Slornow and Wannabefaster's Winter Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 62)

Blanda-That is a full weekend! At least it all sounds like fun; I'll take fun-busy over work-busy any day.

Jason-Great job at the race; holy *&^ that's a fast time! I know you didn't PR, but it's early in the season, right?

Here's my report from my looooooooooooong ride today. It was something. 

My Workout in GIFs

Jamie, 

I absolutely love your training day in GIF ... hahaha that was a great read. 

Jason -- very nice run!  Well done.  

My tri is officially now an aquathlon.  Bike portion is cancelled due to heavy snowfall warning and cold  (-4^oC forecasted for race time).  

Run will still be outside though.    They're letting us do a full change between swim and run.  

I did a little bit of outdoor running over the winter, but usually only if it popped above freezing.  This is one hell of a start to the season...!

Scott.

Jamie/Nate-my wife brought home several magazines that talked about all of the outdoor activities in the Greenville area and the great trail that runs from town out to Furman. One of the articles had a big article on George Hincappie and his retirement. Mentioned that he is renovating a lodge outside of town that will be a cycling focused type of resort. Sounds very cool. Looks like their is alot going on in the area. Can't wait to get up there and check it out.....she also mentioned there were lots of bike shops....always a good thing.

Jamie-great blog post..other than the sad incident with the dog. Had the same thing happen to me on a run last year. Really hard to deal with those type of things.

Today is a washout here. 1-2 inches of rain forecast. So, I'll spend 2.5 hours in the garage riding and watching Zero Dark Thirty. I hope its good. Watched Argo Friday night and enjoyed it. The afternoon will be spent primarily on the couch watching the Masters. I have not played golf in 3-4 years but always enjoy watching the Masters. I've been 2-3 times to watch practice rounds and its a pretty amazing course.

Enjoy your Sunday.

OMG Stuart I'm SO sorry - that is awful  I hope your recovery goes well.

Randy I read your race report.  I always find it inspiring to read those reports.  You did great and the effort just amazes me at that level.  Awesome job.

As for me, tax day is TOMORROW so Tuesday I start cleaning up the items in my personal life (oil change for the car, go to the cable company etc) and on Wednesday, I hope to get things back on track.  The good news is that I've been running again.  I'm up to 3.5 miles.  My leg still gets a little cranky which I'm told is normal so I just take it easy and ice at night.  I continue to swim although my plan has kind of fallen by the wayside and the weather is finally turning nice so I will be riding outside soon enough.

And I have a family wedding to go to today so have a good Sunday all!

Race complete.   To be honest it was a major letdown -- I waited all winter for this, and in the end they cancelled the bike AND shortened the run to 2K (indoor track).    No fault of the organizers but not the event I was hoping for.

At any rate -- it was still fun once we got going.  And I was reasonably happy with my performance:

• Both the swim (~2:25 / 100m) and the run (~5:27 / km) were faster paces than I see in training.   (Not a ton faster, but enough)
• Final time was 27:07 which was solidly middle of pack (#109 / 188) -- I was hoping for top-50% but missed it by 45 seconds.  But still, nice to be MOP rather than BOP like last year
• No walking, no breast stroke -- not a huge accomplishment, but better than my first tri!
• The run was at a pace that would have me breaking my 2013 goal of a 27:30 5K
• Best of all, my swim was confident --  Breathing pretty good, never felt overwhelmed.  Of course OWS is a different beast, but it was nice to do a competitive swim with a happier ending

Next stop -- HM in late May, and Oly in mid-June!

Scott

Sorry to hear the race got shortened, I know how that feels. However, you can still take your good performance from the experience; after all, for most of us non-elite athletes, it's all about measuring performance against your own past performances. You've got plenty of time to train before your next races, keep it up!

Jamie-that's a good question and a hard one to answer with alot of specifics. I can try to answer for up to HIM distance. There are a couple of things to work out on the front end. The first being how many calories you will need on the bike and then on the run. Then of course you must decide how to take in those calories. Whether all fluids, some solid foods, gels etc.. The second being how much you want to consume in fluids on the bike. The amount will depend in part on the weather conditions on race day. Hot equals more fluids. This is where experimenting with your nutrition on your long training rides and runs can help. Since it is almost half of the time you will spend racing your nutition on the bike is extremely important. Not only to fuel you through the bike leg but also to set you up for a good run.

 I'm not really going to address nutrition or hydration during the swim since we don't take in calories then.

I like to get almost all of my calories and fluid on the bike before the last 15-20 minutes of the ride. Mostly to avoid heading out on the run with a bunch of fluids in my stomach or my stomach trying to digest something.  In my last HIM I shot for about 350 calories an hour through a combination of fluids and gels. I had 3 bottles on the bike each with 250 calories in them. I also had a gel flask in my tri top that had another 4 100 calories gels mixed up with some water. I was unsure how hot it was going to be so figured I would drink at least 2 bottles of fluid and probably part of the third. Unfortunately, the gel flask fell out of my pocket about 10 miles into the ride but I had put 2 gels in my bento box just in case.  So, on the bike I took in about 50-55oz of fluid and 2 gels. I probably under did it on the fluids but I didn't want to have to stop and pee.  I specifically set up my bike so I would not have to worry about the bottle exchanges on the course. These can be dangerous places and I felt better knowing that I had what I needed on the bike.

I had 1-2 gels in my race belt for the run and had planned on drinking a few sips of water frequently during the run from aide stations and taking a caffeinated gel at about 20-25 minutes and again 40-45 minutes later.  Typically there are plenty of aide stations on a run course so I would not worry about bring along too much unless you don't like what they will have on the course. I like the little bump I get from using a caffeinated gel once I get on the run. Of course, try them in training and make sure they agree with you.  At IMTX 70.3 I probably was somewhat dehydrated at the end of the race as the day had warmed up and the sun had come out. I felt like I needed to pee about halfway through the bike but put it off until T2. Then I figured I would stop on the run course when I needed a break. Always felt like I kind of had to go but just didn't want to stop.  Your recent blog post made me think about this as my urine color later in the day confirmed that I was probably dhydrated Sorry, too much information. 

Hope this helps. Making sure you are taking in your fluid/nutrition is another thing. All the good planning goes to hell if you don't follow the plan and get those calories and fluids in your body.

Good morning all-busy day of work ahead as I'm on the road untile late this afternoon. Was up at 4am to get bike workout in. UGH! Daughter has soccer game tonight so had to get it done early. Not a great workout but got it done. Hope everyone has a good day. Maybe we will get some answers on the tragedy in Boston.

Same here, the more details come out, the crazier and worse it seems.

I read what kind of injuries there were, so I'm avoiding the pictures best I can. I cannot understand how someone would think doing this would right any kind of wrong. I can't imagine how this would help any cause. I hope we find the person/people that did this. Justice needs to be served.

Jason increased swim volume will be beneficial to any distance swimmer.  Since I get to start all over again I am working on my plan once I get the OK.  My run will just continue since it was working, with a reset of course.  I will structure my riding a bit more than I have with an emphasis on longer rides but likely one less per week (4 instead of 5).

My swim is where I will actually be making the biggest changes.  Lots of early long swims.  Something like a wrm-up, 6 x 500 w/30 seconds rest.  I will do this 4/week for 2-4 weeks.  Then every swim will include a minimum 2 x 500 before my scheduled workout.  I am fortunate that I don't have to worry about form so this is just conditioning.  This was a common practice the month before the official swimming season started.  Just laying down some quality yards before really going to work. Back to school if you will.

So the big question Jason.  You are swimming better but...are you enjoying it?