Chesapeakeman Ultra Distance Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 2)

I didnt really run the Down & Dirty, I walked it with my wife - she is not as into the fitness aspect of my life. It was her first event of any kind and she did zero, yes, zero training or preparation.

Steelman is a great venue, Dale does such a great job. I am doing the sprint this year, didnt want to do anything long prior to the actual ultra distance. I also have an adventure race at Bear Creek  August 21. 

I hear you on the motivation, I was away for 2 and a half weeks and while it sucked for training purposes, no riding or swimming, it helped refresh my motivation/dedication to training. I now re-focused and planned out the next month and a half, its intense but will prepare me for the event.

this will be my first ultra, I have done 3 halfs and I also did the Escape for Alcatraz. you?

I do not think there is any 'conventional' way to an ultra unless you are a professional.

I am trying to get together a few people to go down and ride the course on August 13. Since you are doing the Steelman, I am guessing you are close to me, I am in Center Valley. If you would like to join me on Aug. 13, let me know. I can take up to 3 people - my rack carries 4 bikes. 

I plan on leaving here around 4:30am, driving down, doing the loop, then heading back. Of course we will be stopping for a bite to eat.

It is about a 3 hour drive from here, so figure we arrive around 8am, start the ride by 8:15. Ride for say 7 hours, take it easy on the course the first time, average around 17 - I hope. Be back on road say around 4:30pm and home by 8pm.

Have a refuel session and hit the sack for a 15mile run the next morning.

Sounds like fun doesnt it?

Let me know, keep on training.

Riding has been going good, did a 105mile ride today in 6:30 - my first 100 mile ride ever. The body wasn't ready for that - cramping between miles 83 - 93, then no problems the rest of the way. I am figuring that the next 100 miler, in 2 weeks, will be much better. 

Averaged about 17mph for the first 75 miles, then it dropped as I cramped and had nothing for even teh smallest of climbs. I was a bit disappointed but at the same time it was my first one and I had a poor night of nutrition prior and lack of sleep(no booze). I also did 58miles on thursday and a 3 mile swim on friday, so the body was kinda of looking for a break, that will not happen until wednesday - my next rest day.

I have a 8 - 10 mile run tomorrow starting at 3pm - have to train in the heat.

Next weekend is the Steelman Sprint - looking forward to a small break, saturday will be a mountain bike ride to break up the rode training.

nice im doing the steelman olympic next sunday.  good luck 

Nice job.  I did my first 100 mile ride last year on one of the hottest days...you learn to dig deep!

July was kinda a washout for me training.  I didn't run much, but tried to bike every day there was a TDF stage.  I've got some big weekends planned coming soon.  Doing a half with some friends who are also doing the race the 20th, then may try to do a metric century the next day as recovery.  I'm definitely going into the race under trained vs over trained.

Yesterday I did a 12 mile run in the am, but it started getting hot around 6 miles.  Still kept a good pace and felt great at the end.  I'll most likely max out at 16-18 for my long runs (have almost ten 9-13 mile runs so far).

Sounds like we are all in the under trained club for this event.

You have lots of good runs in, my run training will not take me over a 16mile run - just not going to happen, I will let you know how it works out.

I am sure that I will be able to finish the tri, I am not sure how I will feel when finished. 

I have just taken a new job, and will start by end of this month, it means that I will have even less time for training, so I am going to try and stayed focused on the plan for August. There is just not enough time to train without feeling tired.

I find that I have to take forced sleep in days(not that 7am is much of a sleep in) and also naps on weekends - which I hate b/c it means more time away from family.

It is nice that I can now knock out a 10 mile run 1 and a half hours without being tired or sore, but add that to the 1 and half to two hour swim and the 2 - 6 hour bike ride and time is gone. I am not even going to add in bricks - which I need to get more in!!!

I am starting to work on nutrition during the ride as well, what a pain in the a$$. I am prolly going to use the Hammer products - sustained energy, gels and water while on the bike. I am also planning on having a small soft cooler with peanut butter and honey sandwich plus fruit in it. What have you all been considering?

Ive been trainning pretty good next 7 weeks are probably the longest training efforts.  For nutrition im taking in a GU before swim than using smoothie power bars, cliff bars for ride and EFS shots for the last 2 hours of bike. On run only using GU and water and gatorade and thinking about watermelon.....Ill be trying to take in 350-400 Kcal and hour on bike and about 200-300 Kcal /hour on run....also taking salt tablets, 2 before swim, 1 during bike and 1, before run.

Where will you put cooler? at one of the transitions? I would like to bring other food but my stomach is not great at digesting food during races....

It's  late to be working on your nutrition.  If you are going out for a casual day, the PB sandwiches may work, but I'm not sure about a cooler in transition with fruit, etc.  

Your best bet is to get in touch with Brian at http://www.personalbestnutrition.com/  - I've got acid reflux and he recommended a tried and true nutrition strategy for me.  GI distress is very common and awful to get on the run.  People aren't having fun when they have to walk the whole run and hit the porta-poties the whole time.

I would get something ironed out ASAP and start testing it on longer rides (3+ hrs). 

Nutrition has never been a big issue for me, I typically eat on rides and take in lots of fluids. 

The sandwich is for right at beginning of ride, after the swim. Fruit is for after ride at transition before run.

For the bike, it is critical to eat calories at beginning of ride, not to wait until you start feeling it, then it is way too late.

A friend of mine has bad acid reflux, I feel for you. Other than GI issues, leg cramps are the worse to watch during any race - I always feel for those who are cramping.

I recently signed up for the AB which I did last year as well.

I never eat anything when I start on the bike for about 20' in HIM or IM to let my stomach and body adjust to the new position.

Anyone know if your able to swim the course, prior to event, like say NOW...i need some more OWS time and what better place to do it than the ccourse...but not sure if people swim there normally, wondering if I could go ther on a weekend and swim....anyone know or interested in doing that?

Well I rode the course this past saturday, it was HUMID. Followed it exactly, two words describe it...

FLAT

BORING

The course is really flat, I am talking flat. And there is nothing on the course, there were sections when I wondered if I was still in civilization. At one point the Garmin GPS had riding through water, it couldnt pick up the small amount of land around us. We were actually riding through laying water, not sure if it was high tide or what but the road was covered with about 5 inches of water.

The rode is very smooth except for miles 50 - 60, that was very rough, no major obstacles just old rough road.

We did not prepare for there to be NOTHING on the rode, thank goodness for the gas station at mile 64, out of water and a very humid day = disaster.

Not sure how I am going to prepare for the ride, can I sneak an iPod???

The run will also be flat, I like that, and I am beginning to like the idea of a 3 loop run, lets me know exactly where I am and I get to see fans more often, well the few that are still around when I am running.

Swim course looked nice, but heck it is a body of water.

While riding ran in to a nice woman who was training for Kona, she suggested that the ride helps her prepare for the Kona ride, what??? she hinted at the wind and barrenness, she never really said that but I like to think it.

Hope everyone is still on track training wise. The weekend confirmed that I have not trained enough, I got home on sunday and did a 15 mile ride followed by a 13.5 run, the ride was very easy and the run was a steady 8:35pace. I was pleased but know that this workout should have occurred a month ago. 

New job starts tomorrow = training plan goes to crapper. I will not have any time to swim or ride in the mornings, and limited night times for swimming, yep I am screwed...I just want to finish.

T-minus 39days.

Good luck with the ipod...they'll DQ before you know it.  Depending on how you do, you may not see anyone on the course.  Trust me, this is WAY BETTER then doing a WTC event and yelling "ON YOUR LEFT" the whole race.

A friend of mine rode a loop a few weeks ago and said it got windy.  If you read race reports from others, you can get a good head wind for the first half of the loop, then a tail wind.  The run can be hot since there's no shade/cover.

A few of us are doing an unofficial 70.3 Saturday. I did a 16 mile run last week around 1:58 and felt great (negative split).  Hoping to put some solid efforts in the next few weekends, newborn in the house doesn't help with weekday training.

Yeah the iPod thing was just wishful thinking.

Stratman...great training with a newborn, when is the wife going to sacrifice you?? There was wind and it always seemed to be in our faces, the forecast said 5mph but it felt much more than that. I have done a few WTC halfs and know exactly what you mean with the left comment. WTC also means way too many swimmers. And as we all know Way Toomuch Cash.

I viewed the run course and see that it will be hot, until the sun goes down

Steelman was a decent race for me, although I noticed that I didnt have my 'sprint' legs as I have been training all long distances. Sorry to hear about the bad swim, at least it is now out of your system. The road was clear for the most part, couple spots with glass but nothing bad and some of it was  freshly paved in sections. 

I read the race reports but until you see it for yourself, it just doesnt sink in.

Do some more bricks, I know I will try.

My wife is a triathlete, so she's on board. It's been great, but I think I may have only done 3 10+ hour weeks.  Most of my long rides were on a trainer next to the pool at her mom's house (great to hop in and cool off).

I did a few sprints this year and my speed was good, but I can tell I wasn't in as good as shape because of training to go "long".  I think next time I'm going to focus on power/speed and then build up the time efforts.

A buddy of mine said the swim start was worse then some WTC events he's done.  Everything thinks "hey, it's a small race" they just go at it.  Something to keep in mind and may be worth waiting 10 seconds to let the mess go off first.

GD06--

I don't think they have couches in T2. Maybe you better practice some long bricks without the naps!

Did the IM swim and one loop of the bike on this course last year. It's as hot, windy and flat as everyone says. There is not a speck of shade. Nothing, nada. Keep that in mind when packing special needs bags--cause if it can melt, it will, sitting on asphalt in the sun.

Oh, I forgot, there is one hill on the bike--you go up about a foot on a bridge ramp, and then down a foot on the other side.