Winter Sucks!

Ok… I say uncle. I want to just bitch about winter. Even here in hot, humid Charleston South Carolina, the weather has been cold and rainy long enuff. I want to train like summer now. I have had all I can take.

Trying to make the best of it. Running consistantly. Lifting weights. Yoga classes. Some mountain biking. Swimming a little three times a week. Bought new 404’s front and back and a carbon x front end.

Ok enuff. “Its Go Time.” “Are you tough enough?” and other race catch phrases bounce off the walls at me.

I want to race. Enough slowtwitch, mags, etc. Let’s Go.

IMUSA, and Duke Blue Devil-----I’m ready for the pain.

Dude, I’m in the worst of it, in D.C. Actually, College Park. Go Terps!! The mess cancelled out game vs Wake tonight.

I’m sick of riding rollers. While running today some dude walking from 7-11 said to me “Now there’s a nike commercial in the making!” That was pretty cool, but seriously, enough is enough.

tommy

South Carolina and you’re complaining? Outside today (Ontario) it was -24 Celsius to start the day with a windchill that put it around -30. I’d love to be living in South Carolina right now :slight_smile:

Things could be a lot worse, you could live in Michigan!

Richard

cold and rainy?

I’d love cold and rainy. Try temperatures around 0-15 degrees for days and weeks on end here in boston. If it’s raining it must mean 32 degrees+ which I would gladly ride in - rain or not.

but I dont! We have 22 inches on the ground, the winds are picking up, and it’s still snowing like hell here in Harrisburg, Pa. Running outside anytime soon is out of the question. Enjoy what you have and stop whining.

Man, its crazy here too in Pa! I went downstairs this morning and the snow was almost up to my waist on our glass door. This is simply crazy.

 I went for a 12-mile run at 7 am on Saturday here in lovely Milwaukee, temperature about 15 F, and it didn't feel too bad.  That is, until I turned around and headed into the 30 mph wind (0 F windchill).  After fifteen minutes of that, my "boys" had lost all feeling (even with winter tights and windbriefs), to the point were I really thought they might have fallen off.  YIKES!  I literally had to stop for about a minute and just hold them until the feeling came back!  Fortunately, I was not arrested and managed to finish my run, but not before I shoved one of my fleece gloves down my pants to keep things toasty.  South Carolina sounds pretty good right about now.

I’m feeling your pain, boys, but as another unfortunate resident of Milwaukee I gotta agree with Dave that we have it a little worse than you southern folk. It’s been a whole new brand of cold up here lately.

That 's why I’m bolting out of here in mid-March to head for warm weather and Spring Training in Spain. If you’re interested in tagging along, check out eurocycler.com. I’m already dreaming of blue skies and open roads.

As for now, I better get back to my shoveling.

Last year I bought a brand new carbon frame tri bike. My neighbors bought snow blowers. I’m going outside now and try to move 30+ inches of snow with my new Aegis. Despite the fact that the bike was made in Maine I have the feeling that it will make a damm poor snow removal tool. ENOUGH already. T3

It’s all relative to where you live. I’m a little farther south than slowtrigeek (south Georgia), but it has still been a long winter. Hasn’t been especially cold (only a few days where it dipped into the teens), but the short days make it hard to ride for any amount of time and it is cold enough to make swimming outdoors impossible. I can swim inside, which I don’t mind, except that our nearest indoor pool is an 80 mile round trip from home, and that makes it difficult to swim much.

Saturday, however, it was about 80 and sunny, and I took in a 3-hour ride and hardly broke a sweat. It was an absolutely glorious day!

But the fact remains that there aren’t very many multisport races this time of the year, and I’m tired of getting my tri fix from slowtwitch, the trainer and the occasional standalone running race. I’m ready for a tri or a du (and I’ve never done a duathlon; I’m just ready for something multisport!).

So while it hasn’t necessarily been a difficult winter from a temperature standpoint, it has been annoying because there aren’t any races around. I am chomping at the bit do some kind of multisport race. It may not be freezing down here with enough snow on the ground to bury a small car, but it’s still been a long winter, and I’m definitely ready for spring!

RP

I guess that I shouldn’t mention that it is around 60 here in San Diego :p, but it is cloudy! i feel for you guys. I lived near Syracuse NY for 8 years and fondly remember having to stuff my mitten down my tights to keep the frost off!

Mike

Triathlon season in Colorado starts this Saturday! The third annual (I think) winter tri will be held in Colorado Springs. Pool swim, trail ride (MTB), track run. It’s really not a continuous event as there are no transitions. The swim is first and then there is enough time to get the proper clothes on the bike, about 30-40 minutes. After the bike there is time to get into running gear, another 20-30 minutes. The only time that counts is the actual event time, no transitons. Not like a regular tri, but enough to get the competitive juices going.

I won’t be doing it this year because of my marathon training. I have a 16 miler the same time as the tri.

I went for a 12-mile run at 7 am on Saturday here in lovely Milwaukee, temperature about 15 F, and it didn’t feel too bad. That is, until I turned around and headed into the 30 mph wind (0 F windchill). After fifteen minutes of that, my “boys” had lost all feeling (even with winter tights and windbriefs), to the point were I really thought they might have fallen off. YIKES! I literally had to stop for about a minute and just hold them until the feeling came back! Fortunately, I was not arrested and managed to finish my run, but not before I shoved one of my fleece gloves down my pants to keep things toasty. South Carolina sounds pretty good right about now.

Winter is great. The Canadian Ski Marathon (see video at http://www.csm-mcs.com/en/)was the weekend after last. The only problem here is the low amount of snow. Rectify that and I’m good for another month or two.

This may be Too Much Information for some, but appropriate dress from the outside in for the conditions described is 1) tights (winter weight or not), 2) long underwear (light- or mid-weight), 3) wind briefs and 4) an appropriately sized and positioned trapezoidal scrap of fleece. It doesn’t make sense to have all the insulation where the wind blows through it.

Or just put wind pants on top.

Cheers – John

“Is this fleecing weather or are you just glad to ski me?”

It’s 6:40 pm and snowing like crazy.I’m going for a ride.Who wants to join me? Cullen

I’ll join ya, haha. =)

Here is just what that PA snow looks like right now. I took this picture about 4 hours ago. http://www.spymac.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=15961

One word: Amazing.

Hey! Quit complaining and try to enjoy it! Some people would LOVE to run in the snow, let alone run at all!

Soon, I predict, the boys will be complaining about the heat…