Beer Drinker Appreciation Society - Open For Business (Page 95)

Well, I've been away for while with a very challenging last few of weeks. It started with my daughter breaking her fibula roller skating- not too serious, but not fun either- followed by an emergency trip to Florida to visit my father in the hospital. Said trip included a 41 hour stretch of being awake with entirely too many beers at the tail end. Then on the way home from the airport, my truck's transmission decided it had had enough of this world and blew up in spectacular fashion at 75 mph, thus adding another couple of hours to what had already been a very long travel day. On the plus side, I felt the need for some long, catharsis-inducing rides upon my return to Colorado, and there is no better place for that kind of therapy. I did manage to sneak in a 4 mile run while in Florida and knocked out a couple of medium length swims once I got back home, so I don't feel like a complete slacker. Twenty five days left until the Iron Horse Classic ride in SW Colorado, followed by Xterra Lory a week later, plus our local Tuesday night races just started, so I'd better get busy(er). Oh, and the rugby team I coach just won in the first round of the playoffs this last Saturday. On to the semi-finals!







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Mike! Sorry to hear about your daughter and father. I hope they are both doing well.

147/400 this morning with spin class. It was a good one, so I'm feeling it in the legs. Teaching all day will help keep me from stiffening up, I hope! We're winding down toward the end of the semester here (two more weeks!) and then I'm away to Egypt again for another month.

Devon- way to get back into it

Mike- dory to hear about your daughter and your father

Gretchen- congrats on the race (even if it wasn't what you expected) I did like reading your race report

Christina- You will be great this weekend.

Got in a brick today and run yesterday. Still having a hard time keeping the motivation up. I need to find a race. I like training but the competition is what keeps me going.

Ditto to everything Scott said! Devon, glad you randomly went back out there and it went so well. Just goes to show you're doing well with your training despite the spill you took!

Christina, you will kill it!

Gretchen, you got back out there after your (super awesome) trip!

I was in NYC this weekend for my friend's 30th and came back to rioting just miles from my house, so I haven't really been able to get out much for workouts. Last night was pretty scary (I live in Baltimore for those that don't know), and am a little scared to leave my house now. Hopkins closed and we have been told it's probably going to get worse (although the National Guard has started to arrive and hopefully can start taking back the city today).

What's most unfortunate is there are so many peaceful protests going on, but the violence and destruction has distracted the media from those groups and instead focus on the negative.

As I'm typing this, I realize that some of you (especially those in Australia and Canada) may not even know what sparked these riots. See the article below:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/healthy-baltimore-man-dies-afte...

Baltimore really is a beautiful, amazing city that has been my home for 7 years. I swear "The Wire" and these riots are not representative of it!

Really impressed with the news, as I had been in Baltimore and though it was a peaceful place in the US. In fact, I am going back to a meeting next October, I will let you know Nicole, may be there is a race at that time (and if not, may be have a beer). Hope things get better soon!

Juan

Juan my IM is in Oct. It's in NC, but if your coming from Spain what's 1 more state.

Check-in: Most things are feeling better today except for the left hammy that was acting up before the HM. I knew that was going to happen. Today I did a simple 6 miles on the stationary bike to get the muscles moving.

I didn't see any topics for the week so....

Longwinded (sorry) Question for the Experts My practice sprint Tri in June is in a pool....but the August (probably Oly) Tri is open water. I'm not sure I'm going to get an open water swim in before that day, so I'm a little nervous. I realize that I'm going to get kicked and elbowed, I can handle that. I'm also thinking that breathing is going to be more difficult as spashing water will be where I'm trying to breathe. I think I can handle that. My concern strangely enough is the temperature. This is my first real Tri and, honestly, I'm not sure if I'm going to be addicted to this sport. Buying a wetsuit for a single race (which is possible if I hate it) seems stupid. I think I'd like to just jump in and go for it with nothing but tri-shorts but is that smart? Race water temp is supposed to be mid 70's F. So experts...am I foolish to just go with tri shorts in that temp? I realize that I'll lose speed benefits from the wetsuit but I'll deal with it. Anyone have any other swimming recommendations for the newb?

Thanks!


-Dave

Nice race report, Mike! Sounds like a beautiful area.

Congrats to all the racers! You are motivating!!

Nice short 2 mile walk/run today as the slow progression back to normal continues and the patience I continue to work on by running such short intervals - but I feel good after every "run" which is what my PT wants - no pain - need to want to go back out, not re-hurt something.
Got in a nice swim too - 2000 yds.

Final class is tomorrow - giving a quiz to help set them up for success for their final next week. I will be happy to be done with this class so I can focus more on flying (much more fun).
Now my time should free up for some more consistent training. "Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again...."

On a bit of a sad note, we've had 2 cyclist fatalities here in the last two weeks. The first was hit by a drunk driver and the second was well known to the cycling community and worked at one of the largest LBS in town (he sold me my bike rack for my car and other stuff too). He was hit by a 17 year old kid driving a Civic who took a corner way too fast, went off the road himself, hit a tree and was also killed. Sizable 4' shoulders on the road too. Such sad, senseless, preventable accidents. Please watch yourself - wear bright colors, lights etc, though in these two cases I don't know if even that would have helped. I'm already talking to my boys (only 7 & 9) about being watchful for anything while driving and ask them to help me spot cyclists, runners, animals, etc that could be out and about.
Take care and safe riding!

Hello Team!

My jersey is still in my gym bag....... sad.

I have thought about training many times, today even I was thinking about going for a run with my two favourite run partners (daughter and dog) But then we went out for a sushi lunch date (she is 3 and she loves cucumber avocado rolls!) and I ended up spending a glourious sunny afternoon picking dog $hit up out of my backyard, the snow has almost completely melted, and even though I knew my wife would have been happy about me running and trying to better my health, I knew she would be happier about having a poop free yard.

Someday I will train again, I have to...........

sorry I havent been pulling my part here folks. I have had some delicious beers brewed by my good friend who has just started all grain brewing from scratch, his first output was a black lager, and followed up by a wheat beer. Both were awesome. I also tried a few limited addition brews from Lake of Bays Brewery here in Ontario, the Spring Maple is a belgian blonde with a touch of Maple syrup, delicious.

Do your very best to do at least one ows if you can. At the very least, do a short one the day before the race - just a couple hundred yards to experience it. You'll be glad you did. Or at least get some buddies together in your swim lane at the pool and have everyone start swimming so you can be familiar with what it feels like to swim in a crowd. Swim 500 yards with them and see how it goes.

As far as the wetsuit - many others will chime in, but many places rent them if you want to try one. I think even Xterra does. It's usually pretty reasonable and if you can get a short swim in the day before where you'll be racing, it would be beneficial. The buoyancy alone is amazing which not only helps speed but can make you feel a little safer if you get a little sketched out in the swim. For mid-70's, you probably wouldn't need one, but personally now that I've been swimming in one, I wouldn't go without unless it's a wetsuit-illegal race. That's just my 2 cents. I actually prefer ows in the summer and try to get anyone to at least paddle a kayak or paddle board next to me so I can go. Hope this helps a little.

Almost forgot!! I had this after my 2 hour trainer ride this past Saturday! My new summer time beer.





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Right Scott, that´s just around the corner! As it gets closer, I will check how many days I can take off work and it would be great to share a beer together after your IM!

Juan

Dave, my experience is not too large (just 4 races, 2 sprints and 2 Olys), but even swimming in Spain where water is usually warm, I would definitely wear a wetsuit unless it is not allowed. You can rent one or buy a not too expensive one (100 bucks) as I did, as if I only use 2-3 days per year, why spend a fortune? But it will help you in your speed and you will be much more comfortable if you need to stop at any time due to the buoyancy, to put again your googles or check where are your going! I have to recognize that I was a bit scared of kicks and people swimming over me as I read, but it is far easier than what I expected, not so violent at the end.

Juan

Just to pile it on, rent one and do a short swim in it the day before, you'll be glad you did. One thing to practice is sighting for the buoys, there are no lines in the lake/ocean. While doing your pool laps just practice looking for the lifeguard stand or a clock or something on the opposite end of the pool during your laps. My first OWS I followed a guy instead of sighting in, unfortunately he was not sighting in either so it didn't work out so well. As for the crowd unless you are a strong swimmer or looking for a top 3 finish in your class you can count to 5 after the wave starts this will let most of the crowd get out of your way. For breathing as long as you can breath on both sides you should be fine, just breath to the side without obstructions.


bike done for day on my way to swim now

Edited by b2b14 2015-04-29 12:14 PM

Gretchen - Sorry for a less than stellar race experience, but still congrats on kicking it's butt so soon after traveling home from Egypt! It was a bold move to schedule it and you stuck to training through the hardship of being in the desert, and you finished and finished well.

Christina - Go kick some butt on a non-snowy marathon!! Would love to see that profile pic updated with a sunny one

Devon - Good on you getting back at it so soon after your crash! And holy crap dodging tornadoes - glad you're through unscathed.

Mike - Sorry for the rough stretch, and hope everything is looking better from here on out. Also, I believe you do have the distinction of being the first to post a pic of yourself in the BDAS shirt!!!

Charles Congrats on kicking that 5k's butt!!! I think I'm afraid to wear an HRM for a race. I tried once but I was not the only one using a bluetooth device and it couldn't find it, then I went away from the crowd to find it, and as soon as I got back to the crowd it lost it again. Probably better for me not to know!

Nicole - stay safe!!!

Mark - Sounds like a beautiful race (with bells from the Mission no less!!!) and you pushed through injury pain to do it. Nice work!!!

Jenn - sorry to hear about the cycling fatalities. Really sorry... My wife is a little freaked out at the moment, someone in her tri group was just killed while on the bike. Seems to be the season, everyone is anxious to get back out on their bikes and motorists, of whom few are paying attention as it is, aren't yet conditioned to other people using the road. Add in all the landscaping trucks parked in the street blocking traffic this time of year and it's kind of a disaster. Stay safe everyone.

Justin - glad to see you still posting even if it's poop cleaning instead of running lol. You need to sign up for a race of some kind. Any kind, even if it's as innocuous as a 5k a month out or more. Nothing like having to train for something to push you to train.

Loving all the advice on wetsuits and OWS practice. My first (ever) tri is still the one I have booked at the end of July. I'd love to book one sooner but at the rate I'm going with injuries it may stay that way... Anyway it's a 1/4 mile open water lake swim. They do 'time trial' starts at least so I'll only be in the water with one or a few other people at the start, of course I'll be getting run over by faster swimmers in starts behind me and potentially catching people ahead of me (a guy can dream can't he?). So I've signed up for an OWS clinic a little more than a month from now, a little less than a couple months before my tri. And I'll be practicing solo open water swimming in the Caribbean later next month!

The wetsuit though, I need all the advice I can get on this. My wife did the Xterra rent/option to buy thing for her first non-pool tri, and I'm tempted to do the same for this even if the water is going to be in the 70s in late July (last year it was cold and rainy in July and the water there was in the 60s).

Injuries.... I feel like a little old lady. ever since the day I decided triathlon might be right for me to avoid my overuse running injuries, I've had a string of doozies - severely sprained ankle (Sept. 2013), shin stress fracture (May 2014), and now, the hips. A few weeks back I started with some low back pain, and decided to take a couple weeks off running and strengthen the pelvic girdle to help my back (anterior pelvic tilt from years of being crammed at a desk job). Around the same time I discovered the wonders of correct breast stroke form in the pool, and started doing longer continuous distances in breast than I could dream of in free. After a night of some 100s free with some 150s and 200s breast, my hips hurt the next day. I went to Boot Camp that day, and we had to do frictionless mountain climbers (feet on towels on the floor), and my hip started popping. So I stopped doing them, but it would seem the damage was done. I've swam once since then, more free less breast, but still aggravated the hips. So I stopped swimming. Haven't run at all in 3 weeks. This past Saturday I walked around a museum with the family - hip pain. Sunday am I did my usual 1hr spin class - crazy hip pain later in the day and the next day.

Waiting for my ortho to get back to me, but supposedly she sees 'ankle, shin, shoulder, and hip but only for patients under 40'. I am 40, I wonder if that's why she hasn't called back..... Going to call my primary to see if she'll see me - really I want someone to give me a script for PT. If the eval goes badly or if PT doesn't help, then I can explore writing the big fat check for an MRI (last time was $1300 out of pocket!!).

It sucks for me because work has been severely stressful and the workouts are my hour break from the insanity. that and I'm really motivated to work out, and I can't. I may go swim with a pull buoy just to get something in...try one of those shoulder bicycle machines or something...I don't know what's worse - knowing you need to work out, and not being able to summon the motivation despite trying so hard to; or wanting more than anything to work out, and not being able to...

Oh yeah forgot to mention - the wife had bike envy after I got my 2006 Trek 5200 last year, and so just bought a brandy-new Emonda and some aero bars. She's getting it all assembled and fitted this afternoon. I'll get a pic of it up because, even though it's not my bike and it's too small for me to even borrow, it's still bike porn :D

Please do! We have the Baltimore Tri on October 3rd (just north of the city in a park) and the Baltimore Marathon, which is usually the middle of October. I am away the weekend of the 3rd, but should be around the rest of the month, and it would be cool to meet up!

Dave, I'm just going to echo everyone else. Definitely rent a wetsuit and get at least one swim in prior to the race. It's easy to rent a suit and most companies will work with you on sizing.

*My* own experience with the OWS is actually that the kicking/elbowing isn't bad (it happens under water, so it's not like you're cage fighting, impacts are pretty minimal), and I never really had trouble with splashing either. It's good to practice sighting, although you can do that in a pool and I think as long as you're aware of the need and remember to do it, it's not as big a deal to fret about. For me the biggest challenges were totally not what I'd predicted Instead they were: 1) you just do NOT realize what a break you get when you turn swimming laps. So it's a very minor conditioning thing...being able to swim that distance without the turn...which you'll be physically able to handle, but it can really get you mentally if you're not expecting it and you haven't experienced it. 2) That goes double for the mental break. I've been swimming my entire life, and I'm a good swimmer. Yet my first several OWS in race preparation, utter panic set in....there's nothing to grab onto and you have to keep going. That is HARD to overcome mentally and any sort of exhaustion that sets in (which is a little more likely if you're only used to swimming in pools with the turn and the rest it gives you) just helps kick in the panic. So just having the chance to swim in the environment you'll be racing in is HUGE in terms of practice and prep. Last year (my first tri year) I actually would not race if I couldn't do a practice swim the night before in the location, it was just too important to the success of my race.

You'll want to practice being in the water, not stopping, if you do panic you'll want to practice turning onto your back and calming down (super important to know IMO), and I also find it critical to practice my stroke count and rhythm....you really have to work at slowing yourself down so that you don't get too high of a heart rate (which doesn't help the swim, and contributes to any feeling of panic). The other aspect of swimming in open water is that if it's enough colder than a pool that you need to accustom yourself to the sensation when you put your face in cold water. It literally takes your breath away, and everything you ever knew about swimming and breathing goes right out the window...instantly.

A wetsuit is a huge help. For warmth (if the water is cold you'll want to remember/learn to circulate water into the suit to get your body used to the temperature, so your body isn't a lot warmer than your face for the above breathing reason), but mostly buoyancy. Once you experience that kind of buoyancy it makes swimming in OW SO MUCH EASIER and SO MUCH MORE FUN!!! If you panic and turn onto your back, the suit pretty much keeps you afloat and you can breathe and look at the sky without thinking about being in deep water. And you swim faster....which isn't a big deal, but if you're just doing your first few tris and OWS, there's a bit to be said for the swim part being over quickly, LOL. :-) For me with my first tri, once I got out of the water I had a total blast....so it was huge to get out of the water. Quickly. :-)

If you possibly can, swim OW somewhere prior to the race , but if not just go to your race site the day or night (or both) before the race. I've actually found it to be a pretty awesome addition to the taper of the pre-race week....it's the start of the race, so practicing it is a big mental prep, and the swim isn't hard on your body so really doesn't affect training or prep needs. I also get in the water as soon as I can and swim the equivalent of a few laps, getting myself ready and my body temp acclimated to the lake.

Sorry to be so long-winded...but like I said, I'm a good swimmer and I completely underestimated everything above about OWS. It was pretty easy to overcome, but also could have easily totally derailed me in a race if I hadn't done minimal preparation for it.

Sandi

Sandi is spot on. I have a local pool that has the long course year round and keeps the pool cooler for swim comps. I used it to to get use to longer swims without turns, and it is 12' deep so no touching bottom.

The end result is you will be fine, I've done ocean swims where the current was bad, but I did some back stroke and some breast stroke to catch my breath and relax. I made it (all be it last or close to it) and you will too. I think the fear of the OWS is worse than the OWS.

I'm having a slow week. I can't seem to get motivated to do much beyond the minimum. Yesterday I slept in and played with the idea of a rest day, thinking that perhaps it is residual fatigue from my race on Sunday. It shouldn't be, but I'm kinda at a loss for why I have the blughs. Anyway, when I got home from work it was 72F and sunny with a nice breeze, so I harnessed up the dog and went for a run. I was glad I did in the end. This morning, I hit spin class (149/400) and really cranked it. I'm hoping the endorphin rush will fuel some sort of bounce back. The weekend is supposed to be beautiful and I want to take advantage of it!

Gretchen, it can be post-race blues, I have always the same problem: once I am done with my A-race, it takes me a loooooooong time to get back into it!

1900m swim plus 1h spinning. It was my first day with the BDAS shirt, most gave this jealous look.... but they have to understand, as I explained to them: I am a privileged guy, I may be the only one in Spain (and even Europe!) to wear this jersey!

Juan