Gray Guys/Girls Master's Focus Triathlon Mentor Group--CLOSED (Page 42)

Scott:

Have you seen my wife? Kidding. She'd be OK,. After 33 years of marriage she pretty much knows I'll crack jokes on just about anything. But since I'm a guy who wants to stay married, in this situation I knew enough to not say anything other than to feign mild shock regarding her lack of a patch kit and tools.

And we all lived happily ever after.

Steve

Sometimes I'm as proud of what I do TO my bike as what I do ON it. First 100% successful rear derailleur adjustment after several years of trying to get it right. For someone with no native mechanical talent, that's pretty good.
Thank you YouTube!
Deb

Edited by ok2try 2015-06-16 2:02 PM






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Good on you, Deb. I'm not much of a mechanic, so I'm always thinking I'll screw something up and then be stuck with my bike in the shop getting repaired from my mistakes. I admire your fearlessness in taking on your adjustments.

My Felt DA2 has a crazy rear brake that is an absolute to adjust. One little adjustment and the brake calipers won't release causing the rim to rub against the brake pad even when fully released. It drives me crazy. Even the LBS guys struggle with it. I'm afraid to touch it myself and half-afraid to take to the shop to have them screw it up. Let me know when you've mastered brake repair and I'll send my bike down!

Steve

If I had a really nice, expensive bike I'd probably be afraid to touch it. But I've gone the route of inexpensive Craig's-List bikes so I'm not afraid to fiddle with them. I've been able to do a lot of customizing.
It's a fun challenge; plus to do anything at my LBS this time of year would be a wait of a week or more. They've been very tolerant of my DIY attempts, and even give me advice when I ask.
Deb

nothing triathlon related - just an obstruction of my small intestine. Hopefully I'll get out tomorrow. Very frustrating!

Scott I

Hope surgery insn't required & that you're not set back much.
Deb

Hope surgery insn't required & that you're not set back much.
Deb

You mean the gel pack doesn't dissolve?

Thanks Deb and Scott.

It looks like they will keep me here until Sunday, and the Dr threatened me with the 'S' word (surgeon). I've been jogging up and down the halls trying to shake things loose. The nurses just shake their heads and exclaim 'Triathletes!'.

Sorry to hear it Scott. Hope you're back on your feet soon.

Steve

Nice! What a great thing to be able to say,, "I can't remember when I ever weighed this low." A testament to hard work and consistency!
The older i get the more I appreciate people like you George who are living examples of health!

Steve

Hope you're all having a great weekend. Anyone racing?

I'm in New York City for a long weekend with my lovely wife celebrating our 33rd anniversary. We've taken in a couple of Broadway shows and tonight is the Billy Joel concert. But I'm really excited that I'm now (finally) starting to be able to run again...which isn't bad for six weeks after surgery. Yes, I'm fat and slow. The good news is I've been able to run 3 days in a row for the first time in over a year...and tomorrow will be four!

Monday I have my final clearance appointment with my surgeon. I''m anticipating that he will give me the green light to start swimming again! Small steps, but moving forward! By late next week I should have stories of my near drowning experience as I return to the pool!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Steve

I'm home from the hospital. Not 100%, but definitely doing better.

Scott - Glad to hear you are recovering

Steve - Nice way to spend an anniversary weekend.

I completed my first Olympic distance race yesterday. The Pat Griskus Olympic Tri was held in Middlebury, Ct at the same site as the Challenge Series event. Its a nice venue and a tough course. Plenty of hills.

I had mixed feelings going into this event. On one hand, my training volume in the bike and run has been fine under the HIM training plan. On the other, I knew that I would be a bit under trained in the swim portion, based on both discussions posted here and my own instincts.

My race results were:

Swim: 39:31 This was a full mile swim. Since I had never done this distance in OW, I focused on trying not to worry about the distance, but to simply keep my pace steady and not come out of the water whipped. I did the distance, but not without a few stops and starts. Came out of the water feeling ok.

T1 2:30 I felt pretty good with this time. It was on the low side among the field of racers.

Bike: 1:32:17 Tough bike segment for me. A very hilly course and I'm still mulling over the factors that contributed to my time. I'm guessing that I was not recovered enough from the swim segment and as a result, I was not in a good position to push the pace during the climbs on the first half of the bike. I have done quite a bit of hilly bike volume recently, but I just didn't have enough in the tank to push as hard as I wanted to yesterday. After several miles, I realized that I was going to have to simply grind it out at a slow climb and hope to recover for the run. This was about 7-9 minutes off my target time.

T2: :56 happy with that time. Among the fastest in the field.

Run: 54:28 Roughly an 8:47 pace over the double loop course. As with the bike, there were some uphill segments that really made me work. Overall a decent run for me.

Overall finishing time was 3:09:40 , or # 143 of about 194 finishers, so I clearly have lots of room for improvement.

Summary: Positives were my solid transitions and ability to recover and do a good run after struggling earlier in the race. Negatives are my swim fitness and ability to adjust my strategy on the bike with such a hilly course. Overall this was a good learning experience on my way to the HIM in August.

Best part of the day was the return home. As I pulled into the driveway, my next door neighbor's kids (8, 6 and 4 years old) ran over to show "Mr. Dave" their body markings and medals from participating in the local "Kids Tri in Farmington" event. Abby, Delaney and Nolan each medaled in their events, with Delaney participating in the swim while wearing a bikini! We took this group shot and you'll notice that I was the only one who didn't bring home a medal, lol.












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Congratulations Dave! Sounds like a very successful first Oly!

Hey Dave:

Congrats on your race. Sounds like you had a decent day and learned a lot as well.

Just curious, do you know the gearing on your cassette? My bike came with a 12-23. The hills got MUCH easier as soon as I switched it out to a 12-28. Just a thought.

Steve

Congrats Dave on your first OLY - Quite an accomplishment!

Steve,

Believe I have a 12-23. Thanks for the suggestion. I will have to check into that.


Dave

Dave:

Since I'm not a long time cyclist, I lack strength. Hence, I usually try to keep my cadence a little higher to offset the power deficit without giving away too much speed. That's tough to do on hills. The 28 tooth gear has made a huge difference for me to be able to spin up hills versus grunt my way to the top. On hilly courses I'm even tempted to switch to a compact crank or switch out to 12-32. Yes, granny gear. But as you pointed out, hitting the hill tops with legs feeling good is huge.

Steve

Nice race Dave!
And nice picture too. Here I always thought you were a Labrador.
Deb

Exercise and sudden cardiac arrest

http://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-at-risk-for-a-heart-attack-afte...