David Gillen's Group - FULL (Page 11)

Thanks for being appreciative, Pene.  It makes me really happy to know that I've been able to help you and others in this group.  Believe me, I'm getting as much out of this as you are!

Tim, Congrats on getting spot, and don't worry. We can answer your questions and help you finalize your training before 07 July!

I've never done a race with 2 different transition areas, but it shouldn't be that big of deal. You'll just have to separate your gear for T1 and T2.

I would try to get as much information about the course as you can, including the exact bike course, turn by turn. If you can get out there soon to try to ride the bike the course, I'd HIGHLY recommend it. It will really help you mentally prepare so there won't be any big surprises come race day. Also, there is no better place than the actual course to do a race simulation brick workout that I can tell you more about if you go.

I'm not quite sure what exactly you meant by "logistics", so please ask a little more specific question, and I can try to help.

As for nutrition, it is definitely important for an OLY as you'll be out there for 2.5 to 3.5+ hours. First of all, try to compute your sweat rate using the test I mentioned before b/c hydration is more important than nutrition. Secondly, find a sports drink that you like the taste of and use it in practice. This drink should have both carbs and electrolytes. You might also consider using some gel product as these are generally easy to digest and provide additional calories. Start with trying to consume 200 - 300 calories per hour, and go up or down from there depending on what you can stomach. Above all, practice executing your nutrition plan in your 1 or 2 key workouts each week.

The cardinal rule of racing is: Don't do anything new on race day! That is, don't try any new drinks, gels, bars, food, pacing strategies, bike gear, etc on race day that you haven't tested and had success with in your "race simulation workouts".

Thanks for the well wishes Pene.  I'm going to try to fly out there tomorrow AM, but flights look pretty full so I might not get out.  I work for American Airlines as a software engineer so I fly standby for free.  If I don't get out tomorrow, Friday's flights look a little better. 

This will be my first time flying with my bike.  I rented a bike case from a Local Bike Shop (LBS), but it turned out to be beat up pretty bad and has some gaps on the edges when closed.  So, I'm a little worried.  I'm flying with it again in August, and I might have to consider buying a box for that trip. 

I probably won't be able to post much, if at all, this weekend, but please talk amongst yourselves, and I'll catch up on Monday.  

Based on the minutes only Oly plan from BT I my May goals should have been:

Swim - 34000 yds (Actual 22305)

Bike - 250 miles (Actual 364.19)

Run - 50 miles (Actual 37.83)

As you can see my actual vs planned is all over the place.  The main reason my bike is higher is that I did the MS150 in Dallas so that was 150 miles in 2 days.  Because of this my run numbers were lower and swimming, well I just could not get out of bed a few days.  No excuses, I was just too tired.  Overall, I am pretty happy with my month.  I was able to get 3 OWS in.  First one went badly as I did not do much actual swimming.  The next 2 went really well, 1.5 miles both went extremely well but there was only a few people so I am not sure how I will do in a crowd.

Pene,

Personally the only time I have ever had a panic attack was my first OWS.  Other than that I could really care less what somebody thinks when they see me.  I do this for me and if a bunch of kids want to laugh let them (This is kind of the Dr. Phil approach or Suck it up Buttercup approach).  I don't have ashama (can't even spell it) so I don't know what it is like dealing with it but remember millions of people have it and I am sure several professional athletes have it and perform at a high level.  I am willing to bet your nerves trigger the attacks and not the other way around.  If you get over the panic attacks I bet your ashama get better during workouts.  (Hope that did not sound bad/rude, I come from the tough love approach).  I figure when I am training, half the time I am wearing spandex, which looks rediculous so people have a reason to laugh.   One thing that definately helped me get faster running was buying a Garmin Forerunner.  I constantly pushed my self to get faster and run longer almost to a point to where I did too much.  Track workouts, even a few helped me drop quite a bit of time.  I was always fairly quick in that I could generally break a 10:00 pace (my slowest 5K is 31:00 but I was sick).  I am generally in the 22:00ish range now, which is not blazing but decent in my mind.

Remember, just don't give an "f" what others think.  They are probably driving in their car eating double cheese burger and large fry while you are on the track.

Best of Luck.

Dave,

 I have a dilema.  I just found out that Dallas Athletes is discounting the Disco Tri for people who got rained out of Captex so the Disco and Ironhead are basically the same price now but the Disco is a week earlier.  Any suggestions on what I should do.  On one hand with the disco tri it is a week earlier so it give me one more week to to train for Praireman plus it is a different course so I would not do the same course 3 times this summer.  with the Ironhead race it would give me the advantage of doing the course in prep for praireman plus one more week to train for the race.  I am leaning towards doing the disco tri if work permits so I have the extra week before praireman plus for the different course.  Also, it sounds like the disco tri has more festivities afte the race plus the swim is a little longer (1 mile compared to .92 so a little closer to HIM distance.)

Hope all went well at alcatraz.

Looks like Dave finished Escape from Alcatraz in 2:51:48 seconds and finished 63 of 163 in his age group.

 Great job Dave!! Did you see any sea lions or sharks?