GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 179)

After eating a huge breakfast, 2 Luna Bars, and a few bugs (on accident, of course) during the 44 mile group ride yesterday, I was still pretty hungry at the end and definitely low on sugar. I didn't try mixing any Gatorade into my water because I forgot, but I think I'm going to need a little more than 2 water bottles for this Oly. I sucked down at least 4 this morning. Oy.

Per ANNE's raving reviews and STEVEB's recommendations, I think I'm going to try the gels next time. Although, I am proud to say that I managed to open and consume a Luna Bar while going 20 mph down the road without wiping out. Granted, it took me a couple miles, but I remained upright the entire time. And I thought my bike handling skills were horrible...

Speaking of bike handling, I also finally figured out and got comfortable with braking and shifting in the drops, although I'm still wary of the braking. I don't feel like I get enough oomf when I'm using my fingertips, so I tend to get out of the drops for serious braking.

And I really need a new saddle if I'm going to be going long, preferably before the tri in three weeks, but probably not knowing my decision-making skills (or lack thereof).

Edited by augeremt 2010-06-07 6:02 PM

Mark,

Very sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. Hope you and your wife and her family are holding up well.

Kasia

Apparently Pumpkinman is a popular tri race name since I'm doing one of the same name in October but in Vegas, a far cry from Maine. Hopefully it cools down by then.

Haha, nope! Down the block and back up it again a few times. People were staring. But it was very informative.

Shaun,

Awesome job on your first tri! Especially since you were "holding back". The times don't really show that, though Must've been really cool to hear your name as you crossed the finish line.

Congrats!!!

Kasia

My non-attached foot was kind of ghost-pedaling involuntarily. It was kind of weird. I guess I'm just used to moving both feet on a bike so it was hard to just dangle the leg without moving it. I felt like the dogs that move their feet in the air if you scratch the right spot.

ANNE -

Good news for you! Through a change of plans with Lynn, I ended up riding in the Gatineau Hills today, so the following is based on REAL hills, as opposed to the rather sketchy excuse for hills that grow more locally.

Here's what I learned:
-- I am in an 11-25 cogset (I think i thought it was 11-23!)
-- I am 6'2", but more of my height is in my torso than from the waist down; that might be worth factoring into where I am positioned
-- When I am out of the saddle and pushing hard, my chest in over the mid-point of my aerobars
-- In that same position, my face is just forward of the middle of my wheel; were a plumbline attached to my nose, it would dangle down just barely in front of my hub
-- When less aggressive, it all drops back so that my chest is above the pad on the aerobars, and my nose is just back of the top middle of the front wheel
-- Because I rock the bike when I am out of the saddle, I never actually get goosed, but the contact just gently bops against my "sits bones". I mention this becasue you made a comment (I think?) about rocking the bike
-- When I am effectively spinning those small circles, I can quite easily maintain 90+rpm. On the steepest part of the Gat Hill loop, I did four "tests":
(1) in my 23 cog, 92rpm
(2) in my 23 cog, 93rpm
(3) in my 23 cog, 88rpm (this was the absolute steepest part)
(4) in my 25 cog, 96rpm (I shifted from 23 to 25 on the last stage of the steepest part
--Those last two show how much difference there can be in just going to the next easiest cog
-- When I am at 88-86rpm, the circles are beginning to ovalize some; not much, but some
-- At 90rpm or above, it is all in place for me, and those seated climbs are pretty effortless; that reflect perfect(ish) circles

--Uh, I had some info in my head about at what point a hard climb out of the saddle loses efficiency, and thuscalls for sitting down and getting to spinning.....but I forgot what i came up with. Sorry!

Does any of the above help? Have a great ride tomorrow!!!

Thanks for this!   Yes it does help, and I am going to print this page and take it with me.   I am only 5' tall, so I was thinking my head position would be different than yours, but maybe not, given that my bike will also be smaller. 

When I was reading your different cadence(s) it reminded me that when I was doing my bike test today, he started it out at 100 watts, and I wasn't pedalling very fast and it felt hard.   I made a comment that 'boy this is going to be rough with 100 watts feeling tough' and he said to start pedalling faster and that it would be easier and sure enough, when I got the cadence up to 90+ is was easy, and at every segment where he increased the watts I could feel it, but pedalled faster and it got easier.   That must have something to do with why I seem to do OK on the hills.   He tried to explain the physics behind it to me, but I failed physics.  

Glad to hear you had a good day for a ride.  

Chiming in from the Peanut Gallery:
1)  Throw out the scale - muscle weighs more than fat - many people are losing fat, gaining muscle, and in turn, either treading water on weight, or maybe gaining some.  Better to use a tape measure around your critical measurements (calves, thighs, hips, waist, arms, etc.) and monitor inches.  I found in my IMSG training that I lost a lot of weight in the first few months, and then plateaued, even though I was still getting smaller. 
2)  I'd have to disagree with the kineseologist.  From what I've read and been taught, you'd have to be working REALLY hard, Z4 and Z5 type efforts, to be burning pure sugar (carbs).  What's more likely to be happening is that you are burning a higher percentage of sugar (carbs) than fat at the higher intensities.  But, more is often more.  Look at it this way.  If in an hour of a solid workout, you burn 1,000 calories of which 25% are fat, you burned 250 fat calories.  If in the same hour, you work really hard and burn 1,200 calories, but only 22% of them are fat, you still burned 264 fat calories.  They are a smaller percentage of calories burned, but still more fat than at the lower intensity.  Typically, a Z2 HR effort will burn the highest percentage of calories from fat.  But while the higher Z2 or Z3 will burn a lower percentage, the fact you are burning so many more total calories means you are likely burning more total fat calories as well. 

But I hear you.  It's HARD to lose the weight when you're training, because you're hungry all the time and all you want to do is eat.  I'm on day one of watching the calories again, and I'm already dying!  LOL. 

STEVE -

Glad you're back, and relieved to know that all systems are functioning according to wishes and plans. Whew!

It sound slide Encinal Canyon shares a limb on the same side of the family tree as Silverman, so if you do that roue and other of its brethren between now and then, you'll cruise the bike in November.

As for you and Vineman, I figure you have very little to do to be ready for that bike. After all, it was only about 5-6 weeks ago that you did 112 miles under duress at IMSG, so the fitness is certainly there. All you need to do is tweak it, refine it, build it up, add some speed to it.....and Vineman should be yours.

From when i seriously contemplated doing Vineman iron-distance in '05, I remember the course as being a big loop (double for the iron) that has one kind of taxing climb, but then a lot of rollers -- certainly not at all like SG! I imagine the course hasn't changed since then, and with the half being just one loop, then that means only one climb, and that means you'll find it all very tackleable.

How is your hamstring feeling, anyhow? I remember well the constant refrain throughout March and April about your hammy bothering you, but all you mention about Sunday's brick is that in the three hours after the bike your legs had stiffened -- but no bad stuff about the hamstring! Is it possible that the post-SG recovery plan has worked its wonders on it? Halleloo!

STEVE again -

And how did the swim go? Shoulder hold up just fine?

As for the weight gain, well, once you start adding in more runs and longer runs, that should slide right back to where you were leading up to SG. But I think the gain you've experienced is indicative of a decent period of recovery, and that will only help you as you get set for Vineman, and beyond. And I think you've said before that you lose weight pretty fast, so by mid-July you'll be down to fightin' form, to be sure!

And Tracey is 100% correct -- all of your rides sound like things of beauty! Just curious -- when you do the PCH, can you do that from your door, or do you have to drive to that one, too?

STEVE once more -

I think I've read that common post-iron gain is 5-7 pounds, so at six, you're right on target. Bullseye!!

MANDY -

Ahhhhhh! I'm very happy to hear about the ART appointment! At the very least, he/she should be able to tell you exactly what's wrong with the calf, and at the very most the treatment provided then will help you make it through Pirate comfortably. Cool beans!

What's up with your man Papelbon? I heard he's away from the team for a few days, but it seems shrouded in mystery? I hope it's nothing too serious!

TRACEY -

Your post was full of fine news!

Really nicely done on the simulated OWS in the pool, and noticing the drop of the legs each time you sight. Yes, the buoys at Escape will be further away, but they're also gonna be big suckers -- more sunstamntial than a towel and a cone! But the important thing is that you're getting used to what your body is doing as you sight, and in time you will refine this to be as economical as possible.

It's great to hear that you have adjust to the "clipless" system so well, and that you're experiencing some of the benefits of being more rigid down there. And the 7- to 9-o'clock pull back sensation means that yet another something is working well for you in your pedaling mechanics, so that is also a big positive.

And the saddle! I love those stories about transformations in people's lives in getting The Perfect Saddle! There are accounts of people who have gone through 3, 4, 5 saddles before finding the perfect one, but you found yours on the second try, yes? As I think about this, it is more of a female problem than a male problem. Or maybe men just don't talk about it. (Typical, eh? ) I'm just thinking of posts I've read over the years from people who had troble getting comfortable, and is it true that they were all authored by women? Hmmm.

ANYHOW, you've got your dream saddle now, and that's all that matters!

(Just a side note --- When I got my new bike in July '08, although it was still a Cervelo I didn't like the new saddle at all, so I had it swtiched out in favor of my old saddle. I had forgotten then until just now.....even though it's not like it wa ancient history! So here I am, on a newish bike, but with a saddle from '01 and cleats from '00. Oh my!

KASIA -

Bugs! Good source of protein!

I was going to remind you to get the top of a Clif Bar unwrapped before race begins, but I forgot. And now you come with the story of wrestling with a Luna Bar wrapper while on the fly, and so I'll say it now -- at the very least, get the unwrapping started, if not the top fully upon all the way across. Clif Bars can have very resistant wrappers (are they meant to be "tamper-proof"??), and I have waged several spirited battles with them during races over the years. I honestly suspect that many people have wiped out doing just this sort of thing, so it is good to have all of your edibles as unwrapped as is possible.

What do you carry your food in? Do you have a Bento Box, are do you just use the pockets of whatever bike top you're wearing?

Enjoy the gels. Seriously! (Hopefully?) Remember, for many people they are an acquired taste, so if the first one doesn't work through some combination of taste and texture, try another. In general, i find CarbBoom! and AccelGel as being the two that best combine milder taste with less viscosity (meaning they aren't as thick), so I would cautiously recommend those two for starters. If you are a chocoholic, Accel Gel chocolate is divine, and CarbBoom!'s chocolate cherry is not far behind. The cranberry/grapefruit CarbBoom! is close to a culinary masterpiece. (Well...............)

But wait! I said all this last week, didn't it? Oops! Me and my elusive memory at times!!

If you are going to get a new saddle, try to do that as soon as possible. You don't want to make that a week-of purchase only to find out at mile 17 of LL2L that it isn't working for you. So if you could find one in the next few days and have several rides to make sure it's just right, that's ideal.

As for the bike handling and braking, you are doing the normal thing, which is working it out by degrees. Just keep doing what is working best for you, and is most relaible, and seems to be the safest. In time, you will find that new positions and tactics are doable, but for most people that just takes lots of riding. You'll get there!

KASIA again -

The Vegas Pumpkinman has been around for a while, I think, and last fall served as the venue for the USAT Half-Iron championship (as opposed to the 70.3 one in Clearwater, FL). I wonder how much of that course overlaps with Silverman, which overlaps with Showdown at Sundown, which SteveA did back in March or April. Those courses out there seems sort of incestuous!

KASIA once more -

Don't look now, but there's probably a YouTube clip of you "ghost-pedaling" down the road last week!

STEVE -

Your cooment about "Throw out the scale" reminds me of how the late, great Phil Ochs once defined a liberal -- "Ten degrees to the laft of center in good times, ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally".

These days, I'm viewing my own scale very liberally!

Anne:

It's interesting what your kinesiologist says about training and burning carbs. I feel like there's different information all the time from every expert or article. And add to that the fact that everybody is different as far as their intake needs, metabolisms, etc. It gets confusing to know what advice to follow!

SteveA: Your rides always sound so scenic and beautiful (except for the one in which you almost got cozy with the side of a car!) I see you guys talk about hill grades a lot. How do you determine the grade of a hill? Thanks! Tracey

Mandy,

I think we'd know pretty darn quick something is wrong if you didn't have a smile!!

TRACEY -

Just so you know, as long as the weather is decent Friday night I will be staying at Myles Standish. I talked to someone who told me that the Barrett Pond Loop is the nicest and quietest, but going to www.reserveamerica.com, it looks as if most sites are taken for Friday night. The next option will be Fearing Pond Loop, which seems to have lots of availability.

What's the forecast looking like? I guess I'd better check that out!

And remind me to PM you my contact info, which will mostly be in the form of Lynn's cell phone #; hopefully, I'll remember to bring her phone with me! I guess as an absolute emergency contingency plan we could set a meeting point for the where the past feed is, and I will be there in a bright yellow running cap with NEWTON written on it in red letters. That cap, plus my 6'2", makes me kind of hard to miss.

But that's just a tentative-tentative for now. Are you still thinking about some sort of ride and/or swim beforehand? I am happy with ANYthing, and so do whatever works best for you and your family!