Beer Drinker Appreciation Society - Closed (Page 19)

It is great to have you posting! I have found the more involved with a group, more likely we will succeed. We are not only accountable to each other but cheerleaders as well! Kevin, David, Cynthia, myself and our former mentor Super runner Darren have been in a couple of groups together. Without the groups support and involvement, I don't think I would have been as successful in my training!

X3!

I assume you are talking about shin splints?

How are your shoes?

I had a lot of trouble with shin splints when younger and I was terrified it would derail my HM training. I had good shoes, got a little touch of trouble that was corrected quickly as I concentrated on shortening my stride and increasing my cadence. I would count out my actual steps each minute every now and then.When I did my HM I actually wrote on the back of my hand with sharpy: Candence! I think most of us over stride.

First - thanks Dave for letting me sneak into this group.  If loving beer is one of the quals, then we should be all good!

I've read through the first bunch of posts (about the first 1/4 - you are a prolific bunch!  A big part of why I wanted to join - very helpful in keeping motivated.  That and the beer, 'course&hellip.

So, on to a bio and then into the posting!

NAME:  Matt McManus

STORY:  A long time ago...  No, wait - that's a different story.  Mine:  I live in Concord, MA outside Boston, from where I originally hail (and, yes, I am part of RedSox Nation - from back before there were pink hats and they never flippin' won it all - and a Pats/Celts/Bruins/PawSox/Beanpot fan). I did my first tri in 1994 in VT (run, bike, canoe, of course) and my last, until this season, in 1995 on the Cape (a couple traditional sprints - sbr - but WOW were they different than what I saw this year!).  My wife (see "Family" below) and I decided to get into it this year and did two local sprints in September(more to follow on that).  So, to fill in the time between 95 and '12:  After the sprints in '95, I did more running than anything else, completing a few marathons (USMC a couple times, Boston as a bandit back in the day when that wasn't a big deal, etc.) and mostly doing shorter stuff for a few years.  Then, career and family and "stuff" happened and I've just been running mostly (and very slowly, 3-4 miles, a few times a week) for the intervening years until last April.  That's when a roadie colleague at work convinced me to buy a new bike (not my 20 y.o. steel bike with downtube shifters and such).  Got a Specialized Venge and just got HOOKED on getting out there - it was (is) like a cross between flying a plane and skiing, all while pushing until you're drooling on your Garmin and seeing spots.  LOVE IT.  So, spent most of the Spring/early summer riding (from work, on the weekends, doing charity rides), getting to know the roadie thing and occassionally still running - and dropped a few pounds.  Then mixed swimming in, as I was at the beach and needed a workout.  Dropped a few more pounds.  My wife got a new bike and she started riding outside (not just spinning).  Then, while chatting with my(MUCH-) better half down the beach one day said, "Hey, why not do a sprint?  I think I'm going to..."  She, to my GREAT excitement/relief/pride/etc. said, "Hmmmm, maybe I'll try one to."  Then I started the Time Crunched Sprint program 6 weeks out from our "A" race in Dover (hard to call it that when you register 6 weeks out...) and 4 weeks from a "let's see what this is all about" race in Plymouth.  She said, "Hmmm, maybe I'll try a workout or two from that plan, too."  So, merrily we descended into the tri-thing!   What a great experience, too.    We both dropped a few more pounds.  Our kids came to the race and got a kick out of it.  We got to compete and meet some new, great folks.  I remembered what I loved about this in the way back, and am just so psyched that it's turned out that I'm here again and am even able to share at least a portion of my obsession with my family (OK, I'm a bit more obsessive than most - but only a LITTLE more so than my family!).  Now I'm trying to figure out how best to move forward with this and maintain the fire without burning out - but more on that below...

FAMILY:  As mentioned above, married for ~15 years to Kim.  Great partner, for so many things.  Three kids (12, 10, 8 - boy, girl, boy) who are active and might even drift into tri (but are currently doing some single sport stuff and fencing - which is great by me).  I'm a very lucky person in this category (more than makes up for being a slow guy that unfortunately likes speed!).

CURRENT TRAINING: After doing the two tris in September, we set sights on a HM in early November.  I did that as my run is proportionally my weakest leg and thought this might help.  The race we wanted was sold out, so we chose one the first week of November - kind of cutting short the training a bit, but it was in line with about where my mileage and long runs were at the end of the TCT program (using a rough approximation of the Higdon - between Intermediate and Advanced, throwing a swim and bike in on the rest days or in lieu of an occassional easy run).  Kim tweaked her lower calf, and so had to bag the HM (sadly), but is still looking forward to getting back at it (as am I to having my LSD partner back).  Did the HM (1:43:30) and loved the run.  Now, after a break from a run centric program, just tooling around on the bike and swimming when I could (2-3x a week), I'm back on a HM plan for the Hyannis HM in late February.  Run centric again, but that's OK as I am just getting back in the pool after a cortisone shot to the L shoulder a month or so ago (CAUTIONARY TALE: I took the first swim lesson of my life to make my stroke better and within 2 weeks had a much prettier/conventional stroke… and blew up my shoulder.  I guess there was a reason I was swimming ugly, but at least I wasn't injuring myself!  Pretty isn't always good.).  Ahem, now very much in run centric mode for the next 6-7 weeks, with rides and swims (getting back to longer swims slowly to protect the shoulder from flaring - it was bursitis, so no surgery needed, thankfully, and I'd like to keep it that way).  It's a bit daunting to get all this to hang together, when my workouts prepping for races used to be about just going longer and harder until the race taper and then doing it again when a race caught my fancy.  I like the idea of a multi-year plan!  I suppose most of this should go into GOALS below...  

2012 Races:  Mayflower sprint tri in Plymouth MA (got to SWIM past the Mayflower!).  Placed 3rd in my AG (total surprise - when they announced "and from Concord..." I turned to ask my wife if she'd seen anyone we knew at the race, when she starts saying, "That's you - get up there!").  All about who (doesn't) show up that day.  Kim was MOP AG and very psyched, too.

Dover/Sherborn Boosters sprint.  Something like 5th or 6th in AG and 25th OA.  Was really happy with the race, but it's clear that I need to work on the run (these crazy bugs in my AG are WICKED fast on the run - sorry, slipped into MA speak there...).  Kim was middle to top third AG, and also happy(and happy to be done with 6 consecutive weeks of brick workouts - the Time Crunched program is great, but very intense).

Wayland (Katie's) HM in 1:43:30.  Fastest I've run - even from back in the day, so very happy with that one.  Hoping to beat 1:40 in this next one, but more on that below...

2013 Races:  Trying to figure it out.  Definitely want to include several sprints and a couple Olys(never done one).  Thinking about participating in a HIM, but I'm not sure I can register for a race and not race (if there's a number pinned on my belly, I'm racing...), nor that I want to tank the sprint/Olys, as I think HIM training will make good performances there tough.  So, we'll see.  I am doing the HM end of February, but am looking at what to do the rest of the season.  Going to try to get into the B2B Harpoon ride (148 miles for a beer, thank you very much), but still have to pick my races.  Thinking about a 2 part season.  First half with an A race or two as sprints, then an Oly as an A at the end of the second half and MAYBE add a HIM at the end of the season with the goal of seeing what it's about (but, again, if there's a number on me, I have trouble not pushing until I have tunnel vision and a grimace on my face!).

2013 Goals:  CRUSH a few sprint tris and Olys.   Improve my swim time by 10-15" per 100.  Improve my bike - either add ~20W +/or add 1-2mph to what I can hold through a sprint and still run well (and maybe new Tri bike will help with that!).  Drop my run times by 30" per mile.  Drop the last 5 or so pounds to get to racing weight.

WEIGHTLOSS:  Lost 30 pounds this year without trying too hard (didn't even think I could ever, or needed to, do that but now can't imagine what I was doing hanging around at ~188-189).  I was at the lbs shop recently for a re-fitting and saw the video of my first fit last April - there was a whole lot me in that video!!  I'm 5'8" or so and about 158 currently.  Could still lose an additional 2-5lbs or thereabout - and that would see me to a weight I haven't been at since I hit it on my way up as a (young) teen!  I'm not really focusing on this one - just trying to eat right (mostly), drink good beer and scotch (life's too short to drink anything but good stuff) in periodic moderation (and periodic not so moderate - but that's mostly gin - or "happy juice" as we call it at home), and let the calorie burn torch off some blubber.

GOOD MENTOR/Mentee As a confirmed serial obsessionist, and a long time physically active person(and a former doc), I tend to dive in and try to figure things out.  While I don't have the experience around tris and specific training (that's part of why I'm on here!), I have been around sports a long time and have decent general "sporting sense."  As a mentee, I'm pretty enthusiastic and am psyched to get deeper into the sport.  If enthusiasm is infectious, then that's probably a good thing!

Now the important part:

BEER: I love beer.  Love it love it love it.  Gin and scotch (and some bourbon, too), but that's prolly another mentor group.   Ahem, anyway…  We are very much hop heads here at home, although I also like (paradoxically) stout.  However, double IPA with off the scale IBUs is where it's at (and wifey is of similar palate, most thankfully!).  Our first dog's middle name was Harpoon (yes, we actually gave him a middle name on his AKC papers - we were young and in love with beer and dogs, so made sense at the time!).  We've toyed with starting to brew again (been 20 years), and the kids are psyched for that (crazy science experiments to them), but there are so many GREAT brews out there today that I despair of making anything even close to as palatable as some of the less distinguished IPAs out there.  As for the good beers available today, no way I could come close without a real brewing setup and a lot more time/money/skill!  So, we'll see if that happens this year - very ambivalent about self-brewing - but I can assure you we'll continue to sample the local fare and craft brews.  Gotta support the industry!  The only downside to the double IPAs is that they are way colorific.  But, hey, gotta live!

OK, so that's the story (I think).  Anyone that read more than the first eleventythreegazillion words here, good on ya!

Looking forward to the group.  Thanks.

Matt

You assume correctly!  My shoes are good, just got a new pair of Saucony's in November only have about 30 miles on them.  They seem to be helping quite a bit.  I have also been using compression socks and having my wife massage them after a run which helps a lot also.  I have fought with them quite a bit over the years, and just have to go slow.  I will try shortening my stride.  Thanks for the advice.  

p.s. Congrats on the new bike hope you enjoy it.  

Welcome to the group!  

My wife is just coming back from splints and I had them years ago.  Higher cadence definitely has helped.  We just got the Garmin footpods ($30 refurbished - work just as well as the new ones for $60!), and they help a TON.

I've been playing with cadence and efficiency/speed tradeoffs, and it makes a big difference in running - but the shorter stride and higher cadence help with shin splints for most people.  The footpod, if you have any Garmin device, is worth the $30 (if you like data - and I definitely do).

Cadence proper is a WHOLE other set of posts.  

Ice after running for 15-20' has been helping Kim a lot, too, (sorry - Kim=wife), so consider that.  She actually even brings a frozen dixie cup of ice to the gym in a lined bag to use right after a 'mill run (before power or spin or such)...

good luck!
Matt 

Ha!  I hear you, for sure.  We were going to take the kids CC skiing today (great weather for THAT at least), but their friends are coming over throughout the day, so no-go until tomorrow.  So… that means switching my 90' run from tomorrow to RIGHT NOW.  Ugh - not in the mood for 90' on the dreadmill, but too icy, windy and cold for a 90' run outside (was all geeked up for a 3-4 mile pace run outside, but 90' will have me frozen and running over inhospitable terrain&hellip.

So, off to the basement, where I still need a hat and gloves.  

Tell Heldga I said hello.

Thanks for the welcome, all!
Matt 

Hello all.  I've been quiet this week, since I've been on vacation and visiting friends and family.  My plan had been to hit up one of the local gyms to get my workouts in, but at $10 for single visits, I decided to skip all that and get some runs in, for free.

So, workouts 1, 2, and 3 for the 30/30 challenge are done, and 30 miles for the week, including my longest to date at 8.24 miles.  These are also my first outdoor runs, so I am pleased with how they went.  

Vacation has pretty much wrecked my nutrition, but I'll get back on track and crush it the rest of the month, which will, hopefully, leave me where I was before Christmas .

I remember I spent about a week researching this issue, and I don't remember exactly why, but ultimately I bought a road bike.  I'm still looking on craigslist for a used tri bike, but it will most likely spend most of its time on the trainer.  Then again, I plan on riding with a road cycling club, and tri bikes are frowned-upon in that context.  

I will not complain about feeling slightly chilly on my first new bike outing at 50 deg F in Dallas then.

Also, welcome Matt. I too have three kids of similar ages.

Welcome to the group matt

ps if 1:43 is your HM time and that's your weakest event, I'd say your doing a.o.k 

Killed it!  mile 1 was at a 6:27.  4.15 miles at a 7:02/mi pace.  9.5 miles tomorrow.

I enjoyed an imperial IPA out of Ontario Or, last night.  It was fantastic at 9% ABV.  I think I'll throw in a local Winter Brew from NO-LI tonight.

Prost!

HELP!  I have kind of a major problem that just surfaced...went to the pool today and found when I go to put my head in the water I get a mini panic attack (don't know how else to describe it).

About 25+ years ago I swam in high school.  In '98 I used to dive every other weekend.  However roughly 10 years ago I tried to dive in Grand Cayman but had the same thing happen.  I thought it was because of the cold water.  Obviously I was wrong.

I have no idea when or how this started but it needs to be fixed.  I managed to get in 4x50 freestyle with my head above the water.  I thought maybe if I swim some I can get my head relaxed since I can swim just fine.  Well not fine or I would be able to put my face in the water. 

I'm in a bad spot here folks any advise would be great.  I can't take a xanax before I get in the pool I'll sink, haha.

Sweet run!

I did 100' @ 1 degree SLUG (Slow Long Uphill Grind) run on the dreadmill today.  8:11 m/m overall, so very happy with that.

Now I'm enjoying some suds with my better half!  Had half an IPA from a solar powered brewery, from a can - would not recommend that one.  Now enjoying a very nice Lagunitas Maximus - fire is blazing, dogs are snoozing, kids are playing - and we're having some veeeery nice beer.  Good day.

Nice run!
Matt 

Edit: Now enjoying splitting a Hoponius Union (and India Pale Lager - which is unique) with Kim.  This is a surprisingly nice beer - very hoppy, but lagered, so crisp.  Kind of the best of both worlds!

Plus, there's a vegetable cheese pie roasting in the oven and some chicken for the grill - this is a VERY good day, indeed!

One thing to try is to go to the non-lane area and try first just sculling (put your hands in the water with your face above it), then move your face closer to the water incrementally over a few minutes.  Finally, put your face in the water VERY briefly, exhaling while you do, and then pull your face out of the water before you're out of breath.  Try this a few times, eventually working up to the point that you can (hopefully) mimic the breathing patter you'd use when swimming.

A kind of desensitizing training, but it might prove helpful.  I certainly hope so!

(btw, by sculling I mean moving your hands back and forth beneath the water to sort of push upwards - or to create at least a force downwards, yeh?)

Let us know how it all goes.

Best,

Matt