To anyone who hasn't done the Santa Barbara Long Course race and lives in Cali, you definitely should. Interesting distances(1 mile, 34m, 10m), great atmosphere, well run, and for those interested in the hottie thread, TONS of terrific scenery. The swim is great, the bike has some good climbing and technical sections and the run is mostly along the beach. I didn't like the "touch and go" section on the bike, but it was a VERY sharp turn at the bottom of a steep hill. Also, I'm not sure if they always do that - apparently there were some course changes due to construction.
It was my 1st race on the rotors and it went quite well. I can't definitively state that my increase in speed is solely due to them but I would say they've surely contributed. Strangely, I don't notice any difference in my pedal stroke when going back and forth between bikes and never really have. There was an initial drop off in speed but after a couple of weeks that was reversed. I switched to a 12-25 after checking out the course as there are some short steep sections and rarely much chance to use a 54-11 due to the technical nature of the course, and that worked great. I was a little worried about my legs possibly feeling more fatigued than usual on the run due to the rotors but that certainly didn't happen. I was able to run at a fairly good pace w/o redlining, even though I'm not in top run form right now, so that certainly wasn't an issue. This was also one of the few races where my bike split ranked even or better than my run split so I guess the rotors passed the test.
Here's what I'm fed up with(begin whining):
They just posted the splits and I finished 6th of 66 in men's 30-34. I left a little in the tank on all three legs due to my impending IM, but definitely still raced, just not to my usual feeling like I want to die pace. Here's what hurts - my AG split rankings were 50/66 on the swim, 2/66 on the bike(incl. T1&T2) and 3/66 on the run. I'm gave up 4:50 - 10:20 in the swim to the guys who finished ahead of me! Certainly nothing new, it's just starting to annoy me a bit more.
I know, I know that's why it's called TRIathlon and I need to get my ass in the pool more often. But here's the question: should I completely start from scratch after IMW and reconstruct my stroke from the bottom up? Is it possible to re-learn how to swim and to truly develop a feel for the water as an adult? If I spend all winter stretching my inflexible ankles, will that help at all? I've already decided that I need at least some one-on ones if I can't afford regular private lessons. Is it even possible to make it to the upper 1/3 or even the top 1/2 if you've been swimming for 4 years and can't break out of the BOP?
I am SO envious of you good swimmers - you make it look so easy and even when I'm doing an "easy" 200, it feels like work.
(done whining)
It was my 1st race on the rotors and it went quite well. I can't definitively state that my increase in speed is solely due to them but I would say they've surely contributed. Strangely, I don't notice any difference in my pedal stroke when going back and forth between bikes and never really have. There was an initial drop off in speed but after a couple of weeks that was reversed. I switched to a 12-25 after checking out the course as there are some short steep sections and rarely much chance to use a 54-11 due to the technical nature of the course, and that worked great. I was a little worried about my legs possibly feeling more fatigued than usual on the run due to the rotors but that certainly didn't happen. I was able to run at a fairly good pace w/o redlining, even though I'm not in top run form right now, so that certainly wasn't an issue. This was also one of the few races where my bike split ranked even or better than my run split so I guess the rotors passed the test.
Here's what I'm fed up with(begin whining):
They just posted the splits and I finished 6th of 66 in men's 30-34. I left a little in the tank on all three legs due to my impending IM, but definitely still raced, just not to my usual feeling like I want to die pace. Here's what hurts - my AG split rankings were 50/66 on the swim, 2/66 on the bike(incl. T1&T2) and 3/66 on the run. I'm gave up 4:50 - 10:20 in the swim to the guys who finished ahead of me! Certainly nothing new, it's just starting to annoy me a bit more.
I know, I know that's why it's called TRIathlon and I need to get my ass in the pool more often. But here's the question: should I completely start from scratch after IMW and reconstruct my stroke from the bottom up? Is it possible to re-learn how to swim and to truly develop a feel for the water as an adult? If I spend all winter stretching my inflexible ankles, will that help at all? I've already decided that I need at least some one-on ones if I can't afford regular private lessons. Is it even possible to make it to the upper 1/3 or even the top 1/2 if you've been swimming for 4 years and can't break out of the BOP?
I am SO envious of you good swimmers - you make it look so easy and even when I'm doing an "easy" 200, it feels like work.
(done whining)
