Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 89)

That's pretty dang cool! Good job. I've been able to convince 2 co-workers to come running at lunch every once in awhile, but nothing like a running club.

Jamie-good work. That's great to put your interest in running to such a constructive use by getting others involved. Good stuff!

Randy

Jamie - Its an awesome way to get some students and teachers involved to get or stay healthy. Can't wait to hear some more about it. Keep us in the loop how it is going with the running group. 

Monday night strength training workout done. I am going to get on the trainer today for about an hour and run tomorrow and I will be ready for my last triathlon of the season on Sunday. 

Jamie -- what you've done there is fantastic.  Great to see.

I'm off to DC (actually Arlington, VA) to help spend your hard-earned tax dollars.  I'll try to make good decisions for you...

Anybody happen to know where to run 12-14 miles there not all on city streets?

Michael-I'm not overly familiar with the area but there are some good parks right outside of DC. When we were there visiting Georgetown we ran along the canal....can't remember the name but there is a path/trail right along the canal that I believe was a tow path to pull barges along the canal in the old days. We picked it up right in Georgetown and it goes on for many miles leading out of town.  The canal was nothing much to look at but the trail was in good shape.   

Randy

Thanks Randy.  I was able to find that on the map, and also a trail that starts in Arlington and goes down to the river and connects with the one you mention.  So that's where I'll be a 5:30am tomorrow.  I'm off to the airport now.  Have a great afternoon, everyone -- I hope you're having the weather that we're having here:  perfect for training!

Jimmy-really looking forward to following all of our IM athletes on race day. Everyone's training looks great.

Kind of a mixed week for me. Trying to get workouts in before traveling Thursday-Saturday. Best part will be attending the SEC XC Championships in Nashville on Friday. Roll Tide!

Looking at the 2013 season I had thought I would bump up a bit and do a HIM or two with a longshot , really LONGSHOT goal of trying to qualify for 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas. As a result I was looking at doing a half marathon or two to work on longer distance running over the Winter. Now I'm not sure. The tri team that I will be on next year requires that we do at least 4 of 7 local events.  Most are sprints with an olympic or two thrown in. Not a big deal as I do most of these races each year. In order to remain on the team they will be using a point system based on overall placing and/or age group placing to select the team each year.  I really want to keep my place on the team.  There are some phenomenal athletes on the team and having the opportunity to race and sometimes train with these guys is a huge motivator.  The good thing is that 4 of the local races are between late March and early June. Then there is a break in the schedule with 3 Fall races beginning in late August running into early October.

So, I need to decide which is more important. Continuing to focus on sprint/oly distance to achieve best results in team races or bump up training a bit and try to get an early season HIM (New Orleans 4/21 or maybe Eagleman 6/10) in the mix using the local races as preparation for a HIM.   If I stick with the short course stuff I may look at doing AG Nationals this year assuming a driveable location.  I know the HIM training would carryover for the short course racing but....

I know that these are questions I need to answer for myself but would appreciate any input folks have.

Randy 

Randy, probably don't have any great insights that you haven't already considered, but one thing that my recent OLY experience did remind me is not to "save" all your opportunities for late in the season as you never know what may happen in a particular race or how injuries might affect your timetable.  If you didn't think the HIM training and the local race schedule/training would be complementary, I'd be tempted to try to earn the majority of the points you need in the 1st half of the season and then decide if you want to bump up for HIM for the second half.  Truth be told, however, we never make these decisions in a vacuum, so my decisions would probably be made based on other parts of life competing for my time.

Anyway, back from Parents' Weekend and FINALLY over my cold/flu.  Will get in a lunch run today.  I'm so in awe of the commitment of you IMers.  And dang, Jason, that HM time is incredible!!!  Congrats!!

Stu

Stu-you make several good points. I'm definitely going to do as many of the early season events as possible. Despite the best intentions my motivation tends to fade late in the season. Maybe its training through the heat of the Summer or just needing a break.  Also, with my daughter graduating from HS in May and trying to get up to Tuscaloosa for some track meets in the Spring I need to have some flexibility.

Hope you had a great trip. Glad to hear you are feeling better. This is about the peak for the Fall foilage up there isn't it?

Randy   

It was about 30 hours in the car all told which took a toll on me physically, but it was great to spend some time with Katherine... and probably good timing for a visit.  And yes, no complaints about Virginia Fall weather.  I'm with you on the summer training... maybe I need to spend summers in the NC mountains or up in Canada or something... hahaha!

I think you can do it (i.e., both HIM and the local races), if you can make the timing work out.  The shorter races are great for a tune-up leading in to the HIM.  And you do not have to back off on them -- indeed, they serve the purpose of tune-up only if you really do race them.  The main issue is recovering from the HIM -- you wouldn't really want to be doing an important short-course race within 2-3 weeks after the HIM (you could do it but you probably wouldn't be at your best).   Similarly, you'd probably not want to race short course less than about 2-3 weeks prior to the HIM.  So the HIM blocks out around 2-6 weeks from being at your best in short course.  (You could ignore the 'no race 2-3 weeks before' but it would interfere with the HIM performance, IMO.)

That's the (potentially) bad news.  The good news is that the training is really not much more than what you already do.  The main two changes would be to introduce longer long runs and longer long bikes.    Neither of those involves a huge investment of time.  There would be a few other minor changes in terms of how intensity is incorporated into the training.

IMHO these little changes to training could have a very beneficial effect on short-course performance.  I've found that doing longer (and hard!) bike rides and longer (also sometimes hard) runs really enhances the ability to hammer in the short course races without too much fear of falling apart.  When the entire race takes less time than, for example, your long run, it becomes easier to gauge the effort correctly and easier to convince yourself that you can go harder.  In short, a one hour race (and even a 2+ hour race for an Oly) just doesn't feel long.

Michael-thanks. Lots of good points. Potentially I could do several local sprints leading into Eagleman which is in early June. Then I could cut back a bit, maybe take a couple of weeks easy and then focus on the local Fall races.  Hope you are enjoying your time in the DC area.

I'm on the road toady with work and then headed to Tenn. for SEC XC tomorrow. Have a good day everyone.

Randy

Another hellacious day at the NSF.  I did get away for a short run instead of lunch.  The meetings are just really really stressful.

Anyway, one more day then I get to go home and vegetate.

Randy, one further point to consider:  you have gained a lot of speed this year and you've been very consistent for a good long time.  You also tend to race very smart.  All of that is very important for long-course racing.  With solid long-course training you should be able to carry a lot of that new speed through to a HIM.  I think you do have a chance to qualify for worlds even though it's a new distance for you.

Jason/Michael-thanks for the input. I've got some time to decide but think I am going to plan on doing a HM in early December and possibly another in mid-January. This will give me an idea of where I am in terms of run times for HM.  If my times are slower than what I need to have a strong HIM then I can adjust my race schedule.

Was looking at my training during the last part of 2011 to compare with this year. In 2011 I took almost 2 months off from swimming. I'm definitely going to try and continue to swim 2-3 times a week through the end of the year. I struggled to get back into a decent swim rhythm last year after taking so much time off.

Got in a short treadmill run after traveling all day.

Randy    

I'm facing this problem.  I'm going to restart swimming (after 4-5 weeks off) when I return from this trip.  But honestly I needed the time away.  Without it I would have just continued my half-a$$ed swim training.  I'm hoping, instead, to restart and quickly ramp up to much more solid swimming.

Fun morning at the SEC XC Championships in Nashville. It was 55 degrees, breezy with showers. Back in Chattanooga it is 80 degrees and sunny. Front is headed this way.

Gil had a solid race finishing in 25:44 for 8K. Third finisher for Bama and a 45 second PR.  70/120 overall and 12th freshman. He was pleased with his race since he felt he paced it well. Regionals in 2 weeks with a bump up to 10k.

Randy   

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Running shoes-what is everyone currently using?  I've been using both Saucony Mirage and Kinvara2. Unfortunately, both of those models have been replaced by newer models. Today I bought a pair of Brooks Flow. I did a 6 mile run and was really pleased.

Randy  

Nice race pix of your son, that is a fast time!  Wow! Seems practically a sprint the entire way? 

Last night I purchased my next set of Asics Cumulus 14 shoes ($104 after discount).  I have put about 400 miles on my last pair and was due.  I've been very happy with these.  I love they way they feel and that makes me more likely to run.  I used to be a Brooks Ghost fan but the last pair I bought for some reason did not feel right and they rubbed my foot till it hurt.  They were supposedly "upgraded" but the improved version just did not work for me. 

I just got back from my daughter's first triathlon. Excited and SO PROUD!