Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 35)

No there's some good stuff going on!

Yay Lisa on your 1/2 PR and AG award!  Awesome, awesome!  I saw a gal this morning on a bike pulling one child behind her and another two in front of her on scooters.  Thought of you .

Ceril, good going on the glamping!  Vacations are for relaxing, and I'm not sure if any of us (cept maybe Steve) do too well at sticking to all the workout plans.  Just too much other fun stuff going on.

Karen, I agree w/ Dennis.  No way should you give up on doing an OLY this yr.  And besides, I won't let you because you are inspring me not to give up on mine .

Dennis, nice weekend workouts, and sounds like you are doing well to start this week off.  And a 5K PR to boot!  You are are a racing machine!  It's a pleasure to watch the progress you have made, and look forward to more.

Steve, so you have now survived the peak phase, awesome!  Thanks for letting us share in that with you.  Has given me a new appreciation for the balance that has to be found to make it to the starting line of an IM.  Yes, you happening upon other cyclists did sound like something out of one of those apocalyptic movies where most humans have been wiped out, and the few that are left find each other. 

Had a run fail yesterday morning, so got back out this morning to try again.  Better results, but turned into social hour.  About mile 3, chatted w/ a lady who REALLY needed to talk and she tagged along for a little while.  Then later ran into a neighbor who is having trouble finding motivation to walk after a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis and losing her sister to cancer.  Distracted me from my intended run plan, but time well spent to encourage her a bit.  Ahh...training in suburbia....sort of the opposite of Steve's "don't see a soul for miles" kind of training.  Going on a longer ride tomorrow w/ a fellow I rode along with a bit last week.  He knows a couple of good routes around here I'd like to try, and hopefully won't leave me in the dust, or turn out to be an ax murderer . 

Great stuff going on 5k pr, half mary pr and ag 2nd place in half mary, awsome training going on. 

8000 feet... where did you race pikes peak?

Don't get discouraged about the run and having your shins hurt.  My last 3 monnths have been that way, walking the line between what I want to do workout wise and what my body will let me.  For shin splint type pain, ice, do your next planned run or two as a walk, but same distance and use a marathon stick or somethign to roll out those muscle knots.  Sometimes it just takes a couple days to get back into it, especially if it was related to bike muscles getting used they day before that were also key for your run.  Heck throw in a swim and you nearly did an Oly as part of your normal training 8). 

LOL no!  Pikes Peak is a 14er.  I was in Granby, CO, which is just southwest of Rocky Mountain National Park, on the west side of the Continental Divide.  Most of the mountain areas are about 7-8000 feet, except places like Leadville which are more like 10,000. 

OK, supposed to be heading out for a swim.  And also need to get the clothes off the line because I think a thunderstorm is moving in....

Ok, that's 3 people calling you out on the Oly.  Get registered.  No excuses. You're doing great.

Hey thanks e'one.  Pix for the Pewaukee bike

(tribike.jpg)

Nice pic.  I don't look that nice on a bike so no pictures of me.

Got the 3 hour brick in this morning.  Decided to look at the rest of my plan.  In September my longest brick will come in at around 3:40.  I'll have to start getting up at 2:00 just to get it in before work.

I also think I should be able to log training prep time for the week.  If I get up at 3:00, I get dressed, prepare drinks, eat a Clif bar, air up tires, etc. it is always 3:30 before I'm rolling out the driveway.  Look at the time spent driving to swim.  Laundry.  I say I spend an additional 2-3 hours a week easily just preparing to train.

Lisa - Excellent job on the half mary!

Carol - Those groups rides sound like they are really good for building you up. I hope you are able to get those bricks in, but I know it is really aweful to ride or run in extreme heat.

Steve - when I read your post all I ever think is "wow, this guy is amazing". I love that you chased down some random riders and got to cover some mileage with them. I rode with a friend the other day and it was a nice change from going alone. I hope your taper provides you the rest you need to have an awesome IM.

Karen - I am so glad you got a bike fit. I can imagine what a difference it would make. I rode with a friend the other day and the first thing she told me was I need a new bike. Oh well. Gotta stick with what I have for now and I am not in a place to afford a bike fit. Plus I don't want to pay for a bike fit on a bike that is old school and a little too big for me. I also think you are strong enough to look to do an Oly this fall. That was one brick in mid-July. You will just continue building strength as the summer progresses and you do some more. Besides, if Steve says you can it must be true.

Dennis - if you keep rockin' your PR's you are not gonna be able to keep up with yourself Excellent job. Thanks for all the information posts on swimming and the swim floatie things.

Ceril - I think the time you put into your family has such a greater payoff than getting in that bike or swim, but I can't really imagine how hard it is to have a family and try to train. Glad you had fun out there in the woods. I love getting outside.

I was in Montana for a week visiting the camp I am gonna be working at, so I was really busy. Got to lead some moutain biking trips for junior high kids and I have to say mountain biking is great hill practice. I still got in bikes and runs; no place but a raging river to swim. I feel pretty good about my swimming so I didn't worry too much about it. My first tri race ever is less than two weeks away. I did a 20 mile bike for the first time and it went pretty well. Made me realize I can bike so much further than I ever believed I could. I think I could have gone for a run afterward and done decent and that is very encouraging. I did almost a four mile run without walking and that was great also. Unless something strange happens I know I will finish the tri well even if I am slow. Swim class was this morning. My coach doesn't say much to me and today I realized he talks the most to people he needs to correct on something, so I decided to take that as a positive. I learned the kick turn and was able to just swim and swim without stopping. I do have a really hard time keeping track of my distance when I do the kick turn. Any suggestions.

I am starting to get nervous about what I should be thinking about and/or doing for final preparations. I am planning a mock tri for thursday. Should I do the full distance or something shorter just to get the feel and practice transitions? I am still working out what I am gonna wear in the race. I am gonna go without a wetsuit because it is expensive to rent one (unless it seems stupid to not wear one because of water temp). I really want to get tri shorts and a top, so I am looking everywhere for cheap priced stuff. I do want to get something that is good quality as well. Otherwise I could wait and figure out how to make what I have work. Any thoughts?

Hopefully gonna be able to keep up more regularly now.

Troy -  your pic is SWEET!

You are currently biking 20 miles, running 4 miles and swimming 1200 yards.  Your race is 800 s, 11 b, 3.1 R.  You are capable of doing the full distance in a day given your distances so far in training.  It would give you a lot of confidence come race day.  If you were to do the full distance I would recomend doing it really slowly.  Go as if you had all day to finish it and just do a comfortable look at the flowers kind of effort so you don't over do it.  But if you swam 400 biked 8 and ran 2 that would be more than adequate for giving you a feel for transition and the demands it will all put on your body.  With a sprint you could just get by with a bathingsuit if your bike seat is kind to you.  But a tri outfit is more comfy.  It looks like water temps are now 65F and rising so if the water is 70 or so by race day you should be alright without a wetsuit.  Unless you need an excuse to buy one.... I wouldn't rent one though, a rental is nearly half the price of an entry level wetsuit.  Mine was like $130 for a full and rentals can be $45 to 55.  Some full suites are as low as $100. 

Ok so a person I know from work, but don't talk to that often because their office is 75 miles from mine asked if I was training hard....  I told them my numbers from last month and they were all that averages out to swimming 1100 yards, running 5.4 miles and biking 27 miles a day!  It really struck home... that's why I have had no umpta lately.  It kind of brought it home to me.  

My bike (23 miles, 20 mph wind 50 minutes out (11.5 miles) and 33 minutes back) and swim yesterday went better (3000 yards) and my run today (5 miles) was good, didn't kill the workouts, but moderately hard, low Z3 stuff.  The trick now is to slow the eating.  Big taper means less time training and more time around food. 

Project 1 out of the way, hook the riding lawmower up to a rope, tie it to the leaning playground and yyyyyank, then tighten up the 90 bolts that hold it together.  Oh and mow the lawn.  It was pleasant mowing the lawn, not sure why.  It could be that it is my little bit of dirt (1 acre) with green on it where I grow my mosquitoes.  Just kind of mindlesly driving around cutting the grass enjoying the day.  Yesterday was a really good day.  Going to have to take the youngins out and kick the soccer ball around tonight after my bike ride.    

Hey there team!

Troy, great going on your race....and that IS a nice bike pic!

Samantha, you are definitely ready to tri . 

Steve, your kids will be glad you are tapering, as in...hey...who is this guy?  Oh, that's right, it's dad!

Dennis, yes it IS time consuming to do all the peripheral stuff.

Did a short brick in the heat this morning since I haven't done one since...probably my last race.  Also realizing my last OWS was...a month ago on vacation.  All these realizations hitting me since I have a race on Sunday.  Our lows are mid 80's and highs are 100's these days, and I'm really not coping to well on the run.  So thinking my main goal with this one is to go for a faster bike time, and just have fun.  Will also be two nights of glamping!  Very glad the camper has an air conditioner. 

Short on time this evening, so I'm sure I missed a lot, but will check in later.

Even more windy than usual tonight, 14 mph out, 23.5 mph or so coming home.

  I won't be glamping at the race I will be sharing the tent with the whole family including the dog.  Good times.  Time to eat.  

On the run, wear a hat, keep wet, hydrate small amounts frequently, keep wet. 

I took this morning off.  I might go swimming tonight, not sure yet.  Just needed the rest.  While browsing reddit this morning I realized it was OW Wednesday.  So here's today's OW lessons.

Direction:

One of the most common difficulties is that of holding a straight line in the absence of lane lines and ropes. It is a rare OW swimmer to whom this comes naturally or quickly. Like other technical aspects of swimming, practice is important.

Initially try aiming for a nearby object like a buoy, maybe 50 metres away. Start swimming head-up freestyle for a few strokes, drop your head and aim for the buoy. On the first attempt, take 20 strokes without viewing, then sight. See how far you've deviated. Then do it again. You'll be almost there but will have a better understand of how much you deviate.

Next time, widen your hand entry to enter at shoulder width rather than closer to centre-line. Repeat the procedure. For some people this variation of hand entry postion is an important or useful step for correcting line varience and may quickly help you improve.

Please note I am NOT suggesting you change your hand entry position, only that this is a remediation tool like a drill.

But I'd also note, former muliple OW World Champion Karelyn Pipes-Neilson advocates a wider than normal hand entry postion for Open Water Swimming, but I wouldn't necessaraily suggest doing this without direct experienced OW coaching input.

At this point you should be able to start extending the number of strokes between sightings. But at no point does this interval become long, because unlike a pool the water is usually moving. Wind, waves or currents, at the very least can alter your position.

In rough water, two experienced OW swimmers, swimming side by side will find the distance between them narrowing and widening due to slight variations. And swimmers may consciously decide to take different routes to the same destination.

Swimming in tail chop, head chop, side chop:

Swimming in tail chop, head chop, side chop.

• Head-on chop is both tiring and potentially injurious. Wind and chop will slow you down. It will also affect the normal balance of a stroke. Repeated impact across the head and shoulders is the main problem. Also, timing for sighting and breathing.
• More specifically, you need to learn to adjust your stroke. In head-on chop I drop my head lower than normal, and make a point of keeping low and maintaining rotation, difficult int he circumstances, to go partially under some of the chop, which minimizes the impacts. For swimmers aiming for a serious target like an Ironman or first 5 or 10 k swim, I advise training in as much rough water as you can tolerate, being aware of the injury potential.

• As with all open water try to seperate your breathing from your sighting. In head on chop, as soon as you sight, you may have a sudden wave directly in front of you.

• In tail-chop (a following wind) you are most likely to swallow a mouthfulof water. As you roll to breathe a waves comes from behind and swamps you. My solution to this is to focus more on my feet as an indicator of somethng coming. Due to having the ability to change my breathing pattern, as mentioned last week, if I'm about to breathe and a wave arrives from behind, I'll instead not breathe and maximise useage of the wave for speed.

• Side-chop is the most difficult for many. Breathing into side-chop is big problem leading to both swallowed and aspirated water. The only solution is to breathe to the other side. But even those of us who breathe bi-laterally will have a favoured side. So maintianing this for longer periods in rough water is difficult without training.

Stroke rate:

I have in the past in [1] Drill of the Week councelled stroke-counting. In the pool this leads to consistency. In open water, particularly colder water, stroke rate is one of the most important aspects of your stroke. A well developed stroke rate will enhance your endurance capability. And as, or more important; in cold water a constant stroke rate is what keeps you warm. I can't tell you what your OW stroke rate will or should be though. (Mine is 70 to 72, I can hold that for many hours). Larger swimmers are usually a lower rate but it's particular to each individual. Penny Palfrey, Lynne Cox both swim (swam in Lynee Coxes case) at around 80 spm. You develop your stroke rate to consistency only through training.

Samantha, I'm so happy for you!  You have made amazing progress.  You are right not to stress too much over the clothes.  I did my first couple of tris wearing a bathing suit for the swim and then adding running shorts and a top in T1.  I was not alone in that at all, and you won't be either.   I'm not sure about the approved helmet thing.  Mine is probably 10+ yrs old and needs to be replaced, but noone has hassled me about it.  I don't have any tools, spare tubes, etc. yet, so if I have a flat in a race, it's over for me.  Probably not the right answer though .  The tri I'm doing this weekend says the same thing about the roads.  What it means there is that the surface is "chipseal"...not the smoothest surface to say the least, and there are a few potholes. Reviews of the same race from a previous year can also provide more info, and often those are posted on the racelink here at BT.

Back from a 41+ mile bike ride this morning with a cyclist I met last week.  My longest ever....and had enough hills to chew my legs up pretty well.  So I am DONE for the day!

Do you carry spare tubes/pump/tools etc on the bike? Always. Bag has patches, tube, co2 kit with 2 cartridges, and tire levers. If you don't how to use them, they are useless to you and added weight. Should be part of your training.

Should I be concerned about the type of tube I get or the tires on my bike? Tube should have the right valve type, Presta or Sshrader, and fit the tire.  Tire should be a road, not bumpy, tire.

The race website said part of the course is rough so make decisions with that in mind? I would just lower my tire pressure to help the ride.  High pressure = bumpy ride, faster riding - Low pressure = smoother ride, slower riding.  I would fill my road tires 95-100 psi on a known rough course.

And that ^^^^  is the RIGHT answer

If you bought your helmet in a store in the US you are probably fine.  If you got it online.., you can usualy tell becasuse there is a sticker or imprint on the inside of the helmet with approvals.  At Boise HIM they checked helmets before the race and if your helmet was not apporved you did not race....  The IM brand races are more likely to nail you on something like that. 

I always carry a spare tube, tools and hand pump with me on my bike.  That is why when I got a flat on Saturday I could replace the tube, pump it up and why I returned home to replace the spare.  In a race like an IM I will carry 2 spare tubes, have a 3rd in the special needs bag and bring CO2 cartridges x 2. For putsing around I just use the handpump that is strapped to my bike at the waterbottle cage.  It is hard to get the pressure above 75 with it, but that will get you home.  I really couldn't get the tire off wihtout those levers.

Today was a short run and with a little less fatigue it felt really good, after the warmup mile I hit the last 3 at 7:30 minutes per mile.  Short bike rides are nice because I don't have a gallon + of water on the frame. 

Carol, grats on the 40+ mile bike ride.  You will be ready for a HIM soon!  When you started the group you were ding 15 mile bike rides at 13.5 mph now you are up to 40 miles and pace pushing 15 mph.  Your runs are up to 7.5 miles now also....  very nice improvements.   

Good point.  Hey Carol, HIM Austin is coming up in October.  That's over 3 months away and just a little 4 hour drive from your neck of the woods.

Hey all! Are there racers this weekend? I believe Carol is racing. What is your distance? I just know you are gonna do really well

So I decided to do the mock-tri tomorrow morning. It will probably be a cold swim and it will be my first OWS, so I have no idea how it will go. I have been reading Dennis's posts on swimming and other stuff; hopefully I remember it when I am cold in the water. I need to check the water temp because I do not have a wet suit and buying one really is not an option right now.  Pray for me! After my swim I will do a steady 11 mile ride and 3.2 run. It will be a great experience and I am gonna try doing the entire thing in my bathing suit, which I have not done before so I want to practice it. I will let you know how it goes.

It looks like the water temp last year was around 68-70 so you should be ok without a wetsuit.  I did see a tip that during the race the further you are from shore the less traffic you have to deal with and the more current to push you along.  I would stay near shore for the practice obviously.

Be careful on that bike course.  It might be a less traveled road but it appears to be a major road off the interstate.

Steve: Have you considered renting a myathletelive for your IM.  For $30 your friends, family and even us might find it fun to track you all day long.  I promise not to snicker at your bike speed around mile 80.