Swbkrun mentor group - Closed (Page 64)

Hi Rob, nice to see you back, MG's been a bit quiet recently.

I rang my LBS about my bike and the rear derailleur they ordered didn't fit and tomorrows a public holiday (ANZAC Day) so earliest I'm going to see my bike is Friday. I've booked it in for a pre-race check at a good bike shop in Port Macquarie just next to the IM Expo for the day before the race just to make sure nothing's come loose on the trip down there.

I know of one boy from OZ that has a big race coming up...  How about the rest of you?

Let's talk about transitions, the fourth discipline of triathlon....what do you do to speed them up?

No racing here. Gl David.

I am new so havent spent alot of time transitioning. I think the speed laces would help and preparing mentally what to do. I did that for mine and seemed to work out well.

I am planning on doing another training session on the OLY course this weekend. Then my first tri the next weekend. This has been a taper week so kinda lost with all the xtra time.

Nada on the race front, but excited for David!!!!!

Last IM was the first time I actually TRIED to speed up my transitions.  I wore the same top and only changed into bike shorts and compression socks for the ride and then into run shorts. I also took my shoes off at bike hand off and ran barefoot.  That saved a lot of time.   This year I am going to see if I can train in tri shorts for the whole thing.  One other change is I will not be carrying my own fluid fuel on the IM run so no belt to fiddle with in T2.

My opportunity areas would include learning how to keep my shoes on my pedals for short distance races.

I'm racing the Iron Girl Half Marathon this weekend . I stink in T1, I have to sit to put my shoes on and I have bad balance and get dizzy in T1 too. In T2 I pedal higher and easier reps before dismounting, and it usually goes smooth. Practicing bricks seem to help me here too.

Good luck Linda, half marathons my favourite distance.

I'm doing the 2km ocean swim at the Noosa Ultimate Festival on Saturday. The weather is fantastic at the moment, clear and sunny and all the humidity has gone. The festival is in my home town and has 4 ocean swims - 500m for kids, 1km, 2km and 3.8km. There's also a 85km and 160km bike ride through the hills and along the coast and a running festival with 5km, 10km and 21.1km races! I'm going to pick up some gels and sunnies at the expo and enjoy the atmosphere.

On the sitting down part... and on the saving time part... For ladies doing longer events, if your T2 is in grass, and if you sit down to change from bike to run shoes, you can multitask and discreetly empty your bladder at the same time.

That's all I got.

Happy Birthday ladies!!!!!  Am I day late?  That is usually how I roll.  It's been a bit busy and I haven't even been on FB.

Good luck Linda and David.

David - sounds like you have settled into tapering now and the grumpiness has been lifted.  Excitement and nerves should be moving in soon.  ;-)  can't wait to follow you next weekend.  can you post a link for us and let us know what time /day that matches up with east coast?

No racing for me this weekend.  I am enjoying my recovery week and taking full advantage of the rest as my body is protesting all workouts.  I am off to a bachelorette party this weekend and I'm feeling very old.  LOL

Nope, today is the day for both Kim and me.  Of course, I was born a little before her!

It's been a stellar birthday month.  I have one celebratory dinner left before I pack it in until next year.  So far turning 50 has had a lot of upside!  And I think I will like being the youngster in my AG!

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite ladies......and I LOVE being slightly younger than one of them!! 

Been a rough time around here.  Boston  hit home despite our not being there....so many of our family and friends thought we were there (?!?) and since we were out of the country and not very accessible, very worried people ensued.  AND we did have many friends/co-workers racing, so we were worried too - and information wasn't flowing freely into mexico!  Thanks to Kim for keeping me current, and stemming my panic.  Trying to get back into the country was tough - 2.5 hours at SFO in customs and immigration.

A buddy of Jeff's went on a bike ride Thursday night.....and had a massive heart attack.  Died on the trail.  Sobering, and oh, so, sad.  Jeff's sister has a tumor/cyst on her optic nerve - misdiagnosed for quite a while - waiting on a surgery date. vision will be permanently impaired.  This is the sister that works at Specialized.....

I'm done answering my phone. No good news coming my way via verizon, it seems.

Flip side, my training is going well, if sporadic.  Huge HS Athletics fundraiser that I'm co-chairing is this weekend, REALLY looking forward to it being done.

Way off-target rant......sorry.  Cheering for our IM and HM racers - good luck!!!  Transistion help?!?!?  HA!  Look at my RRs, and then look elswhere.  Fatty's sure I'm drinking mimosas.....may be my next gameplan.

Happy birthday, Kim & Suzy!!

Rough week, Linda.  I hope the next call brings you good news.

Alas, no racing for me.  I had hoped to get my first tri of the year in this weekend.  I started off planning to race Sunday; then when that wouldn't work, I switched to a Saturday race but I can't make that one either.  At least I hadn't paid for them yet.

For transitions, I have found that beer in those new Miller Lite cans with the key punch tops can cut several seconds off ordinary cans or bottles.  Forgetting my shirt in T1 also saved me a few seconds last time, but I'm not recommending it.

As an aside, does anyone have any tricks to deal with/help avoid swimmer's ear or particular ear plugs you recommend?  I've been dealing with it for about a week now and this is the second time I've had it.  The drops clear it up (faster if I'd stay out the water), but I'd like to avoid it moving forward.

Good luck to Linda & David this weekend! 

First triathlon this Saturday! I'm excited and a little nervous. It's a sprint so I'm not worried about finishing, mostly just not embarrassing myself

My earplugs of choice. LOVE them almost as much as Fatty.

ANd your strategy is what?  

What are sunnies? And David enjoy your race! Noosa is so beautiful and it's nice that they have something for everyone at the event.

1. Don't panic during the swim
2. Don't complain while running 0.5 miles to T1 out of the water.
3. Enjoy the smooth concrete roads.
4. Run like the wind!

Happy Birthday again to two speedy, amazing, women!!! Hope you both had most excellent days, and enjoy the rest of the Birthday month!

Welcome back, Rob! I've missed you!

Have a great race this weekend, David!

Linda- Kick it, speedy! 

Caleb- Sounds like you have a plan. Go out there and have a fantastic time! Can't wait to hear about it!

Although I am by no means in Fatty's league when it comes to transitions, I think I do OK. A few things that have helped me- going sockless (don't try it for the first time race day. It doesn't work for everyone), speed laces (again, personal preference), and keeping things as simple as possible. The thing that made the biggest difference for me in T1 was running thru what I need to do when I get out of the water during the last minute or so of the swim (remove cap and goggles, unzip wetsuit and pull down to waist while running to transition area, and so on). Before I started doing this, I would forget my plan and fumble around in my "rush" to get in and out of T1. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Have a great race.  Make us proud!!

Thank you for all of my Birthday Wishes!!!! 

Had a great day yesterday starting with a morning run with Julia!   We had fun with views of the Golden Gate and even powered our way up some hills.  What a treat!  I even got a birthday cup of Peet's Americano for the effort!

The rest of the day was wonderful and relaxing!  More celebrating to come over the weekend. 

Good luck to all of our awesome racers!  As Dino says, REPRESENT!!! 

Ocean swim done! 

This morning was absolutely beautiful, blue skies and calm seas with just a few waves.

My wave - male 40-44 - seemed to be full of very fit looking guys, I kept looking around on the beach for a few fatties but almost everyone around me seemed ripped. I think quite a few were doing the event as a warm up for either IM OZ or IM Cairns.

Having not done an ocean swim for a while I wasn't sure whether to swim bilaterally or swim to my favoured right side. In the end I swam to my right which I always did in the past and this was the right decision, I never felt out of breath and goy into a good rythmn.

I also experimented with different stroke techniques and found that a hip-driven style and a long stroke plus a good relaxed catch made me faster than when I tried to swim harder.

Anyway, RR done!