Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 19)

I have been staying pretty on top of it this week but as usual I will be heading out of town for four days this weekend...  Hopefully the hotel has a pool and if not I can at least get some good running in.  Hopefully San Antonio won't have oppressive humidity and heat this weekend, I know I am asking a bit much there.  Anyways on my last bike ride, about 26 miles, I think I felt a small twinge in my knee around the 22 mile mark and I am sincerely hoping that it winds up being nothing.  I might have to get my seat height adjusted as it feels lower than when I started riding and might be putting some stress on my knees.

Best of luck in your sprint Dennis and good to hear you are getting some good family time in BigT... now on to training!

Marcus

I think doing one of those would be fun.  I would do the 5k Zombie Race with obstacle course in a heartbeat if I lived near Maryland.

Marcus,

GL with the humidity...Highly doubtful you will get that in San Antonio between now and November.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.

Denver seems to have turned into Seattle, so we're having another couple days of straight rain (!).  I'm not complaining because we need the rain, but it did mean doing my intervals inside today.  The gym has an indoor track so I stopped there and 65 laps later, I was done. 

I'd love to bike tomorrow, but I doubt it will happen unless the rain stops (violin lesson in the morning, no gym daycare available while oldest is in school, school talent show at 6 pm).  Oh well.  If all else fails, I should be able to fit in a swim and jump on the bike at the gym on Saturday.

For bike miles... if you want to do 3 rides a week and 25 is long I would do like 15, 15, 25 or if you wanta  lite day 10, 20, 25.  If you want to do more you would go like 15 20 30 or 18 25 35 or some such.  You can add a 10 in if you want to do 4 days. 

I belive that biking more miles does add to speed.  I think there is a critical mass where you need to have a big enough base to get faster.  Like running you need a big enough base before speedwork will do anything real for you other than get you hurt.  With the bike I have never managed to reach that level.  With running I do because in the winter I always go run focused for marathons.  Next winter I may have to go bike focused and see how that goes.  If you go halfarsed on your bike rides... yes you won't get much faster, but if you are z2 or more... I think all the miles count towards body adaptation, it just takes a really lot of miles.  To see quicker gains you can do high intensity stuff, but risk injury if you don't already have the base.  So you need the base to establish the muscle endurance to handle the speedwork that can be done 1 or 2x per week if you are doing 3 or 5 bike workouts a week and your miles support it, to then get faster. I think if I get to 800 miles a month for 6 months that I would see some decent speed increases.  

First I need the legs healthy and a bit more saddle toughness, feeling that 170 miles last week in the saddle for sure.   

Typically the folks who talk about speed on the bike have 10 years of biking history or more with 10k miles per year and are "now" doing speedwork to get faster or are young and genetically gifted and resistant to injury.  I am none of those and pulled a calf working intensity on the bike and a hamstring.  So my view is slower build before faster work to maintain consistentcy. 

Neverreach is a hydration system, 64 oz resevour behind the seat with a tube up to where your mouth is in aero. 

Infinit is a calorie electrolyte powder like perpedim.. can load up to 1100 calories in a 20 oz waterbatttle (good for a 4 hour ride). 

Carol - here's a pic of our "Glamping" set up:

Last minute advice for your first sprint.  Here's my little list

• Goggles on first, then swim cap.  Don't look like a total newb. (if goggles get kicked off, cap will keep you from totally losing them)
• If using wetsuit, make sure timing chip is under suit.  Don't try to remove and put back on while getting out of suit
• Use bodyglide or some other type of lube to make getting it off easier
• Smile for the cameras
• Have bike shoes open and ready when setting up your transition area
• put glasses on first, then helmet.  Why? So you don't through your glasses when you take your helmet off in T2
• Your feet will be wet, if you use socks while biking, have socks rolled down so they are easy to get on wet.
• don't move bike until your helmet is secure (rules)
• have fun
• don't take helmet off until you have re-racked your bike in T2 (rules)
• You probably don't need to take on any nutrition during the race.
• Don't try anything new before or during race.  Nothing new.  i.e. Shoes, nutrition, goggles, etc.  If you haven't trained for or with it, leave it at home.  Training is the time for something new.
• try to get your split times and position after the race.  Some are slow getting results online.
• Watch this great video Triathlon Transition Setup and Execution
• Watch some more of these videos - Race Day Training
• Make a checklist of what you need - Checklist Creator
• take a copy of your race registration and directions to the venue
• start the swim off calm and relaxed.  If you swim a little slow, it will maybe cost you 30 seconds.  Too hard, minutes.  You decide.
• remember to take your helmet off in T2, don't forget and run with it on.  You'll look like an idiot.
• when removing your cap and goggles, let them go halfway into your wetsuit sleeve when taking it off.  Great storage place.
• Ride your bike just a little after arriving.  Make sure brakes aren't rubbing and you park it in the correct starting gear
• talk to people around you.  Probably a lot of first timers there.
• make sure the front of your bike is facing the way you are going to run with it, not backwards.
• hang bike from seat.
• have fun (again)
• post race report
• tell us how it went

Wow, this is a busy bunch!  Popped in a few times, and finally found time to post

Steve, thanks for the biking advice!  I'm aiming for the distances you suggested, and will see where it goes from there.  I'm not looking to be super fast, just to see some improvement over my turtlish pace and get respectable enuf to join one of the slower group rides around here.   10 year timeframe...um...I'm 45, so tick tock!  Serioulsy, I find that this sport really inspires me to not get complacent, and I need that since I lean towards the smell the roses end of the spectrum. 

Saw a gal I used to work with at the gym and she wants to ride.  She stopped riding after almost getting hit at my least favorite intersection.  Finding potential biking buddies everywhere . 

Kenzie - Good Luck this weekend!  Great way to start, and CELEBRATE, you are doing a tri!

Dennis - Have fun at Memphis, and hope you have an awesome race!

Ken - The Gladiator sounds fun!  Hope you get to experience all the obstacles by overcoming them quickly.  Dropped a line in your log...thanks for the encouragement on the BG!

T-Roy - nice pic and a little social racing sounds good!

Brian - hey, good to see you!

Marcus - have fun in San Antonio.  As for the humidity, well, here in Dallas area feels like a rain forest today!  Hope you can adjust your bike seat to be easier on the knees.

Ceril - LOVE your glamping setup!  Looks like a pretty campsite too.  Camping is something your kids will always remember!

Samantha - you are brave for doing all that yard work!  Definitely log it.  I've been avoiding the big clean/out and mulch the flowerbeds thing because I know it will make me sore.  Oh, and I'm thinking Steve means miles, not minutes, on the bike, or maybe I misinterpreted your post. 

CK - Super job on the swimming!  Seems like that class was a really great choice.

Lisa - 65 laps, wow!  Way to get it done, but wow...makes me dizzy just thinking about it!

Nate - sorry I misunderstood you....just a friendly jab.  Way to go with your priorities in life!

Sorry yes, my bike post was about bike miles, not minutes.  A 35 minute ride... much shorter than a 35 mile ride.  Here is what I biked last week (in miles) 20, 25, 30, 85, 12.5.  This week is 22, 23, 28, 100, 12.5.  If I had the time it would be nice to go like 20, 35,  40, 100, but I am spread too thin so trying to keep the weekday rides down to 25 miles give or take at the moment and get in 5 rides instead of 3.  My bum is still adjusting to the increase in distance (skin not sitbones, ya TMI!). 

So adjusting down if your long is 25 miles something like 10 15 25 for 3 rides.  If long is 35 miles then 15, 25, 35.  Short medium long.  You can do the shorter rides at a higher intensity and mix it up for the longer rides.  Part of it depends on what your goal race distance is.  Sprint tri bike distance of 15 miles = ride 20 ish, Oly at 25 miles = long ride 35, HIM at 56 miles = Long ride 65.  Then you add a short and medium based on the total distance.  You can always go longer on the bike, I was just trying to aim at where folks were already riding.  I go by miles because I have been to buisy to look at everyone's paces and convert to time. 

Yay swam 1000 yards 2 seconds faster tonight, 6 seconds faster for the week.  Unfortunately it gets way harder from here on out.  I then did 100s 2 seconds faster each set down to a 1:45/100 pace.  Wow do people really hold a a 1:30 pace for miles... I can't imagine. 

Really proud of how everyone is doing.  It is really hard to get past the weekend warior mentality and go hard and fast and then burn out.  Once you settle into a weekly routine of 8 to 9 workouts, you can gradually increase distance and eventualy pace.  I don't mean to be discouraging about folks having high goals for quick gains... I have been there and have settled into what I consider realistic gains for myself.  Getting injured is really anoyingly frustrating and can blow your routine easily.  It is fine to drop a race for health reasons or for knowing you haven't trained well enough for it.  We are talking about a lifestyle, so things can be accomplished with stead effort.  I am 44 years old and have a goal of qualifying for Kona.  This is my 4th season and I have never taken any time off other than planned recovery or injury recovery and to qualify for Kona we are talking at least another  5 years... depending on health, work, real life, etc.  Possibly never but that is my goal.  So I will give it 10 years and then evaluate my gains. 

I don't want my sharing my goals or workouts to be discouraging.  I share them to show you that even biking 170 miles a week, swimming 10,000 yards a week and running 50 miles a week won't get you fast in a matter of months... It really is years, so us type A folks can settle into the long term plan.  So the balance is enjoying the 2 second improvement on the swim, loving every tri that is finished and not getting discouraged if progress feels slow.  You build endurance and then speed, really hard to build both at the same time (past the initial gains from just being in better shape).  K, long enough post for now.  Keep it up guys.

You know you are a triathlete when you shower 3 times a day, you add 3 towel racks to your bathroom for drying workout clothes, when you exercize more hours than you watch TV, when you feel like a real slug when you only have 1 workout in a day. 

Good morning BT.  Getting ready for an hour drive to the race this morning.  Slept well. Feel great. Hoping for the rain to stay away and a wetsuit legal swim (it's been borderline all week). Good luck to everybody this weekend with races or even training.

And on the theme of "How do you know you are a triathlete?", my training to tv watching ratio is around 10:1.

Race finished.  Lots more people.  Everything went great. I finished 19 out of 24 in my AG but that's cool.  I had no pains and felt great.  The rest was really a smart idea if I may say so myself.

Race report can be found here.  

Very nice run, excellent transition times, solid bike... swim needs some work 8), but a small part overall of the race.  Your age group must have been competative. 

It was raining really hard this morning with no end in sight at 6am... so I did my 100 mile bike ride on the drainer followed up by a 5 mile run brick.  Did the run outside and got rained on some, though lighter than this morning.  The new bike shorts had a much less friction issue on my parts.  Is a good thing.