Hello Runner,
An interesting thing happened this week… I got sick. As in body-ache, sore throat, dizzy in-bed kind of sick. This did not play well into the 12-week training plan we had setup to be ready for the Dechutes Dash on July 18. I really wanted and need to train, but my body was telling me no. So far, it’s been 5 days of sickness, and I am going to attempt a light bike ride tomorrow assuming everything goes good today.
In talking to people about my sickness and training plan, they all came to the same conclusion I had… When you put your body under stress training for an endurance event, something has to give, and many times your immune system may be weakened as your body recovers from training. (I’m not a doctor, but that’s what I’m told, and it makes sense.)
It was really frustrating not being able to train this week. I had 2 weeks of great training, and getting the routine and schedule down. The swimming was coming along nicely, and all of the sudden… BANG… out of commission for 5 days.
Luckily, it is not event week, or it did;t happen the day of the event (knock on wood if you got it). I still have 9 more weeks to train, and I’ll likely be adding an extra swim session in each week to make sure I can get the technique learned and honed to precision by event day. Sarah put together a great technique post earlier this week, check it out here.
Let’s Talk Newbie Tips:
It’s been amazing to me how much there is to learn just simply going from running events to a triathlon. To start with, I’ve never changed clothes (twice) in any running event I’ve ever done. I’ve always started and ended in the same shoes, and never had to start barefooted.
I picked up the latest edition of Triathlete Magazine last week, and in my sickness, actually had a little time to sit and read it. It had a great little article about some mistakes to avoid. They were simple tips, but really are great… I don’t want to show up at my first try looking like a total idiot.
Here were my 3 favorites mistakes to avoid (Thanks Triathlete Magazine):
1. Don’t park your bike in a big gear. (Make sure it will be easy to get started out of T1 by leaving your bike in a higher gear.)
2. Don’t put your timing chip over your wetsuit. (Put it on under the wetsuit so you won’t struggle t get the wetsuit off.)
3. Don’t wait to put sunscreen on. (Put the sunscreen on before they inscribe your number on you, or else you’ll smear black stuff all over your body.)
These are some little things, but these are things I didn’t think about at all until reading this article. I do have some common sense, but in the chaos of event day, I could have made all of these mistakes.
Let’s Talk Transitions…
We’ve talked about training for the course before, so we have to also prepare for the transition areas that are provided.
Some of the larger Triathlons (IronMan, etc.) have avery involved transition process which includes warming tents and separate changing areas for men and women. Some events have single transitions (where you will go from swim-bike, then return to go from bike-run) and others will have 2 different transition areas.
There’s also some transition operations that give you a bag, and your clothes that you want to change into are in the bag, and when you leave the transition area, you drop your bag off with all the clothes you changed out of in it.
In the case of the Dechutes dash, there are two separate transition areas, so I’ll have to have a setup for swim-bike, and bike-run as they will not be in the same place. It looks like, by reading the website that there will not be a bag system, and I’ll be able to both lay out my gear, as well as leave my gear when I leave the transition.
What I put in my transition bag is another story. Obviously, there are things that I will need (running shoes, etc), but what about things like sunglasses, fuel, sunscreen? I’ll have to have a talk with Sarah, and she can post that on the blog next week.
Thanks for checking out the progress. I am feeling a bit better right now, and if all is good, I will get out for a training session tomorrow.
Until next time, Just Keep Running,