Team -

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday weekend - for those who have it off while others (like me) have to work. At least the commute was nice and uncrowded today.
 
Congratulations on your first open water swim! For some of you it was just another day at the beach - for others it was a challenge to meet head on and conquer. As coaches it’s very rewarding as we look at your progress through the season. All of you have made tremendous leaps in your swimming and endurance capabilities.
 
A few things to remember about open water swimming - the water will be colder than the pool. This will also be true at Vineman even though the water will be much warmer than yesterday. Cold water will take your breath away and can lead to hyperventilation. Remember to relax, take nice long strokes and your breathing will settle down. Cold water can also affect your sense of balance if it gets into your ears - remember to wear ear plugs if this is an issue for you.
 
No lane lines, no pool markings on the bottom, murky water, no wall to touch - all can be disorienting in open water. The wetsuit is a great equalizer and not only provide buoyancy but it also allows you to relax. You can always float on your back to relax if anxiety takes over.
 
And think about it - you all did a 10 mile run following you swim. You ran 10 miles like it was just a jog around the block. You are incredible.
 
This coming week brings us back to Burgess on Wednesday for a swim and our first all team boot camp on the weekend. Looks like we’ll be at Lake del Valle on Saturday and at Gunderson on Sunday. Plan for about a 6-7 hour day of training with an open water swim, bike ride, run and strength on Saturday. Sunday we’ll be in the pool, out on the road on our bikes, on the trail running, on our trainers spinning, on the track running and strength and maybe back in the pool again. More details will follow in a boot camp specific email.
 
Now a little bit about candles -
 
A modern candle typically burns at a rate of about 0.105 g/min, releasing heat of about 77 W, plus or minus about 9 W. The light produced is about 13 lumens. The luminous efficacy is about 0.17 lumens per watt (luminous efficacy of a source), a hundred times lower than an incandescent light bulb. The color temperature is approximately 1,000K.

The hottest part of the flame is just above the very dull blue part to one side of the flame, at the base. At this point, the flame is about 1,400°C. However note that that part of the flame is very small and releases little heat energy. The blue color is due to chemiluminescence, while the visible yellow color is due to radiative emission from hot soot particles. The soot is formed through a series of complex chemical reactions, leading from the fuel molecule through molecular growth, until multi-carbon ring compounds are formed. The thermal structure of a flame is complex, hundreds of degrees over very short distances leading to extremely steep temperature gradients. On average, the flame temperature is about 1,000 °C.

The flicker frequency of a flame is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the acceleration due to gravity to the diameter of the candle. A candle on the moon would flicker at a different frequency than on Earth and wouldn’t flicker at all in the absence of a gravitational force (like on a space platform).
That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about a candle. For me, lighting a candle is a simple joy. Watching the wick catch the flame, seeing the wax as it starts to melt and form a small pool and looking at the flame as it grows brighter and stronger is just a simple thing that we’ve all done thousands of times. But the next 14 times you light a candle I want it to be different.
 
For the next 2 weeks - every day for the next two weeks - I want you to light a candle. And for 30 seconds or a minute or however long you want - think about this opportunity you have to train for an Ironman, think about your team mates and what they mean to you and what you mean to them, think about those who don’t have the ability or the opportunity to be out here with us. Think about your own personal honorees. Simply focus on faces, say names aloud or silently and watch the flame of the candle. Thank you all for your dedication, commitment and discipline. You all are amazing people. I look forward to hearing some stories of your candle experiences during the next two weeks.
 
This week’s coached workouts -
 
Wednesday - 6:45 pm swim Burgess pool
Saturday - 8:00 am start Day 1 Boot Camp Lake del Valle
Sunday - 8:00 am start Day 2 Boot Camp Gunderson
 
Go long, stay strong and warm -
Ann, Ron and Dan
 
 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 12:30 pm and is filed under IT2010 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.