Ridgelake's Group - Filled up with Fantastic Folks! (Page 19)

Welcome Back Teresa! I am so proud of you....you did great. I am also very glad you did not die in a wetsuit. That course sounds really tough.

Hi Everyone!,
Just wanted to post and say hi and also move us back up the deal so it looks like we are being social Hope everyone is doing well.
Scott

Good idea Scott. I still look for our postings but I never feel I have much to say. Don't want to give up the group quite yet, even though we're drifting our own ways. I've appreciated the input from everyone and watching everyone work their way through the last 4 months of first races, injuries, training successes and challenges.

What's in the works for everyone for the end of April/early May?

I'm going to do Bloomsday, a big party of a race on May 4th - 7.5 miles with about 40 thousand people. I hope to run it for the first time. I've walked it 6 times and never thought I could run it until this year. Thanks to Ridge's Slow Method, I've worked up to it!

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well. Best wishes to Ridge and his foot.

J

I will be at bloomsday also. My first time ever running it. I hear it is crazy with that many people but also fun. I also have a DU this weekend in Enumclaw.

I agree also that I have enjoyed our group as people start to drift away. It has been encouraging to see real people training not to just try and be inspired by super athletes that don't have to juggle everything else n a day. I have learned a lot as well.

SO what is coming up for everyone else?
Scott

I don't have any more duathlons planned for this year. I do have a 5K planned for Sunday. I don't know yet if I will be racing as fast as I can or if I will be hanging with a group of my buddies and going at the pace of the group.

After much thought, I think that I will train for a marathon in January. I really want to do the Rock and Roll marathon in Phoenix, AZ where my sister lives. I won't be training to do two events at once, but I will have to keep riding and running at the same time. I should be fairly heavy into marathon training by September. I have a 2 day 150 mile ride planned in Sept., plus I plan to ride my bike from the mountains to the coast of NC in October. So, I won't be competing in events the same way that most of you do, but I will still be training in two disciplines. For now, I plan to build up bike miles and running miles. The bike miles are the easiest...we have at least 3 bike rides a week from now until the fall. Some weeks, I ride everyday. My husband and both of my boys ride also. The running is a bit harder. My husband will do some of the running with me, just not the long run days.

Those events are pretty far off, but the distances involved mean that I need to put in a lot of miles beforehand. I don't think that I ever would have considered a marathon, if it weren't for the encouragement that I got from this group. I saw that you guys keep logging longer distances, so I decided to try it.

I look forward to hearing about your events.
Cole

I am whooped and will write more tomorrow about the details but I am also a little stoked and had to tell you how the DU went today. I got 3rd in age group and had both my runs below 8 minute averages. It was a lot of fun and as I said I am going to bed but will write more tomorrow. It was a good learning experience.
Scott

Scott, I would certainly hope that you would be whooped after that fantastic performance!

I thought I would share a story that happened this past Saturday...We rode 26 miles with our usual Saturday riding group. This was my 13-year-old's first time to ride with this group. We rode in a paceline with my husband and I doing the majority of the work in the front, and we kept our son protected from wind. We did take it a little easier than we would have without our son, but not much. The ride finished with a big hill. We averaged around 17.5 mph. After the ride, my son hung over his handlebars and declared, "I am out of shape." I almost died laughing. The kid rode 26 miles with a pretty decent average, and was worried that he was out of shape. I don't think I will be able to keep up with him in a few years.

Looks like our group has been archived. Boy, I feel old.

Before our group breaks up too much, I want to publically thank Ridge for his encouragement, advice, words of wisdom, etc. I really needed the support and encouragement early on just to keep going. I also learned the secret of "slow" training thanks to Ridge. I feel like I've developed consistency and focus in training over the last 4 months that will keep me going throughout the years.

Thanks also to all the other group members - your advice and perspective really help and it's fun to watch you improve and meet your goals. I wish you all the best, and I'll definitely be staying in touch with some of you for a while.

Hope your Spring is going well,

J