Dominion's Sprint/Oly/70.3 Group--Closed (Page 32)

Swim: 2h 03m 48s - 6407.38 Yd
Bike: 3h 38m 36s - 73.79 Mi
Run: 3h 05m 18s - 23.43 Mi

Numbers are down partially to 3 races last month and partially more to life getting in the way of training.


Scott

Swim: 6h 45m 41s - 16900 Yd
Bike: 14h 49m 21s - 240.43 Mi
Run: 9h 36m 41s - 49.1 Mi

My numbers are pretty much on target. HIM in two weeks! Taper begins now

Awesome, and you can't argue about a life time guarantee!

Hadn't checked in for a while and I guess I hadn't missed much. I suspect most people have finished their season.

In case people disperse and stop checking or the page get archived, I wanted to thank everyone for the tremendous amount of support, feedback, and motivation. With my next race I will have accomplished my major goals for the season and have started to pencil in some for next year. I think this was a great group. Chris, I hope you continue to host a mentoring group.

Someone had recently mentioned they had trouble clipping in. I have started to have trouble too. Could it be that my cleats are too worn? Would think the opposite.

Nate

I have one sprint left in 10 days and then my tri season will be finished for 2015. I've been spending so much time trying to finish building my storage shed that I haven't done much training in the last couple of weeks. So this will have to be a "just for fun" race. I am hoping to have the majority of the work finished by the end of the day today, so I won't have much time to try to get much of my fitness back.

It was great to have you back, Nate. It has been a pretty good group for the 2 seasons I have been a part of it. Like you, I accomplished my major goal for this year. I finished my first Olympic distance race and I'm confident I would have reached my time goal if it hadn't been for my quads cramping. I've already set a goal of doing at least 2 Olympics next year and then going for a 70.3 in 2017. I'm sure I'll be on here looking for some training advice as I go for the longer distance.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable and rewarding 2015 season!

Randy

S: 5,153 yards
B: 170.71 miles
R: 33.15 miles

This is a little late because I just got back from spending a couple of weeks at Burning Man in the Nevada desert. My numbers are way down for August. I competed in four triathlons--two Sprints & two Olympics--in August, so I had some taper and rest time, as well as travel time. Also, we were surrounded by raging wildfires for several weeks, making the air quality really bad, so there were some days when I was stuck inside and couldn't get out for training, which was really frustrating. Fortunately, the wildfires have lessened, and the air quality is again good.

I'm taking a break from training for a bit. I competed in the Black Rock City 5K while I was at Burning Man. I didn't want to ruin a $200 pair of running shoes, so I wore a pair of Walmart specials. Unfortunately, by about the end of the second mile, I could feel a blister forming on one foot, so I walked a bit. I had no intention of damaging my feet in the middle of my vacation and spending the rest of it hobbling around. My time wasn't great, but that was OK. It was kind of nice running in a city with which I am intimately familiar, running from one major landmark to another. Flat surface, no pavement, easy on the knees. It was a lot of fun. Some people cheered us on, while others interacted with us playfully. There was only about 30 of us running, so it was pretty small and informal.

So, I got back a few days ago, and I'm absolutely drained. I haven't even had the energy to unpack my truck yet. I have a 10-mile race on Sunday, and I honestly wish I hadn't signed up for it. Other than the 5K at Burning Man, I haven't ran in three weeks. In fact, I haven't done much training at all. But, I'll go ahead and do it. I've never run ten miles before, so no matter the time, it will be a personal best for me. But, I'm not going to push myself. I know I can run 7.5 miles, and I can always walk the last 2.5, if necessary. Or, I might just do a run/walk thing. Afterward, they're serving Ben and Jerry ice cream sundaes, which will be fun. Also, I've got tickets to the Five Finger Death Punch/Papa Roach concert in the evening, so it should be a fun day, regardless.

Hi all,

I competed in an Olympic Triathlon this last weekend and again had a blast! It hurt a little more at the finish line but it was still fun! :D Please see the link below for the full report.

http://sjmtrisandmore.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Scott

Edited by scottjjmtri99 2015-09-13 9:11 PM

Great job, Scott! Way to rock that PR! I have never used a wet suit and I have a race here in Massachusetts this coming weekend. Fortunately, temps haven't really been too low and are forecasted in the 80-83 range this entire week. Otherwise, I'm not sure how cold the water might be. ;-) I'm used to swimming in a little bit cooler water, but nothing in the 50s. Yikes!

Great job, Scott! Way to rock that PR! I have never used a wet suit and I have a race here in Massachusetts this coming weekend. Fortunately, temps haven't really been too low and are forecasted in the 80-83 range this entire week. Otherwise, I'm not sure how cold the water might be. ;-) I'm used to swimming in a little bit cooler water, but nothing in the 50s. Yikes!

The race was one of those good, bad, and ugly days. I had two crappy training weeks that I decided to call a taper and hadn't biked in two weeks. All and All I am happy with my first Oly and I have plenty to improve on for next year

My goals were to finish an Olympic, do my first long open water swim, and to not walk during the race. I didn't run longer than 5 miles this season so I had low expectations on the run. I decided to really meter myself on the bike to save enough for the run. I projected a time around 3:04:00 (30 swim, 90 bike, 60 run, with 4 in TA)

The Outer Banks Triathlon is held in north eastern NC the swim is in the Croatan sound which is a branch of the Pamlico Sound. This has been a wetsuit swim for as long as anyone can remember and at the prerace meeting they said water temps were 74. The morning of the race was forecasted to have scatter thunderstorms and I left the family at the Beach hotel. The water temp was actually 82 and the sound was rough. We had to be there early because they closed the TZ an hour before (half iron started 45 minutes before oly). I managed to forget my water at the hotel, and setting up my TZ was a bit hurried and this hurt me later. Of course I ran back to the minivan to see if I left it there. Nope. I decided I would grab an extra water at the bottle exchange on the bike and I would start with straight Gatorade instead of diluting it. I think I am all set and leave to use the bathroom, stretch and warm-up.

I get in the water in time to see the last wave of the half go off. There are biggish swells, 1.5 to 2 feet. The course is a inverted triangle with us starting and finishing at the same point. I thought it weird that people are wading out so far before starting to swim. I stretch and swim a little. A veteran compliments me on my stroke and suggests a higher elbow. I get a little nervous as the water was a bit rough and I had planned this based on it being wet suit legal, but remind myself that I wanted a challenging swim (all of my open water experience is in races which have all be lakes and rivers). We start the race and again everyone is wading out. I start to swim and realize I am not going much faster then them and decide to walk until it gets deeper. The current seems to push you in toward shore a bit, and I took several mouthfuls of water. I feel like in-spite of this I hit the turn nicely and start to work a little harder to get to the next turn and pass some folks. Had to make one correction but otherwise my sighting was good, and I hit the turn to head back to shore. Although the waves are dragging me up the shore they are generally pushing in and I ride a couple of the the swells for a little boost. Up the beach and a short run to TZ where the mat was located. My time was 32:27. I had planned about 30 minutes. Without a wetsuit with some choppy water I was pretty happy with that. Of the 262 athletes I was 61. Not bad.

T1 takes me 2:28 which is about par for me and 160th in the field.

I planned to keep my average speed under 18mph for the bike and had not been on it for 2 weeks. I start out at an easy pace and set my speed to be around 18. I am getting passed left and right but I stay with my plan. I hit the bridge with a little head wind and slow down a little and keep my effort light. I passed a few athletes, mostly women, and one guy on the hill of the bridge because he slowed and I was in his draft zone. the next straight way had the wind at my back and toward the end my catseye said I was averaging 18 and I decide to pick it up a little as I was going to have a head wind. I pass a couple people but I'm still really comfortable. When I hit the bridge on the return I get a little runners high. I get out of areo soI can take a moment to enjoy the morning. The views were awesome. The wind is at my back. I enjoy being in that moment for a mile or so. When I look down I'm in the mid 20's and crest the bridge. After maximizing the downhill I slow down to 18. I coast into t2. I don't attempt a flying dismount.
I should note the water bottle exchange at the turnaround went smooth. My time 1:18:26 19 mph 83 of 262. A little faster than planned but I don't think I worked very hard

t2 is a little rocky. I realize I didn't untie my shoes. The guy entering right before me mounts his bike on my stuff. I try to roll with it. I leave and forget my race belt with my bib. I am 4 minute faster than where I thought I would be at this point. I am pretty happy with things. I am running and telling myself to slow down into a comfortable pace and start to settle in. Then I notice the belt on the guy right in front of me, and realize I left mine. I try not to panic. I consider my options. Just go... I think it is only a 2 minute penalty. But what if they can't read the 8 year old who body marked me's hand writing. After all of the the numbers in 485 were made to look like "S" (yes even the 4). I decide the worst possible thing is a DNF in the results and I turn around. I made it just under 0.5 miles. Everyone is very confused seeing me run back. I grab my bib and go. I later determined one my TomTom that this was about 0.9miles and 7:38 extra, most of my fastest mile was in t2. (T2 is now 9:52 but still not the slowest!) I get about 1.5 miles on the course and start to cramp a little and stretch my calves. By mile 2 my foot pain has started in full force (this is what limited my distance earlier this season). I walk thru the water stop with some relief but it start shortly after. I end up run walking the rest of the run. My time 1:05:54. I figuired about a hour so I was a little off. 123/262

My overall with 3:09:04 and 116/262 and 91 of 156 for the guys. I think the 7:38 extra cost me a little more than that in time as that distance was replaced with run/walking and it took my head out of the race. But overall I am pleased with the day.

I look forward to seeing a podiatrist and doing some 5Ks now that the weather is cooling down. I was thinking of running more frequently and maybe doing a bike and a swim each week until it gets colder.

Good report, Nate.

Sounds like an interesting day to say the least. Little things like forgetting your water and having a hurried transition setup can really throw you off, but it sounds like you got it back together until the run/bib situation. I think I would have had to keep going. A time penalty (2:00) would have been better than the 7:38 lost and extra effort of running .9 miles and then having to start over.

Here's a trick to make sure that never happens again. Snap your race belt closed when setting up transition and put the number on top of your running shoes. Loop the rest of the belt under your shoes so it won't go anywhere. When you come in for T2, you have to grab your belt/number to get to your running shoes. Just throw it over your neck. Put your shoes on, etc, and run out of T2. The belt is around your neck and you just slide it down around your arms as you run (like you;re putting on a sweater) to your waist. Try it in practice, very simple and efficient.

Here's a link to the race number rule:

http://www.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/rules-education/articles/race-conduct-race-numbers-34f.aspx

Edited by Dominion 2015-09-14 9:43 PM

My goal with this race was just to see if I could do it, since I've signed up for a HIM in April. I've never run ten miles before--well, technically, I still haven't "run" ten miles--and I haven't run farther than 7.5 miles since Bloomsday in early May. Since I've never run this far and I haven't trained in almost a month, I took my time. I did pretty well for the first three miles, and then it started to hurt and I began to pace myself more, alternating between walking and jogging for a few miles, and then walking from about mile 7.5 to the end. I also had to take a blue room break at mile 7.5 and, fortunately, there happened to be one standing all by its lonesome on the side of the road, clean, maintained, and stocked. My finish time was 2:35:54, and if I subtract the time I took for the blue room break, it would have been pretty close to the 2:30:00. Still, I really slowed down in the last four miles, not surprising since I've been training for Olympic distance tris all summer.

So, I didn't push myself too much. I wish I could have gone faster, but I could tell I haven't trained in a while. I had a lot of difficulty clearing the ground with both feet, so I've lost a little range of motion in both knees. That's something I know I need to work on. I also need to continue working on strengthening my hip flexors as those feel pretty stressed. However, at this time, it's hard to say what hurts from the run and what hurts from five hours in the mosh pit at the Five Finger Death Punch/Papa Roach concert afterward. I suspect some of it is from the mosh pit. But, the fact that I could run ten miles and then spend a few hours on my feet jumping in a mosh pit gives me confidence that the run distance in the HIM isn't out of reach. I have all winter now to work on it.

And hey! I wasn't last! 349/357! Woohoo!



Oh, yeah! And Slipknot is coming next month!

Brilliant! I never thought of this!

Nice job, Nate! Congrats on finishing your Oly. Hope you have a quick recovery from your foot pain.

I had my last triathlon of the season today. I was only slightly concerned about the water temp for the swim, but it was totally fine. Overall, matched my target time EXACTLY! And I mean exactly, to the second. On Thursday, I wrote down guesstimates of my times for each discipline and transitions. My official time was exactly the same, 1:19:30. How weird is that?! Obviously, I wasn't exactly spot on with each part of the race, but it's scary how well I predicted my overall time. ;-)

My training had been sporadic during the last 3-4 weeks, so I had to temper my expectations. It was a short race: 0.25 mile swim, 11 mile bike, 3.2 mile run. More than anything, I mostly wanted to have a good run.

The race description on the web site said the swim would go off in waves, but instead they did a massive start with all men first followed by all women. I was caught unaware on the beach as the rest of the men started the swim. I was literally the last man in the water. By my Gamin, my swim time was 8:45. My official time was 9:28, 82/130 overall and 11/14 AG.

The bike course was hilly and challenging, but somehow I still managed to average 16.9 mph (pretty good for me, especially with how bad my training had been lately). I passed plenty of people and was rarely passed myself. A few times I swapped back and forth with someone before finally making the pass permanent. I finished the 11 mile bike in 39:02, 61/130 and 8/14 AG. My best discipline based on ranking.

The run course almost completely followed the bike course, so it was also pretty hilly. In fact, the turn around on the run was in the middle of a hill! My legs were a little burned out from the bike, but after about a mile I wasn't feeling the effects any more. In fact, I made numerous passes on uphill portions of the run. I negative split every mile! According to my Garmin, my mile times were 9:39, 9:13, and 8:31. I know that can't be completely accurate based on the course distance, but you get the idea. My time was 28:11 for the 3.2 mile run, 69/130 overall and 8/14 AG.

My overall time of 1:19:30 was good for 65/130, technically placing me in the top half of the standings. Yes, by exactly one position! But still, I believe that's the first time I've ever finished a tri in the top half of the standings. So kudos to me!

For those that are bored with nothing better to do, the full race report can be read here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

2015: 38:36 <--almost ten minutes faster!
2014: 48:31

So, I did the "Round About 5K" today for the second time. It was a pretty uneventful 5K. About a quarter mile into the race, I was pretty much by myself, with probably most of the people ahead of me and a bunch of people behind me. The first half of the race is pretty much all uphill, but a pretty gentle slope, and then the last half downhill. I passed Batman about half way into the race, and then he passed me, and we played a passing game for the next mile or so until he managed to maintain his lead. No one else passed me during the race. With about a half mile or so to go, I could hear somebody coming up on my heels, and I really pushed myself to maintain my pace so I wouldn't get passed, and I managed to do it. The official results aren't out yet, so I don't know where I placed and my time could be off by a couple of seconds, but having shaved ten minutes off last year's time is a success!

Congrats! Great PR!