Funked Up Triathletes - Season 2 - Olympic/Sprint Focus - Closed (Page 19)

Oly complete - 3:06. Back at camp enjoying the rest of the day!

Nice job! Is that your first Olympic?

I think we're the only ones left! I'm starting to feel the grind of the season. I"m getting into the big meaty portion of my 70.3 plan. School is starting. Earlier mornings. Blah blah blah. My "short" run is 9 miles this week. Ha. It will be worth it though. I've been listening to a lot of Rocky IV soundtrack!!

I think we are too!!!

Got back from camping and camp on Monday night and needed yesterday to get the household in order.

Race on Sunday was fun - it was my second Oly, first this year. My chip time was 3:05:27.4. At first I was sad I didn't break 3 hours like last year and then realized that the bike on last year's course is a few miles shorter so I don't feel so bad. This swim was much tougher including 3 180 degree turns around buoys - navigating was a crank for me on the first leg out - think army swimming: left/right/left/right. LOL Didn't have that problem last year in the sprint at the same venue. I found someone to draft off of who seemed to sight well so for the next two long lengths I stuck with her bubbles.

T1 was decent at 1:27, bike went pretty well - not super fast, but then....I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. LOL Yes, I turned up a wrong road, recognized it fairly quickly and got turned back around. A couple of folks blew by me during this and I lost momentum, but that's the way it goes and it was my own fault.
I only used one GU on the 2 loop course - looking back I think I would have liked a GU on each loop. I did drink almost my entire Aerolite of water so I was so happy (I am not good at hydrating and this Aerolite has been a game changer for me!). It's an Oly so not much needed for food.
Coming into T2 my bike bounced over a raised rubber mat and fell away from - I caught it and yanked it back up but the pedal dug into my leg just above my right ankle bone.
T2 was 1:24.9 - not my fastest but not my worst either. A friend who had finished the sprint was there chatting with me. I need to get back under 1 minute on this one. Oh! My timing chip strap was coming undone so I had to take the whole thing off and re-do it!

On the run I could feel the blood going down my ankle into my shoe. I never stopped to look at it but could just feel the stream.
My goal on this run was to test my knee so my plan was to run/walk the whole thing. I ran a mile, walked a minute much of the way. I did 4 walk breaks - 2 were 1 minute, 1 was 45 seconds, and the last was 30 seconds. I also walked for a few seconds through the water stops. Mentally it was one of the toughest things I've ever done - forcing myself to walk. Then I realized I was passing a ton of people! I wasn't tired and I didn't hurt! There is something to this! My average was 8:47 min/mile WITH walking so I was pretty happy with that! I ended up in 2nd for my AG - thus another pint glass!

My cut could have used a couple of stitches as it really pulled apart on the 10k. LOL Alas I was headed back to camp (and beer) so we cleaned it up with water as best we could and put a bandaid on it! LOL. It's a mess now and will leave a deep scar (though only about an inch long or so). I decided at some point maybe I'll get some kind of tri tattoo to either augment it or cover it. LOL

My race report is in the link below if you want more details. I'll see if I can dig up a decent picture somewhere.


http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/RaceLog/races-view-container.asp?...

Edited by aviatrix802 2015-08-12 4:11 PM

It didn't want to post my picture for some reason. Here is one coming out of T1,
Weird, still won't let me. Oh well!

Edited by aviatrix802 2015-08-12 4:12 PM

This is the tough section but you can totally do it! Think of this week as Wednesday - just get over that hump to taper! LOL Stay hydrated and rested! I had Duran Duran "Hungry Like a Wolf" on the other day. LOL That finished off a 10k run for me. Something about those older tunes....Eye of the Tiger. Keep your focus and try to stick with your plan, you've got this. Which 70.3 is this you've got coming up?

ack! it won't let me put a picture in. I'll see if I can get one in my profile roll.

Edited by aviatrix802 2015-08-12 4:22 PM

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A happy finish!





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Nice pics. Glad you had a good race. I couldn't remember if you had actually done an Oly or not....I kinda of think of you as a "sprint" or 70.3 gal now. Ha.

I'm into a tricky part of my schedule. With school starting and soccer back up and running, I have to be creative. Also, somehow, I got myself involved in a number of "short" races that I don't care too much about. But I want to do well in them. I don't want to mail it in, but my focus has turned to 70.3 in Oct.

For instance, this week is race week. A Small sprint distance race on 09/29.

My training plan calls for:
Run = 9.1 and 12.1
Bike = 2:34 and 1:32
Swim = 1950 and 2400

I'm not sure how to tackle this. I'm not going to "taper", but I can't do my full load either.

I'm thinking of doing my "long workouts" early in the week and then substituting my shorts workouts for the race. Even though they are much shorter distances, theoretically the intensity should be high.

To further complicate things, I have been doing my long bike on Sunday afternoons. Since I am racing on Sat. I'm not sure how my long bike is going to go.

I guess I need to figure it out quick, because I have yet another small sprint race the following week on 10/5.

To follow that up, I'm doing a little 5K on 9/19. I've actually never ran a standalone 5k so I'd like to really let it rip and see what I can do. I'm not a fast runner, but it would be fun to cut loose. Again, however, how does that wedge into my 70.3 training? For instance, the week of the 5K, my schedule calls for runs of 14.2 and 10.7.

Part of my problem is that I get a little rigid with training. I really let it bother me if I don't get the "check marks" on every workout through the week. I know that is not big picture thinking, but it's one of my querks. Curious if you have any feedback.

Jen, I know you've had to improvise quite a bit this season, so curious how you'd approach it.

Hi Dave!
Lots of ways you could handle your crazy schedule. I'll put one idea out (I have a bunch and maybe tomorrow or Wednesday I can get on with more time). I think with the sprints you won't have to do too much manipulation though if you do anything Friday it should be pretty short. Race day, go all out of course and still do your long ride on Sunday. It's very doable, the sprint will only take you an hour and a half or so, it's in the morning so relax the rest of the day. Hydrate well and eat well. If you're worried about the ride Sunday you could do it Monday and maybe swim Sunday instead so you don't burn your legs.
For the 5k, run a mile or two to warm up, run your race (now you've already run 4-5 miles), have a banana and take a half hour to see the results and collect your 1st place medal ?? and then continue the rest of your long run. Now you've effectively even worked a little speed session into your long run. I've run 3 miles to get to a 5k race once, ran the race, then ran a different route home to get my 12 mile run in that day (won my age group too...and a pair of Baldega socks!). (Small field. LOL).

I'm the queen of flexibility - have to be. Today I missed a swim because the pool's closed for the week and I didn't plan ahead. So I made a lane reservation for early tomorrow morning at a pool across town. I'll still do my speed session on the bike, but it's only a half hour trainer ride so it works out, and the swim is a 45 minute recovery swim. Frankly it all works out because I haven't had a day off in 7 days and I can feel I'm due - pretty beat.
Point being, yes, the training plans are there for a good reason and it's always a good idea to stick close to them but the races will be good speed sessions and practice for transitions as well. They are short races that shouldn't take that much out of you that you'd have to take the next day off. It will be good!! And don't forget to have fun!!

Okay, here's another option if I had looked at this sooner. Ideally i would have started this Sunday and taken Wednesday off....but:

Monday: bike 2:34
Tuesday: run 9.1
Wednesday: Bike 1:32 /swim 1950
Thursday: run 12.1
Friday: swim 2400 (fairly easy!)
Saturday: race

If you could have taken Wednesday off then I would say do that long bike you mentioned on Sunday after the race. With this I would probably take Sunday off and do the long bike on Monday.
Another option to think about would be combining the short bike and run and do the swim on Tuesday, that gives the legs a bit of a rest

It's a jigsaw puzzle sometimes and it also depends a bit on where you are in your training - the build, the endurance, recovery week, etc. Hope this helps a little.

Thanks for the feedback. One challenge that I have, is that everything through the week has to happen between 3:30AM and 7. That's a bit of a curve. Here's how I've gone ahead with this week so far in prep for this weekend's Sprint race.

I slipped in a 7 mile run on Saturday...my rest day. I was feeling pretty good and figured I'd use the opportunity.

Sunday, I celebrated by observing Sufferlandria National Day (back to back Sufferfest workouts for a total of 3:00 on the bike). This was very intense and much more taxing than my normal "2:30" ride would have been. Monday: 2400 workout. Tuesday (today) I did 12.2 mile run. Tough run. Because of scheduling quirks I ran 6 outside from 4:30-5:30 and then walked inside for the final 6 miles. My wife had a run to get in so she went outside after me. That was pretty tough transitioning. Plus, my legs were still a little fried from Sunday.

I plan to take Wed and Friday off to freshen up and use Thursday to do a little brick. Probably something like 10-12 miles + 3 mile run. I'll use the race for my final bit of volume.

Next week, will be a little different. My training plan builds for 3 weeks and then "tapers" before building 3 weeks again. Fortunately, next week is a "taper" week before I go into my final (biggest) build period.

Your suggestion on the 5K sounded good. I have a hard time "warming up" anyhow, so a 2-3 mile warm up before my 5K will be nice. After that, I'll just slog through the last 4-8 miles or so. We'll see what the schedule looks like that that point.

Back to Sunday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous here. I almost didn't make it to the trainer. We just built a new (giant) deck, so I pulled my bike/trainer/computer outside facing the woods. The little ones were taking a nap and my wife snuck out for a swim/bike outdoors. I had two slabs of ribs and two chickens in the smoker. It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon. I couldn't help but think, however, how much this triathlon stuff causes us to be crazy. It was an stunning day to lie in the hammock with some cold brews while watching the smoker between shuteye....but no....I cranked out 3HR on the bike. Ha ha.

Anyway, I rarely post photos because I think the BT system is annoyingly laborious, so here's a few shared photos for Sunday.

Halfway through the trainer ride:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/61b638r4vbw7fbl/AAA1fpXcatml3C-rQbbh8VuTa

The reward:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/caw6axr4ys0rybc/AADLEnlqPjn1vgHYkZwuxh7Ga

Enjoying the ribs:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/7iydj25endyfdnk/AAAEs7PkNTlyMhCWXGOSqKSCa

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/qcjgxeo39me8j1b/AAB8IHlJxD_gQYk4JHlYTY8Ga

Oh my gosh your kids are so cute!! I think I could eat an entire chicken right now - or half a slab of ribs. I have been so hungry!!

So how is the training going and how did the sprint work out for you??? I think you said you have another one this weekend too? ...then the 5k coming up?

I've been following some fun bike and swim intervals - kicking my a$$ but it must be working, all I want to do is eat!!
I've had a bout of insomnia this past week. In the last 4 or 5 of the last 5 or 6 nights I've been waking up at 2:30 or 3:30 to use the restroom then I'm wide awake for the rest of the night. Most days I've kept up my workouts but this morning I could barely function mentally (still can't - need to go to bed actually). Physically I feel great and attribute that to the increase in yummy foods - more protein, sweet potatoes, and avocados. Mentally I'm in a fog and my eyes are red and barely open. I had to give a presentation to our senior aviation class today and it was a struggle mentally to get through it.
I have been riding bikes to school with my kids since they started last week so at least I always get 4 miles in on my mountain bike. (and I love doing that with my kids).

It's TAPER WEEK! Sometimes I wonder if I should be happy about that or if I should hang a "warning sign" around my neck to warn people - tapering triathlete - beware of sudden mood changes, the desire to eat food off other people's plates, etc. LOL Last Oly this Saturday at 07:00, last tri of the season. (sadness). I've got a 10k at the end of September but it's just not the same.....
Okay! I'm off to close my eyes - hopefully for the entire night until my alarm wakes me up!
Cheers!

Well, the sprint didn't go so well. I didn't prepare educate myself on the bike course and accidentally cut it short. I was tracking pretty well, for a top 10 AG finish, but it doesn't count when you cheat. You can read all about my gaffes in my race report. My wife raced too and did pretty well, considering she was running a fever and sick. She's been sick all week. It's been pretty brutal. We race again this weekend at a teeny-tiny little local sprint. No USAT, timed with a stop watch, etc. Hopefully it goes well. I won't lose myself on the course this week, I'm pretty sure.


I can SOOOO totally relate to THE HUNGER. Especially when I do big back-to-back workouts. Holy cow, I'll eat everything in site. This is especialyl bad considering I carry extra weight anyway.

Good luck for a great race this weekend! Looking forward to hearing about it. So, no Pumpkin Man?

I look forward to reading your report! I took a wrong turn in my Oly in August!!!
Thanks for the good luck! I did 15 on the bike today and followed it up with a 4 mile run plus another mile with the dog. I've also been riding bikes with the boys to and from school everyday - so 4 more bike miles there (albeit easy). Tomorrow I'm going to squirrel in a swim before a flight lesson I have to give and maybe an easy jog after. I noticed on my run today I'm getting sore spots on the bottom of my feet when I step down - cushioning is shot. These are my shoes from last year but I figured I didn't run much over the winter, maybe they'd get me through this season....I've been noticing their flattening for a couple of weeks and finally picked up new ones today. I know you don't wear anything new on race day but I think I'll wear them around tomorrow and do an easy jog of 2 miles on Thursday and Friday and go ahead with them for the race. We'll see. They're the same brand I always use and they feel like butter on. I'll see how they feel tomorrow and play it by ear. I'm at the "I haven't trained enough" panic stage now so I'm throwing caution to the wind. I haven't trained hills for my run so I know that will kill me anyway. Hahahaha. Ah heck, my only goal is to beat my time from last year. Problem is, I had a pretty good time last year and was running on pure adrenaline. LOL. I know I can do the distance, but this is supposed to be my "A" race....
Good luck to you on your sprint this weekend!!! Eat and be proud of it!! Up here I'm addicted to maple creemees. (Soft-serve or twist cones or whatever it is you southerners call it).

Oh, I don't think I'm going to do Pumpkinman. I feel like I'd rather have a different destination if I'm shelling out to travel for a race. I looked at the bike profile too - the last 6 miles are a continuous climb, and not an easy one! I guess I would practice here by just biking the road to our ski area over and over. (2000' elevation gain in like 6-7 miles).

I hope the shoes work out. I wear Brooks Glycerin's and have taken to stockpiling them when they close out. ( am Wearing 11's now, and I think the 13's have just come out...so I can find 11's for about $65 if I look hard enough). My wife wears Saucony Ride (6?) and does the same thing as me.

Word of caution...she pulled out one of her "new" pairs she had in the closet (same shoe, year, style, everything) and ran 5 miles and ended up with a big gash in her Achilles from the shoe rubbing funny. She had to work around that a bit the past few weeks, but her new shoes have a nice nasty blood stain down the back of them.

You may give them a quick jog...just to make sure you don't end up with something crazy like that.

Yes, I will probably go a short 2 miles tomorrow or something. I've run in Glycerins for quite a few years now and they felt great in the store. I did get the 13's but I might look online and grab some 12's to save for later. The 13's have a rainbow kind of color to them in the women's model.....not so much to my liking....so I got neon yellow lock laces to make them as obnoxious as possible. Hahaha

Hey! I'm staying in room #123 and my bib is #456! That has to be good luck, right?!?!

Race was decent - met my goal to beat last year's time of 2:58. I got 2:52. I haven't seen the split breakdown yet so I'll be curious as to where I made up time. I think I was only a few seconds better on the swim. I made up 3 minutes on the bike and 3 minutes on the run (I believe). Once I see the splits I'll do a report. I managed 8/30 for my age group with run/walking which was painful because on my last walk two people from my age group passed me and I just didn't have the real estate to bring them in. So close to being 6th

Great job. 6 minutes off your time is huge!

Yesterday was the Lake Quivira Triathlon, a small local race that is a bit shorter than a regular sprint. It's a closed gated community and capped at 125 participants (although I'm pretty sure it was smaller than that). It's cheap too.... $25 dollar entry. $5 minutes from my house, cheap entry, beautiful location.... This is a no Brainer for us for as long as we do triathlon. So much fun.

Last year my good buddy won the whole race. He didn't do it this year (for some reason) and I had passing hopes of a podium opportunity. Those hopes were smashed when I got a peak at the the start list. Our little secret is out: some of the city's big guns showed up this year so I knew my placement was going to drop even though I could have a better race.

As it turns out, it was a lot of fun. I came out of the water in the top 10 with a few guys I knew were fast and AG podium guys. This was good for me to be up front and I really hammered the 9 mile bike course. Too often I fall into a comfortable pace of passing slow people but not really gaining ground on the big guys. I'll go into more detail when I do my race report, but basically beat a number of good racers off the bike. Of course I got run down, but I saw improvement. My run pace was about 8:20... Not horrible for me. I don't know my official time yet because I messed up my watch and the official results are not posted yet (small time race!) but I think I probably finished top20 overall.

That sounds awesome! Congratulations!! I love community events like that - so much more personal.


I still haven't posted a race report yet (sheepish grin). I just haven't had the time!

The race was last Saturday, I stayed in a hotel just down from the start with another friend whom I talked into joining me. Actually that worked out great as I would have stayed at my in-laws with the whole family but it kind of stinks tiptoeing around the house at 4:30 in the morning trying to get everything together. This way the two of us had the same wake-up alarm going off, we knew our plan and our bikes were racked the night before. Hubby and the boys came for the start of the race at 07:00. I didn't have much for breakfast - a whole bagel with nothing on it, a spoonful of peanut butter and maybe my Greek yogurt but I can't remember if I actually had that. I brought a banana for later before the race but never ate it (I got hungry).
I was in the 7th wave of 8 (my friend was in the 6th) - men's college team was first, women's college teams were second, elites third, 2 men's divisions, 2 women's divisions, and the relay teams were the last wave.
The lake started out pretty smooth but once I started the swim I noticed the waves kick up - turns out there were a couple of motorboats with para-sailors cruising around. I felt I swam pretty steady - got into a groove but I was breathing each time on my one side, not every third stroke. The course was counter-clock-wise and I breathe on the right. Tracking seemed okay - better on the way back in than on the way out. My friend who started in the wave before me was so paranoid of me passing her - she kept looking for me as she swam. Ironically as she stood up at the end of the swim...I stood up right next to her! LOL. She said - "I knew that was you!! Long sleeve Vortex 4 and then I saw the watch!" That was fun. I finished the 0.9 swim in 30:42 - only a minute off last year (work to do here). We ran to T1 together and got out on our bikes together - the whole time i was yelling at her to get her butt in gear on her fancy Cannondale Slice Tri bike. I know she can ride fast and smoke me but doesn't always push it. Anyway, the course starts right off going up a long annoying hill. I dropped her and never saw her again until the end.
The course has a nice rolling profile with a few good hills in there. I ate two Gu's on the course as planned. I drank almost my entire Aerolite bottle of water. The last 1/2 mile was a no-passing zone (new this year) which was a bummer because a bunch of us got bottled up behind a very slow rider. I had zero cadence here. (also on another section with a car the pulled into an intersection and stopped mid-turn. All the bikes were going around the front and back end of the car, it was crazy and we were single file leading up to it - lots of braking there). My average cadence was 82 and given the slow-downs and hills I'll take it. I shaved 5 minutes off my time from last year and averaged 18 mph on the bike. I'd like to continue to improve this but it's moving in the right direction. 24.8 miles in 1:21.
The run was the same as last year - brutal. It's hilly and you run through the woods at one point then down a grassy hill behind a school. I did my run/walk thing - so hard mentally to do this for me but I stuck with my plan. The 10k ended up 56:28 (9:07 min/mile) according to them. According to my Garmin, which I was very good about hacking the button for the run - the run was actually 6.4 miles, not 6.2 and I did it 56:29 (same time because I hit the buttons when on the mats) so my Garmin says I did it in 8:48 min/mile. Regardless, the time was almost the same as last year which means with my run/walk I theoretically did better this year.
I ended up 8/30 in my age group and just missed another spot due to the walk piece but that's okay. The most important part was I felt great at the end - no knee issues and I didn't feel like I wanted to keel over. Heck, after a bite to eat we hit the Outlet Mall down the road! Score! LOL
Next year I'll do the HIM (Big George) I was supposed to do this year. Lake George is just a beautiful area and the volunteers are great and the goodie bags are nice too - long sleeve shirt, the usual water bottle, a light thing to put on your arm and some sweet running socks.
I have not done a thing since the race as we went to camp until Monday night and I have been sick and working all this week. (sick from an ugly cold I got from the hubby - not from the race). I hope to run tomorrow (or bike). I have a 10k coming up at the end of the month.....it will seem strange not having to swim or bike first!!





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Tried to attach 2, didn't work. aaaandd, now it won't let me delete this post. LOL I'm sure it's operator error....

Edited by aviatrix802 2015-09-13 9:01 PM

Well, season is over for me.

Last 70.3 was last Sunday. It didn't go the best for me. I was hoping to finish in about 5:40 but finished right at 6hr. My Half marathon on 9/11 and 5k a few weeks ago gave me confidence going in. As it turned out, the last 25 miles of the bike really took it out of me...it was into a headwind and I came off the bike 6 minutes down from previous year and not feeling strong on the run. I kept pace to match last year's time up until mile 10 of the run when I sort of just cracked. I couldn't even hold 10 min run miles. Oh well, it wasn't from lack of effort, but my fitness just was not what I thought it was. The conditions were tough.

One of my big "bucket list" races is Savageman and I'm mulling over signing up in 2016. However, after this weekend, there is no way in hell I'm doing it until I do something about my nutrition/weight. I can't do that race at 190 pounds. No way. So, I've got a few weeks of introspection time and time to gameplan how things are going to change. I have a half-marathon race on 10/17. Could not be less motivated for it so I intend to do it "for fun". Nothing more, before I start thinking through my plan for 2016.

I am still here and I've been reading/following but wow, I've done virtually nothing for s/b/r stuff. I think I went into decompression mode! I've been flying a ton too - weather has been amazing and the foliage is really kicking in. I'll get back soon!