GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 56)

THARPISM #1 (from "Overachiever's Diary" by Louis Tharp, swim coach at West Point))


"Here's what drills do for swimmers:

- They get blood to your muscles by allowing you to warm up slowly at first and then alllow you to move to race pace in a continuous pattern.

- They help your brain and body get reacquainted with the rules of efficient swimming.

Here's what swimmers do for drills:

- Give them a bad name.

It's a lopsided realtionship so its not surprising it's dysfunctional."



That is really just a teaser, and I'll leave you all to think about it for a while before I post his comments surrounding it. And there will be lots of other stuff to follow, as I find his approach very unique and some of his ideas quite intriguing. As I said to Tracey the other day, he is a TI guy, but often thinks outside the box.

Hey all,

Happy Monday.  Steve, I'm looking forward to lunch to listen to the podcast!  Hope the plumbing worked itself out.

Weekend was an interesting experience.   We're going to chalk this one up to "find a way". 

Friday:  Got some new shoes.  Tried on about 5 different pairs, including the Jespers I currently wear, the heavier, more stable version of the Etonic shoe that I wore before (name escapes me), a pair of Pear Izumi shoes, and what I ended up getting which was a pair of Mizuno shoes.  The second I put on the Mizunos, they felt GREAT and they were comfortable on the treadmill.  The store owner said he thought that the stride looked the best in them and the Pearls.  But I found the Pearls just a little weird feeling (it's like there is no heel in them, so you feel like your on your toes all the time.

Saturday, drove down to San Diego to see the new niece (just a beautiful little girl).  They are so much fun at 5 days old - they just sit in your arms and sleep. 

Went for a run in Ocean Beach - felt goodish, but about half way into the run (always half way, when you're farthest from home), the left ankle started to feel twingy, and the left knee as well.  Everything started to feel out of sorts and labored.  Combine that with the fact that they live in the hills above Ocean Beach meant that it was going to be a hard run back.  Think hills of San Francisco steep.  At one point, there is nothing to do but get up on the toes and chip away at the hills.  Anyway, got home OK (did my 1:45).  Now, my calves are seized from the hill running.  Walking is very uncomfortable right now.  Needless to say, I am passing on today's run/swim, and will use today as my rest day this week instead of Friday.

Sunday - things went from bad to worse.  Got up at 6:00 am.   Plan is to ride north 100 miles and have Maggie pick me up in Long Beach.   Get out the door on time, and start riding.  However, somewhere around mile 5, the directions fly out of my back jersey pocket, so now I'm riding blind.  I figure, I can sort it out so I keep going.  After calling home for directions twice, I find myself at the top of Soledad Mountain, and headed down to Torrey Pines.  Scary as hell, as it's a 15% downhill grade, and on the TT bike, I can't get back far enough in the saddle to feel safe.  I'm literally hanging my butt off the back end of the seat, above the rear water bottles and crushing the brakes in my hands.  And I keep accelerating!  At the bottom of the hill, it goes straight up, so I shift hard to start climbing and my chain drops.  Turns out, my front deraileur was loose.  So, the chain gets snagged between the big ring and the chain stay, and I can't get it out.  So I'm stranded.  An hour and a half later, Maggie picks me up and we drive back home to LA and the LBS.  They take the crank off, inspect the chain, reassemble, adjust the front and real deraileurs, and I'm back in the game!  So, my century ride on PCH turned out to be 1 hour of frustration in the hills of San Diego, and then three hours on the trainer at home watching the Super Bowl.

But, I got my ride in!  Woo-hoo.

This weekend, (with a freshly inspected bike), it's off to the IM course in St. George to do 1 loop of the bike course and 1 loop of the run course.  Weather is supposed to be in the high 50's and sunny. 

Now, If I can just get my calves to relax!  LOL.

Question for anyone using HRM's....

I'm looking at either the Polar S720i or S725X vs the Garmin Forerunner 305. All based on prices for used units of Ebay (seems to be cheapest option).

I like the Polar units as IF the battery has been replaced by Polar it is still waterproof and I could swim with it on and start a tri with it on and strap on under the wetsuit and never think about it. Not very many of these coming up for sale. Polar's also seem to have the reputation of having more accurate HR readings, calorie burn and vertical distance.

Lots and lots of the Garmin 305's for sale with a range of prices on Ebay. GPS sounds nice, battery life sounds not to great. Being able to really map out where (or where I didn't) go is neat, but really worthwhile? Some people think the HR and calorie burn is not as accurate as Polar.

Has anyone tried both (either brands or Non-GPS vs GPS HRM)? Which way did you decide to go and why?

STEVE -

Find a way is right! That was quite the series of events, and hats off to you for sounding like you're smiling about it all - at least now! I'm sure you weren't quite so pleased at about nine different points during the weekend, but if it's true that we all need to get some of life's bad experiences out of our system, so you jettisoned a lot of garbage over the past couple of days. Feel any less burdens weighing upon you?

Nice adjustment on doing the three hours on the trainer! I thought about that as well......and just ended up being a vegetable, watching the game and picking on the guitar, mostly. I had a decent swim and a fabulous run yesterday, so I figured I would just be a slug and focus on the game.

Which model Mizuno did you get. Shoe junkie that I am, I HATE it when you people mention a company but not the model. In my little universe of running shoe fetishism, this is just simply footus interruptus!

Over the years I have made many stabs at getting Mizuno to work for me, and have never really succeeded. They are a GREAT shoe to be sure, but that is said more from all the people who swear by them, as opposed to any of my own success stories. I keep thinking I will try the Precision one day, but I'm pretty committed to Newtons, and that is getting in the way. Anyhow, let me know the model you got --- pretty please?

Your chain experience leads me to provide a very valuable tip, which I hope you don't need at St. George. I dropped my chain shifting on a steep hill durng a race in August, and I got it back on within about 15 seconds. But then it took me over a minute to re-mount, as there was no tension on my pedals, one of which was at the bottom. So as I tried to get going and clip in on this hill, I couldn't get any forward motion going. Eventually I steadied myself on the guardrail and did it that way.

So what was this about? Well, when I re-engaged the chain, I put it in a different place on the cogs than it was when it dropped. That is, my gears were at one setting, which wasnt the same as the cog to which I attached the chain. That's why there wasn't enough tension to allow me to pedal. It occiurred to me on the ride home that after crashes in the Tour d'France, the riders will often reach down and manually turn their crank once, and what that serves to do is get the chain on the cog that corresponds to the gear they were in when they crasged - or when their chain just happened to drop.

Final word on this: Any time your drop the chain, right after you re-engage it take the extra 3.27 seconds to manually turn your crank one complete revolution, and then you will be ready to re-mount and have proper chain/gear tension so that the cranks just don't "flop". And if you never do this on flats and downhills, well, it probably won't be a problem, but if it's on an upgrade - SG comes to mind - try to remember that trick so as to avoid many, many lost seconds.

It amazes me that I never figured that out before, or never considered why the Tour riders did the manual revolution thing. What - Did I figure it was just something they enjoyed, or that seemed like a good idea at the time?!?

Yeah, I think my mom thought I was an okay humanoid when I was five days old, too. Not so much at any time after that, but at five days I was a-okay in her books!

SHAUN -

Hi! You've been missed!

I have been monitorless for several years, and am way, way out of the loop. But I maybe think I know soemthing about soemthing, so here goes:

(1) I could never figure out Polar models - they just had too many features for me to figure out. But that's me, really dense at technological stuff. For people who grasp techno stuff, Polar works better than fine; they have been the HRM standard-bearer for a long time now.

(2) There are so many 305s out there because everyone dumped them in favor of the 310. But unless you want the best of the best, then the 305 will serve you really well. I mean, about seven months ago people swore by their 305s, and to my mind if they were fabulous back then, they have to be at leat pretty damn good right now. It's similar to wetsuits. Last year's top-of-the-line model gets upgraded, and suddenly it's as if it was lousy all along, so many people are jumping to the new ultra-great model. I'm not critical of people who upgrade their wetsuits or HRM or whatever else, I'm just saying that what was terrific not too long ago is still pretty terrific right now! I'm sure you'll love a 305!

SHAUN again -

Even in the days when I fairly regularly trained with a HRM, I never used one in a race. I've just always relied on perceived exertion in races, figuring that can tell me exactly what I'm capable of doing at that moment. Twisting this back on itself, there were just lots of tiems in which a HR of, say, 152 felt great, and other times it felt crappy. So, there was no exact correlation between how I felt and what my HR was at, and therefpre I couldn't think of how looking at my wrist and seeing 148 would help me decide what adjustments needed to be made. I'm just sayin'!!

STEVA,

WOW!   That was quite the weekend.  Sorry you didn't get your outdoor rine in.     

Nice to see that you are the kind of guy who sees the glass half full rather than half empty and doesn't let a little adversity stop you in your tracks.      If this is any indication, you are going to ace your HIM.    

Have a great week.  

   

I've wondered about this alot, and over time have learned that if my resting HR is out of whack in the morning, I don't bother using the HRM at all.   Plus, wearing it is a pain in the butt in races.   I can't have the watch under my sleeve so I if I wear it I actually have to take it off, try and get the wetsuit down and then put it back on.  

I've only worn it a couple of times out of curiousity - wanted to see how high my HR got on the swim and once I monitored it on the bike trying to keep HR just under LT, but from that experience I think for that distance (33km) it wouldn't have hurt me too much to go all out.   

I still wonder - do you have to hold back on the bike to get a good run?  

Hey Steve,

Yep, should have known better on the shoes.  I'm pretty sure they are the Wave Creation 10, but on the site, they only have the Wave Creation 11.  Site is weird, as the "chart" they have for download lists it as the 10, and the site lists it as the 11.  I'll check the box at home.  The store owner was pretty candid and said that Mizuno "screwed up the shoe last year" and it was  "piece".  But that they got this one right and he's very impressed with what they did in this year's model.  He was very big on the shoe.  Time will tell.  I had no real problems with the Jesper, but do recall when I first started running on them, I had some soreness as well.  I am hoping that it is just what happens when you break in a new pair of shoes, and the next run will go smoother.  I like that they have a pretty large toe box, and the materials give a bit on the top, so that when the foot starts swelling, you don't get that constricting feeling (or less of it I guess).  I used to like Saucony for that reason, but never found a shoe with enough support.

One other bit of good news - the wife might have opened Pandora's box.  I put the bike in front of the TV to watch the game with her, and she said that the sound didn't really bother her at all - it wasn't too loud.  So, I'm thinking I may set it up again tonight and watch my beloved Jayhawks play Texas. 

Yup, that's the one.

STEVE:

Was wondering if I could ask you about the TI drills I've been doing (or trying to do). So there's the elemental "balance" drill where you just lie on your back and let the water fully support your weight. When I try to do this, I find that I'm constantly rolling to the left. I can only stay on my back if I make the effort to, which I guess defeats the purpose of trying to "let" the water hold all your weight.

In the second drill (which I think is called Sweet Spot), each time I try to roll to the side, my legs drop down. I try to compensate for this by pressing my lower shoulder down into the water but the legs seem to keep wanting to drop down.

Is it just a matter of practice? TI stresses that you have to practice these drills and get them down in order to do well with swimming. How much time would you recommend that I dedicate to practicing drills, versus lap swimming (keeping in mind that right now I'm only swimming 2-3 times per week, 30 to 40 minutes each session).

Thank you!

Tracey

Hi,

Diane - You have a 16 yd pool in your backyard? I am so jealous.

M/SteveB - At my 1st tri last summer I passed a unicyclist - that was a shock - almost fell off my bike staring

Shaun - I LOVE my 305 - use it mainly for monitoring pace (running) and speed (biking) - not so much HR - and I don't have anything to compare it to.

SteveA - I love to read your posts - so excited someone's doing an IM.

Denise

OOPS!   I am sorry - you are doing an IM.   YIKES!   That's a big one.    You'll still ace it.     

ANNE -

I guess Steve is an "aw, shucks" kind of guy, cuz he hasn't chimed in to say he is doing both a HIM and an IM between now and May 1.

(I'm stalling here......................as I know May 1 is Ironman St.George, but I cannot remember the name of the HIM. I keep wanting to say Rage, but that was the oly that Kasia was thinking of doing. Steve's HIM has a catchy name, though, and I'll come up with it shortly.)

AH-HA! IT'S SHOWDOWN AT SUNDOWN, MARCH 27!!!!!


(I cheated and looked it up ---- But I recognized it as soon as i saw it!)

STEVE -

Hmmm. Those Etonic models you did well in, the Jepara and the Minado, are both designed for people who over-pronate to some degree. For users of Jepara it's mild to moderate over-pronation, and for the Minado, which is Etonic's motion-control shoe, they pronate to an even greater degree.

The Mizuno Creation, on the other hand is towards the other end of the spectrum. It is one of Mizuno's neutral shoes, meaning that it dosn't have any features that are designed to prevent the foot from over-pronating. It most shoes this would be in the form of a dual-density midsole, but Mizuno is different in that they use various forms of "wave plates" to achieve the same effects as different densities of midsoles.

IF those Etonic models worked for you because you over-pronate, then it is not surprising that you had troubles with the Creation. Moreover, the Creation is designed for heavier runners than you are -- which is what again? 165? 170 tops? With that in mind, thereis alot of shoe there, and it weighs a fair bit - about 12.9 oz for a size 9 or 10. (I'm getting the weight info from the Road Runner Sports catalog.)

Based on your weight and your history with Etonic Jepara and Minado, I'd think that comparable Mizuno models fro you would be either Alchemy or Inspire. Those are both stability models, which means that the wave plate will be built up a bit more, or extend further forward, on the medial side of the shoe. That's what will help prevent your foot from rolling too far inward each time you land. Also in their stability line is the Nirvana, but like the Creation it is made for people >180lbs, and I believe it is their true motion control shoe, meaning it is comparable in support to the Minado.

On the other hand........
It might turn out that the Creation can work for you, and that your foot is pretty adaptable to several different catagories of shoe type. But if the store has a "gently-used" return policy, you might want to consider returning them and trying something that is closer in design and function to the Jepara and Minado.

Sorry to be a pain in the neck about this!






Edited by stevebradley 2010-02-08 4:39 PM

STEVE again -

How did you become a Jayhawk fan? I came very close to going there to do a doctorate, and I've been partial to them ever since. Lawrence is an awfully nice place, and Kansas City is one of my favorite cities. Are you also a Royals and Chiefs fan?

(And just so that no one gets the wrong idea about me, not only did I not go there for a doctorate, but I ended up not going ANYwhere for a doctorate, and it even turns out that I never finished my M.Sc. thesis, so I don't even have that. So close and yet so far!)

LOL.  Yep, HIM on March 27th (I think) - Showdown at Sundown in Vegas.  IM on May 1st.  I think I'm just one of those folks who thinks, "I haven't done anything yet...".  My buddy in Vegas who is also doing these races with me poked fun at me a few weeks ago, saying, "dude, give yourself at least some credit here!" 

I will say this - this weekend was very humbling.  I was feeling VERY good about recent training up until Saturday.  Running was going well, bricks were going well, even swimming was fun.  I was enjoying hill work, long rides, etc.  Then WHAMO, tough run on Saturday with the new shoes, and the bike malfunction on Sunday made me realize that on race day, anything can happen.  Now I'm in a paranoia mode:  bought a Universal Tool for the bike kit yesterday (thinking I can somehow McGyver my way through a mechanical problem!), am already earmarking dollars for tune-ups prior to both races, and am thinking about a new rack for the bike to transport it more safely.  

I used to be one of those people who would watch the NBC Ironman coverage and while Jim Nance is spinning the drama of nerves prior to the start and think to himself, "please!"  I'm starting to realize that no matter how much you prep, the proverbial "S*&T Happens".  So now I'm practicing on how to compartmentalize the anxiety that I am sure will start to build in the next 11 weeks.  I'm also coming to the realization that probably 90% of the people who fail to finish an IM are more fit than I am, and just had a bad day.  All you can do is focus on the process and hopefully, good things happen.

Argh!!

I am printing this out and taking it to the shoe store!  I'll let them tell me what their thoughts are.  I am so thankful for your shoe fettish!

ANNE -

Holding back on the bike to have a good run? Well, for me that's a yes, but of course it's not just yes or no, black or white. There are infinite degrees of holding back, and also significant degrees of what qualifies as "good" for running off the bike in a race.

Prior to '06, my m.o. was sketchy swim, pretty good bike, very good run. Then came my torn meniscus and my forays into aquabikes. (I'm about to launch into a story that I fear I have told here before.....)

It amazed me how fast one can ride in a race when there is nothing to hold back for. So doing the aqbks I learned what it felt like to ride HARD for 40km or 90km, and that really was a brand new experience for me. It essence, I found sustainable (maintainable?) gears that I never knew I had - not gears in the actual mechanical sense, but in the form of different intensities or speeds. That was hugely empowering and liberating, but then the question became obvious -- how do I ride like THAT once I recover and get back to the world of having to run off the bike?!?

Since then it's been trial and error, and the sum effcet is that in most races from '07 to the present my strongest leg has been the bike. Pre-meniscus I was maybe in the top 30% of all competitors on the bike and top 20% on the run, but it is now more like top 15% on the bike and top 23% on the run. So, I have gained alot of improvement on the bike, while losing only a small amount on the run. Each year gets better than the previous one in learning how to make the two ends meet better, and I'm sure that if I went back to my runs in '07 I would see that they were only in the top 30-33%......and then they improved a bit in '08 (top 25-27%?) ...and even more in '09, all while still riding a strong bike.

So much of it is rolling the dice and hoping for the best. My final four races of '09 were all efforts at riding the bike real hard --- and then hoping that I could hold it together effectively on the run. It actually worked really well, although as I think about it some, on my last race, which was a half-iron, I held back on the second half of the bike to save a decent amount for a tough, hilly run. This proved to be very rewarding for me, as I "let" my chief a.g. competitor pull away from me for most of the second half of the bike ---- and then I caught him at about mile 5 of the run and pulled away from that point on. The goiod part of that was that I felt very in tune with my body, and ran my own race -- I didn't let his effort on the bike dictate how I conducted my race. Not that long ago not only would I have been sucked into his vortex, but I would nt have had a sense of my own strengths/limits. Believe it or not, that was the first race I ever did starteguically, complete with altering my strategies as the race unfolded.

So, yes, I still hold back on the bike in order to have a strong run.....but not as much as I used to. And as another aside here, I wouuld saty that the big benefit of racing SOOOO much during the past three seasons gave me loads of practice at figuring out the best balance between the two. As you know, it is hard to do things at race intensity during training, at least for the same amount of miles as there will be on race day. But out there on the course with all of the worthy opposition ----- well, there it's just race hard and see what happens! I am not a fast learner, so I needed most of those 17 races in '07 and 10 races in '08 and 13 races in '09 to get myself to the point of knowing my own limits and having the courage of my convictions as to when to go hard. I think for most people they would NOT need as much time/race-expereince as i did, and I hope that's how it works for you. (I'm SURE you are a faster learner than I am.)

Whew! Did I say anything in all that drivel??

Wow, what an understatement Steve!  Good for you on your perserverence!  I too fell in love with whatever Mizuno I am currently wearing, same experience as you.  The minute I put them on I knew they were the ones. 

STEVE -

A great rule of thumb for ironman is "expect the unexpected", which is not an original thought but which was told me by my former coach, Erik Cagnina, who at the time he told me that had done 10 IM and been to Kona twice.

So along comes IMLP '04, my first, and at about mile 45 my chain dropped - first time ever in a race. No biggie, I justv topped for a few seconds, re-engaged it, and was off -- a bit rattled but not much.

Then at special needs at mile 56 I picked up my two p.b. and grape jelly sandwiches, wolfed one down and put the other one down the front of my jersey - inside a fold-top baggie, i might add. But going down one of the screaming descents about 5 miles later, a bee got into my top (maybe sensing the jelly?) and stung me three times. Expect the unexpected, indeed!

And finally, at about mile 100-102, my chain dropped twice more. And that was it for the unplanned for woes at IMLP '04.

On my second IM the following season, my bike was perfect and my run was going great, but with about 5 miles to go my neuroma started to "burn", which it had never done before. I had read enough about it to know that about the only thing that will help at that point is to remove the shoe and rub beneath the neuroma very enthusiastically, so that's what I did. That really rattled me, but I went on to finish the run with no further problems.

Tune-ups are great, and as long as you have a bike shop you trust, they are worth every penny. Doesn't mean that s--t won't happen, but a good tune-up will eliminate a lotvof the stuff that COULD happen. I get about three tune-ups a season - May, July, September - normally, maybe a fourth if I have a really heavy race schedule or more than normal long races.

Compartmentalizing is good, better than good in fact. But try to keep the anxiety in one of the smaller compartments, just so you force yourself to deal with less anxiety. (Can't own four cars if you only have a one-car garage!)

As for the comment about having a bad day, that just takes so many forms. Under-training, over-training, mecahnicals, sickness, and just not racing wisely, either from not respecting the course and/or the distance, or racing foolishly. As to 90% of them being more fit than you are.......I really doubt that. You are in very good shape, and you have trained wisely for IMSG. And going tere to train -- BIG bonus!!! By the way, how are you getting there and how long will it take you. I'm figuring you're driving and that it will be about 8-12 hours each way? Maybe I'd better look at a map! (Canyon country of Utah, right?)

Finally, shoes again. Check out the specific websites for Etonic and Mizuno, but also go to www.roadrunnersports.com and www.nationalrunningcenter.com. I'm not sure that either carry Etonic, but RRS does deal Mizuno, and I'm about 99.99% sure that NRC doies also. Those sites will help you see the type of runner and running style that specific shoes are designed for.

TRACEY -

Oops! I just found your post about TI drill questions, and I'll get to that later this evening. Gotta get dinner ready for Lynner, who has worked late this evening!

Quickly though, do your feet sink equally on either side when you are doing "sweet spot"? And also, have you always had trouble floating without your legs sinking? (That was always a problem for me, and to this day I cannot do a "deadman's float" for more than about three seconds before the legs and feet start sinking!)

Most people will have a sweet spot that's sweeter on one side than another, and I'm sure that's a good indicator of the best side on which to breathe. I think that's how my six-session instructor in '00 decided that I should breathe to my right instead of to my lifelong left, basd on watching me finding true sweetness with my right side turned up.

Bye for now!

STEVE A, way to persevere this weekend. Sorry things didn't play out like you planned. Hoping you'll have a great ride this weekend out on the course!

STEVE B, sorry, I had to laugh out loud when I read your bee story ... that wouldn't have been fun! Glad to hear you got a good run in. And yes, I had gone ahead and ordered the wetsuit ... snuck it in when my husband was watching the game last night! I'm still not sold on keeping my eyes open in the waters here (and yes, I meant with goggles!) ... it just kind of freaks me out as I can't see a thing but murky green or murky brown, now if it was murky clear ...

SHAUN, I have a Polar (just the F6) and the Garmin 305. Like DENISE, I don't necessarily use either for heart rate as much as  pace.  Love the GPS on the Garmin as I got tired of coming home and getting on Map My Run to see how far my runs were each day. But it's not water proof so can't use it in a tri, so use my Polar, again more for pace rather than anything else. And the Garmin doesn't have a regular watch on it, so my last running race (a 5K) I wore my Polar so I could figure out where my friends would be out on the half mary course.  The 305 does a lot more than what I use if for, and at some point, I'm going to figure out the rest of the stuff. Also, it's nice to be able to download your workout from the Garmin onto BT.  

Sounds like lots of training going on the pools!! TRACY, I watched the TI DVD that someone had given me and just didn't find it that useful ... maybe because I'd read the book and done a very short training session leading up to a tri. I was disappointed it didn't have more of the general drills on it, so need to look those up again.  BUT, it might be a different video than what you have.

Take care all, Lisa

Thanks Steve.  I was spending more time on the site today, and perhaps I do have the Alchemy - as on the Road Runner site, they are the same color.  None of the shoes on the Mizuno site actually look like my shoe (color scheme wise).  But on the RR site, the red of the Alchemy matches the color I bought.  (I must say, I am so very embarrassed to have written that whole thing right there!). 

I also hear you on the Murphy's Law.  I could swear I am your doppelganger (just shorter!).  On my first tri (granted, a sprint), I dropped my chain 2x, and flatted out 2x.  Turned out I had a tear in the tire wall - but was fortunate that someone took pity on me and handed me a spare tube.  Ended up riding the return of the course on a half-inflated tire so as not to pinch the tube off on the wall tear.  heh. 

As for the 90% I guess I am just assuming that a lot of the people who fail to complete don't fail because of a lack of fitness (though I am sure there are some in that group).  But that over 140 miles, so much can go wrong (bike failure, sickness, injury, crash, bad timing on a cold or flu) that all you can do is focus on process.  As I write this, I can't help but think of a pack of wildebeests making the migration.  Everyone is headed in the same direction, most are capable, but hey, the lions and alligators are going to get some of them.  All you can do is keep moving forward and assume that it isn't going to be you!  LOL. 

IMSG is going to be about 7-10 hours depending on traffic.  Will drive to my friend's place in Vegas after work on Friday (5-8 hours because of heading out during rush hour) and then head to SG in the AM (1.5 hours or so).