Author Archive
Mere Mortals 08/29/2010
Not much of a workout last Sunday! When I first got to the beach, it wasn’t raining and it looked like we might be able to squeeze in at least part of our workout, even if a little rain did move in. Unfortunately, by the time 6:30 rolled around, we had thunder and lightning moving in, and had to scuttle the workout.
But not all was lost! Jay Yanovich, a certified USAT official, joined us for a very informative and lively presentation on the rules of triathlon. As always, Jay had a great presentation, and we all learned something new!
Next week, the plan will be to set up a full course swim! With the focus being on the swim, we’ll back off on the bike and run distances.
See you there!
Tom Henderson (email)
Mere Mortals update!
Hello Mortals!
I hope you all enjoyed our longest ever bike! As Neil McDonagh mentioned during our talk on nutrition, you’ll probably spend over half of your race time on the bike. Knowing that you’ve got what it takes to ride almost twice as far will help you attack the course with confidence on race day!
This Sunday may present a bit of a weather challenge! It’s most likely going to be raining. If there’s a lot of lightning, we won’t be able to train. However, if it’s just rain, we may manage to get a workout in! I’ll be there early, and we’ll base our decision on what we to on the conditions.
Here’s a couple of pictures from last week!
Mere Mortals 08/15/2010
Our longest swim yet! three laps of about 350 yards! Great job, Mortals! And after that, you biked for 16 miles and ran the full 3.1 mile course. We’re getting very close to ready!
Next Sunday, we’re going to try something a little different. The bike portion of the race is where you spend the greatest percentage of your time. Therefore, it’s important that you are comfortable that you can complete the distance and still have energy left for the run. To help you with this, we’ll have a bike-only session this Sunday, and we’ll cover up to twice the distance of the SRI Tri bike course!
Here’s how it will work; After our usual talk, which will include the session we missed on race nutrition, we’ll hop right on our bikes and leave as a group. We’ll head east towards Navarre. The faster riders will make it all the way to the intersection south of the Navarre bridge and turn back. In order to make it there an back in the time we have allotted, you’d need to everage about 18 miles per hour. For those who average a little less, you’ll turn back as soon as you’ve been riding for 60 minutes. If all goes as planned, we’ll arrive back at our starting point close to the same time.
Since this will be out longest so far, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Be sure to bring plenty of fluids on the bike with you!
- Wear a watch or use the timer on your bike computer, so you’ll know when to turn back.
- If you feel you’re getting to tired to ride for the whole two hours, go ahead and turn back early. Better to be safe than exhausted with miles left to ride!
- Keep an eye on the weather as we’re riding. Thunder storms build up quickly this time of year, and you’ll want to have time to make the ride back, so turn around if the weather starts looking rough!
- Ease up on the pace a little. Endurance is the goal of this ride, not speed!
Looking forward to riding with you! I’ve invited the whole Tri Gulf Coast Membership to come with us, so hopefully we’ll have a great turnout!
See you Sunday!
Tom (mortals@trigulfcoast.org)
Mere Mortals 08/01/2010
Hello Mortals!
Wow, our first chance to swim in the Gulf! After checking out the water during a 1/2 mile “test swim” on Saturday, we decided to go for it! And what a beautiful day it was for our first time in the Gulf! Flat surf, clear water, and over 60 Mere Mortals to enjoy it!
Sunday’s workout was sponsored by Multisport Performance Institute, and Co-founder Mark Sortino gave the day’s talk on bike fit. The talk described some of the things you can do to make a regular road bike more tri-friendly, and also explained the reasons that tri-bikes are configured differently, and how that benefits a triathlete.
Next week, we’ll do all three sports again! The talk will be on swim tactics and techniques, presented by John Murray. I won’t be there this week, so I hope you all have a great workout!
One last thing! MPI has a really cool grant request in with the Pepsi “refresh everything” program. If they’re successful, they’ll be able to use a $25,000 grant to organize youth triathlon training right here in Pensacola!
If you think this idea is a great as I do, click the link below to cast your vote in favor of this worthwhile program!
Special notice 07/23/2010:
Attention Mortals! Since it looks like we’ll still be under tropical storm warnings this coming Sunday morning (7/25), Mere Mortals is canceled for this weekend.
Looking forward to seeing you all the following weekend with better conditions!
Mere Mortals 07/18/2010
Hello Mortals!
It was another great Sunday! We got in a longer swim than our previous one, with three laps of 250 yards or so, and we extended our bike ride out to 14 miles! We were also joined by Robbie from Bikes plus, who spoke on cycling equipment and bike safety. Charles Gheen, the SRI Tri race director was there too with special entry rates for all Mere Mortals!
The weather was great, and the water in the sound was wonderful!
Next week, we’ll swim, bike, and run, and Neil McDonagh will join us to discuss race nutrition. See you there!
Tom Henderson (email)
Updated Cycling map for 14 miles
Hello Mortals!
Here’s an updated map showing how far seven miles is. This should help give you and idea of where to turn around in order to do a 14 mile ride. I’ll try to go drive the course this evening and find a good landmark.
View Mere Mortals 14 mile bike ride in a larger map
Mere Mortals 07/11/2010
Hello Mortals! Thanks for another great Sunday!
What we did:
Last Sunday’s workout had to be altered a little bit due to several circumstances that came up. First, Our President John Murray and VP Mark Sortino were both injured in a bike crash on Saturday. They both gave us a scare, but it looks like they’re on the road to recovery and will be back in action very soon, along with another rider who was also injured.
The other problem we encountered was with our swim course. Our primary swim location in the gulf is still under a health advisory, and our backup site was filled with boats that had spent the night after the Blue angels show. We had to cancel our swim, but we look forward to next week’s swim!
Special thanks to Stan, Nancy, and Kenny for volunteering to set up and explain their transition area for everyone! They also ran through T1 (swim to bike) and T2 (bike to run) so everyone could see the steps they go through.
Next week:
On 7/18, we should have our swim course back! The oil forecast doesn’t look good in the Gulf, so it’s likely we’ll be in the sound. We’ll also be increasing the recommended distance of our bike ride from 12 miles up to 14! While we don’t officially have a run scheduled this week, you may want to bring your shoes. That way you can practice your T2 transition and just go for a short jog of a mile or less.
I will probably change the speaker and topic for this Sunday. Mark was going to come and talk about Bike fit, but he’s still in recovery mode, so I will probably move one of the other speakers up from one of the coming weeks.
That’s it for now! I will post a follow-up blog with information on the longer bike course in the next couple of days.
Thanks!
Tom Henderson (email)
Mere Mortals Blog 06/27/2010
Hello Mortals! Thanks for another great Sunday morning! It looks like we had about 45 or so participants today, which is a great turnout!
Today’s workout
We started the day with some 150 yard repeats in Santa Rosa Sound, where we started in shallow water and went out, rounded a buoy, swam a short distance parallel to shore, then turned back in. We started as one big group, so everyone could begin to get the feel of what a mass start at a race is like. Several of the more experienced swimmers volunteered to “buddy” up with one of our newer swimmers and stay with them through the course. We rewarded them for their help by having them race each other for our last lap!
Next, we headed out for a 12 mile bike on our usual course. There was a very slight headwind on the way out, just enough to notice it on the the way back!
Our Speaker
Today we were joined by the race director of the Santa Rosa Island Tri, Charles Gheen. Charles told us a little about the history of the race, the planned swim, bike, and run course and alternate course for the swim in the event we can’t swim in the Gulf. He also let us know that there will be an opportunity to sign up for SRI Tri at a special Tri Gulf Coast discount race on July 18th at Mere Mortals!
Next week
Next we will be doing… NOTHING! That’s right, we’re taking the 4th of July weekend off. I hope you all have a great 4th! Come back ready to train hard, because on the 11th, we’ll combine all three sports for the very first time! Our presentation will focus on the “fourth sport” in triathlon, transitions! We’ll talk, demonstrate, and try out for ourselves both of the transtions. The first one, T1 as it is sometimes called, is the swim-to-bike, and the second (T2, of course) is bike-to-run.
Remeber to bring all your gear for all three sports! Also, be sure to hydrate before training and bring prently of fluids with you! We’ll have Gatorade refills for your water bottle and possibly some other stuff as well.
See you there!
Tom Henderson (email)
Mere Mortals update
| Oil Spill Update: Based on the latest health advisories (as of 6/23), we will not be swimming in the Gulf on 6/27. We hope to be able to swim on the alternate course in Santa Rosa Sound, and will continue to monitor conditions. For now, come prepared to swim and bike on 6/27. We will meet in the usual location. |
