Disturbed275's Mentor Group - Closed! (Page 10)

Yesterday's sprint race went very well for me.  I finished 8th overall and 3rd in my age group.  Race report is here

3 days, no posts.  How's everyone doing?

Doing good getting pumped for the race the 20th going to do an open water swim this weekend and some transition training for the first time.

Those are both very good things to practice, transitions especially.  It's amazing just how much time you can save there.

We should be able to start open water swims around here pretty soon. The water is warming slowly......
I have been taking it easy the last few days in preparation for the duathlon on Sunday. I hope I do not have a flat tire like last year!!!
Should be able to improve my time by a wide margin..... lot more running and biking done compared to last year, new bike, better transition techniques and feeling good....
Have a good weekend

Sounds like you are well prepared for this weekend.  Hope you come back with a new PR!

That's probably a sign that your body needs to recover a little bit.  Is your plan incorporating a recovery week, with reduced volume every 3-4 weeks?

too funny - well, we could always check up on you . Don't worry, I won't.  well, perhaps a little

JEEPERS - reading your race report, I' am TOTALLY nervous about the swim.  You mean people will swim OVER me?  I'm sorry you're goggles got smacked off (any bruising?) but MAN - OVER???? REALLY???!!!

There's a real easy solution to the problem:  stay back and to the outside and let all the crazies go out first.  You can wait 10-15 seconds and let most of the people go out ahead of you and there will be plenty of open water for you to swim in.  There may be people that will catch you from a later wave but usually they are spread out enough by then that they can navigate around you.  I'm not saying you'll be completely devoid of contact, but it will definitely help

Now me, I like to go out in the front, not because I am the best swimmer (I am middle of the pack) but because I'm trying to podium and I figure every second is going to count.  Plus I'm hoping I can get lucky and catch some fast guy's feet and draft for awhile.

You can ask Luc, he's been on my challenge team the last 2 months.  I'm usually posting about food or complaining about the weather or talking to myself because I'm bored.

Speaking of Luc, good luck with the duathlon tomorrow!

I am also racing another Sprint tri this weekend.  I've been nursing a bum knee since Tuesday, but I think I'm fully healed.  I'm just hoping I don't make it worse because I have my first HIM of the season next weekend

I had another good race this weekend.  It was a much bigger race than my previous 2 and there was a lot of good competition.  I managed 5th in my age group and 58th overall.  Because of the size of the race they were giving out awards to 5th place so I got a cool little pig shaped award.  The race report is here if anyone is interested.

Great race congrats. I also see your point on the water earlier I really got dehydrated doing a brick Sat. Really sucked took me all evening to get hydrated

I DID IT! And it felt AWESOME.

It was a sprint distance:  1/2K OWS, 20K bike, 5K run, total time was 1.34.  Placed 4th/8 women in my age group.  

We camped at the lake the night before.  Convenient, but who actually sleeps when camping??!!  It was so windy and of course the baby was waking up a lot.  And my throat started burning the day before, sinus pressure & congestion.  Ugh, not feeling my best.  Nonetheless, the adrenaline (and giant coffee) got me going.

I was nervous!  My wave had about 15-20 people.  Five minutes between starts, so that was nice.  We started with a hand on the dock, then BOOM, we were off.  I started on the outside, was worried about getting kicked and pushed underwater.  But it was no problem.  Bumped up against some people, nothing serious. Realized by the time we got to the buoy turnaround that I was out ahead, so I could choose a slightly better line.  The swim was GREAT.  It felt great and I was smiling, thinking, I love this!  
I was the first woman out of the water from my wave.  Yahoo!  Felt Awesome. Time was 11.08.

Trotted & walked over to T1, sort of took my time but tried to be efficient.  Then realized I was moving too slowly when women were coming in after me, but leaving before me.  Oops.  T1 was 1.59.  Hm, guess I could work on that.

Hit the bike slowly, and within a couple minutes, realized that EVERYONE WAS PASSING ME.  Sheesh, I didn't know I was so slow...  I really couldn't go much faster, either.  I was pushing without killing myself.  And it was getting HOT.  Probably 90 degrees at that point.  The course was fine, a few rolling hills, mostly flats.  Wind was picking up.  Still getting passed by just about everyone except for the young teenagers! I actually gloated a little bit when one of the gals who was slower on the swim but dusting me on the bike got a flat tire.  Is that mean?  Heh heh heh.

Heading back in we had a headwind. Ugh.  Made up for some of the slow time on the way out, though, picked up my pace a little bit.  Felt nervous about overdoing it with my legs, but I downed a honey shot and a water bottle of gatorade over the full 12 miles.  Felt ok with that, but started getting a little crampy by the time I pulled into the finish.  47.32 was bike time

Ok, T2:  SLOW as EVER!  Again, walked/trotted over to my assigned space, went through it all, kept reminding myself that I wasn't there to win, just finish with a smile. T2 was 1.59. Same as T1. slow!

Hit the trail, and within a couple minutes started feeling a stitch in my side coming on.  Hm.  To stop or not to stop?  I kept going, the stitch got a little worse, but I am a fairly stubborn and determined person in general, so I just shrugged it off.  It did eventually go away.  Low potassium?  Too much gatorade on the bike?  I would like to know how to not repeat that scenario.

By 1.5 miles in, I was HOT.  Temps were 100.  I felt pretty good, definitely felt like I was pushing myself physically, but never felt out of control or that I was about to collapse.  It was so freaking HOT out there, though.  All the runners passing me were so encouraging, that was great!  Two or three times I thought about stopping to walk, but I also thought, "If I start walking, I won't start running again!" so I just kept at it, slow and steady.  Was super happy to see the sign that said "1/2 mile to go!".  Kept it steady, steady, steady all the way to the end.  Did pass one of the gals who had passed me on the bike, so that felt good.  A couple of people were hauled off by ambulance towards the end of the race -- dehydration & heat exhaustion, I imagine.  

Crossing the finish line with arms raised overhead in triumph:  AWESOME!!  My husband and 3 y.o. daughter were there cheering me on "go mama, go!"  Everyone so positive, clapping and cheering.  It was very cool.  

I just checked the online results and realized that I was only two minutes off the 3rd place female finisher for my age group, and, I placed second for the Athena division.  Guess I should've stuck around for the trophies!! 

It was so much fun, I will definitely do it again... 

Cristina, congrats on finishing your first tri!!  The first one is always a fun learning experience and something that you will never forget.  It sounds like conditions were tough out there, but you persevered through all of that.  Great job with your first race.  You should be proud of yourself!

Good job Cristina, you seemed to be hooked to the sport now.....its always like that....
I did my duathlon yesterday and it went pretty well. My race report is here if interested: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=162854

Edited by thebrayon 2009-06-08 9:01 PM

Neal, I have a question for you.
When you do a triathlon or duathlon, do you clip your shoes to the bike before the race and put them on while pedaling once on the bike?
If so, do you have a trick to put them on easily? I struggled at the duathlon to put them in and even with practice, I do not see how I can do it better. I probably need a new pair of shoes for sure, mine are old but there must be a trick.

I also have a question really for anyone who could help. I am looking at adding 2 more races so I would be eligible to be scored in the Virginia Tri Series (have to participate in 5 races) my trip to England has sort of left me little options. I am doing a tri over there on July 19th but of course it does not count in the tri series so when I return I was looking at adding two additional sprints so my schedule would look something like this sprint Aug 16th, my first oly September 26th, and then sprint Oct, 4th the following Sunday. Seems doable to me just worry about that last sprint 7 days after my first oly. Any ideas really only other option is drop a race those are actually the only other races I could get in?

I do not clip my shoes in ahead of time during races.  I have practiced this and been awfully slow in getting my feet into the shoes.  I figure the 10 seconds I spend in transition getting the shoes on is comparable to the time I would waste struggling to get into them on the ride.

As far as tricks go, I know it helps if you have a pair of tri shoes that only have the one strap across rather than regular road biking shoes with the 3 straps.  It also helps to have a loop on the heel that you can grab with your hand while you slide your feet in.  Other than that, just practice I guess.

  

While it's probably not ideal to race a sprint one week after an Oly it is definitely doable.  I guess it kind of depends on how well you recover.  I'd be willing to bet after 3-4 days of rest after the Oly your body will be capable of doing something.  You could even conceivably take the entire week off after the Oly and still race.

So I'd say go for it.  Just be aware that the latent fatigue from the Oly will probably not allow you to race your best sprint race.  And if it so happens that you are really hurting after the Oly and you feel that you won't recover in time you can always drop the last race.

Hi group!  I'm checking in from my hotel room.   Tomorrow is my first half ironman of the season.  I am nervous and excited!   I hope everyone has a great training weekend.  I'll check back in later, hopefully with a new PR

Hey group!  My HIM saturday was a success!  I pulled off a 33 minute PR.  Race report is here.

Congrats Neal, that is just amazing. You just got the reward of all that training.