GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 152)

My snowboard's in the car waiting!

Also, good luck with the nerves and the first tri coming. I'm sure you will be doing good.

Your anxieties right now line up well with mine in the whole transition thing and getting everything sorted out when going into this for the first time.

Mandy,

Between the shiny friends and now this...you're giving some interesting visuals!!!

Hoping all this does help and the calf allows you to get through the marathon this weekend. Sending some mojo your way.

Just make sure to pick up the bell before the marathon so Mark (I believe that is what you said his name was...) can be prepared for your every beck and call!

Shaun

So - sounds like you're not moving?
Denise

STEVE B - Re: running off the bike

Thank you for this. I never really know what to do, so I generally just keep riding as hard as I can.  It totally makes sense to get out of the saddle and also do some faster spins.  I can't wait to try that on my next brick - or even as you say, as a general practice on the bike at the end of a ride.  That makes more sense, so you are in the habit of it anyway.

Mandy

Mandy,

My bad. I have enough trouble remembering people's real name that are part of the group and if we start introducing the names of significant other's well I'm going to fall apart.

Sounds like that bell work in a pinch. You could also try the air horn...That's what I'd probably use but then again I am a slight instigator.

KASIA -

AND you have to get your chain all clean and spiffy. So, after this post I will do a for-all one on bike-cleaning -- my rudimentary but mostly effective way of doing it.

So, still on your checklist is:
(1) wetsuit
(2) transition set-up
(3) nerves

For the wetsuit, you've about said it -- get it, try it on, try it out. If you can make it into real water instead of the pool, that is always best. Well, mostly best; if the water is <60, the pool would be best. But if the pool is >85, well, maybe McMurdo Sound (Antarctica) would be better!

Seriously, if the pool is really warm prepare yourself to swelter -- and realize that race day won't feel nearly as suffocating. I have spent a million hours in various wetsuits, but the very rare times I venture into a pool in one, I feel miserable. It would be a great way for a fighter to "cut weight" - wetsuit swim in warm pool!

You are checking a few things, mostly fit and range-of-motion. For fit, you want tight, but not so tight that you REALLY cannot breathe. You should expect some constriction, however, and for first-timers in a wetsuit it is a tough call as to what is too much. At the other end of fit, you want to avoid any obvious folds of the neopprene; too loose, and it won't work as well for you as it should.

Range-of-motion will be somewhat compromised if you get a fullsuit (with sleeves). The great advantage to sleeveless wetsuits is that range-of-motion is hardly compromised at all, and often swiimers with great mechanics will prefer a sleeveless one. But as a less-than-stellar swimmer, I use a fullsuit 99% of the time. If you windmill your arms around first, as you try it on, and your range-of-motion is reduced significantly, then you might need to go a half-size up. But what will also work is to pull the sleeve-ends up as far onto your forearms as possible, and/or keep pulling it up as tight as possible from your hips and along your sides, thus getting more of the neoprene up close to your arms.

As I've said before......remember BodyGlide around your neck!!! Neck-chafing is very painful, and also unsightly. I have done out-and-back swims in which I forgot to BG my neck and, got a km away from where I started, and my neck begins being chafed. It makes for a very long and painful return leg of the swim! And also as I've said before -- NO VASELINE!! Vaseline is one of those petroleum-based products that eats away at neoprene, and thta's not good. (I'm sure your wetsuit rental people will make this perfectly clear to you!)

All the cautions aside, enjoy the increased buoyancy! You should feel it primarily from your waist to your knees, but maybe also across your back. If the latter happens, then your first few strokes might find you rolling a bit more than you are accustomed to -- sort of like a weeble! But you'll get used to that, have no fear!







Edited by stevebradley 2010-05-12 10:56 AM

KASIA again -

T-zone set-up!

Basically, this just has to make sense to YOU! Moreover, it is something that will get perfected over time -- do enough of these things, and you'll have it down to your own personal perfect science!

Mine are pretty basic, especially since I already have my shoes attached to the pedals. But before I began doing that, I woud have my helmet inverted on my bars, with sunglasses inside the helmet. If you use gloves, those can go there, too, or they can be on the ground next to your cleats. I would have the cleats at the front, and behind them were my running shoes and hat, and maybe a gel as well.

So, it was two tiers -- front tier cycling stuff, back tier running stuff. It all looked very orderly, and at least it was important to me to have everything spaced out so that I could see it all clearly. If you plan to dry off some after the swim, you can lay the towel over the running shoes, which is an especially good idea on days in which it might rain while you are in the water or on the bike.

In my earlier days I always put on socks before the bike, which usually meant having to at least dry my feet. And then a few years ago I realized that not only am I more comfortable cycling sockless, but that if I wait until before the run to put on my socks, i don't have to dry them! (I never dry any other part of me, so why worry about the feet?!) So inside my running shoes would be my socks, and laid gently so they were flat and with the open parts facing me. When this topic came up a few months ago, SteveA said that he has his socks half-rolled down as they are waiting for him, which means they are that few seonds faster slipping onto his feet. (And now that I don't run in socks in most races, I don't worry about them, period!

I usually have an old towel that I lay my stuff out on. It's a good way to make things stand out, but mostly it's just a fine territory-marker!

You can count on having maybe 12"X24", hopefully about 15"X30". This is workable, if not especially expansive. For practice at home, just lay out a space that size and move your gear around. (Think feng shui! Think Martha Stewart!) Find what looks right to you, and use that plan for the first race. It's all a starting point!

Finally, while I maybe start out well-organized, I take ZERO efforts to keep things tidy as each discipline finishes. The wetsuit/cap/goggle triumverate just gets dumped or plopped, usually ending up about where the cleats were. But if you're a neatnik who is going to get agitated out on the bike that your T-zone space is unsightly, then you might want to take those extra seconds to tisy up the wetsuit and friends.

Any help at all??

KASIA once more -

Chain-cleaning, now!

I think I told you last week that you'll need a few "tools" -- degreaser, a stiff plastic-toothed brush, and some lubricant. Beyond that, having access to a hose is good, but barring that a bucket or tub of clean water will do fine. And some people use their bathtubs, especially if it doubles as a shower.

We have a deck that works great for draping the left bar over, and I always work with the chain facing me. (Kind of necessary, in fact! ) But leaning the bike against any old surface will do almost as well.

I begin with a thorough degreasing, usually twice- or even thrice-over. I do this by using the skinny straw attachment to spray each link as I move them by turning my crank backwards. I will do an entire revolution with the top part of the chain, then a second revolution of the bottom part of the chain.

After this I use the brush to work against the chain, which I am still moving backards by truning the crank with my right hand. When the chain is even remotely grungy-looking, it is amazing how much crud comes out of it with using the brush. I will do this for about 20 revolutions of the chain, and if there is STILL stuff coming out, I might use another round of degreaser, and then brush again. I also use the brush in the cassette (cogset), as lots of grunge gets in there, and in the workings of the back derailleur, too.

The next step is to rinse the chain really well, and that's where a hose is useful. Otherwise, do what you need to do to remove the final messy bits, as well as the degreaser itself. And then dry the chain as well as you can. I do this much as I apllied the degreaser, but spinning the chain backwards. It is best to do this with the chain in your big ring, however, as there is more tension that way and so it is less likely that the chain will slip off the ring when the rag is applied to it. Also, be careful to keep the rag away from either the rings or the cogs; otherwise, it will get jammed in them and you'll curse loudly. (Tsk-tsk!)

The final step is the lubing, and for most lubricants you only need a few dabs. After I dab here and there, I gently lift the rear wheel off the ground, holding onto the seat stay. I then turn the crank with my right hand, but this time forward, and when I get it going really fast, I will then move my hand up to my gears and start shifting through them; this allows the lubricant to get onto each cog. This part is complicated (best to have an assitant), and also dangerous (can I tell you how many times I have had my knucles scraped because they got thwacked by the spinning spokes as I held onto the seat stay??

The other way to do this last step is to apply the lubricant and then just ride, making sure right way that you work through all the gear combinations. That'll take about 30 seconds --- and you won't have battered knuckles. Win-win!!

Any questions?

SHAUN -

Whatever makes you feel "pretty darn good going very hard" is great! (Well, not if it's due to anabolic steroids, or a few rounds of blood-doping!) As you'll learn, much of our effort is in our heads anyway, so if you can generate a strong performance by getting your head fully on board with the program, then that's all good!

I think as I said the other day, so many of these formulations are so close that it just might not amount to a hill of beans, the diffs between this one and that one and the other one. At some point it might come down to a few mg of something or other here and there, and how people rank sodium vs. carbs vs blahblahblah.

Ultimately, if something is unpalatable, it ain't no good -- regardless of how many benefits its ingredients might boast. Taste matters and texture matters, and beyond that......

Yet, I still spend lots of times dithering over this stuff, so as I've said before, my attitude is not quite as cavalier as it might sound. But for you, if the lemon-lime seemed to work AND managed to sit well in your stomach, then I'd say you've got a winner!

Bike session...well, that happened. 

Got home...sat on couch...turned on TV....OH!  Celtics/Cleveland.  Go Celtics....I should get on the bike....I should get on the bike...next commercial....bike.....commercial....bike....changed to bike shorts....commercial....

FINALLY got on bike...for 15 minutes.  Yawn.  Got off.  Legs felt like lead. 

Woke up today.  Legs felt like I rode 100 miles yesterday.  Looked at calendar.  9 weeks till Vineman.  10 days of which I'll be in Belize.  8 training weeks weeks till Vineman + vacation taper (hey, I figure I can do some OWS there). 

Well, the good news is I'm now motivated.  I think it's gonna be a week or so of pretty tough workouts.  Body is going to have to get on board!!!

Tonight - run....real run, none of this 15 minutes of going through the motions stuff...

SHAUN again -

Groin, eh? I'm not much good on groins, which I guess means that over the years I haven't been sidelined too often by groin problems. Halleloo to that!

Is yours more upper/inner thigh, or is it getting a bit higher, into the pelvic area? I think Anne has had some problems in this general area, and has found that in her case they invlve the psoas (short fo iliopsoas, I think, and maybe with two "ells" - illiopsoas). Try googling that and see what you find.

In the meantime, as long as you can run stay away from hills (esp. downhills). Also, try to make your stride a bit more compact, tus avoiding overstriding *which also tends to happen when going down hills.)

Let me know a bit more about where it is hurting you, and also how much it is affecting your running mechanics.

STEVINEMAN -


That's good, the bike session! Not exactly prodigious mileage , but very necessary as an early step backs towards full involvement again.

Belize?!? You haven't mentioned THAT before! Whereabouts? We were there for a week back in '05, maybe , and had a good time. We travelled via buses and stayed in wayward places, mostly. If you can get out to Caye Caulker, it's wonderful thre -- and eay to swim, too!

Best of fortunes with the run. You go!!!

(How's the hammy doing with all the sweet recovery?)



And wasn't that a game last night?! How did they manage a 32-point win IN Cleveland???

Heh, yes, wasn't quite mentally into it.  I kept wondering why it seemed so hard to ride...took 5 minutes to realize that the brake was askew and dragging on the rear wheel.  DOH!

Belize - well, the wife and I have been talking about a vacation this year, and it was all on hold until after IMSG.  Then we looked at the calendar and realized, there is no "good" time in relation to events, so we just pulled the trigger on it.  I figured that it's better to have it interrupt Vineman training than Silverman training. 

I think we are going to split time between the mountains and the coast.  We were lucky enough to get the airline tickets on miles, so that is good.  I'll definitely check out Caye Chaulker! 

As for the hammy - well, we are going to find out.  I think the only thing I'm really looking forward to is running...we'll see if that holds true after tonight.  I am thinking back to last summer and all the track work I did - I kind of miss that part of training.  I figure it has a place in HIM training.  Clearly, tonight's goal is modest - maybe 3 miles or so at an easy, easy pace and just see how things feel.

As for the game, I gotta say, I was very happy to see the Celtics beat Cleveland.  If for no other reason than Pierce is a former Jayhawk...there's logic for you.

STEVE -

Caye Caulker is about a 15-20 minutes ride on one of the fast boats out of Belize City. If you get there, a fine snorkel-tour company is Ragamuffin Tours. I will give you more details later, when Lynn can tell me if what they prepared for the return trip was caliche. i think I'm mixing up my delicacies.

We stayed a couple of days in the mountainy area near the Guatamala border. Two nights were spent at Treehouse Inn, where the accommodations are actually private treehouse cabins, perched about 15 feet off the ground. Way cool!

I'll let you know other stuff as it comes to me.

Three miles tonight, nice and easy, sounds about right. For now, just dig the fact that you're doin' it, with no goals other than to rediscover and reactivate your running legs.

And if Pierce being a Jayhawk is what turns you into a Celtics fan, then that's all the logic I need to hear!

Brick-a-Mania Running Wild!!

All this recent talk of bricks got me inspired, so I did a Columbia+ brick -- 41.1km ride, 10.5km run (Columbia is 41 and 10).

Bike was in 1:18:30, at about 19mph. The run was a revelation -- 48 minutes for 10.5km. I have never knocked off that kind of time so early in the season, which would translate to about 45:40 for a 10km off the bike.

I am very pleased with the overall effort and results, and it's a great confidence-builder for Columbia itself. I did the bike at about 80%, but the run was right at my max -- couldn't've got much more out of myself with that baby!

?

Man, now the airhorn would be FUN! For me...

STEVE A - Belize! Oh man, have fun.  I totally want to go there someday, it is on my list.

STEVE B - SMOKING Brick!  Congrats!

CHOCOLATE MILK AS A RECOVERY DRINK

The word on the street is that chocolate milk is a very affordable and accessible recovery drink, and I have to agree. Post-brick today I bought a 500mL carton of Sealtest 1% choc milk and treated myself to:
300 calories
420mg sodium
54g carbohydrates
50g sugars
14g protein

Not bad at all. Calories and sugars are a bit high, maybe, but it does a fine job of replenishing carbs and protein. And for those who think that the 4:1 carb:protein ratio is optimal, what I had today is pretty close to that!

F.Y.I.!

SHAUN -

I phoned Hammer a while ago and talked to Katie, who very graciously answered my questions about the Readers Digest Condensed Version* of their new labels for HEED.

She says that regulations have changed, and that as long as values don't exceed certain levels, they don't have to be listed. She assured me that what is in HEED now is what has alays been in there.

I tolfd her that I thought Hammer had nothing to hide and everything to gain by listed all the values of all the ingredients, nd she agreed. She also agreed with me that Hammer might lose a significant competitive advantage with people new to electrolyte formulations, and might see everything listed for Product A, Product B, and Product C.....but nothing for HEED. All they could assume is that, say GU Brew had carbs, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and so on, and that all HEED had was carbohydrates.

I am thinking of writing a letter to either Brian Frank or Steve Born, their two chief gurus.

Mostly, though, I'm wondering what's up with the FDA. Why not require everything of any value to be listed. It seems like the consumer can only win that way, right?


* I had the tact not to use this full term, opting instead for "abbreviated". Diplomatic, or what?

MANDY -

Thank you! It was a good 'un!

Added to the basic time-distance data is "turnover", which was between 92 and 95 every time I checked. I also did it sockless, to no ill effects whatsoever.

My run two days ago was "clunky". The one before that one was great. The run before THAT one was clunky. Consistency would be nice!

What date had we talked about for a Timberman recon? Something like July 15/16/17/18? Maybe?

Take that, expensive recovery drinks!

Hooray for chocolate milk! I think I will drink that after Sunday's race just as a test.  Then I will eat everything in site.

Speedy Steve B - I am thinking 7/16 ish for recon for Timberman! YEAH.  So for me anytime in the 7/15 - 7/18 range could work.      Not sure what works best for you?  I am flexible.  I can even touch my toes sometimes.


Mandy

MANDY -

July 16 sounds good! I came without a mouse click or two a few hours ago of signing up for races on both the 17th and 18th....and then a liitle light came on over my head that there was a reason why i hadn't signed up for those before. WHEW!

It's been clinically proven that I am one of the 73 least flexible people in the western hemisphere, and the last time I touched my toes without bending my knees was July 27, 1958. That's pretty pathetic, huh?