Gat's Mentor Group - Closed (Page 7)

What's everybody got planned for this weekend?

ball6135 - awesome swim!  i love crushing goals like that!

 jana0317- i had quite a bit of discomfort in the beginning, i.e. hands, back, neck, feet (falling asleep) and butt.  definately get your bike fitted.  but once you get in a few good rides, your core gets stronger and you don't have as much pressure on any of those afore mentioned points.  it does get better.  i think my hands were the last to stop hurting.  hang in there.

 my workout yesterday was a little disheartening.  my average on the first 6 miles was about 18.5.  that's good for me.  you can see by the overall average what happened on the way back.  after that, i was in no mood to run!  so i only did a mile and a half. 

 have a great weekend everyone!  i have to work, so most likely will only get in one short workout

hELLO,

 I got my first long bike ride in today. I enjoyed it so much I went right past my turn to return home...so I got a few extra miles in. I rode 35 miles....and I was tired. It was great going out but the wind was pretty tough the way back.

 Not sure what I'm doing this weekend. May get out tomorrow AM for another bike. I will for sure run tomorrow. I was going to do a local 5k but I would have to get a babysitter.

 ctnord

Race Report - All went well, I am pleased with my results over last year, almost a 10% improvement in time with a huge jump in placing. Could have pushed a bit harder to move up a place or two, but the run wasn't quite an optimal run for me!

Gear West Du Race Report

 Thanks...  it is an interesting race... People like Brian Bich, David Thompson, Dan Cohen...  very few slow folks in that group.  I am happy with my times considering my training goals aren't sprint oriented!  

-Robb

Nice Job Ball

Looks like you had some wind. It was WAY windy in Iowa over the weekend. Looks like you had some of the same wind. I was just telling people the wind didn't blow as much in MN!

 ctnord

We are pretty lucky up here, even with the shorter season, there is a huge triathlon contingent and some great races!  - Robb

I seem to remember several people having races planned for this weekend.

Who all still does (I do/my first), are you ready?, are you as nervous as I am? What the plan for this week?

I didn't plan on last week being a taper week, but I have been traveling the last 7 days, was sick two, spent most the nights with clients eating and drinking way to much and the hotel fitness center was being re-modeled. So I did not get in near the work I wanted to.

I did manage to rent a rode bike one day and get in a 20 mile ride along Lake Michigan in Chicago. That was cool!

I am starting to get nervous already.

I am in Austin...and it was 94 yesterday.   Thank goodness my race this weekend is over by 10.  I got in some running and riding this weekend in Chicago at 47 degrees so it was a bit of a shock coming home.

I must be a little slow today, I do not get how they track who is the winning team on the challenge.

Is it by how close you get to your goal or how much you do total?

I seem to remember several people having races planned for this weekend.

Who all still does (I do/my first), are you ready?, are you as nervous as I am? What the plan for this week?

John, I have a marathon planned for Sunday.  It is the first race of the year for me, and I general look at it as setting the table for the rest of the year.  I am not sure if this is true or not, but that is how I perceive it.  If I run well, then I am on track and will have a good year.  If not, well you know the rest of the story.  Realistically, it tends to give me a good feel for where I am at with my training this year.  This is my 5th time running this race, and it is probably a "C" race for me in the grand scheme of things, but yet, yes, I get nervous and anxious.  Did I prepare enough?  Why didn't I loose that extra 10 pounds?  I should have done more speed work, etc., etc., etc. 

I know this is perfectly normal.  So I am very excited to kick off the race season and I am very anxious to see how I will perform.  We shall see. 

Best of luck to others racing this weekend!!

 I just signed up, too.  Hopefully they'll put us on the same team.  I will have more time to devote to training in June 

Aloha all

just signing in after being away from my lap top for a few days (just been using the pc at work (bad boy).

I don't race this weekend but do my firat tri in 2 and a bit weeks. I am very nervous especially as it is off not much training and I am *a few* pounds over weight (LOL). However this week has been good and it feels good to be once again in the groove.

Swimming my biggest worry was swept aside this week I had been doing slow 100m with rests but on monday I decided to just have a go at 750m in one go to see how far off I was. As the oldies usually pass me as the scull on their backs I gave myself an hour to do it and then follow it up with aspin class as a brick session.

So off I start and once I got the rythm going (it was a little disrupted in a 25m pool and trying not to push off) it was actually very good. Finished up in 21 mins for 800m or the like. Not olympic standard or anything but for me... outstanding. So now I am going in thinking the swim will be my best leg!!!!!!!!!! I know I can bike at 14 mph or there about and the run (in past years easily my strongest) will be by far my weakest at about 12 min miles.

I now feel I confident of a finish in good shape, no injuries.

Hope all is going well and I will look into the challange to see if it might be something I might do.

RD,

Good to hear that you are feeling better about things.  Just knowing that you can cover the distances individually is a great confidence builder.  Keep working and you will finish just fine, with hopefully no injuries and a thirst for more racing.

MM,

I would just skip week 4 and move on to week 5.  If week 4 was a recovery week, there really is no reason to follow that at this point.  Sure, week 5 might be a bit more challenging, but scale it back if need be.  I would say the same philosophy applies if you were to miss a training session or two during any week.  As long as it is not your long ride, run or swim, if you miss it, do not go back and try to make it up.  Just keep moving forward with the weekly plan.  Certainly if you have the ability to reschedule, then do so.  I know that when I miss a session, I am always thinking about making it up at some point.  I have to remind myself that life happens and that I should just move on with my training.  Trying to pile a couple of missed sessions in with the rest of the week might just end up with an injury or illness.  None of us need or want that as you know.  Finally, do not question the weight loss, just smile and enjoy it.

Good to have you back.

I thought I would just toss this out there for everyone.  There have been a couple of topics that have come up whereby someone had a question, concern or was just looking for clarification.  However, they did not feel comfortable asking me or others in the open forum.  Even though I mentioned there are no such thing as stupid questions, I can understand how certain topics or questions might be better asked in a different way.  As such, I just wanted to point out that you can just send me a private message.  It is easy to do and might make some folks more comfortable asking questions.  Just another option should you want to pursue this.

Train on!!

I'm 11 days away from my first real triathlon, and I can't wait.  I did 2 small group organized sprints over the last 6 months, but this is completely different.  Timing chips, aid stations, course officials...wow! 

I'm not sure what the rest of the year holds for me though.  There aren't that many tri's to race where I'm at so I'll probably focus on marathons.  Best case scenario is a Kona Slot, but that all depends on who shows up and races my division more along w/ what kind of day I have. 

The funny thing is that I've done 6 marathons in 1 year and despite doing many 20 mile runs in Zone 2, my overall race times have been slower than my training pace.  My MO is this, start off faster than I should and bonk at the 18 mile mark then drag myself the rest of the way.  Except my last race where I sprained my ankle 4 weeks out, still ran a good pace for the first 11 miles, then spent about 15-20 minutes in the bathroom the rest of the race due to a crampy gut from antibiotics (got bronchitis the week of the race). 

My biggest fear for this upcoming race is once again going out too fast.  I enjoy the bike and a more confident there than the run or swim, so I need to focus on being relaxed biking instead of chasing a rabbit.  I've got a plan that factors in HR zones and RPE, but like a lot of fighters say, everybody's got a plan going into a fight...until they get HIT.  Well my training partners have been hitting me for the past 4 months, hopefully that's enough to get me through.