SBR Utopia ~~~~ Permanently OPEN!! (Page 36)

Hope the workout goes well today Fred!

Second roadie ride today.   I did better, and topped out the climbs better staying with the group, rather than soft pedaling over and having to bury myself to get back on.  Still a little timid and staying to the right more than most, but that's just comfort level.  No idea what cat these guys are, but I'd say the majority are 3s or 2s, some 1s.   With my other group average speed for these hilly rides (4500 or so elevation over 55 miles), ave speeds were low 15s.   These rides are nearly 17

My big issue is descending.  I weigh 193 this morning, so no delicate flower.  I can hang with most of the (middle)  folks on the climbs, but on descents?   Even the smaller guys and girls just whiz by me.  Part of it is that my biggest gear is 50/12, but more than that is I am kind of wimpy.   I feel like I have to brake a lot, and I am just scared of going down at speed.  I also really have no attraction to going that fast on a bike.  Not willing to really risk much as it's not the difference in getting me to Kona.   Coming around on corner, feathering the brakes, guy comes by yelling "no brakes!" 

But there are clearly skills i need to learn, as I bet it I can descend faster and still be safe.

I had a 2 hour ride with 2 x 20' @ 280w today.  Made it 12 mins into the second one and blew up - not the sudden failure kind, the suddenly found myself only able to maintain 230-240w kind.  Still working on getting the endurance back up after the month off the bike.  

Chris, there is definitely a skill set to descending and cornering well.  I learned a lot riding and racing with others last summer.  I still have a long, long way to go but if you watch how they ride you can pick up lots of stuff.

Fred and Rusty, great workouts on the bike!  Some killer stuff there!

Originally posted by TankBoy So that workout was not completely awful - it made 2 hours on the trainer go by fairly quickly, actually. Tapped out on the one minute intervals at 340w (I think I let my mind wander near the end), on the 30 sec intervals tapped out at 440 both times. Whoever guessed closest wins a genuine, limited edition "Piddly Pizzy Watts" trucker hat. Just forward me your mailing address and I will get that right out to you.

Hope the workout goes well today Fred!

Nice going!

Yeah, I looked pretty well into this race a few years ago, but some other things got in the way of racing it. The Wisconsin course is harder than people may realize, but it still continually sells out fairly quick. It's in an area with a lot of people that want to do an IM having Chicago plus some other cities within a few hours drive. If Muskoka is still close enough to places like the East/NE US areas it could end up being similar to that. Deerhurst is likely to sell out quickly, especially since people doing an IM tend to spend well, but there were also other places nearby and they could also fit more budget conscious people like me. Maybe a 15 minute drive out? Some more, some less. I've had good experiences with shuttle services at various races too, both IM and other companies. A lot of people need to take shuttles in for Wisconsin as well as quite a bit of the parking is away from the start. None of this is really a guarantee of this race taking off, but it also doesn't leave much to really criticize.

August 16th I believe.

Just checked on Mark in Whistler.  He swam a 1:23:46 and seems to be putting in a strong bike.  he exited the water 185th in AG and is up to 131st through 91 miles with a projected bike split of around 5:50 if I'm reading it right.  Hopefully things hold up and he can put up a solid run too!

Hoping he has a good result, and that the injury doesn't hamper him too much.

Looks like hes making his way steadily through the run

That was one helluva workout.   3 mile run, swim, 5 mile run, swim, 3 mile run, swim, 1 mile run.   all swims .5 mile.  Hilly runs.   Interesting running to the beach and running into the water with my orange zoots on, then running back out 20 minutes later...   Tried putting shoes down the shorts and also decided to use a piece of velcro I had and wrap the shoes together and use like a pull buoy.   Think that worked out better.    Good confidence builder for SOS, 1.5 mile swimming and 12 running.   Zoots worked great, left the socks on for the swim, and no blisters at all

Hey guys, I finished in 13 something I think.  The bike was pretty brutal esp the last 20.  No aid stations in sight, uphill (slow) and blazing hot.  I started sweating buckets (which I *never* do) and had to pull off once I found some shade.  I was worried I was approaching heat exhaustion.  My legs were totally trashed too.  I really did try to ride conservative and stayed on my power targets.  But it was looking sketchy at 70 and feeling bad at 90.  Maybe the altitude put me off my mark a bit.

The last 2 weeks I did NO bike or run to give my leg a chance to heal and it appears to have worked.  I was able to run the last 6 miles or so, no pain, other than general muscle fatigue.  Of course I had no run buildup under my belt so ... yeah oh well.  Glad I finished.

There were some hellacious wrecks on the bike course.  One guy in front of me on a big downhill looked like he got a front flat and rolled the tubbie off, couldn't save it, hit hard.  I dodged a bullet getting around him.  Some other guys behind me came up and said he was unconscious.  Another part later on there were some SLOW warnings.  I got up to this bridge that was littered with bottles and what looked like carbon fiber that had shattered.  Barely navigated that safely.

Oh and my bike skills 101 today: they did not have a slow warning coming in the last bit of the bike.  Hard corner, I had to brake with both.  I locked up the rear and skidded sideways a bit, hopped it up but recovered straight at the fence.  So I bled some speed with the front then locked up the rear on purpose and skidded into the turn.  Got some applause from a few of the mtn bikers who were spectating   Don't try that at home, it was totally completely stupid.  My brain was pretty foggy after that last climbing section.

Anyhow I feel like garbage.  Thanks to you guys who were tracking me

Wow Mark!  That sounds like quite the adventure!  Congrats on the finish and I'm glad you were able to get through it!

Hmm, I'm surprised the socks worked well with the swim.  I would have thought they would come off easily.

Great job on the workout, sounds like fun!