MJEWEN Summer 2013 Mentor Group - OPEN (Page 23)

I posted race reports for the last 2 cx races I did. Last race in the series in Wednesday October 9th.

Melissa - I too think the bike's color is beautiful. Looks even better in person. And the bike is so light. I was working on my cx bike last night and it feels like a ton of bricks in comparison. Sorry to hear about your knee. Lack of movement seems to irritate most of my naggin pains as well. It's rough getting older. Remember when we never had aches and pains unless it was an actual injury?

Emile - I wondered about the Cobb and I had looked at it online in the past. I'm glad you mentioned it to me. I didn't know about the Bontrager option. I have been pricing seats on eBay. I'll add both of those to my watch lists. Looks like the Adamo saddles go for about $90-$100 on eBay. I don't see too many Cobb saddles pop up on there.

Edited by crissy_jo 2013-10-05 6:39 PM

Crissy great race report! Have you found a saddle yet? Cograts on getting the invitation to Nationals. Have you decided if you are going?

Melissa how's your knee doing? Still able to get all your runs in?

Ken how is training for Chicago going?

Terry what's next on your race list?

How's everybody else doing?

Hey....Emile.. I did an OWS yesterday in Siesta Key, Sarasota. I had planned on the 5k to get used to swimming longer distances and the mental aspect of that distance but a few things happened...
TS Karen was, still is, in the gulf of Mexico. Our last race update was:


Now..... I will say the water was not as choppy/bad on race morning, there was white water entering and a good current though. What the report did not mention was that the storm had moved many "jellies" into the course. All jellies sting...... many you just cant' feel... its very distracting and a nuisance.... sometimes you can see them, most times you cannot and your arms keep bumping into them and they get caught in your fingers..... pesky distracting nuisances....

I learned two important lessons.... First, while the "Big Kahuna Burger" at Gilligan's may come highly recommended and as tasty as it may be, and it really is a tasty burger that I highly recommend... one "ought" not to have said burger the night before any endurance event.... unless the event to be endured involves marathon bathroom sessions...

Lesson two is Never under any circumstances forget your body glide when participating in a swimming event. After a mile and a half i was so chafed under the arms i could not even move them any longer, the skin was so raw i literally could not put my arms to my side.
I ended up doing about 1.84 miles in about 1:15- the last half mile was excruciatingly painful.

My next event is the Aqua-Bike in Clermont, FL on October 19 (The Great Floridian Triathlon)- it's a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride.

Crissy- I have an Adamo time trial saddle on the tri bike and a Selle SMP saddle on the road bike.
I like them both very much. Some think the Adamo is too wide for them, the Selle is much narrower that the Adamo.

Everything else is good, training keep getting longer and longer and I'm trying to balance family life and work with it as well.

Crissy: Very nice bike! great choice of color

Emile... just did my last somewhat long run this morning. I leave for Chicago on Friday (taking Amtrak, just for something different).

My last tuneup 10k was a little disappointing but I'm chalking it up to an off day, hilly course, heat, yada yada.

I usually feel pretty crappy during taper.. but this time its much different - legs feel really snappy. The main problem I have is that I have too much energy and hard to sleep at night. I know it will sound egotistical but my final week of my taper will probably have more miles than the peak for many people's marathon training!! My weekly miles using Monday-Sunday counting: 102 (last week before taper), 80, 62, 40.

Chicago has a 3:00 pace team. I'm thinking that if I can get to the line healthy that I like my chances this time.... I'm really trying to not think about the marathon though it makes the taper longer to dwell on it.

Ken: My eyes can hardly believe that mileage ... no kidding, if I had those kinds of miles under my belt, I would tell *everybody*. Seriously, that's just a huge accomplishment right there. I am going to really be rooting for you in the Chicago marathon, and hoping for nice weather, too.

Terry: First of all, my hat is off to you for swimming under those conditions. Second, OUCH, that chafing sounds horrible and painful. What are you doing afterward to treat/cover that area? I have tried Aquaphor, which works well to just coat the area, and recently a combination cream of antibiotic and pain relief. I had originally bought it for the kids' bug bites to keep them from scratching them, but it works great on chafes too.

Crissy: Congrats on the AG Nationals! Do you think you will go?

Emile: I took your advice and wore an elastic sleeve on my knee on Thursday and some on Friday, just for the time that I spent at my desk. The long run of 20 was yesterday and my knee was fantastic - not a twinge, nothing! It feels fine today, too, so I think that the sleeve helped! I will definitely try to remember that the next time I have a long drive, too.

So my 20 miler was great. I started out with a group of ladies who were running slow-ish (10 to 11 minute miles) and held with them until about 8 miles or so, when I started my 4:1 run/walk ratio. I thought I wouldn't see them again, but was pleasantly surprised that I could easily catch up to them on my runs, even pulling ahead of them for miles 12 - 15. That middle part was the best for me. I had such energy and was in a fantastic mood. I am not sure about it, but I think it was a runner's high! Miles 16 and 17 were slower, I had to run on the side of the road, wet grass and sand, because some traffic had been re-routed and our usually quiet running route was super busy that morning. The last 3 miles were very slow, and the other ladies in the group passed me again. Still, despite the slow final 3 miles, it was a great training run and a real confidence booster. I did get another headache post-run, but I just figure but I didn't waste any time, just took an Aleve and was done with it.

My coach has another 20 planned for me on the 19th, which is only 2 weeks out from my marathon. I feel a little concerned about that, because it seems very close to the marathon to be running another 20. Any thoughts on that?

Edited by melanfi 2013-10-06 3:17 PM

Ken, hoping your race went well! I am also impressed with the number of miles you have put in each week in preparation!

Crissy, sweet bike. I am jealous. Also, nice job on the CX race as well!

Melissa, I don't run that many miles, so not sure what to tell you about the 20 mile training run just two weeks out. I would say that as long as you take it slow and listen to your body, you should be fine. Do you do any strength training for your knees/legs? I found that when I started doing some heavy lifting exercises and some basic leg/knee strengthening exercises that my knee pain ceased. I think my knees just needed some muscles built up to withstand the miles of running. Not sure if that would help you, but wanted to share my experiences.

I have been basically running and spinning. Not much for an exciting training log. Life is just sort of busy right now, and I am rather enjoying my workouts just as they are: no pressure. They are such a mental break for me and I think that's ok for now.

Thanks Melissa... Aquaphor works wonders. I have a friend who suggested baby oil as additional prevention when she swims.
Is the sleeve a compression sleeve? or more like an ace bandage to cover the knee?

Ken... that mileage is crazy..... you should be BC qualifying with no problem.....

Emile... how is the recovery coming along??

Nice to keep the workouts going Denise, are you and your husband still riding? It's coming up to a great time of year to do that more....

attached is a photo of a moon jelly taken by my son this past saturday.... there really isn't a reference but its about 8-10 inch diameter





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Hey everyone, I'm back from vacation.

I have to catch up on everyone's posts. I hope you are all well.

I ran a 5K while I was in Fort Lauderdale. I shaved another 25 seconds off of my time. I am getting faster every race but the progress is slow. At least everyone thought I was crazy for running in a race on vacation

I started a new training plan yesterday. I am training or a half marathon and getting an early start for next year's triathlons. I am feeling quite guilty about not training at all for the swim and not training on the bike properly for this years triathlon.

I was unaware how sore I would be from swimming. Oh well. That won't last too long.

I'm actually quite surprise how much I enjoy training. Is that weird?

Have fun out there and be safe.
Don

Not weird at all, Don! Welcome back, and great job on a new 5k PR!

On the subject of training, I think that it is a good sign to enjoy training, not see it as a job or such. I'm like Denise - training is kind of my "me" time, and I enjoy a good feeling throughout the rest of the day. I am pretty sure that everyone living with me enjoys the benefits of that :-)

My track workout was not so great last night, so after talking with my coach a bit, we decided that I should focus on pacing workouts rather than speed for the next 3 weeks. This has not been a great speed year for me - chalk it up to training, knee problems, diet, age... whatever, but I think I will just focus on the marathon for now and add some speedwork back into my schedule after that.

A friend of mine is trying to get me interested in a 50k run in December, yikes! I am kind of interested ...

Do the 50k Melissa..... I'm registering for a 50k trail run in the everglades in February..... kind of excited and nervous all at the same time...... I've almost convinced a few friends to do it also...... http://www.evergladesultras.com/

I totally agree with you about the training. I'm not stressing about it so much anymore and not freaking out if I cant get my "scheduled" workouts in. My distances are all getting longer which means my body needs more rest. I'm really feeling good about the whole program. I've slacked off on the running lately, but will pick it up over the next few weeks again. I mean, I have a marathon scheduled for 12/8.... I should probably get working on it......

Emile.... what's up? how is post race life treating you?

102 miles running in 1 week! Holy cow Ken! I don't even bike that far in a week. Amazing. I hold the belief that my body would disintegrate if I attempted it.

Terry, every time you post a photo I want to move to Florida. Can't you post photos of hurricanes, flooding, humidity readings, or other things that would not leaving me yearning and envious to be where you are?

Melissa - 50k is a good jaunt! Refer to the above comment to Ken. :-) There is one here tomorrow, part of the Market to Market relay race (mentioned below).

Denise, I don’t think I will race nationals. That’s a lot of money and I’m just not jazzed up to run an Olympic distance race. I have a hard enough time as it is finding the time & energy to consistently train at the sprint distance, and I really like the sprint distance. I think it is perfect for me.
We haven't heard from a few people in awhile...what happened to Tom and Zach? Where oh where are you?

I had my last cx race Wednesday. It was really hard. One huge hill we had to go up on every lap that seemed steeper and longer every time I went up it, and lots of off-camber bumpy turns as we went back down. I came in 2nd place at this race. Much better than a DNF, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed I didn't win. I just didn't have the energy & excitement to want to push hard enough to pull it off. The photos from the race are spectacular. I'll post some to my race report when I write it up. There are races this weekend in Omaha that pay $ to the top 5 in the race. Thinking about racing Sunday afternoon to see if I can win some money, push myself harder, and race against some new people. The only downside is the race goes 10 minutes longer than the races I have done the last 3 weeks. I kind of like the 30 minute races, they are just the right amount of time, 40 minutes of sprinting seems so long! If you ever get a chance I recommend watching a cx race. They are kind of fun to watch. At this last race you could see 90% of the entire course while sitting in one spot. It was neat to see cyclists spread all over the course, or be able to watch the leading packs weaving through the entire course.

Tomorrow is the Market to Market relay race (from Omaha to Lincoln). I have ran a total of 1 mile in the last 2 weeks. :-O I had planned to actually increase my running to prepare for this a month ago, but that just didn’t happen. Not sure how this relay race is going to feel for me, but each of my distances is around 3 miles and I run 3 times over the course of the day (9 miles total). Pretty sure I can pull it off, but my legs might be a little tired come that 3rd run and this may hamper my biking on Sunday should I decide to race.

One more thing, I added up all the $ I have spent on races over the year. Wowza, it adds up (not sure, but I might race more often than Terry). I’m going to have to limit myself next year. On that note, what are the most expensive races you have done and what were ones that seemed surprisingly cheap? Was one overpriced in your mind?

Great race and photos Crissy... happy belated anniversary....

I like to post photos because I like to look at photos from different parts of our country. ... I was in Omaha many years ago.... My brother in law and his family are from there. My sister went to Creighton. It was such a pleasant experience to be there.

Yes.. the costs of racing can get quite expensive. Having said that, it pays to register early and get the 30-50% discounts. The most expensive race I've registered for is the Full Distance Challenge series race in Atlantic City on June 29, 2014. It has a cost of $575.00. But the Swim and bike events are pretty inexpensive..... it's 40.00 for the Raam series 200 Mile race........ I just paid 27.50 (with a 50% discount) for the Swim Miami 5k open water in April next year.... There's a half iron distance tri in march I'll pay 125 for (before December) and I think the Full distance triathlon in January was 250 for an early bird discount....that's about less than half the normal price.... you just have to look ahead ...

What I will say about costs is the "start up" can be costly.... proper shoes, bike, fitting, those can be costly, but after that it's pretty much the cost of an event and travel.

I have friends who talk to me about the costs.... but we really don't go out to eat much, we are not drinkers.... I have friends who go out to nice restaurants every weekend, go to watch movies, they have drinks with dinner and end up spending alot for entertainment each week... it all adds up.

I'm on my way to an open water swim practice this morning with wetsuits at John U Lloyd state park (the federal parks are still closed.... we'll probably do a mile or two and then run 4 miles afterwards.....

Oh, Crissy, we had a little front come through the other day... it cooled off a bit so we'll have a "cooler" mid 80's day today with low humidity i'll take a photo....

Crissy congrats on the 2nd place finish!

Don great job on the PR in the 5k!

Melissa glad to hear the knee is doing better. I pretty much gave up on speed work 3 years ago. Every time I try and add in some speed work I end up injured. I still do some tempo runs from time to time but that's it. 50k WOW! You and Terry are Cray Cray!

Denise nothing wrong with cutting back on training after a long race season. Sounds like you are doing awesome letting your body and mind get a break but still getting in some workouts.

Ken WOW! 102 mile run week is huge! I bet you go sub 3hr this time with the kind of mileage you are putting in. I would jump in with the 3hour pace group and hang with them as long as they are keeping up even splits for a 3 hour race and plan on making your move in the last 5k or so.

Terry awesome job on the ows! Sounds like it was a wild race with white water, current, and jelly fish. Not sure I would be able to concentrate on swimming if surrounded by jellies!

Training is going pretty good for me. I've cut way back after Redman but still running and biking. I've got a duathlon next Sunday that I plan on doing and maybe a 5k in about a month.

one mile OWS, check, 3.5 mile run. check photo for crissy, check....





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Awesome pic! What is that up in the sky towards the buildings.

Chicago marathon finishers results showing a Ken L. from Lincoln, NE finished in 2:59:32 !!! Is that our very own KenL!?

I bet it is! WHOOOHOOOO!!! Congrats Ken!

Yes. I think it is OUR KenL .. woot woot.... that's a Boston qualifying time I think.......
did you see his splits? holy cow....that's not a marathon, that's a sprint for him....

Ken.... fan-tas-tic congratulations.....!!

Ah man I missed the Chicago marathon today! I am sure that was Ken. Way to go Ken, beating 3:00 is awesome!

Thanks for the new photo Terry.

I ran the Market to Market yesterday and had a good time. I'm sore today. I guess that the 1 mile I ran in the last 2 weeks just wasn't enough training to prevent me from being sore today. It was a good time. Our costumes were a hit.







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Crissy LOL! That's hilarious!

Crissy... those are great costumes. I had a friend telling me about some of the things the M2M teams did... sounds like a very fun event and I can see why it sells out so fast every year.

KenL is me... I was able to eek out the sub-3. For the culmination of a goal I started working on so long ago (about a year), it was pretty anti-climactic. The psychology and emotion of endurance sports is very interesting. I think that by believing fully that I would run sub-3 this time that it took a lot of the fun and "surprise" out of it. Not that I wouldn't do the whole thing again... I definitely would.... its just ..... well kind of feels really unimportant. I'm so glad I enjoy the actual training part, otherwise I think I'd regret the enormous amounts of time, energy, and sacrifice put in over the last year for this one sort of silly goal.

The best part of the whole trip for me was the time I spent with my wife doing tourist stuff in Chicago. We visited a ton of places and according to her fitbit we walked about a marathon's distance in the three days. I actually think I overdid the walking on Friday and Saturday before and messed up my attempts at carbo-loading. However, I don't really care... but glad the sub-3 is in the books.

I did enjoy the "big race" atmosphere. Having crowd support constantly for 26.2 miles was amazing. I could *not* have made sub-3 without it. Also having other runners around the entire 26.2 was great and I don't think I'd have made it without that either. The massive amount of people that you run with at the start of this type of race makes it kind of challenging, but in a good way. Running with runners from all over the world was neat too. Apparently the speed I run puts me in a group that has lots of Italians and Mexicans.... there really were a lot of Italians and Mexicans in my neck of the woods the whole race. Oh, and a Japanese man wearing minnie mouse costume. I think he outkicked me at the line. Apparently, my level of innate talent for distance running requires more than 8 consecutive 100 mile weeks to defeat the elderly Japanese guy dressed as Minnie Mouse.

Which brings me to my next topic... the winner who ran 2:03:xx had never run at all before 2010. He was a farmer in Kenya and started training in 2010. Then he had malaria in July.... then bounced back and ran some 150 mile weeks before setting the course record and almost setting a new world record. Wow... that is talent.

A quick technical note.... the Generation Ucann product I used for fuel worked great up to about mile 16. I felt like a million bucks and actually left the pace group to pick up the pace at about mile 10 because it seemed like I wasn't pushing hard at all, even for early miles of a marathon. I was actually about 2-3 minutes ahead of 3:00 pace for most of the race. However, the last 10 miles and especially the last 10k were pretty rough. The Ucann folks recommend 1-2 packets 30 minutes before a marathon and then 1 packet every 90 minutes. I followed that exactly, but wish I had tossed down a gel or two after mile 16. I think it would have really helped, but I was stubbornly following the plan instead of listening to my body. Afterwards, I realized the entire reason for the slowdown at the end was being out of glycogen. In the past, I've ran up again "cardiac drift" where due to not being fit/trained enough my body couldn't handle the distance and the breakdown in muscles caused my heart to have to work really hard. This caused my heart rate to be pretty high for relatively slow paces and even walking at the end. However, this time I felt like my heart rate and breathing were pretty much normal or at least not noticably high but I just couldn't "go" anymore.

My plan was to work on swimming for October and early November before jumping back to marathon training for Boston next Spring. I haven't really decided what to do next though, because my doctor thinks I have tendonitis in my shoulder. I'm not sure... it seems to be getting better so I'm just going to keep resting for a few days and the maybe see if swimming hurts or not. If not, then that will be my new challenge for awhile and probably do some weightlifting which I haven't done in ages. Basically, I think its time to get better balance..... I really want to do the Half Ironman in Kansas next summer.

Ken congrats on reaching your goal!

If you really plan on doing the Kansas 70.3 let me give you a little insight on my 70.3 journey. I was strictly a runner the year prior to taking on multi sport events I ran about 2000 miles and ran my first and only marathon 3:28. I was pumped after my 1st marathon because I finished with a lot left in the tank and decided I was going to ran another marathon in 6months and try and BQ. Well I ended up getting hurt which turned me into the directions of tri's. But I still identified myself as a runner and focused most of my time on running and biked/swam when I had spare time. I entered my first duathlon which was a small event with about 100 participants. After the first run I was in 7th place and maybe 50yards behind the leader. I was thinking wow this is going to be easy. I jumped on the bike and for the next 24k I was passed 21 times! I quickly learned I was going to have to focus on biking A LOT! In the last 2 years I've been very bike focused in 2012 I only ran 536mi and was on the bike for 168hours. Even with my really low run mileage I finished in about the top 30-40% in AG on the run leg of my 70.3. This year my run mileage is currently at 658 miles and I've rode a 170 hours/3148miles and I finished in the top 10% in AG on the run leg of my 70.3. I'm running a duathlon this weekend and then I plan on doing nothing but biking and swimming for the rest of the year and not pick up running again until 2014.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I think you are going to face the same crossroads that I did which is "am I runner" or "am I a triathlete". You are a very strong runner and IF you do decide to go in the triathlon route you will be faced with the tough decision to cut your running way back. But I guarantee you even if you cut your running way back you will be on the pointy end of the stick on the running leg, but its hard to be on the pointy end of the stick in big races without a very strong bike leg.

Thanks Emile... I do feel like I'm in the same spot you were related to the runner or triathlete decision point. I can see where dropping my running volume alot would probably still leave me in a good place on the run leg. The hardest part for me is deciding what I want from endurance sports and what my priorities (fitness, stress relief, competition, satisfy type A personality trait needs) are Right now, I'm thinking that Boston 2014 might be my last marathon in the foreseeable future and sort of end of the line for now on trying to improve as a runner with the shift being totally to triathlete in summer of 2014 and onward. And to prepare for that shift, I'm going to try to become a competent swimmer this fall, winter, spring.

...what Emile says....

after beginning the multisport experience at my age... I became immediately aware that cycling would have be the focus of my training to be competitive. It's just a factual realization. I beat a friend out of the water by 15 minutes and he runs a 15 minute mile to my 9-10 minute mile. BUT he rides 21-22 on the bike for an Olympic distance as opposed to my 15-18. I have spend much time on the bike to get to where I am but I still feel like I need to put more time on the bike to get ahead. At least 20 mph for a 1/2 iron distance.

I must say that you guys really motivate me to continue on with the daily training grind.....

wow, crissy... the costumes are hilarious..... ROFTLMAO