Race Report!
 

Phew, that race was a killer! So after my last post, I did replace my tire. Then I rode it to the bike shop to buy more tubes, and on the way there my spoke protector broke. :dizzy: In any case they fixed it for me and I got it back just in time on Saturday.

Saturday night I had to go to a wedding. Not the best activity the night before a race since the food was not very controlled at all. I did not eat very well. However, we did manage to escape the wedding at 8:30 so I was in bed by 10:00. Woke up at 5:00, had a bit of a mess trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast (yeah, I failed at planning -- I ended up with oatmeal, milk, and some fruit), and had to deal with my stomach being kind of upset about the previous night's food. :p

Anyway we made it downtown just in time to catch the tail end of the pre-race meeting (nothing new, just the usual rules). I forgot to bring my camera, sadly, but we took some pics with my cell phone. After getting set up in the transition area I waited in an extremely long line for the bathroom, then headed out to find the starting line. It was a point-to-point swim so the starting line was a couple blocks away. We got there around 7:25 so we had plenty of time to spare. The Olympic distance started at 7:30 and the sprint couldn't start until all the Olympic swimmers had passed our starting line, plus then I was in one of the last waves so I had even longer to wait. DH and I killed time by looking for another bathroom (which we found, eventually, in a hotel, though the receptionist probably thought I was nuts coming in there in a swimsuit). It was 88 degrees out and sunny so I slathered on the sunblock, and the 78-degree water was pleasantly cool.

In any case my time finally came up for the swim. The canal wasn't really any dirtier than a lake or river (there are fish in it) so it wasn't bad, plus it was only 4 feet deep. I felt like I did pretty well on the swim. I didn't have to stop to rest at all, I swam the whole way. DH walked along the sidewalk next to me so every time I turned my head to breathe I could see him there, which was nice. I got kicked in the face at one point and got some water into my goggles, but nothing bad. According to my watch I did about 20 minutes for the swim (500m) which is about what I had expected, maybe a little longer. DH said that I was one of the few people in my wave who actually swam the whole way -- others kind of pretended to swim while walking along the bottom. :p Against the rules!

In any case I got out of the swim and over to my bike relatively quickly, considering my bike was all the way on the other side of the transition area. No problems with T1, and I got out on the bike course. The course was nice enough, although there were a couple railroad tracks. I got passed by a few people and passed a few people (mostly people on their second lap for the Olympic distance). I have to say, the previous sprint I did had a 10-mile bike and this one was 12.5, and those last 2.5 miles were really tough! I trained for it, but still. There was a hill right at the end that was exhausting. I estimate my time for the bike ride at about an hour but I didn't check my watch when I was leaving from T1 so I'm not totally sure. I'll know when they post the official times online.

During the bike I intended to do the same for nutrition that I did last time -- half a clif bar and some gatorade, but I was hungry and ended up eating the whole bar. Probably a mistake. When I started the run my stomach started cramping up, and after about a mile I had to start walking. I was running so slowly at that point that I was walking faster than I was running anyway, but I was still annoyed about it. I ended up walking a bit more than the middle mile of the run, then running the last 3/4 mile or so. Crossed the finish line at 2:20 on my watch.

Things I learned from this time around:
1) It's harder to do a triathlon when it's 88 degrees and sunny than it is when it's 60 degrees and cloudy.
2) Don't eat so much.
3) Don't go to a wedding the night before.
4) I need to work on swimming faster (my endurance is fine, I'm just super-slow).
5) I need to work on my running endurance.

It was a good experience overall, and I'm glad I did it. Swimming in the canal was fun, and the bike ride was scenic (the halfway point was at the velodrome and there were people doing all sorts of bike tricks in there). I got a good workout. Now I'm just waiting for the official results (I was too tired to stick around at the event until they posted mine).

Of course now my workout schedule is thrown off -- I was going to do weight lifting tomorrow but I'm pretty darn sore today!

Congrats Jessica!!!! :bravo: :carrot:

Way to go Jessica!!

Thanks guys! They just posted the results, but they make no sense. This is what it says for me:

Overall Rank 456/463
Swim 23:21.2
Swim rank 463 (however, someone else has a swim rank of 468, but there were only 463 total people?)
T1: 0:00.0 (???)
Bike: 3:00:44.1 (??????)
Bike rank 462
T2: 1:41.4
Run: 0:47:30.7
Run rank 436
Final time 2:19:56.3

Something is screwy with their timing. The final time is correct since it matches my wristwatch within 30 seconds. The run time and T2 time are probably correct. I'm not sure where the T1 time went, and I have no idea where that number for bike time comes from. Working backwards I'd guess my bike time was actually 1:07:24 but that might include part of T1 as well.

Congratulations Clippy !!!!!!!
 

I'll bet 88 degrees is different. I hate running when I'm hot. I'm a total baby about it...... It's great that you did it, good for you.

The race guys finally got the "final" results put together and these make much more sense. Here's the run down:
total rank 460/467
swim 23:21.2 (rank 464)
T1 2:05.0 (rank 111)
bike 1:05:17.9 (rank 453)
T2 1:41.4 (rank 235)
run 47:30.7 (rank 459)
total 2:19:56.3

I'm surprised T1 was so short -- that's twice as fast as I did it last time. Maybe because my bike was closer to the bike out?

In any case I have a question for you guys. How do I learn to swim faster? I can swim for a long time, but I am SUPER slow. What techniques can I use to improve my speed? Should I do a session with a swim instructor? Does interval training work for swimming too?

Paper -

From the advice I've gotten from others (I swim slowish too) they say lessons are the best way to go. A lot of people like the Ti swimming books/DVD too but personal instruction will get you swimming better faster.

It's mostly about swim form. (Although I've discovered a bit of upper body strength training certainly doesn't hurt!) Also swimming more once you get better form... but if you don't have good form lots of swimming won't get you anywhere.

I'm probably going to be taking a class this fall and if I can find a few private lessons that aren't too pricey I'll do that too.

Congrats on the Tri! Mine is Sunday and I'm still a little worried about my durability for the run. I'm 15+ lbs more then I was when I did this race last summer. Sigh.

Thanks Muse, I'll check into swim coaching. I'm not sure what sort of private lessons my local pool does for adults so I guess I'll see how much it costs.

Good luck on your race!!! I can't wait to hear your race report! I'm sure you'll do great!

form is really the most important.
 

but speed drills help too. I have the "Total Immersion" dvd and I have been trying out some stuff. It's hard to do on your own. How you feel in the water isn't necessarily where you are in the water KWIM. Look at your pool for a masters swim class. They are usually pretty cheep, and will work on form and speed drills a bit. Think swim team for grownups, but the one I go to has MANY swimming levels.

Good luck Idealmuse, Be strong and have fun.

Looks like my local pool/parks dept. offers adult swim lessons for "beginning and intermediate" swimmers. It's $65 for 8 classes (once a week). I think that sounds like a good price, what do you think? The only problem is that it's not exactly at a great time (Saturdays at noon) and I will be out of town during the first class.

I would totally do it
 

that's a great price. plus it will open up the swimming world more for you.

I need to take a class in how to keep the water out of my ears and sinuses so I can hear and breath thru my nose again. I have apparently become allergic to pool chemicals...

Hi girls - The race went well! It was a beautiful cool day almost like it was fall already. Despite being slightly heavier and it being more windy I only lost 8 minutes from last year. I did have to switch to walk/run after mile 2 though, but that strategy seemed to work well. I had a great time.

What's everyone have going on for the rest of the year now that things are winding down?

I'm so glad you posted !!!!
 

I was just thinking about you and how your race went. Congratulations. Job well done. I bet it feels great to have that checked off. Mine is in a week and a half. September 20th. I'm a little nervous about the first time details, but not the actual work part.

As for the off season. I already signed up for a November 10k trail run. The distance will be fine, but I currently only run FLAT. I have to drive to get it too(I'm Lame) . I need to get over my fear of running uphill. I live on top of a big one. I will search out more race options. I like having a goal date to keep me focused. Next season I want to step up to oly, and do the Seattle to Portland ride. This is only going to work if I maintain/ expand my current endurance level. Seattle is very rarely snowy and never as cold and windy as Chicago. I'm from Central WI and Milwaukee originally. I couldn't manage outdoors in the cold of it. I think my lungs would explode. Lovely to look at, hard to breath.

What are your plans? Are you still thinking of trying a HIM?

Please let us know how it goes. First time is always the most exciting if not nerve wracking.

Hills while not my friend aren't that bad and they are good for improving your fitness level. My group had us doing hill repeats which was basically running up a little hill and back down... waiting till our HR lowered and then repeat. You don't have to run up a big long hill. I hate hills though. I'm still too heavy so I can't do too many hill repeats before wanting to stop.

Maintain if you can. Having to back track are re-gain fitness is a bit discouraging. I spent all summer trying to get back where I was last summer. No breaks for me this year.

Winter can be tedious but I have a treadmill and a bike trainer and I'll have the university pool so it should be easy enough to keep up.

I'm definately doing at least a half Ironman. I really really really am tempted to sign up for the full Ironman Wisconsin. It's not really a smart idea and I would risk not making the cut-off times even with a year of training, but I'm having a hard time talking myself out of it. Ideally I should be aiming for the half next summer and not take on too much too soon, but... sigh. We'll see. Maybe I'll shake out this insane idea before sign ups on Monday. (It sells out quickly if it makes it online at all)

Good Luck this weekend SGeranium!!! Tell us how it went.

Since fall is coming I guess there won't be much activity in our quiet little thread, but my mind is still pretty focused on training at the moment as I went a little nutty and signed up for Ironman Wisconsin. It's going to be a long interesting year.

Weight loss is going to be focused on extra hard this fall as I want to start off training in February as near to goal weight as I can manage. Training for these kind of things is hard enough without hauling around an extra 50lbs.

Working out what my base training schedule will be for this winter.