Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum--OPEN! (Page 29)

Hi Dan,

After I stopped drooling over your lobster bake picture, I noticed that you are going to volunteer at the IM Lake Tahoe in 2 weeks.

I"ll be at Lake Tahoe starting on Sat, 9/21. I didn't realize that the Ironman race is being held on that date. That is cool! My company event doesn't start until Sunday night, so I should arrive soon enough to catch some of the race.

Dave

Dave, that's a nice venue for a company function! Do you know where you will be, the race is on the north shore. The Swim starts at Kings Beach and then the race finishes at Squaw Valley.
Hopefully it will be warmer than last years start?

Dan,

We'll be at the Hyatt Regency Resort at Incline Village. Looks like only a few miles from Kings Beach.
I've never been to LT before, but am hoping to get a chance to swim in the lake myself. I'm guessing it will be a wetsuit swim.

Dave

Dan the lobster bake looks amazing! Good Luck in getting in IM!!!

Yes you are not far from Kings Beach and you are in for a treat, I think it is probably one of the most beautiful lakes there is! Water temps should be around 65, it is hard to know what the air temp might be, last year the swim started with temps of 32 with a little snow the night before, the Sierras are unpredictable

Thanks............I think? should be an interesting year for me, it is a very big goal.

Any time the day starts out with the registration volunteers asking the athletes to go find rocks to keep their papers from blowing away, you might suspect you are in for an interesting event! Skaneateles Lake is 16 miles long, and the wind was barreling straight up it at 19 mph, gusting to 27. Fortunately for my mental state, during my last swim workout I had just beem thinking to myself that while I am not a fast swimmer, I feel I'm a strong one. I didn't doubt that I could complete the swim despite the strong headwind and chop, strategizing to keep a fast turnover & to "follow the bubbles",but I knew I'd be exhausted afterwards.
The RD though thought it would be unsafe for many of the swimmers & difficult for the kayakers to respond, so the swim was cancelled. I wasn't sorry! He decided NOT to substitute another run, but to go directly into the bike leg. We were started one at a time at intervals of ~4 seconds. This took a long time, and I got pretty cold waiting for my turn. At least I wasn't standing around in a wet tri suit!
I felt quite strong on the ride, not having had to swim first. The headwinds & crosswinds were challenging in places, especially going up the longest hill in a strong headwind. When I was struggling up it, I thought of the ones to whom I dedicated this race, the Afghan Women's National Cycling Team, and all the hills both literal and figurative they have climbed. During my ride I sent out many thoughts of prayer & protection that none of that group should come to any harm.
I'm happy with my time/speed, given the adverse conditions. 35th %ile among all participants and 54 %ile among all women. 16.5 mph
The transition was uneventful. I was 71st %ile among all participants and 77th %ile among all women (44th out of 197). I'm happy with this.
The run course was an out & back with a side loop on the return. It started with a pretty good-sized hill for the first 8/10 mile, then some small ups & downs; the long descent was interrupted by the side loop which included an uphill steeper than the first, although shorter.
I could see my rival Ruth R about 30 yards ahead of me all the way to the turn-around. I beat her at CLT by only 58 seconds & had been concerned she would take it this time. However, I knew she had started her bike before me, although I wasn't sure by how much. I was pushing myself to keep her in my sight, but I knew that at the turn-around when she saw how close I was, she would amp it up, which she did. (My age, she has completed 100 marathons and is a better runner than me!)
I really wanted to walk on that last nasty little hill, but I thought about Ruth, and also channeled another running friend who always puts out 150%.I ran up it using my sideways running technique.
I'm not unhappy with my time,30:06, since the course was so hard & my effort was at the max. 27th %ile among all participants and 38th %ile among all women.
Good news: right leg/knee did not hurt either during the race or after, although it had been hurting some before & during the drive.
My overall time was 1:19:06; in the 35 %ile among all participants and 49th %ile among all women.(40 seconds faster & I would have been at 50th my goal, but I don't know where that 40 secs could have come from.) I did beat Ruth by 4 minutes, and was 1st in my big AG of 4 athletes. It was a satisfying race, and I'm kind of sad that it's the last triathlon of the season. Now I just have cross-country to look forward to and prepare for!






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GREAT report, thanks for taking the time to post. It sounds like the wind was awful but you did a GREAT job. That will be a tri you will not forget...lol Congrats

Congrats on a great race, Deb. Isn't that two age group wins in a row???

Loved the fully narrated race report. Glad you took us along with you through the wind, the hills and the challenges of the day.

Congrats Deb - great report too... but my favorite part is the picture - what a perfect shot to capture the end of season feeling :-(

Quick update from points south. Haven't been traveling (other than one weekend) for 3 weeks now and what a difference it has made. Back into a nice routine and have put together 3 decent weeks of training. Nothing heavy, mind you, but at least consistent for the first time since February. I've got a dicey month coming up soon (which includes conflicts for the last two triathlons of the season - grrrr), but hoping I can at least hold on to the running. 10K race coming up a week from tomorrow. We'll see how those Kinetic Challenge exercises help, but I don't think they'll overcome long term lack of training!

Speaking of KR Challenge, what I ended up deciding to do is to do the full 30 day challenge, but not 30 days consecutively, so it will wind up being like 45 calendar days for me. I found taking a couple of days off during each week helped my knees recover and that has seemed to do the trick. Anyway, am about halfway through at this point. Some of the exercises are really challenging and my form is a disaster due to lack of flexibility, so, if nothing else, it has at least highlighted that deficiency in my current routine.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Stu

Thanks for all your kind words. I really value all of your support and "atta girls."
Now I get to do a series of 6 cross-country races in which my goal is just not to be dead last! Unlike in sprint triathlons, 5k's & even 10 k's, these competitors are all fairly serious runners. Since I'm generally the oldest female, dead last might be expected unless I were a really good runner, which I am definitely not. The age group goes from 60-69, so I don't win that either.
When I started these sports a few years ago, I thought I'd continue until I was the oldest & slowest, but x-c has cured me of that. It's still lots of fun! First race is in one week.
Other goals: better times than last year; not to injure myself with all this running.
Anyone racing this weekend?.
Deb

Nice job in adverse conditions.

Leaving at 3:45 in order to make your donation was very admirable. Great Job!

Great Pic!

Had fun and a pretty decent 5K today. It's in the town where my younger daughter attends college so we got to spend time with her then got to drive another hour to see the older one. Came in 7/24 in AG and 61 OA

Decided not to swim with my open water group today because there was a great white spotted two towns over and attacked two kayaks who were OK but it took a bite out of one of the Kayaks.

It is just unusual for them to be in Cape Cod Bay and I always felt safe before. The outer cape is loaded with them because of the seal population and the great white situation has been getting worse as the seal population grows.

I was just wondering, am I just being whimpy or smart?

How is the shark situation where you live and how do you handle it?

Thanks,
James

Edited by JREDFLY 2014-09-07 8:21 PM

With the fish being spotted fairly close to your area, I'd say you're being very smart to avoid an OWS at the moment.

I don't worry about sharks when swimming in Long Island Sound, since the larger species are very rarely seen here. Our only real concern is the possibility of being stung by jellyfish.

Deb: great finish to your season. I love that bike pic - very aggressive seat-bar drop. .Judi: nice job on your 5k. Fun and 7th sounds like a great race. James: smart!I did a race yesterday - my first iron distance race. I am an Astroman (that is the name of the race...swim and run are same as the branded IM and the bike is 190 km). I promise a full race report in a day or two after I get back home. Short story: 13:46 to finish, 305/1000 overall and about 11/77 in my 55-59 age group. Those stats came out of a spreadsheet that was getting updated real time during the race. I need to see the official stats and also look at my Garmin and power meter data to figue out how much time I spent in transition (they usually just limp t1 and t2 into the bike here in Japan...very strange). My splits were about 1:28 swim, 6:55 bike and 5:15 run. It was a great learning experience. Sorry for the formatting. Sent from my ipad.

Edited by dcon 2014-09-08 3:25 AM

Saturday morning I finished my last tri of the season. It was a mini-sprint, "beat your time", repeat of my first triathlon of the year. Distances: 1/4 mile swim, 9.2 mile bike, and 1.6 mile run.

On 2am Saturday morning I wasn't sure I would even be able to compete. I was having near constant cramps in my right leg that ran from point of my hip to the bottom of my foot. Excruciating pain! I decided I had already paid for the triathlon so I might as well show up. Fortunately, the cramps subsided and I was able to compete.

I ended up beating my June time by 2 minutes (1:00.56 in September compared to 1:02.43 in June). My goal was to break 1 hour, so I just missed that.

Compared to the other two in my age group, I was the first out of the water, second out of T1, second off the bike, and last to finish. I lost most of my time in the run where I was doing some walking because of the cramps. Even with that, I was less than a minute out of second place for my age group. If I can just get to where I running the whole course I'll be doing pretty good.

Overall, I'm happy with the results!

Scott I.

I started this Triathlon journey last December after a visit to a cardiologist. The report was not good. I had high blood pressure, poor cholesterol numbers, slightly elevated fasting blood sugars, and the degree of calcification in my carotid arteries more typical of a seventy year old. It was past time for me to get back in shape!

When I was younger I had been a runner. That was my "go to" form of exercise, but my last couple of attempts at running had been plagued by injuries. I decided I needed to take a multi-sport approach that allowed me to continue exercising while recuperating leg injuries. So at the end of December I decided to take up triathlon.

Since December, I've gone from barely being able to swim the length of the pool to 2000 yards per workout. I've gone from being exhausted after a 3 mile bike ride to enjoying 20 mile rides on the weekend. And, I've gone from barely being able to run a 1/2 mile to ... well, my run still needs to be fixed. Most importantly, I've lost 30 pounds, my blood pressure is down, my cholesterol numbers are much better, and my blood sugars are near normal. Overall I'm feeling better than I have in a very long time!

I would like to thank you all for your support. When I joined this mentor group in May, I was about ready to quit. My leg problems were very frustrating, and the initial surge of improvement I had experienced early in the year was slowing down. Everyone jumped in with helpful suggests, but I'd especially like to thank Steve, Scott K., and Deb. Steve's "Attitude is Everything" post back in May was very well timed for me. It reminded me that everyone experiences those difficult days and that this is a long journey with many peaks and valleys. Scott's advice on swimming technique and OWS was incredibly helpful. And Deb, your advice to sing to myself during long open water swims has really worked well for me!

Now, about the off season...

Thanks!
Scott I.

Judi: congrats on the 5K. A nice result, and most important, getting back to the fun of it
Dan-Japan: can't wait til I see your full report. It seems you did a great job. It's interesting to have someone so far away in our group.
James: Smart!! Live to swim another day.
And Scott: you are the really big winner here. You won your life back, by your own determination and hard work. Great going.
Deb

Congrats to everyone!

Scott, that is the way be beat cholesterol and artery issues. I'm a small guy and yes my cholesterol was not what I wanted so I'm trying going vegan. I started going vegan 4 months ago, I have a check up Oct 2 and will get my results. I'll try to post if I remember if it worked or not. I have lost some weight, strength but I am FINALLY learning how to eat vegan and not lose so much weight. The good part is I have more energy then the energizer bunny.

I'm not racing currently due to my 1st marathon Nov 8, and a 50K Dec 13. I have been swimming every day just for 30 minutes or so and I'm getting much better but still have bad days when it just does not seem to be working...lol

I hope everyone is doing GREAT!!!

What's that?

Seriously great post, Scott - congrats on all you've accomplished thus far - really fabulous! What's on the docket for next year? What will you work on this winter to help you get there?