IMCDA Team Dinner

Just a heads up: the videographer, Michael Sugrue, for the team DVD will be at the team dinner. Not sure if he's taking video there, but wanted to give y'all a heads up in case that changes what you pack.

Upcoming Photo Shoots

Heads up to those doing Practiceman next Saturday (05/23).  We're going to take some portraits beforehand, and we're going to take car trunk shots.

Month 3 Survey

What is the one word (or phrase) that people feel when they wake up for their long ride?

• Annoyance
  
• Anticipation
  
• Anxious
  
• Calm
  
• Crazy
  
• Depends on the weather
  
• Determined
  
• Dread
  
• Egar
  
• Excited x 4
  
• Frisky
  
• Good
  
• Nervous
  
• Ready
  
• Resigned
  
• Rushed
  
• Small
  
• Tired x 2
  
• Ughhhh
  

What is the one word (or phrase) that people feel when they wake up for their long run?

• Anxious x 3
  
• Confident
  
• Crap
  
• Dread x 2
  
• Excited
  
• Excited x 2
  
• Free
  
• Frisky
  
• Get it done
  
• get-r-done!
  
• Hope
  
• Let's do it!
  
• Nervous (about bathroom issues)
  
• Not as Rushed
  
• Pissed Off (and ready to do something about it)
  
• Please lord let me go to the bathroom now instead of later
  
• Resigned
  
• Sore
  
• Tired x 2
  
• Trashed
  

What are people using for their nutrition?

• CarboPro
  
• CarboPro and Pure Sport. A few Salt-Stick Tabs and Cliff Shots. 
  
• CarboPro w/ Nuun, Clif Shot Gels, Clif Bars, Sport Beans, and Salt Stick Caps
  
• CarboPro with Nuun, adding a bar and peanut butter/honey sandwich for really long training rides; 
  
• CarboPro, Endurolytes and Pure Sport
  
• CarboPro, Gels, and PureFit Bar
  
• CarboPro, red bull, powerbar brand gel, NUUN, fritos.
  
• CarboPro/Pure Sport (Bike), Powerbar Gel (Run)
  
• CarboPro/Puresport
  
• Clif drink/bloks, carbo-pro, powerbar gels, endurolytes
  
• Gel 30 minutes before swim; bike: 1 bottle of carbopro + accelerade per hour + clif blocks; run: gels & nuun; thermolytes every hour
  
• Infinit (Bike), EFS/Water/Salt Tabs (Run) 
  
• Infinit on bike, GU on run possibility of PB&J on ride for something solid
  
• Infinit x 6
  
• Infinit, Gu, salt packets
  
• Infinit, Thermolytes, and Gels
  
• Infinit, water, and PBJ (Bike), Gu and water w/ nuun (Run)
  
• Nuun in water and Clif bloks with occaisionally Gu gel for long runs
  
• Perpetuem
  
• Perpetuem and hammer gels
  
• Perpetuem, Hammer Gels, Endurolytes, and Myoplex Lean Protein Shakes
  
• starting with solid foods (like a cliff bar), thermolytes every 20 min, shot blocks and Infini (Bike). Thermolytes and chocolate GUs (Run)
  
• Sustained Energy on the bike. Cliff Blocks, Gu's, and Heed
  
• Sustained energy with Endurolyte powder 
  

computrainer

Chrissie's birthday

track

Advice to Self

Someone asked me to post the answers to "Based on where you are now, if you could send some advice to yourself when you started, what would you tell yourself?"  Here they are:

• Cancel tennis and take the season off. Too tired to fit that in too.
  
• Stay on a schedule. I tend to change my mind a lot.  
  
• I wish someone would have told me about all the things that I would face - such as physical issues, the monetary investment, maintenance, etc. I knew enough people starting out to know about basic nutrition, the mental part, and general maintenance, but after several years of putting in "elite" status hours, I've been through so many changes and new needs. I'm not sure I was ready for all of it.  
  
• No matter what happens, have fun. Try to be consistent with getting to practice, even if you can't hit all your hours. Remember, you can't make up a practice. If you miss a long bike, move on with the group the next week. At practice, give 100%. Most importantly, thank your support system. Never take them for granted.
  
• Get out of ego and stop comparing yourself to others. You're never going to be the fastest and you'll probably never be the slowest either. Appreciate each day and moment with your teammates.  
  
• I wouldn't change anything.  
  
• I'm actually feeling pretty comfortable right now!  
  
• Have a better running base when you start. Stretch/roll/ice bath more.  
  
• Take one day at a time. Plan out your week but then don't worry about the next workout...worry about what you're doing and be 100% there wherever you are.  
  
• Focus on bike & run more  
  
• Rest and eat more!  
  
• There is no such thing as an off-season!  
  
• Get more running in.  
  
• I would have spent more time biking over the winter.  
  
• Get with the program...stick with it b/c after the first ride that becomes your longest ride you feel awesome!  
  
• Start slowly, 24 weeks is plenty of time to prepare.  
  
• Don't feel guilty about taking a day off. You don't have to exceed your hours each week.
• More base training before the official start date. Lose the extra 10 lbs before official start date.  
• Stick to the plan, but listen to your body. Get to know a lot of T3ers!!  
  
• Be Patient. It will happen.  
  
• You are stronger than you know! I figure if I can train now in extreme pain, the ironman will be a piece of cake.  
  
• If you can't fit everything in, it's ok. Time management and organization are KEY!! And have fun, if it's not fun, it's not worth it. Remind yourself when things get hard, that you are grateful to be able to do such a thing. Some people are less fortunate.  
  
• Relax and ride with it. Not every practice will be perfect. Your body will not always recover as quickly as you want. Just get to the next workout and take it one step at a time. When the energy starts to run low, focus on your form. OH and the other one, FOLLOW THE PLAN EXACTLY. NO more, NO less. Regardless, of how much energy you think you have each day.  
  
• Stick to the plan and keep to the training.  
  
• Don't draft off of Mo when it's wet outside.  
  
• Don't worry, you have a long time to train.
  

run recovery

If anyone else does anything similarly interesting for recovery from workouts, or getting ready for workouts, or working out at home, in a garage, on the kitchen, anywhere - let me know. I'll be happy to photograph it. Drop me an email, mcgregor (at) t3elite.com . Anything and everything IMCDA training related is interesting.

Participation Update

An update on those participating in the project:

• 29 women / 15 men
  
• 22 first-time IM / 22 repeat IM
  
• Favorites (with some duplicates): 11 swimming / 17 cycling / 18 running
  
• Dreaded (with some missing): 18 swimming / 7 cycling / 17 running
  
• 39 total Ironmans done by the group
  

thursday spin

Month 1 Survey Summary

Respondents: 29

Average training happiness: 7.48 (std dev 1.95)

On top of training hours: 19 on / 10 off

Injured: 16 with either pre-existing or new conditions 

Favorite workouts:

• Parmer ride in the cold and wind
  
• Long bike rides with the teammates taking care of each other
  
• Dam Loop as a confidence builder
  
• 100 x 100's, 3M 
  
• Open water Barton Spring swims with teammates
  

another cold ride

like ghosts in the night

Always fun trying to take pictures without any light. Later in the year these workouts will be more in the daylight and the shots will be more obviously about individual people, less about the general craziness of running after dark.

morning swim

Haven't yet had a chance to go through all the shots from this morning's cold swim practice, but here's one for now.

Saturday morning indoor spin

A cold Saturday saw the sensible people riding indoors.

Indoor Spin

I've uploaded a few more pictures here to share with the group. These are too grainy/ out of focus for the book, but I hope they captured the moment.   

During the spin, I noticed some nursing their injuries/problem areas.  (Laurie is icing her shoulder & hip in the picture above.) For me, injury is a very real part of training for an Ironman. I was at Performance Wellness weekly last time around, and I always ran into another teammate there.  It would be interesting to include a page with the human body with callouts to injuries and names.

100x100's

Photo's from the 100x100's can be found here.  Congrats to everyone who came out and swam further than they ever did before.

Right now, we're focusing on pictures of winter-specific events such as the indoor spins in lieu of a long bike.  Let us know if several of you are getting together to spin at home on a Saturday.

We'll do more the profile pictures as we get more into training.   

Interesting Metrics

We've received 36 questionnaire responses for the project, and a couple more are on the way.  Some numbers from the responses:

• 23 women / 13 men
• 14 married / 11 single / 8 in a relationship (3 married couples are training for IMCDA)
• 18 first-time IM / 18 repeat IM
• Favorites (with some duplicates): 11 swimming / 15 cycling / 13 running
• Dreaded (with some missing): 13 swimming / 5 cycling / 16 running
• Average time doing triathlons is 4 years. Range is from 9 months to 10 years.

pictures from the ride for Erin

Upcoming Photoshoot: 100 x 100's

The 100 x 100's swim is coming up this Sunday, and I'll be there at sunrise to take pictures.  I'm still learning how to use my camera, so I'm hoping for one good shot out of hundreds.   

The What, Why and Who's of the Everyday Ironman Project

First the What –

We are working on a book that will document the Ironman training of people who are not professional athletes.  We want to capture in photos and words not only the training but also life outside of triathlons.  The idea is to show how the average person deals with training, work, and family.

Now, the Why –

If you have watched the network broadcast of an Ironman race, there are two types of athletes that get profiled.  There are the professionals and then there are the athletes who overcame some type of challenge.  Similarly, if you peruse the sports section at Barnes and Nobles, you will find several books about the Ironman distance race.  Most of these are how-to books that focus on training.  A few are a collection of race reports, but none really focus on the average person, the hard work they put in, the task of balancing work, home and training and their overall Ironman experience.  We want to fill that gap. 

We have had something like this on our minds for several years.  We have several objectives:

1. Finally act on the idea, use our creative side to deliver a book that documents the Ironman experience.
2. Provide to the T3 Ironman Coeur D’Alene athletes, a chronicle of their six month journey to the finish line.
3. Develop the book in a professional manner so that commercial consideration is an option.

And finally, the Who –

Jane Bui, Gordon McGregor and Jim Opre.  All three will be posting here about our plans, progress and thoughts.