Fred D Mentor Group - Part II (Page 4)

King Piglet ... thinking about it kinda makes me want to puke.

Olympics

Stavros, I really liked the Opening Ceremonies. I thought they were a bit long, but very (appropriately) English (perhaps a bit thin on the Scottish?). Not freakishly stunning, but lovely and classic with excellent touches of British humor (Bean, Bond ... ). Coulda done without the modern boy/girl skit.

Swimming ... well, I'm not gonna put spoilers in here (what's the word on spoilers?) but if you get a chance, watch EVERY HEAT of the Men's 400 IM prelims. Edge of your seat jawdropping stuff, not usually associated with that event. Then again, it was Phelps, Lochte, Cseh ... and a lot of surprises.

Totally agree with the 400 IM and the 400m Breaststroke. Scary watching those guys and girls doing 400m in a shade over what it takes me to do 200m!

I'm back from my ride.  IM training has finally broken me - I am so ready for a taper!

I had something happen to me that has never happened before.  I was climbing a short steep hill when all of a sudden the cable on my rear derailleur slipped - so of course it shifted me down into the small cog!  Had to stop - took a few minutes to get it sorted out and then I had to try to get going again on this stupid steep hill.  Oh and this was at the 177 km mark - my legs weren't exactly fresh at that point!

Going for a 5k swim in the pool in 3 hours...  zzzzzz.....

I didn't watch enough of the opening ceremonies to really comment but it's not something that I generally find interesting.  

I would have loved to see the cycling road race this morning.  It sounds like it was a good one!

Big con to me: vulnerability of the pedals.  Have you looked at your pedals lately?  Mine are fiercely scuffed up, esp my road bike doing crits.  I don't know that I'd want a $1500+ set of pedals on there.

Name:  Byron Briley (45)

Short Story:  Grew up around the water, surfing and water skiing.  Never really competed in sports.  Spent 8 years in the Marine Corps (1985-1992).  Beat up my body pretty bad: back, knee, shoulder, wrist surgeries, and PTSD.  Doctors told me I'd never run again.  Got fat, 235 lbs with a cholesterol 300+. Found this site 3 years ago.  Started the "couch to sprint" program, became a vegetarian, and lost 45 lbs.  Got hooked with a local sprint and moved up to Olympic distance.  I've done 4 Olympic distance races with two more in 2012.  I'm making the jump to 70.3 at Oceanside in 2013.

Family Status:  Single (divorced), business owner. Translation: I have time to train.

Current Training:  Used the custom Olympic plan to get me through Wildflower; had a PR but crappy run.  Started working with Elaine "ratherbeswimming" to get me through my two upcoming Olympics.  Very happy working with a coach!  I swim with a great Masters team and crazy bunch of hardcore OWSers.  I run with a local running club under the direction of a very good coach.  And I cycle indoors on a Kurt Kinetic with TrainerRoad, outdoors I have no power data.

2011 Races:  1 sprint, 2 Olympics, 5 mile trail race.

2012 Races:  Completed and PR'd Wildflower.  Registered for Pacific Grove (Sept 8) and Morro Bay (Oct 13).   

Weight goals:  6'4", 178 lbs currently.  I like to race at 170-175.  Weight is not really a problem for me.

What makes me a good mentee:  I am a student of this sport.  I love learning about it and discussing it (I'm an engineer).  I am very disciplined: if it's on my training plan, it gets done.  I can be very supportive of other members, but don't have very much sympathy for whiners.

You are good, good peeps, Byron. I remember when you first started coming around, and then disappeared for a while, then came back around ... what a long strange trip it's been. Your hard work and steady rise are super.

In completely unrelated news, I just watched one of Indonesia's badminton pairs get decimated/knocked out in early competition by the way-underdog Thais. The THAIS?! Well ... they played like possessed men with nothing to lose and the Indonesians were smug and then stunned. Sigh. Glum. You can't be too vigilant and you can't rest on your laurels no matter how lowly-ranked your competitors are (it's early rounds so higher ranked players are generally pitched against lower ranked ones). Unbelievable.

I never really left, just went stealth for a bit.  Got a little burned out with some of the BS in the main forums...  I'm really looking forward to hanging out with some like minded folks here in the group.

Short post from me as I'm sitting at the inlaws, and racing tomorrow.  Can't believe it's only the second race of the year, and the water is quite warm so may not be wetsuit legal - puts me at a disadvantage.

Training tools on the bike - I use power and HR.  HR as the limiter, and power as the stick.  I've been quite happy with how I've been riding lately, and am hoping to hit the numbers tomorrow.  IF I had a choice, and it was a viable option, then pedal based would be the choice for me.  That said, I run a wired PT with a disc cover for races and have no complaints other than I would like more data.  The yellow CPU is limited in what it displays, and I tend to geek out a bit on the data, so would love a little more during the rides.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Neil have a great race tomorrow.  Don’t sweat the wetsuit you’ll be fine.  Just stay stream line and hydrodynamic.  Just like the pool.
 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the measuring device is on the inside of the pedal, separate from the actual pedal itself.  I don't remember if it could be bought separately, but, I have never seen a pedal break before.  So long as the strain guages are not exposed to the outside (where my pedals are scuffed), I think it would be okay...no more damagable than a crank.  But time will tell.  Like I said, I would not be a first adopter.

The reason I would also like pedals is because you can use them on a borrowed bike as well...no matter what crank is on.  If I ride compact PM crank and another bike is standard, just swap out the pedals.  If I move my compact to the bike that had the standard on it...not only does it need to have a compatible BB, but the front deraileur will need to be adjusted and the chain may have too much slack.

But for now, so long as my PT is working, I'm going to stick with it.  I'd like to see at least a year or two worth of reviews on pedal based before I invest that much money.

Schpanks for the welcome, James!

NEIL -- go gettem Tiger. I agree with James ... you'll be fine. Long and lean, draft if you can, don't sweat it if you can't.

Back from the week's long run, about 10K. Had to take some outright recovery time this week to get rid of a nagging lowgrade fever and sore throat, and have pulled back both volume and intensity since as well. Feeling good now.

Good lawd . . .  it's clear I need to up my game in this group.  OWS this morning (along with my weekend charity ride/course marshal responsibilities), details to follow from an adult onset swimmer.  I'm thrilled the fish are showing up here.  Lochte is awesome.  I ain't.