Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 39)

Lisa - My husband took the kids to the race and they cheered me on - i am really grateful for their support (Luckily my 12 year old daughter directed him where to be at different moments of the race to be able to see me)   but when we got home he slept the whole afternoon (like 4 hours!) Then went to bed at the normal time and slept late the next morning!  He said that triathlon support is a tough job.  I don't know what it is.

Samantha - Yay!! You did it!!  Don't let the swim snafu ruin the experience for you.  I was totally impatient and peeked at your race time before you posted and thought it looked pretty great.  Your bike speed - on a bike that doesn't fit you?  Nice!  I thought that you were closer to MOP than BOP - since I was truly, truly BOP - I barely avoided DFL!  Anyhow - great job, looking forward to more great things.

Where's Karen?

Steve - keep us posted on if there's a way we can see your progress during the race!

Marcus!!  Welcome back!

Hey, back from my 4th tri.  I almost didn't go, as it was 2 hour drive and my family there werent'sure they would make it.  So glad I did go.  The course at Club Med was beautiful! Plenty of officials, nice venue, perfect day. Little hot, but not like you guys "up North" are experiencing. The race in short:

Swim 440y: 9:32 (2:17 pace) first in AG

T1 1:41

Bike 12 mi: 34:08 (21:09 pace) second in AG (but a PR for me)

T2 1:21

Run 5K: 32:32 (10.8 pace) first in AG

Placed 2 in AG 94/121 overall (mostly men)

The brief details...swim sucked.  It was the most physical, hardest, yet shortest, to date.  I just get very anxious on swims during a race and don't know how to overcome that.  I even did a pre race warm up swim! The start was deep water, never done that before.  I had a "wall" of legs in front of me.  There was no place for me to pull out.  I literally stopped, let them get a tad ahead then continued.  I was pushed down on the back twice as swimmers swam right over me! Literally!!  Another person held onto my leg! Geez! What am I their personal floatation device? Very, very aggressive swim. One lady said she had never been in a race where they had men and women in the same wave...I have...never before was a big deal.  Oh well new experiences.

My first transition time was good, but I made a mistake-Lisa and Samantha, you spoke of this in your race report: cleaning the feet.  In my previous races I take a small hospital type tub that my feet "just fit" in.  I take a 2 liter bottle filled with H2O and fill the tub at the set up.  During T1 I quickly dunk my feet into the water-faster the squirting with a water bottle I think.  Well, since I know it all, I thought, nah, I can hack a little dirt on my feet, I'll save time and not dunk.  Bad idea as I found out in T2 and in the run-three blisters later with wet feet!

Bike was great for me! I got a PR  and then some! avg 21.09 is what I wanted- to avg in the 20's.  But everyone who had a bike even the toddler on a morning stroll with his mom seemed to pass me like I was standing still.  The lady who won the AG beat me only on the bike...by 4 min to finish 2 min overall ahead of me.  My sister said later she over heard racers talking about their bike times in the low 30's! So even though I am psyched that my bike time was my best...still...ugh-I know what you all will say, be happy. grr

T2 went well-but I dunked my feet in the water bucked 'cuz black pebbles annoyed my from my feet all during the bike.  So running sockless with wet feet I think contributed to 3 bleeding blisters. ouch. Like I said, I usually dunk my feet in T1. Making changes on the fly in a race-bad idea.

My run was aweful! My worst ever, and yet I placed 1 in AG go figure.  My goal during the run was just to not walk, and not let that 68 year old man pass me!! Pretty pathetic goals for me.  I was just so spent, perhaps gave too much in the bike.

Well, my family was there, and now my 15 year younger sister wants to do an Iron Man.  Mind you she has never done a tri.  So I thought of this group and what Steve says and encouraged her to start with a shorter goal.  We'll see.

Oh, and guess what??? I got a finisher's medal!!!! YAY! And a plaque for 2nd in AG.

If instersted race report link: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=262351     -Karen

Now comments for the rest of you:

Samantha-I am happy you had so many there to celebrate your first tri! Sorry about the race wave snaffu- I freak about things like that and get there an hour before...I obsess too much perhaps. Your race was a nice size with 850 racers and WOW your bike was fast! Especially it being your first! Congrats, you are now a TRIATHLETE!

Lisa-I understand your love of running, and your times reflect that.  Sorry to hear you may not do more for a while (after maybe one more this season), but we understand with all that you have to do! Diapers? I slightly remember those things! lol

Dennis-Great  bike distance 51 mi then a 9 min run pace.  Are you the new Steve? BTW you said TdF sucks.  What does TdF stand for? Congrats on yet another 5K PR. You are amazing!

Carol-Wow you are swimming 2K now? It gets easier doesn't it?  And just a few months ago we would have never thought we could do a distance like that.  And then you inspire someone.  Wow, nice.

Ceril-I agree, you are our hero! Even though you got DQ'ed I am so glad you didn't DNF! I can only imagine how you felt, and to perservere...you are an inspiration to us all. Glad your hubby may perhaps one better rested day, join you.

Steve-Thank you so much for posting your '07 run avg times.  Are you sure you just didn't copy and paste my times???  lol Nice to know that you were "there" and improved, perhaps I can/will too.

One last comment to all: If you all are in the "middle age groupers" category, then what am I, "almost over the hiller"??  I think I am the oldest in the group!

Tell me about it.  I've given up on getting any support during training and I've also lost all hope on my wife and kids cheering me on at a race.  Maybe if the finish line was near a Panera Bread I could get some support.  It's a bitter subject for me.  I will cross 16 or so finish lines this year, and all for myself.  Nobody at home even cares how well I do or if I set that awesome PR last week.

Well there goes today's rant.  Have a good day everybody.

Wow guys - that is hard core!  Just overcoming that on a daily basis to get out and train is really impressive to me.  So far it is so novel that I exercise at all and that makes it still something new and exciting in our household.  Talking to long time friends and extended family has been interesting as some find it really hard to be happy for me and don't really know how to deal with my training obsession - so I do my best not to talk about it, but it makes things a little strange since it has become so important to me.  One of my best friends didn't even ask about the triathlon and her husband called to see how it went - it was strange and I'm not sure what to make of it.  On the other hand, I have a couple friends that are training for a marathon and we have certainly grown closer...

I'm 44 years old, so you don't have me by much.  I decided to lose 40 pounds, be an ironman and get my administrative credential rather than buying a corvett and getting a divorce.

My wife roots for me because if I get fast enough she wins a trip to Hawii.  I also let her pick places with races to go visit (destination triathlons).  She actually did her first triathlon last fall and has done a few 5ks.  The kids come because they want to eat and because we camp at lakes, go canoeing fishing etc. after. 

Hrm last bike ride today, mowed the lawn cleaned up the house (some) putsed with some things and the day is gone.  Will have to pack tomorrow. 

It is tough to have no support, but then it might be hard to get enthused about your wifes knitting or whatever.  Sometimes folks feel guilty that they are not active and have too many pounds that they are not willing to get rid of and feel less in comparison to your accomplishments.  It would be nice if the people you cared about most in life could at least show up at the finish line and say grats though.  Oh well, you know you are accomplishing a lot and your family will know your example even if they can't be supportive now.

Karen - wow - 2nd in AG!! and a medal!! And a plaque!!  I tell my friends, it's all about the medal! So,actually, you got 1st in AG swim and run?!  I don't know if I work for years that I would ever get to that kind of speed!  So, I wouldn't sweat what AG you are in - actually, I think when I looked at last year's winners, most of the top women were in higher AG's and that does give me hope that I'll improve.  How can you possibly prepare for that kind of swim environment?  Have your kids try to tackle you as you swim?

I was going to try for an end of season Tri at the end of September, but now I'm trying to convince my husband to go for it and I'll be support team.  He's is already so much faster in everything, being in much better shape than I am, but he is worried about the swim.  We're gonna go to the OWS clinic on Friday and see how he feels after that.  He can swim at my gym during "family swim" on Saturday and Sunday and every Friday there is the OWS clinic about 45 min away - so we shall see.

I just registered for an odd distance triathlon for next weekend, August 6.  The Dickson Endurance Triathlon.  It's about 3 hours away.  1 mile swim, 38 mile bike, 9.3(15k) run.  This is almost half way between an Oly and a HIM.  I think it will be good for me before Augusta and shouldn't slow down my training much at all.  Let's just say I get all my long workouts for the weekend done all at once on Saturday and then rest the next 2.  It's the first tri I've seen lately that has gotten me excited.  I can't wait.

Last night I finally got in that long run I've been needing.  10.25 miles at a 10:00 pace.  It is the first long run I've done at night in years.  Was pretty cool.  I'm working tonight so no workout for today.  Since I have the new race in less than 2 weeks, I guess rest week is over and it's time to get some good mileage workouts under my belt.  I figure 2-3 days taper will be fine.

Way to go Karen!  I am totally in awe of your bike speed.  And loved your description of being a personal floatation device, probably not funny at the time, but I can't help but picture you as some sort of water wing or noodle .  So....4 sprints under your belt....what's next....perhaps an OLY (evil grin)??  Oh, and I'm no spring chicken either....45.

Steve, getting excited for you for this weekend.  Just realizing that your last race was Boston.  How was the OWS?

On the topic of family support, the knitting analogy was helpful.  My hubby tends to be supportive of anything I want to do (as in....good for you....go do that....what do you need?...glad you had fun), but doesn't go to the races much.  Sometimes I do wish he wanted to be there at the finish line, but no way do I want to force that.  I mean when he pursues his hobbies (say builds a computer), I don't sit there and watch him while he's doing it and clap and cheer.  So yeah, I think most of the tri thing is a bit of a knit one pearl one type snoozefest if you're not into it.  

Missed a couple posts....

Ceril, that's awesome that your hubby is thinking about doing a tri!  He will not think it's boring if he's doing one .  Tell him to come to BT where he can see that almost all of us struggle with the idea of swimming at first.

Dennis, that is a cool race distance.  They have had that distance at the last two that I've done and called it an Xterra.  Very smart I think to build confidence and experience for your upcoming HIM! 

Usually xterra referes to a tri with an offroad/mountain bike component for the bike portion.  Read very closely the fine print before bringing your road bike to an offroad aggressive mountainbike course.  It is entirely a different bike race. 

So ya the new wetsuit I ordered came smaller than the sizing chart.  So the OWS did not go as planned.  I probably should have been less stubborn in trying to get the darn thing on, I now have zipper treads up my back and a kink in my shoulder and back.  So I am 5'9" 142, sizing chart says 5'9" 141 to 155... sound about right... nope, not close.  

I didn't get as much done yesterday as I wanted (mow the lawn, 20 mile bike ride, cleaning, etc.).  So today is 2500 yard swim or whatever I feel is prudent, clean bike + bike chain, get my hair cut, pack and pack the car.  My wife wants to keep all 3 benches in the van and pack the 2-3 bikes, tent, 7 sleeping bags/pillows/sleeping pads and suitcases, 6 lawn chairs, all my Tri stuff, the cat, dog, catbox, dog cage (for the campground), icechest, game system for the kids,  at least 2 laptops, fishing rod and tacklebox, maybe 3 lifejackets, perhaps some house plants and a few mice for the cat to play with some straw for the elephant and an inflatible pool for the kids to hang out in while I am racing along with 1000 gallons of water or at least a wrench to turn on the firehydrant for a bit.  There is roughly a 5 1/2 by 2 foot area to fit all this (without the back bench 5 1/2 by 5).  I guess we won't be bringing the canoe, the paddleboard and the 2 windsurfers and bowflex... hrm or maybe we are. 

A 2 day taper should be fine for that Oly/HIM thing, especially if it is not your A race and a 2 day recovery is about good, treat the next week as a recovery week and then get back at it the following week. 

And holy cow 21 mph on the bike!  Very nice.  I hope to be that fast in a race on the bike some day.   

This isn't an XTerra event (watched a couple of those on TV actually).  They course was on mapmyride.com, so I zoomed into the satellite view before registering just to make sure I saw asphalt and not dirt for the bike path.

Steve, good luck from the bottom of my heart.  You've worked hard for your A race.  I will be watching the Vineman Athlete Tracker on Sunday so remember you will have internet stalkers watching your progress.

Let's talk nutrition for myself.  If I do this race that will take me around 4:30 to complete, here's my idea.  I will start the race with 1500 calories in muscle storage.  After a 40-45 minute swim I will burn around 600 calories I think.  The bike will take around 2:15 to complete so I should burn around 1800 calories.  The run will be around 930.  So that leaves me with 1830 calories to consume during the race. (1500-600-1800-930=-1830)  On the bike I will consume around 450 in Gatorade, eat 6 Clif cubes for 200 calories, and pack of 100 calorie jelly beans.  That replenishes me 750 calories on the bike before the run.  By that estimate I'm already 150 calories in the whole and bonking.  What should I do?  Am I doing the math wrong?

Thanks for the encouragement, all. Dennis, wish I knew the answer to your caloric intake delima, but alas, I do not. I am not even sure how to figure the number of calories burned!!

Steve-your description of what your wife wants to pack made me laugh.  You have a good sense of humor. Just don't foget the bike and the helmet, that would be bad-and a partridge in a pear tree might be nice as well. lol Seriously, are you sleeping at all these days? I think for such a big race, sleep for me would not come easy-tossing and turning yes, sleep, no.

So, I've switched gears and am now putting in more running miles to get ready for Oct's mary.  Still going to bike a swim 1-2 times a week.  My running seems to be getting slower, guess it is the heat, at least that is what I am telling myself. 

Good luck Steve!

Dennis - I really don't know that answer to your Q, but was wondering if you're accounting for pre-race intake - or are you counting that in your muscle storage?

Well, I sent my husband a link for the tri at the end of September so that he could look at it and possibly get some info. - well, he looks at it and then tells me that he went ahead and signed up! It leaves him about 2 months to get his swim down....so this morning we biked then did laps at a friend's pool.   He's excited and I'm glad to have a workout buddy.  I'm sure that trying to keep up with him will definitely drive me to get faster.

GO STEVE!!!!!

And Ceril, wow, I'm so glad your hubby signed up!  Happy dance for you both

Ok, I have worked out a little calorie in/out schedule for my race.  I know my geek is showing but I think I have a decent plan laid out.  I have done the Clif Bar, banana, G1, Gatorade thing for 2 other triathlons and 1 road race so my pre-race fuel I'm used to .  I eat the clif cubes and jelly beans on my long rides currently so nothing new on race day.  I stop eating/drinking gatorade with 30-40 minutes left in the run because the calories are pointless then.  It appears over the 4.5 hours of racing I will be taking in around 62oz of gatorade plus whatever water I drink also. 

Steve, critique it when you get a chance.

Go get 'em Steve!!!

That is great that you recruited from inside the family Ceril... now there is no one to talk some sanity into you two when you are training 25 hours a week! :D

Nice chart Dennis, I should probably work on some stuff like that before my races.

Testing out my GoPro camera tomorrow, hopefully getting some underwater and abovewater shots of my swimming for some critique.  I am pretty curious as I have never seen myself swim freestyle on video before. 

Marcus

I'm sure it resembles these guys.

Go Steve!

Bet he's too busy packing all the "necessities" in the car to read any more posts. So Dennis, how can we track him? His race starts at 7am? Sat or Sun? So my time that is 11, correct? How can we all track him?

Samantha back packing, wow, um...is that supposed to be...fun? Just kidding, hope you have a blast!

My run last night was sooo hot, I started to get nauseous (Sp?), which I know is bad. So I took off my shoes and socks and ran back in the surf.  (carrying my shoes of course)  What a nice way to run!  Wierd-barefoot and all, but refreshing.  I think I may do that more on my short runs especially right now in the dog days of summer. 

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.  I am off today wih the kids to Wet 'n Wild a large water park in Orlando.  So no swimming for me today, just a bunch of standing in long lines...think I'd rather be back packing with Samantha! LOL  -Karen

Those amateurs?!  Pshhh!

I'm not 100% sure if they are offering athlete tracking but rumor has it they will.  If so it will be available on this page.  Vineman Athlete Tracker His bib# is 536 if the website is correct.

The race is Saturday and starts at 6:30am PDT, so 7:30 MDT, 8:30 CDT and 9:30 EDT.  Steve's swim wave should start at 6:36.

I also found while researching what I could on the race, an article fro 2009 where D3 Multisport (you've seen that name on the BT site) where Steve was their Athlete of the Month for September 2009.

Good luck Steve.

Dennis - you have serious research skills. The information you come up with blows my mind every time. Calorie tracking, training tracking, Steve tracking .  Ever thought of finding a job helping other people train. I would benefit from your knowledge for sure! But, for real, thank you for posting Steve's information because I looked him up, but there are several other guys named Steve and I could not find one from Alturas.

Karen - backpacking is one of my most favorite things to do. But it is nothing like staying in a hotel. One of these days I will have money to go on a sweet vacation like you did with your husband. One of my bucket list items - stay in a really nice resort on the ocean so I can snorkel, lay on the beach, hike, etc.

So Steve is our only racer this weekend??