Sink or SWIM! with WittyCityGirl - CLOSED (Page 56)

WTG on the speed Curt.

I may have had a 3:xx for one of my 100's today but I'm not sure as I can't totally remember what the clock said at the start and couldn't quite read it at the end - ie where the minute hand was pointing. Any ideas on how I can better time myself? I'm thinking about eventually getting a timex watch but don't have the $$$ right now so thought about using my phone on stopwatch mode and putting it just out of reach of the water - within arms reach of me at the wall but not where the water can get at it - would that work?

Oh and I did my first swim/bike brick too and I was actually faster coming home from the pool - I have to ride there and back as it's the only way to get the bike to the pool in the first place - even though I had to walk a small section of my hill (aka bridge.) I also made it all the way up the hill on the trip going to the pool so overall it was definitely a good workout and I topped the day off by getting in a short run (22:30) to give me my highest run/walk weekly mileage so far.

Mike_D - 2011-08-12 11:18 AM 

Wow! What a great story! Didn't realize the 2 of you were so young! (hey, I'm 44, so 28 sounds down right kid-like! ).

Trizilla, huh? New BT handle, perhaps?

LOL @ the young thing!  On Friday he celebrated his 30th birthday like an amateur!

I would LOVE to see what sort of ideas an artist comes up with for trizilla!!

That's awesome news about the bike!  Have you done a century ride yet?

You'll probably pick up speed just from the excitement of the race.  It may be nice to just shoot the RD a quick note about your time so that they are aware of your time so the RD can let volunteers know.  I've seen water stations pack up before the last runner and so we want them be be available to you!!! =)

Woohoooo! Sub 2 minutes is great!  Looking forward to that RR, =)

Congrats Suzanne!  I just use a pace clock and leave on the 60.  I know I swim 50 yards in 45 seconds, so if I swim 100 yards and stop on the 30 I know it's 1 minute 30 seconds.  Is there a pace clock at your pool or are you using a regular clock there?

Just back from the triathlon.  No cramps today so much more enjoyable.  I'll get the whole race report up later, but here's the highlights.  The swim went poorly again, but I survived and took a minute off my time from last year.  My form's good, but my stamina is not there and I need to work on those intervals.  That'll come.  Good news was that I felt fine after it and headed to transition.  Transition time was about the same as last year which was a little disappointing as I felt like I was moving along pretty good.  Oh well.  On the bike, time was a bit off last year 44 minutes versus 42.  BUT last year was perfect with no wind.  This year I was fighting 15 mph wind / down to 14 mph a couple of times.  Lots of mid to high 90 cadence numbers and it felt awesome.  Did the back pedaling like Sara suggested and it sure didn't hurt anything.  T2 was over a minute faster than last year -- I felt great coming off the bike and was ready to get at the run.  The run was awesome!!!!!  I clocked a 25:29 for the 5k.  That's an 8:13 pace and my PR on my runs is an 8:11 pace.  Took the first mile at 8:38, and felt fine.  So kicked it up a bit came through mile 2 at 17:05 so that made 8:27 for the second one.  The final 1.1 miles was only 8:24 which my math says is around a 7:38 pace!!!  Only cramps I had were with about 400 yards to go as I was continuing to push.  Dialed back a shade and they subsided.  At the finish felt awesome / had tons left in the cardio tank. 

Other highlight was that one of my co-workers joined me for the event.  She'd been asking me for some time and finally decided that she wanted to give it a go.  Not sure what her times were, but think she was within a couple of minutes of me with basically no training (although she runs 4-6 miles a day).

Thanks to all on the cramp advice.  Started hitting the Gatorade last night and kept sucking it down all AM.  Only issue there was that I needed to pee for the entire race!

ETA:  Race Report Link:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=264778&posts=1&start=1

mmm blueberry pancakes - I need to learn how to make them, lol.

Nice work on the workout.

Sara - I can't access your article at the moment - do I use my normal pluck password or what? As for the race time thing - I'm not totally sure what the deal is - run time seems ok, swim time is a little slower than the slowest from last year - based on my current 100's as I haven't done 200 yet but all the bike times seem to be way faster than even my fastest time would have me at so I'm wondering if there is a cut off for each section - I'll probably go with taking my own water like I did for my walk race in May anyway - I need to buy a cage for the bike though.

There's a pace clock which I use for my 25's - I'm averiging 40-50 secs but I use the normal one for my 100's because I have no way of knowing how often it's gone round by the time I finish - can't really see it properly while swimming, lol.

Curt - great job on the Tri - congrats on no cramps. I think there may be a limit on how fast you can do T1 cos of the whole - getting dressed, tying shoes, etc.

Hey all, I've been following the posts, but too busy to write any of my own...and, I also wasn't all that active this week. I did my usual group workouts, but that was about it. I did get to go to our local triple a baseball team's 'zoo night'; well, technically, I worked at it--I was the zoo mascot 'Gus, the Green Tree Frog', and I got to throw out the first pitch (well, Gus did actually...)! So there was a bit of excitement this week.

Tonight I hit the gym pool for a swim--nothing too crazy. I didn't really keep an eye on my lap numbers, though I am pretty sure it was at least 800 meters--However, I DID manage to do 100 meters--nonstop. I did it TWICE during my workout! Yay for improvement!

On an interesting note, my husband and I were talking, and he is actually half-considering a tri as well! I don't know, after all, if it wasn't for his smoking habit (YUCK), he would Sooooo beat me already without training! Anyway, he says that it would be fun if we would be able to race together (i.e. the same wave time...) Who knows? we'll see, come next year...

I think you need to go to your next tri dressed as Gus!!!!!

Or....

We could use Gus as the template for Sara's IM tatoo!!!!

Happy Monday to all.

Curt -- you really smoked the run on that race. Fantastic work! How are you feeling today? All that run work is making it happen for you. Sorry about the swim problem, but you'll be able to get that under your control in no time. Overall, great race!

Had a good swim this AM. The long weekly swim in my plan - 2500 yards straight. Took me about 47 minutes, which I thought was sort of slow. But I did get the work out done, and I felt good about that.

I need to sign up for a race or two. Right now I'm essentialy training for with no real goal, other than getting more fit. I guess the Half mary counts, but I'm thinking tri. There are 3 local sprints in September, so maybe I'll do one or two of those.

Sara -- for the tatoo, I'm thining a 'friendly' looking Godzilla in compression shorts/top   I have zero artistic ability, but I can see in my head what it looks like.

Mike amazingly I feel great today / have no pain at all.  While I'm frustrated with the swim, I'm super pumped that I've trained slow and steady / only allowed my body to do what it is ready to do.

On the tatoo front -- Sara's going to shoot me -- I've got two kids that are pretty handy with art work.  One with sketching, the other with the computer.  Might have to have them start mocking something up to see if we can get Sara's approval.  I'm thinking we go with the whole back idea -- kind of like the dude in the Red Dragon movie!!!!!!

Sounds like a very successful race for you!  It can be discouraging when the weather prevents you from another perfect race, but pushing through the imperfections of the race situation is part of the fun of being a triathlete... =) 

Watch out, he may become addicted!

Our story...

Several years ago I signed Jon and I up for a 30 mile bike ride.  He only had a mountain bike at the time and was less than thrilled about such a long bike ride.  He went out and bought a cheapo road bike for the day.  The day of the ride rolled around and he was complaining, complaining, complaining about how it was going to suck.  WELL, he loved riding so much he bought a better bike and did his first triathlon.  Since he didn't want to get "chicked" by his wife, he worked his way up to the Ironman distance. 

It's been great for me because he started enjoying doing something I enjoy.  Before triathlon, I tried to get into golfing to spend time with him, but I'm just not cut out for that.

DEFINITELY get that man of yours to do an event with you, Kate!

LOL @ the tattoo!  I actually think it's a great idea that Gus make an appearance at a tri.. I hope there's a helmet big enough for Gus' head!

It's not complete without an aerohelmet and gel of some sort in one hand and body glide in the other!

Do it!  =)

My husband has been rubbing vitamin E caps on his calf where he got the tattoo... I think I'm going to have to buy a bottle of olive oil if I get a tat that takes up my whole back!

I told the zoo director about the comments regarding Gus racing---she got a kick out of the idea--however, like me, she believes that it would be a bit bad to get the felt and foam suit into an OWS, and downright dangerous to put him on a bike (no good vision)! Maybe he could just cheer people on!

Today my tri class got cancelled, but I was good and went to the gym and ran two miles and then hit the pool for 800 yards (in 20 minutes!). Yay me!

Most of the people I know who've had tatts were given some sort of cream to rub in to it and I've also heard that diaper-rash cream works well for it too.

Nice job finding an alternative! This tri thing is officially a lifestyle for you!

Well, as you can see from the training blog, I had an uneventful OWS last night.  The water was gross so I left and went to a local pool instead.  I was happy that I made the decision and pulled off a decent 8 minute 500 yd swim.

Today I ran/walked 6 miles.  I had cramping in my diaphragm like I've never had before.

So... my mind thinks I've still got Ironman fitness and my body reminds me that I've barely done any training since my surgery 7 months ago!  

I have to warn my riding buddy about our ride this weekend.  It's 90 miles long and I fully understand that I am not in shape for it.  I'll stick it out as best I can though.

The bright side is I'm feeling motivated to get back in shape.  I've had a tough time getting the mind/body on the same page, but I FINALLY feel that I'm creeping in that direction.  Reading everyone's posts about making progress this summer has totally motivated to stick with it and be patient while I finish out the recovery process.  

Thank you all for the sharing you've done and keep it up!!

Congrats on creeping back in that direction. You'll get back to where you were eventually - listen to your body though. As for the ride - is there anywhere you can organise with buddy to stop and rest then get picked up when they are coming back? or an agreed "I can't go anymore"? point that you can stop and wait for them to finish their ride?