Jump to content
In Stores Everywhere! The Definitive Guide to Plant-based Athletics ×

Lobsteriffic's Training Log - Oct. 31st Marathon Here I Come

lobsteriffic
 Share

Recommended Posts

lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Suit arrived! Just got into it. Wow...weird looking!

 

I want to go early tomorrow morning to the lake so there won't be many boats or anything like that on the water. I'm paranoid about swimming near boats. Problem is a friend is having a going away party tonight so everyone is going to be sleeping tomorrow morning. I'm going to ask, but I'm not hopeful. We'll see! I don't like the idea of going out alone either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 1.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

vivalasvegans Newbie

vivalasvegans

Posted
Posted

If you get to go, that will be great. but honestly, it won't be that big of a deal if your first time is on race day. you'll be so surprised at how fast your wetsuit makes you go, you'll already have an advantage! but you're not going to win any triathalon in the swim. have fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Saturday, July 10th:

 

Took my wetsuit out to Pike Lake for a trial run before my tri tomorrow.

 

Yikes, OWS is WEIRD! At first I couldn't exhale under water, so I just practiced putting my face in and blowing bubbles. Then I just kind of splashed around and bobbed about in the water. After awhile I was swimming normal freestyle but I was still having troubles exhaling underwater so I was breathing every 2nd stroke..which is what I do in a race anyway. Usually when I'm swimming laps I breathe every 3 strokes.

 

Anyhoo, didn't spend that long swimming...didn't want to tire myself out. Just did about 20 min. of back and fort by the beach. I was all by myself and was nervous about swimming out further without anyone else around.

 

Freaked out when weeds would touch me in the water. It's a bizarre sensation to get used to. I just need to do it more.

 

Went to pre-race meeting tonight. Not many people doing the adult sprint (the 'real' race tomorrow is the junior elite championships, they just tacked an adult sprint on to it at the end for age groupers). The people that are doing the adult sprint are really hard core. Reminds me of that duathlon I was in with 9 other athletes and I came in last. I think there might be a repeat of that tomorrow. But I'm not sweating it. I came in last in the duathlon and it wasn't the end of the world and I still had fun. So if it happens tomorrow it's not a big deal. I realize I'm a back of the pack racer and I'm okay with that. In larger races I blend in but in smaller races it's really noticeable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MaryStella Newbie

MaryStella

Posted
Posted

Been thinking about your race today and wondering how u did!! can't wait 2 hear all about it!! Im happy 2 hear u got the practice OW swim in. I think it is really different too and that is y i really hoped you would be able do it before race day. I didn't want u to freakout when the weeds touch u. I still hate that part!! If someone could trim those down it would fantastic! lol! well I will check backlater for the racereport!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I will do a full race report later but just wanted to let you know that the sprint was so much fun! I met a group of girls who are just getting started in triathlon and they are sucky swimmers too. We were pretty close throughout the race and it was awesome to have that encouragement.

 

Just got home and scarfed down some black beans and hot sauce...post-race meal of champions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I wish! They're actually from a city 2.5 hours away. They drove up just for the tri. Plus I'm moving in 1.5 weeks. (yikes!!) That's so lame, making tri friends right before I leave. Oh well, that's the way the vegan cookie crumbles I suppose.

 

Sunday, July 11th:

 

Sprint tri!

 

Woke up, wasn't really hungry, threw my stuff in the car and drove to the lake. The adult sprint wasn't until 10:30, but we had to be registered and body marked by 8:00. So I got there, set up my transition, had 4 bananas between 7:30 and 10:30. About 30 min. before our start I got into my wetsuit and swam a bit. Practiced running into the water from the beach.

 

Swim: 20:10 (750m)

Best swim yet but I didn't feel good during it. In the pool when I time myself I'm typically around 24:00. At my last sprint (in a pool) I was at 21:15. Felt kind of cruddy during the swim...nauseous and tired and never felt like I was catching my breath. Going too fast I guess. Sighting was alright...only went off course badly one time. A kayaker stopped me and suggested I go back the other way. I was definitely the fast of the slow swimmers. Everyone else was long out of the water by the time I finished but there was still 5 others swimming behind me. There were a LOT of weeds! It was so gross...they were right up in my face.

 

T1:

T1 went great. Suit came off quickly. Lost some time changing into bike shoes. Had a swig of Powerade.

 

Bike: 48:23 (20 KM) - this includes T1 and T2

Felt a bit gross after the swim, think I swallowed too much lake water. I was feeling kind of queasy, belching seemed to help that. Took me awhile to find my bike legs. Was passed by two girls. Ended up re-passing them. One of them passed me again and we battled it out till the end. She finished the bike before me in the end...I decided to save it for the run.

In my last sprint (May) my bike time was over 57 minutes so obviously I've been doing something right. Although to be fair, I was being overly cautious at the May tri because of the snow!

 

T2:

I was the only one of the slow people that needed to change bike shoes for running shoes. So a few people passed me in transition.

 

Run: 27:54 (5K)

Felt really slow coming off the bike. Took me awhile to get into the run. This felt really hard and I'm kind of shocked at my time. In the May tri my time was 29:02. So I managed to shave a minute and a bit off of that.

 

Not sure how I feel about the Olympic in August. The swim is what is going to get me. Not sure if I should just do the sprint and do an Olympic in 2011. Decisions, decisions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jason X Newbie

Jason X

Posted
Posted

hey! good work, and a lot of improvement!!!

 

if it's only the swim that has you nervous about an oly (and i doubt you're worried for your life) just do it and suffer through the swim and then strike with a vengeance on the other two parts!!

 

but that's just my advice. if you're REALLY nervous, and don't have any silly goals, then do the tri, be happy, and then do the oly next year. but if you're just nervous, I think you just dive in. (no pun intended.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Haha, yeah, I was kind of thinking that. I just felt really gross on the swim. My stomach hurt (probably from accidentally ingesting gross lake water) and I kind of had some cramping and I was wheezing a bit and the whole time I was thinking "is this over yet???"

 

I have no doubt I COULD swim the 1500m, I just know I would be slow and it would kind of suck. But then if this was easy everybody would do it and maybe I should just HTFU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jason X Newbie

Jason X

Posted
Posted

well, let's break that down.

 

stomach pains? don't swallow so much lake water!!! You've got a month and change to get your technique down.

 

cramps? nutrition. Try a Nuun tab just before the race. Or even a clif shot.

 

wheezing? either you were breathing funny, or you were overexerted, which you yourself said you did in the swim.

 

so, they're all easy fixes. sounds like HTFU'ing is your answer.

 

YES!

believe me, i know what it's like to have shitty races. on more than one occasion I had questioned what I was doing and almost just quit the sport after a bad performance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MaryStella Newbie

MaryStella

Posted
Posted

WHOO HOOO! I LOVE IT!!!! YEAH BUDDY!!!!

 

First I think you did really well you improved on every aspect of your race and It is a big deal since this is your first time in open water really swimming!!! Give yourself some credit for that. It is like everything else in life if you get out there and do more open water swimming. It will improve. big learning curve. Although I gotta agree with jason I totally think you can do the oly. But i also realize you had a lot of other stressful things going on in your life right now so u might not need the added stress and could see how next year might be better for you. But I have no doubt that you can do it, it is just a matter of when. Look at how far you havecome with your training. Not at how much farther the swim is. I would take some time to just enjoy how well you did today though! Seriously congrats again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Haha, they weren't all at once though. But seriously, I love bananas when they are perfectly ripe, I could eat 10 of them probably! I even had a banana after the race so I guess that makes 5 in total today.

 

I think you two are right. Jason way to point out that I'm just making excuses for myself! Once I move I would like to find a swim coach to give me a few private lessons. I couldn't find anything like that here. I think that would go a LONG way in helping my stroke.

 

Definitely need to get more OWS in. The more I think about it the more I realize how shallow I was breathing, which probably caused a lot of problems. I think I just got too excited.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
vivalasvegans Newbie

vivalasvegans

Posted
Posted

Sweet! Great race!

 

Lakes can be so gross, weeds are the worst! Bleah, I've asked myself why I hate them so much, mostly I think it's the slime factor. Yuck!

 

Your wheezing might have been from the wetsuit constricting your upper torso: you may have had race nerves (which are good, obviously) and you were giving it your all, so the normal things you do subconsciously to clear your lungs during training couldn't function fully and properly with the wetsuit squeezing your chest. Uh, don't know if that makes sense, sorry, I haven't had my coffee yet.

 

I'm curious about the bike race. Was it draft legal?

 

If you got to do the same race again next weekend, would you eat four bananas a half hour before the race?

 

Wow I am so happy for you, living vicariously through you too... So psyched for you! All your training is paying off! Remember when you could barely swim and you had to figure out how to clip into your pedals?!?!?!?! Fucking awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Oh sorry, I didn't eat those bananas a half hour before the race. Between 7:30 and 10:00 I ate four bananas. Not all at once. They were spaced out. I don't like eating something big before a race but if I eat a little bit then I get hungry again in an hour and eat something little again.

 

It wasn't draft legal, and the draft zone was HUGE - 27 feet! So as soon as someone passed you you had to drop way back. It kind of sucked. And they were patrolling a LOT looking for drafters. If you got caught you had to spend 1 minute in the penalty box back in transition.

 

I think you're spot on about the wheezing during the swim. Probably all of those factors were at play.

 

And you're right, instead of focusing on how far I have to go I should look back and appreciate how far I've actually come.

 

You guys are all so nice. I love my VBBF posse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lobsteriffic Newbie

lobsteriffic

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Haha, I know, you guys are obsessed with my bananas! I get so hungry in the mornings, especially when I am up like 5 hours before I race.

 

Monday, July 12th:

 

45 min. swim (1500 yds)

Tired from the race yesterday so I took it slow. Had a couple of breaks when I felt like my form was breaking down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


×
×
  • Create New...