Slornow and Wannabefaster's Summer Group-CLOSED (Page 11)

This went pretty well, other than I forgot my bike shoes and had to drive back home halfway to the "race" site.  <facepalm>

Swim:  ~700y @ 1:49/100 pace
T1:  4:08 - this was about 100y run uphill to the car, and I had to unlock my bike which took about an entire minute.  Wetsuit removal was OK.
Bike:  ~0.5m build to race pace, 5.5m @ 21mph
T2:  2:00 - again dealing with the bike lock
Run:  0.5m @ race pace out of T2, then run back for the CD

It's is absolutely startling how different it is swimming with a wetsuit.  I have one of the cheapo Promotion sleeveless ones and I feel like the I just need to churn my arms and swim straight; without it I have to worry about forcing my head down, pulling my legs up, etc.  I'm guessing north of :12/100y improvement.

Originally posted by glfprncs PSA of the day: Protect your skin! Visited the dermatologist today. While I wear sunscreen and hats religiously now, I didn't for most of my childhood and 20s. Had to.freeze a few things on my face, and once tri season is over and I'm not in the sun for hours each day, she wants me to.use chemotherapy cream for a.few weeks. So...no swimming for a.few.days. Also, my bike is part of the Felt recall. In fact, there were some small.cracks in the recalled part. I now have to wait for Felt to sent a replacement fork. Shop says 10 days. So no riding for the time being. Which means I run. My Achilles heel.

Very good advice.  I had more than a few burns as a kid and was one of those crazy girls who "tanned" with SPF 0 Native Tan.

Focusing on one sport for a period of time can be great, especially if it is one you normally don't want to work on.  I no longer call that sport a "weakness" by the way.  You might be surprised what can happen when it's the only thing you can do.  Embrace the RUN!

Good Luck on Saturday.  Sounds like you're ready for it!

Cap in a race (particularly OWS race) is a safety factor.  Much easier to see the swimmers when they have a brightly colored object on the top of their head.  Also, as someone else mentioned, races of different lengths will use different color caps to identify which distance you're swimming, and the other reason is to identify waves.   Having played Race Director myself, it really helps the lifeguards on the rafts and the officials keep everyone in line.

Other benefit is hair that is normal in color after a lot of pool time.... lol

Good luck to everyone with a race the weekend.  I'm looking to see some epic performances.

As for me, I'm churning out the miles to meet my training goals for the month.   Already passed my run goal.  One more swim and a 20 mile bike ride and I'll meet those two goals.

Run pace this morning was slightly slower than yesterday, but felt much more solid.  Wasn't dying by the time I hit mile 3.    I love seeing progress.   I'm just not very patient and want it to come faster!

Looks like we have several folks racing this weekend: Mike, Jamie at Raleigh 70.3, me....any others?

I'm looking forward to my race Saturday. Its really the only time my family is there for my races and my son, age 20, is doing a relay so we will get to race together. His relay should take the relay title and possibly the fastest time of the day. My son is doing the swim and run legs and the owner of the LBS is doing the bike leg. They will be strong across all three disciplines. Pretty much my whole team will be doing the race so that always adds to the fun.

Someone had mentioned nerves before a race within the last few days. I still get nervous. I've done somewhere in the range of 33-35 triathlons and figure those nerves/butterflies will never go away. The severity seems to increase with the importance of the race.......I can't imagine how nervous/anxious I would be if I ever did an IM!

Single sport focus? It can really push you to a new level. I think its easier to do with swimming and biking as the body recovers quicker from those activities and there is less chance of injury ramping those up. I was pretty swim/bike focused early in the year as my running was limited. Saw nice gains on the bike and marginal gains on the swim. But, with the swim I did build some endurance that allowed me to swim faster paces for longer distances. Downside is that I am going through a phase now where I'm tired of swimming (230,000 yards so far in 2014). Maybe a couple of easier weeks will help. 

Good luck to all of the racers this weekend!

Funny you mention you think you would be more nervous for an IM.  I get some nerves before races (the HM last weekend was worse than usual for some reason) but as I stood on the beach in Mont Tremblant, I was 100% calm and at ease.  I've been pretty much the same for both HIMs although maybe not quite to the same extent.  For me it seems to be related to the length of the race - shorter = worse!

Embrace the PAIN!!!! 

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Funny you mention you think you would be more nervous for an IM.  I get some nerves before races (the HM last weekend was worse than usual for some reason) but as I stood on the beach in Mont Tremblant, I was 100% calm and at ease.  I've been pretty much the same for both HIMs although maybe not quite to the same extent.  For me it seems to be related to the length of the race - shorter = worse!