Slornow and Wannabefaster's Summer Group-CLOSED (Page 8)

NOPE! Not anywhere close to 47F....unless I had fallen out of a boat and was swimming to land or a life raft. That's an ice bath!

And even then, I'm not sure if I'd wanna suffer that much! 

Thanks for all the HM comments.  Coach goes with a 5/5/5 approach.  5 miles starting out about 5s/km (there's that metric again   slower than goal pace and maybe getting up to goal pace by the end of the 5 miles, then 5 miles at target pace, maybe a bit faster if feeling good.  Then the last 5k is just whatever is left in the tank (hopefully faster).  I've taken that approach for other races and it has worked fairly well.  The course this weekend is fairly flat as far as I can tell so hopefully no terrain to deal with at all.

Suzy- that's pretty cold. How long do you normally swim on Memorial Day? Maybe it could be the Polar Bear Plunge this year? 

Blanda- I also love running before the sun comes up. It's almost a necessity to run before the sun comes up where we live. 

Jason- enjoy that rest. Why did we pick that IM in November? 

Something really exciting happened today. My previous bike was a Cervelo P2 from 2008. We discovered 2 cracks on the seat post right after Galveston HIM this year. I'd already ordered my new bike (custom Guru) when the cracks were found. The P2 was also a 51cm frame which over the years we've tried to make work to fit my 5'8 body. Under the Cervelo lifetime warranty they will send a new frame if there are any cracks or defects.
The replacement frame arrived today and it is a Cervelo P3!!!! Sweet!! I'm trying to figure out how to talk Hubby into letting me keep it as a trainer or rain bike- just kidding! No, actually I"m going to build up the bike and sell it. It's a beautiful bike. 

Sweet is right!

Normally, it's roughly 100 yards for every year we've owned the house.  This year would be 800 yards.  Given my swim speed, I may need to either put a propeller on my rear to get it done faster or trim it.  We'll see.

@Chris - hang tough on the knee thing...mine took longer than anticipated but just stick with the program

@Nathan - enjoy your pre-natal classes...my wife and I had a blast and laugh about them now (almost 12 years ago...)

@Jason - definitely enjoy your fattening period; I think all of us could use more rest/recovery than we take over the course of a year (mine starts at about 10:30 AM May 31st when I fall across the finish line at my OLY)

I've started my taper and my last few workouts have been awful.  Wednesday's trainer session was a mess, I felt lethargic during my run yesterday and had a pretty mediocre swim this morning.  I have a couple of rest days scheduled over the weekend, so hopefully that will be me back on track.  One week to go!

Chris-you are doing the right thing working on the mechanics of your running. Sucks that things don't happen as quickly as we would like but long term you will be glad you made the changes.

Mike-taperitis. I always feel like crap during a longish taper. Standard response from coach is "I'd be worried if you felt good right now." The adrenaline on raceday seems to always bring me out of the pre race funk.

We are headed to the in-laws place on a bay near the Gulf tomorrow. It will be tight quarters and 2 nights will likely be enough for me. I'm getting up early to ride my bike over...about 45-50 miles so that will take care of my bike workout tomorrow. Mostly rural roads so I'm hoping that and an early start will keep it from being too busy on the roads. Should be able to get some OWS done in the Bay......its very shallow so you can swim forever in 4-5 feet of water. Weather looks sunny and hot. Forecast for now until early October here is _______ and hot! Insert rainy, humid, sunny, miserable, oppressive or whatever other term fits. 

Polar Plunge in my swimsuit and no wetsuit is out of the way!  Paul dropped his VIvofit overboard while we were getting our boat in the shore station so I rescued it. Fortunately, our lake is crystal clear and I found it right away.   That is the coldest darn water I have ever experienced in my life!  I do think this means that with a wetsuit I can do a few yards to keep up the tradition!

Originally posted by 43YORook Jason- Definitely enjoy the short rest. I will bet your training takes another big turn for the positive after a brief break. Rene - Very cool news on the P3, that's a good way to pay for the new build! Can't beat that. Arend - I'm a bit late to the party on the HM pacing discussion, as it's been a crazy work week, and my feedback is based on admittedly old data but I am in Jason's school of thought of getting to pace quickly, holding for much of the race and jamming the last 5k. That being said, my one and only competitive half marathon, I didn't do a very good job of executing that plan. I had decided on a whim to qualify myself for the NAIA national marathon and I believe the qualifying time was a 1:13 or 1:14 half. I showed up to a fairly competitive race with a 1:12 target (5:30 pace). I was young and dumb and went with the lead group at the start because, well I was young and dumb and invincible! We went through the mile at just under 5:00 and 2 miles at about 10:10 (no I don't have any idea how many KM that is or what the pace per KM was) and I knew I was in trouble. I finally fell off the back of the group and cruised right at 5:30's for the next 9 miles and thought it was going to be a piece of cake. however, when I went to the well for the last two miles there was nothing there. I really feel like even pacing from the start would have left a lot to work with at the end. That being said, it sounds like your coaches plan is an execution you are comfortable with and if it has worked for you in the past, I wouldn't change it up. I have just always been of the mentality that it is easier to push myself through suffering than to make up seconds late in a race. It works well in shorter races, likely not HM and up. All - I have had a rough week as all this time off from running and work I have been doing on muscle recruitment to strengthen my knee and legs after surgery does not seem to be producing the results I had hoped for. I've had two easy runs this week, one on grass and one on a trail, and the knee has been pretty painful after both. The constant swelling does seem better but its just frustrating me! The Acceleration guys feel confident we are making progress but its almost June and I'm barely running at this point...ughhh!! Sorry, just venting.

Chris

From one  rehabber to another, do you think that the hard VO2 bike intervals followed by a run (even some hours later) is contributing to your ongoing knee issues?I know you have been working up to this over time, but it seems like it might be at least a reason to pause and consider?

While it has only been five weeks for me, I am doing no doubles of B and R and am really building the run minutes super slowly (e.g. 2' run, 1 walk type stuff).

Just a thought.  I'm pulling for you!

Yes, he has had issues with it falling off when he is doing some serious chores around the house.  We read the reviews that said the band sucked, but that was after I decided to buy them for us.  We had the Jawbones before and those had so many technical issues that we gave up on them after the company replaced them twice in 3 months.  Overall, we do like the Vivofits.    I don't necessarily need it to motivate me,  but it is very good for my non working out husband!

PS.  10' OWS off our pier in a wetsuit.  Cold, but I think I might make it a little longer later in the weekend when the temps have been in the 70s for a couple of days.  Time will tell.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I will ot have a computer at the beach but will try to check in with my phone.

Good luck to those racing.