More Manatee Mayhem - 2017 Edition - Closed (Page 2)

Hello and welcome back Lisa, Karen, Stacey, Randee, Anne, Jen, Judi, Melanie, Yanti, Kirsten, TJ, and Janyne. We haven't been told yet when we will be going live, but we have indeed been archived elsewhere. So, no email notifications as of yet.  If I had to guess, we would probably be going live late in the game, since we already have a dozen plus members.

Happy New Year to all, I hope that you had an enjoyable celebration, no matter what you did or where you did it.

NAME: Sue, Socks, Doc Socks, Doc Sue

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook Susan M. Ott

STORY: Sports trained orthopedic surgeon ( I am happy to answer medical questions but keep in mind I am a glorified carpenter)  100% of my tri training is here on BT and I have been here a LONG TIME.  Lots o races.  Collegiate gymnast and field hockey player 1000 years ago.  Dreadful runner but I can hold my own on the swim and bike

FAMILY STATUS: married 2 step kids 5 cats (don't judge they are a blended family)

CURRENT TRAINING: IMFL 2017 is the goal.  Getting over multiple knee surgeries so still doing a lot of PT

THIS YEAR'S RACES/EVENTS: IMFL 2017 is the only thing right now although I did do a 5K NYE......longest run I like forever

GOALS/OBJECTIVES/DESIRES: I miss the old social days of BT.  I miss chat.  I miss TAN.  I miss the comraderie.

WHAT MAKES YOU A GOOD MANATEE: I am old and slow but smart and I have been doing this a long time.

That's a big milestone for Zoe!  I love that you will be running with her, that's something I miss doing with old man Gunnar!

I was flying on NYE, so I kind of had to celebrations - a quick one on the plane when it was midnight in Copenhagen and then another one in Ft. Lauderdale when the family in the house behind us got even louder with their celebration! I was trying to miss being awake, but I guess they had other ideas

NAME: amd723 - Ann-Marie - Hands

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: I'm on Facebook , though I don't post much and have a twitter account that I never use. 

STORY: I live in Orlando where I am an attorney for a law enforcement agency.  I am a life long athlete, but only started to like running in 2008 when I signed up for my first marathon -Disney 2009.  Now I love running though my preferred distance is the HM. I did my first triathlon in 2010 and loved it immediately. I've done 3 HIM and lots of shorter distance ones.  Even though i grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and am comfortable in any type of water and water condition, real swimming hates me!  .  

Family Status: Single, but I have Gunnar, the super sweet german shepherd.

CURRENT TRAINING: I have a lovely case of hamstring tendonapothy and I am on running lock down for a month - and am keeping my fingers crossed it won't be longer.  I can swim though and hope to be able to bike soon as well.  I signed up for IM Louisville - my first IM, so I really need to be able to start running and biking again! Plus, inactivity is driving me crazy and causing me weight gain!!

2017 RACES/EVENTS:

Moccasin 10 mile

Zion HM

IM Louisville

Plus lots of others I've yet to sign up for yet.

GOALS
Goals -- get this stupid hamstring injured! Improve the swim - I am signed up for a clinic later in January, enjoy the IM training and most of all, stay injury free!! The last one is a big one. I am very bad at recognizing when to back off and let things heal and do not have a consistent approach to yoga and PT which help me avoid injuries! 

WHAT MAKES ME A GOOD MANATEE: I am pretty good at supporting my fellow manatees and try to contribute to the discussions.  I've been a manatee a long time now and learn something each session.

Good to see some familiar faces and I love re-reading bios - there always seems to be something new (or forgotten) in them that is interesting.

Janyne - How fun that Zoe is officially learning to be your running pal!  Just watch out for those meddlesome squirrels.

Kirsten/Chris - I had to laugh last night when I was looking at Instagram.  Kirsten's picture of the big snow pile, dark, cold, etc. was what I saw when I opened the app. Right below her snowy post was Chris' sunny, green, warm post of the lovely trail he ran on in the morning!  I had a good chuckle and had to show my husband the contrast in the environments of two of the manatees!

Heh.  Yeah, and this amount of snow is soooo unusual for us.  Like once every 10 years.  Usually we get some, then it turns to rain and is gone.  We now have a stretch of cold weather for the next week, so it will be sticking around!  I don't mind it for sure, it happens so rarely, I enjoy it.  I don't even really mind the shoveling.  Good exercise!

Welcome back Dave and Adam! Welcome Sue!  I think that many of us know you from BT and it's good to have you on board as a Manatee!

I didn't know that you were a college gymnast!

Hello all and welcome to Sue, Adam, Hands, and Dave.  We are now live, so if anyone wants to turn on email notifications, now is the time.

It is one of the races I looked at - supposed to be a good course for 1st timers and PRs.  But, apparently, they moved the date later by 2 weeks a couple of years ago and have had weather issues.

Heres a slowtwitch thread on the topic.

ok cyclists, I've got a bike gearing question.  I understand that I have a 12-25 cassette on my P2.  Looking at posts on the IM Louisville FB page there is a discussion that most people use 11-28.  Other than knowing what the numbers represent, I don't really know how one or the other would be a benefit or  detriment for a hilly route.  Any advice and education is appreciated!

NAME: Ben

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: I'm on in a few places, but not many. Tend to not like checking 18 places for slightly different info.

STORY: I'm a lifelong athlete who has been involved with numerous sports. Lots of soccer & basketball growing up along with just being in the outdoors on trails, biking, or on the water. Decided not to play anything in college as things would have turned into another job, losing the fun. Picked up on weight lifting in college, but tired of just lifting bigger stacks all the time. Got back into running & riding more until a friend decided to give triathlon a shot. Backed down on tri recently, but still running & riding. Looking forward to this year after being held way back by injury last year.

FAMILY STATUS: Single. No pets at this time.

CURRENT TRAINING: Mostly running and riding. XC skiing when there is actually snow. Swimming a little bit with masters to work my shoulder, but likely stopping soon.

THIS YEAR'S RACES/EVENTS: Nothing definite, but lots of possibilities. By not doing MDOT events it's not necessary to know so far ahead!

GOALS/OBJECTIVES/DESIRES: Fun, exploration, health.

WHAT MAKES YOU A GOOD MANATEE: Been in the group for a few years now and still don't understand it.

Think the date move was when MDOT picked it up.

The "good for first timers" marketing note is because it's really flat. That may or may not be a good thing as that can also mean really boring with nothing changing and no downhill breaks.

The route has changed significantly since when I did it, so may be more limited in help. Lisa has done it too, possibly on the new route, but can't remember. Think I saw it might be a little harder now, so it's probably a good idea for you especially given where you're coming from.

Gearing is really the ratio between the front (the chainring size) and the back (the cassette, what's listed). The bigger the ratio, the higher the speed you'll be at when using it (front size divided by back). A lot of people get lazy and only state the cassette size. Double check the chainring size too. It's probably something like 50/34 or 52/36, but you want to be sure. I'm still on a 53/39 and often raced with a 54/42. It's a pretty big difference that could notably change what cassette I ran.

For a hilly course, the more important part is the lower end, which is the 25 vs 28. You really want enough gear to get up the hills without mashing. That can really drain your legs. Might only notice some on the bike, but it'll really show up on the run. The 12 vs 11 on the fast end of things should matter very little at most. You should be able to spin that up past 30 mph in which case I'd guess you might start coasting soon anyway? Otherwise you just don't go quite as fast for that brief time period.

Something to note with changing cassettes is that the gap between gears can get larger or smaller. The faster half (roughly) tends to be about the same, but somewhere in the middle to lower half the gaps could get a little larger with each gear shift, depending on exactly what sizes the manufacturer put in. Is your bike 10 or 11 speed? The gaps will increase with either, but will be a little more noticeable if still with 10 spd. This used to annoy me some, but now I really don't notice as I can put out power better at a wider cadence range.

What gravel races do you know of? Trying to find some for myself and my brother that are closer by. Seems many are at least hours away or farther, likely needing an overnight stay. Hard for him with a rather young family.