Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete Mentor Group (Page 27)

How long doe sit take to bounce back from recovery  or off time?  

I did my "A race" a little over a month ago. Leading up to the race I neglected a lot of things to make time for training.  After the race I cut my training back to about 30-40% of what I had been doing and used the extra time to get caught off on other projects and work.  I just got back to training a week ago and was wondering how quick I can get back into race shape.  

I know some of the top elite athlete will take a month off every year but I don't know of any of them that are back to racing 2 months after their month off.  I am wondering if I should approach a fall race as an "A Race" and really work hard for the next two months with the goal to PR or if I should approach it as a "B Race" to just do for the race experience but not expect but not PR.

Well my Dad always said that advise is what people ask for when they already know the answer but don't want to do it.  Some times I am not sure what it is that I don't want to do until I hear the answer and see what my knee jerk reaction is.  Well...I defiantly want to train hard for 10 weeks and race hard at the Redman 70.3 the end of September.  I don't want to take it easy and race for the experience.  I guess I need to start to focus on next spring and keep this race in perspective as a building event. :-)

Deb - glad to hear you're doing well and congrats on the "early release" .  Listen to the docs (sounds like you are) and you'll be back before you know it.

George - Good luck with your race this weekend!

I have a race this weekend also - just a sprint.  I went back and looked at the bike course again this week and it's got me a little nervous.  It's only 15 miles but it's basically uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back - and I'm not good with hills.  Luckily they're not steep hills so I think I'll be OK, and the ride back should be good.  It's going to be a warm morning though - probably low's 80's during the race (which is actually cool compared to what we're getting now).  I haven't raced since May though so I'm curious to see how my training over the last couple of months with affect my performance. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Janet

I believe that's the definition of "A Small World!"

Seems there has been lots of discussion about "breathing" the last couple of weeks as there's been a number of threads over in the main forum.  More often than not, the problem isn't "breathing" per se.  The problem is more likely improper technique that appears to be manifesting itself as breathing because you "can't catch your breath."

A couple things to remember -

• Whenever your face is in the water you should be exhaling through your nose - ALWAYS
• Don't raise your head to breathe
• Don't over-rotate to breathe - stroke should be symetrical
• Remember "one goggle out, one goggle in" when you breathe

If you are technique "challenged" you'll likely be swimming anaerobically - which would quickly have you feeling like you can't catch your breath.  Focus on improving your technique and the breathing will come.  A good set to consider when you are struggling a bit with "breathing" is something like 25-50-75-100-75-50-25 ladders with 10" rest between intervals, then 30" rest between sets.  That gives you the break to "catch your breath" and as you get to where you can't catch your breath in the available rest, the intervals begin to get shorter - making it so you can catch your breath.

Most importantly, stick with it.  The day WILL come when you will have that "Ah-Ha" moment and it will "click" - it takes time in the water and yards in the bank.

Thanks for the encouragement for my race tomorrow everyone.  In the last couple days before a race I am usually wishing I had never signed up for it and today is worse than usual.  It usually disappears as soon as the horn sounds to send off my wave.  Then I just get down to doing it.

Tomorrow will be a little more challenging for me as they have cut the cut off times (off the bike by noon and finished the run by 2:30 (7.5 hours total).  My fastest 70.3 was 7:28 several years ago.  I'm not worried about it.  If I can get off the bike before noon then I can just get out and do my run the best I can.  I may overtime but I will finish.  It will be more important that I have a good run and that in itself will be great.

Adbru and Julie - Too funny especially when you consider how close you can become as lane mates.  

Deb - I'll be thinking of you tomorrow every time I hit my saddle.  

Kelly - I'm racing the Penticton half and feeling my usual apprehension.  I don't like this waiting game.

I'm heading out next to go to Package Pick-up and get my stuff organized for tomorrow.  I'll write a race report as soon as I can.

My race yesterday turned into a death march.  I never saw anyone have any trouble but I've since heard there were many people dropping out due to heat issues.  Even one of the Pros had heat stroke (and another one had a bad accident).

I started out with a good swim.  The conditions were perfect and I seemed to find a lot of feet to draught off of.  My expectation was to swim in 42 minutes but I managed a surprising 38:00 minutes.

My bike ride was slow and I was alone for the bulk of the ride.  I tried to not use my legs too hard but as usual I had to push myself into Zn 3 for a lot of the ride and I wound up burning too many matches (as is usual for me).  I got to the dismount line about 6 minutes before the cut off time (I was really worried about that).

I made it out of transition and started out running but not very fast.  My HR was elevated and I had trouble lowering it.  The heat was something fierce on the asphalt but I just put it out of my mind and carried on.  At the aid stations I drank coke, electrolyte and water.  They weren't filling the cups with more than two ounces of fluid so I was taking 3 of each to get about 6 oz of each.  I also poured water over my head, back and shoulders to keep cool.  It must have worked because I was in the sun without shade for the full time and managed to finish in decent shape.

I couldn't run fast but I ran as much as I could and I was so glad to see the finish and be done.  My shorts and top were caked in salt and I was tired but steady on my feet and coherent.  Had a cold water then my wife got me a COLD beer and burger.  It took a while for my HR to calm down but I felt good.

Next day I'm pretty stiff and sore but not as bad as some of my friends that also did the race.  I finished 2nd from last but in fairness to me some slower people dropped out due to the heat.  To be honest, as hot as it was, I never considered not finishing.

I'll write a full report as soon as I can.