GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 205)

DENISE -

Sleeping well, maybe? Due up in just a few meagre hours?

Have a great race, and perhaps most of all ----- ENJOY THE SWIM! It really does sound like a truly unique one,, and exceedingly user-friendly. Glub-glub!!!

Major mojo heading your way!!

FIRST - Congrats on the awesome race Steve B! 

AND Denise - I hope you are rocking it today!

Re: Lake Winn.  I can get there @9am?  Does that work for you?  Too early? Too late?  Let me know.

Cheers!
Mandy

Wow, STEVE B, another first, and by a really big margin.  Congratulations ... again!!!

DENISE, good luck today.  Can't wait to hear about it.

TRACEY, good job on the OWS!

ANNE, wish I could say the we had less humidity. It's like a sauna here.


LISA

  

CONGRATULATIONS STEVE!!!  That is so awesome.   That bike speed - what can I say!    Is that the fastest you have ever done in a race?   Please say yes.       What I wouldn't give to have you as my personal coach.    What are you most excited about - the swim???   You're always commenting on it not being where you might like it to be.   

Hey Steve,

When you have had time to settle back in and spent lots of time basking in your glory, was hoping you could check my log for the last couple of days - fair bit of notes there on what I did this weekend.   Would appreciate any comments you might have. 

In short I had a couple of good cycling days - yesterday did the Belwood route and tried to push it more than usual - at the 7km mark avg speed was 34km/hr, at 11km it was 32.5 and after a fair bit of cycling up a long, ugly grind into the wind I finished the ride with an average speed of 28.1.   And my avg HR finally got into the right range but still with plenty of room to go before hitting LT.

Did 60km today - first 20+km was average speed of 28 with a pretty low HR (recovery); then did an 8km TT with an average speed of 32.32 - HR 146 (2 beats above LT); finished the last 32km at a recovery pace.  

Both days was playing with winds from 13-22km/hr. 

I'm feeling pretty good with no aches or pains; kind of strong.  

Suggestions for this week????

MANDY -

Thank you......and I think 9am would work. My current plan (much like New England weather -- wait a few minutes and it will change) is to leave on Thursday, drive down, stay somewhere (Gunstock?), forget about any ancillary race, and be ready whenever works best for you. Seeing that 9am is a good time for you just supports my idea that I should keep it simple.

I will keep fine-tuning this, and I guess the next step is to call Gunstock....or just be a slob and find a motel. Around Concord should be reasonable, and maybe even White River Junction, which is only about 90 minutes from Lake Winn, yes? Anyhow, this is my problem and not yours, so for now I'll just say 9am it will be!

ANNE -

Merci beaucoup!

Yes, that might be my fastest bike time, although there are a couple of flat courses where I may have been faster -- Chicago '08 is a likely suspect.

The course for Mini-Mussel is right in my wheelhouse, with lots of rollers. Overall, it is a very decent course to make hay on, and I think it helped a bit that I had done it two years ago and pretty much knew what needed to be done. I was committed to going full-bore on it anyhow, but seeing that swim time just added to my enthusiasm.

The swim was/is the best part of it. It could MAYBE be a fluke if I just view it as best in the a.g., but then to see that only one M55-59 had a better time adds a healthy does of credibility. Searching for more cred, I see that it would've fallen as 9/37 in M50-54, and 16/34 in M45-49. So, that was the really big part for me, but I hesitate to get my hopes up that it will be a fixture of my racing landscape.

I played around with my catch on Thursday, and that may have helped. The only other thing I can think of is that my usual mid-season "bump" in swim performance happened two or three weeks earlier this season, regardless of any concrete change in catch mechanics.

The swim allows spectator to walk along the walls above the canal, and Lynn made several cogent observations about what she saw of my form and all. I hope to work on some of those asap!

The re-tooled swim course required that everything be moved eastward a ways, so the bike became 16.2 from the previous 15 miles, and the run went from 3 to 3.2 miles. Of course, any increases in cycling and running help my cause, but it was all the more gratifying that I was able to build those onto a pretty solid swim.

The race is phenomenal, Anne, and you and Ken GOTTA do it. He just keeps making it better, and the atmosphere is joyous, almost. Lynn marvelled at the whole shebang, and at soem point I will try to summarize it better than I did a few days ago.

Race report likely to surface tomorrow!

ANNE again -

I will get to your logs either tonight or tomorrow morning, okay?

What you say in your post, though, sounds very encouraging. You're continuing to chip away at the edges of your perceived limits, and finding that there is more out there than you previously thought. That's the plan!! The way your HR is dancing around, and flirting with, your LT is intriguing.

Today's ride sounds beautifully conceived and executed, with that very sweet TT fit bewtween the two recovery efforts. An aveage speed of 32.32 is terrific (and especially so after what you did yesterday), and seeing it go two beats above LT gives you some new numbers to contemplate. In hindsight, how much further do you think you could've kept going at the TT pace.

Was that "long, ugly grind" on the Saturday ride part of the Belwood course (it sounds like it from your post)? Any thoughts on how you might tackle it differently on race day? I'm sure you're thinking about that, having a good idea of your thoroughness in these matters!

May those winds abate a bit before the weekend! Your data are even finer in view of the wind factor!

TRACEY -

A few thoughts about your pond-swim experience:
(1) Living in cranberry country, your ponds have to be very acidic, which might be behind the metallic taste. In fact, I'd bet doallrs to doughnuts that that's the reason, and therefore it (metallic) shouldn't be a concern.
(2) I cannot guarantee that some bugster won't get you, but I have never had an intestinal problem in what might be over a thousand OWS since '00. I have said before that I even ignore the warning signs about e-coli counts being high, but that's also only inplaces that I know an "trust". I do not feel that I have a cast-iron stomach, even remotely so, so if I can survive suspect water, probably most anybody else can as well.
(3) Having siad that, however, i guess it is one of the risks one takes swimming in water that has only been "treated" by nature's little intangibles!
(4) I grew up referring to the gunk on the bottom of ponds as "loon s**t", but in fact all it is is mostly just plant material that has sunk and degraded in situ. Chances are (especially in acidic waters, I would think) that if you scooped up a handful of it and gave it a sniff, at worst it would smell vaguely fecund -- not even rotten. If you csan steel yourself to try that, it might help your attitide towards the ponds.
(5) The fishes seem to like you? That's good! That means they welcome you in their little world, and of course that is highly good karma to have on your side!
(6) Do you have a race planned that is non-saltwater? I may be fuzzy on this, but was there something that conflicts with Cranberry Country Triathon.....or was it only a concert for Zach on the same day as Buzzards Bay?

DENISEDENISEDENISE!!

Fabulous gender placement.....and the swim time suggests that it was a positive experience for you. Am I right on both accounts? I can hardly wait for your thoughts!

Congratulations!!

SteveB,

Congrats.  I've run out of things to say about your fabulous times.  You're having quite the season, aren't you.
Looking forward to the complete race report.

Denise

I was very happy with my race today.

1/1 age group (nice gold engraved granite plaque), 110/159 females, 285/367 overall
What's fun is when I list the results and scroll so my name is at the top of the page, there are still almost 2 full pages of people who finished after me - funny how little things like that can make you happy.

swim 2:16/100, bike 16.9 mph, run 9:39 mpm
This was my 5th tri, and today I had my fastest swim, my fastest bike, and my fastest run

Swim 2:16/100 
I'm pretty sure the course was short because I don't believe I swam that fast.   Everybody was really excited about their swim times which also makes me suspicious.  However, it is slightly possible that the distance was correct and I did swim that fast because 1) the swim was straight across the lake, and 2) I was trying desperately to get a good lead on the guys coming behind.
SteveB - the wave situation was absolutely no problem - partly due to your advice.  I started at the left side of my wave.  When the swim 1st started, I encountered some jostling so I moved another 5-10 yds over.  I had the rest of the swim free and clear - nobody near me the whole rest of the way.  I could see the guys when they started to catch up but they were all together to my right in their fast lane.  I just curved toward the exit at the end.  They had a big banner at the exit so sighting was easy the whole time.

Bike 16.9
The course was, for sure, 15.35 instead of 15.  I confirmed that with other people.  I was a little disappointed because I was sure I had a pace over 17mph.  But I guess I can't complain because it worked the other way on the swim.   LISA - you're right about it being fun to be in the middle of things on the bike.  Guys were passing me like crazy but I was passing other women.  I really like those wheels a lot of the fast racers have that make that whirlling sound - you can easily hear them coming.  I got really good at looking behind me before passing so I wouldn't get in anyone's way.

Run 9:39
I'm not unhappy with this.  It was hot and humid and there were a couple of hills

I stopped at the Munsinger/Clemens gardens (huge)before I came home.  Just gorgeous.  But I noticed a lot of repeats - not as much variety as I expected.  Then I realized - this is zone 3/4 - there's only so much you can grow.  Not like gardens further south.

Congrats again, Steve, and thanks again.  Your advice worked perfectly.
Are your endorphins fading yet?

Denise

DENISE, great race report ... sounds like a good race, and to beat your previous swim, bike and run times!! Congratulations!  I would be ecstatic if ever I was able to run under a 10' pace myself.  Great job!

LISA

DENISE -

First, I wouldn't call it a "little thing", the pleasure from scrolling down and seeing so many people below you. I would say it's a very big thing, and I hope it was not lost on a lot of your fellow racers that THE 63-year old woman beat 49 other women and 33 men. And weren'yt you to person who said, maybe back in February, that you just didn't want to be the very last finisher? Ha! Fat chance of THAT happening!

A granite plaque sounds very nice, a completely appropriate award. Where are you fixing to display that baby?

Fastest swim AND bike AND run --- you were supercharged for this one, perhaps? Well, you certainly raised the bar high for yourself, didn't you?

I am very pleased that the swim ended up working for you; that's really an understatement! And as for iyt being mis-measured, my guess would be not. I mean, it's a straight-across, and that's easy figurin' for somebody just using the scale on a topographic map. I think the problems come from laying up the buoys when turns are involved, but for a stright shot -- take it for what it gave you, which I suspect was 99% accurate.

And I have it on good authority (the word on the street is......) that the bike course was actually 15.37 --- which would make your mph stand at that nice, even 17. Ta-da!! Well, if it was really 16.9, then that gives you something nice and attainable to shoot for next race. And for good measure, when that happens you can nudge it up another 0.1 and have a fine 17.1 to your credit!

That old 3H -- hot, humid, hills -- can easily unravel people, and at a 9:39 pace you handled 3H really well. It's time to register for the very last tri of the season and see how your physiology responds to cool and dry (can't promise you "no hills"!)

As for my endorphins....still there! I still feel quite grand about the whole thing, and will ride this one for a while.

Sleep well -- you sure earned it!

YO!

Looking forward to tomorrow, meeting up with Shaun for a swim and maybe a run. And then on Tuesday we will head up to the Gatineau Hills, north of Ottawa. This is where the Ottaewa-area serious cyclists do loads of training, as it's a very hilly landscape (at least for this part of the world).

So there's Shaun tomorrow and Tuesday, and Mandy on Thursday....GrooveTimers of the world, unite!

When I got to my bike rack yesterday, I saw the label with my number and my name, and at the bottom "It's groove time!". I had forgotten that when I registered I put that down in the space that asked for my mantra, so that was a cute little surprise yesterday morning!

G'night, all!

STEVEB,

FYI, when you get to looking at my weekend training, wanted to mention that I mapped both the 2009 and 2010 bike routes with some comments so you could see the changes and make recommendations.   

Thanks,  

Anne: Thanks for the insight.

Nope, no lakes around here. Well, there are a few bodies of water in Eastern Mass that they call lakes, but mostly they're no bigger (and in some cases smaller) than the ponds. The pond I swam in the other day is one of the bigger ones so I think that's as clean as it's going to get without having to travel far. I saw a little kid there going under and having a good ol' time. Ya, kids don't seem to care about that stuff, do they??

SteveB:

Denise took the words right out of my mouth! You're such an overachiever that we're all getting used to you doing so well.

Congratulations on another great race!

Tracey

SteveB:

I know you were trying to assuage my fear of pond swimming, but I think your talk about the stink of the stuff at the bottom has intensified it!!

The only non-saltwater race I have planned is Timberman. I'm not doing the Cranberry Trifest after all, which is in freshwater (I originally was going to be part of a relay team as the swimmer but bailed out when I found out they were doing the Olympic distance. I think now that I could probably do the mile swim, but at the time I wasn't sure so I declined).

It's funny, I kept thinking that once Escape was out of the way, I needed to start swimming in ponds so that I could get accustomed to swimming in Lake Winnepausaukee for Timberman. Come to find out of course that Lake W might as well be the ocean, except without the salt.

I've re-thought the whole pond thing actually, because chances are most of the races I'm going to do will be in the ocean. And now that I've gotten comfortable with ocean OWS, I might as well stick to that. It just would have been so convenient to utilize the local ponds because there's one 2 miles from my house. I could have zipped over there in there in the car, and it also would have made for a nice run/swim/run brick.

Congratulations Denise!

Sounds like you had a great race. I remember how bummed you were after one of your other races (I can't remember the name of it now but it's the one you did with Mark). So you must be feeling pretty darn good this week!

Tracey

Congrats Denise!! WOOT!

TRACEY -

In my fourth point, I'm using fecund as a good term -- not at all like fetid. Fetid is yucky, but fecund is rich and organic and fertile. If corn could grow well in five feet of water, it would love a pond bottom that is fecund. Fecund = GOOD!!

And what a brain-cramp, asking about non-saltwater races........when I know full-well that you have Timberamn on your plate.
Doh. Doh, doh, DOH!!!

As for Timberman and Lake Winn, it is very much non-muck, non-yuck. Nice and sandy, mostly, with the odd snag and large rock on the bottom. Pristine! (But not fecund, cuz corn won't grow in sand!)

ANNE -

When I tried to get to the maps, it seemed like it was going to load, but then I got the "bit of a hiccup" message. So, I have printed off the log entires going back to the 6th, and they will shortly be my bedtime reading. See you in the morning!

And just so you know....

Made contact with Shaun today, and we yakked, swam, yakked some more, ran, then yakked further. My tan deepened further, just from standing by our cars, in the full sun, yakking.

Tomorrow we will ride in "The Gats", which'll be a good test of our ascending legs and our descending nerves. And at some point I want to (NEED to!) hijack his swimming kick and make it all my own, but I don't know how to do that either gracefully or tactfully. Hmmm........