Flat Tire and Rainbows

So after that great swimming experience it was time for a 20 mile bike ride. Similar to the swim, we were to ride to a certain halfway point and then meet up before heading back. The route was mostly a common one I take from my house so I was familiar.

Several us got to the halfway point which is a bar on a small lake and we waited for a bit. Then we decided to head out and as soon as I started I ended up with a flat rear tire.

So now this kinda a big deal, but if you are going to get a flat, probably best to do it on a group ride with tons of people with you to help and right next to a bar when you can just go in and call your wife and have a drink while you wait if you decide not to fix it.

So I carry a spare tube, CO2 inflaters and tire levers to do the job, but I have never actually changed a bike tire before. I had watched some youtube videos so I was familiar with the premise of how it worked, but I had not actually done it. I also carry a $20 bill in case I need to buy beer while I wait for a ride home.

It was funny that several people that were with me said they had never changed a bike tire before. So it turns out that I wasn't alone and I was going to be doing a demonstration for the group.

I managed to get the old tube out and the new tube in. Getting the tire back on was a bit of a chore but I managed that too. Then I had to figure out how the CO2 cartridges worked (really well is the answer), and finally I was ready to get back on the road. It took 15 minutes for me to change my tire.

A quick ride back to the car with a couple of sprinkles of rain along the way and my evening of successful firsts (open water swimming and tire changing) was complete. As I got in my car and drove away, A double rainbow appeared to the east. I thought it was a fitting end to my evening.

Open Water Swimming

So a local running store offers "tri-nights" on Tuesdays during the summer. They do an open water swim at a lake near my house followed by a 20 mile bike ride. The swims are kayak supported for safety. So I signed up and I hope to take advantage a few times this summer. Tonight was one of those nights.

I drove over, parked, and grabbed my wetsuit. There were about a dozen of us for this session. I began putting on my wetsuit and realized that I had it on backwards. Nice way to start Tim! After finally getting my wetsuit on, I got someone to zip me up and we headed out into the water.

My research on the open water panic attack said to do a few things. First try to get acclimated to the water before swimming. Let some water into the top of the wetsuit to help provide another barrier to the cold. Then stick your face in the water and just blow some bubbles. Finally when you start swimming, start slowly.

So thats exactly what I did. The water was COLD!!! The wetsuit is super nice though and once into the water waist deep I kneeled down and let some water into my suit. Then I stuck my face in a few times to blow bubbles. Yep the water was cold on my face too. So far so good. Breathing is normal, heart rate is normal. I am thinking that I can do this, but I have to swim yet.

So we all headed towards a white garage door across the little bay we were in. I was told it was about 400 yards away. I waited for everyone else to leave and then I started. I took a few strokes, sighted, and then asked a kayaker if I was going to the right place. He assured me I was.

Then I just put my head down and swam. I was sighting every 3 breaths which seemed to be about right. I stopped after a short while because I came up to some feet. So floating in the water, I realized that I didn't start my watch! AAAAH why do I do that?

So with the watch started I head out again, nice and easy. My tempo was very slow and deliberate, just focusing on my breathing and before I knew it, I was with the group in the shallows by the white garage door.

Some went on to do the mile swim, but I decided to just turn around and finish the swim with most of the others. Not going to push anything this time around. Again I waiting for everyone to start and then I headed out, again with the same easy pace.

After a little while I was comfortable so I started picking up the pace a little. Pulling a little harder with each stroke and slightly increasing the tempo. I ended up passing several people on the way back which was unexpected and suddenly I was in the shallows at the boat landing again.

I DID IT!!! I can actually swim in open water just like I thought.

Riding in the Rain

So I had another 1:30 bike ride on the schedule today. I wanted to play golf with friends at 8am so I was on the road from my house by 6am to get my ride started. Yucky day today. It had rained overnight so the roads were wet. Temps were cool at around 50 degrees and wind was off of lake superior so chilly.

I tried to check the radar before I left but it was down for maintenance. So I had no idea if I was going to get wet or not. The long range views from the other radars seemed to indicate that it would be dry for the morning.

I was planning to do the same route as a couple of weeks ago which starts with about 5 miles straight north from my house. As I turned to the east it started to rain. Cold rain too, definitely made it hard to see.  I really didn't need this, and it certainly wasn't fun, so I cut my ride short by a couple of miles by turning south a couple of roads early.

I must have been just on the edge of the rain because once I turned back to the south it stopped again. It was really dark out. The clouds were thick and not letting the early morning sun through. I only have tinted glasses on my bike so it was dark and hard to see.

So it was an interesting ride. Not as strong as previous rides, but I did experience some new conditions with the rain and the dark. I think I need to get me some clear glasses for riding.

Confidence Building

I have been doing a lot of reading and I had a panic attack in the water. This is apparently common in open water swimming and I just need to do a few things differently next time and get more exposure to open water.

But because of that I guess I will just say that I lost a lot of confidence last weekend in that race. I posted at the end of the race report that I am considering dropping down to the sprint rather than the Oly for my next race. My coach disagreed and wants me to do the Oly but I have some serious doubts.

So this week has been pretty standard. With pool swims Monday and today, a bike on Tuesday and a run on Wednesday.

Monday's swim went ok. I CAN still swim, I did prove that to myself. My breathing was still not quite right and the intervals that I would normally have no issues hitting I struggled with today.

Tuesday's bike ride went GREAT! I did a core workout first along with some stretching before heading out into the nice crisp fall air (oh wait, it is June). I was well rested and felt pretty good. I last did this loop ride in October and I took 7 minutes off my time. I didn't go into my small ring at all on the hills either which was a first.

My HR was right where I like it, and my breathing wasn't labored. It is amazing how much better I perform when my HR isn't pegged like it was on Sunday. So it was a great confidence building ride.

My run yesterday started with a 5 mile bike ride to loosen up. Nothing hard, just an easy spin since that worked well in my shakedown ride last week. It turned out to be my longest run to date. First time for 5+ miles, and set a 5k PR! The 5th mile was brutal, it is just a long slow climb. Nothing steep, just always uphill.

I did 2:45/0:45 for the first 3 miles, then about halfway through mile 4 I switched to 2:30/1:00 and used that to the end. But overall I felt great during this run.

Today Coach was out sick for our swim class so I ended up "leading" the class (there were 3 of us regulars). I pulled out a previous workout I had written down and was in my bag. I got the whiteboard and marker, wrote it out and off we went. It was a workout that didn't require anyone to send us off, we were able to do it ourselves.

I had zero motivation this morning to swim. Just one of those morning where I would rather have stayed in bed. But I had a good swim, fast sprints and felt much better than Monday.

So overall this week has been very positive for me.

1. I have proven to myself that I can swim, even if it is in a pool
2. People were impressed that I actually finished the race despite what I went through. I hadn't really given that any thought, but in reality I never felt like quitting.
3. My fitness has improved in the past 8 months quite a bit and I keep proving it to myself.
4. I did a bunch of research and I think I know what set off my panic attack and how I am going to fix it

I am looking forward to trying open water swimming again and proving to myself that I CAN do that too!

NewBriTri Race Report

Preamble

The whole family drove to Minneapolis the day before. Ran a couple of errands. Dinner at Olive Garden and in the hotel room early.

Pre-Race

Arrived at the park about 640am and picked up my bag then found a spot in transition and got my stuff set up. It was then that I realized that I left my body glide back at the hotel. I met up with Austin who was the guy who gave me my first swim lesson 3 years ago and my daughters former coach. We chatted for a bit. We also ran into Elaine who has been swimming with me in the mornings.

Then it was time to get the wetsuit on. That’s almost as exhausting as the race itself. I borrowed some spray on body glide from the women next to me and put that on my wrists and ankles. Then I walked over to where my family was. It was super windy out and kinda chilly standing around, but not too bad with the wetsuit on.

After the pre-race meeting we were set to go.

Swim

The swim was set up time trial style with people entering the water every 3s or so and had a triangular shape, so just 2 turns. I put myself in the middle of the pack with a bunch of other people shooting for a 15 minute swim. It wasn’t very long and I was off and into the water. It was fairly shallow for a while so some running/wading for a bit and then I dove in. First stroke my hand touched the ground but after that nothing, so I think I timed it about right.

I swam about 100 yards or so, not crowded at all, but suddenly I just felt like I couldn’t breathe. My normal rhythmic breathing that I do in the pool all the time was suddenly not enough air. Not even close. So I switched to a safety stroke for a bit (mix of breast/side stroke) to see if I could catch my breath and calm down. Then back into freestyle. I could only manage maybe 5 rhythmic breaths and then I was back upright in the water.

This continued to the first turn buoy where I found a lifeguard on a paddleboard. I stopped there for a while, just stupefied that this was happening at all. I didn’t understand it, I didn’t know what to do about it either. My HR was through the roof, and I was essentially hyperventilating. I was with that lifeguard for over a minute for sure, I don’t know exactly. I wasn’t really getting any better but I decided to continue on.

But first I had to start my watch! (Doh!)

The leg to the next buoy was the longest on the course. Same thing was happening. Go for a few strokes stop, go for a few strokes and stop. I made it to the next paddleboarding lifeguard at the midway point of the leg and stayed there for a while. Frustration growing.

On from him to the next corner doing the same thing again. I make it around the corner and stop at a kayak for a while. The funny thing is there was a guy who was basically doing sidestroke the whole way and he stopped at every lifeguard too. Apparently he thought my stopping looked like a good idea.

Now a straight shot to shore and I managed to make it to walkable area and slowly make my way to shore. I am totally gassed, HR high, and totally out of breath.

The wind didn’t seem to affect me at all on the swim. There were really no waves at all to deal with, I never got any water in my mouth. Just no idea what set this off.

Completed the swim in 19:32 which was 40/42 in my age group

T1

I walk into transition, I am trying to get my breathing and HR under control here before the bike. I get to my spot and try to take my wetsuit off, the arms came off easy, but I could NOT get my feet out. ARRGG! So finally I manage to get my wetsuit off, my socks and bike shoes on, throw on my helmet and then walk to the bike exit. 3:57 for my T1 time.

Bike

I get on my bike and start pedaling out. I am still breathing really hard and I glance down at my bike computer and it shows 173 for my HR! No wonder I feel like crap. The first mile or so is within the park so nice road and no cars. I get into a rhythm and I work to get my cadence up to where I want it not really paying attention to anything else.

I pass a few people along the way and then about a couple miles in, my bike computer tells me that my fitness performance score is -12. No kidding! I feel like crap, my HR is still well over 170 (it should be in the 150’s). So everything about the bike is about trying to get my HR down some.

I don’t take in much fluid, too hard to do with as hard as I am breathing it seems. We take a turn to the west and then the north, directly into the teeth of the wind. I am not cold, but I am working pretty hard. I am noticing that I am not really putting a ton of power in the bike today and my speeds are down, but it is all I can do with my HR as high as it is.

I finally get my HR consistently down under 170 about halfway through the bike, but this was not going to be a legs and power kind of day, this was going to be whatever my body will aerobically allow me to do.

I do pass a bunch of people on the bike, I only got passed by 1 person which I found odd. We finally turn to the east and a tailwind, but man is that road ROUGH. Thankfully it wasn’t very long and we were back in the park. I pass a few more people on the last mile and see my family just before I head to T2.

Time was 41:57 for 12.6 miles, and 28/42 in my age group. That was surprisingly good for as bad as I felt and KNOWING I can ride much harder than that.

T2

Again I walk through transition, rack my bike and throw on my running shoes and I am heading out. 2:14 was my time though, so not setting any records there.

Run

Still slow, but I am now on the run portion. I knew right away that my 2:45/:45 run walk was going to be abandoned, I had given up on doing “well” in this race a long time ago, I am just in it to finish it now.

So I ran as much as I could, walked as quickly as I could. The STEEP hill at mile 0.4 was cruel. I got passed by a lot of people along the way, but I knew I wasn’t going to be last, and I just wanted to finish. I was really having more trouble than normal breathing. At the pace I was going it shouldn’t have been an issue, but there was a lot about this day that I don’t understand.

I finally rounded the final corner to the finish line. My family was there cheering me on as well as my friend Austin who had finished a LONG time before me.

Run time was 35:14 and 41/42 for my age group.

Total time 1:42:52, good for 39/42 in my age group, 124/144 in my gender, and 169/208 overall.

Final Thoughts

Whether it was just a natural reaction to wearing the tight wetsuit with all the other stressors going on like never having done an open water swim, or something else I don’t know. I will plan to do a bunch of open water swims in the coming weeks if I can find people that are going out. Maybe that will help some.

With this reaction, I am definitely rethinking whether I should do the Olympic distance tri that I have next on my calendar. There is no way I would finish the swim if this happened again much less a 2x longer bike and run.

Rule Breaking....Again

So we remember from my last race, that I broke the rule of not doing something new in a race by wearing only my tri kit in the water. It didn't go well as it was quite draggy in the water and it slowed me down.

Today we drove down to the twin cities and I stopped by the bike shop where I bought my bike and got fitted. I wanted to discuss saddle options. I haven't been real happy with the stock saddle, I was looking for a bit more cushion than it provides. So I discussed it with their master fitter and I ended up getting a new saddle installed on the bike. We did check over the fit and everything seems good there.

So now I am doing a race with a new saddle on my bike. I am not too worried about this change.

However....I am worried about the other rule. Tomorrow I am doing my very first open water swim, and it is part of a race. I am more than confident I can swim the distance of 800 yards, and I have swam with my wetsuit in the pool, but due to the late spring, and lack of training opportunities, I have not had a chance to swim in open water yet.

This race is using a time trial start for the swim. We will be started every 3-5 seconds. So that should take some of the pressure of the mass start out of the equation.

So it will be interesting!

Pre-Race Bike/Run

So I have been having issues with my bike for a while now. I can't get into some of the gears and it hops out of others. So I was finally able to get my bike into the local bike shop by my house and they got it all fixed up in a day or so.

With the race on Sunday, my training plan called for a 20 minute bike and 10 minute run on Saturday, Since the weather was pretty terrible today (46 and windy) but the forecast for tomorrow was worse (46, windy and rainy) and coupled with wanting to make sure my bike was all set to go prior leaving for the race, I decided to just go ahead and get it out of the way today.

Everything worked great so I am super happy with it right now.

Then after that quick bike ride it was time for a 10 minute run. I just run for 5 minutes and then turn around and come back. I don't really pay attention to the pace or anything like that, I am just running for 10 minutes.

So as I am running I am thinking, "I don't remember running this far in 5 minutes." I had run almost all the way to the school before my 5 minutes were up. I thought it was odd, but maybe I just didn't remember it right from before.

I finish my 10 minute run back at the house and download my data and I just ran the fastest mile to date for me! What?!?! Maybe I just need to ride my bike a bit to loosen up before a run.