GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 67)

STEVEB, (or anyone else)

Was wondering if you have ever done the Esprit Triathlon in Montreal, in September?   A friend of Ken's said it is a pretty nice venue.   I had a look at last year's results and the women in my age group, both Sprint and Olympic were very fast runners, so I won't have any pressure in trying to place.       It is the day after my BD and we thought we might make it a little mini vacation.  

Hi,

I am EXHAUSTED.  Got my wetsuits in the mail and have been trying them on.  Hard work.  The plastic bag on the foot helps a lot.  They are VERY tight but I am keeping them because I haven't lost all my winter weight yet.  Every year I go up in the winter but it'll be gone before my 1st race.  I am now putting pipe insulation on hangers for them.  Thanks Steve.

Lisa - I can relate to the baseball game.  We had a similar experience with my daughter's softball team in 9th grade.  They were 7  down, last inning in a tournament championship game.  They came back and won.  We were screaming our heads off every time a run came in - could not believe it when they actually won. 

Denise

I have been using a G/C supplement for about 6 years. I started due to knee joint pain, which my Dr. said was due to osteoarthritis and he suggested trying that to help with discomfort - which mainly occurred following extended periods on my feet. At the time I was 50 pounds heavier, which was the main problem. Anyway, I think it has helped, however, I am trying to wean myself off to see if I still need it (don't want to take something I don't need) and it is kind of expensive and I'd rather not spend the money.
Mark

I take a daily multi, and an extra calcium supplement too.

When I remember, I take a multi daily...

I don't take a multi.... but I do take calcium/Vit D.

As with other supplements, I end up being a slacker with a multi. In the past I have tried to be rigorous about this, especially Premium Insurance Caps (www.hammernutrition.com), but just can't get it into my routine. PICs are so loaded that I figure if I took them regularly I might be able to sprout wings and fly, but even that isn't enought to get me on a regular program.

Lynn has been osteoporotic for a few years now -- nothing at all debilitationg, but just worrisome -- and regularly uses a combination of calcium and vitamin D. A wise move for any woman Of A Certain Age?

Oh, our Steve A. is a happy boy today! His U.K. Jayhawks won last night, 94-74, making it a trip well worth making and a game well worth attending, I would guess!

TRACEY -

That's a terrific photo of you with the group on his Facebook page! (Psst! Can I have your autograph?)

ANNE -

Ho, I haven't done Esprit -- even though it is only about 90 minutes from home. It just falls at a time in which the race scene in the U.S. northeast is glutted with desirables, and I never fit it in.

Esprit has several reputations:
(1) Wicked fast course.
(2) Can be a mind-bender at the longer distances.
(3) Fabulous for viewing by family and groupies.
(4) Best place for a PR (maybe an "asterisk" PR, but still).
(5) Scads of folks go back as often as they can.

More specifically:
Swim - Cold, but always calm and always easy. It's in the narrow boat basin, incredibly easy to navigate and impossible to strya off-course.
Bike - Ultra-fast, with one teeny rise on a wannabe-bridge over a ped walkway. The iron-distance is about 48 laps of it, but the big screen helps one keep track of how many they have done.
Run - Straightforward and a bit tedious, but flat and fast. (So, don't necessarily be cowed by the fast run times you saw in the results.)
Other - Flow of movement from one discipline to the next can be confusing.

The map on the website is pretty nifty, or at last the one they used to have was. I suspect it's the same one up there now; maybe I'll go check. I think the site is www.esprittriathlon.com.

I think one of the reasons I haven't done it is #4 above, just wondering if I want to shell out the money and training time for a potential PR that I wouldn't quite know what to do with. I know that no two races are the same and that inevitably there are courses that favor PRs -- but Esprit seems extremely extreme in that respect. On a related note, Muskoka 70.3 (same weekend as Esprit, I believe) works in my head the other way -- with it's 94km bike instead of the standard 90km, it just mkaes performance comparisons more difficult. I know I can "just" subtract 8 minutes from a Muskoka 70.3 time and say that's my time for a "regulation" half-iron....but that just doesn't work in my head.

A cool race to check out is Fly By Night Duathlon, run out of Watkins Glen, NY, on the FormulOne track there. But tat track is not as straightforward as at Esprit, and features a couple of tough climbs and hairpin turns. The website is www.flybynight.com, or maybe www.flybynightdu.com. And it's called Fly By Night because the duathlon happens in the evening, under the lights, after the day's car race has been completed. It is around May 30. Have a peak!

ANNE/CATHY/DEE(?) -

I don't know about you, but I was acutely embarrassed to learn yesterday that Canada's Olympic Performance program is officially called Own The Podium. I only learned about this yesterday, and I am still squirming. It just seems like a form of trash-talking, almost, and just serves as a prod for other countries. Between that and the "Believe" campaign, expectations were set way too high -- at least in the minds of the general public. I'm sure the athletes themselves were not pleased with "Own The Podium", as they know it is not that simple at all. As the commentators said last night after the men's 1000m short-track, no one figured that the Koreans would be as they strong as they are. And that just shows what most athletes know -- that you can't control how other athletes perform. That, and also that on any given day anything can happen.

Poor Mellisa Hollinsworth is being taken to task becasue her skeleton sled bounced off the walls. Well, that happens all the time to those people in training, and you just hope that it won't happen when the actual race comes......but it does and that's that. I still feel she's a world-class skeleton racer, and next time around she'll deliver - or at least stand a good chance of delivering. Any of tem who make it to the Olympics - no shame at all!

The guy that runs the OTP program, I think, Chris Rudge, ought to be drawn and quartered for this comment: ".....and even now at seven medals I think we're only one bronze. We used to have a propensity for bronze." What is he doing there --- wittingly or unwittingly disparaging a bronze medal. I can't beleive he REALLY meant that, but if I wrere the person with that bronze I would be a bit ticked off. I think.

That's my rant for the day!

---------------- TAPERING ----------------

This (tapering) will be discussed here in a big way as race season approaches, but for now I'll just mention the following comment which I heard last night before the short-track speed-skating competitions.

THE TAPER FOR THOSE MEN AND WOMEN IS ABOUT 90%!!! That is, from their peak training leading up to the Olympics, they will reduce it by 90% in the final week or so. I'd say that is pretty significant!

My tapers are maybe 60% in terms of duration and 80% in intensity, and I feel nervous cutting it that much. And Steve is wrestling with some related issues as he prepares for IMSG. But I guess the 90% figure just goes to show that the true elites have enough faith in their training -- and belief in the benefits of resting in the week leading up to a major competition -- to undertake a 90% taper.

DENISE -

Aren't wetsuits fun?!?

It WILL get easier - honest! Not only will you become more proficient, but the suit itself will loosen up considerably. In fact, my experience with two Xterra suits tells me that they become looser than suits from some other companies, which is maybe more reason for you to hold on to ones that seem tight now.

When do you figure you will venture into the pool, a Neoprene Goddess? Remember, people will only stare at you once or twice, and then simply become envious. Trust me!

STEVE -

Re: bricks; especially long bricks.

We can talk about this more, as I have two views on it. One is to keep them kind of short, just to prevent injury or overtrianing pressures. The other is to rool the dice and give longer ones a try, just to help build confidence for race day. This is a good approach for people who don't have a history with overuse injuries, and/or have the work and family flexibility to take the time for them.

For what it's worth, below are the longest six bricks that Matt Fitzgerald sets for any of the ten different ironman training programs in his book. I think the most rigorous of the ten programs get up to the longest one once; the less rigorous programs scale down from there.

The longest six:
2 hours bike, 50 minute run
2:15 bike, :55 run
2:30 bike; :55 run
3:00 bike, :60 run
3:30 bike, :60 run
4:00 bike, :60 run

Biggish bike jumps, very small run jumps. Whadaya think?

I have to agree with you Steve... that's why we are watching most of the events on the Bell channels now, or on the NBC (American) channels.. the Canadian commentators are just too much to listen to any more.  I think there is too much pressure on the Canadian athletes ... they are at the olympics, give them credit for that.  And if they win a medal it's a bonus. 

I take a multivitamin, calcium, fish oil, and coQ10. 

Lisa

Agree totally.   Have some thoughts but have to run.   Have a swim session for 11:00 a.m.  

I wonder how long their taper is?  Is it just a one week taper of 90% or do they cut down gradually for a couple weeks like say marathon runners?

CATHY -

Don't know where to begin.....but I guess I will begin with the least contentious item.

From what the commentator said, i got the impresssion that the taper was very sudden and radical -- like from full training down to a meagre 10%. I should try to track donw that info somewhere on-line.

And back to Rantsville (or its suburbs):
Late yesterday afternoon I went to TSN, and they had curling - USA vs GB. Went to Sportsnet and they were carrying hockey - Norway vs Switzerland. Then went to NBC, and the had the men's Nordic 30km pursuit, with "LIVE" up in the corner. That was not only the most exciting event I saw all day/week, but at the end of it the American commentators were saying what an incredible event it was for Canada, with placings at 5th, 8th, and 9th -- the only country other than Sweden to place 3 in the top ten. They said this several times, and I went back to the other stations to see if they were carrying it -- still curling on TSN, and Sportsnet had switched to women's hockey - China vs Switzerland.

What I want to believe is that what I saw on NBC at about 5pm was a tape of an earlier event that still had "LIVE" on it, because I would hate to think that the Canadian channels were carrying events that had no Canadians in them, as opposed to the Nordic which had no less than three Canadians, who did incredibly well as was repeatedly pointed out by the American commentators. Grrrrr?

That Nordic event was off he charts for excitement, and i hope you saw it. If you didn't, watch for it on replays at some point in time. Just for now, the temps during it were 52F. Fifty-two. Five-two. How on earth do you even wax for that?? The effort they put forth was colossal, and I can't imagine the toll that took on their bodies. Makes me proud to be a humanoid!

I'm finding it very interesting listening to the Canadian commentary about the olympics!  Like a bronze medal is something to sneer at?  ... really!! In some of these events you only have the one chance to shine ... and the outcome might depend on where you are in the lineup, the difference in the lighting on the hill at the time, whatever. Such an honor even to be able to say you are an Olympic athlete!!

Lisa

LISA -

Yes, the angst here is predictable if the mostly arbitrary goals are not met. On top of the "Own The Podium" name for the Olympic program, and the never-ending (for about 10 months running!) "Believe" commercials with a sequence of kids saying stuff like "I believe we can win it all in Vancouver!", the guy who made the comment about only one bronze amongst the seven medals although boasted that he thought Canada would win between 28 and 34 medals. Duh! Why make such claims?!? Again, no one can control what others do, how they peform. To boldly predict is just potentially empty boasting. And I think they put undue pressure on the athletes. To wit:

"It hurts. We wanted those medals, we wanted to deliver them for Canada, but it just didn't happen."
-- Erik Guay (5th in Super G)

"My heart gos out to all the people who put so much money and time in allowing us to get into the track and spend time on the hill."-- Robbie Dixon (DNF Super G)

The track Dixon is talking about is the one for "targeted athletes", of which both he and Guay are considered (and funded accordingly). I understand what they are saying, in part, but unless they slacked off on their training, or partied the night before the race, or took performance-enhancing substances, I don't think any of them owe me any apologies.

There was a comment last night that in one of the event "the Americans are bringing their A-game." Jeez, I thought ALL of the athletes were bringing (or trying damn hard to) their A game!

Hey! Don't get me started!




Edited by stevebradley 2010-02-21 3:50 PM

Not a bad week for me:
100 minutes swimming
300 minutes cycling (all trainer)
167 minutes running (~34km)
and
~100 minutes cross-country skiing (barely aerobic!! )

So about 11 hours keeping myself busy. No mall-ratting for me!