GrooveTime!group - CLOSED!!! (Page 164)

GANG --

Speaking of reports, mine will likely appear tomorrow. I got back about 12:45am, and have been catching up on stuff around here this morning; thta will continue through the day, which is a holiday up here. It's Victoria Day, which means Lynn is home, which means she has a few atsks for me to do. So, no time for a full report yet!

The quick of it is that I won my age group -- sort of. What that means is that the guy who actually won it (beat me by just three seconds, which is a story in itself) was awarded the more prestigious Grand Masters title, and because there is no "double-dipping" of awards, I bumped up to first. So, I'm there "officially" as 1/21 in the M60-64......but it's really 2/22. I guess I'll take it, however.

As Anne pointed out, there was a big gap between me and the next guy, and I guess that's a good thing. I was thrilled with my bike and run, riding 19.9mph and running 7:36/mile on a very tough, hilly course. My swim was mediocre at best, but no surprises there. More details in the full report to follow!

TRACEY -

A most excellent attempt at the OWS, and I'm sure you'll be fine in another try or two.

The annals of beginning triathletes are full of accounts just like yours, so you are in very good company. The murkiness, combined with the absence of the black line, initially discombobulate many, many people. And in your case, you had the further factor of saltiness, which is, uh, an acquired taste!

As for the suit and its effect on you, well, now you know what to expect! The buoyancy is definitely there, and now you just have to work to harness it and have it work for you; that WILL come in time! You're right about making it harder for yourself in keeping your head up, and when you get more comfortable doing regular freestyle in it, try a few strokes of breaststroke -- that is REALLY weird! But what you'll realize then is that any movement that brings the head and shoulders too high tends to knock everything out of whack, and so staying as low as you can go will be very beneficial.

The T.I. advice about "pressing the buoy" and "swimming downhill" will work well in a wetsuit, but to do that effectively you have to get into your regular breathing mechanics -- turning your head rather than lifting it. But be patient with yourself, as a wetsuit is not exactly natural. You will nail this very soon!

Does your suit have six-panel arms? Because Tyr was a sponsor of Columbia, the announcer yesterday morning was filling some "dead" time with plugs for the sponsors, and he mentioned that as a feature of Tyr wetsuits. And, was your body nice and toasty in it?

GO CELTICS!!!!!!

Most definitely!  Congrats to all on a great weekend! 

great to hear Kasia

congrats on your strong performance

Mark

Edited by TriD64 2010-05-24 11:57 AM

SteveB
Congrats and great job on your race - 13 minutes ahead for 1st, that is DOMINATION!
Mark

Tracey

Awesome job sticking with this and putting your mind back in control. That is a major accomplishment.

Mark

Denise
Congrats on your race yesterday. You were definitely not last: 137/149. It was great to get to meet you. Sorry I wasn't able to find you after the race to visit a little more, we had to hit the road to make it back for graduations.

Everyone, Denise did GREAT. It was a WINDY, HUMID day, and in these conditions she gave a strong performance.
Mark

MARK -

And what about YOU??

Were you bib #22? Does your last name have a handful of the letter "d" in it? If so, you had a great race, it seems to me!

Details when you're ready!

Race Report
Land Between the Lakes Sprint Tri

I have mixed feelings about my race yesterday, but overall good. The conditions were windy & quite humid. Water temp was 66 degrees - so really pretty comfortable. They adjusted the distances again this year, so the course was: 440y swim, 21 mi. bike, 3.5 mi run, same as last year, so I can complare aples to apples.

First off - it was GREAT to finally race, I had a blast overall.

On the down side, my time was 1:45:35, which was slower than my time last year which was 1:43:19. This a a bit misleaading because my times for the S/B/R were 3:28 slower this year than last, but I made up the difference with faster transition times. My swim time was 0:45 slower, even though I thought I sighted better this year. I do know I stayed wide, to avoid the masses (did that last year too, but we had a lot more competetors this year),so that might have been the difference. I felt like I killed the bike! Even though my time was 0:35 slower, the wind was stiff (with gusts up to 26 mph, and a steady wind wind speed above 15 mph I would guess) both as a cross wind and headwind, much stronger than last year. I was most disappointed with my run time, where I was 1:19 slower than last year. I see 2 things contributing most to this: 1) I really do best when I have a 'rabbit' in front of me to chase. This wasn't the case yesterday, I passed a couple guys and was pretty much all alone until the last .75 mile when I caught and passed one more person. 2) This was a tune-up rce and I treated it as such. Last year I focused on this race and didn't have another for 6-7 weeks.

I feel the results give me a good measuring stick for my A race coming up on 6/20, which is what should come out of this race. I need to continue to work on swim efficiency & endurance, maintian my bike endurance & power, and work on running endurance & speed.

An added bonus, and quite a surprise, was the race results list me as 3/9 in my AG. Unfortunately, I left early because we needed to get back home for graduations later that afternoon (though if I thought I had a chance of placing I could have stayed). I'll take it, but this is more a function of who was (or more accurately, wasn't) in my AG this year. There are 2 awesome racers who aged into the 50-54 AG this year.

Mark

Edited by TriD64 2010-05-24 1:05 PM

DENISE -

How are you doing? Don't tell me -- you're still trying to get off your wetsuit! (Use the Jaws of Life as a last resort! )

How was it, overall? Mark's comment is right -- you were a long way from your much-feared "caboose" finish!

Congrats, even before you post a detailed (ahem.....) report!

That's me - nickname 3D

Thanks all for the support! Below is the race report. I'll try to keep it as short as possible, but I'm also writing this for me, so it's a bit long-winded. Sorry

Overall, the race went well and I'm very happy with my result. It was the perfect sized race for a first tri, and since it's one of the first outdoor ones of the season, there were a lot of newbies in the crowd. They said we had 88 first-timers (they even had a division for us) out of a field of 400.

I woke up super early to get there early like you all suggested, and it was definitely the right call. My roommate Maggie and I drove down there with enough time to leisurely get marked, pick up our timing chips, set up transition, walk around, and get ready for the start. No pressure or rushing at all.

I had been really anxious all morning and got even more anxious when we got to the race and saw the reservoir with the buoys set up. It seemed so long! But milling around and hearing others talk about this being their first tri put me a bit at ease. Everyone was so nice. There were two ladies and a guy in the bike rack next to mine and they were saying how one of the ladies had taken the guy's wife's credit card and signed him up for the race without him even knowing. The guy chimed in, "And my wife's not even here." In short, everyone was so nice and supportive, which definitely helped.

Warmup
Warmup consisted of getting in the water to feel out the temp. O. M. G. 61 degrees is COLD. My body felt fine in the full wetsuit, a bit chilly, but fine. That wasn't the problem. As soon as I put my face in the water I got an immediate brain freeze. I tried a few more times to see if more exposure would help, but it was just as horrible each time around. I didn't think I could last the 15-20 minutes it would take me to swim the half mile and I started to get worried. But there was no backing out and there was really nothing I could do about it (besides suck it up), so I tried to get my mind off that while waiting for our wave to start.

We (being Maggie and I) were in the 4th wave, so we hung out a bit watching the pros kick butt. A few of the elites were out of the water before Wave 3 had even started. Wow!

Swim:  19:23
Not too bad, actually, once my face got used to the freezing cold of course. 750 m feels a lot farther when you don't get to stop at the end of the lane after every drill. Haha! My time was a bit slower than I wanted, but I put everything I had into it. My arms felt super heavy in the wetsuit (I definitely had this feeling when I swam in a SCUBA suit for a fitness test a couple years ago, so maybe I just don't like sleeved wetsuits...or I need to strengthen my arms) so I alternated between freestyle and breaststroke. It seemed to work and was an easy way to spot and not go off course.

I essentially sprinted the last 100 yards or so in an effort to keep up with this lady in front of me, which was a bad call. See T1.

T1:  2:38
I was as efficient as I could be considering the severe light-headedness I felt as soon as I got out of the water. I thought I was going to fall over within the first few steps, so I had to catch my bearings a bit.

In transition, I had to hold onto the rack so I wouldn't fall over while taking off the wetsuit and putting on my shirt and shoes. Again, I severely questioned my ability to complete the next stage of this tri. Seemed to be a pattern throughout this race.

I slowed down a bit to buy myself some time, had some water, and went along as soon as I felt ready to stay upright without assistance.

Bike: 41:40
AMAZING! I didn't think I'd like the loop idea since I like seeing new things the whole ride, but it was really great, actually. I'm a convert.

The course was completely closed to traffic and consisted of three loops of 4 miles each, so even though some crazy fast riders were already coming in when I was just headed out, there was still a nice overlap of faster waves with me. It was actually fun to be passed by the super duper fast tri bike people and see them in action. It made it feel like we were doing the same race, instead of just seeing them at the start and then at the finish, and nothing in between.

One of the guys I paced myself with was in an earlier wave and the only reason I could keep up with him was because of his clunker bike. He had these rainbow-colored board shorts and the squeekiest mountain bike I've heard in a while. So it was easy to hear him coming and turn up the pace so he wouldn't pass. I can only imagine how fast he would've been had he had better equipment!

I pushed myself more consistently than I've pushed before and ended up with the best bike split I've ever had. My legs felt great at the end. Tired, but great. At the beginning of the first loop I remember looking down at my bike computer and thinking, "Wow, I've only gone 1.5 miles? This is going to be LONG." But by the end of the last lap, I was bummed that the bike was already over. It was just super fun to actually be racing people and passing each other back and forth. Towards the end, a lady pulled up to me while passing me and we chatted a bit and then she went on her way. I'd passed her in the very very beginning and told myself that there is no way I'm finishing behind her. I didn't see her again til the very end when she passed me and then we ended up keeping the same pace. So mission accomplished, kinda. I probably could've passed her again, but I was saving my legs for the run, which was a waste since there was no hope for me there.

T2: 1:38
Nothing special. Walked through most of transition, got my running shoes on, and took some water. I think I may've even put on sunscreen, but I'm not sure. That could've been T1.

Run: 42:13
Oy. I died. I knew I was in horrible running shape so I was hoping for a 12 minute mile or so, alternating between jogging and running. I stuck with part of the plan in that I walked and jogged, but I think I did about half and half. I got passed by EVERYBODY and didn't pass a single person. So frustrating. And everyone was like, "Keep it up, you're almost there," as they ran by. That just pissed me off even more and made me feel like they were pity-partying me, which was totally not the case. That was just in my head. Those same statements during the bike put a smile on my face and made me pick up my pace, but during the run I just scowled and cursed under my breath.

Maggie, my roommate, caught up to me right before mile 1 and we ended up walk/jogging the rest of the run course together. I felt bad that I was slowing her down and kept telling her to go ahead, but she wanted to do this tri together (and so did I, actually) so we pushed each other to go a bit harder. I think it would've been even more frustrating had she not been there, so everything worked out really well in that respect.

Post-race/Cool-down:
Didn't really do a cool-down, but I stretched a bit. I tried to eat some of the post-race food, but my stomach just wasn't feeling it so I stuck with a protein drink and a liquid diet. We hung out a bit for awards and then headed home to chill in the backyard on a beautiful day.


Official time: 1:47:30
Overall: 338/350
Females: 140/147
AG: 30/30


In short, great race and we lucked out with the conditions. Saturday was crazy windy and today is just as bad. Yesterday was the only calm day we've had in a few days.

Next step is to add another run day in for a total of three a week (and stick to them!) so I can survive 6 miles for the Lake to Lake Oly in five weeks, and push myself harder in the swim intervals, since I definitely need to get that endurance up as well. Bike training can stay the same, since I don't really want to add too much in the coming weeks.

Here's the link to the results: http://www.myentryfee.com/results/RaceList.aspx

My full first name is Katarzyna, Bib 613.

My roommate Maggie finished 1 sec ahead of me only because she thought I'd sprint to the finish with her. My legs were shot and I didn't want to fall on my face at the finish line, so I played it safe and jogged in. She still feels kinda bad because that puts me last in the age group. It's hilarious since I don't care. I accomplished my goal of not being dead last overall, so that's good enough for me


Edited by augeremt 2010-05-24 3:40 PM

Denise, Mark, and SteveB,

Great racing yesterday! Seems like us Groovetimers kicked butt this weekend

Tracey,

Props to you for going back out there and trying again! I'm still terrified of swimming in the ocean, even though I grew up near one and it's one of my favorite things to do, so congrats for conquering those fears one step at a time. Good luck going out again today.

And nice-looking wetsuit!

Kasia

Steve,

Congrats on your FABULOUS FINISH!  The 1st thing I did when I got home yesterday was check your results.  Very fine.
That 13+ minute spread has got to feel good.  You put in the time and you reaped the benefits.
Denise

Mark,

When they called your name at the awards ceremony, and you weren't there to pick up your medal, I was really surprised.
Oh well, you have the knowledge that you placed.

Nice meeting you.  I really appreciated the support when I came in. 

You need to get a new pic up - the current one doesn't look at all like you - you're way more handsome.

Congrats on a very good race.
Denise

Mark again,

What race are you tuning up for and how soon is it?

Denise

Kasia,

My, what a name you have.

I enjoyed your race report - fun to read.

Glad you had fun - tris are a blast, aren't they.

Congrats on not coming in last - I see you beat some guys even - that's always fun - haha

Denise

Thanks everyone for all the support attempting my OWSs! I got out there again today and it went slightly better, but still not great. I could really tell that I was zig zagging. I seem to really favor the right and the course actually takes you straight and then to the left. So I'd swim to the right, then have to compensate by swimming toward the left. Unless I've got those buoys there to guide me, I think I'm hopeless! The good part is that I was able to maintain keeping my face in the water for most of the swim so I felt much more in control today. Something really gross-looking floated by my face at some point that really skeeved me out, which prompted a bout of hyperventilation and temporary fear of putting my face back in the water, but I recovered.

KASIA and MARK: Great race reports!

KASIA, I love the story about the guy with the squeaky old mountain bike. That's awesome. And I totally feel your pain about the people who encourage you on when you're crawling on the run! They mean so well and it's so nice of them, but it makes you feel a little pathetic sometimes, doesn't it? Sounds like you and your roommate had a great time.

MARK: Awesome job finishing 3rd in your age group! Too bad you couldn't stick around for the awards.

Thanks Steve. See my other post: got back out today but I still need some work in the open water for sure. And I've got to somehow do something about my tendency to swim to the right. It's a little discouraging to think that I've worked so hard since last fall to be able to swim 500m, and now working on my time, only to be thwarted by the open water environment! Maybe race day will be better with the buoys and guide boats and whatnot, plus the company of other newbie swimmers.

No idea about the 6-panel thing actually. I couldn't find anything about this on the tag or on the TYR web site. I assume this is a good thing? Yes, the suit is SUPER warm.

Ya, go Celts!! I'm rooting for Phoenix to win their series. I think a Boston/Phoenix matchup would be great.

Land of Lakes race report:

I did not have a good day.  This was the hardest tri I've done.  I even thought of quitting after the bike leg but there were 3 people there I knew (thanks Mark) which makes it embarrassing to quit and I also want my 5+ jacket.

Swim:  I made the same mistake I made at my 1st tri last year.  I took off and didn't sight until i was severely off course.  I'm sure people on shore were saying "Why is she swimming in that direction".  I think I was trying to show off my improved speed with the wetsuit.  The good thing is that, once I swam back on course, I stayed on course with good sighting the rest of the swim.  Funny note:  They announced people's names as they came out of the water.  When I got out, the announcer said "Denise Kaiser - working on a course record".  I thought he was being sarcastic or something.  Then I realized since they haven't
had a 60+ woman in their 6 or 7 years, that whatever I finished in would be an age group course record - haha
 
T1/T2 - terrible as usual - getting wetsuit off was bad but what I expected.

Bike:  The website says 19.8 miles of flat with some rolling hills.  Mark said in a previous post that it was all up and down but that didn't sink in until I drove the course the night before - there was not much flat.  They announced right before the race that it was actually 21 miles - I guess they did that last year too.  It was windy and hot.  To give you an idea of the wind issue, at the 7.5 mile mark, my speed average was 20.2 (obviously wind at back).  I finished with 14.9, so you can imagine how slow I was going the rest of the course. I can't drink while I ride, so I think dehydration was an issue.

Run:  I had to run/walk - I had no energy.  I only took a few gulps of gatorade before I took off and I don't think that was enough with the heat.  I almost cried when I made it in and Mark and 2 acquaintances from my area were shouting out my name

The problems I had were my fault and I need to correct them:
1.  Sight, sight, sight.
2.  If I'm going to do a 21 mile bike, I need to do more than 1 training ride greater than 20 miles.
3.  I need to learn how to hydrate on the bike (sometimes I can get by on a 13-15 miler but even then I think my performance suffers)
4.  I don't think I need to do anything different about my run even tho it was pretty bad in this race.  I think my slow time was due to the bad bike and dehydration .

I have 7 weeks to fix my problems,
Onward
Denise

lisa,

Another good reason for not moving:

So says this year's American Fitness Index report, published by the American College of Sports Medicine. It takes the biggest 50 metropolitan areas and ranks them by fitness levels. The top city on the list, now for three years running, is Washington, D.C. The least fit is Oklahoma City, Okla.

Denise

Edited by midlifeinsanity 2010-05-29 10:14 PM

LISA -

Still on the edge of my seat, waiting news on the Big Game the other day. Is it good news you have for us far-flung groupies of his team?

STEVEB,

I did hydrate alot - 3 bottles of water, and think I probably could  have used one more.   Internet is really acting up here at hotel - maybe you could check my log on the details of my bike ride.   I was really happy.   Ended up cycling 79km, and hopefully you will tell me we made the right decision about not biking again today.

Have lots of posts to make to the awesome racers once I get back home to a decent computer.