Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete - Always OPEN (Page 25)

Hey Rob,

Good question!  As I answer, my response isn't so much directed at "you" the individual as it is to "you" the collective interested triathlete.

I'll get to the HR question at the end.  As I write this, I am making a couple of basic assumptions -

1. That you can complete your specific race distance.  Let me define what I mean by that.  You aren't just coming off the couch and you have sufficient fitness that you could, on successive days - swim the race distance, the next day ride the race distance, and the next day run/walk the race distance (this may not be a very good gauge if you are doing a 140.6 because you aren't going to be running a marathon in training).  If you can do those three things, you have sufficient fitness to start and have a successful race (I'll define "successful" in a moment).
2. That you are a newer triathlete or are a typical age-group triathlete and not necessarily competing for an overall podium finish.  (If you are truly on the very pointy end and competing for an overall finish, everything I am about to say is still very true, however you'd have a much better understanding through training of where your limits are).

With all of that in mind, I'm going to share my thoughts with a 140.6 triathlon in mind - an Ironman.  However, everything I am about to say is equally true as you go down in distance. Hope that helps and answers the question.

I don't know how many of you go over to "the other website."  There's a discussion over there that really highlights the concerns we have as Gray Guys/Gals.  Hopefully the powers that be here at BT won't be too upset with me for sharing a link to "the dark side."

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Over_45%3F_How_would_you_answer%3F_P6642365/

Just what I was looking for.  I will be doing an Olympic Time Trial on Saturday morning.  I was scrambling to put my pacing plan together.  This helps a lot.

I typically go really slow on the Swim (high L1 to low L2).  I then try to go slow on the bike but I am probably in the L3-L4 range due to race day adrenaline and feeling the need to pace everyone in front of my that is going under 20 MPH (which means the 1/3 to 1/2 of the ride I am in the passing lane more than not.  My runs paces have been all over the map.  Many of them end in the L1 range (70.3 races).  I will see what I can do on the run this week. 

Well...I did my Olympic time trial today.  The goal was to go under 2 hr 30 minutes. 

My distances were all short.  I didn't have a good way to mark the swim course so I knew that I would just have to try to get something close and then adjust it.  I though my bike and run legs would be right on since I was going out and backs, but the T1 got added to the bike distance on my garmin and the T2 got added to the run so when I turned around at 12.4 miles and at 3.1 miles I came up short.

Actual Swim:  1200m @ 22m 18 sec, Adjusted swim 1500m @ 27 min 53 sec

T1: 3min 30 sec (I took time for things at T1 that I don't have to do at a race and of course no wet suit peelers, etc.)

Actual Bike:  23.2 mi @ 1 hr 10 min 9 sec, Adjusted bike 24.8 mi @ 1 hr 14 min 59 sec

T2: 1 min 48 sec

Actual Run: 6.14 mi @ 45min 31 sec, Adjusted Run: 6.2 mi @ 45min 58 sec

Actual Total:  2 hr 23 min 16 sec Adjusted Total: 2hr 28min 50sec  

I made my 2hr 30min so I will call it a win.

Note:  I did wear my tri kit, aero helmet, and racing running flats but was squeezed on time so I wasn't able to shave my legs, or change the training wheels for the carbon wheel set or latex tubes. I worn my new size large sleeveless wet suit that I got for my birthday last October for the first time today.   It replaced the full sleeved medium long that was just too tight.  I could feel my feel riding high in the water today but my flutter kick didn't feel natural with the wet suit and took a lot of attention to the kick to keep the legs from just floating behind me.  

Ya...that T1 was loooong.  I didn't have a wet suit peeler. 

Actually most of the extra time was that I had to get a heart rate monitor on under my one piece tri suit.  I figured no use doing the TT if I didn't get quality data from it. 

The Oklahoma State Championship Olympic Triathlon was going on 3-1/2 hours away the same time as I was doing my Time Trial.  I wanted to do the race but we had a friend delivery a baby on Wednesday.  The mom, dad, and baby were in the hospital in Tulsa two hours from home from Wednesday to Sunday and we took their older kids during that time.  I was able to slip away for a few hours on Saturday morning but the race was not going to happen this week.  I compared my times with the race and I would have been 8th place over all and 2nd place in my age group out of 67 total people and 13 in my age group. 

I was interested to see if the heat on the run affected them as much as me because I was about 3-4 minute slower than I was at this Olympic race a year ago.   It looked like the winners were about 1-2 minutes slower than they were at that race last year so I gave up a lot more time than they did but feel better after seeing others time than I did at the end of the run trying to hit HR zone 5 and only hitting HR zone 2.  :-)

Curtis,

I think one thing you might be failing to consider here is how race day adrenaline/excitement factor into race results.  You went a long way to recreate a race day, but you didn't have fellow competitors on your shoulder, or in front of/behind you to spur you on.  For example, you mention your times would have put you 8th overall and 2nd in your AG.  Assuming your simulation was on a similar course, that puts you near the front.  If you were in the race, were coming to the end a mile from the finish, and you saw those 7-people in front of you, would that have given you additional motivation to dig deeper and go faster?  If you were coming to the finisher chute and could see that person ahead of you in your AG, would that have motivated you to dig deeper and go faster?  I'd argue the answer to both of those questions is a resounding "YES."

This is one of the things I have struggled with as a coach for years - how do you truly recreate "race day" in a simulation?  There is no true way I know of.  I always prescribe race simulations for long course athletes in the weeks leading up to the race to verify pacing, verify the nutrition/hydration plan, etc.  Yet, come race day, I know with near certainty that the athlete is going to be going faster - sometimes significantly - then the race simulation due to actually being in a race.

You did a good job on the race simulation and it confirmed you will be competitive the next race you compete in!

Oh!  An observation on making T1 faster - don't have breakfast in T1!  

I did that race last year and the swim and bike course were similar, but my run was way harder.  They were running on a flat course along the lake line and I had 130 feet of elevation climb in the first two mile with up to 10% grades. Yes...my time trials always are slower than my races even though I feel like I am working just as hard in the Time Trial as I am at the race. 

This was about the closest I have come to a race in a time trial.  The weeks leading up to the time trial I got the same jitters and excitement that I do leading up to a race.  I did the same taper and race week preparation as I do for the race.  During the race I even though about the race on the other side of the state and knew that they were feeling the same heat on the run as me and that they were riding on the same washed out bumpy Oklahoma roads as me.  I would have been shooting to go under 2:20 in the race but for a solo time trial 2:30 was a success. 

This was mostly a practice in pacing.  In a race you focus on who is around you and what they are doing.  In a time trial you have to focus on yourself and what your are doing.  You have to establish your pace and really work on maintaining when others aren't pushing you.

My next race is 4 weeks away.  It's a sprint - 450 swim, 15 mile bike, 2 mile run.  I'm not worried about the swim or the bike but right now my run stinks .  So I'd like to try to up my run training a bit over the next 4 weeks.  I know going from 12:30/mile to sub-10/mile is not going to happen (wouldn't that be nice though ), but I would like to complete the 2 mile run without everyone on the course passing me by.  Right now I'm swimming 2x week, biking 3x and running 3x.  The runs consist of a "long" run on the weekends (usually about 4ish miles but that includes a lot more walking than I like), a short easy run, and a track workout - intervals or drills.  I'm thinking I could drop one of the bike workouts and add in another run - maybe a medium distance easy run?  I know I could also substitute another easier run for the track workout, but I enjoy those workouts so I'd like to keep them in.  Would it help to also add in another short easy run, maybe 20 minutes or so?  I could easily get those in in the morning before going to work.  I don't want to overdo it though.  Thoughts?
Janet

Janet,

I didn't respond when I first saw this because I wanted to see what others would say.  4 Weeks is usually when I start to think about my last hard work outs and what I am going to do to rest up for a race.  However when I was in college I had some semesters with really heavy class loads and although running was my favorite destressor  from studies I would some times only get 2-3 short-medium runs in during a month.  I did a few 5K's on that 2-3 runs a month training.  I was 3-4 minutes slower than what I would be in my peak performance and I would get beat by all of my friends.  On a few races I noticed about 3 weeks out that there was a race coming up and not wanting to get beat by all my friends again I would buckle down and train everyday for about 3 weeks before the race.  I would not train at highly intense levels like I would in the peak of my training, but I would get some regular miles in and with 3 weeks of training (I did this 2-3 times) I would only be about 2 minutes over my time that I would hit it in peak training.  So...you may be able to make some progress before the race but doing as other have suggested and adding an additional short run after every bike ride.

Hey Janet,

With four weeks left you still have time to make a bit of impact.  If it were me, I'd probably add a tempo interval run - something like 3 x 12' at a bit faster than 10k pace with a 4' jog recovery.  Make sure you have at least two days between the tempo run and track workout.

Hope that helps.

I really dislike when work interferes with my triathlon fetish!  Those pesky bosses just need to understand that we triathletes have priorities!  

Thanks for all the responses.  I have added an additional short run to my schedule (along with the short run I already have and I'll add a little distance to this one each week), I'll keep the "long" run at about 4 miles and just try to eliminate the walking portions bit by bit, and I'll adjust the track workout.  Instead of doing 400's or 800's at a faster pace, I'll switch that over to 1200's increasing to 1600's at a tempo pace.  That way I still get my "track" workout in, I'll just be concentrating more on distance/endurance instead of speed.  
Janet

So...I got a new wet suit for my birthday last fall.  It is a size large which is much easier to get on than my Medium Long, that was really tight, and I don't feel like I am pulling bungee cords with every stroke in the water any more. 

I got out in the open water with the new wetsuit a few weeks ago it feels different in the water than the old wetsuit.  Most notably is that I could immediately feel my feet float to the surface of the water.  Without a wet suit I have to kick to keep my feet up but with this wetsuit they just float there with no movement required.   After rolling around in the water for a few minutes I started to swim.  It was wasn't an instant thing I noticed but after a while of not seeming to be able to get my kick going, focusing on kicking became my main focus for the rest of the swim.  After thinking about this for a few weeks I think that the reason my kick didn't feel natural was not because it was an off day but due to the buoyancy in the wet suit working against my down kick.  

Have others experienced this type of problem with their kick being limited in a wet suit?  I know some people say in a wet suit they don't really kick at all and just let their feet float behind them.  I am thinking that if I can't do an effective kick in the wet suit that might be a good plan.  So do I work on the wet suit kick, not kick at all in the wet suit,  put weights on my ankles (just kidding about the weights)?  

Hey Curtis,

The simple reality is the kick provides very little forward propulsion, even for an elite swimmer.  Also, those elite swimmers don't have to get out of the water and ride a bike - possibly for hours.  In my opinion, the primary purpose of the kick is to help maintain balance in the water and drive body rotation.  Sounds like your new wetsuit is taking care of balance so that isn't a concern.  However, you can still use the kick to drive body rotation.  I wouldn't be working on the "wetsuit kick" per-se, rather, I'd just make sure that you are kicking as that drives rotation.  Having the resistance of the wetsuit will merely give you something to "kick against."

Thanks!  As I thought more about this I figured that my kick must be pretty weak if 4mm of neoprene were throwing it off.  I was in the pool today and the kick is pretty light.  It keeps the feet on top of the water and yes helps with balance but if I do much more than that I can feel the lactate build up in the quads from the morning's run so I keep the the kick fairly easy.