Dominion's Sprint/Oly/70.3 Group--Closed (Page 29)

Congrats Randy. Chris that sounds like a pretty intense ride. I would been in a tangled heep!

So my racecation is next weekend. Took the last 3 days off as I was coming down with a cold. Ran part of the run course today. Essentially uphill for about 1.4 miles levels then downhill to the turn around. Will be tough but great views of the lake and then grade is mostly low except the short section after the turn. I drove the bike route the hills are long and intense. Some spanning over 3 miles. Planning riding the course this week. Little nervous about my previous plan of pounding the swim and bike. Any thoughts from the group on how to aproach. .3mile swim, 15mile bike, 5k run. Swim will be wetsuit but not long enough for any real benefit.

It took some sleuthing, but I was able to find the results from my race (even though they aren't actually posted on the event web site yet).

Swim: 34.47, 54 out of 63, 6 of 6 in my age group
T1: 2:37, 52 of 63, 6 of 6 AG
Bike: 1:37:47, 46 of 63, 6 of 6 AG
T2: 1:12, 30 of 63, 5 of 6 AG
Run: 1:05:42, 56 of 63, 6 of 6 AG
Overall: 3:22:07, 53 of 63, 6 of 6 AG

Well, at least I nailed my T2 and got 30th! LOL

Edited by rjchilds8 2015-08-11 8:42 AM

Good job on your first Oly! I think you figured out that pushing too hard on the bike has it's consequences. Once you figure out better what your pacing should be on the bike, you'll be much better on the run portion.

Enrique

Biked the bike course plus 6 miles this morning. So glad I did. Out of transition there is about 150 foot elevation change. Then a brief downhill then some flat. Next there is a 3.5 mile section of climbing. It was the start of this section I was worried about. You take a right and quick left then up steeply initially, then moderate. My first attempt I made it 150 feet and bailed. Second try I went straight to the small chain ring and made the whole climb. The rest went okay except missing a turn. Some of the roads are in poor condition which will limit my speed going downhill. I averaged 15.8 mph down from 20 mph. I have adjusted my expectations but hope to be middle of AG

Thanks, Scott. Funny you should mention my next Oly, I was just checking trifind.com this morning looking for another race this year. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything in my state (Mass.) for the rest of the year. Actually, other than the sprint I'm doing this weekend, I don't see anything (regardless of distance) within a reasonable driving distance for the rest of the year. It looks like I'll have to wait until next year for Oly #2. Good luck at your Oly next month!

That stinks Monty! Rest and heal up so ya can accomplish your goals next year!

Scott

Hi, well, that sucks, but you have a good attitude about it. I like your idea of the "giving the finger to 50" shirt. Man, to be able to do this at 50!! Wow. I know I'm not that far off, but still that's awesome.

It's an even playing field in that everyone has to go through the same challenging course. You're advantage from what I can tell is that you've scoped out the course pretty well. Other's may burn out their legs on the bike course not realizing it's got it's challenging hills. Save some for the run and you will probably do well relative to others of similar fitness.

That stinks! I hope you didn't pay for registration already, that would just be adding insult to injury. Probably better to be on the conservative side and get yourself healthy first.

Something strange happened during the swim portion of my Oly this past weekend. I can't remember at exactly what point in the swim this happened, but I started to get a little numbness in my left hand. I think this happened one other time when I was swimming at the pool, but it was really weird. When it happened in the pool, I figured it was just some fluke. But when it happened again during my race, it made me wonder what the cause might be. Has this happened to anybody else before? Any thoughts on what might have caused it? I basically ignored it and finished the swim. By the time I got on my bike, I don't think it was there any more. I'm used to that happening on the bike, but it was so bizarre for it to pop up during the swim. Ideas?

Me neither.

Man, I felt a twinge of pain while swimming yesterday. It's in my right scapula, or under it. It didn't hurt too bad, but I cut the rest of the swim to be safe. My HIM is only 5 weeks or so away. I feel it slightly today so I'm not going to swim for a few days and let it settle. I think I'll hold off on any hard sets from now until race day. At least that's what I'm saying now...

Thanks for the tips. The steep hill isn't on the course. I made a wrong turn I guess. The others are just long climbs.

Was planning on dropping my wrench and spare water bottle (I only drink the are bottle anyway) because some of the roads are in poor condition I was gonna run my tires at 90 psi instead of we 100 to 110. Thoughts?

Anyone hear from Cass? She raced this past week. I think she was thinking of driving.

Randy never had numbness in the swim. There are a few syndromes with nerve or vascular compression in athletes. If it continues get it checked out.

Monty sorry about your season. When shirts go on sale let me know

There was recently a segment in triathlete about shoulder injuries. I can go back and find it if you are interested and email it to you

Thanks Chris

Warning: this is pretty long! Since I spent two days on the train to get to Milwaukee, I thought I'd make the most of it and do both races.

Race Report: USAT National Olympic-Distance Triathlon
4:04:36

This was a pretty amazing experience. The waves started seven minutes apart, and I was in the 8th wave. We got in the water as the previous wave was lining up along the dock in the starting area. I didn't really warm up, but rather just floated and acclimated myself to the 65-degree water. After the previous wave started, I swam over and lined up with the 150 other women in my group. I placed myself at the far end so I wouldn't have to contend with crowd issues.

When the gun went off, everyone else quickly swam ahead of me. Within minutes, it was just me and another woman. I just swam my own race and didn't try to keep up. I was, however, really surprised at how slow I was compared with everyone else as it didn't take long before they were completely out of my sight. I'd swam about 2/3 of the course when all the sudden, the next wave was swimming over me, so I swam out to the side to get out of their way. Swim time: 57:22, which is about 20 minutes longer than I thought it would be.

Transition went fine. It was a pretty long run from the swim exit to the transition area. They had racked all the bikes according to age group, and I could see only three bikes left when I got there, so there were only two women behind me. My time was 4:55.

The bike went fine. I rode as fast as I could and didn't have any issues. I didn't pass a single person, but lots of people passed me, although no one in my age group. They were going really fast! At one point I caught a glimpse of Lake Michigan, which I'd only seen in the little area behind the breakwater up to that point, and I had to do a double take. It was my first real view of any of the Great Lakes, and it was kind of creepy. Being an inlander, I'm not used to seeing nothing but horizon on the other side of a lake. Bike time: 1:38:12, for an average speed of 15.2 mph, which is a little slow for me. Not sure why I was that slow.

I had to visit the blue rooms during T2, so that cost me about three minutes. Time: 4:44.

The run went fine. It took me a half mile before my GPS watch picked up the satellite, but I didn't mess with it this time. I figured if it picks it up, it picks it up, and if it didn't, it didn't. I think I maintained a pretty good speed for the first 3.5 miles, and then I walked for about 100 paces. I was really hurting at this point. I mostly ran after that, except for a few places when I walked a few steps. And then a woman of significantly reduced stature in my age group passed me, and there was no way I was going to let that continue. I put on my big girl panties and ran the rest of the way. I passed her and never saw her again. Run Time: 1:19:21.

I'm happy with my race. I was about 30 minutes slower than I expected, but I gave it everything I had, and I know I did my best. And, I was not dead last, which is a first for an Olympic distance for me!

Race Report: USAT National Sprint Triathlon
2:07:40

I got to transition and set up my gear pretty early and made my obligatory six trips to the blue rooms. I was a little anxious (as always) and kept checking things. About ten minutes before transition closed, I pinched my front tire, just to comfort myself that it did, indeed, have air in it, and it did. I then did the same thing to the back tire and screamed when I discovered it was totally, completely, flat. I panicked and looked at the very long line leading to the bike mechanics tent and knew there was no way I would make it through the line in time to get my tube changed, and I didn't think there was enough time for me to do it on my own, so I borrowed a "real" pump from a neighbor and filled the tire. I figured I had nothing to lose at this point. I'd fill it, and then deal with it if it didn't hold.

The swim was pretty much the same as the previous day's. I placed myself at the far end of the dock to avoid the crowds, and within minutes, everyone else was out of sight. I made sure to watch for the next wave so wouldn't get run over again and stayed to the side when they overtook me. I exited transition again with only two women behind me. Time: 31:56, which is about twice the amount of time I would have expected it to take me. But, I could feel the previous day's race still and knew that it affected my swim.

I got to transition and checked my tire. It was still pretty much full, so off I went. T1 time: 4:41, pretty much the same as the previous day's.

My legs, too, were pretty sore, but I pedaled as hard as I could. Unlike the previous race, I did actually overtake someone this time. I was paranoid about my back tire and kept careful watch for uneven pavement that might add stress to the tire. But, it seemed to be OK. Again, lots of folks passed me going really fast, but none in my age group. Time: 50:54, which seemed pretty slow at 14.6 mph.

T2 went well. No blue room breaks this time, so I was just in and out. Time: 1:55, which was almost three minutes faster than the previous day.

The run went well. I'd started my GPS watch while I was in transition, and it picked up the satellite right away. I just pushed myself as hard as I could and ran the entire route, with the exception of walking through the aid stations. Time: 38:12, which was about 30 seconds per mile faster than the previous day. However, these three miles are pretty close to my time on the first half of the previous day's race. The time I lost the previous day was on the last three miles, so this is something to continue working on. And again, my total time was probably about 30 minutes slower than I would have expected. The slow swim time cut into that, as did my slow bike time. However, I'm sure doing back-to-back races slowed me down a bit, too, as I definitely felt it! In fact, I'd taken some Ibuprofen and a hydrocodone before the start of the race. (I did check the USADA website first, and hydrocodone is legal.)

When I got back to transition, I checked my back tire, and it was totally flat again. My plan had been to ride my bike back to my AirBnB, which was only three miles away, so I had one of the bike mechanics put air in it. I managed to get about half way to my AirBnB before the tire was too flat to ride on and ended up jogging with it the rest of the way.

They had a lot of photographers on the race route, so I checked my tire in one of the photos, and probably about half way through the race, I could see that my back tire was a little low, but not too bad. I'd suspected it was pretty low by the time I had hit the final turnaround, and I'm sure that had a big impact on my speed. The irony is I'd planned to replace the tube and tire before leaving for Milwaukee, but I didn't have time. My bike mechanic had replaced the front one and put liquid latex in it, and had I had that done with my back tire, it would have temporarily sealed any leaks. Oh, well.

Overall, I'm happy with both races. Although my times were not what I'd hoped, I gave both races my best, and, most importantly, I had fun. I think I was well prepared, and I had fun interacting with the other participants. The AirBnB in which I stayed was fabulous, especially as there were a couple of other triathletes there, so we talked training and strategy and equipment and all the fun stuff I don't get to do with "normal" people. The expo was fun, too. I won a book ("The Women's Guide to Triathlon") and a USAT shirt and spent way more money than I should, even though I intentionally left my major credit card at home. I also got my photo taken with Mark Allen, which was way cool!






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This happens to me sometimes, too. Not sure why. I do as you did--ignore it, and it goes away. I've had it happen in the pool, as well as during open water swims.