Penn State's mentor group - CLOSED! (Page 94)

kenj - 2010-08-03 6:27 PM

Do I have to sign up for IMAZ to participate?  Today is our 14th anniversery and I would like to see 15!  Since I promised my wife no destination races in 2011 so we can actually use vacation time to go on vacation (I know, novel concept!) I have decided to find a local fall marathon!! 

I am surely enjoying and learning from this group!!

furiousferret - 2010-08-04 1:51 PM I lost one of my earplugs and got a ear infection; seems if I don't wear earplugs my inner ear swells up and feels like someone is hitting it with a bat.  Is this common?

furiousferret - 2010-08-04 10:51 AM I lost one of my earplugs and got a ear infection; seems if I don't wear earplugs my inner ear swells up and feels like someone is hitting it with a bat.  Is this common?

dharris13 - 2010-08-04 11:34 AM

hmm..this is just from swimming in a pool??

PennState - 2010-08-04 2:42 PM

You had a very fast time at LP for your first IM. What's your goal in the next one?

If the goal is just the experience and to finish, then doing 2 may not be so bad.

If the goal is to get a bit faster, then *I* would only do 1 a year max.

calimavs - 2010-08-04 3:05 PM So I'm finally back on the bandwagon with my training after Vineman. I was a lazy slug the past two weeks and managed to gain about 5 pounds which I am NOT happy about. I decided to do Hal Higdon's 18 week novice marathon plan which started yesterday with a quick 3 mile run. So happy to be back on track with a new goal. It's amazing how much more stable and calm my life feels when I have consistent training on the calendar.

I'm also going to sign up for the Santa Cruz Oly in Sept. Will be a fun, no stress race but I expect to PR given my recent high volume coupled with the fact that my only other Oly was Wildflower. Should be a fun fall/winter!

zionvier - 2010-08-04 5:00 PM Sorry I've been away... got a new job and just started this week.  Previously I was filled with interviews and stuff, even flew out to Jersey and helped my mom drive out (parents are moving out to CO from NJ).  I'm glad to be working again so I can have a more defined schedule, have too much free time is apparently not good for me when it comes to training.  I've also been kind of sick the last two weeks so my training dropped off quite a bit to try to recover.  Bad timing with Boulder 70.3 this Sunday and I'm still hecking up some flem if I try to run faster than 8min/mile pace.  I'll likely back off my goal pace to 8:30 for the race though considering I don't feel great.  But the good news is that if I can do 8:30 pace I'll have dropped 2min/mile off my pace that I did during my HIM last year.  Should still beat my HIM PR by nearly 30 minutes (it's a default PR since I've only done one).


As for 2 IMs in one year, although I've yet to do an IM, I'd think it would be doable, but you'd have to choose one that you're going to 'really' train for.  Not that you wouldn't train for the other, but I'd approach them slightly differently.  First, I'd make the second one my highest priority and the first one would be a benchmark race I'd take slightly easier than I thought I could handle.  I'd then use that race as my benchmark for how hard to train and what I should focus on over the following months.  Theoretically I would go into the first one in prime IM conditioning, take it "easy" during it (maybe 20-30minutes slower than I think I'll be able to accomplish in the second one).  Then build on top of that conditioning to really go hard at the second.  But, with where I live, I think being in IM condition for a July IM is difficult since training would have to start at the latest by April and during that time we are still prone to some snow storms and pretty unpredictable weather patterns.  I think it is definitely doable for someone who did an IM the previous year and that IM was built on top of a solid base of HIMs prior to that year.  But if you feel you were severely undertrained in the previous years IM, then I'd personally look towards doing 1 or 2 HIMs and 1 IM the following year and make the 2 IMs in a year a goal for the following year.  Plus, 2 IMs costs a lot  just my 2cents on the subject. 

PennState - 2010-08-05 3:28 PM Interesting thread in the tri talk forum Chris

furiousferret - 2010-08-05 6:58 PM

Sometimes the board gets stale, and I'll post something there just to get a conversation going.  I knew some would read it out of context, others disagree, but at least its interesting

We have a guy here who lost 66 pounds and came 20 minutes shy of Kona, which I'm sure positive thinking came into play.  I personally think there a huge mental aspect to the sport as well.

In the Marines we used to have formation runs, some would go for 10 miles, which we'd have to sing and keep in step at roughly an 11 minute pace.  Almost every person that drops out of the group will tell you they fell out when the mind convinced them they weren't capable of keeping up.  Some of these were fast dudes that should have been able to keep up.

BTW, Josh's race report is up! 

JoshKaptur - 2010-08-05 5:35 PM

Hey, I know "that guy" -- race report here.

I haven't read the thread on the forums, but it would be hard for me to overestimate just how important the mental aspect of my IM prep was.  Once the cannon went off, it was all execution - no thinking allowed.  But I was able to do that based on months of strategic and positive thinking.  I don't do ipods or other distractions on my workouts... I spend almost every single workout envisioning the race, mentally rehearsing.  Even though it was my debut IM, I felt like I had done hundreds of others.  I really BELIEVED I was going to be in the low 10's even though a lot of veterans who watched my training predicted otherwise.  Anyway - I haven't read the thread but I'm guessing I agree with you that positive thinking is key.  My emphasis would be that the positive thinking has to take place all through your training... it will make your training better, increase your motivation, etc.  But if you start your positive thinking on race day but are unprepared, reality will chill that optimism real quick. 

When I say no thinking during the race, that really means I had already decided what kind of thinking I would do if it was necessary.  I had mentally rehearsed, in a positive way, how I would respond to things if they didn't go my way.  I was ready for all sorts of trouble I never encountered (mechanical, draft pack, bonking, GI troubles, etc).  When my cramps came late in the run, they didn't discourage me at all... they just hurt!  But it's an ironman... it's supposed to hurt.  So I dealt with it and carried on.  There was positive self talk going on, but it had been pre-programmed into me for months leading up to that whenever I had gotten into an ugly place on a particularly long/difficult workout.

PS - I will have lost 70.3 pounds by the time Savageman rolls around

PennState - 2010-08-05 10:22 AM Hey Pete, good news on the job!

Are you still racing IMAZ this year?