David Gillen's Group - FULL (Page 6)

Kevin, congratulations on performing so well in your first triathlon.  You did AWESOME.  I put a few comments on your race report, and thank you for writing one.  I want to strongly encourage everyone to write a detailed race report soon after you finish any race.  They're great tools to learn from.

Great!  I really think an HRM is one of the best investment a triathlete can make.

As far as other gear goes, I've ordered a few things from TriSports , and have been happy.  You should also check out BT's gear forum and Ebay of course for some good used gear.

Pene, I'm glad you did a LT test for the bike too. You see how important it was to do both the bike and run tests b/c the your LTHR values were quite different for both. Good job.

I've never done a LTHR for swimming as I don't where my HRM in the pool. Since I'd still pretty much consider myself a beginner swimmer, I tend to worry more about building technique and endurance before I worry about speed or pacing.

There is much more fun stuff to learn and practice. After my ride today, I'll try to post some more info on periodization and how to plan your race season by prioritizing races.

What I'd really like each of you to do is pick 1 or 2 races as your "A" races. These are your highest priority races and ones in which we will design a training program around. Obviously, if you're training for your first race, then this will your A race. If you have multiple races you're planning on doing this summer or fall, please pick the 1 or 2 most important and label them as "A", the next few important ones as "B", and the races just for fun as "C".

When you get a chance, please post this list of races, their dates, and your assigned priority, even if it's a list of one!

One more note: I'm really glad some of you are getting excited by and finding inspiration by our group. That is EXACTLY my hope. However, we are posting a lot of information here and it can get overwhelming (even for me!). None of us are full time triathletes, so please don't get bogged down reading any of this. Triathlon is an art and science, but it should be FUN first and foremost!

On that note, I'm going for a ride!

 Here is my tentative race schedule (or at least some that I am considering).  I know that they are not all probably possible but I will see what my body says.  If I have to miss anything it would be the HH100 or at least cut it short.  The friend I am going to ride it with is pretty slow so that should help.  Plus I road in the MS150 and felt fine after both days and I had not trained much to that point.

 May 28th - CapTexTri "First Tri" - 400m 10K 5K - "C" - I need the OW pratice

June 10th - Metroplex Sprint Tri - 800m 27K 5K - "B" - This was suppose to be warm up to oly but after first practice OWS I decided to to CapTex

July 15th - Ironhead Dallas Tri - 1500m 42K 10K - "A" - Currently doing the Swim based 20 week oly plan from BT.  I wil be starting week 13 tomorrow.

Aug 25th - Hotter 'n Hell 100 bike rally - Would love to try but have to decide if it is in my best interest.  It really depends how my oly goes and if I decide to go for the Praireman.

Sept 9th - Praireman Long Course - 1.2 mile 56 mile 13.1 - Would realistically be my "A" race but I did not want to commit to the training not knowing how the swim will turn out.  If I do good in my A, B an C races I will try and come up with a 6 or 7 week plan to finish a HIM.  I can definately do the distances wether or not I can do them together.  Goal would mainly be to finish probably 6 hours or so.

Sept 15th - Roadkill 5K (naked 5K) - If I do the HIM I might be too so to do this but I want to try one "Naked" run someday.

Nov 10th - Rockledge Rumble 50K - This would be my 2nd 50K and would have 2 months after HIM to get ready.  I would have plenty of cardio but would need to get used to the pounding of running.  Luckily the race is a trail run so alot less pounding.

Well, today is a short run, only 40minutes.  This is the last day of my recovery week and I have to step it up for the next two months and improve my diet.

 Ken, your race schedule looks pretty good and it sounds like you're already following a training program that will probably having you "peaking and tapering" for your A race.  This is ideal!

However, if you do well at CapTex and the Metroplex sprint (especially the swim), and you decide you want to go for Praireman AND make it an A race.  At that time, I might suggest you abandon your OLY plan, and restructure your training to be optimal for a HIM distance race instead of an OLY.  If you didn't want to peak for Praireman, then you could still do it, but your performance just might not be as good as if you would have followed a HIM plan.

FYI, I'll either be doing the Disco OLY on July 9th or the Ironhead OLY.  Also, I've done the Rumble 15K the last 2 years and that race is a blast.  The 50K will be tough as the the NW portion of the Northshore trail is tough!

I agree with Ken that your schedule looks pretty aggressive, but that is OK as long as you don't try to peak for every race.  Also, with a schedule such as this don't be discouraged if you have to miss a race b/c you're tired or other scheduling conflicts.

Also, far be it from me to prioritize your races for you, but since you have IM aspirations, I'd prefer you to prioritize your century ride as an A race b/c it would provide a nice base of mileage for your to start building on when your start your HIM and IM training.  Also, the aerobic endurance that you build by training long miles on the bike would definitely benefit you for your Fall marathon.  

However, the more I think about this, a century and a marathon only 8 weeks apart might not be optimal either.  Let's keep talking about your options here.

Also, it might be tough to maintain your peak fitness for the whole month of August so you can perform your best in both Aquathons.  I might choose just one to peak for.
 

If you have time, ask them about my concerns about your schedule in my previous post.  

The rumble was a blast last year.  I probably saw you at some point but if you did the 15K probably only before the race started.  I had knee issues the week before (ITB) so the race was pretty grueling.  I agree on the NW portion, it is killer.  You can never really get any speed up.  Too many curves and rocks.  The area around murrel park is a blast though.  I really started training in March or April of last year and think I just wore my knees out.  I am hoping by having a shorter period (2 mos) it will actually help me run more.

Dave, your schedule looks pretty good.  I'm assuming your A race is the Rockwall Tri, right?

I agree with Ken on both his points: 1) The Rockledge Rumble is a blast.  I've done the 15K the past 2 years, and it's always one of my favorite races.   Have you done a trail race before?  If not, this is a good first one.  They're more laid back than road races.

2) Ken's explanation of drop is right on.   If you think you might be slower than the group and thus might get dropped, you can still ride with them for as long as you can.  Just be sure you know the rest of the route, or you know how to get back home or to your car.  I've been dropped many of times.  It's a little humbling, but no biggie.