Eli's Getting Ready for the Season Group-CLOSED (Page 9)

Mark, that is classic! I feel your pain though. My first tri of the season is this weekend. Our family is super busy from this weekend until June, so, this kicks off a crazy few weeks.

I know I haven't been running enough for my tri, but my biking and swimming should be OK. I think this week I will mostly be practicing transition!

After the next few weeks, I get to sit down and really plan the rest of my season, which I am looking forward to. I have to find some events in June, July and August to keep me motivated.

First off, 27 is not a bad time for the 5k at this point.  Keep at it.  Running speed takes time, if it ever comes (I'll let you know how long it takes when I get some).

I think those differences in RPE are pretty normal.  27 vs. 30-33 is 1-2 minutes/mile.  That's a HUGE difference in running pace!

At my 5k pace I am dying, 1 minute slower is my half marathon pace, 2 minutes slower is a casual long run/all day pace.

Hey All -

I just wanted to say thank you for all the kind words. I'm still pretty excited two days later, so much so that I went for a swim class yesterday morning to work on distance and ran five 800m repeats today on the hotel treadmill.  It's much much easier to get motivated to train now that I've been through a race.  As Eli said, the events just help focus the lifestyle.  Next up, Race for the Dream half marathon in Williamsburg on May 22.  While I LOVED the tri, I'm also enjoying mixing up runs with tris for my event calendar.

For xine2kgts with your 5K time trial, first, that's a pretty significant difference.  I'm curious - what kind of warm up did you do?  I'm a new runner too, and about five weeks ago, I tried some mile repeats for the first time.  I started out as fast as I could and ran a 9:30, followed by a 9:47 and a 10:05.  I was so frustrated, I couldn't see straight - I thought I would easily be at 9:00 pace.  Two weeks later I joined a friend for mile repeats at a track.  He made me jog for ten minutes, then I walked for three minutes, then did the mile repeats.  Pulled off a 8:20, 8:47, 8:30, and those last two miles actually had a 30 second walk break on each.  Today's 800m repeats were at an 8:00 pace - who knew? The warm up made all the difference in the world, so now I'm much more diligent about that and am incorporating it into my race plans. Yes, every training plan and guide says to warm up, but I'm stubborn and didn't. Now I get it.

Headed back to the hotel fitness center to try their recumbent bike now. It's 92 outside, so would rather stay in the AC. Have a great night!

Hey all,

Getting a little nervous here in taper week. Lots of travel coming up and I am busier than a one legged man in an kicking contest.

Went for my ride yesterday with a friend at a local store that recently opened up. They have a eight person computrainer training room set up. It is a blast. We actually did some above threshold intervals for about 40 minutes (Not usually part of taper) and then did a 3 mile race. He smoked me by 230 feet or so, but we kept it close. It is a great way to race, no lights, no cars, and for me especially, no wind!

Hope you are all having a good training week! Keep up your motivations.

Every day is another chance to be healthy!

Good luck this weekend Eli.  Taper week is always nerve racking for me.

And for Michele, you are so right about warm up.  As "they" say - the shorter the race (or training session) the longer the warmup.  And those are some honking repeat times, by the way.

I ran the Indianapolis Mini (half Marathon) over the weekend. 1:45. Not my best time-but a solid run. Everyone recover's differently-and I agree-going on a training run, same distance, recovery easier. I like riding my bike the day after a long run nothing hard-but spinning really helps loosen the legs. During the winter-I'd go for a swim. Both seem to help loosen the legs, and body as a whole-and I am usaully running the next day.

This week, I'm out of town for work-so I found a gym where I can swim and ride - no running this whole week. Maybe a hike in the Smokies over the weekend-then start running again next week--my legs are old-and taking it easy once in a while is good.

I have also found that compression socks are your friend-they work for me-and I suggest they may work for you.

Happy running!

Congrats on the good run! I have a question about the compression socks. I have never used compression anything, but have read about them recently. Do you wear them during your training/race or after to recover?

Nice run! I would consider a 1:45 half a solid performance. In fact, that may even be a PR for me!

I agree about compression gear. I love my Zensha compression sleeves. From what I have read, there is good evidence that it helps speed recovery. I also like they way they feel.

I don't think there are many studies that show they help race performance, but I would be willing to risk wearing them for longer races like HIM and IM, just to see if they delayed the onset of fatigue.

A 1:45 hm definitely has to be called fast.  Great job.  That would be science fiction for me, but I know everything is relative.

Good luck this weekend to Eli.

I haven't been on as often as usuall, got a summer course for my masters that is basically 16 weeks crunched into 10 and double work on most weeks.

Finished my first "real" sprint tri, I say real because a did a short sprint that was a pool swim. This one was typical distances (400yd swim, 13 mile bike, and 5k run) it was open water too and the water was rough.

I swallowed a ton of water getting to the first buoy then kind of pulled up and stopped a little bit due to traffic, swallowed more water and gagged. This was my first OWS so it took until after the first buoy before I got my head in the water and was breathing every left side. I usually breathe both ways so that shows how uncomfortable I was. 8:38 out of the water, it might have been a bit short cause I'm usually 8:30 ish in the pool for 400.

Bike I mounted good and got into my shoes quick. Really relaxed on the bike regained my composure.

Run I was exhausted but still posted a decent time. Overall was 1:13 and a couple seconds. 4th of 14 in my age group so I was very happy with that. Next time I'll be more ready for the swim.

Congrats on your first Tri. Don't feel bad about the swim. My first was an Olympics and i nearly died in the water. I almost went to the lifegaurd and called it quits. But one thing i tell myself everytime i race.... " I signed up for this, suck it up, and finish" That gets me through it.  An oh, nice time for your first sprint!

Well gang..... I'm back!!! April was busy. Got married in the beginning of April, had a race the weekend after, then we went on our honeymoon for 2 weeks at the end of April. SO! Now more wedding planning, no more saving for the honeymoon. Life is back to normal. Which means training can resume and i can get back to it! Hard! Can't wait!

I went out the other day and bought my first official tri bike! It comes in tomorrow and my fit should be at the end of this week. I cannot wait!. Super stoked. Especially stoked to beat Eli ! I'll be sure to post the bike porn when i get it!

Hang loose gang!

Congrats on all that, I've been married a year now its been great, just work together to get through things you'll figure it all out.

Train hard now enjoy life for a while before you get the bright idea to have kids. We don't have any yet, we almost did about 6 months ago and it didn't work out... I think that was for a reason cause we realized we wanted more time to enjoy things first, kids will come soon enough somewhere down the road.

Congrats Nick, and absolutely enjoy the time without kids.  I wouldn't change anything about having them - we have three 14,12,9 - but it DOES change your life for sure.  You can obviously still do plenty of stuff, but it takes more planning and sacrifice. 

I'm not sure I could have done this training when my guys were really small - mama and sleep patterns may have interfered too much.  And no doubt that you willingly sacrifice things like peak performance for the good of the clan!  That said, there's nothing like running one with your kids, which I'm starting to do, and having them at your races cheering the old man on.

I found some really cool mountain bike trails by my house, and I was wondering if there would be any benefits or down sides to squeezing in some mountain biking instead of road biking?  Last weekend I did 14 miles on the trails, and then ran 7 miles, and it was a little more fun than when I do bricks on the road bike.  The mountain bike is a little harder to pedal and maneuver, but I am not on the bike I would be racing, so I was wondering if there would be a downside at all since I am still biking?  Any thoughts on that?

I think it's great.  Probably not as beneficial as riding your actual racing bike, but it's better than watching American Idol! 

Mountain biking seems like it's great for building the strength and what's the matter with having some fun anyway?  Isn't that the whole point of why we're doing this?

Hey, Nick - congrats on your marriage!

Does anyone have any races this weekend? I've got a half-marathon in Williamsburg VA, but I thought there were a couple who had triathlons coming up.  Best of luck to all!

Michele

Good luck and pace well.

You will gain different things from the mountain biking, core strength will probably be the most beneficial, back strength and arms as well, as long as you're riding hard. Cross training is good but nothing is as beneficial as the sport itself. I talked to guys at my LBS who said get your fitness on the road and then do a little bit of skill work on the trails (we were talking about training for mountain bike races only). With that advice the couple mountain bike rides a month to replace a couple road rides a month is probably a good mix, Especially if you pair it with a run brick. Maybe as you get more comfortable w/ the mountain bike you will be more comfortable on the road bike and work on flying mounts and dismounts to save time in transitions. The more skills you have the better you will be. I think this topic was on the main forum recently I'm sure there's loads more opinions there. This is my personal experience based 2 cents worth.

Have fun on the mountain bike!

Hey All - I hope you've all had a great weekend.

Ran my half this morning in Williamsburg and ended up with a 2:03:49. Didn't break the 2:00 as I had hoped, which was a little depressing when I realized at about 1:20 into it that it would be too challenging. Not sure if it was the slopes in the last five miles or going out too fast or what happened. My first six miles were at a 9:04 pace, and the overall pace ended up at 9:27. I still lowered my PR (it was 2:18) for my first half since really starting to train for the triathlon in mid-February. Just was hoping for that 2:00. Now headed out to Nebraska again until Friday - more hotel treadmills and bikes.  

Did anyone else race?

Race Report

Hey all,

Sorry I was MIA last week. I was at a week long training session. Been a while since I had an intellectual butt-whooping, so it was a nice change of pace from the physical butt-whooping I get from training.

Last weekend my wife did the MS 150 and I did my first tri of the season-the Tri-Miami olympic distance.

It was a PR for me, but I didn't have a great race. The weekend was a little crazy logistically, and I think I just wasn't well rested enough. I had a decent swim, and a decent run, but I never really felt like I was getting it going on the bike. I didn't hit my usual numbers for speed, HR or power.

Such is life. On a great note, one of my training teamate came in 1st in her age group and qualified for the Olympic distance national championships. I am very jealous! I went to the half-iron nationals last year and it was incredible.

Also, Nick was there to take pictures and support us, so it was motivating to see him while I was out on the course. I am almost as excited as he is about his bike, as it will help motivated me to keep up my training so I can keep up with him!.

This week I was literally at class from 9 AM to after midnight Mon-Thursday. So, I didn't work out except for core work in the hotel room-air squats, push ups, planks, etc.

I did get in a 4 mile run in my vibrams on Friday, so that was nice for me.

My daughter's 9th birthday is on Monday, so her birthday party was to pick up a friend and go to Universal Orlando for the weekend. I think I walked about 3 miles a day in the parks, and I got soaked on water rides today. Can I count that as training?

I am travelling again this week, but on an easier schedule, so I am hoping to get in my normal workouts.

Hope you all have a great week!

Hey Everybody!!

I have been MIA for while.  Just been pretty busy but I did get in some of my training this week in.  No swimming though which is not good as I was just starting to feel comfortable with the HIM distance.

Back been a bit sore the past couple of weeks.  I tweaked it playing in a Kickball game, my left foot slipped a bit on homeplate when it was wet.  Since then it has been sore, but getting better. 

This likely won't help but does not seem to bother my back too much but I had aerobars installed.  I ended up getting a new saddle, and seat post as well.  I think we have the fit dialed in pretty well now, it took a bit of trial and error but I think we got it now.

Have a great week!!!!

Looks like a great effort.  Hills can really affect the pacing and effort.  The key is to keep your effort consistent, and let the pace fall where it may.

Eli - a PR is always a great thing.  Get that race report up there so we can see the details!

Charlie - Good news on the bike.  It's important to get your fit dialed in.  I've opted for comfort over ultra-aero, and it has made my training a lot more enjoyable.

I had a great ride yesterday.  I essentially scoped out the hilliest 25 mile route I could find and hammered up the hills.  The area right where I live is quite hilly - no big, long climbs but a steady diet of short fairly steep hills.  My legs are fried today.