Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 47)

Steve,

To help you decide!

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Congrats Tammy!  I know you put in a LOT of work for this race.  You finished with time to spare - good job!

Do we have any history buffs in the group?  On Friday I was just finishing my swim and I stood up in waist deep water and heard a plane overhead.  I looked up to see a B-17 bomber flying low and slow right over me.  It was pretty cool to see.  Then today, I was just wading out to start my swim and the bomber had just taken off from our local airport and when I looked up it was again flying low and slow and banking to the east as I watched.  Definitely worth postponing the start of my swim.

The bomber was here for people to see and fly in to raise funds for maintaining the plane.  

After the bomber flew off to the south I swam a 2K swim in perfect conditions.  Our lake has been so nice all summer.  It was getting too warm before ChelanMan but it has cooled off a bit since and it is just perfect.  Maybe 72F-ish.

Cycling and running tomorrow.

Deb,

Good race report.

I have a couple questions for you:

1) How much value do you place on the pre-race run through on the bike course?

2) In your race report you said, "On the big hills I had no more easy gears."  What cassette are you running?  Have you considered a different cassette with different gearing?

3) In your race report you also said, ". . . on these hills I felt like I was just taking a Sunday cruise in the park compared to the effort I could see others making."  I wonder what you meant by this.  Did you mean hitting your target power had you very comfortable, or do you mean you are concerned you were not riding hard enough?

If memory serves, you get another dose from the "fountain of youth" in just a couple weeks!

George,

You might say I am a history buff . . . at least with respect to World War II and the air war.

Way back when I was in high-school I was a WWII fanatic.  At the time, I had hopes of attending the U.S. Air Force Academy so I was fascinated by the air war (I actually got the appointment, however found out I was too colorblind to fly in the military - so why go in the Air Force if you can't fly jets?).  We live in a retirement community here in So. Cal. and there are several WWII vets close by.  I had the privilege of meeting a gentleman that flew 54 bombing missions in a B-17 over Germany and he lived to tell about it.  We met for lunch several times and the stories he had to tell were incredible.  I met another neighbor that served on the USS Yorktown.  I was almost obsessed with the Battle of Midway.  Here was a guy that was there!  He truly brought the history books to life and provided a perspective that words on paper could never achieve.

Scott, Scott and Dan - I didn't expect anyone would care much about my B17 story.  It was really neat seeing the plane and just seemed even more amazing by what I was doing at the time.  I also got a good look at the bomber through binoculars.  Last year we had a B25 bomber visit town as well.

I've always been interested in WWI and II history and particularly talking to the fellows who were there.  I remember sitting at Winnipeg beach as a kid 1959-ish and listening to veterans talking about D-Day and their experiences.  More recently, I met a German fellow who fought in every major front up to 1942 when he was captured at El Alamein.  He spent the rest of the war as a POW with all the survivors of the Bismarck.  A neighbour was a POW in a Japanese camp from 1941 to the end of the war and he wrote a book about it.  Pretty amazing story of survival.

Midway - I watch the movie fairly often.  Memphis Belle was also a pretty good movie.

12 O'clock High - Funny you mention this movie.  I watched it on the weekend because of seeing the bomber.  P51 pilot would be pretty interesting.  As for aerospace engineering interesting how things in our lives take us in directions you might never have considered otherwise.  I had considered aerospace engineering a long time ago but then life took me in a different direction.

Being Canadian my exposure was more to the navy and the European theatre (and more interest in planes like the Spitfire, Lancasters and Mosquitoes).

Sorry for getting off track for a while.  I'll get back to training now.  I had a bad run today and no swim - too high a wind.  

Scott,

Now I am slightly jealous that your dad was a P-51 pilot - my absolute favorite airplane of all time.  I had a chance to ride in a 2-seat Mustang (customized P-51D) about 10 years ago.  Pretty close to the best 45 minutes of my life.  I had my private pilot license at 16, my commercial ticket at 18, and a multi-engine rating at 20.  Unfortunately, while I could fly civilian, without the hours you get in the military a career in the pilot's seat would have been all but un-obtainable.  I started soaring at 23 but lost interest as I got older and started the family thing.  Never lost my interest in aviation in general and WWII specifically.  NOTHING like the sound a war bird coming overhead!

12 O'Clock high - my favorite show back in the day.

I'm counting down to my last race of the season on August 30th.  I've been following a plan but for this week and next I feel the plan is a bit intense for a taper.  Maybe intended for a younger more resilient athlete.

I want to do some swim bike running but nothing too intense.  I do feel I need to keep running at least easy runs - maybe shorter tempo runs.  I rode a long ride yesterday (82km/51mi) but not sure how much more cycling to do from here on.

Any thoughts or suggestions for the next two weeks?

Hey George,

First thing to remember is that a taper is about feeling fresh.  You aren't concerned about fitness at this point and you aren't trying to get faster or stronger.  You are trying to rest, recover, and increase your race day potential.  I would say don't worry about specific workouts so much as worry about being fresh.  With that philosophy, your taper plan needs to be dynamic so it can adjust depending upon how you feel.

Three things that apply to a proper taper:

1. Volume drops
2. Intensity remains or increases
3. Frequency of sessions remains at the beginning of taper and drops near the end

You want to rest while improving form  That means you need to continue to train at race intensity.  With the shorter volume, you will be allowing your body to rest.

You still have 10-days.  This week, I would do a normal workout schedule but drop volume by 25-45%.  Next week,  I would drop to one session for each sport.  Something like Tuesday run (so you have the longest to recover), Wednesday bike, and Thursday swim.  ALL of those workouts should be at race pace and all of them should be < 50% of your "normal" workout duration/distance.  If you are like me, a quick run on Friday - something like a mile - just to remind your legs that they have to move.

Hope that helps.