Are there any BOP'ers out there?
Just curious if there are any other BOP's out there I can connect with. I love getting faster but it is all relative to where you have been. I wanted to know if anyone else in the Haus has been living in the back of races for a while. I have. My first IM is this year and my goal is simply to finish, even if it takes me the full 17 hours to do it.
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I am doing Quassy and IMLP too. Hope to see you out there.
Perhaps this can be a place we were can talk about our numbers comfortably if folks want to. I'm even slower than you Bob. My goal for Quassy is to finish in 7:30 hours. I'm not even sure I can. My first HIM (years ago) took me 7:36. I'm older now so...not sure what to expect. I think the EN training is helping but I just joined in January so I am not expecting miracles my first year. I just wanted to connect with others so I can feel proud of my finishes no matter what the clock says. I felt silly posting that my last run test I increased from an 10:55 mpm avr to a 10:23. I felt so great but with all the 6 minute milers out there...
Anyway, thanks for sharing folks. It makes me feel better.
I'm not a BOP'er, but wanted to chime in that a 30" per mile improvement in a run test is phenomenal!!! Don't hesitate to post that, you should feel terrific about it.
EN is not a place that discriminates based on numbers. I've learned a LOT from people at the fast and the slower end of the spectrum here.
As you can see from my signature block I am an older athlete.
When I joined EN, I was very much BoP, but with the great training plans and help and support of the EN Peeps, I now am FoP, and sometimes even get a podium.
For me, I just am interested in seeing what I can do.
FWIW, I race a particular long course race every February (it's a little shorter than a 70.3), and the first year I did it I was over 6 hours. Since then I have raced it 5 more times with each time being faster than the previous one — except this year.
Last year I did 5 hours 19 mins. I still think I have got more improvement in myself (eg better body composition etc).
The point I am trying to make is that we can all get satisfaction from playing this game regardless of your performance.
BTW, welcome.
Leslie - I don't think Michael Simpson is still active...could be, but I haven't seen him in a while. He was a definite BOP'er, and his testimony from IMTexas 2011 is worth ten minutes of your time:
Here is his post-race video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNJz67IUaB8
My favorite, though, is the night-of video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OSR2E9anyY
EN is definitely the place to be. The execution skills you will learn here are second-to-none. And that doesn't even touch the surface of the training we do -- the efficiency and efficacy of what RnP prescribe is, in a word, AWESOME.
Last year was my first IM. I'm spending this year working on speed, only doing sprints and Olys. Then next year I may step back up to a HIM. I'm doing Quassy Oly this year for the 4th time (don't know why.... I hate hills! LOL) First year took me like 4:24 (yes, for the Oly) and each year I've gotten faster. Last year was around 3:50. Would love to get close to 3:30 but that's pretty far-fetched but I am gonna give it my best! Look forward to meeting you at Quassy!
It is easy to get discouraged with so many fast folks doing "recovery runs" at a 7:15 pace but always remember, 99.9% of the population can't/won't do what we do... even at turtle/snail speed.
Hopefully as you spend more time here that will not be the case. Times and "speed" should not govern how we interact and learn from one another in EN. We can all learn from each other regardless of if someone is "faster" or "slower". The key is that we are all working hard and seeking to improve some aspect of our performance and/or ourselves. That improvement does not have to manifest in what the clock says at the end of a race.
Pursue your goals and use this community to help you and hold you accountable to yourself.
Did my first IM race in Austria 2008 (trained using an early version of EN) and it was one of my best experiences. I was grinning from ear to ear for most of the bike, really couldn’t believe that I had finished the swim, that I had made it through the training and that I was in a proper IM race with people cheering - going up the hills in IM Austria is a bit like being in the TDF with cow bells going and people all over the road!
I think slower people have a few more logistics to think about, simple things like it's going to be dark and possibly a lot cooler when you finish and you might want another layer of clothing. If you're looking at a 5-6 hour run and using a Garmin for pace will the battery last that long? There won't necessarily be helpers in the run transition at that point in the race so be prepared to DIY. I'm still in two minds about pacing, I think the EN pacing advice might have changed but I do remember the numbers coming out as something like running the first 6 miles at 4.XX pace – a pace which would have been far easier to power walk then attempting (and failing) to artificially slowly run.
Thank you all who posted! I really appreciate your advice and support. And yes, with your encouragement I will be braver about posting my progress. So far I have loved being in the Haus. It's just finding a little more of a comfort zone.
One of the reason I created this topic is to have a place to discuss some of the issues BOP's have that others don't (such as some Helen mentions below). Besides the ones Helen discusses, I once found no water on the course by the 4th mile in an Oly because the volunteers had packed up and left. There were just folder tables and closed water jugs on the ground. And I wasn't the last person either! It spooked me about doing that race again. So, sometimes its nice to have a place to ask how others have handled a similar situation.
But I feel very heartened and touched that so many of you posted here to offer support.
Ken and Kim, I really look forward to meeting you both at Quassy and Ken...glad to know you'll be at IMLP too.
I've only been doing tri's since last February and have done one HIM. So Im not sure where I fall in the pack, maybe middle to back??? I have been on the EN team since November and haven't really found it intimidating but more encouraging if anything else. Like others have said, shout your progress from the ROOFTOP! Any progress is good progress regardless of where in the pack it is.
I will be volunteering at IMLP (hoping to get in for 2014) and look forward to seeing all the EN team members up there. I will there from morning to midnight so I will cheer you all the way in! Best of luck and keep posting.