Fast Twitch Tri-FULL (Page 52)

I wonder if, a bit like SBR Utopia, this will drift/morph/evolve into a FastTwitch version of the same.  Not sure if a short course type group is needed by the BT community, but that's how I've approached this one anyway...

In that setting, it becomes more of a twitchy community.  There are whole fora dedicated to the Iron distances, but not so much the races that, ahem, most of us do (or at least more frequently so).  For me, someplace to discuss the sprint and Oly distances has been very valuable, and I suspect the same would be true for others.

Steve, in keeping with your (hopefully!) not feeling the responsibility to answer every post or question (but please do so when moved!), it could "re-open" and allow more red-lining racers to lurk?

Anywho, just thinking out loud.  If there's already something like this around, please just let me know - haven't really found it on the site, but that could be operator error as much as anything!  If not, I'm looking forward to at least a group who discusses the issues around short course (which is a VALID form of triathlon, thank you very much).  

Matt

Steve,

If the group will continue on without you as leader, but instead just occasional contributor, I would like to stick around and see how it evolves.

Maybe a smaller tight knit group would create a more active thread.

Or conversely, like Matt suggested, maybe we get our own short course forum.  That would be pretty sweet!

Steve, do you know who's still around, or still interested in being around?  I guess if we all knew exactly who is still a contributor that would give us all a better sense of group......if that makes sense......

Then we could rev this thing back up!

MATT -

I think that was Quincy's original intent..........and then I undermined it with my long (-er than necessary????) habits.  That was also what several of our departed brethren wanted, with at least two of them saying as much in PMs to me.  One of them was JASON, the birth father of SBR Utopia, and his approach has been to just mostly mirror the BT main forum; that is, anyone can join whenever they want to.  I might have that wrong, but i think he's never closed it.  Kind of like a never-ending BT Forums house-party!

I certainly believe that short-course emphases are dearly needed at BT.  While long-course stuff has all the bells and whistles, the realty is that few people (a) make their "living" on long-course, and (b) begin their traithlon "careers" there.  Of course, most of us who have been at this siliness for a while get bitten by the long-course bug, and it sure had a hold on me for a whole swack of years.  It still does, at least intellectually, but my own reality is that until I get the torn labrum issue completely resolved (which is unlikely), my longer-than-oly days are done.  But I've been that way for the past two seasons, and for the previous three to those I was drifting that way, so I am comfortable (mostly) with nada mas to HIM and IM. 

In my previous five or so groups, and on the main forums often enough, and over at Slowtwitch, I have bee the thorn-in-the-side for any number of almost absolute newbies who had a HIM of IM in their sights within their first season of racing, and really within their first season of training.  My stated position is just that one will enjoy those distances much more if they have progressively trained for them over a certain number of months/seasons/years, and that the journey to do so is worth far more than the destination.............but my unstated thought is that, really, one should approach the long stuff reverently, and very much respecting the distances.  Quite frankly, i have been surprised at how many people bucket-list this stuff, and while I can roll with it for sprints and olys, I have an increasing more difficult time "accepting" early-on half-irons pursuers........while for irons, in my mind,  it is ALL very much about one paying one's dues.

All that said, i bought into Quincy's "fast-twitch" concept just as a way to elevate the profile of the race distances that most people start with, and stick with, and to just not let that majority get railroaded (NOT intentionally!!!) by all the hoopla surrounding the longer distances.

So, YES, by all means, believe that the BT community can benefit from people who extoll the virtues of short-course racing!  I did and still do..........but somewhere along the way I dropped the ball.  Q passed it off to me (baby on the doorstep alert!!!), and from there I just didn't treat the concept with the execution it deserved.  So, reopening FT and making it viable to that MAJORITY of the triathlon community has much merit --- I just don't have the time or spece in my life to do it myself......................(?).

Hey Gang,

Thanks to everyone for all the help and encouragement. I had sent Steve a private message a couple of months ago explaining I might be scarce around here. Since then I have the great pleasure of saying: My Wife:1, Breast Cancer:0.

I hope to see you all around on the forums. Feel free so message me if the mood strikes you.

Doug Wilson (Hoosierman)

Hey Doug!!! Thats fantastic news about your wife.  Huge congratulations to her and you.  So very pleased for you and your family.  In my song list I have a song by Melissa Etheridge, "I Run For Life".  It isn't as fast for running as I'd like but I do like it as an inspirational song about survival.

I went swimming today after a week off and it felt pretty good to get back in the water then in the afternoon I went running.  I'm not sure if I was tired from swimming but the running felt hard at the start but then I got going and settled into a nice comfortable pace that felt like I could maintain it for awhile.  I only ran 6K but I did enjoy it.

We're heading north tomorrow to meet our latest family addition (Larry).  I can't hold my wife off any longer.  So we're leaving summer and driving back to winter for a few days.

Doug - that is GREAT news, indeed.  Very happy for you and your family!

On a fast twitchy note <warning: brag commencing>:  just ran a 5k today in Waltham (JB Blastoff - charity run to fight brain cancer) and ran a PR!  5th overall out of about 300, but still first loser in my AG.    Very happy with the results (20:32).

Kim ran a PR as well (23:24) and WON her age group.  She actually won a GC worth $30!  I'm a kept man now - which is a good thing as I couldn't keep us in running socks, let alone anything else, with my running.  

Anyway, just had to throw this one out there, as we're a happy bunch.  The kids came and cheered us on - it was terrific.  I guess running all winter helps - now off to swimming and biking so I can get to only moderately slow at everything by the first tri...

Matt 

Wow- I have missed a ton!

Doug- Congrats to your Wife!

Matt- Congrats to you and Kim.  What awesome races!

Steve- I apologize for slacking on the group.  I have been struggling to find my groove this year (and have just ignored it and gone skiing a lot.)

I'm in Paris and excited to watch the marathon tomorrow- I'm hoping to get some motivation.  It seemed like every time I started training this spring I got sick.  Today I went on a 3 hour bike tour (not far, but an awesome way to see a lot of sights in the city) and climbed up the Eiffel tower.  I think we're going to do a bike tour again tomorrow (different route) since we enjoyed it so much.

The only things I have on my calendar at this point are a metric century with friends in 5 weeks (any idea on going from 0 to metric century) and swimming in a 70.3 relay.  I need to find a race or two to get some motivation!

I hope everyone is doing well!

Wow, two solid PR's, nice job!!  Your wife may have made it further up the gender ranks than you, but my has yet to catch me swimming, biking or running   I keep telling him that he'll probably have to knock me up and off my training for the year it takes to carry, birth and recover in order to pass me by!

Thanks Matt and others for the well wishes. Congrats on the excellent results for the two of you.

I just got home after going up north to visit our youngest daughter and our new granddaughter and I'm not so sure your getting pregnant would necessarily slow you down all that much or if it did slow you down it wouldn't be for long.

I think we'll likely keep "Larry" she seemed to be somewhat tolerable (she's already smiling and cooing at 3mos) and passably cute.  Mind you, between Grandma and great-grandma I never got a chance to get very close.  Fortunately she doesn't look like me.

Nice race report.  Really interesting to read.  I often recommend reading race reports to other newbies because there is a lot to learn in them.  Like not running too fast at the start as you say.

I agree with this...I probably read 200 race reports before I ever "toed the line" and learned a lot from them.

Oh, and hi everyone...still here and training. 

Sweet PR, Matt.  20:XX is smokin' in my book.  And that 23:XX your wife threw down ain't too shabby, either.

As for how this group works/worked...I was expecting a little more of the back and forth banter, inspires, and the like, but honestly given the wealth of information going around I wound up not missing it.  I'd have a bit of a problem with this being a completely open forum in that the current mentor group format doesn't really allow for it; we'd be better off with a forum section dedicated to sprint/short-course/fasttwitch racing.  I tried to follow that SBR Utopia for a bit and it was crazy!

Haha, things do tend to come in spurts there. Kind of mellow then a whole bunch at once when the right topic comes up.

I think some distance specific groups could work well. It just may take a little bit more to figure out how to really make them work. This one is still going, and it didn't have the benefit of picking up members as much as others since it was off in the archived section. It's also been more in the off-season. Thinking that there could be more in-season participation as it will be more towards the front of people's minds. Long-course tends to mean a bigger commitment, so people will be looking at them farther out, especially for an IM. The ones who have been here seem to be more training all the time regardless of the event(s) coming up. I sure do.

My experience in mentor groups is very limited, only to the existence of this and SCIFT, but things seem to have gone well. Steve, you were great continuing to respond to all the questions! I never would have guessed this is what you consider a "lesser" effort.

I don't think I'd like an open forum either but it wouldn't be terrible to open up to a few more people.  It would be nice to have a bit more participation.

I did something a bit different today.  I went out for a Mtn bike ride.  I rode out an old rail bed (part of the local KVR Trail - very popular hiking/cycling trails).  It was a fairly hard uphill ride for as far as I wanted so I just went until I felt it was time to turn around but then it was downhill all the way back.  It took half the time to come back as it did to ride out.  It was quite an awesome ride with some excellent scenery.  It would be a great run route as well.  On fairly compact and level gravel pathway with a steady uphill grade.

Question - I'm looking for nice tasting gels.  Can anyone recommend a few?  In the MOJO group we discussed it quite awhile ago but I can't remember which ones were supposed to be good.  I remember Steve recommended a few that sounded good.

In general, I like and can tolerate the GU gels quite well.  The peanut butter is good on the bike (usually too thick on the run for me).  Triberry is OK on both.  Esspresso is good if you like caffeine (and I do) - especially on the run.  Vanilla is good, unless it's hot out (then too frosting-ish for my taste).

Just tried some of the Roctanes.  Like the pomogranite/acai (or blueberry? can't recall, but it's the pom one) and the orange vanilla a lot.  These didn't seem as thick as GU, but that could be the weather warming up some.

Myself, didn't much care for the hammer gels, but only tried twice.

On the bike, fig newtons are my alternating "gel" of choice (between GU, banana and Fig Newtons, usually).

Hope that helps - sorry it's such a limited review!

ETA: Mandarin Orange - like that one, too!

Thanks Matt, thats excellent info and I was curious about Roctanes as well.

I had forgotten about fig newtons - Steve recommended them as well.  They sound like a good option.  A fellow I swim with says he likes to cut up his favourite power bar then dust them in a protein powder and put them in a baggy and carry them in his bento box to snack on.

I really like Honey Stinger waffles except they crumble when they get too hot.

Ever time I see those Honey Stingers in a magazine, I want to try them.  Just haven't seen them in a store yet.  I'm going to pick some up when I do, though (they sound reeeeeaaalllly tasty).

The Fig Newtons are good on a ride, but harder to get down if you're hammering or running (they can be a bit dry).  If it's during a slower part of the ride, or it's easy enough to wash down without going anoxic, then they're great.

Matt

Did some fast twitch swimming at a MAsters meet this morning. 100 yd free in 1:00; 100 yd back in 1:09; and 50 yd free in :27.

About three seconds slower than last year in the 100 due to not being in the pool at all this year. Overall nice to see me swim peeps and get a good workout in.

Nice job Dave! 

I don't like the gels, but do like the margarita flavored shot blocks quite a bit.  The extra salt works for me.  In general I prefer the shot blocks, but I do most of my training on a mountain bike where I stop and have one.

I did my first real mountain bike this weekend checking out the course of an Xterra my husband entered.  Man do I need to work on my lungs and legs. 

This weekend is closing ski weekend- so I promise to get back into it soon :-)

I did get one of my company Bolder Boulder slots today- so I need to start running more too.  I'm hoping I can use a 5k from a tri as a qualifying time.

Slowpoke.

GEORGE - I probably said this in the other group, but I don't want to go back to look either. Last year I quit messing with gels and went to strictly liquid nutrition. There are lots of options like Gatorade Endurance or Power Bar Perform. I'm using Infinit which is customizable albeit a little more expensive at http://www.infinitnutrition.us So far it's worked out well for me both in sprint and olympic tris and in running races. You can add electrolytes, carbs, protein, caffeine, and protein in your desired proportions. They have a pre-season sale where I stocked up this year, though I may not have bought enough.

MIKE - ha! Imagine you're probably being facetious, but I do feel pretty slow compared to the people I swim against and my high school self that could do a 100 free in :50 flat. What I was happy about though, was the relatively small loss of speed for the hours and hours of training I gave up to focus on the bike and run. This was all STEVE's idea, so if it didn't work out, well . . .    I'm betting that the small loss in swim speed is going to be more than made up for by improved bike strength (FTP up 10% so far this year) and definite running fitness improvements.

Speaking of cycling, I did my first real group ride this week with the Western Pennsylvania Wheelmen. It was a 33 mile ride with about 3,000 feet of climbing done at about 15 MPH average. Which happens to be the longest ride I've ever done. I really felt more secure riding in a pack and was generally able to keep up. However, the ride started at 5:30 pm, and I hadn't eaten since 2:30 pm, and I only took one bottle with me, so by about mile 30, I totally bonked. The leader was kind enough to wait for me at the last couple of intersections to make sure I made it back. Seems like a good group that would help me really improve if I can get the times to work out. Not often I'm going to be able to make it home from work in time for a 5:30 start.

Two weeks out from the Pittsburgh HM. Did a solid 5 mile run yesterday that was supposed to be race pace but ended up being 8 minute miles. Today, did a 12 mile long run where I took it easy for the first 8 miles and did the last 4 at a more realistic race pace around 8:20 / mile. Feeling good about the run fitness coming around. Though a little nervous that I'm scheduled for the hardest week coming up including 10x400s @ 5K pace and another 12 mile run before only a one week taper. Very different from last year's program, which had us running a lot more (and hillier) miles earlier and tapering longer but with less speed and tempo work during the week. Interesting to see how it shakes out.

GANG!!

Back home now after being away for two weeks (was just supposed to be 10-11 days, but we extended it!), and I see there has been a smattering of activity here; I will attend to this within a day or two!

Good to see that most of you still on board seem to be prospering, forging away with training and related plans.  Aw, bliss!  May it continue that way forever, or as long as each of you desire -- whichever comes first!

For my part, I am still working at committing to not racing this season.  Ever and anon, this is difficult, but still seemingly essential.  Also in the ever and anon department is the "battle" to keep up with decent training in the face of no external (i.e., race goals) motivation.  And, given my incredibly slack winter, it's not so much a matter of keeping up with decent training as it is one of resuming decent training.  The run is falling into place, but I haven't been on the bike either inside or outside in about six weeks, and swimming is still drudgerific.  The upside to this conundrum is that i am learning LOTS about my psyche, my needs, my wants, and what most effectively drives me.  As a terminally non-self-inspective type, this is all kind of reveletory!

Finally, I am surprised that the April groups haven't started yet.  I figured they would start up around the 15th, and I hope the past few weeks haven't left too many of you swinging in the wind.

See you later today!

(We are doing our annual owl survey tonight, so that means no posting for me after about 7 p.m.   Hmmm.)

A fast-twitch update...ran three miles today and I was running the 3rd one FAST (well, for me anyway...).  Ran the 3rd mile about 7:40 or so...which is/was just below 10K race pace before my Humpty Dumpty body fell apart two years ago.  Yeah, I know it's not wise to do that very often, but I wanted to test out where I was physically.  Test passed!

I've also been to a new chiro lately...an ART and Graston guy who works primarily with athletes.  Before him every doctor basically told me "stop running."  This guy wants to figure out how to get me back out there.  We've worked on a nagging neck/back issue I've had for years from swimming and we're definitely improving.

Went to my first two Masters practices...honestly was very frustrated with them.  I couldn't even reasonably complete the sets (especially the kicking drills) so I just felt frazzled and never in any kind of groove.  Then I aggravated the above neck issue...will probably try again in a couple of weeks.

Been also toying with the idea of switching to a more "natural running" shoe (specifically Newton Sir Issac's...basically their "remedial" shoe with respect to mid/forefoot running).  The running store guy did videos with my running both in my current New Balance stability trainers, and then barefoot.  There was a noticeable twist to my left knee with the shoes that isn't there barefoot...maybe the cause of my knee issues.  I'm just worried about introducing anything new at this point in the season.