kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2013 (Year 3!) - CLOSED (Page 66)

Solid choice

1:20 seems like a really long recovery ride. I try to keep mine between 30-40 minutes. Is anybody else doing really long RR's?

Congrats on the house. I used to feel that way too but now I look at it more like getting a massage so my legs are stronger on my "on" days. I did 30 minutes this morning at 107 average heart rate then I went and swam for half an hour and then did two miles really slow, 10:13/mi slow, on the treadmill. My legs feel so much better than when I woke up.

I do the same thing. I shoot for a gallon every day and when I carry my water bottle and keep refilling I'm done by 5PM. On days I don't have it I'm lucky to get in 2/3rds of that.

I usually cap them at about an hour but it really depends on the athlete and the purpose (e.g. they could be significantly longer post-race or if they are being used to come back from an injury).

Breaking Bad is one of the best series out there.  New season starts soon

That's true. I was thinking of recovery in the strict sense of how it's used during the base or build phases.

Jen - Congrats on selling on the house!!! What a stress relief I am sure!!! I am with you on finding something natural for train with. I did get the barnanas and I like them. I think they can take the place of things like gu or bloks (at least I hope so since I really don't like those things at all).

Kelly - I know you partnered with Skratch Labs for your 1/4 mary. What are your thoughts on taste and how to use it (concentration wise). I remember you had some concerns re: not enough carbs or something? I got a sample but haven't used it yet. I am happy it doesn't have artificial sweeteners, but the first ingredient is still sugar.

I tend to use the wrong language here often.  Recovery Ride for me, right now anyway, is exactly what Kelly mentioned, coming back from injury.  I probably should have just named it "stay focused, keep the HR low, and just spin to build base" ride.  Mentally, I can't afford to over do it and chance being on the sidelines anymore.

Your terminology was fine. I was curious because of how I stack my workouts.

First ingrediant in a sports drink should be sugar (or some type of sugar such as rice syrup).  As an aside its really important to eat whole, natural foods without sugars and additives in day-to-day life, but the rules change when it comes to fueling long and/or intense workouts.  When you are training hard, sugar is your friend and because you are training your body uses (metabolizes) the sugar instantly thereby avoiding the insulin response associated with the consumption of sugar when you're not training.  A bottle of sports drink is perfect food for the bike but its a really bad choice when you're not training. 

W/R/T Skratch Its a little on the lower side calorie wise but it doubles well and it tastes really good.  It also has a good electrolyte profile so you can use it as a "base" and add in additional calories. 

I was just asking myself “How did I get here… training for IMLP at my age?”  At first, I used triathlons as a way to distract me from the normal stresses of life, then quickly found this entire sub-culture very rewarding to me, on so many levels.  As a total beginner to the athletic side of life, one thing that I always kept running through my head, when the training was much more difficult to "finish", (even a simple 5k run) was my nephew’s battle with cancer; he had both leukemia and a neuroblastoma (orange size tumor wrapped around his heart and lungs) discovered on his 2^nd birthday.  He is now 8, doing well, and has been cancer free for the past 42 months.  His experiences as a child are very different from 99.99% of the worlds, and for those of us who have healthy kids, don’t ever take for granted how lucky we are.  The people from Make a Wish are really amazing, and the Make-A-Wish Kids run on Saturday at the past two years of the Timberman in NH brought tears to my eyes.  So when I’m exhausted, my legs ache, or I just want to get off of the trainer – I reset my perspective on what a wimp I’m being and finish what I have chosen to do. 

I know I’m new/late to the group and missed everyone introductions in the first 80+ pages, kind like my swim splits - better late than never.

Very well said (written) Todd.  That's great news on your nephew.  I could not imagine going through that with my two young boys (8 & 5).  Thanks for sharing.

x2

X3 thank you for this

x4 Todd. Like Jeff, I can't imagine any of my children going through that. Brave boy! I hope he continues to do well!

I love the kindle too! And I feel like you in that I am emotionally attached to books....but the kindle is amazing because mine is linked to my mom's account and so we can read all the same books, even at the same time.

Oh how awesome to eat 99% of your own food.  We are so lacking there .   A perk here is we can get anything delivered in 20 minutes but that sure isn't a recipe for health.    

Couldn't agree more.  I know someone in our community whose granddaughter has neuroblastoma, and the things she has told me that that little girl has gone through is incredible.

Kitchen wise - My coffee pot, toaster/oven/defroster/dehydrator (all-in-one), Blendtec, garlic press, and a good knife.  OK, that's five.  If I had to pick one out of these five - a good knife because you can do so much in the kitchen with a good knife!

Triathlon related toys - well, it'd be the bike since you can't do a tri without one, but if that doesn't count as a toy, then my race belt because I can put my number on it and put my essentials inside for biking and riding.

I really don't have to ask myself that question. I had thought of posting this for a while to the group and your post pushed me forward into doing so.

On March 1st of 2010 I put my third daughter Emerson in for a nap. She was perfectly healthy. When I went to retrieve her a few hours later she had passed. My two older daughter then 7 and 5 were home as was my wife for the horror of my screaming call 911 repeatedly. For the ambulance, the local police, the state police and all the other horror. The imagines are seared into your mind. She was only two and half years old.

We had a simple ceremony with only our siblings, parents and our children there. We played this slide show that we some how composed. It will still leave me sobbing even now. We live near the beach and let go 13 white balloons. One for each person there and one for Emmie. We gave each person a white rose and kept a single white lily, her middle name.

http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5455304e4459324d54593d0d0a&sb=1

In the week after we kept the kids out of school even though they were begging to escape and gain some normalcy. My wife and I were the walking dead, literally. Although never contemplating suicide you just pray that fate will show you some mercy and stop your heart. You always know something like this will be awful but the reality is so much worse. You cannot describe suffocating grief. It's like looking at a picture of the Grand Canyon and being able to understand how massive and expansive it is. It's like walking uphill on a day so humid that the air has texture and you cannot breathe.

About ten days in both of our families independently showed up at our house as an intervention of sorts. To say we were pissed is an understatement. My brother and his wife went in the kitchen and started playing a board game with Cayden and Reese and one of them made a joke and both of them started laughing. It at the same time broke me even worse and yet it gave me a wake up call. I knew I had to survive if not for me for them.

The next day when they got home from school I took them for a hike in the conservation land behind our house as we often had. We only went a mile and every step hurt. Its a sad state when your children are encouraging you because they have a glimmer of hope because you took them for a walk. The next day we walk further. The next day we played kick ball. Every day I forced myself to do something even through I had zero interest.

Then I woke up one morning before dawn and thought I'm going to go for a run just to do anything. I went up a large hill by my house as the sun came up. It was freezing out and I really wasn't dressed for it but the sunrise was really beautiful and I felt connected to Emmie. So I started running every morning. Eventually I swam and still remember thinking it would be so much easier just to sink.

Training gave me something to focus on. It still does. I can blank it all out and just run, bike or swim. It's hard to believe it'll be three long years in a few weeks. The pain never completely goes away but you wouldn't want it to either. That would mean forgetting and we will never forget.

During an event when I'm cramping, dehydration and coming undone I think of those steps on those early hikes and early runs and I know there's no way I'll quit because the pain of that triathlon is only physical which is nothing compared to mental pain.

So for me triathlon was\is a form of therapy and a salvation. Some people find Jesus I found exercise.

My wife was 12 weeks pregnant with Avery when Emmie passed and Blake was born just this October giving us 5 girls. Before Emmie passed we had always talked about how she was just so smart and compassionate for her age. She would console her sisters if they were sad. If they were fighting she would break them up. The doctor asked at her 2nd birthday apppointment does she know 25 words? My wife laughed and said she might know a thousand words. She scoffed and asker her a question directly and she answer him in a paragraph.

Three years later we still don't know the cause. People have heard of SIDS but not SUDC which stands for Sudden Unexpected Death in Child http://sudc.org and occurs in older children. We are still having all the kids tested for anything metabolic, cardiac......anything. So yes hold your children tight because you truly never know.

Scott I appreciate your sharing your painul experience. I could not find my daughter once in a store for what seemed like an eternity. So I cannot fathom what you and your family experienced.

Todd, thank you as well for sharing your experience. I too have almost lost two people within the past couple of years due to breast cancer. Again, I cannot imagine what it must be like to see a child go through that.

Puts painful swim tests in a different light. I will not complain again until after my HIM.