Beer Drinker Appreciation Society (BDAS) - Open (Page 105)

I don't have much on the sport side to report on. I've been off season binging (so many jujubes) and training for a half marathon this weekend and a full at the end of October. The full is apparently the hardest marathon in Canada. yay... 

On the beer side, I've decided to invest a bit of cash into a home-brew setup. I'm going with all-grain brew in a bag setup to save on costs and space. My wife endorses the idea. She says I get grumpy during my rest weeks so she thinks brewing should be my rest week activity to keep me occupied. :P 

I find a shoe model I like and periodically search for sales or last year models and will buy a new pair even when I don't need them.

I'm done. Triathlon up here in MA finish up at the end of September, and folks transition over to single discipline events. I'll probably sign up for the odd 5k, but nothing's firmly on the calendar for the winter.

Training for the bike I'm a bit on the fence. The realistic part of me wants to just throw in the towel, put the bike on the trainer, and shift my riding to the evenings. But then I look out the window and it's perfect weather, and all I want to do is go for a long ride. Unfortunately the new work schedule doesn't leave a lot of time for riding, so we'll see.

I've started planning out 2017 - races, training plan, etc.  Shooting for a couple of Olys if my back holds together (literally...).

Right now focusing on the bike and swim, trying to get in about 30K yards and 3-4 hours/week on the bike. 

I downloaded the new Sufferfest app for Windows - looks like it'll be pretty cool once the bugs are smushed and  the full functionality is released (like power smoothing, integration, etc.).  Those videos are a hoot.

Buy some rollers used...get to keep your tire on for those sweet fall riding days...of course they are predicting snow for us this weekend so not sure on my fall riding... :-)

Sufferfest definitely lives up to its name. I have 3 of the videos...might have to check out the app later on!

Sufferfest just released their beta for their new Windows app - it has some bugs but it gives you access to all of the videos (it works a little like TrainerRoad with the SF videos dropped in).  There's also Zwift if you're into some virtual group rides.

That sound epic.  Must be a stunning venue - I'm thinking the scenes from The Sound of Music.

I use TrainerRoad basically exclusively while watching old Tour stages. I've used Zwift in the past and it's enjoyable but it also gets tedious watching a digital person ride a bike around for hours. You need a good direct drive trainer with the ability to simulate climbs and descents to really make Zwift effective. 

Sufferfest is a great way to f-ck up your training. It's nice to do it once or twice a month just to mix it up but I wouldn't base my training around it. You sweat and you burn calories. That's about it. I don't know anyone who has become a better cyclist from using the Sufferfest. 

One the best solutions I've come up with to eradicate Trainer boredom is to listen to podcasts with headphones and watch Tour/race videos. Focusing on the podcast during long moderate intensity stuff makes the time go by quickly and during harder efforts I focus on the race videos for motivation. I also frequently visualize myself in a race that I'm planning for or a race that went well in the past for motivation during tougher parts of the workout. 

Yes, Canton was 25 meters - that's a pretty rare pool size in the US.  The first time I swam there I was like "WTF?? I"m really slow!!!"

I've been debating doing Masters with the Towson group; their times are much more compatible than the Canton Masters group (which for all intents and purposes might as well not be affiliated with the Merritt anymore).

Just curious...why?  I get it that you can't just do them every day because their IF is so high - is that the reason or something else?

And I also record the whole TdF on my DVR and watch it during the longer endurance sessions on the trainer.