Short Course 9-15 September
Season is starting to close for many of us and some very cool race reports have come in and will be coming in the next couple of weeks. 
Kim - awesome way to end the season! You have certainly put in the time and effort and it shows in the classy way you finsihed the season! Thanks for the race report! 
Beth - looking forward to hearing how the race went! Rainy and 59 degrees at like 4:30 in the morning - can't wait to hear how you dealt with this! 
William and Aleksander - thanks for giving us ideas about the off-season to prep us run-wise for the OS. Hard to believe it is less that 2 months away...
Ralph - hope that seat is fitted! You could be posting the next great race report after your Oly next weekend! 
Jim - I raced with your 60-64 AG SC World Championship team-mate this weekend, Jack Alexander. I have beat him a few times and mostly when he was injured and he has beat me well over 10 times. Although he did this year's AG at 55-59, he is 60 next year and was able to age up. He beat me yesterday by about 2.5minutes. What a tough AG!
Comments
I am trying to stay positive because I sunk so much heart and soul and was so psyched about the progress I made under EN, but it just wasn't the race I thought it was.
The weather sucked even though the rain abated before my start (bonus being in the 40-44 AG, you start nearly last, although my mom, at 71, did it and did start next to last). The lake dropped from 73 last week to just over 60. Instead of the scheduled run on Saturday, I got into the lake and swam an easy 20min. I knew that it would be a big bonus going into the race to know how I would handle the water. And truthfully, it wasn't that bad. The first 200m were cold, but then as the lake got a little deeper (and this lake is so shallow that if someone wanted to, they could walk most of the swim!). it was, dare I say, nice!
The air temperature hovered in low 60's, with a wind chill of about 58.
About 20 minutes before the swim start, I chugged a Clif gel and slugged some Gatorade.
At the horn, I went out and remembered not to over do it (thanks to all the threads I read about numb legs and lactic acid). Rounded the first buoy and felt good. Headed to the second buoy and think I was at the top of the field and was cruising right along when WHAM, a kayaker stopped me and told me I cut in front of the buoy instead of going around. I sucked it up buttercup and went back, went around and headed back to shore.
I took my wetsuit off shortly after I got out of the water because there was a grassy area, and I didn't want to risk ripping it by trying to do it on the pavement. I ran to T1 along a graveled path (YUCK) and into the parking lot to grab my bike. I decided not to wear a jacket or shirt -- partially because I knew it would take me a long time to get it on and two, I knew I would then be wet and sweaty, and end up cold. It was a great decision by the run, because the sun started to peek through!
The bike - I will be truthful - biking on wet road scare the jeepers out of me. I knew to stay off paved lines, tar lines, etc., but I was still nervous. I left my cadence monitor at home and just used the Garmin and felt like I was cooking right along. Rationale was that I had some super awesome 17+ MPH rides without it. A friend, who I have a semi-friendly competition with, and I played leap frog for a while. She over took me with about 2 miles to go - I know that each race is your own and the times vary, but that pissed me off. I had two choices, go after her and cream her on the bike, or hang back and get her on the run. I chose the later and it worked to my advantage.
My nutrition probably sucked and was all wrong. I ate three cliff blocks (I listened to Patrick and Jesse's webinar), which I don't normally eat, but ratios or sodium, potassium, carbs, etc. were swimming in my head and I figured these guys are much more wise than I. The blocks were tough to eat and like cement for me. I tried slugging my sports drink, which is Scratch, and that made me look like even more of a clown! Stuff dripping everywhere!
Coming into T2, a friend was there as a volunteer. Got off the bike, gave him a high 5 and a hug (that probably slowed my time too -- epic mistake!). Trotted to my transition spot, which was chaos, I couldn't find it quickly and everybody's stuff was everywhere.
Split second decision to go with no socks - it's three miles, how bad could it be? Went out the chute, onto the course to chase down friend. Pacing felt good. Legs didn't feel as sluggish as in RR. Previous bike / runs, I noticed it took my legs about a half of a mile to get it going, but yesterday, I kept my feet low to the ground with short strides. In the first mile, Garmin said 8:12's, which totally I LOVED to see. The course was flat so I went for it. Caught said friend at the two mile mark and she said "I knew you would get me on the run (by the way, her bike time was not that much faster than mine)." So, I took the high road and said "come with me." She said "I can't." And I knew I had her. I caught an athlete who said the same words to me and I tried to stay with him. We descended to 7:40's. I told him I felt like I was in labor and he just stayed silent. Smart guy. We rounded the turn for the finish and my legs were screaming. He went ahead and I stayed the pace as long as I could. We did not finish together and I did not have the opportunity to thank him for pushing me along.
Final time: 1:35.01.
Swim: 15:46 -- even with going back! (750m) This may have included the run into T11
Bike: 48.24 -- disappointed (13.7 miles)
Run: 26.19 -- stopped before the actual timing mat
T1: 2:19
T2: 2:13 (hey this was faster than T1 - yay!)
BONUS - no penalties!
Lessons needed:
TIMING MATS -- find them and know them before I start
Nutrition -- lots to learn
Buoys -- hello clueless (actually this is the first time this happened to me. I am lucky I didn't get penalized or DQ'd)
Transitions - how to be laser focused when I get in from the swim and bike and not look like I am in outer space.
Running shoes - how to put on socks quickly (I have two little blisters on the top of each foot).
Letting it go!
As soon as the garmin site is back up and I will grab the data from my watch and use that to make myself feel better.
I am trying to keep psyched because next year I will be 45, a new age group, and will have this year's lessons, training and a whole year EN under my belt (I joined in July of this year).
Thank you to everyone who answered my calls for help. Thank you for reading and letting me vent.
I will try to figure out how to load a few pictures. My eldest daughter Emma is my ace reporter and blogged out to my FB account. I just need to figure out how to get the pictures from there to here!
Last question - what plan do I load next?
Have a super awesome day!
OK, so here is my current issue, I have a couple of demo saddles to try out and an olympic race on Sunday. I am trying to get in some rides to see which saddle is best before I buy a new one. I don't want to ride so much that I spoil my taper but I need to ride long enough to get a "good feel" for each saddle. I didn't really get the problem with numbness on my old saddle until I did a 50 mile ride, I did mid 30's pretty regularly with no real problem. This makes me think that I am going to need a longer ride to say for sure which new one is best. I have a Selle SMP now and it looks funny but it seems pretty comfortable for the shorter rides (15-20 miles) that I have done on it. I have an adamo coming also to demo. It seems like I probably need to wait until afte the race to do the more intense saddle testing but that leaves me racing an untested saddle setup on Sunday. Thoughts?
Probably couldn't be much worse than my old saddle anyway(he said right before his junk fell off).
Also, interesting thing happened on one of those short rides yesterday. I put in a brand new set of contacts for the ride and about 4 miles in the left eye gets blurry after I blinked. I stopped and the contact had come out and was on the inside of my glasses. I put it back in and about 5 miles later it happened again. Again the contact was on the inside of my glasses. The third time it happened, the contact was just gone. I rode home a little blurry and got a new set of contacts and the problem did not recur. The lesson that I would take from this is that you can get a bad contact right out of the box and if this had happened on race day, I would have been in trouble. In the future, I will probably use a set of contacts for a day or so prior to the race just to make sure there are no issues. I know all of you have 20/20 vision so it wont apply but I thought it was something else to file away and obsess over.
Swim: 13.36 (even with going back)
Bike: 47.33 (17.4 -- lesson learned don't say hi, don't high five nothing!!)
Run: 26.31 (from wherever I started the watch - total mileage was 3.24 for a pace of 8.11)
Woot!
Last year, my last race was "this past weekend" at 70.3 championships.
It looks like I took 2 weeks completely off.
Through October, my log clearly still look like a triathlete., but my rides are relatively short. I have one run of 12-15 miles a couple of other runs per week.
November and December is 4-5 runs per week, with an emphasis on ones with one and sometimes two 10-15 mile runs, and most of them faster than "easy" but slower than my earned "MP", i.e., I ran a lot around 7:30, with an earned MP in the lower 7:0x....
I started the OS on Jan 1.
Today was a swim. Trying to shake out the legs a bit for that one last race. As I mentioned last week, I was feeling on edge about the bike intensity. With only this last week to go, I'll run with some intensity, but probably take the bike pretty easy...but in either case, today was off the legs.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/373226875
I forgot to turn on the Garmin for a few hundred yards of the warmup (300 I think) and there's a big blank spot where I was kicking. I have learned not to hate kicking now that I do it with a snorkel. Kickboards drive me crazy and rolling to the side over and over again seems to defeat the purpose.
After warmup was a series of 10 50s as 25 fly/25 free. Not crazy hard...just trying to build/maintain arm strength. then a few 200s, then more of the fly/free 50s, back and forth for the remainder of the hour. My fly is so bad that sometimes it's not picked up as fly by the Garmin. :-) Last one was 50 fly just to show I could still do it at the end of 65 min. Total was about 3000 SCY (inexact because of the garmin at the beginning and kicking)
@Beth - overall, not a bad race from what I read. You handled the swim very well - that temp is beyond what most of us could've handled. The bouy - not a big deal overall. Bike - great discretion. No race is important enough to risk crashing. I've done that and the next couple of weeks were hell. Your biking strategy led to probably a better run and overall a better time. So, you executed very well! Plan to load next? I have from our Wiki something that I have downloaded called "Endurance Nation Rest Protocol - Week #1 and #2. It then talks about the PreSeason training plan. I think both of these are available now as plans to download. Like William, I used it last year and I was able to load it up.
@Joe, thanks for the suggestion to load "Endurance Nation Rest Protocol". Is anyone planning to run a fall marathon?
Even though my Oly is this weekend, I am also gearing up for the Marine Corps Marathon. I am curious what plan I should follow once I finish the Short Course Plan.
The plan has been challenging and since I am new to the EN ways, I still have lots to learn.
I am optimistic that the effort will show in Sunday's event. Any ideas for fall marathon training and EN plans is appreciated.
Is there an EN rule (of thumb) to help decide which OS to join?
@Mary - Welcome to the SC Forum. I agree with Kim about posting your Q on the Macro Thread.
@Beth - Congrats on your race and your fortitude in dealing with the elements. That should be your biggest race take-away - Well Done!
It's tricky to site buoys in the best of conditions so with cold water it's even easier to drift. Looking for the Bouys can just be part of the swim cadence - L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-Look <repeat>
@Joe - Looked up Jack Alexander's time at the USAT Nats and his time was 4 min faster than mine - pretty fast guy!
I spent Sunday morning at IMWI in Madison, which is about 90 min West of where I live. Hard to believe but this was the first triathlon of any length, much less an IM distance race, that I've ever watched. I'm not a good spectator that's for sure but I gutted it out
I had to return home early afternoon so missed watching the run but I did watch the live feed of the finish line and that was even more impressive - if you like watching a bunch of crazies!
This day caused me to think that I may have to add IMWI - or any IM for that matter - to my must-do bucket list.
I'm off to Seattle for the rest of the week.
Hi Kim,
I've been thinking a lot about your question and at this point, and I say this with all respect, is an epic race (but then again, who doesn't want an epic race?
)The mistakes were mine and mine alone so I need to own the buoy issue, being a little too social coming into T2 and stopping at the right timing mat.
I worked wicked hard on the plan and really stuck to it up to about 2 weeks out -- then we got into a vacation and my daughters were getting ready to go back to school. When I looked at the raw data from my Garmin, I was super stoked, just wish the results on paper showed the same thing. I can be an overachiever at times and I just need to realize that I am only in my fourth season and have so much to learn. I was intrigued by EN when I bought the HIM beginner plan. One of the coaches put out a video about some of the mistakes that happen in training for and executing 70.3. I related to much of what they had to say, which is why I joined.
I should add I am a now kind of person so patience is not something I have a lot of! :
I appreciate your positivity!
Beth
@Joe, I cannot locate the EN Rest Protocol in the plans menu or wiki. Am I missing something?
Thank you for your help!
Beth
On page 12 of the e-book, it gives the 2 week rest protocol. It also gives the 4 week Pre-season plan later in the eBook
I checked the training plans available to load and there is a 2013 PreSeason 4 week plan. There is also a transition plan, which is probably not the 2 week rest plan in the eBook.
Thank you again. There is SO much information here and so much to learn.
Enjoy the day!
Beth
Or, here is how I do it. I do the 2 week off rest period. Then "kinda" do weeks 3 &4 of the pre-season and focus mostly on the run. Then, I start the NOV OS. Since I am not doing an IM next year, I can still plan my season way past January. Then, before the OS ends I have figured out what I need to do next, like the Run Focus, Bike Bike week, or transition to the 20 week SC or any combination.
Tuesday was the "experiment" day, in which I "bike Fartleked" for about 75 minutes. Still not-great-shape-numbers but not that nagging "your quads are about to fall off" feeling. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/373678554
This morning (Wednesday) I was up early and went running before it got hot. 3 x 1 mi at 6:30-6:40 over the course of an hour. The 6:40 mile was modestly uphill. :-) Undoubtedly this was work but it felt good again. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/374042855
I have been reading, just not posting. I am base building and those workouts are materially different from SC, so I do not want to distract any of you. It really does seem that I have lost a lot of low end aerobic fitness. My HR is greatly higher for any given low end pace than it was this Jan 2013. I am also not really struggling with running distance, say like yesterday 13mi@7:53 pace in Irvine, CA, but it is not coming easy and I am logging lot more HR Z3 time than I want, while running at the lower end. Let's see what next week's long run brings. Sure did bring the Pa:HR ratio way lower than last time, the drift was not nearly as large.
@William, love those 6:40-6:30s running, I am about to start 5mi segments@6:45 or so, next week, see how that goes. I have been just using RW Smart Coach and playing around.
So, a careful analysis shows that my biking has gone off the chart and my running has dropped like a rock. So, Tuesday, I skipped the bike workout and did the run only. Today, my running improved a lot. I think for last three weeks of this GF, I am going to minimize my biking and really focus on the run.
So, today my run workout was 3 X 1mi and 2 X .5 with goal times of 7:27 and 3:40. Although it started to rain lightly during the run, I managed to bull on through and do 7:35; 7:28: 7:23 and then 3:43 and 3:38.
My swim workout was after work at the sub-division pool and I did 6 X 400yds @6:21; 6:12; 6:07: 6:10: 6:08; and 5:56.
Time to rest up for tomorrow's bike workout of 15' of ON!
AT...thanks. I'm planning on one last race for the fall...a half marathon in October. I'll probably be doing some of that tempo running (well, anything under 7:00 is definitely "tempo" for me) in the next few weeks.
@Joe, nice n/s on the run intervals. Yep, sounds correct, my bike and run fitness play musical chairs......
I would kill for a subdivision pool, Joe, 6x400 is a real man's swim......cannot fake that one, I can fake 50s and 100s all day long.
@William, I am eyeing 11/24 half marathon. I tired of plateaus. I ran that race in 2009 1:30 and have not run faster since, so I am thinking should I park the bike and take the advice I gave to WSM Matt A. and go all out run training, or I keep biking. I think I am not materializing my race performance as I am neglecting the bike and swim in favor of running. Than dusting off the bike and trying to catch up later in the season.
I am at scheduled 41mi this week, tomorrow calls for 5mi@6:46 pace, RW Smart Coach thingy, will see how that goes. Much like you, for me anything sub 7 should be solid threshold work, but I tend to push the pace for numbers than blow up prematurely......Fun stuff.
I just signed up for Boston and got my confirmation. Lots to think about for 2014.
I'll ride w/ the bike shop guys tomorrow am which I haven't been able to do for like a month, then long run Sun. am. I'm going to a wedding Sat. night so have to try to behave so I don't feel like crap on Sun. am. Funny how 2 drinks can make you hungover at this age. (Not sure if it is funny or sad.....)
Looking forward to cooler temps!
Tomorrow - going on a group ride, first in many months! Going to recon the Austin 70.3. Not doing it this year - but very interested!
Joe- I have really gotten to like group rides, to the point where the thought of riding solo sounds horrendous to me. Have fun!
Rode with the group yesterday, 29.5mi @ .82IF. 10 mi run this morning. Paces were not what I wanted, so, I am going to have to run on Sat. and ride on Sun. which means a horrible solo ride. Technically, I dont have to ride anymore, but I enjoy it and I'm trying to hold on to as much bike fitness as possible. But I have 4 more weeks til Hartford Half marathon so I have to buckle down with the running. We'll see what that switch does for my run....
FYI if anyone wants a nice family venue, this could be it. I took my wife and we rented a condo and had some GREAT meals before the race. The swim is an ocean swim and part of the run is on the beach which is pretty cool. Also the meal after the race was low-country boil with fresh shrimp and sausage with potatoes and corn thrown in. Lots of protein.
I was pleased with the race since I was shooting for 3 hours and I got 3:03:07 and it was my first olympic distance so I didn't know what to expect.
Full race report to follow.
First.. a nap.
@Kim - group rides are adventurous when you throw a bunch of cyclists together for the first time!
So, here is my story of yesterday's group ride. I decide as the 12 of us were starting that I would go with the fast group and hang at the back. Since I did not know these guys, I figured it would be a safe best that for 56 miles I can hang with anyone. Although I did not take a map, the course was marked and I had a smart phone and off I went.
The group immediately started at 25+mph and I thought, "this can't go on forever". Within 5 miles the group thinned out to 5 at the lead and 7 off the back. Then, by mile 10, the lead group split and I bridged the gap @30mph and went with the two leaders. I thought, "this might be more than I bargained for...."
At mile 25, the lead biker was done. He pulled the entire time with once trying to team ride. He just faded back and we lost contact. So now it is me and the other guy and he slows to about 22mph. I think, ok I'll make it fine. Then still pulling with no effort at rotating, at the 30mile mark he just fades away and waves me on.
So, I just cruise in by myself and AVSPD was 22mph for the Austin 70.3 course. At the end when we got back together, a little discussion revealed that no triathlete in the lead group had cycled in a "team group" ride before.
So, lesson learned. Riding in a group requires a bit of teamwork and group skills. Next time as the "old man", I'll set the rules!
So today was the last sprint of the year.
The race was an incredibly good one. There were only a couple hundred racers, but there were 4 guys in my age group who were incredibly well matched. We kept going back and forth among each other on the bike. I remember thinking to myself, "well, we'll find out if these guys can run". Answer = yes!! Of the four, I ended up third. That's a little disappointing I guess, but it really wasn't too bad. In retrospect, I wish I'd have gone for the total killer turn myself insideout thing, but I was already racing pretty darn hard! Anyway, even though 3rd in the AG, I placed 11th overall, including a pro, so it's all good. The four of us in that 45-49 AG all ended up finishing within less than 30 seconds of each other!
Anyway, I said at the beginning of this that I was going to race myself back into shape.
Today's bike was 22.8 mph, which is a new record for me...the course was flat, but had tons of turns. I'm getting better at the turns and I was up about 20 W (!) from the Hy Vee week or two ago.
Over a month, I did 3 sprints...all with reasonably flat runs. (one had a single nasty hill). The slowest 5K was 21:48, and today's was 20:35 (6:37 pace)...so that is definitely starting to get back into shape! :-)
My swim was good today, but I'm sure the course was shorter than advertised, so i won't quote a speed.
Anyway, though a little disappointed with how the AG went, i went home very happy with the results overall. Now, my last race of the calendar year is going to be a half marathon in another 5 weeks (Oct 20).
I am thinking about hanging the bike up for a bit. Any thoughts?
WJ - nice race! In terms of hanging up the bike, I've been having the same internal debate, although not necessarily hanging it up totally, but backing off. But I'm so afraid of losing what I've worked so hard to gain. I know losing something is to be expected, but last year I was able to keep over half of my FTP increase so that was good. I'll have to go back and review and see what I did last year....