Fred D Mentor Group Part III (Page 101)

Nice job!

I've been off the www for the weekend. 

Yanti - sorry to see that you didn't make the cutoff, but truly inspired with your perseverance and attitude. Your day will come, and I would imagine yours will be one of the most gratifying and rewarding experiences when you hear those words as you come down the final chute.

I "heart" your awesome attempt.

Man, there has been some great training and racing and training-racing this last weekend! hilarious banter in here and amazing support for me. Thank you all. Thank you doesn't capture it, but that's all I've got.

Yep, swim conditions were rough (nice current/chop/swell trifecta) but very manageable. Slowed me down a bit but yeah, as Andy thought--it was the cold that killed me. Had a profound front-and-back ice cream headache the whole way, migraine-quality without the nausea. Couldn't feel my hands, had to keep looking at them to make sure they were pulling nice and straight with forearm in the water.

T1 volunteer wanted to send me to the med tent--hands and feet looked like the American flag (red, white, and blue in STARK colors. Like, not a little bit bluish).

Anyway, you'll get the epic novel with pics in the RR (PIGLETS!) but THANK YOU and I am doing great today, which means I was in better shape than I thought.

And with that ... I am raring to go for IMNZ in less than three months! It's going to take some adjustments, so here are some important questions if anyone wants to take a gander.

- COLD. The lake will be the same temp as the ocean here (friggin' cold to me). I already did Emilio's "swim cap sandwich" in both Melbourne and here, with earplugs, and while my hair stayed dry and I'm sure I was warmer than if not, it's still not good enough. (Check out photo for what the strap did to me despite a ton of lube). If I have to deal with that kind of head pain (massive ice-cream head and chafe upon chafe that gets infected), so be it, but I need to be a bit warmer. (I do feel like it affected me on the bike, esp. the first lap).

Booties? Try to do a medical petition with RD/WTC to wear protective but non-propulsive gloves (and what would that be?)

I have a couple extra weeks before the race to hang out and acclimatize--should I do it? One week, two weeks?

Whether or not it's just psychological, I plan to hang out in a lot of ice baths in Bali, and learn to sleep without covers in A.C.

- RAIN (related to cold). It's unlikely to be chilly but quite likely to rain (40% chance historically). = chilly. Are there any kind of cycling pants that will keep me warmer if it's wet? Any other wet-weather cycling stay-warm tips?

(036.CapChafe (Small).jpg)

Yanti, that chaffing looks nasty!  I got nothing for you on the cold gear - I just ran in sub zero temps while it was snowing and I looked like a snowman when I got back to work.  Even had the icicles hanging from my eyebrows.

I've experienced the frozen head pain from cold water that you describe and it is not nice, I can't imagine having it for any amount of time!

It was horrendous (the headache and chafe) but it sure made me excited to get on the bike. Until the helmet strap started sawing into the raw part (that would be the yellow patch at the bottom). I have a worse one on the back of my neck! Nearly made the chemist cry, if it's not better tomorrow gotta see a doc. Gross because my hair keeps getting into the slime and crust. Yick.

Whaddaya mean, nuttin' on the cold gear?! What's a Canuckistani good for?

By anyone else's measure, mild. In an extreme case it could be as cold as 15C, but it's more likely to be 18C at worst, and most likely to be between 20-24C.

The problem is me, and coming straight from Bali where it's pretty much in the 90s F and same percentage humidity year round.

For whatever reason (and I'm pretty sure I have Raynaud's phenomenon), cold affects me profoundly.

Wow, if that's the case it's tough.  I swam with someone at masters last year who had that and her hands went blue when the pool was 82 degrees!

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF ALL:

Any tips on how to train for the next 12 weeks?! I was thinking unstructured, whatever I feel like stuff (but staying active and maintaining) the next couple of weeks, and then back into a solid-volume program--still went in with very little run so I'll just be consistently running most days and keep on building that up. As far as the bike goes, to be able to deal with the chip seal roads in NZ (like a good part of it was here in WA), I have to get out on the open road for some good long hauls. I just don't know how I'm going to do it. Probably bring my bike to Java when I visit my folks (there's great riding surprisingly close to Jakarta).

Rainy season now, so the seas around Bali are like a giant toilet. Pool swimming for me.

Yanti - Sorry about the race, but congrats on persevering until they made you stop....

Re the cold, another consideration is Taupo is fresh water which will likely *feel* colder than an equivalent saltwater tamp.  Not sure why that is, but it's my experience with diving.... 

I might suggest along with volume you add some intensity on the bike (once you are recovered). What kind of effort are you putting into your trainer rides that are not 10 hours long?  With the run though I'd just slowly build up as best you can given the duration.

You are correct.

You just made me think about swimming in the mountain lakes in Bali, which is an option. An excellent one, come to think of it. Why didn't I think of this before?

On the bright side, fresh water is also less chance of chafing.

Agreed. The 2-3 hour rides were fairly intense (as much as they could be) and I throw in 5-10 minute segments of what feels like Z4 (the edge of suffering) to me.

Also, there's no way I can keep up 12-16 hours of bike load regardless, so I'll be cutting back on that but suffering more during less I need to have a look at Jorge's programs again. You guys know he's signed up for an IM? Him, I thought, never!

That's what they say.

As predicted though, I thought the heat and flies were a plus . I wore a longsleeved (not cooling) tech shirt on the bike with a bike jersey over it and that was perfect for me.

That does sound tough if you do have it! I only know what I've read in the last few minutes. What comes to mind is how the the recovery is when the phenomenon is triggered, since the swim sounds likely to do it (again). How long does it take and what do you do? Just kind of brainstorming if there is something you could do in transition to help warm up a little before going out on the bike. It's not likely you'll warm back up on the bike unless it's rather hot out or you overdress. Might end up overdressing at first, then peeling layers off as you go, but curious about recovering first.

Btw for those in the group who aren't familiar with Western Australia, Yanti is not kidding about the flies.  They are super annoying in the summer in that area

Note my hand waving during the run and check out my hat...

The mountain lake swims sound like a good plan.  That could get you used to it a bit and also give you the opportunity to try a few things out and see what keeps you warmer.

Were the long sleeves and bike jersey tight fitting?  You wouldn't want loose fitting clothing flapping around wasting watts!

They were clustered in swarms on my chafe wounds. It tickled.

And no, they don't go away after dark, and everyone had tiny polka dots of flies all over their clothes after dark--the critters just hung on or even got stuck in the fabric.

I didn't count the flies I ate that were on my PB&J sandwich in special needs. Just the ones I consumed directly.

You know what I thought of are those glove warmers people use for skiing.  Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/HeatMax-Hand-Body-Warmer-Count/dp/B0007ZF4Q8

Pull on some bigger gloves over them and you'd be set.  And you could always toss the gloves later on in the ride if it gets hot out.  You might even stuff a couple of those inside your tri top.  Not sure if they still work when they get wet so you'd have to experiment.

I don't think any of that would cost you more than a minute or two in transition.

Some people it doesn't affect their core temp, it really is a peripheral vasoconstrictive phenomenon, but that's not me. Problem is once that's cold, it takes a long time to heat back up.

Really good thought, though. I'm going to have to get good and faster on both bike and run to make up time, but I'll need to take it in transition to warm up. Chem packs for hands and feet, thermos of warm drink? Fully change top so trunk stays dry, layers on top, weatherproof outermost (bottoms will get wet no matter what, likely).

After my Grand Canyon experience hearing this might make me cancel my trip to Australia.  I hate things in my face

Yes! That's what I meant by chem packs, but it didn't occur to me to wear them OUT of transition, in the gloves, in the clothes.

Top will not get wet. Scarf under the weatherproof, neck-high shell, I think.