David Gillen's Group - FULL (Page 15)

Just wanted to remind everyone about the articles I've been collecting for us:

Here's the list and I've added a few new links over the past week or so.

LOL...  Shouldn't you be asking your girlfriend, KSH, these questions?  Or maybe you have and that's why you've desperately come here?

Wecome back, Kevin.  I'm glad you found some time to workout on vacation.  That's always a struggle for me.  Congrats on doing some ocean swims too.   Did you have to fight many waves?  Did you have trouble getting out past them?  Did you notice a difference in buoyancy?  Regardless, great job!

Wow, Pene!  Dancing to trance after training!  You must have a lot of pent up energy without your kids, huh!? 

All I want to do is kick my feet up on the couch after training, even the short days!  If you've got the energy, more power to you.  But be sure that you're still recovering properly from your workouts.

BTW, I assess roads for bike routes all the time.  Another "you know you're a triathlete when" that you pseudo alluded too is: You're always wet!  Whether it is from sweat, rain, 2 or more showers a day, pool water, lake water... we always seem to be WET!

Personally I wouldn't worry about trying to use your 205 in the swim portion of your race.  Too much hassle.  The bike and run legs should be fine though.  I don't have a Garmin, but I've seen Ken and a few others put it in zip lock bag under their swim cap and it seems to work for them.  It'd be really nice to know just how far you swim in open water practices.  In races, you already know the distance!

Just try a bunch on and if they have an endless pool in the store, swim in them.  Otherwise, move your arms around a bunch and see if it feels restrictive in the arms.  Watch the neck area also, but like Ken said wetsuits are not designed to be comfortable on land, and the only way you'll really know how it fits is to swim in it.

Ask about their return policy too.   

Very nice pics, Tim!  I really liked the one w/ the single track.  It looks so inviting.  

Tells us a little more about your run there.  How far did you go?  Was it steep in some sections?  Looked like good weather right?   

Anyway, I'm quite jealous.  I would have love to have done a run like that! 

I've never done a MS150, but I've heard they're great.  I'm amazed at how Ken did his when his longest ride was only 40 miles at that point!  I would suggest trying to build up 50 or 60 beforehand though.  2 back to back days of 70-80 mile rides will be tough.  But like Ken said, you can draft (if you stay out of your aero bars) and if you stop and rest a bit at each of the rest stops, that will help too.   This would be great practice for your century and in some ways even tougher.  I say go for it!.  Treat this as just an easy, fun, practice ride and then you can try to ride the century maybe with fewer stops.

The kayak tri sounds fun.  I've always wanted to try one of those.  However, October 6 is about 3 weeks before your high priority marathon, and you'll really need to a nice long run that weekend (18-20 miles).  Thus, if you still want to prioritize the marathon, I'd recommend against the kayak tri b/c I don't think a tri and a long run on the same weekend would be a good idea. 

That's great news, Tim.  I'm glad your wetsuit worked out well.  And yes, the buoyancy of the legs is awesome and one of the key benefits of a wetsuit.  

I'd always recommend swimming in a swim cap in open water for safety reasons.  It's easier for boats to see you with a bright colored cap.  I'm sorry you had problems.  I've never really had much problems with mine.  You might try to put it on wet.  That might help get it on.  I typically put my goggles on over my swim cap for no particular reason.  I guess I like to take my goggles off first when getting out of the water, and this is hard if not impossible when they're under the cap.  However, some people claim that the cap helps keep the goggles in place if they're under the cap.  To each his own.  Try out different configurations and see what you like best.

Ahh... yes, open water sighting.  I remember the first time my wife swam in a lake.  She described it as swimming in tea!  Our local lake has poor visibility and you can barely see you hand.  I'm not the best sighter, but try to pick out some big landmark to sight off before you start swimming.   Then just try to take a quick peak for it every 5-10 strokes.  Try not to lift your head too high as this will drop your hips and legs and create drag.  If you sight more often, you'll probably swim straighter but you'll be raising your head just that more often.  If you sight less, you can maintain your form better, but you might swim crooked.  I tend to err this way.  But it's best to find a balance between the 2 extremes.  It takes practice. 

phoenixrising404 - 2007-06-16 9:17 AM Perfect! Exactly the kind of logical advice I can't seem to give myself! Thanks a hundred times over! Maybe you should consider becoming a coach? I really think you'd be great at it! And wouldn't it be cool to make a little extra money doing something you enjoy and are naturally good at!!! Ask your wife what she thinks about that.......and then you guys should move HERE and coach me!!! lol

Thanks for the encouraging words, Pene.  And thanks for always letting me know that I'm helping.  That makes this all worth while!  I have considered trying to coach in some capacity.  We'll see.

Same exact thing happen to us this morning.  Sarah and I were going to do this nice bike rally about an hour south of us, and it was just pouring down there!  Arghhh!!! It's so frustrating, isn't it!?   I squeezed in a 24 mile ride before it came north to us.  I timed it a little wrong and ended up getting drenched in the last 10 minutes.  I had puddles in my cycling shoes from only 10 minutes of this heavy rain.  Really weird feeling.  As my luck would have it, it cleared up about an hour later.  So, if I could have waited, I might have been able to get in my full 60 miles!   I still had some energy left over so after a while, Sarah and I went for nice 6 mile run!

Hopefully, we'll have nice weather tomorrow! 

Pene,

 Also, I am not really right in the head.  I should not have even attempted day 2 since I wreck on day 1 about 5 miles from the end and bruised my hip and jammed my knee and could barely walk the night before.