esc's Goonies Never Say Die mentor group - closed (Page 23)

Okay, Kat...took a quick look at your logs...

First - there is no need to panic.  You have 6 weeks until race day.  You can put in 4 solid weeks of consistent bike work before you head into a taper and you'll be good as gold on race day.

With that being said, over the past few months it looks like you've been averaging about 2 rides a week.  Upping to 5 big rides is most likely too much (and will absolutely affect any sort of run training you want to accomplish this week).  I would recommend that you set two goals for the next month of training:

1. Get in a long ride every week.  I would start in the 40-45 mile range this week and build from there.  If you can ride 50 miles you can ride 56 miles.  Aim to get in two 50-mile rides before race day arrives.
2. Ride 3 times a week - 1 long ride, 1 medium ride (25 miles or so) with some harder riding, and either a hill/interval ride or another 25-30 miler.  For the 25 mile ride try to get in a sustained block of hard riding - after a 20 minutes warmup, find that point where you are a smidge below the legs on fire/lungs buring effort and hold that effort for about 20 minutes.  Take a recovery break (5-10 minutes) and then do another 20 minute block of hard effort. 

If you have time to add in a forth ride, just get in an hour of easy/moderate riding.  Use the time to get comfortable on the bike - drinking and consuming calories on the move and getting to know your gearing.  If something comes up and you can only get in two rides, drop the interval ride.  You can add some intensity into the long ride to make up for the missed workout. 

Glad you had a great workout!  Sad to hear that Micha is missing - he seemed a resourceful dude so hopefully he was able to keep himself safe over the past few days.

This was my first Tri since 2007.   And I really can't believe it has been that long.  I had a great day, it was so much fun. So here is the breakdown

Swim: 300 m pool snake swim

Bike: 10 mi - mostly flat course with 4 or 5 rollers

Run: 3.14 mi course - flat, shaded and through a college campus

The good:

So I set a "had a good day" goal time of 1:12:30

Here is how I came up with my "good day" time:

Swim: 5:45 (1:45/100 yds pace)

T1: 1:30

Bike: 37:30 (16 mph pace)

T2: :45

Run: 27:00 (8:35 m/m pace)

My actual finish time was 1:12:xx - so I had a good day!!!!

I had such a strong run.  It was great,  I had no problem with my pace, and I felt strong and comfortable the whole way.  I kept a good pace on the bike, and I didn't hate life the entire time.  

The Bad:

I have never done a snake swim race before.  We were seeded by swim time which was our race number.  I was 95.  Mr #134 thought he was faster than he actually was.  And he placed himself in line in front of me.  I was on his heels before the end of the second lap.  As we approached the end, I tapped his feet to let him know I was passing on the turn.  I did my flip turn.  Mr. #134 cut the lap short, darted under the lap lane, elbowed me in the ribs, and then proceeded to swim over me.  Since I was under him anyway, I swam underwater until I was in front of him.  The whole thing just about drowned me, and raised my heart rate much higher than I wanted.  I struggled for the rest of the swim, breathing every stoke to every other stroke.  I am not used to struggling in the swim.  I a pretty good in OW swims positioning myself so I don't take much contact, and this was new to me. 

I take responsibility for this error, it was totally me misjudging race strategy.

I need to work on my mental skills during the bike.  I lose focus easily and I know that I have to slow down when I lose focus.  I felt like a had ADD the whole ride.  Down in aero, good pace, I'm passing people, riding comfortably hard.  LA LA LA.... wait when did I pull up to upright sitting, why is this so easy, why I am being passed? Ok focus - back to good riding - LOOK - Squirrel!  

The Ugly:

At mile 9 in the bike, I was forced to a complete stop for 3 -4 minutes.  The organizers did not do a good job coordinating traffic with police.  I was at the front of the pack that was stopped because the police informed me "we have to let cars go now"   It was a very ugly scene.  After about 3 ish minutes there were probably 30 cyclist waiting, and the crowd was furious.  And it was not looking like we were going to get to continue our race anytime soon.  Finally, someone braver than I, shouted "everyone just GO - they can't stop us all" - so we went.  While the officer was loudly cursing at us.  I had no idea I was directly disobey a police officer today.  But the guy was such a jerk.  He didn't care at all that we paid to do a race, and that waiting for traffic is not part of anyone's race plan.  He just kept telling everyone that the cars were more important.  I never really got back in the groove for the last mile, so I think that even if you took out the stopped time, my bike time would have been better.  

I am not taking responsibility for this one.  Waiting for traffic should not be part of your race plan.

I don't know how to use my watch apparently.  I knew that I wouldn't have GPS signal inside the building at the pool.  I didn't know that not having GPS signal when it thinks it should have GPS signal would cause a total meltdown of said watch.   It basically just yelled at me for an hour and didn't produce any useful information.  In T2, after having no idea what my pace or time was on the bike, I turned it off and then back on so that I would have an idea of what my run pace was.

Overall:

I had a great time today.  I love racing, and I wish I had the disposable income to race more often.  Despite the setbacks, I felt I had a strong showing for me, and I am thrilled with how I did overall.  This helped lessen my panic about my HIM next month. And I feel great about my time.  I can't wait until next week when the results get posted online so I can see my breakdowns

Hello everyone - I think these groups get deleted after a while...can't remember...but I just wanted to say thanks for all the valuable info...I have my first race in 10 days and I feel very ready...although I have not been good about inputting the workouts...I have been religious about doing them!  I did miss last Friday for a mani/pedi...just felt like I needed a break that wasn't on the schedule.

I put together my race calendar for the season...here's what it looks like:

Memphis in May - May 19th - Springt

Ozark Valley Tri - June 24th - Sprint

Tri Arkansas (Arkadelphia) - August 18th - Olympic

Toad Suck Tri (Conway, AR) - September 9th - Olympic

Tri the Lake (Heber Springs, AR) - October 14th - Sprint

Decker Lake, (Austin, TX) - October 28th - Half Ironman

I don't know if that's over zealous or not...but - figure it worth shooting for...I may have to move my Half Ironman to the beginning of next season - but my goal is to complete a Full Ironman by late 2013.

Okay - thats all I got...

Thanks again, everyone!

T.