Tag: new orleans 70.3

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Rev3 Knoxville Looms – Pre Race "Report"

I guess it’s time to start talking about Rev3 Knoxville.  My buddy Jim and I will be doing the Olympic with Katherine (along with a few Knox girls) while Corey, Marc, and Wasky are gearing up for the Half.  Should be a good ole’ fashion showdown on both fronts.

They’ve made a couple changes to the race this year, including moving the location for transition.  It used to be about a .66 mile run (according to Corey’s Garmin) from the water to your bike, but it looks like that distance will now be cut in half.  The other change escapes me . . . but maybe it’s the weather?

Last year it was 56 degrees and rained the entire race.  Portions of the run were literally through knee-deep-water.  Frankly, I kinda thought it was awesome, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like we’ll be that lucky again.  Here’s a finish line shot from that glorious day, which made my list of favorite photos from last year.  rev3finishcuMy buddy Corey was there for the fun last year and I think he still has scars.  The water temp was 53 degrees and it made for a dicey start to his long-distance triathlon career.  But racing in terrible weather can only make you better.  He took the hard-nock-Knoxville and turned it into a sub-12 Ironman at Louisville.  You can read about Corey’s heroics here.

I had a good race in Knoxville last time and don’t really think I can beat that time.  I’m sure I’d be more confident if I was actually training, but doing New Orleans took a little bit of steam out of the little bit of steam I had going.  I think knowing  that I’m doing the Olympic is a bit of a relief.  Which . . . is pretty damn funny when you think of it.

Less than two years ago an Olympic triathlon seemed, not only unreasonable, but unthinkable.  Now I’m approaching it like a stroll in the park.  No matter how you slice it, that’s a really good feeling.

I’m pretty comfortable with the swim (though I missed this morning’s workout).  I’m still a mystery on the bike (I tend to view the bike as a strength but New Orleans put a big seed of doubt in my brain).  The run is . . . well, likely dependent on my bike (but I do feel pretty confident I’ll actually be able to stand up after my ride this time).

I will be in Knoxville on Friday night anxiously awaiting the opening of the Expo and the mandatory athlete meeting.  Considering the conditions last year (and the fact that they rejected my application to be a team ambassador) I thought Rev3 put on an awesome race and I’m looking forward to seeing how they do when it’s 95 degrees and sunny.

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Open Water Swim Sighting

Ironman New Orleans 70.3 has a “Z” pattern swim course and before we started a local coach gave me this advice:  Swim toward the levy, swim toward the boathouse, then swim back toward the levy.  It “sounded” good on the surface, but I kept asking “to which part of the levy?” and “to which part of the boathouse?”  To which he responded, “Just swim to the levy and the boathouse.”

This was ringing in my ears yesterday for our first Open Water Swim practice but obviously not loud enough.  Our lake-sky started with a dark tint before parting to a beautiful sunrise and it was symbolic of the lesson I needed to remember.

GroupEntryOWS

We swam a bit to warm up in the cool water, which was nearly the orgasmic temperature for a wetsuit.  Then we lined up to analyzed each others strokes.  It was an enlightening process.

Coach imitated my form and my first thought was he looked tense, which I believe is the biggest reason people struggle with swimming.  My stroke was right-hand-dominant and I had a tendency to come too far out of the water when sighting (which I was also probably doing too often).  Having a “high head” isn’t necessarily bad, but mine was lifting to ridiculous levels and I quickly figured out why . . . obsession with sighting the buoy.

That’s when I remembered my swim in New Orleans (which was pretty good by my standards).  I DID just swim toward the levy and the boathouse.  It was a “general sighting” that “guided me” in the right direction.  I didn’t pick a certain place or a buoy at all.  I just went in the right direction and trusted the flow of the world around me.

I don’t wear contacts when I practice swim, so my vision is definitely hampered.  This makes sighting more stressful, and is a likely explanation for why I “spaz” and lift my head so far out of the water.  I always want to swim at ONE OBJECT when I should be swimming at a GROUP OF OBJECTS.

When you’re doing IRONMAN distance races, you are so damn far away from your target that you just need a general area to attack for the first part of your leg.  It’s better to swim straight than continually over-correct.  Then as you get closer, and can actually see that one object without effort, zone in more specifically.

It takes a lot of faith to swim toward a a group of trees, but it works.  The more I practiced the more I relaxed and kept my head down in the water.  I was sighting with alligator eyes, rather than a Tarzan torso.

You don’t need to SEE your target, you just need a glimpse.  A reminder.  A general guide.  And that’s sort of like doing little things in life that lead you in the right direction as opposed to “expecting” a specific outcome.  Trust the process.

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Post script:  This lesson also applies to my swim at Wisconsin.  I was largely disappointed in my sighting and it had a lot to do with my inability to get a grip on the buoys, of which there were many.

I found myself self-correcting every time I saw one which probably led to a bunch of zig-zagging rather than a general straight line.  This is bad for distance and energy.

I remember thinking I needed to aim at a bridge on the first leg, which would have set me right at the first turn buoy.  But I couldn’t always see that bridge and in retrospect think it would have been much more efficient to just go “toward” the bridge with an eye on the shoreline.

The second leg was short and really more about untangling the mass of humanity than sighting, but once I got to the third leg (around 1,700 yards) I should have just trusted the flow of the swimmers instead of trying to sight a specific smoke stack in the distance.  I was disorienting myself by trying to stay close to the buoy line and it caused a lot of confusion.  Honestly, sometimes I feel like I was taking a 45 degree angle toward the buoy just to stay on course.  But, I was ALREADY on course (even though I may have been 20 yards off course . . . if that makes any sense?

The short of it is, I think I thought about sighting way too much instead of just swimming.  That’s easy to say now because it was very choppy and I was afraid to end up in no-man’s land.  But the truth is, I should have relaxed and swam in the general direction of the that 3rd turn buoy and thought about it more when I was in range.

These are the little things that are so huge in triathlon and why I ultimately love the sport.  I wouldn’t say I had a “bad” swim at Wisconsin (1:20) but I could have saved some energy and a few minutes if I had just relaxed a little bit more and trusted the flow.

 

 

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Making Some Changes to Crushing Iron

If you’ve noticed some wackiness lately it’s because I’m migrating my site to a new server, and frankly, it’s testing my nerves.  But, truthfully, it’s going to be for the best as soon as I can get everything cleaned up.

I’m still “training” for New Orleans and have been sifting through some creative workout plans with a buddy.  As soon as we dial things in I’ll let you know what’s going on, but I can tell you this much, it is a completely new take on how to train for Ironman.

I”m also learning a lot more about website design and back end techniques (this has nothing to do with Chammy Butter) like this little embedded tweet from a guy with an online newspaper that featured one of my posts.  It’s a live tweet, so feel free to comment, favorite, or retweet right from here.

 

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What Now? #IMWI

Well, I have to admit, the glow has faded on Ironman Wisconsin and I can see how difficult it is to keep the train moving in the right direction.  For me, I think the next race is Rev3 in Anderson, SC.  They put on great races and it would be a good way to cap the year.  Not to mention, I think I have a good shot at qualifying for Age Group Nationals in Knoxville next May.

While I am a little sluggish after finishing a year-long-goal, I am also optimistic about the future.  The base is laid for a whole new level of racing in 2014.  Sub-12 Ironman, now what?  Sub-11 is where I’m leaning and, yes, I have decided to go after it at Louisville.  I was “this” close to pulling the trigger on Chattanooga, but didn’t want to sign up for my second before I did my first at Wisconsin.  And frankly, I was also “this” close to signing up for Wisconsin again.  I just have a hard time imagining any IM is more perfect for me.  Great fan support, awesome course, and right up the road from my family.  I just loved every single minute of that experience, including moments like this with my brother.  mikechrispsdNOLA 1/2 is in the mix, along with Muncie 70.3, and possibly Gulf Coast 1/2, which I hear great things about.  I’m also contemplating Rev3 in Wisconsin Dells in lieu of IMWI.  Or maybe Racine.  So many choices.

I guess I’m a little melancholy today, so I’d just like to say thanks for following this blog.  Your support and encouragement has been a driving force.