Blog Wordle

I haven't posted in a while, but I will soon, really.  In the meantime I did an updated Wordle to see what changes it might capture compared to an earlier Wordle where I was still very focused on swimming.  No surprise the swim still dominates, but there is a lot more balance for sure.  Not sure how much to read into it, but my new Wordle is a LOT more streamlined...hopefully life imitates Wordle!

New Wordle


Old Wordle


As a quick update, I won't be doing any more Tri's until the Spring.  Mentally and physically it is time to recover and focus on work and supporting the Support Staff.  My more relaxed training plan for the off- season is to focus on biking and swimming with only three workouts a week including the occasional soccer game.  The focus is on working out with friends and enjoying the fall without pushing myself to any extremes.  It has been a nice change so far.

Some Consolation (?)

Well, if you look at enough statistics you can get the answer you want.  After a lot of rummaging around, I found the rankings for just my category of Novice Men, and here things look a little brighter, 17th out of 45!
Of course for many of them, this was their very first triathlon, but we will leave that alone for now.

The guy who was next door in the hotel and who was very nervous about the swim looks to have turned in a good swim, and came in overall a little below me, so I am happy for him and perhaps a little for me as well.  The guy immediately below me ended up there after a 2 minute penalty, so clearly he coveted my spot, nice try buddy!  I even managed to post the 10th fastest run in this crowd.

That's a lot of trying to make myself feel better, but it isn't really working.  The post-racedom depression  just seeps in--mostly because your worn-out body infects your mind, and because the build-up is over.  Since this is the end of the race season for me, I only see a winter of training ahead.  I know I didn't have the race I should have, and I did not train the way I should have.  So yes, the pitty party will continue until moral improves.

Brutal Reality, I am getting worse!

Well the numbers don't lie, I am getting worse at triathlon not better:

Place            159 /279
Percentile      43%
Swim Rank   213 /279
Swim Time    0:20:25
Transition 1   0:03:08
Bike Rank    188 /279
Bike Time     1:03:00
Transition      0:01:28
Run Rank     89 /279
Run Time      0:24:42
Total Time    1:52:41

I had a SLOWER speed on all three legs than last triathlon, a worse percentile and a slower time. This really sucks, and makes me mad, and should serve to motivate for winter workouts. To the pool, to the bike, and to the run.

There were some important differences between the conditions and courses, but ultimately they are a bit of a wash, with this one having shorter swim, longer bike, cool conditions, and hilly courses. It comes down to the mental and physical preparation of the competitor, and there's clearly work to be done.

I was definitely more comfortable during the swim and I was able to jog the transition, but the larger point is that any triathlon you go away from feeling good is a slow triathlon. I for sure did not train for a 2 hour race, so endurance training is in order as well.

Luray Sprint: Subjective Experience

GAMEPLAN

Swim: Warm-up the swim, sprint the start to get ahead of weird strokers and hope to avoid getting swum over, sight every 8 strokes to avoid zig-zaging down the course, have a finishing kick.

Bike: Take advantage of non-fixie bike to take little breaks on downhills and generally avoid spiking the HR to allow recovery from swim and prep for run.

Run: Use new front of foot technique and quicker turnover, no other plan beyond not bonking two miles from the finish.

EXECUTION

Swim: Followed the plan, went straighter than first triathlon, much smaller waves/more spaced out so had little physical contact with other swimmers, passed a few swimmers from previous waves, but towards the end I got off track and so had to veer hard left to exit the swim.  Had enough left to jog to transition, so that was good.  My arm form was pretty good, but I forgot about my legs and need to work on the symmetry of the rotation and pushing down chest/head when I am not sighting. SLOW transition to bike, due to bike shoes and wiping rain off goggles, but needed just a moment to get down off redline HR.

Bike: Perhaps mine was near the last wave, or my swim + transition made me really late, but only saw slow bikers on the ride.  I passed maybe 40 riders, and got passed twice.  Ripping downhills with a big gear is fun, had to remember to give legs breaks.  Long false flat followed by two hills, last hill I was in my lowest gears and had to power the end out of the saddle.  It seemed to be over pretty quickly all in all. 

Fine transition except I needed an extra Gu that was hard to find.  Rookie mistake to take that without water in hand and I ran out, coughing a bit rest of run. 

Run: Let the legs swing a little on downhill on the way out, the back was relentless uphill, so jogged the worst of the uphill.  I should have dug a little deeper here.  I need more mental toughness for the finish.  Ironically it again seemed to end rather suddenly at the top of the hill, when I was just getting ready to pick it up again.  Obviously hill workouts are needed and longer runs so I have something left after 1+ hours of the race. 

Next time: Swim, swim, swim…to end up in the rest of the race with people my pace, which will make me go faster for both the bike and especially the run.  The sprint distance really seems like enough, particular 750m swim.  I need to work on improving my time before stepping up to the Olympic distance. 

All alone for race day...

In the end you race by yourself in Tri, but it rarely feels that way with the crowds, training partners and others there.  But for various reasons, such and injury and having other responsibilities, I'm going all alone to the Luray race this weekend.  I am someone who never goes to movies or goes on vacation or anything else alone, so I am embracing it as "a good thing".

I looked back at my early goals for this Tri, and I only followed through on #3, getting a bike.  That is the part I am excited/curious about.  Otherwise, I am feeling pretty nervous about the condition my body is in.  I spent 10 days very recently scuba diving and getting sun burned, and my body hasn't really recovered.  I went for a run yesterday morning and felt really lousy, and that came after a tough open water swim in salt water (current and waves) in the Cayman Islands.  All and all not a great way to build up confidence, but I have to trust the taper and also know that doing some crazy "make-up" workout is NOT going to help anything.  Just making sure to eat and rest right, and get down there in plenty of time to be relaxed is going to be key.

I am pretty distracted at this point by the race, and nervous as much as I know that the swim is shorter and I should be a stronger and faster swimmer than last time.  My more modest goals for this race, use sigting and more even form to swim straighter, keep heart rate steady (no peaks) on the bike while maintaining speed, run more forward on my feet and don't hit the wall!

I know that doing better at all three legs is unlikely, I will just have to hope for the best.  

Hellifast Bike

After many trips to bike shops and test drives and hours surfing Criagslist, I got a bike, a really fast bike, more bike than my engine deserves.  In bike culture, you should have the legs to live up to your bike, and the Van Dressel Hellifast is an amateur racer’s bike (see Georgetown University Cycling team), I do NOT have a racer’s engine.  Back in Colorado, there was nothing more fun than flying by the guy in matching get-up on the latest full suspension bike, and doing it on your beater hardtail made all the sweater.  It’s going to suck to be on the other end of that.  On the other hand, if I ever do get a serious set of quads, adding an aero bar cockpit to this already sleek frame would make for a killer Tri-bike.

Huge thanks to The Wrench for all of the Beta prior to purchasing, and for having all the specialized tools, know-how, and most of all generosity, to help me put the bike back in working condition.  It still needs some work for sure (what the heck is carbon paste?), but working on a used bike and making it like new gives a great sense of ownership.

Strong Week!

Let's take a moment to celebrate the occasional week where you just feel strong, you can squeeze in a couple extra 100m of swimming, go for that extra morning run, and enjoy the confidence of having that extra effort in reserve.  I went swimming with Dr. Sprint, who has done a lot of short Tri's, and had a lot of fun going hard 9X100m in the pool.  I was so velocitized that I couldn’t slow down enough to do a longer set. 

A strong week does great things for your confidence.  At the end of last week, that meant doing  a fast 5 miles in 90+ degree weather knowing that the headache I had at the start would likely come back with a vengeance.  I pushed it all the way, and guess what, no headache!  Have to watch out for over-training in my excitement, so today is a rest day.