Comgrats, and welcome to the community. You're a triathlete no and apperently you like it. What distance was it?



-

---

I don't work here, I just live here

Welcome to the club!!!

I'm glad you had so much fun...so when is your next race?

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"on your Left"

Way to go. Great times too. Work on those transitions, and get on a track and do some intervals, as long as you are sticking to sprint/oly distance races. Hill running is good too, but in order to run fast in a race...you've got to practice running fast in practice!!

Keep it up.

Sprint. 1/2 mile swim, 14.5 mile bike and 5k.

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

July 20. Then August 10 and Chicago Tri on August 24. I almost drove to Indiana to do another one this weekend but my IM friend slapped me in the head.

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

congratulations on your first sprint! which one are you doing on july 20?

---

Rgds,

Joey2mak

Awesome. Welcome to the fold. It's always great to see such enthusiasm, and I'm glad that you enjoyed your first experience so thoroughly. Seeing Michellie Jones is an awesome perk, too!

Running is one of those things that just takes time - some are more gifted than others, but I'm convinced that most people can run low 20's for 5k if they work at it. Put in the miles, but increase both distance and intensity gradually. It's very easy start a new program too hard, and end up with an injury. Search this board, Gordo's, and Rich Strauss' for "Run Technique" and "Pose". You'll find mountains of great advice.

As others have said, you can carve HUGE chunks of time out of your transitions too. Practice them as often as you can.

---

<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
Get Fitter!
Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
Get your FIX today?

Harbor Lights in Waukegan, IL. I live in Chicago - one of the few non-west-coasters hanging around here!

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

Thanks Khai! Low 20s. Boy - wouldn't that be fab. I have the Pose video, and it has definitely helped my technique. I'll look for gordo and rich's stuff to. Need all the help I can get!

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

Congratulations!! Great job on your first race.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Congrats!! You're my hero. I'm only doing the Chicago in August, and need all the training time I can get. So, any words of wisdom to share?

BTW, I wanted to ask you about the chicago course. How are the swim and bike portions? I'm particularly worried about the bike stuff.

Anyway, Fantastic job!!! Good luck with your others this summer! and we have to get together for a beer or something when I come to Chicago in August!!

Becca

Definitely let me know when you're in town!

The swim is in Monroe Harbor and runs one way, parallel to the sea wall. (So you're always close to shore.) Lots of life guards, and pretty calm because it's in an enclosed harbor. The bike is out and back down Lake shore Drive and is almost completely flat and beautiful. Road is in great shape and there's a bottle exchange right after the turn around.

Other than that, I don't think I'm qulaitifed to offer words of wisdom yet besides "train your a#$ off!" ...and do lots of transition runs. Thanks for the praise!!

On another note, DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO POST PICS HERE FROM A DESKTOP - NOT ON THE INTERNET??

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

Congratulations and welcome to the party.

After 28 marathons and fighting runners' injuries, I finally gave up. Every race, at about mile 18, I'd tell myself I was never going to run another marathon. Not sure why I kept going!

Then came triathlon, and in the home stretch of every race, all I can think is "when is my next race?"

It's a great sport, because any time you're injured, you still have at least on and maybe two venues for training (not including the weight room).

I thought I'd like to be Maca when I grew up, but I have a daughter who's older than he is.

I lived in Bloomingdale (about 20 miles west of O'Hare) for eight years. How in heck do you train on the bike during the winter??

---

Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

Kate-

Just wanted to say congrats and welcome to the addiction. I recently got to experience something similar to your 1st triathlon, as my wife did her 1st Sprint Tri this past March. I couldn't have been prouder. It was a great experience for her, she did well, and confronted her fear with grace and determination. She was back at it in April! So when is your 2nd race?

One thing I wanted to share with you, was written by Tom Demerly (see URL below), because it got me out of a tough situation. The day before my wife's 1st triathlon she was really nervous, and no matter how many "You're going to do great..." or "You've done your training, you're ready. You'll do great" etc... I couldn't say anything that was going to ease her anxiety. So, I sent her the link to this article. It made all the difference in the world. Now that you've done your first tri, you know the deal. Regardless, read this article anyway, and know you are "That Girl" to someone now.

Congrats again, and best of luck this season,

Joel

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/...orials/0000021.shtml

Wow. What a great article. Thanx! Going to send it to my fellow newby friend!

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

Regarding Mrs. T's: a couple of thoughts:

1) manage your expectations; it's so big and crowded and crazy that if you go into it hoping for any special time you're likely to be disappointed. for example, it's hard to train for the extra time in transition it takes to cross the huge transition area especially if your "stall" is at the opposite, downhill end from the bike start. similarly, when you exit the water it is a probably 3 or 400 yards from the swim to T1 on pavement. lots of people leave shoes at the water's edge to spare their feet on that run to the bikes. IMHO it was too confusing to look for my shoes among the masses and so I just hoofed it barefoot.

2) the bike rules are backwards in that you ride on the left and pass on the right because only the inner lanes of LSD are closed to traffic. accordingly, they want you on the left because the right side has cars zooming by. lots of crashes and near crashes from people trying to get this right.

3) unlike many races, the pros go last and the biggest fastest waves such as M 30-34 go next to last. this means that you if you're in a group like M 30-34 you may have to rack your bike at 5:30 a.m. and not have your wave start until 9:30 a.m.!! If you're not staying somewhere close enough to return to bed it's a real energy burn to sit on the seawall for hours waiting for your heat.

4) bring a personal supply of toilet paper (true at almost all tris but especially this one because of the sheer mass of humanity).

5) the bike course heads north on LSD and then you cross over the median to turn around. they just throw a heavy cloth over the dirt and grass so be prepared for the almost instant slowdown from 25mph to 5mph when you hit that turnaround.

All of that said, it was a very fun race and a great weekend. Just one to take a "Zen" approach with or it can probably be frustrating.

My $.02

spin class. lots and lots of spin class.

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

If I ever get back out there, that is...

I'm recovering from a crash, and having a great deal of difficulty getting my shoulder to work properly. But I lead spin classes three times a week and with subbing, I'm averaging between four and five, with a high of nine, including several days with three sessions...

This week I'm doing six, including subbing for a guy who's been away doing RAAM. Can you say "overtraining"?

---

Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

And the guys at work think I'm mad when I do 3 spin classes back to back so that I get a reasonable time on the bike! I only do that once a week, not several times a week.

dt.

When your shoulder heals, you'll be a terror on the bike!

A lot of people say it's not the same, and it's not; no wind, no need to balance, blah, blah, blah.. BUT- it was the initial activity that got me into the idea that I could actually head in the direction of triathlon. The last time I got on a bike before I took spin was about a dozen years ago when I was in my mid-twenties. A friend dragged me out and I couldn't do 2 miles without my legs feeling like they were going to fall off.

I got into spin all winter the winter before last, and when I got on a real bike in the spring, I flew. (Much to my surprise!) I think spin's a great, non-intimidating way to escape from a sedentary lifestyle without having to worry about the point of no return. And if you don't cheat, you can get an awesome workout the DOES translate to a real bike - I don't care what the critics say!

You and Dave are a little psycho mind you, 6-days a week and 3 in a row and all, but hey, I feel ya.

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

Yikes! 3 in a row? Do you use an odo? If so, how many miles do you cover?

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people don't recognize opportunity because it wears bib overalls and looks like work.
~Teddy Roosevelt

Hi kategt,

Been following this great post and finally had to reply. YOU ROCK! You are "That Girl". Took up running about 4 years ago to spend more time with my wife the marathon woman. Hated it so I bought a bike. Tri bug bit me and now I love the running, too. And the original goal was met, too. Now she's caught the fever due to a 1/2 IM relay we did together earlier this month. Now if we could just afford a nanny to watch the three kids while we train. Our 6 and 7 year-old daughters are training for their first duathlon in October - .6 mi R, 3 mi B, .6 mi R - in bird sanctuary outside of DC. 3-year old thinks he's going to do it, too Start-em young.

Keep it up. It's a lifestyle, now. Never look back. YOU ROCK!

Steve