Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 36)

Looks like things have been busy here, fell off the grid for a few weeks due to a family emergency, pretty much scrapped all plans for now until things settle down.
Hope everyone is doing well, especially those nursing injuries!
Hopefully I can catch up soon.

Dan,
I hope your family emergency, whatever it is, settles down soon and with a positive result.

Deb

Steve, you certainly have had your trials & tribulations this year. It will be one to remember, and I hope nothing like it is ever repeated. I know it's hard to keep your spirits up through a long recovery; we are all rooting for you.
Deb

Running my first marathon ever tomorrow in Providence, one week away from my 58th birthday.

Dan, you picked a good winter to skip training for one, the snow here in Boston was brutal. Its May 2nd and I still have snow mounds melting in my town.

Thanks to Steve I think I have a good race plan.

Shhhh! Nobody tell Scott that I haven't been in the pool as much while training for this. I actually can't wait to start swimming more and start getting some open ocean swims in once the water temps get to the mid 50's. Today the the Boston Harba buoys are at 45 so I am hoping by the end of May.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Steve - What a test of patience and perseverance. That X ray sure looked nasty. Hope you are finally on a path to recovery.

Dan - Thinking good thoughts, hope things return to normal for you.

James - Good luck in the Marathon. Weather should be very nice for the event. I know a few Ct runners who will be there.

I'm not doing anything as ambitious as a marathon tomorrow, but I am running my first race of the year. Its a 15k run and is a "B" race for me.

Have great day running your marathon, James.

Steve,

It's good to hear the surgery went well! Have a quick recovery!

Weight unchanged (150) and I exercised 9hrs 42min (205 min swimming, 135 min biking, 222 min running, and 20 min strength training). So, my points for the week:

• +5 points for no weight gain
• +0 points for 0 pound lost
• +19.4 point for 582 workout minutes
• Total: 24.4 points

I finished my first half marathon yesterday - the Cinco De Mayo half marathon in Snoqualmie WA. The course is really nice - a flat out-and-return route from Mt Si high school in Snoqualmie to the west base of Mt Si and back. The weather was perfect - sunny and 55 to 60 degrees F. It was a fairly small race - about 300 runners.

It didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I went out too fast and paid for it in the second half of the race. My plan was to do a 3/2 run/walk for an average of 11 min/mile during the first half and then pick up the pace if I was feeling strong. If I'd followed that plan I think I would have done fine. I started near the back of the pack but still found myself seduced into running along at a sub 9 min/mile pace for the first 3 miles. By mile 8 my right knee and hip were starting to bark. I think it was the IT band. From then on I ended up walking nearly half the time and I was in a lot of pain (mostly the knee). I finished in 2:28.

I'm still in a fair amount of pain, although it has subsided significantly since last night. I think I'll have to shut down my training for a couple days to recover.

Lesson learned - I need to run my own race!

Putting the blinders on and executing YOUR race may be the single most difficult thing to do in endurance sport, especially multi-sport like triathlon.  It only gets harder as the distance gets longer.  Every Ironman you will find competitors that absolutely CRUSH the bike because they don't want to be passed, and then walk a death march on the marathon because they didn't follow their plan.  As opposed to those that ride a respectable bike split and reel everyone in that passed them on the bike during the run, plus some, because they did the ride they SHOULD, not the ride they COULD.

Very good that you recognized what you did.  I realize this was a HM but the theory applies to any endurance race - just because you CAN go faster, doesn't mean you SHOULD go faster.

Good job on completing the race!  A couple days to recover is probably the best thing you can do right now!

Edited by k9car363 2015-05-03 12:26 PM

Under the heading of "too little, too late" here are my numbers for the week:

572 workout minutes 19 pts
1 lb lost 1 pt
no gain bonus 5 pts
total 25 pts

I had a good training week, building some swim/bike volume and capped with a 15k road race today.

We had a beautiful sunny day for the race, with temps around 60 and no wind. About 750 runners in the race. I met my goal of a sub 8:45 overall pace with an 8:41/mile finish. Ended up 13th of 35 in my age group ( there are a bunch of fast old guys around!)

My trainer said the goal was to practice pacing today, so we broke the run into three 5k segments. Did the first 5k split at a 9:00/mile pace, then moved the pace up a bit for the next 5k, with the final 5k being the challenging pace for me. It worked out as planned, since I was fairly strong at the finish.

When the race was done, I drove home and grabbed a quick nap, then hit the pool for a swim. After the pounding of this morning's race, it felt great to simply pull my legs along for the ride as I did my laps. This week is a recovery week - and I'm ready for one.

Hope everyone has a good week.
Dave

Dave--congrats on a well-executed race and a terrific overall time. I bet you passed a lot of runners in the last third!
Scott-- congrats on learning that same lesson. Sometimes we all have to learn the hard way. I hope your IT band & other body parts forgive you; be patient in recovery.
James--good luck in your marathon!
My duathlon (r-b-r-b-r) is on Saturday, and the meteorologists are predicting a high of 80° with thunderstorms in the late afternoon/early evening, right when the race is. That all makes me anxious--60° still feels like a heat wave to me, and that course will seem quite scary if it's raining. I hope they're wrong!
Deb

You can find details here:

https://www.weraisethebar.com/training-camps.html

I've selected the three-day option. Friday is a long ride on the CdA bike course. Saturday is a short ride followed by a run on the CdA run course. Sunday is (possibly, depending on water temp) a swim followed by a long run. There is also a two-day option.

Congrats on the half marathon Scott. I hope your recovery is fasst.

IMHO, hitting the right pacing is really critical to having a good race. But it's hard to do. Everyone is amped up that race day is finally here and when the gun goes off, everyone takes off like they are in the local 5k sprint. First thing you know you've run the first 5 miles way too fast. which gets paid for in the final five miles.

You'll be ready next time out!


Best,

Steve

Very Happy!!!

I did it in 5:44, comes out to 13 mm miles and I predicted 5:45 but it didn't unfold exactly as planned. Tried to go out slow and let the crowd go but the first few miles were still under 12mm. Plan was to try and keep heart rate in the 130s till mile 20 and see how it goes. Well that went out the window, my heart rate (usually takes one mile before it reads properly) was low 140s during the first 9 miles (OK, I think this will be fine) then shot up to 150 after walking at a water stop at mile 10 (weird). Drank gatorade the whole race - walked at every water stop - had 5 gues at miles 5 - 10 - 15 - 20 - 22. Went through the halfway point at a 5:20 pace. I was feeling pretty good and went to a 11:30 pace from mile 14 to 18 then it just seemed like my legs went on auto-pilot and slowed down. The legs weren't sore they just weren't moving as fast and I didn't push. It was like my body and mind said we are OK but we are going to put this into cruise control, take it home and enjoy the rest of the way in. I think if I just stayed at a nice even 13mm throughout the race I would have been able to push a little harder at the end. 13 mm miles is about what I did my 20 mile training run in when I was just taking it easy and going by feel and that is what I should have stayed at. Hal Higdon whose novice marathon training plan I followed said you should be able to run 1 minute per mile less than your training pace so I just went with it after my heart rate plan went bye bye.. It was an out and back course so those hills at the beginning were there at the end. Last few hills were nothing as steep as I trained on but coming at mile 20 23 and 24 they winded up being very slow, others were walking the hills but I remained in running form albeit very slow.

Coming into the finish line was euphoric and I just took it all in, enjoying the moment with friends and family who were there waiting for me.

With turning 58 next week I am very proud of this accomplishment. A lot of things in life you have no control of and it is just really awesome that I did this and no one can ever take that away from me.

Lesson Learned:

- Trust your training.

Weather: First half was perfect 60 degrees with cloud cover then the sun came out but never felt overly heated.

Course: An out and back with hills at beginning and end but otherwise a pretty flat course. Nice combination of small city, scenic ocean, bike paths and a little residential. Crowd support wasn't crazy but there were pockets here and there who were very enthusiastic. Kind of cool running bike path along the ocean and seeing windmills and the city as you are reeling in the miles. Going into the finish line located in a smaller city was cool too. I was surprised the the crowd was still pretty good even when I came in.

Race Management: Pretty good seemed to be water stops when I needed it about every 3 miles and they were well manned even for us late slow runners. There were police or volunteers blocking traffic throughout the race. On streets where there was traffic they were coned off on the right side and were fine. Shirts were a little small but the medal was good and beefy. No 26.2 sticker in my bag though, so I guess I will have to go out and buy one.

Place to Stay: The Omni Hotel was right at start and finish line. I was able to sleep till 6:00 and make the 7:30 start. they also had a late checkout so you could shower after the race.

Recommendation: Yes, I would recommend this race.

Edited by JREDFLY 2015-05-09 8:24 AM






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Congratulations on your marathon finish! Love that the hotel was so close- a bonus. Great write up, thanks for sharing

Congratulations James on your marathon. It sounds like you were using your mind the whole way through. The locale seems lovely.
Deb

Congratulations, James. What an accomplishment!

I really enjoyed reading your report. Thanks for sharing it.

Dave

We have come to the end of the Weight Loss/Workout Challenge.  A couple people haven't checked in with results for the past week but I think it is safe to say that Scott I. is the winner!  Congratulations Scott!  You have consistently had some very impressive workout totals - keep it up!

If you will private message me your address I will get the mug shipped out to you.

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Congrats, James. Terrific accomplishment at any age, but especially at 58! Well done.

PS--not surprised you got pulled into the faster pace. It happens to everyone.

Steve

James!!

Awesome job on the marathon... you're my hero!!!

Took a quick look at the route - I've run those paths a few times when we've visited our daughter in Providence. What a great spot to run. So happy for you!! (Nice bling too)

Congrats to Scott I on the contest - or the no contest - you ruled the roost! Nice job.

Sorry I've been AWOL for awhile, everyone. Too much travel / work and like a few other folks on here, had to fight through the dreaded flu / cold crud. At least the weather is finally cooperating :-) Yay for Spring. Did a Sprint 10 days ago in 40 degree drizzle. Felt pretty good, but time was 8 minutes off the last time I ran it (3 years ago). Missed the age group podium by 4 seconds which would have bummed me out, but my time was so disappointing, I didn't feel like I deserved it anyway. Anyway, I've had a decent week of training since then (trying not to overdo the opportunity to have a clear week for a change). Other than a 3 day trip coming up, I've got another two clear weeks. Hoping to make the most of it before it gets dicey again.

Keep up the healing Scott and Steve. Happy training to all!

Stu