Tonight I held my first annual triathlon clinic at Bike N Ski in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I have previously worked at this store for 7 years before school became a year-round proposition. Whenever I am back home I seem to find myself hanging out at the shop quite a bit, and when the phone rings its hard not to answer it or go up and help customers. (It still feels like I work there). The triathlon clinic was open to anyone in the area, and to whatever topics people had questions about. We had several beginners/ first-timers that came so we mainly focused on the basics and how to participate in a triathlon. I think that the event was a success for everyone that came and hopefully we will hold more clinics in the future. Most importantly, we gave away some free stuff, some visors from Timex and some Triathlon calenders from Bike N Ski.

Check out the store at www.bikenski.net

Being an amateur on Team Timex is like being the proverbial fly on a wall; you hear a lot of stuff that’s not being said to you. Sometimes you pick up some helpful or funny pieces of information from the team sponsors and pros. By helpful/funny information I don’t mean “Our brand X is the fastest,” or “You need to swim 42 X 100’s on sub 1:07 to get faster at the IM swim”. The first isn’t kept as a secret and the second isn’t helpful…or funny to someone who swam 1:20 last October.

Take wetsuits, for example. Sure, we’ve all heard that Vaseline petroleum jelly is bad for wetsuits, but is the damage to the suit worse than the damage to your neck from a wetsuit hickey, and if so how bad is it? And how about swimming in chlorinated pools with wetsuits? How much will knowledge about my 1000-yard wetsuit aided time cost me in terms of wetsuit wear? According to blueseventy’s Ben Bigglestone both Vaseline and chlorine will degrade the stitching of your wetsuit. But if you’re a pro and get a new one every year, what the heck do you care? Apparently, neither eats away like acid so base your behavior on how long you want to keep your suit.

How about Pam non-stick cooking spray? OK, according to Ben, except that it makes you smell like “chips”. That’s across the pond talk for french fries.

But the big question everyone wants answered is, what about peeing in your wetsuit? Will this shorten wetsuit life and friendships? Ben says you can use your wetsuit like your own private port-a-potty with no worries, enough water gets in the suit during the swim that there is no harm and no one will ever know.

The Timex pros are also a great source of tips. Ever had trouble pulling the ankles and wrists of a wetsuit up high enough for a snug fit? You should, it takes time to put a suit on right. Timex pro Blake Becker said he puts his suit on starting with it inside out. I had to see it to believe it. It works.

Encourage Blake to post pictures or video of this tip. There is no way I’m posing in a Speedo for pictures on the Internet!

Next time I’ll post what I heard about the Equinox TTX from the man know as “Lance’s bitch” at Trek. It’s not on their web site!

Harriman Half Ironman, 5/19/07 - My first DNF;  air 55 degrees F, water 60 degrees F, rain, wind 

I had an awesome swim! Thanks to Ben B. for the Helix wetsuit and Melanie for working on my swim stroke. I dropped almost 4 minutes from my last 1.2 mile swim time! Swim 33:29 (my watch time) That’s huge! I also felt awesome, I sighted really well with my Blue Seventy goggles and held great lines. The swim was the warmest and unfortunately the shortest part of the day. 

Now here’s the fun part: running on cold sand into a parking lot and my feet were like little ice cubes. So I get to T1, and its raining. It started during the swim. I didn’t realize it was going to rain so soon, so the garbage bag I had planned for my transition area was under my stuff since I got the end on the grass full of goose-poop. ICK. 

My stuff was appropriately soaked. Wool socks, cycling hat, tights, 2 jerseys and a wind jacket. I put it all on and walked carefully to the bike out. Got on the bike and heard a rubbing sound. “Darn it!” I got off, and checked the front brake pads. Nope not that. Got on and pedaled again, heard it some more, realized it was my race number hitting my tire. Phew! I can live with that. There is a sketchy descent on this course, so the 30 second stop for a safety check is well worth the time spent. 

So, I get out on the course, and started spinning…. “hmm, I’m really cold.” Let’s have some of my drink. That was a challenge. My mountain bike gloves had no grip or traction and my bottle was very smooth. (Note: they were not Spenco and have been promptly thrown out!) So I very carefully got it out and drank. I cranked the bike up to some higher gears and tried to warm up. Nothing was happening. My legs hurt, the cold air really hurt, my toes were still there, but man they were just numb. The small climbs had me reduced to my easiest gearing. I was getting passed like I was standing still. I didn’t understand why my legs weren’t coming around. 

On the downhills you can easily hit 30 mph, but it hurt so much to go that fast. Then I hit the big descent, 5 miles of winding, wet road. I rode the brakes the entire time. I’ve ridden this course before and love this descent! It ends at a hairpin turn, which you basically have to come to a complete stop to navigate. Then comes the 2 mile climb, usually a tough climb for me so I spin up it, since it’s not a one lap race. I was looking forward to that climb to warm up. So were a lot of racers. 

I have never been so cold in my life, but I thought I would “stick it out” for one more lap, so I would do 2 out of 4. I had warmed up a little on the “big hill” but my knee was really hurting. Not good. I couldn’t get my nutrition either, the bottle kept slipping from my full gloves. So I decided to bag the race. My friend rode by me and I told her what was going on. She said I should do the next lap with her. “Thanks, but no” I said. I knew I was done. I wished her good luck and I rode into transition. I found a race marshall and turned in my chip. She had a lot of chips in her hand! I felt better about my decision. I flagged down my friend and she helped me get my stuff into the car. I was standing there looking at my wet stuff, and I started violently and uncontrollably shaking. Long story short: I got changed into dry clothes and warmed up in the car with the heat blasting. 

A little later I went back out on the bike course with a friend and we were cheering on the racers. Our friend rode by us and about a minute later she came back. She was shaking more than I was. She couldn’t get her hands off the bars and we couldn’t get her clicked out. I was a little panicky, because I have never seen someone that bad. We helped her to the car and got her changed into dry clothes and blasted the heat again. She took a long time to warm up. Like 10 minutes before her muscles stopped shaking. Another friend was taken away to the ER. It was a bad, bad day if you weren’t dressed properly. 

I still am trying to figure out what I could have done to make that race manageable. This is what I have come up with: 

1. Keep your transition stuff dry. Bring a bin or waterproof tarp. Use over and under! Even garbage bags would work. 

2. Bring more clothes than you possibly think you will need. 

3. Get out of your wet clothes from the swim. Wet + cold = bad

4. Keep your head warm.

5. Block the wind at all costs. I have wind panel tights sitting at home in a cozy drawer. Along with my warm jacket!

6. Make sure your gloves have grip.

I felt so cool! Like a famous pro triathlete. I went to Rodale Press on Thursday (5/17/07) out in Emmaus, PA for a presentation of the fabulous Timex summer and fall lines of fitness and sport watches. Including the new Hi-Ti, coming out in July (very snazzy!) Also the “Divers” watch is soooo cool! And they have a solar powered watch coming out in June.
 

The Timex PR team met with: Christine Bucher, Fitness & Exercise Senior Editor, Bicycling Magazine
Joelle Junior, Fitness & Exercise Assistant Managing Editor, Prevention Magazine
Warren Green, Jogging & Running Editor, Runner’s World
Jennifer Mack, Editorial Assistant, Bicycling/Mountain Bike Magazines  

We introduced the Fitness Series of heart rate monitors. They have three models with different features, all very simple and easy to use:
The Easy Trainer is ideal for the regular exerciser looking for a simple heart rate monitor.
The Personal Pacer is perfect for the active exerciser who enjoys various forms of physical activity from bike riding to running on the treadmill.
The Zone Trainer, in a variety of styles for men and women, has a comprehensive range of functions geared to the more intense exerciser interested in maximizing training. Each is an invaluable tool for those trying to achieve a better level of physical fitness.Each of the Fitness Series HRMs recalls the average and peak heart rate and exercise time. Analog transmission allows the Easy Trainer and the Personal Pacer models to work with treadmills and other HRM-enabled fitness equipment. Digital transmission in the Zone Trainer eliminates interference and cross talk from other HRMs.
 

After the presentation, I was talking with Jennifer Mack who writes LAB RAT for Bicycling magazine and she had just tested a new recovery drink from PowerBar. My ears perked up as I am shopping around for a recovery drink. She gave me a sample and I couldn’t wait to get home to try it after a big workout.

Out in the parking lot I met Bill Strickland, from Bicycling Magazine, who was just coming back from a lunchtime ride. Bill said, “If you don’t ride, you can’t write.” The employees get to run and ride during the day. They have full locker rooms! How awesome would it be to work there? For me, a true dream job! (I’m a graphic designer with loads of printing and editorial experience…. hint, hint, HINT!)
 

Monday - I used it yesterday after a bike workout. I liked it, and I feel pretty good. It tasted like a vanilla shake. YUM! Next to try is the chocolate flavor. We will see how my run goes today, 2 hours! Gotta love Ironman training.
Tuesday - So it’s the day after my long run. I had the recovery drink again. Chocolate is a good flavor too!  Lets see how my time trial goes tonight. Maybe we have a winner!

Wednesday - OK, the TT went well. I felt really good. Another recovery drink tonight, chocolate flavor. These are getting pretty good.

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”  -Vince Lombardi

Racing is a great way to guide us in our training…it highlights what we need to work on, feeds our competitive desires, makes us laugh (and on occasion, at ourselves), and can humble us beyond imagination.  Disney 70.3 did not let me down. 

The race day conditions were milder than last year, and the highlight of my morning…warm water!  My goal for the race was to have a better day than California and put the DNF demons to rest.

Upon finishing the race, one of the first phone calls I made was to one of my close friends who, after congratulating me on my finish and listening to me discuss my strengths and weaknesses in the race, proceeded to ask me, “What were you doing in transition?”  I seemed to have overlooked ‘transitions’ when analyzing my race, but she was not going to let me off the hook!  T2 was simple…Mother Nature called, and I made a necessary stop.  She let me slide on that one, but kept pushing to hear about T1.  A bit embarrassed I explained that yes, I failed to listen to the advice of ‘practice your transitions and never try something new on race day.’  Let’s just say…putting on a top when wet proved to be a bit of a challenge for me.  And, yes…I had to laugh at myself. 

But, that was not the only chuckle I had from the race…the surprise came when I realized I suffered (yes, that is the correct term to be used if you saw the size of this ‘wound’) a huge papercut on my backside.  During the first lap of the run my race number was already hanging by one loop on my race belt.  Unfortunately during lap number two (of three), the number fell off.  Thank goodness some participants who were heading the other way saw it happen and gave me a heads up.  The last thing you want to do when you are running is re-trace your steps…but I did not want to be penalized for ‘abandoning equipment’ and so I went back to pick up my number.  Without thinking, I stuck the race number in the back of my shorts.  Well, the good news…no penalty…the bad news…OUCH!
Happy Training.