Southwestmba/Andy's excellent adventure group-Full (Page 9)

good morning. quick post for me. 14 miles on the bike this morning on the bike path. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park is really beautiful and I saw a turkey! Fun stuff! I have been struggling to get up the past few days which is rare for me and so it felt good to have my workout completed before my house wakes up! I have had to squeeze workouts in the past two days which is no fun at all. I did my first open water swim this past saturday on Lake Erie. I did about a mile and I am so glad that is over. One of my friends who is also doing the triathlon had her husband go with us and had he not been there, I would have turned around. I was really panicky for about the first 5-10 minutes (which felt like forever) and could not get my breathing under control, and it was cold. I definitely need a wet suit. Point taken.

congrats to all of you who had races this past weekend and to you lisa for powering through!

gotta scoot- big garage sale weekend here in my development and i am getting all the junk out of my house! also big softball weekend and big dance recital weekend---why does everything have to happen at the same time?

**Edit**

I found it, I didn't have the filters in the search set right, it is, woot!

Nice job on the races guys! Always cool to hear the results. And Andy, you're crazy with the back to back races.

I'm now 2 weeks out from my first HIM (Lubbock, TX), and about as good shape as I'm going to be. My question is what to do until then. I'm following a training plan, so distances and times are covered, but what should I be focusing on? And I'll probably post again later, but what to do the day before the race? I feel confident I'll be able to finish (even in the 100 degree weather), but I definitely want to have a smart and fast race. I didn't work this hard to make a dumb mental mistake!

Steven

Nice job Andy!  And now Eagleman this weekend.  You are one tough dude.  Good luck.  It looks like the weather won't be too bad.

How did you get involved with your teams?

I don't know if anyone else has trouble accessing your HIM report but I could not; it took me to a screen to log in, which of course I already am. I did notice the address is slightly different from the Olympic report, perhaps that's it?

50 MILES AN HOUR! I got scared sitting here at home reading that; that would be exhilarating! Dude, you are an inspiration, that was a nice weekend romp you did there, grats!

Better! So is a 'double' like this a regular part of your year, or where you just feeling your oats? Also, at your level, what is the training like? Is it still like the way you would train as a lowbie or are the races your 'training'? 

I had a good training day yesterday, biking 11.2 and then following up with a 3 mile run. Later in the day I felt "different" mentally, I don't know how to pin-point it exactly, just sort of out of it, and then developed a headache lwhich lingered. In hindsight perhaps I should of ate more earlier, I had a protein shake and some nuts when I got home, then a couple hours later a hot dog before eating dinner at 5-ish. I suppose I could of drank more fluids as well; I also had a big glass of water with chlorophyll, some orange juice and some coffee in addition to the protein shake.

So it sounds like perhaps I should eat and drink more, thoughts? Any 'Old triathletes' tales?

here's my alcatraz report.  

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=256123

also, i had a 10k yesterday, which i planned to use as a tempo run, 1/2 marathon pace.  however, i ended up feeling really good, holding 8:00 pace for the first 5k, and setting a new pr.  50:30.  i am so close to sub-50 and i am sooooo excited about it!

anyway, the 10k taught me 2 things.  first, i have some "performance anxiety" issues when i set a goal before races...my body often gets tight and it becomes stressful to maintain my pace with a calm mind.  second, my body knows what to do.  i was sleep-deprived, jet-lagged, and dehydrated from a very long travel day, and totally shocked myself with my performance.  so if i can figure out the anxiety stuff, who knows how fast i could go?  

Here in Michigan we're running the whole gamut of weather: Hot, cold, humid, windy, calm, sunny, cloudy, rainy, dry. That's just how it is here, we're one of those places where you can say, "you don't like the weather? Wait a minute, it will change."

I'm 3 and 1/2 weeks from my next tri and so far so good; I've lost a few pounds and am on target for my goal weight of 210, I might even be a tad below that when the Tri comes. I continue to increase my volume and endurance, I have a good attitude and am enjoying this phase of life and looking forward to continued improvement!

Andy, I'm interested in how you prepare for a HIM.  Looking over your logs, it looks like you typically run about 45-60 minutes 5 days/week, and then either go to a spin class or ride on your Computrainer for about 60-90 minutes about 5-6 days/week.

I'm planning on using one of the HIM training program here on BT, and it typically has you run up to 2-2.5 hours for the long run at the peak, and ride 3-4.5 hrs for the long ride at the peak.

What are your thoughts on 2+ hour runs, and 3+ hour rides in prep for a HIM?  You get a lot of run and ride volume in weekly/monthly, but in a different way than the plans here.

Obviously, you've done well with your self-coaching, and I'm just kind of curious.   This article posted in another link got me to thinking of your training.  http://triathlon.competitor.com/2011/06/training/the-endangered-outdoor-ride_31264