Well my season's over...
Mike Schwing
Triathlon - a lackluster 55th overall out of 418 entries, 7/47 in the 30-34
age group. Had a fun time, but couldn't pedal the bike worth a crap. RST'r
Brad Spierman and I "dueled" it out the whole race - Brad got out of the
water before me but I left the transition area before him, thanks to
learning how to start with my shoes already clipped in. Brad quickly passed
me on the bike, and I never saw him again until I got out on the run course,
where at the turnaround I told him I was coming for him, and caught him in
the last mile and a half. We ran together for a few hundred yards then I
guess I had a little more left in me than Brad, and didn't see him again
until after the finish. Was fun to continue going back and forth with
someone I knew for the whole race.
So what about this past year? The most odd thing of all is that this year my
swim times have been ranked better than my bike and run times consistently
all year. I'm not fast at any of the three, but I couldn't even swim 3 years
ago. My body responds to things in such odd ways! I have no idea how I got
slower in the bike and run but faster in the pool. Well, I guess I do know,
long slow Ironman training, with absolutely no speed work all summer (even
though it was on the schedule) made me long and slow, or maybe I just don't
have it, whatever. The idea that I might be a better swimmer now than
cyclist or runner is extremely troubling.
I had a fun year, becoming an Ironman was definitely the highlight of the
season, and I was thrilled to be a participant in the Lake Placid Ironman. I
plan on doing another one in 2 seasons. I can even see going for double
Ironman someday. Training for Ironman was the most difficult thing I have
ever done, but now that it's gone I miss it. The Eagleman race this year was
the most painful day of my life, the heat made me feel the most miserable I
have ever felt in any conditions or under any circumstance in my 33 years.
Odd how a 1/2 IM can be more painful than the full one.
Now what? I'm taking some time off - my sciatica problem has been nagging
since August 15th and I'm going to lay off the bike for a while. Local 5K
races sound like a good idea. Next year it's short distance races only, and
the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim (4.4 miles) in June.
How about you?
Mike
Gail M. DeCamp
Hey Schwing,
Here's the rest of my season:
1) GET MARRIED (Oct 9)-- believe it or not,
I'm tapering for it and treating it just like
a race (sleep well, eat right, stay hydrated,
use a checklist to make sure I have all the
required equipment, expect to be brainless and
set up my day to accomodate that).
2) Silicon Valley Marathon, Oct 31. First
marathon. I own many costumes. I will not be
wearing any of them to race.
That ends my season. I expect to spend some of
the winter playing racquetball and training for
the Cal. AIDS ride.
-Gail
Allen Smith
>
> Mike
>
Hello Mike, Allen here.
This is my first season in triathlon and I think the best part is the help I
received from the RST'ers. I am the only active triatlete around here and
train with no one but myself (I do run with a track club) so the input and
insights from all of you has been invaluable.
A very sincere "Thanks" to you all.... but mine isn't over quite yet. Ran
in Daytona, Fl. last Saturday and have 2 more in 3 weeks on Jeckyll Island,
Ga. (Sprint and Olympic). I thought it crazy to plan for 2 in one weekend
but have ran into a few people at races that plan on doing them both so
concluded why not? I may just do the Olympic... anyway... we'll see.
Training for a marathon in Jacksonville, Fl. in Dec..... then....?????
I have found Triathlon to be very rewarding for me compared to just road
races. I still enjoy road races but I get so wired the night before a tri!
I have fallen in love with this sport and again, I thank you
all.............
Allen
SteveBlum
Mike Schwing wrote:
>I have no idea how I got
>slower in the bike and run but faster in the pool. Well, I guess I do know,
>long slow Ironman training, with absolutely no speed work all summer (even
>though it was on the schedule) made me long and slow
I followed pretty much the same program, and got pretty much the same results.
I can ride and run a lot further, but generally not quite as fast as I did last
season. My swimming has picked up though, and that's mostly the result of the
masters group I joined nearly two years ago. But I didn't change anything
with it this year, even though I was upping mileage in the bike and run to
prepare for an IM.
My season is over, and so is my R&R time: I've started base training for IMNZ.
Back to the long, slow distance workouts, although this year I'm being a
little bit more diligent about doing speedwork too.
Good luck,
Steve Blum (stev...@aol.com)
Tellus Venture Associates
"Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you;
if you don't bet, you can't win." R.A.H.
Tricia Richter
stev...@aol.com (SteveBlum) wrote:
> My season is over, and so is my R&R time: I've started base training for
> IMNZ.
No Sentinel this year, Steve?
--
Tri-Baby
_
- o
' - __o - </\_
` ' - \< - __/\
/\o_ - (()) (()) - /
^^^^^^^^^^
"Real triathletes don't draft."
http://www.stanford.edu/~brooksie
*New to triathlon? Check out Hulaman's Simple TriTips:
http://www.hulaman.com/triathlon/tritips.html
gordo byrn
>
> How about you?
>
> Mike
>
>
Mike knows this already but for the rest of RST here is the line up for the
next 12 months
IMH99 - Oct
The Great Hong Kong Buttsit and Guinness Fest- Nov (whole month)
Lots of 15-25 K cross-country runs at reasonable paces - winter
IMOz 2000- Apr
Asian Oly Distance - May/June
1/2 Vineman - July
IMC 2000 - Aug
IMH - ???
Laguna Phuket If No IMH - Nov
I would dearly love to do Wildflower again but it is too soon after Oz and I
am short on holiday. Maybe in 2001.
gordo
Rick Denney
>
>>
>> How about you?
>>
Only two races on next year's agenda right now:
Blackwater Eagleman 1/2
IMUSA
I'll probably add Columbia and Salisbury, too.
Next fall, I plan easy, fun bike rides, maybe including a liesurely
century or two.
I wanted to wait until the following year and do IMC, but the bother
of getting the bike across the continent just seemed to much. Mostly,
though, I want to build on my marathon base. I may only get one shot
at this, and I want to use all the momentum I have.
I feel like my season has therefore just started. The thought of
goofing off all winter scares me more than looking at that email
confirmation of my IM entry.
Rick "Still in a state of panic" Denney
rich...@my-deja.com
got
> slower in the bike and run but faster in the pool. Well, I guess I do
know,
> long slow Ironman training, with absolutely no speed work all summer
(even
planned a short rest break before finishing up in late August-September.
I had begun to feel tired anyway, and attributed it to all of the
racing. When I still felt tired after a couple of weeks, I changed my
plans to race again no earlier than mid-September. I raced on the 12th
and did okay (5th overall), but felt as if I was missing my "top gear."
I figured that it was all due to a viral syndrome. Of course, when I
woke up with severe pleuritic chest pain and shaking chills on the 16th,
I knew something was wrong. I got a chest x-ray which confirmed my
suspicions that I had a pneumonia. After starting on antibiotics, I
began to feel better. Then, on the 21st, I developed a RAGING headache,
neck stiffness, and back pain.
So... I'm now recovering from what I assume was a viral pneumonia
complicated by a viral meningitis. I feel better than I've felt in 2
months, but still get chest pain if I exert myself too much. Obviously,
I have no plans to race anytime soon; I hope to run a 1/2 marathon in
late November.
Oh, FWIW, I am a physician, so I guess I should have known better, and
listened to my body a bit more. But, I'm also a triathlete, so I hope I
can be excused for figuring that I could train through it. ;-)
No morals, no whining; I just hope that all of you stay healthy and end
your season in a less dramatic way.
Richard Ling
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
SteveBlum
Tricia Richter wrote:
>No Sentinel this year, Steve?
Nope. For a couple of reasons. First, I want to do Tinley's and Granite Bay
too, and Sentinel falls in the middle. But the bigger reason is the drafting
situation at Sentinel. Last year was a goat rodeo, with the RD announcing on
the beach that, contrary to the printed material, it would be a draft-legal
race. But that's not the real problem. The fact is that with or without the
announcement, and with or without the disclaimer in the race info, Sentinel is
a draft legal race. Draft enforcement consists of motorcycle club members
waving at draft packs. That impresses some people, but people who understand
how things work know that there's no penalty involved. So some of them keep
drafting. The result is a defacto draft legal race, but not everybody on the
course realizes it.
I think the simplest solution is for Sentinel to sanction with USAT. Absent
that, the RD could at least try to institute some meaningful enforcement steps
on his own. But recall last year's exchanges with the RD on RST. He was sorry
the bike segment turned out the way it did, but he didn't think it was because
of anything he did or didn't do. I give him credit for addressing the issue on
RST -- I really appreciate it when an RD is willing to discuss things in this
forum -- but in the months since I haven't seen any indication that anything is
going to change. In other words, business as usual.
So, I'm going to pass on Sentinel this year. It's a spectacular race, and in a
lot of ways a wonderful way to end the season. But it's fallen way down on the
priority list because of the drafting problem. As it happens, I have to be up
in Santa Cruz this Sunday morning, so I'll be there at the start to cheer you
all on.
Good luck!
SchwingDing
should do - remind fellow RST'rs of the negatives of a race a month or two
before it comes around again next year. I fully plan on lambasting the
Lancaster Triathlon several times before next year's race, I feel as a
consumer/athlete it should be my duty to remind people about the bad
experience I had with that vendor. We should think of the races the way we
think of any service provider, at least in the light that we should tell
others what we think. In the real world that's one of the things that keeps
businesses looking for ways to provide better service - word of mouth is
very powerful, in both it's positive and negatives. I don't think of races
as volunteer organizations out to help me have a fun day - someone's getting
the money I'm spending. If I have a bad experience, it's not the volunteer's
fault, it just might however, be the RD's.
I am in no way volunteering for this, but a database similar to the one Dan
is putting together about bike shops would be neat thing.
Mike
SteveBlum <stev...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990929174914...@ng-fs1.aol.com...
>
> Tricia Richter wrote:
>
> >No Sentinel this year, Steve?
>
> Nope. For a couple of reasons. First, I want to do Tinley's and Granite
Bay
> too, and Sentinel falls in the middle. But the bigger reason is the
drafting
> situation at Sentinel. Last year was a goat rodeo, with the RD announcing
on
> the beach that, contrary to the printed material, it would be a
draft-legal
H.
SteveBlum
Mike Schwing wrote
>I am in no way volunteering for this, but a
>database similar to the one Dan is putting
>together about bike shops would be neat thing.
Having some kind of moderated resource like that would be pretty useful. I've
used Deja News to get past comments on races and it's been very helpful, but a
moderated forum would provide a different sort of benchmark, which would also
be very useful.
There's a well-founded concern about trial-by-Usenet. I agree that we should
share our own opinions about the good stuff and the bad stuff we come across,
and your idea would help keep things in perspective.
See ya out there,