Beer Drinker Appreciation Society (BDAS)--OPEN (Page 9)

Consider it spewed.  I get that people hate winners.  We New Englanders hated the yankees basically always.  Still do and they haven't done a whole lot.  Regardless I am riding this wave for as long as it exists because I know that the terrible team we had for decades isn't far away from a comeback.  Until 2001, we were the Browns (sorry Dave!).  Every decade has a new team to hate.  Steelers first, then Dolphins, then Cowboys, then Niners (although everyone seemed to give them a pass!), Broncos, now Patriots.  Who's team is next?

This is not a sports forum so I won't go into how the entire league is a bunch of cheaters, and people only believe what they want to believe.  And conveniently ignore things that don't fit into their worldview.  I guess I just did go into it.  

Now back to your regularly scheduled workout discussion!

Here I'll start - had a rough week last week post marathon.  I got one run in, and it was awful.  Was sore from the marathon for like 6 days.  Yesterday I felt pretty defeated about it.  Today I jumped back on the wagon (inspired at least partly by Nicole's 'angry run'), and ripped off the fastest five miler I've done in a long while, and felt good doing it.  Sometimes it just takes a little rest and some inspiration!

Thanks for the reminder - I desperately need to do this.  I have a new watch and it monitors my recovery status for every workout based on HR zones.  And those zones are currently the defaults...

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone.   Went to the doctor yesterday (actually an NP, who was really nice and significantly more thorough than most of my doctor visits...).  Had an x-ray to rule out pneumonia - whew!  No antibiotics for now... wait and see.  I feel a little better today as we changed the cold medicines I was taking and I got a good night's sleep last night.  I'm still a little clammy but the shaking and high fever are gone.  Still coughing up a lung and sneezing like crazy, but improving!

The funny thing is that all of this sitting around doing is making my back feel better.  LOL  It's not foolin' me!!!!! 

Just a bit of warning - I've tried to do all three tests in a week and failed miserably because I wasn't really recovered enough to do an accurate test.  Make sure to get plenty of rest in between.

I also find that the run test is just brutal and I have a hard time running "all-out" during it because I have a really hard time pacing it.  If you told me, "Mike, go run @ 7:00/mile for 15 minutes" I somehow can do that, but it's harder to do the test for some reason.  I'm better off just running a 5K, plugging it into Macmillan or Daniels, and going from there and let the HR numbers fall where they do.  I also find my HR numbers to deviate a decent amount where I don't totally trust HR-based results.  YMMV, of course.

Went for my fit session on my new bike last night.  Never had one before, and this one came free with the bike.  (BTW if anyone is close to the Boston area, I HIGHLY recommend Quad Cycles in Arlington.  Classic old school bike shop mentality of following through on sales to make sure the customer is happy, but with a big shop space and at least 5 brands in stock).  My old bike (2006 Trek 5200) is a 56, and was just a bit big for me.  I messed with seat positioning a lot over the years I had it, tried different saddles, never got it right.  My new bike, also a 56, I sat on just the way it was while hanging on the rack and it already felt better than my old one.  But you know you still need to do a fit to get everything dialed in.  

After 45 minutes sweating on the trainer, answering a hundred questions and talking about what triathlon training is like on the bike vs. what road racing or riding centuries would be, taking measurements, taking slo mo video of my pedal stroke...  All we ended up doing was adjusting the seat angle a bit (it was tilted slightly forward initially), and the position of my cleats on my shoes.  And that was it.

Testament to the shop - I brought my bike in for the fit without the aerobars on, telling myself they wouldn't want to adjust them because I didn't buy them there. Instead the guy told me I should have put them on, or even brought them with me and they would have put them on for me.  So now my homework is to put them on, spend a few hours on the trainer, and bring the bike back for adjustments. Buy the bike there once, bring it back whenever for a lifetime of fit adjustments.  I mean I'd expect that if I paid the $250 or whatever it was for a full fit session, but I got all this included just buying a leftover bike out of the shop's basement.  This shop is nowhere near me.  It's like 45 miles away, and there's ALWAYS traffic between me and there.  But I'll continue to go back there because they're absolutely awesome.

Fantastic news that its not pneumonia and things are getting better!

Also haha at the back feeling better.  The classic "Ow my leg hurts!" (punch them in the arm) "Ow my arm hurts!!"  "yeah but how's the leg?"  :D

Congrats on the new watch!  Mine is probably my best tool out of any of my gear.  

Polar V800.  I'm the 'cool kid' who refused to get a Garmin because everyone uses Garmins.  So I have to enter all my workouts manually because there's no sync with BT, etc.  Always have to be different...  Also my previous watch was a Polar hand me down from the wife, who gave it to me when she switched to Garmin.

It does rock though, and I got a steal on it over Thanksgiving shopping weekend - it was a bundle with the HRM/strap, bike cadence sensor, and bike mount and it was $260 (instead of ~$400)

Bike Races!!!  That would be so awesome.  Even a charity ride.  Anything like that I would love.  I have no idea where to look though.

Right now i don't have a 5k planned before Father's Day, but I will look for something sooner.  

Oooooo!!!! <raises hand>

https://www.bikereg.com/

This is awesome - thanks!!  How did I not know about this before?

Gretchen that sounds awesome!  

Regarding scouting courses - I haven't ever done that.  I figure I'm not in contention for a podium spot so I'll get what I get on race day.  I mean I know ahead of time from organizers and such if it's a hilly course or a flat course or the infamous 'rolling hills'.  But otherwise the only scouting I do is on race day, scouting for next year's race lol.  Do other people scout?  Maybe I should start!

(actually this isn't 100% true, I did the bike course of the Season Opener last year with Dave about a week or two before the race, and it was really helpful)