Beer Drinker Appreciation Society - Open For Business (Page 108)

Jenn, I have zero doubt you can do this. You're strong and you're in great shape. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!

Sandi

As I said earlier, I freaking love my wetsuit. It makes the transition to OWS from pool swimming MUCH easier. I love the buoyancy, which really, really helps alleviate panic.

About taking it off, you learn. First, you start taking it off immediately upon exiting the water. If you let it dry out at all as you run towards your station, it becomes infinitely harder. Second, tri-glide COMPLETELY makes a difference, the sticky areas slide off much easier.

For me, T1 IS minutes. I improved those over my races last year--a lot, I think only experience can really show you what you need to change--but it's certainly not short. And yes, at least a minute of that is taking the wetsuit off. But I also think it improves my swim by at least that much time AND lessens my negative experience (i.e. panic), the swim sets the tone for my race. The easier it is, the more fun I have.

You also don't have to be super neat about your WS. I was instructed to dry mine inside out, so I literally peel it off and leave it inside out on my towel.

Sandi

Jenn - you will be fine in your aqua bike. You can't worry about what anyone else does. I know it is hard not to compete with siblings but unless you are competing in the open class with sponsors you only need to worry about your effort. If you give it your all on race day then that is all you have to give. You can always work on improving for next race if you are not happy. That being said you kill the swims and your avg on the bike seems good as well. I bet you surprise yourself.

I love to wear a wet suit if its legal. I am actually buying a sleeveless one so I will have a full suit for cold water ( I am a baby about cold water), and a sleeveless one for warmer water. I am not that strong of a swimmer and it really really helps. I am conscious about taking it off my arms b/c of the garmin but its worth the time/effort saved on the swim.

I rinse my wet suit with fresh when i get home and let it dry inside out also.

Looks like the race reports are going to start coming in. I can't wait. My first race is still a few weeks off. I missed my swim today, had to change the locks at a friends house who is a traveling nurse. His renters moved out. Should have taken 2 hours including drive time but took 4. Oh well. Looks like I'll be running in the rain tomorrow. The fun part is that close family friends live just over 6 miles from my house. We are going to dinner there tomorrow night b/c her father is coming back into town from CA so I am just going to run from my house to theirs then shower there for dinner, which also means I don't have to drive home so I can have a beer or 2. Long bike ride Friday then my Sgt test and long run Saturday. I cant wait to get that out of the way so I can concentrate on training without that test hanging over my head.

Beer: Simtra triple IPA (love this beer) knee deep brewing

Evening all, checking in for the night.

Workouts 5 and 6 for the week.

Up really early this morning at 0630, 35mi on the bike, even got flagged down by a cop at one point who was running radar, I apparently was going 25 in a 20, and to keep up the good work.. Lol!

The plan was for a shorter run around my favorite lakes than usual, however I took a wrong turn and ended up doing almost the same distance. Was way hotter than I expected it to be and it caught up with me, cramps hit me pretty hard.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Devon, that is hilarious about the cop flagging you down!! Ironically I had about 4 cops go by me at various points on my ride today (which I love, love, love because I feel like they're looking out for me a little) and I checked my speed on my watch! I was doing 21 in a 25 so all was good. hahaha too funny.

I appreciate the kind words from everyone. I'm in no way trying to compete with my sis-in-law - she will kick butt and I can't wait to have a Switchback with her at the end! I only saw her training and it got me to thinking I'm not doing nearly enough so then doubts start creeping in and my legs have also been very fatigued this week. I actually cut my bike ride in half because it felt like so much lactic acid was built up in my quads that I was afraid of becoming unsafe on my bike. LOL. I then got home and found out why I felt so spent on my "training hill" (cat 4 climb), I did my second fastest time; so apparently I wasn't doing as poorly as I thought. Anyway, I biked for about 45 minutes and hopped off for a short 2 mile "recovery" run. At 1.4 miles a shooting pain went through my pelvic floor and almost dropped me so I slowed to a walk for a minute then continued on at a slightly slower pace. Weird stuff but not the first time it's happened.
Oh! I did work on aerobars yesterday so maybe my legs were feeling things a little differently; in addition to running a bit more which I haven't been doing consistently. I just need to suck it up, Buttercup!

Thanks All for the advice on the wetsuits. At this point I'm leaning towards a sleeveless so that I get the leg buoyancy, keep the arm freedom of motion, don't cook myself, and have an easier time taking it off. My two scheduled races are late July and mid August so it's going to be hot, possibly warm enough water I can't use it. Both are sprints, though there will absolutely be Olympics in my future as soon as I can get my swim distances up... I'm by no means a strong swimmer, it's my weakest event by far. It's inexpensive enough though with the discount that I should have one anyway.

Jenn - I had a Switchback Ale last night!!! the wife and daughter took me out to dinner for my birthday, the place had a decent row of taps, and sure enough the last one the waiter rattled off was 'Switch, or ship, something-back from Vermont'. LOL. It was perfect - little sweet, little bite, little citrus, and totally delicious cold.

Devon Awesome that the cops pulled you over on the bike!
John HAPPY BIRTHDAY!



Pretty pumped, went to bed at a decent hour last night, got 7+ hours of sleep, and was at the pool at 0645 to bang out 1000m in the pool! Feeling so good, and hoping I can get on a roll and keep this going!

Tonights plans are an anniversary spa/dinnner/night out with my beautiful and lovely better half which may include a beer, My mom is in town visiting and that means free Babysitting!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Prost, Sláinte, Salud, Na zdravje, Cheers!

Thanks Justin! And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Also - great to see you getting back into the workout routine and loving it!

Justin - happy anniversary!

Devon - that's pretty funny. Well done on your training

Alan - Flow wheels on the way. Got a 60/90 I missed out on the last order because they sold out before I got to the checkout so this time i was already logged in and waiting when the store opened.

Got my run in today. I will head to the pool when it opens at 2.

Congrats on getting a set of Flo's..I've been looking at my finances and a new bike looks like it could be right around the corner :D if that's the case hopefully I can put enough aside by the next order from Flo to get a 60/disc combo..or 90/disc combo...hmmm

So far this week enjoying to be a finisher: just a spinning class and easy jog. Hope to go back to good training sessions next week.

Dave - I would like to recall the topic you proposed about alternative nutrition ideas apart from gels (not only they are expensive but my stomach was not feeing very good the next day after the race...). Any ideas?

Devon - I envy you are highly focussed on your next goal right after your recent race!

Scott - I will check the dates, it would be great to do a HIM while you do your full IM together, and beautiful daughter, you must be an great model for her.

Nicole - glad to hear surgery went well, hope you can go back to both typing and training soon.

John - good to know OWS went well, I fully support those that enjoy swimming with a wet suit, my problem is to get rid of it at the wrist level, rest is easy

Thor - hope your back is in better mood

Jenn - I can see the pressure, but as this group is suggesting -and as you know- you only compete with yourself. However, I understand that have a friend, relative, colleague...racing with you adds more pressure. And I do not know why, but when the race gets closer, at some point we all tend to think that we will not be able to make it. But then....the hours spent in training do show up!

Juan

Evening everyone.

Workout 7 for the week, leg day at the gym..pushed pretty hard, and I feel I'm going to pay the price in the morning. I may jump on the trainer when I get home from work depending on how I'm feeling, even just a light spin to get some blood into my legs.

Hope everyone had a good workout(hopefully) today.

Check-in Another swim workout today. It's been a busy swim week as I try to figure everything out. I did 3 set of 500 yards today since my Sunday race is a 500 yard swim. All 3 took me about 10 minutes each, but interestingly enough, the third one felt the best. I wonder if there will be an open lane for warm ups on Sunday...I guess I'll see. I am going to apply some of what I learned during the third 500 to my swim on Sunday. I have a good breathing cadence that I want to maintain, I'm going to make sure to try it out.

Here is a cycling motivator for everyone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ

Holy S!! I get excited to generate half that wattage. And I'm not sure I can keep it going that long. Two of me at full effort couldn't toast a slice of bread...

Ok despite my best efforts to sabotage myself, I managed to get in a run-swim double last night. It was Thirsty Thursday at work, we had Stone Arrogant Bastard on hand, and since since I missed the last round of it... Nice hoppy, dark, strong, 7.2% alcohol ale, consumed after work when I was supposed to be running. I figured I'd end up just getting the run in and ditching the swim, but it was a short one (less than 2 miles) so I zipped out to the pool. I'm happy with myself after that!

Anyone try any of the buoyant swim shorts - ROKAs or DeSotos or I think BlueSeventy makes a pair as well? They're nearly as expensive as a wetsuit but for leg sinkers like myself (caused directly in my case by low back problems), they look like a great idea. I saw recommendations for them over on slowtwitch but I figured I'd ask you guys too. I think what I'll probably end up doing is getting a wetsuit and the neoprene shorts and trying both out and making a race-day decision on which (if legal for either).

Dave O - you're racing this weekend? Or next? Either way go get 'em!! Anyone else racing soon?

John, Beer at work!? You may have already said this, but where do you work? and are they Hiring???

for your anchor legs have you tried imagining there is a beach ball under your chest and you have to continually push it down to the bottom of the pool. It is a concentrated effort for the first few swims but overtime it becomes your natural position. I took that from the Triathletes Training Bible.

Feeling like a baby deer today :/


Breakfast of champions!

Hope everyone else is having a good Friday!

Edited by GeauxHard 2015-06-05 3:18 PM

Haha. Beer in the office yes, but after work hours. 5 o'clock rolls around one thursday a month and one of the VPs comes around and reminds us it's beer o'clock.

I have been consciously working on getting my head further down in the water and it absolutely helps (with both my free and my breast actually), but I still struggle with it a lot. If you could see the alignment of my lower back and my pelvis it would make more sense why I'm struggling so bad. I'm hoping the Physical Therapy will help out with the alignment issue. But it's not going to be overnight.

I've been looking into the DeSoto 2 piece system. It's pretty nice, you can buy shorts or pants and a vest or a sleeved top so you can mix and match pieces while maintaining the ability to twist your hips without fighting the suit to do it. I imagine the hip twist thing isn't as big a deal on the high end wetsuits with all the fabric panels built in for flexibility but on the entry level stuff...

Devon - what the heck is in the blender there?

Bananas! About 12 of them..dropped a part of one on the floor

John - As far as your hips sinking, one of the biggest causes of sinking hips is that your head is too high. Speedo used to make a pair of goggles that would help with this. The lenses were split horizontally, the top half came back at an angle and was clear, the bottom half was vertical and was frosted so you couldn't see through them. Theory was in order to see, you had to keep your head down and look foward into the top section of the lens..wonder if I can find them for sale still...

Edit: seems as though they still make them, however they are the racing version, same theory they just down of the frosted section.

http://m.swimoutlet.com/p/speedo-hydralign-racer-mirrored-goggle-42...

Edited by GeauxHard 2015-06-05 6:18 PM

My brain is fried. I have checked out of studying. I am having a beer and going to bed. Up at 0500 to get my bike in then take my test. Taking clothes with me to run then go back for the review. Then I am having a burger and a beer. drinking 1 beer now so I can sleep.

did 50.78 miles in 2:58 today on the bike followed by a 30 min brick run where I held a 9:30 pace. I have decided that if this training plan doesn't kill me I may just finish my Iron Man. To think I use to say I would rather get shot in the leg then have to run.....

Edited by b2b14 2015-06-05 6:30 PM

Good stuff Scott, good luck on your test!

Scott go kick some a$$ on that test!!!