Birkierunner's (Jim Kelley) General + Long Course Group (OPEN) (Page 12)

That is awesome. Please post some pics if you can.

For me, tomorrow I have a long ride and short brick run and a longer interval run on Sunday. Hopefully winter will start breaking for all you midwest and east coasters. Sounds like it's been a tough one for all of you.

Second on the pics.

This weekend will consist of a long (for me) run on Saturday at the gym, and a good long bike and swim broken up on Sunday as well. I've decided I need to start my training plan on March 24th so I'm just building up to the required volume until then.

Also, as a 25 year old this is by far the worst winter I've experienced and it makes my wife and I want to move! Does anyone have a good story about moving away from colder weather and enjoying or regretting it?

So cool! My brother was a climbing ranger on Rainier a few years back - I only made it to Camp Muir because I didn't have the vacation to stay longer, but it was great. Enjoy and good luck with getting to go to Mckinley!

Doing a 10 mile road race + 8 miles home tomorrow and maybe a 30ish ride on Sunday. Still need to figure out when to fit in my swim because I'm determined to keep up my 3x per week streak, but I also want to take advantage of decent weather before we get more ice/rain/snow this week...

I moved from NY to Southern California 16 years ago and have not regretted it for a single day. Married a Huntington Beach girl and my kids enjoy going to the beach in Jan. They have no clue how lucky they are. If we want snow we can drive a few hours or get on a plane. Hopefully the winter breaks for you soon.

Yes very cool. I took a glacier mountaineering course in 2005 (Mt Baker - not as high as Rainier) and you WILL get your workout in!! Rainier is on the bucket list for me. Hope you have good weather!

-Todd

A long trainer ride on Saturday for me and then the long run on Sunday. Had some left hip problems after last weekends long run, so haven't run since. Scared the c**p out of me because I had never experienced it before and it hurt really bad going up and down stairs. I saw my future ironman ventures go out the window, but it pretty much cleared up by Wednesday, so we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Also, going to do some cross country skiing today if it ever warms up as expected. Its 10 am and still -4* outside!!

Todd

I moved from Michigan to Atlanta Ga for a year when I was first married. I loved the GA spring, but their summer was living hell and I melted like frosty. I would soak my shirt going from my apartment to my car. I thought it was worse than a Michigan winter. At least with winter here you don't want to go outside. There It is beautiful out so you want to go outside, but once you get out, you are sweating like you just ran a 10k. I've been back in MI for 20 years and I don't see us moving. Although I was really nice to visit Pasadena on New Years. I can see why Steve wouldn't want to move from there.

This weekend has sprints today and long bike tomorrow.

Edited by JBacarella 2014-02-08 11:03 AM

I did an olympic distance bike-run brick on Saturday night, and planning on a 90 min ride Sunday night. All in all, it should be a good weekend for training, which will be a nice change from last week. Last week was full of accounting, financial statements and auditors, yick! And as a result, I missed a few days of training. Hope to get the audit behind us soon, so life can go back to normal.

Hope everyone is doing well.

1:45:00 on the trainer Saturday and 1 hour run today. Cold weekend (27 degrees currently) but running outside wasn't too bad. I am thinking I need to double check the fit on my road bike (what I use on the trainer most times) because the last 2 trainer sessions I have finished and had some hip pain on my left side. This obviously isn't right so I need to figure it out ASAP. Not sure if its a fit issue or just pushing too hard on the bike. All in all it was another great week of base training and only 26 more weeks until Race Day!

I have also started to experience pain in my hip after my ride on Sunday. It is sore on both sides of my hip. I am getting a foam roller to roll out my legs after runs and rides from now on. I looked up this: http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/inside-docto... Mine seems like the first type of pain that is listed. He recommends doing butt-related strength training as well, and I could see the benefit there. I have been neglecting strength training anyway so I should start doing it on the days that I swim. If all of that doesn't help, I'm not sure what to do.

Is that the Birkie?

NAME: Marcel

STORY: I'm a 24 year old nut case in the Army stationed in Italy with a little bit of experience in Marathon. I was born in Germany and spent most of my life there before moving to the US and enlisting to serve there. I'm now happily married and became a father "Marcel Jr" this January. We also have a 1 year old Golden Retriever "Jake" who will be keeping pace for me during the running season this year and hopefully finish the Salzburg (Austria) Marathon with me.

Although I tried doing the cross country thing my senior year of HS, but that didn't work out too well for me. In 2008, I was conscripted to serve in the German Army and got to enjoy the forced runs in formation. I quite honestly sucked at it, but needless to say my ego drove me to put in extra time on the weekends to improve. Somehow, I managed to be the second best runner by the end of basic training. From there on, I began HM training with my best friend Ramon with the eventual goal of running a Marathon. Well, several weeks (or months? horrid memory) later we ran our first HM and celebrated with good German Hefeweizen while slapping each other on the thighs to see the pain in each others face. Ha, anybody remember that? That was in 2009 and from there on, we continued the streak and ran those distances pretty frequently.

During my basic training in 2008, I had also failed the swim qualification and couldn't even swim 200m without what felt as near-drowning. I started frantic google searches on swimming and stumbled upon Navy Seals. What a bunch. Being in the military, that drove enough motivation into me to hit the pool frequently and in early 2009, I managed to swim my first 200m in under 5min/100m in 1:45. That was such a huge accomplishment
On a September Saturday morning, I was scheduled to run 16 miles with my buddy Ramon. At the bar the night before, I had already joked about hitting the pool to swim 1.1mi before going on a run. Sure enough, one of my swim buddies called me that morning asked me to hit the pool with him. Well, somehow common sense went right past me, and I ended up swimming that distance in 42 minutes (12 minutes faster than I had before) to pound out the 16 miles with my buddy half an hour afterward. All I had was a bottle of water between and a gatorade for the way. Ouch, that hurt.

From then on, that kind serves me as a mental gateway of being able to do anything. Unfortunately, I got into a rut, and my only Marathon (5hr in Fuerth, Germany) was a half-drunk experience the morning after US played England during the FIFA World Cup. No, I won't be doing that again. Well, since then I moved to the states, just to leave back to Italy again with a short tour to Afghanistan (2012-2013).

Last year I bought my baby (Wilier Gran Tourismo) and it's on for 2014! I definitely am a lot stronger than I ever was, but my cardio fitness just isn't where it used to be. This year I want to surpass where I was and compete in a couple races to enjoy my last year in Europe. Most importantly, I want to set a trend for years to come and a good example for my family! In closing, if you read this far, pour y'erself a beer into your favourite squirt bottle and hit the road. Could have been on the road for half an hour, slacker!

FAMILY STATUS: Married with child(ren). "Love and a marriage - it's an institute you can't disparage!"
I became a father in January. Maintaining balance between a training schedule and keeping the wife happy is my main goal to set a good precedent for the future. This will be our last year in Italy. Thus, I'm combining my races with travels to the major cities (perhaps surprise with a Paris Marathon (Apr)? If it wasn't so close to the Rome Marathon...)

CURRENT TRAINING: Swim as frequently as possible to work on technique. Little biking due to the horrid weather - burr. (I own a trainer - quiet, don't tell Jim). Running mostly for speed work right now.

2013 RACES: None.

2014 RACES: Rome Marathon (Mar), Vicenza Reverse Sprint (Apr), Salzburg Marathon (May), Sirmione Olympic (Jun), Arona HIM (July), Athens Marathon (Sep), Jesolo/Venice Sprint (Sep), Munich Marathon (Oct)

WEIGHTLOSS: I'm at 168lb and I have no intentions of losing weight.

Marcel,
I think that was the most entertaining introduction I've ever read! Going to get that beer now.
-Todd

Thanks! And you're welcome. Beer is a good "electrolyte replenishment" after all!

Have a lot of reading to catch up on the past discussions, but I shall do that after replenishing the tears I shed while riding on the trainer.

On another note, I can't believe I bought my wife a road bike for Valentine's.





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I did the Paris marathon last year. It's a great race and a good way to see (ALL of) the city! I understand about it being close to Rome, though. Not sure how long you'll be in Europe, but there are 2 half marathon options in Paris - the Semi-Marathon is in March so that may not work and then the 20km is in October.

-Elizabeth

Thanks, Elizabeth! This will be our last year in Italy. The wifey would definitely rather see Paris, but Rome is just too convenient. It's only five hours away, compared to the ten hours to Paris. It's also only my second Marathon since June 2010, and I can only imagine the pain I'll be in on my way home. Thanks for the info on the other two races. I'll have to settle with the other races, which will also be very beautiful.

That makes four of us using TrainerRoad so far. I just completed my 8 minute FTP today and resulted in a 289 FTP / 146 LT. How well do you all like it and have you done the 20 minute test yet?



I've been using my FR 305 for over four years, and I decided it was time to upgrade. Hopefully, my FR 910 XT will come in this week, so I can start fondling it! I believe in using metrics, and they most certainly helped me during my Marathon training and race back in 2010. I used to use Nike+, but switching to HR + GPS data was overwhelmingly exciting. As far as power goes, I can't afford "real" power, yet, so TrainerRoad will have to do for now. At my current level it just doesn't make sense, because I don't even own a dedicated TT bike yet. The Garmin Vector does look pretty awesome though.


I'm still a beginner, so I have a couple questions that pertain particularily to the bike and run, because I'm absolutely new to cycling. I come from a running background, and I definitely need to hear some opinions from all of you between the combination of the three events, particularily training.

1. I just figured out my FTP, so where do I go from there to make good use of my time on the ironclad?

2. How do you find your balance between the ironclad and running? (Intensity, length, frequency)


If I don't make any sense, I'd like to blame it on the brick Jim keeps throwing at me.

I just started using Golden Cheetah. Pretty close to trainer road from what I've read (I haven't used TR). So far its pretty cool! I had been doing a couple of Sufferfest videos without Virtual power, and now with virtual power its neat to have that virtual carrot hanging in front of you.



Virtual Power on the bike for me. Right now a power meter is out of my price range, but I'm trying to use virtual power to figure out how my HR responds to different situations. Then hopefully I can pace myself better when I can finally get the wheels out on the road. I've been reading up on the power mentor group. It's 54 pages long and counting, but there is a lot of info there for anyone using power. The mentors break things down into simple language and are very good at going into detail but not talking over everyone. Here is the link for anyone interested.
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

I tried a 5 minute FTP test Thursday and failed in a miserable fashion. I had no idea what power to shoot for and I picked one that ended up being way too high. After a 1:45 I said uncle and spun easy for a 1:30 and then stopped feeling sorry for myself and pushed hard for the last 1:15. I don't want to think about the 20 minute test. My endurance definitely needs some work.

I've been using a GPS and HR monitor on my runs. HR is normally in the high 150s when I run at my "natural speed" - the speed that I just naturally run without thinking about it. I need to figure out my maximum HR so that the HR monitor is a little more useful to me, but I think I tend to run too fast.

Have a great weekend everyone! Keep up the hard work!

Hey everyone, I've been AWL for a bit. Work and life are getting in the way a bit. Oh, and that little trip to Mr. Rainier. Here are some pics https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=147B36541C77A253!284&authkey=!... The trip was awesome but we didn't get to summit. We basically lived in a blizzard for 4 days at 7,000 ft. A few hours of clearing resulted in some great shots.

The main purpose was advanced mountaineering training which was accomplished so I'm now cleared for the Mt. McKinley expedition (20,000 ft) in May. Now I just need to get this little thing called Ironman Cabo completed in 5 weeks. Starting to freak out a bit because I haven't been able to get long rides in due to the nasty winter we've been having in NJ. Tried for 4 hours today on the trainer but got bored out of my mind after 2

I was watching the 50k cross country ski in the Olympics today, and remembered you were doing the Birkie. How'd it go?

Hey all,

We have a quiet group here...I assume we're all busy with work, life, training, etc., right? hope everybody is doing well.

My training took a bit of a hiccup in the past two weeks because of work and a family trip to Disney, but have been trying to manage to get some training in regardless. I ran 6.5 miles outside yesterday (it was 50 degrees here in the NY metro area) and it felt great. Other than some icy and snowy sidewalks which made footing a bit tricky in parts, it was a very good run. I could have easily gone farther, but decided not to push too hard too soon. The weather is going to get cold again this week, yuck. Bring on spring!

Let's try to kick start this thread a bit. How was everyone's training this weekend? For me, I did one of my longest rides in a long time on Sat...85 Miles with over 5000 feet of climbing. Then a nice 5 mile run yesterday, 1 mile easy jog, 5K time trial, 1 mile cool down.