kalalau's Group - FULL for now (Page 15)

I ran into this neat article today:

Personal Best - Caffeine - A Legal Performance Booster

I'm going to have to try this before races. :-)

It might feel awful the first week or two, but I think you will be back to being fast, faster than you think.  Just don't go crazy and injury yourself when you come back.

Oh yeah you notice and appreciate the distance sometimes, like when you get on the bus  to the head start and it takes 45 minutes!  Or when you are dying at mile 16 and you still have... 10 more miles to go!!  When 12 minute miles are a challenge.

The way it happened to me, and I think mostly others, is you do a 5k and you are amazed.  Boy, was that fun, I never thought of myself as a runner.  Then you wonder if you can do a 10k.  You do that, and think bigger, and bigger each time.  It's the challenge.  A marathon seemed crazy.  Hey, maybe I am a real runner if I do a marathon!  Now, a 50 miler seems nuts.  That's the next step. :-)

Yes a wetsuit is a huge difference, especially for poorer swimmers because they lack good body position in the water, and the wetsuit gets them in better body position.  In addition, the buoyancy and the slickness make you faster.  There are a few threads on this website that discuss the time differences in wearing one for a sprint, just like you were saying.  The overall opinion seemed to be that you are still going to be faster in a sprint, even with taking the wetsuit off.  Say you save 1 minute in the swim.  How long would it take you to take off the wetsuit?  Even if you have a lot of trouble, 20 seconds?

For a beginner that doesn't care what time they finish, that 40 seconds is nothing, and not worth the expense.  But you do seem to care about your speed, and you are fast enough that these are the kinds of things you should be looking at for your races.

But if you'd rather buy it later than now, that's fine.  These are just races.  You'll do others. And there's a lot to be said for reducing the things you have to fuss with in transition.  You could also borrow one to try out, or rent one.  At some triathlon expos there might even be vendors that will let you try it on and swim.

Obviously the wetsuit time differences will be greater for longer distances, as the swim distance is longer but the time to get off the wetsuit is constant. 

That looks like a great race, I wish I was going to do it. 

The course distance only matters for aerobars in that the greater the distance, the greater the savings in time. The terrain can make a difference in that a hilly course won't give you as much savings because you spend a lot of time not in the aero position, and while going uphill, you are going slower.  At slower speeds, the aero position does not make as much a difference than at higher speeds.  But you are at 20mph, so being aerodynamic is a huge concern.  At >19mph, even your bicycle helmet, and your clothing, have been shown to make a significant difference in aerodynamic drag (and thus time).  Aerobars are one of the most basic things that triathletes get to buy free time.  It puts you into an aero position and reduces drag, and while you are riding a bike, drag is one of the primary forces stopping you from going faster.

I briefly looked into other threads to maybe find something I could link to.  One guy claimed that his aerobars gave him 3-4mph on his bike speed.  I don't have any stats for myself, but that's not too unbelievable.  1-2mph seems like a safe bet.

And if it's windy, like it gets in Arizona, it's even more valuable.

Your bike course doesn't have that many turns to consider not having aerobars.  I rode many of those same roads and I never came out of the aero position.  There are 3 U-turns, where I would come out off the aerobars.  In the end you will see that you are going to finish that course at a decent average rate of speed, and the aerobars would've made a significant impact.

It takes a while to get used to them though, so it's better to have trained on them first.  They can feel pretty unstable.  It's not the end of the world if you race without aerobars.

But for a guy like you, who already has the speed in biking and running, these are things that you will definitely be doing in all your races at some point, no matter the distance.  It's going to be the difference maker between you and the others who you are trying to beat.

There's lots of threads out there, but here's one if you like..

How much faster do aerobars make you?

Ok, so what is the answer to what "pulling the rope" is? :-)

Thanks Dave...good stuff.  I am already looking at renting a wetsuit for the Tempe race and I have a 20% discount with REI to use up before the end of March, aero bars here I come...

You are a great resource Dave, thanks for putting the time in to do this mentor program...you have to let me know if you ever buzz by Chicago...just make sure diet is NOT a factor if and when you do...you CANNOT come to Chicago on a diet...I will keep you posted on the way here...

Caffeine is awesome, there's no doubt about that.  However, let me be the first to insert a word of caution from the "I've been there and totally screwed it up" camp.  Before you order your pre-race double espresso, make sure your body is used to that amount of caffeine at that time of day, in that situation.  Isn't that the number one rule, train like you plan to race?  

Here's my story.  The night before Rock 'n Roll Arizona I was at the grocery store getting Gatorade and saw these new awesome looking mocha java rockstar energy drink things.  I started thinking of how early I'd be up etc, and thought that sounded like a great idea.  So, race morning I had this drink that I'd never had before in my life -- loaded with caffeine.  Now, I'm used to a coke in the afternoon, and I was used to drinking the Gatorade Propels with caffeine before the rest of the world decided they weren't cool and they stopped making them.  I should have stocked up.  Anyway, race morning I drink my enormous delicious mocha rockstar drink.  I made full use of the porta-potties and felt great.  Around mile 10 I took my first gel, and it contained caffeine as well.  Apparently it was just too much to handle for me and it pushed my GI system over the edge.  My stomach felt terrible.  I saw my family around 16 and told them to call Josh to let him know I'd be arriving at the finish line behind schedule.  I tried stopping at a porta potty to no avail.  I walked a lot between 16 and 24, because running (shuffling) just made it worse.  Not to be too graphic, but there's nothing quite like the feeling that you may poo all over yourself at anytime.  I ended up coming in about 40 minutes behind my expected time. 

Anyway, the moral of the story is that caffeine can be great; I am a huge proponent, but make sure you practice with it to know what you're in for on race day...

The answer is essentially yes, you're right.  It's a visualization to create high elbows and pull yourself through the water, not push the water out of your way.  My original reply went to your March 22 log.  

Yeah!  Way to go!  Seems like everyone around here does Baltimore at some point. :-)  I am already booked to do Baltimore as well.  Pace group yet to be worked out.  Gotta watch out for those hills at miles 16-20.  They claim to take out a hill just about every year, so I can't imagine what it must've been like in the early days. :-)  At least the early hill is not noticed as well because you are still in the rush of the crowd.

Is J doing it again too?

Yup.  It'll be my 4th year in a row doing B'more, and I ran the Frederick full in '07.  

Since we were discussing wetsuits the other day, I decided to share my first experience.  Yesterday we did our first wetsuit swim.  It was in the pool.  J got his on fairly easily, mine was more work and drew jokes, stares, and laughs from everyone in the vicinity, including our swim coach. 

Once we got them on, J had a great swim.  He's a "sinker" so by putting on the wetsuit, he shaved 8 seconds/100 yds off his last long swim since the added bouyancy "fixed" his position in the water. 

I now know I didn't have mine on just right, which seemed to throw stuff off and caused some significant shoulder pain/tension.  After 30 laps (yes, I am stubborn and dumb) I stopped to pull at the sleeve a little and things instantly got better.  I went from lap times in the range of 1:06-1:08 to times more like 1:02-1:05.  If you look at my logs and count 30 laps, you can see pretty drastically where I got better. 

The moral of this story is that the wetsuit does almost feel like cheating because you are so bouyant; however, take the time to make sure it is on right and comfortable!  It can make a huge difference. 

Don't worry, I made up for my disappointing swim by having my best "weis run" EVER.  :-)

Oh Obe Won,

OK, I maintained motivation long enough to get out after work for the proposed 60 min bike, 30 min run. One Fiber One Cereal Bar, one banana, one pear, water; 15.7 mile bike ride, 1:01:26, averaging 15.3 mph; 6:36 T2; Gatoraid on 3.5 mile run in 30 mins, 8:29 pace.

I find I run kind of fast off the bike since I am all worked up and breathing hard already.

I am learning that just like running, duh, the beginning of the bike sucks until you get worked out, just like it can take 2-4 miles running sometimes. More time on the bike does make it more familiar and comfortable. I have not looked at mounting aero bars yet.

I was wondering how long it would take for Roger to sign up for a BT account and post something. I thought you were going to swim tonight?

I was thinking about running off the bike tonight as well, and how we tend to run too fast off the bike.  Part of the problem is that the ground is moving so much slower, so it feels like we are running really really slow.  Then come to find out you are running faster than you should.  That's a good thing to remember for the new folks.  You don't want to start the run too fast or it could blow the rest of your run.

That's a pretty good workout for a guy who hasn't stuck to the training plan.

Excellent post, and good job getting that workout in.  Yes it can be easy to put it on and not get enough room up in your shoulders.  Make sure you get enough slack up there for the shoulders to not feel constricted.

Also, there are a couple of tips for putting on your wetsuit.  As much as you want to, don't pull at it with your fingers.  It is easy to put finger-looking tears or dimples into the wetsuit when you do that.  It is much better to sort of take your hands, flat, and push the wetsuit in waves onto your body.  It's pretty hard to do but it's the best way.  I still give up sometimes and sort of pull on it but just be careful.

Also, when putting the legs on, it's much easier to get your legs and feet through if you put a plastic bag over your feet first.  Body Glide and Pam work as well.

Lastly, when I mention going the cheap route by looking for deals on wetsuits at REI and Costco, those are not usually going to be triathlon wetsuits.  Make sure that whatever you get, can be used for swimming.  There's a lot of wetsuits out there that are made for different uses, and some of them may not include swimming.  Ideally, you'd get a triathlon wetsuit, which would be a bit more expensive, but there are deals out there.  Triathlon wetsuits are getting pretty specific these days, and even include things such as extra thickness in certain areas just so that your body is positioned advantageously for the swim.

Ugh, I know there's more posts that I haven't answered yet but I think it's time to call it a day. :-)

Hi Roger.  Nice job on the brick yesterday.  Our group had dwindled a bit, so it's nice that you can join us.  I'll admit at first I had the "who is this random person making their first post ever in this thread" thought, but decided I'd be nice anyway.  Come to find out, it was you!  Welcome.

Yeah that was my first reaction too, then decided it might be Roger and then I studied the content and it was classic Roger-isms.

For those who haven't met Roger, I'll include a bio since that is a rule that he ignored. :-)

Roger is married, around 46, living in Maryland, right around Steve.  He's done 8 marathons I believe.  Started out at 5:02 and has PRed every marathon, most recently finishing 3:56 at Disney.  He lived in Hawaii for 7 years, and at that time did a couple of mini-sprints, but other than that, is not really a triathlete yet.  Until this year, as he is signed up for Columbia and Eagleman.

Roger and his family are the ones that got me into this sport.  We thought it might be fun to do the "Great Aloha Run" 8.15 mile running race in 2002-3, and once we did it, I was hooked.  it just escalated from there.

His whole family are into races.  His daughter and son are also signed up for Columbia, and the son Eagleman as well.  The wife did an olympic distance in Hawaii once and swore never to do another triathlon. :-)

Got a mile swim in this evening. I mixed it up from my usual 2000 meters just to get the distance in.  Now that I am comfortable with the 1.2 mile looming on the horizon, I am trying to improve speed through style.

I did the first 800 meters in 100 meter 1:42 intervals, and closed with a more relaxed 800 meters at 2:08/100 meter. I focused on reaching for the wall, look DOWN, almost back, and rotating.

TI swimming is a GREAT book, I have to assume Dave has mentioned it here.

Haha, yes, that is the classic answer.  Fit is such a difference, that is going to be your best bet there.  Both will be good bikes.  I have a Specialized myself.

I haven't put much effort into the research, but the Specialized Dolce reviews look great. Trek 1.2 reviews look great too.

But go by fit.

Ok...so, I am beginning to feel that eating and sleeping have now become the hardest parts of my training.  The appetite is actually not that bad, there are just times where I cannot believe that I am ready to eat again so soon, but I am monitoring the calories in and out fairly well.

 My sleeping patterns lately have been a bit erratic.  I am getting about 8-10 on the weekends and on th weekdays, I go every other day witha  full night sleep.  WHat has been happening to me more often, is I fall asleep for about 2-3 hours, I get up feeling that I have slept at least 5-6, only to realize that I haev not.  Its a sucker punch.

I am getting a bit nervous now before my workouts being almost 2 weeks away from Petersburg...its exciting, I do feel that I ma getting enough rest, I rest as much as Ican, but the sleep patterns...I am atributing it a bit to the gels, suppplments, maybe just the workouts...

 I am dealing with it ok, I think, this is all just unchartered territory...I did pick rp the aero bars, I have not installed them yet.  I am glad to see everyone doing well out there...stay healthy...