Hi everyone,
Rather than including this in my weekly update, I thought I'd start a separate thread for my thoughts after my intermediate distance race this past weekend. I finished it, and it's amazing that I did, considering where I was just 6 months ago. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place, and I got to do things I love doing. And I'm not even too tired or sore today. But I was slow as molasses, particularly and surprisingly on the bike, and I'm left wondering if it's a good idea to proceed with my plan to do Lake Placid 70.3, of all races, in September.
So here's a report: the swim went well. I started off going comfortably fast, but the front group was a little claustrophobic and competitive for me (lots of jostling for positions and people swimming straight over me and such), so I backed off and finished in the middle of my age group. I wanted to reserve energy anyway, so I didn't mind that.
SKipping to the run--I knew it would be slow and I went predictably like 13 or 14 minutes per mile. I had to walk a lot at the beginning because my legs were so stiff. It didn't feel like cramping, more like seizing up or tension. So, I'm not sure it was hydration-related, so much as lack-of-brick-workouts-related (which I only started doing a few weeks ago because I'm being careful about my knees). Not sure though? None of my brick workouts felt that bad.
On the bike, however, people were whizzing by me and I wasn't expecting it. I went from middle of the pack to 5-to-last in short order. The course had one giant hill. In all, I went about 13 miles per hour.
I finished 4th-to-last after one more person passed me on the run.
In all, the race went great. In January, I didn't own a bike and I couldn't run for 3 minutes without my knees hurting. But with that slow bike performance especially, I'm wondering if Lake Placid 70.3 might be too much for me. I'm proud of my accomplishments so far, and if setting LP as a goal was what's gotten me here, perhaps the motivation was worth spending the money on the LP registration and I can just focus on shorter distances for now. Being a slow runner seems a bit less consequential than a slow biker in triathlon generally, and LP in particular.
On the other hand, I've come so far in the last 3 months and I might continue to improve that much in the next 3 months, before the race. I'm typing all of this out because I'm so inexperienced with biking and running, and you all might have more of an understanding about how an enthusiastic, inexperienced person with a history of injury but not a lot of pain right now can improve. Also, I have a nice carbon bike and clipless pedals but there are a lot of things I haven't done. I have no aerobars, no aero helmet, the seatpost is too short and could be lengthened, and I haven't gotten a fit. I haven't been biking too much with more experienced folks, so I'm not sure if there are other technical or form fixes that might speed me up. I'm not convinced that a bunch of small changes, however, would have made a measurable alteration to yesterday's results. And I'm coming to the end of my ability to spend gobs of money on triathlon for the moment.
I'm probably just going to keep with the training plan and see what happens for now, but do you have any thoughts?
Also, someone was drafting behind me for a long time (like 7 miles) on the bike, until a long downhill part and he took off. That wasn't legal, but I didn't know what to do so I just kept going and ignored him. Is it part of the culture to say something, either to the drafter or to officials, if that happens? Do folks just mind themselves?
Also also, I tried my Orca trisuit out in a 25-miler before race day, but still, halfway through the race yesterday my arse started hurting and it interfered with my performance. Like I said, I don't know if I can afford to replace it, but does anyone have suggestions for a trisuit that allows for a comfier posterior? Maybe I just need to get more used to it? I have a Terry Butterfly Century seat, which is the most comfortable seat I've ever had, so I don't think it would help to go down the rabbit hole of talking seats.
Thanks, so much, to anyone who took the time to read all this. Sorry if it was long! Don't feel like you have to respond if you don't have time!
-GiantNewb
Formerly GiantNewb, but not such a newb anymore.
Rather than including this in my weekly update, I thought I'd start a separate thread for my thoughts after my intermediate distance race this past weekend. I finished it, and it's amazing that I did, considering where I was just 6 months ago. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place, and I got to do things I love doing. And I'm not even too tired or sore today. But I was slow as molasses, particularly and surprisingly on the bike, and I'm left wondering if it's a good idea to proceed with my plan to do Lake Placid 70.3, of all races, in September.
So here's a report: the swim went well. I started off going comfortably fast, but the front group was a little claustrophobic and competitive for me (lots of jostling for positions and people swimming straight over me and such), so I backed off and finished in the middle of my age group. I wanted to reserve energy anyway, so I didn't mind that.
SKipping to the run--I knew it would be slow and I went predictably like 13 or 14 minutes per mile. I had to walk a lot at the beginning because my legs were so stiff. It didn't feel like cramping, more like seizing up or tension. So, I'm not sure it was hydration-related, so much as lack-of-brick-workouts-related (which I only started doing a few weeks ago because I'm being careful about my knees). Not sure though? None of my brick workouts felt that bad.
On the bike, however, people were whizzing by me and I wasn't expecting it. I went from middle of the pack to 5-to-last in short order. The course had one giant hill. In all, I went about 13 miles per hour.
I finished 4th-to-last after one more person passed me on the run.
In all, the race went great. In January, I didn't own a bike and I couldn't run for 3 minutes without my knees hurting. But with that slow bike performance especially, I'm wondering if Lake Placid 70.3 might be too much for me. I'm proud of my accomplishments so far, and if setting LP as a goal was what's gotten me here, perhaps the motivation was worth spending the money on the LP registration and I can just focus on shorter distances for now. Being a slow runner seems a bit less consequential than a slow biker in triathlon generally, and LP in particular.
On the other hand, I've come so far in the last 3 months and I might continue to improve that much in the next 3 months, before the race. I'm typing all of this out because I'm so inexperienced with biking and running, and you all might have more of an understanding about how an enthusiastic, inexperienced person with a history of injury but not a lot of pain right now can improve. Also, I have a nice carbon bike and clipless pedals but there are a lot of things I haven't done. I have no aerobars, no aero helmet, the seatpost is too short and could be lengthened, and I haven't gotten a fit. I haven't been biking too much with more experienced folks, so I'm not sure if there are other technical or form fixes that might speed me up. I'm not convinced that a bunch of small changes, however, would have made a measurable alteration to yesterday's results. And I'm coming to the end of my ability to spend gobs of money on triathlon for the moment.
I'm probably just going to keep with the training plan and see what happens for now, but do you have any thoughts?
Also, someone was drafting behind me for a long time (like 7 miles) on the bike, until a long downhill part and he took off. That wasn't legal, but I didn't know what to do so I just kept going and ignored him. Is it part of the culture to say something, either to the drafter or to officials, if that happens? Do folks just mind themselves?
Also also, I tried my Orca trisuit out in a 25-miler before race day, but still, halfway through the race yesterday my arse started hurting and it interfered with my performance. Like I said, I don't know if I can afford to replace it, but does anyone have suggestions for a trisuit that allows for a comfier posterior? Maybe I just need to get more used to it? I have a Terry Butterfly Century seat, which is the most comfortable seat I've ever had, so I don't think it would help to go down the rabbit hole of talking seats.
Thanks, so much, to anyone who took the time to read all this. Sorry if it was long! Don't feel like you have to respond if you don't have time!
-GiantNewb
Formerly GiantNewb, but not such a newb anymore.