Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 46)

Hey Samantha, I know what you mean about feeling like you need to front load the first part of the week.  I keep thinking I'll get ahead...of what I'm not sure.  Do you have a training plan?  I've printed out one, but it was shorter on volume than what I wanted, so I've been winging it based on Steve's input.  Hope your personal situation settles down, or you can at least use the workouts to relieve some stress.

Dennis, glad you enjoyed the video and got a new light before you went all gangsta on the old one.  Know the ITB is really frustrating, but hopefully you can break the inflammation cycle sooner rather than later.  I've had a spot in my hip that's been tweaky this week, but found the spot w/ the foam roller and working it out each night.  So far so good, but if not, will be back to Chiro.   

Steve, hope you are still enjoying other aspects of life.  Did school start in your neck-o-the-woods this week?

Hey to everyone else!  Come let us know how you're doing when time permits.

All is going well for me training wise.  It's still REALLY hot here, so I'm putting no pressure on myself re: speed, just getting in the miles, working on fueling, etc.  Thankfully found a group to OWS with, and have been doing that once a week which helps my swim confidence level.  I want to do as well as I can in this next tri, but given the hills and heat, I'm OK with finishing in any form and getting a feel for the distance.  My bet is that this one won't be wetsuit legal, which is OK w/ me.  I can't imagine putting a wetsuit on in this heat anyway.     

Steve, sorry to hear about your in-laws.  Hope their recovery goes well, and I'm sure they appreciate your wife being there.  Sounds like you're doing a good job of being Mr. Mom. 

Group ride followed by yard work (hot) has left me with zero energy going into the afternoon.  I was bringing up the rear as usual in the bike ride, but averaged 16.6 over 33 miles, which is good for me.  It's hard to draft when you can't keep up, so on the plus side it was mostly on my own power. That seems to be the trend for me...coming in last even though I AM improving.  Same w/ swimming....group at the lake is all guys, mostly faster.  Where are all the beginners, and where are the girls?  This wil make me better, right?  Funny, I have to go to races to not come in last...hopefully!    

30 mile ride @ 16+mph is nothing to feel bad about.  My Oly time was 3:11, I'm sure you can beat that.  I'm rooting for you to beat that.  

Went for a group ride this morning to get my 28 mile/off-week long ride in.  Rode 67 miles in a little over 4 hours.  We stopped at a McDonalds for a bathroom break, I decided a chocolate milkshake would help me survive the ride and let me tell you, I think it did.  They told me about a 20 mile ride at midnight tonight downtown that is going on.  I just might have to go do that to make it an 85+ mile day.  It's not like I already have an over use injury in my knee.

Steve- Hope things go well with your in-laws and they are able to recover from the accident. Car accidents seem like one of the hardest things to recover from because they are sudden and really wreak havoc on daily life. You sounds busy but also like you are doing well; keep up the good work. I hope your training can pick back up soon. You had mentioned the Boise HIM. I am definitely gonna check into that one. Not too far from where I will be. An afternoon start seems odd to me, but maybe I would like it.

Carol - Things are getting back to normal. I made some tough decisions that were weighing on me and managed to still get in some great workouts. So glad you are getting in OW time with a group. I have done a couple OWS and I really enjoy them. It is nice to not have to turn around every couple minutes. Sorry about the heat. Here is has been in the 90's and that has made training a lot less appealing. I really do not like the heat.

Today I did a 30.5 mi bike. My furthest so far, and yesterday I did a 1600 yard swim. I am not as far along as I would like to be a week before my tri, but sometimes that is how things go. I have not been following a plan for this one. I have been upping my mileage each week as, did well with that plan for swimming and biking. I have a hard time running. My body just doesn't like running distance and it is a fight almost every time. I hear Steve and Dennis talk about how much they love running and want to know how I get to that place. I think next weeks race is gonna kick my butt. I have decided I need to have more time to train between races when I am moving up in distance.

The other great thing I got to do today was cruise around Lake Coeur D Alene for four hours on a standup paddleboard. If you haven't tried it I really recommend it. It was a blast and a great way to get out on the water for relatively inexpensive.

Moving to Montana on Thursday. Training will become more difficult as I start my position at a wilderness adventure camp. There is no pool open past August within 1.5 hour drive. I may hit the river as long as the temperature allows. I will have to manage my time better, which I have learned so much about that from this group

Take care and have a great weekend!

Hello. Anybody here?

Just in from this weeks long run.  I did a 11.5 mile walk/run.  Basically I walked the first 0.4 of a mile, ran 0.1, walked 0.3, ran 0.2.  Repeated this for the entire time. Which means I was able to run over 3 miles tonight.  No ITB pain, but I was aware it wasn't perfect.  I also had to make myself relax while running because I would tense up for fear of the pain.  When I relaxed, I was less aware of the knee.

On a side note, I have listened to 2 podcasts featuring nutritional information from Sunny Blende.  Both can be found on the Ultrarunnerpodcast.com website.  She talks about what Steve has told us: the body only absorbing 240-300 cal/hr, what not to eat, etc.  Really smart stuff that makes sense.  Check them out.

I'm still here.  Got in a 40 mile ride in 25 mph winds loop at 18.7 mph.  I'll take it.

Foot is still iffy from that student throwing a chair across the room to hit my foot.  Nice shot.  So instead of running I just moved 2400 pounds of dirt onto the archery range hill I am making for the kids.  Another 5 to 10 tons and it should be good.  Vollume is so hard to measure when you are building a hill 4-5 feet high and 25 feet long. 

Oh well, off to bed.  Another week of supervising this very troubled and verry agressive student.  State verification review (big stakes file audit) this week.  Hopefuly I can start getting my lunch time routine in. 

Wife is back home so that should free up some time in my schedule.  It looks like her parents are on the mend, mother is out of the hospital and off oxygen and father is out of ICU and into long term critical care. 

Watch that knee.

Boise HIM $199 Early Registration Ends Tonight

Samantha, nice bike ride!  Yes, you are going to do just fine in your tri.  Just take it at your pace and soak in the experience.  You have my dream job!  Working outdoors in the mountains in a beautiful place.  Paddleboarding sounds like a lot of fun.  So which tri are you doing this weekend?

Dennis, this one's for you....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XfHvcuCgTk.  How did I know you would do the midnight ride?  I'll check out the podcast...thanks for posting.  Yes, gotta watch out for causing other imbalances while you compensate for the knee.

Steve, sounds like the accident was pretty bad.  Glad the in-laws are doing better, but sure sounds like a rough road still ahead for them.  Your odd shaped volume question makes me have flashbacks to college calculus.  Hope you are getting some combat pay for dealing with that violent student!  Nice bike ride, sounds pretty intense.

Looks like my upcoming OLY will likely not be wetsuit legal, which is fine.  I can't imagine putting on a wetsuit in this heat.  Forecast says we may even get a small break in the temps.  Question:  would it be best to do my regular group ride (30ish miles pushing the pace at times) on Saturday morning given that my OLY is on Monday, or should I give it a rest and maybe do a shorter ride on my own on Saturday?  Will be traveling, doing bike check in, etc. on Sunday, so that will be a total rest day.   

I would rest Saturday.  If not, just a short ride, easy spinning in the little gear.  You won't lose any fitness by not working out for a couple of days, and will gain rested muscles.  There is nothing you can do on Saturday training wise that will make you race better.  Saturday's the day to get everything packed and ready. 

• Create a checklist.
• Read some race reports from previous years. 
• Get to bed early on Saturday also.  Guess what.  I don't sleep well the night before a race.  Answer to that problem.  Make sure you get a good night's sleep in 2 nights before the race.  So get to bed early on Saturday night.  8 hours at least.
• Be sure to avoid a lot of fiber on Sunday.  Port-a-potty time goes against you.

I just had an idea.  Does your group always ride the same route? You could always meet them half-way in your car with some Oreos and Gatorades.  You'll become their favorite riding buddy in no time and it will give you something to do while not training.  Just a thought.

Now a couple of other things.

1. On my midnight ride about 12 miles in I passed an ambulance that was next to a fallen rider.  I saw this posting this morning and realized I knew the person.  Broken collar bone.
2. Some people are a little too creative
3. And here's an idea on how I can finish my tri if running is out of the question.  A guy on reddit told me he literally "skipped" the entire distance of the run for his last tri when running too painful.  He said you look like the happiest racer in the field.

I post too much.  I need to get to work.

Hi Guys - We've been dealing with hurricane Irene here in the northeast!  No internet/cable/phone for the last couple days.  Had family flying in for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, but the flights for my sisters from San Francisco and Denver both got cancelled and my brother in North Carolina decided to stay put and not take the risk.  My brother from Florida, came in the day before so he was the only out-of-towner to make it.  The party still went on as scheduled on Saturday as the rain, etc did not hit until late Saturday into Sunday.  The party was beautiful and my parents said it really exceeded all their expectations.  We had many "no-shows" but still ended up with about 120 people (out of the 170 expected).  We surprised them with a slide show of many happy memories throughout the years and had some dear friends get up and honor them - it was an emotional evening!

 We got home around 10pm and the rain began in earnest! We emptied the basement to be on the safe side (last hurricane, we got 18" in the basement and lost tons of stuff)  My daughter went to a hurricane party at a friend's house and we hoped for the best.  We were lucky! Our power remained on meaning that our sump pump was able to do its job and our basement remained dry!   Had 2 neighbors away on vacation and checked their houses for them in the morning - 1 had 4 FEET of water in the basement and the other had 2-3 feet of water in their basement and their power had gone out.  Most of the major roads near us are under water and traffic lights are out, trees are down, many people are without power - so we were extremely lucky that all we lost was the internet/cable/house phone.

On a triathlon note - The triathlon that my husband is training for had been hosting OWS events every friday in the lake and that town got hit very badly and the lake will be closed to OWS for a while.  Not sure if his event will be switched to a duathlon....we shall see.

Training this week - carrying boxed up from the basement and now back down to the basement....

Steve - glad to hear that your in-laws are recovering.

Dennis - thanks for keeping for the posts - interesting fish bike - if it floats, I could use it to train around here!

Carol and Samantha - rooting for your races!!!  You're doing great - I know you'll both rock it!

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Thanks Dennis!  I kind of figured I should take it easy on Saturday, just needed someone else to say it out loud.  Good points on the lists and extra sleep on Sat nt.  Taking cookies to the group is a good idea...definitely make some friends that way .

Ceril, glad the party went well in spite of Irene.  Geesh....the flooding from that is horrible.  Yes, surviving and keeping your stuff from being ruined takes priority over tri training!  Glad you are all OK.

Steve, hope your troubled student is staying relatively calm.

Samantha, you getting excited about your race?

Met a friend to ride this morning and she had a rear tire flat in the garage, YAY!!!  We were both so excited since neither of us has ever changed a tire.  I got the wheel off fine, changed the tube out fine and inflated w/ CO2.  Good to go....not.....pinch flat caused by yours truly...put a nice long slit in the tube.  So Becky patched the first tube, and I changed it again.  Held air....for a few minutes....and started leaking...patch didn't hold.  Decided it was her turn, and third time was the charm.  Got the wheel/chain back on and we were off.  So we got in practice 3X over.  Probably the only time we will be happy to have a flat.  

Here's a trick I saw when studying changing a tube.  Inflate the tube some before putting it back in the tire.  This is easier on presta valves.  But just blow into the valve some to give the tube its shape.  that will help it not be twisted and stay in the tire better while mounting the tire.  If at all possible, don't use levers for mounting the tire.  You should be able to do it with your thumbs only.  You might break a nail so be prepared (I enjoy taking sexist jabs at you). 

Ha!  Yes, turnabout is fair play!  I blew some air in, just not enuf.  And yep, the pinch was right there where I used the lever to get that last part of the tire back under the rim.  I'll try to woman up and use my hands next time .  

A small trick for getting a stubborn tire over that last part of the rim is to take bit of water... or spit, and slide it along the inside of the tire that you are trying to push over the rim and then it slides a bit easier.  You basically just wet your finger run it on the inside and then it slides over.  I don't use tire levers to get it in.  If I am not in a race I will also look inside the rim all the way around to make sure there are no pinched areas between the tire and the rim.  If the flat is due to something in the tire a good trick is to use a cotton ball and run it along the inside of the tire to see if it catches on something.  You can use your finger but.... then it shows red rather than white when you catch on a bit of metal, etc. 

Another 1000 pounds of dirt on the archery range, starting to shape up a bit.  I think another 2000 to 3000 pounds should have it close.  I got in a 4 mile jog and 5 mile jog today, foot still bugging me a bit.  Oh well. 

I am really looking forward to some Oly race reports!

An additional trick to this is to align the logo on your tire with the valve stem when mounting the tire.  Why?  So if you do find something poking through the tire, you will know where on the tube to look for a hole.  This works the other way around also.  If you know where the hole is in the tube, you know where to look at on the tire.

One last tire trick I remembered (and just had to share).  This applies mostly to mounting new tires.  Sometimes they can be really tight and hard to hand mount.  The tip here is to mount the tire without a tube using levers to stretch it over the last part.  After doing this once or twice, reinsert the tube and you should be able to hand mount easier.

Ok, enough about tires and flats.  I've gotten in some nice rides and walk/runs in lately but am neglecting my swim.  I'm planning on going tonight.  My wife just started back night school so that has screwed up my schedule quite a bit.

Steve and Dennis, thanks for sharing the tire tips!  Going to stick a cotton ball in my toolkit, and well, the spit is already packed I suppose.

Samantha, I found your tri online. http://www.mtcompact.org/GCT.htm   Better be careful...I read this in the bike course description:   "Drafters shot on site by motorcycle patrol."  I'm actually feeling more calm about the race. Just feel like I've done about all I could to prep and haven't hurt anything in the process.  So now it's time for both of us to go have fun and do our best!! 

I got in an OCD run + a swim in this morning.  Was so close to 100 running miles for the month that I couldn't resist.  Very happy w/ August....biggest month for me ever.       

Hmmm....maybe I'll skip the Friday OWS:

GRAPEVINE — Thousands of fish were found dead in Grapevine Lake on Tuesday. It's a major fish kill, with its victims lining the banks of the popular lake.

Theory is that low oxygen levels force the fish up closer to the surface to breathe.  Then we got a little rain on Monday that mixed the water up so the surface water wasn't as O2 rich.