GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 99)

MANDY -

100 miles on a trainer or rollers??? I figured that was something reserved for people who (a) were generally bad, or (b) spent way too much time training, neglecting family and work in the process......and was their first stop in the Afterlife. You know you've been either (a) or (b) when one of St. Peter's minions leads you to a vast room full of rollers and trainers, and there are no fans, and your own bike isn't even there, and you have to do 100 miles....and repeat....and repeat.....and repeat.....

Purgatory? Hell? (In Purgatory, at least there are small fans.)

What a challenge --- and one I cannot conceive of doing! I have yet to do any mammoth trainer sessions, with my longest maybe being 3 hours, once. As for the rollers, I'm old-school with those and don't use a fork-like device in the front to stabilize me. So it's just me and balance and concentration, and I think once I made it to 90 minutes; maybe 80. And where would that get me - about 28 miles, perhaps. That, times FOUR?? Yikes!

But, people dod od that sort of thing, and I'm sure that it's a rite of passage for really serious roadies to put in massive hours miles on rollers. It is a cool "skill" (vaguley akin to juggling) to have, but nothing that beckons me to spend time doing -- let alone for 100 miles!

And are you a known character in Caratunk, the stuff of local legend?

MARK -

Great post! That's the glory of the Tempo Trainer, that it proves where efficiency both enters and exits the picture. I have similar accounts, but yours is quite dramatic. And going from 1.10 to 1.07 is something my ear can't even pick up ----- but the proof is in the times, isn't it?

And has your battery ever died? Mine hasn't. It sits in a wet bag of pool toys, and the bag spends the winter in the back of my freezing car, and I have yet to change the battery. Impressive bit of gear, eh?

STEVE -

That's another probable culprit in people having disasters at IMSG --- pinch flats due to underinflated tires getting hammered going over those seams. But if you were at 120, well, that's where you want to be.

The perennially worst stretch of road of the Lake Placid course was miraculously resurfaced last year, so maybe your wish will come true and even more of the SG course will be resurfaced in the next 5 weeks. I'll send out some mojo that that happens!

I'm glad that Jason and Maggie are working to keep SG in perspective! I felt a little guilty the other day with the ideas of MAYBE doing just the swim and bike. But hearing that you woke up and it hurt to walk........yeah, 50/50 might be a judicious position for you to be in right now.

As for the serious taper this week? Definitely! Given that you're only 6 weeks out from an ironman, your fitness is definitely there for a half-iron. Added to that is that it's now Wedneday, and there is nothing you can do at this point that will help you perform better at Showdown, so you might as well sit back and rest and recover, and see where that gets you. If you decide to bag Showdown, will you be going there anyhow and serving as Jason's Support Crew?

STEVE again -

In the past couple of years I've really cooled on the idea of making long trips (which would be drives) for races, but I still entertain the idea of doing Silverman one day -- even the half has massive appeal. So, if you ever view that one seriously yourself, let me know and I'll start kicking it around in my head.

(This November, perhaps?? )

Another you should look at is Auburn. It's "just" a half-iron, but the course is supposed to be a killer. The RD is Brad Kearns, a former pro who was known for thinking outside the box, and Auburn has some throwback aspects tomit that I find very enticing. Or at leats it used to. It's maybe been two years since I last visited the website -- which was a fun place to spend time.

Savageman!!!!! It's still just a half-iron, but what a test! What is it called -- the Westernport Wall? I guess I'd like to assault that and have a brick with my name on it planted at the summit; wouldn't anyone? That too is a fabulous website to visit, with all of the phots of people starining to make it up without dismounting. The photos that are telling are the ones that show a rider in the foreground, but in the background is someone who is walking their bike! The othe telling photos are those that show people taking the approachj of working a straight line up it, versus those whose startegy is to wind from side to side. I have tried to fantasize what I would do --- and I develop an immediate mental block to thinking too much about it!

Triple-T North Carolina -- in your thoughts??

STEVE once more -

In my Luddite-based world of dial-up, the maps and profiles from onemillionrevolutions never work well for me. But I got nothing on the bike profile a few days ago, whereas at leats the run profile EVENTUALLY showed up. Onemillionrevolutions must be cool for people on high-speed, but sadly that ain't me.

STEVEB,

Wow, 9 years on cleats and shoes...Got your money's worth out of those!

It looked like some of the tri bike shoes I saw this previous week were one large velcro strap. I thought the one brand of shoe was Shimano.

Well, I still haven't really looked at a total plan...Last night though, I did a combo of 4 and 5. (today is my planned rest day, so I pulled Wednesday plan ahead). I did the run for the 5 and am not a fan of fartlek's!! Then due to ongoing self induced sluggishness and the prior fartlek running session, didn't do the full swim. I'm already horrible with warm ups and cool downs in the pool plus it was getting pretty busy, so I used the kick sets as a cool down.

I put the Speed Laces into my running shoes last night and love the difference! I wonder why all running shoes do not come with them! I've generally been the guy with shoes done overtight and currently have had some discomfort from that. With the speed laces, the shoes were never too tight and there was very little foot movement in the shoe over the entire time. That's great as it gets me away from over tightening the shoes and resulting post run discomfort.

DENISE -

I love it when the various magazines come out with articles on the best races; it gives me more to fantasize about!

Of the ones mentioned in the articles you cite, I have done only Chicago, Musselman, Timberman, and Lobsterman. This is "down" some from the counts in other previous artcles, maybe because this article has so many that are not U.S.-based. It kind of makes me feel like a slacker!

Of those four races, the reasons for their inclusion in the list are 100% valid - IMHO.

And HUGE PROPS to them for giving credit where credit is due to independent iron-distance races. Vineman! Beach2Battleship! Chesapeakeman! (Not one mention of one of the old standby U.S. M-dots, such as Placid or Wisconsin or Arizona!)

TRACEY -

My favorite in the Whites in Mt. Lafayette. But, I haven't done many of them overall, and the last one was maybe in '96 or '97. At this stage of my triathlon "career" (which I wasn't even doing back then), I'm too afraid of hurting somehting in the course of a somewhat-demanding climb, so I don't see any mountain ascents in my near-distant future! (But to make it to the top of Lafayette on a clear day is figuratively [and almost literally] heavenly.)

TRACEY again -

Have you made it to a pool yet to try some of the TI tactics?

SteveB,

Does M-DOT mean Ironman?

I saw some reference to 70.3 earlier from you as well. Is that in reference to the Ironman series of Half IM's?

SHAUN -

Yes, i have seen a Shimano ad soemwhere that showed a one-strap model. Maybe that's the one that has my name on it!

One of the great things about elastic laces is that when done up correctly, they pretty much eliminate the problem of over-tightening, which can lead to irritation of the tendons on the top of the foot. This is rarely serious, but it does hurt and serves as a fairly major distracting influence!

About Welland! It's a flat bike, and if you look at the '09 results you'll see 230 (I think) finishers, of which about 50 had bike splits greater than an hour. Of those 50, the average time was maybe 1:07 or so, with the slowest time being 1:19, if I remember. So, my thinking is that you can train well for Welland for not going over 75-90 minutes in any of your rides -- and that's where the long rides in level 4 place you. In fact, I'll amend that -- the longest ride in level 4 is 1:45, with an additional long ride of 1:30 a week or two before.

So there it is! You arrive at Hawk Island, 3 weeks out from Welland, and you already have a few rides that exceed what you'll be doing at Welland -- with three weeks to hone some speed skills at that 30km distance. I think that's pretty much ideal, and it will avoid havoing to tinker around with the Fitz plan of your choice. (Even Level 3 would afford you that.)

Whadaya think?

SHAUN again -

M-dot races are the "branded" Ironman races. They are called that because of the logo -- the chucnky M with the dot above it, stylized to look human. The M-dots in North America will all have "Ironman" as a sort of prefix --- Ironman Florida, Ironman Louisville, Ironman Lake Placid, etc (others are Couer d'Alene, St.George, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Canada; there are many more worldwide).

No other iron-distance race can officially refer to itself as an "ironman"; iron-distance is okay. The only one a person can qulaify for Ironman Hawaii is in an M-dot race, or a very few selected 70.3 races (see below). M-dots have lots of bells and whistles, but you pay for it in terms of often-crowded courses and very high fees -- $550 I believe it is now.

About 3-4 years ago, the Ironman folks decided to "brand" a bunch of half-iorns, and that started the official 70.3 series. This is now very large, with about 20 (or more?) in North America alone. Many of the best half-irons have been bought into (I hesitate to say that they have "sold out to") the 70.3 series, and this has affected the costs of almost all half-irons. Just a few years ago, virtually all half-irons were under $200, and many under $150; now, all official 70.3s are above $225 (there might be two exceptions, Kansas and Steelhead), with many at $250 or $275. The deal here is that if anyone wants to qualify for the 70.3 "world" championship in Clearwater, FL, they need to do at one of the 70.3 races. (There are loads of problems with Clearwater, but that's for another time, another post!)

This is ultimately all regrettable, and it has become a seller's market at the longer distances. Most M-dots sell out in a matter of hours, literally. So, people have to make a huge financial commitment about 364.5 days before the race, and the refund policies are tight -- only about $125 comes back to you if you notify them about two MONTHS out from the race. And given that most of the N.A. ones "overbook".......guess who makes a windfall profit?

Really, it's not just the longer distances that are out of control. Several olys in the U.S. now charge >$150 for their races, with several of the urban ones hitting above $200. In a way i can accept that as it takes a lot of resoiurces to shut down large parts of a city for a day, but what has happened is that other olys have jumped on the high-fee bandwagon. I did NYC Triathlon in '05 and '09, and I think in the interim the cost rose from $150 to $225. Ouch?

But there's nothing quite like racing in New York City or Chicago, which I have also done twice. In NYC, the swim is in the Hudson and the bike is on an entirely closed-to-traffic Henry Hudson Parkway. On any other given day there are about 87 million cars of that road, but there youa re on race day, owning a piece of it! Running down the middle of 72nd to get into Central Park is also very cool, with the police blocking the traffic actually smiling at you as you pass!

But I digress, and now I'm off for a swim!

Let me know what you think about the Welland logic.

Yes! And I'm happy to report I got great results from the golf ball in the butt technique.

I really tried focusing this morning on the glute tightening while I kicked. My usual time for 500 meters has been around 16:15, give or take a few seconds. Today I did 500m in 15:20 - taking almost a full minute off the time! I could possibly attribute it to just overall improvement, but I was at 16:15 less than a week ago, so I gotta think it's the kicking from the hips.

It's funny, while I was swimming I was thinking, hmm, what sort of valuable object could I imagine holding in my butt to reinforce the glute tightening? And I remembered a beginner ski lesson I took several years ago. In order to get me to keep proper posture, the instructor told me to imagine that I had hundred dollar bills between my shins and the front of my boots and that I had to keep pressing my shins forward in order not to lose the bills. The instructor would ski behind me, and every time I would lose the stance, I'd hear him yell, "Hundred dollar bill, hundred dollar bill!" So there I was in the pool today, hearing my ski instructor saying, "Hundred dollar bill!"

I think I should invest in a tempo trainer. After I did the 500m, I swam another 250 at a nice easy pace, just spending the time focusing on glide and what I think they call "front-quadrant swimming". I found that I finished it in about the same time that I usually do when I'm more focused on time and feel like I'm going faster (or at least trying to). I'd really like to see how low I can get my stroke rate/tempo while still maintaining or improving my speed. I'd love to get to that place where I can maintain a nice, smooth and relaxed swim!

Tracey

Heh, yes, the serious taper is on!  Massage last night was good, but the leg feels no better today.  Plan is to do another longer swim session tonight, and then see how the leg feels.  I'd like to jump on the trainer after the swim and just do a very easy ride to see how the leg responds.  I keep waking up at 5:00 in order to do a trainer session before work, and by the time I get to the trainer, the leg talks me out of it.  Part of me thinks that getting on the trainer and taking it easy will loosen up the leg and make it feel better.  But I just don't see the percentages in that right now.

Anyway, long swim tonight - maybe a spin, and then maybe a light swim on Thursday - (half hour or so). 

Cold is still lingering a bit - still doing the antioxidant thing.  Woo-hoo!

I'll definitely be there at Showdown regardless and will do the swim for sure (100%) and the bike (90%).  At this point, I'm making peace with the fact the run is likely not going to happen.  I am infinitely sad about it right now.  Feels like when you had a crush on someone that was not reciprocated.  Feels like it's all "want" right now and nothing coming back.  But, we will see.  One thing for sure, if things do fall apart this weekend, St. George better look out!  LOL.

Sorry to hear you're sad Steve!

If it makes you feel any better, I have to tell you that you are a great source of motivation and inspiration to me (a TRUE beginner). Your posts are really enjoyable to read and the hard work you do and dedication you have are really amazing.

Tracey

Thanks Tracey!

SteveB:

I'm not that familiar with the territory, but I know my husband has climbed to Zealand Notch a few times. He's way into the winter hikes (and is not really interested in the hiking in the more temperate times of year!) That's my husband though. He just loves the extremes! I just can't get into the idea of having to go out in sub-zero temps to pee in the middle of the night. Besides, I can only take on one physical endeavor at a time. I think I'll continue focusing on the tris for now! Would love to get up there someday though.

Tracey

SteveA,

Add another one to the list of people you are motivating through sharing what you are going through!

STEVEB,

They helped HUGE in the over-tightening department. I come from the school of thought that if doing up shoes snug is good, tighter must be better!!

Well, so far, looking at those times, I think...18mph for an hour on a mountain bike? Sure its flat. Not sure what pace I can do for that long on that bike. Gonna find out soon though when I get outside.

So you think I should back off to level 4 from 5? I was kind of looking at level 5...And actually so far today even going so far as to wondering if I would be willing to commit to split my swim and run and go swimming prior to work so I am not so burned out for it.

SHAUN -

No, no, no, no, no --- I wasn't suggesting that at all! if you have the time in your life to do the extra work for Level 5, then I'm certain you can handle the physical demands. Physical - YES! Temporal - ??? I guess the difference isn't all that much -- both have six workouts, but they're longer, overall, in Level 5.

Level 5 or bust??

SHAUN again -

Urp. Yeah, the mountain bike maybe changes things a bit! What about a target pace of 15mph, which you get you done in about 1:12, which is still well below the long bike in Level 5. And even coming in at 1:20, that would still be a well within what Level 5 sets for its long ride.

All of this is to say that I think your best approach to training for those three races is to follow the Level 5 sprint plan for Hawk Island, and then adapt from that point on leading up to Welland.

??

TRACEY -

One of these days, when I have some really loose time on my hands, I'm going to ferret through the "old" posts and find the ones in which you were almost beside yourself with swim-angst. But at least for now I am putting a reference on my calendar about your post today, just so I can refer back to it to point out how vastly far you have progressed with your swimming. Your improvement is colossal, but even more impressive is your confidence, and the command of what you are doing.

Go ahead -- re-read what you wrote today; it hardly sounds like the you of January and February, does it? Not only are you seemingly seamlessly knocking off 15/16 minute swims, but that time LEAP from 16:15 to 15:20 -- that's the stuff of which dreams are made!

Good story about the hundred dollar bill, and it certainly works better to have a coach behind you on the slopes screaming at you about that, as opposed to a coach going back and forth along the pool "Golf ball butt! Golf ball butt!"

At any rate, use whatever visualization/constriction image works best for you. For me, I can't decide -- the ball is smoother but larger, while the bill is smaller but chafes more. Deecisions, decisions........

TRACEY again -

Zealand Notch? In WINTER?? That's hard-core!!!

Granted, my White Mtn geographical knowledge is not what it should be, but what I think I know tells me that Zealand Notch is UP THERE. But maybe, being a notch, it's not all that high itself. Franconia Notch, per se, is just the pass between peaks to the east and peaks to the west.......maybe?

Winter in the W.M., though --- let's see what Mandy has to say about that!

Oh, Maaaaaaaaannnnndddy!!!

STEVE -

Oh, how I feel your pain! I really ought to put out here in the general record a list of all of the races I have had to bail on, virtually all because of the run. Runnus interruptus -- it leaves so many races unfulfilled!

I don't mean to make light of this, and I really do know pretty much what you are feeling right now. I think it WILL help to make it through the swim and, if at all possible, the bike, and realize that foregoing the run is being done for a Higher Purpose --- that would be IMSG, if I'm not mistaken.

"Making peace" is actually the way I have had to think about my own mindset when this sort of thing has happened. It's not easy -- but for me it's always better the day after, if not that same evening. I sure hope it works like that for you, too.

Let us know how the swim and hoped-for spin went this evening.