Pilgrim's Group - Full (Page 9)

Hi Everyone!!

I have a bad cold and stayed home for 5 days. I am feeling a bit better now. I promised my friend I wouldnt go to the gym today and just take it easy.

May I add that when I train before an open swim in the pool I try not to stand to avoid touching the bottom and I do deadman drops. At the T of the swim lane I do a flip turn(Not at the wall)

You need to do extra breathing 3 strokes before the flipturn. Kick and pull harder than normal to get going again otherwise you get a sinking feeling. Make sure to slowly exhale out the nose to prevent water going in. This is awesome to strengthen the arms.

Any tips on improving running would be greatly appriciated.

MATT You can do it, yes you can!!!!!! Keep the excitement positive!!!
Prepare your things the evening before so you can
Go early to the race and see how the other racers are setting up and stuff. Ask questions.
After you set up your bike and things take a walk to swim out transition and see if you can quickly find your bike spot. find out where bike out transition is and after that find where bike in is and see if you can find your place. This helps me to calm my nerves during the actual race transitions. I count my steps while running so I know exactly where I need to go during the race.

Hey Everybody...sounds like the sick bugs have been doggin' some of our group! Hope you are all feeling A-OK soon.

And Matt - Wooo HOOOOOO! You go Dude!!! And like Brian said, relax about the swim. I know for me the chill of the water can take my breath away which just compounds all the other emotions and physical tensions.

Jeanette... I'm with ya on run suggestions I'm not fast but steady. Actually I'm cutting back on it lately cuz of a nagging hip/butt ache. I actually now enjoy running once I get going though so that in and of itself is a major improvement!

Juls...hmmmm, I love dress up! Is there a theme? What about going as a family like the Addams Family or the Flintstones etc? Or you could rig up baseball caps with wire that extends out in front of you all that is dangling something like a trophy, cake, money, beer or whatever!

Edited by BbMoozer 2008-02-07 9:57 PM

How about the Incredibles? I'm sure that'll be done, but that is a fun idea having a dress-up race.

I got a message on my Crackberry last night at 11 pm with details about the race. One said "There's a MANDATORY Triathlon 101 session for all first-timers, followed by a course walk-through on Saturday, 9 Feb." The reason that aggravates me is twofold. 1) it takes an hour to get there so I'd have to burn another weekend day to get down there and 2) because they didn't say anything about that on the website or anytime prior to an email at 11pm on Thursday before the race.

I think I'll still go because they changed the bike course and because I don't know anyone else running it so I figure I can meet some people at this thing and have some familiar faces at the race. Thoughts?

Oh, and I'll have to pay the park fee $1.50 two toll fees $2.75 each way for a total of $7 on Sat and Sun. Oh well. Guess I'll go.

Here's something exciting though. I'm going to a luncheon for the Boy Scouts (sponsored by my company) and sitting at the same table as Joe Theismann. Pretty cool huh?

Good, lost of activity on the board!

Ok, improve your running, good form. Good running form means that your steps should be somewhat shorter; your feet should be landing just about below your knee. Think of it this way, when you run your foot strike should be taking place when the leg is swinging backwards. Ideally your foot strikes almost exactly below or just slightly behind a direct line straight down from your hips. The further forward your foot is striking the more of a breaking action you are applying and the harder the impact your body has to absorb with each foot strike. You should also have a slight forward lean. Don't bend at the waist but instead thing of your chest floating just out in front of your hips. Your back should be straight, good posture. I have heard of it described as imagining that a like extends through your head and neck, down your spine and straight out the bottom, everything aligned. Finally your arms should have a nice relaxed swing straight forward and straight backward. Don't let them flop at your sides and don't let them get going in too much of a side to side motion across the front of your body. Think that every ounce of energy you expend should be completely dedicated to forward momentum, don't bob side to side, don't bounce don't grimace or grunt just go perfectly straight down the road with every fiber in your body.

Improve your running, workouts. The interesting thing about running faster is that in order to run faster you have to run faster…ya'll catch that? Seriously, you do have to run faster in order to get faster but there are a few ways you can do it. My preference is to run hills because it can be done at a slower pace and so you are less likely to get injured. Running up the hill builds strength and prepares you for a higher cardio workload and running down the hill builds foot speed, the three things you need to increase running speed. The other thing you can do is track workouts. Here are a couple of my favorite workouts.

Coach's quarters: 800 meter warm up, followed by 2 laps of coach's quarters followed by an 800 meter cool down. A coach's quarter is where you start at the end of the straightaway (the beginning of a curve) on a track and slowly jog the curve first starting at about 50 to 60 % gradually picking up the pace and when you hit the next straightaway your should be running at about 70% and continue to accelerate down the straightaway until you hit about 80 to 85% then round the next curve gradually accelerating to about 95% and then hit the final straightaway and sprint it flat out at 100%. Take a breather for a minute or two and then repeat for a second lap.

800 meter repeats. Simply run 800 meters for a warm up then run 800 meters at about 85 to 90% then run 800 meters cool down then 800 meters at 85 to 90% then 800 meters cool down and you are done.

Hill work and track work should probably be done no more than once a week so maybe one session of hill work and one session of speed work but be careful and pay attention to how your legs are feeling because these activities are very stressful.

Other stuff:

I have run a 10K dressed as a clown and a marathon dressed as Elvis…yes it is true, your mentor is a member of the famed Running Elvi, we set a new world record for the largest gathering of running Elvi at the 2007 Las Vegas marathon.

I have two thoughts about the Tri 101 thing for your upcoming race. First, it kind of sucks that it was sprung on you at the last minute, that stuff should be advertised in advance. Second, it's kind of cool that you have a race director that is willing to take extra time out of his or her schedule to go over things with first timers. It is a tremendous amount of work putting on a race and to set up a special clinic for newbies is impressive. Most races will just have a brief pre-race meeting a few minutes before the race.

Race nutrition 101:

Don't go crazy "carbo loading" the night before the race just eat a normal sized meal that is high in carbs. Most of the carbo loading comes from continuing to eat just like you have in training while reducing your level of workouts so that your body is getting the excess fuel. It does not mean to start going hog wild a few days before the race.

For a sprint distance race have a nice breakfast about 3 hours before the race and try to get in about 300 to 500 calories depending on how big you are. I shoot for about 400 before a sprint and I am 6 foot and 204 pounds. I like some oatmeal and a powerbar. Also start drinking as soon as you wake up. Water is fine, sports drink is fine too but be sure to count this in with your calorie intake. Too many calories at once will slow digestion and gastric emptying.

About 15 minutes before the race eat a gel. If you plan on being done with the entire race in about an hour and 15 minutes then you won't need any more nutrition during the race and can get by just fine with plain water to stay hydrated on the bike and be ready to go for the run. If you are going to be out there longer then have a gel ready to take towards the end of the bike or in T2 or at the beginning of the run. You should be taking a gel about every 45 minutes but take them with water because you just don't need that many calories and the mix of gel and water will be more available to your system at sprint intensity than a higher calorie mix of gel and sports drink. Alternatively you can just stick with sports drink and forget the gels but while you are on the bike you need to try and down about 200 to 300 calories of sports drink so you are fueled for the run. If you totally hate gels then you might consider carrying a hand held bottle of sports drink on the run because most sprints only have one, maybe two aid stations and the usually only have water.

Don't get too hung up on nutrition for a sprint though, in other words don't panic if you forget something or don't have a plan. The advice I give above is really just to ensure that your tanks stay topped off from beginning to end. You are unlikely to completely crash if you do a sprint with nothing but water.

Brain, again - wonderful information. You are so informative! I would love to see a pic of the record setting Elvis race in Las Vegas - ha! that is just too funny Thanks for the open water swim tips, I have jotted most of the down in my little reference book.

There is no theme for the dress up but we have decided we want to do something together as a family. I am sure I can dream up something and will try to get a pic to post for everyone. It is the 23rd of February. We were thinking maybe something patriotic since it is near President's day.....thoughts?

Have a great weekend of training everyone!

Maybe the George Washington wigs and tri fold hats?

Good luck this weekend Matt! Come back a TRIATHLETE!

Where's our new triathlete?! It's gotta be 11:00 a.m. in FLA.

Anyone here from Matt yet? I am so excited for him!!! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Went on a short run (normal for me) with both of my kids this aftenroon. It was 75 deg. and sunny. Hope you all in the North as staying warm!

Hi

Matt's got a topline race report on his training log. Can't wait to hear more detail!

I bit the bullet on the weekend and started sessions with a local tri club. Was excellent. Saturday morning session was about tri skills (other sessions during the week are more like workouts in each of the disciplines)- we did over an hour learning to run with the bike and get on and off (I had one nasty misunderstanding with my pedal re direction and have a fairly spectacular bruise on my shin)and then a little time practicing getting in and out of water in Port Phillip Bay. Must say- running into the water on a beach is a long way from getting in the pool and I suddenly realised how much energy I could use (waste?) in this phase...same getting out. We swan then "porpoised", then ran out of the water (opposite on the way in).
On the bike, I found the most challenging thing being really conscious of my environment and not just putting my head down (and potentially crashing into people)- so head up is my mantra.
There are 5 more skills sessions till my race- I'm really excited about what skills I might learn.

Have a great week training everyone!

Cheers

Maree

Hey Guys,
Can't take too long because I have Six Sigma Training starting in 10 minutes (I'll explain that later as well).

Race went well. Definitely need to work on my transitions as I had the slowest in my group, but I still finished 4th in the Clydes 225+. Again, I promise I'll give as full a report as I can when I get a chance (around lunch maybe). I have some good first-timer stuff to tell. Nothing like the pee-wee herman bike/diaper story, but some stories none-the-less.

One thing I will say before I have to run is that Brian was absolutely right about the veterans being really supportive of Newbies. A veteran Ironman had his bike in the rack next to mine and he stopped what he was doing to come over and help me hang my number on my bike.

It was great. Can't wait till the next one!!!

Hurah! Can't wait for details! Great job on the 4th place finish!

sorry I've been away so long...

congratz to Matt on his finish!

I updated my training log to reflect what I have been doing the past few days... I realized that towing my two kids around in a Burley is hard work for 12 miles... but was a good workout anyway!

Hope everyone is doing well! BEAUTIFUL weekend here (as Juls already stated)... 75 and sunny both saturday and sunday... actually ran with my wife on Sunday night... that was nice... and rode 24 miles on Saturday with the cycling club...

Matt that is awesome. I can't wait to hear your stories!

Maree - the club sounds wonderful. What a great learning experience. I am glad you are sharing with us too

Josh - glad to see you back in action!

Happy Monday all!

That's right, I forgot to comment on the Tri club thing. I think it's great and it soulds like Maree has found a very good club. I am the captain of a local tri club and think i helps a lot being a member because you have so much more experience to draw from. It is worth checking out.

You can go to the USAT (for those in the U.S.) website to do a search for clubs in your area.

I should also suggest that people become a member of USAT or your national Triathlon Union in order to support the sport.

The nice thing about a membership is that your race insurance is covered. It is usually $10 per event if the event is USAT sanctioned and if you do 3 or 4 races in a year your USAT membership is paid for.

Sorry again. But I really have to make this quick. I've been in that class all day thinking of how to improve processes and the only process that kept bouncing in my mind was Transition 1 and Transition 2 process. I then got stolen for a working lunch so my time is really screwed-up this week.

Here's some bullets, I promise I'll get a full report out soon.

P-Problem
S-Solution

P-Swim was a lot tougher than I expected
S-More open-water swim is needed esp. in preparation for ocean swims

P-T-1 took way too long
S- Ditch everything that's not essential i.e. cycling gloves, socks(?), drink (you can do that on the bike), Sunglasses (you can tape them to the bike and put them on your face on the move), drying-off (the air kinda does that when you get up to 16-20mph on the bike)

P-I had to slow to take a drink from a bottle
S-get straw for Aero-drink that I can use while riding, move bike computer mount to allow that to happen.

P-Transition Area, I was at the back
S-I can ask, but I think that's just the luck of the draw (???) Getting there early didn't help. I was there as they were setting-up the register table

P-on the run, I expected there to be water stations along the way
S-carry small water-bottle that is crushable or baggy or something like that so you can drink on the move and not be weighed-down by full-size bottle.

P-Didn't know how to mount my race numbers
S- ask someone. That worked. The guy next to me showed me how to mount the number sideways on my bike verticaly. He also recommended dumping half of the crap I had in my Transition Area over on the side. That turned-out alright too.

P-Legs are killing me now...
S-take a day off after the race. Oh and don't eat like a pig the day of the race thinking "well, I burned that many calories this morning" I had a Whopper (no cheese) and then I had a Buffalo chicken sandwich last night.

I'll send a story or two tomorrow morning. Sorry, constrained timeline.
Happy Training everyone!

I thought I’d jump in with some comments on Matt’s race analysis and hopefully it will provide some help or ideas.

P-Swim was a lot tougher than I expected
S- Yes, any open water swim practice you can get is a big help and any group swimming you can get where you are having to struggle for position is a big help.

P-T-1 took way too long
S- In a sprint you need to get in and out of transition in a minute or less if possible…for sure no more than 1:20. Do not stop to take in nutrition in transition you take in nutrition on the bike and run while you are making forward progress. You do not need to wear anything like cycling gloves, cycling shorts, special running shorts anything. The best way to go is with the tri suit we talked about, either two piece or one piece. You definitely do not need to dry off. At most you might need to have a tray or bucket of water that you can step in real quick in order to rinse off your feet after running across a beach. Some people do go without socks at sprint and Oly distances but you need to train your feet to be able to handle something like this. I saw a pro triathlete once who went without socks in a half-iron and he collapsed as soon as he crossed the finish like and when they pealed his shoes off there were big flaps of bloody skin hanging, not a pretty sight. I put my sunglasses in my helmet which sits on my aerobars.

P-I had to slow to take a drink from a bottle
S-Yes, if you have aero bars you should also invest in some kind of drinking system that attaches to them. Aerodrink is a brand made my Profile Design and it is very popular. You should practice drinking from a regular water bottle without slowing down though because at longer distances bottles along with an aerodrink become necessary.

P-Transition Area, I was at the back
S- There are three ways in which transition areas are set up by race directors.
1. Pure first come first serve where you can rack anywhere you want. Getting there early makes all the difference.
2. You are assigned racks but not individual places on the rack. Here getting to transition early is also very important because you can rack your bike closer to the center runway. However, you don’t get to choose your rack so you may end up having to run farther with your bike or run farther from the swim etc…
3. Every individual athlete is assigned his or her own spot in transition. In this case it does not matter how early or late you arrive you will get whatever sport in transition you get and asking for a different spot will not help. This is common in the largest races and is always the case at Ironman or other iron distance races.

P-on the run, I expected there to be water stations along the way
S- The availability of aid at a sprint distance race is variable. I have never seen an aid station on the bike of a sprint and usually see one water station at the half-way point of the run though I have also seen no aid stations period and I have seen sprints with an aid station every mile on the run. If you want to make sure you have something to drink on the run at a sprint go ahead and carry a hand held. I like the ones that Nathan makes but am not wild about their bottles so I used the Ultimate Direction bottles. You can also use a fuel belt with just a single or double bottle. Whatever you do don’t bring something and plan on discarding it. There is no littering on the race course…it is a penalty. If you are worried about the extra weight just don’t fill the bottle all the way.

P-Didn't know how to mount my race numbers
S- Good! Don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice at your event! It’s also a great way to meet other triathletes.

P-Legs are killing me now...
S-Good, your legs should be killing you! It was a sprint and you went hard. Do take a day or two off for recovery and then ease back into the workouts. Eat for recovery! I haven never seen whoppers or Buffalo Chicken burgers listed as a good recovery food. The first hour you should be replenishing carbs and fluids and then eat normally after that.


Now I'm looking forward to hearing a good story!

Thanks for all the input on those points. People who I've told about running that told me that they've "always wanted to run one of those-but." I tell them about it and I tell them about this site because this definitely would've been harder to do without the support we get on here technical (race logs) and the interpersonal support from the group.

Well, I arrived early and just happened to be unlucky to be the last one in the first parking row. So I still had to walk the furthest to the transition area. Remember I brought too much stuff so I had to carry it all-the-way to the TA. When I got there, I saw the numbers, but figured I was safe racking my bike near the entrance. Got my number and markings and chip and then had to walk back to my bike only to find that I was on the opposite end of the TA.

As I racked my bike, I did get to talking to another "novice" in my category. He had done a few races and had done this race before but was by no means in it for competition sake. So he was talking about the swim and the run course and the bike horror stories he had heard. Then I had to put the number on my bike so the French guy next to me with the $5000 bike showed me how to do that. With everything done and time before the start, I headed over to the water and checked the temp. Not too different from the air (God bless South Florida). I did one more check on all my gear and on the TA. Looked simple enough. Walked over to the start line and as they started the waves, I wasn't nervous at all. Must be from years of wrestling where you're nervous walking onto the mat at first, but after a while, the nervousness is gone also could've been from all those PFTs which were basically 5-K runs.

Once the starting horn sounded for my wave and I was swimming, I realized "man, we're started and I won't be done for over an hour!" But I settled-down and kept swimming. Thinking the whole time. I don't feel like I'm moving all that fast. Left the water without a problem and ran to the transition.

When I got there, it was easy to find my bike since we were in the last wave. Got my legs dried off. Then put on socks, then cycling shoes, then helmet, then gloves, then took a drink of water (already 3 things to drop for next time) then I grabbed the bike and clop clop clopped to the exit. Mounted-up and rode along.

Ride was tough into the wind, easy with the wind. The only way to improve on that I can think of is to fix the hydration issue. Anyway, I got done with the bike with no real events except for seeing all the Mountainbikers in my rear-view. They were all really happy to hear me say "way to go mountainbike!" Remember, I was in the last wave, so they started at minimum 4 minutes before me!

When I finished that, I ran through the TA again clop clop clop and racked my bike and started running. Another guy ran up along-side and we spent the whole run leapfrogging. There was a water station at mile 2 of 2.5 and my laces came undone right at the station. Another learning point. Get those Yanks or elastic laces. Drank some water and finished the last .5 miles at a 8:30 pace.

Then, remembering the USAT guidelines, I walked back to the finish and cheered-in the rest of the people, most of them those mountain-bikers we mentioned and the rest of the clydes.

I was looking at the schedule and there's another race on March 2nd. I want to run it because I think I'd do better, but I think what you said Brian about base-training is important. I have the relay across florida which is basically 3 x 4.5 mile runs spread out by 8 hours a piece. I guess I should weight my training more on the running. The next tri I guess is in April or May. Thoughts on scheduling?

Anyway, that's about the long-and-short of it. I hope this was useful to some folks. It was really a blast. I don't think I needed more training to finish, just that I need to train more intensely on Bike to run and open water swimming. Oh and I need to drop another 20 lbs to look good in the event pictures...
Happy Training everyone!

2 things...

1) does anyone else train with their spouse? Sarah and I have started doing some running together... (including a planned run tonight) and I think it will probably turn into some biking together as well... the problem for us is getting babysitting... so running today will be with my daughter/son in a burley... which should be interesting... hopefully I can get my son to ride his bike so it isnt so hard to push them...

2) anyone ever done the Hotter'n hell 100? I am thinking of signing up for this race through hell (north central texas in August)... as a good goal of a century ride...

hope all is well with everyone today...

Great job again Matt! You know race scheduling is a pretty individual thing. You have your triathletes who are into a lot of other single sport activities so they don't race triathlons much. You have triathletes who are very competitive so they choose two or three A races a year and spend the rest of their time training. You also have people who really just like to get out there as often as they can just because they like being there. That's more like me and I have probably done an average of 20+ races a year for the past three years. Racing that much can become difficult when it comes to taking care of everything else in your life and it becomes expensive.

If you want to strike a nice balance you should be able to schedule one race a month and be just fine because recovery from a sprint doesn't take too much and the amount of training necessary is far less than long distance events. You can be more run focused in preparation for your relay but that is not incompatible with your triathlon goals. At the half-iron distance and lower your training should really include plenty of over-distance training, going longer than your goal race distances, so preparing for 3X4.5 mile runs will fit in well with a good sprint training plan.

Josh, I have done some training with my wife but the differences in our speed is very great so mostly what we do is take off together and then meet up afterward. When we trained for Ironman Kentucky we did our long rides together because she didn't have anyone to ride that far with. We had a pretty good time doing that though she was convinced that I kept dropping her on purpose and I was always wondering what she was doing way the heck behind me. It's important to come up with a workable plan when you are working out with your spouse, something that you both can enjoy. I do strongly encourage spouses to be active together.

I have never done the Hotter-n-Hell but I used to live in Wichita Falls. I have wanted to do that ride for years but I guess it has always been a lower priority that whatever else I have going on. It is the largest century ride in the world I believe, maybe just in the U.S. and it is supposed to be fun. It can get blistering hot and humid in North Texas at that time of year. I used to have two-a-day football practice in August in Wichita Falls.

Way to go, Matt! I literally reread each of your experiences several times. There is so much to soak up. You spend all this time getting ready for the actual exercise and then run into an unexpected hurdle like putting the number on your bike. I'm glad everyone is so helpful.

Pilgim, I made some initial purchases. Since it was 5 degrees in Indianapolis when I visited over the past few days, I had time to go shopping. I am now the proud owner of a very non-flattering pair of LG tri-shorts. They actually had a trisuit on sale, but I think I'm going the two piece route. I also picked up my new running shoes and some wicking socks. Also, (and I know you told me not to do this), I picked up some shimano shoes and egg beater pedals. I know I can't use eggbeaters on my mountain bike per your previous post. However, I've also been weighing putting some money into my mountain bike, or just buying a cheap road bike. Walmart and Sports Authority both have bikes under $200. So, I decided to get some SPD-SL pedals to put on a starter road bike. The last thing I plan to buy is a tri shirt. I'll try to borrow or rent a wetsuit.

I missed almost a week of training. In my schedule I had a week off planned in a few weeks. Looks like I'll just skip it.

Mark E.