great job Clippy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

swim advice
 

I just did my very first triathlon, a sprint 0.5m/12m/5k. I had been training really hard through the winter and early spring but hurt my foot in April and really slacked off since. I had already registered for the race so I pushed on even though I wasn't well prepared. I expected to be slow and was able to finish my bike and run within my goal times but the swim was a nightmare.

I started learning to swim in January and before that I had literally never tried a freestyle stroke with my face in the water. With noseclips and a ridiculously slow pace I was able to get to 1/2 mile worth of laps without stopping. Like a moron I went into this tri with no open water experience (I know...).

I was in the last wave and started all the way in the back to minimize the pressure. I was right beside a friend or I probably would have quit. As soon as I started the swim, my noseclips fell off and I couldn't see ANYTHING underwater. I thought it was just from the other swimmers kicking up debris, but no, there was zero visibility. I literally couldn't see my arms in the water. I panicked and the water was choppy and too deep to stand up. I tried a few feeble breaststrokes and flipped to my back to try to calm down. I wound up doing the backstroke for the whole distance with my friend literally pushing me in the proper direction when I went off course (sorry paperclippy, I know it was obnoxious but I was behind nearly everyone).

Once I committed to the backstroke with my friend's help I finished the swim in 25min (actually not bad for me) and caught quite a few people on the bike a run. Overall it was a fun experience but the swim was totally demoralizing. I wanted to do a Danskin tri next month, same distance, but I'm terrified of a similar swim experience. Any advice, other than obviously practicing in the open water a few times?

Lobon, first off, CONGRATS on finishing your tri!!! :cheer: :congrat: :woohoo: 25 min on the swim is not bad at all in my book, especially for a first time. How was your time on the bike and run?

My advice to you would be to practice breaststroke in the time you have before your next race. It's not nearly as scary to do breaststroke when you can't see underwater, since your head comes up and looks forward on each breath so you can still see where you're going. You also don't get as much water splashed in your mouth by the other swimmers. In my first tri I went in planning to do freestyle -- it was even in a pool, not open water -- and I freaked out and ended up doing breaststroke pretty much the rest of the way. I still practice breaststroke because I think it's a good backup to have if you can't see where you're going on freestyle (and for me, my breaststroke is nearly as fast as my freestyle since I'm so slow anyway).

Also, if it's possible, go do a swim in the actual body of water that your next tri will be in before the race so you can get used to it some. And on race day, if they let you, take some time to warm up in the water and acclimate your nerves to not being able to see.

FWIW, I don't have a problem with backstroke if the people doing it start all the way at the end, it's just when they're in the middle that it causes trouble. Actually at my first tri there was a guy who did backstroke but had a mirror mounted to his goggles so he could see where he was going and not run into people, and that's totally fine by me. But I think a lot of people who end up backstroking probably go in planning to do a different stroke and freak out. In any case I still do breaststroke sometimes and advocate it even though I know the "real" triathletes hate it when people breaststroke too since it takes up more space.

i've never spent much time on the breaststroke but I will definitely practice that from now on. the mirror idea is interesting though ;) the race in august is not close enough to practice in that lake but at least I can use a few of the lakes and creeks close to my house to practice a few different OWS locations.

The bike (12m) took about 50 minutes which I was happy about because the hills were pretty brutal (at least for an ex-Florida girl where hills dont exist) and I never had to walk, as well as the fact that it was POURING for the second half which made weaving around the residential areas at the end more dangerous. I'm still getting used to my first road bike so I take the corners and intersections pretty slow. The highlight was definitely a 31mph downhill, though I was too chicken to get in the drops and see if I could go faster, especially with the rain :D. I was expecting the run to be slow and planned to run-walk since my foot is still not 100% and its only been a month since I got out of the brace. I finished in 42 minutes. I could have probably pushed harder in both the bike and run- I felt like I still had gas left in the tank but mentally I was a little out of it after the swim.

BTW they were giving out samples of hammer gel apple pie, which is kind of delicious. i think the blocks are ok but i find the energy beans kind of grainy/vitamin-ey

Wait, I misread what you said. I thought your 25 minute swim was for 0.5 KM, not 0.5 MILES! In that case 25 mins is great! (Last year I took 23 mins for 0.5km in one of my swims.) Great job on the bike and run too. :cheer:

This Sunday is my second (and last) tri of the year. It's the same one I did last year (the one which took 23 min on the swim, I'm aiming for 16 min this year) so I'll be able to compare my performance. Then I just need to figure out what I'm going to do after the race for winter maintenance. I'm thinking strength training over the winter.

how was the race clippy? im doing a super short race in two weeks 250y/7miles/2miles. I figured it will give me another shot at overcoming my OWS fright. I'm going to close out the season with one, maybe two more sprints in September with one of those as a relay team. I'm going to concentrate on running after that and shoot for a half marathon in the spring if I can get my stupid foot to cooperate.

Race Report #2!
 

:woohoo: I totally nailed this one! :D :D :D For reference, I did this one last year too, and last year my total time was 2:19:56 split into 23:21, 2:05, 1:05:17, 1:41, 47:30.

500 meter swim, 20km (12.4 mile) bike, 5k run
Total time: 1:48:33 (that's right, 2.4 miles longer bike than my other race, but my time was only 14 seconds longer than the other one! Plus a whole half hour faster than last year!)
Rank: 457/503
Age group: 28/34

Swim: 15:46.1 (rank 419)
T1: 2:47 (rank 372)
Bike: 50:51 (rank 493)
T2: 1:32 (rank 297)
Run: 37:36 (rank 448)

In this race, I met all the goals that I didn't meet in my last race (namely, swim in under 16 mins, run in under 38). I guess there is a lot to be said for a flat course and an "open water" swim in a canal that's only 4 feet deep. Plus it wasn't as hot outside, but I think mostly the difference was the flat course and easier swim.

The water temp was 75 so it was a little cool, but it ended up being really nice. Since it's a canal, you don't have to look for buoys or anything, you just go straight until you get to the end, and when you breathe to the side you can see the sidewalk so you know where you're going. DH walked along the side of the canal next to me the whole time too. No kicks to the face and I even passed a few people. I was so happy when I got out at the end and saw that I met my swim time goal!

T1 was fine, got out on the bike course no problem. The course was not very hilly, but the roads were in poor condition so it was super bumpy. My wrists did not like the vibrations at all and my hands were numb and tingling by the time I got to the end. I only managed to pass one person on the bike though, everyone else flew by me. I thought I must be going slow, but really I was going pretty fast (although looking at the results, pretty much everyone else went faster than me).

T2 once again someone put their bike in my spot on the rack. What is up with these people? Then not only did they do that, they didn't rack it properly. So when I went to scoot their bikes out of the way, they fell over and knocked down like five bikes. :p I got my bike on the rack eventually though and headed out on the run. The run was pretty good -- I hit a 12:06 pace overall which is right about what I wanted. Passed quite a few people during the run who had used up all their energy on the bike. For a little while I ran with an older guy who was doing his very first tri -- it was nice to chat and I was hoping he'd run the whole way with me since he was keeping my pace pretty well, but he stopped to walk at the halfway point. I think I slowed down a decent amount the last mile even though I tried to pick up the pace, but still managed to speed up at the end for a strong finish.

In any case I'm really happy with my times on this one and it was a major improvement over last year (although I doubt I'll be able to shave off another 30 minutes next year! :lol: ). Still vaguely thinking about doing an Olympic next year. If I do it will be this one, which is the same course but the swim start line is farther away and it's two laps on the bike and run.

great job Jessica!!!!!!!!!!! that's quite an improved time WOW!!!

I'll have a race report for you shortly, but I wanted to let you know the Half Ironman went fairly well. 07:24:02. Long day but totally worth it!

Muse, GREAT JOB!!!! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :woohoo: :congrat:

Muse, where's that race report? Au, you never posted your Oly race report either! I am starved for race reports here! :lol:

Race Report (mini-sprint). This was my second ever race, first was a traditional sprint. This was a womens-only race advertised as being a great beginner's race. It was fun but felt way too short. I still hate swimming!

The webpage isn't working right so I dont have the ranks
Total time 1:10:13 ~bottom third
Swim (250m): 9:36 ~one of the slowest but not last ;)
T1: 2:21
Bike (7m): 30:38 ~right in the middle of the pack
T2: 1:11
Run (2m): 26:25 ~bottom third

The race was a pretty watered down event despite being put on by the same company that did my last race, sponsored by Trek. No t-shirt available in my size despite preregistering, race numbers were on these wristbands like at a bar, and a very underwhelming finish lime. The Trek had tons of spirit volunteers, finishers medal. If this was my first race I'd have been a little disappointed. Also felt like it was over before it started, too short.

Swimming: still miserable. I feel like I'm drowning. It will need to be a long offseason of open water swimming before next tri season. the only highlight was getting out of the water

Biking: great! It was a slight uphill the whole way out so I averaged around 13-14 mph on the way out but over 17 mph coming back in. My gears were slipping a little which was messing with me but overall went well. Passed lots of people after my not so impressive swim

Run: still much slower than average and slow for me but the good news is my foot didnt hurt at all! (i've been rehabbing a foot injury from May). I'm probably pushing my luck but good runs this summer have me thinking about a half-marathon again after figuring that repeated foot injuries would make that impossible

Overall goal was 1.10 so I guess 1.10.13 counts ;)
Time to shift focus to running and lake swimming...

:woohoo: Great job Lobon! I would suggest looking to see if there are any adult swim classes in your area. Taking one let me be way more comfortable in the water and sped up my swim time by 30%.

Sorry guys let me dig up the HIM race report.