MJEWEN Spring 2013 Mentor Group - CLOSED (Page 8)

Does everybody have their "A" race picked out for the year.  My "A" race is going to be a 70.3 but I'm still undecided on which one.  I'm looking at either Redman which is in OKC, Boulder 70.3 or Racine 70.3.  I did Redman last year and it was a great race but looking at maybe turning Boulder or Racine into a family vacation.  Interested in hearing what everybody else's "A" race this year is going to be.

Training is going alright, definitely getting back into my routine. Though I still haven't made it to the pool yet, running has been great, and I am really enjoying those bike trainer workouts that Mike shared. Sometimes, if I don't have time for a full one, I will just do elements of one of them, plus a warm-up and cool-down to get a mini-workout of 30 or 40 minutes. Thanks again for those, Mike! It definitely helps with the boredom on the trainer to have some structure to the workout.

As far as races go, I do not have a true "A" race. My first sprint is April 20th, then I have a series of probably 4 spread from May to August, all held at the same location. Maybe I should look for an olympic distance and make that my "A" race.

I do have a couple of 10ks coming up. The first one is the Cooper River Bridge Run, a really big 10k with almost 40k people every year. It's a fun one, and I would like to beat an hour on that race. A few weeks later, the Hell Hole Swamp Gator Run is another 10k that is flat and usually pretty fast, even though it is on gravelly roads. If I can't beat an hour at the Cooper River race, I'll shoot for that same goal at the Hell Hole race.

So I did my first run in the Altras and had no pain or discomfort. They feel very roomy in the toe area and are quite well cushioned. These are not the minimalist ones, but they have the zero drop from heel to toe.

KenH - Since you are using the Galloway, what is the ratio of run to walk that you are using? Just curious, as I also use Galloway for longer runs and have been playing with those ratios.

Here is my race schedule for the year, I took this from a different thread so it was ready to go:

• 4/27 Falls Du or 4/28 MN Ironman Ride (100 miles)
• 5/11 Oakdale Du
• 5/25 Apple Du
• 6/2 Buffalo Oly ***
• 6/23 RochesterFest Oly ***
• 7/28 Chisago HIM ***
• 8/10 USAT Olympic Nationals (Milwaukee) ***
• 8/31 St Croix Sprint or Oly
• 9/21 Treadman Du

*** Paid and registered

I will do at least one early season du, not sure which one(s).  I've done the Falls Du a couple of times but never one up in the Cities area.   I've always wanted to do St Croix but have never made it, maybe this is the year.  Treadman Du is so close it's hard to pass up. 

My A race will be Nationals.  I'm looking forward to competing with some of the best in the country. 

What are everyone's thoughts on rest days?  I know most plans have at least one rest day per week, sometimes 2 rest days.  Emile just posted he has trained for 27 straight days.  

I do not schedule rest days but I do have days where I do "active recovery" meaning I still s/b/r but I go a little shorter or at an easy intensity. I have found my body responds well to this approach.  This year I am not racing long, no IM and only one HIM so I will pick up the intensity of my workouts and probably have more non s/b/r days. 

There is no right answer on this one, you really have to find what works for you. 

hey all. So my mantra is just keep biking just keep biking. The elliptical went well and I am not pushing it. Because I know if I do I will get hurt again. KenW thanks for the advice on running I will look into that. I got a book called run your butt off it follows the same advice of running three walking three and I was doing well with it until the injury.

As for the swim question I always feel faster the first 25 but that is because I am ready to just swim and I have to remind myself to slow down and get in a good swing of things and not try to over think what I am doing. I change up my swim work outs by using a buoy and focusing on my arms and what they are doing. Then the next work out I switch to the kick board to get my legs in shape. My other problem is that my competitiveness kicks in and I want to catch the person in the lane next to me.

As for my A race I am going to do a sprint tri in September which is 500yd swim,13mile bike and 3 mile run. In July I am going to do a 5k to see where I am with the running.

I have two "A" races..... Both are 70.3 distance. May 5, "Rocketman" in Titusville and and either October 27 - Ironman Miami or Nov 10 - USAT Regional Championship in the Sarasota area.... I'm leaning toward the Sarasota race...

rest days..... yes.... I usually leave monday as an open day. Although I listen to my body and can adjust the intensity or duration of the workouts at times.

Not sure if my doctor will be pleased, but I couldn't wait any longer to get back to training and it definitely feels like the pneumonia is gone.

The weather in Lincoln is decent today, so it was the first time I was able to take my bike for a more than trip around the block (yep, first time to actually really ride a road bike).  Loved it!

Got in a 6 mile run at my old recovery run pace... it felt ok.  I tried to run a bit at my old easy pace and it definitely felt less easy.  It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to get back to where I was.  It felt like it was mostly the muscles in my legs that were shocked to be working... cardiovascular part was fine.

Even swam a bit.. not really for swimming fitness but just to gain some confidence I can still kind of swim.  I have an indoor triathlon next Saturday and needed the mental boost

That too!  But I understand wanting to get back to training.  To be honest I have usually pushed through injuries and such a little quicker than advised and I have paid for it several times too.  Although I'm a firm believer we know better than doctors in a lot of situations.  We know what is going on with our body they are telling us your need x amount of time off because in general that is what it takes for most people. 

Mike, Emile:

Thanks for the advice and  I agree with you both.  Coming back from time-off it doesn't make sense to overtrain and then "earn" more time-off.   Like Emile mentioned, I think that my doctor's main goal is to get me healed up and he's not worried at all about my training... so he says "come back in two weeks and no running" to be on the safe side.  In actuality, I could have been doing some slow running or riding on a trainer all of last week and I'm 99% sure I'd have been 100% fine.  

This was my first significant training interruption since I got into running back in Fall of 2010.  I've been very fortunate and pretty careful about not over-training.  However, I'm a little concerned about the compressed training plan for the Lincoln marathon and possible over-training. Fortunately, Pfitz plan is smart with well-placed recovery days and doesn't ramp up crazy fast.  I've heard of a lot of people having great training after a month or so off and then setting PRs -  I'm hoping to be one of them

Hi all!

Sorry for the late reply.  I just got back from a 4 day ski trip to a backcountry yurt.  It is most definitely STILL WINTER up there in the mountains!

Melissa - using Jeff's method, I did a time trial (or magic mile) of 7:55.  I then go here:

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/resources/gallracepredict.html  and use his calculator to give me the long run training (or race) times.   When I plug in 7:55, I get 11:18 for a half marathon training pace (it is REALLY HARD to run that slow but that's the idea).  The Walk Break Ratios are in the chart at the bottom of the calculator.  I use the 11:00 ratios of run 2:30/walk 1:00.  I only do this on my one long run a week.  On the other 2 short runs during the week, I do whatever feels good.

Resting - I'm still new to this sport so I asked my coach awhile back.  He believes that rest is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of training.  He uses a software tool called RestWise and says that it has helped him accomplish a PB in the half marathon and some really nice times for many of his other races.  As for me, I rest completely one day per week.  Only dog walks on Wed!  

A Races - again, as I'm new to this sport and running is my weakness, I decided to do a Sprint in April, and a half marathon test race in May.  If all goes well, I'll sprinkle in some Sprints and Olympics in June and July and shoot for a HIM in August.  

I'm really impressed with some of the goals and experience you guys have.  I'd like to say thanks for everything ahead of time!

Resting days seem to be my specialty this week  Anything I try to say to explain my poor scheduling and lack of training this week just sounds like excuses... well, it really is excuses when I reflect on what other people have to deal with in their daily lives.

As for Galloway, I just happened to have run something like a "magic mile" at the track last week. Based on that, and the calculator at his site, I should be using the 3:1 ratio, maybe 2:30 to 1 for training runs. That's great for me.

Emily and KenL, good to see you guys are feeling better! An indoor tri - does that just mean the swim is indoors, or is it with the spinning bikes and indoor running, too?

Ken, a ski trip to a yurt in the backcountry? That sounds awesome!!

Thanks for the tips on swimming. My pull is something I am focusing on. I can't remember whether I mentioned a swim that I would also like to do this year, it's called the Lowcountry Splash. It is 2.4 miles, but current assisted, so everyone says it's the fastest you'll ever swim.

Hey Emile,

Did you see this?

http://espn.go.com/olympics/wrestling/story/_/id/8939185/ioc-drops-wrestling-2020-olympics

I think you mentioned being a wrestling coach.... this is terrible news.  I'm a former hs wrestler and wrestling fan and don't like this one bit.  I hope it gets reversed before 2020. 

This is like removing the King from the game of chess.

Melani,

here is some info on indoor tri:  http://www.indoortri.com/

Its spinning and then running on a treadmill.  The one I'm doing seems like a copy of the one on that website put on by a small local organization

Definitely a lot different than a real triathlon and probably not nearly as fun...

The days are getting longer, the snow (what little we have) is starting to melt, can spring be far away?  Or is this just wishful thinking on my part?  Basketball season is wrapping for me so I'll soon get back into a proper running routine.  We do have a couple of trips planned, to Atlanta at the end of Feb and to Fla, Sarasota area in March.  I've got a road bike rental reservation for the Fla trip. 

I know it's come up in some of your posts but how about chiming in with job situation.  I retired from IBM in Jan 2012 and just recently started to pick up some part time hours at a bike shop.  My wife is still working so I am in charge of the household chores - grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc.  I thought I used to help out some but I an amazed at how much there is to do and what a great job my wife did while working and raising 2 kids. 

Job Situation: Criminal Defense Attorney. Band Dad. Committee Member Troop 309 (my son just earned his Life Scout).  Training is difficult on the days I am in Trial or traveling. Most training occurs in the morning except swimming now that my son has joined the local swim team (I swim at the same time as him a couple nights a week in a masters program).

Still shaking my head about removing wrestling from the olympics.... I agree .....it's what I grew up thinking about olympic sport: running, wrestling, swimming, pentathlon, etc.... apparently it's not TV marketable....

This has been a difficult week for me to train - mentally - I just did not want to do it .....BUT- having sucked it up and getting into the water, on the bike, and hitting the pavement, I had the best interval workouts to date this year.... I really listened to my body and less to the Garmin and started to develop an understanding about how to turn the voice off in my head and get into "that zone" ..... No open water swimming for a couple of weeks because the Man of War (jellyfish) have arrived again (it's that time of year).

I'll start posting photos of my morning beach runs soon - they are really beautiful sunrises...

Also - does anyone have any thoughts on wearing  Hydration belts while running? I have been considering it for a while, but end up carrying water bottle in my hand.

Terry - Saw your photos.  I fondly remember the beaches!  I am from Florida, the panhandle, and grew up playing in the bays and bayous of the Gulf Coast.  I also attended Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton just north of you.

Photos - just figured out the photo part of this site.  I posted 3 photos of our recent Yurt trip.

Job - Most of my career prior to Idaho was with the Dept of Defense.  As an Ocean Engineer (basically a structural/mechanical engineer) I did R & D on submarines while living in Ca.  I stopped working in 2001 while my wife continues to work (she had the better job when we moved here).  I've been slowly remodeling our house and only have two small rooms left.  Just finished the kitchen!

Weather - the ice and snow has gone away and it's safe to run and ride!  I'm really curious if we're going to have an early spring or if it's just an intermission.

Overtraining Question - what signs do you guys have?

Ran the A-1-A 5K today.  It was good. Ran a 33:30 at an easy pace, it was a PR for me since I started keeping track of those things...woot woot.  It was a good pace and I didn't push too hard at all. I wore the Brooks Pure Cadence shoe so I could begin to adapt to forefoot striking and it worked out well running 3-4 minutes and walking between 30-45 seconds.

We have a cold front coming through.. so it has been raining on and off pretty good for the past two days and it cooled down to 63 (stop laughing) for us and was slightly raining this morning.  Tomorrow's 13.1 half marathon temps are expected to be 43 with wind chill of 36 but sunny and clear skies. I'm hoping to finish with a time between 2:30-2:45.

Wonderful pictures!! Both the beach running (gorgeous!) and the ski trip. Wow, that looks incredible.

I often see sights that I would like to share while out running, but generally don't have my phone with me to take pictures. But now I am feeling inspired by those photos.

Terry - congrats on your 5k PR! And good luck tomorrow. It will be cold at the start, but it really sounds like it could be nice running weather.

Mike - I hear you on the housework! It is a big job that mostly goes unnoticed unless it doesn't get done.

I work from home as a freelance translator. Most of my work is financial material, so annual reports, for example. This is the busy season for me, and it gets to be quite long hours. I try to schedule things so that I can pick the kids up from school and usually make dinner before sitting back down to work in the evening. When I am not so busy, I love to do my runs and swims in the morning, but I won't be able to get back to that for a few more weeks.

Another intermediate yoga class today, and it was a good one, quite challenging. Running is going fine with the new Altras, just taking it slowly so far.

Melissa - What is your second language?  ¿Hablas español?

Terry - good job on the PR.  AND, I just stopped laughing.  We usually have a winter break in Feb when the weather gets really nice.  For example, 23° this morning but 57° now.  Ran this morning and played tennis this afternoon!  It's supposed to change tomorrow.  Enjoy the race tomorrow.

My PR - while not a race, I just ran the farthest that I've ever run at one time - 6.25 miles!  The training for my first half marathon is going well using the Run/Walk method.  I still find the pace really slow but I felt good enough after the run to play tennis.  Must be working.