brick94513-GoGoGo Mentor Group - Closed For Now! (Page 91)

Meulen - 2010-08-30 6:25 AM My wife did great this weekend at the Chicago tri. It was kind of fun being on the sidelines taking pics for once. I'm really debating something here. IM Louisville opens for 2011 registration tomorrow. I want to do an IM! But I want to be smart about it. I want to finish comfortably. I have a friend that's a very experienced triathlete I was thinking of doing it with. He thinks he may do IM Wisconsin instead. I don't want WI to be my first. I don't think the course caters to my success. Now I really don't know if I want to do it on my own without support and someone with me in the race. So now I don't know if I want to sign up for 2011. I'm thinking about doing 1-2 HIM's next season reguardless, but I can't decide if I'm going to regret waiting till 2012 to do an IM. Any thoughts?

brick94513 - 2010-08-30 9:03 AM



I would wait for 2012.  While you might be able to pull it off, you are talking about a pretty demanding schedule.  Also, while not necessary, running a stand alone marathon before an IM would be smart.

norcal_SAHD - 2010-08-30 8:21 AM my race report from Saturday is up, http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=224458&posts=1&start=1

In short, I sucked...  Not sure what happened on the swim, I can only hope the course was super long or something.  I actually felt fine, swam smooth and finished with the pack, but my time (my father in law timed my swim) was BAD at 3:30/100.  Anyway, considering my lack of training recently and the distractedness of life getting in the way of tri's, I guess I'm happy with the overall effort, but I certainly am bummed to actually be about a minute slower than I was at this race last year.

Meulen - 2010-08-30 9:11 AM As usual, great advice. I'll schedule a half and full marathon for next season as well.

brick94513 - 2010-08-30 9:29 AM

Well, lets just say my race this weekend had less than optimal conditions.  Race morning was in the 40s with 15-25 mph winds.  The lake was nasty. No exaggeration, the lake had continuous three foot chop pushing onshore.  Conditions were so poor that the race director cut the long course to one swim lap (800 yards) and the short course to aroung the pier.  The swim was more a test in survival than an actual swim.  The lifeguards had to pluck several people out of the water prior to the first buoy.  Being a smaller guy, I really got beat up in the water.  I struggled, but managed to make my way through. 73/121.

Bike course was as I remembered from last year.  Nothing special. I had one crash when another guy rode into my rear tire on a switchback.  Unfortunately, I was about 10 minutes off my goal time for the bike.  This bike course is probably one of the hardest XTERRAs out there.  This course served as the XTERRA Nationals for 8 years.  39/119.

Run was painful.  I didn't expect much here considering my recent injuries and low running volume.  Course was all single track weaving through the village green.  There were numerous obstacles to transverse too.  I felt fine aerobically, but just couldn't get my legs moving.  My lower back and VMOs were tight and sore.  The run was definately a struggle-fest.  55/115.

While this wasn't a great showing for me, I did pretty much what needed to be done.  I finished 38th overall and 6th in AG, received 47/75 points, and finished without any new injuries.  This weekend ended the 2010 XTERRA season; I should know about my standing and Nationals by Wednesday.

brick94513 - 2010-08-30 9:29 AM Well, lets just say my race this weekend had less than optimal conditions.  Race morning was in the 40s with 15-25 mph winds.  The lake was nasty. No exaggeration, the lake had continuous three foot chop pushing onshore.  Conditions were so poor that the race director cut the long course to one swim lap (800 yards) and the short course to aroung the pier.  The swim was more a test in survival than an actual swim.  The lifeguards had to pluck several people out of the water prior to the first buoy.  Being a smaller guy, I really got beat up in the water.  I struggled, but managed to make my way through. 73/121.

Bike course was as I remembered from last year.  Nothing special. I had one crash when another guy rode into my rear tire on a switchback.  Unfortunately, I was about 10 minutes off my goal time for the bike.  This bike course is probably one of the hardest XTERRAs out there.  This course served as the XTERRA Nationals for 8 years.  39/119.

Run was painful.  I didn't expect much here considering my recent injuries and low running volume.  Course was all single track weaving through the village green.  There were numerous obstacles to transverse too.  I felt fine aerobically, but just couldn't get my legs moving.  My lower back and VMOs were tight and sore.  The run was definately a struggle-fest.  55/115.

While this wasn't a great showing for me, I did pretty much what needed to be done.  I finished 38th overall and 6th in AG, received 47/75 points, and finished without any new injuries.  This weekend ended the 2010 XTERRA season; I should know about my standing and Nationals by Wednesday.

croixfan - 2010-08-30 8:01 AM How can a weekend where you introduce your 8 year old to the fun be all bad!!!  OK, so results weren't what you expected; but, like you said, you've got a lot going on right now.  Taking a month off of training for the swim and still getting through it is an accomplisment in and of itself.

Meulen - 2010-08-30 6:25 AM I'm thinking about doing 1-2 HIM's next season reguardless, but I can't decide if I'm going to regret waiting till 2012 to do an IM. Any thoughts?

norcal_SAHD - 2010-08-30 8:07 AM

The weekend was great, my race performance was just bad.  I can pretty easily separate the two and not let one ruin the enjoyment of the other.  Fwiw, it was actually my daughters 4th and 5th tri's this weekend!  So far, in her 5 tri's she has 4 plaques.  I have zero...

Sunday was especially cool, she did the Luna all women's triathlon with my wife.  It was a much longer swim, 200 yards (compared to the 50 yards of her usual tri swims) but still a short 4 mile bike on closed roads, and a one mile run.  They did the entire event together, it was awesome!  I was their sherpa for the day. 

dhopman - 2010-08-30 12:25 PM



I agree with Tim. You could definitely do an IM, but it would be much smarter to do a HIM and fully mary in first to get an appreciation for the distance. The volume is pretty crazy for an IM. I've been looking over the 20 week plan which I'll be using for IMTX - starting January - and it's b-a-n-a-n-a-s. It peaks at 18 hours per week. The average training week is over 13 hours during the 3 main build phases. Usually you'll have 3 days each week of double workouts. Only one rest day per week. I'm a little scared to be honest. I think you can get by on less volume but I'll try to do the best I can. The name of the game will be doing lots of training before work so you can still get some time in with the family after work.

Marathon training by itself is a big deal. I ran 66.5 miles over the last two weeks and I'm not in the really scary portion of my training yet. Imagine throwing in 3 swims per week and tons of time in the saddle. Go for a HIM first then make the decision!

norcal_SAHD - 2010-08-30 8:07 AM
They did the entire event together, it was awesome!  I was their sherpa for the day. 

dhopman - 2010-08-30 10:36 AM Tim - maybe the waters of Lake Tahoe are sending you a sign?!?

When/where is that? Hopefully you have some time to get a little more hard training in so you can compete in top shape.

brick94513 - 2010-08-30 10:42 PM



No kidding...  The conditions were worse than any ocean swim I have ever done. 



September 25th, Ogden, Utah, Snowbasin Resort.  Between now and then I'm mainly going to focus on the swim.

My fire department has an internal marine rescue program which responds in conjunction with State Parks to open water emergencies.  I've been offerred the opportunity to train for a position.  It just so happens that the week long state lifeguard course is the week before Nationals.  This will give me a huge amount of time in the ocean before the race!

brick94513 - 2010-08-31 8:33 PM Got my marine rescue qualification swim in today while at work.  We had to do a 1,000 yard swim in the ocean in 20 minutes.  It was a shore start to a buoy and back.  No issues.  I made the swim in 18:43.  While not my best performance, it makes the standard.

brick94513 - 2010-09-01 8:52 PM

Look what I received today:

Congratulations! It’s my pleasure to invite you to compete in the XTERRA USA National Championship race to be held in Ogden, Utah on September 25, 2010.

brick94513 - 2010-09-01 6:52 PM

Look what I received today:

Congratulations! It’s my pleasure to invite you to compete in the XTERRA USA National Championship race to be held in Ogden, Utah on September 25, 2010.

brick94513 - 2010-09-01 6:52 PM

Look what I received today:

Congratulations! It’s my pleasure to invite you to compete in the XTERRA USA National Championship race to be held in Ogden, Utah on September 25, 2010.

brick94513 - 2010-09-01 6:52 PM

Look what I received today:

Congratulations! It’s my pleasure to invite you to compete in the XTERRA USA National Championship race to be held in Ogden, Utah on September 25, 2010.

brick94513 - 2010-09-02 11:41 AM

How's everyone doing with their training?  Anyone have any races coming up?

It was a hard decision, but I decided to forgo the two HIM races I had scheduled for the end of the year.  Instead, I'm going to do two more olympic distance off-road races then focus on cross training for the rest of the year.  I really think I need a few weeks of reduced running volume to heal.

I would love to finish the year at XTERRA Worlds in Kona, but the chances of me finishing in the top three at Nationals is very unlikely.  Not being pessimistic, just realistic about the competition.  I'm thinking I'll make this a goal for 2011.