GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 198)

I hit the pool today and swam my first 1800 meters (a little over a mile). Woo hoo! I did about half a mile last week and was feeling pretty good, so I decided to shoot for the mile today and see what happened. My pace was 2:40/100 meters, which is a tad slower than my 100 meter pace when I do 1/4 or 1/3 of a mile, but I'll take it.

Tracey

Tracey - here's another piece to the puzzle - I think Mandy meant you here - I don't have a neuroma problem.

Denise

Tracey, 

I cannot believe you are up to a mile - boy, once you start progressing, you really progress.

Denise

MANDY -

I'm working very hard to get the vision of the pink sparkly undies out of my mind's eye, so i can be serious with you and LADU. So, if I slip (uh, "goof") and fail to undress (oops -"address") the issues at hand (as it were...), I aploogize in advance!

Ain't that the awfulest thing -- the few moments that lead up to the split second before it dawns on you that those thwumpy noises and sensations of corrugated ground are nothing more than the tire, gone flat? All I can tell you is that I know exactly how you felt, and dealing with the race just speeding off and leaving you at the station, hat in hand.........UGH!

But good on ya for fixin' it and carrying on! I have had flats twice in races, and one of them I fixed and finished the race, the other I just bagged it and when the sag wagon came along, I hopped on board. We can compare war stories in a few weeks!

At that time I will also show you a way to remove the rear wheel without making an ungodly greasified mess of yourself. The only thing that will get sullied is the inside of the top joint of your right index finger, and maybe a wee dab on the thumb.

My other thought here, however, is.....ahem. If you got too greasy, that means you either haven't cleaned your chain and cogs and stuff adequately in awhile, or you applied way too much lubricant. I think of it as akin to motor oil, in that when the chain gets balck and sludgy.....mistakes have been made. But i will add a few of these guys , just so you know that at times I, too, can get slack about regular cleaning of my chains and cogs and rings!

Another leasson learned is the spilling of the drinks -- OOPS! I would like to say I did that once and learned from it, but alas and woe, it's happened more than once. Slow learners of the world, unite!

Aside from this and that, you raced really well! And it is marvy that your calf went through the exertions without kicking up a fuss. Could it be that that uiissue is a thing of the past??

And, I'm glad that the race itself equalled or maybe exceeded your expectations. Probably cuz I love the logo so much, but I REALLY wanted this race to be well-run and successful. Duathlon took a real beating from about '05 to '08, but seems to be staging a revival. Anyhow, it is very heartening to see new duathlons spring forth, and I hope this one sticks around for a long time.

Okay, grease-monkey.....onwards to Timberman from here? Nothing between here and there, right?

And speaking of which, are we still on for Friday the 17th? I know I've waffled back and forth some, but I think we agreed that that would work best for you, and quite cgood for me, so.........is that it, then? The 17th? A ride, a run, an ice cream or three, and lessons on removing a rear wheel with dignity and aplomb. Yes?

SHAUN -

Great report, and you answered all of my questions about the Welland experience. Merci!

I will dig around with comparable swim pace times for guys I know who did Welland; it just might be that the course was msimeasured, especially if you felt you swam well but that your pace per 100 meters doesn't reflect that. This is a very sore topic for me, baecuse my opace for Tupper Lake was asomehting like 3:46. THREE FOTRY-SIX!!!! In a great swim i will be at about 1:50, in a poorer swim i will be at 2:20 -- but NEVER 3:46. So even though that course was listed as 0.6 miles, it was clearly much longer -- which is what it seemed from the shore, too. It might've been about 1100-1150, not 970. (The top swimmer was at a pace of 2:12. Yeah, right!)

If you were 85 out of 230 or so, was it, that's really good. Forget the pace, and compare the place! (And as I said earlier, you were right in the mix of the strong guys for the swim and bike.)

Keep me posted about the calf and achilles and arch. As you tend to the calf, do it gently for now. Don't go long, and don't go hard; more frequent, but fairly gentle, is probably the best approach.

As for your G/I problems, i have found that mixing some drinks JUST a tad stronger is the equivalent of a mega-leap in potency. More than once have I fallen victoim to a mix that is too strong, and then becomes unpalatable at best and virtually toxic at worst.

Along these lines, did you ever go to the Infinit website and play with their "sliders"? One of them is for how strong one prefers their drink, and I think that is very wise. I'll bet, however, thjat most of us overestimate on that one, figuring that if they are ordering a custom formulation, they might as well make it as potent as possible. The good thing with Infinit, however, is that even if the actual power is made too potent, it can still be diluted in the mixing process.

Finally, i'm glad you liked your Multisport Canada experience. John Salt and Jason Virma are both really good guys, and if you ever need to ask questions about their races, they're more than willing to hear your thoughts and ideas and concerns.

(I agree --- godd try on the Xmas gift hinting!)

TRACEY -

Fabulous swim!! That's one of those watershed happenings that make it worth being stuck on the plateau for a while beforehand! Now all you need is a mere 0.2 mile added to it, and you'll be ready for the swim leg on a half-iron relay team. And your pace was superb -- jeezum crowdogs!!!

How's the neuroma today?

How was the thunderstorm this evening??

ANNE -

Has Beavermead been declared swimmable? Maybe pristine, even? And how are YOU feeling about it, six days out?

Denise, SteveB: I do have to admit I'm feeling pretty pleased with my swimming progress. Of course I'd love to get faster, but I think that will come. I have to think back to last fall when I could only do 75 meters at a time before being totally winded and have to rest for a minute or two. I had doubts that I'd be able to tackle 1/3 of a mile, never mind a mile. I think as I progress through my training and possibly do longer distance races, swimming is going to be the most promising of the three sports in terms of potential. I say this because of how much I've progressed in a relatively short period of time. I suppose I could get there with biking too if I put the time into it. The running though...? Eh... maybe not!

The neuroma? Well I didn't do any running today, but it's 100% improved as far as the pain I was feeling after Escape just walking around the house. I'm out for another run tomorrow which will be my longest in a while (maybe 4 1/2 or 5 miles, as long as I can manage the heat/humidity), so we'll see how it behaves. I'm thinking the 10k on July 4th is probably going to happen!

The thunderstorms were cool. I love them!

Shaun,

Great race report. Huge congrats on your bike time! That's awesome. Sorry to hear about the GI issues. But thankfully they seemed to come and go quickly.

Tracey

Swimmable, yes.  Wouldn't go as far as pristine.    I called Beavermead today and apparently the beach was only closed for one day.  Yeah.    I was watching the Trisport video on Peterborough (I'm on Team Bechtel), and they were talking about not freaking out about the weeds.   Your hands are literally hitting the weeds during the swim and I have pictures of me coming out of the water covered in them last year.

I took the week off last week (just about killed me) but the cold is gone and the knee is good.   I did a pool swim on Saturday, followed by yoga, then a 108 km ride on Sunday, if you'd like to check my log - hint, hint.   It was a good ride - just did yoga today and still feeling good.  

Plan on lake swims Tues, Wed, Thurs, and biking tomorrow and Thursday.   Nothing on Friday and just a 15' swim in Beavermead on Saturday with an easy 20' bike.    Tues and Thursday will be swim/bike bricks, and this time I will remember NOT to do any running.   I really don't care how long my transitions are.   Just want to be in good working order for the bike.

I'm really focussing on eating enough this week - think that may one of the reasons I got sick.  

Quite looking forward to this weekend.   It IS funny how we seem to bounce back, doesn't it.   After my Guelph race, I sort of felt like Kasia.   I have no expectations for this weekend.   Justing doing the race, having fun and using it as prep for Muskoka (which I DO care about).  

Feel free to send any last minute instructions my way.  

Yes, Peterborough.    

I think I was on the bike 3hr 22min last year (16 mph avg speed).   Last year we had the wind at our back on the return half, whereas this year the last 45km will be in to a headwind.   Should probably ask the Steve's how they would handle it.

Initially the hardest part was getting my bottom used to the longer rides, but I have a nice woman specific seat now and that doesn't bother me any more.    The hardest part is remembering to drink - I remember on training rides but in races I tend to forget.    The weird thing is that 100km rides don't seem long any more.    The time just seems to fly.   I think it might be more tedious if we rode flat routes, but generally they are pretty exciting.

Anyway, here's hoping you guys don't have to dig me out of the dumps after this weekend. 

ANNE -

I've heard about the weeds at Beavermead, and how they can seem/be a real nuisance. But, they are just weeds, is my attitude, so I just keep on plowing through them. It probably bugs other people more than it bothers me.....so i try to work that into some sort of competitive mental advantage!

I wasn't aware that you took last week off. It really must;'ve been a last-ditch effort for you in trying to shake the cold, and at least it is good that it actually worked out for you. I mean, if you bag a bunch of workouts you want more at the end than a few pounds and the sense of having gobe stir-crazy, right?

108km ride on Sunday --- you've gone overlong for Peterborough, by 18km! Not THAYT'S a good way to return to training, with a big old exclamation mark of a ride! (And I WILL check your logs!)

The training week you have planned sounds perfect, right down to the no-run rule for the bricks. If we add very little fitness in week-of training, period, then we add even less when it's small things such as running through simulated transitions. I've seen lots of people sprint out of the water into T1.....and then take a ton of time there fussing around. I guess every second counts, and if you know you will have a slow time once you actually get to your racking spot, you might as well save some time by at least getting there quickly.

I go on little binges where I commit to making my transitions faster, and I'm on one of those now. I have no secrets about this, however, it's just about being faster. Well, it might be "not thinking"; that is, just throw stuff on and hope I do it right! Thinking further, it's not having a check -- "Okay, let's see.....did I do this and this and this, and do I have that and that?" BUT, I haven't done anything long yet this season, so it is relatively safe to have a cavalier attitude of sorts towards how ell equipped I am for the bike and the run. Were I doding Peterborough, I would be more cautious, for sure!

I'll post this now, then return.

Denise,

Great show in the 5K!!

Tracey,

Keep up the good work in the Newton's! You sound like your adapting pretty quickly to them. You're sounding like you enjoy running now (or is this again) which is great!

ANNE again -

Your approach to P'boro is one of the glories of "B" or "C" races -- they can just be fun, or for experiments, and there is nothing much on the line. This one will be great for you because you get the best of two worlds --- the actual swim distance for Muskoka also at Peterborough, but the bike at P'boro being overlong by a LOT. The only slight variable for the swim will be the 60% upriver aspect of the Muskoka, whereas P'boro is just calm (and weedy! ). How did you find the upriever swim at Muskoka? Anything noticeable?

You asked what I would do if faced with the prospect of 45km back into the wind. Well.......

I would work some this week at riding as low and compact as possible for as long as I felt comfortable. Even though it's true that I can "stay aero" forever, that is kind of relative. I think of my aeroworld as having four positions, and I am usually in position two. It's a good position, but if I tweak it once I am position three, which finds my hands out as far as they can go , and if I tweak it again I settle down as much as possible onto that rectangular platform formed by my arms on the aerobars. That is a position that I CANNOT ride forever......but if I were doing Peterborough and the race was an "A" race, I would work at that more extreme position.

Beyond position, coming into strong, persistent winds I prefer pushing a harder gear rather than going easier and spinning more. Some people like this and make it work for them, but I like the big ring and......maybe the 19-toother? (Again, I will have to get out on the bike and actually SEE what it is that I am riding! the 19 sounds about right, though.)

That is really good that 100km rides are now a breeze for you. I got to that point a few years ago when I was doing more races that were long, but as my focus has been more towards shorter races, I rarely do 100km rides. There's maybe been one so far this season, and last season I didn't start doing them until my prep for Mightyman, which was on Oct. 4. So I went over 100km no more than 5 times last season, and maybe only 3 times. Come August, however, I will have to get into those more as I'm looking at two or three or four longer races in Aug, Sept, Oct, and maybe even Nov.

When are you heading to Peterborough -- Friday, maybe?

Mandy,

Great race report!!

Too bad about the tire. Know you've been through one in race so you're ahead of some of us (knock on wood) with that experience.

Great pace on the runs!! Keep that up.

SteveB,

Congrats on the 4th consecutive AG WIN!!! So you're going for what Master of the M60-64? Grand Champion?

Thanks for the compliments on the job well done and ensuing results. I think I'm more pleased with the results here being in the top 30% than being in the top 20% from Hawk Island. Mainly because of Welland being part of a series and attracting a smaller but higher caliber crowd. They also have a Try-A-Tri so the results really are for people going for it.

I've also realized why I thought I was really really passing a lot of people on the bike and its because the duathlon and triathlon people were biking at the same time. So a lot of who I was passing was potentially the du people.

I would not say you are getting ahead of yourself at all in talking HIM at Welland next year. I'm mentally thinking more towards that than I am Oly's in Aug/Sept (still going to do them provided I get the go ahead from the Sport's Doc). Welland has many things going for it making it an easy transition to the HIM distance. The water is an enclosed area with no potential for big waves or currents. Bike is flat and fast. Run is generally flat and fast. Perfect start to the HIM distance in my opinion.

Time trial swim start is a nice change from the mass start. I do like it and I think it is slightly more fair for everyone involved. Especially the slower swimmers. I definitely am a proponent of it.

Lower legs period are a bothersome still. Last night wearing sandals or no shoes was the best they've felt since. No rolling or ice yet, too much other stuff going on.

I don't think the 650 tire makes the bike less than optimal in fit (in finding wheels, this is another story). I think the bike frame itself (a 54cm) is small. I say that mainly because of how much seat tube is sticking out of the frame and I have the seat almost as far back as it will go so I don't feel all stuffed in there. Although its not worth the $250+, I would be interested to hear what the local FIST fitter would say about the fit I have. There are a lot of good comments about the way this guy fits people so when I am looking for my next bike I know who I am going to.

Thank you for looking at where I fit with the others in my AG. I didn't really ferret that out. My main thing is the run. I knew that. With the calf/shin/arch going on now, I don't know how I am going to become faster on the run anytime soon. Running really is my achille's heal of being competitive in tri's. If only aquabikes were more popular, I might have a chance.

Thanks for the opinion of the Zoot shoes. They just look fast!! I need any help I can get to look like I run fast!! I held off because I think (or maybe we) I need neutral shoes. I'm not ready to jump at $150 shoes because they look cool not knowing if the brand would even be remotely workable for me. That's quite a leap of faith. Same reason I'm holding off on trying Newton's.

Also, great response to Kasia. For those of us who have not hit an emotional or physical limit in training or a race, there is a lot to learn from this.

Edited by smarx 2010-06-29 7:54 AM

Mandy,

Thanks for the recommendation of ART. I contacted the local practioner and one visit will be $125...Yowzer's!!

My game plan now is to take some time off and then slowly work up the running again. If the lowere leg issues don't go away within a week or 2 of no running or coming screaming back. I will see a doc and go from there. My insurance is good price wise but I don't have the total flexibility and ability to get athletic help like I would want. The other alternative is to spend $3000 out of pocket before anything is covered, which is just as hard or harder to swallow for me.

I will keep the ART in the back of my mind though.

Hope everything goes well with your mom.

RACE REPORT - TUPPER LAKE "SPRINT" (26 June '10)

Prologue
Tupper Lake has two races -- the once-venerable Tinman, which is a half-iron (roughly -- see below!), and the tag-on "sprint" which is actually closer to an oly -- 0.6mile/18.6mile/6.2mile. But this is roughly (see below!).
I wasn't able to pre-register, but was told that if I got there before 6am, I could claim a spot. So, I awoke at 2:50, had tea and a bagel, and took another bagel for the road. I left at about 3:35 and got to Tupper at about 5:50 -- perfect! I expected to have to pay the exorbitant late rate of $145, but the RD let me in for $110. That was a very nice bonus, as I really didn't want to pay $145 for what this race offers (see below!). I like the distances of it and some of the challenges of the bike and run, but......(see below!)
I got set up easily, but on the farthest end of the farthest rack. Oh, well -- that's what I get for not registering on time! I did figure out a shortcut of sorts to the mount line and back again, so that helped. Nothing more to eat, just sipping away at my CarbBoom! drink. Had a gel about 20 minutes before the swim start, and then headed off to the swim corrals.

Swim
I may not be great at estimating distances, but i've done enough triathlons to know when a swim is mismeasured -- and this one was way off. The course is a long rectangle, and it's long because they half-iron people have to go that much further. Partway out are the orange buoys for the two turns of the shorter race, and I was sure that what they had done was MAYBE measure those at 0.3 mile each --- but then forgotten to add on the top section across the rectangle. It just wasn't a course that was 0.6 miles!
All 117 of us were starting together, adding to the chop that was there in the presence of a stiff little in-shore breeze. This wasn't much, just enough to be noticeable.
I started poorly, a bit too much to the front and so a whole swack of people had to work around me; I HATE when I do this! (Sorry, faster swimmers. ) It took me quite a while to feel in a rhythm, and by the time I was feeling okay I was beginning to do my sporadic drift-left thing. Grrr. I never really did get a good, solid line going for myself, but each stretch of the swim was better than the ones before. I got a couple of decent drafts in, even, and finished feeling petty good. I wasn't pleased with my time....but felt better feeling certain that the course was quite a bit longer than 0.6mile.
20:21 (55/117 overall; 1/4 age group)

T1
Really good. 1:44

Bike
My goal was to do it in sub-59, which is where I was at in '06 and '08. This is a tough bike course, especially on the way out. The longest hill is on the out part, but worse than that is the configurtaion of the road leading up to Mount Arab, which is not steep but very twisty and with several sharp-pitched climbs. It is very difficult to get any momentum on this part, and easy to lose what you think you have. I was pleased to hit the turnaround at about 30:40, and knew I could likely meet the sub-59 goal. I passed about 19 people going out, and counting ones ahead of me coming back from the turnaround, I was 16th at that point. I passed about five moe people on the return, and hoped I could finish the whole race in the single digits.
57:24 (10/116 overall; 1/4 a.g.)

T2
Good one. Took the few seconds to down a gel and chase it with some water. 1:32

Run
This is a 10km run, and after about 0.2 mile features the next mile plus as being a climb - not fun! I went out right after two other guys, a 23er and a 38er, and just as the climb kicked in I passed both -- but the 23er stayed right with me. In fact, he hung right on my heels until mile two (roughly - see below!), and while I didn't much like this, I didn't complain. At one point I glanced over my shoulder and he said "You're holding a great pace", and at that point I figured I would continue letting him make me push a bit harder than I might otherwise do. Shortly after mile 2 he came aside me and we chatted a bit - he was Trevor from Long Island. We worked together until maybe mile 3.5, and then I pulled ahead. He caught me again shortly after mile four, and then with a 50er ahead of me, I aimed to reel him in and forgot about Trevor. Sometime along here a 40er whizzed past us, but that was the only guy who passed me. I pretty much hammered the final 1.5 miles, taking advantage of the mostly-downhill nature of the course at that point. The final few hundred meters were through soggy fields (not real wet, though), and that was a bit bothersome. I finished feeling pretty godd, and Trevor came in about 20 seconds after me.
49:07 (15/115 o.a.; 1/4 a.g.)

2:10:11
11/115 finishers (missed out on the single-digit finish.....drats!)
1/4 M60-64 (#2 was 34 minutes back!)
Side pleasure -- no 50-54 or 45-49 finished ahead of me...but one 55-59 did.

My previous best here was 2:12, so I was happy to have beat that by a couple of minutes.

Post-Race
Here's where the negatives about Tupper begin:
(1) The bar-b-q doesn't start until the half-iron finishers appear, so the food for the sprint crowd is sparse.
(2) Awards don't begin until the HIM are mostly in....and I wasn't about to wait until ~1:30 (I finished at ~10:15).
(3) The results confirmed the swim fiasco, as my pace was listed at 3:24....and the two best swimmers had paces of 2:16!! So, that swim course was off by quite a bit, as my own estimate might've been about 2:06, and for the top guys ~1:20. Oh, well --- it all came out the same for all of us.
Further negatives:
(1) No mile markers for the run, but this is probably because they know the course is mismeasured. I ran it really hard and had Trevor to work with, and I think it might've been about 6.4 or 6.5 miles based on a sense of my own pace. (I was listed at 7:56/mile, but I'm sure I was more like 7:30-7:35.) But again, we all faced the same distance.
(2) No mile markers for the sprint bike.
(3) Just the sense that the sprint race is an add-on, a way to add some money to the event. Little attention is paid to the sprint, although the announcers were vocal and enthusiastic at the finish.
(4) I have done this race three times, and I swear this will be the last! It is pricey at the distance, and I try to rationalize that by saying that I'm just driving down in the morning and returning right awy. That DOES save accommodations, but I just don't enjoy that early wake-up and then a 2.25-hour drive to get there.

Final thoughts:
Back in the day (up until maybe '03), Tupper Lake half-iron was a prestige race. It was the go-to prep race for Ironman Lake Placid, and for a few years even offered qualifying spots for Placid. Now in its 28th year, it is dying, i am afraid. There have been several screw-ups with distances for both the half-iron and the sprint in recent years, and the organizers just don't seem to care about exactitude. The technology is there is spades with GPS, but the race isn't availing itself of it. Aid stations were pretty good, but volunteers were absent at several key turns. The volunteer crew is generally very old, and seem both tired and not thrilled to be there. I LOVE the idea of supporting some of the "old-school" races that are not all branded and snazzed-up.....but Tupper throws a real caution about that. The cost for the half-iron is still very reasonable, especially compared with the 70.3 series, but more and more people expect more from a race than Tupper seems willing to offer. I'm not sure it will make it past year 30......

HOWEVER, it was a very good day for me and my performance, so I can forgive most of the problems above!

(And thanks to Trevor from Long Island, who pushed me quite nicely on the run!)

SHAUN -

I love sifting through race results, looking form the nuances that are there, underneath it all. And there are usually many nuances, so the searching is profitable!

For you, it really is useful to look at the dspecifics of others in your age group. Placement tells only part of the story, especially when there is one apparent weak link (for you it's the run, for me it's the swim). From here, though, it's a tough call on where to go. One response is to work at the weakness, another approach is to build on the strengths. But more on that below.

I don't know the Hawk Island crowd at all, but the crew that gathered for Welland was pretty good. There were a lot of movers and shakers there, so the competition was solid.

I think they are sitting very pretty for the half-iron. It has all the makings of a PR type of course, but with the constant threat of wind playing a major role, it will never be viewed as a "cheat" PR. "Flat and fast" is legit, good pavement is legit, enclosed swim is legit.....it really sounds ideal for ANYbody wanting to do a HIM, be it thier first or their fifteenth.

Getting back to two paragraphs above.......
Most of us have some weak link, and even though that also applies to you, you should breathe easily knowing that you have two pretty strong links -- which is how I read the swim and bike results for the M30-34 at Welland. Having 19 others to compare with is great (I should be so lucky, and Densie has it even worse than I do!), and I saw lots of positives there. There were sevral guys who did that bike it just a bit over a kmh faster than you, and I'm willing to bet tnat they have been doing this longer than you have! So, you've got a good upside for both the bike and the swim -- and you did the latter sans wetsuit. DECENT!

I would advocate taking your time at improving the run. Part of that might come out of necessity, if you are struggling with injuries and aches, but for the rest of this season I would work on making the swim and bike as strong as they can be.......and let the run work its way up slowly.

As you know, though, the swim portion of these races is the smallest and the shortest, so in 99% of races it is not won on the swim. A strong swim can position someone nicely, but then after that it's holding that spot for the long miles of the bike and the grind of the run.

I still work on the swim and trying to be better, but I play the game with all of my hopes placed on the bike and run. As time marches on I place better in the swim than I used to (meaning when I was 50-54 I might've been 7/10, and at 55-59 it was 4-6/10, and now at 60-64 it can be in the top third of the a.g.), but also there is the factvthat the very best guys in my age group can still murder me on the swim --- and have the bike and run chops to actually follow through and bury me! But seeing as how I have never enjoyed a big jump in my swim performance, my key workouts for any given race are for the bike and the run -- NEVER the swim!

I dare so, though, that there is a good upside for you with the run, but again -- don't rush to attain it. I may be a pretty good runner with decent mecahnics, but even ith that I have had more than my fair share of running injuries, so the run can be a very fickle mistress indeed!!

And I firmly believe that the right shoe CAN help a runner, big time. Not all running shoes are even remotely created equally, and it can come down to lots of trial and error. I think I have mentioned Road Runner to you, and that they offer 30-day trials for regular customers and 60-day trials for people who pay an extar $25 for Run America (I think that's it) status. That's obviously a great way to find the right shoe for you.

They used to carry Zoot, don't know if they still do. Zoot does have a neutral model, but i can't remember its designation. That was the one that I found to be very responsive (especially going up hills), but just had the blister potential that I couldn't accept. So, it was back to Newtons for me, begging foegiveness for my wandering ways!

Enjoy? No. Tolerate is more like it.

Tracey

The weeds don't bother me mentally.   I have come to find them 'soothing' however, last year they kept getting tangled on my hands and arms and wrapped around my neck, but not enough to freak me out.   They did say they weren't as bad this year, and the advantage of getting in the water at the end of the crowd is they have made a little path (if I could stay on course).  

Yes, last week was a 'last-ditch' effort.   Whatever I had was more than a cold; slight fever that wouldn't go away and I was SO tired.   No weight gain; today I reached another post-40 yr low.    

It's not that I don't generally care about my transition times - I work at getting in and out quickly when I am racing, especially when I do the shorter distances and can generally count on a podium spot.   But there are no awards for the aqua/bikes with Trisport (other than the top 2 finishers overall); they don't have you run through the finish line and announce your name; and you don't get a bottle of water when you finish, so I don't even feel like I am in a race.    Hence, the fun, and gain some experience focus.  

Going to read your other post now.  

When we were in Muskoka, we just checked out the swim course; didn't swim.   The high school students apparently come out occasionally for their phys ed but it isn't a public beach area.    Lots of boats.   There really isn't much of a 'river'.   The swim is in Fairy Lake and just the final 500 meters? is swimming into the narrows and you pretty much exit right into transition which should be nice.   There is a 10' walk to the swim start on gravel road so I need to pick up a pair of dollar store flip flops that I can just ditch.

Thanks for the advice on riding aero.   I forgot to mention that on my Sunday ride, even though it is broken into segments for data, we only had a few minutes before heading out for the final 60 km and on that segment I rode aero 90% of the ride.    I was never comfortable on my old bike doing that, but this one is great.   The other good thing is that my HR doesn't increase in areo position, despite gaining 1-2km/hr avg speed.   When I was recently tested, and also when I had my initial bike fit, they said a couple of things - that it is easy to lose a bit of power in the areo position resulting in a harder work effort to maintain that power, and the 'trick' is having the right fit.      I must have it, because it is quite enjoyable now.   But I haven't played with different 'positions' that you have mentioned, so will give that a shot this week and see how it feels. 

I have played around with cadence and gears with the wind and prefer the harder gear as well, but in the really hard headwinds (30+) it gets very tough and my cadence gets pretty low (like 60) and then I switch to an easier gear.    How low would you let the cadence get before you thought about switching gears?  

Re Nutrition - If I burn 2500 calories on the ride, how much should I be ingesting over the course of it.   I don't think 3 gels was enough on Sunday and it was an easy ride both RPE and actual HR.     I did finish the ride last year OK with just the gels but then again, I had the wind at my back the last half of the ride.   

I KNOW the weather changes from minute to minute, but the forecast for Peterborough on Sunday is a 5km SOUTH wind - can you believe it!!!!!   That would be SO perfect.    A bit hot, but I can handle that. 

We aren't leaving for Peterborough until Saturday morning, but should be there before noon to pick up the race packet and do our swim and bike.   Hotel is about 5 minutes away from the park.    Last year the Saturday was FREEZING with  35+km/hr winds, so all we did was try to stay warm.  

Hi,

My husband flew off this morning in his plane to pick up his grandson and visit New York and Florida and points inbetween.  I'm alone for 2 1/2 weeks with the dog and cats.  Whoopee. (Yes - we own a plane , No - we're not rich)

Denise