Swim-Bike-Run ... Why Not? Let's TRI It! A 2017 Training Journal (Updated: 3/29: FIRST RELAY!)

Holy crap! That's a heck of a workout plan. And, yeah, I think your coach is trying to kill you. I'm not sure there's anyway I could manage something like that!! I know you can do it though and super excited to follow along as you do all this.
 
Yes, she is.

P.S. Swim for an hour and then get on the bike is pretty much what you'll be doing at your 70.3 this fall. She's started getting you ready for it now so the race will be easy then. :)

Don't worry about all those TP colours from last week, it just makes your plan look pretty.

This is a pretty serious plan you've got laid out Keels...if you can stick with this you're going to do great at your race. For comparison, here is my week...not a whole lot more than you are doing and I am training for a 70.3. So yes, I am basically saying that you will have no trouble doing your fall 70.3 ;)

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Like I said last week ... I'm pretty much on to her at this point. Sigh.

It's a good thing I've narrowed down some 70.3s in the fall ...
 
Been following along and curious about a few things as I'm not a triathlon person at all, I know nothing except you swim, bike, run. This seems like a crazy amount of stuff for someone just starting out, is this for a beginner or were you already an intermediate or advanced biker & swimmer coming in? Then on your 300 swim is getting to 5 minutes considered middle of the pack swim time or top, I get running times but swim times I don't get at all so wondering why 5 minutes as a goal? Sorry for the questions, just trying to understand triathlon training as I follow along. Reading it all makes me hurt just thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I would die in the swimming! Good Luck, I'm sure you will do great come race time!

So, these are the Top Women in my age group from the Mayor's Tri (my July Tri that I'll be going for time):

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I'm currently around the 6:00 mark for the swim, 54:00 for the bike and between 36-40 for the run.

Of course, I'll have a better idea about the run after my three discipline workout on Sunday.

That said, if all remained the same (including the field of participants) - I'm in line with the top of my age group ... even with a 40-minute 5K.

My training partner Emily finished third in her age group with a 5:43/51:34/29:32. Running is her best discipline, followed by swimming.

++++++++

When I met with my coach the first time, I had to rank my thoughts on myself one each discipline on a scale of 1-5.
I said:
Swim - 3. I swam growing up and felt rather confident in it.
Bike - 2-3. I ride my bike a lot and can go pretty good distance, but I have a lot to learn on gearing and handling, and how to get my water bottle of the cage while I'm riding. Things like that.
Run - 3.

My first week of workouts was mostly fitness and ability assessments.

Keep in mind, I don't have a job ... so she's essentially scheduling my training as if it were my job, which is good in the long run, but definitely tiring in the interim.
 
Well it looks like you have a good shot at those times come July! Keep plugging away at that plan and you'll do great. Totally normal to feel tired out, I'm wiped out all the time. I look forward to nothing more than my couch and my bed.
 


Interesting, thanks for explaining! Having a swim background sounds like it will definitely help!
 


Yay! I love triathlon and am really looking forward to following along! I do an annual sprint tri in August every year and wish I could do more - I can't rank the three parts because I love them all. And I really love the 4th part - transition set up featuring race retreat disney marathon towels! My husband thinks the amount of time I spend setting up my transition is silly. :)
 
Yay! I love triathlon and am really looking forward to following along! I do an annual sprint tri in August every year and wish I could do more - I can't rank the three parts because I love them all. And I really love the 4th part - transition set up featuring race retreat disney marathon towels! My husband thinks the amount of time I spend setting up my transition is silly. :)
I use a Mickey Mouse towel to set up in transition...gotta keep it real :)
 
'Step Out, Step Out of the Sun if You Keep Getting Burned'*
(One in an Occasional Series of #ConfessionSessions)

So, I've had a hard time running.

A REALLY hard time running.

Ever since Disneyland in September, when I came home and was diagnosed with a broken ankle and a sprained hip, I've been downright ANGRY about running.

Luckily, the weather was a great excuse for me to "just get through" Dopey this year. And my hatred of Princess was a reason to bail on that weekend.

But I had my favorite local weekend staring me in the face.

I LOVE Cowtown. LOVE it. It's thisclose to being a big race weekend, and all the things the organizers do are amazing.

I'm supposed to do the Challenge again this year - 5K Saturday and Half on Sunday. So, my running training has be focused on stretching out for Cowtown.

And all of my runs HAVE BEEN TERRIBLE. I'm talking start out great, get to a mile or so and say ... I'm done. I'm just going to walk. Or I'd rather be doing something else.

Or, a long run on a path I normally used to love - and now, it's just miserable and in my head I'm just thinking "Why am I doing this??".

So, today, I bailed on Cowtown.

Transferred my bib to a person in my triathlon group.

And then, what happened?

I went for my scheduled run and ran the best 3 miles I've run in a long time - a 10:32/m pace ... my best since Dopey 2016.

Sometimes, it's best to step back.

(* Lyrics for "Waiving Through A Window" from the musical Dear Evan Hansen)
 
And then, what happened?

I went for my scheduled run and ran the best 3 miles I've run in a long time - a 10:32/m pace ... my best since Dopey 2016.

Sometimes, it's best to step back.

Nice! I bet your tri training is helping too.
 
Nice! I bet your tri training is helping too.

It's TOTALLY mental. I didn't want to run 9 miles. And I definitely didn't want to do that half marathon - especially when I had the option to go to NYC with my husband to see him get an award. That made it easy for me to drop Cowtown. And now? Everything is right where I need it to be, training-wise.
 
Running is supposed to be "your sport" in triathlon. Something's wrong if you aren't enjoying it, and it sounds like you were putting undue pressure on yourself with Cowtown. Throw in NYC and a trip with hubby on top of it and I can see why you were stressing over running and dreading it...I'm not surprised you had a great run once the weight of that weekend was lifted. Seems like the right call for you here.

I'll often dread the long runs on my schedule but once I get out and run a mile or so I am fine and start enjoying myself. To have the opposite would be pretty damn tough to deal with. Enjoy your training!
 
I agree that it sounds like a smart decision and maybe not just coincidental that you then had a great run. You were probably putting more mental pressure on yourself than you realized.
 
Hey, everyone! Remember me? It's Keels - the DISer voted "Most Likely to Never Keep Up With a Training Journal" for 2017!

So, I'm back after ... erm, well, hmmm ... math ... quite a few weeks.

BUT. I'm back - and armed with what you've all been waiting for!

A RACE REPORT.

That's right - on March 12th, I participated in my VERY FIRST triathlon. Would I finish? Would all my training pay off? What would it be like?

I'll be presenting my Race Report in four parts - mostly because I need to catch everybody up with training and what's been going on with your Ole Pal Keels.

So ... here goes.

SPOILER ALERT:

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St. Paddy's Day Triathlon
Chapter 1: Leading Up to Race Day

I don't really know how to start this, other than jump right in to it.

For those that follow me on social media (Instagram, Twitter) or are closer friends with me (like on Facebook or in real life), know that the two weeks-plus leading up to my first triathlon were not how I would have liked to have spent my most important days of training:

- My grandfather, who is in hospice, had an episode that had our whole family prepared for his last few days. (He's stable for now - but as my uncle says, he's "started his final journey to Heaven - though, he would be the first to tell you they may not let him in.")

- My father experienced what he thought was a heart attack, and ended up resulting in a cardiac procedure. He's doing fine - though it's pretty harrowing. He had a triple-bypass almost 15 years ago, and (to put it nicely) has done pretty much the opposite of doctor's orders regarding his health since then. To say it's a stress on both my mother and I when he refuses to take care of himself is an understatement.

- And, after all of that, what really broke me down for a good week ... I had to put my oldest dog, Kane, to sleep. He was 15 years old, and the dog that made me a bonafide Dog Mom. My husband adopted him two weeks after we bought our home together nearly 14 years ago. He was a stray on Death Row at our city's Animal Control kennels - and his sweet demeanor and kind eyes prompted my husband to take a chance on him. He was my best buddy - my protector, my shadow, my snuggle buddy and the dog guaranteed to finish my plate of food when I couldn't eat another bite. He'd been struggling since November, but we thought we still had a few months left with him. Unfortunately, we had 24 hours with him after extensive tests discovered a blockage in his heart and a massive undiagnosed tumor in his spleen that was likely bleeding. We said goodbye to him on Friday, March 3rd and the sun did not shine in Fort Worth again until Monday, March 13 - when I went to pick his ashes up. I'd like for everyone to think I was being dramatic ... but, well, I wish I was being dramatic.

Long story short, the two BIGGEST weeks and weekends of training were essentially lost. Luckily, I had forced myself to do a base-level simulation (with transition the best I could imagine) on February 19th - almost a full month before my first tri. This would prove to be the last big, true workout I would have before the St. Paddy's Tri on March 12.

SO. With that all behind us ... we'll start with ...

Chapter 2: The Week of the Race
 
St. Paddy's Day Triathlon
Chapter 2: The Week of the Race


So, after a weekend spent mourning my sweet, good puppy dog, I took Monday off and then tried my best to follow with my schedule for race week of a Triathlon:

IMG_5674.PNG

No real "big" workouts - just run-throughs of everything.
I wanted to test two things to the best of my ability:
1. My new trisuit (which had arrived on Monday)
2. Transition with my new trisuit - hence the bike/run workout on Tuesday.

So, I practiced laying out all my transition stuff:
Screen Shot 2017-03-21 at 9.22.17 PM.png

And then I practiced transition with all of my transition stuff:

Screen Shot 2017-03-21 at 9.22.28 PM.png

The week was unseasonably warm, but incredibly humid and overcast all week ... and if y'all know me, you know I don't mind temps in the 70s or 80s for a race.

But then this happened ... the forecast for Race Day:

IMG_5612.PNG

Not QUITE worst-possible scenario, but definitely not what I was hoping for. Unfortunately, the forecast made a turn for the worst and the weather was slated to be in the low 40's at race start, with no sun and winds in the 15-20-mph range. Certainly not ideal for a triathlon, let alone a first try.

Luckily for me, I still had all the cold-weather s#!+ I needed for this year's WDW Marathon in my run bag - so I just added all of that crap to my transition pile and just figured that I would deal with it. Sure, the idea of riding a bike for 13 miles soaking wet, in 40-degree temps with a 20-mph wind wasn't my idea of fun ... but that was the challenge set in front of me. I couldn't do a damn thing about the weather, BUT I COULD prepare the best for it. So, I made a list of everything I was planning to bring with me to set-up in transition, I sent the list via text to my coach and then I did what I could to get ready.

My typical pre-race ritual is a mani/pedi at my favorite place - so on Friday, my Mom and husband and I ventured out for what has become the "thing" we do before I race. It was incredibly relaxing and guaranteed I at least had my feet in good shape for what would come on Sunday.

On Saturday, I kept it low-key and made dinner for my Mom and husband. When my nerves started to get the best of me, I broke my cardinal rule and had a couple beers of the light and domestic variety. I was in bed by 10 p.m. and asleep by 10:30 or so, for a mostly restful night of sleep.

But get ready for that 5:00 a.m. alarm, because it's ...

Chapter 3: Race Day!
 
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St. Paddy's Day Triathlon
Chapter 3: Race Day


I'm going to apologize in advance for this post - it's going to be overly wordy and with very little photos.

Why? Well, one of the rules of triathlon is NO OUTSIDE ELECTRONICS. That's right - you get a GPS watch and a bike computer, and that's it. No cell phone, no headphones, no external speakers, nothing. Just you.

This wasn't the only race day deviation I made ... stay tuned for more!

+++++++++++++++++++++

So, true to form, I was wide awake at 4:15 a.m. - a good 45 minutes before my alarm went off. So, I went downstairs, grabbed my caffeine of choice for the morning and read on my phone for a little bit until my phone alarm went off in earnest.

Usually, I'll have a little bit of coffee or just sip on a Nuun Energy-supplemented bottle of water.

But, I know me - and I KNOW I need a significant amount of caffeine and coffee was not what I wanted. So, I enjoyed a 12-ounce sugar-free Red Bull. I DO NOT drink Red Bull before a run - mostly because it can make my stomach sloshy and I don't like to have anything carbonated before I run. But triathlon is different.

We left the house at 5:40 a.m. so I could get in line when transition opened at 6:15 a.m. I was one of the first people in to transition and got a PRIME spot at the end of the rack right by the swim out/run out exit gate. So, I set to work to set up my small area:

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The cross-bar DIRECTLY to the left of my bike had a HUGE sign that said bike numbers - and the rack directly to my left remained empty through the entire set-up period (there were hanging tags that said DO NOT USE) - so, hopefully it would be easy for me to find my bike coming out of the swim!

In my (compared to everyone around me) huge pile of transition crap, I had:
Bike Leg:
Helmet
Bike shoes
Gloves
Trail Ears
Running Leggings
Columbia Waterproof Windbreaker
Sunglasses
(Water Bottle with Tailwind was already holstered on my bike)

Run Leg:
Running Shoes
2015 Dopey Challenge Hat
2016 Marathon Long-Sleeve shirt
Electrolyte Water
Lip Gloss

I grabbed my swim cap, my goggles and put on some flip-flops (I had previously been wear the above leggings and windbreaker, but I took them off to add to my transition pile), and I raced into the heated Natatorium to wait for the pool to open. I was inside by 6:40.

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Swim warm-up wasn't to happen until 7:00 a.m., so it meant some waiting around. I picked up my Timing Chip anklet and strapped it to my non-drive train leg, chowed down on a pack of Honey Stinger Chews and sat around to wait. Shortly before 7, they declared the pool open for warm-up. I stayed in my warm spot on the bleachers and began the big internal debate - to pre-swim or not to pre-swim.

I was strongly against a warm-up swim because 1) I was warm and knew I wouldn't be post swim, 2) I'd "sandbagged" my swim time and felt like my training swim times were better than what I'd submitted, so I'd be OK.

BUT, I also felt like I need to swim because the pool was a 50m pool - and I'd only swam in 25-yard and 25m pools.

So, I went for it and swam a 100-meter lap. And, then I got back out and sat on the bleachers ... and I sat, and I sat, and I sat.

It's Race Time!

The published start time of the race was 7:30 a.m. ... but 7:30 crept closer and closer without any of the pomp and circumstance that usually accompanies the beginning of any kind of race (directions, insightful speech, National Anthem) - instead, at 7:35 a.m., the race director announced to us they would not be able to begin the race until the sun came up (did I mention this was Spring Forward Morning? UGH. SO EARLY.)

The rumor began circulating that the temperature was below required start temperature - at this point, with wind chill it was 39 degrees. With the field incredibly varied and this race marketed as a "perfect triathlon for beginners", I'm sure exposure worries were behind this decision.

At about 7:50 a.m., the race was off! Swimmers went into the pool every 5 seconds or so - and around 8:40, it was my turn!

I approached the starting mat and put my swim cap on, adjusted my goggles and showed my "number marking" to the official timer at the mat (a friendly volunteer writes your race number on any bicep and calf they can with a Sharpie before the race), and waited for his "Go".

And then it was feet first in the pool, and push off the wall and I was off!

The Swim:

Here's the real s#!+ thing about triathlons - you're seeded to start by swim time. And because it's not something you can really verify, LOTS of people lie. I went off midway through the second-third of triathletes for this race, about a minute slower than my normal swim time in training. And I was passing people, swimming over backstrokers, having to dodge individuals not even swimming AT ALL, but pulling themselves hand-over-hand along the lane ropes. People would take breaks at the end of each leg, making turn around/push-off almost impossible. At some point, I became SO frustrated, dove underneath and pushed off the wall to do a hard underwater swim in the 11-foot portion of the pool just to get around people and get my space to get into a groove.

I'm a GREAT swimmer-swimmer - growing up with a pool and access to a lakehouse will do that to you - but I've been steadily improving as a "technical" swimmer. My kick is MUCH better than my pull, but when I can get in a groove, I can really kick and cruise. So after a slow start to the swim portion, thanks to traffic, I hit the 150m leg and felt like I was in a groove. In fact, my husband said he and my Mom thought I was "flying" and "swimming SO FAST" during the second half of the swim.

The exit to the pool was a one-person ladder, so there was a backup when I was ready to exit. But it gave me a chance to pull off my foggy goggles, catch my breath and get ready for the leg I was most afraid of.

Out of the pool, I ripped my swim cap off and past the timing mat into transition and heard the timer yell "YOU'RE GOOD!" and I was out the door of the Natatorium and into to the elements for ...

Transition 1:

Right outside the door, I could barely feel the cold hit me because there was my training partner Emily - she was yelling and screaming for me! I waved to her, listened to her yell some quick tips for transition and then I went in and easily found my bike.

I'd brought a larger towel with me than I normally planned to for transition, so I said "screw it" and decided to dry myself the best I could before the bike. This decision was validated when one of the guys coming in from the bike yelled to all of us that he passed "I can't feel my toes - do whatever you can to keep your feet warm!" I slathered my feet in Body Glide, shoved them in socks and then began to wrangle my wet self into running tights (NOT as easy as you would imagine!!). I shoved my feet in my bike shoes, zipped up my windbreaker, clipped on my number belt, pulled on gloves and clipped on my helmet.

"You have so much stuff! I didn't even know it was going to be cold!" was what the person said next to me ... so, my preparedness paid off!

You have to have your helmet on and clipped before you can leave transition, so I made certain that I had that done, and then I ran my bike out to the mount line, hopped on and I was off!

The Bike:

The bike leg I was most nervous about - I don't do well in the wind, I can't handle turns very well yet when I go fast, and I still have trouble hydrating myself on the bike.

So, I tried to make lemonade out of the lemons I was facing on the bike. It was windy as all get out - heavy gusts, and almost always a headwind, if not a cross wind. Unfortunately, the two-loop course was a lot hillier than my coach had led me to expect, so I definitely had some struggle points.

I hit a "massive" hill at Mile 5 and it was incredibly frustrating. But it also became a benchmark for me. Mentally, I told myself that I needed to hustle and get back to that hill - once I climbed it the SECOND time, I was done. The bike was over, and I could finish this bad boy off.

The hills:

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Unfortunately, between the weather and the course, I ended up losing nearly 12 minutes on the bike. I'm pretty disappointed in that, because it's what kept me from my ultimate time goal.

But I climbed "Monster Hill" the second time, had a hard (and active) coast down, and wrapped my way to the finish line of the bike ... where I was greeted by FRIENDS!! MY CHEERING SECTION HAD ARRIVED! My husband and Mom had been there since the beginning, as well as Em, but my No. 1 cheerleader Angela was there, along with my friend Kami (she's doing her first triathlon with me in July) and her son - and he son brought his bike to ride on the sidewalk alongside of me! I was so freaking excited to see everybody - judging by the smile on my face, you'd have no idea I'd just had a TERRIBLE bike ride.

It was a hard stop at the dismount line and then into ...

Transition 2:

In all the practice and bricks I've done, I really still struggle with my legs going from bike-to-run. They just don't want to go from the staccato strides of the bike to longer strides in running without time - I've run sideways into a retaining wall and I've tripped over a curb and almost rolled my ankle because of this. So, after I knew I'd lost time on the bike leg, I decided to give my legs an extra minute to stretch out, and warm up in my running shoes before I set out for the run. I stretched my hamstrings (and also piled all of my crap from the swim and bike into my transition bag). I unzipped my windbreaker (yay! Warm, dry core!) and pulled on my Marathon shirt. I swapped out my helmet and trail ears for a plain ole running cap. And then I was headed out to the last leg - to finish this thing off!

The Run:

My cheering section was right by Run Out, so I crossed the mat and took off - I could hear Angela screeching to me to "Finish this thing, Keels! You're a runner!" (Nobody has ever called me that before). And I just set into it - left foot, right foot, left, right, constantly pursuing forward motion. I was planning to go with a :90/:30 interval like I had in training, but the cold was legit and I didn't want to breathe it in too deep and have a resulting coughing fit (happens to me every time), so I just settled in to a nice, easy 1:00/1:00. It was all about finishing at this point. I high-fived runners coming back from the turnaround. Got a hug from a guy who'd passed me twice on the bike leg - ALWAYS with kind words on my performance - and he told me I "looked great" and that I "better be out there at the next one". I fell in step with an older gentleman who asked if he could run with me - "I'll run as long as you run - cool?". We got to the 1.5-mile turnaround and he simply said "Well, got this far - better get ourselves back!" and we just ran together in comfortable pace and silence until I could see my friends right before the finish line. I high-fived him, and took off.

Crossed the finish line and I was done! Triathlon Complete!!!
 
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