SBR "U" (Page 70)

I would just plan to slow down a little...or a lot...and do whatever you can to stay cool on the run.  Take in as much ice as possible even if it means stopping at aid stations.  Throw the time goals out the window and try to race smarter than the rest of the field.

First Amendment Brewing? 

I just don't feel it needs to be overly complicated. Go into the event well hydrated and then drink to your thirst during the event, using the methods others have suggested to keep cool as possible. And like Marc said above, don't be frustrated by a slower pace.

I'm supposed to be racing a sprint tri tomorrow, but I have a sneaking suspicion they're going to cancel (part of) it.  The rain is back in TX and we're getting flash flood warnings left and right.  They changed the kids' tri to a 5k run this morning.

I had planned to do a long group ride today, but the rain and occasional thunderstorm passing through was bad enough that I opted to ride on the trainer instead.  I did get out for a short run....through ankle-deep puddles and stinging rain (and a few loud claps of thunder).  Hoping for the best for tomorrow!

RR: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=533044&posts=1#M5122442

A bit disappointed, but not surprised, with my results.  Have a new plan of attack in the works for the rest of the season.

4:59:46 - sneaked in under 5hrs, just...

Mixed feelings on this one, and I'll post more tomorrow, but struggled on the bike, and didn't have it for the run.

Just wondering - is anyone on this thread going to be at Coeur d'Alene or Whistler this year?

Hey Nicole - thanks for writing this up. I know from recent personal experience writing reports from races that don't quite go as expected is not quiiiiiiite as fun as writing about the ones that do. Ha. Honestly from an outside point of view it seems that this was not the awful performance you think it is (except for the Arend-inspired transitions - heh.) seriously, this race is just a single data point amongst many, and shouldn't really get inside your head or have you rethinking your bigger plan. think about it: you entered on a whim, with the primary goal of being to maximize your investment in your USAT annual membership. So in that sense, mission accomplished! in training you haven't been targeting the distance, and you did what to me sounds like a pretty tough workout the day before since you didn't think you were going to be racing. Not surprised you were dead-legged. I wrote it the comments of your report, but I will say it here as well: you just can't put a lot of stock in your results after the fact if they are not a priority beforehand. We all fall in to that trap at some point. 

You mention in your report that you might engage the services of a coach. from my personal experience I think that would help you a lot in getting off the plateau you seem to have found yourself on, but not simply because a coach will know how to write "better" workouts than you can. A lot of people think a coache' job is to write workouts. While that is often the most physical manifestation of what a coach does, what they really do is help you with appropriate goal-setting and then manage the workload that will allow you to (just) attain those goals. Personally the most important thing my coach has done for me is to more clearly understand the relationship (and distinction) between goals and outcomes. this has helped me tremendously not just in racing performance, but also in other aspects of my professional and personal life as well. From your report it sounds like you are conflating these two things. You are a very strong and committed racer. Don't let the outcomes from a single race (that again you jumped in to on a whim and without preparation) occlude your long-term agenda.

Hey Neil - sneaking in under 5 hours in what sounds like were shaping up to be uncharacteristically hot and humid conditions sounds all right to me. Heck, I would be happy with that these days under perfect conditions! Looking forward to reading how it went for you.

Nice work getting on the podium, Jason. If you got dropped on the climb you must have been up against some pretty serious contenders!

Rumor around the interwebs is that Chris was giving it a go at qualifying for US Nationals this weekend. How did it go Chris?

As for me I am sort of two steps forward and one step back. Two weeks post crash and I am mostly down to bandaids only, except for my wrist, which is still really nasty. The right foot no longer feels like it is being stuck with a red-hot poker whenever I wear a shoe. Instead it now just feels like a really. really bad blister. So that it finally manageable to walk around on. I rode on Saturday and the good news is my power and aerobic capacity still looks pretty good. The downer was when I swung my right leg over the saddle my hip flexor fired up badly. It settled down and loosened up quickly however. I have been working on it with my doc since the crash, and I thought it was going in the right direction. I tried running a bit yesterday and that did not go so well. I warmed up like usual and then set off at an easy trot. The hip flexor again immediately got really angry, but I tried to run on it a little bit just to see if it would calm down. No such luck; Within about 8 minutes my short run turned into a long walk. Back to the Doc today, so I will keep working on it. Oh, and my previous elbow injury seems it might be flaring back up as well, which will be a little bit of a bummer as it finally seemed to be resolving nicely, and then with the past two weeks completely off of it I thought that might be completely done.

Next race is two weeks from now, but I think I am going to reach out to RD and see if I can switch over to a relay and do the bike portion only. I have the course-record holder queued up for the swim leg, and a very good runner in the wings as well, so we ought to be able to clobber it if I can somehow manage to keep the rubber-side of my bicycle on the ground for a change. Silver lining is that it would be good to at least get a legit 1 hour FTP test under my belt. I have never actually done one.

Normally I'm not a big fan, but for your situation Rusty, you might try an elliptical trainer for a bit until you're more healed.  It removes the impact and gives you a smoother motion.  I'm assuming you can't do aqua-anything until you're less scraped up.

Hey Mark - thanks, that is a good idea. A few years when I was nursing a knee injury (d*mn, I am fragile!) I did spend A LOT of time aqua jogging with great results, and a little bit of time on the elliptical. With the elliptical I had varying results - in order to get a reasonable workout it seemed to cause undue stress in other areas, I think mostly since my body was so unfamiliar with it and I ramped it up to quickly. But yeah, you are right - I am supposed to stay out of the water (ESPECIALLY lake water) until this wrist is more fully healed - too big a risk of infection with all the skin loss, supposedly, and I am good about following doctor's orders. 

So, I think I might just sneak off to the gym a little later this week and see how a little elliptical goes - thanks for the suggestion!

Just out of curiosity, and maybe I missed this, but why not just do everything on the bike trainer?

The trainer is the first thing out coach recommends for maintaining fitness when injured. 

I took what you guys said about my lack of adventuresome spirit to heart and climbed and snowboarded off of Mt. Adams (12,280') the second tallest peak in the state. 

Two years ago I was trying to balance track racing and mountain climbing and it was an epic failure. My legs were too heavy and tired to have the turnover and speed I needed on the track and then I guess my aerobic system was just overworked by the time I got to the mountain. This season however, trail running and mountaineering are working together really nicely! Uphill, weight bearing travel does seem to have some beneficial crossover for the ups and downs on the trail and vis versa. It's been really interesting! 

RR here for anyone interested.

First off - thanks to everyone for the thoughts/comments during my minor freak out about the sudden rise in temps.  It turned out to be over exaggerated - they had the temps right, but the rain moved in and helped to cool everything off.  So I swam/rode in dry but overcast conditions and then it rained for the entire run.

Bike - this was a disappointment.  Target was 190-200 for the first 30min, then pick it up and see how the body responds - but I needed to be mindful of HR.  This target should have had me around 150bpm and drifting up to about 155 near the end.  Ride started with HR avg right around 160 - and then it basically stuck there as an average each lap (15km on the Garmin) within 1-2 beats.  Problem for me was that power started close to 200 and held during the first 50km, but then started to fade badly.  Dropping all the way to 180 by the end - HR didn't really budge.  I had decided I was going to live off the course and that was a mistake because they weren't well organized and I ended up taking 2 gels, 1 banana, and no liquid calories.  Took 1.5 bottles of Nunn and 1 bottle of water.  I don't know if lack of calories had a direct impact or not, but after coming away from the second aid station with just 2 banana 1/2's I was worried about the run.

Run - Goal was 5min pace for the first 5km and then pick it up.  I gobbled down some calories and stayed on top of them during the run, but I didn't try to up the pace till the 10km mark, didn't go as planned and I basically ended up holding the 5min pace throughout  +/-  10sec certain km.  I was expecting to be able to run around 1:40 and if feeling good get under that, but I didn't have it (and the body is feeling it today).

I'll throw more details in the RR as soon as I can write it up.

No racing, but had fun with Saturday's ride spending just about an hour of it right at or over threshold. Not my best power by a ways, but as far as percentages go it was really strong for me.

Great to see everything going so well this year!