Early season HIM support/training group? (Page 6)

I am actually trying to wrangle my fiance into getting married in one of the old restored buildings down there. Her family has other ideas...That race is on my radar if I can survive the half I already registered for

Bridges, squats, lunges, hip and leg extensions... you name it I'm doing it. It is just is going to take time to get back to 100%. I would guess I am somewhere around 50-60% right now. I did a long spin on the trainer this weekend and it felt great. I will get a run in tomorrow to see how it feels again tomorrow.

I am sure this is something that I am going to "feel" for a while. After taking this time off I can tell that I am out of balance which probably contributed to the injury. Just taking it slow and easy... Distance will come.

I am little bit bummed. Due to financial issues beyond my control (criminal application of child support laws mostly), I have to resume my part time job. It is overnights on Sundays, basically ruining Monday for training. Does anyone else have to train through sleep deprivation?? What are your tricks?

Yeah we don't have a ton of ice here, but we are usually in the low 20's or teens most of the winter. It's 25 right now....So indoor training is really getting old. Although i have found an alternative that isn't as cold. Mountain biking!! It gets you out of the wind and you don't go as fast so it isn't near as cold.

I find that a short nap (30min) goes a long way. You do a lot of recovery from your workouts when you are sleeping. If you get a short nights sleep, do your workout, have your post-workout meal, and then take a quick nap... you will feel a whole lot better! (I have looked through some training books that suggest taking a short nap every day to boost recovery)

What I've read regarding sleep is: get your sleep, and reduce the overall volume, by eliminating some of your shorter workouts, but be sure to keep your long bike, swim, and run each week.  Sleep is an important part of training.

How's every doing? We are starting to get into the doldrums. The excitement of the new year and our goal of an early season HIM isn't quite as new and exciting, we have started getting into the meat of our training plans, the weather really sucks, and it is getting easier to make excuses.

But we are going to stay strong!!! Now it the time to start to hone the mental aspect of our little game. In the winter, don't worry about speed, rather train your mind and body to accept the idea of staying strong, keeping your form together, and staying focused in the face of adversity. Earlier this week, while I was running into a 20 mph frezing cold headwind, all I allowed my mind to picture was a warm May afternoon somewhere around mile 10 of the Devilman. When the calender comes to May and I'm at mile 10 and struggling to keep it together, I'll allow myself to reflect on that freezing day in February. If I can survive the elements on a freezing cold day, pushing thru to the end doesn't feel quite so hard.

There are those who say I can't and those who say I can. The former see their limitations and give in to them, the later have learned that most limitations are between your ears and that we are capable of far greater things than we could have ever imagined.

I probably shouldn't say this out loud -- probably cursing myself or something, but so far, KNOCK WOOD! we've all been pretty healthy this winter. I keep hearing that it's supposedly a bad year for flu in our state, but I haven't seen too much of it myself. Hope I can continue to avoid the plague until winter's over!!

Edited by jsnowash 2008-02-15 3:28 PM

Yeah, tons of people from work and family have been sick this year....KNOCK KNOCK but i haven't caught it. I actually can't remember the last time i was sick or went to the doctor. Maybe when i was born lol?!?

The plague - yup I caught it just about Christmas time and have not really worked out for almost six weeks.  I think I'm finally over it, but it took several different anitbiotics and lots of sleep.  Unfortunately now I've essentially got to start over with training.  I'm bummed.  I haven't had the heart to actually look at the training schedule to see how close I'm cutting it.  Worried about the end of May 1/2IM.

Well, I caught the plague. Put me completely down and out for 2 days, took another day doing nothing, then today, ran just for 20 mins, which wasn't bad. I had a flu shot in the fall, but i just read in another thread that the shots were defective - only 60% effective rate. But, alot of other people I know have been out for over a week, so I consider myself lucky.

This was my recovery week, so it's almost like someone telling me I had to back off.

Hi everyone! Hope everyone got a chance to enjoy President's Day off and got to take advantage of the rather bizzarre weather (or have the weather take advantage of you). Woke up this morning to a downpour, took a shower come downstairs to see blue sjy and 60 degrees. So off I went in a short sleeve shirt for a long run. About 3/4th of the way through I turn the corner and see a pitch black sky, feel the temp drop 10 degrees, a 20-30 mph headwind. A few minutes later the rain started, and it built to a steady downpour. But I was not going to cut it short (mainly cause it wouldn't really have helped at this point). So I powered up the back hill and found a beach towel waiting for me at the front door. Sad thing was I actually enjoyed the rain mainly cause of the looks I was getting from the folks driving past. Have fun!!

Edited by southwestmba 2008-02-18 2:40 PM

It is so fun to be "That Crazy Person" lol. So far I am right on track with training. Knock on wood, I'm healthy. No plague, no injuries. Still quite slow on the run. But I can run without pain and my mileage is improving. Hopefully speed will follow shortly, not that I was ever a super fast runner in the first place.

Hope everyone gets well soon. Keep on training. March is just around the corner

Pam

Well, Pam.... "quite slow" is relative! Your run pace looks pretty darn good to me!! My training is also pretty well on-track, and I've also been healthy & injury free so far, too. Knock wood!!

I missed out on the opportunity to ride outdoors yesterday in that bizarre sixty degree weather... The kids were home from school, and not old enough to be left home alone yet. So it was the traier for me The weather doesn't look too promising for any outdoor rides later this week, either. I've really been trying to get outside on the bike at least once per week. I'll just have to keep an eye on the weather and see if I can squeeze some outdoor saddle time in somewhere.

My Race Log

Snow Day!!!! They cancelled school for the kids and the roads were a mess so I took a vacation day. Supposed to be my day off but I chased the kids around and did a good bit of snow shovelling, clearing the driveway/walk/steps and sidewalks in both directions (about a 1/4 mile) and both my neighbor's driveway ends. I thought about doing their driveways too, but one neighbor has two dogs that are quite protective (especially of a strange looking dude in a back raincoat and wool hat.) So I held off on that, but their driveways are flat (unlike mine) so they shouldn't have any issues.

I'm gonna have to count that as weight training . How is everyone doing? I think I'm coming along well since my 5 mile lunch runs are starting to feel really short.

Happy Training!

8 training weeks down and 12 to go till IM 70.3 FL!! I really like looking at everyone's logs and stuff to keep motivated as it is still dark and snowy here in the Northeast.

Let's stay motivated people!!

I just counted weeks,   17 weeks out from Buffalo Springs 1/2 IM.  I've just gotten back to training after being out for almost 6 weeks.  It's a little scarey, I'm not sure I'm even ready to start the 20 week program and don't have the 20 weeks to get there.   I think I'll continue to concentrate on the run, but I've got to get the bike up there as well.  Oh and swim too.  Not too much panic yet.   My main goal is to not get hurt...  Oh and finish as well.

My strategy is to focus pretty hard on the bike.... I figure if I can get to the point where my legs are not too fatigued at the end of a long ride, then I'll get through the run okay. I had a pretty good run base, though, following a fall marathon, and kept my long runs pretty long even before I officially started HIM training.

I would say if you're worried about how much time you have, maybe you should concentrate on using the bike to help build aerobic fitness -- you can increase the time you spend on the bike quicker without as much stress on your body. Of course you'll need to get the run up, too, but just don't increase that too much at a time. I think if you get started now you'll be okay! I think there's also a 16-week olympic-HIM bridge plan available here on BT. I'm not sure what the starting volume looks like, but you could check that one out, too.

Good luck!

One of the things I've learned during through triathlon, is your mental outlook is as vital to your success or failure as is your physical preparations. A lot of us are going to stress out about, missing a workout or three due to weather, work, or other priorities. That is OK. Let it go, do what you can and then be honest with yourself. Nearly, 20 years ago, my cross country coach gave me a few words of wisdom, All you can ever do is be honest with yourself, if you can look yourself in the mirror and say you gave your best for the circumstances on that day, hold your head high. Success is a relative thing. One of my worst races over the last two years, a 6 hour HIM with a 2:20+ run split, I consider a smashing success. On that day, I over paced the bike, messed up my nutrition, and was cramping up during the first miles of the run, but I took all that into account and pushed my limits on that day (cramps returning) and held as positive an attitude as posible and could honestly say that split (almost 30 min slower than I have run in other races) was the best I could do on that day. That success gave me the mental strength to power my way through an Ironman run 2 months later.

So do what you can in training, honestly access yourself, respect the distance, and execute a smart evenly paced race. In my experience, if you feel undertrained in one area it can actually be a good thing, since you have a sight fear of the distance and as a result, you step back the pace a bit and end up running a stronger race overall.

So do what you can, everything which fuels the engine is a good thing. Stay positive and have fun

So I'm not signed up for an early season HIM, but i'm planning on one in early september (my first, so i'm scared outta my mind!). I can't tell you how much better i feel reading these posts and knowing that the training i'm just starting back into is not as bad as i had begun to think! For a while i just thought 'there is no way i can do this!' but reading how you all juggle your time and training is quite helpful! I hope you don't mind me chiming in---keep up the good work!

My race is in June,.......and I AM scared out of my mind

I'm more focused on my individual workouts than the big picture right now. It keeps things less scary. I also have a smattering of shorter races leading up to my HIM so that gives me little "mile markers" to see how my fitness is progressing. I'm doing a 10K on Saturday. This will be my first race since my injury. I'm trying to stay positive. Of course, whenever I race I want to PR. But in this situation, I know that is not very likely. And I'm trying to give myself permission to "fail". If I am slower than last year, it is ok. I've only been running for two months and I'm doing all my run workouts just like my coach wants me to do them (mostly slow). Doesn't mean I won't be capable of an HIM PR in June Happy training, all!

Pam