Funked Up Triathletes - Season 2 - Olympic/Sprint Focus - Closed (Page 6)

Hopefully our weather will make its way towards you- humidity is gone and high temperatures this week are in the 70s. Perfect weather for being outside. It's by daughter's birthday and she wanted to go to the zoo, so we'll enjoy the day outside.

Despite the great weather, this week is terrible for having time to work out. I'm going to try to squeeze a ride in, maybe tomorrow. Swim lessons were moved to Tuesday this week so I did get some pool time in, and went about 800 yards. It felt great, in that I'm now much more comfortable with bilateral breathing and keeping a good, sustainable pace. It still needs work, but at least it feels like improvement.

I love sleep, I just wish I was better at it. I've been a terrible sleeper since high school. I have frequent bouts of insomnia, including last night. Even taking 2 Advil PMs, and having woken up at 5:30am for a workout didn't help me fall asleep. My problem has always been that as soon as I get in bed, I feel awake. This week I'm assuming the problems are stemming from the fact that I have a race on Sunday. I always sleep badly leading up to races, and Saturday will likely be awful.

When I am sleeping, I average 7-8 hours/night. I try to go to sleep between 10 and 10:30 for a 5:30ish wake up, when I have a workout planned.

Took today as a rest day. Yesterday I did a 50 minute bike ride, pretty steady effort. Trying to stay fresh for the weekend. Tomorrow I'll run easy, Friday swim, and probably a 20 minute light jog on Saturday.

I always hear the sleep you get two nights before a race is more important than the sleep the night before a race. Bring something "boring" to read to bed - any type of government regulations do it for me. hahaha
Good luck on your race this weekend! Can't wait to read the RR!

15/28 today with another brick - 1600 yd swim followed immediately by a short 2.62 run at an easy 9:30 pace. Really thinking of getting new shoes now as opposed to waiting until after the race. I would not normally do this so close to a race but the distance is only a 5k and I have 1 1/2 weeks to get used to them. Decisions, decisions.

Cheers,
Jenn

17/28 today with a ride/swim brick. Three days in a row of bricks, four days in a row of workouts (and went to bed at 2 am). My body is a bit tired but stronger!
Short ride of about 11.5 miles - took it easy. Tonight another ows with a friend at a local reservoir who is also doing the tri. Swam just over the distance at a nice even, easy pace - I could have kept going for another 1/2 hour - felt effortless! After the other two not as successful ows I am soooo happy I did this tonight! The lack of visibility really didn't bother me this time. weird.

I celebrated with 2 pieces of pizza and a Harpoon Summer Beer...oh, and 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies. Talk about carb loading, geesh. Cough I had a month ago seems to be rearing its ugly head today. Lack of sleep recently will have to be remedied.

Cheers!
Jenn

A bit ago I mentioned one of the supplements I use for recovery. I snapped a picture of it this morning to post. I think there is a sports soda or drink that goes by a similar name so I wanted to be sure to differentiate the two.
Cheers all!





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This morning was my last bike workout before Sunday. Just did an easy 20 minute spin on the bike, indoors on the trainer. Yesterday I did a 3.5 mile easy run. Tomorrow I may do a 20 minute jog just to stay loose. Finally got a good night's sleep last night so feeling pretty great. Also, spoke with somebody who did this race last year as their first olympic who said the swim was really easy due to no current and the course was very flat and fast. really looking forward to getting out there!

I probably won't post between now and Sunday, but I'll definitely have a RR on Monday or Tuesday.

Hope the race goes well Seth!

Good luck, Seth!!! Have fun!! I look forward to the RR!

18/28 with a nice 5.66 mile run (last mile with dog - therefore the fastest!). Ready for a rest day but might do a brick tomorrow with a friend out on the race course if I can get someone to watch the kiddos.

Anyone else racing this weekend?

~ Jenn

I'm racing to the beach! Vacation week for me. I'm taking running gear, and am hoping to do some swimming. I'll need to do something to compensate for the beer I'll consume.

Niiiiiiiiice! I like it!

I. I'm racing the KS 5150 on Sunday. My mind is not right. (again). Not pumped about it at all.

David!! Get out there and do it!!! Get fired up!! You've got this!! One step at a time. This is fun, this is our "escape" if you will. Let the excitement of the day carry you - there will be so many new folks out there - let them be your Santa Claus theory. Remember the excitement of the first time?! Get it back. Also, don't forget - it's about the journey to get there too. There will be many watching - wishing they could do what you can do. You inspire others every step of the way, some you know, most you don't. Good luck, good skill. May you not breathe in a wave, may your shoes stay tied, and may you not get a flat. I look forward to your race report.



20/28 today with another bike/run brick. Biked with 3 other seasoned cyclists who have all done HIM, Oly's, and sprints. I thankfully kept up easily and smoked them on the hills. LOL When we finished we dropped our bikes, swapped shoes and headed out for a very HILLY 5k. I am spent and after 6 days of workouts with 4 bricks in there, I'm ready for a day off tomorrow and a taper week before my first ever sprint tri next weekend.

Cheers all!
Jenn

Glad to see everyone carrying on without me the last week or so. Been busy, had some recent unexpected housing changes for myself so I got lost a bit in the midst of everything and forgot to get back on the boards so I apologize.

Good luck this morning David. You're probably out on the course now getting ready to hit that nasty long steep hill up the dam. I previewed the course with my friend Charity (most likely to be the female winner out there today) about a month ago. The bike course has very nice roads (even, not lots of cracks or debris) but it definitely has some climbing challenges on it.

Not a whole lot to mention on my end besides it's 4 weeks to go until the end of the season, it's almost here!

Got a brick workout in yesterday at a park by the Missouri River so it's flat flat flat. Trying to simulate how Detroit's race will be as best as possible.

The brick went

15 minute run warmup with strides
15 minute bike warmup building last 5 minutes

Then 4x
8 minute bike as 2 minutes building, 5 minutes faster than 40k/at 20k race pace 1 minute prepping legs for the run (a little lower gear, higher cadence)
6 minute run as 2 minutes finding legs (just get the turnover going) 3 minutes at 5k pace 1 minute finishing speed

5-8 minute rest in between sets

15 minute run warm down

My legs were pretty toasted after that one. High intensity brick calls for longer rest sessions. Almost never get that okay for up to 8 minute rests inbetween intervals no matter how long they are.



Regarding sleep. Sleep is good. You have to have rest to recover. I tend to sleep more than other people I know. Most nights I sleep from 10 or 10:30 until 7 the next morning so 8.5-9 hours of sleep a night. Then depending on how tired I am throughout the day from workouts, etc. I might take a nap in the middle of the day anywhere from 15-45 minutes. A luxury most people don't have, I know.

21/28 this morning with a short run - 2.62 miles in 24:44. Felt like garbage the last 1/2 mile - full sun and 79 degrees on it's way up to high 80's today. I felt sluggish. I know, I know, trust the taper....but seriously, it was a short run. I must still be spent from last week's efforts.
Sleep this week will be my goal- cough has come back but minor. Not sure what is up with that but sub-optimal for next week.

Question, I'm looking at doing another sprint August 10th - the swim will be slightly shorter - 500 or 600 yds versus 1/2 mile. Is it out of the question to do two back to back with only two weeks between?

Another question: There is an Oly on August 30th within 2 hours of my house in Lake George, NY. Would it be out of the question to consider something like this? I have some 2000 yd swims in and usually train minimum of 1600-1800 yds at a time but my bike is more of a concern - I've only gone 25 miles as my farthest ride so far as I've been training for the sprint. I have 6 weeks to prepare.. I was originally thinking about Oly for next spring and maybe HIM in the fall next year but the folks I rode with the other day who have done HIMs, Olys, etc said I could do it and why haven't I signed up yet...

Just thinking...

Thanks,
Jenn

The answer to question #1 is yes. You can do it. You should be fully recovered from the 1st sprint and be ready. I wouldn't think twice about it.

Regarding #2, it depends on what your goals are. From what I've seen of your reporting, you could do it and finish. Depending on your mindset, you could do it and have fun and it would give you a good baseline for future events. That said, I think some folks underestimate the damage the bike can do to the legs during the run. What I mean is, you may feel pretty good coming off the bike, but can not perform on the run as you would expect because you unknowing toasted your legs. However, I still think you could do it and be prepared for a race goal of "finish with a smile". Your training plan sounds like my wife's (she's doing sprints this year as her first season) and I think I could put together a plan for her to finish an Oly in that time frame.

Happy Monday all,
So, I did it. Yesterday, I completed my first olympic distance triathlon. 1500 yard swim, 25.5 mile bike ride, 10K run. Here's a report on how it went:

Pre-Race: Arrived to the race around 6am and unpacked everything in transition. I had a fairly centrally located spot in transition. This race was organized really really and each racer had their own designated spot in transition. The previous race I did, you just found a spot for yourself. The weather called for a high around 80. Typically the temperature is in the 90s for this race.

We were allowed a practice swim in a designated area prior to the start. The water temperature was great. Surprisingly, the water temp had fallen to 77.5 therefore making it a wetsuit legal swim. That didn't affect me as I don't have a wet suit, but many people were wearing theirs. I did a quick practice swim, mainly because I hadn't been in the water in nearly 3 weeks. I also scouted out the course and worked hard to stay calm.

Swim:
I was in the 4th wave. It was an in water start and I positioned myself near the back of my wave. At the sound of the gun, I commenced swimming...SLOWLY. I was passed by my entire wave, and then portions of the next 2-3 waves. I just kept going. The course was really well marked with distance buoys every 100 yards and smaller buoys more frequently. Nevertheless, my goggles fogged and i still swam off course a bunch of times. At the 900 yard mark, a lifeguard paddled over and tried to get me to stop. I firmly told her that I was fine. I wasn't tired, I was just slow and that I knew I could complete the distance, which I did. Final swim time, 58 minutes. Average time for people in my AG was much closer to 38 minutes.

T1- Went really well. I pulled off cap/goggles while making my way toward my bike. Sat down, dried my feet and pulled on socks and bike shoes. Snapped on my race belt, sunglasses and helmet. Time: 3:06

Bike:'
Started off really well. I pedaled consistently while trying to get HR into Z3. I was averaging about 18 mph and 89 cadence for the first loop which was 12.5 miles. On the second loop, there was more of a headwind and my speed dropped to 16.3mph at the same cadence. HR was similar. On the bike I had 2 bottles. One filled with gatorade and one with water. I drank most of the gatorade and also took a chocolate Gu at mile 18. Time: 1:29:42- 17MPH

T2
As I approached transition, I took my feet out of my shoes and sorta hopped off the bike at the line. I switched to running shoes, and hat. Time: 2:08 (there was a decent walk in/out of transition)

Run:
Felt pretty good coming off the bike. I walked most of the transition and picked it up once I stepped over the timing mat. I had been hoping to do negative splits on the run, but the reverse ended up being true. I started at a 9:50 mile and gradually dropped to a 11:51 mile by the end. The last few miles I also had to walk a little and I did walk some aid stations. A note about the aid stations- this was the best run race course I've ever experienced. For a 6.2 mile run, there were 7 stations. They had water (often times cold), GU's at many (I took 2 on the run), electrolyte drink (took it too) and then at 2, they had ice cold wet towels. THOSE WERE AMAZING.
About halfway through the run I saw my wife and son which was a real pick me up. Then once I got into the finishing chute, I sprinted, for a small amount.
Total run: 1:05:40 10:33/mile.
Total time: 3:39:05.

All in all, it was a fun and exhausting day. I learned that I need to really increase my training time, especially the swim. Once a week (if I'm lucky) just isn't enough and 1500 yards is no joke. I also need to work on going longer and more consistent on the bike.
As for the future, I was scheduled to do the Tri Rock Asbury Park Olympic Triathlon on August 24th. I don't feel comfortable with a 1500 yard ocean swim, so I requested, and they granted, a transfer to the sprint distance. That will be a 500 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile bike. Essentially that will be a good, long training day for me but it'll be fun and I'll get a shirt/medal.
Here's a pic of me after finishing the race





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Nice job on the race! Congrats on your first Oly distance! Now you have a frame of reference. I'm working on my race report from yesterday and will have it up soon.

Great, great job, Seth!! You must be pumped! It's always easy to pick things apart but don't forget to look at what you did as a whole! That's a lot of mileage to cover! As was already said - now you have a base to work from! It's great!

Ok guys...here's my race report from this past weekend.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

very nice! Your transition times are really good! Your run is great too! That is so strange that someone was grabbing your leg - trying to keep up with you? wanted the space but wasn't fast enough to pass? no excuse for grabbing someone.

22/28 today with a very short 7.8 mile bike (but made it last 30 minutes so it would count ). HUMID is an understatement and temp was 80 by 8:15 am. Legs felt like lead and I had zero energy
"Trust the taper" is my new mantra.....because I ain't feeling it right now. I also ate pizza over the weekend so that may be still making me feel blah too.
Rumor has it humidity should break by the weekend...

Okay, I have to edit this by adding these two sentences. I couldn't stand it and went out for just a short run (2.59) so now I stand at 23/28.

~Jenn

Edited by aviatrix802 2014-07-23 11:52 AM

I'm back into the swing of things. I'm changing up my training a bit to increase my cycling intensity. I did a 70.3 in April and after that I think I relaxed too much on my bike training. I'm now into my training plan for my final race of the year (a 70.3 in early Oct). Between then and now, I have a quasi-Oly in August, a mini-Sprint in Sept and possibly Hy-Vee the next day. Then, an Oly in mid-September, plus one of those mud-run obstacle courses. Alot of season left!

Today I'm lucky: I get to have 3 workouts. I did the Sufferfest for 60 minutes this morning. I plan a 5 mile easy run over lunch during work. Tonight, I'm going to swim Open Water with my wife (we have a baby sitter!) and then a short post swim ride around the lake.

Jenn, I hope you enjoyed the pizza. My biggest weakness is that I still eat like crap most of the time. Regarding the taper: you're right...trust it.

If you've been following a training plan, the taper week is good for recovery and allowing your body to be in peak condition. I struggle with taper weeks because I find it easy to just skip some of those short workouts (I hate the thought of getting up at 4:30 to drive to the pool for a 15 minute swim..ugh).

David that is quite a schedule! Good for you! Pending my outcome Sunday, I'm contemplating an Oly for August 30th - it will depend on if I can figure out a way to train between now and then with my schedule.

25/28 with my last workout before the race Sunday.
OWS for 0.58 or so. Felt good, glad I went.
Went to the chiropractor this afternoon. Hoping for a great sleep tonight as I won't tomorrow night!

Cheers everyone.
Best,
Jenn

Soooooo, here it goes. This is the 30th anniversary of the triathlon and it was the first time it's ever been cancelled. Yes, you read that right, cancelled. They postponed the start due to weather - thunder/lightning, heavy rain and it wouldn't let up. They had to get it going by 9:30 for traffic concerns or it wouldn't go...cells rolled through in wave after wave. It did clear up midday (thunderstorm again as I type now) as we sat on a friend's deck drinking home brew! (only good thing today).
A few friends of mine who were going to do it may get together Wednesday and do the course ourselves and earn our medal (they gave them out in the packet pickup so I feel it's a bit tainted). Interestingly they still ran the Lake Placid IM. They must not have gotten the lightning we did.
I am now going to make calls and check schedules to see if I can't fit a sprint tri in on the 10th or 17th and maybe go for the Oly on August 30th in Lake George. I know right now some things I want to work on (more speed work in running as I've focused so much on biking and swimming for one and getting still more ows in, and definitely some core work). I've also got the Bay State Half Mary on October.
Anyway, I'm posting a picture of my bike, back in the garage after waiting in the rain (note the lovely grocery bag on the seat). It is sad and wants to go for a ride.

Cheers all!
Jenn





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Oh man...that stinks! I had a race cancelled last year. I know Jesse had a race a few weeks ago that was cancelled. No getting around...that's a crappy feeling.

Anyhow, nice looking Felt! However...you always gotta take those pictures in the big chain ring! Hopefully you can find another race that will work with your schedule.

Hahahaha! I didn't even think about that. It was still set up easy for my transition! Love my bike.

A small group of us are going to "do" the race on Wednesday to earn our stripes. I have the ability to schedule more races, they don't as they were all to be in the kayaker division; less options for them.
I'll let you know what I can get in. Working out a reasonable program for an Oly in 4 1/2 weeks based on what I've done. That may end up being my first race, though I'd prefer to get a sprint or two under my belt to iron out transitions. I am hyper competitive with myself so I'd have a hard time going out and doing something "just for fun." LOL

Today I'm thinking of heading to the pool and motoring for a longer swim (maybe 2,500-3,000 yds). Weather is still garbage here - pouring right now so no biking except on the trainer. Maybe a run later - time to start making them longer!
Cheers! I hope everyone's training is going well!
Best,
Jenn