First of all, to Fred and staff: congrats on the new website! So far, it looks really cool. The forum looks alot easier to navigate. I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

To everybody else: times up, you can come out now! Tri season has already begun, so I know you're out there.

Saturday, tomorrow, is the last half marathon of the season for me. That makes six since October 31st. Next tri is April 11 and another on 18th.

April 26th begins the 24 week training plan for the GFT. Hopefully I'll make it this year, as long as my feet and throat hold up. I believe I've finally solved the throat problem, had to figure it out myself. Still fighting plantar fasciitis, so I'm really gutting out the half marathons. I ran into a rep from a shoe company, told me that heel problems can be traced to the lower back leg, especially the calf area, so that is the area to treat. Hmmm...

See ya,

Hello Kerry! Nice to see you on the forum again. I hope you are able to do GFT this year. Best of luck with your training!
Pixie

Hi, Pix! Great to see you back on the forum also. Are you in for the GFT this year? I hope so, and I hope I am, too.

We have ALOT of training miles to go between now and October 23rd. We'll do a few smaller tri's to stay on form, but all energies will be focused on the Big Dance! We get to celebrate it all on one day.Hope to see you there. And on the forum all summer and fall.

Take care, Kerry Riggs (M 50-54) Yes, I've aged up, now I'm one of the geezers!

The website looks great!!!!!Im a full time firefighter here on the mississippi gulf coast Biloxi.Will be first time racing in Clermont and it looks awsome talk about some hills.Me and my wife and son will be heading to disney world in may so we come right by there.Cant wait!!!

Welcome to the froum, Firefighter829! It may be a few months before this forum gets rolling, everyone is busy with other races, etc., and it is still early, but keep checking here, eventually everyne will start rolling in. Good luck with your May trip to Disney. Clermont is about 30 min. away. Get some pictures of Sugarloaf Mt., use it for motivation during your training rides.

Hs anyone heard from Endura Dad?

Kerry Riggs

Hi Kerry and FF 829!

May is a great time to be in Florida. Enjoy your visit here!

Not sure what I'm doing this year for triathlons. Depends a lot on finances. Always training, though. The only cost there is in energy!

Congratulations, Kerry, on your new age group status. I hope it brings you great results!

Ironcoach and I have been keeping in touch w/ E-dad. He's living up to his name with work and family and tri-ing to get in training when time permits. It sounds like Spring has finally sprung in Indiana and he's looking forward to getting back on the bike.

I just got back on the bike last month after choosing this year to miss all the 30-degree days and 30-mph headwind (been there, done that). I'm enjoying biking, so even though I'm a little behind in training on the bike, I'm enjoying it more.

Best of luck w/ your training! Stay safe and healthy!

Pixie

Happen to be looking around and am about to get back in after not doing any distance since 2001 and the GFT in 2000. Been a while but i am planning to be there this year and you'll be seeing me here. Hello to everybody and happy training.

Welcome home, Al!! Good to have you back. Enjoy your training.

Welcome back, Al! You probably already know the forum is a great place to get advice from other triathletes.

How did training go for everyone this weekend????

Pix,
Rain and wind on Saturday, so only a 25 mile ride, EZ. Sunday was a10 mile run, also EZ. Some rain, wind and humidity on Sunday, too. Not bad. throw in some hills, and I was on the Queen K highway!

Oh yes, you're further south and got hit w/ the rain Saturday. We had some wind but otherwisei a nice day. The rain came on Sunday. But it was just a drizzle, so it was good for running and swimming.

Wow - I'm impressed that you're already in the 10-mile range! Good job! How did your last half-marathon go? Are you still having injury issues?

Pix

hey tri cronies
Ive been looking for a place to blog journal my training and this looks like a good site

My quest is to conquer the Iron Distance this year and I am looking at the Great Floridian Ultra as the venue ---- my other consideration is the Beach to Battleship in Wilmington, NC
Any pros- cons on either??

Hello Ferrum Mannus and welcome! I've heard Beach to Batteship can be pretty cold for the swim. I've never considered Ironman Florida for a few reasons: 1) even though I'm a swimmer and comfortable w/ swimming with or without a wetsuit, I don't like the idea of swimming in the ocean in November; IM Florida is much more expensive than GFT; it's 8 hours away from me instead of an hour and 15 minutes; and you have to register the day registration opens because it fills up so fast. I bet some of these reasons would also apply to B 2 B, but I don't know from personal experience. I'm sure there are some IM veterans out there who would know. What say the rest of you?

I think the only advantage B2B might have over GFT would be an easier bike course, but again, I don't know from personal experience since I've only done GFT.

Where you live? Drive time is worth considering.

Pixie

On another note: I'm no stranger to the Internet and how to use websites but this morning when I wanted to start a new topic, I could not get to "Edit" mode to do so. I couldn't spend much time on it because I had to get to work, so I'll try again later (also need to make the type on my monitor larger to see what I'm typing here!).

What I was wondering is if a drawing has been held for a free entry? If so, who won? Which entry was offered???? If not, when will the drawing take place???? And will I be the lucky winner?

It's early in the training season, but I'm already exhausted. I was so tired yesterday that I left work at 3 and took a nap as soon as I got home. That helped so much that I had energy to clean the house (which only happens when I have energy after training).

I guess it's obvious I'm trying to win free entries w/ all my inane posts!

Hope everyone is getting some productive training in!

Be safe out there.

Pix

Hi Pix,
Just keep posting and see what happens. Let's put in the miles and look for a slot cheap from someone dumping theirs in September. That's a good thing about this race not selling out in a few days. Let's also tri to stay ingury free.
As for my feet, that is a LONG story. I had PF issues in both feet. The pf in my right foot went away on its own, but has gotten REAL bad in my left foot, almost like a real bad ankle sprain. I'll go for my Sunday long run, limp for a few days, pain goes away, then its time for my Sunday long run again. And so the cycle goes. I should cut the Sunday long runs and just stick to shorter runs during the week. That's how I did the six half marathons from Oct-Mar. I was training for ING Miami Marathon. The three 20 milers really caused all of the trouble, and I had to drop down to the half. So... here I am, hoping that it will also go away in my left foot.
Welcome, FM!!!

I'm having some issues being able to Reply or Add a Reply. I swear I'm Internet saavy!

Yes, I like the idea of the Buy/Sell race entry option.

Your PF issues sound awful! I don't know how you've managed to keep going. I've heard that flexibility is a factor in PF. Makes sense to me.

Have a great day,everyone, and good luck w/ training this weekend. Stay safe!

Pix

I should clarify the comment "that's a good thing about this race not selling out in a few days." GFT does not have a race transfer policy, from year to year, ( I found out last year)but you can sell your slot if you cannot make it, eg. injury, job commitment, family, etc. If the race sold out in a few days, and there is no transfer policy, the "unfortunate" would be eating a race entry. I think IM has a refund policy, but only a partial, and must be X number of days in advance. Sommer Sports is very accomodating to the athlete.
I also erred on a prior post. The 24 week plan for the GFT begins on 10 May. If anyone was lucky enough to find Huddle/Frey book "Ironman Training,Start to Finish", also a 24 week plan.
Today was an 8 mile tempo run. I didn't mean for it to be, just happened. Run hard for four-six poles, eight pole recovery, and so on. Just kept mixing it up. Saturday was a 30 mile bike, in 25-35 winds. Very few cyclists were out. I was nearly blown off the road by a strong gust.
Train safe, everyone. Before you know it, we'll be tapering for GFT, and wondering if we've done enough training.

Hey, everyone! We had a monstrous storm come through here last night - all night! It was the same storm that pummeled Mississippi so that has me wondering about FF829.

About buying/selling a race entry: I bought my entry in 2007. I didn't want to commit to GFT if I couldn't handle the training (I can't handle the training but I figured if I never tried an IM, I would never know. I knew if I gave up on the goal, I would be kicking myself afterwards for not pursuing it). Buying/Selling a race entry is a good option to have. But winning a free entry is even better!

I still have my friend's Huddle/Frey book. I tried to give it back to him but he wouldn't accept it! It's too hard of a regimen for me to follow. I'm doing very little compared to most triathletes and I'm still exhausted.

Like you, Kerry, I biked Saturday but our bike club ride happened to be on a trail so we had some great tailwind for 20 miles out and then trees and brush for a wind break on the way home. It was still tough coming home though, esp. since we rode hard going out and I decided not to stop w/ the group. Headed home on my own. I should have stopped so I could draft going home. Found out they didn't ride nearly as fast coming back. I had a good run after my ride, but paid for it on my Sunday run. Also swam on Sunday. Legs felt really tight for the first few hundred yards. I finished my workout (first time in a while) and I can feel my lack of training. Legs were very tired today. Mondays used to be a swim day but since I've been swimming on Sunday, Monday is now a rest day.

Hope everyone else had a productive training weekend. Be safe out there.

Hello, everyone!

I'm sorry to clutter an active thread with noob questions. For some reason I can reply to existing threads, but not post a new one. What am I doing wrong? Does it have something to do with the Edit Mode mentioned at the top of the page?

Anyway, I was going to ask if anyone out there is doing the Gulf Coast HIM in Panama City next weekend.

Cheers!

You're not alone in not being able to start a new topic. I can't either. I couldn't figure out how to get to Edit mode and haven't spent much time trying, so I keep posting on current threads!

Haven't done Gulf Coast Tri. since 1999. That was my third triathlon ever and I didn't realize that I should have carried more food than I had. It was a good learning experience.