SBR Utopia ---- Permanently OPEN!! (Page 70)

Race is in the books - happy with the day and result - 1:31:35

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=515518&posts=1#M4991346

Nice job, Neil.  See, I can't fathom putting down those run numbers.... 

Great job Nicole and Neil.  Great to see your hard work pay off.

So I hit the deck on Saturday.  Lucky to escape with minor road rash and the bike is generally okay.  Could have been a lot worse though.  We were just leaving a regrouping spot at the top of a hill and there were about 20 of us in the group.  I got caught near the back, so I waited for an opening and accelerated to bridge to the guys at the front.  I was out of the saddle...nothing crazy, and after I got a gap on the main group my chain locked up.  Still out of the saddle, my right foot had nowhere to go and unclipped as my front wheel jerked the other direction.  It happened so fast I barely had time to even think "oh $%&#".  I was at around 30 mph and the next thing I know I'm sliding across the road.  I must have landed on my left side, then rolled over on my stomach for a split second, then back onto my right side as I was using my shoes as brakes.  My bike now behind me, but I see my front wheel bouncing next to me.  As I come to a stop, I pop to my feet, grab my wheel, and turn around to start dodging the other riders behind me.

It was crazy.  Only a couple other guys went down...one stopped right before my bike and gently fell over onto his hands and another guy fell over and landed on his tailbone.  He went to the hospital for x-rays, which were negative.  I was fine, and caught a ride back from a friend as my front wheel had some damage on the brake track from sliding on the road and the skewer was bent.

Root cause I believe was an extremely worn chain that was not sitting well on my crank and/or cassette...causing the chain to pop off while out of the saddle.  Maybe in combination with hitting a small bump.

The silly thing was that I was supposed to have taken care of all of that Friday night, but decided to wait till Saturday after the ride.  Time wise it made sense because it was a 4 hour job in total, but it was pretty embarrassing to see how worn the chain was once I tried to measure it.  I probably had around 8k miles on it. 

I did manage to ride today...got in a decent amount of climbing...of course after taking care of all the necessary maintenance on my bike.

Jason, I'm glad you (and the bike) are mostly ok!

Ugh - Jason sorry to read that one, and glad you're alright.  Serves as a good reminder not to put off preventative maintenance.

Jason, I hope you're feeling better after the crash.  Reading about crashes like that reminds me how lucky I've been for the few years I've been riding.  My legs were feeling a little heavy this weekend after my HM race last weekend but I still managed a quality 2.5 hr ride on the CT on Saturday and a 1:45 run yesterday.  Spring is not quite in full bloom here yet.  Last week I did the Get in Gear HM which I like to do as an early season fitness check.  I squeaked out a 4 second course PR for me but it would have been a lot more if I hadn't noticed an old friend on the side of the course cheering.  He yelled out my name and after I realized who it was I ran the 40 yds back to him to say hello and shake his hand...not the smartest move but I hadn't seen him in a couple years and he lives in IA (family in the Twin Cities).  Anyway, I've focused much more on the bike this spring, so I went into the race figuring I'd be happy holding 6:40 pace based on my perceived fitness and ended up averaging 6:32 pace for a 1:25:40 (18/1182 OA and 1/65 AG).  Nowhere near my PR of 1:17 but I'll take in this early in the season and 15 weeks out from IM MT.

Originally posted by ligersandtions

Originally posted by ChrisM

Originally posted by axteraa

Originally posted by ChrisM

32 swim, sub 3 bike, on her way to a 5:40ish finish.   Solid!

Make that 5:35!  Great result Nicole, congrats!  Looks like a possible negative split on the run too??

Legit time on a legit course.   Way to go Nicole!!!!

Thanks for tracking me out there...I thought about that often and used it for inspiration to keep moving and to be smart about my pacing! Beautiful, challenging, rewarding race...I'm very pleased with how it was executed (and a 30 min PR is just icing on the cake)! More later...enjoying a beer now Oh, no roll down slots in my AG -- 1 and 2 took their very well-deserved slots.

Great job Nicole!!!!!! Yay for beer!

Sorry, I must have missed this, Was it Wildflower? 

I was stalking Jesse Thomas at Wildflower. Hell of a comeback! Looks like a crazy T1. I could offset my swimming there!

Glad you are relatively alright, Jason!

Need feedback from the group.  My legs are wrecked today after the HM yesterday, it's not the usual post race pains and soreness, it's far beyond that.  I can barely go up and down stairs or get in and out of my car, and earlier this evening my leg actually buckled on me.  I know I pushed myself yesterday, and knew I'd be sore, but not quite like this - and it was only a half!

So, why did I end feeling like this?  Was it a case of not enough total run miles, not enough long runs, long runs not long enough, or did it mostly have to do with the intensity level of the race pace.  In total, I've probably run less than an hour at what worked out to be race pace.  I'd like to figure this out so I don't dig myself such a deep hole after the next running race.

What did you do post race?  I always find that keeping blood flow, foam rolling, or using "the stick" really helps prevent next day soreness and stiffness.  It always seems I'm the most sore when I do a hard workout or race and just sit on my butt or not move around.

Post race massage (on site), lots of stretching at the race and on the shuttle for the next 45min, light walk with my daughter later, and then moving around at a backyard party for most of the afternoon.  I knew I was in trouble when I couldn't actually bend over as soon as I was finished - quads rather than my back were the issue.

Yeah, Neil - welcome to it. And what you are probably finding out today is the second day after is worse than the first. But it gets better after today. You are experiencing what I almost always felt like after a hard race (even an olympic tri) for years and years. I just thought that is what everyone felt like and I could never figure out how in the world everyone got right back in to training after a hard race. The simple answer is (and you are not going to like it) you raced way too hard on undertrained legs. What will fix it is time and consistency. 

That said - fantastic race - congratulations on the PR! Just think what is possible if you can train consistently next time? ;^)

Neil, what you are describing is exactly how I feel when I do a race that I wasn't really trained properly for.  It's pretty much what I felt like after my HM in February.  Maybe not quite as bad as what you are describing but similar.  I had plenty of miles in my legs for it but they were all easy miles and no hard efforts or hills and I suffered afterwards because of it.  If I do a run like that but have some more appropriate training behind it, I recover much better.

Congrats on the PR, you really gutted it out well and had a great result!  

Wow - nice Job, Jim - that is smoking in my book! Right now I would be delighted to hold that pace in a 10K!!!!! Can't WAIT to track you along at IMMT.

If anybody has a carbon front wheel (clincher - 700c), preferably in the 60-90 depth range, that they are looking to unload please let me know.

I have been searching for quite awhile with not much luck.  I was hoping to find something local.  Feel free to message me.  I appreciate it.

Dude - you JUST posted this last week!!!!!!!!

VERY glad you are OK - heading down to the basement to do some deferred bike maintenance now....

Nicole - fantastic job out there - that is a crazy PR on a 1/2IM! Thanks also to the group for posting updates - I was driving and coudn't check updates - it was good to get the emails.

Nicole - as you were getting ready for this race and posting such great training I couldn't help but think back two years ago when you joined the group. I think it was right after your accident and you were getting ready for surgery, and you were wondering if you would even ever be able to run again. Then after surgery you did that CRAZY sufferfest challenge and continued to have a wonky knee for a while after that, right? So, for all of us that either have, are, or will suffer an injury, your case is a great one. You never lost sight of the long-term goal of getting better (well, maybe after that sufferfest thing ) and you maintained the consistency to get it right.

A HUGE congratulations to you and to many, many more years of good health!!!

Hey Elaine - Welcome Back!!!

i don't have a whole lot to offer as I have always gone into my stand-alone marathons way under prepared. If I were to get interested n doing it again I would probably start with a whole lot of BarryP before entering into a race specific plan. Oh, and I would listen to Adrienne - she knows her stuff.

Yeah - I'd say listen to Nicole - especially based on her most recent performance.... How is the knee doing Matt? Two years ago I had a meniscus issue that kept me from running most of the season. I used a speedo belt and did a lot of deep water running in the lake (forwards, backwards, and sideways) along with a lot more HARD swimming sets. I also substituted a walk of the same time duration of every run I would have normally done in my plan to maintain time on my feet. I began a 35 minute warm up routine before every running workout that I maintain to this day. Lots of ART/Graston/PT during my recovery. About 3 weeks before my IM I was able to insert 20 minutes of running into each "on the feet session." No more than that, no matter how I felt. I basically attack the problem as my number 1 priority. On race day I was able to run every step of the Marathon and had a top 10% run time.

Get after it, do what you KNOW you need to do, and know there will be a time that this seems like a very long time ago.

I can only reply from recent experience with a HM.  I was fairly well trained, but didn't taper - just inserted it at the end of a "rest & test" week.  Thing is, if I have a number on me, I'm RACING.  I thought that I wouldn't be able to go too hard, given I was training through it, but I pushed as hard as I always do in a race (and the last half mile was downhill after a 2 mile uphill - brutal).

So, I PR'd (by a ton) and just carried on with my training - hey, I was only training through so it shouldn't have been a problem, right?  

While I wasn't sore or trashed after the race, I now believe that pushing that hard and NOT treating the recovery with enough respect is the likely cause of my current overuse PFS in my left knee.  I should have taken a much easier week post the race (at least in my running - could have done more biking/swimming/strength instead), but went right back into a build phase.  Strained my hamstring the Thursday after when I added some very light intensity and then my knee the following Saturday after just not backing down on volume (damn you Strava!  It's all so visible when your hours drop - even if that's smart, it tough to see those smaller blue bars!).  

While I'm not sure why you are unusually sore (other than that you likely are mentally tough and can push your body to its limits - i.e., you're a RACER), I will suggest (from an uncomfortable place of experience) that you should now give the legs more of a recovery than you had planned.

Time is a funny thing.  With more miles under the hull, we can push ourselves perhaps even harder (proportionally) than in our youth.  At the same time, recovery just takes longer with each passing season…  Bad combo (and I'm just starting to feel its effects at 45).  

I hope it goes better for you than my recent adventures!

Matt

Thanks - I'm definitely trying to be smart.  Part of what's letting me do that is letting go of my race plans for the first half of the season.  It has been difficult to do, though (struggling with it DAILY, in fact).

I took some time with much lower volume all around and am now going to try to add the bike back in (have to be careful of the hamstring, though) and some additional swimming (have to be careful of the shoulder, though).  UGH.  I think the reason I like tri is that I don't have enough time to FULLY injure as many body parts…  

I've been able to run 3-5 miles successfully, as long as I keep the intensity very low.  So, I'm going to keep at it that way.  I figure, if I can get 6 days a week in at that level, I'll at least keep my base, if not any speed, and I'm really more concerned with being able to stay active.  While I really do love racing (too much?), it's more important to not end up on a couch for the summer...

The knee is still a bit tweaky on torsion (although not when running, oddly), so I'm wondering a bit about the ortho's diagnosis of PFS.  My concern is that it's MCL instead, as all the ortho did was an x-ray and exam.  I'm keeping an eye on it, though.

I am absolutely focused on the knee as priority #1 (to the exclusion of s/b even, if needed - I'm wondering if more bike would be good or bad, and it's tough to tell).  I really hope you're right about it seeming like a long time ago in not so long a time (great advice).

Thanks!

Matt