Fred D's Ironman/Half-Ironman focused Mentor Group --CLOSED (Page 10)

It better.  I am headed to FL Thu for a race at Disney World.  I heard 70's for Orlando as well

Back to the work grind this week and pre-5:00am wake-up time for workouts really has me wiped by the end of the afternoon.

Did a 2 mile run this morning and will exercise my vocal cords this evening doing radio play-by-play for an area high school basketball game. Sleep sounds so much better though!

Weather here is great...38 for the run this morning but the rest of the week lows will be in the mid 40s and highs in the 70s. Should be stellar for a nice long bike session on Saturday!

Hoping to get to the pool soon, too...my pool situation can be tricky, and unless I want to commute at least 45 minutes to swim (which I did the last 2 seasons), I'm limited to a 2-hour afternoon window for swimming, weekdays only. My end-of-the-week schedule looks like it may actually work for pool time. Here's hoping!

Yup. Ran 9.2 and came back to a super-cold house. Downside of cold weather in FL? I don't have heat in my house - and it hit the 40s overnight. Upside? At least I have a fireplace.

I made an attempt to get into the unheated pool this morning (heated one is closed for a month).  I didn't get very far.  Felt like the wetsuit would work but I need booties and a neoprene hat I think to make it even close to tolerable.  Hoping to get some swimming in while in FL at least.

So now I am in the middle of trying to change my chain.  So far I found one broken chain break tool and am currently searching high and low in the house for the other one.  I need to get at least a bike workout in today.  Ugh.  I've decided if worse comes to worse I can put the old one back on (after a very good cleaning) as it has a master link.  Today is not starting so great though.

I made an attempt to get into the unheated pool this morning (heated one is closed for a month).  I didn't get very far.  Felt like the wetsuit would work but I need booties and a neoprene hat I think to make it even close to tolerable.  Hoping to get some swimming in while in FL at least.

So now I am in the middle of trying to change my chain.  So far I found one broken chain break tool and am currently searching high and low in the house for the other one.  I need to get at least a bike workout in today.  Ugh.  I've decided if worse comes to worse I can put the old one back on (after a very good cleaning) as it has a master link.  Today is not starting so great though.

well, i wussed out of a 7 mile run this morning, it was 6 degrees, that is about 14 lower than my mangina can handle. If the sun was shining, i mighta braved it, but in the pitch black, sorry, i had a cup of tea and did a 60 minute p90x core synergistic workout.

I will run tonight, it is suppose to be 30 degrees.

i really need to un-clutter my dreadmill, it is being used as a storage rack right now.  I guess that would be a good project for tonight after my run as i cool down.

Good morning. I did not get my strength training done last night but i did do the one-leg drills on the trainer which weren't pretty. 

Anyway, today I am running at lunch - the first time from this office which is in a very busy area - i am guess it's gonna be a lot of weaving and dodging.  Plus, getting a decent satellite read will be tough - at least i am running for time.

And i will go to the pool tonight

I don't mind training in the cold weather. For me the hardest part of training is getting ready to go out for a run or bike ride. I don't mind riding in any kind of cold weather. As long as the streets are clear, no ice nor slush, I am in for the duration (thank God! for cold weather gear). The same goes for a run. I ran 4.5 miles the other day and it literally took me longer to get ready for the run than the actual time out there. My wife was making fun of it... ... but I was the one out there working the holiday gu out. 

I set the alarm this morning for 5am so I could head to the pool for an hour swim and then settle for a 20min bike test in the evening. I looked at the weather channel and saw that with the windshield it was - 3 deg.. brrrr. nope -too cold! went back to bed. I have not decided if it is going to be the pool or the 20 min test, which should have been this past Monday.. oh well! 

I think I'll gain more out of the 20min FTP test than a session at the pool. What do you think?

Question- How much training is there in swimming to gain 5 to 7 mins on a Full IM swim? 

thomas

One little quick tool to Performance for a new chain tool and I now have a shiny new chain on my bike.  I might end up one link short.  Opps.  We shall see.  I should have broke it at the other end.  It at least works while still on the repair stand. 

Who does their own maintenance on the bike (outside of the standard oil on the chain, air in the tubes)?  I go back and forth.  I get frustrated pretty easily but I also hate going to the bike shop (and I have a lot to choose from, it is not lack of quality).  I changed all my cables on the mountain bike once.  That was not fun.  I had the Park Tool website open but did not notice the section where they said to diagram everything out before hand.  I thought every bike was wired the same way.  Sigh...  I got it all back together so that it works though.  This is only the second chain I have changed

I build and maintain all my own bikes, and even do VERY close friends bikes if they ask au gratis.   I am building a Wilier Imperiale right now for a good friend who just got divorced.  As she put it, and this is a quote "I want a bike so sexy, men will want me for my bike".  I thought that was classic, so we went Italian, with full Super Record Components. She had a pretty nice budget, so we went top of the line all the way.

I use the Pedro's tool, i find Pedro's tools are a bit more expensive, but the quality is far superior with most items.

personally, i think everyone should be able to tune their own bike up, not saying they have to, but should be able to do simple tuning and maintenance.  You never know when on the road you may need the skill, for you or to help someone out.

Nice.  Sounds like it is going to be a sweet bike.  I agree, you should be able to tune your own bike up, regardless if you actually do it or not.  We can bike pretty far from home at times.

What do you use to get the grease off your hands?  I think that is one of the most frustrating parts.  Course if I kept my bike cleaner...  Maybe I'll keep this chain clean.  lol

My 02 FWIW.

Depends on where you are starting and how long you have to get there  - Looking at your races, IML is 1:09.  To go 1:02 is about a :10 second increase in average 100 yd split, which is actually quite a lot once you are down in the 1:30-40 range.  If you were to wear a wetsuit, I'd say you could get a few seconds per 100 back, maybe 3-4?  Just personal opinion, but I'd say you'd need 10K/week of good hard swimming, with the odd 13K week in a big week, to make up that difference. 

It's all about the cost of that :07 obviously.  That's a tradeoff with biking/running time which generally rewards with larger ROI than swimming. 

Also a cost/benefit during the race as well.  While I am a big proponent of being fully trained for the IM swim in order to set up a good day, you have to be mindful of the cost of the effort.  I consider IM payments to be made in heartbeats.  You (theoretical you) can swim a 1:02 at an average HR of 140, or a 1:09 at an average HR of 125-30.  I figured out (for myself at least) that "IM pace" is not a time, but an effort level.  Some days that can be faster, some days slower.

I use latex gloves like a Dr would, easier to touch up than have to totally clean. In the even that i don't wear them, then it is some spray cleaner like simple green or something similar then regular soap and water.

Chain grease is the worst by the way!!!

I'm looking for hydration options on the new bike...

I've seen several variations with a bottle cage zip tied between the aerobars, but this will not work for me because it interferes with my positioning on the bars.

Not a big fan of mounting cages on the tubes, so I'm exploring the XLab Super Wing with Gorilla Cages behind the seat as an option. How many, if any, of you do this or something similar? If so, how reliable are the cages? I definitely do not want to be "that guy" who launches bottles on the course. I like to carry 2 bottles beacuse of the warmer weather down here, and it allows me to have water and a sports drink if need be.

Any of you have any other hydration setups that are worth exploring?