Girlie Bike Part 2

Well it turns out I'm not riding a girlie bike afterall! Trek has updated their web site and now they list a Woman's Specific Design version of the Equinox 7.

Ridin' a Girlie Bike!

So last night I'm flipping through the pages of the July Inside Triathlon magazine and as I turn to page 60 I see my pride and joy, the Trek Equinox 7 on the page. Upon closer inspection I see it's part of the "Go girlfriend" article, umm, ok, so I look down and read the following blurb:

"TREK Equinox 7 Developed with pros, the Equinox 7 features women's-specific geometry for a more natural, aerodynamic position. $1650, trekbikes.com"

What I want to know is where in the world did they come up with this information? This is the first I've ever seen that the E7 was designed with women in mind. I suppose the plus side to it all is when I get fast enough to start placing in my age group I can always say "Yeah, and I did the bike leg on a girlie bike" :)

Indian Springs Triathlon Race Report

6/25/2005 26 out of 28 Clydesdales
600 meter swim
12.8 mile bike
3.1 mile run
Times (official)
Swim - 0:16:44.806
T1 - 0:02:11.984
Bike - 0:49:16.158
T2 and Run - 0:44:03.316
Total - 1:52:17.264
Times (mine)
Swim - 14:51.50
T1 - 4:16
Bike - 48:46
T2 - 1:49.90
Run - 43:13.54
1:52:23

This was my first triathlon after my DNF at the Rock N Rollman half IM. It is part of the Tri the Park series of triathlons that are held throughout the state of Georgia. I had planned to do the first event in the series in April but when I hurt my foot I rescheduled that triathlon to the last one in the series which is on August 20th. Lately I've been concentrating on my running and was looking forward to having a good run, but it didn't turn out that way :(. My run for this triathlon was slower than the last sprint triathlon I completed. Seems I have a lllooonnnngggg way to go on my running.

I try to learn from each triathlon and did learn several things during this one:

1 - I don't like my bike computer. At one point I was grinding up a hill and according to my bike computer I was going less than 3 miles an hour. I'm not sure if the magnet was lined up properly or not but I sure didn't feel like I was going that SLOW. What makes matters worse is in years gone by (meaning when I was a skinny guy) I loved hills; these days I had half of them. I hate the up hill part but love the downhill part!

2 - Drafting off a faster swimmer does you no good if that swimmer goes off course. I thought I had found a guy to draft off of and did for a little while until I realized he was heading off course so I let him go on his way and corrected my course position.

3 - I like out and back courses. The bike and the run were out and back courses which allowed me to see my buddy Jason. It's always good to hear words of encouragement from a friend.

4 - Enthusiastic volunteers are the best! There was a father and son team manning one aid station and you could hear them cheering folks on from quite a distance away.

5 - I love going down hills. On my bike I run what is referred to as Junior gearing. It's a 14 - 25 9 speed cassette and is legal for junior USCF cyclists. I use it because under normal circumstances I never use the smallest sprocket. Yesterday while flying downhill at 37 MPH I completely spun out my 53/14. It was SO much fun!

6 - Mile markers on the course are nice. On the bike and run course they had mile markers out. On the bike they had them out every 2 miles and every mile on the run. It's nice watching the numbers go by.

Triathletes are cool people. As I was approaching the 3 mile mark a lady came up beside me and our conversation went like this:

she: "We're almost there, kick it in with me."
me: "Yeah we must be close you can hear the announcer."
she: "When we get to the chute you can go first."
me: "No way, ladies first."
she: "you're younger, you can go first"

As we finished she crossed the line before me which is fine with me.

Something I need to figure out is why I'm so tight for the first part of the run. Coming off of the bike yesterday my legs were very tight. After about the first mile things started to loosen up and I could ran better. I wonder if I should spend a little time stretching during T2. Perhaps 30 seconds or a minute spent stretching will save me several minutes on the run. I'll have to give that a try in August.

Miscellaneous Topics all Rolled into One :)

- I've been doing a ton of reflection and research on the mental aspect of triathlon. In a sprint distance triathlon I never had to confront the issues I faced during my unsuccessful half IM attempt.

- I have reconsidered my idea of doing Ironman Florida in 2006. I have no specific reason for picking 2006 as the year I would do an Ironman distance triathlon so I may put it off until 2007 or even 2008 or beyond. It's not like they're going to stop holding them anytime soon. I'm thinking about focusing my efforts like so:

Rest of 2005 -> Sprints and preparation for Disney Marathon.
2006 -> Sprints and international distance (I have never done an international distance triathlon)
2007 -> International with at least one half IM during the season
2008 -> Half IM or if I'm up for it IM.

- Weight loss. I have been the loss/gain yo-yo for way too long. I can remember when in 1984 I stepped on a set of scales, fully clothed in my military uniform and thought 187 pounds was heavy. I would be VERY happy to weigh 187 pounds now. I know that before I can complete longer distance events I will need to shed several pounds. I won't be trying any fancy diets or magic potions, just simple hard work and less eating will do the trick. It will be slow, but I'd rather loss one pound every week and to lose 2 in one week and then none the next. This is going to be a challenge for me cause I really love to eat.

- HRM. I've decided to put the HRM away for a while and train with out it. In years past I was able to race bikes, 5Ks, and complete triathons without it so why must I have one now? I will probably use it when I race just to see what my heart is doing but I'm not going to let it slow me down. I think this contributed to my DNF. I kept seeing my heart rate over 151 (my AT) and it freaked me out.

- Next triathlon: As a kid whenever we'd fall off of something or get hurt doing something we, if we weren't too hurt, would get up and immediately do it again. (Yes us Jones boys are a stupid/stuborn (your choice) lot. My brother and I have the scars to prove it). We did this so we wouldn't be afraid to do it again. Well I may not be prepared enough to complete a half IM but I can complete a sprint and will be doing one on Saturday June 25. I think its about 400 yard swim, 13 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. Sub 2 hours is my goal for it.

- Running on a treadmill. This week I have been using my treadmill to help me with my running. On days when I want to walk I'll either set a steady pace and walk or will gradually increase the speed by 1/10 MPH per minute until I reach 4 MPH and then I'll slow things back down 1/10 MPH at a time until I reach 3 MPH. On days when I run I'll run at 5 MPH for 2 minutes followed by 1 minute of walking at 3 MPH. I have gotten off of the treadmill totally soaked with sweat but you know what, it feels GREAT! I do think jamming out to Linkin Park helps though :)

I hope all is going well for my triathlon brothers and sisters out there!

Secret Weapons

In a previous entry I made mention of a secret weapon I had planned to use in my half ironman. Actually I had two of them.

The first was a simple phrase, written with permanent marker on the palm of my left hand "You can do this". I figured when I needed a little motivation I would look at my hand and it would give me the strength to continue on and it worked, for a while. It seemed as more and more negative thoughts flooded my brain the more the ink on my hand faded. I do remember one distinct moment in time after I had quit the triathlon - I looked down at my palm and pretty much off of the wording had been erased. It's as if the ink faded as fast as my resolve did.

My second secret weapon, which I didn't even get to test out was 13 mint oreo cookies. Seriously! I love those cookies and figured I'd bring along one for each mile of the run as a reward for completing each mile. Too bad I didn't get a chance to try 'em out.

Rock and Rollman Half Ironman Race Report

Rock and Rollman Half Ironman

Summary Report:
Swim 2 loop course
Loop 1 - 16:48
Loop 2 - 18:23
Total - 35:11
T1 - 6:26(same 1/4 mile run to bike area)
Bike
15 Mile - 1:07:00
28 Mile - 1:14:45
DNF @ 30 mile rest stop
3:03:22

Long Report:

I tried but I didn't have it in me to make it through the half ironman. This was my first attempt at this distance but it certainly won't be my last, though when my next attempt will be I am not certain. I am now certain there are 4 events in a triathlon, the obvious 3: swim, bike and run. The 4th event for which I am woefully undertained is the mental challenge. I really need to work on my mental toughness.

I had a fantastic swim! I was a bit shocked to see my time upon completion of the first lap, but I was wasn't going to wait around on the beach until the clock read the time I had expected :). During the 2nd lap it seemed no matter where I was in the swim there was always someone in my way :). I would try going to the left and then to the right and it didn't seem to matter. I think the fact that the first wave was lapping us had something to do with it. I started in the 4th wave approximately 8 minutes after the first wave started. It was good to receive the cheers of my coworkers, Scott and Pam and from Jason's wife, Angie.

Nothing really stood out about T-1. I got to my bike area, dressed, filled my aerobottle (with a bottle I had in a mini cooler), stuffed pockets and took off.

I started drinking accelerade and took a GU right out of transition. At mile 10 I took another GU and kept on riding along. I was trying to maintain a good pace yet hold something in reserve for later in the bike and on the run but I wasn't doing too good of a job doing it. My average HR for the first 15 miles was 154 which meant I was anaerobic the whole time :(. Upon reaching the first of 3 aid stations I was surprised to hear that all they had left was Gatorade. My whole ride centered around taking water at each of the 3 aid stations and mixing it with the concentrated accelerade I had in a water bottle. Fortunately a mile up there road some folks were handing up water bottles so I took one. I dumped it into my aero bottle and added some concentrated accelerade to it. I also ate one of the 3 PBJ's I had stuffed in my jersey pocket and washed it down with the gatorade I had taken at mile 15.

All was well through mile 19. At mile 20 I took another GU and somewhere between mile 20 and 27 I totally cracked. I do not have any idea what caused it but I was done, I felt as if I had nothing left in the tank. I was also involved with several left brain versus right brain arguments. The left side (the side that produces negative thoughts) won the battle today. At one point in the ride I stopped on the side of the road. I was done - ready to quit but told myself to get riding again and at least ride to the next mile marker and then quit. As luck would have it the next mile marker was right in front of a chicken farm. If you've never been around one let me just say they smell really, really bad. So I told myself I would go to the next mile marker and then quit.

This is when the fun really began. Ahead of me I saw a rider, whom I later found out is named Jim, that had stopped on the side of the road. Seeing this my left brain went into a tizzy. Filling my mind with "You can't make it up this hill", "You're only going 7 miles an hour" and all sorts of negative thoughts and then it happened. I totally caved in and called it quits. For the first time in my life I stopped, unclipped and walked a bicycle up a hill. I was really hating life at this point in time. As I approached Jim I asked him how his cramps were doing. When Jim passed me earlier in the ride he mentioned that he was cramping. Technically he wasn't cramping he had a serious case of gas pains. Seems he was sucking air while swimming and somehow got a belly full of it and it was causing him terrible pain. Jim said that he was calling it a day and in my state of mind at the time it sounded like a great idea. As Jim and I walked our bikes up the hill we shared a tear or two as it set in that we were going to DNF in our first attempt at completing a half ironman.

As we reached the crest of the hill we remounted our bikes and enjoyed a fantastic descent! I was absolutely flying down hill! Gravity works wonders when you're as heavy as I am (269.6 official weigh in weight). When we reached the 28 mile rest stop we stopped and told the staff we were calling it a day. As I waited for a ride back to the transition area I noticed that even sitting still sipping water my heart rate was 125 BPM.

Eventually a van came along and gave Jim and me a ride back to the transition. On the way in I saw my coworker Jason at around mile 54 and I was able to wish him luck with his run. As I was typing his Jason called and said that he, too, had a DNF today. He was pulled from the race at mile 6 after he suffered a series of cramps all over his body. I'm sure there's more things I want to say about my experience today but I can't think of them now. For now a nice hot shower and nap sounds exactly like what I need.

Thanks to all of my triathlon brothers and sisters for your well wishes before I took on this challenge. I didn't earn the finisher’s medal but there's always next year.

T-12 Hours

Approximately 12 hours from now I will start my first ever half ironman triathlon. I'm nervous but I'm also excited about the adventure that lies ahead. I'll be sporting #21. They obviously assign numbers based upon when you sign up and not upon your expected finishing order :). I'll post more tomorrow after my adventure is complete.