Preparing for Jack's Generic Triathlon

Having recovered from the Marble Falls Triathlon and getting into marathon training, I'm now gearing up for Jack's Generic Triathlon.  This one will be an actual Olympic distance race back at Lake Pflugerville.  I've been talking to my marathon coach about what happened during the Marble Falls race and she suggested trying salt tablets.  As I am a heavy sweater, she suggested that I may be losing too many electrolytes during exertion and this might be a good way to supplement that.  Especially with the heat we're dealing with.

I bought some and have found that they make a difference.  I started looking for a better way to carry these during a race, especially on the bike.  My research lead me to the Salt Stick dispenser.  It carries 6 tablets, dispenses them with a twist, and can be carried, mounted, or even inserted into a bar end.  I think this might be a game changer.  Guess I'll get to try it out soon.

Marble Falls Triathlon Race Report

Well, that was one of the more challenging races I've done...And that's why I do multiple races in a season. It was a tough race.  For some reason, the swim was challenging.  I guess I'm still not quite comfortable in the water.  The bike wasn't too tough by itself.  However I think I expended too much energy attacking the hills and wore myself out.  I was trying to maintain a certain average speed and I think that caused me to go hard on some of the hills.  And there were a lot of them.  I felt like I had rode pretty hard and when I got into T2, my legs were already cramping.  Not good.  I knew the run was going to suck.  It did.  I had a decent pace for the first couple of miles, then everything started to fall apart.  I was having serious cramps in my quads and I was just worn out.  I was able to slog through the run that wound through a residential neighborhood and ended with a steep hill up to the finish.  After a little active recovery massage at the finish, I started the hour long drive back.  Overall, the results were not great.  I was toward the bottom of my age group and overall didn't feel great about the race in general.  Oh well, I've got more races to come.  I earned some good food, beer and a nap. Oh yeah, and an ice bath.

 

  

  

   

 

 

Marble Falls Triathlon

I'm preparing for the Marble Falls triathlon.  It should be an interesting race.  It's a 1K swim, 23 mile bike through the hill country, and a 4.4 mile run.  Not sure how/why they came up with this distance. But, I'm looking forward to it.  Looking to build on the momentum I had from the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon.  I just registered and the race is Sunday so I'm thinking it might be a small race.  I keep stepping up the distance to each one is a challenge.  Looking forward to it.

Starting Marathon Training

Marathon training has now started in earnest for the Dallas marathon in December.  Hard to believe I'm starting training now for something that's 5 months away.  Also hard to believe that it should actually be cool when I race.  It's definitely not right now.  Hot, sunny, and humid.  It's great to see a lot of familiar faces again as well as meet some new people.  We've got a big and diverse group.  Should be fun!

Lake Pflugervile Race Report

Well the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon was a success overall.  I had a decent swim, not great but not terrible either.  My bike was pretty good, although I kind of faded at the end.  I'd like to be a little more consistent on the bike.  My run was not as good.  I started strong but faded in the end.  I kind of blew up about 2/3 into it.  Gotta work on that.  Overall I had a pretty good time and it was really exciting and invigorating to be a race environment again.

  

Lake Pflugerville Triathlon

I'm back and refocused, ready for the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon.  This is a sprint distance race at a great location.  It's a small, man-made lake that has a permanent 500 meter swim course for practicing open water, lots of open roads for biking through much of the same route I had on the Rosedale Ride, and 3 mile granite trail around the lake.  I've done some training out there and it will be fun to race there.  I've also got anther race there in August.  I feel good and don't have large expectations going into it.  Just enjoy the day and get comfortable with racing again.  A good bounce back after Kemah.

JFET

I've come up with a new mantra for racing.  I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to finish with a certain time, maintain a certain pace, be in a certain percentile in results, etc.  All of those are good goals.  However, when I'm focusing just on that and the success or failure of the outcome is based on those criteria, it can be really stressful.  I can easily lose sight of why I'm doing this in the first place how much fun I'm having.  I recently read an article about how to deal with anxiety during a triathlon.  Or, rather it was about how to relax and enjoy the moment.  There were a number of things that resonated with me.  Two of the key points that have stuck with me have been:

1. No one cares about your time but you. - I've been so worried about my overall time that I'm losing sight of the bigger picture.  No one cares what time I finished it.  Did I finish and have fun is all they really care about. I learned that with marathon training pretty early on.  Not sure why I didn't translate that well to triathlon.
2. You deserve this and to do well. - This is a big one.  So often I can easily feel intimidated and feel like I shouldn't be there; that I'm out of my league.  When I see people who are faster than I am, stronger than I, more fit than I, it's hard not to think this.  But, like my high school football coach used to say, "that's 'stinking thinking'".

It reminds of me of a quote I read years ago, from Jimmy Buffett of all people: "If you ever get a chance to run with the ball, count on fumbling and getting the shit knocked out of you.  Just remember how much fun it was to run with the ball."  So, to remind myself of all of this and to relax and enjoy the moment, I have my new mantra: JFET - Just Fucking Enjoy This!