Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 67)

Shelly,

The race isn't until August, so I have plenty of time to continue letting my knee heal.  I am just not very patiently waiting to begin running at least a little.  My PT is encouraging me to plan on doing the whole race and just walking the 5k.  She doesn't feel that walking that short distance on a totally flat, paved surface will do any additional damage. 

The other factor involved is that through Weight Watchers and all of my training, I am losing about 10 lbs every month since January.  (38 lbs so far)  That means that I will probably be another 30 lbs lighter by race time.  That helps more than anything with the knee pain.  I'll still be a Clydesdale, just not a really big fat one!

I am going to wait as long as I can to make the call.  I will continue to bike and swim and play the run by ear. 

Sorry about your cousin.  That is rough.

Congrats on the 8+ mile run!  

I run Continental GP4000s tires and like them.  Last year I ran latex tubes and the combination GP4000s tire and latex tube felt much better than what I upgraded from (Kenda tire, butyl tube).  I did get tired of having to pump up my tires before every ride since latex tubes lose air slowly.  This year I'm going to try some Michelin butyl tubes that are supposed to be light.  I'll let you know how they feel once I get them on.

Ended up swimming at lunch.  Before you say "Gary, what were you thinking?" I only used the pull buoy so no kicking but did try out my new paddles (finis freestylers) and really liked them.

Okay folks, I have a decision coming up.  I had planned on not doing NOLA 70.3 next year, for the new folks I live in Baton Rouge so the NOLA start is 1:15 from my house.  Very nice.  Next year they are moving the swim (which probably means the bike and the run are moving also) to a protected location so the swim won't get cancelled (hopefully).  To entice people to race it again they are offering a reduced cost of $150.  Dang good price for a HIM, they are also offering $50 off a bunch of other HIM's.  But I said that next year was no HIM and concentrate on short distance.   So tempted at such a cheap price!

Thoughts?

I'm a sucker for cheap rates, too. But what was your reasoning for deciding to stick with only short tris?

Mainly the time it takes to train for a HIM.  I am trying Carmichaels "Time Crunched Triathlete" and concentrating on Sprints and one Oly this year.  Going for short, intense workouts with the thought that I could perform much better at shorter distances than longer distances.  With kids 11 and 14 that are very active I try to not have my Tri training affect our family time.  In a few years they will be out of the house and I don't want to lose the time together.

That said I have been decently successful at HIM training and keeping up with family obligations. 

I'd definitely do the HIM with that price.  For me, I like sprints mainly because they are so prolific in the area and the longer events are towards the end of the year.  Still for the price, I say go for it.  My current training works well for the sprint events, so these are my fav's. 

Well I bit and entered.  Oh well it will be fun. RR is up and here is the link:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=437072&posts=1#M4173526

Gary, with a sprint distance, you might consider including your kids in some races, either relays or the whole.  There were 2 dad-daughter teams ahead of me in my first race this year.  The girls looked to be ~12-13 and were pretty good swimmers, and these went the whole race.  Overall it looked to be a fun event for these. 

And over the long run it's something to look forward to later in life ... you know have our kids reverse relay with us as we start getting a bit long in the tooth :)

Oh yeahhhhh ... nothing like just hanging in there & guttin' it out!  Reminds me of a comment in one of the recent bike rags about being sweaty, salty, sticky and such after a looong ride, and the feeling we have at the finish is that of being 'cleansed'.

Did my first Brick of the year.  Nearly 18 mile ride and then a short 1.25 mile run at 8:25/mile.  Felt pretty good.  I have a friend who qualified for Kona (4th in AG at IM Wisconsin) and she never does more than a 3-4 mile run for her Brick workouts.  Just enough to get the feel of running on tired cycling legs, but not so much as to get to fatigued.  I was slated to run 6+, but the 1.25 felt just right.  I shall build up over then next 4 weeks.

I was denied for the NYC Marathon yesterday.  It was my third straight denial, so next year I get to do it for sure!

Decided to bail on the 25k I had planned on doing in 2 weeks.  My initial thoughts were to do it as my final long run before the HIM, but 15.55 miles was on the long side, and I did not trust myself to keep it slow.  Once I get in the race atmosphere, I tend to push it.  I do not want to compromise the HIM. 

Easy day today.  Only a short swim planned, but will likely do 10-15 miles on the bike.  It is too much fun not to do!  Long run Saturday of nearly 13 miles. 

Hope everyone is gearing up.

One of the trainers at my club did the NYC last year and said it was like a war zone ... with all of the clothes, bottles and stuff people shed during the race, you just tried to survive.  

Nice job on the brick and I'm jealous of your run pace.    Do you think with doing the 25k you could train on another aspect?  Meaning, you resolve from the start to run at a certain pace and the training effort here is not running, rather the resolve or discipline to stick to your plan ... just a thought. 

For me I've been working 12-14 hr days for ~3 weeks now with work.  It's starting to get back to normal but I have a couple more weeks to go yet.  I'll be in China on business from May 6-11 and once I get back from there, hope to get back to a more normal routine. 

Short brick yesterday ... 8 mile ride and 1.5 mile run.

Almost all of the soreness is gone.  No workouts plan and I am actually planning on sleeping in tomorrow morning (oh the shame!).

Dorm - Great idea on the relay.  Especially with my son just running a 24:10 5k.  With some practice he could beat that time.  As for the bathroom trips, its not unusual.  Some folks take imodium or similar to help for those situations.  #1 - well yes better planning.

Left - Bummer on NYC but there is next year.  Brick wise I usually don't do anything more than 5 mile run on a brick unless the bike is short (15 miles or less).  Even then I won't go much farther.

As for my own question - Training I use Kenda's mainly because I won a bunch of them last year.  Racing I have a Vittoria on the back and love it.  Did try latex tubes and did like the ride but the constant pumping them up got old.  Thinking I will switch to latex in my race wheels just prior to my races in Sept and Oct.

For anyone who's interested, I have gone through most of the last 80+ pages of posts and made a list of all who are still active in the group. I put usernames with real names cause that's just how I like it- lol. I like using real names. If I left anyone off please respond and I'll correct it. I've just always kept the list by my computer and it was driving me crazy with tons of names on it and the people aren't posting anymore so I wanted my list updated. Gary- I hope this was ok to post. I just know how busy you are and I really already had the information just needed to tweak it. My other group posts the list on our training log page and I wanted you guys there as well.

If your real name isn't next to your user name it's because I couldn't find it/ didn't know it.

Gary's Group

GaryRM- Gary

                      Elizabethk- Elizabeth                        Panther- Dave   

                       CCoffin- Chris                                    ransick- Mike    

                       Scottyv6290- Scott                           Dorm57- Dorm

                        coexist- Sarah                                   leftrunner- Rob

                        Stratigos- Tracy                                Plato73- Jose

                        DWPigott- David                               wells57 

                        bermudagirl1                                    fitmomma2010- Shelly

I just copied and pasted it from my training log so that's why it's typed the way it is.

Hope everyone is having a great day. The weather is beautiful here and I am supposed to be at work but was put on call so it's a bonus day for me. I love those. Getting ready to try and run. Prefer not to run middle of day but have plans later so it's the only time I'll be able to. We'll see how it goes- lol.

Shelly

Back it town and getting after it again.

Thanks for all the well wishes/sympathies.  Very kind.

Snuck 3.03 miles in over lunch (26:39).  Felt good in the rain!

I'll go back and read a bit to catch up some when I get a chance.

And to whoever (I want to say Shelly) recommended that beginners tab, thanks!!!  I never noticed it before.  Going to go through some of that this weekend as well.

Chris

Shelly = perfectly fine, I appreciate the help!  I will post this on the first post of the thread. 

Chris - nice run!

It's all about training your body to do it's thing with a routine.  I rarely have to stop for a bathroom break but I usually don't eat anything for 2 hours before a run.  That means some morning runs are on an empty stomach which works for me up to about an hour run.

Hi all -

Just wanted to introduce myself - followed Gary's the link off the "mentoring page"

NAME: oufly - Thad
STORY: I've been running for almost 3 years, completed several 10k's and two half-marathons. While recovering from a nasty IT injury last year I went and watched a local tri....that's all it took to get me interested!
FAMILY STATUS: Married 8+ yrs. 1 son
CURRENT TRAINING: Mostly running current average 20-24 mi/wk with the occasional pool session, bike ride or easy brick
THIS YEAR'S RACES: Vermillion (OH) Harbor 8/19 - sprint and most likely Cleveland (OH)  8/4 sprint/super sprint

Welcome Thad!