Training for a shorter Tri

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  • mathschickmathschick ✭✭✭

    well done steady, to get a pb in conditions like today's is amazing

  • Great racing everyone, I await your race reports with anticipation  image

    I ran this morning, just my phone for music & nike +. Ran 4.5 miles and kept it at a steady pace, 9.40 ish m/m , felt good and even stuck a couple of intervals in for good measure to see how I felt, need to get some thing booked to keep me motivated. image

  • Hi everyone, hope you dont mind a newbie jumping in to your thread. I did a sprint a month ago and was way down the ranks compared to my last sprints a few years ago.  My transitions were slow due to faffing (could not get top over wet suit and had to change shoes between bike and run as bought clips). 

    I am trying to get a mix of training in and am seeing some improvements but cant get my swimming any faster - although i can now swim for much longer. 

    Have entered Brecon sprint on the 31st and need some confidence....... image

  • Pippi LSPippi LS ✭✭✭

    I had a fantastic day at my very first triathlon at Stratford. Finished in about 1h53 which I am more than happy with!  Met Cake! No proper times yet as I didn't take a Garmin - one more thing to worry about - and I couldn't take in all the numbers on the screen results (I know, I should have taken a photo!).

    Report tomorrow, probably.

    image

  • Well done Pippi - Sounds like a few were out braving the elements today.

    Does everyone just jump on their bikes regardless of weather and get more wet? 

     

  • Well done Pippi  image

  • Camlo, It all depends on the conditions, did a sprint a few weeks ago and just put bike shoes and helmet on and jumped on the bike, it was windy and the sun was out so dried off pretty quick. 

    I did a sprint last Feb and it was -3 when we got to the pool so made the decision to spend 10 mins in T1 and have a full change of clothing after the swim otherwise I would have got frostbite image

  • mathschickmathschick ✭✭✭

    welcome camlo

    well done pippi

    camlo - like razor, depends on the conditions. I did a tri the jubilee weekend when it was about 4 degrees and chucking it down, I put a jacket on in transition, but otherwise just kept all the other wet stuff on. Took me hours to warm up after though

  • Bamburgh might still be on as the wife is feeling more positive today. Think she was just having a bad day yesterday. My swim was rubbish earlier, no matter what I did my goggles kept filling up with water half a length after clearing them. Managed 600m then got sick of it. I find swimming boring and need to focus to get any real distance covered, and with that distraction it just wasn't going to happen. Time to get a new pair bought.

    On the plus side got out for a late 1 hour run and did 6 miles (went over time by 4 and a bit minutes). My longer runs recently have been on routes I've made up as I've gone along and I'm enjoying it. Been taking in nicer sights than the trusty old local loops I was using.

  • I tried to pull a top on which got completely stuck so will try a jacket if it looks cold, also had put long socks but panicked when i realised they covered my number on my leg! Praying for sunshine!!! 

  • SteadyCJSteadyCJ ✭✭✭

    Welcome Camlo, I normally go to the bottom of results and work my way up to find out how bad/good I did.
    Today, I put cycle jersey over trisuit, then a gilet, armwarmers on and fingerless gloves and a buff for the head and ears, and socks were worn. I stayed warm, then took the gilet, buff and gloves off in T2. I have also been known to just throw a cycle jersey over the trisuit and go in the summer.

  • When I did the First of the Summer Tri in Holmfirth a couple of weeks ago I got out of the pool, put on socks, shoes, cycle jersey, helmet, glasses and went. Wasn't a warm day but I only died 3 times

  • wow, good to see some folk racing although there is a distinct lack of race reports.image

    And some good training.

    I spent the last 3 days eating too much, traveling too much and slacking off too much...I forgot my swimming kit today so I'll sneak in a sneaky run and swim tomorrow...

  • Great racing all,

    Yesterday I did the Wiggle Jurassic Beast sportive - I'm not sure how I feel about it, it was 63 miles which is the longest ride I've done and had around 1,500m or climbing, there were lots of really pretty views and it was good to see so many cyclists of all shapes and sizes out on the road.  However, I don't feel any sense of achievement.

    For the first part of the ride I had GI issues which didn't help and neither did the very strong headwind, legs felt great going up hills though.  I think a big part of it is because they had a set distance to achieve you ended up going on some crazy loops/dog legs just to make up the 100km rather than because there was something nice to see, I found it a bit demoralising.

    I don't know, perhaps I was just having a bad day but I just feel a bit troubled inside.

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    Well done MrsD, Steady and Pippi!  Would love to hear more about your races though...

    Camlo - welcome!

    3 weeks to my tri. Not swam since 18th February and not ran since 21st February. Ah well, swimming will be fine but slow,run might be walk. But I am doing it!

     

  • BeerSwillerBeerSwiller ✭✭✭

    Well my first tri finnally arrived yesterday so I thought I'd post a little (long) report here as I don't really want tostart a new topic for it.

    Alnwick Sprint Tri 2014

    After a broken night’s sleep I turned up at my local sports centre nice and early to get registered and set up with plenty of time to spare, turned out a few of other folk had the same plan and it was busy in transition by the time I took my kit in, I had drawn plan of how I wanted to get my kit laid out and thankfully I had plenty of space to get things just how I wanted and was set up in no time, so walked the transition route from the pool, then out to the bike and back from the bike and out to the run, then I headed out onto the run course for a little jog as a warm up and to try and dissipate some of my nerves, not the best plan I’ve ever had as it was a cross country run and the week of rain leading up to the event meant the course was muddy so if anything I was more nervous than if I hadn’t seen the course!

    I was off pretty close to the start (30th into the water) so it there wasn’t much time to worry about things as I got myself changed and headed to the pool, the wife and child were there to support so I dropped my locker key and a jacket off with them so I’d not have to wait for transition to open before I could get warmed up after the race, standing on the side of the pool I was next to another newbie and we discussed the swim, he was as nervous as me and expecting the same sort of swim time so I felt like at least I wasn’t going to be the only one struggling through, as I crept nearer the front of the line I watched the others going through their pre swim routines and tried to keep calm and in no time it was my turn to jump in, the swim was 500m 4 lengths in a lane then under the rope and repeat till you reached the other end and headed out to transition, goggles on, into the pool 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and I’m off, concentrate on long smooth stokes and don’t go off to hard was the plan and for the first 100m all was going well, I ducked under the rope into a far busier lane and suddenly I had slower swimmers in front of me which started to mess with my rhythm, despite me constantly tapping their feel no one seemed to want to let me past so in a rush of blood a went for an overtake, this is new to me as I’m never quicker than anyone but remarkably I got round and was on my way again, to my surprise I managed to pass 5 folk in the swim and when I saw the float indicating 2 laps to go I pushed on and in to time I was climbing out the pool.

    Transition  was about 150 yards away and I jog/walked it to try and shake the swim out of my system, the spectators cheering everyone on at the entrance was really nice especially early on a wet and windy Sunday morning.  I’d decided to go with a gilet and socks, it made for a slow transition and I’ll be practicing getting my wet feet into socks before my next tri, all the kit on, push/run the bike to the mount line to jump on, spin round the sports centre and out onto the open roads, this was the first time I’d been out on the bike after a swim, I don’t know what I was expecting but the cold from being wet caught me out a bit to begin with, I settled down into a rhythm fairly quickly and started to pass a few folk on the hills, the bike leg was 23km on a route I know fairly well so I pushed on where I could but wanted to keep something in my legs for the run, especially after seeing how muddy it was during my warm up. With about 5k to go I was passed for the only time by a bloke on a fancy carbon TT bike, the temptation to give him chase was huge but I was determined to stick to my plan and ride my own race (looking at my data on strava I didn’t get anywhere near my previous times for the segmen

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    EcoSeal - well firstly, well done on your longest ride yet! imageimage

    Why do you feel troubled, just because of the course? Were you happy with your time? You said your legs felt great going uphill, that's positive. Wind can be really demotivating though. What did you want to get out of it, and did you achieve that?

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    Well done BeerSwiller but where is the rest?!!

  • I'm not sure Mikasa - I think that's the problem!

    When I did the race the other weekend I'd dreamt of riding in a peleton and attacking the finish line since I was probably about 6! I felt on top of the world, I could have come last and would have felt the same sense of fulfilment.

    The sportive was hard work and yes I saw some stunning views which will stay with me, but ultimately I just feel a little flat after all that effort! 

    I did it because my OH asked for entry from my parents last Christmas, she loved it so in the grand scheme of things that's the important part image

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    So maybe you just have to adjust your thinking re: sportives. They obviously aren't going to be that competitive and you'll have to just take it as a long ride with lots of people doing it rather than a competition. Glad your OH liked it though. image

    What was the other race you did? I was watching some of the women's tour at the weekend and I wasn't so sure I'd like to ride with so many people around me. My bike handling skills are fine but I wouldn't trust the others. image

  • It was a local race in Sardinia - about 90 people, everyone went off together and then you did x number of laps depending on your category. I stayed with the main group for a lap and a half then ended up in a group of about 10 riders and we did the whole sharing the work load bit, there was another woman in this group and I was battling her for 2nd place. On the last 10km lap I tried to rest as much as possible then in the last km sat on the woman's wheel and attacked on the final mini climb (150m from the finish line).

    You're right about the sportive - perhaps I just hadn't given it enough thought as to my 'goal'. I can however, highly recommend the UKCyclingEvents (who run the wiggle branded sportives), really well organised, good stock of stuff at the feed stations and a nice medal image

  • Pixie (((((((hugs)))))) and agree there are some right numpty's out there sometimes. 

    Pippi brilliant to meat you yesterday and hope I wasn't to dozy at the time. Some top racing gang. It was stupidly windy yesterday.

    Ap up Camlo. image

    Afraid Sarah beat me for the first time for tri time yesterday, Caz did to. image I'll write up a race report tomorrow but wasn't the fastest I've ever been.

  • Beerswiller - you can only fit a certain number of characters in a box...you'll need to break it up in to sections if you're going to offer up a blow by blow account.  I actually like the long reports as I can learn from them.

    Eco, I know what you mean.  You need to manage your own expectation...you can't always chase down the leader and sit on her tail in the last km.  Maybe you should have treated this as a fun ride..

    Mikasa, you'll be fine.  All that training malarky is over rated.  It's just a way of injuring yourself...just conside the last 2 months as taper...

  • BeerSwillerBeerSwiller ✭✭✭

    Oops didn't realise that!!

    the temptation to give him chase was huge but I was determined to stick to my plan and ride my own race (looking at my data on strava I didn’t get anywhere near my previous times for the segments the route converted so I definitely could have pushed harder). Off at the mount line and the stumble to transition was a wobbly experience, running off the bike is hard enough, doing it in cycling shoes over pavement was something else.

    Bike racked and trainers on it was out to the run, had a bit of a faff trying to turn my number round with cold fingers but I suppose that’s just one of them things, so off I went across the rugby pitches and out into the fields, it took best part of a mile for my legs to start to feel like they were ready to run at any sort of pace and that turned out to be just the point where I had to run through an ankle deep puddle (we’d be warned about this at the race briefing) feet soaked and the route headed up 200ft in half a mile might not sound like much but it was tough going for my heavy legs, at this point I was passed by a bloke in a GB kit so I assumed the rest fast pack must be heading my way, and as I edged my way up to the turn-around point I was passed by a group of 5/6 that were really gunning for it, I upped my pace after grabbing a drink at the turn knowing that it was back downhill for most of the way, another soaking in the puddle and back across the fields to the finish and a nice cold pint of Guinness.

    Final time was 1:27:25 which was under my 1:30 target and I know I could have pushed harder and been more controlled in transition but I’m over the moon to have done my first tri and I suppose now I can call myself a triathlete.

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    Sounds silly that I didn't realise it before but no wonder I'm feeling all unmotivated and like everything's such hard work. Out of the last 10 weeks, 3 have been totally off due to injury, 1 was snowboarding week and the rest I've done some cycling and gym work but haven't really gotten into it. It obviously has affected me mentally as well as physically. But this week, I'm back! And next week Wild Boar training starts!

    Well done Bookie,Cake and Caz for you tri efforts too!

  • Mikasa - are you using 1/2 Fink for Boar training?

    Great report BeerS, I agree with Pete, I like reading long reports to pick up hints and tips, but also the atmosphere of the race.

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    Yes Eco, using 1/2 Fink. 

    And I just had a snooze at lunch time, that's how tired I'm feeling. image

  • SteadyCJSteadyCJ ✭✭✭

    Well done on the distance Ecoseal, I can understand the not feeling achievement as a sportive is a horrid beast. The organisers find all the hills they can and just join the route up to get it to fit the hills, but it is a good distance and so much different from a proper bike road race.

    Great report Beerswiller for your first tri. You are now a tri-af-er-leet.

    Mikasa, I had a lunch time snooze as well today.

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    I had mine at my desk, office door closed. Did you have a more comfortable snoozing place? 

    I'm not liking the sound of sportives if that's what they do...

  • Thanks Steady - glad its not just me!

    Mikasa - if you have a look on the Garmin connect group I've uploaded the route, you can see how it loops about.

    Perhaps as we journey through the Fink plan at the same time you'd be so kind as to kick my ass/hold my hand?

    Not sure I could get away with a lunch time snooze in a small open plan office. . . 

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