HILDEBEAST'S Magnificently Motivational Mentor Group - CLOSED!!!! (Page 9)

WHat's wrong with bra and panties,lol.

Hope the new suit comes soon. I usually arrive without underwear to change in to after (I put the suit on at home under my clothes) but it's sort of technically part of training for the tri right?

Please add Wesley to our group!  I wasn't sure he would be back, but there he is, we need all the men we can find, to help protect us from Wilson's perviness!

wemaster123-Wesley

Wow, December seems to be a popular birthday month!  Happy birthday to my fellow winterites!!

I had a great day yesterday... drove down to Austin to pick up my college roomie from the airport, she treated me to a BBQ lunch, came home and caught up, went to the store, hubby made a fabulous gourmet dinner that we ate in the dining room by the fireplace, cheesecake for dessert!  And he got me $100 gift card from the bike store in Austin where I got my bike, AND I had just received a b'day card from them for 20% off all accessories during my birthday month!!  Guess where I'm going tomorrow, ha ha!!  I got way jealous of Tucker's Swim mp3 player, so I ordered myself the H2O audio system for the 4Gen iPod suffle, just got notice it should arrive tomorrow, just in time for Monday morning's swim!!! 

Today my friend will leave, late afternoon/early evening so we have the whole day together.  Reade is coming to take us and Kati out to lunch!!  On a sad note, vacation is quickly running out, I HATE that, noooooooo, I do NOT want to go back to school!!!!!!

Hilde, I have the H2O system for the 'large smartphone/mp3 player.'  It's a bit tight with my Droid X, but fits my Ipod touch nicely.  I haven't tested it in the pool yet (I'm a little leary, though the sealing system seems pretty tight), since, well, I don't have a suit right now, but I plan to test it out as soon as I can.  If I get to do it before you get yours, I 'll let you know how it goes!

I think I'm going to go to my LBS today, and get an actual bike fit.  There's a used road bike for sale in the classifieds here that might fit me and is within a price range for me.  If it's still for sale.....Evidently I have to wait for people's kids to outgrow their bikes....

sounds like a good day. Have fun at the LBS.

Jen - How short are you? Good luck with the bike.

Hey everyone.  Still getting used to so much activity in the group, so thanks for the welcome and I hope to get to know everyone in this crazy tri process.  The great thing is that I've already learned more about the BT website and training logs from this group in one week than I've learned since I first signed onto the website, so thanks!

It's interesting reading the bike conversation, because I want to get a road bike as well.  I bought my Trek hybrid about two years ago, and I love it, but I would like a road bike since I want to complete my first Oly in 2012, and I'm not sure about riding 25 miles on the hybrid.  I need every speed advantage I can get.

I also just found out that my the YMCA where I swim is closed on weekends all winter!  That means I'll have to go to the new Y which is always crazy crowded if I want to swim-so annoying! I hate having to circle with other people because it never works the way it's supposed to. Ugh.

I also registered for my first Oly tri--YIKES!! I can't believe I'm actually going to do this.  It's the New Jersey State Triathlon and it is on 7/22/12.  Can you look forward to and dread something at the same time??  For anyone who has completed an Oly before, is there a significant difference in how to prepare for a race of this length compared to a Sprint?  I will have a whole bunch of questions I'm sure as I get into this. 

Hope everyone is having a great day, and I'll check back in tomorrow.

-Kelly

Congrats on the Oly sign-up, Kelly! TammyTurtle's got some smart advice there-- I did pretty much the same thing when I trained for an Oly last year. LOVED the distance, even though the weather on race day was hideously hot and humid...

Can't wait to see pics of new bike purchases: always exciting news!

I'm driving back to the US tomorrow, so will be in the car all day, tra la. But rest assured I'll be back out there running on Saturday morning-- if nothing else to build my appetite for the HUGE New Year's Eve dinner I've been invited to that night...

Enjoy your Fridays, everyone!

Alex

I am about 5'0"  or so, give or take 3/4 inch depending on how tall I'm standing day to day.  The bike for sale on classified's won't fit me, based on the geometry of the bike for sale (what did we ever do without the internet?). BUT........

So...I went to the LBS to get fitted.  Turns out I was partially right about what size bike I need.  The frame size I need is 45 cm, but because I have the torso and arm length of someone about 3 or 4 inches taller than me (evidently I'm part gorilla), the top tube has to be longer than on most bikes of that size.  The fitter and I looked at the geometry of the used bike I was looking at and determined that it would be the right height, but way too short along the top tube for me.  We looked at some other catalogs and the fitter gave me some suggestions as to which bikes would be good fits for me.

So, I'm wandering around the store after my fit, wondering if I'm really going to have to break down and spring for a custom frame, and I see one of the bikes that I've been looking at online as an option.  In the size I need.  For $1300.  Too rich for my blood.  But wait!  The exact same bike next to it, same color and everything, just a bit bigger.  With a sale tag on it.  So I ask if the shorter one is on sale.  It is.

So, after about 45 minutes getting fitted ON the bike, (turns out I am a bike fitter's worst nightmare), reversing the stem, and putting on new handlebars (the ones on the bike were too narrow), I have a new road bike!   

Pictures to come.  But I finally got a road bike.  After 2 years!

I have my Felt Fit for women F95 Roadie and I love it. Yes, I would also LOVVVVVE to have a new, more fabulous Tri back but like several others mentioned - money is an issue. My husband squeeeks when he walks if that gives you any indication of how careful I have to be when asking for anything NEW and possibly EXPENSIVE.

The newly installed aerobars are going to be a Godsend and as someone else mentioned, and I just said to my husband today - All the new gear in the world won't make one ANY faster w/o lots of (ie PRACTICE!)

   New gear wish list: Tri Bike (Quintana Roo CDO1 preferably!)

                                   New bike gloves

                                    New  bike shoes! (Toes were PI$$ED off today!!

For those of you looking to upgrade: DEFINITELY shop around!!

   The aerobars today were a real treat! I tend to go down into the 'drops' going up hills and today rather than doing that I hung out in the aero position....It's new for me but I can tell - I will LOVE IT.....

Ok BT is eating my words

Tammy turtle - Yay for signing up to the oly. Good luck with the training

TSTL - It may be the beginner in me but some of the sprint beginner plans seem to be too low - e.g they peek at 39 mins of running (starting at 12ish) and they're meant to build on the c25k programs - can I ask how exactly that works,lol.

Woohoo on the new bike Jen. I'm about 5' 2" - 3" - depending on who is measureing me and the way I convert it,lol - and I put the numbers in to a bike fit calculator (can't remember the brand) and it said's I need equivalent to a 24" - but the 26" I've got (I've been riding 26" bike since I got a hand me down bike from my Mum after outgrowing my 2nd children's bike) does ok - although I do have the stem pretty low,lol - and I still have to lean over to put my foot down. Did that by borrowing dad's spanner set and adjusting it myself though since I never actually got properly fit - just went for the lowest I could go where I couldn't actually put my feet flat on the ground after researching that that was the best place.

Oh and as to the shoe issue:

The NB 570's seem great - the 740's I'm guessing are useless now (don't know whether they just don't work for me anymore or that they've just been worn out - don't look like it but I did retire them because they were bending with the foot - on the side) - but I may try another fitting type thing - the ones here only seem to do standing and/or walking - despite their ads that have a guy running over the mat - and see what happens. Need to wait for some more money again though because I've run out,lol.

I'm thinking maybe I'd like the aero bars.  I always thought I'd just go with clip on aeros instead of a tri bike.  But the bike trainer was on my Christmas list this year.  Sounds like many of you think the aero position is best for really long distances.  If I'm gonna do a HIM maybe I should consider the purchase this year.  If there's one thing you can say for us tri people its that we're all "gear heads" -- love buying "stuff" don't we!  Can't believe how much I've spent on this sport!  It's partially what keeps me at it -- have to get my money's worth, right?

I hope everyone had a nice holiday!  Sounds like there were some nice tri gifts!

My self-imposed week long break from any exercise is finally over.  Yeah!  I was starting to feel kind of yucky with all the holiday food and no high calorie burning activities.

I got in nice run yesterday.  Today is full bike commute and probably a strength training session.

I am fooling around with a new Garmin Forerunner 110 (courtesy of BT’s pay it forward thread).  It is pretty neat.  Just enough functions to capture fun and useful data but not too many to make it overwhelming or tempt me to fall into the black hole of data (I am sort of a data junkie).  So I wore it on my bike commute into work and will wear on the way home to see what kind of HR I have on my daily commute.

Visiting DC --- yes!  If anyone is in the area, let me know.  I can recommend a good itinerary with some tips and tricks.  We can get together for lunch/coffee.  Not sure about offering up the house just yet!

Winter bike commuting --- a few of you are wondering about this.  This is my 3^rd winter and I’ve pretty much figured everything out with respect to keeping warm.  So here goes…

I was lucky enough to find most of my biking gear at a local thrift shop.  Someone my size must have just dropped things off.  All of my winter tights and many long-sleeve winter weight shirts are from thrift shops. 

Don’t throw away any wool sweaters if they get moth holes…they are perfect for cold weather riding!  This was the most important discovery last year.  I scored a few merino wool sweaters at the thrift shop too and these are my favorite layers for extra warmth.

When the weather is warmer...yes!!

You go Kelly!!  Nothing like registering for the race to make it real!!  I've only done one Oly and although I thought I was prepared, I ended up walking most of the run, but the swim and bike were great!  At the time my longest run ever had been 6 miles, definitely not enough running.  I'm planning on another this year, maybe even more than one!  I would definitely say train MORE than the distances, and since my runs have now been up to half marathon distance, I should be much more prepared.  The other thing I will have to work on is pacing on the bike.  I tend to really really really like SPEED and push hard, which is okay for a sprint when you only have to run a 5K, but knowing you have a 10K after the bike is a different story.  I can't really speak about the nutrition, I usually just go for Gu/gels or the ShotBlox chewy things, but after awhile they can get pretty gaggy, really have to force them down.  I'm sure you'll get more advice from some others who have done one or more Olys more successfully than I did!

Erin, if you can't see someone's logs, THEY have to add YOU as a friend... who's logs are still blocked and I'll tell them to add you...

If you are reading this and haven't added ALL the MMMers, please do!!

Great that you got the date on the calendar!!!  That's the big first step for me.  Paying the registration and having a firm date to train for.

I agree with Hilde on bike pacing.  I worked really, really hard on the bike portion of an Oly last year to improve my overall bike time but ended up blowing up on the run.  Lots of walking.  Learned my lesson on the next race and had a much better run.

Congratulations Jen on the new bike!!!!  So exciting!!  Can't wait for the bike porn pics!!

And yea Tammy Tucker on the new aerobars, can't wait to see 'em!  I started on a road bike and I would get very tense and tired riding with my hands ANYWHERE on the handlebars and I never did like riding in the drops... but I can ride on my aerobars all day long, it's like a couch for bikes!  I did have clip on aerobars on my roadbike, but looking back at pictures, I really wasn't very aero, but they did add comfort.  Sometimes you have to tweak your bike fit, esp. saddle position when you add them to get the true benefit.  I stay in aero as much as possible because it is so comfie, but my latest bike is also pretty comforable riding on the bullhorns, so I CAN do that if I HAVE to...

HELP! I have spent all morning attempting to import my training plan for the next 11 weeks. I used the Import Template AND saved it in csv format, and I still can't seem to get this to work. Any thoughts or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated -  my computer is about to grow wings 

Thanks!
Michelle