kalalau's Group - FULL for now (Page 9)

I've been sick so I've missed an entire week of training!  Tomorrow I'll be back, but I'm very concerned about my schedule.  May 3 (1/2 marathon) is not very far away.

Swimming had been going great!  I actually did an hour of laps a few weeks ago.  I'm confident I can get through the swimming leg of the 1/2 Ironman.  Now biking is my biggest concern.  Which brings me to the following question:

Recent misfortunes have made my budget even lower than expected.  Someone had suggested that I could upgrade my hybrid bike with clipless pedals and that would be enough to make it race worthy.  The bike is reasonably light, and about 10 yrs. old.  I would need tires too (still has original).  Is there ANY merit to this suggestion?  Do bike stores rent triathlon bikes?

We haven't signed up yet, but are still strongly considering it.  I'd like to do Baltimore full in the fall, so I could get the (lesser) Maryland Double.  It does start early, but there are benefits to living 5 miles from the start!  :-)  Dave, are you pacing at all?  

Update:  This is Becky...I didn't realize the computer was logged in is Josh and I'm too lazy to log out, back in, and start over.  

I wouldn't say I am not worried about making it thru the swim...but i don't think I will drown at least!

I have a biking question. My toes and the balls of my feet go numb when I do long rides with lots of hills. I have been riding the expresso bikes at the gym with cages. I am conscious about where on the pedal I put my foot and the angle of my foot while riding.  But it doesn't help. It actually make running after quite painful. Would switching to bike shoes with cleats help? If so...would it be wiser to wait till I get a bike first? I know I will have to invest in some type of road bike to replace my mountain bike. (especially since kalalau said I will NEVER win on my mountain bike...LOL) Are the shoes universal to most pedals?

Keep getting those weekend long runs in.  You might have to take out a stepback week now and try to do consecutive long runs weeks in a row.  Let us know if you need help with the schedule.

"race worthy" is really subjective to each person.  Everything helps, but most aren't essential to "just finish."  You could do the whole triathlon with no clothes at all and a unicycle if you wanted (and it was legal) but how many people want to?  Hmm.  I wonder if a unicycle is legal.  Anyway, clipless pedals help, yes.  As will road-type tires.  There are lots of levels you can keep achieving to make it more "race worthy."  I do see people in triathlons without clipless pedals, so it's not essential if you don't want to.  But at the same time, if you continue this journey, at some point you will have them so if you have the money now, why not?

I got my first pair of clipless pedals and shoes off EBay, as I was still in my "I'm not sure how long I am going to keep doing this" phase.  They were pretty cheap.

There are a lot of different kinds of clipless pedals out there.  SPD are the most popular for mountain bikes, but they can also be used on road bikes.  The spinning bikes at the gym at usually SPD pedals, if that matters.  I used to use SPD exclusively, but I finally gave in to advice and bought SPD-SLs which have a wider pedal and helped me stop getting toe numbness.  I don't have much experience with the other types of pedals.  LOOK, eggbeater, etc.

I don't think the medal was any different for halfer/full for the Maryland Double last year.  A half+full is a decent combo to me. :-)  Yes that marathon seems really convenient for you. :-)  You should at least do the 5k.

Yes, I'm the pace leader for the 4:15 group.  First time leading a group!

Being too lazy to log out, log back in = more time for training! ;-)

When I use the bikes with cages, I get those kinds of problems because of the pressure on the foot in spots.  Not the ball but other areas like toes, top, etc.  I just can't seem to get it right.  Does your bike at the gym have a clip-in spot if you had shoes and cleats?  If you are going to buy shoes with cleats for the gym bike, you don't have to wait until you get a new bike or pedals at home.  You are probably going to have to buy your own pedals when you get a new bike anyway.  Whodathunk they sell bikes without pedals?! :-)  So if you got SPD pedals at home, and had SPD cleats and shoes for the gym, that covers both places.

That's a nice benefit of SPDs.  The downside of SPD is the smaller pedal that can cause numbness.

Oh, before I forget.. there are mountain bike triathlons too.  You might like those.

A lot of bikes shoes will take many different cleats.  But it's not totally universal.  There are a couple out there that will only do certain cleats/pedals.  It will say on the box which ones it can do.

For me, my shoes that do SPD, also do SPD-SL, as well as a bunch of other ones.

I am glad that you are paying attention to your foot position.  Also pay attention to knee position (though not necessarily for this problem).  A lot of people end up with knee pain if they are not properly aligned.  Don't put your knees in the position of twisting or turnout outward.

Sweetness!  If I do the half and run with you, I'd get a PR.  My PR is 2:13 (including 3 minutes in McDonald's to use the ladies room).  I'd like to break 2:10 without the asteriks, but a 2:07 could happen, right??  :-)

Welp, there you go, she logged back in and now there's 30 seconds less to train.  I wonder if that will be noticed in the half marathon. :-)

It's not hard to believe that you could crush your half marathon time.  I'd want to do a test race or two to see where you are right now though, to predict.  No McDonald breaks on my watch!!

I forgot to answer this question.  Yes, you can rent a bike.  In fact, when I went to Hawaii to do my first Half IM, I just rented a bike from the bike shop there.  They offered regular road bikes for $25/day, better road or tri bikes for $35, and elite tri bikes for $45.  I got the cheapest one, cheapskate that I am, since I really had no expectations for the race anyway.  Looking back, maybe I could've coughed up $10 for a better bike.  I did ride for 3 days though.  

Wetsuits are also rented for races.  I've seen them for $35 for an event.

Bad thing about renting a bike is that you have no experience at all with this bike you are renting.  Plus, sometimes it takes trial and error to get a bike fit for you well.  It could end up hurt your rear, or worse your back and shoulders.  Worse case scenario, you aren't used to the bike handling and you end up in an accident.  But if you are like me, I had no desire of going super fast anyway, so that reduces the risk.  Heck, I just wanted to survive the race (mainly the swim ;-)).

I did a new gym bike tonight and had the same exact problem you are discussing.  The numbness went all the way from the balls to my toes.  It wasn't a cage pedal though, it was a strap over the pedal.  By the end of my 45 minutes, I had taken my feet out of the straps and just pedaled on top.  That resolved everything.  I think my feet (one more than the other) are just sensitive to having things strapped on top of them.

Negative splits are a nice safety measure, but to do your best you should try to have even splits.  It's hard to make up that time that you lost.  Halfway through you will be 3-3.5 minutes (1/4 mile) behind the other group.  It would be fun to have both of you with the 4:15 group, but, there will also be a 4:00 group.

I have friends that have done things like you are mentioning as well.  You are being a great motivator with the events that you are doing.  When you do this 50k, they are going to wish that they had followed through and done it with you.  My friends have been coming around, and they were the same way.  Some come around, some don't.  I have sort of made a rule for myself though that I am not signing up for a race unless I am willing to do it by myself.  Otherwise, I let them make the first move to prove they are really signing up.

Of course, I do have one friend who not only ditched us for the Disney Marathon, but also for the Columbia Triathlon AND Eagleman after signing up!  And he lost the funds for all those events.  He is really focusing on his running now though, and says he is doing 7.5 min miles on the treadmill for 5 miles.  I am anxious to see what he is going to do for the B&A Half.  He could be beating me soon. :-)  I would never do 7.5 min miles on a treadmill.  A race is quite different though.

LOL.  Not really, I just switched computers.  On work at home days, we have enough computers going in the house for every human AND dog.   :-) 

 I don't really have any races planned before the Frederick half, except for maybe a local 5k, but it's a really hard one!  In all seriousness though, I really think the swimming and biking has helped improve my running.  I am interested to see how that plays out in race conditions. 

And let's clear up this McDonald's thing...it's not like I was stopping for an egg mcmuffin!  I gave up on the porta-potty lines at the start because they were so long I would have missed my starting corral by a significant amount, and didn't want to get stuck in the back dodging walkers.  McD's was the first open place I saw with a bathroom.  There was no way I was going to be able to run another 11+ miles with my bladder as full as it was... The lesson of this was to wait in line at the start no matter what, so the time isn't counting against you, even if it means dodging groups of ladies walking 5 abreast and chatting...     

Yes, I agree, you should be faster.  When I look at your logs, you are really focused on your training.

The whole marathon start bathroom issue is not a fun one.  That's why a lot of people run off to the sides right before the start.  It's unfortunate.  At least at Frederick, it's on a horse racetrack and stable. :-)  To do things "the right way," we have to get in that line 30 minutes before the start.  Some races have really good setups, but 20-30 mins seems to be about the normal big race.

The idea of a McDonald's stop makes for a really good story, so I like it. :-) 

I do have one friend who likes to stop at McDonald's during our runs on the BWI Trail.  McDonald's is about halfway through, and he will stop and get an ice cream cone.  He really lives for it.  I would like to get him to do a marathon once with nothing but ice cream cones as gels.  I bet if wouldn't turn out very good, it might cause him to give them up for life. :-)

With the exception of Baltimore and Marine Corps, all the races we have done were put on by Elite Racing (Rock 'n Roll series) and they are huge races and NEVER have enough bathrooms.  We started leaving 45min to an hour for the lines, because they are always insanely long.  The problem with that (that happened in Philly) was that since we got there early, the lines weren't as bad, but I was still drinking while we waited, and due to nerves and such, I needed to go a second time just before race start.  Then they were really long.  J and many other men made good use of the bushes.  As a female, I've never resorted to that strategy.  It has taken some trial and error to get race morning routines and timing all figured out, but I think we're getting there.

I was really impressed with the MCM bathroom setup.  No worries at all at that race; nice short lines because there were so many.  

I ran into a really good writeup from the perspective of a "newbie":

Ten Things I learned During My First Year of Racing Triathlons

Includes a few things I probably should've been writing in here.

Yes, the Mcdonald's is perfectly placed for a run from that spot:

McDonald's on BWI Trail

It's right before you get to the Airport Fast Park, if you know where that is.  If you run counter clockwise, it's easier to spot.  If you ran clockwise, it would be out of sight behind you if you weren't looking.  It's right on Elkridge Landing Road, a bit less than .1 of a mile off the trail.  On a clockwise run, it's on your left, after you pass the airport spur split.  On a counter clockwise run, it's probably a 1/4 mile to a 1/2 mile after you pass the Emu farm and the big rolling hills.

We also use the McDonald's to refill our water bottle.  It's pretty convenient.  At least with buying a cone, I don't feel so guilty with putting my bottle under their water drink machine.

How did everyone's weekend training go?  I did a 10 mile race this morning in a pretty fast group.  A 8:06 pace on hilly terrain didn't even get me in the top half of runners.  Nice run though, I'm happy.  I have to hit the training hard early in this week so I can take it easy heading into next weekend's B&A Half Marathon.

Hey Becky do you want to do maybe a 5 mile or 10k fast training run so we can guess what you might be able to do for the half marathon?  Just head out on a similar course, probably flatish, and run the fastest run you can do for the 5m or 10k.

Not sure I've mentioned it, but there are running calculators out there that will sort of predict what you can do based on recent performances.  

The McMillan Running Calculator

I've found it pretty accurate for my PRs (personal records) except for my marathon time, and I suspect it's because I've yet to combine good training with a good marathon day.

When you use this calculator, you have to keep in mind that it is predicting races of different distances but of similar terrain/weather, and if you are similarly trained.  Thus, if you crush a 5k race, and it predicts a really good marathon, do not think that you are going to be able to go out there and run a great marathon that matches that time unless you really train for it well and the terrain/weather is similar.  Also, if you had a great 10k last year, and it says you can do a 1:50 half marathon, do not think that means you can hit that this year.  Your fitness is going to be different.  It could be better, or it could be worse.  That's why it's always good to have some recent races done so you can extrapolate what you are capable of.

It's hard to come up with races and fitness that are going to be exactly comparable, but using this calculator is a good gauge for information at least.

McMillan includes a lot of text that explains this thinking, on the results page, if you need more details.