Good luck to WC and his sister and Gertrude!
In other news… This is exciting, sabaray! An email from Seawheeze:
Jealous of the SeaWheezers!
WildChild finished 4th in age group (huge race- Pro Championships for 70.3) in St. George 70.3 He was 15th out of the water (not sure if he had a bad swim or it was just tough), moved up to 5th off the bike and up to 4th in the run. He said he had a cold rain the whole way and very fast athletes. I freaked out because I stopped getting splits on him from the tracker with one bike split to go. I was convinced he had crashed and was in the hospital. I couldn’t tell form the mobile tracker whether there were splits on other athletes. When I got home, I could see that there were no final bike splits on any athletes, so I relaxed. The splits finally appeared after he was well into the run. Whew. It’s pretty nerve-wracking.
Daughter finished 2nd in her age group in a much smaller race and is happy with her race. The run was 15K and I think the bike was 38 miles. I think the swim was a mile.
Congrats to your kids MOWC . They are such accomplished athletes!
Thanks. Just a reminder for those who are newer that my daughter never saw herself as an athlete (she is a musician) and thought she was born into the wrong family. She started “really” running in 2010 and now is a triathlete! We’re very proud of her and it has been an extremely positive thing in her life.
^ That’s very cool MOWC.
Finally have decent weather today. After yoga, I did my walk/run training even though I went out yesterday. A little extra won’t hurt.
A friend and her H are doing the “Great Saunter” today. It’s a 32 mile walk around NYC. I’m thinking about doing it next year.
MOfWC, awesome to hear that your kids did well! As the parent of a non-runner who now enjoys runs, I can relate. Your daughter is just a late bloomer. 
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MOWC - congrats on both your kids’ events today!
Gertrude - I hope your muddy trail run went well!
I had a great time at the Mini this morning! I had a PR that was better than I thought I would ever be able to do, and I’m pretty sure I will never be able to beat the 1:44:12. After the race, the plan was to jog back and meet my brother and help him with the last 4-5 miles of the race. Good plan, bad execution. I went back but was never able to find him (it’s a huge race with over 25,000 runners). Fortunately he did OK and finished the race on his own. So I had an extra 9 miles of running trying to find him, giving up, and running back to the finish. All’s well that ends well. So happy for him that he was able to complete the half marathon - this is a really big event in Indianapolis and it has been on his Bucket List forever. (He’s at least 75 lbs overweight and has bad knees, so I’m pretty sure this is the only race he’ll ever do but I’m so glad that he was able to finish).
Oh, and they have a “PR Bell” that you get to ring if you have a PR at the race. Meb was there and so I have a picture standing with him after ringing the bell and there’s a sign with my time on it. Totally cool!
My first triathlon is done. Will there be a second? I don’t know. It was a sprint–pool swim, 500 yards, 11.7 mile bike, rK run–and I did all three pieces faster than I expected to (way faster on the bike!), for a total of just under 1:40. For a brief shining moment I was listed as first in my age group, but it turned out that two other 60-year-old women started in the very last heat (the fastest one) and I ended up third. Of three. (Very small event, just over 150 participants.) I was not, however, DFL, which was my fear.
My daughter summited Mt. Hood at dawn this morning–she started climbing at midnight (the snow is harder and thus easier to walk on at night)–and I found myself running and wanting to stop and thinking of her climbing all night to reach her goal–it certainly kept me going!
The triathlon was sponsored by a physical therapist group in the area and one of them approached me to compliment me on finishing “with that knee” (pointing at my scars). I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that a high point of my morning was explaining that it wasn’t a knee replacement but a bone cancer cure. Nine years ago now!
Sure sounds like other people had a good day too! Bravo to C3Baker and the WildChildren.
Congrats, dmd and C3Baker! Well done.
Oooohhh! The cats ran to the front door - it must be the FedEx package with my shorts! I know, this middle-aged woman is too excited about a stupid pair of shorts
I am stuck home studying for my class, and Mr is braving the dirt trails on his bike. He wants to get 200 Fitbit floors in. I think he will be successful.
C3B- that’s a great time! Lots of miles, too. Dmd- sounds like the tri went well. Were you happy wi what you wore?
Bunsen- report on the shorts!
Thanks for the nice words for my young triathletes. Son said the cold rain was miserable on the bike. He averaged almost 23mph. He had some asthma problems from the cold and altitude in the run, so had to back off a little. He was pretty happy with it, though. He was 4th out of 194 in his age group and was 11th amateur out of about 2000. Daughter said the hills were her main problem. She is thrilled with her age group award. She was also happy to beat her brother’s time, even though her race was shorter!
@MomofWildChild – it was warm and sunny, so I swam in tri shorts and a very tight Lululemon tank (with a pattern that hid a multitude of sins), then just stayed in that for the bike and run. Comfortable and cool. The shorts pockets held my GinGins and I tucked a handkerchief into the top so I had something to wipe my sweaty face. I had a bike jersey to go over the tank but didn’t bother–it was warm!
The shorts arrived! They look just like sabaray described them (and advertised in her pic). I got the Speed. They are short, which should be perfect for the summer training. I ordered my usual size, and they fit perfectly.
I am so proud of Mr.! He rode 50 or so miles on his stupid bike that no one wants to steal, including 230 Fitbit floors on a steep dirt trail along the water pipeline. I have nothing to brag personally - I barely moved my butt. However, on Monday the fun begins!.. 
Big weekend for lots of folks! Congrats to all the racers - and C3B, I am so jealous of meeting Meb! And a pic with him! And a PR! What a trifecta!
Working with a coach is going to be very different for me - and a very new to me approach for training. First of all, I had to explain how I “knew” MOWC - thankfully she did not think it odd in the slightest! Three step training approach to reaching my goals - frequency, duration and intensity - focused upon in that order. Workouts focus on time on my feet rather than a certain distance at a certain pace. Let’s just say I will be spending quite a bit more time running. We were on the phone for nearly two hours (!) but I feel 100 times more confident than I did a week ago. Someone else will be worrying about my training plan! And they know what they’re doing!
Bunsen, I’m not brave enough for the speed shorts - the Trackers I got fit exactly like the Trackers I got a few weeks ago at the store. The little Lulu “seal” on the back of the shorts though is more prominent and almost medallion like, with little “sunbursts” (for lack of a better word) coming out from the center so everyone knows you’re an extra special snowflake!
D arrived yesterday so I repeated the Greek salad mix we had from the Plated box using my own ingredients and grilled chicken. Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day! I plan on enjoying a guilt free Thai lunch!
C3B - 8 minute pace is impressive.
MOWC - I forget, is running your son’s best leg of the tri? Did he swim when he was younger?
For all you runners, I stumbled on a very interesting article on the development of using power as a key metric in running training. It appears that wearable technology is now being released that runners can use to measure their power output and send it to their fitness watches. The website the article is on may also be of interest to competitive or performance oriented runners.
For those who read the article I linked to above, go to the STYRD website linked in the article and from there go to the DCRainmaker review STYRD links to. For those who are unaware, DCRainmaker does the hands down best, most through and complete technical and practical reviews of fitness technology that can be found on the internet. His review of the STYRD is insightful not just because of what he has to say about this particular device but also because of what he has to say about how the info measured can be used.
Oh, and for all of you who yesterday were such a good influence and so supportive about me spending even more money on fitness devices, right back at ya lol, ;).
Ended up bailing on my bike club’s event yesterday. As of 10:00 it was still raining with temps at 50 degrees and the weather calling for continued rain until 12:00. We watched rider after rider return, cutting their rides short, cold wet and looking miserable. Been there, done that; no way I was going to do that again for a ride I’ve done half a dozen times before on roads and routes I can ride anytime. The allure of the homemade baked goods at the supported rest stops was just not that great. Instead, one of the Sturdy Girls racers I was with, who is also a trainer, came back to my house and we worked out in my studio for an hour, each of us doing our own program. It was just a lot of fun to chat as I did my parallettes routine and she did an extremely diverse and varied cross over pulley routine that hit her entire upper body. Also got a lot of great ideas for pulley routines just watching her. After she left, I continued for another hour with my usual enhanced body weight and free weight routine. Ended with hanging leg lifts using arm slings attached to a pull-up bar where at the end of the range of motion I also flex my hips upwards as if I were doing a hip over on a horizontal bar. This has become my new go to ab exercise. I’m hoping that once I can move outside it will translate to being able to actually do a hip over on my outdoor pull-up bar. Haven’t done that since I was in my late teens!
Michael- Good article and I agree that developing power is a huge boost. My issue is I’m so afraid of injury, and every time I try to do anything more than basic strength work, I seem to get hurt.
Ohio- Yes, my kids were both decent age group swimmers growing up but both stopped in junior high. They had such incredible coaching as kids, though, that their technique is excellent and they are strong swimmers. They can’t compete with the former college swimmers, but they can hold their own enough to be pretty far up in the pack. Son was 1st in AG out of the water in Puerto Rico, but 15th yesterday. He hasn’t been swimming as much lately. He is almost equal in bike and run. He was a recruited college runner, but seems to be really strong on the bike and has a good weight ratio for hills.
Managed to do yesterday’s 10 miler this morning. I changed up my course to get a little variety, which helped. It was pretty warm, and I’m going to have to get used to that. I was pretty beat by the last 3 miles, but I did it! Went to Sonic for a big iced tea and then to Dunkin for a couple of donuts.
MOWC, what I found intriguing was the developing wearable technology that will enable runners to use wattage training much the way cyclists do now. Correlating heart rate with power, using wattage ranges for setting intensity of intervals and recovery instead of just heart rate or pace. Adjusting form to achieve greater efficiencies and production of power in a given heart rate zone. Fascinating stuff that seems to be a whole new running training paradigm previously not available outside of a performance lab.