Day before prep..

The Tri to Beat Cancer was my first Triathlon event to compete in, and, this is a record of the events as it happened.

Race Prep

The night before the race I decided to go ahead and layout my gear, and simulate my transitions. I laid out my towel and went through my various phases of the triathlon. First I put my socks in my cycling shoes, with my helmet just above. Then to the right of this, I set up another pair of socks and my running shoes. When you get down to it, it does not seem like a lot of gear to have out. Considering you are wearing the rest of your stuff, it makes sense.  I also set out my water bottles and gels for the race.

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Other than this, I went and did a once over on my bike to ensure that I had pressure in my tires, and that nothing was broken. With that being in good repair. With everything looking good, I loaded up all of my clothes and gear into a diaper box ( Hey, I have a 2 week old at home ) and stationed all of the stuff in the living room to be put in the car in the morning.

Race day.

The night before the race I got to bed at around 11 p.m. with the aim of getting up at 4:30 a.m. I woke up at 4:05 and had my morning coffee and loaded up my car with my diaper box and my bike. From there it was off to Athens for the race. I got out of the house around 4:45 and it only took about 45 minutes to get to Sandy Creek park.

At 5:30 in the morning it is dark. It is very dark. I did not think to bring a flashlight or a headlamp, and next time it might be an added benefit to have one. I did not want to do my check in the day before, so I did it that morning. The setup was about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away from the parking, so I went ahead and took my bike over with me. I got my number and registration pack and took my bikes over to the rack.

The transition area was big. Turns out there were 621+ competitors, so quite a number of bikes. I racking my bike, I trudged back to the car to get dressed and get my gear. I got dressed into my gear and headed over to setup my gear.

From 2011AUG21- Tri to Beat Cancer

It turns out you do not have as much room to setup your stuff as you might think. Shoving 6 – 8 bikes into a small area does not make for much room. So I setup my towel and gear and racked my water bottles. I also got out my goggles and the cap that I had to wear for the swim.

Never underestimate time. An hour and a half goes by quick. I headed down to the lake, got a chance to get in the water. To be honest, the water was great. Nice and warm. I got a chance to meet up with a friend or two that were doing the race as well, and did a few warm up strokes.

The Start

I was in the first heat that was to head out. As I was not sure how I was going to do in the swim I decided to hang back a bit. Not that far back, but about two thirds back. When the horn sounded I headed into the water and decided to head to the outside and swim my own race.

Turns out I should have been a bit further up in the crowd. While I did not get kicked in the face, there were a lot of bodies out there, and flailing limbs and such. Once I got out to the first buoy and made my turn the waters opened up.

Swimming in the open water is a bit different than in the pool, and sighting and breathing was a bit rough. Felt like I could not get my breath the entire swim. However, I made good time and was out of the water before the 8 minute mark. Once out of the water, there was a small run up the hill to the transition area.

Transition 1 – Swim to Bike

The first transition went well and quickly. Put my helmet on, my socks, and then my shoes. Took a moment to get my shoes buckled, but then I was on my way for the ride. When I looked down at the bike I realized I did not have my bike computer. I had left it in the car. To late to do anything at this point.

Ride

The ride is my strong area. Considering I was training for a Triathlon on Oct, I just rode what I rode. The course was supposed to have rolling hills. It tended to either be either up hill or down hill. Considering that I did not have my computer I had to go with my gut on how I felt, and how I was doing.

Fortunately, they had markers at miles 4, 8, and I think 12. This helped me know how far I was going, maybe not how fast, but how far. The ride overall was great. I only got passed by people on tri bikes, so this made me feel a bit better. The rules say no drafting, but I saw plenty while out on the back of the course.

I had thought that riding in wet clothes was going to be an issue, but I did not have any problems with it. I did note, that by 3 miles in my socks were completely soaked. Looking back, I should have probably just skipped them.

The end of the ride is mostly down hill, and I tried to use that to recover my legs for the run. It was also at this point that I realized I had only drank about half of the amount of fluid that I had planned on. Oops.

Transition 2 – Bike to Run

It did take me a moment to remember where exactly my bike was, and you have to dismount and run to the rack. My legs felt a little shaky runny to my staging area.

Coming in I decided to change out my socks and put on dry ones. This took longer than I had planned for, and I had not tried getting on my belt or anything before, so that slowed me down.

Run

The run was painful. As soon as I started, I just wanted to stop. My bladder was full, and nature was calling. I ended up diving into the woods to give nature a call, and headed back out.

My legs were just toast. There is talk about getting your legs back after the first 1/2 mile or so, but it just did not happen. Every hill was painful, and I continuously felt like I was going to throw up. Somehow I managed to keep going, even though I did have to walk a bit.

It was depressing to see all the people passing me. I had hoped to be able to keep running, but my legs were locking up on me. At one point I even saw the person pass me that took the spot before me in the rankings.

Near the end I got some motivation from other runners, and was able to run the last mile to the finish. People were cheering as I came to the end, trying to motivate me to go faster, but I had nothing left.

Finish

From 2011AUG21- Tri to Beat Cancer

Crossing the line was great. Yes, I felt like I was going to cramp up or throw up with my next step, but I was done. It might not have been my best performance, but it was decent. That and I finished.

After I had a chance to recover I spoke to a few other people that I knew. One of them placed 3rd in her age class, and the other won overall. I then went and checked the results.

My results.

Clydesdale = 5th out of 39

Overall = 113 out of 621

I have already signed up for my next triathlon on Oct 2nd.

On 21 August 2011 I will be competing in my first Triathlon, the Tri to Beat Cancer. The event is taking place in Athens, Georgia, and is a sprint triathlon. A sprint tri is the shortest length triathlon type event. The swim will be 400 yards, followed by a 16 mile bike, and then finish with a 5k. Why they switch to metric for the run is beyond me, but that is the way it is done. Proceeds from the even are going to help cancer research.

Training for my first triathlon has been interesting. I had already been swimming and cycling, so I was not to worried about those two events. However, I have recently switched to minimalist running, and as such, have not built back up my running endurance length. That means that I have to get back up to the 3.1 mile distance before the 21st. The last run that I did was 2.75 miles at a 9:00min per mile pace. This is not bad, but the distance needs to be at least 3.1 miles. I would prefer to be running 4 – 5 miles, but I will have to work up to that point.

So the question that first hit me when I signed up for the triathlon, was how do I train for it. If you take a look out on the web and at book stores, there are about 9,342 different programs out there on how to prepare for your first tri. Some of these guides are geared toward people that have not been doing exercise, to those that expect you to give 10 – 20 hours a week to training. Some of the guides are geared specifically toward a sprint triathlon, while others are geared toward the longer Olympic and half iron man distances. The next problem is that a few of the guides are free, and some you have to pay for. It can quickly become confusing and daunting as to where to begin.

My recommendation when it comes to training plans is mixed. If you are a person that needs a set schedule, go out and find a plan you like and try it out. This does not work for me as my schedule can fluctuate. I have 4 kids, one of them being a newborn, as a result, I cannot guarantee what times I will be able to train. Due to this, I came up with my own training program to prepare for this upcoming triathlon. It is quite a simple concept, but if you do not have discipline it will not work.

The first thing that you need to be able to do is track your workouts. I use runkeeper as a way to track my runs, rides, and swims. I am thinking about switching to a spreadsheet, but have not had time yet. The idea is just to be able to look at your progress.

The second thing that you must do is to do a self evaluation. Determine where you are in all 3 events. Tests how far you can swim, see how far you can ride, and go for a run. Figure out what your week areas are. If you are weak in all 3 areas, go with a training plan. If you are weak in a specific area then this is the plan I would follow.

1. Attempt to do some activity at least 5 days out of the week. If you can do 6 then go with that. But whatever you do, rest for at least one day. Rest is vital.

2. Make sure to do all the activities, and stack them. Do more than one activity on some days.Mixing a ride with a run is great. Doing a swim and bike, or swim and run. Mix it up to get your muscles ready for going from one activity to the next.

3. Add extra emphasis on your weak event. I need to work on the run the most, as a result I am increasing the number of runs that I am doing per week.

4. Have fun.

Note: You get the biggest bang for your buck in the bike section of the race. That is where you can make the biggest difference on your time.

At work I was bombarded by some guys that road ride about joining them for some rides. At first I blew them off, but the more I thought about it the more I thought that it might be nice to get back on a road bike again. I continued to push back, but slowly started to waiver.

Years ago, and by years ago I am talking about 1988, I used to own a road bike. I remembered the rides that my brother and I would go on, and how much fun they were, but for the past 4 years I have been solidly into mountain biking. What fun could come from doing a road ride? However, there was always something that I enjoyed about going for a ride and the wind in my hair.

And then recently I started running and swimming again. People started taking note, and asking me if I was training for a triathlon. I have been doing 6 hour endurance bike races, but they take all day, and I always putter out at 4 hours. Plus, I just do not have the time to train for that.

Not sure which was the one that broke the camel’s back, but I finally decided to get a road bike. I tried out a couple, and could never get super comfortable on most of them, but the Trek 2.1 was close. Also, I wanted to support a local shop that does rides and such. For this reason I did not go with a Performance Bike branded bike. And, without trying it out, I ordered a Trek “Fisher Collection” Ion Pro. The bike felt right from the first time that I got on it.

The first ride that I did was a drop ride out of Apalachee Cycles on the day that I got my ride. It is a 24.5 mile ride with roughly 1500 – 1800 feet of climbing. The ride was great. After spending years on the mountain bike, I remember why I liked road riding so much. There is something about the window in your hair as the road flies by that is just exhilarating. Needless to say I got dropped by the lead group, but made it in with a respectable pace of 18.5 mph.

I have had the bike for a little while now, and have to say that it was a good decision to get the bike.

By the way, did I mention a triathlon is in my future?

I have just made it through the second 10th of the book. I figure this is the best way to discuss the book, as it is roughly 1200 pages long. Trying to condense a book into the thoughts of one page certainly is not worthy of the book or my time. Despite Ayn Rands claim as an icon of the Republican Party, I am of no party, and am just reading the book because of the number of people that I have heard reference it over the years.

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Ayn Rand wrote this book in a time that is much different and much the same as our own. The world in the book Atlas Shrugged is strange in one major way. Society has moved, as a majority, to a point where striving to do ones best is frowned upon. The assertion is that everything must be done for the greater good, and that companies attempting to make money is a bad thing.

To this extent the country passed a bill called the Equalization of Opportunity Act. This phony bill states that a person may not own more than one company. Compare that to today where companies gobble up other companies on an almost daily basis. Also, the companies are not the mega corporations of today. Imagine if Cisco, AT&T, GE, or any of the other huge companies out there was not allowed to own smaller companies, and to be into other markets. That would be such a strange state of affairs. Ayn Rand’s world is one where those that seek progress and gains are beaten down and frowned down upon.

What is interesting, is that in her book, the leaders of the companies, while looking to make a profit, do not seem to be looking to exploit their workers. Ahh, a world where excessive greed does not exist. I think Ayn Rand was an idealist in this sense. The ideal that any single form of government whether it be socialism, capitalism, or some other form of government is a bit naive.

What I find interesting is that compared to the book so far, our world is the opposite of hers. Ours is a world where corporations wield power over the government, and rarely the other way around. Congressmen are far more likely to bend over backwards to appease a corporation that is going to move jobs to other countries, than to help out the little guy that is toiling under the corporate umbrella.

Well let’s see what happens with the John Galt line, now that we know it works. Hopefully we will get a chance to find out who John Galt is. Next time I will also discuss that characters a bit more. I feel that Ayn Rand’s characters are rather two dimensional.

Being of the sort that likes to engage of conversations of a lively sort, at some point or another I tend to end up in discussions of politics and/or political outlooks. It was during such a conversation recently that the book Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand once again popped into the subject matter. I would like to say that I have read Atlas Shrugged, and that I could talk about the points that it makes, but alas that is not so. While I have owned a copy of the book for nigh on 7 years, it has been in my wife’s reading pile for the majority of the time.

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As a result of this conversation however, I decided that it was high time for me to get another copy of Atlas Shrugged and begin reading this colossus tale. Turns out the person that I was speaking with had his copy at hand, and was more than willing to part ways with it for the time that it would take for me to make my way through it. So I brought it home and began reading.

The first thing that caught my attention was the question that I have heard asked on more than just one occasion, “Who is John Galt?” This is a question whose answer I want to discover. In the story it is used almost more as a statement than that of a question. On this point I am not 100% certain, but that is the initial feeling that is put forth in the book.

Being 50 pages into it there is one parallel that I find massively disturbing. While there are socialistic undertones and capitalistic undertones the concept that bothers me is people not being willing to make decisions and take responsibility for those decisions. I find this disturbing because it is something that I have not only seen in everyday dealings with people, but also in my experiences in the corporate world. I cannot count the number of times I have been in meetings where no one wants to throw out an idea or make a decision for fear of being wrong. How can we continue on like this?

We have achieved a state where people are afraid to be accountable for their actions, and are apathetic when it comes to striving for excellence. Strange that I should see this parallel first, but then again it is a work of fiction and I have many pages yet to read.

More to come.