Bill's Aye! Aye! Tri Crew - FULL - this ship has left the dock! (Page 7)

Well, I did it! 23 miles on the bike Sunday morning.  It was  a "no drop" ride, so the leaders waited for me a few times, but all 5 of us made it the whole way.  I haven't had so much fun in a long time.  Beautiful day... loved the ride!

Ok, shipmates, I'm calling all of us out - as per our "ground rules"

2. Ownership. Everyone, by virtue of joining this crew accepts the responsibility to check-in, at least weekly, and make a contribution.  Ain't no one of us as smart as all of us.  Part of that responsibility is to keep us up on your progress so we can learn from you, or hold you accountable.  Another part of that responsibility is 'no child left behind', you promise to 'call someone out' for slacking off. 

3. Commitment. Everyone has publicly stated an intention to do a triathlon in April, May, or June.  Too late to back out, we all read it and per rule #2 above, we're holding you to it.  If you didn't know before, you are committed.  And therefore, per rule #2 we are committed to seeing you through an adequate training plan for you to arrive at the start ready to succeed.  No quitting.

NO QUITTING!  C'mon - let's go!  :-)

I may be talking to myself, but...

I put SPD pedals on my bike over the weekend, and had my first encounter with hill+gravity this morning.  I haven't had a skinned knee in a while.  Would love to hear pointers about knowing when to unclip on an uphill that is too steep to climb.

Hi Jan,

Well done! on your 23 miler!  I seem to recall you are preparing for MyFirstTriathlon which has a 12 mile bike leg, right?  If so, you are certainly well on your way!

As for clipping in to pedals and failing to clip-out in time at a stop...  Congratulations!  Everyone has done this once, or several times.  In these early days of your road cycling you're learning to look ahead and think ahead, to anticipate when you'll need to stop, to shift up before you start up the hill, to shift up out of that hard gear just before a stop, and to unclip just before you stop rolling.  I don't have any tips.  Just practice, practice.  It's like driving a car, there are many moves which felt unnatural at first, but once you've mastered them, they come automatically.  Hang in there!

Bill

Hi Everyone,

So it got a little harder to find our ship.  But the webmaster says we can keep using this thread as we like.  I'll continue to check in, I hope you will.  I'm really interested to hear, as you get close to race day, if you feel prepared and then to hear how your events went.  Please post a race report.

I hope everyone's training is continuing to go well.  The weather has warmed up early this year here in the Southern USA, which meant I had a rough couple of weeks of allergy season, but that's mostly past and cycling has gotten more comfortable with the warm weather.

I hope you've continued building on your base volume (HFLIZ2R's) and are beginning to add some higher intensity (speed work) to your routines.  For me this means one day per week running on the track for about 30 minutes, during which I do several sets of "hot laps", alternating with a recovery lap.  

On the bike, in addition to my usual medium pace group rides with friends, I try to go once a week to join a group ride which I know is a faster pace.  The first 4 to 6 times I know I'll get dropped, but usually by May I can at least hang on the back of the pack for the whole ride.  Yes, I know, most triathlons don't allow drafting.  But pushing myself to not get dropped I make a harder effort than I do when trying to ride intervals by myself.

Let us hear from you!

Bill

Sorry everyone

As you may recall I hurt my back, it turned out I did some damage. I will not competing this year in any events. I have am meeting with a back surgeon next week to discuss my options. I wish you all luck and expect to be finish an event next year.

Have fun everyone

Hey all!

Sad to hear that one of us didn't make it, but after geting better you can try again!

I visited my sport doctor and nutrition specialist, during last year i have done a big step futher. Also i was told to take a bigger race at the end of the summer. So i will have my sprint in June (snow game back so there will not be any hope for warm water before that) and 111 race (1k swim+100k bike+10k run) in August. Also will have a running race in 4 week of 15 miles cross-country. 

Lost my mojo on swims for 2 weeks but yesterday seemed to got it back and enjoyed  very much. Doing 2 hour bike ride once a week with low HR and 45-60 min bike trip with higher intensity. Runing is 45-60 minutes twice a week in green zone with some sprints in it.

Waiting for spring to arrive and still highly motivated

Viljar

Pierre... soooo sorry to hear about your back injury.  Do take care of yourself!  Thank you for being a shipmate through this journey.  I'll miss you!

Jan

Hi everyone!

I have been back in the pool twice this week.  Today was much better than Monday. I got in 1500 yards in 21 minutes monday, and did 750 in 30 minutes today.  I had a 21 minute run (plus 5 min walk) yesterday - only 1.6 miles, but my heart didn't race the entire time.  It has been a few weeks since I've swam or run.  It looks like I'm still on track though for being able to finish the training plan and do the race.

I have my last 8 weeks of training schedule up on the refrigerator, and I'm back to checking off each one as I go.  I'm still not confident I can get through the whole thing, but I'm committed to seeing this through.

I have, for the first time in my life, started getting used to exercising in the morning.  That's a HUGE switch for my body - I've always been a late riser, late exerciser.  Since the race is in the morning, I want to be used to being up and at 'em by then.

The clip-in update... fell again yesterday. This time in my very steep driveway. I had been practicing clipping in and out just riding up and down the flat part of my street, and felt like I'd gotten the hang of it.    I'd stopped at the top of the driveway to reposition my hands on the brakes before coasting down to the garage.  My left foot was unclipped when I started down and I lost my balance and fell over to the right.  ggrrrrr!   What I have learned from this is the helmet really is a good thing - I don't get on the bike without it.  I'd have hit my head pretty hard on the ground without it yesterday.  I'm a little sore, but damage done.

Viljar, good to hear you're still charging ahead.  Keep going!

Pierre, Tough luck amigo.  I wish you speedy recovery.  Probably the training that you've done has gotten you in good shape to withstand the rigors of medical treatment.  You have a good spirit and persistence, I have no doubt you'll come through your procedures more determined than ever.  Just don't try to start back too soon.  Let yourself heal.  It's going to take time and you're going to get down about being out of shape, but just keep telling yourself: 'when it's time, I will be back!'.  And use the downtime to eat healthy and get/keep your weight where you want to be.  Bon chance mon amis!

Jan, you are doing it!  you're getting it done and you're almost there!  Yes, helmet on every time.  Read about and practice your transitions until you're smooth, quick, and can do them without much focused thought.  On race day there will be too many competing thoughts and when you're hurrying you won't think of everything.  You will only remember what you have repeatedly practiced.  You're going to go well!

Hello all!  It's been a while, but I'm still moving forward. 

I did an open water swim a couple of weekends ago with a meetup group, and that really helped.  The water was *really cold* - I was the only one without a wet suit, so I put my swimsuit on over my running gear to stay warm enough.  I could hardly breathe!  But I got in the water, and swam anyway I could, on my sides, on my back, whatever, just to keep going and getting enough air.  I felt really good about it afterwards.

Then, after that, the really exciting news is that my last three sessions in the pool I've been able to swim the entire distance I'll need without taking any breaks! I know it's different not being able to push off the wall at the end of each 25 yards, but the most important thing for me is my breathing and not getting too winded.  That's what zapps me!  So I'm feeling good about the swim.

I found another meetup group that does cycling - so last Saturday, I went to the gym in the morning and did my swim, then went home, did some housework, and went out and met up with a group of cyclists in Decatur for their 12 mile "Freight Room Ride" through Avondale and Decatur.  It was HILLY!  I had to walk up one to ensure I wouldn't get almost to the top and fall!

What I've not done enough of is run - which is funny because I did mostly running in January and February.  Those slow runs really did help!  This week I've gone out to Stone Mountain and walked/jogged my way around twice.  Over the next few weeks I want to increase the jogging time, and try cycling around as well.  There are some challenging ones on the back-side of the mountain!

So my next goal is to continue the 12 mile ride each Saturday, and to begin doing some running.

Last Sunday I drove out to Lake Lanier to take a look at the course.  It took me a really long time to find the starting point!  But once I did, it was really helpful to look over the course.

I'm signing up to do a 5k in Tucker on May 12 to help get back into the running game.

Even with my progress, I'm still really anxious about my ability to complete the whole thing back to back.  I haven't signed up yet...  I'm so glad I didn't try to do this last year - I wouldn't have been ready. 

I hope my shipmates are still in the game and pressing on!  Keep going!

Hi shipmates!

In case someone gets this message in a bottle... just wanted you to know I was successful at completing my sprint triathlon.  Thank you for your contributions - I don't think I could have done it without your support!

Special thanks to Bill for being a great mentor.

Press on!

Well done!

What were your emotions?

I did my first sprint also last month, water was just 61F, so not exactly warm. As swim is my dark area, i was happy to manage the distance and still had some power to keep going. Bike was fun, but as others had road bikes, i was by far slower than them. Runing is the only area i have some history in, so i  did some lost time back in last part- made me feel really good, as i felt going stronger and faster as the route went on. As i am not sure in my swim part, i do some more sprints this year, and start to look for olympic next year. Next start will be in 2 weeks

Feeling strong, thanks for everyone!

Keep sailing...