Slornow's and Wannabefaster's Summer Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 61)

Nancy, good job with the training! You jumped right back in and gave yourself a kick in the tail!

Mary

Thanks for the suggestions on the pedals guys. I'm hoping it'll come with a bit of practice, because I just went for my first outside ride and it was challenging. I live at the bottom of a little hill on my street, and I really struggled to get out of the street! I started with my right foot clipped in, but every time I put my left foot on it just skidded off the front of the pedal. I couldn't get enough momentum with one foot to have any time to sort out my left foot. After 4 attempts I got to the top of the hill and then managed to get going. It was quite frustrating.

So now I have a decision to make. I've been struggling a little with my bike confidence in general (I really need to stop crashing!), and being unsure if I can get going at junctions knocked my confidence a little more today. So I can't decide if I should use the new shoes/pedals for the ride to Paris or not. On the one hand, I'll be more confident with the old pedals and shoes, and probably more emotionally comfortable. On the other hand I know that a big part of it is that I'm uncomfortable with change, and actually 3 days of steady (not a race) cycling will be a good opportunity to get accustomed to the change. I'm sure that by the end of the 3 days I'll have got over my fear, and it will get me through the process faster. But if I have to stop at any junctions on hills I know I'm going to struggle and that's a little scary.

What I WANT to do is take the easy option (old shoes), but I'm trying to convince myself to be brave and try the new ones...

Loved your report Nate!! Nice job. Odd that you were so dehydrated when you really sounded like you were well hydrated!! This whole nutrition thing has me thrown for a loop and I'm just spectating!

Rachel - congrats on your new fame!

Rachel...have you ever been snow skiing? If so, it's the same concept. I didn't even think about that aspect of the Look pedals as I've never used other pedals. I used to be a ski instructor, so toe in, then click down was 2nd nature to me.

Do you have a bike trainer? Might be worth putting the bike on the trainer one day, and do a lot of one legged spinning and practice getting in and out of the pedals.

Thanks. I had an 11 mile run today, too (it was sheer misery, but it's done). The hard part isn't the tough workouts on the weekends...it's the shorter workouts mid-week when work has my brain in a tizzy. Two weeks to taper...I can muster up the strength for 27 more days.

Hello! I fell off the wagon for a bit, but I'm slowly getting back to it. No longer being Senorita Poopy Pants over Maui Xterra, haha! Here's my August totals that kicked up a bit after the kids started back to school:

Swim: 3h 52m - 8311.46 Yd
Bike: 9h 01m 44s - 102.47 Mi
Run: 4h 34m 12s - 23.7 Mi

Great training and races, guys!

Blanda, great to have you back on board.

Sorry for the delayed reply -- I've been incommunicado in the mountains (then came home to a seriously leaking roof, but that's another story...).

So yes, for maintaining fitness, consistency is really what counts. If you are going to race in October, then you could sharpen up a bit with a few harder sessions in late September.

Remember that even when you feel recovered from the IM, you aren't, yet. And your potential for injury is just about as high as can be, right now.

Well my August totals are pretty low, but here they are

Swim: 5h 38m 48s - 13850 Yd
Bike: 5h 05m 50s - 104.09 Mi
Run: 3h 31m 42s - 25.03 Mi

4 races and essentially a week of nothing at the end equal pretty inconsistant and low volume training. The good news is I'm back on the wagon and building towards my last race of the season.

What's with foks using pictures of Yanti as their avatar?

It was to cheer her on in IM Japan. Did you hear about her disaster? OMG!!

Hey gang-finished up August with a tough week of training. Really faded toward the end of the week but had a rest day yesterday. Olympic on Saturday. Not a big month but a taper week and an easy week after my 2 race weekend kept the numbers down a bit. Numbers for August:

Swim: 9h 25m-30600.42 Yd

Bike: 18h 18m-398.79 Mi

Run: 11h 30m-84.8 Mi 

Edited by slornow 2013-09-03 1:31 PM

What happened?

from this thread: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...


Update from FB.

I've been in contact with Yanti. She missed the bike cut off by about 1 minute and ended up in hospital.

Yanti crashed 3 times on descents in the closing stages of the ride in the wet and very windy conditions. Her special needs bag that was supposed to be at the half way mark was at 140Km so she suffered from severe dehydration, lack of food and hypothermia. The regular aid stations also ran out of supplies.

She knocked herself out in two of the crashes but kept going when she came too. She has a concussion and apparently had a seizure on the way to hospital but checked herself out after being warmed up and rehydrated (she isn't thinking straight at all). I convinced her to go back under observation and she's on her way now in a taxi.

She'll contact me when she gets there. As I learn more I'll let people know.


I know she's out of the hospital and last I heard was trying to figure out how to get home - hopefully she's home by now.

Man, that's insane. I hope she's ok!

she's been posting a little bit - and as you'd expect from Yanti she's in great spirits.

Edited by mtnbikerchk 2013-09-03 5:29 PM

Thanks, Jason! Glad to be back. I feel whole when I'm training for stuff.

Poor Yanti! The girl cannot catch a break on her races, and this seems to be the worst, so far. Ai!

Off to a good start for September. Today I have a swim and run on schedule. I'm racing daylight lately and that's actually improved my speed on the bike and swim, ha!

Just got off the phone with the nutritionist from Infinit, and we got a couple formulas set up for the bike and the run. I'm feeling good about this, especially since I still have a couple races before the end of the season, which will give me a chance to at least try out the run formula.

Just in from my first offcial Augusta 70.3 river swim. Nice group of 25 people from the tri club (which really did help simulate race day conditions since it's a wave start), so there was quite a bit of bumping and jostling for the first 10 minutes or so.

Found a nice steady rhythm and finished 1.2 miles in 32 minutes. You think there's a little current helping? LOL This would be my guess why Augusta's HIM has over 3000 entries. The swim is 'easy.'

The river has been unswimmable for the past 5 or 6 weeks due to the volume of water being released at the dam upriver as well as the rains. Raceday current is generally 3000-4500 cfs. Today was in the upper end of that range. Last week the current was above 20,000 cfs. Little too scary and strong to swim.

So...good positive swim experience in my wetsuit and no alligator sightings.

always a plus!!

Gift for my wife...... took her out for her birthday last night to one of the nicest restaurants in town and woke up around midnight to her projectile vomitting. Food poisoning I am pretty sure. It will be a birthday present that we won't forget for awhile. Being up for a big chunk of the night trying to help my wife and doing some pretty serious clean up (didn't quite make it all the way to the bathroom for the start of all this--uggh) meant that I was not getting up at 4:30 for a trainer ride. Kind of a bummer but what can you do?


On a more fun front, I finally ordered a cyclocross bike (gift for me I guess--hope this turns out better than the gift for my wife ). I have been looking at them for at least two years and I kept not pulling the trigger. Last weekend my LBS was running a clearance sale on 2013 stock. They didn't have the bike I want in stock but they ordered me a 2013 and will give me the discount, so I am happy. I didn't go too crazy. Bought a mid level bike because I did not want to spend huge money. If I love it and ride it a lot I may regret not splurging more. I may try a cyclocross race this fall/winter.

Also of interest: there is some talk about whether IM Tahoe will really happen. The huge Yosemite Rim Fire is in fairly close proximity to Tahoe and apparently the entire Tahoe Valley is filled with smoke. No one knows when things will improve. They are projecting containment of the fire by September 20, two days before Tahoe. But, containment means just that, that the perimeter is contained, not that the fire is out. There may still be significant smoke issues. I am continuing to train like the race will happen. What else can I do? I admit that I am a little concerned but all of the worrying in the world from me won't change the outcome. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I have to admit that I am beginning to question whether the iron distance is a good idea for Yanti. I don't want to anger the masses because she is one of the most beloved posters on this site (lets face it, if Gator Deb was posting these repetitive failures the forum would be all over her) but in her current iteration/life situation I don't think that continuing to figuratively smash her head against the wall is a good idea. Based off the events of her last race, it certainly does not seem healthy. If she wanted to really, and I mean really, commit to training for iron distance, maybe. What she is doing now is not working. If I were her friend (and isn't everyone on this forum her "friend"?) I would advise her against signing up for another 140.6.

Jason,

As far as the smoke goes let me tell you the last 2-1/2 weeks here have been bad. We have had unhealthy air every day, in the ranges where every outdoor high school sport was cancelled over the weekend, and the outdoor recreation leagues have been cancelled for the last two weeks. But there is hope, it seems to be getting better everyday and at least this morning I can see the Sierra's from Reno, this hasn't been the case for the better part of the last 2-1/2 weeks. The local forecasters seem to think that we only have about another week of these conditions with them inproving everyday, they ran an iron distance race from South Lake Tahoe the weekend before last when the smoke was at its worst, maybe not the brightest thing but I realy don't think it will effect IM Tahoe.