It's tomorrow! Transition bag is packed. Ack!

Anne

Anne, how did it go???????????

Race Report
 

The race features a 1000 m lake swim. I started in the third wave. I had a decent swim, given that my swim training has been sacrificed at the altar of running lately. Reach, swivel, pull, breathe. As usual, the women’s waves are relatively civilized. After I finished passing most of the breast- and backstrokers, and catching a few of the older men’s wave stragglers, the young men’s wave began to swim by me at about 400 m. They are not so civilized, and while I’ll cut a little slack given the opacity of the lake water, I did have to convince a couple of them that swimming over the top of me was not an option with a swift kick to the whatever. Then one of the young women whacked me hard in the nose. This is seriously much cooler than swimming in a pool!

I had a relatively quick transition given that I had to escape from a 5 year old wetsuit (very stiff) that had adhered to my body with a thick coating of lake goo, spray on sunscreen, body glide and human sweat. I liked the bike course, which was very fast. At one point I looked down at my newly-installed computer reading 24 mph on a relative flat and thought I must have screwed that up somehow, because normally I’d be turned inside out to hold that. It was right, with a slight downhill and light tailwind helping me out, but I feel like I had an awesome bike. The return was slower with a light headwind and crappy pavement, but I still finished the course easily in under an hour.

I had another relatively fast transition to the run, and managed to hold a decent pace for the first couple of miles, with minimal walking. The last mile was tough, with just enough of an uphill grade (the same stretch I managed 24 mph on the bike but the other direction) and at the end of the race that it started to hurt and I had a couple walk breaks in the end. But my time was reasonable, and the breaks were just breaks and not a break down, and I was happy with my performance in the end. I finished closer to my dream time than my nightmare time and had a great day on the course. I pushed myself, challenged myself, but didn’t kill myself. This is the first race in a while I’ve been adequately trained for, and as always, training helps.

Finally, this was a special race for me. I turned 40 on the course, the bike to be specific, and it was a great way to start a new decade.

Anne

:cheer: :woohoo: :swim: :bike: :running:

Great job Anne! And happy birthday!!!

Anyone else have one coming up soon? I want to hear about it!

I did 2 last year (One Sprint and one Oly) but I backslid a bit over the winter/spring fitness and weight wise. I'm thinking of signing up for just a Sprint for late summer/fall for this year. I won't do as well as last year, but at least it will get me going again.

I'm shooting for a Half for late next year and I think doing the sprint this year will keep my training and moving forward. Too easy to put things off until it's too late otherwise, which is what I did this year.

I almost always have a race of some sort on my calendar. It helps.

Right now I'm doing a weekly series of aquathlons (swim/run) put on by our local parks and rec department. 800 yd swim with a 3.1 mile run. It is a little toasty this time of year, over 90 for last night's race, but at least I'm wet while I'm running, which helps.

Anne

Happy Belated Birthday Anne! What a great way to turn 40!

Well I've started running again as of yesterday and despite it being 6 months since I've ran at all I was still able to go for 10mins and then 3 5 minute runs after that. That doesn't sound fabulous, but I'm 10lbs heavier then when I started learning to run and I couldn't even do a minute back then, so a total of 25mins spaced out with some walking was a pleasant surprise.

I'm thinking of signing up for either Danskin or Chicago Tri sprint later this summer. Kinda depressing since I was upto doing Olys last summer, but I have to ease into it. I'm thinking about the steelhead 70.3 for next summer.

Now I just have to get my butt back on the bike and back to the pool.

Has anyone here used a Tri training group at all? There is one starting up this weekend, but as a not-quite a beginner anymore I'm wondering if I'd get much out of it. Just hesitant because of the $$$.

Good job starting running again Idealmuse! Starting is always the hardest part.

I haven't used any training groups, but I think Anne is part of a triathlon club/group.

I still haven't signed up for the sprint in August I was thinking about. I'm pretty sure I'm going to sign up for it, but I don't know if I'll really train for it so much as just try to keep up my current fitness level. I'm focusing on weight training right now and I think it's really helping me with other sports. Stronger leg muscles means faster running and biking, and stronger arms means faster swimming!

In other news I may convince DH to do it with me, or at least to do one next year with me. He's started couch to 5k for general fitness, since he's been slacking off on working out for oh, the past YEAR (funny because from the time we met 8.5 years ago, he worked out three days a week consistently up until last year!). We grabbed an old bike his mom had for him to ride, not with the intent of triathlon but more so we could go on recreational bike rides together. It's in the shop right now so that it will be rideable again (it sat in a basement for about 10 years, and despite being old, it's $150 to fix it compared to $500 for a new bike). And the final hurdle? Our community pool opened up on Memorial Day and I've convinced him to come swimming with me (by telling him I was afraid to go by myself, which was true).

Yay! I'm excited. At least so far, our pool is totally deserted Sunday mornings, which means it's open for lap swimming instead of full of crazy kids playing marco polo. I need to get DH a pair of goggles though, right now he's just swimming with his head above the water. Yesterday he tried to match my laps. He managed to make it 9 laps but was pretty exhausted. I did 12 but stopped at that because I didn't want to make him feel bad for not being able to swim as much as me (I usually do 20). He is significantly faster than me at freestyle but surprisingly slow at breaststroke.

Okay, I'm writing a book here. I'm just so excited that it's finally warm outside, I can go swimming in a pool that's a 5-minute walk away instead of a 25-minute drive, and it's free, and I found a great new bike route that's really scenic. :D

Can't talk. Training. :)

Working with my tri coach again. I should see some improvement in my times soon.

I do belong to a tri club, which is great for training partners, information, and discounts from sponsoring businesses (running stores, tri stores). I recommend it.

Anne

I did end up signing up for the 12 week training group. My first schduled workout was today at the pool (after bring away from the pool for 10 months!) and our first Group workout is tomorrow night. Still havent decided on the oly versus the sprint. I rather do the Oly because it's the one I did last year, but I don't know if I'll be prepared enough by then.

Muse, how is your training going?

I'm still debating about which sprint to sign up for in August. There is one downtown August 15, one in the park August 22, and a women-only one in the park August 29. I'm kind of thinking I'll either do the downtown one or the women-only one but I can't decide. I'm afraid that if I put off signing up any longer I'll end up not doing it.

Jessica,

Don't overthink it! Pick the one that feels right to you and sign up. You'll have a great race either way.

Anne

Hi all! Jessica pointed me over here. I am training for my first triathlon in July!

It's a shorter one
325 yd swim
12 mile bike
3.25 mile run

I am pretty excited. I actually feel ready now, and have a harder time taking rest days than getting in the workouts. I have been experimenting with different fuels, trying to find the right one that gives me energy without loading up the tummy.

Welcome Fiberlover!! :D

I was bad, I didn't experiment before my tri. I did okay with some powerade before the swim, and then half a clif bar and gatorade during the bike ride. I was too scared to try "gu"! :lol: