Scott's Mentor Group-Closed for training. (Page 34)

Thanks Gareth, and everyone else!

Oh, I've got a few ideas for how to get the "FUN" level up, but they already put the kibosh on my first request. Water entry is down a boat loading ramp which is directly next to a pier. I seriously sent a request to see if cannonballs off the pier would be allowed rather than wading in the ramp (I also pointed out that I am a Clydsedale and that this would increase entertainment value as well as splash volume). Request denied!

So I'm trying to come up with some other ideas. My original plan was to cross the finish line with a cartwheel (240 lbs doing a cartwheel is quite the site!) but not sure the thumb is going to cooperate with that. However, since I plan on swimming sans shirt body marking may be an opportunity (lord knows the canvas is big enough to provide ample options!)?

We shall see what else I can come up with!

Another 10K run this morning in this wonderful heat, and I'm going to try and get in a 20 mile ride before the rain comes!

T-minus less than 44 hours ... but who's counting???

-Matt

Good afternoon, all!

Happy friday to you hard training people. Got a short workout today, a swim and a two mile run. Gonna rest the body tomorrow.

Matt, what is your goal for Sunday? I am hoping I get that adrenaline push but as of now here is how it breaks down:

450 yard swim- 8 minutes

T1- 1.5 minute (You never know how far you might have to go from swim area)

14 mile ride- 46.5 minutes (14 miles at 3.33 minutes per mile, 18mph average). I want to average 20mph and trim of 7 minutes.

T2- 1 minute

3.1 miel run- 24.5 minutes ( sub 8:00 minute mile average)

Total- 81.5 minutes (its conservative but at my training paces recently, this is to what to expect. Again, adrenaline will kick in and hopefully trim some.

Come on adrenaline!!!

Matt, I want names of the people who's day you ruined! I will send them sympathy cards!

Quoted for awesomeness! 

Hey guys good luck in all your races !!

Swam on Wed and today ... did 1400 meters on Wednesday and did 2000 meters today ... swam the mile out straight and was 5 minutes off my average.  I hope that over the next 4-12 weeks I will get some speed back.  The arm turning over is getting more comfortable but still not pleasant and I can't do some of the stretches I do pre-swim because my arm just won't bend that way yet.

I did a 2 1/2 mile run yesterday - I wanted to do a 5k but in the 95 degree heat and high humidity my HR was dangerously high so I brought it back down and jogged to the end.  Felt good after so the chiropractor/right foot lift is working to get me better.  

Need to drive to PA and back this weekend so may be limited to what I can get in but I'll squeeze SOMETHING in - let's see some positive race reports folks!

Paul,

It looks like your accident is in your review mirror and getting smaller! Way to go.

I had finally had a good workout today that gave me confidence going into Sunday. I swam 450 yards in under 8 minutes which is my goal and followed up with two sub 8 minute miles. I have not been hitting my stride the last few weeks and don't know why. I feel much better and know the sub 8s are in me somewhere. It might have helped to see a guy blow by me in his Newtons. He was wearing the Distance S shoes. New shoes are not the budget for 2012. Newtons will be a Christmas present to start 2013. I need to learn to run better and increase my distance. I need to put a few hundred miles on my Nikes first. I'm only at 168 so they will last the rest of the year.

Following my dream crushing session on Sunday, it is time to build some stamina/distance in my workouts. Time to get the 5-6 mile runs down to sub 9s.

Anyway, resting tomorrow. It's been a good week and the most consistent 4-5 weeks I have had yet. Really excited about my workouts. 

What is on tap for evryone tomorrow?

Good morning peeps ...

52.67 on the bike this morning with my riding group. First half was social and leisurely. After a coffee stop, we split into two smaller groups and I went with two others who needed to get home by 11am, so we hauled. I got some great training pulling into a head wind that happened to include the second half of next week's race course. I was holding into the 20s for about 7 miles, so that's encouraging. I may swim later tonight, but haven't decided for certain. I do know I've got some couch time on the agenda.

What's going on with everyone else??

Good morning!!!

It's race day baby! Getting ready to walk out the door. Having a nice breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, muffin, and coffee. Gun goes off at 7am!

I found out the bike is only 13 miles instead of 14. That reduces the goal by about 3.33 minutes. Looking at under 79 minutes as a good effort. Breaking 70 would be a dream but 75 is more likely.

I'll check in after lunch!

never let it be said I'm not a man of my word!

This is from the official website, scroll down to the 9:49 AM post...

http://www.tricolumbia.org/trilights.php?archive=37

More to come later.. I need to shower to wash that lake off! YUCK! Great time!

-Matt

Congratulations Matt, superb that you stuck to your word!!

Hope the race was what you wanted and that you shattered some dreams!! Looking forward to the race report!!

Gareth

Alrighty, so here's the race recap for my first Triathlon EVER! Sorry it's long, but I'm EXCITED!

Was nervous about getting a parking spot (parking was very limited and if you didn't get there early you had to take a shuttle over from a hotel in another part of town. This would require you to take the shuttle back after the race to get your car to pack out of Transition. Of course this would be after they opened the park when the race was completely over. So this wasn't happening.) My friend had volunteered for the race and had to be there at 4:45. So I was up and out of the house at 4:10 AM.

Got to transition wiped off bike, checked tires, laid out gear, went back to car ... it was only 5:20 AM! Had a little breakfast 2 hours prior to race. Walked around a bit, talked to some people, lots of nice great people, all very friendly and helpful to the newbie (only a couple jerks to which I had to fight the temptation to say, "You have fancy clothes and an expensive bike, want us all to give you a golf clap Mr. Self Important?")

Headed over to the swim load in area for the intros and national anthem at 6:50AM. First wave was off at 7 AM. Water temp was a lovely 84 degrees (mmmm pea soup, in temp and consistency!) Watched as the waves got loaded in and waited for mine at 7:44 AM. My wave was a very strange mix? I can only guess it was the "every male we haven't accounted for yet" wave. Here's the official listing for the wave "Men 14-19, 20-24, 45-49, Clydesdales" So I had all the young bucks, the middle aged warriors and the biggies (like myself). We got in and waded through the weeds, yes even at the very beginning there were long weeds growing up from the bottom grabbing us, to warm up. When they blew off the airhorn to start our wave they might as well had Michael Buffer announce "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!" Everyone was flailing like crazy and banging into each other. After the 5th time I got hit I figured I would drop back a little, seems I was literally in the middle and dropping back was even worse. So I headed out to about 10-15 feet wide of the booeys. This was working fine until we got near a booey at which point everyone even further out than I would suddenly feel the need to come crashing back in towards the booey with no regard for themself or anyone in there way. While this was all going on the weeds were grabbing at us all like crazy. At one point I looked over and a guys head was more than half covered in weedy junk. It was 0.62 miles, my goal was 22-25 minutes. Got out of the water at 22:17, right on target.

T1 was loooooong! The run from the water exit to the bike was easily over 200 yards. My bike was racked in the 3rd row from the back, dead center, so there was no cheating on one side or the other. Got there, threw on my stuff, turned on Garmin, grabbed the bike, and went for the exit, which was... uphill! T1 time? 3:54, aka poo poo!

Once on the bike, go to hit the Garmin, still looking for Satellites! Got about .5 to a mile into the ride and it finally decided to play nice, clicked it on, and was off. I was surprised at how slow people were coming out on the bikes? We had just done the swim so I figured legs would be pretty fresh for everyone. I was blowing by people and starting to get nervous I was overdoing it? But then looked at Garmin and I was right where I needed to be? Oh well, just get out of my way! I like to push my bike hard on hills, both up and down. Seemed like most people were coasting down the hills on the course rather than pumping through them? This was working out pretty well for me until Grandpa decided that he needed to pull his Acura TL out of his neighborhood in the middle of the race and drive 10 mph right in our lane. I was literally screaming at his car I was so fired up. He eventually went straight when the course turned right, so I was thankful and took out my anger on the next uphill which came up right away (anger can be good!) We hit the next hill, which was noted on the course as being a point to mind, and having trained the course I hit it with a full head of steam and was able to plow right through it. This was a bottleneck for a lot of people as they were hitting this hill and almost coming to a complete stop. I think one person may have actually thrown a chain in the middle. I just stayed left and powered past at least 10-15 people. At the top of this hill I came across a gentleman with a beautiful Cervelo Tri bike, clearly very expensive. He had aerobars and the whole deal and the outfit to match it. When I went by him I heard him actually grunt. So then he overtook me about a minute later and I actually heard him go "hmmph!" At which point I passed his butt again and while driving past him said outloud so he could hear, "Good I like you! You're going to push me!"  Only thing was after that, he dropped back a little (so I guess maybe one dream crushed?) After the half way point there is another downhill where I typically get my bike up between 35-40 mph. Unfortunately I ran into another car issue which prohibited me from getting the full advantage of this hill. This time I didn't rant like a maniac just waited for the fool to get moving and pumped through. Target time was under an hour, I was able to finish out the 17.5 mile bike in 58:14 (I figure the stupid cars cost me a minimum of 2 minutes.)

T2 - jumped off bike, ran down hill in bike shoes (paranoid I was going to wipe out) lose the helmet, lose the shoes, slap on the sneaks and the hat, off and running. Total time, 1:38. Now that's more like it!

And now starts my slowest part... At the beginning of the run fans were cheering us on and one group was yelling, "you can do it! how do you feel!" So I told them, "I want my mommy!" The guy next to me running replied, "does your mommy have a car???" And I said, "I'm hoping at least a scooter with a sidecar!" The run course was exactly as I expected, me getting passed by a bunch of real runners and staying in my zone. I hit the hills on the back end of the race and the tired was setting in, but I refused to stop and walk and powered through as best I could (powered being a very poor word choice at this output!) After getting to the top of the last hill I had about a mile left in the race and on the down hill I actually felt a final little burst of energy. I was actually able to pass a few people (one of which I felt I had no right to!) and coming up to the finish line I had to make my decision. I looked over my shoulder and there was nobody within a good 70 yards, so it was go time. I hit the finish line and finished out with the previously promised cartwheel, barely breaking stride in the process. Goal time was 36-40 minutes, yes I know I'm slow, actual time 39:13, just made it!

So my overall time for my first sprint tri was 2:05:13. I was hoping for under 2 hours, but knew it was more realistic for sub 2:15. So with that in mind I crushed my OWN dream!

Notes to self for next race:

1. Sign up for kick boxing or MMA to get ready for next swim.
2. MOVE FASTER IN T1!
3. The night before race go and remove all lug nuts from cars residing on the bike course.
4. Get those Sketcher shoes with the wheels on the bottom to move faster on run (anyone know if those are legal???)

Seriously, had a great time, met my goals, know what I need to focus on. Looking to sign up for my next race (eyeing one 7/29).

-Matt

Great report Matt and great job!!

Things that are out of your control annoy the out of you, but unfortunately for normal folk live goes on and they never understand that they may impact on people who are trying to complete/compete in such events.

Keep up the good work

Gareth

Congratulations Matt!!!  I believe the competitive bug has bitten you.  Great report.  Some locals really enjoy having a race in their neighborhood and some don't.  I understand your frustration and heat of the moment, but I also understand their point of view.  Their life doesn't revolve around our race.  Life....Messy....Interesting.  You had a great race my friend.  Be proud.  

I rode my tail off today.  2.5 hours and almost 49 miles.  I had close to 3000 ft of elevation gain throughout the ride.  I was tuckered after this one.  I have a somewhat lighter week this week heading into the race on Saturday.  Looking forward to race along side Troy.  

Sorry I haven't checked in in a few days. It got really busy at work on Friday and I was travelling (and swimming biking and running) this weekend. Also, I went to my ex husbands wedding. Awkward.

Matt-Great RR. Sounds like you had fun!

Ashley-I hope your day went as well as Matt's but it's going to be hard to beat a cartwheel across the finish line!

A pic from my ride this weekend on the NY side of Lake Champlain. If you squint you can see Burlington, VT in the distance.

(IMG-20120623-00128.jpg)

Good morning all!

Awesome race, Matt! Great write-up. Sounds like you killed it on the bike! Looking forward to my first on Saturday. If (and that's a BIG "if") I can get out of the water in front of Scott, I'm going to just push it as hard as I can to hold him off on the bike as long as possible. I'm thankful he's not in my age group.

*********

Went out for a mile and a half OWS this morning ... should be my longest swim prior to the race. Finished in 49:09 for a 1:52/100yd  pace. Meh. I'm hoping to at least be in the 1:45 range, if not faster, for Saturday's sprint distance.

Good morning!!!

Matt, good job. Congratulations on your first tri! I am very proud of the cartwheel finish.

My day went well, good effort, but I was a tiny bit disappointed which I will get to. I was waiting to get the results posted so I would have some data.

Swim was a 400 meter pool swim. Finished in 7:30. That was 4th out of 13 in my age group (30-34) so I was pleased with that. I passed 3 people and did not get passed. The fastest time in my age group was 6:55 so no bad. It was 100 yards+ run to the transition area. It was like a long S around the facility and to the T area. I was racked in the middle on the end. My T1 went as smooth as it could go. I sat down and put socks, shoes, and helmet on and was off. Didn't mess up anything. My T1 time was 1:54, 7th out of 13. I don't know what I could have done faster but maybe run faster or have shoes clipped in to start. I could go sockless but not interested. 

Jogged to the mount line and got on. I hit the road with a burning desire to keep it up at 20mph. I was constantly pushing and pedaling. The weather was perfect, not windy. I was rolling down the road and getting passed by the usual suspects- Cervelos, state of the art Giants, Treks, and Cannondales, and all the aero helmets. The road course was a good track. There were constant rolling hills and no climb that killed you. Bike was 13 mile ride. Finished in 41:39 which is right at 18.5 mph. I shouldn't be surprised. Its right on target with where my training has been. I was just hoping for a little more 'umph'. My biking was 10th out of 13 in the AG. Frustrating. That sounds very bad but looking at the numbers, I'm 6 minutes of the leader. The rest of the pack ahead of me was right around th 38-40 minute mark. Regardless, I am realizing biking is not my strength like I thought. I gave it a good effort and the legs were feeling it. A few minutes difference here would be big. I know I need to work on my engine but I can't stop thinking about what a new bike would do combined with my extra engine work. I might not win a race but I know I could get a top 3 finish in my age group.

Moving on from the frustration, we get into a different kind of frustration. T2 went as smooth as silk. I was in and out in 40 seconds- 5th out of 13 on the T2- 10 seconds of the leader. Again, I don't know what to do different. This is not where I lost my podium finish. We all know where that is. Anyway, I start running and hootin' and hollerin' to get my body goin'. My goal is around 24:45 to avaerage sub 8 miles. Here comes the punisher- off road grassy field for start/finish of the run. OH MY- I am literally watching everywhere I put my foot and slowly making sure there is solid ground under the grass. This sucks! I heard there was some grass to go through but I was thinking it would be more like a heavily used path or groomed fairway and not a horse pasture!!! Nearly a 1/2 mile later, I get up on the road. Now, it is time to get in my groove. The body is feeling good and I settled in for my turn around point where I plan to kick it up a notch. I get to the turn around and am feeling good. I am thinking I made good time but need to kick it up a hair to reach my sub 8 minute mile goal. I keep running and there is another turn around!! Crap! Was I 1/2 way at the first turn around or the second???? This sucks! Now I don't know what kind of pace I am doing. I finally see a sign that says mile marker 2 so I know what I got left- .6 of road and the .5 mile grass gauntlet. Sheesh....I hit the grass and immediatley slow down to prevent breaking an ankle. I'm cussing because this is not how you want to finish- going slower. Finished the run in 25:54. That is about a 8:30 mile- more disappointment but the grass gauntlet threw me off. I know I would have hit my goal on pavement- easily lost over a minute in the grass. Was it a minute each way through the gauntlet? Total? don't know. Everyone had to do it so its only fair. Finished 5th out of 13 in the AG on the run.

Completed the whole thing (400M/13/5K) in 1:17:39.  Overall, 6th out of 13 in the AG. Finished 49th out just over 100 guys. I am always in the middle of the pack. I missed my goal in 2 out of 3 legs of the race and was 5 minutes of the 3rd place finisher in my AG. I want a podium finish! It was a good effort. I feel like I improved everywhere but the bike compared to my first race in March.

Time to put it behind me and move on. First open water swim and a TOUGH course coming up 7/28. I have no idea where I will finish. I have been told this is a doozy...more details to come.

2 races down a lifetime more to go! 

Here is a link to the official results:

http://headfirstperformance.com/web_documents/12markeytridu.htm

Congrats on your first race Matt and great write up! Love to hear the details of race day. Can't wait till my first one.

Congrats on your race as well Ashley! I would be ecstatic with that run time. Especially with the course conditions

**************

Finally did my first open water swim. My parents have a 10 acre pond on their ranch and while out there working on saturday I decided to go ahead and do my first open water. My brother-in-law jumped in the boat with a life vest and trolled along beside me. Didn't have my garmin since it was spur of the moment so not sure exactly how far I swam but we estimated about 150 yards. I actually felt great and had no fear of the dark water at all. Was kinda shocked how easy it was. Now that it's done I will probably go out there and start swimming alot to get used to it. We are also planning to travel to Florida beach in a few weeks so I will be doing a lot of ocean swimming.

Such is the drive that no longer nourishes us just to finish, but to be faster than we were before.....crushing dreams along the way.  Congratulations on a stellar race Ashley.  Great report and keep moving forward.  Look how far you've come this year.  You are a stud my friend.  

My apologies for my absence but it looks like I picked a great time to check back in.

Matt and Ashley, you should be very proud of your results as well as the training and dedication that got you there.  Well done!

Looking forward to Scott and Troy's race this weekend.

As for me, had my first run in 11 weeks yesterday.  3 miles at 10:40 pace on flat pavement at the beach.  No pain!  

Not sure of what my future plan will be.  I've kept my bike fitness up pretty well.  I've slacked on my swimming and will get back at it.  Probably look for a sprint later in the summer. 

Sorry if I missed any of your races or milestone accomplishments while I was away.

Craiger.

For future reference, you can plot your swim on MapMyRun.com ... just turn off the "default to road" setting, and switch to satellite so you can mark your route according to various landmarks. It should get you pretty close as long as you are "honest" about how far out from shore you were, etc.

Had my first race yesterday and while I am happy I finished, I came away humbled. 

Woke up at 4AM to shower eat some cereal and have a coffee. We went down to my parents house in Philly for the weekend so its a 10 minute drive down to the race. My wife dropped me off at 5:15 and I walked down the hill for body marking and to rack my bike for transition. Transition was surprisingly well organized and on the advice of others I wrote my rack number on my arm so I could find it after the swim. Took the bus up to the swim start and as the swim was not wetsuit legal just took along a banana for the wait and my goggles and swim cap. Had a 2+ hour wait for my swim wave (my AG goes last for some reason) and finally got in the water at 7:55 AM. 

Swim:

5 minutes in between each wave and surprisingly well organized. We waited on the dock until the previous wave was off and then had 5 minutes to warm up. I was most nervous about the swim but as it turns out, for all the wrong reasons. I fell into a rhythm pretty quickly and besides for getting bumped once or twice it was going well...until I swam off course...three times! The Philly Tri is a point to point down river with a giant bridge you need to swim under but somehow I ended up zig zagging my way down. I also missed the swim exit buoy. I estimate I swam over half a mile extra. 

T1:

Ran out of the water, found my bike very easily (benefit of being one of the last ones out of the water I guess) and struggled with putting on my bike jersey (yes I should have worn a tri top) and got on the bike.

Bike:

Had a lot of fun on the bike but the hills really killed my speed. We have no hills by me and the Philly Tri hills are short but fairly technical. The most fun part was passing people wearing aero helmets and riding $5,000 bikes with race tires. Overall I enjoyed the ride as I have run the area many times, including some half marathons and many training runs so seeing it on a bike was interesting. Saw my family as I was coming down one fill which was exciting.

T2:

Nice and quick but trying to tie shoes in a rush is complicated. Next time I will use the quick lace things.

Run:

The run is an out and back mostly in the sun and my quads were cramping so badly I could see them locking up. I ended up walking twice and all thoughts of a pace were abandoned pretty quickly. The highlight of the race for me was picking up my two year old before the finish line and running across with her.

Summary:

I purposely did not post times here because I find them a bit upsetting J. I consider myself in good shape, have swam the distance, rode my bike on 40+ mile rides and ran after, and run long distances (10+ miles) all with no problems. I think I went into this very over confident and realized how much work is needed to really complete this distance under 3 hours. I am still deciding how to attack this going forward but I think I am going to skip an Olympic in September I was considering and spend the rest of the season working on my running and cycling game and really stepping it up and rebuilding my base and fitness to where I believe it needs to be. The winter will be spent on working on triathlon specific  swimming skills (focusing on efficiency and sighting) and cycling drills and I will be ready to follow a formal training plan next season to meet my time goals for next time around. 

- David Colman

David - you did it!!  That is the first victory and we all want to do better and will.

Matt & Ashley - NICE!!!  My 14 year old daughter loved the cartwheel.......she challenged me to do one and I took the high road and opted to not risk injury - you are my hero!!

Did a fun very crowded tri on sunday - 900+ people.  Yes, I keep learning more things that will help on race day - some are the obvious...don't stay up to late the two prior nights......and hydration means H2O.

In the bathroom line for pre race relief I ran into an old friend from Philly who was in my running group.  Funny - we are going to do some training together....he was pissed I beat him but we made plans anyway.  Dream crushed and he is only 35 years old......hehe.

Swim - 440 yards in open ocean  - 8:01 (David - I hear you about zig zagging and getting kicked)

T1 - 1:50

Bike - 12 Miles - 36:30 19.7 mph 

T2  - 1:17

Run 3.2 miles  - 27:15

Total 1:14:14 - 21 out of 91 (Yes Ashley, I did age group........)

Learnings - swim straight, don't drink two nights prior (or the night before)

Ah HAs - bike is getting stronger, gotta work on the run

I used this brand of stuff to lube up for the race Acquaphor - good stuff, hope I get some samples soon.......

Dream Crushing - man I was crushing dreams as I was running my last mile and counting the 45 year old markings on guys calfs when all of a sudden two 45 year old's blew past me and said excuse us .....x?/#$#@$%$#@@$%%% - I'll be BACK.

Did a nice 4 mile run and 11 mile ride this am.

All in all, getting better, making progress and wanting more!!!!

The race reports are coming in thick and fast, with everyone doing superb, whether hitting their goals on this one or stripping back ready for next season. It has helped remotivate me to sign up for another one. Havent really looked for a while for another tri as training for a half marathon so am concentrating on my running.

Anyhow, have signed up for a novice sprint tri, 400m pool swim, 17k bike then 3k run - not huge distances, but keeps me going the right way and it is just round the corner from my house!

Have only down 1 tri before, with an open water swim, so my question is, is a pool swim easier or harder, how does transition work, any help you can give is great.

The tri is a new tri aimed at getting people into the sport and they are running a course familirsation day whch is a good idea, so hopefully can get a bit of an idea before hand, but your experiences will help

Thanks as always

Gareth

Troy, that is a scary fast swim in open water! I know you are looking forward to this weekend. You are up next my friend! I expect nothing but an AG winning performance.

Jeff, good job! I can't imagine what I would do in the ocean besides pee on myself. I have a lot of experience swimming in the ocean scubadiving but not on the surface with others bumping into me. I have ocean swims planned for 2014 when I am not 10 hours from it!

Craig, good to see you buddy. Come when you can stay longer!

Thanks for all the compliments on the race. I am excited to have another one under the belt. I look forward to the many different experiences I have in this sport. Like in life, not every day will be a PR.

David, if you don't want to share times, that is fine. You are discouraged. Most people you know think you did great! They say, "You finished!" I know you don't feel the same way and you shouldn't! You work hard and you want better results. I don't think I could finish an Olympic race in 3 hours. There is nobody that understands more what you are going through than us. The common man doesn't know what it takes for this sport. Who else are you going to share with and get encouragement? What did you expect in your first race? You said yourself you have done all of them and are in good shape. Putting all three together is a big challenge. We ALL know that. Don't feel embarassed. I have not even attempted an Olympic distance yet so you are more man than me. So obviously, you didn't finish in under 3 hours like you hoped. What was your goal? You FIRST race was an Olympic distance. Why didn't you start with a sprint? Seem too easy? I've done two sprints and they weren't easy. I didn't have the ability to start with what you did. So you've been humbled- life does that to you. I know you learned a lot on this race- good and bad. Sign up for a sprint, go practice those distances. Do some dual workouts of sprint distances and get some confidence. Ask Scott and other people how to reduce your transition times. I'll offer what little knowledge I have. Thats all the encouragement I have.

Now lets be real. I got my a$$ whooped yesterday by 48 guys infront of me! They were better, faster, and more prepared. You got your a$$ whooped, too! What are we going to do better today?? What makes you different than me?