Gnu's Group - CLOSED (Page 5)

Callalily,

I would go clipless if at all possible. Going clipless and practicing one leg cycling has made me a much more efficient cyclist. I still have a long ways to go but going clipless is a step in the right direction if you ask me.

Well I am home and I made it through my first race...wow. I had such a great time. It was a very small race but it was my first and I wanted to get my feet wet so I am glad I picked this one. I learned a lot by doing this. It was great practice for getting used to the butterflies of race day and doing transitions.

I was so worried about the swim that I started near the back of the pack. This was my first mistake. I completely underestimated myself and ended up fighting through alot of people to try to swim my pace. I came out of the water at about 100 of 137. I clearly could have been in the top 50 if not better and had to fight my way through. I learned a ton during this race and though most of it seams common sense I feel compelled to share it with the group.

1. Don't worry so much about the swim and don't start in the back. If people want to pass me they can. But I am not going to put myself at such a disadvantage in the future.

2. Train in the conditions you are going to race. For me this was true in weather and location. I had no ocean swims going in. No running on the beach. And I have been training early in the morning or late at night when it is cooler. The 90 degree race day conditions killed me.

3. Get there early. I was one of the last at transition and had to hike across the entire area to get to my spot. This added time at both transitions.

4. Practice nutrition under race like conditions. This was not a factor for me but my daughter had a very difficult time during this race. She ate a small breakfast with me at 5:30 am and with my race going on at 8:00 she kinda got lost in the mix and didn't get to eat again or hydrate enough for her race at 10:00. The heat really took its toll on her as it had gotten quite hot by then and she always trained near dark.

It is very funny to my children, but I won my age group by default. I was the only one in my age group, but I did finish 6th of 137 overall. All in all I had a great day and it was great fun for the entire family. My wife asked me was way into it and it was great to have a cheering section especially at the finish line. My wife is on me to sign up for the next race already so it will help that she is into this "lifestyle" as well. I can't wait to do my race report. Although I must admit that it is kind of embarrassing uploading such a short race to a report.

Oh well. Thanks for the encouragement from the group. Now if my sore legs will just let me get back to training.

Congratulations triguynewbie, it sounds like you had a good race and a great time!!

Congrats on the AG win! Glad you had fun. I am also glad you mentioned a few things.

1. Swim start position. I totally agree! I start too close to the front and let people swim over me (do not reccomend that either until you are comfy in OWS). However, just like a 5k where the walkers and stroller people always seem to start up front, same thing happens in Tri's. If you do not start too early, stand back and watch the difference in distance between the front and back of a group after say 1 minute. The front group is WAYYYY out front while the back of the group is in a wrestling match. Start in the middle to the front, let people swim around you. Alot of people do not train at all, you may surprise yourself. If you ae weary of OWS, start to the outside, but still closer to the front. Most swim towards the inside and hug the buoys, thus getting beaten up and losing momentum.

2. Showing up a little late adds sooooo much stress. Plus, you tend to get a lousy rack spot unless it is one of the few races with designated slots. Get there early, walk through your transitions in your head. Walk from the swim in to your rack, pretend in your head all the things you have to do ( shirt on, helmet on, sunglasses on, socks on, shoes on grab bike, etc...) then walk to the bike out (do not bring your bike, it is a walk through). Then do the same with bike in, to the rack, picture yourself taking everything off and putting the run stuff on, then walk to run out. Visualization is huge in transition.

3. Training and eating in race conditions. lesson learned, no surprises. Not everybody can train at the exact race time, but try on a weekend at least a few times. if I had not run at 2pm heat I would have passed out in Orlando.

Very nice write up, I reccomend you enter it into the race log. Glad you had fun. What's next?? I think you said Morton Plant-Mease? If so, practice OWS and running in the sand, the first half of the 5k is soft, soft, soft sink up to your ankles clearwater beach sand. It is a super fun race. Also practice bike handling, the bike course is mucho fun, but fairly technical. Almost feels like a mini St. Anthony's with lots of turns and some long straights. It is really fun, especially the 2 bridges!!

It is funny that you mention the Morton Plant Tri. Until about 15 minutes ago, I had not heard of it. At the Mad Beach race I met a guy who has a small tri/running team that benefits a disease called Hystiocytosis. His daughter has histio and they were doing a bike raffle to raise money for Histio research. I could see the pain in his eyes as he told me about the disease and it has been on my mind all weekend.

So I called him today and wanted to know how I could help him in his cause. He offered me a spot on the team and told me the next race they are doing together is the Morton Plant race so I am in the process of signing up.

And I am all about training like you race now so I will be getting with ya for soon for some of those causeway OWS. I know exactly what you mean about the soft sand run. I had done a few beach runs leading up to my race and I guess it had always been low tide so I ran on the wet packed sand near the water. NOT on race day. It must have been the highest tide of the day because you either ran in the ankle deep sand or in the water, which didn't help my times at all.

Boy we go quiet for long periods. How is everybody doing??? Who is still with me?

My first tri is Sunday and I think I am ready. Does anyone have any last minute first timer tips for me?

Relax, relax, relax. Know you have done your training and race your own race.

Swim:
position yourself in a place you are comfy. Not necessarily in the back. Alot of people cannot swim the entire race freestyle, you do not want to have to swim around these people. Go out smooth, focus on breathing and navigation.

Transition:
As I had mentioned about transition, get there early, set up, do a walk through. Visualize the entire process

Bike:
Don't go out too hard or too fast. Nice and consistent. Follow the drafting rules (see my notes on the bike portion, you can use the drafting rules to your favor, but be careful). Put your helmet on correct (alot of 1st timer put their helmets on backwards).

Run:
Run your own race. If people pass you, let them. Do not get caught up in running people down (unless you can).

MOST IMPORTANT... Have Fun! We will be looking forward to the race report.

Good luck!  You'll do great, your training log looks really strong.  Hope it goes well for you!

There is a great article and video on transitions on the BT homepage, I reccomend you take the time to read and watch.

Good luck on the first race. I look forward to reading the race report. Have fun!!

I just watched that video on transitions, it is really good. He is a little disorganized, but you get the drift. I have been using the glide in my shoes for some time, it works great! Traditionally you will not have space to put your stuff next to the bike, so practice placing it in front. USAT rules require your stuff be on the side your tire is touching (if hanging from the seat, this is your front). Many small races do not follow that rule, so watch people around you. I like having all my stuff for both transitions on the same side of the bike anyway. If you need more space than that, you have too much stuff :-) I like the "tuck the race number into your shorts" gimmick, gonna try that Sunday. 1 less thing to do and think about. Again, if it is a small race be careful that the race number is not just simple paper, it will fall apart during the swim...

Helmet. See how he put that on his bars, do that. One thing to note, make sure the helmet is facing in such a way that when you flip it over onto your head, it is on correct (not backwards). This means the front of the helmet facing the front of the bike, upside down when you are facing the bike. I have said this sooo many times, but I see it every race. He also said unclip your helmet while running with the bike back to the rack... DO NOT DO THIS!!!! You have to have your helmet strap clipped until your bike is racked!!!! You could get DQ'd.

Happy transitions.

Gnu

Oh yeah....don't forget sunblock either. I saw several people at midday that were as bright as their jersey.

Well have planned long ride all day. Weather looked good so I had a heaping bowl of oatmeal. Hour later weather still looked good, call all my lazy cycling friends and try to guilt them into a ride. Sunny and cooling off...perfect. Two hours my nutrition isn't sitting in my stomach it is much cooler outside probably 80 or so and it is still bright with a little cloud cover I am getting excited. Get my kids some dinner, don my cycling gear, bring my bike outside still looking good for a ride.

Call friends again...still no takers. Tighten up my brakes, air up my tires, t minus 2 for take off and......it starts poring. Sunny skies, raining like crazy. And now that I have typed this rant it is over. Is it going to open up again, no telling. All I know is that it is like a sauna outside right now and I am dreading getting up and going for my ride that I have looked forward to all day.

Gotta love "SUNNY" Florida. Oh well my rant is over...time to put my @ss on the bike and go ride. Guess a little rain is better than the snow some BT'ers are dealing with right now. I will be back later hopefully with no wet road crash pics.


Mike

I'm a bit bummed - the race today was cancelled. It was pouring down rain and mother nature was throwing in a little thunder, lightening and wind for good measure. It has been raining here way to often & the whole state is having flooding issues. No word on a reschedule date for the race yet. 600 people standing outside in the rain for two hours was not my idea of a good first time experience. Oh well, I'm glad they were sensible and canceled it.

I felt like I should have done a substitue brick workout today but went to Old Chicago for pizza with my family (as we had originally planned to do after the race) and now I'm sitting at the dining room table drinking a little red wine with the hubby. I feel like such a slacker! I guess it is back to the training grindstone tomorrow. My next shot at my first tri will be mid July. Hopefully we have dried out a bit by then.

In searching for a motivational quote after all of this............. 6 months of training and what do I get................................................NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I came across this and I think it is pretty good. Some of you have probably already seen it but I think it is pretty good:

"Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." - Steve Prefontaine

I hope you all had a good weekend of training & I'll chat with you later!

Man that is a bummer. Here I am ranting about a rained out ride (I did a brick anyway) and you got your first race cancelled. I am very sorry to hear that. Nothing like a little comfort food (red wine included) to make you feel better. We have been starving for rain for months now and are finally starting to get some, so for that I am grateful.

Just think how much more prepared for your race you will be by July.

Inspirational quote for you to make you feel better "Ok two guys walk into a bar.." never mind this one doesn't quite apply here.

At this point in time I'm ready for any quote you have....ROLL EM the more the merrier.

I have a coworker I talk to a lot who lives in the Orlando area. He is always bragging about how nice it is down there. Most of the time I am really jealous about the weather you all get. Usually about now I'm happy to be living in Iowa. Not today though!

Edited by jhinrichs11 2008-06-08 8:18 PM

I think I will take the heat over the cold but then again that is probably why I live here. I will be up your way, Columbus, soon. I know it is a pretty good ways from Cleveland but still closer than Fl. I looked to see if there were any races while I was going to be up there but don't think it is worth all the hassle.

And I will be back up for the Michigan game in Nov. By then it will be cold again. Did my ride last night anyway. It was good practice to ride on wet roads and then most of the way home in the rain. Hopefully it will never rain on me in a race but it was good to practice for it. And with Fl weather I am sure it will some day.

Come on peoples, get this thing going. There are a lot of very quiet people in this group. Wipate where did you go? You haven't posted or logged any training for a while. How is the healing process going.

I have a question for ya Mr. Gnu. One of the things I forgot to pack for my race was my bike pump. I have a couple of spare presta valve fitting so I could just fill up from any pump but in all the excitement of my first race I forgot. Well a few days before my ride I started noticing a lot of vibration in my front rim area and found that my magnet for my computer was a little loose and passed that vibration off as being that. It was really bad for my race and continued as I have been home. I found that I had a very loose/couldn't get any looser spoke on my front rim. I have tightened it but did not want to go too tight.

Anyway my tires felt and looked really low for the race. When I got home about three days after the race I put my pump on the tires and my gauge read 55 lbs for the front and 65 for the back. I have been losing what seams like a lot of pressure in the front tire and have to add 30 or so pounds almost everyday. After all this here is my ? Are my flat tires a result of the loose spoke of vice versa? I am going to take the bike to the shop and check to see if my wheels are true but until then can I ride it. I had to stop and tighten the spoke yesterday on my ride. I torqued on it when I got home so I could ride today but don't want to do any permanent damage to my rim.

In hind sight, I guess I could have posted better times at my race with 110 lbs of air in the tire. The other thing I need to do is get a cleaning kit. After my ride in the rain on Sun my rear derailleur was hanging up a couple times yesterday.

Just so you know I did order a four pack of tubes yesterday so I am probably going to just change that one out.

Thanks

triguynewbie

I don't know if the low air pressure in your tire has anything to do with your loose spoke, but I doubt it. However, I always have to air up my tires before every ride. I fill my tires to 110 psi before riding and it doesn't matter if I go riding the next day or a few days later, my tires have always lost some air. I have in the past put brand new tubes in both tires and I still lost air.

My recommendation to everyone is that you check your tires before every ride and air them up if necessary.

- Jeremy