nevergivin's group (Closed) (Page 20)

Transitions

If you look at the fastest triathletes on BT, they all have speedy transitions, they know you can make up a ton of time with minimal time invested. Practicing transitions takes very little time, once you get them down you will continue to get faster. Im not reffering to bricks, I mean practice taking off your wetsuit and getting your bike gear on, practice removing your bike gear and putting on your run stuff, doing these things will give you a huge payback in time saved, also it will give yourself a better idea about how to lay out your race day stuff at your spot. Knowing how to remove a wetsuit while completely out of breath and dizzy takes practice, dont neglect this. One last thing is to practice removing and replacing a bike tube, dont allow your race to end because you did not practice, do it 5 times in one day and that aspect will be behind you, just like transitions, the faster the better! I hope all of these helped each one of you! Keep asking questions, they help us all learn!

Edited by nevergivin 2010-03-15 9:56 PM

Thanks Stuart!  Very helpful as always.

Excellent! I need to learn how to change my tires/tubes without messing up my brakes! (mountain bike)

I recently bought new biking shoes (Shimano M086 mountain bike shoes) and installed the cleats as far to the rear as I could, based on some of the info here linked to by Stuart.  Anyway, i've ridden them this way for a few rides now and I love it!  The cleats are a little bit behind the balls of my feet now, and I have not found any downsides.  I still have a few inches of toe clearance to the front wheel (it is a longish wheelbase mtb after all), and the new more forward foot position actually provides better control when riding technical terrain or downhilling in the rocks.  I'll have to take the authors word for it that it's a little easier on the calf muscles, cause really I'm not that sensitive to the change, but any little bit of endurance help has got to be good, right?

Anyway, just another little tidbit of info I've gotten from this thread, thanks!
david.

Great news! Im on my way out the door for another bike ride, cant beat the weather! Thanks for the feedback, I think we can all learn from each other!

Well took the plunge this weekend & the tri shorts/swim cap came out of the bag.  I had felt pretty good lately swimming but WOW, it took me a few half laps to get used to the swim cap but when I took off, I TOOK OFF.  I felt like I was glidding through the water, not pulling myself along.  Fastest 450 yards had been 10:16, it was 8:52, I was shocked.  To make sure it wasn't a mix up, did a second with an extra lap at 9:55(last lap being a 1:02) putting my 450 at 8:53.  After wipping the smile off my face I did a third in the same lane as my wife.  With passing her a few times, fixing my goggles, & crossing lanes, I came in at 9:25.  I'm still shocked that taking off baggy swim trunks, as well as wearing a swim cap dropped me so much.   If anyone out there is still not wearting proper swim attire, CHANGE hehehe.

wow!  nice job Ryan.  No more worries about your tri coming up.

O I have plenty to worry about hehehe.  Maybe picking up some speed on the bike, having my legs not be bricks during the run, OR   S/B/R in the tiny outfit heheheheh.  Less than 5 weeks, getting close enough now, to start getting nervous.

Edited by bigr82 2010-03-23 7:12 AM

TO SHAVE OR NOT TO SHAVE?

I never planned on shaving my legs or anything for my tri, but after reading my email from the director today, wondering if I should.  He said that they will be marking the legs not the arms(maybe because it could be cold & ppl will were a coat???)  I'm not ape hairy, just normal adult male covering but could still be hard to see my number.  Man who cares about the triathlon distance's, when you have to worry about wearing spandex & shaving your body hehehe

Welcome to the shave debate! The number that matters is the one that is attached to your race belt(the paper one), all others are to help the photographer identify your pictures.

I think that it is time to pick my first race and sign up - definitely having a hard time getting to training the last few weeks...

I would like some advise on what the soonest I could be ready to race ?

I almost want to get it over and done as soon as possible but I want to finish.

What is realistic and what would be pushing it?

Thanks guys, I value your opinion!

So, how did it go David?

What is your goal?  To finish?  Is walking t run ok?

I would pick a plan and follow it (loosely, re-arrange it to meet your schedule).  Looking at your logs, I don't see much running or swimming.  Are you confident you can swim 400 yards then bike 14 miles (or so) then run a 5k?  Most plans run from 12 - 16 weeks, so I wouldn't sign up for one earlier than 3 months from now unless you can start a few weeks in to the plan.  That's just me though.   

It was AWESOME!  i'll do a full race report, and I haven't looked at the Garmin data yet, but the swim and bike both felt great.  I was a bit slower on the run than I had hoped, but the course was steeper than I expected.  I had to walk a few up and downhills because they were too steep.  Tired.  Going to bed now.

 
3 mos is a safe goal for a sprint, I always try to train for a little over the distance I will be racing, the important thing is to be able to do all three together. Get a solid month together to build a base, next month work on technique and and tempo, last month work on combining workouts together.

That is fantastic.  Congrats!

CONGRATZ!! Way to go!!

My race report is posted! 

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=201645&posts=1&start=1

Perfect thanks! as soon as I can swim 100m without stopping I will pick a race and then focus on that goal!

Well i've been putting in some rough miles on the bike this week.  Now my question is

What wheels do big guys need?

I had the shop true my wheels last month, after my ride back to work today my rear wheel is BAD.  I had to unlock the back brakes to make it here, If i close them like they should I can't spin the wheel one rotation.  The brakes will stop it in the wobble spot.  The wheels are alx 330  16 spoke front  20 spoke rear.  don't need to spend the money on wheels but I bet I should.  Think the shop can do a set of Mavic Krsyium(spelling)   Any suggestions would be awesome.

Winter Mentor groups officially over.  Thanks for all your advice and support Stuart!  This group has been very helpful as I prepare for my first tri.

Mike

I just upgraded to williams recently and in my opinion, they are light years better than anything even close to thier price range. The have a great aero profile, they are light, they have ceramic bearings, they are super strong. The 30x will be just under 500 for the set. You will not be sorry and the customer service is the best out there as 98% the owner will deal with you direct. Great value for me and probably the best purchase I have made twards racing yet.

http://www.williamscycling.com/sys30x/sys30x.html

Over in that most peoples schedules are so busy with race season starting they cant keep up. I enjoyed helping everyone so the pleasure was mine , I will still be available here to help if anyone needs it so please ask, keep up the great training, each one of you have come a long way and should be proud regardless of any races!