GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 115)

Where's the emoticon for "desperately nervous" when you need it?!?

I'm getting too old for this nonsense!!!

WOO-HOOOOOOO!

4-2 final!

THE BRUINS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS! THE BRUINS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!! THE BRUINS MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!!!



(Had they lost, I would've gone out and tried to run over a squirrel on my bike ................)

HELLO??

It's now a bunch o' hours later, and I wonder if I scared everyone away with my shizoid Bruins angst/ecstasy shtick. I'm back to normal now, and if the squirrel comment bothered anyone....I just want you all to know that no squirrels were harmed during the course of my ride!

A TALE OF TWO WINDS (for Tracey and whomever else)

My ride today was a straight out-and-back, 21.5km each way, going WNW on the out and ESE on the return.

Out -- 51:30
Back -- 38:58

Out -- 25.1 km/h
Back -- 32.1 km/h

That last equates to a 4.3 mph difference between the out and the back!

Today was about as tough as the winds get here, as this was in the top five of my toughest one-way rides. And by the time I had come halfway back, the wind had shifted slightly and was not as favorable for me as I had hoped. Still VERY favorable, but just not as markedly.

SHAUN -

I see what you're seeing in those plans, and all I can think of is that he is trying to vary the degree to which you are fresher for the various workouts. Some days he would prefer you to be sharpest for one, other days for the other. I guess that depends on whether somebody is an "early" or a "late" person. It may be that a morning person would be freshest for the first workouts of the ones that are two-a-days, whereas an afternoon or evenoing person might be strongest in the second of those workouts. I skimmed through the introductory pages and couldn't quickly see any explanation.....so I'll stick with my own humble interpretation!

Hey Steve! I am here and happy with the Bruins win!!

You will hear more from me tomorrow, promise!

Yup!  I'm registered and have a hotel and have been practicing with my wetsuit and got the Race Director to email me the run/bike routes since they aren't on the website.  I looked at last year's results and looks like I'll be pretty close to the bottom (probably about 8th from the bottom).  Only 116 participants last year and I think maybe some slower potential racers stay away because of the 19.8 mile bike route.  Oh well - I'll probably still get a 1st place age group medal - haha.

Big coincidence - I just found out the husband of the editor of our local paper is doing Albert Lea.  It will be his 2nd tri.  He's young and fit and will do well.  He's training for a 1/2 this fall.

My 1st tri is actually May1 in Alexandria.  I think that's the same day as SteveA's IM.  Mine's a 600 yd pool swim, 13 mile bike and 2.8 mile run.  Should be a nice,easy start for the season.  I'm especially excited about this one because I'll get home in time to totally pig out at the Backus Firemens' annual smelt fry (and I won't have to feel guilty).

Hey - I haven't checked the elevations on-line yet.  Do you know how hilly the bike route is?

Denise

Hi,

Anne - I hope you are having a wonderful trip!

Denise

Hi,

SteveB,

I tried one of the swim speed drills you gave me - sets of swimming fast one length and easy back with a brief rest every 4 laps.  Hey - it's surprising how fast I can go when I know it's only for 1 length.
 
Last week I did a bike ride with the wind at my back on the way out and into the wind on the way back.  It doesn't really even out does it?  Aren't you better off without the wind?  I'll have to try the same route when it's not windy .
A funny thing - I can't really tell when the wind's at my back - I only know because my speed's way up.

Denise

DENISE -

Good on being for Land Between the Lakes! That sounds like my kind of race, with a proportionately over-long bike. Maybe I should contemplate a road trip!

A smelt fry? Oh, my.....

No, the winds never even out -- unless someone is a real horse on the bike, a generator of huge wattage. Although I train frequently in wind, given our geography here, I've been lucky in my 90 or so tris and dus in that not too many of them have featured killer winds. I guess I could come up with a list of the top five, but I'm not sure any of them had the stuff I rode in today. And thank god for small mercies like that, I say!

It might be fun to do a race that was justifiably named In-A-Vacuum Triathlon. Now wind, no weather to speak of, really -- just you and the vacuum. I have no idea what that might actually feel like, but whatever, it would be preferable to slogging through the stuff I faced today!

I'm glad the swim thing worked, and it is another example of getting the feel for speed. It's hard to go fast when you don't know what fast feels like. I mean, for most of us it isn't something that can just be turned on and maintained. The trick to it is feeling fast for a length, and then at some later point two lengths, and so on.

The best example I had of this was in '06 when I had to do aquabikes (swim and bike, and stop before the run) due to a torn meniscus. It was pretty amazing to learn how fast I could go on my bike in a race when I didn't have to worry about running afterwards. Within a race or two I learned how to ride HARD, and once the meniscus resolved itself I had that whole new body of knowledge to build upon. Of course, the sticky point was figuring out how much to dial down the bike effort to accommodate running afterwards, but once I made the adjustments I had become a much better race-day cyclist, and with very little running prowess lost in the process.

ANYHOW, just keep working at those small speed bursts, and in time they will become a more concerted output of speed. At least that's the plan!

DENISE again -

Oh, hubba-hubba! Can you veritably hear me salivating about the Albert Lea race?!? I would LOVE to do that baby!

A 0.25 swim, THEN the overlong 19.8 mile bike, THEN the overlong (for a sprint) 4.2 mile run. Heart be still!

Hey great, I am looking forward to meeting you. It'll be the first time I've actually met another BTer. There really weren't any hills per se last year, but the terrain is 'rolling' (a little up, a little down) pretty much the entire course. I'd be surprised if there was more than 500 feet of elevation. Last year there was a problem at the last minute with the run course and they shortened it from 4.2 to 3.5 miles, and lengthened the bike to 21-22 miles, so be prepared for the potential for some variation to the bike & run.
Mark

STEVE B-

I think I am going to sign up for the LADU.  You mentioned it earlier.  I have a friend who lives close by and it will work out really well to catch up with her and do my first DU - which I am considering my brick workout for the week. 
http://museumla.org/ladu/registration/

So anyway, that is the newest update.  Now I have 2 events/month leading up to Timberman, except I have no events scheduled in July, but plan on doing a Timberman scout sometime after the 4th.

Cheers,

Mandy

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-25 7:56 PM

MARK, MANDY, M (Hey! The three Ms! Kind of like Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing [does that still exist?]!) -

Back after a whole day away, and will respond tomorrow. But M -- are you okay? YIKES!

That stinks.

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-25 7:57 PM

Oh No! - I'm so sorry! You seem to be taking it very well - good for you.
Denise

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-25 7:58 PM

Are you kidding?  It most certainly does still exist.  My husband is a 3M retiree and it's partly due to their excellent retirement program that I can afford all the race registrations, hotels, wetsuit, etc.  Actually, I pay for those but only because my husband pays the "real" bills - haha

Denise

M -

WHEW!!! So glad your mishaps seem just minor!

The adage for cyclists is that there are two kinds of cyclist -- those who have crashed and those who are going to crash. Quite incredibly, up until last June 13 I was always in the second category, but when I did it I sure did it up right. In the spirtit of misery loving company, I can refer you to a set of photos of me taken after the crash, which I posted to my other group -- due to popular demand!

I too went quite a while without swimming due to the degree of the road rash...but in a sense that was okay, because with the separated shoulder I couldn't really swim anyhow. But when I got back to the pool I did lots of kicking sets and sculling sets and one-armed drills, and it was just good to be doing ANYTHING!

Did your bike emerge from it relatively unscathed? We hope! (And how did the crsash arise from a chain problem; any idea?)

Anyhow, if you want to see those photos just say the word. (Not for the sqeamish, however! )

DENISE -

Ha! Small world!

Do you remember what TV show from the 50s (or early 60s?) was prominently sponsored by 3M? I can still hear the stentorian tones of the announcer, but cannot for the life of me conjure up what the show might've been. If you don't know.....maybe google can tell me!

MANDY -

Warfling around various race sites the other day, I again came across LADU, and again was struck by the loveliness of the logo. I think you should do it -- there's no brick like a formal du brick!

(What's the date on it again? Aw, never mind -- I'll just follow the link you conveniently posted!)

Feeling good from the demands of snow&mud run to Millinocket and back??

MANDY -

New website! But different logo? Still nice, but not as nice.

That weekend is not a great one, as it's the final weekend of the wonderful Ottawa Fringe Festival. I'm likely committed to gorging myself on Fringe that weekend, but maybe I will have sated myself by then!

As for Timberman recon -- are you fixing to do that with some of the BT people from the T-man focus/chat group? If not, and if you're thinking of doing it solo, let me know and I'd be willing to make the jaunt down and ride/run it with you. Probably anytime between the 15th and 25th would work for me, and maybe earlier if I don't do Musselman HIM. Let me know what you think!