The Other Way - Training by Feeling and Racing to Train - OPEN (Page 11)

Originally posted by marriedthepoolguy

I LOVE reading all the race reports! Thank you all so much for posting them!! Chris, I'm planning to go to the Turtle Crawl on Jekyll just to watch; I want to see first hand how transition areas work before I have to figure it out on race day. Post on here when you get your race number and I'll be sure to watch for you and cheer you on!
Have a GREAT week everyone and ROCK ON!!

Originally posted by marriedthepoolguy

Hi, everyone! I was wondering if any of you have experience or preferences on training with swim paddles? I'm considering them to help build my lat muscles, and I hear they can help with technique as well.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Originally posted by burner2

Today was quite a thrill! I woke up early, got ready for my event, and went out to throw my gear in the truck—to be greeted with a blizzard! OMG! I couldn’t believe it! So back inside I went, grabbed a pair of sweat pants out of the laundry basket, and changed from my riding gear, which I balled up and tossed in the back seat, just in case. Again, I was thankful the event organizers were giving us long-sleeved t-shirts, instead of short sleeved, because I own nothing with long sleeves and didn’t have anything to cover my arms.

Got everything loaded up, dropped my truck into 4WD, and headed down off the mountain. With all the water and snow on the road, the drive was pretty hairy, even for someone like me with 25 years Alaska winter driving experience. But, I made it OK and found the event staging area pretty easily as the parking lot was full of vehicles with bike racks. I got there early, so I took my time setting up and went and picked up my registration packet. By this time, it was raining pretty hard, so I layered up with another t-shirt over the top of my tank top and event t-shirt. That did the trick and kept me warm and dry enough for the ride.

The ride started by shooting a water bottle canon, which was pretty funny. It wasn’t being timed or anything, so no timing chips or anything. I just used my iPod, which I’d hung off my handle bar, to track my times. The fast people got pretty far ahead of me pretty fast, and the slow people got pretty far behind me pretty fast, so it wasn’t before long that I was humming “Alone Again, Naturally” to myself, which was pretty funny.

I had thought the course would be pretty easy. Silly me, I just assumed a route that followed a river in a river valley would be fairly flat, but this was anything but! If I wasn’t going uphill, I was going downhill, and these were no sissy hills! They were pretty steep, with hairpin curves. There was even one hill with a caution sign that said “5 mph - Deep Creek,” and “Deep Creek” was not the name of the creek, but rather the warning about what would happen if someone went too fast and missed the turn! I was thankful for including hills in my training rides at home, especially as I’d been following the advice on the USA Triathlon website (http://www.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/multisport-lab/articles/game-changing-training-rules-022514.aspx) advising people to alternate flat routes and hill routes in their training, which I’d been doing.

I kept going as hard and fast as I could, following the pink arrows that matched my pink route map, until I got to the turnaround site. I figured it wouldn’t hurt me to stop for a few minutes, and I had to use the blue room (porta potty), so I pulled over with everybody else, and checked my time. Fifty-six minutes. Fifty-six minutes! I was kind of disgusted with myself because I do much better at home, and I’d been hoping riding with other people would encourage my competitive spirit and push me to do harder. But, I reminded myself, my training rides at home don’t include as many or as steep of hills as the ride I was on today, so maybe 56 minutes on a super hilly 7 1/2 mile ride isn’t so bad, especially since I’d had chain issues twice and was battling snow, sleet, hail, rain, sun, wind, and no wind.

I went to grab some snacks and Gatorade and check the route with one of the volunteers.

Me: Is this the turnaround for the 15-mile ride?

Him: No, this is the turnaround for the 25-mile ride.

Me: What? You mean I’m on the 25-mile loop?

Yeah, I was on the 25-mile loop! I hadn’t completed just 7 1/2 miles in 56 minutes—I’d completed 12 1/2 miles! Woohoo! My fastest time ever! I hopped back on my bike and head out with this goofy grin on my face. I wasn’t so fast on the ride back, and probably the last five miles had pretty much run out of steam as I completed the 25-mile ride in 2 hours 22 minutes.

A not-so-quick transition that included finding someone to clarify the run route and then a trip BACK to the transition area to drop off my bike helmet, and I was on my way. I felt pretty energized and psyched, so the first couple of miles went really well; I’m sure I probably did my fastest time ever. But, by the last mile, I was running out of steam, and the last half mile was pretty hard. I’d really slowed down by that time and finished the run in 59 minutes.

In all, I’m happy with my performance. I’ve been training for 10.6 miles, and I did 25. If I had completed the 15 mile loop instead of the 25, I’m sure I would have done better on the run. All things considering, I think my 59 minute 5K was pretty good!

Originally posted by burner2

Today was quite a thrill! I woke up early, got ready for my event, and went out to throw my gear in the truck—to be greeted with a blizzard! OMG! I couldn’t believe it! So back inside I went, grabbed a pair of sweat pants out of the laundry basket, and changed from my riding gear, which I balled up and tossed in the back seat, just in case. Again, I was thankful the event organizers were giving us long-sleeved t-shirts, instead of short sleeved, because I own nothing with long sleeves and didn’t have anything to cover my arms.

Got everything loaded up, dropped my truck into 4WD, and headed down off the mountain. With all the water and snow on the road, the drive was pretty hairy, even for someone like me with 25 years Alaska winter driving experience. But, I made it OK and found the event staging area pretty easily as the parking lot was full of vehicles with bike racks. I got there early, so I took my time setting up and went and picked up my registration packet. By this time, it was raining pretty hard, so I layered up with another t-shirt over the top of my tank top and event t-shirt. That did the trick and kept me warm and dry enough for the ride.

The ride started by shooting a water bottle canon, which was pretty funny. It wasn’t being timed or anything, so no timing chips or anything. I just used my iPod, which I’d hung off my handle bar, to track my times. The fast people got pretty far ahead of me pretty fast, and the slow people got pretty far behind me pretty fast, so it wasn’t before long that I was humming “Alone Again, Naturally” to myself, which was pretty funny.

I had thought the course would be pretty easy. Silly me, I just assumed a route that followed a river in a river valley would be fairly flat, but this was anything but! If I wasn’t going uphill, I was going downhill, and these were no sissy hills! They were pretty steep, with hairpin curves. There was even one hill with a caution sign that said “5 mph - Deep Creek,” and “Deep Creek” was not the name of the creek, but rather the warning about what would happen if someone went too fast and missed the turn! I was thankful for including hills in my training rides at home, especially as I’d been following the advice on the USA Triathlon website (http://www.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/multisport-lab/articles/game-changing-training-rules-022514.aspx) advising people to alternate flat routes and hill routes in their training, which I’d been doing.

I kept going as hard and fast as I could, following the pink arrows that matched my pink route map, until I got to the turnaround site. I figured it wouldn’t hurt me to stop for a few minutes, and I had to use the blue room (porta potty), so I pulled over with everybody else, and checked my time. Fifty-six minutes. Fifty-six minutes! I was kind of disgusted with myself because I do much better at home, and I’d been hoping riding with other people would encourage my competitive spirit and push me to do harder. But, I reminded myself, my training rides at home don’t include as many or as steep of hills as the ride I was on today, so maybe 56 minutes on a super hilly 7 1/2 mile ride isn’t so bad, especially since I’d had chain issues twice and was battling snow, sleet, hail, rain, sun, wind, and no wind.

I went to grab some snacks and Gatorade and check the route with one of the volunteers.

Me: Is this the turnaround for the 15-mile ride?

Him: No, this is the turnaround for the 25-mile ride.

Me: What? You mean I’m on the 25-mile loop?

Yeah, I was on the 25-mile loop! I hadn’t completed just 7 1/2 miles in 56 minutes—I’d completed 12 1/2 miles! Woohoo! My fastest time ever! I hopped back on my bike and head out with this goofy grin on my face. I wasn’t so fast on the ride back, and probably the last five miles had pretty much run out of steam as I completed the 25-mile ride in 2 hours 22 minutes.

A not-so-quick transition that included finding someone to clarify the run route and then a trip BACK to the transition area to drop off my bike helmet, and I was on my way. I felt pretty energized and psyched, so the first couple of miles went really well; I’m sure I probably did my fastest time ever. But, by the last mile, I was running out of steam, and the last half mile was pretty hard. I’d really slowed down by that time and finished the run in 59 minutes.

In all, I’m happy with my performance. I’ve been training for 10.6 miles, and I did 25. If I had completed the 15 mile loop instead of the 25, I’m sure I would have done better on the run. All things considering, I think my 59 minute 5K was pretty good!

Originally posted by burner2

Thank you all for your wonderful words of encouragement!

Padre: Whats the next event?? How do you feel today??

I feel great today! I still have that goofy grin on my face. After I got home late last night, I threw dinner in the oven, grabbed my pool bag, and went down and got in the hot tub, something I’ve never done before! I let the jets pummel my body for about a half hour, and it felt wonderful and took all the cramps out of my legs. I went back down tonight for another 20 minutes in the hot tub before doing some laps. I think I want to spend more time with that hot tub!

My next event is the Troika Triathlon at the end of May. It will be my first triathlon ever. I’m kind of nervous about it, but yesterday has given me a real confidence boost. I know I can do it; I’m just super competitive and want to kick .

Chris: So how did you end up on the 25 mile loop instead of the 15 anyway?

The 25-mile loop was a continuation of the 15-mile loop, and what they gave us for route maps were hand drawn loops indicating the shape of the routes. Since I wasn’t familiar with the area, I had nothing to compare it to. And, being on a bike trail, I was unable to preview the route beforehand on Google Earth. I remember coming up to an access road that had a sign on it with the same name as the street where we were supposed to turn around, but I thought it meant that bike trail would LEAD to the street with that name, and then we’d turn around, especially since the pink arrow indicated we continue down the trail. So like a lemming, I just followed everybody else.

At the potato feed afterward, I sat with the local triathlon club, and several of their members complained about the lack of map detail and signage, too. (They had done the 66-mile and 100-mile loops.) But, I figure it’s just a fun ride, not a timed ride, and as long as we had fun, then that’s the whole point. If it were a race, then I might gripe about it.

I’m still really stoked. I found a blister on my foot tonight that I didn’t even know was there! I thought I would be more sore than I am, but I still did a 5K after work tonight, and then 740 yards in the pool. I think I’m really liking this!

Clarkey77: Great job on your 5K. I can't imagine running a 5K--or any distance--while recovering from the flu! That takes some real dedication!