Newbz' group, Winter is finally over, right? FULL! (Page 12)

Just finished Muncie 70.3. Hot as Hades today but overall a pretty fun day. I will post more about the race when I am not doing it from an iPad.

Nice! The best question is, Did you qualify for your Kona slot?

nice job on the race! those are some pretty solid times right there! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Anyone else racing?

All I had to do was finish to "validate" my lottery spot. So, barring injury, Kona is a go.

The race:

A little upset stomach in the morning before it started but all seemed well by the time the swim started at 8:40 am (yes 8:40 was my wave start so it was going to be HOT when I finished.)

Swim: Felt amazing! Easy swim. Swam straight. Passed a lot of people. Sighting was spot on. I would have guessed I was going to be out of the water in the low to mid 30s based on how great I felt. Imagine my surprise at my 39:26 time. Oh well. Did not feel like I had used too much energy and felt great in T1. 51/200+in my age group.

Bike: First time using a disk cover and it felt fast. I went out a little too hard but about three miles in I reminded myself that this was a long race and settled down. Averaged 21.5 mph for the race which is the fastest I have ever gone in any race. It was starting to get hot but it was a dry heat so my sweat was gone immediately. At about mile 25 stomach started to complain a little and this stayed with me the rest of the day. 2:35:41. 44/200+.

Run. HOT. HOT. HOT. And some hills thrown in. It hurt a little but I decided it was going to hurt whether I was going fast or slow so I went at a fast but sustainable pace. I would have liked to have been a little faster but it was 90+ in the sun. 1:36:42.

T1 2:14 (not so good) T2 1:32 (better)

Total 4:55:33 20/200? in my age group. 154/???? overall.

Happy with this result. Sorry, long response to a short question.

sounds like it went pretty well.
was this your first HIM?

A few things for next time/to think about.

On the bike, you know this, but pace well, it will save your race. long course racing is all about the run, which is all about the bike. without proper bike training, and pacing, the run is worthless. and the bike is such a large % of the time, it is a huge priority in both pacing and training.

In any IM sponsored event, and many others, you'll have an aid station every 10 miles (at those speeds every 30 min). If you have two bike bottles, or are gettign cal from outside of your drink, grab a water bottle at each station and spray it over your head. if you have two holders stretch it over that distatance, if not, empty it over you and then drop it. it will do wonders in cooling you for the race. even if you only stay wet for 5-10 min, that time plus the wind blowing over you will be many many times better than being hot for the whole ride. if you can keep yourself cooler for another 3rd of the ride, you will feel 100x better at the start of the run. same on the run. a cup of water or ice down the suit at EVERY aid station. The effect of keeping your body cooler during the race (and the run even more so), will have a staggering effect on your race time and overall feeling. Think about how much easier it is to run fast in 50 degree weather vs 90. same thing here.

nice job overall, and I think you will have a great time next go about (nothing wrong with this one, you did an amazing job here)

Well, I finally returned from 5 days at the beach, followed by a few work days from ****.  So, I decided to race this weekend.  I think it's what I needed to kick my butt into gear.  I'd like to use some excuses like it was 90+ degrees and near 100% humidity by the time we started running, but the sad and honest truth is I've been a huge slacker.  However, even though I came out disappointed, it kind of motivated me.  Time to actually start logging consistently... which means I better train consistently.

Anyway... race report here:  Sunfish

Where in Florida were you?  We just spent an extended 4th of July holiday down in Perdido Key.  It was STEAMY in the morning and blazing hot in the afternoon.

Drinks were ice cold though

Same here (extended holiday)....we were in the Tampa/Clearwater area...I got fried, but you're right...the cold beverages make it all better !!

Not a long response at all.  A great response.  Congratulations on your result!!!

 

As for me, it's been nose to the grindstone for the past little while.  Very busy with work.  I decided to do the race I said I was gonna bail on as my knee is feeling pretty good.  I won't pull off a personal best but I will race.   It's this Saturday and I'm looking forward to the competition.

Edited by Jewel22 2011-07-12 1:46 PM

Getting ready for my 4th race of the season on Sunday. I finally gave in and got a coach about 2 ish weeks ago and the quality over quantity is yielding results. Can't wait to see my numbers as I get more into "shape" towards the end of the season.

I think you will be really happy with using a coach. I have really been seeing results from my coaching experience. There is just something about turning your workout decisions over to someone else. It takes a lot of the mental stress out of the experience. The accountability to someone who is monitoring your progress makes a difference as well.

Good luck on the race this weekend.

I am just posting to hear myself post......

My coach has me repeating the swim testing that I did several months ago. I did the first session of testing on Tuesday and I have gone from 1:33/100 (April, 2011) to 1:18/100 in a 100 all out sprint. I have gone from 8:44 for 500 yards to 7:40 for 500 yards (1:32/100). So my old, max all out 100 pace is now slower than my new per 100 pace for 500 yards. I would call that progress. Still slow by swimmer standards, but a whole lot faster for me.

Now I have to figure out how to translate that pace to the open water swim. I think on Saturday I may have just gotten too comfortable at a slower pace and I did not have enough external references to know I was not going as fast as I thought I was.

Jason

very nice. improvements like that take time to see, and in a day in/day out setting you dont always notice but once you do a test like that after a solid block of training you get to actually see some concrete numbers. Makes all the hard work worth it!


Anyone have races coming up this next weekend?

Last week was swim testing. This week is bike testing. I am interested to see how the huge increase in biking volume has paid off. I have been "training with power" via my computrainer and finally took the plunge and ordered a powertap through my LBS. I'm excited. I hope that it will help me continue to improve. At age 40, I still see some pretty dramatic gains being available out there in this sport.

The heat has been great. I am getting as many of my workouts in the heat as possible. I figure I have to get used to it sometime, so why not now (OK, I don't actually love the heat but I am practicing the fine art of mind over matter). I had a great run in 93 degree heat today. I was actually amazed at how good it felt. I was trying to go at a very conservative pace but it kept getting faster as the run went on. I really had to hold back. This is encouraging.

As I always say, I hope you are all having as much fun with this as I am.

Jason

Bike testing done.

2 min TT 315 watts (not on well rested legs)

5 min TT, 286 watts (pretty well rested legs)

20 min TT, 255 watts (legs were tired at the start and this was agony-I don't ever want to do this again. I think that means I did it right)

I just bought the Coggan/Allen Training with Power book but have not read one word. In the above numbers, is the 2 min number my VO2 max and the 20 min number my FTP?

I will read all of this myself and get feedback from my coach but wondered if anyone had instant information for me.

This is the point in the week where I usually start to feel run down and really tired. Just a 90 minute run tomorrow plus a swim and then a day off. I am not looking forward to the run with my legs feeling like this but I guess it replicates the IM running on tired legs phenomenon.....

Hope that some of you are still reading the group forum and doing well.....

Nice job on the power. Most people's FTP is roughly 95% of their 20 min power (some just over, others just under that). 2 and 5 min help get an idea of the curve and where you are best, but on their own do little for FTP estimations.

Two weeks ago, swim testing. Last week, bike testing. Naturally this week, run testing.

Running is my strong suit in all of this so I expect my results will reflect this. Wednesday I did a 1 k run right on the edge of failure in 2:57. I was afraid I would die but that is probably as fast or faster than I would have done that run at age 18. The moment I stopped running my calves and hamstrings started to cramp. I know that I pushed myself harder on the run than I did on the swim or bike testing. I have just done so much more running so I think I have a better sense of where the limit is.

Tonight I am supposed to run a 5 k for time, as hard as possible. With my current fitness I think I should be able to PR at this distance but it will be very hard to do it all alone with only the clock to race against. Any other time I have done a 5 k all out has been in a race and it is normal to go really hard. It should be interesting. To be honest, I am dreading the effort but I am also curious as to what I can do.

Sixteen days out from the next big race. I would like to be faster than the last one. Anxious to see how it goes......

ps. it is funny how testing can really change how you train.

Last night I did a ride that in the past would have terrified me (because of the effort requred/wattages I was told to hit) and mentally I would have wanted to give up. But.... just a week ago on the 20 minute tt I did something way more painful, with way higher watts than yesterdays ride. This meant I knew I could hit the goal paces even if it was going to hurt. I ended up having a great ride.

Just a random thought about how testing is improving my mental and physical toughness.

The day finally came this early this morning for me to do first tri!  I was up at 4:30, couldn't sleep and a little bit nervous about not knowing what to expect.  I kept going over the transitions in my head last night (don't forget your bike helmet, make sure you put your race belt on!), and they went better than I thought they would!  It could not have possibly been a better experience!  Although it was super sprint tri, it was a challenge as I had never trained by doing all 3 events at one time, only bricks of bike and swimming.  What an experience, I'm hooked!  The event was very well done (UNC Wellness Super Sprint Tri put on by Setup Events and TrySports), the volunteers were fabulous and everybody was so friendly and encouraging!  Now I know why people get hooked on it!  Although I finished about 8 hours ago and am dog tired, I am on such a "high" mentally that I may not be able to sleep tonight either!  Thank you all for your support, I am hoping to do another local super sprint in two weeks! I can't get over how friendly and encouraging everyone was!  I feel like I have found something that I can continue to work and get better at!  Does it sound like I'm excited! 

Very excited for you and very awesome that you had such a great experience. Congratulations on finishing your first tri upright and hopefully smiling. Careful! It can get pretty addictive, pretty fast.

Good luck on getting a good nights sleep and happy training for the next one.

Jason

Just an update on the 5k that I had to run. I did PR the distance, 19:07 for a 5k. My previous pr was 19:19, set 18 years ago, on a pancake flat course, during a race. Friday's 5k was done all by myself, me against the clock, on a rolling course. It was also 84 degrees when I did it.

I was shooting for sub 6 minute miles for the whole thing and obviously I did not achieve that. My pacing was terrible. I started way too fast and really was just barely holding on for the last mile. It did hurt. I think that if I had people to race against, starting early in the cool of the morning, I can get into the 18s.

Always learning.........

Jason

nice job to both of you.

that first race is always a great one, and you'll never forget it!

Did our group die or what?