Eliwashere's Group-Ready to GO!-FULL (Page 12)

My son is doing a lot better, thanks for asking. I am happy I had read about compartment syndrome and recognized that the swelling could be related to it.  Otherwise we may have put off taking him to the hospital until later when it could have been worse.

Good luck with your HIM, Eli!  I'm excited about my first half marathon tomorrow but the forecast is not looking too pleasant, AM thunderstorms.  Hopefully it holds off until after I finish (and hopefully the marathoners too).  I hope everyone is having a good weekend (we had BEAUTIFUL weather here yesterday and today)!  

Good luck Eli- I wish I was in town to watch. Weather is perfect for you.

I hope everything went well with everyone's races this weekend.

Thanks!  The weather held out and we only ended up having a slight drizzle.  It was a good first half-marathon experience for me and I didn't feel beat down afterwards or anything like that (I went into manic cleaning/organizing mode for some reason).  My hips and one of my ankles hurt today but that's it really.  I will say that downtown Atlanta is a lot hillier than I realized (not bad, but not what I had envisioned).

Oh, and I achieved my goals for the race.  My "silver" goal was 2:30 and my "gold" goal was 2:20 and I went 2:17:04. 

Congrats!

Slight drizzle isn't bad. It usually keeps the heat away. 
Also nice not to feel beat down. Watch out though, I am usually most sore 2 days after.
Congrats. That is a great time! 

Hey All,
Got back from my race last night! I have been swamped at work, but I just posted my race report. Please take a look!

The weather was AWFUL.  I mean hurricane bad downpour. However, I had a GREAT race. I was thrilled with almost everything about how it worked out, and it was great to have friends running the race as well.

I hope you all had a good weekend. I need to try to sneak some sleep! 

Eli-
Those numbers are of an awesome race. Running 13.1 miles at 8:49 pace?! You were rockin'!
Congratulations, you're going to have a great season.

On a side note, my carb cycling diet was a failure. 3 weeks, maybe lost 1lb., but my fat percentage
went up. I think that for triathletes, we need carbs, and don't need all the fat and protein it forces
you to eat on no carb days.

Cheers,
steve

I would agree on the carb diet.  I think carbs should be the main part of the diet.  The important thing is to watch where those carbs come from.  I think its the processed stuff that you should avoid.

Hey All, Wow, another weekend gone by, another event. My wife's birthday is today. So, to celebrate, we ran in the Palm 100 relay yesterday.
We were a runner short at 5 people, but we all fit in my Honda CRV, which helped save some money. It was a little crowded, a little sweaty, and a LOT of FUN!
Our team finished before, 10:00 PM, which was our goal, and we got to attend the awards ceremony.
Woke up this morning and went for a walk to get coffee. Nice walk, and a good day.
Looking forward to my olympic distance race in two weeks.
What about everyone else.
Any new races on the schedule, anyone getting ready to start something new, or get back on your plan. Spring is here, and it is time to get motivated!
 

Katie,
What kind of volume jump are you talking about?
If the total volume is going up much more than 15%, I would be careful.
Take and extra week or two to work into it.
When is the race again? 

Uh, yeah...definitely a bigger increase than is advisable.  My week ended up being about a 50% increase and I didn't do my long run.  I know, I know.  My group ride on Tuesdays is longer than what is one my schedule so I will try to scale back on one of my other rides to make up for it instead of looking at each workout separately.  The swim meet also didn't help matters.  I feel fine but I know that I need to be more careful. 

Katie...WOW!
I think if you feel good, you are probably OK, but you will probably want to alternate hi and low volume weeks till you catch up.
I know that works for me for resting and avoiding that cranky overtraining feeling.

What kind of hours will be expected when you get ramped up? 

It looks like my peak weeks are 19.5 hours.  Trying to keep the bike and run training in Zone 2 helps and the whole carb/protein thing within 45 minutes has been tremendous in me not feeling like garbage the next day (I don't know how I swam for so long without knowing that).  Sleep and eating well the rest of the time are going to play a big role in my survival over the next few months.

Whew,
Hey everyone.
I imagine things are getting busy. As the weather warms up, we remember all the things we put off in the winter, and the get excited to get outside.
I know we have been crazy here, and our next few weekends are also busy.
My wife, friends and I did a 100 mile relay this past weekend, and some of them were complaining about the weight they had put on over the winter. Some because they were still eating at the level needed when doing higher training volume, some because they didn't work out at all. It made me think about my last few years of losing weight and trying to keep it off.
In 1993, I weighed 215 lbs, and was a relatively fit college student.
In 1996, I weighed 225 lbs, and still thought of myself as OK in a bathing suit.
By 1999, I weighed 250 lbs, and was in serious jeopardy of health problems.
In 1999-2000 I lost weight while traveling and got back to about 220 lbs. Good, but I didn't have the muscle I had had in younger years.
In 2001 I got down to 2010 with a combination of diet and excersise.
In 2002 I ran my first marathon and weighed about 225. Not great, but OK.
In 2003-2006 I put weight back on, back up to 230. A noticeable difference. (living above a pizza parlor didn't help)
In 2007 I discovered triathlon and rediscovered marathons. I lost a little weight, and was feeling OK.
In 2009, I started really paying attention to what I ate. That made the difference, and I went down to 210 lbs. 
This last year, focusing on my goals and eating, not to the point of limiting my fun, but developing new habits that I want to stick, I have kept my weight down and improved my performance.
I think the following things have helped me keep the big picture in focus:
Fitness and health are rewarding goals.
Trying to make the right choice, each day, can be tough, but it pays off! 
Consistency is KEY!

I hope you all are having a good week, and remember, each day is a chance to be healthy, no matter what happens.

Eli 

Hey Everyone,
Happy wednesday! Another week halfway done.
How is everyone? There hasn't been much chatter recently.
Too busy enjoying the spring weather I hope!
I caved to temptation recently and ordered some casual stuff that has the logo of the group I train with. It gets here next week. I think I am most excited about the bag, as it should make a great transition bag.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Hope you are all well! 

You fell for the trap!  I have to say that I was really excited when I got my visor for my tri club (and then tri jersey).  I can't imagine being decked out though.  It must be a pretty big tri group for them to have ordered transition bags.  New stuff is always exciting!  Happy April Fool's! My boss tried to convince me that someone had backed into my bike (which is on my bike rack right now) and bent the wheel.  I figured he was full of it but humored him by checking it out (I did remember my key so I could get back in the office).  I think I've got a ride lined up for Saturday.  It makes it so much easier when all I have to do is show up at a certain time instead of trying to figured out what route I'm taking and how to add miles.  And, of course, it is way better to ride with people.

One thing that I've had trouble with lately is staying out of Zone 3 (HR zones) while training.  I'm following Be IronFit and he says you'll end up with "junk miles" if you train in Zone 3.  Zone 2 is so freaking hard to stay in on the bike because you either go up hills which force you out of it or you get bored because you feel like you are just putzing around. 

Jack,

Good job on the group ride!  I, actually, have yet to ride with the LBS crew because their posted avg speeds are intimidating (and because I have a tri bike).  I really enjoy riding with my tri buddies.  There is no way I'd brave traffic otherwise.

Hey All,
Jack, good to hear from you. I have gone on a couple of small group rides with my tri buddies, but never the peleton size ones we get around here.

Katie, nice. I fell for an April Fools from my MOM of all people.
Hope everyone is well. 

So, I just read that the Winter Mentor period is at an end .
I hope that being part of this group has been helpful or motivating for you all.
I know for myself, I wish I had sent out a few more motivates and PMs, but overall, I was very happy with the group.
As my first time with a group, it was great to hear about all of your challenges and goals.

I am not sure what the next step is. I think the groups are going to be closed down and I may join another or start my own for the next session.

In the meantime, thank you all for your participation and support and good luck moving forward!!

Regards,
Eli Papatestas 

Bummer.  I hope we all still keep in touch.  Keep at your logs! The "cool" people have Turtle Crawl in just over a month .

Katie,
I think we can continue to use this group moving forward. When the next mentor thing comes around, I am going to sign up again.

By the way, I was thinking about your question about your HR.
1. How did you determine your HR zones?
2. How long are you in Z3? If you spend most of your time in Z2, you are still OK.
3. How long are the rides? Over a  certain amount of time, your HR will go up, it is called cardiac creep.