GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 153)

Steve,

Good timing on the chocolate milk discussion...2 or so weeks ago, I started having that about 20-30 minutes after the protein shake. Sort of with dinner. Just this week I've started mixing my vanilla protein powder with chocolate milk. DELICIOUS!!!! (from a guy who is not a big chocolate fan).

I think I've already mentioned, but I've recently kicked up the carbs a bit and the choco milk is one of those ways. Something nice and tasty and amazingly every few days or week when I jump on the scale the number keeps going down. This is great!!

As for HEED, you know honestly that is what I really kind of expected. It's great to know but like you and Katie said I expect them to lose some sales over it. Heck, it influenced me to some degree.

As for the FDA, well, they are an Amurican Gov't agency.... Not exactly ranking high for me when it comes to trust. I do agree with you. However, I see the other side of it too. What if you did list everything? You might have 25 items listed on any given container and who would be able to decipher it all???  Who has two thumbs and wouldn't decipher it??? This guy!!

** to your *, very good job!

If you go through with this...I want to know. But also, I give you permission to blame me entirely.

To add even more fun to this, make sure to have a camera so that when you know he's going to come in with a scowl on his face or other nasty look have the camera ready to snap a good pic!

Also, good job on the 100 miles on the trainer. I'm bowing in the general direction of Maine! That's an awesome accomplishment.

SHAUN -

In our nutrition discussions, this is shaping up to be of epic proportions -- LGS (Last Geek Standing). Which of us will be the first to throw up his hands and scream "It doesn't matter what I consume!!" "I don't care about magnesium!" "What goes in, comes out!" ??

Before I swim today, then , it'll be a bowl of Frosted Flakes, three slabs of Bazooka bubble gum, some Wise potato chips, and a Hires root beer. I mean, that's about all I ate when I was a kid, and I never slowed down then!







Edited by stevebradley 2010-05-13 6:56 AM

Sad, but true, I remember those days as well as a student.  My elementary school did not have AC, just a big fan in the room. 

Wow....all I can say is WOW!!! (best Steve Martin impression)  That's pretty damn fast.  I have a feeling it's going to be a fast season for you.

Various random thoughts/responses...

Chocolate Milk - Definitely!  I realize now that for a few weeks during IM training, I was doing a big glass of non-fat milk after workouts and always felt great afterward...not sure why I stopped, but I'm going to the store tonight to stock up.  I'm terrible about post-workout nutrition, as Maggie and I are on slightly different schedules in the evening - I'd usually wait to eat dinner with her, and that meant 30-60 minutes after an evening workout.  Too long.  Milk is a great stop-gap.

Air Horn (cowbells):  I gotta say, I find few things less annoying than an air horn or a cowbell.  At first, the cowbells are fun...but at the tail end of a race, I have to admit I find them grating.  I was really torn on the final return of IMSG when there were some people with the bells...and on one hand I was like, "I've got a headache, stop it!" and on the other, it was so very cool of them to be there in the dark. 

Races - Mandy, good luck on the marathon this weekend!!!!  Anybody else racing?

Running - well, got my 3 miles in.  3.16 to be exact in about 26 minutes with a 1-minute walk break half way through.  Hamstring felt a bit tight, so I stopped and stretched before starting out again.  I got a bit lucky as there was a runner ahead of me for a section that gave me something to chase, so I probably went faster than I wanted, but it was good for me mentally to have something to focus on.  Hammy felt OK during it, but is a little tight right now.  Doesn't hurt really, I can just feel it's very, very tight.  I'll be stretching in the office today, that's for sure.  Knees, however, are sore in ways they have not been for a while.  I'm gonna assume that's just post-race inflamation and treat with ice and Advil. 

Looking forward to an easy brick this Saturday.  Goal is to get out on PCH for an easy ride, and then maybe brick a mile or maybe two and see if I can jump-start things.

T-65 days.

SteveB and all,
Thanks for the various posts about Bricks, Icks, chain-cleaning, runnig off the bike, nutrition - and all of the humoruous anecdotes.
This has been the most informative and enjoyable (and prolific as others have said) mentoring groups I've participated in.
Mark

I like the sounds of this alot and also the previous post on Icks!        Icks may have to wait though.  

Mark:  I emailed the Albert Lea RD again about water temp.  I also asked him how many registered because the more registered the less chance of me being last - haha
Steve:  I believe you predicted mid-60s earlier.

Reply:
Denise:  right now there are 140 individuals and 10 teams signed up.  Water
temp as of last week was 59 degree's  With the warm up this coming week I
expect mid 60s.

Good luck Mandy! (marathon)

Good luck Tracey! (5k  isn't it?)

Denise

STEVE -

A few days ago you received a goofy typo from me, which was "k=lightbulb". So, the "k=" part was just me being a particularly pathetic two-fingered typist, as well as a slacker who doesn't always check his posts before he submits them. Sorry if I caused you to scratch your head confusedly!

SHAUN -

See post above to Steve about goofy typos, as my one to you was "overstriding *which". I don't know how that asterisk insinuated itself in the discussion, as it had no reason to be there. I sometimes do use the asterisk, as when I wanted to highlight my tactfulness with Hammer yesterday, but the one preceding the "which".....well, I'll deal with its cheekiness later!

MARK -

You're very welcome! I have limited ways in which to Justify My Existence, but this is one of them and I do so try to be useful!

I should've added to the Icks! description that I have also benefitted from "mini-Icks!", ones that are much shorter (and sweeter!), very similar to the parameters you mentioned. They are sort of a "crash course" in running off the bike effectively.

I should also add that the brick I did yesterday (41km bike, 10+km run) is highly unusual. I generally do not support "full" bricks like that, as they are not as productive as, say, a 10-15 minute run off a 75 minute ride. And I also muddied the formula by doing it all-out, at least the run part. I'm not too sure that ANYbody recommends doing a full brick at close to race intensity, as that is not the function of them.

As a started out, I wasn't sure what I was up to. I knew there were three options for the run part -- 6km, 9km, and 10km. At about 2.5km I was feeling great and began fixating on the 10km, and that I was able to maintain a strong pace was just a surprise that kept unfolding and which I didn't want to deny. (I am paying a price for it today, however! )

Dopey mistakes ( or, more self-kindly, "misconceived efforts") continue to be part of my modus operandi at times, and show that wisdom does not necessarily come with either age or experience! (Which, as it applies to me, Lynn knows only too well.....)

DENISE -

I did another water check today, same place, and was chagrined to see it at about 60.5 -- down from about 62.5 last week. That's not the way these things are supposed to work! Jeezum!

Aw, musta been some overturn in the river --- although don't overturns usually happen in lakes, and big ones at that? So, I can't explain it, but it puts my planned Sunday swim there in jeopardy. But then there is Steve and you and Mark, all venturing into slightly chilled water, and I guess I should just suck it up and do it. (In my defense -- no lifeguards, no support craft, nobody else with me.)

Anyhow, if it's mid-60s for you and Mark at Albert Lea, you'll be just fine!

STEVE -

Tracey, too, this weekend!

Good work on the run, and I think your explanation for the knee soreness is right on. A serious IM effort can conjure up all sorts of bugaboos, kind of skeletons-in-the-closet that come back to re-visit you. Humor them for a while, and then shunt them back from whence they came. (Advil and ice --- great shunters!)

Old fussbudget here says to keep the run part of the PCH brick short -- no more than 2 miles, and make them really easy. Think about running pretty, and maybe even "gently loping" (just like a laid-back-but-slightly-frisky young wolf!).

LISA -

And the dopy typo to you was "son'd", which of course should've been "son's". What happened to my resolution a few months ago to proofread everything before I posted it??

About that fan of yours.....I don't remember teaching with a fan going! How come you rated a fan, and I didn't? Sheesh!

Steve,

Thanks for the chain-cleaning post. That was thorough! Now I need to invest in degreaser, lubricant, and all that jazz. I may put off that feat until after the sprint. I need to keep my life as simple as possible for now. Doing a triathlon is enough newness for me.

Now to the wetsuit, I SCUBA dove (or dived, whichever) in the cold Pacific a lot, so I'm used to wetsuits, but I've never really done an OWS in one. The only time I swam on the surface with one was for a fitness test and it was completely and utterly miserable. It was a burly 7 mm suit that weighed down my arms like crazy when I was swimming freestyle. No chafing, though. Am I immune, or was it just too short of a swim?

And I'll try to get in the reservoir rather than the pool. But seeing as it snowed yesterday and there's still some on the ground, I don't know if I'm brave enough. Actually, I should just do it, since I'll be swimming in the res in a week anyways. Ok, chilly, snow-covered reservoir it is!

And as for the buoyancy, I'm curious how much it'll help, since I have enough...uh...what should I call it...insulation in my hips and thighs as it is. I figure it should still help, though!

I also don't bike in socks, but still run in them, so it sounds like I'll have dry feet once I really have to put some socks on. I'm probably not going to go with a tri top quite yet, so it looks like I'll be putting on a loose shirt over a wet body. That should be fun.

Oh, and how do you run with cycling shoes? I'm not at the stage yet to put my shoes on as I ride, so I'll definitely have to walk/run my bike out of T1 and into T2. Any strategies/suggestions for that? Or should I just walk?


So, an updated list of things to buy:
1) degreaser
2) brush
2) lubricant (seems like that one will be a tough decision, so many options and pros and cons)
3) BodyGlide

And to do:
1) try on/rent wetsuit
2) swim in frigid water in wetsuit
3) practice transitions and feng shui
4) become a morning person so I can sleep some before the 7 am start

Piece of cake, right?

Kasia

SteveA,

Funny that we're talking about Belize. I'm currently planning a month-long stay somewhere in the country in July, preferably San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, but I'm also open to other options, including half my time there and half in the jungle. We'll see if everything works out, most importantly my boss being ok with me gone for a month and me having a job when I come back. I have the vacation time, but my salary is all from grants so I'm afraid that they won't miss me while I'm gone. Stupid job insecurity. I hate it.

Anywhos, enjoy your trip and definitely send an update! I'm sure you'll be getting enough OWS down there.

STEVEB,

Keep the Belize discussions going. It's nice to hear from someone who's actually been there, and sounds like you have a similar traveling style to mine.

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-25 8:51 PM

SteveB:

So I did the first of my bike/run bricks today and am pleased to report it went well. I did a 10-mile ride (averaged about 14.25 mph) followed by a 1:20 "transition" and then a 1 mile run. I experienced what I've heard others often do in the first few steps of the run and had a moment of, "Wait, I don't know if I can keep running!" My legs were feeling very tired and heavy. But after about 3 or 4 minutes, they seemed to settle in and it wasn't so bad.

I took your advice and spent the last 5 minutes or so of the ride alternating between standing up off the saddle with the harder gears engaged (I know there's a more technical term for that but I don't know it!) and sitting back down with the easier gears engaged to mimic the foot turnover of running. I have to say when you wrote that post, you lost me when you started talking about cogs, but I think I got the gist of it here, no?

Next week I'll be upping the running mileage to 1.5m.

Thanks!

I'm bummed to report that now that I finally got around to trying on my new wetsuit, it doesn't fit.

And come to find out that the place I ordered from will only offer exchanges on sale merchandise (which my wetsuit was). That in itself was not a big deal because they (Trisports.com) had plenty of other suits to choose from. But the guy I talked to on the phone said the only way to process the exchange was for me to ship back the wetsuit first, then they'll process my new order.

So... at the UPS Store today I realized that the package won't arrive there until next Thursday (unless I wanted to spend like a hundred bucks for expedited shipping). So it will be at least that long before my new order goes in.

So it's now looking like my new wetsuit won't arrive until around 10 days before my race on June 12th. Assuming (hoping) the new one fits, that doesn't allow me a ton of time for practicing open water swims. But I guess if I can fit at least one in, it'll be better than none at all...

Tracey

MANDY and TRACY, good luck on your races this weekend.  Positive mojo headed your way!

STEVE B and TRACY, good job on the bricks this week!

KASIA, hope the snow has let up for you and the water begins to warm.  Is there snow melt that flows into that particular lake from the mountains?

Hope everyone has had a great week and is looking forward to the weekend!  I know I am!!

LISA

KASIA -

Yup, keep your life simple! As long as your chain isn't full of thick, black, gritty sludge, it'll be good enough to get you through the sprint.

Running/walking/shambling in cycling shoes is a learned activity. What might help is to take them to a grassy area and just do 15-30 with one gait, 15-30 yards with another gait, and so on until you begin to feel comfortable with at least one of them. I say grassy just so that you don't add excess wear to the plastic cleats on the bottom; there'll be plenty enough of that at races themselves!

But as you've figured ut already, it requires a very different type of movement, and virtually no one looks fluid bopping around with cleats on. You will not look either dramatically worse or dramatically better than anybody else, so don't worry about your image too much!

A loose shirt over a wet body is far, far better than a tight shirt. Invariably, as you try to put it on a tight shirt will form a thick roll right underneath your shoulder blades, and you can yank on the sides until the cows come home, and it will hardly budge or become undone. But with a loose shirt, you just have to do a little shimmy-shake thing, and it's on! Voila! (And for you rugger/karaoke types, a shimmy-shake must be second-nature, yes?)

If you are using a wetsuit that is NOT specifically designed for swimming, you might not get quite the same benefits. Swim-specific wetsuits will have the thickest neoprene from the waist through the thighs, with a secondary thickness at the torso. The thinnest material will be around the shoulders and the arms, and then from the knees down. But I suspect it's different for SCUBA and surfing wetsuits, although I couldn't tell you quite how this works. And regardless of how much natural buoyancy one has in the hips and thighs, a swim wetsuit will only add to it. And anything that gets that part of you higher in the water is good, good, good!

Are you expecting frigid water for the swim? Which body of water is it? Probably even more important than swimming in frigid water in the wetsuit is swimming in any water in it, just so you know how it will affect your range-of-motion and your body roll, and if thre are any constriction problems that might be a bit unsetttling. So much of triathlon for newcomers is about "no surprises", so each potential surprise that you can eliminate or reduce before the race will be beneficial.

Your "to buy" and "to do" lists are good, and you're right -- piece of cake. (Welllllllll......how easy will it be for you to morph into a morning person by then? )

KASIA again -

I will try to keep travel discussions going, but giving credit where credit is due, the style I have is really Lynn's. The year before the two of us went to Belize, she spent three weeks in Guatemala travelling only in "chicken buses", or walking. On one occasion she narrowly avoided being attacked to god knows what end by two hooded young men...but that's another story for another time.

But traveling away from the crowds and anything structured is very much both of our styles, so I will feed you whatever I can!

TRACEY -

More tomorrow, but for now:
1) Terrific work on the brick!
2) A 1:20 transition is OUTSTANDING!
3) I think you've got the gearing correct, but if you want I can try to exoplain it again, only better this time!
4) Too bad about the westuit and the timing of the exchange. Did you tell him that time is kinda of the essence?
5) CELTICS!!!!!!!!!!!