Funked Up Triathletes - Season 2 - Olympic/Sprint Focus - Closed (Page 16)

Bike porn!! I was at the LBS today and they had Tom Danielson's TT bike from last year. Apparently he knows someone in my area and gave it to him! Nice friend! I had to take a picture, touch it, drool over it, but didn't dare ask to get on it. There was only so much violating of it I could do.





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Interesting. Sitero saddle...kind of surprised to see that. Very nice looking bike.

LAst summer we were in Chicago for the ITU event and went to the Museum of Science and Industry. They had a bike exhibit with a P5 on display and a bunch of other really cool (mostly really old or concept) bikes. I have that same SLK crank.

I don't know if the saddle was changed out for the new owner or not (or any other changes).

So far since Monday I have 6 workouts in. I am officially into my HIM training (though i still can't really run). I see a knee guy the second week in March to see if there is anything I should be concerned about long term. I decided the worse case scenario and I can't run, I'll switch to the aquabike race that does the same swim and bike - just no run. It will still be great experience and training for the Labor Day weekend HIM I plan to do. I finally told my husband - he's not thrilled, but understands that frankly, training while the kids are still in school is much more doable for me than in the summer. The kids are out of school then and he travels every week - they're not old enough to leave alone and even last year training for the sprint and oly was tough. I will definitely have this race on my radar for next year to I can have a better lead-in earlier. (and hopefully no injured knee...)

The cold is kicking our butts here in the Great White North. The boys don't have school next week so we planned on lots of skiing....but I have a hard time taking them when it's 0 degrees... Can't understand why they'd complain.. LOL If anyone has any kind of 25 degree weather - feel free to send it our way. Even 20 degrees would be welcome at this point. Every morning has been almost double digit negative for weeks and we're lucky to get near double digit positives during the day. Even I won't run in that ! LOL Oh, but I do see people biking in it!! And on the snow in the roads...with traffic!! they are crazy! I would be so afraid of my tires slipping in the slush/snow/ice and going down! The people i see - most of them don't have those huge fat snow tires either! (becoming very popular up here!)

Edited by aviatrix802 2015-02-20 6:07 PM

Cervelo does make a nice looking bike. I'd also considered an S2 before picking the felt, but don't think I would have gone wrong either way. I do think that P5 is awesome.

Wish I could send you some warmer weather, but it was -15F this morning here. My kids were out of school all week, mostly from a series of snow storms, but today they called off school at the last minute because not enough buses would start. Wednesday was bad enough that I drove 10 of my 30 mile commute in 90 minutes before just giving up and going home. We're really paying for the nice January now. And another storm will hit tonight, so no end in sight.

This has really put a stop to any training for me. I'm lucky to have the huge tunnel network under the factory I work in to walk, so I'm at least able to walk a couple of miles indoors after lunch most days, so I'm not putting on weight.

Hang in there, winter won't last forever!

Had a nice spin yesterday and finally took today off....to ski!! It was fantastic!!! We made it to double digits for temperatures and had a fresh foot of snow last night in the mountains. We skied trees all day and I'm so proud of how well my boys skied. They had huge smiles the whole time - so great. I love days like that. So they're off all this week which will make training interesting. I was going to go to the pool early but I am so exhausted. I feel like I might be getting sick again so maybe I'll take it easy. I still have to work this week and the husband travels midweek to the end so it will get very tricky except for my trainer. Hmmm. Another cold week of single and negative temps here - hopefully you guys are starting to warm up a bit.

Well the workouts have been slim but Tuesday I got an hour in on the trainer and today a friend had my boys over for 2 hours so I got to the gym and did a quick 2 mile run/walk (knee was not happy) and then a 1500 yard swim that I messed up starting my watch so only reflects 1200. I was supposed to do 4 x 500 but only had time for 3 x 500 and on the last 500 I had to make a goggle adjustment after 200 and forgot to start the watch again. The middle 500 was with a leg buoy.

I hope everyone is staying healthy and maybe signing up for a race or two?????? - need to keep that motivation going!! I sooooooo want to ruuuuuuunnnn!!! Working on it!!! Positive vibes!
Stay warm all!

It's still a frigid, snowy mess around here, but I'm starting to see some better looking forecasts at least. Maybe 50s on Tuesday, but it will drop to being cold again, but then warm up to 40s by next weekend. Hopefully spring is on the way. Of course the one warm day this week I won't be here to enjoy, I have a work trip out to Utah where the forecast looks cold and snowing. Too bad it's for work so I can't take my skis

February has really been a bad month for keeping up with things. Only 6 workouts this month. But on the bright side, last year I only ran twice in all of February, and I haven't put on any weight really, so I guess that's something.

I think I've found a couple of good options now for May sprints to start things off. Pool swims around here that time of year, so that will be an easier first race. I'll start putting together a training plan, but I have some time to decide which race to do (lowest registration price is good until April sometime). I think I'll start looking around for some clip on aerobars too.

I'm not going to complain about our weather at all...compared to what the rest of the country is experiencing this is great. This morning on my way to the office it was 12 and we're expected to get about 5" of snow and ice today but other than this, it's been very mild winter.

That doesn't mean it's been good for training for me. I'm having a rough go getting started. Last year at this time my volume was way up and I'm getting a little down when I hit milestones (such as I remember doing a really long bike training session the day after valentines day last year) and know I'm behind volume wise.

I was set to get back into the pool and get back into the swing of things on Tuesday, but got there and the pool was closed for the week for maintenance.

I do have my race schedule fairly set. Here's what it looks like:

- May 17 - Kansas City Triathlon (Olympic)
- June 7 - Escape from Alcatraz (bought plane tickets this week! Now just trying to figure out how to get my bike there!)
- - maybe an olympic distance in July
- Sept 5 - local mini-sprint race
- October 4 - Border Wars Triathlon (70.3)

Right now, it's a lighter schedule this year, but I'm a sucker for sales and if some of these races offer discounts/packages I may sign up for more a few more.

My Race Log

Escape From Alcatraz!!! So cool. Watch those sharks! LOL.

I'm still here! Getting ready to hop on my trainer...blech. My seat is not comfortable and I'm going to check out another one soon so rides aren't so fun right now.
Swimming is great, I'm enjoying that piece. A guy in the lane next to me yesterday asked me if I was the one always in there swimming forever and kicking his a$$. LOL. I told him I doubted it was me.
Running is nil. I'm trying a 2 mile walk/run and my knee is dying at the end. I switch to the elliptical for 2 more miles and that's how I'm getting by. My HM in April is out the window. I go in to a knee guy next Friday and hopefully he can figure out what the heck is going on.
In the mean time I'm swimming and biking and for this month doing a squat challenge and a plank challenge; day 5 is complete.
Lots of snow still here and it reached a balmy 12 degrees today... Soon mud season will arrive, I keep promising this to myself.

Hope they figure out what's up with the knee.

Finally a warm day here. I was able to get in a 20 mile ride. The weather turned for the better pretty quickly so there's still a lot of snow on the ground. All the melt off is swelling the rivers big time, so I rode down to look at the Ohio River. It looks like it's about to start running over its banks, it's pretty impressive to see.

I was out in Utah for work this week, which was fun since I used to live there and know the place well. I was able to see my old college roomate, who has gotten into mountain biking. I guess he knows the guy who started Enve so he gets a hookup on wheels and parts. I let him know if he ran across some road ones, he could send them my way.

I was also talking with one of the guys I met there for work. We were talking biking and such, as he also rides, and he mentioned his daughter rode with him a lot but he couldn't really keep up with her. He said she ran a bunch of IMs this year, which I said wow, how did she do, to which he said, "really well, she almost won her age group and the Iron Man World Championship. You might have heard of that race, it's in Kona Hawaii every year". I asked her name and he said Sonja Wieck. Yup, second in 35-39. Obviously he's a proud dad. Anyway, my little sorta brush with triathlon fame.

Supposed to be a nice week here, hopefully the walks will be clear soon and I can start running too. Hope you all are getting better weather too.

A brush with tri fame! That is so cool. It blows my mind the numbers of hours they put in to train - it's a full time job! A very fun full time job!

Utah! I love Utah. My husband's brother and sister were both out there at one point; sister is still in Park City. She's a PT there. She and her husband are avid mountain bikers. His brother lived up in Logan, north of SLC not far from Snow Basin. I was there about 2 weeks before the Olympics and got to ski the downhill course there - gnarly steep and fast. His sister is actually coming East to do the Toughman Tupper Lake Tinman in June with me. At least I'll have a PT onsite. LOL. She is so great, I wish she lived closer.

Good week this past week with workouts M-F, took yesterday off, skied today and got an hour and a half in on the trainer. Hoping for a repeat this week. I may incorporate some pool running in for some kind of running along with the elliptical. I look forward to seeing the knee guy on Friday.

Starting to warm up this week! We may see 40!!!! I saw a cyclist out today, that's always a good sign!!
Cheers all! I hope you're all doing well and getting some workouts in!

Okay cyclists, I have been riding on my trainer now for the last 5 weeks or so about 3 x's a week. One would think my backside would be used to my seat again (though I'm trying one that I got back in the fall). It isn't working. An hour on that thing and I feel like someone took a croquet mallet to me yelling "fore!". I am glad I am done having kids too. This is my fourth seat (don't worry, I keep exchanging them - I don't have to keep buying them) and I'm frustrated with this. I know there is a solution, I just have to find it. Is it really the seat? Am I reaching too far? I have a 2 hour ride on Saturday and I honestly don't think my a** can handle it!! LOL. I do plan to pop back down to the LBS and try something else but not before Saturday's ride. Advice? or something? - especially if any ladies can chime in on seats, I appreciate it (guys, if your wife cycles, please ask their thoughts).. I have been researching the heck out of them. My last one before this one (which is only a narrower version) was fine until I'd hit about 30 miles but anything over that and my feet go numb, my butt goes numb, etc. The LBS guy had me try a narrower one for the heck of it - I think on the longer rides I was finding the tops of my hamstrings would hit the edge of the seat so he wanted to get rid of the edge of the seat. (I actually have wider sit bones). I've tried the Terry Liberator X, the Specialized women's Myth Competition in two sizes, and fourth I can't remember. The Myth is actually a mountain bike racing saddle, padding is moderate. It's a nice saddle but my butt bones are bruised. Literally. I am slender so my sit bones get really solid contact with the seat.

Jen sounds like it could be fit related versus just the saddle. Is it pain, or is it numbness? Or both.

Hi guys! Super quick check in as I'm headed to bed. (too many late nights)

I had my meeting with the ortho guy about my knee this past Friday. I'm slated for an MRI on the 27th at 21:15 - yup, 9:15 in the PM! This will be to confirm the need for surgery....
Non-invasive and at least it's not ACL, MCL, or meniscus so that's a huge relief. I have "excessive lateral patellar compression syndrome." Basically the retinaculum (ligament -like tissue that attaches the outside of my knee cap to the base of my femur is extremely tight (always has been) and any time my knee bends it pulls my patella into the groove of the thigh bone (over time this wears the cartilage and you end up with arthritis). If you relax your leg and straighten it you can usually move your patella all over the place - mine can be moved up, down, and to the inside but barely at all to the outside. Mine is very exaggerated looking on the x-ray. Adding to this I have femoral antiversion (my femurs are twisted in slightly right from my hips - you often see people walk like a duck or are pigeon-toed - they have this). I have done enough PT that my feet stay straight.
So the potential surgery would be going in to sort of tease apart those ligament fibers (I don't think they outright cut it) to allow more play for the patella. If this is all it truly is.... I have to do this if I want to run again apparently.

That's where I am - rethinking my race plans. So the June HIM is out - BUT!! - I can still do the Aqua bike for the same distances as for the HIM! That's good!! Even if I have the surgery, there is a good shot I'll be doing a sprint by mid-summer and an outside chance of the HIM on Labor Day (and I'm thinking worst case the Oly I did last year)! So all is not lost and I can keep up with 2/3 of the sport and slowly work in the running when this is resolved. I'll admit it sucked a little life out of me when I walked out to my car after the appointment but you figure out work-arounds and ways to keep trucking and things don't seem quite so bad. Besides, I still haven't had the mri and who knows - maybe it is bursitis after all causing this current issue and I'll be back at it sooner. The patella will always be an issue until it's resolved but that may not necessarily be what's causing my current angst.

Swam Saturday for 2000, took yesterday off and was planning on 2500 swim for today - but after only 4 hours of sleep and a very jammed weekend and Monday, I am going to bed early tonight and get my 2500 in tomorrow. I kind of feel that since I don't have the run piece anymore I am afforded a little wiggle room to take care of fatigue! LOL.

I agree on the seat issue - I believe a piece of it is fit related - my bike is one size to big I personally think. I have gone down 2 sizes on my stem and think I could go even one or two more. I'm on a 54 cm bike and I'm just shy of 5'8" but I have a 33" inseam - I'm all legs. I probably should have gone with a 52 cm and raised the seat up. 20/20 hindsight but not much I can do now - not going to buy another bike!
I will try another seat however - this one is clearly too narrow. My sit bones are killing me and I get numbness. I just read a really great article Cobb puts out to figure out your anatomy (for women) and categorizes their seats into which works best with each type of anatomy (if you will). LOL Now I just have to figure that out for the other manufacturers, like Specialized (my LBS loves Specialized). My sit bones were measured and everything so we know that information. Interestingly my PT was telling me that females are actually much more difficult to find the right seat for due to so many factors I won't go into.

This is long enough! Have a great night and I hope everyone is getting some kind of mileage in!! I'm living my running life vicariously through all of you!!
Cheers!

Edited by aviatrix802 2015-03-16 8:52 PM

Saddles are tough. They are so personal that it's really hard to ascertain what would work for someone else.

I ride an Adamo Road saddle and am very happy with it. I lucked out in that the 1st bike I bought had one and I've been comfortable on it ever since. So when I've replaced it, I've used the same thing. I've heard very good things about Cobb saddles. In fact, John Cobb is the one who invented the two-prong saddle and he designed the ISM Adamo saddles. After leaving ISM, he started Cobb and has furthered his concept. I would give a Cobb saddle a try if I ever needed to.

Specialized has entered the "wide nose" saddle arena with the Sitero saddle. I really like this one and thought about buying it. When I tested one out, I had just bought my new Shiv and I didn't want to drop the extra $200 on the Sitero when the Adamo is still working fine. I don't know if there is comfort to be gained there or not.

The fizik tritone is the latest and greatest entry into this area (all of these saddles are the same concept, but Adamo holds the patent for the "two prong" saddle, so all of the others have a piece of material that joins the prongs together). I've heard good things about it.

Bummer about the knee, but it's good that it seems closer to having a solution. Also, since you have a running background, you should be able to get back up to speed sooner than if you had to stop swimming/biking for an extended period.

If it weren't for knee injuries, I wouldn't be doing triathlon. I completely ruptured my ACL and tore my MCL and a bunch of cartilage playing football back in 2010. After rehabbing it and coming back, I decided slow twitch sports were the thing for me.

Good luck training everyone! The weather is getting nice here so hopefully everyone can enjoy the experience soon!

I'd second David's thought- at least there seems to be some explanation as to what's going on with the knee, so you can get to the process of fixing it. From the sound of it it seems like something you would have been dealing with for a long time, has that been the case?

Wish I could offer advice on the saddle but I'm lucky in that my rear gets used to new saddles pretty quickly and the stock one on the new bike seems fine. But I will say that the smaller size of my new bike did seem to help quite a bit too. I'm certainly seated on the sit bones better.

Weather here is nice now- 70s yesterday even. I've been battling a head and chest cold that doesn't help with getting back in the swing of things, but I think it's just about cleared up. I'm hoping to get in a good ride this weekend.

Well, there's a reason for everything I suppose.
The knee kicks in with pain with longer distance running (12 miles or so). Every HM I've ever done (though with PT my last one was the most pain free!!) my knee hurts in the same spot every time. Now with the PT I did for the last one - it seemed to help significantly to strengthen specific weak muscles. Right now we're focused on the glute med - which is problematic for MANY runners (negative butt muscle which is supposed to take most of the force of impact and push off, etc) When you don't have that butt muscle engaged the smaller muscles, particularly around the knee kick in but fatigue quicker.
anyway. I'll be curious to hear what my PT has to say about this latest prognosis. I don't know that I'm completely convinced the issue with the knee cap is what is causing the pain because I've had that issue all of my life. Maybe it's reached its point of being pissed off enough or maybe it truly is bursitis as my PT thinks it is - the MRI should tell us that I would think. Curiouser and curiouser...

I'll research the saddle some more, get some decent shorts (well, even better than what I have) and get a shorter stem - though only one thing at a time to see what works. It will get figured out at some point! No worries.

70 degrees. I have no recollection of what that feels like. I still have 2 feet of snow in my front yard. I'm hoping to ride outside in a month. LOL!! Enjoy!!

Nice to hear from you guys! Clearly we're the only ones left! Hey! Did you hear about the shooting at the tri in Puerto Rico!? Someone opened fire on the athletes at about mile 2 on the bike course! A few were hit - I don't know the outcome for the athletes but I read there were two shooters and they shot each other after shooting the athletes and a driver got away. That's all I know - haven't read anything since. Crazy! What is wrong with people these days!???! I'm hoping all the athletes are okay and will live to tri another day!

Edited by aviatrix802 2015-03-17 10:10 PM

About to jump on my trainer for a bit - yea! It's still blowing outside (thermo says "feels like 2"). it is bitter out.

Had a nice swim yesterday - 2500 yards - 5 x 50 warm-up, 2 x 1000 main, and easy 1 x 250 cool down. I haven't been on the bike in a week - my training took a back seat to a LOT of stuff this past week so I'm trying to get back at it. Even my plank and squat challenge and PT went idle for the last 3 or 4 days....oops. Just need that kick in the pants to get everything going again (swim has been fine - just the rest of it!). I see my PT tomorrow and he'll beat me with wet noodles for not doing my PT as much this past week (mentally deflated after the Ortho visit and x-rays last Friday - no excuse, I know). I'm at the point of starting to write positive "go get 'em' " messages on my mirror. I've never had to do that before but with this winter being what it's been and my knee, for the first time I need inspiration and motivation. LOL! funny, I know. The sun is shining though - spring is on its way!

Hi, if anyone is there! I feel like a broken record - 2500 yd swim yesterday and an hour on the trainer today.....but....my speed and cadence sensors arrived!!!! Now I have some idea of speed and distance roughly when I'm indoors (in our 8 months of darkness). That makes me cheery. LOL.
I can't wait to take it outside!
MRI for my knee is slated for Friday night at 10:00 PM (check-in at 9:15 PM). Yes, I have to keep saying PM because I find it interesting I have to do this on a Friday night! Hopefully they have a basketball game on! My bracket is shot but I still like to watch and eat wings and throw things at the TV. LOL

I hope everyone is good - and healthy! Warmer temps are coming!

Now that you have a speed+cadence sensor...you can get Trainer Road and use virtual power!! Don't be disappointed, your speed on the trainer is not going to match what you do outdoors. It's usually 10-15% slower than what you see outdoors. Just a heads up so you don't think you are not working hard enough!

I didn't do a bracket this year. I was so disgusted with my KSU Wildcats that I sat out. I did, however, join a $20 pool and had my 10 year old son enter a bracket. As of today, he's in 1st place. The winner will get about $400. He's so excited that he and his brother already have the money spent! I've tried to tell them there is WAY too many games left to get too excited.

I've never heard of an MRI at 10PM. How odd. I hope the results show something conclusive!

Yes, bummer about Kansas. I had them moving on for one more game.
That is both awesome and too funny about your kids and their bracket!! My boys would do the same - have it spent. They want a Wii so bad they can taste it. (we're stubborn, mean parents hahaha). It is early yet, but they can dream! Ours is a family pool too - $20/bracket. Fun but now my whole family is involved so $80 is probably gone. The last three or four years I've placed in the money but I don't think it looks good this year.

I'll have to try Trainer Road. Do I need ANT+stick? I don't use one with the 920xt - it's all Bluetooth and WiFi. It's great but I'm finding that a lot of these training things don't have that capability yet. I was just accepted to use Zwift Island but now find I can't because I have Bluetooth. Ah well, the technology will be there soon I'm sure.
I did an hour in the small gear and held 16 mph the whole time. I snuck up to the big ring for five minutes at half my cassette and did about 23 mph with little effort. I'm thinking I'm actually too fast compared to the road. Then again, I never ride on flat roads so maybe I would do that on flats.

i've been pretty faithful to my HIM plan minus the run - which I suppose makes it pretty easy to follow. Once my class finishes up at the end of April and I finish my flight student, I'll start stringing together some nicer bricks of swim/bike.

Cheers! I saw one patch of grass out by the sidewalk today! Still have over a foot of snow in the yard but with this rain coming, it should do quite a number on it! Yea!!

I'm going to cut you some slack....

but I'm a Kansas STATE Wildcat fan. Not a Kansas Chicken-hawk fan. I hate the university of Kansas with all of my being.

Ha ha. However, I fully understand that people across the country do not know the details of fly-over state rivalries!

Yes, TrainerRoad uses an Ant+ stick. I have used the Garmin and the Suunto mini-stick. I think they are about $30. I've not used Zwift yet, but I'm interested in checking it out sometime.

BTW, I got my wife a 920xt last week. I"m waiting on the Fenix 3. But depending on how things work out, I may adopt her 920 and get her a VivoActive. The 920 is really nice. We're slowly getting her set up on it.

Doh....
Trainer ride yesterday - can't wait to ride outside but I love having a speed/cadence sensor for my trainer rides now!

MRI this past Friday night - follow-up is on Tuesday. I got them to burn a cd of the images for me - I haven't had a chance to look at it yet.

Hope all is well! Sorry so short!

Last Sunday afternoon, my training plan called for only a 45 minute ride. The weather was beautiful, so I hit the road. In prep for Alcatraz, I stayed within a 3 miles radius of my house and did all hills. In looking at the elevation profiles, I got got about 65% of the elevation of the Alcatraz course in about 50% of the miles, so I was please with that. I figured I would add that same workout (a little longer as the plan calls for it) each Sunday. Today, it didn't work out. My wife works overnight tonight so I had to stay close by. I did the Sufferfest Chrysalis brick workout (it's fun, 4X 8min bike+4min run at or near threshold). Hopefully i can hit the hills again next week. Hills are not my friend. I weight about 190# so I don't exactly float up them. Ugh.

On another note: Specialized has issued a "stop using order" and recalled the stock aerobars that were sold on basically every Shiv the past 4-5 years. So, I'm not supposed to be riding my bike outside as the aerobars could stop leaving my toppling face first into the front wheel. I spend so much time on the trainer that I'm not too worried about this, but am working with my dealer to get this fixed. On a positive, Spec is also issuing a $100 credit to be used on Specialized merchandise. That will be nice. I love Specialized stuff, so with $100 I'll probably be able to buy a new water bottle or something!

Dave, that is great you can train close to the elevation of the race! Very cool! Nice find on the route!

I'm on my third rest day....working too much! LOL The weather is beautiful so I've been flying yesterday and today but with hubby traveling I have to be home for the kiddos.

I've just been reading about that recall! That's great you've already got a jump on getting it taken care of and in time to start going outside! Hey, $100 is $100! That's good they're doing that - customer satisfaction.

Soooooo NO SURGERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The MRI confirmed what my PT has been saying all along! While I don't have bursitis, there is inflammation around the IT band in that specific spot so the ortho doc shot some cortisone in there and in a week if everything is feeling okay I can begin to run/walk again taking it slow! I need to roll like it's my job and continue with PT. I am over the moon! I'll report back to him via email in 6-8 weeks about how things are going.

Now the question is....do I start a 13 week Half Mary program and sign up for the HIM I wanted to do in June and walk a bit every mile or so or just plan on the AquaBike and do the HIM on Labor Day weekend....decisions, decisions....

I am distracted I am so happy. :-D

okay, happy training! Sorry it's a bit of a selfish post, but I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders!