Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 77)

Shelly, That is funny that you are jealous of us who have so much elevation to train on.  There are times when I would love to go out and do 50 miles on the bike on nice flat terrain.  I cant even get out of my driveway without standing up and cranking.  Add all of the rain and only one day over 75 degrees so far this year and Seattle is a tough place to be a bicyclist.

Scotty

Wear the top during the swim, what little drag it will add is minimal.  Putting a tri top on a wet body can lose you more time than the top adds in the water.

Basically if my wetsuit has been stored for more than a week I will soak it the night before.  This was a tip I picked up from a mentor group I was in and has worked for me. 

Hi everyone,
My second chile was born 2 weeks ago. It is a boy, named him Andrey after his gandfather.
Could not stick to my plan for the past 1,5 weeks because of that but i hope this will not have a significant impact on my firts sprint results.
Whish everyone a good race and training time.

Congrats Gregory!  That is awesome news.

Few days out from Tri #2.  Another sprint.  I'm in better shape on the bike and run, but about the same in the water.  This Tri is noticeably shorter than the last (500yd/9mi/2.4mi) so I'm going to try and go full throttle on the bike and hang on for the run.  Shooting for under an hour.  Optimistic I know, but let's just do it.

Hey all!
Same as Chris with only a couple of days out from my next race.  Wow, three of us racing this weekend, lots of RR's coming!  Took the bike out for a ride to double check the setup and had a great ride.  Run tomorrow and swim/ride Friday.

Chris - Wow, my race is a tad bit shorter (400m/10mi/2 mi) and I was shooting for under an hour which is a bit aggressive for me.  Good luck!

Gregory - Congrats!!! Like Shelly said, enjoy it!

Dorm - good luck this weekend also!

or just faster than me!

Packet pickup is tomorrow and race is Saturday.  They sent out the typical pre-race info email.  They did the typical wetsuit legal if below 78 but also add "don't expect it to be wetsuit legal".  Will still bring mine but will also bring my swimskin, I will take every bit of help I can get.  Forecast is for a high of 89 with 40% chance of rain.  Race is at 7:30, my wave starts at 7:32 hoping to be done by 8:32 ish so temps shouldn't be bad.  I have pre-assigned rack (I signed up for the race series) so will plan on getting there closer to 7am, extra sleep is always nice.  Going out for a run, last workout and tomorrow is SRD.  Yeah for racing!

Gregory-Congratulations!! You will be fine in your first sprint.  Just make Andrey proud!

Chris- Good luck on the 2nd race.  I always set 3 goals.  1st is my slowest where I will OK if I break it.  2nd is my middle time where I will have to have a very good day and do everything right. 3rd is my pie in the sky where I will need a significant current in the water and a killer tailwind.

For my HIM my goals were 6 hours, 5:45 and 5:30.  I ended up at 5:51 which was OK given the heat.  If I had only set 5:45 as my goal, I think I would have been disappointed with my finish.

Getting my legs back.  They haven't felt too bad.  The heat and dehydration were my main limiters, not my legs, so I think the muscle recovery was less than for my last one.  I had to travel for a funeral Monday and Tuesday, but got in a 20min run Tuesday and 25min today.  Thinking about a local 5k Saturday and going for under 19:59, but maybe too soon.  We'll see.

Same here from me gents ... go fast, stay strong and finish strong!! 

I think distances for me are: 250m, ~14 miles and 5k run.  I will not be finishing in under an hour . 

With the daughter and SIL racing we're slotted way in the back and will sort of regroup at transition to at least go out together.  Need to do final checks and some adjustment (rear derailleur is killing me) to the bike and will get in an easy 10m or so ride early evening, but other than that I'm ready to go.

Thanks Shelly.

And good luck to Dorm and Gary.  Go Get 'Em!

Left,  I usually do set a few goals, and I had two separate ones for my first tri.  This one happens to be quite a bit shorter (and much hillier from what I hear), and it was free.  While I worked hard in the first tri, when all was said and done I thought I could have given more on the bike and a lot more on the run.  I did some calculations based on last race and recent training and guestimated I should be able to complete this race around 1:07 - 1:09 if nothing unplanned happened.

I want to see what my body can actually do when pushed.  I want it to be humbled.  I want to know specifically where I need to get better mentally and physically.  Can I maintain 7 min/mile run at mile 2 when I'm tired and want to slow down?  Will I try to push 20mph when my body just wants to coast a bit?  Since there was no fee with this tri and I haven't had the pleasure of destroying my body yet, I figured this is the time to do it.  My next tri is scheduled for August.  Plenty of time to recover and tweak training.  This is why I want under an hour.  Not because I may get it, but because I know trying to get it will actually give me the stats I'm looking for.  Realistic goals with give me a side door when it gets too tough.

Hey all!
Picked up race packet, turns out the race is 400m/12 miles/2 mile not the 10 mile bike ride I thought.   Chris, good point.  i think I take the approach someone else mentioned of multiple goals.  The first being the stars align and I can hold max output for that distance, then a couple of lesser goals with the bottom being beating previous times.  I have a history of beating myself up too much when I am not happy with a result.  Different strokes. 

Either way with the change in distance 1 hr is out for me.  I am shooting for around an 8mm run pace and with my expected swim/ride time I would hit one hour if no transition time.  If I do break 1 hour it will be celebration time.  1:03 is my all out effort time with 1:08 being more realistic.

Tomorrow will be fun!