Penn State's mentor group - CLOSED! (Page 73)

I would suggest that the risk of greater injury justifies missing the commitment.  Missing one may safely allow for the others later this year.  I don't know that you need to decide now for the sake of the injury, maybe later next week.  But if you have to make a decision now for planning reasons, I would lean towards the conservative side.  You could always do a shorter ride if it feels better.

I would like to join you for one of those rides this fall, good for IMFL training!

ETA: Nice pictures!!

Edited by kenj 2010-06-19 5:06 AM

Just wanted to give an n=1 encouragement.  This year I've trained, for real, like never before.  I lost a bunch of weight and I have trained pretty much every day so far this year.  I increased my volume very slowly over time, usually by doing extra short workouts instead of longer epic workouts.  My last IM build is happening right now, and my fitness is peaking at just the right time.  I feel great (not wiped out), healthy, happy (despite a bunch of crap in life right now), and motivated.  And the hard work is paying off with unprecedented speed in all 3 disciplines.  Today I averaged for a century ride the pace I did for a sprint tri two years ago... and today's ride was HOT and came on the heels of several days of hard training.  On wednesday I did my long run of the year and felt great the whole time.  On thursday, I had my fastest average for a one hour + bike ride (it was 90 minutes long) ever... and it was fastest by over 1mph.  I wish I had good news for the swim, but I'd probably have to actually go swimming to make progress there... but I did just get a new desoto first wave wetsuit so I'm sure I've gotten faster at swimming this week too (I didn't have a wetsuit before). 

Anyway... all that to say, it really does work.  Stick to the plan... really be truly consistent and put in the miles day after day after day, no excuses... watch your diet... ride lots, usually HARD... run lots, usually easy... and swim lots, always fast (so I've heard) and you might surprise yourself.

Great post!  Congrats on all your achievements.

I have the first of the Boulder tri series races tomorrow (Pete and I are both doing this one). It is the 5430 Sprint.  Half mile swim, 17.2 mile bike and 5k.  I have not been training as I should for the last two weeks due to some dental issues related to a surgery and I haven't swam at all.  I am trying to have an "it is what it is" attitude about this instead of worrying myself to death about it (easier said then done).  While there has been much talk about tapering and not decreasing training to much, I think in this case I might be all right. Unlike many of you, I find a day or two off before a race has helped me. Now, the two times this has happened was due to injury or some other issue and not planned but in the end it has worked out. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. I will just be happy when I am done with the swim as I am in a wave with men and historically that has proven to be a rougher swim even when I try to stay away

Edited by Kath2163 2010-06-19 10:57 AM

Here's a cross post from the IMLP board:
"
Had a 20k race today.  I ran it 10 seconds slower/mile than I did last year (and last year I walked about a minute every 9 minutes!!!).  In April I creamed my pace on a 15k from the previous year by 40 seconds.  

What gives?!!!! 

Anyone else having really wacky pacing issues?  I felt great during the race today, so I don't know what happened (last year was 59* and this year was 80*, though, so maybe that was the big issue??"

So... I was surprised that I wasn't faster this year based on the simple fact that I never walked like I did last year!  At the end of the race I felt really good because I wanted to run at an RPE that I thought would lead to a pace that I could reasonably hold at Lake Placid next month.  So that could be an issue. But, I guess on the one hand-yeah, I didn't get faster but... on the other hand I was super comfy with a 9:08 min/mile pace...so at LP I think it's going to be doable staying under 10 min miles.

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Here's some anecdotal information about how everyone is different.  My brother and I were talking the other day about this.  As I've mentioned, I need to do some kind of easy/moderate level effort the day before a race.  My brother on the other hand is the complete opposite, he does his best when he takes the day before a race completely off.  So anecdotally, it's not even a genetic thing with us, we have completely different approaches to how to perform best in a race during the days leading up.  In addition, I need to wake up 4 hours before a race in order to do my best, but my brother does best if he gets the additional 2 hours of sleep.  He said his best races occurred when he woke up an hour before the race.  Everyone is different, even family.

Good luck at the race.  It looked like the transition area was premarked with numbers on the racks for where we set up.  If that's the case it should be easy to come find you and say hi before the race.

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Josh,  awesome.  Looks like your efforts are paying off and your peaking at just the right time.  Congrats.  The wetsuit should help some but not as much as that 8% boost your going to get from drinking the new Powerbar drink

Greg

Thanks guys!
I have a question for all of you who have done Ironman branded races. Have they required that you wear your bib number on the bike?  Ironman has taken over the Boulder Tri Series and I learned at packet pick-up that they want us to wear our numbers on the bike(in the back). They even provided two for those who have to pin their numbers. I have never had to do this before.  Is it to help the referees? 

Good luck you guy & gal on your race. I can't wait to hear how it went.

Just ran for an hour today (5 miles). This is about the speed I'm at right now. Hope to get it a little faster by Oct. Just chugging along with my training program. I have a 1 1/2 hour ride tomorrow morning.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Great run and swim yesterday and an even better ride this morning.  My longest ride to date 72 miles and I averaged 19.5 to boot.  Some of it might be that I only got in one ride this week prior and the legs were fresh.  The only other contributing factor was that the wind was actually calm for the first time this year. 

I did try out some of my free Powerbar drink and it sat well with my stomach.  I will continue to test it but it seems to agree with me along with the Powerbar gels.  This will make my HIM and IM nutrition much easier.  I have been training with what is offered on the course as I don't want to carry a grocery cart with me. 

Happy Father's day to all you Dads in the group!

Greg

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Well first Boulder race done, two to go.  I felt I did pretty well for the swim despite the fact that some woman was hitting me and pushing my feet down for much of the first 330 yards. I finally started kicking to let her know "to back off".  I was worried about the men in my wave but it turned out that it was women who I needed to do some battle with   My goggles didn't fog for the first time ever in a race! Spit does work!
As always, the bike was my strongest event. I averaged 20.1 miles an hour and didn't suffer to much. Considering I didn't know the course and haven't been training like I should for the past two weeks, I was very happy with this. Also there were times when you couldn't pass due to cars or narrow areas where you couldn't pass slower riders which probably slowed me up just a little bit. While I had driven the course the night before I would have benefited from riding it at least once.    Now for the run.  Well, I fell apart. It was very hot, no shade and I just didn't have it in me today. I walked part of one hill, walked the aid stations where I poured water on my head and stopped to stretch out my painful shin. I have to say that this is very discouraging for me. I know it takes time (years to improve) at this sport but it just seems like I am stuck when it comes to running. I have accepted that all the people that I pass on the bike will be passing me on the run but when I see the rankings and I see what could have been if I was even a half way decent runner, it frustrates me.  I can say that the race today has lit a new fire under me along with the reality that the Boulder Peak and HIM are just around the corner. Probably the best part of the race were the cold soaking wet towels that they handed out after the race. I wore that on my head for at least 10 minutes.  The other Boulder races are going to be extremely hot and the run is going to be brutal due to lack of any shade. I am really going to have to figure out how to hydrate for that as I sweat a ton and I am on that run course a lot longer then most.
Over all it was a good day. Boulder is a different league for me in terms of competition so with that in mind I feel I did pretty well. here are the stats.

I was 28th out of 68 in my age group.
I was 13th out of 68 on the bike in my age group. ( we won't talk about the run rank)
I was 243 out of 555 woman
I tied for 88th out of 555 women on the bike (Again, I only look at the bike results in that detail as that is the only place I am at all competative).

Kathleen - first of all congrats on a great race.

I'm curious, do you wear a HRM or have a powertap on the bike?  What was your effort compared to what you are capable of during the race?  I'm wondering if you would have a better run, and a beter overall finish, if you held back some on the bike?