Why You Should Write Race Reports.

The other day I went back and looked for what was my first triathlon race. People are always asking me how long have I been racing and doing triathlons, and I usually just have to give an estimated guess, but now, I can tell you exactly when I first started this journey.

Feb 25, 2008, just over 8 years ago, I did my first indoor triathlon. It consisted of a 500 yd pool swim, an 8 mile stationary bike and a 2 mile treadmill run. The reason I know this is because I created a race report for this race. It was pretty interesting and a little bit comical going back and reading my report.

To bad we did not have spell check back then!

So my assessment of this first ever triathlon was that the water was a little choppy. A pool swim was choppy. See how I complained about the water being dirty??  LOL  I had no idea what I was in for as you can tell from the next race I did. My first Olympic and first open water swim!

I can vividly remember that race and thinking my race was over before it started. I also remember thinking "why am I doing this? This is nuts!" At that moment in the water, I thought my triathlon career was over!

And I can pretty much go back and review every race I have ever done. It is a feature on the website Beginnertriathlete.com. This website has really helped me in just about every phase of my triathlon journey, from training questions to racing, so if you are looking for a good site on triathlons, you should check it out.

Other comments in other races speak of how proud I was that I did not float on my back for any of the swim. It was also cool to see the comments people left that read my report. All in all it is a good look back at this journey I have been on for 8 years.

I have race reports form setting PR's and feeling great and I have reports from my 1st ever DNF at Ironman Branson 70.3 (which still stings). I remember everything about that race, and the frustration I had in not finishing, but then I also got to read about the joy I had from coming back and getting my redemption on that course!

A race report can help you remember little things about a course you might not find on a race website, and it will also not only help you, but it can help another fellow racer competing in that race for the first time. So I would urge you to blog, journal or whatever about your races. You see, sometimes a blog is not really about writing stuff that everyone will like, it is often about talking to myself. Cause if you learn nothing else from me, remember this:

Memphis in May Sprint Tri Race Report

It has been a while since I had raced a sprint race, actually it had been 3 years since I have done this distance so I was really looking forward to this race. Another reason I was looking forward to this race was because it would be the first time I got the chance to race alongside my bride, and a third reason I was looking forward to this race was that a lot of my friends were doing this race as their first triathlon! So it was a big day for all!

To bad the weather decided to make this day a lot harder than it needed to be. It rained ya'll!  Hard. The day before and even into race morning, it was a mess. The expo tent was ankle deep water and honestly, it would have been very easy to say "forget it". I have raced in the rain before and I hated it! Thank God for radar apps on the iPhone! We were checking it  often waiting for the rain to move out, which it finally did. We were then able to get our transition areas setup and get in the water for a swim. I was mulling over the decision of whether or not to wear a wetsuit because they said the water was 75 degrees at race time and I leaned more to the short swim vs. time to take off wetsuit and decided to go without the wetsuit, which  in hindsight was the right decision for me. It started raining once again once we started to line up for the race and I was shivering, I couldn't wait to get into the water. So, with no further delay, let's get into the race itself:

Swim: 13:57

Finally a race picture I like!

The swim was a basic triangle shaped swim that was said to measure 580 yards. We all started on a time trial start going off every 3 seconds. The line moved pretty fast and before I knew it I was jumping between people that were walking and wading into the swim. I felt very little bumping heading towards the first buoy and was doing OK. It was a little tough to sight due to the weather conditions and I brought the wrong goggles. I meant to bring my clear lenses but for some reason, they did not make the trip. As I got to the first green buoy, there was a lot of bumping. It was awesome! We all made it around the buoy and started heading for the next green buoy. There was about 8-10 of us I am guessing that were all in a group. Out of nowhere, I see a canoe near me and someone yelling, so I stop to see what's up and they are yelling that we are suppose to go around the orange buoy before hitting the next green one! So I make a 90 degree turn and head back to the buoy!  I know!  What was I thinking? I should have just kept swimming. This really cost me some time and added an additional 100 yards or so to my swim. I was very upset at myself for messing up the swim. I just did what I could and I knew my time was going to suck. As I was running up the ramp, a friend of mine yelled that my wife was about 10 seconds ahead of me! My reply was "you kidding me?" and he assured me she was already in transition. Now, my wife is a strong swimmer, but I had a good minute or two on her and while she might beat me in a pool swim, I am more at ease in open water, so yeah, I was surprised. It was only later that I found out my swim time and it was no where close to the 10-11 minute time I was expecting. Swim pace: 2:23/100

 

T1: 1:06

Knowing that I was already behind my expectations, I think I had one of my fastest transitions ever. I was slamming things down and getting out of there. I really wanted to beat my wife out of T1, which I did because she opted to wear the wetsuit.

Bike: 39:34

After the crappy swim, I decided I needed to crush the bike, so I went out harder than normal. I knew it might affect my run, but I did not care. I was able to pass a ton of people and felt fast! I stayed in aero a lot. The roads were wet with some flowing water going all the way across the roads, wasn't an issue but it made me nervous. My max speed got up to 27 mph and I tried to hang on to top speed as long as I could. I averaged 18.2, which I was happy with. I felt good on the bike, I felt fast.

T2: 1:30

My feet were so wet from all the water on the road that I had trouble slipping my feet out of my shoes as I was riding in, so I just kicked out of my pedals and ran it in my bike shoes to rack my bike. I had my shoes tied up in bag incase it rained some more and I had trouble getting my shoes out. I made a bonehead decision to go without socks on the run. My thinking was that my feet were already so wet that shoes probably would give me an issue for the 3 mile run. Yes, this will come into play shortly.

Run: 29:42

Yeah, I can't believe I was under 30 minutes either. This run was tough because (1. I was undertrained and (2. I made the bonehead call to run without socks. My watch never picked up after T2 and that messed with my head also. The 1st turnaround seemed really close and I thought that was a good thing, but since I did not know the run course well, I did not know about a 2nd turnaround point. After the 2nd turnaround point, it was much hillier and my feet were blistering up pretty good, so yeah I was hating life. I think the one thing that turned my attitude around was that I was talking to someone along the course, telling them about my bad swim and how I went harder on the bike, they simply said, "those are over, run this race". True words indeed. I knew I needed to suck it up and finish strong, so I quit worrying about the other legs and hit the levy and ran it home.

Finish time: 1:25:52

All in all, it was not a bad overall time, it was only a few minutes off my sprint PR time. Yes, I wish I had a better swim, and yes I wish I had worn socks on the run, and yes, I wish it had been dryer, but that's the way it goes sometimes. That is what is great about triathlon, you never get what you expect and then sometimes it works out better. I expected to do better, but I was right on the mark of where I wanted to finish. I also found joy in doing sprint races. It doesn't have to be long races anymore for me to feel like a triathlete.

Another win for me was racing with my wife. She always has a big smile on her face when she hits that finish line and truly looks like she is having a great time. Sometimes I wish I had that joy of finishing rather than the disgust of missing a buoy!

And Congrats to my friends who did their first triathlon!  Jay, Jason, Philip and Dwight!  Proud of you guys and I hope you enjoyed the sport as much as I do, and I must warn you, my journey started with a sprint race...just say'n.

My Toes Cramp In The Pool!!!

This is one of life's mysteries for me. I hate getting a toe or foot cramp while swimming. It usually happens about 800 yards into a swim. I feel the toes tightening up, then its the arch of my foot. Usually it is only one foot at a time. I can ease the tightness somewhat whenever I get to the wall and push off, but it never subsides. I also tend to get toe/foot cramps at night in bed, and the only way I know to get rid of them is to stand up. Which is not practical when I am already in bed and it's 1:30 AM. So why do you get cramps in your toes while swimming? Let's turn to Google...

First thing you should know is my search parameter was this: Why do toes cramp while swimming. Results, 2,020,000 results. So I guess I am not the only one with this issue! Here are the following answers I got:

• I am not stretching enough. "swimmer" says I should stretch out all my muscles and not just the ones that are stretching every night.
• Blonde tornado says it is because I am dehydrated
• Others say to eat bananas (typical cramping answer)
• Jim T says it is because the water is cold and the blood gets pushed away from the extremities.
• The rest are more of the same

I really don't know why it happens, but it can kill a workout. I can be cruising along at 800 yards into a 1200 yard swim (remember, sprint tri training plan) and BOOM, toe cramp with 4 laps left! You can push through it, but it ain't fun.

I think I finally found an answer on swimming.org that totally makes sense to me. It is the most common complaints from triathletes, which proves that I am one!  Wahooo!!!

Anatomy of a kick

“Cramp occurs when a muscle is fatigued and overused, when a swimmer is dehydrated and has a electrolyte deficit or if the muscle is tight from a previous session,” said Butler.
“The plantar fascia is a fibrous, connective tissue which surrounds the muscles in the sole of foot.
“It’s stretches from the toes to the heel and works closely with the main calf muscles in the back of the lower leg – the gastrocnemius, soleus and the tibalis posterior.
“These are the main muscles involved in pointing the foot and toes during streamlining and kicking. Cramp in any of them will be felt in the back of the lower leg or the sole of the foot.”

Prevention

“The first thing to remember is to stay hydrated, not just with water but with electrolytes, and to eat the right things to help your body before and after training,” added Butler.
“Secondly, stretching is vital for maintaining flexibility in your muscles and should be included in your warm-up and warm-down for pool and land-based sessions.”

Specific muscle stretches

Try these stretches for the individual muscles on the calf and foot – hold each stretch for two minutes in 10, 20 or 30 second intervals.

1. Gastrocnemius stretch – stand with one leg in front of the other and lean against a wall. Bend your front leg and keep your back leg straight with your heel on the floor until you feel the muscle stretch in the back of the lower leg between your heel and knee.
2. Soleus stretch – stand with one leg in front of the other and lean against a wall. Bend both knees and transfer your weight to your back leg, ensuring you keep the heel of your back leg on the floor. You should feel the muscle stretch in the back of the lower leg.
3. Plantar Fascia stretch – stand with one leg in front of the other with the toes of your front foot on or up against a raised platform (such as a step or a wall). Bend both knees until you feel the stretch in the sole of your front foot.
4. Alternative plantar fascia relief – roll your foot over a golf or hockey ball. If you find this too painful, try it in warm water to help the muscles relax more.

So maybe, just maybe, that chocolate milk and Snickers bar I had before I swam wasn't the right fuel for me. Hmmmm.

Anyways, let me hear your thoughts on how to deal with them and more importantly how to not have this as an issue!

Zoggs Goggles Giveaway!

I think I have tried almost every brand of goggles on the market. There are some that I liked certain features of this brand, and I liked certain features of this brand, but I have never found the goggles for me. Until now!!! And let me tell you how I found them!

I was flipping through Triathlete Magazine and they had a page on nothing about goggles. One brand caught my eye based off the findings in the magazine. The Zoggs Phantom Elite goggles.Here is a quote from the magazine about them:

 "The Draw: Flexible fit for many face shapes. The lenses of the Phantom Elite are more curved than the standard Phantom to increase field of vision. The frame is durable and flexible and stayed secure on a variety of face shapes. Testers like the blue lenses and soft feel for long yardage in the pool, but the wide lens shape would work well in open water as well"

It has always been very hard for me to find a goggle that fits me, it seems it has always been me trying to fit the goggles in the past. So I talked to the Zoggs representative and right there, I knew I had been going about getting my goggles all wrong. He really took the time to ask about what goggles I had used in the past and what problems I had with them. I even sent in a picture so they could get a look at this old ugly mug to assist in getting the right goggles for my face.

Let me ask you this, how do we all buy goggles? Usually standing there in the aisle, looking at price and which ones we think look the coolest! And then we always complain about the goggles not fitting right, about them leaking and about what every goggle says on it "won't fog up", which I am always a doubter about.

So I was thrilled when I received two pairs of Zoggs Phantom Elite goggles in the mail. One pair with the blue lens and one with the blank lens. I really could not wait to try them out. So the next morning I go to the pool to rock out 2000 yards. I put on the goggles and I dive in the water and it is amazingly clear. I get that they are clear because they are new, but it is altogether different. I could really tell that I did in fact have a larger field of vision in the pool. Everything was crisp and clear. I had zero issues with fogging. I did not have any issues with leaking. I did have to make a minor adjustment after about 10 laps, but once I got the fit right, I promise you it felt like I wasn't even wearing goggles. These goggles are made so that you do not have to wear them so tight on your face that you get that long swim headache! You know when your goggles are squeezing into your head and eyes? With just a slight suction, they are there and I promise you don't even feel them while swimming!

Other great things about the Zoggs Phantom Elite goggles:

• Soft frame- the flexible frame molds to your face for comfort
• 180 degree vision- the curved lens technology expands your peripheral vision
• Anti-Fog lenses- That are actually anti-fog!
• Quick Adjust- simple pull of the straps tightens and a push of a button loosens them
• Split silicone head strap- fits securely over the head
• Polarized Italian lenses- eliminates glare in open water
• UV Protection- eye protection

Now for the good news, Zoggs is going to giveaway a pair of goggles to a reader. All you have to do is follow the simple rules (as always) and I will draw a winner, and they will send you a pair of goggles directly! How cool is that? Here are the requirements to enter the drawing:

1. Be or become a follower of Daily Trainings (1 entry)
2. Leave a comment (1 entry)
3. Like Zoggs on FaceBook (1 entry) and I have provided a link

You will have until Saturday May the 5th to enter and a winner will be drawn on Sunday! This is one giveaway you do not want to miss out on! I have found my goggles of choice, and I guarantee you will love these goggles as well!