Doug28450

It's raining again today. Six straight days of rain. Mrs. Doug28450 is making breakfast.

Trsnrtr

Going through old photos and found a pic of Penman, myself and a couple others lining up for the 1910 TDF as "Independants." IIRC, we both went dnf.

IMG_3165 by trsnrtr, on Flickr

LesterOfPuppets

After work I had a waffle and coffee. I guess I'm technically still working since I get paid for the trip back to rock springs too. Then we got ordered to work Sunday night at 10pm, so we'll be driving back to Cheyenne tomorrow afternoon.

LesterOfPuppets

I pocketed two Motel yoghurts for road snacks.

Heathpack 

Haha, the breakfast question was rhetorical. You guys are a bunch of literalists.

But since we're going there...

First breakfast: Coffee Caramel recovery drink. As I've written hundreds of times in my training notes, "300 cal, 50 gm carbs and 22 gm protein". I love that drink.

Second breakfast will be my cold Muesli that I posted about yesterday. Looking forward to it.

thin_concrete

Mmmmm....breakfast with the Ryder Cup on. Flipping between that and Gameday. It's nasty outside, so I'm not too upset at being a couch potato this morning. But I did get to the gym already.

datlas 

I just came back from one. But I really really prefer to ride with my club. Or a small group. Ideal number of riders is 6-10.

OTOH I prefer to run alone with Pandora on my iPhone. Running outside, solo, in the cool fall weather with some motivating music is almost not stupid.

I ran today too. Both run (6 miles) and ride (20 miles) were short. I need to exercise more.

Doug28450

datlas 

It's a cliche, but they say things always look better in the morning. I hope that applies to your situation.

Doug28450

Nice bowling shoes.

Trsnrtr

Darn shorts gave me jock-itch, though.

datlas 

I am doing my work laundry today. I try to do it at the beginning of every month. Hold on, this is really bike related, I need some reassurance.

About 2 years ago I did a load of shirts (about a dozen) and stupidly had a pen in one of the pockets. As a result, I have a dozen really nice work shirts that each have a few scattered small ink stains on them. Bad enough that I don't use them, but I can't bring myself to toss them. Before I throw them onto the bike rag pile, anyone have any suggestions on how to get washed-in and dried-in ink out of iron free dress shirts??

I still feel kinda guilty getting rid of them, but I feel it's time to forgive myself for the mistake and move on. At least they can have a second life as a drivetrain wiper.

WhyFi

Damn it, I accidentally bought a bike. Pics later.

LesterOfPuppets

Noun
yoghurt m ‎(definite singular yoghurten, indefinite plural yoghurtar, definite plural yoghurtane)

LesterOfPuppets

Sweet!

datlas 

Excellent. What type??

2manybikes

Two breakfasts?

LesterOfPuppets

I offered $50 for a bike the other day. Unfortunately the dude said nope, $75 firm. I had to pass.

WhyFi

cx

datlas 

Excellent. I have my eye on one too.

Doug28450

You've been telling us that for a year.

datlas 

True. I am not one to make impulse purchases, clearly.

Doug28450

Take a lesson from WhyFi.

datlas 

I should have pulled the trigger on the Nashbar CX bike last week when they had a one day 30% off sale.

Maybe next time.

Bah Humbug

Sorry for the long post coming, but I have to brag for AG a bit.

A Sherpa's Perspective on Ironman Chattanooga

Last year,in a "success or bust" attitude towards full-IM racing, with some input from me, AG decided to do two full Ironmans in 2016. The thinking was to roll from one training plan into the next and build some real fitness and success. The early race was Texas; the late race was Chattanooga. Texas was wrecked by a thunderhailstorm that moved in about halfway through the run, which resulted in the race being clumsily stopped (with AG standing in ankle-deep water while lightning flashed), and restarted some time later, with the athletes cold and stiff and slower ones having caught up to faster. Although before the storm she was looking, outwardly, better than any IM I had seen her at previously, AG said she did not feel good and did not feel the race would have been a success, even if she had hit her PR. She decided (internally) that if Chattanooga went poorly, it would be her last full.

Almost immediately after Texas, we moved to north Austin. Among other things, this gave her easy access to Parmer, which is a long, flat road with light traffic suitable for IM training, but in recent years has gotten more debris on the shoulders, making it risky from a flat tire perspective. Despite this, as her assigned weekend rides got longer, AG began using Parmer for training. This coincided with the onset of a long and brutally hot Texas summer. Unsurprisingly, she started getting flats... and a lot of them. In one four-week stretch she got three, all unrelated (the latter two were a staple through the tire, followed by a sidewall-tearing rock). For the final, the rock tearing the sidewall, I had driven out to be in the area she was riding in case the tire completely gave out (at the time, she hadn't diagnosed the flat and had just swapped the tube). After finding her, I patrolled the area, but missed the turn she took towards home. After realizing I had missed it, I went home, to find her in the parking lot, sitting on the asphalt, sobbing and covered in sweat and snot, despairing that her training was not going right and she wasn't making any progress. After talking her off the ledge, the next week's ride was fully indoors, on the trainer.

Even that didn't go smoothly. In this crummy apartment, the trainer is in the little dining area adjoining the kitchen, instead of in the garage with air crossflow. Three and a half hours into a five-hour ride, she ground to a halt, unable to continue. My guess was she'd literally sucked all the oxygen out of the air, but with another bike session not going according to plan, she got even more depressed about her chances. She returned to riding outside, but a different set of roads, and had no more flats during training.

Blah blah blah nothing more of note until race day. With the Texas summer lasting until, effectivey, this week, AG was worried about being heat-acclimated and getting to Chatty and having to deal with cooler weather. As it turns out, their weather was also unseasonably warm, with a forecast high of 95* on race day (but more on that later).

Swim: Just under 58 minutes, on a non-wetsuit current-assisted swim. Because of the nature of the course, she beat us to the swim out/ transition, and was out on the bike course before we could see her. And the bike course was long, geographically (stretching down into Georgia), so we didn't see her at all until she rolled into transition to start the run. The temperature had already hit 95* at the weather station, let alone 3' above the blacktop. Bike: 5:51, right about her target for a B+ bike. Not bad, but not what she'd been hoping for. Being a pessimist, I girded myself for dealing with her disapppointment.

Now, the run. The temperature rose to 97* (again, weather station, and much of the run was on unshaded asphalt). The hottest day in Chattanooga since 1931. A total of 611 people were treated by the medical staff, mostly for heat-related issues (quadruple the previous years). The number hospitalized was somewhere north of a dozen, and double previous years. Slightly over a quarter of the participants DNFed which, again, was quadruple the normal rate. As she entered the run, she was third in her age group. By halfway through? She had run past them into first. By 12 and 15 minutes over 2nd and 3rd in her age group. Finishing the race in 10:38 she wound up with a 22-minute PR for the distance (and the Chattanooga bike coure is 4 miles long). Further, she was the fifth woman overall (no female pro field at this race), and the 64th total competitor in a field of 1600 finishers. And, that run split of hers was the second-fastest female run split of the day, and the 40th-fastest including men and male pros. So, @WhyFi, yes she's "that sort of Ironman" and we're going to Kona2017.

TLDR: AG clobbered most of the Ironman Chattanooga field on the hottest day in Chattanooga in nearly a century by dealing with the heat better than just about anyone else. After a year of doubting her training and thinking she wasn't getting anywhere.

Did I mention I love that girl?