Beer Drinkers Appreciation Society (BDAS) 2023 Mentor Group - ALWAYS OPEN (Page 133)

Andrew - 1) agree on the break between running days. My plan has me doing at least 1, if not 2 days between each run as I work up. I'm still getting very slowly into it, but definitely spacing everything out.
2) re: breathing on both sides, I completely agree! That's another battle I have with him. He basically says, always breathe to one "wall," so one way it's all left, the other it's all right. I personally struggle with my right and would rather go back and forth than have one whole lap breathing to one side. It's all strange...lol
3) sorry to hear about the tendonitis, but so glad you caught it early and already have a plan! Similar to Robert's situation, would you be able to do a shorter run (10K or half) instead of the marathon? Great news that you can still bike too!

Gretchen - Oh no! What a terrible start to your trip! I'm so glad they were able to get you in somewhere, but that sounds like a nightmare! I also didn't realize how close together your races were, but can't wait to hear more stories (hopefully less nightmarish and more just your typical Gretchen hilarity).

Robert - Keep trucking along! Hope those exercises help and your achilles stops being such a PITA!

Had vball league Tuesday night, which was awesome as usual. It's in the park near my house, so very convenient and we get to play as long as we want, so we basically play until the sun goes down. I'm clearly increasing my fitness b/c I can actually walk and have energy after now

Got in a 30 minute run yesterday. Not really focused on time or distance, just easy runs (still doing 3 min run/1 min walk) and making sure my hip feels good. I've had some slight soreness, but nothing terrible.

Cleaned all morning before work today b/c I'm working from home and when my space is messy, so is my brain. Feels good to have a clean house, and now I'm done with meetings so the rest of the day I will just be cranking work (after checking in with you guys of course!).

Busy weekend ahead, with a dinner tonight to meet my friends boyfriend (it's actually crazy I haven't met him yet), swimming tomorrow morning followed by 3 birthday parties (no joke) and then hopefully an adulting day on Sunday after some SUP in the AM. Hope everyone else has a lovely weekend planned!

@Nicole - I totally get the clean office / clean mind thing. We just deep cleaned my home office (I work from home full time-ish), and we decluttered a lot of it, and it feels so clean and organized again!

Strength Training at the gym today, with two new core exercises. One I love, the other...maybe I'll grow to appreciate it.
- Pelloff Cable/Band press. This is a really good anti-rotation core exercise and was actually quite harder than I anticipated
- Copenhagen side planks - these just plain suck, but I can see the benefits

Some good news with my Achilles - I jogged for 5 minutes on the treadmill today as my warmup before lifting, and it felt fine. No tightness or anything. Another week of rest and then we'll see.

Anywho. We'll be having a game night at our house tonight with some of our college aged kids (my wife and I are the older youth/college age youth leaders for our church). Open Water swim tomorrow morning at the race site, then hanging out with the family. Quiet weekend otherwise here.

Copenhagens suck!!! But yes…they are helpful.

Finally in a bit more stable place in Aus…an AirBandB that totally isn’t what was booked based on the pictures, but is at least a place with a bed and a lock. The woman has divided her house into individual apartments, so there are three other triathletes here right now, a Polish guy, a South African woman, and a German guy. They all raced yesterday. The polish guy is leaving today, so we may move into his unit, because it has a washer and is a bit bigger.

So far no training, but we’ve walked around a bit. My wife and I have very different definitions of what a “walkable distance” is, which it probably good for my legs, to be honest. I just hate waiting around for a cab/uber when I could have walked there in the same amount of time for free.

Now that we are settled, I need to get my bike out together and to the team mechanic. I know I need a new skewer for the front. The airlines bent both my carbon fiber skewer (front) and steel trainer skewer (back). I’m not 100% sure I can get them out of the wheel hub at this point and I have no tools beyond my torque wrench.

I forgot to add that there is a lizard that lives in the tv room of this AirBandB.

My wife is being an absolute champ about not insisting me leave immediately (she HATES reptiles). He is cute though.

Open water swims completed! I haven't swam in a lake for actual swimming in years, so I had to get out of my head at the start of the first lap. Small slight panic attack and lots of doubts flooded my mind, but I took a deep breath and made myself relax and find a steady rhythm with breathing. And before I knew it, I had calmed down and was swimming better.

I finished the first lap and came out, rested a bit, chatted with a couple other triathletes on the beach and then went for a second lap. Much smoother and calmed on the second one. Sighted better and found a solid rhythm for breathing and sighting. Very happy with the second lap. 10:43 for 500m (+/-) will do well I think. I'm not racing for a win or anything, but I feel it's suitable for where I am with it.

All in all, I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it and feel way better about the race now.

The bike course is hilly but not terrible. The hills I have been training on will have me ready well enough.

Five hours spent yesterday getting my bike put back together. The airline bent my skewers so badly I couldn’t even get them unscrewed to get my wheels out of the box. I had to walk to the bike shop and buy new skewers ($12!—never escaped the bike shop that cheaply!) and then walk my bike in case to the team mechanic. He got the skewers undone and reassembled the bike for me and then I had to walk the bike and box back to my airB&B, which is only about a km, but that I’m is all straight uphill. It was a good workout!

Today we are going snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. I hope it lives up the expectations I’ve built up in my mind.

edit b/c I was not able to delete my post.

Edited by robertChiefsFan 2024-08-18 2:01 AM

Gretchen, I totally get the difference in "walking distance." That's pretty much me and most people. I'm good walking for miles if the weather is suitable and time allows, but most people...are not lol
Have you named the lizard?
Also, omg on the bike issues! Good thing you got there early enough to get this all fixed!

Robert, great news on the achilles!

I went to masters practice yesterday - a very rainy morning. Had lots of medial knee pain, especially with some butterfly kicking on my back. Focusing on stretching and strength today. Ended up getting about 2k yards in b/c I stopped early. Was also in a lane with 2 mommas, one who it was her first practice back, so there was more talking than I'm used to. Was definitely nice to catch up, but I felt like my workout wasn't quite as good as I'd wanted it to be for that and the knee pain.

Into (another) apartment yesterday. This is our third location since arriving in Townsville. It was just two doors down from the previous apartment and is much bigger and laid out in a much better way. For example, the toilet and bathroom sink are in the same room. Yeah, that wasn’t ideal. But, we deal with the less than ideal when we must, right?!? This is it. We are in our final place for the trip.

Yesterday we also went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. It was incredible. We got to snorkel in two sessions of about an hour each, which was ok. The water was cold and even with full wetsuits on, after an hour we were pretty cold. We saw a momma humpback whale teaching her baby how to breach the water on the way out. We saw white and black tipped reef sharks, starfish (live!), and a ton of other stuff at the reef, as well as an art installation called the sentinels—statues protecting the reef. On the way back, we saw a pod of dolphins. It was a super fun day, but tiring being out in the sun and wind all day.

Today I plan to ride a loop of the bike course to see what I’ll be dealing with on Sunday. It is very technical with something like 88 turns total.

I probably could swap over to the 1/2 marathon, but I don't think I'm going to. I was running 6-7 days for 50km+ per week building up to my last HM in June. So even if i drop down race distance, the physio suggested limits would still leave me with way less training. And to be blunt, I'm not interested in doing it if I don't feel I'm properly prepared.

This year I've tried to focus on racing less, but preparing well and racing to the best of my ability. So although I 100% could go and run 21km tomorrow, I'm not going to do it for the sake of doing one.

I can make a call in 4 or 5 weeks, and see how the knee has progressed, and if/when I can ramp the running back up. But unless its a rapid improvement then the marathon might have to wait a year. In the meantime, spending some time on the bike again isn't the worst thing in the world.

@Gretchen. Sorry for your bike transport troubles, but it sounds like you dodged a bullet there. Skewers damaged so much you can't get wheels out is bad, but at least your frame and wheels survived undamaged. It sucks, but could have been worse. I've been to Townsville, but never to the reef. Sounds like you are having an amazing time (with the exception of accommodation issues) Enjoy your bike ride tomorrow. Hopefully no more mechanicals!

@Robert. 10:43 for 500m open water is very respectable, you'll do just fine with that. Good news for your achilles, a sign of things to come I hope.

@Nicole. No not the knee! We have enough injuries around this place at the moment. Hopefully it was just a tweak, and all is well after a nights rest.

@Me. Well, obviously my week didn't go as planned.

Swim: 0
Bike: x4, 3hr 50, all zwift
Run: x2, 1hr 45, 14km

S&M, x5, 1hr 30 min (4xphysio, 1xnormal post run stretch)

Goals for this week, 2 swims, 4 bikes (+2-3 warm ups for physio on non bike evenings) 3 runs, about an hour each and physio every day.

In other, happier news. The cabin project has had a major milestone, and was delivered this week. The weekend we started relocating the office/gym stuff from the house to the cabin, and Sunday night had my first workout in the new pain cave. Lots of work still to be done, with path/steps/fencing/planting still to be done outside, and shelving/storage/TV etc. still to happen inside. Really it's only Mrs Bullfrogs workstation, the treadmill and bike moved so far. But for now, it's nice to see some progress.







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More ultimate Frisbee tonight with a group at church after a BBQ, and all the running and sprinting felt great. Achilles feels fine.

As for the race, I went to register for the triathlon and I am unfortunately not going to make it. I came in too short on my budget after I forgot about the USAT fees, Active website fees, etc.

I'm disappointed, but I'm not worried in the grand scheme of things. I'm training well, feeling good, and I'm staying with it. I know what to plan for next year for race fees now, at least.

Edited by robertChiefsFan 2024-08-18 8:50 PM

@Robert—bummer about your race. Those fees really add up and blindside you sometimes! It sucks.

@Andrew—new pain cave/office looks great!

75’ ride this morning on the race course. I rode the easiest to find/figure out part twice. The course maps in the athlete’s guide doesn’t have street names on it. It is very much through the downtown area, so I suspect it is because they don’t actually want athletes to be riding it throughout the week when the roads aren’t closed. Needless to say, it is causing some consternation amongst the racers. At least it is a three lap course, so by the end we’ll know where we are going! I’m banking on the course being well marked and the folks to start first leading the way. Also scoped out transition. It is soooooo far from the water. The athlete’s guide says 400m, but I think that must be from the top of the beach to the closest corner of the transition. They aren’t allowing us to have shoes by the water either, so all that way barefoot.

@Gretchen - thank you. I'm in a good place with it, and I'll just keep training. Good luck to you as you scope out the race and get ready! I'm excited for you!!

@Andrew - I agree, that paincave looks awesome!!

Edited by robertChiefsFan 2024-08-19 5:42 PM

Good morning all!

Andrew, pain cave looks awesome! Progress is progress, even if it's not done!

Gretchen, that snorkeling experience sounds amazing!
Hopefully they lay down rugs on rough areas of that transition run or something. Those runs can be rough.
Is the race this Saturday?

Robert, really sorry to hear about the race fees keeping you from racing. They really do sneak up on you!

Sunday I did some stretching to try to deal with my knee issue. I think it helped, though I definitely still feel it, so have also started doing some exercises.
I made it to masters practice last night. Felt my knee slightly, but nothing serious and made it through the whole practice of mostly 25s and 50s (my kind of practice!). Got in about 2k yards.
Woke up this morning and did some yoga, exercises for my knee, and neck stretches. It has been feeling really tight lately, so I need to build the habit of stretches I have, which is so simple and I could literally do it anywhere and there's not reason I'm not already!

I have vball tonight, which always makes me happy. Hoping the ground isn't too wet and they decide to cancel since it's rained a lot here in the last couple days. It's also gorgeous out today, mid-70s and lovely.

Hope the knee is behaving itself Nicole, how did the volleyball go? Is it wise to play?

Sorry to hear about your race Robert, that’s frustrating.

Andrew, nice to see photos of your new space ! Many hours of “fun” to be had in there!

That snorkelling sounds amazing Gretchen, hope your are acclimatising well down under. When’s the race again?

I am back from almost 2 weeks holiday in France (including 5 days travelling to and from).

Weather was hot and sunny at the beginning and hot and rainy at the end. Didn’t train much but managed 2 x 5k runs (only, partly because of the heat, partly due to wanting to rest my achilles), one 30 minute stationary bike in the hotel gym on the way back, one body weight strength session (38 minutes, including easy jog and stretching) and about 500 laps in the pool (9 meters long), 30 minutes most days.
Also played a lot of “Petanque”, a very popular game down there. My husband says it counts as sport as you need a shower afterwards (mostly from the dust on the court, mind you). https://www.ovonetwork.com/blog/how-to-play-boules-the-complete-guid...

Ate and drank far too much so the 3lbs I had managed to lose before are back and brought a couple of friends with them.

Never mind. Back on track today. 10 days before my last race and first oly.

Easy, but pretty fast, 60’ run this morning. After the death slog that MiTi turned into, I’m super happy with that run.

Race is on Sunday, so after tomorrow’s swim acclimatization in the morning, I’ll be trying to take it easy and just get things in order for the race. Lots of moving parts here, complicated by a degree of uncertainty with the bike course map not having any of the roads labeled. Hard to recon when you can’t figure out the route!

Re: Wise...probably not. Okay, definitely not. I was pretty sore last night, both my knee and my hip, and my knee is still bothering me a bit today. Will definitely be the focus of my next ortho appt, not just my hip That being said, I've decided to move forward with the surgery on my hip, which should provide rest for my knee...so I might finish out this vball season...I know it's not smart. But there's only a few weeks left, and I'll ice and do PT and stuff until then and hopefully that's all it needs. Then I'll do all the resting!

Sounds like an amazing trip, other than the rain. How's the achilles feeling? Sounds like you had some good movement and activity, which is really all you need on vacation!
Petanque looks akin to Bocce, which is relatively popular here (and started in Italy, so similar European roots). Definitely a nice activity!

Hopefully the route is very well marked! Great job on the run, and hope the swim today (tomorrow? I forget you time travelled to Andrew's neck of the world) was lovely!

Okay! Thursday morning here. I’ve found someone who has reconed the bike course by car. They said it took two hours to do the 20km because they had issues finding the correct roads. We are going to ride the technical part of the course today. Also going to swim the 1000m aquathon course beforehand. Should be a good trainining day. I’m jealous of aquathon. 1mi run; 1000m swim; 1 mi run. And done. Even for me that’s less than an hour! I’m thinking I’m in the wrong sport!

Broke my chain on recon ride. Thankfully I was only about three blocks from the apartment. New plan for the day…get bike chain and have team mechanic put it on.

It wouldn't be a Gretchen race week without at least 1 bike mechanical. Good work breaking it on the test ride, not Sunday Hopefully this is the end of your dramas for this one.

@Nat, Sounds like a good time in France. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to come home from vacation a few lbs heavier than when you started You'll knock them off in no time when you're back in normal life mode.

@Nicole, do you have any idea when your hip surgery will be? and how long/what sort of recovery you'll be looking at? Got to start planning the next event back! In all seriousness though, good for you making the tough call, I'm sure in the long run it's going to work out for the best.

@Robert, Hidden fees are evil. Not just for race entries, but any sort of ticket these days. I bought tickets to go to an All Blacks game last weekend, after the not cheap ticket there was a 'service/delivery fee' and a 'payment processing fee' its BS. just tell us the real price first.

@Gretchen. Looks like Australia is being quite the adventure for you. You made me curious so I googled the bike course for the weekend, and man, there are a lot of turns! I'm sure it'll be well signposted and closed roads, but not exactly a typical head down and pedal triathlon course. Hope my Australian cousins are treating you well.

@Mike. Where are you?

@Me, All things considered having a good week. So far 3 bikes on zwift, 2 runs with the dog, 3 physiotherapy bodyweight sessions and 2 stretchy sessions. The legs are definitely letting me know that it's been a while since I've done lots of riding. I should do an FTP test and lower my zones, but I don't think that's what the physio meant when he said riding on the dodgy knee was ok. For that matter I've just realised August is already the biggest bike month of the year, with 10 days to go...