Baowolf mentor group is [ Closed ] (Page 68)

Goooo Larry!!!!!!!!

Samantha, glad you got out there even if you hit a roadblock.  So many factors can go into feeling fatigued.  I guess the best you can do is address the ones you know about.  I can sort of relate because I'm in a bit of a funk in terms of other aspects of life right now.  I'm jack of all trades master of none.   Seems like every time I start on one thing another thing jumps in the way of it (or I let myself get distracted...look...it's shiny!).  This makes me not want to start anything.  So I'm trying to pick small tasks to get me going so I can actually feel like I completed something.  Maybe that would help you on resisting the pull of the couch.  Not every workout has to be intense or long.  Sometimes just a walk or a short bike ride is where it's at.   

Thanks Steve for the tips on improving run speed.  Forcing the faster turnover is important in my case for sure since I'm prone to ambling along.  Will strides accomplish the same thing as the down the hill runs?  Also, is it better to do those at the beginning, middle, or end of a run?  The plan I'm attempting prescribes a run of 8 miles with 10 X 100 m strides this week.  I use a football field, and accelerate concentraing on faster and faster turnover until about 70 yards in then glide the last 30 or so. 

Had one of those lousy runs this morning.  Scheduled for 14 and called it at 12 when I realized I was just shuffling along getting stiffer and more sore with each step.  Bottoms of my feet are really sore, so yeah, I may be chasing the 2K bike goal tomorrow just to stay off them. 

Way to go Larry!! You nailed it on the pacing, and did I understand correctly that you passed lots of folks and not a one passed you?  Know that's not so much what it's all about, but still it's fun!  And speaking of fun, an age group award.....just an awesome day.  Another celebration of the transformation that you have made/are making.  Very proud to be part of a group that includes you.

Perfect race Larry give the iffy ankle and illness to take you down a notch, awsome pacing.  If you were 100% I am sure you would have hit that 1:55:00.  Next go.  Very nice to go sub 2:00:00 on your first half mary, very impressive improvement in run speed this year. 

Carol you want to warm up before doing any speed work as part of your workout, so warmup 10 min, then hit your 10x100s.  The downhill will likely help your turnover more than the 100 yard strides, but both are good. 

Was able to do 6 mile runs all week, did 70 miles on the bike no problem... today's run was supposed to be 14, had to cut it short at 8 miles.  Sigh.  Oh well still 3 weeks til the race or so.  We see how it comes together.  

Larry - I could not be happier for you! You have such a knack for setting goals and accomplishing them. Grats on placing too!

Joe - no power for 7 days and counting. That is crazy. Wish I could send something your way. But on a serious note, if there is something your family needs that I could provide don't hesitate to let me know. Praying the snow will stay away!

Steve - glad things are looking up, mostly!

Did my 10 miler today just under 12mpm. Good for me. I started learning New Testament Greek last week, so I was reciting the alphabet as I was cruising along. It helped. Still feeling tired and fighting my desire to stay in bed. One day at a time. Gonna get out into the woods next weekend with some of my the most amazing friends I could ask for. We are gonna put canoes into one lake, then paddle through a channel to the upper lake. It is pretty remote country. I am really looking forward to it even if it is only a couple days.

Hope you all have a great week!

In thinking back to my race yesterday, your advice played a great part in getting my big goal of under 2 hours, Steve.  First, I felt like I followed your pace suggestions pretty close.  My first mile was just under 9 minutes, and I had to make myself go slow.  I wore my heart rate monitor to make sure that I didn't go crazy in the beginning.  I tried to keep my HR under 160 the first few miles.  Secondly, as I neared mile 9 I felt pretty good, and had confidence to start pushing, knowing that I had the fitness to do it.  The speed work, and the long runs of 10,11,12,13, and 14 miles gave me confidence to let myself finish strong.  The last mile was extremely hard, but I was able to keep the pace, but my HR was into the low 180s, and my legs began to feel like jelly.  I am so glad it didn't start feeling like this earlier, or my pace would have had to slowed down.  It was an enjoyable race until the last mile, and it was neat to run something with a definite time goal in mind, as opposed to just finishing.

Steve, here is what I have planned for this week.  Tuesday: 30 minute walk, Wednesday 20 minutes easy on statiorary bike, Thursday easy 2 mile run, Friday off, Saturday easy 2 mile run, and Sunday easy 30 minute bike outside (since it's supposed to be nice).  The following week I'm going to run 3 3 3 6, and throw in a day of biking, all not too hard.  Does this sound ok.

I have also figured out that I need to have goals to really push myself.  The next 8 weeks, I am going to run between 15 and 17 miles a week, and cross train maybe an hour a week on the bike, and lift weights two to three hours a week.  I am also going to reduce calories to 2000 a day, and lose my last 15 pounds by New Years, which would put me at 175 pounds.  I will then decide on new goal, maybe a 4 hour marathon in May.  Just so everyone doesn't think I am a fitness Nazi now, after the race, my wife and I went to the Outback and I ate steak, a loaded baked potatoe, fried mushrooms, bread, and then a big pile of ice cream.  For dinner I had a quarter pounder meal from McDonalds.  today it's the beginning of the 8 week diet of brown rice, chicken and fish, vegetables, low fat cottage cheese, and protein powder.  Yummy!!

Larry, you hit the race perfectly.  If you had gone out faster in the first 3 miles or tried to speed up too much from 4 to 9 you would have felt at mile 9 like you felt at mile 12... and that really sucks.  You now have the feel for the HM distance and your next one will be better as your base stamina/fitness to draw from will be deeper and you will have a little more speed.  The full marathon is a similar strat, but stretched out more.  Unfortunately for a full mary you will feel crazy good at 13.1 and want to start your kick there, but then you that feeling will erode for miles 13-15 then miles 16-18 will feel flat, like you are starting to have to work much harder to keep your pace and then miles 19 ish on it will take all of your mental and physical focus and you will still lose 5 to 10 seconds per mile, especially on a first marathon.  Count on your last mile or 3 to be 30 seconds off your goal pace if you are well trained for it and up to 2:00 off pace if not so much or if you pushed too hard early in the race.  For the IM marathon it is pretty much the same, but you subtract 6 from everything (feel good to mile 7, have to work harder from mile 8 on, start to suck it up for miles 10 to 20 and then all ya have to kick that last 6 miles (by kick I mean running at LT with a pace that is 30 to 60 seconds off your goal pace or up to 3:00 off if a little undertrained and walking if undertrained).   

Oh and ya that looks fine for this week and next Larry.  Kind of play it by feel, but you should be solid within 5 days. 

Wow, Joe, no power still huh? I hope I was reading correctly that you have a generator.  Praying you and your neighbors will get back to normal soon.

Larry, I have no doubt you will lose those last 15 lbs. and get faster in the process.  Weight loss = free speed.  OK, it's actually very costly/difficult, but you know what I mean.

Steve, sorry your run was cut short.  Much preferable than reinjuring yourself.  Cut mine short on Saturday, but probably for less reason.  Thanks for the tip on where to slide the stride in.  I'll try the down the hill thing too...have a nice gentle hill that's perfect for that right outside my door.

Samantha, glad you had a good run!  Nice 10 miler .

I'm restarting my continuous glucose monitor today.  When it is trending accurately, it keeps me from having to test quite as much mid-run, and provides some good feedback during the rest of life.  But the supplies are expensive, and it is yet another surrender of time/mental energy to callibrate it, keep it taped down while sweating, etc.  It also flat lines at seemingly random times, which is frustrating after devoting said $$'s, time and energy.  So I'm going into this round not expecting too much from it and will see if I can keep my frustration level in cheque.  Were it not for running/training, I don't know if I'd give it another go until the technology improves.   

Mike, glad the swimming is clicking.  I don't know if that will ever happen for me.

Steve, thanks again for the advice.  I hope the running gets injury free in the near future.

Carol, it is impressive that you are able to train the way you do with dealing with issues most of us don't have to.  It shows that most people's excuses don't hold any water.

In other news, my freaking legs are sore as hell. 

Ah Larry you made me laugh, yup you pushed it during your race, you may be feeling that right into next week, but shoudl be fine in 5 to 10 days.  That is one nice thing about the "shorter races" is that the recovery is so much faster. 

Run speed will come with steady weekly miles to a point.  Basically your body runs more efficiently so your pace is faster at the same heart rate and respiration rate.  It is really nice.  My 8:00 mpm  HR used to be my 9:00 mpm heart rate.  And when I am not fatigued it slips into mid to upper 7s.  High fatigue can mess up your HR to speed and perceived effort.  Running on low fatigue lets you just go out and enjoy. 

One more thing about run speed.  If you want to run faster lean forward ever so slightly at the ankles, like 1-2 degrees and then just keep up.  Try to not bend at the waiste, just tilt that head a bit forward by bending at the ankles a touch and see what it does for your time.  Other things to think about are pushing down against the ground as your foot lands (not slamming your heal into the ground), pushing out the back with your foot, slightly rotating your hips forward (1/2 a degree or so), focus on your calf tightening and pushing back as you run ... dang this is sounding like swimming.... With all those things though you need the fitness to keep your body moving along at a faster pace.  Carol runs with pleanty of fitness.... but has more speed in her, others are still building that phat base that will have them gaining speed just by getting out there. 

Wow so long without power would really suck.  My kids would be all depressed without tech.  It would be very inconvienent for writing reports at work for sure. 

Nice swimming AND running, Mike!

Larry, I feel for you on the soreness.  Each ouchy step is telling you that you went all out.

Steve, thanks for the tips on form.  Tried to think about those this morning and think it helped.  Also tried the faster turnover on the downhill/continue a little on the flat, and that was fun!  Tried to mount a trainer tire on my old bike last night.  It's a foldover type tire and very thick.  Pinched one tube, and finally gave up.  Bike shop is going to have to help with this one.  Continuous monitor caught a low blood sugar at 2:30 am, so probably worth the price of admission.  Also kept me from having to test more than once on the run today.

Looks as if I'll be dipping my toe into the world of competitive swimming in early December. I'm signing up today for a regional Masters swm meet where I'll be doing the 800M free. I'll be working on this at masters swim the next few weeks. Should be fun. I have to learn how to start off blocks now as well. In the spring, I'm entering the 1 mile swim event. I've never been in any competitive swim event in my life, so it should be fun. I asked my coach if I'm pretty much a shoo-in for DFL, and she told me absolutely not, which was nice of her.

Mike, way to go!  You are definitely a fish, and I hope you have lots of fun with it!

Larry, how are the legs?

Steve, how's the body holding up this week?

Samantha, Joe, Mitch, and anyone else, what up in your neck-o-the-woods?

10 miler this morning started off rocky with blood sugar issues that forced me to stop and let some sugar hit my system in the first half.  Continuous monitor lags behind about 20 minutes, so didn't warn me in time to head it off.  But the last half of the run was pretty good. Ended at the coffee shop, where I was greeted with this quote on the board:

“Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.” - Steve Martin

Only partially true, but I rather enjoyed it at the end of that run.

Speaking of talent and persistence, Steve, has your son had his race yet?

The body is in a holding pattern probably until I can give it a month off.  I am maintaining as best I can run 4x6 miles + 1x 8- whenever my knee acts up.  Bike 3x 25, 1x 70, swim 1x 2200 then my shoulder acts up and I have to give it a break for another week on the swim.  There may well be some breastroking in the swim if the shoulder doesn't settle down.  Maybe 2 taper weeks will help me muttle through.  I aranged trainings not too far from the race so I will probaably get my trip paid for 8).  It gives me very little down time and I may have to drive 100 miles the morning of the race, but oh well.   

My son's big races are still coming up, his last race was like 17:59 for a 5k and he has a junior college showing some interest in paying for his tuition.  It is junior colledge tuition, but meh something is better than nothing and will help him to feel good about himself. 

Oh new run exercize.  Start jogging in place and then practice leaning different parts of your body more and less to see how it impacts your speed.  Start with just dropping your chin 1 inch, see if you move, try 2 inches, then align your back so that your neck is straight, then align your hips with your back and your ankles with your hips.  Just puts different amounts of lean and feel how it impacts your running speed.  It is actually hard to just lean your ankles so I am going backwards in this drill to see if you can get a feel for it.  Everyone try it and let me know if it sucks or is fun. You can even try runing with your head way back, arms in or out, swing those arms high or stright like a train arm, just pushing forward and lets have folks check in with how it feels and what they like bast. 

Larry, glad the legs are shaking out and that you are not having a post race letdown.  I think for those of us who at least partially do this for health reasons, the tendency to slack off after a race is not quite as much.

Steve, nice that you will not be out travel costs.  And good that you are being smart re: the training.  Maybe gives you more time to encourage your son.  Would be great if he did land a scholarship!  Will try out the form drills next week.

Rough early morning on the blood sugar front, so thankful today's run was short.  Supposed to be a 4 mile "recovery" run, but yesterday was a rest day, so I decided to pick it up for a couple of 1 mile intervals.  Wind has really kicked up here, and I heard limbs breaking a couple of times up in the trees in the park.  Trying to psych myself up for long run tomorrow, but given the wind, higher humidity and warmer temps, it's a tough sell.

Let the race signups begin!! Today/tonight am signing up for:

1. HIM in June 2013

2. HIM in August 2013

3. Local "turkey trot' Thanksgiving 5k

4. US Masters New england Swim Meet - Dec 7

5. NYC Oly Tri lottery entry - will know this weekend if I get in. Jully 2013

6. Half Mary -- March 2013

7. "Renegade Race" -- a local tough mudder type even run by a friend of mine

Now, I really need to get moving.....

Nice looking schedule Mike!!