Lindsay Blumenshein - 1st ever "Big Day"
I just wrapped up week 11 of the beginner HIM plan. So, on Saturday I did my first ever “Big Day.” And this really was a BIG day for me, my longest triathlon to date has been the Chicago Olympic Lifetime Tri last year and my training has been nowhere close to this long, ever.
Going into the day I knew that the biggest question mark would be nutrition. I mean, I’ve never even eaten a gel before.
Pre-Swim: After nearly 9 hours of sleep (Awesome!) I woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning. For breakfast I had two frozen waffles with applesauce on them and cup of coffee. I pumped up my bike tires, and got nutrition for the bike/run prepared. Then I made the mile or so walk to the gym and I was in the pool by 7:30am.
The Swim: 100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100. 10x40 @ 20 easy, 20 sprint (stupid 20 yard pool) 100. 2x200. For a total of 2,500 yards. All at T-pace, except the 40s. Total swim time was 55 minutes. I was a little bummed that a class started at 8:30 so I cut the swim short by 5 min. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, I’m sure.
A quick rinse off at the gym, changed, and on the walk back to my apartment I ate a granola bar, and finished a bottle of Osmo Active Hydration. I grabbed my bike and I was out the door about 40 minutes after I finished the swim. Phew, just made the “get on the bike within 45 minutes” cut-off.
The Bike: I did the bike ride on the lakefront trail in Chicago. For the first 25 minutes or so I was just riding along. The path is congested with people on the north side of the trail (where I get on) so it's challenging to speed up. I had my Garmin set to buzz every 5 minutes to remind me to either eat and/or drink something. I ate Gu Chomps throughout the first hour, and drank Osmo every 5 – 10 minutes. I don’t have a Power meter, unfortunately, but I increased my effort for the next hour and a half, once the path cleared a bit. At about an hour and 40 min into the ride I stopped for a bathroom break. Switched my bottle from Osmo to Gatorade and had a Honey Stinger Waffle. By this time, I felt that I didn’t have enough nutrition with me and if I was going to keep going for another hour and 20 minutes, I probably wouldn’t have the energy to be successful on the run. Getting the run in was really important for me so I decided to cut the bike short by 30 minutes. I finished at 2 hours and 28 min on the bike. Got in 36 miles, 14.4 MPH average. The number is a bit disappointing, but also not surprising considering the number of times I had to slow down and brake because of all the people on the path. Tourists literally sitting in the bike lane to take a picture, what IS that?! Otherwise, fit feels good and I was comfortable on the bike the whole time.
I dropped my bike off at the apartment, switched shoes, ate another half of a granola bar and I was out the door for the run within about 10 minutes.
The Run: I was scared going into the run. I was nervous that it would feel awful and hard and that I couldn’t do it. Good news! I started out feeling pretty good. Legs felt weird, but totally manageable and almost comfortable. 15 minutes in, I slowed to a walk and took in a Gel and some water at fountain on the path. First gel ever, weird texture but tastes good! Back to running, did another mile and then another quick water stop and walked 30 steps. Same thing after mile 3, walked for 30 steps. At mile 4, I realized that I wasn’t going to bonk or crash and none of the bad things that I feared were going to happen would happen. This also made me realize that I was slowing to walk each mile more out of fear than out of actually feeling like I had to stop so, I stopped stopping. I felt really good running and after 5 miles I realized, huh I could run another 8 miles right now and it would probably suck but I could totally do it. I ended the day with 5 miles in 55 minutes. I was super happy with this, I was running 36 min 5Ks when I joined EN so to be able to turn out that number on the run after swimming and biking is good for me.
Swim – 2,500 yards. 55 minutes
Bike – 36 miles, 2 hours 28 minutes
Run – 5 miles, 55 minutes
Total time = 4 hours 18 minutes
Post Big Day: I had a chocolate recovery smoothie right when I got in. I guess two things surprised me about the post big day work that seem worth mentioning. First, I wasn’t hungry right away. I had my recovery drink but then I didn’t feel like eating a meal until 2-3 hours later. Stomach didn’t feel upset or anything, just not hungry. Second, I’m not sore. I was totally expecting to be sore.
Nutrition:
Breakfast – 2 frozen waffles, applesauce, black coffee = 310 kcals
Post swim – Granola bar, Osmo Active Hydration = 210 kcals
Bike – Gu Chomps, Honey Waffle, Osmo Active Hydration (24oz), Gatorade (20oz) = 540 kcals
Post bike – ½ granola bar = 70 kcals
Run – 1 PowerGel, water = 110 kcals
Learnings & things to work on:
1. Faster swim to bike transition. Next time around I think I will plan to have my bike at the gym with me so that I can get on within 20 minutes of finishing the swim.
2. Bring more fuel on the bike. I think? I felt hungry and got in my head that I wouldn’t be able to finish the run. I had no clue what I was doing. I just grab some fuel and took a chance on it. This is most definitely something that I need to focus on and tweak over the coming weeks. I know that there are a ton of resources here in the forums and on the wiki to help me. I’ve even read most of them, I just felt like I had to get some experience under my belt, have a reaction to it and now I can focus on making smart fueling decisions with each training session.
3. Bike Route. The lakefront was probably a bad idea. Some people can really cruise on the lakefront but I don’t think I’m a confident (or risky) enough rider to dodge all the traffic at a high speed. However, I wasn’t going to get out of the city on my bike fast enough (i.e. within 45 minutes of finishing the swim) so it seemed like the best option. Next time I will either find a pool that isn’t smack in the middle of the city or get an earlier start so that the path isn’t as congested.
4. Fuel on the run. I need to get a fuelbelt/little bottle to bring with me on runs. I would like to get in the habit of drinking something other than water as I know water is useless.
Overall, a super fun day and I learned a lot! I felt good and comfortable all day, minus a tiny freak out on the bike because I was feeling hungry. As a first timer (HIM & IM this year), one of those weird things that I feared about signing up for longer distance is: “what if I don’t enjoy doing the work?” This weekend gave me more opportunity to fall in love with the sport and I feel so grateful that I get to challenge myself this way.
Going into the day I knew that the biggest question mark would be nutrition. I mean, I’ve never even eaten a gel before.
Pre-Swim: After nearly 9 hours of sleep (Awesome!) I woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning. For breakfast I had two frozen waffles with applesauce on them and cup of coffee. I pumped up my bike tires, and got nutrition for the bike/run prepared. Then I made the mile or so walk to the gym and I was in the pool by 7:30am.
The Swim: 100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100. 10x40 @ 20 easy, 20 sprint (stupid 20 yard pool) 100. 2x200. For a total of 2,500 yards. All at T-pace, except the 40s. Total swim time was 55 minutes. I was a little bummed that a class started at 8:30 so I cut the swim short by 5 min. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, I’m sure.
A quick rinse off at the gym, changed, and on the walk back to my apartment I ate a granola bar, and finished a bottle of Osmo Active Hydration. I grabbed my bike and I was out the door about 40 minutes after I finished the swim. Phew, just made the “get on the bike within 45 minutes” cut-off.
The Bike: I did the bike ride on the lakefront trail in Chicago. For the first 25 minutes or so I was just riding along. The path is congested with people on the north side of the trail (where I get on) so it's challenging to speed up. I had my Garmin set to buzz every 5 minutes to remind me to either eat and/or drink something. I ate Gu Chomps throughout the first hour, and drank Osmo every 5 – 10 minutes. I don’t have a Power meter, unfortunately, but I increased my effort for the next hour and a half, once the path cleared a bit. At about an hour and 40 min into the ride I stopped for a bathroom break. Switched my bottle from Osmo to Gatorade and had a Honey Stinger Waffle. By this time, I felt that I didn’t have enough nutrition with me and if I was going to keep going for another hour and 20 minutes, I probably wouldn’t have the energy to be successful on the run. Getting the run in was really important for me so I decided to cut the bike short by 30 minutes. I finished at 2 hours and 28 min on the bike. Got in 36 miles, 14.4 MPH average. The number is a bit disappointing, but also not surprising considering the number of times I had to slow down and brake because of all the people on the path. Tourists literally sitting in the bike lane to take a picture, what IS that?! Otherwise, fit feels good and I was comfortable on the bike the whole time.
I dropped my bike off at the apartment, switched shoes, ate another half of a granola bar and I was out the door for the run within about 10 minutes.
The Run: I was scared going into the run. I was nervous that it would feel awful and hard and that I couldn’t do it. Good news! I started out feeling pretty good. Legs felt weird, but totally manageable and almost comfortable. 15 minutes in, I slowed to a walk and took in a Gel and some water at fountain on the path. First gel ever, weird texture but tastes good! Back to running, did another mile and then another quick water stop and walked 30 steps. Same thing after mile 3, walked for 30 steps. At mile 4, I realized that I wasn’t going to bonk or crash and none of the bad things that I feared were going to happen would happen. This also made me realize that I was slowing to walk each mile more out of fear than out of actually feeling like I had to stop so, I stopped stopping. I felt really good running and after 5 miles I realized, huh I could run another 8 miles right now and it would probably suck but I could totally do it. I ended the day with 5 miles in 55 minutes. I was super happy with this, I was running 36 min 5Ks when I joined EN so to be able to turn out that number on the run after swimming and biking is good for me.
Swim – 2,500 yards. 55 minutes
Bike – 36 miles, 2 hours 28 minutes
Run – 5 miles, 55 minutes
Total time = 4 hours 18 minutes
Post Big Day: I had a chocolate recovery smoothie right when I got in. I guess two things surprised me about the post big day work that seem worth mentioning. First, I wasn’t hungry right away. I had my recovery drink but then I didn’t feel like eating a meal until 2-3 hours later. Stomach didn’t feel upset or anything, just not hungry. Second, I’m not sore. I was totally expecting to be sore.
Nutrition:
Breakfast – 2 frozen waffles, applesauce, black coffee = 310 kcals
Post swim – Granola bar, Osmo Active Hydration = 210 kcals
Bike – Gu Chomps, Honey Waffle, Osmo Active Hydration (24oz), Gatorade (20oz) = 540 kcals
Post bike – ½ granola bar = 70 kcals
Run – 1 PowerGel, water = 110 kcals
Learnings & things to work on:
1. Faster swim to bike transition. Next time around I think I will plan to have my bike at the gym with me so that I can get on within 20 minutes of finishing the swim.
2. Bring more fuel on the bike. I think? I felt hungry and got in my head that I wouldn’t be able to finish the run. I had no clue what I was doing. I just grab some fuel and took a chance on it. This is most definitely something that I need to focus on and tweak over the coming weeks. I know that there are a ton of resources here in the forums and on the wiki to help me. I’ve even read most of them, I just felt like I had to get some experience under my belt, have a reaction to it and now I can focus on making smart fueling decisions with each training session.
3. Bike Route. The lakefront was probably a bad idea. Some people can really cruise on the lakefront but I don’t think I’m a confident (or risky) enough rider to dodge all the traffic at a high speed. However, I wasn’t going to get out of the city on my bike fast enough (i.e. within 45 minutes of finishing the swim) so it seemed like the best option. Next time I will either find a pool that isn’t smack in the middle of the city or get an earlier start so that the path isn’t as congested.
4. Fuel on the run. I need to get a fuelbelt/little bottle to bring with me on runs. I would like to get in the habit of drinking something other than water as I know water is useless.
Overall, a super fun day and I learned a lot! I felt good and comfortable all day, minus a tiny freak out on the bike because I was feeling hungry. As a first timer (HIM & IM this year), one of those weird things that I feared about signing up for longer distance is: “what if I don’t enjoy doing the work?” This weekend gave me more opportunity to fall in love with the sport and I feel so grateful that I get to challenge myself this way.
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Comments
Lakefront Path is BRUTAL for trying to get any work in, damn tourists! I will ride the lakefront if I'm out by 5:30am and back home by 7:30 (and that is pushing it once marathon training starts in June) but otherwise I head up north into the burbs. Hoping to get out the Barrington as well this year.
Yes, definitely need to avoid the path for getting any real work done in the future.