Getting the Band Back Together
OK,
So it is May and I miss my support group. Yeah, I have moved on and done a HIM already this year and I have my Full on for October but both were races without a dedicated group and I am still going to race some Short course Races this summer so Let's get the band back together.
Joe, , David, Jim, Kim, I know you are still out there. I am in the Bike focused plan for now and switch to Get faster before hitting my IM plan so I want to hang here. I know that lots of the SC folks from last year are doing longer races too but don't let the magic die...
OK, probably a little overdramatic. Just wanted to get things going.
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I'm in Short Course Week #9 and will end week #20 with the Sprint Nationals in Aug. I'm trying to do like Jim Sumara did last year and see what happens in the age up process for 55-59 AG. After that - I'll reassess and maybe do a HIM in the fall.
If you start it - I'll chime in! I did a sprint Tri today and must have lost 30 sec trying to get my garmin turned on so I could get my powertap going. Now I have learned that I should turn the auto-off off so I can leave transition for the swim and not hassle with it! Still learning!
@Joe, great news about the wedding, Hope you like him. Concord is not too far from us and it is a nice town. Travel safely.
Sat bike went well, Z5 15x 1 min is painful but less than it used to be. I did my first interval run yesterday 3 weeks after my HIM. Make that 3 weeks, 3 job interviews, 3200 miles in the car, and one bear of a cold after my HIM. It hurt and I faded on the last interval but we got it done. My main short term goal now is to find a decent powertap on e-bay for $450-500.
Kim, I know you are out there, come back. You know that you love it here with the SC folks.
Woo hoo!
I am in - back to back sprints 5/31 & 6/7 - then Philly Oly end of June - another sprint in July - then AG Nationals Oly - before work towards Princeton 70.3 on 9/21. Currently on SC Wk #16 - but really just started to push the run paces in last 3 weeks. I've been on a 7 month journey of rehab w/left hip - so I progress in fits & stages.
I am a short course guy this year.
I completed a sprint duathlon last month and an olympic triathlon this past weekend.
I will be in the Chattanooga Waterfront Olympic Triathlon next month and Ironman Augusta in September.
I am SC until the end of June when I am doing Pacific Crest Olympic distance. Plan had been to do the HIM but foot issues have prevented running for a month so I am planning on doing the shorter course. Then I will do my 70.3 in August come hell or high water.
Looking forward to some short course spirit.
David
I'm in. This is my first season. I start with a Grand Fondo next weekend, then into two sprints . One in July and then September. Might up grade to an Oly for the September. We'll see. There's a scheduling issue to work out.
Looking forward to having all your wise and wonderful brains to pick.
Been a little lonely since the OS ended. Thanks for the group! 
Looks like I will see some EN'er teammates at the USAT National's this summer! I'm doing the Sprint on Sunday and then take a break and figure out the second half of season then!
Yes Ralph - those 15 X 1' @Z5 are hard and although I am in SC Week #9, it is paying off!
All my races this year are of the short variety. I'm currently in SC week 18 and I'm feeling it ... I have my first Duathon 2-20-2 (its a "C" race) this Saturday and my legs are pretty dead. A week later is my first Sprint Triathlon. I'll have to back off some in the next few days so I can function on Saturday.
First question right out of the gait. I have a Grand fondo 113miles, 7000+ feet of gain. There's a 5.3 mile 7-11% time trial hill climb about mile 40. Most of the climbing is done in the first 40 miles. Then it flattens out for @30miles but the chip seal is poor. Not sure how often i'll be able to use my arrow bars. I'm a heart rate rider.
My question is, how do you pace this? This is a race. Not a Saturday ride with friends. There is a large amount of on course nutrition.
Thanks everyone.
Things we like in the SC forum : honest feedback, race reports of your events, supportive and helpful comments. Feel free to post your workout results and what plan you are in on any given day.
@elizabeth - lots of good info on plantar fasciitis in the medical forum. Be sure and keep up the stretching.
@Jim - Great to see you back. Looks like an exciting summer for you. I look forward to hearing the results.
@Cousin Jacklyn I am certainly not an expert on pacing that type of event but I would think that it would be similar to IM pacing in the wiki. Do you have a power meter or are you a HR athlete? that will change how you execute also.
@pete, good luck with the hip and the races. Looks like a busy summer.
@ Don, great to see you, that is a solid schedule you have lined up. Nice to see another southern boy in the house.
@David, Smart to rest that foot and get it healed up so it doesn't mess up the rest of the year. You can hang out here even after the end of June, we are a fun bunch.
@Jim Great to see you. I am anxious to see how you do with all of your events, be sure and post your results!
@Cousin Jacklyn - I am certainly not an expert on that type of event but I would suggest checking out the Race execution guides in the Wiki. Since you are a HR athlete, I would imagine that the guidelines would be similar for an IM. I would be interested in what more experienced road bikers have to say on this.
My Bike Focused Ride this AM was 2 x 20 min at FTP and I did OK on the first interval but faded in the middle of the second interval only to rally at the end. I looked back to essentially the same workout at the end of OS and I have some work to get back to there. Just getting over this cold did not help and my HR was up a bit. Swim / Run tomorrow.
Well did my A race prep ride today to test nutrition and fluid plan. Did ok. Bucked a nasty headwind/sidewind that kept trying to blow me off the road for 58 miles. Ya baby! Need to increase my fluid intake. Thought I was drinking enough but I only peed once. The increased work load of the wind dried me out more than planned.
Paced using heart rate. Most of the ride maintained 120-130's. Bumped up twice into the 150's due to 2 nasty long climbs. Total climbing was 2700+ feet. Average speed with wind 13.7 mph. Not too bad. I think with minor corrections i'm ready for 113 miles of suffer.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks everyone!!!!!
@Jacklyn - be sure and use the nutrition calculator in the wiki to get your nutrition plan dialed in and also check to make sure you are training with the same nutrition available on the course of your race. Don't want any surprises.
I am still at work at 9:30 PM, gonna hit it hard tomorrow.
This past weekend I did a race rehearsal brick. Didn't quite hit my watts on the open rode, but managed to aver over 21mph with training wheels on the bike. Crushed the 3 mile run by hitting my zone 5 average, so overall, I was pleased.
My watts on the bike yesterday were a little low, but still in zone 4 for a 3x8' set. Hoping to see something better in the morning.
Swim is nothing spectacular. I've spent the last three weeks doing nothing but drills from the first part of the swim e book. I swam 3x500 today and the numbers weren't that great. I think I'm going to dig in to the next part of the book after my next race and see if some of the propulsion and pull drills help.
@ Cousin Ralph- Are you still doing the body comp? Or are you starting to focus less on calories d/t the increased work load? Trying to decide if I should keep going the weight loss or focus more on recovery. It's such a fine line between to much and not enough. DId you grow up in SC? My husbands family has been in SC since the Revolutionary war. Maybe we are cousins.
I plan to do my first sprint of the year on the 19th of June and then every 3 weeks over the summer in Charleston.
Yes, I did grow up in SC but my family is from VA and TN. Looking at jobs in NC and TN so things could change. Note that I did not claim the Body Comp badge for my sig line because of my tepid results
@Ralph - good luck on the job hunt. I've lived in Charlotte and in Olive Branch, MS just south of Memphis. Both great areas I've tried to get back to!
I'm in week #9 and this morning I thought, "you know, it seems like a test week is coming up, I better check". Lo and behold, week #10 is test week. So, I have a local 41K TT next weekend I'll use and I'll figure out over the weekend when to schedule to swim and run test. Since Monday is the swim test and is Memorial Day, I'll probably throw it in Thursday at work and use Tuesday for my run test. Test week is harder on me than a regular tri!
In the words of Mario Andretti "If everything feels under control then you are not going fast enough"
Today was the Sunday run interval workout of 2 X 200, 3 X 1000, then 2 X 200 at @Z5. In the rain and drizzle. At least it was about 75, but miserable. Only consolation was that it wasn't last weekend when I was doing a local sprint triathlon doing 40+MPH down this monster hill. I hit 609 watts going up it at about 10mph. In the rain, I might've had too much slippage to get up it and not even had the chance to come down!
So, the rain and drizzle wasn't so bad after all. Done and now to kick back!
Happy Memorial Day everyone. Thinking of my dad who was a WW II vet and a great patriot.
5 days until my Grand Fondo. I am so nervous! I'm riding with some seriously fast ENers. I hope I can keep up and not blow up.
Today my daughter is competing in her first tri! They will even have timed transitions. She's so excited. Have a great holiday. Be safe guys.
@ cousin Jacklyn Ride your race using your race plan of what you have proven that you can do and you will do fine
Well it's done and in the bag! The Oregon Gran Fondo has been completed. 120 miles of hard work. When they advertised it as Oregon's hardest ride they weren't kidding.
The first 50 miles were great. Fast steady riding. Awesome climbs with great, fast technical descents. Reached speeds upwards 45+. It was great until mile 45 when the road opened up a can of woop ass on us. 60 miles of cobblestone like chip seal and bike swallowing pot wholes. OMG! We were averaging 16 mpg until we hit that stuff. Our speed fell to 13.1 and never made it back. People were blowing tires like crazy. No mechanicals for us.
Then the cursed 80 mile black hole hit. Ouch. That was really tough. I put everything I had in the tank to make it home. When I rolled across the finish line I was one happy biker. I'm not sure I could have gone much further. What kept going through my mind as i'm struggling the last 15 miles is, " and then you want me to run!" My friend who is a multiple IM had a really hard time too. The cobbles ate her up and spit her out as well.
What did I learn? That I have a deep well of grit, determination and flat out, balls to wall stubbornness! Without "work, works," i would not have been able to check this off my bucket list.
I am not ready for bike THEN run just yet. 
Did I have fun? Yes.