Penn State's mentor group - CLOSED! (Page 91)

I think it is pretty amazing that two guys who met via a Mentor group complete 140.6 miles and finish less than 2 minutes apart.  Josh and Fred pretty much crossed the line at the same time.  Awesome job by all 4 members of our group who raced today.  Congrats and it looks like all the hard work paid off!

I saw that times and thought the same thing!!

Impressive day for all 4 of our group!! Congratulations to all of you!!

WittyCityGirl - 2010-07-26 3:17 PM Thank you all for your thoughts and encouragement!!!I'm feeling pretty great but the delayed fatigue and soreness is creeping in. I'm happy to report that fred josh and dylan are extraordinary guys and i'm so happy i was able to meet them in person. I'll get a race report up when i can get on a computer.

Congratulations Sara!!! I am looking forward to reading your race report!! Rest up and recover well!!

THANKS for all of your support EVERYONE! It was a great day...and i did a LOT better than i thought possible. And...i got to meet a lot of BTer's..so that was really great!

Great job sara, fred, and josh!!!

Great job Dylan!!! Congratulations!!

IM times are funny to predict... I thought I could double my HIM time (just under 6 hours) and tack on an hour of wiggle room.  I actually said to my mom the day before the race "If I don't come in under 14 hours then something seriously bad happened to me" and I came in just under 14 1/2 hours and in hindsight it wasn't that something seriously bad happened, I just hit a wall for about an hour, but was able to strategize to get through it.

I'm very, very thankful I held back on the bike.  It was tough getting passed by literally THOUSANDS of people.  I was 400-something out of the water and was well over 2,000 something for the bike. Ouch. BUT, I had solid legs for the first 17 miles of the run.  If you can keep yourself from falling apart on the run then you should be able to make that cut off if you're committed to the race. =)

First, as far as motivation I struggle at times after big races to get back at it after recovering.  Usually what gets me going is getting registered for the next race but even that doesn't work sometimes!  It took me quite a bit of down time after IMLP in 2008 to get back at it.  Which leads me to my next point on knowing when you are ready.  I am pretty sure when I registered for 2008 I wasn't ready.  I had only completed one sprint tri with a pool swim.  Watching the online finishes got me hooked and I got in online!  But I put the work in and was pretty happy with the time I finished.  And the experience is something that is almost indescribable.  I do think one of the biggest challenges of IM's is that you have to sign up a year ahead of time and the motivation to get started training for first times is huge, but you cant train for a year for one event without risking burnout.  So your thoughts to some other events and focus on them with a little break is a good one.

But Chris is right, it is the time commitment to the training that is the biggest part of racing an IM.  If you have the time to commit to the training and the long runs and rides most every weekend for the 17 - 20 weeks before the race, you can get yourself ready.  I would also suggest, as you have mentioned, that you get some focus on improving the bike.  I used the winter maintenance - bike focus for the 8 weeks before the IM plan started.  It certainly helped!!

If you can't volunteer, the online seems to be a bit more available since they make you pay when you sign up but it still goes quick.  Volunteering is a good way get a feel for what to expect on race day too.  There is the community fund route available, but I think that about doubles the entry fee.

What ever you decide to do, good luck and enjoy the experience!