Mad Manatee Mentors 2013: CLOSED (exc/ Pop Tart bribes) (Page 258)

Originally posted by Asalzwed Woah, that top post tripped me out. I felt like Jareth on a quest to find baby Toby. 

Originally posted by Asalzwed

Only if they can schlep my bike through the airport and then put it together for me at midnight in Chicago. 

Originally posted by switch Thank you for this post, Yanti.  Hugs.

Originally posted by 4agoodlife

Shed a few tears on that one. My worst fear is losing one of my kids. To have all that sweetness and light gone from the world is unimaginable. One of my favorite quotes about children- "No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you are the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside."

Comforting thoughts for your friend's family

Originally posted by brigby1

I have a couple questions for someone else, really just to run a couple things by the group here. My sister is going to run her first event this weekend (a sprint) and is nothing like me, going to just complete and will likely be more in the back of the pack. I'm actually the same size as say Jesse Thomas. She's similar to but still smaller than someone like Lauren Goss, or maybe Jesse's wife Lauren Fleshman. The two questions come in for the warm-up. Normally I would be all for getting into the water some to get going. The water itself should be fine, but air temps at the time are likely to be in the mid-50's. Her wave is also 35 minutes after the first, so would be 40 minutes or more of being wet in those temps.

I'm actually thinking of having her skip warming up in the water and doing things on land. She did gymnastics as a kid and maintains some activities, so between that and what I know, should have her ready to go there. Then get as wet as possible while walking in to start to get past the shock of being wet at that point (water is expected to be nice). Waiting a bit for that to wear off if necessary before diving in to start swimming. My concern with getting into the water is even with having warmer stuff to put on after getting into the water, she'll still be wet in colder air temps. I notice this in these kind of temps and she's substantially smaller than I am, so it can take more out of her. Potentially a lot more. She can be tough when needed and has dealt with colder water then she'll see and colder air temps growing up, I'd still rather put her in the best position to get through this. I know better than to guess at a girl's weight, but she really is close to as trim as the two Lauren's mentioned. I know what to wear on the bike, but wanted second opinions on the swim approach as it's a different world for her having so much less mass than I do. She'll have warm stuff to wear, but it's just different being wet for so long even with that available, so I'd rather avoid that for as long as possible.

Also thinking of the safest thing to have for nutrition. And that is confirming what tends to safest for people to try in general, not ideas to try as I know of a bazillion things to use. She didn't think of that at all in training as sessions were short, but I'm guessing this will take in the neighborhood of 1:45 with more potential to go over than under. Generally she can eat anything I can plus more. Powerbar comes to mind as it's easy to find and does work ok for me. A gel or bar she likes the flavor of could tape to the bike and just peel off as necessary. She doesn't have pockets and I don't want to confuse her any more with various bike pouches (yeah, she's really not like me).

I know none of this is really ideal, but she tends to wing it a lot more than I do, somehow seems to get just enough direction to avoid disasters.

Originally posted by TriAya

Heresy!!!

Originally posted by StaceyK so from this you normally do 1 swim session (you have 2 listed but you say often skip one of them), 4 bike sessions and 4 run sessions a week? You have a fairly solid swim background don't you, do you find that 1 swim session is enough? Sorry I don't have any answers or advice for you just questions.

Originally posted by TriAya

Whoops.

A serious accident involving all of my fingers means I will also be in Perf Sep 12-18.

So how far away are you?

Originally posted by TriAya

Just want to share something that's been heavy on my heart for a while but is especially keen right now.

It's been a season of passing for me, and some seasons are like that. A good friend from high school, Chris, just lost his two-year-old baby girl Paige to acute myeloid leukemia, which she was diagnosed with at 6mos.

It's pretty much a universal truth that watching a beloved child suffer and pass away is the worst thing that can happen to you. I cannot even begin to imagine his grief.

We've been in better touch the last year than the 20 before it, mainly because of Paige. She was an incredibly cheerful, strong, and giggly girl and was astonishingly resilient throughout their entire struggle. He and his family spent much of that time encouraging and inspiring others--mostly those in similar difficulty, but actually, pretty much everyone. Through it all he remembered my races and always wrote to cheer me on. He wrote me on the day of her death, before she passed away, to tell me how well I was doing and wish me luck for Japan.

"Humbling" does not begin to describe what that's like.

Sports and other external and internal accomplishments are awesome, but in the end, to be like Chris is what I aspire to.

Please pray for Chris, his wife, and their four-year-old daughter as they walk this most difficult of journeys.

It is also THE major holiday in Indonesia right now, Eid al Fitr, the celebrations marking the end of Ramadhan, the holy month of fasting. It's like Thanksgiving Christmas New Year's all rolled into a three-day extravaganza. It's just huge.

It is also our first Eid without Pa. He loved this holiday and we always had a big bash at the house. Of course you have to eat with every fresh wave of guests that arrive. It's like an overfood survival endurance holiday! On other days, you make the rounds visiting other people's houses. Of course you must eat at each place you go to, as well.

I'm watching the lovely fireworks going off all over the city from my window, and enjoying many happy memories, and knowing that loved ones all over the country and world in fact are celebrating. Still, it's a bit sad and quiet ... no fest this year, no siblings and spouses and children and the hundreds of relatives and friends ... only me, Mutti, Kristin, and one guard at our Crazy Castle.

Originally posted by Muskrat37 

Couple of things stand out to me on this.  

1. It's a Sprint

2. Your Sister is "going to just complete and will likely be more in the back of the pack"

IMHO you are WAY, WAY, WAY over thinking it for someone who just wants to complete it.  Have her tuck a Powerbar inside the thigh of her bike shorts (or tape it to her bike)  and tell her to eat it if she feels like it.

Fill 1 water bottle with water and 1 with her favorite flavor of Gatorade.  Tell her to drink if she feels thirsty, and to drink whichever she feels like drinking.  

AS for the swim "warm up" - have her swim the first 200 yards "slow and easy" to "warm up" (the same she would do if she was in waive 1) - then swim the swim however she feels like swimming it.  

My main advice is relax -  Just have fun.  Take it easy on the bike - If you are sore on the run - then walk, chat up the volunteers, make new friends, enjoy the day.  Don't worry about pace, time, cadence, nutrition, warm ups, cool downs, aerodynamics or anything else.  

Good luck to your sister.  

Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

^^ THIS!! 

I'm not small by any stretch of the imagination, but I get cold REALLY easily and was in that exact situation earlier this year, but chose poorly and got in the water to warm up as we didn't know at the time the waves were going to be delayed by 45 minutes before the RD called off the swim.  By the time that happened my hands and feet were numb bricks of cement and I was shivering uncontrollably. 

It would have been infinitely better had I just stayed on dry land in my wetsuit with something WARM to cover my hands and feet and do whatever warm-up I could out of the water before my wave was due to start. 

If she feels like she really needs nutrition on the bike, sports drink or a power bar or something?  If she's never used a gel while training before, I don't know that I'd want to have her try one during a race when you don't know if her stomach is okay with gels. 

Good luck to her! 

Originally posted by TriAya

Bring a gag. Anyone within a few miles' radius will appreciate it.

Originally posted by brigby1

Is something really going on or are you just making noises again?

Originally posted by brigby1

Thanks. I'm being thorough because that's me. Any information I give to her is greatly simplified so she'll have something easy to follow. I know it's "just a sprint", but this is going to be a rather big endeavor for her as she'll likely be 1:45 to 2:00 hours. She's not able to train very much and has a history of significant injuries her entire life. Specifically knee problems as she got the short end of the durability genes. So what you said on just taping it to the bike is what we'll be doing. Do you  have trouble taking in a variety of nutrition? More than half of what's available will cause me problems at any effort, making me slow down from easy effort or even force me to stop. Gatorade? Forget it for me. It's coming right back up. She doesn't have a favorite of any of these because she literally hasn't used any of it. Ever. I'd hate to see her event be wasted because of a simple oversight like that. I know it's not a lot of food being discussed, so won't really make a huge difference in actual energy, but I want to give her every chance as it can help with mental alertness. Form goes south as this goes down when we tire, and given her knees she could get hurt.

And checking on the swim, I have seen where professional women have had to stop early on the bike because they were too cold in conditions the two of us wouldn't blink at. Magali Tissere is on video somewhere shaking uncontrollably and turning blue. And it was from some seemingly simple things that we wouldn't look at because we could handle them quite well. Not everyone really warms up well by just going out into the water, even as described. I think she'll be better off knowing that she's ready to go when she gets into the water. The fewer steps she has there the better so that she can just concentrate on getting to the other side. The entire swim is going to be at a warm-up level with breaks to switch out to breast stroke or whatever she has to do as that's all she's been able to develop. Keeping it relaxed, simple and fun is how she's going to make it as this really going to wear her out just to get there.

Originally posted by brigby1

Thanks. I'm being thorough because that's me. Any information I give to her is greatly simplified so she'll have something easy to follow. I know it's "just a sprint", but this is going to be a rather big endeavor for her as she'll likely be 1:45 to 2:00 hours. She's not able to train very much and has a history of significant injuries her entire life. Specifically knee problems as she got the short end of the durability genes. So what you said on just taping it to the bike is what we'll be doing. Do you  have trouble taking in a variety of nutrition? More than half of what's available will cause me problems at any effort, making me slow down from easy effort or even force me to stop. Gatorade? Forget it for me. It's coming right back up. She doesn't have a favorite of any of these because she literally hasn't used any of it. Ever. I'd hate to see her event be wasted because of a simple oversight like that. I know it's not a lot of food being discussed, so won't really make a huge difference in actual energy, but I want to give her every chance as it can help with mental alertness. Form goes south as this goes down when we tire, and given her knees she could get hurt.

And checking on the swim, I have seen where professional women have had to stop early on the bike because they were too cold in conditions the two of us wouldn't blink at. Magali Tissere is on video somewhere shaking uncontrollably and turning blue. And it was from some seemingly simple things that we wouldn't look at because we could handle them quite well. Not everyone really warms up well by just going out into the water, even as described. I think she'll be better off knowing that she's ready to go when she gets into the water. The fewer steps she has there the better so that she can just concentrate on getting to the other side. The entire swim is going to be at a warm-up level with breaks to switch out to breast stroke or whatever she has to do as that's all she's been able to develop. Keeping it relaxed, simple and fun is how she's going to make it as this really going to wear her out just to get there.

Originally posted by TriAya

I LOVE DOG SHOWS!

Yes. I know how crazy they are.

Yes. I know they really are like the movie.

Yes. I used to show our Dobies, both in show and obedience.

Originally posted by 4agoodlife

Shed a few tears on that one. My worst fear is losing one of my kids. To have all that sweetness and light gone from the world is unimaginable. One of my favorite quotes about children- "No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you are the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside."

Comforting thoughts for your friend's family

Originally posted by StaceyK So the times you are talking are about the same as it takes me to do a sprint. I was ecstatic that I got under 2 hours. For me like your sister a sprint is still a big deal and I view an Oly with the same nerves as you guys view an IM. It's all relative for every one. If you don't want to go down the sports drink route then I really would suggest cordial (u know the flavouring that kids have in water) but go with something like lemon or lime so it isn't sickly sweet. This is all I have used it has a good amount of sugar and can also help to relieve the taste of salt water from the swim which water often doesn't. Good luck to her and I hope she has a great day and her knees hold up.

Originally posted by kgore

I finally got photos from the last mud run I did:

 The last barbed wire crawl near the end of the race...felt like laying down and relaxing!

 Exiting the tunnel...its good to be short for these!

Originally posted by kgore

I finally got photos from the last mud run I did: