Triathlon Thread 2013

[providince]

Great story Richard. You should be proud, not just of the story but for your recovery.

Betsy, finally get top swim! That is going to feel so good. Or hurt, who knows 

John, I missed you at the start. Everyone looked the same with their red caps.

I had a great 2/3 of the race. Swim was real good, bike was solid but the run was terrible. Started to get nauseas around mile 40 on the bike so I ended up a little short on nutrition. Started the run and I’d go a couple hundred yards and feel like I was going to get sick. I’d have to walk for lord knows how long until I felt better. Run a short time then walk a while. This was for the first two laps only taking water and a bit of Perform. It was brutal, especially seeing everyone pass me. By the 3rd lap I was finally starting to feel better and had a much better lap.

It was disappointing because I really wanted to do good in this race. Last year was a touch race too and I wanted revenge. We’ll there is always next year. I’ve had enough good races in the last year, I guess 1 bad one is not the end of the world.

I have a few sprints this summer but nothing big until Austin 70.3 in October.

Take care all,
Duane

First rule of triathlon, theres no such thing as a good bike followed by a bad run. Means you pushed too hard on the bike. having said that and despite it being the first rule its the second most common thong said after a tri. The first is, the swim was too long, not measured right. Lol. We love to make excuses. My personal favorite excuse I hear more and more is, this is training for my A race.

 

[Duanerice]

First rule of triathlon, theres no such thing as a good bike followed by a bad run. Means you pushed too hard on the bike. having said that and despite it being the first rule its the second most common thong said after a tri. The first is, the swim was too long, not measured right. Lol. We love to make excuses. My personal favorite excuse I hear more and more is, this is training for my A race.

This WAS my A race And yea, I know about the bike but I thought I took it easy on purpose. Should have taken it easier.

First IM I took it real easy and I mean real easy on the bike and the run was great - as good as it can get. Next year I cut 30 min off the bike and had a brutal run. Overall I was 10 min slower in the race. So I believe
Duane

 

[providince]

Duane, I also know the first rule and its generally the first rule I break. I even have a powermeter and know better. In the words of Ricky Bobby, I like to go fast.

 

[tiberius]

Betsy - as vague as that description was, I know right where you mean that you were--being that I live down the road I run that area all the time! No, this was not a PR. I was 13:41 last year vs this year's 14:59, though it was better than my 16:35 in 2011. I was glad my new nutrition plan worked, and it needed to with heavy headwinds on the back half of the bike and temps at 94 degrees on the marathon, ugh! I'm hoping next year will be better. Fortunately, I kept it easy enough on the bike to not ruin my run. The DNF rate was about 15-18%, depending on whose figures I believe, the previous high for the race was 7.5% if I remember right. At this point I am one of 77 who have done this race three times. It was 112 going into the race but 18 DNS and 17 DNF.
Glad to hear you can start back again on the swimming!

Thanks to all of you for your kind words on the story. It was actually a bit embarrassing that I was recognized several times by people I did not know because of the story but I was really happy to learn that some people were inspired by my story.

Tomorrow I go back to my regular eating plan, but it has been a glorious few days.

 

[John VN]

Richard-Glad things went well.

Had my tests today starting at 0900 and finished up at 1300 followed with Dr. visit resulting in surgery appointment on June 21 for parathyroid and complete thyroid removal. Meds the rest of my life for proper hormone levels. Tired of being tired and constant pain. This should help greatly with lack of strength and some pain. After 2 weeks recovery I can then focus on IMFL training.

Train wisely all.

McFlurry John

Total removal on hold as per personal Dr. with some intervening methods to promote shrinkage and aid in gaining strength back.

 

[croach]

Hi all. Just signed up for my first tri in September at the Outer Banks in NC. Probably have a ton of questions but my most important thing right now is getting in the pool. This might sound stupid but what should I wear for swimming in the pool. Should I just get something like the long, tight jammer shorts? I know I will probably need a tri suit and I would buy the two piece kind, so could I just swim in the shorts from that suit? I would really like to swim in my swim trunks but I don't think that works well. Kidding

Second question - looked at bikes last night. Is a trek road bike a good place to start? The price was about $1,300. Too much for a person starting out? Thanks in advance. I've read the whole thread and there is a lot of good stuff here.

 

[garneska]

It is time. The race is tomorrow. I really wish I had learned how to swim sooner. I need more time in the pool. However I did manage to go and do an open water swim two weeks ago. I did not have kicking legs at me but manage to put my head in that water. I feel prepared for the bike and run. I just want more time on the swim. I can do about 50 meters without rest, but I practiced flipping on my back resting and then flipping back over to swim (that is harder than it looks for a beginner).

Anyways my goals:

1. Finish. You just never know how you will feel race day and its my first one so regardless its a PR.

2. To swim the entire race with my proper freestyle, face in the water. I do not want to flip to my bad swimming, if it is shallow I can't but we have had a lot of rain so it might be possible. Even if I am last out of the lake it will be better to swim properly.

I have some time goals but those I like to keep to myself in case I do have a bad race, hopefully tomorrow I can say I did my time goal as well but I want to hit those two first.

Thanks

 

[garneska]

I finished. It was awesome. Thankfully i could swim in the shallow part. It seemed short of 400 meters. No way i could have finished that fast. My swim was obviously the slowest part. I finished in 1:32:21, one minute faster than my hubby Overall i really enjoyed the race, especially the bike. The course for the bike and run had some hills and i don't normally train hills. I enjoyed it on the bike and not so much on the run.

Breakdown:

Swim: my time was 15:19 with the transition from water to transition zone (felt like it was far). The start was kind of crazy. I did not get kicked and everyone was polite and as scared as i was (it was My First Tri so we were all newbies). I panicked a bit in the beginning but i eventually calmed down and swam and floated on my back and then swam some more.

T1: Well i was slow it was 4 min. I know i can pick up time here.

Bike: OMG it was great. my time was 45:43 (12 miles) I was scared I had gone out to hard. I was really pushing up the hills not crazy but what i could handle. I just did not train the bike on hills, except spin class. I loved doing it though. It was so much better. I passed quite a few people. I will say about mile 9 it was a fast downhill to a steep uphill. The road had a truck on it trying to pass riders. One girl did not gear properly and came to a stop next to the truck. I was behind her, about 4 of us almost fell off our bikes. We manged to stop and get off. My friend had her chain messed up but got it fixed. I went ahead after walking up the rest of the hill. Thankfully we were close to the top.

T2: I took off my helmet, put on my belt and visor, and had an energy gel. Time 2:18 too slow.

Run: My time was 25:03 (supposed to be 3 miles but i don't believe it too fast) felt short and had hills. I think it was slightly mismarked. In general running is my bread and butter. I felt slow coming off the bike. I really did bike hard so was concerned about my ability to run but i did it.

Overall it was a great experience. I will continue to work on the swimming, more open water. I really enjoyed the bike, a lot more than i thought. I think will be allowed to get a bike (was borrowing my hubby's, while he used my dad's). I definitely think going through transitions will be better. Most of the time i was just slow because i was a newbie. I think i would push transitions more the next time.

Thanks for all the tips. Now I have to find my next race. I still have to stick to that 400 meter swim. I am definitely not ready to move up, but I got one under my belt.

 

[tiberius]

Congrats, Kris!

 

[John VN]

GREAT JOB!!!!!! A PR to remember.

McFlurry John

 

[WhereInFlorida]

Hi all. Just signed up for my first tri in September at the Outer Banks in NC. Probably have a ton of questions but my most important thing right now is getting in the pool. This might sound stupid but what should I wear for swimming in the pool. Should I just get something like the long, tight jammer shorts? I know I will probably need a tri suit and I would buy the two piece kind, so could I just swim in the shorts from that suit? I would really like to swim in my swim trunks but I don't think that works well. Kidding

Second question - looked at bikes last night. Is a trek road bike a good place to start? The price was about $1,300. Too much for a person starting out? Thanks in advance. I've read the whole thread and there is a lot of good stuff here.

I wear the jammer shorts and most everyone in the Masters swim group wear them as well. You can swim in the tri suit shorts but for continued use in the chlorine I would stick with the jammers for training and then pull out the tri suit for the race.

The bikes question is not a cut-and-dry one. Trek bikes are as good as any and more on the affordable side, and $1300 is not too bad for a starter. The balance is if you stop riding then it is $1300 down the drain and if you really like triathlons then you will want a bike with a decent set of components/wheels that would be in the $4-5k range.

Remember you will need a set of pedals and shoes (~$300+), and accessories such as water system/bottles, bike bag, extra tubes, repair kit, tools, pump, helmet, bike shorts/shirts (~$500) so factor that into your pricing as well.

 

[croach]

I wear the jammer shorts and most everyone in the Masters swim group wear them as well. You can swim in the tri suit shorts but for continued use in the chlorine I would stick with the jammers for training and then pull out the tri suit for the race.

The bikes question is not a cut-and-dry one. Trek bikes are as good as any and more on the affordable side, and $1300 is not too bad for a starter. The balance is if you stop riding then it is $1300 down the drain and if you really like triathlons then you will want a bike with a decent set of components/wheels that would be in the $4-5k range.

Remember you will need a set of pedals and shoes (~$300+), and accessories such as water system/bottles, bike bag, extra tubes, repair kit, tools, pump, helmet, bike shorts/shirts (~$500) so factor that into your pricing as well.

Thanks for the advice. I got some of the jammer shorts for the pool. Swam for he first Sunday and boy do I have a lot of work to do there. Swimming is tough work!

Still on the fence about the bike. You are right about it either being too much or not enough depending on how involved you want to get. It all adds up quick. Thanks again!