FancyPants Group- CLOSED (Page 15)

Ann, what course are you talking about in Michigan?  You sort of lost me.  Is there an upcoming tri in my neck of the woods? 

Ann, you and Mike are awesome role models for you kids.  What great lessons she has learned!  I thought you meant Tawas but I wasn't sure.  It is so far off.  I was hoping you'd be a little closer.  All the Michigan BT'ers are doing a "lets make our own triathlon" and have mapped out a sprint/oly course at Island Lake in Brighton.  There is a huge pot luck later at Coop's house.  Its too bad you'll be much more north.  Mike could've come out and played with the Michigan peeps and the kids would've had a lot of company.  There will be many spouses and kids, and even some other pregnant triathletes out there (helping, not doing, well maybe riding). 

Matt-Good Luck!  My thoughts are with you.  Please post a race report.  Stay warm!

Well, I’m officially a triathlete!  And I’m a much smarter one at that.  I learned several lessons, and I must say that some of those lessons will be easier than others to do something about.

First of all, in order to get to the triathlon, I woke at 3:15 AM, and was out the door by about 3:40 and drove the nearly 2 hours from West Chester to Harrisburg.  It’s a good thing that I did get there a little early too, the directions were not terribly clear, and I had to search for a while for the correct entrance to the park.  Most of the entrances were still gated and locked at 5:30 AM.

Okay, so now I’m in the park.  I leave all my stuff in the car and go to pickup my packet.  They claim that they didn’t do the numbers alphabetically, but they HAD to have.  I was #1.  WTF????  No pressure there!  I joked with the volunteer that marked me that this race should have been Kona.  I’d have had a really really good year last year!  Anyway, I unload my car and rack my bike and lay out my trans area on a hideous burnt orange towel.  Very easy to spot that one!

I suit up and take a dip in the lake.  It was 64*, and some people weren’t wearing wetsuits.  It didn’t feel that bad, but I had a full suit on!  Those guys without wetsuits were nuts!  Anyway, this was my first OWS, and my first wetsuit swim, so I really wasn’t sure what I was in for….more on this later.  Anyway, I get myself into and out of the water and then listen to the RD’s instructions.  There’s a Du at this event, so he had to go through instructions for those athletes as well as us swimmers.  He sends us out to our respective starting lines and blows his air horn to start the race.

I’m going to have to redouble my efforts to find a place to practice OWS.  My swim was HORRIBLE!  I couldn’t get into a rhythm, and I couldn’t catch my breath.  I think part of it was the unfamiliarity of not being able to see that well in the water, and part of it was the collar on my wet suit being a little too tight.  I wound up doing the breast stroke for more than ½ of the swim.  If I can’t find a lake to practice in, I may have to give in and swim at the Y a few times in my wetsuit, and maybe color the inside of the lenses on a pair of old goggles so that they are almost completely blacked out…I don’t know what I’m going to do, but this one is going to take real effort to improve.  This is one of the lessons that I’ll take from this first TRI.  I finished with a time of 18:02 for the swim.  There were probably 100-125 triathletes in this event.  There were probably 15 or 20 people getting out of the water after me.  UGH!

T1 was fairly uneventful.  Wetsuit came off easily.  I had my socks, loaded with baby powder so they were easy to get on with wet feet.  Socks, shoes, arm warmers, helmet and clear glasses on.  Unrack bike and trot to the exit and over the timing mat and hop on the bike. 

Here comes the second lesson.  Next race, my Garmin will start on the bike and STAY on the bike.  It will be used as a bike computer only.  All times will be kept by my Timex Ironman.  I don’t know how I managed to do this, but I totally screwed up the multi sport setting on my Garmin and have only a rough idea of my times for the bike and run parts of this event.  Regardless, the pace was still showing and the distance was working also.  A rough estimate was a 17.55 mile (by Garmin, 18 by the race web site) bike ride in approximately 1:10.  Which would be somewhere around a 14.5 or 15 MPH pace.  For the number of hills on this course, I’m THRILLED with this ride.  I’d say that there are 3 climbs on this course, and it was a two loop ride, so there were 6 climbs total.  One of the 3 was pretty short, but very steep.  The other two were a little longer and more gradual, but tough none the less.  This was a little different than the swim.  During the whole ride, I was passed by probably only 4 or 5 riders, but I was passing people regularly.  This was a good ride.

T2 was a little more eventful than T1.  Bike shoes came off easily and running shoes on easily.  Helmet off and cap on.  But this is about when I realize that I’d screwed up my Garmin.  The heck with it, it’s staying on my bike.  I ran out of T2 and started my run without any kind of time keeper.

Next lesson:  Well, I need to practice bricks a little more, and the bricks that I do need to be a little bit longer than the ones that I’ve done up to now.  I started a little too fast and started to get a stitch, so I dialed it back down a bit.  The run was also a trail run on a dirt/gravel path.  I didn’t realize this ahead of time.  I thought that the ‘path’ mentioned on the race web site was a paved jogging path.  Well, it wasn’t.  There were lots of mud puddles, lots of ruts and some debris on the path.  I was very, very deliberate during this run.  I was very wary of rolling my ankle.  So trying to avoid both a full blown stitch, and a rolled ankle, I probably could have run a bit faster, but I came out unharmed, so I’m happy.  I’m guessing somewhere around 27 minutes for the 3 mile run.

Overall, for my first tri, I’m thrilled with my time.  I knew this would be my first OWS, and my first wetsuit swim.  I knew that the bike course was hilly.  I knew that I’d never done a brick with a bike ride this hard or long, and then a run this hard or long.   With all of this in mind, I was really hoping to beat 2:10.  Well, my time was 1:57:something!  Woo hoo!  This was by far the most fun I’ve ever had in a race.  Now I’ll be checking the calendar and looking for another race in June.

So to recap the lessons that I’ve learned, during races, Garmin=bike computer, Ironman = time keeper.  It’s been said by many people that swimming in OW is different than a pool.  Well, it is.  A LOT different.  Need to find a place to practice, because this was definitely where I lost a ton of time.  I’m thinking that my swim troubles easily cost 3 or 4 minutes.  Also, bricks are a necessity, and they need to be a little more frequent.  But all in all it was still a great day, and I had a blast!  I’ll update this report with accurate times when they post the race results.   

Matt

You are a TRIATHLETE!!

Way to go, Matt!  I don't care how well you think you are prepared for a race there are always things to learn from.  It sounds like everything went well and you finished with a great time.  Big bonus, getting your wetsuit off without a problem, kudos to you!   No matter what your time was today, it is your PR, and a wonderful PR!!!!   I hope you are celebrating your accomplishment and enjoying your success!

Have a great weekend everyone.  Thanks Anne and Jo both for understanding my nervousness about the tri.  I may change my mind as it gets closer, just hate the pressure of feeling I have to be trained and ready to go for it, when I can't seem to get back into the swimming.  I can swim pretty much forever endurance wise, but I want the speed to back it up

I broke down and went and saw the doctor about my calf today. It feels fine until I run on it and then it feels just a little sore.  Decided it was better to have it checked out than to just keep pushing it.

Doc says it's a 2nd - 3rd degree sprain.  No running for 2 weeks and also a couple of weeks of physical therapy.  Then start back in slowly.  Glad I went and saw him to get that complete peace of mind.   (I have got to find a way to get back to the pool so I can get some exercise.  2 weeks no running arggh!!)

What a group we are!  Ann, with your back and baby bump, Ginny with your calf, me with my eyes (although they are getting better and I can start training again once the work stress lightens).   Take care everyone, REST, and have a great weekend!

I'm so happy to hear that the back is healing and that all went well with your baby appt.  Racing will still be there next year.  Maybe next year, I'll have to come see you at races and watch a kid or two or three for you while you tri. 

I am still a little interested in the July tri.  Don't count me out just yet.  I don't know.  I am also looking forward to NEVER doing this again after my tri in June.  I don't think I would be disappointed if I blew that one off.  I am not looking forward to this weekend.  I am not physically or mentally ready.  In fact I'm feeling physically and mentally challenged. 

Have you ever noticed how some people just go way over board with this tri stuff, like it is the focus of their life and look down on you for not having the same passion or time to train?  This board gets way intense sometimes and really plays with your head.  I am so glad that I have you and Ginny and Matt to talk to on this forum.  Its sort of like my little getaway, my vacation from the tri obsessed.

scubagrrl - 2009-05-27 8:51 AM Glad to hear that the baby appointment went well and that your back is getting better Anne. 

Good luck this weekend Jo, I'm sure you'll do great.

I'm with you on the not being "tri" (or evening running)  obsessed.  Sometimes people make feel like I should be doing so many more races etc, but I've got way too many other hobbies to be able to fit in any more.  And with the other hobbies being things that I do with SO and my kids, and this being the only thing I do alone, it's kind of low on the list of priorities you know?  There's several other races I've thought about doing, but that would interfere with the Wine train trip, the diving trips, Vintage Ohio, family reunions.  (Oh gee maybe Wine is too high on my list too ) 

Lets talk wine.  What is this wine train trip you speak of?  Wine is HIGH on my priority list.  I knew I liked you.

Anne, I am in a happy place.  Its hard to stay there when people around you are pushing you and in your face about being competitive.  I am good with my decisions to do these as fun.  Ginny, I hope you are still keeping the women's tri on your radar.  I haven't given up on trying to convince you to come out and play with me.  I have till June 1st, right?  That was when you were supposed to let us know.  Anything before June 1st is just talk.  Come on Anne, lets work on her.  Ginny, I'll respect and support whatever decision you make after June 1st.