Hashers and Mashers - Open (Page 27)

Originally posted by miche033

Good thing you didn't squish it or you'd be in trouble with cayrip!

Originally posted by dannywilliams83

Overall I'm quite happy with my race. I finished in 1:34 for the sprint which isn't all that great but considering I can count the number of times I've trained this summer on one hand I'm extremely happy.

The swim was brutal, water temp 62 degrees. Getting used to the water I ended up losing my goggles so that didn't exactly help my cause. The water was extremely shallow for 2/3 of the race so the first bit I ended up walk/running and me being the brilliant human being I am I "jogged" as best I could in the water. This lead to the middle 1/3 that couldn't be walked going all kinds of bad. My heart rate was insane and my body ended up shocked by the water so I couldn't breath. I ended up breaststroking/splashing this piece. Finished with a walk out of the water ending in 6:57. The transition was slow and I was gassed.

Took me about 2 miles to get a feel for the bike after the cold water. I'm really happy with my bike split, it was a gorgeous day and a nice course. Very smooth roads lots of nice people. Finished in just over 50:57 which I know I can do better, but the last 14 I averaged over 20mph so I was happy.

The run was just bad. I've done a couple marathons now so I shouldn't run/walk the first 2.5 miles of a 5k but I did. I had some bad cramps in my back. This was definitely a first and I didn't know how to deal with them. I clearly need to spend time actually training and doing core work to fix this issue. The upside after 2.5 I finally settled into my zone and I finished strong. Finally run split was 30:18 which is utterly pathetic. If it was olympic I think I'd be happier with my split. I ended up sprinting the finally quarter mile so I had enough left in the tank. I could need to figure out how to come off the bike.

The last bit were transitions. First was 3:45 second was 2:11 which are utterly terrible, but I was enjoying the day. Overall I was around my goal and for not training hardly at all I am extremely happy with the results.

Things I learned
1) Tuck the goggles under the swim cap so you don't lose them before the race.
2) Jogging in the water when you openly admit to being out of shape is a bad idea. Know your limits and stay within them.
3) Core work core work core work.
4) Bring a towel for your transition area
5) Figure out how to set up your area to transition faster. I imagine I would have been faster if I wasn't so out of shape though.

Any feedback on my issues would be great. I still plan on a full IM in about a year so lots of growing pains to go through! Upside I had a blast and it was a truly gorgeous day.

Also I wanted to throw this out there, anyway here from the Green Bay Wisconsin area?

Originally posted by dannywilliams83

Overall I'm quite happy with my race. I finished in 1:34 for the sprint which isn't all that great but considering I can count the number of times I've trained this summer on one hand I'm extremely happy.

The swim was brutal, water temp 62 degrees. Getting used to the water I ended up losing my goggles so that didn't exactly help my cause. The water was extremely shallow for 2/3 of the race so the first bit I ended up walk/running and me being the brilliant human being I am I "jogged" as best I could in the water. This lead to the middle 1/3 that couldn't be walked going all kinds of bad. My heart rate was insane and my body ended up shocked by the water so I couldn't breath. I ended up breaststroking/splashing this piece. Finished with a walk out of the water ending in 6:57. The transition was slow and I was gassed.

Took me about 2 miles to get a feel for the bike after the cold water. I'm really happy with my bike split, it was a gorgeous day and a nice course. Very smooth roads lots of nice people. Finished in just over 50:57 which I know I can do better, but the last 14 I averaged over 20mph so I was happy.

The run was just bad. I've done a couple marathons now so I shouldn't run/walk the first 2.5 miles of a 5k but I did. I had some bad cramps in my back. This was definitely a first and I didn't know how to deal with them. I clearly need to spend time actually training and doing core work to fix this issue. The upside after 2.5 I finally settled into my zone and I finished strong. Finally run split was 30:18 which is utterly pathetic. If it was olympic I think I'd be happier with my split. I ended up sprinting the finally quarter mile so I had enough left in the tank. I could need to figure out how to come off the bike.

The last bit were transitions. First was 3:45 second was 2:11 which are utterly terrible, but I was enjoying the day. Overall I was around my goal and for not training hardly at all I am extremely happy with the results.

Things I learned
1) Tuck the goggles under the swim cap so you don't lose them before the race.
2) Jogging in the water when you openly admit to being out of shape is a bad idea. Know your limits and stay within them.
3) Core work core work core work.
4) Bring a towel for your transition area
5) Figure out how to set up your area to transition faster. I imagine I would have been faster if I wasn't so out of shape though.

Any feedback on my issues would be great. I still plan on a full IM in about a year so lots of growing pains to go through! Upside I had a blast and it was a truly gorgeous day.

Also I wanted to throw this out there, anyway here from the Green Bay Wisconsin area?

Originally posted by iLOVEwaffles

Just finished my second race of the season! The first one being an Olympic distance and this race being a half-iron. The half iron I did today was a B-race, my A-race being an olympic 2 weeks away so I only tapered for about a week for this half.

First I'll give a little info about the weather today in Grand Rapids, since it is a little important. At the start of the race was around 74, and it worked its way up to 88 by the time I finished. Wind was 14mph SW. The wind wasn't a huge factor for most of the course, from 26-32 and from 44-56 it was headwind. Anyways onto the report!

The gun for the half was set to go off at 8am, at 7:50 I got into the water and adjusted my cap, goggles, and wetsuit and did about 100 meter warmup. When the race started I felt strong, so I decided to get ahead of the pack so I wouldn't be swam over. After about 200 meters I was one of around 8 people who were a good distance ahead of the pack, a few guys broke off but I let them go. After last years mishap in the full I decided to treat the swim as a warmup and sit on someone's tail who was about my skill level and coast the entire way. It worked until about 500 meters in when the person I was tailing took a turn to early and we swam 50 meters in the wrong direction, we were stopped by a kayak and told to turn back. All-in-all it was about 100 meters extra of swimming. I wasn't mad though because I was dumb enough to follow someone without sighting, I just decided to sprint back on course and draft someone else while sighting occasionally. The rest of teh swim went off without a hitch and I came into transition at 32 minutes and 25 seconds which I was pretty happy about. Drafting on the swim is seriously amazing, I was hardly tired by the end of the swim. If you have any more races this year try it!

Anyways T1 went well. Wetsuit strippers did their job and I was off to the bike. I put socks and shoes on next to the bike because I haven't practiced flying mounts and I can run pretty well with my cycling shoes.

The First 15 minutes of the bike I took it easy and kept a higher cadence to get my legs in bike mode. I forgot a water bottle so I had to drink concentrated perpetum instead :/ Today was the first day I tried it(stupid I know), but it turned out well. I've got an iron stomach so I can usually eat a lot without many GI problems. After about 10 miles I picked it up because my friend passed me and I didn't want to lose to him(I did anyway though). And for the next 20 miles I pushed a little harder than I should have.. At 30 I could tell I wasn't going to be able to keep that effort up so I let him go and switched down in gears to try to recover my legs a bit. Thankfully I did, because I could tell I was on the cusp of bonking. The rest of the bike went well because I slowed down. I ended up finishing that leg in 2 hours and 42 minutes, which is an average of 20.5mph. I'm very pleased with it because it was a pretty hilly course.

T2 was a bit of a struggle. My right foot had a sharp pain in it so I hobbled over to the race to put my bike up and get ready for the run.. Then I hobbled out onto the run course.

Thankfully the foot pain went away after a quarter mile and I was good to go. The first 3 miles were great, I did my best to keep an easy pace that I was confident I could hold for 13.1 miles. The mile splits were all sub 7, so I was looking pretty good for a top 5 finish. Things started to fall apart however after that.. 4 and 5 I could feel some cramps coming so I backed it off a bit, not sure the pace, I forgot to check. I was walking every aid station getting either water or gatorade, hoping the cramps would go away.. But alas they did not, and for the rest of the race I could go 600-800 meters but then be forced to walk with a sudden cramp. The home stretch was a half mile long, and I decided to run through anything that may happen(gotta look good for the spectators!) It was going well until the last 25 meters then both my hamstrings seized up at the same time BAD, I was able to hobble in and cross the finish line and it took two burly volunteer dudes to keep me up and essentially carry me over to the rest tent they had set up. After thanking them many times and telling them I was okay they went back to the finish line to help others(I seriously love volunteers, they are what make races great for injury prone people like me). I made my way over to the medical tent and got massaged, which was surprisingly painful, but it worked wonders and I felt good enough to run another half-iron. I guess the run wasn't horrible as I am making it out to be because somehow I was able to hold an 8:20 half pace despite all the walking and cramps(just one cramp free race is all I'm asking!)

I ended up getting 14/300 overall, and 3rd for my agegroup. Overall it was a successfull day, didn't get the time I hoped but for the course and conditions I am pretty pleased. Even better is that I didn't have the stress fracture I thought I had 3 weeks ago! If it was the run would have been a heck of a lot more painful, most likely it was a bad case of shin splints and my compression sleeves kept it from acting up.

So that is my race report for my half, I'll have another one for the olympic I'm doing in 2 weeks which will hopefully go well. And if anyone has any advice on leg cramps during long triathlons I'd love some help! I'm not sure if it was dehydration or what, I drank way more than usual on the bike.. But probably not enough on the run since I finished 6 hours ago and haven't peed yet despite the 7-8 water bottles I've had since finishing.


Edit: Wow I pretty much typed a novel for my race report.. I guess since it was a long race I had a lot to say haha.

Originally posted by brrit



Nice race reports, you two!! Inspiring for newbies like me.

Couple of mentions about swim caps... As a (non/new) swimmer slowly swimming in the pool, I'm pretty self-conscious about wearing a swim cap. Why wear one? Are there real benefits? Just for the speedsters?

Originally posted by wenceslasz



Swim caps are a matter of choice. In the pool I don't wear one but in the lake I do. No particular reason. Among the friends I swim with some wear them and some don't. You should at least be prepared to wear one so you're comfortable in a race event..



I had a wild day yesterday. I'm stiff all over and can barely walk. I did the Challenge Penticton bike route. 180km! I raced Sister Madonna for some of the race. I passed her at the 120km Special Needs station but 30km further on she passed me at the Yellow Lake summit and I never saw her again. She must have climbed better than me and then on the down side after Yellow Lake (30km almost all of it downhill - fast!) she was just gone. At 83 she is very amazing.

I'll write a report PDQ but I have to go for a walk to loosen up. And tonight I have the athletes dinner to attend.

Originally posted by dannywilliams83 Overall I'm quite happy with my race. I finished in 1:34 for the sprint which isn't all that great but considering I can count the number of times I've trained this summer on one hand I'm extremely happy. The swim was brutal, water temp 62 degrees. Getting used to the water I ended up losing my goggles so that didn't exactly help my cause. The water was extremely shallow for 2/3 of the race so the first bit I ended up walk/running and me being the brilliant human being I am I "jogged" as best I could in the water. This lead to the middle 1/3 that couldn't be walked going all kinds of bad. My heart rate was insane and my body ended up shocked by the water so I couldn't breath. I ended up breaststroking/splashing this piece. Finished with a walk out of the water ending in 6:57. The transition was slow and I was gassed. Took me about 2 miles to get a feel for the bike after the cold water. I'm really happy with my bike split, it was a gorgeous day and a nice course. Very smooth roads lots of nice people. Finished in just over 50:57 which I know I can do better, but the last 14 I averaged over 20mph so I was happy. The run was just bad. I've done a couple marathons now so I shouldn't run/walk the first 2.5 miles of a 5k but I did. I had some bad cramps in my back. This was definitely a first and I didn't know how to deal with them. I clearly need to spend time actually training and doing core work to fix this issue. The upside after 2.5 I finally settled into my zone and I finished strong. Finally run split was 30:18 which is utterly pathetic. If it was olympic I think I'd be happier with my split. I ended up sprinting the finally quarter mile so I had enough left in the tank. I could need to figure out how to come off the bike. The last bit were transitions. First was 3:45 second was 2:11 which are utterly terrible, but I was enjoying the day. Overall I was around my goal and for not training hardly at all I am extremely happy with the results. Things I learned 1) Tuck the goggles under the swim cap so you don't lose them before the race. 2) Jogging in the water when you openly admit to being out of shape is a bad idea. Know your limits and stay within them. 3) Core work core work core work. 4) Bring a towel for your transition area 5) Figure out how to set up your area to transition faster. I imagine I would have been faster if I wasn't so out of shape though. Any feedback on my issues would be great. I still plan on a full IM in about a year so lots of growing pains to go through! Upside I had a blast and it was a truly gorgeous day. Also I wanted to throw this out there, anyway here from the Green Bay Wisconsin area?

Originally posted by iLOVEwaffles Just finished my second race of the season! The first one being an Olympic distance and this race being a half-iron. The half iron I did today was a B-race, my A-race being an olympic 2 weeks away so I only tapered for about a week for this half. First I'll give a little info about the weather today in Grand Rapids, since it is a little important. At the start of the race was around 74, and it worked its way up to 88 by the time I finished. Wind was 14mph SW. The wind wasn't a huge factor for most of the course, from 26-32 and from 44-56 it was headwind. Anyways onto the report! The gun for the half was set to go off at 8am, at 7:50 I got into the water and adjusted my cap, goggles, and wetsuit and did about 100 meter warmup. When the race started I felt strong, so I decided to get ahead of the pack so I wouldn't be swam over. After about 200 meters I was one of around 8 people who were a good distance ahead of the pack, a few guys broke off but I let them go. After last years mishap in the full I decided to treat the swim as a warmup and sit on someone's tail who was about my skill level and coast the entire way. It worked until about 500 meters in when the person I was tailing took a turn to early and we swam 50 meters in the wrong direction, we were stopped by a kayak and told to turn back. All-in-all it was about 100 meters extra of swimming. I wasn't mad though because I was dumb enough to follow someone without sighting, I just decided to sprint back on course and draft someone else while sighting occasionally. The rest of teh swim went off without a hitch and I came into transition at 32 minutes and 25 seconds which I was pretty happy about. Drafting on the swim is seriously amazing, I was hardly tired by the end of the swim. If you have any more races this year try it! Anyways T1 went well. Wetsuit strippers did their job and I was off to the bike. I put socks and shoes on next to the bike because I haven't practiced flying mounts and I can run pretty well with my cycling shoes. The First 15 minutes of the bike I took it easy and kept a higher cadence to get my legs in bike mode. I forgot a water bottle so I had to drink concentrated perpetum instead :/ Today was the first day I tried it(stupid I know), but it turned out well. I've got an iron stomach so I can usually eat a lot without many GI problems. After about 10 miles I picked it up because my friend passed me and I didn't want to lose to him(I did anyway though). And for the next 20 miles I pushed a little harder than I should have.. At 30 I could tell I wasn't going to be able to keep that effort up so I let him go and switched down in gears to try to recover my legs a bit. Thankfully I did, because I could tell I was on the cusp of bonking. The rest of the bike went well because I slowed down. I ended up finishing that leg in 2 hours and 42 minutes, which is an average of 20.5mph. I'm very pleased with it because it was a pretty hilly course. T2 was a bit of a struggle. My right foot had a sharp pain in it so I hobbled over to the race to put my bike up and get ready for the run.. Then I hobbled out onto the run course. Thankfully the foot pain went away after a quarter mile and I was good to go. The first 3 miles were great, I did my best to keep an easy pace that I was confident I could hold for 13.1 miles. The mile splits were all sub 7, so I was looking pretty good for a top 5 finish. Things started to fall apart however after that.. 4 and 5 I could feel some cramps coming so I backed it off a bit, not sure the pace, I forgot to check. I was walking every aid station getting either water or gatorade, hoping the cramps would go away.. But alas they did not, and for the rest of the race I could go 600-800 meters but then be forced to walk with a sudden cramp. The home stretch was a half mile long, and I decided to run through anything that may happen(gotta look good for the spectators!) It was going well until the last 25 meters then both my hamstrings seized up at the same time BAD, I was able to hobble in and cross the finish line and it took two burly volunteer dudes to keep me up and essentially carry me over to the rest tent they had set up. After thanking them many times and telling them I was okay they went back to the finish line to help others(I seriously love volunteers, they are what make races great for injury prone people like me). I made my way over to the medical tent and got massaged, which was surprisingly painful, but it worked wonders and I felt good enough to run another half-iron. I guess the run wasn't horrible as I am making it out to be because somehow I was able to hold an 8:20 half pace despite all the walking and cramps(just one cramp free race is all I'm asking!) I ended up getting 14/300 overall, and 3rd for my agegroup. Overall it was a successfull day, didn't get the time I hoped but for the course and conditions I am pretty pleased. Even better is that I didn't have the stress fracture I thought I had 3 weeks ago! If it was the run would have been a heck of a lot more painful, most likely it was a bad case of shin splints and my compression sleeves kept it from acting up. So that is my race report for my half, I'll have another one for the olympic I'm doing in 2 weeks which will hopefully go well. And if anyone has any advice on leg cramps during long triathlons I'd love some help! I'm not sure if it was dehydration or what, I drank way more than usual on the bike.. But probably not enough on the run since I finished 6 hours ago and haven't peed yet despite the 7-8 water bottles I've had since finishing. Edit: Wow I pretty much typed a novel for my race report.. I guess since it was a long race I had a lot to say haha.

Originally posted by wenceslasz [I had a wild day yesterday. I'm stiff all over and can barely walk. I did the Challenge Penticton bike route. 180km! I raced Sister Madonna for some of the race. I passed her at the 120km Special Needs station but 30km further on she passed me at the Yellow Lake summit and I never saw her again. She must have climbed better than me and then on the down side after Yellow Lake (30km almost all of it downhill - fast!) she was just gone. At 83 she is very amazing. I'll write a report PDQ but I have to go for a walk to loosen up. And tonight I have the athletes dinner to attend.

Originally posted by brrit <hoping this doesn't show up twice... First effort disappeared> Nice race reports, you two!! Inspiring for newbies like me. Couple of mentions about swim caps... As a (non/new) swimmer slowly swimming in the pool, I'm pretty self-conscious about wearing a swim cap. Why wear one? Are there real benefits? Just for the speedsters?

Originally posted by iLOVEwaffles

Just finished my second race of the season! The first one being an Olympic distance and this race being a half-iron. The half iron I did today was a B-race, my A-race being an olympic 2 weeks away so I only tapered for about a week for this half.

First I'll give a little info about the weather today in Grand Rapids, since it is a little important. At the start of the race was around 74, and it worked its way up to 88 by the time I finished. Wind was 14mph SW. The wind wasn't a huge factor for most of the course, from 26-32 and from 44-56 it was headwind. Anyways onto the report!

The gun for the half was set to go off at 8am, at 7:50 I got into the water and adjusted my cap, goggles, and wetsuit and did about 100 meter warmup. When the race started I felt strong, so I decided to get ahead of the pack so I wouldn't be swam over. After about 200 meters I was one of around 8 people who were a good distance ahead of the pack, a few guys broke off but I let them go. After last years mishap in the full I decided to treat the swim as a warmup and sit on someone's tail who was about my skill level and coast the entire way. It worked until about 500 meters in when the person I was tailing took a turn to early and we swam 50 meters in the wrong direction, we were stopped by a kayak and told to turn back. All-in-all it was about 100 meters extra of swimming. I wasn't mad though because I was dumb enough to follow someone without sighting, I just decided to sprint back on course and draft someone else while sighting occasionally. The rest of teh swim went off without a hitch and I came into transition at 32 minutes and 25 seconds which I was pretty happy about. Drafting on the swim is seriously amazing, I was hardly tired by the end of the swim. If you have any more races this year try it!

Anyways T1 went well. Wetsuit strippers did their job and I was off to the bike. I put socks and shoes on next to the bike because I haven't practiced flying mounts and I can run pretty well with my cycling shoes.

The First 15 minutes of the bike I took it easy and kept a higher cadence to get my legs in bike mode. I forgot a water bottle so I had to drink concentrated perpetum instead :/ Today was the first day I tried it(stupid I know), but it turned out well. I've got an iron stomach so I can usually eat a lot without many GI problems. After about 10 miles I picked it up because my friend passed me and I didn't want to lose to him(I did anyway though). And for the next 20 miles I pushed a little harder than I should have.. At 30 I could tell I wasn't going to be able to keep that effort up so I let him go and switched down in gears to try to recover my legs a bit. Thankfully I did, because I could tell I was on the cusp of bonking. The rest of the bike went well because I slowed down. I ended up finishing that leg in 2 hours and 42 minutes, which is an average of 20.5mph. I'm very pleased with it because it was a pretty hilly course.

T2 was a bit of a struggle. My right foot had a sharp pain in it so I hobbled over to the race to put my bike up and get ready for the run.. Then I hobbled out onto the run course.

Thankfully the foot pain went away after a quarter mile and I was good to go. The first 3 miles were great, I did my best to keep an easy pace that I was confident I could hold for 13.1 miles. The mile splits were all sub 7, so I was looking pretty good for a top 5 finish. Things started to fall apart however after that.. 4 and 5 I could feel some cramps coming so I backed it off a bit, not sure the pace, I forgot to check. I was walking every aid station getting either water or gatorade, hoping the cramps would go away.. But alas they did not, and for the rest of the race I could go 600-800 meters but then be forced to walk with a sudden cramp. The home stretch was a half mile long, and I decided to run through anything that may happen(gotta look good for the spectators!) It was going well until the last 25 meters then both my hamstrings seized up at the same time BAD, I was able to hobble in and cross the finish line and it took two burly volunteer dudes to keep me up and essentially carry me over to the rest tent they had set up. After thanking them many times and telling them I was okay they went back to the finish line to help others(I seriously love volunteers, they are what make races great for injury prone people like me). I made my way over to the medical tent and got massaged, which was surprisingly painful, but it worked wonders and I felt good enough to run another half-iron. I guess the run wasn't horrible as I am making it out to be because somehow I was able to hold an 8:20 half pace despite all the walking and cramps(just one cramp free race is all I'm asking!)

I ended up getting 14/300 overall, and 3rd for my agegroup. Overall it was a successfull day, didn't get the time I hoped but for the course and conditions I am pretty pleased. Even better is that I didn't have the stress fracture I thought I had 3 weeks ago! If it was the run would have been a heck of a lot more painful, most likely it was a bad case of shin splints and my compression sleeves kept it from acting up.

So that is my race report for my half, I'll have another one for the olympic I'm doing in 2 weeks which will hopefully go well. And if anyone has any advice on leg cramps during long triathlons I'd love some help! I'm not sure if it was dehydration or what, I drank way more than usual on the bike.. But probably not enough on the run since I finished 6 hours ago and haven't peed yet despite the 7-8 water bottles I've had since finishing.


Edit: Wow I pretty much typed a novel for my race report.. I guess since it was a long race I had a lot to say haha.

Originally posted by brrit


Couple of mentions about swim caps... As a (non/new) swimmer slowly swimming in the pool, I'm pretty self-conscious about wearing a swim cap. Why wear one? Are there real benefits? Just for the speedsters?

Originally posted by miche033

Fantastic job! Congrats on the podium! Doing a HIM as a B-race to get ready for an oly... makes a lot of sense to me now. I might have to throw in an end-of-season sprint just to take advantage of all the crazy training I've done this summer!

I often try to draft in the swim, but it's never worked out for me. :/

Cramps... ugh... did you do any electrolytes? Foam rolling in between workouts? I dunno... my hamstrings are feeling super tight these days. I hope I can stave off cramps on race day. (2 weeks til my HIM!!!)

Enjoy your oly! Will feel like a piece of cake, no?

Originally posted by TRIal_of_miles


That was a stellar finishing time despite the mishaps. I hope you don't mind if I ask for some tips before I do my first HIM next year. In the mean time good luck on your A race!

Originally posted by miche033

Welcome Nathalie! You have some great experience under your belt! I am hoping to avoid putting on weight after my first ever HIM in 2 weeks. But I will def need some time off. I am starting to feel a little burned out.