Dominion's Sprint and Olympic Distance - OPEN !!! (Page 9)

2016-03-22 7:12 PM

in reply to: nrpoulin

Veteran

1016

Deep South, Georgia

Subject: RE: Cough, hack!

Originally posted by nrpoulin No but did spend a night in the ED due to closing my daughters thumb in the door. It was broken and included a nail bed laceration which we had a plastic surgeon fix. Cass less than a month go. How are you doing? Nate

Yes Cass, how about an update!

2016-03-23 2:49 PM

in reply to: nrpoulin

212

Pacific Northwest, Washington

Subject: RE: Cough, hack!

Originally posted by nrpoulin
Cass less than a month go. How are you doing?

I'm doing well, thanks. I'm a germaphobe, so I've managed to keep myself healthy and avoid the sicknesses that seem to be going around. I think by doing an active recovery from the accident, rather than just sitting around, I healed up pretty quickly, although it took about four weeks for the bruises on my legs to heal completely. My doctor had prescribed six weeks of physical therapy, but I canceled it. I'm back to full training now, with about ten days more to go before I start tapering. And on top of hours of daily training, hauling branches to the curb and stacking logs on the weekends and evenings to clear my yard of tree trimming debris before the city comes to pick up yard waste next week. I'm pretty much constantly exhausted anymore. But that counts as strength training, right?

I've ordered a custom jersey for my race. It has a red, orange, and yellow flame pattern on the sleeves that match my bike, and I'm having my son's photo printed on the left side, right above my heart. And on the back, forget-me-nots (the Alaska State flower) with "I will never forget" in blue, his favorite color. Hopefully, it should be here next week. And when I'm on that long run and feel like curling in a fetal position and sobbing like a two-year-old, I'll be able to look down and see his face, which will give me inspiration to keep going.

Oh, and the tree trimming? That was done to clear out some trees that were growing through an old garden shed in my back yard. I'm going to renovate it this summer and turn it into a bike shed. It'll be a great place to store all my bikes and create a permanent space for working on them. It's going to be awesome!

Nate, ouch on your daughter's thumb! I know how painful that can be; I slammed my hand in a car door about 30 years ago. I hope she heals quickly!

scottjjmtri99

2016-03-26 9:01 PM

in reply to: burner2

New user

178

Subject: Indoor Tri

Hey everyone, I"m still here. Been reading the emails BT sends out from the group, just don't seem to have the time to log in and reply often. Been studying hard for a certification exam this coming Tuesday. Things have been so crazy that I haven't made the time to train consistently. I'll have a few days in a row where things seem to go well and then I fall off the wagon again and don't do anything for another week or two. Well, I've ran in 3 races in the past week. An 8k and 5k last Sunday (Irish Double) and then an Indoor Tri at the local YMCA today.

The Irish double I planned to just run for fun as I am not in any type of shape to actually attempt to race. I set a goal to average under 8 minute miles for both races and I pulled it off. 39:32 in the 8k and 24:34 in the 5k. I walked away happy and physically sore from the races. I spent the rest of the week staying active (walking, climbing stair cases, ect) but did not get any run, bike, swimming in prior to todays indoor tri.

I haven't been in the pool all year so I was rather nervous about the swim and went into race with a I"m gonna have fun and just finish the race type attitude. No pressure what so ever. We start out on the spin bikes again this year. Times on the bikes were fast like usual. I was off the bike in just over 20 minutes for 12 miles, 3rd off the bike, and onto the treadmill. I was rather certain I was gonna be sucking wind on the treadmill, the few times I jumped on mine this year I was hurting quickly. There was an unusual aura at todays race though. I felt like I was in the zone and consistently upped the speed on the mill as each 1/2 mile passed and finished 2nd off the mill. Finally the 500m swim. I haven't been in the pool this year so I figured it'd be a rather tough endeavor to swim like I had last year, and went in with a slow and steady mentality. I had a brief moment of uh oh I"m not gonna be able to do this about 3 laps into the swim, but gathered my thoughts and focused on "just keep swimming" attitude. My swim time was 10:29 and good for second overall of 13 participants. I'm very happy with how things went today. Today's race feels like I'm ready to come back to training consistently and see what I can do this race season. Still don't have any races set in stone but I have a tentative plan depending on my on-call rotation at work. I know what I need to do, now I just need to pass this exam and get back to training!

2016-03-27 12:15 AM

in reply to: scottjjmtri99

212

Pacific Northwest, Washington

Subject: My longest bike ride ever!

Spent a training day in the Big City (Spokane, LOL). First, with a morning swim lesson. I've been able to take a couple of private lessons with a USAT coach this winter, in addition to attending masters swim classes once a week, and I'm finally making some progress. I can swim pretty comfortably breathing bilaterally, and I'm not wasting nearly as much energy as in the past. My swim coach said I'm swimming about 2:00-2:05 per 100 yards now. I think that's a bit of an over-estimate as when I time myself in my local pool, I'm swimming about 2:40 per hundred yards. One factor here could be the pool where I take lessons is an unknown length (we guess maybe 23 yards), while my local pool is exactly 20 yards.

Second, I then tried out trail that's a favorite of Spokane cyclists, the Fish Lake Trail (which, curiously, doesn't go to Fish Lake...). It's pretty flat, so more like the Ironman course I'll be riding in a couple of weeks. It's only 9.47 miles, so I did three trips out and back, for a total of 56.4 miles. I've never ridden that far before! The furthest I've ridden to date has been about 35 miles on the road and 40 miles on the trainer. And, with all the kids and dogs and bikes and groups of adults who liked to block the entire trail while socializing, it was a great opportunity for me to practice bike control since I'm still getting used to my tri bike. I didn't push myself, just tried to ride pretty consistently and go the distance, which I did in 3:41:49. I discovered a couple of things. First, my tri shorts from last year are WAY TOO BIG! It was like wearing a very lose, saggy diaper. The odd thing is I'm only a few pounds lighter than this time last year, so it must be I've turned some flab into muscle. So, next weekend is going to require a trip to REI for new tri shorts!

Also, I got one of those Profile Design aero bar mount water bottles, and it's too far away for me to reach. I'm not sure how to fix that. I may have to look into a different design to get one with a straw closer to my mouth. Either that, or maybe heat up this straw and try to bend it.

And after the swim and the bike, I, of course, did a short brick run. Just a couple of miles. I'm very tired tonight, but now I know I should be able to do the bike portion of my race in about 3:30:00. The two factors that could affect that are weather and flat tires. I need to practice changing a flat!

Hey, Scott! Congrats on your runs and indoor tri! And good luck on your upcoming exam!

2016-03-27 10:22 AM

in reply to: scottjjmtri99

595	Subject: RE: Indoor Tri Nice to hear from you Scott! and congrats on the races. Good luck on your exam Tuesday! Nate My Race Log

2016-03-28 9:56 AM

in reply to: burner2

Veteran

1016

Deep South, Georgia

Subject: RE: My longest bike ride ever!

Glad to hear your are healing up and getting in some quality training. It sounds like you are just about ready to tackle NOLA70.3.

Not sure what to tell you about the drinking system unless you can adjust the mount somehow. I've not used one of those so not sure how it sets up exactly.

Great idea on your custom jersey. That will provide all the motivation you need I'm sure.

2016-03-28 10:08 AM

in reply to: scottjjmtri99

Veteran

1016

Deep South, Georgia

Subject: RE: Indoor Tri

That's a pretty good result on little training. It just goes to show that once you establish a good base, much of it will stay with you longer than you might realize. Once you get serious about training again, you should be back in form in no time and ready to make more gains.

2016-03-29 9:54 AM

in reply to: burner2

595	Subject: RE: My longest bike ride ever! Can you post a photo. I have a profile designs set up. May be able to make some recs. Nate My Race Log

2016-03-31 7:31 PM

in reply to: Dominion

Veteran

1016

Deep South, Georgia

Subject: March

March was a mixed bag for me this year. March training came in like a lamb and went out like a lion. Happy with my swim training this month and the bike volume was pretty good for March. Got 70 miles in this past 4 days now that the weather has finally turned. I continued to struggle with knee pain while running which limited my volume again, but I started feeling better this last week so I am optimistic that I have turned a corner and can get back to my normal volume and consistency on the run.

S: 21,100 yards

B: 200 miles

R: 38 miles

HelmoAlkou

2016-04-01 8:20 AM

in reply to: 0

Veteran

604

Cleburne, Texas

Subject: RE: March

Tomorrow is six weeks from race day! In spite of working 29 of 35 twelve hour days I've managed to stay on target with my training (My wife said she felt widowed). The weather has cooperated for the most part. An 80 mile ride in a 35 mph wind sucks no matter how you look at it and the allocation rain can put me on the trainer or treadmill for hours. I had to get out of the pool Wednesday for a tornado warning. My best day so far was a brick workout this past Monday where I got in a 2 mile swim, 107 mile ride, and a 6 mile run. I've got my nutrition/hydration dialed in and everything seems to be clicking.

Swim: 12h 36m 40s - 22.04 miles

Bike: 32h 34m 30s - 479.33 M

Run: 17h 30m 06s - 104.07 M

Strength: 7h 20m

** occasional rain...not sure where allocation came from, lol. It was early.

Edited by HelmoAlkou 2016-04-01 1:06 PM

2016-04-01 2:21 PM

in reply to: Dominion

541

North Grafton, Massachusetts

Subject: RE: March

Swim:1h 57m 26s - 5300 M
Bike:1h 37m 14s - 27.18 Mi
Run:6h 09m 50s - 40.67 Mi

My totals are down significantly this month. Largely, that is due to losing 10 days or so when I had the flu. And even when I started feeling better and started doing workouts, my distances were lower as I eased back into the routine. I also got in the bad habit of relying on the weather to improve so I could ride outside instead of on my trainer. When it turned out that the weather didn't cooperate, I never made the commitment to get on my trainer. I went 3 weeks without a bike workout, so my numbers on the bike are way, way down. Lastly, toss in a lost weekend because of Easter and it was a pretty poor training month.

The good news is that my health has returned for the most part. I still have a little bit of a runny nose, especially when I start exercising, but otherwise I'm ready to get back into a better routine of training. I'm paying the price a little in terms of what I'm capable of. My average running pace right now on a typical moderate effort training run is close to 30 seconds per mile slower than what I was doing before I got sick. It seems crazy to drop that much time after only 10-14 days, but that's what I'm dealing with. Hopefully, I can get close to reclaiming that lost speed in just a few weeks. My first tri isn't for another 2 1/2 months, so there isn't exactly a huge rush to get it back. I just hate that I lost it in the first place. :-(

2016-04-01 7:55 PM

in reply to: rjchilds8

595

Subject: RE: March

Not the March I was hoping for but not bad overall. I cut my long runs as my orthotics are being adjusted and in the past anything over 4.5 had caused problems. Otherwise pretty decent month. Bike and run up but a little under goal. Also added some strength/pyometeric workouts. My wife did the beach body 21 day fix last year and has been doing their videos. She wanted to do Hammer & Chissel together and we are two weeks in. I haven't always made these workouts favoring tri training when things get tight

SWIM 3h 15m 43s - 10400.00 Yd
BIKE 9h 13m 10s - 163.77 Mi
RUN 8h 18m 18s - 58.29 Mi
Strength 2h 30m

Good luck Monty!

2016-04-02 7:01 AM

in reply to: HelmoAlkou

Veteran

1016

Deep South, Georgia

Subject: RE: March

Monty, those are some great numbers, and while working 12 hour days!

That is a heavy workload and some serious dedication. You'll have a great race!

2016-04-03 1:22 AM

in reply to: Dominion

212

Pacific Northwest, Washington

Subject: March

S: 26,520.00 yards
B: 322.41 miles
R: 75.48 miles

I logged my highest numbers of swim and bike miles ever in this month, and second highest run miles. I also logged my longest run ever—9.0 miles of actual running—and my longest run workout—11.01 miles on another day, but that includes some walking. I’m beginning my taper week now, thankfully, as I’m pretty exhausted and my house is a mess and I don’t think my cat knows who I am anymore. I don’t know how those of you who have kids can do this! OMG!

I’m all packed for New Orleans. My custom jersey has arrived, and my bike gets shipped out on Thursday. Only two more weeks!

2016-04-03 1:24 AM

in reply to: HelmoAlkou

212

Pacific Northwest, Washington

Subject: RE: March

Originally posted by HelmoAlkou

My best day so far was a brick workout this past Monday where I got in a 2 mile swim, 107 mile ride, and a 6 mile run.

Erm....you must be training for a FULL IM, right? Wow!

HelmoAlkou

2016-04-03 5:28 AM

in reply to: burner2

Veteran

604

Cleburne, Texas

Subject: RE: March

Erm....you must be training for a FULL IM, right? Wow!

Yes, it's a full. But you're racing in two weeks!! I have a couple of friends who have done New Orleans and they loved it. It's on my bucket list.

Good luck and enjoy your tapper, you've earned it!

2016-04-08 10:49 AM

in reply to: rjchilds8

541

North Grafton, Massachusetts

Subject: Getting sick

Interesting debate topic between me and my wife. She sent a link to me for an article that talks about exercise and illness. The title of the article is "Exercise when sick", but it covers more than just that topic. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/working-out-when-sick

In the article, the author made the claim that those people that exercise 4 or more days a week are more susceptible to illness than those people that don't exercise at all. I said, HUH?! That didn't make any sense to me at all. I read the article and the author seems to be claiming that the higher level of exercise negatively impacts part of the immune system.

I'm not going to try to debate any cause and effect. I'm more curious about how other people feel about this statement. Given the group we have here, I'm guessing just about everyone in here exercises at least 4 days a week. How often do you feel you get sick relative to others around you? Personally, I feel like I get less sick than others. If you looked at my history of sick days taken from work, I barely take one day a year! There are exceptions, such as just recently this year when I got a nasty flu. But overall, I feel like I miss far less time at work than many of the people I know. Granted, I work from home, so maybe I'm a little more insulated from some of the viruses that are out there. But isn't like I put myself in quarantine either. I do go out in public and come into contact with other people, plus whatever my wife or kids bring home.

Just wondering if others on this group feel like they get sick more, the same, or less frequently than those around them that don't work out as much.

2016-04-09 3:32 PM

in reply to: rjchilds8

Veteran

1016

Deep South, Georgia

Subject: RE: Getting sick

I could see how the case for high levels of exercise causing sickness could be made by leaving the body tired and weakened in the short term, which could allow an infection to take hold.

In my case, I haven't seen any difference. I almost always manage to get sick one good time per winter. A good case of the flu or bronchitis or whatnot each year usually puts me down for a bout a week. I can count on it. But that has been the case for me for many years with the same pattern holding true even when I was not training full time and got much less exercise.

I think a lot it depends on other life factors as well. I know having small kids and a wife that works in the school system, I have very little chance of not being exposed to something at some point.

2016-04-10 6:41 PM

in reply to: rjchilds8

212

Pacific Northwest, Washington

Subject: RE: Getting sick

Originally posted by rjchilds8
Just wondering if others on this group feel like they get sick more, the same, or less frequently than those around them that don't work out as much.

I always have gotten sick less often than those around me, even before I started working out. Since then, I don't think I've become more prone to getting sick. However, now I'm much more conscious of those around me who ARE sick, especially in the weeks leading up to a race. Like now! The Nasty has been going around work and church like the plague, taking out people for weeks at a time. Stay away!

MMW37

2016-04-10 7:09 PM

in reply to: #5158713

157

Subject: RE: Dominion's Sprint and Olympic Distance Tri Group - CLOSED

I've been sick for about one of every 4-6 weeks for a year. It's awful. I work out more than 4x/wk when I'm healthy, but I don't think that's the culprit. I have a baby who still wakes up multiple times a night, and job with call a couple of times a week that wakes me up as well. And two kids in daycare bringing home germs. I get sick only slightly more than my husband does. He doesn't exercise, but also doesn't take call and gets up with baby maybe twice a week. Regardless, it sucks! I just lost another week to a nasty cold, and two weeks ago my son had influenza so I barely got to the gym. Hoping my immune system improves someday.

2016-04-10 9:07 PM

in reply to: rjchilds8

541

North Grafton, Massachusetts

Subject: Another 5K in the books

Had my second 5K of the season today. My back was acting up about 2 hours before the race, so I was worried that it would kill my time like it happened in my first race of the year. I stretched it at home a little over an hour before the race and then again at the race venue. I guess I did enough because it didn't affect my performance at all. I did feel a slight amount of discomfort, but not enough to slow me down at all. Surprisingly, in the first 1/4 mile I felt a tightness in my calf which made me worry that would cramp. I nursed it slightly for maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile and the feeling went away.

Overall, I was happy with my time of 25:30. The course was long. My GPS had it at 3.19 and another person in our run group said hers measured it at 3.18. The biggest issue for me was being stuck in the middle of the pack at the start of the race. It was a slow start and I had to weave through a lot of traffic. Numerous times I had to slow down to wait for an opening to pass people or I got boxed in and had just bide my time. It probably took until 3/4 mile into the race before I could pass people without obstruction.

Still, I managed to finish the first mile in 8:00. A little surprisingly, my second mile was the fastest at 7:59. It was only 1 second faster than the first, but it had the most uphill running in the race. I really started getting annoyed with some dude running next to me. I'd start chugging by him at my consistent pace and then he'd surge to get back ahead of me. When he slowed, I'd methodically work past him and then he'd surge again. Not sure the point of doing that, but I found it annoying. Anyway, just short of the 2 mile mark I passed him for good. I think I spent almost the entire 3rd mile working to keep my pace up just so I wouldn't have to see him again! LOL Mile 3 was in about 8:11. I pushed the last 0.18 or 0.18 at a 7:00/mile pace to try to finish strong.

I don't see my name in the official results, so I don't know my exact finish time. My GPS watch has it at 25:30. The race clock was in the 25:40-25:44 range when I crossed the timing mats, but I know I had to have been at least 12-14 seconds behind the people standing on the start line. So I feel like 25:30 is going to be pretty close to accurate. Like I said, given the extra distance and the obstacles in my way, I'm pretty happy about that result.

2016-04-10 9:38 PM

in reply to: MMW37

595

Subject: RE: Dominion's Sprint and Olympic Distance Tri Group - CLOSED

I get 1 or 2 annoying colds a year, but have never missed a day of work, or school. I do train when sick but I am more likely to skip a workout or just go easy. I am exposed to everything in the hospital, and routinely work shifts lasting 30 hours.

Looked at a couple articles referenced in that paper. A number are really old, and others sight opinion and survey data. Probably something to extremely strenuous activities weakening the immune system. Difficult to determine what is strenuous and what isn't.

Nate

2016-04-11 5:34 AM

in reply to: 0

Veteran

1016

Deep South, Georgia

Subject: RE: Another 5K in the books

Originally posted by rjchilds8 I really started getting annoyed with some dude running next to me. I'd start chugging by him at my consistent pace and then he'd surge to get back ahead of me. When he slowed, I'd methodically work past him and then he'd surge again. Not sure the point of doing that, but I found it annoying. Anyway, just short of the 2 mile mark I passed him for good. I think I spent almost the entire 3rd mile working to keep my pace up just so I wouldn't have to see him again!

I don't get annoyed by that. I love it when it happens. I've experienced it quite often. It motivates me. When I notice it I'll usually take a second or two to gather myself, then when we are side by side, I'll turn my head and stare at them until they see me. Then I'll hit another gear and drop them. After all of that I am super motivated to run hard so they won't catch back up. It forces me to run harder than maybe I would have otherwise. That scenario has played out many many times without the "surger" ever challenging me again.

Edit to add: If they are "surging" to keep up with you in the first place, it most likely means they are struggling. That is one reason the above works great, especially if you are feeling pretty strong. Just put in a big effort and break them!

Edited by Dominion 2016-04-11 5:35 AM

2016-04-11 11:00 AM

in reply to: Dominion

541

North Grafton, Massachusetts

Subject: RE: Another 5K in the books

Originally posted by Dominion

I didn't give him the stare down, but maybe I should have! LOL I don't know, I just found it irritating. But maybe you're right and I just need to adjust my perspective a little. I will admit that the thought of getting passed by him again somewhere down the last stretch did keep me motivated to maintain my pace. Without that consideration, maybe I would have relaxed a little and posted a slightly slower time. I'll never know for sure, but it's entirely possible. I'm not sure I ever felt strong enough or comfortable enough to "hit another gear and drop them". I'd love to feel like that some day! For now, I'll have to be content with deliberately pulling ahead of him and finishing the last mile plus nearly 30 seconds faster than he did. Oh, yeah, I found that guy's picture in the finish line photos so I have a pretty good idea just how far he was behind me! ;-)