hlipusch mentor group - FULL!! (Page 5)

Congrats Spleen on your triathlon.  It has been sooo hot lately, so I can only imagine what the run was like.  Yeah, your bike split was impressive.  Hope to get into the 18mph range myself someday.  I can't seem to get out of the 17s.   Great job!!!  

Hey everyone,

Did my second triathlon this year and needless to say....ummm wow.   Not my best day.

I did my first OWS and it was a wake up call.  All I can say is if anyone sees this and has never done OWS, read my race report.  Don't do what I did.  I underestimated the difficulty of OWS. 

This was a 400 yard swim in a lake on a rainy day. 

Mistake #1.  I didn't wear a wetsuit.  I had one, but  no one else was wearing one and it was only 400 yards.   The water was 75 degrees and just cold enough to take my breath away.

Mistake #2.  I never practiced OWS.  I had many excuses, but I should have squeezed in one practice just to see what it was like.

Mistake #3.  My sighting was a joke.  My sighting was so miserable.  Looking up to nagivate only made me tired and frustrated as I just couldn't go in a straight line.

Mistake #4.  Not learning how to breaststroke.  I know how to backstoke.  This saved me from drowning at the race.  But I feel breaststroke is a good stroke to not only rest a bit but also sight better.  JMO on this one.

So, in a nutshell, please practice OWS and do what you need to do to be safe and ready.  Never give up either.

I'm feeling a little better the day after, but it sure does make you feel crappy knowing that I have such a loooong way to go to get better at this swimming gig.  Never the less, I will sign up for another triathlon and this time, I'll be ready.

Cheers==Claire

Practicing in the open water is important, not because there's anything magical about swimming in open water, but it is a different experience from a pool and can be disorienting.  I only swim OW and I bet I'd feel confused if I had to swim in a pool with lanes, etc.  You made a good choice by resting up on the kayaks and re-orienting yourself.  You'll have a much easier time of it during your next race.  And very nice run, btw!  I'd love to know what an 8 minute mile feels like in a race.

Went for my first "long" run in a while last night.  It's been so hot I'm trying to only to run when the sun is down, so I set out at 8:30 at night.  It was still 85 degrees!  I only averaged 10:30 miles but I felt pretty good and was cruising by the time I had been out there an hour.  Came home soaking wet and about 5 pounds lighter.  I don't mind cycling in the heat, and of course swimming is refreshing, but man is running in the heat killing me.  Anyone else melting out there?

It's been extremely hot here as well Spleen.  Running in the heat can be very difficult.  It's easy to over heat even when your hydrating enough.  It's hard, but it's good that you are running in this hot weather to get your body use to the heat. 

I love summer, but I tend to do my best running in the cold.

Hey guys, been out of the loop for a while.  Started having lower back probs again after the race so I laid off again.  This time for about 3 weeks to let it heal up.  Totally got away from even checking and started back in slow.  "Officially" started again last week.  Just in time for the same heat everyone else is feeling it looks like.

So how is everyone doing?!

Hey Folks,

Not much new to report here.  I don't have a race until the end of August so I'm just trying to expand my base and add in a little strength training again.  Also trying to swim more and hopeful that I can get some proper instruction soon.

I'm headed for the Philly/NYC area tomorrow on a week's vacation visiting family and friends.   I was hoping for a break from the heat but it looks like it will be even hotter in the NorthEast than it is here in Florida.  I hope to hit the gym once or twice and plan to run where and when I can.  Catch you guys when I return.

Hope you're having a nice vacation.  I'm having one come up next week.  Not sure how much training I'll be doing, but I'll try to do some.

I'm starting my marathon training plan and am going to do a lot more running in the coming months.  I need to try and incorporate swimming and biking into the mix as I want to do 1 or 2 more triathlons for the season.  Need a good balance I guess.

Hope everyone is doing well in their training journey.

I'm back.  Got some decent run training in with lots of hills, but I missed my bike and my warm, blue ocean.  Getting over my post-vacation back-to-reality hangover, but plan to get back on the bike tomorrow.

Well, I just wanted to see us out of the bottom page for a bit.

How's everyone doing?  I'm going to sign up for a sprint for next Sunday.  Looking forward to this one, but a little nervous about the heat.  Hope everyone is doing well.  L) 

Back to the top!

TRaining has been sporadic lately since my wife has traveled 12 of the last 21 days.  I have an oli in a couple weeks that I feel like I'm undertrained for.  No swimming lately.  Still, I'll get thru the race and ramp up for my HIM in Nov. 

I'm sure you'll do fine in the Oly.  You have two weeks, so get in that water at least a few of times before the race.

You have some time to get serious about your HIM in November.  That's awesome that you're doing one.  I've only done sprints so far.  I'm looking ahead to longer distances next summer.  Oly and HIM.  Yikes!  My big event is a marathon I've been training for for November.  I feel like that's all I've been doing is running, running, and more running.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it.