2010 Tri Thread

[wtpclc]

Duane - lol. You can get them in blue, red, black or white too!

stego - doesn't seem like a great time to run to me, but I am a heat whimp! Glad you are gettign back into it. Glad you found a good rack for teh kayak! DH and I typically go out with a rubber raft while the other oen swims. Of course, I'm not sure it's always so geat for him when I swim first, as my arms are too tired ot row.

Maura - Great job on getting the ride in even when you felt so slow.

Yoga killed my shoulders yesterday. My instructor is really good at fine tuning poses. Who woudl ahve thought that one simple fine tune to teh basic poses would be so ottugh. ugh! So, while I was happy with my swim last night, glad it was short. My shoulders have never been so tired!

 

[wtpclc]

My neighbor actually has a wristwatch kind of thing he bought that has a Garmin and heart rate monitor (among other things) on it. It's pretty cool - maybe a future purchase - I don't have $200 to throw around right now.

This is the kind most of us use. Garmin Forerunner. You can get a refurbed 305 fro about $150. May be able ot get a good deal on a 204 still. It is a little bigger and does not have a heartrate monitor, but still works well. There is a 310XT which is mainly for people who do tri's. However, while it's waterproof, it won't track your distance in teh water adn it's $$$$. All styles have bike and run modes and have a way to attache them to the bike.

 

[mgsmom]

Garmin Forerunner 205 - has anyone used this one?
It says it is for running, but a couple of reviews have people saying they have used it for cycling as well.

 

[wtpclc]

Garmin Forerunner 205 - has anyone used this one?
It says it is for running, but a couple of reviews have people saying they have used it for cycling as well.

It should be like my 204, but with a HR monitor. There is a setting to change units to biking. You'll want to buy a bike mount too.

 

[tiberius]

A reverse sprint? Not for me! DH and I were just discussing the possibility of drowning if we went into the water tired form the swim and the bike.

I've often told people the tri sports are in their regular order to make it harder to die on the course. So I enjoyed your comment.

No pink pedals for me, however if they are available in WISH green.....

I think I forgot to mention earlier that I signed up for a spring tri soon, here in the Houston area. The Combat Triathlon on May 29th, this one has a 300 yard pool swim instead of an open water swim.

 

[wtpclc]

I've often told people the tri sports are in their regular order to make it harder to die on the course.

I'm with you there!

No pink pedals for me, however if they are available in WISH green.....

Speedplay Zero Titaniums. I think they had a special edition Light Action in that color too.

I'll think of you doing ocmbat when I am in my 61 degree (as of last week) lake!

 

[hoosmi]

Hey kids-

Thanks for your kind comments. I told my husband that the race results came out--

Overall women:

80/124 swim
42/124 bike
12/124 run

I think I know where I need to do some work (but I'm totally excited by my run time!)

Anyway, my husband called me a "one trick pony" and then laughed... a lot. That's going to come back to haunt him though- he doesn't run or bike, but he's a really good swimmer. Now if I can just find a cyclist, we can totally do a relay as the One Trick Ponies!

And enough about me.

mgsmom- I have the Garmin 305 Forerunner watch. It's clunky and old, but still working after 2+ years. The 305 has a chest strap for a heart monitor. My husband has the 205- as far as I know, it's the same thing without the strap/monitor. I bought a mounting kit for the bike-- basically you take the watch off the band and replace the little pins where the band connects. The pins then can either snap on to a velcro strap for your wrist or on to a mount on your bike. You just pop it off the bike and onto the strap for the run... I like it a lot, although the velcro did snag my Princess Half shirt. For the record, I rarely use the heart rate monitor because the strap makes me crazy, but lots of people do use monitors.

Stego- kayaking... on the water, instead of in the water... I'm liking that idea!

Carrie- I like the pedals in WISH green too! My bike is blue, but my helmet is WISH green. I would have liked a WISH green bike! Yoga scares me. I probably should try, but I have no flexibility at all (I know that's why I should go, but it would be a lot of falling over at first).

They're turning out lights in the office- guess they want me to go!

Jen in GA

 

[mgsmom]

Jen- I am so glad to see you were so high in the ranks on the run! Makes me a little less nervous about that part!

Thanks for all the info on the Forerunners - there was a 205 on ebay yesterday - new and in the box - and the bidding was still down at $70. I was "watching" it and just before the bidding time was over, people went nutso on it and it shot up over 100. Dang! Oh well - I'll keep looking.

Timed my run again yesterday. Did I mention I'm sllloooowwwww?
My goal is to run the 5K at the end of my tri at 10min/mile.
Well, I just ran the first 2 miles with my watch running and tried to pretend I was just out for a normal run. When I hit the 2 mile marker, 24 minutes had passed - so my first two miles were 12 min each I guess. ugh Has anyone ever read "The Pokey Little Puppy"?
My last full mile I got it down to 9 1/2 minutes and the last half mile I ran in 4 minutes! So, that's where I am with the run. I'll do that again, and the next time after that I'll start pacing after the first mile.
You guys had lots of good advice after that bad run I had - when I was working up my pace this time, everytime I started to get worried I would just take a deep breath and remember to take short strides, keep my shoulders back, and relaaaaaaaaxxxx. Worked great!

 

[wtpclc]

mgsmom - Glad some of the advice hfrom here helped! BTW, slow is a relative term. I do not call 10 minute miles slow by any means! I think my best ever pace in a race was 10:30 for 5 miles. (I don't get any faster than that if I go a shorter istance either. )

Jen - I am not flexible and have no balance. Seriously! The right yoga class will do wonders for you!!! I saw a quote the other day from someone who was choosing a competitive sport adn decided to do tri's because "Why be good at one thing when you can be mediocre at 3." lol. I think you're too good of a runner for tri's.

 

[mgsmom]

Thanks Carrie! That makes me feel better!
My DH averaged a 7 1/2 min mile for a whole marathon - so that always makes me feel slow! I think he's a fast runner, though.

 

[jmasgat]

If you're in the market for a wetsuit, Xterra wetsuits is having a sale.....

http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/memorialdaysale/?utm_source=may25email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=memorialdayblowout

 

[stego]

seems like tri season is ramping up, and the DIS tri team is outdoors.

Some notes and thoughts:

Purchased the kayak for my son/wife to spot me in the water. It seemed a roundabout way to get my son to learn a new skill and have him participate and learn responsibility. We have used the new rack on the car twice and it takes about 10 min to get the kayak on.

I've learned to stay away from the LBS for a reason. Your thing might be the stamp store, or the knitting store. But for me it's the bike. I happened to go to downtown Austin this past weekend and on the main floor they had last year's tri bike marked down from 4200 to 2600. Sometimes in life, the lesson is to walk away. Buying a new bike won't make me faster. It'll just put another bike in the garage. Lots of people get new car fever, I get new bike fever. It will pass.

Got in the water this past week/weekend and I am slow. I went to a swim clinic to swim with a pack and worked on sighting. Yesterday I was all by myself and at the buoys I stopped. I was just tired. On my back, looking at the sky for 30 seconds, then flipped back over to free style. That seemed to work better. I have specifically started working on my kick.

I'm 2 weeks back into running and it is clear I have to get faster. The only way to do is...to run faster. Yesterday's temp's came down about 10 degrees and once I got warmed up, I set the pace. I didn't push it too much, but I ran 30 seconds faster for each mile.

Made the decision to get a trisuit and what a difference. I've been struggling with the dreaded muffin top; what a discovery last year was with bibs! I bought one that fits and I've done all 3 disciplines in it.

At this point tri is and should be an offseason activity and I don't need to take it so seriously. Labor day weekend/Camp Eagle will be here before I know it, and I'll be back on the geared MTB come late/mid July.

My whole focus this week is being prepared for the season finale at Lance's ranch and being ready for the big dogs. My S/S is in the garage with both wheels off, and I've got to re-stan's the tires. My rear tire was completely dry; racing requires preparation and Sunday morning will be here soon enough.

 

[wtpclc]

Hi all!

Had a blast on my 31-mile ride Monday! Longest ever for me! Even doing it in 89 degree weather was ok! LOVED the new pedals!!! DIdn't crash yet, either! We did soem in town riding, soI got a decent amount of practice clipping out. CLipping in wasn't as good, but I can deal with that.

I di dhave one near miss, though. Holy cow. I’m going down a side street. Slight downhill, so I’m kicking the gears up and trying to pick up speed. Lose so much going through town (We started from home). Approaching an intersection where we have the right of way and there are no cars coming down, so I just keep kicking it up a bit. All of a sudden, there’s a car in front of me! :-O Some idiot was driving same direction as me, passed me and cut me off to turn right in front of me! I’m sure this probably happens more often that I care to think about, but I was in total shock. Hit the brakes hard. Didn’t have to stop and it was ok, but scared that crap out of me and took some time to recover. Just furious that the idiot just decided he owned the road and cutting me off was fine. Unbelievable. I'm used to checking to see if cars will really stop form the cross roads adn looking for them. Having somone com eup form behind and cut in front was a new on for me, though.

Getting ready for my first tri of the year! Saturday, I'll do a sprint. Shouldn't be a big deal. We just wanted to have a race in before we did our oly in June. Shoudl be fun. Plus, teh extreme temmp this week have heated teh lake up nicely!

Have a great holidya weekend everyone!

 

[tiberius]

Congrats on the long ride, Carrie! I hope there are many more in your future and that the idiot drivers stay far away from you.

I don't think I metioned it before now, but I have a sprint tri this weekend. It is the Combat Sprint Tri in Texas City. IT is a 300 yd/15 mi/3mi distace sprint triathlon. I am looking forward to pushing myself and seeing what (limited) speed I have picked up over the winter. The swim is a seeded pool swim in order of bib number, and I am kind of worried that I have #204 as I didn't think there were that many slower swimmers than me. I went back to check what I put down on the registration just to make sure I did not make a mistake there, I might have been a bit ambitious, but my 6:45 estimate is doable by me and hardly a fast time by tri standards. However, given the warm weather expected, I'll gladly start nearer the front to avoid the later morning sun and have a chance to be halfway through my bike before the swim is finished by the last starters.

 

[chimera]

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

Carrie...I'm glad I'm not the only one having trouble clipping in. Did you find you were any faster with the new pedals? I haven't noticed an appreciable difference so far.

 

[mgsmom]

Richard - I'm so glad you said that about the swim. I have been meaning to change my swim time to get closer to the front of the pack for the swim. I was far back last time, thinking a slower time would help, but ended up at the end of everything! I'd rather be passed that pass...

Carrie - good job on the bike! I hope that guy realized what he did and won't do it again.

stego - sounds like you are really pounding out the swimming! Maybe I will get brave enough to do an OWS one of these days...

I took my borrowed bike out for the first time today (I know, it's a little late- but I have three weeks to practice on it) and it was SO great! I can't believe how FAST I was able to go - really beats the heck outta that bike I had last time. (It's a Giant road bike, last one was a Walmart mountain bike) I went out for a ride, really just to get used to it, and before I knew it, I had flown through my 7 mile route in about 20 minutes! Woo hoo!
After a very successful brick on Monday (30 minutes HARD on spin bike and 2.5 mile run), I am feeling a bit more confident. The last sprint tri I did it was all about survival. This time, I want to do WELL and feel like I've really knocked it out!

 

[BigEeyore]

Just catching up with everyone - after a week of vacation and end of the school year stuff I am just trying to get my training back on track! This past week has been like tri boot camp - 2 spin classes, 2 two mile swim sessions, and today my very first big girl ride outside! Yup, like Carrie I did my longest distance ever this morning - 30 miles - and my tri group forced me to run for 15 minutes after just to get the feel of that.
Jen Congratulations! You did amazing, especially considering those awful swim conditions that probably took a lot out of you. Inspiring!
Carrie Great job on the long ride! Watch out for those idiots though.
stego Lance's ranch? What? Do tell more!

I just want to say that I love reading race reports, so I hope to see some more soon! They really are helping me mentally prepare for my race! Thanks!

 

[Duanerice]

All right Carrie - where is the report? The race was yesterday.

And Richard - we are awaiting yours too. I know what you mean about the pool swim. When we did ours I was conservative too is my estimated time and ended up in the back half. There was someone I swim with in our tri club that is much slower than me but seeded herself about 80 spots in front of me. We didn't know. It wasn't too bad until I got to the last few lanes there there was some traffic to get around.

I too had my longest ride yesterday,52 miles. Beautiful ride up to Captiva and back. And yes, we always finish with at least a 20 minute run I also had my first OWS practice today (after a 1 hour bridge.beach run). Now I have had two OWS in races, but never practiced. What a difference. As many of you know I struggled with my OWS in the races so I was worried if I'd ever get over it. I loved it! The taste of the water is different though. The difference is I went out slow, took my time and just swam like I know how to swim. Actually the waves were pretty neat. I could have gone on forever (OK, not forever but longer than a mile). I can't tell you what an emotional relief this was. I remember the last race thinking "how can I do a HIM if I can't even swim 400 meters" I mean without being able to OWS it didn't matter how good I got in the pool. What a relief!

So even though we worked our butts off this weekend, it was in a nice place. Saturday a ride up to Captiva and Sunday running the bridges and beach then an OWS at Ft Myers beach. If you're going to beat yourself up might as well do it in a beautiful place, right?

Quick question to all you tri athletes. When you do a sprint to do you switch back to regular pedals and running shoes so you don't have to change shoes again? Might do that this weekend.

Have a good weekend everyone. I have the reverse tri next weekend then nothing until July.

enjoy,
Duane

 

[tiberius]

OK, here is the race report from the Combat Sprint Tri yesterday in Texas City, Texas.

Swim - It was a 300 yd seeded pool swim, I swam hard much of the first 2/3 of the race and passed a few people when I could do so fairly easily. The last 1/3 of the race people were bunching up in front of me and I only passed one or two swimmers when I had the room. Swim time was 6:01.5 (I seeded myself at 6:45.), so I have definitely improved over the last year.
Bike - I tried not to go out too hard and kept a fairly stable speed most of the bike after I got going onto the first straightaway about 1 mile in, excepting a bit more or less with the wind along the freeway. I was concerned about pushing too hard when HR was in mid to upper 160s early in bike and I tried to keep my gearing and pace so it did not go into the 170s. I slowed down for the last 1/2-3/4 mile a bit to let HR lower into 150s, and to slide my feet out of the bike shoes while I pedaled with my feet on top of the shoes.
Run - I tried not to go out too hard, taking it really easy for first 100-200 yards before finding my pace. When my HR would get into low 170s, I would walk about 45-60 seconds to keep it from getting too high (best guess is that it worked out to be about to be about every 4-5 minutes). I thought I was going about as fast as I could maintain at the end, but I still found the strength to sprint to the finish. My average HR on the run was 168. My HR monitor said the highest HR for the event was 183, which I have to think was during the final sprint. I had hoped to finish in the low 1:30 range and thought I had a chance to go under 1:30 if everything went perfect. Things were not quite perfect but I did manage a 1:30:19 finish, which I am quite happy with! (13th of 17 in my AG)
There were plenty of food and drinks after the race (I had 2 breakfast tacos, part of a slice of pepperoni pizza and some Coke Zero.) and I got a good post-race massage with little wait.

I was impressed with this small race (325 registered) as it was a first class operation. I will consider it if it works my schedule in the future.

Next up for me is the Y Freedom Tri on June 25th, so I can see how much improvement I have made over last year's effort there. The Y Freedom course is almost 3 miles (bike) shorter, but this year's Combat time already beats my last year's Y Freedom time by nearly 3 minutes.

 

[BigEeyore]

Richard Congrats! Great job! How far was the bike and run?
I did my race course this am minus the swim - 18 mi bike and 5k run - took us about 1:45 total. It was raining on us which wasn't much fun, but I'm glad I got to do the course! I just want to finish under 2 hrs.