Athena/ Clydesdale Official Mentor Group (Page 9)

We had a great weekend.  Saturday nights trail race was so fun!  I haven't run the trails at night, and am now hooked.  I had to stop once and have a pity moment at the aid station, my foot hurt so bad.  I was running great, but the terrain was so rocky, my broken toe was just pounded.  (oh yeah, don't do that! LOL)  I cried it out, and finished the race as strong as I could.  I figured I would be DFL, but to my surprise I wasn't, so I am pleasantly surprised!  I encountered 6 deer, 2 raccoons, a few skunks, and a wild turkey that scared the tar out of me.  Although the runner behind me had a fun time making up his own scary theme songs in the dark.  I have determined this type of ultra race will make you do some strange things! 

The Marble Falls Tri my husband did Sunday was a blast too!   It wasn't quite Olympic distance, but close. I met Ed Ortiz a pro from the area, and he ran it in 1 hour 15 min.  I couldn't believe how fast he was!!  My husband came in top 5 somewhere in his AG (they are working on the times, someone might be DQ'ed pending running splits).  I am super proud of him!  

I have some good blisters, but overall my feet feel ok, my body feels ok, and my spirits are high.  I am going to take it easy, see the doctor this week, and decide how to proceed in my training.  

Glad to hear everyone is doing great!!! 

Good weekend here, too.  Hot, but still productive.  Had a fun (short) ride with my kids yesterday...tried to watch the final stage of the TdF, but the little man could only take a few minutes before he wanted to go ride instead!  He always wants to be out front...my dad went out ahead to take a picture for us:

Dropped the kids (and trailer) with my parents after this 4 mi trail loop, and rode another 12 miles to get in my workout for the day.  It was getting hot, so we spent the afternoon playing in the sprinklers and generally taking it easy.  Had a bunch of family over for a BBQ in the evening and got this shirt as a birthday present from my folks...they're smarta**es, but still it's pretty true!  I think this will be my new race-day shirt...

Going to be another hot one today, so I think I'll push off the run until tomorrow and hit the pool today.  Have a good week, everyone! 

Hey, sounds like a productive weekend for many of us!

Regarding the hills/heat discussion, I have been thinking how much lately I like hills. Downhills.   A long flat course, regardless of temp, can be so grueling.  While I don't really enjoy climbing the change in pace really helps. 

I had my sprint race on Saturday; it was interesting in a few ways.  This is a bit more detail than my RR:

Swim:  I have done about 26-27 open water swims in a race setting and this was the first time I swam without a wet suit.  Surprisingly, we were allowed to wear them but the temp was 85 degrees.  That just seemed silly, so I figured I would try it since it wasn't an A race and in a pretty protected pond with good lifeguard support.  I really am such an un-confident swimmer, I wasn't sure I could do it without the buoyancy.   Surprisingly, I managed just fine  Not my best race swim by a LONG way, but a huge achievement personally.

Bike:  I decided to push the bike and try to remember the girl who used to be marginally better on the bike than anything else.  I have gotten incredibly lazy on race day by not pushing myself when the bike gets hard.   I went for it and completed the bike 7th fastest in the AG (of 25).  We were rained on steadily for basically the entire bike, it was hard to tell rain from road spray at points, including a very very hard downpour for a few minutes.   Fortunately the course wasn't technical so the rain was mostly a nuisance.

Run: I knew going into it the run started uphill.  But this was no gradual grade, this was a real hill.   I shuffle/walked the first mile due to the hill and the hard pace on the bike.  My legs actually hurt!  I was really feeling discouraged.  Fortunately, just near the end of my rope, the road flattened and eventually I started the descent home.   Suddenly I could run again and made up as much time as possible.

On Sunday I wanted to rest, which is my custom after a race.  Instead, I went on a medium length run as part of the prep for Ragnar.  I'll have no choice but to run fatigued and this was a good mental workout.   I actually felt fine!  I am glad I went.

My weekend was great - Saturday was the Warrior Dash - I finished 3.55 miles + obstacles in 56 minutes - about 15 of those minutes were spent waiting to GET to the obstacles!!  It was a zoo!!!

The rest of the weekend was a rest weekend - yesterday was my 25th high school reunion picnic including FRESH crab, literally pulled from the water 2 hours previous.  It was worth going over my calories for the day!!

Tonight is swim team/gym night which means a treadmill run, weight training and then an hour of Master's swim team.  I'm down in weight and want to keep it going in the right direction.  Next race in 3 weeks...Oly distance tri, literally doubling my longest effort to date!

(warrior dash.JPG)

LauraLynn!  You looks awesome and MUDDY!!  Super fun.

I biked in a Thunderstorm on Saturday morning, and on Sunday biked to a beach, swam for 40 minutes, met my family for breakfast, then biked almost all the way home, got a flat, and jogged/walked the last two miles...!   I took this morning off, but still got up at 5:00 and met a friend in need for coffee...

Congratulations to Bikergrrrl, ecozenmama, and Lauralynne on your races over the weekend!

I had another decent weekend of training (40 mile ride on Sat. and 8 mile run on Sunday, with a strength session thrown in), finishing off a solid two week block.  However, I am feeling myself breaking/wearing down and think that I need to back off a bit this week.  I hate to change things up when things are rolling along so well (and rest/recovery weeks drive me crazy), but deep down I know it is the right thing to do in the long term.   I'm only a month and a half out from my next event, and I'll want to get another build or two in before then. 

I'll second the congrats to those who completed events over the weekend.  That tends to be the best motivation to keep up with the training...I know I can't wait for my next "race"!

You're absolutely right that the rest/recovery weeks are key to long-term success.  In the long run, they will help keep you from injury and let you KEEP rolling along.  And with 6 weeks to go, you still have time for (2) more 2-wk build/1-wk rest cycles.  Stick to your plan and Good luck!

(By the way...I'm already envious of your Long Bike/Long Run distances...so good job!)

WOW!  Great weekend for the racers.  Congratulations everybody.

I went to the pool tonight.  Will most likely increase swims from 3 night to 4 nights a week (M/Tu/Th/F).  It felt great.  10-50's on 60 second intervals, 3-100's on 2 minute intervals, 800 yds total.  I am pleased with the way the shoulder is reacting to the swimming.

Is it too late to jump into the group?   I have been away from triathlons for over a year due to very bad shin splints which have finally improved enough for me to get back to exercising.  I volunteered both days at the NJ State this past weekend and am fired up to get back to training.  I did not realize how much I missed it until I was there and not racing.

Way to go!!!

0730 - Bike - 9 miles - 43:55 - avg 12.26 mph - Boy, this was a rough one!  I knew by the end of the first mile that I was in trouble.  I don't know whether I went out too hard or maybe the workouts of the past three weeks have caught up to me.  The mapmyride app didn't recognize my phone as a GPS device so I don't have any split times.  The second lap felt even worse.  For all of that I still finished only about 90 seconds slower than my best time.  Granted, that's only 4 times at this distance.

Is a 12-13 mph time decent for a hybrid bike?  I  am REALLY looking forward to getting a real road bike the beginning of August so I'll know whether it's the bike or the motor that isn't performing well.  I also have to consider the fact that I've only got 8 rides under my seat so far.

One of the BIG problems for me is my own brain.  See, I used to referee USAC bike races and I've worked both the Tour of Georgia and the Tour of Missouri.  Those guys routinely travel at 22-23 mph, and I've followed guys who were cooking along at 25 mph for over 60 miles.  I can't help but think that my 12-13 mph is pretty piddlin'.  What would be a respectable speed to strive toward?

OCD?  Stupidity?  Over-zealousness?  Dedication?  Obviously I prefer to think of it as the last one.

Somewhere along the way I had observed that I might come close to 100 activity points on my Weight Watchers tracker this week.  That zeroes itself out tomorrow morning.  After my ride this morning I saw that I was at 95 points, so close, yet so far.  Like I said earlier in my ride report I was bummin' and worried about doing too much too soon.  But finally it got the better of me and I just HAD to go into the pool today and get those 5 points.  So the swim workout looked lie this:

• 5-50's on 60 seconds
• 2-100's on 90 seconds
• 1-200 on 120 seconds
• 2-100's on 90 seconds
• 5-50's on 60 seconds
• Total - 1100 yards

Headwinds ,,, do they really matter or am I grasping at straws here?  I've been bummin' all day about this morning's ride and the lost time.  On the way home from the pool this afternoon I started to wonder if headwinds could have had anything to do with.  The first third of each lap was straight on into a pretty good headwind.  But the rest of the course is pretty protected, so there was no corresponding tailwind to make  up for it.

Would some of the more experienced folks here be willing to look at my training calendar and tell me if I'm overdoing it?  I don't think I am, but inside this dilapidated 53 yr old prison lieutenant there is a 21 yr old Marine who just wants to charge hard.

You can't really see a pattern to the swims yet but my intention is to swim Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri evenings.  All my walks and rides are in the mornings.  I plan to add 100 yds per workout to 1600 yards, while at the same time increasing my steps, phasing out the 50's and working up to a straight 1600.

LOVE the shirt....NEED the shirt!

I can't tell you if you're overdoing it or not, not sure anyone really can, but at some point you have to listen to your body and give yourself a chance to reset.  You seem like you are one of the hardest working people on this site, always pushing every day and keeping a good track of everything.  From the sounds of it, you're kicking and taking names every day of the week but you also don't want to get burnt out.

Riding in what looked like the apocalypse:

+'s No one on the road; cool looking sky; nice temperatures; the threat of the end of the world makes you pedal that much faster

-'s Periods of rain; slippery roads; wind pushing me everywhere

When I left the house it just looked like sunset, 5 minutes later I was in the middle of a downpour, 5 minutes after that it was beautiful.  All in all a good ride, especially with the leg absolutely killing me the last few days after my run, on the bike it feels fine.  Almost up to 20mph avg on the ride so I think I have to increase the distance.  Also have to bring the bike into the shop this week to get the front shifter fixed up.  Good thing is Shimano is aware of the issues with the shifters so they sent a new one out for free.  Only thing I'll owe is for a new cable and a 12 pack of IPA for my buddy at the shop.