Two questions coming out of my race last weekend....
1. Swim, without fail and it makes no matter what the swim venue, pre-race meal, night before meal, or hydration of choice I will need to burp (like REALLY burp) about 300-400 meters into the swim. More often than not it slowly wells up and then I burp. My chest immediately opens up, swim stroke improves and I can breath. I am by no means a fast swimmer but looking back on past races I can certainly attribute 'worse' swim times to when this has taken longer than 300-400 to occur. At Weymouth this weekend same issue, perhaps exacerbated by the choppy start but was reduced to a near panic attack when I simply couldn't breath. I even pulled up out of the swim and seriously considered throwing in the towel. However, I (perhaps stupidly) kept at it and eventually burped, well vomited actually and felt infinitely better. I could actually breath and think about swimming and getting my head in the race.
Does anyone have issues with something like this? I'm at a bit of a loss as its not due to drinking to much sea water or seemingly anything related to my routine. I might just start pounding a red bull or something before the race hoping to get it out of the way before I start but also don't want to make it worse as it seemingly only 'happens' when I'm swimming....
2. Chain popping off during downhills... I'll be in the top gear, flying down a hill and and go to pedal at the end and nothing... chain has come off. Stop, take a second and back off I go. Might happen say once/twice a race with the only 'similarity' between occurrences is downhill/fast on 'rougher" tarmac. Could be 100% dumb luck and the shitty UK roads but the times its occurred haven't overly pot-holey or anything, just 'rough' pavement. FWIW I'm running an Ultegra di2, Ceramic Speed OSPW, and Ice friction chain (happened throughout life of chain). chain is correctly sized and pulley is on 'medium' tension. I was thinking of dropping another link or two or changing to the 'high' tension setting but I've never had this issue and didn't want to just starting throwing solutions at what might be a really obvious issue.... any thoughts?
Also, let it be said that even with the above happing in the swim and first 8 miles on the bike in a 70.3 one can focus, get their head in the game and have a great race. Always look on the bright side, and realize you have a lot of miles left in the race (and the tank) and don't give up!!!
________________________________________________________
Taylor Rogers
2024: IM Hamburg
1. Swim, without fail and it makes no matter what the swim venue, pre-race meal, night before meal, or hydration of choice I will need to burp (like REALLY burp) about 300-400 meters into the swim. More often than not it slowly wells up and then I burp. My chest immediately opens up, swim stroke improves and I can breath. I am by no means a fast swimmer but looking back on past races I can certainly attribute 'worse' swim times to when this has taken longer than 300-400 to occur. At Weymouth this weekend same issue, perhaps exacerbated by the choppy start but was reduced to a near panic attack when I simply couldn't breath. I even pulled up out of the swim and seriously considered throwing in the towel. However, I (perhaps stupidly) kept at it and eventually burped, well vomited actually and felt infinitely better. I could actually breath and think about swimming and getting my head in the race.
Does anyone have issues with something like this? I'm at a bit of a loss as its not due to drinking to much sea water or seemingly anything related to my routine. I might just start pounding a red bull or something before the race hoping to get it out of the way before I start but also don't want to make it worse as it seemingly only 'happens' when I'm swimming....
2. Chain popping off during downhills... I'll be in the top gear, flying down a hill and and go to pedal at the end and nothing... chain has come off. Stop, take a second and back off I go. Might happen say once/twice a race with the only 'similarity' between occurrences is downhill/fast on 'rougher" tarmac. Could be 100% dumb luck and the shitty UK roads but the times its occurred haven't overly pot-holey or anything, just 'rough' pavement. FWIW I'm running an Ultegra di2, Ceramic Speed OSPW, and Ice friction chain (happened throughout life of chain). chain is correctly sized and pulley is on 'medium' tension. I was thinking of dropping another link or two or changing to the 'high' tension setting but I've never had this issue and didn't want to just starting throwing solutions at what might be a really obvious issue.... any thoughts?
Also, let it be said that even with the above happing in the swim and first 8 miles on the bike in a 70.3 one can focus, get their head in the game and have a great race. Always look on the bright side, and realize you have a lot of miles left in the race (and the tank) and don't give up!!!
________________________________________________________
Taylor Rogers
2024: IM Hamburg