GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 214)

Steve,

Thanks for nutrition info.  My tris fall in the 1-2 hr range.  I think for the next one I'll try a gel before the swim - haven't done that.  And then maybe sports drink in T2 instead of gel?

Denise

DENISE -

Yes, I see no reason (well, no compelling reason....) to choose a drink over a gel in T2. At the very least, it is slightly quicker to just snag a gulp than to rip open a gel and then chase it with some water.

FWIW, whenever I feel like a gel out of T2 would be in my best interests, I try to see if the race is offering water right as the run begins; many races do. If this is the fortunate case, then I will grab the gel as I leave my spot, rip it open and gulp while running to the run start, and then using the water there to chase it. This saves some time over doing it all at my rack spot, maybe 6-14 seconds or so.

I lose track of who here is a gelhead and who isn't. I know Kasia didn't like the concept, and that Tracey is about to begin her gelvestigations....but what about you? Are you an old hand at them, been glomming them down since they first appeared on the landscape about 15 years ago? I think you're handy with them, but......

If not, make sure you try a few before chosen workouts, just to know that they won't cause your stomach to stage a palace revolt. As with anything else, it shouldn't be tried for the first time at a race!

Annnnnnnd.......what is it you have planned for this weekend??

Steve,

I'm pretty familiar with gels although I don't use them as much as I used to.  I started using them when I started running longer distances - about 4 years ago.  When I was training for my one and only marathon, I used them for training runs over 12 miles.  Mostly GU, I liked all the flavors except the "Chocolate Outrage" - even tho I love chocolate, that one was just too heavy.  I would use the non-caffiene for the 1st part of the run and then the x2 caffiene later.  Now that I'm just doing sprint tris, I don't use gels for training at all, just when I'm racing.

Only a 5k this weekend - Crosslake Dam Run on Saturday.  Two years ago, I got my 5k PR here (I think it was an 8:57 pace) and it's stood since then.  Originally I was thinking I would try to break that, but it's probably not going to happen.  When I ran this 2 years ago, I was training for my 2nd marathon so I was running quite a few more miles than I am now.  About 3 weeks after this race, I tore my meniscus, had surgery and never got to run the 2nd marathon (Whistlestop in Wisconsin).

So Steve - what are YOU doing this weekend?

Denise

DENISE -

You have complete command of the geliverse -- proceed as you see fit!!

Me? This weekend? Um....not much?

Actually, it's a three-fer. Saturday will be the Double Tri at Fronhofer Tool Triathlon. This will be an oly at 8am and then a sprint at 2pm. Then I will sidle on over to Vermont and on Sunday morning do Lake Dunmore Triathlon, which is an international (something like a 28-mile bike, instead of 24).

At least, that's the plan. I will almost certainly sign up before Friday for Lake Dun.....which means I will almost cetrtaibnly do it. But if I'm feeling at all compromised after the FTT double, I'll bail on Lake Dun.

So, we shall see what we shall see!






Edited by stevebradley 2010-08-03 8:02 PM

DENISE again -

And speaking of seeing what shall be seen....

I know how you're feeling about the possibility of breaking your PR, but I'm not discounting it happening for you. You had a good run pace last weekend, and that was after the not-insignificant factors of a swim, and a bike of 17 miles. The diff between 10:06 and 8:57 is not insurmountable, so until the race try to walk that fine line between setting yourself up for failure and burying yourself before you even begin. Having said, that, though, I think you ARE in fact walking that fine line!

My mensiscused year was '06, and it took until last season to feel fully confident that I had my run back to where it should be -- so I empathize with you completely! There is a lot of press out there that says that people of our vintage sometimes never get over serious injuries, or even return to any decent form following them. But I sure don't feel that is an iron-clad "law", and for you I hopehopehope that your running gets back to where it was before your meniscus problems!

Another thing...Read some of the race reports of those who did Steelhead and one from the guy who showed me around at Hawk Island at Racine and that's it. I'm really keen on at least Steelhead next year. Welland would be a great 'practice' race at the HIM distance.

You are NUTS! NUTS! NUTS! OBSESSED! OBSESSED! OBSESSED!

How do you ever survive the winter without a race?

Denise

Denise

Yo!

Wild day here yesterday, lots of electrical storms, got power knocked out at least three times (and maybe more while I was gone for several hours), so I just decided to stay off the computer and not risk having it get zapped and fried. If this stuff went through Algonquin Park, also, Anne and ken must've been hanging on for dear life. Well, maybe not that bad, and so long as they weren't in a remote, canoe-in campsite, it might've been a very memorable day for them!

Speaking of zapped, I kind of zapped my Achilles yeaterday, so that may scrap my plans for racing Sunday. Saturday is still a go, though -- at least that's the plan!

SHAUN -

Very good news on the hernias and that there are no major restirctions on your activities. And the loosey-goosey timeline on getting it repaired also suggests that it is not at all debilitating on the short-term. Whew!

Still psyched about Steelhead, eh! Good! I haven't gone through the results carefully, but only noticed that some punk I'd never heard of won the M60-64. Must be a "new kid" in the neighborhood, just up from M55-59. Punk.

I also haven't read how this year's went unfolded, that is, what the water was like, which direction the swim went in, how many people hated the run through the Whirlpool Campus -- that sort of thing. I think an adjustment was made to the bike course, either to avoid some lousy roads or to keep it away from some heavier-traffic zones. Anyhow, it's still in my thoughts for next year, with the on-going big problem being that it falss right in the middle of Chamberfest here. Lynn and I always like doing this two-week musical orgy together.....although on Monday she left for NFLD for 16 days, so she effectively bailed on the second week of Chamberfest. Last year there was a canoe trip that took her away for a few days, and that also happened maybe three years ago. So if I should take three days away from Chamberfest to do Steelhead, surely I can't get in THAT much trouble with her....can I?

Good plan on doing that HIM-calibre swim/bike brick....and also separately working up to the 13.1 mile run. The s/b brick could happen late this season, and you have a long time to get to the 13.1, so those are good goals to just have hanging out there. Confidence-builders are always good things, and going a bit over-long definitely helps in that regard. And as long as you don't have any serious time goals for the s/b brick, you should be able to knock it off just fine. Just view at as extended goggle- and saddle-time!

Let me know what you think of Zone! There has been so much heated discussion about those diets and their effect on endurance training that I tuned out a few years ago. In fact, I get them confused at times, trying to keep straignt Zone and Atkins and South Beach and Paleo and the myriad other ones. Zone is 40-30-30 (c-p-f), right? If so, the caveat there is that when training is intense and/or races are approaching, let the carbs flow more freely. I probably should be able to tell you how that 40-30-30 would then be adjusted....but at the moment I can't.



With the bike shoes, be careful of those hot spots! You sure don't want anything that will affect your performance on the bike and THEN turn around and contribute to a run-from-hell. I'm in the same bike shoes I used in '01, and while they are in ratty shape I am scared to get new ones -- even though I secretely suspect that whatever I get has an excellent chance of being much more comfortable than the current ones.

Only on the very chilliest early spring and late fall rides will I wear socks, and that's not so much to avoid hot spots as it is to avoid hot feet. Over the years I went from putting on socks in T1 that would last me on the bike and run, to putting them on in T2 just for the run, to now not putting them on at all. That has been a blessedly nice progression --- although a couple of small blisters with new running shoes last week certainly got my attention!

For Milwaukee -- no eating or drinking allowed. Just walk the streets and go to the museums.

DENISE -

You may be pleased to know that I am now reconsidreing the idea of doing the thrid race this coming weekend. My run yesterday activated my achilles, so I am monitoring them very carefully. As I have West Point on the 15th and half Vermont on the 29th, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize either of those. So if discretion is truly the better part of valor, I will pass on Lake Dunmore and just content myself with Double FTT on Saturday.

Obsessed? You think? Maybe I used to be obsessed.....but now it's just the pursuit of fun. Honest!

Yeah, winters without races is difficult -- but not as difficult as it used to be. It helps to at least THINK about early-season races, although usually by the time March rolls around I realize that my winter training hasn't been all I wanted it to be. And last year I was training for the Kiawah Marathon on Dec 12, and that was terrific for keeping me sane through the depths of autumn. The fact that I had to bail on the race (ITB problem on my last long run, 10 days before the race) hardly mattered, it just worked for me that I was able to train TOWARDS something for a couple more months.

It helps to have an Active Fantasy Life --- sweet visions of furture races! To this end, I am very busy these days scheming and dreaming about next season, and that's always good for an hour a day of time well wasted! And maybe (just maybe) that would suggest that I am harboring something of an obsession, but I prefer to think of it as.....as.....as......???

I fI don't do the Sunday race, I save $90 on it, plus about $80 on a motel, plus $20-30 on food, plus to-be-decided expenses as I pass back through Burlington, VT. So, that's $200 that I can then point out to Lynn that I saved, all as the result of being prudent and wise. She will be SOOOO proud of me!!

I totally agree with that!!  I get tired just reading about STEVE Bs plans.  Hope that ANNE and her husband were safe from the storms. 

LISA

Steve,

Have a great weekend however many races you do.  Two is more than enough.

Denise

LISA -

Well, if they survived yesterday they were rewarded with Abundant Gloriousness today. At least that's what it was here, and usually what is here is what is also in Algonquin Park -- even though it is about 3 hours west of here. I think Anne will be abck on Saturday, so she can give us all the details!

DENISE -

Although the achilles has felt great today, yesterday was enough of a wake-up call to PROBABLY restrict me to just the two on Saturday. And if that's the case, I will try really hard to remember what you say -- that two is more than enough. (You've been talking to Lynn, haven't you?)

----------------------------------- RACES THIS WEEKEND!!! ---------------------------



SATURDAY the 7th

DENISE --

Crosslake Dam 5km
Crosslake, MN
8am


ME --

Fronhofer Tool Triathlon

The "Double Tri" option:

Olympic
0.9-mile swim, 24.81-mile bike, 6.2-mile run
8am start

Sprint
0.5-mile swim, 14.5-mile bike, 3.1-mile run
2pm start

Lake Lauderdale
Cambridge, NY

SteveB,

What's going on? Have you not been looking at your calendar?

Yesterday was my 30th birthday and I must say I was surprised to not have Steve make an announcement. This was just one more way my training has taken a backseat.

Oh, noooooooooooooo!!!!!

Shaun, I am very sorry to have missed that! I guess I have been so busy trying to keep my own act organized here that I neglected a birthday -- and a milestone one at that. I hope you had a great day, and I guess you did; isn't that what the "training....backseat" comment refers to?

When I was about 17 or 18 or 19, the adage "Never trust anyone over 30" came into vogue......and along about being 28.5 I started to fuss about it some. So when I hit 30, there was some actual gravitas attached to the event, all because of the "Never trust..." adage. Suilly, eh?

Turning 40 and 50 presented no emotional trauma....but turning 60 was slightly different. Uh, I can hardly wait for 70?

Happy birthday, baby!!!

YO!

See you all tomorrow evening -- probably. I am off now for Cambridge, NY, and the Double Tri of the Fronhofer Tool Triathlon tomorrow. I have cancelled my reservation at the motel in VT for tomorrow night.........(although i can get a room somewhere if I decide to do Lake Dunmore Tri on Sunday! ).

I have heavy shoulders these days, with the twin Voices of Reason perched on each -- Lynn on the right, Denise on the left.

And Denise -- have a good assault on that 5km tomorrow!

Good luck racing this weekend Steve B & Denise!

Shaun - happy birthday you young pup!! I remember 30!  That one didn't bother me, 35 did.  Now I don't care.

Steve B - maybe when you are 70 I will be able to keep up with you on the bike and run!  ha ha

Not much to report here.  Did an 81 mile ride last Sunday, now I am beginning the taper a bit and feel pretty good.  My swim confidence is down a bit, but I figure, it is such a small part of the race really, just get through it as relaxed and with using as little energy as possible. 

Have a great weekend all!

Mandy

Mandy,

That's a 1/2 you've got in about 2 weeks, isn't it?  Wow!  I'm very impressed.  I have no doubt you can do it.

Denise
ps - I can't even get up the courage to do an Olympic.

4 seconds

I missed my 5k PR by 4 seconds.  I'm very happy with my time but can't believe I was so close.  My Garmin said I beat it and since I was suffering at the end I trusted the Garmin (I know better)

2008 - 27:44 (8:56 pace)
2010 - 27:48 (8:57 pace)

Hope SteveB is having a good day.

Denise

Anne,

You're back today sometime, right? So we'll get an update in the next couple of days.

Denise

Sorry, I didn't get the well wishes in before the races!

DENISE, great job ... oh, to only miss your PR by 4".  That's a great time though ... congrats!  Maybe you and I should get up the courage to work on an olympic race together.

STEVE B, hope your races (whether they be 2 or 3) are going well!  Can't wait for the reports.

SHAUN, happy belated birthday to you!  Now that the birthdays over, time to get back to the training.

MANDY, enjoy your taper!

ANNE, hope you are having a great time ... we are all waiting anxiously for a report!

Got up this morning for a run at 6 am ... 84 degrees and HUMID, I think they said the heat index was around 96 at the time!! ... but got 5.3 miles done.  Feels even more rewarding when its that much tougher.  Can't wait for cooler weather. 

LISA

Haven't finished reading all the posts yet - almost there - but wanted to reply to this. 

We have two trainers - first one was Cycle-Ops Fluid, then we each wanted one and got the Kurt Kinetic - love them both.