Baowolf's Beginner Banquet -Sorry all tables are full no room.. (Page 47)

Ok Carol, you win. Great job. My run and swim numbers are sad.  An injury is just an excuse, I could've gotten at least 10 more miles or walking in easily.  The swimming is just embarrassing.  I plan on putting 2100 yds. in tonight to bring that number up to 14k but I should have numbers like you.  

Looks like Carol is our winner this month.  Running is coming back slowly, cavles tighter today as well as thighs.  I know moving dirt at night and moving my office by hand is definately not contributing to leg muscle soreness.  Nothing pulled just sore on the run.  Not sure if I will be able to run that half mary with my son in 5 weeks.  Hrm.... Oh well need to get house stuff done, is all there is to it.  I still have dirt left over though, maybe I should add another 2-3 foot to the top of the arechery hill, hrm.

So should I go for an OCD 13 mile bike ride tonight to get my bike miles to 400 for the month? Or just move dirt? 

33 mile ride was great this morning despite all the weirdness.  I had somebody yell douche bag at me from a car for no reason, they were on the opposite side or a divided road.  Then I ran through a big limb that somebody had left in the bike lane.  It was around 5:00, I didn't see it until it was too late to swerve.  I held on, stopped pedaling, and plowed through it like a boss.  A little scratch on my leg, no bike/tire damage and limbs were flying.

Now there's only one way to make this better.  A hot, fresh cinnamon roll.  It was as fresh as you could get.  So good, I took a picture of me enjoying it.

Yikes Dennis!  Glad you (and your bike) are OK.  Sounds like plowing through those limbs was the best way to handle it.  That cinnamon roll looks wonderful!!  Glad you enjoyed it.  I don't know why people act like such jerks sometimes.  Last week I saw someone swerve around an elderly driver (going too slow).  Pissed off guy stops his car, blocking the old folks car, and gets out so he could cuss them out and they couldn't move their car. This was under a busy underpass, backing others up.

Went for a short bike ride with a friend this morning, and I'm glad it was short.  Just wasn't in it....at all!  Guess I'll go try and get one more swim in at the lake in the morning.  Dead fish count is at 124,000 (have to wonder how they know that...I mean why not 125,000?), so I'm really hoping it's mostly cleaned up by then.  MTA: and water temp in the lake is 91, blech!  If they are still lining the shore, I'm heading for the pool....or the coffee shop....maybe they have cinnamon rolls .    

Stupid question time:

1.  Can I wear my garmin HR strap in the water without ruining it?  I think the answer is yes, seems like I've seen others doing it and with the amount I have sweated this summer it might as well have gone swimming.

2.  How many spare tubes do you carry a) in races b) in training?

1. I would think so.  I've seen people do it and a quick google search returns results that say it is.
2. 1 spare tube and a patch kit.  My plan is 1st flat, replace tube. 2nd flat, repair previous tube and install.

Good job on the long runs.  I'm envious.  

As far as who's racing, Carol is doing her Oly on Monday. Samantha's race in Saturday.

Thanks Dennis!

Thanks for another great tip, Dennis!  You are an amazing weath of information.  Cotton balls, alcohol swabs...I'll have a first aid kit and flat change stuff all in one.  Ha, on the alcohol swabs...only used them for a few months after diagnosis.  Average 6-7 tests/day X 365 X 19 years = about 45,000 tests and no infection, so far so good

Hey Karen, great to hear from you!  Figured the start of school had you hopping!  Running is so much better for a busy schedule...no bike maintenance, no driving to the pool/lake/ocean, etc.  Great job keeping it all in balance and perspective.

Samantha, I'm getting excited for your race!  You are going to do great, and feel so accomplished when you cross that finish line.  I cannot wait to hear about your experience.  I'll probably be offline on Sunday and Monday, and will look forward to reading your race report.

Last OWS before race this morning.  Not particularly stellar in terms of feel or speed.  But no dead fish (lake I swim in), no toxic alge (nearby lake closed due to this), no amoebas (that I know of).  My mother is a worrier, and keeps sending e-mails about all the dangers out there.  She means well, but I have to just let it roll off me and stay positive.  Much greater risk from me sitting on the couch!  Speaking of which, I went to the grocery store hungry yesterday (1st mistake), bought a bag of puffy cheetos (2nd mistake), and started eathing them in the car no the way home (yes, you knew where that was headed and so did I).  Only ate a handful, but the cracked pepper chicken wings I had after dinner didn't help my case a whole lot either.  Today is a new day! 

MTA: Just read the swim waves for my race, and Men 24 and under go off 4 minutes after my Women 45+ wave.  What???!!!  Just hoping they remember to respect their elders!  Also stressing a bit about the treading water start, but given the 4 minute intervals between waves, can't be out there for too long.

Short races spare tube and patch kit, HIM or IM or Century 2 tubes and patch kit.  Training just 1 tube and patch kit usually. 

Yes you can wear your garmin HRM strap in the water and just put the watch on it T1. 

I hope Samantha had a good race.  Hopefully Carol is resting up for her's.

So today I got my butt handed to me on a 75 mile ride.  I am so tired it isn't even funny.  The first 20 miles started off at an 18 MPG average pace.  It didn't slow down much for the rest.  From mile 42-60 I drafted and talked to this guy the whole way.  We talked the whole time and kept up a fast yet relaxed pace.  The last 15 miles was brutal.  The hills started to get to me and my left hand was so tired I couldn't shift from my little gear up to my big gear.  Didn't matter because when I made it to the last 5 flat miles, the headwind was strong and limited me to 15 mph the whole way anyway.

When i got back, everybody seemed beat.  It was a good ride but should have been done a lot slower.

I made it through my first Olympic Tri and I did as well as I had hoped to do, and the one goal I had beyond simply finishing was to not walk on the run and I accomplished that goal. I was not fast, and the competition at this race was extremely fast. There weren't really people there who weren't really good athletes. It could have been intimidating, but I decided I was there to have fun and finish, even if that meant finishing dead last I had a hard time with siting on the swim because the sun was right in my eyes so I got off course a couple times and the first time I ended up being right in the way of oncoming swimmers. It was okay though. I continued on and made it through and am happy with my time. The bike was great. I just plodded along trying to get in calories as I went. Next time I am gonna do the food I have to chew first and the drinkable calories second. I struggled with stomach cramps as my food was still trying to digest after I started running. But I got enough calories to keep on going. I am gonna do a full race report but am not sure how since the race is not listed on BT. When I try to log a race it wants tons of info I don't have. Any suggestions? Thanks for all your support and encouragement. I really had a great time! I posted my numbers for y'all to see. Looking forward to hearing from Carol in a couple days. P.S. My friend finished second in her age group; I am stoked for her.

Swim        Trans. 1   Bike        Trans. 2    Run         Overall

Great job!  Your bike and T2 times are really good.  And that race report, I added your race to the system for you.  I only did that because you just finished your first Oly, not because I'm a nice guy.  The eating on the bike, I don't know if we've discussed it but I've read somewhere about not eating any solids within 30 minutes of finishing the bike.

I see that the bike and run were out and backs, how depressing was it when you started the run and saw people coming back almost done while you just starting?  I've done it twice and it just sucks seeing people finishing an hour ahead of you.  It is good for people to shout encouraging things to each other.  Especially when you are on the way back meeting people.  Of course it sucks even more when you quit meeting people on the way back and realize you are that far in the back.

Swim start? Time trial, wave, mass?

I believe this is the link to my race report - Thanks again Dennis!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/races-view-container.asp?raceid=202053