Manatees Dooo Eeeet!!! (Page 72)

Good Morning y'all. I figured I finally had a few minutes so I should check in and prove that I am still amongst you. I have no input for you, Robin, zero pool swim races in my tri life.

I hope everyone is well and that you all spend a few minutes with the people in your lives that truly matter to you. It is important to do so! Give yourselves a hug from me as well. Hopefully at some point next year my life returns to some semblance of normalcy.

I've done a pool zig zag swim before - yes it is a bit chaotic! Here's a good visual explainer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-KoRzONXP0

Things tend to get a bit 'muddy' toward the middle of the pack because it's tough to be accurately seeded, then people get bunched up and need to try to find opportunities to pass.

I've sworn I'll never do a pool swim triathlon after watching my friends do this one (I've watched them probably 4-5 times and it doesn't get any better IMO).  The one friend is a total speedster so she's OK.  The other one, however, is not and it becomes a bit painful watching the mish mash that the race becomes.  Looks so frustrating to me, but to each their own.  Situations like that stress me out.

Good Morning y'all. I figured I finally had a few minutes so I should check in and prove that I am still amongst you. I have no input for you, Robin, zero pool swim races in my tri life.

I hope everyone is well and that you all spend a few minutes with the people in your lives that truly matter to you. It is important to do so! Give yourselves a hug from me as well. Hopefully at some point next year my life returns to some semblance of normalcy.

Racing Manatees!!!

December 4-5
No know racers this week.

Is anyone else racing or doing anything else fun this weekend?

I misspoke!

Racing Manatees!!!

December 4-5
Chris - Kings Rd on Sat/Sun this weekend. 200 miles across Florida on multiple surfaces.

Have a blast, Chris!

Dooo eeettt!!!

I hate triathlons with pool swims, but I have now done four of them.  All of them did the serpentine swim meaning that you swim down lane #1 duck under the lane divider at the wall swim back down lane #2 duck under the lane divider again to swim down lane #3, etc.   One of these assigned you a starting position (I think I was like 130 out of 180 people) and we lined up according to your starting number.  You run across the timing mat when it was your turn to go and jump in the pool and start your swim. 

The fast people could be on the run before position 130 even started so it is a time trial. Your chip time is scored against everyone else's chip time but you don't get to do head-to-head racing like you do when you start with everyone else in your AG in an open water swim. I like the head-to-head races better than the rolling start of pool swims.

In the pool swim if you catch up to someone else you can tap them on the foot to signal for them to wait at the next wall for you to pass them. So if people are tapping you on the foot and they don't pass you before the wall pause a second at the wall for them to push off ahead of you.   I usually pass 2-3 people but also get passed by 2-3 people from behind me.  So...I always try to space myself out a little further at the start.  If they are starting people every 10 seconds, I might wait 15 seconds before I cross the timing mat. 

I am terrible at pool turns and don't get to wear a wet suit when I do pool swims so my times in a pool swim are always a lot slower than races with OWS. Some people hate OWS and will only do races with clear water pool swims.  So it goes both ways.  Have fun! 

Non-SBR post:  Monday I looked out the upstairs window at the chickens.  I did not yet have my glasses or contacts in/on, but I could see well enough to tell that Dragon was running around and the others were chasing her like they do when one has a food item the others covet. The  Benny Hill 'Yakkety Sax' song would be very fitting!  (side note: their run is large and enclosed with wire, they are not free-ranging)  I went downstairs to get my glasses to see what was the cause of the hubbub and discover she has a mouse!

As they were running/chasing, she briefly lost ownership a time or so but always got it back.  I tried to go outside to get a photo of her with it for proof but while I was putting on shoes she must've eaten it because there was no sign of Mousie whey I went out!    And yes, the thing was already dead when she was running around with it (or doing an extremely good job of acting limp and lifeless) so I don't believe it escaped.

Curtis, have you ever witnessed your chooks catching and eating wild critters?

I was this many years old when i learned that chickens eat mice!

Non-SBR post:  Monday I looked out the upstairs window at the chickens.  I did not yet have my glasses or contacts in/on, but I could see well enough to tell that Dragon was running around and the others were chasing her like they do when one has a food item the others covet. The  Benny Hill 'Yakkety Sax' song would be very fitting!  (side note: their run is large and enclosed with wire, they are not free-ranging)  I went downstairs to get my glasses to see what was the cause of the hubbub and discover she has a mouse!

As they were running/chasing, she briefly lost ownership a time or so but always got it back.  I tried to go outside to get a photo of her with it for proof but while I was putting on shoes she must've eaten it because there was no sign of Mousie whey I went out!    And yes, the thing was already dead when she was running around with it (or doing an extremely good job of acting limp and lifeless) so I don't believe it escaped.

Curtis, have you ever witnessed your chooks catching and eating wild critters?

Yes, I have seen our catch a few mice.  I wanted to post a photo of a hen with a mouse in her beak next to an advertisement for "vegetarian egg" with a caption to the effect of what vegetarian hens really are eating.  :-)  I see ours darting around the field all summer long chasing grasshoppers.  I have seen them go after our little two-inch-long frogs too.    

Yes, I have seen our catch a few mice.  I wanted to post a photo of a hen with a mouse in her beak next to an advertisement for "vegetarian egg" with a caption to the effect of what vegetarian hens really are eating.  :-)  I see ours darting around the field all summer long chasing grasshoppers.  I have seen them go after our little two-inch-long frogs too.    

No, they are NOT vegetarians.  They are omnivores.  They require about 20% of their diet to be crude protein.  About 10-15 years ago there was a big move away from using animal-based proteins to plant-based proteins in commercial laying feed.  I am guessing that the move was mostly due to cost because money is the driving force for about everything but they claims are that the chickens didn't skink as much on plant-based proteins.  The laying hens did okay on plant-based but the breeding stock didn't.  Fertility rates plummeted.  A guy that I knew who lived in Austin near the dog racing tracks was able to get fish meal through his local feed store because that is what all the racer dogs were feed to get them into racing condition.  Once he got the animal proteins back in the diet the fetility in the breeding stock went back up.  Commercial hens that don't get enough protein will peck each other and start to eat each others feathers (or flesh if the pecking get bad).  I keep mine on animal proteins.  Their favorite treat is mealworms.

Happy Friday!!  Nothing but normal weekend stuff for me.