Robmw2's Group--Full (Page 6)

I just seached the results--there were 2 Amanda's, Fuller and Walker, I'm Amanda Walker.
They wouldn't let me put Mandi on my race bib...you had to have your "real" name.

It was a rough 2nd half!! But for reasons different than what you might think. I went out too hard in the first half, trying to keep up w/ my partners who were running 2 minutes per mile FASTER than we had in training. I had no idea that we were running that fast, as I wasn't really paying attention to the splits. I didn't realize that they were going for a time goal until around miles 9-11 when they keep checking their pace bands for a 5:15 marathon! That's when I decided that I couldn't keep that pace, so I ran the rest of the way by myself. That's why the 2nd half looked so much slower than the first. The second half should have been my pace all along.

It was an absolutely amazing experience!!!!!!! And I can't wait to do it again

I've never posted a blog before, but it was such an emotional experience, and I've been so introspective all day that I had to write my thoughts down. Check if out if you'd like :

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=529...

It' on my myspace page.

If you can't get to it with that link, try http://www.myspace.com/mbullgator and click on the marathon blog.

Edited by mlbwalk 2007-03-05 10:27 AM

Mandi
Just finished reading your blog. Wow! So glad that you have a good experience. Most people will never understand how much you learn by pushing your limits, but now you do. Hopefully you are more alive for it. You did a great job.
Robert

Congratulations Mandi - You did it!

Your blog is great; it sums up almost everything about a marathon. You can read about it, but you have to complete a marathon yourself to experience it. Nice to hear, that you are ready to run again. How are you legs today? I can’t wait to my next marathon. I wonder how it feels this time.

All the best from rainy and windy Denmark
Hans



Edited by DDTech 2007-03-07 2:34 PM

Steve how did the 5K go?

Hey guys,

The 5K is this coming weekend on the 11th.

I've been in a funk this week. Got really sick Saturday night and haven't done any training at all this week. I'm chalking it up to a nice taper for my 5K. LOL

Hopefully, I'll be up and going by tomorrow. Today is supposed to be a swim day so I might attempt it.

I see Erica is supposed to be up for a Sprint Tri this weekend.

Mandi - great job on the marathon! I admire you for completing a large feat! I don't think I'm marathon material, but I've read some amazing stories of people who started out doing 5k's and ended up doing a marathon, so you never know! Enjoyed your blog, too!

I'm doing a "mini" tri this wknd - it is at a YMCA up in North Denver (1.5hrs away). It is a 20 min swim, 20 bike ride on a spin bike w/the tension preset and speedometers (cool, huh?) and run 20 min on an indoor track. Will be a good intro for me since I haven't put all 3 events together yet and am anxious to see how I do with the transitions. Will let you know how it goes!
Happy training all!

Erica
Good luck this weekend. Hope you enjoy the race. Make sure and give us a race report.
Robert

I second that. Good luck Erica.

Mandi, how has your recovery week been going?

I have been so lazy this week! I knew it would be hard to exercise, but I didn't think that I would NOT exercise at all!!

I finally ran again on Saturday, 4 miles which felt pretty good, but it wasn't until I wore high-heeled sandals at a wedding on Saturday night that I realized my legs aren't quite back to normal yet

Decided to take Sunday off, and to get the triathlon training plan all set today to begin on Monday.

Hi

Now it's official!

Got my start number for Hamburg Marathon. Look out for #13292, last year I was on TV at the 12 km mark.

Had a long run yesterday. 25 km, very hard due to strong wind head on for the last 4 km of each lap. I didn't manage to complete within my target time of 2h 20min, but I felt good for the whole session. Next weekend will be a test, a half marathon race, with a couple of colleagues. They will participate in Paris marathon.

Spring is here in Denmark! Today we will have the sun out all day, temperature up to 15°C (60°F) and light wind. Can’t wait to get my bike on the road. But I have to stay focused on the marathon.

Regards from Denmark
Hans

Mandi glad to hear that you are in recovery mode, it will take longer than you think Hans finally some warm weather for you. Looks like you are running strong. Enjoy your 1/2 and make sure and give us a race report.
Robert

Great job everyone. I have been sick for about a week. Finally got back to some training this weekend. Since I missed my long run last weekend I skipped my 5K and did a long run this weekend.
I have 3 weeks until my 10 mile race. My plan is to make it a training run and only do 10:30 miles. Hopefully, my ego will agree on race day.

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great wknd. I enjoyed my first mini-sprint tri! It was a lot of fun and not as intimidating as I'm sure the real events will be :-) Was not even that nervous. REalized I need to do a lot more running and biking though. In 20 minutes, managed to bike 6.5 miles (need to do 13 in the sprint version) and ran 2 miles, so only another mile to go. Also swam 32 lengths. I posted more thoughts on my blog - www.erica-goingtotri.blogspot.com
Have a great week!

Erica nice job! You were flying on the bike. All your training is paying off for you. Sounds like you had a good experience. Keep it up.

Training is back in full force... Yaayyy
I think I might sign up for a 5 mile trail race this weekend. They are my favorite.

Robert, I know that you are training for an IM in June. I noticed on your log that you are maninly concentrating on Bike and Running now. Do you have a strong swimming background or is that just how your training is planned?

Steve I am an average swimmer. To get much faster in the water would take a huge time investment which I cannot do. The way I am looking at it is the the time it would take me to get 5min faster in the water would be better spent running. If I have to walk on the run I will loose much more than 5min. As you can see hour wise I don't train that much for that distance of race. Work ~50hrs/wk and have 2 kids, so I do the least I feel I can get away with. Racing is just my hobby so I have to keep the training in perspective. Glad to see you are back at it. You seem to be very consistent which is the most important part of the training.

Yesterday was my first real swim training. Started out with 300m breast stroke, 100m crawl, repeated 3 times and ended with 300m breast stroke. 1500m total. I did take a short break between the different styles. My average pace in breast stroke was 02:23 / 100m (2:11 / 100yd) and in crawl 01:59 (1:49)

At present I can’t crawl for more than 100m, my technique is not good enough yet. The extra effort is not reflected in the extra speed. I do swim faster in crawl, but it simply take to much energy. My brother laughed at me, and promised to teach me the correct technique. I all about technique, he claims. Well – let’s see if he’s right. He has 3 months to teach me.

I find it very difficult to crawl slowly/efficiently as required for long distances. I do believe that all triathletes crawl at the races. How do you train/maintain your swimming, Robert?

Regards
Hans

Hans on the swim I am just trying to stay close to where I was last at about 1:40/100yd for IM. In the pool I can do about 1:20 which is not that fast. Your brother is right swimming is all technique, so I spend most of my time on drills. I will ramp up the swimming in the next few weeks. Just trying to maintain the swim and see if I can spend the time on the run. Glad that you are in the water. With some help from your brother you should be comfortable with the crawl soon. Swimming the breaststroke in tri is tough because there are so many people around you.
Happy Training

Does anyone have any good links to swim instruction videos on the web? Was hoping to find some short videos of stroke technique that I could view for free :-) I am a very visual learner and I think I would practice better if I could picture good technique in my mind.
I see some online that you can buy, but didn't really want to fork out the money. Tried the library and no luck. Maybe I'll head down to USA Swimming (they are headquartered here) one day and see if they have any that can be viewed. Let me know - thanks!

Erica,

Here are some I've found just from searching these forums.

The first is Tri specific:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8aAUkUcZ4s&NR

The next is Olympic caliber swimmers in slow motion:

http://www.swim-city.com/media.php3?cat=media_freestyle

I hope this helps.

Steve

Awesome videos, Steve - thanks!! Love the first one! I saw that a couple of days ago and have been meaning to add it to my blog! The other videos helped me see the "rolling" in the stroke. Now, I think I need to be video'd so I can tell if I'm doing it right or not! Running a fun 5k St. Patrick's day run tomorrow. Supposed to be in the 70s too and a parade afterwards. Have a great wknd everyone!

Hi

Just up-loaded a race report from my ½ marathon yesterday.

Mixed weather as you can read.

And yesterday I got a new bike trainer, with virtual reality, a Tacx I-magic. So now I can train against Lance Armstrong, Ivan Basso and the Danish "hero" Bjarne Riis. Hope this can help keeping the motivation up, until the weather start to behave and I can get my bike on the road.

Regards
Hans

Awesome job, Hans!

I would have been one of the folks who stayed in bed!!!! I'm thinking that I would focus on indoor sports if I lived anywhere near Denmark! I went to Amsterdam last summer, and 60F was a little too chilly for me in July! Although, sunset at 11pm was kind of neat.

Nice job fighting through the inclimate weather.

Hans
Sounds like a good race, although don't think I would like running in that weather. How will the weather be in Hamburg? Congrats on the race and good luck hitting the trainer. If you can run in the cold and ride endless hours on the trainer I am sure you can do about anything. Thanks for the race report.
Robert

I'm such a wuss, and I've totally let my fear of swimming get me in a position where I'm almost down to the wire with the swim training. The last time I wrote about swimming was the last time I swam. I finally admitted to my husband today that the real reason why I haven't swam is because I feel like a total baffoon in the pool. It's not like running where I don't care what other people think. I guess its that the sport just leaves you so exposed physically, and leaves you just out there--half naked--for the world to see.

So I went out and bought a new swim suit (one that I feel relatively comfortable in) and my first pair of goggles. My goal is to swim 400 yds tomorrow. That is 8 laps (there and back) in the pool at my gym. I don't have any idea how long that will take me, so I'm thinking I'll worry about time later in the week. My tri is a 440 yard swim, so I don't think I've totally blown it by waiting this long to start swimming. I just have a lot of work to do!!

I got cut from the JV swim team in high school. A month ago was my first time swimming for fitness since then (I'm 26 now!!). I love being in the pool for tanning and cooling off, so it's not a fear of water. It's amazing how being made to feel inadequate as a 10th grader can have a lasting impact on one's self-confidence!! On a more positive note, I was also cut twice from the high school dance squad, but I went on to dance/cheer for a professional football team, so I know I do have it in me to bounce back. It's just taken me a while to try?!

Sorry this post is so long, but I guess I was just wondering if anyone else has dealt with similar feelings during training.... I promise the situation isn't as depressing as it sounds!!