Penn State's mentor group - CLOSED! (Page 74)

Kathleen,  Big picture you were still in the top half of your field, nice job.

I do concur with Josh as it sounds like you might be cooking the legs a bit to much on the bike and not leaving much for the run.  There is a good video on BT about race day execution, if you have a chance take a look at it. It is a two part video.  The one main point I thought might apply here is that for every mile you walk, your probably doing about a 20 minute/mile+ pace, I think they actually said 33 minutes per mile.  Anyway if you backed off on the bike 1 MPH and it enabled you to run the entire race without walking you would actually be saving considerable time overall. 

Greg

Congrats on the race Kathleen. I agree with the others, maybe the bike pacing would be something to look at. But that is awesome that you are so strong on the bike, kudos for that!

Rest day for me today after what was a huge weekend of training. Swam the Vineman swim course in the Russian River and then rode 55 miles on the bike course on Saturday. Woke up Sunday and ran 10 miles. Felt awesome during the entire run and only finished 2 minutes slower than my last 10 miler which was run on fresh legs.

I'm thrilled with how my run went and am finally feeling like I actually might make a decent showing (for me) during the HIM. I've resigned myself to the fact that my bike might be right around 4 hours (I'm really, really slow on the bike) but I think I should be able to make my goal of ~7:30-7:45 for the whole thing.

Woke up this morning with a little bit of pain in my heel which I've never had before. I instantly thought "crap, plantar fasciitis" so I'm going to really stretch and keep an eye on how it feels this week. Don't want to get injured less than a month before the race!

Kathleen, this is definitely something to consider.   But looking at your training logs, I think you actually did pretty well on your run.  Your logs show about 10-15mpw running for the past 3 months.  Backing off on the bike 1mph may help you with the run, but looking at your logs, you don't get that many miles in for run training.  I see your 3-5 mile training runs are relatively consistent in time and basically matches what you did during the race.  I assume most of those training runs are moderate level efforts where you're likely to run a stand alone 5k faster than those, then factor in race day boost but following swim/bike and your brought back towards where you are during a training run. (Just my observation).

Obviously you'll be increasing your training load over the next few months for Boulder 70.3, but you might consider being a little bias towards running instead of biking.  Your biking is good, and you can likely sacrifice some training time spent there without losing anything in the process and put it towards running instead.  Then back off 1mph on the bike during the races and you might find you end up with some good runs at that end.

As Kathleen said, there was a number of times where cars got in the way and slowed you down.  I was stuck behind a truck with a trailer for nearly 7 of the 17.2 miles.  I felt bad that I was technically "drafting" during it, but I was also going much slower than what I wanted.  So it might have helped my run, but I think it slowed my bike average down nearly 2mph.  The run went well for me, I was the second wave, so it wasn't nearly as hot as what Kathleen got stuck with.  A 23minute 5k is decent considering my stand alone 5k right now would be right on the brink of a sub-20 (perhaps 19:45) and considering the relative closeness to the San Diego Marathon (2 weeks ago).  I am definitely not trained for short course stuff, so I don't expect to be that fast... I'd likely have run a faster 5k time if I turned around at the finish and went out for another lap on the course since it was during that last mile that I started to feel great.  I negative split the miles during the 5k, dropping about 15s per mile (something I often do during training)... 7:45, 7:30, 7:15...  Had I continued that probably would have continued the pattern until around 6:30.

I set all my goal times back in January based on my expected performance gains through training throughout the year.  My goal for this race was "sub 1:30", which I accomplished with a 1:28, so I'm happy with that.  I believe I could have averaged 2mph faster on the bike had it not been for that truck (I really was sitting up holding the brakes behind him a LOT... even carried on a conversation with another guy I had passed a few miles back that was just slightly slower than I was going).  Another 2mph on the bike = ~4minutes.  My swim on the other hand was horrid... definitely learned a few lessons there with training, race positioning, and that I suck at drafting.  I think even if I had averaged 2mph more on the bike, my run would likely have been similar.

Overall:   Train more on the swim and position myself better and gain myself another 3minutes there next year.   Better bike fitness next year + not getting stuck behind a truck should give me another 4minutes, plus the better fitness will let me have a better run.  Get faster on the run and gain another 2-3minutes.  So next year, it's looking like my goal for that course will be closer to 1:18-1:19  Looking at the AG I'll be in next year M30-34, that puts me around 10th-13th out of 121.  

This year, I'll take what I did and consider it good training overall.

I look at % in all my races (tri or running) to get a good idea of how well I did.  In Triathlon I'm steadily improving, my last sprint I was 22.5% overall, 48% AG, 37.4% Males in a much less competitive field, as Kathleen said... the races in Boulder are very competitive, there's some absolutely amazing athletes in the area.

overall: 238 out of 1282  = 18.5%
AG: 34 out of 86              = 39.5%
males: 196 out of 726     = 27.0%

PLACE	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	BIB	AGE	SEX	SEXPLC	DIV	DIVPLC	SWIM RANK	SWIM	T1	BIKE RANK	BIKE	BIKE MPH	T2	RUN RANK	RUN	RUN PACE	FINISH	PENALTY	TIME
238	Peter	Laurina	265	29	M	196	M25-29	34	682	16:18	1:12	173	46:03	22.4	1:10	259	23:17	7:31	1:27:59		1:27:59

 

My transition times look long to me, but when I compare them to the top 5 overall, they aren't really that bad, it was just the way the transition area was set up with the exits that made it hard to have a 30 second T2.

PLACE	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	BIB	AGE	SEX	SEXPLC	DIV	DIVPLC	SWIM RANK	SWIM	T1	BIKE RANK	BIKE	BIKE MPH	T2	RUN RANK	RUN	RUN PACE	FINISH	PENALTY	TIME
1	Jordan	Jones	242	29	M	1	M25-29	1	4	10:06	0:47	2	39:21	26.2	1:02	1	16:52	5:27	1:08:06		1:08:06
2	Joshua	Rix	1		M	2	M-PRO	1	10	10:24	0:30	7	40:06	25.7	0:53	5	17:58	5:48	1:09:48		1:09:48
3	Joseph	Fogarty	741	40	M	3	M40-44	1	38	11:21	0:58	3	39:22	26.2	0:53	6	18:07	5:51	1:10:39		1:10:39
4	Brian	Schaning	276	28	M	4	M25-29	2	58	11:47	0:44	1	39:06	26.4	0:51	10	18:24	5:56	1:10:49		1:10:49
5	Jim	Hallberg	131	33	M	5	M30-34	1	18	10:51	0:49	10	40:17	25.6	1:02	4	17:54	5:47	1:10:50		1:10:50

 

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.
Josh, I do wear a HRM but have stopped looking at it during races and some runs as I think the HR number puts me in a certain mindset. If I see a high number my brain says (I am tired..hurting) when in reality I am doing ok. My heartrate never went over 158 yesterday (my highest heart rate EVER is 167)  161+ is on the very high end for me.

I know what you mean about backing off on the bike. I actually started doing this last year and really focused on spinning instead of burning my legs out. I feel that I have improved in that area and do make it a point not to ruin my legs before the run. That isn't to say they don't burn at moments during the bike (climbing) but isn't that normal?  I have had run times off the bike that have been 10:30 per mile. (For me that is very good). Both of my olympic distance races last year had run paces better then yesterday. (11:02 & 1:52)  My run training has been lacking lately yet I spent much of the winter focusing on my run and completing my first half marathon. This of course is one of the reasons that I get so discouraged about all of this.
Thanks again everyone. I appreciate the input.

Edited by Kath2163 2010-06-21 4:05 PM

Definitely don't get discouraged.  Part of the fun in this sport is the attempt to balance it all  But that is also not the easiest thing.

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Question for all of you.
I know that doing "speed" work can be a risky thing in terms of injury and that the idea of running more often is the way to go.  I wonder however if maybe throwing in just a bit of speed work (not even sure if that is what I should call it) would be good for me?  I went for a short run at a local park today after work and then went across the street to a school to do a bit of a track work out. Basically I did four  400's at a much faster pace then I could hold for any real distance with a minute or two break in between.  It was very hard but I wonder if maybe I need that.. to introduce my body and mind to what if feels like to push that hard?  Does that make any sense?  My times were   2.10 2.11  2.15  2.19

Edited by Kath2163 2010-06-21 7:47 PM

Kathleen,  I don't really do much if any speedwork.  The only thing I do is strides every once in awhile.  Basically 1 out of every 5 to 10 minutes I will pick up the pace significantly.  The pace is faster than my race pace.  I will hold this for 45 seconds to 1 minute then slow back down to my normal workout pace.  This gives the body a taste for higher workloads but does not really fry your legs and keeps the HR in check.  Start with one minute every 10 minutes and then adjust as your body adapts over time.  I would start with once a week. 

Greg

congrats kathleen!!!

I need some help/opinions.
My shin splints are coming back and in full force. today was a painful run. finished..ran well..just painful. This is my last hard week (peak week). I have my peak running milage this week. I can do the runs and suffer a bit through the pain..then next week is a big recover week...or i can just stop my running for this week and just hope my fitness is good enough. My running is the leg of the ironman i am most anxious/nervous about...as i know it is lacking bc of previous injuries. I have no problem running as planned for this week...and if shin splints is the worst pain i have to deal with then so be it...not bad compared to other stuff i have trained through. Thoughts?

Sounds like you guys had a great race with your finish times. You guys did great overall and in your age groups. I would be happy if I finished where you guys did.

Just  sticking to my training plan and working on technique.

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Planning to swim 2700 yards tonight after work. Might also throw in an hour of water jogging after that in place of tomorrow's run since my right leg and foot have been giving me some problems the past two days. I'm trying to be conservative since my HIM is coming up so soon.

Yes, my logs are accurate and yes, I have been extremely slack on the swimming.  I knew that was going to be an issue going into the race, but 750m isn't really that long of a swim in my book.  I got in the pool yesterday before my bike ride and will get back in the pool most days over the next month (since it's not like I have to go to work).  I'll definitely be getting a lot more swimming in because I don't want to suffer through my two HIMs and definitely don't want to die during IMAZ. 

Absolutely agree!  You'll only make them worse.  In addition, when you 'think' you're better and able to run again, avoid concrete and pavement during your runs that first week.  Try to run on grass, rubberized track, or a soft trail for a while.  Even if that means running around some baseball fields. 

Going out for a couple hour bike ride in a moment, then going to go to the gym to get some swimming in, then  I'll bike the 16miles to my running group, run 5.2 miles with them, then bike the 16miles back.  None of it will be high intensity, just casual time in the saddle, water, and running shoes.  Should let me work on some nutrition/hydration aspects though with the heat.

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