The Great Adventure - closed and ready to go. (Page 2)

JohnOD - 2009-04-17 9:40 AM

Scott-

Did not realize the group had closed when I wrote my post. The site had it listed as open. Hope you can still fit one more.

John

holt1997 - 2009-04-17 11:09 AM As we start out one question I like to start with is "how well do you feel set up to succeed?" Do you have the right gear? Have you noticed that your feet hurt or you sink instead of swim. Is the bike a painful experience? Or are you set up well. Feel llike you have what you need to be successful etc. Thoughts?

trinigen - 2009-04-17 10:22 AM

At this point in my Tri – life I feel I am set up to succeed.  This year my main goal is to get the weight off and complete my races and most of all have fun.  

Gearwise I think I am ok (for this year).  I find myself getting ridiculously excited about the new running shoes my wife surprised me with last night or the tri shorts I got last week.   

My bike right now is a mountain bike with road slicks on it and I am comfortable with it for now.  I have yet to really get out on the open road with it.   Maybe this weekend.  

My swim is definitely my strong point.  It seems I haven’t really forgotten anything over the 17 years of no lap swimming.  

The run scares me a bit though.  It has never ever been a strong point for me and I am currently just working on building up volume.  On good days I can do 3.5 miles.  Most days I find myself watching the clock hoping for it to be over.  I just need to get past that point right now.  I keep hearing it comes with time and I am really hoping it does.  Like I said my run is the most disconcerting part of the race.

My next year goal is to go from complete to compete.  I so miss competing against both myself and others in a race type environment. This most likely will mean a new bike and more time needed for training.  But we’ll face all of that next year

Prophet22 - 2009-04-17 10:23 AM

Hi Scott,

Just got back from a 10 mile ride and saw 2 new articles to read and came across your group.  Would like to join if you have room.  Will give you all the details when I get back from work tonight and tell you my story.  Like the verse.  My life verse is Gal. 2:20

Brent

triat45 - 2009-04-17 12:17 PM

Scott,
I feel like I'm set up fairly well to succeed, considering right now success for me is crossing the finish line. From a gear perspective, I've got a good pair of goggles and tri-shorts for the swim, I've got a 'like new' 7 year old hybrid bike that I had to dust off (I also added toeclips-a.k.a. cages), and a decent pair of New Balance running shoes. Not sure what else I might need.... any suggestions?

millk3 - 2009-04-17 2:42 PM

I find I tend to sink and my biking feel ok so far.  I'm only two week away from my sprint.

BobJ123 - 2009-04-17 3:55 PM



I feel pretty well set up to succeed.  I have a bike, albeit an old Nishiki steel framed beast that weighs about 28 lbs.  I'm seriously considering buying a new road bike (probably not tri specific), but I haven't convinced myself to plunk down the money.  The main gear things I don't yet have are a tri-suit and a wetsuit.  I have a scuba wetsuit but everyone says that you don't want to swim in those.  I haven't seen a XXXL swimming wetsuit at the sites I've looked at, so we'll see what happens there.  I don't absolutely need one, my target race has a water temp of about 70 most years, but some years it's only 66.

Have I noticed my feet hurt from running?  Yes, but much less than I expected.  I've had a lot of feet problems, having been diagnosed with arthritis and gout at different times.  I don't completely believe I have either.  I think my feet sometimes just get pissed off at the rest of me because of my weight.  So far, I have not had my feet hurt more than a day from a run, and even then it's been pretty mild.  My longest run so far has been 2.6 miles, this past Sunday and if the snow stops by this Sunday I'd like to go at least that far again.  I did 2.5 on the treadmill last night and I hate the treadmill, I just get very bored.

Biking feels pretty good, I've done a couple of rides around 15 miles.  If there is one thing I dislike more than the treadmill it's the stationary bike, so I really hope the weather gets back to spring soon.  We were in the 60s & 70s in February, but March and April have brought their share of crappy days.

Swimming.  Swimming is what I thought would be the most straight forward.  A few years ago (well, more than a few) I had gotten into swimming to try to lose weight and was able to get into it pretty quickly.  Not this time.  For whatever reason, it's been a struggle.  I did manage 500 yards without really stopping a couple of weeks ago, but lately I just haven't put in the time.

Overall, I'm hopeful that by August when the Rattlesnake Tri is, I'll be able to string the three events together.  I'll be slow, but I think I can get through them.  I actually wish the event was in July, so I may do one of the other ones out here in July.