Baowolf mentor group is [ Closed ] (Page 9)

Quasi that family thing sounds great. 

I picked up a foam roller today. It is some work but well worth the relief in my tight calves.

Run two miles today and approaching my under 10 minute mile goal. Will get to test it out next weekend at a 5K.

Good luck on everyone's races. look forward to the reports. Hopefully the weather held out.

I have a 2 year old daughter I can only hope for the same.  Just sounds like such a cool day!  My daughter did say "Daddy runs" the other day, which I thought was just the coolest!

^^^ Agree totally!

LOVE all the family involvement.  Kids seeing their parents embrace an active lifestyle cannot help but rub off.  Lifetime gift to your kiddos!

1st marathon is history (4:43).  Not near my time goals, but a LOT happens over 26.2 miles.  Major weather changes...started off hot/humid, then shifted to cool/rainy as a front and some thunderstorms came our way.  No hail, and no tornados so it was just a welcome soaking rain.  Lost my insulin pump infusion site at 2:20 due to the sweat/rain factor, and borrowed a cell phone to ask hubby to meet me at mile 16 with a the insulin vial and syringe I threw in my bag at the last minute this morning.  IT band issues got me in the last 6 or 7, so a lot of run/walk happening.  My best friend joined me to run/walk the last 2 miles, which was totally a blessing.  I am totally thrilled to have FINISHED, and look forward to the next adventure.

Need to hear how Steve did now!

Carol,

What an awesome accomplishment.  You should be very proud!!

Congratulations !! Quite the accomplishment!! Fantastic news. Way to overcome and finish!

So, what *is* the next adventure??

Carol- Congrats on finishing your first marathon! Sounds like you had quite a few challenges a long the way. It's inspirational that you finished despite the challenges and with such a positive attitude. Thanks for sharing.

Quasi- It's so awesome to hear that your whole family is getting involved. I hope that my future family will be interested in fitness the way that I am.

For my training, it's been non-existent for the past week. Last-minute wedding stuff to take care of. I'm hoping for some nice weather on the honeymoon to get in some morning runs.

Hi Everyone! I've been away for a week or so, sorry for the silence.  I've been lurking when I can though. 

I'm afraid I may have overtrained a bit last week as my body has just been in pain.  My runs towards the end of last week were slower at higher heart rates.  I took the weekend off in response and I'm still hurting this a.m.  

I believe I'm going to do a slow jog at lunch today for just 30-45 minutes and see if that helps me feel better..get the lactic acid out and whatnot. Today is technically an off day on my program, but I took saturday and sunday off and am feeling pretty antsy. 

My biggest issue is that I don't exclusively train for tri's.  I'm also doing other cardio excercises as I'm still losing weight.  I'm thinking maybe I need to back that off for a while.  The high intensity stair climber/lunge/weights circuits are beating me to death when done in combination with my tri training. I'm losing the weight i need to lose and dropping the inches, but I'm afraid my training numbers are taking a hit as a result (my logs aren't updated yet, I need to import from Garmin tonight). 

Butters, congrats on your upcoming wedding!  The training can wait .

Mike, sorry about the dry run .  Definitely starting to be the season for emphasizing hydration.

Took me an hour to walk the dog 2 miles this morning.  On the plus side, she loved having plenty of time to sniff!  Next adventure is Captex OLY on 5/28, and I'm not sure on specifics after that.  Definitely focus on tri's this summer, and then back to running focus in the fall/winter, that will probably include...yes...another marathon . 

MTA: Mike, we were simulposting.  Just wanted to say you are not alone in not being able to maintain your previous routine in addition to tri training.  Last yr. was my first yr for tri training, and slowly but surely, it pretty much pushed even the little bit of strength work I was doing out.  YMMV, but I still felt pretty balanced, and lost weight at the same time.

MTA (one more time): Yes, first marathon was definitely a soggy one http://www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/Runners-Brave-The-Storms-147504025.html

Hi guys I'm back.  Quite an adventure.  So the race is 1 hour from the nearest hotel, but in a campground (no running water no electricity) so I bring a tent.  It was pretty cold that night, I had on a full down jacket inside a 30F sleeping bag and was.. ok if not warm.  I went to bed early because it was getting cold and I had to go alone because the family had another commitement at the last minute.  So I am in the tent, in bed by like 7pm (I usualy got bed at 10 or 11) so I wake up at 1:30, roll over go back to sleep, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30 ok time to get up.  I put on my trisuit, body glide and .. tube runs out of suntan loation... oh well (ya a little pink in the arms today).  I pack up the tent, grab a cheeze/peanutbutter cracker thing and eat that.  I get to transition at 5:30 am and set everything up.  And wait... I'ts low 40s F out and I thought I had enough stuff to keep warm, but appearantly not.  I start shivering waiting for the race to start, still dark out.  I put on the wet wetsuit thinking that might help, and the neopreme swim cap, nope still shivering.  Oh and the water temp is 51F!  Ok so one should get in the water, swim get acclimated, numb out the face, etc. before the race starts, but I was just too cold.  So when the race started yup had to deal with the system shock frozen face and took a while to settle in before my body was warm enough from the effort and my face etc, numb enough from the cold.  There was some nusance chop (6-8 inches) but nothing horrible, just enoug to keep you from getting into a good rythm.  Ok so the swim was not great, but my swim training was mostly to just survive the swim (long swim only 3000 yards in training), so I was slow, but was able to hold that pace without getting too tired.  My calves cramped frequently on the 2nd half of the swim and the course was diagnol to the shore so for some reason I had to site and adjust course a lot.  Ok swim done, hit the porta potty in transition because there are no portapoties on the bike at all and head out.  Was having a hard time getting the sand off my feet, but didnt want a lot of grit in my socks for the run later. 

So it was supposed to warm up later, so I just wore my tri suit on the bike.  But later meant 3 hours later.  There was this low cloud/fog layer that just stayed there keeping things very cool on the bike and my feet were numb from the swim for the entire bike ride.  The bike was HILLY.  It strated with some ups and downs for the first 13 miles, not too bad, road not such good condition, turns just sharp enough that you had to be pretty careful.  Then at mile 13 we turned onto a good quality road, but it went uphill for about 8 miles... followed by relatively sharp 20 mph corners going down a pretty steep desent.  (not I have not been on my bike on the road since October).  Then there is an 11 mile climb on really crappy roads followed by some rollers and then the descent of death.  Maybe a 6 to 8 percent downgrade with serious 15 mph 270 deegree corners with water running over the road before each corner.  Oh my that was difficult, I have never used my brakes that much in my life.  Few finally got to the bottom and a flatter section, starting to warm up a bit, feet still numb.  Front derailer was acting a little different and then around mile 40 the cable snapped.  So no that left me only the rear gears for the rest of the ride.  Fortunately it was back to mostly hills again, so the lower gears were fine for climbing, then just tuck in aero bars for the downhills except for where the road was crappy and the corners sharp.  I made it in to T2, used the porta potty again as I knew there were only 2 on the run.  (3600 + feet of climbing on the bike)

So I start the run and my feet are both still numb. Oh well settle in, first mile and get a pace.  The run is also increadibly hilly it turns out.  Yay my right foot is thawing out, grab a Gu at mile 2, stomach doing fine.  Left foot thrawing out.. but it feels like I have a rock under the middle of my left foot.  I stop to check on it, no rock, just a spot of my foot that remained numb a bit longer, oh well burned 30 seconds.  Back to the run and hills, 70s now and feeling hot in contrast to the morning temps.  I stop at every aid station and drink 3 oz of water and pour the rest down the front of my shirt to keep my body temp down.  So I took GUs at 10 minutes into the run, 40, and 1:10.  Nutrition felt pretty good for the whole race, water intake was lite on the bike good on the run.  The hills kept coming, I would spot someone up a quarter mile and then pass them, pick the next person and pass them.  Felt good at 4, felt me legs more at the turnaround at mile 6.55, focused a bit more.  Times all pretty good even with the hills.  Back into the hills some more, now folks are walking up the hills and I just power by them, pace a little slower, but holding in the low 8s.  I just keep going 8, 9, 10, only 3 left, focus, swing those arms drive the hills open up on the downhills.  I pass two more guys at mile 11, 2 more at mile 12.  No one left in sight in front of me and one guy about 50 yards back.  I'm breathing hard, swinging my arms hard and just power into the finish line.  Run section was 1:44 so 7:56 mpm pace.  Given the course I was very happy with that.  Good enough for a 1st place in my age group (there were only 125 people in the race though).  

The swim, not so great, the bike, meh but the run was solid.  Given that I only had 15 weeks to train for this one and the nastiness of the course, overall pleased with the race.  Then a 7 hour drive back home.

Things to remember, always bring enough sunscreen, dress warmly enough before the race, drive the bike course before you race it so you have no suprises and I guess get those bike cables replaced every couple of years.  For our newer folks, cold water down the front of your shirt every mile will regulate your temp on hot days.  If you don't use water to regulate your temp on the run, you will fry in a longer hot race. (No ice in your hat = nasty frosty freeze vomit on the side of the road headache).   

Carol grats on finishing your mary, sorry the last 6 were rough.

Larry.  So many races are going to trash your HIM training.  It is what it is.  Ideally you should have at least 1 long run at 13, 14 and 15 miles in the 6 weeks before your HIM.  You should be swimming 3000 yards long with a couple of 2000 continuous to get a feel for pacing.  You should have long bike rides of 55, 60 and 65 in the 6 weeks prior to your HIM.  Can you survive on less, yes.  You could survive with a long swim of 1800, a long run of 11 and a long bike of 50, but I wouldn't recommend it.  It means that each event will tax you and you will in all likelyhood be walking some of the half mary.  You can finish that way, but it is less fun.  For my HIM my long swim was 3000, bike 75 and run 16 miles.      

Steve,

Congrats on your race.  I love the detail in your report.  Thanks for the reply on my training.  I am going to drop the bike tour from my races.  I am also going to do my best to treat the half marathon like a training run.  I'm basically doing it with my wife, as she's doing it for a fundraiser.  I am going to add some longer bikes and runs in the final six weeks.

Had a few training questions I wanted to bounce off you guys and gals if I may:

I'd like to accomplish two things this spring/summer.

1.  Build/keep enough running base to train for another marathon in late 2012 or early 2013.  Possible dates are 11/11, 12/9 and 2/26.

2.  Get/stay in OLY shape and improve upon my first timer attempts at those last year.  I may possibly cap the tri season off with a HIM on 9/22, but the jury is still out on that one, and if it means sacrificing the run base training too much, I probably won't do it.  If it's a go, I need to sign up for it fairly soon due to limited slots this yr.

So my question is -- how many miles per week should I target on the running during this base period?  Mainly slow/low HR miles or keep a nice mix?  I'm just not sure how to maintain/build running base over the longer term as it seems up until now I've been mostly following plans to build more quickly towards an event.  Keep in mind that the summers here are pretty brutal with the heat, so I'm OK with running taking somwhat of a dip as I supplement with the biking and swimming to train for the OLY's and stay "less hot".  But is the 9/22 HIM likely to pull too much out of the running at that stage? 

Thanks in advance, and I welcome any and all input .