kaburns1214 Mentor Group 2011 Part 2 - CLOSED (Page 74)

if it is sandy some people have a bucket of water at T to dip their feet in and then dry and shoe. other wise a twel off does the trick. I put my stuff on a towel to stand on But also have a small quick dry camping towel right their to use as well-light weight and easy to pack it really wipes off stuff stuck to your feet

TI creates a really "forward" stroke, which as Jeff said can create "dead spots."  I think TI is really good for someone looking to gain better balance and get comfortable in the water.  Once you have those things down it may be beneficial to shorten the stroke a bit and not glide as much (especially in open water) but I think its a good place to start.

I go bare feet (and I don't even do the wash/wipe your feet in T1 -- I just get in my bike shoes).  Debris on your feet doesn't really affect your biking and for me any sand/grass/dirt falls off by the time I go to put my running shoes on in T2.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

Sunday nights are depressing. It means Monday Work...BLAH!!!!

From Rudy's Face Book page:

"And June rolls on!!!! Keith Berger Crit, 2nd in Cat 4, Won the gold medal for CT state Champs, the guy who won was from NY, total drag race for the finish, it was awesome!!!"

Looks like we have a Connecticut State Champion in out midst.

Spent the weekend in Lake Placid and it felt like all it did was rain.  Here I am on the run course this morning:

Congratulations Rudy!!!! That is SOOOO AWESOME!!

The shorts are lululemons -- definitely my go to running shorts. 

Heading out for an easy ride now and a swim later today.

That right there is what it is all about, that moment when you realize your day went perfect and all the hours and work paid off. That is a great Vid, thanks for sharing!!!  And congrats to your coach!!

I like the shorts too, and love Lululemon.  Never tried the shorts, so you like them huh?

ETA - how does the inseam length & sizing compare to Nike Tempo Shorts?

Great video of your coach.

Terry - Happy Birthday (belated)!  Hope you had a great one!

Kelly & Michele - Love Lululemons!  Great quality...always look new.  Too bad they cost so much. 

Steve - Glad you got to spend some time with your father and brother.  Never regret quality time spent with family.  Training will always be there. 

I'm off today and I'm glad.  My piriformis is acting up a bit.  I have another tough week and then a recovery week before my next sprint tri.  My next sprint is a little shorter - 1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 5k.  I would call that a mini-sprint; wouldn't you?  The last one I did had a 1/2 m swim and 18 mile bike.  Too bad all these races aren't the same distance. 

For the ladies - what are your go to tri shorts?  I'm in desperate need of new tri shorts that are comfy for a long bike ride.  My favorites were DeSoto Carreras, but now even those are not comfortable after about 20 miles.

I'm almost considering getting bike shorts, but I've always hated the extra padding and much prefer the tri shorts.  Plus, for my races I do not want to change so I need a short I can wear from start to finish.

I also do not use any chamois butter or any lube, would that make a difference?  I'm so tired of being miserable on the bike.

I love my Zoot shorts.  I tried lots of different brands when I was starting out, and these are by far the most comfortable.  I tried those Desoto 400 mile shorts and hated them.  The pad was too thick.  I don't like too much padding.  My second favorites are the TYRs. 

There are some ladies with much more experience on here though.  Probably have tried more!! 

Technically tehre is no set distance for a sprint, but my view of a sprint is around 1/2 of an Oly, so 1/2 mile swim, 12-15 mile bike, 5K run.  I hate short swims.  My favorite distance would be something like a 3 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 15 mile run.  I suspect that would not be a very popular distance, however, since triathlon seems to be more about the bike than it should. 

Bigfoot Triathlon relay . . . I was the designated swim person.  My goal going in was to get a sub-30 swim (not including run-out).  My wave was the very last.  Wore my new DeSoto Black Pearl Wetsuit.  Did some warm-up as the other waves started and to get wetsuit sitting just right.  I was towards the front of the start of the wave.  Gosh, once you get in the water, the distance just seems so far . . . but I just tick away the buoys.  Most of the swim was pretty uneventful.  I tried to draft on a few pairs of feet, but I was doing so behind them off to the side a little.  I think that is wrong, anyways, they were slightly faster.  Goggles were pretty much foggy the whole time, so all I could really see was the orange buoys.  Sighting was very good and never really had much traffic to get through.  Lots of room.  Got some unexpected waves from the boat with about 1/4 to go, but picked up the pace with about 1/8 to go.  Got out of the water, HR was skyrocketed . . . that is it, the only leg I had to do so I had to leave it out there. (this all after my 16 mile run on Sat!!)

I think their time is wrong or I don't know the time mats they used.  I was only tracking just my swim portion and I started my swim about 2 seconds before the horn when off and at the 1/2 I was at 14:40 and I know I swam the last 1/2 quicker.  So I think my time was about 29:30 or so, but they say 31:26, however there were 2 timing mats and I think my time includes the run up to the transition area (long run up, about 1/8 mile) where there was a second timing mat.  Anyway, great race, about of my tri club teammates racing.  Good time

I feel oddly refreshed . . . I don't have any races until Sept.  It feels kind of nice to not have any committments!!!

Also, did my 16 mile run Saturday, Galloway method.  They were doing 1:1's, which can make you very impatient until about mile 14, 15 . . . I got impatient towards the end (suprise, suprise).  My calves tried to seize at mile 15.96!!!

All in all, I recommend the method.  I did 16, which I have never done in my life and was able to get out of the car when I got home and had no trouble with stairs or doing anything Saturday or Sunday.  Kind of nice to do a long run like that and not feel totally disabled for 2 days!!!

1 more question on drafting in the water.  I was trying to draft by having my body behind the person but slightly off to the side, so I could see her/him.  Are you supposed to be completely in the bubbles, directly behind as if in a straight line, while drafting to get the benefit?  If so, how do you see?  Exactly how close are you supposed to be?

I tried . . . .

Congrats Rudy, you are dominating everywhere this year.  Keep going!!

Kelly, looking hot on the run.  Love the shorts.  Not so sure I could pull those off

31 miles this morning, followed by a T run, 2 miles.  I was hoping for 4 miles, but I ran out of time, and was late for work.  Darn it!!  Swimming tonight, and really need to start focusing on that.

Happy Monday!!

Congrats Rudy on the big win. Also congrats to Karen on you swim. I also am not sure I could pull off the shorts look as well as you Kelly.

 Unrelated I got a gopro video camera for my birthday. I want to video my summer ride routes and a few runs and put them on DVD's to help me through the winter time work outs on the dreamill and drainer. We shall see how that works out.

was thinking about swimming this morning, but quite tight and very tired from a big (for me) four day training push.

here is a race report from the weekend:

2011 Keith Berger Memorial Criterium

Cat 4 race was first up, pretty big crowd since there was some big fields, course is 6 corners about a mile long with 2 technical turns and a couple flat out corners, bike handling will be at a premium as well as position as the race nears the end. This race is dubbed the CT Criterium State Champs, so anyone living in CT has a chance to medal, if you are out of state, it rolls down to the next resident. The 20 lap race starts off pretty tame, and as usual i find myself shotgun on the field (dead last). Don't ask me why, i just seem to start off easy in the back and gauge the field, by the end of the first lap, i am still last, just in cruise mode, by the end of the second lap i am at the front of the field, i use the intermediate laps to see who looks strong, what teams are working hard and who their main horse will be. A couple of teams are working very hard, not too many breaks, which is no surprise as it is perfectly flat and breaks probably will not work. I spend the next 10 laps just kinda sitting in about mid pack, observing and learning, taking in the ebb and flow of the race, I let the primes go (which snowballed up from $10-$40 with some other nice awards thrown in) with about 8 to go i start moving up, the pace is quickening, some guys are trying to break away, but they are reeled in in short order.

    With about 3-4 to go one of the stronger riders jumps, he is quickly followed and not allowed to leave, but...it strings out the field a bit and i got on the donkey train that followed and was sitting in 6th spot (i use the term donkey endearingly, big boys with big legs and big power). Now the heat is on, the train is hammering, corners are coming and going, single file on the rivet. The big boys are leading the freight train and as we go by for 1 lap i am in a good spot. The field slows a bit as we come around the first corner, no surprise really, it happened all race, i knew at this point if i had a chance i had to leave shortly after that corner. Now don't get me wrong, i don't mind a field sprint, i can usually hold my own in one, but i much prefer to narrow down the chances of 75 guys to about 10, especially this course as a couple of the corners really kill the speed of guys following.

      So as we come around corner #1 and the field settles, I jump...hard...31mph, i keep the sprint up for about 15 seconds and glance over my shoulder, i catch sights of 2 other white jerseys and then a gap...success, 2/3 lap left, as i am pushing in the drops, one of my followers goes around me on the inside (a guy who was in the donkey train and looked to be on of the strongest in the field) he looks over his shoulder to gauge just what happened and i can see in his eyes he liked what he saw, it is now a 3 man race.  He jumps on it, at this point it is all HTFU and adrenaline, i get on his wheel and we go around the next corner nose to tail, down the back shoot, bikes sliding and dancing under the feet and pedals, second to last corner, 2 man race, short chute to the finish sprint, quick right 250 meters to go, flat out through the corner, bikes sliding and dancing.  Before we even straighten out we are on the power, wheels flexing, gears making that loud clack noise as you shift down on aero wheels under hard power, 2 big ole' clydes in a donkey drag race, we are both flat out, i gain a few feet, i have a wheel to the right his rear wheel, neither one is giving in to the pain and absurd heart rate, the meters are clicking away, neither of us are gaining or losing an inch, the crowd is screaming and cheering, 33mph 184bpm, never sat down..... and never caught him, we cross the line him to my front left about a bike length ahead....2nd place....AWESOME. The guy that won was from NY, so the roll down for the gold medal went to me!!!  I'll take it. 

garmin data (no power) for those interested

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95041344

hope you enjoyed!!

Nicely done, Rudy!!

And Carrie, that sounds like a good swim to me!

Depends on the type of lulus you buy.  The ones I am wearing are slightly longer than Nike tempos, however, they're cut better so there's no riding up at all.  Plus they have 3 pockets, which I love.

For biking I only wear bike shorts (right now I am love with my LG bib shorts -- I wore these riding the IMLP course on Saturday).  If the bike shorts fit correctly the "extra" padding shouldn't bother you and should make the ride more comfortable (and really helps with saddle sores).   

With regard to tri shorts, I've always liked zoot shorts and own several pairs of the Zoot Ultra Tri Shorts. 

Regardless of if I'm wearing bike or tri shorts, I always always always use chamois butter.  I'm a big fan of DZ Nuts Bliss (its made by Dave Zabriske's company).    I've been putting in some serious bike miles and it really does help.

And while I'm going on about favorite products -- I LOVE Oiselle Running Tees.  Super soft, super comfortable and really cute (the gray tee I'm wearing in the run pocture is an Oiselle).