Ryan and Mike's beginner group - CLOSED (Page 12)

Good idea!

Good luck in your race tomorrow!  Can't wait to see the race report.

Good luck!!!!! 

Race day clothing and transition areas.

For clothing, I keep it simple.  Tri shorts and tri tank for the entire race (I'll break that rule if I ever do an Ironman and will probably have a back up tri tank and shorts in my gear bag in case I'm uncomfortable at my half).  Some people wear one piece racing suits.  You'll also see some people pull shorts and a shirt on over their swim suit.  If you go that route, make sure to practice to be sure you don't have chaffing issues.  If you do have some minor chaffing, you can apply body glide or Aquaphor to the affected area.  I had some chaffing issues on the bike and now apply Aquaphor before every ride longer than an hour.  I used to use Chamois Butt'r but it seems to wear off after about an hour.

For the transition area, I keep it simple like this (that isn't me, but I think the tri clothing sizing chart was set up for people that thin :-)).  Just like the video, I fold a towel in half length wise and put it next to my bike.  I then put things down in the order I will use them.  Bike shoes first with my socks in them.  I put on the socks before the race then roll them off and put them on top of my bike shoes so it's easy to roll them on to wet feet quickly.  My helmet goes upside down on my handle bars  and my sunglasses go upside down inside them.  I put them on a couple times to make sure they are lined up.  I put my running shoes and race belt behind my bike shoes and my bag of gear behind that.  I keep a bottle of water and a dish towel near my gear bag in case I need to rinse my feet.  I don't eat or drink in transition.  I wait until I'm on the bike and settled down.

Make a list.  BT has a handy list here.  If you are like me, you'll be double checking everything several times.

Once I'm set up, I count the rows from the T1 entrance to my bike and the T2 entrance to my bike.  I then walk over to the lake or pool, and jog really slowly toward T1 visualizing myself taking my swim cap, goggles and starting to take my wet suit off during the race.  Jog to my row, visualize stripping the rest of my wet suit, sock 1/shoe 1, sock 2/shoe 2, glasses, helmet and jogging toward the exit.  I repeat the visualization for T2.  You'll see all kinds of crazy stuff during the race, just concentrate on having a smooth transition and breathing to relax.

The biggest thing is to make sure you have fun!

Let us know if you have any more questions

haha that would be hilarious to see someone wearing that. I will be on the look out for some crazy outfits. Im not going that route but will def participate in people watching before my wave....

Thank for the great info on the transitions. Im so OCD I am most worried about this part of the race... BTW I agree with you on the sizing charts =)

Wait until the tri dreams start :-). 

Have you done a half marathon before?  I see you are following an Oly plan.  Do you plan to run longer than the plan once per week? 

I did the New Town Sprint last year.  It was a well run event, but very hot!  It is a little longer than a standard sprint so it's a good stepping stone to an Oly.

couldn't begin to tell you why...maybe it's the same reason one of my bras squeaks?!

OMG that is so true!!

I hadn't ridden a bike with gears before last March, and I LOVE it!

One thing that really helped me was buying a cheap wired bike computer (i'm geeky too) that helped me monitor my cadence. Advice I got was to use whatever gear I needed to keep a steady cadence, and not to go too crazy - aim for the 70's for the 1st year, 80's the next, etc. I kinda stick to that, but focusing on just staying steady has worked well for me. Also went on newbie group rides about every weekend spring/summer, and that also did a lot for helping me to get comfortable in a pack, in traffic, etc. Singular best thing I did, though, was a 24-hour charity ride (24 Hours of Booty!), logging over 100 miles, and spending laps focusing on different aspects of my form, etc.

I also replaced my saddle with an Adamo road saddle and it's been great....got tired of people telling me to just suck it up & it'd take time to adjust to the saddle, but I knew there had to be a difference between pain & soreness - immediately could tell the difference with the new saddle, though the local shop gave me a loaner to try out first.

hope that helps!

So what's on tap for everyone this weekend?  I'm in a recovery week of my plan so my training is lighter than normal.  Other than that I'm mixing sound at church, so I'll be there a lot (3 services).  

nice to see you have some balance :-)

same old same old, back-to-back spin weekend, and volunteering at the Blue Jeans Ball for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults...as long as there's no more snow!! I'm such a wimp

Workouts done for the day!  My brother and sister-in-law in town to see the new baby.  So, tonight we are going to hit Fast Eddie's...Bid Elwood on Stick...

Nice!  I really like Fast Eddie's since it became no smoking.  I like the smoking section too for days when cigars are called for.

I have done the dist. on my own, but not in a race.  I am following the Oly plan as a guideline, but I plan to increase all the runs and add a couple over the next couple weeks.  As it gets a little warmer out, I will be able to add few extra runs outside at lunch time.  Without the commute to the gym, it makes it possible.

I have read that the accumulated fatigue from riding and swimming will make up for not following a true 1/2 marathon training plan.  Have you seen anything on this or had an experience with it?

New Town - I thought the extra length would be helpful, the Trizou in May is standard length.  Is the swim in a lake or in the canals?

Thanks, Michael A.

The swimming and biking help a lot, but I don't think they can substitute for the long run.  If you follow the Oly plan but build the long weekend run up to 10-11 miles you should be good. 

The swim is in the lake and it is a time trial start, which I like better than mass starts.  One of the legs is with the current so I turned in my best OWS time ever in that race even though I zig zagged and stopped a couple times to catch my breath.

It's 60 degrees and sunny out today in Atlanta. Two weeks ago we had 6 inches of ice and snow. This might be the most bizarre winter in a while.  Naturally I cut our mandatory Saturday work day short (first 4 months of the year suck for accountants) and went for a bike ride. It was the first time since November that I've ridden outside, it felt awesome. Also got some new running shoes. 

I've been crazy busy the past two weeks and I haven't had much of a chance to post anything, but I did appreciate the swimming posts. I just started swimming too, and I have to admit its probably the most intimidating of the three sports to me. I'm comfortable in the water, but I've never really tried to swim a race before. Reading the posts here, it really sounds like I'll need to work on slowing down my strokes and focusing on technique. I'll also have to break down and buy a pair of jammers. 

Thanks for posting the drills as well, I'll have to give those a try.

So the Warrior Dash was a success, not sure of my exact time but thinking around 42 mins. The obstacles were crazy and there were over 600 people in my wave. Glad I got to do it, not sure how my body is going to feel after running through mud, jumping over cars, tire running, and cargo nets 

Jaime- That sounds like so much fun! It doesn't come out my way for a while, I think it's in the summer, but I'll have to check. Do you think you will do another one?

Mike- my husband runs sound for our church. I know the amount of time it takes and there aren't a lot of pats on the back, so I will just say thank you for volunteering on behalf of every one who attends those services.

Oh ya, I forgot to mention that on Thursday I went to a Good Form Running clinic.

http://www.goodformrunning.com/

It was really interesting, I tried to incorporate some of it into my run today and I do think it helped. The person who taught said that if there were one area to try to change it would be cadence.

Someone mentioned shin splits a while back. What they said in that class was that shin splits can be caused by 'heel striking' or 'over striding' when you dorsiflex your foot while running. It made a lot of sense. I hope this information is helpful to some of you, I know I enjoyed learning more about how I can improve my form and ultimately run faster with less injuries.

Edited by Brightbow 2011-01-29 7:13 PM

I would consider doing another one, it was hard but a lot of fun and a good accomplishment. If it comes to your area you should def sign up and do it at least once.

Now its time to train of my triathlon, I have a month and a half.

Nice you got out for a ride.  I've been on the trainer since October.

Congrats!  Did they have cool shirts or medals?

Jamie glad you had fun!!

Mike thanks for the tips on transition.