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Hey everyone! I know Army 10-Miler is this Sunday, but I’m planning to do a 50-minute run at 8:30 west on the W&OD trail and would love company if you want to join me. Let’s meet in front of Door 1 at W-L High School in Arlington (the front door near the stadium on Stafford St.). Afterward, maybe we can grab breakfast/coffee at Northside Social around 9:30? Let me know if I should look for you!
Correction: The NoVA community group is gathering tomorrow at 6:15, not 6:30! Kyoko is organizing a track workout starting at that time. Either way, I will still be there around 5:30 and then will say hi to everyone before I leave to get ready for work.
On Thursday, May 16, I plan to swim at W-L around 2:00 PM. Let me know if you want to join! I have a kick set as well as 20×50, totaling 2200 yards.
I will be at Washington-Lee on Wed, Apr 24, at the early hour of 5:30 AM. W-L tends to be popular in the mornings, so I will try to be on deck around 5:20/5:25 to find a lane. I will be swimming 2400 yards with a mix of pulling, drills, and speed work and will have a DC Tri water bottle and a black swim cap.
Seems like y’all are a little faster and going a bit longer than I am, but I have the ride on my training plan for this Saturday, too. Is anyone interested in going to the BP and back in just about/just under two hours, about 15-17 mph? Meeting up at 8:30 to start with these guys?
I have nothing but good things to say about the race plan! Keeping this in my mind as I was racing was an invaluable tool for keeping myself on track. Thanks, AJ!
Thanks so much, AJ and Elizabeth! It was a great race! I did the race plan before I went and it was really helpful to keep those pre-determined goals in mind as I progressed through each stage on Sunday. I have been dealing with some hip/quad issues lately that have made running problematic, but I hadn’t had a lot of pain over the past month, so I was going in with lower expectations for myself on the running side … but I ended up with my fastest 5K and 10K ever, and beat my previous Olympic time by about three minutes.
The swim was fast, partly due to the great workouts we’ve had and also because it was a downstream swim. I definitely have more work to do on the bike; I’m still very cautious with my shoes and with downhills, and I could have posted a stronger race time if those factors were less of a concern for me. Nevertheless, it’s a great course, Philly is a beautiful town, and there were spectators and fans all over the place. I knew the route would be crowded because both the bike and the run courses were two loops, and the sprint race started an hour after the Olympic race, but it was less of a problem than I expected. Most importantly, I didn’t have any pain on the run!
An unexpected challenge for this race was nutrition/hydration. I used roughly the same nutrition plan that I’ve used for previous Olympic races/training, but this time my family was with me, so my dinner the night before was heavier than usual. I also had to adjust my breakfast plan, and I don’t think I was working off of the right formula for me. I felt very hungry for most of the bike, even though I was taking in the same amount of calories I have in previous races and in training. This improved with the run, but then I crashed again after I finished the race. Eventually I figured out that it was mostly dehydration, so I need to work on that balance for future races. I had a hard time finding time on the bike to drink water since I was constantly going up and down hills and I haven’t practiced holding a water bottle on hills, just flats. Once I had some water, I felt a lot better!
Overall, this was a great race! I’m really glad I did ODP to prepare for it and I’m looking forward to doing Nation’s this fall, since it is run by the same company.
Abri
Thanks so much! AJ, that would be really helpful. My trainer and I made some progress with it yesterday, and he suggested the same thing. Thanks! Abri
Hi AJ! I have a prior commitment this Wednesday, but I would certainly listen to the recording if you are able to manage it, and/or take a look at the PowerPoint if you post it. Thanks so much for hosting these!
Abri
The CUA Twitter feed says that a number of buildings have lost power on campus, including the DuFour Center. Will we have a make-up clinic if power hasn’t been restored by Sunday?
Thanks!
AbriI’ve enjoyed following this thread! Here are a few anecdotes/suggestions from specific trips I’ve taken in the past …
Think about adjustments you might need to make for the environment you are visiting. I was on a trip to Mexico City two weeks ago and I found that I was logging 2-3x more steps per day than I usually do, so I paid attention to extra flexibility and intensity when doing my workouts. My cousin and I rented city bikes one of the days; they were a lot slower than my road bike, but we had a few good Z1 rides. Since Mexico City is at 7500 feet, I also had to make adjustments for running at that altitude.
I work at an in-residence camp at George Mason during the summers, so I take my trainer with me to do short rides as I’m able. The schedule is quite packed, but I can usually fit in 20-30 minutes most mornings, which is nice for consistency when the rest of my schedule is different than normal. That might be a good option for some folks if they are driving rather than flying.
Other than that, I scope out gyms/hotels with gyms and find USMS programs. I come from a family of triathletes, so we do family runs and rides when we go on vacation. Some of my family members have become triathletes because they were encouraged by the rest of us to try it out, so asking colleagues to join you might surprise you or even inspire someone new to give the sport a shot.
Finally, I try to consider how other activities might be a partial replacement for my workouts. My grandmother lives in Maine and there aren’t any pools around, plus the water is really cold, so we will often go kayaking since we can’t swim. There is also a high ropes course nearby, and my siblings and I have used that as a flexibility and strength-building workout. One of my excursions in Mexico was climbing pyramids at Teotihuacan, and that was such a good strength-building workout that my legs were sore for a few days!
I feel like these examples make my life seem more glamorous than it actually is — most days you’ll find me teaching high school and struggling to get enough sleep, I promise!