MightyMojoMentorGroup -- (Full House!) (Page 203)

JOHANNE -

The pretzel trick is staged by a professional -- do not attempt at home!

It served me (mostly) well at IMLP, and maybe my second iron.  The set-up is to stack about a dozen mini pretzels on the long, thick strawa that comes out of my aerbar drink bottle.  In theory, it is easy to just slide one up as the mood for saltiness strikes.

In practice, though, it only works until too much water has sloshed out of the bottle...........and the pretzels first get soggy..........and then just kind if sag their way off the straw.  I made it though about six good ones, two soggy ones, and just let the others drop away from me.  But while it worked, it worked really well!

Long run yesterday-18 miles. We deliberately went pretty slow and I staged 6 grocery bags with water and Cliff bars on the road. It was about 87f with South Winds nearing 20mph which made for a brutal final leg. I began noting a familiar issue in my right ankle/foot which began to hurt less late in the run. Hopefully this recovery week will help. My friend's normally upbeat attitude took a serious hit as we crossed into unknown territory for him distance wise. 3:28 total time. I'm still pessimistic about my Marathon time, I do fine for a HM then begin a drastic drop off of speed. I understand the theory is I will be rested and recovered by race day, this with race day energy and aid stations laid out for me is supposed to make me faster.

This week's long run is only 14 miles, then it goes 16, 18, 20 with an option to hold 20 or more one more week or back down a tad and begin tapering/preparing for the DM.

Our weekend company left today so I was able to read the weekends postings.

October has been warm and sunny up until yesterday (not Texas warm but way nicer than we're used to) but today was cool and we're expecting frost overnight.  Some friends went out for a bike ride on Saturday and got caught up in some sleet near the end of their ride - looks like I'm moving the bike indoors pretty soon.  Any advice on "trainers"?  Apparently, Nashbar has a cheapy on offer but I'd like a fairly decent trainer.  Also, is there a problem with carbon-fibre bikes on trainers?

Wetsuit - care and maintenance - any advice on how to store it for the winter?

I've found a 7.4km XCountry Run coming up in Summerland (15min north) on Nov 4th.  I'm thinking of registering for it.

JoeK - nice race report.

Jeff - It's hard to conceive of an 18 mile run.  I'm thinking of a trial HM on my own sometime soon.  However, there will be walking in my version.

Swimming today was exhausting but fun and tomorrow I'm heading to a gym with a fellow I've been running with and we'll be doing our first treadmill run of the season.  I'm hoping to keep running outside all winter except maybe for the coldest days.

GEORGE -

I bought a CycleOps Fluid2 trainer last year and have been pretty happy with it. I think in general fluid will be a little quieter than mag and maybe smoother starts and stops, but you'll have to judge for yourself how much that is worth to you. Don't think you can go wrong with either. If you want to go upscale, I know people love the Kurt Kinetic Rock N' Roll or you could get one with a built-in power meter.

Had lunch with some tri club people yesterday and asked advice about a HIM in the area to do next year. They advised against Mountaineer or Savageman for a first. Cedar Point or Musselman were the top suggestions, but they also threw out another option which may be better for me and that was to do more Olympic races next year. There, we have more options with the Dam Tri in June, Pittsburgh in July, Portage Lakes (OH) in September, and I've thought about doing Nations Tri in DC if they have it again.

DAVE -

There are a few places in both thr Dirty Dozen and Savageman videos where a rider ahead either slows or falls, and of course the one behind does, too.  I'm impressed that in every video instance of this, there seem to be no screaming incriminations from the rider behind.  (Maybe much internal venting, however!)

JEFF -

I hear you, but for B2B, it's not all that bad.  Go to www.berach2battleship.com, and looking at that maps tells me that it's not too hard if one either studies those maps or drives the course beforehand.  Granted, it's not simply a bike loop and an out-and-back run, but mostly it's reasonable.

That's the course, that is.  I have difficulties with two transition zones in triathlons, which I think i have dealt with once; or not?  At any rate, i haven't had to take a bus to get to a swim start, which is what many half and full athletes do at B2B.

Two of my marathons -- Boston, and my very-first in Rhode Island, involved bus travel to get to the start from the finish, where most people leave their cars.  I didn't even much enjoy that, so in a triathlon.........

But I DO want to do B2B half, so someday (next year, next year??) I'll have to stop being such a suckyboy and just get on the damn bus and shut up!

JEFF again -

Excellent strategy on that 18-miler with the food/water caches.  I love having things waiting for me at various places on my (erstwhile) longer runs!

I agree with your "I understand the theory..........." thoughts, and to them I would add that it all indicates that you should be just a bit more conservative at the start of DM.  I suspect you're wndering if you'll slow down later in the race no matter how slowly you take it out --- and that is a psychological risk well worth weighing the pros and cons of starting slow(er).  You may well end up rolling the dice in favor of trusting your training and added experience (significant, yes?), and gamble on going out at what you feel is a reasonably competitive pace. 

I don't have a calculator at hand, but were you to keep at the pace that got you to 18 miles in 3:28, that would bring you to the end of DM in under five hours; does that sound okay to you?

Nice time for a recovery week, especially if the ankle/foot are a bit wonky.  But, it's good that the discomfort abated some as the run progressed.  sounds like it might be tendon-related, maybe?

ANNE and TRINA have gone AWOL  -- guess I ought to PM htem and find out what's up!

GEORGE -

YES!!  Get a decent trainetr!!  DAVE'S recom for CycleOps wopuld have many people nodding in agreement, and I have been very pleased with my Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer.  And fluid IS the way to go, if for no other reason than quietness.  you can probably expect to pay a couple hundred dollars on a quite-good trainer, but it will repay you in lasting many years longer than a less expensive model.

As for carbon bikes on them -- i hope not!

For wetsuits, it is best to keep them in place with moderate humidity, just with a nod towards preventing the neoprene from becoming....friable, maybe?  Folding it very neatly is also recommended, and I try to rememebr to refold mine a couple of tiems during the off-season just so that creases don't form and become..........friable, maybe?

Don't hang it, however, as that'll put too much pressure on the stitching!

DAVE -

QUICK for now:

MUSSELMAN is asuperb race, put on with great love and attention to detail by RD Jeff Henderson.  Unpredictable swim conditions (north end of Lake Seneca will do that....), really nice rolling bike course, fairly tough run course with one gnarly hill through an apple orchard at about mile 9.  But if you can do hills okay, the run is reasonable.

As for Nations, let me tell you a few things about it -- but in a day or two.  Have you heard rumors that it might not be back, though??  That would be a pity, overall!

My previous marathon time is 5:07 so obviously, under 5 is a move in the right direction! Me being me, would prefer closer to 4 but 4:45 or so is fine too. I am frustrated by my significant drop off in speed late in long runs, the 18 miler we deliberately went very slow from the start, and truthfully I ran pretty well for most of it, my friend was in uncharted territory for him and he did slow considerably before leaving me in the dust for the last mile or so! That pace may have been effected by stopping and fumbling with bags and bottles and wrappers each 3 miles. I am hoping having well manned frequent aid stations with handy little dixie cups full of fluids will help-especially as they should be more frequent.

I went back and re-read my race report from Kansas and found mention of my ankle but no mention of which ankle! So Im not certain if my current ankle/tendon problem (right foot) is a repeat or not-I should have been more specific. I also re-read my White Rock RP and recall my repeated emphasis on "respect the distance" I am working harder at training with that in mind.

This morning was a 20 mile ride with G, I think I need to change the route however, now that he knows the way he is harder to keep up with. It was much easier when he did not know where he was!

An easy 3 miles at lunch, close to a 10 minute pace-tightness in my legs and just heaviness as well as the minor tendon pain. I suspect it is Posterior Tibial Tendonitis

Jeff, Dave and Steve thanks for the poop on trainers.  I know I can get a CycleOps in Kelowna but I think they were $350-ish.  I did check out Craigslist and Kijiji to see if there were any used trainers for sale but none available just now.  There were quite a few on eBay as well but nothing that looked tempting.

I'll keep watching to see if any come available before I take the plunge and buy one.  At our pool we've been swimming with Kevin Cutjar a multisport coach and I want to take his bike trainer sessions through the winter (2 days per week on the bike and trainer starting Nov 6th).  Apparently he does a pretty good job for a decent price.

Steve - after reading your advice on wetsuits I'm thinking I might take over our spare bedroom and layout the wetsuit on the bed in there (we shouldn't have any company until next summer).  Can't wait to see what my wife has to say about that.

Had a decent run again today.  Quite enjoyable and playing with faster paces has me excited but a few hours after the run I could feel a mild achiness in my infrapatellar ligament (left knee medial side).  This is very similar to a pain that stopped me running cold not long after I first started running - and left me with an enduring fear of running on concrete.  I easily made it go away with massage so I'm not too concerned but I am treating it as a warning sign to go slow on the speed stuff.

I was snickering about it before but that would be funny.  I'm not sure my MIL could handle it though.

GEORGE -

I'd endorse the idea of the wetsuit on the bed (especialy stuffed), except I don't want to be complicit in your wife's heart attack!

I'm sure I told you to take the speed stuff really cautiously -- especially so in light of the medial knee problem, back again albeit briefly.  And if I didn't say anything before, i'll just say now that bonafide speedwork for me has a better-than-not chance of bugging either my achilles or my hamstrings.  Which is why so much of my work at speed is alone the lines of race-pace tempo runs, and at the full distance of the goal race.  For me, discretion is the better part of valor!!!

STEVE and GANG - I've been busy. First time to stop by the forum in a few weeks. I'm back to mountain biking and training for Dallas Half Marathon. I've lost 6lbs since Redman - probably all water, but we shall see. Also started strength training yesterday. 

I want to do another HIM next year, the problem is finding one that doesn't require me to train in the 100F+ heat that is the norm here in the summer. B2B sounds great, but I'm thinking I'll have to be training for that in July/August and I learned this year that it is HARD to do. Not impossible, but HARD. So that leaves me thinking that a HIM in March would be good. Start training for it around October, BUT there will be some winter days that are too cold for a long run so I just don't know. 

How is everyone? Johanne, I bet you are excited and anxious to get to the start line of IMAZ?

Steve,

The tri bike I used last year was borrowed and was nice but at the beginning of the year I bought the Trek 5.2 used and trained on that all season.  I did change the rear cassette from a 11/25 to a 12/23 which gave me a 16 and 18 tooth cog in the cassette which I think was a good trade off since this was a fairly flat course and I have a compact up front.  My average cadence was about 88, so I think overall it was a good change out.  My performance improved this year I think due to my training volume which increased almost 50% in all areas.....for my bike I had about 147 hrs for 2500 miles vice last years 99 hrs/1800 m, running this year was 93 hrs/485m vs 62@ 321m and the swim was 55 hrs/121 kyds vice 45/102 kyds.  I am still not happy with my running but I will focus on my running this coming year since I am going to plan for the IM at B2B so if you need a ride to T1 let me know.  Oh my pretzels also got soggy and fell into the bag I had open with my powder suger coated Bloks along with all the water that did not go into my areo bottle. Yum Yum....sorta a water based pretzel cereal with Bloks mixture.  Just chew and swallow..........

Jeff- the run course wasn't all that bad except at the intersection which I am confident they will change this coming year.  The first half mile was on the board walk which had a few twists in it but I tend to run a bit fast coming off the bike anyway and this helped me to slow a bit and you cannot beat the view.  I am planning an running a marathon in March so I it will be interesting to follow your progression.

Joe

This evening I read an interesting article (online) in the Ottawa Citizen on Lance Armstrong "The Apology Lance Armstrong should - but never will - give".  I never thought much about Lance except I thought it was great he was able to beat cancer but if this article is true he sounds pretty reprehensible.

Last night I stumbled on a Youtube video of the "Wicked Tinkers" playing with Craig Ferguson in a 2008 episode of Ferguson's talk show.  Now I wanna bang a drum too!! - and who knew the didgeridoo was a scottish instrument?  I've always had a weakness for some of the east coast type music like Great Big Sea and others so when I heard their "Fairwell to Nova Scotia" I thought they must be Canucks but when I searched out more info on them it turns out they're from the U.S.  Not that it matters, I just wanted to say I like them.  Listening to them as I type this.

I didn't want to write much about my swim day today as I was perfecting the swimming backwards technique.  I literally felt like I came out of the pool knowing less than I did when I went into the pool. 

Hey Trina,

Nice to hear from you Yes I'm getting excited about IMAZ. More excited about the taper coming up. I did my last long ride today, 112 miles. The first 1.5 hours it was raining, cold and windy. I almost rode home and put my bike on the trainer so I could stay warm and watch tv but I didn't.

If you want to travel for an early season HIM look at this one:

http://hitstriathlonseries.com

There's one in Texas but what would be even more fun would be if you did the one in Napa! I think we're doing the olympic. We could cart you around. The scenery should be beautiful! Think about it.

When is your HM?

Johanne

TRINA -

We've noticed!  You've been conspicuous in your absence!

As for the six pounds, i'm sure you're thrilled.  You've been waiting quite a while for the wheel to turn and all your huge work to slough off some weight.  Woot!

How about New Orleans 70.3?  They are working hard to get the swim situation settled and tenable, and recent maps show a course that doesn't seem to be dependent on Lake Poch behaving itself (it's in a protecetd marina of the lake).  They have also retooled the run course, keeping it all up on the south shore of the lake, so the race no longer involves a start at Lake Ponch and then the finish in Jackson Square -- although that made a great destination to finish at!

There may also be one out of Galveston, although I wonder if it has been terminated.  That one is also a 70.3, and I think it ended up being called Hermann Lonestar Ironman 70.3 after the medical center that became its sponsor.  That one used to be early may, with N.O. being late April.

Another option semi-clsoe for you is Buffalo Springs, I think near Lubbock.  It is in late June so can be hot on race day, but at least a big part of your training would be before things got too wicked.  Maybe?  

All three can be searched for at www.ironman.com, and I'll look there, too.

Beyond the "Evil Empire" of WTC, there are two in May that are run by www.setupevents.com.  One is in VA the other in NC --- but don't you have family there?  The VA is Kinetic Half, the NC one is White Lake.  I believe Kinetic is around mid-May, White Lake the week or two before.  Both will be very reasonably priced, and both will be well run.  Kinetic doesn't fill fast, but W.L. does -- enough so that for a few years (and maybe still now) they have the half there on TWO consecutive weekends.

And while at the set-Up webiste, check out Bone Island.  It's a new half, in only a couple of months -- second week of January, maybe?  Can you keep your Base until then??

Finally, how is Coach and how is training for DHM?  If it was just a bit closer........i'd come down to watch you and JEFF!

Finally-finally, thsoe winter days that are too cold for a run are just opportunites to be creative with your schedule.  My former coach used to tell me that crafting a schedule is much more of an art than a science, so even if you like to think of your workout sched as The Gospel, and Carved In Stone............you can feel free to switch things around some to prevent yourself from being miserable.  (And if you tell Coach that I told you that you can do this to her schedules for you, i will deny everything.  I will disavow all knowledge!  In fact, this post will self-destruct in five seconds!!)

GEORGE -

"Perfecting the swimming backwards technique"?

???

Curious minds want to know!

JEFF -

you wily old veteran, you!

It was close to a lifetime ago, or at least almost 19 years ago.  That's a bit less than a third of my life ago, and it was only seven years after we left Texas -- which seems like a lifetime ago.  One kid was ten, the other was eight.  I had better hair, at least more of it.  It was four years before I got real serious about running.  Neither the Red Sox nor the Patriots were clsoe to their runs of titles -- which now seems like a mini-lifetime ago in their own right. 

So it goes!!!