swbkrun's group - FULL (Page 47)

From what I remember this is an old picture, and that picture was taken of the LEAD SWIMMER, so hence why he is alone?!  I think that is what I read somewhere.

Hello everyone, just got back from Disney World a few hours ago so had to jump online to say hello.

Anything exciting go on while I was out?

Doing the Nations Tri on sunday as a relay, I am riding the bike portion.

Represent us well!!

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LOL, I will try.  Took some time off for the vacation and I feel pretty well rested.  I think I was getting run down and my workouts were suffering because if it.

In honor of 9-11, and my late father, lets share in some military humor   Glad to see they can keep their sense of humor over there.

Welcome back Tony.  I was thinking of you and your family this week.  I hope you didn't have too much of your vacation rained out.

MY WETSUIT ARRIVED LAST NIGHT!!!  Holy tightness!  I can't imagine wearing anything else underneath that! Or the possibility of being cold!  I am excited to get out and try it. I am feeling a little better about the temp for my race.  The HIM starts an hour before we do, and then I am wave 7, so I am guestimating I won't be starting until after 10am!  That will help. Thanks for all the advise.  I'm sure you guys are right.  I've decided to wear an ear/head band around my ears as well.  Even though it will look kind of silly I have a hard time with cold ears -so that will help and it's easy to pull off if I get hot.  I wear this when I ride in the winter and it is very nice.

And since I am the only girl in this group you guys have to share in this moment with me.....after trying on my wetsuit last night I made the ultimate sacrifice to my sport.  I CUT OFF MY NAILS!!!  Please excuse me while I curl up in a corner and cry   (But I'll be super fast in my wetsuit without holes!)

No rain in Disney actually, we had a great time oh and

pics?

Don't make fun of me. This is a big deal!  If Steve gets to say his zit hurts, then I get to mourn my nails!!!

And I thought about taking a picture last night. I put on my swim cap and googles, but when I looked in the mirror I thought I looked (and smelled) like a giant condom with a yellow beanie and fly eyes!  I guess that is worth a picture.

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I rented a Sockeye from F2R (Fit 2 Race).  It is actually one of the suits that will be reviewed on the BT wetsuit review video.  The deal was really good, $45 for 29 days, and it looks like the one my husband got was brand new. 

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That is a good deal I think around here you pay 35 bucks for a week.

You're right, that is the price I have seen most places. I did a search on BT and most people talked about wetsuitrentals.com, but I think they are also $45-50/week.  F2R was also mentioned in a thread so I thought, "why not?"  I like the extended amount of time I get with the suit.  You don't have a choice of brands - just the full or sleeveless models.  But for the first time in a wetsuit I thought it was worth the chance. 

 Here is the website if anyone is interested. http://www.f2r.com/   wetsuits  and wetsuit rentals are under Products.

Hi everyone! 

First off, my apologies for joining the group way back when, posting a bit, then disappearing.  I had a rough time committing myself to training this year and even stopped a couple times.  Each time it was a friend who accidentally got me going again without even knowing it!  One time it was because he was going to do a tri this year, and he asked me about mine and what I was going to do.  That suddenly got me very motivated!

As I started training though, I found I had enough time to log my training, do some inspires, but not really time to read through and respond to any of the forums due to work.  That's lightened up somewhat now, so I hope to get back!

This could be a long read......

What I do want to talk about is what happened to me and my training this year, so that hopefully none of the other newer (not new anymore!) triathletes won't make the same mistake.

I completely took my fitness for granted.

I started off 2007 at 210 lbs and completely unfit.  I was very dedicated to my training, lost 45 lbs, and got 2nd in the MTB division in my first race, and won the MTB division in my 2nd race! Over the course of the fall, I hurt my knee a little, so had to back off the training, and by November/December (primarily due to work) I didn't train at all, or maybe just barely.

January, 2008  rolled around and I was suddenly up to 180 lbs (15 over October), but I figured that's okay, I'm still 30lbs less than last year, so I'll have a great year.  I planned my races, but never got very serious about training since I was so much fitter than 2007. 

My first sprint was going to be in May, followed by my first Oly at the end of June.  Well by April, I wasn't really feeling like doing the sprint, and besides it was a pool swim, and it was kind of distracting since I was getting ready for June.  Nice excuse, eh?  So I never ramped up my training to handle it, besides, I still had over 8 weeks til the Olympic, then 7, 6, 5, 4....

I guess I better get serious now that it's June!   Finally started to train harder, but the run wasn't there at all.  I couldn't understand why I was so slow - I did 7:30/mi for 5k's in 2007, and was struggling to hit 9:00 now.  I swam 1:40/100 last year, but only 2:00/100 now.

I also finally got a tri-bike in mid-June and rode it exactly ONCE before the race.  I rode the bike fine, but I bought the aero bottle for it the day before the race and never practiced with it.  I set it up that morning, but it tilted and about half of it and it's calories spilled all over me within a few miles.  Being low on nutrition, I completely bonked on the last 1 1/2 miles on the run and didn't enjoy it at all.  All I can say is good thing my bike is fast (too bad I can't say the same for my riding!)

My next Olympic was 3 weeks later in Pittsburgh.  Got in more training, worked out a better nutrition plan so I was all set.  Again my swim was slow, so I wasn't out with the faster riders.  Why did this matter?  Because less than 30 secs into the bike, a guy who couldn't get clipped in decided to stop right in front of me!  The roads and brakes were wet, and I crashed at 19 mph.   There goes the entire aero bottle.  I lost a couple minutes there, but got going and had a decent bike, but without the nutrition and longer training rides, I was toast for the last few miles.  I just went out and did a slow jog on the run because that was all I could muster.

Next up - trip to Ireland to visit my wife's parents for 2+ weeks in August, then back to a Sprint in Akron on Sep 7th.  I wasn't able to get out and run or train much before the trip.  I was going to rent a bike while I was there, but the weather was in the 50's and raining most days, so I didn't bother. 

I was able to swim - a lot, so I finally feel like my swimming is coming back to me.

However when I finally ran there after a two week layoff, I pulled my hamstring almost immediately.  But I decided to perservere and do a 2 mile run.  Stupid.  That was mid-August, and it's still sore!  So I didn't run again the rest of the trip.  Came back, did some light jogging, and did the race last weekend.

Beat my time from last year!  This was the race I won the MTB for last year, but this was like kissing your sister:

Sure enough, my swim was a little faster than last year.  Great on paper - but I wore a wetsuit this year and not last year.  My bike was much faster this year - good thing.  I would have left my tri-bike there if it couldn't beat my MTB!  But my run was a full 4:30 slower!  That's quite an accomplishment in only 5k!

So here I am today.  I have one race left next weekend.  It's kind of between a sprint and olympic - 1000 m swim, 18 mi bike, and 5.5 mi trail run.  With the way my hamstring is feeling, I wish it wasn't on a trail!  I'm doing it with a friend from college - he was our Best Man when we got married in Ireland in 1995.  So I'm looking forward to the fun of doing it with him, rather than worried about my race time.  My running is just light and easy to be sure I can finish.

Right after that I'm going to lay off running for a couple weeks to heal up, then get right back into building up a good base and improve speed so I can have a much better year next year.

So my lessons learned are:

- Don't take fitness for granted.  I had a great 2007 due to my commitment.  I forgot that this year and thought I could pick up where I left off.

- After a layoff, build up slowly.  One training session isn't going to make your season, but it could very easily wreck it.

- Don't try something new on race day.  I've heard that so much, I can't believe I actually made that mistake.

- Have fun!  We're not going to break records or get paid megabucks doing this stuff, so be sure to enjoy it!

I've enjoyed reading the posts lately and seeing how much everyone has done this year - you should all be proud.  It's really a fun way to stay in shape when done right!

Tracy - I jealous of you doing Savageman!  I wanted to do that race, but forgot the date when I told my friend in MI that I was free that weekend to go there.

Steve - those pics from your camping trip are amazing!  I'll never look at our speedbump PA "mountains" the same.

Hey Bob, great to have you back!  We were commenting on how our group has shrunk so it's really nice to hear from you. Sorry you had such a hard time this season.  It sounds like you are back on track.  Maybe we can do SavageMan together next year! 

 Baowolf, $180 for a wetsuit?  Where did you find one that cheap?! Is it a full suit?

I paid $119 (+ shipping) for my full suit.  It's last year's model, so I may not be the most fashionable, but I love it.  I found it new on ebay, you might check it out.

Rob - welcome back and that's some good advice.  I can really see myself doing the same thing because I was in a very similar situation this year (losing weight, getting fit) and tend to take things less seriously the second time around.  So thanks for the heads up!!!