Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete Mentor Group (Page 30)

I had a pretty good race on Saturday.  The swim was cut short because the wind made it impossible for some of the large turn buoys to stay anchored. so, the 2112 yd swim was cut down to about a 1600 yd swim.  Lots of people complained after the race about how hard the swim was but I was swimming straighter lines that I ever have before and my swim pace was just as fast (err...slow) as it is in clam water.  I really focused on hydration and electrolytes before the race and made it through my first race without getting leg cramps on the swim. My goal was to survive the swim.  I greatly exceeded that goal. 

The out bound leg of the bike course was insanely fast.   It was down hill with a 15 MPH wind at our back for the out bound portion and then uphill into the wind coming back.  My "A" race this year was an Olympic distance race early int he summer.  I did the 25 mile bike ride in 67 minutes at that race.  I came across the 25 mile mark on the out bound of this race at 61 minutes (all while at a lower perceived effort).  Most people were about 6 mph slower coming in bound than they were outbound. I passed the leaders coming back 6 minutes before I got to the turn around so that were about 12 minutes ahead of me.  I was riding #16 at the bike turn around. But with the wave start it is hard to know how many people were ahead of me on time.  I got a flat tire at mile 31.    I am not sure how many people passed me while I was changing tires but It took me about 8 minutes to get back up and riding.  My goal was to go under 3 hours on the bike and even with the flat time beat that by more than 10 minutes. 

My goal on the run was to go under 2 hours.  It was a hot afternoon and I got the sunburns to prove it but again beat my goal by more than 10 minutes.  I took extended stops at every aid station the 2nd half of the run and used the port-a-potty once.  I figured it didn't make any scene to push it on the 2nd half of the run because after mile five I gave up on trying to hit any type of pre-determined pace and just focused on doing what I had to do to not walk on the run.  

The winning time in my age group was 4 minutes ahead of me.  I was 2nd place in the AG. This was a pretty good race for me despite treating it as a "B" race and not worried about speed in transition, how long I stayed at each aid stations, if I could push the pace any faster, etc.                                                           .   

Congratulations Curtis.  Sounds like you were quite comfortable with the rough water and had a good swim.  Thats a good plus.  Your whole race sounded like you were relaxed and just enjoying yourself while actually having a great race.  I'm very envious.

The swim was nothing short of a miracle.  It was a bit over cast making it hard to see the turn buoys so I decided to just follow the crowd and even though there were people 50 feet to my right and 50 feet to my left I ended up hitting two of the three turns right on the money and the 3rd turn I was still in pretty good position going about 10-15 feet wide of the buoy.  My last race I was correct every time I sighted and still going 50 feet or more wide at every turn. We...I was comfortable in the water.  When your face is down it real doesn't matter if you have waves or wind.  When my face came up I could feel the waves and wind but my face was down most of the time so it really didn't matter.  :-)

My problem with races is that I usually push too hard and die 80% into the race.  Taking a little bit off and just focusing on keeping moving didn't hurt much.  First place was 4 minutes ahead of my and 3rd place was 16 minutes behind me so so spending an extra 30 second at an aid station here or taking extra time to adjust equipment in transition there were really not factors.  What mattered is what people were doing between aid stations and transition not how long they were taking to get through them.  I know Scott doesn't like us clouding this group with detail on how many people were in out AG, but at the race I originally look up my results and only 9 came up in my AG.  The next day when I went back there were 29 (I guess they were all entered yet when I checked at the race).  I was pretty excited to see that large of an Age Group. The only thing I was muffed about is that two ladies (their wave stated behind me) got time that were about 5 minutes faster than me.  On the run course I was pretty sure that I had them all beat but forgot about the wave start times. :-)

Great read Adrian.  You handled the swim well and ultimately it is the decisions you make during the day that matter the most.  You made good decisions all the way.  You should find some good positive points about your performance and it should set you up for a better event next time.

Our local lake isn't as cold as your loch.  I measured the water temp as 15deg C on Friday and that was quite cold enough.  I don't think I want to swim in water any colder than that.  Although, when I walked into the lake to measure the temp there was an older woman swimming in the lake without a wetsuit and she says she wants to swim in the lake until the end of October (that could be as cold as 4deg C).

This week we're experiencing an Indian summer (a nice little blast of warm weather) so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can before the cold hits.

I had a good run this afternoon and I am registered to run a half marathon on Oct 7th - just for fun.

Next year will be the same for me (my husband wants his wife back ).  I will be doing one short course race in May - it's the one that was cancelled this year due to flooding so my registration transferred to 2018.  Next year will be about volunteering.  I enjoy the races so volunteering will keep me involved without actually competing.  I also feel like I just need a break from tri training especially after my HIM in September that I DNF'd.  I need to re-group a little before I try another long course race.  I do want to do another 70.3 but not until at least 2019.  

For the next couple of months it's going to be trail running, some classes at the gym that I've been wanting to try out and just doing what I want (which I have to admit is harder than I expected - I'm so used to having a "plan" that I almost feel a little lost without one).  After the first of the year I'll work my way back into a more defined, goal-oriented plan.  

Janet

Hi All,

I ran a half marathon yesterday.  It was my first run race and it turned out not too bad.  I'd certainly like to run faster but more importantly I had a good time and ran the whole distance.

Race report: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=548879&posts=1&page=1

Adrian - I had a look at the photos for your race.  They were neat to see and you can see the anticipation.  I found the swim pics most interesting.  I'm not sure I'd want to try running up your "hill" it looked pretty narrow at times.  I don't think I'd like to come down the hill in the dark either.

I did a 5K race last weekend.  I do them 2-3 times a year to keep in contact with the running community and to give me same milestone in my training.  I live is a town of 18,000 people and you have to drive almost and hour north to find a town larger than that us another hour past that to get to any large cities.  Fewer people means living in an area means few people at races and with that less competition to the point that I have set some course records and take first place over all in nearly every race I go to.  Two and half weeks ago my wife say a flier for an inaugural 5K in town an my wife said we should do it.  I wanted to do a 5K because my fastest 5K's always are 2-3 weeks after my 70.3 triathlons because I take a ton of recovery that leaves me in prime condition to burn through a 5K.    I though I might get some competition at this race though because they were giving out $700 in price money to the over-all winners.  When ever their is a few hundred dollars on the line there seems to be someone that can run 5k's in the low 15's that shows up.  There were about 3 times as many people as any another 5K that I have run in town, but I ran faster than any other 5K that I have done in town and was the over-all finisher.  Not bad for a guy who is getting grey hair.  I donated my $200 back to the charity that the race was organized to raise money for. 

Hi all!

It's been awhile since I last posted.  The forum always seems to slow down towards the end of the season and I probably didn't help that very much by my absence.  I had a good reason though!  We have put the final touches on my new coaching company.  To that end, I'd like to invite all of you to take a look at what we are offering - 

As many of you know, I enjoyed a reasonably successful competitive swimming career back in my younger days. When I retired from competitive swimming I began working with triathletes to help improve their generally poor swimming. Over the years, that morphed into full triathlon coaching on a part-time basis. For years I have put my passion for triathlon and coaching on the back burner as I pursued a job that put food on the table.

The time has come to follow my true desire – helping athletes to achieve their dreams – on a full-time basis.

The business model and personal attention I have in mind requires more than one person, so I have partnered with one of my long-time athletes to form a new company, BSC Multisport. You can learn the whole story of BSC Multisport on our website but suffice to say my partner made several disparaging remarks after particularly challenging workouts from which BSC Multisport was born.

Beginner Triathlete has been an endless source of inspiration for me over the years and I would like to make a small attempt at giving back all that this site has given me over the years. We are offering a coaching scholarship to five athletes through the end of the 2018 season. This will include full coaching, free of charge to you during the scholarship period, and is open to any athlete in any country around the globe. We are looking for a mix of athletes of all experience and skill levels. Are you thinking about stepping up to the 140.6 distance or maybe you attempted to qualify for Kona and fell short? We need to talk! For complete details you can visit the “Scholarship” tab of our website.

If you are interested and would like to be considered, please send me a private message or visit the “Scholarship” tab of our website.

We will be making final decisions on "Team BSC" around the middle of November.

Scott - 

Congrats on getting the coaching company up and running!  Looks like you also made it back to Indiana.  The scholarship opportunity is great - makes me wish I was actually racing in 2018 instead of taking a volunteering year .  I'm having some hip/knee issues so I need to get those straightened out before I can go back to harder training anyway.  

I do have a question for you though - I checked out your website and was looking at the pre-built plans that you have. When I try to click on the "Browse our Plans" it just reloads the page.  Is it supposed to do that or is there another page that lists the different types of plans that you have?  I've been trying to put together some sort of winter maintenance plan to start up in January and was curious as to what you offer.

Janet

Hi Janet!  Good to "see" you.

Health first!  Get the knee hip problems under control before you take up serious training again.

We worked very hard to get the website ready and launched before Kona.  That was kind of our "line in the sand."  Sadly, to do that we had to leave a couple of things unfinished - the pre-built plans being one of them.  If you check back after the new year we expect to have plans in place.  We will be starting with winter maintenance and focused cycling, run, and swim blocks.  We will have HIM and IM plans up as we approach spring.

Thanks Scott.  I'll check back in January when I can hopefully get back into training mode.  Unfortunately the 25k trail race I did in October caused some serious issues with my left leg - couldn't hardly walk by the time I finished it. I'm seeing my doctor a couple times a week right now to help get me back on track.  I'm limited right now to just 2 short runs a week (2-4 miles on flat surfaces only), and they're more "testing" runs than actual training runs.  I'm hoping he'll let me get back to easy trainer rides and swims maybe next week - I'm going a little stir crazy not being able to do anything!

Have a great weekend!
Janet