OMG, it’s so F-ing hard to train when it’s 115 outside and you have to workout at 4am or 10 pm if you want to not die in the sun. Went for one run at 4pm for one hour and fell into the local pool after it.

Sorry just a rant about the heat and training in it while getting ready for Silverman. Lucky I have a kick ass coach in Jamie.

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I have been meaning to right a RR for quite some time know…

Before I get to t1..

Training was awesome being able to train with my husband was priceless. I still can’t believe we’re married with all the bitchin’ I did on those long rides… my ass hurts, I m hungry, can we get a beer somewhere? Lol babe Anyways, I never had a problem mentally with completing the distance. I knew I could do it. The problem was the water.. It terrified me. For my first open-water swim I did a lake swim. Freaked out but got in the water. For the iron distance it was in the ocean!!! Made the lake laughable….Anyways I didn’t think about the swim until a couple of weeks before the race. This is where I started freaking out. Having terrible nightmares about getting eaten. How seals were swimming next to me and then a shark came and gobbled me up. I seemed to be able to calm myself down once I stopped going on the internet and reading about deadly sharks and telling myself the chances of that happening to me is highly unlikely. Even though I could calm myself, it onl
y took one thought of Jaws and I would start to freak out again. My husband even tried to help calm me down by contacting the race director to find out if there would be divers in the water. There would be a lot…figured they’d get eaten first.

The night before I actually slept pretty good. I never sleep before a race. Actually my first post on ontri was a question about sleeping the night before.. We woke up around 4.00 a.m, packed the car and had a bagel and protein drink for breakfast. Then we were off. The race was in Plymouth Mass where we are from so getting there was not a problem… We arrived way too early for my liking. I started freaking out. Not trying to show this too my husband who has had to listen to me for the past 2 weeks about the sharks. I just wanted him to have a great day without worrying about me.. We soon got talking to others and I started to calm my nerves. Before we knew it, it was time to get on the bus. We arrived at the start and went to jump in for a practice swim… this is when they told us we could not go in for a practice swim. So we lined up for the start. The pro’s and Aqua bike went off and then it was time for us to line up. We got down to the dock. My husband jumped in i
mmediately. I stood there and froze with my eyes filling up. I then began to tell my husband I couldn’t do it. He kept yelling put your goggles on and get in we only had a couple of minutes to swim to the start buoy!! I began crying and he just kept telling me to get it. I still can’t believe I jumped in. We started swimming to the buoy (doggie paddle) I was crying and telling my husband I was freaking out. We somehow made it to the start line where I started hyperventilating. A nice man told me to stay in the back and everything would be ok. The words didn’t come out of my mouth but I was like are you f—– kidding me there are sharks in here !!!. Hello…. Then bang gun went off and we started swimming. The guy that told me it would be o.k. I could tell he stayed with me for awhile to make sure I was o.k. My husband says he stayed with me too. I tell him he is full of sh–. He was 3rd out of the water.. Just kidding honey very proud.. Well I was off swimming and w
e were protected by the jetty for a while and actually felt quite safe. It was when you left the jetty to swim to the last turn around that things got scary. It was terrifying… the water was so choppy the waves were coming over you. I went on my back to try and calm down but the waves just made you feel like you were going to drown even more. I figured out to just swim head in the water freestyle and hope you’re on target to the buoy. To try and make a long story a little shorter… I finished the swim in 1 hr 22.min and was never so happy!! Maybe I can get a RR for the bike and run by next year.. Can’t wait to do another one!!! Definitely Lake Placid… That’s a lake right???

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race: Crewkerne Super-Sprint

Where: Crewkerne, Somerset

Organiser: Tribor

Date: Sunday 4th July 2010

Course profile: undulating bike with a very sharp left hand turn before a long mile plus incline towards the end. Uphill inline run at the start, then flat off road through woodland before descending through a field thenback towards the aqua centre. Last 200m to finish slightly uphill on grass.

Distance: Super-Sprint – 250m swim+10.5Km bike+2.5 Km run

Closed Roads: no. Half the run off road.

Marshaling: Sign-posts and marshals, not all marshals bibbed which can be a little disconcerting when being directed by somebody who looks like they might be out of a casual stroll on a Sunday morning

Facilities: limited toilets & changing facilities; showers non segregated.

Technical: Chip timing

Freebies: Cotton teeshirt, water, banana.

Draft busters: none seen.

Up at 4.45 am, breakfast and off to Somerset at 5.30 am with wifelet Tracey and 10 year old daughter Charlotte for their first triathlons. T. has been really worried as she is convinced she hasn’t done enough training. C. hasn’t trained for it as we didn’t want her to feel any pressure about it – this should be just something she can do for fun in her otherwise busy singing/ballet/cubs/etc life.

At the venue we found just about the last parking space in Lidl next door to the Aqua Centre (parking in Waitrose also available I think) and registered fairly non painfully.

For a small tri it is excellently run, with chip timing and marking.

T. was off at 8:05 am in her wave, and I was off at 8.13am… I put us both down for 5:30 for the swim. We watched the earlier waves as I explained how it all worked to T. and C. C. was left watching as T. started her race and I went and waited for my wave to start and receive pool side briefing.

I’d said to T. before the race that with her 9 minute “advantage” in wave times I would be pushed to catch her all race, tho it would provide me with a race focus. She was of the opinion I would blat her on the bike… I wasn’t so sure. A 9 minute advantage over 13.25 Km total distance is a lot!

I was able to see T. finish her swim as I waited at poolside; she was stuck behind a woman that had overtaken her then slowed, though T. said she wouldn’t have finished much quicker anyway. I prepared for the swim, 3rd off in our lane of two (!) with a DNS second off. This would cost me 5 seconds (gasp!) as I found later! No swim warm-up permitted and we were eventually off at 8:14am.

Quickly into some rhythm, but my drop off in distance in swim training recently since AT70.3 is showing as i struggled with much technique, endurance or pace whatsoever. I’m not quick at the best of times but it was really dragging. I lost my swim cap on the penultimate pair of lengths and grabbed it – after two years of racing I would have thought I would have known if it was a penalty if I finish w/out a swim cap but I didn’t know! Consequently the final 40m or so was spent with a closed left hand not that it would have affected my time hugely. As I climbed out the lap counter said I needn’t have looked after it (lesson learned).

Swim + 50m run to T1 06:23. A little disappointed with that I must confess.

Chip timing at both ends of T1! F3 events take note!

T1 1:10 Not bad, considering I haven’t practiced transitions for a while. I was cycling in trainers with flat pedals as this is a SS. I noted T.’s bike and helmet were gone so her T1 training at home had obviously gone OK

Bike: Don’t let anyone EVER tell you a Super-Sprint is “easy”. I don’t think there was a flat bit on the course! My plan was to hammer the bike as best as I could, but the nature of the demandingly excellent bike course meant this wasn’t always so feasible! First bit was through Crewkerne itself, with Sunday morning traffic… I passed

#101, a girl, on the way out … to be faced shortly afterwards with a row of parked cars on the left, and a queue of traffic behind a lorry coming the other way in quite a narrow piece of road… I tried to slow to maintain momentum to try and time it to clear the parked cars after the queue had passed but to no avail… I was forced to a halt before starting from scratch again… and #101 came hurtling past me laughing at my predicament as she had missed the hold up. So that gave me a focus to attack (nice arse too!)

The course undulated a little before a straight section saw me being able to use my aerobars for the first time in the race and I blatted #101 along it… then started to climb again and passed a bloke whose chain came off as he changed down. Then as we crested I passed another guy that I’d been following for a short while. He must be the Mark Cavendish of climbers if I could gain on him uphill! Then a long downhill section and the speed wound up, but a very very sharp left hander at a T-junction onto the A30 was a bit of a heart stopper… the marshals shouted something which i thought was “STOP!” but turned out to be “slow down, careful!”… so I almost stopped then had to start again! It struck me that T. must be doing OK as I hadn’t seen her yet and we were on the final third of the bike, but on a straight stretch I saw her ahead… walking… Her bike had had two flats during the week and this was not looking good. I pulled past, and then over and whipped the puncture ki
t out as she walked up. She told me to race on, not to stop. there wasn’t far to the end, maybe 2 Km we thought, so rather uncomfortably I got back on my steed and left her walking. Meanwhile just in that minute spent slowing, stopping and starting again the three or four I’d passed came back past me – including #101!!! Then the final hill started… a mile or so of about 5% incline that just kept going, then a downhill into the town again. I don’t know Crewkerne at all so had no idea of the road surface or twists and turns… we hadn’t had time to recce the route either so I was riding blind so kept the brakes covered as I came through town. back into the aqua centre… Oh… I pulled #101 back before I entered town!

Bike – 10.5 Km – 27:52 Given the stop for Tracey, the minor hold up at the traffic early on and the undulating nature of the course I was happy enough with that – I could potentially knock two minutes off that I reckon in the future with no stops etc.

T2 – 0:30 – hardly anything to do except rack my bike and drop the helmet…

Run: I found it hard! First section is out of town back up the gentle incline we’d come down into town, along a narrow pavement – and it was warm even though it was still before 9 am! Couldn’t get the legs turning over quickly enough so just leant into the slope and pushed up it. My experiences at AT70.3 had shown me I was actually capable of quick a decent lick (for me) off the bike even when feeling tired so I wasn’t overly worried… my battery in my footpod was dead so I had no speed feedback at all. Then a right turn as the road dropped down away from the A30 slightly and into a footpath through woods… we’d been warned of a tree down over the path at highish head height but at 5′7″ it wasn’t a concern for me! A marshal sans bib that looked like somebody out for a stroll directed me down a field with some very insecure footing back towards the aqua centre and I was closing on a couple of runners before me. A left turn came up – the pavement turned left inside an open ga
te, and the road also turned left through it, but there was no indication whether there may have been an obstruction twixt pavement and road after it, so i followed the other two the “long way” round on the road… note to self for 2011… the pavement is clear to go around the corner!! Then into the recreation field and the last 200m to the finish line., Dreams of the finish line sprint were shattered though as it was uphill on grass to the finish!

Run: 13:16 – not bad overall… I’ve not done any pace work on my running at all, so I’ll take an extrapolated 26:32 5Km time!

Overall: 00:49:11 104th out of 150, AG (40-49) position 35th out of 40.

My self timed HRM time showed me as 5 seconds FASTER than that… so I am wondering if I went down as starting 5 seconds earlier in the pool, when the no-show should have gone. As 3rd off we’d been told to start on the 3rd whistle, even though i was only the 2nd in the lane. No biggy of course…

Back in transition after the race T’s bike was still not racked and I began to get concerned. That 2 Km to the end of the bike we had thought it was, was more like 3.5Km I had later realised, but as I went over to a marshal to check all was OK, T. arrived at dismount pushing her bike to a huge cheer from the marshals there. The marshal I spoke to told me they had sent a broom wagon out for her, but she had refused it saying she wanted to finish come what may. Top Girl!

I watched her run out – she asked me to run with her but as I had already finished the race that would have been pace making/external help so I couldn’t of course. Anyhow, this was HER race not mine I saw others leave afterwards, and come in before she had got back and I was starting to get concerned again, but she came through the recreation fields’ gates and push through to the line – T. IS a triathlete and I made sure EVERYBODY know it as she crossed the line with an IM style call “Tracey from Devizes, Wiltshire, YOU ARE A TRIATHLETE!!” Much to her embarrassment!

Her times are not important because she only wanted to finish and do it, and the puncture (which actually turned out to be a ripped tyre!) makes any timings meaningless… but I’d say that my synopsis that I’d be pushed to catch her might well have been correct. She feels she has unfinished business at Crewkerne so we will be back next year!!!

And onto C.’s race… we had something to eat as her race wasn’t to start until noon, and it was barely 9:30 by now! Registration was a bit of a pain, but once done we got her bike into transition with her gear, and we watched the U8’s wave go off so C. could get the hang of how it all fitted together. Then it was her turn. I don’t know how I didn’t cry as she set off… swimming smoothly and gracefully (far better than me!) her swim went well… we got outside in time for her to watch her through t1 – the clock stops for the children at transition for safety reasons as it happens which is a bit of boon! – and off she set on the bike. Now… though C. is 10 years old, she was racing in the U11-U12 AG, as she will be 11 in November and AGs are based on 31st December age. She had 3 x 600m loops of the bike to cycle, on grass… and she struggled bless her. Her bike is lovely, but weighs the proverbial ton, and the grass was hard work for her. In the end she couldn’t manage to f
inish, it was too hard for her (she is tiny as well) and it was a tearful C. that DNF’d bless her. I feel somewhat guilty for suggesting it to her, and not doing any “training” because I wanted her to enjoy it and not be under any pressure… but it was too much for her on the day. Not helped by me finding out later her back brake was rubbing Some OJ and chocolate croissants perked her up, as well as a happy 3 legged dog, and we went back to friends locally afterwards who sang her praises (of course!) and she cheered up soon afterwards.

So… a mixed bag for the Didds’ household, but two new triathletes in the world! I just need to find C. a lighter bike.

T. had the bug though… she is really serious about finding more races now! What have I done??!!!!

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Last winter in Malawi I was training hard and seriously to do Lake Dunmore. I got badly hurt and then sick a couple of times, the only pool closed and I got off track. Here in Vermont for a few weeks all our friends come on weekends, which is when the races are of course, so I didn’t get reinspired ’till about 5 days ago. I haven’t been training seriously, but I went and bought a cheap very old road bike and went out and did a fifty miler this morning. I haven’t been on a road bike for 10 years, but, being the ass I am I thought I could hit 2:30. I managed 2;35, which on vermont hills and road surfaces, on a bike with a kick-stand, I thought was pretty good. Now I’m thinking about doing an “Oly” (the distances are very inexact, and it seems quite short)in Lowell MA next week.

Do you guys think it’s worth buying bike shoes and peddles at this point? Everyone on the site keeps reccommending doing that and then switching to flats for running, but I only have 10 days to get ready, learn how to switch quickly and figure out how to use the shoes to advntage. I believe, after this morning, that I can manage 25 in 1:10 in my running shoes, and save maybe 30 seconds over changing. Peddles and shoes would also come to almost the cost of my bike, which might be hard to explain to my wife. I guess I’ve made up my mind in the asking, but will post anyway.

By the way, the workout that reinspired me is this, and I wonder what you think. I take the kids swimming at the Townshend dam, and normally swim about half a mile or a mile there, with a few surges. Then my wife bikes down and drives home, and I bike 8 miles all up hill to the house hard- about 30 mins. For whatever reason when I got home on Thursday I decided to do some speed (the first running speed in a year), and I ran 8 hard 75second runs. The biking hurt my legs on the first two, but after that I opened up and felt great. That suddenly made me think I might not be as out of shape as I thought. Anyone do intervals right off the bike?

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O.K. we had some people racing this past weekend that have not posted race reports. You know who you are; get with it and share!

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My buddies (3 of us) and I need a name for our marathon relay for the Hartford Marathon in October. So far, all we have come up with is “Vick in a box” . .

any suggestions?

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I am just wondering if anyone can gives me some advice on training and any info about race day. I am still confused on how the transistion stations work. I am running the Orlando Womens Tri Oct. 23rd. Has anyone run this tri?? Thanks for the advice!

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Only because it’s important to this report I want to remind everyone that I completed Ironman St. George a scant two months ago on May 1st. I wasn’t planning on writing a race report for this event since now that I’m part of the elite Ironman world no other distance really matters. I’m pretty certain I read something that once you hear, “You are an Ironman” then all the old rules of training and nutrition no longer apply.

Hi, my name is Ross and I’m an Iron Idiot.

So you have probably guessed I didn’t have the best race of my life. I suppose I could have trained and I suppose I could have eaten better, but have you ever visited Chicago? The hotdogs and pizza, come-on I’m an Ironman, I can do anything. Actually I think I had a pretty good attitude going into the race. I knew there were a zillion reasons I wouldn’t be superfast but I was really looking forward and secretly believed I was gonna rock it.

I couldn’t have been more relaxed on race morning. I got my transition area set and had plenty of time to hang out and chat with the other racers. I even enjoyed the mile walk we had to get to where the swim started. I was supposed to be in the 11th wave so had plenty of time to get wet and even took a seat to relax before my day. I found myself getting too relaxed and decided to go back into the water before I fell asleep. I got back into the water and was chatting up a storm when I realized I completely missed my wave. Are you kidding me? What was I thinking? I couldn’t believe I stupid I was but they were very cool about it and let me go off in a wave some twenty minutes later. No problem, I’m an Ironman so I handle this…

The swim itself went very well, as well as any I’ve ever done. I took the right side and stayed true to the line hugging the buoys. I enjoyed the time beating myself up for missing my wave. Unfortunately they still have my time as it would have been had I left in my wave. I was told it would be correctly but maybe it takes a while. By my count I came in around 36 or 37 minutes. My previous pr was 43 minutes so I am very pleased with this.

The bike went fine and I was doing great up until around the 30th mile or so when I simply ran out of energy. I’d love to blame it on the heat or wind or nutrition but simply put, I didn’t put the time in the saddle and was now paying the price. I gotta add I was also uncomfortable for two reasons. The first was I’ve gained 15 pounds since Ironman St. George and my bloated belly made it difficult to remain aero. The second is due to a bad habit I’ve developed during the swim. I must swallow a lot of air, which gives me terrific gas pains. I need to ask my swim coach about this as it ended up wrecking me.

I got off the bike in 3:01, which I was also happy with. My goal was 3 so who was I to complain! I did get quite frustrated in T2 though as I couldn’t get my bike on the rack. The other bikes were crammed in there and there just wasn’t any room. I’m guessing it cost me a minute or so dinking around with that.

The run was miserable, just miserable. First it was crazy hot and humid. My only goal for the run was to run it the whole way. I lasted just about 100 yards. My right knee buggered up on me just like it did for my Florida half and for Steelhead. Clearly I have some bodily conspiracy to keep me from running a 70.3. I’m sure it has nothing to do with my stellar training. This should be a walk in the park for an Ironman like myself.

The run was two loops of 6.5 miles. For the first loop all I did was think about how miserable I was. My knee hurt, my gut hurt, it was hot, I was walking whaa, whaa, whaa. I got to the turn and saw Joanne who had been there all day in the rain and heat just as happy and supportive as ever and I just had to stop to tell her exactly how miserable I was and that I should just quit and go home. (I couldn’t really quit, I mean geez, I’m an Ironman.) So after I was done whining to Joanne like a spoiled little girl I started back out for the second loop.

I was probably a half a mile into the second loop when a lady coming the other way yelled out something like, “great job, you got this”. Now it’s not like those words of wisdom meant anything as I was not doing a great job and I certainly didn’t have anything! I was in the middle of visualizing her being taken by her ankles and body slammed on the blazing pavement when it hit me like a two by four how bad; how really bad my attitude was! Sure my knee hurt a bit and all that other stuff but my attitude was bad because I wasn’t performing like I thought I should have. Goodness I thought I was just gonna have fun. Well, this wasn’t fun!

So I proceeded to commit some mental kung fu and side kicked myownself upside the head and started saying encouraging things to other runners. I’m telling you, the more times I said stuff the less I thought about my stupid issues. Before I knew it I was running a lot more than walking. Then I remembered reading Lauri’s RR about volunteering and how much fun it sounded. So I totally stepped up my encouragement and tried to see how many different ways I could be uplifting. By the 10th mile I was jogging 100% and wouldn’t you know it, I was having fun! I finally made it to the finishing shoot and put my arms out high fiving people on both sides. I’m sure I looked like a dork but who cares, I was smiling, they were smiling and it gave the announcer something different to talk about.

Its been a few days and yes I’m quite sore and yes, quite disappointed with myself. I’m mad for not putting in the time and training but more than that I’m mad for letting myself fall into the abyss of my mind’s black hole. I should know better. How many times do I need to hear that having a good attitude is paramount for any successful venture. Well. I’m a believer now. Oh, also just because I’ve done something in the past doesn’t mean I can do something in the future without paying for it!

I’ve decided not to do anymore triathlons this season and to concentrate on running. I’ll still be in my swim class and won’t forget the bike ( cyclocross starts in September – yea) but I need to focus on running. My hometown hosts a marathon on October 17th and I have signed up. I’m not sure if I will rock it or not but I am 100 percent certain I will never return to my mind’s black hole – its just not fun!

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On Saturday my 4 year old did her first triathlon, which now means we are all triathletes in the family! She did a 25 yard swim (a form of breaststroke, mostly underwater with turtle-like breaths), 0.5m bike (with her training wheels) and a 0.25m run. Despite running a 99 degree fever and a wheezy cough, she still insisted on racing – mostly because her older sister and a friend were also racing. (I know I’m a terrible parent, but if you knew how obstinate my 4 year old daughter was, you’d let her race too!) Anyway, the friend, who is almost 7, won the 4-6 year old AG, while my 4 year old came mid-pack out of about 30 kids. In 2 year’s time she’ll still be eligible for this AG so am sure by then she’ll be tearing up the field!

Next my 7 year old daughter went off in her second ever race. She’s now in the 7-8 year old age group, so we warned her to lower her expectations (after she had won her first race last year). She was now competing against some 8 year old boys and girls, and compared to my 40lb, 45 inch daughter, some of these kids were towering over her. This clearly wasn’t going to phase her though, as she came out of the water in about 3rd, out of T1 in 1st, and held this lead for the rest of the race!

Naturally, we’re very proud parents, and I can see our training time is going to get eaten into more and more as the girls start to want to train and race more! Can’t wait…

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I am considering doing an IM in 2011. I am debating between IM Louisville and IM Wisconsin. The distances are almost equal from where I live. I have never done an IM and so I want my first one to be a great memory. Any recommendations on either or both courses would be great.

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