Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 61)

I've been eye balling the new Nike Lunarglide +3's for a while now.  So....stopped on the way home and picked up a pair.  I love Roadrunner and their VIP program + how they treat you!!!  Got home and swapped out my insoles from my normal pair, had a quick snack and headed out for a run.  First thing I noticed is that my feet felt like they were "jumping" off the ground.  Suspect that's just from them having a bit more cushion / being fresher.  Shoes were really comfortable and I had no pain anywhere during the run.  Legs were a bit tired from the long ride yesterday.

Run turned out great and I feel like my legs are back.  Normal out and back course and averaged 8:34 taking it pretty easy.  Negative split the run with check points at 10:29, 4:26, 4:21, 9:52.  Could tell I was pushing a shade harder on the last 1.2 miles, but still had a ton in the tank.

Think that taking the last couple of weeks a bit easier to recover has been a good idea.  Going to try and drag my backside out of bed in the AM and hit the pool.  Don't expect any "Mike-esque" awesome swim sets out of me!!!!!!

Think a slower build up probably makes more sense.  I still want to pick your brain some more on the swimming.  You've made incredible progress there and I would love to mimic.

I'm going to stick with the sprints for next year, BUT may use some of the oly distance training programs.  Can then see a couple of years at the oly distance and then MAYBE a HIM.  I really can't picture completing the full IM.  While I've read a bunch about it and understand that it's about commitment and preparation, the engineer in me can't get over the damage 14 hours of exercise would put on these old bones.  I'd probably be a bit more daring if not for the hip that I've been told needs replaced and the previous fun of a ruptured Achilles.

BTW, bonus points for you if you do the IM training in your dungeon!!!!!

Mike - What distances are you currently doing? If you're on Oly's then I'd probably go HIM 2012 then IM 2013. I'm sure you'll make the right decision though.

Curt - Sounds like a great idea.

Me - I got in my second 1 hr bike ride yesterday and made it over both hills + it was faster than last time by .19 mph and I picked up a pull bouy today so I'm going to try it tomorrow along with some swim golf.

I'm actually getting a TV for the dungeon this weekend. And a fan or two. I have my limits

Interesting talk of IM's. I have a friend who in her first year or tri's raced all 4 distances. She did great but I think that is the rare case. I started last year with sprints and finished with an Oly. This year, I've raced Oly's and did 1 HIM and will do another by the end of the year. I'm seriously considering an IM for next year. Part of my decision will be to see if I break by the end of the year I want to be able to see if my body is comfortable with the training. Then I have to wrap my mind around what a commitment the training will be! It's fun to think about this stuff!

I had the worst bike ride in a long time on Sunday. I think there were a few things that played in. I had been working at my barn since Friday while the owner was out of town. Moving 120 lb bales of hay, scooping poop and pushing wheelbarrows for 30 horses is pretty physical. Saturday I worked a wedding at church and was on my feet in heels for 6 hours and didn't eat or drink very much. So by Sunday I think I was starting out at a deficit. Dave and I rode about 48 miles. The first half wasn't so bad but the second was miserable. My feet were burning and I had really low energy. I couldn't get off the bike soon enough It was a lesson to me on how many pieces there is to training and to be better prepared.

I have 2 more tri's this year, an Oly and a HIM and a 1/2 marathon. Still lots of a season but I'm already starting to plan and think about next year. It's addicting!

Johanne

Wow--go get 'em Johanne! I am sticking to sprints right now, but I think I might aim for an olympic in 2013....it all depends on my swimming...

Last night I did a swim, 1200 meters-in 40 minutes, It would have been faster, but to be honest, I was kinda lazy at first!

Today is the first day of school for this semester, so no more actual days off after tomorrow! Boo. On the bright side of that, I don't intend to drive to school at all--so it will be 12 mile bike rides each way. Also, its peak week! I have to do a 30 mile bike ride this week, a 5 mile run, and continue with 1200 meter swims (multiple!) The next race for me is the Luna Bar Women's Triathlon Festival on September 11th--its also my last for this season. At that point, I will train for Warrior Dash(in October), and also start incorporating more weight training into workouts and cutting back a tiny bit on tri-specific training (I say this, but I will probably continue to train hard!)

So in other words, nothing much going on!

I think it's good to pace your races on how your body and time allows. You've done a great job training this season and look what you've accomplished! My husband is sticking to Oly's. He works a lot of hours and just doesn't feel like he has the time to train for a longer distance. I have a friend that only does Oly's because he feels like more training is going to start causing injuries. He works on getting faster at that distance and has a lot of fun. We should all do what works for us and make sure it stays fun because really why spend all this time and money on something that's not?

Riding your bike to school is such a great idea! You're going to be racking up the miles!

Yay for new kicks!  Hope they continue to perform well for you.  If you do love them, def grab another pair if you can part with more $$... it's amazing how brands change shoes so often and you'll miss your old pair when it's no longer available!

Here's what I did and it worked out great for me:

Year 1 - 1 duathlon and 2 sprints

Year 2 - Add Olympic distance, plus a few sprints

Year 3 - Raced first 1/2 marathon in April, first HIM in July, Oly/Sprint races around those, first marathon in November

Year 4 - Raced first Ironman in July, raced shorter stuff before IM beginning in March and right up to 1 week before IM

Post IM?  A HIM in Sept and marathon in October.  Both were miserable crap performances.  Had my hernia repaired in December and have been recovering eeeeeeeeever since.

My husband followed the same pattern, but wasn't as aggressive on the IM training.  He didn't push through all the runs like I did.  He never forced his body to train like I did.  He cramped up during the run, though, because he never experienced a long bike ride followed by a run.  At least I had the marathon experience under my belt.  I also had about 4 century rides under my belt before the IM AND I did several bricks.

I'm not necessarily promoting Endurance Nation, but they are a coaching group that focuses on time crunched athletes.  My training buddy for IMLP 2010, kelley2010, was coached through them this year and knocked off a half hour from last year's IM-even with a busted up ankle!  Their philosphy is go hard for shorter lengths of time whereas the BT plan has you work the longer distances in lower heart rate zones.  I felt super prepared physically using the free BT IM plan, but Kelley had more tactical help (when to take nutrition, how to execute the bike so as not to flounder on the run, etc).

So, Mike... if you have a hankering for an IM, I say go for it.  It's one of the most emotional experiences you'll ever have.  You may laugh, you may cry, but you'll diffently feel like a different person once you cross the finish line and Mike Reilly announces, "MIKE!  You ARRRRRE and IRONMAAAAN!"  Gives me chills just thinking about it!  Train smart and "don't drink the koolaid".  Feel free to read my RR from IMLP. I detail the whole shebang; the good, the bad AND the ugly (yes, there is a lot of ugly before, during, and after race day!).

You go girl!!! Sounds awesome!!  1 hour bike rides are tough!  Once you break through the hour barrier than the shorter ones feel like a piece o' cake (eventually). =)

LOL, welcome to a glimpse of IM training!!!!! 

That's also how some (okay, LOTS of) athletes feel on race day during the run.  Though training, you learn how to HTFU and push through.  Triathlon is great for keeping us active, but it's also great for building self-confidence that we have "it" to dig deep and find a way to achieve whatever goal we have in front of us. 

Definitely pat yourself on the back for a) starting the ride and b) finishing it!!

Sounds like you DO have much going on!  Good luck with school!  Sounds like between work, school, and staying active you have a lot on your plate.  Remember there will be days when you don't feel like swimming/biking/running/strength training, etc... some times let yourself rest, but other times at least give it a try for 5 minutes.  If you don't feel into whatever you're doing then it's okay to call it a day.  You might find sometimes that you need to start some exercise to get the mental boost to keep going. =) 

Good luck with the rest of your training!  NAIL THAT NUTRITION!!! =)

Great work on the horse care and wedding. I couldn't even survive 6 hrs in heels as a guest let alone working. Great job on the bike too. I'm sure you'll work out the energy thing soon.

good luck with the remaining races of your season.

 Kate - great work on your swim. Starting out slow isn't always bad, it means you have energy left to kick it at the end. What are you studying? I'm sure the commuting rides will do great for your bike riding. Good luck in you last race and have fun taking up the ST stuff

 Sara - lol on the "eventually." I need to reevaluate my bike goal again thoug because that was my goal,lol. I may look at the distances the bike groups do around here as my new long term bike goal. I think they're around 18-35k for the beginner group. That's added to riding to the place they start though. Hmm, should map how far it is to get there,lol.

 Me - Got a great swim in today. Complete with my first 200m swim in what I think was 8:10 and a set of 4x 25 pull. I used my warm up as a sprint/SPL workout (I usually do the sprint thing anyway) and got :40/43, :50/45 x2 :50/48. Only issue was that I kept drinking the pool when trying to breath. Oh and I used the pull set to work on bilateral breathing (read something on my "how to use a pull bouy" search about not swimming like you have an oxygen tank aka using it to work on extending your breathing work.) Full details on how it went is in my training log.

I then did 2 run/walks - 1 from the pool to the shopping centre to meet BFF and 1 from the bus stop to home. Both 7:30 and slow but it was my first time trying 1 min run/1:30 walk intervals. I'm going to do another 15ish mins later to get in 30 mins for the day - maybe more - I'll see how it goas - using my normal intervals. If I can do simalar run intervals on my 15/15 days (Fri and Sun) then I'll be transitioning to the traditional c25k rather than month 3 of the agressive one on this site. New shoes (NB 570's) work great. They are a little uncomfortable walking (I think my arch is slightly higher than what they provide for) but they work fine for running. So my old ones are now everyday and possibly cycling shoes.

Nice progress with the swim!!! 

It seems like 500 yards/meters is the magic destination for a lot of the swimmers I work with.  Once you work up to that point, the sky is the limit for deciding to get faster at shorter distances or continuing to build endurace.  But, in the mean time, just practicing technique, technique, technique will help you become a more efficient swimmer.  Keep up the great work!

The time has come!

I can't believe today is the last day of August!  Where did our summer go???  It has dipped down into the 40s at night time here already.

As a momento of our time in the mentor group, I'd like to send out CDs of songs that each of us has picked for motivational workout music.  If you're interested, PM your First/Last name and mailing address.  I'll send them out next week.

p.s. Suzanne, I learned it only takes a week to get something from New York to New Zealand, so it'd be about the same to where you are in Australia.

Is this the official end of our group? Are we going to try to stay in touch in the archives? Thanks for sending out the music. I know it'll make me run faster

oh, sad! I don't want this to end either--we've become a really cohesive little group here!

I completed my rides yesterday pretty well--40 minutes there, and 45 on the return! ...and then found when I got home that my internet and phone were cut off--apparently the idiotic company I am FORCED to use decided that large amount of money I sent them 2 weeks ago was just NOT enough...ug...I should be back on at home by Friday. In the meantime, at least there is free wi-fi at school and internet availability at work.

Thanks Sara. I set 400m as my goal for the year and I plan to smash that this month. I'm thinking I may work on speed after that though although I'll probably do a bit of both so I can do some prep for sprint's next year - which would require 750m swim.

Now I just need to work on the bike speed. I'll do that once I actually get the distance I need for my first tri though.

Thanks for the cd thing. Is that all the ones we chose as a group or just the ones we chose individually? I'll send you the mailing details anywa

 Kate - sorry about the internet and phone.

 So does this really have to end? Hope we continue to keep in touch. Are you going to run another mentor group in the next session Sara? If so I'd be interested in signing up.

Not yet!  The BT gods tell us when we're done. =)  I just wanted to get the address request out.  I think the last two or three mentor groups I've been apart of found out that the mentor program was over when we moved to the "archived" group section of the BT Mentor Program. 

It is a nice group!! I encourage everyone to consider joining another group or becoming a mentor themselves. 

Nice rides Kate!  Bummer about the internet.  I go batty when I can't check Facebook and my email!

Feel free to stick around a little longer Mike!  It's been fun reading about your swim/bike/run adventures.  I'm still trying to figure out who will design the tri tattoo with the lizard (I think that's what Kate wears). =)  I think Suzanne is pretty darn lucky that she has summer to look forward to.  I cringe to think that we'll be getting frost in a few weeks. Ugh!

Love that you're going to hit the 400 m continuous swim!  The CD will be a compilation of the songs the whole group suggested.  The group doesn't necessarily have to end.  We'll get sent to an "archived" part of the BT website and the winter mentor groups will start.  I'll probably do another mentor group.  It'll be fun to guide people while I'm making my own huuuuge transition - to moving from New York to New Zealand in January.

I'm happy to report that I am getting back into the swing of things! YAY!  Last March I pulled something in my groin and limped my way through Ironman training, the race, a HIM and a marathon before I caved and had it surgically repaired with mesh in December.  It's been an aggravating injury because so few athletes develop hernias and even fewer females develop them, especially the type I had (mine didn't involve organs protruding though muscle, rather nerves protruding through microscopic muscle tears in my way lower abs).  My surgeon said I'd be back to my old self and training with the intensity I wanted back in March... here it is the last day of August and I finally had a completely pain-free run (side stitches aside).

So, today I did a 45 minute aquajog and a 30 minute run on land.  This training felt different because my body craved the exercise and I was physically/mentally ready to put in a run-all other training and races since my surgery just didn't feel right.  This is a great accomplishment (back in January I walked 1 mile in over 45 minutes, it was baaaaaaaad) and now I'm feeling motivated to train for sign a short race this fall.

I'm hoping to get some strength training in tomorrow.  I "should" bike, but I'd rather swim. =)  I work for the local Office for Aging and we're hosting our first 5k walk/run.  We have over 100 participants (some are even under 55 years old, woohoo).

Sara, 

Are you moving to NZ for the masters program you've talked about? Is it 2 years? What is Jon going to do? It's such a big adventure! Will you be able to bring your dog? What a great experience all around. Plus moving there during their summer, perfect!