Shellback1998 Group - FULL (Page 29)

Roland - you show them how the triathletes can bowl!  Good luck.

Thor - yes, my first triathlon and only my second attempt at OWS.  The first time out I did not make as much forward progress as I had thought.  I thought the wetsuit would make me glide through the water without effort.  Ha, was I wrong.   I went to the pool last night and swam 3/4 mile (two 1/4 miles without stopping and it wasn't hard at all).  I need practice with the cold, the wetsuit, etc.  That said, it was really fun to get out in the water finally.

Everlong - after my daughters nordic ski races in Northern Minnesota where we have to wait for the temperature to get high enough that they will let the kids ski this isn't cold.  Plus you get to keep moving which also helps.  The lake temps around here are actually around 55. 

Scott - my little mother hen, worrying about my safety.  Thank you.  That's why I force the spotters along.  Plus, we happen to have a spare wetsuit at the cabin that will fit my son (19yrs) so I might get him hooked.  He already runs.  I'll show you a picture of my bright yellow swim cap.  I got the brightest one I could find and it has an attitude too.

Twin Peaks - good luck with your race this weekend.

Mom's surgery is tomorrow.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Linda

Good luck! 

What? the wetsuit doesn't swim for you?? :-)

I will start some OWS next weekend...

shellback1998 - 2011-06-03 7:08 AM

thor67 - 2011-06-03 9:04 AMDone my swim this morning. Bike this afternoon! Should be a good one with the temp dropping to 48, with rain and gusting winds. Sweet!

Perfect race condition eh... Lol awesome job, I have a 20 min bike with 3 accelerations and a 15 min run with 3 accelerations today then hydrate and relax. First race tomorrow morning! Have a great weekend.

Where is your race tomorrow? What distance? Are your races usually on Saturday?

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Thanks all.  I'll report back next week with results.  Unfortunately, Sunday is my first open water swim of the year!

Scott, good luck tomorrow.

Good luck to everybody racing this weekend. I'm doing an OWS race but really I'm only concerned with the experience and having the correct pace.

Did a recovery ride today that ended up being more hills than I needed as we tried cutting through a park. My legs were dead after the big workouts from earlier in the week and the heart rate was spiking even on smaller hills. Still held it down to a 138 AHR but I really didn't want it that high. I don't think my legs have felt that dead in a few months. Glad to taper some this week to get my strength back for next weekend.

I've got an OWS this weekend as well, also my first of the year.  It'll also be the first time I've ever worn a wetsuit -- I bought an Xterra last week, so hopefully things go well.

Enjoy your Friday, everyone!

scout142 - 2011-06-02 8:32 PM

charminchick - 2011-06-02 9:08 PM

shellback1998 - 2011-06-02 8:17 AM

charminchick - 2011-06-01 10:22 PM Well, I solved the heat problem! I ran tonight from 8:30-9:15. I really didn't have any other time of the day to run. I made it this time! Stopped once for bathroom and some gatorade and a second time to pick up my daughter who ran a mile with me. It would have been no problem though for me to run the whole 45 mins. I won't try to do it in the heat of the day again for sure!

 

That's great... Just keep in mind that your race isn't going to be at night. So, if time allows you, try to run early in the morning. That will give you the best indication on what you're pace and HR will be like at that time. Towards the end of the day, your HR reserve is going to be higher as your body becomes fatigued. Good job on the 45 mins though. 

Awesome job on the run by your daughter as well. You should see if there are any kids triathlons that she could compete in

Scott

 

Yep! She's going to do one July 30! I am so excited for her. Tonight, I biked 10 miles and ran 20 mins on the treadmill -- I hate treadmill running, but we had an air quality alert and I didn't want to inhale all of the nastiness!

Awesome! I've almost talked my 13 yr old daughter into training for a sprint tri in September. She's nervous about the OWS but I'll try to help her with that as soon as school let's out. Biked this am for 30 mins easy Z2, then went for another bike this evening...shooting for and felt like a mid z3, but hr was much higher and i was trucking (for me)! averaged 18.6 mph and was on the aero bars almost the whole time . Despite higher then normal hr, it felt great!

I haven't gotten that speed yet on my bike -- I average at 15, sometimes 16 in a race. I'm working on it though. Going to get the clips for my bike and some good bike shoes and see how that works for me.

shellback1998 - 2011-06-03 9:08 AM

thor67 - 2011-06-03 9:04 AMDone my swim this morning. Bike this afternoon! Should be a good one with the temp dropping to 48, with rain and gusting winds. Sweet!

Perfect race condition eh... Lol awesome job, I have a 20 min bike with 3 accelerations and a 15 min run with 3 accelerations today then hydrate and relax. First race tomorrow morning! Have a great weekend.

Good luck Scott! I'm sure you'll do great!  What are "accelerations"?  I feel silly for asking  - hopefully its cool tri term I can learn and not just the multiple of 'speeding up' =)

Have a great race tomorrow

David

scout142 - 2011-06-03 2:45 PM

shellback1998 - 2011-06-03 9:08 AM

thor67 - 2011-06-03 9:04 AMDone my swim this morning. Bike this afternoon! Should be a good one with the temp dropping to 48, with rain and gusting winds. Sweet!

Perfect race condition eh... Lol awesome job, I have a 20 min bike with 3 accelerations and a 15 min run with 3 accelerations today then hydrate and relax. First race tomorrow morning! Have a great weekend.

Good luck Scott! I'm sure you'll do great!  What are "accelerations"?  I feel silly for asking  - hopefully its cool tri term I can learn and not just the multiple of 'speeding up' =)

Have a great race tomorrow

David

Accelorations are just picking up cadence. I had a recovery ride today, had to keep my HR in the mid 120's and accelerations help with blood to the legs. 

introducing

**Stay at the lower end of zone R if you feel you need the recovery.  Keep cadence at 95+ throughout!Insert 3x30s accelerations.

Have fun at the Charles River Race... 70 deg water is going to feel awesome....

Scott

My mom's knee surgery went well.  I'm learning nursing and physical therapy skills....definitely not my strength.  I had an opportunity to leave for a few hours and did an ows at the cabin here.  Scott -my son was my spotter and counted laps between the docks.  Water felt great but alittle choppy.  Still expending too much energy out there, but much, much improved over last weekend.

Plan to do a brick tomorrow, 12 mile bike followed by 3.6 run (my Sprint distance) when my dad gets to the hospital around 6pm.

Looking forward to hearing how everyones events go this weekend.

Linda

Glad to hear it went well.

The water temp was perfect. Not much else went right for me though.

I got a bad nights sleep waking up twice at 12:30 and 3:30. Once I got up I had a very upset stomach which is odd for me because that never happens. It wasn't nerves because I have lot of competition experience and really didn't care about this race. I had to use the little boys room many times during the morning.

We got there early and found good parking. Stretched out and took it easy. Got dressed all low key. I still wasn't sure if the water would be as warm as advertized so when I hopped in the water I was pleasantly surprised. The air when I left my house was 45 but had warmed to 62 by race time so I was really psyched. 

This one guy showed up with a Velcro strap-on shark fin, I kid you not. The velcro went from just under his chest call the way to his waist line. The fin was that long on his back and stuck out of the water 2.5 feet. When you need attention that badly there's an issue.

So the race is a threading water start  it's congested as always when it goes off. Mr Asshat in the shark fin comes flying up from the back of the pack and just starts running people over including me. He was breathing about every 8th stroke and not sighting at all. He ran over at least 10 people. He was over my legs and then up under me jamming the shark fin right into my throat which cause me to choke and take on water.

So I thread water and start swimming and I'm not thinking about my plan now and I start swimming way to fast and not spotting nearly enough. I figure out I'm off course and correct and somebody hits my legs. Apparently they were pissed and they grabbed one of my legs and tried to drag me under. Seriously WTF? Even the shark guy who I was pissed for being a jerk I didn't do anything to. I got smacked more in this swim than any other I've ever done and I never thought about grabbing a leg.

So I make the turn at the first buoy and my goggle start to fog up really badly. I thread and clear and go back into my swim and they instantly fog again. Complicating this the sun is behind the second and third buoys. I suddenly realize with everything going on I'm pretty tired. So I flip my goggles up onto my forehead and do the breast stroke for 20 seconds to get my heart rate down, breathing under control and hopefully cool off so my goggles will stop fogging.

I then tread, clear the goggles and begin again. Between the second and forth buoys it was a constant struggle of going off course, fogging goggles, adjusting and restarting. About halfway between the second and third buoys I nearly threw in the towel. I was fatigued, aggravated and not feeling up to snuff. I put my goggles onto my forehead and decided to do a combination of the breast and side stroke so I could at least stay on course. It was about one-third for each of side, breast and free for this period.

At the forth buoy I knew I could just aim for the docks and didn't need to spot. So I put the goggles down and by far the last quarter was the fastest part of my swim.

Overall the event was really well run. The issues I faced were all on me. I shouldn't have let shark-boy and the other person get to me. I never should have gone out that fast after. I should have put an extra set of goggles in my wetsuit and put anti-fog on both. I should have spotted better and I wouldn't doubt that I swam 1.25 instead of 1 mile.

The good news is I still finished in 32:45 for a 1:51/100 yard pace. My training partner experienced all the same issues I did and came in about 5 minutes after I did. Most importantly I learned some valuable lessons for next weeks Ashland Olympic TRI which is also 1 mile and exactly the same buoy configuration. I also now know I need to get in a lot more open swims as the pool doesn't completely translate. I also know I need to taper this week more than I anticipated. I've been pulling in some huge workouts and it's time to let my body rest.

everylong - Thanks for sharing your race experience with us.  This type of information really helps me as I plan for my first tri.  The water is my most difficult and right now I do several of the things that you mentioned, relax, treadwater, adjust my goggles, swim side stroke for awhile to relax and get my heart rate down.  Just knowing someone with experience is able to swim well while they have to make several adjustments during their swim is encouraging to me.

Oh and as for shark boy - I can't believe they allow that.  It seems like it would be a hazard to the other swimmers.  I mean couldn't the guy just get a weird swim cap and make his statement that way.  If you can't wear fins (on your feet) why would they let you wear a fin on your back?

Going crazy at the hospital.  If I'm not at therapy with mom then she is sleeping and I am on the computer.  But my mom has been great.  They are having to keep her back from walking too much and this 24 hours after her surgery.  I'm trying not to get too hopeful, but I may get to take her to the cabin on Monday which means YES the lake for OWS and gently rolling hills for biking and running.  I let my son drive my new car if he will spot me in the water and so far it is working fine.  Plus someone needs to be with my mom when I am off exercising.  As you can see I feel very comfortable offering bribes.  Later this week I'll add in food or cash but for now I'm keeping that in reserve. My sister hasn't shown up at the hospital yet and she lives in town.  Did I mention we are a bit disfunctional?

Enjoy the weekend.

Linda

Wow, that sounds like a swimming nightmare. What doesn't kill you will make you stronger!

Well decided to skip bike yesterday due to cold, windy rainy day and go today...snowed last night, still cold(43F) and windy but no rain or snow. Tough ride to say the least. something went on my gear shifters at the 8 mile mark out of 20. could only change the big/small. Bucking the wind all the way back...

Hopefully this is the last of Shellback group bad saturday stories!

Well I wouldn't call it swimming well, LOL. I consider my swim to be pretty strong so this was a major slap of reality that open water is different and that I need to pay it more attention. That said whatever tricks you need to finish you use. The first mile swim I ever did I was 11 years old in Boy Scouts. I was the youngest to finish by 3 years. The other older kids in my troupe said I would never finish. When I did you can imagine my smugness. I did back, free, breast and side that day. I wasn't quitting.

I'm torn on Shark-boy. On one hand it is a USTA sanctioned event and I'm sure by having a device on even one that wasn't really helpful to the swim he was ineligible for any awards. So to each his own and if he's out there just having fun oh well. Now when he slammed through the entire front grouping at the start I begin to question does this guy think he's really a shark or something? Was he doing some type of action role playing at the expense of others? That's where I think they should  have yanked him from the water.

Hanging at the hospital is tiring. It's like the air has been recycled for so long it's more like sleeping gas. It's great that you hang in there for her.

Enjoy the weekend.

Linda

I want to move to San Diego with the weather I get and then I read your posts and am torn between feeling like a wuss and feeling blessed for my weather. It sounds like your cables are stretched out and a tuneup will fix you up.