BamaDC's mentor group is Closed! (Page 7)

I'm down to only tri shorts.  I had to wear bike shorts this saturday, and it felt like I had a load in my pants.  I guess two years of IM training gives you an Iron taint.

Is anyone besides Brian doing a HIM or IM this fall?

Me, B2B in Nov. Same as Brian.

I bought a pair of tri shorts for my race coming up.  I rode in them a few times but don't really have an opinion one way or the other.  I have a couple pairs of bib shorts which I normally ride in.

Are you working on your nutrition plan?  If so what products are you using?

honestly, been sort of testing lots of stuff. Heed, Perpetuum, Infinit, GU, Powerbar. I'm also a big fan of real food on the bike. This is honestly the thing tht worries me the most about my IM. I will not have HIM experience to dial in my nutrition. So, i'm taking any suggestions you have to offer.

You get my inspire? Why not do B2B with us? Gonna be a fun race, and fast!

I'd love to race, but we're expecting our third child on Nov. 1.

Yep, that could cause some scheduling issue's! Congrats, I have 3 myself. 3rd one is the easiest.

For my two Ironman's I lived off the course, except salt tablets.  My first one I took two cliff bars, but I realized they handed out powerbars during the bike. 

Do you like Heed, Perpetuum?

I'd be interested to hear how this goes.  Given where I am right now, I can't see having a coach for a while now but I think wanted to do an IM or HIM down the road I think it would make since.  I'd like to hear more about how you went about finding and picking a coach and how I works out.

Both seemed to work fine for me on long rides. I have to eat something real about every 2 hours though. No matter how many calories I'm getting from fluids or gels. I'm starting to do longer rides almost every weekend now, so will continue to test diferent stuff. I just ordered Infinit, which lots of people on this site swear by. See how that goes.

What kinda of bike split are you thinking about?

5:30 to 5:45

Ok guys, I need some serious help. I'm having major run problems. Tri coming up Saturday and I think I have regressed to not being able to complete a 5k. I haven't had a good run in quite a while. Today I ran a 5 miler at 8:30 pace or so, but really felt poorly afterward. Still don't feel right.

The conditions aren't that great right now - the run was at 88 degree weather (probably hotter on the road) with 60-70% humidity or so. Sufferfest. Even when I have had decent weather (75F, similar to what the tri will be), I struggled the last mile in a standalone 5k.

What can be done to mitigate heat effects? White runners cap? No cap? I'm kinda lost here and am starting to doubt my ability to have a decent race.

HTFU? Kidding! Running in the heat sucks big time!! Here's Torbjorn's plan for beating the heat:

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2009/10/training/torbj%c3%b8rn-sindballe%e2%80%99s-perspective-heat-management-through-acclimatization_4889

Your run volume has been down for a while but I can't image it's been down so much that you've lost fitness.  My guess is that the heat is kicking your butt.  It's not that hot or humid here but my runs have felt like they're getting hard since it's started warming up.  In fact, my long run on Sunday was about 0:30/mile slower because it was 90 deg  that day.  Do you take water with you?  I have a fuel belt that I take on hotter days.

Titeloops - thanks for the article!

Cornfed - I typically don't carry water.  If it is a long run I'll leave water outside and loop by to grab a drink. 

I don't think I've lost *that* much fitness.  Maybe a bit, but it isn't like I stopped running completely.  I'm still getting in 15 miles a week or so.  The heat and humidity are just really getting to me, I guess.  Sadly there is no more time to acclimate - race in 2 days.

Yeah, I don't think you could have lost that much fitness.  I think Titeloops is right... HTFU.  ;-)

You'll be okay.  Feeling like $hit before a sprint is usually a good thing.  I couldn't even swim 1:35s this morning.

Y?our volume has dropped over the last coule weeks, but you had that big swim race.  Y?es the heat will zap you.?,? ? ??b?u?t? ???give it two weeks and you'll b??e back to normal?

Just a bit of a brag if I may....

I hit a new PR at Oak Mtn on my own TT just this week. Generally I'm good for 17ish mph out there, but something clicked and I managed 18.0 and had 18.1 on the screen until coasting to the parking lot. I guess that's what I get for quitting early.

And that was with some wheel rubbing going on...

Speaking of wheel rub, I need another tire. I'm riding 700x23s and am getting some wheel flex and rub when I come out of the saddle and torque down on those pedals. What tire do I go to next? Or what are my options?

Now I'm gonna about the heat for a while. Did a 10 mile run this morning. Usually get started before it gets to hot, but my youngest woke up really early this morning so I couldn't get out of the house til about 7:45. Yes, i'm off work today. The heat was oppresive from the start. Humidity was insane. I looked at the forerunner about 3 miles in and realized I was way off the pace. Continued to fall off pace the entire run, and by mile 9, I had been reduced to run a minute/walk a minute. I never walk on my runs. Looking at the data for the run I averaged a full minute per mile slower than my normal pace. Heat just kicked my AZZ!!!

Just as a note I did my race yesterday.  I struggled mightily on the run, but did manage to finish good enough for 3rd in the beginner category.  I'll have an AAR up once the splits become available.

Sounds a lot like my run this morning.  The heat wasn't so bad but the humidity was insane.  I've had really crappy long runs each of the last two weekends and I'm running a 10 miler next weekend.  I'm trying to convince myself that today's run was like a mini taper but I know that's just blowing sunshine up my butt.

I have two swim questions...

First, what do you normally do for a warm up or cool down?  The program I'm following will call for some distance, say 300 yds, for warm up or cool down.  I normally swim it easy and break it up into sets of 50, 75, or 100 depending on how I feel.  Sometimes for the cool down I put my fins on for part of it if I'm tired and my form was starting to fall apart.  What should I be doing for these parts of my workout?

Second, I pretty slow right now but I don't really care because I figure speed will come later.  Things are slowly starting to click and I'm feeling much better in the water.  I don't feel much more fluid and am able to do longer workouts. I just got back from doing 1600yd with 1000yd continuous swim in the middle.  Granted I averaged just under 2:00/100yd but I felt very good and I was able to notice some of the little nagging form problems I've been having and correct them myself.  I've taken the attitude that since I've only been swimming a short time that I should concentrate on form and speed will come later.  Is this true?  Is it a good way to approach swimming for a beginner?