Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 73)

Will offer my advice but remember I am not one of the resident fishes.  To me the most important aspects are good body position and a good pull (feel for the water).  The Sheila T book I got has great pics and descriptions of how a good pull should look like and talks about feel for the water (if I can pry my fingers off of it may be I can loan it to you).  I have found the Finis freestyler paddles with pull buoy has helped with both technique and endurance.  While I think a good kick is important (I don't have a good kick but getting there) until your pull and body position are good working on your kick won't buy you as much as working on the others.

Had my first flat out in training.  Was heading back from a 33 miler heading into a Brick and blew my front tire.  I was actually a bit excited to get the practice changing the tube on the road.  Got the old tube out and the new one in and realized my new wheels have a 50mm rim and the stem on my replacement tubes is too short.  Could not get the pump/CO2 on the stem and therefore couldn't get it to inflate.  Luckily this happened before the race.  Heading to my LBS today to get new tubes and a little instruction on tube changing and getting my rear wheel off if that one blew.  I have an integrated brake on the Speed Concept and there may be some difficulty getting the rear wheel off.  I bailed on the run because I have to get my kids at school, but will make up for it later this week.

C ya.

Lefty - You just gave me a very good qustion to ask at the LBS, since I have no idea what your talking about.  And, I am not sure If I am in the same boat.  I'm such a newbie...

Gary.  Thanks.  That book just hit my task list for Today.  The new article on BT about the 10 things I learned about swimming is also pretty descriptive...which always helps my slow learning curve.

Had to skip my run this morning - work obligation & I am still little nervous about the shin splints (have they fully healed?).  But - really looking forward to my bike this evening.  I have been planning the route in my head all day.

Here is a question:  I was thinking about taking a route that will put on the shoulder of a highway for a few minutes.  Its a pretty big shoulder (plenty of room for an 18 wheeler), but I try take roads with no traffic.  But - local residential boom & afternoon hours is making finding no traffic roads pretty difficult now a days.  Opinions??

That's a good thing to practice before the race for sure, but something easily skipped unless you are forced into it.  I guess that makes it good luck :-).

If the road has a big shoulder you should be fine.  I would worry about flatting if there is a lot of debris.  That said, take my opinion with a grain of salt since I live next to a bike trail and do 99% of my riding on it.

Tracy, for me I do not like riding on roads with the speed limit ≥ 55mph.  Sounds like this road with the shoulder is what this is, so personally I'd avoid it.  That said, if I were to ride on this only for a couple of miles and could stay well off to the side, I'd consider it.  I do ride a route with a 4 lane road and shoulder, but the distance along the road is < 1 mile.  You need to be careful too about junk and debris along the shoulder as shoulders or emergency lanes tend to collect all kinds of junk, glass, metal, et al.

A couple of quick notes:

!!!!I figured out how download the data from my iphone app (trimble outdoors), and get it uploaded to BT !!!  That adds a whole new dimension to my training log.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?routeid=176300

I did try the 1 mile on the freeway.   It wasn't that bad at all, and the timing allowed my route to avoid the rest of the afterwork traffic.

It was still 90 degrees when I started/finished my ride.  That was a little rough vs. my normal morning rides.  But - I am hoping it will pay dividends for racing in the fall (and maybe the hotter than hell...if I get to).

Overall - not a bad ride.  Still need to tweak my fitting some more.  I had no legs in the aero position going up hill, but I was great in the straight a ways.  Any thoughts?

Tracy,

I am seriously considering doing Austin, are you going to do it?

Just make sure you have decent gearing, if I go I am running an 11-28 cassette.  Lots of rolling hills but the one that killed me last year is you go down a hill and make an immediate right so you have to slow way down.  You are then at the bottom of a decent hill, saw a couple of people stall as they couldn't get into a low enough gear fast enough.

Trying to decide as I have a discount due to NOLA but have to commit soon.  I will be in Austin for a conf but I have an A race which is an Oly the week before so I won't be fully recovered.  I will be ready swim wise and probably okay on the bike but the run will be an issue.  If I am willing to just do it for fun and not worry about time I will do it.  Just have to convince myself of that.

You can't replicate game situations unless you're playing the game.

Gary, Just something we used to say in football.  And stop selling your legs short (unless you're actually short)!

Boom!  Was able to have work reimburse my entry fee for the sprint I just completed.  Going to roll that into the entry fee for a sprint in August.

Sending the fam down to the lake tomorrow until Tuesday.  I'm going to hang back this time for a few reasons, mostly because our house is recently on the market and I need to be close in case of showings.

So with my free time, I plan on getting crazy.  Thinking about 30 mile rides on Sat, Sun, and Mon mornings, with 5 mile runs later those afternoons.  I ran Monday, scheduled Tues/Wed off, and had a conflict today.  Going to run 3 miles tomorrow, so the legs should be fresh for the weekend.

Never been over 15 on the bike before, so I'm going to ride at the downtown airport Saturday in case of problems.  It's a 3.7 mile loop and would be about 8 loops.  This way I'll never be too far away from the car if I run into problems.  Plan on working on being more efficient in my stroke, staying hydrated, and nutrition.  Anyone have any other suggestions?

Did my last "long run" before my 'A' race HIM in 17 days.  The logisitics of life mandated 7+ miles with some speedwork on Tuesday then a 25mile/5mile Brick yesterday, then 13.3 this afternoon.  It was 80+ degrees and humid, but breezy.  I held a 9 min mile, so not too bad.  OWS tomorrow then hopefully a local 5k Saturday followed by my longest ride Sunday of 3+ hrs.  After that is the hardest part of the plan, The Taper.

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend.  I am working tonight, then off for 6 straight days.  Weather looks great, so planning on some fun on the water with my family.

Go on a longer route and bring some cash to call a cab or a friend?

Hey all!

Taking today off and trying to wake myself up enough to go for a run.  Sleeping in is not somethiong I do that often.  As for Austin, coordinating with DW as she has a conf around the same time.  If I can go to my conf I will do the 70.3.  Should know in the next couple of days.  My discount code ends next Thursday.  Hoping to make a swim also today.

Chris - nope, at 6ft I don't consider myself short but the knee is always a concern.  As for the increase in distance, great thing but don't overdue.  As for the loop, find a longer loop, have your cell phone and cash in case you fix the issue.

Left - wow, you are so ready for your HIM.  You are going to kill it!

Tracey - will have to plan a get together if I make it.  BTW, you asked about aero and hills.  Unless its a short hill I usually have to get out of aero going up hills.  Just don't have the engine yet to push up them.

I suppose I've never been over 15 more due to the time needed to do as opposed to being able to pump it out.  I try to make it rare where I'm training when I could be hanging out with my boys, but they're gone this weekend and I want to see what I can do.

I chose the downtown airport despite it's short loop because it is a cyclist's paradise around these parts.  It will be loaded with people biking, and a few runners.  It is 2 lanes all the way around the airport, smooth blacktop, and maybe 1 car per hour but probably less on the weekends.  1 good hill up and down, and you typically get put into a headwind on the backside for about a mile, but the rest is all flat.

Won't ever get to a HIM distance like you guys if I don't push it from time to time.

Does anyone know if you 'earn' a discount by volunteering at an Ironman 70.3 to be applied at a future 70.3?

I think I'm going to give one of these a shot.  Branson 70.3 was on my radar for this Sept (they have a sprint) and I was thinking about trying the 70.3 there next year.  Branson is about a 4 hour drive.  Just realized (DUH) that Kansas 70.3 is in Lawrence, a 40 minute drive, in two weeks.  Thinking about volunteering for the event regardless of perks, but was just curious.  Chris Lieto is the defending champ and on the list again this year.  Unfortunately Chrissie won't be defending her title.

I volunteered at Branson 2 years ago and had a blast.  I did body marking Saturday and Sunday then was the last volunteer out of T1 doing crowd control to I got to see every single bike start the bike course.  It was a great experience. I didn't get a discount, just a free shirt and a sunburn :-).  I wrote about it here http://blog.ransick.org/2010/09/volunteering-at-im-branson-703.html .  

Did you presoak it?  If mine hasn't been used in awhile I will put it in the bathtub and let it soak the day before.  Makes a big difference.

Left- great job on the PR!

1:12 on the bike (did intervals) then 15 min run.  Rest of the day has been getting things done around the house.

Congrats on the PR!  That is a speedy 5k!