kaburns1214 and UHCoog's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 17)

I know.  I own one.  I just don't feel as if it's necessary (for me!) for a 2100 yard swim.  It may help (me!) over the course of 4200 yards.  This would just be my personal choice, but I understand why others might chose to wear one for HIM distance.  I'm ok doing the 2100 yards in a bathing suit.  Heck, the local sprint I do every year is 500 yards.  Some people wear a wetsuit for that.  Because it's only 500 yards and it's the middle of July, which means it's close to 100 degrees here, I go in a trisuit/bathing suit only (non-USAT race so wetsuit legal).  It's just a matter of comfort and speed gains.    

The races in the first and last month of the season here are the only ones that are going to be wetsuit legal so there is a proliferation of speed suits.  Most wear them for sprints here.  Every second counts.  Honestly if I didn't have a team kit I'd probably buy one of the products that is like a speed suit with a pad, I believe DeSoto and PI make some, for local olys and sprints.

Yes, I agree, every second counts, particularly if you're chasing Kona or World's.  I'm not chasing either of those races, so in my case I want to keep things as simple as possible.  I have even regretted the purchase of my triathlon bike because I could have easily done IMMT on my roadie.  I don't want any more gadgets or gizmos or suits in my triathlon bag.  Swimming is the one thing that comes even somewhat easily and naturally to me, and I like the simplicity of swimming in my suit.  My statement was only a reflection of that and not a judgment on wearing a swim skin.  I think sometimes my tone doesn't come across very well on the net.  I'm sorry for that!!!!      

1. Have you been fit on your bike?  (we may have covered this already)  It says to me the weight distribution is poor.  Or perhaps you're lacking bike fitness, but looking at your logs I don't think this is the issue.

2. On rides that aren't races I say eat whatever you're comfortable with.  I would suggest starting out with some sort of cals in your bottle instead of just water and NUUN, but that's just me.

3. Race nutrition is a whole other animal all together.  You eat on the go.  You don't stop at the aid stations.  You toss the trash coming in on a roll, grab a bottle of whatever while rolling, and continue on.  Whatever you want to eat needs to be able to be take with you out of T1.  This is why gels, while not natural, are perfect for racing.  They are small and enough can be stashed on your bike/person that you can fuel yourself for a race.  I keep a Cliff bar and 4 gels in my bento box for HIMs.

There are aid stations off to the right of the road.  There will be plenty of signage that one is coming up.  Pitch whatever empties you have as you approach (I like to put a throw away bottle ie one that needs to be thrown out at home anyway or a disposable one on the rig to start), call out what you want, and then grab it as you're rolling.  Just make sure you slow down enough to make it happen.  My first HIM I tried it at 20 mph and it bounced right out of my hand. 

Practice wise just have someone stand on the curb holding a water bottle out away from their body.  You just roll through and try to grab it on the go.

The water is pretty cool at Pumpkinman.  Wear the wetsuit, no question. 

Wetsuits are so awesome.  You can just hold still in the water and feel your legs wanting to float up to the surface. 

enders_shadow - 2013-05-13 10:07 AM

uhcoog - 2013-05-13 9:41 AM

enders_shadow - 2013-05-13 8:22 AM I've never been professionally fitted on my roadie. I've ridden her for 7 years no issue (although never longer than 62 miles). My TT (that I will race on ) is fitted...but so far I've only gotten her up to 35 miles. Explain to me how the grabbing water thing goes - and how would I go about practicing this before the race? (I'm a klutz...I need to have this be as simple and idiot-proof as possible.)

 

There are aid stations off to the right of the road.  There will be plenty of signage that one is coming up.  Pitch whatever empties you have as you approach (I like to put a throw away bottle ie one that needs to be thrown out at home anyway or a disposable one on the rig to start), call out what you want, and then grab it as you're rolling.  Just make sure you slow down enough to make it happen.  My first HIM I tried it at 20 mph and it bounced right out of my hand. 

Practice wise just have someone stand on the curb holding a water bottle out away from their body.  You just roll through and try to grab it on the go.

OK - so they're passing water at 15, 30, and 44 miles. No other beverage choice until the run. If I'm supposed to avoid plain water (I think y'all said that in this thread), what do I do? (Other than chomping nuun tablets and washing down with water, as someone suggested...). Sorry for the stupid questions. As I knock somethings off my list (e.g., I know I can ride 56), other stupid questions arise.

That sounds like the most horrible thing in the world.

With only water being distributed on course I would make up a super concentrated bottle of sports drink and supplement that with water.  So if I normally put three scoops of sports drink into a 24 oz bottle, I would put 9 - 12 scoops instead and would look to drink the entire sports drink bottle plus 3 full bottles of water over the course of the bike.  Essentially every ten minutes or so I owuld take a small sip of the concentrated bottle and 2-3 sips of water.

Dive suits are generally not flexible enough in the arms to be able to swim well.  Although the 3 mil suit may be flexible enough as the neoprene is pretty thin.  The 7 mil suit is actually illegal per USAT (neoprene can be no thicker than 5 mm in a wetsuit).

Yeah, I figured the flexibility wouldn't be there as diving pretty much doesn't use the upper body at all.  Luckily I just found a tri shop across the parking lot from my gym and they have a few wetsuits available.  Ugh, more $$$ out the door.   On the bright side I already have the closet dedicated to neoprene, so at least there's that.

Congrats, Kristen!  It sounds like you did really well.  I know that post-ride beer tasted awesome!  You totally earned it.

To your first question, even when I'm riding a lot, I occasionally have lower back pain like you described when I get away from doing core-strengthing exercises.  Doing those, though, solves the problem.  For me, the ones that focus on the lower back, as opposed to the stomach, are the most helpful (big surprise).  I do one where I do a yoga bridge pose as the base position, and then alternate sticking each leg out straight for 10 seconds.  Right leg out for 10 sec, then left leg out for 10 sec is one; do 10 reps.  The other one is to do essentially the same exercise, but with my shoulders and neck on a stability ball instead of the floor. 

One other thing that helps that is to shift your position every once in awhile on the bike, even standing up sometimes. 

Yup that's the one.  They seem really nice, so I'm quite glad I found them.  Didn't know about the rental option, I'll definitely going to look into that before buying.

Congrats on your century, Kristen!

Kelly, thanks for the info about trying to train through my injury. 

Today is a scheduled off day for me, but I've been off the last three days resting my foot.  I'm going to attempt a bike ride this afternoon.  Whether or not it happens and how hard I go will depend on how my foot is feeling once I get clipped in.

kidtri33 - 2013-05-13 11:31 AM Sorry I have been missing for a few days. A lot going on. I got to meet Michele and her family on Sunday which was cool. Friday was a long day. A very close friend of ours lost their baby two days before the schedule induce date. The funeral/memorial and gathering was on Friday. We have been comforting and helping with them the whole last week. They are very positive and spiritual people that we look up to and it has been rough needless to say. On top of that this weekend has seen the 24hr stomach bug that is going around here ravish our family, including me now. Ugh I don't like being sick. Mother's Day was good and a late Happy Mother's Day to all you moms on here. First race is Sunday though! Just need to heal up and focus on the recovery week. Then it is time to focus on REV3 in June. I will catch up on all the post here. So if I bring back up a subject I apologize now

Man sorry to hear about your week Larkin. And am so very to sorry to hear about your friends' loss. Hang in, rest up, am sending some good mojo to you and yours.

ccmpsyd - 2013-05-13 2:49 PM

kidtri33 - 2013-05-13 11:31 AM Sorry I have been missing for a few days. A lot going on. I got to meet Michele and her family on Sunday which was cool. Friday was a long day. A very close friend of ours lost their baby two days before the schedule induce date. The funeral/memorial and gathering was on Friday. We have been comforting and helping with them the whole last week. They are very positive and spiritual people that we look up to and it has been rough needless to say. On top of that this weekend has seen the 24hr stomach bug that is going around here ravish our family, including me now. Ugh I don't like being sick. Mother's Day was good and a late Happy Mother's Day to all you moms on here. First race is Sunday though! Just need to heal up and focus on the recovery week. Then it is time to focus on REV3 in June. I will catch up on all the post here. So if I bring back up a subject I apologize now

Man sorry to hear about your week Larkin. And am so very to sorry to hear about your friends' loss. Hang in, rest up, am sending some good mojo to you and yours.

x2.  We had a miscarriage with our first kid.  I can't imagine being that close to the birth and losing one.  So sad.

Just be careful.  You are far enough out from IMFL that a week off or a few easy weeks right now wont make or break your race but a festering injury that rears up big time in August-September-October could end up being a deal breaker.  Its always better to deal with things early on.