enginerd's group - CLOSED (Page 7)

Ditto.  I'm exhausted! 

Transitions---

T1-  I'm a princess about my feet.  No rocks, grass, dirt, sand before I put socks and shoes on my feet.  (It's really a sick problem).  I take a bucket for rinsing my feet after the swim.  I can also sit on the bucket if I need to wrestle a wetsuit off my ankles.

T2-  I've gotten pretty good at the running ponytail adjustment.  I guess I'm a bit of a princess about my hair too; can't have the ponytail in the same place for the bike helmet and running hat.  I can redo my hair, put on my hat and snap on my number while running. 

Guess that's all of my wisdom for the day.

My Wildflower RR is up!

Wow, am I hurting today.  Fortunately it doesn't feel like injury pain, just a lot of muscle soreness, especially in my calves since I spent most of Saturday walking up and down hills and THEN raced on Sunday.

Transition tips?  Practice taking off your wetsuit!!!!  Also, if you use bodyglide, try not to leave it in the sun.  It melts. 

I fold my towel and put everything on it, but yesterday I left a free flap at the end that I  used to wipe my feet off.  It worked well, but next time I think I'll bring a second small towel to use instead.

The one tip you always see is to know where your bike is.  Advice is to put a colorful towel over it on the rack or tie a balloon nearby.  I never really considered this to be a problem and I blew it off, but I was in a race with a lot of participants and, guess what, I couldn't find my bike.  So, now I put my towel over it.  It's pretty colorful and distinctive.

Another thing I've done is gotten some speed laces (I can't remember which brand) and put them on my running shoes.  I'm not sure this gets me a whole lot of time, but they don't ever come untied on the road so I think that's a plus.

I've done two longish races (one Oly and a Quarterman) and what I did with those is put a gel inside my cycling shoes to remind me to take it before the ride.  Then in T2 I have a water bottle of just H2O in my running shoes to remind me to take a long drink before starting out in the run.

Lastly, I separate the T1 and T2 stuff on the ground so that my cycling stuff (shoes, socks, helmet, sunglasses) is together and apart from my running stuff (shoes, number belt, hat).

I wrote my RR for my century this weekend.  Still need to add the pictures though.  Warning to you all - my RR are always preposterously long so i'm not offended in the least if you just skim it or don't read it.

This is one of the things I've always liked the best about cycling; that you can exercise and still enjoy the plants, animals, etc while doing it.  Here in Tucson you see all sorts of wildlife such as coyotes, various hawks, javalina, snakes and other critters.  I also like to do some "botanizing" as I ride by unusual plants that spring up after our summer rains.  I'm geeky like that.

So after Wildflower 2 days ago, I am pleasantly surprised by the lack of pain in my knee. I still have some muscle soreness in my legs, but I feel like I am recovering nicely. I think I'll do an easy spin on my trainer tonight. I had planned on taking a break from running, but since my knee has reacted well to the beating I gave it on Sunday, I might start to ease back into running later this week.

I have the mud run on 6/8, but I'm not currently signed up for any more triathlons. I was waiting to see how I felt after Wildflower. I had been thinking about attempting a HIM late this year, but I might put it off until early next year. With my current job situation I don't think I can put in the hours necessary to do more than just finish. Eventually I would like to make my way out of the mid-BOP where I currently end up in most races, and I think at this point, being new to the sport, I should concentrate on olys and sprints. Plus they are cheaper and I can do more of them!!

Robin, that's great news about your knee.  Just be careful and back off at any sign of pain (if any).

Certainly no need to rush into HIM or longer (although I certainly understand their allure and you could say I rushed into them).  They'll always be there. 

I'm not, and it's quite a letdown because I raced the last 2 weekends!!!  But I'm coming down with a cold, and truthfully, my body could probably use a light weekend.

I'm trying to figure out what to sign up for next.  I was thinking about the San Diego International on 6/29 but it looks like it sold out already. 

Good luck to anyone who is racing this weekend!!!!