The Triathlon thread

[wtpclc]

Way to go Stego! If I could do anywhere near that good for my firs ttri, I'd be thrilled!

Yup, If you didn't see it on the main thread, I signed up for my first tri on July 26. I cnanot breathe when I do teh crawl, but I can muddle through with other strokes. Am working on my crawl form. HAve the Total Immesion DVD adn book. WIll do the DVD tomorrow and hopefullget through soem of the book ove rthe weekend.

Leana - Congrats on the duathlon adn good luck on the tri!

Liz - SO glad oyu can ride again! DH and I got the baskets fro your toes, as I know I would really hurt myself with clips. Everyone always minimizes teh falls you take when getting used to them, but your story scares the daylight out of me!

 

[twoWDWfools]

Well, did our first duo on Sunday and loved it! Nice size field and well run. Now to find another....

Did find out how much the legs don't like the switch from bike to run. Although we did relay, figured I'd run into T2 to hand off the chip to Patrick. Four steps and legs felt WAY wobbly. Couple people actually fell. Didn't practice that since knew he was running but going to need to work on it. Any hints or just takes time?

Hi Mike! - Glad we wore our WISH shirts so you could spot us.

Carrie - If I hadn't fallen into a drainage ditch would've just been a scratch or bruise. But leave it to me to find something different to do.

Stego - wow.....

Our LBS is great by way of returns and has a 30 day "return it for whatever reason" policy. So going to pick up a set of pedals I found that are flat on one side and have the SPD clips on the other. My bike shoes can take clips so going to try it out on a trainer to see how it works. Will also let me get used to them w/o once again injuring myself.

 

[laxdef69]

One way to train for avoiding the wobbly legs after getting off the bike is to do "bricks" after each or every other ride.

A brick is simply a short, fast (10-15 minute) run immediately...like the time it takes you to unclip and change shoes...after completing a bike.

I did that about 15-20 times, and am able to transition pretty easily now.

I am also glad you wore your WISH shirts!!!

Mike

 

[wtpclc]

Congratulatiosn Liz! Oh, I'm sure I coudl find a way to equally damage myself.

 

[skfulkers]

Liz--congrats on the duo! I'm so glad you're back on your bike now! And Mike's right, it doesn't require a very long run after a bike session to get the legs used to that "weird feeling." Like he said, 15 minutes would be fine.

Stego--WTG on the tri! Wow, that's a great finish for your first tri. You put me to shame with your open water swim training. I could probably learn a lot from you!

Carrie--I'm sure I'll get another chance before July 26, but if not, GOOD LUCK on your tri! Is Scott doing it with you?

I have a tri this weekend in downtown Cincinnati. It's an oly distance, and the swim is in the Ohio River. I won't lie, I'm scared to death about the river swim. Well, not so much the swim, but the occasional driftwood or mutant river man-eating shark is what bothers me. But I guess I'll manage. You know, since the Ohio River is so clean and everything.

I'll try to post a race report here afterwards.

Steve

 

[jmasgat]

I won't lie, I'm scared to death about the river swim. Well, not so much the swim, but the occasional driftwood or mutant river man-eating shark is what bothers me.

Steve Not to worry. The last time I was by the Ohio River in Cincinnati, I only saw 10-15 sharks---Tops! Good luck to you. At least you don't fear the thing I fear most---signing up for my first tri!!

Maura

 

[ironz]

Stego--Great job! I wanted to do that race, but it filled up too quickly. Plus, I did another race the weekend before. Oh, well.

I ride out by Pflugerville from time to time..my sis lives out there. Good riding, away from traffic.

What's the next race? Maybe I will see you there.

 

[twoWDWfools]

Mike - Thanks for the info on training to switch. Have a long bike ride this Sat so will give that a shot after.

Steve - good luck on the tri! I'm sure you'll do great.

Maura - I hear ya on working up the nerve to sign up for a tri. Definitely want to do a couple more duo's this year (once I find them) then do a tri next summer. That gives me the whole winter to improve swimming technique. Maybe we can do the one that Carrie said is great for beginners since I'm only a couple hours from her.

Carrie - what you think? Girls tri by you next summer?

 

[stego]

I've signed up for the marble falls tri, which I hear is an international distance.
It's a step above sprint but not quite olympic. For the level of where I am at, it's not so much the cyclng and running as it is not sinking like an anchor during the swim part. I went out to Lake Pflugerville yesterday for a 500 meter training swim. We put the kayak in and I showed my son what to do. Then he went in and practiced. Now I have to get him to line up so I can sight off of him. When I made the turn the wind started kicking in. Coming out of the water did a 3 mile loop and the wind was gusty. Came in off the run and there were waves; swimmers all on the shore. I am indeed fortunate to quite literally have this training area in my backyard. I've also registered for the Austin tri: Labor day: Olympic distance. They've added a sprint distance but I decided to do the longer one. I went down to watch last year and they were all on the run leg and they all looked very tired. I will tell you that I had no idea how well I would do or what times to shoot for. So I looked at the results from last year and tried to estimate mid-pack, so about 1:20 something for the sprint distance. My time ended up being 1:24:40 and I have no idea if that is good. Maybe good for a first tri...but it's all a matter of perspective. I am allready at a level of fitness that few people can ever dream of...but I will say I have done the work and continue to do so. Starting off I was indeed fortunate to do 1/4 mile lap without dying. In the fall I train for the half marathon after the fall mountain biking season. USA cycling has me rated as 12th in nation men at 44yo. That's right...in the nation. So my level of ability is allready there but what do they say: it's all in the details? I have no experience at open water swim, none at transition. I've done about 6 bricks and it is different but I ease into it. Being 44yo means being mindful of my limits and building in recovery days into my schedule. As a weight watcher member I have never, ever built in any activity points. I don't call what I do as excercise, but more so training. So on a "regular" week I'll get in 10-12 hours of biking, running and swimming. I have 2 days of intensity during the week. On the weekends I do endurance/intensity and 2 days during the week I do easy rides with my family. The other day I commute 20 miles by work on bike and that is an easy day. I know, that is 7 days but the guys on the podium are not sitting on the couch stuffing themselves with bon-bons, know what I mean? I try to balance it all...and somehow find a way to have my son next to me 6/7 days. It can be done!

 

[laxdef69]

I will probably get slapped around for bumping my own thread, but I could really use some assistance from more experienced endurance athletes.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1870243

Thank you!

Mike

 

[ironz]

Mike...
I haven't read all the responses on the hydration/nutrition thread, but one thing that struck me as odd was that someone said you can't absorb more than 20 oz fluids/hour. I am a 128 lb. female and in the heat, I can often get at least 30-35 oz/hour in. I know some people who regularly go through more than one bike bottle (usually 20-24 oz) an hour. So do some research, and more importantly, see what your body will tolerate for that, because fluids will be key, esp. in the heat.

Also, look up sweat rate testing...you basically did that, by weighing before and after...you can see how much fluid you are losing and can aim to replace most of it (maybe not all...if you are sweating that much).

As for the calories/nutrition part....when I am doing my long training for Ironman (and racing 1/2 and full Ironman), I aim for 300 cal/hour on the bike...usually with sports drink/gels. Again, part of the key with this the fluids...because you have to have enough water to help with the digestion, unless everything you are taking is of about the same concentration as Gatorade (I think 6-7%). So, if you are using powerbars or gels for the calories (or even more concentrated sports drink), you have to have some water with it, or it will not digest and be available to your muscles.

When doing long runs/racing long, I aim for about 150 cal/hour...you can't digest/absorb as many calories on the run as the bike.

Hope that helps....

 

[wtpclc]

I heard from coach Jenny that the amount of water you can digest in an hour is 24 to 32 oz. That makes more sense to me.

Just had to post my major swimming breakthough. I did my 30 min, half mile swim on Saturday and most of it was a crawl. I learned that if I slow down, I can breathe. So, I di dmost of it w/o kicking adn did ok. I added kicking near the end and did ok for a bit, then would find myself moving my arms too fast again. Saw the olympic trials last night and realized they don't move their arms very fast either. So, I think that's teh trick fro me.

Haven't done as much of teh TI drills as I'd like. Dh has been doing them and now refers to it as Total Drwning, so I'm not feeing compelled to do tehm.

Betsy - Thanks for the brick advice. We have 2 bike/run bricks scheduled this week,m but want ot give our legs a break. So,m we will do teh full bike time (60 and 45 min) adn follow with a 15 to 20 min run to get the feel of things. Will be back on track next week for our regulra training. The week following ahalf marathon, though, we figured we ocudl rest a bit.

 

[wtpclc]

Liz - Depending on teh timing next year, I would love to do teh Tri by us. MAybe by then, I'll be able to swin in teh big lake.

Mike - We'd never slap you around here!

 

[ironz]

Carrie...I forget...which tri are you training for?

And thanks for posting about your biking....I need to get off my booty and get on the bike right NOW!

 

[laxdef69]

What kind of gels do you use?

I have tried the cranksports, gu, hammer and powerbar.

I'm thinking i like the hammer in first place, gu and crank sports tied and powerbars last.

The texture of them all is disgusting, but I'm thinking I like the long chain maltodextrin for carbs to avoid the up and crash I seem to get with powerbars.

Thanks for the insight...last week of training before taper week....

 

[wtpclc]

MIke - Good luck in this last week!

Bestsy - It's a small beginer tri in teh middle of nowhere on June 26. 0.5 mile swim, 18 bike, 4.5 mile run.

Well I did my first bike to run brick last night. Now I know why they call them bricks! Swim to run was not too bad, simw to bike was not too bad, bike to run? OMG. My calves just seized up on me. I didn't even think biking worked my calves. That was teh longest 15 min run ever (followed a 45 min bike). Need to do 60 min bike tehn 15 or 20 run Wed. Going to try to walk a bit ebfore running and stretch a little to see if that helps. Any tips?

DH is concered about our transitions times. I'm just hoping to finish. My thought that an extra 30 sec to min of stretching will be made up for if my muscles will move when I try to run.

 

[cdn_gal_eeyore]

Carrie - don't be too concerned about your transition time for the first tri. If you need to stretch, go for it. I hear the rubber legged syndrome is pretty normal though, but you definitely don't want to cramp up!

 

[ironz]

Carrie....keep practicing the bricks....your legs do eventually get a little used to it. And if stretching a few seconds in transition will help you run better, it is time well spent! In a more extreme example, I am quite sure that if I had taken about 5 minutes to really stretch my calves during an Ironman one year, I would have saved at least 30 min. on the run!

LaxDef...For gels, I like the Carboom Apple Cinnamon. The Orange vanilla isn't too bad. I don't like Accel Gel, or PowerBar gels. Gu is ok sometimes. Clif shots are so-so to me. The Clif Bloks are good, but I don't like to take time to chew them so much. Luna now makes a block sort of thing that's pretty yummy.

For my sports drink...I have used CarboPro for years. It is maltodextrin. No flavors or electrolytes, so I add those. Mostly I make up a combination of CarboPro with Nuun electrolyte tablets, which also add a little flavor. And sometimes a scoop of Gatorade or Accelerade powder. If you want more details, PM me...I feel like a mad scientist mixing up my drink bottles, but it has worked for me so far.

 

[skfulkers]

DH is concered about our transitions times. I'm just hoping to finish. My thought that an extra 30 sec to min of stretching will be made up for if my muscles will move when I try to run.

Carrie--don't worry too much about your transition times. As long as you have everything laid out in a somewhat orderly fashion (DO try to do this beforehand. If you do a google search on transition tips, there are some great ideas for placement of items around your transition so you don't forget anything), you should be fine. I have the SLOWEST transition times. Every time I look up my results after a race, my transitions are some of the slowest of my age group. I really need to work on this, but I figure the extra 30 seconds spent in transition (like Betsy said) can pay dividends on the bike or run. Especially if those 30 seconds remind you to do something like put gels in your pocket or wipe the crud from the swim off your feet before putting your socks on.
It's amazing how much goes on in transition and you are tired, trying to move quickly, and still be efficient. It's VERY easy to forget things, which is why the extra few seconds may pay off. I can definitely see how some racers forget things like taking their helmet off after the bike segment and going through the entire run with it on (no, Christa, that wouldn't be a reference to anyone we all know. ).

Good luck on your tri! I'm excited for you and Scott! You'll have to let us know all the details afterwards.

Steve

 

[wtpclc]

Thanks guys. I am truely just doing this to finish. MAybe next summer I will think about going for time. Hence teh reason I am trying to get dh to go on his own.

FYI - A family of swimmers turned triatheletes recommened this book for us Triathlete Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide: Plans, Scheduling Tips, and Workout Goals for Triathletes of All Levels (Paperback)
by Matt Fitzgerald

PS - Steve - DId I miss your report on your river swim?