BamaDC's Mentor Group v4.0 - Closed (Page 37)

I think you've got the right idea about the paved trail from now on considering the marathon you've got coming up.  I would take it easy on your next run and maybe keep it short or take a few breaks to evaluate how it feels.  I'd also stretch and ice it after each run for the next few days or more.  If you didn't have the marathon in the near future I don't see any reason to stay out of the woods.

I've been thinking a lot about my bike setup for the upcoming HIM.  By the way, I signed up for a very small race in MO, the Howlin' Half.  It's just the 2nd year it's been held. 

So my bike setup is currently: two 24oz bottles on my seat tube and down tube and a small saddlebag that holds my flat kit.  And...that's about it. 

I've been storing nutrition in the pockets of my tri top but got to thinking that to do that in the race I'll have to cram them in my pockets in T1.  I could save time with a bento bag type setup and already have everything loaded on the bike.  But my cables enter the top tube about 1 to 1.5 inches from the headset making it tough to secure a bag.  Although, I've see people put the bag in the opposite position against the seat post.

Last night I was tinkering with an extra bottle cage and some zip ties and now have a pretty nifty aero bar mounted bottle.  I may not need the extra bottle as I can always grab a new one at aid stations but the extra bottle would allow me to store a flat kit in a bottle on the down tube and ditch the saddle bag.  Would that be more aero, you think? 

Anyways, as it stands right now I'm planning on either keeping the 2 bottles and the bag and packing nutrition in T1, or, removing the bag and using 3 bottles (one on the front) one of which will be for a flat kit.  Although, neither of those addresses the loading of nutrtion in T1.  I assume lots of people will be filling up their pockets during T1, right?

Any ideas?  What kind of setup do you guys use?

Does a saddle bag cause that much drag?

For my HIM, I'm planning on the following:

1 bottle on the down tube of Ironman Perform (what's on the course) and 1 Aero Bottle in the aero bars w/ water.

Planning on exchanging bottles as needed and having my gu's taped to my top tube (probably 4 of them), and my salt tabs in my short pocket.

I planned on having my seat bag w/ tube, CO2 and a lever.

That's it.  The simpler I can make it the better.  On the run, I'm planning on carrying a couple of gu's with me and that's it.  take in water and sports drink on the course.

I was wondering the same thing about the saddle bag (drag).  I guess I could ditch the saddle bag and grab a small flat kit to stuff in my pocket.  I was only going to go with 2 bottles and exchange one on the course, I'll put one on the aero bars. 

I'll have to buy a bento bag, I don't have one.  Any recommendations?  I saw a small Louis Garneau bag on Amazon that looks good, but it's tiny.  Fuel Belt has a good looking aero bag, too. 

Yes.  Anything behind the saddle isn't great for aerodynamics.   You want the air behind you to be as clean as possible.  A small saddle bag isn't terrible, but rear bottle holders are awful.

Guess I'll take the saddle back off for the sprint this weekend.  Probably don't need a change kit out there anyway.  Guess I could put it in a bottle on the down tube.  I hate stuffing things in my jersey, less is more!!

I'd recommend keeping the saddle on - otherwise that sounds like a very painful ride.

I always struggle with whether I should keep a flat kit on the bike or not.  For sprints I typically leave it off.

I've been struggling with when to race with a flat kit, too.  I agree, for sprints it's ok to ditch it.  For an oly it's debatable but I'd probably take it.  I was searching ST the other day and saw mentions (and a few pics) of some people attaching a small flat kit underneath their saddle.  I would imagine if you can tuck it under there well enough there's no aero penalties.  Pretty clever, I thought. 

I rode with an aero bar mounted bottle last night for the first time.  It needs some fine tuning so it won't rattle or shift but I'm digging it. 

sicone - 2011-08-12 6:41 AM I believe a few of us have a race at some point this weekend and since I doubt I'll get a chance to log on before Sunday evening, I'll say good luck to all now

x2

and on the wetsuit, I wore mine for the first time on race weekend.  I had tried it on and did the same thing in getting it on and off.  I did go out the day before the race start and got in the water with it on and did about a 800 yard swim, with no problems.  The swim worked out fine, no issues with chaffing, etc.  The wetsuit fit like a glove, and was actually pretty comfy.  It did alter my stroke a bit, but does add some bouancy.

You will probably be fine.  If you wanted to put it on and get in the water to test it out for 2-300 yards, you would probably be fine, although hot i'm sure.

Someone needs to come up with a packaged tube that has been compressed as flat as can get for a flat kit.  Anyway, one option in between is to get some Vittoria Pit Stop. 

As far as the wetsuit, I've never had to wear one, but I'd sure like to get in at least once or twice with one and do a swim, even if it was short.  That will let you figure out how to get it on so it isn't restrictive on the shoulders, etc.

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On my end I have finished up my last workout before the race tomorrow morning - a short swim.  I have certainly slowed down from a couple months ago (1:05 100, 2:30 200, 6:28 500 - bleh!).  But it should be good enough for a decent start.  Weather looks good.  Race is always fun.  Nice flat ride and run.  Looks like a good day to race!

sicone - 2011-08-12 6:41 AM I believe a few of us have a race at some point this weekend and since I doubt I'll get a chance to log on before Sunday evening, I'll say good luck to all now

Good luck!

sicone - 2011-08-12 7:41 AM I believe a few of us have a race at some point this weekend and since I doubt I'll get a chance to log on before Sunday evening, I'll say good luck to all now

He guys, sorry I've been MIA for a while.  I started a new job which has been keeping me busy and away from the computer for a while.  Good news is that the job is going well and a lot of fun.  Bad news is my commute is about 10-15 mins longer (each way) and I haven't quite adjusted my schedule yet.  You'd think it would be pretty easy for me to adjust my schedule but I don't know why it is.  Well, that's not completely true, I do know why...

I hate to admit this but I'm starting to feel burned out.  My logs are out of date so it's not as bad as it looks but I've been having trouble getting motivated for my workouts.  I even have a race on Sunday and I just can't seem to get excited about it.

Nothing wrong with taking some time off.  It lets the body heal and will stoke the fire to come back.

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Race report!  I'm pretty stoked about the bike split.  24.2mph avg. was a very good result.

Good job!!!  Nice race report.

Finished up my sprint this weekend, went well.  Did a lot of things really well, so ended up being a good race.  Still need to work on my run, which is scaring me with the HIM coming up.  The first 1 1/2 miles this weekend, I kept thinking, "How am I going to do 13.1 miles of this off of a 56 mile bike?".   Guess I will find out!!

Race report is up:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=264862

My running may be derailed a bit.

Two weeks ago (Sun 8/7) I rolled my ankle while running on the trails. I mentioned it and we decided to stay off the trails.

After yesterday's run, my foot hurt like crazy. Didn't hurt while running, but hurt afterwards. Only hurt minimally when I'd push off after stopping for gu, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I went to the dr today and luckily xrays didn't show anything. So that's good, but he feels that there could  be some tissue/ligament/or tendon damage.

His advice to take some time... So, hopefully it won't effect my plans. 11weeks to MCM.

Good job guys.  Sounds like everyone had a good weekend. Way to go finishing your first OLY Starvos!  I had a pretty good weekend too.  My race was almost rained out.  They changed the course at the last minute because one of the roads was flooded.  I had a really crappy swim but that's mostly because I haven't been swimming much since I hurt my shoulder.  All things considered I had a descent swim but got started to get tired and a little flustered towards the end.  This race was supposed to be a tune up but it was really more of a WAKE up.   I was at the FOP for the whole race (minus the swim) by viture of starting in the first wave.  The wave was mixed AGs and I missed third place in my AG by 8 seconds!  Made me realize if I want to race I need to show up and race not just go through the motions.  I could have found 8 seconds a dozen different places on the course.

double post due to stupidity