Lifestyles of a Triathlete.

You give up allot to attempt to do your best in triathlons; time, money, sleeping in, greasy yummy food, hanging out with friends, etc.

I’m not saying everyone does all these, but these are some of the things I have given up in my singular quest, a half ironman! Not only have I given those things up, but I have given up more:

- spending weekends with my family, instead I’m out on a long bike ride or run or swim. I mostly miss the mornings, but the kids can be the most fun when they wake up.

- sleeping in, up at 5-5:15am everyday to go get in the pool or run or bike as many miles as possible before I have to be home at 7am to shower and get kids to school and myself to work. Oh did I mention that to get up that early you have to go to bed early? I’m typically in bed around 9pm.

- money, I spend stupid amounts of money on this sport (of which I will more than likely never win my age group, let alone any spot on the podium. I do this sport because I love it). I admit, I spend more than I should on things for the sport; wheels, seats, helmets, shoes, belts, coaching, gels, bottles, race entries, getting to and from races, etc.

- food, yes, let’s talk about food. A few years back I switched to eating healthy and lost some weight. More recently to become even more healthy and feel better, I went vegetarian (pescitarian to be exact, I do still eat fish), I did this not for the animals, but for myself to help lose some more weight and I just felt better after I did a trial run and decided to stick with it.

- drinking, alcohol, I gave up alcohol after a two night bender when some close friends were in town, I got shit faced both nights and it took over a week to recover. It was then I decided that alchy did nothing for me to benefit my quest for being more healthy, so I quit it. (Note, I still will drink on special special special occasions, but I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I’ve had alcohol in the last 3 years).

- drinking, caffeine, yes, you read caffeine right, I quit it. Mostly because I found myself needing it, and I did not want to need anything like I needed it, I also noticed myself getting shaky at some points. I tried giving it up a few times and noticed I was feeling better and not ever crashing. Then around the time my daughter was born I had some cause I was getting so little sleep, so a relapse, then less then a month after that I quit for good. I have been caffeine free for close to 2 years now, and rarely think about wanting some, but have not had a single relapse since.

- friends and hanging out, yea, this is tough because I don’t drink alcohol, or eat meat, or have the ability to stay out late since I wake up so damn early everyday, etc. So to hang out with me my friends have to make special accommodations when it comes to places we hang out, or at least feel they have to. I’m only picky about going to a place that has some sort of vegetarian options, I don’t care if people drink, I just won’t.

* I would like to note, not everything was changed/done just for triathlons, some were done for healthy reasons, but the healthier I am, the better a triathlete I am!

I have given up allot on my quest to be the best triathlete I can be, which like I said, I have no visions of grandeur, I just want to push my body to the limit. What is my limit? I don’t know yet, I’ve not reached it. I will find out in less than two weeks from today if a half ironman is my limit, I really hope it’s not because my goal is to do a full ironman! 

What have you given up for your sport?

Post Triathlon (Route 66) Thoughts…

I debated posting this thoughts because I did pretty poorly at this triathlon (first of the season for me). It is embarassing, but, I decide that writing it down would be enlightening to me, and hopefully get me past it and have a clear slate for my next tri.

This is the tri that I did my first ever tri at last year, and I really hoped to smash my time from last year into smitherines. I have a year of tris under my belt, a ton of training, a trainer and thought I was smarter. I wasn’t.

Swim (500 meters), 14:42

This was an open water course.

• Start was ok, I did not hear the directions the guy was giving from the shore so the gun going off caught me off guard.
• I kept running into people in front of me and having to stop/slow and that took a ton of energy.
• Two times I lost sight of my place and faded right pretty bad, I corrected, but I swam more than I needed to. Worst, I did not see the very last buoy, and started swimming into the dock…bad idea, by the time I was halfway to the dock I realized I was alone and looked around and SHIT, saw the last buoy. Had to head back and go around. All-in-all I think I overswam about 50 or so meters.
• I did LOVE my new Xterra wetsuit, but do admit, had no training time in it prior to the race, but really do not think that had anything to do with my mistakes.
• Getting the wetsuit off was kinda weird. They had “strippers” there to help, and they did, but I turned wrong and added some time.

Transition #1, 1:16

I had a good rack space and it also helps that most of the bikes that were around mine were already gone when I got there. So did not have to fight with anyone.

• When I was putting on my shoes I had a little dizzy spell, almost fell over. Had to stand for a few seconds to right myself.
• Need to get some true triathlon bike shoes, instead of road bike shoes, so I can start trying to put the shoes on on the bike.

Bike (13 miles), 45:24 

The bike is my strong suite, normally. Not this day. I have had some changes on my bike: aero bars, HED Jet6 wheels and some other minor things. I really thought I would come out here and make the bike my bitch. I didn’t, it made me its.

• Got on bike well from transition. 
• Ok, now that I got the positive out of the way… I had nothing to give on the bike. I am not sure what was up. I’m hoping it was just a bad day.
• With the wider wheels on the HED’s my brake started rubbing on the back wheel halfway thru the ride, I could hear it and it was causing massive pressure to pedal (on top of the wind and hills). In hindsight I should have stopped to fix it, but I didn’t.
• I also need to rethink the smaller/harder cassette on these wheels. I had a hard time finding a good comfortable gear that allowed me to have a good speed/cadence. (Note: I have been on a few more rides since then, and am still thinking of getting a new cassette)

After the bad swim and bike, I was pretty much down on myself mentally and physically, and had to talk myself out of just throwing in the towel. I did not, but I had a huge battle going on in my head.

Transition #2, 1:00

Pretty decent transition time, not my best, not my worst.

• Still need to work more on taking off bike shoes on the bike. I have been practicing this, but today it just did not happen cause I was just mentally and physically beat.

Run (5K/3.1 miles), 47:21

HORRIBLE RUN! I admit I was done, after the swim and poor bike my head left the game, completely. I don’t care for the run normally, but then with all the shit that happened before it, I checked out.

• I did notice my lower back was really tight the whole run (well I say run, but there was just as much walk in this one) .. think it might be from aero bars, but I am not sure.

Overall, 1:52:45

There was a ton of negative in this post tri thoughts, that’s because it was a super negative day for me. I am really truly hoping this was just a bad race and it is now out of my system.

We will see, the sophomore slump shall not continue!

Post Triathlon (RedMan Olympic) Thoughts…

It’s been a few days since the RedMan and I’ve been able to digest some thoughts about the race.

Let me start by saying, this was my 5th triathlon since May 30th of this year, that’s a pretty nice amount of tri’s if you ask me! The difference with this tri as verse the others was this was an Olympic distance, not a sprint or super sprint. So the distance is double what the longest sprint course I have done.

One of the great things about this course … it is at my normal training grounds at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City. I train at here a few times a week, and most always do my long weekend day here. I felt that gave me a little bit of a boost, since I like to plan everything. And I do mean everything.

Let’s jump into the individual parts of the tri, then I will break down some additional thoughts at the end.

Swim (1500 meters/.92 mile), 49:03

The start time for the Oly was 9am, which was the latest start I’ve ever had on any event. This kinda stunk in that in Oklahoma the earlier in the day the less wind. However, the powers that be decided to start the Sprint people at 7:30 and hold us off till 9:00.

It was an open water, triangle shape course, 2 loops around.

• Got off to a decent start, I started with the younger men group in the first heat. I must admit, even tho my swimming is pretty decent, I did not fair well today. I had practiced the course at the open swim times they had the previous two days, and felt fairly confident I could hold my own on the swim. When it came down to it tho, I was out of it. Started slow, and got even slower as the meters kept adding up.
• Wind was blowing 5-10mph from the south, so not too bad when we were headed north, but when we passed the turn and headed back south, the water was very very choppy. Here is where I did not do well, I do not handle water in my face well, especially when it affects my breathing, as it was doing.
  
  • Note: get more open water swim training. Training in the pool, even tho I can swim well over 1 mile no problem, does not translate well to open water.
• Next open water swim, keep the wetsuit on. I had been using it in practice cause it was cold, but opted race day to go without. Let’s accept the additional flotation it will add.

Transition #1, 1:53

One big thing here that helped me almost match my PR best T1 time was the Tri-OKC singlet I bought about a month back. You wear it to swim, bike and run; no need to change/add any clothing. Very nice.

• For sprints I might start going sockless, this was shave a bunch of seconds off.
• Learn to get onto the bike faster, I had trouble going from foot and clipping in without stopping.
• You can see video of my transition here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neillharmer/3940591649/ (thank you Clint!)

Bike (40K/28 miles), 1:32:31 

The bike is my strong suite, I tend to rely on it the most when it comes to shaving time off my overall PRs. This was a fairly flat course, the bad part was the dam on the north part of the lake, the winds from the south seemed to have picked up slightly and caused some wind fighting. Compounded by the fact that it was a 4 loop course, so we had to face the dam 4 damn times! There were some rolling hills, nothing too crazy, just enough to get the blood flowing and legs burning a bit.

• I had trained the exact course 2 weeks before, and did it in 1:29:24, that was without having swam right before. So I was right on pace with what I wanted. Now tho, that brings me to a point I have to be VERY careful of next long race. Peaking. I honestly think I either A, peaked at that training run or B, wore myself out so much I was out of it for the next week or so. Although, it’s more than possible both were the culprit.
• Need to work on tucking more, keeping arms in, head down, knees as close to the bike as possible, and really pushing thru the heels.

Transition #2, 2:14

Not my best transition time, in fact, it was the worst T2 I’ve had to date. Not sure what was up, other than I wore myself out on the bike, which, I do tend to do.

• Still need to work more on taking off bike shoes on the bike.
• Get running shoes on faster. The zip bungee shoe laces have helped alot!

Run (10K/6.2 miles), 1:35:18

HORRIBLE RUN! I learned alot here tho.

• My brick training has really paid off, it does not hurt too bad off the bike. (Wanted to get the good out of the way, cause that really was the only good news on the run)
• The run is typically my weakness, the bike legs that work so well for me on the bike seem to get in the way on the run. I always feel so damn sluggish and uncoordinated. I’ve previously run 2 races at or over 6.2 miles (1:10 and 1:15 times each). I did not expect those times at this race being that I had already been in motion for over 2 hours. But I was shooting for more like 1:20 range.
• Nutrition. Here is where I failed. When I ran my half marathon I had carb packs with me and those helped alot. But in the last few months the carb packs have been giving me really really bad stomach cramps (this also includes Gatorade too). So long-story-short, I stopped taking em, because even in training it would be really painful. I stopped even trying em because it was hurting bad. Come run time … DEAD LEGS. My legs were nothing, my body was mush and my mind was spent.

Overall, 4:00:59

As I touched on in the bike portion, peaking. I really think I peaked (and possibly overtrained) 2 weeks prior to the event. I think this because I had nothing to give the week and a half after, and about 80% of that nothing left to give was mental. I was spent; didn’t want to get up to workout, didn’t want to come home and workout, nothing. It wasn’t there. This was a hard lesson.

Also, mentally come race day, was not even close to there/focused. Not sure why, but this is another aspect I need to really put some man hours into figuring out. It’s weird, I normally thrive under pressure on stuff, but in this case, I do worse. I put TOO MUCH pressure on myself to perform. In training I can kick some ass, in all events. But on race day, it’s like I force it and just don’t do as well.

I enjoyed the RedMan a TON, and look forward to doing it again next year. Although, next year, I’m shooting for the Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 run). Here’s to training!

Post Triathlon (Hillapalooza Sprint Tri) Thoughts…

My fourth triathlon now under my belt. I’m getting better in some areas, but I notice this tri I went absent minded in other areas I thought I had under control, namely the transitions.

The Hillapalooza Triathlon was a tough one! As the name rightly implies, it was at a very hilly location Lake Arcadia in Edmond, Oklahoma. I know Oklahoma is not known for being very hilly … but this is one of the few places that is. Add on top of the hills 20-30mph wind, and you have yourself one hell-of-a tough event!

Swim (400 meters), 12:09

This was only my 2nd open water triathlon swim. It’s still very very tough. The water was slightly choppy and it was packed, even though I started towards the back of the heat.

• WARM UP! I need to get in the water 15 mins before the start and get some laps in, get my heart rate up. I can kinda “jump” right into the other events, but for some reason, swimming the first 50-100 meters is tough on me and my lungs.
• Straight lines please. I caught myself after turning on the second bouy of going too far to the right, so I had to double back over to the left. I am not sure exactly how much time this cost me, but I’d bet 1 or 2 mins.

Transition #1, 1:58

I got stuck with a crappy rack spot (they were preassigned). It was in the middle of everything and as far off the center lane as possible.

• Shirt? Need to look into getting a tri outfit so I don’t feel like I have to put a shirt on over my swim gear. (I feel I have to do that due to all the excess skin on my midsection from years of being obese)
• Shoes on bike? Need to practice already having my shoes clipped to my bike and putting them on while I’m on the bike.

Bike (12 miles), 43:21 

With my new bike things have been going really well on the bike. I’ve finally learned how to use the bike in a fast, yet, efficient manner.

• Hills! Ok, The way this tri went it was a down and back, on the way to the halfway point was mostly uphill and into the 20mph, gusts up to 30mph, wind. Since there are not any places close to me with these kind of hills I have very little/no sustained hill training. Need to work on this!
• Passing. On the way back after turn around it was mostly downhill and the wind was not at my back. I am a bigger target (broad) so the wind LOVES me when it’s at my back. I was passing guys on tri bikes and hit 40.3 mph at top speed. I did have an issue with passing a few times, I went to go pass a lady who was passing another person and got locked up, had to slow down. It was not that major, but things that that happened a few times, and those seconds add up fast.
• CARS! Arrrrrrgggg! So a truck got stuck in front of me. He’s riding right in the middle of the road with bikers passing him on the left and on the right. Well, when I wanted to go around him someone was stuck not passing him on the right (with another person behind them) and I could not go around his left due to the people still headed to the turn around. So again, had to slow and wait till I could pass. Another time I was burning thru time that I should not have had.
• Speed! I was loving going fast. I was pretty damn good at it. My bigger stronger legs, although bad at hills are perfect for sprinting and going fast. I can duck down to fight the wind pretty well (though, I do need aerobars now). Just have to work on the uphills.

Transition #2, 1:28

• Ooops! Since I had a shit position for my rack spot I missed my spot on the way back in! I went into the wrong lane, all the way to where I thought my bike was, nope, had to run back out and to my lane. This again, cost precious seconds.
• Just like learning to put my shoes on on the bike, I also need to learn to take them off on the bike right before transition.
• Stretching. I need to start doing some stretches in the last couple hundred meters before getting off the bike.

Run (2 miles), 24:07

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I SUCK AT RUNNING! Which means, I need to train at running more than I do.

• Focus on run training and bricking.
• Work on endurance, specifically work on running after another workout to run while tired. I think my form is breaking down when I get tired which is making it even harder to run.
• Stop hating the run. I think the mental aspect of hating running is affecting my run as well.
• Relaxing. I need to relax more on the run, I feel myself all tense which is burning energy that I don’t need to burn.

Overall, 1:23:04

As you would think I have gotten better in Tri’s, since this is my 4th sprint. I just have to work on keeping my head in the game. I still love doing a tri as much as when I did the first one. Just need to start putting all the little peices together for it now.

Training is going to get tougher so I can start to excel more than I have been.

My next tri will be my first Olympic Tri, the Redman on Sept 20th. 1500 meter swim, 40k bike, 10k run. I know I can do all the parts alone, but together? I have 32 days from the date of this post to train my ass off!

Post Triathlon (OCCC Sprint Tri) Thoughts…

Now that I’ve completed my second triathalon, the OCCC Super Sprint, I did better in some areas than my last tri, the Route 66 Sprint Tri, but in others I did worse. I know why though, which is good. I fell into the trap that I am sure that most newbie triathletes fall in; working too hard in one event to get your best time in it, and not thinking of the whole. Basically the sum of the whole did not come into my mind, I wanted to beat my PR in swimming (which I did) but was winded bad going into the bike, then had nothing left for the run!

Now that I have had a few days to sit and stew on it, and look at my times and compare them to my last tri, I need to work on…

Swim (500 meters), 13:25

I did much better in the swim this time, I am not sure if that is because it was pool, or not. I felt VERY confident in the water and my stroke felt awesome! Good and bad came of that, in the last 100 meters I went all out as fast as I could. I don’t think I was breathing enough and just exhausted myself.

• DO NOT go all out like that again, least not without more endurance training.
• Remember to start watch timer so if time keeping company has another computer problem you will at least know your time.
• Remember to take GU before race.

Transition #1, 2:31

Shaved :45 seconds off previous tri, tried a new technique, wear my bike shorts to swim in so I did not have to take time to put them on in the transition, it worked.

• Remember to wash feet off before putting socks and shoes on, more on this in run portion.
• Take less time putting on shirt; might look into buying a Tri-OKC top and pants that you wear for all events and this will help even more on time.

Bike (12 miles), 46:20 

Time wise this was about the same as the last tri (which was 1 mile longer). Although I was winded from swim I felt pretty good the first half, the second half is when I faltered (uphill mostly into the wind).

• Need a new bike, my mountain bike (Specialized Hardrock, with street tires, not mountain bike tires) is not going to cut it if I want to get more competitive in tri’s
• Get bike shoes, this will help to push harder.

Transition #2, 0:50

Took off :07 seconds from last tri!

• Not a ton to work on here, just do that again!

Run (5k), 40:29

Here is where I died. I had ABSOLUTELY nothing left in me. My feet hurt (because I did not rinse my feet from the little rocks/sand that was in the transition area and they were rubbing raw) and I got a stomach cramp and side stiches.

Running is typically my worst event, but this was the worst I’ve ever done. I pulled away from the running training because, stupidly, I thought, “I’ve done a half marathon, I’m covered” WRONG. Still need to work on that, and get better about “bricking” (running right after riding a bike).

• Focus on run training and bricking.
• Work on endurance, specifically work on running after another workout to run while tired. I think my form is breaking down when I get tired which is making it even harder to run.

Overall

My time was better in this tri, but worked out to be about the same time as the first (since the bike was 1 mile shorter). I felt worse at the end of this race tho, I felt GREAT after the first one, this one I was tired and winded.

I did way better on somethings but ultimately worse on others, was that due to pushing too hard? was it just an off day? I don’t know, but I intend to work harder in training, work on the things above, and I could stand to lose a few pounds (which will help overall).

I don’t have another triathlon scheduled till August 2nd (I have a duathlon in July however, so that will help with running!)

Post Triathlon (Route 66 Tri) Thoughts…

I did my very first sprint triathlon this past weekend, the Route 66 Tri. I did great, I am very happy with my result for my first ever try. I gave myself the goal of less than 2 hours, and the ultimate goal of less than 1:45. I did it in 1:44:32, so I did what I wanted and more!

Now that I have had a few days to sit and stew on it, and look at my times, I need to work on…

Swim (500 meters), 16:57

• Being more confident in the water, this was my first ever open water swim. I did well, but need to calm down some. I got a charlie horse in my left calf halfway thru the swim, which caused me to turn to my back and back stroke for a while.
• I am also going to spend some time in the pool doing push and pull drills to help out, just to help my speed a little.

Transition #1, 3:15

• Have my stuff setup in a more organized fashion.
• Run in and run out, I hesitated a bit too much, mostly because I was not sure I was doing it all correctly, next time I’ll know.

Bike (20K), 49:04 

• Push harder, push thru the pain more.
• Need a new bike, my mountain bike (Specialized Hardrock, with street tires, not mountain bike tires) is not going to cut it if I want to get more competitive in tri’s
• Get bike shoes, this will help to push harder.

Transition #2, 0:57

• Not a ton to work on here, just do that again!

Run (5k), 34:17

• Most work needed here, which is kind of strange to me, being that I’ve run a half marathon. But, I petered out on the run, which explains my time.
• I paced myself in the run too much, and ended up walking a few times cause I was beat. In training I am going to do sprint drills and hills to get my run cardio up higher.

My next tri is scheduled for Jun3 13th, it’s a sprint as well, so I have two weeks to get some additional training to fine tune my output.

All-in-all tho, I am already addicted to tri’s … it was SOOOO much fun. I honestly enjoy it more than I do just running, or just biking… it must bode well with my A.D.D.

I still want to do a full marathon, but I think after that I am going to fully concentrate all my efforts on becoming a much better triathlete.