2009 Terre Haute Triathlon race report

That's me on the bike, I did my first ever Triathlon today. Those are my sunglasses in my mouth I was still to wet/hot from the swim to put them on as they fogged instantly. I got them on about a half a mile later. It was the Terre Haute thunder in the valley race. It was a pretty small event with 345 participants. The distance was 800m swim / 40km bike / 8km run. I've spent the last month collecting all the things I'd need to do my first event having only done running events up to this point. My main goal for today was to finish and I did that. I hadn't been able to put as much time into swimming or biking as I wanted prior to the race as I'd been working on sticking to my training plan for the Indianapolis 500 Festival half marathon which was a total success (new PR woo). I'd basically just been doing some cross training of a brick workout on Thursdays and a swim on Tuesdays. Overall this was enough to let me finish but I was pretty much out of gas at the start of the run which should have been what I was most in shape for.

The Swim:

I got my wetsuit this week so hadn't had a chance to do an open water swim in it. I got in the water about 20 minutes before the race and did a little testing it out and it seemed fine. It definitely adds flotation which helps. The downside for me is my chest is pretty good size and I felt pretty restricted in my breathing with the wetsuit on. I also got a lung full of water about 100m into the start so it took me quite a while to get my breath back after that. All in all I was pretty happy with the swim based on how much time I had put into getting ready for it. Next event I'll be spending a lot more time swimming prior to the event. The water was impossible to see in so I kept alternating from freestyle to Tarzan style swimming looking straight ahead to try and keep on course. I ran into a lot of people but got run into a lot also so didn't feel to bad about it. Once out of the water it was about 2 city blocks to the transition area. They had sidewalks and pavement. It was a bit farther than I expected to have to go in bare feet but it was really clean so no issues with rocks or anything. Having swam all through age group and high school on the swim team I think I was least worried about the swim and it turned out to be the most difficult for me. A good lesson learned. Swimming 2000 yards in the pool is WAY different than 800m in a lake surrounded by 40 other people trying to go fast on your same course.

The Bike:

The course was a straight out and back after a few initial turns to get out of the park. The streets were open to traffic so there was the occasional car but for the most part the traffic wasn't an issue. I got passed by 2 people and passed about 5 people on the bike. I'd have liked to have had a faster average speed over the course but a little head wind and lots more hills than I'm used to kept me right around my normal training ride speed. My landscape around my home for my 20-30 mile rides don't have any hills that require me to stand up and there were quite a few of those on todays course so I'll be looking around for some more hilly rides in the future to prepare a little more for that. My garmin tells me I hit 35 mph as my top speed and my bike runs out of gear there downhill so I'm forced to coast as pedaling doesn't do any good. I might look into another cassette at some point for that but on normal rides thats never a problem so it's not a huge deal I don't think. I was praying to not have a flat and thankfully I didn't get one. I saw two people with flats and thats always a worry of mine on these road bike tires. I'm pretty new to my road bike having been on a recumbent for the last 10 years until I decided to do a triathlon so I'm always nervous about how skinny the tires are and my body size I always feel like it's just about to blow out. The last thing is when I came into the transition to dismount I almost didn't get out of my clips which would have been pretty embarrassing. Thankfully I was able to yank my left leg out at the last second and not fall over. I got a smile and a "nice save" from the USAT official standing about 3 feet from me.

The Run:

The transition from bike to run was very smooth and I was just over a minute. The elastic shoe laces are a life saver for speed on this part. The longest part of the transition was probably taking my bike to the rack and trying to not fall down slipping in my road shoes on the wet pavement. The run was 4 miles of out and back and a final mile of trail runs through the woods around the lake where the swim was. It was really nice though they ran out of water. Thankfully I was carrying some of my own. It was plenty hot by the end of the race and I'm glad I had fluids with me. I was really tired toward the end and had to alternate a little walking with running every half mile or so. Everyone was very supportive on the run, lots of "Great Jobs" and "Your almost there keep it up" type comments. The bike was a very solitary event since the riders were so spread out and the event size was small. It was nice to get to the out and back run on the paved path when you were passing the people ahead of you. I saw a couple of my friends that are much faster than me and got some encouragement from them as well as everyone else.

Event Summary:

This was a great event I think I'd recommend it to someone else doing their first triathlon. The fact that we were able to camp on site and just wake up and walk to the transition was awesome. I need to do some more triathlon specific training for my next race instead of relying on a running program and cross training. I also need to do a better job getting nutrition during the race, I waited to long to get my gels in during the bike ride and I think maybe I'd have had some more energy for the run if I had planned that a little better. I also think I'd like to try some aero bars for my bike. Not that I'm a speed demon but the added option of that position would relieve some stress on my shoulders I think and give me another option to shift around a little during the ride.

I finished and that was my goal so I'm super happy for that.

Training progresses

Just realized I haven't posted in awhile so thought I'd throw up a quick note about how my training has been going.

I had a nice 8 mile run Saturday. My wife took my daughter to a local park and I ran on the trails system in town. It's all paved and in 8 miles I only had to cross traffic twice. It's so nice to be able to just run and not worry about getting plowed over by some driver not paying attention or having to jump into the ditch when someone refuses to slow down if cars are going to pass each other the same time as you. Running out in the country can be dangerous so I love running in town on those trails. It's so strange to go to town to run away from traffic but thats the way it is. Honestly I feel a little weird driving to run but overall it's a much better experience and my daughter doesn't complain about a park with 9 slides in it.

I've been continuing doing brick workouts on my cross training days combining a 10-20 mile bike ride with a 2 mile run or so. I think it's really helping me maintain my pace toward the end of my runs. Typically last season I'd burn out about a mile or two before the end of my run and just be dead in the water but I'm having less trouble powering through to the end.

Speed Gonzales I'm not but I'm speeding through my training toward the first race of the year for me on May 2nd with my sights on the May 30th triathlon.

The Brick, or how I learned to love dual sport workouts

Since I'm training for a triathlon this summer I asked my boss who is a seasoned veteran of triathlons for some advice on what I should do to prepare myself. He said as a start he would try to work in one brick workout a week.

As a long time runner and first attempt at a triathlon my first question of course was, "uh whats a brick". I imagined myself having to find two bricks and do curls with them while running or something. Thankfully he explained it's combining two sports into a single workout such as a run followed by a bike.

My boss suggested the Run/Bike workout as a starting point which makes sense to me as I'm already a pretty strong swimmer having swam on the team all through age group and high school. His guideline was to do X miles followed by X minutes of running.

For example:

• 10 mile bike ride followed by 10 minutes of running
• 20 mile bike ride followed by 20 minutes of running

I did 12 mile ride followed by 12 minutes of running today and am starting to really like these. It's a great activity for me to do on my cross training day since it keeps the run short as I work toward my training program for the half marathon in a couple months. The triathlon is 2 weeks after the half marathon so I should be on good shape for my first event I think if I can keep my bike training going.

After 3 weeks of doing one of these a week I feel really good going from bike to run. I've typically been doing these at the gym and hop off the bike and am running on the treadmill within about 20 seconds so that should be an even faster change of sports than during the event transition where I will have to rack my bike and swap shoes to run.

So in trying to keep focused on my half marathon but work toward the triathlon I've been swimming 1200 yards or so on Tuesdays and doing a brick on Thursdays which makes for two nice cross training days.

I'm going to try doing some shorter repeat bricks in a couple weeks and maybe do ride 5 miles run 5 minutes 3 times in a row.

Learning about Triathlon Transitions

I'm signed up for a triathlon this summer so I've been trying to learn about the transitions. This is totally foreign to me since I've only ever done running events. There's all kinds of things I'm apprehensive about. Is it ok to leave my $1300 bike at the transition without supervision? I see people not wearing socks in videos, that seems crazy from my running only background. Should I wear my bike shorts for all 3 legs? Are there water stops on the bike route or do I need to pack several water bottles on the bike.

In my quest to answer some of these questions and the other 100 or so floating around in my head I've found a few decent videos showing transition strategies that are worth watching. Mostly I'm noticing how everyone in the videos is way skinnier than me but hey, I can do this!


Step by Step Triathlon Transitions



Wetsuit and swim leg tips




Flawless Transition tips


Last but not least a little humor

An awesome beginning triathlete reference

This is a great book that I picked up in my quest to do a triathlon this year.  I have so many questions that many of the training books don't answer that all seem to be answered here in a somewhat humorous narrative.

The first review on amazon sums up my thoughts about this book so well I just thought I'd quote it here from user K. A. Stevenson

In this case, I promptly ordered the top 15 triathlon books and virtually ALL of them were written for the seasoned triathlete hoping to shave a few pts. off their time. With the exception of Dave Scott's book, they were written so far above my level of competing, that I was absolutely discouraged and ready to throw in the towel. Even the various websites online (even for beginners) did not offer the kind of information that I was seeking.

And then I finally got to "Slow Fat Triathlete," which answered all my questions (and then some!) in a captivating, somewhat quirky style. It was the "Siren of the Triathlon" and it called to me with every page...

So if your an experienced athlete looking to do a triathlon or someone just starting out this is a great read.  I highly recommend it.  I'm going to show up at the race a lot less nervous for my first time after reading this.  Pickup a copy !

My Ultimate Protein Smoothie

I've been searching for sources of protein as I continue adding more time and frequency to my workouts.  Being pescetarian and not having of fish very often (about once a week) I need to search out other sources of protein to augment my diet, otherwise I feel tired and lack energy during workouts.  I really love the taste of the Naked Juice protein smoothie but it's expensive and I wanted to come up with my own smoothie to save some money.  I've been trying to come up with something similar tasting that had similar nutrition as far as calories/protein/fat and today I think I found a combination I can live with that tastes pretty good.

Ingredients:

1. 3 heaping scoops of Genisoy natrural soy protein powder
   
2. 6 Ice Cubes
3. 1 cup of natural hemp or almond milk
4. 1 banana (freeze to increase coldness/thickness of smoothie)

This ends up tasting pretty good and similar to the Naked Juice except banana flavor instead of coconut flavor.  Nutritionally it ends up getting me where I wanted.  You can reduce some fat and calories by going with almond milk vs the hemp but I only have hemp milk in the fridge right now so I did the values based on that.  The almond milk is 2g less fat per cup and 30 calories less per cup.  The recipe I came up with is below.

Nutritional information for My Ultimate Smoothie:

• Calories: 400 (220 banana, 70 milk product, 110 protein powder)
• Protein: 31g (2g banana, 4g hemp milk, 25g protein powder)
• Fat: 7.5 (1g banana, 5g hemp milk, 1.5g protein powder)

To compare to the Naked Juice it's values are 440 calories, 4g fat, 32g protein.

dailymile

I was going to post all my workouts here but I'm enjoying dailymile.com so much I think I'm just going to post longer thoughts and items here and use dailymile.com for workout blogging. Dailymile.com has some neat features like you can mark how your feeling on your workouts and friends can send you motivation, it's a neat setup.

You can checkout my workouts over on dailymile.com if your interested. If your a dailymile.com user add me as a friend.