almost didn't file a claim at all. But the adjuster felt that a low spot and one slightly warped plank in our laminate flooring was enough. So, they are paying to replace our entire living room floor, some siding out back, and for a large portion of the plumbing bill. I almost fell on the floor when he said they were going to do that. Serious silver lining there! Otherwise, I've been content with my "do something, most days" plan. Just feeling pulled to let workouts fit in around other aspects of life right now instead of the other way around. Still have that sprint tri the end of the month, and hope to just enjoy the day.

Pam, I think our minds limit what we can do before our bodies do! I'd take Steve's recommendation seriously and go after it with all the vigor and determination you've got...I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how it goes. I'm not familiar with Tagaderm but I do know that I was told to use Vitamin E on my incision after my AT surgery...both doctor and wife told me that. I just used the oil from my Vitamin E vitamins...cutoff the top of the gel capsule and spread with my hadn...much cheaper err frugal! than buying the cream with Vitamin E. Interesting news on Savannah Ga. becoming a potential IM spot...I know it gets hot there so curious as to when they'd schedule the potential race there. Have you spoken to the other racers you'll be riding with for Ragnar?

Carol: Great news on the house! You've got to love a pleasant surprise from the insurance company once in a blue moon! Hope work slows down for you soon...I know that feeling and I don't like it!

I had an interesting discovery yesterday during my post workout swim. I was doing a quick 4x100 after my workout when I started playing around my entry point because my shoulder was bothering me a little bit. That lead to me remembering some tips from my swim coach awhile ago.....so I fixed the entry point...pain in shoulder gone; then I remembered her telling me about head position effecting your bodyline. I purposely tucked my chin into my chest and then POP! I felt my back come closer to the surface. I thought I might be onto something so I did a quick 100 focusing on keeping head down....felt like I was gliding....good feeling. If I had to guess, I'd assume that I've been keeping my head slightly forward for racing and its kept my body underwater slightly...so now I need to find my happy medium. I know I can't swim with my head straight down all the time but if I can find the spot where I stay on top of the water now...it can only help me improve. Also, it was hard to breathe smoothly with my head that low...that may sound odd but its how I felt...so I need to practice this more.

I've also been doing a little IM research...non-IM branded races. There's the B2B in NC and Chesapeakeman in MD. I guess the B2B is bigger but the swim is in saltwater vs. fresh for Chesapeakeman. Is it foolish of me to feel apprehensive about a saltwater swim because I've only done freshwater? I've done practice OWS at a beach near home that's saltwater...I'm guessing I'm overanalyzing but I'd appreciate other thoughts.

Pam you can start out at whatever speed is a comfortable race pace, but follow the pacing strategy even if you don't end up going that fast. Not slow but comfortable mile 1 then pick it up a little for the next 4 miles, hold there and kick the last 3 miles. You should be at LT for the last 3 miles. You should be just under LT for the previous 5 miles, mid to high z4. You are starting out high z2 low z3 building through z3 to z4 and holding until the end at z5 or danm close to it. Pam you cant run 10 x 800 at a 8:00 mpm pace and not be able to run a half mary faster than an 8:30 pace. You have the miles in to be able to hold that for a half, not yet enough miles in to hold it for a mary yet. But that is the goal. If you can do an 8:10 pace for your HM that would be about right. We can pick up the speed more for your mary as you get in better shape. But your mary will be at a 7:50 to 7:55 pace for the first 20 miles and then 8:00 to 8:30 for the last 6. For your mary you will be mid to high z4 for the first 22 miles and z5 or close to it for the last 3-4 miles. Your base is great for a HM, and puts you in a great place to build for Mary level fitness.



Jay try balancing 3 things, your head down, your chest down and your hand entering the water and moving to a position about 1 1/2 feet under the water before initiating your pull (it may be 1 foot may be 1 1/2 somewhere that lets you flatten). A way to test balance is to push off like you are going to swim and keep both hands out in front of you and just float up to having your back and but touching the surface of the water, then proceed slowly from there trying to maintain that position, slowly at first and then whatever after.

So IMLT sent me a survey asked if I would recommend IMLT to my friends, I said um not anyone who I intended to remain friends with no, I wouldn't wish that race on anyone. I asked if they were going to ease up on the bike course, they said no. I said, hrm that is probably why you had 1000 DNF and where IMLT sold out in 3 hours last year, it is still not filled up 2 weeks after IMLT and may stay that way all year.

So yes Carol I am doing nothing and resting, eating and getting fat. Hopefully that gets me healed up.

Edited by Baowolf 2013-10-03 8:41 PM

Ok, folks, I've gotta admit something embarrassing. My Garmin has been cutting off for no reason. I did hard and soft reboots but still had problems. Began an online call and they told me to try something else and I did. Reset everything. Messed up my settings so I reset it to the 4 items I like (time, distance, time of day, and lap pace) and didn’t worry that the items were in a different order. Tonight I went for a run and again the stupid Garmin shut off. I turned it back on and kept waiting for it to crap out again. Occasionally I would sneak peaks and Daaaammmmnnnnn, I’m thinking that Steve is right and I appear to be a lot faster than I thought I was. 7:41 for Mile 1? 7:50 for Mile 2? I'm so dang good.

Ok, who guessed it? Took me about 20 minutes to figure it out. Stupid time of day is displayed where I expect the lap pace to be. I need to never start runs at 7:31pm again. Blech!

Carol, awesome news on the insurance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jay, no haven’t “talked” to my Ragnar team but many are on FB. These are my people! They are kooks and nuts and psychotic. I love them already! Most of us have our costumes, some of us have given ourselves dorky names, and we have truly digressed into very inappropriate conversations.

Be careful out there Folks. Today a weird thing happened at work. My office looks out on a parking lot on a hill. Heard a sound and looked out the window. A woman thought she was in reverse but instead was in drive. Jumped the curb, ran over a tree, and down a hill until she went over a wall and hit a parked car. Thank God she was fine. And thank God no one was in the parked car and there were no pedestrians. Scary how things can happen like that and life can change so quickly.

Jay, only salt water OWS experience I have was on vacation in Aruba. Water was very calm on our side of the island, and I felt more buoyant in the salt water. Biggest concern I would have is the size of the waves/currents if it was a swim in the open ocean. Otherwise, hard to see how it would matter too much...well except don't watch Jaws beforehand!

Steve, glad you are getting well rested!

Pam, you crack me up with the Garmin! Ha, you should have gone out closer to 6:00 am for a real burst of speed .

Plumber was supposed to come back today, but rescheduled for Monday. Meanwhile I missed my window of opportunity to swim...again. Hoping to get in a ride tomorrow.

Hey Everyboday!!!! I just read all of the post a week ago!!! Wow! so honored to be apart of this group!!! They really meant so much and I have shared it already with my wife!!!

Its been incredible the last week!. Friday September 27, 2013 we were able to meet our little princess avery at 5:43! My life has been rocked upside down. From balling my eyes out after the fourth diaper change because she keeps on crying at me, to now chuckling to my self while she makes those angry faces as I am singing "Hey Princess you can get mad but I do Care I just have to change your Underwear!!! HEHE! Yea I am that Dad! Tuesday night was the zombie Night!!!! Less than hour of sleep but a connection night for Cheri and I and Avery!!! I am forever changed!
My wife is doing great and I have nicknamed Avery my snacker smacker!!! HEHE. Thank yal again for all the advice.
PICS soon to come!
you can look up me on facebook at JaredHight and see more pics or a jbubhight on instagram.

MItch!!!! Congrats Bro what day was she born! I am glad to hear that your wife is doing well. I think there should be a tutorial for everything that you have to learn about a baby in two days before you go home haha.

Jay praying for your familyl!!! I wish they would have had the bootcamp daddy! But I did bond a lot with the nurses!!!

Baowolf's group Thank You!!!!

Don't worry too much about that bonding part. Your daughter is going to have a bit of an adjustment to the world. Just be there for her and don't be afraid to set limits that will make her mad well into her 20s. Soon you will become part of the furniture and she will give you hugs every time you come home from work and ask you for a snack 5 minutes before dinner. Then when you give her the snack you will get the angry looks from your wife. An important lesson is to know when to tag out and give your daughter off to your spouse while you go collapse or chop wood depending on the mood. Grats.

WooHoo, Congratulation Jared!!!!!!!! Yes, having that little thing is the most amazing thing in the world. Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention earlier, if your wife nurses, you will probably no longer like mustard - at least for a while. And yes, it is frustrating when after the 4th changing, the baby still isn't happy with us. Don't be afraid sometime to put her down too if you just need a break. One night, I couldn't get my little guy calm and I did absolutely EVERYTHING I could think of. I was in tears and so upset. I realized I was too upset to be holding a baby and put him down in his bouncy seat. He calmed instantly. Apparently my nervousness/frustration was transferred to him.

Steve, adore that advice on setting limits that could make them angry until they are in their 20s!!!!!

Ok, Steve, hate to tell you this but I'm not running with my Garmin tomorrow for the HM. The blinking thing is shutting off all the time now so I'm not even gonna strap that 70lb thing to my scrawny arm just so it can p.o. me tomorrow. So it stays home and I run by feel. I'm going au naturel.

Jay, I can tell you some things about salt vs fresh. Most of my experience is from watching tris in both but I've done my share of playing/swimming in both. You are more buoyant (sp?) in salt. Disadvantages are ebb tides and waves. Oh, and if goggles slip, eye irritation. But on the portion that is back into shore, those waves/tides can help tremendously.

Edited by Pink Socks 2013-10-05 12:12 PM

Wooohoo! Congrats Jared! You sound just a teensy bit excited about this whole journey . So happy for you and your wife!

Pam, good luck tomorrow! Ha, must say I like it that you are ditching the garmin....even if it's forced upon you. Run free girlfriend! Can't wait to hear how it goes!

Our first real cool front of the year came through. Went for a walk with hubby and Katy the dog this morning as it was blowing in. The rest of the day has been spent working on my FIL's first annual accounting for the VA. Yes, that is just as much (not) fun as it sounds like. I think it's time for a run in the cool of the day now !

Hi, everyone. I've made it through the week, and I'm still alive, which is a good thing . Have had a brutal week at work due to one of the biggest product launches in years (which I'm running) and the stress has been brutal. Add to that dealing with a bullying issue with one of our kids sports teams, and the 3 hour+ meetings we've had about it this week, and I've been overwhelmed. The good news is the sports thing has been resolved as well as we could hope, and the work thing is working out quite well. still feel like sleeping for a week, but I'll be OK. tomorrow I'm going to go out and do something active for the first time in a while. I've really been on a total hiatus for a while, and Its been tough. (deep breath....)

So, I'm going to get on the bike tomorrow and just pedal for a while. I'm essentially starting a 2 month ramp up to getting back to being somewhat fit and looking forward to it. Been a long time since Timberman 70.3, and I need to get moving.

Here's the picture btw....taken at the Hard Rock Café Hotel in Las Vegas where I was playing with my band in 2006/7.





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Mike playin' geetar.jpg (23KB - 9 downloads)

Nice pic.

Oops Pam's half mary is a trail run, that will drop even though it is flat it has some rocky footing. The effort level remains appropriate, but ya paces won't be anywhere near 8:10 mpm. I tried to stalk, but it doesn't look like we will be able to find results before she posts them here.

Steve, you are right, no stalking on the races. It is advertised as a "No Frills" and they mean it (well except for the food). No timing chips, no clock, no mile markers.

There was no PR and I'm still not sure if it was a PW. I think I got barely better than the HM when my back was out - but barely better if at all. It is advertise as "One Hill". True but let me describe the course. You leave from the boat basin and go straight up a hill, crest it, down the back hill, stop at the base, turn around, up the back hill, down the hill into the boat basin loop. Repeat 10 times. It was basically nothing but hill repeats - 20 times. Yesterday during my shake-out run, I really didn't think that I had a PR in me. When I saw the course, I knew I couldn't PR but I was hoping for maybe a 2:15. Beginning of the 4th loop, I had to stop at the bathroom and I knew that 2:15 couldn't happen. Stomach was gone and mentally I wasn't there. Sun came out about loop 5 or 6 and that took everything that was still in me. It was brutal. I finished at maybe 2:55 or so. Probably a little less but not much. I'm glad to have finished it.

I've got to say that I had fun tho. It was brutal and I was very happy to have finished it. Stomach issues, mental unfocus, and then slight dehydration. It's good to be humbled. Word of warning to all, never expect a race put on by an ultra runner to be easy. Nor a race that is combined with a 50K. This was called the Half Marathon over Hell and I should have listened to that description. Oh, I'm complaining and I would probably do it again next year. Not next week...mind you....but probably next year.

Love the pic Mike!

Edited by Pink Socks 2013-10-06 12:03 PM

So ya that sounds like my experience of IMLT. Well there are just 2 big hills per loop one goes up 900 feet the next one 1200 feet, no biggie. Oh but then there are the 20 hills that lead from that base elevation up to that net gain of 1200 feet ah well that is different, oh and they are all at an 8 to 12 percent slope... ah ya. And the run is flat too, well except for the hill going down to the golfcourse and the one with the railroad tie steps in it and .... you get the picture.

Well glad you finished it, and glad you didn't twist an ankle. But ya that is not a PR course. I guess the silver lining is that you learned about hydration and calorie intake to not get your tummy grumbly. Note that all Xtera triathlons will be like that, except that the bike will also have evil hills on dirt. Well, it was at least an adventure and you had the legs in you to get er done. Grats on that.

Pam, "no frills, lots of hills" is more like it. Congrats on getting your hill repeats in! Sorry it was a tough day, but glad you embraced the challenge and got it done.

Mike, who knew....you lived the dream...playing in Vegas! So glad you got to do that!

Has been a beautiful weekend here. Cool front came through and temps and humidity are much better. Had a delightful 4 mile run yesterday. Felt like a runner again....I've missed that. Parts held together pretty well. Pain in the butt is still there and feeling it today, but arch held up well with orthotics back in. Short bike with hubby today on the re-opened multi-use path that goes into town. It's been closed a long time due to construction. Enjoyed the ride, but why do they continue to leave carp on the path? Signs and sandbags that could be moved two feet and be out of the way. And why is that a good place to smash beer bottles? Or better yet, why smash beer bottles at all? I know...just be happy it's back open.

So, I'm beginning to wonder when, or more to the point, IF i'll ever be a runner again. My progress on the hip/hammy thing seems to be going nowhere, and whie I've been doing some walking (2 mi or so at a shot) and PT it always feels a twinge in the leg afterwards. I'm going bananas just feeling like I'm getting nowhere, and thinking next year may be the summer of AquaBike. Not in a good spot mentally, thats for sure. And my swimming is nearly non existant due to a MIA pool situation. What kills me is that I'm really looking forward to next year, and doing a bunch of races, but right now I'm just hoping I can start training healthy, and I'm not sure if that is a possibility.