Southwestmba/Andy's excellent adventure group-Full (Page 10)

Bummer about your run, that must be very frustrating. Hopefully you weren't coming down with something, you have been pushing it kinda hard!

So what are the differences in acceptable times for transitions as the events go from sprint to oly to HIM, do you give yourself more time to 'rest' as the event gets longer or do you still want to go as fast?

Thanks for all the encouragment and support after my tri. I took the 5th - 11th off from training. I did one run and ride this past week. Both went well.

I went to an open water swim clinic on the 12th put on by a local tri shop. I learned how to put my wetsuit on so it isn't tight in the chest. This improved my breathing and stroke 100%. I was a little hesitant getting in the water but felt better after I started swimming. We worked on the basics, sighting, going around the buoy, and swimming in a pack then put it all together with a race at the end. It was very helpful to be able to practice with other swimmers.

Went to the lake on Tuesday but it was to cold to stay in very long. Yesterday was warm and sunny so I was able to get in a 45 minute swim. Had no anxiety or discomfort in the water. I'm back to looking forward to my next tri.

Thanks for the good wishes.  I had my best Oly ever.  10 weeks ago I had doubts about doing the Sprint well, and I managed to totally redeem my performance from last year taking off 30 minutes from my overall time.  I also set new PRs in my swim, and bike, and overall time from my peak Oly in 2009. 

I'm really pleased with my peformance.  Of course, being the perfectionist, I'm already thinking how I could have done better.    Race report in a few days, but overall, I'm really happy about the race.

Happy Father's Day, to Andy, and all the other Dads out there.

Tom

Touching on the transition bit...in sprints I just usually go with the trisuit the whole way, but in the longer distances, I'm wondering if it makes sense to spend a few minutes changing clothes. Particularly for the bike, the trisuit has a lot less padding than the cycling shorts. Does that make sense or would it be better to just bite it and go (it's not terrible, just a bit less comfy)?

Also for sunscreen and lube, is it usual to wait until T1 to put that on, or is there anything you can put on before the swim that won't wash out?

Finally, for hydration, should I have any liquids waiting in T1/T2, or would it be better to just get to the first aid station and fill up? Particularly on the run, I'm sure any liquid I leave will be plenty hot and nasty by the time I get to it?

Steven

Here's my race report.  Should have spent more time proof reading it...

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=257403

I'm still solidly in the back of the pack, but this is some really good improvement.  I can see getting under 3 hours someday, and maybe moving into the middle of the pack.

I'm new to HR training having recently purchased a Garmin Forerunner 305 and I noticed my average and high on the run are significantly higher than they are on my bike, is this normal? On my bike my min, avg, and max were 94 142 and 150 while on the run they were 124 158 173; I'm sure there are normal factors, like dehydration, what is the normal difference between the two?

I should add the bike numbers were based on a 58 min 16 mile bike averaging 17 mph, while the run was 2.68 miles over 28 minutes

Nice race report - thanks for sharing!

Your summary of the run rings so very true with my own experience... now I've just done the one sprint and not an Oly... yet that little voice you mention that says you need to walk sure gets compelling, doesn't it?!! And it seems that after I walked the first time, that voice got louder & I ended up walking a couple more times (if I read your race report correctly - that sounds similar as well?).

If anyone has any advice on how to get past that mental barrier I'd sure appreciate any thoughts or tricks you could share. Since my tri a couple weeks back I've kept up with my biking and swimming training sessions, yet have almost exclusively focused on learning and reading more about how to improve my run. Made a few changes in style/approach (cadence, breathing, form), although it feels like the biggest thing I've done is just to focus on continuously running (no walks) during training... I'll slow down my pace a bit, yet (except for when the dog needs to do his business) I won't stop or walk. And running longer times and distances... and a couple bricks with no stopping. I'm hoping these will help give me a strong memory to rely on during my next event on July 10th... when that voice starts saying "you should walk" I have several examples of running for 30-45 minutes without stopping now to help fight back!

Anyhow - thanks again for sharing your experience! Congrats on your PRs!!!

Ben.

Hi Phaethon - I just picked up a Garmin 310xt a few days back... more to get info on my running cadence (and to avoid the frustration of using the inferior GPS on my phone & bluetooth HR monitor which seemed to work 50% of the time and work well much less than that). So far - SUPER impressed with the reliability and details that the Garmin produces! Good to have such toys (oops - meant tools) available to help us learn more about our training, eh?

From what I've seen thus far - my bike HR averages in the 150-155 range while my average HR during a run is in the 160-163 range. My max HR is around 172 for both. I've read that HR ranges vary between swim/bike/run so I believe the fact that the HR ranges differ is very normal.

As to what difference is normal... no ideas there... in my own case it makes complete sense that the run HR is higher... I've swam and biked ever since I could walk (well - slight exaggeration, yet not too far off). And I've just started running in the last several months (don't think it's even been a year). So not sure if run HR is always higher than biking, yet for me this difference is very logical - no base endurance to leverage on the run.

Thanks for the advice and info, bl, much appreciated. Oh, I so wanted to pull the trigger on the 310xt myself but my sister let me borrow her 305 and apart from the lack of water proof, it works great; I saw it for 98 bucks on Amazon and I couldn't pass it up and got one myself. Yeah, I love mine, it takes some of the mystery out of things being able to check your heartrate or pace or how far you've went.

I saw your question about the mental barrier and I offer some points on the understanding I've only done one outdoor tri so take it fwiw: Firstly, do you save enough for the run? Perhaps you give so much during the swim and bike that you are just a little above fumes when it's time to run. Secondly, do you pace yourself during the run evenly? Perhaps you are too excited at the start and just can't maintain the pace? I definitely think happy, encouraging thoughts when I am running, this with the understanding some 'darkness' will set in and it prepares me for crossing that bridge. I know there is light on the other side, that the 'darkness' will fade. I like to inspire myself by reading about other runners. On book I read, 'Once a Runner', is a cool fictional story about a runner in college who is an 'elite' runner on the cusp of breaking the 4 minute mile barrier. It's fiction but the author, John L. Parker, was an accomplished runner himself in college and he writes about training and what it takes and how it feels, it's pretty neat.

Obviously it's taboo to listen to music while doing a tri, but studies have shown that music improves athletic endurance by like 15%, which could be quite the benefit while training so if you aren't listening to tunes, maybe you should start that.

Okay, that's enough from me!

Thanks for the advice on that little voice, guys! Common theme in both your posts... keep positive! Andy, I'm definitely going to try your idea on using the aide stations to both refuel the body & mind.

I've heard the near term target idea before and tried it a few times while training. However until I read your post, I hadn't noticed that it's only necessary for a relatively short period of time... enough to get over the hump of the negative little voice... now that you mention it I remember for the times I've tried that in training runs, I've only had to do it 5 or 6 targets and then somehow my mind seems to clear. I think that ties into one of your other points... running to several targets got me far enough to where I get my mind focused to go through my mental checklist of form, breathing, pacing which also kept my mind busy and positive. Hmmmn... good stuff, thanks!

And I've already found the competition thing works for me too... at the end of my first tri I heard footsteps behind me as I saw the finish line... no way was that little voice in my head (and the rest of my body) going to get passed right at the end!  Human nature I guess?  :-)

I had been running to music during training... however my bluetooth (wireless) headset apparently got some water/sweat in it and messed up & didn't work. I tried wires - yuck (yea - I guess I'm "that way"). So I tried another model of the bluetooth headset and after a couple months - same result as the first time. The Motorola S9/S9HD headsets are a great design - if only they were really water-resistant/waterproof. I'll keep looking for an alternative... I agree, much easier to run with a good beat streaming through the ears!

I did it! First HIM! Got the race report up:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/races-edit.asp?raceid=196002

Racing in 110 degree heat is not my idea of a good time; but I still finished and was only 27 min off my goal time (even though my run was a whopping 32 min off goal. The run course kind of looked like a zombie film, with people staggering and walking and only half jogging most of the way).

Thanks guys, for all the support, and especially Andy, for answering all my stupid questions. I have plenty to build on, and hopefully next year, I'll be able to step it up and call myself an Ironman!

Grats syphon! I tried to access your race report from the line in your post but was unable to, I had to deduce what it was and check it out from the "Races" screen; it's the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake event that took place on the 26th, if any one else has this problem.

First OWS in a HIM, too funny syphon!

The bike portion sounded like a beast. Those hills seem a tad imposing; here in Michigan, near Flint, I think the glaciers took care of any hills we ever had a long time ago. We're just a cut above Iowa in that respect, but we do have some winds at times; the other day I was out for an 18 miler and going into it was fierce, I could just imagine adding hills to the mix!

The run was brutal, 110 degree heat! Is it humid? At that temp, I imagine it matters little, lol! I just started running 4 mile runs and there is a part where I am away from everything and there is a sense of going slow n matter what pace I run, hard to feel going faster makes a difference. I ran in 75-80 degree heat, but 110!? Just reading your report makes me want to grab a Gatorade.

Dude, way to tough it out; any event that ends successfully with an IV, that's pushing it; that HIM sounds like a 3/4 IM! Good work, man!

My big thing -and hopefully a thing of the past- is putting my bike gloves on the wrong hands. I haven't done it the past few times but a couple weeks ago I would be on a ride or getting back from one and taking them off in preparation for the run portion of a brick and realizing the padding is on the back of my hand, instead of on the palm. Never even noticed until then! Instead of thinking I was losing it, I just...let it go...

Overall, not a great training week for me.  Lost 2 days to due travel/work.  However, I had a great run around the old alma mater yesterday.  Back in the day, the "perimeter" around the Naval Academy was said to be 4.5 miles.  Modern technology says it's closer to 4.25, but it was a lot of fun to do a run from my college days 30 years ago, albeit a lot slower.  However, I added some extra distance I never thought I would do back then.