General Discussion Triathlon Talk » End of Season - some observations and reflections Rss Feed  
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2013-10-18 8:24 PM

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Houston, Texas
Subject: End of Season - some observations and reflections
Well, I finished up the season with a 3rd place Clydesdale finish at the Fairfield Triathlon in Houston. It was raining and really should have been cancelled. But, a podium finish is a nice reward for sticking it out after it was delayed an hour plus with lightning.

Plus, I got first first in the Clydesdale Over 40 in the Lonestar Sprint in Galveston a month ago - attached to the 5150 - although it turned into only a bike and run due to rain the night before. It's the only race I've done that splits C-dales up by age.

So, it was a nice finish to the season though it came at a time when I was actually losing motivation, dealing with a few health issues, and actually gaining a little weight back and getting out of shape.

1) No surprise, but there are less people in the Clydesdale division! It was cut down dramatically this year with the weight change. No more 201 pound guys filling up the top spots. Having said that, I still saw a few guys that made me wonder....

2) Still no verification on weight. In the tri I did last weekend, it was a bit suspicious whether the #1 C-dale was a real C-dale. Oh well. I saw some of the tri registration sites post that there would be weight verification, but there never was.

3) With weight loss has come faster times. As I did a lot of the same races as last year, it was easy to compare overall times along with segment times. Sometimes it was only a little better, sometimes a lot. I have started moving up the placings. I found a few races that my 4th, 5th or 6th place spot in C-dales was a 4th or 5th place in my AG.

4) What I focused on in the offseason paid off! I focused more on running and swimming and saw improvements in both - quite a bit in the swimming actually.

a) My swim pace ranged from the fastest at 1:38/100 yd to the slowest this past weekend at 1:47. Last year my fastest was 1:57 which only happened once. Most were over 2 min paces. I found working on drills in my training session helped. They literally took about 1/3 to 1/2 of some of my training sessions. Two resources were helpful - I have the Total Immersion video that I borrowed drills from and also a class my local tri group booked with a swim coach where we were all filmed swimming, critiqued and taught drills to work on.

b) As far as running, I think taking a few months in the spring and early summer to work on lower heart rate running helped later on. Distance running will never be my strength and is still truly my biggest opportunity for 2014, but I made progress this year, even if only measured in improving a few seconds per mile. I ran my fastest at 9:32/mi this past weekend. Last year I never broke 10 min.

c) My bike times slipped. I didn't do many group rides this year and so I wasn't really challenging myself. I will need to focus on this for 2014. I biked my fastest of 2013 this past weekend at 18 mph which was no better than my average last year. A small part of this is that I took the last mile or half mile of a race to slow down and get my heart rate down before the run - again, only a small part.

** My conclusion is that I learned how to manage myself better.

5) I found my motivation waning a bit once my wife was injured in the spring and had to stop training (concussion). You don't realize what a big influence your spouse is until suddenly your training partner/motivation friend/etc isn't training. Plus, I started dealing with a few health issues which gutted a few weeks of training. Like I said in my other post, I've now likely a torn rotator cuff to deal with (my fault all the way, but there it still is).

6) I need to lose weight. I've put on about 8 lb's the last two months as my training slowed down. HELP! :-)

7) I really want a tri bike! Which is why I'm aggravated about the shoulder issue. I want to continue to lose weight and get a nice, new tri bike next year! Adding the clip-on aero bars gave me another 1 to 1-1/2 mph on the bike. I'm interested to see what a well fit tri bike will do. As stated above, the engine needs a lot of work, too. ;-)

Sorry it's so long, but I thought I'd put one big post together to wrap up my thoughts on the season.

I hope everyone else had a good year!

Edited by Maniton 2013-10-18 8:32 PM


2013-10-20 3:28 PM
in reply to: 0

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Pearland,Tx
Subject: RE: End of Season - some observations and reflections
So all the Clydes that day are at Fairfield Tri no wonder there were 0 Clydes at Oktoberfest Tri that day at Fullshear,Tx . Before the race i requested if i can start last since i am going to be late therefore i was placed at Newbie/Clydes/Athena. I came to the transition and the swim part was cancelled due to suspected lightning. Therefore they still allowed to start time trial. I finished decently Since there was 0 Clydes , just Athenas by default the computer program I was placed on Clydes even though I am not and I ranked 1 by default since I am by myself, but honestly i know i registered not as a Clyde,but then again theres no newbie group.

http://www.eztoregister.com/assets/Octfest13.HTM

This is the first time i am ranked one , but at the same time if felt not so good since i know i dont deserve it.

Edited by strykergt 2013-10-20 3:28 PM
2013-10-23 9:51 PM
in reply to: strykergt

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Houston, Texas
Subject: RE: End of Season - some observations and reflections
Hey, congrats! That's a good avg. bike speed. You would have beat me!

We had 10 clydes at Fairfield. But, there was a lot going on that day in Houston - Du the Bear duathlon, Bike around the Bay, your tri and Fairfield. I seem to remember someone saying there was something else, but I can't remember....
2013-10-24 4:55 AM
in reply to: Maniton

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Pearland,Tx
Subject: RE: End of Season - some observations and reflections
Congrats on your podium!!! Scott!!! Lucky for you guys you got race pictures. We did not have any race pictures just podium pictures. I was told its because of the rain.

Regarding qualifying for Clydes I do here ya though. You could easily register online as a Clyde and on raceday theres no pre race weighing to qualify and after the race theres alot going on too getting the results finalized fo an after race weighing. Its really all honesty if your a Clyde or not.

I dont know if you raced this past week and at Andy's which is i believed full , but goodluck if your racing Houston's last sprint Cdiff Tri...Goodluck!!!

Cheers

2013-10-24 9:19 PM
in reply to: Maniton

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Carmel, Indiana
Subject: RE: End of Season - some observations and reflections
I agree with some of your observations.
1. I think the number of Clydes are growing esp. the serious competitors. About half of my races supported the masters division. In the race I won the masters clyde division, we had 18 in the group. About 2/3rds were racy.
2. There have been some races were the guys were clearly under 210 or even 200. I think when all of us register we think we will race at that weight which is not always the case.
3. I see clydes in the master division that are regularly in the FOP for the swim & esp. the bike. In one race this year, we (the master clydes) bettered the podium 40-45 ag.
I am really excited about clyde racing. I think it is a respectable competitve group, plenty of clydes in the top 20 to 40% of finishers.

You don't have to be a twig to tri.
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