brick94513-GoGoGo Mentor Group - Closed For Now! (Page 47)

J - Linda found a better pic on my phone.  Remember the chick took a couple and I just grabbed the first one.  I now have to figure how to delete the one thats here or replace it with another.  I'm pretty challenged when it comes to this dang Blackberry... like we just learned with the BBM experience.  I still cant figure it out.

Ok, let's see.  I trained for this for....about 5 weeks so I had mixed expectations.  I checked out the AG times from last year and hoped for a top 5 finish, but really wasn't sure just how long it would take me since most of this was new. 

I expected my swim to suck.  It did.  I expected the bike to avg ~20 mph.  It did.  I expected to finish the run in about 12 mins.  I did.  Transitions, I wasnt sure about T1 because of that fricking 1/4 mile jaunt up the switchbacks, but I was figuring 2-3 mins if I wasn't too winded to run up it.  T2, I planned to take about a minute or less.

Pre-race:
One word.  HEADLAMP.  TA opened up at 0500 and it was pitch black.  I made a few assumptions about the support that I expected to be available (such as LIGHTS in the wee hours of the morning!) and they were wrong.  Setup went fine, Mark and I racked our bikes in what we thought was the most advantageous place (the middle of the TA) since it was equal distance to/from the swim in/bike out/bike in/run out and they wouldnt let AGers use the flying squirrel bike mount so no pedal mounted shoes for us.  I did one dry run in my livingroom Thursday night and compared to some of the yahoos around us, we had pretty minimalist layouts.  No buskets or tupperware bins, beach chair, etc for us warriors!

TA closed at 0630 and our wave wasnt until 0806 so we had a LOT of time to watch every. single. wave. go. out.  The elites made it look so easy!  I was VERY nervous about the swim since I had built it up in my head so much and had not been in the water except for pool swimming.  So nervous, I thought I was gonna honk a couple times.  We took a warm up dip about 0730 and I felt considerably better after that.  Water temp was in the low 60s and air temp was upper 60s, so it really wasn't bad w/ the full suit on.

Swim: 15:42
I actually raised my hand for a swim buddy because I wasn't sure how I was going to do getting through the surf but there were no more to go around so I just said F* it.  I didn't really think it through or have a plan for the swim, which certainly showed once I got into the water.  I tried to do a little dolphin leap something or other at the start which quickly turned into head above the water slow inefficient swimming.  I duck-dived (is that a word?) the waves and actually got through the surf w/ relatively little effort, but not much swimming.  Once past the breakers I tried to just keep my face in the water, head down and tried to focus on spearing my lead hand and rotate my torso w/ each stroke.  That probably actually happened about 30% of the time.  What I noticed was that swimming in open water feels like swimming and not going anywhere.  Which was odd, because before I knew it, I was at the buoy, took it really wide and headed back to the shore.  I got turned parallel to the shore somehow and when I came up to sight I saw pink swimcaps and horizon.  That made me stop and do a 360 because I was completely disoriented.  Once I got going again and knew that I wasn't going to drown or die, I calmed down a bit and tried to again focus on spearing my hand into the water and rotate the 'torpedo'.  Once I got back into the surf, I spent more time looking behind me watching for the waves to come crashing over my head and trying to bodysurf them into the shore.   This was (obviously) not the best plan because I just wasted a bunch of time and probably looked really silly.  Observations: breathing in open water is definitely not like pool swimming, I found myself rotating almost to a completely stacked position to grab each breath and I didn't ever need to use my legs at all for any reason.  I just kind of let them drag behind me.  Which I was hoping would happen in order to save them for the bike/run.

T1: 3:09
I was a little winded from the swim so I jogged the beach/flat portion, getting my goggles, cap and earplugs off/out and suit down to my waist.  I walked up the switchback then jogged into the TA, stripped my suit off w/ ease.  I grabbed my helmet n shades, turned on the Garmin, put my cycling shoes on and then thought "umm, is that all?"  I took another look at the run stuff on the towel, grabbed the bike and headed out.  I opted to not use the HR strap for the bike and wanted to go more by feel.  Observation: I really expected the actual transitioning to take longer.  If we didn't have that long stretch between the swim and TA, I think I would have been out in 90 seconds or less. 

Bike: 20.44
I KNOW I don't have enough of a base in cycling yet, so I just tried to go at a realtively hard pace and make up some time since I was pretty sure my swim was crap.  In retrospect, I could have gone harder on the bike, but I didn't know how my legs would feel for the run so I just stayed at a comfortably hard pace and tried to take the turns as fast as I could since that's still scary to me.  I averaged 20.3 mph for the bike leg, and I could have probably gotten that up to 21-22 w/ not a whole lot more effort.  Observation: Next race, go beserker on the bike.

T2: 1:14
From the dismount line into the TA was really weird.  My legs wanted to go about a million miles an hour coming off the bike.  I got in, racked the bike, switched shoes and grabbed my visor, race belt and water bottle and headed for the exit.  At this point I realized that I had a GU taped to my bike and forgot to take it.  Too late now, F* it!  I originally intended to use the HR strap for the run also, but left it because I knew I would run slower if I was focused on how high my heartrate was and I just wanted to run as hard as I felt I could go for the 1.6 miles I had left.

Run: 12:11
This went pretty much as I planned.  I didn't really feel any fatigue in my legs, so I tried to just keep passing people and not maintain a specific pace or speed.  My Garmin screen was all jacked up and I couldn't get the 'Run' data screen to come up so I had to suffice w/ seeing Speed instead of Pace.  Which was all over the chart and didn't really help me much so I quit looking at it.  Observation:  There were a few guys in their 40s that passed me (sprint distance athletes I suspect) and I got chicked by a 9 or 13 yo boy.  That pissed me off.  Then I thought 'man, I hope I'm in that good a shape when I'm their age.  And F* that kid!'  My pace booty ran out of gas at about 2 miles so then I had to follow some old lady.  Which coincidentally made me run faster to pass her cause she was nasty.

Post-race thoughts:
I felt that I performed about average for this stage of my training and I got a LOT of experience/info to use for my next race.  Which is exactly what I wanted.  I really enjoy this distance, and feel like it's one that I can actually 'race' whereas if I multiply my split times I would be a BOP finisher for the sprint distance. I will certainly go harder in all the legs next time.  I was surprised how 'fresh' I felt at the finish.  My legs are pretty sore today, but I expected that since I had ZERO post-race food and slept like total crap last night.  I had an absolute blast and having Mark there to race with was awesome.  The podium spot was just icing on the cake!

My RR is up in the Race Logs.  J pretty much captured everything I had in mind including the blazing fast little kids.

Ok, let's see. I trained for this for....about 5 weeks so I had mixed expectations. I checked out the AG times from last year and hoped for a top 5 finish, but really wasn't sure just how long it would take me since most of this was new.

I expected my swim to suck. It did. I expected the bike to avg ~20 mph. It did. I expected to finish the run in about 12 mins. I did. Transitions, I wasn’t sure about T1 because of that fricking 1/4 mile jaunt up the switchbacks, but I was figuring 2-3 mins if I wasn't too winded to run up it. T2, I planned to take about a minute or less.

Pre-race:
One word. HEADLAMP. TA opened up at 0500 and it was pitch black. I made a few assumptions about the support that I expected to be available (such as LIGHTS in the wee hours of the morning!) and they were wrong. Setup went fine, Mark and I racked our bikes in what we thought was the most advantageous place (the middle of the TA) since it was equal distance to/from the swim in/bike out/bike in/run out and they wouldnt let AGers use the flying squirrel bike mount so no pedal mounted shoes for us. I did one dry run in my livingroom Thursday night and compared to some of the yahoos around us, we had pretty minimalist layouts. No buskets or tupperware bins, beach chair, etc for us warriors!

Why? What was their reasoning? Did they explain?

TA closed at 0630 and our wave wasnt until 0806 so we had a LOT of time to watch every. single. wave. go. out. The elites made it look so easy! I was VERY nervous about the swim since I had built it up in my head so much and had not been in the water except for pool swimming. So nervous, I thought I was gonna honk a couple times. We took a warm up dip about 0730 and I felt considerably better after that. Water temp was in the low 60s and air temp was upper 60s, so it really wasn't bad w/ the full suit on.

Swim: 15:42

I actually raised my hand for a swim buddy because I wasn't sure how I was going to do getting through the surf but there were no more to go around so I just said F* it. I didn't really think it through or have a plan for the swim, which certainly showed once I got into the water. I tried to do a little dolphin leap something or other at the start which quickly turned into head above the water slow inefficient swimming. I duck-dived (is that a word?) the waves and actually got through the surf w/ relatively little effort, but not much swimming. Once past the breakers I tried to just keep my face in the water, head down and tried to focus on spearing my lead hand and rotate my torso w/ each stroke. That probably actually happened about 30% of the time. What I noticed was that swimming in open water feels like swimming and not going anywhere. Which was odd, because before I knew it, I was at the buoy, took it really wide and headed back to the shore. I got turned parallel to the shore somehow and when I came up to sight I saw pink swimcaps and horizon. That made me stop and do a 360 because I was completely disoriented. Once I got going again and knew that I wasn't going to drown or die, I calmed down a bit and tried to again focus on spearing my hand into the water and rotate the 'torpedo'. Once I got back into the surf, I spent more time looking behind me watching for the waves to come crashing over my head and trying to bodysurf them into the shore. This was (obviously) not the best plan because I just wasted a bunch of time and probably looked really silly. Observations: breathing in open water is definitely not like pool swimming, I found myself rotating almost to a completely stacked position to grab each breath and I didn't ever need to use my legs at all for any reason. I just kind of let them drag behind me. Which I was hoping would happen in order to save them for the bike/run.

Wow! That’s one hell of a turn! This is where using landmarks come into play. Before the race I’ll stand on the shore inline with the buoy, turn 180 degrees, and try to find a landmark that I’ll be able to see well above the chaos.

I don’t kick very hard in the swim either. During the majority of the swim, I’ll do a two-beat kick, which is one kick with every hip rotation. Then when I’m a couple hundred yards from shore, I’ll switch to a flutter kick to get my legs ready for the bike.

Considering you haven’t been in the open water, great job. I commend you on staying calm, focusing, and getting it done!

 T1: 3:09

I was a little winded from the swim so I jogged the beach/flat portion, getting my goggles, cap and earplugs off/out and suit down to my waist. I walked up the switchback then jogged into the TA, stripped my suit off w/ ease. I grabbed my helmet n shades, turned on the Garmin, put my cycling shoes on and then thought "umm, is that all?" I took another look at the run stuff on the towel, grabbed the bike and headed out. I opted to not use the HR strap for the bike and wanted to go more by feel. Observation: I really expected the actual transitioning to take longer. If we didn't have that long stretch between the swim and TA, I think I would have been out in 90 seconds or less.

 

How did you take the suit off? I like to unzip and take one arm out. Then I grab my goggles and cap with the other hand then pull that arm out of the suit. This traps the goggles and cap in the sleeve of the suit. With a long run to transition, I like to strip the lower half of the suit before the confines of the transition area. It just seems faster to me.

Bike: 20.44

I KNOW I don't have enough of a base in cycling yet, so I just tried to go at a realtively hard pace and make up some time since I was pretty sure my swim was crap. In retrospect, I could have gone harder on the bike, but I didn't know how my legs would feel for the run so I just stayed at a comfortably hard pace and tried to take the turns as fast as I could since that's still scary to me. I averaged 20.3 mph for the bike leg, and I could have probably gotten that up to 21-22 w/ not a whole lot more effort. Observation: Next race, go beserker on the bike.

All out works for sprint distances, but as you develop into longer races, you’ll want to hold back for the run. 20 mph is pretty solid!

 

From the dismount line into the TA was really weird. My legs wanted to go about a million miles an hour coming off the bike. I got in, racked the bike, switched shoes and grabbed my visor, race belt and water bottle and headed for the exit. At this point I realized that I had a GU taped to my bike and forgot to take it. Too late now, F* it! I originally intended to use the HR strap for the run also, but left it because I knew I would run slower if I was focused on how high my heartrate was and I just wanted to run as hard as I felt I could go for the 1.6 miles I had left.

Next time, consume the GU as you finish up the ride. It is easier to consume on the bike than on the run. Good choice on not going back! Also, good decision on not taking the time to put the HR monitor on.

Run: 12:11

This went pretty much as I planned. I didn't really feel any fatigue in my legs, so I tried to just keep passing people and not maintain a specific pace or speed. My Garmin screen was all jacked up and I couldn't get the 'Run' data screen to come up so I had to suffice w/ seeing Speed instead of Pace. Which was all over the chart and didn't really help me much so I quit looking at it. Observation: There were a few guys in their 40s that passed me (sprint distance athletes I suspect) and I got chicked by a 9 or 13 yo boy. That pissed me off. Then I thought 'man, I hope I'm in that good a shape when I'm their age. And F* that kid!' My pace booty ran out of gas at about 2 miles so then I had to follow some old lady. Which coincidentally made me run faster to pass her cause she was nasty.

OK, you are killin’ me here! I about spit out my dinner.

 

T2: 1:14

Edited by brick94513 2010-05-17 10:02 PM

Since my goggles were foggy, those and the cap/ear plugs came off first, then I did the same thing you do to get unzipped and get my arms out and trap the stuff in the sleeve.  How do you get out of the suit on the move?  I've seen how to do it by standing on it while you're putting your helmet on, but never while in motion.  It does sound quicker.

To keep my hands free, I only move my goggles up to my forehead.  Upper body of the suit comes off on the run.  If I find a nice spot to stop on the way to transition, I'll make a quick stop to rip the lower half off. Lots of body glide around the lower legs helps the suit come right off.   I still stop, not done on the move.  This works well for XTERRAs where the transition area my be in the dirt.

Sounds like things came together well for you!  Now the 1,000 yard swim at Carlsbad....

Dave, are you going to do the Silicon Valley Internation Triathlon?  Olympic distance race right in your backyard!  I'm thinking about it.

This is making me nervous. I got my perscription goggles today. I'll have to wear them till I find my bike, or I won't...............find my bike! LOL


On a side note. I'm wondering if my race is going to be televised. A couple of weeks ago they had the Utah Xterra and Hawaii on CBS.

Probably not.  Utah is the site for XTERRA USA Nationals and Hawaii is XTERRA Worlds.

Try an anti-fog spray for sure.  I think I'm using a solution made by TYR.

For the other guys in the SF Bay area, found a couple of swim and triathlon clinics:

www.usaproductions.org

I haven't attended these clinics, but looks to be a good opportunity for some professional coaching.  Clinics are three hours.  $40 for swim clinic; $50 for tri clinic.

Just make sure to wipe them out if you do a warm up lap.  Youll be fine.  I just put mine up on my head after the warm up and didn't think about it until right before we got in the corral.

Edited by shmeeg 2010-05-18 10:15 AM

Training question:

My left posterior tibial tendon has been wreaking havoc on my training, as a lot of you know....I even had to lay off long periods of walking last week due to the pain. By Friday all the pain was gone and Saturday I went hiking. I was hiking for over 3 hours in some pretty rough terrain - including some rock climbing - lots of ascents and descents, etc. Afterwards, I experienced zero pain in my tendon.

This is strange because if I were to run two miles on a flat course my tendon would be screaming by the time I was finished.

What gives? 

When you're running you are creating more impact to your tendon constantly banging on it every step. Hiking is more of a smooth motion. Unless your jumping rock to rock at the same cadence you run at, it's less impact over a given time. But it's also probably a good build up to running. Start slow!

Still feeling tired and worn out but got off my butt and went to De Anza Cove for a decent OWS.  Pretty boring after all that surf action last weekend.  Training log updated. 

^^ me too, I'm still sore, but I think I'm gonna get out for a bike ride tomorrow at lunch.  Monday is go time again for training!

Possibly from shorter stride while hiking too.  While hiking, you foot strike was probably under your hips.  Also, I would assume you had less push off.

Either way, that is good news that you didn't have pain.  When ready, I would recommend starting back with walk-runs.  If you can, take the runs to the trail for a while to lessen the impact.  Remember in order of severity on the body: concrete, asphalt, then dirt.  Watch out for slopes too.

Another bike ride for me today.  Darn, ticks are out in force around here.  This is two rides in a row that I've got a couple on my legs.  Hate those things!

Ok, I have a question.  Am I a dork for wanting an aero helmet already?  Will I see any benefit from it this early in my training?

Aero Helmets???

Hell J... I dont know if they work enough to justify the cost but there sure as hell were alot of them out there last weekend.

I think you should go for this model...

AOTD -- Have absolutely no idea.

On the good new front, think I am now officially "hooked" on training.  Headed to the gym this PM with a plan to do my swim + bike.  Got all changed in to my suit and realized that I'd forgot my goggles.  Tried to swim, but wasn't working.  Did the bike intervals I had planned and they went great.  Done now and don't feel like I did what I should.  Good news is the workout seemed "easy" and it'll give me a chance to rest up a bit.