Hashers And Mashers - Part 3 - Open (Page 25)

A couple years ago a lady Pro was interviewed here and she talked about how she had a terrible race due to inadequate electrolytes so the next year she loaded up on electrolytes and then had a problem due to too many electrolytes so rely a lot on what you learn about yourself in your longer training sessions.  I think I need more than I've been getting and it hurts my run. especially in my HIMs.

Carlo - have fun this weekend.  Our season ended in mid September so it is hard to imagine you're still racing.  Our days are getting shorter fast now (sunsets almost 4hours earlier than in mid June and mornings are pitch black).  We'll likely have snow here in the next week or so although we've had a really mild autumn so far.

Hope you recover soon, bud.

Anyone have any good trainer/spin workouts they like? 1-1.5 hours?  I'm looking to get some of the sufferfest videos but even when I do won't always have the option to use those so I'm looking to make a backlog of ideas.  It's going to be a while before it is feasible for me to bike outdoors much.

Tonight was my 3rd spinning class for this season and traditionally is the class in which we do our 20minute TT.  I'm totally wiped and found myself sitting in my chair with my laptop on my lap and my fingers poised over the keyboard but I was asleep.  I pushed myself really hard in the TT and was fairly pleased, I even finished pretty strong.  Then I found out for some reason my bike computer had a problem with this workout so I can't say what my average pace was.  Our coach will likely repeat the TT on Saturday for anyone that missed theirs so maybe I'll do it again.

Joe - glad to hear your nail injury is healing nicely.

Carlo - I think the cure for insomnia is a 20 or 30 minute TT.  Hopefully you're well on your way to feeling better.  Too bad you missed out on your race but it is better to take care of yourself than to push too hard.

Tom - welcome to the group.  Ask lots of questions and next season try volunteering at a race or two.  I love volunteering almost as much as I do racing and training.

Swimming tomorrow.  I'm hoping to pass my last years swim total this week.  Then on the running side I need to get out and start going again.

Somewhat relevant but rambling anecdote/brag about my awesome kids:

My daughter is 4 and my son is 2.  My son doesn't speak well (as Ransick will attest to after meeting my family), but my daughter talks constantly (as Ransick will also attest to ).  They're both fish in the water, just absolute naturals.  They go to swim lessons once a week, and I love watching them.  They both love it too, just love being in the water.  Before her classes (swim, dance, normal preschool, etc.) I'll usually tell my daughter, Morgan, to do everything the teacher tells her to do and try her hardest. I don't care if she's the best swimmer or dancer or whatever in the world, I just want her to enjoy it and give it her best.  And boy does she on both counts.

Her swim teacher pushes her pretty hard, but not like in an aggressive way.  In an I-know-you-can-do-this-so-let's-do-it kind of way.  A few weeks ago her teacher had her swim all the way across the pool by herself.  Morgan picks her head up to take a quick breath about 2/3 across, and then gets herself the rest of the way.  It's probably 15-20 yards, it's crazy.  She does it the first time and she says "I don't think I want to do that again, I'm pretty tired".  So the teacher says "ok, well take a rest." So a minute later the teacher says "alright let's do it again" and Morgan does no problem.  Now it's a regular thing.  And if you look at her when she comes up for a breathe she's got a ridiculous smile on her face.

At the same lesson, they were introducing the back stroke for the first time (she's in a class on her own, not on purpose it just worked out that way).  And for a 4 year old the back stroke is ridiculously complicated.  It's not natural at all.  Moving both arms, but not the same direction at the same time, and constantly kicking, but not the big kicks she's used to but more of a flutter kick.  So her teacher is telling her all this and then says "Ok, you're going to do this across the pool now." And Morgan says apprehensively, "Well...ok, I'll try..." and her teacher says "Morgan, I'm going to help, I wasn't saying you had to do it on your own!" And Morgan replies "Oh, ok, good, because that sounded really hard."

Where I was really going with this though is that she's taken to very enthusiastically telling me when she comes out of the pool or home from dance class that she did everything the teacher told her to do and she tried her absolute hardest.  I'm a proud papa.

Edit: Ok, so it wasn't really related at all, I just felt like sharing.

Joe - Loved your story of your kids.  It's an awesome gift to them to teach them to love water.  Are their grandparents close by?  If they were my grandkids I'd love to watch them in their swim classes.

In the matter of my bike computer.  I'm planning to take it back to the LBS tomorrow to see what's wrong with it.  I'm thinking it should be working properly and not causing me any grief.

Mike - I do like that good feeling I get after a hard workout.  I often get it after a good run or bike ride.  This morning at the pool I had a good swim and came out of the pool breathing hard but feeling really good (coincidentally, we had some speed sets which seem to increase my enjoyment - even though I'm not fast).

By ways beyond my control my 2015 schedule has pretty much been decided for me.  So far my 2015 looks like:

May 3rd - Cherry Blossom Sprint, Kelowna.  My oldest daughter wants to do this as her first triathlon.  So, apparently, I have to do it with her.

June 14th - a new Cultus Lake course.  Now it will be a 1K swim/ 60k bike/ 10k run.  I'm disappointed they're moving it from Sept because it was a popular race to finish the season.  Now it will start the season. 

July 12th - MedioFondo - 92km bike ride with 700m climbing in 4 hills.  Just a fun fast ride.  A lot easier than our GranFondo this year - and finished before the heat of the day (its the same race but a shorter distance).

July 18th - ChelanMan (HIM distance), Washington state. - I'm not too crazy for this one but my friend wants to do it.  He hates racing in hot weather and I'm sure this one is hot!

August 8th - Rattlesnake Island Swim 3.1km - Being lazy I'm not too crazy about this swim but it could be fun and my wife would volunteer in a kayak as well.

August 23rd - Challenge Penticton (HIM distance) - Gotta race Sister Madonna again.

September 7th - Kootenay Rockies GranFondo (152km) or MedioFondo (102km).  Haven't decided on which but either one should be a lot of fun riding through some spectacular scenery.

I might also add a 10K run in April and a 20K run in November (I missed them both this year).  I find I like the Olympic distance races best but I do like the HIM as well.  I don't like that I've got this list already and we aren't even finished 2014 but it pretty much just unfolded this way.

www.rattlesnakeislandswim.com is worth a quick look just to see the photo of a swimmer coming around the island and heading out across the lake towards Peachland, BC.  Just another visual of where we train and swim.

What does everyone else have planned (or are considering) so far?

Tom - How comfortable in the water are you?  It is important that you be reasonably comfortable so it is good you're starting to swim now.  Don't worry about how bad your swim was it will come with persistence.  If you are not too experienced a swimmer it would be a good idea to get some private lessons or find a group to swim with.  You really need some guidance for your swimming to avoid developing many bad habits.  Ask at your local pool and see who is available to teach you or what swim groups might there be to swim with.

I would also recommend that if your swim will be in open water you need to get into a lake to swim as early as you comfortably can.  In my location that is mid May and you're about as far north as I am so it should be close to that.

I started swimming just shy of 3 yrs ago and I've logged 100hours of swimming this year as of this week and I still have a ton of things wrong with my swimming.  You'll find you'll have good swim days and bad swim days but keep going.

Let us know how you make out.