GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 229)

stevebradley - 2010-08-25 11:18 PM MANDY again - "Little known fact" indeed!! The good news is that I don't think all of those hours some of us spent on bikes as kids count for much as we try to become competent competitive cyclists. When Erik told me that five year timeline, I'm sure he was counting from the first pedal strokes we took as serious adults. So, you're well on your way! As for how the drafting thing works with big crowds.........it would be frustratingly. At IMLP you will almsot certainly be in a huge bike crowd on the first loop until the descents into Keene, and then again on the climb back into Placid from Wilmington. I am sure that at this time the refs look the other way, partially, and also try to differentiate between people who are just brain-dead and not trying to gain an advantage. If they are after anyone, it will be the faster folks at the front of the pack. I got very frustrated at Eagleman '04, when I was in the first wave. This meant that at about maybe mile 10, a couple of tight packs of the young male hotshots went whizzing past me -- clearly drafting off each other for all they were worth. Then a few miles later a guy passed me....and I just wasn't thinking and didn't drop back.....and then I heard the motorcycle behind me.....and then it slowed RIGHT behind me.....and then it took off. Guess who got the 4-minute penalty?? * I would like to think that some of those hotshots got a penalty becasue I saw them as going for an egregious advantage, whereas I just got brain-dead and slack and didn't respond when the guy passed me. Mostly, though, i think refs try to be very fair and give the advantage of the doubt to most obvious age-groupers. (Maybe, though, at Eagleman '04 he thought I looked like a hard-core bike stud. Or not????) * The bad news is it dropped me from a 5:09 to a 5:13, but the good news is that I didn't lose any age-group places in the process. the REALLY bad news is that was a year in which I missed a USAT All-American Honorable Mention by - literally - something like 0.0362 points, somewthing that would've easily be "covered" had I not got the blankety-blank penalty and finished in 5:09. Humbug!! More tomorrow!

stevebradley - 2010-08-26 7:48 AM MANDY once more - Be very happy with those transition times - especially T1, which, if the swim exit configuration is the same as past years, involves a fair run to your bike. For the longer distances, remember that a little extra time in transitions can save big disasters later. Again -- spend 30 seconds doing something now if it will prevent losing 30 minutes later! Being "gun-shy" about the calf and thinking you have to get over it........tough call. There's also discretion being the better part of valor. I'm not necessarily saying that you should baby the thing indefinitely, but we both know how awful it would be to exacerbate it by jumping back in too soon. (Think of our poor friend Dustin Pedroia..... ) Are you mostly through with the season? I can't believe that's the case, but i also can't think of what you might have next -- other than your solo in a few weeks. If so, though, you have a nice, generous off-season to fine-balance the calf back into good health! I think one moe installment to go!

stevebradley - 2010-08-26 8:14 AM MANDY, yet still - "Yet still". Does that even make sense? Yup, marathons are way harder than half-irons! There was a thread several years ago to this effect at Slowtwitch, and it was just about universal. But as to the marathon at the end of an iron compared to a stand-alone marathon........well.......... Of course, the difference there can all be in intensity. And, the nature of the suffereing is very different. A person can push real hard for a Boston-qualifying time and get in 3:29 and feel worse than if they do IMLP and have to walk some of it and finish the run in about 4:37. That person can end up with DOMS after doing "just" the stand-alone marathon, and yet not have DOMS after a 4:37 run as part of a 12:57 total IMLP time. Did you guess? That was me to whom I was just referring, and it's a true story. Had I to do the two events over again, I would chosse the stand-alone in a heartbeat, the DOMS notwithstanding. I suffered there in terms of a concerted effort for 26.2 with no walk breaks and no real dialing-down of effort, but it wasn't the same as HAVING TO walk many times at IMLP. But because I succumbed to that and dutifully did the walks, I avoided more onerous forms of suffering later on -- be it at mile 17 or mile 24 or crossing the finish line or three days after. Moving on, in both olys and half-irons I can almost always feel that I didn't push hard enough because after the race I don't feel bad enough. And for as many of these things that I have done, I don't really know where that fine line is drawn. i have never pushed so hard that I have blown-up during a race -- and never want to either. I have often pushed hard enough that I wonder how the final mile or two are going to unfold, and I have finished feeling very taxed, but it's been a long time since I had serious DOMS. There may be several reasons for that, but if one can avoid it, then that's good. I figure it's a pretty fine line between having DOMS and having more serious muscle strains and pulls and tears. So, you are NOT a sicko for thinking that you could've done more and should've hurt more!! Finally, your final sentence says it all -- "I came across wanting more." Well, be patient -- there's only about 332 more shopping days until IMLP '11!

stevebradley - 2010-08-26 8:24 AM MANDY - In the photos from the RR, in the one with you rolling I saw the camera guy crouched down and wondered if he managed to catch any "official" ones. And he came through! Cool beans!! I'll echo what Denise said, that you look like you're having fun -- pure and simple. Too much fun, even! And your smile, as always, is worth it's weight in gold. Which ones are you ordering??

stevebradley - 2010-08-26 8:34 AM I'm off soon for another round of car repairs, and then to the dentist to do something to my tooth that lost a piece of itself a few days ago. The only good part of the day will be a swim -- I hope! The knee from two nights ago is feeling better, but a hamstring issue has taken its place. I think I woke up during the night with the hamstring twanging, but maybe it was a dream. Although, I'm feeling something there now, so, alas and woe, I think it's not just a dream. Anyhow, I am now in one of my classic tapers where only a discerning eye can differentiate "taper" from "comatose". No more running or cycling until Sunday's race, and I will swim today and maybe tomorrow and that's it. I had planned to ride the run course on saturday, but just to be safe I might limit that recon effort to driving the run course instead. I am in "bubble-wrap mode" --- to steal a line from the coach of Lisa (hooslisa) from the other group, who is in Louisville all set for her first iron on Sunday.

stevebradley - 2010-08-27 9:21 AM MANDY - Lobstah! How could I forget??

stevebradley - 2010-08-27 7:24 AM MANDY - Gotta LOVE the ocean! It's vibrant, but moreover it's buoyant. Win-win! And speaking of "win", and thinking oif Freeport, was Winnett happy with Timberman? It looked like a very fine performance. PLEASE give her my congratulations!! (And will she be doing Lobster with you?) OceanLove -- Embrace it!!

LadyNorth - 2010-08-27 5:05 AM
My last race of the season:

Lakes Country Triathlon
Whipple Beach - Baxter, MN
8:30 Sunday, August 29
1/2 swim, 17 bike, 3.9 run

This race doesn't have many "slow" racers so I have be prepared for being pretty close to the bottom.
But I will have fun.

stevebradley - 2010-08-27 1:52 PM STEVE - That is a huge drop! Does that mean it's been an El Nino year....or the opposite (La Nina?). My suummer on the west coast, around Coos Bay, OR, found me in the ocean just once, and that was for about a minute. Frigid, and then some! Soon I will start seeing fish in the deep weeds along my route in the St.Lawrence River, but that's about as good as it gets. A couple of years ago I got clonked upside the head by a cormorant that was either in attack mode or simply misjudged its landing, but beyond that there is nothing. Oh -- a mink, I think, scooting along the rocks of one of the headlands there last summer. But aside form the cormorant, nothing has approached me in peace, or tried to converse with me. Sniff.

stevebradley - 2010-08-27 8:19 PM ------------------------RACING THIS SUNDAY, 29 AUGUST 2010 ------------------------------ DENISE -- Lakes Country Triathlon (0.5mile swim, 17mile bike, 3.9mile run) Whipple Beach Baxter, MN 8:30 start ANNE -- Half Vermont Journey - Aquabike (1.2mile swim, 56mile bike) Branbury State Park Salisbury, VT 8:00 start ME -- Half Vermont Journey - Half Iron (1.2, 56, 13.1) see above!