Mimir98's group-CLOSED AGAIN...FOR REAL THIS TIME (Page 27)

I'm here! and by "here" I mean sitting in Naples Florida in my friends' living room in my running clothes waiting for an appopriate time to sneak out and go for a run!

 VERRRRRRRRRRRRY long night last night- my 6 year old was "up" (half awake) from midnight till 2 on and off crying - unusual for him, but I think he was just really overtired from the trip (and we awoke in our hotel room Friday am at 3:45  to catch the flight.) Of course I could neither really wake him nor settle him- very fun when you are a house guest!  And because I had so little sleep now TWO nights running, I did not get up at 6:45 to run as planned before the others awoke- so now, 8 year old is up, 6 year old will awake any minute- our hosts are still sleeping- (and my husband does not fly down till tonight) making me hesitant to just leave until I've fed both kids, at least. Hope they hurry! This Adirondack girl is gonna faint whilst running if the Florida sun gets much higher!The first run of vacation with a 75+ degree temp increase always feels like a doozy to me!

Mimi- are you headed north yet? Safe travels and have fun- will you have your laptop?

Mimir98 - 2008-03-29 3:02 AM Love the new avatar!!!!  You look awesome   So exactly how long were your transitions?    July will be easier as it shouldn't be chilly eh? 

Have a safe trip up north!

Hope you enjoyed the run, mountain girl!!!  You are so close, but yet so far over there in Naples!!

AS if the case for MOST of our trips, one kid is sick!!  Noah has been coughing and sneezing since last night...sore throat, headache and feels a bit like he might barf.  Nice.  SO, we are postponing to monday and then if he's pretty good we'll just haul a$$ up there in one day     Bringing my laptop-don't know about internet situation though.

Suzanne, I was thinking about you on my ride...trying to keep the mind occupied!  We need to add up your times for s/b/r and subtract from total time....and that'll give you how much transition time you had..You want to go 2:10, right, in july?  You did 2:22, right?  Do the math! 

So, assignment for April:  Practice transition.  You'll feel dorky, but it helps.  Before a race, I"ll set up an area in my house (so as not to alarm the neighbors) and just go over the transitions - order of events-and over, and over...think...glasses on, socks on, shoes on, helmet on, ect...For a sprint you really should be spending no more than 1 minute in transition.

You math is pretty close!  I hear about transitions, after my first 2 races, I made it a goal to get to the top half of the field in transitions (kind of like my goal that I have temporarily put on hold of getting to the top 50% of the swim).

You couldn't tell it by my last race, but the race before, I had the second fastest T2 in the clydesdale category and am generally hitting top 1/3 overall.  Although I keep forgetting sunscreen in T..... 

Okay- I'm in my rental house now- let the vacation begin! The folks we were staying with are dear friends who love my kids, but have no kids, and have TOTALLY different body clocks than the Quinns- so it was not exactly vacation. Fun, but not vacation. Now I've been reunited with my lap top, and my husband, kids and 15 year old niece and I have settled nicely into this 3 story beach house (with elevator!! and am sitting here in an upholstered chaise in the living room catching up on BT and emails. And thinkin' how I need me a chaise for my living room. LOVE IT.

 Will probably wait till tomorrow to log stuff and do inspires, but I did get in two runs in Naples- a 5 mile and a 4 mile, with 8:26 and 8:22 paces, respectively, both zone 2. So I guess the heat was not bugging me. The first of those runs I was doing exactly at the time of day I should be on the run course in Clermont, so that's good - mountain girl can do warm weather, I guess. And it felt sooooooooo good not to have long, fleecy materials covering every inch of my body! Hooray for me!!

Tomorrow I pick up my bike after 10- and while I will likely run in the AM- doubt I will swim, as (A) I will want to ride, and (B) it is my son's 9th birthday! So swim will be saved for Tuesday- we are here till April 11- so that gives me lots of days. 

 I am so happy to be in the warm weather.  My boss emailed me this morning- it was 9 below at home-- that is 95 degrees colder than I saw today. This has been by far the coldest March I can remember. We've had them a lot snowier, but the cold is just awful. although I have to tell you, our summers (though only 3 months) are SECOND TO NONE. None, I say! But for now-- I am very happy to be here  on Anna Maria Island. 

 Tomorrow- have to work up my work out plan for the next two weeks.   Which will be fun.

Great for you in FL.  Enjoy the time.  Scary, your training paces down there are faster than mine, looks like I got some more work to do.

Look who rocked the race today, go over and give Kelly some props.  Sounds like she had fun with it too.  Looking forward to her race report tomorrow.  

 Getting ready to close the book on March and set the plan in motion for April....

Suzanne,  GREAT AV! .  Transitions..my neighbors already think I'm nuts so I do practice on the drive.  I actually run from the back yard to the front with my cap and goggles in my hand and put my bike stuff on and go for a 2 mile bike and back so I'm huffing and puffing a bit when I get back and trying to balance while putting my running shoes on etc...

My tips when setting up transition... (I'm sure Mimi has more)

1.) Remember to reset your bike computer after you rack your bike.

2.) Use a colorful towel that you can identify easily.

3.) I use a small hand towel in front of the main one to wipe my feet on incase it's really rocky, dirty whatever.

4.) Helmet on the bars of your bike with sunglasses open inside.

5.) Bike shoes open and ready to slide in if you don't have them on your bike already. (I'm haven't learned that trick yet.. )

6.)  I ride with no socks because of the water from the swim.  It's easier to get dry socks on dry feet when I come in from the bike and get ready for the run.  Learn to balance and put these on standing up.  Practice this everyday while you put your socks on for your workouts. If you don't ride without socks now..practice before a race.

7.)  Yankz or sometype of elastic laces so you don't have to stop and tie your shoes and you can pull them on easy.  I lOVE mine.

8.) When you bend over to take off your cycling shoes you never stand up until your sock and shoes are on and your hat is in your hand as you run out.

OK, so it's somewhat anal but that's how you shave seconds.  I didn't do the practice for this last one but got pretty lucky.  My times are over a minute because it was a HUGE transition area and you had to run quite a ways.

Amy,  after spending the week on the coast I'll take the warm but I'll let Mimi keep the humidity. You are going to do GREAT at your race. You've been training and your fast.  Just keep doing what you do. Enjoy that beach house. Sounds incredible.

Kim, Welcome home...good luck getting back on your time line.  I know that's tough.

Mimi, Hope the little one starts feeling better and you guys can go play.  Have fun! 

Thanks to everyone for the inspires. Your the best!  I'm off today but will spend the rest of the week trying to get the knots out for a tough 62 mile climbing ride this weekend.

K

I'm suddenly very nervous for my race on Saturday! I need to get a wetsuit and a some sort of tri suit to wear before then.  Or I have to figure out what I will wear beneath the wetsuit. Tonight I am plotting out my workout schedule for the next 10 days while I am here- I wish the race were either at the beginning of this trip or the end-- but small matter, I guess. As much as I'd love to run long lots and lots while I am here in this beautiful morning air, I think I am only going to do short ones- 10-15 minute T runs off the bike-- at least until the race-- because I need to concentrate on outdoor biking and swim as much as I can while I have access to the outdoors and to the pool. I would ideally like to swim almost every day. I know I am going tomorrow.  Outdoor lap swimming? Never done it. Can't wait.

Nah. Who am I kidding? I may do a 6 or a 9 miler with the local running club Sunday morning-- if I feel okay after the race. And I want to try to do 4 strength workouts while I'm here. I think only one this week and 3 next week.  Tomorrow am I'm getting up to do strength nice and early and then heading out on the bike for what I hope is at least 25. 

OH NO, that is not allowed.  Mimi takes a vacation and we drop to the last line of page 1. 

What has everyone have on tap for April, I think I remember a couple of Tri's for folks (Amy and Kelly)  anyone else?

I have a 5 miler on the 12th and then next up (I think) is my first duathlon on May 10.  

who's in the April Challenge and what team?  I will be sippin' Pina Coloda's (virgin of course) with the Plucky Pineapples.

I agree- no bottom of the page for us. Nice save, Scott.

Found out today that

* the water in Clermont is BROWN and should not be swallowed?

* that you cannot see your hand in front of you while in it?

* that you will be brown under your tri suit after swimming in it?

*that you cannot rent or even hardly purchase tri wet suits in this part of southern fla cause it's too warm and everyone orders them online?

Learned all of this at a cool bike shop owned by a USAT certified coach who has raced IM in my town! She was very sweet.

I will get to Clermont early and see if I can rent one?? or buy one? Or else I am swimming in my pretty new tri suit and swimming freaking fast so that I can get out of the water that is in the 70's ? yikes! I did not come to Florida to be cold!  But, what can you do???? Also bought a pink race  belt for number,  pink race quick laces and pink socks so even if I come in DFL I will still look totally cute!! I tried on one and two pieces, but in the end, this felt most comfy. When I have to pee in Tinman this summer, I will be annoyed with myself, but in the meantime.....

http://www.zappos.com/gs/n/p/dp/37415308/c/131285.html

So I am attempting to stay calm. Actually very excited. I know I am way overtrained for this distance, the only issue is that I am more of an endurance girl than a speed girl, so I hope I don't get totally smoked by the speed girls.

Tomorrow I will spin out these legs, and swim. Will probably skip the run. Then Friday off- resting for the big day!

You know, if the water is in the 70's, cold blooded creatures from the great white north can handle it without a wetsuit for 200 meters.  Besides, in this case, I think you would spend more time getting out of it than you would save wearing it.  Now if there is a good expo, you might find one you love, but again for that distance ????  And if you change your mind and go for the OLY, that is totally another story.

Being an endurance gal, you might have a lot to overcome those speed merchants, but go out and race it hard and as it says, have fun

I'm in on the April Challenge and on the Olympic Onion Rings team.  (Which is somewhat appropriate as Passover is later this month, and our house will be redolent with the fragrarnce of cooked onions for assorted dishes.)  I'm going for broke on this challenge -- put down for my goals  the times for ALL  three sports from my training plan as well as 3x/week push-ups from Mimi's challenge.  I've been enjoying the challenges, but have found that I favor whichever sport is being challenged that month to the detriment of the others. 

Who else is playing?  (I think Amy is, anyone else?)

Yeah- I'm thinking I'm just gonna bag the wetsuit. May not have a choice anyway.  It's only 200 freezing cold yards- it will be just like being home and being freezing cold. Like I'm not used to that! And I'm gonna have to go fast on the bike- just to work up some body heat at 7:30 am in a wet tri suit.

 If my tri suit gets stained brown, I'm gonna be MAD.

I can wear just the HRM strap in the water, right, and put on the Garmin when I run? I know the Garmin can't go in Lake Brown [I mean Mineola].  You can see straight down to the bottom of our lakes in the Adirondacks, if you're all wondering why I am so wigged out about this.

Hey all!  just a quick hello...we have been sooo busy, but having a great time...lots of touring northern virgina during the day, then eating, drinking, bonfires and games at night.  I have a run today - will do later.  Missed my strength workout yesterday, so I will do some pushups and core work after the run.  Going shopping now with Quinn and Auntie   Tomorrow is Alexandria, then saturday to DC to get the grand tour and see the cherry blossoms...we've seen some around-gorgeous!

Amy, you'll be fine if the water is in the 70's.  I've raced in 74 and it's been great.  Gott go!

SO you have better winters AND better summers? Sigh.  

We got nothin'.