SBR Utopia ~~~~ Permanently OPEN!! (Page 72)

LOL - that was a HUGE part of the secret for me. Like Marc said I found MFP to way overestimate my exercise calories, so instead I manually entered that into MFP as they were reported by Garmin/Training Peaks. I wish the connection between TP and MFP was better: currently only the nutritional data from MFP is sent to TP. I wish weight information from MFP was also sent to TP (so that it was updated in TP on a more regular basis) and I also wish the exercise calories from TP were sent back to MFP. I am sure it will get better with time.

As a complete aside I do a lot of stuff that you are supposed to NOT do when calorie counting. First, I weigh myself everyday. But I don't really see my day-to-day fluctuations to be either a competition or demoralizing, it is just a data point. Second, I do on occasion add some calorie burn to my schedule in order to be able to eat. Nothing crazy, but if I find myself to be a couple hundred calories short I might add an hour long walk to the schedule either before or after dinner. This fits in to my "time on the feet" mantra, so I actually think it is a god thing. Third, I eat my largest meal of the day for dinner. I have found that if I make it to dinner with about 1200 calories left in the bank I can eat dinner with just about anyone (including the boss!) without then even noticing. Not disrupting anyone else's life (especially JT's) with my calorie counting obsession was the number one key to making it sustainable for10 months straight. Finally (and this is inarguably a good thing) I consume WAY fewer calories during exercise than I used to: I have found that I don't need nearly as much as I used to think, and it really only fulfilled a psychological need that I had developed over the years. I seem to have gotten a handle on what I really need for optimum performance vs. what I simply need to help pass the time.

Oh man, so now that I got into the lottery for Alcatraz, I also got offered a spot for Lavaman Waikoloa (end of March) from their waiting list.  I entered that on a bit of a whim one evening while consuming multiple beers...   

what to do, what to do...

I have only heard really good things about Lavaman.  The Keauhou race is later in the summer, but the Waikoloa race is more popular as people from colder climates like to race and vacation in Hawaii in March.  Great swim, cool bike course that involves the Queen K, and the run is a bit off road.  Crushed lava rock, grass, sand, etc.

Lavaman Waikoloa sells out each year, but it usually is open for a month or so, so you could do it later on.  Not sure how likely it is you get into Alcatraz.  

Both, of course!

I'm already into Alcatraz and Waikoloa is already sold out.  I had my name on the waiting list.  The other problem is that we have a trip to California booked for February.  So California in Feb, Hawaii in March, San Francisco in June....  I need to win the lotto.

I think you MOVE to California in February, fly to Hawaii from there for cheap, then stay in CA till mid-June

This sounds like a reasonable plan.  I'm sure I can make it work.

Haven't necessarily done that much, but planning on putting more in this off-season. I feel fine going to aero when outside, as in it's ok comfort wise holding the position,  but power output tends to be less than expected. HR is noticeably higher for a given power. Legs feel fine, but some core area can tire. Think this might be why I haven't been hitting races at the recommended IF's. Couple years ago I came out of winter doing more aero work and was pretty good in early races, but had some abdominal straining in short hard races later, less training in aero. This year had no aero on the trainer and road bike early season. Noticed core/abdominal area getting tired in the harder sprint races I had once I got the tri bike. I was stronger than ever coming into the season, but didn't show it that well in the races. Think I had matched the hip angle well enough. But it was going from hands to elbows that really felt different. More core engagement in the aggressive position. I didn't notice that issue so much after finally putting the clips on the road bike for the one race. Hip angle wasn't much more open, but I was riding higher with the more slack seat angle and higher front end. It didn't have to engage as much. The SC9 is rotated over quite a bit more.

The presence of snow would overrule any standards he sets.

Well, Matt is ALREADY complaining about the cold on Strava....

Oh, and I wouldn't tell, Tab, instead just spring it on her as a sort of holiday surprise.

And he had moved from Michigan to Texas. 

If I had to rank my most favorite moment of my IM experiences, at the top of the list would be watching JT cross the finish line. Second behind that would be the finish line in the final hour of the race. It really is what the sport is all about. A few years ago at IMLP I had a friend that started having severe abdominal pain as soon as he stood up coming out of the water. At mile 5 on the bike he was driven off the course in an ambulance. Turns out he began passing a series of kidney stones during the swim - talk about freaky bad luck. The next year he came back stronger than ever, but then wound up BACK in the LP ER on Friday with some sort of nasty infection - he was released from the ER on Saturday early evening on a heavy round of antibiotics but still dead-set to race (the IM folks were kind enough to allow some of our other friends to do most of his check-in stuff). He did race, and finished successfully in 16:57 - it was crazy when he came across the finish line.

A number of years ago I remeber seeing an interview with PNF about why she always came out to the finish in the last few hours. She said it was for her respect for the racers. In her opinion they had done something that day much harder than she could imagine: they had raced at a similar effort and for almost twice as long as she had - she said there was no way she could do what they had done. To make her point she stated that just during the marathon alone the folks feet crossing near midnight had hit the ground at least four times as many times as hers had earlier in the day. For some reason that has always stuck with me.

He must just be complaining about the cold out of habit.

Cranky old people ...

Quite literally LOL'd sitting here in the coffee shop. Too bad Matt Is not actually reading to know the fun we are having at his expense.

One thing on my "spend" list (seems to be a long list) is to get a bike fit done in the next couple of months.  How tough would it be to then dial in the road bike position to be close to the Tri Bike?

Originally posted by mndymond

Originally posted by brigby1

Originally posted by marcag

Originally posted by axteraa

This sounds like a reasonable plan.  I'm sure I can make it work.

no no no no You are not leaving me alone in this miserable weather. My only consolation when it's -40 and snow is that it's worst where you are :-) Man you guys get hammered with snow. Jason, are we allowed to start complaining about winter yet ? Kona is over, isn't that when we can start ?

The presence of snow would overrule any standards he sets.

I had ice on my windshield yesterday. I need to move my bikes around to get my car in the garage.

After almost failing to ignore LBs current attempt at picking a fight in TT this morning (Marc and Ben, don't take the bait!), Ron suggested via PM that I try out the new "Ignore User" feature. Since I have implemented its use I do have to admit that reading threads on kick sets, special diets, and horse grooming tips are already much more enjoyable. I may have to expand its use to include topics that include cold, ice, poutine, and other general forms of misery that are part of living in Canada.

Neil, I hardly ever touch my fit except when I get a new bike. When I do I take both my TT bike and road bike together to my fitter. It seems pretty straight forward and he doesn't charge anything extra.

Ben, just re-reading this and finding your experience intersting. It seems a little counter-intuitive that you would feel MORE core engagement when you switch to your TT bike and not less. Is your road bike really, really upright? Do you spend most of your road time in the drops or the hoods? If you do spend most of your time in the drops how heavy (or light) are you in your hands?

Originally posted by TankBoy

Originally posted by mndymond

Originally posted by brigby1

Originally posted by marcag

Originally posted by axteraa

This sounds like a reasonable plan.  I'm sure I can make it work.

no no no no You are not leaving me alone in this miserable weather. My only consolation when it's -40 and snow is that it's worst where you are :-) Man you guys get hammered with snow. Jason, are we allowed to start complaining about winter yet ? Kona is over, isn't that when we can start ?

The presence of snow would overrule any standards he sets.

I had ice on my windshield yesterday. I need to move my bikes around to get my car in the garage.

After almost failing to ignore LBs current attempt at picking a fight in TT this morning (Marc and Ben, don't take the bait!), Ron suggested via PM that I try out the new "Ignore User" feature. Since I have implemented its use I do have to admit that reading threads on kick sets, special diets, and horse grooming tips are already much more enjoyable. I may have to expand its use to include topics that include cold, ice, poutine, and other general forms of misery that are part of living in Canada.

I didn't even know about that feature but I may give it a whirl.  I like LB's enthusiasm about his son.  But I don't like the constant need to tell others how their accomplishments don't matter, etc.  Gets old after awhile.