%$!#-&*@

Stuart Lamble wrote:

On 2005-04-13, Tamyka Bell wrote:
Carl Brewer wrote:
Tri's wear wetsuits,

Not all triathlete wear wetsuits. I'm a bit of a swimmer myself, so I
don't bother, yep, even at half ironman distance.

Hrm. *looks at his 7mm semi-dry scuba wetsuit*

*considers how easily he could swim in that*

*realises he'd float, but would have trouble getting his arms over*

(Nice wetsuit, just not for swimming in. Swimming, I'd probably want my
3mm, but that one leaks so much, it's hardly worth wearing...)


Tri wetties are pretty spesh. They're dry-ies for a start, designed of
fancy rubbery stuff on the outside with neoprene lining, they're super
flexible and they cost about $600. Only hard part of the stroke is
pushing your hand into the water. The rest is fantastic. Never raced in
one though, only tried it out in training.

T

I think there is a limit on its thickness anyway for Tri's - pretty
sure they are only allowed to be 3mm thick...

All part of them not being able to 'float', and so not conferring a
large-ish advantage to the swimmer.

I have a great photo that my Mum & dad took many years ago when I did
the Mooloolaba tri, taken as I was running out of the water post-swim.
I am very easy to spot amidst all the competitors, as the only one
wearing Speedo's only (everyone else was dressed up in a wetsuit). I
kept telling myself that I was a better swimmer than them, because they
needed a wetsuit...

Cheers,
Absent Husband

Absent Husband wrote:
"I tried a homeopathic injury tablet and it made me very ill."
snip

So that's what the kiddies are calling them these days... "No officer,
its just a homeopathic injury tablet.."

Work it out..
"Homeopathic Injury Tablet".. HIT.. case closed.
I'll take 50, thanks!

hippy

Carl Brewer wrote:
cool. I read lots of those sorts of papers because that's my research
job. But I still reckon it's what works for the individual.

Of course. If training was the same for everyone, there'd be one
book and everyone would have it. The art of coaching is
finding what works best for each athlete you're working with,
and then getting them to actually do it!
(right Hip? Still reading? )

Um.. surprisingly, you freakin' physiology geeks, yes! :P

My understanding is "specificity is key", which I interpret as meaning
"use your bike for your muscle building" which is why I actually do what
Carl says wrt hill sprints. If I didn't agree with them, I wouldn't do
them. Bonus with 'on the bike' "weights" is that you don't need a gym
membership, gym gear, etc. and the sweat on the seat is yours and yours
alone! hehe :P

hasn't figured out how aromatherapy and accupuncture and homeopathy work
but they do work for some people. I tried a homeopathic injury tablet
and it made me very ill. But the lotion worked like a charm.

Aren't placebos and coincidences wonderful?

Ooh.. I can see the claws coming out.. hehehe

hippy

Carl Brewer wrote:
Not in my experience, and most of my riders
are not "very very good"[*], they're late entry (not juniors)
adults with backgrounds in other sports. One hesitates
to suggest that if you look at triathletes riding, you may think
that everyone that rides a bike, can't ride a bike There's
also the nature of competitive bike racing, which is
to a certain extent self-selecting for people who can
pedal well. I suspect this may be less of a factor in
triathlete populations, as us roadies are a bunch of
elitist snobs and triathletes will take anyone they can
get.

[*] except for Stu and Jason, they're very very good!

You're just saying that so we don't beat you up.. :P

hippy

Carl Brewer wrote:
Also, re the club thing, in my experience, road racers
and crit riders, as opposed to trackies, don't get that
much out of the club environment. Trackies are
all at the same place at the same time, and get a lot
of coaching etc (either by peers or actual coaches)
but the roadies are very much more on their own, unless
they want to troll back and forth down beach rd in bunches
doing the wrong thing for them at the time.

But, as we've mentioned in another thread, tris are culturally
*very* different to road races. You can't get dropped
from a bunch if there is no bunch, and you can always look
at improving your times, which is a less variable measure
than being able to hang onto a road race bunch. Thus,
you can (usually) take something home from every tri
you do, but getting spat out the back of a road race
bunch is a heartbreaking experience that few have the
fortitude to keep coming back for. There's
no-one cheering for me when I roll in 30 minutes after the
bunch at a Lang Lang (hilly!) road race. Road racing is
*not* a nice sport like that. In that way, it's a very
selective sport. We're lucky in Oz, in Europe
there's no grades in amateur bike races, so if you're
not good enough to hang onto the semipros, you watch it on
TV.

I like this. You highlighted 'something' really well.
In road races there is no 'PB'. You win, place or lose. Read FD's
Glenvale post - even a place is often considered a loss. It does make it
mentally difficult to keep coming back to something that has a pretty
slim "success" rate.

Glenvale is what I've been focused on - there's no "better times", no
"better speeds", 'win or lose' is it. Tri's are good, in that, every
time you finish a race you have a placing and more importantly a time to
beat. The timing systems for tri's are cool as are the web results.
In non-elite triathlon everyone seems to 'kinda want to win' but is
mostly after a better time than their last race. Critters and roadies
want the win (or are working for a mate). Pro road racing is a bit
different with team members having specific goals other than winning.

Carl, I know you keep telling me to go into every race with a goal to
meet, and I typically do, but winning is still the only thing I'm
interested in. Win or lose. Win or lose. Win or lose. :S :P
It's a punishing schedule.

[*] except for Stu and Jason, they're very very good!

(Are they bigger than you? )

No, I'm coaching them, and they read this newsgroup, and
fortunatly, they both have robust senses of humour and,
they're bigger than me!

God help me when I can't read this ng regularly!!!

hippy

DaveB wrote:
Carl Brewer wrote:
[*] except for Stu and Jason, they're very very good!

(Are they bigger than you? )

No, I'm coaching them, and they read this newsgroup, and
fortunatly, they both have robust senses of humour and,
they're bigger than me!

Come on Tam, don't you even know the first name of your betrothed?

DaveB "always confused on a Sunday whether to use real names or forum
names"

Doh! Don't remind her.. I'm not out of the country yet! :P

hippy

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 19:54:37 +1000, hippy
wrote:


Carl, I know you keep telling me to go into every race with a goal to
meet, and I typically do, but winning is still the only thing I'm
interested in. Win or lose. Win or lose. Win or lose. :S :P
It's a punishing schedule.

That's becase, for you at Glenvale, in the grade you're in,
that's an appropriate and realistic goal.

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 11:22:11 +1000, Tamyka Bell
wrote:

It's not really practical though, because of:
1 wetsuits for cold-weather races, it'd be stupid to have to put them ON
as part of the race

Why not? It's no dumber than riding 180km in bathers and
wet shoes.

Who does that?

Do you stop and dry your feet before you get into your
riding shoes? Do yuo get any sand etc out from
between your toes? Do you give your crotch a decent toweling
before jumping on a bike and put on a good set of knicks? All the
tri's I have seen have been riding in what looks a lot like bathers
from a distance.

*ouch*

Given that it takes bugger-all time to put on one of those
longjohn wetsuits, and everyone would have the same
issue, what's the problem? Unless you have a vested
interest in tri's always finishing in a run?

get reduced to a lot lower risk of those problems. You have to
supervise the whole swim course anyway, and if there's
a swimmer in difficulty I'd much rather pull them out when they're
not surrounded by 1,000 other swimmers. I'll be able to see them
for starters!

The swim staff would have to be in the water for about twice as long
though. In addition, I'm impressed that you got to be in a boat, because
at most events they're on boards.

I drove boats for SLSV for years, so my observation is
self selecting

Plus, if you have to think about a swim leg while running or riding,
wouldn't that make it more interesting?

The people who win, only think about the leg they're doing RIGHT NOW.

I find that hard to believe, unless it's the last leg.

Do tris have roaming officials? Do they enforce the rules on the
spot by dragging anyone they see cheating?

Yep, there's penalty boxes you have to go and stand in for 5 minutes.
The officials hoon around on a motorbike. TA rules even have drafting
distances for the motorbike specified!

That's not suprising, you can't draft (although it happens)
support vehicles etc in road racing.

hippy wrote:

DaveB wrote:
Carl Brewer wrote:
[*] except for Stu and Jason, they're very very good!

(Are they bigger than you? )

No, I'm coaching them, and they read this newsgroup, and
fortunatly, they both have robust senses of humour and,
they're bigger than me!

Come on Tam, don't you even know the first name of your betrothed?

DaveB "always confused on a Sunday whether to use real names or forum
names"

Doh! Don't remind her.. I'm not out of the country yet! :P

hippy

*slap*

Tam swims bikes runs away