Caught Between Thought and Expression

[Jack Hughes]

Not so much "better" as "get well soon"

[jonathon.e]

Not really training but more like exercising with meaning.

I had hoped that this year to be just doing sprint tri distance, but on the recommendation of Jack I entered the Allerthorpe Standard distance Tri, he said the course would suit me ( translated as not too many slopes to contend with), as I had only done one run over the ten k distance in the last few months, I was aiming for around 2h 45m , adding ten mins to my usual ten k time to compensate for the lack of run training.

The swim was a convoluted two lap course of 750 m laps with an exit and run between the laps. Each wave having 100 competitors in, four waves at two min intervals.
Probably one of the worst swims I have done, period, it just went wrong, so so wrong, just glad to get out and on the bike, it would have seemed that my bike in transition was so far back it was in another time zone.

Nice flat bike course, took it steady so as not to rip the knee up, or fatigue the muscles to cause the knee to lose stability. Slightly breezy on the return leg, some peletons forming, didn't see one draft buster.

Back to T2, racked and hobbling off, crowds cheering the bikers as they returned. Just as I exited onto the run course a group of 20+ riders came in, crowds cheered, a lovely sound of metal and carbon hitting Tarmac and silence descended. Well they shouldn't have drafted, C reported about ten hitting the deck at once ha ha.

The run was going ok upto 7k when my knee ligament started to feel pressure, so had to slow down to prevent further injury.

Back to race finish and all done

Swim. 30m 33s
T1. 1m 44s
Bike. 1h 1m 42s
T2. 1m 16s
Run. 57m 44s

Total. 2h 33m 01s

[jonathon.e]

No training since race day on Sunday, but only thoughts,

What makes a good race, or rather how do you decide if it is a good race, if we discount the obvious, such as was it value for money ( we weren't forced at gunpoint to pay the entry fee, so an educated person would decide before what the max they would pay up front to race ). Or was the course fit for purpose, marshallers good or bad, the last event I did the marshals are paid, they are well dressed, shirts and ties, no less, and given instructions on what to do.

Forget moaning about the weather, train in it, and race in it.

So down at the basics of it, it would seem that a good race is rooted in our perceived performance. Was it too our expectations, did we get a performance that we wanted. What can we do about it. If we have been I'll or injured, surely expecting a result better than when we were fitter only leads to discontentment and resentment. Where as an analytical assessment, can produce an approach that produces a more positive outcome.

To put last Sundays race in perspective. I am thankful that I have always been physically active, this provides a base of fitness, this level of fitness allows me to get some reasonable results, with a small amount of quality training.

I have knee problems, which means running is very limited, the only time I swim in OW is when I race, ( scuba is not swimming). So why should I expect to have a fast race if I have not practiced, so preconceptions are not high. I expect a quick bike, but I cannot over fatigue my muscles as it may unstabilise my knee, causing the run to become a DNF. So again I do not expect a fast time, I want a fast time, but I know I cannot get one.

After two mins from the go, I had had enough. I had been winded, kicked in the head, felt sick, and seriously thought of getting out, endex. So I made my way to the side grabbed a few moments and started off again. Slowly. I have swum in mass starts of over 2500 racers, but that wave on Sunday was the worst, only 100 in it. Somebody will be injured seriously, it may be all well and good saying,as you beat your chest, ape like " yeah, I like a good front brawl. Really get stuck in". But come on muppets, don't ruin someone's life for the sake of a couple of seconds. One racer in the slow wave had their Garmin ripped off their wrist, and this was the slow wave with only a handful of swimmers in, calm down, I am 16 stone, 6'2, so if I hit someone it will hurt, so I will happily swim nicely away from the muppets and take my time. Digressing slightly, the swim was below the standard I wanted, however, That is one of those things, live with it, learn from it, evolve from it.
Two laps, the next waves fastest swimmers start to catch the tailenders of the first wave , crowded, oh yes.

Should a bad swim affect the bike, why should it, some say you won't win a tri with the swim, but you can lose it. You cannot change what is done, only focus on the present. What time is it, where am I, what am I doing. The time is now, the place is here, and you are doing the immediate task, always has been and always will be.

I knew the bike would be the key, the run would just be something to fill in the gap between the bike and the finish, a walk, a crawl, a hobble, that I knew, no point in worrying about it.

There are times on the bike when you hit that sweet spot, it may only last a few seconds, or a few
Minutes, that point where you know that if you go faster, your muscle fatigue will make you slower in the long term, slow down and you waste valuable seconds.

Spinning along, the sound of air channeling through the Vortice vent, my heart pounding, lactic acid building in my legs, breathing laboured, and then, silence, the sound of the wind was gone, my heart rate had settled, the pain in the quads had gone, as I looked inwards at the inside of the visor and the reflection, it was an array of colour, browns, greens,yellows, reflections of the passing fields and sights, looking beyond these colours, I notice buildings, people, roads, cars, in a transient state, I feel the wind, but it has no meaning, breathing is not laboured, runners would call it a runners high, cyclists would say, not quite sure really, my HR is relaxed, I look at nothing, but see everything, I hear nothing but listen to everything, this is the place to be, this fleeting moment, this momentary nirvana, a micro second of life, where all is working towards an end, flowing together, and then it is gone, like tears in rain. But for that moment all the bad race moments are forgotten and you are truly at the Apex.

[scibby]

Love it... Top post...

Iget that very occasionally when running. Where it is all so easy. I got it today while running in the woods. It was darkish, I could hear everything but make out nothing. I was a bit scared and therefore I think pumping adrenaline. And I could run and run and run...

And then I got a stitch!

[jonathon.e]

Love it... Top post...

Iget that very occasionally when running. Where it is all so easy. I got it today while running in the woods. It was darkish, I could hear everything but make out nothing. I was a bit scared and therefore I think pumping adrenaline. And I could run and run and run...

And then I got a stitch!

But for those few minutes before the stitch, your body was in synch, a synegenic system, everything in harmony and an adrenaline boost as well.

You just feel the need to hunt down that moment again, addiction can be good.

[jonathon.e]

Sore knees, and very very tight calves, for the last two weeks, my last run a fortnight ago was curtailed after three miles, due to a few muscular problems, so didn't want to aggravate it for my next race, which was last Sunday.

My thoughts were to rest the muscles, and get them fit to finish.

Last post, I mentioned about what makes a good race, and to be honest, despite my time not being great, I possibly did a near as perfect race, as I could. However, I have to quantitfy this, for some a perfect race is a PB, to others it is a podium. For me triathlon is not about being the fastest swimmer, the quickest cyclist, or fleetest of foot. It is about maintaing the best pace to finish in the quickest time, what is the point of knocking 30 seconds off your swim, only to add ninety seconds to the bike time. Setting off like you have just stolen the crown jewels is something that you do when training, not something for race day, may as well, stop at home, burn forty quid and watch repeats of Top Gear, on Dave.

Training is exactly that, you train for your race, want to do well, know the course, know the competition, choose the right gear, not rock up and set off like a scalded cat. OK for the select few, it may work, but why chance it.

Six weeks ago, at my last race, the wave start had 100 people in it, most of the names also featured on the start sheet for Sunday, I had a nightmare of a swim, took on board the facts, and had a better swim, a faster swim, on \Sunday, and consequently, had a good bike.

For the bike, it would be an undulating one, living on the flat lands, I used Strava to find similar slopes in the area, used them, and learnt how quick my body could recover. The bike had two laps, maintaing a reasonable pace, I was able to move past others who had gone off two quickly, they lose time, I gain ground.

Having a good bike naturally leads to a good run, more relaxed, muscles less tense, particularly for my legs and knees, means I could maintain a reasonable pace, flat run, tap it out, no undue stupid sprints, means less likely to break.

Race finished, still in one piece, fastest pace possible given training and injuries = perfect race. Job done.

Now the rant section, there was a lot, and huge amount of drafting going on, thankfully, a number of riders were DQ'd for dangerous riding, what irked me as well, was the poor standard of riding with respect to other racers, riding in the middle of the road, blocking cars, caused a number of riders to be queued up behind cars, moving over would have allowed cars to overtake and riders to move safely, possibly some got aggravated by the inconsiderate riders and took needless chances, and paid the cost.

Not neccesarily race associated, but if the race allows all swim strokes to be used bar backstroke, it would be nice if people didn't have double standards regarding the swim, those that advocate the violent nature of the washing machine scrummage and then be critical of getting kicked by breaststrokers, if you are in a wave that catches up slower swimmers from the previous wave, you are going to meet breaststokers, plain and simple, fast swimmers give way to slow swimmers, don't say it is ok to hit people doing front crawl, then go crying to mum when you get kicked in the chops by a slower breaststroker, double standards me thinks. Also the breaststoker may have been happily doing FC until they got kidney punched and needed to catch their breath. OK rant over and now deep breath.

On the plus side, I did get to meet one of my all time favourite Athletes, the race was good, but that made my day.

[Jack Hughes]

That bike course almost put me off triathlons. It is made worse my the loop which double the number of riders. 3 and 4 abreast. All drafting.

I ended up sitting up, just to avoid the appearance of drafting. Even the long run in downhill was spoilt by a bus getting in the way.

[jonathon.e]

That bike course almost put me off triathlons. It is made worse my the loop which double the number of riders. 3 and 4 abreast. All drafting.

I ended up sitting up, just to avoid the appearance of drafting. Even the long run in downhill was spoilt by a bus getting in the way.

the course just created bunches of riders, uphill sections they drifted together, downhills they stretched out, and most downhill sections had a lovely right angled, brake hard bend, causing the bunches to resume again,

Loooking at Zacniki's time, I don't think he had a great race.

Also I was amazed as to the number of ' mechanicals' , riders were having, and these were top end bikes, and given the race was a ETU qualifier, you might have thought they would have put abit more into race prep. I counted seven, stopped, dealing with, chain/mech problems, punctures yes, but not drive problems, doubt they learn their lessons though.

[Sir Jibbenstein]

Interesting perspective. I guess these are thoughts that come with experience. The idea of pacing 3 events not just one is only starting to come in now, I guess it depends on how you approach the sport as well. Should certainly be food for thought for everybody.

[Worrying Will]

intersting views. I am starting to take that stance now on my races. My frustaion is when people pass you then dont push on meaning you end up drafting when it wasnt your fault. You slow down and lose rythm.