Gary's Mentor Group - Re-OPENED for Training (Page 84)

Tracy - Nice!!!  Becareful out there!

Ran 9 miles today and such a difference from last weekend.  This time in the mid-70's as opposed to the 90's.  Only one walk break for 30 seconds.  Negative splits, felt like I could easily keep going.  Loved it.

Most of the roads are pretty clear where I ride, but I do try to avoid this 1 mile strecth.  Another reminder of why. It can be really busy with a tight shoulder, hence my tire legs were giving everything to get thru it. Thankfully, there was a pretty good tail wind. 

 I am older and wiser...I would have stopped in my younger years.  I was completly exhausted, and would have been easy pickens for even the scrawniest of morons. 

Been trying two new techniques: Opinions appreciated.

Bike:  (gettting to speed)

1. In an easier gear, spin your cadence up to max. Than-drop the lever down two or more gears for 5-6 revolutions. Bring back to mid gearing to catch your breath.  Repeat until you get to speed.

Running: (thinking simple)

2. I wasted a lot time last year trying to develop a great foot strike, which led to over complicated training, injury, no real improvment.   The last month or so.  All I think about is leaning forward, and "cycling" my knees forward.  The exact same mental approach I take when working on my bike cadence.

PS.  I appreciate everyone's input on my last two months of training.  I did decide to go for the volume over the 'sprint in limited time' that Gary mentioned.  The training log that was shared was a real inspiration to redoing my training plan.

Tracy

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Had a high volume day by my standards today.  6 mile run for lunch, and 3 mile run for dinner.  Tomorrow is a SRD and Sunday is race day.

Wish I had some tips for you Tracy.  I just kind of go.  No real brains in my races just yet.

Hey all!
SRD for me as just too many things going on.  I am the Event chair for the Louisiana 5k Skeeter run (supports the fight on Malaria) and trying to catch up on that along with 9th grade Parent night at school.  The 5k stuff is pretty cool as I get to see things from the other side of the race.  Who knows, may be someday I will be a RD.

Tracy - glad you got your training setup.  As for the biking what you are doing sounds a lot like an article in Triathlete mag talked about doing hill training without the hills (or at least steep hills).  Mashing a larger gear to push yourself and simulate a hill.  Will be interested in the results.  As for running I ended up using the K-Swiss kwicky blades (basically trainers) to get myself to more of a mid/front strike runner and all of my 3 mile or less are in those shoes.  Also, from that book I mentioned he stressed a higher turnover on the run with shorter strides.  Working for me but I think this is one of those "it doesn't work for everybody".  If its keeping you injury free then keep on doing it.

Chris - good luck this weekend!  Which race are you doing?

At the persistent perstering of my mother-in-law, I dropped my Cowboy Up Tri to do a Sprint Tri located in her lake community.  This tri also benefits the families of fallen soldiers, and it makes me look like a really good son-in-law.

There will likely only be a few hundred participants, and the run/bike courses are really hilly, but nothing too seriously steep.  Lots of rollers.

Long course = 1200 yd swim, 11.5 mi bike, and 5k run.

Short course = 400 yd swim, 11.5 mi bike, and 5k run.

I'm in for the short course.  Should be a good time!

Hey all!

swim and run yesterday and a short swim today.  Traffic in Baton Rouge has gone nuts, an accident closed a major interstate (actually two where they connect) and it has caused a nightmare.  Some of my employees gave up trying to come to work after fighting traffic for 3 hours.

On good news it looks like we have a new member and he will be posting his introduction soon.

Hello All!!

My name is Matt and I am a freshman at Towson University in Baltimore. I am very athletic and have played amny sports. In highschool i played rugby and football both sports I played varsity for two yrs. I have also played soccer, lacrosse, baseball,and basketball. The main reason why I want to start doing triathlons is because I want to push myself hard and want to challenge myself. I love all three sports that is part of a triathlon. My goal is to be good at doing tris and to finish most of the tris in the top half of my age group. I can't wait to meet and hear from you guys...

Happy Training

Matt 

 Welcome Matt, this group is a great resource for training and competing tips, but more importantly for me, moral support!

Traveling for work last 3 weeks I became a bit of a slug, quite a bit of walking, but only a couple of workouts. Ran 2.6 last night and swam 1000 yards this morning, felt good to be back in the pool. Need to get some riding in some how. Will be traveling again most of September and need to dig deep and find discipline to work out while on the road. Had to cancel my last to planned sprints of the year because of the travel, but am targeting a 10k late October and South Beach Tri April 7, 2013! Be good.

Anybody live near Chattanooga TN, Columbia SC, Allentown PA, or Phoenix AR? Those are my trips in September and October. I could meet you for a run or swim.

David

Matt - welcome!

DW - sorry, no where near there but if you ever find yourself in Baton Rouge I will buy the first round.

Chris - goodluck on the Tri!

Welcome to the club Matt!

Lots of experience and knowledge in here that has been very helpful for me.  I'm sure you'll find the same.

Sorry DW.  I'm not near any of those spots.

Gary,

That is awesome. Tell your son Congrats!

Shelly

Seems like I remember mentioning quite a while back about racing with our kids and these beating us ... racing with your family turns out to be a lot of fun.  Nice that you were able to do this.

I've been out of touch a while ... got back in Friday night from another week long trip to China.  The worst of is I caught the flu and the 14 hr.plane ride on Friday was miserable. Did nothing yesterday but take Tylenol cold/flu and try to recuperate.It's 2:45am EST here now and well ... this is what I'm doing.  Good 'ol jetlag!

Congrats!!! Wonderful job, read your RR, very good!

Sounds like a pretty miserable trip.  Hope you get some rest and over that flu!

Gary - awesome!  I'm running with my family next weekend in a fundraiser.  The 5k is untimed, so I'm going to push the baby stroller for the first time.

Gregory - big congrats to you sir!  You should feel very proud!

Finished up my third tri this morning and it was my first ever in driving rain.  It was a lake community, so the bike course was pretty scary on dry pavement with a lot of ups, downs, and 'S' turns and I was very nervous about riding in today's conditions.  We haven't had rain in almost 3 months!  Bike actually handled well and I turned in a respectable bike leg.

1:18:43.  Good enough for 17th overall, and 1st in AG.  Keep in mind this was a small tri and the field wasn't stocked with race horses, but there were a few.  Fortunately none in 36-40AG.  Heck, I was only 12 minutes off the first place relay team.

Hope this race grows.  It's for a great cause, and the course is just awesome.  RR will be up soon.

Well, my week keeps getting more interesting.  This morning someone decided to pull out of a bank parking lot and get into the left lane.  The problem was I was in that lane.  They stated they didn't see me.  Yeah, red extended cab pickups are very hard to see in bright sunlight.  Body shop on Fri for an estimate. Consequently my morning swim didn't happen.  TS Isaac keeps moving west so Weds will be fun.

Chris - congrats!   Looking forward to the RR.