Todd's Tri Turtles 7 (Beginner - Sprints, 5K, 10K) - OPEN (Page 6)

Okay... quick background...

I'm 46, 5'9", 270lb. I'm dealing with HBP, diabetes (I did have it beat back in '15... but it's back), and high cholesterol. In a nutshell, the goal is to train, have some fun while doing it, and get healthier along the way. I have no delusions of ever falling below clyde status, however I will not enter as one again, I also have no delusions of ever standing on a podium. My one true goal in any event is to cross the line.

I have run 5 events, but never the same one twice (Memphis in May changed locations between '14 and '15... doesn't count ). I have done reports on all 5, mainly so I have records of each. The last one was on June 22 as kind of a reboot. I did muddle around for 8 weeks beforehand, but I think just enough to get across the line. Starting yesterday, I have just over 10 months before Memphis in May 2020, then a month until the Buffalo Bill, then another month until Mighty Mite. The goal is a PR trifecta.

Running is my biggest weakness. I have pretty much walked the run portion of each event. I figure that if I can get to a 1:15:00 10K by next May, I'll be just fine. As far as the swim and bike, I just need more pool/saddle time and I'm golden

My biggest tip for the run especially in a sprint distance is a concentrated effort on the bike. What I mean is the single biggest thing I found to help my run was to train on the bike past the distance for the race, ie. 12 mile bike, you’d train and ride frequently to 20 miles. The reason is at least two fold. 1. The bike is easier on your body especially your knees. 2. If you are use to 20 then when you get off at 12 on race day you will feel so much fresher for the run. The other thing on the bike is to find a heart rate or power you know you can maintain fairly easy and going at that pace to make sure you are not spent. So many people over cook the bike, which can turn even good runners into average runners. Just my 2 cents.

I've heard that quite a few times before. Thing is, I can count the times I've made any sort of distance run on one hand with fingers left over. Even when my normal Saturday ride was 32 miles, my run was always crap. As far as the swim and bike go, I was always able to train to Oly distances, but a run of more than a mile has always (again, with 3 exceptions) been an issue.

Okay, so I guess the next question then would be, what’s wrong with the run / endurance. Do you have injuries, poor cardio, what are you doing training wise. Not knowing more I would say a good starting point would be one of Hal Higdon’s plans. For me what helped was more runs at shorter distance. You will also hear a lot of people say that you help improve your long distance endurance by doing speed work. I would suggest heart rate but if you are like I was you would be walking to keep it in the desired zone. I just recently did my first ever half marathon without walking, but it was 10 minutes off my fastest half and that was during a half Ironman. I did not know how to pace so it was really pushing or walking. I will tell you that for me now it is all a mind game and I have to tell myself not to give into the desire to walk, but once again pacing plays a large role in that.

cruddy cardio.... I've also never really been a fan of running, either. Even in the military, I was never ever able to complete a PFT run without walking at least half and I was in the best shape of my life. I did manage to stick with the 5mi cadenced run at the end off boot camp. At one point, I was running about 4.5 mi 3x a week. I was just doing laps at a park (Lewisburg TN) in 03 and I didn't realize the trail was just short of .5mi. I did also manage one 5k run a few years ago.

I know I have it in me, I just need to buckle down and get the work done... and then maintain it, which is the part i've failed at.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Hey Turtles,
After destroying my feet on my hike with my old Saucony trailrunners, I broke down and bought a pair of Hoka Stinson's. I ran for the first time in them today. They are amazing! In addition to being old and lazy, I suffer from chronic gout and with these shoes I felt like I was running on clouds. If any Turtles are in the market for new shoes I would strongly suggest looking into this brand.

I'm on my 6th pair of Hokas. I won't use anything else.

I have a bad knee but in Hokas I can run on consecutive days; something I can't do in other shoes.

So I was in a very similar situation and found Hoka Clifton 3’s to be the perfect shoe for my very flat feet and over pronation. I loved the cushion, never got blisters or hot spots, they were perfect. I had them for many miles. I go to replace them at the end of last year and they are onto the 4th and 5th generations. Well guess what they changed the entire structure of the shoe and basically put in a false arch, which caused blisters and was as uncomfortable as could be. So now I’m buying shoe after shoe is search of something that works. I go to the Houston Marathon and meet with a Hoka rep who told me to try the wide version, but it was still a no go. I asked him why they altered such a great shoe and he basically said that the new version was more well liked and that they listened to their runners. I tried other options as I spoke to him but they did not work either. He did admit that it was a significant change between 3 and 4, which they changed slightly back with the 5. So I go to all vendors and try on everyone’s stability shoes. I end up buying a pair of Sketcher, yes Sketcher GoRun Ride 7 and began running in them after the race. Comfortable, no blisters, cheaper than Hoka and feel as perfect as the Hoka’s did. I know now to buy several pair of a particular model if they fit just right and am about to buy 2 more pairs as they are starting to release the 8, which may be the same but I’m not chancing it. You are right though, Hoka is a great shoe.

Web foot, I understand where you are coming from I think for me is I get bored and give in to distractions look at the bird dam its hot ect I found a run walk helped run till I'm distracted walk repeat. I remember one of my first races I picked a guy and ran till I passed him then walked he would pass me I would run and pass him it was like a game.

Edited by CBarnes 2019-07-09 7:18 AM

Funny reading your post because I’m like that on the bike, but it’s not part of a game. For some reason I am pretty good at climbing and pass quit a few going uphill, but then on the downhill and flats they always pass me. I’m just not very good on pushing the flats and it really takes it out of me. It’s funny because I always apologize to people as it’s happening because I know we are going to play leap frog if it’s a rolling course. My last Half Ironman though was very hilly (over 3000 feet of climbing) and they stopped passing me back between miles 40 and 50. Im trying to work on this issue for Florida which is really flat.

Some good discussion on shoes; I’ll be in the marker for a pair or two in the next week or so. Will probably stick with the Brooks Adrenaline. Actually I have a pair of the 16’s sitting next to the treadmill...usually keep a “clean” pair for treadmill workouts; might just start them on the road walks...

Speaking of “road walks”....while out with my wife and our 2 Vizslas yesterday day I tripped and fell; almost caught myself and that helped lessen the force of the “faceplant”!! Clumsy me!

Anyway, no real damage other than some road rash on my arm and above my upper lip. Must have been an amusing sequence. A man did stop to check on us; I later called his employer to thank him for his kindness. The 2 V’s just looked at me and there expression was “what the hell...you don’t let us lay down on our walks”...;0)

We continued the walk and went about our day as usual with yard errands. Ironically I’d just gotten a new Road ID for my watch band for those times I’m out on my own or in the pool. While it wasn’t needed yesterday it could have been important if I’d been alone. Sort of an advertisement for Road ID I suppose. Regardless, having ID with you when alone on a training ride or run is important!!

Finally, I did get back to the pool this am; some soreness. But an ok swim even if a bit shorter than recent swims.

Great seeing all the postings here again. Good luck to all in your training!!!!

Kind of flopped last week...

One more bit of information... My wife and I went and kidnapped my mother a couple of months ago. She has Stage IV long cancer that has spread... She's lost a ton of weight, is now on Hospice and to be painfully honest... it's only a matter of time.

That being said... last week my wife and girls went out of town to visit her family, and I stayed with mom because she is in no shape to travel. She's been weak, but she has gotten to the point where she is just plain weak and falls a lot. Without anyone else there, I was frankly afraid to leave her alone long enough to go out and train. Of course, the blame is mine because I didn't use any of the tools already at the house to try to get some fitness work in.

I don't want anyone to think I'm placing blame on mom because of her condition. My panic with dealing with the situation and not using the tools at my disposal is all mine.

I've only got 1 swim in this week, so the plan is to make a good push to close out and then continue on.


Oh yeah, as far as the shoe conversation goes... I LOVE my Cliftons. I'm also flat footed, over pronate and have syndactyly thrown in to boot... Webbed toes

Rick, sorry to hear about your mom. My dad went through that 3 years ago now. Once in hospice he passed on fairly quickly. I’d been registered to do a sprint with my son but like you, there were more important things to do.

Hang in there.....

Sorry to hear about your mother. I know you already know this but your time to train is still plentiful, but the hours you likely have with your mother are minimal and precious. Say everything you have always wanted to say and / or need to say while you have this brief time left with her. My grandmother (mom side) died at 95, which was hard as I was close to her my whole life, but she was mentally with us till the very end and I got to say everything I needed to. What I did not get was the luxury to do the same thing with my mother who died of a sudden heart attack just 28 days late. I thank God that she and I were very close and that I always told her that I loved her every time we saw each other.

Edited by Hunting Triathlete 2019-07-10 10:20 PM

Hi everyone.

A sort-of newbie here..... I'm saying sort-of because while I run (5Ks to half marathons) and swim (recreational in the sea) I've recently taken up biking (Feb 2019). I've done 2 try-a-tri events here in my country thus far (375m open water; 10K ride; 2.5K run) and I've decided that Triathlons are what I want to do with my life.

I don't have a road/ tri bike yet (I'm saving for 1 or the other), so I've been training/ competing on my MTB. There are no clubs/ groups close to where I live so I've mostly been doing my own thing training wise, and then I stumbled unto this website and forum. In my country, we don't have many triathlon events here, but I'm hoping I'll be ready for a "sprint" triathlon next year.

Thank you (in advance) for helping me on my journey to become a proper triathlete

StaciaN....welcome to the group; kinda quiet here right now. Looks like you have a very good base for doing Tri’s......

Hi all! I am new of the group and in general in triathlon. I Started one year ago swimming and then I tried cycling and running as a joke with friends.
On Sunday i’ll Have my first sprint here in Italy! Very excited!! Any advise on T1 and T2 phases??

Many thanks

Funny think I was running a 5 k and noticed my shoe was untied so I was thinking do I tie it now or wait I was on a downhill and did not want to loose the speed lol that is when I stepped on the shoe lace. Funny thing was I was taking Aikido at the time and we were doing lots and lots of forward and backward rolls as I fell I turned it into a perfect forward roll back to my feet. The guy behind me passed as I tied the shoe said Wow man that was cool.

Good luck

Hello all Turtles! Must be “heads down and training time” for all. How’s it going?

I’ve had a couple of great weeks in the pool. Still no bike rides; hips have been “cranky”......

Hi Turtles,

It's the middle of winter here but I've come out of hibernation and resumed training. I'm training indoors with a focus on building strength and weight loss in order to get my body right for summer.

A typical week includes 2 sessions of deep water running / aerobics, 2 gym circuit sessions, 2 swims and a spin class. If I'm enthusiastic I'll do a tri indoors (swim, exercise bike & treadmill). All at a fairly gentle pace although I do manage to work up a sweat. I'm not sure about the benefits of deep water running translating to good run times but it is low (no?) impact exercise that I need right now due to my dodgy knee.

The races for our summer have just been scheduled (November - April). and I'm planning to peak around race 3 in January and hopefully maintain that level of fitness. I've learnt from previous experience that trying to be 100% fit for race 1 and continue that level throughout the season only leads to injury.

Hope to read some race reports from each of you soon.

Well I have not been in here for a while, busy at work, new school year, getting ready for bow season, blah blah blah. So while I have not be logging I have been working out and working towards my Ironman. I am able to more comfortably run and ride distance now than before any of my Half Ironman races before, especially the run. That being said I have realized that I don’t have the time and probably more so don’t have the desire I thought I did to complete an Full Ironman. As things started to build up in distance I was realizing how much stuff I was not getting to do and the amount of time away from family every weekend. I started all of this almost 9 years ago to stop smoking and get healthy. Well I’m smoke free and probably the healthiest I’ve ever been, so a finishers medal is secondary. I’m not saying I’m done because I’m not, but a full for at least the next 5 years or so is no longer near my radar. I can say that I have really began to enjoy running and have the Houston Marathon to look forward to in January. I did it the first year I started all this in 5:20 and would love to knock at least 30 minutes of that time with a shot at an hour off. The other thing is that while I really enjoy riding it just seems less and less safe every time I got out nowadays if I’m not part of a large organized event with traffic control. People who already couldn’t drive are now staring at their phones and just don’t pay attention. So I guess long and short is that I failed again to do an Ironman but I’m not a failure!

Hey Todd,

If my memory serves me correctly we have previously discussed that a triathlete needs to be a little bit selfish due to the time and effort required for 3 endurance sports. Reading between the lines on your recent post, that's something that you're not comfortable with and that family life takes a higher priority. No debate there!!!

In life there is little recognition for those who set a goal but don't achieve it, regardless of the progress and results achieved along the way. I think you've achieved a lot and should be proud of that.There are those like Homer Simpson who say “Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try.” I don't think that you're in that category.

I suggest that your Ironman goal is "on hold", they do after all have a 75-79 age category so there's plenty of time left to revisit.

All the best for the future.

Todd...much wisdom in Rod’s comments!!! Don’t forget about your past accomplishments and the motivation you have provided thru BT to many others. Quite the success story if I do say so!!!

Glad to see you’ll be back in here periodically.

Funny....I’d ended up doing some trainer time on Monday and the crazy thought crossed my mind that I might still be able to manage that sprint at the end of the month (over at the University of Illinois-essentially the same route for the bike leg as the 1/2 Marathon’s I did over there)...but when the hips started barking I came back to reality!!

Will still keep plugging along with my “training”......

Rod....weather slowly changing here for the fall; temps moderating....perfect walk/run weather!