Sparrows Experiment

g8r80 said:
Katie,

You did 12 miles in :30, which is a blistering time. Now, I see you did that on a tri bike. What would have been your time on "Precious"? I've heard that a tri bike can add 2 - 3 mph...
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really? I feel way faster on this one. I feel like I'm probably more "fit" though also. My legs are stronger than last season. "Precious" was a bit big and I lost power on her. On a normal ride (normal being 30 miles) my average was about 18 but I'd have to fight for that pace. Shorter rides 15-20 miles I could average 21-22. I don't think I ever got faster than that unless I was downhill-duh :)

If my old bike had been a bit smaller I'd have been much better on it. I can feel my power being maintained on this one, I don't have to fight for 21-22 mph. Thats a pace I feel I can maintain for a longer time. The 24 was forced and it was cause I knew 12 miles was all I had.

I think Precious will serve FF very well :)
 
did I mention that you look tired in that avie? want your shoulders rubbed?

ok ok,, I will log off now.
 
flyinfree said:
did I mention that you look tired in that avie? want your shoulders rubbed?

ok ok,, I will log off now.
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yeah in a recent post I described that moment. I basically didn't train for the run at ALL for any tri last season due to shin splints. If I trainined they flared so I saved my legs for race day and just hoped for the best. That was mile 5 of 6 horrible miles in the oly that was far beyond my running fitness. That fact alone is changed this year so I hope to rock n roll with my times this year. I remember wanting to take the camera out of that guy's hands and throw it. I felt SO bad.
 
I lifted this morning for an hour. Then coached masters. I video taped swimmers today. It was fun and a good workout. I had to sprint up and down the pool to get the shots I wanted as they were swimming.

THEN I came home and ran for 2.5 hours! It was FF's challenge to me. I scoffed at first but it was a humbling moment at about 2:10 when I thought "I seriously do not know if I can go 20 more minutes". Till now the furthest I have gone is 13.1 miles and I'm at a point with that distance that I can sort of race it. I don't just run the half to run it, I have some strategy now.

Anyway, FF, I wanted to come back on here and lie and say "okay boy, nice challenge, give me something harder!" but that was pretty killer and I have to admit it. I decided to stick pretty close to home. I have a 6 mi route so I just set up my electolytes, accelgel and water at home and stopped at each loop for 20 sec flat while I downed some swigs and I'd take a pack of gel with me. I did that 3 times. I mostly finished that third loop. I just walked the mile left over back home. I felt pretty good up to that 2:10 mark. I was in a good cadence, I was sitting back in my hips, I could carry on a conversation if I had a buddy and my heart rate was about 130-140 the whole way. It was very relaxing and I was enjoying the scenery. At 2:10 things changed quickly. I totally hit the wall. I felt like I was shuffling along, everything started to hurt all at once and I really wished I'd had some extra water and gel with me. I was at about 15 miles then. Anyway, my total mileage was 17 miles exactly. That was 8:49 pace. I could swear that I was going slower than that...but there it is. Still too fast. Guess I'll have to do it again sometime :) Thanks FF. You can bet I wouldn't have done that on my own initiative.
 
VERY NICE!!!

do you realize you just typed """my mileage was 17 miles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""""

you must be a dang fool!!! hehhehe God loves fools.

ok,,, to save your body- two things I have found, besides hydration and MILD stretching.

soak for 30 minutes in epsom salt
pick up and run for 10 minutes or so, a light sweat, first thing tomorrow.

and you will be fine


you may resume your "speed training mentality"

maybe one workout or two per week, train pace. In April we need to see 200 minutes.


I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!
:bncry:
 
:eek2::eek2:Somebody's gonna be hurting tomorrow (not that I want you to hurt):hug2:
BTW, why don't you do a full marathon?:rolleyes:

Let us know how you feel tomorrow.
 
"In my country, woman who can run like this from brothers remain virgin long time....high-five!" - Borat/Chillen



Way to go Sparrow, time to reconsider a s/n change to something more intmidating. Sparrow-Hawk perhaps?



Either way, that's amazing! Congrats....:)
 
Actually, the correct name for the Sparrow Hawk is Kestrel, which is a cool name. Maybe I'll use it if Sparrow doesn't grab it...

BTW, nice work Sparrow! I'll be looking forward to more swimming advice from you down the road...
 
Kestrel...I like it! I'm still a softy though and Sparrow sounds much more graceful, and unassuming than Kestrel...:D Plus, I've been here too long to change my name now ;)

I'm sorry to disappoint y'all who thought I might be half dead today...but I feel rather good! No more thrashed than any other really hard workout. I'm walking in heeled boots today and I'm okay! Quads are the most sore. I just hope I'm not worse off tomorrow. Sometimes that extra day makes it get extra bad.

I'm visiting my parents today so I didn't have access to epsom salt and I didn't bring my running shoes to jog any soreness out, but other than a little tired (bad nights sleep), and an absence of appetite (this happens when I overexercise) I'm feeling fine.
 
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I did a single 68 mile loop. There was an additional 32 in order to finish the hundred, and I opted out, ankles and hammies were tore up from the softball games. They had a 32 miles, 68 miles, and 100 mile rides.

I did not want to be taking a week off to recover.

BUT- i gave you the 3.5 hours plus some ;)
 
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flyinfree said:
I did a single 68 mile loop. There was an additional 32 in order to finish the hundred, and I opted out, ankles and hammies were tore up from the softball games. They had a 32 miles, 68 miles, and 100 mile rides.

I did not want to be taking a week off to recover.

BUT- i gave you the 3.5 hours plus some ;)
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Good job, and smart man. Gotta think of the bigger picture-always.

I wanted to go swim today. I called to check the temp. The pool heater has been OFF and Friday my swimmers could hardly feel their feet by the end of the workout. In a few weeks they are going to drain, clean and remodel it. I'm mad about it all because it means 3 weeks of no swimming and no Masters class. ANYway, they said the temp was 72. WTF ('cuse me but come on now). They said it should be back to 80 tomorrow. It better be. I wasn't about to go swim in 72 just for the heck of it today. I already did my torture workout on Friday :drooling1: SO I cleaned my house, played with my kids and I'm bbqing with my hubby-well he's doing most of the work ;)

I'm looking forward to this week's workouts. Feeling strong and determined.

..FF do you recommend the beginnertriathlete program for the half? I need a good one I can modify to my situation with sometimes being gym-bound. I'm ready to start in on something organized. I also just signed up for another half mary first weekend in May to keep me in the longer distances.
 
the beginner triathlete for the 70.3 half iron is a good one. There are a couple of things missing, now that i have more experience.
1. Make sure to incorporate some "long days"- you and I have this covered.
that program only takes you up to some 3 hours or so, I believe, and the event is a lot longer than that. There is something mentally that happens when you get to your lonest workout point ever- it gets scary kinda- like you start questioning your heart rate, lung capacity, temperature and stuff. Let's make sure and see the 4.5 hour and 5 hour mark prior to your event. Then on race day you will know you are good for 5 hours, then that last 1-2 hours will be "driven" by - "I am acutally going to make this!! i will be an ironman in an hour or so!! Thank you God, I can't believe what we have been thru to get to this point!!! you are an awesome God, may I glorify you in this effort! OH GAAWD! you Rock- i am going to be THE ironwoman!!!" the tears you shed at this point during your run will be so sweet! oh boy! i am soooo excited for you honey... Shoot- then an hour or so after your done, you may event just melt down and sob- I did. It is a glorious thing Sparrow.... A VERY BIG DEAL! you are a champion for even setting out for this accomplishment.

2. It has you practice nutrition plans, only once or twice. Do that more often. Test your body on the long day workouts that you and I do together. such as, try running a time or two with a full stomach,( when you come off the bike you may feel very full and puffed up at the event, even if you didn't eat alot- it's weird).

3. From this point forward, every time you bike train, get off the bike, put on your running shoes and run at least a little bit. Also practice stretching your calves durin the bike with the nonflexing shoes on (like in spin class)
That particular muscular transition- from quads (bike) to hammies (run) can be quite weird.

i realize you know alot of this, but my thought is many others read our interactions.

Sweat Daily
FF
 
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All good advice and insight. Thank you. I haven't yet broken the race down into realistic goals for each leg-and I'm not sure I want to..but I know I will, because thats the nature of...ME. Most people probably just want to survive it the first time they do it...no expectations. I won't be one of those people-but I won't be unrealistic either.

I need to get my nutrition down. Its my number 1 concern. More specifically, hydration. On that run I got thirsty but struggled with the fact that I was thirsty but couldn't down a whole bottle of water at each pitstop! lol. I drank probably about 6-8 oz each time I stopped and I had only 1 accelgel the whole time. That means I drank around 20-24 oz for the whole 17 miles, half of that was electrolyte liquid-not enough I'm sure. However, even on that little amount I still felt like i was going to barf it up. I just hate anything in my stomach when I run. It doesn't settle, its always threatening to come up.

I do better hydrating on the bike but I do horrible overall about eating anything. I've still not found the magic bullet. I know what you mean about the "full" feeling off the bike even though you hardly eat anything. I've had that before. The article you sent me FF was really really good. It helped to realize that even though we burn a lot of calories in those events, its not necessary to replace them all as you are losing them. Its all about hydration, and electrolyte balance really.

I can manage long things on Saturdays for now but in a few weeks they'll be filled with all day swim meets :(. I will need to start being creative. Your suggestion to go from bike to run everytime I'm on my bike is a good one. I just feel I need an outline of a system so I don't miss anything important.

For now I'm running heavier due to that May 3 race but after that I'll just maintain my long runs and not care as much about the speed of my running.

ANYWAY. I'm dog-dead tired today. I was yawning in spin class during hard stuff. haha. I only did an hour of spin before I had to coach and I planned to go swim tonight (I'm seriously slacking on my pool time lately) but I'm not sure thats going to happen. I hear rumors of a date night :) SO thats okay, there is plenty of time to work hard this week.

Official swim team starts tomorrow for my kids and they are READY. They've made tremendous progress this month with me. So this also means I'll be coaching 3 hrs each night and still 3 mornings a week with no wiggle room for double workouts.
 
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your right about the calories thing,,, the golden bullet may be -

sodium

play with your sodium intake. I have found that if i drop a gram of sodium- had to order them special from the pharmacist- it will allow me to go a long ways with alot of sweat and not a ton of fluid. AND- I cramp RARELY.

All that softball, and then that ride, and that running this weekend, after last week, and I am not muscular sore. i do have some cartladge and skeletal aches.

SODIUM
eat pickles-- they are good.
 
Got increasingly not well last night. I was a lousy date! I woke up last night with major nausea and a raging sore throat. Got kids off to school this AM and then slept another 4 hours. I could sleep the whole day. I also have done something to the ulnar side of my wrist. I'm pecking keys right now. Its stiff and very painful.

I'm going to the gym like an idiot but mostly because my little boo is bored as heck with me and has her clan of friends there. I'm going to try and swim. I'll report back how that goes later.

3K swim. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Good to get moving. I wish I could have done more but I was wiped out.

1000 swim (1:25 pace)
12x100 in groups of 3 (back, Free, IM) @ 1:45
8x100 kick odd free or fly kick w/board/even back or dolphin kick on back w/o board
200 cool down
 
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katie katie katie.
you've got a lot of determination, and that's so good! But you really need to be careful. Stay off that wrist!
 
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