shmeeg's Winter Madness Mentor group - OPEN TO HIPPIES (Page 6)

rub it in Jay!!! , it was 19 this morning here brrrrrrrrrr!

Umm... Let's set something straight Jay, not all of California is 70!  Up here in the Northern lands, it had been a steady dose of 40s, fog, and rain.  But by all means, still better than what are friends in the East are dealing with.

You mean it's warm elsewhere in North America??!

What the heck am I doing here...



Sorry, former mentor group member 

*shuts door & leaves* 

OK, newbie question here...is there any such thing as a "soft" seat?  I don't have a bike store here where I could go in compare, but nearly every seat I've seen so far seems to be no more comfortable then a brick would be. 

Les, if you haven't already, then check out the Total Immersion method that Jay recommended for me (http://www.totalimmersion.net/).  It looks promising.  I'm going to try it when I get in the pool next week and hoping it will help.  I don't suck much water, but I'm definitely sucking for air...so I'm hoping this will help me relax and slow my stroke.  ~brian

Hello, I'd like to join your group.  My name is Bruce, I'm 47 years old, married 24 years, 3 kids (19, 15, 12 years old).  I've been mountain biking for last 8 years and road biking for last 2, have done 6 metric and 2 century rides so far.  I ran cross country in high school and learned weight training and bodybuilding in college.  I'm physically fit, have always worked out with one discipline or another, but have been enjoying the bike pretty much exclusively the last 8 years. 

My goals are 1) to complete a sprint triathlon with a respectable time, 2) to inspire my children to join in the physical fitness fun, 3) make some friends here and share some experiences.

The biking I can do, the running is coming back to me (2 weeks in, slow&easy), but the swimming! I need help here.  And help putting it all together.   I love to push myself and find my limits (I like to think I don't have any, but I always find them if I go looking!).

Lol, sorry Tim, my slice of California is nice and warm...relatively speaking!

Soft like squishy? Yeah, there are plenty.  I would email trisports.com or maybe sunset tri, I think they ship to APO and have a pretty generous exchange policy.

Hey Bruce, welcome to the group!  Swimming seems to be a sore spot for lots of us.  Read back through the past few pages, there are some good websites to reference for workouts, technique and drills.  Sounds like you have a good start on training for your first race.

See, Tim you just sum things up so much better than I do.  Very good advice, I'm just not sure Brian has the resources for all that in Okinawa.

For what it's worth, when I was mountain biking I never had "saddle" issues, did lots of up and down riding so never stayed on the saddle very long. Then I started road riding with a new bike and a similarly firm saddle.  After about 50 miles my bottom would start hurting, after 100 it was all I could think about.  A guy in another forum said I don't fit my bike and recommended a pro fitting.  I did the fit myself (with lots of help from internet sources) and the pain went away.  The tweaks I made were not that drastic, but made a world of difference. 

* Tim's right, time on the bike, bike fit, and good chamois can make all the difference.  That "brick" seat is not that hard when properly used.  Time spent setting up your bike will allow you to concentrate on your goals in the future, which is always a good thing!

Thanks for the tip Jay.  I have a question I'll toss out here...  for the swimming portion of the triathlon, how important is your swim time in relation to the rest of the course?  I watched our local sprint tri last year held at the lake and noted that there were 2 waves of swimmers, faster and slower.  At the swim finish, there was a larger spread among the faster group vs the slower group.  The slower group sort of held together to the finish, mostly.  It seems like there was a larger spread among bike and run events vs swimming. 

So, my question is should I be training to swim fast or to just swim competently, and then bike/run fast?

That depends on your goal for the race, your comfort level in the water, time available to train, and strength at the other disciplines. You'll hear many triathletes say the race isn't won during the swim, but it can be lost there. For me, being a MOP finisher I just wanted to get to the MOP swim times, which is around 2:00/100m. I like the feeling of slow, gliding strokes and a 2-beat kick so I don't have the desire to 'swim faster', I would like to see future speed gains as a result of better body position and technique refinement but still race at a somewhat relaxed stroke rate. The longer the race distance, the less important I feel the swim time is because it's a smaller percentage of the race as you go longer in course distance.

Thanks for the info, Jay.  I assume other triathletes use an indoor pool this time of year to train in?  I'm going to try to find a pool to practice in several times a week, maybe the Y, if I can swing it.  I can run and bike out of my driveway, but swimming will take some planning and travel time.

Depends on your location.  I have access to a heated outdoor lap pool.  I am looking at taking a morning Masters swim class at the local Y which happens to be an indoor pool.  Either a gym or the Y will be your best bet most likely.  Check out http://www.swimmersguide.com/ to see if there's something close to you.

Another weekend is ending! I had a good weekend, got in my planned workouts! Remembering to put my info into my BT log. And most exciting actually registered forMy first sprint!! June 26 here in Edmonton-open water even!! Will probably be icy water, but I'm pumped!

Alright Laurie! Very cool, glad to hear you registered for a race. AND got some workouts in. I know for me, weekend workouts sometimes get skipped because its easy to cheat on the weekend. Gotta keep myself focused!

Jay,  are padded bike shorts ok for a tri?  What do people wear?

If you don't mind feeling like you have a soggy dump in your pants while you run, then sure .  Most triathletes wear tri shorts or a one-piece trisuit under their wetsuit.  It's quick to just strip the suit off in T1 and wear the tri kit for the rest of the race.  I wear a 2 piece kit.  You could probably get away with a pair of cycling shorts that has a thin chamois, but a thicker pad can be bothersome on the run (might chafe in some nasty spots to boot!).  Tri shorts just have a soft fleece chamois, not much in the way of padding, but better than nothing.  Doesn't get in the way on the run.  I have both, train mostly in my cycling shorts, and keep the tri kits for actual races.  If doing a full IM, you are allowed to change in the changing tents, but at all shorter distances nudity is strictly forbidden so you don't want to attempt to change outfits in transition. 

Yepper, the soggy dump thingy had me worried, I can see where that would be uncomfortable, if not unsettling.    Looks like I'll be shopping.

Thanks Jay.

Definitely use an indoor pool - half our tris are held in indoor pools - the water just never gets that warm in Alberta, lol!

I'd like to chime in on bike shorts. DeSoto has the 400 mile chamois in their shorts. It floats! Meaning, you can use it for a tri.

Bruce's question got me thinking more about race gear this morning and I'd like to try and cover some more on this for you guys.

What do you need on race day?  Are you going to wear a wetsuit?  Do you need sunblock?  What happens if you flat a tire before the race starts?  Do you get chafed?  All things to think about and prepare for to make race day as smooth as possible.  I tend to be a gear monger and am definitely not a minimalist/live off the course type of guy.  I like all my gadgets and sports drinks, etc.  You may choose to carry more/less, it's obviously a personal preference and relative to race distance.  I've attached the spreadsheet I use to pack for races that I compiled over last season.  Hasn't let me down yet.  Here's the nuts and bolts:

SWIM:
Wetsuit - I am a poor swimmer.  I wear a wetsuit because it makes me faster and confident in open water.  You should wear one too unless the race prohibits them.  I've yet to see a valid argument for not wearing one in a race.

Body Glide - Some suits chafe around the armpits and neck.  For anything longer than a 500m swim, I lube up.  This also saves you from having to apply it in T1 and waste time if you need it for the bike or run.

Ear Plugs - When I started swimming I would get out of the pool and have that sort of vertigo feeling.  Ear plugs stopped that from happening.  Also, if you are racing in cold water, you will be warmer if the cold water doesn't get into your ears.

Plastic Bags - Bring a couple grocery sacks to get into your wetsuit.  Makes it easier.  Foot/arm in the sack, wetsuit on, remove sack.  Recycle or keep for another race.

BIKE:
Flat Kit - You will need something if you blow a flat.  If you are running clincher tires, a flat kit need not consist of anything more than 1) tire tube 2)tire levers (optional) 3)CO2 inflator/cartridges.  That's it.  I also carry a multi-tool and some patches in my flat kit, but only because I always have the flat kit on my bike.  I put it all in a short water bottle and keep it in a bottle cage on my tri bike.  For the roadie I have a seatbag that it all goes in.  LEARN HOW TO CHANGE A FLAT BEFORE RACE DAY!!!  Practice taking your back tire off and 'changing the tube' at home in a stress free environment.  You will thank yourself if it happens on race day!

Helmet - You don't have to have one of those aerodynamic helmets, a regular old road helmet is fine.  I wear an aero helmet.  Does it look dorky? Yes.  Do I probably look like a dork anyway?  Yes.  I prefer the couple minute time advantage it can provide.

Bike Gloves - I don't race in them personally, but if you feel that you can't do w/o them, it's your T1 time wasted putting them on.  I'm not skilled enough to do so while on the tri bike.

Hydration/Nutrition - Lots of guys/gals ride w/ some sort of aero bottle between their aerobars.  Some folks prefer the behind the seat mount, others only have one little bottle on the downtube.  Experiment in training, check out the options at your LBS and see which you prefer.  I personally run flat kit and one bottle on my downtube and seattube and one in a torpedo mount between the aerobars.  If you are going to use gels/chews, you can use electrical tape to attach them to your toptube, use a bento box or put them in your jersey pocket(s).  I use Infinit liquid nutrition because it's easier for me to just drink than think about what time I need to eat a gel at and I don't have any GI problems from the liquid, where you could run into trouble w/ more solid forms of calories.

Shoes - If you are going to attempt the 'flying squirrel mount' method, then you should get tri specific cycling shoes.  Tri shoes have one, sometimes two straps to close the shoe.  The biggest thing though is that they close inward unlike road cycling shoes.  Try strapping some road shoes on while on the move and see how well that goes for you.  I do the flying mount in races that allow it and I think it is a time saver.  More and more races aren't allowing AGers to do it because people beef it, fall over or bail right at the bike start and F* everyone behind them.  Don't be that guy.  Or gal.  AGAIN, PRACTICE THIS MANEUVER BEFORE RACE DAY. 

RUN:
Shoes - Personal preference here again, but any old running shoes will do.  I race in Zoot Ultra TTs because there's no lacing up to be done.  Just slip em on and roll out.  I have pretty consistent <60 sec T2 times w/ this method.  Makes up for the couple minutes slower that I do the run in.  If you go laceless, bodyglide the inside of the shoe.  It makes it easier to get them on and will help w/ hotspots if you race sockless.  *Socks, again personal preference.  I don't wear em at all for races, and have had no problems.  Try some training rides/runs sockless and see how you like it.  If you do decide to race in socks, roll them down and place them in your shoes so it's quick to get them on in T2. 

Race belt - This is probably the one item I consider mandatory.  Don't F* around w/ pinning your race # on your shirt.  My T2 goes like this: Rack the bike, helmet off, shoes on, grab visor, water bottle, race belt and haul .  Pretty simple eh?

TRANSITION AREA:
You will see all kinds of shitshows in the transition area.  You want a small footprint, there's probably going to be lots of people around you.  Stake your claim, but don't take up so much space that you're an a$$hole.  A small bath towel is enough to put your bike/run items on.  Don't be one of these people that brings a bucket.  You don't have enough time that you're going to SIT DOWN in transition.  It's usually dark during setup in the early morning hours.  Bring a headlamp or small flashlight.  It will make your life easier.

Some other things to maybe bring: Electrical tape, rubber bands (for flying squirrel mount types), extra tire tubes, CO2 cartridges, bike tools, knife, rubber gloves (to avoid grease all over you if you have to fix any bike drivetrain issues), chalk or colored tape to mark 'your bike rack'.
I actually have a cheap plastic toolbox that I bring to all my races w/ most of this stuff in it and it stays in the truck unless I need something from it.  Better safe than sorry!

POST RACE:
Bring a clean change of clothes and some dry footwear if you plan on staying for the awards ceremony.  It gets cold wearing that wet spandex after you've stopped moving and aren't exerting yourself so much.

MISC:
USAT fees - If you plan on racing more than two races a year, it's beneficial to get a USAT membership.  Most races are USAT sanctioned and you will have to pay a $10 one-day USAT fee to race.  Get the membership, it benefits our sport.

Directions - Don't forget to find out HOW to get to your race

Family - If you have friends/family coming to your race, explain to them that there will be a lot of standing around w/ brief moments when they will see you.  Triathlon isn't exactly a spectator sport.  Make sure they bring water and sunblock if you're going to be on course for many hours.


I could probably write for another 30 minutes about all this, but this should give you a good starting place as to what you need/want for your season.  Please post any and all questions you have about race execution, I think that will be a good topic of discussion for us since we have so many first timers

Edited by shmeeg 2011-01-11 12:06 PM




Attachments
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RACE ITEMS.xls (16KB - 11 downloads)