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 Swim
Comments: This was a good swim for me. I think the timing ramp was up by the bikes b/c this swim was faster than that. There was your typical run out of the water for a ways to the transition. I looked at a guy's time I know that was a collegiate swimmer, and his time seemed "slow-ish" as well. I would rank this as one of my best tri-swims to date in terms of confidence and overall performance. THANKS RENEE and BT for the Dec. swim challenge. I have no idea WHEN I'd have gotten in the pool otherwise, and that made a huge difference. I was passing, drafting, sighting, and generally COMFORTABLE the whole time. That is huge for me. Hyperventilating has (had) been a problem for me in many of my previous tri-s. NONE here, just good, confident stroking. Actually ENJOYABLE in some ways. The water was unusually warm for this time of year, and that sure didn't hurt either. 2003 - 11:09 2004 - 10:13 2005 - 10:52 This yr. - 9:43 What would you do differently?: My sighting was poor as the pack thinned out. I zig-zagged quite a bit after the final turn.  Transition 1
Comments: 2003 - 2:10 2004 - 2:14 2005 - 2:45 2005 - 1:50 This shocks me b/c this felt like CRAP at the time. struggled with the wetsuit, new bike shoes a pain. I had tried to practice clipping the shoes in ahead of time, but wasn't getting it down. So, I had to slide the shoes in and run with them. I was at the far end of transition so this run felt like it took forever. Seemed to take forever to get on the bike also. What would you do differently?: Work harder and earlier on keeping shoes clipped to pedals and work on that technique. I don't practice transitions in general and I should. As I've read on BT...it's free time.  Bike
Comments: I *heart* my new bike! As you start the bike on this race, you go up a small but somewhat surprising incline right away. My transition felt very disorganized, so as I got on the bike and as I made my way up that hill my heart was just beating out of it's chest. My breathing was VERY labored and I was worried this was gonna be tough. I've done this race enough to know it's basically flat and churning it out is OK. So as I'm cranking along I am passing people like CRAZY. It was an absolute blast. There's something special about bike rides where everything is clicking and you can tell you're hammering out an epic ride. It really is a great feeling, and to have it happen in a race is even better. So I'm working reeeely hard, perhaps too hard I'm thinking, but also having so much fun I'm not about to stop myself. I got passed by 5 or 6 bikes, all P3 Carbons, and one younger kid on a Scott with some kind of seriously bladed frame. What he was behind me for in the first place I have no idea. He's the only one that blasted past me and I lost sight of quickly. I've also gained an education on this site about drafting and general passing rules on this site. It was amazing watching all these rules being broken out on the course repeatedly. Huge packs, poor passing, etc. etc. etc. Only once did it affect me...a guy comes next to me with a Felt S-32 and starts like he's gonna pass, but doesn't get much past my handlebars. He's on my left and just sorta hangs there. I'm rapidly approaching a biker in front of me. I need to apply breaks, which he sees, and then he gives me some room. I just blasted with all my legs had at that point to get away from that guy. Never saw him again, thankfully. Not sure if he was determined to pass me but lost steam or what... As the bike came to a close, I knew the reality of the run was a-commin. I've probably worked too hard, and now I've got to try to finish strong on a recently sprained ankle and no running for 10+ days prior. AT THIS POINT I'm flirting PR time for this race, but what's in store??? 2003 - 44:25 2004 - 41:06 2005 - 44:01 This year - 40:53 Thanks to this site and jszat for dragging me out there and keeping me honest. What would you do differently?: Not much...this ride was so much fun! I didn't drink much, but I didn't feel the need... Transition 2
Comments: 2003 - 1:09 2004 - 1:05 2005 - 1:02 This year - 1:15 What would you do differently?: Interesting, b/c this felt pretty smooth, yet my slowed to date. All very similar, obviously. I did break my helmet taking it off. I thought the strap was undone and ripped it off my head. The rear plastic strap was cracked off in the process.  Run
Comments: So I get off my epic bike ride and I'm feeling kinda spent. Haven't run in a while, my confidence is low. Start running and have that wonderful feeling we all know from bike to run transition. Again, there's a sharp incline to get up onto the trail, and it puts my HR into the stratosphere. How am I gonna do this? Well, fortunately, for starters, my ankle feels perfectly fine. So that seems to be a non-issue. For those that are unaware...in the middle of one of my greatest running weeks ever, I sprained my ankle. This was about 10 days ago. Had to shut down completely. Swelling still evident on race day, though minimal. Kind of a question mark and disappointing, considering I've worked running HARD all winter, and was seeing some big gains recently. Well, fortunatelly all the training and b$#%-busting I've taken from all of you to go faster kicked in and worked for me. I was able to settle down and still run a good pace. I felt comfortable though I was working hard. No idea what pace I was going, just trying to be controlled but fast. What was amazing is...I was passing people. I've never passed many people at all on the run. And here I was...blasting past person after person. Again, fun stuff. Was able to take down a guy from our health club I'd only met recently, and he was 2 waves ahead of me. YEA BABYYYY. So, as you finish this run, you go DOWN the sharp incline mentioned earlier, and then there's a flat section you run to the finish. As I got down the hill I saw some people from my health club, so I mugged for a second, and some guy blasts past me. Well, I decide I can't accept that without a fight so I absolutely went all out with everything I had the last section to the finish. Did not catch him, but stayed on his heels. Man was I out of breath...thought I was gonna puke for a second... I wanted a "near 21:00" kinda time. I think without the ankle sprain it might have happened. Nevertheless, this is a PR 5K for me, and to be in the low-mid 7 type of pace is thrilling. 2003 - 23:28 2004 - 23:28 (not a typo - EXACT same time.) 2005 - 23:56 This year - 22:45 What would you do differently?: Not play dodgeball and sprain my ankle 10-days before an event. Post race
Warm down: Met up with my family and jszat. It was absolutely gorgeous outside by this point, and my 8-year old son is on the beach, then closer the water, then in up to his ankles, then shins, etc. etc. until we realize we've either gotta get out of here or his clothes are gonna be soaked real soon. So we had to leave before meeting pseudoyams, which was disappointing...SORRY ROB! What limited your ability to perform faster: The sprained ankle. Poor swim form. Event comments: This was a great race, thanks to my BT friends and their cajoling. Last year at this time I came to this site disappointed with my time and my fitness. What a difference a year, a training partner, and online logs with people cajoling you into better things can do. THANKS BT!!! Profile Album Last updated: 2006-04-18 12:00 AM
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United States
Lake Mills Triathlon
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 125/669
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 18/66
This tri is a little over an hour from home. Every other year my family gets a hotel with me that has a pool. It's just a DAYS INN and it is about 15 minutes from the tri. It's also right by an outlet mall that has among other things, a NIKE and ADIDAS store. ;)
This was a FAMILY year.
Now, secretly, I prefer the years when I just get up and go from home. It is AWESOME having the family there at the end, but the rigamarole of the hotel, sleeping, packing, etc. etc. etc. is kind of a pain in the arse. And, this year, we had a super busy Saturday so we didn't even check into the hotel until 7:30 PM or so. No time to check out NIKE or ADIDAS.
To add to the disappointment, the noisy party kids were in the room directly above us. They literally must have been wrestling and throwing each other onto the floor. I cannot imagine what else they could have been doing to create such loud banging. And of course the muffled talking and laughter that you hear through hotel walls/ceilings. This was going on until about 2-3 AM. Not good. Yes we did call multiple times, and it would quiet down for 15 minutes or so, and then slowly pick up again. The hotel was apologetic but as the kids get older and the thrill of the hotel pool wanes, we might have to adjust our strategy in the future.
Just to be clear, I love my family and having them with me. I'm glad my wife finds it interesting enough to take the kids out there once every other year. My Half IM I was alone at the finish, and that was a bit of a let down. (I wasn't immersed in BT then like I am now.) ;) I know you peeps woulda been out there somewhere. Anyway, Tri's are complex races and I think you all appreciate that the process of packing and making sure everything's in place is important. It can be easier in some ways if just done on your own without worrying about others.
Forgot to mention...drank tons of water the day before and had to get up to pee all night long. At least it was clear.
I am not a nutrition or warm-up expert. I think if I wanna keep improving this is the area I need to ramp up on. If we exclude swim technique, of course. 2 hours before the race I had a quart of gatorade, a banana, and 2 power bars. Too much? The formula of all water the day before, and some gatorade in the AM seems to work.
Warm-up...15 visits to the bathroom, walking around stretching and talking, and losing my race number ( and the borrowed race belt it was attached to, aargh...) was about all I did. If my recently sprained ankle had only so many "impacts" before shutting down, I didn't want to waste any on warm-up. Bike...the race was crowded and I had an awesome spot on the rack. Wasn't gonna risk that. Swim...I did get in the water briefly. I can see some benefit to swim warmup, but air temp was perhaps 55-60 pre-race, and that's kinda chilly to be standing around wet afterwards.