Slornow and Wannabefaster's Winter Group version 3-CLOSED (Page 12)

Good morning and Happy New Year everyone.

Bike intervals on the trainer in the garge this morning. Hope everyone gets 2014 off to a good start.

Randee-that would be a very sweet ride....decisions....decisions.

Bike intervals done....it wasn't pretty. I was in bed by 10pm last night but felt like I had been up late partying based on how I felt during the workout. Oh well.

THE END!

Happy New Year!

Paul and I rang in the New Year in the ER last night.  The meds they gave him post surgery weren't touching the pain.  Nothing they tried in the ER worked either.  We finally went home 4 hours later with the direction to take 4x the dose of the Oxycodone they originally prescribed.  He is only slightly better today.  Drives me nuts when I can't find a solution to a problem.  I channeled that into the pedals this morning.  Despite almost no sleep, felt pretty strong.  Weird how that works.

My coach puts my plans in Training Peaks so it is my main log.  I put minimal effort into putting them in BT.  I've thought about quitting BT logging altogether, but I do get some comments on the workouts that I like to see.  

Badger game isn't doing much to raise the Shain spirits.  Come on Badgers!

Randy, thanks for the post on your amazing 2013 accomplishments. You didn't come across as bragging at all -- you certainly have a lot to be proud of. A 2:13 Olympic triathlon is a huge deal for anybody at any age... I'm now the guy looking in awe at the fast guys, like you, and wondering how they do it. I really like your emphasis on consistency and the "one workout at a time" approach. Since I started using a coach in December, my workouts have been extremely challenging. My goal so far has been to simply do every workout and complete every interval. Usually I'm focused on just one minute at a time. Anyway, thanks Randy and Jason, for providing a template to all of us for your success. Actually, thanks to everybody in the group, too. You guys have done some amazing things -- very impressive and inspirational. Happy New Year!

- Steve

Happy New Year everybody!  I just finished a nice little run along our river...a bit icy, but mostly just pretty and refreshing!  I definitely feel the effect of slothdom these past 4 months.  Jeez...hope I don't ever slack off this badly again.  Coming back is the pits! 

Nathan, thanks for the tips on the Calgary course.  I figure, as we get closer, I'll train it vicariously through you!  LOL!  I'll hit as many hills as I can find here to prepare.  (Stevens was a really hilly course too, so I know I can do it.)  I didn't realize this is your first time at this distance!  It will only be my second.  You'll do great.  A half is no joke, so do take the training seriously; but, if you put in the time and you do your food and drinks intelligently, you'll rock it!  You will definitely feel a huge sense of accomplishment when you are done.  It is a big deal.  No worries on being slow...I'll be back there too!  It is actually a pretty happy group in the mid to last quarter of the pack.  Somebody's got to make those pros look good...that would be us!  LOL!

Relative to the discussion about watches and logs - I love, love, love my Garmin 910...there is virtually nothing it won't do.  I have the HR Monitor, the cadence meter for the bike and the footpod and so I get far more data than any one girl could ever use.  I love that it gives me open water and lap info for swims, and the GPS  and elevation data is awesome for the swim and bike.  It synchs into Garminconnect, BT, and Training Peaks logs.  Last year, I used a TP coach and she was able to get all sorts of info off of it. It has actually been more user friendly than I expected and when I had an issue, the tech support was great...he talked me through an update that I did at home and now it is perfect.  Nice.  I've not used the other watches, so I can't compare them...it is just tough to imagine anything being better suited for multi sports than this.  Oh, and it has a setting for your races...one button push between events and it will switch you to the screens you set up for each sport and will give you the times for each event AND transition times!  I like that. (Admittedly, in the longer races, I get too goofy to remember to hit the button sometimes...) I don't think tech support can help with that.

The various logs...hmmm...any of them work.  I think TP is great if you are using their coaches, but I found the data organization and view on garminconnect to be the best for me personally...so we used both.  Now, I'm using the BT log for the first time too...we'll see how that goes.  Garmin has recently added some free training programs that you can dump into the calendar view, which is nice.  It does not go up to the higher distance tris though...maybe they'll add those in later.  I plugged in the oly distance and it is nice.  One of the things I liked about TP was that your workouts were there for the week, they were easy to move to different days when needed, and you got a nice summary of data for each week/month whatever.  The mobile app worked great too.  The free TP program doesn't have all of those niceties though.  Garmin does; but I've not found a similar mobile app.  BT...seems good so far...adequate anyway.  Honestly, the best if you want to dump a training program into it, change it on the fly, get lots of data and graphs and charts, and see it in an easy way on your phone is the TP log...but you have to pay for the better version.  (And, I hate paying for stuff like that when I could be buying a new pair of shoes or something...)

So, that's what I know,...take it for what it is worth, given that I'm a relative newbie. 

Hope you all had a great New Years!  I'm off to cook dinner and relax a bit before heading back to work tomorrow. 

Oh, and I hope the person who had to go to the ER is feeling better...I've only peripherially monitored that, but it sounds like quite the ordeal.  Sending good thoughts your way!!!!!

Erika

Hey Nancy, I have Factor V Leiden too!  I don't think there are many of us out there. How funny!  I take a small aspirin each day, and just don't think much about it.  I know if you have two parents with it, you have to do more than aspirin.  I'd never heard of it until two years ago when my Dad had a bypass and it "woke up."  It is a wierd deal.  My sister and I both apparently have it, but the doc said just take the small aspirin (81mg?) each day as a profilactic measure and all should be fine.  You might visit with your doc about it...maybe it would be enough to give you piece of mind about it all.

Anyway, hope your leg pain improves! 

Erika 

Beautiful Baby! Congratulations! Does your bike have a name yet? 

Nancy, 

I think a lot of this depends on how much you want/have to spend on a bike. Time would be another factor in determining the best route to go in your situation. First off you want a bike that fits and has good components. If you don't love your bike then you aren't going to ride it. It is my opinion that your bike needs to make you feel strong, fast and it needs to be sexy. Your bike should feel like an extension of your body when you ride it. 

You can find a really nice used bike from a cyclist that is looking to upgrade. My roadie is a Colnago CT-1 that was a CAT 1 racers bike. I've had her over 10+ years.. My tri bike was new when I bought her in 09. There are a lot of great new and used bikes out there. It really just depends on what you want.

First off you will need to go to a bike store and be fit on a roadie. Then you can start shopping around for new and or used bikes or a frame once you know your size. You won't have a good idea of how much a bike will cost until you know your size and choice of frame materials (carbon, titanium, etc.,)  Also when you go for the bike fit try several different bike frames out and see how they feel when you ride them. You will be able to feel the difference very quickly. Then if you decide to build a bike you can look for a frame by that company and frame style/materials. 

I may be selling my Cervelo P2C  tri bike in the near future. Hubby surprised me last night and said I can get a new bike. 

How long would it take for you husband to build a bike? When did you want to start riding and or racing on your new bike? If it's going to take him a long time to research, gather parts and build the bike then going new (and or used) might be a better choice. 

I've never heard the term "divorce" bike before. I know a lot of people who've rewarded themselves after a divorce with a new lover (bike) but never the other way around.