DG's Group - We're FULL! 2010 here we come! (Page 9)

My training is progressing along.  I had a rough last week because I was traveling for work.  Im supposed to be resting this week, but Im going to consider last week my rest week.  Im tweaking my training plan a bit, trying to get in some extra swims, Im consistently swimming 1:40 100s but I would like to get that number a little lower.  And Ill probably start adding an extra run or two each week as the weather permits.  I feel like Ive been on the elliptical too much (I cant run on a treadmill), so when its nice, Im going to run.

12 weeks until my first race, 16 weeks until the first HIM.

School has started up again and i have been busy getting things ready, however i still have maintained to keep up my training.  Food journal hasnt been happening since im still trying to get organized for school.  My fiancee got me a Timex HR monitor and i have been enjoying it alot.  Im wearing it everywhere!  The food journal really sounds like a great idea and im going to give it an effort to try to do it.  This semester is going to really kick my butt!

Your swim times look good.  And I hear you about the treadmill.  What is your first race?  What distance?  Are you able to work Brick workouts on your schedule?  With 16 weeks till your half you should be averaging around 15-20 hours a week training during a build phase (on most plans).  How is that working for you?

Even with a busy school schedule your training log looks great.  You'll love the Timex!  You will soon get to the point where you will know your zones without using it.  It's a good feeling.

I need to start my food logs, I've been really slacking on that. I didn't run this past weekend as I wanted to take it easy when I traveled to Maine to visit my mother. We walked quite a bit through snow/ice in the city forest that's near her and I had a moderate pace which she remarked was fast. She's just recovering from a long illness so I knew she was just getting back in the swing as she's usually flying up ahead of me. But it felt good. Last night was my first night back running. Warmer weather for once so I was faster and felt great. I'm moving back up to my 1:1 interval group Thursday.

I went back to spin class this morning also. After last night my legs were jelly pretty fast but I'll work on increasing the resistance each time.

No races planned for this month. Trying to figure out when/where I want to get a practice tri in before my HIM in June. I've got a 10K in April, 5K in March, but haven't figured out any other races between now and then.

what date is your 1/2 IM in June?  Location as well?

I noticed that you have the Pittsburgh Triathlon as one of your races for this season.  I think I will also be doing that race.  I havent signed up for it yet, but Im pretty sure Im going to.  My girlfriend is from the Pittsburgh area and is really interested in doing it. 

Dave - haven't signed up yet, keep debating it but think I will this weekend for the sprint. I'm up there that weekend for a pharmacy convention and figured that would guarantee my appearance at both if I sign up. LOL

I'm registered for Eagleman HIM June 13th in Cambridge, MD. From what I hear mainly flat bike and run but headwinds riding out and back. I'm excited and nervous about it! I just want to make sure I complete it in the 8 hour window!

I've got spin and running tonight after work. Can't wait to see how my legs feel later on!

First race is an Olympic, Rumpass in Bumpass. 

At this point, I havent gotten many bricks in.  My lame excuse is that its been too cold outside to ride the bike and I dont want to get myself sick from riding inside and then running outside.  Again, its my lame excuse.  I think I just need to get my first outside ride in and Ill start bricking my weekend run/bikes.  With a couple more minutes of light each day, Im getting to the point that I can ride to work.  As far as hours go, Im a little low each week, but my training plan calls for hours in the 15-20hr range.  Im going to try and hit my planned hours for the next couple weeks though.

Dave - I was thinking of doing Rumpass too as my pre-HIM test....still not sure about doing an Olympic in April or a Sprint in May since my HIM is June. I just love the name "Rumpass in Bumpass".. LOL

Damon - any opinion on when I should do my pre-HIM tri?

How close are you to Rockburn Branch Park (near BWI)?  I'm meeting up with some other MD BTers for the first time for a trail run 8 AM Sat morning then I'd like to head out for 20-30 miles on the bike.  Its a brick, just not in the right order.

What plan are you doing?  I was hitting 12 hours pretty well (or so I thought) then got told by my gf that I like training more than seeing her.  I don't know how to do any more hrs than that...well, besides the obvious (getting rid of the gf), but I kind of like this one, so thats not an option.

 

In case anyone was worried, our fight originated over a miscommunication about when I was training and when we'd be hanging out after, and we got it squared away pretty easily.

Yeah, Joe, if you like this gf you might want to keep her and maybe just communicate a little better with her...LOL

My bf went to Philly with me last summer for the Philly Women's Tri. Let's just say I'm not asking him to accompany me to another tri again. He's good if I tell hiim what time to show up at the local one and he'll find my mother and they'll both cheer for me at the finish..but having him around during my prep, arrival, etc was too much of a pain. He added to my anxiety instead of distracting me from it. I'd rather have other triathlete or running friends cheering me on because they have a better understanding of my anxieties about racing. I love him but that weekend was really not the time to ask me "thinking" questions about what type of laptop he should get and my overall opinion, etc..LOL

I really liked the name too.  Makes me laugh to think about it.  My real goal in this race is to in a quality OWS before my HIM in May.  Not sure how many I will be able to get in otherwise.  Im taking the race as more of a warm up and to give myself a measure of where I am with my training so I can have some realistic expectations for the HIM.



Looks like Im about an hour away from the park.  Im really interested in meeting up with you guys, but I dont know if I will be able to do it this week.   Im in a similar situation with the girlfriend.  Shes out of town during the week for work, so I dont get to stray from our weekend plans much.  If you end up going out with this group again, let me know and Ill work it into the plans.

I started my plan from the Triathletes Training Bible for my hours (I aimed a little higher and picked 700 annual hours) and used their sample training weeks to map out my workouts.  The weekly hours seem pretty reasonable, I think once I get outside on the bike, Ill be hitting them regularly. 

That sounds like a plan - getting you hours up in the next few weeks.  Have you thought about a swim/ride(trainer) brick.  Those are VERY helpful as well, plus it breaks up the same bike/run brick done every week.  If you have a few triathletes swimming where you are, and if the pool allows it maybe you could take your trainers and ride for 30-45 min after a swim.  Or, a ride home and then hope on the trainer is just as beneficial. 

hours - I know this is pretty obvious, but do you have the ability/stamina to get up early and get an hour or two in before the sun comes up? When I ramp up hours in the next two weeks my training starts at 4:30 so I get a good hour to hour and a half in before work and then an hour at lunch.  That way when I get home at night it's all about family (I watch the kids while my wife trains).  For some folks it's hard to get started that way, but if you get used to it you can get 3 hour workouts in the morning before 7:30 am on the weekends so it's family (GF) all day.

I would love to see you complete a Sprint and Olympic distance race in April and May (in that order).  I think one race in open water is not enough before a 70.3 - but that is JUST my opionion.  I'd love to read your thoughts...

Haha, yes...mornings...I suck at mornings.  I make plans to, but I'm 50/50 (ok, more like 5/95) on following through.  My problem is that I end up putzing around at night and don't go to bed til midnight or later, and since I've got to be out the door for work before 7, its tough to find the hours in the AM.  I am planning to work on the whole getting to bed/waking up earlier thing though...maybe when its warmer/lighter I'll find the motivation...

I might give lunch a shot when I need to...I don't think I can get a whole workout in with showering and stuff in an hour, but I think I'll ask the boss if I can take an hour and a half and just stay later. 

Can you see the MD Regional thread?  They post lots of group trail runs and they do group trainer rides while watching old Ironman races.  Most of them are south, closer to Columbia area, so thats where they generally do their group runs and rides.

I get almost all of my weekday runs in during lunch.  It requires a lot of hustling around, stretching as I work, and stuffing my face when I get back to my desk.  It also limits how far I can run. 

Other than the benefit of getting a workout in, I find that I have more productive afternoons because the run gets the blood flowing.

Haha, it was actually a fail on both our parts.  She was mad because she thought I rescheduled our date so that I could go biking (in reality, I had time to do the bike and get ready in time, and I just wanted to ask if she would be able to do it the next day in case I had a biking issue like a flat or something else and got stranded in the middle of nowhere.  If she couldn't, then I was planning to play it safe and do a trainer ride inside instead).  But I rushed and did my bike and got back and ready and she was nowhere to be found, and so I was mad since I rushed everything to be ready for this thing she wanted to do, then she was a no show. DRAMA!  So it was just a miscommunication, but we still had a talk about how my training is interferring my "doing non training things" time, which was started to bug me a bit too, so it was a good talk.

Damon - I'll take a look and see what I can find in my area for Sprint and Olympic in those times, you're probably right because that would give me a better gauge in the build up towards my HIM in June. I was hoping to do a 10K in April with my running group but that's on the same day as Rumpass..so if I can't find anything else then I'll do the tri over the 10K.

My legs felt a little jelly during my run last night but I took it slow. My fatigue seemed ok I just need to push through the funny feeling and see how far I can push during my bricks.

Let me know if you find any good races.  My girlfriend doesnt have any early season races planned, shes looking to do a sprint or two before a  longer race in July.  Ive been kind of selfish and havent looked for any races for her to do (I have a lot more time to mess around on the computer at work).

So I've been thinking about the hours and such, and realized the plan I'm using for my HIM may be light (you can see it in my planned logs, its the BT 16 week intermediate HIM plan, or if you can't see that it starts in my logs on March 22). Its nowhere near the 15-20 hour range.

Basically, my goal is what it says in the plan description - under 5 and as low as 4:30. Damon, do you think it will get me there (not necessarily the 4:30, but under 5)?

Dave - I looked at your current training and we seem similar, what are your goals for you HIM, if you don't mind me asking? I'm just trying to manage my expectations and/or be proactive to make sure I get there (if its possible).

Edited by jsiegs 2010-01-22 7:16 PM

If you haven't, check out http://www.trifind.com/md.html (or insert your state's abbreviation).  They generally collect a pretty complete listing of all the tri's/other races.  Check the 2009 list, cause it doesn't look like all the 2010 races have been added yet.

Edited by jsiegs 2010-01-22 7:22 PM

My goal is under 5hrs for the May race and under 4:50 for the July race (this is my big one for the summer, its near home so Id like to perform well).  Im pushing myself to get 1:40 100's in the swim, between 21 and 22 mph on the bike, and a 7:45ish run pace.  Even with a 8min mile pace, Ill still be right around 5 hours.

Last year I did an Olympic in 2:31, so Im thinking that 5 hrs is reasonable.  My swim was really good because it was with the current in the Hudson River, my bike was right at 20 mph, and my run (which I died on) was around 8:10.  Ive started training earlier this season, and Im putting in a lot more time.  At this point, I feel like Im ready for another push, so Im upping my number of runs and swims per week.  I think I can do it without any injuries.

Let me know what you think.