enginerd's geek heaven - FULL (Page 18)

RR is up, not that I stayed up way too late writing it lastnight or anything....

I didn't see any obvious crashes related to the rain, most folks were being pretty conservative on the corners.  They may have had as many as 300 who DNF due to hypothermia or close to it though.  I was working hard enough that the rain didn't affect my core temp at all.  My average heart rate was like 147 or some such, so I was burning enough energy to keep warm.  I definately see that if you were pacing yourself slower that you could start getting a chill.  It would have been nice if the announcer that talked on and on about stuff for the 2 hours prior to the race start had mentioned that there was rain about 20 miles out that looked like it would probably hit folks on the bike and run, so dress accordingly, but no such luck.     

Also, I took in 1400 calories plus the gu 15 min before the swim start, so 1500 calories total for the race.  This is almost double what I took in on my first HIM and allowed me to finish strong.  The first HIM, not so much, ended up bonking and walking the last mile.  So, just keep in mind that you need to really nail that nutrition to finish off the HIM.  Some folks did not alter their fluid intake to reflect the cold and ended up going to the bathroom 4+ times, because their bodies did not need that much water.  We did not sweat, at all during the race.  Personally I took in only 60 ish ounces of fluids during the entire race and was fine.  For the Las Vegas HIM I took in 200 oz of fluids and was dehydrated somewhat.  Just something to keep in mind.    

I guess the take away message is that if the temp is cool enough (mid 60's to mid 70's) and there is a decent chance of rain, consider wearing a waterproof jersey on the bike, you won't lose a ton of time if it does not rain, but you will be snuggly warm the entire ride if it does rain.  And ya watch those corners in the wet stuff.  

Ok so after ejecting that nutrition bottle last race I got one of those 2 chamber podium waterbottles/aero bottle things.  I liked it, but I have some pretty nasty bumpy roads out here and the straw would either jack me in the lip or pull out of my mouth on bumps.  The fix is to put one of those camelback big bite valves on the end of the tube ($5) and vuala, nice soft flexible end that doesn't hurt you and also keeps water from splashing out the straw etc.  I would really recommend giving it a try if you have an aero bottle.  Also there are lids that don't have the yellow poofy thing that work way better and don't splash at all on anything short of really bumpy railroad track kind of roads.  Now to learn how to fill them on the go. 

Apologies for the belated congratulations to Steve and Donato for your inspiring results!

Good luck to Jules and Kyla on your races. Looking forward to hearing about them when you return.

Well, there's great news and there's rotten news for me....
Starting with great...School is finally done for the year! Yippeeee! (And kids always think they are the only ones who count down the days ) Tons of time to relax and train.

Rotten news...not much training in the form of running, it is official and I have a stress fracture. The doc said it was fairly significant as it was the full circumference of the bone. 6-12 wks of healing so I am halfway there. sigh...definitely frustrating as the weather is finally better, and I now have lots of time. I have been trying to up my calcium intake and I am signed up for a bone density test too since osteoporosis does run in my family and the doctor said that there is some cause for concern as this is my second stress fracture and yet I have been doing weight-bearing activities all my life. Hopefully the results will be fine and an extra glass of milk a day will do the trick.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend ahead!
Happy Father's Day for the dad's out there!

First off, ya get the bungie laces for like $3-5 at a running store, you don't need to tie your shoes after the bike is too hard and takes time. 

You don't want to swim and then bike and run in your bike shorts.  I would spring for a pair of tri shorts.  If you don't have any cash for tri shorts I might where your jammers to swim in, put on bike shorts over those and drop the bike shorts for the run and run in your jammers.  Running with wet bike shorts is like running with a wet diaper.  It should only take you 5-10 seconds to put your bike shorts on over your swimsuit and take them off again.  I would try the bike that way just to be sure you don't get any unusual rubbing.  Tri shorts should run you $25 to $45.

Swim to bike bricks are not so important, only practicing the transition part.  The bike to run brick is your main issue, because your but and legs go dead when you go from bike to run and you need to get your body used to that transition. 

Hope that was clear.  You are going to do fine.