Dominion's Sprint and Olympic Distance - OPEN !!! (Page 14)

Not really. I do have an uncle that has been going through a fairly tough battle with gout. But he's the only relative I've ever heard mention anything about it. I do drink my fair share of wine and beer and I believe he said that alcohol consumption was not good for his gout. I'm trying to remember all of the stuff he's told me over the last several years.

Had a great race tonight in my first sprint of the year! I beat my expectations by almost 4:00! I was predicting somewhere around 1:15:00 and I came in at 1:11:xx (not sure what the seconds were, maybe :07?). I pulled off my fastest ride of the year, averaging 19.02 mph for the 10 mile bike course. The run was tough because the first 3/4 or so were pretty much all uphill. Of course, that meant that the last 3/4 were all downhill. It definitely shows in my mile splits: 9:07, 8:11, 7:48! Talk about your negative splits. My time was 25:59 for the 5K, 8:18/mile pace. My time would have been a little better, but I wasted about 20 seconds when I had to stop to stretch my calves because they were cramping. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for me, so I'm used to it. Anyway, my swim wasn't the greatest (although, I don't believe their distance), but I crushed my bike and had what might be the fastest run I've ever had during a tri, so I'm pumped! I'll write up and post a full race report in the next day or two.

Race report for the strong at heart! http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/RaceLog/races-view-container.asp?...

Edited by rjchilds8 2016-06-18 11:34 AM

The group's been a little quiet, so I thought I'd drop in a photo I took last night after my open water swim practice. This is my friend's private lake. It's not very big--eight trips across and back to swim a mile--but it's peaceful and no one else uses it at all, except the occasional critter. It makes for super nice, relaxing swims, which actually are not the most beneficial for triathlon training, lol.

My second attempt at a HIM for the year is this coming Sunday. I'm pretty anxious and checking the weather reports every 15 minutes. I've been out to Lake Cd'A three times now for swim practice, and two of those included pretty bad wave/chop action, so I got in some good practice. But, I'm still pretty nervous about it. If there are big waves and/or bad chop, it's going to be a struggle! I may be able to get in another practice or two before the race, which will help. On the other hand, if the weather report holds out, race conditions should be excellent. Light wind and not too hot!

I've ridden the race route twice now. Although I'd heard horror stories about the hills, it's actually not as bad as my regular training route, which is 16 miles of straight climbing, so I'm pretty confident about the bike. I've also done the run route three times. It's pretty easy; mostly flat with a slight grade toward the middle of the out-and-back loop. It's pretty easy, as long as one doesn't get lost in all the loopiness as we turn right here and left here and then two rights and three lefts and a right, etc., weaving our way through the neighborhood until we get out to the main road.




Woohoo! Way to go!

Congrats to everyone else on your race results, as well. I've not been on my computer much the past few months as I've been working and training long hours to get ready for Sunday's race. Let's hope the weather holds!

Edited by burner2 2016-06-21 12:09 PM






Attachments
----------------
LakeView_1.jpg (2862KB - 5 downloads)

Dam, I had replied earlier this week but don't see it.

In short. Awesome job Randy. Way to kill it.

Good Luck Cass. You got this.

Thanks Chris. I have changed my habit.


Noted an interesting thing with my training. I often skip meals if I am doing an evening run. An sometimes these are my best runs. Typically I would take a GU before. This week I did a 3 mile time trial and held a 7:25 pace which is damn good for me. I was happy a couple weeks back to hold a 7:42 for two miles. I have seen this with other runs. I do typically try to have a snack 2-3 hours before my run, and eat after.

Should I add GU to my workouts to increase my intensity?

Signed up for a HM in November. Gonna skip the HIM. Wife is planning on running with me.
So far ranked #6 in age group in NC according to USA triathlon. Will only fall from here but pretty happy with my early season results. Hope to finish season in 70's which will be better than last two years.

Good luck, Cass. You got this!

Edited by HelmoAlkou 2016-06-25 12:52 PM

Ironman Cd'A 70.3
S: 56:00
T1: 8:07
B: 4:00:26
T2: 6:46
R: 3:26:43
Final time: 8:38:02

I couldn't have asked for better weather! There was hardly even a breeze, so the water had very little chop at all. We were able to get in the water for a few minutes before the start, and as soon as I got in, I felt all my anxiety leave. The water was warm (warmer than the air!) and felt great. I did a short swim and then back on the beach to join everyone else. This was an interesting start: rather than starting by age group, we started in self-seeded groups, so I joined the 46-55 minute group. This really is the best way to start a race as we don't have to worry about other people swimming over the top of us.

The swim went fine, and I finished in 56 minutes, so pretty much where I thought I would. There were only a few issues, mostly related to sighting and the sun being low on the horizon that early in the morning, but nothing major. The swim was probably a little more than half mile out from the shore, and then a brief left turn, and then the same distance return trip, and what was amazing is I could see to the bottom almost all the way out. Fortunately, there's no vegetation on the bottom of the lake; it's just sand and pebbles and some junk, so nothing too freaky.

It was a long run from the beach to the transition area. For some reason, they had us run almost around the transition area and enter from the back, rather than from a point closer to the beach. But, whatever. Transition went well. I took probably longer than I should because I took a few seconds to bag my wetsuit and gear, as the race organizers had suggested. Next time, I'll probably just throw my wetsuit over the bike rack as I usually do. I don't have an expensive wetsuit, so if somebody accidentally grabs mine by mistake, no big deal. It has my name and phone number in it, anyway.

It was a long run from the transition area out to the mount point on the street, and the route out was blocked by people getting sunscreen applied. I will need to let race organizers know that they should have the sunscreen station off to the side, rather than in the middle of the transition exit, as I had to yell "coming through!" to get passage cleared for my exit. But, that probably cost me only a few seconds, so no major inconvenience.

The ride was pretty uneventful. I've ridden the course before, so I knew what to expect. I stopped briefly at one of the park restrooms for a quick pee break (no lines!), and then twice to refill my Aerodrink bottle, and then once to check my back tire after rolling over something that made an eery popping sound, but other than that, it was pretty much a bike ride. It was fun riding through town with all the cheering spectators, especially as I whizzed past a couple of young guys. I maintained my nutrition and hydration well.

I was pretty wobbly when I got off my bike at the end of the ride and had to walk it to transition. Again, it was a long walk, probably close to a quarter of a mile, which is one of the reasons why my transition times were soooooo bloody long! I had set up my run transition a little differently had I have in the past: I had all my run stuff in a plastic grocery bag, so all I had to do was drop my bike stuff, grab the plastic grocery bag, and go. I made another quick pee stop, stopped for sunscreen, and then off I went, putting on my run gear as I went, and then dropped the grocery bag in the nearest trash can. It worked out great! And I didn't have to worry about forgetting anything.

I made pretty good time the first three miles, and then I was just so sore, I ended up walking most of the rest of the run. I ran where I could; tried alternating run/walk, but my body was extremely sore. I had blisters on my feet, and it felt like my toenails were about to fall off. I could see that I was off my projected pace, and I was worried about finishing in time. But, I kept going. I hit every aid station for water/Gatorade/cola, as well as bananas, energy blocks, and pretzels, so my nutrition and hydration were good.

I knew I was getting close to the 8:30:00 cutoff, so I really pushed myself as hard as I could, and I finally crossed the finish line! That was great! I can't wait for the race photos to come out because I prepared myself ahead of time for crossing the finish line, and I think it should be a pretty good photo. They handed me my finisher's medal and hat (what? no shirt?), and then escorted me to the finishers' photo booth, and then off for pizza and watermelon. OMG! Cold watermelon! The. Best. Food. Ever! I was so sore and unsteady that after grabbing my food, I fell into a chair and dumped my pizza on the ground. Everyone laughed, and then helped me clean it up and someone went and got me more pizza. It was great!

The volunteers were fabulous, and the support was great. I had brought my own nutrition and PowerAde, but really, I hadn't needed to. They had more than enough, and it was what I train with, so I was good the entire time. I never did eat what I brought for the run, but rather just grabbed what they were handing out at the aid stations because it was easier. I've never felt more supported at a race before. And the city of Coeur d'Alene was great! Thousands of people watched the race, and lots of folks had their sprinklers running along the streets for us to cool off. There were a few bands that played throughout the day, including a group of guys in kilts playing bagpipes, which was really cool. There were a couple of folks who set up as announcers on street corners and would announce people's names as we ran by and offer words of encouragement. It was pretty cool! I had heard that there were some locals who didn't like the race and would throw nails and glass on the bike course, but I didn't see any of that, other than one self-entitled individual who tried to ignore the traffic directors and cones and drive on the bike course. (She stopped pretty quickly after hearing me yell "Holy sh--!" and discovering she couldn't go anywhere.) We had the entire northbound side of US95 all to ourselves, so we got to ride in the vehicle lanes, rather than on the shoulder, which made for a much smoother and easier ride. I highly recommend this race. Everyone was very welcoming and accommodating!

Another thing that made this race really special was the support and encouragement from the other Team Blaze members. There were about 130 Team Blaze members racing, so we had a pretty big presence. As someone said, "you guys are like Starbucks--you're everywhere!" Spectators and volunteers would yell out "Go, Team Blaze!" which was pretty cool. And, we took first place in our team division.

So, in the end, although I finished the race and was 99/120 for my age group, it's still considered a DNF because I finished 8:02 after the cutoff. However, I'm happy with my performance; I gave this race everything I could, and I don't know what I could have done to have finished faster. Of course, I would have liked to have not received a DNF, but that's OK. I did finish it, so I know that I can do it. I would like to do this race again next year, and I have a year to shave 8:02 off my time. I know I can do that. It just gives me another goal. Great race!

(Post edited to reflect updated run and finish times from Ironman website.)

Edited by burner2 2016-06-28 9:16 AM

Great report and awesome Job Cass

Nate

Super excited. Found a mountain triathlon to do during my vacation in NH in August. Top Notch Triathlon. Its a bike, swim, and run. Its short but has a 3320 foot elevation change and the 2.5 mile run which has a 2300 elevation change finishing on top of a ski mountain which the family can ride a tram up. Super excited about finding this race.

Nate

Those are some serious elevation gains! Good luck! We're going to have to hook up on one of these races you do up in NH. I'm doing the Timberman Sprint this year to preview the course in anticipation of doing the Timberman 70.3 next year. I've been up to that area numerous times, so I'm hoping I like the venue. Good luck. I'll be doing a local Olympic distance race that weekend down here in MA.

S: 18,490 yards
B: 255.04 miles
R: 55.54 miles

Pretty typical numbers for me lately. I expect these will go down in July and August as I have three races in July, so lots of taper time, and then two races the first two weeks in August, and then I’m done for the year. I’ve volunteered to help out with Ironman Cd’A the third weekend in August, and that should be fun. One of my volunteer positions is as Penalty Tent Marshall in the early afternoon. I figure that should give me a pretty good view of the leaders as they’re coming in for the run. I might even get a chance to meet a few pros.

I’m finished with the Tri for Equality program, which is a little sad. But I accomplished what I set out to do, which is finish a 70.3. I’m going to go coachless for the rest of the season since there’s only six weeks left for me, and then re-evaluate and figure out my goals for next year. I haven't decided if I want to go with an online coach again, or perhaps work with one of the local coaches I've met in the past few months.

I also qualified for Nationals again with my Troika results in May, but I’m going to skip it this year. I’ve done one destination race this year, and I think one a year is enough. Milwaukee was easy last year because it was just getting on a train at one end and off at the other, but destinations that involve planes, trains, automobiles, and TSA-groping are just too much.

How’s everyone else doing? What races do you have left this year? Nate, that race you have planned has some serious climbing! Wow! I'm guessing it's an off-road mountain bike race? Or will you be on road bikes and pavement? Either way, that's pretty tough!

Swim: 3h 53m 15s - 10700 M
Bike: 6h 39m 16s - 118.95 Mi
Run: 5h 58m 51s - 41.56 Mi

Overall, my totals weren't too bad. My swim total was higher than any other month this year, although not by a ton. Still, I like the increase in pool time. I started off somewhat inconsistent in the beginning of the month, but started getting things back together in the 2nd half. I had my best pace ever during my last swim workout, so I'm seeing some gains.

This was my 2nd highest monthly total on the bike since I've started triathlon training 2 1/2 years ago. It was only about 3 miles short of my highest total, which was July of last year. I think I did more rides of a longer distance in July last year. This month, I did more bike rides, but of shorter distance. I've got a couple Olympic races coming up, so I'll need to start increasing my distance on a more regular basis. I've tended to do more bike rides over my lunch period on work days, so they have to stay shorter, and I've done fewer long rides on the weekend.

My run total wasn't the greatest, but not horrible either. It was my lowest total since March. But part of that is because I wasn't doing much biking in March and this month I did a fair amount. Add in the fact that I couldn't run for 8 days after my 10K due to the pain in my big toe (bunion? gout?) and it's pretty easy to understand my total being down. Given that my average pace dropped by 0:28/mile, I'm not going to complain. Yeah, I'd like to see that total higher, but it didn't hurt my running ability in any way.

Time: 1:37:56
Age group: 3/4
Total: 88/116

This was my third time with this race. It was a little weird. I have no race data, other than a final time because 1) my Garmin refused to cooperate and connect with a satellite since I was more than a couple hundred miles from home (yes, this is what it said!), and 2) the chip timing company's web site is all messed up and has only final times listed. So, I have no split time data, which is sad because I'm a data geek.

So, when the race started, I just hit the start button on my Garmin and had it record time only, and then ignored it until the run. The swim went OK; no issues.I was surprised by the number of bikes still in transition. T1 went great. I was in and out pretty fast. My bike computer was working (at least I had something!), so I could tell I was maintaining a pretty good pace on the paved part of the ride. But when I got to the off road part, things kind of fell apart for me. I did OK, but this was my first mountain bike ride since last fall, and it showed! My handling was off; I had trouble with some of the sharp turns, as well as staying on the single track itself, which was a pretty narrow groove in the dirt. I got passed by five people, which wasn't really too bad, considering. I was able to pass one person. Well, OK, he was carrying his bike, so maybe that doesn't quite count. I didn't get passed again, and made pretty good time back to T2.

I was in and out of T2 is 25 seconds. Yes, 25 seconds! As I exited transition, I looked down at my Garmin and saw 1:04:XX and realized I would beat last year's time if I finished the 5K run in under 41 minutes. Piece of cake! I gave the run everything I had. A few people passed me, but not many. It was a straight out and back run course, and on the return, I saw there were a lot of people behind me. Woohoo! I just kept running as fast as I could, and my run time was 33:XX, which is really good for me.

In the end, I beat last year's final time by 7:53! The timing chip company had results posted on paper, and when I went and looked, I saw that I beat last year's swim time by just a few seconds. My T1 time was about the same, and I beat last year's bike by about 30 or 45 seconds, which is surprising considering I practiced the bike course several times last year and also practiced my off-road skills before the race. I beat last year's T2 time by 30 seconds, and then last year's run by about four minutes. How that all adds up to 7:53, I have no idea. Hopefully, the timing chip company will fix their website so I can get some concrete data. Data! I needz data! Give me my data!

I was hoping for first place after my stellar T2 and run, but I got third. The two women who came in ahead of me beat me by 16 and 17 minutes, so it was no contest. However, the woman who came in fourth is the one who beat me last year, and we pretty much swapped times, with her coming in at 1:45:XX this year. And, I moved up ten places in the final standings, moving from 98th last year to 88th this year with pretty much the same size field.

So, this was a good race. There were at least a dozen of us who had raced Cd'A 70.3 last Sunday. I guess we're gluttons for punishment! I have a two week break now until my next race, with another the following weekend.

Updated: The chip timing company fixed their website.
S: 11:26 (2015: 13:25; 2014: 11:45)
T1: 2:07 (2015: 2:19; 2014: 3:53)
B: 50:58 (2015: 51:22; 2014: 1:02:51)
T2: 0:26 (2015: 0:57; 2014: 1:30)
R: 33:03 (2015: 37:45; 2014: 56:44)
2016: 1:37:56; 2015: 1:45:49; 2014: 2:16:43

So, I actually cut two minutes from the swim, four and a half from the run, and the rest a few seconds each from the bike and transitions. I'm actually glad my Garmin wasn't being nice because having a time goal pushed me harder than I might have run had I been using it to check my pace.

Edited by burner2 2016-07-03 11:03 PM

Last minute decision to sign up for this race. The tri club I joined wanted to do the team challenge and needed 10 racers in order to compete. I registered on Friday around noon! LOL Glad I did. This was a beautiful course along Buzzard's Bay in New Bedford, MA, which is on the inland side opposite Cape Cod. I'd say the only negative (besides having to get up before 5 a.m.) was the wind!

This was probably my best overall performance in a tri. My swim was the 2nd best pace I've ever had (it was only 1/4 mile, but I've done others of that distance), my best or 2nd best bike pace, and again setting a new PR on the run! I can only laugh when I have that kind of performance and come in 23rd out of 30 in my age group. ;-) It is what it is. I know I'm making gains and am really happy with what I was able to do today. Overall, I finished 104 out of 311. That put me right on the line for finishing in the top 1/3, which is my highest finish percentile ever!

I'll update with a race report later.

Edited by rjchilds8 2016-07-03 12:40 PM

The full race report is at: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

The short version. The swim went pretty well with the exception of some poor sighting to start the race that had me pointed relatively far off course. I was able to correct my course and get back on track. The nice thing about this swim was that it showed me that I'm getting more comfortable in the water. I had several run-ins during the swim and didn't get panicked or feel stressed. My time of 8:19 for the 1/4 mile swim was pretty good for me. I think it also shows that the 9:46 I did a few weeks ago was either a fluke or a poorly measured course. My ranks were 139/310 and 20/30 AG.

The bike course was the flattest I've ever done by far. I was hoping for a big jump up in my best average pace. But I didn't count on how hard the wind would be blowing in off the bay. I was still able to set a new high for average pace, but not nearly as high as I would have liked. My time for the 12 mile bike was 37:52, an average pace of 19.01 mph! My ranks were 118/310 and 23/30.

The run was also very flat. I stretched my calves in transition before going out on the run and I didn't get the cramps like usual. That made my T2 time a little longer, but it gave me a more accurate run time. I crushed my previous best tri 5K and only missed my stand-alone 5K PR by 16 seconds! My time on the run was 25:08! My ranks were 95/310 and 20/30.

Overall, my time of 1:15:35 was 104th and I finished 23/30 in my AG. I was extremely happy with my performance. I told myself I was going to take it easy in this race because I have my first Olympic in a week. But as soon as I hit the water, all of that went out the window! LOL I pretty much only know one gear and that is full throttle!

Ha ha! That's exactly how I am! I told myself on Saturday that I was just going to take it easy and have fun since it had been only six days since my last race, but once the start gun went off, so did I.

Congrats on a great race!

Thanks, Cass!

Yeah, I know, the thought doesn't cross my mind very often to back off, believe me. But this wasn't even a "B" race, it was more like "C". It was never on my radar and I only signed up to get the club up the minimum 10 racers. I thought I'd treat it more like an organized workout with 309 of my closest friends. ;-) We ended up finishing 3rd out of 4 teams, so at least we weren't last. Our club did put 5 people on the podium, including at least one first place. The club has plenty of faster triathletes, but they just weren't there. Oh, well, it was still fun and a great venue.

What happened to this group?! It's like a ghost town in here. I feel like it's me and burner and that's it.

So I have a race coming up this weekend. I was looking at the weather forecast and it looks like there is a strong chance that it will be raining the morning of the race. I was curious if anyone had any experience/advice for doing a triathlon in the rain. I figured it would have the biggest impact on the bike. Yeah, a very heavy rain might somewhat impact the swim, but I think the worst problem would be the bike. Other than maybe taking corners most slowly to avoid my tires sliding on wet pavement, what kinds of things should I be careful of?

Of course, the people predicting the weather are only right about 50% of the time (if that!). So who knows, it might be a nice clear day for the race. I think it is supposed to rain in the next day or two, so I might just try to go out for a training ride in the rain to try to get used to it a little bit. Is that a good idea or am I just taking an unnecessary risk of getting injured just days before my race?

My monthly totals
SWIM4h 28m 52s - 15400.00 Yd
BIKE8h 50m - 159.50 Mi
RUN9h 22m 14s - 65.34 M

Training is going well. Had a couple good workouts in the pool and running.. Surprised my volumes are down or stable considering I have been on aerobic mile streak. Lots of posts to catch up on. Will write more later. Keep up the good work

Nate