The Second Wind Group - CLOSED (Page 12)

A lot is dependent upon where you swim (temp. of the water) and personal comfort.  I'm a "fair weather triathlete".  I don't see myself doing Alcatraz or anything in very cold water, hence, I have a sleeveless.  I also picked a sleeveless because I have broad shoulder for a female.  If I buy a shirt that fits in the body, it won't fit in the shoulders or arm length.  (You won't catch me ever wearing a short sleeved shirt to exercise in-- sleeveless only.)  So, that's my two cents. 

Try some out different ones out if possible.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=451947

Here is my race report for my sprint this morning.  It went very well and I am pleased with my result.

good job Stegaman!  I love reading all of the race reports.  I got a chuckle out of your comment about wishing for more hills to train on.  I have the opposite problem...I live in a very hilly area (I know, KS is supposed to be flat!) so when I leave my house I have to choose my poison.

Just got done registering myself and my son for the Omaha Triathlon in 2 weeks.  We'll make a road trip out of it and my 8 year old will do his 1st kids race on Saturday and I'll do the Olympic on Sunday.  Pretty excited to do this as a family, but I already have butterflies about signing up.  

Surgery is on Wednesday.  I will provide an exact time when I get one.

Pray for safe travel over and back - To Tampa Tuesday late afternoon, Back from Tampa Wednesday after surgery.

Real tight calves from a workout with Speedo Water ankle weights, Need to work on it more once I get released by the doctor to exercise.

I'll  be praying for you otter that the surgery is successful and  you get back on your feet again soon!

Do any of your analyze the race routes/elevation prior to the race? Or do you just show up prepared for anything?

If anyone is good at analysis, I've shared a couple of routes and I'm curious what you think.  This is the bike route for the next Oly I'm doing in 2 weeks.

http://tpks.ws/ePyj

In contrast, this is a little loop that I train on frequently...it is long enough that I can go around and around if I want to.

http://tpks.ws/to9rZfNG

Dprocket, the links you added are not showing as hyperlinks.

To answer your analysis question, I will provide how I approach my races.  I do look at the courses ahead of time.  Many times I will chart the course on Mapmyrun or Mapmyride in order to see what the elevations changes are like on the course.  Around where I live, all routes are rolling hills, so that helps for most of the course I have raced on.  I feel the more you know about the course ahead of time, that will allow you to be mentally prepared.

I also wanted to share with the group about my sprint tri from this past Saturday.  I raced in the Mission Man Triathlon in Burlington, NC.  This is a great event with awesome support from the community and volunteers.  My goal going in to this race was to improve in my overall time from last year and hopefully improve in all 3 legs of the race.  I am thrilled to report I successfully accomplish those goals.  Here is the comparison.

Now, this year's race was not a good one related to the swim.  This was my 4th race in open water.  I had something happen that I have never experienced before and I want to share this with you.  I was in the first wave and there were probably 75-100 in the wave.  That meant the turbulance was going to be rough.  Sure enough that was the case.  The pace was also fast.  It was nothing but jockeying for position to try and find some space to get into a rhythm.  About 200m in is when my heart rate all of the sudden just jumped.  I have never had an axiety attack or felt closterphobic, but that is the best way to describe it.  It literally scared me.  I immediately went to breaststroke to try and calm my heart rate down.  It was not working.  At this point I was near the turn buoy which was about 300m from the shore.  I started to pray asking God to give me comfort and slow my heart rate down.  It was then that I realized there were kayaks in the water from a safety standpoint.  I humbled myself and decided the best thing was to swim over to one.  I grabbed the front of the kayak and the lady told me to just take as long as I needed.  Within a few moments, I slowed my breathing down and that got my heart rate to calm down.  After about a 1-2 minutes, I let go and continued on.  I was able to get through the swim.  It is safe to say that could have derailed the rest of the race.  I knew I still had to phases to go, so I gave myself a pep talk as I reached the shore and off to T1 I went.  I was upset at what happened in the swim and you can say a little determined.  I then had a good bike and an ok run.  When I saw the results, I laughed seeing my swim was almost 1 minute faster than last year.  Without that stop for over a minute, I would have probably been in the 14-15 minute range.

It just goes to show that you never know what might happen in a race.  Expect the unexpected, keep a positive outlook and press on towards the goal.

I will be working on an actual blog post about the race and get into more detail there.  In the meantime I wanted to share this experience with everyone.

Have a great day everyone!

Wow Chick, thanks for the report.  That's amazing that you were still able to improve your time on the swim.  I think the swim is the most underestimated portion of the race.  For me, the Open water aspect is not an issue...but it's the large group thrashing together at the same time.  Reading your report makes me feel a bit better knowing that panics can happen to anyone (I think I panicked a bit last time).  

I've attempted to post my links again.  

Race route: http://tpks.ws/ePyj

My home route: http://tpks.ws/to9rZfNG

I try to analyze my race route and elevation before hand to have an idea about what I am getting into.  I look mostly at the big elevation changes.  On your home route, you climb about 175 ft over the course of a mile, whereas on your race route you climb almost 300 ft over a mile and a half.  As you can see, you have a longer, steeper climb on your race.  I think of a climb like that as trying to climb a 30 story building using the stairs.  Plus, its right at the beginning of your route.  I would think it would be easy to completely blow out your legs in the first 3 miles of your race if you attack that hill too hard.  25 miles is a long way, so make sure you save plenty for all of those smaller hills during the rest of the race.  Good luck in Omaha.

First - Need to be at Hospital at 10:30, so surgery is around lunchtime.

Next, I want to tell my tale of doing the opposite of praying and staying positive.

My 3rd tri, was the third of a 3 race series, all I needed to do was finish and I got 2nd place since only 2 of us did all 3 races.  I decided to "race" this one instead of just hanging back. I got caught in the turbulance of the swim and had a panic attack and I forgot how to swim.  All I could do was to doggy paddle until a rescue came to me.  i got on the back and they told me to rest and catch my breath while they made sure I did not get closer to the beach and DQ.  I managed to finish the swim, frustrated I got on the bike, and spent the 8 mile ride thinking about the "caboose club", last finisher in a race.  I was designing the certificate and everything.  I got to the run, my number belt can apart, the race exit was moved from previous races, I walked around in circles looking for the exit.  I finally got out on the run and had to go up a hill to start, and had no energy.  As I hit the peak of the hill, I see all these people walking their bikes across the road leaving and I still had 3 miles to run.  At the bottom of the hill, someone said "you are looking good"; I lost it and let out a scream and sat down in frustration.  In less than 30 seconds I was surrounded by helpers and ended up in an ambulance checking me for a heart attack.  I finally convinced them I was fine and was not going to the hospital.  walked to the bikes and left very frustrated.

So I am glad you were able to get it back together, after a prayer for help.  Great job.

Who all on here has Bike trainers?  I'm looking at some on craigslist.

I found a Blackburn Trakstand Fluid Trainer for $50.  It is a few years old but has few miles on it.

I also found a CycleOps Mag that looks to be in good shape for $120.  I've read lots about the CycleOps trainers and have seen tons of positive reviews.  I wonder if its worth the extra money.  Any thoughts?

From what I've read, fluid trainers are supposed to be quieter and "better" (whatever that means).  I have a cycops fluid 2 and have a love/hate relationship with it.  I love being able to use it in the house in case my ride gets washed out or it's the dead of winter, yet... I'm stuck in the basement...

I'm happy with the one I have, but unfortunately, I cannot compare it to a mag.

What an interesting point of view.  I never thought of that before.  I love it!

Just wanted to share a "God is so good" moment with you.  I have been raising money for United Cerebral Palsy - Cleveland for my next race (Sunday).  My original goal was $500.  Just by posting on facebook and reminding everyone why I was raising money (my cousin wrestled with it for 31 years and was called home on the day I registered), I met that goal plus some.  Once I raised $500, I upped my goal to $750.  I was stuck right around that amount for a month or two.  I posted that this was "rally week" (the week before a race when I post like crazy) and I had a family member make one donation to push me to $1000.  What a blessing. 

If you ever are in the Cleveland area and want to do a race (or just view one), this is the race-- Cleveland Triathlon (not Greater Cleveland Triathlon, different location-same day).  You'll be blown away by the energy and spirit of the families who are racing for and sometimes with their children who have CP. 

It's funny.  Through this entire ordeal of raising money and attending the kickoff meeting, UCP has asked me to post some blogs, which I did, and now the Cleveland Plain Dealer wanted my information for possible interview stuff race weekend.  Please pray that God gives me the appropriate things to say in a concise way so I can be a witness through my words and actions.  (There's no guarantee that they'll call or email, but they have my info.)  Prayers also, for a successful and productive race -- good weather, no mechanical/tire issues, you know what I mean....

Thanks for listening.  God is so good.

sungirl, it's great to hear that your fundraising effort is going well.  When I started my Team In Training venture, I was a little uncomfortable asking people for money, but then once I started learning more about it, and starting seeing the impact that I could make it became easy.  My fundraising goal was $3500 and I'm done.  (Actually, I need to raise about $250 more, but I have several items donated to me for auctions valued at far more than $250).  

It would be awesome if you were able to share something with the newspaper.  I think its important for us as Christians to figure out ways to be able to positively impact others through our training/racing.  If it's just a habit (a good one, mind you) it can easily become idolatry.  So, it's cool seeing you possibly being able to be a witness through all of this.

A question about bike trainers: I bought a use fluid trainer for $50 on craigslist on Sunday and have just started tinkering with it.  I haven't used it for a training session though, because I'm a little nervous: I've heard of trainers doing damage to tires and I have a race this weekend.  I have a brand new tire on and I don't want to mess it up right before the race.  Am I just being paranoid?  I can't wait to get some serious bricks in with it.

Gomes, I'll let you know my opinion soon.  I figured for $50 it was low risk.  I also have an older exercise bike that I think I can trade out to save space.  Now, my biggest concern is little fingers in the spokes.  My boys (and I'm sure my daughter will soon) climb all over our elliptical, exercise bike, treadmill, etc even thought they know they are not supposed to.  Any ideas?

Killer Doberman in a pen around your trainer... 

There was a lady on here who had a story about how she was adjusting the gears and restringing the cables and when she walked back into the garage after getting some water, her 4 year old girl was smiling at her and said "Mommy, I helped you...I cut all the cables for you!"

My bike is in the corner of the garage between the wall, the door, and the barbecue grill.  I have enough trouble getting to it, so my kids rarely monkey with it. 

My daughter does like to help me clean it and she puts stickers on it.  There's a sorry-looking Angry Bird sticker hanging-on for dear life right now.

It took me a while, but I finally finished my race report.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=455208

Bottom line, I did not meet my goals.  My bike fitness was not where it should be. I'm focusing on that now that I got my trainer. This was a challenging hilly course and was good prep for my race in DC a month from now.  I think that course is flat.

I'm planning a short/sprint on 9/2 in a neighborhood close to my house.  Does anyone think that will be a problem a week before my Oly on 9/9?  It's only 400yd/9 hilly miles/3.2M run.

well...I did it again.  I crashed on my bike again this morning.  I was at mile 23 of a planned 60 mile ride when I hit a pothole while cruising around 18-20 mph in aero position.  The pothole forced my front wheel to turn causing me to lose control and I went down hard on my left side, sliding on the pavement and ending up in the grass.  It took off half of the skin on my left palm, some road rash on my left hip, and a pretty big gash on my left elbow.  my legs an my whole right side are unharmed.  When I crashed, I was about 5 miles from home, so I rode easy the whole way back, bleeding the whole time and staining the grip tape on my handlebars. 

when I got home, I ended up pulling about 50 stickers out of my clothes and my shoes.  I washed all the blood off and noticed that the gash in my elbow was bigger and deeper than I had originally thought.  I then proceed to go to urgent care to see if I needed stitches.  The dr. cleaned it out some more, pulling out more grass and a couple rocks out of my elbow.  Then, he sewed me up with 9 stitches. 

My HIM is 4 weeks from tomorrow, and the dr. said I should be fine to race.  I'm under orders to stay out of the pool for 2 weeks, which should be OK since swimming is my strongest discipline.  He also said to take it easy for a few days, so that pretty much ruins my weekend plans.  Oh well.  I'll probably be spending some more time in they gym over the next couple weeks rather than out on the road.  I'm just glad I still get to race.

Wow, that's too bad stegaman.  Glad you're ok though (more or less).  Were you wearing gloves?  I don't wear glove, but I've heard they help in a crash.