We Don't Just Tri - We Do Group - Closed (Page 19)

Originally posted by Armandova

Hello everyone,

I am finally home. It was a long, long road to the finish line and crossing it felt great. I pretty much stuck to my plan with one notable exception which cost me a lot of time on the run. The weather was hot and humid. These are some of the details:

Swim - The plan was to use the wetsuit regardless of whether it was legal or optional. My goal was to spend as little energy as possible. On race morning, the temp crossed the 76.1 so it was wetsuit optional. There was no penalty for using it but we did have to start 10 minutes after the mass start. This was actually another plus for me because it never felt chaotic. I felt relaxed, never pushed the paced, did a lot of sighting to stay on track and to avoid other athletes. The buoyancy of the suit was huge for me.

T1 - I think it went relatively quick. I spent what it seemed like an eternity putting on my arm compression sleeves. I made sure the volunteers put a ton of sunscreen before I took off.

Bike - It was hot. Goal was to stay in HR zones 2-3 (regardless of speed) and to avoid zones 4-5. Within the first 10 miles, I was to be well on my way with nutrition and hydration. I had 20 oz of gatorade on my aero bottle up front, another 20oz on by rear rack and 1 18 oz of Hammer Perpetuem on the down tube cage to last me 3 hours. On the second rear cage, I had an empty bottle with more Perpetuem to be mixed around mid-way point. I wanted to consume the 2 gatorade bottles within the hour and then replenish with water and drop a CamelBack Elixir tablet to add electrolytes each time I refilled - Just the way I had done it during training. Problem was that I left the tablets at home and although I picked up some GU tables, I chose to take in Ironman Perform. I took a bottle at each aid station and grabbed 2 water bottles as well - 1 for drinking and one to cool me down. It all worked great, or so I thought. Speed wise, I was doing better than I thought I would. I will attribute this to the wheel cover I put on the rear wheel, the aero helmet I picked up and the fact that it was flatter than my training routes here at home. A lot of people passed me on the first 20 miles or so but on the second half, it seemed like I was passing many more. In any case, the issue with the Ironman Perform drink is that it has 200 calories per bottle. I don't know how many I drank but it was a lot. I started to burp and feel bloated towards the end of the ride. I finished strong and the concentration on fluid intake paid off. There were many, many athletes being attended to on the later aid stations. I has happy to not have felt thirsty at all. Oh, I should also mention that I did not turn in a bike special needs bag. Everything I thought I needed I carried with me, same as during training.

T2 - off the bike and straight into the porta-potty. Terrible burping, boated and sour taste. changed socks, put on vaseline, sunscreen, grabbed hat and took off.

Run - Goal was to do 9:30 miles. I know that off the bike, I have a hard time, keeping the cadence down and as a result, tent to go faster than I should. Not this time. The bloating kept me from getting my running legs. Not much to say here other that it was HOT, walked a lot and completely thrashed the run leg which was to be my strongest. On the plus side, I learned a ton, I think my overall time was OK given the conditions, I stayed hydrated and more importantly, I crossed the finish line, under my own power and without drama. It was a great experience.

Thank you all for your words of encouragement along the way.

Armando

Originally posted by Mountaindan

Fantastic race Armondo!

Now for the real question???? Will you do another?

Originally posted by Armandova



Absolutely. New goal will be to beat my time. I will just wait a while before I share the idea with my wife

Originally posted by Mountaindan

Congrats Armondo! looks like you had an awesome race, I heard the heat was pretty bad. I guy in our tri group threw in the towel at mile 80 of the bike, of course he did 3 last year!
Can't wait to see the race report and hear your thoughts!

Great job Bull, way to stick it out, nothing worse than a mouth full of salt water to start your day. What kind of bike do you have? maybe a bike fit would help if you haven't had one yet. If you do get a new bike make sure you get a fit first. I believe that since i never got a fit it contributed to my back problem that required surgery.

Ran the Harpoon 5 miler in Boston yesterday, great race and lots of good beer after! I just wish i could find a way to get faster? 8:38 pace, i feel like I'm working hard, but not going anywhere? Oh well still had fun and I wasn't last by any means!

First swim since last fall tonight, felt pretty good, did 3/4 miles, water was nice at 63 deg. perfect for my sleeveless wetsuit, which is good since the ocean here never gets much warmer.

Originally posted by Bluewrx

I know I haven't been on here very much. I've been super busy with work and family stuff. I have my very first Tri next weekend. Nothing big its 500m swim in a pool, 12 mi bike and 5k run. They call it the Tune Up Triathlon. The pool part is a little weird, they have four swimmers per lane that are supposed to be about the same speed. I'm really slow on the swim so I expect a later start time.

I'm a little nervous but looking forward to it!

Originally posted by Bull

How did it go?

Originally posted by Mountaindan



Have fun and make sure that you give us an update and remember nobody wins on the swim leg.

Originally posted by tukutuku

Great job Bluewrx! Congratulations on finishing your first triathlon! I wish you many tri's in the future. The swim looks really weird: How did you start swim 4 in one lane? All together or one after another? How did you avoid collision with swimmer going in opposite direction?
What are your other races this season?

Originally posted by tukutuku

..... Armando, your racing schedule is really crammed. Pardon my ignorant asking, but why race every other week?