Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 58)

Hey Gang - Hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday! School's cancelled again today here in Indiana but we didn't get the snow they were predicting even though it's still coming down. Had a good upper body workout just shoveling the sidewalks.

I've been reading along on your posts. It's enjoyable to learn through your discussions. STEVE I gave up on the waking HR. I kept forgetting every morning except the one morning that I remembered, I'd left my watch in another room. I usually startle awake with thoughts of what has to be accomplished so I jump up. My HR has spiked by the time I open my eyes.

Question on the whole bike fitting discussion that was had a bit ago: I've had my bike for 3 years now and don't have any issues with pains or numbness but I've never had a formal fitting. Maybe I'm riding the thing totally wrong (I'm slow, so maybe that's it) but I'm comfortable. SOOO.... should I get a fitting? I'm just wondering if I mess with something that works so that maybe I'd be able to use my bike to it's full advantage? Hmmmm. OR..... would I be better served putting my money into a good set of wheels (Zipp?) for the thing? (I currently use what came stock on the bike). Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

I'm curious as to your "signature", CATHY. How's Peyton doing? Is he/she a relative and are they beating cancer?

You mentioned building a teardrop camper, JEFF. How cool! I asked my hubby to roughly convert (put in windows, A/C and run electricity) a cargo trailer that we use infrequently for work and he hasn't started but has promised it'll be ready to take to my first tri in May. I absolutely love combining camping and triathlons - it's my favorite thing but with our kids so active my hubby needs to be their taxi driver and that leaves me either tenting it or sleeping in the back of my Suburban (not fun). I've only found one internet source on teardrops and trailer conversions but it's pretty informative. Have you been building yours from scratch? I'd love to see some pictures. It seems you can go all out on these things or keep it simple.

Loved your race report, KASIA! What a way to have fun.

Have a great day everyone!

It started out with me looking for a cheap little pop up tent to take to events or what have you. I spotted one in pieces on one of my runs, went back and the owner gave it to me. Turned out to be deteriorating so badly as to be un-usable as is. However I salvaged the undercarriage, tongue, wheel bearings etc and added a new deck. It is small, with 8" wheels so I kept the foot print to 5X7 with up to 5x8 with the shape. It isnt a pure tear drop shape as I am not confident in my carpentry to handle that curved hatch but close enough for my tastes. Im going cheap but I think it will look ok. I added some 110v circuitry and an ac, will also have a 12v system for lights. Might be ready by end of March. Luckily registering home built trailers in Texas is ridiculously easy. I havent made pics but will try to take care of that soon. Gota get my camera back.

Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.....Hamlet

I shall try the run. 5.5 scheduled, I'll probably settle for 3. The sun is bright now maybe that will help.

ALEX -

Strange but true -- there really are people who can do the swim snorkel without a nose clip. The only comfort I get from them is figuring they are much lower on the evolutionary scale than I am, having a feature that is more suitable for an amphibian than a bipedal mammal.

Congrats on ordering the wetsuit! And even though you didn't ask specifically (although you suggested it with "Will be interesting putting it on for thre first time".......), here are a couple of suggestions:
1.) Choose a cool spot (basement? ill-heated garage?).
2.) Use socks.
3.) Avoid fingernails!!!
4.) For the bottom, go gradually -- get it up above your ankles first, with the rest bunched around down there; then work up a few inches at a time, going from leg to leg.
5.) When it's up to your hips, do a little yank on each side, hip-high, to snug it further.
6.) Feel behind your knees for any bunching or folds; if there, tug gently at the backs of the legs to bring it all up a bit higher.
7.) Make sure it is snug everywhere -- as snug as possible!
8.) If you are sweaty (quite likely) at this point, take a break; the sweatier you are, the harder it is to put it on.
9.) For the top, zipper in back.
10.) Before slipping it on, examine the arms and loacte the creases/seams which should go straight down the inside of your arms.
11.) As you slip it over your head and start to put your arms up the sleeves, work at keeping those inner-arm crease in place; otherwise, you'll end up with some tugging at your shoulders.
12.) As with the bottoms being snug as snug can be, same with the top at your armpits.
13.) When that seems fine, just do a couple of tugs up around the shoulders, and also check around your elbows for bunching; if there, cinch it up higher, as high as you can get it.
14.) Now! The zipper! If assuming you have a DeSoto two-piece, so the zipper gors from top to bottom -- unlike one-piece suits where you zip from bottom to top. I find it best to reach behind and over and up to locate the leash, and then (a) squeeze together my shoulders and (b) arch my back slightly so I'm sticking out my stomach and chest, just a bit ----- and then pull steadily down.
Voila! (?)
15.) When it's all the way down, pull down on the bottom to ensure the overall snugness; it should come to about your hips.

Wasn't that fun??

If you have someone who can help you, enlist them! None of this is easy or even intuitive, but the good news is that it will rapisly get better the more you do it. Honest! And annother thing to keep in mind is the knowledge that at any given triathlon there are scores of people who ask a person near them to help them with the zipping; it's a great ice-breaker activity!

Wear a swimsuit under it, or a suitable tight-fitting top and bottom. If you have clothing that you think will work in a race, tat will do -- juts so long as there is nothing baggy-ish that will just add to any wetsuit discomfort.

Speaking of which, be prepared for a feeling of constriction, and be willing to work with it for a while. In wetsuits, tight is good, and quite tight is even better. Of course, you don't want to experience anything bordering on suffocation, and while there might be a hint of that the first couple of wearings, that usually dissipates.

You definitely want close to full range-of-motion, so bend forward at the waist and try to few freestyle strokes, including turning your head as if you are breathing. If you feel some restriction at the shoulders, try to snug it up a bit higher. If it turns out that the bottom of the sleeves ride a few inches above your wrist bones (as mine does), that is fine. (Same with coming above your ankle bones, even if it clsoe to halfway up your calves.)

One of the great things about DeSoto is that the neck sits lower than in any conventional one-piece I have tried. This has two big positives: dramatically reduced neck contriction, and the virtual elimination of "wetsuit hickeys", which are both painful and unsightly !

In time, once you decide to keep it, you'll use BodyGlide or PAM to help with putting it on and getting it off. For now, though, don't use sanything as most retailers won't want soemthing returned that is gunked up. And you've probably read this, but if not --- NEVER-NEVER USE VASELINE! Vaseline is petroleum-based, and petroleum-based products eat neoprene for lunch -- just about literally! They erode the neoprene, and you end up with a disaster, plain and simple!

Well!

That was just going to be a few quick suggestions......and look where we are now! ANYHOW, let me know if anything there is not unclear, or if you have further questions.

Finally, the first time I put on a wetsuit was at a bike shop near Boston, and it was in a small change room with a hanging bulb-light up above. The change room was small and I am rangy, and I was totally miserable trying to get the thing on. I was sweating and gasping and questioning my very sanity......but after 2.3 lifetimes of struggling, I got it on. Mercy! It has only gotten better since then, and actually in fairly short order it became second-nature to me.

So......keep an open mind and have fun!

SO I bundle up and off I go chugging along feeling pretty good, side stepped some slick spots, slid a little here and there...1 mile...slipped, fell twisted ankle...pain, funny noise (may have been the ice) limped home, tried to jog a little, couldn't do it. Now my ankle is on ice and elevated; feeling kind of stupid.

Ouch I hope its not serious.

I hope that you are ok. 

Peyton is my 2 year old granddaughter who was diagnosed on Sept. 1, 2010 with retinoblastoma, a tumor in her eye.  On Sept. 8 she had surgery to remove her left eye so now has a prosthetic eye.  There are pictures in one of my albums.  She has had all the tests including bone marrow aspiration and MRI and in Dec. they determined there is no cancer in her body.  She now will be tested every 3 months until she is 5 years old.  She's our angel.

A question about goals.  I have been thinking about how to set goals for the season.  This being my first season I don't have times to try beat from last season or to set PR in one event or another.  Is it ok to set a goal to just finish each event?  Just wondering what others did in their first season.

thanks
Alex 

Hey folks...who rides outside in the snow...like on a bike!
I wanna get rolling out there.
I gotta get a bike though...no road bike for me on the snow/ice. So looking for a cheapo mountain bike type deal. What about anyone else? what do you ride ?

Best wishes from So Cal for a total recovery from this ordeal.  Keep us posted on her progress.

I do not ride in the snow. there is almost no snow in my area ever.  However if you are looking for an inexpensive yet reliable bike check out bikesdirect.com and/or pricepoint.com.  You could also just throw some CX (cyclocross) tires on your road bike, basically they are mountain bike tires the size of road bike tires (see link below for picture of them).  Just tossing out some ideas.
http://www.pricepoint.com/popups/popZoom.htm?page=popZoom.htm&zoomimg=Z_320%20CONSK9.jpg&altText=Continental%20Cyclocross%20Speed%20King%20700x35c%20at%20pricepoint.com&title=Current%20Zoom%20Image

Sarah,

I highly recommend you do one! And I think sheer insanity is the only way to go about signing up for Tough Mudder. Haha!

Kasia

David,

I did Warrior Dash last summer and had an absolute blast! You should definitely be excited. All these kinds of adventure races bring their own kind of crazy. And they're a nice change from the tri life.

As for shoes, I went with entry-level pedals (not sure what model) since I was also clueless about all that. The bike shop guy said to start off with those and go from there, since I was an entry-level rider. For now, the weight of them doesn't make a difference in my riding (I'm better off losing weight myself before I start worrying about the weight of my bike accessories). And for the shoes I went with comfort. I'm also super clueless about models but I figured I needed something that wouldn't hurt my feet and held my foot well. And that narrowed it down pretty quickly for me.

Kasia

I was weary of the destination race part of it, but it turned out to be so much fun that I really want to do more of these kinds of trips. We got to see a bit of Texas just from driving around and enjoyed Austin. You're totally right about destination races being awesome. I never would've known had I not given it a shot.

Hey George,

You are welcome to videotape next time! I'll see you in Colorado in June, then? The guys who designed it are both SEALs and British Special Forces, so some hard-core dudes. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jacka$$ had indeed had input. It seemed a bit excessive at times. Definitely look it up, though. It's super fun!

Kasia

Duncan,

Any chance of convincing your wife to take a "vacation" to Japan (that's the closest to Taiwan they have at the moment)? Or possibly telling her you're going on a corporate team bonding event? Or slipping away for an internation weekend of Guys Night Out? I'm great at scheming...

Kasia

I'm glad it was so much fun! My favorite is a destination Saturday race because then you just have to be careful with food/drink Friday night and have Saturday post race wide open to have fun

Craig,

The mud wasn't much of an issue, actually. Or maybe I just didn't realize that's what was slowing me down. It didn't tend to stick to the shoes much, and when it did, it wasn't for long because we were in and out of water a lot. So it came off pretty quickly.

And as for running 10 miles, it's not exactly necessary. I may've run about 2/3 of the distance and walked a fair amount. There are all kinds of folks out there, from 6 minute miles to those who walk most of the thing. So even if you're not up to running 10 miles, you'll be able to finish it and enjoy yourself. It'll just take you a bit longer. But there's plenty of people to keep you company.

Kasia

Steve,

Thanks for the props. I was worried you (and everyone else) would find it way too long. Glad you enjoyed it!

After getting back to my normal life, I had to keep myself from signing up for another one. It was hard! I kept looking at their locations and thinking, "Oh, it would be nice to visit so and so and do this race while I'm there." That would get a bit expensive, though, so I'm limiting myself to Colorado this summer and maybe Texas again either in the fall or in a year. That's what I say now, we shall see how it really goes.

As for the age distribution, one of my friends that I ran with was mid-40s and there were some 50- and 60-year-olds. But with that much mud and chaos, it's honestly hard to tell. The field was definitely dominated by young dudes. That might've been because we were in Texas which has a whole bunch of military base, so I'm curious how Colorado will look. There are a lot more active people out here so hopefully other demographics will be better represented.

And the mud was all gone by the second day. I was kind of bummed. But my race number is still somewhat peaking out from under my t-shirt. Luckily the one on my forehead washed off that evening. See below as to why I had Sharpie on my forehead:



So don't forget: Page 70! A nice round number, the year the Boston Bruins swept the St. Louis Blues to win the Stanley Cup, The Beatles' movie "Let It Be" premieres, umm, what else? I think that's all my quick Google search could find.

Kasia

David again,

I forgot to mention that I also have LOOK cleats and they work fabulously me. Granted, I've been riding for only one season, but so far so good. I do have to agree with Daniel and Steve about the cleat on the shoe being a bit fragile. Mine look pretty beat up because I'm not quite at the point of mounting my bike with the shoes already attached to it. So I tend to run in them during transition, which beats them up. But other than that, they've held up wonderfully. And just using them for riding doesn't damage them at all.

Kasia

Alex, I have goals for all my running events but I just want to finish my Ironman.  This will be my first.  It may take me the full 17 hours but my goal is just to finish.  2012 I will set a time goal. 

KASIA -

Great photo of you, and complemented by the hilarious sign. For sadists, they have a rollicking sense of humor, don't they?

The Bruins win in '70 was huge for me, as it was the first time in my life they had won the Cup. (Previous to that it was '41, I think?) And during my mid-formative years, they were dreadful. Check out their record from abourt '60-'65/'66. Then they got a young pup name of Bobby Orr, and the ascendency had begun.

Around Boston, Orr's goal to win against St.Louis is iconic. Orr feeding to Sanderson behind the net, Sanderson passing to him cutting across from the goalie's left, the shot, and Orr tripping over Noel Picard's stick but AIRBORNE, hands raised in utter vistory. God, that was glorious.

1970 was also when I was.......21. Ack. I'm not sure -- was that four or five whole lifetimes ago? Was I in my prime then? Did I still have most of my hair? Hmmm. Hard to remember that far back!

CATHY -

Thank you for telling us about Peyton. I was just thinking it was tied in with Peyton Manning, that maybe he was spearheading something along the lines of what Lance Armstrong is doing. Is this the first time she has stayed with your since the surgery? If so, it must make this visit extra sweet.

I vaguely remember some family medical concern from about this time last year; was that a lead-up to the diagnosis and the surgery? And once her fifth birthday has passed, will there be just annual testing --- or will it be figured to be a non-existing problem?

Enjoy the final few days of this visit!!

ALEX -

That's a good question about goals, and for me it is not necessarily an easy one. So, I have gone to "The Triathlete's Training Bible", by Joe Friel, and what follows is a quick summary of some of the points he makes about goal-setting.

He starts out by mentioning three broad areas of goal-setting: FINISHING a particular distance, IMPROVING on a previous time, QUALIFYING for some major race. So, when you mention just having a goal to finish each of your races, that seems to be valid, according to Friel.

He goes on to say that goals should not be confused with dreams or wishes. He feels that dreams can be healthy by way of providing a vision for the far-off future, and that once a dream has been worked on for long enough that it might be achieved in the coming season, then it goes from being a dream to being a goal.

Finally, he lists four principles that's one's goals should adhere to:
(1) Your goal must be measurable.
(2) Your goal must be under your control.
(3) Your goal must stretch you.
(4) Your goal must be stated in the positive.

He provides examples for each of those, and PLEASE tell me if you'd like me to elaborate on them!

(I'll be right back.)