How do I push myself enough harder to use it up during the race? I competed in my second sprint yesterday.
The tri was .5/16/3 miles, and I had enough left at the finish to bike another 10 or so (and did) and ride to my university & back today, which was another 10 each way on my fixed gear training/beater bike.
I tried several times to pick up my pace, but had significant difficulty. I wasn’t breathing terribly hard, just didn’t have the energy to push any faster.
Might diet be a consideration?
I had eggs in a wrap with some cheese before hand. OJ too. Pasta and veggies the night before. Diluted grape juice on the bike, and I probably got half a cup of water into my mouth on the run.
Here’s the results/ splits, if that helps at all. T1 was ugly, but oh well.
OVERALL WAVE DIVISION |— SWIM–| |—T1 --||-- BIKE --||—T2 --||— RUN --|WA
PLC Name A/S DIV CITY TIME PLC/TOT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT VE BIB
42 Andrew ``````````` 22M M2024 ```````` RI 1:29:08 4/12 16 12:32 78 2:12 52 48:40 33 :40 101 25:04 1 153
Ugh. Lets try this
OVERALL WAVE DIVISION |— SWIM–| |—T1 --||-- BIKE --||—T2 --||— RUN --|WA
PLC Name A/S DIV CITY TIME PLC/TOT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT RANK SPLIT VE BIB
==== ========================== ==== ===== ===================== ======= ======== ==== ===== ==== ===== ==== ===== ==== ===== ==== ===== == =====
“I wasn’t breathing terribly hard, just didn’t have the energy to push any faster.”
Most likely, you had the energy, you just didn’t think you did. If a bear came running out of the woods half way through the run, I bet you would have gone faster.
Same here…Got off bike started run which was only 5 miles, waited to last mile to kick it in high gear. Year before I had nothing left at that point. Could have started off at the 2 mile mark with a little more kick. Guess it all comes to fitness level and knowing pace to set to get optimum results. Can I be anymore vague. All comes to practicing the same things that you are going to have to do on race day. That is if you only race 3-5 times a year. Pros race almost everyweekend and get to know their bodies and when and where they can push.
Probably true that I just wasn’t aware of being able to push much harder. Maybe it’s mostly mental then.
I know when it came to the end of the run, I had enough left that I flat out sprinted the last 100 yds, and felt like I should have kicked up the pace a bit sooner.
In my opinion, you don’t know how hard you possibly go until you have gone too far. I’ve pushed pretty hard in some races, especially sprint tri’s. I’m still not convinced that I’ve gone the fastest I could possibly go, though. Reason being…I’ve been able to comfortably walk after every race I’ve done. Could/Should I have pushed any part of those races harder? I don’t know, but that’s why I keep racing. Push yourself hard. It’s the only way to know how much you’ve got.
basically same here. Like your teachers always say practice makes perfect and another reason why bricks are good training tools. OOPS I OPENED THAT CAN OF WORMS AGAIN!!
Sprint distances don’t destroy your body. It’s why I like them. You can race all out and still feel fine playing at the beach with your kids afterwards. A few miles on the bike and three miles running just isn’t enough to trash you. I’ve done Olys all out before and then gone out for a training run with a buddy and done 15 miles on the day. You should be able to run afterwards and do training the next day without any issue.
Couple of comments though: don’t eat the morning of sprints. Did you really eat this before a race?
I had eggs in a wrap with some cheese before hand. OJ too.
You don’t want anything in your stomach. You may feel hungry but it doesn’t matter. If you’re well-rested and ate well the night before you have plenty of glycogen in your muscles to fuel you through a sprint. I don’t eat anything before or during the race. You should be going so hard your stomach will not tolerate any fuel.
If you don’t race often then a few time trials in the weeks leading up to the race might be good to help you get a feel for race pacing. Vary your bike pacing from hard to “eyeball bleeding, leg burning” pace and see how the run goes. There is a balance between bike and run effort that will yield the best result. Go to easy on the bike and you can still only run so fast. Go too hard and you waddle the run like a duck (though this is less likely to happen on a sprint).
Sprint distances don’t destroy your body. It’s why I like them. You can race all out and still feel fine playing at the beach with your kids afterwards. A few miles on the bike and three miles running just isn’t enough to trash you. I’ve done Olys all out before and then gone out for a training run with a buddy and done 15 miles on the day. You should be able to run afterwards and do training the next day without any issue.
Couple of comments though: don’t eat the morning of sprints. Did you really eat this before a race?
I had eggs in a wrap with some cheese before hand. OJ too.
You don’t want anything in your stomach. You may feel hungry but it doesn’t matter. If you’re well-rested and ate well the night before you have plenty of glycogen in your muscles to fuel you through a sprint. I don’t eat anything before or during the race. You should be going so hard your stomach will not tolerate any fuel.
If you don’t race often then a few time trials in the weeks leading up to the race might be good to help you get a feel for race pacing. Vary your bike pacing from hard to “eyeball bleeding, leg burning” pace and see how the run goes. There is a balance between bike and run effort that will yield the best result. Go to easy on the bike and you can still only run so fast. Go too hard and you waddle the run like a duck (though this is less likely to happen on a sprint).
Chad
To be honest, that’s a new perspective to me. I’ve always eaten before competitions. Past Tri’s, and the 12 years of competitive swimming that I did.
I didn’t have any trouble with my stomach to speak of, guess it means the issue really was mostly mental.
I’ll be sure to practice more TT-ing before the races next season. I think it’s about over in my area now.
Lets see if I can actually stick with a workout plan through the winter & be in a bit better shape come next summer.
The extra biking that I’ve been doing should help a little at least.
Sprint distances don’t destroy your body. It’s why I like them. You can race all out and still feel fine playing at the beach with your kids afterwards. A few miles on the bike and three miles running just isn’t enough to trash you. I’ve done Olys all out before and then gone out for a training run with a buddy and done 15 miles on the day. You should be able to run afterwards and do training the next day without any issue.
Couple of comments though: don’t eat the morning of sprints. Did you really eat this before a race?
I had eggs in a wrap with some cheese before hand. OJ too.
You don’t want anything in your stomach. You may feel hungry but it doesn’t matter. If you’re well-rested and ate well the night before you have plenty of glycogen in your muscles to fuel you through a sprint. I don’t eat anything before or during the race. You should be going so hard your stomach will not tolerate any fuel.
If you don’t race often then a few time trials in the weeks leading up to the race might be good to help you get a feel for race pacing. Vary your bike pacing from hard to “eyeball bleeding, leg burning” pace and see how the run goes. There is a balance between bike and run effort that will yield the best result. Go to easy on the bike and you can still only run so fast. Go too hard and you waddle the run like a duck (though this is less likely to happen on a sprint).
Chad
A bunch of good stuff here. One that I’ll give a double shot to is the hard efforts leading up to race day. I don’t race often, and have found that if I don’t do some really hard stuff beforehand, on race day, I feel flat; working plenty hard it seems, just not getting the output from the body that is expected.
I’ve always eaten before competitions. Past Tri’s, and the 12 years of competitive swimming that I did.
I didn’t have any trouble with my stomach to speak of, guess it means the issue really was mostly mental.
Most swimming events are not long enough to bring on stomach cramps. Also, it depends on how long before the event you ate. Three hours minimum is recommended. If you ate this at less than three hours and had no stomach issue on the bike or run then I would wager you were not going hard enough. Something about riding doesn’t quite cause the stomach issues of running. I’ve hammered rides and then come to a painful halt on the run when my stomach tried to tear me a new one.
